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Nuclear Threats By The United States In The Korean And Vietnam Wars: Toward A Grounded Theory Of International Governmental Crime, David Kauzlarich

Dissertations

Criminologists have generally ignored the crimes of governmental actors and agencies. This study delves into this neglected area of sociological inquiry by addressing definitional, legal, empirical, and theoretical dimensions of the phenomenon of governmental crime. The four research objectives are to:

1. Demonstrate that socially deleterious governmental actions can be studied criminologically through the epistemological framework of international law.

2. Document the existence of such governmental crimes in the area of nuclear weapons.

3. Describe and compare the patterns of the United States' violations of international laws during the Korean and Vietnam wars.

4. Inductively generate hypotheses and theoretical propositions …

A Comparison Between Computer Assisted Group Therapy And Group Psychotherapy, Dennis A. Hunyadi

Dissertations

The comparison of two forms of group psychotherapy, a computer assisted group therapy model, the Therapeutic Learning Program (TLP), and a conventional model, was the focus of this study. A control group of subjects on a waiting list to begin treatment in an outpatient psychiatric clinic was also used in the analyses. The participants were diagnosed according to DSM-IIIR criteria.

The groups were compared on gender, age, race, diagnosis, length of time in treatment, number of group sessions received, length of time on the waiting list, and pre and post test scores on Taylor’s Manifest Anxiety Scale and Rotter’s Locus …

A Clinical Trials Evaluation Of A Double-Blinded Protocol To Assess The Therapeutic Effectiveness Of Stimulant Medication Prescribed For Children Diagnosed Adhd, Ann V. Thompson

Dissertations

This clinical trials investigation developed and evaluated a protocol for determining the therapeutic effectiveness of medication prescribed for children diagnosed ADHD. The protocol included two separate baseline periods of two week durations, each of which were followed by four randomly assigned probes of one week duration, consisting either of Methylphenidate or placebo capsules. Baseline probes were unblinded, but medication and placebo probe trials were double-blinded. Therapeutic effect, expectancies, and integrity of the double-blind control were assessed through a battery of rating scales and forms completed by the parent, teacher and child at the end of each protocol week, including baseline …

Lesbian's Perception Of Parental Support And The Disclosure Of Sexual Orientation, Janet Trudee Snyder Tarkowski

Dissertations

The relationship between lesbian perception of parental support and disclosure of sexual orientation was examined in the study. From the 200 questionnaires prepared for distribution, a purposive sample of 180 (90%) lesbian-identified adults returned data for analysis. The participants completed a questionnaire addressing demographics and lesbian life-experiences. Three self-report inventories, the Perceived Social Support-Family Scale (PSS-Fa) (Procidano & Heller, 1983), the Silencing the Self Scale (STSS) (Jack, 1991), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961), were also administered.

Data gathering procedures used in the study resulted in a sample which was largely white, well …

Gold-Encrusted Chaos: An Analysis Of Auschwitz Memoirs, Mary D. Lagerwey

Dissertations

One way to better understand the Holocaust is to look closely at several survivors' stories. In my dissertation I closely examine six published memoirs of women and men from one time and place: Auschwitz, 1942-1945. Specifically, I ask three questions:

1. How do Holocaust memoirs relate a universal human story?

2. How are Auschwitz memoirs informed by gender?

3. How do Auschwitz memoirs exemplify a polyphony of voices which engulfs and transcends gender differences?

In exploring the first question, I develop a thesis, that there is a universal story which captures the experiences of Auschwitz survivors' experiences. Next, I develop …

Promising Practices: Perspectives Of Junior And Senior High At-Risk Students, Janet Dalman

Dissertations

This dissertation examined the “fit of school and Me” from at-risk students’ perspectives. The purpose of the study was to gain insight into at-risk students’ views on what school elements were necessary and helpful in their achieving success, in their seeing hope, and in their choosing to remain in school.

