Although there were numerous leadership development programs throughout the country, most ignored the small producers located throughout the south. In order to address the needs of these traditionally underserved individuals, the “National Small Farmer Agricultural Leadership Institute” was created to address the concerns of small farmers in rural communities. This research specifically targeted the effectiveness of leadership development over a period by exploring the factors that motivate the program participants to enhance their leadership skills and the ability to transform that motivation into effective leadership. The group involved in this study is a convenience population of small farmers and ranchers from across the Southern United States, who graduated from the National Small Farm Leadership Institute. These participants represent 2 graduating classes from 2007 and 2009. A retrospective post survey methodology was used to conduct this study. The instrument is divided into a knowledge base before they took the program (pre) and a retrospective post assessment. Each of the questions allowed the participants to rate their ability on a 5 point Likert-Type scale. The responses ranged from 1 to 5 with the following responses Very Poor, Poor, Fair, Good and Very Good. The survey research examined four educational constructs that were covered during the leadership development program. These were Leadership Skill Development, Leadership Theory, Agricultural Skill enhancement and the Transformation of their leadership skills. Through analysis of the four educational constructs the research reveals substantial increases in knowledge and skills such as Group Problem Solving, Consensus Building, Team Building, Group Decision Making and Obtaining information to help in decision making. Participants were definitely found to have increased their leadership skills through teaching of Leadership Philosophy, linkages to Federal and agricultural resources, the appreciation of different styles of leadership and awareness of agricultural policy issues. The study revealed that in each of the four educational construct areas of the National Small Farm Leadership Institute that there were substantial increases in knowledge and changes in behavior such as: understanding and explaining personal leadership philosophy, increased awareness of Agricultural Policy Issues and transferring the leadership back to the community.

The African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, like many historically black denomination over the years, has been actively involved in social change and racial uplift. The concepts of racial uplift and self-determination dominated black social, political, and economic thought throughout the late-eighteenth into the nineteenth century. Having created many firsts for blacks in America, the A.M.E. Church is recognized as leading blacks in implementing the rhetoric of racial uplift and self-determination. Racial uplift was a broad concept that covered issues such as equal rights, moral, spiritual, and intellectual development, and institutional and organizational building. The rhetoric of racial uplift and self-determination help to create many black leaders and institutions such as churches, schools, and newspapers. This is a historical study in which I examined how education and educational institutions sponsored by a black church can be methods of social change and racial uplift. The A.M.E. Church was the first black institution (secular or religious) to create, support, and maintain institutions of higher education for blacks. I explored the question of why before slavery had even ended and it was legal for blacks to learn to read and write, the A.M.E. Church became interested in and created institution of learning. I answer this question by looking at the creation of these institutions as the A.M.E. Church’s way of promoting and implementing racial uplift and self-determination. This examination includes the analysis of language used in articles, sermons, and speeches given by various A.M.E. Church-affiliated persons who promoted education as a method to uplift the Negro race.

In 1987, the Archaeological Resources Management Service (AXM6) at Ball State University conducted a sampling survey of a seven mile section of the Maumee River Valley in Allen County, Indiana. In addition to the primary survey, the project conducted an experiment in resurveying previously surveyed sample units, interviewed local collectors, and analyzed and tabulated data from a local collection with site level provenience. The project also reevaluated data previously collected from an adjacent section of the river valley and tested four sites in the latter study area.This study summarizes the data from the Maumee Grant Project and presents a general chronology of prehistoric habitation in the study area based upon that data. More specifically, this study has formulated provisional settlement models for the:PaleoIndian and Early Archaic habitation of the Upper Maumee River Valley, circa-10,000 to 6,000 B.C.The data indicate that the earliest peoples to inhabit the study area were Paleo-Indian bands with a preference for floodplain habitation and a subsistence strategy that emphasized hunting. As the post-glacial climate of the region ameliorated, the Early Archaic peoples that followed adapted a more diverse subsistence strategy, thus drawing upon a wider variety of terrace and floodplain resources. In contrast to their PaleoIndian forerunners, Early Archaic groups in the Upper Maumee Valley generally exhibited a preference for terrace habitation. In addition to the general Early Archaic occupation of the valley, three specific lithic traditions, the Kirk, the Bifurcate, and the Thebes, were identified and their settlement practices compared. While the origins of the earliest PaleoIndian bands in the region remained unclear, subsequent groups seem to have extended from and/or been influenced by Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene populations to the north, west, southwest, south, and east. By contributing to the regional data base and formulating provisional settlement models, this report provides a foundational basis for future research in the region. / Department of Anthropology

Archaeological investigations of the Gronauer lock #2 revealed the presence of the well-preserved lower portion of the lock and associated cribbing. Clearing of the fill in the lock proper and wing area and test excavations in the southern cribbing provided important details on the construction of the lock which were not completely consistent with the historical documentation and building specifications. Few artifacts directly associated with the construction and use of the lock were found although significant numbers of secondarily deposited artifacts from the adjacent lockkeeper's house were recovered. Dating of the artifacts was consistent with the recorded history of the construction and use of the lock. In general, without the physical details recovered through the archaeological investigations, interpretations of the site from the written records alone would have presented an inaccurate view of the actual situation.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306 / Department of Anthropology

