Digital Commons Network^™

Essences And Transformations In Objects, Animals, And Humans, Alicia Brooke Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Research as to how humans group natural kinds, such as animals, is essential to understanding categorization processes. However, it lacks conventional application and generalization to everyday life. Humans are social beings that encounter a wide array of individuals on a daily basis. In these situations, we are required to consider various properties that make up these people. As Keller (2005) suggests, the way we categorize is shaped by our theories about the world. Therefore, when we determine the rationale behind people’s social categorization processes, we are better able to understand people’s perceptions of their social environment. Moreover, when we conduct …

Gritting Teeth: A Memoir Of Unhealthy Love, Samantha L. Day

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Originally intended to be modeled after Eula Biss’s creative nonfiction essay “The Balloonists”—which tackles the subject of marriage via fragmented prose poems— “Gritting Teeth: A Memoir of Unhealthy Love” is a piece that has taken on a subject and form of its own. A memoirist like Vivian Gornick might not claim the writer’s piece, as it hesitates to offer a “story” in places. A memoirist like Sue William Silverman might not claim the piece, as it hesitates to be courageous at times. But this collage of song lyrics, research snippets, and even Craigslist postings works in conjunction with fragments from …

"Their Past In My Blood": Paule Marshall, Gayl Jones, And Octavia Butler's Response To The Black Aesthetic, Williamenia Miranda Walker Freeman

Dissertations

Paule Marshall’s The Chosen Place, The Timeless People (1969), Gayl Jones’ Corregidora (1975), and Octavia Butler’s Kindred (1979) enhance our conceptualization of black aestheticism and black nationalism as cultural and political movements. The writers use the novel as genre to question the ideological paradigm of a black nationalist aesthetic by providing alternative definitions of community, black women’s sexuality, and race relations. Because of the ways in which these writers respond to black aestheticism and black nationalism, they transform our understanding of movements often perceived as sexist, racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic. An examination of their works reveals the need for additional …

Winona Currents Magazine, University Advancement - Winona State University

Winona Currents

This magazine published by Winona State University’s University Advancement was intended to inform WSU Alumni, students, faculty, staff and the greater community about Alumni and the university.Major Buzz, Grand Tour, Satellite View.

Coronary Heart Disease Knowledge And Risk Factors Among Filipino-Americans Connected To Primary Care Services, Alona N. Dalusung-Angosta

Nursing Faculty Research

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death of Filipino-Americans (FAs). Despite the growing numbers of FAs in the United States, little is known about their CHD knowledge and risk factors.

The purposes of this study were to examine the baseline knowledge and risk factors of CHD among FAs and to describe the relationships between knowledge, sociodemographic, and socioeconomic characteristic variables of FAs between the ages of 35-75 years.

The study sample consisted of 120 FAs (N = 120) who were connected to primary care services. Data were collected from three primary care clinics in Las Vegas, …

Fred Fejes' Gay Rights And Moral Panic: The Origins Of America's Debate On Homosexuality (Book Review), Michael Boucai

Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Exploring A Web-Based Pedagogical Model To Enhance Gis Education, Richard Lisichenko

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are defined as: “An integrated collection of computer software and data used to view and manage information about geographic places, analyze spatial relationships, and model spatial processes.” (Wade & Sommer, 2006) Originally, GIS users were comprised primarily of scientists and engineers. In time, hardware and software advancements provided the catalyst for expanded use by the global community. In addition, the continued integration and access to information systems via the Internet and mobile devices has contributed to the success of GIS in society. Aside from commercial training, institutions of higher learning have played a major role in …

Sports-Tool, Bryant Ung

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Creating events and finding people to play sports is a hard thing to do. The solution to this problem is to provide a web based interactive site that allows people to create and join different type of events and interact with each other by creating teams.