Promising practices of affective/nurturing and cognitive/learning gleaned from the literature review of success producing school components were examined within the context of most favorite and least favorite classrooms during focus group interviews with junior high school and senior high school at-risk and non-at-risk students. Students were asked to compare and …

An Analysis Of The Relationship Of Achievement, Attitude, And Sociological Element Of Individual Learning Style Of Students In An Interactive Television Course, Thomas A. Burkman

Dissertations

This study examined the relationship of individual learning style with achievement and attitudes of students receiving instruction via two way interactive television. The technology of interactive television is making it possible for school districts to cooperate and share instructors for low-incident courses. The technology is also helping schools to restructure and enhance programming. Knowledge of the extent to which these technologies affect the students, however, is limited.

Fifty-four students enrolled in two high school psychology classes were the study population. A quasi-experimental research design was used. In Part 1 of the data collection phase, the instructor taught a textbook unit …

A Study Of Leadership Behaviors Of Principals In Schools Which Educate Students With Moderate And Severe Disabilities In Regular Education Classrooms, Patreese Ingram

Dissertations

The full-time inclusion of disabled students in regular education classrooms on a full-time basis is an emerging practice in schools across the United States and other countries (Stainback & Stainback, 1992). In school systems which have traditionally educated disabled and nondisabled students in separate classrooms, the principal is increasingly recognized as ,"... being the one individual above all others who is of critical importance in creating an effective school" (Ubben & Hughes, 1992, p. 19).

Therefore, this study investigated the principal’s leadership behavior in schools which educate moderately and severely disabled students in regular education classrooms on a full-time basis. …

The Lived Experiences Of Nurses' Interactions With Ethnically Diverse Clients: A Phenomenological Perspective, Colette R. York Dnsc, Msn, Rn

Dissertations

This study explored the phenomenon of nurses' lived experiences while interacting with clients who were ethnically dissimilar to themselves in a variety of nursing care settings including acute care, ambulatory care and public health. This study is timely, especially in the county in which the study was conducted because of the ongoing influx of legal and illegal immigrants from diverse foreign geographic locales. Van Kaam's method for conducting phenomenological studies was employed for data gathering, categorizing and analyzing. Categories were stated in terms of perceptions and feelings. The most frequently stated perceptual moments included perceiving client ethnicities based on physical …

Motion Estimation Using Optical Flow Field, Jingning Pan

Dissertations

Over the last decade, many low-level vision algorithms have been devised for extracting depth from intensity images. Most of them are based on motion of the rigid observer. Translation and rotation are constants with respect to space coordinates. When multi-objects move and/or the objects change shape, the algorithms cannot be used.

In this dissertation, we develop a new robust framework for the determination of dense 3-D position and motion fields from a stereo image sequence. The framework is based on unified optical flow field (UOFF). In the UOFF approach, a four frame mode is used to compute six dense 3-D …

Blind Detection In Channels With Intersymbol Interference, Raafat Edward Kamel

Dissertations

In high speed digital transmission over bandlimited channels, one of the principal impairments, besides additive white Gaussian noise, is intersymbol interference. For unknown channels, adaptive equalization is used to mitigate the interference. Different types of equalizers were proposed in the literature such as linear, decision feedback equalizers and maximum likelihood sequence estimation. The transmitter embeds sequences with the data regularly to help the equalizer adapt to the unknown channel parameters.

It is not always appropriate or feasible to send training sequences; in such cases, self adaptive or blind equalizers are used. The past ten years have witnessed an interest in …

Spirituality And Leadership, Dana M. Walling Edd

Dissertations

The language of leadership is becoming increasingly spiritualized. Terms more often found in the sanctuary are now being applied to the leadership domain. Without a clear understanding of each, confusion results. This research explored the common boundaries between spirituality and leadership. Ten persons with leadership experiences were interviewed with regard to what relationships existed between their leadership and their spirituality. There were five women and five men in the study who also reflected diverse ethnic and spiritual perspectives. The researcher used a qualitative interview methodology. Each person was given the chance to review and edit the transcript of the interview. …

The Role Of Administrators And Teachers In The Selection And Implementation Of Computer Technology In The "Classroom Of Tomorrow" Program, Ahmad Al-Obiedat

