Digital Commons Network^™

A Classical Approach To The Traditional Sound Of Serbia As Captured During The Time Of Former Yugoslavia, Galina Dordevic

Theses and Dissertations

This independent study serves as an introduction of the Serbian folk music from the time of former Yugoslavia to classical musicians unfamiliar with its style. It provides research about its characteristics, heritage, and development, as well as the introduction to a few of many folk songs popular to this day. Furthermore, it offers arrangements and an explanation of the arranging process from the perspective of a classical music performer, which can serve as an inspiration and guide to other musicians interested in arranging music, as well as different styles of music.

Interrogating Digital Rhetorical Privacy On Direct-To-Consumer Genetics Websites, Charles Fletcher Woods

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses an intersectional feminist methodology and digital rhetorical analysis to examine data related to direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetics websites. This work seeks to better understand how rhetorical power is distributed asymmetrically through the use of DTC-genetics and through the privacy policies which prescribe user actions on the sites. I detail and advocate for digital rhetorical privacy (DRP), a state of being when a user is confidant their digital data is free from unauthorized observances by nefarious computer technologies and other users. Through analysis I demonstrate that using DTC-genetics technology for police surveillance is an unethical action and a violation …

Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status, Green Space, And Walkability And Risk For Falls And Fracture Among Postmenopausal Women: The Women’S Health Initiative, Marilyn Elizabeth Wende

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess whether neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), walkability, and green space impacts fall and fracture incidence among postmenopausal women, and to assess important modifiers for these relationships, such as fall history, physical activity, physical impairment, race/ethnicity, and rurality. Data from the Women’s Health Initiative study from 1993 to 2012 (N=161,808) was used.

SES had a significant relationship with falling after adjustment (intermediate vs low SES OR=0.99, p=0.0309; high vs low SES OR=0.99, p=0.1192). Study arm participation and fall frequency at baseline significantly modified this relationship. Walkability had a significant relationship with falling incidence after …

A Comparison Of Spatial Clustering Assessment Methods, Nadeesha Dilhani Vidanapathirana

Theses and Dissertations

Spatial clustering detection methods are widely used in many fields of research including sociology, epidemiology, ecology, and criminology. The objective of this study is to assess the performance of four spatial clustering detection methods: the average nearest neighbor ratio, Ripley’s K function, local Moran’s I and Getis-Ord Gi* statistics. We conduct a simulation study to evaluate the performance of each method for areal data under different types of spatial dependence and three different areal structures; a 20x20 regular grid, United States counties in six states and Canadian forward sortation areas (FSAs) in three provinces. The results shows that the empirical …

Examining The Cost And Quality Relationship In Medicare, Alexandria Fleming Delage

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the cost and quality of care dynamic among physicians billing under Medicare Fee for Service in 2018 to examine the relationship between quality and total cost of care at the physician level. Examining this relationship will advance scientific knowledge regarding the impact of increasing high value service use on healthcare costs and will provide insight in terms of expected cost outcomes of quality programs for healthcare policymakers (Salmond and Echevarria 2017; Williams, Brown, and Healy 2018).

Methods.

The study used publicly available data sets provided by the Center for Medicare and …

Patients’ Rights, Patients’ Politics: Jewish Activists Of The U.S. Women’S Health Movement, 1969-1990, Jillian Michele Hinderliter

Theses and Dissertations

As the women’s health movement grew out of second wave feminism in the late 1960s, activists demanded women be taken seriously as health care consumers and critics of male-dominated medicine. Health feminists aimed to fundamentally redefine the relationship between patient and practitioner. Jewish women helped found and sustain the women’s health movement, yet their activist identities are often separated from Jewishness in histories of health reform. “Patients’ Rights, Patients’ Politics: Jewish Activists of the U.S. Women’s Health Movement, 1969-1990,” considers the impact of Jewish identity on Jewish activists’ conceptions of social justice while also tracing their significant contributions to women’s …

Scaffolding Teacher Candidates In Developing Discourse And Acquiring Praxis, Laura Potuto Kaufmann

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines what scaffolding practices impacted how teacher candidates assume teacher Discourse and develop teaching praxis. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, Bruner’s Scaffolding, and Gee’s Discourse are used as a framework for this research. Using data from surveying and interviewing six new practicing teachers from two educator preparation programs, the qualitative analyses suggest that scaffolding through modeling, practice, and reflection have the strongest impact on how teacher candidates develop their Discourse and praxis.

