Digital Commons Network^™

Efficacy Of A School-Wide Teambuilding Program For Increasing School Belonging Amongst Elementary Children, Michelle Street

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School belonging is a construct that describes student connections to school via a student's social and emotional attachments to others at school, commitment to adhering to school rules, involvement in school activities, and belief systems related to how much school is valued (Hirschi, 1969; Wehlage et al, 1989). Research has consistently found connections between higher levels of school belonging and more favorable life outcomes in regard to academics, behavior, attendance, school completion, and mental health. Research has also provided suggestions regarding components that should be present for programs to effectively enhance school belonging. Despite this, few research-based programs exist that …

Combating Budgetary Complications From The Marcellus Shale: The Case For A Pennsylvania Gas Fund, Daniel Ray Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between shale gas development and budgetary and microeconomic externalities was studied. The extraction activity in the Barnett shaleformation provided a case study for assessing per-well highway infrastructure damage and water usage. The creation of a predictive model based upon the Barnett was applied to the Marcellus formation. The results showed support for the hypothesis that shale gas development creates negative externalities that amount to unfunded mandates and freerider problems for states and localities. Implications and policy solutions, including the case for a Pennsylvania natural gas fund, are discussed.

An Examination Into The Learning Pattern Preferences Of Students In Special Education, Jaime Lynn Thone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As educational professionals strive to help students become efficient and effective learners, they must assist in the development of student learning strategies and a greater understanding of the learning process. The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the learning pattern preferences of middle and high school students in general education and special education settings. The results of this study were intended to help guide teachers and other education professionals to make informed decisions about differentiating instruction in a way to reach more, if not all, students in their classroom. The results could furthermore assist educators in fostering …

An Exploration Of The Development Of Empathy In A Clinical Sample Of Preschoolers In Relation To Child And Family Factors, Lindsey G Venesky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the current literature base of social-emotional development in early childhood there exists a paucity of research of empathy development due to the complicated nature of empathy in young children. The present study utilizes a preexisting dataset from a local therapeutic preschool program, and its methods include visual analysis, correlations, and independent samples t-tests. Results of the present study found that clinical behavior patterns negatively correlate with empathy development. Further, statistically significant group differences exist in affective empathy for children whose parents have a mental health diagnosis. However, results regarding adaptive skills were not found to be statistically significant. The …

An Ethical Justification Of Weight Loss Surgery, Amy Marie Vandyke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation provides an ethical justification of surgical weight loss interventions for the treatment of obesity. Situating obesity as not merely a public health concern but also fundamentally a problem of clinical medicine confronting individual patients and physicians, the dissertation argues that the time frame of public health interventions is too long for individuals presently facing obesity and its deleterious physical and social co-morbidities. It argues that failure to address weight loss on an individual level, and specifically to consider the clinical appropriateness of weight loss surgery (WLS), raises serious questions about failure to respect autonomy and promote patient welfare. …

A Conversation On Judicial Decision Making, Robin Cooper Feldman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Lived Experiences Of Indian International Students: Migration, Acculturation, And Resilience, Suguna Mukthyala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The student demographics in American universities have been changing in recent years and the result is a rapidly increasing enrollment of international students. In particular, the Indian international student population has grown to be the second largest, with over 100,000 students enrolling at post-secondary educational institutions across the nation each year (Institute of International Education, 2010). However, research on the effects of migration on international students is relatively devoid of critical explorations on the resilient responses by Indian international students to the effects of acculturation. This hermeneutic phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of eight Indian international graduate students at …

Teachers' Ability To Identify Anxiety In The Classroom And Generate Related Interventions, Susan Jane Oliverio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The negative impact of test anxiety has been well documented in the literature with empirical studies demonstrating the existence of a negative relationship between test anxiety and academic performance (Schwarzer, 1990; Seipp, 1991). In 1967, test anxiety was determined to be a problem for 10% of school aged children (Klondas). A decade later, studies suggested this rate was closer to 25 or 30% (Nottelmann & Hill, 1977). In a study of a Pittsburgh area school district, Beidel (1991) found clinically significant Test Anxiety Scale for Children (TASC) scores in 34% of students in a suburban school district that is predominantly …

A Room Of One's Own, Revisited: An Existential-Hermeneutic Study Of Female Solitude, Karin Arndt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study presents an existential-hermeneutic analysis of nine women's first-person accounts of extended periods of solitude. The accounts were analyzed along the five existential dimensions of spatiality, temporality, embodiment, language, and co-existentiality, producing a rich portrait of the women's lived experience of solitude. One of the first-person accounts was provided by the author of the study, who underwent three solitary retreats in the interest of this project, adding an autoethnographic component to the work. Theory from the existential-phenomenological, monastic, ecopsychological, and feminist literatures was applied to the data, enabling us to interpret the significance of the shifts the women experienced …

A Transition Program: Students' Experiences And Perspectives, Donna Marie Burns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this study was to investigate student perceptions of participation in a transition program the summer before their ninth grade year. Studies have shown that students who have an unsuccessful transition from middle school to high school are more likely to fail ninth grade, which may ultimately lead to dropping out of high school. However, the implementation of a transition program may help ease this transition and provide the student with the tools necessary to acclimate to the changes of the high school and be successful.

