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Violence In Schools: Expanding The Dialogue, Stephanie Urso Spina

Publications and Research

Introductory chapter to Smoke and Mirrors: The Hidden Context of Violence in Schools and Society, edited by Stephanie Urso Spina, Ph.D., published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2000 and is, unfortunately, still timely today.

Whatever Happened To Anti-Semitism? How Social Science Theories Identify Discrimination And Promote Coalitions Between "Different" Minorities, Clark Freshman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Redemption And Recovery: An Ethnographic Comparison Of Two Drug Rehabilitation Programs, A Faith Community And A Therapeutic Community, Daniel E. Hood

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This ethnography of long-term residential programs for drug users compares a therapeutic community (TC) with an evangelical Christian "training program." Using participant observation and life history interviews, it pursues three themes. The first is comparative and descriptive. It poses a basic similarity between the ideologically disparate programs. Parallels in program process and personal experience of "identity transformation" (conversion) are described. Despite the religious/secular divide, important similarities in anthropological assumptions are also identified. Contrary to earlier research, the singularity of the clientele is demonstrated. Other parallels include the ritual function of prayer and encounter, the centrality of selective biographical reconstruction, and …

Afterword, Exploring The Economic Meanings Of Gender, Joan C. Williams

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Foreword: The Future Of The Profession, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Similarities In Aggression, Inattention/Hyperactivity, Depression, And Anxiety Between Friends And Nonfriends, Kristin A. Clark

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Friendship similarities on behavioral and psychopathological characteristics have been proposed as being risk factors for maladaptive development, yet these similarities have not been thoroughly examined. The purpose of the present study was to examine the similarities within children's friendships. It was expected that friends would be more similar than nonfriends on aggression, inattention/hyperactivity, depression, and anxiety. Friendship similarities should also differ across grades, with similarity decreasing as grade increases, and across gender, with boys' friendships more similar on depression and anxiety and girls' friendships more similar on aggression and inattention/hyperactivity.

Two hundred thirty-four 4th through 9th grade students completed self-report …

The Effect Of Heat On Fingertip Sensitivity Of Meat Processing Workers, Brian James Finder

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Current research indicates that acute non-freezing cold exposure elicits short-term performance problems; namely reduced upper extremity temperature, blood flow, tactile sensitivity, and dexterity. However, various animal-related studies indicate that humans are at increased risk of incurring semi-permanent upper extremity nervous system dysfunction as a result of repeated cold exposure.

The purpose of this research was to examine various factors that may contribute to hand/arm nervous system impairment of individuals who work in a refrigerated meat-processing environment. The methodology used was primarily the Experimental Method and from studies conducted by other researchers, was driven by the following questions:

(1) How would …

The Factors That Affect The Implementation Of Enterprise Resource Planning (Erp) In The International Arab Gulf States And United States Companies With Special Emphasis On Sap Software, Saud Al-Sehali

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate and determine the factors affecting the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) in companies in the Arab Gulf States and the United States, using SAP software as an example.

A random sample was selected of 150 companies in the Arab Gulf States and in the United States that had implemented an ERP system using SAP software. Of the 150 respondents, 30 were companies from the Arab Gulf States and 120 from the United States. A total of 67 questionnaires were returned, a return rate of 44.7%.

The Statistical Package for the …

The Double Edged Sword Of Depersonalization: An Examination Of Depersonalization's Role In The Police Profession, Michael J. O'Connor

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The role of depersonalization is the central focus of this study. A major issue in examining the role of depersonalization is whether the present concept of burnout is an appropriate indicator of bumout for police officers. The commonly accepted conception of burnout is a process of emotional exhaustion that leads to depersonalization, followed by a reduction in work accomplishment. Depersonalization, by this conception, is a symptom of burnout. By definition,depersonalization is the psychological distancing of emotional and psychological trauma in stressful situations—a coping technique.

For police officers, depersonalization acts as a shield of emotional armor to maintain a sense of …

The Effects Of A Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Intervention On Irrational Beliefs And Burnout Among Middle School Teachers In The State Of Iowa, Shirley Anderson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) bibliotherapy intervention on the level of burnout and irrational beliefs. This study specifically examined the impact of a REBT bibliotherapy intervention on middle school teachers' irrational beliefs and level of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment, using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (Maslach, Jackson, & Schwab, 1986) and the Irrational Beliefs Test (Jones, 1968).

