Digital Commons Network^™

Media Literacy And Critical Thinking: Is There A Connection?, Edward Arke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between media literacy and critical thinking skills. To date media literacy advocates have not developed a quantitative means of measuring media literacy. While numerous claims that media literacy and critical thinking are related, a review of the existing literature has not revealed any academic support for the assertion. As a result, a demographic survey and test to measure each skill set respectfully was administered to a sample of undergraduate college students. For this study, a new media literacy measure was developed. Statistical analysis of the test results did show a statistically significant correlation between the …

The Church And The Voice Of The Other: The Growth Of The Faith Community And Dialogue In The Church, John Amankwah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the Second Vatican Council ended over forty years ago, the Catholic Church has been struggling to find a firm ground in a world of ever-advancing technological change and increasing globalization. Prior to the convening of the Council, the church virtually isolated itself from the rest of the world because it considered itself as a societa prefecta. Dialogue as a communicative act of openness to the other with willingness to change did not exist in the Church because of its understanding of communication as uni-directional-- from the hierarchy to the rest of the people.

This study examined the church's communicative …

Occidentalism In Late Nineteenth Century Egypt, Alaa Bayoumi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the Occidental discourses of three intellectual leaders of late nineteenth century Egypt, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Qasim Amin, and Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi. It highlights four main factors that shaped the three writers' views of the West. These factors are: the way each writer saw reform as a process, the way each writer viewed the effects of Western foreign policies on the Muslim world, and the attitudes of each writer toward Muslim governments and toward the socially conservative Muslim masses. At the policy level, the study argues that any policy seeking to reform Arabs' perceptions of the US and …

Dialogue As The Labor Of Care: Welcoming A Unity Of Contraries, Marie Baker-Ohler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dialogue as the labor of care unfolds a vision of how the philosophy of dialogue can assist us as human beings to enact care in our daily lives. In the end, caring is a unity of contraries; blessing and burden, joy and suffering, necessity and triumph. The invitation of dialogue into the communicative life of caring requires bravery and courage and thus creates strong and rare natures.

The impetus of this vision comes from the work of Martin Buber whose ideas have changed the way we view communication and enrich the way we view caring. The additional metaphor of labor, …

The Limits Of Philosophy: Plato's Sophist And Statesman, Mark Brouwer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plato's Sophist and Statesman articulate the limits or definition of philosophy. My selective interpretation begins with a problem from Sophist 259e-260a and 252e-253e: Is it possible to express correctly (in logos) the necessary conditions of logos? This is an instance of a universal problem: Is it possible for any expertise to define itself and have expert inspired confidence in this definition? I articulate this universal problem with recourse to Kantian meta-philosophy, Chomsky's generative grammar and Schoenberg's theory of harmony. Rudolph Carnap's distinction between questions internal and external to a scientific framework is the means of addressing this universal problem. Questions …

Rhetorical Implications Of 'Professionalism' For Organizational Culture: Praxis Of Mindfulness, Lynda Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study arose from listening to the historical moment and the multi-disciplinary concerns for higher levels of 'professionalism' and ethics in organizations. This study adds to the conversation with a vision of 'professionalism' as a guiding narrative embodied by dialogic communication ethics for constructively affecting organizational communication. 'Professionalism' is a constructive hermeneutic marked by organizational plurality and diversity offering a more inclusive interpretation and meaning in the twenty-first century. There are rhetorical implications in 'professionalism' when approaching it from social constructivism which views communication as a function that constitutively creates a reality for the organization. Following in the footsteps of …

Political Neutrality And Humanitarian Aid: Practical Implications Of Organizational Ideology, Nancy Bruni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how the different ideological interpretations of the principle of neutrality affect the practices of humanitarian aid organizations in conflict situations. Specifically, I study the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Médicins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders/MSF). Additionally, I seek specific examples from the current conflict in Darfur, Sudan to illustrate my findings.

The purpose of this study is to determine how the organizations deal with delivering aid in a highly politicized environment while maintaining neutrality. It seeks to articulate the current dilemmas facing aid organizations that work to save the lives of those who suffer. …

Bringing Literature To Life For Sixth Grade "Reluctant Readers": A Collaborative, Participatory Study Using Theatre For Young Audiences Experiences To Address Aliteracy, Wayne Brinda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the current disenchantment toward reading literature among adolescents, this study explored if an Artistic Director of a Theatre for Young Audiences could lead the transformation of aliterate, sixth grade "reluctant readers" into becoming engaged readers of literature? These students have the basic skills to read, but choose not to read for a variety of reasons. The study used the intervention of specific, collaborative theatrical strategies, which are alternative approaches to traditional middle school reading pedagogy. The strategies included rehearsal techniques, organizing small group "Production Teams," preparing for and experiencing a theatrical adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, and actively …

