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Electronic Theses and Dissertations

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2009

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All The Beef To The Heels Were In: Advertising And Plenty In Joyce's Ulysses, Mindy Jo Ratcliff Dec 2009

All The Beef To The Heels Were In: Advertising And Plenty In Joyce's Ulysses, Mindy Jo Ratcliff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Privileging a historicist approach, this document explores the presence of consumer culture, particularly advertising, in James Joyce's seminal modernist novel, Ulysses (1922). It interrogates Joyce's awareness of how a broad upswing in Ireland's post-Famine economy precipitated advertising-intensive consumerism in both rural and urban Ireland. Foci include the late-nineteenth century transition in agriculture from arable farming to cattle-growing (grazier pastoralism), which, spurring economic growth, facilitated the emergence of a strong farmer rural bourgeoisie. The thesis considers how Ulysses inscribes and critiques that relatively affluent coterie's expenditures on domestic cultural tourism, as well as hygiene-related products, whose presence on the Irish scene …


An Analysis Of Participation In Servant Leadership As Self Reported By Elementary School Principals In Southwest Georgia, Barbara Perryman Williams Dec 2009

An Analysis Of Participation In Servant Leadership As Self Reported By Elementary School Principals In Southwest Georgia, Barbara Perryman Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Servant leadership is an approach to leadership that holds promise in the school setting because of the nature of the principalship. The current educational climate created by the No Child Left Behind Act, funding cuts, and principal shortages increases the importance of leadership within the schools. Utilization of the approach has been reported in business, but it was less clear if school leaders by practice model servant leadership in elementary schools. The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to determine the extent that elementary school principals in Southwest Georgia participated in the servant leadership model. The researcher administered …


An Analysis Of Leadership Responsibilities As Perceived By General Education And Special Education Teachers Participating In Co-Teaching Inclusion Programs, Dennis L. Carpenter Dec 2009

An Analysis Of Leadership Responsibilities As Perceived By General Education And Special Education Teachers Participating In Co-Teaching Inclusion Programs, Dennis L. Carpenter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which principals were utilizing Marzano's 21 Leadership Responsibilities that were correlated to increased student achievement to implement, maintain, and support the inclusion programs in their schools according to the perceptions of 81 general education and 66 special education teachers participating in co-teaching inclusion programs located in Georgia's First District Regional Education Service Agency (RESA) service area. The methodology for this quantitative research study utilized descriptive statistics and independent-samples t tests. The sample was obtained from general education and special education teachers' perceptions in 18 school districts in Georgia's First …


Effective Principal Leadership Behaviors And Ayp Attainment: An Examination Of Distinguished And Needs Improvement Middle Schools In Georgia, Christopher M. Matthews Dec 2009

Effective Principal Leadership Behaviors And Ayp Attainment: An Examination Of Distinguished And Needs Improvement Middle Schools In Georgia, Christopher M. Matthews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine effective principal leadership behaviors in relation to the AYP attainment of middle schools in Georgia. The relationship was examined through analyses of teachers' ratings of principals' leadership behaviors via an e-mailed instrument. The instrument contained 32 specific leadership behaviors linked to the 11 Marzano et al.'s leadership responsibilities with the highest correlation to student achievement. Three major research questions guided the inquiry of the study. First, the study investigated the presence of the leadership behaviors in distinguished and needs improvement middle schools in Georgia. Secondly, the study investigated whether there were differences …


The Impact Of After School Learning Centers On Low Achieving African American Elementary Students, Jorja Lockhart Scott Dec 2009

The Impact Of After School Learning Centers On Low Achieving African American Elementary Students, Jorja Lockhart Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of after school learning centers in a rural school district in South Carolina on Measures of Academic Progress achievement scores for low achieving African American elementary students. The researcher collected and analyzed Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test data administered in the Spring of 2008 from the state database and identified 419 African American low achieving fourth and fifth grade students for the study. The Educational Accountability Act of South Carolina requires that schools develop individual academic plans and provide remediation for students in grades three through eight who score Below Basic …


Kernel-Based Interior-Point Algorithms For The Linear Complementarity Problem, Jason N. Brandies Dec 2009

Kernel-Based Interior-Point Algorithms For The Linear Complementarity Problem, Jason N. Brandies

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we consider the Linear Complementarity Problem (LCP), which is a well-known mathematical problem with many practical applications. The objective of the LCP is to find a certain vector that will satisfy a set of linear inequalities and (non-linear) complementary equation. A kernel-based primal-dual Interior-Point Method (IPM) for solving LCP was introduced and analyzed. The class of kernel functions used in this thesis is a class of so-called eligible kernel functions that are fairly general. We have shown for a positive semi-definite matrix M, that the algorithm is globally convergent and has very good convergence properties. For some …


