Digital Commons Network^™

Islamism, State Control Over Religion And Social Identity: Turkey And Egypt, Alper Y. Dede

Dissertations

In post Cold War politics, as a powerful alternative to the authoritarian "status-quo" regimes of the Muslim World, Islamism has become among the most critical political issues as various Islamist movements increasingly challenge governments for more political reforms, democratization, and greater participation and in the political process.

The current debates on Islamism, though useful, often emphasize the issues of security, democracy, or stability. However, they seem to overlook the importance of processes and the mechanisms of Islamism as well as how Islamists' concerns for preserving their Islamic social identity (Muslimness) and government control over religion contribute to their politicization. Thus, …

Bilingual Education, Federalism, And The Political Culture Of American Public Education, 1964-1980, Robert Harold Duke

Dissertations

Five decades of English-only orthodoxy in American public schools came to an end with the passage of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 (BEA). This research investigates how the convergence of community activism, ethnic pride, and union clout shaped and reshaped bilingual education programming at thelocal level within the broader context of post-WWII American society. By comparing and contrasting the experiences of communities in Texas and Michigan with the newly enacted BEA, this study illuminates the changing political culture of school governance from the high-water mark of Johnson-era liberalism tothe surging tide of Reaganite conservatism. It asserts that the tradition …

Zeolite-Based Nanosized Ti02 Photocatalytic Paper For Antimicrobial Barrier And Toxin Passivation In Packaging: Design, Synthesis And Characterization, Seonghyuk Ko

Dissertations

This dissertation describes comprehensive studies, including design, preparation, characterization and evaluation, to develop an innovative zeolite-based nanosized TiO2photocatalytic paper for disinfection and disintegration of organic toxins.

A novel paper with high photocatalytic performance was successfully prepared using natural zeolite (clinoptilolite)-based nanosized TiO2 photocatalyst in a microparticle retention papermaking system. Photocatalytic material, from its sol-gel derived TiO2 colloids to its anchoring onto zeolite, has been designed, prepared and characterized. Prior to photocatalytic papermaking, the characteristics of sol-gel synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles from colloidal to nanopowder were investigated with various initial sizes of colloidal nanoparticles synthesized in the range of 2.5±0.1 nm and …

Evaluating Organizational Effectiveness, Wesley A. Martz

Dissertations

If organizations are to survive and achieve long-run viability, they must be effective. Yet organizational effectiveness evaluation has been limited by a variety of factors--especially the ambiguity surrounding the concept of organizational effectiveness itself. The long-established approaches used by organizational theorists to define organizational effectiveness have emphasized different perspectives with respect to the organization type and degrees of importance of the various constituency groups comprising the organization. Moreover, definitions of the organization and organizational effectiveness have focused primarily on the dissimilarities among organizations and their constituencies, conceding efforts to identify commonalities . This has led to increased fragmentation of the …

The Effects Of Defendant Race, Psychological Expert Witness Race, And Racially Salient Psychological Expert Testimony On Juror Decision Making, Lily Cheyanne (Manick) Munavu

Dissertations

The present study examined the effects of defendant race, psychological expert witness race, the racial salience of a psychological expert witness's testimony, and modern racism on juror decisions. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions that varied the race of the defendant (Black or White), the race of the psychological expert witness (Black or White), and the racial salience of the expert witness testimony (racially relevant or not racially relevant). Participants were asked to review the case documents of a criminal case in which the defendant was charged with battery and robbery. Participants rendered verdicts for both charges, …

Unwanted Sexual Experiences: Preliminary Development And Validation Of A Behavioral Analog Measure For Risk Perception, Response Appraisal, And Response, Robin M. Carter-Visscher

Dissertations

Based on research findings indicating that sexual victimization is a prevalent problem on college campuses and has significant consequences for victims, researchers have examined the effectiveness of sexual assault education programs on reducing incidents of sexual victimization and have found programs to be unsuccessful. Other researchers have begun to investigate behavioral factors associated with risk for sexual victimization in order to better understand mechanisms of sexual victimization and revictimization before developing and implementing interventions. One hypothesis that has received increased attention in recent years is that women with a sexual victimization history may have deficient risk perception and effective responding …

The Theory And Practice Of Drug Courts: Wolves In Sheep Clothing?, Kristen E. Devall

