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Institutional Data Book 2012-2013, University Of Minnesota, Morris Office Of Institutional Research

Institutional Effectiveness and Research Reports

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Parents' Perspectives, Observations, And Interpretations Of: Cancer-Related Fatigue And How The Symptom Shapes Their Child's Day-To-Day Quality Of Life, Tina Antill Keener

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Fatigue is a common and distressing symptom of childhood cancer that is often viewed as an inevitable part of cancer treatment and under assessed in clinical practice. Yet, cancer-related fatigue can disrupt normal childhood development and family functioning, as well as, signal serious complications of cancer and its treatment. Little is known about fatigue and quality of life among children undergoing cancer treatment in outpatient settings. This qualitative descriptive study explored parents' observations and interpretations of cancer-related fatigue and how it shaped their child's day-to-day quality of life during cancer treatment. Eleven participant interviews were gathered from parents of children …

Examining Ohv User Displacement At The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area: A Ten Year Trend Study, Candice J. Riley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Off-highway vehicle (OHV) use has become an increasingly popular form of recreation among users in national forest land in recent years. This increased use of OHVs on National Forest land has led to numerous environmental and social impacts, leading land managers to resort to restrictive management policies to contend with the impacts. The purpose of this research is to combine data from three cross-sectional surveys (2002, 2006, and 2011) to examine OHV user displacement and other trends at ODNRA/Sand Lake. This paper uses Descriptive statistics, Chi Square, Analysis of Variance, and Structural Equation Modeling to determine relationships between the following …

Multiple Motherhoods: An Examination Of Mother Status On Life Satisfaction And Psychological Distress, Kayla M. Pritchard

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Motherhood represents a status that has substantial cultural meaning. The ways in which people think about motherhood, however, tend to be limited to biology. Among partnered or married women, this study seeks to compare variations in motherhood by recognizing women as biological mothers, stepmothers, and double mothers. Double mothers are a previously unexamined category of motherhood that refers to women who are both biological and stepmothers. Using the National Survey of Fertility Barriers, I assess potential differences in life satisfaction and psychological distress across these three mother statuses and two types of non-mothers (voluntary childfree and involuntary childless women). Factors …

Dressing Indian: Appropriation, Identity, And American Design, 1940-1968, Alison Rose Bazylinski

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines the ways the American fashion industry and fashion publications appropriated aspects of Indian cultures as marketing tools from 1940 to 1968 and the ways representations stereotypes created through fashion outlets denoted American and individual, rather than Native, identity. Representational stereotypes created at the turn of the twentieth century provided fashion merchandisers and sellers with a home-grown marketing scheme, while the development of an American fashion industry based on mass-produced, ready-to-wear sportswear led to nation-wide dissemination and use of "Indian" colors, patterns, and designs.

The Role Of Body Surveillance, Body Shame, And Body Self-Consciousness During Sexual Activities In Women's Sexual Experience, Kimberly Claudat

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Objectification theory is a social constructivist framework that aims to explain how sociocultural and intrapersonal variables impact women's mental health. To date, however, few studies have used an objectification framework to examine the relationship between body image and sexual functioning in ethnically diverse samples of women. Consequently, the present study used the tenets of objectification theory to examine body image and sexuality in women. Specifically, this study investigated the relationships between body surveillance, body shame, body self-consciousness during sexual activities, and sexual satisfaction in American female college students. Participants completed self-report measures of demographic information, body shame, body surveillance, body …

A Multiple Case Study Of Gay Teacher Identity Development: Negotiating And Enacting Identity To Interrupt Heteronormativity, Zaid Mashhour Haddad

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this multiple case study is to examine how the negotiation and enactment of gay teacher identity interrupts heteronormativity in school contexts. This study utilizes a conceptual framework that incorporates an understanding of teacher identity negotiation in terms of gay identity development (Cass, 1979) and the Multicultural Enactment-Transactional Model (Cross, 2012). This framework also examines a teacher's perceptions about the school context in terms of identity-based motivation (Oyserman & Destin, 2010) and a relational justice perspective (Poole, 2008).

