This study was designed to examine the opinions of Turkish immigrants living in the Houston metropolitan area about the conflict between secularism and Islam in Turkey. The study examined the role of the practice of religion on the opinions about the clash between secularism and Islam. A final sample consisted of 40 immigrants recruited through purposeful and snowball sampling. In-depth interviews and a survey including screening questions were conducted. The results indicated that practice of religion has a partial impact on the opinions of Turkish immigrants about the conflict between secularism and Islam. Future research should further examine if the experience of living abroad for a long period influence Turkish immigrants' opinions about the same issue.

We show that the nonadditive open systems can be studied in a consistent manner by using a generalized version of S-theorem. This new generalized S-theorem can further be considered as an indication of self-organization in nonadditive open systems as prescribed by Haken. The nonadditive S-theorem is then illustrated by using the modified Van der Pol oscillator. Finally, Tsallis entropy as an equilibrium entropy is studied by using Boltzmann's method of orthodes. This part of dissertation shows that Tsallis ensemble is on equal footing with the microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles. However, the associated entropy turns out to be Renyi entropy.

The seventeenth century in England produced a large and historically significant body of music for the viola da gamba played "lyra-way." Broadly defined, playing "lyra-way" on the viol meant playing from tablature notation in a polyphonic style. Most players of plucked strings such as lute and guitar are familiar with tablature and, as a result, have a decisive advantage when attempting to explore this music. Other factors that make lyra viol repertory potentially attractive to the modern guitarist are its chordal textures, similarities in physical properties of the instruments, and many points of connection regarding the principles of left hand technique. The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) to illuminate the historical and cultural context of the seventeenth-century English lyra viol music in general and that of Tobias Hume (c. 1579-1645) in particular; and 2) to present an idiomatic transcription for the modern guitar of four representative pieces from Hume's 1605 collection Musicall Humours. Musicall Humours, published in London in 1605, is one of the first and most significant collections of music for the lyra viol. The collection is both ambitious and groundbreaking, being the largest repertory of solo music for the lyra viol by a single composer in …

Neuropsychological rehabilitation following acquired brain injury is increasingly recognized as essential with the advancements in research evidence of its effectiveness, particularly as current estimates of disability following the most common forms of brain injury (traumatic brain injury and cerebrovascular accident) are so high. Improvements in predictive capabilities of researchers and clinicians are paramount in designing effective interventions. As many variables associated with outcome following brain injury are not controllable (e.g. severity of the injury, age, education), it is essential that rehabilitation programs design interventions to target those variables that are susceptible to amelioration. While personality factors have been shown to affect outcome in other medical illnesses, only a few studies have examined the influence of personality on outcome following neurorehabilitation for acquired brain injury. The results of these studies have been mixed. This study used the Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic (MBMD) to predict outcome as measured by the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Index (MPAI-4) following brain injury rehabilitation in a heterogeneous sample of persons with acquired brain injuries (N = 50). It was hypothesized that specific coping styles scales from the MBMD (Introversive, Dejected, Oppositional), which are based on Millon's personality system, would predict outcome. Results indicated that both the Introversive and …

Behavior analysts have proposed a primary measure, the "learn unit," to evaluate educational effectiveness. Past research has indicated this is a useful approach. The benefits of "learn units" may also apply to family interventions in autism. The current analysis evaluated the rates of learn units in a naturalistic parent-training program to determine if (1) definitions of learn units previously described in the literature can be reliably applied to family interventions and (2) an increased number of learn units correlate with increased child responding and attainment of child and family goals. Results from the current analysis demonstrated that the rate of learn units increased from baseline to training for all parent-child dyads and the percent of correct child responses increased for all children. Teaching parents the components of effective education may increase the quantity and quality of interventions for children diagnosed with autism.