Dissertations

This dissertation is a case study of an adult drug court in a medium-size Midwestern city. The primary impetus behind the creation of the drug court model was the partial recognition that the "get tough" approach to crime and the "war on drugs" was ineffective in "solving the United States' drug problem. Drug courts represent an integration of a public-health approach and a public-safety strategy of fighting crime and administering "justice." The bulk of the extant research regarding drug courts addresses one central question: "Do drug courts work?" Researchers and evaluators alike have attempted to answer this question over the …

Social Work Field Instructors' Perceptions Of On-Line Training, Denise E. Dedman

Dissertations

Social work has recently identified the field placement as the signature pedagogy of the profession, yet little has been done to identify the best means of training field instructors to supervise students in their field placements. This study addressed attitudes and perceptions of social work field instructors regarding on-line training in their roles. While previous studies of university social work program field placement directors had been conducted, there exist no broad studies of the field instructors' perceptions. Some earlier qualitative studies of field instructors identified time constraints as a significant issue in their willingness to continue accepting interns. This, along …

Combined Cognitive Behavioral Treatment Plus Caregiver Sessions For Childhood Depression, Dikla Eckshtain

Dissertations

Childhood depression is intimately related to the family context and caregiver-child relations, but only a limited number of treatment outcome studies for depressed youth have formally included members of the family in the intervention. To address this discrepancy the present study evaluated the efficacy of adding caregiver sessions to individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for the treatment of depressed youth. The treatment included 16 individual sessions and 7 caregiver sessions administered in the child's school to promote accessibility. Fifteen children (10 females and 5 males ranging in age from 8-13), who met inclusion criteria based on self-report and interview measures …

Perceptions Of Quality Of Life Of Latinos With Diabetes Living In The U.S.: Variations By Geographic Region Of Origin, Janice M. Long

Dissertations

The Latino population, the largest ethnic minority in the United States, is a diverse group originating from numerous geographic regions of Latin America. Latinos vary in the risk for type 2 diabetes, a condition that exacts a costly burden on those who suffer with it. With the Latino population diversity, diverse strategies are needed. One strategy is to improve outcomes of life quality by improving knowledge of those who deliver health services to Latinos with type 2 diabetes. Through measurement of quality of life (QOL), the more precious aspects of living, how one feels about living with diabetes, can be …

Intergenerational Communication: Its Effect On Early Screening Activities In African-American Adult Daughters Of Mothers With Breast Cancer, Rita R. Callahan Phd, Ma, Bsn, Rn

Dissertations

Health communication at numerous levels is vital to sustainability of healthy individuals. The notion of African-American mothers and adult daughters sharing breast health and breast cancer knowledge openly and honestly could be the initial step in addressing the high morbidity and mortality that continues to affect this population. Communication is a variable that has yet to be studied between African-American mothers diagnosed with breast cancer and their adult daughters. This study first examined whether this relationship existed, and secondly if it was strong enough in supporting and encouraging one another towards consistent breast health and breast cancer screening activities. The …

Increasing Narrative Coherence In The Bereaved: The Effect Of Narrative Review On Grief Reaction, Stefanie Suzon Boswell

Dissertations

In order to investigate the utility of an experimental expressive writing intervention designed to increase narrative coherence (write about loss combined with review of previous narratives) as a potential bereavement intervention, it was compared to a standard expressive writing intervention (write about loss with no opportunity for review), and two trivial writing conditions (one with and one without opportunity for review). Although all writing groups experienced beneficial effects across time, participants in the experimental and standard conditions reported significantly greater personal growth as a function of time when compared to control participants.

Religious Orientation And Religious Coping In Adolescents With And Without A Chronic Illness, Jacqueline Beine Brown

Dissertations

Religion plays an important role in most people's lives and can greatly affect how individuals cope and interpret stressful situations. However, very little is known about how adolescents incorporate religion into their lives (e.g., is it central or peripheral to their lives, do they utilize religious coping). Furthermore, given the additional stressors experienced by adolescents who have a chronic illness, it is likely their religious orientations and religious coping strategies are different from their healthy peers. Thus, the present study was designed to examine the constructs in both typically developing and chronically ill adolescents. Additional constructs of hope, general coping, …

