Digital Commons Network^™

Urban School Counseling Impact: An Aba Reversal Single Subject Time-Series Analysis Of Academic, Suspension, And Attendance Data, Katherine L. N. Colles

Dissertations

While there is a dearth of longitudinal outcome research on comprehensive school counseling program impact (Carey & Dimmitt, 2006; Carey, Dimmitt, Hatch, Lapan, & Whiston, 2008; Gysbers, 2001; Whiston, 2002) on indicators of importance to school systems (Borders, 2002; Lapan, 2001), school counseling research primarily studies program components (Borders, 2002; Herr, 1979; Whiston, 2002; Whiston & Sexton, 1998) and component outcomes (Hughes & James, 2001; Schmidt, 1984, 2000; Sink, 2002). Grounded in a historical review of the school counseling field and pertinent related research, this research investigated the school counseling program impact of one kindergarten through eighth grade urban school …

Sexism Across Musical Genres: A Comparison, Sarah Neff

Honors Theses

Music is a part of daily life for most people, leading the messages within music to permeate people’s consciousness. This is concerning when the messages in music follow discriminatory themes such as sexism or racism. Sexism in music is becoming well documented, but some genres are scrutinized more heavily than others. Rap and hip-hop get much more attention in popular media for being sexist than do genres such as country and rock. My goal was to show whether or not genres such as country and rock are as sexist as rap and hip-hop. In this project, I analyze the top …

The Effects Of Trauma On Brain Development In Infancy, Sasha Kellogg

Honors Theses

This thesis explains how trauma, which can be defined for this study as traumatic experiences, affects brain development in infants. For the purpose of this report, infants are defined as being fifteen months or younger. As gathered from the book and articles researched, typical infant brain development, including the eight processes of neurodevelopment and the four main parts of the brain, will be explained in this report, along with how the brain grows and matures. This thesis shows how maturation of the brain in infancy is dependent upon the bonds and connections infants form with others and explains how trauma …

Predictive Modeling In The Search For Vertebrate Fossils: Geographic Object Based Image Analysis (Geobia) In The Eocene Of Wyoming, Bryan Bommersbach

Masters Theses

The development and testing of predictive models for identifying productive fossil localities represents a promising interdisciplinary endeavor among geographic information scientists, paleoanthropologists, and vertebrate paleontologists. This thesis analyzed high resolution (2m spatial resolution) commercial satellite imagery from the Worldview-2 satellite of five areas of the Great Divide Basin using a GEographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) technique, which segments the image into spectrally homogeneous, multi-pixel image objects. In addition to allowing statistical analysis of the spectral characteristics of the image objects, GEOBIA techniques also let analysts incorporate expert knowledge and contextual information to improve classification accuracy. The spectral characteristics of the …

Combined Effects Of Mdma And Ethanol On Locomotor Activity And Place Conditioning In Male And Female Adolescent Sprague-Dawley Rats, Keli A. Herr

Masters Theses

MDMA, ("Ecstasy") is commonly abused in combination with ethanol (EtOH). Relatively few preclinical studies have investigated sex differences in animal models of polysubstance use. The current study employed a conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure to assess the behavioral effects of the co-administration ofMDMA /EtOH in 32 male and 32 female adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats. Following a 15 min habituation trial, eight 30-min conditioning trials were conducted in two- compartment chambers with different environmental cues. Before each drug conditioning trials, rats were administered intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of MDMA(6.6 mg/kg), EtOH (1.5 g/kg), MDMA (6.6 mg/kg) and EtOH (1.5 g/kg), or saline. Prior …

Of Tribes, Wars, And Jungles: A Study Of U.S.College Students’ Perceptions Of Africa And Africans, Seseer P. Mou

Masters Theses

This study examined American college students’ perceptions of Africans. Knowledge Gap and Systems Theory were applied to creating and discussing the research questions. Systems Theory addresses processes and levels of information transfer (Westley & Maclean, 1965). It requires an understanding of the sources, channels, messages, and the people who receive information in a communication encounter. Knowledge Gap Theory, on the other hand, states that when information circulates in a system, gaps in knowledge are formed and these gaps increase as more information enters the system (Tichenor, Donohue, & Olien, 1970). The results showed that consumption of radio and newspaper news, …

Overtime Traffic Enforcement Evaluation: A Methodology For Selecting Agencies And Enforcement Periods, Dario Enrique Romero Santana

Masters Theses

Multiple studies have stated the advantages of police traffic enforcement on crash reduction (Zaidel, February 2002). It is very important to identify locations and time periods where police enforcement produces the greatest crash reductions. The objectives of this study were to: (1) determine the impact of overtime traffic enforcement on crash occurrence; (2) develop procedures to identify police agencies with potential to reduce targeted crashes; and (3) develop procedures to identify additional time periods in which enforcement activities should be conducted. In order to accomplish these objectives, many methodologies were explored. The study used crash and enforcement data collected by …

