Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mandala And Charisma: The Federalist Potentials In Traditional Indonesian Political Culture, Yuhao Wen

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

This research explores the federalist elements in the mandala (a graphic art pattern in Southeast Asia) and political charisma to discuss their constructive roles as traditional Indonesian political culture in federalizing Indonesia. Since August 17, 1945 when Sukarno declared the independence of the country in Jakarta, the newly–born Indonesia was also finalized as a centralized presidential republic. However, till today, societal diversities in Indonesian society are continuously increasing, the tendency of federalization, therefore, has never entirely faded away. Both the mandala and political charisma de facto have spontaneously generated their own initiatives for federalization since ancient times. Upon illustration of …

The Business Of Coupons-Do Coupons Lead To Repeat Purchases?, Margaret P. Ross

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

In recent years, couponing has emerged as a pop culture phenomenon. Businesses of all types are taking advantage of this resource by revamping their out-dated programs and turning them into something fresh to excite customers. Many questions remain unanswered concerning the viability, profitability, and usefulness of coupons. This study is an analysis of the effectiveness of coupons in enticing return purchases in the soft-drink category and the effectiveness of price discriminating at this grocery store chain. The dataset is comprised of household level grocery store transactions compiled by dunnhumby USA for 2,500 households over a period of two years. An …

The Fair And Laissez-Faire Markets: From A Neoliberal Laissez-Faire Baseline To A Fair Market, Eric L. Dixon

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

The essay begins with a brief overview of the role of the neoliberal conception of the laissez-faire market in modern political economy. The essay then goes on to defend three claims: 1) the laissez-faire version of a market should not be considered the economic ideal or baseline version of a market because often the fundamental conditions required to reach a genuine equilibrium are unfulfilled under a laissez-faire environment, 2) a distribution resultant from a laissez-faire market should not be considered the ultima facie just distributive baseline because an unregulated market may allocate commodities according to morally arbitrary factors and requires …

Text + Images + Data: A More Complete Way To Convey Results Of Scientific Research., Carol Tenopir

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

No abstract provided.

Municipal E-News: Issue 60: June 2014, 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.

Mapping The Feel Of The Arm With The Sight Of The Object: On The Embodied Origins Of Infant Reaching, Daniela Corbetta, Sabrina L. Thurman, Rebecca F. Wiener, Yu Guan, Joshua L. Williams

Psychology Publications and Other Works

For decades, the emergence and progression of infant reaching was assumed to be largely under the control of vision. More recently, however, the guiding role of vision in the emergence of reaching has been downplayed. Studies found that young infants can reach in the dark without seeing their hand and that corrections in infants' initial hand trajectories are not the result of visual guidance of the hand, but rather the product of poor movement speed calibration to the goal. As a result, it has been proposed that learning to reach is an embodied process requiring infants to explore proprioceptively different …

Sociocultural Wg Update, Scwg

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

No abstract provided.

Microbloggers’ Motivations In Participatory Journalism: A Cross-Cultural Study Of America And China, Jue Rui

Doctoral Dissertations

This phenomenological study focuses on the motivations of participatory journalists contributing on microblogs such as Twitter and Weibo. Although online user behavior and motivations have been studied before, few studies have examined motivations of participatory journalists from their own perspective. Moreover, this study is one of the few to explore participatory journalists across different cultures (U.S. and China). The author conducted a total of 13 in-depth interviews with participatory journalists on microblogs from both countries and used a qualitative analysis method to identify the themes and patterns that emerged. Motivations such as earning respect, technology early adoption, self-expression, relationship building, …

Effects Of Stimulus Symmetry On Hierarchical Processing In Six-Month-Old Short- And Long-Looking Infants, Margaret Weinel Guy

Doctoral Dissertations

The current study investigated the effects of stimulus symmetry on the processing of global and local stimulus properties by 6-month-old short- and long-looking infants through the use of event-related potentials (ERPs). When compared with asymmetry, symmetry has been associated with more efficient stimulus processing and more accurate memory for stimulus configuration (Attneave, 1955; Perkins, 1932). Previous research has shown that individual differences in infant visual attention are related to hierarchical stimulus processing, such that short lookers show a precedence effect for global processing, while long lookers demonstrate a local processing precedence (Guy, Reynolds, & Zhang, 2013). Based on the Information …

Should Feedback Confirm Success, Correct Errors, Or Both? An Empirical Test Of The Sandwich Approach To Delivering Feedback, Kevin Allan Becker

Doctoral Dissertations

In motor learning, feedback has long been viewed as a mechanism for correcting errors present in a skill. Recent research has suggested that feedback that confirms the success of a movement can also be valuable for learning (Chiviacowsky & Wulf, 2007). The purpose of the present study was to test the relative merits of knowledge of performance feedback that confirms success (CONF), corrects errors (CORR), or does both through the method commonly referred to as the sandwich approach (SAND). Participants (36), were randomly assigned to one of the three feedback groups, and practiced a soccer throw-in task. The acquisition phase …

