Digital Commons Network^™

The Experiences Of Mississippi Weekly Newspaper Editors As They Explore And Consider Producing Internet Editions, Cassandra Denise Johnson

Dissertations

This dissertation focused on the challenges Mississippi weekly newspaper editors faced when deciding to have an online edition and the issues these editors encountered when they adopted a Web newspaper. The study expounded on four areas—the operational changes weekly newspapers have had to make to produce Web editions, the different type of newsroom staff that are needed to create both editions, the content that is going in the online edition, and the financial pressures that editors work through to keep the newspapers profitable. The study was modeled after similar studies from three organizations—the Pew Research Center, the Bivings Group, and …

An Examination Of Potential Moderators In The Relations Between Mothers' And Fathers' Parenting Practices And Children's Behavior, Michelle Rae Gryczkowski

Dissertations

Research suggests that ineffective parenting practices play a central role in the development of children’s antisocial behavior. However, there is a lack of studies that relate parenting practices to positive child outcomes, examine the role of fathers’ parenting in the socialization of children, and test for potential moderators. Thus, the current study aimed to address these limitations by examining the relations between mothers’ and fathers’ parenting practices and child externalizing and prosocial behavior, and to determine whether the child’s sex, age, or ethnicity moderate these relations. Participants included 131 couples with a child aged 6 to 17. Data were collected …

Do Early Maladaptive Schemas Mediate The Relation Between Significant Life Events, Callous-Unemotional Traits, And Conduct Problems In Adolescence?, Kristy Adler Domnanovich

Dissertations

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits have been thought to designate a subgroup of children and adolescents who have particularly severe conduct problems (e.g., Frick, Barry, & Bodin, 2000; Kosson, Cyerski, Steuerwald, Neumann, & Walker-Matthews, 2002). A high level of significant (i.e., negative and stressful) life events has also been linked to conduct problems, as well as psychopathology in general among adolescents (e.g., Klocek, Oliver, & Ross, 1997; Windle, 2000). Furthermore, a combination of stable personality characteristics/temperamental factors and significant life events in childhood might correspond to the development of Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs), which, in turn, are related to the development of …

A Separation Of Church And Growth? The Intersections Of Seventh-Day Adventism And Economic Development In Puerto Rico, Josefer Montes

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the intersections of religion and economics, specifically the Puerto Rican economy and the Puerto Rico Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA). Chapter II investigated the relationship between an economy that exports its currency and one that imports its currency by researching how United States monetary policy impacts the Puerto Rican economy. Through the perspective of the Optimal Currency Area (OCA) framework as posited by Mundell (1961) and employing a vector autoregression (VAR) model, the impact of U.S. monetary shocks was investigated by regressing those effects against Puerto Rican employment data. While the Puerto Rican business cycle generally follows that …

Examining The Effect Of A Year Of Service In Americorps On Members' Attitudes Toward Attending College, Jessica Lucky Roberts

Dissertations

This study had two purposes. First, this study sought to determine how a year of service in the America Reads-Mississippi (ARM) AmeriCorps program impacted members’ perceptions and attitudes toward the non-monetary value of earning a college degree, the importance of earning a college degree in obtaining employment, and the influence of service in the ARM AmeriCorps program on members’ motivation to attend college. Second, this study sought to determine if a year of service in the ARM AmeriCorps program impacted members’ decisions to use the Segal Education Award they earn upon the successful completion of their year of service. Through …

The Effects Of Early Intervention On The Cognitive And Social Development Of Kindergarteners, Jennifer Foster Pope

Dissertations

Research has, for years, linked early intervention with student achievement. Students coming from an appropriate developmental preschool program are at an advantage and are readily able to face the rigor of elementary school (Campbell & Ramey, 1994). This study investigated whether there were statistically significant relationships among preschool attendance, gender, free/reduced status, and ethnicity and the cognitive development of kindergarten students as measured by AIMSweb Progress Monitoring and Response to Intervention System. This study also investigated the relationship between social skills competence and the cognitive development of kindergarten students as measured by the School-age Social and Emotional Adaptive Skills Inventory. …

Presenting Jamaican Folk Songs On The Art Music Stage: Social History And Artistic Decisions, Byron Gordon Johnson