Like Oil And Water: How Federalism Muddies The Waters Of Interest Group Decision-Making, Melissa Shaffer-O’Connell

Dissertations

Federalism often creates additional decisions for interest groups in determining how best to advocate for their policy recommendations in the legislative process. Should they focus their advocacy at the local, state, or national level of government? What activities should they use at each level of government? This dissertation examines interest group behaviors in water quality policy in the Great Lakes region from 1940 to 2000, in oil policy in the Beaufort Sea region from 1970 to 2000, and in both policy areas in 2010-2013. I evaluate the reasons for interest group decisions in choice of tactics and targeted level of …

An Evaluation Of Various Safmeds Procedures, Shawn Patrick Quigley

Dissertations

Lindsley developed Say-All-Fast-Minute-Every-Day-Shuffled, or SAFMEDS, in the late 1970’s to enhance the typical use of flashcards (Graf & Auman, 2005). The acronym was developed specifically to guide the learner’s behavior when using flashcards. A review of SAFMEDS research indicates it has been utilized with children, college students and older adults with and without disabilities. The literature also indicates the SAFMEDS procedures used are not well documented or have multiple variations limiting practitioners’ ability to know what procedure to use and when. Furthermore, future SAFMEDS research is hampered by variations in the independent variable (i.e., SAFMEDS). The purpose of this study …

Testing A Model Of Maladaptive Perfectionism And Depression Symptoms: The Roles Of Emotional Disclosure, Emotion Regulation Strategies, Adult Attachment, And Shame, Angela M. Garrison

Dissertations

Previous research has supported a link between maladaptive perfectionism and higher levels of depression symptoms. However, researchers have not yet investigated the ways in which emotion regulation processes may mediate this relationship. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to evaluate emotional disclosure, emotional avoidance, and rumination as mediators of the relation between maladaptive perfectionism and depression symptoms. Additionally, this study also investigated the role that insecure attachment orientations play in the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and use of particular emotion regulation strategies. Further, the role of shame in the emotion regulation processes of individuals with higher levels of …

The Effects Of An Academic Values Clarification Exercise On Academic Performance Of College Students, Dana Goetz

Honors Theses

Values exploration exercises, in which individuals are typically asked to rank order their values and describe values that are most important to them, have been used for many purposes including reducing the racial achievement gap in academic performance (Cohen, Garcia, Apfel, Maseter, 2006), increasing acceptance of health related issues (Harris & Napper, 2005), and increasing academic success (Chase, Houmanfar, Hayes, Ward, Vilardaga, & Follette, 2013). However, little research has addressed the mechanism or mechanisms through which values clarification exercises impact outcomes, particularly academic achievement. This paper analyzes values clarification exercises used in educational settings during the 1970s and the roles …

A Cross-Cultural Study Exploring Structural Factors Of Men's Sheds, Kaitlyn Mcgrail

Honors Theses

The Men’s Shed program was developed in Australia in 2006 with the explicit goal of establishing a place for men to socially interact and to help maintain their health and well-being. The Men’s Shed program has grown tremendously and has continued their growth in many other countries. There is limited research conducted about the organizational and structural features of the Men’s Shed program. There has been no research to date conducted cross-culturally on the program. The aim of this study is to conduct a descriptive, cross-cultural study on Men’s Shed organizations and the characteristics of the Men’s Shed participants. By …

Art And Aphasia: A Literary Review And Exhibition, Jessica Parrish

Honors Theses

My honors thesis explores aphasia, my primary topic of interest, through procedures spanning both of my degrees. Communication makes interaction possible for exchanging ideas, feelings, concepts, and events. Aphasia, an acquired disorder, impacts language areas that are responsible for expression, comprehension, literacy, and symbolic understanding. Aphasia interrupts the mental process responsible for converting thought to language. Literature involving both traditional speech and art therapy is discussed. Once the aphasia disorder type is assessed, a speech language pathologist designs a therapy plan. Art, which has been used in therapy and research for rehabilitation, shares a connection with language and symbolic thought. …

The Effects Of Child Birth Order And Number Of Children On Mother’S Supervision Beliefs And Practices, Alyssa Schramm

Honors Theses

Objective: This study aimed to examine (1) whether mothers’ attitudes about supervision differ based on (a) the number of children in the home and (b) the birth order of the child; (2) whether mothers’ reported supervision levels differ based on: (a) the number of children in the home and (b) the birth order of the child; (3) whether children in families with more than one child sustain more injuries than children in families with fewer children. I expected to find that mothers had more lax attitudes for their younger children versus old, and were more lax for homes with more …

Lead Seals From Colonial Fort St. Joseph (20be23), Cathrine Davis

Honors Theses

The mainstay of the North American fur trade was cloth, which composed at one time over half of the goods shipped out of Montreal for trade with Native Americans. However, this cloth rarely survives in archaeological context, leaving only other artifacts that yield limited information on the textiles that once existed at a site. Among these artifacts are lead seals, which functioned much in the same way as modern day clothing tags, with lettering and symbols that reveal information such as the origin, quality, and quantity of the cloth to which they were once attached.

