Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Dimensions And Validation Of Perceived Message Sensation Value Scale For Print Messages, Lisanne F. M. Grant

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The purpose of this research project was to develop a reliable and valid scale to assess the perceived message sensation value (PMSV) of print messages. The goal of this project was accomplished by conducting two studies. Study one involved collecting 397 undergraduate students’ responses to one high and one low sensation value anti-smoking message, while for study two, 284 undergraduate students’ responses to one high and one low sensation value anti-crystal meth message were collected. The results of the studies highlighted that the PMSV of a print message can be assessed using three dimensions (emotional arousal, novelty, and dramatic impact) …

Biomechanical Effects Of Trees And Soil Thickness In The Cumberland Plateau, Michael Shouse

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Previous research in the Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas suggests that, on relatively thin soils overlying bedrock, individual trees locally thicken the regolith by root penetration into bedrock. However, that work was conducted mainly in areas of strongly dipping and contorted rock, where joints and bedding planes susceptible to root penetration are more common and accessible. This project extended this concept to the Cumberland Plateau, Kentucky, with flat, level-bedded sedimentary rocks. Spatial variability of soil thickness was quantified at three nested spatial scales, and statistical relationships with other potential influences of thickness were examined. In addition, soil depth beneath trees was compared …

Food Imports Under Foreign Exchange Constraints In The Cfa’S Franc Zone Of Sub-Saharan Africa (Ssa), Seydina Ousmane Sene

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

To respond to the high imported food prices in their domestic markets, net food importing countries in the Communauté Financière Africaine (CFA) zone^[1] are adjusting their import tariffs and homologate domestic prices of imported commodities such as rice, wheat, maize, and sugar. This research uses a multivariate specification of error correction model (VECM) of estimation to investigate the link between food imports, world price index of rice, wheat, maize and sugar, real effective exchange rates, domestic food production, GDP, and trade openness in the short and long run. The data are on each homogenous commodity from 1969 to 2012. …

A Multivariate Analysis Of Consumers’ Beliefs, Attitudes, And Behaviors Associated With Locally Produced Food And Farmers’ Market Patronage, Sara Williamson

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

While farmers’ market vendors rely on loyal and frequent patrons to purchase their products, it is unclear how the intrinsic differences among farmers’ market shoppers serve as indicators of potential shopping frequency at farmers’ markets. The objectives of this thesis are to identify consumers’ intrinsic values associated with characteristics of local foods, examine how these values are reflected in consumption behaviors among farmers' market shoppers, and explore the relationship between consumption activities and shopping frequency at farmers' markets. Results suggest that the differences between frequent and infrequent farmers’ market shoppers could be explained by the individual’s levels of high and …

Conceptualizing Citizen Journalism: Definitions And Roles, Kelli A. Long

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Through in-depth interviews with 12 regular contributors to the Lexington-Herald Leader’s website, www.Kentucky.com, this study attempts to examine how online citizen journalists view the definitions of citizen and professional journalism, as compared to Singer’s three dimensions of professionalism (i.e., cognitive, normative, and evaluative dimensions) as well as their perceived role conceptions of professional and citizen journalists, using Weaver and Wilhoit’s four roles of journalists. Analyses reveal that the main difference in the definitions of the two types of journalists revolved around the cognitive dimension, specifically the education and training that professionals receive. The role conceptions of professional and citizen journalists …

Not Just A Women’S Issue: How Male Undergraduate Students Understand Their Development As Social Justice Allies For Preventing Men’S Violence Against Women, Alexandra M. Minieri

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Men’s violence against women includes acquaintance rape, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and partner stalking and occurs at particularly high rates on college campuses (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000). Although men are increasingly becoming involved in efforts to prevent these forms of violence, little is known about their motivation and the processes that lead to their involvement. The purpose of this project was to examine how undergraduate male students become social justice allies involved in preventing men’s violence against women. The theoretical frameworks of this study included transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 1997, 2000) and feminist theory (Worell & Remer, 2003). …

Charter School Locations Across The U.S. And Their Influence On Public School District Revenues, Peter A. Jones

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Since Minnesota passed the first charter school law in 1991, charter schools have become one of the most prominent school reforms in the U.S. While charter schools educate a small portion of public school enrollments, their existence has prompted various responses from traditional public school districts. For example, districts may change expenditure patterns or work to increase test scores in an effort to retain enrollments. In this sense, a charter school’s most significant impact on public school students may work indirectly through the traditional public school reactions they invoke.

