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This investigation looks at the relationship between a STEM learning community's co-curricular activities and students' perceived sense of community (SOC)to determine which activities most influence SOC and, in turn, retention. This investigation shows that SOC can be impacted by a multitude of factors found within the college environment. The most influential of these factors are open acceptance, student academic support services, and residential experiences. Most importantly there were significant differences for African American students participating in the STEM learning community on the measures of SOC, retention, and being on-track in mathematics. Additional data suggested higher levels of being on-track in mathematics for male students and differences in retention and being on-track for Hispanic students participating in a STEM learning community.

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The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate graduate student perceptions of community and connectedness enrolled in an online doctoral program at a Texas university. This research is relevant to students enrolled at the University of North Texas in the learning technologies (LTEC) PhD program. The aim was to identify elements that facilitate community and connectedness among residential and distributed students. The study utilized a mixed method approach employing the Brief Sense of Community Survey (BSCS) and the Online Student Connectedness Survey (OSCS) for the quantitative data along with semi-structured interviews for qualitative analysis. Survey data was collected from twenty-nine residential and distributed students ranging from first year to dissertation stage. Semi-structure interviews were conducted from five student volunteers to further identify participants' perception of community and connectedness within the program. Results reveal that while current features of community designed within the program (i.e. annual meeting, associate graduate faculty support, and cohort model) are beneficial in helping students develop a sense of community and sense of connectedness. However, students desire deeper connections with peers, faculty and the program at various phases of the doctoral process. Doctoral support during the dissertation phase, additional student support such as alumni and current student mentoring and the development of an online community emerged as beneficial in further creating community and connectedness among students in the program.

Background: Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) is something that lately has gained increasing relevance and importance when it comes to consumers purchase decisions. Online reviews are considered to be the most important and reliable form of eWOM and it refers to when consumers communicate with other consumers online regarding their previous shopping experiences. In order to increase the generalizability and understanding of motives that influence consumers intention to write online reviews, authors of previous studies have suggested that future research should intend to focus on motives that influence intention to write online reviews in other contexts that are not aimed towards the service industry. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain how personal- and social motives influence consumers intention to write online product reviews. Methodology: For this explanatory study, a quantitative strategy with a cross-sectional research design were used in order to test the model founded on two major hypotheses. The data was gathered through a self-completed questionnaire with a sample of 222 respondents. Findings: In this study, two major hypotheses were conducted in order to explain how personal motives and social motives influence consumers intention to write online product reviews. After analysing the data that emerged from the survey, a conclusion can be drawn that the hypothesis concerning personal motives and its influence on consumers intention to write online product reviews was accepted whereas the hypothesis concerning social motives was rejected. Conclusion: In this study, it has been recommended that future studies should test the suggestions found in this study with a more diverse sample in order to increase the generalizability of the theoretical implications. Furthermore, directions for future research will also recommend testing the modified model that emerged in this paper in order to detect if there are any additions that need to be added to increase the predictability of the findings.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:38:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ThyanaFGB_TESE.pdf: 3900803 bytes, checksum: ad536ccaa7f417bf348f03655020dc00 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-20 / The intensification of the fear in the city and in the spaces controlled by this feeling has contributed to a growing socio-spatial inequality, and the rapid growth of market protection. The residential condos emerge as a possible solution to the problem. This is a housing typology expanding worldwide which is seen, especially by the urban middle class, as enablers of quality of life and safety. In Brazil, especially in large cities, the quest for quality of life is directly connected with the desire for security translated through space control (use of high walls, gates, entrance hall, security cameras) and people who use it. This thesis aims at investigating how the different categories of inhabitants of an area predominantly occupied by vertical residential condos realize the socio-spatial dimension and the socio-urban space determined by this type of development. It especially takes into consideration the issue of urban insecurity, based on the assumption that, although published and sold by marketing as safe places , synonym of welfare and supporters of community life , the living in these condos, may even inhibits, social relationships, contributing to socio-spatial isolation and consequent social weakness. This is a survey that seeks to meet the assumptions of Environmental Psychology towards the comprehension of person-environment studies, emphasizing the use of different methods (desk research, observations of and group interviews, focus group technique using photographic resources), as well as the focus on current problems of the urban scene and the knowledge gained in Social Psychology / A intensifica??o do medo da cidade e dos espa?os geridos a partir deste sentimento vem contribuindo para uma desigualdade socioespacial cada vez maior, al?m do r?pido crescimento do mercado de prote??o. Os condom?nios residenciais surgem como uma poss?vel solu??o ao problema. Trata-se de uma tipologia habitacional em expans?o em todo mundo e s?o vistos, especialmente pela classe m?dia urbana, como espa?os propiciadores de qualidade de vida e seguran?a. No Brasil, especialmente nas grandes cidades, a busca por qualidade de vida apresenta conex?o direta com o desejo por seguran?a traduzido atrav?s do controle do espa?o (uso de muros altos, port?es, portaria, c?meras de vigil?ncia) e das pessoas que o utilizam. Investigar como as diversas categorias de moradores de uma ?rea predominantemente ocupada por condom?nios residenciais verticais percebem a dimens?o socioespacial e o espa?o urbano determinados por esse tipo de empreendimento, principalmente no tocante a quest?o da (in)seguran?a urbana ? o objetivo dessa tese que fundamenta-se na hip?tese de que, embora divulgados e vendidos pelo marketing como lugares seguros , sin?nimos de bem-estar e incentivadores da vida em comunidade , a moradia nestes condom?nios n?o promove, e at? inibe, as rela??es sociais, contribuindo para o isolamento socioespacial e consequente enfraquecimento social. Trata-se de uma pesquisa que procura atender ?s premissas da psicologia ambiental voltada para a compreens?o dos estudos pessoa-ambiente, valorizando o uso de diferentes m?todos (pesquisa documental, observa??es e entrevistas em grupo - t?cnica de grupo focal com utiliza??o de recursos fotogr?ficos), o foco em problemas atuais da cena urbana e o conhecimento obtido em psicologia social

