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The Falcon: A Play, Harold W. Mckinney Ii

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The Falcon is a historical drama set in medieval France during the reign of Philip the Fair, a tumultuous period of history marked by the fall of the Holy Land to Islam after more than 200 years of struggle by Christian forces to reclaim it, and followed by the gradual exile of the Popes from Rome to Avignon on the outskirts of France.

The play itself focuses on King Philip's repeated clashes with the Papacy, as well as his ruthless attack on the Order of the Knights Templar, whose own fate was interwoven with the fortunes of both Crown and …

American Christianity And Its Role In The Denigration Of The African-American Identity As Found In African-American Literature, Zelda Lockhart

English Theses & Dissertations

The positive effects of American Christianity on the African-American from slavery to present day are often analyzed in African-American literature, which depicts black characters who are grateful to God, mostly for giving them the strength to endure the many social and psychological abuses inflicted by American institutions. African-American literature, however, also depicts characters whose relationship with Christianity subordinates them in American society.

The following chapters will explore the downfalls and ironies of an African-American/Christian dichotomy, and show how the historical events of America have influenced African-American Christianity.

Chapter One gives a historical account of America's involvement in the Transatlantic slave …

The Relationship Between Negative Affectivity And Perceptions Of Performance And The Workplace, Johanna M. Merritt

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The relationship between negative affectivity and work-related variables was examined. Participants in the study included 75 faculty administrators and 234 undergraduate students who currently held jobs. Negative affectivity was negatively related to overall job satisfaction. Mixed results were found for the relationship between negative affectivity and specific facets of job satisfaction. The hypothesis that negative affectivity would relate negatively to three evaluation measures was only partially supported in both the student and faculty samples. The hypotheses that negative affectivity would negatively relate to organizational commitment, to perceptions of organizational support, and to procedural justice were strongly confirmed. Regression results offer …

A Computer-Based Strategy To Facilitate Organizational Learning Process, Charles B. Keating

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This research investigated the development of Organizational Learning Process (OLP) through the application of a computer-based strategy in an organizational setting. OLP is developed from the organizational learning literature as an integration of similar concepts of organizational processes of inquiry essential to organizational learning. These concepts included: organizational dialectic (Argyris and Schon 1978), surfacing and testing mental models (Senge 1990a,1990b), and interpretation process (Daft and Weick 1984). A qualitative research methodology was developed within a participatory action research framework (Whyte 1989). A six phase research project, designed as a computer-based strategy to generate OLP, was applied in an organizational setting. …

Attitudes Of Virginia Dental Hygienists Towards Issues Relevant To The Independent Practice Of Dental Hygiene, Linda Hawkins Mccain

Community & Environmental Health Theses & Dissertations

Adequate studies have not been conducted to assess the attitudes of dental hygienists toward independent practice of dental hygiene. The purpose of this study was to investigate these attitudes. The method of investigation was a survey questionnaire designed by the principle investigator. The research results indicated weak support for the independent practice of dental hygiene. The support for general supervision of hygienists in Virginia and the desire to be allowed to practice in nontraditional settings was stronger. There was reported a very strong opposition to preceptorship in dental hygiene. The majority of Virginia dental hygienists agreed that they were educationally …

Intersection Decisions And Reaction Time, Orhan Earle Beckman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Reaction time (RT) as a dependent variable can be used to assess human performance and identify variables influencing performance. Donders (reprinted in English as Donders, 1969) defined three types of reaction time (RT). Simple RT is defined as RT in a situation involving one stimulus and one response. The selective reaction time (SRT) is defined by a situation involving two or more stimuli with only one possible response. Choice reaction time (CRT) is defined by a situation with more than one stimulus category and an equal number of possible responses.

The Hick-Hyman law defines CRT as a logarithmic function of …

Choice Reaction Time And Conjunctions Of Form Size Color And Orientation, Cristina Bubb-Lewis

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Reaction time (RT) is frequently used as a dependent measure in studies that examine the organization of perceptual and cognitive processes. Hick's law states that RT in a choice-reaction-time (CRT) task is a linear function of the amount of information transmitted per stimulus-response event. RT has been used to try to determine whether serial or parallel processing is being employed in CRT tasks (Sternberg, 1966). There is research evidence suggesting a serial, exhaustive search process (Sternberg, 1969a; Wingfield, 1973), as well as findings which suggest parallel processing (Neisser, 1963; Neisser, Novick, and Lazar, 1963) in CRT tasks. All the experiments …

The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy, Outcome Expectancy, And Metabolic Control In People With Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus, Edwina Rudisill Giddens

