Digital Commons Network^™

An Exploration Of Critical Thinking And Processing In Cardiac Nurses' Practice, Nancy Phoenix Bittner

Open Access Dissertations

The need and demand for critical thinking in cardiac nursing and practice in general is well documented in the nursing literature. However, little attention has been given to solidifying a definition or describing critical thinking as it occurs in practice. In an initial fieldwork project of one experienced nurse in a cardiac rehabilitation setting, an eight-phase process (reference point, congruency check, active questioning, additional gathering, cueing congruency, weighing and selection, action and follow-up/self-evaluation) was identified. It involved both mental and behavioral activities and prompted the renaming of critical thinking to critical processing, as a more encompassing label. The aim of …

Leading The Assembly Is Pastoral, Virgil C. Funk

Institute of Liturgical Studies Occasional Papers

(Excerpt)

I should begin, I think, by explaining a bit about what I mean by "pastoral" when we speak about leading the assembly. We got a phone call once at the National Association of Pastoral Musicians from a scholar who was researching the folk music of Greek shepherds, and he thought that we might be of some help, since we are also interested in things "pastoral." That isn't the "pastoral" that I have in mind! Instead, my vision of pastoral leadership is rooted in the story at the end of John's gospel where Jesus asks Peter three times, "Simon, son …

Providing Phonemic Awareness Instruction To Pre-First Graders: An Extended-Year Kindergarten Program, Thomas Terrence Cleary

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation presents a longitudinal study of kindergartners who participated in a summer instructional program. The study addressed the question: To what extent does an extended school year program for kindergartners, featuring phonemic awareness instruction, improve children's reading proficiency in the 1st and 2nd grade? Utilizing two district made surveys, the Phonemic Awareness Interview (PAI) and the Literacy Curriculum Scale (LCS) as pre-tests, 62 children from the 1997-1998 kindergarten cohort of 238 children were identified as exhibiting literacy and phonemic awareness deficits; they were invited to participate in the Kinder Camp Program. Of the 62 children invited 40 elected to …

Movin' On Up To The 21st Century: Multiculturalism… Making The Abstract Applied, Vonda Dionne Jones-Hudson

Open Access Dissertations

The following evaluative study looks at a psychology department's organizational development and change process. Using the Multicultural Environment Inventory (MEI) (Pope-Davis & Liu, 1995), the Departmental Cross Reference to the MEI (DCR-MEI) (Jones-Hudson, 1997), and a short version of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Reynolds, 1982), this research assessed the psychometric properties of the surveys and the effects of the 3-year intervention designed to assist the University of Rhode Island's Psychology Department in its journey towards multicultural proficiency. Using information from an initial consult in 1995, data was collected in 1998 to measure change specific to the environment and curricula …

Cultural Conditioning And Mother/Daughter Conflicts In The Development Of Identity And Voice: The Autobiographical Fiction Of Dorothy Allison, Wan-So Pak, And Maxine Hong Kingston, Eunjoo Woo

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the fictionalized autobiographies of three women writers from different cultures and ethnicities and analyzes the development of female identity, subjectivity, and voice through the mother/daughter relationships in Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out Of Carolina, Wan-So Pak's The Naked Tree and Mother's Stake 1, and Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior. These three women writers introduce the mother/daughter conflicts and suggest ways to reconcile with each other or to solve their problems in their particular and cultural contexts. Also, in spite of their cultural differences, all three women writers share their belief that the process of the daughter's search …

An Actor's Process Of Performing The Duke Of Buckingham In William Shakespeare's "Richard Iii"., Sean T. Cercone

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis traces an actor’s journey of their craft throughout the process of William Shakespeare’s Richard III. The thesis begins with the manner by which the actor researches the play. The research informs the actor’s choice as to what character he/she will audition for. It then traces the audition preparation and the casting. The research is then reviewed and revised based on the casting of the play. The actor then creates a character biography in order to understand the complete set of given circumstances surrounding their character. The text analysis assists the actor in discovering information about the character specifically …

Israel's 1982 Invasion Of Lebanon: Israeli Blunders, American Hypocracy, And Lebanese Selfishness., Lloyd Robert Coughenour Iv

