Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Assessing Urban Freeway Deconstruction : A Survey Of 21 Cities With Case Studies Of San Francisco And Milwaukee., Doddy Aditya Iskandar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates the effect of urban freeway deconstruction on the local economy. Scholars for years debated the role of urban freeway on the local economy. Those who found a positive effect of urban freeway use national data to support their finding. However, other scholars found the effect of urban freeway on the local economy mixed. Four major questions are raised in this study: What are the key factors of the city that affect the decision to remove urban freeways? What are the similarities and differences between cities that choose to remove their urban freeways? Does freeway deconstruction bring about …

Natures And Wars : Neoliberal Discourse And The Contested Future Of East Kentucky., Shelly Annette Biesel 1986-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coal mining has been Appalachian Kentucky’s keystone industry for over a century. However, in 2012 and 2013 coal production plummeted, driving industry employment to historic lows. In the wake of production declines, the coal lobby attests that President Obama is waging a “war on coal.” Drawing primarily from ethnographic data, this research offers a holistic and critical examination of the recent decline in coal production and concomitant narratives that have emerged in the wake of socio-economic uncertainty. I argue that “war on coal” discourses, informed by neoliberal philosophies, seek to conflate the region’s mining heritage with the coal industry’s desire …

Down Comes The Mountain : Coal Mining And Health In Central Appalachia From 2000 To 2010., James Kent Pugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Appalachia is one of the unhealthiest and most economically disadvantaged regions in America. It has higher rates of diseases (including heart disease and cancer) than the rest of the United States. Past research posits that low socioeconomic conditions in Appalachia are the main determinants of health disparities, and a burgeoning body of literature is examines the relationship between coal mining and health. The latter shows that, when controlling for socioeconomic status, health status remains significantly lower in coal-producing, Appalachian counties compared to non-coal producing Appalachian counties. While previous studies examine coal production over one or two years, they do not …

Prevalence Of Knowledge In Forensic Anthropological Field Methods Within Traditional Forensic Investigation., Cassandra Christina Rausch 1988-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As forensic evidence has come to be of increasing importance in the courtroom, standards and practices regarding documentation, collection, and preservation of evidence have also become increasingly necessary. This study examines forensic anthropological field methods and their incorporation into crime scene investigation. Prior research suggests that incorporation could increase evidence recovery, result in better preservation of evidence, and enhance chain of custody. Examination of baseline survey data and a specific cross-regional analysis seeks to discover how/if these methods are being utilized within crime scene investigation. Baseline results are compared with follow-up interviews from a small sample of agencies to examine …

The Impact Of World Bank’S Conditionality-Ownership Hybrid On Forest Management In Cameroon: Policy Hybridity In International Dependence Development, Asongayi Venard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many developing countries depend on the World Bank for development assistance, which the Bank often provides with policy reform conditions. Resistance to World Bank’s conditionality caused the Bank to posit “ownership” as a country’s real assent to its development policies. The combination of ownership and conditionality invalidates the neocolonial, false-paradigm and dualism theses in explaining the international dependence development model. This study explains this model by investigating how the relationship between conditionality and ownership in the context of this model impacts forest management in Cameroon.

Integrating theoretical and methodological insights mainly from political science, economics, geosciences, and sociology, the study …

Evacuation And Shelter In Place Modeling For A Release Of Uranium Hexafluoride, Joseph B. Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evacuation and sheltering behaviors were modeled for a hypothetical release of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) from Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) in Erwin, Tennessee. NFS down-blends weapons grade Cold War-era nuclear fuel material and processes highly-enriched uranium occasionally using UF6 onsite. Risk associated with a chemical release to the surrounding residential population was assessed by running 2 scenarios involving an airborne release of UF6 to compare evacuation and sheltering in place actions as effective survival strategies. Risk is minimal and evacuation is recommended for people within a 2-mile radius of the release point. Shelter in place actions are recommended for all critical …

Telling Tales As Oral Performance: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Storytelling In Ireland, Scotland And Southern Appalachia, Annalee Tull

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I sought to link, through this paper, cultural performances of identity through storytelling in Ireland, Scotland, and southern Appalachia. I evaluated storytelling practices, whether it was a public or private performance, using symbolic interactionism, dramatist theory, narrative paradigm, and performance theory. The author studied abroad in Ireland and Scotland through the East Tennessee State University Appalachian, Scottish, and Irish Studies Program and experienced an array of stories. She then evaluated her own experiences with storytelling from growing up in southern Appalachia and visited the International Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN. The research is rooted in grounded theory from ethnographies, with …

