Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cell Phone Ethnography: Mixed Methods And The Brand Consumer Relationship, Robert Nathaniel Dove

Masters Theses

Overall, the goal of this study is to identify and differentiate the various motivations and cultural influences that can be used to explain consumer behavior. In doing so, this study hopes to facilitate the development of new and innovative marketing strategies, providing a new research design for the ethnographer’s toolkit. More importantly, this model can give shape to new constructs and new variables for further empirical testing in the field through quantitative and qualitative methods. By blending the two approaches, using qualitative interpretive anthropological analysis by field study with quantitative sentiment analysis adapted from market researcher Jeffery Breen’s (2012) methodology, …

Isolated Words Selectively Enhance Memory For High Transitional Probability Sound Sequences, Ferhat Karaman

Masters Theses

Research over the past two decades has demonstrated that infants are equipped with remarkable computational abilities that allow them to find words in continuous speech. Infants can encode information about the transitional probability (TP) between syllables to segment words from speech when tested immediately after familiarization with an artificial (e.g., Saffran, Aslin & Newport, 1996) or natural language (Pelucchi, Hay, & Saffran, 2009). However, infants’ ability to retain the sequential statistics beyond the immediate familiarization context remains unknown. In the present study, we examine infants’ memory for statistically-defined words 10- minutes following familiarization with a naturally produced Italian corpus. Eight-month-old …

Does Hypnosis Facilitate Primary Process Mentation? An Inquiry Into The Psychoanalytic Theories Of Hypnosis And Thinking, Gyrid Lyon

Masters Theses

The distinction between primary and secondary process mentation is an important part of the psychoanalytic model of cognitive functioning. Primary processes are most characteristic of unconscious thought, loose associations, dreams, and reverie; and secondary processes predominate during the waking, conscious life of most mature adults and are characterized by logical thinking and planning. It has been theorized that one characteristic of the hypnotic state is that it facilitates an increase in primary process mentation. The present study tests this theory using a recently developed, brief, and nonverbal measure of primary process mentation: the GeoCat. Specifically, the current study tests the …

Observing Parenting In The Context Of Maternal Borderline Personality Disorder And Adolescent Symptomatology, Rebecca Meredith Mahan

Masters Theses

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe and chronic disorder characterized by a distorted sense of self, fear of abandonment, and difficulties forming and maintaining relationships. Two empirically supported developmental antecedents of offspring borderline features include invalidating parenting practices and maternal BPD. Recent research found that parental psychological control is one type of invalidating parenting behavior that is related to maternal borderline symptoms. The current study observed maternal psychologically controlling behaviors among a sample of 56 adolescents ages 14-18 and their mothers, who were divided into groups of those diagnosed with BPD (n = 28) and those who did …

Effects Of Bullying And Victimization On Friendship Selection, Reciprocation, And Maintenance In Elementary School Children, Marisa Lynn Whitley

Masters Theses

This study examined the effects of elementary school children’s bullying and victimization experiences on their friendships over time. The majority of children experience acts of aggression or bullying before the end of elementary school, and bullying and peer victimization is associated with academic, social, behavioral, and psychological difficulties. This study used social networks analysis (R SIENA 4.0) to examine whether peer reports of forms of bullying and victimization (i.e., overt and relational) affect the likelihood of friendship selection, reciprocation, and maintenance in 2^nd-4^th grade children. Children (N = 143) from the Midwestern region of the United …

Tracking Trajectories: Charting Changes Of Late Archaic Shell Ring Formation And Use, Martin Peter Walker

Masters Theses

For the past fifty years the shell rings of the North American, southeastern, Late Archaic period, have been a continuous object of archaeological research. They have been studied within contexts of the initial creation and use of ceramics in North America, mounding and monumentality of hunter-gatherers, early sedentism and social complexity, forager feasting, ritual, and ceremonialism, and human-environment interactions. The aim of this project was to bring together the cumulative data generated by this continuous research focus and centralize it within a single database, the Late Archaic Shell Rings Repository. In utilizing this consolidated data set, it is possible to …

A Geoarchaeological Analysis Of Ground Stone Tools And Architectural Materials From Mitrou, East Lokris, Greece, Lee Bailey Anderson