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of administrators and teachers in the selection and implementation of computer technology in Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS). Recently, KPS participated in Michigan's "Classroom of Tomorrow" program. They received 170 computers of various types (i.e., Apple, IBM, etc.). Elementary teachers received 126, middle school teachers received 16, high school teachers received 26, and 2 computers were awarded to personnel at the community education center. To date, there are no reports or research studies on the success or lack of success of the processes used to select and implement the computers in …

"I’Ll Do It Tomorrow." A Radical Behavioral Analysis Of Procrastination, Cassandra Ann Braam

Dissertations

This study examined the problem of procrastination or the failure to complete tasks. Five similar rules were presented to five, four-year-old children, using a multielement design. The rules described contingencies varying in the specification of delays in the delivery of consequences and deadlines. In addition, a general statement of disapproval of procrastination was presented one time, in addition to a rule specifying a delayed consequence with no deadline, to determine its effect on an established pattern of procrastination. The results showed (a) rules specifying delayed consequences (indirect-acting contingencies) with no deadlines did not reliably control behavior, (b) rules specifying immediate …

The Effects Of Utilitarianism On Performance Appraisal And Selected Output Measures In A Weberian Bureaucracy, Donald Wayne Wright

Dissertations

The research explored whether or not a relationship existed between the performance appraisal criteria used by the Social Security Administration and actual performance between 1984 and 1990. The issue was whether or not either of the diverse sets of performance appraisal criteria was more effective in improving performance than the other and whether or not base pay should be tied to the results of the performance appraisal system.

The methodology for this study was both quantitative and qualitative. The qualitative technique of content analysis was done on the sets of performance appraisal criteria to assess the extent to which each …

Mystical And Out-Of-Body Experiences As Perceived By Counselors: Difference In Attitude Toward Self And Client, Douglas W. Bentley

Dissertations

The major purpose of this three-part study was to contribute to the body of knowledge concerned with mystical and out-of-body experiences (OBE) in the counselor relationship. The first part of the study was descriptive in nature. The study evaluated through a survey, designed by the researcher, the likelihood of client reporting to a counselor having had a mystical or out-of-body experience. Additionally, the descriptive part of the study asked counselors to report their own personal mystical and out-of-body experiences. Next, the study counted important demographic variables of both the counselor and the clients of the counselor.

The second part of …

Interim Summative Evaluation: Assessing The Value Of A Long Term Or Ongoing Program During Its Operation, Sharon Craven Dodson

Dissertations

Evaluation conducted for the purpose of certifying a program's utility or summarizing its value is summative in nature. Most commonly, summative evaluations are conducted retrospectively to provide a record for program accountability. In the case of long term programs that may run ten or twenty years, however, there is often a need to conduct summative evaluations while the program is operating, so that value and utility can be assessed at various stages of the program's development. This study was designed to develop the concept and methodology for conducting these interim summative evaluations.

Through a review of research, characteristics of interim …

Profiles Of Promise: Students With Learning Difference Prepare For Optimal Foreign Language Learning, Ludmilla Coven

Dissertations

Many secondary school counselors discourage students with diagnosed native language deficits from foreign language studies. They hold the unsubstantiated belief that these studies would jeopardize their hard-earned gains in native language learning. Research disproves that position, and some writers advocate foreign language study to improve language learning and enhance cognitive strategies. Improvement occurs more readily when the instructor has the expertise to choose from a repertoire of teaching styles the one most compatible with the learning style of the student. With the full inclusion promised by the regular education initiative becoming a reality, this study explores research, design, and team-teaching …

Aqueous Absorption Of Nitrogen Oxides Induced By Oxychlorine Compounds : A Process Development Study For Flue Gas Treatment, Chen-Lu Yang

Dissertations

The use of chlorine (Cl₂), sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), and sodium chlorite (NaClO₂) as oxidizing agents to promote the absorption of nitric oxide (NO) from gas streams has been investigated in the Gas Scrubbing Laboratory of New Jersey Institute of Technology since 1988. The first step of this project had been to screen out the best scrubbing medium for nitric oxide removal from flue gases. The most successful oxidizing agent was found to be sodium chlorite in acidic aqueous solution. The screening results have been accepted for publication in Chemical Engineering Communications. A sodium chlorite containing aqueous …

