Digital Commons Network^™

Identification Of Specific Learning Disabilities: Georgia School Psychologists' Perceptions, Marie T. Underwood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An on-line survey was conducted to investigate the assessment practices and perceptions of 366 practicing school psychologist in the state of Georgia concerning various operational components, and the use of RTI when determining SLD eligibility. Results were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression to determine if psychologists’ perceptions could be predicted based on various explanatory variables. Results revealed that a little over half of the respondents preferred assessment of cognitive processing deficits evidenced through patterns of strengths and weaknesses for establishing SLD classification; while well over two-thirds continue to also value analysis of cognitive ability (IQ) scores. Psychologists’ assessment practices were …

An Examination Of Social Physique Anxiety Among College Students: A Mixed Methodological Approach, Sara M. Rothberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hart, Leary, and Rejeski (1989) defined the anxiety and/or fear associated with one’s physique being evaluated as Social Physique Anxiety (SPA). Since then, numerous studies have examined this psychological construct (Crawford & Eklund, 1994; Focht & Hausenblas, 2004; Russell & Cox, 2003). However, little research has been found examining this phenomenon within current college students. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the association between SPA, gender, and self-efficacy levels among college-aged students experiencing physical activity courses requiring exercise. A secondary purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine specific physique qualities among those with high and low …

The Relationship Between Financial Aid Type And Academic Success In A Public Two-Year College In Georgia, Donald D. Avery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between financial aid type and academic success in a public two-year institution in the state of Georgia. Financial assistance contributes significantly to higher education in the form of subsidy to the participants in higher education through student financial aid. Much of the research available on this topic is based on data provided by four-year institutions and research was not identified which investigates the aid type and potential relationship to academic success.

In an attempt to establish this relationship, the investigation considered grades earned in foundational coursework as …

Hidden From Memory: Remembrance And Commemoration Of The Sherwood Foresters’ Involvement In Easter, 1916, Amanda S. Kinchen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the level at which the Sherwood Foresters are commemorated for their service during the Easter Rising of 1916. The Sherwood Foresters, known officially as the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment, were created in 1881 in England after combining the 45^th (Nottinghamshire) and 95^th (Derbyshire) Regiments of Foot and had previously served as part of the guard to the royal family. Four battalions were sent to Dublin to quell the rebellion, yet their efforts go largely unnoticed in the annals of the history of World War I. These men are not considered …

A Federated Architecture For Heuristics Packet Filtering In Cloud Networks, Ibrahim M. Waziri Jr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rapid expansion in networking has provided tremendous opportunities to access an unparalleled amount of information. Everyone connects to a network to gain access and to share this information. However when someone connects to a public network, his private network and information becomes vulnerable to hackers and all kinds of security threats. Today, all networks needs to be secured, and one of the best security policies is firewall implementation.

Firewalls can be hardware or cloud based. Hardware based firewalls offer the advantage of faster response time, whereas cloud based firewalls are more flexible. In reality the best form of firewall …

Blood As A Binding Agent In Cormac Mccarthy's _The Crossing_, Erin M. Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing, one of the most important aspects of blood is the way it connects Billy Parham to his family and the world around him. Billy's actions are driven largely by his desire to maintain his moral code and his connections to nature and his maternal grandmother. His link to nature begins with an encounter with a wolf pack and continues with an attempt to return a she-wolf to her homeland. The connection to his grandmother provides him with the means to do so when he crosses the border from New Mexico into Mexico. Billy's ability …

An Interval Training Bout On Cognitive Performance In Healthy Adults, David Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive performance has been shown to improve with regular aerobic exercise training. Despite this, most Americans do not adhere to current exercise prescription guidelines. High intensity interval training (HIIT) has been suggested as a lower time commitment, more enjoyable alternative to regular aerobic exercise. Twenty nine apparently healthy college-aged adults were recruited and administered a high intensity interval training session with a pre- and 24 hours-post-exercise cognitive performance test. No changes were found in performance following the bout of high intensity interval training. No significant interactions were observed when comparing performance to gender, training age, training goal, or intra-exercise rating …

An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Teachers' Perceptions Of Principals' Instructional Leadership And Transformational Leadership Behaviors, Michael J. Finley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ instructional leadership behaviors and transformational leadership behaviors. In addition, the study examined the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ instructional leadership and a principals’ level of degree and principals’ teaching area background. This quantitative study was driven by two teacher questionnaires: the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). The subscales examined in the PIRMS include framing the school goals, communicating the school goals, supervising and evaluating instruction, coordinating the curriculum, monitoring student progress, protecting instructional time, …

Does The Preparticipation Examination Aid In Identifying Future Risk Of Concussion?, Kassandra E. Johns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Context: A pre-participation examination (PPE) has become standard practice among the athletic community. This examination commonly includes a multifaceted baseline concussion assessment and an injury history survey. Recent evidence suggests that neuropsychological testing can aid in predicting individuals at an increased risk of lower extremity injury. However, no known previous study has investigated the relationship between neuropsychological function and potential risk of sustaining a concussion.

