Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Km Journal Content: An Assessment Of Trends (2000-2005), Donnie O. Harp

Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge management (KM) has been receiving ever increasing attention from researchers and practitioners, especially over the last 5 years. Consequently, some researchers and practitioners now believe that KM should be its own discipline and have established KM-specific journals in an effort to further this idea. Many of these journal founders believe that KM has emerged as a mixture of many disciplines and have written the goal of being interdisciplinary into their charters. This research reviews the KM literature published in KM-specific journals from 2000 to 2005. Specifically, using a content analysis methodology, this research reviews and analyzes the body of …

Cultural Stereotypes: From Dracula's Myth To Contemporary Diasporic Productions, Ileana F. Popa

Theses and Dissertations

This study is focused on a highly topical theme, which belongs to the pluralist practice of cultural studies, and aims at investigating a remarkable phenomenon of identity-shaping and cross-cultural exchange. Starting from an analysis of Dracula as the epitomized image of the Balkans (and of Romania, more specifically) abroad, this paper provides a comprehensive historical and (con)textual analysis of the myth, enlarged to incorporate it into the fictions of exile and to draw the reader's attention to the "demonic" dimension of the Balkan area in general, and the Romanian area in particular. The first chapter provides a theoretical overview meant …

Preliminary Research On Taiwanese Art Curriculum Design Based On Visual Culture, Jui-Jung Chang

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, art education has started an on-going discussion on the issue of visual culture. In the past few years this issue also becomes topical due to the necessity to improve art education in Taiwan. Currently, art education based on visual culture has become a very important concern in Taiwan. However, the concept of visual culture has its origin in foreign theories. In order for our art professional to remain independent, it is essential that Taiwanese art teachers begin to address the issue of how to properly incorporate the concept of visual culture into the design of our art …

Using Visual Culture To Address Gender Expectations In Middle School Art Education: Visual Art Curriculum Design Based On The Manga Ranma1/2, Ting-Yu Chen

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I identify and explore approaches to middle school art curricula that address the cultural expectations of gender in visual culture media. I use images from the Japanese comic Manga: Ranma1/2 to develop units of instruction with goals of engaging students in relating the study of art to their visual culture outside the classroom. The unit has three lessons that deal with cultural expectations of gender to help students become aware of understand gender differences in contemporary society. In the lessons, students examine how the Manga characters are depicted differently according to the character's gender. Also, the teacher …

Intercultural Communication Competence In Long-Duration Spaceflight Crew Interactions, Pratibha Kumar

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Ins And Outs Of School Provider Literature: A Multi-Year Content Analysis On Lgbt Youth, Caitlin Conor Ryan

Theses and Dissertations

This study is based on a content analysis of two primary sources: 1) literature published on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth in professional journals for school providers (school counselors, nurses, psychologists and social workers) over more than a 30-year period; and 2) materials developed for school providers on LGBT youth by states with laws, regulations and professional policies related to sexual orientation and/or gender identity in schools. Fifteen professional journals were identified that serve as primary and secondary journals for school providers. A total of 41 articles were published in these journals on LGBT youth between 1937 and …

Screening Soybean Genotypes For High Temperature Tolerance By In Vitro Pollen Germination, Pollen Tube Length And Physiological Techniques, Mohammed A. Salem

Theses and Dissertations

We are now witnessing changing environmental conditions and these changes will likely continue into the coming decades due to projected increases in temperatures on the earth surface. Recent model projections suggest that the global mean surface air temperatures will increase by 1.4 to 5.8 °C by 2100. The consequences of these high temperatures include reductions in crop yields. Soybean is one of the major crops grown in the US, where high temperatures (>35 °C) during reproductive growth decreased yield. Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of temperature on soybean pollen germination properties and identify responses to temperature …

Asian Indian Perceptions Of Normality: A Qualitative Study, Mohammed S. Lodhi Khan

Theses and Dissertations

Normal mental health has always been defined from a Euro-centric worldview that excludes non-Westem cultures. In fact, what is normal is biased against non-Westem cultural ideals that influenced the definition of mental health. The difference between Eastern and Western cultural values suggest that the two cultures may also have differing views on the definition of normal mental health. The most commonly accepted definition of normality currently in use in the West is based on the models of health, utopia, average, transactional systems, and pragmatism. However, people from non-European cultures, such as Asian Indians, may not be represented by these current …