Acculturative Stress And Social Support Among Immigrant Arab American Adolescents In East Tennessee, Ayat Jebril Nashwan

Doctoral Dissertations

The study investigated sources and levels of acculturative stress among immigrant Arab American adolescents, and sources of social and emotional support that may mitigate acculturation-related stressors. The purposive sample (N=230) consisted of Arab American youth, 11-17 years of age, most of whom attended public schools in a moderate-sized city in East Tennessee, USA. Respondents were balanced in terms of gender, most were 13-17 years old, and were middle and high school-aged students. Over half were born in one of 16 different Arab countries, mainly Iraq, Egypt, and Syria. They had lived in the United States for 1-17 years, with a …

Assessing The Effect Of Sense Of Community On Military Veteran Community Reintegration Difficulties, Veliska Joy Thomas

Doctoral Dissertations

Sense of Community (SOC) has been the theoretical underpinnings of practice models with veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (Amdur et al. 2011; Bowen, Martin, Mancini & Nelson, 2000; Hollingsworth, 2011; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs). The current study addresses the need for empirical evidence to support this practice intervention by testing the mediation role of SOC on the relationship between Veteran Community Reintegration (VCR) risk factors and VCR difficulties. Secondary data from a cross-sectional survey consisting of N=131 military veterans in the southern region of the United States was used to test this model. Confirmatory …

Communities Of Abundance: Sociality, Sustainability, And The Solidarity Economies Of Local Food-Related Business Networks In Knoxville, Tennessee, Tony Nathan Vanwinkle

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the socio-economic and eco-political dimensions of contemporary localist food movements in Knoxville, Tennessee. More specifically, it explores the implications of the mutualistic and networked socio-economies (solidarity and/or community economies) of such movement expressions as they are experienced, embodied, and understood among the small-scale, independent food-related business owners who often serve as the interpellators of such movements. This study is likewise concerned with ways in which movement actors are actively shaping/creating place (via the processes of emplacement), and relatedly, the way place—as an entity possessive of its own accretions of environmental, historical, cultural, economic, and political identities—shapes actors, …

Augmenting Functional Adaptation: Does Obesity Have A Systemic Effect On Bone Strength Properties In Humans?, Nicole Marie Reeves

Doctoral Dissertations

This study considers the mechanical and neuroendocrine-metabolic effects of obesity on cortical bone and joint morphology throughout the human skeleton. Obesity has primarily been associated with changes in lower limb bone morphology, attributed to local mechanical responses; however, it is known that systemic metabolic shifts concomitant with obesity also influence bone turnover and cell signaling. Thus, the interaction of these mechanical and metabolic effects should be considered, rather than either factor in isolation.

The presented research addresses this interaction by examining skeletal data obtained the William M. Bass Donated Collection (University of Tennessee), a modern collection with documentation representing obese …

Assessing The Impact Of United States Mass Media On Croatian Cultural Identities, Iveta Imre

Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers throughout the decades have been interested in understanding how global communications coming from the West affect different cultures around the world. Many have raised concerns about the impact of American media on unique national cultures. The main purpose of this study was to understand how exposure to American television influences cultural identities and values of young people in Croatia, one of the new democracies of post-Communist Eastern Europe. This was accomplished in two parts. First part of this study sought to test the relationship between watching American television and adopting American values following a cognitive functional theory of television's …

Essays On The Optimality Of Delaying Quality Tests And The Reverse Hold-Up Problem, Natalia Gritsko

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two chapters that examine the optimality of delaying quality tests of new products and the effects of cancellation payments on the hold-up problem.

Chapter 1 analyzes the possibility of delaying quality testing of a new product when the market consists of an early adopter and a follower who receive some private information about the quality. In our social learning framework, delaying a test can lead to better informed decisions regarding conducting the test by the regulator because she, along with other market participants, gains more information about the product quality by observing early adopter's informative actions. …

Measuring Change In Psychotherapy Using The Mmpi-2 And The Holt Measure Of Primary Process Manifestation, Karen M. Toman

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined personality change in subjects after Long Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, defined as 10 months or longer of continuous therapy, at a University outpatient psychology clinic. Assessment measures used were the MMPI-2 and the Holt Measure of Primary Process Manifestation. An archival search of patient records over 7 years was conducted for files that included 1) adults 18 years or older, 2) attended therapy for at least 10 consecutive months or longer and 3) contained 2 completed MMPI-2 tests and/or 2 completed Rorschach Inkblot Tests. The sample included 17 patient files with 1 set of tests given as part …