Housing First, Neighborhood Second? : The Role Of Housing And Neighborhood Characteristics On Residential Stability In Two Housing First Projects., Carey D. Addison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the impacts of neighborhood and housing type on housing stability for formerly homeless individuals participating in Housing First projects in Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Both projects operate similarly except that the Louisville project has only scattered-site housing while the Cincinnati project has both project-based and scattered-site housing. The first chapter presents five key research questions that frame the study. Chapter 2 reviews literature on homelessness and policies to address this urban problem with a specific emphasis on Housing First. Chapter 3 proposes qualitative and quantitative methods for answering the proposed research questions. Chapter 4 summarizes findings …

Greening Louisville's East Market District : A Comparative Assessment Of Sustainability., Ashley O. Dale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The East Market District located in Louisville, KY is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar urban regeneration. This transformation is being marketed as a primer sustainable neighborhood with the goal of serving as a model for other cities in the United States. As result of these changes, it is imperative to analyze the concept of sustainability from a variety of stakeholder perspectives utilizing content analysis on interviews and LEED Neighborhood Scorecard. Utilizing these methods, the central goal of this study is to understand the various interpretation of sustainability within this neighborhood. The findings observed via the critical assessment of the LEED …

Completing The Journey : An Exploratory Study Of Factors Predicting Emotional Distress In Recently Resettled Adult Refugees., Susan Heffner Rhema

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the fiscal year 2010 a total of 73,311 refugees arrived to the United States from over 70 countries. Along with their rich cultural practices, refugees bring loss, significant trauma and challenges related to migration. Their hope for the future is often overshadowed by the stresses inherent in adapting to new social expectations. Yet, after enduring a period of transition, most refugees become productive members of their community. This study analyzes prearrival characteristics, (demographic traits, self-efficacy, prearrival trauma, and living location), and post arrival perceptions, (conservation of resources and number of postarrival problems), in predicting emotional distress, (anxiety, depression), in …

Foreign Investment In African Resources: The Ecological Aspect To Imperialism And Unequal Exchange, Mariko Frame

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the issue of foreign investment in African resources from the theoretical perspective of ecological imperialism and ecologically unequal exchange theory (EUE). Pulling from Marxist ecology, critical political ecology, and an environmental reading of Polanyi, this dissertation seeks to theoretically deepen and clarify the concept of `ecological imperialism.' It posits that the wave of neoliberal policies that swept through the developing world in the 1980s can be interpreted as a historically distinct moment of ecological imperialism, a `counter-countermovement' to the era of economic nationalism that sought to bring developing world resources under state control. Focusing on Africa and …

Wealth And Acculturation: A Qualitative Study Of The Influence Of Wealth During Chinese International Students' Acculturation, Linshan Fu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the increasing number of Chinese international students coming to the United States every year, a more in-depth understanding of these international students’ acculturation is necessary and urgent. Given the fact that past researches mostly describe Chinese immigrants, migrates or international students as oppressed cultural adaptors, who cannot avoid being marginalized; who suffer from various adjusting problems; and who have to make use of acculturative strategies to adapt to the new country, this thesis takes the factor of wealth and its relation with class, status and power into account during Chinese international students’ acculturation under the globalized context. Instead of …

Assessment Of Instructional Presentation For Emergency Evacuation Assistive Technology, Michael Boyce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is often the case that emergency first responders are well equipped and trained to deal with a situation that involves evacuation of someone with a physical disability. However, emergency responders are not always the first line of defense, or they may be otherwise occupied with assisting others. This research examined the effects of instructions for emergency stair travel devices on untrained or novice users. It was hypothesized that through redesign of the evacuation instructions, untrained individuals would be able to successfully prepare an evacuation chair and secure someone with a disability more effectively and efficiently. A prepost study design …

The U.S. Environmental Movement 1890-2002: Discourse Divisions, Environmental Crisis Events, And Strategic Concessions, Wendi Kane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Environmental Movement is facing a paradox: increased mobilization over the last 100 years has not been entirely effective in halting environmental degradation. This research suggests that discourse divisions among environmental movement organizations constitute a fundamental obstacle to progressive change. The discourse divisions are evident in movement organizing patterns during periods of increased environmental crisis over the history of the modern environmental movement. In addition, evidence suggests that federal environmental policy is an outcome of increased organizing among movement organizations with more transformative visions of change. However, policy outcomes from increased pressure among transformative organizations are significantly correlated with …

The Influence Of A Career Planning Stem Explorations Course On Vocational Maturity, Career Decidedness And Career Thoughts For Undergraduate Students, Diandra Prescod

