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Measurement Of Disease Specific Social Support In Adolescents With Cystic Fibrosis, David H. Barker Jun 2010

Measurement Of Disease Specific Social Support In Adolescents With Cystic Fibrosis, David H. Barker

Open Access Dissertations

This study documented the creation and initial validation of the Perceived Adolescent Social Support: Cystic Fibrosis (PASS-CF) inventory. The inventory was developed from semi-structured interviews of adolescents with cystic fibrosis (CF) and measured both supportive and non-supportive behaviors provided to adolescents by their family and friends. This study reports the findings from these interviews, results of the pilot testing of the measure, exploratory analyses of the utility of individual items, and the relationships between supportive and non-supportive behaviors and important clinical outcomes, such as treatment adherence, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and other health outcomes. In particular, the study compared …


An Analysis Of Clause Usage In Academic Texts Produced By African American, Haitian, And Hispanic Community College Students, Wendy Brooks Jun 2010

An Analysis Of Clause Usage In Academic Texts Produced By African American, Haitian, And Hispanic Community College Students, Wendy Brooks

Open Access Dissertations

The growth of multicultural and multilingual student populations in community colleges has presented difficulties for instructors who teach academic writing. This study was motivated by the desire to understand the challenges faced by novice writers from diverse ethnolinguistic backgrounds, African-American, Haitian, and Hispanic, in a South Florida community college as they grappled with the register features which defined academic writing. One major challenge has been the tendency to transfer the register feature of clause structure typical of speech into academic texts. An analysis of clause structures using writing samples collected from 45 community-college students, 15 from African-American, Haitian and Hispanic …


Developing A Model Of Transmasculine Identity, Nicole L. Saltzburg Jun 2010

Developing A Model Of Transmasculine Identity, Nicole L. Saltzburg

Open Access Dissertations

Traditional psychotherapy with transgender clients has focused on helping gender dysphoric individuals assume an "opposite" gender role. However, recently, there have been calls for trans-positive therapy focusing on the exploration and affirmation of alternative gender identifications. The majority of the research on transgender identity has been conducted with male-to-female (MTF) identified, or transfeminine, individuals. Comparatively little attention has been given to the experience of female-to-male (FTM) identified, or transmasculine, individuals. The primary goal of this study was to explore constructs and identify underlying themes that transmasculine people use in constructing their gender identities in order to develop a structural model …


The Metacognitive Functioning Of Middle School Students With And Without Learning Disabilities During Mathematical Problem Solving, Carly M. Sweeney Jun 2010

The Metacognitive Functioning Of Middle School Students With And Without Learning Disabilities During Mathematical Problem Solving, Carly M. Sweeney

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the metacognitive functioning of students with learning disabilities (LD), low-achieving (LA) students, and average-achieving (AA) students within the context of math problem solving. Metacognition, that is, the awareness individuals have regarding their own mental processes and ability to self-regulate performance, is an important predictor of learning. Deficits in metacognition have been attributed to an inability to effectively balance the cognitive and metacognitive strategies necessary for successful problem solving. Students with LD have considerable difficulty with self-regulation. This study investigates three components of metacognition: metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive experience, and metacognitive skills. The differences …


Population Invariance Of Linking Functions Of Curriculum-Based Measures Of Math Problem Solving, Jia Huang Jun 2010

Population Invariance Of Linking Functions Of Curriculum-Based Measures Of Math Problem Solving, Jia Huang

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate population invariance of the true-score linking functions with respect to the ability subgroups (i.e., average-achieving students, low-achieving students, and students with learning disabilities). The mean/mean linking functions for five alternate forms of a curriculum-based math problem solving measure were based on the Rasch model. Most studies of curriculum-based measurement have reported only the reliability and validity of alternate forms of measures. This is necessary but insufficient for establishing alternate forms of curriculum-based measures. It is also necessary to establish equivalency of the forms. The present study was based on data from a …


Mediators Of The Association Between Risk For Mania And Close Relationship Quality In Adolescents, Rebecca S. Siegel Jun 2010

