Digital Commons Network^™

Inter-Institutional Comparison Of Faculty Perceptions On The Purpose Of Freshman Year Composition Programs, Rosemarie N. Branciforte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is an investigation of instructors‟ perceptions of composition learning objectives focusing on which should be taught and which should be emphasized. The researcher observed that instructors do not regard all course objectives in English Composition courses equally; emphasizing some and giving others brief consideration. From this observation, this study was developed to measure objectives as well as to examine principal reasons for the differences in perception. Using an 18-question (16 content area and two demographic) survey based on content areas chosen to mirror general learning objectives in composition courses, along with six focused interviews, the …

Cultural Differences In Forgiveness Fatalism, Trust Violations, And Trust Repair Efforts In Interpersonal Collaboration, Jessica L. Wildman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mistakes and betrayals can cause developing interpersonal trust between parties to be broken, and damaged trust can have serious negative impacts on relationships, such as withdrawal from group interaction or the enactment of revenge. Research has suggested that the use of apologies helps to repair damaged trust. However, this research is almost exclusively based in westernized populations and has not begun to explore any cross-cultural differences. Therefore, the primary goal of this comparative cross-national laboratory study was to examine if, and how, the effectiveness of trust repair efforts differs across cultures. The effectiveness of three manipulated trust repair strategies (no …

Messianic Light : Utopian Discourse In The Work Of Theodor W. Adorno, Luce Irigaray And Giorgio Agamben., Heather Anne Thiessen 1956-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

What is the idea that "utopia" names? How can discourse represent that idea? Setting aside temporarily deeper problems with the idea of representation, and focusing on how a complex philosophical discourse might approach the problem of conveying or representing a large, only fairly precise, and important idea is the question of this dissertation. It ultimately answers that question obliquely, by focusing on the way the utopian discourse present in the work of three late 20th century philosophers, Theodor W. Adorno, Luce Irigaray, and Giorgio Agamben, addresses a subject position that can be named a "subject of possibility." How this subject …

The Content And Critical Metaphor Analysis Of Illustrated Print Advertisements In China., Chun Jiang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation takes Chinese advertisements as the research subjects to see in what way a quantifiable large number of advertisements with its metaphorical nature and instrumental mission can reflect social cultural change, in specifics, ideology and identity change of China in the last thirty years by combining four methods of research: content analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, Conceptual Metaphor Analysis and Pictorial Metaphor Analysis. The dissertation goes through the sign or ad interpretation process of linguistic, semiotic and critical analysis of 300 sample illustrated print advertisements collected from popular and award-winning illustrated print advertisements in Chinese media in the three periods …

Cigarette Smoke, Dna Damage And Repair In Human Cervical And Vaginal Cells In Vitro And Ex Vivo., Afsoon Moktar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Among gynecological malignancies, carcinoma of the cervix is the leading cancer type worldwide. Conversely, vaginal tumors account for an incidence of approximately 1-2% of lower genital tract malignancies. Interestingly, the major shared risk factor among women with cervical and vaginal tumors is infection with cancer-associated human papillomaviruses (HPVs). In fact, HPV infection is the necessary causative factor in the development and progression of cervical and vaginal neoplasia in the majority of cases. Epidemiological studies support that cervical and vaginal pre-cancerous lesions that are initiated by HPV infection generally regress in the absence of known risk factors such as cigarette smoking. …

Seeking A Spiritual Home For Women : A Comparative Study Of Chen Ran's And Amy Tan's Fictions., Jing He 1979-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With increasing cross-cultural infiltrations and accelerated interflows among people of all nationalities in this globalized world, the focus of comparative literature has experienced a shift from traditional Eurocentric cannons to a broader space incorporating literary works from marginalized cultures in its exploration of both particularities and commonalities. This dissertation aims to address the loss and reconstruction of women's self-identities as reflected in the fictions of contemporary Chinese woman writer Chen Ran and Chinese American woman writer Amy Tan. Drawing ideas from identity theories and postmodern feminist theories, the author compares the major motifs, rhetorical devices and writing strategies of the …

Filmmaker, Lawyer, Indian Chief: The Negotiation Of Identity In An Indigenous Film Festival, William Lempert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since colonial contact, indigenous peoples have been predominantly represented by community outsiders. As a result, native peoples have rarely had a primary, or even collaborative role, in the production of these representations. However, in the last two decades, there has been an unprecedented proliferation of indigenous created films and the festivals that feature them. The Denver Indigenous Arts and Film Festival is an annual festival that exclusively showcases films made by and with indigenous peoples. The festival’s 2009 theme of “Telling Our Stories” emphasized cultural control of representation and the transmission of traditional knowledge.

