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Anatomy And Function Of The African Clawed Frog Vocal System Is Altered By The Brominated Flame Retardant, Pbde-209, Lisa Rania Ganser

Open Access Dissertations

Vocal communication allows animals to express distress, territoriality, and most important, to attract mates. In the African Clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, vocal communication is unique, because not only do males advertise for mates using elaborate click vocalizations, but also females are able to advertise their reproductive readiness by eliciting a "rapping" call. Sex differences in vocal repertoire match sex differences in vocal circuitry. During development, the vocal circuitry in the male grows increasingly sensitive to circulating androgens. Androgens induce tremendous growth in the cartilage and musculature of the peripheral vocal organ, the larynx. Net addition of synapses and motor fibers …

An Exploratory Study Of Adherence To Prescribed Health Care Recommendations Among A Community Sample Of Drug Users And Non-Drug Users From Similar Neighborhoods In Miami-Dade County, Karen L. Pierre

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation had three specific aims: to estimate the prevalence of adherence among drug users, to determine whether drug use was directly associated with adherence, and to assess whether factors drawn from the Behavioral Model of Health Care Utilization (BMHCU) are associated with adherence. The self-reported prevalence of adherence to prescribed health care recommendations in the past 12 months among the community sample of drug users and non-drug users from similar low-income areas in the study sample ranged from 53%-74%. Non-drug users consistently had higher rates of adherence than drug users, except for adherence to female health care recommendations, yet …

English Reading/Language Arts Instruction In First-Grade Classrooms Serving English Language Learners: A Cross-Analysis Of Instructional Practices And Student Engagement, Maribel G. Mora Harder

Open Access Dissertations

This study was designed to provide information on the reading instructional practices of 36 first grade teachers in nine schools that serve predominantly Spanish-speaking and ELL students in a southeastern U.S. school district. The purpose of this investigation was to describe teaching practices employed during English language arts instruction and to examine their use in relation to instructional grouping strategies, teacher language use, and student engagement. Participating classrooms were observed three times throughout the 2006-07 school year. Data were collected via the Timed Observations of Student Engagement/Language (TO/SEL) classroom observation instrument (Foorman & Schatchneider, 2003). Paired sample t-tests, multivariate analyses …

Existential Piano Teacher: The Application Of Jean-Paul Sartre's Philosophy To Piano Instruction In A Higher Educational Setting, Julia Vladimirovna Mortyakova

Open Access Dissertations

This essay uses existential ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre to provide a philosophy of college piano performance teaching which includes awareness of freedom, abandonment and responsibility as a prerequisite for student-teacher interaction. To set the stage for the interaction the study uses Sartre's philosophy, illustrated with concrete examples from the world of piano teaching and performing, to describe what it means to be human. The author applies Sartre's writings about literature to support the idea of an engaged performance, relating it to existential psychoanalysis, making the performer and audience member realize freedom through choice, while addressing ideas of abandonment and performance …

Strategies For Developing A Jazz And Contemporary Vocal Ensemble Sound For The Traditional Chamber Choir, Lisanne Elizabeth Lyons

Open Access Dissertations

A comparison and analysis of existing texts whose focus was jazz and contemporary vocal ensemble techniques, in combination with the information gathered from interviews, as well as the author's personal teaching and professional experience as a jazz vocal artist, group singer, and jazz vocal ensemble director, served as the basis for developing strategies for a jazz and contemporary vocal ensemble sound. The major elements found to be the most critical for inclusion in sequence include: commonalities and differences, sound system and vocal production, ballad interpretation, swing interpretation, and contemporary interpretation. It is the author's intention to design an easy-to-follow guideline …

Differences In Resting And Exercising Pulmonary Function Among Sedentary, Resistance-Trained And Aerobically-Trained, Early Symptomatic, Hiv-1 Seropositive Men, Craig C. Talluto

