Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Framing The Genetic Engineering Debate: An Examination Of Frames And Sources In Local Newspaper Reporting, Catherine Emma Crawley

Doctoral Dissertations

The study contributes to understanding of how a scientific controversy – genetic engineering – is treated in news stories in local newspapers. The findings provide quantitative evidence that local newspaper coverage of genetic engineering issues is framed in diverse and complex ways. Additionally, the analyses reveal that oppositional viewpoints exist in some local newspapers, perhaps more so than in national news. In contrast to studies of biotechnology news content in the national, elite press, this study suggests that a range of voices and interpretations about biotechnology do in fact exist in news media coverage of biotechnology in the United States, …

Implicit And Explicit Personality: An Integrative Approach To Predicting Aggressive Behavior In A Field Setting, Brian Christopher Frost

Doctoral Dissertations

Previous studies of aggressive personality and counterproductive behavior have typically employed only one type of personality measurement, the traditional self-report method, and have rarely attempted to predict naturally occurring behavioral indicators of aggression. This study intended to address both of those issues. Researchers, using multiple measures of other personality domains, have recently shown that explicit and implicit elements of personality interact to predict different forms of theoretically related criteria. This field study explored one of those interactive approaches, an integrative model of personality assessment for aggressive personality. Explicit elements of aggressive personality as assessed by traditional, self-report measures were combined …

Indecent Proposals: A Legal Analysis Of ‘Indecency’ Applied To Broadcasting And The Internet, Maria Irene Fontenot

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the dissertation was to analyze indecency policy and identify valid arguments and approaches from which one can find a viable model or approach of content regulation for both broadcast media and the Internet. Broadcast media and the Internet are both under scrutiny by the federal government for increased content regulation; therefore, both media are facing threatened First Amendments rights.

This dissertation explored whether the public interest could be best served through the marketplace approach to content regulation of indecent speech on broadcast radio and television and the Internet. The dissertation explored, compared, and contrasted indecency regulation on …

Tax Policies And Entrepreneurship: Relative Tax Rates And Health Insurance Deductibility, Tami Jean Gurley

Doctoral Dissertations

I use a twelve-year panel of tax return data to assess whether or not taxes affect entrepreneurship. Beyond assessing possible distortions in entrepreneurial activities created by the tax system, this research provides information to policymakers on the effectiveness of tax policy in influencing entrepreneurial activity. The extent of entrepreneurial activity in the economy is a vital policy concern as entrepreneurs are thought to contribute to economic growth by creating jobs and producing innovations.

Past theoretical and empirical studies examining the effects of taxes on entrepreneurship produced ambiguous results creating the need for further study. Toward this end, I investigate the …

Social And Emotional Development Of Children 0 To 36 Months In Poverty, Valentina Bopkova

Doctoral Dissertations

The study examined the effects of poverty on young children’s social and emotional development through the effects poverty has on parenting. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) was the chosen data set. Total of 148 children and their parents (primarily mothers) took part in the study, at two survey time points 1998 and 2000. The study was a reanalysis of survey data and not an original survey data collection. There were two types of regression analyses performed ("snap-shot" and motion-picture"). First each of the four crafted hypotheses was tested within one time frame, and then year 1998 was used as …

Estimating The Postmortem Interval In Freshwater Environments, Billie Lee Seet

Masters Theses

Forensic investigators often deal with human remains recovered from water. Estimating the time since death for bodies that have been submerged in water can be quite difficult because there is a lack of data on the subject. This preliminary study was intended to provide additional data through the use of record research. Autopsy reports containing cases in which human remains were recovered from bodies of freshwater were used. Thirty-one variables were collected from each report in a present/absent context. Nine of the variables were then used in logistic regression analyses in order to measure their relationship to time in water. …

'It's Not Catching': Hansen Home And The Local Knowledge Of Leprosy In The Federation Of St. Kitts And Nevis, West Indies, Nancy R. Anderson

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to document the ethnohistory of the leprosarium Hansen Home and to examine the local knowledge ofleprosy in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Kittitians often responded to questions about leprosy in 2000 with the statement "it's not catching." In 2002, the research goal was to address leprosy from a Kittitian vantage point. Through the lens of anthropological inquiry, archival materials were examined and a variety of stories were gathered about Hansen Home and the local knowledge of leprosy. The latter task was accomplished with ethnographic techniques, particularly semi-structured interviews. The accounts collected were …

