Digital Commons Network^™

Captured Artifacts, Charles Pearson Burch

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

My art examines the possible existence of an unknown civilization through the presentation of sculptural art objects within the conventional practice of displaying artifacts in a public institution. Historically, artifacts have served as visual records of journeying to and returning from a far-away land, unknown territory, alien soil, or enemy battlefield. Whether that place is tangible or is a fabrication of our subconscious, the presence of an artifact represents validation of the existence of that place. When displayed, artifacts offer a pleasurable challenge to the viewer by evoking the possibilities of a lost civilization or adventurer's journey. I employ these …

Georgia Elementary Principals' Perceptions Of Their Ethical Philosophy, Formal Leadership Preparation In Ethics, And Actions Related To The Development And Maintenance Of An Ethical School, Laura Martinez Hughes

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to determine elementary principals' perceptions of their ethical philosophy, formal leadership preparation in graduate school in the area of ethics, and actions needed for the development and maintenance of an ethical school. The persons most appropriate to provide the answers to the research questions included the population of elementary principals. A random sample of 915 elementary principals in Georgia was identified by listings on the Georgia Department of Education Website or by each county's web page. A descriptive, quantitative methodology was used, with a qualitative component of open-ended questions in order to bring …

Emotional Intelligence As A Predictor Of Career Longevity Among Special Education Teachers In The Houston County, Georgia, School System, Jesse Whitaker Davis

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In an effort to provide for a better understanding of the factors that exert influence on the career decisions of special educators, the present study sought to examine the influence of emotional intelligence and various demographic factors on the career longevity of special educators. One hundred twenty nine special education teachers in the Houston Count, Georgia School System completed a two-part survey consisting of the General Emotional Intelligence Scale and a researcher-created demographic questionnaire. The following overarching research question was answered through this study- What is the role of emotional intelligence in the career decisions of special education teachers? In …

Evaluation Of A Tube Feeding Decision Aid For Substitute Decision Makers, Emily H. Bower

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Substitute decision makers may be in a position to make "preference-sensitive" decisions for their patient, including whether to approve tube feeding. The present study evaluated the only known tube feeding decision aid for substitute decision makers (Mitchell, Tetroe, & O'Conner, 2001). Sixty adults completed a pre-questionnaire, read an active control brochure (control group) or decision aid (experimental group), and completed a post-questionnaire. Both groups demonstrated increased knowledge and decisional conflict at post-test, although the experimental group had higher scores in both. Participants who were either in favor or against tube feeding at pre-test rarely changed their decision at post-test. Control …

The Effect Of Student Self -Described Learning Styles Within Two Models Of Teaching In An Introductory Data Mining Course, Matthew A. North

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines the roles of learning styles and teaching methodologies within a data mining educational program designed for non-Computer Science undergraduate college students. The experimental design is framed by a discussion of the history and development of data mining and education, as well as a vision for its future.;Data mining is a relatively new discipline which has grown out of the fields of database management and data warehousing, statistics, logic, and decision sciences. Over the course of its approximately 15 year history, data mining has emerged from its genesis within the academic and commercial research and development arenas to …

Navigating The Ethical Quandaries Of Wraparound Multi -Systemic Treatment (Mst): A Comparative Study Between In -Home And Outpatient Therapies, Joseph M. Roberts

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Multisystemic treatments (MST) have become a significant force in the mental health community over the past decade. Yet, scant literature is available in regards to differing ethical considerations that may arise when working outside of a traditional office setting. The current research reviewed key ethical issues within the therapeutic relationship (i.e., confidentiality, dual roles), and extended the discussion to pertinent, often unrecognized issues endemic to in-home service modalities (i.e., confidentiality, role confusion, client diffusion, and unintentional witnessing).;More specifically, this research examined whether certain ethical violations are perceived to occur less frequently in outpatient settings compared to in-home settings. It was …

Hepatitis C In Prisons: Evolving Toward Decency Through Adequate Medical Care And Public Health Reform, Andrew Brunsden

Articles & Chapters

Hepatitis C (HCV) in prisons is a public health crisis tied to current drug policy's emphasis on the mass incarceration of drug users. Prison policy acts as a barrier to HCV care by limiting medical care for the infected, especially drug users, and by inhibiting public health measures addressing the epidemic. This Comment argues that courts mistakenly limit prisoners' Eighth Amendment right to basic medical care when they defer to prisons that apply HCV policies as categorical rules of treatment. Where current standards of care mandate individualized patient evaluation for treatment, prison policies that eschew this principle exhibit deliberate indifference …

Social Capital-Related Co-Production In A Marketplace, Lynne Ann Pryor

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study employs a social capital perspective and critical ethnographic methods to investigate the operation of co-production in a socially-rich marketplace. The phenomenon of interest is a form of co-production between and among marketers and consumers that is related to social capital (referred to herein as social capital-related coproduction or SCRC). By examining a more complex form of co-production than typically depicted in the marketing literature, this research extends knowledge about the nature, boundaries, and effects of co-production.

