Digital Commons Network^™

Does Leadership Matter? The Effects Of Information Technology Expertise On The Market Value And Performance Of A Firm, Ashraf A. Khallaf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This dissertation examines the stock market reaction to 474 announcements of hiring chief information officers (CIOs) in the 1987--2002 period, and firm performance for periods up to two years following the CIO appointment. The study reports that the announcements are associated with significantly positive abnormal returns (0.48 percent). The returns are more pronounced when the new CIO is hired from an IT leader firm (1.94 percent). Abnormal returns are significantly positive related with the CIO's level of education and high-technology firms, and negatively related with firm size. In addition, there is no significant difference in market reaction between the announcements …

Dwellings And Beings, Spaces And Places: A Topoanalysis Of Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita", Sally M. Badawi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This thesis conducts a toponalysis of phenomenological notions of "Being" and "dwelling" in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and concludes that the existence of the characters rests in their relationships to dwelling and the ramifications of their separation from home. As Humbert and Lolita experience alienation and uprooted-ness, they embark upon a two-year journey which orbits around reality, as their travels follow what David Seamon calls, Journey-Dwelling Spiral, however, without ever attaining a state of dwelling. As they attempt to overcome their disorientation, Lolita distances herself from Humbert, and Humbert projects his nympholepsy onto another, Quilty. Because Lolita succeeds in her goal, …

Effect Of The Neurological Impress Method On Oral Reading Skills In An At-Home Program, Colleen Borden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Struggling readers need guided and motivating instruction on a daily basis in order to improve their literacy skills in a significant way. One approach for providing this type of instruction is through the use of an at-home literacy program. In this study, parents were given training and feedback in the use of simple, inexpensive, yet motivating reading techniques which they used at home with their children. A comprehensive literature review on the Neurological Impress Method (NIM), oral reading fluency, and the connection between parent involvement and student achievement and/or literacy development was conducted. Based on information obtained from the literature …

Environment's Influence On The Protagonists In Richard Wright's Fiction, Erin. Riley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The protagonists in Richard Wright's fiction often face insurmountable obstacles. The environment plays an important role in the actions of the protagonist. Although Wright's fictional settings were often centered in the United States, the specific U.S. location was often integral to the resolution of the story. The protagonists are exposed to similar situations, but depending upon the northern American or southern American environments, they may encounter vastly different outcomes. Neither environment proves itself to be beneficial to Wright's protagonists. The racism in both northern and southern environments is the defining factor in the development of the protagonists. There are differences …

Facing The Fcat: A Matched-Pair Comparison Of Changes In Mean Developmental Scale Scores Of Selected Schools In Miami-Dade And Palm Beach Counties From 2003--2004, Francis P. O'Boyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This research compared the effectiveness of efforts by the Palm Beach County School District and the Miami-Dade County School District to raise academic achievement at 39 comparable low-performing schools in their districts. Palm Beach County School District mandated a highly prescriptive plan that involved intense district staff involvement during the 2003--2004 school year. Miami-Dade County School District utilized a highly descriptive plan that entailed only mild to moderate involvement from district staff. A matched-pair research design was used to examine what differences, if any, existed between the learning gains of comparable schools in Palm Beach County and Miami-Dade County as …

Flesh Impressions: Television Texts Of Cosmetic Surgery And Audience Negotiation, Heather O'Neil Hutton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Both incredibly personal and inherently social, cosmetic surgery procedures intended to reconfigure the body toward a more culturally acceptable physicality and the increase in television representations of the phenomenon provoke a complex debate regarding the social, psychological, medical and ethical implications of such practices. This thesis raises the question: Do television texts of cosmetic surgery and their potential consumers reproduce or challenge the hegemony of cosmetic surgery as a cultural practice? Using qualitative, social scientific methodology to analyze current examples of such television texts and study viewer negotiation of these texts, the study concludes that television texts are most likely …

