Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Critical Historical Geography Of Slavery In The American South, Matthew Russell Cook

Doctoral Dissertations

In the more than 150 years since the end of the Civil War, Emancipation Proclamation, and 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution that formally brought an end to chattel slavery, people in the United States have done much to downplay, sanitize, and outright forget both the history of slavery—despite its foundational role in the establishment of the U.S. political economy—and the life-altering damage that powerful white men, predominantly, inflicted upon millions of Africans and African Americans through a brutal system that lasted more than 200 years. Contributing to the process of whitewashing the histories and geographies of …

Leader-Member Exchange As A Predictor Of Leaders’ Positive Work Outcomes: A Field Study, Matthew Jason Shaffer

Doctoral Dissertations

Prior research found that the quality of the working relationships between leaders and their followers, or Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) quality in leader-member dyads, predicts positive work outcomes for followers, including job satisfaction, engagement, and performance. Though leaders might be expected to receive similar benefits from high quality LMX with their followers, almost no published, empirical research to-date has reported benefits of LMX for leaders. The current study tested the relationships of LMX and positive work outcomes for leaders among middle managers and their direct supervisees in a large manufacturing company. Hypotheses predicted that average leader-rated LMX and average follower-rated LMX …

“I Haven’T Worked To Be A Token:” A Narrative Inquiry Of The Experiences Of Eight Black Female Assistant Coaches In Ncaa Division I Women’S Basketball, Leslie Kaye Larsen

Doctoral Dissertations

In NCAA Division I women’s basketball, the majority of student-athletes are Black (i.e.. 51%); however, Black women make up only a small percentage of the total number of coaches at this level (i.e., 25%; NCAA, 2015). Although these discrepancies have recently been recognized in sport studies literature (Borland & Bruening, 2010; LaVoi & Dutove, 2012), sport psychology researchers have yet to explore the underlying structural and psychological issues that lead to the underrepresentation of Black female coaches in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. To this end, narrative inquiry (Smith & Sparkes, 2009) was utilized in the current study to explore …

Living Alongside: A Narrative Inquiry Into The Impact Of Reflective Practice Training In Real Life, Patricia Randall Long

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this narrative inquiry (NI) was to explore, through personal narratives, the experience of the impact of Reflective Practice (RP) training (offered through an institute for collaborative communication housed within a large southeastern regional research one university) and subsequent practice on the day-to-day lives of two participants. While most published studies focus on RP impact during or immediately after training, this inquiry spanned seven months post training.

Field texts were generated from five open, non-structured interviews, journals, and field notes. The findings were framed within the NI commonplaces of temporality, sociality, and place, as well as seminal theories …

Technological Adaptations At Dust Cave, Alabama (1lu496): An Evaluation Of Organizational Strategies From The Late Paleoindian To The Middle Archaic, Katherine Elizabeth Mcmillan

Doctoral Dissertations

Stone tools are one of the most common and lasting classes of artifacts in the archaeological record. Through the application of appropriate theoretical frameworks to the study of lithic assemblages, we may seek invaluable insights into the nature of human behavior in the past. In this study, I present a detailed analysis of the chipped stone tool assemblage from Dust Cave (1LU496), a stratified rockshelter site in northwestern Alabama. This site has preserved a record of nearly 7,000 years of human occupation, spanning the Pleistocene- Holocene transition, a period of great climatic and cultural change in North America.

Through the …

The Discursive Construction Of Language Teaching And Learning In Multiuser Virtual Environments, Douglas W. Canfield

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to broaden how researchers within computer-assisted language learning (CALL) make sense of and examine psychological and power constructs at play in language courses conducted in 3D multiuser virtual environments. 18 students and 2 teachers in 8 formal English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in the 3D multiuser virtual environment of Second Life participated in a discourse analysis study to explore the theoretical and analytic ways in which critical discursive psychology could function to explore how teaching and learning are performed as interactional events in a community of language teachers and learners in Second Life by investigating …

A Biologically Informed Structure To Accuracy In Osteometric Reassociation, Kyle Mccormick

Doctoral Dissertations

Commingled assemblages present a common situation in osteological analysis where discrete sets of remains are not readily apparent, thereby hindering biological profile construction and the identification process. Of the methods available for resolving commingling, osteometric reassociation is considered a reliable and relatively objective technique. Traditional osteometric sorting methodologies is a decision-making, error-mitigation approach, where possible matches are eliminated if the calculated pvalue exceeds an analyst-defined threshold. This approach implicitly assumes that all bone comparisons are equally accurate as long as the threshold is attained. This assumption, however, is not based in biological reality. This study tests a hypothetical structure of …

“Will The Crested Cranes Be There In The Future?” An Exploration Of The Ugandan Senior Women’S National Football Team, Alicia Jane Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated that gender inequity exists in national level competitive sport in Uganda (Kateshumbwa, 2011). The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) established the women’s senior national football team, the Crested Cranes, in the early 1990s (FUFA, n.d.); however, only the men’s senior national football team, the Cranes, has been referenced in the literature (Chappell, 2008; Kasoma, 2013). The purpose of this study was to explore (a) how Ugandan women experience football (soccer) in terms of their social identities (e.g., gender, ethnicity, social class, nationality, geographic location); (b) how Ugandan women experience being a player on the senior …

Advancing Social Justice Through Conflict Resolution Amid Rapid Urban Transformation Of The San Francisco Bay Area, Amanda Jo Reinke

Doctoral Dissertations

Since the 1970s, communities throughout the United States have been enthusiastically adopting dispute resolution mechanisms outside the formal legal system. Emerging from the reparative turn in sociolegal studies and widespread social critique in the 1960s and 70s, alternative justice models have been theorized, developed, and implemented by scholars and affected communities. In particular, alternative justice – forms of conflict resolution outside the formal legal system – seek to subvert the formal legal system’s disproportionate impact on marginalized communities by providing accessible, non-criminalizing, and inclusive conflict resolution. Advocates claim such models advance social justice by uplifting restoration rather than retribution, emphasizing …

Examining The Writing Motivation And Achievement Of At-Risk Elementary-Aged Students, Melissa Sue Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

Writing achievement of students in the United States is weak. Approximately 75% of 12th graders are not proficient writers (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2012) and performance of students in poverty lags behind that of more affluent peers. Because writing is complex (Torrance & Galbraith, 2006) and often viewed as aversive to students (Boscolo & Gelati, 2013), motivation is an important consideration for teachers. However, little research exists examining writing motivation.