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

On June 6, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon. Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was the invasion’s planner. Some American officials backed the invasion, because the PLO and Syria had obtained weapons from the Soviets. The United States also had a history of aiding Israel. Nevertheless, America attempted to make peace between Israel and its enemies. The United States sent marines to Lebanon twice. On October 23, 1983, 241 Americans were killed in a bombing attributed to an Iranian-supported group. On February 8, 1984, President Reagan withdrew American forces to ships off shore. This paper discusses three aspects of the Israeli invasion of …

Departure: A Novella And Other Stories., William Matthew Carter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Departure: A Novella and Other Stories is my master’s thesis written during the fall semester of 2000. The novella and two of the stories are original works created during this time. The remaining stories were written during various fiction workshops. The stories and novella all deal with individuals coming to the precipice of a major experience in their lives. My work deals with the psychological or worldly concerns these characters must ponder in deciding whether to withdraw, act, or leap from their precipice. Some themes I explore in this work as a whole include addictions, homelessness, death, and physical, mental, …

Social Exchange Theory, Interpersonal Communication Motives, And Volunteerism: Identifying Motivation To Volunteer And The Rewards And Costs Associated., Michael Wesley Corrigan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The research objective of this study was to identify the motives behind an individual’s reasons for volunteering and discuss the equilibrium of rewards versus costs needed in order to sustain and better manage volunteer staffs. The participants for this study were drawn from a sample population of 177 individuals from three states (Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia) who actively participated as volunteers. The sample participants were active volunteers in six different organizations that assisted hospital patients, underprivileged or at-risk youth, church related concerns, schools, and other miscellaneous services. Answers to the research questions proposed in this study offered a start …

Vocabulary Cards As A Strategy For Vocabulary Acquisition Of English As A Second Language: The Learners' Perspectives., Maria Teresa Barbosa Das Neves

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The use of vocabulary cards has been advocated by various authors (Gairns and Redman, 1986; McCarthy, 1990; Schmitt and Schmitt, 1995; Hopkins and Bean, 1997) as a strategy to enhance vocabulary acquisition in both first language and second language acquisition. However, there has not been much focus on the students’ perspectives of this strategy. The present study examines the learners’ perspectives of the use of vocabulary cards as a vocabulary learning strategy with special emphasis given to the use of drawing as a strategy. Data were collected via a questionnaire, in class observation and interviews with both learners and instructors. …

Consonance: Creating Pots, Inviting Intimacy., Holly Winterhalter Adams

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis documents my journey as a graduate student in ceramics. Refining my skills at the potter’s wheel and finding a clay body and glaze palette that suit my personal aesthetic have been the central focus of my graduate studies. My work is informed primarily by pots made during China’s Sung Dynasty, as well as from forms and textures I observe in the natural world. I strive to make work that celebrates the tactile qualities of clay, creates a sense of consonance between the user and the pot, and facilitates a change from our everyday, habitual awareness into a reflective …

The Effects Of Personality Traits On General Disclosiveness., Aaron Douglas Johnson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential relationship between an individual’s temperament and her/his general disclosiveness. This study utilized Eysenck’s model of temperament and the Five Factor model of personality to predict an individual’s level of general disclosiveness and the sub-components of disclosiveness. The results indicated that both models were relatively equal predictors of general disclosiveness. Both models were moderately strong predictors of the valence and honesty dimensions of an individual’s disclosiveness. A moderately strong negative correlation between neuroticism and the valence dimension of disclosiveness was established. Finally, psychoticism and three factors (openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) of …

Mechanotransduction In Bone: Passive And Load-Induced Fluid Transport In Rat Femora., Bixia Li

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The capacity of bone tissue to alter its mass and structure in response to mechanical demands has long been recognized but the mechanisms involved remained poorly understood. Load-induced interstitial fluid flow has been postulated to provide a mechanism for transduction of the mechanical signals to the cellular level to activate bone adaptation. This research is to investigate experimentally the effects of mechanical loading on fluid flow in bone by introducing stain/tracer. Rat femurs were used to test the passive diffusion and mechanical transport properties of the stain in bone. It was found that fluorescein is compatible with an animal model …

"Playing To The Cameras": The Presence Of An Entertainment Perspective In Political Panel Programming And The Implications Of Making Politics Palatable And Appealing., Marcus Edward Snyder