Dissertations

Jamaican folk songs have become a definitive characteristic of Jamaican culture. They are exemplars of a culture whose music reflects the lifestyle of most of its citizens. In modern times, their beauty has been show cased in local and foreign performances which exposes an element of the country to the world. Additionally, the arrangements of these songs by Jamaican composers like Noel Dexter and Peter Ashbourne have aided in their renaissance in modern times. This also attests to their high entertaining quality which most audiences have come to appreciate. To this end, this research analyzed the arrangements by Noel Dexter …

"I Unsex'd My Dress": Lord Byron's Seduction Of Gender In "The Corsair", "Lara", And "Don Juan", Alexis Spiceland Lee

Dissertations

The goal of this project is to posit a theory of how Byron’s texts, specifically through the development of his hero, construct gender and sexuality as styles of seduction that resist easy classification by binary systems. I propose that Byron’s works characterize gender through ironic performances of seduction that, because they reveal that binary structures lack a stable core, dissolve systemic differentiation and thus fatally complicate any attempt to force the individual into rigid categories of gender or sexual identity. Byron’s works deploy seduction as a tactic of ironic representation of both gender and sexual practice that is necessarily multiplicitous …

The Relationship Among Mathematics Anxiety, Mathematical Self-Efficacy, Mathematical Teaching Self-Efficacy, And The Instructional Practices Of Elementary School Teachers, Lydia Joan Smith

Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to explore the relationships among the variables of mathematics anxiety, mathematical self-efficacy, mathematical teaching self-efficacy, and the instructional practice of elementary school teachers. The study included 320 practicing elementary teachers who teach mathematics to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. These teachers completed the Abbreviated Mathematics Anxiety Scale, the Mathematics Teaching and Mathematics Self-Efficacy survey, and the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey. Quantitative data analysis methods included descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between mathematical teaching self-efficacy (efficacy) and mastery approaches to instruction, as well as …

Life History And Habitat Use Of The Juvenile Alabama Shad (Alosa Alabamae) In Northern Gulf Of Mexico Rivers, Paul Fraser Mickle

Dissertations

The Alabama shad, Alosa alabamae, is an anadromous species that is in decline and has seen extirpations from impoundments as well as decreased water quality. Alabama shad live in the Gulf of Mexico and ascend Northern Gulf of Mexico Drainages to reproduce early in the year (January-May). The juveniles spend the majority of the year in these freshwater systems before emigrating out to the Gulf of Mexico as late as December.

This dissertation focuses on the juvenile life stages that occur within the Northern Gulf of Mexico drainages. Spawning conditions of the river, as well as the habitat and diet, …

Stereo Matching Using A Modified Efficient Belief Propagation In A Level Set Framework, Stephen Goyer Rogers

Dissertations

Stereo matching determines correspondence between pixels in two or more images of the same scene taken from different angles; this can be handled either locally or globally. The two most common global approaches are belief propagation (BP) and graph cuts.

Efficient belief propagation (EBP), which is the most widely used BP approach, uses a multi-scale message passing strategy, an O(k) smoothness cost algorithm, and a bipartite message passing strategy to speed up the convergence of the standard BP approach. As in standard belief propagation, every pixel sends messages to and receives messages from its four neighboring pixels in EBP. Each …

An Analysis Of The Career And Solo Style Of Jazz Trombonist Carl Fontana, John Wesley Parker

Dissertations

Carl Fontana’s ability and creativity as a jazz trombonist is held in high regard by his contemporaries, as well as by those who followed him. The significant aspects of his career were highlighted in a brief biography with historical and anecdotal information provided by jazz trombonists who new him and were influenced by him. Fontana’s solo style was analyzed and compared through transcriptions of three improvisations performed during contrasting points in his career: “Intermission Riff” from 1956, “Just Friends” from 1978, and “It Might As Well Be Spring” from 1985. His influence on the jazz trombone community was discussed through …

A Psychometric Investigation Of The Young Adult Social Behavior Scale (Yasb), Michelle Rene Augustin

Dissertations

Aggressive behavior is a serious public health concern that has resulted in several problems in contemporary society. Despite a considerable body of literature on human aggression, both popular and scientific, a focus on overt physical aggression has obscured other forms of aggression. As a result, considerably less is known about other, more subtle forms of aggression, such as relational aggression. Moreover, research on relational aggression, particularly among older adolescents and adults, has been hindered by the lack of psychometrically sound measures. Research in this area would be enhanced by the availability of such a measure, facilitating comparison of data across …

