Digital Commons Network^™

A Sers And Sem-Edx Study Of The Antiviral Mechanism Of Creighton Silver Nanoparticles Against Vaccinia Virus, Catherine Binns Anders

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Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are well-recognized as antiviral agents but little is known about their mechanism of action. In this study, it was hypothesized that unfunctionalized, Creighton AgNPs of an average diameter of 11 nm will form covalent bonds with vaccinia virus (VV) mainly through the external, entry fusion complex (EFC) proteins. The EFC is housed on the external membrane of VV and contains 9-12 proteins having numerous cysteine groups, intramolecular disulfide bonds, aromatic moieties and myristic acids bound to the N-terminus of glycine residues. VV (1012 PFUs) was incubated at 37oC for one hour with Creighton AgNPs that were size …

Juror Decision Making: The Impact Of Attractiveness And Socioeconomic Status On Criminal Sentencing And An Examination Of Motivated Reasoning In Mock Jurors, Jennifer M. Kutys

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Individuals are bombarded with stereotypes every day in the United States. It is impossible to eliminate the effect of these stereotypes in any situation; however, the criminal justice system strives to find ways to minimize the impact of these stereotypes in the courtroom. In this study, the effects of socioeconomic status and attractiveness of a female defendant on sentencing severity, perceived recidivism, and deservedness of punishment in a murder trial were examined. The study was also designed to investigate how jurors may engage in cognitive processes such as motivated reasoning when biases are pointed out to them. Attractiveness and socioeconomic …

Academic Engagement Of College Student Leaders, Galen R. Crawford

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Academic engagement of college student leaders may be affected due to the amount of time and energy that is needed to lead a student organization. This affect is tested through a mixed method research design where self-generated questions in conjunction with portions of the National Survey of Student Engagement and Cooperative Institutional Research Program are used to gain a deeper understanding of academic engagement of college student leaders. Results of the study indicate that student leaders have a relatively high level of academic engagement. Student Affairs professionals can use this research to gain an understanding of the complexity of academic …

Illusionary Strength; An Analysis Of Female Empowerment In Science Fiction And Horror Films In Fatal Attraction, Aliens, And The Stepford Wives, Jennifer Lynn Ruben

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An expanded notion of empowerment along with three specific theories-Beauvoir's concept of the Other, Speciesism, Cyborg Feminism-is used to analyze the female protagonists and antagonists in the following 1970's and 1980's science fiction and horror films: Fatal Attraction, Aliens, and The Stepford Wives. The female protagonists are allowed more access to power as human beings pitted against nonhuman antagonists, but these characters are ultimately not empowering for women because they reinforce rather than undermine the patriarchal structure. Implications for further research encourage a critique of female empowerment based on both gender and species.

A Study Of Public School Employees' Adoption Behavior Regarding Technological Innovations, Kimberly S. Snyder

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Within with the five technological innovation adopter categories, there are potential technology users who resist adoption (Joseph, 2010). Using Survey Monkey™, during the 2011-12 school year non-certified public school employees in urban, suburban, and rural Midwestern areas were surveyed about their adoption patterns and their use of technology in the workplace. This non-experimental, descriptive study determined the distribution of 44 non-certified public school employees among adopter categories regarding technological innovation designed to improve workplace efficiency. This study also examined responses to determine differences among characteristics of those in each of the adoption categories. Respondents self-identified as members of only three …

Ngo-State Relations: Freedom House Status And Cooperation Versus Conflict, Jacquelyn Ann Schroeder

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Based on previous academic literature, relationships between non-governmental organizations and governments are categorized as being either generally cooperative or generally conflictual, and vary state to state. Considering an assumption that more freedom afforded to a state provides space in society for a more vibrant third sector, it seems intuitive that states with more freedom will experience more cooperative relationships with the NGO sector than states with less. However, six case studies illustrate that this may not always be a correct assumption. To test this hypothesis, Freedom House statuses between 1991 and 2011 are averaged to provide an overall status of …

When "Boys Will Not Be Boys": Variations Of Wartime Sexual Violence By Armed Opposition Groups In Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, And Nepal, Matthew Bolyn Conaway

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Wartime sexual violence is often assumed to be inevitable during conflict yet empirical evidence indicates that sexual violence varies in type and frequency within and across conflicts as well as among armed groups. A solid understanding of what variable(s) and causal pathway(s) permit the variation of systematic sexual violence in intrastate conflict situations by specific groups has yet to be developed. What factors explain the variation of sexual violence by certain armed opposition groups during conflict situations? This comparative study employs process-tracing and the congruence method to consider the utility of hypotheses drawn from the work of Elisabeth J. Wood …

Managing Patient Test Data In Primary Care: Developing And Evaluating A System For Test Tracking To Enhance Processes, Safety, And Understanding Of Performance, Jennifer M. Cloud-Buckner

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Patient testing is vital for primary care and serves as a gateway to specialty healthcare. Patient safety is worsened when testing orders (e.g., laboratory, imaging orders) are not tracked, results are lost, or abnormal results lack patient notification and follow-up. Non-standardized testing management reduces resilience; affects clinical outcomes; and increases errors, costs, workload, and delays.