This dissertation explores education finance implications for charter schools and their …

The Influence Of Video Games On Adolescent Brain Activity, Joann Lianekhammy

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The current study examined electrical brain activation in adolescent participants playing three different video games. Forty-five school aged children (M=14.3 years, SD=1.5) were randomly assigned to play either a violent game, non-violent game, or a non-violent game specifically designed to "train" the brain. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded during video game play. Results revealed an asymmetric right hemisphere activation in the alpha band for participants in violent game group, while those in the non-violent groups exhibited left hemispheric activation. Greater right activation in emotion literature denotes signs of withdrawal or avoidance from undesired stimulus. Implications of this finding as well as …

The Mindfully Attached Therapist: Factors That Predict And Prevent The Development Of Compassion Fatigue, Stephanie E. Armes

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Characterized as a loss of empathy, compassion fatigue is experienced by many in the helping professions. Also known as secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue occurs when those in the helping professions experience trauma through interacting with the traumatic experiences of the people they are helping. Previous literature has found the development of compassion fatigue to be inevitable due to the amount of empathy those professionals must utilize on a daily basis. Mindfulness practices, such as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) have been found to be a helpful learning tool for those in the helping …

Essays On The Value Of A Firm’S Eco-Friendliness In The Financial Asset Market, Muhammad S. Ahmadin

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation presents three different closely related topics on the value of eco-friendliness in the financial market. The first essay attempts to estimate hedonic stock price model to find a contemporaneous relationship between stock return and firms’ environmental performance and recover the value of investor’s willingness to pay of eco-friendliness. This study follows stock and environmental performances of the 500 largest US firms from 2009 to 2012. The firms’ environmental data come from the Newsweek Green Ranking, both aggregate measures: green ranking (GR) and green score (GS), and disaggregate measures: environmental impact score (EIS), green policy and performance score (GPS), …

Pay-As-You-Go Electricity: The Impact Of Prepay Programs On Electricity Consumption, William M. Martin

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Prepay or pay-as-you-go programs are an increasingly popular type of rate plan offered by electric utilities. Under these plans, ratepayers must keep a positive balance at all times to avoid being automatically disconnected, they are charged daily for their usage, and they are provided with a means to monitor their consumption. One of the suggested benefits of these plans is that they allow electricity consumers to better manage their usage. Using household level monthly usage data from customers enrolled in prepay programs at two Kentucky rural electric cooperatives, we investigate whether there is a change in consumption after these customers …

The Effects Of Household Socio-Demographics On Restaurant Threshold Prices, Georgette Owusu-Amankwah

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This study examines the determinants of a household’s threshold price for a restaurant meal cost increase; the level of cost increase that would cause households to either eat in restaurants less frequently or change what they would typically purchase. The design of the study is formulated using a Tobit model to examine the threshold price by differing social, economic and demographic characteristics of households in Kentucky as well as their preferences for restaurant-specific characteristics.

The empirical estimates suggest that households that frequently have dinner at restaurants, households with higher incomes and households that strongly prefer full-service restaurants have a positive …

Convergence Of Dune Topography Among Multiple Barrier Island Morphologies, Jackie Ann Monge

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Wave-dominated and mixed tidal and wave energy barrier islands are assumed to have characteristic dune topographies that link to their macroscale form. However, there has been no systematic attempt to describe the linkage between barrier island macroscale form and dune topography. The goal of this thesis was to investigate how dune topographies correspond to a number of barrier island morphologies found along the southeastern U.S. Atlantic coast. Macroscale process-form variables were used to classify 77 islands into seven morphologic clusters. Islands from each cluster were selected and sites characteristic of the range of dune topographies within islands were characterized using …

Buying A Colonial Dream: The Role Of Lifestyle Migrants In The Gentrification Of The Historic Center Of Granada, Nicaragua, Abigail Foulds

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation aims to expand our understanding of how lifestyle migrants from the Global North impact the urban space of a Global South city, particularly the built environment. In order to situate the questions posed in this dissertation, I focus on how lifestyle migrants from the Global North and their foreign capital transform the city of Granada, Nicaragua through processes of gentrification, and how the social and economic climate of the city and its residents are impacted. This research allows for empirically informed theoretical critiques to be made about the economic and social implications of the globalization of gentrification resulting …

The Human–Hookworm Assemblage: Contingency And The Practice Of Helminthic Therapy, Sophia Anne Strosberg

