Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Kruger Collection Reimagined: A Case Study In 3d Scanning And Interactive Exhibit Design, Annissa Davis

Anthropology Department: Theses

This thesis examines the use of 3D modeling in museum exhibition to create exploratory exhibits that facilitate unique relationships between the visitors and the collection beyond what is provided by the collection’s in person counterparts. Typical use of 3D modeling in museums is currently often representative rather than exploratory. By employing a Digital Humanities lens to approach the development of a digital exhibition utilizing 3D technology and interactive elements created in a video game engine (Unity), this thesis project evaluates these potential new relationships. Using the Eloise Kruger Collection of Miniatures as a case study, the following text details the …

A Writer In Writing, Stephanie Lamas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As a writer and individual, I speak between many roles, presenting myself as “I” but also “her”. Inevitably, there is a gap between “who I am” and “who I am made out to be” that I am not always in control of. Similarly, there is a disparity in intention versus interpretation in writing. Since we don’t exist in a vacuum, I must account for these gaps, acknowledging my individuality while adapting to changing circumstances and needs. As an individual with several disadvantages and particularities, however, my sense of self is unstable and uncertain, reflecting the instability and uncertainty in my …

My Little Poetic/Prose Book Of Words, Sayings, And Stories In Broken Spanish And A Little Bit Of German / Mi Libro Chiquito De Poética / Prosa De Palabras, Dichos, Y Historias Español Fracturado Y Un Poquetito Alemán, Sharon Ann Lucero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank Jonathan Taylor and Sarah Thompson for the wonderful job they did in providing me with feedback. I took into consideration all their comments. Their comments aligned with Dr. Powers, and I really took a deeper look into my Spanish/English translations on whether I should have them or not. I found a happy medium for all of it. I also went back and looked at the rest of the class’s comments and made sure that I did not miss any of the details that were pointed out to me the first time …

Assessing Urban Tree Coverage Along The U.S.-Mexico Border: A Gis Analysis Of Paso Del Norte, Melanie Escobar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, researchers have extensively studied the spatial distribution of social demographics and urban tree canopy (UTC) in urban cities, but very few, to this date, address U.S.-Mexico border cities. To date, there is no research that assesses the distribution of urban tree canopy (UTC) in the city of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, along the U.S.- Mexico border. Leveraging advanced mapping techniques and GIS tools, the study performs comparisons between countries (Juárez vs. El Paso urbanized areas and intra-country (within each country). It compares land cover classifications, assesses variations in UTC distribution across census tracts and …

The Role Of Soft Infrastructure In Developing Sustainable Volunteer-Based Healthcare For Transient Migrants In The El Paso-Ciudad Juárez Border Region, Daniel Avitia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

On Hannah Arendt's Study Of Constitutionalism In The Aftermath Of Totalitarianism: A Philosophical Search For The Principle To Secure The Foundations Of Modern Politics, Joseph De Leon Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Hannah Arendt faces the grotesque appearance of totalitarianism, and with bravery goes on the offensive, herself armed with contemporary philosophical tools of analysis, to do battle in the field of existential-phenomenology against this modern monster. Totalitarianism, birthed from the seeds of lawless action, claims to be the most lawful mode of human existence. The monstrous existence of totalitarianism demonstrates a crisis in the very foundations of modern manâ??s political mode of being. In order to find a solution to this modern political crisis Arendt closely studies the experience of constitution writing at the moment the men of action are about …

International Women Graduate Students: Transition To Public Research Universities In The Midwest, Tran Thanh Truc Nguyen

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This phenomenological qualitative study explored the experiences of international women graduate students (IWGSs) in transitioning to public research universities in the Midwest. The study utilized Schlossberg’s transition theory (Anderson et al., 2012) to gain insights into the perceptions of six participants during their college transition process. Based on the analysis of data collected through in-depth phenomenological interviews with each participant, three themes emerged that described the challenges faced by the participants during their transition. These themes were: solitary voyage, a dilemma of self-reliance and reliance, and a vicious cycle of limited time and financial constraints. Through the three themes, the …

(De)Composition: Earthen Storytelling For Collective Liberation, Priya Subberwal

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This interdisciplinary portfolio is an investigation into ecological communication through pedagogical design, online collaborative learning spaces, digital and print media, and creative writing. Braiding lenses of queer ecology, decolonial studies, anarchism, and collaborative and creative practice, this work hopes to explore the field of environmental communication through avenues that are reciprocal, community-driven, and oriented towards environmental justice and collective, intersectional liberation. Through the three distinct components of 1) the creation and facilitation of an online learning community, the Spiritual Ecology Study Club at Advaya, 2) the editing and production of two issues of Camas Magazine, an environmental literary magazine based …