A Study Of Georgia Elementary Teachers' Beliefs And Practices Concerning Grade Level Retention, Anna Jean Hill Dec 2009

A Study Of Georgia Elementary Teachers' Beliefs And Practices Concerning Grade Level Retention, Anna Jean Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify Georgia elementary teachers' beliefs and practices of student grade-level retention. Overall, elementary teachers consider grade level retention to be an acceptable school practice to improve a student's academic success and that grade level retention also provides for long-term academic success. Georgia elementary teachers with master's degrees and above, teachers in suburban communities, teachers with more experience, and fourth grade teachers believe more strongly than elementary teachers with bachelor's degrees, teachers in rural and urban areas, and third and fifth grade elementary teachers, that students who do not meet academic standards should be …


The Persistance Of National Ideology And Myth: Attempting To Re-Define German National Identity In Post-War Europe, Danielle L. Smith Dec 2009

The Persistance Of National Ideology And Myth: Attempting To Re-Define German National Identity In Post-War Europe, Danielle L. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Germany emerged from post-war Europe economically, politically, and culturally devastated. The process of rebuilding the state meant severing German society from its pre-war roots, changing international and domestic acuity of the German people as violent and racially defined. These postwar leaders, however, were unable to convincingly portray and create a modern nation to shatter the myth of German origins, and accordingly shifted the blame for Germany's situation on Nazi leaders. Absolution of the German people meant denying opportunities for popular self-critique, creating an atmosphere which unwittingly condoned the Romantic national myth. Earlier articulated by the Nazis, this original movement urged …


Friedrich Schiller's Play : A Theory Of Human Nature In The Context Of The Eighteenth-Century Study Of Life., Susan M. Bentley Dec 2009

Friedrich Schiller's Play : A Theory Of Human Nature In The Context Of The Eighteenth-Century Study Of Life., Susan M. Bentley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Friedrich Schiller's psychological theory of play, his hypothesis about human nature, is embedded in the Aesthetic Letters . Its trans-historical value owes much to the committed interest in life in the late Enlightenment, and the theory itself is an example of that period's enthusiastic study of living organisms. It is within this context--of eighteenth-century natural history, natural philosophy and medicine--that the theory can be profitably evaluated. That it is also an example of the connection of the humanities of the time and the emerging life sciences suggests its usefulness as a paradigm today: as a general theory of human nature, …


Comparative Study Of Freshmen College Student Beliefs And Values Between Representative Private And Public Institutions Of Higher Education In Kentucky., Brian S. Combs Dec 2009

Comparative Study Of Freshmen College Student Beliefs And Values Between Representative Private And Public Institutions Of Higher Education In Kentucky., Brian S. Combs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Students entering college for the first time are embarking on a life-changing journey like none they have experienced. The potential impact the college experience will have on their lives is extreme. Students will be engaged in class and co-curricular settings in ways that will challenge them to produce developmental growth that will carry them through emerging adulthood into adulthood. (Barry & Nelson, 2005) The importance of this time points to the necessity of colleges and universities ensuring that they are providing the best and most holistic educational experience possible. This study was a comparison of the level of student interest …


The Leadership Styles Of Social Work Educators., Patricia Louise Desrosiers 1969- Dec 2009

The Leadership Styles Of Social Work Educators., Patricia Louise Desrosiers 1969-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study are twofold: (1) to describe the leadership styles of social workers in educational administration and (2) to explain possible differences in leadership style by determining if context or gender or a combination of both factors influences style. This study will explore and describe the leadership styles of social work education administrators in the United States. The research design was a cross-sectional survey design and utilized multiple methods, both qualitative and quantitative, to achieve its purposes. Leadership styles were explored primarily through the collection of quantitative data in the form of a scale: the MLQ 5x-Short …


Increasing Performance Of Blowfish Encryption Using Cuda., Joseph Anthony Feist Dec 2009

Increasing Performance Of Blowfish Encryption Using Cuda., Joseph Anthony Feist

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a method of gaining better performance from the Blowfish cryptographic algorithm using GPU acceleration via CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). It is an attempt to resolve the issue of the cryptographic process taking up time and resources. Reducing or eliminating one or both of these issues would perhaps lead to more widespread use of algorithms such as Blowfish to secure individuals’ data by making cryptographic security less costly in terms of time and resources. It is further noted that this method or similar could be used in the case of other algorithms especially those closely related to …


