Digital Commons Network^™

A Website Development Project For Valhalla Sales And Marketing Inc. In Kingsburg, Ca, Megan Nicole Stone

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this project was to design and develop a website for Valhalla Sales and Marketing Inc. in Kingsburg, CA. The website will include five pages as well as a hyperlink to the local weather channel page. This website will be used by the company to increase communication with their current clients and provide information to potential clients and/or customers who want to learn more about the company. This project is a guide to how this website was created and what exactly went into the design and implementation of designing a website and working with your family company. By …

Evolving Soft Robots With Vibration Based Movement, Andrew Danise

Honors Theses

Creating effective designs for soft robots is extremely difficult due to the large number of different possibilities for shape, material properties, and movement mechanisms. Due to the lack of methods to design soft robots, previous research has used evolutionary algorithms to tackle this problem of overwhelming options. A popular technique is to use generative encodings to create designs using evolutionary algorithms because of their modularity and ability to induce large scale coordinated change. The main drawback of generative encodings is that it is difficult to know where along the ontogenic trajectory resides the phenotype with the highest fitness. The two …

Destruction Of Place: Policy Diffusion And Schenectady's Urban Redevelopment, Alistair Phaup

Honors Theses

Cities search for solutions to local problems in other cities and on national policy menus. This process results in many cities relying on the same solution to the same problem. Usually this diffusion of policy across multiple cities produces positive results as environmental protection, water treatment, and other city services are expanded. However in urban redevelopment policy diffusion cannot be successful as redevelopment relies on providing unique, and sometimes competitive, projects to distressed downtowns. The of writings by Jane Jacobs, Gratz and Mintz, and Richard Florida result in a group of methods that can be used to determine the potential …

Fair Trade In Transition: Evolution, Popular Discourse, And The Case Of The Cado Cooperative In Cotopaxi, Ecuador, Robyn Michelle Odegard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The literature on the changing nature of fair trade suggests it is indeed evolving and changed from the grassroots movement it once was. One of the strongest arguments that comes out in this body of literature is that the message, values, and way fair trade can encourage positive socio-economic and community development is changing. What the scholarship does not address, though, is how this evolution is changing the way that fair trade is perceived? The answer to this question about the changing perceptions of fair trade can be extended to those who produce fair trade products, those who consume them, …

Effects Of Temperature And Salinity On Hatch Success, Growth, Development And Survival Of Bigmouth Sleeper Gobiomorus Dormitor Larvae, Karina Michelle Olivieri-Velázquez

Theses and Dissertations

Effects of temperature (23, 26, 29°C) and salinity (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 ppt) on hatch success, growth, development, and survival of bigmouth sleeper Gobiomorus dormitor yolk sac larvae were determined. Hatch success was greater at lower temperatures (23°C) and salinities (0-10 ppt), while larval survival and growth were greater at 26°C and 0 ppt. Larvae reared at 29°C- 0 ppt developed rapidly but rarely survived 48-h post hatch, while larvae at 23°C- 0 ppt survived 120-h post hatch, developed slower. Salinity adversely affected larval survival and size at hatch, larvae reared at salinities 5 ppt or greater died within …

Development From Abroad? Transnational Remittance And The Institutionalization Of Diaspora Engagement In Africa., Todd Bryan Combs

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the impacts of transnational remittances and the institutionalization of diaspora engagement on development in Africa. Remittances to Africa are now around $50 billion annually and larger than inflows of foreign aid and investment. African governments continue to realize the potential contributions of their diasporas to development through not only remittances but through skills, expertise-sharing, and coordination of efforts. In 2000, four African countries had national-level institutions nominally dedicated to the diaspora and its potential to effect development: now 36 of the 54 governments have such an institution. An assessment of the political economy of remittances and governmental …

Language Development Of Bilingual Russian/English Speaking Children Living In The United States: A Review Of The Literature, Jeanette D. Grosman

Honors Theses

The number of bilingual speakers in the United States is increasing. Children in particular provide unique contributions and challenges to the English-speaking communities in which they live. Various aspects of the young bilingual population have been studied, including an emphasis on the communicative abilities and trends of such children. However, there is a paucity of research regarding communication of bilingual Russian/English-speaking children. The purpose of this project is to review the existing literature on the language development of bilingual Russian/English-speaking children as compared to that of monolingual English-speaking children to establish grounds for further research about this increasing population. The …