The subjects in this study consisted of 167 middle school teachers in the State of Iowa. These teachers taught sixth, seventh, or eighth grade or a combination of these …

Comparison Of Health Practices Of International Students At The University Of Northern Iowa Before And After Coming To The United States, Joseph Kwesi Ogah

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the health practices of international students at the University of Northern Iowa before and after coming to the United States (US). Also included in the study was a description of differences in the selected health behaviors by gender, age, marital status, residence type, place of origin, and length of stay in the US. A random sample of 81 international students from about 60 different countries (35% male, 65% female) responded to a 50-item health behavior survey in the Fall semester of 1999.

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was …

Load Optimization On The Wingate Anaerobic Test With College-Aged Females, Corey Steven Crane

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of the study was to determine which resistance loads would elicit maximal values of peak power output (PP), mean power output (MP) and fatigue index (FI) of college-age females. A second purpose was to examine the predictability of certain anthropometric and performance variables on the optimal load used for the Wingate Anaerobic Test. Twenty-one female volunteers, aged 20-27 years, performed a 10-second maximal cranking test, an area of muscle mass assessment of the thigh as well as three 30-second Wingate Anaerobic Power Tests (WAT) using loads of 75, 90 and 105 g/kg. The variables PP (W and W …

The Effect Of Color On A Controlled Accuracy Test, Kaori Araki

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Human behavior is influenced by the environment and color is one ever present factor in the environment. Consequently, the impact of color on performance cannot be ignored. Previous research on the effect of color on a fine motor skill has not been systematic and results are inconclusive. The purpose of the present study, then, was to examine the effect of color (green, blue, red, and white) on the performance of a controlled target accuracy task (dart throwing). Based on previous literature, it was hypothesized that color would have an effect on performance. The experiment took place in the Psychomotor Behavior …

The Effects Of Symbol Organization Strategy On Syntactical Language Production In First Grade Children, Daniel Thomas Baier

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is the process in which a person's disordered speech is augmented or assisted with communication technology. This study investigated the effects of vocabulary organization using branching capabilities of a high technology device on sentence construction. Information about vocabulary organization strategies might be important for addressing the language and literacy deficits that were noted in previous research with AAC users. The study attempted to investigate whether or not vocabulary organization in a grammatical sequence across one page or multiple pages would improve non-AAC users abilities to retell a story using AAC technology. Six students participated in …

Incidence Of Voice Disorders In Teachers Who Coach, Todd Allen Bohnenkamp

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Eighteen teachers who coach, representing school districts in northeast and southeast Iowa participated in this study. Voice recordings were analyzed acoustically, and perceptually rated to quantify voice quality. Videostroboscopy was used to visualize laryngeal anatomy and function to confirm suspected voice pathologies yielded from the acoustic data. A questionnaire was used to collect vocal history information from each coach. Utilizing these objective and subjective methods, it was determined that 39% of these coaches had a voice disorder at the time of testing. These coaches often would change their teaching style when confronted with a voice problem; however, a high percentage …

Identification Of Potential Molecular Biomarkers Of Cadmium Induced Stress In C̲Hironomus Tentans ̲, David Hunter Dyer

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The objective of this research was to identify potential molecular biomarkers by looking for differences in the mRNA expression patterns between cadmium exposed and non-exposed freshwater aquatic invertebrate larvae. In the future, genes that indicate sublethal damage to a population at risk could be used to monitor the degradation or regeneration of an ecosystem. For this study, laboratory reared Chironomus tentans were placed in a sublethal concentration of cadmium treated water and the genes turned on in response to the cadmium were isolated from a cDNA subtract library. Six genes were identified and two potential biomarkers of environmental stress, ferritin …

Impairment In Dichotic Listening Following Anterior Communicating Artery Aneurysm, Paul Michael Evitts

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Dichotic listening involves the simultaneous presentation of stimuli binaurally and was initially a method for determining cerebral dominance or laterality of hemispheric function. Since its inception, dichotic listening has evolved into a method for assessing neurologic pathology. An interruption in the central auditory pathways will result in a detectable asymmetry of dichotic scores. Impaired dichotic listening has been well documented in numerous neurological etiologies, but dichotic listening in patients who present anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysm has yet to be documented. Due to the location of the ACoA and the substrates of innervation, central auditory pathways responsible for the transmission …