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Through a qualitative analysis of the use of intestinal parasites for treating immune system disorders, this research illustrates how contingency emerges in the context of the human relationship to hookworms. The affect of the human–nonhuman relationship is an important part of understanding the direction of evolutionary medicine today, and has implications for the politics of biological health innovations. The shift from the bad parasite to a parasite that at least sometimes heals, discursively and materially, has opened new spaces for patients to change the way they relate to medical knowledge, medical professionals, and pharmaceutical companies. Hookworms are banned by the …

Planning And Protest In Memphis: The Limits And Possibilities Of Participatory Discourse, Andrea Craft

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Recent discussions of participatory urban planning have focused largely on municipal-led initiatives for collaborative resident engagement as an increasingly visible trend of neoliberal urban governance. Critical observers have noted the alliance between local government and business interests, and their capacities to manage, co-opt, and depoliticize diverse community-based efforts, and to marginalize dissent, through public-private partnerships, often facilitated by private consultants. Actual practices of participation demonstrate a variety of alternative meanings. This case study of a community-based planning initiative for public housing redevelopment in Memphis, TN challenges and complicates these narratives. The Memphis Housing Authority invited a local community organization to …

Sacred Social Spaces: Finding Community And Negotiating Identity For American-Born Converts To Islam, Sarah A. Soliman

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This thesis examines the religious experiences of American-born converts to Islam. The social nature of religion has been long ignored in research on the lives of religious people. A review of research on Muslim identities reveals an emphasis on immigrants, women, and youth in the British context. However, there is little to no research on the unique constituency of converts to Islam and the importance of social aspects of faith for establishing a sustainable and transformative practice of Islam. This research closes this gap through a case study of the religious experiences of American-born converts to Islam.

Through in-depth interviews …

Entrepreneurial Planning And Urban Economic Development: The Case Of Establishing Commuter Rail In Orlando, Florida, Timothy J. Brock

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Rooted in the theories of urban entrepreneurialism, this dissertation employs a political economy framework as a means of analyzing urban governance and economic development in the contemporary US city. This case study of Orlando adds to our understanding of how entrepreneurial narratives are being applied to transportation infrastructure projects in pursuit of local economic development.

The empirical case study explores the relationship between planning narratives, urban governance and economic development in the establishment of the SunRail commuter rail system in central Florida. I present the political history of economic development and the role of local boosters in shaping the sociospatial …

Subsistence And Biodiversity Conservation In The Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, West Bengal, India, Priyanka Ghosh

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

My dissertation research investigates the impacts of biodiversity conservation on the local population living in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve (SBR). More specifically, the research examines the impacts of conservation on local fishing communities living on the edge of the Sundarban Reserve Forest. In addition, it examines the causes and characteristics of conflicts between the biosphere reserve managers and the local fishing communities over the resource use of the biosphere reserve. The research project also explores the impacts of ecotourism on the local population that lives on the edge of the Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR). STR is one of the important …

Natural Phenomena As Potential Influence On Social And Political Behavior: The Earth’S Magnetic Field, Jackie R. East

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

Researchers use natural phenomena in a number of disciplines to help explain human behavioral outcomes. Research regarding the potential effects of magnetic fields on animal and human behavior indicates that fields could influence outcomes of interest to social scientists. Tests so far have been limited in scope. This work is a preliminary evaluation of whether the earth’s magnetic field influences human behavior it examines the baseline relationship exhibited between geomagnetic readings and a host of social and political outcomes. The emphasis on breadth of topical coverage in these statistical trials, rather than on depth of development for any one model, …

Three Essays On Cross-Border Mergers And Acquisitions, Derrick T. Jenniges

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays on cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The first essay studies horizontal and vertical investments between Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, while the second essay examines how investment patterns vary by country development. The third essay estimates the effect of merger policy reform on cross-border M&A activity in Europe.

The first essay tests how well theories of horizontal and vertical foreign direct investment (FDI) explain observed patterns of cross-border M&As in OECD countries. Horizontal investment occurs when multinational firms produce in foreign countries to serve the foreign market, whereas vertical investment occurs …

Macroeconomic Effects And Microeconomic Determinants Of Fertility, Maria R. Apostolova-Mihaylova

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation focuses on the relationship between the education-based fertility gap and economic growth and on policy as a determinant of fertility.