Volunteers' Cross-Cultural Experience In Tanzania And Zambia, Josephine Elaine Talarski

Theses & Dissertations

Despite a growing interest in international volunteerism, there is a scarcity of literature concerning returning volunteers’ cross-cultural experience in developing countries. The purpose of the study was to examine the phenomenon of volunteers’ cross-cultural experience of participating in immersion trips to Tanzania and Zambia. The study also explored whether volunteers believed their cross-cultural experience to be life changing. The following research questions were used to guide this study: 1. What motivated volunteers to participate in immersion trips to Tanzania and Zambia? 2. How has the immersion experience changed the volunteers’ beliefs about themselves while engaging in a cross-cultural environment? 3. …

Development Of Etsu Student Life Android Application, Tyler L. Cox

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this thesis, the author gives a description his journey creating and developing a Student Life Application for East Tennessee State University. This thesis will document his process with development as well as reflect on the struggles and victories in creation of this application.

Empowering Positive Youth Development In Saudi Arabia: Youth Civic Engagement, Agenda Setting And Policy Formulation, Abdullah M. Alshanbri

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate what issues youth are facing in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and to examine how these issues can be brought to the forefront for decision-makers' agendas. Additionally, the study determines whether the concept of youth civic engagement "youth councils" could help to address youth issues and identify the constraints to implementing such a policy proposal. This study utilizes Kingdon's Agenda Setting Theory as a theoretical framework. Additionally, this study used a qualitative methods approach. High school students and public officials from the government were participants in the study. The literature review …

Training Creative Teams, Geoff G. Zoeckler Jr

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This master’s project presents creative principles, frameworks, materials, and online methodologies for the development of a new or updated training program within a team environment. Inspiration for the project was sourced from creativity research papers, publicly available training guides, popular business books, and my personal experience co-leading the Global Citizen Leadership program in partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership at two universities in India. The tools and materials shared throughout the project were focused towards the personal development of facilitation and core skills for the 55 person staff at SEEK Company. Creativity principles of autonomy, team resource, and …

A Multidimensional Analysis Of The Great Green Wall: The Environmental And Social Effects Of Reafforestation In Senegal, Anna Eugenia Alsobrook

Masters Theses

The north-central region of Senegal is home to the Great Green Wall (GGW)—a reafforestation project aimed at restoring decades–old, degraded land conditions by establishing tree belts and community gardens. Its presence on the ground has changed the local landscape and altered the social institutions governing the daily lives of the people it aims to protect.

My study is an in-progress assessment of the GGW towards its two major goals: 1) improving the lives of the people of the Sahel and increasing their capacity to adapt to climate change and drought, and 2) improving the state of the ecosystem and increasing …

Sub-Saharan Africa: The New China?, Kathryn A. Hutcheson

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Framing Fracking: Media Coverage Of Unconventional Oil And Gas Development In South Texas, Jebadiha E. Potterf

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The rapid growth of unconventional oil and gas development in the United States has greatly increased the production of these minerals, but has also raised the public’s concern over the dangers involved in this process. Due to the contested nature of unconventional development gaining an understanding of both how the public perceives this development and the influences on these perceptions is vital. As several previous research studies have investigated public perceptions this project addresses the second of these requirements.

This is done using qualitative methods to analyze the content of the online communications of proponents and opponents of this development. …

Development And Validation Of An Instrument To Measure Participant Engagement In State-Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Programs, Joshua D. Southwick

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, calls for participants to become “active and full partners in the vocational rehabilitation process.” This study represents the first research to specifically address the actual meaning and importance of participant engagement in the state-federal Vocational Rehabilitation program. Defining the construct of participant engagement is an important first step in creating more effective services for persons with disabilities. It was proposed that engagement in vocational rehabilitation would include three factors: (a) attendance at meetings with the counselor, (b) fulfillment of an expected contribution during meetings, and (c) completion of homework tasks between meetings. Through …

Voting For Corruption: How Poverty And Inequality Undermine Democratic Accountability In Latin America, Peter Colum Casey

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Why do citizens fail to hold their elected officials democratically accountable for corruption? In this dissertation, I argue that poverty and inequality undermine democratic accountability for corruption by creating opportunities for elected officials to mobilize political support through targeted, personal exchange. I focus on two such types of exchange, clientelism and crony capitalism, and explain how corruption reinforces these two strategies of political mobilization.

