Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Focus Group Venue: A Comparative Study Of Face-To-Face, Telephone, And Internet Video-Based Venues, June E. Gothberg

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the equivalence or non-inferiority for comparisons of telephone focus group venue to face-to-face focus group venue, Internet video-based focus group venue to face-to-face focus group venue, and Internet video based focus group venue to telephone focus group venue. Research questions examined the equivalence and non-inferiority of five variables reported in the literature as fundamental reasons a researcher would choose focus groups as a data collection tool. The five variables were: participant interactions, breadth of conversation, depth of conversation, disclosure of sensitive information, and adherence to the topic. Variables were measured using content …

Structural Analysis And Auditing Of Snomed Hierarchies Using Abstraction Networks, Yue Wang

Dissertations

SNOMED is one of the leading healthcare terminologies being used worldwide. Due to its sheer volume and continuing expansion, it is inevitable that errors will make their way into SNOMED. Thus, quality assurance is an important part of its maintenance cycle.

A structural approach is presented in this dissertation, aiming at developing automated techniques that can aid auditors in the discovery of terminology errors more effectively and efficiently. Large SNOMED hierarchies are partitioned, based primarily on their relationships patterns, into concept groups of more manageable sizes. Three related abstraction networks with respect to a SNOMED hierarchy, namely the area taxonomy …

Advanced Intelligent Control And Optimization For Cardiac Pacemaker Systems, Wei Shi

Dissertations

Since cardiovascular diseases are major causes of morbidity and mortality in the developed countries and the number one cause of death in the United States, their accurate diagnosis and effective treatment via advanced cardiac pacemaker systems have become very important. Intelligent control and optimization of the pacemakers are significant research subjects. Serious but infrequently occurring arrhythmias are difficult to diagnose. The use of electrocardiogram (ECG) waveform only cannot exactly distinguish between deadly abnormalities and temporary arrhythmias. Thus, this work develops a new method based on frequency entrainment to analyze pole-zero characteristics of the phase error between abnormal ECG and entrained …

Impression Rating Via Speed-Dating: How A Single Communication Event Can Alter Perceptions Of Another Individual, Andrew Clayton Dix

Dissertations

The central purpose of this experiment is to scientifically test whether interpersonal communication influences individual perceptions in a dating environment. This study uses interaction appearance theory (IAT) as an empirical foundation for understanding the relationship between communicative outcomes and personal opinions. According to IAT, cognitive impressions of aesthetic appearance are highly fluid and vulnerable to the results of multiple social interactions (Albada, Knapp, & Theune, 2002). While most empirical investigations have provided additional support for this theory, no studies have tested whether IAT applies to various other social constructs. As such, this investigation was designed to address this gap in …

Attitudes Of Taiwanese Employees Toward Their Support Co-Workers With Intellectual Disabilities, Tsu-Hsuan Hsu

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Institutional Climates In Higher Education In The United States And South Africa, Juanyce Deanna Taylor

Dissertations

Increasing opportunities and access of historically underrepresented populations to higher education in both the United States and South Africa have proved challenging due to institutional climates that are perceived as unwelcoming and unsupportive. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors relating to institutional climates to uncover social constructs that positively and negatively impact the institutional environment. Transformational leadership serves as the theoretical framework for this study.

Data results from institutional climate studies administered higher education institutions in the United States and South Africa were analyzed and compared. Collegiality and collaboration; communication; diversity and equity; governance and strategy; harassment …

Breast Health And Mammography Screening In Older Women, Martha A. Ibarra Phd, Msn, Anp, Rn

Dissertations

Age-related health disparities in breast cancer screening are a public health concern. From 2002 to 2006, the median age for newly diagnosed cases of breast cancer was 61 years and the median age for breast cancer mortality was 68 years of age (Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results [SEER], 2009). Mammography is the best available screening tool for breast cancer detection (Susan G. Komen Foundation, 2008). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, 2006) reported that only about half of older women who are eligible for mammograms through Medicare obtain a mammogram every two years. The literature identifies psychosocial barriers, …

Investigating The Impact Of A Mentor Text Inquiry Approach To Narrative Writing Instruction On Attitude, Self-Efficacy, And Writing Processes Of Fourth Grade Students In An Urban Elementary School, Christine Marie Kealoha Kane Edd

