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2016

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Articles 25921 - 25950 of 26550

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Mississippi Delta Revitalization Through Tourism: An Examination Of Community-Campus Partnerships For Economic Development, Samuel Claiborne Russell Jan 2016

Mississippi Delta Revitalization Through Tourism: An Examination Of Community-Campus Partnerships For Economic Development, Samuel Claiborne Russell

Honors Theses

This thesis is an examination of how community-campus partnerships support community engagement efforts in the Mississippi Delta. Since Ernest Boyer's clarion call in the 1990s for institutions of higher education to reconsider their commitment to community engagement, many institutions have initiated centers of engagement and service to connect their scholarly efforts to underserved populations. By mutually sharing in social, intellectual, and economic resources with communities, both campus and community prosper (Boyer 1990). The Mississippi Delta, an hour's drive from the University of Mississippi campus, is one of the most impoverished regions in the United States. According to the US Census …

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Personality Correlates Of Cardiovascular Reactivity, Sara Bolen Jan 2016

Personality Correlates Of Cardiovascular Reactivity, Sara Bolen

Honors Theses

Neuroticism is a personality trait characterized by one's susceptibility to experience negative emotions, such as loneliness, self-consciousness, sadness, and worry. Neuroticism also has been found to be linked to blunted cardiovascular reactivity, which in turn has been shown to be associated with negative health outcomes, such as stroke or heart disease. The present study examined 50 undergraduate females at the University of Mississippi in order to examine the relationship of neuroticism and cardiovascular reactivity rates during a stressful speech task. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) levels were recorded during rest and the stress periods, and neuroticism levels were …

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Understanding Effective Venues Of Women Representation In Latin America: An Empirical Study Of Millennium Development Goals 3 And 5, Sheila Arun Kumar Jan 2016

Understanding Effective Venues Of Women Representation In Latin America: An Empirical Study Of Millennium Development Goals 3 And 5, Sheila Arun Kumar

Honors Theses

Recent research concerning women and politics focuses on identifying what factors cause and stimulate women participation in politics. This thesis uses the indicators for Millennium Development Goals 3 and 5 as a measurement basis for an empirical study to determine if certain factors effect women participation in Latin American politics. Data for these goals, to Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women and Improve Maternal Health, were collected for various Latin American countries across a 2000-2015 time series. Along with this data collection, this thesis focuses on testing two specific factors to determine their effectiveness on women representation in Latin America. …

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Memory In The Fingers: An Exploration Of Knitting Through The Lens Of Modern Knitters' Lives, Sinclair Rishel Jan 2016

Memory In The Fingers: An Exploration Of Knitting Through The Lens Of Modern Knitters' Lives, Sinclair Rishel

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the history of knitting through the lens of modern knitters' lives. Information about the history of knitting was gathered from various printed and online sources. A series of interviews were conducted with knitters of different ages, experience levels, professions, and socioeconomic circles. Among these were beginning knitters, casual knitters, semi-professional knitters, professional knitters, and a knitting celebrity. The interviewees were asked about their knitting lives, including personal history, motives, preferences, and habits. Using the research and the interviews to inform each other, the researcher compiled a report on each subject which included their responses and the historical …

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Biochemical And Behavioral Effects Of Environmental Enrichment On Strain-Dependent Vulnerability To Anxiety And Depression In The Chick Separation Stress Paradigm, Sydney M. Anchor Jan 2016

Biochemical And Behavioral Effects Of Environmental Enrichment On Strain-Dependent Vulnerability To Anxiety And Depression In The Chick Separation Stress Paradigm, Sydney M. Anchor

Honors Theses

Increased attention has been directed towards determining how environment interacts with genetics on the manifestation of stress-related disorders. This study investigates the differential effects of an enriched versus impoverished environment on behavioral and biochemical endpoints of depression between stress-vulnerable and stress-resilient strains in the chick anxiety-depression model. Black Australorp and Production Red strains were housed in either enriched or impoverished conditions for 4 days and then socially isolated for 90 min. Rate of distress vocalizations (DVocs) were recorded throughout the isolation period and latency to behavioral despair was calculated. Immediately following testing, bilateral hippocampal tissue was harvested and brain-derived neurotrophic …

