Digital Commons Network^™

Learning From High Risk Feminism: Emergent Lessons About Women’S Agency In Conflict Contexts, Julia Margaret Zulver

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

While scholars increasingly focus on the gendered elements of genocide, these are not often holistically discussed in the prevention literature. There is a tendency to fall into a gendered binary, whereby prevention is a masculine activity, while peacebuilding is represented as more maternal and feminine. However, women do not always exclusively mobilise for others, nor do they fit neatly within circumscribed categories of victims or peacebuilders. Rather, they have the ability to develop and refine a contextually relevant style of feminist agency that allows them to navigate and make sense of the everyday violences to which they are exposed. This …

Book Review: Hitler’S Atrocities Against Allied Pows: War Crimes Of The Third Reich, Timothy Heck

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Hitler’s Atrocities Against Allied PoWs cannot be regarded as an academic study of the fate awaiting captured Allied servicemen and women. Its narrow focus, socio-political goal, and limited engagement with the historiography prevent it from serving as more than a survey text or springboard. Chinnery attempts to tie the individual fates to a larger argument that the German armed forces and their security force compatriots were systematically responsible for the abuses described in the book. While the individual cases are compelling and some have a clear connection to explicit policies, the book does not succeed in linking its other examples …

Patient Satisfaction With Substance Use Disorder Rehabilitation Services, Trupti Dhumal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Patient satisfaction is considered as an important indicator in the evaluation of healthcare quality across an array of treatments and services. It is deemed vital especially in the field of substance use disorder (SUD) research due to an increased emphasis on understanding patients’ perceptions regarding their treatment and the attributes that drive their progress towards recovery. Despite the potential value, gaps have been recognized in the exploration of these satisfaction-related assessments among patients undergoing SUD treatment in residential rehabilitative settings. Thus, there is a need for understanding the dimensions contributing to satisfaction which would facilitate the development of …

Mission As Virtuous Practice: A Theology Of Mission Through The Lens Of Virtue Ethics, Michael Niebauer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work uses theological virtue ethics as a guide both for critiquing various models of Christian mission and for constructing a model of mission that adequately addresses these criticisms. The first section of the dissertation (chapters one, two, and three) is devoted to an assessment of three major models of mission, which I have labeled mission as the missio Dei, mission as growth, and mission as dialogue. This assessment generates three recurring issues within the field of missiology that have remained largely unresolved: the problems of distinction, agency, and persuasion. The second half of the dissertation (chapters four, five, …

Determining Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies Utilizing A Delphi Approach, Tracey Chan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Competency-based education (CBE) has been recommended for nurse practitioner (NP) education. To implement CBE, existing NP core competencies need to be reduced in number and refined.

Purpose: This study refined and reduced redundancy in the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) and American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) NP core competencies through the consensus of experts in NP practice. This study used the current NP Core Competencies (NONPF, 2017), the Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (AACN, 2006), and the Common Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Doctoral-Level Competencies,(AACN, 2017a) …

Transcription Regulation Of Human Il1b Gene In Monocytes And Lymphoid Cd4 T Cells, Sree H. Pulugulla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cytokines are key regulators of the inflammatory response and play an important role in facilitating intercellular communication between various immune cell types. Interleukin‑1β (IL‑1β) is a potent pro-inflammatory cytokine that is required for robust initiation of innate immune response and subsequent development of adaptive immunity. IL-1β is first synthesized as an inactive cytoplasmic, non‑glycosylated, precursor molecule (proIL‑1β) by monocytes and macrophages in response to invading pathogenic microbes. The activation of caspase‑1 by inflammasomes cleaves proIL-1β into mature biologically active IL-1β that is released from cells via a non-classical, endoplasmic reticulum‑independent secretory pathway directly from the cytoplasm via Gasdermin D membrane …

Genetic And Biochemical Analysis Of A Conserved, Multi-Gene System Regulation Spore-Associated Proteins In Streptomyces Coelicolor, Joseph Sallmen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Streptomyces coelicolor is a Gram positive, filamentous soil dwelling bacterium that exhibits a complex life cycle including the transition from a vegetative mycelium to a sporulating, aerial mycelium. Early genetic studies identified two classes of genes that resulted in developmental blocks, bald and white. The bald (bld) phenotype occurs when colonies cannot produce aerial hyphae. White (whi) colonies exhibit incomplete sporulation and/or loss of production of the concurrently produced grey pigment. While some of the original mutants have been explored, the developmental functions of many of the identified genes are not well understood. Of particular interest …

A Theological Appraisal Of Marriage In Tiv Culture, Emmanuel Ahua

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Marriage is humanity’s essential characteristic. It is the essential union between male and female geared towards raising and sustaining rational family life in society. This is what makes people human and differentiate them from other animals. Marriage is a natural institution and a socio-cultural reality in which each group of people should determine, according to their own context. In other words, every institution, society, and culture have a right to choose what type of marriage arrangement that best explains and works for it.

