Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Occupational Stress And Slavery: Evidence From Bridgetown, Barbados, Sarah Muno

Masters Theses

In 1996 and 2000, construction workers uncovered unmarked burial grounds in the Pierhead and Fontabelle sections of Bridgetown, Barbados. The human remains were removed in salvage excavation and are now housed at the University of the West Indies and the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. The associated grave goods, documentary record, and initial osteological analysis indicate these individuals were part of the enslaved workforce during the early to mid- eighteenth century. This thesis will explore the presence of vertebral osteophytosis, vertebral anterior wedge compression fractures, vertebral apophyseal facet remodeling and musculoskeletal stress markers among the human remains from Pierhead and …

A “Southern Tradition?”: Stockcar Racing As Contextual Tradition, Patrick A. Lindsay

Masters Theses

A large number of academics who have examined stockcar racing have concluded that stockcar racing is a “Southern tradition.” While the implicit definitions of tradition may vary, many generally agree that there is a clear historical relationship between stock car racing and the South. It is my contention that the idea that stockcar racing is a “Southern” tradition does not represent the reality of stockcar racing fandom for many people outside of the South. I assert that stock car racing is instead a “contextual tradition”, a practice that became labeled a tradition through specific historical and cultural circumstances. By examining …

Exploring The Influence Of Supportive Communication Practices On Volunteer Satisfaction, Role Identity, Safety Perceptions, Loyalty, And Burnout, Virginia Ann Gregory

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to assess supportive communication practices as predictors of volunteer outcomes. As healthcare organizations continue to grow and expand services to patients, the need for volunteers will expand as well. If volunteers are supported within the organization they will become a part of the healthcare environment and ultimately can make a difference for the organization. lt was hypothesized that supportive communication by both staff and co-volunteers would predict higher levels of volunteer satisfaction, role identity, safety perceptions, and loyalty, and lower levels of volunteer bumout. Results indicate that emotional support from staff was the strongest …

The Effects Of A 6-Weekly Plyometric Training Program On Agility, Jeremy Herniman

Masters Theses

PURPOSE: To determine if six weeks of plyometric training can improve an athlete's agility. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: Subjects were divided into a plyometric training and a control group. The plyometric training group participated in a six week plyometric training program. The control group did not perform any plyometric training techniques and were told to refrain from initiating any lower extremity training program. SUBJECTS: Twenty eight subjects were randomly assigned to 2 groups, a plyometric training group and a control group. Subjects were at least 18 years of age, free of lower extremity injuries, and were not involved in any type …

Video Game Ratings: Does The System Work For Parents?, Alexis Diane Brekke

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes of parents toward the video game rating system. This relatively new medium and industry have rapidly grown in popularity in recent years. The industry-regulated rating system designed to help parents make choices about video games has made the news of late because of the possibility of government intervention into its practices.

Parents who buy video games for their children participated in a focus group or an in-depth interview. Topics under investigation were the extent to which parents understood and trusted the rating system, how they used the system and how …

Participation In A Full Service School After Hours Enrichment Program: An Assessment Of Students' Academic And Social Progress, Cassandra Staben Walker

Masters Theses

Full service school programs are developed to address the unmet social, academic, medical, and economic needs of the students and communities they serve. Even though two schools may both be considered "full service", they can still look very different in practice, depending on the specific needs of the community. Although the idea of full service community schools has existed for over a century (Dryfoos, Quinn, & Barkin, 2005), the empirical research base is scant. This study addresses the academically related domains outlined by Kronick (2005): attendance and tardiness, and academic grades. An experimental group and a control group were used. …

The Miles Method And Averbuch: Implications For Paleodemography, Brannon I. Jones

Masters Theses

The production of age-at-death distributions is an essential element in paleodemography. Such distributions rely on accurate aging techniques, and the most reliable of these use teeth. The Miles method is an aging technique that uses the molars from the juvenile portion of a skeletal assemblage to determine a tooth wear rate that may be projected into adults in order to determine adult age. This technique has been found to be fairly accurate in modern humans, fossil groups, and nonhumans.

Many authors have used the Miles method to create age-at-death distributions, and Caspari and Lee (2004) use their distributions to determine …

Violence, Drugs, And U.S. Foreign Assistance, Lauren Elizabeth Mattox

Masters Theses

Over the years, scholars have continually debated the effect that foreign assistance has had on recipient countries. This study aims to continue research in that area by exploring the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance to Colombia. Specifically, my research is designed to investigate the effect of U.S. foreign assistance in three broad areas of Colombian society: law enforcement, guerrilla violence, and drug production.