The Effect Of Writing As Exposure Therapy On Ptsd Symptoms, Daniel Scott Debrule

Dissertations

The majority of empirically supported treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder involve some form of exposure, which desensitizes an individual to traumarelated information. Theoretical work has suggested that the mechanism of exposure may explain the tendency for writing to lessen symptoms, and empirical evidence of writing and PTSD symptoms suggests that modifying the writing paradigm may result in better symptom relief. The present investigation aimed to compare the efficacy of an exposurebased writing intervention to the standard writing paradigm. A total of 68 undergraduates that were screened for PTSD symptoms were randomly assigned to write about their most severe trauma for …

Perceived Attitude Towards Feedback In Athletic Training Clinical Education, Jessica Lynn Emlich

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to measure and compare the perceived mean attitudinal score towards clinical instructor feedback, of Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) accredited athletic training education programs (ATEP) program directors/clinical coordinators and affiliated clinical instructors. Additionally, the investigator was interested to see if relationships between attitudes towards feedback and the respondent's age, sex, employment setting and years of professional experience existed.

There were a total of one hundred and fifty eight participants in this study that comprised the two groups. Program directors and clinical coordinators (PD/CC) comprised 59 of the responses and 99 were …

Health Anxiety And Cognition: Chronic Awareness Of Health Concerns Or Situational Activation Of Latent Dysfunctional Assumptions About Illness?, Desmon Craig Mitchell

Dissertations

Rationale: This study investigated if health anxious individuals have chronically aroused illness-related concerns or if these concerns remain latent, only to be activated when first primed by illness-related stimuli. To test these alternatives this study examined whether participants, with varying levels of health anxiety, differed as to their (a) performance on an emotional Stroop task that included health-related words, (b) memory tasks (free recall and recognition tasks), and (c) the participants' dream content, after either being exposed, or not exposed, to an illness-related trigger. Hypotheses: If illness concerns are chronically activated in health anxious individuals, then participants will perform worse …

Identification Of Two Distinct Glutaminyl Cyclase Isoforms In Drosophila Melanogaster, Amanda Thigpen Parker

Dissertations

Sequence analyses revealed two putative glutaminyl cyclase genes in Drosophila melanogaster with greater than 60% amino acid sequence identity to previously identified glutaminyl cyclase in humans. Expression, purification, and characterization of both putative proteins revealed two enzymatically active glutaminyl cyclase enzymes. Comparison of the Drosophila melanogaster glutaminyl cyclase enzymes to the published human glutaminyl cyclase revealed the enzymes were very similar. The Km values obtained were identical to those of human glutaminyl cyclase for three different substrates tested. However, the Drosophila glutaminyl cyclases demonstrated lower turnover numbers. Both Drosophila glutaminyl cyclase isoforms were inhibited by imidazole, imidazole derivatives, and metal …

Roots Of Ancient Wisdom For Contemporary Education, Patricia Ottow Keen Edd

Dissertations

Scholars have long contended that the main purpose of education is to guide youth towards more authentic, fruitful ways of being in the world; this ancient wisdom continues to challenge educators to serve as effective role models (e.g., Aristotle, 1963; 1985; Maslow, 1993; Palmer, 1998). Yet, until now, teachers' levels of self-actualization have not been investigated with valid and reliable instruments. This quantitative study used two psychometrically sound, closed-ended surveys to investigate the extent to which teachers consider themselves self-actualized and mindful; it measured the direction and strength of the correlation between their self-actualization and mindfulness scores; and, investigated the …

Using Virtual Reality Enhanced Behavioral Skills Training To Teach Street-Crossing Skills To Children And Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Tina R. Goldsmith

Dissertations

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) often have poor safety skills due to their insensitivity to subtle environmental cues and poor problem solving in the face of stressful tasks. These skill deficits threaten their physical well-being and limit their personal independence. An effective intervention model for teaching safety skills is behavioral skills training (BST). The effects of this 4-part intervention, which includes Instructions, Modeling, Rehearsal, and Feedback, improve with the addition of in situ training. However, creating realistic, safe, and logistically feasible contexts for rehearsal of skills may prove difficult, if not impossible. Virtual reality (VR) may present a solution. …

Remote Sensing Studies For The Assessment Of Geohazards: Toxic Algal Blooms In The Lower Great Lakes, And The Land Subsidence In The Nile Delta, Richard H. Becker

Dissertations

Remote sensing techniques provide valuable tools for assessing a wide variety of environmental phenomena. They have been used for monitoring and assessment of various types of geologic and environmental hazards occurring on land, in the air, or in oceans. I present results from two studies, the first of which examines the spatial and temporal distribution of algal blooms in the Great Lakes; the second measures subsidence in the Nile Delta.

