Digital Commons Network^™

Combating Occupational Apartheid Plaguing Internationally Trained Professionals: A Mixed Methods Description Of Activist Entrepreneurship In Cross-Sector Partnerships, Stephen Wayne Lambert

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Individuals that were born in a foreign country, have a bachelor’s degree or higher from a foreign post-secondary education institution, and are not working at their full level of expertise, are referred to more concisely as “internationally trained professionals” (ITPs). Social workers have called becoming informed about immigrants’ integration needs a new frontier of social service and professional development. All fields of human services will benefit from any data resulting from descriptive exploration of the ITP integration issue. The bounded system that serves for this case study is the current limited response to the ITP issue seen in Virginia, USA. …

The Status Of Middle And High School String Orchestra Programs In Virginia Public Schools Located In Midsized Urban Settings, Keara Lea Smith

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Abstract The majority of literature about teaching in urban settings has focused on the experiences of educators and students in large urban settings (Costa-Giomi, 2008; Fitzpatrick, 2008, 2011), and has been general classroom focused (Elpus & Abril, 2011; Glenn, 2005; McEachin & Brewer, 2012; Young, 2007). A smaller body of literature about teaching music classes in urban settings exists (Kinney, 2010; Bernard, 2010), while less still exists about the status of orchestra programs in urban settings (Fitzpatrick, 2011, Hamann & Gillespie, 1998; Smith, 1997). Little research examines midsize urban educational settings by state, and less still has examined the status …

Implications Of Species-As-Individuals: Kinds, Essentialism, Induction, De-Extinction, Mark Lowe

Doctoral Dissertations

The individuality thesis, or “species-as-individuals” (SAI), is the dominant view in philosophy of biology. Biological species are not natural kinds, but individuals. This dissertation defends SAI against recent proposals to reconceptualize species as natural kinds. I argue that, despite criticisms, the preponderance of considerations still weighs in favor of SAI. I then defend another consensus view in philosophy of biology, that species have no essential intrinsic qualitative properties (species anti-essentialism), against recent attempts to revive essentialism, and show how SAI is better suited than the view that species are natural kinds to defeat essentialism. I next develop an account of …

Racking Up Cultural Capital And Eliminating Labels: The Culture Of Teaching And Learning In The Juvenile Justice System, Sarah Clarke Staples-Farmer

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

How do we educate the student who is “bad ass” or “delinquent”--the youth who finds himself locked up with every aspect of his daily life now controlled? By law, every child, no matter his/her status, must attend school and be provided an education. Thus, education typically makes a point of ensuring accommodations are provided for each student. Yet, what accommodations are made and what attention is given to youth who have broken the law, repeatedly run away, been truant, or removed from their homes due to adverse circumstances? Addressing the particular needs of these youth is both a mystery and …

Elias Boudinot And The Missionaries To The Cherokee, Gregory Mcdonald Siron

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis is concerned with the relationship between Elias Boudinot, a mixed-blooded Cherokee, and the missionaries to the Cherokee Nation. Elias was born into a culture undergoing significant changes as the Cherokee struggled to modify their cultural practices to resemble those of the United States in a bid to maintain their territorial sovereignty, changes collectively known as the acculturation movement. This thesis begins its study by looking at the developments in the Cherokee Nation that led to the rise of the mixed-blooded Cherokee whose lineage descended from European and Cherokee stock. The mixed-blooded Cherokee led the tribe through the significant …

Self-Reported Practices Of And Attitudes Toward Reading Among Elementary-Aged English Language Learners, Sarah M. Akers

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of self-reported attitudes toward and practices of at-home reading on English reading abilities in English Language Learners in 3rd through 5th grade. Students' English reading abilities were measured in terms of fluency, vocabulary/background knowledge, and comprehension. Scores from the school district's reading benchmarks and English language mastery test were also obtained. Attitudes toward both academic and recreational reading were assessed, and a survey was administered to obtain information regarding students' self-reported at-home practices of reading and access to reading materials. Data was collected in early spring and again in late …

