Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Trauma And Spiritual Experience On Relapse Among Substance Addicted Individuals, Jane A. Hull

Theses and Dissertations

Addiction to substances has a devastating impact on the lives of individuals, their families, and communities. For those who attempt to recover, repairing the damage to self and others while walking through the emotional turmoil of early recovery is often an insurmountable task. Researchers remain unclear what works to make some substance abusers find long-te abstinence while others return to the downward spiral of active addiction. This study examines the impact of trauma and spiritual experience on the recovery and/or relap.v1 o; addicted individuals. Participants are drawn from addiction treatment centers and vi ne w .p'per advertisements and personal contacts …

Prevalence Of The Metabolic Syndrome In A Midwestern Community, Hanna R. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

The metabolic syndrome (MS) has been linked to a significantly higher risk of heart disease and diabetes. It affects approximately 25% of Americans today with its prevalence continuing to increase as the population becomes heavier and more sedentary. With Pender’s Health Promotion model as a theoretical base, this study examined the prevalence of the risk factors, preventative and treatment measures for the metabolic syndrome among a Midwestern North American population. A non-experimental secondary data analysis comparative survey design approach was used through a chart review of 101 male patient charts and 101 female patient charts. Significance was established at p …

Attitudes And Perceptions Regarding Hypnosis Of North Dakota Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, Michelle L. Resler

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to identify North Dakota certified registered nurse anesthetists’ (CRNAs) attitudes and perceptions of hypnosis and if they believe it would be realistic to use hypnosis in the surgical setting. A voluntary descriptive, cross sectional study design was used to obtain accurate and current information. The population of the study consisted of all the North Dakota CRNAs, who v/ere 2005-2006 members of the NDANA (North Dakota Association of Nurse Anesthetists); more than 90% of North Dakota CRNAs are members of NDANA. A current list of NDANA CRNAs was obtained (N=182). All current members were invited …

The Effect Of Nutrition On Cognitive Performance In Young Versus Elderly Community-Living Adults, Brian Vanfossen

Theses and Dissertations

Several variables such as verbal ability, age, gender, level of depression and vitamin B12 deficiency have been found to moderate memory performance on cognitive tasks. The current study examined the above variables, plus also looked at levels of magnesium and zinc for their probable moderating effect on memory performance. Examined were 38 adults: 27 younger (between 21-35 years) and 11 oider (between 60-85 years), to identify those factors that moderated memory performance for this community-dwelling sample. The results of the current study replicated previous work reported in the literature that examined age-related changes in prose recall, word list recall and …

A Comparison Of The Ratings Of The Performance Of Elementary School Principals Provided By Self-Evaluations, Supervisors, Parents, Certified Staff, Classified Staff, And Peers In A 360-Degree Evaluation Process, Darren Claude Sheldon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the ratings of the performance of elementary school principals when evaluated by supervisors, certified staff, classified staff, peers, and the principals themselves. Statistical tests were used to determine significant difference between these constituent groups on the nine Educational Leadership Profile dimensions which include Leadership Attributes, Visionary Leadership, Community Leadership, Instructional Leadership, Data-Driven Improvement, Organization to Improve Student Learning, Organization to Improve Staff Efficacy, Cultural Competence, and Education Management. The nine ELP dimensions were also compared against the following independent variables: gender of participants, participant familiarity with the principal, school enrollment, principal experience, …

Perception Of The Future Need For Family And Consumer Sciences Teachers In North Dakota's Public Schools, Elaine Helen Ann Larson

Theses and Dissertations

Family and consumer sciences (FACS) school programs provide some of the earliest opportunities for students to leam relationship, communications, teamwork, and decision-making skills that support and strengthen family life and to make healthy lifestyle choices that have a positive impact on all of society. Unfortunately, research data document a shortage of FACS teachers across the nation. Without an increasing supply of teachers, many programs may be weakened and some may be eliminated.

The purpose of this study is to identify the future need for FACS teachers in the North Dakota public schools. A secondary purpose is to identify the reasons …

The Effect Of Repeated Visual Or Verbal Worry On Thought Intrusions And Habituation, Jessica C. White Plume

Theses and Dissertations

The avoidance model of worry proposes that verbal and visual cognitive activi ty serve to maintain or reduce worry, respectively. The present study tested this model in a laboratory setting. One-hundred one undergraduate college students (77 female, 24 male; mean age = 20.55 years) identified as high or low worriers underwent two fifteen-minute sessions of visually imagining, or verbally thinking about, personally relevant worry topics. Outcome measures included post-exposure thought intrusions, and psychophysiological and subjective arousal. As expected, high worriers reported higher subjective anxiety and more negative thought intrusions throughout the experiment. Visual exposure did not reduce negative thought intrusions …

