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Social Class And Art Therapy, Heather B. Ring

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

Research regarding social class and its effects is limited in mental health services, including art therapy. The purpose of this study was to increase awareness about social class differences and their effects on therapeutic services by exploring how social class impacts adolescents’ attitudes and approach toward artmaking as a form of expression and communication. Two artmaking workshops were conducted with two groups of adolescents from contrasting socioeconomic settings. A sample of 14 volunteers participated. It was hypothesized that adolescents from both groups would use art as an effective and desirable means of personal communication and expression.

Results are based on …

Color And Depression In The Diagnostic Drawing Series, Cara Emily Levitt

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

One of the most interesting and widely held assumptions by clinicians who used projective drawings was that the absence of color may indicate depression. The research about color’s relationship to depression was ambiguous, limited and dated. In this study it was hypothesized that the absence or presence of color in the Feeling Drawing of the Diagnostic Drawing Series [DDS] will have a positive correlation with a diagnosis of Major Depression. To test this hypothesis the colors both in the DDS archives Major Depression group and comparison group were counted and then statistically analyze to determine if specified colors were present …

Heuristic Research Study: Implications For Art Therapy In Smoking Cessation, Sarah Roberts

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

This study explored the implications for the use of art therapy in smoking cessation, using a heuristic research design. The participant is a 22-year-old female smoker currently enrolled in the graduate art therapy program at Eastern Virginia Medical School. The data in this study consisted of spontaneous art expressions, audio-recordings, and visual and written journal entries throughout smoking cessation. Audio-voice recordings were made during art making and were followed by reflective writings about the art-making experience. Over an 8-week time period the researcher refrained from smoking and relapsed on three occasions. Each period of smoking cessation and relapse was considered …

Virginia Junior Academy Of Science 2005 Awards

Virginia Journal of Science

Listing of award winners by section for the Virginia Junior Academy of Science 2005 Awards. Virginia Academy of Science.

Proceedings: Abstracts Of Papers, 83rd Annual Meeting Of The Virginia Academy Of Science

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of the papers presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 17-20, 2005, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Reading In The Future: Literacy And The Time Of The Internet, David R. Cole

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

David R. Cole's Reading in the Future: Literacy and the Time of the Internet locates the literacies of the internet -- itself read as the end game of western technology or the Machina Mundi, the Great Chain of the World that has a centre that is everywhere and a circumference that is nowhere -- in a contradictory space. But Cole also self-consciously locates his own writing at a moment in time when the initial technological hype of the internet is subsiding in the face of the boredom of informational overload and the internet is emerging as both an unlimited …

Notes On Wittgenstein’S Method, The Practice Of Cultural History, And Early Film Theory, Markus Rheindorf

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Markus Rheindorf's contribution offers some reflections on the critical potential of Ludwig Wittgenstein's uebersichtliche Darstellungor concise presentation, his self-consciously employed method of philosophical writing in the 1930s, and explores its theoretical and methodological potential for the practice of cultural history. In so doing, it articulates a substantial critique of conventional disciplinary historiography, taking as its case in point the history of (early) film theory. Rheindorf then takes up the suggestions gained from juxtaposing Wittengstein's method with conventional accounts of the history of early film theory and suggests concrete ways in which these might be put to practical use in the …

Brown Meets Green: The Political Fecology Of Poopreport.Com, Marisol Cortez

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

In engaging with the culture of filth, Marisol Cortez's Brown Meets Green: The Political Fecology of PoopReport.com questions contemporary cultural criticism's emphasis on shit's textual ambivalence. In order to avoid relapsing into either the Bakhtinian celebration of the grotesque or the too narrowly conceived Kristevan category of the abject, Cortez argues, and to find a way out of this theoretical dualism, one must rethink the very categories of filth and waste through an ecocritical reading of the scatological -- the meeting of brown and green -- performed at the confluence of ecology, cultural studies, and Marxist political economy. This perspective …

Factors Predicting Teacher Satisfaction And Retention In The Hampton City Schools Teacher Induction Program, Gale A. Lee

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This descriptive and correlational study used a mixed methodology of both quantitative and qualitative data collection strategies to identify factors that predict new teacher satisfaction and retention in the Hampton City Schools' teacher induction program. In the first phase of the study, a researcher-developed questionnaire was mailed to 657 Hampton City Schools' elementary, middle, and high school teachers with 0–5 years of experience and was returned by 40 percent (n = 226) of the sample. The first phase of the study utilized a 31-item teacher questionnaire. The first section of this questionnaire requested demographic information, which helped to categorize teachers …