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It's About Time: The Effectiveness Of Time Perception As A Measurement Of Cognitive Load, Victoria Robinson Jan 2016

It's About Time: The Effectiveness Of Time Perception As A Measurement Of Cognitive Load, Victoria Robinson

Honors Theses

This study examines the effectiveness of time perception as a measurement of cognitive load. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the concept of time perception can efficiently indicate high or low cognitive load in a task, and to compare this measurement to the standard mental effort rating scale that is typically used to measure cognitive load. In this study, participants completed both simple and complicated math problems at their own pace. After they were told to stop, participants either rated their level of mental effort used in the task, or wrote down how long they believed it …

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Analyzing The Growing Islamic Radicalization In France, Virginia Ruth Brommer Jan 2016

Analyzing The Growing Islamic Radicalization In France, Virginia Ruth Brommer

Honors Theses

Islamic radicalization in European countries is becoming more and more prevalent, as evidenced by the number of recent attacks by Muslims in Europe. I argue that the social, religious, and psychological environment in France creates a unique opportunity for Islamic radicalization, particularly through social media and in prisons. After defining radicalization and explaining two radicalization processes as well as different types of radicals, I analyze the specific factors present in France that contribute to this radicalization. I use case study analysis to examine several French citizens who radicalized, either online or in prison, in order to show how the recruiter …

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The Theoretical Argument For Disproving Asymptotic Upper-Bounds On The Accuracy Of Part-Of-Speech Tagging Algorithms: Adopting A Linguistics, Rule-Based Approach, William Foley Jan 2016

The Theoretical Argument For Disproving Asymptotic Upper-Bounds On The Accuracy Of Part-Of-Speech Tagging Algorithms: Adopting A Linguistics, Rule-Based Approach, William Foley

Honors Theses

This paper takes a deep dive into a particular area of the interdisciplinary domain of Computational Linguistics, Part-of-Speech Tagging algorithms. The author relies primarily on scholarly Computer Science and Linguistics papers to describe previous approaches to this task and the often-hypothesized existence of the asymptotic accuracy rate of around 98%, by which this task is allegedly bound. However, after doing more research into why the accuracy of previous algorithms have behaved in this asymptotic manner, the author identifies valid and empirically-backed reasons why the accuracy of previous approaches do not necessarily reflect any sort of general asymptotic bound on the …

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An Industry Giant's Struggles: Google's Relative Failure Within China, Zachary T. Cookston Jan 2016

An Industry Giant's Struggles: Google's Relative Failure Within China, Zachary T. Cookston

Honors Theses

This thesis aims to understand and further explain the reasons culminating in Google's relative failure in the Chinese search engine market. By examining Google's tenure in China, Google's fairings in other large East Asian markets, and other Western corporations' troubles adapting to the Chinese market, this paper works to exhibit the reasons for Google's failure in China. Many of Google's high-ranking officers have claimed censorship as the most important factor in forcing the industry giant to vacate one of the fastest growing and most populous search engine markets in the world, but this paper seeks to exemplify that Google's approach …

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Trails: Tool For Real-Time Assessment Of Information Literacy Skills, Christina Miller Jan 2016

Trails: Tool For Real-Time Assessment Of Information Literacy Skills, Christina Miller

Publications and Research

TRAILS: Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills, a product of Kent State University Libraries, free and online, aims to evaluate information literacy skills of elementary and high school students. Launched in 2006, the tool was initially funded by the Institute for Library and Information Literacy Education (ILILE), an initiative of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the U.S. Department of Education. The multiple-choice, standards-based, knowledge assessment measures competencies in five information categories—topic development, identification of sources, development of search strategies, evaluation of information, and ethical uses of information—at the third-, sixth-, ninth-, and twelfth-grade benchmark …