Reflections From The Introduction Of Blogs And Rss Feeds Into A Preservice Instructional Technology Course, Bruce Gabbitas, Charles R. Graham, Richard E. West, Geoffrey Wright

Faculty Publications

In this paper we report our experiences using blogs and RSS technology to teach over 800 preservice students in an introductory instructional technology course over the course of three semesters. Our main purpose for using blogs and RSS feeds was to promote critical reflection, student collaboration, and professional development. Through focus group interviews and class surveys, we discovered both effective and ineffective methods for integrating blogs and RSS feeds into a course. This paper will reflect on these findings and provide practical ideas for overcoming the challenges we faced in implementing blogs and RSS feeds as effective teaching and learning …

A Critical Review Of The Clinical Applications Of Continuous Performance Tests, Yvette Gutierrez

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computerized testing has emerged as an important assessment tool for clinicians. In particular, continuous performance tests (CPTs) have become popular measures to assess sustained attention; yet research regarding the clinical usefulness of CPTs appears mixed. This paper will review research literature on CPTs published in peer-reviewed journals/periodicals between 1980 and 2004. A range of descriptive data will be gathered and summarized from the articles including history and present uses of CPTs and psychometric information on various versions of commercially available CPTs. This information will be used to present a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of CPTs as well as …

Trading Sex: Voluntary Or Coerced? The Experiences Of Homeless Youth, Kimberly A. Tyler, Katherine Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study examined the circumstances surrounding a homeless youth’s “decision” to trade sex for food, money, shelter, or drugs. Forty homeless youth in 4 Midwestern states participated in individual, in-depth qualitative interviews. Interviewers recruited youth through both service agencies and street outreach. The findings revealed that approximately one third of the sample had some experience with trading sex, whether it was in the form of having traded sex, having been propositioned to trade sex but having refused, or having friends or acquaintances that had traded sex. Young people ‘s reports indicated that they had traded sex for things they deemed …

Nanotechnology And The United States National Plan For Research And Development In Support Of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Lisa Campbell

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In an effort to predict and avert threats to national security, governments in general, and that of the United States in particular, have devoted considerable resources to developing technological systems that gather information about individuals. In the past five years, the U.S. government has collected information about the movement of individuals across and within its national borders from various sources, including border security stations, law enforcement officials, and immigration authorities. Until recently, it seemed impossible for the U.S. government to draw useful analyses from all of the data it is collecting. The sheer volume and complexity of the information made …

Eugenics, Rejuvenation, And Bulgakov's Journey Into The Heart Of Dogness, Yvonne Howell

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications

In this article, I propose a new reading of Heart of a Dog, one that takes seriously Professor Preobrazhenskii's claim that his real interest is "eugenics, the improvement of the human species." The Professor's eugenics project is not limited to a cosmetic, physical improvement of human subjects; it anticipates urging humankind toward a higher stage of intellectual and spiritual development as well. Therefore, when he mistakenly transforms a dog into a man instead of a more intelligent dog, he considers the experiment an abject failure because the new man "no longer has a dog's heart, but a human one, …

Programs And Courses 2006-2008, University Of Northern Iowa

UNI Programs and Courses Catalogs

This catalog is published for students and other persons who want to know more about the University of Northern Iowa. Its purpose is to communicate as objectively and completely as possible what the university is and what it does. The catalog is presented in sections to give a general view of the university as well as the detailed information required for informed decision making.

Coach Effectiveness And Personality Assessments: An Exploratory Analysis Of Thin Slice Interpersonal Perceptions, Jennifer Lynne Knight

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This research examined accuracy, consensus, and self-other agreement of personality assessments and coaching effectiveness based on thin-slice judgments of 30-second video clips of 9 recreation level coaches. Two hundred and six naive raters viewed the clips and rated the targets on coaching effectiveness and personality attributes. Ratings of coaching effectiveness were correlated with expert ratings of effectiveness to measure accuracy. The ratings of attributes were correlated with expert ratings of the same attributes to measure consensus. Gender, race, and level of sport participation of naive raters was subjected to independent sample t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine …

Efficacy Of In-Home Parent -Child Interaction Therapy, Lisa M. Ware

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In recent years, there has been much discussion of the efficacy and effectiveness of mental health interventions for children as well as the transportation of empirically-supported treatments (ESTs) to field settings. While there have been efforts to improve dissemination of ESTs, little research has examined the efficacy of treatments in settings other than the traditional clinic. A logical initial step in this line of research is to examine whether the efficacy of ESTs can be demonstrated in community settings such as in the home environment. There are many hypothesized benefits to providing services in the home setting. Based on the …