Cracking Invisible Barriers: A Focus On Mental Health Service Use Among Immigrant Latinos In The United States, Evenor Alfonso Aleman

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Rapidly changing demographics often result in disparities in services offered for the population. Increasing Latino presence in many parts of the United States has yet to be recognized when developing adequate mental health care. This is specifically true with those who are less proficient in English. The purpose of this study is to explore the barriers many Latinos face when seeking mental health services. These barriers include sociological, cultural, and organizational factors that have been found to influence the underutilization rates of services by Latinos. By exploring these barriers, potential growth areas in the service provided for Spanish speaking clients …

How Multiculturalism Or Egalitarian Beliefs Of Teachers Influence The Type Of Cultural Information Gathered About English Language Learners, Anna C. Kim

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

English Language Learners (ELLs) represent the largest growing student body population in schools, yet among the lowest performing students in the United States with high dropout and grade retention rates (Waxman, Rivera, & Powers, 2012). Teachers are central in the process of improving academic success for English language learners; however, there is minimal information on teacher cultural belief systems in the educational context and about how their attitudes, views, and belief systems affect immigrant students (Hachfeld et al, 2011; Vedder et al., 2006). This current study sought to investigate how teachers’ cultural belief systems, whether multicultural or egalitarian, influences how …

Identifying Academic Protective Factors In Gifted Minority Students, Janei Kimberly Jackson

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

As the demographics of the United States continue to change rapidly, school psychologists will continue to play a role in meeting the needs of racially and ethnically diverse students. One major concern is the overrepresentation of certain ethnic minority groups (e.g., Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American) in special education, dropout rates, and school discipline and the underrepresentation of those same groups in gifted education programs. The purpose of the current study was to find what factors may be contributing to the academic success of gifted Black/African American students. The researcher conducted one on one interviews with nine Black/African American …

Using Mindfulness To Explore Worldview Perspective And Enhance Intercultural Development, Rebecca J. Heselmeyer

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Multicultural counseling competence is an important part of counselor preparation and continued education. Demographic projections for the United States indicate that the population will continue to grow in diversity in the coming decades, reinforcing the need for counselors to be well trained in multicultural counseling. Research on existing approaches to multicultural counseling training (MCT), meanwhile, has identified effective strategies as well as areas needing refinement. Quality MCT needs to challenge learners to explore their racial identity, confront biases, and reflect on intersections of identities within a greater socio-cultural context, all through a safe environment designed to meet a variety of …

Using Pedagogical And Rhetorical Strategies To Examine The Medical Ethics Of Human Egg Donation, Emiline Grace Buhler

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Oocyte retrieval, more commonly referred to as human egg donation, is an outpatient surgical procedure commonly used to obtain reproductive cells for fertility treatments. Before retrieval, donors have to complete physical and mental health screenings, and are responsible for self-injecting a three-week series of intramuscular hormones. The known side effects of human egg donation include: ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS), acute ovarian trauma, infection, and, in extreme cases, infertility. There are currently no empirically-validated studies regarding presence or prevalence of long-term side effects. Further, because of its unique bio-commerce framework, there are currently no federal regulations for this procedure. Increasingly, ethicists, …

Peer Critique In The Secondary Art Classroom: Strategies For Best Practices, Krista Nicole Castrodale

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The Virginia Standards of Learning and National Visual Arts standards require that art criticism and student peer critique are present in the secondary art curriculum. The standards set minimum requirements and serve as a starting point for comprehensive art education. Additional guidance for art teachers is necessary to ensure that peer critiques become a crucial component of their secondary art curriculum. Art teachers rely on their own experiences with critique for instruction. However, traditional models of art criticism do not seem to utilize the varied strengths of students. Contemporary student peer critique strategies are needed for teachers in secondary art …

