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Demystifying A Sexual Perversion: An Existential Reading Of Sadomasochism And Erich Fromm's Call To Love, Salvatore Palazzolo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the lack of clinical evidence suggesting that sex is the primary passion behind sadomasochism and critiques which have debunked the idea of gendered polarities as intrinsic to its nature, the popular imagination of sadomasochism remains as a gendered sexual perversion. This dissertation explores how theories of sadomasochism became "dominated" by sexual themes along with some of the problems that interfere with a full understanding of sadomasochism as a psychological disorder.

In part one, starting with the theories of Krafft-Ebing, Ellis, and Freud, various theories of sadomasochism are examined guided by four principles that are explicitly and implicitly addressed. These …

Hebi Sani: Mental Well Being Among The Working Class Afro-Surinamese In Paramaribo, Suriname, Aminata Cairo

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation describes the results of a two year anthropological investigation into the concept of mental well being among the working class Afro-Surinamese population in Paramaribo, Suriname. More specifically, the research investigated how working class Afro-Surinamese in Paramaribo, Suriname define and maintain their sense of mental well-being, given their unique ethnic identity within a multi-ethnic and multicultural society, and given that their environment is heavily compromised by negative globalizing forces Over the course of two years a total of 62 people contributed information through group and individual interviews, which was supplemented by information obtained through participant observation. Findings show a …

Mentoring Matters: The Influence Of Social Support And Relational Maintenance Strategies On Critical Outcomes In Doctoral Education, Sarah Elizabeth Cavendish

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Utilizing social support as the theoretical foundation for this research, the study proposes and tests the Mentoring Relational Process Model (MRPM). The influence of support sought, relational maintenance strategies, and support obtained on the critical graduate outcomes of relational satisfaction, research self-efficacy, perceived time-todegree, and relational quality is examined. Data collected from 310 doctoral students through an online survey is used to test the MRPM. Over 50% of the variance in relational satisfaction and relational quality, respectively, is predicted by the MRPM. Research selfefficacy and perceived time-to-degree were not well-predicted by the current data.

Implications For The Interaction Between The Heat Shock Transcription Factors And The Translocated Promoter Region Protein, Hollie Suzanne Skaggs

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The heat-shock response is one of the many complex physiological systems that organisms have developed in order to protect their cells against stress. This response is initiated by the binding of heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) to the promoters of genes containing heat-shock elements (HSEs,) which results in the expression of several proteins, among them the proteo-protective inducible heat-shock protein (hsp70i). Due to HSF1s critical role in this process, an active area of research is trying to understand of how HSF1 executes its function. Considering the rapidity with which the field of cell biology is expanding, in particular the sub-field …

Instructional Communication Matters: A Test Of Knowledge Acqusition Theory (Kat) From A Message-Oriented Receiver Perspective, Robert Joseph Trader

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation encourages adoption of a message-oriented receiver perspective when developing new instructional communication theories and proposes a causal-process model derived from Knowledge Acquisition Theory to demonstrate how this perspective can be used to predict student cognitive learning outcomes. Three hypotheses are generated to test the propositions of the derived model. The first hypothesis seeks to determine which dimensions of instructional message clarity and course content relevance best predict student interactions with instructional content. The second hypothesis predicts that student self-reported knowledge gains are a function of student interactions with content. The third hypothesis predicts that a significant proportion of …

Religiousness And Alcohol Use: Exploring The Role Of Descriptive Drinking Norms, Emily H. Brechting

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Alcohol use in young adults requires continued attention due to the significant number of problems related to alcohol consumption. The alcohol use literature has explored a variety of constructs related to alcohol use in young adults including religiousness. The aims of the current study were to demonstrate the relationships between religiousness and alcohol use, explore the associations between religiousness and descriptive drinking norms, replicate the relationships between drinking norms and alcohol outcomes, and explore the mediating role of descriptive drinking norms on the relationships between religiousness and alcohol outcomes. Three hundred and thirtythree undergraduate students (M=19.72 years old; SD=1.1) completed …

Mapping Hiv Prevention In Poland: Contested Citizenship And The Struggles For Health After Socialism, Jill Teresa Owczarzak

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This ethnographic dissertation research project examines HIV prevention programs in Warsaw, Poland to explore the concurrent processes of democratization and privatization as Poland begins European Union accession. As inherently political public health interventions, HIV prevention programs provoke discussions of risk and responsibility, and visions of the moral social order. Therefore, they can be used to understand the ways in which politically and socially marginalized populations invoke claims to citizenship status through attention to health issues. From an epidemiological perspective, HIV/AIDS arrived in Poland relatively late (1985) and never reached the anticipated epidemic levels. In the 1980s, drawing attention to the …

