From Scriptures to Stereotypes: Arab Americans Writing Self

Most research in Arab American studies has only focused on post-9/11 fiction, especially novels written by women. This dissertation aims to contribute to this underexplored field by focusing on an understudied genre within a broader historical framework spanning from 1914 to 2007. My dissertation features four chapters, each devoted to a text published in a specific historical period and organized in chronological order. Through this sequential approach, I seek to provide a comprehensive examination of the evolution of Arab American self-representation over the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The first chapter examines the first autobiography written by an American of Arab descent, Abraham Rihbany’s A Far Journey, published in 1914. The second chapter analyzes an autobiography published in the mid-twentieth century by an American from Greater Syria, Salom Rizk’s Syrian Yankee, published in 1943. The third chapter studies a late-twentieth-century memoir written by an Egyptian American, Leila Ahmed’s A Border Passage, published in 1999. Lastly, the fourth chapter examines a graphic novel written in the twenty-first century by a Lebanese American, Toufic El Rassi’s Arab in America, published in 2007. This dissertation aims to situate Arab American authors’ sense of selfhood in a temporal and spatial context. My consideration of four life writings from 1914 to 2007 reveals that depicting the self relies on the prevailing discourses surrounding the authors. Hence, although all four authors write themselves vis-à-vis orientalist rhetoric, each book demonstrates a different engagement that reflects both the author’s positionality and their American circles’ views of their places of origin. This transnational aspect of self-perception is complicated by the history of Arab American racialization in the U.S. and by the development of U.S. imperial interests in the Arab world. Overall, this analysis underscores these authors’ intricate engagement with orientalist rhetoric as reflected in their portrayal of selfhood. The extensive historical framework of this project enables me to examine the historical, social, and political context that shaped these authors’ perceptions of themselves, their homelands, and their adopted land. Through this analysis, I underscore the transnational aspects of the experiences of writing self in the U.S

A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF UWM STUDENTS’ AWARENESS, SATISFACTION, AND TRUST IN CAMPUS SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS

The Clery Act mandates that U.S. colleges and universities receiving federal funding maintain transparency for campus safety through crime reporting and communication strategies. Previous empirical studies on campus safety explored topics such as the Clery Act’s impact on campus safety and advocates’ views, the dynamics of emergency notifications, and students’ overall feelings of security and safety concerns. None of these studies tested students’ awareness, satisfaction, and trust in campus safety communications. educational environments. This study focuses on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), examining students’ awareness, satisfaction, and trust in campus safety communications. Through an online survey and statistical analysis (one-sample test), this research aims to (1) ascertain whether the average level of awareness among UWM students regarding campus safety communications differs significantly from the presumed average awareness level of 3, (2) ascertain whether the average level of satisfaction among UWM students regarding campus safety communications differs significantly from the presumed average satisfaction level of 3, (3) ascertain whether the average level of trust among UWM students in the credibility of campus safety communications differs significantly from the presumed average trust level of 3, addressing gaps in existing literature and informing future campus safety policies and practices. Findings serve to better our understanding of campus safety communication and promote future research in the field

AUTHIGENIC MINERALS IN VOLCANICLASTICS FROM AN EASTERN AFRICAN PALEOLAKE: A PROXY FOR PALEOENVIRONMENT

Olduvai Gorge exposes the stratigraphy of Paleolake Olduvai, an often saline-alkaline rift lake that records volcanism from the Ngorongoro Volcanic Highlands. In 2014, cores retrieved from the study area revealed new stratigraphy, including the lacustrine Naibor Soit Formation (Fm) and the volcaniclastic Ngorongoro Fm. In the Ngorongoro Fm part of the cores, mineralogy and geochemistry are the best paleoenvironmental proxies, since under saline-alkaline conditions, volcanic glass alters into specific authigenic minerals (e.g., zeolite, feldspar). This study employs X-Ray Diffraction, X-Ray Fluorescence, and Scanning Electron Microscopy to analyze authigenic mineralogy and geochemistry. The lower Ngorongoro Fm experienced the most alteration, with less preserved glass and more zeolites. The Upper Ngorongoro Fm experienced less alteration, preserving more glass and less zeolites. The uppermost units contained abundant glass and no alteration minerals, indicating very fresh conditions. Overall, there is a large-scale freshening trend throughout the duration of the Ngorongoro Fm

EXAMINING LUNG CANCER DISPARITIES AND RISK FACTORS IN WISCONSIN, USA (2016-2020)