Mediators Of The Association Between Risk For Mania And Close Relationship Quality In Adolescents, Rebecca S. Siegel

Open Access Dissertations

Bipolar disorder is an extremely devastating illness, and increasingly robust evidence indicates that it emerges during adolescence. Also during adolescence, peer relationships, particularly close friendships and romantic relationships, become a central mechanism for social maturation and emotional development. The consequences of mania on the development of peer relationships have received little attention. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to examine the association between mania and close peer relationship quality in a community sample of adolescents. Two types of close peer relationships, close friendships and romantic relationships, were evaluated. In addition, the current study examined two potential mediators of …


Does Meaning Matter For Reading Achievement?Untangling The Role Of Phonological Recoding And Morphological Awareness In Predicting Word Decoding, Reading Vocabulary, And Reading Comprehension Achievement For Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners, Amanda P. Goodwin Jun 2010

Does Meaning Matter For Reading Achievement?Untangling The Role Of Phonological Recoding And Morphological Awareness In Predicting Word Decoding, Reading Vocabulary, And Reading Comprehension Achievement For Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners, Amanda P. Goodwin

Open Access Dissertations

This study examined the unique contributions of morphological awareness and phonological recoding to word decoding, reading comprehension, and reading vocabulary for 197 Spanish-speaking English language learners enrolled in the fifth grade. The study also explored the contribution of phonological recoding, measured by accuracy on a pseudo-word decoding task, to the prediction of the same components of reading achievement. Specifically the study explored whether the contribution of phonological recoding changed when morphological awareness and oral vocabulary (a mediator of reading achievement) were added as predictors. To examine unique contributions, morphological awareness was separated from phonological and orthographic confounds present in opaque …


The Impact Of Musical Background, Choral Conducting Training And Music Teaching Style On The Choral Warm-Up Philosophy And Practices Of Successful High School Choral Directors, Bradley C. Olesen Jun 2010

The Impact Of Musical Background, Choral Conducting Training And Music Teaching Style On The Choral Warm-Up Philosophy And Practices Of Successful High School Choral Directors, Bradley C. Olesen

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) Examine successful choral director beliefs about warm-ups and their successful practices in conducting warm-ups, and (b) examine the relationship of musical background, choral training and music teaching style of high school choral directors upon these beliefs and practices. Subjects were 365 high school choral directors from 28 states. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, multivariate analysis of variance and multiple regression. Results indicated choral director's beliefs and practices differ as a function of musical back-ground, demographic characteristics, choral conducting training, and music teaching styles. Specifically, warm-up beliefs were predicted by …


Social Influence Tactics Used By Physicians: An Empirical Study, Sheryl L. Alonso Jun 2010

Social Influence Tactics Used By Physicians: An Empirical Study, Sheryl L. Alonso

Open Access Dissertations

A field study was conducted to investigate patterns of influence used by physicians among a variety of constituents. Specifically, the association between a physician’s use of influence tactics and the level of power of the constituent was examined to offer insights into physician influence and leadership. Preliminary studies identified a listing of the constituents a physician deals with on a routine basis and then the level of power of each of these constituents was investigated. In the main study participants from each of four groups were asked to complete a questionnaire. The groups were selected to include one constituent group …


Social Influence Tactics Used By Physicians: An Empirical Study, Sheryl L. Alonso Jun 2010

Social Influence Tactics Used By Physicians: An Empirical Study, Sheryl L. Alonso

Open Access Dissertations

A field study was conducted to investigate patterns of influence used by physicians among a variety of constituents. Specifically, the association between a physicianâ??s use of influence tactics and the level of power of the constituent was examined to offer insights into physician influence and leadership. Preliminary studies identified a listing of the constituents a physician deals with on a routine basis and then the level of power of each of these constituents was investigated. In the main study participants from each of four groups were asked to complete a questionnaire. The groups were selected to include one constituent group …


Predicting School Readiness: Executive Functions, Problem Behaviors And Theory Of Mind In Preschoolers, Shira Kolnik May 2010