Objective: This study sought to identify a relationship between components of a standard PPE and an elevated risk of concussion.

Design: All data was extracted from the institution concussion database.

Setting: A large university in …

Water And Nutrient Reuse Within Closed Hydroponic Systems, Emerson Christie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Currently, little research exists on the maintenance of individual nutrient balance within the nutrient solutions of closed hydroponic systems and how this maintenance may result in reductions in water and nutrient consumption. In this study, a nutrient solution management procedure was developed to maintain outputs while minimizing inputs. Lactuca sativa (lettuce) crops were grown in six closed hydroponic systems utilizing the nutrient film technique. Electrical conductivity was used as the primary indicator of nutrient solution quality and determined if the nutrient solution was discarded and replaced (control systems) or restored (test systems). Restorations in test systems were made individually to …

Afraid To Be A Nerd: Effects Of Nerd Stereotypes On Women’S Math Performance, Jennifer Chau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to examine whether nerd stigma affects math performance. Specifically, it was hypothesized that women exposed to the nerd stigma would perform worse on a mathematics test than women not exposed to the nerd stigma. The current study also aimed to compare the effects of the nerd stigma on women’s math performance with the effects of gender stereotype threat. Gender identity, nerd identity, and fear of social exclusion were examined as possible mediating and moderating variables. Results did not support that nerd stigma affected math performance in either men or women, thus mediational analyses were …

Sessile Invertebrate Colonization On Rocky Outcrops At Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, Brittany Poirson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Documenting patterns of sessile invertebrate community development is important for predicting recovery patterns after disturbance and designing effective marine reserves. In the South Atlantic Bight, invertebrate assemblages can differ significantly from one rocky outcrop to another, but the factors driving these differences are not well understood. I tracked community development for fourteen months at four rocky outcrops at Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) to address the predictions that (i) developing sessile invertebrate communities in this system do not exhibit a predictable pattern of succession and (ii) recolonization patterns for small patches of open space that become available are influenced …

Adaptive State Feedback Control Of Lorenz Systems To Its Non-Trivial Equilibrium, Anh V. Tran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The complex Lorenz system is a simplified nonlinear dynamical system, which is derived from the Navier-Stokes equations that govern a closed thermal convection loop. The Lorenz system is chaotic for large Rayleigh number. In this chaotic regime, we implement a linear state feedback controller to stabilize the state trajectory at its original nontrivial equilibrium. The state variable for feedback is easily measurable. The system is proved to be globally asymptotically stable with a optimal feedback gain. The stability bound is improved over the previous result. We also established globally stability of the adaptively control system, where the system parameters are …

Transition From Brick And Mortar To Online Teaching: Middle-Grade Teachers' Perspectives, Cathy Griffin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate and understand how middle-grades teachers describe the transition from brick and mortar to online teaching of middle-grades students. A qualitative, descriptive case study design provided the framework for this study. An investigation into the lived experiences of a group of online middle-grades instructors making the transition from a traditional classroom setting to an online environment was conducted using interviews and online journaling.

The questions guiding this study were (a) How does a middle-grade teacher describe the transition from brick and mortar to online teaching of middle-grades learners? (b) What do middle-school teachers …

Temporal Patterns Of Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Communities And Organic Matter Standing Stock Availability In A Coastal Floodplain (Altamaha River, Georgia), Erica L. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

River floodplain habitats of the Southeastern United States are sites of high biological productivity that rely on a predictable flooding event as a keystone process. This study took place in a river-floodplain area of the Altamaha River, an unimpounded large-order river in the Coastal Plains region of the US. This study aims to investigate how aquatic macroinvertebrate communities changed over the course of the annual flood pulse. I predicted that the communities would be different and that the differences would be driven by hydrology at the main stem and organic matter standing stock availability. I took quantitative samples of benthic …

