Digital Commons Network^™

"They Ain't No Spring Chickens!": A Cultural Analysis Of Representations Of Older Women In Everybody Loves Raymond., Trudy Mercadai-Sabbagh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This thesis examines how prime time television assigns traditional gender roles for older women through a case study of the award-winning sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and strives to answer questions raised in regard to age/gender role representations. This study seeks, as well, to explore the ways in which the representations of older women on television and media articles about these television texts construct reality, and the extent to which prime time television reinforces stereotypical " realities" of older women. Though traditional effects theory looks at the ways in which individuals are influenced- or imitaterole models presented in the media, by …

An Investigation Of Foundational Instructional Principles In International Mathematics Classrooms: An Lsd Analysis Of Tjmss Video Data, Desmond W. Rodney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The central purpose of this study is to investigate whether cross national classroom video recordings reflect foundational principles of instruction as identified by lSD theorists. Principles of instruction remain true regardless of program or context when implemented by appropriate instructional systems design procedures. These theoretical elements however, require deeper empirical investigation in authentic classroom settings. This study posits that foundational principles are observable in non lSD systematized settings. Further it suggests that they are represented differently in classroom video recordings across countries, based on their performance level on a standardized assessment. The study shows inter alia that, (1) Instructional principles …

Between Home And School: Guatemalan Maya Students And Cultural Gender Roles In South Florida, Kristin L. Robbins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Second-generation Guatemalan Maya children and adolescents who were born in Palm Beach County had to balance two cultures. As children of Guatemalan Maya parents, these youths belonged to Guatemalan Maya households--but many of their other roles in the United States, particularly their roles as students, involved the wider American culture. As such, they endured many of the same acculturation challenges that first generation immigrants do. They often had to choose between fulfilling student roles, family roles, and contrasting cultural beliefs and values, and negotiate shifting cultural, familial, community, and gender dynamics. My primary research interest was to understand how home, …

Socio-Cultural Leadership: An Innovative Model For School Leadership, Desmond K. Blackburn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

The conceptual framework of this study suggested that Socio-Cultural Leadership was composed of the following four factors: Instructional Domain, Emotional Domain, Community Domain, and Cultural Domain. Furthermore, it was posed that these factors, collectively and independently, directly impacted student achievement in schools ofhigh poverty. From this framework, the Socio-Cultural Leadership Questionnaire was developed (SCLQ). The research questions that guided this study were: 1. Do the items of the survey instrument divide into the four domains as described? 2. What is the relationship, collectively and independently, between SocioCultural Leadership and student achievement in high-poverty schools? 3. Is the frequency in observed …

The Lived Experience Of Health Among Older Guatemalan Women, Maria De Los Angeles Ordonez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Older Guatemalan women living in farmworking communities represent a vulnerable population enduring extreme poverty, leading to decline of their health. A phenomenological approach was selected as the qualitative research methodology to describe their lived experience of health. Pender's (2002) Health Promotion Model was used as the conceptual framework guiding the inquiry. Nine women, living in South Florida, were interviewed using their secondary language, Spanish. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. A synthesized list of descriptive expressions emerged with seven themes. These were analyzed and a structural definition of the lived experience of health was formulated and compared …

Writing Nation(S): A Trans-Atlantic Analysis Of Academic Writing Instruction, Erica. Cirillo-Mccarthy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Only recently have US scholars looked at the rest of the world to see how other countries deal with the writing classroom, mainly because many other countries did not have a writing program or academic writing classes. However, the formation of the European Union (EU), particularly in 1992, brought about specific political and educational integration between member countries. The formation of the EU has changed the composition of the classroom in most continental European countries. In the US, the effects of globalization in our classroom will change composition studies. Bringing in perspectives from countries that are dealing with globalization in …

Cultural Role Of The Court Interpeter: Factors Affecting Bilingual Communication In The Judiciary, Katsiaryna. Buhayeva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This study investigates the court interpreter's cultural role and factors affecting bilingual communication in judicial settings. It examines court interpreting as communicative activity and as a challenging type of intercultural communication. Locating the study between prescribed standards of conduct and their practical applications in the courtroom, this thesis features the interpreter's performed role and its impact in bilingual interactions. Offering a dynamic perspective on intercultural challenges, the study investigates judicial interpreters' practice in relation to linguistic foundations, communicative strategies, and dual standards toward their performance. For exemplification purposes, the study includes a series of arguments and counterarguments posted on the …

Intimate Partner Homicide Methods In Heterosexual And Homosexual Relationships, Krystal D. Mize

