Digital Commons Network^™

The Baby Out With The Bathwater! Securitization Of Corruption And Its Impact On Human Security, Shabnam Mallick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the context of the president's rule in India in 1975, this paper looks at the intersection of political corruption and human security through the lens of the theory of securitization and desecuritization. In this, I study the deeper politics--i.e., the frame of reference of actors--behind the distortions in the civic and political institutions of India. I argue that the securitization of development led to its de-politicization, which in turn negatively impacted human security. In doing so, I arrive at some moral, social-psychological, and cognitive understanding of how not to securitize. The policy implications are towards employing securitization only as …

Whiteness As Experienced By People Of Color: An Empirical Phenomenological Study, Darryl Mars

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Racism against non-white people continues to be a significant problem as we enter the twenty-first century. While slavery and other objectionable racist practices may be in the past, subtle yet powerful racism remains. This study explores racism against non-white people in the present by examining the meanings of the signifier, whiteness, for three people who participated in this study.

The three participants are adults, one male and two females, who responded to a poster requesting non-white people to participate in this study. The participants provided written descriptions of situations in which they encountered whiteness, and they agreed to expand upon …

Assessment Of Constructs Related To Childhood Aggression, Susan B. Mclaughlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study provides empirical support for the comprehensive theoretical model of aggression proposed by Meloy (2001) by examining characteristics of children who have a longstanding history of aggression across home and educational settings. The theoretical model first proposed by Meloy (2001) found attachment, anxiety, and attention difficulties in adults who evidenced severe aggression problems. The current study clarified how the adult model applies to children. That is, this study examined how attachment, anxiety, and attention are related to the overall functioning of children requiring treatment for aggression. Results are discussed in terms of child development issues, treatment selection, and intervention …

Mediating Effects Of Selected Social Cognitive Theory Variables On Women's Exercise Behavior, Katherine Mowat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Peer Advisors On Esl Students' Perspectives Of University Academic Tasks, Monica Fishkin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A review of the related literature revealed that international students face specific academic challenges. The goal of this research was to investigate the effect of international student peer advising sessions on English as a Second Language (ESL) international students' perceptions of their language skills and strategies for dealing with academic tasks. The research design included a control and an experimental group with a pretest and a posttest administration of the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and the Xu International Student Academic Language Needs Assessment (ISALNA-2) instruments. Qualitative data was also collected. The participants in the study were upper-intermediate level …

Female Sexual Offenders-An Underexamined Population, Creaig Anthony Dunton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sex crimes are considered to be among the most damaging and heinous forms of social deviance in existence. Besides the acts perpetrated by the offenders, the social stigma attached to being victimized is often just as injurious to the victim. Society sees males as the sole perpetrators of acts of sexual abuse, but this is not the case. The extant literature shows that women, while fewer in number, also perpetrate acts of sexual abuse and assault against other adults and children. This thesis is a preliminary typology that classifies female sexual offenders based upon the acts perpetrated, using cases presented …

Effects Of Voluntary Control On Performance Response Under Stress., Christina Shawn Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent stressful environments within military and non-military domains are producing a new challenge for the lab-based study of stress on task performance, one that requires knowledge of underlying cognitive-motivational and goal orientation factors. Results of recent stress on task performance research traditionally employ metaphorical explanations (i.e., resource theory) in order to rapidly apply stimulus-response outcomes to the real world counterparts. This dissertation provides an alternative perspective about these metaphorical, or black box, interpretations and reveals how they may be confounded with respect to the intended real world counterpart. To examine how voluntary human control can influence traditional stress/no-stress research findings, …

An Investigation Of Master's Level Counseling Students' Clinical Efficacy: The Relationship Between Graduate Record Examination Scores And Demonstration Of Clinical Skills In Practicum, Shannon Lounge Ray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The admission of students into Counselor Education programs aims to select those applicants with the best potential to successfully complete the graduate program as well as acquire effective clinical skills. The primary method of measuring achievement potential for graduate students in Counselor Education programs represents Graduate Record Examination Scores (GRE); minimal scores on the examination are required for program admission. This study examined the relationship between student achievement of clinical skills and incoming GRE scores. The study participants were 47 master's level Counselor Education students who were enrolled in Practicum in Counselor Education (MHS 6800) in the spring, summer, and …

Communication Modality And After Action Review Performance In A Distributed Immersive Virtual Environment, Jason P. Kring

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Technological innovations in data transfer and communication have given rise to the virtual team where geographically separate individuals interact via one or more technologies to combine efforts on a collective activity. In military, business, and spaceflight settings, virtual teams are increasingly used in training and operational activities; however there are important differences between these virtual collaborations and more traditional face-to-face (FTF) interactions. One concern is the absence of FTF contact may alter team communication and cooperation and subsequently affect overall team performance. The present research examined this issue with a specific focus on how communication modality influences team learning and …

