Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond Belief: Prayer As Communication In Religious Information Seeking, David H. Michels

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Prayer role in information seeking has been largely neglected in LIS research. I propose that respondents understood prayer as communication with God. I compared their descriptions of prayer to God with research on interpersonal communication for information seeking. Prayer, for these respondents, met both cognitive and affective information needs.

Le rôle de la prière dans la recherche d’information est un sujet largement négligé en bibliothéconomie et en science de l’information. L’auteur admet que les répondants perçoivent la prière comme un acte de communication avec Dieu. La description des prières a ensuite été comparée à la recherche sur les communications interpersonnelles …

Bereaved Parents' Experiences Of Supportive And Unsupportive Communication, Paige W. Toller

Communication Faculty Publications

This study examines bereaved parents' experiences of supportive and unsupportive communication using the optimal matching model of stress and social support (Cutrona & Russell, 1990). Analysis of the interviews revealed that parents described action-facilitating support as supportive, although information-giving was experienced as unsupportive. Regarding nurturant support, bereaved parents felt emotionally supported when family and friends were willing to talk about their deceased child. Parents also described network support as helping them cope with their grief. The results of this study indicate that listening, being present, and honoring the ongoing connection parents have with their deceased child are key ways …

The Relationship Of Leadership Styles, Context, And Outcomes, Max A. Anawalt

CMC Senior Theses

New and experienced leaders sometimes underestimate the importance of the follower and context in their ability to be effective and successful in the long term.  During an organization crisis or in a conflict situation, a leaders’ verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors and an awareness of the contextual factors and followers’ feelings involved may contribute more to long-term effectiveness and success more generally than certain characteristics or type of leadership, even if that style is the prevalent model of leadership within the organization. In theory, every leader should benefit from a greater understanding of the evolving study and theory of leadership …

Millennials And The Adoption Of New Technologies In Libraries Through The Diffusion Of Innovations Process, Heidi Blackburn

Criss Library Faculty Publications

Purpose – Literature on the features of new technology in libraries of every type and size is readily available, but looking at the factors playing a part in the process (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability) will bring an understanding of how Millennials integrate technology into libraries. This paper seeks to discuss some of the issues involved.

Design/methodology/approach – This research focuses on Millennials and their adoption of new technologies in libraries through the process of diffusion and the stages of adoption as outlined by Everett Rogers: communication through certain channels; over time; and among members of a social …

Dialectical Tensions: Drunk Driving-Related Loss Among Emerging Adult Siblings, Krista Nilsen

Master's Theses

The longest relationship many of us will share in our lifetime is that with our siblings. Siblings sometimes experience the loss of their brothers and sisters to drunk drivers. Despite the risks associated with drinking and driving, this behavior continues to occur. This study explores drunk driving, sibling loss, and loss during emerging adulthood. This study explores the ways in which dialectical tensions and liminality take shape across educational and professional contexts when emergent adults lose her/his siblings to drunk drivers.

Two dialectical tensions emerged in this work: openness-closedness and connectedness-autonomy. Surviving siblings engage in four patterns of praxis in …

Mentoring Experiences Among Female Public Relations Entrepreneurs: A Qualitative Investigation, Sabina Gaggioli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study expands from current mentoring literature within the mass communication field in understanding how mentoring can contribute to the successful careers of public relations entrepreneurial women. While many scholars indicate that mentoring is effective for women, the present study describes how mentoring has affected the women participants' public relations careers and personal lives. In-depth interviews focused on following five research questions: What have been the key contributing factors in the success of public relations women entrepreneurs? How has mentoring helped the women participants achieve their goals in a public relations career and in starting their own company? Which …

Complex Courtship Displays Facilitate Male Reproductive Success And Plasticity In Signaling Across Variable Environments, Dustin Wilgers, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

Effective signal transmission is essential for communication. In environments where signal transmission is highly variable, signalers may utilize complex signals, which incorporate multiple components and modalities, to maintain effective communication. Male Rabidosa rabida wolf spiders produce complex courtship signals, consisting of both visual and seismic components. We test the hypothesis that the complex signaling of R. rabida contributes to male reproductive success in variable signaling environments. We first examine the condition-dependence of foreleg ornamentation (a presumed visual signal) and seismic signal components and find that both may provide potentially redundant information on foraging history. Next, we assessed reproductive success across …