Open Access Dissertations

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 can compromise pulmonary function at all stages of the disease. The present study examined whether there were differences in resting and exercising pulmonary function among sedentary, resistance-trained and aerobically-trained, early symptomatic, HIV-1+ men. Forty five subjects, 15 per group, were enrolled. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed differences in demographics for age [F (2, 42) = 5.14, p

Digital Storytelling As A Cultural-Historical Activity: Effects On Information Text Comprehension, Maryann E. Tatum

Open Access Dissertations

New literacies in reading research demand for the study of comprehension skills using multiple modalities, through a more complex, multi-platform view of reading. Taking into account the robust roll of technology in our daily lives, research suggests that educators need activities to connect students' lack of reading skills with their growing multimodal literacy. During the post-reading phase of a directed reading activity (DRA), students were engaged in digital storytelling, where they created digital videos and slideshows based on information text read during DRA. Previous studies highlighting the use of digital storytelling have been limited to narrative formats and the influence …

"They Will Invent What They Need To Survive": Narrating Trauma In Contemporary Ethnic American Women's Fiction, Kara E. Jacobi

Open Access Dissertations

"'They Will Invent What They Need to Survive': Narrating Trauma in Contemporary Ethnic American Women's Fiction" analyzes novels by Octavia Butler, Phyllis Alesia Perry, Toni Morrison, Amy Tan, Alice Walker, and Julia Alvarez through the lens of contemporary theories of trauma, tracing the ways in which survivors struggle to construct narratives that contain and make sense of their experiences. Many of the major theorists of trauma studies emphasize the impossibility of re-capturing traumatic events through creating narratives even while recognizing that the survivor's need to tell her story persists. In my project, however, I explore the ways in which the …

A Human Security Population-Based Approach To Achieve Equity, Solidarity And Gender Sensitivity For The Population Living In Southwestern Bateyes Of The Dominican Republic, Eddy Nelson Perez

Open Access Dissertations

The present study was designed to contribute to the application of human security principles in vulnerable populations, using the Bateyes (sugar mill camps) from the Dominican Republic (DR) as a case study. Following the Robin Hood principle of using resources allocated for the identification and treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as a base from which to build infrastructure for other health and human security needs, this project sought to reduce inequalities and promote equal rights in a vulnerable population living in isolated rural areas of the DR. The impact of a human security model versus non-intervention (standard of care) …

Exploring Teachers' And Black Male Students' Perceptions Of Intelligence, Patrick Anthony Williams

Open Access Dissertations

This study explored teachers' perceptions of intelligence of 11th-grade Black male students and how students themselves perceived their own intelligence in light of Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence. Qualitative research methods were used to gain novel understanding of the students' and teachers' feelings, and perceptions as outlined in the research questions. Two versions of ecological systems theory provided the underpinnings for the framework of this study: 1) Brönfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, and 2) Spencer's PVEST (Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory) model, which is an adaptation of the ecology model to Black students in the United States. In a …

Peer Interactions And School Readiness In Head Start Children: Physical Aggression, Relational Aggression, And Prosocial Behavior, Ann-Marie Faria

Open Access Dissertations

The current study investigated the relationship between peer interactions and school readiness children enrolled in Head Start. The constructs of displayed and received physical aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior within children's peer interactions were examined through direct observation. School readiness was measured through direct assessment. It was hypothesized that aggression within peer interactions would predict lower school readiness, while prosocial behaviors within peer interactions would predict better school readiness. Sex was also hypothesized to moderate the relationship between relational aggression, relational victimization, physical aggression, physical victimization and school readiness. It was hypothesized that relational aggression and victimization would more …

Peer Victimization And Psychosocial Outcomes In Adolescents: Role Of Social Support And Disclosure, Lisa D. Bailey

Open Access Dissertations

During adolescence, peer relationships become increasingly important in various aspects of development, such as self-esteem and emotional adjustment. Unfortunately, a number of adolescents experience peer victimization, placing them at increased risk of emotional and behavioral problems. Research has consistently demonstrated the link between peer victimization and poor outcomes. However, exploration of the mechanisms underlying this link, including potential buffers of negative outcomes, is needed. The current study examined social support as a moderator of the relationship between peer victimization and maladjustment in order to assess whether social support from adults and peers protects adolescents from developing emotional and/or behavioral problems. …