In the first study, methodologies to investigate the extent and distribution (temporally and spatially) of algal blooms in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are studied. Millions of people in the …

The Use Of Personality Assessments In Designing Environmental Enrichment For Garnett's Bushbabies (Otolemur Garnettii), Lauren Elizabeth Highfill

Dissertations

Recently the study of animal personality has become an important and credible topic of research and a number of studies have revealed personality traits in a variety of species. The consideration of individual animal personality traits is important for animal management and welfare. For example, ensuring inter-individual compatibility in group housing animals may serve to ensure the safety of the whole group. To date, no formal research has been conducted on whether the assessment of individual personality traits could be used as a tool for individualizing environmental enrichment interventions. The goal of environmental enrichment is to increase the rate of …

Physical Education Content Knowledge And Physical Activity Behaviors Of Mississippi High School Students, Christina Leigh Lumpkin Martin

Dissertations

The present study investigated physical education content knowledge, physical activity behaviors, and body mass indexes of 386 Mississippi ninth (n=236 ) and twelfth (n=150) grade students with a goal of establishing evidence-based needs to modify physical education curricula. Results of this study suggested that a significant, direct relationship did exist in the Assessment of Sub-disciplinary Knowledge in Physical Education: Exercise Physiology (ASK PE: EXP);(Ayers, 2004) scores and scores from the Modifiable Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (M4<2^4);(Aaron & Kriska, 1997) for both ninth and twelfth grade students. Findings also suggested that physical education content knowledge (exercise physiology) is more likely to contribute to twelfth grade reported physical activity scores than ninth grade reported physical activity scores. However, ninth graders were more active than twelfth graders. This is possibly explained by the small difference (5%) in ASK PE: EXP scores between ninth (M ASK PE: EXP score = 52%, SD=.22) and twelfth graders (M ASKPE: EXP score = 57%, SD = .21). As a whole, results indicated that Mississippi ninth and twelfth grade students' average ASKPE: EXP score was lower (M = 53%, SD = .22) than students in 16 other states (M = 62%, SD = 7.65). Further, majority of Mississippi high school students are performing significantly below the established, research-based cutoff score of 62% (observed N below 62% = 236 and observed N above 62% = 150). This is notable, because findings also suggested that students who scored higher (M knowledge = 76%, SD = .08);(M activity = 8.6 hours/week, SD = 9.7) or above 62% on the ASK PE: EXP were more likely to be active during a weekly basis compared to those who scored lower (M knowledge = 39%, SD = .14);(M activity = 5.8 hours/week, SD = 9.8) or below a 62% on the ASK PE: EXP. With this noted, it was recommended that Mississippi high schools evaluate the current physical education programs, and strive to implement curricula that can provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to make lifelong healthy decisions.

Knowledge-Based Analysis Of Genomic Expression Data By Using Different Machine Learning Algorithms For The Purpose Of Diagnostic, Prognostic Or Therapeutic Application, Venkata Jagan Mohan Thodima

Dissertations

With more and more biological information generated, the most pressing task of bioinformatics has become to analyze and interpret various types of data, including nucleotide and amino acid sequences, protein structures, gene expression profiling and so on. In this dissertation, we apply the data mining techniques of feature generation, feature selection, and feature integration with learning algorithms to tackle the problems of disease phenotype classification, clinical outcome and patient survival prediction from gene expression profiles.

We analyzed the effect of batch noise in microarray data on the performance of classification. Batchmatch, a batch adjusting algorithm based on double scaling method …

The Role Of Perceived Social Support And Cognitive Processing In Reports Of Personal Growth Following Bereavement, Sean M. Engelkemeyer

Dissertations

The current study tests models of personal growth in bereaved individuals (Hogan & Schmidt, 2002; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004) by examining the relationships between types of social support and growth following bereavement, as well as by assessing whether deliberate/reflective or automatic/intrusive cognitive processing of the loss mediates the relationship between social support and growth in sample of bereaved adults. A sample of 114 participants who had experienced the death of an immediate family member (spouse, child, parent, or sibling) within the past three years completed a series of self-report measures received by mail. Hypotheses that perceived emotional and advice/ guidance …