Studies over the United States has shown that disparity still exists in lung cancer mortality. Such disparity has been attributed to several risk factors such as genetics, socio-economic status, comorbidities, amongst others. This study investigates the spatial variations in lung cancer mortality rates in Wisconsin, USA, through analyzing county-level data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER). Emphasis is placed on exploring the relationship between access to lung cancer services, socio-economic factors, and lung cancer mortality rate, utilizing American Community Survey and County ranking data. Scan Statistics (SaTScan) was used to identify mortality clusters, while regression analysis was employed to assess relationships between socio-economic factors and lung cancer mortality rate. The results reveal potential spatial patterns, indicating disparities and risks, with high relative risk cluster predominant in the Northern counties. In addition, poverty and smoking remain the major socio-economic factors contributing to lung cancer disparities in the state. Lastly, the result of the study also suggests that there is disparity in access to lung cancer screening sites in counties across Wisconsin, with southeastern part of Wisconsin having more access than other regions

Examining Nurses Sexually Harassed by Patients: Three Studies of Contrapower Harassment

Workplace sexual harassment is stressful and far too common in organizations. A particular challenge of organizations is to protect their employees from contrapower harassment, or rather, harassment from a person who has less organizational power than the target (Cleveland & Kerst, 1993), such as nurses who are harassed by their patients. The nurse-patient relationship requires nurses to provide care for patients no matter how nurses are treated. Thus, nurses face one of the most unique and stressful forms of harassment. Accordingly, this dissertation examines how nurses are impacted by patient-perpetuated sexual harassment and the role of compassion and social support in alleviating negative outcomes. Conservation of resources theory explains that social support is a valuable resource for harassment targets, while compassion theory explains how work teams use empathic concern and appraisal processes to identify targets, and subsequently provide social support. Together, with the model of consequences of workplace sexual harassment (Fitzgerald, et al., 1997), these theories find that social support alleviates the negative outcomes of sexual harassment. Thus, this dissertation uses these theories to test compassion and social support behaviors in a patient-perpetuated harassment context. Three studies outline the dissertation. Chapter 2, a systematic literature review, identifies the frequency of patient-perpetuated harassment and research testing the model of consequences of workplace sexual harassment within the nurse-patient context. It also describes the organizational and legal protections available to nurses, as well as potential proactive and reactive solutions. Chapter 3 examines the appraisal process of bystanders to identify a case between a nurse and a patient as sexual harassment by manipulating empathic concern and the inhibition of the patient via an experimental design. This study finds that bystanders are more likely to appraise a patient’s inappropriate behaviors towards their nurse as sexual harassment when the patient is aware of their actions, and when the bystander feels more empathic concern. In both instances, bystanders are more likely to provide help to the nurse. The final dissertation study in Chapter 4 uses the critical incident method to examine how nurses have used coworker social support to contend with patient-perpetuated sexual harassment. This study finds that targets of patient-perpetuated harassment experienced negative effects to their job, psychological, and physical health. Targets were more likely to receive instrumental and informational support for patient-perpetuated harassment when they work in highly compassionate teams. In turn, received social support alleviated targets from the harshest effects of patient-perpetuated harassment. This dissertation contributes to research and practice in three ways. First, the dissertation applies management theory to generate change for healthcare practitioners who face a problem that is rarely addressed by management researchers. Second, through an experimental study, the dissertation contributes to sexual harassment research by examining how empathic concern and ethics interact to prompt bystanders’ compassion processes and helping decisions. Finally, the critical incident study examines how team and organization-level factors can be managed to cultivate necessary support for employees with contrapower harassment experiences. Recommendations for practitioners and future research are made

UTILIZING ARMA MODELS FOR NON-INDEPENDENT REPLICATIONS OF POINT PROCESSES

The use of a functional principal component analysis (FPCA) approach for estimatingintensity functions from prior work allows us to obtain component scores of replicated point processes under the assumption of independent replications. We show these component scores can be modeled using classical autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models, thus allowing us to also apply the FPCA model to non-independent replications. The Divvy bike-sharing system in the city of Chicago is showcased as an application

Description and Critical Evaluation of Models of Psychology Practice in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