Professional Development Activities And Job Satisfaction Among Communi, Michael Bosley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the relationship between participation in specific professional development activities and the adjuncts' level of job satisfaction. Data was gathered from previous and current professional development activities at Valencia Community College in Orlando, Florida. Research in the area of professional development activities for adjunct faculty is emerging; however, there is a scarcity of research in the area of professional development activities as a means to increase job satisfaction. The data produced by this study were reviewed to determine, the level of job satisfaction of those adjuncts who attended professional development activities; the degree to which …

The Effects Of Differential Item Functioning On Predictive Bias, Damon Bryant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relation between measurement bias at the item level (differential item functioning, dif) and predictive bias at the test score level. Dif was defined as a difference in the probability of getting a test item correct for examinees with the same ability but from different subgroups. Predictive bias was defined as a difference in subgroup regression intercepts and/or slopes in predicting a criterion. Data were simulated by computer. Two hypothetical subgroups (a reference group and a focal group) were used. The predictor was a composite score on a dimensionally complex test with …

Explaining Churn: Mass Society, Social Capital, & Community Churn, Delores Edelen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Population churn--the population turnover experienced by a community--can have differential effects on a community. Mass society theory suggests that because the churn rate experienced by communities can contribute to their uprooting, fragmentation, and isolation, churn is a potent threat to the stability of our modern day communities. Social capital theory, to the contrary, suggests otherwise. Social capital theory suggests that churn can have positive effects on communities by bringing new migrants with valuable human capital skills and experiences to communities. These migrants bring to their new communities the potential for creating new jobs, spurring economic development, and for initiating housing …

A Reconstruction Of Moreau Chambers' : 1937 Excavation Of A Chickasaw Village In Northeastern Mississippi, Ladonna F. Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Affordances In The Design Of Virtual Environments, David Charles Gross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human-computer interaction design principles largely focus on static representations and have yet to fully incorporate theories of perception appropriate for the dynamic multimodal interactions inherent to virtual environment (VE) interaction. Theories of direct perception, in particular affordance theory, may prove particularly relevant to enhancing VE interaction design. The present research constructs a conceptual model of how affordances are realized in the natural world and how lack of sensory stimuli may lead to realization failures in virtual environments. Implications of the model were empirically investigated by examining three affordances: passability, catchability, and flyability. The experimental design involved four factors for each …

Repression Unbound : Validation Of The Index Of Self-Regulation Of Emotion, Mark Christopher Clayton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Trinity, Troika, And Triangle : Patterns Of Three In The Works Of Carson Mccullers, Emily Holloway

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Establishing The Tougaloo College Art Collections : New York School Abstract Expressionists, Artists For Core, And The Art Committee For Tougaloo College, Susan Lloyd Mcclamroch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Holistic Model Of The Interplay Of Parent-Adolescent Interaction Varialbes: Outcomes As A Result Of Conflictual Processes, Cliff Blake Mckinney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many variables have been analyzed in order to understand parent-adolescent interactions and outcomes for adolescents. These variables must be integrated into a model that demonstrates the holistic interplay of parent-adolescent interaction variables so that a more comprehensive understanding of parent-adolescent interactions is achieved. Variables included in the model proposed here were parenting, family environment, expectations, conflict, and outcomes. Parenting, family environment, and conflict were associated with outcomes for adolescents. When the variables were analyzed simultaneously with structural equation modeling, however, the relationship of parenting and adolescent outcomes was mediated wholly for male-father, male-mother, and female-father relationships but remained significant for …

Possible Use Of P20 Antigen In Serodiagnosis Of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Shinchieh Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Crohn's disease (CD) is an idiopathic, chronic, relapsing inflammatory disorder, which is most commonly involved terminal ileum and colon. The incidence and prevalence of CD has dramatically increased during the last 50 years; however, the etiology and mechanism of this disorder remain unveiled. Besides genetic susceptibility, recent integrated researches investigated the role of environmental triggers such as microflora, measles viruses and mycobacteria in the pathogenesis of CD. The association between M. avium subsp paratuberculosis (MAP) and CD has been heightened because of clinical resemblance to Johne's disease (JD), a granulomatous enteritis in ruminants caused by MAP. Isolation of MAP from …

An Investigation Into Providing Feedback To Users Of Decision Support, James Pharmer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research in several domains has shown that the implementation of computerized decision support aids is often associated with issues of human-automation interaction, which can have disastrous consequences. One often-cited reason for these issues is the poor quality of the feedback that is provided to the operators through these tools. The objective of the proposed investigation is to examine how providing feedback through a decision support tool affects operator knowledge and performance in the context of a fault management task for naval gunfire support. A one-way between-groups comparison was made to investigate differences between providing decision support feedback (logic trace, mission …