Gender-Role Development In Toddlers: The Association Between Parental Gender-Role Orientation And Toddler's Gender-Typed Behavior, Jennifer K. Hartley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Associations between the gender-role orientation of parents and the toy-play behavior of first-born infants were investigated. Fifteen fathers ( M age = 31.13, SD = 4.26) and 46 mothers ( M age = 28.13, SD = 4.97) completed self-administered questionnaires which included questions on feedback to play with gender-typed toys. ANOVA results indicated that mothers provided more masculine-typed toys for their sons than their daughters, and more feminine-typed toys for their daughters than their sons; fathers provided more feminine-typed toys for their daughters than their sons. In addition, mothers provided more encouragement to same-gender-typed play than cross-gender-typed play for both …

Communication Organizational Orientations In An Instructional Setting, David Tibbles

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study sought to determine if the organizational orientations of upward mobility, ambivalence, and indifference applied to students in the instructional setting. The McCroskey, Richmond, Johnson, and Smith (2004) Organizational Orientation Measure was adapted to a classroom setting to measure student orientations, and then the relationships between student orientations and student perceptions of teacher credibility, teacher nonverbal immediacy, student trait motivation, student state motivation, student beliefs and attitudes toward college, student affective learning, and student cognitive learning. Results indicate upward mobility had significant positive correlations with the dependent variables except cognitive learning while ambivalent and indifferent orientations had significant negative …

Another Shade Of Brown: A Historical Study Of “Brown V. Board Of Education” And Its Impact On The Education Of Mexican Americans In Edinburg, Texas In The Rio Grande Valley Of South Texas, Beverly F. Ashley-Fridie

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The decision of Brown v. Board of Education to desegregate schools in the United States fifty-two years ago was approached with hesitation by many school districts. For half of those fifty-two years, school desegregation proceeded at a snail's pace in southern and northern school districts as civil rights lawyers waged trench warfare in federal courts. Even though it was "law," many school districts ignored the mandate or suffered from the "with all deliberate speed" syndrome. The focus of this study was to investigate the educational segregation and desegregation of students in the Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District (ECISD).

In this …

The Roles Of School Psychologists Working Within A Pediatric Setting., Emily D. Warnes, S.C. Olson, Susan M. Sheridan, A.M. Taylor, K.E. Woods, J.D. Burt, C.A. Blevins, C.L. Magee, M.S. Swanger, C.R. Ellis

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Presentations

• With an increasing number of children presenting with health conditions, pediatric care has expanded from solely a medical definition to a more comprehensive service delivery approach that includes psychology and education (Perrin, 1999).

• An interdisciplinary, inter-systemic approach is necessary to meet the needs of children across systems (Power, Shapiro, & DuPaul, 2003).

• School psychologists are uniquely qualified to facilitate collaboration between settings and systems due to their expertise in consultation and intervention.

• Roles in pediatric school psychology include: advocating for children’s educational and social needs; consulting with care providers, families, and educators; and facilitating collaboration among …

Cbc Through A New Lens: Exploring Individual Outcomes In Groups, Susan M. Sheridan, Todd A. Glover, Kathryn A. Black, Stanley A. Garbacz, Amanda L. Witte, Michelle S. Swanger, Lynae A. Johnsen, Christina A. Meints

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Presentations

- Untreated behavior problems in elementary school students can result in a trajectory of negative life outcomes, which include more failed courses, lower grade point averages, increased absenteeism, and higher retention rates compared to other students (Wagner et al., 1993).

- Family-school partnerships and parental involvement in interventions and educational programs positively correlate with favorable outcomes for students, families, and teachers (e.g., Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994).

- Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (CBC; Sheridan, Kratochwill, & Bergan, 1996; Sheridan & Kratochwill, in press) maintains promise as an evidence-based model for increasing ongoing, collaborative family-school interactions (Guli, 2005).

- Conducted with parents and …

Handouts For “The Roles Of School Psychologists Working Within A Pediatric Setting”, Emily D. Warnes, S.C. Olson, Susan M. Sheridan, A.M. Taylor, K.E. Woods, J.D. Burt, C.A. Blevins, K.L. Magee, M.S. Swanger, C.R. Ellis

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Presentations

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What clinical services are pediatric school psychologists providing and for whom are they providing them?

2. What types of referral concerns are pediatric school psychologists addressing and which of those are associated with CBC service delivery?