To address the need for testing management improvements, this research followed four phases in six objectives: (1) In Phase I initial survey, assess perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of practicing healthcare clinicians and administrators about testing, safety, and technology; (2) In Phase II system design, design …

Cultural Competence And Clergy Unite: The Need For Multicultural Considerations For Seminarian Applicants, Monica Sue Richards

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The evaluation of candidates to Catholic seminaries prior to their admission is not an uncommon practice. However, in the past 40-50 years psychologists have played a vital role by adding psychological measures and their clinical perspectives to this evaluative process. Although these psychological evaluations have gathered insightful information that has better informed individuals in making a choice about a candidate, recent research suggests that many of the psychologists conducting these evaluations have not taken measures to ensure cultural competencies within these evaluations. This project outlined the ethical obligation psychologists have in providing culturally competent evaluations to these applicants and seminaries. …

A Multi-Disciplinary Approach To Childhood Obesity, Erinn J. Wright

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In the past two decades, the prevalence of childhood obesity has risen throughout the world. Factors that put children at risk for childhood obesity include genetics, parental weight and lifestyle, gender, age, and socioeconomic status. Various disciplines address treatment of childhood obesity differently. For example, the medical community focuses on potential consequences of childhood obesity; the mental health field conceptualizes the issue behaviorally, and social work research highlights the sociopolitical factors of the issue. Results of a needs assessment performed in the Dayton, Ohio and Montgomery County region from 2009-2010 revealed a lack of collaboration between various disciplines involved in …

How The City State Fares Under State Capitalism In The Prc: Local And State-Wide Reform, Alex Gregory Elkins

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How do national political and economic policies impact the ability of cities to accomplish urban growth and economic goals? This study examines the state policies Shanghai operates under to assess the potential for software reform in China. Specifically, this study examines software by drawing on the corruption and rule of law theories of Larry Diamond and Randall Perrenboom. This study also uses Richard Florida's creative class theory to examine tolerance of lesbians and gay men in Shanghai and its impact on the city's priority industries. Additionally, this study examines Shanghai's placement on the 2008, 2010, and 2012 Global Cities Index …

An Investigation Of Therapist Gender In The Intake Evaluation Of Male And Female Clients At College Counseling Centers, Harry Pitsikalis

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The current study examined gender as a potential contributing factor in the increase in psychopathology at college counseling centers. As university and college counseling centers are moving away from a developmental model and toward the medical model, the effect of gender and the increased use of the DSM-IVTR could influence the perception in an increase of psychopathology by mirroring DSM-IVTR base rates. This study attempted to discover if gender influenced therapists to diagnosed depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and adjustment disorders differently amongst the male and female clients. Results indicated that neither male therapists nor female therapists diagnosed depression, substance abuse …

The Yellow Fever Epidemic In Savannah, Georgia Of 1876: A Case For Applied Historical Analysis, James R. Gruenberg

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Yellow fever was a constant and deadly visitor to the southern United States since the middle of the seventeenth century. Dying of yellow fever was gruesome and terrifying. Black vomit was the prominent symptom as the patient bled to death internally and externally. Yellow fever, or 'yellow jack' to the locals, would bring Savannah, Georgia to its knees on three different occasions. In 1876, however, the city would lose a full 6% of its population, or 1,066 souls. This thesis argues that this tragic outbreak was preventable, and that the physical conditions that were well known to contribute to yellow …

Social Movements' Emergence And Form: The Green Movement In Iran, Afsaneh J Haddadian

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Theories of social movements suggest that 'objective' changes in the structure of political opportunities and their interaction with mobilizing and framing mechanisms render a system vulnerable to mass protest. By examining the variables relevant to such interaction, this study seeks to account for the emergence and form of the 2009 Green Movement in Iran. This research uses the congruence method and process traces the movement adherents' activities, mainly their use of Information Communication Technologies, and investigates the so-called opposition leaders' activities and statements. The study argues that in accounting for emergence and form of the Green Movement, we need to …