This study theorizes that the heteronormative nature of schooling is a limiting factor for gay teachers abilities' to work and …

The Impact Of Sexual Arousal On The Category Specificity Of Women's Visual Attention To Erotic Stimuli, Sarah Jones

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research has shown that women have a much less category-specific pattern of visual attention to erotic stimuli than do men. That is, when simultaneously presented with male and female erotic stimuli, heterosexual women attend much more evenly to both male and female erotic stimuli than do heterosexual men, who attend almost exclusively to female stimuli. The present study investigated one proposed explanation for women's more diffuse visual attention patterns - that erotic female images have arousal value for heterosexual women. To test this hypothesis, heterosexual women were presented with either a 12-minute neutral, non-arousing video (n = 19) or a …

The Relationship Between Sex-Typing And Help-Seeking Behaviors In Adults, Joshua Juvrud

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The process of expressing what is masculine promotes attitudes and behaviors that can discourage men from seeking help, contributing to numerous health issues in males. The purpose of this study was to explore how personally endorsed gender stereotypes vs. gender stereotyped attitudes impacted help-seeking behavior. In the current study, female and male adults completed challenging puzzle tasks, recalled previous health help-seeking behavior, and completed sex-typed measures. Females utilized personally endorsed gender stereotypes more during the puzzle tasks, while males utilized both personally endorsed gender stereotypes as well as gender stereotyped attitudes. When males recalled health-related events, however, personally endorsed feminine …

Beliefs In Action: Ideologies, Motivations, And Capital Among English As A Second Language Learners, Damon Lasiter

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Language learning motivations among immigrants are tied - via language ideologies - to socio-economic position, social networks, and problems encountered by the language learners in their everyday lives. Research into immigrants' reasons for language learning has often overlooked these factors (see Klassen & Burnaby, 1993, and Norton, 1995), but I offer in this thesis that the above factors are foundations for many immigrants' language ideologies - beliefs that people have about language. These language ideologies are, in turn, the foundations upon which one's motivations to learn a language are based. Using a Bourdieuvian paradigm, where inequitable positions of power exist …

Validity Of Subjective Self-Assessment Of Digital Competence Among Undergraduate Preservice Teachers, Joseph Andrew Maderick

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Technology is now integrated into the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) required to be a highly qualified 21st century teacher. Accurate measurement of digital competence has become critical. Self-assessment has been used widely to measure the digital competence of preservice teachers who are expected to integrate technology into their teaching. There is little in the literature indicating that there has been validation of self-assessment as a measure of that competence. While recent research studies have tested the validity of self-assessment verses objective testing among business and accounting students, there have been no studies of self-assessment validity conducted on digital competence …

A High School Turnaround School Initiative: Effects On Students' Math And Reading Scores, Rene Alma Segler-Zender

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the middle of the last century, student education in the U.S. public school systems has been deemed inadequate. Critics developed measures in the form of standardized testing to measure student progress in an attempt to help facilitate reforms. In the last thirty years, the federal government has played an increasing role in school reform efforts in the form of laws and unfunded mandates. School districts have attempted to respond to federal pressure by attempting radical changes from replacing all school administration and staff to a complete curriculum overhaul. While school reform efforts have been widely documented by various groups, …

A Social Justice Perspective In Anti-Bullying Program Implementation, Monica Vanderheiden

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Oppression is in our everyday lives. Children get to experience it first hand in school by simply being different than others. Bullying has become a serious problem in American schools and many programs have been implemented to address it. This thesis grew out of a large evaluation study of anti-bullying program implemented in a large school district located in the Pacific Southwest. The main goal of this thesis is to continue the research process of the large evaluation study by focusing on the theme of implementation. Another goal is understand social justice as it relates to anti-bulling program evaluation. In …

Testing Orthodox Utilitarian And Extrajudical Determinants Of Incarceration In The U.S. At The State-Level, 1980-2005, Pavel V. Vasiliev

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project is a theory-driven secondary data analysis of state-level incarceration trends in the U.S. between 1980 and 2005. I replicate and advance Smith's (2004) study of the relationship between the socioeconomic, demographic, political, electoral, and criminal justice factors and incarceration rates at the state level. The purpose of this project is to determine the empirical validity of the major explanations of the incarceration trends in the U.S. I advance Smith's (2004) study using important novel elements. First, I extend the scrutinized historic period by a decade by compiling time-series data for 1980-2005. Second, I employ a more sophisticated analytic …

The New Paradigm Of Rehabilitation : A Meta-Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Incarceration-Based Rehabilitation In Regards To Recidivism Reduction., Shaun Andrew Dixon 1985-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is a meta-analytic examination of incarceration-based rehabilitation and its ability to reduce recidivism. Substance abuse is a large problem within our convict population; many times it is a substance related conviction that is the cause of the inmates’ incarceration. Claims have been made for decades that if society can effectively rehabilitate these convicts, recidivism rates will be reduced, ultimately lowering incarceration rates. By creating a stringent criterion of inclusion, this study makes an “apples-to-apples” analysis of prior studies on the topic, examining twelve studies of incarceration-based rehabilitation and their outcome variables. The data was synthesized through meta-analytic techniques …

