Dissertations from the School of Arts and Sciences

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Dissertations from School of Arts and Sciences

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Dissertations from CUA School of Arts and Sciences

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dissertations, CUA School of Arts and Sciences

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: Dramatic Form in the Early Modern English History Play; The early modern history play has been assumed to exist as an independent genre at least since Shakespeare’s first folio divided his plays into comedies, tragedies, and histories. However, history has never—neither during the period nor in literary criticism since—been satisfactorily defined as a distinct dramatic genre. I argue that this lack of definition obtains because early modern playwrights did not deliberately create a new genre. Instead, playwrights using history as a basis for drama recognized aspects of established genres in historical source material and incorporated them into plays about history. Thus, this study considers the ways in which playwrights dramatizing history use, manipulate, and invert the structures and conventions of the more clearly defined genres of morality, comedy, and tragedy. Each chapter examines examples to discover generic patterns present in historical plays and to assess the ways historical materials resist the conceptions of time suggested by established dramatic genres. John Bale’s King Johan and the anonymous Woodstock both use a morality structure on a loosely contrived history but cannot force history to conform to the apocalyptic resolution the genre demands. Marlowe’s Edward II takes many aspects of the same genre but inverts them to show a bitter and tragic historical perspective. Conversely, Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays engage in competing modes of comic time, as Falstaff’s saturnalian comedy succumbs to Prince Hal’s long-planned comic resolution to his own morality play. Another conventional comic resolution—marriage—is explored using the close of both Richard III and Henry V, and in both cases Shakespeare affirms and limits the unified resolution that marriage offers to historical events. As one of the last “histories,” John Ford’s Perkin Warbeck presents what its author calls “Chronicle History” as a tragedy that denies its audience the certainty that chronicles offer. Finally, Robert Greene’s ahistorical James IV is used to reconsider the parameters of the history play, finding that even a highly fictionalized account can create distinct effects between known history and generic conventions. Through the exploration of these plays, this study intends to suggest the simultaneous interdependence and incompatibility of history and dramatic form., English literature, History, early modern, history play, John Bale, John Ford, Marlowe, Shakespeare, English Language and Literature, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. English Language and Literature. The Catholic University of America

: Dual variable domain antibodies against IgM Fc receptor for potential treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

: Dying Into Life: Keats's Apollonian Salvation; Modern critical discussions of John Keats have largely ignored the theological aspects of his works, and only Robert Ryan has provided a full length analysis of Keats’s theological beliefs. However, Ryan provides little analysis of Keats’s Apollonian poems. The most influential recent critics, including Nicholas Roe, Jeffrey Cox, and Ronald Sharp, have focused on either the political or aesthetic aspects of Keats’s Apollo while only a few critics have discussed Apollo in theological terms. No study has traced the development of the Apollonian system within Keats’s poetry to provide a theological interpretation of the Apollonian poems. Methodology This dissertation will investigate Keats’s theological beliefs according to the terminology employed by Ryan and will explore the development of Apollo within Keats’s poetry according to the structure established by Walter Evert. The first chapter begins with a survey of scholarship on Keats’s use of Apollo and Greco-Roman mythology throughout his poetry. It will also explore Keats’s reputation as the most “Grecian” of the Romantic poets. The second chapter will analyze Keats’s early use of mythology within his poetry written between 1815 and 1816. It will explore Keats’s exposure to Christianized Greco-Roman myth and Virgil as a schoolboy. Then it will discuss how the juvenile poems, “Ode to Apollo” and “I Stood Tip-Toe,” reveal Keats's understanding of Apollo and poetry. The third chapter will analyze Keats’s chronologically development from an amateur poet in 1816 into a career poet following the publication of Endymion in 1817. It will first investigate the use of Apollo in “Sleep and Poetry” as it relates to the two juvenile poems then discuss the penitent narrator of “Hymn to Apollo.” The chapter will conclude by examining how aspects of Keats’s earlier poems are integrated into Endymion. The fourth chapter will analyze Keats’s first attempt to compose a long narrative poem about Apollo. It will then probe the role of Apollo within Keats’s Hyperion in the context of statements within Keats’s letters and the Apollo imagery of his early works. The chapter will conclude with an analysis of Keats’s odes as a possibly continuation of the themes of Hyperion.. The fifth chapter will investigate Fall of Hyperion as a summary of the themes and concepts developed within Keats’s earlier Apollo based poems. The chapter will begin with an exploration of Lamia and then explore how the imagery of Keats’s previous Apollonian poems are appropriated into Fall of Hyperion. Then, the chapter will explore the relationship between the Fall of Hyperion and Virgil’s Aeneid Book 6. The chapter will conclude by exploring Biblical echoes within the poem and how they are merged with Greco-Roman myth. The sixth chapter will consider Fall of Hyperion and Hyperion as one narrative. It will first explore the influence of John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Virgil’s Aeneid in the development of Keats’s epic-like poem then discuss his inclusion of a pseudo-apocalyptic vision, the rebirth of a deity, and the abandonment of Eden. Having examined the development of Keats’s Apollo and the sources that influenced it, the sixth chapter will conclude with a focus on defining the type of theological system that Keats created with Apollo. This study challenges the current critical consensus regarding how Keats employs an Apollonian theological system within his poems. The study also complements Ryan’s original analysis of Keats’s theological beliefs by pursing a line of argument that Ryan did not pursue. Finally, this study provides grounds for a revised assessment of Keats’s Hyperion poems., English literature, Apollo, John Keats, John Milton, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Romantic Poetry, William Wordsworth, English Language and Literature, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. English Language and Literature. The Catholic University of America