I argue that the costs of corruption are very high for the poor, who often lose access to government resources they rely on to meet their basic needs. Because the cost of failing to meet their …

“Una Isla Caribeña Sobrepoblada”: Luis Muñoz Marín’S Overpopulation Discourse, 1922-1948, Luimil Mishette Negrón-Pérez

Theses

In the years that preceded Luis Muñoz Marín's tenure as Puerto Rico’s first elected and longest running governor, he used Puerto Rico’s so-called alarming population growth as the explanation for the island’s troubles and reform failures. In the early 1920s, the young neo-malthusianist, carved a place for himself as a staunch supporter of policies advocating for state provided birth control in a climate where critics of the jíbaros (Puerto Rico’s peasants) deemed them immoral and barbaric for having too many children. Less than twenty years later though, the same jíbaros who were causing Puerto Rico’s problems in the twenties were …

Tracing Development In College Students' Writing In Oman: A Contrastive Corpus Analysis, Houda Said Al-Habsi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation focuses on ESL writing development of Omani students' writing at college level. More specifically, I am interested in tracing the students' development in college writing across three levels. My research questions are: are 4th year students' essays more complex than 2nd year students' essays? Are 2nd year students' essays more complex than foundation students' essays? If so, what features of language are driving these differences? My main hypothesis is that 4th year essays will show more linguistic features than 2nd year and foundation year essays and 2nd year essays will show more linguistic features than foundation year. This …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Scripted Education, Alexa M. Lowery

Honors College Theses

The purpose of my study was to investigate teachers’ perceptions of scripted techniques using state mandated standards and the techniques’ impact on student performance. I surveyed the teachers of elementary schools in Edwards County (pseudonym) and found that most teachers are not using the standards as they were originally intended, and they feel that students are falling behind because the standards are not developmentally appropriate.

China's Unbalanced Development, And What We Can Learn From It, Manfredo F. Camperio Ciani

Senior Theses and Projects

This paper argues that China’s development is unbalanced, and to see the unbalance we must divide the concept of development into different categories representing its different aspects, such as economic, urban, social, and sustainable. By looking at the different characteristics of development through time, it is possible to see where the unbalance lies. Furthermore, we learn that by categorizing the nature of development, we can gain a more comprehensive insight into the development of individual countries. In conclusion, this paper proposes the creation of a possible Development Index, as it can provide greater understanding of each country’s development.

Alternative Tourism And Development: Implications For International Study Abroad And Volunteer Programs In The Global South, Avery E. Dwyer

Senior Theses and Projects

Recent years have seen rising interest among Western travelers in the so-called “Global South” or “developing world,” especially through experiences that fall under the umbrella term of “alternative tourism.” Many travelers engage in this type of tourism through experiences in either one or both of alternative tourism’s most popular sub-genres: alternative study abroad and volunteer tourism. With many of these programs either implicitly or explicitly geared toward development, this paper discusses the possible development-related consequences upon the places in which they operate. It traces origins and causes of alternative tourism’s rise, and explains how it has come to be associated …

Customary Law And The Limits Of Female Land Tenure Reform In Kenya, Erica M. Bertoli

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

From Altruism To Investment: Venture Philanthropy And Its Impact On Shared Governance At Liberal Arts Colleges, Joshua D. Merchant

Dissertations

Competition for philanthropic dollars has escalated in recent years, particularly in higher education. A new type of charitable giving – venture philanthropy – has emerged and is impacting both educational policy and practice. Venture philanthropy involves donors using business models, championed practices of venture capitalists, and decision making procedures to drive their philanthropy and ongoing engagement with organizations they support.