A purposive sample was comprised of eight students who participated in the …

The Crack Room: A Study Of Therapeutic Techniques And The Response To Drug-Related Cues, Hallie Smith Carlton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drug addiction is a disorder frequently associated with chronic relapse. An individual's return to use is a fairly prevalent topic in the literature, but receiving less examination is the significance of drug-related stimuli as they apply to drug-seeking behaviors. It cannot be ignored that triggers and cues are a prominent feature in everyday life. Although many non-addicted people fail to become aroused by common stimuli, individuals who are addicted to alcohol and other drugs see depictions of use in unlikely places. In the eyes of an addict, a light bulb may prompt a desire to smoke methamphetamines, and a simple …

"Individual Yet As One": Performing Deafness And Performing Community In Mark Medoff's Children Of A Lesser God, Mariah Crilley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I examine the relationship between deafness, women, and performance in Mark Medoff's Children of a Lesser God. The play was a massive popular success, both in its run on Broadway and its movie adaptation. Deafness and deaf people had never been so visible in American hearing culture. More importantly, the play coincided with civil rights movements by people with disabilities, which culminated in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Disabilities, including deafness, were called into being as part of a national identity. These movements posited self-determination but ultimately relied and thrived on a communal and …

Exploring Learning Of Pediatric Burn Patients Through Storytelling, Maryann Godshall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this study was to explore if pediatric burn patients learned from an age appropriate discharge teaching book. The Pediatric Burn Book© contained coloring pages and seven main teaching points; taking care of my body, bathing, eating right, exercise, sleep, going to school, and keeping follow up appointments. The children were admitted to a pediatric trauma and burn center in northeastern Pennsylvania over a two year period. Twenty children aged five through ten who had second or third degree burns participated in this study. The children were read the discharge teaching book, asked to draw a picture of …

Cognitive And Affective Empathy As Predictors Of Proactive And Reactive Aggression, Gina Marie Gordon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined cognitive and affective empathy as predictors of proactive and reactive aggression. This study also explored whether levels of cognitive and affective empathy differed among children who use proactive and reactive aggression. Cognitive and affective empathy were measured by the Basic Empathy Scale (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006a). The two types of aggression, proactive and reactive, were measured by the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire-Child (Raine, 2006). Both instruments are self-report questionnaires that reveal children's perceptions about empathy and aggression. Sociodemographic information, such as age, grade, and gender were also included in the data. The sample of convenience in …

Where And When Things Fall Apart: Relating Narratives Of Post-Election Violence From Nairobi, Joseph Hamer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The violence that followed the 2007 elections in Kenya caught many people by surprise, including me. Given some familiarity with, and personal connections to, Kenya, this dissertation began first with shock and concern, and later with suspicion of the way the post election violence was presented in the Western media as yet another example of sudden, prolific, and nonsensical outbreaks of violence in Africa. It seemed notable that the violence occurred around political elections and important to explore the stakes therein. A review of available literature on the topic revealed that historical injustices and ethnic inequality seemed to be contributing …

Stereotypes And Their Consequences For Women As Leaders In Higher Education Administration, Kimberly Jean Hoeritz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women are underrepresented as leaders in most facets of American work life. While present in fields that are traditionally feminine, there is a scarcity of women leaders in all other occupations including business, government, science and technology, agriculture, education in general and higher education in particular. While women currently comprise the majority of our enrolled college students as well as our graduates, they are not present as leaders among those responsible for running our colleges and universities. Women hold 23% of presidential positions, 31% of executive vice president roles, 38% of chief academic officer positions, and 36% of deanships. Women …

The Significance Of Meister Eckhart's View Of The Self For Psychoanalytic Theories Of Subjectivity: A Radical Hermeneutic Study, Mark Kroll-Fratoni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This interdisciplinary, theoretical dissertation puts Meister Eckhart and psychoanalysis (in particular, the work of Jacques Lacan) in dialogue in order to examine the question of the self. It extends the success of recent Buddhist-psychoanalytic dialogues on the self into the neglected area of Christian mysticism. The author reviews the extant literature on psychoanalysis and mysticism, summarizes Freud and Lacan's psychoanalytic theories of subjectivity, and examines the existing literature on Meister Eckhart and the self. Then, the author undertakes a commentary of an especially significant passage in one of Eckhart's sermons using an interpretive method which brings together "radical hermeneutics," a …

The Insignificance Of Feature Frequency In Classifying Gender Of Twitter Tweets, Amanda Marie Kroft

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2011, Internet users spent almost 23% of their time on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Twitter alone was estimated to have over 200 million active users. With social media being such a popular online pastime, a tremendous amount of information becomes available from the posts that users put on social media sites. This information has the potential to reveal details about the social media users, such as the relationship between characteristics of the users and what they post. This relationship is a hot research topic and one of the most frequently studied characteristic is the gender …