Depth And Time Related Variations Of Microbial Communiites In An Emergent Freshwater Wetland, Amy Jenkins

Theses and Dissertations

Soils, and the microbial communities contained within them, are vital for most chemical, physical, and biological processes. This study investigated how microbial community structure responded to environmental changes, such as hydrology, across vertical space (depth) and time in an emergent fresh water wetland. Research was conducted in a non-tidal freshwater wetland along the James River (Charles City County, Virginia) by establishing plots in two areas that experienced different hydrologic regimes and plant communities. Soil cores (30 cm) were collected monthly from January 2008 to February 2009, and then every two to three months thereafter until October 2009, for a total …

Utility Of The General Validity Scale Model: Development Of Validity Scales For The Co-Parenting Behavior Questionnaire, Kimberly Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Validity scales for child-report measures are necessary tools in clinical and forensic settings in which major decisions affecting the child and family are in question. Currently there is no standard model for the development and testing of such validity scales. The present study focused on 1) creating the General Validity Scale (GVS) Model to serve as a guide in validity scale development and 2) applying this model in the development of validity scales for the Co-parenting Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), a child-report measure of parenting and co-parenting behaviors for children whose parents are divorced. Study 1 used the newly developed GVS …

Information In Context': Co-Designing Workplace Structures And Systems For Organisational Learning, Mary M. Somerville, Zaana Howard

University Libraries Librarian and Staff Articles and Papers

Introduction. This paper discusses an 'information in context' design project at Auraria Library in Denver, Colorado which aims to collaboratively create organizational structures and communication systems with and for library employees.

Method. This action research project is founded within shared leadership, informed learning and organizational learning principles and implemented using participatory design processes. The first phase involved an appreciative inquiry process resulting in an organizational realignment of personnel and the introduction of shared leadership. The second phase involved the co-design of organizational information and communication systems and subsequent implementation of initiatives.

Results. This project resulted in several of the co-designed …

Installments, Winter Break Issue, December 2010, Renee Montgomery

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Depmap: Dependency Mapping Of Applications Using Operating System Events, Ryan Matteson

Master's Theses

Applications are increasingly hosted on shared, heterogeneous distributed systems. Web applications and “cloud” computing are broad examples of this, but even relatively isolated servers often depend on shared, network-accessible resources. This standardization around service layers abstracts aspects of service delivery, but often entails a large collection of component systems. The complexity that is abstracted from a functional perspective can give rise to runtime issues. Critical issues arising out of this model include resource utilization (sizing, capacity testing, resource monitoring) and dependency management (identifying and monitoring dependencies between components and potential for impact to an application).

This thesis presents an automated …

Is Obama Black: The Pseudo-Legal Definition Of The Black Race: A Proposal For Regulatory Clarification Generated From A Historical Socio-Political Perspective., Gloria J. Liddell, Peason Liddell Jr.

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Barack Obama’s successful run for President of the United States exposed many intriguing sociological and political issues in American society, not least of which was the question of race. Obama was the offspring of a mother of White European ancestry and a father of African ancestry. Obama is considered “Black,” though some would argue he could have been called “White” just as justifiably. The public discourse surrounding the election of President Obama highlights the need for clarification. In this Article, we explore the past to provide a foundational perspective. In proposing a somewhat unconventional definition, we seek to contain within …

Legal Reading And Success In Law School: The Reading Strategies Of Law Students With Attention Deficit Disorder (Add)., Leah M. Christensen

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

The new reality in legal education is that a certain percentage of our students will come to us with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or with another learning disability, either disclosed or undisclosed. Yet there has been little empirical research on how law students with learning disabilities read and understand the law. This study examines how three law students with ADD read a judicial opinion. The results suggest a relationship between successful law school performance and the use of problematizing and rhetorical reading strategies, and between less successful law school performance and the use of default reading strategies. Further, the results …

Taking Texas Back: A Voter Turnout Analysis Of South Texas., Emily Cadik, Dori Glanz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