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Using A Blog And Social Media Promotion As A Collaborative Community Building Marketing Tool For Library Resources, Alyson Vaaler, Steve Brantley Jan 2016

Using A Blog And Social Media Promotion As A Collaborative Community Building Marketing Tool For Library Resources, Alyson Vaaler, Steve Brantley

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

PurposeThe purpose of this report is to explain the process of how Booth Library developed an online Wordpress blog in order to market physical and electronic resources in the library’s collection. This report looks at specific tools that are used to maintain the blog and sample topics that the blog covers.DesignWordPress software was installed on library servers, making the blog a cohesive part of the library’s website. A PHP script called “List It!” was developed in order to produce book lists with cover images from a list of scanned library barcodes. After the book lists are inserted into blog posts, …

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Review Of Demystifying Eresearch: A Primer For Librarians, Kirstin Duffin Jan 2016

Review Of Demystifying Eresearch: A Primer For Librarians, Kirstin Duffin

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Review of the book by Victoria Martin.

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Globalized Garment Systems: Theories On The Rana Plaza Disaster And Possible Localist Responses, Elizabeth A. Evans Jan 2016

Globalized Garment Systems: Theories On The Rana Plaza Disaster And Possible Localist Responses, Elizabeth A. Evans

WWU Graduate School Collection

Since 2005, more than 1,300 people in Bangladesh – the majority women – have died, while producing apparel for Western, especially United States, markets. Today, the US imports 97.5 percent of its apparel, mostly from developing countries such as Bangladesh. However, such import reliance was not always so. By examining past and present garment systems in the United States, my thesis seeks to address injustice in globalized garment systems, and suggest new directions for the future. The Rana Plaza factory collapse disaster thus is presented as a case study of injustice in globalized garment systems. In this thesis, I hypothesize …

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Video Education For Nutritional Management Of Type 2 Diabetes In A Rural, Multiethnic Community In Molokai, Hawaii, Megan Stephenson Jan 2016

Video Education For Nutritional Management Of Type 2 Diabetes In A Rural, Multiethnic Community In Molokai, Hawaii, Megan Stephenson

WWU Graduate School Collection

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is seen acutely in the state of Hawaii: 9.7 percent of the adult population is diagnosed, but rates are disproportionate across ethnic groups. Food insecurity, agricultural restrictions, and low health literacy contribute to high rates of chronic disease like T2D. This thesis is a medical anthropological study, to test a modified diabetes education video about nutritional practices to the multiethnic community on Molokai. I argue that this modified educational video is more relevant to the local population by integrating cultural practices of the island, using local foods, local professionals, and local places. I further argue that …

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Science And Strategy: How Scientific And Technical Information Are Used In Disputes Over Landslide Regulations In Seattle, Wa, Ana E. Miscolta-Cameron Jan 2016

Science And Strategy: How Scientific And Technical Information Are Used In Disputes Over Landslide Regulations In Seattle, Wa, Ana E. Miscolta-Cameron

WWU Graduate School Collection

This thesis investigates the ways in which scientific and technical information are used to challenge policies regarding development in landslide-prone areas in Seattle, Washington. It examines the values that underlie actor arguments within those challenges, using the theoretical lens of Science, Technology, and Society. Twelve case studies are selected from a set of 90 permitting appeals, court cases, and growth management hearings board appeals between the years of 1990 and 2015, and analyzed to identify the complex ways in which scientific information is used to further actor positions. A narrative analysis approach is used to analyze the case studies, archived …

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One Hundred Years Of Vegetation Succession In The Easton Glacial Foreland, Mount Baker, Washington, Katherine A. (Katherine Ann) Rosa Jan 2016

One Hundred Years Of Vegetation Succession In The Easton Glacial Foreland, Mount Baker, Washington, Katherine A. (Katherine Ann) Rosa