Informing, Entertaining And Persuading: Health Communication At The Amazing You, David Haldane Lee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a study of the communication environment at The Amazing You, an exhibition about health and wellness with over 400 different exhibits at the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). The purpose of this study is to describe a multi-media, multi-vocal health communication environment which incorporates forms of intervention from various medical communities of practice into a narrative about human life stages. Describing communication at a science center as circular, complex and multi-directional allows for notions of feedback to be considered in an otherwise unilinear and unidirectional process from message to receiver. This research is about science center …

Illinois State University, One Hundred And Fifty-Fifth Annual Commencement, May 9, 2014, Illinois State University

Commencement Programs

Illinois State University
One Hundred and Fifty-Fifth Annual Commencement
May 9 and 10, 2014

Outrageous Violations: Enabling Students To Interpret Nineteenth Century Newspaper Reports Of Sexual Assault And Rape, Ka Stevenson

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

This article is divided into two parts: the first highlights some of the difficulties and limitations for students and tutors who wish to explore the historiography of rape and sexual assault. In particular it addresses the problematic issue of accessing and interpreting the official records of such proceedings in the criminal courts. As an alternative it is suggested that nineteenth century newspaper reports written by professional lawyer-reporters can provide an effective substitute and can be justified as a primary research source. The second part offers a series of four case studies of sexual assaults as reported in The Times newspaper …

Infants May Be Sensitive To Asynchronous Audiovisual Speech, Kathleen E. Shaw

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Attitudes And Beliefs Regarding The Collection Of Race, Ethnicity And Primary Language Information In Healthcare Settings, Roberto A. Henry

Master's Theses

Public health researchers, practitioners and policy makers are increasingly trying to uncover, quantify and address health disparities, which are differences in health outcomes among population subgroups (Nepaul et al., 2007). Health disparities are understood to be the consequences of differences in care, the health services infrastructure, and information systems available to persons by virtue of their gender, race, ethnicity, education level, etc. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011; Institute of Medicine, 2009). In the United States, we commonly study health disparities occurring across racial and ethnic groups, requiring the collection of race, ethnicity and language data in order …

American Dreams, Trafficking Nightmares, Mariana C. Minaya

Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Horizons, Volume 29, Spring 2014, Sacred Heart University

Vistas (Horizons)

An interdisciplinary, multi-cultural journal celebrating the creativity of SHU students during the academic year 2013-2014.

Gender-Neutral Pronouns: Inclusive, Subversive, Progressive, Elise Berendt

2014 Claremont Colleges Library Undergraduate Research Award

The Reflective Essay describes a research journey that recognized the importance of information literacy, took advantage of “full access to any scholarly source I found through the databases,” and included an interview with a professor to provide personal perspective and expertise. The author focuses on issues of language and gender, specifically on pronoun usage. Her discussion considers the advantages of both traditional and gender-neutral pronouns, and she concludes that for the issue of pronoun preference to gain public attention it must become more than an activist cause, but also “a simple question of empathy and respect.”

Adam Smith: Providing Morality In A Free Market Economy, Kendra Tully

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) and Wealth of Nations (WN) appear to suffer from an irresolvable tension: TMS extols human sympathy whereas WN extols the consequences of self-interest. This paper takes a comprehensive approach, adding to scholarship on what has become known as the “Adam Smith Problem.” There are traditionally four different approaches to the “Adam Smith Problem” in the secondary literature; economic, political, moral, and “principles” approach. Through a textual analysis of TMS and WN that focuses on prudence, the nature of happiness and Smith’s rhetorical style, this inconsistency between his two texts disappears. The emphasis Smith …

Spartan Daily, May 8, 2014, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily (School of Journalism and Mass Communications)

Volume 142, Issue 40

Unh Alumna, Undergraduate Receive Fulbright Grants, Unh Communications And Public Affairs

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

National Identity At The Margins Of Europe: History, Affect And Museums In Slovenia, Robert Booth