Analysis Of Patient Throughput Time At Kosair Children's Hospital Emergency Room., Elizabeth Gentry Dec 2009

Analysis Of Patient Throughput Time At Kosair Children's Hospital Emergency Room., Elizabeth Gentry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kosair Children’s Hospital Emergency Department in Louisville, KY has been reporting low patient satisfaction, which could result in a decrease in revenue and patients for the hospital. Patient throughput times in Kosair’s emergency room have a significant effect on patient satisfaction. This thesis will evaluate the emergency room at Kosair Children’s Hospital through a time study. The time study analyzes value added time and non-value added time in the emergency room. The majority of the patient throughput time is non-value added time and needs to be minimized. Solutions to minimize the nonvalue added time and future studies to continuously improve …


Anticipatory Grief In The Context Of Dementia Caregiving., Caitlin Holley Dec 2009

Anticipatory Grief In The Context Of Dementia Caregiving., Caitlin Holley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigated the nature of anticipatory grief in a sample of dementia caregivers, and examined the relationship between anticipatory grief and caregiver burden. Anticipatory grief can be described as one's reaction to the impending death of a loved one, in addition to responses to other previously endured, ongoing, and anticipated losses. Interest in anticipatory grief has been inconsistent, and has typically focused on terminal diseases such as cancer. However, the issues involved in anticipatory grief are unique in the context of dementia due to the progressive deterioration of both cognitive and physical abilities. A total of 80 informal …


Mechanisms Mediated By Cxcl12 Signaling Through Cxcr4 And Cxcr7 In Breast Cancer., Lasharon Denise Mosley Dec 2009

Mechanisms Mediated By Cxcl12 Signaling Through Cxcr4 And Cxcr7 In Breast Cancer., Lasharon Denise Mosley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interactions between chemokines and their receptors are involved in organ- specific homing and propagation of metastatic breast cancer (BrCa) cells. BrCa cells express higher levels of CXCR4 and CXCR7 mRNA and cell surface protein, than normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs). CXCR4 is ubiquitously expressed by a multitude of cancerous and normal cell types; while CXCR7 is differentially expressed by T helper lymphocytes, cancer cells, and normal epithelium. Importantly, recent studies show CXCR7 is highly expressed by activated endothelial cells (i.e., neovasculature), fetal liver cells, and many tumors, but not by non-transformed (or normal) human tissues. Unlike other chemokine receptors, …


Determinants Of Alumni Membership In A Dues-Based Alumni Association., Melissa Dawn Newman 1979- Dec 2009

Determinants Of Alumni Membership In A Dues-Based Alumni Association., Melissa Dawn Newman 1979-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public higher education institutions are presently faced with a perfect storm of financial crises. State appropriations are on the decline, endowments have been substantially reduced as a result of the declining stock market, generally poor economic conditions across the board, and recent, historically high tuition increases make additional tuition hikes an unattractive option for a non-tax based revenue source. As a result of the economic climate within public higher education finance, institutions must increasingly rely on alternative revenue sources, which are largely made up of alumni support. According to Taylor and Massey (1996), "Alumni are a unique, select, and continuing …


The Ranking Of Football Teams Using Concepts From The Analytic Hierarchy Process., Yepeng Sun 1976- Dec 2009

The Ranking Of Football Teams Using Concepts From The Analytic Hierarchy Process., Yepeng Sun 1976-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A new method to rank football teams with the concepts associated with the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) and Graph theory is developed in this thesis. A set of games is interpreted as a graph, in which every vertex represents a team, and every edge represents a team quality comparison evaluated directly from the score difference of a game. A weighted quality comparison value between every two teams is computed from the graph, based on the transitivity relationship of comparison values in the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). All the quality comparison values are input into the software package Expert Choice as the …


Religiosity, Beliefs About Mental Illness, And Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Among Protestant Christians., Juan Michael Thompson Dec 2009

Religiosity, Beliefs About Mental Illness, And Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Among Protestant Christians., Juan Michael Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have long been interested in the relationship among the separate fields of psychology and religion. This dissertation seeks to explore the differences in the way protestant Christians with various religious orientations view mental illness and how these views relate to their attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. A total of 540 individuals from church congregations representing ten different denominations completed measures of religiosity, beliefs about mental illness, and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Scores on these measures were analyzed to observe group differences between religious orientations and correlations among the orientations and dependent variables of belief about mental …


Optimal Trajectory Generation With Dmoc Versus Ntg : Application To An Underwater Glider And A Jpl Aerobot., Weizhong Zhang Dec 2009