It’S A Small World After All: Cultural Competence For Advocates In Dispute Resolution Processes, Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Cultural competence has become an ethical mandate for all neutrals and advocates who use dispute resolution. Even though conflict is a universal phenomenon, our expression and choice of how to resolve conflict is culture specific. As our world becomes increasingly smaller, and flatter, and our law practices become globalized, ethically responsible attorneys are recalibrating their ethical compass and replacing their ethnocentric lens with a culturally relative lens. Yes, even if you are a New York attorney who disavows any international practice and remains steadfastly tethered to the N.Y. Rules of Professional Conduct, you still need to be culturally competent. …

Comparing Media Coverage Of The Gulf Oil Spill In The Us And Uk Implications For Global Crisis Communication, Sarah Crytzer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following research is a content analysis of 114 articles written by the American and British news media outlets in the first month following the BP Gulf oil spill in April 2010. The goal of the research was to identify any dominant frames evident in the reports and to compare the two countries to see if there was a difference in the dominant frames used. Positive, negative, and neutral tones were also evaluated to determine if there was a difference between the countries. The results show that both countries reports predominantly used an ecology and action frame, while British media …

Writes Of Spring A Study Of Communication Within Collective Devising, Jennifer Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Communication is a pivotal element in creating theatre with other artists, with audiences, and with the outside world. Theatre artists are required to collaborate at nearly every step of the process. Despite the necessity of highly developed collaboration skills, communication in the creation of theatre is an often-underdeveloped curriculum area. As a Director and Teaching Artist I am particularly interested in how to find new ways of collaborating so I may model and pass these skills to my students. Through a qualitative research survey of communication used in collaborative devising, this research analyzes environments that improve communication and allow for …

Fan Commitment And Its Transformation Into Communitas Through The Process Of Proxemic Exchange, Arthur Alexander Aguirre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Live performances are comprised of various elements that scholars have utilized to understand the artist-fan relationship as well as the relationship among the fans themselves. In this study, I look at fandom in independent, or “indie” music and utilize my findings to creation a foundation for the understanding of fan commitment. I then argue that when a fan of a particular artist attends a live performance by that artist, they inherently engage in a proxemic exchange with the artist as well as the fans around them. This proxemic exchange is driven by fan commitment and facilitates the creation of communitas …

How Does Internet Facilitated Communication Impact Teacher And Parent Partnerships?, Mara Paich Grujanac

Dissertations

In 2001, Public Law 107-110, known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, mandated that public schools become accountable for the achievement of all public school students. Included in Public Law 107-110 is a section that mandates that schools involve parents in the functioning of the institution and that parents be involved in their child's education. Schools have been utilizing Internet Facilitated Communication (IFC) to facilitate parent involvement within the school community.

This dissertation concentrates on parent-teacher communication specifically as it pertains to student achievement. This study examined the ways parents and teachers utilize electronic communication to invite …

The Architecture Of First Amendment Free Speech, Edward J. Eberle

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Resolutions And Their Incongruities: Further Thoughts On Logical Mechanism, Christian F. Hempelmann, Salvatore Attardo

Faculty Publications

This paper is a contribution to the study of the resolution of incongruities in humor. We reject some criticisms of logical mechanisms and analyze three different types of incongruities in humorous texts: completely backgrounded, backgrounded, and foregrounded. Only the latter are addressed by logical mechanisms. We identify a mechanism of “incongruity shifting” which may be a candidate for “deep” logical mechanism (along the lines of “parallelism” in Attardo et al. HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 15: 1–44, 2002). We finally discuss the similarities between Oring's (Engaging humor, University of Illinois Press, 2003) “appropriate incongruity” theory and our approach, which …

A Study Of The Effects Of Awareness Of Family Systems On The Staff, Leadership, And Congregations Of First United Methodist Church Paulsboro, John Paul Wallace