Dissertations

Writing in its many forms, is the signature means of communication in the 21st century. Writing is also arguably the most complex and difficult challenge facing all students in school. The purpose of this study was to monitor the narrative writing performance of urban students who received explicit writing instruction using a mentor text inquiry approach. A mentor text is a published piece of writing whose ideas, structure,or written craft can be used to inspire a student to write something original. It is a piece of quality literature text that students can use as an exemplar text to model their …

A Critical Enquiry Into The Relationship Of Literature In American Public Education And Michel Foucault's Governmentality, Lucille Ann Van Alstine

Dissertations

The purpose of this Critical Enquiry was to describe how literature taught in American public school can be viewed as an instrument of governmentality. The late popular Twentieth century philosopher/historian Michel Foucault viewed governmentality as a perspective of rule within a society, or more accurately, the pervasive thought attached to power of the given ruling structure of a particular historical time period. Foucault’s governmentality provided a framework in which to examine the relationship between citizens' voice as a collective "We, the People" or as "I, the individual." These balancing voices appear in literature taught in American education and parallel the …

Giving Students The Reins: Taking Advantage Of Service-Learning's Potential As A Pedagogy For Teaching Writing, Tereza Joy Kramer

Dissertations

Service-learning helps students experience the practical applications of learning to write well; it also offers opportunities for students to develop a sense of civic responsibility. Although service-learning is growing in popularity, this pedagogy is not prevalent in English departments. Additionally, service-learning courses across all disciplines typically do not empower students to make their own project decisions. Given these tendencies, it is useful to consider whether service-learning is an effective pedagogy for writing, whether students should be designing their own projects, and what writing instructors could do to facilitate students' growth as writers while completing projects in the community. This is …

Pedagogical And Cultural Phenomena Of On-Demand Writing Instruction, Deborah L. Bell

Dissertations

In 1985, 66 school districts filed a suit against the Kentucky Department of Education accusing the system of inequitable spending practices. In 1990, the Supreme Court declared the entire educational program unconstitutional, resulting in the Kentucky Education Reform Act or KERA. This new reform movement brought a plethora of changes to school districts across the state including its mode of assessment. KERA introduced new avenues of measuring student progress using writing as the main vehicle to assess content and communication skills. Unfortunately, the majority of Kentucky's high schools showed little improvement in this tested area with only 34% of high …

You Can Breastfeed But . . . : A Rhetorical Analysis Of Images And Commentary On Breastfeeding, Jonna Ziniel

Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of breastfeeding images and the commentary about those images, from a rhetorical perspective. Specifically, I use a feminist lens in order to analyze images of breastfeeding in both magazine and online environments, as well as online commentary about the images. I examine both celebrity and non-celebrity images of breastfeeding from popular pregnancy and parenting magazines, non-traditional parenting magazines, company web sites, and online articles and blog sites. Chapter one presents a statement of purpose, research questions, and an examination of the current literature pertinent to the study including sections on breastfeeding benefits, the sexualized woman's …

K-1 Teachers’ Visual Arts Beliefs And Their Role In The Early Childhood Classroom, Blythe Annette Goodman-Schanz

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the visual arts beliefs and practices of eight K-1 teachers in four schools and in two different school districts in a southern state. Using a phenomenological framework (Creswell, 2007; Leedy & Ormrod, 2005), the research revealed the teachers’ understandings of beliefs and how they applied them to their early childhood classrooms. Data were collected consisting of formal and informal interviews with the eight teachers. Interview data were analyzed using triangulation in phenomenological reflection suggested by van Manen (1990). The analysis yielded three major themes and three sub-themes. The first …

Using The Learners-As-Ethnographers Approach To Enhance Intercultural Learning Among American College Students Learning Chinese As A Foreign Language, Minhui M. Lu

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

"Robert Frost Blues”, Gregory Arthur Weiss

Dissertations

Robert Frost Blues collectively argues, stylistically and thematically, that apprehending the world is difficult. If one is able to know the world to some degree, the efficacy of that knowledge will be significantly affected by whether other people agree that that apprehension of the world is correct. But beyond that, Robert Frost Blues, with its casual sestinas and villanelles, colloquial language, found language, prose poems, dialogues, and iambic narratives, implicitly argues that the most important aspect of knowing the world is not the form that knowledge fits into or the literary devices it employs. Instead apprehending the world requires both …

A Holy Curiosity: Transformative Self-Directed Learning To Breakthrough New Knowledge In The Case Of Einstein, Deanna Lynn Vogt

Dissertations

The case of Einstein’s discovery of the relativity theory, explored with grounded theory methodology, illustrates a type of self-directed learning characterized by personal and non-personal, or technical, transformative learning, the result of which is iconic original, breakthrough learning. This dissertation explores three aspects of adult learning which are novel in adult education.