In this thesis, I show that …

Arsenic In Drinking Water Causes Gene Expression Changes In The Liver Related To Inflammation And Metabolic Dysfunction And Accelerates Atherosclerosis In Apoe-/-Mice, Matthew R. Zajack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Arsenic exposure in drinking-water is a significant worldwide health problem. It causes adverse human health effects, such as cancer, increases the risks for others such as cardiovascular disease, and accelerates atherosclerosis. In this study, we analyze arsenic-induced gene expression changes in the liver of ApoE-knockout mice given 49 ppm arsenic in drinking-water. We hypothesize chronic arsenic exposure accelerates atherosclerosis by disrupting liver homeostasis, causing aberrant gene expression changes. Networks revealed hubs on 3 stress-response MAP kinase pathways, ERK, JNK, and p38. Pathways revealed mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative phosphorylation enrichment from the gene set. Transcription factor binding site analysis revealed specific …

Development Of A Men's Depression Inventory, Andrew Fields

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper details the development of a scale to more accurately assess depression in men. It first summarizes the literature on depression, depression assessment, and current research on men and masculinity. It is argued that current conceptualizations of both depression and masculinity influence prevalence studies, which consistently find that men experience depression half as often as women. It is argued that an assessment measure that accounts for masculine variants of depression (substance use, anger, withdrawal, and emotional restriction) may identify more frequent depression in men than previously expected. Next, the paper details the development of a men's depression scale using …

Mercy Mercy Me (The Media Ecology): Technology, Agency, And "Cleavage" Of The Musical Text, Arthur J. Bamford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores changes that occurred in popular music during the 1960s and early 1970s through case studies involving three significant albums released in 1971 and 1972: Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On, and Stevie Wonder's Talking Book. These albums deserve attention particularly because, as this thesis argues, existing research on the cultural significance of popular music has focused largely on the periods before or after the 1970s and research on music-making technologies has focused largely on white artists or groups from the late 1960s. Addressing this blind …

"Still I Rise!" Public Discourse Surrounding The Development Of Public Schools For African Americans In Louisville, Kentucky, 1862--1872., Michelle Bachelor Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I conducted my dissertation research in the national, state, and local archives. Using Deborah Brandt's "Sponsors of Literacy" as a conceptual framework and Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework, I offer Louisville, Kentucky as a historical case study for how an established and empowered community of free blacks can serve as a catalyst to bring about social and political change through the acquisition of literacy. This dissertation is divided into four chapters. Chapter One explains the scholarly context of my dissertation. I argue that post-emancipation African Americans had a sense of urgency for the acquisition of literacy, and that …

Difference As Identity In "The Other Story" And The 1993 Whitney Biennial., Vanessa Faye Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores issues of identity and difference in art and its institutions through a historiographic study of two landmark exhibitions, "The Other Story: Afro-Asian Artists in Post-War Britain" (1989) and the 1993 Whitney Biennial. These exhibits intended to bring recognition to a marginalized group of artists, but were largely seen in critical literature to have perpetuated the binary distinctions and terms of difference that originated and maintained that marginalization. In order to fully understand the historical significance of these two exhibitions, in terms of their critical aims and reception, this thesis examines the specific social contexts in which they …

Theorizing Ambivalence In Ang Lee's Transnational Cinema: The Discourse Of Chinese Identity Between The Local And The Global, Chih-Yun Chiang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using ambivalence as a theoretical framework, this study examines Ang Lee's cinematic discourse of Chinese identity, which is co-constructed with the audiences from different cultural communities. I focus on Ang Lee's transnational films Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Lust, Caution as my two case studies. By analyzing the audience discourse from Taiwan, Mainland China, and overseas Chinese communities, I am able to conceptualize their reactions as communicative moments that co-construct the meaning of the film text. I suggest that ambivalence is a self-representational strategy for the ethnic "Other," who is historically denied access to representation, to contest and subvert the …

Organizational Safety Culture And Idividual Safety Behavior: A Case Study Of The Turkish National Police Aviation Department, Yildirim Uryan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human related accidents in high-risk industries amount to a significant economic hazard and incur tremendous damages, causing excessive operational costs and loss of life. The aviation industry now observes human-related accidents more frequently than in the past, an upswing attributable to cutting-edge technology usage and the complex systems employed by aviation organizations. Historically, aviation accidents have been attributed to individual unsafe behavior. However, contemporary accident causation models suggest that organizational-level factors influence individual safety performance, as human-related accidents take place in an organizational context. The present study examines the formation of organizational safety culture and influence on individuals' safety behavior …

