Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Characterization Of Autism Spectrum Disorders In Children's Picture Books, Charlene Weaver

Theses and Dissertations

Forty-two children's picture books portraying characters with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) were evaluated to determine how symptoms of ASD are being portrayed as well to determine common themes found in these books. Books were evaluated using behavioral checklists created using symptoms found in common ASD diagnostic rating scales for both autism and Asperger Syndrome (AS). Of the 42 books, 35 books had characters with autism and 7 had characters with AS. The most commonly found symptoms were relating to people, verbal communication, and taste, smell and touch responses. Personal characteristics such as gender and race were identified as well as …

Cultic Niches In The Nabataean Landscape: A Study In The Orientation, Facade Ornamentation, Sanctuary Organization, And Function Of Nabataean Cultic Niches, Holly A. Raymond

Theses and Dissertations

Niches are common features in the Nabataean landscape (Healey 2001; Starcky 1966: cols. 1008-10; Patrich 1990:50-113). From their frequent appearance in the archeological record, it is evident that the Nabataeans placed great importance on these cultic features. However, very little is known about them. The purpose of this study was to find and record Nabataean cultic niches in a field survey and then to interpret these niches as part of a research design that proposed purposes of niche variation in construction, orientation, and placement of niches on the landscape. My research addresses several neglected issues in the study of cultic …

The Neglect Of Divorce In Marital Research: An Ontological Analysis Of The Work Of John Gottman, Joseph Andrew Ostenson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores why the divorce rate has remained relatively stable over the past few decades, even in the face of rapidly growing social sciences – particularly the branch associated with the study and treatment of marriage – through an analysis of the work of John Gottman. This thesis chiefly claims that divorce is not addressed in marital research. It is argued, however, that far from being intentional on the part of researchers, the disregard for divorce in the marital research is actually due to underlying, unrecognized assumptions. Specifically, this thesis analyzes the most fundamental assumptions – the ontological assumptions …

Spirituality And Religious Support As Buffers Against The Negative Effects Of Marital Distress On Ambulatory Blood Pressure, John Dale Livingstone

Theses and Dissertations

The beneficial effects of religion and spiritual factors on cardiovascular functioning have become an area of increasing research. Similarly, considerable research has also investigated the negative effects of marital distress on cardiovascular functioning. Little is known, however, about potential protective factors against the deleterious effects of marital distress on cardiovascular functioning. Social support has been identified as a potential buffer against the negative effects of marital distress on ambulatory blood pressure, and the current study hypothesized that spirituality, religiosity, and religious support would also buffer the negative effects of marital distress on ambulatory blood pressure. Fifty-eight married couples were recruited …

A Multiple Case Study Analysis Of Digital Preservation Techniques Across Government, Private, And Public Service Organizations, David P. Gough

Theses and Dissertations

The process of record keeping has evolved through time. As our technology advances, so does our ability to manage information. We have progressed from paper-based records to new digital techniques and formats to store records. However, digital storage is not the "Holy Grail" answer to preservation and storage problems. Digital storage is confounded by multiple problems, also. Some of these problems are, but not limited to, lack of standardization and legal guidance, proprietary formats, and the fragility of the digital medium. This research examines several organizations that are deeply involved in digital preservation and tries to identify common practices and …

Sooner Or Later? Parents' Marital Horizons For Their Emerging Adult Children, Chad D. Olson

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have studied emerging adults' attitudes regarding the three components of the marital horizon theory, namely their desired age for marriage, the importance they place on marriage, and the criteria they endorse as necessary before being marriage ready. Up to this point, no studies have looked at parents' marital horizons nor have comparisons been made with their emerging adult children. The goal of this study was to determine parents' views regarding the three components of the marital horizon theory. Using hierarchal linear modeling, parents' responses were compared with their emerging adult children regarding ideal timing of marriage, marital importance, and …

Evaluating Experiential Leader Development: A Programmatic Of The Effectiveness Of Us Air Force Squadron Officer School Curricula, Jeffrey G. Holland

Theses and Dissertations

Leader development programs often employ experiential learning exercises. The impact of such exercises is not clear. This research investigated experiential leader development using a quasi-experimental design to analyze the differences in two consecutive US Air Force Squadron Officer School (SOS) in-residence classes. The curriculum was altered between classes by the addition of the Combat Leadership Exercise (CLX), an experiential war-gaming activity. Experiential programs regularly use mean differences between pretest and posttest measurements to represent program impact. However, research shows that participants may change the way they evaluate themselves between test administrations due to their experiences in the programs, a phenomenon …