: Dynamics of HIV-1 Decay and Persistence after Initiating Antiretroviral Therapy; Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the causative agent of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) blocks virus replication and halts disease progression but is not curative. Low-level HIV viremia persists in most individuals after years of cART. Upon treatment cessation, viremia rebounds and disease progression continues. The persistence of cells carrying replication-competent virus in a long-lived reservoir poses a major obstacle towards a cure. HIV mostly infects CD4+ T cells which divide in response to homeostatic signals and upon recognition of antigen. We previously determined that HIV-infected cells frequently undergo proliferation, a mechanism promoting the persistence of infected cells despite therapy. To investigate the forces that shape HIV-infected cell populations after treatment initiation, we measured HIV DNA-containing cells in vivo and determined the fraction that express HIV RNA. Few HIV DNA+ cells in the blood contribute to plasma viremia and are lost after treatment begins. Before and after treatment initiation HIV RNA production is heterogenous. HIV RNA-expressing cells are rapidly eliminated when therapy is initiated. The HIV reservoir resides within the population of infected cells that remain. To determine the composition of these infected cells, we quantified populations of largely-intact versus deleted proviruses. Largely-intact proviruses are eliminated faster than highly-deleted proviruses, suggesting that immune selection pressures and/or viral protein toxicities shape infected cell populations during therapy. Over two-fold accumulations of deleted proviruses occurred after the majority of HIV-infected cells were eliminated. To investigate the role of clonal expansion on shaping the populations of infected cells, we quantified an HIV-infected cell clone from one individual. This cell clone harbored a deleted provirus and underwent a massive expansion during treatment, shifting the HIV-infected cell population. The clone was detected in effector memory cells, suggesting it expanded upon antigen stimulation. In another individual, deleted proviruses dominated the HIV-infected cell population after a Hepatitis C infection. While the total number of HIV-infected cells remains stable during treatment, the composition of the infected cell population is highly dynamic. Widespread clonal expansion of infected cells and accumulations of deleted proviruses occurs in the majority of individuals undergoing long-term cART., Virology, Microbiology, Clonal Expansion, ddPCR, Decay, HIV-1, Persistence, Reservoir, Biology, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Biology. The Catholic University of America

: Dysphoria and Moral Ambiguity in Victorian Children's Literature by Carroll, Ingelow, Rossetti, and Wilde

