Digital Commons Network^™

Forest Schools, Ecofeminism, The Gender Binary, And Androcentrism, Jana Elizabeth Schwai

Theses and Dissertations

Gender in forest schools is a topic that should be at the forefront of discussion when creating a forest school, its pedagogy, curriculum, and principles. Gender is a large part of who we are as humans and having teachers aware of its complexities, presentation, and presence in the forest school setting is imperative. This study consists of interviews and focus group data collected at a midwest United States public forest preschool and an eastern United States private forest preschool. The teachers at these schools were cisgender, as were the students ages three through five who were observed. This paper analyzes …

Classification And Explanation Of Iron Deficiency Anemia From Complete Blood Count Data Using Machine Learning, Siddartha Pullakhandam

Theses and Dissertations

Anemia is a global health problem, and over 2 billion people are affected. Although, the major cause of anemia is iron deficiency (IDA), global estimates suggest that only about half of anemia could be attributed to ID. The typical test of anemia involves measurement of hemoglobin using Complete Blood Count (CBC) test, which also gives additional information on blood cell numbers and morphology. The diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia (IDA, both anemic and ID co-exist in a subject) requires additional expensive serum ferritin test. However, blood cell count, and morphology can also be utilized for diagnosis of IDA. The goal …

Transformative Learning And Identity In A Re-Entry Job Skills Program, Edward Raymond Janairo

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the nature of transformative learning experiences as qualitative shifts in identity by employing a basic interpretative qualitative methodology using data from semi-structured interviews with eight participants in a re-entry job skills program, that is, with participants in a program that was designed to aid them with their re-entry into society. This study explored the nature of these learning experiences through the transformative learning theoretical framework articulated by Illeris (2014). The findings supported Illeris’ conceptualization of transformation and contributed to the explication of key concepts in his theory including regressive transformative learning, and identity as situated in three …

Content Considerations In High School Musical Theater Show Selection, Mark David Lefeber

Theses and Dissertations

Many high schools present musical theater productions annually. In some cases, high school students present material that could be considered controversial or uncomfortable for performers, their directors, or audiences. The purpose of this study was to examine content issues of musicals that high school theater directors must consider when selecting a show for high school performance. Topics analyzed included: sexualization of characters and sexism, references to sexual activities including kissing and simulation of sexual acts; profanity, racially-defined Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) roles, racism, LGBTQ characters, gun violence, the use of alcohol and drugs, domestic violence, direct religious messaging …

Black Males Teaching Toddlers?! An Examination Of How Black Male Youth Participating In A Grow Your Own (Gyo) Teacher Pipeline Program Made Decisions Concerning A Long-Term Career In Early Childhood Education, Calvin Na Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

Despite research (Cormier et al., 2022; Lindsay & Hart, 2017) highlighting the positive impact Black male educators have on Black students, and Black male students in particular, the representation of Black, non-Hispanic male teachers in the U.S. public and private K-12 teaching workforce remains notably low at 1.3% (Taie & Lewis, 2022). This scarcity is evident across the entire PK-12 education continuum, which includes early childhood education (ECE). This qualitative study examined the experiences of eight Black male youth who participated in The Young Black Male Teacher Project (TYBMTP), a grow-your-own (GYO) teaching exposure pipeline program that affords young Men …

Conceptual Understanding Of Linear Relationships Across Various Mathematics Courses, Melissa Manley

Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional study investigated the conceptual understanding of linear relationships for 195 students enrolled in a single school in a large, urban district across five mathematics courses: Grade 7 Math (n = 24), Grade 8 Math (n = 52), Geometry (n = 43), Algebra 1 (n = 31), and Algebra 2 (n = 45). The following questions guided this study: (1) What differences exist in students’ conceptual understanding of linear relationships across mathematics courses? (2) What are common strengths and weaknesses in students’ conceptual understanding of linear relationships?

An assessment was created to assess three constructs of conceptual understanding of …

Exploring The Role Of English Only Early Childhood Education Participation For Spanish Speaking Multilingual Learners’ Long-Term Academic Outcomes, Jennifer Moore Vice-Reshel

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate Spanish-speaking multilingual learner (MLL) students’ long-term academic outcomes after participation in an early childhood education (ECE) program with English instruction. The study included 359 Spanish-speaking MLLs who qualified for Free and Reduced Lunch from Grade 1 to Grade 6. Participants entered a large suburban public school district in the Midwest in Kindergarten in the 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years. In this study, 186 MLLs participated in an English Only Early Childhood Education (EO ECE) program and 173 MLLs did not participate in an EO ECE (No-EO ECE) program housed within the …

Examining Lung Cancer Disparities And Risk Factors In Wisconsin, Usa (2016-2020), Mathew Chidera Ugwuanyi