A Systems Methodology For Measuring Operational Organization Effectiveness: A Study Of The Original Equipment Computer Manufacturing Industry, 1948 To 2001, Teddy Steven Cotter

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Optimizing operational organizational effectiveness is the central, although often unstated, goal of engineering management and systems engineering research and applications. Two fundamental problems remain to be addressed in pursuit of this goal. First, despite over fifty years of research in various disciplines, there is still no universally accepted definition of organizational effectiveness. Second, no methodology exists to identify the domains, dimensions, and determinants of operational organizational effectiveness and dynamically model operational organizational effectiveness within a given population.

This research synthesizes a systems engineering methodology for identifying the domains, dimensions, and determinants of and dynamically modeling operational organizational effectiveness for an …

Predictors Of Student Success In An Entry-Level Baccalaureate Dental Hygiene Program, Mohammad J. Alzahrani

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to measure the utility of a variety of predictors that have been used by the Old Dominion University, Gene W. Hirschfeld School of Dental Hygiene and other baccalaureate dental hygiene programs in selecting dental hygiene students who are most likely to graduate and be successful in passing the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination (NBDHE). Specifically this study attempted to determine whether or not the following factors are reliable predictors of success in a an entry-level baccalaureate dental hygiene program as evidenced by graduation and successful entry into the profession as evidenced by passing the …

Comparing Domestic Assaults In Military And Non-Military Populations: A Test Of Social Learning Theory, Crystal S. Carey

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This study examined factors relating to the severity of domestic assaults in military and non-military populations by examining a sample of 599 clients admitted to battered women's shelters over a 22-month period. This study addressed the following question: What differences, if any, exist between the severity of domestic assaults committed by military and non-military offenders, and what explains those differences?

The following factors as they may relate to severity of domestic assault are measured: batterer race, batterer income, victim income, batterer military status, and weapon involvement. Analyses reveal no significant differences in injury severity between assaults perpetrated by military and …

Fractured Identities: Siblings And Doubles In Video Games, Laurie N. Taylor

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

In her essay on “Fractured Identities: Siblings and Doubles in Video Games” Laurie Taylor explores how certain norms of video game design – originally derived from technological constraints of code space and processing speed – continue as the narrative parameters of many if not most contemporary video games. Synthesizing approaches from literary studies and narratology, Taylor offers an innovative angle on the fractured identities of doubles and siblings as the narrative correspondence to now largely obsolete technological constraints. Game-play, related to but nevertheless distinct from the literary type of narrative, as Taylor insists, is a key factor in determining what …

Cultural Competence And Curricula In Physical Therapist Professional Education, Beth Ernst Jamali

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this research was to examine the methods and degree to which content related to cultural competence is incorporated into current entry-level physical therapist education. Face-to-face interviews were performed with 10 program directors from various physical therapist education programs across the country to obtain in-depth information regarding cultural competence in the physical therapy curricula. A questionnaire was sent to all of the 193 accredited physical therapist education programs in the United States as a second means to collect information regarding the methods and extent to which cultural competence is included in the physical therapy curricula. Data were collected …

The Role Of Inferential Accuracy In Performance Rating Accuracy: A Field Study Of Teacher Performance Appraisal, Cynthia L. Cooper

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study first assessed the accuracy of performance appraisal ratings of high school teachers in comparison to the achievement of their students as measured by Virginia's Standard of Learning (SOL) tests. The overall performance rating scores of 145 teachers were compared to the pass rates of their students on SOL end-of-course tests. The rating sub-scores in each of four domains of performance were also compared to the SOL pass rates.

The study then tested the influence of Inferential Accuracy, a model proposed by Jackson (1972), on rating accuracy overall and of individual raters in the study. Inferential Accuracy is comprised …

Grand Strategy Analysis: A Proto-Theoretical Approach, Patrick Magee

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

International relations scholarship begins and ends with assumptions—about human nature; about human interaction; about starting points, relative information, and outcomes. Such assumptions are necessary to further the intellectual coherence and development of scholarly work. However, they restrict the applicability of scholarly research to those situations that parallel the work's underlying assumptions.

