Digital Commons Network^™

Hippocampal And Anterior Cingulate Cortex Volumes In Amnestic And Non-Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, Elizabeth R. Tuminello

Master's Theses

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a syndrome thought to fall between cognitively normal aging and dementia. Although much research has investigated the structural neuroimaging correlates of amnestic MCI, little research has been done on the imaging correlates of non-amnestic MCI. Even less research has examined the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a region important in executive functions (EFs), in these patients. This study attempted to address this gap by examining hippocampal and ACC volumes among amnestic and non-amnestic MCI patients and cognitively normal controls. Those with amnestic MCI were expected to have smaller hippocampal volumes than controls and those with non-amnestic …

The Stigmatization Of Mental Illness And Drug Addiction Among The Criminally Involved, Brenda Arsenault

Master's Theses

This study examined the perceived stigma of mental illness compared to drug addiction among a sample of criminally involved persons who receive probation services through the Cook County Adult Probation Department. The first section of the study surveyed current probation clients using a modification of the PSAS scale by Luoma, Rye, Kohlenberg, Hayes, Fletcher & Pratte (2010), and assessed levels of stigma consciousness with a modified version of the SCQ (Pinel, 1999). Three groups of participants were surveyed for their perceptions of stigma and stigma consciousness. The first group consisted of drug probation case management clients with no known mental …

The Distribution Of Gnrh And Erbeta In Pre- And Post-Pubertal Male Rats, Maysaa Nageeb

Master's Theses

The hypothalamic-pituitary- gonadal axis is intrinsic in regulating reproductive function. Each part orchestrates the synthesis and release of a key hormone. At the level of the hypothalamus, Gonadotropin- releasing hormone (GnRH) is released and it is the

most upstream regulator of sexual maturation. GnRH neurons express a type of estrogen receptor, ERbeta, which suggests that estradiol (E2) plays a direct role in modulating GnRH function (Herbison and Pape 2001). The objective of this study was to determine if gonadal steroid hormones regulate the expression of ERbeta and GnRH mRNA in the male brain during pubertal development. In-situ hybridization was used …

Undergraduate Music Student Stress And Burnout, Helen Jane Orzel

Master's Theses

Burnout is fatigue and diminished interest caused by long-term stress. It is characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment. In the university music atmosphere, stress and burnout are prevalent and accepted as part of the culture. Symptoms and causes of general stress and burnout have been well researched, but much less has been presented on college musicians' burnout, let alone how to deal with it. This study examines the sources of stress, burnout, and ways of coping for undergraduate music students.

A questionnaire with both quantitative and open-ended questions was administered during the 2009 spring semester. Participants …

Cooperative Symbol-Based Signaling For Networks With Multiple Relays, Yuanyuan Quan

Master's Theses

Wireless channels suffer from severe inherent impairments and hence

reliable and high data rate wireless transmission is particularly challenging to

achieve. Fortunately, using multiple antennae improves performance in wireless

transmission by providing space diversity, spatial multiplexing, and power gains.

However, in wireless ad-hoc networks multiple antennae may not be acceptable

due to limitations in size, cost, and hardware complexity. As a result, cooperative

relaying strategies have attracted considerable attention because of their abilities

to take advantage of multi-antenna by using multiple single-antenna relays.

This study is to explore cooperative signaling for different relay networks,

such as multi-hop relay networks formed …

Localization And Functional Analysis Of Plasmodium Falciparum Genes Pfl2550w And Pff0750w, Carolyn Jane Strobel

Master's Theses

Malaria is a parasitic disease that causes over a million deaths worldwide each year. Understanding development through the parasite's life cycle is necessary to stop disease transmission. As the genetic basis for the crucial transition from the erythrocytic asexual cycle to gametocytogenesis is unknown, we hope to better understand this transition by studying sexual stage genes and their roles in gametocytogenesis. PFL2550w and PFF0750w are genes upregulated during gametocytogenesis that were identified by a whole-genome microarray comparing gene expression between gametocyte-producing and gametocyte-deficient strains. In this study, PFL2550w was shown to be a soluble protein that is exported from the …

