Digital Commons Network^™

Age, Gender, Race, And Culture In The Er: A Content Analysis Of End-Of-Life Issues In The Television Drama, Katrina Wilson Burtt

Dissertations

Within one of the most popular television dramas on American television, hundreds of depictions of end-of-life (EOL) care and decision-making conveyed impressions of how death and dying occurred in a hospital. This content analysis of EOL incidents that appeared in every episode of the television drama ER indicated that viewers got powerful messages about EOL. The long-playing, popular television drama exaggerated the role of physician within the EOL scenes and minimized the roles of women, racial minorities and ethnic groups. Notably lacking from the EOL content were accurate or positive representations of racial, ethnic or cultural differences in death and …

"If It Ain't Broke, Break It": How Corporate Journalism Killed The "Arkansas Gazette", Donna Lampkin Stephens

Dissertations

Ownership is an increasingly critical issue for newspapers as they face the latest threats to the industry’s survival. Local, engaged, enlightened ownership is preferable to that of a distant corporation, but economic realities have decreed that corporate ownership has become the norm. The Arkansas Gazette was one of the most honored newspapers of twentieth-century American journalism under independent local family ownership, having provided brave leadership during the Little Rock Central Crisis, but its wounds from one of the country’s final fierce newspaper wars — against another local owner, Walter Hussman and his Arkansas Democrat — in the 1980s, combined with …

A Moderational Model Investigating Child Temperament, Executive Functioning, And Contextual Predictors Of Externalizing Behaviors In Preschoolers, Ferne Arlene Pinard

Dissertations

Child externalizing behavioral problems (e.g., ADHD symptoms and aggressive behaviors) often appear early in life, are relatively stable, and are associated with maladaptive outcomes in many domains of functioning. Research has shown that, for a subset of children who demonstrate these early behavioral patterns, the course is often more pervasive and persistent. Consequently, a better understanding of externalizing behavioral problems during the preschool period is essential. The current study examined whether biologically-based correlates (i.e., child temperament and executive functioning/neurocognitive attention; EF/Attention) would moderate the relation between the contextual correlates (i.e., socioeconomic status and parenting practices) and externalizing behaviors (i.e., ADHD …

The Oddity As Commodity: Television And The Modern Day Freak Show, Robin Marie Cecala

Dissertations

A new genre of documentary and reality program has appeared on cable television in recent years. Suddenly, little people, conjoined twins, the morbidly obese, Treeman and Mermaid Girl are the new stars of cable. This latest genre features people with medical conditions once exhibited in the turn of the century freak shows.

The goal of this dissertation is to argue that documentary programming on cable is becoming a modern version of the P.T. Barnum-style freak shows. The analysis uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine representations of race, culture and disability. The dissertation also discusses the history of the …

"Reading" The Apprentice: Commerce, Culture, And The Manufacturing Of Reality, Sharon Simpson Terrell

Dissertations

This study examines the six original seasons of the reality television series The Apprentice as a postmodern, cultural artifact. Grounded in Burke’s (1967) “literature as equipment for living,” and Brummett’s (1984) consideration that televised content constitutes literature, the theory of “televised discourse as equipment for living” provided the guide to examine the series. Hall’s (1980) “reading against the grain” oppositional reading technique was utilized to interrogate both the manifest and latent content. The content of the series may indeed provide the audience with a guide to ideological beliefs of both commerce and culture, thereby creating a manufactured reality for its …

Shock Rhetoric, David Robert Nelson

Dissertations

Social movements create a public perception of themselves through rhetorical messages and demonstrations. In order to gain the public's attention, some radical groups use any rhetorical means necessary, including offensive remarks and conduct. Groups, such as the Westboro Baptist Church and Bash Back!, rhetorically challenge the boundaries of prudence. The purpose of this study is to identify, depict, and provide insight regarding shock rhetoric. This study will compare protest methods, visual imagery, and language choices used by Bash Back! and the Westboro Baptist Church. This dissertation helps illuminate why and how groups or individuals use shock rhetoric.

A Study Of The Effectiveness Of A Pilot Training Program In An Organizational Setting: An Intervention For Work Engagement, John Joseph Kmiec Jr.

Dissertations

This study measured the effects of a learning intervention designed to enhance the capabilities of immediate managers to increase the level of work engagement in line employees at a small manufacturing firm in south Mississippi. The study answered the call of researchers to investigate the impact of innovative management practices on work engagement (Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter, & Taris, 2008). The firm’s Production business unit managers participated in a 90-day learning program based on five skills outlined by Flagello and Dugas (2009); the Maintenance business unit managers did not participate in the learning. At three intervals during the intervention, the researcher …