: The education of teachers in Vietnam /

: The Effect of Mindfulness and Acupuncture on Psychological Health in Veterans; Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America, iRest Yoga Nidra (iRest; Miller, 2005), is a guided mindfulness meditation practice that encourages participants to become relaxed, learn to focus their attention, experience joy, observe opposite feelings and emotions, welcome the sensations of their body and mind in a non-judgmental fashion, access the observer in them who is always present no matter the transient emotional or physical sensation, and, finally, to integrate what is learned in meditation into daily life. This study investigated whether or not iRest in combination with acupuncture treatment was effective in improving psychological symptoms in the Veteran population. Veterans who participated in iRest in addition to acupuncture treatment achieved significant psychological benefit on all outcome measures. They had significantly decreased symptoms of depression, psychological symptom severity, depression or tension due to pain, and emotional interference with life activities, while patients who received only acupuncture did not. Although both the treatment and control conditions improved significantly in perception of stress, the treatment group improved with a medium-to-large effect size and the active control group improved with a small effect size. The reductions in depression symptoms for the treatment group receiving iRest and acupuncture translated to clinically meaningful change, with significant decreases in the number of people meeting criteria for mild, moderate, and severe depression from pretest to posttest. While at pretest "moderate depression" was the most frequent category experienced by Veterans receiving iRest and acupuncture, at posttest "no depression" was the most frequent. iRest in conjunction with acupuncture was equally beneficial for Veterans independent of factors such as age, gender, or race. Finally, changes in psychological outcome measures for those receiving iRest and acupuncture were seen independent of the number of sessions of iRest the Veterans attended or the baseline level of depression. These findings have important implications for the treatment of Veterans. Given the pervasiveness of psychological distress and depression in the Veteran population and the efficiency with which these group treatments can be provided, this research lends support for the extension of complementary and integrative medicine offerings that include iRest and acupuncture treatments in more Veterans Administration hospitals across the country to improve military mental health. Additionally, this dissertation includes a review of the literature on the neuroscience of mindfulness. Recent research reveals that those high in dispositional mindfulness, but without formal mindfulness practice, engage in emotion regulation largely through the down-regulation of the amygdala brought on by response modification. During early stages of mindfulness practice, on the other hand, novice practitioners not only down-regulate the amygdala through response modification, but also display a significant increase in activity in neurologic structures that facilitate attentional deployment. Finally, as people become experienced in mindfulness practice, an important shift occurs: there is a true decoupling of the narrative-generation network from the primary sensory network, allowing experienced mindfulness practitioners to experience primary emotions in the present moment. Experienced mindfulness practitioners are able to experience negative emotions and sensations without adding further negative valence brought on by past experience or concern for the future, which is critical for psychological health.

: "Effected for any Useful Purposes": The Birth of Research and Development in the Rubber Industry, 1790-1890; Research-driven industrial production, although commonly associated with the twentieth century, developed in the nineteenth century. Science, technology, institutions, business practices, and the industry-knowledge of historical actors evolved together to create new paradigms of industrial research and manufacturing practices. The rubber industry is a representative example of this increasingly research-driven production within the industrial economy of the nineteenth century, which ultimately created modern Research and Development. By reconstructing contemporary understandings of the science and technology involved in rubber manufacturing, this dissertation will trace the development of the rubber industry, and of industrial research practices, from their origins in the eighteenth century through the nineteenth century. Furthermore, this dissertation will demonstrate that individual decisions to adopt and adapt effective manufacturing practices were integral to the sustained development of manufacturing technologies and business institutions. These processes of decision making will be explored through reference to theoretical models including technological uncertainty, bounded rationality, institutional isomorphism, and habitus. The locus of inventive activity in the rubber industry shifted throughout the nineteenth century, from the amateur tinkerer working in his home, to the small company with dedicated factory space, to the trade cartels exerting industrial control through patent litigation, to the consolidated corporation with dedicated laboratory space and proprietary control of invention. This study contends that these shifts were driven by historical actors attempting to adopt the most effective scientific and business practices (which they understood through a combination of culturally accepted norms, expectations, and assumptions, encompassed in the idea of habitus), and their inherently limited understanding of their own economic position and incentives. This process explains the development and diffusion of specific practices, which reached its apotheosis in the corporate research and development laboratories of the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The rubber industry illustrates this dynamic, but the findings of this dissertation apply to other industries and suggest some meaningful questions for how scholars frame the causes of the Second Industrial Revolution., History, Habitus, History, Patents, Research and Development, Rubber Industry, Technological Development, History, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. History. The Catholic University of America

