Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing West Virginia Nipf Owner Characteristics And Preferred Assistance Topics, Daniel Joseph Magill

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Four hundred and fifty-one Non-Industrial-Private-Forest (NIPF) owners (49% response rate) in West Virginia responded to a survey of their forestry assistance needs. Most of the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents, their reasons for owning the property, the types of activities they were engaged in on the property and the agencies that provided assistance by themselves significantly (Chi2 & ANOVA) differentiated those interested and not interested in obtaining assistance. However, when all 39 factors were considered together (Logistic Regression) only a small number of these factors were needed to explain the difference between landowners wanting and not wanting a specific assistance …

Parental Involvement: Quantifying Parent Behavior And Its Influence On A Child's Readiness To Learn, V. Yvonne Conner

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to assist with developing resources that encourage parental involvement. The overall research question for this study is: "What types of parent behaviors have significant influence on literacy development among children enrolled in a local Head Start Program?" Parent behaviors are presented as a resource by quantifying their impact on a child's language development and personal-social development. This is a nonexperimental study, designed to analyze childhood readiness to learn among children enrolled in a local Head Start Program. Multiple regression was used to assess parent behaviors as predictors of language development and personal-social development of …

Implementation Of The Tennessee Divorce And Mediation Pilot Project In Hamilton County: Evaluating Program Effectiveness, Mary Kathryn Robertson

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

As more time and money are invested in training programs, the sponsors of these programs, whether those are corporations, or government agencies, want to know if the training is worth the investment. An evaluation of the training and its effects is needed to answer the questions about the usefulness, and utility of the training program. Training is typically assessed using some combination of the criteria presented in Kirkpatrick's hierarchical model (Noe & Schmitt, 1986). The four levels of evaluation in the hierarchy include reactions, learning, behavior and results. Kirkpatrick's hierarchical model has been used to devise an evaluation system for …

Volume 29, Number 4, Post Amerikan

The Post Amerikan (1972-2004)

No abstract provided.

Counting Published Public Library Research: An Exploratory Study Using Content Analysis, Margaret Grant Goodbody

Masters Theses

Studies published in a selected set of 20 scholarly library and information science journals were examined to determine the amount of research conducted about or in public libraries compared with academic, school, and special libraries Only refereed journals published in the U S and targeted for a general audience of librarians were included in the set Of the 241 articles included, 77% were about academic libraries and 23% were about public libraries (30 of the articles (12%) considered more than one library type) Academic librarians published 51% and academic researchers published 38% of the studies Authorship, author occupation, and subjects …

The Development And Evaluation Of An Eating Disorder Prevention Program For College Age Women, Bethany B. Spiller

Doctoral Dissertations

Initially, eating disorders in women were conceptualized as diseases caused by abnormalities within the individual: genetic predispositions, physiological abnormalities, psychological pathology, and consequences of family dysfunction. More recent etiological models emphasize the influence of sociocultural forces which help create and maintain the phenomena. Research on the biological and psychological effects of dieting and starvation, as well as an examination of the traditionally accepted ideals for women illuminate how dysfunctional eating behaviors are learned and perpetuated. Establishing the role of culture and learned behaviors and attitudes introduces the appropriateness of and need for prevention programs which challenge prevailing cultural assumptions. Examination …

Critical-Thinking Ability As A Predictor Of Success In A Large Undergraduate Course, Stephen Worth

Doctoral Dissertations

The enhancement of college students' critical-thinking abilities has been a widely accepted goal among college educators for many years. As a prerequisite for entry into the teacher education program at the University of Tennessee, Psychoeducational Studies (PES) 210 (Psychoeducational Issues in Human Development) is in a unique position to assess and possibly improve the critical-thinking abilities of future teachers. This study sought to examine the importance of critical thinking as a predictor of course outcomes using Facione's (1986) conceptualization of critical thinking as the ability to construct and evaluate arguments.