Does Institutional Capacity Matter? A Case Study Of The Zambian Forestry Department., Rosemary Fumpa Makano

Dissertations

Understanding why some organizations are more effective in their service delivery than others is a central discourse in both public administration and political organization. Scholars and practitioners all agree that the defining factor is institutional (state) capacity. Since the mid-1980s, deforestation in Zambia has been on the rise, especially in Protected Forest Areas, suggesting poor management by the Forestry Department, an institution mandated to manage these public lands. Ironically, despite the strategic position that forests hold in sustaining both the daily subsistence needs of over 90% of the Zambian population as well as the as the numerous industries that depend …

Sex Offender Assessment: Clinical Utility And Predictive Validity, Kristopher Lueron Clounch

Dissertations

The research addressing sex offender assessment and treatment is an ever-evolving science. However, very little research has addressed psychological typologies associated with various types of sex offenders and treatment engagement. The current study examined assessment data of four sex offender groups, defined by victim type, to determine if a typological difference exists between groups of (N = 583) rapists (n = 129), statutory offenders (n = 140), intrafamilial/ incest perpetrators (n = 152), and extrafamilial (n = 162). Secondly, the study determined if a specific battery of psychological measures can predict treatment completion (n = 377). We also hypothesized there …

Relation Of Family Functioning To Treatment Outcomes In Day And Residential Programs: A Clinical Study With Emotionally Disturbed Adolescents, Utpala Shanker

Dissertations

Residential and day facilities are important providers of treatment for seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents. The primary difference between the two types of treatment programs is that adolescents attending day treatment reside with their families while those in residential programs live at the treatment facility. Very few studies have addressed the relation of family functioning to treatment outcomes for adolescents. Furthermore, extant research has not investigated whether the relation of family functioning to treatment outcomes is different for adolescents in residential and day programs, This study proposed that adolescents from severely dysfunctional families at admission would have better outcomes in their …

The Stress Process Model And In-Home Respite For Caregivers Of Cognitively And Physically Impaired Older Adults, Lauren Clair Mensie

Dissertations

Common problems in the family caregiving respite outcome literature include little attention to in-home respite, lack of theoretical grounding, and low rates of respite utilization. This dissertation study utilized the predominant model of family caregiving stress, the Stress Process Model (Aneshensel et al., 1995; Pearlin et al., 1990), to (1) investigate the variables through which in-home respite impacts caregivers and to (2) investigate the factors that predict utilization of respite services. Participants (N = 74) were family caregivers receiving federally subsidized in-home respite. Results indicate that both prior hours of in-home respite services and respite time devoted to non-care related …

Towards Development Of A Fully Synthetic Conjugate Vaccine: Investigation Of Structural Analogs Of Streptococcus Pneumoniae Serogroup 6, Archana R. Parameswar

Dissertations

Involvement of complex glycostructures in a variety of damaging and healing processes has already been acknowledged by development of carbohydrate-based vaccines and therapeutics. The bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae (SPn) have become one of the most frequent causes of pneumonia, bacteremia, and meningitis in the elderly, immunocompromised, and, especially, in young children. SPn has one of the largest public health and economic impacts amongst all bacterial infectious diseases. Over 2 million children die annually worldwide due to pneumonia, accounting for almost 20% of deaths under age five with more than half of these deaths attributed to SPn. Amongst over ninety elucidated SPn …

Synthesis Of Α-Hydroxy And Fluoro Phosphonates And Cyclic Ether-Containing Natural Products, Nongnuch Sutivisedsak

Dissertations

A number of important classes of natural product (eg. amphidinolide C, (-)-centrolobine, etc) contain common structural features of tetrahydrofurans and tetrahydropyrans. This study involved the development of stereoselective mothods for the synthesis of tetrahydrofurans and tetrahydropyrans including the application of allylic hydroxy phosphonates and their derivatives as chiral, non racemic building blocks for the synthesis of biological active molecules. The enantiomeric excess of non racemic α-hydroxy phosphonates and carbonate derivatives prepared via the asymmetric Pudovik reaction can be improved by kinetic resolution. Both chemical and enzyme catalysts were utilized in the kinetic resolution of phosphonates. Enantioselective acylation of a variety …