Running Among Thorns : Perspectives On Ethiopian/United States Educational Experiences., Bruce Whearty 1952-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a qualitative exploration of the perspectives of Ethiopian immigrants to the United States who have educational experience in both cultures. By interviewing five respondents and asking them to reflect on the role that their education played in their acculturation to the United States, a series of case histories was developed. The case histories were analyzed using the Differentiated Multi-Dimensional Model of Acculturation to determine if they upheld the two predictions made by this model: 1) acculturation for any particular individual proceeds independently at different rates across three different dimensions: language, behavior, and cultural identity; and 2) acculturation …

The Social Support For International Graduate Students To Obtain Academic Success, Ping He

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Previous studies suggest that international graduate students' academic success is significantly associated with the average grade point (GPA), and this measure is closely related with international graduate students' received academic and financial supports. However, international graduate students' academic success can involve a multidimensional measurement besides the average grade point (GPA). Hence, the current study explored the correlation between international graduate students' perceived social support and perceived academic success from an inclusive perspective. The perceived social support included the categories of academic support, financial support, emotional support and spiritual support. The perceived academic success included the aspects of knowledge learning, research …

Christ's Response To The Last, The Least, The Lost, The Left Out - Is The Church Living Up To Christ's Standard?, Jerry Staples

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There is a plethora of statistics concerning how many un-churched people there are in the United States and the socioeconomic ladder does not discriminate who fits this lost category. Yet, the concern of this project deals with the gang member, drug dealer, drug users, pimps and prostitutes. The intent is to take outreach to the street through cook outs, Holy block parties, street revivals and the like. The rationale of this project is to show how one can reach, teach and keep this group of people, the potential dangers, and positive consequences associated with it. The potential value of this …

Bo Xilai’S True Crime, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

After more than a year in detention, Bo Xilai, the former Communist Party chief of China’s Chongqing city, has been officially charged with accepting an “extremely large amount” of bribes, embezzling public funds, and abusing public office. But, while the charges may sound severe, Bo’s situation may not be as serious as it appears.

Actualizing A Mobile Integrated System For Geriatric Care, Han Ei Chew, Johannes Faber, Zhiming Liu, Vanessa Madera, Nafees Qamar

Research Collection Office of Impact

Population aging looms over countries all over the world. The social and economic implications of this phenomenon extend beyond the individual person and the immediate family, affecting broader society and the global community in profound ways. Aging populations increase pressure on already over-burdened public health care services and expenditures. To address this impending predicament, many health care providers and countries have turned to technological solutions. The near-ubiquity of mobile devices entails that mHealth will rapidly become a key component of technologically-enabled health care delivery services. This poster presents research and engineering challenges for a sustainable ICT solution that supports information …

The Impact Of Parent Education On Parental Feeding Practices, Larra Kolby Brawley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research looked at the potential impact that parent education may have on the feeding practices of parents of young children. Since eating behaviors are a national concern for both children and adults, it's important to examine how we can create not just healthier children but, as a result, healthier adults. This study utilized an intervention that was an adapted version of a healthy eating curriculum created by Sesame Workshop and the California WIC association with the intention of improving parental feeding practices through a behavior-based approach. Previous research with this curriculum has addressed only low-income populations, with a relatively …

"An Easy Switch": A Descriptive Case Study Exploring The Shift Toward Informational Text Accompanying The Implementation Of Common Core State Standards In Five Primary Classrooms, Heather Denise Kindall

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to discover how the newly implemented Common Core State Standards (CCSS) may have changed teachers' practices and philosophies regarding literacy instruction and to determine which teaching strategies were being presented in regard to informational text in the studied Kindergarten through second grade classrooms.

The research was conducted in five classrooms within one elementary school in the mid-Southern United States. The study design involved semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and teacher-reported lesson plans over a fourteen week data collection period. The aim of this research was to portray a vivid description of the implementation …

Interest Group Scorecards And Legislative Satisfaction: Using Ratings To Explore The Private Bias In Public Policy, Daniel E. Chand

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite their importance to our system, the study of interest groups has produced few concrete findings compared to other actors such as administrative agencies and political parties in the policymaking process. The absence of generalizable findings is partly explained by the unpopularity of the topic, but is primarily due to a deficiency of easily accessible data and lack of agreement over how to operationalize important concepts. In the following dissertation, I employ interest group "scorecards" (ratings of members of Congress) as an approach to examining interest groups in a generalizable manner. Specifically, I use scorecards to test the pluralist assumptions …

Perceived Impacts Of Hosting A College Baseball Regional Or Super Regional: Student Perspective At Possible Host Institution, Marcus Trent Ozbun

