Digital Commons Network^™

Student Perceptions And Expectations Of Library Services Quality And User Satisfaction At Walters State Community College., Jamie Posey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore students' perceptions of library services offered at Walters State Community College. This research involved LibQUAL+^™, a nationally known academic library assessment instrument that measures three dimensions on a scale of approximately 22 aspects of service, divided into 6 groups (Heath, Kyrillidou, & Askew, 2004, p.264). These 3 dimensions are the following: Affect of Service (AS), Information Control (IC), and Library as a Place (LP). Responses of 666 students at Walters State Community College, Morristown, Tennessee, indicated the students' perceptions of acceptable minimum level of service, perceived levels of service, and …

An Analysis Of Data Collected From The 2007-2008 Tennessee State Report Card And The Variables Related To Science Test Results., Julia Lorie Lamons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) Achievement reading scores, school district per-pupil expenditures, school size, percentage of students qualifying for free and reduced-priced meals, and attendance were related to science TCAP test scores from the 2007-2008 school year. The data were gathered from an analysis of mean standardized test scores in reading and science of 8^th graders in 67 school systems comprising 181 schools located throughout Tennessee. One hundred eighty-one schools configured grades 6 through 8 were used in this study. Only 177 schools had reported attendance available on the Tennessee …

Durkheim's Refutation Of Spencerian Methodological Individualism: A Critical Evaluation., Matthew Bryan Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The famed French classical social theorist Emile Durkheim's academic reputation is based largely on his critical rejection of the British utilitarian tradition and specifically the writings of the classical British sociologist Herbert Spencer. In this thesis I critically evaluate Durkheim's critique of Herbert Spencer's methodological individualism. It is found that while select Durkheimian claims merit continued allegiance, his broader critique of Spencer's methodological individualism must be viewed as logically and empirically deficient. In conclusion I examine the implications for Durkheimian sociology and the broader social theoretical enterprise directed at analyzing and conceptualizing the nature of sociality and the social bond.

Aruba And Natalee Holloway: A Content Analysis Of Four Years Of Newspaper Coverage Surrounding The Incident., Brittany Parks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Negative media coverage can have a significant impact on the image of a country and can be detrimental to tourism-dependent areas. This study examined the newspaper coverage of Aruba 2 years before and after American tourist Natalee Holloway disappeared while vacationing with fellow classmates on a class trip. A content analysis of 400 major world newspapers was conducted. The study's purpose was to uncover the amount of publicity (both good and bad) from the incident as well as to unearth the overall tone towards Aruba.

The study revealed the Holloway incident did have a visible effect on the world news …

The Study Of Predictive Factors Of Reading In Low-Performing Readers In An Urban Setting., Reginald L. Caldwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The middle school years are most difficult because students now have to use reading to learn in all content areas. Low-performing students who daily face reading difficulties in school often feel helpless in their desire to become better readers and may develop poor self efficacy toward reading. Furthermore, these students may experience reading failure at a higher rate than their same age middle school peers. The current study examined two reading programs, Read 180 and Corrective Reading , and the impact they have on the self-efficacy of 216 middle school students. The results provided information regarding what factors of self-efficacy …

The Exploration Of Color Theory In Museum Education Using Works Found In The J. B. Speed Museum's Collection., Jonathan Ratliff 1986-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Color is an important part of art and life, which can be utilized by the museum educator to engage visitors with the art. For the museum educator, development of appropriate programs and activities to meet the needs of their audience is a central component of their responsibilities; therefore employment of important characteristics of art, such as color, to accomplish these goals is important. To demonstrate how an educator can utilize color, I have developed a tour using the Speed Art Museum's collection. Although it is written specifically for one collection, the ideas can be translated to other institutions. Since school …

Volunteer Entry Into Hospital Culture : Relationships Among Socialization, P-O Fit, Organizational Commitment, And Job Satisfaction., Tricia Ann Jordan 1969-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the entry of volunteers into the culture of hospitals paying particular attention to the relationships among organizational socialization tactics and the outcomes of person-organization fit (P-O fit), organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Using a correlation study design, the researcher collected data from hospital volunteers in Western Kentucky. The survey was distributed to 230 volunteers at six different hospitals in Western Kentucky. Of the 230 volunteers who received the survey at various volunteer meetings, the researcher collected 180 usable surveys, yielding a 78.2% return rate. The investigation's survey used items selected from three different scales measuring organization socialization …