3. Under what conditions are CBC services desirable and appropriate in medical settings and when are such services not warranted?

"What's Your Fantasy?" The Sexual Objectification Of Women In Rap Videos, Dorothy E. Blue

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

For many African American youth, hip hop has been a part of their cultural identity since the 1970s (George 1998; Rose 1994). From its inception three decades ago, hip hop has grown from an urban (predominantly black and Latino youth) culture into an international youth phenomenon, transcending racial and ethnic lines. Prior research indicates that male artists tend to rule the video world. Furthermore, the portrayal of women in these videos produces an acceptance of violence and sexual objectification toward women. The purpose of this study is to look at the sexual objectification of women in rap videos. This study …

An Examination Of Social Presence In An Online Learning Environment., Susan J. Crim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The distance education literature is lacking studies investigating the construct of social presence, the value placed on it by online learners, and whether its existence in text-based environments is necessary for learning, satisfaction, and contributing to course retention. The purpose of this study was to explore learner perceptions and experiences of the learning process within the Web-based online learning medium in terms of social presence. More specifically, it examines the relationship among learners' perceptions of social presence in asynchronous online courses and how it relates to satisfaction with learning, whether course activities perceived as having high levels of social presence …

Connecting Health Concepts And Health Behavior : The Construction Of Health Identity., Valerie French

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an historical, theoretical and empirical examination of women's health concepts and health behavior in contemporary consumer-oriented American society. It begins with an historical overview of social health movements to illustrate how health concepts are shaped by cultural, social, political, and moral beliefs and practices. It then traces the socio-cultural construction of "health" to understand how this concept is shaped by various social and individual factors. The qualitative methodology of grounded theory was used to examine empirically how a sample of women defines "health" and what behaviors they engage in related to "health." Non-random convenience sampling was employed …

The Impact Of Adjustment Problems On Academic Achievement Of International Undergraduates At West Virginia University, Ke Zhao

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research explored the correlation relationship between academic achievement and adjustment problems among international undergraduate students at West Virginia University. Michigan International Student Problem Inventory (M.I.S.P. Inventory) was used to measure the adjustment problems that international students have encountered. GPA scale was used to measure academic achievement. Thirty-three international undergraduate students participated this study. Students were asked to complete the survey and self-report GPA in the survey.;The correlations were found statistically significant between Academic Record problems and GPA, and between Social Personal problems and GPA. The Academic Record problems and Social Personal problems were both negatively correlated with GPA. Based …

Effects Of Moderate Alcohol Consumption On Serum Marker Enzymes Of Rabbits, M. Sabih Aktas, Ismail Celik

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Neoliberalism, Hegemony And Community Imaginings, Boone W. Shear

Masters Theses

The idea of "community" evokes many long held, positive imaginings. Community implies neighborliness, togetherness, helping each other, tolerance and understanding. Community is set against modem society and is commonly understood to be a solution to the deleterious impacts of capitalism and the state. Although community can be a site of resistance, I am also interested in the ways in which the ideology of community assists in facilitating capitalist inequalities.

The latter part of the twentieth-century saw a significant restructuring of capital in the United States as privatization and deregulation were accompanied by a decline in the welfare state. These efforts …

Selection Of Attractor Sounds For An Audio-Based Navigation System For The Visually Impaired, Brad Salisbury

Masters Theses

Research in to human hearing has been very ‘laboratory’ oriented in the sense that the test environments do not replicate most ‘real world’ situations [J.C. Middlebrooks and D.M. Green, Ann. Rev. of Psychology, 42, 135-159 (1991)]. While very useful information is gained from these types of tests, it is difficult to see how ‘real world’ situations affect sound source localization, recognition, and navigation (walking/way finding) performance. Such information is especially important to people who are visually impaired and dependent on prior knowledge of the environment or audio cues for travel. The research reported here was conducted during the development of …

Mary Shelley And The Early Goddess, Anne Schreuder

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

For my thesis, I intend to focus on elements of Greek idealism in Mary Shelley’s Valperga, Frankenstein, and The Last Man. I will define “classicism” and seek to understand the ideals of the ancients that are concerned with the assertion of a masculine identity and fear the interference of the female voice in the quest for that assertion. I will show how Mary Shelley’s revisionist history undermines the classical ideals of masculinity in the search for the lost feminine. I will use Shelley’s two plays, Proserpine and Midas to support my claim that Shelley is interested in revisionist history of …

Faculty Senate Election Memo, 2006, Vol 37, P 7, Unm Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Documents

No abstract provided.