Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Estimating The Economic Impact Of Tourism: A Comparative Analysis Of Albania, Croatia, The Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia And Greece, Arjana Çela

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study assessed the economic impact of tourism on investment, government and imports expenditures in Albania, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, and Greece. The objectives of this study were to develop a model to determine the impacts generated from an incremental change in tourist expenditures in the economy of Albania, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, and Greece; to estimate the multipliers of the tourism expenditures on investment, government and imports expenditures in Albania, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, and Greece and to investigate the differences and similarities of the economic impact of tourism between Albania, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, …

Radicalism In American Political Thought : Black Power, The Black Panthers, And The American Creed, Christopher Thomas Cooney

Dissertations and Theses

American Political Thought has presented somewhat of a challenge to many because of the conflict between the ideals found within the "American Creed" and the reality of America's treatment of ethnic and social minorities. The various forms of marginalization and oppression facing women, blacks, Native Americans, and Asian-Americans have been as much a part of the story of America as have been natural rights and the Constitution.

Taking this into account, this thesis is an effort to argue that the radicalism on display in the Black Panther Party, a group that emerged in the turmoil of the 1960' s, was …

Not Just Doctrine: The True Motivation For Federal Incorporation And International Human Rights Litigation, Daniel Abebe

Faculty Scholarship

The legal status of international human rights litigation under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) has been the subject of much debate, culminating in the Supreme Court's decision in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692 (2004). The debate has been almost exclusively doctrinal and has focused on the Judiciary Act of 1789, the historical treatment of the law of nations as general or federal common law, the evolution of the Supreme Court's international law jurisprudence, and the integration of customary international law (CIL) into the domestic legal system.

This Article argues that the focus on doctrine masks underlying international relations …

To Condone Or Condemn? Regional Enforcement Actions In The Absence Of Security Council Authorization, Monica Hakimi

Faculty Scholarship

The U.N. Charter establishes that regional arrangements may not take enforcement actions without authorization from the Security Council. Yet the international community does not always enforce this Charter rule. Major international actors repeatedly tolerate deviations from it even as they assert that it allows no exceptions. This Article examines that practice, arguing that two different legal systems govern enforcement actions taken by regional arrangements. One system is reflected in the Charter text and publicly endorsed by major international actors. The second, more nebulous system is based on expectations and demands in the absence of Security Council authorization. Under this second …

Hemispheric Sensitivity To Thematic Role Information Derived From Active And Passive Verbs: An Event Related Brain Potentials Study, Christopher A. Schwint

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Recent research examining differences in the way the left (LH) and right (RH) hemispheres of the brain process language have used the visual half-field (VHF) paradigm to examine whether each hemisphere can independently process information from sentences. The current study expanded upon such work by using event related brain potential (ERP) measures to examine how the comprehension of thematic role knowledge, a process essential to successful sentence comprehension (MacDonald, Pearlmutter, & Seidenbeerg, 1994), is undertaken in each hemisphere. During language comprehension, agents (entities that initiate action in an event) depicted by nouns (e.g., cop) have been shown to be associated …

The Role Of A Clergyperson Within An Assertive Case Management Outreach Team, Rachel Adrienne Lee Fayter

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Mental health consumer/survivors living in urban poverty are generally marginalized and devalued by society. To aid in the process of recovery they require a holistic form of treatment to meet their physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs. The current exploratory study investigated the role of a pastor as part of a multidisciplinary team engaged in mental health outreach work and the impacts of this role for people experiencing urban homelessness. Multiple qualitative methods were used to collect data from different stakeholder groups. From multiple participant perspectives, the findings indicate that there are many unique spiritual, relational, and moral aspects of …

Gaining From Loss: Meaning Making And Resolution In Emerging Adults' Low Point Narratives As Predicted By Identity Development And Perceptions Of Parenting In Adolescence, Tara M. Dumas

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Past research suggests that difficult life events can disrupt the expected flow of life, often necessitating increased cognitive effort and reflection to assimilate into the greater life story. In the present longitudinal study, 104 emerging adults (M=26 years) narrated stories about their most difficult life experience. The relationship was examined between certain characteristics of the participants’ low point narratives (depth of learning and coherent positive resolution) at age 26 with their identity development, feelings of support, and parent-child relationships from late adolescence (M=17) to emerging adulthood. Depth of learning refers to the extent to which participants extract more sophisticated forms …

Assessing The Need For And Impact Of An Emotions Regulation Booster Program For Elementary School Aged Children, Angela Hammond

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

K-W Counselling Services has offered emotions management programs to children ages 6-15 in the Waterloo region for the last 10 years. This mixed methods study was conducted in two phases. Phase One explored whether the parents of children who had participated in S.T.E.A.M. or Temper Taming groups three years prior felt there was a need for a “booster program” to help refresh their child’s memory about the concepts. Twenty-two parents were interviewed, two of whom had two children in the programs. This meant that feedback was offered in relation to twenty four children participants. The parents were asked with open …

