Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Framing The Internet In China: Cross-Cultural Comparisons Of Newspapers’ Coverage In China, Hong Kong, Singapore, The United States, And The United Kingdom, Xiang Zhou

Doctoral Dissertations

This study introduced the framing theory, Shoemaker and Reese’s hierarchical model, and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions into a cross-cultural comparative analysis of news coverage of the Internet in China from 2000 to 2004 in selected newspapers in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Significant differences were found to exist across the societies in both the salience of Internet-related issues and the usage of generic news frames. The issue of Internet diffusion and use was most frequently mentioned in the newspapers from China, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. The U.S. newspapers paid most attention to the issue …

The Decoupling Hypothesis: A New Idea For The Origin Of Hominid Bipedalism, Adam David Sylvester

Doctoral Dissertations

Theoretical adaptive landscapes and mathematical representations of key constraints of evolutionary and primate biology are used to propose a new hypothesis for the origin of hominid bipedalism. These constraints suggest that the selective pressure that produced this novel form of locomotion was the need for effective suspensory and terrestrial movement. This testable hypothesis, termed the Decoupling Hypothesis, posits that bipedalism is an adaptation that enables the shoulder to maintain a high degree of mobility, a feature important to suspensory behaviors, in the face of significant demands for a high degree of stability, a feature important for highly effective terrestrial quadrupedism. …

Disentangling The Meaning Of Multisource Feedback: An Examination Of The Nomological Network Surrounding Source And Dimension Factors, Brian J. Hoffman

Doctoral Dissertations

This study combines internal and external approaches to construct validation in examining the construct validity of multisource feedback (MSF). First, consistent with prior MSF research, within source agreement was greater than across source agreement, the MSF instrument was equivalent across sources, and source and dimension latent factors characterized the MSF data. Next, existing MSF construct validity research was extended by examining the pattern of relationships between factor analytically derived source and dimension factors and externally measured constructs (e.g., assessment center dimensions, personality constructs, and intelligence). The pattern of relationships between MSF dimensions and conceptually similar and dissimilar external constructs suggested …

Essays On Tax Competition, Brian Christopher Hill

Doctoral Dissertations

Essay 1

This essay empirically researches the setting of multiple tax rates by county governments in the presence of tax competition and agglomerations. Previous empirical evidence outside the tax arena suggests that firms earn rents in the presence of agglomerations from external economies of scale. As a result, governments might be able to extract a portion of these rents from businesses through higher tax rates. This paper empirically examines how local governments set sales and property tax rates, the two largest taxes paid by businesses at the state and local level, taking into account tax competition pressures and agglomerations. Using …

The Relationship Among Personality Traits, Character Strengths, And Life Satisfaction In College Students, Nalini Maria West

Doctoral Dissertations

Utilizing a sample of college students who completed the Adolescent Personal Style Inventory for College Students (Lounsbury & Gibson, 2004), the VIA Classification of Strengths (Peter, Park, & Seligman, 2004), and a Quality of Life Scale, specific relations between the Big Five Factor Model personality traits, character strengths, and life satisfaction in college students were hypothesized and examined. With the exception of the Big Five trait, Conscientiousness, all of the hypothesized correlations were found to be significant at the .05 level. This study also investigated whether the character strengths model and the Big Five model were significant predictors of life …

Socio-Emotional Conflict In Teams: A Social Relations Analysis And Exploration Of Causes, Jacqueline Zelno Bergman

Doctoral Dissertations

Substantial research has consistently shown that socio-emotional conflict detracts from team performance and decreases team member satisfaction. However, little research has been done to determine what leads to this type of conflict. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine in more detail the underlying causes of socio-emotional conflict among team members from a person-perception perspective. A round-robin design and D. Kenny's (1994) social relations model (SRM) were used to examine the extent to which perceptions of socio-emotional conflict stem from individual versus relational factors. Moreover, several individual difference variables were examined to investigate who is most likely to …

Urban Transit And The Working Poor: The Geography Of Welfare Reform, Jennifer Lynn Rogalsky

Doctoral Dissertations

American cities have changed from older high-density urban neighborhoods to sprawling automobile-oriented suburbs. Many of the urban poor find themselves distant from jobs and services on this landscape. For poor single mothers, the problems are exacerbated by childrearing responsibilities. In addition, most of the jobs that are accessible to the working poor are low paying and have non-traditional hours, making the challenges of this new urban landscape even more formidable.