Anthony Eden, Appeaser Of The Soviets?, Mark A. Turner

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In late May 1942, while the Soviet Union staggered from catastrophic defeats at Kharkov and in the Crimea, British and Soviet representatives met in London and signed a treaty of mutual assistance that would lay the basis for the Grand Alliance. This thesis, based on the newly discovered material from Stalin's secret archives, argues that Anthony Eden, British Foreign Minister, far from the weak-willed appeaser caricatured by subsequent historians, was a shrewd, yet principled diplomat, who assessed the Soviets far more realistically than did his British counterparts. Moreover, Eden was a skilled and resourceful negotiator who drove a very hard …

The Relationship Between Authentic Leadership And Employee Retention: Measuring The Perceived Level Of Authentic Leadership And The Effect On Employee Retention, Deborah Morton

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Authentic Leadership is an emerging leadership approach that is still in the formative stages of development. There has been noteworthy research on strategies to develop or enhance authentic leadership behaviors (Northhouse 2010) that can lead to high employee retention, however there has been only a small amount of research examining the relationship between authentic leadership and employee retention. This descriptive study examined the perceived level of authentic leadership on the four scales of the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire by retained and non-retained employees in one organization to determine if there is a relationship between authentic leadership and employee retention.

Respiratory Managers And Their Leadership Styles In Hospitals Recognized For Magnet Recognition Status, Jennifer Kay Wendling-Mattachione

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The purpose of this study is to evaluate leadership styles of respiratory managers in the hospital environment, through examination of B.M. Bass's (1995) model of transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership. The author measured leadership alignment and outcome factors through the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ 5x-short) survey. Respiratory managers are a large part of the healthcare team. They provide the respiratory therapist they manage with education, orientation and supervision. The respiratory managers of 200 Magnet recognized hospitals located within the United States were mailed a MLQ 5x-short survey. Each manager was asked to fill out the survey and return it in …

Students With Felony Convictions In Higher Education: An Examination Of The Effects Of Special Admissions Policies On Applicants And On Campus Communities, Bradley Dean Custer

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There is limited research documenting the outcomes of college admission policies that screen applicants with prior felony convictions. Without this data, there is no evidence to support that these policies make college campuses safer. Additionally, there is no information available on the effects of special admissions policies on the applicants or on academic performance of students with prior felony convictions. This mixed-method study examined the applications of 54 undergraduate applicants with prior felony convictions at a mid-sized, public institution in the Midwest to reveal demographic trends among the population, to reveal themes from written narratives, and to examine the academic …

Peltasts And Javelineers In Classical Greek Warfare: Roles, Tactics, And Fighting Methods, Derrick A. Niese

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The purpose of this paper is to explore the developing roles, tactics, and fighting methods of javelin-armed soldiers in classical Greek warfare. The chronological scope of the paper will be broad, incorporating early evidence from the eighth century B.C.E. but focusing on the fifth and fourth centuries. Throughout the thesis I will argue that javelineers and especially peltasts earned an increasingly prominent role in Greek warfare due to several interrelated factors: constant warfare occurring on increasing and unprecedented scale; professionalization of military leadership; growing frequency of large-scale campaigns waged on diverse terrain; and an overall increase in the use of …

Impression Management Across Applicant And Incumbent Contexts: The Effect On Job Performance, Jenna Noelle Filipkowski

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Social desirability (impression management) scales often accompany personality measures in selection to detect those who might be engaging in response distortion. Applicants' personality scores may be corrected or eliminated based on scores from the impression management scale. My studies test the effectiveness and usefulness of having social desirability measures in personnel selection. Study One examined whether social desirability (impression management) scales are able to detect faking behavior. The hypotheses were tested on an archival dataset of participants who took personality measures on two separate occasions as incumbents or applicants. Those identified by the faking indicator, who raised their scores beyond …

Spirit Possession: Exploring The Role Of The Textual Tradition In Islam, Megan Renee Werth

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This investigation focuses on locally specific manifestations of spirit possession found in Muslim societies throughout the world. Though allegedly founded on the same textual traditions, historians and anthropologists have observed that 'popular' and 'orthodox' Islamic practices have given rise to seemingly multiple, religiously inspired responses to societies' problems and to a variety of ritual acts. In spite of the numerous practices documented by scholars, a hidden narrative emerges, that Islamic spirit possession practices, whether licit or illicit, represent a phenomenon of tandem development between two distinct authorities, coexisting within a greater Islamic worldview. Muslims must deal with it in one …