Theses and Dissertations

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 …

Essays On Education And Performance Pay, Benjamin Charles Adams

Theses and Dissertations

The first chapter of this work examines the returns to education for workers who pursue additional education after time out of the labor force. It compares those who remain in the labor force during additional education and those who drop out of the labor force during additional education. It compares two cohorts of the NLSY, utilizing a difference equation to estimate the returns to education for workers who pursue additional education after time spent out of school and in the labor force. The results indicate a sheepskin return of approximately 14% for those who remain in the labor force and …

Essays In Aging, Marital Stability, And Mental Health, Avigyan Sengupta

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents three chapters about understudied characteristics of the older population. As the United States and other developed countries' populations age, more dedicated research is needed to understand and implement policies to improve the welfare of this demographic group. Though there is a vast literature on various life-cycle outcomes of the elderly, gaps remain. Two such aspects have been examined here: marital stability and mental health.

Chapter 1 investigates how changes in household wealth affect the likelihood of divorce among older adults aged 50 and above in the United States. Using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study …

Richardson, Ridley, And Tatís Jr. Versus The Public: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Athlete Self-Defense Rhetoric And Public Response, Jillian Schemenauer

Theses and Dissertations

This project addresses issues brought forth by critical race theory through analysis of three marginalized athletes’ rhetorical response to accusations of wrongdoing on social media, as well as how members of the public receive the athletes’ self-defense rhetoric and identities. Through three case studies, I utilize apologia theory and tenets of image restoration theory to give meaning to how Sha’Carri Richardson, Calvin Ridley, and Fernando Tatís Jr. respond to accusation. In response, I analyze how members of the public attend to issues brought forth by critical race theory through their exhibition of color-blind racism and/or rhetorics of whiteness. In the …

Individual Differences Of L1 Category Precision In L2 Speech Learning, Sujin Oh

Theses and Dissertations

The revised Speech Learning Model (SLM-r) postulates that learners with more precisely defined categories in their native language (L1) exhibit greater proficiency in acquiring sounds in a second language (L2). Despite its recent emergence, empirical studies validating this hypothesis remain scarce. This study aims to investigate the predictive role of L1 category precision in L2 performance, particularly as a fundamental factor influencing L2 speech development. Furthermore, it aims to uncover a potential correlation between learners’ perceptual and production abilities, mediated by L1 category precision, within the framework of L2 speech development. The findings from Studies 1 and 2 furnish compelling …

Inside Out: Masculinity From Delinquent Cinema To New Queer Cinema, 1983-1991, Blue Aslan Philip Profitt

Theses and Dissertations

With the rise of multiplexes, cable television, and video rental stores, the 1980s became a golden age for youth cinema in the U.S. While many scholars have researched this decade’s youth films, much of that attention is focused on the films of John Hughes and his collaborators, whose work mostly follows affluent teenagers enjoying high school traditions. This dissertation fills gaps in youth cinema scholarship by examining the period’s delinquent films. By studying six delinquent films released between 1983 and 1991, this project looks to the understudied connection between 1980s delinquent films and 1990s New Queer Cinema. In contrast to …

La Otra Humanizada Subversion In The Narrative Of Denise Phé-Funchal, Lucila Gamero De Medina, And Gabriela Damián Miravete, Michele Haeberlin

Theses and Dissertations

This analysis will focus on the impact of patriarchal ideals on gender expectations and roles in Central America and Mexico, through a sample of narrative texts by women authors. The experience of gender is always connected to national identity and the planning of social roles. Within the imagined community of a nation the valuation of female bodies creates a specific role for them in society. Why is there violence against the female body and what does this violence have to do with the concepts of social roles and subversive womanhood? With this information, this investigation will explore the creation of …

"I Can Just Be Myself And Part Of That Is Being A Vaper." A Qualitative Analysis Of Vaping Identity, Megan Wahl

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: E-cigarette use among young adults (18-24 years-old) is becoming increasingly problematic. Current vaping cessation programs draw from existing tobacco interventions which focus on reducing nicotine consumption. Vaping, however, is distinctly different from smoking. Rooted in sociology, recent research has evaluated social identity as a new way of addressing complex health behaviors. Purpose: Young adulthood is a unique time for experimenting with multiple identities. Understanding social identity formation around vaping may have public health utility in addressing current e-cigarette use. To date there is limited research about vaping identity and the process by which it is formed among young adults …

Jews Of Indiscretion: American Jewish Screen Identity In The Age Of Streaming, Jordan Zachary Adler