'If You're The Alliance For Children And Youth, Where Are All The Children And Youth'?' How The Alliance For Children And Youth Of Waterloo Region Can Help Advance Youth Engagement, Shauna M. Fuller

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Youth engagement (the meaningful participation and sustained involvement of a young person in an activity outside of him or herself; CEYE, 2003), in particular with organizations that affect young people’s lives, has positive effects on both youth and organizations (Driscoll, 2002; Hart, 1992; Zeldin, McDaniel, Topitzes, & Calvert, 2000). Research on youth engagement has identified that successful and sustainable youth engagement requires a combination of local, interagency, and political level structures (Caputo, 2000). Waterloo Region (Ontario, Canada) has isolated pockets of youth engaged in decision-making; however, no regional youth engagement initiative exists at the interagency and political levels. Regional efforts …

Audiovisual Speech Perception: A Speech Production Approach, Michelle A. Jarick

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of these studies was to test the main assumptions outlined in the Motor Theory of speech perception that (1) speech perception is linked to speech production, (2) audiovisual integration of speech occurs automatically and after the motor commands are activated, and (3) we perceive the intended gestures, which are extracted by a specialized ‘phonetic module’ in the brain. In Experiment 1, we used a Stroop-like paradigm, where participants viewed and listened to a speaker producing speech syllables (/aba/ or /aga/) in three conditions: audio-only, visual-only, and audiovisual. Participants were asked to ignore irrelevant speech stimuli, and to identify …

Gender Differences In Reward Allocation Among Boys And Girls Who Receive Allowance, Sarah Clift

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Gender differences emerge at a very young age in children. Through socialization boys and girls are encouraged to adopt gender stereotypes. Among adults, salary is an area where there are consistent gender differences, with females typically asking for and receiving less than males. The present study examined differences in reward allocation (i.e., pay) among 91 boys and girls who receive an allowance or “pocket money” in grades one through four, to try to determine whether the differences noted among adults appear with first early pay experiences. Children were asked to complete a series of five tasks regarding gender stereotypes, occupations, …

Exploring The Impact Of The Media On The Arranged Marriage And Dowry System In Goa, India, Lisa Ann Hickman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Indian women have been experiencing the arranged marriage and dowry system for centuries. The main objective of this study was to explore how television and cinematic programming impact tehse traditional and contextual issues. I used a phenomenological-hermeneutic research methodology, with a feminist pragmatist epistemology. I conducted a total of six personal inteviews with Hindu women from Goa, India. Three participants were married in the 1980s while the other three were married after 2000. Five themes emerged from the interviews that shed some light at the issues under exploration: a) media exposure betwen childhood and marriage; b) love vs. arranged marriage; …

An Institutional Analysis Of Oil And Gas Sector Development And Environmental Management In The Yukon Territory, Jason C. May

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis investigates the ways in which oil and gas development priorities and concern for the environment are integrated within strategic planning and management frameworks, and how associated conflict is addressed, in a case study of the Yukon. Because substantial ground-based oil and gas activity is yet to occur in the territory, a thorough understanding of the institutions and institutional arrangements set to govern future oil and gas development is a valuable tool for gauging the capacity to integrate these priorities. Therefore, this thesis employs the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to analyze the legislation, regulations, policies, and institutions …

Interviewing Children About A Repeated Event: Does Prior Practice In Describing A Specific Instance Of An Unrelated Repeated Event Improve The Amount And Quality Of Elicited Information?, Sonja P. Brubacher

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Five- to 6- and 7- to 8-year old (N=118) participated, in groups, in 4 sessions of the Laurier Activities over a 2-week period. The Laurier Activities centered around tasks such as listening to a story, completing a puzzle, mild physical exercise, relaxation, getting refreshed, and getting a surprise. Across sessions of these activities, instantiations of each task (e.g., the content of the story) were presented at different frequencies. Instantiations were fixed (the same every time), variable (changed every time), or “Hi/Lo” (the Hi frequency instantiation presented at 3 sessions, the Lo frequency instantiation presented at 1 session). …

The Battle Over Our Land: Urbanization Versus Farmland Preservation In The Greater Golden Horseshoe, Kali Mikulica

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Urban sprawl continues to advance further and further into the countryside, as individuals trade cramped urban spaces for much larger rural lots and longer commutes to work. This increased sprawl permanently converts productive agricultural land to urban uses, especially in regions surrounding rapidly expanding cities. It is for this reason that farmland preservation has become a significant issue for policy officials in recent decades. According to the literature, there are numerous methods of protecting prime agricultural land in the face of urbanization; however there are few studies that focus on how these different policy techniques affect farmers. The Ontario government …

“Nous Sommes Tous Américains”: The Relationship Between Identification, Mortality Salience, And Responses To The “War On Terror”, Enoch S. Landau

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present study sought to determine the conditions under which people were more or less likely to support restrictions on civil liberties in fighting the “War on Terror”. It was hypothesized that the more one identified with the victim of a terrorist attack, the higher their mortality salience (MS) would be, and the more likely they would be to support restricting civil liberties.