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationships between self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and metabolic control in people who have insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Thirty-seven adults with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus completed questionnaires assessing diabetic-related self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. Their level of metabolic control was determined using glycosylated hemoglobin (GHb) and blood glucose. The subjects were statistically divided into groups of metabolic control--good and poor--based on the results of their GHb. The relationships between self-efficacy and outcome expectancy were analyzed for both groups. Results of Pearson Product Moment correlations did not reveal significant correlations between GHb and self-efficacy …

A Test Of Bass's Model Of Transformational Leadership Among Managers In The Dominican Republic, Nancy Urbaez Echavarria

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study tested the generalizability of Bass's theory of transformational leadership to employees of a company in the Dominican Republic. A Spanish translation of Bass's Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to assess the leadership styles. The factor structure for Dominican workers was not identical to the structure observed in United States samples. Nevertheless, the pattern of results followed rather closely the pattern observed in United States samples. Consistent with research conducted in the U.S., subordinates who had transformational leaders reported more satisfaction and effectiveness and greater effort and organizational innovativeness than subordinates who had transactional or laissez faire leaders. …

Dependency Autonomy Stress And Depression: A Test Of An Interactive Model, Kathryn Kern Drury

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Two diathesis-stress models were used to predict depression. The additive model combined dependency and autonomy (dependency-autonomy) as the diathesis and also combined dependent and autonomous hassles or life events as stressors. The congruent model used either dependency and dependent stressors or autonomy and autonomous stressors. Ninety-seven female and 42 male undergraduate students completed self-report measures of dependency and autonomy, hassles and life events, and depression at three testing sessions one week apart. Hierarchical multiple regressions — with prior depression entered first and followed by dependency and/or autonomy, stress, and their interaction — indicated that additive models with a significant interaction …

The Effect Of Prior Cooperation And Competition On Approaches To A Decomposed Social Dilemma, Keith M. Rettig

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The effect of cooperation and competition in a primer task upon subject's later choice of strategy in a social dilemma was examined. The effect of explicit and implicit instructions and cooperative and competitive milieu on subjects' behavior, individually and as a team, during both the primer task and the social dilemma was also examined. Male and female subjects participated in a naval simulation task under Implicit-Cooperative, Explicit-Cooperative, Implicit-Competitive, and Explicit-Competitive instructions and later participated in a prisoner's dilemma game. Simmons, Wehner, Tucker, and King's (1987) Cooperative / Competitive Strategy Scale was used as a covariate. A significant effect of instructions …

Masculinity Ideology: Establishing Convergent And Discriminant Validity, Jeffrey S. Sinn

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Masculinity ideology is the extent to which an individual endorses traditional male-role norms. The present study examined the discriminant and convergent validity of this construct relative to other gender-role constructs. Two-hundred sixty-nine male participants completed a questionnaire containing measures of masculinity ideology, gender-role conflict, sex-role orientation, and gender-relation attitudes. Participants also completed measures of constructs known to correlate with masculinity ideology. support for discriminant validity was indicated by masculinity ideology accounting for variance in outcome measures that was unaccounted for by sex-role orientation or gender-relation attitudes. In particular, masculinity ideology was uniquely predictive of homophobia, hostility, an adversarial view of …

The Impact Of Leadership Style And Subordinate Charisma On Organizational Outcomes, Amy L. Vick

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Three hundred and forty members of the administration and finance departments in a loc~l university participated in a study designed to examine the relationships between leadership style (transformational, transactional, laissez-faire) and job satisfaction, rated leader effectiveness, effort, group cohesiveness, performance, group effectiveness, organizational involvement, role clarity, role conflict, intent to turnover, and absenteeism. Correlation and regression analyses indicated that transformational leadership often is associated with improved levels of important work outcomes. In addition, regardless of leadership style, followers high in charisma are more satisfied when their leader demonstrates a lower level of charisma. Lastly, the "falling dominoes" effect of transformational …

Materialism And The Self, Kathleen Shirley Micken

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Materialism has been called the most significant macro development in modern consumer behavior. Despite its importance, research about the construct is rather new. Two scales have been developed to measure materialism, one proposed by Belk, the other by Richins and Dawson.

The purpose of this dissertation is threefold. First, it extends the materialism research program by investigating the relationship between materialism and one's self concept. Hypotheses which drive the research posit that people who are more materialistic have lower self-esteem, are less likely to be self-actualized, are extrinsically rather than intrinsically motivated, and are likely to be high self-monitors. The …

Towards A Universal Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, T. P. Radhakrishnan

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The 1968 Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) came into force in 1970 and expires in 1995. In 1995 an extension conference has to be convened to decide whether the treaty continues in force indefinitely or will be extended for an additional period or periods.

