Digital Commons Network^™

"Only Steers And Queers Come From Texas": The Texas Sodomy Statutes And The Making Of An Other, 1860-1973, Jecoa Ross

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis explores the history of sodomy as it has been conceptualized through the creation and enforcement of the Texas sodomy statutes between 1860 and 1973. In analyzing state court cases, legislative records, and newspaper accounts, I argue that the evolution of the concept of sodomy from its inception as a broad criminal category in the 1860 Texas sodomy statute to its more-narrow conceptualization by Texas legislators as a behavioral characteristic of homosexual status in the 1973 homosexual conduct statute was a political and historically contingent process. This process was political firstly in that it allowed for the construction of …

Cross-Language Conceptual Activation And Development Through Text Passages, Karly Meillyn Schleicher

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The present study begins to bridge the gap between bilingual education practices and cognitive frameworks of bilingual conceptual access. A reading comprehension task was used to investigate how bilingual undergraduate students activate and develop academic information across their two languages when reading expository text. Using scientific texts, participants (N = 128) read two distinct passages pertaining to prior knowledge, as well as new, related conceptual information. At test, the participants were asked to complete true-false questions and elaborate on the reasons for their responses. A counterbalanced, mixed factorial design was used to infer how language dominance influences encoding and retrieval …

Positive Psychology And Hope As Means To Recovery From Mental Illness, Jinhee Park, Roy K. Chen

School of Rehabilitation Services & Counseling Faculty Publications

The field of psychiatric rehabilitation has seen a paradigm shift in its perceptions of symptom reduction, recovery, and restoration of personal-growth and -development. Recovery is subjective in nature, as no two individuals achieve identical rehabilitation outcomes; the process is dynamic and influenced by an array of personal and environmental factors, all of which can facilitate a deeply personal, unique progression that changes one's attitudes, values, feelings, goals, skills, and roles. The concept of positive psychology is relevant to the perception from mental illness. Positive psychology seeks to understand what makes life worth living and encourages the use of mental strengths …

Factors Influencing The Decisions Of Women Small Business Owners On Hiring People With Disabilities, Roy K. Chen, Stephen A. Zanskas, Hung-Jen Kuo, Noel A. Ysasi

School of Rehabilitation Services & Counseling Faculty Publications

Despite the passage of disability rights legislation in the United States, individuals with disabilities continue to experience high unemployment and underemployment rates than their counterparts without disabilities. The purpose of the study was to examine the attitudes of women small business owners towards hiring individuals with disabilities, and to determine what factors influence their hiring decisions. A total of 80 women small business owners in a southwestern U.S. state took part in the study. The Employer Attitudes Questionnaire (EAQ) and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale Short Form-C (M-C Form C) were used to assess participants’ attitudes. The results of a …

A Comparison Of Physiatrist Life Care Planners Versus Non-Life Care Planner Physiatrists' Professional Opinions Regarding Secondary Complications Of Spinal Cord Injuries, Noel A. Ysasi, Irmo Marini, Danielle Leigh Antol, Kristin Maxwell, Shelby Kerwin

School of Rehabilitation Services & Counseling Faculty Publications

The specialization of life care planning continues to evolve through empirical research and periodic standards of practice symposiums. Within this evolution, the need exists towards advancing the profession through the creation of a universal and standardized approach among all who operate within the field of life care planning regarding when/when not to include secondary complication costs into a life care plan. Opposing life care planners (LCPs) are sometimes millions of dollars apart in projected costs, often generally attributed to the inclusion of such costs which may be possible (51%) from a life care planning certainty threshold. The current study surveyed …

Community Capitals Management For Household Well-Being: Case Studies In Two Communities In Surin And Buriram Provinces, Thailand, Itthirit Suwannakam, Josefina T. Dizon

Journal of Public Affairs and Development

This study was conducted in two villages in Thailand, Nongtakhem in Buriram province and Somboon in Surin province. It analyzed the community capitals management for household wellbeing. Data were gathered through household survey, key informant interviews, field observation, and review of related data. For the survey, 64 households were selected from Nongtakhem and 54 households from Somboon through simple random sampling. Descriptive statistics and t-test were used in the data analysis. Findings show that both villages practiced all the community capitals management strategies (group membership, family planning, sufficiency economy, savings plan, household accounting, and secondary occupation) except family forest management, …

Religious Priming And Moral Reasoning As A Manipulation For Supporting Violence, Brandt A. Smith

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The present research tests the effects of religious priming and cued moral reasoning on support for violence against others. Further, the present research examined the effects of two individual difference measures, Social Vigilantism and the degree to which people accept religion as a social force research demonstrates that religious priming elicits greater compliance by acting as a cognitive distraction. The data show that lower levels of moral reasoning and religious priming lead to higher activism, radicalism, and extremism scores as well as higher agreement with a recorded message. Implications and future directions are discussed.