Welfare reform initiatives have established time limits for assistance; the aim is to remove millions from welfare and make them self-sufficient. However, the immediate result was to push many into …

Political Practice: A Hermeneutic-Phenomenological Inquiry, Michael E. Arfkin

Doctoral Dissertations

The present project focuses on some of the similarities between social cognition, transcendental phenomenology, literary theory, and epistemological hermeneutics. I argue that developments in hermeneutic theory call into question the view that interpretation is a cognitive process residing within the minds of individuals. Drawing on Heidegger’s project for a fundamental ontology, I suggest that hermeneutic phenomenology provides a radical critique of social cognition’s view of the nature of social reality. I also introduce the concept of practice as an alternative to psychology’s focus on subjectivity.

These theoretical explorations provide a foundation for investigating the practices that embody an interpretation of …

What's Up, Bitch?, Mary Elizabeth Asbury

Masters Theses

This study examined the judgments rendered by college students about the term "bitch." While the term was once considered to be hate speech towards women, popular culture has made the term relatively common, often giving it a comical meaning (Lee, 1998). Because much of our popular culture is aimed at the 18-24 age groups, it follows that the term "bitch" is often not considered to be hate speech by this generation. In addition, women are now gaining status in Western cultures, and are entering fields once dominated by men. Women who were once considered to be outcasts and "uppity" for …

The Construct Of Sensory Suggestibility: A Factor Analysis, Nicole Alexandra Perez

Masters Theses

The construct of “suggestibility” has garnered great interest in the field of psychology over the years. It has been invoked as an explanatory construct in social, clinical, and forensic psychology. Yet, the nature of the construct and of its factor structure is unclear. In an earlier study we operationalized suggestibility by measuring conformity, interrogative suggestibility, placebo effects, persuasibility and hypnotizability. There was no discernible factor structure. In the present study, we narrowed our focus to sensory suggestibility alone expecting to find some cohesion among responsiveness to these types of suggestive situations by examining this phenomenon across eight sensory measures (tactile, …

Sufferings Which Have No Tongue: The Enculturation Of War, Trauma, And The Disappearing Body, Jason Lewis Simms

Masters Theses

Warfare has always been vital to the state for a number of reasons. Those in power have a vested interest in maintaining control over not only war itself, but also information related to the conflict. One way they accomplish this is by making decisions that restrict, alter, tone-down, or otherwise change content related to human bodies in times of conflict that is meant for widespread dissemination through mainstream media and official government or military reporting. An extreme implementation of this power can make bodies disappear. Drawing on the work of Gusterson (2004), Ehrenreich (1997), Sontag (2003), Chomsky (2002), Scott (1990), …

A Histological Examination Of Odocoileus Virginianus For Forensic Application, Lindsay Hines Trammell

Masters Theses

Few researchers have endeavored to approach the issue of bone histology in non-human specimen. In the forensic setting, it is oftentimes the norm to establish the origin of fragmentary remains as human or non-human; if the fragments are non-human then the analysis is usually said to be finished.

If the specimen does prove to be non-human, it is useful and important to learn the identity of the faunal species. The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is common to the Eastern United States and is very often found in forensic settings, commingled with or alongside of human remains. This study …

Health Information Need And Seeking Of Older Adults Residing In An Independent-Living Retirement Community: A Qualitative Study, Sheri L. Edwards

Masters Theses

Among the information needs experienced by older adults, health information needs consistently achieve a high ranking. The purpose of this study was to examine the health information needs of older adults residing in an independent-living retirement community, as well as the information channels they use for information. Additionally, this study explored whether information channels satisfied older adults’ health information needs. Face-to-face in-depth interviews revealed that older adults experience a variety of health information needs; the emergence of those needs is attributed to varying circumstances. While the older adults in this study often use one or more information channels to satisfy …