WWU Graduate School Collection

This research describes stages of primary succession in the Easton glacial foreland on Mount Baker, Washington. The Easton foreland is an alpine landscape displaying the processes of primary succession from barren substrate to a developed forest within 1.95 kilometers and over a short geologic period of approximately one hundred years. Patterns of vegetation succession vary among forelands around the world. In the Easton foreland, vegetation development was measured by percent cover, richness, and species diversity. Environmental variables (distance from glacier (proxy for time), elevation, soil moisture, photosynthetic active radiation (PAR), slope, and aspect) were measured to determine factors influencing vegetation …

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Using Intersectionality To Enhance And Mitigate Group Threats, Jeremy R. Becker Jan 2016

Using Intersectionality To Enhance And Mitigate Group Threats, Jeremy R. Becker

WWU Graduate School Collection

Much of the research studying stereotypes and prejudice focuses on a single social category (e.g., race or gender). Intersectionality research allows for multiple social categories to be evaluated together. The current work investigates whether emotions that are linked to outgroup threats (Cottrell and Neuberg, 2005) can be manipulated by intersecting different groups with one another. I proposed two hypotheses derived from a single theory. The Threat Enhancement Hypothesis of Intersectionality predicts that intersections comprised of categories that share a threat profile will be more threatening than either of the individual categories. The Threat Mitigation Hypothesis of Intersectionality predicts that intersections …

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Exploring The Effects Of Psychological Distance And Action-Related Knowledge On Wildlife Conservation, Brett A. Muskavage Jan 2016

Exploring The Effects Of Psychological Distance And Action-Related Knowledge On Wildlife Conservation, Brett A. Muskavage

WWU Graduate School Collection

Human actions are contributing to the destruction of rainforests and the growth of palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia. These actions are threatening endangered species such as orangutans. Reducing the psychological distance between individuals and threats to orangutans, and providing information regarding how to protect orangutans and their habitat may influence people to engage in conservation behavior. Using the framework of Construal Level Theory, this study explored the effects of social distance, temporal distance, and action-related knowledge on conservation behavior, behavioral intentions, perceived behavioral control, concern, and emotional responses. Undergraduate psychology students (N = 254) were shown information and images …

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Exploring How Parents Influence Role Acceptance Of Youth Athletes Through Multiple Perspectives, Michael J. Godfrey Jan 2016

Exploring How Parents Influence Role Acceptance Of Youth Athletes Through Multiple Perspectives, Michael J. Godfrey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Role acceptance refers to the willingness of an athlete to fulfill expected role responsibilities (Benson, Eys, Surya, Dawson, & Schneider, 2013). Researchers have proposed several potential antecedents of role acceptance, one of which emphasized the influence of parents in this process (Eys et al., in preparation). With this in mind, the general purpose of the present study was to examine how parents influence the role acceptance process through multiple perspectives (e.g., parents, athletes, and coaches). To achieve this objective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 participants (7 parents, 7 athletes, and 5 coaches) from four different types of interdependent team …

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Redskins Revisited: Competing Constructions Of The Washington Redskins Mascot, Eean Grimshaw Jan 2016

Redskins Revisited: Competing Constructions Of The Washington Redskins Mascot, Eean Grimshaw

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project looks at how synecdoche and ideographs function in the construction of competing position in the controversy surrounding the Washington Redskins mascot. I examined the rhetoric produced by both the Washington Redskins organization and its fans, as well as the rhetoric of Change the Mascot, the Oneida Indian Nation of New York and other opponents between the years of 2013 and 2015. Based in part on Moore’s (1993, 1994, 1997) argument that synecdoche and ideographs often prevent resolution and produce irreconcilable conflict, I extend this notion insofar as the controversy surrounding the Redskins mascot appears to be shifted towards …

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Between Rivers: Reflections On Home, Obligation, And Otherness From A Confluence Of Conservation And Connectivity, Chandra M. Brown Jan 2016