Maternal Guilt: An Existential Phenomenological Study Of The Early Experiences Of First-Time Mothers, Claire S. Lebeau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study is an existential phenomenological investigation of the experiences of maternal guilt of five first-time mothers with infant children. Maternal guilt is a powerful, pervasive, and complex phenomenon that effects and is experienced by mothers in different ways. This research explores the experiences of these five mothers in feeling guilt related to being a mother and, using an adapted research methodology utilizing Focusing Technique (Gendlin, 1981), their embodied reflections about a particular memory of feeling maternal guilt. This study utilizes procedures explicated by Colaizzi (1978), Giorgi & Giorgi (2003), Todres (2007), von Eckartsberg (1998), Walsh (1995; 2004) and …

Representing The Poor Legal Advocacy And Welfare Reform During Reagan's Gubernatorial Years, Mark N. Aaronson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

International Paretianism: A Defense, Eric A. Posner, David Weisbach

Chicago Journal of International Law

A treaty satisfies what we call International Paretianism (P) if it advances the interests of all states that join it, so that no state is made worse off The principle might seem obvious, but it rules out nearly all the major proposals for a climate treaty, including proposals advanced by academics and by government officials. We defend IP, and for that reason urge commentators in the debate over climate justice to abandon efforts to right past wrongs, redistribute wealth, and achieve other abstract ideals through a climate treaty. Instead, the goal should be to develop a feasible treaty that states …

Taboo Lexeme Conditioning And Obscenities In American English, Alexander Werny

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Taboo Lexeme Conditioning refers to the neurological, psychological, and sociological conditioning required during lexical acquisition for a native speaker to treat or experience certain lexemes as highly taboo. Taboo words differentiate both neurologically from non-emotional or non-taboo lexemes, and lexically person to person, in at least 4 ways: 1) they exhibit high activity in the emotional and moral processing structures of the limbic system, and can activate, or be uttered, independently of cortical structures involved in propositional language processing; 2) they generally receive a high amount of negative emotional response during lexical acquisition and subsequent usage, which affects how they …

Relationship Predictors Of Prenatal Maternal Representations Of The Child And Parenting Experiences One Year After Birth, Kylene Krause

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Bowlby’s attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982) is one of the most dominant approaches used to describe and investigate attachment relationships and emotional development throughout the entire lifespan. However, attachment research is typically conducted through two distinct fields of psychology: developmental and social/ personality psychology. These two fields tend to use different research strategies and measures and focus on different types and aspects of relationships, yet both make important contributions to the attachment literature (Bartholomew & Shaver, 1998). The goal of this investigation was to integrate attachment research from these two fields of psychology in order to broaden psychological and scientific understanding …

Life History, C. W. Fox, Frank J. Messina

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

When Are Damages Tax Free?: The Elusive Meaning Of “Physical Injury”, Ronald H. Jensen

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this article traces the evolution in the tax treatment of litigation damages from 1918 through the enactment of the 1996 Amendments and reviews the various rationales that have been offered for such treatment. In Part II, I set forth a number of hypothetical cases illustrating some of the issues created by the 1996 Amendments. In Parts III through Part VI, I set forth my analyses of these issues. Finally, In Part VII, I critique the 1996 Amendments and make a proposal that would eliminate much of the uncertainty and inequity that the 1996 Amendments created while satisfying …

At&T Mobility And The Future Of Small Claims Arbitration, Jill I. Gross

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article focuses on small claims arbitration and examines the impact of AT&T Mobility on the legitimacy of the process. Part II of the article describes the Supreme Court’s AT&T Mobility decision, which held that the FAA preempts a California rule that declared a class arbitration waiver in a consumer contract unconscionable. Part III describes the primary features of the two options remaining for the Concepcions—small claims court and small claims arbitration, as well as their perceived advantages and disadvantages. Part IV demonstrates that courts have endorsed simplified arbitration. Part V examines whether simplified arbitration is a fair method of …

From Peer-To-Peer Networks To Cloud Computing: How Technology Is Redefining Child Pornography Laws, Audrey Rogers

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article traces the history of the child pornography laws and sentencing policy in Part I. Part II explains the technologies that have caused some of the current controversies, and then Part III describes how these technologies have blurred the offenses. Finally, Part IV makes suggestions as to how the law could better reflect technology and comport with a refined harm rationale. Courts, legal scholars, and medical experts have explained the harm includes the sexual abuse captured in the images and the psychological injury the victim endures knowing the images are being viewed. This Article further develops the harm rationale …

The Daubert Revolution And The Birth Of Modernity Managing Scientific Evidence In The Age Of Science, David L. Faigman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Copyright At The Bedside Should We Stop The Spread?, Robin Cooper Feldman, John Newman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Foreword Critical Race Theory And Empirical Methods, Osagie K. Obasogie

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.