Infidelity In Adolescent Romantic Relationships, Rebecca E. Furr

Masters Theses

Infidelity within adolescent dating relationships is a commonplace behavior that has received very little empirical attention. The present study examines multiple facets of this behavior in a sample of 209 middle and late adolescent couples. An ecological model is used to explore factors related to the individual, relationship, and context in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. While multiple variables on all of these levels were significant in cross-sectional analysis, a few stood out as being important predictors of infidelity over time. In particular, participants who had a higher opinion of their own physical attractiveness were more likely to cheat at …

Sexual Communication And Contraceptive Use In Adolescent Dating Couples, Laura M. Widman

Masters Theses

This study had two aims: first, to examine the relationship between general sexual communication and contraceptive use in sexually active adolescent romantic couples, and second, to explore predictors of open communication from characteristics of adolescent couples and individual adolescents. Data were drawn from 209 male-female couples dating a minimum of four weeks who participated in the Study of Tennessee Adolescent Romantic Relationships. Seventy-three adolescent dating couples (ages 14-21) that engaged in sexual intercourse and completed a sexual communication questionnaire were included in current analyses. Results indicated that nearly 30% of couples failed to use contraception at first intercourse and almost …

Psychosocial Correlates Of Methamphetamine Use, Greg Joseph Eisinger

Masters Theses

Methamphetamine (MA) abuse is a devastating problem which has been sweeping the United States from west to east and has reached epidemic proportion in many areas. Literature on the drug itself, its history, and effects are reviewed. The current project aimed to examine the psychosocial correlates of MA use using Hudson's Multi-Problem Screening Inventory (MPSI).

The MPSI was given to a control group of undergraduate social work students (n=17) and a group of past-year MA users (n=15). All participants supplied demographic information and completed a questionnaire on their MA-use habits. Differences between users and non users were examined across the …

Women, Aging, And Media: How Women Are Impacted By Messages About Getting Older In Popular Culture, Teresa Shelley Bowman

Masters Theses

There is a growing body of literature about the social and economic impact of baby boomers and how aging is affecting their perceptions. The immense wealth of this group (and their willingness to spend it) is a focal point for marketers and, therefore, for the media.

However, media portrayal of older women is paradoxical. Women of the boomer generation (born 1946-1964) are highly educated, financially strong, and more independent than previous generations. Studies indicate that these women will actually control much of the country's wealth in coming years and will be the ones responsible for deciding how it is spent. …

Assessing The Impact Of The Interpersonal Communication Course, Michelle Epstein Garland

Masters Theses

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to identify a strategy for the assessment of the interpersonal communication course. As envisioned, the assessment process focused on key elements of the course: knowledge of concepts, theories, and research findings; development of interpersonal skills through verbal and written activities; and understanding of a range of interpersonal contexts. Through a course-embedded assessment procedure, the review process examined students, faculty, and the course itself through various forms of formal and informal, direct and indirect methods.

Findings revealed an increase in communication apprehension and decrease in interpersonal communication motives from the beginning of the term …

A Paleoecological History Of West Pond On Great Abaco Island, The Bahamas, Based On Pollen And Charcoal Analysis Of Lake Sediments, Allison Jean Stork

Masters Theses

West Pond (26.2˚ N, 77.2˚ W, ca. 5 m elevation) is a shallow, alkaline pond within the pine rocklands and karst topography of Great Abaco Island, the Bahamas. For parallel core sections recovered from the pond in 2003 reveal marl sediments overlying peat deposits with a paleosol at the base. A radiocarbon date on a fragment of wood of Pinus caribaea Morelet from the paleosol indicates that the sediment record at West Pond spans the last ~2100 years.

Pollen grains preserved in the West Pond sediments indicate significant environmental change at the site. While pine pollen accounts for 85-99% of …

Feeding Behavior And Chick-A-Dee Calls In The Presence Of Predator Models: A Field Study Of Carolina Chickadees (Peocile Carolinensis), Ellen Jolene Mahurin

Masters Theses

This study describes feeding and chick-a-dee calling behavior of Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) in the presence of predator models. Chickadees occur in stable social groups over much of the year, and birds in social groups often indicate the presence of predators through alarm calling and calling related to mobbing behavior. Research with two other chickadee species has found a relationship between predator stimuli and calling behavior, including the note composition of chick-a-dee calls.