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), innovation that accompanies careers in science, technology engineering, and math (STEM) create a driving force in the economy and the creation of jobs, yet many positions remain open due to the lack of qualified individuals to fill them (NAS, 2011). Continuing research and innovation proves to be important, yet not enough students graduate with STEM degrees and enter into STEM careers. Career planning courses for undergraduate students increase student confidence about their abilities to make career decisions (Grier-Reed & Skaar, 2010: Scott & Ciani 2008). Vocational maturity and career decision making skills …

A Senior Water Aerobics Class As A Subculture, Sarah Halbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although previous research has focused on subcultures among deviant groups, very little research has been conducted on older adults' subcultures or subcultures within exercise settings. Given the lack of research on older and non-deviant groups, the current research study was designed to reveal how a senior water aerobics exercise class is indeed a subculture and provide a rich description of this understudied and unappreciated subculture. Data collection took place at a water aerobics exercise class at a health club in Central Florida. In the first phase of data collection, ethnographic observations were utilized to identify the social processes in the …

Blogging Love After Loss: How Widows Use Facework When Revealing Their New Relationships Online, Sunshine Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Expressions of identity are increasingly occurring in online communication as a variety of social media have emerged. People establish and manage identities online, and experience challenges when changing their online image. Widows experience this challenge in a dramatic fashion, especially when they begin to date and reveal new relationships online. The purpose of this study was to examine the expressions of facework in the online writings of widows regarding their new romantic relationships. This illuminated the ways in which one population, young widow bloggers, deals with the challenge of online identity management. A systematic thematic analysis was conducted to describe …

Creating Constructs Through Categorization: Gender And Race, Joshua Simpkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In U.S. society, the systems of gender and race operate to privilege and oppress individuals based on their location within these systems. All of the interactions an individual experiences as they go about their day-to-day lives are shaped by these interlocking systems. As a result, there is an extensive body of sociological literature addressing how individuals in U.S. society are privileged and oppressed on the basis of their perceived membership in gender and race categories; however, relatively little research exists examining how individuals come to be seen by others as members of gender and race categories in the first place. …

Economic Inequality And Democratic Representative Institutions Across Western Industrialized Democracies, Donald Plungis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effects of political representation on economic inequality across western industrialized democracies. I explore an explanation of increases in economic inequality as a consequence of less representative democratic institutions. Explaining economic inequality in this manner is a shift from to the Transatlantic Consensus that attributes increased economic inequality to globalization. I expect to find that more representative electoral and governments institutions will be associated with lower levels of economic inequality. The analysis takes place across twenty-three countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) over the past forty years using a cross-sectional longitudinal model. Variables …

Counterproductive Work Behaviors, Justice, And Affect: A Meta-Analysis, Megan Cochran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) are an expensive phenomenon for organizations, costing billions of dollars collectively each year. Recent research has focused on justice perceptions as predictors of CWBs, but little research has been conducted on the specific types of counterproductive work behaviors (i.e., sabotage, withdrawal, production deviance, abuse, and theft) that result from specific organizational justice perceptions (i.e., distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational) and the mediating effect of state affect. The current paper meta-analyzed the relationships between justice, CWB, and state affect and found that justice was negatively related to dimensions of CWB and state positive/negative affect were negatively/positively related …

Advertising Risk: A Comparative Content Analysis Of Contraceptive Advertisements Targeting Black And White Women, Tiffany Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research compared contraceptive advertisements in two top-circulated publications for white and African American female subscribers, Cosmopolitan and Essence. Data consisted of a sample of 172 contraceptive advertisements from the two magazines published between 1992 and 2012. Quantitative analysis focused on the model(s)' race, age, marital status, and socioeconomic status; the type of contraceptive being advertised; and the reason stated in the ad for using the product. This analysis determined a disparity in the rate of advertisement of doctor-administered contraceptives for the publications of 25.4 percent in Essence magazine and 9.5 percent in Cosmopolitan magazine. Black women were targeted with …

Exploring New Boundaries In Team Cognition: Integrating Knowledge In Distributed Teams, Stephanie Zajac

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Distributed teams continue to emerge in response to the complex organizational environments brought about by globalization, technological advancements, and the shift toward a knowledge-based economy. These teams are comprised of members who hold the disparate knowledge necessary to take on cognitively demanding tasks. However, knowledge coordination between team members who are not co-located is a significant challenge, often resulting in process loss and decrements to the effectiveness of team level knowledge structures. The current effort explores the configuration dimension of distributed teams, and specifically how subgroup formation based on geographic location, may impact the effectiveness of a team's transactive memory …

