Digital Commons Network^™

Fundamentalist Religious Movements : A Case Study Of The Maitatsine Movement In Nigeria., Katarzyna Z. Skuratowicz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is a historical analysis of reasons and dynamics behind the emergence of fundamentalist religious movements. Its purpose is to develop a new conceptual apparatus to the approach toward religious fundamentalist movements that would analyze both external and internal factors influencing their emergence. It is a case study of an Islamic fundamentalist religious movement called Maitatsine in Nigeria. The theoretical background is based upon the concepts of international division of labor and the role of the state taken from development theories, which explain the external factors influencing the dynamics in West Africa, the region where the analyzed religious movement …

Cognitive And Non-Cognitive Predictors Of Retention And Academic Performance Of University Freshmen, Alice L. Hoffert

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between selected variables and the retention and academic performance of first-time, full-time freshmen after the first semester and first year of college. The variables included were students’ gender, age, ethnicity, high school grade point average, ACT score, scholarships, Federal Pell Grant, student loans, location of high school attended, and major declared or not declared.

The population was limited to a cohort at the University of North Dakota enrolled during the 2002-2003 academic year and resulted in a sample of 1,480 students. Data were collected on each member of the cohort …

Participatory Action Research With Adults With Mental Retardation : "Oh My God. Look Out World.", Rita Marie Valade

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a participatory action research project with adults with mental retardation who reside in Louisville, Kentucky. It explores some of the history and ideologies that frequently have hindered persons with mental retardation from being regarded by others as unique individuals with various abilities. It investigates dynamics of social ostracism and the resultant silence, inclusive of the social work profession's relative absence in the field of mental retardation. Furthermore, it explores various aspects of research with persons with disabilities, and with persons with mental retardation in particular. While there have been multiple studies about persons with mental retardation, very …

Understanding The Relationship Between Self-Esteem And Current Grade Point Average Of College Undergraduates, Jennifer L. Wiles

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The author investigated the relationship between undergraduates' self-esteem (current and retrospective) and their current grade point average. Specifically, the author investigated the relationship between students' self-esteem (fifth grade, eleventh grade, and undergraduate) and their current undergraduate grade point average. A sample of 95 college students from West Virginia University completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The author assessed the relationship by performing six correlations and three reliability estimates for each self-esteem survey. The results showed a strong correlation between fifth grade self-esteem and current grade point average, but there was no significant correlation at the eleventh grade and undergraduate level. Also, …

Historical Perspectives Current Operation And Future Projections For Temple Baptist College, Layne Carter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation study will propose to present the rich historical past of Temple Baptist College, as well as the current operations and future projections. The trend in current academia is to move away from biblical principles and established moral standards. Many Christian schools too, have succumbed to the pressure of the age. This dissertation was written not merely to record the history of Temple Baptist College (which was never done before) but also to provide standards and guidance to other small Christian institutions. The information recorded in this dissertation was collected after researching archived records and minutes of several Board …

The Effect Of Closed Versus More Liberal Visitation Policies On Work Satisfaction Beliefs And Nurse Retention., Suzanne M. Boswell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nurses believe that more liberal visitation policies will cause greater work overload and decrease the quality of patient care. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a liberal visitation policy on work satisfaction, beliefs, and retention of nurses.

In this study, nurses were asked to complete a survey before and after implementation of a more liberal visitation policy. The nurses were surveyed using Stamps (1997) Index of Work Satisfaction and the Boswell Beliefs Inventory. Statistical analyses were conducted to discover nurses level of satisfaction and beliefs related to the new policy.

Results indicate that nurses were …

Strategies To Address The Effects Of Reduced Funding For Music Education., Jill Leigh Hobby

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop a consensus from a panel of experts composed of public school music teachers both based in instrumental methods and/or choral methods, higher education music professors from various backgrounds, public school administrators, philanthropists, authors, researchers, state music supervisors, and leaders in professional music organizations on regional and national levels.