: Effectiveness of a Brief Text-Message Enhanced Self-Compassion Intervention for College Students; Despite the high levels of emotional distress in college populations, it is estimated that less than 25% of those affected are receiving treatment. Research suggests that interventions to enhance self-compassion-- an open, gentle, and accepting attitude toward oneself in the midst of difficult experiences (Neff, 2003)-- could be particularly effective for enhancing well-being (e.g., life satisfaction) and reducing distress (e.g., anxiety). However, more research is needed to better understand how to foster self-compassion in undergraduates, ideally, through interventions that are effective, easily disseminated, time- and cost- efficient. One promising way to enhance the effectiveness of brief programs is to incorporate between-session text messages. The primary purpose of the present study was to evaluate effectiveness of a 3-week, text-message enhanced self-compassion intervention in college students. Further, this study was the first to examine the hypothesis that between-session text messages would strengthen the effectiveness of an in-person group psychological intervention in undergraduates. N = 80 participants were recruited and randomized to a text-enhanced self-compassion intervention, a no-text self-compassion intervention, or a wait-list control group; participants in each condition completed self-report questionnaires assessing well-being and distress at baseline, post-intervention, and at one-month follow up. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variances supported hypotheses that participants in both self-compassion interventions improved on the majority of well-being measures compared to wait-list control, which were sustained one month following the intervention. Results indicated that when the two treatment groups were compared directly, the text-enhanced self-compassion program did not significantly improve students’ psychological well-being over time compared to the non-text enhanced program. However, the overall pattern of improvements in outcomes relative to waitlist controls was somewhat more favorable for the text-enhanced intervention. This study contributes to the literature on effective interventions for improving well-being in this at-risk population. It is recommended that future researchers primarily focus on standardizing brief self-compassion interventions and measures of effectiveness, further enhancing the text-message component of this program, and including samples with more individuals of color with the continued objective of creating feasible and effective interventions for all college students., Clinical psychology, Brief Intervention, Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, SMS, Text Message, Undergraduates, Psychology, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America

: The Effectiveness of Strategic Partnerships in Asia; Strategic partnerships have been described as arrangements that allow states to increase their cooperation with one another across a comprehensive set of issues based on a low cost, low commitment understanding for interaction. Nation-states in Asia of all sizes, geographic configuration, and political regimes have engaged one another through strategic partnerships. How can scholars and practitioners better differentiate strategic partnerships from other types of agreements in international relations and decipher which states are using strategic partnerships successfully? By building and analyzing a database of Asian bilateral strategic partnerships established from 1996 through 2020, this dissertation describes strategic partnerships and their characteristics. It also charts their proliferation in international relations and considers key characteristics of an effective strategic partnership.The empirical case studies concentrate on how middle powers – countries that lack superior military, economic, population, or geographic size advantages to dominate their own regions or define the overall global balance of power – use strategic partnerships. Australia and South Korea, two recognized middle powers, serve as the main case studies. The dissertation illustrates how the Australia – Japan strategic partnership utilizes strong and committed leadership, an organizing structure for cooperation, and clear goals to help Australia achieve its foreign policy goals. A similar analysis highlights the South Korea – Vietnam strategic partnership. Four other less successful bilateral strategic partnerships that lack one or more of these characteristics are then considered. This dissertation advances a growing body of research on strategic partnerships by adding new insights into the implementation of strategic partnerships by middle powers. Relying on the database and empirical case studies, it compares and contrasts well-documented successful strategic partnerships with other cases. The dissertation also advances the idea that certain features – strong and committed leadership, an organizing authority for coordination of activities, and clear goals – are critical characteristics for an effective strategic partnership. Finally, the dissertation illustrates how middle powers can improve their bilateral strategic partnerships and suggests that despite the dominance of China and the United States in Asia, bilateral strategic partnerships can continue to provide a means for middle powers to successfully implement their security, economic, and geopolitical goals. , Political science, Asian studies, International relations, alliances, cooperation, leadership, security, strategic partnerships, US-China conflict, Politics, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Politics. The Catholic University of America

: The Effects of a Perceived Causal Relationship on the Strength of Stereotypes; This study examined the application of the causal-model theory (Rehder, 2003) to social categorization, more specifically the maintenance of gender stereotypes. According to this theory, the maintenance of categories are strengthened by the perception of causal relations among features. This study sought to determine if humans adopt stronger stereotypic tendencies if the stereotypic traits, i.e., features typically associated with the stereotyped individual, are presented as causally connected. A 2 x 3 x 2 design was conducted in which seventy-two participants read an article containing evidence, either confirming or disconfirming a gender stereotype, in the form of one of two treatment conditions: information which explicitly links gender traits as causal relationships or information which presents the same features with no obvious causal linkage. The study included three independent variables: causal association (between features of a stereotype), the nature of stereotype information (stereotype confirming, disconfirming, or neutral), and the blocking variable gender. Each subject was randomly assigned to one of six treatment groups (without replacement). The two dependent measures determined the stereotypic tendencies explicitly using a modified version of gender-science explicit survey scale measure employed by Nosek, Banaji, and Greenwald (2002) and implicitly using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) method by the same authors. The first measure, a Likert survey, was used to access explicit attitudes regarding associations between gender and math/science. The second measure, the IAT, followed the principle that a stimulus is responded to more slowly when it contains multiple features that would require different responses if examined in isolation (Wittenbrink & Schwarz, 2007).The data was analyzed quantitatively using MANOVA to determine any significant differences in stereotypic tendencies between those subjects which received the causally connected treatments and those that did not. Results indicated that causal associations do affect stereotypic tendencies; however, the changes in stereotypic attitude may only be detected by implicit measures. These findings suggest that implicit stereotypes are affected by perceived causal connections between features of those stereotypes. This further implies that educational methods, intended to remediate implicit stereotypic attitudes, should be designed to address any direct or indirect causal associations of the stereotypes., Degree awarded: Ph.D. Education. The Catholic University of America