Using the principles of systems analysis as a guide, this study compared two class schedule formats used by Behavior Management and Parenting Services (BMAPS) in order to address the following research questions: 1) What effects do 2 different class formats have on student attrition and appointment keeping? 2) What effects do 2 different class formats have on student outcomes on a pre and posttest assessment? 3) What effects do 2 different class formats have on staff procedures? BMAPS provides parent education to individuals referred by Child Protective Services. The current research included approximately 200 referred clients with an appointment or class scheduled with BMAPS between January 1, 2006 and September 22, 2007. Data was collected by reviewing client files for class attendance and performance records. Results of this study allow BMAPS to enlist the class format that is correlated with better attrition rates and client outcomes.

This study evaluated the rape fantasies of a female undergraduate sample (N = 355) using a sexual fantasy checklist, a sexual fantasy log, a rape fantasy scenario presentation, and measures of personality. Results indicated that 62% of women have had a rape fantasy. For these women, the median rape fantasy frequency was about four times per year, with 14% of participants reporting that they had rape fantasies at least once a week. Further, rape fantasies exist on a continuum between erotic and aversive, with 9% completely aversive, 45% completely erotic, and 46% both erotic and aversive. Women who are more erotophilic, open to fantasy, and higher in self-esteem tended to have more frequent and erotic rape fantasies than other women. The major theories that have been proposed to explain why women have rape fantasies were tested. Results indicated that sexual blame avoidance and ovulation theories were not supported. Openness to sexuality, sexual desirability, and sympathetic activation theories received partial support.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teenage motherhood on the school readiness, literacy skills, and parental involvement of children participating in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) early intervention program, as well as make recommendations for optimal outcomes. Study children were participants in HIPPY at five diverse, urban school districts. Using a mixed method design, this study examined the results of quantitative measures of children's school readiness, literacy skills, and parent involvement along with qualitative data collected through mothers' responses to two, open-ended questions related to their satisfaction with HIPPY. According to results of independent samples t-test, mean scores on school readiness and parent involvement measures were not statistically significantly different for the children of teenage mothers and the children of traditional age mothers. However, there were moderate effect sizes for parent involvement and physical development indicating some practical significance. Chi-square results of literacy skills indicated that the children of teenage mothers were almost twice as likely [c2 (1, N = 36) = 4.21, p < .05] to have literacy skills that were "not on grade level" according to scores on the TPRI/Tejas. Descriptive discriminant analysis (DDA) indicated that the multivariate relationship …

This dissertation is a study of the subassistant commissioners of the Freedmen's Bureau in Texas from late 1865 to late 1868. Its focus is two-fold. It first examines who these men were. Were they northern born or southern? Did they own slaves? Were these men rich, poor, or from the middle-class? Did they have military experience or were they civilians? How old was the average subassistant commissioner in Texas? This work will answer what man Freedmen's Bureau officials deemed qualified to transition the former slave from bondage to freedom. Secondly, in conjunction with these questions, this work will examine the day-to-day operations of the Bureau agents in Texas, chronicling those aspects endemic to all agents as well as those unique to certain subdistricts. The demand of being a Bureau agent was immense, requiring long hours in the office fielding questions and long hours in the saddle inspecting subdistricts. In essence, their work advising, protecting, and educating the freedmen was a never ending one. The records of the Freedmen's Bureau, both the records for headquarters and the subassistant commissioners, serve as the main sources, but numerous newspapers, Texas state official correspondences, and military records proved helpful. Immense amounts of information arrived …

The compositional language of Russian composer-pianist Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) demonstrates an evolution of the traditional forms and harmony. Following the classical and romantic traditions, Medtner's compositional technique reveals his individual and original approaches to form and harmony. The unique architectonic in his works is achieved through particular tonal-harmonic juxtapositions of the sections, the frequent prevalence of the monothematic principle, the increased role of the developmental material in the exposition, and contrapuntal combination of themes. Harmonic vocabulary is characterized by chromatic harmony, altered dissonant chords, augmented triads, complex chains of modulations, and usage and combination of modes and octatonic scale. Counterpoint is of great importance toward understanding the chord progression found in his music. Skazki (fairy tales) are pieces in small form, such as preludes, or novelettes; they hold an important place in Medtner's oeuvre. The fairy tale genre is associated with many artistic traditions, including Russian folk art. Medtner's 38 fairy tales, varied in imagery and character, were composed during different periods of his life. The evolution of the genre is seen in form and harmonic language. The lyrical, subjective mood of the fairy tales of the earlier period, such as op. 8, op. 9 and op. 14, evolve into …