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the historical and idiographic aspects of national identity in Slovenia and brings empirical data to bear on the question of the effect of museums and their identity narratives on citizen museum attendees. Museums have often been portrayed as such sites of identity construction and as important state-making and state-maintaining institutions that educate citizens on the history and heritage of nationhood and nationality. This empirical data is coupled with ethnographic and discourse analytic approaches to demonstrate that the apprehension of identity is predicated on broader historical, socio-political, emotional, moral and economic aspects of society. This dissertation specifically engages …

Affect Perception In Computer Mediated Communication, Rachel E. Townsend, Chris Allen

Student Research Symposium

The perception of affect influences the subjective perception of an individual’s environment (Isbell & Burns, n.d.). Accurate affect perception leads to increased resilience and positive coping mechanisms when faced with daily life stressors (Robinson, 2012). Communication technologies have revolutionized the ways in which individuals connect to one another professionally and socially (Walther, 1996). This study investigated accurate affect perception in computer mediated communication (CMC) from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Communication research posit several theories to accommodate the ways in which we communicate using CMC (J. B. Walther, 1996). Personality research has documented the correlation between the traits extraversion and neuroticism with …

Improvisation Within The Beginning Band Curriculum: Creating A Comprehensive Improvisational Resource For The Middle School Music Educator, Christopher R. Gagne

Open Access Dissertations

Previously conducted research has contributed to a prevalent view that the study of improvisation is an integral component to a holistic music education. The MENC embraced this view of the importance of improvisational studies in 1994 when it established improvisation instruction as a core standard of music education. However, a multitude of surveys observing music educator practices conducted in the wake of this declaration by the MENC revealed improvisation as a classroom activity lagging behind the other core standards in terms of student practice and teacher emphasis. Findings from these surveys also suggest that many educators lack a requisite background …

2014 May 7 - Undergraduate Curriculum Council Minutes, Undergraduate Curriculum Council, East Tennessee State University

Undergraduate Curriculum Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

Red Social En La Celestina: Una Aproximación Cuantitativa A Su Sistema De Personajes, Jennifer Isasi

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

La que hoy es conocida como La Celestina se publicó en su edición príncipe con el título de Comedia de Calisto y Melibea (1499 o 1500), con 16 actos, para ser retitulada Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea en 1502, añadiéndosele cinco actos más. Parece que sin prestar demasiada atención a la decisión tomada respecto a la trama trágica en lugar de cómica, ya en ese mismo siglo Juan de Valdés o Juan Luis Vives comenzaron a referirse a la obra tal y como la conocemos hoy, haciendo de Celestina la protagonista de la obra ¿Por qué se dio dicho cambio, …

Health Literacy And Cancer Prevention: A Qualitative Exploration Of The Health Communication Needs Of Hispanics Residing In Northeast Texas, Jessica R. Hyde

Health and Kinesiology Theses

Introduction: Limited health literacy can impede adherence to cancer screening guidelines. This problem transcends sociocultural boundaries; however, Hispanics are more likely to have limited health literacy than other racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. The purpose of this study is to explore health literacy at a conceptual level in Hispanic adults residing in Northeast Texas in order to better understand this population's communication needs related to cancer prevention. Methods: Focus group methodology and the Spanish-language version of the Newest Vital Sign (NVS-S) were used to gather data. Results: Of the 18 individuals who sat for the NVS-S, 6 were classified as …

Pluralism And The Absence Of Truth, Jeremy W. Wyatt

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue that we should be pluralists about truth and in turn, eliminativists about the property truth. Traditional deflationists were right to suspect that there is no such property as truth. Yet there is a plurality of pluralities of properties which enjoy defining features that truth would have, were it to exist. So although, in this sense, truth is plural, truth is non-existent. The resulting account of truth is indebted to deflationism as the provenance of the suspicion that truth doesn't exist. But it would be hasty to simply classify the account as deflationary. Each …