Homeland Security And Terrorism In Selected European States, Eric M. Deutcher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the responses to terrorism increased throughout the world. The face of Homeland Security is now heavily focused on the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of terrorist attacks not only in the United States, but also amongst some of America's oldest allies. This thesis studies the level of change in homeland security strategy of European NATO members after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The analysis of strategic components within each NATO member's homeland security strategy (history, laws, counterterrorism agencies and budget support) shows significant change. The international community's …

The Impact Of Social Capital On Youth Substance Use, Ali Unlu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Substance use, such as alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana, is a threat to the health and well-being of the youth, their families, and society as well. Government supports and implements several programs to protect youth from substance use. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of social capital on youth behavior and to suggest evidence-based policy interventions. Social capital refers to individual embeddedness in web of social relations and their behaviors guided by social structure. Therefore, adolescents' social interactions with their peers, parents, and community were investigated. The substance use was measured by the usage of cigarettes, alcohol, …

Dimensions Of Identity, Alice Kramer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Imagination and fantasy environments created by writers and artists have always drawn people into their worlds. Advances in technology have blurred the lines between reality and imagination. My interest has always been to question the validity of these worlds and their cultures and to transcend the evolving virtual dimension by fusing it with what we perceive to be reality.

Media Literacy Education, Elizabeth Etherington Wood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study offers an analysis of media literacy practices and techniques used at local public middle and high schools in Colorado. Media literacy is an emerging field in education that blends literacy skills such as critical analysis and evaluation with an inquiry-based questioning process that encourages students to process information using cognitive, moral, aesthetic and emotional dimensions. This inquiry-based process is not a new educational approach; it has been used to critically evaluate literature for centuries. However, media literacy scholars argue that applying inquiry-based approaches can enhance learning across all grades and content levels by applying new methodologies.

The literature …

Political Islam In Jordan And Morocco: Changing Tides?, Andrew Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to assess if the 2007 electoral failures of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) in Jordan, and the Justice and Development Party (PJD) in Morocco, represent a weakening of power, or merely a minor diversion in the quest of Islamists to attain greater political voice in both countries.

Sibling Relationships During The Young Adult Years: An Analysis Of Closeness, Relational Satisfaction, Everyday Talk, And Turning Points, Jennifer Kellie Corti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the sibling relationship during the young adult years. Specifically, this study explored how turning points and everyday talk related to closeness and relational satisfaction among college age siblings. One-hundred and ninety-nine young adult participants completed a detailed questionnaire about their relationship with a sibling. Results indicated that (a) geographic distance does not have a significant effect on the closeness among siblings, (b) everyday talk was expressed in terms of three categories: expressions of intimacy, maintenance talk, and relationally risky talk, (c) all three categories of everyday talk related to closeness, while only …

The Spirit Of Stuff: What I Learned When I Sold (Almost) Everything, Rachel Tamsen Perry Schrank

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following document is a report submitted in conjunction with a video project. The video is a personal documentary, filmed in Denver, Colorado and Mexico City, Mexico, which explores the spiritual connection that people have with their material objects. The report is comprised of a project proposal and a post-production report. The proposal discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the project, and offers a plan for the film's production. The post-production report discusses my filmmaking process in retrospect, reviews production problems and solutions, and includes a final schedule and budget.

Please visit my website at http://www.upupintothesky.com, or contact the author at …

Communicating Queer Identities Through Personal Narrative And Intersectional Reflexivity, Richard G. Jones, Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is currently a lack of intersubjective research involving human participants and conceptual frameworks that include queer theory. Queer theory's poststructuralist epistemology tends toward desubjectification, problematizing research that relies on participants' self-reports of lived experience. The author proposes that the interdisciplinary nature of Communication Studies, which is situated within the humanities and social sciences, leaves communication scholars well poised to contribute to ongoing metatheoretical and metamethodological conversations regarding queer theory and intersubjective research, particularly in relation to cultures and identities. To contribute to this scholarly conversation, the author utilizes the deconstructionist lens of queer theory to contextualize communication, employs personal …

Toward A Dialogic Interpretation Of Psychological Belief In Spirits Among Gamei Of Ghana, Ebenezer Narh Yebuah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines central aspects of the ancestral tradition of the Gamei of Ghana which have not previously been investigated systematically from a psychological perspective. It is argued that Carl Gustav Jung and his intellectual descendants are the only Western psychological thinkers who have come close to formulating a conceptual framework that is helpful in this context, because Africa featured prominently in Jung's formulations of his influential psychological theories during his archetypal journey to Africa. Accordingly, core features of Jungian theory are examined in order to determine the extent to which a psychological investigation of Gamei cosmological perspectives, particularly perspectives …