Efficacy of multidisciplinary inpatient treatment of feeding disordered children was sought through retrospective chart review of 40 G-tube dependent children ages 22 months to 7 years. Premature births were 55% of the sample ranging from 23 to 36 weeks gestation. The majority of co-occurring medical conditions included congenital anomalies (50%), gastroesophageal reflux disease (25%) and chronic lung disease (25%). Treatment effect analyzed from pre and post treatment measures of oral and G-tube caloric intakes resulted in a significant difference from admission to discharge for both oral intake, t (39) = 5.76, p < 0.001, d = 1.02, and G-tube dependency, t(39) = 10.94, p < 0.001, d = 2.03 with both showing strong treatment effects. Results indicated a highly reliable and valid method of treating severe pediatric feeding disorders.

The influence of the role identity expectations of Turkish Hizbullah's leadership on actual members' terrorist identities was documented in this dissertation. This study explored the leadership's identity expectations from members through content analyses of four books written by major figures of Hizbullah. Those books were selected following comments of the literature and expert suggestions. Eleven identity features stood out. These content analyses also revealed that leadership had different expectations from political wing members and military wing members. The following six identity features were listed as expected more from military wing members: belief in jihad and resistance, desire for martyrdom, embracing the hierarchical structure, depersonalization, hatred against enemies of God, and aloneness. Whilst cemaat (religious congregation), being religiously educated, patience (gradualism), dedication to a Muslim brotherhood, and being politically active were listed as expected identity attributes of political wing members. Qualitative analyses investigated these identity features using the available literature and 144 handwritten reports of actual Hizbullah members. To confirm the findings of content and qualitative analyses, quantitative analyses were conducted on the relatively representative sample (144 reports). The results of cross-tabulation and logistic regression demonstrated that two (out of 6) military wing and two (out of 5) political wing identity …

The political implications of the OE prose translations of King Alfred (849-899) are overlooked by scholars who focus on the literary merits of the texts. When viewed as propaganda, Alfred's writings show a careful reshaping of their Latin sources that reaffirms Alfred's claim to power. The preface to Pastoral Care, long understood to be the inauguration of Alfred's literary reforms, is invested with highly charged language and a dramatic reinvention of English history, which both reestablishes the social hierarchy with the king more firmly in place at its head and constructs the inevitability of what is actually a quite radical translation project. The translations themselves reshape their readers' understanding of kingship, even while creating implicit comparison between Alfred and the Latin authors.

This textual record of the making of the social issue documentary film A Native American Dream examines theoretical and practical considerations of the filmmaker during the pre-production, production, and post-production stages. It also examines the disciplines of anthropology and ethnography in terms of modern documentary filmmaking and evaluates the film within these contexts.

Published research suggests that cultural practices and institutional structures influence adolescent girls' engagement and achievement in school. This study was an attempt to further investigate that claim by describing the perceptions of agency held by four adolescent girls in high school. Members of the same English class, the girls volunteered to participate in three lunchtime meetings to discuss Evelyn Coleman's (2001) Born In Sin. Analysis of classroom observations, transcripts of audio recordings of the book discussions, and individual interviews yielded a more precise definition of agency than those used in previous research, including a view of agency as dialogic. In addition, four major themes describe these girls' agentic moves: (1) a temporal orientation, which connects the past, present, and future; (2) responsibility for positive and negative events; (3) strategic decision making; (4) negotiating with people in power. Implications of this study inform both teaching decisions and future research related to adolescent girls.