The Transition To College And Psychological Outcomes: The Effect Of Identity Development, College Stress, And Activity Involvement On Body Dissatisfaction And Disordered Eating In First-Year College Women, Ashley Marie Rolnik

Master's Theses

The first year of college is an at-risk time period for the development of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. Thus, it is important to understand the underlying components of the first-year experience - specifically identity development, college stress, and extracurricular activity involvement - that contribute to these psychological disorders. During this developmental time period, first-year students experience many changes and challenges. The goals of the current prospective study are to examine how identity development, college stress, and extracurricular activity involvement affect the development or exacerbation of eating disorders and body dissatisfaction in first-year college women. This longitudinal study aims to …

Do Family Dynamics Mediate The Relationshp Between Early Pubertal Development And Depression For Girls With And Without Spina Bifida?, Rachel Wasserman

Master's Theses

Girls who experience premature puberty have higher levels of depressive symptoms than their peers (Rierdan & Koff, 1991; Hayward et al., 1997). However, girls with spina bifida (SB) experience different psychosocial changes during puberty. This study proposed two longitudinal, mediated moderation models to investigate whether family variables (i.e., parent-child conflict and emotional distancing) contributed to differences in the connection between early pubertal timing and depressive symptoms for girls with and without SB. 62 families (31 SB, 31typically developing) were recruited for a larger longitudinal study. Constructs were assessed subjectively and objectively with the use of questionnaire and observational data. Findings …

Youth In Substitute Care Presenting With Sexual Behavior Problems, Christopher Zaddach

Master's Theses

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the traumatic history of youths in the foster care system presenting with sexual behavior problems. Moreover, co-occurring trauma symptoms will be investigated as possibly contributing to the severity of sexual behavior problems in this population. The present study has four primary goals: (1) This study will focus on identifying traumatic experiences that are associated with sexual behavior problems in children and adolescents in the child welfare system; (2) Co- occuring levels of trauma symptoms including posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS) and sexual concerns (SC; Briere, 1996) will be tested as possible moderators …

The Obama Effect And Its Relationship To The Perceptions Of Blacks On Education And Social Mobility, Lydia K. Young

Master's Theses

The educational system in the United States has been characterized as political, a meritocracy (Hurn, 1992), a structure that socializes citizens (Warren, 1996), a system that marginalized those of races marked other or defined as minority by society (Ratvich, 1983; West, 1993; Katz, 1999) and, most importantly for this study, the key to a more equitable society through schooling and personal beliefs and the possibility of lifelong achievement (Anderson, 1988). Our educational system, ever changing and complicated by definition and action, plays a large role in one's perception of the ability of people to achieve social mobility -- especially for …

Attitudes Towards Global Civic-Mindedness And Engagement Before And After Study Abroad: A Study Of Undergraduate Students At International Study Abroad Centers Of An American University, Mousumi Mukherjee

Master's Theses

Mousumi Mukherjee

Loyola University of Chicago

ATTITUDES TOWARDS GLOBAL CIVIC-MINDEDNESS AND ENGAGEMENT BEFORE AND AFTER STUDY ABROAD:

A STUDY OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT

INTERNATIONAL STUDY ABROAD CENTERS OF AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

In recent years Study Abroad has come from the periphery to the center of Higher Education programs in the U.S. Students from across the world has been studying abroad in the U.S. for decades because of the advanced research and infrastructural facilities here. Compared to the international students studying abroad in the U.S., the number of U.S. students studying abroad has been negligible according to Open Doors data reported …

Messages Of Nationalism In Mexican And U.S. Textbooks: Implications For The National Identity Of Transnational Students, Danielle Lane Jerdee

Master's Theses

This study uses qualitative content analysis to compare fifth grade social studies textbooks in Mexico and the United States to provide insight on how messages of national identity change as students migrate between school systems. The following research questions will guide the analysis: Given that one of the roles of textbooks is to form a national consciousness through mythmaking, how do messages of national identity conveyed in Mexican and U.S. textbooks conflict? How are the topics of immigration and citizenship presented in each nation's textbooks? In what ways do differences in the accounts of history between Mexico and the United …