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The proliferation of political television talk shows as a modern media form appears to have had a profound influence on the dimensions and depth of public discourse. While the majority of these public affairs programs position themselves as forums for the serious discussion of consequential events and ideas, many media critics have suggested that these programs have diminished the quality of the national political dialogue by presenting and interpreting information according to television’s penchant for drama and amusement. Although public affairs programs have been the target of much criticism, their has been little academic exploration of the ways which these …

Exploring Out-Of-Class Communication: The Development And Testing Of A Measure., Jennifer Lee-Ann Knapp

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to examine out-of-class communication (OCC) between students and instructors. More specifically, the study was concerned with student immediacy, instructor immediacy, student affect for the course and affect for the instructor, and student motives for communicating with their instructors outside of the classroom. Participants were students enrolled in undergraduate communication classes at two institutions, Canisius College and West Virginia University. 218 participants completed surveys regarding the instructor they talked to the most outside of the classroom (e.g. during office hours, on campus, or around town). Results of the study show that OCC is positively and …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Student Learning Style And Oral Communication Competence., Danette Ifert Johnson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Increases in communication competence and willingness to communicate and decreases in communication apprehension are frequent goals of general education oral communication courses. The present investigation examined the relationship between Kolb’s learning styles and student changes in communication competence, willingness to communicate, and communication apprehension while enrolled in a basic oral communication course. Results suggest modest relationships between some of Kolb’s learning modes and styles and the communication outcomes.

An Intelligent System's Approach To Reservoir Characterization In Cotton Valley., Mofazzal Hossan Bhuiyan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Reservoir characterization in the Cotton Valley formation has always been a challenge for the Engineers, Geologist and Geophysists because of its heterogeneity as well as for the fact that well logs and reservoir characteristics are non-correlatable from well to well. This study introduces a new technique to characterize the cotton valley reservoir. Synthetic magnetic resonance imaging logs (MRI) provide information about reservoir characteristics such as effective porosity, fluid saturation and rock permeability more accurately than conventional wireline logs. The fuzzy C- mean analysis tool is utilized to group well logs together based on similarity criteria of the reservoir formation and …

Controllability And Anxious Responding: Experimental Evaluation Using 20% Carbon Dioxide-Enriched Air., Michael J. Zvolensky

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Although emotional control maintains a central role in contemporary models of anxiety pathology, particularly panic disorder, there is little understanding about the ways in which specific control processes alter anxiety-related responding. In the present study, offset control over eight 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air administrations was experimentally manipulated in a large nonclinical population (n = 96) varying in anxiety sensitivity (high or low) and gender. Dependent measures included self-reported anxiety, affective reports of valence, arousal, emotional control, and physiological indices of heart rate and skin conductance. High anxiety sensitive participants who lacked offset control reported significantly greater elevations in self-reported anxiety, …

Suffolk University Academic Catalog And Handbook, College Of Arts And Sciences And School Of Management, 2001-2002, Suffolk University

College of Arts and Sciences and Sawyer Business School Academic Catalogs

This catalog contains information for the day, evening, and graduate programs

Leadership, Episodes And Change In The Early Kanawha Valley, Stephen Annese Smoot

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The frontier period of the Kanawha Valley provides an interesting example of the sometimes dramatic change that occurred on the fringes of American civilization as it inched across the continent. Within twelve years of the creation of the county, it had developed from an embattled military buffer region into a quiet backwoods town. For the first six years, Indian attacks constantly assailed the settlements along the Kanawha River. Very likely, without the quality of leadership in the towns and military posts, the population would have retreated into safer regions of Virginia. Somehow men such as George Clendenin, founder of the …

Mapp Goes Abroad, Craig M. Bradley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Are There Procedural Deficiencies In Tax Fraud Cases? A Reply To Professor Schoenfeld, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Perceptions Of Traditional And Nontraditional Students Toward The Level I Spanish Textbook., Tyrone Frederick Parker

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study posed ten hypotheses based on 13 pedagogical elements contained in the literature concerning the unique needs of nontraditional students. The study tested the hypotheses that traditional and nontraditional students' evaluation of the foreign language textbook would not differ based on gender, full-time or part-time status, age, having a high school diploma or a general equivalency diploma (GED), and grade point average. The textbook evaluation instrument chosen for this study was the Proficiency-Oriented Textbook Evaluation Form. It was chosen for this research study because of its proven usefulness in evaluating the value of foreign language textbooks and because all …

