Digital Commons Network^™

The Rhetoric And Philosophy Of Education: Finding Whole Learning In An Age Of Mechanistic Pedagogy, Georgia Bedford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the communicative structure of the contemporary rhetoric of crisis and reform narrative dominating public conversation about education, as a post-industrial body of discourse deeply embedded in historical ideals for a mass system of public education. In challenging the crisis-centered narrative, this work seeks to identify historical discourse strands that have shaped thinking and action in the construction of educational policy, legislation, administration and pedagogy. This work evaluates the misalignment in the assumptions which guide the perception that an academic relationship exists between higher education and secondary school which is in contrast to the original purpose for a …

A Survey Of Pennsylvania School Principals' Perceptions Of The National Board For Professional Teaching Standards Certification Process And The Leadership Roles Of National Board Certified Teachers, Amy Balbach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the 1980's, the notion of standards came to the forefront throughout the education world. Groups questioned how to define quality teaching. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was developed to meet this need providing a voluntary national certification to identify accomplished teachers. Since its inception, researchers have explored NBPTS. Yet, few studies sought the perspective of critical stakeholders, building principals, in evaluating the effectiveness of the NBPTS process. This study seeks to gain the perspective of those key administrators by comparing their perceptions of the National Board Certified Teachers and non-National Board Certified Teachers on their instructional staff. …

Identification Of Desirable Pharmacy Preceptor Characteristics And Behaviors: A Qualitative Content Analysis Approach, Janet Astle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Thirty percent of the doctor of pharmacy degree program, the sole degree recognized by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (APCE), is dedicated to experiential education. Experiential education is comprised of introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPE's), which are interwoven throughout the first three years of the professional curriculum, and advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE's), which serve as a capstone in the final year of the degree program. The majority of these experiences are supervised by external pharmacist practitioners or preceptors. Although ACPE mandates adequate preparation and development for preceptors, it does not define the content of such training. Little is …

The Relationship Between Barcode Medication Administration Satisfaction And The Use Of Workarounds Among Registered Nurses, Sally Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adverse drug events, resulting in preventable patient harm or death, are of great concern. To keep patients safe, hospitals have implemented barcode medication administration (BCMA) technology for RNs who have accepted this technology with varying levels of satisfaction. When nurses are dissatisfied with a BCMA system, they may find alternative methods to complete their work. Framed by the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), this analytic, cross-sectional study aimed to understand the relationship between BCMA satisfaction and workarounds, perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of a BCMA system by 80 hospital-based RNs in northeastern US. Data were collected …

The Awareness Of Computer-Mediated Communication's Social Presence For Virtual High School Students, Heather Bigley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the perception of social presence that students in a virtual high school have of using computer-mediated communication (CMC): email, discussion board, tutoring sessions, and asynchronous classroom activities. The research analyzed data for social presence based on gender, years of experience in a cyber school, and self-proficiency ratings on each form of CMC. The purpose of this study was to identify if high school students in a virtual community perceive email, discussion board, tutoring sessions and asynchronous classroom activities as enhancing their social presence within the virtual community. The findings of the study are:

1. Students perceived that …

Corporate Social Responsibility: Engaging Communicative Praxis In An Era Of Neoclassical Economics, Kenneth Bohl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is grounded in the belief that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is good for society. However, current indicators stemming from the marketplace raise concerns as to CSR's long term viability. In this dissertation, I argue that corporate social responsibility has reached a tipping point from which it may move to become a fully informed and dominant practice or recede into the status of a passing fad. This project is driven by the question,"What might be done to better ensure a fuller adoption of CSR as a standard business practice?" I am particularly interested in (1) why society needs CSR …

The Reliability And Validity Of The Triage Assessment Scale For Students In Learning Environments; Middle Schools, Jamie Brownfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study determined the reliability and validity of the Triage Assessment Scale for Students in Learning Environments (TASSLE) used in a Middle School setting. Participants included faculty/staff from a local middle school, masters students enrolled in a counseling program at a local private university in Pennsylvania, and experts with experience in crisis and the use of the TASSLE form. Following the viewing of three scenarios (mild, moderate, and severe), participants rated their perception of the level of reaction to the crisis using the TASSLE form. A quantitative correlational, within and between-subjects design was used to determine the reliability and validity …

Nimby Effects On Low-Income Housing Policy: A Case Of Two Cities, Russell Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I researched the strategies that city officials and housing developers used to address NIMBY concerns about low income housing developments. I conducted interview research with planning commission members, their staffs, and housing developers from two cities. I wanted to understand what strategies the interviewees employed to address NIMBY concerns, if best practices were used during the planning process, how well those practices were followed, how effective those approaches used were in a real world setting, and inquire about alternative methods. The findings indicated that population density and median income were the relevant factors regarding NIMBY related issues. Also, traffic concerns, …