<p>This thesis discuss the matter of non-profit-making associations as a self regulatory technique out of a theoretical concept of power. The object for the study is the non-profit-making association Ditt Nya Hageby, which work in the neigborhood of Hageby, a suburb to Norrköping. In the study the association is placed in a contemporary postmodern social context and analyzed through semi- structured qualitative interviews, accordingly to hermeneutical method, with five active members of the association as informants. The association consists of members who lives in the neighborhood. Together with a hired organizer they realizes their own ideas in to projects which unquestionably improves the social and physical enviroment in Hageby. The author of this thesis, however argues their activities also can be looked at in a normative way concerning social order in a non-compelling sence. Thus the author means that the association, in this particular sense, could be understood theoretically by implying Michel Foucaults govermentality concept. In order to reach the final conclusion the informants experience concerning sense of community and identity in relation to Ditt Nya Hageby is analyzed. Further theoretical framework is provided by Ferdinand Tönnies concepts of gemeinschaft/gesellschaft and Jürgen Habermas civil publicity. The paper also accounts for what the authorbelieves to be the ideological/methodological basis for Ditt Nya Hageby’s activities by presenting and discussing the"from the inside out"-perspective which is recomended by John P. Kretzman&John.L McKnight regarding the reconstruction, in a wider sense, of exposed neigborhoods.</p>

African-American and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) bear a disproportionately large burden of the Human Immunodefiency Virus (HIV) epidemic in the United States. To further enhance HIV prevention efforts among men of color, a survey was conducted within New York City’s house ball community; a community largely comprised of racial and ethnic minority persons. Time-space sampling was adapted to recruit participants for the survey from venues frequented by members of the house ball community. Using logistic regression analysis, this study examined the effects of perceived stigma, enacted stigma, sense of community and self-esteem on unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) among a sub-sample of men in the survey. Both perceived and enacted stigma had a modest direct effect on engaging in UAI. The direct effect on UAI was significant even after controlling for covariates in the model. The magnitude of the effect on UAI did not vary by race/ethnicity or sexual identity. In addition, perceived and enacted stigma correlated negatively to both sense of community and self-esteem scores. Although sense of community did not buffer the effect of perceived or enacted stigma on UAI, both sense of community and self-esteem were protective against engaging in UAI. However, while the direct effect of sense of community on UAI remained after controlling for covariates in the model, the effect self-esteem had on UAI diminished after adding variables to the model. Further, self-esteem was negatively correlated with both perceived and enacted stigma, but it did not mediate perceived and enacted stigma’s effect on UAI. Implications for HIV prevention strategies given these findings are discussed. Implications include developing multilevel interventions, including structural interventions, to reduce the stigma that is perceived and experienced by men of color as well as building stronger communities for African American and Latino MSM.