Cullah Mi Gullah, African American Female Artists And The Sea Islands: Exploring Africanisms And Religious Expressions In Creative Works, Rebekkah Yisrael Mulholland

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While the Sea Islands have captured the interest of scholars and artists, especially since Zora Neale Hurston's groundbreaking novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), this thesis provides a historiography of Africanisms and religious expressions explored in Gullah literary traditions within African-American women's fiction, specifically with regards to the works of Julie Dash and Tina McElroy Ansa. Following Hurston's example, during the 1980s Toni Morrison, Toni Cade Bambara and Paule Marshall further laid the groundwork for writers to signify upon. This qualitative study of Dash's 1991 film and novel Daughters of the Dust (1997) along with Ansa's novels Baby of …

The College Experiences Of Transgender Students: Creating A Welcoming Environment On Campus, Roxanna Jessica-Dyan Patton

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The number of transgender students on college campuses has been increasing throughout the United States (Schneider,2010). Transgender students face unique concerns in nearly every aspect of campus life. The purpose of this research was to examine the college experiences of transgender students and recommend best practices for making college campuses more welcoming for transgender students. This phenomenological study was conducted using open ended interview questions to collect qualitative data from three transgender students at a large four year public institution in the Midwest. Respondents identified unwelcoming messages in the following areas of campus life: student activities, health services, and through …

The Antislavery Movement In Clermont County, Bethany Marie Pollitt

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The United States grappled with the question of slavery, that peculiar institution, for decades prior to the Civil War. One result of those debates was the antislavery movement. Gaining ground in the 1830s, the antislavery movement motivated people to respond to the issue of slavery in the way that suited their conscience. The Ohio River Valley is located on what once was the border line between North and South, and what to slaves meant the difference between freedom and a life of enslavement. Clermont County, located along the Ohio River, was no different than other communities along the border, such …

The Japanese American Resettlement Program Of Dayton, Ohio: As Administered By The Church Federation Of Dayton And Montgomery County, 1943-1946, Paul Michael Dankovich

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In September 1942, the Church Federation of Dayton and Montgomery County (Church Federation) was established. It created a Commission on War Services that coordinated social services to the thousands of military personnel and migrant war workers who flooded into wartime Dayton. Strategically, Dayton supported the nation's defense through the presence of two Army airfields and many vital industrial facilities.

Beginning on October 1, 1942, the War Relocation Authority (WRA) permitted those of Japanese descent to leave the internment camps on indefinite leave, and resettle outside of the West Coast exclusion zones. The WRA supported this program by opening field offices …

The Effects Of Chinese Petroleum Diplomacy On Us Energy Policy Objectives In Nigeria (1993-2010), Jennifer Lynn Leapley

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The United States and China have turned to Africa as an additional source of oil to ensure reliable, secure access to oil supplies in the future. While China stresses noninterventionist foreign policies, the US, at least rhetorically, if not in practice, links its energy policy in Africa to its foreign policy goals. China's petroleum diplomacy in Africa has raised concern among some scholars and policymakers about the effect an increased Chinese economic presence will have on American foreign policy objectives.

The question arises: What impact has Chinese petroleum diplomacy had on US foreign policy objectives? More specifically, how strongly, if …

An Examination Of Ceo Emotion's Relationship With Organization-Level Performance, Elizabeth J. Peyton

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My study examined the relationship between CEO emotions and organization-level performance. I also tested the feasibility of using FACS in a business setting. Lastly, I explored the nature of CEOs' expressive styles. I found support for a relationship between CEOs' positive emotion displays and organization-level performance, but not a relationship between CEOs' negative emotion displays and organization-level performance. My results also supported the idea that CEOs have a unique and consistent expressive style that remains independent of displayed emotion and that researchers can use FACS to measure this expressive style.

'Counting Votes And Bodies,' Election-Related Conflicts In Africa: A Comparative Study Of Ghana And Kenya, Ibrahim Mahama Nambiema

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Since joining the 'third wave' of democracy in the 1990s, African countries have focused on elections. Some leaders conduct elections to legitimize their authoritarian rule. Many of Africa's transitional democracies are associated with flawed elections and violent conflicts. The literature on electoral conflict places little emphasis on election governance. It is my assumption that the high rate of non-credible elections in Africa can be associated with election management that has exacerbated societal cleavages. Is an effective and independent election management body a necessary prerequisite for election results to be credible? Are credible elections correlated with lower levels of conflicts? Kenya …