Digital Commons Network^™

Enhancing Student And Graduate Employability In The Hospitality Industry: A Video Project, Thyagarajan V. Ammachathram

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Employment interviews are designed to judge the qualifications and desirability of a candidate for a job. Research shows that interviews are incredibly important in getting the right job. A study conducted by the Bureau of National Affairs pinpointed the most important factors in hiring applicants, with employment interviews being the single most important factor in getting a job (Elfner, 2006). Hospitality firms are placing greater emphasis on the ability of graduates to fit within their businesses (Pittaway & Thedham, 2005). Even though qualifications and skills are vital for selection, candidates should know how to set themselves apart from other candidates …

Understanding The Experience Of Teenage Parents: An Empirical Examination Of Attitudes And Expectations Among Education Professionals, Janet Lynn Pietrowski

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Approximately 10% of all adolescents between 15-19 years old in the United States become pregnant, with about half of these pregnancies resulting in birth. Several variables have been correlated with long-term outcomes for teenage mothers, including poor academic achievement, lower occupational attainment, poor mental health, and socioeconomic hardship. Social support is one factor that moderates these outcomes. This study employed the use of written vignettes to examine differences in expectations for success (educational, economic, and psychological) that educational professionals have for teenage mothers and non-mother adolescents (N=145). Vignettes were varied according to levels of social support and parenting status, with …

Student Prosocial Behavior In Selected Elementary Classroom, Janet L. Fisher

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Contribution Of Self-Determination Theory To An Understanding Of Psychological Distress Among Young Adults: Mediation Of Practical Involvement And Autonomy Support By Autonomy, Controlled, And Impersonal Orientations, Bradley D. Rockafellow

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The concept of autonomy, as conceptualized by SDT researchers, in relationship to the development of psychopathology has received little empirical attention. According to Selfdetermination theory (SDT; Ryan, Deci, & Grolnick, 1995), if parents facilitate, rather than undermine, the critical parenting dimensions of autonomy support, involvement, and structure, then children will develop as psychologically healthy adults. In addition, SDT would also predict that based on these critical parenting dimensions, children will develop differential inner motivational orientations (i.e., autonomy, control, and impersonal) representing varying degrees of autonomy (i.e., self determined behavior), which in turn should predict psychological distress or health. To test …

An Analysis Of A Developmental Kindergarten And Pre-First Program And Their Effects On Academic And Behavior Outcomes, Amanda R. Reenders

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Study Of Athletic Apparel Made From Cotton/Flax, Cotton/Polyester, And Polyester/Flax Blends, Elizabeth Skomra

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The desired attributes of sports apparel garments are to have durability characteristics, such as tearing and tensile strength, and comfort characteristics, such as wicking, vapor transmission, and air permeability. Currently, most sports apparel is made from a blend of polyester or other synthetic fibers. Through examining the uniqueness of natural fibers, such as cotton and flax, the advantages and benefits of using a higher percentage of natural fibers when manufacturing comfortable and functional high performance athletic wear can be obtained.

Results from this study, regarding durability, determined that for both tearing and breaking strength, traditional sports apparel made with polyester/cotton …

An Ecological Momentary Assessment Of Retrospective Memory Accuracy In Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Andrew T. Gloster

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Numerous studies have demonstrated the pervasiveness of inaccuracies in patients’ retrospective recall of their symptoms (e.g., Stone, Broderick, Shiffman, & Schwartz, 2004). Assessment methods that rely heavily on retrospective recall may lead to faulty clinical inferences should a patient’s recall be biased or inaccurate. Despite lingering concerns about the accuracy of retrospective recall in a variety of clinical and nonclinical populations, investigators have not studied individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This is troubling given findings from laboratory studies that OCD patients may have deficits in episodic memory (Muller & Roberts, 2005). This study investigated memory accuracy in OCD patients …

Perception And Implementation Of Sustainable/Green Design In India, Shalini Nagaraj Magadi

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Profound effects of global warming, species extinction, pollution of air and water, resource depletion, and population growth demand that India, the second most populated country in the world, address the need for ecological responsibility. This phenomenological study explored awareness and perceptions of green/sustainable (G/S) design in India’s design community. Architects in the five geographic regions were interviewed. All were familiar with S/G design and said knowledge was “very important.” However, none felt “well-versed.” They believed lack of client awareness (49%) and materials (28%) were the major problems encountered. Although the vast majority was willing to promote S/G design, none had …