Between Rivers: Reflections On Home, Obligation, And Otherness From A Confluence Of Conservation And Connectivity, Chandra M. Brown

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Between Rivers is an exploration of the role of the outsider in international watershed conservation. Through extended personal narrative and analysis of current events, ethnographic texts, and sociopolitical history, this thesis considers questions related to responsibility in conservation. The narrative focuses on Ecuador’s Jondachi Fest, a case study in international collaboration and celebration of an ecologically key river system. Grassroots celebrations and river festivals are sprouting up on endangered rivers all across South America. In this thesis, the author examines her own experience as an outsider working to facilitate one such festival – the challenges, shortcomings, relationships, and victories – …

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The Western Stemmed Point Tradition: Evolutionary Perspectives On Cultural Change In Projectile Points During The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition, Lindsay D. Scott Jan 2016

The Western Stemmed Point Tradition: Evolutionary Perspectives On Cultural Change In Projectile Points During The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition, Lindsay D. Scott

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this thesis I analyze the cultural techniques of Paleoindians in North America by examining the diversification and fusion of stemmed projectile point traditions using an evolutionary analysis. The Western Stemmed Point tradition has an extensive regional and temporal distribution throughout the Intermountain West and High Plains during the Paleoindian period. In an effort to determine how stemmed projectile point technologies relate to each other, I applied a phylogenetic approach to construct heritable patterns of projectile point histories. By measuring the physical traits of those points and using a macro-evolutionary theoretical approach, changes in artifact form can be acquired and …

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Class Iii Archaeological Survey Report: Madison Buffalo Jump State Park, Gallatin County, Montana, Brandon J. Bachman Jan 2016

Class Iii Archaeological Survey Report: Madison Buffalo Jump State Park, Gallatin County, Montana, Brandon J. Bachman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Through a cooperative agreement between the University of Montana (UM) Department of Anthropology and Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, the University of Montana, between 17 May and 1 June 2014, conducted an archaeological inventory of the 640-acre Madison Buffalo Jump State Park. Douglas Macdonald, Ph.D. and Sara Scott, Ph.D. managed the project for each institution, respectively. Copious amounts of artifacts and features alike were recorded at Madison Buffalo Jump during the survey, including: 1) 3-4 drive lines used in the funneling of bison to jump locations; 2) bison bone concentrations below the kill/nick point on the face of the jump; …

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The Bridge River Dogs: Interpreting Adna And Stable Isotope Analysis Collected From Dog Remains, Emilia Tifental Jan 2016

The Bridge River Dogs: Interpreting Adna And Stable Isotope Analysis Collected From Dog Remains, Emilia Tifental

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Excavations at the Bridge River site have been on-going since 2003, increasing our understanding of the communities that inhabited the Middle Fraser Canyon, British Columbia over 1,000 years ago. The most recent excavation at Housepit 54 in the summer of 2014 supplied further data regarding relationships between people and their dogs. Dogs are well documented in the Middle Fraser Canyon through both archaeological excavations and traditional knowledge. A household's possession of a dog has been linked to other prestigious materials, and therefore been interpreted as an indicator of wealth and status. The present study was aimed at further investigation of …

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Re-Analyzing The Function Of Demonstrative Reference In Tajik, Kelly E. Bowman Jan 2016

Re-Analyzing The Function Of Demonstrative Reference In Tajik, Kelly E. Bowman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents a re-analysis of Tajik demonstratives based on an alternative to the widely accepted framework for understanding demonstrative reference. In this framework, demonstrative reference is categorized according to two criteria: the anchor relative to which reference is made, and the number of spatial distinctions the system has for encoding distance from the anchor (Levinson 2004, O’Grady 2010). According to previous literature (Rastorgueva 1963, Perry 2005, Windfuhr & Perry 2009), Tajik has a speaker-anchored, two-way reference system. However, these criteria alone do not account for the data presented in this thesis. I therefore propose the following change to this …