Perceptions Of Opportunity Among Youth Served By The Allegheny County Department Of Human Services: A Program Evaluation Study Of The Partnership For Youth Transition, James Caldwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services implemented the Partnership for Youth Transition Program (PYT) to provide services for transition aged youth in Allegheny County who suffer from Severe Emotional Disturbance. One of the goals of this program was to enhance the perceptions of opportunity of goal attainment held by this population. This research is a program evaluation of the PYT program to find out if the PYT program was successful in enhancing these perceptions. This study uses a Paired-Samples T-Test, a Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient and an Analysis of Variance to see if the perceptions of opportunity changed during …

The Mill: Analysis Of The Original Score And Film, Christopher Catone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mill is an original film and music performance piece chronicling the history of the steel industry in the United States, with specific connections to Pittsburgh. In addition to scoring the project, I designed the sound and produced the film and music and also shot and edited the film. About eighty percent of the film material is historical footage (in black and white, as well as color), while I shot the remaining portions, on location, in various areas of the "Mon Valley" region of Pittsburgh. Separated into four distinct sections, the film portrays the rise, the zenith and the eventual …

Graduate Recital, Clarinet, Flute, Bassoon, Christopher Ciarlariello

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This recital features three members of the woodwind family: clarinet, flute, and bassoon. The primary focus of this recital is on the clarinet repertoire. The music ranges across the eras, from Baroque to 20th Century, and is written by composers from North America and Europe. Along with the wide range of compositional styles, the music presents the virtuosity and range of the woodwind family. Brahms' Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, No. 1 demonstrates a very classical approach to the clarinet after he was inspired by clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld. Harvey's Three Etudes on Themes of Gershwin focuses more on a jazz …

Association Between Obesity And Therapeutic Goal Attianment In Patients With Concomitant Hypertension And Dyslipidemia, Ishveen Chopra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objective: A retrospective study was conducted to examine the variations in therapeutic {blood pressure (BP) and lipid} goal attainment and medication utilization pattern in patients with concomitant hypertension and dyslipidemia, specifically comparing obese versus non-obese patients. Methods: GE Centricity EMR database containing data from 2004-2011 was utilized. 9,086 patients diagnosed with concomitant hypertension and dyslipidemia were evaluated. Goal attainment and treatment pattern for BP and lipid levels was assessed based on JNC 7 and NCEP ATP III guidelines, respectively. Results: Substantial proportion of patients with concomitant hypertension and dyslipidemia failed to attain BP and lipid goals. Further, in patients with …

Interpreting The Culture Of Ubuntu: The Contribution Of A Representative Indigenous African Ethics To Global Bioethics, Leonard T. Chuwa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ubuntu is a worldview and a way of life shared by most Africans south of Sahara. Basically Ubuntu underlines the often unrecognized role of relatedness and dependence of human individuality to other humans and the cosmos. The importance of relatedness to humanity is summarized by the two maxims of Ubuntu. The first is: a human being is human because of other human beings. The second maxim is an elaboration of the first. It goes; a human being is human because of the otherness of other human beings. John Mbiti combines those two maxims into, "I am because we are, and …

Improving Search Results With Automated Summarization And Sentence Clustering, Steven Cotter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Have you ever searched for something on the web and been overloaded with irrelevant results? Many search engines tend to cast a very wide net and rely on ranking to show you the relevant results first. But, this doesn't always work. Perhaps the occurrence of irrelevant results could be reduced if we could eliminate the unimportant content from each webpage while indexing. Instead of casting a wide net, maybe we can make the net smarter. Here, I investigate the feasibility of using automated document summarization and clustering to do just that. The results indicate that such methods can make search …

Character Education: A Relationship With Building Health, Robert Crider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between the use of character education programming and school health. Measuring and improving school health is a process that supports social, emotional, ethical and civic education. Hoy, Tarter, and Kottkamp define this concept as a healthy school is one in which the institutional, administrative, and teacher levels are in harmony; and the school meets functional needs as it successfully copes with disruptive external forces and directs its energies toward its mission (Hoy, Tarter & Kottkamp, 1991).