Nevertheless, the Western European understanding of marriage, as adopted by the Catholic Church’s Magisterium in her teaching, …

Towards Collaboration: A Comparative, Longitudinal, Conversation Analysis Of Change In Talk-In-Interaction In Psychotherapy, Kai Bekkeli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study utilizes conversation analysis to describe changes at the level of talk-in-interaction across four points of time (beginning, middle, late, and ending sessions) in four different psychotherapies: two “successful” psychotherapies and two “unsuccessful” ones, with the author of this study conducting the psychotherapies in each case. The analytic domains, practices, and sequence types of interest were not pre-defined at the outset, though the analysis showed alignment to be of principal interest. Patients whose therapies were “successful” progressively aligned with therapeutic activities over time, with a difference revealed in how quickly this alignment occurred according to the ‘type’ of activity …

State-Dependent Mapping Of Glyr-Cholesterol Interactions By Coupling Crosslinking With Mass Spectrometry, Nicholas Ferraro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The glycine receptor (GlyR) belongs to a superfamily of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs) that mediate fast neurotransmission. GlyR typically modulates inhibitory transmission by antagonizing membrane depolarization through anion influx. Allosteric interactions between the receptor and its lipid surroundings affect receptor function, and cholesterol is essential for pLGIC activity. Human α1 GlyR was purified from baculovirus infected insect cells and reconstituted in unilamellar vesicles at cholesterol: lipid ratios below and above the cholesterol activity threshold with aliquots of azi-cholesterol. State-dependent crosslinking studies of receptors primarily in its resting (no glycine), desensitized (10mM glycine) and open (F207A/A288G, 30nM ivermectin) states were …

Midlife Suicide: Examination Through An Ecological And Interpersonal Lens, Jayna Bonfini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide has increased over the past decade among midlife adults in the United States. It is the fourth leading cause of death among persons aged 35–54 years and the eighth leading cause of death among persons aged 55–64 years. The primary purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study is to examine, describe, and understand the lived experiences of midlife adults who have contemplated suicide and who have sought assistance and support from their peers via an online forum for those with an interest in and/or history of suicidality. Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) bioecological model, Joiner’s (2005) interpersonal theory of suicide, and van Manen’s …

Decolonizing American Democracy And The Problem Of Gerrymandering: Implications Of Border Designs From A Communication Ethics Perspective, Mark Gardner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project attempts to understand the powerful force of political borders from a historical and communicative perspective. Of particular importance to this research is the role that political borders play in shaping individuals’ relationship to structures and practices of democracy. Following insights of decolonial and communication ethics scholars, this work understands the importance of ethically framing deliberations surrounding physical, metaphorical, and categorical political borders. Five chapters make up this work in the culmination of analyzing political gerrymandering as a form of democratic competition grounded in the rhetoric of colonialism. Tracing the colonial history of borders throughout American democracy provides this …

A Darker Side Of Venus: An Empirical-Phenomenological Study Of Women's Negative Experiences Encountering Pornographic Imagery, Rebecca Gimeno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This empirical-phenomenological study explores the psychological dimensions of negatively encountering a pornographic image. The study includes four participants, all adult women who have had an adverse encounter with a pornographic image within the past five years at the time of the data collection. The recollected experiences of the participants were collected through written narratives as well as semi-structured interviews.

The written narratives and recorded audio interviews were transcribed and subsequently analyzed using an empirical-phenomenological analysis, a process that yielded situated structures. From this analysis, thematic elements of each structure were brought to light. Some of the thematic elements that were …

"Frontline In Mental Healthcare": A Discourse Analytic Clinical Ethnography Of Crisis Intervention Team Trainings For Corrections, Daniel Gruner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the criminal justice system operates a discourse of corrections-reform. This responds to prisoner trauma and resistance by converting them into reforms that strengthen prisons and the larger carceral system while discounting issues of race and class that might undermine institutional legitimacy. The recent adoption of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Trainings in corrections is exemplary of corrections-reform discourse. ‘Crisis’ comes from the Greek krinein, meaning ‘to decide.’ The crisis in mental health in prisons involves deciding when to implement what “services” or “programming” for whom.