This study examined the musical background characteristics, self-efficacy beliefs, and practice behaviors of string students auditioning for an all-region orchestra in one large South-Central district. Purposes of the study were: (1) to describe the musical backgrounds and self-efficacy beliefs of high school string students, (2) to measure the relationship between self-efficacy scores and performance achievement, and (3) to describe the practice behaviors and thoughts of high and low self-efficacy string students. Questionnaires were given to 101 high school string students; 65 competed in all-region orchestra. Descriptive data from the questionnaire revealed information such as how many took private lessons and that those who did tended to have a higher sense of perceived self-efficacy in relation to playing their string instruments. Other descriptive items asked questions such as whether or not students started in public school and how much they practiced outside of orchestra. The relationship of summed self-efficacy scores to a competition ranking was found to be statistically significant and inverse. For all string participants (n=65) Spearman's rho was, rs= -.37, (p=.001) with 14% of the variance explained (r2 =.14). This inverse relationship documents the linear trend for students with better rankings (lower ranking numbers) to also tend to have …

As educators search for ways of improving student achievement, it is imperative that focus be placed on teacher learning and development. Currently, the trend in public schools throughout the country is to look directly at students and the deficits they bring to the learning environment when responding to those who find fault with the educational system. The current study directed attention to teachers' beliefs about their ability to affect change in student learning. The study centered on seven research questions that sought to determine: (1) the effect of job-embedded staff development on teachers' sense of efficacy; (2) the effect of job-embedded staff development on teachers' stages of concern; (3) the relationship between teacher efficacy and stages of concern; (4) the status of teachers' level of use of an innovation; and (5) the dominance of teacher concerns prior to and after involvement in job-embedded professional development. Through a mixed methodology approach, quantitative and qualitative analyses provided perspectives from 30 teachers in a suburban North Texas school district on the impact of job-embedded professional development on teacher efficacy, stages of concern, and resulting levels of use of an educational innovation. Quantitative results of two surveys: the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran …

Density functional (ca, BLYP, BPW91, B3LYP and B3PW91), MP2 and CCSD(T) methods in combination with LANL2DZ or cc-pVxZ-PP (where x=D(double), T(triple) Q(quadruple), and 5(quintuple)) basis sets have been employed in computing electronic transition energies of zinc and cadmium monomers. CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pV5Z-PP combination finds values that are 150 cm-1 from the experimental value for the zinc monomer and 240 cm-1 remove from the cadmium monomer excitation experimental value. These method/basis set combinations are also used to find spectroscopic values (re, De, we, wexe, Be , and Te) that rival experimental values for dimers and excimers. Examples of this can be seen with the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pV5Z-PP combination phosphorescent emission results. The values found are within 120 cm-1 of the zinc emission energy and 290 cm-1 of the cadmium emission energy. While this combination rigorously models spectroscopic constants for monomers, dimers, and excimers, it does not efficiently model these constants for larger clusters with available modern computational resources. It is important to show spectroscopic trends (bonding, phosphorescent excitation and emissions) as clusters increase as the monomer and dimer emission energies do not model solid state metallophilic interactions and phosphorescence. The MP2/LANL2DZ combinations show qualitative cooperative bonding trends in group oligomers and extended excimers as size …

Early detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias in the elderly is critical for improving treatment methods and is a necessary component for improving public health interventions. One of the earliest and most common behavioral syndromes of AD is apathy and is associated with executive dysfunction. Apathy in AD is often misdiagnosed as depression due to an overlap in symptoms. Studies that have found depression to be associated with executive dysfunction have not always controlled for the presence of apathy. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is a widely used instrument designed to assess depression in the elderly. This study utilized the GDS and a set of standard neuropsychological instruments to investigate the relationship between apathy, depression, and executive functions in individuals with AD and related dementias. The first objective of this study was to determine if apathy has a greater impact on executive functions compared to depression in AD and related dementias. The second objective was to determine the effectiveness of the GDS as a screen for apathy. The results of the analyses did not support the hypotheses. However, exploratory analyses suggested a possible non-linear relationship with apathy and various levels of dementia severity. Exploratory analysis also suggested mean …