A Comparative Study Of Behavior In Neonate Gartersnakes, Thamnophis Butleri And T. Radix (Colubridae), In An Area Of Potential Hybridization, Lauren Elizabeth Kirby

Masters Theses

An isolated population of Butler’s gartersnake, Thamnophis butleri (Colubridae), in southeastern Wisconsin has recently been listed as Threatened by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. One of the possible reasons for the decline of T. butleri in Wisconsin is pressure from a closely related species, the plains gartersnake, T. radix. The possibility of hybridization between T. butleri and T. radix has received recent attention because T. butleri is threatened in the area where the hybridization may be occurring. This study addresses the issue of hybridization by studying the behavior of neonatal T. butleri born to females originating from areas where …

Using Projective Measures To Examine The Relationship Between Adult Attachment Status And Object Relations, Betty Marie Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to document an empirical link between attachment theory and object relations by using projective measures, while further defining John Bowlby’s concept of the internal working model. The internal working model is a set of unconscious cognitive and emotional guidelines for how an individual understands interpersonal interactions, and influences behavioral and emotional responses (Bowlby, 1973, 1988). The internal working model as described in Bowlby’s attachment theory, bears striking resemblance to object relations theories of internalized unconscious representations. For example, Donald Winnicott stressed the importance of early interactions with the primary caregiver as shaping the child’s …

Sexual Contacts And Advances Between Psychology Educators And Students: A National Survey Of Apa Student Affiliates, Robert Francis Zakrzewski

Doctoral Dissertations

The APA Code of Ethics explicitly prohibits psychology educators and students from engaging in sexual relationships with each other. Such relationships can cause emotional and physical turmoil for the participants involved, the department, the university, and the entire field of psychology. The purpose of the current study was to add to the existing knowledge of sexual contacts and advances between psychology students and educators. In contrast to previous studies, the current study involved a survey of a random sample of current APA Student Affiliates (N = 1053) rather than sampling a population who had already completed their education. A …

Deciphering Dearmond Mound (40re12): The Ceramic Analysis Of An East Tennessee Mississippian Center, Shannon Douglas Koerner

Masters Theses

The DeArmond mound (40RE12) was initially excavated by WPA investigator John Alden and crew between February 1940 and March 1941 before being inundated by the Watts Bar dam in January of 1942. The site included a pyramidal earthen mound with an adjacent village. The mound was excavated in stratigraphic levels, with cultural material separated by building stages.

The ceramic collection from this excavation is used in a study of Mississippian temporal and spatial variation within the eastern Tennessee Valley. The collection is comprised of 22,826 pottery sherds and an additional 22 partial, reconstructed, or whole vessels. Morphological and stylistic analyses …

The Impacts Of Deforestation On Drum Making In Ghana, West Africa, Erin Rae Eldridge

Masters Theses

For decades, musicians from all over the world have been studying the music and rhythms of West Africa. Although some literature exists on the construction of rhythmic instruments, very little research has examined the impacts of environmental change on instrument making processes. This thesis represents an ethnographic investigation of the impacts of deforestation on drum making in Ghana, West Africa.

Research on this topic was conducted during the summer of 2003 in the Volta, Eastern, and the Northern Regions of Ghana. The research methods included participant observation, formal and informal interviews, botanical methods for plant identification, and literature searches. Informed …

Adolescent Gender Attitudes: Between And Within Couples Effects, Joseph Warren Dickson

Masters Theses

This study examines gender attitudes in the context of romantic relationships, and explores the relationship between gender attitudes and individual and relational outcomes. Participants (208 couples) were recruited from a previous study of the dating behaviors of 2200 students who attended 17 East Tennessee High Schools (Harper, Welsh, Grello, & Dickson, under review). Multilevel modeling was utilized in order to maximize the reliability of our models as a technique specifically designed to address the non-independence of partner members’ data (Raudenbusch & Bryk, 2002). Our findings indicate an association between gender attitudes and communication, relationship satisfaction, and depressive symptoms in adolescent …

From An Issue-Based To A Globalized Frame For Addressing Women's Grievances: Possibilities For Social Change?, Kristen Lea Vanhooreweghe

Masters Theses

Women throughout the world disproportionately absorb the social and environmental costs of globalization. Globalization, therefore, works more often to inhibit, than to promote, women’s needs necessary for survival. Using a materialist feminist perspective, I examine the harmful effects of globalization on women’s production, reproduction, and engagement with the environment and offer a comprehensive frame for addressing women’s associated grievances. I then offer brief vignettes of two contemporary feminist organizations to evaluate the possibility of a cross-cultural and widespread movement of women for social change.