Through the use of the panel of experts from geographical regions across the United States and Canada, this study strove to build strategies that addressed the effects of reducing funding for music education. The vehicle used to build consensus was the Delphi Technique. Through …

Correlates Of Depression In Young Adult Caregivers, Mark Gillen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research examined depression in young adult caregivers. It was hypothesized that levels of depression in 18 to 40 year olds who provided care to older adult family members would be similar to depression levels of middle age adult caregivers. This study also examined the relationship between depression, gender, employment, physical health, and relationships. Participants included 172 young adult caregivers that were employees of one of three mid-west universities or colleges. All employees in the young adult age range were contacted and provided with a survey packet. The survey included the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and predictor …

Determining Barriers To Health Care In Iowa, Joanna Busch

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

This thesis involved creating a complex dataset to use in quantitative analysis and research regarding barriers to health care provision in Iowa. Data on 13 independent variables and four dependent variables were painstakingly gathered from a broad variety of public sources and complied into a single dataset. SPSS software was used in a preliminary investigation of correlations between independent and dependent variables. The analysis exemplifies but only touches on the kinds of research that can be performed on the dataset, which itself can be refined and expanded in future studies of the barriers to health care access encountered by rural …

Faculty Senate Voting Faculty, Academic Year, 2004-2005, Vol 33, P 1479, Unm Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Documents

No abstract provided.

Heresy And Orthodoxy: Challenging Established Paradigms And Disciplines, Marion Hersch, Gloria Moss

Journal of International Women's Studies

A brief survey of the literature on interdisciplinary work and a discussion of issues relating to orthodoxy and heresy are presented to introduce a questionnaire on current interdisciplinary practice and the effects of engaging in research of this kind. Preliminary results of the survey are presented and it is suggested that women may have a greater tendency than men to engage in interdisciplinary research. They may also encounter more obstacles in their research than men. A number of hypotheses, including the relationship of interdisciplinary work and heresy, are proposed and a plan of further work to investigate them put forward.

Perverse Pleasures – Identity Work And The Paradoxes Of Greedy Institutions, Valerie Hey

Journal of International Women's Studies

Women’s studies struggle for a location in the academy has always involved feelings of deep ambiguity. The outsider/insider relation is a peculiarly vexed one in times when the demands on professional identity appear to erase the more political claims on our identity such as being a feminist.

This paper considers aspects of these complex navigations across the personal, private, public and professional aspects of identity through the concept of pleasure. It explores the discrepancy as well as the interrelations between the moral climate of higher education and the more elusive, secret or at least unspoken nature of our persistent (over?) …

Crossing The Border: Locating Heterosexuality As A Boundary For Lesbian And Disabled Women, Clare Beckett

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article draws on my personal experience, and on the separate experiences of ‘leaving heterosexuality’ and of ‘being disabled.’ I have attempted to find common ground for action between these two groups by interrogating the experience of being sexual. I argue that heterosexuality functions as a social matrix, with exclusionary practices that operate in similar ways towards both groups. Mechanisms may be different, but the experience of exclusion is similar, and is based on similar practices. This article focuses on specific points in the exclusionary process, and illustrates similarities.

Women’S Constructions Of Women: On Entering The Front Door, Myria Vassiliadou

Journal of International Women's Studies

Despite the vast volume of scholarly work on Mediterranean and the Near East the region, issues of marginalisation, discrimination, racism, and ethnic-gender groups as well as the implications of these within the context of various wider forces and structures are only lately receiving any attention at all and this paper is part of an effort to explore and expose them. The aim of this paper is to explore this otherwise forgotten area through the example of Cypriot women and their interpretations of internal ‘Others’ in Cyprus. It is thus an attempt to analyze the discourses and images adopted by women …

Ain’T I A Woman? Revisiting Intersectionality, Avtar Brah, Ann Phoenix

Journal of International Women's Studies

In the context of the second Gulf war and US and the British occupation of Iraq, many ‘old’ debates about the category ‘woman’ have assumed a new critical urgency. This paper revisits debates on intersectionality in order to show that they can shed new light on how we might approach some current issues. It first discusses the 19th century contestations among feminists involved in anti-slavery struggles and campaigns for women’s suffrage. The second part of the paper uses autobiography and empirical studies to demonstrate that social class (and its intersections with gender and ‘race’ or sexuality) are simultaneously subjective, structural …

Empowering Women? Engaging A Technology Grant For Social Change, Erica Meiners, Laurie Fuller

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper examines and exposes the writing and implementation of a project, funded by a federal government grant that worked to increase the technological literacy levels of women at an urban working-class university in the Midwest. This three-year study/intervention clearly reveals that disrupting the ‘digital divide’ for working-class women at our university, particularly women of color, requires engagements with the material and practical realities of their everyday lives. In addition to findings in relation to gender, race, low-income communities and technology, participation in this study/intervention illuminated for the authors—anti-racist, feminist academics and organizers—the consequences and costs of moving epistemological frameworks …