A Causal Comparative Factorial Analysis Of Factors Affecting Service Level Agreements In A U.S. Navy Enterprise Information Systems Network, Jamie Lee Quintana

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This paper presents the results of a research study related to the Navy and Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI). This study used MANOVA and one-way ANOVA, including post hoc tests, to analyze data sets corresponding to service level agreement metrics for over 300 Navy sites. Within the NMCI network, factors size, server farm, Network Operations Center (NOC), area, region, and group are affecting the performance metrics as defined in the service level agreements (SLA). Each one of the factors is statistically disparate for at least one SLA. Checks for normality indicate nonnormal behavior for most data sets. The results, conclusions, and …

A Conceptual Plan For The Detroit Book And Tower Building: Exploration Of The Conjunction Of Historic Preservation And Sustainable Design Concepts, Chi-Ying Luo

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This conceptual project generated an adaptive reuse proposal for the Book and Tower Building in a registered historic district. Louis Kamper designed the thirteen-story Book Building in 1917, in the Beaux Arts style, to create elite shops and offices. In 1926 the thirty-six-story Tower Building extended the leaseable space. This proposal preserved and rehabilitated the historic features in the lobby area and renovated the retail spaces. An Asian Café was designed to contrast, but blend with, the Beaux Arts style. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation were followed in the lobby area so as to make the renovation …

Relationships Of Habitat Characteristics To The Relative Abundance Of Native And Invasive Amphipods In Western Lake Erie, James P. Duggan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Telemedicine And Ptsd Assessment Of Veterans: A Study Of Equivalence Between Videoconferencing (Vtc) And Face-To-Face (Ftf) Methods, Carole Porcari

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Telemedicine systems use telecommunications technology to provide health care services to clients with distance barriers to providers. This is relevant for America’s veterans who require services for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but find that these specialty services are not always available locally. This study compared a face-to-face (FTF) Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) interview and a videoconferencing (VTC) administration of the CAPS. Participants were 20 male veterans referred to a veteran’s affairs center for a PTSD assessment. Correlations between assessments ranged from .74 - .92, and statistical equivalence was demonstrated at 90% confidence intervals. Sensitivity of the VTC interview was found …

Causal Attributions And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The Relationships Among Dispositional Attributional Style, Trauma-Specific Attributions, And Ptsd, Sarah Reiland

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The learned helplessness model (Seligman, 1975) and its various revisions suggest that both dispositional attributional style and event-specific attributions may influence people’s responses to events. Attribution theory has been applied to the search for risk and resiliency factors in trauma survivors, but few studies have compared dispositional attributional style with traumaspecific attributions in relation to posttraumatic stress symptoms. In addition, studies of attributions and PTSD fail to take into account the importance to the individual of the events about which attributions are made. The importance of the situation is a key component of the hopelessness model. Attributions for causes of …

The Evolution Of Catholic Schools In The Diocese Of Grand Rapids, Michigan: A Case Study, Bernard T. Stanko

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This longitudinal case study examined the origins, growth, and development of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The purpose of this study was to understand how the Catholic schools evolved over time.

Four eras between 1833 and 2005 were investigated and described. Each era corresponds with changes to the physical size of the Diocese of Grand Rapids. These periods also correspond to sociological events that were also occurring. Data on Catholic schools were collected for each era. A conceptual framework was applied that considered the institutional environment in which the schools were founded and the task environment …

Analysis Of Tailpipe Particulate Matter Emission From A Sampling Of Kansas City Vehicles, Erika Louise Roesler

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

As the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks to model vehicle emissions based on dynamic engine operating conditions, modal PM datasets will be investigated for their robustness and limitations under the requirements of the EPA’s model: MOVES. The Kansas City PM Characterization Study tested more than 500 light-duty gasoline cars and trucks on a dynamometer in summertime and wintertime temperatures with four different modal PM2.5 instruments.