The treaty, cosponsored by the us, the USSR, and the UK, has 155 signatories, but a few countries like Israel, India and Pakistan have refused to be bound by it. They have done so mainly on the formal grounds that the treaty is structurally discriminatory between nuclear and nonnuclear weapons states.

What are …

Correlates Of Disciplinary Practices In Working- To Middle-Class African-American Mothers, Michelle L. Kelley, Janis Sanchez-Hucles, Regina R. Walker

Psychology Faculty Publications

The disciplinary practices of 52 working- to middle-income African-American mothers were coded to assess the degree to which the mother took a parent-oriented versus a child-oriented approach across various aspects of discipline. Factors associated with physical punishment included maternal education and maternal age. The use of social/material control practices were associated with maternal age, father presence, and concerns about child victimization. Only maternal education was associated with restrictive discipline. Fear of child victimization independently predicted the use of material/social consequences. Findings are discussed in terms of the factors contributing to these individual differences, and the adaptiveness of these practices for …

Political Interference In Military Operations During The Anglo-Zulu War Of 1879, Thomas Max Lansford

History Theses & Dissertations

This work examines the degree and effect of the reluctant cooperation of the British government and its colonial agencies with the British army during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. While it is clear that there was no civilian conspiracy to interfere with the army, it is also clear that several of the policies of the government and its colonial agencies hindered army operations. The study is based on the War Office narrative of military operations, on Colonial and War Office correspondence, and on the memoirs and diaries of several participants.

Managerial Roles And Entrepreneurship In Non-Profit Urban Arts Agencies In Virginia, Beth Joan Novitch Rossheim

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The future of the arts in Virginia depends on knowing how arts agencies are functioning and surviving at a time of resource decline. What roles do managers play in administering agencies? What business and management skills do managers use to maintain an agency and to relate to the community? How do managers handle cutbacks? Does entrepreneurship create more viable arts agencies?

Bivariate data analysis separated managers into four role groups: entrepreneur, administrator, artist, and caretaker, according to their perceived degree of programmatic creativity and documented access to organizational resources. Managerial role types were compared with management behaviors to discern significant …

A Preliminary Study Of A Job Analytic Inventory Derived From A Behavioral Consistency Method For Assessing Intrinsic Motivation, William John Banis

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The research question for this study asked if the Job Specifications Inventory (JSI) had acceptable internal reliability and an ability to differentiate among occupational groups. The JSI was designed to have subject matter experts rate the importance of skill, content, context, relationship and work focus requirements of jobs or occupations. The JSI used a taxonomy of 268 behavioral elements derived from the content analyses of satisfying achievements reported by a large, diverse clientele. A clinical-type behavioral consistency method was used to extract performance dimensions from clients' achievements to build the taxonomy. The achievement-based taxonomy was seen as potentially enhancing productivity …

A Multiple Case Study Of Selected Individuals Who Facilitate The Successful Adoption Of Environmental Public Policy, John H. Austin

Health Services Research Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the personal and professional characteristics of successful individuals who have had a positive influence on the development of public policy concerning the environment. Additionally, which characteristics are most likely to enhance success and determine which of these characteristics might contribute to efforts toward developing public environmental policy in the future were investigated. The purpose was accomplished through the design and implementation of a multiple case study utilizing a qualitative research methodology. The sample for this study included six public servants who were identified as actively involved in affecting the development of public …

A Sociotechnical Approach To The Study Of Semiautonomous Work Group Communication In Technical Organizations, Elizabeth B. Varnes

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The sociotechnical aspects of group communication in semiautonomous technical work teams were investigated to understand how team members define "effective" group communication and what impact technical tools have on the group communication process. A team of workers with various technical backgrounds was selected for study. The study involved videotaped group sessions, a group training educational briefing and individual group member questionnaires. The results indicate that group members believed sharing information among group members was critical to successful communication and that certain technical tools could be effective during group meetings. The findings are congruent with the general theory that group communication …

Women's Profiles, Robyn Lynn Cochran

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This creative project chronicles the development of an innovative short-format public radio series called Women's Profiles. I include a range of pertinent materials, including a record of my public radio internship, a grant proposal, and a public radio script. Using a feminist approach, I create a prototype for a radio show in which women subjects/narrators, in a non-hierarchical interview process, share their life experiences in conversation with one ( or more) women interviewers. By incorporating myself as a subject in this document, with work journals and narrative, I give readers an opportunity to appreciate the effort and process involved in …

Attributions For Change In Attitude Among Urban Elementary Parochial School Teachers Toward Children Who Speak Nonstandard English, Charles A. Saglio Jr.