Gender, Context, And Physics Assessment, Laura Mccullough

Journal of International Women's Studies

A persistent gender gap exists on one of the most commonly-used physics conceptual tests, the Force Concept Inventory. The test includes many stereotypically male contexts such as hockey, rockets, and cannonballs. A revised version of the test was created using stereotypically female contexts and both versions were randomly administered to 300 college students. While the total correct score did not change for men and women, significant results were discovered when test questions were examined individually. Results suggest that context can affect performance on a physics assessment for both men and women. One implication for instructors is that they should be …

Judith Merril And Rachel Carson: Reflections On Their “Potent Fictions” Of Science, Dianne Newell

Journal of International Women's Studies

Donna Haraway has argued that women’s engagement with the masculine domain of science and modern culture usually occurs at the peripheries and from the depths, not from the platform of the powerful. This paper considers the popular culture fields of science fiction and nature writing, exploring the contributions of two American women writers who both operated at the peripheries of science and landed on the ‘platform of the powerful’: Judith Merril and Rachel Carson. Their domestic Cold War envisioning and conflation of literature and science and their insights into the inherently political nature of science anticipated the foundational feminist discussions …

Discerning Trends, Contours, And Boundaries In Comparative Education: A Survey Of Comparativists And Their Literature, Steven J. Hite, Bradley J. Cook, Erwin H. Epstein

Faculty Publications

Surely the health and vitality of any academic field relies on the periodic review of its intellectual history, evolving theoretical frameworks, and thematic shifts. Attempts to define a field typically involve lively debates over boundary maintenance. Indeed, the question of whether cooperative education is a "discipline" has been debated at least since the earliest issues of the Comparative Education Review and has continued to be debated in different forums. Leon Tikly and Michael Crossley believe that a comparative and international canon is discernible, although it is one that is "continually being challenged by new theories and approaches from the arts, …

West Nile Virus And Wildlife, Peter P. Marra, Sean Griffing, Carolee Caffrey, A. Marm Kilpatrick, Robert Mclean, Christopher Brand, Emi Saito, Alan P. Dupuis, Laura Kramer, Robert Novak

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

West Nile virus (WNV) has spread rapidly across North America, resulting in human deaths and in the deaths of untold numbers of birds, mammals, and reptiles. The virus has reached Central America and the Caribbean and may spread to Hawaii and South America. Although tens of thousands of birds have died, and studies of some bird species show local declines, few region-wide declines can be attributed to WNV. Predicting future impacts of WNV on wildlife, and pinpointing what drives epidemics, will require substantial additional research into host susceptibility, reservoir competency, and linkages between climate, mosquitoes, and disease. Such work will …

“Yours For The Salvation Of Mexican People”: Race, Identity, And The Growth/Decline Of Mennonite Brethren Missionary Efforts In South Texas, 1937–1971, Felipe Hinojosa

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The Mennonite Brethren (MB) church in south Texas is an anomaly. Mennonite Brethren missionaries were once prominent in Protestant circles in south Texas between 1937 and 1971, planting eight churches during this time. Today, however, the Mennonite Brethren church is relegated to several small congregations sprinkled throughout Hidalgo and Starr County. This research argues that Mennonite Brethren missionary efforts with Mexican Americans were racist and oppressive. Furthermore, the racist ethos that developed was maintained throughout the life of the mission because of the institutional rigidity of the MB church. Both Church Growth Theory and the Contact Hypothesis are applied to …

Variants Of Volunteerism Among Mature Adults Within Communities Of Northeast Tennessee., Martha Wilcox Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A purposive study conducted among mature adults aged 55 and older in Northeast Tennessee examined variants of volunteerism as well as volunteer needs of agencies and organizations and what percent of volunteers in those agencies fall within the specified age group. Mature volunteers in the region match profiles of other studies -- predominantly white, married, homeowners, who are protestant, females with educational levels beyond high school, and who have income levels above the regional average. Findings show that most volunteers attend religious services at least once each week but found no association between gender and informal volunteerism, between health and …

Assessment Of The Learning Styles Of Students At The Eastern Caribbean Institute Of Agriculture And Forestry, Centeno, Trinidad And Tobago And Identification Of Teaching Methods Used By Instructors, Cynthia Marie Burskey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