Health Promotion Behaviors Among African American Women, Sandra E. Douchand Brown

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to examine and describe the relationships among health status, marital status, income level, education level, age, and body mass index (BMI) with the added influence of spirituality on the health promotion behaviors of African American women, living in South Florida. The sample consisted of 137 women, 18 to 64 years of age, who were born in the United States and whose parents were born in the United States. Each participant completed a demographic questionnaire, the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II), the Short Form-36 Health survey (SF-36), and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS). Descriptive …

The Co-Construction Of Self-Talk And Illness Narratives: An Hiv Intervention Case Study, Yvette Bueno

Open Access Dissertations

This case study investigates the co-construction communication patterns that emerged during an Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) intervention designed to reduce negative and critical self-talk. The transcripts of eight sequential acupressure and behavioral (SAB) counseling intervention sessions between a therapist and two medically nonadherent HIV-infected women were analyzed using Giorgi's (1989, 1994, 1997, 2006) phenomeonlogical method of inquiry. The analysis revealed three major themes: "assessing the present," "reviewing the past," and "forging the future," and eight subthemes: "safe atmosphere," "disclosure," "negotiating meaning," "releasing the past," "breaking the past-to-present pattern," "reducing uncertainty," "generating options," and "projecting images." Prior to the intervention sessions, …

Sex For Dinner, Death For Breakfast: James Bond And The Body, Brian A. Dixon

Open Access Dissertations

This study is concerned with the literature, films, artwork, and advertising associated with Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 and examines various representations of the human body that play an integral role in his adventures. For Fleming, the body is simultaneously a site of secrecy, revelation, contact, and exposition presaging the future of politics, culture, sexuality, and consumption. The various accoutrements that are common to the 007 adventures--including elaborate references to fashion, food and drink, sex, and methods of execution--accentuate and attune this focus. An examination of these elements and their bodily referents serves to reveal the extent to which these …

East Meets West: Chinese Reception And Translation Of Virginia Woolf, Guanglan Jin

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation traces the evolution of the Chinese reception of Virginia Woolf through historical contextualization and explores the cultural conflicts in the Chinese interpretation and translation of Woolf with special emphasis on her feminism from a cross-cultural perspective. It also examines Woolf s and Ling Shuhua's critique of the tyrannies in the private world in their autobiographical works. The two stages of the Chinese reception of Woolf parallel those of the western one. The first stage from the early 1930s to the late 1940s may be characterized by so-called "interaction" between the Bloomsbury and Crescent Moon groups. It includes the …

Nurse Job Stress, Burnout, Practice Environment And Maternal Satisfaction In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Katheleen Hawes

Open Access Dissertations

The environment of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is stressful for nurses, infants and families. Nurse job stress is related to burnout, workforce absenteeism, retention and turnover. The current national shortage magnifies the need to understand this critical care work environment in order to: retain and recruit nurses, improve job satisfaction, and improve patient outcomes. The study's purpose was to examine the relationships among the factors of nursing practice: professional practice environment, stress, and burnout; and maternal satisfaction in a 60 bed bay-style level III NICU. The conceptual framework was role stress. Role ambiguity and role conflict, forms of role …

The Effects Of Wife-Abuser Socio-Economic Level, Type Of Abuse, And Rater Gender, On Attribution Of Blame For Wife Abuse, Hayley Y. Golden

Open Access Dissertations

This study examined how wife abuse is constructed within the non-professional population, with an emphasis on the role of gender, as reflected in men's and women's differing attributions of blame for wife abuse to several possible causes (perpetrator, victim, situation, and societal attitudes). Fictional vignettes featuring married couples were used to vary two other potential influences on allocation of blame: socioeconomic status (SES) and physical vs. emotional abuse type. Four blame attribution scales in the Domestic Violence Blame Scale (DVBS) (Petretic-Jackson, Sandberg, & Jackson, 1994) served as dependent variables, with two levels of SES and abuse type portrayed in four …