Project Manager Personality As A Factor For Success, John D. Bedingfield

Theses and Dissertations

Much has been written regarding project success, and one of the factors contributing to project success is the role of the project manager. Furthermore, project success can be enhanced by selecting the best project manager, and by assigning project managers whose attributes best align with project type. We investigated the role of the project manager's personality on project success using the "Big Five" personality model. We surveyed United States Department of Defense project managers to determine specific "Big Five" personality traits which were more likely to positively predict project manager success. The findings indicate conscientiousness and openness to experience were …

High Performing Teams: The Moderating Effects Of Communication Channels, Edgard I. Zamora

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to support the Air Force's goal of improving team performance by bringing visibility to several overlapping areas of study where little comprehensive research has been conducted. Specifically, an officer's ability to successfully complete his or her mission has been complicated in recent years by the emergence of new communication technologies. For example, communication networks now make it possible for pilots to fly Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) who sit on one continent while the aircraft and mission planners are on another and, although they may not see each other, their physical separation does not negate …

Operationalizing Offensive Social Engineering For The Air Force, Bryan E. Skarda

Theses and Dissertations

Social engineering is the art and science of persuading individuals to bypass in place security mechanisms causing the unintended release of information. It is a low tech solution to a high tech problem and is as much an art as a science. As is true of many such solutions, social engineering is both ill-defined yet extremely effective. Its low cost, high payoff nature makes it an extremely attractive alternative to adversaries that do not have access to all the resources of a nation state. However, with full backing, the weapon can become that much more effective. Social engineering is something …

Bibliometrically Mapping Team Cognition Literature: A Co-Citation Analysis, Ryan A. Howell

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers investigating team cognition must source and review a challenging set of relevant, mature literature from a diverse array of academic disciplines. Such disciplines may include psychology, management, information science, military science, anthropology, and nursing science, etc. This thesis summarizes an effort to bibliometrically map team cognition literature using an author co-citation analysis methodology. The work began with a traditional literature review that identified key authors who were published in peer-reviewed journals. These authors were contacted and asked to provide their own listings of key researchers in the field, which were used in conjunction with the Social Sciences Citation Index …

Impact Of Language Immersion Programs On Foreign Language, Jean-Paul Chaussé

Theses and Dissertations

Communicating with other nations in their native language is an important and necessary aspect of a successful United States’ foreign policy. Critical to this success is the ability of military personnel to communicate clearly when in contact with foreign nationals, whether in peace-time or war. The Air Force has made great strides in the past 10 years to improve its foreign language capability, particularly through its application of the Language and Area Studies Immersion (LASI) program. The LASI program has significantly improved the foreign language capability of the Air Force, specifically those with previous language scores in the mid-tier range. …

Romance Of Leadership As A Leader Emergence Predictor, Troy A. Cerny

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether a link between romance of leadership and leader emergence exists. To test this proposition, a sample population was drawn from a military leadership development program for senior enlisted personnel. The school's 406 students were broken into 28 separate groupings called "flights", each led by an instructor. The data for this study was obtained by administering the Romance of Leadership Scale (RLS) and observing leader emergence within the individual flights over a six-week period. The hypothesis that individuals who exhibit a high romance of leadership will be more likely to emerge as …

Feasibility Of Jp-8 To Jet A Fuel Conversion At U. S. Military Facilities, Lance A. Vann

Theses and Dissertations

In FY06, The Department of Defense (DoD) military grade jet fuel expenditures eclipsed $6.6 billion dollars. In a search for more cost effective options, the Office of the Secretary of Defense Comptroller recently expressed interest in the quantity of commercial Jet A fuel that the United States Transportation Command uses in lieu of military grade JP-8. In accordance with AFSO 21 and LEAN concepts, this research examines the technical feasibility and opportunity for cost avoidance of a conversion from JP-8 to Jet A at six Northwestern United States military installations. The technical feasibility analysis examines the chemical likeness of JP-8 …

Does Marriage And Relationship Education Improve Couples' Communication? A Meta-Analytic Study, Victoria Lael Blanchard

Theses and Dissertations

Using the results of 65 reports, this study examined the effect of marriage and relationship education (MRE) on couples' communication, and accounted for various moderators of this effect, including method of assessment and unit of analysis. This study is part of a comprehensive meta-analysis of MRE evaluation research conducted since 1975 (k = 124 codable reports). Overall, MRE produced modest but reliable effects on couples' communication. These effects were maintained at follow-up assessments and were not affected significantly by publication bias. No differences in effect were found for gender. Observational assessments did produce larger effects than self-report assessments. MRE produced …