Disruptive Technologies In Systems Of Care: An Exploratory Study Of Social Work With Older Adults In Long-Term Care Facilities, Rebecca Lynn Paskind

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory research was to explore the application of knowledge about disruptive technologies to the long term care setting using the Eden Alternative^TM as an example. The research questions were: What themes of structuration emerge when a long-term care facility implements a disruptive social technology? What is the nature of the disruption between and among workers, long-term care facility culture, and professionals when a new social technology is introduced? How does social work practice with older adults change when a social technology such as Eden is introduced in a long-term care setting? Is Barley's (1984, 1986) …

Georgia: Frozen Conflict And The Role Of Displaced Persons, Kate Elizabeth Zimmerly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Though commonly overlooked, communities of displaced persons often play a complex and significant role in the emergence and perpetuation of ethnic conflict. This paper looks at the intersection of these themes in the conflict between the former Soviet Republic of Georgia and the separatist region of Abkhazia. In particular it looks at the nature of protracted or "frozen" conflict with particular attention to the role of the displaced community in the conflict's entrenchment. Specifically, it seeks to answer the question: why do certain conflicts go unresolved for so long, and what role do refugees play in this resolution resistance?

The …

Carpas, Cuentos, And Corridos: Chicano Arts And Community Building, Tanya Marina Mote

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study suggests that effective forms of participation are grounded in histories of opposition and resistance. The intermediate relationship provided by voluntary associations, unions, clubs and even bowling leagues might teach citizens to act democratically; that is, to participate in activities related to electing leaders, but their usefulness extends beyond conventional politics to efforts to expand public life and to promote democracy through a broader set of activities that combine intensely social and personal public engagement, resistance, protest, and opposition, with conventional efforts to influence leaders. The experiences of community based arts organizations provide a lens to examine both the …

A Clash Of Worldviews: The Impact Of Modern Western Notion Of Progress On Indigenous Naga Culture, Tezenlo Thong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The term "progress" is a modern Western notion that life is always improving and advancing toward an ideal state. It is a vital modern concept which underlies geographic explorations and scientific and technological inventions as well as the desire to harness nature in order to increase human beings' ease and comfort. With the advent of Western colonization and to the great detriment of the colonized, the notion of progress began to perniciously and pervasively permeate across cultures.

During the classical colonial period, Western anthropologists, sociologists and others had hypothesized, or at least ardently bought into the notion, that human beings, …

Why Two Swords Were Enough: Israelite Tradition History Behind Luke 22:35-38, Kevin Lee Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Jesus' charge in Luke 22:35-38 that his apostles should buy swords is one of the most enigmatic texts in the gospels. Although previous studies made use of a wide range of standard critical methods, none of these approaches satisfactorily revealed the pericope's meaning. In a fresh re-examination of Luke's sword-logion this project interweaves biblical and cultural intertextuality and asserts that the sword-logion is a Lukan literary foil that repudiates a well-known hagiographic tale. The provenance for this legendary saga (i.e., the "two-sword" traditum) was Gen 34 whose routine refraction in later Jewish writings led to its inclusion as part …

Jean Toomer And Carl Van Vechten: Identity, Exploitation, And The Harlem Renaissance, Phil Shaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Jean Toomer's Cane is considered one of the literary achievements of the Harlem Renaissance, though the many of his philosophical ideas which inspired it are dismissed. Inversely, Carl Van Vechten's influence as an advocate and patron of African American art is foundational though his Nigger Heaven is dismissed. However, there are commonalities in each authors identity positioning and subsequent exploitation of the black Harlem Renaissance ethos. Further, their utilization of Gurdjieffian principles of objectivity and primitivist images of blacks links and explains, in part, how their identities contributed to the ideas expressed in the novels.

Representational Subversions And The Limits Of Postcoloniality: Shahzia Sikander's Strategic Contemporaneity, Linda Eilene Sanchez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transnational artist Shahzia Sikander challenges the limitations of Edward Said's postcolonial emphasis on secular humanism by deploying the heterogeneous traditions of South Asian miniature painting while strategically drawing on tradition to critique contemporaneity. Through a palimpsest process of composition, Sikander reincorporates the unknown and silenced histories implicit in the tradition of miniature painting to create social imaginaries with motifs that draw on the diverse traditions of South Asian religions and aesthetics to create a subversive politics of remembering wherein alternative images of cosmopolitanism emerge. Through a sustained analysis, this dissertation demonstrates how these alternative traditions interrogate and critique the limitations …

The Lived Experience Of The African American Pregnancy That Ends In Preterm Birth, Clarise Hairston Ottley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research study was undertaken to help fill the gap in understanding the disparity between the current preterm birth rates of African American women and White women. A phenomenological methodology was used with a sample of seven African American women who had experienced preterm birth. The findings provide insight into experience of a pregnancy that ends in preterm birth.

