Digital Commons Network^™

Perceptions Of Opportunity Among Youth Served By The Allegheny County Department Of Human Services: A Program Evaluation Study Of The Partnership For Youth Transition, James Caldwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services implemented the Partnership for Youth Transition Program (PYT) to provide services for transition aged youth in Allegheny County who suffer from Severe Emotional Disturbance. One of the goals of this program was to enhance the perceptions of opportunity of goal attainment held by this population. This research is a program evaluation of the PYT program to find out if the PYT program was successful in enhancing these perceptions. This study uses a Paired-Samples T-Test, a Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient and an Analysis of Variance to see if the perceptions of opportunity changed during …

The Mill: Analysis Of The Original Score And Film, Christopher Catone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mill is an original film and music performance piece chronicling the history of the steel industry in the United States, with specific connections to Pittsburgh. In addition to scoring the project, I designed the sound and produced the film and music and also shot and edited the film. About eighty percent of the film material is historical footage (in black and white, as well as color), while I shot the remaining portions, on location, in various areas of the "Mon Valley" region of Pittsburgh. Separated into four distinct sections, the film portrays the rise, the zenith and the eventual …

Black Men's Responsible Fatherhood Narratives: Fatherhood, Responsibility, Race, And Gender, Shane Chaplin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few decades increasing rates of single mother households in the United States have triggered a national alarm over the effects of father absence on society. Father absence has been linked specifically to many of the problems plaguing black communities in the United States (e.g. poverty, low educational attainment, etc.) and as a result community and political leaders alike have consistently promoted responsible fatherhood practices as a way to address them. Although responsible fatherhood has received, in this context, a considerable amount of social attention, this attention has come intertwined with considerable political and moral rhetoric at all …

Interpreting The Culture Of Ubuntu: The Contribution Of A Representative Indigenous African Ethics To Global Bioethics, Leonard T. Chuwa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ubuntu is a worldview and a way of life shared by most Africans south of Sahara. Basically Ubuntu underlines the often unrecognized role of relatedness and dependence of human individuality to other humans and the cosmos. The importance of relatedness to humanity is summarized by the two maxims of Ubuntu. The first is: a human being is human because of other human beings. The second maxim is an elaboration of the first. It goes; a human being is human because of the otherness of other human beings. John Mbiti combines those two maxims into, "I am because we are, and …

Computational Ligand-Based Cns Therapeutic Design: The Search For Novel-Scaffold Norepinephrine Transporter Inhibitors, Anna Chaly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Monoamine transporter (MAT) proteins are responsible for regulating cellular signal transduction through control of neurotransmitter reuptake in the synapse, and are therefore relevant to diseases including addiction, psychosis, anxiety and depression. MATs, specifically the serotonin transporter (SERT or 5-HTT), norepinephrine transporter (NET), and dopamine transporter (DAT), serve as the principal targets for antidepressant drugs, such as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), NRIs (norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) and TCAs (tricyclic antidepressants), as well as psychostimulant drugs of abuse such as cocaine and the amphetamines. Due to a lack of crystallographic MAT data, it is unclear as to which of two MAT protein …

Character Education: A Relationship With Building Health, Robert Crider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between the use of character education programming and school health. Measuring and improving school health is a process that supports social, emotional, ethical and civic education. Hoy, Tarter, and Kottkamp define this concept as a healthy school is one in which the institutional, administrative, and teacher levels are in harmony; and the school meets functional needs as it successfully copes with disruptive external forces and directs its energies toward its mission (Hoy, Tarter & Kottkamp, 1991).

School climate, school culture, and school health are used synonymously in the research. They …

Deductive Formal Verification Of Embedded Systems, Zheng Lu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

We combine static analysis techniques with model-based deductive verification using SMT solvers to provide a framework that, given an analysis aspect of the source code, automatically generates an analyzer capable of inferring information about that aspect.

The analyzer is generated by translating the collecting semantics of a program to a formula in first order logic over multiple underlying theories. We import the semantics of the API invocations as first order logic assertions. These assertions constitute the models used by the analyzer. Logical specification of the desired program behavior is incorporated as a first order logic formula. An SMT-LIB solver treats …

Using Behavior Screening Data To Predict Scores On Statewide Assessments, Jeffrey Steven Chenier

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Federal and state initiatives (No Child Left Behind, 2001) require schools and districts to set high standards for student growth and achievement. Currently, student growth and progress are measured in Louisiana via statewide achievement tests. In 4th and 8th grades these assessments are considered to be ‘high-stakes’, as promotion and retention decisions are made based on how well students perform on these assessments. Making day-to-day decisions based on one assessment per year is not best practice (Jenkins, Deno, & Markin, 1979); therefore, screening instruments known as curriculum based measures (CBMs) were devised and tailored for school-based implementation. CBMs of academic …