This Thesis will examine how the framing of ‘trolley problems’ incorrectly motivates arithmetic rankings of states of affairs by removing context. This is problematic because the context of these problems provides the tools to solve moral dilemmas by allowing one to analyze the relevant motivations, moral implications, duties, values, and personal and societal obligations that one has. I will discuss Samuel Scheffler’s charge that a paradox exists within agent-centered restrictions and how his abstract paradigmatic case leads to arithmetic rankings of choices, which are both unrealistic and lead to tragic and morally unacceptable decision making. I will argue that Allen Wood’s Middle Theory can help dispel the apparent paradox and demonstrate a better way to examine ‘trolley problems’. I will further discuss how Martha Nussbaum’s analysis of tragic questions illuminates the issues surrounding such problems providing a morally acceptable way to account for the occasional unavoidable harm that results in decision-making caused by solving ‘trolley problems.’ Taken together, Wood’s and Nussbaum’s theories and analysis provide potential solutions to ‘trolley problems.’

El trabajo se centra en estudiar la calidad, una dimensión abordada por la teoría de comercio internacional en estos últimos diez años que ha tomado incesante relevancia. El objetivo del trabajo es ver cómo la calidad está relacionada con el destino de las exportaciones. Se presenta un modelo teórico de firmas heterogéneas, que focaliza en el mecanismo de distancia y de valuación, con el fin de contribuir a la teoría económica sobre este tema. Primero, se muestra un modelo general, que parte de una función de utilidad de elasticidad de sustitución constante con preferencias no homotéticas. Si los costos de producción cumplen ciertos supuestos, la calidad aumenta con la intensidad de preferencia por la calidad de los países de destino y con los costos de transportes específicos, mientras que, disminuye o no está relacionada con los costos de transporte ad-valorem. Luego, se desarrolla un caso particular del modelo, incorporando funciones de costos de producción específicas. En este caso, cuando los costos de transporte son sólo específicos, las firmas ofrecen mayor calidad a los países más ricos y más distantes, como se documenta en los trabajos empíricos. Donde juega un rol fundamental, el hecho de que los costos marginales crezcan con el nivel de calidad.

This bachelor's thesis examines the information-seeking behavior of Swedish engineering students. In comparison with research conducted on professional engineers there is little known about engineering students. The previous research is limited in providing an in-depth understanding of the information-seeking behavior of engineering students. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore the information-seeking activities and factors influencing the activity of choice. A qualitative research approach was applied, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with five students to capture the students’ thoughts and self-perceived experiences. The empirical data was analysed using ‘a non-linear model on information seeking behavior model’ originally created by Foster (2004) later modified by Foster & Urquhart (2012). The model consists of the five broad concepts of Opening, Orientation, Consolidation, Intrinsic Context, and Extrinsic Context. The findings show a rather homogeneous group of engineering students when it comes to information-seeking activities consisting of keyword searching, networking and selective browsing. The influencing factors, however, differ between the students but are summarized in knowledge, affect, motivation, project, time, physical location, and resource access. The findings are consistent with previous research showing that engineering students access information in a fast and effective way due to time constraints with sources that require the least effort, but not at the expense of credibility of the source and quality of the information. Furthermore, the findings are discussed and linked to user education in university libraries.

The thesis is an exploratory qualitative analysis of conversations between two out of three leading characters in Woody Allen’s motion picture Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Due to a perception of invisible power relations, it is hypothesized that what seems like a powerful position in discourse, in fact is an indication of the opposite, and that what seems like a powerless position, is an indication of power. Three features based on scholarship connected to Conversation Analysis (CA), Dyadic Power Theory (DPT) and power relations in verbal interaction are chosen to test the hypotheses: first and second positions in sequences as dicussed by Hutchby (1996), control attempts as elaborated by DPT, and mitigating strategies as argued for by Mullany (2004). Findings confirm the hypotheses, but also reveal ambiguities and contrasting results. Connecting the data to sources based on talk in the private sphere, in particular within family discourse, is mentioned as one way to further illuminate the subject in future research.

This thesis focuses on the use of metaphor in characterizing the alleged enemies of Christianity and Americanism during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. A summary of influential political, social, and religious events during the time period examined and biographical profiles precede a metaphoric analysis of the rhetoric of three far-right spokeswomen. The anti-Catholic rhetoric of Alma White, Bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church, the anti-Communist rhetoric of Elizabeth Dilling, suburban crusader of the Mothers' movement, and the anti-Semitic rhetoric of Marilyn Allen, Anglo-Israelite reactionary, provide the data for analysis. The metaphoric analysis reveals that Catholics, Communists, and Jews are portrayed as "Supreme Evil" and "Supreme Threat" in the metaphors of the three women. By labeling Catholics, Communists, and Jews as evil the rhetors attribute negative value judgements which have the potential to trigger strong emotional reactions in auditors. By claiming that Catholics, Communists, and Jews threaten religious and political freedom in America, the rhetors encourage suppression of, and violence against, members of these groups. Additionally, four common attitudes and values which underlie the metaphors are delineated and their salience to Fundamentalists, reactionaries, and members of the far right is illustrated. Finally, change in the metaphors over the thirty-year time span is reexamined. The findings support more similarities than differences in specific allegations of evil and threat, and in the emotional tone of the metaphors.

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