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

College athletics is an ever growing industry, particularly the sports of football and basketball. Previous research in college athletics has tended to focus only on these two sports and their economic impacts, disregarding any Social or general negative impacts they may bring with them. The purpose of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of students' perceptions of Social, economic and general negative impacts associated with hosting a NCAA baseball regional or super regional on the host campus and community. Hosting NCAA postseason events on campus is rare for many universities, so it is important to study how students …

In Our Own Backyard: A Qualitative Investigation Of Marginalized And Dominant Perspectives On White Privilege In Counseling Psychology Training Programs, Steven Matthew Andrews

Dissertations

Systemic racism endures in the United States (Feagin, 2010). The race-related barriers experienced by trainees of color in counseling, clinical, and school psychology programs (Clark et al., 2012; Maton et al., 2011) reflect this reality. Focusing exclusively on the barriers confronting people of color, though, can distract from the benefits and power that Whites accrue to maintain a system of privilege and oppression. Recently, counseling psychologists have recognized the critical importance of understanding social privilege (Israel, 2012) and its unique features based on context (Ancis & Szymanski, 2001). However, the study of White privilege within counseling psychology training is an …

The Social Construction Of Deviance, Activism, And Identity In Women's Accounts Of Abortion, Mallary Allen

Dissertations

The mainstream abortion rights debate in the United States, its opposing factions popularly identified as pro-choice and pro-life, is reliant upon identifiable narratives of abortion's value to women and society and, alternately, its harms. This dissertation traces more than one hundred years of evolution of popular rhetoric surrounding the practice of elective termination of pregnancy in the U.S. and identifies the understandings of abortion and the women who have them which are most prominent in our culture today. This dissertation examines the ways in which women who have had abortions invoke the rhetoric of "sympathetic abortion" in making sense of …

Barriers To Depression Treatment Among Low-Income, Latino Emergency Department Patients, Anjanette A. Wells, Isabel T. Lagomasino M.D., Lawrence A. Palinkas, Jennifer Green, Diana Gonzalez Msw

Brown School Faculty Publications

Objectives. Low-income and Latinos use the emergency department (ED) as a primary source of care. Also, the depression prevalence in ED patients is high, making the ED a compelling venue for depression screening and intervention. This study examined barriers and facilitators to depression treatment among low-income, predominantly Latino ED patients. Methods. We conducted telephone interviews with 24 ED patients (18-62 years of age, 79% female) who dropped out of a depression treatment intervention. Using grounded theory, we analyzed perceptions of depression and treatment, and barriers and facilitators to mental health treatment. Results. Although most patients acknowledged signs of depression, there …

Politics, Sharing And Emotion In Microblogs, Tuan-Anh Hoang, William Cohen, Ee Peng Lim, Doug Pierce, David Redlawsk

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In political contexts, it is known that people act as "motivated reasoners", i.e., information is evaluated first for emotional affect, and this emotional reaction influences later deliberative reasoning steps. As social media becomes a more and more prevalent way of receiving political information, it becomes important to understand more completely the interaction between information, emotion, social community, and information-sharing behavior. In this paper, we describe a high-precision classifier for politically-oriented tweets, and an accurate classifier of a Twitter user's political affiliation. Coupled with existing sentiment-analysis tools for microblogs, these methods enable us to systematically study the interaction of emotion and …

Mandatory Ethics And Jurisprudence Training: Does It Make A Difference In Disciplinary Actions Of Occupational Therapy Professionals?, Susan Spratling Mcdonald

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

There have been few studies examining disciplinary actions by state boards of occupational therapy. Researchers have mainly studied mandatory continuing competence but not the influence of mandatory ethics and jurisprudence training. This study is based on disciplinary reports between January 2004 and December 2012 for Tennessee and Alabama State Boards of Occupational Therapy. The first of two research questions asked if there was a difference in the percentage of disciplinary reports for occupational therapy practitioners licensed in Tennessee who participated in mandatory ethics and jurisprudence training compared to the percentage of disciplinary reports for occupational therapy practitioners in Tennessee prior …

Walt Whitman's Changing Perceptions Of The Effects Of The American Civil War And Its Impact On His Poetry, Andrew Pearcy

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This paper seeks to examine the way that Walt Whitman’s perceptions about the American Civil War changed in Drum-Taps, his book of poems written about the war. The book attempts to capture the emotions of the Northern public throughout the war, without discussing any easily recognizable event of the war, thus creating an emotional record of it. The opening poems are jingoistic, declaring the justness of the war and the hope that it will be over soon with minimal casualties, but about midway through the tone of his poetry shifts into one of cautious optimism. After the shift Whitman’s loyalties …