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This dissertation concerns the structures and individual agency of Filipina brides who met their American husbands through Internet or pen pal advertisements. Popular media, legal scholars, and some feminists have largely described the phenomenon in terms of its oppressiveness toward the women involved, thus dismissing any agency on the part of the women. Similarly, much of the scholarship has located the American Internet grooms as ogres who are out to exploit these women for domestic and sexual services. If prominent researchers of this phenomenon are correct in their assessments that Filipi...

This thesis reconstructs Reformed—and later, Presbyterian—thought by analysing the influences on the formation, changes in conception, and purposes of Scotland’s covenants from the emergence of covenantalism at the initial Reformation in 1557 to the Glorious Revolution of 1689—90. To achieve this, it has relied primarily on covenant documents and sermons. It has challenged the idea that Presbyterians comprised a homogeneous and fixed group in opposition to the crown’s ostensibly Episcopalian policies. Rather, this thesis argues that Presbyterian thought was transitory and was influenced by par...

Despite the fact the human computer interface is the main facilitator of communication between the user and the computer system, its importance has been highly disregarded by system designers. This has resulted in many undesirable consequences, and in prescription and other healthcare systems, these problems are aggravated by the fact that not only are the users inconvenienced, but there are potential threats to the well-being of the patients under care as well. Many healthcare systems are often designed without considering the potential users of these systems. Consequently, the systems are cr...

This research explored how identity transitions are accomplished when individuals experience distress in relationship to the social systems in which they are embedded. Study participants grew up in cultic groups, where they were parented by committed members. Twenty-two people who chose to leave or were ejected from 12 cultic groups provided low point, high point, and turning point stories for an exploratory narrative analysis. Life story narratives revealed a jarring disconnect between what participants were expected to believe and become and how they experienced themselves. The research i...

This work seeks to analyze the role that literature has played within the educational sphere throughout the past and recent years, the conflicts derived from the academic views, and how literature is an essential tool for the comprehensive study of a second language, as an integral part of the educational process. The principal aim of the model suggested in this thesis is the introduction of non-traditional approaches to the integration of literary texts, as a cross-curricular interdisciplinary resource for the learning of English as a second language. The literature program here proposed enha...

Using a qualitative ethnographic approach, this research investigated the situation of the Tsotsil language spoken in Chenalhó, Chiapas, Mexico, by focusing on the implementation of a Spanish-Tsotsil bilingual elementary school. It was possible to discover that the Tsotsil language is still alive and that most parents who participated in this research transmit it to their children. However, there are students who prefer Spanish instead of their native language Tsotsil, due to the negative attitudes they have towards it such as “it is the language of old fashioned people while Spanish is the la...

This doctoral dissertation performs correlational analysis using a validated instrument to collect data from internal coaches and certified Six Sigma Green Belts about their perceptions of the key drivers of project outcomes. The data were collected from a large healthcare organization in the United States. The conclusion of the study is that internal coaching positively influences project outcomes. The internal coaches and Green Belts studied, however, do not agree on how collaboration occurs. The internal coaches did not perceive they support Green Belt teams in a consistent manner. The g...

With over thirty-five years in the making, hip-hop has grown and developed into a global phenomenon. Despite its global expansion from the Bronx, New York, in the 1970s, the hip-hop arts confront criticism, both aesthetically and culturally. Repeatedly criticized as an art that glorifies misogyny, pimping, prostitution, objectification of women, crime, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination, scholars denounce the hip-hop arts as ignorant, offensive garbage, devoid of any aesthetics and culture. However, this is a limited, one-sided view of the hip-hop arts and culture. From local urban ...

The study examined the effects of rural and urban orientations on pupils’ performance on WISC-R (a standardised intelligence test). The study made use of an experimental method. The data were collected on a sample of 100 primary school pupils (50 rural and 50 urban). The participants were from grade 5 and had an average age of 10 years. The independent variable was the environment in which the pupil was raised. The dependant variable was the performance of the pupils on the WISC-R intelligence test. The control group of the study was the rural pupils, whilst the urban based pupils were the exp...

This book centers around the study of neutron stars, especially those in massive binary systems. To this end, it has two distinct components: the observational study of neutron stars in massive binaries with a goal of measuring neutron star masses and participation in NuSTAR, the first imaging hard X-ray mission, one that is extremely well suited to the study of massive binaries and compact objects in our Galaxy. The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a NASA Small Explorer mission that will carry the first focusing high energy X-ray telescope to orbit. NuSTAR has an order-of-...