Towards Optimal Tree Construction Of Monotone Functions, Miao Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on finding counterexamples for the conjecture suggested by Dr. Jackson that if two Boolean variables i and j in a monotone Boolean function have the relation such that if i is relevant in only one sub-tree with j as root while j is relevant in both sub-trees with i as root, then the optimal tree size (defined as the number of leaves in the tree) with j as root is as least as small as the optimal tree size with i as root. All distinct monotone Boolean functions of up to 6 variables and some interesting functions …

The Rhetoric And Philosophy Of Early American Discourse 1767-1801: Toward A Theory Of Common Sense, James Cianciola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

What are the rhetorical and philosophical implications of common sense in colonial America during the time immediately preceding, during, and following the American Revolution? A study of seminal texts from the Classical era, the Enlightenment, and the American Revolution will reveal the uses of common sense as rhetorical invention in each historical period. This study will also identify the various philosophies of common sense at play in the second half of the 18th century in order to better understand their influence upon the construction of early American rhetoric. While segments of postmodern rhetorical theories challenge or reject the presuppositions of …

Examination Of The Reliability And Validity Of The Triage Assessment Survey: Organizations, Christian Conte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated the reliability and validity of the Triage Assessment Survey: Organizations (TAS:O), a 27-item, 5-point, Likert summated rating scale. The participants consisted of 117 graduate students. All participants responded to the TAS:O after reading mild, moderate, marked and severe organizational crisis scenarios. Statistical analyses were performed on the data to determine the instrument's reliability and validity. The overall Cronbach's alpha and Spearman-Brown reliability tests were both .93. An item total correlation revealed that all but one item had statistically significant correlations. Factor analysis revealed three factors, confirming the hypothesis that the TAS:O is comprised of three distinct factors …

Bergson's Aristotelian Theory Of Duration And The History Of Temporality, Daniel Collins-Cavanaugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Being and Time, Heidegger claims that the history of the ordinary concept of time is Aristotelian. He says further that this Aristotelian heritage runs from Aristotle to Bergson. In this dissertation, I dispute part of this claim. I dispute that the history of the concept of time is Aristotelian, but I agree that there is a connection between Aristotle and Bergson. Bergson, whose writing on temporality was popular just before the publication of Being and Time, has a theory of temporality, which he calls duration, which is heavily influenced by Aristotle's theory. The primary figure that influences the history …

The Scholarship And Praxis Of Communication Ethics: Rhetorical Interruptions In Historical Narratives, Melissa Cook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Creating a praxis model for performing communication ethics scholarship is important in Postmodernity, as a multiplicity of narratives requires knowledgeable life-long learners who are willing to understand historicity and one's place within traditions. This study relies on Alasdair MacIntyre's seminal work, A Short History of Ethics, as it provides an historical lineage of Western philosophers who wrote about ethics within the time span from ancient Greece, to modern day. Major metaphors are extracted from the works of these philosophers as guiding hermeneutical entrances into historical and temporally bound narratives, used as the praxis portion of this work. Narratives, epics and …

Planning Release: An Evaluation Of The Allegheny County Jail Project, Rae Dorer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of the Allegheny County Jail Project is to allow inmates to maintain social bonds by obtaining meaningful employment and reduce the rate of recidivism. The rates of recidivism were evaluated for the Allegheny County Jail Project and then compared to the rate of recidivism of the general population of the Allegheny County Jail to measure the success of the program. A population of 126 enrollees, the first and second year enrollees of the program combined, was selected for this evaluation from September 2001 to June 2003, and then a follow up of one year was conducted to find …

C. M. Sedgwick's 'Patient Investigation' Of America's Past: An Intertextual Study Of Hope Leslie, Ellen Adrienne Foster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1987 republication of Catharine Maria Sedgwick's Hope Leslie ; or, Early Times in the Massachusetts (1827), literary-historical interpretations have most often explored its proto-feminist impulses, revisionary history of the Pequod War, and models of American citizenship. Inquiries into Sedgwick's historical research for Hope Leslie have largely been limited to internal textual references. This dissertation answers questions regarding Sedgwick's research and also provides a foundation for a number of future studies. That foundation derives from extensive archival research conducted at and supported by the Massachusetts Historical Society, involving the examination of several layers of textual evidence (the unpublished correspondence …

Questioning The Rhetorical Eclipse Of Philosophical Leisure: Ad Colloquium Conferendum, Annette M. Holba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human communication in our postmodern era has degenerated into phatic communication. Phatic communication, appropriate in some circumstances, used unreflectively limits the ability for the development of healthy, idea-laden conversation. The phatic nature of communication represents a loss of human interest in human communication. Philosophical leisure can help to recapture the element of human interest in conversation, which recuperates an over-abundance of phaticity in human communication. Recuperation of communication occurs when ideas drive conversation. Philosophical leisure can help human beings to find substance for those ideas. This study considers how philosophical leisure can enrich human communication.