Study 1 piloted a questionnaire to measure MS. In Study 2, participants read a story about either a businessperson or a student who either went to the dentist for painful dental work, or perished in the attacks …

An Exploration Of Immigrant Women’S Experiences With Social Service Agencies In The Region Of Waterloo, Gillian Wells

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The pupose of this qualitative research project is to explore the experiences of immigrant women as they relate to their interactions with social service agencies, in an effort to understand how these women give meaning to their experiences and how those experiences impact their future behaviour. It is hoped that this study will provide an increased understanding of immigrant women’s interactions with service agencies for the benefit of social service providers aiming to apply a best practice approach in their service to newcomers.

This qualitative study consists of semi-structure interviews with 25 women representing 21 different countries. This research was …

The Relationship Between Homelessness And Women’S Health, Christine Paramonczyk

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Women are increasingly experiencing poverty in Canada (Townson, 2000). This study seeks to gain an understanding of how women experience an extreme form of poverty—homelessness—within Kitchener, a mid-sized city located within the Waterloo region in southern Ontario, and the relationship of this experience to health.

Employing social determinants of health (SDOH) theory, this study examines the relationship between homelessness in Kitchener and one focus group was held.

This study indicates that homelessness had an all-encompassing influence on women’s health. Women experienced both impeding and promoting factors influecing their access to housing, healthy food, employment, health care, income, and social support, …

Capturing The Variability In A Person’S Social World: Individual Differences In Interpersonal Behavior Across And Within Interaction Partners, Alana Greco

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The current studies examined people’s (and, more peripherally, their perceptions of others’) interpersonal behavior using two different methodologies. This research utilizes the framework of Interpersonal Theory, which indicates that there are two orthogonal dimensions of interpersonal behavior—dominance and friendliness (Caron, 1969; Kiesler, 1983; Wiggins, 1982). People’s interpersonal behaviors were characterized by dimension scores for each interaction partner. In Study 1 a new, one-time measure was administered in the lab that assessed behaviors based on 45 specific interaction partners. In Study 2, a Palm Pilot was used to collect people’s interpersonal behaviors over multiple occasiosn of interactingwith the same interaction partners …

An Analytical Overview Of The Factors Influencing Housing Accessibility Of Bangladeshi Immigrants In Kitchener-Waterloo, Farzana Afreen Propa

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study explores Bangladeshi immigrants’ settlement experiences in Kitchener-Waterloo (K-W) and alyses their housing history, housing search process, barriers and discrimination in accessing housing in the area. It reveals the factors that influence Bangladeshi immigrants housing accessibility in K-W. It also summarises recommendations to support and improve their housing situation. Qualitative research methods were used to collect and document the findings of the research.

The study findings reveal Bangladeshi immigrant households in K-W have comparaitvely higher levels of education compared to mainstream population and better employment condition compared to other Bangladeshi immigrants living in Toronto or Montreal. Many of these …

Assessing Phonology, Syntax & Working Memory Using Erp: Towards An Understanding Of The Underlying Cause Of Developmental Dyslexia, Courtney Patterson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 20 children with dyslexia and controls matched on age, sex, nonverbal reasoning, and handedness (ages 8-12 years) as they listened to and read sentences that varied in syntactic complexity and the working memory load they induced [subject-subject (SS) and subject-object (SO) relative clause sentences]. In each modality, control children demonstrated amplitude differences between the brainwave potentials elicited to each sentence type. When listening, controls, and children with dyslexia did not differ in the N400 effect elicited in response to the relative verb of SO sentences, thus indicating auditory sentential processing occurred in a …

Planting The Seeds: The Experiences Of Community Psychology Graduates As Agents Of Systemic Social Change, Peggy Ann Weston

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Social change is a part of human existence, but other than charismatic individuals such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi, little has been published about the lived experience of social change agents. Time (era, passage of time, etc.) is often neglected as an important temporal factor of analysis in systemic social change (SSC) activities. The intent is to explore the experience of people working as SSC agents and discover what influences their work. A better understanding of this experience would contribute to more effective SSC work and perhaps address challenges facing change agents. The main research question, “What …

Spatial Relationships Of Carbon Dioxide Exchange In An Upland Forested Wetland Complex In The Western Boreal Plain, Alberta, Canada, Danielle M. Solondz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study examined the midday (10:00 - 16:00) growing season (April - October) surface cover CO₂ relationships with different canopy closures and microtopography (lawn and depression) in a forested upland - peatland - pond complex in the Western Boreal Plain, north - central Alberta, Canada. A dynamic - closed chamber technique was used to: evaluate the relative contributions of heterotrophic and autotrophic respiration and photosynthesis and assess the relative roles of substrate, plant communities, hydrology, and microclimates on CO₂ exchange.