: Effects of Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement (MSPE) on Running Performance and Body Image: Does Self-Compassion Make a Difference?; There has been growing interest in the use of mindfulness with athletes over the past decade, and one intervention that has been gaining empirical support is Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement (MSPE). Uncontrolled investigations of MSPE have shown promising results in several athlete populations, and the purpose of the present study was to conduct a controlled investigation of an enhanced, 6-week version of MSPE for long-distance runners. It was predicted that increases in mindful awareness and acceptance would be related to performance improvements, as well as changes in performance-related variables like flow, anxiety, and sport confidence. An additional aim of this study was to examine the impact on body image and disordered eating of including an emphasis on self-compassion in MSPE (MSPE-SC). Participants were 55 athletes from two Division I collegiate cross-country teams, who completed self-report measures at three times points (pre-workshop, post-workshop, and a 6-month follow-up), as well as pre- and post-workshop standardized time trials. One team (n = 24) served as a no-treatment control group, while athletes from the second team were randomly assigned to receive either MSPE (n = 16) or MSPE-SC (n = 15). Contrary to hypotheses, runners who received MSPE and MSPE-SC showed no changes in state or trait mindfulness, self-compassion, performance, most performance-related variables, or body image. The lack of change in mindfulness and self-compassion suggests that the changes that were observed in dissociative thoughts during running and disordered eating were not the result of the workshop. Also contrary to prediction, the few significant group differences at post-test and follow-up favored the no-treatment control group (e.g., lower concentration disruption and higher flow compared to MSPE-SC). While these results might seem to indicate that MSPE may not be an effective intervention for athletes, consideration of the obstacles faced in the present study, the unique difficulties associated with working with an intact sports team, and the athletes' post-workshop feedback suggest that confounding variables may have affected the results of this investigation. Thus with appropriate adaptations, MSPE may remain a viable option for future research exploring the use of sport-specific mindfulness interventions with athletic teams., Degree awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America

: The Effects of Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Interventions and Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions on Positive and Negative Affect: A Meta-Analysis; Degree awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America, Research suggests a high degree of comorbidity among Axis I disorders. A partial explanation for comorbidity is that there are commonalities among mental disorders. Research on a transdiagnostic model of emotional disorders has identified the constructs of negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) as higher-order, temperamental factors related to mental illness. While meta-analytic studies have demonstrated that mindfulness-based and traditional CBT interventions improve mental health, little attention has been devoted to higher-order factors. The present study used meta-analytic techniques to address four unanswered questions. First, do traditional CBT interventions and mindfulness/acceptance-based interventions produce changes in the temperamental factors of NA and PA? Second, if so, do these therapies produce different degrees of change in NA vs. PA? Third, do changes vary if an intervention is modeled on traditional CBT or acceptance-based components? Finally, do aspects of the intervention, clients, or study moderate effects? Included studies contained a mindfulness/acceptance-based or traditional CBT intervention with an adult sample. Studies were located for both a broader within-groups analysis of pre-post studies and a narrower between-groups analysis of randomized controlled trials. Keyword searches were performed in PsycINFO, Google Scholar, PubMed, and The Cochrane Library through April 2013 for articles using the PANAS (Watson et al., 1988) or the PANAS-X (Watson & Clark, 1999). The search yielded 4,377 abstracts for review and 366 articles for full-text review. There were 56 studies included for within-groups analysis and 24 studies for between-groups analysis. Results indicated that time-limited mindfulness and CBT interventions are each associated with improvements in longstanding higher-order variables, with small-to-medium effect sizes. Analyses identified no differences between the amount of change in NA vs. PA or for mindfulness interventions vs. CBT interventions. Results provided some evidence of greater improvement in CBT for longer interventions, individual interventions, and interventions including an exposure component. Overall, results suggest that targeted interventions promote improvement in higher-order factors, and that the effects of mindfulness and CBT interventions on temperament are more similar than they are different., Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-20T16:22:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Woodruff_cua_0043A_10499display.pdf: 553583 bytes, checksum: 1de56e3f336f1968e68e8a035d40ae55 (MD5)