School climate, school culture, and school health are used synonymously in the research. They …

The Lived Experience Of Parenting A Child Adopted From An Institution In Eastern Europe, Kimberly A Curry-Lourenco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to explore the lived experience of parenting a child adopted from an institution in Eastern Europe. A hermeneutic, phenomenologic method following the Utrecht School was used. The setting for this study was a southern state on the east coast of the United States. The sample consisted of 11 participants, nine mothers and two fathers, self- identified as adoptive parents to children from institutions in Eastern Europe. Semi-structured interviews, with thematic analysis of transcriptions were conducted. Five major themes were identified: choosing-being chosen, weaving the fabric, the importance of doing, remaining mindful, and looking-in, looking out. Conclusions were …

The Lived Experience Of Counselor Education Doctoral Students In The Cohort Model At Duquesne University, Shirley A Devine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This was a phenomenologically-oriented inquiry of the lived experiences of counselor education doctoral students in a cohort model. This inquiry sought to explore, describe, and understand students' everyday lived experiences in a cohort model in the Executive Doctoral Program in Counselor Education and Supervision (ExCES) at Duquesne University, where the doctoral program is structured as a three-year, full-time, closed cohort model. The existential framework proposed by van Manen (1990) provided a framework for describing and understanding students' lived experiences in the corporeal, temporal, spatial, and relational realms of experience. The strategies used for this inquiry were based on multiple informants …

Democratically Engaged Community-University Partnerships: Reciprocal Determinants Of Democratically Oriented Roles And Processes, Lina Dee Dostilio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite calls for concerted, two-way engagement and for the development of reciprocal partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHE's) and their communities, IHE's continue to implement a disparate menu of activities that prove largely ineffective at addressing society's most challenging social and environmental problems. A relatively new conception of engagement lays out a framework by which IHE's engage with communities in democratic ways. Democratic engagement values inclusive, reciprocal problem-oriented work that brings together university and community stakeholders as co-generators of knowledge and solutions. The resulting democratically engaged partnerships position diverse members to take on roles as collaborators and problem solvers. …

Computational Ligand-Based Cns Therapeutic Design: The Search For Novel-Scaffold Norepinephrine Transporter Inhibitors, Anna Chaly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Monoamine transporter (MAT) proteins are responsible for regulating cellular signal transduction through control of neurotransmitter reuptake in the synapse, and are therefore relevant to diseases including addiction, psychosis, anxiety and depression. MATs, specifically the serotonin transporter (SERT or 5-HTT), norepinephrine transporter (NET), and dopamine transporter (DAT), serve as the principal targets for antidepressant drugs, such as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), NRIs (norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) and TCAs (tricyclic antidepressants), as well as psychostimulant drugs of abuse such as cocaine and the amphetamines. Due to a lack of crystallographic MAT data, it is unclear as to which of two MAT protein …

Examining Cross-Cultural Counseling Competencies Of Substance Abuse Counselors In The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, Abdelhadi Elamin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With minority Americans expected to comprise more than 40% of the U.S population by 2035 and 47% by 2050 and substance abuse epidemic with 23.5 million nationwide in need for treatment, there is a growing need for cross-cultural counseling competence among substance abuse counselors. This study examined substance abuse counselors' level of cross-cultural counseling competence in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The research method used was quantitative in nature. Substance abuse counselors were asked to self-assess their level of competence by completing a questionnaire and modified Cross-Cultural Counseling Inventory Revised (CCCI-R) subscales to determine whether counselor's gender, level of education, field …

Graduate Recital, Vocal Performance, Christopher Fiano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The master of music recital, being one of my final musical endeavors before the completion of my graduate degree in vocal performance, featured a wide variety of repertoire. As a new member of the tenor fach, finding music that is challenging and appropriate for my level of development was difficult. The recital featured works by Stefano Donaudy, Hugo Wolf, Èduardo Lalo, Gabriel Faurè, Georges Bizet, and Samuel Barber. Each musical set presented its own challenges. The Italian set by Donaudy featured smooth legato vocal lines intertwined with a thick musical texture and lavish supportive harmonies. The German Wolf set featured …

Graduate Recital, Violin, Ingrid Gerling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This recital's program consists of Romantic works, which are part of the standard repertoire for violin. The Carmen Fantasy composed by Pablo de Sarasate is one of the most popular showpieces for the violin. The Violin Sonata by Ottorino Respighi is not as well known as other violin sonatas, but is gradually gaining more exposure. The Saint-Saens Sonata No. 1 is a very energetic and virtuosic work that showcases Saint-Saens brilliant compositional talents. These three pieces came together in this recital to produce and challenging and exciting program, which was both entertaining to the audience, and an excellent learning experience …

Reducing The Use Of Seclusion And Restraint In Segregated Special Education School Settings Through Implementation Of The Collaborative Problem Solving Model, Bethann Glew