Innovation And Tradition In Lisan Wang’S Piano Suite Other Hill, Rongjie Xu

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

Lisan Wang is one of the most celebrated musical figures in China. His five-movement piano suite Other Hill (1980) is the composer’s response to the “New Wave”, a compositional trend generated in China after the 1977 Cultural Revolution. Gaining fame as a piano composition for showing the application of multiculturalism and syncretism to music, Other Hill is regarded as a prime example of cross-cultural piano composition in China. Wang challenges Chinese traditional piano composition with different artistic media—philosophy, calligraphy, poems, and various folk elements in Other Hill. This document proposes an interdisciplinary study of Lisan Wang’s musical fusion of …

Beliefs About Alcohol And The College Experience As Moderators Of The Effects Of Perceived Drinking Norms On Student Alcohol Use, Lizabeth A. Crawford, Katherine B. Novak

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Many students view the abuse of alcohol as integral to the student role. Thus, they feel entitled to drink heavily without sanction. OLS regression was used to assess the extent to which these beliefs about alcohol and the college experience moderate the effects of descriptive and injunctive campus drinking norms on students’ levels of alcohol consumption. Overall, respondents who perceived that same-sex students on their campus drank heavily tended to drink heavily themselves. This relationship was, however, strongest among individuals who viewed the abuse of alcohol as part of being a student. Although general injunctive norms were not themselves associated …

Essays On Credit Card Borrowing Behaviors, Zongcui Mu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Essay 1: Age-Period-Cohort Analysis of Credit Card BorrowingThe main purpose of this essay is to identify the existence of Age (A) C Period (P) and Cohort effects (C), and how taking Period/Cohorts effects into account modify previous understanding of consumersf credit card borrowing behavior over life cycle. Specially two related questions are examined: (1) what is the credit card borrowing pattern across age groups with and without cohort adjustment (2) What are the underlying factors accounting for consumersf revolving behavior (propensity to borrow and magnitude of debts) on credit card.In order to answer the above two questions, using SCF data …

University Of Dayton Magazine. Winter 2010-11, University Of Dayton Magazine

University of Dayton Alumni Publications

This issue includes the articles "Wine & Family"; "Going My Way?"; and "Citius. Altius. Fortius.".

Bryant 360, December 2010, Bryant University, Office Of Admissions

Bryant 360

No abstract provided.

The Rattler (Volume 98, Issue 5, Edition 1), St. Mary's University

The Rattler (Previous issues)

Founded in 1919, The Rattler is the student voice of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. The newspaper documents campus life, academic and social issues, student opinion, and local and national events as they relate to the University community. Content typically includes news articles, editorial commentary, arts and culture coverage, sports reporting, and advertisements.

Messianic Light : Utopian Discourse In The Work Of Theodor W. Adorno, Luce Irigaray And Giorgio Agamben., Heather Anne Thiessen 1956-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

What is the idea that "utopia" names? How can discourse represent that idea? Setting aside temporarily deeper problems with the idea of representation, and focusing on how a complex philosophical discourse might approach the problem of conveying or representing a large, only fairly precise, and important idea is the question of this dissertation. It ultimately answers that question obliquely, by focusing on the way the utopian discourse present in the work of three late 20th century philosophers, Theodor W. Adorno, Luce Irigaray, and Giorgio Agamben, addresses a subject position that can be named a "subject of possibility." How this subject …

More Real Than Real : An Anthropological And Phenomenological Exploration Of Imagistic Sacred Space In The Contemporary Elegy And Fine Art Photograph., Amy Liann Tudor 1968-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The creation of liminal spaces has been used for centuries cross-culturally to create sacred or taboo meanings in rituals, people, places, or objects. Liminality is constructed by the overlapping of cultural categories and "ruptures" an object or event's connotations, imbuing it with new and often transcendent or spiritually charged meaning. The photograph is an example of liminal space, since it freezes even the living in a state of corpse-like stasis. With the invention of this new medium, as well as its application to memorializing the dead, previous forms of commemorating death such as the eulogy and the poetic elegy were …