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Internet Use And Economic Development: Evidence And Policy Implications, Joseph J. Macdougald

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how Internet use impacts four different measures of economic development using several econometric techniques on multi-country panel data. The economic development outcomes investigated are: per capita GDP, per capita export revenues, per capita market capitalization, and societal well-being as measured by the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). Data from the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, and the United Nations –covering 202 countries over the period 1996 to 2007– are combined to allow for empirical investigation using dynamic panel data and finite mixture model estimation techniques on the total sample and subsamples stratified by country income …

Sustaining Voice Through Leadership: How Do Deaf Leaders Sustain Voice In Challenging Dominant Systems, Darlene Goncz Zangara

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The vehicle in communicating cultural identity, recognition, and justice is voice. Reclaiming or sustaining one's voice is to stand up for what one believes in, or to preserve one's identity and place in society. The deaf individual or any other marginalized individual is expected to proceed through a series of deliberations to determine favorable actions that will be persuasive, with the goal of embracing the voice of the marginalized. The deaf individual's voice or meaningful intentions will need to be effectively interpreted into mainstream American society's language and paradigms. This requires one to reconstruct the meanings and mediate the facts …

Ypsilanti: A Cultural Assessment, Sarah Mark

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research examines the culture of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Participants consisted of four leaders and five residents, all long-term citizens of Ypsilanti. Participants were interviewed and first asked to describe the general culture of Ypsilanti, then asked to comment on the potential presence of a music and arts scene as part of the culture of Ypsilanti. These questions are research questions one and two, respectively. Participants were recruited through word-of-mouth as people heard about the research through people I know. A content analysis of the interviews was conducted to find conceptual patterns in participants’ descriptions of the general culture as well …

Aggressive Body Language Of Bears And Wildlife Viewing: A Response To Geist (2011), Stephen F. Stringham

Human–Wildlife Interactions

No abstract provided.

Statutory Meanings: Deriving Interpretive Principles From A Theory Of Communication And Lawmaking, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Daniel B. Rodriguez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Who Gender-Bends And Why? A Qualitative Study Of World Of Warcraft, Clairellyn Rose Gregory

Dissertations and Theses

According to a 2009 study, 68% of American households played video games (Entertainment Software Association). With this number continually on the rise, video games and their cultures are in need of further scholarly exploration. A video game of particular interest is a massive online game known as World of Warcraft, drawing over twelve million players worldwide (Blizzard Entertainment, 2010). With a cyberspace-based culture, World of Warcraft exposes its players to phenomenon that are unique to it, and thereby not easily understood through the same measures and evaluations offered by society at large. One such phenomena is that of gender, or …

Crisis Management Post Hurricane Katrina: A Qualitative Study Of A Higher Education Institution's Administrators' Response To Crisis Management, Steven Lee Mccullar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

From campus shootings to mass prolonged campus closures in the Gulf Coast due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the past decade has seen an increase in high profile crises at higher education institutions. Louisiana State University was one of the institutions impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. After the experience, university administrators created an Emergency Operation Center and a new plan for how to handle campus crises. In 2008, LSU administrators had an opportunity to test their full scale plan with the landfall of Hurricane Gustav. In this study, university administrators from LSU were interviewed about their experiences …

Cultivating Miracle Perceptions: Cultivation Theory And Medical Dramas, Rachael A. Record

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This thesis reports the results of a study designed to investigate the influence of exposure to televised medical dramas on perceptions of medical miracles. Four hundred and eighty-one college students participated in a survey in which they responded to different questions about their medical drama viewership and their different beliefs with regard to medical miracles. Results found that heavy medical drama viewers perceived belief in medical miracles to be less normal than non-viewers. Similarly, heavy viewers perceived medical miracles to occur less often than non-viewers. Interestingly, heavy viewers perceived medical dramas to be less credible than non-viewers. In addition, this …

Building And Leading A Culture Of Collaboration: An Analysis Of The Influence Of A Company's Social Networking Tools On Employee Collaboration, Sheri Lynn Nugent