This work argues the body of international relations scholarship as a whole would benefit from the development of a pre-theory state, absent any assumptions about international relations, from which observers can identify those works of scholarship that are most effective in explaining perceptive states and the strategic decisions taken …

Statistical Analysis Of Longitudinal And Multivariate Discrete Data, Deepak Mav

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

Correlated multivariate Poisson and binary variables occur naturally in medical, biological and epidemiological longitudinal studies. Modeling and simulating such variables is difficult because the correlations are restricted by the marginal means via Fréchet bounds in a complicated way. In this dissertation we will first discuss partially specified models and methods for estimating the regression and correlation parameters. We derive the asymptotic distributions of these parameter estimates. Using simulations based on extensions of the algorithm due to Sim (1993, Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, 47, pp. 1–10), we study the performance of these estimates using infeasibility, coverage probabilities of the …

A Comparison Of Anonymous E-Peer Review Versus Identifiable E-Peer Review On College Student Writing Performance And Learning Satisfaction, Ruiling Lu

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of anonymous e-peer review with identifiable e-peer review on student writing performance and learning satisfaction. It also investigated whether anonymous e-peer review facilitated a greater amount of critical peer feedback.

Quasi-experimental design was used to test group differences on the dependent variables. Participants were 48 freshmen enrolled in two English Composition classes at Old Dominion University in the fall semester of 2003. The two intact classes taught by the same instructor were randomly assigned to the anonymous e-peer review group and the identifiable e-peer review group.

The results showed that …

The Effects Of Parcels And Latent Variable Scores On The Detection Of Interactions In Structural Equation Modeling, Thomas D. Fletcher

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Numerous theories in the behavioral and organizational sciences involve the regression of an outcome variable on component terms and their product to evaluate interaction effects. There are numerous statistical difficulties with this multiple regression approach. The most serious is measurement error, requiring the use of structural equation modeling. Jöreskog and Yang (1996) described a nonlinear structural equation modeling procedure that incorporates mean structures in the covariance analysis. They demonstrated that only one indicator for the product term is necessary for model identification. Unfortunately, the Jöreskog-Yang procedure leads to biased estimates of the product coefficient. In this dissertation, I propose that …

Using Signal Detection Theory To Examine The Effects Of Workload And Likelihood Displays On Human Responses To Alarms, Ernesto A. Bustamante

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of workload and likelihood displays on human responses to alarms through the use of Signal Detection Theory (SDT). Thirty students performed compensatory tracking, resource management, and system monitoring tasks. They interacted with a Binary Alarm System (BAS) or a Likelihood Alarm System (LAS) during varying workload levels. Overall Response Rate (ORR), False Alarm Response Rate (FARR), True Alarm Response Rate (TARR), Sensitivity (d'), and Bias (c), were used as alarm response measures. Root Mean Squared Tracking Error (RMSTE) and Root Mean Squared Resource Management Error (RMSRMF) reflected primary-task performance. Proportion …

Developing And Optimizing Conditions For Single Cell Genetic Analysis, Susan Adele Gitlin

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) allows for couples to obtain genetic information at the embryo stage, therefore preventing lethal genetic diseases in their offspring. A recent multi-center study determined a 17% amplification failure rate overall and a 3.4% misdiagnosis rate (ESHRE PGD consortium steering committee, 2002). Experiments presented here were conducted to decrease those rates by optimizing single cell sensitivity and specificity of PGD techniques. Primer extension preamplification (PEP) was used after initial amplification failure, followed by gene specific PCR. Reamplification experiments yielded 54% amplification rates using blastomeres that previously failed amplification. In the clinical trial, four of six blastomeres were …

Escape Velocity, Mark Gatlin

English Theses & Dissertations

Escape Velocity is a tale of flight with roots in a young naval aviation candidate and lost dreams, but it becomes much more. In fleeing a patterned desk job in Washington, DC, and the city's congested warren-like streets I discovered much about America, her people, and, most thoroughly, about myself. Essentially, I see the most interesting of travel writers as part rogue, part adventurer, and part minstrel and I strive to keep up this triumvirate tradition by discussing not only an adventure of sights and sounds, but also one of feel for the tangible experiences I encountered on my journey …

Downward Comparison As An Intervention To Lower Self-Reported Risk-Taking Behaviors, John P. Barile

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This research investigated the utility of using first-person editorial-style stories as a means to lower the occurrence of self-reported risk-taking behaviors such as drunk driving and red-light running in undergraduate college students. This study assessed the frequency of risk-taking behaviors of college students before and after a three-week online intervention. Students were randomized into one of three conditions. Two risk taking treatment groups read and rated stories about a college student that had suffered a severe consequence from either drunk driving or red-light running. A third group received non-driving college stories that involved no health risk. The stories were presented …