The Development Of The University Of Central Florida Home Movie Archive And The Harris Rosen Collection, Michael Niedermeyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the invention of the cinema, people have been taking home movies. The everincreasing popularity of this activity has produced a hundred years worth of amateur film culture which is in desperate need of preservation. As film archival and public history have coalesced in the past thirty years around the idea that every person’s history is important, home movies represent a way for those histories to be preserved and studied by communities and researchers alike. The University of Central Florida is in a perfect position to establish an archive of this nature, one that is specifically dedicated to acquiring, preserving, …

The English Reformation In Image And Print: Cultural Continuity, Disruptions, And Communications In Tudor Art, Jessica Hoeschen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation generated multiple reform movements and political transformations in Europe. Within this general period of reform, political and cultural changes from the Tudor era (1485-1603) created a separate English Reformation. The English Reformation evolved from the different agendas of the early Tudor monarchs and occurred in two distinct waves: an initial, more moderate Henrician Reformation and a later, more complete Edwardian Reformation. Henry VIII and Edward VI's attempts to redefine monarchy through a new State and Church identity drove English church reform during this period, giving these religious shifts distinct political roots. Cultural …

Working With The Drive: A Lacanian Psychoanalytic Approach To The Treatment Of Addictions, Cristina Laurita

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the clinical utility of applying Lacanian psychoanalytic interventions to the treatment of addictions. By combining theoretical exegesis with clinical case studies of psychotherapy with patients who struggled with addictions, this project seeks to: 1) contribute to the improvement of the clinical treatment of addictions; and 2) contribute to the advancement of Lacanian clinical scholarship in the U.S. Although the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan is well-known in Europe and South America, Lacanian clinical scholarship in the U.S. is disappointingly sparse. As a result, most American clinicians are not aware of the clinical usefulness of Lacanian theory. …

The Crescent And The Cross: Islamic Influence In Southern Culture, Jesse Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To a large degree, America has adopted African American culture as its own. One may hear and see African American influence in popular music, grammar, fashion and art, but rarely are the sources of these influences divined, in no small part to difficulties inherent in interdisciplinary studies. This thesis will examine the Islamic aesthetics in African American quilts. This work focuses on design and color elements and I trace Islamic influence from West Africa to the U.S. South by way of the slave trade. The original scholarship comes from in the Mississippi Delta, although this thesis also uses quilt books …

Now Watch Me : The Black Dancing Body And Southern Identity, I'Nasah Kiam Crockett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Discovering The Healthcare Beliefs And Practices Of Rural Mestizo Ecuadorians: An Ethnonursing Study, Julie A. Moss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose

This qualitative ethnonursing study was to discover and understand the role of the nurse, healthcare beliefs and practices of rural mestizo Ecuadorians. Discovering these beliefs and practices will enable nurses and other healthcare workers to provide care that is acceptable, congruent in culture and health promoting.

Background

The current literature regarding Ecuadorian health practices has been limited to the study of indigenous Americo-Indian groups living in Ecuador. No studies have been conducted in the mestizo rural setting.

Research Design

An ethnonursing method developed by Leininger was used to guide this study which took place in Tosagua, Ecuador.

Conclusions and …

Ageist Perceptions In Personnel Selection Decisions: A Prejudice-Reduction Intervention, Justin Marcus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine whether older job applicants are discriminated against relative to younger job applicants when changing careers, and to investigate whether an intervention designed to reduce stereotyping and prejudice could alleviate such unfair discrimination, if it was found. A between-subjects laboratory experiment with three factors was conducted, including age (young vs. old job applicant), career-transition type (within- vs. between-career transition), and a dual-identity based recategorization intervention (control vs. intervention), totaling 8 experimental conditions. Data were collected and analyzed from 157 undergraduate student participants. Participants were informed that they would be evaluating the viability …

Development And Validation Of The Cross-Cultural Competence Inventory, Carol Ann Thornson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the factors responsible for successful interactions between cultures has been an ongoing investigation among anthropologists, social workers, and organizational psychologists. The need for employees who are able to function effectively across cultures has resulted in a great deal of research examining which factors enable expatriate effectiveness. Despite the necessity of a workforce that is able to function across cultures in today’s global economy, an even greater case can be made for cross-cultural competence (3C) in the U.S. military. The potential for loss of life and international-level consequences is high if our military forces are not adequately prepared. This is …

Roots: Agrarian Movements And The Importance Of Ground Within The Philosophy Of Communication (A Synecdoche), Maryl Roberts Mcginley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work looks at the way in which an agrarian philosophy communicates the meaningful connection between cultivating land and being attentive to the philosophical notion of ground. It tells the story of agrarian movements from the last century with special attention to what about the philosophy has durability. This work outlines the possibility of an agrarian framework as a potential alternative to modernity. Each chapter is attentive to a different voice in the movement, exploring his engagement with an agrarian philosophy and connection to the philosophy of communication.