Victim Or Villain: Female Resilience And Agency In The Face Of Trauma In Chimamanda Adichie’S, Purple Hibiscus (2003) And Tsitsi Dangarembga’S, Nervous Conditions (1988), Adaobi Juliet Chukwuma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As long as disparities persist in the way women are treated as compared to their male counterparts, the issue of gender will continue to call forth literary productions. For this reason, female writers are on a mission to dismantle the stereotypes that keep women confined to societal roles. Grounded in a feminist framework, this study focuses on the gender disparity theme in Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions. The aim is to examine how these writers represent the trauma of women living in an African patriarchal system. The traumatic experiences of the female characters in both texts …

The Effects Of Student Choice On Motivation And Writing Skills, Laura Annunziata

Master's Theses

This mixed methods action research study investigates the potential effects of student choice on motivation and academic performance in writing-based assignments in a fourth-grade classroom. Baseline data was collected prior to implementation of student choice writing activities and then used to compare writing samples collected post intervention. The baseline data suggests that students’ attitudes towards autonomy are positive. Having choices was important to them and helped them learn better. However, data also indicates that while students were motivated to write using choice, many of the reading and writing competency scores dropped during journal entry writing samples. Data shows that while …

Implementing Music To Increase Elementary Student Focus, Kathryn Garceau

Master's Theses

This action research project used a mixed methods design to address the effect of different types of music on student focus while performing an independent task. Despite its success with memorization, does music work equally as well on student focus? Data was collected over a period of three weeks for 30 minutes each morning for 5 days each week. The music played while students completed the task changed each week. This included lyrical songs during week one, classical music during week two, and instrumental versions of songs students knew the lyrics to during week three. Four behavior markers were observed …

Queering Storytelling: Challenging Normative Storytelling Methodology And Building A Queer Approach To Documentary Filmmaking, Ruben Schneiderman

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Honors Projects

As representations of queer people on screen grow, so too has the violence for queer folks at the margins. This project looks at four documentaries that cover key moments in LGBTQ history to see how filmmaking methodologies and choices can further the harms of institutional violence. Key themes include homonormative and assimilationist representations in film, the formation of a reductive cultural memory of queer politics, and the obscuring of the global crises of AIDS. Through an analysis of these films, I argue for the formation of queer documentary methodologies that are grounded in the ideas put forward by queer theorists …

The World Reborn: A Phenomenological Study Of 12th Unnamed Cave, Tennessee Through Photogrammetry, 3d Gis, And Archaeoacoustics, Jordan L. Schaefer

Doctoral Dissertations

Traditional methods for analyzing rock art locations within caves tend to rely on two-dimensional (2D) mapping methods. While useful, these techniques do not effectively capture the phenomenology, or experiential characteristics, of caves as physical spaces. This dissertation therefore adopts a three-dimensional perspective to study the distribution of rock art inside 12th Unnamed Cave, a dark-zone cave art site in Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau region, with the goal of identifying why certain types of images appear in their respective contexts. Photogrammetry is used to produce a three-dimensional (3D) model of the cave’s interior, on which surveyed rock art locations are georeferenced for …

Working In The Shadows: The Impact Of Wage Theft Among Undocumented Workers In El Paso, Texas, Christe Cherie Lattimore-Staple

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The documentary film titled "Working in the Shadows: The Impact of Wage Theft Among Undocumented Workers in El Paso, Texas" sheds light on the pervasive issue of wage theft experienced by undocumented workers in the region. Through personal testimonies, interviews with workers, legal experts, and government officials, the film delves into the challenges faced by undocumented workers who are vulnerable to exploitation due to their legal status.Undocumented workers in El Paso face a host of challenges, including unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions, and fear of retaliation if they assert their rights. The film highlights the critical role of community organizations, …

Investigating The Production And Perception Of Lexical Stress In English As A Second Language: A Cue-Weighting Approach, Natalia Irene Minjarez Oppenheimer

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Cue-Weighting Transfer Hypothesis states that (a) listeners weight acoustic cues according to how informative they are in signaling a lexical contrast in their L1, and (b) that listeners transfer their cue weightings from the L1 to the L2, using those cues that are important in the L1 to perceive lexical stress in the L2 (Tremblay et al., 2021). Most of the Spanish-English bilinguals in our region are highly proficient in both languages, but differ in their language dominance spectrums. That is, they can handle both languages with ease, but are usually more dominant in one of them. Because of …