A Comparison Of Select Trunk Muscle Thickness Change Between Subjects With Low Back Pain Classified In The Treatment-Based Classification System And Asymptomatic Controls, Kyle Benjamin Kiesel

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The purposes of this dissertation were to determine: 1) the relationship betweenmuscle thickness change (MTC) as measured by rehabilitative ultrasound imaging(RUSI) and EMG activity in the lumbar multifidus (LM), 2) if motor control changesproduced by experimentally induced pain are measurable with RUSI, 3) if a differenceexists in MTC between subjects with low back pain (LBP) classified in the treatmentbasedclassification system (TBC) system and controls, 4) if MTC improves followingintervention.Current literature suggests sub-groups of patients with LBP exist and responddifferently to treatment, challenging whether the majority of LBP is "nonspecific". TheTBC system categorizes subjects into one of four categories (stabilization, mobilization,direction …

The Contextual Elements Of Political Tolerance: A Multilevel Analysis Of The Effects Of Threat Environment And Domestic Institutions On Political Tolerance Levels, Marc Lawrence Hutchison

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Although largely overlooked in much of the previous research on political tolerance, I argue that contextual factors, specifically state-level features, play a significant role in influencing individual tolerance judgments. Drawing from extant theories of public opinion, international conflict, and political institutions, I seek to further our understanding of the determinants of political tolerance by trying to answer the following question: What accounts for the significant differences in political tolerance levels across countries? While models using individual-level predictors account for some of the disparity in tolerance levels, a substantial amount remains unexplained. I assert that several macro-level theoretical frameworks offer compelling …

Oxidative Stress And Mitochondrial Dysfunction In Traumatic Brain Injury In Aging, Changxing Shao

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a prominent disease in developed countries, and age is an important factor in functional outcome. Although aged patients typically show diminished recovery compared to young patients, and have higher mortality and morbidity following TBI, the mechanism is not well understood. To date, there is no effective therapeutic for TBI. Previous studies indicate a secondary injury in TBI begins immediately after impact, and is likely the major contribution to delayed neuron dysfunction and loss. Studies also suggest mitochondrial dysfunction and increased free radical species (ROS) production following TBI may play a key role in the process. …

Investigations Of Circadian Regulation And Immune-Circadian Interaction In The Horse, Barbara Anne Murphy

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The circadian system provides animals with a means to adapt internal physiology to the constantly changing environmental stimuli that exists on a rotating planet. Light information is translated into molecular timing mechanisms within individual pacemaker cells of the mammalian hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) via transcriptionaltranslational feedback loops. Humoral and neural outputs from this master clock result in circadian rhythms of physiology and behavior. The hierarchy of the circadian system involves SCN synchronization of cellular clocks within peripheral tissues so that differential transcriptional profiles in individual organs reflect their specific function. The first step to investigating equine circadian regulation was to …

Essays In Health Economics, Rachel Pauline Lange

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Health and health care are dominant economic and political issues in the United States and many other countries. This dissertation contains two essays addressing different subjects within the field of health economics. The first essay is labor market oriented: An Economic Analysis of the Effects of Obesity on Wages. It examines the effects of overweight and obesity on the wages of men and women. The second essay, An Economic Analysis of the Impact on Health Care of Certain Medicare Provisions of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 examines changes in the treatment of Medicare patients in light of reimbursement changes …

Processes Leading Self-Identified Heterosexuals To Develop Into Sexual Minority Social Justice Allies: A Qualitative Exploration, Julie Marie Duhigg

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The impact of homonegativity on both sexual minorities and heterosexuals is profoundly debilitating. Due to the implicit power of their privileged status, heterosexually-identified individuals can serve a crucial role as allies in eliminating sexual minority oppression. Because minimal research exists around heterosexual identity issues, broadly, and sexual minority ally development, specifically, it is difficult to promote such ally work without a clear understanding of the developmental processes and motivational issues that lead heterosexuals to sexual minority social justice action. The current study sought to explore the developmental experiences of heterosexuallyidentified exemplars who work in their communities for sexual minority social …

Precooling And Running Economy, Molly Rebecca Winke

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Precooling, or a reduction in core temperature (Tc) has been demonstrated to be a potent enhancer of endurance running performance, however there is no known mechanism for this improvement. By holding the exercise workload constant, changes in variables such as running economy (RE), heart rate, and ventilation (VE) can be determined as a result of precooling. Improved running economy, or a reduced oxygen cost of a specific workload, is linked to improved exercise performance. Purpose: To determine the changes in flexibility, RE, heart rate, VE, and Tc during running at a constant workload following cool water immersion and to determine …