A Validation Study Of The Misbehaviors Questionnaire, Racheal Taki Reavy

Open Access Dissertations

This study examined the validity of the Misbehaviors Questionnaire (MBQ), a revision of the Self Report Delinquency scale, which aims to diagnose conduct disorder (CD) and to serve as a valid measure for assessing misbehaviors. The MBQ further assesses whether each misbehavior involved the use of alcohol or marijuana, allowing for comparisons of substance-related clusters of misbehaviors. Participants were 190 incarcerated adolescents (85.8% male; average age 17 years) at a juvenile correctional facility in the Northeast. While incarcerated, they were asked about substance use and misbehaviors in the three months prior to incarceration, as well as parental, peer, and demographic …

Studying The Development Of Word Recognition Using A Pseudoword Task, Christine E. Sipala

Open Access Dissertations

Fluent reading hinges on automatic word recognition, yet little research has investigated the acquisition process with repeated exposure to novel words. In this study, elementary students in grades three to six were asked to read two-syllable pseudowords five times each (in varied sequences) during two sessions (n = 49). The goal was to study changes in speed of recognition across multiple exposures for pseudowords that were read accurately all ten times. The sample of students was divided into four groups based on scores on a standardized measure of word identification. Results indicate that although the most advanced readers in the …

Adolescent Gender Differences In Risk Of Alcohol Use, Jessica E. Nargiso

Open Access Dissertations

A significant amount of research has examined the complex set of ecological factors that are associated with alcohol use and abuse during adolescence. Much of this research has focused exclusively on males or failed to report differences by gender. Shifting trends towards earlier age of onset and earlier development of problems among girls highlights the need to explore these factors in both adolescent males and females. Three hundred and seventy middle school students completed self-report assessments of several ecological domains of risk (e.g., peer, family management, community) at two different time points (beginning of sixth grade, end of seventh grade). …

"All The World's A Stage": (Re)Familiarizing Shakespeare: A Study Of Romeo And Juliet In The East And The West, Beau La Rhee

Open Access Dissertations

This study analyzes William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1596) and his Globe Theater as well as John Gielgud's (1935), Peter Brook's (1947), and Tae-Suk Oh's (2005 and 2006) adaptation of it to explore how the play is retold, reinterpreted, and brought alive for new audiences through different cultures and through the theater of today. As the acclaimed western directors, the Korean director Tae-Suk Oh accurately interprets Shakespearean devices in the source text and employs methodologies drawn from his own culture as well as Elizabethan culture. He effectively relates the world of the play to the world of the audience through …

Exploration Of The Quality Of Three Measures For Assessing State Anxiety In Hospitalized Cardiac Patients, Kari A. Radford

Open Access Dissertations

For many years it has been documented that cardiac patients in the acute care setting experience episodic elevations in anxiety which often have a significant, negative physiological impact. The purpose of this exploratory study was to test three state anxiety short-form scales (NEWTEN - a newly created scale, Anxiety Scale - AS, and SAI-6 - short form of Spielberger's State Anxiety Inventory-SAI) for measuring state anxiety in hospitalized cardiac patients. Criteria-related validity was used to correlate each state anxiety scale with Spielberger's SAI, which is considered the gold standard and has yielded high levels of validity and reliability. The study …

Writing Ethics In The Writing Major: Rhetorical Applications For Plagiarism Pedagogies In The Collaborative Age, Daniela Antonina Ragusa

Open Access Dissertations

Due to the impact of online collaborative writing technologies on the field of Writing, an ethical dilemma exists in reconciling discrepancies between an evolving concept of authorship and competing definitions of plagiarism. My project argues for the curricular inclusion of an interdisciplinary course in Writing that bridges Composition to English Education as it examines important questions raised by uses of technology in the classroom. My project includes extensive literature reviews on authorship, technoliteracy, and plagiarism, as well as an attitudinal research study used to collect data from directors and coordinators of undergraduate Writing Major programs across the country Research participants …