Using data reduction techniques used to prepare other datasets for the MOVES model, the modal PM data were analyzed to determine its ability to be incorporated into MOVES. It was found through averages …

Family In The Church Latter-Day Saint Doctrine Regarding Family And Gender, Amber Jean Seidel

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

To discover the compatibility of traditional Christianity and mainstream feminism, a content analysis was performed on confirmed sources of doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Through systematic reading and identifying themes of God and the Bible, gender role separation, patriarchy, or domestic violence, an analysis of pertinent feminist criticisms was performed. Latter-day Saint doctrine of family includes the following statements: (1) there is a Heavenly Mother as a divine partner to Heavenly Father, (2) the Bible contains errors regarding respect toward women, (3) women need to be active in education, home, and community, (4) men should …

Perceived Stressors, Coping Strategies, And Burnout Pertaining To Psychiatric Nurses Working On Locked Psychiatric Units, Richard A. White

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe perceived occupational stressors, coping strategies, and burnout levels of psychiatric nurses working on locked psychiatric units in southeastern Michigan (N = 46), as well as to examine the relationships among demographic factors and these variables. This study utilized a correlation design, adapting the stress, coping, and burnout theoretical frameworks of Seyle, Lazarus, Folkman, and Maslach.

The results indicated that the majority of psychiatric nurses in this study were experiencing low levels of stress and moderate levels of burnout. The findings suggested that staffing issues were an important factor in determining stress …

Increased Expression Of Nadp Malic Enzyme In The Guard Cells Of Arabidopsis Plants, Pooja Thakur

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Plants lose their water as transpiration by stomatal opening, which is governed by guard cells surrounding the stomata. Influx of ions such as K⁺, Cl-, from neighboring cells into guard cells, and malate synthesis within guard cells increases turgor pressure opening the stomata. Stomata close when K⁺ and Cl- efflux out, and the cytosolic isoform of NADP ME convert malate to pyruvate. We hypothesize that stomatal closure can be controlled by increased NADP ME activity in guard cells. More than one of the homozygous transgenic Arabidopsis plants that are transformed with a guard cell promoter driving expression …

Motivations Of Professional Strippers, Lisa Monchalin

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research studied 470 different strippers across the globe through a content analysis of messages exchanged in a stripper-oriented discussion group. Stripping literature has primarily focused on the external rewards of stripping and has found that the primary motivation for engaging in stripping is the economic gain. This research revealed that there are other motivations to stripping beside just economic. Nonmonetary motivations were significantly important to the strippers; and were discussed more than monetary motivations.

Significant unexpected findings included the fact that strippers feel that their job is similar to service type jobs. Multivariate analyses revealed that strippers who discuss …

Ottoman Empire's Role In The Emergence Of The "European" World System, Sakin Erin

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In this study I will be focusing on classical world system theory. I will discuss the revisions that are done to the system and how these revisions opened up possibilities to include the Ottoman Empire in the world system. The categories that were created by Immanuel Wallerstein to depict the world system, such as core, semi-periphery, periphery countries, and hegemonic states, suggest that a major actor in the system is left out. I will present historical facts showing how the Ottoman Empire and the Europeans were in a constant interaction. This interaction took place in different forms that were important …

Construction Of National Identity And National Pride Of Germans In The Intercultural Context, Nadja Koening

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

National identity and patriotism are very problematic and highly sensitive concepts in contemporary Germany. Many scholars agree that a positive national identity is crucial for a nation’s well-being. This research attempts to investigate the process of forming a national identity and the display of national pride in the intercultural communication context. One focus group was conducted to analyze how Germans construct and/or reinvent their national identity when communicating with individuals from other nations.

The results show that German national identity and national pride are strongly intertwined and poise a unique problem for every German. Germans have major difficulties in developing …

Implementation Of Labcreator And The Integration Of Cyberlab, Kang Zhao

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

With the development of the World Wide Web, online courses are becoming more and more popular in modern science education. CyberLab aims to solve an important issue in distance science education -- laboratory experiments in online courses. It is a toolkit that handles creation, exportation, and execution of virtual experiments (within web browsers). It consists of LabCreator and LabExecutor. With LabCreator, instructors can create virtual experiments and export them into intermediate files. Students can download those files from online course websites and execute them in LabExecutor on their own computers.