Longitudinal Predictors Of Disciplinary Alternative School Placement And The Risk Of Subsequent Juvenile Detention In A Cohort Of Third Grade Children., Judi Elisa Vanderhaar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alternative school settings for students who are identified as "disruptive or dangerous" are playing an increasingly prominent role in the world of public education, yet many gaps in the research literature are abound. This dissertation study is an effort to contribute to an understanding of the students placed in these alternative schools, identify longitudinal predictors of placement, and assess the risk of subsequent involvement of the juvenile justice system. The study sample consisted of an entire cohort of third grade children in a large metropolitan school district. Through the use of the methodological technique of discrete-time hazard analysis, time-constant and …

The Social And Cultural Constructions Of The Self-Identity Of White American Corporate Businesswomen In Historiography, Literature, And Popular Culture (1963-1985)., Qin Ma 1974-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this cross-disciplinary dissertation is to explore how the epistemic ruptures, such as WWII and the Second Wave Feminism, change the American society between 1963 and 1985. From a humanistic and historical point of view, it focuses on (l) the "self-identity" of modern white American corporate businesswomen (WACB) between 1963 and 1985, (2) the change of their self-identity in comparison with the historical period between 1920 and 1963, and (3) how their self-identity is socially and culturally constructed by analyzing evidence from 3 disciplines-historiography, literature, and popular culture. The major theories used for the hermeneutic interpretation of the …

The Effects Of Collective Racial Esteem On African American Undergraduate Male Involvement In Public Four-Year Institutions Of Higher Education., Michael David Anthony

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the influence of collective racial esteem (CRE) on the quantity and type of involvement for African American male undergraduate students in public four-year institutions of higher education in the U.S. In addition, this relationship is examined to determine if differences exist across gender (male and female), and institutional variables (specifically, public HBCUs vs. public PWIs). The persistence and graduation of African American males at four-year institutions of higher education has increased in past decades, but still remains consistently and significantly lower than that of their non-African American male counterparts (Planty et al., 2009). African American male retention …

English Language Learners In Focus : Predictors Of English Proficiency And Academic Achievement., Yuliya Ardasheva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Academic achievement of English language learners (ELLs), the fastest growing population in the U.S. schools, deserves greater attention. This non-experimental study investigated the unique contributions-above and beyond other individual difference and school characteristics-of language learning strategies (LLS) to student academic outcomes in a second language (L2). The sample comprised 1,057 ELLs (651 elementary, 275 middle, and 131 high school) attending 38 schools in one urban school district. Descriptive analysis results indicated that ELLs used a large array ofLLS; yet, except for metacognitive strategies, most LLS were reportedly used only at a medium level of frequency. The results also indicated a …

Social-Cognitive Predictors Of Physical Activity Initiation In Type 2 Diabetes Following Diabetes Self-Management Education : Application Of The Health Action Process Approach., Jason E. Bonner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Type 2 diabetes presents a public health crisis and a global pandemic. Successful management of diabetes requires engagement in a daily regimen of self-care behaviors to achieve optimal glycemic control and to reduce the severity of diabetes-related complications. Regular engagement in physical activity has been demonstrated to improve glycemic control and overall quality of life among patients with diabetes. Diabetes self-management education (DSME) has become the hallmark for instructing patients with diabetes to engage in physical activity, yet physical activity patterns of DSME patients remains largely unknown. Further, it is unclear what factors could account for such behavior change in …

How Fares The Selective Tradition? : Racial Representation Of Characters In Second Grade Classroom Libraries., Nancy Franklin Hulan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated teachers' inclusion of racially diverse literature within their classroom libraries, how the representations within the literature compared with the students in the classrooms, the inclusivity of students' book selections, and teacher thoughts concerning selection of literature. Individual classrooms were found to fall within categories of challenging, progressing against, or continuing the selective tradition, the tendency of teachers to favor literature that primarily features White, middle-class, male authors and subjects over works by and about women and other ethnicities or social classes (Luke, Cooke, & Luke, 1986). Of 22 classroom libraries, three were challenging, three were progressing against, …