During and after hospitalization in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), a significant proportion of patients and their family members experience clinical levels of distress (i.e., traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression). Pediatric psychologists are well-suited to support families during hospitalization and are increasingly present in PICUs. Models of psychology practice have been explored in other pediatric settings, but a comprehensive assessment of models of psychology practice in the PICU has not been conducted. The present study aimed to evaluate current models of psychology practice in PICUs and explore psychologists’ perceptions of the ideal model of care for PICU families. Fourteen participants (13 psychologists, 1 psychology intern; 100% White, 93% female) with recent PICU experience and representing 13 institutions completed a survey and participated in one of five focus groups regarding their institution’s current model of psychology practice and recommendations for the ideal model. The most common institutional model of psychology practice was a hybrid model involving both service-specific psychologists (i.e., psychologists dedicated to a specific pediatric population who see their patients when they are in the PICU) as well as consultation-liaison psychologists (i.e., psychologists who serve multiple inpatient units and are referred to cases in the PICU). Psychologists embedded in the PICU were less common. Participants described that having dedicated PICU time would be ideal and offer several benefits (e.g., improved identification of patients and families). These findings contribute to better understanding of current models of psychology practice and offer preliminary suggestions for an improved model that requires further investigation. Advocacy strategies such as collecting and utilizing outcomes data, sharing information about the role of psychology, establishing standards of care, fostering relationships, and being present in the PICU will support the recommended improvements

COARSE HOMOTOPY EXTENSION PROPERTY AND ITS APPLICATIONS

A pair (X, A) has the homotopy extension property if any homotopy of A the extends overX × {0} can be extended to a homotopy of X. The main goal of this dissertation is to define a coarse analog of the homotopy extension property for coarse homotopies and prove coarse versions of results from algebraic topology involving this property. First, we define a notion of a coarse adjunction metric for constructing coarse adjunction spaces. We use this to redefine coarse CW complexes and to construct a coarse version of the mapping cylinder. We then prove various pairs of spaces have the coarse homotopy extension property. In particular, pairs of coarse CW complexes. We then prove results involving the coarse homotopy extension property, leading to the result that a coarse map f : X → Y is a coarse homotopy equivalence if and only if the coarse mapping cylinder coarse deformation retracts onto its copy of X. We use this to prove our main result, a coarse version of Whitehead’s Theorem: If a cellular coarse map f between coarse CW complexes induces isomorphisms between coarse homotopy groups, then f is a coarse homotopy equivalence

EXAMINATION OF CHEMICAL VARIATIONS IN FOSSIL RESIN WITH TWO-PHOTON EXCITATION FLUORESCENCE AND PALEOBOTANICAL INVENTORY REPORTS ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE UNITS

Fossil resin can be difficult to chemically characterize due to its complex chemistry which can be complicated by a unique chemistry for each fossil resin sample. Using two-photon excitation fluorescence micro-spectroscopy, we measured the wavelengths at peak emission intensity: we compared these fluorescence results to FTIR spectra. There are variations in fluorescence which indicate differences in botanic origin. This method may be used in future research to better understand botanic origin when more traditional analyses fail.There has been a need for a comprehensive paleobotanical inventory report for NPS units. Four teams consisting of graduate students and mentors are completing the reports. There will be reports based on paleobotanical resources found in different eras within NPS units. With the paleobotanical inventory reports, we can better demonstrate the significance of paleoflora at NPS units as well as the management issues which may impact the preservation and research of these plant fossils

COMPARISON OF PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED RISK FACTORS IN PREDICTING PTSD SYMPTOM SEVERITY IN THE FIRST SIX MONTHS POST-TRAUMA

This study aims to improve our understanding of the predictive value of previously identified risk factors for the severity of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms after a traumatic event. We recruited 178 participants from an Emergency Department and assessed four constructs previously associated with PTSD in the first few weeks after trauma and their relationship to PTSD symptom severity at six-month follow-up. Using structural equation modeling we examined four latent variables as predictors of PTSD symptom severity, cognitive attributions, trauma history, emotion response and regulation, and socioeconomic factors, along with two mediators, sleep quality and self-perceived pain. Our findings indicate that cognitive attributions soon after trauma and a history of trauma are closely linked to the severity of PTSD symptoms six months later. Sleep quality and self-perceived pain partially mediated the relationship between cognitive attributions and PTSD symptom severity, highlighting their significant roles in the progression of PTSD. The study also revealed that emotion responding and regulation, measured shortly after trauma, indirectly influenced PTSD symptom severity at six months through their impact on sleep quality, underscoring the critical role of emotional processes in the trajectory of PTSD development. In addition to providing valuable insights into the mechanisms driving PTSD symptomatology, this research also provides important insights into the development of targeted interventions aimed at mitigating the long-term psychological effects of trauma. Key words: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), structural equation modeling, cognitive attributions, trauma history, emotion response and regulation, socioeconomic factors, sleep, pai