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

From 1976 to 2001 over 50,000 people in the United States were victims of documented intimate partner lethal violence. In a study of intimate partner homicides in Chicago, Block and Christakos (1995) found that the weapon used varied based on the offender's gender. Relative to heterosexual partners, homosexual partners experience added stress due to a lack of social support of their relationships. The current study examined the effect of sex and sexual orientation of intimate partner homicide offenders on brutality of killing methods. Two hypotheses were formulated addressing the brutality of the murders as a function of the offender's sexual …

Mother-Adolescent Conflict And Relationship Quality In Youth With And Without Behavior Problems, Paloma Lopez Prata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

Adolescence is a period of significant changes in relationships with mothers, specifically parent-adolescent conflict increases from childhood into adulthood. The present investigation is designed to address these differences by using adolescent and mother reports of conflict and relationship quality. The investigation addresses four research questions. (1) Do characteristics of conflict with mothers differ for adolescents with and without clinical problems? (2) Do perceptions of mother-child relationship quality differ for adolescents with and without clinical problems? (3) Do family characteristics moderate differences between clinical and nonclinical youth in motherchild of conflict? (4) Do family characteristics moderate differences between clinical and nonclinical …

Nutrire: Nurture, Nursing A Material Culture Analysis Of Invalid/Infant Feeders And The Aesthetics And Caring Of Nursing, Nancy K. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

This dissertation analyzes a nursing artifact: the infant/invalid feeder. A material culture analysis, developed by the author, is utilized for the in depth study of 12 feeders. This work assumes that Caring is the core value of what constitutes nursing and nursing practice. The expression of the aesthetics of nursing through the act of feeding and use of infant/invalid feeders, aesthetic knowing and expression of that knowing, links caring and caring presence. The act of feeding another, whether sick or infant has been the domestic sphere of women throughout history and is also considered one of the most important duties …

'Persistent Heterogeneity' V. 'State Dependence': A Cross-Sectional Test Of Gottfredson And Hirschi's Low Self-Control Stability Hypothesis, Sandra Medlicott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009

In A General Theory Of Crime Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) suggest that "low self-control" is an enduring individual characteristic that is the product of inadequate child-rearing. Sampson and Laub's (1993) Crime In the Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life somewhat supports this contention. However, the latter authors also suggest that later life experiences might change the direction of the life path (and self-control). This thesis examines whether adequate child-rearing is the key causal determinant of low self-control in later life. It further tests whether later life-course transitions might alter and/or impact low self-control. The results suggest that the impact …

Lyric Subjectivity, Ethics, Contemporary Poetics: Claudia Rankine, Fanny Howe, Elizabeth Robinson, Maureen Gallagher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates ethics and lyric subjectivity in the writings of three American women poets. I consider select poems and poetics of Claudia Rankine, Fanny Howe, and Elizabeth Robinson, in order to argue that their postlanguage lyric poetry retains lyric subjectivity and reformulates it as ethical insofar as it is "circumspective" or "other-oriented"; that is, the lyric "I" is depicted as constituted through its relations with alterity. I apply contemporary literary-ethical methodology, notably the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, the poetics of Paul Celan, the hauntology of Jacques Derrida, and the poethics of Joan Retallack, in order to demonstrate how …

Understanding An Indigenous Curriculum In Louisiana Through Listening To Houma Oral Histories, Nicholas Anthony Ng-A-Fook

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Indigenous communities have inhabited Louisiana since time immemorial. However, the national project of teaching the rise of the West as a heroic story remains the curricular centerpiece in elementary and high school history classes in North America. As a curriculum theorist, and former science and history teacher, I am concerned with the ways in which my teachings of colonialism’s cultural, historical, and national narratives suppress and silence the stories of the colonized. Therefore, the purpose of this paper (based on a four-year qualitative study) is to share oral histories of the United Houma Nation in order to illustrate their daily …

College Student's Motivation For Physical Activity, Lori Lynn Delong

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine college students' motivations to be physically active by merging the perspectives of self-determination theory and the transtheoretical model. The secondary purpose was to examine the effects of a required physical activity course on college students' levels of physical activity. The premise is that both the theory and model can be used to help predict physical activity outcomes. Participants were 277 male and female students at a small private college. Motivation, self-determination, stage of change, self-efficacy, decisional balance, and leisure time activity levels were assessed using an online survey. Results revealed that activity …

Gamete And Cell Technologies For Use In Biological Resource Banking, Liesl Nel-Themaat

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Biological resource banking is becoming important for endangered species conservation. A series of experiments were conducted to address issues concerning collection and utilization of biomaterials from Gulf Coast Native (GCN) sheep (model species) (Ovis aries) and Eland antelope (Taurotragus oryx). In the first experiment, two ejaculates were collected 10 minutes apart from each of five rams three times a week for three weeks to maximize output and minimize handling time. Semen volume, concentration and total number of spermatozoa were significantly greater in first ejaculates, whereas pre-cooled, cooled and post-thaw motility, as well as sperm survival, were greater in second ejaculates. …