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of a specific company's intranet social networking tools on building and leading a culture of collaboration in a corporate environment. The problem is the implementation of knowledge management and networking tools by a company for the purpose of collaborating, learning and replicating information across the enterprise without measurement of the receptivity of the corporate culture to use the tools effectively. This study focused on assessing the effective use of social networking tools to enable collaboration success in virtual on-line teams rather than physically co-located teams. A validated survey, the Wilder …

Comparing The Emotional Intelligence, Personal Traits, And Work Impacts Of Performing Versus High-Performing Middle Managers, Teresa Lara

Theses and Dissertations

The study of emotional intelligence (EI) has grown in popularity over recent decades. Some authors have argued that EI results in heightened personal and professional success. Middle managers, in particular, are believed to require EI, as they are tasked with linking and coordinating the strategic and operational levels of the organization. Having EI is believed to help middle managers develop relationships; influence others and garner their support; create harmony among stakeholders; and communicate, collaborate with, and lead others. All of these activities require understanding and managing others, their needs, and their emotions--in short, all of these activities require EI. However, …

One Love: Explicit Monogamy Agreements Among Heterosexual Young Adult Couples At Increased Risk Of Sexually Transmitted Infections, Jocelyn T. Warren, S M. Harvey, Christopher R. Agnew

Department of Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications

HIV prevention strategies among couples include condom use, mutual monogamy, and HIV testing. Research suggests that condom use is more likely with new or casual partners, and tends to decline as relationships become steady over time. Little is known, however, about explicit mutual monogamy agreements and HIV testing within heterosexual couples. This study used data from 434 young heterosexual couples at increased risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to assess (a) couple concordance on perceptions of a monogamy agreement, sustained monogamy, and HIV testing; and (b) the associations of relationship and demographic factors with monogamy agreement, sustained monogamy, …

Perspectives On Choral And Solo Singing: Enhancingcommunication Between Choral Conductors And Voice Teachers, Matthew August Ferrell

Open Access Dissertations

Concepts of choral and solo singing diverge among the masses of pedagogues, teachers, and conductors who have differing opinions about healthy vocal technique and training. These differences have generated tension within some university music programs, with choral faculty and voice faculty sometimes on opposing sides. This document presents answers from professional singers who engage in choral and solo singing while maintaining a healthy vocal technique. All subjects interviewed for this document were asked to speak in detail to vocal adjustments made to sing in different styles. In addition, they were asked to identify any vocal faults that may arise from …

Faculty And Student Expectations And Perceptions Of E-Mail Communication In A Campus And Distance Doctor Of Pharmacy Program, Pamela A. Foral, Paul D. Turner, Michael S. Monaghan, Ryan W. Walters, Jennifer J. Merkel, Jeremy Harris Lipschultz, Thomas J. Lenz

Communication Faculty Publications

Objective. To examine faculty members’ and students’ expectations and perceptions of e-mail communication in a dual pathway pharmacy program. Methods. Three parallel survey instruments were administered to campus students, distance students, and faculty members, respectively. Focus groups with students and faculty were conducted. Results. Faculty members perceived themselves as more accessible and approachable by e-mail than either group of students did. Campus students expected a shorter faculty response time to e-mail and for faculty members to be more available than did distance students. Conclusion. E-mail is an effective means of computer-mediated communication between faculty members and students and can be …

Less Talk; More Action: Sbar As An Interactive Approach For Ethical Decision- Making, Francine Mancuso Parker Edd, Rn, Cne, Libba Reed Mcmillan Phd, Rn

Journal of Health Ethics

Oftentimes as educators, instructors approach ethics education as if students have all the time in the world to pontificate. This article provides an alternative teaching strategy where there is less ‘talk’, and more action as the SBAR model is utilized in the ethical decision making process. A case study depicting a difficult patient care situation provides the backdrop for a discussion of ethical decision making as a skill which can be developed when sound reasoning and principles are applied by the nursing student or novice nurse. By assuring that students have a working understanding of the concept of advocacy from …

The Cowl - V. 75 - N. 12 - Dec 9, 2010

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 75 - Number 12 - December 9, 20100. 36 pages.