: Effects of Previous Achievement and Metacognition on Knowledge Networks in Physical Chemistry: A Path Analysis; This dissertation tests a path diagram of physical chemistry learning consisting of three variables: previous achievement, metacognition, and knowledge network structure. Knowledge networks (Dearholt & Schvaneveldt, 1990) are visualizations of conceptual knowledge that appear as a web of connected words related to a topic. Networks can be analyzed according to structural features that measure word pair relatedness (coherence, similarity, and closeness), word string relatedness (betweenness), and highly relevant words (eigenvector centrality). Structural features in novice and expert networks can be compared to approximate expertise. Metacognition (the analysis of knowledge) is measured as Metacognitive Activities Inventory (MCAI; Cooper & Sandi-Urena, 2008) percentage scores. Previous achievement is measured in this study as previous chemistry, physics, and math course grades. Previous achievement was hypothesized to predict metacognition because students who draw from different types of previous knowledge to build physical chemistry knowledge are more likely to be metacognitive. Metacognition is hypothesized to predict knowledge network structure because metacognition is shown to influence learning behaviors, which affect the acquisition of conceptual knowledge. Conceptual knowledge of physical chemistry is the basis of knowledge networks. Statistical relationships among these path diagram variables were tested in a pilot study and in the main study.The pilot study tested the utility of knowledge network structure metrics in identifying differences among physical chemistry experts and novices. Three instructors validated the network word list which consisted of 3 physical chemistry terms. Two instructors and twelve students rated the degree of relatedness for a series of word pairs. Regression equations used previous achievement grade averages as independent variable(s) and knowledge network structure metrics as separate dependent variables. Results suggest a significant relationship between previous achievement in chemistry, physics, and math courses and the network metric of coherence. These findings represent a connection between the demonstration of prior knowledge and the consistency of word pair relatedness ratings.The main study tested the individual relationships among the path diagram variables as well as the degree of overall data-model fit. Two instructors validated words lists pertaining to three consecutive physical chemistry course units: (1) quantum mechanics; (2) molecular symmetry and spectroscopy; and (3) electronic transitions and molecular structure. Six instructors and twenty-nine students rated the similarity of word pairs for a single course unit. The statistical relationships among previous achievement, metacognition, and knowledge network structure were tested with path analysis. The results do not provide evidence that previous achievement predicts metacognition or that metacognition predicts knowledge network structure. These results do not provide evidence that the demonstration of chemistry, physics, and math knowledge affects the analysis of knowledge in physical chemistry. In addition, there is no evidence that degree of knowledge analysis predicts conceptual understanding of physical chemistry concepts. Future studies with this physical chemistry learning model may benefit from modifications that include a larger sample, an alternative metacognition instrument, and variable rearrangement., Educational psychology, Chemistry, Statistics, Chemistry, metacognition, path analysis, Pathfinder networks, Physical Chemistry, Chemical Education, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Chemical Education. The Catholic University of America

: The Effects of Simulation and Case Study Methods of Instruction on Undergraduate Nursing Students' Knowledge and Attitudes on Palliative Care; Nurses educated in palliative care are needed to care for an aging United States population. This exploratory pre- and post-test control group experiment compared two enhanced interventions (lecture with case study, lecture with simulation) and one control-group intervention (lecture only) to determine impacts on undergraduate nursing students’ knowledge and attitudes about palliative care. Thirty-six (26%) out of 139 undergraduate nursing students in an urban university in the mid-Atlantic region participated. Subjects completed pre-intervention instruments, participated in the interventions, and then completed the post-intervention instruments. The three instruments were a subject information form (demographic information, non-academic palliative and end-of-life care experience), Palliative Care Quiz for Nurses (Ross, McDonald, & McGuinness, 1996) and Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (Frommelt, 1991). The lecture and case study intervention applied experiential learning by having subjects read a patient’s history and participate in an instructor-facilitated discussion about the patient’s palliative care needs. The lecture and simulation intervention, conducted in an authentic learning environment, asked subjects to provide palliative care to a simulated patient. While both knowledge and attitude scores increased in all interventions, no group was significantly higher in analyses of post-intervention data. Within groups, the lecture with case study intervention had a significant impact on knowledge in the pre- to post-comparison. The lecture only intervention produced significant differences between the pre- and post-scores on the psychosocial knowledge subcategory. The lecture only intervention had a significant impact on subjects’ attitudes in the pre to post comparison. The frequency of church attendance predicted philosophy and principles subcategory scores and was close to being a significant predictor of total knowledge scores. Experience providing palliative care in the clinical setting was a predictor for psychosocial scores. No demographic variables were predictors of attitude scores.Future research comparing case studies and simulation should incorporate authentic evaluation of clinical performance in addition to knowledge tests., Educational psychology, Nursing, Attitude, Authentic, Experiential, Knowledge, Palliative Care, Undergraduate Nursing Students, Education, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Education. The Catholic University of America