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

A comparatively large number of African American children fail in urban schools. Hundreds of research studies concerning interpersonal expectations suggest a link between teacher expectancies and pupil performance. Researchers have found that teachers expect less of students who speak nonstandard English. Attempts to modify teachers' culturo-linguistic attitudes and expectations have been unsuccessful. While teachers' beliefs, theories, and attitudes change over time as a function of teaching experience, the mechanisms for change are unclear.

This study has attempted to uncover events to which teachers attribute a change in their culturo-linguistic attitudes. Once causal conditions for change have been identified, then those …

A Construct Validity Study Of The Cynicism Scale Of The Mmpi-2, Jeffrey Shelton

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the construct validity of the Cynicism Scale, a content scale of the MMPI-2, using cognitive appraisal as the theoretical framework. It was predicted that cynical chemical dependency counselors would report more symptoms of burnout, as well as more frequent and severe daily stressors. A respondent group of 247 members of a statewide organization returned research packets out of a sample of 464 (53.3%). Compared to non-cynical counselors, moderately cynical counselors reported more symptoms of burnout. They also reported more overall coping, although not always as predicted by theory for specific types of …

The Effects Of Educational Programs About Rape On The Attitudes Of First Year Urban University Students, Mary Jodine Wolford

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This study investigated the effects of educational programs on first-year college students' attitudes toward rape. Subjects included 132 male and female (60 and 72, respectively) first-year students in an urban university who were selected randomly for participation. Each participant was assigned randomly to one of four treatment conditions: lecture-style programs, videotape programs, role play programs, or control. Data were collected in three phases: one pretest and two posttests. Attitudes toward rape were measured using the General Attitudes Toward Rape scale. Data were analyzed using Multiple Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) and Analyses of Covariance (ANCOVA). Findings included no significant differences due …

The Identification And Magnitude Estimation Of Stressors In A Selected Military Population At One Training Command, Susan W. Miller

Community & Environmental Health Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the most stressful aspects of being a student at a military training command. ·Forty students listed the significant stressors that they encounter at the training command. This list was reviewed and consolidated into a stressor rating questionnaire with 16 stressors. A convenience sample of 86 students rated the stressors. In the second part of the study, the students rated the stressors on a scale of "0 to 1000". The study revealed that the most significant stressors for students were absence of family and friends, uncertainty about their future, dealing with instructor's attitudes, …

Yellow Ribbons, D. Scott Drake

English Theses & Dissertations

Yellow Ribbons is a feature-film screenplay that dramatizes various aspects of the Persian Gulf War. The hero of the story, Lieutenant Jason Hart, a talented but quixotic naval fighter pilot, participates in one of the last allied offensive military actions: the bombing of the retreating Iraqi army. Jake suffers a crisis of conscience in the climactic moment of the bombing and decides that he cannot continue to serve the navy as a fighter pilot. The story then shifts from the Persian Gulf to the United States. There Jake encounters a new set of obstacles as he struggles with his experience …

Effects Of Palatability Of Food On The Conditioning Of Hunger In Rats, Elizabeth Yates Hill

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

An experiment was conducted to study the association of foods of different levels of palatability and environmental events present during eating. Rats were exposed to different. foods in a start box and then allowed to run to a goal box containing food of a lesser or equal palatability. All animals showed a decrease in latency to eat in the start box and an increase in the amount of food consumed in the start box, with no significant differences in treatment groups at the end of conditioning. Although all groups, including the control group did run faster and eat more over …

A Follow-Up Study Investigating The Relationships Between Holland's Personality Types And Selected Career Choice Variables, Kennard S. Brackney Sr.

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This follow-up study utilized John L. Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments to examine the relationship between students personality types and their career choices. The study sought to determine whether data collected using Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) was a valid predictor of (1) career goal, (2) eventual choice of college major, (3) persistence to graduation, (4) occupation (type of job held at the time the data was collected), and (5) level of satisfaction with occupation (job) at the time data was gathered.

The stratified random sample for the study was composed of 180 subjects drawn from a population …

Beyond Sugar And Spice: Labeling Female Genitalia, Ethel E. Hellman

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Previous studies have indicated that, in our culture, female genitalia are unlabeled, mis-labeled, and/or negatively labeled, while male genitalia are not.

Twenty-five mothers of young children were interviewed to determine what labels they were teaching their children for sexual body parts. The women later met in small groups to discuss the i r reactions to a soft-sculpture of female genitalia.

The study found that twice as many male children were taught common designations for their own genitalia than were female children. In addition, a greater proportion of female children were given a label for male genitalia, than male children were …