Child Psychological Abuse Sexual Attitudes And Sexual Satisfaction: An Examination Of Disclosure Gender And Perpetrator Relationship Differences, Natasha Coy

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The current project examined the associations between childhood psychological abuse, disclosure, and perpetrator relationship on sexual attitudes and satisfaction among adults. A total of 274 female graduate and undergraduate psychology students from Old Dominion University were recruited. Participants anonymously filled out the survey online. It was hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between childhood psychological abuse and sexual communion and permissiveness. In terms of perpetrator relationship, it was hypothesized that as the objective relationship between the individual and perpetrator became closer, sexual attitudes and satisfaction would be more negatively affected. It was also hypothesized that one's subjective relationship …

The Link Between Corporal Punishment And Teen Pregnancy, Jennifer M. Hagberg

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between corporal punishment and teen pregnancy among women participating in the 2000 survey round of the NLSY Child and Young Adult Surveys. Zero order correlations were used to examine the bivariate relationship between the corporal punishment and teen pregnancy. OLS regression was used to determine if a direct relationship exists between corporal punishment and teen pregnancy after controlling for a host of variables. It was hypothesized that the more frequently a respondent received corporal punishment, the more likely she was to have reported a pregnancy during adolescence, and that this relationship would manifest itself primarily …

Static And Modal Analysis Of The Magnetic Levitation Vehicle, Santosh Kumar Desetty

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The magnetic levitation train project at Old Dominion University has been stalled due to many technical problems. The control system is the main component of the vehicle, which is supposed to maintain an intended gap of 1 cm between the vehicle and the track while traveling, hence providing a smooth ride. The goal of the project is to document the mathematics of the complete system so that the control algorithm can be implemented and modified with the expectation of obtaining an improved levitation and propulsion.

The complete system includes the vehicle, the track, and the concrete guide-way. The focus of …

A Collection Of Famous Last Letters, Gregory A. Schneider

English Theses & Dissertations

Reading A Collection of Famous Last Letters is similar to the experience of walking through any modem city park and discovering its dichotomous cast of characters: the inspired and the desperate; the wanting and the lacking; the about-to­ be's or the up-and-coming and the has-been's, the also-ran's, or worse, the never­ were's. In the center of this novel stands a great towering character, the biographer Culpepper who has spent the better part of his adult life memorializing the life-stories of these park-dwellers. But the biographer now demands his biography to be written- a search for the "straight line" - at …

Strange Embedded Fellows: The Socio-Narrative Radicalism Of Ann Radcliffe's Gothic Romance, E. Jordan Sellers Jr.

English Theses & Dissertations

Through a close narratological analysis of Ann Radcliffe's romances, this thesis will demonstrate that the form of Radcliffe's novels is fundamentally linked to her contemporary cultural contexts. Although traditional criticism of Radcliffe rather dubiously labels her a conservative writer and regularly cites her heroines and servants as idealized and submissive stock devices, this project will demonstrate that her characters have significant subversive agency based in narrative structure, which subtly points to the radicalism of Radcliffe's politics. These conventional readings of Radcliffe's novels have too long separated the concerns of servants, women, and Radcliffe's own politics. It is only when we …

An Examination Into The Effects Of Social Positioning And Capitalist Immersion On Gendered Attitudes Towards Homosexuality In The United States, Fiona J. Blee

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Previous research on attitudes towards homosexuality has concentrated on characteristics of individuals, and neglected the capitalist structure of society that provides the contextual setting for the creation and maintenance of cultural attitudes.

This thesis uses responses collected in the general social survey of the United States between 1993 and 1998, to provide a more comprehensive explanation of differences in attitudes towards homosexuality, through an analysis of social position and the capitalist agenda. The analysis revealed significant relationships between sex, age, race, income, beliefs regarding the domestication of women, and attitudes towards homosexuality.

The analysis showed that respondents categorized as black …

Hiv/Aids And Condom Usage: Factors That Contribute To African American Women's Vulnerability To Hiv Infection, Monica P. Washington

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

HIV/AIDS poses an enormous health threat to African Americans, specifically African American women. According to the Center for Disease Control "1 in 160 African American women are believed to be infected with HIV (Center for Disease Control 1999:1). In 2000, although African American women only represented 12% of the female population, they accounted for 64% of HIV cases reported among women (The White House 2000; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 2004).

This study examined HIV/AIDS and African American women and attempted to answer the question: Why are African American women not consistently using condoms to protect themselves against …