For the Texas Democratic Party (TDP), the ability to win statewide elections hinges on the ability to raise turnout in South Texas. Voter turnout in South Texas is consistently lower than the state average in general elections. Impediments to voting, like a lack of resources in the region, complicated voting logistics, and more traditionally emphasized barriers to turnout (such as socioeconomic status) contribute to low turnout. The South Texas region, however, reported exceptionally high performance in primary elections, where incentive structures and competition operate well. Nonetheless, the typically cited problems cannot on their own explain low voter turnout in general …

Secrets And Lies: The Intelligence Community's Don't Ask, Don't Tell., Andrew Olivo

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Boarding Up The Fair Housing Act: Time Barring Design And Construction Claims For Handicapped Individuals., Matthew R. Farley

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

The Fair Housing Act (FHA), enacted as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibits the discrimination of the sale, rental, and financing of residential dwellings based on race, color, religion, or national origin. Eventually, Congress amended the Fair Housing Act by adding disabilities and family composition to the list of protected classes. This change was enacted to combat the wide assortment of discriminatory issues that these now-protected individuals experience. Disabled individuals are likely to face discrimination due to the design or construction of residential homes. Though Congress has made a conscious effort to address and minimize the …

Defining Violence On The Blackboard: An Overview Of The Texas Education Code's Approach To Teen Dating Violence., Jessica Ramos

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

Lords Of The Manor: Fighting California Slumlords With Private Multi-Plaintiff Implied Warranty Of Habitability Litigation., Christina Sosa

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

The Cycle Of Violence: Domestic Violence And Its Effects On Children., Rosie Gonzalez, Janice Corbin

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

How Texas Can Better Protect Seniors From Financial Abuse And Mismanagement Associated With Alzheimer's Disease., Hayden Colby

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Alzheimer’s Disease is a prominent terminal ailment affecting a vast number of the world’s senior citizens. The Disease causes a cognitive deterioration in brain cells which results in limited or no ability to do basic activities. Texas has seen a disproportionate amount of Alzheimer’s cases due to senior citizens relocating upon retirement. Alzheimer’s Disease costs American citizens thousands of dollars in healthcare services every year. In the early stages of Alzheimer’s, one loses his or her ability to manage their finances. This leads to a lack of independence and a greater susceptibility to financial abuse by those wanting to take …

Clicks In Xhosa And Nama: A Comparative Analysis, Susanne Bohm

Theses

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF SUSANNE BÖHM, for the Master of Arts degree in LINGUISTICS, presented on APRIL 12, 2010, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: CLICKS IN XHOSA AND NAMA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Karen Baertsch ABSTRACT. This study is a comparative analysis of Xhosa and Nama clicks. It contains an acoustic pilot study for which one Nama speaker and one Xhosa speaker were recorded. Differences and similarities in place of articulation and accompaniment were measured between clicks in word-initial position for both languages. Previous studies showed that clicks with the same accompaniment are similar across …

Risk Identification And Project Approval: An Importance-Performance Analysis Of Taxonomy-Based Risks In Information Technology Projects, Tiago Ferreira Da Silva

Theses

The dissemination of project management practices is consolidating project as a great mean of achieving an organization's strategic plan (PMI, 2008, p. 10). But there are no resources and funds available to all, and competition among alternative projects is increasing. Funding institutions, government agencies, and credit rating organizations started considering project risk in project evaluation, instead of only using financial metrics such as ROI (Return on Investment) or NPV (Net Present Value). In order to obtain resources needed to implement projects, and thus contribute to an organization's objectives, it is necessary to identify the risks that have greater influence on …

The Effects Of Two Insecticides On California Anurans (Rana Sierrae And Pseudacris Sierra) And The Implications For Declining Amphibian Populations., David Dimitrie

Theses

Evidence is growing that agrochemicals are playing a role in the decline of amphibians in California. An area of concern is the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where insecticides used in the Central Valley are aerially transported to amphibian habitats. I examined the effects of two of these insecticides, endosulfan and chlorpyrifos, in two experiments on anuran larvae. For the first experiment I exposed Sierra Mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana sierrae) larvae starting at Gosner stage 25 to each insecticide for 63 d to determine median lethal concentrations (LC50) and sublethal effects on growth and development. In the second experiment Sierran treefrog (Pseudacris …