Optimal Trajectory Generation With Dmoc Versus Ntg : Application To An Underwater Glider And A Jpl Aerobot., Weizhong Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Optimal trajectory generation is an essential part for robotic explorers to execute the total exploration of deep oceans or outer space planets while curiosity of human and technology advancements of society both require robots to search for unknown territories efficiently and safely. As one of state-of-the-art optimal trajectory generation methodologies, Nonlinear Trajectory Generation (NTG) combines with B-spline, nonlinear programming, differential flatness technique to generate optimal trajectories for modelled mechanical systems. While Discrete Mechanics and Optimal Control (DMOC) is a newly proposed optimal control method for mechanical systems, it is based on direct discretization of Lagrange-d'Alembert principle. In this dissertation, NTG …


Context-Dependent Fusion With Application To Landmine Detection., Lijun Zhang Dec 2009

Context-Dependent Fusion With Application To Landmine Detection., Lijun Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traditional machine learning and pattern recognition systems use a feature descriptor to describe the sensor data and a particular classifier (also called "expert" or "learner") to determine the true class of a given pattern. However, for complex detection and classification problems, involving data with large intra-class variations and noisy inputs, no single source of information can provide a satisfactory solution. As a result, combination of multiple classifiers is playing an increasing role in solving these complex pattern recognition problems, and has proven to be viable alternative to using a single classifier. In this thesis we introduce a new Context-Dependent Fusion …


The Role Of Pkc-Epsilon In Models Of Alcohol- And Toxin-Induced Liver Disease., J. Phillip Kaiser 1981- Dec 2009

The Role Of Pkc-Epsilon In Models Of Alcohol- And Toxin-Induced Liver Disease., J. Phillip Kaiser 1981-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a serious concern for the world's population. It is one of the leading causes of death and is also a huge economic burden. The biochemical mechanisms responsible for ALD are incompletely understood, therefore there is no FDA approved therapy to treat or reverse liver damage caused by alcohol exposure. Whereas the mechanisms behind ALD are poorly understood, the disease progression is well known. The first pathological step of ALD is steatosis followed by inflammation and necrosis; if the insult(s) responsible for the previous pathologies persists, fibrosis and cirrhosis can then develop. In previous experimental studies, …


Polynomial Approximation Method For Stochastic Programming., Dongxue Ma 1986- Dec 2009

Polynomial Approximation Method For Stochastic Programming., Dongxue Ma 1986-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two stage stochastic programming is an important part in the whole area of stochastic programming, and is widely spread in multiple disciplines, such as financial management, risk management, and logistics. The two stage stochastic programming is a natural extension of linear programming by incorporating uncertainty into the model. This thesis solves the two stage stochastic programming using a novel approach. For most two stage stochastic programming model instances, both the objective function and constraints are convex but non-differentiable, e.g. piecewise-linear, and thereby solved by the first gradient-type methods. When encountering large scale problems, the performance of known methods, such as …


The Implementation Of Intelligence-Led Policing In Mississippi, Christy L. Babb Dec 2009

The Implementation Of Intelligence-Led Policing In Mississippi, Christy L. Babb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The attacks of 9/11 had a huge impact on the intelligence community, the federal government, state and local police departments, and every American citizen. For many law enforcement agencies, their daily operations have been greatly affected. The terrorist attacks made them realize that their estrangement from one another had to be eliminated in an effort to prevent future attacks. If agencies were to be successful they needed to better communicate, share information, assist each other, and become familiar with new policies and procedures. Those new procedures included the implementation of intelligence-led policing (ILP) - a proactive approach to crime prevention. …


The Role Of O-Glcnac Signaling In Acute Myocardial Ischemia., Gladys Afor Ngoh Dec 2009

The Role Of O-Glcnac Signaling In Acute Myocardial Ischemia., Gladys Afor Ngoh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

O -linked ß-N-acetylglucosamine ( O -GlcNAc) is an inducible, dynamically cycling, and reversible post-translational modification of serine/threonine amino acid residues of nucleocytoplasmic and mitochondrial proteins. O -GlcNAc transferase (OGT) adds, while O -GlcNAcase (GCA) removes O -GlcNAc from proteins. Albeit being a recruitable stress-induced signal in other tissues, the role of O -GlcNAc in the heart is unknown. Therefore, we hypothesized that O -GlcNAc is recruited in the heart during acute stress, and enhanced O-GlcNAc is cardioprotective. Subjecting neonatal rat cardiac myocytes (NRCMs) to hypoxia, or mice to myocardial ischemia reduced O-GlcNAc signaling. Augmented O-GlcNAc signaling attenuated, while diminished O-GlcNAc …