In this discourse analytic clinical ethnographic study, I focus on the trans-disciplinary corrections …

Exploring Appreciative Advising As An Equity Approach For African American Students: A Grounded Theory Study Of Academic Advisors At Predominantly White Institutions (Pwis), Valerie Harper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

EXPLORING APPRECIATIVE ADVISING AS AN EQUITY APPROACH FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS: A GROUNDED THEORY STUDY OF ACADEMIC ADVISORS AT PREDOMINANTLY WHITE INSTITUTIONS (PWIs)

By

Valerie J. Harper

October 28, 2019

Dissertation supervised by Professor Gretchen Givens Generett

African American matriculation into postsecondary education continues to rise, but degree conferral remains low (Hoston, Graves, & Fleming-Randle, 2010). Arguably, Harper and Hurtado’s (2007) research, as far back as 1992, stated black students and other students of color have dealt with alienation, isolation, and stereotyping at PWIs; this continues to persist today (Lee, 2018), which may interrupt the academic success of African …

Bureaucratic Modernity And The Erosion Of Practical Reason: A Rhetorical Education As An Antidote, David Impellizzeri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To what extent and in what ways does modernity reveal itself through the bureaucratic? This project aims at an interpretive understanding of bureaucratic modernity. The rationalization of society and action in the (late) modern world requires that an increasing number of human activities and domains be explained in allegedly neutral, ‘rational’ terms and without reference to morally substantive ends. Ultimately, this entails a form of epistemic reductionism that elevates instrumental rationality to the exclusion of practical reason and probabilistic ways of knowing. Bureaucratic modernity signifies a decrease in choices that can be legitimized in public on some basis other …

The Impact Of Retention Efforts On The Collegiate Experience Of Students Of Color At A Predominantly White Institution (Pwi), Jeffrie Mallory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored perceptions of thirteen stakeholders who participated in the Minority Orientation Program, a pre-entry initiative focused on retaining students of color at a private, four-year university located in the northeast region of the United States. Situated in Vincent Tinto’s Theory of Student Integration and Critical Race Theory, the author qualitatively assessed the Minority Orientation Program’s impact on participating students of color and the program’s influence on their enrollment through the completion of their Freshman year. The study’s findings confirmed that the Minority Orientation Program affects the collegiate experience for students of color in several ways. Positive influences in …

Effective Instructional Strategies In Sixth Grade Inclusion Mathematics Classrooms: The Effect Of Active And Passive Engagement On Concept Learning And Opportunity To Learn, Christy Mikolaj

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-method study focused on the effect of active engagement on opportunity to learn and concept learning among sixth grade special education students participating in the inclusion mathematical setting. By implementing two instructional strategies and using the theoretical frameworks of Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism and Erikson’s Stage of Psychosocial Development of Industry vs. Inferiority, findings showed there was a significant negative relationship between active engagement time during instruction and concept learning. The study showed students with identified needs within an inclusion mathematics setting increased concept learning in both instructional classrooms. Therefore, there was no difference in concept learning …

Charismatic Renewal And Pentecostalism: The Renewal Of The Nigerian Catholic Church, Isidore Nkwocha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project is using Charismatic and Pentecostal theology and praxes to argue for the renewal of the Nigerian Catholic church. It avers that the praxis-oriented and experiential theology of the Charismatics and Pentecostals, which characterize them as Spirit-filled groups and churches are enabling the Nigerian Catholic church to realize the potentials of a Spirit-driven church through the renewal of her pneumatological, ecclesiological, and liturgical doctrines and practices

Nanomedicine-Driven Neuropathic Pain Relief In Rat Model Is Associated With Macrophage Polarity And Mast Cell Activation, Muzamil Saleem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We explored the immune neuropathology underlying multi-day relief from neuropathic pain in a rat model initiated at the sciatic nerve by using a nanoemulsion-based nanomedicine as a biological probe. The nanomedicine is theranostic: both therapeutic (containing celecoxib drug) and diagnostic (containing near-infrared fluorescent (NIRF) dye) and is small enough to be phagocytosed by circulating monocytes. A model of neuropathic pain is initiated by tying four 1mm spaced knots around the sciatic nerve with chromic gut suture, which results in neuroinflammation, and a resultant pain-like behavior manifests. We show that pain-like behavior reaches a plateau of maximum hypersensitivity 8 days post-surgery, …

Characterization Of The Effect Of Exercise Dose And Integrative Nonpharmacological Therapies In The Treatment Of Chronic Pain, Anna M. Polaski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chronic pain includes debilitating conditions affecting large populations of people throughout the world. These diseases are further complicated by comorbid psychological disorders which make chronic pain conditions difficult to treat. Nonpharmacological treatment options have more recently become an important mainstay of effective therapies and are currently being used to supplement or replace traditional pharmacological treatment methods. Exercise-based therapies in particular are of interest due to their demonstrated success in reducing pain symptoms as well as improving psychological outcomes. Dose is an important factor in being able to effectively prescribe treatments in the context of specific exercise interventions and specific pain …