The sample consisted of 292 volunteer students enrolled in three …

A Comparison Of Pregnant/Parenting And Non-Pregnant/Non-Parenting Female Adolescents On Locus Of Control And Perceived Parental Attachment, M. Leigh Blount

Theses

This study compared pregnant/parenting adolescent females and their childless counterparts on the variables of locus of control and perceived parental attachment. The sample was drawn from two high schools in the suburban St.. Louis area. Subjects completed the Levenson's Multidimensional Locus of Control Subscales and the Parental Attachment Questionnaire. It was hypothesized that the pregnant/parenting group would score higher on the Powerful Others subscale of the Multidimensional Locus of Control instrument. Also, it was hypothesized that the pregnant/parenting group would score lower than the non-pregnant/non-parenting group on all of the subscales on the Parental Attachment Questionnaire for both mother and …

Bipolar Disorder And Locus Of Control: Implications For Treatment Compliance, Linda J. Ryan-Cox

Theses

Theoretically, a paradigm shift in the 1960s made community-based care and out-patient treatment an acceptable alternative to institutionalization of the chronically mentally ill. Utilizing the Levenson Multidimensional Locus of Control Scale for Psychiatric Patients, the author conducted a causal-comparative study to determine if a link exists between having bipolar disorder, a chronic mental illness, and an external locus of control, a link which might explain the inability of this population to maintain their optimal level of mental health utilizing the out-patient treatment model. Though the study failed to demonstrate any significant differences in external measures of loci of control between …

The Relationship Between Residential Status And Perception Of Psychological Separation Among Young College Students, Stephanie G. Raines

Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between undergraduates' perception of psychological separation and residential status. Two groups of students, those who lived at home with their parents (n=3 I) and those who did not (n= 55), were surveyed using the Psychological Separation Inventory (PSI). Using the four subscale scores from the PSI, a t-test for independent samples found no significant relationship between residential status and psychological separation. Additional statistical analysis failed to find a relationship between the scores and independent variables such as gender, age and years in college. It was concluded that this research failed …

Using A Multiple Intelligence Checklist In Determining Multiple Intelligence, Rebecca Vee Ralston

Theses

Multiple Intelligence Theory was introduced in 1983 by Howard Gardner in his book Frames of Mind. Since the book was introduced. many educators who were searching for new methods to reach their students have utilized the theory of Multiple Intelligences in their classes. To assist in determining students' areas of strength in Multiple Intelligence. The Multiple Intelligence Checklist (MJC) was used in this study. Students, seven hundred seventy-seven, from a suburban elementary school were asked to complete the MIC. Data was collected from students in grades 2 through 5. A factor analysis was completed to determine if the checklist would …

Relationship Between Academic Burnout And Employment Status In Graduate Counseling Students, Teresa L. Ray

Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between academic burnout among graduate counseling students and employment status. Students surveyed were employed full-time, part-time, or not at all. A correlational design was used to relate burnout scores as determined by the Meier Burnout Assessment to students' employment status. No correlation was found. It was concluded that based on t his research that no correlation exists between academic burnout and employment status for graduate counseling students.

Caste, Class, And Justice : Segregation, Accumulation, And Criminalization In The United States, Andrew Wayne Austin

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how dominant groups and classes in US society secure,perpetuate,and expand their wealth,power,and privilege by segregating and criminalizing African Americans.Using a caste-class model of crime and punishment differentiation,I compare five phases of UShistory and "prehistory" to reveal longstanding program of race formation that explains the circumstances blacks have confronted vis-a-vis crime patterns and the criminal justice system.The Five phases compared are (1)the development of racial slavery and class formation the European world-system and the evolution of punishment from the late Middle Ages The early North American colonial period(c.1450-1618);(2)the establishment of capitalism in North America,where a class-caste system was …

Marketing Gullah: Identity, Cultural Politics, And Tourism, Melissa D. Hargrove

Masters Theses

This thesis represents an ethnographic study of the current situation of the South Carolina Gullah. Research was conducted during the summer of 1998 and 1999, in the Sea Island communities of Mt. Pleasant and St. Helena Island, to determine the ways in which local grassroots organizations are combating increased tourism, resort and retirement development, and the commoditization of their cultural heritage as a boost to state revenue. The sweetgrass basket weavers of Mt. Pleasant are situated within this struggle as the living legacy to their Gullah ancestry. Their insight is particularly enlightening concerning the current predicament of native Sea Islanders …

Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus : Implications For Cardiac Surgery, Karen L. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a pathogen first emerging in Great Britian in 1961. Since that time, it has spread worldwide and caused epidemic infection rates in several countries. It is most commonly spread in the healthcare setting where it is labeled a "nosocomial" infection, frequently infecting patients undergoing invasive medical procedures and immune-compromised patients. Depending on the severity and location of infection in conjunction with the patient's health status, MRSA infection can be mild to fatal. The surgical setting is a key area of concern. Cardiac surgery complicated by MRSA is relatively rare, but when it does occur, …