Predicting School Readiness: Executive Functions, Problem Behaviors And Theory Of Mind In Preschoolers, Shira Kolnik

Open Access Dissertations

Executive functions (EFs), specifically a child's ability to shift between two stimuli and a child's ability to inhibit a prepotent response, are a child's self-regulatory cognitive processes used towards achieving a goal (Garon, Bryson, & Smith, 2008) and have been found to predict later school readiness (e.g. Blair & Diamond, 2008; McClelland et al., 2007; Pennington & Ozonoff, 1996). The current study examined possible mechanisms, such as problem behaviors and theory of mind (ToM), through which executive functions predict later cognitive and social school readiness. Problem behaviors occur when children are not effectively functioning in social situations, while ToM is …


The Modern Pedagogical Potential Of The Baroque Natural Trumpet, Andrew Jay Roseborrough May 2010

The Modern Pedagogical Potential Of The Baroque Natural Trumpet, Andrew Jay Roseborrough

Open Access Dissertations

Due to a break in its practice and pedagogy during the Classical and Romantic Eras, many misconceptions regarding the Baroque natural trumpet remain today. As newly discovered instruments and pedagogical materials have become known and disseminated, a resurgence in the performance of the natural trumpet has occurred, but its practice is still often conceived as wholly separate from modern trumpet technique. This study clarifies long-held misconceptions about the natural trumpet, describes its physical, pedagogical, and technical traits in comparison with the modern trumpet, and demonstrates that its concurrent practice with the modern trumpet is not only possible, but significantly beneficial. …


Developmental Trajectories Of Attention And Their Impact On Language And Severity In The Infant Siblings Of Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lisa V. Ibanez May 2010

Developmental Trajectories Of Attention And Their Impact On Language And Severity In The Infant Siblings Of Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lisa V. Ibanez

Open Access Dissertations

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and their infant siblings (ASD-siblings), exhibit deficits in their ability to shift visual attention, and to initiate and respond to joint attention. The current study examined early associations between visual attention and joint attention, and between these types of attention and later language ability and ASD severity in ASD-siblings (n = 31). This study investigated the possibility that ASD-siblings, who are at-risk for atypical development, differed from infants who have an older sibling(s) with no evidence of an ASD (Comparison-siblings; n = 23) on the following: 1) means of visual and joint attention, 2) …


Nonreligious Coping, Religious Coping, And Self-Conscious Emotions As Predictors Of Expressed Emotion In Relatives Of Patients With Schizophrenia, Stephanie Wasserman May 2010

Nonreligious Coping, Religious Coping, And Self-Conscious Emotions As Predictors Of Expressed Emotion In Relatives Of Patients With Schizophrenia, Stephanie Wasserman

Open Access Dissertations

Expressed emotion (EE) is a measure of the family environment reflecting the amount of criticism and emotional over-involvement expressed by a key relative towards a family member with a disorder or impairment (Hooley, 2007). Patients with high EE relatives have a poorer illness prognosis than do patients with low EE relatives. Despite EE's well-established predictive validity, however, questions remain regarding why some family members express high EE attitudes while others do not. Based on indirect evidence from previous research, the current study tested whether religious and nonreligious coping and shame and guilt about having a relative with schizophrenia serve as …


Mental Health Status Of Asian And Latino/Caribbean Immigrants, Hua Lv May 2010

Mental Health Status Of Asian And Latino/Caribbean Immigrants, Hua Lv

Open Access Dissertations

This study examines how the migration experience affects the mental health status of recent Asian and Latin American/Caribbean immigrants. It analyzes the relationship between stress among immigrants and their adaptation patterns. Specifically, this study focuses on the psycho-social transition processes associated with migration, examining how disruption of cultural norms, and restructured lifestyle may lead to stress, or other mental health difficulties. In addition, this study highlights "transnationalism," a newly defined adaptation pattern of recent immigrants, especially among Latin immigrants. It focuses on "transnational activity" as a potential mediator of the relationship between immigration stressors and mental health outcomes among recent …