The Weightless Machine, Justin David Stone

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Weightless Machine is an original novel by Justin David Stone written to satisfy the Thesis requirements of a Master's in Fine Arts from the Bilingual Department of Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Systems Engineering Approach To Solve Drug Violence Problem, Jagadish Thimiri Mallikarjan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The War on Drugs has caused cartel related violence to increase, creating a challenge for socio-political stability in Mexico. Currently, the U.S. government focuses on law enforcement measures to interdict drugs in the cartel supply lines.The basics of supply-and-demand and system dynamics approach provided a conceptual framework to understand and capture the features of interdiction in illegal drug markets, and provided important insights to solve the drug violence problem.

The Run, Jose A. Valdez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Thesis is a fiction story about Mexican Americans involved in drug smuggling in the US

A Phenomenological Study Of East African Refugee Mothers' Experiences Of Trauma And How It Affects Parenting, Binh Hoa Pham

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There is a growing population of refugees around the world. Refugees experience a multitude of stressors—war trauma, chaotic and unsettling displacement(s), and resettlement stressors. African and Middle Eastern refugees are the fastest growing refugee population. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (2014) report estimates that by the end of 2014, there will be 59.5 million displaced people around the world. Refugee women and children are disproportionately victims of war and civil conflict. Research on the experience of refugee women and children is minimal in refugee studies, specifically how refugee mothers’ experiences of war affect parenting. The …

Leading By Design: Physicians In Training And Leadership Awareness, Meridithe Anne Mendelsohn

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Patient-centered care requires robust physician leadership in all aspects of healthcare in order to lead organizations to this ideal.Programs in Graduate Medical Education provide inconsistent and limited exposure to formal leadership development experiences for physicians in their final year of residency training.Literature addressing leadership training for residents focuses on the scarcity of effective programs that deliver adequate training and provide measurable outcomes.The purpose of this study was to explore how chief medical and surgical residents develop leadership awareness and experience training in leadership and engage chief residents, faculty mentors, and program administrators in a collaborative process, developing a leadership training …

Designing For Online Collaborations And Local Environmental Action In Citizen Science: A Multiple Case Study, Ruth Kermish-Allen

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Traditional citizen science projects have been based on the scientific community’s need to gather vast quantities of high quality data, neglecting to ask what the project participants get in return. How can participants be seen more as collaborative partners in citizen science projects? Online communities for citizen science are expanding rapidly, giving participants the opportunity to take part in a wide range of activities, from monitoring invasive species to identifying far-off galaxies. These communities can bring together the virtual and physical worlds in new ways that are egalitarian, collaborative, applied, localized and globalized to solve real environmental problems. There are …

The Impact Of Values Clarification And Expression Of Beliefs On Dysfunctional Leadership Among Church Lay Leaders, John F. Cosgrove

Dissertations

Problem

Leaders face challenges from within themselves and from others. Dysfunctions within the leader and with their group can lessen leadership effectiveness. It appears some leaders manage these dysfunctions better than others. More needs to be understood about how these dysfunctions are best mediated and some have suggested clarification of values and beliefs can do that.

Method

This study followed a quantitative correlational research design. Data were obtained using surveys that 84 participants completed on line. Participants were selected from current lay leaders and former lay leaders of not more than three years past from Christ United Methodist Church of …

Gender Differences In Initiation Into Methamphetamine Use In A Mexico-U.S. Border City, Amir Gerardo Hernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

BACKGROUND & SIGNIFICANCE: The literature indicates that there are gender differences in drug use patterns but there is minimal information available on initiation into methamphetamine (meth) use by gender, especially on the border region. Along the U.S.-Mexico border, Cd. Juarez and Tijuana have been described as being in a potential state of a meth outbreak due to drug trafficking, substance abuse, migration, violence, and poverty. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study are to describe current methamphetamine users in Cd. Juarez and their drug using behaviors and identify gender differences in their socio-demographic characteristics, initiation into meth use, recent …

A Theology Of Missional Leadership In The Book Of Revelation, Gyeongchun Choi

Dissertations

Problem

Leadership styles and the attendant behavior of mission practitioners and church administrators too often demonstrate leadership attitudes and practices that reflect cultural norms while violating biblical norms. There is both historical and contemporary evidence of a predictable migration from leadership as service to leadership as control—such as autocracy, coercion, self-ascendancy, and dominance. These problems are found in leadership practices primarily informed by cultural norms apart from God’s Word. These norms vary widely and may even be practiced within the faith community thus violating biblical principles. This reality creates an urgent need for the application of biblical principles that transcend …