Patterns Of Traumatic Injury In Historic African And African American Populations, Christina Nicole Brooks

Masters Theses

For my master’s thesis project titled, “Patterns of Traumatic Injury in Historic African and African American Populations,” I examined trauma incidence in American slave and free populations. The objectives of this study were (1) to present frequency and distribution analysis of injuries in each sample, (2) to create cross tabulations to show similarities and differences in each site and compare these results to between, (3) interpret the frequency and distribution of injuries from a cultural aspect, to better understand the violence and physical demands endured by American slaves and freeborn African American. Most of the skeletal samples used in this …

Identifying Successful Competitive Intelligence Practices Used In Nonprofits: A Survey Of Competitive Intelligence Strategies Used By Professional Fundraisers To Enhance Fundraising Success, Heidi H. Gillis

Masters Theses

Competitive intelligence is a popular technique used to gain a competitive advantage in for-profit businesses. This research examines the use of competitive intelligence in nonprofits, particularly how competitive intelligence is used or can be used to enhance fundraising success. A web based survey polled members of the Association of Fundraising Professionals on their uses of specific competitive intelligence strategies, particularly environmental scanning, use of focus groups and database research. It was found that non-profits are using some competitive intelligence methods, but find a lack of time, lack of funds, and lack of staff are prohibiting factors in implementing a full-scale …

Predictors Of Children’S Understandings Of Death: Age, Cognitive Ability, Death Experience, And Maternal Competence., Sally Beville Hunter

Masters Theses

Several factors have been documented as major factors affecting children’s formation of a mature death concept. Among these factors are the child’s age, cognitive ability, and exposure to death in his or her environment. The effects of parent communication patterns on children’s understanding of death have been understudied. This has left a gap in our knowledge of parents’ influence on their children’s conception of death.

In addition to the investigation of individual child factors, the present study investigated the relationship between mothers’ styles of communication about death and their children’s understandings of the subconcepts of death (i.e., inevitability, universality, finality, …

Dna Degradation And Postmortem Interval: Preliminary Observations And Methods, Rebecca Roberts Anderson

Masters Theses

As deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) research advances, anthropologists are finding more ways to use this technology to their advantage. Establishing postmortem interval (PMI) is a primary goal of forensic anthropology. It is known that DNA degrades, or breaks down, after an organism dies. Although several researchers have studied DNA degradation, few have focused on DNA’s rate of decay in relation to time. In this project, degradation was examined in blood using both a controlled atmosphere and exposure to environmental and substrate effects.
This study was intended to gather information on PMI, using DNA degradation as a measure of time. Based on …

Online Newspapers: Why They Remain Online, Myra H. Ireland

Masters Theses

In order to understand what lies behind the phenomenon of online newspapers, this study takes a qualitative approach through interviews with online newspaper managers. In addition to attempting to determine if online newspapers had become profitable business ventures, this study explored the benefits, other than possible profit, that support the decision to keep the newspapers online and what online newspaper managers see as the next evolutionary steps of online newspapers.

Interviews with thirteen online newspaper managers were conducted by phone. The interview guide consisted of open-ended questions covering eight topic areas. Online managers, recruited from Editor and Publisher Year Books …

Physiological Response Associated With Select Rorschach Codes, Chad Ryan Sims

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of Rorschach codes that have been theoretically and empirically linked to the experience of affect in the Comprehensive System (Exner, 2003) through the use of skin conductance and heart rate data. Twenty-four university undergraduates (18 females and 6 males) were administered the Rorschach while physiological data were recorded in an adjacent room. It was anticipated that responses yielding particular codes (C, C’, m, T, V, Y, minus form quality, or cognitive special scores) would evidence higher levels of affective arousal as compared to …

Macroscopic Sedimentary Charcoal As A Proxy For Past Fire In Northwestern Costa Rica, Kyle James Schlachter

Masters Theses

Proxy records of fire history offer valuable information on the role fire plays in an ecosystem. Such information can be used to understand the inter-relationships among fire, humans, and the environment. In the past, the forests of Costa Rica were thought to have been spared from significant pre-Columbian forest disturbance; however, paleoecological studies have shown that this notion is false. While the long-term human influence is now recognized in Costa Rica, the nature and extent of human effects in different regions remain poorly documented. Knowledge of pre-Columbian land uses in Costa Rica increases our understanding of the possible impacts of …