The Impossibility Of Negation: Punk Rock, Christian Rock, And The Problem Of Negationist Subculture, Brian James Schill

Theses and Dissertations

Both the punk rock end Christian rock music subcultures have been the subject of analyses that cast them in “negationist” terms-as groups critically opposed to popular/secular culture. Despite their categorization of these music genres as antitheses, however, no analysis has gone so far as to read them specifically in the context of German philosopher GAV.F. Hegel whose dialectical model systematized the opposition of thesis and antithesis. Moreover, no analysis has juxtaposed the two suspiciously similar subcultures in dialectical terms, and theorized them in terms of their documented opposition to each other. Such is the goal of this thesis.

Therefore, beginning …

White Beauty: The Portrayal Of Minorities In Teen Beauty Magazines, Micaela Choo Banks

Theses and Dissertations

This content analysis examines the representations of minorities in the two most popular teen beauty magazines: Seventeen and YM. Nine issues for 2003 constituted the sample frame yielding a total of 620 advertisements containing human models. After setting up a theoretical framework of the new racism and White beauty, this study investigates the portrayals of minority models. Overall, when compared with earlier studies the number of minority models used in mainstream magazine advertising rose and the portrayals of minority models in prominent roles increased. Yet, the subtle nature of the new racism was reinforced in the following findings: Prominent …

Documentation Of Ad/Hd Diagnostic Practices In High Impact Korean Psychology And Psychiatry Journals, Ji Hee Hong

Theses and Dissertations

Diagnostic and sampling practices documented in studies of participants with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Korean journals were investigated. A reliable coding system was used under the supervision of a Korean psychology professor to analyze the diagnostic and sampling documentation practices in articles from high impact Korean journals. Interrater agreement was 88%. Articles in the Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology and the Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatry Association were reviewed and compared with one another and with archival data (Hartley, 2003) from leading American journals. Statistical comparisons were made between Korean psychology and psychiatry journals, Korean and American psychology journals, and Korean and …

Gender-Based Education: The Pilot Year Of Single-Gender Classes At A Public Elementary School, Myra Bryant Gillis

Theses and Dissertations

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires public schools to be highly accountable for dollars spent on education and for the achievement of students. To support this mandate, the law expanded local control and allowed schools to explore innovative ways to enhance student learning (U.S.D.E., 2004). Given the opportunity, some public schools have experimented with single-gender classes as an avenue for improving the way students are taught. Studies have indicated that separating students according to gender has a positive impact on learning (e.g., Haag, 2000; Maslen, 2001; and Sommers, 2001). Single-gender settings have also been reported to have …

Imitation, Not Limitation: Fan Fiction In The Classroom, Molly Wright

Theses and Dissertations

There is a dizzying array of syllabi for various advanced exposition courses. Many of these syllabi address student writing development issues such as clarity, style, logic, and organization. They also address traditional focuses as description, narration, information, and argument. They can include anything from grammar texts to cable news web sites as required reading, and they usually include reassuring terms such as "improvement" to remind the student that s/he already has the basic skills necessary to compose a quality essay. Assignments might include reading a model text for guidance in writing. Some syllabi encourage imitating those models in the form …

Sandra Cisneros As Chicana Storyteller: Fictional Family (Hi)Stories In Caramelo, Sally Marie Giles

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis discusses the ways in which Sandra Cisneros makes historical claims from a Chicana perspective by telling fictional family stories in Caramelo. Not only have Chicanas traditionally been marginalized ethnically by the Anglo mainstream, they have also suffered disenfranchisement as women in their own male-dominated cultural community. Both elements have contributed to the cultural silencing of Chicanas outside of domestic spaces, and particularly in historical discourse. Cisneros introduces storytelling as a means of empowering Chicanas through language that allows them to speak historically and still signify culturally. By telling stories from the site of the family, she ingeniously utilizes …

Such A Deal Of Wonder: Structures Of Feeling And Performances Of The Winter's Tale From 1981 To 2002, Elizabeth Marie Burt