Drama Discovery: The Effect Of Dramatic Arts In Combination With Bibliotherapy On The Self-Efficacy Of Students With Emotional And/Or Behavioral Disabilities Regarding Their Understanding Of Their Own Exceptionalities, Michele Jacobs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of dramatic arts in combination with bibliotherapy, which is the use of literary sources to help people solve complex problems and find understanding about a topic (Sullivan and Strang, 2003). The Drama Discovery curriculum was piloted in a middle school classroom for eleven students with emotional/ behavioral disabilities and one student with delinquent behaviors at a small private alternative education school in Western Pennsylvania. Students with emotional/ behavioral disabilities often have low self-efficacy when it comes to explaining their own disabilities, coping with the label of having a disability, and …

The Effects Of Parental Involvement Strategies On Elementary At-Risk Students' Oral Reading Accuracy Levels, Kenneth Leon Jenkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to work with parents who used two different reading interventions at home and find out which parent intervention was more effective in improving their children's oral reading accuracy levels. The total sample size was the parents of 34 elementary at-risk reading students who were taking part in a summer reading and writing program at a state university. Approximately 15 to 20 parents were randomly assigned to both the experimental and main control groups. The main design of this study was an experimental design of parents who were selected randomly by grade level to …

Determinants Of Organizational Commitment Among U.S. Workers, Richard Johns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between organizational commitment, job performance, and several individual and work-related variables. My research proceeds in two steps. First, I replicate the analysis between job performance and the individual and workrelated characteristics found in, Organizational Commitment and Job Performance in the U.S. Labor Force (Research in the Sociology of Work, Volume 5, 1995), by Arne Kalleberg and Peter Marsden. Second, I analyze the relationship between affective, effort, and continuance commitment and the individual and work-related characteristics using both bivariate and multivariate analyses. My findings suggest that autonomy and career advancement are the strongest indicators followed by …

Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling For Longitudinal Frequency Data, Joseph Patrick Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research is to develop a longitudinal frequency model for data collected regularly for several individuals over an extended time period. This model must recognize explicitly the discrete nature of the data, as well as any dependence that exists among an individual's time consecutive measurements. Motivated by a study investigating alternative treatments for relief of menopausal symptoms, we apply this model to actual study data in an effort to compare treatment effectiveness. We propose a Bayesian hierarchical model to describe not only frequency measurements, but also the parameters that govern an individual profile.

Understanding The Culture Care Practices Of Rural Immigrant Mexican Women, Catherine Archibald Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this ethnonursing study was to understand the culture care meanings, expressions, patterns and practices of immigrant Mexican women who live in a rural community in Ohio. Leininger's Culture Care Diversity and Universality Theory was utilized as an organizing framework in studying the domain of inquiry. Interviews were conducted with twenty-four general informants and twelve key informants all of whom were immigrant Mexican women. Exhaustive analysis of audio-taped interviews revealed nine data categories and five patterns from which three main themes emerged. Respecting and supporting cultural identity, self-determination, self-reliance and the role of mothers were discovered as significant …

Relationship Between Student Attitude Toward Learning Academics And Instructional Delivery Systems Of Comprehensive Full-Time Career And Technical High Schools, Michael Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

New federal and state regulations and a changing workforce are forcing comprehensive full-time Career and Technical schools (C and T) to examine the academic component of their programs. This study examined the effect of "week about" and "half-day about" instructional delivery systems (IDS) on students' general attitude toward learning academics. In the "week about" IDS, instruction is delivered through rotating weeks of academic and C and T classes. In the "half-day" about IDS, instruction is delivered by providing one-half day of academics and one-half day of C and T instruction.