Is Anchoring On Estimates Of Severity An Adaptive Heuristic?, Joy E. Losee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Decisions to either to prepare or not prepare for weather threats involve uncertainty. Uncertainty in decision making often involves the potential for making either a false positive (preparing for a storm that never arrives) or a false negative error (not preparing for a real storm). Error Management Theory (EMT; Haselton & Buss, 2000) posits that, depending on the uncertain context, people select a decision-making strategy that favors one error over the other. Related to weather, research has shown that people prefer a false positive, or an overestimation (Joslyn et al., 2011). Particularly, this overestimation appears when people receive severe information …

Landing Technique Assessment Utilizing Laboratory-Based Landing And Simulated Basketball Landing Tasks, Hiromi Kowata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Context: The Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) is a two-dimensional landing technique assessment tool that is readily available to clinicians. However, the LESS merely assesses a contrived landing, rather than dynamic, complex movements that may occur during actual athletic performance. Objective: To compare the LESS scores and knee joint kinematics between the LESS vertical-drop jump (DVJ), and two simulated basketball landing performances, jump-stop jump shot (JS) and rebounding (RB). Design: Prospective, cross-sectional study. Setting: An intramural basketball court. Participants: Twenty-five female recreational basketball players (Age: 20.96±1.70, Height (cm): 166.07 ± 9.10, Weight (kg): 68.54 ±12.17). Intervention(s) …

Islamist And Secularist Women In Egyptian Politics: Convergence Or Divergence?, Ahmed Bekhet Mr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Islam oppresses women and has many restrictions on women’s participation in politics. Women have fewer rights under the Islamic Shari‘a (law). Is this true or not? Does Islam really exclude women from political participation? Are Islamists, who have their political agenda, supporting or oppressing women? Are Islamist feminists, who are a contemporary phenomenon especially in the Middle East, politically active or inactive? Are liberal or secular women in Egypt more democratic than Islamist women or the opposite? Such questions will be addressed in the following research with emphasis on examining the role of women in Egyptian politics during Ikwhan’s - …

Kids Playing For Keeps: A Feasibility Study Of Coronary Heart Disease Intervention In A Rural African American Community, Carla Allen Noah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of Coronary heart disease (CHD) and the associated modifiable risk factors, combined with the known health disparities that exist in the African American (AA) community, increases the significance of prevention exponentially. Theories involving genetic and environmental factors and their interaction are gaining popularity as relevant influences on both modifiable and fixed risk factors for CHD. Innovative and targeted strategies of health promotion and preventative measures are needed to combat the growing trend of modifiable risk factors for heart disease within the southern rural AA population. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness …

Match-To-Sample Stroop Task: A Systematic Manipulation Of Sample And Response Option Onset, Marshall Lee Green

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Stroop task, in which participants identify the font color of a word which names an incongruent color, has long been used to investigate attentional processes; however, there is still debate concerning the source of the effects produced by the task. The semantic competition hypothesis posits that interference results from competing semantic processes associated with the word and color dimensions of the stimulus prior to response selection. The response competition hypothesis posits that interference results from competing responses for articulating the word versus the color dimension at the time of response execution. Sturz, Green, Locker, and Boyer (2013) designed …

Exponentially Weighted Moving Average Charts For Monitoring The Process Generalized Variance, Anna Khamitova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The exponentially weighted moving average chart based on the sample generalized variance is studied under the independent multivariate normal model for the vector of quality measurements. The performance of the chart is based on an analysis of the chart's initial and steady-state run length distributions. The three methods that are commonly used to determinate run length distribution, simulation, the integral equation method, and the Markov chain approximation are discussed. The integral equation and Markov chain approaches are analytical methods that require a nu- merical method for determining the probability density and cumulative distribution functions describing the distribution of the sample …

Epistasis In Predator-Prey Relationships, Iuliia Inozemtseva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Epistasis is the interaction between two or more genes to control a single phenotype. We model epistasis of the prey in a two-locus two-allele problem in a basic predator- prey relationship. The resulting model allows us to examine both population sizes as well as genotypic and phenotypic frequencies. In the context of several numerical examples, we show that if epistasis results in an undesirable or desirable phenotype in the prey by making the particular genotype more or less susceptible to the predator or dangerous to the predator, elimination of undesirable phenotypes and then genotypes occurs.

