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Poetically Composed, Educationally Imposed: Exploring Imagination And Poetics In Curriculum—A Memoir, Whitney J. Presnal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through the use of memoir, my work centers on how poetry is situated within public education curriculum. I explore the curricular context of poetry through the lenses of my lived experiences in early childhood, as a K-12 student, and as an early career classroom teacher. My dissertation draws upon a wide array of literature, honing in on the poetic perspectives of philosophers (Aristotle, 1996; Heidegger, 1947 & 1971/2013; Plato, 1955/2007), poets (Hall, 2003; Eliot, 1920 & 2009), and curriculum theorists (Leggo, 1997 & 2018; Pinar, 1994; Sameshima, 2007). The foundation of my work is drawn from my own circular experiences, …

Variable Selection In Accelerated Failure Time (Aft) Frailty Models: An Application Of Penalized Quasi-Likelihood, Sarbesh R. Pandeya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Variable selection is one of the standard ways of selecting models in large scale datasets. It has applications in many fields of research study, especially in large multi-center clinical trials. One of the prominent methods in variable selection is the penalized likelihood, which is both consistent and efficient. However, the penalized selection is significantly challenging under the influence of random (frailty) covariates. It is even more complicated when there is involvement of censoring as it may not have a closed-form solution for the marginal log-likelihood. Therefore, we applied the penalized quasi-likelihood (PQL) approach that approximates the solution for such a …

Investigating The Interaction Between Memory Recall Content And Savoring Interventions On Openness, Caroline V. Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Openness is generally characterized by a stark curiosity for novel experiences and the ability to flexibly shift one’s attention and thinking processes to appreciate differing perspectives. Research suggests openness is a personal resource in terms of helping individuals effectively regulate emotions, cope with stress, and socialize with diverse populations. However, it is unknown what interventions specifically lead to an increase in openness. Positive affect appears to be associated with openness, yet the mechanisms by which positive affect promotes openness remain unclear. It is possible savoring, the ability to maintain and extend positive affect, may play an important role in clarifying …

"Solace For [The] Very Soul": The Role Of Trees Within The American Short-Story Cycle, Breanna B. Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the last couple of centuries, the American short-story genre became characterized by its observations of life and human nature—specifically by using scenes of nature to highlight characters’ development and the underlying theme. While much critical attention has been given to the role of nature in the American short-story cycle, very little consideration has been given to the purpose of trees and their specific breeds within the genre. This project focuses on three distinct pedagogical approaches to analyzing trees in three short-story cycles. Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of the rhizome and Freud’s theory of dream-thoughts are applied to Mary Wilkins …

Effects Of Mental Health Programs On School Violence, Lillian R. Gray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bullying, defined as any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated, is becoming an epidemic in our schools, with rates of victimization rising (Donegan, 2012). This thesis examines mental health programs already established within schools, as well as schools where students do not have access to mental health resources and compares the amount of violence that is perpetrated within these schools. Next, this study explores the relationship between bullying …

Data Patterns Discovery Using Unsupervised Learning, Rachel A. Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Self-care activities classification poses significant challenges in identifying children’s unique functional abilities and needs within the exceptional children healthcare system. The accuracy of diagnosing a child's self-care problem, such as toileting or dressing, is highly influenced by an occupational therapists’ experience and time constraints. Thus, there is a need for objective means to detect and predict in advance the self-care problems of children with physical and motor disabilities. We use clustering to discover interesting information from self-care problems, perform automatic classification of binary data, and discover outliers. The advantages are twofold: the advancement of knowledge on identifying self-care problems in …

Emotional Intelligence Instruction For Millennials In Undergraduate Education, Jason M. Pollett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the improvement, if any, of emotional intelligence scores of students who participated in and completed the specified professional development seminar. In addition, this study aimed to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence subscales of students enrolled in a professional development seminar that focuses on enhancing the emotional intelligence. The research design for this study was an ex post facto, quasi-experimental correlational quantitative research design. Data from the 371 students who enrolled in the Professional Development Seminar course during academic years 2015-2017 served as the sample for this study.