Urban Population Density And Environmental Quality In Port-Au-Prince, Haiti: A Geo-Statistical Analysis, Myrtho Joseph

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation revolves around three issues on the urban area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti: the population distribution pattern, its estimation from remote sensing images, and its relationship with environmental quality. It follows a three-paper format. Paper 1 examines the population density pattern by the monocentric and polycentric models, based on the 2003 census data. The regression results show a poor fitting power of monocentric functions, and improved but less than satisfactory R2 by polycentric functions. A five-sector conceptual model is proposed to capture the urban structure shaped by the absence or lack of institutional enforcement of land use regulations and urban …

Performance, Preference, Promotion: Political Mobility Of Chinese Regional Leaders, Liang Qiao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As a study exclusively on the political elites, the dissertation studies the Chinese regional leaders and their political career mobility controlled by the central government from 1949 to 2010. The Chinese Communist Party controls its regional leaders by controlling their career movement (political mobility). This study explains why some regional leaders were promoted while some others were demoted or dismissed while most of them shared similar personal background and career experience. By providing empirical evidence with quantitative analysis, this study shows that in post-Deng Chinese politics (1997-2010) there are certain patterns and manipulated by the CCP center in demoting and …

Integrated Marketing Communication (Imc) And Ethnic Target Marketing: A Communitarian Ethical Framework In Action, Denise Christine Murphy Gerber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project will be designed such that the philosophical metaphors of community, culture and responsibility will be analyzed as they pertain to integrated marketing research. These metaphors will then be placed on top of a theoretical foundation based in communitarian ethics in order to provide a more culturally relevant framework for marketing to United States Hispanics. Lastly, a pedagogy for teaching this framework will be included as an application of the theory.

Specifically, in the introduction, the topic, research questions, arguments and thesis will be introduced. Introductory observations will be made on the size and importance of the Hispanic …

The Impact Of The Symphonological Approach To Ethical Decision Making On Advanced Level Nursing Students, Megan Ann Mraz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Problem: The literature revealed two major gaps; the first gap is the lack of current knowledge about ethical decision-making abilities of the advanced level nurse. A second gap is the need to investigate specific models and theories to support the profession of nursing in making ethical decisions.

Purpose: The purpose was to explore the following research questions: What is the effect of a Symphonology-based educational intervention on the ethical decision-making performance of advanced level nursing students, as measured by the JAND? What is the effect of a Symphonology-based educational intervention on the ethical decision-making performance of advanced level nursing students, …

Graduate Recital, Voice, Elizabeth Patterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Entitled "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman: Pastoral Reflections by Passionate Women," this recital seeks to sing the unsung. The program features music of forgotten composers, forgotten cultures, and especially of forgotten women. The recital speaks on behalf of these composers through pastoral themes. The women of these texts express love and loss through communion with nature. They see their hearts' reflections in the sun and the moon, the flowers, the birds, and the seasons. These women articulate their emotions and explore their identities within a pastoral framework.

Decolonizing Psychic Space: Remembering The Indigenous Psychology Movement In Taiwan, Rong-Bang Peng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project is part of the historical struggle of the indigenous psychology movement in Taiwan. It turns a critical gaze back upon the movement itself in order to decolonize it from colonial cultural imaginary. The contribution of this project is two-fold. First, on the theoretical level, it introduces a critical perspective into the growing body of indigenous psychological research. The indigenous psychology movement risks repeating the vicious cycle of colonization and re-colonization without critically looking back at its own historical trajectory. Second, on the level of intervention, writing the history of the indigenous psychology movement will make this project a …

Metalated Nitriles: Nmr And Cyclization Analysis, Matthew Thomas Purzycki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ultimate goal of organic chemistry is understanding the processes involved in carbon-carbon bond formation. Metalated nitriles are perfectly suited for the regio- and stereospecific creation of sterically congested quaternary centers. These traits are dependent on the metal and the metal's preference for coordination to either the nitrile nitrogen lone pair of electrons or the electron pair of the "anionic" carbon bearing the nitrile. This thesis outlines the structural differences in solution between lithiated, cuprated, and magnesiated nitriles, providing the first such study of magnesiated nitriles. Nuclear magnetic resonance, which has become a powerful tool for a wide variety of …