Therapeutic Treatments For Children With Recurrent Abdominal Pain: A Multiple Baseline Pilot Study, Christine Barrett Sieberg

Open Access Dissertations

Chronic pain in children is a significant problem affecting about 15-20% of children (Goodman & McGrath, 1991), yet it is a neglected area in pediatric research and clinical service. Recurrent Abdominal Pain (RAP) is an example of chronic pain in children and one of the most common complaints of childhood and is associated with many adverse outcomes. Research has also identified parental anxiety and depression as potent risk factors for RAP (Garber et al., 1990). Despite the high prevalence rates of RAP, only 12 intervention studies from 1974-2006 have been conducted in this area (Spirito & Kazak, 2006). The primary …

Children Of Possibility: Children's Musicking In Communities Of Practice, Kimberly Cotter-Lemus

Open Access Dissertations

Inner-city youth are often labeled in social science research with the "at risk" construct, signifying the risk of anticipated failure based on children's (or families') deficiencies. In the context of an arts project, the inner-city students in this study demonstrated ability to overcome the deficient "at risk" label imposed by society. The year-long, teacher-practitioner research took place in an underprivileged K-5 elementary school in the Northeast. Using a sociocultural framework, I examined what happens when children in this school setting are given an arts project in which they are allowed to be self-directive. The arts project consisted of weekly participation …

Stereotype Threat And Implicit Attitudes: Implications For The Leaky Pipeline Of Women In Science, Karen E. Stamm

Open Access Dissertations

Historically, women have been under-represented in science disciplines. This phenomenon has been described as a "leaky pipeline" where fewer women advance to higher levels of the pipeline. A possible mechanism behind the leaky pipeline is stereotype threat, the fear of being negatively evaluated because of one's group membership. Stereotype threat can undermine the performance of the members of any disadvantaged group. For example, women may not perform well on science tasks because of the stereotype that "women can't do science."

This project examined whether stereotype threat negatively influences performance on an Implicit Association Test (IAT), a test that measures unconscious …

A Stereotype Threat Intervention That Examines Causal Attributions, Self-Efficacy, And Perceived Faculty Support, Megan Frost

Open Access Dissertations

Women underperform on math tasks in comparison to men when they are in a situation that is high in stereotype threat. Stereotype threat intervention research has found several methods for improving performance, such as allowing the female participants to attribute potential failure to an external source. This study replicated the results of a teaching intervention study that consisted of informing participants about stereotype threat, and asked that they attribute any performance-related anxiety to stereotype threat. All study participants were women. In order to make the stereotype threat message more salient, participants learned about the concept and theory by watching a …

Qualitative Examination Of Satisfaction With Three Expert System Interventions To Reduce Cancer, Jennifer M. Doucet

Open Access Dissertations

Expert Systems are computerized population programs that can provide tailored interventions for behavior changes. These systems have been used in various population samples throughout the United States, however, no one has qualitatively examined the experiences of participants. In this research, participants had three cancer risks (i.e. poor diet, sedentary lifestyle and smoking) and were provided interventions in one of three types of Expert Systems (i.e. Telecommunications, Modular or Integrated). The experiences and satisfaction of 56 participants across the United States using these Expert Systems were examined, with special attention given to demographic differences. Qualitative methodologies were employed to design and …

Making Room For One Another: Practicing Dynamic And Designed Dialogicality In A Kindergarten Classroom, Gerri August

Open Access Dissertations

The territory of this critical ethnography lies at the intersection of democratic, transformative pedagogy and differences that made a difference in an urban kindergarten. It is an interpretation of a democratic, transformative educator responding to sociocultural differences that emerged in the classroom discourse. Often, such differences lead to otherization. This study interprets the constraints and possibilities that encouraged students to recognize and respect difference. The kindergarten classroom is interpreted in the framework of activity theory. Drawing largely on discourse analysis, this interpretation turns on the interplay between two primary elements in the activity system. The first is Zeke, the kindergarten …