An Exploration Of Communication Ethics Scholarship And Economic Spheres, Andrew Tinker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines communication ethics scholarship to understand how economics is understood within the field and to establish coordinates for scholars to discuss economic spheres as phenomena that affect communication ethics. Scholars draw from the tradition of virtue ethics to mark communication ethics inquiry as that which explores the practices that protect and promote the “good.” Philosophers of communication and communication ethicists have developed paradigmatic metaphors for the field that allow us to understand the formation of ethical guidelines within communities both familial, corporate, and national, that promote and protect various goods. These metaphors include “hierarchy” and “sameness” from Charles …

Natural Law, The Object Of The Act, And Double Effect: Moral Methodology For Catholic Health Care Ethics, Travis Stephens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical Veritatis Splendor is the first and only magisterial document that systematically articulates a moral methodology for Catholic moral theology. This dissertation makes explicit the methodological connection between Vatican teaching and the United States Bishops’ Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. The thesis of the dissertation explains the systematic connection between Natural Law, the Moral Object of the Act, and the Principle of Double Effect and by extension the ethical Principle of Cooperation. Second, the thesis applies this complex moral method of official teaching to health care ethics.

Following the introduction, chapter …

Parental Experiences Participating In The Positive Behavior Intervention And Support Process In Schools, Siddiq Meer Siddiq Ahmed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of parents of children with challenging behavior regarding their involvement with, and interest in, the Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) process within school systems. The overarching research question was what are the lived (perceived) experiences of parents of children with challenging behavior regarding their involvement in the PBIS process? From this main question, there were five subsidiary questions that were addressed: How do parents of children with challenging behavior involved in the PBIS process describe their lived experiences? In what ways have parents made meaning out of their experiences …

An Exploration Of Motivational Interviewing And Strengths-Based Supervision To Improve Client Session Attendance, Jeremy Abel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Clients missing outpatient psychotherapy sessions is a problem that impacts clients, clinicians, and clinics. Scholarly research has shown that clinicians’ use of Motivational Interviewing (MI) may help to increase attendance rates and that most often MI training is done through a single training or workshop, which may not be a sufficient means to adequately prepare clinicians to effectively use MI. The purpose of this study was to determine whether using every other week, MI-focused, strength-based group supervision after an initial MI training can increase client attendance in two community outpatient substance use disorder and mental health treatment clinics. This study …

Perceptions Of Blended Learning In The High School Classroom, Kelli Murphy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As innovative technologies and accessibility increase in the K12 environment, teachers are offered opportunities to rethink the paradigm of the instructional and learning process. They are at the forefront of instructional change. One type of change is the use of technology as an instructional strategy. Blended learning is a type of instructional strategy which incorporates both online and face-to-face instruction.

The instructional choices a K12 teacher makes under their own volition to present new content in a technology-rich school is the focus of this study. A quantitative research study was performed in a high school with high technology accessibility. Teachers’ …

Females In Stem: Self-Efficacy Within Women Who Pursue Stem Majors, Lori Grata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While many efforts have been made within the United States, women are still underrepresented within STEM. Research within this document shows that women and men score similarly on STEM-related standardized tests. The question remains, why are there still large quantities of men outnumbering women in college majors and career fields of STEM? Looking at female STEM self-efficacy and gender role in culture could provide insight to the problem at hand. A survey was given to investigate self-efficacy and students’ STEM backgrounds of undergraduate female students who are currently in a 4-year STEM-related major within one university.

The Art Of Subtitling: A Case Study Of A Chinese Online Fansub Group, Xianwei Wu

Theses - ALL

Online fan subtitling (hereafter fansub) groups are a recent phenomenon that have quickly gained global popularity. They are groups of volunteers who produce and distribute subtitles of English televisions shows and films for free. However, to date not much academic attention has been paid to this phenomenon in a critical capacity, with the exception of anime fansubbing. This study closely examines one fansub group in China using a single-case design case study. The methods of data collection include: in-depth interviews with the translators; participant observation as a subtitle translator; and textual/discourse analysis of the subtitles. This study will use the …

Lonely Game, Kat L. Andersen

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Lonely Gameis a collection of short stories exploring different manifestations and consequences of loneliness. Secondary thematic elements include perceptions based on unique life experiences, and how different perspectives play with one’s concept of reality.

Expanding The Definition Of Liminality: Speculative Fiction As An Exploration Of New Boundaries, Dianna C. Lacy

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Speculative fiction allows an expanded view of literature and so allows scholars to explore new boundaries in the way words and ideas work. In the titular character of The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, the reader sees an expansion of self through liminality while A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick explores its collapse. In order to portray each of these the character examined must move though one seems to move upward and the other downward. This idea of movement is only part of what expands the idea of liminality past the traditional idea of a doorway to create …