The purpose of the study was to better understand marital conflict and marital satisfaction among Latina mothers in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program. Latina mothers living in a marriage or in a committed relationship (n = 91) reported levels of marital conflict and marital satisfaction. Between both groups, non-HIPPY mothers reported significantly less marital satisfaction and more conflict associated with affection than HIPPY mothers. A negative correlation (r = -.495, p <.001, n = 91) indicated that more satisfaction was related to less marital conflict. Out of ten marital conflicts, religion, leisure time, drinking, and other women (outside the relationship) best explained how satisfied mothers were in their relationship with their spouse. In this study, participants who were in the HIPPY program may have more support and higher marital quality. Social service programs such as HIPPY may help families build stronger marriages. Further research on Latino/Hispanic culture and values are important when developing culturally sensitive marriage and couples education.

American composer George Antheil's Sonata for Trumpet and Piano was written in 1951. This dissertation provides historical and theoretical information that gives insight into the interpretation of this sonata. Reasons why the piece deserves greater attention with respect to the standard twentieth century trumpet literature are also given. Antheil's music was influential in the development of classical music in the first half of the 20th century and, more specifically, contributed to the establishment of an American style of classical music. Composed near the end of his life, this sonata has its roots in this heritage. The understanding of Antheil's history, motivations, and compositional techniques is intended to help bring a performance of this sonata to its full potential.

The general purpose of the study was to compile current descriptive information for recent graduates from career school sector institutions that reveals the significant factors which contributed to their program completion. The research project focused upon career school program completers. The scope of the study was directed to recent program completers at two career schools in Texas which offer a cross-section of programs designed to provide students specific skills for immediate employment. Based upon an extensive review of literature and the input of a focus group of experienced career school administrators and faculty members, seven variables were determined to be worthy of a focused study of their possible contributions to career school program completion. The variables were ability to accept responsibility for completion, academic preparedness, family or friends support system, self-esteem, life skills preparedness, sense of being goal-oriented, and sense of connectedness to the school. It was determined that each of the seven variables existed prominently in the majority of these recent graduates. The researcher concludes that there is a tremendous need for continued study that is focused on career school sector students. The paper offers the suggestion of a specific retention program that can be employed by career school …

On three days in March each year, the sleepy little town of Sweetwater, Texas transforms into the rattlesnake capital of the world. Snake hunters and curious tourists converge on the town of 12,000 for the Annual Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. On the outside of the Nolan County Coliseum, the smell of funnel cakes and hot-dogs fills the air as vendors sell snacks and souvenirs. However the real action is inside where snakes collected from all over the state lay in piles by the thousands, waiting to be sexed, milked and ultimately killed. Through interviews and observational footage, "Snakes Alive!" explores the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup, those that participate in the event, and the elements that make it an unabashed West Texas tradition.

Multi-rater tools also referred to as 360-degree feedback tools, are frequently used in addition to traditional supervisory appraisals due to sources (i.e., supervisor, peer, direct report) unique perspectives and opportunities to view different aspects of job performance. Research has found that the differences among sources are most prevalent between self and other ratings, and the direction of agreement is related to overall job performance. Research has typically focused on one form of agreement, the direction of an individual's self-ratings compared to others' ratings. The current study expanded on past research on rater agreement using a data set (n = 215) consisting of multi-rater data for professionals participating in a leadership development process. The study examined the ability to predict job performance with three different measures of self-other agreement (i.e., difference between overall mean scores (difference), mean absolute difference across items (difference), and mean correlation across items (similarity)). The study also examined how the relationships may differ across performance dimensions. The final purpose was to explore how the importance of the performance dimensions, as rated by the participant, may moderate the relationship between self-other agreement and job performance. Partial support for study's hypotheses was found. The direction and difference measures of …