The Content And Critical Metaphor Analysis Of Illustrated Print Advertisements In China., Chun Jiang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation takes Chinese advertisements as the research subjects to see in what way a quantifiable large number of advertisements with its metaphorical nature and instrumental mission can reflect social cultural change, in specifics, ideology and identity change of China in the last thirty years by combining four methods of research: content analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, Conceptual Metaphor Analysis and Pictorial Metaphor Analysis. The dissertation goes through the sign or ad interpretation process of linguistic, semiotic and critical analysis of 300 sample illustrated print advertisements collected from popular and award-winning illustrated print advertisements in Chinese media in the three periods …

Representations Of Homelessness In Four Canadian Newspapers: Regulation, Control, And Social Order, Barbara Schneider, Kerry Chamberlain, Darrin Hodgetts

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article reports on a content analysis of homelessness representations in four Canadian newspapers: two city broadsheets, one city tabloid, and one national newspaper. Clear differences between the papers emerged showing that in general coverage of homelessness in Calgary was much more positive than coverage in Vancouver. It conveyed a stronger sense of crisis or urgency and a stronger sense of optimism that the problem should and can be solved. Experts dominate public discourse about homelessness, with people who experience homelessness themselves marginalized as speakers. Despite these differences, the four papers present a unified narrative of homelessness in which readers …

Review Of The Idea Of Justice. Amartia Sen. Reviewed By David G. Gil, David G. Gil

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Amartia Sen, The Idea of Justice. Harvard University Press, 2009. 468 pages, $29.95 hardcover.

The Economics Of Being Young And Poor: How Homeless Youth Survive In Neo-Liberal Times, Jeff Karabanow, Jean Hughes, Jann Ticknor, Sean Kidd, Dorothy Patterson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Based upon in-depth interviews with 34 youth in Halifax and seven service providers in St. John's, Montreal, Hamilton, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary, the findings of this study suggest that labor occurs within a particular street context and street culture. Formal and informal work can be inter-related, and despite the hardships they experience, young people who are homeless or who are at-risk of homelessness can respond to their circumstances with ingenuity, resilience and hope. Often street-involved and homeless young people are straddling formal and informal work economies while mediating layers of external and internal motivations and tensions. The reality is that …

Housing For People With Serious Mental Illness: Approaches, Evidence, And Transformative Change, Geoffrey Nelson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The evolution of housing approaches for people with serious mental illness is described and analyzed. A distinction is made between three different approaches to housing: (a) custodial, (b) supportive, and (c) supported. Research evidence is reviewed that suggests the promise of supported housing, but more research is needed that compares supported housing with different supportive housing approaches. It is argued that the current move to a supported housing approach represents a fundamental shift or transformative change in mental health policy and practice. Strategies to facilitate this shift are discussed.

Review Of Needed By Nobody: Homelessness And Humanness In Post-Socialist Russia. Tova Hojdestrand. Reviewed By Sviatlana Smashnaya., Sviatlana Smashnaya

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Tova Hojdestrand, Needed by Nobody: Homelessness and Humanness in Post-Socialist Russia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009. $59.95 hardcover, $22.95 paperback.

Review Of The War On Welfare: Family, Poverty, And Politics In Modern America. Marisa Chappell. Reviewed By John M. Herrick., John M. Herrick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Marisa Chappell, The War on Welfare: Family, Poverty, and Politics in Modern America. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010. $45.00 hardcover.

Review Of Work-Life Policies. Ann C. Crouter And Alan Booth, Eds. Reviewed By Marguerite G. Rosenthal., Marguerite G. Rosenthal

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Ann C. Crouter and Alan Booth, Eds., Work-Life Policies. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute Press, 2009. $32.50, paperback.