Does The Tendency Of Loss Aversion Depend On The Level Of Competition? Evidence From Multilevel Esports Tournaments, Zeqing Mao

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the relationships between the level of experience, the magnitude of payoffs, and the significance of loss aversion within the context of esports. In the behavioral economics literature, loss aversion describes why individuals prefer avoiding losses to obtaining equivalent gains depending on a reference point. While previous studies predominantly capitalize on experimental methods to examine how the significance of loss aversion is affected by market experience and payoff magnitude, there is also a growing body of research that examines the behavioral properties of loss aversion outside laboratory environments, with sport being one of the most utilized settings. This …

Assessing The Power Of Policy: Deconstructing Declines In Child Marriage Around The World, Zackery Butler

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on research from the fields sociology and demography, this dissertation endeavors to deconstruct the declines in Child, Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM) around the world by assessing the power of international institutions to create and enforce global norms across a wide range of nation-states. I conducted three different studies on CEFM at different levels to better understand how international policy, the cultural composition of countries, macro level demographic trends, and the relationships between national leadership and international governance have effected changes over the last few decades beginning in 1980. I used comparative historical methods in conjunction with demographic techniques …

Inoculating The Public Against Misinformation: Testing The Effectiveness Of “Pre-Bunking” Techniques In The Context Of Mental Illness And Violence, Nanlan Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

The publics might be misinformed about mental illness due to frequently mentioned violence and inaccurate notions in news coverage that underlie people who have a history of mental illness are prone to be dangerous or violent. Drawing from the theories of inoculation and the psychological reactance, the author seeks to investigate the effects of using preemptive corrective message techniques (labeling, appeal to consensus, and provision of an alternative explanation) as on the method of promoting resistance to misinformation linking mental illness and violence, which is a harmful and unsubstantiated stereotype. To accomplish this research aim, the author conducted two experiments …

On Displacement And Music: Embodiments Of Contemporary Nubian Music In The Nubian Resettlements, Fayrouz Kaddal

Theses and Dissertations

Between 1961-1964, an estimated number of 113’000 Nubians, who were living south of the site of the Aswan High Dam, the area now beneath Lake Nasser, and Wadi Halfa, north of Sudan, were displaced to an area near Kom Ombo, 20 kilometres away from the Nile and 50 kilometres north of Aswan. This major project of resettlement occurred for the construction of the Aswan High Dam, Nasser’s signature mega-project. The 1961-1964 displacement was the culmination of earlier waves of relocation that Nubians witnessed during their recent history. In 1902 the British constructed the Aswan (lower) Dam by the first cataract …

How Do I Love Thee? A Latent Mixture Model Analysis Of College Dating Relationships, Aeriel Grace Halstead

Theses and Dissertations

Relationship researchers often assume that satisfying relationships are healthy, but is this true? We examined whether different types of college dating relationships exist if we analyze elements of relationship health that included not only global relationship satisfaction, but patterns of communication, intimate partner violence, and positive and negative appraisals of one's partner. To do this, we used latent mixture modeling in a large sample of students in committed relationships (N = 1935). Three distinct types of committed relationships emerged: unhealthy and unsatisfying (N=477), healthy and satisfying (N=703), and a group we termed healthy and satisfying but unimpressed with their partner …

Investigating Intersubjectivity Between Preschool Teachers And Children During Instruction: A Case Study, Andrianna Eleni Smyrniotis

Theses and Dissertations

Early childhood teachers attend professional development sessions, take college-level courses, or read articles, and will, at some point, be exposed to some concepts found in Vygotsky’s (1986) cultural-historical theory of cognitive development as they are deeply embedded in education standards, professional standards, texts, and journals throughout the country. And yet, some concepts, including scaffolding (Wood et al., 1976), are the result of misinterpretations and the assignment of a label over the years (Gonzales Rey (2008). A largely overlooked concept accurately relating to Vygotsky’s work is intersubjectivity (Trevarthen, 2008), defined as mutual understanding, among teachers and children, for concept development. Intersubjectivity …

Limbic Morphometry In Individuals With Schizophrenia And Their Nonpsychotic Siblings, Rachael Olivia Slate

Theses and Dissertations

The limbic system is hypothesized to play a critical role in pathophysiology of schizophrenia, with abnormalities thought to contribute to the expression of various aspects of the cognitive deficits and clinical symptoms. Psychosis is understood as highly heritable and family members, specifically non-affected siblings, while not displaying overt signs of the disorder, often exhibit features similar to those observed in patients, though to a lesser degree. The overarching aim of this project was to investigate the integrity of limbic circuitry in a sample of patients with schizophrenia and their non-affected siblings and examine its potential relationship with various clinical features …

Is Variability In Inhibition-Related Neural Activation After Sleep Restriction Associated With Eating Behavior In Adolescents?, Kimberly A. Barnett

Theses and Dissertations

The primary aim of the present study was to evaluate whether intra-individual variability in inhibition-related neural activation in response to sleep restriction is associated with eating behavior in adolescents aged 12-18 years. In addition, the potential moderating effects of sex and body mass index on the association between sleep and variability in neural activation were examined. This study employed a within-subjects crossover design that randomized subjects to both a 5 hours per night (sleep restricted) and 9 hours per night (well-rested) sleep condition for 5 nights, with experimental conditions separated by four weeks. On the 6th day of each study …