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores televisual representations of Jewishness among the Millennial generation in the United States. During the 2010s, numerous television series embraced the specificities of Jewish culture and identity, including celebrations and spiritual beliefs. These programs played with dominant understandings of Judaism and Jewishness – confronting, deconstructing, and sometimes confirming some of these characterizations. In series such as Broad City, Difficult People, Russian Doll, and Transparent, Jewishness textured the characters’ sociopolitical consciousness and behavior. These programs also accentuated the distinctive concerns of a generation of American Jews, aligning with their economic anxieties and sociopolitical ideologies, which often veered left. Characters …

Technology Acceptance Model (Tam)-Based Predictors Of Internet-Accessed Testing For Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Young Adults In The United States Using An Online Sample, Immaculate Apchemengich

Theses and Dissertations

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) continue to be a global public health concern, with an estimated 357 million new infections of curable STIs each year. As of 2018, there were more than 2.4 million cases of STIs in the United States (US) with youth being affected disproportionately. Whereas STIs generally affect youth disproportionately compared to other age groups, young adults (18-24) have a heightened risk for STIs.There is a plethora of research on access to STI testing using conventional modes, but less research exists on access to testing services via the Internet (e-STI services). With only conventional modes of testing, national …

Equally Subordinated? The Threat Of A Self-Subordinating Way Of Life On One's Moral Powers, Kendall Bowers

Theses and Dissertations

Even in a politically just liberal state where citizens are ensured equality and certain basic liberties, citizens may still act in self-undermining ways that cause them to fail to exercise their liberties. I argue in this paper that because most conceptions of political liberalism only secure full freedom and equality within the basic structure, the background culture is left ripe with opportunities for identity-based self-subordination in associations and relationships. Freedom of association allows for citizens to adopt ways of life that may result in their own subordination (e.g., a woman adopting a sexist religion). I argue that when citizens adopt …

Saintly: Christian Women In Early Modern Europe, Nicole Leigh Ranney

Theses and Dissertations

Saintly: Christian Women in Early Modern Europe is a written companion for a physical exhibition of the same name held at the UWM Mathis Gallery in the spring of 2024. The exhibition and accompanying catalog explore the relationship between laywomen and holy women from the Christian canon by examining depictions of the Virgin Mary and women saints in works from the 16th through 18th centuries. Despite gender-related obstacles, women still found ways to meaningfully engage with religious imagery, including through the veneration of other holy women. These ‘saintly’ female role models functioned as a template for appropriate behavior in both …

Care Among Strangers: Empathy And Care At A Midwest Crisis Hotline, Angela Jacksack

Theses and Dissertations

Crisis hotlines are a rapidly expanding phenomenon in the United States. Since the rebranding of the Suicide Prevention Lifeline to 988 more people than ever are aware of, and using, hotlines. This paper focuses on a small, Midwestern crisis hotline and the listeners who volunteered at it. Much of my analysis throughout relies on anthropological writings on empathy, as well as the philosophical writings of Nel Noddings. The majority of my research focuses on the construction of care within the hotline, particularly through the use of empathy. Using participant observation and interviews, I outline the volunteers’ use of empathy to …

Reassembled And Reimagined: A Study Of Princess Alexandra's Photocollage Album, Haley Steines

Theses and Dissertations

In the nineteenth century, album-making became a popular medium for Victorian women to experiment with due to its association with the domestic sphere and a growing art market aimed towards women. Once photography became an accessible and affordable medium, women began to include cartes-de-visite in their album pages resulting in a new form of album-making: the photocollage album. Princess Alexandra’s (1844-1925) photocollage album created in 1866 1869 contains several of the common themes and techniques seen amongst photocollage album creators. However, her status as the Princess of Wales and the preservation of photographs by the Royal Collection Trust allows for …

Imagery In Nasca Cross-Knit Looped Textiles From The Milwaukee Public Museum, Katherine A. Cianciola

Theses and Dissertations

Textiles associated with the Nasca culture (0-650 C.E.) from Peru’s South Coast have been recognized for their complex and colorful ecological, anthropomorphic, and geometric imagery. Little, however, has been written about their three-dimensional cross-knit looping and embroidery. Cross-knit looping produced three-dimensional figures that were part of an elaborate border on clothing and a style specifically associated with the Nasca (Sawyer 1997:24, 27, 41, 97, 131-132, 136 for example). This thesis focuses on Nasca textiles primarily from the Malcolm K. Whyte (Accession Numbers: 18046 and 20517) collection at the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) and includes three-dimensional cross-knit looping of ecological and …

Squaring The Circle: Talking About Accessibility At Discovery World, Ariel Butler

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, museums have made a concerted effort to consider accessibility and the needs of the broader community in their programming. This thesis analyzes how Discovery World, a science and technology museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, can better accommodate diverse learning styles and disabilities in their 2023 Summer Camp program through a case study of implementation. The thesis analyzes the impact of the plan to improve accessibility and inclusivity in the classroom for children in grades 1-8, focusing on how staff conceptualize the ideal setup and aims to provide valuable insights to enhance inclusivity and accessibility in informal educational settings. …