Graduate Recital, Clarinet, Paul Quinn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This recital seeks to explore the various ways in which Eastern-European composers have utilized traditional folk-music as inspiration for their works. The programing focuses on several techniques used as a means for synthesizing folk-songs and art-music, ranging from setting preexisting melodies to accompaniment, to manipulating the idiomatic musical and linguistic features of folk-music as the basis for one's musical language. In addition, this recital reveals the wide range of styles and genres, including neoclassicism, expressionism, and polytonality, that can be derived from Eastern-European folk-songs. In this regard, the program itself highlights the relevance of folk-music as a viable source of …

Career And Technical Education In The Crossroads Of Change, Janice Quailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Career and technical education (CTE) is faced with numerous forces that may impact its future. A variety of forces directly or indirectly affect CTE, ranging from the persisting stigma or negative image of career and technical education, the schools' curricular structure and requirements, along with federal laws such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Perkins. Federal laws guide administrators' decisions at the local level that affect CTE. With NCLB goals for all students to improve academic achievement, reach high standards, and graduate from high school (HS), much pressure is placed on schools. NCLB emphasizes increased academic rigor and progress …

Health Communication: Toward A Phenomenological Perspective, Bonnie Reese

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines implications for health communication as a rhetorical and philosophical practice by focusing on the various topics in the health communication field today, identifying areas that have been examined qualitatively and/or phenomenologically and hermeneutically. Currently, health communication scholarship tends toward qualitative and quantitative research from the methodological perspective of social science. Bringing these approaches into conversation with current phenomenological studies in the health care field, particularly those in the area of nursing, offers the potential to transform health communication scholarship, giving birth to a rhetorically and philosophically grounded praxis in this field.

The Role Of Forensic Nurses In Communities Experiencing Environmental Contamination, Wendy Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to provide an understanding of the self-perceived physiological and psychosocial needs of persons living in communities which have been exposed to environmental contamination, and to provide an understanding of how forensic nurses can be utilized in these communities.

Background

This study was conducted to provide an opportunity for forensic nurses to advance their profession by finding ways that they can move beyond their traditional roles. Dixon and Dixon's Integrative Environmental Health Model was the theoretical framework.

Research Design

This cross-sectional triangulated study used quantitative and qualitative methods. The Community Environmental Health and Rights …

The Effect Of Resveratrol On Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Dopaminergic Deficits And Bv-2 Cell Activation, Katherine Marie Rose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neuroinflammation is a common pathology found in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). PD involves a loss of dopamine (DA) neurons and an increase in activated microglia with subsequent proinflammatory cytokine secretion in the substantia nigra (SN) and striatum. A loss of DA neurons is found in the offspring of animals exposed prenatally to the bacteriotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (Ling et al., 2002). Activation of the extracellular regulated kinases, ERK1/2 and ERK5, the downstream targets in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, has been shown to be involved in the dysregulation of the inflammatory process (Cuschieri and Maier, 2005). Consequently, LPS-induced activation …

Two Sides Of The Ancient Vase: Eastern And Western Principles In The Works Of Keiko Abe, Christopher K. Hoefer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Keiko Abe is recognized as one of the leading marimba virtuosos of the Twentieth century. As a composer, she has been writing for solo marimba since the early 1960s and continues composing for the medium today. Her music became popular with Western percussionists after the publishing of Works for Marimba in 1987. This was her first compilation of works for the five-octave marimba. These pieces have become a constant source of repertoire for collegiate and professional performers. Despite Abe’s popularity and influence, little research has examined her compositions. This document features analysis and background of Abe and her music and …

Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy: Efficacy With A Clinical Preschool Population, Kristen Friedrich Schaffner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT), which is an adaptation of the empirically-based treatment of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), addresses the needs of children and teachers through increasing positive teacher-child interactions while educating teachers on effective discipline techniques. The theoretical and empirical basis for PCIT provides the foundation for the appropriate and effective application of the adaptation of this treatment model for use with teachers.