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Responses To Change In The Global Political Economy Of Innovation – The Role Of Sub-National States In Industrial Transition, Dan Herman Jan 2016

Responses To Change In The Global Political Economy Of Innovation – The Role Of Sub-National States In Industrial Transition, Dan Herman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation seeks to explore how sub-national levels of the state promote the development of new industrial sectors. To do so this dissertation builds on a series of theoretical perspectives on the role of the state in the economy and develops a unique view of how sub-national states coalesce and contrast within these perspectives. It does so through a series of empirical case studies focused on sub-national jurisdictions in North America that highlight diverse varieties of state actions that contribute, if not lead, industrial transitions and the development of new innovation-oriented industrial sectors. In so doing, the dissertation presents a …

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Low Self-Esteem Leads To Depression Among Elderly: Case Study Of Nursing Home, Savera Aziz Ali, Nadir Suhail, Sumera Aziz Ali Jan 2016

Low Self-Esteem Leads To Depression Among Elderly: Case Study Of Nursing Home, Savera Aziz Ali, Nadir Suhail, Sumera Aziz Ali

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Background: Self-esteem is defined as “how we value our self”; it affects our trust and relationships in every part of life. Person with low self-esteem may feel powerless and incompetent about himself/herself. Moreover, low self-esteem operates as a risk factor for depression, which is most common disorder among elderly people both in developed and developing countries, causing multiple behavioral changes as well as may increase the chances of depression and suicide among the elderly people. Objective: The objective of this case study was to understand the problems faced by elderly people in the nursing home and to relate the self-esteem …

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Stress And Somatic Symptoms: Rumination And Negative Affect As Moderators, Melissa Joy Garner Jan 2016

Stress And Somatic Symptoms: Rumination And Negative Affect As Moderators, Melissa Joy Garner

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

This study examined the relationships between stress, negative affect, rumination, and somatic symptoms among older adolescents. The following hypotheses were investigated: 1) greater number of life stressors would predict greater somatic symptoms, 2) rumination would moderate the relationship between stressors and somatic symptoms, 3) negative affect would also moderate the relationship between stressors and somatic symptoms, and 4) a three-way interaction between stress, rumination and negative affect would significantly predict somatic symptoms. Participants were 363 (71.1% female) university students with a mean age of 19.06 years (SD=2.06 years) who completed eight weekly online questionnaires, assessing levels of rumination …

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Investigating The Influence Of Offline Friendship On Twitter Networking Behaviors, Young Soo Kim, Felicia Natali, Feida Zhu, Ee-Peng Lim Jan 2016

Investigating The Influence Of Offline Friendship On Twitter Networking Behaviors, Young Soo Kim, Felicia Natali, Feida Zhu, Ee-Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We investigate the influence of offline friendship in three specific areas of Twitter networking behaviors: (a) network structure, (b) Twitter content and (c) interaction on Twitter. We observe some interesting findings through the empirical analysis of 2193 pairs of users who are online friends. When these pairs of users know each other offline, they are more likely to (1) respond to the online gesture of friendship from their friend, (2) share mutual online friends, (3) distribute and gather information in their friend’s Twitter network, (4) pay attention to their friend’s tweets, (5) post tweets that might be of interest to …

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Training Coping Techniques To Reduce Statistics Anxiety, Brittany Prothe Jan 2016

Training Coping Techniques To Reduce Statistics Anxiety, Brittany Prothe

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Undergraduate students in introduction to statistics courses have been shown to have difficulties and anxiety related to the course. This study examines how coping training might reduce the statistics anxiety associated with these courses using a sample of students currently enrolled in the course. Results indicate that individual differences such as negative affect, trait anxiety, disengaged coping strategies and cognitive ability are related to statistics anxiety. The specific coping training used in this study was unable to reduce statistics anxiety; however, other methods for reducing statistics anxiety are suggested and directions for future research are provided.

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