Dancing Mi Cultura: The Production Of Ethnic And National Identity In Midwestern Mexican-Americans Through The Performance Of Ballet Méxicano Folklórico, Katrina J. Frank

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies how Mexican Americans living in the northwest suburbs of Chicago produce connections to their Mexican heritage and culture through the performance of ballet Mexicano folklórico. Through ethnographic interviews of current and former folklórico dancers, as well as participant observation of adult folklórico dance practices, I contextualize the experiences of the interviewees using the anthropological theories of habitus, continuous and discontinuous selves, double-consciousness, liminality, and collective effervescence, as well as the works of Simone de Beauvoir, Michel Foucault, and Frantz Fanon, with the discussion of folklórico as an art, and the concept of institutional use of dance as …

Beyond Their Smiling Faces: Reconstructing The Remojadas Ritual And Culture Through The Sonrientes Figurines From The Mpm Collection, Abigail Munoz

Theses and Dissertations

Sonrientes (Smiling Faces) scholarship has waned after a brief period of archaeological interest in the mid to late 20th century by both Spanish and English language scholars. Since then, brief attention to these figurines in the Remojadas style, or similar, has been given when discussing the Classic Period on the Gulf Coast and few direct studies on their interpretation or reinterpretation have been given within the last few years. The present study attempts to contribute my own interpretation of these Remojadas-style figurines and answer five major questions driving my research: What kind of rituals did Remojadas or other people carry …

A Descriptive Phenomenological Study Of College Student Belonging Experiences With Peers In The First Semester, John Knapp

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how first-year college students described belonging experiences with college peers in the first semester, specifically conceptualizing these relationships as bidirectional, where college students both receive and provide support to one another in a mutual way. A descriptive phenomenological research design was employed to identify invariant structures of this phenomenon utilizing data collected from semi-structured interviews with 10 first-time, full-time undergraduate college students in their first semester enrolled at a private, religiously affiliated, four-year university in the midwestern United States. This study found that the invariant structures of belonging in college peer relationships in the first semester were …

Accessiblehomepro As An Educational Intervention: Preparing Occupational Therapy Students To Perform Home Safety Assessments, Laryn O'Donnell

Theses and Dissertations

The growing aging population of the United States urges occupational therapy practitioners to address the population's home safety needs. However, current occupational therapists need more resources and education to conduct comprehensive home safety evaluations. This study employed a pretest-posttest mixed methods design using occupational therapy students (n=17) to investigate the potential of AccessibleHomePRO as an educational intervention to enhance OT student knowledge of home safety assessments, perceived knowledge, which is known as the belief in your level of knowledge, and self-efficacy, which refers to the confidence in completing a task. AccessibleHomePRO (AHP) is a novel multifaceted assessment that leverages artificial …

From Creator To Curator To Author As Content: Nicolas Winding Refn, Transdiscursive Authorship, And Self-Branding In Twenty-First Century Media, Christopher J. Olson

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation traces Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s development from creator and curator to author as content within an evolving media ecology driven by capitalist ideology. A close critical study of Refn’s career from 1996 to 2019 offers insight into contemporary techniques of creating, collecting, and curating media texts, as well as the phenomenon of presenting oneself as content via discursive branding. Given that Refn’s career coincided with the emergence of the World Wide Web and the rise of digital platforms, he thus emblematizes what it means to be a creator working within an increasingly interconnected media ecology. Refn initially …

Big Data Applications And Challenges In Giscience (Case Studies: Natural Disaster And Public Health Crisis Management), Amir Masoud Forati

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the application and significance of user-generated big data in Geographic Information Science (GIScience), with a focus on managing natural disasters and public health crises. It explores the role of social media data in understanding human-environment interactions and in informing disaster management and public health strategies. A scalable computational framework will be developed to model extensive unstructured geotagged data from social media, facilitating systematic spatiotemporal data analysis.The research investigates how individuals and communities respond to high-impact events like natural disasters and public health emergencies, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. In particular, it assesses the impact of socio-economic-demographic …

Assessing The Impact Of Employee Wellness Programs On Healthcare Employee’S Weight, Reja F. Basyyoni

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Over 32% of employees in healthcare are clinically overweight with a BMI over 30. This level of obesity is more significant in healthcare than in other professions. (Aldana, 2021). The growing prevalence of diseases among employees in healthcare settings has increased the concern about their health, well-being, and productivity. (Aldana, 2021). Notably, the reduction of obesity rates holds the potential to avert 40 million instances of chronic diseases, encompassing hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular ailments. (Milken Institute Study, 2022) Therefore, maintaining a healthy body weight or shedding excess pounds is crucial to reduce the risk of developing these. As a …