Experience Of Being A Leader During A Ropes Course Program And At Work: A Heuristic Inquiry, Malika Starr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This study explored the question, "What is the experience of being a leader during participation in a ropes course program and at work?" The ropes course as a training medium provides opportunities for people to engage in challenging activities to improve interpersonal skills. From ten ropes course programs and 130 participants, the researcher purposefully selected thirteen co-researchers who exhibited pre-determined leadership behaviors. Dialogue with each co-researcher provided rich descriptions and metaphors about the experience of being a leader. Using heuristic research methods, the researcher analyzed the data and uncovered redundant themes to better understand the phenomenon of being a leader. …

Father, The Son And The Sense Of Humor: The Novels Of John Fante, Emanuele. Pettener

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

John Fante is a well-known novelist in Italy and Europe, but still very much unknown and unrecognized in the United States. Yet, John Fante is an American writer and, though his father came from Torricella Peligna---a small town in the middle of Italy---Fante did not speak Italian; he felt American and, most of all, he wanted to be considered an American writer. His novels are imbued with both "Italian Americanicity" as well as "Americanicity". In fact, throughout his eight novels, one of the main topics is the American motif par excellence, the American Dream. What are the reasons for such …

Great Mind Is Androgynous: A Look At The Late Poetry Of Sylvia Plath Through Virginia Woolf's Theory Of The Androgynous Consciousness, Shilo R. Blackburn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The female subject in the late poetry of Sylvia Plath experiences a physical and intellectual transformation, as Plath attempts to challenge and redefine the social construction of woman through Virginia Woolf's influence. Plath aspires to achieve a poetic voice that embodies characteristics of both genders simultaneously, an androgynous consciousness by Woolf's account, and one that can speak despite Western culture's imposed inferiority of women writers. Since traditionally masculine language has defined women's social roles through their physical bodies, Plath's aim is to immerse her female subject in the experiences of her corporeal body as a means to transcend her physical …

Exploration Of The Effectiveness Of A Phase Approach To Nutrition Counseling Using The Transtheoretical And Brief Intervention Models, Kaye-Ann. Grant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Registered dietitians, while knowledgeable in food and nutrition, are also intrinsically educators, a role that is now receiving in-depth exploration. As nutrition educators or counselors, dietitians have been stereotyped as food cops (Licavoli, 1995, p. 751); that is, individuals who provide the dos and don'ts list. Research in the area of nutrition education may foster movement away from this stereotype. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of traditional nutrition counseling with stage-matched nutrition counseling by registered dietitians using clients in acute care settings while measuring behavioral and cognitive change outcomes. An experimental design using randomly assigned …

Teaching Practical Wisdom, Deborah J. Cantrell

Publications

No abstract provided.

"And Yet God Has Not Said A Word!": Robert Browning And The Romantic Killer In Literature, Erin. Burns-Davies

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Robert Browning's dramatic monologues often characterize the darker aspect of romantic love through speakers who demonstrate their devotion to violence. Exploring the innovations in discourse, Browning gives his narrators voices that allow them to speak from an ancient literary tradition. For Browning's speakers, words make the silencing of the lover either the act of ultimate devotion or the result of disappointed expectations. The narrator speaks of the absence of God, as when Porphyria's lover holds her body to him: "and yet God has not said a word!" With the poet's strong speech---in all his attractiveness, his destructive display of love …

Socratic Pedagogy, Critical Thinking, Moral Reasoning And Inmate Education: An Exploratory Study, Peter Boghossian

Dissertations and Theses

This exploratory study examines the hypothesis that Socratic pedagogy is a useful tool for imparting critical thinking and moral reasoning skills to inmates. The study explores the effectiveness of a new curriculum, Introducing Socrates, which relies on Socratic pedagogy to achieve its objectives. The curriculum draws from the effective criminal justice research on cognitive education to determine its objectives, and then looks to the Platonic dialogues to find broad philosophical questions that tie into those objectives. The program also evaluates salient criticisms of Socratic pedagogy that are found in the educational and philosophical literature, and then isolates and evaluates constructs …

Lawsuit Abandonment Options In Possibly Frivolous Litigation Games, Peter H. Huang