Data Transmission Scheduling For Distributed Simulation Using Packet A, Juan Vargas-Morales

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Communication bandwidth and latency reduction techniques are developed for Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) protocols. Using logs from vignettes simulated by the OneSAF Testbed Baseline (OTB), a discrete event simulator based on the OMNeT++ modeling environment is developed to analyze the Protocol Data Unit (PDU) traffic over a wireless flying Local Area Network (LAN). Alternative PDU bundling and compression techniques are studied under various metrics including slack time, travel time, queue length, and collision rate. Based on these results, Packet Alloying, a technique for the optimized bundling of packets, is proposed and evaluated. Packet Alloying becomes more active when it is …

Getting Involved : Motivational Programs And Strategies To Influence Adolescent Art Students' And Their Teachers' Involvement In Art Museums, Katherine Patten

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Production And Direction Of 'Proof' By David Auburn, Rebecca Bourgeois

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Pedagogical And Comparative Study : Selected Songs Of Dinos Constantinides / By Laura Mobley Thompson, Laura Mobley Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Opiate-Receptor-Specific Effects On Domestic Fowl Social Attachment / By Jason E. Warnick, Jason E. Warnick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Outcomes Of The American Occupational Therapy Foundation's Curriculum-Mentoring Project, Ingrid Mary Provident

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the outcomes of a year long formal curriculum-mentoring project sponsored by the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. Five occupational therapy faculty groups were selected through a competitive application process and paired with mentors to assist in curriculum change. The experiences of each of the teams were studied using multiple methods of data collection, including semi-structured interviews conducted in person and via telephone, a mailed questionnaire, and bi-monthly electronic journal entries. The process and outcomes of two representative cases are reported in this qualitative, critical case study analysis. A two part content analysis yielded information that addressed each of …

Development, Research And Validation Of Environmental Speciation Methods; And Evaluation By Speciated Isotope Dilution Mass Spectrometry In Mercury And Chromium Speciation Analysis, G. M. Mizanur Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The toxicity of an element depends upon its chemical forms, which also gives vital information for samples and their relevance. A sequential extraction method for mercury speciation in soil and sediments was established based on the mobility and toxicity of different mercury species and was proposed as a draft US EPA Method 3200. In order to finalize the method, an interlaboratory validation study was performed, and the final results verified the applicability of the method. Some of the widely used mercury speciation methods were evaluated during this study and the results were compared with those obtained from EPA draft Method …

The Self-Perceptions Of Adolescents With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Patricia Bitar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which affects 3 -- 6% of school- aged children, is considered one of the most common behavioral disorders of childhood. Of those, up to 70% will continue to have symptoms into adolescence. Adolescence is a critical transitional period on the route to adulthood that has the building of self-identity as its chief developmental task. Adults with positive self-perceptions tend to be more productive members of society. Most of the studies directed at understanding the self-perceptions of those with ADHD have been done with children and those studies have yielded mixed results. There are practically no …

Connections Between Gendered Constructions And Women's Lived Experiences In Light Of Feminist Awareness: An Empirical Hermeneutic Study, Erin Danto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored two women's gendered identities in an effort to elucidate oppressive aspects of patriarchal gender constructions. Gender was conceptualized in feminist post-structural terms, which meant that it was seen as an identity conferred upon women in the service of creating a hierarchical discourse. Since feminist post-structural theories are rarely explored empirically and women's experiences have often been overlooked, both of these issues were explored in the current study.

Participants' awareness of oppression and ability to dialogue with theory was addressed by soliciting women who had taken a gender-focused college course. The methodology was perspectival and co-participatory. The researcher's …

Internet Dwelling, Cyborgs, And The Matrix Of Modernity: An Empirical Inquiry With Critical-Hermeneutic Features, Andrew Felder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Amidst modernity's expanding electronic social matrix, this cultural-historical inquiry explores the technological construction of human being (e.g., cyborgs) and sociality in the America Online cyberscape. A two-tiered critical-hermeneutic method enables exploration of the broad rationalizing historical narrative and the localized play of virtual discursive practices impacting human meaning construction, selfhood, and social practice. A third and fourth tier of inquiry occasions integration of "psychological" meanings found in research participant experiential descriptions and interviews. This four-tier interplay reveals a bodily ethic enabling participants to modify subjectifying Internet practices toward meaningful social ends. Otherwise, eclipsed interpretive bodily powers contribute to "undecidability" about …