The Collaborative Creation Of Alternate Realities And The Use Of Torture: An Analysis Of Abu Ghraib, Denise Margarett Knight

Masters Theses

The abuses at Abu Ghraib, an American-run prison in Iraq, raise the question, how does torture happen in a society whose members for the most part believe that doing harm to others is wrong? Ronald Crelinsten (2003) offers the explanation that people create an alternate reality in which torture is justified. Three types of people, perpetrators, victims, and bystanders, participate in the maintenance of this alternate reality. My study is an instantiation of Crelinsten's framework. It focuses on the perpetrators at Abu Ghraib. I propose that two types of perpetrators participated in the abuses: the soldiers and personnel in the …

Extending The Politeness Theory To Meditation Discourse: Does Facework Make A Difference?, Andrew Craig Tollison

Masters Theses

Previous research has failed to determine which mediator characteristics have the greatest affect on participant satisfaction during the mediation process. The four characteristics being analyzed in this study are politeness, facework, eye contact, and trust. The concept of politeness suggests that mediation participants have an interest in maintaining face (i.e. positive and negative) while in the mediation session. To avoid threatening the participants’ face, the mediator has five facework strategies to choose from. These facework strategies, when articulated by the mediator, have the potential to combat potential face-threatening acts which can occur during the mediation process. The use of eye …

Environmental History At Laguna Yaguarú, Bolivia: Evidence From Pollen, Stable Carbon Isotopes, And An Embedded Mineral Facies, Zachary Paul Taylor

Masters Theses

Lowland eastern Bolivia is an important area for paleoenvironmental research because of its location near the climatically controlled boundary between the Amazon basin rain forest and the seasonally dry savannas to the south. I present a multiple proxy study from Laguna Yaguarú (15˚36’S, 63˚13’W, 195 m) a large (250 ha) lake located in the forest-savanna ecotone. A 2.4 m long core recovered in May 2003 spans approximately in the last 5000 years. Chronological control is based on excess 210Pb sedimentation in the uppermost sediments and three AMS dates on plant macrofossils in deeper sediments. I undertook pollen and microscopic charcoal …

Comparison Of Body Composition Assessment Techniques In Older Adults, Rebekah Ann Wilson

Masters Theses

Body composition is an important measurement for health assessments in older adults. The purpose of this study was to evaluate percent body fat (%BF) estimations in older adults by the Tanita, a two-compartment model (Siri 2-C) and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) compared to a three-compartment model (Lohman 3-C). Fifty-two females and fifty men between the ages of 54 and 75y volunteered for the study. The estimate of % BF from the Tanita was measured using the ‘adult’ mode. The Bod Pod was used to determine body density (D_b) for the 2-C and 3-C. DXA was used to …

Food Security In The 21St Century: Lessons From Cuban Agriculture For Materializing Realities, Evan L. Weissman

Masters Theses

Worldwide, hunger continues to pose great problems for humanity. Despite popular belief, hunger is a problem of inequality, not agricultural production. The fast-approaching global peak in oil production, the point at which half of all existing oil has been used, means that hunger, now a problem of inequality, will soon become a problem of production unless contemporary agricultural production is transformed. This project examines the promise of urban agriculture in providing food security following the collapse of petroagriculture.

The case of Cuba, albeit fostered by political economic conditions and not emerging geophysical limitations, provides a model of agricultural development for …

The Tennessee City Recorder, Ronnie Neill

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

An in-depth publication on the duties of a city recorder in Tennessee.

Technical Bulletins: State Street Aid Fund Expenditures: On The Road To Understanding, Ron Darden

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

The Tennessee Legislature has authorized the state to distribute a portion of proceeds from the state gasoline and motor vehicle fuel tax to incorporated cities and towns to use for maintaining and improving municipal streets.

Hot Topic: Interest Rate Currently 10 Percent On Delinquent Taxes Collected Or Administered By The State Of Tennessee, Dick Phebus

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The interest rate in effect for delinquent taxes for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2005, and ending June 30, 2006, has been set at 10 percent, an increase from last year's rate of 8 percent.

Working For A Vendor, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

A combination of content creators, online vendors, other intermediaries, and librarians work to bring online information sources to end users. Although these interconnected parts are sometimes adversarial, the current information marketplace relies on interaction among them all. People have wondered what it is like on the other side. The author interviewed three veterans who started out in libraries. This article presents the interviews.