Sisterhood Articulates A New Definition Of Moral Female Identity: Jane Austen's Adaptation Of The Eighteenth-Century Tradition, Katherine Curtis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Writing at a moment of ideological crisis between individualism and hierarchical society, Jane Austen asserts a definition of moral behavior and female identity that mediates the two value systems. I argue that Austen most effectively articulates her belief in women's moral autonomy and social responsibility in her novels through her portrayal of sisterhood. Austen reshapes the stereotype of sisters and female friendships as dangerous found in her domestic novel predecessors. While recognizing women's social vulnerability, which endangers female friendship and turns it into a site of competition, Austen urges the morality of selflessly embracing sisterhood anyway. An Austen heroine must …

The Effects Of Power Distance, And Gender On The Use Of Nonverbal Immediacy Behaviors In Symmetrical And Asymmetrical Power Cond, Vincent Santilli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous cross-cultural research in nonverbal immediacy indicates that nonverbal immediacy behavior varies across cultures, and some researchers have suggested that power distance might serve as a moderating variable, however no research has systematically set out to determine whether that is the case. This study assessed the perceived use of nonverbal immediacy under symmetric and asymmetric power conditions, as well as gender, in three cultures: Brazil, Kenya, and the United States. Quantitative data was collected from 527 participants who completed a nonverbal immediacy measure and an individual power distance measure under either a symmetric or an asymmetric power condition. Results related …

Effects Of Peer & Familial Ethnic Socialization On Processes Of Ethnic Identity Development In Mexican-Descent Adolescents, Christine M. Reinhard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current cross-sectional study had two goals: present the Peer Ethnic Socialization Measure, (PESM) to assess peer contributions to the process of ethnic socialization (the promotion of pride, cultural knowledge and cultural traditions), and explore how family and peer (in-group and out-group peers) ethnic socialization uniquely contributes to the process of ethnic identity development in Mexican descent adolescents (N=111, M age = 14.5 years, SD = 1.2 years). The PESM is a modified version of the Umaña-Taylor Familial Ethnic Socialization Scale (2001). Results indicated that the PESM is a reliable scale, but that it will benefit from refinement and additional …

A Supreme Battle In Metaphor: A Critical Metaphor Analysis Of The Culture War In Lawrence V. Texas, Judy A. Bruce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work explores how metaphor, specifically conceptual metaphor, is used to create the argumentative context, carry meaning, supply the enthymematic structure of the arguments, and transform the sexual autonomy controversy within the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Lawrence v. Texas. Research questions that guide this work include:

Is there evidence that the metaphor of "culture war" drives the argumentative context in the Lawrence opinion and is carried by other metaphorical constructions?

How is the social controversy over sexual autonomy advanced by conceptual metaphors in this legal text?

What are the dominant metaphors used to argue for sexual autonomy? What …

Ultrakinetic Features Of Anime Texts: Revisioning Composition Theory And Exploring Visual Rhetoric Pedagogy., Karen Ware 1973-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Our contemporary culture is laden with a glut of visual stimuli: advertising, packaging, television, film, the internet, digital-camera-wireless-web-access-mobile-phones. In a world filled with visually rhetorical media, it is imperative that the field of Composition continue to embrace the theorizing and use of visual rhetoric an apt (if not vital) pursuit. It seems a responsible choice to select visual texts and/or visually rich writing assignments in order to address the current fabric of public/private communication. Furthermore, such texts can potentially set the student reader (viewer/writer/designer/composer) at ease in the sometimes daunting task of becoming a "college writer" and subsequently a professional …

Maintaining Adult Student-Parent Distal Relationships: An Explorartion Of Mediated Communication Among Thai Students In The U.S., Thammaphong Isarabhakdi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although a growing amount of research in relational maintenance has began to focus intensively on long-distance relationships (LDRs), especially marital, dating, and friendship relationships, little attention has focus on the process of maintaining LDRs in non-Western families. The objective of this study was, first, to explore the experience of Thai adult students who maintain LDRs with their parents. Second, this study identified Thai students’ specific relational maintenance behaviors and examined the channels of mediated communication used among Thai adult students and their family members.

This study utilized a qualitative method framed by a grounded theory approach to uncover the experience …

Hong Kong's Cultural Identity Reflected In Jackie Chan's Films., Yajuan Ding 1969-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the 1990s, especially the years before and after Hong Kong's return to the People's Republic of China in 1997, some celebrated and talented Hong Kong film stars, such as Jackie Chan, Yun-Fat Chow and Michelle Yeoh, sought their career success in the Western world, especially in Hollywood. By studying Jackie Chan's representative films produced in Hong Kong and in Hollywood before and after 1997, the author explores how Hong Kong's cultural identity is portrayed in his films produced in the Western world and in a city with a legacy of over a century of colonization. Moreover, the author also …