In the first essay I evaluate the impact of differential fertility (the difference between fertility rates of women with high educational attainment and women with low educational attainment) on economic growth by accounting for critical marginal effects and the general level of educational attainment in a given country. I also examine the possibility that this effect varies based on level of inequality and income levels. I find that for a less developed country with high income inequality, higher …

Inferential-Realizational Morphology And Affix Ordering: Evidence From The Agreement Patterns Of Basque Auxiliary Verbs, Parker Brody

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

“No aspect of Basque linguistics has received more attention over the years than the morphology of the verb.” (Trask 1981:1)

The current study examines the complex morphological agreement patterns found in the Basque auxiliary verb system as a case in point for discussion of theoretical approaches to inflectional morphology. The traditional syntax-driven treatment of these auxiliaries is contrasted with an inferential, morphology-driven analysis within the Paradigm Function Morphology framework. Additionally, a computational implementation of the current analysis using the DATR lexical knowledge representation language is discussed.

Evaluating Quality Improvement To Improve Hiv Reporting, Nandi A. Marshall, William C. Livingood, Angela Peden, Gulzar H. Shah, Russ Toal, Dayna Alexander, Alesha Wright, Sandra Jump, Shelby Freeman, Kay Davis, Lynn Woodhouse, Kellie Penix

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

The incorporation and evaluation of Quality Improvement into Georgia’s public health systems continues to be a focus of the Georgia Public Health Practice Based Research Network. This report describes the process, preliminary results and lessons learned from incorporating Quality Improvement into one of Georgia’s public health districts.

Evidence Use In New York City Public Health Policymaking, Miriam J. Laugesen, Kimberley R. Isett

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has attracted national attention for his public health policy reforms. The policy process behind the reform program has received less scrutiny, especially the use of research by policymakers. We show that the process used to develop, promote, and evaluate polices is heavily based on five types of data and research. New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene staff conducted in-depth appraisals of existing published research, used local health surveys and private laboratory surveillance data, engaged in “shoe-leather” field research, formed research collaborations within and outside government, and disseminated research to legitimize policy …

Commentary: Moving Beyond The Numbers, Effectively Using Research To Influence Policy, F. Douglas Scutchfield, Marylou Wallace

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

This seventh issue of Frontiers reflects the variety of PHSSR. One emerging theme, however, is the notion of public health and its role in policy and policy development. PHSSR focuses on several potential users, researchers, practitioners and policy makers. As it concerns policy makers, PHSSR delivers research that allows them to make decisions about policy change that not only influences public health status, but creates healthy conditions. In this way, PHSSR essentially influences decisions about support for public health services.

The National Longitudinal Survey Of Public Health Systems: Selected Findings And Applications, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

This presentation reviews the National Longitudinal Survey of Public Health Systems and its applicability for monitoring the effects of the Affordable Care Act on public health delivery within the U.S.

Clinically Relevant Intronic Splicing Enhancer Mutation In Myelin Proteolipid Protein Leads To Progressive Microglia And Astrocyte Activation In White And Gray Matter Regions Of The Brain, Adam D. Bachstetter, Scott J. Webster, Linda J. Van Eldik, Franca Cambi

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: Mutations in proteolipid protein (PLP), the most abundant myelin protein in the CNS, cause the X-linked dysmyelinating leukodystrophies, Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD) and spastic paraplegia type 2 (SPG2). Point mutations, deletion, and duplication of the PLP1 gene cause PMD/SPG2 with varying clinical presentation. Deletion of an intronic splicing enhancer (ISEdel) within intron 3 of the PLP1 gene is associated with a mild form of PMD. Clinical and preclinical studies have indicated that mutations in myelin proteins, including PLP, can induce neuroinflammation, but the temporal and spatial onset of the reactive glia response in a clinically relevant mild form of PMD …

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program And Food Insecurity, Christian Gregory, Matthew P. Rabbitt, David C. Ribar

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

This chapter reviews recent theory and empirical evidence regarding the effect of SNAP on food insecurity and replicates the modelling strategies used in the empirical literature. The authors find that recent evidence suggesting an ameliorative effect of SNAP on food insecurity may not be robust to specification choice or data. Most specifications mirror the existing literature in finding a positive association of food insecurity with SNAP participation. Two-stage least squares and control function methods do show that SNAP reduces food insecurity, but effects are not consistent across sub-populations and are not always statistically significant.

A Convergence-Building Model Of Superfund Site Communication: Building On Lessons From The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Anna G. Hoover, Lindell Ormsbee

Anna G. Hoover

Best practices approaches have guided governmental risk communication efforts at Superfund and other chronic risk sites for more than two decades, playing an important role in the ways in which those most affected by contamination make sense of risk. Such approaches can affect the information environment in two separate but related ways: 1) directly, through the explicit sharing of information, and 2) indirectly, through ongoing stakeholder interpretations of the processes by which that information is shared. To date, the indirect, process-related effects have not been addressed in assessments of communicative efficacy at Superfund sites. Thus, it increasingly is necessary to …