An in-depth understanding of the contextual factors associated with preterm birth in African American women was provided through a description of experiences as voiced by the participants themselves. Their stories provided rich, detailed data and insight into their lived experiences, revealing …

The Architecture Of The Great House In The Contemporary Postcolonial Novel, Julie Kloo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores the use of the symbol of the Western European Great House by contemporary postcolonial novelists and consists of four chapters, each focusing on the ways that the power structures connected to the Great House impact the lives of the characters in four different postcolonial locations: Ireland, South Africa, Puerto Rico, and India. The use of the Western European Great House in Edna O'Brien's House of Splendid Isolation (1994), André Brink's Imaginings of Sand (1996), Rosario Ferré's The House on the Lagoon (1995), and Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh (1995) reveals the continuing impact of colonial power …

Oil And Paper: Ownership, Economic Development, And Iraq's 2007 Draft Oil And Gas Law, Peter Jackson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The 2007 Draft Oil Law's parliamentary collapse demonstrates that Iraqi legislation must settle the issue of ownership prior to determining foreign investment rules. The draft law has been criticized by western academics for its economic benefits to international oil companies, but in Iraq the law has been rejected more for its ambiguities and its lack of specific ownership language, apart from four disputed, classified annexes listing classifications of oil fields. Rather than pass empty legislation and fill it up at a later point, Iraq must draft its oil revenue sharing laws, model contracts, and an oil ownership law in tandem …

Slaying The Dragon: An Analysis On How To Dismantle Terrorist Organizations, Caroline Kelly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Terrorism has become a rising threat to international peace and security all over the world. It is not a new problem to the world scene, but increasingly crucial to the United States. While al-Qaeda is the most current threat to many countries in the world and may seem impossible to put down, terrorist organizations have been defeated throughout history. Understanding the major causes of other group's demise may teach us useful skills in how to defeat the current problems. The most useful policies that have been effective in defeating terrorism have been policing, politicization, and military actions in corporation with …

Uncovering The Roots Of The Crucified God: How Walter Brueggemann's Old Testament Theology Challenges And Contributes To Jürgen Moltmann's And Jon Sobrino's Interpretations Of The Cross, Patricia A. Sharbaugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation provides a study and analysis of Old Testament theology's discernment of God through hiddenness, silence, absence, and suffering and then brings into conversation notions of God drawn from these Old Testament traditions with notions of God drawn from an interpretation of the cross. This exploration is done through an in depth study of Walter Brueggemann's Old Testament theology of God as both a challenge and a contribution to the interpretation of the cross of Jesus Christ in the works of Jürgen Moltmann and Jon Sobrino.

The interpretations of the cross in the works of Moltmann and Sobrino recognize …

Presence And Voice: Understanding The Tensions Over The American Church's Relationship To Its Culture Through The Writings Of Origen, Chrysostom And Augustine, Henry Curtis Mcdaniel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In light of the perceived and demonstrable decline of the church's presence and voice in American culture, this dissertation proposes to examine and to discuss the dynamic viewpoints and tensions within the church over her presence and voice in the American culture by examining the various interpretations over the rhetoric of Christianization in the Roman Empire and how those viewpoints surface in the positions of Origen, Chrysostom and Augustine. The objective of this approach is to continue the discussion first articulated by H. Richard Niebuhr's 1951 work, Christ and Culture, by showing that the way one understands the rhetoric of …

Understanding Masculinity: The Role Of Father-Son Interaction, Clyde J. Remmo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although a significant amount of research has accounted for gender from a social constructionist perspective, research specifically examining the construction of masculinity is still a relatively new endeavor. Additionally, although gender is accounted for in various family communication theories, no theory specifically accounts for gender formation within the context of family interaction. The purpose of this study is to examine sons' narratives of their recollections of father-son interactions. Studying the father-son dyad in this way may help us to better understand how men constitute masculinity in particular familial relationships. Although the purpose was to examine the themes of father-son interactions, …