Masters Theses

Important but seldom asked questions in the study of practice in Bronze Age Aegean society (ca. 3100-1100 B.C.) pertain to the acquisition and usage of stone material in architecture and ground stone tools. My main research questions are, “How did people’s choice of stone material change over time?” and “Why did stone usage change over time?” During the 2013 and 2014 study seasons at Mitrou, I studied the stone inclusions in clayey architectural materials, as well as stone types used in the site’s architecture, and stone types used for ground stone tools at the site. My geological identifications allowed me …

Positive And Negative Emotion, Group Climate, And Ethnocultural Empathy In Intergroup Dialogue, Keri Frantell

Masters Theses

We examined shared emotional experiences of 89 participants in 24 intergroup dialogue (IGD) groups at a large, public university in the Southeastern US. These groups brought together students for sustained dialogue about gender, race and ethnicity, religion and spirituality, sexual orientation, or social class and associated forms of privilege and oppression. They were designed to develop: (a) relationships across groups, (b) critical social consciousness, and (c) capacities to promote social justice. Dialogue groups met for eight consecutive weeks. After each session, participants completed measures of group climate and positive and negative emotion during the session. In addition, they completed a …

Classifying Nominal Voltage Of Electric Power Transmission Lines Using Remotely-Sensed Data, Erik Herman Schmidt

Masters Theses

Geospatial data of national infrastructure are a valuable resource for visualization, analysis, and modeling. Building these geospatial foundation-level infrastructure datasets presents numerous challenges. Among those challenges is that of acquiring non-visible attribution of particular infrastructure entities for which there is no viable tabular source. In the case of electric power transmission lines, these data are difficult to acquire, particularly nation-wide. The route, or geometry of transmission lines can be determined from aerial imagery, but nominal voltage, a fundamental requirement for analysis and modeling, is not readily apparent. However, inferences can be made about the nominal voltage based on visual characteristics, …

Student-Athlete Career Development Through Community Service: A Retrospective Study, Jackson Zane Martin

Masters Theses

This study examined the career development of seven former Southeastern Conference (SEC) student-athletes who were awarded membership to the SEC Community Service team through their contributions both with their teams and individually. The NCAA Division-I student-athlete population is a unique subset of college students that face hindrances through time restraints but also have designated sources aimed to enhance their academic and vocational development, with the latter usually assigned to full-time Life Skills administrators. Through a series of phone interviews focused on reflective collegiate community service and career development, several themes emerged. For collegiate community service the most common themes were: …

Obesity In Society: The Importance Of Perception, Michael Darnell Oliver Ii

Masters Theses

In the current study, I examined the role of positive and negative media images of obese individuals on attitudes and physiological responding in relation to an actual discrimination incident. Various surveys were administered and Body Mass Index (BMI), salivary Alpha Amylase (sAA), and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) or Skin Conductance (SC) were measured. Participants read a vignette in which an obese individual was discriminated against and further questions were administered to assess attributional blame. My primary hypothesis in this study was that there would be a decrease in stigma due to positive priming, specifically stigma directed at the obese population. …

The Modulating Role Of Motor Action Anticipation In Relation To Visual Attention To A Scene, Rebecca Faith Wiener

Masters Theses

This study investigates how visual attention to a scene is modified when the actor has a reaching goal or not. Thirty-six 7-month-olds were recruited, with 18 in a reaching group and 18 in a non-reaching group. Infants in both groups were presented with objects out of their reaching space until they accumulated approximately six seconds of active looking as measured by an eye-tracker. For the infants in the non-reaching group, the trial ended after the six seconds. For the reaching group, the object was then moved into the infants’ reaching space where they could reach for it. We were interested …

Message Strategies In Korean Cosmetic Surgery Websites, Gawon Kim

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate message strategies used in South Korean cosmetic surgery websites. The paper uses Taylor’s six-segment message strategy model to analyze the Korean sample websites. The outcome of the content analysis revealed that Informational and Transformational strategies were both equivalently used. Ration and ego strategies were the most frequently practiced within the Informational and Transformational divisions.