This study focused on …

Differences In Lower Body Strength, Power Between Genders, Shonterious D. Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Athletic individuals have many characteristics, which make them more elite than the average individual. When determining an individual’s physical fitness level, strength, power, and agility are commonly examined. When measuring strength, power, and agility in elite athletes the scores are compared to some portion of body composition such as muscle cross-sectional area and fat-free mass. When looking at the same factors in recreationally trained individuals the research mostly normalized to body weight. PURPOSE: To examine the differences in lower body strength, power, and agility in male and female recreationally trained individuals when normalized to body mass, fat-free mass, and …

An Examination Of The Effects Of Guided Imagery Theme On Stress And Mood Following An Ego-Depletion Task, Thomas H. Hutchison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People experience stress on a daily basis. If not properly managed, stress can lead to disturbances in cognitive functioning, mood-related problems, obesity, and heart disease. Guided imagery has been shown to be an effective technique to help people recover from stress. The literature on guided imagery, however, does not take the theme of the guided imagery script into account. Additionally, there are gaps in the research regarding any interaction between rurality and mood, stress, and guided imagery. A repeated measures MANOVA was conducted to test the main aim of this study; that is, to determine if theme of guided imagery …

Homological Constructions Over A Ring Of Characteristic 2, Michael S. Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We study various homological constructions over a ring $R$ of characteristic $2$. We construct chain complexes over a field $K$ of characteristic $2$ using polynomials rings and partial derivatives. We also provide a link from the homology of these chain complexes to the simplicial homology of simplicial complexes. We end by showing how to construct all finitely-generated commutative differential graded $R$-algebras using polynomial rings and partial derivatives.

Impact Of Seasonal And Host-Related Factors On The Intestinal Microbiome And Cestode Community Of Sorex Cinereus And Sorex Monticola, Katelyn D. Cranmer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intestinal microbiome of mammals plays a significant role in host health and response to environmental stimuli and can include both beneficial native bacteria as well as parasitic worms. In this study, I examined the intestinal cestode and bacterial communities of two closely related species of shrew, Sorex monticola and Sorex cinereus, over a six month period in 2016. Specimens were collected approximately every three weeks from May to October from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Cowles, New Mexico. A total of 79 shrews were prepared with the gastrointestinal tracts removed and flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen. An additional …

Moderating Effects Of Posttraumatic Growth On Suicidal Ideation After Combat Exposure, Matthew A. Strader

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The suicide rate in the United States has risen since 1999 (Curtin, Warner, & Hedegaard, 2016). This increase may be a distinct problem for military service members who may have an additional risk through combat exposure (Bryan et al., 2015). There is a need to identify protective factors for suicide broadly and specifically for military service members and veterans. There is emerging evidence that posttraumatic growth may be a protective factor for suicide ideation possibly buffering the effects of combat exposure on suicide ideation (Bush, Skopp, McCann, & Luxton, 2011). The current study was designed to further examine the relationship …

The Effects Of Mood On Empathy, Openness To Diversity, Attitudes, And Willingness To Help Marginalized Groups, Angela J. Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Members of marginalized groups such as lesbian women and gay men are often at an increased risk of threat or harm compared to their heterosexual counterparts. They may experience prejudice in the form of discrimination and stigma related behaviors. Due to the stigma lesbian women and gay men face throughout various stages of their lives, it is important to examine and discover which factors increase more acceptance and empathy. Additionally, it is important to examine ways to increase positive regard and reduce discrimination in order to promote psychological and overall wellbeing for lesbians and gay men. Given what we know …

Examining The Effects Of Energy Drinks On Academic Performance, Alyssa P. Roberson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reports of energy drink (ED) consumption have grown among the United States population. Research suggests reasons for consumption vary across populations, including increased attention and enhanced endurance performance. However, ED consumers could suffer from negative effects of ED, including health problems, caffeine overdose, and death. Energy drink consumption is also linked to substance use. Despite risks of consuming ED, heavy use of EDs remains among college students, often to help with academic performance; however, research has not examined effects of ED consumption on perceived and actual academic performance. This study evaluated relationships among ED consumption, self-efficacy, and academic performance in …

Let Me Upgrade You: Common Measures In Public Health Accreditation Action Plans, Gurleen K. Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to understand the success rates for health departments pursuing and achieving accreditation in version 1.0 and 1.5 of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) standards and measures. During the accreditation process, health departments that present performance gaps are asked to complete an Action Plan to specify how they plan to improve to meet the desired conformity. This study will highlight specific measures that are often included in Action Plans so that health departments pursuing accreditation can be better prepared to address these common pitfalls.