This study examined seals from …

Leni Sinclair & Lessons From The 60s/70s Era, Chelsie Noble

Honors Theses

Leni Sinclair is a photographer who came to the United States in 1959 from communist East Germany. Sinclair is recognized for being a prominent photographer of artists ranging from Sun Ra to the MC5. Though most that study the era and the revolutionary groups surrounding Detroit and Ann Arbor focus on her [then] husband’s work (John Sinclair,) Leni has provided an equally important documentation of the ‘60s and ‘70s. As the Minister of Education in the White Panthers Party, Sinclair’s job was to educate anyone who wished to know about their values, goals, and ways of life. This paper relays …

The Consequence Of Freedom: A Sociological Analysis Of The Suicide Epidemic In Luthuania, Kyle Kaminski

Honors Theses

Lithuania has the highest global suicide rate at 40.2/100,000, according to the international suicide statistics provided by WHO (2004). Lithuania's suicide rate is over 2.5 times more than the global average. The top five countries in terms of suicide rate are Lithuania, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Hungary (Ibid). All of these countries were previously under the Soviet Union's control from the end of World War II to the end of the Cold War in 1989. Lithuania has not always been at the top of the rankings for global suicide rates. Lithuania's suicide rate spiked almost 20 percent during the years …

The Effects Of A Picture Acitivty Schedule And Functional Communication Training, Sarah J. Lett

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects a package treatment containing a picture activity schedule and functional communication training on the reduction of problem behaviors on a child with developmental delays. The study was conducted by first establishing discrimination between pictures, to be used in the picture activity schedule. Then the tutors progressively advanced through the six phases of the picture activity schedule. Each phase taught fundamental rules such as “first this, then that”, and built the schedule to more complex structure. In this way, the student could anticipate upcoming tasks, and preferred activities. The predictor strategy …

The Combined Effects Of Picture Activity Schedules And Extinction Plus Differential Reinforcement On Problem Behavior During Transitions, Jessica Hurdelbrink

Honors Theses

To decrease problem behaviors and increase compliance during transitions, a treatment package consisting of a picture activity schedule combined with extinction and differential reinforcement of other behavior was implemented. The study consisted of baseline and the intervention. Based on previous studies involving picture activity schedules, Gina Cross wrote the protocol for the teaching of the activity schedule and the transition protocol. The teaching protocol was made up of four stages of most-to-least prompting, and involved teaching the child to move the picture icon to the bottom of the schedule independently. The transition protocol gave instructions on how the tutor and …

Simple Visual Discrimination Training For A Child With Autism And Exceptional Learning Difficulties, Rachel Burroughs

Honors Theses

One of the most basic pre-requisite skills for learning is simple visual discrimination. Unfortunately, the literature is lacking in how to teach simple visual discrimination to children with difficulty learning. To address this problem, the current study set out to teach a child with autism, and exceptional learning difficulty, simple visual discrimination. To do this, the researchers used a simple reversal design using a prompt fading strategy. To shape the independent behavior of selecting the correct stimulus in the presence of two other stimuli, the researchers started by reinforcing touching the stimuli when there were no other distractor stimuli present, …

Gradual Guidance And Independent Activity Schedules For Children With Autism, Amanda Driscoll

Honors Theses

The goal of this intervention was to increase on-task and on-schedule behavior in a child with autism through the use of gradual guidance and an independent activity schedule. The participant was a three year-old boy who exhibited noncompliant problem behavior. He was at mastery level for the tasks that were included in the independent activity schedule and had no prior learning experience with an independent activity schedule. Gradual guidance was used to decrease the time it took for him to learn the complex behavior that is involved with an independent activity schedule and to keep the participant on-task and on-schedule …

From Foster Care To Becoming A Family Member, Zachary Henderson

Honors Theses

This exploration examines different aspects of the transition from a foster care placement into an adoptive home. This project was completed using the qualitative research approach will allowed for semi-structured interviews w ith single individuals. Both participants experienced foster care during their youth. The interviewees were drawn from a convenience sample. The interviews were then then transcribed. The transcripts where then examined to search for common themes which may improve the transition for child going from foster care to adoption. Although the sample is small, the insight is great. It seems that the professionals were competent but not humble regarding …