The Boethian Vision Of Eternity In Old, Middle, And Early Modern English Translations Of De Consolatione Philosophi, Kenneth Carr Hawley

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

While this analysis of the Old, Middle, and Early Modern English translations of De Consolatione Philosophiandamp;aelig; provides a brief reception history and an overview of the critical tradition surrounding each version, its focus is upon how these renderings present particular moments that offer the consolation of eternity, especially since such passages typify the work as a whole. For Boethius, confused and conflicting views on fame, fortune, happiness, good and evil, fate, free will, necessity, foreknowledge, and providence are only capable of clarity and resolution to the degree that one attains to knowledge of the divine mind and especially to knowledge …

African American Perceptions Of Childhood Behavioral Disorders And Mental Health Services, Chant Wellington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated African American parents/caregivers perceptions of childhood psychopathology and psychological services. The four participants of this study were African American parents/caregivers of children who were suspected by their respective schools of having symptoms of emotional, cognitive and or behavioral disorders. The researcher of this study asked these participants to describe their lived experiences of their children's functioning that school based evaluators consider atypical.

Data were obtained in the form of an initial phone interview. At a later date a face to face follow-up interview was audio taped and transcribed in order to obtain situated and general narratives.

Findings …

Advertising As Epideictic Rhetoric And Its Implications For Ethical Communication, Cem Zeytinoglu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the ancient sense, epideictic rhetoric was considered as a simple opposition to pragmatic discourse, which predominantly was involved with public business. Public business refers to the matters of the polis and the political setting. On the other hand, epideictic does not address to the political or deliberative situations. It addresses the celebrative situations of a community or a society in which values are created and commemorated.

Epideictic is also different from deliberative public discourse in means of approach toward to audience. Deliberative rhetoric asks audience to decide to take a course of action in a public/political business, whereas epideictic …

A Redefined Feminine From Paleolithic To Twenty-First Century Through Children's Literature & Film, Pamela Dee Mccombs

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The intention of my critical discourse is to redefine the knowledge of the feminine that Western tradition, through “master narratives,” silenced, subverted, and deferred. My guidelines were drawn from the deconstruction of philosophical works by Jacques Derrida and redefined the unique circle of “Being and beings” to be not just God and man, but God, Goddess, and Human, the Goddess being the original feminine. I discovered the feminine beginning, through archaeomythologists Gimbutas, Dever, and Davis-Kimball, with the unearthing of female figurines, temple models, and warrior priestesses. I found examples of the feminine survival through the Dark Ages in Lithuanian Dainos …

Differentiated Instruction: The Effect On Student Achievement In An Elementary School, Patricia A. Koeze

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if differentiated instruction had an effect on student achievement. The researcher sought to answer two research questions “Does differentiated instruction have an impact on student achievement?” and “Are there components of differentiated instruction that have a greater impact on student achievement than others?”

The study followed a mixed method design and consisted of two parts. First, a quantitative analysis of test scores from the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) and teacher and student survey results were analyzed as a means to outline broad relationships from the data. Results from the quantitative findings …

Black Aesthetics In Children's Literature, Tammy Shonta Smith

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of my research is to show that although many African American children’s books have been used as “race texts” to give children insight into race relations of the past, many are important in that they preserve the Black dialect and encourage child activism and social change. Black aesthetics are most beneficial in that they educate children about not just race but about the African American oral tradition of Black dialect. They also provide children with a strong foundation in Black aesthetics, which prepares them for the higher forms of Black aesthetics found in African American adult literature. Not …

The Prevalence Of High Risk Sexually Transmitted Disease Behaviors Among Homosexual College Students, Teofanes Q. Natavio

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Association Of Whole Grain Ontakes With The Metabolic Syndrome: The Baltimore Longitudinal Study Of Aging (Blsa), Janice Eileen Maras

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Background: Whole grains and their nutrient components have an important protective effect on the metabolic syndrome. Studies are needed to examine their bioactive components in relation to diet and the metabolic syndrome.

Objective: Our objective was to examine the associations between dietary intakes of whole grains and the metabolic syndrome.

Design: The study subjects were 1516 healthy men and women participating in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Dietary information was collected with 7-day food records, and estimates of whole grain intake were obtained from a newly developed database.