The paper reports on the completion of two important tasks …

Elementary Music Assessment And Report Card Practices In Livingston County, Michigan, Jennifer R. Patterson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This descriptive study explored how elementary schools in the five public school districts in Livingston County, Michigan, report musical achievement to parents. The purposes were to examine what is assessed in K–4 music classrooms, what grading systems are used to report the assessment data, and how school districts use report cards to convey information about students’ musical progress to parents. The study involved questioning district curriculum directors, elementary school principals, and music teachers with response rates above 70%. In addition, music report cards were reviewed and a small sample of parents were surveyed. Analysis of descriptive statistics revealed that elementary …

Cultural Resilience--A Currency Of Social Capital: Counteracting Student Marginalization In Two Urban--Suburban High Schools, Marci A. Erby

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative research study began as an exploration of the central qualities of the lived experience of students in two urban-suburban high schools where, as an outcome of rapid demographic change, White students now represent the nontraditional racial minority and Black students represent the racial majority. Semistructured interviews, the primary method of data collection, were conducted with students who had graduated from the high schools under study and with adults who had significant ties to the district. Student informants, in particular, shared high school experiences of marginalization that included silence, rendered invisibility, stereotyping, and bias owing in large part to …

The Effects Of The Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program On Reading Fluency And Comprehension Of At-Risk First-Graders, Andrea R. Van Der Laan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this research study was to determine the impact of the Lindamood-Bell Phoneme Sequencing Program on phonemic awareness, reading fluency, and comprehension of at-risk first graders in one southwestern Michigan school district.

In the first phase of this research, baseline data in phonemic awareness and fluency scores were collected from two different first-grade classrooms to determine which students would be chosen for the study. The final study included 32 students, 16 from the experimental school and 16 from the control school. Both schools had similar demographic populations. In the second phase of the study, data were collected …

Coping And Quality Of Life Of Adolescents With Idiopathic Scoliosis, Elizabeth Shannon Kuhl

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

How adolescents cope with the stress of bracing or spinal fusion surgery for idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and how coping might impact quality of life (QOL) for this population is unknown. The primary aim of this study was thus to examine these relationships.

Forty-eight adolescents participated in this cross-sectional study and completed the SRS-22r, the PedsQL, and the A-COPE during regularly scheduled orthopedic appointments. Treatment groups did not differ significantly on either dimension of coping (approach or avoidant) or on either measure of quality of life. In addition, neither dimension of coping moderated QOL. However, higher use of avoidant …

Beliefs About Parenting And How It Affects A Child's Education, Korin Crandall Quinn

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The researcher studied the cultural trends of a group of at-risk mothers who reside within Kent County, the majority of whom live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The null hypothesis states: Environmental and cultural beliefs do not affect generational parenting beliefs or risk factors within the Kent County and Grand Rapids area. Cultural factors and four areas of the mothers’ lives were studied: (a) number of parents within the household, (b) parental levels of education, (c) socioeconomic status, and (d) occurrence ratio of low birth weight.

Mothers (n=37) responded to questionnaires; 24 were interviewed in person; 13 completed questionnaire forms on …

Socialization Of Undergraduate Engineering Students Into Work-Experienced Organizations And Occupational Roles Through A Cooperative Education Program, Chris Plouff

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated cooperative education as an organizational phenomenon using a qualitative approach. The objectives of this study were to 1) describe the experiences of students entering an organization through a cooperative education program; 2) describe the organizational processes used to introduce students into an organization and occupational roles through a work experience; 3) understand any common patterns or themes associated with these experiences; 4) develop a model or framework that describes the processes used in these settings; and 5) determine activities and processes that will better facilitate the student’s movement from the education to the work environment through a …

To Be Acknowledged As Citizens, Danielle Leigh Troia

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This paper takes another look at the displacement of lesbians and gays from civic society by being prohibited from accessing marriage rights. First, certain events in anti-gay discrimination and marriage history that contributed to the second-class citizenship of lesbians and gays are reviewed. Second, a look at how the secondclass citizenship is unique to lesbians and gays is examined. Finally, this paper looks at the marriage, fatherhood, and faith-based initiatives under welfare reform and how they reinforce heterosexual marriage and family in American society.

After extensive research, I have found that the roles of the initiatives under welfare reform have …

Conditional Error Variance In The Wisc-Iv, Laszlo Attila Erdodi

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Measurement error at different ability levels in the WISC-IV was studied to empirically test the conditional error variance hypothesis. Graduate students in clinical psychology at a Midwestern university scored fictitious WISC-IV Vocabulary subtests constructed to yield actual scaled scores of 4, 10, and 16. Classical measurement theory assumes error rate will be constant across the three conditions. Modern test theories (Item Response Theory), however, predict that the precision of a measurement instrument will change as a function of the examinee's ability level. Data supported the conditional error variance hypothesis. Scorers made significantly more errors in the low- and high-abilitylevel conditions …