The Gender Of Participants In Published Research Involving People With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Erin Watkins

Masters Theses

Research articles involving participants with an autism spectrum disorder and published from 2010-2012 in Autism, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Journal of Child Psychology and Child Psychiatry, and Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders were examined to determine the reported gender of participants. The overall male:female ratio was 4.62, which is similar to that reported in epidemiological studies, but the ratio was 6.07 in intervention studies. These findings suggesting that males were in a statistical sense over-represented in intervention studies, but not in other kinds of research. Most (82.21%) of these studies included both male and female participants, but …

No Fracking Way! A Study On The Spatial Patterns Of And Changes In Perception And Distance From A Michigan Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing Site, Shannon Mcewen

Masters Theses

The research investigates whether Michigan residents' perception of risk from an oil and natural gas (ONG) well site that employs the use of horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) changes with distance. The research goal is to determine if residents that live farther from a fracking site perceive it to be more dangerous than those who live closer. Secondary research goals include determining if increasing distance from a fracking site cause residents to overestimate their proximity to a fracking site and if gender and education levels have an effect on residents' perception levels. Data were collected from residents in three counties in …

Delayed Match-To-Sample In Preschool Children, Thomas Ratkos

Masters Theses

In delayed match-to-sample (DMTS) tasks, a sample stimulus is shown and then removed for some period of time before comparison stimuli are presented. Joint control theory (Lowenkron, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1998, 2006) explains correct selections on delayed match-to-sample tasks in terms of the joint control of behavior by the comparison stimulus and a repeated word or words originating from the sample stimulus. Eight children ages 3 to 6 were exposed to a DMTS task with visual stimuli using a 15s delay. During training, children were taught to name the stimulus cards and then repeat the name of the target stimulus …

A Climatological Study Of Drought In Southern Michigan, Rudy Bartels

Masters Theses

Drought has become a reoccurring phenomenon throughout many regions around the world. Significant drought conditions have beenobserved overthe pastfive decades in relation to economic, social, and agricultural impacts. In this study, Southern Michigan is investigated over the past 52 years from 1960-2012. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) will be calculated over a 6-month timescale from monthly precipitations. Three variables including 500-mb heights, surface pressure maps, and sea surface temperatures, will be correlated with the SPI using sliding correlations and Pearson's R correlation to determine any relations between these variables and precipitation variations. We will further investigate the five driest, wettest, …

Managing Dispersed Recreation In The Allegheny National Forest, Anne Santa Maria

Masters Theses

In the Allegheny National Forest, an unregulated dispersed camping policy has led to significant impacts to the natural environment. This study used data gathered from visitor surveys, interviews with managers, and environmental conditions of campsites to recommend management actions for campsites along seven roads in the National Forest. The seven road areas fell into two categories. Primitive recreation was more common in some areas and solitude was more highly valued by campers. Other areas had more frequent visitor use, motorized camping, and solitude was less important to campers. These factors influenced management recommendations, which include designing and constructing campsites to …

Impersonal Trust In Versus Dependence On Fda, Amanda C. Meyer

Masters Theses

This study emerged following an examination of the work by Susan Shapiro (1987) delineating the construct of impersonal trust, and Shapiro's analysis of trust was applied to an understanding of the impersonal trust relationship which Americans have with Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Few fields outside of organizational studies have undertaken efforts to operationalize impersonal trust and to distinguish it from other related constructs, so this exploratory study assessed whether variables associated with interpersonal trust as outlined by Meyer and Ward (2009) were also associated with impersonal trust in FDA. This study further examined whether measures of impersonal trust could …

Looking For Mr. Right Or Mr. Right-Now: A Content Analysis Of Gay Men’S Personals, Matt Reid

Masters Theses

Personal advertisements have long been valued by researchers for evaluating norms relating to love and romance in any given societal context. Using thematic, directed content analysis on ads placed on a popular online dating website, this exploratory study seeks to uncover the various ways by which gay and straight men craft an image of the ideal self.

Results largely diverge from previous studies, most of which were conducted prior to the advent of online dating and at a time in a society where homosexuality was more taboo. The current study found that gay men, more often than straight men, employ …

Understanding Work Socialization: A Qualitative Study Of A Youth Employment Program, Katelyn S. Sandor

Masters Theses

Through early work experiences, often in part-time jobs, young people come to learn about the working world. This learning process is often considered a source of anticipatory socialization, or an experience that comes before real work and serves to socialize individuals into particular organizations and vocations. In contrast, this study seeks to understand how individuals are socialized into broader meanings of work through early, part-time work experiences by studying a Youth Employment Program (YEP) aimed at providing hands-on job opportunities for at-risk youth. Drawing upon in-depth interviews, I analyze what young people learned about work and how such learning occurred. …