Online Social Networking Sites: Meaning Of Sns's To Gay Men From Non-Accepting Families, Richard Tazz Curry

Doctoral Dissertations

The role of technology can be argued as changing the social landscape for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals. A 2009 survey of LGBTQ adults revealed over 70% of individuals self-reported using the Internet as their primary means of information seeking (Bond, Hefner, & Drognos). While traditional venues still exist for LGBTQ individuals in exploration of personal and sexual identities, the Internet serves as one distinguishing difference: anonymity. This study utilizes in-depth interviews, (N=15), to explore the experiences of gay men, from non-accepting families, who use online social networking sites (SNS) to reshape their perception of the world …

Drawing The Primetime Color Line: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Interracial Marriages In Television Sitcoms, Jodi Lynn Rightler-Mcdaniels

Doctoral Dissertations

Changes throughout history, particularly those surrounding race relations in the U.S., frequently have a direct effect on personal social experience and the current structure of society. Although public discourse often emphasizes the rhetoric of racial progression, subtle racism abounds – both in society and in media – masked under the façade of equality. This is especially true when examining race relations between Blacks and Whites, particularly those involved in intimate heterosexual interracial relationships, as they have traditionally been viewed as negative, dangerous, and threatening to the status quo.

Television representations are often socially and culturally rooted with real issues, hence …

Essay On Firm Inventory And Innovation Behavior, Ye Gu

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies firm’s decisions on inventory investment and innovation activities. The first chapter examines firm inventory behavior. It resolves and simulates the production smoothing/buffer stock model using different sets of parameters. It shows that the relationship between a sales shock and inventory investment could be ambiguous which is different from previous predictions. The production smoothing/buffer stock model and the (S, s) model of inventory are tested using a rich Chinese firm-level dataset covering 769 manufacturing firms from 1980 to 1989, and I find that sales are positively correlated with inventory for raw materials, but negatively correlated with …

Assessing Data Practices For Dataone., Carol Tenopir

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

No abstract provided.

Usability Testing To Improve Research Data Services., Rachel E. Volentine, Amber Owens

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

No abstract provided.

The Pell Grant: Foundations, Current Model, And Future Public Policy Implications, Taylor K. Odle

Baker Scholar Projects

No abstract provided.

Challenging The State: Evaluating The Effects Of Uneven Distribution Of Public Goods, Economic Globalization And Political Openness On Domestic Terrorism, Sambuddha Ghatak

Doctoral Dissertations

The end of Cold-War ushered in an era of global economic integration and political openness in terms of emerging democracies; the world celebrated the triumph of free market capitalism as the East European ex-communist countries and Third World countries of Asia and Africa placed market forces at the center of their policy. There seems to have been a breakthrough for the idea of the Manchester School, in terms of using economics as a means of international peace. On the other hand, however, the world is not at peace. The collapse of the “Soviet Empire” was followed by the emergence, or …

Municipal E-News: Issue 59: May 2014, 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.

4 Grandparents, 2 Parents, 1 Daughter: The One Child Policy's Restructuring Of Chinese Families And Its Positive Impact On Gender Equality, Lisa Dicker

Baker Scholar Projects

No abstract provided.

Tennessee Education Reform: Understanding Policy Implementations In Tennessee’S Rural And Urban School Districts And Future Steps For Positive Change, Abigail Jeanne Mckamey

Baker Scholar Projects

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Family In Wellbeing And Quality Of Life Among Palestinian Adults, Carolyn Reagh Spellings

Doctoral Dissertations

The family domain has been inadequately included in general discussions of wellbeing and quality of life. The omission of family influences from these discussions is particularly unfortunate given that families are the primary institution in which individuals come to know themselves in relation to others and their environment. Adequate attention to family is all the more important when studying political conflict given the span of forces associated with political conflict that might tax families. This dissertation used data from a recent project designed to understand the nature of wellbeing/ quality of life among Palestinians, focusing particularly on the role of …

Examining Perceived Life Stress Factors Among Intercollegiate Athletes: A Holistic Perspective, Landon Tyler Huffman

Doctoral Dissertations

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) subscribes to the principle of intercollegiate athlete well-being (Article 2.2) which includes health and safety (Article 2.2.3). However, intercollegiate athletes, particularly those competing in arguably the most competitive level of intercollegiate athletics (i.e., NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision [FBS]), are exposed to unique stressors which may compromise their well-being. One dimension which has been received less frequent investigation in the context of athlete welfare is that of spirituality. In lieu of the unique intercollegiate athletic environment and stressors, it is critical to investigate the relationships between the spiritually-related characteristics, specifically religiosity, resiliency, and …

An Analysis Of The Carry Trade: Historical And Empirical Evidence From The Japanese Yen And Australian Dollar Currency Pair, Thomas R. Fleming

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.