Division, College, and Department Research

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Browsing Division, College, and Department Research by Type "Dissertation"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Grand Army of the Republic or Grand Army of the Republicans? Political Party and Ideological Preferences of American Enlisted Personnel
    (2009-08) Shaw, Daron; Barany, Zoltan; Hinich, Melvin J.; Wasby, Stephen L.; Sparrow, Bartholomew H.
    While much research has been conducted into the political behavior and attitudes of American military officers, little has been accomplished with respect to enlisted personnel. Most reports assume that the American military identify largely with the Republican Party and are mostly conservative in attitude. The most recent large-scale study, the TISS Survey on the Military in the Post Cold War Era conducted by Feaver and Kohn in 1998-1999, confirmed those assumptions among senior officers and is often quoted as representative of the entire military. However, the demographic characteristics of enlisted personnel predict different behavior. The enlisted ranks of the American military are over-represented by minorities who traditionally identify with the Democratic Party. The present study gathered data on enlisted personnel, by means of a survey, to determine whether that specialized population is significantly different in attitude and behavior from that of the officer corps and of the general American population. Enlisted personnel identify with the Republican Party in about the same proportion as do the general American population. However, only about half as many enlisted personnel identify with the Democratic Party as do civilians. Enlisted personnel are also about three times more likely to identify as Independents as do other Americans. Active-duty enlisted personnel demonstrate a 1.7 to 1 partisan (Republican to Democrat) ratio, similar to that found in the veteran enlisted sample (1.8 to 1) and the officer sample (1.6 to 1). The civilian sample shows a .95 to 1 partisan ratio. Thus, active-duty enlisted personnel who identify with a political party are about twice as likely to identify with the Republican Party as are civilians. However, active-duty enlisted personnel are nearly four times as likely as civilians to report being Independent, and are substantially less likely than civilians to identify with the Democratic Party. The Republican to Democrat ratio may well explain the commentary about and observations of a Republican dominated military. Despite the fact that the overall proportion of Republicans within the military is no greater than that found within the general population, that there are twice as many individuals who will state that they are Republicans as those who will state that they are Democrats can easily give the impression of a heavily Republican population. However, active-duty enlisted personnel remain strongly independent when compared to the civilian population. Of special note is a markedly higher political efficacy among military enlisted personnel than is found within the general American population.
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    Holocene Paleoecology and Later Stone Age Hunter-Gatherer Adaptations in the South African Interior Plateau
    (1991-05) Bousman, C. Britt; Sampson, C. Garth
    Excavations at Blydefontein Rockshelter and Meerkat Rockshelter are used to test models of hunter-gatherer technological organization. Climatic and ecologically driven models that predict differential use of weapons and tool kits among hunter-gatherers were constructed from modern hunter-gatherer studies from throughout the world. Ethnographic, historic and archaeological observations on tools made by still-living Bushmen from the 19th and 20th century were used to predict the specific technological changes that would occur under varying climatic circumstances. Local paleoenvironmental and modern botanic studies are used to predict past hunter-gatherer behavior through the reconstruction of past climates. Tests of these models were conducted with Later Stone Age artifacts from the rockshelter excavations.
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    Molecular Systematics of Selected Members of the Black Basses, Genus Micropterus, with Concentration on the Spotted Bass (M. punctulatus) Species Complex
    (1998-08) Fuller, Belinda
    This study examined genetic relationships among selected populations of black basses. These centrarchid fishes, separated by both physical barriers (land formations) and distance, have shown varying degrees of differentiation, but retain many morphometric characters in common. Eight populations representing four taxa and geographical extremes in the genus Micropterus, with concentration on the spotted bass complex, were selected and evaluated for biochemical genetic characters. This study examined two species and two subspecies of spotted basses. The type species from Kentucky represented Micropterus punctulatus punctulatus; population from Alabama represented M. p. henshalli. A Texas population, previously classified as conspecific with spotted bass but now listed as a distinct species, was included. One primary objective of this study was where the Louisiana populations of M. punctulatus align within this group, as these populations are found at a central geographic position in the distribution of these differentiated basses. Since previous studies have revealed low levels of genetic variability, a technique more sensitive to genetic differences was used, and compared to results from allozyme analysis, the more traditional method for assessing genetic differentiation. Both allozyme analysis and random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) were used to assess genetic relationships. These two techniques resolved very different relationships. The allozyme study showed the type species, Kentucky bass, as most divergent, but supported the predicted relationships among the remaining four populations. The RAPD-PCR results were in basic agreement with the expected taxonomy. Based on similarities at 302 polymorphic RAPD loci, the two Louisiana and Kentucky populations closely clustered, with the subspecies M. p. henshalli the next most divergent, and M. treculi, diverging next, but completing a cohesive cluster with the other spotted bass relative to the outgroups. A yet unnamed new form from Florida, the Chipola bass, was also analyzed with this technique. PCR results place this form approximately equal distances from the other two outgroup species and the punctulatus group. Therefore, this analysis would support species recognition for the Chipola bass, and regrouping the Texas strain of spotted bass in the M. punctulatus species complex.
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    Statistical Analysis of the Association between Library of Congress Subject Headings and Their Corresponding Class Notations in Main Classes of LCC and DDC
    (1985-05) Khosh-khui, Sam Abolghasem
    A database consisting of 101,347 of the Library of Congress MARC records was created and the Library of Congress Classification (LCC), and Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) were analyzed to determine variations in the association between LCSHs and LCC/DDC notations with respect to the variations in the number of LCSHs per record, the order of headings in records and the sorting of entries. The analysis showed that as the number of LCSHs per record increased, the association between LCSHs and class notations decreased. The probability of having identical class notations for identical LCSHs in single-heading records was found to be significantly higher than in multiple-headings records. Association of LCSHs and class notations with respect to the variation in the order of LCSHs revealed that LCSHs which were listed first had a significantly higher association with class notations than the succeeding headings. The main classes within each classification system were significantly different at the 0.001 level. The difference between associations measures in the subject catalog and the shelf list catalog was significant at the 0.001 level in bibliographic records with a different number of LCSHs per record and for LCSHs listed first, but there was not a significant difference for headings listed second or more. The difference between the association of LCSH with LCC and the association of LCSH and DDC was significant in the bibliographic records with a single LCSH and for headings listed first. The study indicated that the class notations are not consistently assigned to subject headings: LCSH, LCC, and DDC should be improved to increase the associations between subject headings and class notations. In filing identical subject headings, it would be more logical to subarrange entries by number/order of headings in records. In developing a pattern-recognition algorithm to compute class notations or LCSHs when either one of the two is known, going from LCSHs to computer class notations is more likely recommended that the reverse approach, and LCC would be a better choice than DDC.
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    The Evolution of the Cuticle in Early Angiosperm Leaves from the Lower Cretaceous Potomac Group (Atlantic Coastal Plain, U.S.A.)
    (1981-01) Fisher, Daniel A.; Wagner, Warren H.; Doyle, James A.; Beck, Charles B.
    No abstract prepared.