Generalized Weibull And Inverse Weibull Distributions With Applications, Valeriia Sherina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, new classes of Weibull and inverse Weibull distributions including the generalized new modified Weibull (GNMW), gamma-generalized inverse Weibull (GGIW), the weighted proportional inverse Weibull (WPIW) and inverse new modified Weibull (INMW) distributions are introduced. The GNMW contains several sub-models including the new modified Weibull (NMW), generalized modified Weibull (GMW), modified Weibull (MW), Weibull (W) and exponential (E) distributions, just to mention a few. The class of WPIW distributions contains several models such as: length-biased, hazard and reverse hazard proportional inverse Weibull, proportional inverse Weibull, inverse Weibull, inverse exponential, inverse Rayleigh, and Frechet distributions as special cases. Included …

Aspects Of The Self And Psychological Outcomes, Neil P. Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Depression ranks among the top health concerns on college campuses and impairs students’ functioning across numerous domains including academic, social, and personal areas, and there is still an urgent need for a model that can provide comprehensive understanding of the development and treatment of depression. The Internal Family Systems (IFS) model is introduced to bridge this gap. The current study aimed to make contributions to mental health literature by advancing our understanding of IFS theory (specifically, the concept of Self) in predicting depression, providing a framework for promoting a non-pathological model of depression, and adding to the body of empirical …

Comparing Hyperhydration Ability Between A Glycerol Solution And A Sodium Solution On Dehydration And Performance In Runners, Stephanie L. Marz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how inducing hyperhydration with a glycerol solution and a sodium solution prior to exercise influenced performance and hydration status during a moderate set-intensity exercise bout followed by a time-to-exhaustion bout when compared to a control solution containing water only. Six well-trained runners ages 21 to 38 with an average relative VO₂ peak of 57 ml/kg/min participated in three trials. Each trial included a 2.5 hour hyperhydration phase where participants ingested a solution containing water, glycerol, or sodium. Following hyperhydration, participants ran for 90 minutes at 65% of their HRR followed by …

Consumers' Perceptions Towards Sustainability: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, Mertcan Tascioglu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sustainability has become a subject of increasing concern to academics and practitioners in recent years. Increasing consumer demand for socially responsible products encouraged supply chains to put increasing emphasis on sustainability. In adapting sustainability practices consumers play a very important role for supply chains. Thus this dissertation examines consumers’ perceptions towards sustainability practices. Although most previous research has examined environmental sustainability practices, the social dimension of sustainability has received little attention. This dissertation attempts to explore both environmental and social sustainability and their effects on consumer perceptions in different cultural contexts and price levels. Two scenario based experiments are utilized. …

Adult Attachment And Emotion Identification: A Cognitive Evaluation, Jennifer F. Barron

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Whether adult or infant, attachment bonds aid in the development of beliefs about oneself and others (Collins & Read, 1990; Hazen & Shaver, 1987). Additionally, attachment seems to play a vital role in human development, communication, emotion recognition and comprehension, and the development of appropriate mental representations of emotional experiences (Denham et al., 2002; Greg & Howe, 2001; Raikes & Thompson, 2006). Because attachment is considered a somewhat stable trait, it seems logical that the importance of emotional experiences would not be limited to childhood, and would be important in establishing and maintaining healthy adult relationships (Kerr, Melley, Travea, & …

Assessing Sports Nutrition Knowledge Of Adolescent Atheltes And Their Parents: An Intervention Approach, Meredith F. Hawk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a sports nutrition intervention on nutrition knowledge and dietary choices among adolescent female soccer players and their parents. Participants from this study were year-round, travelling soccer team members recruited from the Augusta Arsenal Soccer Club in addition to one parent of the minor (n=38). Adolescent athlete participants in the study completed a demographic survey including information on their age, school grade, position typically played, years in sport, whether or not they participated in any other sports, and if they had ever taken a nutrition class. In addition, a parent …

Generating Surfaces Of Variable Eccentricity Within A Ray Tracer, Joshua A. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Polynomial surfaces used in ray tracing have recently been improved upon allowing for three dimensional applications. Among these are surfaces that have a varying eccentricity. This paper will discuss a method for finding real roots of polynomials [allowing us to create these surfaces]. First, we will give the reader a basic comprehension of the workings of a ray tracer, a general understanding of three dimensional polynomial surfaces, how this newly implemented root finder functions, and how these concepts enable us to create surfaces of variable eccentricity. Then, examples will be provided to demonstrate the capabilities of the program.

Precise Partitions Of Large Graphs, Pouria Salehi Nowbandegani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

First by using an easy application of the Regularity Lemma, we extend some known results about cycles of many lengths to include a specified edge on the cycles. The results in this chapter will help us in rest of this thesis. In 2000, Enomoto and Ota posed a conjecture on the existence of path decomposition of graphs with fixed start vertices and fixed lengths. We prove this conjecture when |G| is large. Our proof uses the Regularity Lemma along with several extremal lemmas, concluding with an absorbing argument to retrieve misbehaving vertices. Furthermore, sharp minimum degree and degree sum conditions …