Differences Between Male Perpetrators Of Child Homicide, Isabel Perez-Morina

Theses and Dissertations

The scientific study of child abuse and infanticide is a relatively young practice in the field of medicine, psychiatry and psychology, and although the role of parents in child homicide has been studied, minimal research has focused on the role of the male paramour, or the child's mother's boyfriend, as the perpetrator of child homicides. This study aimed to examine the differences between male paramours and biological fathers who kill children and hypothesized that biological fathers or step-fathers are significantly more likely than the child's mother's male paramour to kill their children due to relationship factors between the perpetrator and …

Changes In Preservice Elementary Teachers' Personal Science Teaching Efficacy And Science Teaching Outcome Expectancies: The Influence Of Context, Richard P. Hechter

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate how retrospective-test/post-test perceptions of science teaching self-efficacy differ according to personalscience expectancy and science teaching outcome expectancy among preservice elementary teachers when exposed to a science teaching methods course. Preservice elementary teacher candidates (N=69) enrolled in Spring and Fall 2007 sessions of an elementary science methods class were asked to assess their science teaching self-efficacy using the Science Teaching Expectancy Belief Instrument (STEBI-B). The survey was administered three times using pre-test, post-test and retrospective-test methodology. The 23-item instrument contains a Likert-scale with a 1 to 5 range of "strongly disagree" to "strongly …

Cultural Identity, Communication, And Cultural Reentry: Experiences Of American Students, Yuliya Kartoshkina

Theses and Dissertations

In 2003 the National Education Association annual survey revealed that male teachers currently make up 35% of America's kindergarten through 12 th grade classroom teaching cadre. In grades kindergarten through sixth grade, men comprise 9% of the classroom teachers, and only 2% of classroom teachers inkindergarten through third grade are men. In 1994 Sadker and Sadker published Failing at Fairness, which examined gender biases in American kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms, including the effects of the overwhelmingly-female faculties. At the National Education Association's 2002 Representative Assembly, members adopted a measure to "identify, recognize, recruit and retain," more male teachers, …

Catholic Identity And Mission In Post Ex Corde Ecclesiae Catholic Highter Education: The Perceptions And Experiences Of Lay Faculty At A Jesuit University, Dan T. Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

The history of Catholic higher education in the United States details the substantial contribution of bishops, priests, brothers, and sisters dedicated to teaching and leadership at Catholic institutions of higher education. The past several decades have seen a decline of religious members' involvement and the laicization of faculty members at Catholic colleges and universities. Opponents of this transition fear the loss of religious identity that is critical to the mission of Catholic institutions. Others argue that lay faculty members can sustain the mission of adhering to religious traditions and identity while fostering a high quality academic environment. The purpose of …

Assignment Of Meaning In The Male Breast Cancer Experience: A Phenomenological Study, Marlys Joy Bohn

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain an understanding of the lived experience of being a male diagnosed with breast cancer. With almost 200,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed annually in the United States, a fact often overlooked is that approximately one percent of the newly-diagnosed patients are male. Because of their small numbers, however, very little is known about how males are affected by a diagnosis of breast cancer. In order to provide holistic nursing care to affected men and their families, it is important that nurses have an understanding of the male experience with breast cancer. …

The Social Change Model Of Leadership Development: Differences In Leadership Development By Levels Of Student Involvement With Various University Student Groups, Chastity Beth Gerhardt

Theses and Dissertations

The development of students as leaders is a priority for most institutions of higher education and research suggests that students' leadership skills increase as a result of engagement in the collegiate environment. Given the scarcity of leadership models and instruments designed specifically for college students, research regarding leadership development among college students is lacking.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the differences in leadership development among various levels of student involvement within several student groups as measured by self-reported scores on the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership instrument. The basic research question was: Were there significant differences between student …

Model Field Training And Evaluation Program Policy For The Turkish National Police Organization, Erhan Beyhan

Theses and Dissertations

Police field training and evaluation programs are vital for officer development; although very little research has been conducted in this area. This study aimed to build a field training and evaluation program policy for the Turkish National Police Organization using the framework of corresponding police departments’ programs in the United States. Mission statements, program structure, standard evaluation guidelines, field training officer selection, and recruit termination are the fundamental elements of the FTO programs, which were reviewed in this research.