Moreover, the concept of SCRC is useful to gain insights about how social and commercial elements may interact in marketplaces. It contributes …

The Social Development Model And Delinquent Behavior : A Case Study., Jessica Noel Mullikin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to examine the impact that extreme economic deprivation has on adolescent social development. Data for this study was collected from the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau. This study uses the Developmental Prevention model as a theoretical basis, a theory which posits that extreme economic deprivation, as measured by income, poverty, crime rates, racial composition of neighborhoods, and prevalence of mothers and grandparents as sole caregivers, is a risk factor for all delinquent behaviors. The specific delinquent behaviors examined in this study were teen pregnancy, school dropout, poor school attendance, and criminality. A study was conducted to compare …

Development And Validation Of The Coping, Alcohol/Drugs, And Trauma Scale (Cats), Patricia J. Hunter

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to develop and investigate the validity of a coping scale (Coping, Alcohol/Drugs, and Trauma Scale; CATS), which could be used to predict problematic alcohol and drug (AOD) use patterns among college women, based upon historical stressors. It was predicted that the CATS would have strong convergent validity with the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test-Revised (MAST-R), moderately strong convergent validity with the Coping Response Inventory - Avoidant Scale (CRI- Avoidant), and moderate convergent validity with the Traumatic Events Questionnaire (TEQ). Additionally, the CATS was expected to have strong correlations to binge drinking as measured by the Khavari Alcohol …

The Experiences Of Heterosexual Women Married To Gay Or Bisexual Men, Matt Pearcey

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to better understand the experiences of heterosexual women who were married to gay or bisexual men. This survey looked at what led these women to marry their husbands, how they fell after they found out about their husband's newly identified sexual orientation, and how they coped with this revelation.

A mixed-method approach was taken in this study with 27 closed-ended questions. Three of the questions were open ended. This 30-question surv ey was utilized in order to gather data on each subject's experience of coping with their husband or partner’s coming out process. It …

Multivariate Discretization Of Continuous Valued Attributes., Ehab Ahmed El Sayed Ahmed 1978-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The area of Knowledge discovery and data mining is growing rapidly. Feature Discretization is a crucial issue in Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD), or Data Mining because most data sets used in real world applications have features with continuously values. Discretization is performed as a preprocessing step of the data mining to make data mining techniques useful for these data sets. This thesis addresses discretization issue by proposing a multivariate discretization (MVD) algorithm. It begins withal number of common discretization algorithms like Equal width discretization, Equal frequency discretization, Naïve; Entropy based discretization, Chi square discretization, and orthogonal hyper planes. After …

Effective Teaching Of African American Students Who Receive Special Education Services., Nancy Stone Bealmear

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an examination of effective teaching of African American students who receive special education services by teachers who are either National Board Certified Teachers or Highly Qualified Master's Level teachers. It begins with an overview of the history of special education in the United States and the current conditions of special education. It then covers the matter of overrepresentation of African American students in special education and the various contributors to that problem. The conceptual framework is to examine the self-efficacy and best practices of National Board Certified Teachers or Highly Qualified Master's Level teachers from middle and …

Anxiety And Control In African American Families., L. Kevin Chapman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To investigate the effects of anxiety and ethnicity on parental control as well as the effects ethnicity, anxiety, and parental control have on child diagnostic severity, anxious African American and Caucasian families were compared. Sixty-nine parent-child dyads completed the study. Forty-two mothers in the sample suffered from an anxiety disorder whereas twenty-seven mothers did not meet criteria for any current or past psychopathology. Parent-child dyads were videotaped as they completed two mildly stressful tasks together. Parental and child behaviors during the interactions were coded to obtain an objective measure of parents' behavior. Data were reduced to produce four behavioral composites …

Syllable Systems : Four Students' Experiences In Learning Rhythm., Tammy Renee Fust

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examines the effect of two different syllable counting systems on four sixth-grade band students. The goal of this study was to see the differences and similarities between rhythm learning and performance between these students in four related case studies. During a series of five lessons, students spent time with the researcher individually exploring rhythm reading and performing on their instrument. Two of the students were taught to count rhythms with the "takadimi" rhythm syllable system as developed by Richard Hoffman, William Pelto, and John White. The other two students counted rhythms using the traditional "l-e-&-a" system of …