Publications

This paper develops a new theory of possibly frivolous litigation by focusing on a plaintiff's options to unilaterally abandon a lawsuit. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(i) and its various state law counterparts permit, under certain circumstances, a plaintiff to voluntarily dismiss her lawsuit without prejudice. This paper's options approach to litigation, including quite possibly, frivolous litigation is placed in the context of the literature of economic models about litigation in general and frivolous litigation in particular. This paper demonstrates that possibly frivolous lawsuits will be filed and settled when the values of a plaintiff's options to unilaterally abandon litigation …

The Quiet Transformation Of Corporate Law, Mark J. Loewenstein

Publications

No abstract provided.

Adr Ethics, Scott R. Peppet

Publications

No abstract provided.

Diversity And The Practice Of Interest Assessment, Robert F. Nagel

Publications

No abstract provided.

Women Choosing Diverse Workplaces: A Rational Preference With Disturbing Implications For Both Occupational Segregation And Economic Analysis Of Law, Scott A. Moss

Publications

Despite women's dramatic labor market gains, there remains a striking degree of occupational segregation by gender. Analysts typically blame discrimination or women's work/family priorities. This Article offers a different explanation.

It is hard for women choosing jobs or occupations to know where they will face discrimination, particularly since recent judicial decisions eliminated certain employer signals that once differentiated fair and discriminatory firms. One way women can effectuate a preference for nondiscriminatory workplaces is by choosing gender-diverse workplaces. Nondiverse workplaces often are not female-friendly, and discrimination may be the reason they are nondiverse. In economic terms, women rationally use level of …

Action Science And Negotiation, Michael Moffitt, Scott R. Peppet

Publications

No abstract provided.

Contract Formation In Imperfect Markets: Should We Use Mediators In Deals?, Scott R. Peppet

Publications

This Article asks a simple question: Could third-party mediators be helpful in deals, just as they are in disputes? This Article makes a theoretical argument for such interventions, but also presents preliminary empirical evidence suggesting that transactional mediation may already be taking place.

The Impact Of An Urban Outreach Teaching Project: Developing Cultural Competence, Carol H. Ott, Lynn H. Doyle

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to explore the development of cultural competence in a group of university nursing students in the context of an interactive substance abuse prevention project attached to a health promotion course with 414 racially diverse high school students. The project provided opportunities for contact, interaction, and reflection. A descriptive approach was utilized to elicit the meaning attached to the experience. Data included written content from an exit survey, field notes from onsite debriefings, transcriptions of a focus group interview, and an analysis of theoretical papers. Findings indicate that when university students participate in an urban …

Intelligent Data Repository, Trupti. Dave

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

In this thesis, importance of Intelligent Data Repository (IDR) and its real life applications are studied. We proposed an IDR for oncology applications which can handle large datasets and which can be used on both the intranet and the Internet. It is designed to provide one or multiple medical institutions on a global scale a common platform for patient care and consultation. The proposed application consists of two key models, Body Surface Area model and Search model, which are described in detail and their results are discussed. We have implemented the proposed IDR for oncology application using ColdFusion MX. Existing …

Maternal Neuroendocrine Function And Fetal Development, Miguel Angel Diego

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Maternal neuroendocrine function during pregnancy has been related to a number of pregnancy outcomes including less optimal fetal growth patterns. Animal models have consistently demonstrated that glucocorticoid infusions to the mother result in fetal growth restriction and norepinephrine infusions in reduced blood flow to the fetus. Similarly, human studies reveal that elevated maternal HPA axis and adrenal function (associated with stress anxiety and depression) during pregnancy is related to prematurity and low birthweight. The present study examined the relationship between maternal cortisol and norepinephrine and fetal growth measures during mid-gestation. Correlation analyses revealed that both maternal psychological (daily hassles, depression …