Effective Followership Characteristics: Self-Regulation And Intercultural Communication Competence, Cassandra Ann Mellon

Masters Theses

Followership is a remarkably pervasive experience shared by all human beings who occupy the masses within national and global organizations. The purpose of the current study was to further knowledge and understanding of the followership construct by distinguishing a set of communicative characteristics that effective followers demonstrate—exploring the associations among perceptions of effective followership, self-regulation, and intercultural communication competence. This study examines whether self-regulation and co-cultural competence are characteristics of effective followership. Followership scholars suggest that followership research should develop followership characteristics based on variables focusing on the perceptions of followers in relation to leaders (Uhl-Bien, Riggio, Lowe, & Carsten, …

Factors Influencing The Adoption Of Automatic Section Control Technologies And Gps Auto-Guidance Systems In Cotton Production, Brittani Kimberlyn Edge

Masters Theses

Precision agriculture (PA) technologies allow producers to obtain information about their fields and use this knowledge to apply inputs and manage time more efficiently. PA technologies such as Automatic-Section Control (ASC) reduce inefficiencies such as overlapping application of inputs (e.g., seed, chemicals). Additionally, technologies such as Auto-Guidance (AG) systems complement ASC technologies and allow producers to work longer hours by reducing fatigue. Both ASC and AG technologies appear to be quickly adopted by producers because of their relatively low cost compared to other precision farming technologies.

The objective of this study is to determine the factors influencing the adoption of …

Peer Educators In National Panhellenic Conference Sororities, Kelsey Kathleen Elam-Geuting

Masters Theses

National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) member organizations have numerous officer positions that might be informally defined as peer educators based on their position responsibilities. Little is known about these officers’ experiences as peer educators, the amount of training they receive, and their effectiveness in providing relevant and purposeful programs for their chapters. The purpose of this study was to better understand peer educators’ experiences within NPC sororities. If the experiences and leadership development of peer educators in NPC sororities are better understood, more can be done to support them in creating meaningful programs and services for their sisters. By supporting small …

Alone, Together: The Influence Of Stigmatization On Cultural Relationality, Elizabeth Helen Fles

Masters Theses

It is no secret that great disparities in wealth and opportunities pervade our society. Psychological research pertaining to resource inequality attributes these disparities a product of social stigmatization, which is the experience of societal rejection due to the negative stereotypes associated with group membership. Social stigma is correlated with adverse effects; the current research explores the possibility that stigma can alter the extent to which others are included in one’s sense of self, also known as cultural relationality. Study 1 investigated this relationship by measuring both stigma and relationality using self-report measures and found relationality to be negatively correlated with …

Impulsivity And The Dissolution Of Romantic Relationships, Stephanie Marie Smith, Jerika C. Norona

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

The primary aim of this study was to examine whether impulsivity is related to emerging adults’ motivations for breaking up with romantic partners. Previous findings indicate that emerging adults (ages 18-25) tend to base their decision-making on the fulfillment of their needs for independence and/or interdependence. The present study included 113 emerging adults who reported the reasons why they decided to end a romantic relationship in the past six months. These responses were coded for the presence of independence and interdependence motivations. The UPPS-P impulsive behavior scale measured five facets of impulsivity: negative urgency, lack of premeditation, …

Understanding Social Presence And Subject Position In Online Environments, Michael Miceli

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Within various fields of linguistics, language is perceived as a social mechanism, always carrying the meanings and values of community, social groups, networks, culture, identity, and more. Language is at the heart of our interaction with the world around us. In a gaming environment, this translates in discursively created actions and interactions that regulate the relationships between players and, consequently, the outcome of the game. In order to be successful in such environments, players will need to develop a strong social presence, that is to say, the ability to project themselves through their characters in the social community and present …

Tennessee Municipal Benchmarking Project Fy2015, Christopher Shults, Frances Adams-O'Brien

Tennessee Municipal Benchmarking Project

This report marks the thirteenth year of the Tennessee Municipal Benchmarking Project (TMBP). The report provides performance and cost data for the period July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2014 (Fiscal Year 2015 or FY2015). In this FY2015 annual report, there are a total of eleven service areas measured and analyzed:

1) Building Code Enforcement 2) Employment Benefits 3) Finance 4) Fire 5) Human Resources 6) Information Technology 7) Parks and Recreation 8) Planning and Zoning 9) Police 10) Property Maintenance Code Enforcement 11) Refuse Collection, Disposal, and Recycling.

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

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Word learning involves finding words in continuous speech and mapping them onto novel objects. Previous research has demonstrated that infants can track the transitional probability (TP) between syllables (i.e., the likelihood two syllables will co-occur) in continuous speech to discover word boundaries. Here we ask whether infants can map sound sequences they have extracted from fluent speech onto novel objects. We used a naturally produced Italian corpus in which the TP between syllables was manipulated in 4 target words: two high TP (HTP; TP=1.0) words with component syllables only occurring within those words, and two low TP (LTP; TP=.3) words …

Municipal E-News: Issue 79: April 2016, Mtas

Municipal E-News

The “Municipal E-News” was created by MTAS in 2009 as part of our continuing efforts to meet our mission of providing timely, valuable information and assistance to Tennessee cities.