Cyberspace And The Defense Of The Revolution: Cuban Bloggers, Civic Participation, And State Discourse, Renee Naomi Timberlake

Master's Theses

In this thesis I address how Cuban bloggers are contesting state sanctioned modes of civic participation and censorship. I begin to address this question with a discussion of the creation and perpetuation of a state sponsored hegemonic discourse, followed by the alternative, counterhegemonic discourses which appear in the blogs of Cuban writers Yoani Sanchez and Claudia Cadelo. The two authors are tapping into the internet, overcoming state imposed, island-wide bans on their websites, and voicing their dissent against and frustration with a government that professes a discourse of solidarity and socialism while enacting a reality of inequality and market-based economics.

Gender Stereotypes In Public School Textbooks In The Dominican Republic, Karie Jo Karasiak

Master's Theses

In 1992, the Secretary of Education of the Dominican Republic set an objective of eliminating gender stereotypes that discriminate against women from textbooks (Díaz Santana, 1996; Mateo Diclo, n.d.). My research is a historical comparison of two sets of texts published in the years 1996-1997 and 2005-2007 focusing on visual representations portraying gender roles with the purpose of ascertaining if progress is being made towards this objective. I analyze a total of six books, three books from 1996-1997 and three from 2005-2007. The examined textbooks include two second grade Natural Sciences, two fourth grade Spanish, and two sixth grade Social …

Embracing Compulsory Education: The Case Of Singapore, Chaitut Roungchai

Master's Theses

Singapore is a late adopter of compulsory education (CE). Six years of schooling for all children became compulsory in Singapore in 2003 (Ministry of Education, 2009). Surrounding Southeast Asian countries passed compulsory education legislation in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Countries such as the Philippines adopted compulsory education in 1899, and Thailand in 1921. However, Malaysia, similar to Singapore, adopted CE legislation in the early-twenty-first century. In order to explain Singapore's adoption of CE legislation, we must look further into each country's reasons for implementing it.

Singapore reported in 2000 that its dropout rate was 0.4 percent at the primary …

The Educators Of Educators: An Evaluation Of Carnegie Foundation's "Very High Research Activity" Universities' Schools Of Education Professors, Joshua R. Polanin

Master's Theses

The field of education is diverse, its history marred with politically driven problems, and its research ill-funded and often disaggregated. Indeed researchers of the past have questioned education research's purpose (Kaestle, 1993) while researchers of the present doubt the field's ability to evaluate properly its current researchers and research (Hedges & Hans-Martin, 2009). Therefore the purpose of this thesis was to investigate and evaluate critically who education researchers were and what type of research they produced.

Using a nationally representative, stratified-random sample technique, this author distributed the Education Research Identity Survey (ERIS) electronically via email to 2,723 Schools of Education …

Short-Term Study Abroad Programs And The Development Of Intercultural Sensitivity, Barbara Elizabeth Zarnick

Master's Theses

This study focuses on the growing popularity of short-term study abroad programs and aims to determine the impact of such programs on producing intercultural sensitivity. A pre and post-departure survey were administered to undergraduate and graduate students to analyze students' perceptions of their own intercultural sensitivity prior to a short-term study abroad experience and after. This study uses the Intercultural Sensitivity Index developed by Christa Lee Olson and Kent R. Kroger in 2001 to assess the students' levels of intercultural sensitivity. The study reveals that this particular short-term experience had minimal impact on participants' levels of intercultural sensitivity, but illustrates …

Tradition To Acculturation: A Case Study On The Impacts Created By Chemawa Indian Boarding School Upon The Nez Perce Family Structure From 1879 To 1945, Arthur Maxwell Taylor

Master's Theses

Tradition to Acculturation: a Case Study of the Impacts created by Chemawa Indian Boarding School upon the Nez Perce Family Structure from 1879 to 1945

As a member of the Nez Perce Tribe, I have developed an interest in education of Native Americans and in particular those students who attended Chemawa Indian Government Boarding School from 1879 to 1940. For many centuries, the Nez Perce have played an integral role in the history of the American Indian Columbia River plateau people, as well as, in the history of the United States. As Manifest Destiny spread across the western frontier, there …