The efficacy of Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT) with a clinical preschool population was evaluated through a single subject A-B design conducted across subjects. The current study examined the impact of the intervention, TCIT, on child behavior, teacher …

An Evaluation Of The Perceptions Of Multicultural Knowledge And Multicultural Awareness Between Graduating Counselor Education Students With Beginning Counselor Education Students Who Have Recently Completed A Course In Multicultural Issues And Strategies In Counseling, Tad P Santos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This was a study of student perceptions and retention of multicultural counseling awareness and knowledge. All of the graduate students of a medium sized, private university in Pennsylvania, in the counselor education program (included marriage and family, school counseling, and community counseling tracks) were required to take the Multicultural Issues and Strategies in Counseling course. This study examined whether or not graduate students retain multicultural counseling knowledge and awareness from the completion of a beginning course in multicultural counseling through to graduation. This investigator hoped to contribute to the field of counselor education by examining if multicultural counseling competencies are …

Examining Relational Aggression And Conflict Resolution Skills In Overtly Aggressive Non-Caucasian Females, Jessica R Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study, the researcher sought to examine the differences in relational and social aggression for a non-Caucasian adolescent at-risk population across three different groups. Specifically, the study seeks to determine if the Goodwill Girls Curriculum will decrease covert bullying behaviors (i.e., relational and social aggression) in youth who have been removed from their home school districts due to aggressive behaviors including acts of bullying. A secondary aim of this study will be identify the effects of the Goodwill Girls Curriculum on increasing conflict resolution skills within the sample.

The Goodwill Girls curriculum is designed to be implemented alongside a …

Graduate Recital, Violin, Anton Smirnov

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The program consisted of musically and technically challenging pieces. Ballade, Sonata No. 3 Op. 27 By Eugene Ysaye is a very demanding and intense work where the tension is growing throughout the piece into a furious culmination. Sonata in A major for piano and violin by Cesar Franck is a romantic melancholic work that was composed as a wedding gift for Eugene Ysaye's wedding. It prompts feelings of tenderness and nostalgia in 1st and 4th movement. The energetic and vigorous fantasia-like 3d movement follows the energetic and vigorous 2d movement. Strauss sonata for violin and piano is a very challenging …

Graduate Recital, Trumpet, Stephen Slivka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My concept for this recital was to pay tribute to the trumpet lineage of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. I owe a great deal to Blakey, as some of the trumpeters in this group are my biggest influences. Lee Morgan made such an impact on Bobby Timmons' "Moanin" that future Messengers horn players would quote the beginning and ending of Lee's solo. This tune became synonymous with the Jazz Messengers. Horace Silver's composition "Nica's Dream" was recorded on an album featuring trumpeter Donald Byrd. The beautiful Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach ballad "Yesterdays" was a personal favorite of Kenny …

Queer Utopian Geographies And Cold War Poetry, Brigitte Natalie Mccray

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Queer Utopian Geographies and Cold War Poetry intervenes in the general narrative about Cold War culture, made even more famous by such recent popular shows like Mad Men and Pan Am, that describes the era as a repressed society in desperate need of liberation. While indeed Cold War America was a time of paranoia and loyalty oaths, even before the Stonewall Riots of 1969 gay men and lesbians found subtle ways to resist popular media and government discourse that perpetuated the myth that the homosexual was the anti-citizen. A number of gay men and lesbians traveled extensively to escape this …

Perceptions Of School Climate And Connectedness:The Impact Of A Cross Age Peer Mentoring Program, Kathleen Staude-Sites

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this research is to determine the impact of a peer mentoring/tutoring program on parent perceptions of school climate and connectedness and standardized test scores, report card grades and attendance of at risk elementary students. Peer mentoring has been found to be effective in addressing some of the concerns regarding at risk student performance in the school environment and eventual school outcomes. This study uses quantitative methods to determine the effect of this intervention on this population. A school climate/connectedness survey completed by parents of the students participants in a Cross Age Peer Mentoring Program (CAPM Program) and …

Nurse Educators' Perceptions About The Culture Of Nursing And Their Role In Bringing Students Into That Culture: A Focused Ethnography, Susan Maria Strouse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to discover nurse educators' perceptions about the culture of nursing and how they bring students into that culture.

Background: Although the extant literature addresses the process of socialization to the profession, literature exploring socialization as enculturation is scant. Nurse educators' perspectives on the culture of nursing needed further exploration, as their voice on this topic is relatively silent and they provide the first formal enculturation to the profession. Viewing nursing as a professional culture may more effectively enable faculty to clarify and explicate for students the values, behaviors, symbols, and beliefs inherent in …

John Henry Newman And Georges Florovsky: An Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue On The Development Of Doctrine, Daniel Lattier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the idea of doctrinal development in the writings of John Henry Newman and Georges Florovsky, who are both representative thinkers in their respective Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Newman's theory of doctrinal development proposes that divine revelation has been given once and for all, but that the Church is still growing in its understanding of this revelation. This growth sometimes results in new doctrinal definitions, which require confirmation of their truth by an infallible authority. The essence of Newman's theory has been received as compatible with Roman Catholic theology, and constitutes a hermeneutical lens through which …