Here, I presented Carolina chickadees with avian models, and a “no model” control. The species represented by the avian models were the Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii), a …

The New ‘Struggle To Get It Straight’: The Broadcasting Board Of Governors’ And The Voice Of America’S Search For Purpose And Structure In The War On Terror, Curtis Joel Owens

Masters Theses

This study examined the purpose of United States international broadcasting form its inception, and emphasized the changes in structure that have helped the broadcasters to fulfill that purpose. The study used a three-pronged methodology involving personal interviews, historical perspectives and participant observation.

The survey of the historical narratives regarding the Voice of America and the findings from personal interviews with key members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors staff revealed an ongoing debate about the purpose of a government-funded broadcaster. The two prominent sides are those who want international broadcasting to serve an advocacy role versus those who want it …

A Study Of Political Activity Among Social Work Students, Elizabeth A. Shelton

Masters Theses

This localized study explored the level of political activity of students at the University of Tennessee College of Social Work. Students were asked to respond to several demographic questions and answer questions regarding the frequency with which they performed certain tasks of political activity. Additionally the study explored relevant literature to establish a framework of national political behavior and political behavior within the field of social work. Political behavior is most strongly predicted by the age of the student with little regard for race, gender, or religious background. Students with a higher level of family history of political interest and …

Early Literacy And Children With Special Needs: An Examination Of Resources In The Home Environment, Juli Meagan Dolezal

Masters Theses

Early literacy development of young children is an area of research that is receiving increasing attention from scholars in the fields of early childhood general and special education. However, researchers in both fields have failed to examine the broad contextual features of the home environment and ways that these features may facilitate or impede literacy development. In an attempt to close the gap on research on early literacy development of young children with special needs, a measurement tool was developed for the purposes of obtaining a more holistic representation of resources available in home environments and gathering information about possible …

Magazine Messages And Teenage Perception Of Skin Cancer, Tanning, And Sun Safety, Anna Marlene Greene

Masters Theses

Increasing skin cancer rates and a developing trend of tanning has emphasized the importance of sun safety, especially among youth. The purpose of this study is fourfold: (1) to explore the sun safety content of magazines with high teen readership, (2) to discover teenagers’ tanning behaviors, (3) to find their thoughts and feelings on magazine coverage of this issue, and (4) to learn their knowledge of the risks associated with sun exposure. Focus groups were held with 23 high-school-age students in eastern Tennessee. Understanding the barriers to changing this group’s behavior could be beneficial in developing effective persuasive messages.

Aerobic And Anaerobic Characteristics Of Competitive Junior Cyclists, John William Harrell

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the aerobic and anaerobic characteristics of male, competitive junior cyclists. Ten, male competitive cyclists (15.1 ± 1.1 years old) from Central and East Tennessee volunteered to perform a maximal aerobic power (VO_2max), Wingate anaerobic power, and lactate threshold (LT) tests. The cyclists were 167.1 ± 6.6 centimeters (cm) tall, had 53.9 ± 7.7 kilograms (kg) of body mass, and had 14.0 ± 4.9 % body fat. They had 1.8 ± 1.1 years of cycling and racing experience. The VO_2max of these cyclists was 53.3 ± 6.6 ml ^. kg …

Steps To Successful Utility Construction (2006), Brett Ward

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

SCORE members believe that projects can be improved by enhancing the administrative skills of project owners, that is, the city or utility.

Hot Topic: 2006 Legislative Changes Impacting Municipal Courts And Municipal Code Enforcement, Melissa Ashburn

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The General Assembly made changes in laws during the 2006 legislative session that affect municipal courts and municipal code enforcement.

Hot Topic: Municipalities Required To Adopt Codes Of Ethics, Dennis Huffer

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

Public Chapter No. 1 of the Extraordinary Session of the 2006 General Assembly requires municipalities to adopt a code of ethics by ordinance; includes disclosure of personal interest form.

Water And Wastewater Management: A Training Manual For Board Members, Steve Wyatt, Brett Ward, Bill Young

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

The purpose of this manual is to provide a resource for both new and experienced water board members and municipal officials who have little or no formal training for the job.

Technical Bulletins: Good Service Request Systems Keep Customers Happy (2006), Steve Wyatt, Justin O'Hara

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

Automated service request systems are proven to be cost-effective, labor-saving devices that greatly enhance management efficiency.