Methods: This study is a non-experimental, secondary …

Coaches' Impact On Youth Athletes' Intentions To Continue Sport Participation: The Mediational Influence Of The Coach-Athlete Relationship, Meredith M. Wekesser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 60 million youth participate in sports each year, however about 70% of these youth athletes drop out of sport by age 13 despite the numerous positive benefits of sport participation (National Alliance for Youth Sports, 2016; National Council for Youth Sports, 2008). Self-determination theory is a framework that has been utilized to investigate athletes’ motivations for behaviors including sport persistence and suggests that the coach can be an influence on such motivations (Rocchi, Pelletier, & Desmarais, 2017; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Coach-athlete relationship quality and interpersonal coaching behaviors that emphasize the satisfaction of basic needs have been found to …

Inferring Food Web Structure To Identify Seasonal And Longitudinal Patterns In Ogeechee River Invertebrate Communities, Julien Marc Buchbinder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding how the structure and function of aquatic communities vary across space and time is essential for proper management of freshwater ecosystems. Current management relies on rapid biomonitoring using metrics of community structure, but metrics that incorporate ecosystem processes and functions are only just beginning to see use in assessment and management. Food webs inferred from known species interactions have been proposed as a method of incorporating function into bioassessment without expending extra effort or sacrificing the cost-effectiveness of current monitoring schemes. To apply food webs in biomonitoring, it is first necessary to understand how communities and food webs vary …

The Mediation Of Affect On Imagery Use And Self-Efficacy In Collegiate Athletes, Michelle Wirbiezcas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the sports domain, research has become an essential part of how we understand the psychological factors that play a key role in maximizing performance. Previous research has suggested that an individual’s performance can be highly influenced by the psychological variable of self-efficacy (e.g., Bandura, 1997; Calmels & Fournier, 2001). Self-efficacy has been used to describe individuals’ perceived capability of achieving a certain level of performance in the domain of sport (Feltz, 1998). Previous research has also demonstrated that the tendency of athletes to interpret their imagery as either facilitative or debilitative affects specific constructs known to enhance or impede …

Ambivalent Prejudice In News Media: Does Social Hierarchy Threat Change How We View Reporters?, Rebecca E. Burchette

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite research demonstrating the importance of news media, there remains a gap in the literature on how the reporter influences the perception of the information. This current experiment aims to fill that gap by evaluating how reporter race and social hierarchy threat alters perceptions of both the reporter and the information. White participants read an article with content that indicated that the current racial hierarchy is either under threat or likely to continue; the article was written by either a Black or White reporter. Participants then completed measures of perceptions of warmth and competence of the reporter, acceptance levels towards …

Reinforcement Learning, Intelligent Control And Their Applications In Connected And Autonomous Vehicles, Adedapo O. Odekunle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reinforcement learning (RL) has attracted large attention over the past few years. Recently, we developed a data-driven algorithm to solve predictive cruise control (PCC) and games output regulation problems. This work integrates our recent contributions to the application of RL in game theory, output regulation problems, robust control, small-gain theory and PCC. The algorithm was developed for $H_\infty$ adaptive optimal output regulation of uncertain linear systems, and uncertain partially linear systems to reject disturbance and also force the output of the systems to asymptotically track a reference. In the PCC problem, we determined the reference velocity for each autonomous vehicle …

Psychometric Properties Of A New Measure For Orthorexia Nervosa: The Orthorexia Nervosa Scale (Ons), Rebecca Conrad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is a disordered eating pattern that has recently attracted attention from researchers and clinicians, and can lead to some of the same negative effects as other recognized eating disorders, including malnutrition. To continue exploring unique symptoms and features of this disorder, a new scientifically rigorous and inclusive measure needs to be created, focusing on a sample of individuals in the United States. The purpose of this dissertation was to create a valid measure for ON symptomology using rigorous statistical procedures with samples of United States adults. The first study determined the factor structure of the items though …

Essays On Mixture Models, Trevor R. Camper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When considering statistical scenarios where one can sample from populations that are not of interest for the purposes of a study, bivariate mixture models can be used to study the effect that this missampling can have on parameter estimation. In this thesis, we will examine the behavior that bivariate mixture models have on two statistical constructs: Cronbach's alpha \cite{C51}, and Spearman's rho \cite{S04}. Chapter 1 will introduce notions of mixture models and the definition of bias under mixture models which will serve as the central concept of this thesis. Chapter 2 will investigate a particular psychometric issue known as insufficient …