: Effects of Stimulus Characteristics and Mood on Attention Biases for Emotional Stimuli

: The Effects of Subjective Arousal, Valence, and Individual Differences on Affective Forecasting Accuracy; Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America, Affective forecasting literature has suggested that people anticipate positive events being more positive and negative events as more negative than actually experienced (Wilson and Gilbert, 2003) and these forecasting errors can lead to poor decision making (Gilbert & Ebert, 2002). The motivation theory of emotion (Lang, Bradley, and Cuthbert, 1992) asserts that affect is governed by appetitive and defensive activation which are described by two co-varying processes: arousal and valence. However, no study has examined how appetitive and defensive activation could be applied to understanding the accuracy of affective forecasting. In the present study we measured how rating arousal in addition to valence affected affective forecasting accuracy. We also examined the relationship between individual differences (dysphoria, neuroticism, and extraversion) and affective forecasting. Lastly, we investigated whether the error in affective forecasting lies in the forecast or the experience. Participants (N = 148), either forecasted their valence only (V-O group) or their arousal and valence (A-V group) for positive, neutral, and negative events. All participants then viewed a series of pictures pertaining to each emotional event. After viewing each set of pictures, participants immediately indicated their experienced valence (V-O) or their arousal and valence (A-V). Participants also indicated their valence (V-O) or arousal and valence (A-V) at the beginning and end of the study.An interaction was found between the V-O and A-V group and relative accuracy for positive and negative pictures. People who rated arousal underestimated how unpleasant the negative pictures would be compared to the V-O group. For positive pictures, the V-O group overestimated pleasantness compared to the A-V group. In other words, the A-V group estimated the valence as less extreme for both positive and negative material. Individual differences revealed that higher scores on dysphoria were inversely related to forecasted and experienced pleasantness of positive pictures. High scores on extraversion were positively correlated with forecasted pleasantness of positive pictures. Absolute error for positive pictures was found to be related to the experience and not the forecast. This implies that people forecasted positive pictures relatively the same, but showed differences at experience. The opposite was true for negative pictures. Here, people forecasted negative picture valence differently but were relatively uniform in their experience of negative pictures. This study was the first to attempt to understand how different motivational states, defensive and appetitive, can be applied to affective forecasting phenomena. Considering arousal when affective forecasting appears to improve accuracy for appetitive events, yet worsens accuracy for defensive events. These results suggest that arousal, valence, and individual differences are important contributors to affective forecasting accuracy.

: Effects of Visual Cues and Task Prioritization on Recovering from Multiple Interruptions; Interruptions negatively impact performance, and are typically perceived as a nuisance. However, interruptions are also unavoidable in many workplaces and can have a positive impact on optimizing workflow according to task importance. Existing studies typically examine the impact of a single interruption on performance. These studies do not address the impact of multiple interruptions on performance in a way that reflects the challenges of remembering to resume multiple incomplete tasks. The present study used a computer-based administrative task to replicate the findings of Meadors (2014), and to expand upon those findings by adding two new variables. To replicate Meadors (2014), participants completed one set of tasks with no interruptions, one set of tasks with one interruption, and one set of tasks with multiple interruptions. The present study also introduced two new conditions that required completion of one set of tasks with multiple interruptions and a visual cue, and one set of tasks with multiple interruptions where each task had a priority rating. Overall, participants were more likely to make errors when they were interrupted, with multiple interruptions resulting in an even higher rate of error. Unexpectedly, participants made the most errors with the presence of a visual cue. Participants also reported higher levels of perceived workload when they were interrupted; with multiple interruptions generating the highest perceived workload scores and the lowest self-perceived performance scores. In addition, when tasks had a priority rating, participants were more likely to return to high priority tasks first, but they reported increased perceived effort when tasks had priority ratings. These results support the findings of Meadors (2014), and illustrate the disruptive nature of interruptions on performance, with both studies also demonstrating that multiple interruptions are more disruptive to performance than a single interruption. The present study also provided support for how people perceive the demands of interruptions, with more interruptions associated with a higher perceived workload even though the total number of tasks that needed to be completed remained the same., Psychology, Attention, Cognitive Psychology, Human Factors, Human Performance, Interruptions, Memory, Psychology, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America