Is Torture Ever Justified? The Influence Of Group Membership, Interrogation Approach, And Success On Attributions Of Interrogator Behavior And Perceived Acceptability Of Torture, Julia Labianca

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of these three experiments was to determine what factors affect Americans' attitudes toward torture and the interrogators who engage in torture. Using theories of intergroup bias, fundamental attribution error, and cognitive dissonance, the three experiments investigated how people make behavioral attributions for an interrogator, as well as how people perceive the acceptability, ethicalness, effectiveness, and procedural justice of the technique used. Four variables were manipulated: group membership of the interrogator and detainee, outcome of the interrogation, and type of interrogation tactic used. It was expected that people would make attributional and attitudinal judgments in a manner that preserved …

Am I Another Statistic?: A Phenomenological Study Of Border Region At-Risk Latina/O Youth, Virginia Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As diversity continues to increase in the United States, schools are facing an enormous challenge of educating youth to function effectively in our democracy. With the growing Latina/o population, it is essential that schools accommodate to the needs of what will be the largest ethnic or race minority. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to analyze and study past at-risk students' unique predicament and determine two factors of failure; encouragement by failure and discouragement by failure. The study focused on understanding the role of failure as a main contributor in the decision making of Latina/o at-risk students dropping …

Educational Use Of Social Media: Exploring Science And Engineering College Students' Perceptions About Utilizing Facebook To Enhance The Learning Of Physics, Angel Salvador Marquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The aim of this qualitative investigation is to explore a group of science and engineering students' perceptions about utilizing Facebook to enhance the learning of physics. Particularly, a survey composed of multiple choice and open-ended questions was employed as to obtain participantsâ?? reactions on a proposed scenario where Facebook is utilized in an Introductory Classical Mechanics course as the medium to manage the following academic activities throughout the semester: examinations, class preparations, study guides, homework assignments, lab preparations, creating group studies, and class participation dynamics. Out of the 120 potential candidates, 106 of them accepted to voluntarily participate in this …

The Relationship Between Leaders' Emotional Intelligence And Employees' Organizational Citizenship Behavior And Job-Related Affective Well-Being At Andrews University, Robert L. Overstreet

Dissertations

Problem

Research has been conducted linking high levels of Emotional Intelligence (EI) in leaders with organizational success. However, the link between leaders’ EI levels and workplace climate (as evidenced by employees’ Job-related Affective Well-being [JAW] and Organizational Citizenship Behavior [OCB] levels) has not been adequately understood. This study sought to improve the understanding of how employee affective well-being and citizenship behaviors are related to leaders’ EI, with additional consideration given to how the gender of those leaders may affect that relationship.

Method

A quantitative correlational research method has been chosen as an appropriate method for the research study in which …

The Effects Of Learning About Black History On Racial Identity, Self-Efficacy, Self-Esteem, And Depression Among Low-Income African American Male Youth, Quentin L. Stubbins

Dissertations

Problem

The literature is clear that African American youth receive a shallow account from parents and schools about Black history. More importantly, African American male youth from low-income families rarely receive information about Black history. Youth today watch television for entertainment and through watching television learn about new facts and information. African American youth watch more television than any other ethnic group. The media has a long history of portraying African Americans in a negative light. The negative media portrayals of African Americans have impacted their racial identity, self-esteem, self-efficacy and their mental health. No research has been done on …

Examining The Spanish Maysi-2 Translation Among Mexican Americans, Yolanda Denise Ochoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Due to the increasing Latino population in the U.S., Spanish translations of mental health screening tools are needed to better serve Latinos, particularly those in juvenile justice settings. Screening tools are measures that flag mental health symptoms and indicate if further evaluation is needed. The most widely screening tool used in juvenile justice settings that has been translated into Spanish is the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Version 2 (MAYSI-2). To date, research has focused only on the English version of the MAYSI-2. The present study examined the equivalence of the Spanish translation of the MAYSI-2 to its English version in 18- …

Examining The Role Of Threat Processing In Memory Consolidation And Prejudice Formation, Stephanie Marie Reyes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Memory is a flexible system that integrates new incoming information into existing memory representations (Stickgold & Walker, 2007). Through sleep and over time, memories become stable via consolidation processes (Payne, Stickgold, Swanberg & Kensinger, 2008). Prejudice formation can occur through the consolidation of stereotype schemas. In a previous study Latino participants learned positive and negative trait information about in-group and out-group members (Enge, Lupo & Zárate, 2015). At test, participants responded more quickly to out-group targets paired with negative traits than in-group pairings with these traits. Findings indicate that participants also responded more quickly to in-group targets paired with positive …