A Feasibility Study Of A Group-Format, Ecologically Oriented Neurorehabilitation Of Memory (Eon-Mem) Program In Older Adults, Kayla Michelle Frodsham

Theses and Dissertations

Older adults often show declines in subjective and objective memory performance relative to younger adults. One potential path for helping older adults with memory may be compensatory memory training programs. Compensatory memory training programs teach strategies to manage memory impairment. Traditional compensatory memory training programs tend to be highly specific to a task and often do not generalize to other memory tasks. Ecologically Oriented Neurorehabilitation of Memory (EON-Mem) is a method for teaching memory strategies that may generalize for efficient use in everyday contexts. We performed a feasibility study to determine the value of pursuing a group-based version of EON-Mem …

Beyond Mental And Physical Pain: A Non-Reductive Account Of Suicide, Aya Aly Ragheb

Theses and Dissertations

What is the stigma behind our understanding of suicide? What causes this stigma? Should suicide only be viewed in relation to physical pain, as medicine often views it, or mental pain, as psychiatry views it? Or is it a more complex phenomenon? Can we think of suicide as a rational act that is, on the one hand, independent of pain, without, on the other hand, reducing it to mental illness? I will argue that if we can, we can give a less reductive account of suicide. In this paper, we shall attempt to give an answer to the above questions …

The Facts Of Life: Professional Identity Narratives Of Expatriate Language Instructors In Egypt, Sierranicole Butler

Theses and Dissertations

This study uses a narrative approach to investigate the lived experiences of two expatriate TESOL instructors at a private university in Egypt. Through the use of observations and interviews, the researcher analyzed how the emotions and beliefs of experienced expatriate TESOL instructors influence, shape, and are shaped by their Language Teacher Professional Identities. Farrell’s (2011) Professional Role Identities codes were used. The study revealed that expatriate language instructors face a number of trying experiences when teaching students, interacting with colleagues, and taking on various leadership roles within their institutions based on a number of factors including their own beliefs, backgrounds, …

Challenges Facing Independent Cultural Actors: The Case Of Egypt, Reem Khedr

Theses and Dissertations

The independent art scene in Egypt flourished following the January 25 revolution in 2011. This study examines the experiences of Egyptian artists and cultural operators through a looking glass into the evolving democratization of arts towards cultural democracy from a global perspective and using the intrinsic and instrumentalist arguments regarding the value of arts. Furthermore, it employs a qualitative analysis of case studies of 18 cultural operators in Cairo and Alexandria, who work in different artistic fields ranging from visual arts to performing arts and academia. The results demonstrate that the cultural policy framework guiding the arts sector in Egypt …

Racist Securitization Of Refugees, Syrian Refugees In Lebanon: A Case Study, Hind Alhelou

Theses and Dissertations

With the growing rates of involuntary (forced) migration and even traditional migration (movement from one country to another in search of work opportunities, better lifestyle, study, etc.); the movement of these bodies raises their vulnerability to be constructed as threats. The same threat they are fleeing from is being attached to them as they attempt to seek security elsewhere. This intersection of migration and securitization studies especially emerged because of the interconnectedness of the world that is majorly facilitated by globalization.

Within this context, this thesis examines how Syrian refugees in Lebanon are racialized because of a securitization process perpetuated …

What Did You Say? Investigating The Relationship Of Self-Perceived Communication Competence And Mindfulness In Communication On Levels Of Organizational Trust In A Postsecondary Academic Library, Rebecca Jo Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

Successful educational systems are established, maintained, and cultivated on a foundation of trust. Effective communication among colleagues is widely accepted as a characteristic of groups who establish and maintain high levels of trust. Despite the importance of the relationships between interpersonal communication skills and levels of organizational trust in postsecondary educational settings, there is very little published on this topic. Further, no published research was located that examined relationships between measures of mindfulness in communication with levels of organizational trust in postsecondary educational settings. This study examined relationships between measures of competent and mindful communication with levels of organizational trust …

Disparities In Status In Intimate Partner Violence, Juan Perez

Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive public health issue that is unfortunately universal throughout different social groups and cultural contexts. The issue of IPV among Latino has recently caught the attention of researchers; however, studies pertaining to Latino men who have sex with men (LMSM) remain virtually unexplored. The objective of this thesis in sociology is to understand how disparities in ascribed and in achieved statuses among LMSM couples impact mechanisms of IPV, and if affective (e.g., emotional) and instrumental (e.g., financial) mechanisms shape the form and the severity of IPV. Furthermore, this thesis is aimed at filling a …

Aesthetics And Religion: Nietzche And Freud On The Value Of Illusions, Carlos Calderon

Theses and Dissertations

This work will examine the psychological function of religious belief, particularly their capacity to provide guidance and relief from the aspects of existence that prove troublesome. Religions, a culturally instituted set of traditions and practices, have played a significant role in shaping the development of civilization. The collective organization of individuals and the shared acceptance of values has made possible the formation of large and complex social arrangements, making existence for the human species a more bearable enterprise. Interested in the lives of the ancient Greeks, the philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, sought to apprehend the mystery of their deities as products …

Adjudicating Patriarchy In The Nationality Law, Muhammed Samy Ahmed Mr.