How Gender Affirming Care Affects The Current Sex Estimation Standards In Forensic Anthropology: A Preliminary Study, Dakota Taylor

Anthropology Department: Theses

Current sex estimation standards in forensic anthropology are based on individuals whose gender matches their biological/osteological sex, also known as Cisgendered individuals. Recently, transgender individuals have started to become more common in the forensic context due to the increase in hate crimes and violence. This research builds upon past research done on how facial feminization surgery can affect both visual and metric methods, where it was found that forensic anthropologists should rely on the visual methods if they suspect someone to be transgender due to it being more accurate and being able to clearly state the scars left on the …

The Osteobiography Of Human Remains From The Seaview And Indian Town Trail Archaeological Sites, Maggie M. Klemm

Anthropology Department: Theses

Extensive site surveys and excavations on the Island of Barbuda led by Sophia Perdikaris have identified over 62 sites spanning from the Archaic time period to Historic times. Over the last 18 years, these multidisciplinary teams have focused on mapping all sites and performing rescue excavations on sites threatened by sea level rise, erosion or development. Two such sites are the Saladoid site of Seaview (BA016) and the Troumassoid site of Indian Town Trail (BA01). The dunes surrounding the site of Seaview receive the brunt of storms and hurricanes. In 1998 hurricane Georges exposed skeletal material now part of the …

American Perspectives On The Legitimacy Of Transgender Identities, Sethe Zachman

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This mixed-method project examines how Americans’ and Nebraskans’ perceptions of the validity of transgender identities varies by the demographic characteristics of respondents, and how these perceptions are justified. Two representative surveys are used to examine demographic associations with opinion on the cisgender and transgender binary: the 2023 American Values Atlas (AVA) from the Public Religion Research Institute (N=4,788) and the 2022 Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS) (N=934) from the Bureau of Sociological Research. A measure from the AVA data examines the degree to which respondents believe there are only two genders versus a range of gender identities. The NASIS …

Ratings Creep: The Increase In Offensive Content In Movies Over Time, Alexandria N. Tatum

2024 Spring Honors Capstone Projects

Aggression, influenced by a range of factors including media exposure, remains a significant societal concern. Drawing from Bandura's social cognitive theory, it is important to examine violence in media because its exposure can have a long-term effect on the viewers. Furthermore, studies suggest a correlation between media exposure and aggressive behavior, emphasizing the need for comprehensive analysis of content portrayal. To regulate exposure to offensive content, movies are usually ranked using the MPAA’s rating system. Yet, there has been an observed ratings creep in this system (i.e., the progressive escalation of offensive content in films). The current study hypothesizes that …

A Woman Unfolding: A Journey Of Motherhood And Creativity How Inviting Play And Honoring Our Thinking Preference Strengthens Well-Being, Laine M. Walnicki

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Seeking to provide a nuanced understanding of how the facets of motherhood, creativity, and wellbeing intersect and influence each other, this investigation and subsequent analysis answers the questions, "How does motherhood affect creativity?" and "How does creativity affect motherhood?" as well as their impact on creative outlook and wellbeing. Drawing on insights from the science of creativity, self-actualization, flow, and play, an understanding is curated as to how humans develop creative capacity, utilize it to foster well-being, and develop their potential for growth and evolution. The significance of play in the context of motherhood is also explored along with its …

Heritage Language Maintenance, Language Socialization, And Family Language Policy: An Ethnographic Case Study Of A Trilingual Family, Rosiane Barcelos De Oliveira

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Today, about 350 languages are spoken and signed in the United States, many of which are heritage languages (HL). A HL is a language to which a speaker has an ethnic, historical, or sentimental connection. This dissertation reports on an ethnographic case study on the language and literacy socialization practices of one trilingual family (English, Spanish, Portuguese) in their efforts to maintain Portuguese as their HL. The analysis of data focuses on three themes: (1) HLM activities during their religious practices; (2) the emotions connected to HLM; and (3) the family’s HLM practices when they travel to Brazil. Through a …

Guns Over Kids: How Florida Lawmakers Trade Child Human Rights For Financial Gain, Brynn Rose Baker

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

In 2023, school shooters killed or injured 249 individuals across 346 school shootings. These school shootings typically spark temporary outrage and public calls for action. In response, the National Rifle Association (NRA) weaponizes mental health, isolating these violent crimes and barring effective and popular gun control measures. The NRA has infiltrated American politics and become a powerful lobbying force, primarily through their support of pro-Second Amendment candidates via donations and campaigning on their behalf. After the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Florida, a group of survivors created the activist group, March For Our Lives (MFOL), which encourages …