Building Citizens Or Building Nations? Alternative Visions For Learning History In Germany And The United States: The Geschichtswettbewerb Des Bundespraesidenten And National History Day, 1974-1984, Crystal Johnson

Master's Theses

The German philanthropist Kurt Körber and the American historian David Van Tassel envisioned a future where students engaged in discovering the sources and interpreting the past for themselves rather than reciting facts filtered by a textbook or teacher. Their ideas developed into two strikingly similar programs: the Geschichtswettbewerb des Bundespräsidenten and National History Day. These endeavors became models for similar efforts in many other countries. This comparative history argues that such programs offer provocative insights into the civic nature and purpose of history education. Inquiry learning and enhanced access to sources gave students opportunities to ask their own questions of …

Law And Its Order, Daniele Manni

Master's Theses

Daniele Manni

Loyola University Chicago

LAW AND ITS ORDER: THE PRIORITY OF ETHICS OVER LEGISLATION

IN PLATO'S LAWS.

Despite the fact that the Laws are almost twenty four hundred years old, their reserve of philosophically and politically interesting points is still copious and relevant for the contemporary reader. The present work is an initial attempt to analyze the nature of law as treated in the Laws and to highlight especially the reliance of the legislative sphere on the ethical sphere.

In spite of the many, and often painfully detailed, laws posited by the Athenian in the course of books VIII-XII, …

Reorientation Through Interruption: On The Relation Of Immanuel Kant's Modes Of Egoism To His Critical Philosophy, Giancarlo Tarantino

Master's Theses

The relationship between Immanuel Kant's anthropology, and his Critical philosophy has proven to be a notoriously difficult problem, both for specifically Kantian scholarship as well as for philosophy in general. This thesis attempts to investigate this relationship by showing the importance of Kant's modes of egoism at work in his three Critiques. In doing so this thesis will highlight the phenomena of interruption, and orientation as playing crucial interpretive roles for parsing out the aforementioned relationship. I will try to show that anthropology and Critique mutually interrupt, and re-orient one another's specific contributions to the major themes of Kant's thinking.

Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Clusters And Externalizing Problems In Young Urban African American Adolescents, Maria Ann Horn-Rollins

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between five posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) clusters and two forms of externalizing problems within and across the middle school years in a low income urban sample of young adolescent African Americans. A secondary aim of this study was to explore moderation effects by gender. Total PTSS positively predicted a little over 58% of the cross-sectional externalizing outcomes and uniquely explained between 5 and 12% of the variance in these outcomes over and above gender and exposure to violence. Total PTSS significantly and positively predicted one-third of the longitudinal outcomes and …

Predictors Of Mental Health Outcomes Among Foster Care Children Receiving Community-Based Services, Alison Merri Dunleavy

Master's Theses

Historically, children served in the foster care system experience less favorable mental health outcomes compared to those in the general population (Anctil, McCubbin, & Pecora, 2006; Burns et al., 2004; Garland et al., 2001; Zima, Bussing, Yang, & Berlin, 2000). As a result, the child welfare system has been described as a "de facto public behavioral health care system" (Lyons & Rogers, 2004), prompting state child welfare agencies to seek to put systems and policies in place to serve the needs of these youth, such as Illinios' statewide community-based program, System of Care (SOC), designed to provide multi-modal services to …

The Mirror Is Not You: Objectification And Eating Disordered Behaviors In Classical And Contemporary Dancers, David Matthew Doyle

Master's Theses

The current study extended the tenets of objectification theory to a population considered to be at risk for poor body image--professional dancers. Furthermore, differences in self-objectification and its sequelae due to participation in classical versus contemporary dance companies, styles with differential exposure to objectifying cues, were explored. Forty professional dancers and thirty-nine non-dancers completed measures of objectification and its sequelae. Differences in levels of self-objectification did not fit the predicted pattern, with dancers evidencing lower levels than non-dancers; however body shame levels were elevated among dancers. The proposed model of objectification fit both groups, with body shame mediating the relationship …