Theses and Dissertations

The Egyptian legal structure has long discriminated against women. Taking nationality law as an example, it is obvious that all consecutive nationality laws have ignored women’s right concerning passing on and acquiring nationality. Even after its amendment in 2004, major gender discrimination still exists. This is caused by the fact that the nationality law is only a part of the legal system. Consequently, its essence will not deviate from the patriarchal composition of the overall nature of the legal system. This paper argues that the existing forms of discrimination in the nationality law correlate with the broader legal environment. Hence, …

All The King’S Horses: Stable Administration In New Kingdom Egypt, Tessa Genevieve David Litecky

Theses and Dissertations

Horses were an important part of Egyptian society during the New Kingdom as tools of warfare, status symbols of the elite, and an emblem of the power of kingship. However, little is known about how these animals were trained and cared for, or who was working in horse stables and their roles. There are no texts or images that explicitly explain methods of horse management. Therefore, this topic has been generally overlooked in the literature. This thesis combines two threads of evidence to create a more complete picture of the organization, purpose, and function of horse stables and the treatment …

Combatting Street Sexual Harassment In Egypt: Policy Implementation Challenges And Way Forward, Noha Elyamani

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual harassment in the public space of streets and transportation is a major problem in Egypt for years now. The state has a commitment to protect women and girls and ensure their safety. This study focuses on the challenges and obstacles that women face when reporting incidents of street sexual harassment, effectiveness of the 2014 sexual harassment law, as well as the state’s role in curbing street sexual harassment in light of the reported challenges. The research was implemented through adopting a qualitative approach and conducting in-depth interviews with women who were subjected to sexual harassment and decided to report …

Poetry And Possibilities In Contemporary Egypt, Reem Badr

Theses and Dissertations

Egyptian colloquial poetry has historically been conceived of, by practitioners and onlookers alike, as a politically committed, subversive, resistant practice. In this thesis I explore how this poetry, with its complex inheritance, inhabits the realities of post-revolutionary Egypt. Throughout the chapters of this work I trace colloquial poetry in its more traditional forms, as well as in its more novel ones like Egyptian rap/trap, as it grapples with the reduced possibilities in the present. As it reflects and spawns a wider disillusionment with and refusal of politics and claims a reinvention of itself as a private practice, the poetry cannot …

Legal Construction Of Nationalism And National Identity In The Hashemite Kingdom Of Jordan, Zaina Siyam

Theses and Dissertations

Nationalism is an ideology that is not unique to one nation or one area, but it is a concept unique in the way it is defined. How it is defined and what it really is depends on where the definition is coming from. It is most important to post-colonial nations that relied and still rely on the creation of national identity and construction of an imagined community, in order to reach their liberation. Nations are imagined communities constructed through shared history, beliefs, traditions, and experiences that happen over different periods in time, between individuals that do not necessarily know each …

Contagion And Crisis: Narrating Egypt’S 1947 Epidemic In Literature And Film, Nada Maurice Ibrahim

Theses and Dissertations

In 1947, cholera struck Egypt causing around 10,277 deaths from a total of 20,804 cases within a few months. What does the cholera outbreak reveal about Egyptian society at the time? How did different writers and filmmakers respond to it? Although several studies have tackled epidemics and the emergence of medical and public health practice in Egypt from an historical perspective, virtually none to date have seriously examined Egypt’s 1947 cholera epidemic from a literary standpoint. This thesis, by analysing the epidemic through works produced about or during the time of the epidemic, offers a deeper insight into the event …

Beirut/The Other Side Of The City: The Impact Of Visual Texture Production Of The Lebanese Postmemory Generation, 1989 - Present, Mohamed Moustafa Gameel Ebada

Theses and Dissertations

In 1989, after the Ta'if agreement, the war in Lebanon started to fade, which ended years of one of the most destructive civil conflicts in the region with no decisive winner or loser. The year also marked the birth of a new Lebanese generation who did not experience the war in person. It is a generation of postmemory, a term Maria Hirsch coined to describe the reminisces of those who did not have a personal encounter with past traumatic events. However, it was not before February 2005, when Rafic Al-Hariri's violent assassination occurred, when the postmemory generation started to question …