Prognostic Impact Of P53 Status In Ewing Sarcoma, E. De Alava, C. Antonescu, A. Panizo, Denis H. Y. Leung, P. Meyers, A. Huvos, F. J. Pardo-Mindan, J. Healey, M. Ladanyi

Research Collection School Of Economics

Disease stage at the time of diagnosis and response to therapy are the main prognostic factors for patients with Ewing sarcoma or peripheral neuroectodermal tumor (ES/PNET). The primary genetic alteration in ES/PNET, the fusion of the EWS gene with FLI1 or ERG, is diagnostically highly specific for these tumors, and molecular variation in the structure of the EWS-FLI1 fusion gene also is of prognostic significance. In contrast, secondary genetic alterations, such as P53 alterations, are relatively uncommon in ES/PNET, and their prognostic impact has not been extensively studied. METHODS: Prechemotherapy, paraffin embedded, nondecalcified, primary tumor material in a well-characterized series …

Coping With Chronic Fatigue, Susan Lynne Jensen

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine sense of coherence in those individuals diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and to explore its relationship to age, gender, work status, duration of illness, fatigue and functional ability/ disability in this population.

This study used a combined methods approach, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. A sample of thirty individuals diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome was surveyed by means of a self-administered questionnaire, including Antonovsky’s 13-item shortened Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale. A subset of 12 participants participated in the qualitative portion of the study, and answered specific questions regarding their …

Counselor-Client Value Similarity And Dissimilarity, The Working Alliance, And Counseling Outcome, Lynn Nylund Lupini

Dissertations

Previous research in client-counselor value similarity and outcome studies has produced contradictory results. In the present study, an expanded model of Vervaeke, Vertommen, and Storms’ (1997) value similarity construct was used to measure the degree of similarity and dissimilarity of values within the counseling dyad. The first purpose of the present study was to investigate the interrelationships among the client-counselor value similarity and dissimilarity, the working alliance and counseling outcome. The second purpose was to determine if the working alliance was a mediating factor between value (dis)similarity and counseling outcome, thus, providing insight into the previous contradictory results within the …

An Examination Of Voir Dire From An Interactionist Perspective, Peter R. Stevenson

Dissertations

Trial attorneys, historically, have used both scientific and unscientific selection techniques to empanel a jury, and these methods continue to be used in contemporary courtrooms. The ability of these techniques to pick a 'good” jury has been shown to have limited utility. This ineffectiveness may be due, in part, to a false assumption about the passivity of prospective jurors during questioning. An interactionist perspective sees individuals as much more active in that they control the information given out. Most potential jurors offer genuine presentations of self during jury selection in that they truthfully respond to the questions posed by courtroom …

Assessment Of Kalamazoo County's Education For Employment (Efe) Programs Using 2000 Survey Data, Kevin M. Hollenbeck, Noyna Debburman

Reports

No abstract provided.

Denied Claims Accuracy Pilot Project: Follow-Up Report, Stephen A. Woodbury, Wayne Vroman

Reports

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Media Type On Sexually Impositional Behavior, Sheila A. Mulligan Rauch

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual aggression and rape are pervasive and serious problems in the United States. One factor which has been associated with sexual aggression and rape is the perpetrator's use of sexually explicit material, especially sexually violent pornography. The current study examined the effect of exposure to different types of media depictions, including sexually violent, violent, sexual, and general arousing conditions on men's expression of sexually impositional behavior toward women using a laboratory analogue. Participants viewed one of four, 45 minute clips from the above categories. Then, they chose one of four short clips (negatively arousing, sexual clip; a negatively arousing, nonsexual …

Faculty Interests - Faculty Needs: Creating Meaningful Critical Thinking Training, Patricia Wilber

Theses and Dissertations

Helping students improve their critical thinking and writing abilities is a challenge for university instructors. Although they are experts in their specific disciplines, most of them struggle when it comes to developing appropriate and successful critical thinking activities for their students. They have limited knowledge of instructional methods that improve student thinking, and often rely on professional development programs on their campuses to assist them. The Writing Across the Curriculum Program at a mid-western university offered assistance to faculty and provided a place to examine this process.