Juniors and seniors in three C and T schools in …

Middle School Teachers' Beliefs About How They Communicate Caring And Students' Perceptions Of Their Teachers' Caring Behaviors, Cynthia D. Kainaroi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was three-fold: to examine the behaviors middle school teachers use and believe communicate caring and students' perceptions of their caring behaviors; to determine if a discrepancy exists between the two; and to identify the nature of any discrepancies. Participants included 16 eighth grade teachers and 184 eighth grade students. Data were collected through the use of a teacher questionnaire and an anonymous student writing assignment. Teacher and student responses were grouped into emerging themes of caring. The methodology used in this study to analyze the results included calculating and comparing the percentage of teacher and …

The Us Government-Sponsored Graduate-Level Exchange Programs: The Goals Of The Major Stakeholders And The Students' Academic Interests, Ekaterina Kharlamova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A steady increase in student mobility levels has become a widely recognized component of general globalization trends in the modern world. Yet, internationalization of education is not merely a product of bigger globalization processes. Educational exchange, in many instances sponsored and administered by national governments, is an effective tool in governmental foreign policies. The shift of focus in governmental policies towards the political rather than educational purposes of educational international exchange could lead for lack of attention paid to the issues of foreign students' academic interests. At the same time, universities, although prompted by the globalization tendencies to internationalize their …

Religiosity And Attitudes On Intimacy: Implications For The Hiv/Aids Pandemic In Central Uganda, Herbert Ssewagudde Kibuuka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study has been to carry out an exploratory survey study of how religion can be instrumentalized in the fight against HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. After years of research, different drugs have been produced; and different methods of combating HIV/AIDS have been used. The pandemic, however, is still on the rise in most of the world. By 2010 for instance, South Africa will have more than two million orphans (of 57 million projected population), and Uganda today has more than 2.5 million orphans (13% of the population). Significant behavior changes across the population can, however, stop and …

The Perceptions Of Beginning Counselor Education Candidates' Multicultural Knowledge And Awareness When Comparing Candidates Who Have Successfully Completed Instruction In Multicultural Counseling With Candidates Who Have Not Completed Instruction In Multicultural Counseling, Evelyn H. Kitchens-Stephens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within this study, the investigator attempts to determine the perceived effectiveness of counselor trainees using multicultural counseling competencies. The investigator measured the perceived degree of multicultural counseling knowledge and awareness among beginning master's level counseling students in a graduate counselor education program located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The primary research question was: Do counselor education candidates who have successfully completed a 3 credit graduate level course in multicultural counseling perceive themselves to be more knowledgeable and aware in cross-cultural counseling settings than trainees who have not completed the course? A 32-item inventory, the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale (MCKAS, Ponterotto …

The Impact Of Anger Management Training On Students Of Skills For Managing Anger, Kristin Lynn Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research has been to study the impact of anger management training on students of the Skills for Managing Anger (SMA) program used in the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS). Conflict resolution programs are discussed as are causes of violence in school age children. The company that produces SMA suggests that its program can reduce verbal and physical violence and increase the use anger management strategies. SMA was observed from the teacher training throughout the 12 session course. An increased awareness of anger and of anger management was seen, however no evidence was found that verbal and physical …

Effects Of Emotional Intelligence Training On Incarcerated Adult Males Involved In Pre-Release Programming, Holly Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation summarizes a study conducted to explore the effectiveness of emotional intelligence (EI) training for adult male inmates. Acts of crime and violence cause psychological repercussions to crime victims and financial burdens on our society. Historically, those involved in the criminal justice system have strived to gather knowledge about criminal behavior in order to guide interventions. Furthermore, research on potential interventions has been encouraged in order to support evidence-based rehabilitative efforts that may ultimately impact recidivism. Emotional intelligence is a relatively new construct that may be related to social functioning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the …

Kaleidoscope Catechesis: Critique And Response To Missionary Catechesis In Africa With Particular Reference To The Diocese Of Wa In Ghana, Anthony Y. Naaeke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The question about how to appropriately incarnate the Christian message among different cultures is a perennial one. The very first Christian Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15: 1-35) dealt with this issue and throughout the centuries different cultures have continued to battle with the same issue.

Within the African context, the question arises as to how Christianity can truly be Christian and African at the same time. In other words, how can faith become culture in Africa?

The answer to this question must be rhetorical. That is to say, the proclamation (catechesis) of the Christian message must be expressed in a …

A Qualitative Study Of The Professional Development Impact Of National Board Certification, Donna Newcomer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study examined what perceived impact, if any, National Board Certification has had on the classroom practices of seven Nationally Board Certified Teachers. A qualitative design methodology was utilized through a naturalistic inquiry discovery approach. Two separate semi-structured interview instruments were verbally administered by the researcher in a one-on-one setting following an informal classroom observation made by the researcher and the principal present during and immediately following teacher completion of the National Board Certification process. In addition, researcher examination of portfolio artifacts provided evidence to determine congruency between defined board standards of what teachers should know and be able to …