Psychopathy Factors And Degree Of Forcefulness In Sex-Offenders : Implications For Current Risk-Assessment Practices., Luciano Tristan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Based primarily on theory, it is suspected that violent and non-violent sex-offenders can be differentiated by their psychopathic profile, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991). There is some concern that current risk-assessment instruments are not designed according to the characterological composition of violent and non-violent sex-offenders, which is believed to be essential to the instruments' predictive ability. Specifically, it is believed that such instruments are not sufficiently sensitive to the psychopathic characteristics associated with non-violent sex-offenders, as well as not sufficiently specific to the psychopathic characteristics associated with violent sex-offenders. A sample of convicted sex-offenders (N = …

Mindfulness As A Moderator Of Coping Response And The Abstinence Violation Effect : A Test Of The Role Of Mindfulness In The Relapse Prevention Model For Exercise., Christi S. Ulmer 1964-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The importance of physical activity in preventing disease and promoting health is increasingly evident in health outcomes research. Although most adults in the U.S. have initiated exercise programs at some point in their lives, research suggests that they have difficulty maintaining beneficial levels of physical activity and exercise. With escalating rates of obesity and physical inactivity, the importance of understanding processes by which individuals engage in and maintain physical activity cannot be understated. The Relapse Prevention Model (RPM), developed for use with addiction, has been successfully used to explore factors associated with exercise drop-out, or "exercise relapse". In the current …

The Effects Of Social Bond And Neutralization On Juvenile Drug Usage, Adam Shields

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of social bond and neutralization on juvenile drug usage. Part I of the Evaluation of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program in the United States (1995-1999) was used for the data analysis. When controlling for other variables, the data revealed that juveniles who accept neutralization of stealing and juveniles who are involved with other delinquent peers are more likely to use illegal drugs. In addition, the data revealed that an adolescent's gender was significant in determining drug usage. The results generally support Hirschi's (1969) Social Bond Theory, and …

Evaluation Of The Relationship Between Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-2/Neu (C-Erbb-2) Amplification And Pathologic Grading In Patients With Breast Cancer, Fatemeh Homaei-Shandiz, Mohammad-Reza Ghavam-Nassiri, Nourieh Sharifi, Amir-Hossein Homaei-Shandiz, Ali Taghizadeh-Kermani, Seyed-Ahmad M. Torshizi, Kamran Ghafarzadegan

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVE: The human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2)/neu is a proto-oncogene that is amplified in 10-30% of breast cancers. It is known to be associated with a poor overall survival. We studied the relationship between its amplification and different histological gradings of breast cancer. METHODS: We studied 196 patients diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 at the Omid and Ghaem Training Hospital, Mashhad Medical University, Iran. The HER-2/neu oncoprotein was measured by immunohistochemistry and the histological gradings were carried out according to the Bloom-Richardson Grading system. RESULTS: Sixty-seven (34.2%) cases were HER-2/neu positive and 129 (65.8%) cases were HER-2/neu negative. …

Nation Equity: Incidental Emotions In Country-Of-Origin Effects, Durairaj Maheswaran, Cathy Yi Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Different from past research on country-of-origin effects that has focused on cognitive factors, this article examines the impact of incidental emotions and cognitive appraisals associated with these emotions on country-of-origin effects. Experiment 1 compared anger and sadness and demonstrated that country of origin influenced evaluations only in the angry (vs. sad) condition where human (vs. situation) control was high. Experiment 2 further identified the effects of agency control using a different emotion, frustration. Based on these observations, this article suggests that, like brands, countries also have equity associated with them, termed nation equity, that has both performance and emotional components. …

Kearifan Dan Manifestasinya Pada Tokoh-Tokoh Lanjut Usia, Augustine Sukarlan Basri

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

This study tried to identify the characteristics and factors of wisdom using three age groups: young adult, middle adult, and elderly. Forty three characteristics were established. Factor analysis and one-way analysis of variance were used and 5 factors were found: (1) Spiritual-Moral Condition; (2) Interpersonal Relationship Ability; (3) Judgment and Decision Making Ability; (4) Personal Condition; and (5) Exceptional/Specific Ability. Spiritual-Moral Condition was a unique factor that former researches did not mention this condition as a factor of wisdom. This condition was also judged as the prime contributor to describe wisdom. Using interview, this study also described the unique manifestations …

Judith Merril: A Primary And Secondary Bibliography, Elizabeth Cummins

English and Technical Communication Faculty Research & Creative Works

This Judith Merril bibliography includes both primary and secondary works, arranged in categories that are suitable for her career and that are, generally, common to the other bibliographies in the Center for Bibliographic Studies in Science Fiction. Works by Merril include a variety of types and modes—pieces she wrote at Morris High School in the Bronx, newsletters and fanzines she edited; sports, westerns, and detective fiction and non-fiction published in pulp magazines up to 1950; science fiction stories, novellas, and novels; book reviews; critical essays; edited anthologies; and both audio and video recordings of her fiction and non-fiction.