: Egyptian Ethnic Identity Development in Anti-Chalcedonian Coptic Literature; Egyptian Ethnic Identity Development in Anti-Chalcedonian Coptic LiteratureVince L. Bantu, Ph.D.Director: Janet Timbie, Ph.D.The rapid increase of rhetorical and thematic elements in Coptic literature emphasizing the land and people of Egypt during the centuries following the Council of Chalcedon (451 CE) was interpreted by many scholars in the early twentieth-century as a sign of Egyptian nationalism. Beginning in the late twentieth century the study of late antique Christianity has witnessed an almost complete rejection of this analysis. Yet, while offering valid objections to the nationalism thesis, contemporary scholarship has not provided a helpful framework with which to understand Egyptian-centered rhetoric in Coptic texts and its role in the overall formation of Egyptian Christian identity. This project pursues questions related to the presence of ethnic rhetoric in Coptic literature toward the goal of understanding the role of ethnicity in Egyptian Christian life and thought. In the fifth through seventh centuries, areas of focus include the value of nationalism as an analytical tool, the surge of ethnic rhetoric and its role in christological controversies, and the effect of the international aspect of Miaphysitism on the Egyptian community. The historical, hagiographical and homiletic literature under investigation are divided into the following three periods: the period immediately following Chalcedon (late fifth century), during the rule of Justinian and others (sixth century) and immediately following the Arab Conquest (early seventh century). Because nationalism has proven to be an inaccurate interpretive tool, the analysis of ethnic rhetoric in anti-Chalcedonian texts analyzes Egyptian identity from the perspective of ethnic identity development utilizing the anthropological methodology of Fredrik Barth. While the nationalism thesis has been rejected, no comprehensive analysis of ethnic rhetoric in anti-Chalcedonian literature has emerged. This project demonstrates the existence of a process of ethnic boundary maintenance in Egyptian Miaphysite literature after the Council of Chalcedon. At odds with the larger Byzantine Empire, Egyptian Miaphysites reestablished the boundaries of Egyptian identity primarily by the standard of anti-Chalcedonian theology. The Miaphysites of Egypt elevated their people as the guardians of orthodoxy to the extent that ethnic identity became a cause for division among fellow Miaphysites of different ethnic backgrounds., Degree awarded: Ph.D. Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures. The Catholic University of America

: El potencial político de la dimensión música-literatura en novelas latinoamericanas en torno a la Revolución Cubana; This dissertation is an examination of the representation of European classical music in Latin American novels whose production coincides with the first two decades of the Cuban Revolution and the consequential left-right ideological cleavage in the region. This study analyzes novels by three authors positioned ideologically in different spaces of the political spectrum: first, Tres tristes tigres (1967) and La Habana para un infante difunto (1979) by Guillermo Cabrera Infante, hypercritical of Fidel Castro’s regime; second, Rayuela (1963) and Libro de Manuel (1973) by Julio Cortázar, aesthetically committed to socialism; and, finally, Concierto barroco (1974) and La consagración de la primavera (1978) by Alejo Carpentier, lined with the revolutionary project. Using Herbert Marcuse and Jacques Rancière’s postulates on the political potential of art as a theoretical framework, this dissertation reveals how this transtextual relationship between music and literature is key to transforming these works into agents of political action in their own right. Throughout this exploration I will demonstrate that these six novels operate as roadmaps within the geography of the Revolution. Also, I will argue, first, that in Tres tristes tigres and Rayuela their authors denounce the insufficiency of Modernity from this epistemic system itself, proposing the insurrection of the linguistic sign as a revolutionary act; second, that Libro de Manuel and Concierto barroco act as moral codes that contest the paradigms established by the revolutionary regime, surpassing the concept of the “hombre nuevo”; and, finally, that La consagración de la primavera and La Habana para un infante difunto characterize the Revolution as the culmination of all revolutionary processes, revealing opposite views of the sublime., Literature, Latin American literature, Caribbean literature, Alejo Carpentier, Cuban Revolution, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Ideology, Julio Cortázar, Music, Spanish, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Spanish. The Catholic University of America