Using available data that covers the years 1980-2002, I perform a multivariate time-series analysis to assess the impact of U.S. foreign assistance on six key dependent variables; these variables have been selected to illuminate the three …

Preparing For The Onset Of Hemlock Mortality In Great Smoky Mountains National Park: An Assessment Of Potential Impacts To Riparian Ecosystems, Scott Wesley Roberts

Masters Theses

Currently the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges tsuga) is spreading across forests in eastern North America, causing the decline and mortality of the eastern hemlock and the Carolina hemlock. Investigation into the impact of hemlock mortality on ecosystem processes has only recently begun and is not yet fully understood. The loss of hemlock from riparian forests in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) could reasonably be expected to result in significant alterations to stream environments. The goal of this study was to assess the influence of riparian hemlock stands on stream conditions and estimate possible impacts from hemlock loss …

‘Like What Do You Do – Hand Out An Announcement?’ – Combating Heteronormativity In Physical Education, Stephanie Megan Roth

Masters Theses

For many years, women in physical education have been stereotyped as lesbians and seen as intruders to the masculine arena of sport. Social norms within the school system make it very clear what is acceptable as a female teacher, and anything differing from the created norm is considered deviant. With this being the case, it was my desire to break through the walls of heteronormativity (pattern of thought which places heterosexuality as the normal, natural, and accepted sexual orientation, failing to recognize any other form of sexuality) within education and expose the injustice towards a stigmatized and marginalized population of …

Running Away From An Adolescent Residential Treatment Facility: Does Adult Involvement Make A Difference?, Michael Lee Burford

Masters Theses

This paper focuses on whether running away from adolescent residential care facilities is related to having off grounds passes with an adult resource. It is hypothesized that as off grounds passes increase in frequency and duration, runaway behavior will decrease in frequency and duration. Data were collected from two hundred closed client files. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for finding Spearman’s rho correlation and linear regression analysis of the variables. Results show a weak negative relationship exists between number of passes and both number of runaway occurrences and hours spent on the run. Because data are collected …

Fully Informed Jury Association V. County Of San Diego: A Practical Approach To Jury Nullification, Alyson Hope Dodd Kennedy

Masters Theses

A jury in a criminal trial typically must make a decision about the guilt of a given defendant. Occasionally, the jury moves one step beyond this basic task and chooses to exercise its nullification power. That is, the jury decides that, according to the evidence, a given defendant is guilty of the crime with which he or she is charged, but that applying the law to that defendant would, essentially, not be doing justice.

While much is known about the process by which juries make decisions, the specific factors that encourage juries to engage in nullification and the circumstances under …

Triple Threat: My Journey As A Black Lesbian Athlete In Search Of Additional Black Lesbian Student-Athletes, Jillian Robin Ross

Masters Theses

Black lesbian women experience a triple threat based on three components of their identity – race, gender, and sexual orientation – places them on the lower ranks of the totem pole of U.S. social hierarchy. With this in mind, the purpose of this study was to explore how Black lesbian student-athletes negotiate three components of their identity – race, sexual orientation, and being a female NCAA Division I student-athlete – through semi-structured interviews in order to provide these student-athletes with a mechanism to have a voice and express their individual experiences. Since I experienced difficulty in obtaining participants that met …

Spatiotemporal Modeling Of Shorebird Habitat Availability At Rankin Wildlife Management Area, Tennessee, Matthew D. Smith

Masters Theses

This study examines spatiotemporal patterns of shorebird stopover habitat availability at Rankin Wildlife Management Area (Rankin Bottoms) on the Douglas Reservoir, Tennessee, USA. Rankin Bottoms is a key stopover site for fall migrating shorebirds traveling through the Tennessee River Valley (TRV). In the TRV, the majority of shorebird habitats consist of mudflats created along reservoirs in the fall as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) lowers reservoir levels to prepare for winter and spring rains. Occasional changes to the annual reservoir management cycle enacted by TVA have affected the timing of mudflat exposure and thus the timing of availability of stopover …

The Transtheoretical Model: A Theoretical Application To Homelessness, Richard D. Campbell

Masters Theses

Homelessness is a complex social phenomenon that requires creative and bold solutions. Regardless of how one views current methods for facilitating the movement of people out of homelessness, the literature indicates there is still room for improvement.