Large differences were observed among the forest floors of landscape units with different canopy covers with respect to …

Ida Accessibility: Learning More About Whether Individual Development Accounts Can Work For Canada’S Poor, Molly Elliott

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) or matched saving accounts are programs designed to facilitate the building of capital and assets in low-income households. Based on the model of asset-based welfare policy, these programs propose to combat poverty through inclusion of the poor in asset building opportunities, which traditionally have been available to only middle and upper income households. Described as an anti-poverty strategy, Individual Development Accounts are growing in international popularity with asset-based policies already being included in Canadian income assistance programs. In order to better understand what some of the barriers might be to this anti-poverty program structure, this thesis …

“To Thine Own Self Be True”: A Narrative Analysis Of Social Group Disengagement And Associated Identity Implications, Catherine De Boer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of individuals who had voluntarily disengaged from social groups that had once been central to their self-understandings. Theoretical underpinnings of the study proceeded from the distinction made by social psychologists between personal identity, self-definitions derived from an understanding of one’s self as unique, and social identity, self-definitions derived from an understanding and identification of one’s self as a member of social groups. The overarching aims were to: 1) determine if a disengagement process exists, and if so, to discover its defining characteristics and phenomenological aspects; 2) describe the shifts …

Who Has Seen What When? Pornography’S Contribution To The Social Construction Of Sexuality During Childhood And Adolescence, Bente Skau

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Pornography has a ubiquitous place in contemporary Canadian Society. With or without intention, children and youth are frequently exposed to pornographic images and depictions. There is little research detailing the types of exposure that occur and the impact of said exposure on this population. Through a detailed survey administered to approximately 450 first-year college and university students in Ontario, this retrospective and exploratory study answers the query, “when and to what type of pronography are children and young adults exposed and how does this exposure relate to subsequent sexual behaviours and attitudes?” Following a deatiled escription of pornography exposure, indicating …

A Qualitative Study Of Experiences Of Aboriginal Caregivers Of Children With Developmental Disabilities, Joyce Ellen Clouston

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A qualitative study of 20 caregivers of Aboriginal children with developmental disabilities revealed that caregivers continue to be guided by values rooted in traditional Aboriginal societies where all children were considered gifts of the Creator. The lives of vulnerable children had purpose, they were treated with respect, and the self-growth of the caregiver was connected to care of the child. The needs of young families were supported within a web of relationships in family and community. Disruptions to traditional family relationships began in the colonial era with the negation of Aboriginal culture and spirituality, and continue in many communities in …

An Exploration Of Bullying As Experienced By Sudanese Refugee Youths, Aislinn Clancy

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this research is to explore the experience of bullying among Sudanese refugee youths living in Kitchener-Waterloo. Voices in the literature assert that bullying is experienced differently by different social groups. This study proposes to understand the phenomenon of bullying from the unique perspectives of Sudanese refugee youths. As a White middle-class Canadian-born woman, I consider myself a partial outsider to this group. As a partial outsider, I use reflexive strategies to constantly reflect on the impact of my social location on the participants and on the whole research process. To understand how Sudanese youths experienced bullying, I …

Role Changes And Birth Order In Female Adolescent Bereavement, Jennifer Joyce Evans

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis reports on the findings of a qualitative research study that explored role changes experienced by female adolescents after the death of a parent, with special attention paid to birth order. Seventeen women were recruited by convenience sampling for this study: nine were eldest daughters, three were middle daughters, and five were youngest daughters. All of the women lost a parent when they were between the ages of 11 and 17, and all were living at home with both parents at the time of the death. The findings were analyzed using a grounded theory method of coding (Glaser & …

Perceptions Of Change In The Urban Core: A Case Study Of A Satellite Campus In Kitchener, Ontario, Lindsay Woodside

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The university satellite campus is a recent planning instrument used to revitalize struggling downtown cores. The satellite model, however, is not without controversy. To gain an insight into the debate, this study focuses on the perceptions of groups involved in bringing the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work satellite campus to downtown Kitchener, Ontario. Approaches to revitalization since World War II are examined together with the current downtown revitalization initiative in bringing university satellite campuses to downtowns. The strengths and weaknesses of the university and community dynamic are highlighted as they relate to the main university campus and host …