Methods Of Filicide: Stepparents And Genetic Parents Kill Differently, Viviana A. Weekes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Stepparents commit filicide at higher rates than do genetic parents. According to M. Daly and M. I. Wilson (1994), motivational differences generate differences in the methods by which stepparents and genetic parents kill a child. Using Canadian and British databases, Daly and Wilson (1994) found that stepfathers were more likely than genetic fathers to commit filicide by methods revealing feelings of bitterness and resentment not present to the same degree in genetic fathers. Genetic fathers, in contrast, were more likely than stepfathers to commit filicide by methods that often produce a quick and less painful death. Results replicate and extend …

Language And Leadership: Exploring The Relationship Between Critical Theories And The Hegemonic Construction Of Student Achievement, Marva. Mcclean

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This study explored the relationship between critical theories and student achievement. The study applied the principles of Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Pedagogy in studying the impact of artistic and hegemonic communication on student achievement. The purpose of the study was to critically analyze the language discourse of educational leaders and to determine the extent to which the language discourse contributes to the persistence of the achievement gap and the continuing marginalization of diverse groups of children. This research study offers a practical set of recommendations on how to use the process of critical discourse analysis to arrive at more …

Neural Substrates Of Movement And Music: An Fmri Approach, Dinesh G. Nair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

In this dissertation, we examined the neural correlates of motor coordination and music perception using a set of four fMRI experiments. The neural correlates of goal-directed action were examined in a group of healthy adults in experiment I using execution and imagery of a unimanual and a bimanual finger-sequencing task. Similar neural networks were engaged for execution and imagination of movement sequences. Interestingly, we also found that the sensorimotor cortical and cerebellar areas are functionally decoupled from the task network when people imagine but do not actually execute sequential actions. In experiment 2, we used the same finger-sequencing paradigm to …

Peer Reputations As A Determinant Of Gender Differences In School Outcomes: Evidence For Domain-Specific Effects, Lisa Borga Gelman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This study explored the impact of peer reputations for academic ability and school-related affect upon fourth- through eighth-graders' academic outcomes. In light of the prevailing stereotypes regarding the differential academic abilities of girls and boys (favoring girls in English, and boys in math and science), it was hypothesized that peer reputations in English would be more predictive of outcomes for girls than for boys, while math and science reputations would be most predictive of boys' outcomes. Peer reputations were found to be predictive of school grades, but not of standardized test scores. Although ability reputations in most areas were predictive …

Peer Reputations And Gender Differences In Academic Self-Concept, Madhavi Menon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This study explored the extent and nature of academic peer reputation upon children's academic self-concept. Peer and self-perceptions of academic ability and affect were assessed for the subject domains of English, math, and science in order to investigate the generality of peer reputation influences across academic subject areas, and determine the extent to which gender differences might be evident. Gender differences were hypothesized, and peer reputation was expected to have the most influence on academic self-concept in school domains viewed as gender-normative and thus central to self-concept. MR analyses provided some support for this gender-congruency hypothesis, as it was primarily …

Pricing Behavior Of Exchange Traded Funds, Nivine F. Richie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This dissertation examines the pricing behavior of exchange traded funds (ETFs) in three essays. (1) The Overreaction of International ETFs, (2) Fragmentation of Night Markets, and (3) The Impact of the Creation of the QQQ on the Underlying Securities. The overreaction study examines the role of information in global overreaction. Univariate analysis reveals that overreaction associated with informed events is less pronounced than with uninformed events following extreme price decreases. Further, positive firm-specific announcements are met with investor overreaction while negative firm-specific announcements are not. Finally, significant reversals of winners during bull markets relative to bear markets support the hypothesis …

Principals' Perceptions Of Professional Learning Communities, Louise A. Ball

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This multi-site case study focused on principals who participated in a unique professional development model: a learning community. The study was twofold. First, research was conducted in order to describe the experiences and perceptions of principals involved in a professional learning community and second, to understand how participation in a professional learning community influences principals' thinking and leadership practice. This inquiry was conducted in two districts located in the northeast and southeast parts of the United States. The sample consisted of twenty-one participants: sixteen principals, four learning community coaches, and one administrative director. Data was collected from 21 interviews, 39 …