Creating A Balance In Sentencing Offenders: A Step Towards Restorative Justice, Lindsay Nichols

Master's Theses

Public sentencing preferences often determine the sentencing statutes created by legislators. Extracting public opinion is typically done through mass public opinion polls; however, research has found that these polls often produce misleading findings. In order to accurately dissect the various layers of laypersons' sentencing choices, a victim impact statement (VIS) and a statement of offender remorse were manipulated within a crime scenario depicting moderately severe crimes. A total of 215 participants were randomly assigned to one of the 16 conditions in this 2 (crime type: residential burglary or unarmed robbery) x 2 (VIS: absence or presence) x 2 (offender remorse …

Public Responsiveness To Victim's Recommendations In Their Sentencing Decisions: Role Of Victim's Race, Victim Impact Statement And Judge's Instructions, Mary Elizabeth Talbot

Master's Theses

A total of 191 participants completed the 2 (Race of victim: African American, Caucasian) x 2 (Content of Victim Impact Statement (VIS): Sentence Recommendation Only, Both Sentence Recommendation and Harm Statement) x 2 (Jury Guidelines for VIS: No guidance, Explicit instructions to weigh the harm statement with other aggravating and mitigating factors) between subjects factorial design study. The study assessed the relationship between the victim's race (African-American or Caucasian), the content of victim impact statements, and the judge's guidelines/instructions for interpreting/using the Victim Impact Statement (VIS) in the sentencing phase of a defendant's trial for burglary and aggravated battery. The …

Affection, Anger, Or Ambivalence? An Examination Of Tunisian And Two Groups Of American Students' Attitudes Toward American Politics And Popular Culture, Jonya Leverett

Master's Theses

Attitude ambivalence is the attitude actor's simultaneous possession of both negative and positive affect toward an attitude object. The competing affect produces tension, creating attitude ambivalence. In the present project, the attitude object is the United States of America. Students in Tunisia (a predominately Muslim nation) were asked specific questions about American foreign policy and American popular culture (n = 17). These two aspects of the `America' attitude object are expected to produce attitude ambivalence as the Tunisian students should express positive affect toward American popular culture and negative affect toward American foreign policy. A pencil and paper survey featuring …

Investigation Of The Effects Of Team Coaching, Performance Feedback, And Collective Efficacy On Small Group Performance, Rachael Nichole Martinez

Master's Theses

Research has demonstrated that there are a variety of factors that influence group performance such as team coaching, feedback, and collective efficacy. A study was conducted to determine whether consultative team coaching improves performance and at what point--beginning or middle--it is most beneficial to the team. One hundred eleven dyads, comprised of 222 students, participated in this study. The dyads performed a task twice in which they were given team coaching before the first attempt, after the first attempt, or not at all. In addition, feedback was manipulated such that teams received positive or negative feedback after their first attempt …

Knowledge, The Marketization Of Education, And High-Stakes Accountability: Curriculum Differentiation In Chicago Public High Schools, Paige Elizabeth Jessee

Master's Theses

Over the course of the twentieth century curriculum differentiation became a mainstay in education, particularly in secondary schools. Much has been written on how this is a purposeful selection process often tied to larger social and political status and relationships. Moreover, knowledge is largely deemed appropriate based upon whose knowledge it is and for what student it is appropriate. Also, within the past two decades, there has been an increase in neoliberal school choice policies and neoconservative standardization policies in public education largely in the form of charter schools and high-stakes testing. These market policies aim to increase innovation and …

The City Imagined: Race, Place And Identity In The Making Of Urban Church, Jessica M. Barron

Master's Theses

In this study, I will explore the racial and urban imaginary of church leaders and members seeking to create an authentic and relevant church for Chicago's unchurched, young-adult urbanite. In their quest to develop a relevant church, the varied imaginations of the city of Chicago by leaders, volunteers and members come to the forefront. How these imaginations are fostered, incorporated, rebelled against or dismissed brings to light the politics of imagining the imagined city. This paper will discuss these varied, dueling, and sometimes contradictory imaginations informing the construction, operation, and branding campaigns of Urban Church. Particular focus will be paid …