Identification And Impact Of Standard Treatment Protocols On The Impairments And Activity Limitations Related To Lower Extremity Lymphedema, Kevin Robert Kunkel May 2010

Identification And Impact Of Standard Treatment Protocols On The Impairments And Activity Limitations Related To Lower Extremity Lymphedema, Kevin Robert Kunkel

Open Access Dissertations

Lower Extremity Lymphedema is a chronic condition of characterized by swelling of body part. It is typically treated with Complex Decongestive Therapy (CDT) to reduce volume. While volume reduction is the primary goal of the treatment, third party payers often require the presence of activity limitations in order to qualify for coverage. The purpose of this dissertation was to identify the types of impairments and functional limitations that occur in this population. A second goal was to determine if volume reduction from CDT is sufficient to resolve the impairments and activity limitations associated with lymphedema, or if traditional physical therapy …


A New Paradigm To Reduce Nursing Rate Impact On Healthservice Organizations (Hsos) Through Hedging, Deisell Martinez May 2010

A New Paradigm To Reduce Nursing Rate Impact On Healthservice Organizations (Hsos) Through Hedging, Deisell Martinez

Open Access Dissertations

Nursing costs account for over 50% of Health Service Organizations budgetary expenses. In a financially contracting Healthcare market that is amidst the focus of current National and International economic concerns and political agenda, here a counter-intuitive method to minimize exposure to rising nursing costs. Healthcare’s conundrum is marked by rising nursing costs, growing patient population, rising uninsured rates and decreasing insurance reimbursements. Participants traditionally focus on nurse staffing to minimize costs, but in its inextricable link to scheduling, budgets are often inaccurately projected as compared to actual staffing quantities and costs; this is largely due to front-line staffing policies and …


Stress And Coping In The Prediction Of Psychological Distress Among Hiv-Seropositive African American Women, Indira Leila Abraham-Pratt May 2010

Stress And Coping In The Prediction Of Psychological Distress Among Hiv-Seropositive African American Women, Indira Leila Abraham-Pratt

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine general life stressors and emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies as prospective predictors of psychological distress in a sample of 209, low-income, urban, HIV-positive, African-American women. A secondary aim was to determine whether coping strategies mediated the relationship between life stressors and psychological distress. This study involved a secondary data analysis from a longitudinal National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded, randomized, family therapy efficacy study (Structural Ecosystems Therapy [SET]; Szapocznik et al., 2004). Participants completed self-report measures, including the Brief Symptom Inventory, Brief Cope (adapted), and Difficult Life Circumstances, as measures of psychological …


A Conductor's Insight Into Performance And Interpretive Issues In Give Us This Day By David Maslanka, Lauren Denney Wright May 2010

A Conductor's Insight Into Performance And Interpretive Issues In Give Us This Day By David Maslanka, Lauren Denney Wright

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this essay is to provide performance and interpretive background and suggestions for David Maslanka's Give Us This Day. This essay serves as the first significant research document on the work and is intended as a source for musicians seeking information about the work. The essay includes a biography of David Maslanka, as well as descriptions of the history and commissioning of Give Us This Day, its compositional process, and its performance and interpretive issues. Information was accumulated through interviews with David Maslanka, Gary D. Green, director of bands at the University of Miami, and the consortium head, …


The Empirical Testing Of Musical Performance Assessment Paradigm, Brian E. Russell May 2010

The Empirical Testing Of Musical Performance Assessment Paradigm, Brian E. Russell

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test a hypothesized model of aurally perceived performer-controlled musical factors that influence assessments of performance quality. Previous research studies on musical performance constructs, musical achievement, musical expression, and scale construction were examined to identify the factors that influence assessments of performance quality. A total of eight factors were identified: tone, intonation, rhythmic accuracy, articulation, tempo, dynamics, timbre, and interpretation. These factors were categorized as either technique or musical expression factors. Items representing these eight variables were chosen from previous research on scale development. Additional items, along with researcher created items, were also chosen …