Theses and Dissertations

Structures of feeling represent the interaction between personal lived experience and fixed social values and meanings, which are found in interpretations of works of art. Studying various interpretations of any play in performance can provide a point of access into a culture because the choices made in the production can be compared to each other and to the written text and then reveal how the theatrical company views particular issues within their own time period. This study looks at productions of The Winter's Tale between 1981 and 2002 at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Using numerous versions …

The Rhetoric Of Newspaper Rivalry In The Face Of Image Restoration And Transformation, Andrea Ludlow Christensen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a study of the rhetoric of newspaper rivalry, particularly under the pressures of image restoration and transformation. I use methods of critical discourse analysis to look at newspaper articles in Utah's two dominant newspapers, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Morning News. I compare a sample of news articles from each paper in 2002 to a sample in 2003, when the Tribune was working to restore its image after a scandal involving two of its reporters, and the News was working to transform its image as it transitioned from an afternoon newspaper to a morning newspaper. …

The Translator's (In)Visibility In Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, Amy Dawn Glauser

Theses and Dissertations

Transferring words and ideas from one language to another has always been a puzzling and difficult matter for those involved in it. For centuries, English-speakers and translators have dealt with these difficulties by enforcing, through professional codes of ethics and through publishing contracts, what Lawrence Venuti calls "the translator's invisibility," as chronicled in his book by the same name. By evaluating translation solely on the transparency and fluency of the target language translation (that is, by making a translation not seem like a translation), English translators and audiences assured that translators remained faithful to original authors' intents, or so they …

Contextual Relationship Model Across Four Cultures, Gary T. Horlacher

Theses and Dissertations

Research by a number of scholars working with different data has shown validity for a contextual model of relationships whereby a person's background characteristics affects or predicts her/his interpersonal style, which then affects or predicts her/his relationship satisfaction. This study tests if this relationship model is equivalent across four different cultural samples. This research also presents descriptive family data on a sample from Micronesia, a culture that has not previously been described in family science literature, compared to three other cultural groups. A total of 550 individuals from Micronesian (N=131), Hispanic-Americans (N=139), Non-LDS Caucasians (N=140), and LDS-Caucasians (N=140) filled out …

Informal Influences In The Process Of Idiq Contractor Selection For Task Award, Jason E. Blevins

Theses and Dissertations

The selection of a contractor for task award using the Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract often involves dynamics and relationships that are difficult to understand. There are unanswered questions that relate to how government agents define "best value" to the government. The selection decisions often differ between government agents. The government streamlined the acquisition process by creating the multiple award IDIQ contract. Government agents are relied upon to make sound business judgments in determining which contractor represents the best value to the government. Informal influences can impact the determination of the final selection of a contractor. This thesis attempts …

Survivor Artist At Work : The Fort Lincoln Haiku Poetry Of Itaru Ina, Carolyn Denise Baker

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Critical Audio/Visual Literacy : Composition In Light Of Film, James P. Kambeitz

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Fathers' Religious And Family Involvement At Home; And Work And Family Outcomes, Roxane O. Whyte

Theses and Dissertations

This study proposes and confirms two new predictors of work and family outcomes, thus far unexplored in existing work-family literature: fathers' religious involvement at home and fathers' family involvement at home. It is the first study to date to document that these produce a crossover effect to positively influence work-related outcomes including work-family conflict, work-family fit and job satisfaction.
Data come from employed married fathers and their spouses participating in the 2001 BYU Marriott School of Management Alumni Work and Family Survey (n = 210), all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Findings are that …

The Perceptions Of Graduate Students In Speech-Language Pathology, Teaching, Counseling Toward People Who Stutter, Renee Morin

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Building Hypertext In The Elementary School Art Classroom: An Integrated Approach To Learning And Curriculum, Talitha Church

Theses and Dissertations

In response to the many demands and pressures faced by both students and teachers in public schools, the art teacher in this action research study searched for ways to change her teaching practices to facilitate active inquiry. She utilized Thinking Maps®, a specialized form of graphic organizers, and Inspiration®, a hypertext linking program to promote interdisciplinary teaching and learning. The goals of the study were to increase student engagement, improve learning, and promote higher order thinking in elementary school art classes. The target group was comprised of the third grade students at Saunders Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. Each …