Evaluating The Effects Of Antibody-Conjugated Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes In Combination With Microwave Irradiation, Amy Chall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cancer remains one of the largest public health concerns of our day, particularly in developed countries where technological advances have allowed populations to live well into their eighth decade. In America, those in their 80’s have a 1 in 2 chance of developing cancer in their lifetime. Prostate cancer, specifically is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in males. Traditional cancer therapies cause high levels of toxicity to the patient due to mechanisms of action that often attack cancer cells and healthy cells alike. The holy grail of cancer research is to find a treatment that targets the cancer …

Exploring The Factors Associated With Social Media Use In Local Health Departments, Suzanne Lamarca Madden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: The health system in the United States is rapidly advancing, including newer technologies, newer ways of delivering essential public health services and population health. Approximately 70% of the public uses social media as a communication tool, which makes it an ideal platform for dissemination of information. Local health departments (LHDs) are accountable for assuring ten essential public health services, including informing, educating, and empowering people about health issues. Previous research showed less than 70% of LHDs are adequately performing this essential service. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors impact the use of social media by …

Gallai-Ramsey Number For Classes Of Brooms, Benjamin J. Hamlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Given a graph $G$, we consider the problem of finding the minimum number $n$ such that any $k$ edge colored complete graph on $n$ vertices contains either a rainbow colored triangle or a monochromatic copy of the graph $G$, denoted $gr_k(K_{3}:G)$. More precisely we consider $G=B_{m,\ell}$ where $B_{m,\ell}$ is a broom graph with $m$ representing the number of vertices on the handle and $\ell$ representing the number of bristle vertices. We develop a technique to reduce the difficulty of finding $gr_{k}(K_{3}:B_{m,\ell})$, and use the technique to prove a few cases with a fixed handle length, but arbitrarily many bristles. Further, …

Effects Of Four Years Of Collegiate Sport Participation On Non-Contact, Contact, And Collision Athletes During Gait, Kristen L. Neitz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

College athletes are often exposed to many training sessions, stresses, and injuries throughout their collegiate career. They often experience pain, stiffness, swelling, reduced range of motion and many other feelings following participation.. Much research has focused on the acute effects of collegiate athletics, but the long term effect has not been well studied. Sports are often divided into groups based on the nature of play; the three main groups are non-contact, contact, and collision sports. Differences have not been observed between the three sport groups and their ability to complete activities of daily living such as walking following four years …

Neo_Fluxus & Dragons, Zachary A. Kelley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

What is a viewer? Who can be a viewer? What is the purpose of a viewer? Is viewing an artwork a process? How does a viewer interact with an artwork? What is an artist? Are the formal elements or conceptual natures more important in art making? Why is that art? These questions and more direct me in how and why I make my art.

I will be discussing the relationship between the viewer and the artwork in an artwork experience. I will define an artwork experience using an analysis of Michael Fried’s notion of theatricality, relating the viewer to the …

Totally Acyclic Complexes, Holly M. Zolt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We consider the following question: when is every exact complex of injective modules a totally acyclic one? It is known, for example, that over a commutative Noetherian ring of finite Krull dimension this condition is equivalent with the ring being Iwanaga-Gorenstein. We give equivalent characterizations of the condition that every exact complex of injective modules (over arbitrary rings) is totally acyclic. We also give a dual result giving equivalent characterizations of the condition that every exact complex of flat modules is F-totally acyclic over an arbitrary ring.

The Relationship Between The Nfl Scouting Combine And Game Performance Over A Five Year Period, Jordan Cook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The National Football League (NFL) Scouting Combine offers good face validity however, there has been doubt on the ability of the NFL Combine to predict future success of athletes in relation to in game performance (i.e., predictive validity). This study analyzed the NFL Combine data of 1537 college football players who participated in the Combine between 2013 and 2017 and their subsequent year’s performance in the NFL. The measures used from the Combine were the six different measures of athletic performance; 40-yard dash, vertical jump (VJ), broad jump, shuttle run (PRO), 3-cone drill, and bench press (BP). The measure of …

Does Sharing Information With Friends And Family Cause Men To Adhere More Strongly To Masculine Norms?, Clint E. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is clear that social influence can elicit conformity to norms (e.g., Asch, 1956). It remains unclear, however, how various relationships elicit differential conformity to masculine norms in particular. In this pre-registered experiment, I tested the hypothesis that when men are asked to reveal their responses on the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI; Mahalik et al., 2003), men conform more when sharing that identifiable information with others who know them (i.e., “public” conformity), namely friends and family, as compared to sharing that information anonymously with a random stranger (i.e., the anonymous “private” condition). My convenience sample consisted of participants …