Jack Kerouac's Spontaneous Prose: A Performance Genealogy Of The Fiction, Justin Thomas Trudeau

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study analyzes Jack Kerouac’s writing method of spontaneous prose and articulates how the method can be understood as performative writing. Kerouac’s “Essentials of Spontaneous Prose,” On the Road, Visions of Cody, and Doctor Sax are explored to evaluate both the successes and failures of the author’s attempts to break literary boundaries and create a new writing method based upon spontaneous tenets. These three novels, which were written in succession from 1950 to 1953 when Kerouac was in his most productive period, represent both the emergence and dissent of the author’s use of performative writing. To explicate the cultural genesis …

Separation Anxieties: Representations Of Separatist Communities In Late Twentieth Century Fiction And Film, Brett Alan Riley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the late 20th century and beyond, American social movements advocating equality have increased national attention to issues of exclusion, inclusion, and multiculturalism within communities. As a result, studying the nature of communities—how the term "community" might be defined, who belongs to a given group or social structure, who does not belong, and why—has become increasingly important. American artists have responded by exploring these sites of social, political, and personal change in their works. Separation Anxieties: Representations of Separatist Communities in Late Twentieth Century Fiction and Film analyzes seven fictional works in which some group is philosophically and/or geographically isolated—sometimes …

The Development Of Global Awareness In Elementary Students Through Participation In An Online Cross-Cultural Project, Allen C. Grant

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study provided insights about how to develop online cross-cultural projects designed to foster global awareness in upper elementary-age students. Three schools, located in the southern United States, Mexico and Turkey, implemented a cross-cultural model as part of a comparative case study. The primary goal of this research was to gain an understanding of how these populations develop global awareness in an online environment. A second goal was to determine the necessary implications for practice when conducting online, cross-cultural projects in upper elementary classrooms. During eight weeks of implementation, students participated in cross-cultural groups as members of an online community. …

Construction Of National Identity And National Pride Of Germans In The Intercultural Context, Nadja Koening

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

National identity and patriotism are very problematic and highly sensitive concepts in contemporary Germany. Many scholars agree that a positive national identity is crucial for a nation’s well-being. This research attempts to investigate the process of forming a national identity and the display of national pride in the intercultural communication context. One focus group was conducted to analyze how Germans construct and/or reinvent their national identity when communicating with individuals from other nations.

The results show that German national identity and national pride are strongly intertwined and poise a unique problem for every German. Germans have major difficulties in developing …

The Changing Relationships Of Women Helping Women: Patterns And Trends In Domestic Violence Advocacy, Jennifer Rose Wies

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This research explores the themes of participation and professionalization as they intersect with power in domestic violence advocacy by using a case study from one region in Kentucky. Throughout this dissertation, I investigate the ways political and economic pressures influence local domestic violence advocates and the ways these macro-level pressures influence 1) an advocate's level of participation in the organization and 2) a transition in social service provision to a professional model of advocacy. The research illustrates that the nature of domestic violence service provision is changing in the United States as a result of the increasingly privatized nature of …

The Integration Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Altruism, And Self-Construal: Implications For Designing Recycling Campaigns In Individualistic And Collectivistic Societies, Rungrat Chaisamrej

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This study was an effort to uncover four major facts: (a) the predictive power ofthe proposed integrated model, which posits the influence of attitudes (ATT), subjectivenorms (SN), perceived behavior control (PBC), altruism, self-construal, and paperrecyclingknowledge on behavioral intentions; (b) the moderating effects ofindividualism-collectivism (I-C) on the attitudes-intentions relationship and thesubjective norms-intentions relationship; (c) the comparison of the predictive power ofthe TPB model and the proposed integrated model; and (d) the relationship between twointentions measures: behavioral intentions and implementation intentions.This cross-sectional research consisted of two phases: the TPB elicitation researchand the main study. Participants were undergraduate students recruited from two majorpublic …

Cultural Resilience--A Currency Of Social Capital: Counteracting Student Marginalization In Two Urban--Suburban High Schools, Marci A. Erby

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative research study began as an exploration of the central qualities of the lived experience of students in two urban-suburban high schools where, as an outcome of rapid demographic change, White students now represent the nontraditional racial minority and Black students represent the racial majority. Semistructured interviews, the primary method of data collection, were conducted with students who had graduated from the high schools under study and with adults who had significant ties to the district. Student informants, in particular, shared high school experiences of marginalization that included silence, rendered invisibility, stereotyping, and bias owing in large part to …