Betrayals, Secrets, And Lies: Unfaithful Reading In Modernist Undecidability, Lucas H. Harriman May 2010

Betrayals, Secrets, And Lies: Unfaithful Reading In Modernist Undecidability, Lucas H. Harriman

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation presents an argument for the ethical value of a reader's inability to fully comprehend works by Jorge Luis Borges, G.K. Chesterton, William Faulkner, and Brian O'Nolan (aka Flann O'Brien). Such texts demand creative engagement by the reader which could be described as a necessary betrayal of the text. Viewed in the context of the so-called "ethical turn" in literary theory, the revaluation of infidelity accomplished by such unfaithful reading can foster a greater openness toward the unknown, and ultimately unknowable, other. Similarly, by juxtaposing the work of Faulkner, a canonical modernist writer, with more nontraditional writers such as …


The Politics And Poetics Of Ekphrasis In Nineteenth-Century French Art Novels, Sabrina E. Draï Wengier May 2010

The Politics And Poetics Of Ekphrasis In Nineteenth-Century French Art Novels, Sabrina E. Draï Wengier

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation explores how literary descriptions of visual artworks affect the narrative and descriptive fabric of a text. The novels I examine operate on three textual levels: the painter's creative struggles, his amorous entanglements with his model and/or the painted women of his canvas, and his aesthetic claims to revolutionize painting. My project argues that ekphrasis is a translational mode that takes two forms: the traditional, "contained" description of a visual artwork; and a mode of writing that pervades the entire text and emulates the characteristics of painting. For example, Balzac's "Le Chef d'oeuvre inconnu" and the Goncourts' Manette Salomon …


Subclinical Vascular Brain Damage, Vascular Risk Factors, And Depression In Successful Cognitive Aging, Jessica R.L. Warsch May 2010

Subclinical Vascular Brain Damage, Vascular Risk Factors, And Depression In Successful Cognitive Aging, Jessica R.L. Warsch

Open Access Dissertations

Currently, about one in every eight Americans is age 65 or older; by the year 2050, it will be one in five people. Given this graying of the population, research into successful aging is of increasing relevance. The question of how to precisely define successful aging, however, has not been completely answered. Likewise, the role of vascular risk factors, subclinical vascular brain damage, and other biopsychosocial characteristics in normal cognitive aging are not well understood. This Dissertation focused on the identification of some of the physiological, behavioral, and social risk factors that distinguish people able to maintain extraordinary health at …


The Elements Of American Vernacular In Three Selected Chamber Works Of Libby Larsen: Holy Roller; Barn Dances; And Trio For Piano And Strings, Mary Alice Domenica Apr 2010

The Elements Of American Vernacular In Three Selected Chamber Works Of Libby Larsen: Holy Roller; Barn Dances; And Trio For Piano And Strings, Mary Alice Domenica

Open Access Dissertations

The focus of this essay is a discussion of Libby Larsen's relationship with American vernacular musical expression in her piano chamber music works. This essay examines three works that are representative of the wide range of influences in her piano chamber music: Holy Roller for Alto Saxophone and Piano; Barn Dances for Flute, Clarinet, and Piano; and Trio for Piano and Strings for Violin, Cello, and Piano. They are inspired, respectively, by three different genres of American music: gospel, Western square dance, and jazz. In so doing, this essay discusses Larsen's use of musical quotations, idiomatic harmonic elements, and patterns …


A Comparison Of Modern Longitudinal Change Models With An Examination Of Alternative Error Covariance Structures, Jaime L. Maerten-Rivera Apr 2010

A Comparison Of Modern Longitudinal Change Models With An Examination Of Alternative Error Covariance Structures, Jaime L. Maerten-Rivera

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to compare results from two approaches to measuring change over time. The multilevel model (MLM) and latent growth model (LGM) were imposed and the parameter estimates were compared, along with model fit. The study came out of education and used data collected from 191 teachers as part of a professional development intervention in science, which took place over four years. There were missing data as a result of teacher attrition. Teachers reported use of reform-oriented practices (ROP) was used as the outcome, and teacher-level variables were examined for their impact on initial ROP and …