The Transtheoretical model, a construct for understanding the natural process of behavioral change, has never been applied to understanding or facilitating the movement of individuals out of homelessness. This study examines the phenomenon of homelessness, the Transtheoretical model, and how the model could be applied to improving our effectiveness in moving people from homelessness to “housing readiness” and stability. The study produced a …

Spatial Analysis Of Nitrate Contamination Of Groundwater In Dodge County, Wisconsin, Jacob Andrew Maas

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to identify the primary variables that lead to high nitrate levels in Dodge County, Wisconsin. Trend surface analysis was used to identify which land use/land cover and aquifer characteristics are responsible for increased nitrate levels. A kriging model with residuals from the trend surface analysis, were then applied to estimate the spatial distribution of nitrate levels in the entire study area. Cross-validation was conducted to assess the uncertainty of the kriging model in the analysis.

The result from the trend surface analysis showed that, soil depth to bedrock, agriculture, urban, barren and shrub land, …

Black Power In Green And White: Integration And Black Protest In Michigan State University Football, 1947-1972, John Matthew Smith

Masters Theses

While southern college football teams remained all white until the late 1960s and early 1970s, Michigan State University head football coach Duffy Daugherty formed championship teams in 1965 and 1966 by recruiting the best southern black players. While coaches in the North recruited black athletes and played them regularly by the mid-1950s, no other coach took the risks Daugherty did to integrate his teams. Duffy Daugherty's path-breaking teams broke all the rules of integrated competition and forced southern schools to reconsider their stance on segregated college football.

The ground breaking integration of black athletes in the mid-1950s and 1960s under …

A Market Analysis Of Consumer Behavior For Companies In A Self-Insurance Group, Bismarck J. Manes

Masters Theses

This study examined variables that influenced the purchase of costly safety equipment by small business owners. Participants were 21 members of a self-insurance group (SIG) comprised of auto recyclers. Eight sets of variables were examined: (a) marketing tools (video, graphic safety data, and price discount), (b) business demographics, (c) worker’s compensation history, (d) personal history, (e) available technology, (f) safety management practices, (g) safety products purchased in the past, and (h) interest in safety services provided by the SIG. Purchasers (N=7) and nonpurchasers (N=14) were divided into groups, and independent t-tests were calculated for each variable. Only one of 45 …

Dance Club Culture, Amy M. Iseler

Masters Theses

My research examines the dance club culture in a mid-sized Northwestern city. I explore this subject through participant observation and interviews with dance club patrons. The issues I address in my research include dance club music, music videos, alcohol, clothing, sexual behavior, non-verbal communication and the dance club environment. The purpose of this Masters Thesis is to determine whether dance club culture perpetuates sexist attitudes and beliefs within its patrons.

This original piece of research is based in existing literature which informs the individual elements of the dance club culture. The experiences of dance club patrons demonstrate how these elements …

Sexist Humor And Willingness To Discrimination Against Women, Christie M. Fitzgerald

Masters Theses

Research has shown that exposure to sexist humor increases tolerance of sexist events, particularly for people high in hostile sexism-antagonism toward women (Glick & Fiske, 1996). The present experiment extends those findings by examining the effects of exposure to sexist humor on anticipated behavior. Two studies were designed to examine the behavioral consequences of exposure to sexist humor. In Study 1, participants were exposed to either sexist jokes, sexist statements, or neutral jokes, and then asked to donate money to either a women's organization or a men's organization. In Study 2, participants were exposed to either sexist jokes or …

Using Geographic Information Systems To Assess Risk For Elevated Blood Lead Levels In Children In Kalamazoo County, Michigan, Amatun Noor

Masters Theses

Lead-based paint is the major source of childhood lead poisoning for children under six in the United States and was commonly used in pre-1950 homes. The main objective of this study for Kalamazoo County, Michigan is to identify risk homes to for public health workers, and determine common socioeconomic factors from the US Census that can be used to identify relative risk across census tracts. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is applied to locate the risk homes of 485 children provided at the aggregate level by the Michigan Department of Community Health. Independent variables were derived from the U.S. 2000 …

The Globalization Of The Food Retail Sector In Southern Mexico, Alexandra Teachout