Effects Of Anxiety Reducing Interventions On Performance Anxiety In Graduate Nurses, Georgita Tolbert Washington Dec 2009

Effects Of Anxiety Reducing Interventions On Performance Anxiety In Graduate Nurses, Georgita Tolbert Washington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Every new nursing graduate is challenged to successfully transition from student to professional nurse. The stress involved in that transition can manifest itself as performance anxiety, a type of anxiety occurring when someone is the focus of attention and is fearful of interactions or of being humiliated or embarrassed. It occurs only in specific situations. The new graduate's performance is the focus of attention and evaluation. Further, the need to interact with other professionals, patients, and families can create anxiety about performance. No studies have examined performance anxiety in graduate nurses.

Use of cognitive behavioral therapy, progressive muscle relaxation, and …


A Ferrari Engine With Bicycle Brakes : Mothers' Perceptions Of Family Communication Patterns When Having An Adhd Child., Anita Hoag 1967- Dec 2009

A Ferrari Engine With Bicycle Brakes : Mothers' Perceptions Of Family Communication Patterns When Having An Adhd Child., Anita Hoag 1967-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how mothers with an ADHD child living in the household perceive and manage family communication. In-depth interviews were conducted amongst nine married mothers who have an ADHD child. Three themes emerged from the interview data: relational management, time management, and internal and external support. Mothers communicate with their ADHD child differently than their non-ADHD children and must also manage communication about the ADHD diagnosis. Mothers are not always open about their child's ADHD with non-family members as they are afraid of the stigma that is attached to the condition. Mothers recognize that …


Vaccination Nation: A Bioethical Feminist Inquiry Into The Political, Social And Ethical Controversy Surrounding The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, Kirsten Keller Morin Dec 2009

Vaccination Nation: A Bioethical Feminist Inquiry Into The Political, Social And Ethical Controversy Surrounding The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, Kirsten Keller Morin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This theoretical inquiry has explored the political, social, and ethical controversy surrounding the government's push to mandate the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for adolescent girls. This vaccine has the potential of preventing cancer, specifically cervical cancer. There is a growing debate in this country whether this new HPV vaccine, Gardasil®, should be added to the list of school-mandated vaccines. Karen Houppert (2007) has stated that this particular "vaccine protects girls and women from cervical cancer and genital warts caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV)" (p. 17). So, what is the controversy? It all started with the fact that this vaccine …


Barriers To High School Student Academic Success, Judy S. Sapp Dec 2009

Barriers To High School Student Academic Success, Judy S. Sapp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the passage of the federal legislation known as No Child Left Behind, school districts are under increasing pressure to decrease high school dropout rates and to increase high school graduation rates. There is a critical need for schools to develop and implement programs designed to maximize academic success for all high school students. The purpose of this present research was to investigate the perceptions of high school teachers and high school students about barriers to high school student academic success. For purposes of this study, high school academic success is defined as the completion of all high school diploma …


Counselor Implementation Of The Asca National Model At Title I Elementary Schools, Aronica Gloster Dec 2009

Counselor Implementation Of The Asca National Model At Title I Elementary Schools, Aronica Gloster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bridging the achievement gap between students in poverty and their more advantaged peers has been a key focus of contemporary reform efforts. Principals have been encouraged to utilize distributed leadership principles to facilitate school improvement. Research has indicated that counselors have been absent from school reform initiatives. Moreover, a dearth of literature exists regarding the activities of counselors with students who live in poverty. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) asserted that counselors can play in important role as facilitators of school reform by utilizing the ASCA National Model as a foundation for school counseling programs. A study was conducted …


A Study To Identify The Components Of Professional Learning Communities That Correlate With Teacher Efficacy, Satisfaction, And Morale, Shirley Robinette Weathers Dec 2009

A Study To Identify The Components Of Professional Learning Communities That Correlate With Teacher Efficacy, Satisfaction, And Morale, Shirley Robinette Weathers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to provide information concerning the attributes of professional learning communities, i.e. supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collective learning and application, supportive conditions-relational, supportive conditions-structural, and shared personal practice and their correlation with teacher efficacy, satisfaction, and morale. These six characteristics of learning communities were studied to ascertain the association of those characteristics or attributes with teacher measures. The underlying premise for the study was that teachers who feel supported in their classroom practice are more committed and effective than those who do not. When teachers have a strong sense of efficacy, they tend to adopt …