Home Care Quality Effects Of Remote Monitoring, Cynthia Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite concerted efforts to decrease costs and increase public health, the embattled U.S. health care system continues to struggle to alleviate these widespread issues. Because the problem of hospital utilizations among patients with heart failure is posited to increase as the population ages, innovative methodologies need to be explored to mitigate adverse events. Remote monitoring harnesses the strength of advanced information and communication technology to affect positive changes in health care quality and cost. By reaching across geographical boundaries, remote monitoring may support increased access to less costly services and improve the quality of home health care. The purpose of …

Evaluation Of A Digitally-Automated Alcohol Curriculum Designed To Alter Expectancies And Alcohol Use In First Year College Students, Amy Schreiner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High-risk alcohol consumption remains a primary public health concern for students on college campuses. In response to this concern the National Advisory Council of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism created a task force to identify and recommend strategies to aid college administrators in implementing effective alcohol programming at their institutions. While most administrators report being aware of these recommendations, many have not successfully implemented empirically supported interventions on their campuses. One significant barrier is the cost and difficulty of training and hiring skilled staff to implement these interventions. Of the strategies identified as effective, challenging alcohol expectancies …

Impacts Of Complexity And Timing Of Communication Interruptions On Visual Detection Tasks, Sally Stader

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Auditory preemption theory suggests two competing assumptions for the attention-capturing and performance-altering properties of auditory tasks. In onset preemption, attention is immediately diverted to the auditory channel. Strategic preemption involves a decision process in which the operator maintains focus on more complex auditory messages. The limitation in this process is that the human auditory, or echoic, memory store has a limit of 2 to 5 seconds, after which the message must be processed or it decays. In contrast, multiple resource theory suggests that visual and auditory tasks may be efficiently time-shared because two different pools of cognitive resources are used. …

Chert Tool Production And Exchange At Two Late Postclassic Coastal Maya Households, Marc Marino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chert tool production and exchange has long been studied for the Maya Preclassic to Terminal Classic Periods of Northern Belize (1000 B.C.-A.D. 950). It is increasingly clear that lithic systems of production and exchange were an integral part of the economic environment for this region, yet lithic research pertaining to the Maya Postclassic Period (A.D. 950-1530) is not well represented in the general literature. A recent examination of 110 chert, chalcedony, and obsidian small side-notched projectile points and point preforms, as well as 2,163 pieces of associated production debitage from two Late Postclassic households at Santa Rita Corozal, Belize, has …

Dog Ownership As A Catalyst Of Conflict And Relationship Maintenance In Romantic Relationships, Ashley Elrick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pets are a common aspect of life for many Americans. In 2012, 36.5% of American household owned dogs and 30.4% owned cats (American Veterinary Medical Foundation, 2012). The purpose on this study was to explore the influence of dog ownership on romantic relationships. Specifically, this thesis investigates how dog ownership acts as a catalyst of relational maintenance and conflict behavior in interactions about the couple's dog. No prior research has been conducted on the role dogs' play in enacting relational maintenance or conflict in romantic relationships, so it is unclear if there is an influence to the these behaviors. This …

Collaborative Crisis Management In The Public Sector: Effective Leadership Under Stress, Yusuf Ustun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary aim of this study is to discover how leadership competencies affect the perceived effectiveness of crisis management. Leadership skills exhibited by public managers in crisis times may help eliminate panic and help victims recover from the difficult situation as soon as possible. The existence of effective leadership in a crisis is one of the most important inputs in order to diminish the harmful effects of crises and disasters. The absence of effective leadership in times of crisis may be one of the most significant problems in the public administration because it may result in loss of human life …

Leadership Distrust, Need For Power, And The Initiation Of Militarized Interstate Disputes, Gary Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Does a leader's psychology affect his/her likelihood of initiating a militarized interstate dispute? The study of leadership psychology has continuously found support for the central assumption that leaders matter in explaining a state's foreign policy behavior. However, many of these research projects have relied on small-sample case studies and experimental methods that have limited generalizability. In this paper, I use two variables drawn from the research program on leadership trait analysis (distrust and need for power) in a multivariate large-n study to explain the initiation of militarized interstate disputes (MIDs). 1,601 cases are drawn from the Correlates of War MID …

Supranational Organizations And Legitimacy: How The 2008 Global Economic Crisis Has Affected Public Opinion On Membership In The Eu, Briana Vargas-Gonzalez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines public opinion towards membership in the EU, before and after the 2008 global economic crisis, in the newest member states to join the institution in 2004 (the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) and 2007 (Bulgaria and Romania). Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989, socialist economies and communism maintained a citizenry that never experienced unemployment and that did not have a political voice. Because free-market economic policies and democratic values are new to these countries, public opinion regarding membership in a supranational organization that promotes and fosters …