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this study was to determine whether implementation of the Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) model, that has proven successful in psychiatric settings, was equally effective in reducing restrictive practices in public school settings. Many peer-reviewed, published reports suggest that educators are poorly prepared to manage the extremely challenging behaviors of aggression and non-compliance, which are common in students classified with an emotional disturbance (ED). Too often educators rely on ineffective, potentially harmful interventions such as seclusion and restraint, which adversely impact students as well as staff. The nonrandom sample was comprised of students enrolled in two segregated special …

The Effects Of A Violence Prevention Intervention On Prosocial Behavior And Perception Of School Safety, Cheon Carlon Graham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In order for schools to be successful in providing students with developmentally appropriate instruction and social experiences, an atmosphere of safety and protection is required. The recent spike in school shootings over the past 15 years has created a sense of urgency to examine the dynamics of school violence in order to generate and implement effective security measures (Brooks, Schiraldi, & Ziedenberg, 2000). Unlike traditional problem-focused approaches, the positive approach to school violence is preventive, solution-driven, and systemic. The positive approach to violence prevention at school focuses on building a set of social and emotional strengths that are incompatible with …

Flourishing Selfhood In Aristotle And Authentic Selfhood In Heidegger, Jacob Graham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores Aristotle's concept of human flourishing, or eudaimonia, through the lens of the flourishing self. Connections will be made with Heidegger's concept of authenticity, as seen through the lens of authentic selfhood. It is argued that there is some type of authenticity or self-appropriation already present in Aristotle's ethical thought. For both thinkers, however, the particularized self is subsumed into a type of universality--the universality of excellence or care.

Graduate Recital, Saxophone, Abby Gross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The young age of the saxophone in the existence of the music world has influenced the instrument's repertoire and programs to be versatile in genres and stylistic influences. This program features styles from several time periods and cultures including 20th and 21st century contemporary saxophone and piano duets, Brazilian choro, electronic music, and jazz. The nature of the instrument also allows pieces written for other instruments to take a different characteristic and open new meaning to a piece when played on the saxophone. For example, the element of passion in Brahms's Sonata in F minor No. 1 for clarinet takes …

The Voice Of The Negro: African American Radio, Wvon, And The Struggle For Civil Rights In Chicago, Jennifer Searcy

Dissertations

Little historical research has been done on the role that radio stations in the northern United States played in spreading information related to the Civil Rights Movement. Owned and operated by Chess Records label owners Leonard and Phil Chess, the Chicago radio station WVON 1450 AM, "The Voice of the Negro," was one of the most popular African American radio stations in the country during the 1960s. This dissertation explores how WVON served not only as a lucrative marketing outlet for the label's music and for the national rhythm and blues and soul music industry, but also as a driving …

Empirically Supported Treatment Interventions For Persons With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder And Comorbid Borderline Personality Disorder, Megan Seliga

Dissertations

The overall stigma- and gender-related controversies that surround the diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) present a unique ethical mandate to the practitioner. The relationship between trauma and the BPD diagnosis strengthens the need for carefully designed treatment interventions in order to secure the benefits of trauma-focused work, while minimizing the risk of undue regression. The complexity and risk of harm introduced by a diagnosis of comorbid BPD and PTSD urges the need for clarification of optimal treatment interventions to guide practitioners. Trauma-focused therapies, particularly EMDR, tend to be the treatment of choice for PTSD; however, comorbid borderline pathology has …

A Qualitative Exploration Of African American Men's Attitudes Toward Marriage, Rabiatu Barrie

Dissertations

The decline in the rate of marriage in the African American community has been documented in both the empirical literature and pop culture. Initially researchers postulated that the upward mobility of African American women had diminished their to marry, but studies found opposing evidence to that theory and so the focus switched to African American men. Early studies about African American men and marriage indicated that the sex-ratio imbalance, the educational disparity between African American men and women that leads to economic frailty was the major cause of the disparity in marriage (James et al 1999, Davis, Emerson, & Williams, …

The Crew / Of Common Playwrights: Collaboration And Authorial Community In The Early Modern Theater, Lacey Ann Conley

Dissertations

As a consequence of the development of playwriting into an established profession in early modern London, a central paradox emerged: in order to secure a place within this authorial community, and also a place for the profession itself, playwrights needed to work toward the often contradictory goals of self-promotion and of validation of the profession at large. I confront this paradox by examining details about the backgrounds and careers of the twenty-nine professional playwrights working in the years 1580-1625. I use this information to categorize each author's interest and investment in the development of the profession of dramatist by defining …