The History Of Gender-Biased Clinical Testing And Its Effects On Pharmaceutical Drug Efficacy, Kathryn E. Olson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Concerns about potential risks that clinical research could impose to women of childbearing potential have long dictated pharmaceutical clinical trials. In the United States, women were not allowed to participate in clinical trials for decades, which has had major implications on the pharmaceutical industry today. Due to this oversight, men and women are commonly prescribed drugs at the same dosage despite many sex-specific differences in how male/female bodies respond to drugs during exposure. It is now known that female bodies metabolize drugs much slower than male bodies, which means that women who are prescribed drugs at the same rate as …

The Extreme Rise Of The Fast Fashion Industry From Country To Country: Does Consumer Behavior Differ Cross Culturally Regarding Fast Fashion Between The United States And European Countries?, Madison R. Feuerbacher

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract

The apparel industry has various categories of fashion. One of these categories known more readily today as fast fashion. Fast fashion has gained immense global popularity over the past decade. The concept of fast fashion apparel involves producing vast amounts of product as quick as possible to sell to the consumer at an aggressively low price. It is important to understand this current phenomenon of the global rise of fast fashion as well as understand the devastating effects our environment is facing because of it. As the vocalization of the harmful effects of fast fashion have become more prevalent …

A Little Loud And A Little Alone: A Phenomenology Of Leadership Identity Construction Among Women In Higher Education Technology, Amy Barry

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This qualitative study is an exploration of how women in higher education information technology (IT) positions navigate constructing their leadership identities. This includes the messy, personal, internal identity work that occurs prior to claiming their leadership identities on the public stage, followed by an examination of what the experience of attempting to claim and negotiate a leadership identity is like in the social context of their organizations. This educational and sociological study employs an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach with a series of three interviews per participant that allowed the researcher to deeply explore the personal identity experiences of participants. Findings …

Lived Experiences, Migration Journey, Religiosity, And Spirituality Depicted In Drawings By Latino Children And Youth Crossing The U.S. Mexican Border: A Qualitative Study., Doroty Magalhaes Sato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Widespread violence forces thousands of Central American children to endure a hazardous journey toward the U.S. Border seeking refuge. In the Latino community, faith serves as a social movement of resistance against oppression, playing a vital role in migration. There is a paucity of research documenting this experience and children's overall journey. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the lived experience of crossing international borders, religiosity, and spirituality depicted in Latino children's drawings used as coping methods to endure the journey toward the U.S. southern border. This investigation employed Art-based approaches to give voices to children's experiences by analyzing 63 …

Georgia Library Spotlight: Weeded Books To Winter Decorations, Michelle Bennett-Copeland

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.

News Framing Of The Ukrainian-Russian War: A Comparative Analysis Of Russian And American News Media, Alina Y. Rudakova

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted with the goal of exploring ways in which American (The New York Times) and Russian (TASS) print news media frame the Ukrainian-Russian War. Along with examining the differences and similarities in primary framing techniques used by American and Russian news, the focal point of this study was to identify who is portrayed as an aggressor and who is illustrated as a victim in this conflict. Informed by the news media framing literature and construction of the social problems perspective, this study was led by two research questions: (1) How do the American and Russian news media …

Ripperature: Crossing Gender And Genre, Gracie M. Bain

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The murders of Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly in London in 1888 by the serial killer commonly known as “Jack the Ripper” were grotesque displays of violence against vulnerable women. As unsolved crimes, they have continuously been sensationalized and fictionalized since they occurred, beginning with dime novels like The Whitechapel Murders; Or, On the Track of a Fiend (1888) and continuing with novels like Stalking Jack the Ripper (2016). The sheer number of adaptations is staggering. This extensive adaptation process results in the mythologization of Jack the Ripper as a culture-text. This study …

Decolonizing Neo-Liberalism, Empowering The Local: A Global South Reading Of Noir In The 2000s., Jean-Hugues Bita’A Menye

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research aims at providing a Global South reading of noir in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It relies on the premise that noir, a sub-genre of crime fiction born in France during World War II, offered new avenues of literary creation and political criticism. Based on a selection of authors from the U.S., Mexico, Algeria, and Cameroon, the dissertation explores how authors from underrepresented or formerly-colonized communities discuss the impact of neoliberal thinking in their communities. With an emphasis on race and gender dynamics, nation building and terrorism, police corruption and brutality, or the growth of organized, each …