Family Factors As A Modifier Of Individual Differences In Children With Higher Functioning Autism And Their Families, Nicole Elyse Zahka Apr 2010

Family Factors As A Modifier Of Individual Differences In Children With Higher Functioning Autism And Their Families, Nicole Elyse Zahka

Open Access Dissertations

This study investigated the impact of family factors on individual differences in the social and emotional development of children with autism and their families. Based on the modifier model hypothesis suggested by Mundy, Henderson, Inge, and Coman (2007), family factors may serve as a modifier that contributes to the variability in the phenotypic presentation of children with higher functioning autism. Results indicated that Expressed Emotion (EE) was associated with parent-reported hyperactivity and anxiety in children and adolescents. Family cohesion was associated with parent-reported aggression and depression. These results differed for typically developing and HFA children; higher EE or lower cohesion …


A Transdiagnostic Model Of Suicidal Ideation And Suicide Attempts, Lori R. Eisner Jan 2010

A Transdiagnostic Model Of Suicidal Ideation And Suicide Attempts, Lori R. Eisner

Open Access Dissertations

Suicide is one of the most tragic issues in mental health. Suicide has traditionally been studied as an outcome of specific psychiatric disorders. The goal of this study was to consider whether there might be underlying dimensions across psychiatric disorders that are related to suicidality. This study proposed a transdiagnostic model of suicidality. Psychiatric symptoms were hypothesized to load onto three factors: Negative Mood, Impulsivity, and Arousal. Factors were then examined as predictors of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Data were drawn from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication Study (NCS-R). Structured interviews were conducted in two parts using the Composite International …


Building Resilience To Coastal Disasters: An Assessment Of Social Resilience During Recovery After The Indian Ocean Tsunami In Thailand, Dawn M. Kotowicz Jan 2010

Building Resilience To Coastal Disasters: An Assessment Of Social Resilience During Recovery After The Indian Ocean Tsunami In Thailand, Dawn M. Kotowicz

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to evaluate changes in social resilience to coastal disasters in the coastal community of Suk Sumran in Thailand during recovery from the Indian Ocean tsunami. Specifically, the objective of this research is to determine if there was an increase in indicators of social resilience during the two years of recovery following the disaster. The assessment included an examination of the design of a sub-set of projects implemented during the recovery effort, description of the socio-economic changes related to social resilience over the course of recovery and an exploration of the perceptions related to social …


Predictors Of College Persistence: Learning Strategies, Use Of Campus Services, And Beliefs About Intelligence, Mailee Ong Xiong Kue Jan 2010

Predictors Of College Persistence: Learning Strategies, Use Of Campus Services, And Beliefs About Intelligence, Mailee Ong Xiong Kue

Open Access Dissertations

Minority college student enrollment has doubled from 15 to 32 percent within the past thirty years (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009b), with the growth expecting to continue into the near future. While there are gains in the enrollment of minority students in higher education, there remains a completion gap for minority students. This study examined the role of learning strategies, use of campus services and beliefs about intelligence on college persistence of 203 minority and 571 non-minority undergraduate students from the University of Rhode Island. Survey results revealed significant differences in use and trust of campus services and beliefs …


Mitigations Of Shame: Represented And Elicited Affect In Vietnam War Films Of The Late 1980s, Bryan D. Marinelli Jan 2010

Mitigations Of Shame: Represented And Elicited Affect In Vietnam War Films Of The Late 1980s, Bryan D. Marinelli

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the extent to which select Vietnam War films of the late 1980s can be properly labeled as "shame-inducing texts." Beginning with an analysis of the ways in which shame has been represented and mitigated, the project then seeks to understand the degree to which these films elicited shame in viewing audiences. Chapter One delineates the properties of shame that are foundational to the study and offers a rationale for selecting Vietnam films of the late 1980s as focal texts. Chapter Two examines Full Metal Jacket's (1987) rendering of the methods used to neutralize shame in Marine recruits, …