A Semantically-Enabled Trust Model For Collaborative Environments, Joaquin Andres Reyna

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The World Wide Web has revolutionized the way we find, exchange, reuse and integrate information at a rate inconceivable only a generation ago; but for all its perks it has one big weakness: trusting that the information retrieved is accurate. Web technologies and applications allows anyone to share information. This work aims to assist humans (and eventually autonomous agents) in the task of trusting Web resources, a very important step when reusing information found on the Web. In this research, we propose a new algorithm to tackle the challenge of assigning trust to Web resources. Our algorithm is inspired on …

Clinician Perspectives On Community Reentry For Mentally Ill Offenders In New York, Lauren C. Meath

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The prevalence of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) in prisons has risen in recent years. While incarcerated, individuals with SMI face many challenges, such as difficulties with peers and staff, and potential exacerbation of mental health symptoms. These difficulties do not subside when reentering their communities upon release. These individuals encounter unique challenges upon release, such as facing the difficult task of finding mental health services and other resources, housing, and health insurance. This study aimed to gather the perspectives of clinicians who worked for the Office of Mental Health in New York State regarding community reentry for inmates …

Medication Assisted Treatment And The Three Legged Stool: Medical Providers, Chemical Dependency Professionals, And Clients, Steven Matt Magrath

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Opioid dependence has reached epidemic levels in the United States and around the world. With the increased prescribing of opioid pharmaceuticals and the influx of inexpensive heroin, the health care cost to society has topped $72.5 billion annually (Murphy et al., 2016). Opioid overdose deaths have now surpassed motor vehicle deaths and have tripled since 1990. In some age groups opioid overdose is the leading cause of death. This study seeks to analyze the only field that directly treats this primary brain disease: medication assisted treatment for opioid dependence. The three primary participants in this partnership include: (a) doctors and …

An Analysis Of Psychologist Postdoctoral Psychopharmacology Training Materials For Critiques Of Neurobiological Hypotheses Of Depression's Etiology, Critical Analyses Of The Dsm's Rigor, And For Consumer/Survivor/Ex-Patient Content., Chris William Nicholas Rowe

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There is widespread agreement that neurobiology plays a role in psychological distress and that psychiatric diagnosis and associated psychopharmacological interventions can be helpful. However, there are also unresolved issues surrounding the limits of empirical support for current diagnostic criteria, shortcomings in neurobiological explanations of psychopathology, and unanswered questions about the mechanism, safety, and efficacy of psychiatric medications. This has implications for treatment errors which can precipitate negative socio-economic and health consequences, particularly for vulnerable groups like the Consumer/Survivor/Ex-Patient (c/s/x) population. It is for these reasons that the training psychologists receive to prescribe should, in addition to integrating the critiques of …

Bind, Tether, And Transcend: Achieving Integration Through Extra-Therapeutic Dance, Megan M. Kain

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the lived experience of achieving integration through the fine art form of dance, using a phenomenological method coupled with narrative and arts-based research. Research material illustrating the various manifestations of integration will be derived from interviews of ten professional dancers representing the non-dominant cultural discourse. Through the application of theoretical underpinnings of somatic psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, psychoneuroimmunology, and relational psychotherapy, this qualitative research seeks to articulate the esoteric healing forces derived from creative movement that fortifies self and fosters resilience within individuals. While dance might constitute an effective processing and coping mechanism …

Frequencies Between Serial Killer Typology And Theorized Etiological Factors., Leryn R. Messori

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study examined the association between serial killer typologies and previously proposed etiological factors within serial killer case histories. Stratified sampling based on race and gender was used to identify thirty-six serial killers for this study. The percentage of serial killers within each race and gender category included in the study was taken from current serial killer demographic statistics between 1950 and 2010. Detailed data was gathered about each case, including past experiences and details of their crimes using publicly available primary and secondary source material. Etiological factors identified for this study include military experience, alcohol use, drug use, whether …

The Mutual Interaction Of Online And Offline Identities In Massively Multiplayer Online Communities: A Study Of Eve Online Players, Matthew J. Ponsford

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This phenomenological study was conducted to examine the ways that individuals experience massively multiplayer online games, and the interaction between online and offline identities. Ten members of the EVE Online community were interviewed about their experiences of the boundaries and crossovers between offline self and online character. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for consistent themes. Themes drawn from the data fell into three over- arching categories: the Appeal of EVE, or the player motivations and qualities of the game environment that influence player investment; Self/Character Interaction, describing the ways in which online and offline identities interact; and Moral Dilemmas, …