First, this study of breakthrough process, for which there is only one apparent precedent in adult education, considers how an individual goes about a self-directed learning project that revolutionizes a field. In this regard, the concept of original learning, as opposed to transmitted learning, presents itself as a …

Tripping With Stephen Gaskin: An Exploration Of A Hippy Adult Educator, Gabriel Patrick Morley

Dissertations

For the last 40 years, Stephen Gaskin has been an adult educator on the fringe, working with tens of thousands of adults in the counterculture movement in pursuit of social change regarding marijuana legalization, women’s rights, environmental justice issues and beyond. Gaskin has written 11 books about his experiences teaching and learning with adults outside the mainstream, yet, he is virtually unknown in the field of adult education. He lists his religion as hippy; he is a member of the Counterculture Hall of Fame (inducted 2004), a convicted felon, a United States Marine, a Korean War combat veteran, and a …

A Pedagogical Guide And Argument For Using The Harmonic Series In Teaching Beginning And Intermediate Level Horn Students, Patrick James Richards

Dissertations

An awareness of the harmonic series and its attributes is a crucial part of learning how to play the horn well, not to mention how the instrument works. Numerous undergraduates enter their career as music majors without understanding this important concept. This implies that students are not learning the harmonic series earlier in their development. Horn method books that instruct the student to use one harmonic series at a time often do not explicitly define the harmonic series, or the exercises are too difficult for developing horn students. Collecting existing and developing original exercises and other teaching tools will provide …

An Analysis And An Historical Contextualization Of Frank Ticheli’S “Cajun Folk Songs”, Jody Anthony Besse

Dissertations

This document was constructed using a qualitative research approach to discuss and illuminate the various compositional techniques used by Frank Ticheli in his composition Cajun Folk Songs. The content will include a biographical background of Mr. Ticheli, documentation related to the Cajun Culture and Cajun Music, an analysis of Ticheli’s composition Cajun Folk Songs, and valuable information related to the rehearsal and performance of this work. The intent of the study is to shed light on the relevant aspects pertinent to the musical interpretation of the selected work for the conductor, the performer, and the listener.

What’S In A Test? Constructions Of Literacy And Its Implications For English Proficiency Test Design, Josye Marie Brookter

Dissertations

Although college-level composition pedagogy is becoming more open to language diversity, some crucial current-traditional vestiges remain, particularly in proficiency exams. Too often these exams only identify students who are slipping through the cracks of literacy instruction, while the definition of English represented by this test limits alternate notions of writing and literacy. The test represents local, institutional values about written English, although those values must also be consistent with national standards. Typically, administrators, teachers, and students feel compelled to choose traditional forms of writing over postmodern ones, a choice that is seldom discussed in the literature. Conflicting perspectives of English …

Ideological “Smackdown”: A Textual Analysis Of Class, Race And Gender In Wwe Televised Professional Wrestling, Casey Brandon Hart

Dissertations

The focus of this study is an in-depth intertextual examination of how the WWE in 2010 and by extension contemporary professional wrestling in general represents a microcosm of modern cultural ideology. The study examines three major areas in which this occurs. The first of these areas is that of class values. This section focuses on the establishment and extension middle-American values, defined as those values generally shared by the middle-class of the United States. The second section of this study focuses on how the WWE uses racial commodification in the treatment of people of color. Using concepts of Marxist power …

Asking Latino Students: Strategies To Improve Dual Credit High School – Community College Bridge Programs, Ana L. King

Dissertations

This study explores and identifies factors that contribute to Latino students’ enrollment and persistence in the first two years of a 2+2+2 program (high school – community college – university). As community college leaders attempt to reach the fastest growing, youngest minority group in the United States (Passel, Cohn, & Lopez, 2011), questions emerge on how to create and implement an effective high school to college bridge program. The research focused on discovering insights and gaining understanding from the perspectives of Latino students participating in the high school years of a 2+2+2 bridge program. This qualitative inquiry situated in the …

An Examination Of The Perception Of Special Education Teachers In The Mississippi Delta Toward Their Transition Competencies, Vickie Elaine Curry