Criminal Histories Of Methamphetamine Users: A Rural Analysis, Israt Zohra

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined criminal histories of methamphetamine users in rural counties of Arkansas. More specifically, the study explored the difference between methamphetamine users with and without criminal histories. Although there are plenty of research on demographic characteristics, sociological attributes, and drug dependencies of methamphetamine users, there seems to be a gap in the literature focusing on why certain methamphetamine users have been arrested versus users who have not been arrested. A preliminary analysis of the data indicated 60 percent of the participants in the study had criminal histories, while 40 percent have never been arrested; therefore, this study explored potential …

Historical Comparative Case Study Of Emerging Hegemonic Behavior: Perspectives On The Peoples Republic Of China, Samuel Achinonu Onyegam

Theses and Dissertations

Will the future of hegemonic politics resemble the past? In the post-Cold war world, emergence of new actors will likely reshape hegemonic politics and potentially reconfigure the balance of power. As the world shifts from one era to another, the behavior of emerging actors like China will have far reaching implications. As the post-Cold war world's emerging hegemonic power, China presents the most challenging questions for scholars of international politics. This study draws from historical patterns detected from the behavior of two key hegemonic powers of the past fifty to a hundred years—Germany 1866-World War II and the United States …

The Influence Of Differently Framed Information On Decision Making In The Public Budgeting Process: Does Budget Reform Mean A Damn?, Robert Dennis Malarkey

Theses and Dissertations

Public budgeting has become a central artifact of American government – the principal means for establishing and implementing policy. Modern public budgeting was introduced in the early Twentieth Century as an adaptation of objects of revenue and expenditure budgeting used in commercial businesses. Since then - over a hundred years - a series of budget reform movements have sought to overcome a major drawback to this model: the lack of a direct link between revenues and expenditures and any measure of the quality or quantity of public benefits derived from budget allocations. While a number of major budget reforms have …

Civic Habits: A Predictive Model Of Volunteer Behavior, Susan G. White

Theses and Dissertations

The findings of this research indicate that volunteering is influenced by a number of factors, one of which is gender. The data used in this study reveal a different profile of the volunteer than is presented in much of the research on volunteering, which tends to profile the "most likely" volunteer as female, employed by the public sector, possessing a higher education and having children. The questions addressed in this research are: 1) What are the contextual effects of volunteering and 2) Is there a relationship of one or more of these effects to gender? The findings indicate men in …

Differences In Methamphetamine Users And Crack Cocaine Users, Kilby Erwin Raptopoulos

Theses and Dissertations

This research addresses basic differences between crack cocaine users and methamphetamine users. The sample consisted of stimulant users who tested positive for either crack cocaine and/or methamphetamine from three rural counties in eastern Arkansas. This study seeks to further existing knowledge concerning drug use by examining demographics, drug use patterns, criminal histories and parental substance abuse. The study used Respondent-Driven Sampling to accumulate a sample size of 211 participants. Data was obtained through self-reported demographic information, drug use, criminal histories, and parental substance abuse problems during individual interviews, which were also matched with the results from a urinary analysis to …

An Exploration Of Satisfaction, Psychological Stress, And Readiness For Interprofessional Learning In Medical, Nursing, Allied Health, And Social Work Students In An Interprofessional Health Care Course, Anne M. Haskins

Theses and Dissertations

Medical errors are a prominent problem in health care systems in many countries, including the U.S. One source of medical errors is communication and collaboration between health care team members. Many medical, nursing, and allied health care programs have implemented interprofessional health carecourses to improve communication between future team members. However, a dearth of literature on the effectiveness of interprofessional education and the variables that may influence its efficacy continues to persist.

This survey research explored medical, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and social work students' achievement of knowledge, psychologicalstress, and satisfaction in an interprofessional health care course. Ninety-six students …

Critical Factors For Training In Rural Psychology, Christine M. Boulton-Olson

Theses and Dissertations

Students in graduate level psychology training who intend to work in rural settings must be familiar with and educated in how rural life and identity impacts clients. Currently, there are few doctoral training programs in psychology that offer courses specifically tailored to rural populations despite the fact many psychologists are employed, or work with people, in rural settings. As such, there is a need to understand how to best prepare students in doctoral training in psychology for competent work as psychologists in rural areas. Given the nature of rural culture, rural mental health, urban versus rural characteristics, the current status …

How Has The Three Strikes And You're Out Law Affected The Elderly Inmate Population Growth In The Department Of Correction System Since Its Passage? An Examination Of Washington And California, Deborah A. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This public policy thesis is grounded Washington with Initiative Measure Number 593, later called RCW.9.94A.555, followed by California with Proposition 184, later called California's Penal Code 1170.12. This public policy thesis has explored ways in which Washington and California are now faced with a new growing trend of elderly inmate population. This public policy thesis looked at the different methods of trying to solve this problem. The type of research used for this thesis has been the illustrative case study for the data collection and analysis. This type of case study uses the Qualitative Method. The Qualitative Research Method demonstrates …