Results: A total of 17% (n = 251) of subjects met …

Self-Forgiveness: A Narrative Phenomenological Study, John Beiter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation critically explored both theoretical and research findings pertaining to self-forgiveness, especially as it related to psychology. An important, though rather apparent finding or conclusion derived from this literature review was that there is an astounding paucity of both theoretical and research work about self-forgiveness within psychology. This lack or shortcoming holds, surprisingly, even in those disciplines perhaps associated more intuitively with self-forgiveness, for example theological and religious studies, and philosophy. Moreover, a contamination, conflation, or supplementarity characterized the relationship between forgiveness and self-forgiveness, such that no clear consensus exists with respect to the distinctions or similarities between those …

Competencies And Physical Agent Modalities: An Investigation Of Clinical And Ethical Implications, Casey A. Lambert

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Occupational therapy has evolved from its early inception in diversional therapy to incorporate technologically advanced modalities into the professional domain. Over the last thirty years the profession has increasingly incorporated physical agent modalities (PAMs) into the treatment process. Throughout this process there has been both opposition and support for the inclusion of PAMs in occupational therapy. There are concerns from both sides regarding the proper training of therapists in the use of PAMs, how competency should be assessed, who is responsible for ensuring competency, and the ethical concerns with the use of these modalities.

This phenomenological study analyzed six therapists’ …

Reading Waiting For Godot Through The Lens Of Christian Existentialism, Amanda L. Kelsch

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot is commonly interpreted within the context of the Theater of the Absurd, existentialist literature, or Christian allegory. This thesis recognizes the validity of all such readings while attempting to merge these seemingly contradictory perspectives. By reading the play within the context of Christian Existentialism, new insights are uncovered as to what the play may be saying about the existential dilemma. Søren Kierkegaard, often called the Father of Existentialism, authored multiple works that influenced modern existentialist writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Kierkegaard’s writings, however, were Christian in nature rather than atheistic. By …

A National Study Of Job Satisfaction Factors Among Faculty In Physician Assistant Education, Wallace D. Boeve

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the job satisfaction factors for physician assistant (PA) faculty. Job satisfaction factors were divided into two categories: intrinsic factors about the respondents (work itself and opportunities for advancement) and extrinsic factors about the institutional faculty support (salary, supervisory support, and coworker relations). The theoretical approach used in this study to examine job satisfaction among PA faculty was Herzberg’s (1966) two-factor theory of motivation. Additionally to enhance Herzberg’s theory regarding intrinsic and extrinsic factors, Smith, Kendall, and Hulin’s (1969) facet-specific job satisfaction theory (i.e., Job Description Index (JDI)) was utilized. A Web-based survey …

Neural Network Prediction Of Math And Reading Proficiency As Reported In The Educational Longitudinal Study 2002 Based On Non-Curricular Variables, Jason Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Predicting student achievement is often the goal of many studies, and a frequently employed tool for constructing predictive models is multiple linear regression. This research sought to compare the performance of a three-layer back propagation neural network to that of traditional multiple linear regression in predicting math and reading proficiency from 103 non-curricular variables collected in the National Center for Educational Statistics' 2002 Educational Longitudinal Study. The neural network model was implemented using the Java programming language and the coefficients for the regression equations were produced by SPSS. The results showed that, for this data set, neither model provided an …

Narrative As Communication Activism: Research Relationships In Social Justice Projects, Elizabeth A. Curry, Deborah Cunningham Walker

Library Presentations & Publications

When they talk about CASA or the project, Deb and Elizabeth use the words “we, our, or us,” not “them or they.”
Deb and Elizabeth are part of CASA because they understand us. They get it.
Lots of people study domestic violence, but they were the first researchers interested in us, the workers. We felt validated because university researchers thought what we did was important, and they asked us to help them understand our work.
They didn’t lecture us; they listened to us.

These are some of the staff’s observations about our participation in the University Community Initiative Project (UCI), …

The Development And Application Of A Systematic Approach To Evaluating An Academic Department's Brand Meaning, Cassandra C. Elrod

Doctoral Dissertations

"Research of existing literature indicates that below the university level, there has been little effort made in branding academia, namely academic departments. The lack of branding may significantly affect the perceptions that potential students and future employers of these students have about one of these academic units. The impact may be most significant for units where the fields of study that are represented by the department may be unclear, such as in the case of engineering management. However, even in the cases of better-understood fields of study, for example, electrical engineering, the competition for students with other fields of study …

Pediatric Physical Therapists And Evidence Based Practice: A Participatory Action Research Project, Joseph Schreiber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: The purpose of this project was to describe in detail the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of a group of pediatric physical therapists regarding evidence-based practice. In addition, utilizing a collaborative, participatory action research approach, several strategies and outcomes were identified as a means to aid these individuals in improving their ability to use research evidence for clinical decision making.

Methods: The primary investigator and a group of five pediatric physical therapists collaborated to develop and implement strategies and outcomes that were best suited for each individual. During phase I, information was gathered to describe the participants' current beliefs, attitudes, …