Second-Order Perfectionsim, Cass R. Sunstein

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

In constitutional law, first-order perfectionism represents an effort to cast the Constitution’s ideals in the best constructive light. Ronald Dworkin’s conception of law as “integrity” can be seen as a form of firstorder perfectionism. By contrast, second-order perfectionism attempts to set out an account of constitutional adjudication that is sensitive to the fallibility of federal judges. Originalism is best defended as a form of second-order perfectionism; the same can be said of Thayerism, captured in the view that judges should uphold statutes unless they are unquestionably violative of the Constitution. Minimalism, which calls for narrow, incompletely theorized judgments, is another …

Identifying Difficulties In Learning Uml, Keng Siau, Poi-Peng Loo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Despite its recognition as a standard object-oriented modeling language, Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been criticized for such deficiencies as semantic inconsistencies, vagueness, and conflicting notations. the relationship between these deficiencies and the difficulties in the learning process is the focus of this study. A concept mapping technique is used to unveil the learning difficulties and suggestions for alleviating them are provided.

Plans As Products Of Learning, Samin Karim, Budhitama Subagdja, Liz Sonenberg

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper presents motivations and current related work in the field of plan learning. Additionally, two approaches that achieve plan learning are presented. The two presented approaches are centred on the BDI framework of agency and have particular focus on plans, which, alongside goals, are the means to fulfil intentions in most pragmatic and theoretical realisations of the BDI framework. The first approach is a hybrid architecture that combines a BDI plan extractor and executor with a generic low-level learner. The second approach uses hypotheses to suggest incremental refinements of a priori plans. Both approaches achieve plan generation that is …

Language In Modern African Drama, Isaiah Ilo

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his paper "Language in Modern African Drama" Isaiah Ilo proposes alternative criteria for language choice in modern African drama. The two most influential constructs on the language question are Fanon's essentialism that rejects Western languages as instruments of subjugation and Achebe's hybrid approach which entails subversion of the foreign languages by infusing them with African verbal characteristics. The constructs, which emphasise indigenised language and content, stem from the idea that consciousness of the colonial experience should determine language choice and usage in post-colonial African literary creativity. In building a case for a post-indiginist aesthetic, Ilo argues that present reality …

His/Tory And Its Vicissitudes In Álvarez's In The Time Of The Butterflies And Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Luz Angélica Kirschner

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her paper "His/tory and Its Vicissitudes in Álvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies and Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale" Luz Angélica Kirschner argues that in Julia Álvarez's In the Time of the Bautterflies and in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, although with certain limitations and differences in their approaches, in a complementary way, their texts exemplify, as Joan Wallace Scott suggested, the need to consider gender "a useful category of historical analysis" to overturn the monological and well-organized version of official history that, in the process of history writing, has tended to obliterate "insignificant" narratives and voices. At the …

Portrayal Of Mathematicians In Fictional Works, Daniel Dotson

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Portrayal of Mathematicians in Fictional Works," Daniel Dotson explores how people with mathematical abilities -- including mathematicians, mathematics teachers, mathematically-inclined youths, cryptographers, and more -- are portrayed in novels, films, television programs, and a play. A summary table of the characters gives a short description of each of them, the title of the work in which they appeared, and the format of the work. Characters were analyzed to see if they possessed any of ten personality traits: obsessive, having major mental health problems, withdrawn, brave, timid, socially inept, arrogant, uses math to escape reality, out of touch, …

Strengthening The Criminal Defendant's Right To Counsel, Anne Bowen Poulin

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Family Environment As A Contributor To Locus Of Control In Children And Adolescents, Christopher Michael Delap

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between family environment and locus of control among children and adolescents. The data examined consisted of 52 participants who were from a larger study that was comprised of 265 participants in a school setting. The measures used for this study were the Family Environment Scale (FES) and the Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control (MMCPC). An independent groups t test was used to examine whether there were significant differences in scores on the relationship and growth domains on the FES between internal, external, or unknown locus of control …