Ux Report: Member Node Service Usability Results, Rachel Volentine, Uawg

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

No abstract provided.

Open Peer Review: An Innovation In Scientific Publishing, Peiling Wang, Manasa Rath, Michael Deike, Wu Qiang

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

This research observes the emerging open peer review journals. In scientific publishing, transparency in peer review is a growing topic of interest for online journals. The traditional blind refereeing process has been criticized for lacking transparency. Although the idea of open peer review (OPR) has been explored since 1980s, it is only in this decade that OPR journals are born. Towards a more open publishing model, the peer review process--once accessible only to the editors and referees—is now available to public. The published article and its review history are being integrated into one entity; readers can submit or post comments …

Inequalities Creating Economic Barriers To Owning Mobile Phones In India: Factors Responsible For The Gender Digital Divide, Devendra Potnis

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

In India, men own around 70% of mobile phones, creating a gender digital divide for the most widely owned information and communication technology (ICT) in the world. This study investigates the factors responsible for the inability of 245 female slum-dwellers in India earning less than $2 a day to own a mobile phone. Open, axial and selective coding of survey responses shows that socio-cultural, economic, demographic, psychological, communication-related, and health related inequalities in the lives of the respondents create eight economic barriers precluding respondents from owning some of the least expensive mobile phones worth $15 or so on installments of …

Identifying Key Steps For Developing Mobile Applications And Mobile Websites For Libraries, Devendra Potnis, Reynard Regenstreif-Harms, Edwin Cortez

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Mobile applications and mobile websites (MAMW) represent information systems that are increasingly being developed by libraries to better serve their patrons. Due to a lack of in-house IT skills and the knowledge necessary to develop MAMW, a majority of libraries are forced to rely on external IT professionals, who may or may not help libraries meet patron needs but instead may deplete libraries’ scarce financial resources. This paper applies a system analysis and design perspective to analyze the experience and advice shared by librarians and IT professionals engaged in developing MAMW. This paper identifies key steps and precautions to take …

Reinventing And Reinvesting In The Local For Our Common Good, Brian A. Hoey

Southern Anthropological Society Conference Proceedings

Selected Papers from the Annual Meeting of the Southern Anthropological Society, Huntington, West Virginia, April 2016

The Utilization Of Political Skill As Leverage In Sport Management Research, Pamela L. Perrewé, Gerald R. Ferris

Journal of Applied Sport Management

A major advancement in the political skill program of research was the development of a systematically developed and validated scale to measure political skill (i.e., referred to as the Political Skill Inventory), which reflected its four underlying dimensions of social astuteness, interpersonal influence, networking ability, and apparent sincerity. Also contributing to this expanded program of research was the publication of a comprehensive theoretical statement explaining the process dynamics and operation of the construct (Ferris et al., 2007), and also an applied book on political skill (Ferris, Davidson, & Perrewé, 2005), which discussed the implications for practice of this construct, and …

Politics And Pigskins: Leader Political Support And Doug Williams’S Termination From Grambling State University, B. Parker Ellen Iii

Journal of Applied Sport Management

Management research long has benefitted from the examination of sport teams and organizations to inform its theories. Similarly, sport management research can benefit from the investigation of business organization research concepts. In the present study, a narrative case study approach is taken to review Doug Williams’s second tenure as Grambling State University’s head football coach. Archival data (i.e., media reports, university communications, and court documents) indicated that Grambling University was an environment ripe for political behavior. Further, the data reveal that Williams’s social capital and political will led to his demonstration of political support for his players, and that this …

Sport Management Internship Quality And The Development Of Political Skill: A Conceptual Model, Simon A. Brandon-Lai, Cole G. Armstrong, Kyle S. Bunds

Journal of Applied Sport Management

Internships are a key component of sport organizations and the sport management curriculum. Due to the vastness of internships both in academia and the sport profession, it is imperative to understand the effectiveness of internships for both the organization and the intern. While previous research has focused on quality control, the agency’s perspective of internships, the student’s perspective, and how to link the theory to practice, scholars have yet to examine the effects of sport management internships on the development of essential professional skills and/or attributes. Given the political nature of obtaining and keeping a job in the sport business, …