Masters Theses

The practices and policies of transnational corporations have now taken hold in the geo-economy, and the effects of globalization can be seen worldwide. Current research trends in economic geography focus on these policies and their transformations with regards to specific sectors. These theories predict and explain how transnational corporations should act, interact, and influence host countries. This foreign presence in host countries not only influences the corporate sector, but creates unique changes and challenges for producers and consumers. Consequently, the need to understand how the evolution of the global space affects the transformation of the local space, as well as …

The Relationship Between Landcover And Cloud-To-Ground Lightning Strikes In Kalamazoo, County, Michigan, Zachary J. Newton

Masters Theses

Lightning strike point data, collected by the National Lightning Detection Network™ in June, July, and August of 1993, was used in conjunction with geographic information systems (GIS) to examine the distribution of lightning strikes within and among landcover and geologic classes in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

Quadrat analysis results showed that the lightning strike pattern did not follow a random distribution and exhibited a tendency for clustering when mapped with kernel density. A chi-square analysis showed there was a statistically significant relationship among landcovers, geology, and lightning strikes. Two t-tests were used to evaluate the data, one that corrected for location …

Analysis Of Factors Affecting Zebra Mussel (Dreissena Polymorpha) Abundance In Gull Lake, Michigan, Ryan P. Miller

Masters Theses

Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) proliferation has become a serious problem in the Great Lakes Basin. This study uses bathymetry, vegetation distribution, and substratum data to assess their relationship with zebra mussel measurements in Gull Lake, Michigan. Different statistical tests were performed in order to investigate the relationship between the variables and to infer any significance among the variables in relation to zebra mussel abundance. Dreissena polymorpha data include 16 sites on Gull Lake, collected in July of 1999. Vegetation, substratum, and bathymetric datasets were obtained and analyzed by using Geographic Information Science (GIS) techniques.

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) …

Reducing Wait Times In A Hospital Pharmacy To Promote Customer Service, Julie M. Slowiak

Masters Theses

The quality of service received by a customer affects their satisfaction with the organization. To increase the probability that customers will return to an organization, it is critical that customers are satisfied with the organization's services. The amount of time customers spend waiting in line can affect their satisfaction with an organization's services (Gail & Lucey, 1997). This study examined the effects of a single intervention versus a combined intervention package to reduce wait times in a hospital's outpatient pharmacy. Customer satisfaction ratings were collected to determine the effect of a reduction in wait time on customer service satisfaction with …

The Effects Of Self-Monitoring On Safe Postural Performance, Nicole Gravina

Masters Theses

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of self-monitoring on safe positioning of individuals performing a typing task and an assembly task using a multiple baseline design across behaviors and tasks. The study took place in an analogue office setting with seven college student participants. The dependent variable was the percentage of observations scored as safe and each session was recorded via a hidden camera.. During baseline, participants received information regarding safe positions and then completed a typing task and an assembly task during nine-minute sessions. In the self-monitoring phase, participants recorded whether a targeted posture …

Which Islam-Ism? Diversity In Islamic Society And Its Implications For Democracy, Christopher M. Ebsch

Masters Theses

This study aims to refute claims of Islamic exceptionalism in the midst of recent waves of democratization, thereby disproving assumptions of any incompatibility between democracy and Islam. My research will show that such sweeping assumptions gloss over significant, developmental democratic movements within Muslim nations as well as several uniquely Islamic supports for democratic ideals and institutions.

I begin by examining recent political activities conducive to democracy in Muslim states, by distinguishing between divergent principles in the Qur' an, some of which have been used by moderate, democratically-oriented Islamists, and by realizing the historical, political antecedents leading to a rise in …

The Effects Of Contingency-Specifying Statements On Impulsive Behavior: Specifying The Dimension Of The Reinforcer, Susan Frances Makdisi

Masters Theses

This study replicated and extended research conducted by Douglas J. Navarick (2001) by investigating the effects on impulsive behavior of presenting participants with a contingency-specifying statement (CSS), or a question evoking a CSS. One-hundred two subjects categorized as impulsive, self-controlled, or neutral, based on their number of impulsive responses on a computer program, were divided into three groups: a control group and two experimental groups. Results demonstrated that impulsive behavior decreased when subjects generated accurate and complete CSSs, either with or without the assistance of corrective feedback on verbal or impulsive behavior. Implications for future research on impulsive behavior are …

Explicit Timing As An Intervention For Children With Adhd, Monica Fischer Girten

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Using Social Stories To Correct Social Skills Deficits In A Student With A Learning Disability, April Larson-Evangelista

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.