The Effect Of Traumatic Brain Injury On Expression Levels Of Ankyrin-G In The Corpus Callosum And Cerebral Cortex, Andrew S. Vanderveer

Theses and Dissertations

The ankyrins comprise a family of proteins serving as components of the membrane cytoskeleton, and participate in a diverse set of associations with multiple binding partners including the cytoplasmic domains of transporters, ion channels, some classes of receptors, and cell adhesion proteins. Moreover, evidence is accumulating that ankyrin participates in defining functionally distinct subcellular regions. The complex functional and structural roles of ankyrins indicate they are likely to play essential roles in the pathology of traumatic axonal injury. The current study examined changes in ankyrin-G expression following a moderate central fluid percussion injury administered to adult rats. At 1d, 3d, …

Parental Memory Predictors Of Children's Daily Diabetes Management And Metabolic Control, Sheryl J. Kent

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined, for the first time, specific links between parents' memory and children's diabetes behaviors and metabolic control. Data revealed that parental memory and responsibility predicted children's percentage of calories from fat and carbohydrates, and metabolic control, accounting for 7.3% of the variance in calories from fat and 18.5% of the variance in metabolic control for the total sample. These effects were stronger when limited to dietary behaviors of younger youth; parental memory accounted for 30.3% and 33.6% of the variance in percentage of calories from fat and carbohydrates, respectively, for younger children. Level of parent responsibility, with memory, …

An In Vitro Evaluation Of Chitosan As A Biomaterial Focusing On The Effects Of The Degree Of Deacetylation, Virginia Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations

The material characteristics play a role in the suitability of chitosan for biomedical applications. This is not surprising since the degree of deacetylation of chitosan influences antimicrobial activity, degradation rate, immune reaction and mechanical properties such as strength and elongation. This study examines chitosans of variable material characteristics for wound and bone healing applications. Chitosan films of 76, 78, 80, 87, 91, 92, and 95% degree of deacetylation were tested in vitro for cellular responses by fibroblast and bone cell lines. The in vitro responses were compared to the material characteristics of molecular weight, degree of deacetylation, swelling index, and …

Saudi Women's Society: Perceptions Of Saudi Arabian Women Living In The Upper Midwest, Philline M. Deraney

Theses and Dissertations

This research posed three broad questions about perceptions of adult Saudi Arabian women living in Midwestern states of North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Specifically, the questions explored were: (I) What were the women experiencing while living in the Midwest? (2) What did the experiences mean to the women? and, (3) How did the women interpret their experiences? The purposes of this research were to amplify the women's ''voices'' and to add to the limited base of qualitative research on Saudi Arabian women. Interviews and brief observations of 13 native Saudi women were the main for1ns of data collection, and rigorous …

The French Expatriate Assignment: Helping Accompanying Spouses To Adapt By Assuming The Role Of Anthropologist, Angela Marsha Williams

Theses and Dissertations

A common practice of multinational companies is to temporarily transfer employees to international locations in order to exchange technology, launch new ventures, and facilitate communication within the company. To do this, multinational companies must make a number of decisions regarding their expatriate programs. Even though international companies would rather stay focused on the professional performance of their employees without having to "meddle" in personal and family affairs, recent research has shown that the adaptation of the accompanying spouse is one of the most critical factors in expatriate assignment success or failure. By studying the available literature on expatriate spouse adaptation, …

The Effects Of Selenium On Estrogen-Regulated Gene Expression In Lncap Prostate Cancer Cells, Tory L. Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in American men and the second leading cause of cancer deaths. Supplementation with Se has reduced the incidence of prostate cancer and Se status is inversely correlated with prostate cancer risk. One molecular mechanism by which high Se concentrations may affect cancer risk is by catalyzing disulfide bond formation or otherwise complexing with reactive sulfhydryl groups in cellular proteins. The estrogen receptor (ER) contains cysteines in zinc (Zn) fingers that are susceptible to oxidation and internal disulfide formation, which can prevent DNA binding. We examined ER binding to its DNA response element …