Computer Aided Stress Analysis Of The Femur With Prosthetic Hip Stem Utilizing Computed Tomography, Wei-Chun Chang

Dissertations

A computer aided design and analysis method, utilizing computed tomography (CT) is developed, which together with a finite element program determines the stress and deformation patterns in the femur with hip prosthesis. The CT scan data file provides the geometry and the material parameters for the generated finite element model. The three-dimensional finite element model of the femur with hip prosthesis is automatically generated from the CT data file by a preprocessing procedure. The preprocessor includes a CT image display, edge detector, nodes generation, prosthesis simulator, mesh generator and model display. The loading conditions applied on the finite element model …

Implementing Total Quality Management In A College Of Business, Jeffrey William Glazer Edd

Dissertations

Today, a wide range of organizations are involved in what is commonly referred to as total quality management (TQM). Implementation and associated research have primarily been focused in the business community; however, over the past decade, faced with dwindling enrollment and increased competition, the educational community has also started to embrace TQM at differing levels in a wide variety of settings across the nation, ranging from doctoral granting institutions to community colleges to elementary schools. This descriptive case study examined the implementation of a TQM process at a College of Business in a large state university on the west coast. …

The Leadership Of A Superintendent: Putting The California School Reform Movement To Work, Jennifer L. Jeffries Edd

Dissertations

Public education has been engulfed in a dramatic and turbulent time. In California, the drive for improvement in public education was codified in Senate Bill 813, passed in 1983. Each school district wrestled with the intent and the mandates of this massive reform document. During the implementation stage of this legislation, the organizational climate in school districts was ripe for leaders and followers to engage each other in dialogue and debate about the direction and form the legislation would take. This dialogue and debate rendered policies in response to the legislative mandates. Senate Bill 813 provided opportunities to promote and …

Barriers To Community: The Development Of An Instrument To Assess Components Of Prejudice, Anita M. Rogers Edd

Dissertations

Contemporary theory and practice defines leadership as a collaborative effort, based in community, and purposefully guided by a mutual vision of freedom, justice and equality. Prejudice, as a preset of negative beliefs and behaviors toward a person or a group is a primary barrier to the transformational process of team-building and formation of community. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the effectiveness of training and educational interventions through further understanding of the origins and aspects of prejudice which act as barriers to community. The Retroductive Triangulation process served as a guiding methodology for the development of a …

A Model Part-Time Bachelor's Degree Program For Adults At California Public Research Institutions, Karen Jil Warn Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the opportunities available to adults for continuing their education part-time to complete a Bachelor's degree and to assess a California research institution's perception of part-time study. Adult student enrollments in postsecondary education have increased 114 percent between 1970 and 1985. Part-time student enrollments rose nearly 87 percent during the same time frame and part-time students now comprise approximately 42 percent of the enrollment in postsecondary education. California research institutions are typically still providing services for the traditional day-time student. There is a persistent resistance to change by faculty. Changing the way the …

The Influence Of Glasser's Control Theory And Reality Therapy On Educators: A Case Study, Debra Cullinane Edd

Dissertations

The influence of Glasser's control theory and reality therapy on educators' perceptions of change, relationships and self reflection has to date not been researched. The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the influence that control theory and reality therapy training had on educators in one school district. A case study method was chosen because of its descriptive and evaluative strength in educational settings, its qualitative character and its flexibility. All educators currently employed who had participated in one week of training or more were sent a fifteen item survey. From the group of 100 who received the …

African-American Males Perception Of Unsolicited Help: An Attributional Analysis Of Cooperative Vs. Individualistic Learning, Reginald Wade Williams

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Study Of Tutoring As An Alternate Adult Teaching Methodology Within A Business Environment, Roger M. Dore

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Love And Addiction: The Phenomenological Ontologies Of Kierkegaard And Sartre: An Existential Theory Of Addiction, Ross Channing Reed

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Prevalence Of Verbal And Nonverbal Learning Disability Subtypes And Concomitant Behavior Problems In Ld Children With And Without Physical Disability, Kate E. Zilla

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Personal Meaning In The Elderly: A Heideggerian Hermeneutical Phenomenological Study, Diane Heliker

Dissertations

No abstract provided.