The Impacts Of Technology On Interactivity In A Distance Learning Course., Christine Ann Peterson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined the impacts of technology on interactions in a distance learning course. This study was directed by three categories of research questions: (1) How does technology impact interactions overtime? (2) How does technology impact interactions at host versus remote sites? (3) How does technology impact interactions according to students' perceptions? The population consisted of 14 master's level students in a distance learning course delivered via video conferencing technology (two-way audio and video) at West Virginia University. The students were registered in a Family/Community/Rural Health Systems nursing course conducted during the summer, 2001. The course was delivered to two …

Relationships Among Grammatical Accuracy, Discourse Features, And The Quality Of Second Language Writing: The Case Of Thai Efl Learners., Charuporn Pongsiriwet

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study attempted to combine the study of grammatical accuracy with the study of discourse features of second language writing. It was designed to investigate (1) the frequent types of grammatical errors in EFL writing; (2) whether there is a relationship between scores on grammatical accuracy and discourse features of writing; and (3) the effects of grammatical accuracy and discourse features on the evaluation of writing quality. The participants of the study consisted of 155 university freshmen majoring in agriculture, education, engineering, English, and general science who enrolled in Foundation English at Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus in Thailand. Data …

Reading Instructional Leadership: A Survey Of Middle Level Principals In West Virginia Public Schools., Mary Lee Porter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A review of the literature on reading and principals' reading instructional leadership indicates that nationally there is a crisis in middle level reading (grades, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9). This study focused on the reading instructional leadership of Middle Childhood Level principals in West Virginia. Principals in West Virginia are held legally responsible for the academic achievement of their schools and thus, are charged with instructional leadership and assuring that “best practices” are used in their schools. This study attempted to identify the beliefs, experiences, demographic criteria, and best practices that principals believe have impacted SAT9 test scores at …

Trauma, Criterion A, And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Scientific Utility And Definitional Validity., Kenneth Joseph Ruggiero

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Research examining the relation between trauma and psychopathology has contributed to the identification of individuals who, following exposure to various potentially traumatic events (e.g., domestic violence, rape), may be at high risk for post-trauma difficulties (e.g., sleep disturbance, heightened displays of hypervigilant behavior). However, the validity of the definitional characteristics of trauma has not adequately been explored. For instance, few studies have targeted the extent to which reports of perceived life threat, injury, or peritraumatic responses of “horror,” “fear,” and “helplessness” are associated with various forms of trauma-relevant responding. Yet, reports of such subjective emotional responses and event characteristics are …

The Economic Impact Of The Americans With Disabilities Act: An Analysis Of Title I., Beth Ann Loy

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study analyzed the economic impacts of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which was passed by Congress to eliminate workplace discrimination on the basis of disability. Specifically, the main objectives of this study were to answer five research questions and estimate an interaction model. The ADA was intended to spark an economic revolution by drastically increasing the employment rate of people with disabilities. Because of the potential societal impacts, it is vital to successful future economic planning and policymaking that the economic effects of the law be examined. Various datasets from 1985 through 2000 …

Chaozhou Gong And Drum Music Through The Study Of The Rhythm And Drumming Technique Of "She Qing" ("Celebration Of The Community") By Chen Zuohui From A Percussionist's Point Of View., Heung Wing Lung

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This paper is an analysis of both the rhythm and the drumming technique of a contemporary composition She Quing (Celebration of the Community) by Chen Zuohui. Through the detailed study of the work, one will start to understand and appreciate the uniqueness of this folk drumming in south China. The tuning of the gongs and cymbals to specific pitches, as well as the spectacular conducting hand movements of the master drummer are the two major characteristics of this type of folk drumming. Various hand movements of shaking, swinging, pointing, chopping, drawing, knocking, and even sword drawing and poking from the …

The Job Satisfaction Level Of Chinese And Indian-Born Engineering Faculty At A Research I University., Susan Mary Madhavan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to assess the job satisfaction level of Engineering faculty from India, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China at a Research I University. Analysis was based on how academic rank, country of origin, or gender affected their level of job satisfaction and their degree of adjustment to the department, the college or the university as a whole. The following factors were assessed: teaching, research, recognition, workload, physical surroundings, reward systems, administration, collegiality and service. Structured interviews were conducted and taped of twenty faculty members at the study institution, detailing the above factors. An overall …