An issue in higher education is to create a learning environment that is both positive and effective. With teaching methods that take into account all the learning styles within the classroom, a teacher can make the atmosphere of the classroom more conducive to learning. This study sought to determine if the teachers at the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, Centeno, Trinidad and Tobago (ECIAF) were using instructional methods that facilitated learning in their students. A two-phase study was utilized. Phase I used a descriptive survey to determine the learning styles of 36 first-year students at ECIAF. Phase II …

Knowledge And Dissemination Of Sustainable Agriculture Practices By County Extension Agents In Ohio, Pennsylvania, And West Virginia, Erin M. Hersman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of knowledge and preparation that Extension educators possess concerning the numerous dimensions of sustainable agriculture. From this information, a relationship between the amount of education that Extension educators receive about sustainable agriculture and the amount of information that Extension educators offer to their clientele about this topic was determined. Part-time agriculturalists were perceived to attend workshops/meetings based on sustainable agriculture practices, use more fact sheets or publications on the concepts of sustainable agriculture, and, in turn, apply more concepts of sustainable agriculture. Full-time agriculturalists were attending the workshops and/or meetings …

"An Arm Around The Shoulder And A Kick In The Pants": Thirty Years Of Assisting Underprepared Students At Minnesota State University Moorhead's New Center For Multidisciplinary Studies, Maureen Kelly Jonason

Theses and Dissertations

This case study provides the thirty-year history of the developmental program known as the New Center for Multidisciplinary Studies at Minnesota State University Moorhead, a unique alternative-admissions program for underprepared students. A review of literature on Benjamin Bloom's mastery learning approach, the history of developmental education, and the history of experimentation in higher education revealed the strengths and weaknesses of mastery learning, the primary approach used at the New Center at the beginning of the program, and also provided the socio-political-educational context for its initiation. In seeking to find out how the program started, how it has changed over the …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Goals Of Secondary Schools Physical Education In State Of Kuwait, Obaid Alshammari

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of the Kuwait physical education teachers relevant to the goals of the physical education program for secondary schools. Data were collected from a sample consisting of 200 (n = 200) physical education teachers teaching in six provinces in Kuwait. For data collection, a five-point Likert scale questionnaire, named "Kuwaiti Physical Education Goals" (KPEG) was designed. The instrument asked the participants to indicate the level of agreement with four categories of physical education goals. In addition, differences in teachers based on gender between physical education teachers' perceptions were investigated. An examination …

African American Female Professors' Experiences In An Historically Black College And University Organizational Culture, Nadine Edgerson

Theses and Dissertations

Academic culture has been described as the social or normative glue that holds organizations together and guides and shapes behavior. The majority of the research that has been conducted on this subject relates to predominantly White institutions and their predominant White male faculties. The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth account of the workplace perceptions and experiences of seven tenure-track African American female faculty members at an historically Black college and university (HBCU).

This study was qualitative research in which subject data were obtained through a series of three consecutive interviews per study participant then coded and …

A Church Crisis: A Rhetorical Criticism Of Communication Arguments From Proponents Of Both Sides Of The Homosexual Movement In The Christian Church, Garland Brent Wallace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increased levels of homosexual discussion in mainstream media culture have aroused opinion diversity in both secular and religious circles. The case of Bishop Gene Robinson has brought the issue of homosexuality in the priesthood to the forefront. However, the main issue does not rest on the issue of homosexuality but rather on the inspiration, validity, and authority of the Bible as scripture. After the evaluation of two pieces of rhetoric, including an interview given by Bishop Gene Robinson on a local radio broadcast and a speech given by B. L. Mauser concerning homosexuality as sin, Kenneth Burke's pentad will …

On The Green Vol. 34 No. 13 April 30, 2004, Gallaudet University

2001-2010

On the Green is an internal publication of Gallaudet College, which later became Gallaudet University. It notified employees of updates around the campus and in the broader community, including new construction and the establishment of new academic programs. Running until 2010, it was supplanted by various forms of online mass communications across multiple audiences.

The Courier, Volume 37, Issue 22, April 30, 2004, The Courier, College Of Dupage

The Courier

Stories:

BIC Gets Make Over–Color Plan For BIC Renovation Project

Destination Springfield For Student Lobbyists

Pond To Undergo Changes In Routing

Library Books Back Into Circulation

Howling About The Press

Marching For The Choice

Behind The Scenes Of ‘Godspell’

Learning About The ‘Native Way’

Lineage Of Athletic Excellence–Family Matters In The DuPage Athletic Department

People:

Don Klaas

Ali Ittersagen

Ashley Brown