A qualitative study employing workshop observations and follow-up interviews was used to determine …

The Effects Of Rumination And Distraction Tasks On Psychophysiological Responses And Self-Reported Mood In Dysphoric And Nondysphoric Individuals, Kristin S. Vickers Douglas

Theses and Dissertations

According to the response style theory of depression (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987), the way in which individuals respond to depressed mood affects the severity and duration of that mood. Prior laboratory studies of response style have not included psychophysiological measures or investigated the relationship between ruminative response style and the conceptually-related constructs of worry and neuroticism. Dysphoric (n = 84) and nondysphoric participants (n = 86) were randomly assigned to either a rumination task (i.e., self-focused attention) or a distraction task (i.e., other-focused attention). In addition to the pre-task and post-task mood ratings used in prior response style studies, the present study …

Dynamical Systems And Mating Decision Rules, Douglas T. Kenrick, Norman P. Li, Jonathan E. Butner

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Dynamical simulations of male and female mating strategies illustrate how traits such as restrictedness constrain, and are constrained by, local ecology. Such traits cannot be defined solely by genotype or by phenotype, but are better considered as decision rules gauged to ecological inputs. Gangestad and Simpson's work draws attention to the need for additional bridges between evolutionary psychology and dynamical systems theory.

Corporate Name Vs Brand Name: Demystification Of Controversy, B. C. Ghosh, Min Lie Chan, Wee Liang Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The board of directors worry about it, researchers paper it, and ad men talk about it. But few managers really know whether or not image affects the purchase of the company’s products - particularly in the consumer market” [Hardy 1970, pg. 70]. Up till today, there remains a general lack of understanding of the determinants and consequences of corporate associations, though researchers have begun to make inroads [Brown, 1997]. Addressing the above issue, the overall objective of this paper is to determine if there is any congruence between promoting consumer brand name in the FMCG industry and the retailers’ corporate …

Taking Writing On-Line: The Intersections Of Rhetoric, Technology, And Community In The Composition Classroom, William C. Archibald

Theses and Dissertations

Discourse constructs individuals in community and by analogy constructs students (and teachers) in the networked-writing classroom. This work of constructing subjects moves us alternately toward the group (centripetal) and away toward becoming more individual (centrifugal). In order to understand this coordinate but opposite movement within on-line communication, the dissertation brings together the two strands (within the social) of technology and rhetoric. This rhetoric of technology is defined as the invention, arrangement, and delivery of computer-mediated language for the purpose of evoking action upon the part of an audience. The dissertation presents—among others—the discourse theory of Patricia Bizzell, Joseph Harris's ideas …

A Comparison Of The Effectiveness Of Eye Protection Methods Used In General Anesthesia, Larry W. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quasi experimental, clinical study was to determine whether taping of the eye or applying ophthalmic ointment along with taping of the eye yields a difference in occurrence and symptoms of corneal epithelial defects in surgical patients undergoing general anesthesia. Orem's Self-Care Deficit Theory provided the theoretical framework for this study.

Fifty subjects were randomly selected from a convenience sample of surgical patients in two 300 bed hospitals located in a Midwestern state. The subjects ranged from 18 to 60 years of age. The subjects had no history of previous eye surgery or glaucoma, and were not …

Attachment Parenting : New Ideas, Old Practices, Katherine Elizabeth Green

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined a sample of practitioners of Attachment Parenting (AP) in the Western culture. Questionnaire data on a sample of mothers (n=275) was gathered to identify the demographics and practices of AP mothers and the use of transitional objects (TOS) by their children. To further assess these practices a smaller sub-sample of this was interviewed (n=15). The mothers primarily breastfed on the infant's cues, practiced extended breastfeeding (mean weaning age was 35.8 months), used little or no childcare, carried children in slings, coslept, and nursed or held their infant during the transition to sleep. Children whose mothers practiced high …

On The Hallowed Hill: An Analysis Of The Historic Cemeteries Within The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Jacqueline Lott

Masters Theses

Though a number of authors have stressed the importance of using cemetery data to study culture change through time, most of the available studies in this regard have been general in nature and completed without statistical analysis. Few studies have concentrated specifically on small, rural cemeteries, and fewer still have concentrated on regions outside of New England. The southern Appalachian Mountains are but one of the many regions that has yet to be studied in-depth. This thesis is an attempt to bridge some of the aforementioned gaps. Historic cemetery data collected in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be …