Dissertations

Transition from high school to post-school activities is recognized as a serious challenge for students with disabilities (Shandra & Hogan, 2008; Wehman, 2006). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (2006) outlines the development of the IEP and transition plan as an essential task. However, the preponderance of secondary special educators lacks self-assurance in the ability to address students’ transition desires (Prater, Sileo, & Black, 2000). Little is known about how special education teachers proffer transition services to students with disabilities and the scope to which teachers are equipped and pleased with the services they provide. This quantitative descriptive study …

A Model Of An Effective Approach To Studio Voice At The Undergraduate Level: The Vocal Method Of Dr. Raquel Cortina, Kathleen Gorman Westfall

Dissertations

In her forty years of teaching voice at the college level at the University of New Orleans, Dr. Raquel Cortina has developed a method and process of teaching that yields exemplary results in her students. This study will provide a detailed description of her methods, her process of teaching, and the way she communicates information to her students. It will also provide a model for teachers of classical voice at the undergraduate level. The aspects of her method included in this study are limited to breath and support, resonance, issues with register, articulation, and musicality. A context of Cortina’s methods …

The Effect Of The Parent Liaison On Latino Student High School Completion And Parent Involvement, Jeanne Thompson Walker

Dissertations

The graduation rate for Latinos in the United States has consistently lagged behind the high school completion rate of White and Asian students in the United States. Efforts to bring equity to schools and improve high school success among Latinos have been inconsistent even after the implementation of No Child Left Behind Legislation. The use of a Spanish speaking parent liaison is gaining momentum as an intervention strategy in elementary schools, often funded by Title 1 grants to schools with large populations of socio-economically disadvantaged students. The Parent Liaison position is also being utilized in some high schools to encourage …

Teacher Perception Of Their Initial Traditional Or Alternitive Teacher Training Program, Daphne Yolanda Lowe

Dissertations

This study was conducted to identify if there was a need for reform within initial traditional teacher and/or alternative route teacher training programs. The purpose of this study was to gather data about teachers’ perceptions of their initial teacher training program (traditional undergraduate or alternative route) as adequate training to prepare them to complete their actual teacher job tasks. The study compared the perceptions of teachers with varying years of teaching experience (one to two, three to four, and more than five) to identify if there was a difference and/or how years of teaching experience impacted teachers’ perceptions of their …

Determinants Of Tax Effort: A Cross Country Analysis, Mark Alan Mccoon

Dissertations

This paper analyzes the determinants of tax effort. Tax effort is defined as the aggregate tax level of a country divided by its Gross Domestic Product. A country‘s tax effort is an expression of the tax burden the government imposes on the economy. One of the most fundamental issues confronting a society is the size of the governmental sector. How large should the government be relative to the size of the economy? The nations of the world have crafted many different answers to that question as evidenced by the fact that tax effort and the size of government sectors varies …

The Relationship Between School Leadership And Graduation Coach Interventions In Rural And Urban Settings, Christopher Nicholas Amos

Dissertations

The primary purpose for the Graduation Coach intervention is to increase the graduation rate and help schools produce a student that can be a productive citizen. The increasing dropout rate in the United States of America, coupled with the recent addition of some legislation, has forced schools and districts to implement programs to combat this deficiency. The economic and social impacts that dropouts have on society are vast and can be devastating for some communities. The setting in which a school resides and the leadership style of the school principal are factors that could have a significant impact on the …

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence And Leadership Effectiveness Among Sponsored Research Administrators, Ventez Derrell Jones

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of emotional intelligence, as perceived by senior level university sponsored research administration professionals and their perceived leadership effectiveness, as measured by the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory and the Kouzes and Posner Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) for Self. Senior research administrators are now more than ever being faced with profusely, increasingly, difficult issues within the scope of their daily work processes.

The relevant review of literature focused on four key areas: theoretical rationale for examining emotional intelligence, the link between emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness, effective leadership practices within education, and …

Evaluating The Pragmatic Analytical Reading Level Instruction Framework: A Mixed Methods Research And Development Case Study, Katherine Elizabeth Bradarich

Dissertations

In light of the escalating literacy demands of the 21st Century workplace, and the reality the adolescent literacy rates remain stagnant despite considerable focus on them, there appears to be a need for translation of the role that reading comprehension plays in the growth of literacy of adolescent learners. A framework that recognizes the inherent complexities of reading at the secondary school level and provides a systematic and targeted means for flexible instruction to remediate the reading comprehension deficits of a diverse population of struggling adolescent readers was developed. The Pragmatic Analytical Reading Level Instruction (PARLI) framework integrates the essential …