Venture philanthropy has the potential to improve the financial vitality of colleges and universities. However, it also poses significant questions to the academy as more colleges and universities engage with donors who embrace its tenets. The primary research question seeks …

Discrepancies In Labor Market Outcomes From Migration Evidence From Colombia, Liza Beatriz Pena

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As of 2012, approximately 10% of the population in Colombia has been displaced by violence. The main motivation of this paper is to estimate the effect of interregional migration on employment outcomes in the country between 1993 and 2005. Using violence as an instrument for migration, I analyzed the differential effects of migration on specific employment outcomes across gender and skill levels. I find that a one percentage point increase in net migration only increases the unemployment rates of female migrants by 0.656 percentage point. I also find that net migration rates do not affect the employment conditions of low-skilled …

The Politics Of Indigenous Social Struggle In Colombia, Gilberto Villasenor Iii

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

The core research question that this thesis asks is: How can we conceptualize the resistance of contemporary indigenous social movements? This thesis argues that Arturo Escobar's ideas about the ways in which social movements can critically engage processes of development best allow us to conceptualize Nasa indigenous social movements of Colombia as resistance to neoliberal globalization. The thesis uses Escobar’s three concepts: alternative development, alternative modernity, and alternatives to modernity as a conceptual lens with which to analyze three projects by the Nasa indigenous people of Colombia: the communitarian economy, the Proyecto Global, and the Tul home garden project. The …

The Mediating Effect Of General Organizational Means-Efficacy In The Relationships Between Organizational Context And Employee Attitudes, Kevin Cobb

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The current study examines the mediating role of General Organizational Means‑efficacy (GOME) in the relationships between organizational context and employee attitudes. The organizational context consists of leadership support, centralization, and emphasis on training and development; and employee attitudes consist of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and career outcomes. The purpose of this study is to reveal what contextual factors in an organization may affect employees’ perceptions of resources available and in turn affects employee attitudes. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze these relationships, and it was found that leadership support and an emphasis on training and development were positively related …

Unsettling Accounts: Life, Debt, And Development In The Middle Rio Grande, Samuel Karrigan Robison Markwell

American Studies ETDs

This thesis reexamines the history of the formation of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) during the first half of the twentieth century. Previous histories have either uncritically celebrated the MRGCD, or have been critical of its formation because of the way it negatively affected Mexicano/Hispano farming communities. This thesis extends the critical literature by situating the MRGCD as a formation of settler colonialism and attending to the ways it affected Pueblo Indian Nations. I argue that the MRGCD, ostensibly designed to "protect life and property" in the valley, was actually concerned with securing forms of life and property …

Phylogeny And Population Genetics Of The Endangered Dwarf Bear-Poppy, Arctomecon Humilis Coville (Papaveraceae) Using Microsatellite Markers, Joshua Simpson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The genus Arctomecon (Papaveraceae) is comprised of three narrowly endemic rare species that are largely restricted to gypsum soils of the eastern Mojave Desert. The small, remaining populations of these species have become increasingly isolated by urban development and habitat fragmentation. Arctomecon humilis is federally listed as endangered due to its limited distribution within a ~15 km radius of an actively expanding city. Organizations involved with land management and conservation have called for greater insight into the genetic variation and population structure of the remaining subpopulations as they make important decisions regarding where to focus their efforts and resources.

The …

Role Of Cardiac Catecholamines In Embryos And Adults Under Stress, Candice Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease is responsible for the loss of one life every 38 seconds and accounts for 26.6 percent of all infants that die of congenital birth defects. Adrenergic hormones are critically important regulators of cardiovascular physiology in embryos and adults. They are key mediators of stress responses and have profound stimulatory effects on cardiovascular function, and dysregulation of adrenergic function has been associated with many adverse cardiac conditions, including congenital malformations, arrhythmias, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, and sudden cardiac death. Despite intensive study, the specific roles these hormones play in the developing heart is not well-understood. Further, there is …

Examination Of The Influence Of Instructional Coaching On Teacher And Principal Behavior, Attitudes, And The Resultant Learning Environment, Cynthia Pulkowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few decades, stakeholders in education have placed significant emphasis on student achievement. Educational reform in the United States and internationally has set ambitious goals for student learning. Additionally, educational reform demands transformations in classroom practices for teachers to become agents of change. As such, teacher professionalism is at a threshold; moral purpose and change agentry are implicit in good teaching and effective change (Fullan, 1993). Systems do not change themselves; rather, they change through the actions of individuals and small groups (Fullan, 1993). In light of this notion, and in the face of educational reform and accountability, …