A correlational research design was employed to examine writing achievement and motivation (i.e., self-efficacy and attributions) of at-risk elementary-aged students (N = 61). Participants, who attended Title 1 …

Evaluating Differential Nuclear Dna Yield Rates Among Human Bone Tissue Types: A Synchrotron Micro-Ct Approach, Janna Michelle Andronowski

Doctoral Dissertations

Molecular human identification has conventionally focused on DNA sampling from dense, weight-bearing cortical bone tissue from femora or tibiae. A comparison of skeletal elements from three contemporary individuals demonstrated that elements with high quantities of cancellous bone yielded nuclear DNA at the highest rates, suggesting that preferentially sampling cortical bone is suboptimal (Mundorff & Davoren, 2014). Despite these findings, the reason for the differential DNA yields between cortical and cancellous bone tissues remains unknown.

The primary goal of this research is to ascertain whether differences in bone microstructure can be used to explain differential nuclear DNA yield among bone tissue …

Geography Of Health Care Access: Measurement, Analyses And Integration, Huairen Ye

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the geography of healthcare access and disparity issues in the United States using geospatial methods. Disparities in access to quality healthcare services are of great concern in the field of both public health and geography. Access is a key element within the healthcare delivery system, influenced by both spatial factors and non-spatial factors. Focusing on the spatial dimensions of access, an innovative contribution of this dissertation is the integration of spatial modeling, geo-statistics and location problems in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment to investigate healthcare access.

Improving health access begins with developing reliable methods to measure …

Do They Use 'Them'?: Gender-Neutral Pronoun Usage Among Queer And Non-Queer College Students, Brandon Ray Darr

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Effects Of Commonly Implemented School Safety Strategies On School Social Work Practitioners, Matthew James Cuellar

Doctoral Dissertations

A primary objective of the school social work profession is to maintain equality and empower students while promoting educational achievement for troubled and disadvantaged youth in schools. They are among the leading mental health care providers for youth in United States schools today. As school social workers are increasingly being used in United States schools, many find themselves working within practice contexts with complex security environments. These environments can introduce a number of complexities to their practice as well as the students they serve; however, the relationship between school safety strategies and school social work practice, and the role school …

Is Nostalgia A Mixed Emotion? Evidence From Emotional Experience And Facial Expressions Of Emotion, Michaela J. Mercer

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Motivations For Choosing A Science, Technology, Engineering, Or Mathematics (Stem) Major, Preston Taylor Mitchell

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Modulating Neuronal Activity: Copper, Isoproterenol, And Beta-Blockers On The Brain, Veronica Go

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Impulsivity And The Dissolution Of Romantic Relationships, Stephanie Marie Smith

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Prevalence Of Human Trafficking And Resources To Alleviate Its Effects In Tennesseee, Christa B. Morton

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Examination Of Age Estimation Of The Sternal Rib Ends In The Third And Fourth Left Ribs, Arleigh Jones

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Old News: A Historical Analysis Of Criticism Of Venezuela's Press Freedom, Emilee Lamb

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Word Learning In Quiet And In Noise: A Preliminary Study, Grace Marie Wholley

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Hiv And Stigma At The University Of Tennessee: A Discussion Of Its Prevalence And How Hiv Awareness Correlates With Stigma, Renee L. Adamec

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Efficacy Of Carpal Bones In Sex Estimation Of American Whites, Ashleigh Watson

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

#Sponsored: The Emergence Of Influencer Marketing, Steven Woods

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Is Big Press Tougher On "She"-Eos?, Kenan G. Smith

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Portrait Of Hiv For The East Region Of Tennessee, Emmitt Lee Turner

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Better Maternal Interaction, Zaynee Roy

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Pre- And Post-Crisis Geographies Of New Urbanism In Atlanta's Inner Suburbs, Scott Nyland Markley

Masters Theses

Since the 1990s, Atlanta’s historically white and affluent northern inner suburbs have experienced increasing rates of poverty alongside growing racial/ethnic diversity, challenging a region notorious for private property politics and a history of supporting anti-immigrant and anti-poor legislation. Meanwhile, on the built landscape, high-end (re)development projects incorporating New Urbanist planning and design features, such as pedestrian accessibility, compact densities, and mixed land uses and housing types, have become increasingly common in this region, especially since the onset of the Great Recession. As Hanlon (2015) has noted, the “green turn” in public planning exemplified by New Urbanism may have adverse consequences …

Academic Choices Matter For Collegiate Student-Athletes, Kendra Arielle Berry

Masters Theses

As college athletics has grown during the last two decades, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the governing institution of college athletics in the United States, has renewed its focus on academic reform and the academic performance of student-athletes (Petr & McArdle, 2012). Athletic administrators and academic support units have started to exert a greater amount of control over student-athletes’ academic lives. However, research with general samples of college students has suggested that having some degree of autonomy is important for academic performance. This raises questions about whether increased control (and reduced autonomy) is actually in the best interest of …