The nurturance of creative capacity and cultural awareness have been identified as important 21st century concerns, given the ways that globalisation has challenged cultural diversity. This thesis explores the share that the art classroom, as a formative place, has in supporting such concerns. It specifically examines artmaking strategies that visual arts teachers may use to help adolescent students to develop and negotiate their senses of self, place and community. Held within this goal is the assumption that both student and teacher perspectives are important to this endeavor. This thesis, accordingly, draws upon empirical work undertaken with lower secondary school level visual art students in Christchurch, New Zealand and teacher-trainees in Kingston, Jamaica to explore this potential in multi-dimensional ways. The research employs a qualitative, arts-based methodology, centred on the transformative capacity of ‘visual knowing’ to render this potential visible. A/r/tography as a particular strand of arts-based methodology, served to also implicate my artist-researcher-teacher roles in the study to facilitate both reflection and reflexivity and to capture the complexity and dynamics of the study. Multiple case studies provided the contexts to furnish these possibilities, and to theorize the intrinsic qualities of each case, as well as the complementary aspects of the inquiry in depth. The conceptual framework that underpins this study draws widely on scholarship relating to contemporary artmaking practices, visual culture, culturally responsive and place-conscious pedagogical practices. The research findings reveal that when the artmaking experience is framed around the personal and cultural experiences of the participants, both students and teachers participate in the enterprise meaningfully as co-constructors of knowledge. In this process, students develop the confidence to bring their unique feelings, experiences and understandings to the artmaking process, and develop a sense of ‘insideness’ that leads to strong senses of self, place and community. This also creates a space where the authentic interpretation of artmaking activities goes beyond the creation of borders around cultural differences, and instead generates multiple entry points for students to engage with information. The findings also indicate that while the nature of artmaking is improvisatory and emergent, structure is an integral element in the facilitation of habits toward perception and meaning making. Accordingly, emphases on structured, open-ended artmaking experiences, framed aesthetically, as well as exposure to both the products and processes of contemporary art serve this endeavor. Artmaking boundaries and enabling structures also help to supplement this process. Though this research is limited in scope (in terms of the community engagement), there exists evidence that collaboration with community resource persons enlarges students’ conceptions of artmaking. It presents the potential to address broad issues of local and global import, which also have relevance for the ways students understand their relationships with the world. For researchers outside of the school and community culture however, this process requires close working relations with school personnel to ensure its effectiveness and to facilitate those school-community bridges. The undertaking is also best realized when participants have their own senses of its value, and, as such, are more inclined to participate. A/r/tography, as an arts-based methodology presents much potential for examining the complexities of the artmaking experience. As a form of active inquiry it helps those who employ its features to be more attuned toward enquiry, their ways of being in the world, the ways the personal may be negotiated in a community of belonging, and the development of practices that address difference. This contributes to evolving and alternative research possibilities that value visual forms of ‘knowing’. Finally, this thesis addresses the paucity of research on visual arts education at the secondary level, especially in the Jamaican context. A significant feature of this research is the evidence of its effectiveness with both lower secondary school students and teachers across geographical contexts. It therefore presents the potential for similar studies to be undertaken internationally. Given that the results are site specific however, it is recommended that the adaptation of the framework of this study for future purposes also respond to the specific realities of those contexts.

Although emotional labour has been studied extensively among work populations such as doctors, detectives and adventure tourism guides, there has been no known research on the psychology of actors and acting within an emotional labour framework. This investigation had two purposes. The first was to extend what is currently known about two emotional labour strategies: surface acting, the regulation of observable expressions of emotions, and deep acting, the regulation of felt emotions, to include actual actors. The dependent variables used in this study were job and life satisfaction. The second purpose was to examine whether having a sense of community moderated the relationship between surface acting, deep acting and the dependent variables. Responses from 89 professional, amateur and community theatre actors were analysed. Pearson’s correlation coefficients showed a significant relationship between surface acting and the dependent variables. Hierarchical regression results showed a significant moderation effect for sense of community on the relationship between deep acting and life satisfaction. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.