Digital Commons Network^™

Capturing The Effects Of Public Opinion Polls On Voter Support In The Ny 25th Congressional Election, Heather Knappen

Theses

This thesis explores the relationship between public opinion polls and voter support and asks whether exposure to a public opinion poll creates an unfair advantage for the candidate winning in that poll. The experimental results from this study were used to test the hypothesis that exposure to an opinion poll, with a wide lead for one of two candidates, would cause voter support to increase for the candidate who was leading in the poll (i.e. a bandwagon effect). In 2012, a random sample of 101 registered voters in the NY 25th Congressional District participated in two telephone surveys. In each …

Tidy Guide – A Beginner’S Guide To An Organized Home, Katie Hollenbeck

Theses

Search for "how to organize" on the web, and you will be inundated with endless resources. Organizing information is everywhere, making the task seem intimidating. For my thesis project, I sought out to create an interactive, instructional, web-based application that would coach users on how to organize objects within a specific space. My goal was to create a unique, visual, creative solution - one that did not already exist on the web, and one that would become an important tool for users who were seeking organizing assistance and advice. Not only did I intend the application to be unique, visual, …

Torino Is My Town, Elisabetta D’Amanda

Theses

Elena is 20 years old. Born in Italy to an Italian mother and an American father she grew up in Rochester, New York and she is currently living in New York City. Like any American kid she is a mix of different cultures, but her Italian roots are very well grounded in her soul. In the summer of 2013, she traveled with her mother to Torino, the town were her mother grew up and the place about which she has always heard many stories. This thesis film will demonstrate that Elena and her mother's trip is not just a geographical …

An Examination Of Nfl’S “A Crucial Catch” Campaign: Nfl Athletes As Disease Prevention Advocates, Chyna Teresa Trible

Theses

This study investigated the National Football League's (NFL) "A Crucial Catch" campaign, identification with NFL athletes, exposure, NFL fanship, and intention to schedule a breast cancer screening and to talk about screenings with others. Participants (N = 119) were solicited through various social media outlets, and through an e-mail listserv from the School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology. The health belief model (Rosenstock, 1966) is used as the main theoretical framework. Hypotheses and research questions are investigated through an online survey mirroring Brown's (2011) valid survey questions investigating identification with NFL athletes. Statistically significant relationships were found between …

The Foundlings, Nadia Adams

Theses

The Foundlings is an exploration of memory and absence through the use of found objects and photographs. In this thesis, memory is understood through the use of the domestic space and the objects found within. The relationship of photography to memory is an integral part of this work. Specifically in the use of found and constructed imagery as related to the family album. The Foundlings uses sculpture, painting, photography, and projection to understand the place of the individual in both a contemporary and historical context.

Comparative Analysis Of Intercultural Communication Apprehension Displayed By International Students In The Us Interacting With American Students And Other Internationals, Laura Nunez Quero

Theses

This study compares the levels of intercultural communication apprehension of two groups of international students in the United States when interacting with American students and with each other. These groups are Indian students and Dominican students. Results indicate no significant difference on the levels of anxiety that both populations experience while interacting interculturally. However, in both cases, subjects with a poorer dominance of the English language, regardless of other variables such as gender and age, experience higher levels of intercultural communication apprehension (ICA).

How Disgust Affects Romantic Attraction: How Our Moods Affect Our Judgments Of Attractiveness, Nicholas Phelan

Theses

Facial attractiveness is an important part of our initial judgments of people and in our ability to determine their compatibility as a mating partner. Just as mating is evolutionarily important, the emotion disgust is one of the most evolutionarily beneficial emotions as it helps keep us away from poisonous and possibly infectious substances or foods. We instinctively avoid people with facial scars and other facial deformities because these are seen as a sign of illness or generally poor well-being. Facial attraction is one component of how we choose a mate. The current experiment examined whether or not being disgusted created …

Analysis Of The Correlation Between Media Consumption Behavior And Cultural Adaptation Of International Students In The United States, Solange M. Mercedes Checo

Theses

International students are a continuously growing population in the United States (Institute of International Education, 2013). Upon arriving in a new country, cultural differences often influence students' preferred media. This paper explores the association between cultural adaptation and media selection among international students in the United States. Uses and gratifications theory is used as a theoretical foundation. A survey was administered to collect data about motives for consuming news, entertainment and sports media content, and level of cultural adaptation among students from different cultural backgrounds. The results suggest the correlation is more relevant for sports, showing that when international students …

Bilingualism, Executive Function, And Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Carina Ann Beck

Theses

In an era where the diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is as high as 7% in school-aged children, the search for causes and preventions has never been more important. Current research indicates a positive relationship between bilingualism, particularly native bilingualism, and executive function in normally developing individuals. This study served to examine the potential relationship between bilingual education in a public school setting and the presence of ADHD symptoms in that school's students. This was a comparative analysis of students in a South Florida School District's two-way immersion program with the national average in terms of frequency of ADHD …

Sensitivity Of Hazus-Mh Flood Loss Estimates To Selection Of Building Parameters: Two Illinois Case Studies, Samir Shrestha

Theses

In this study, Hazus-MH (v 2.1 SP 2) flood-loss estimation tools were assessed for their sensitivity to an array of different building and model parameters. The purpose of this study is to help guide users of the Hazus-MH flood-loss modeling tool in the selection of most appropriate model parameters. Six model parameters (square footage of the building, building age, construction types, foundation types, first floor heights, and the number of stories in the building) were assessed for their impacts on flood losses using the Hazus-MH user defined and aggregate flood-loss models. Building stock databases for these analyses were developed using …

Principals' Integration Of Technology In Education At Sharjah City Governoment Schools, Samer Husni Abdel Khaleq Alsaleh

Theses

School leadership includes several elements; one of them is technology leadership that is necessary for the success of technology integration in education. The purpose of this study is to describe the state of technology integration in Sharjah City Government Schools based on a juxtaposition and comparison of principals' perceived practices of technology integration and teachers' perceptions. This technique of study would help in reaching a more trusted image of technology integration at Sharjah schools. The second purpose was to investigate the influence of the principals' gender on integrating technology in their schools, in addition to identify the main challenges that …

Exploring Cultural Identity: Learning Culture Through Effective Interactive Design, Augie Park

Theses

Culture defines groups of individuals by language, religion, art, or tools. In today's ever growing sector of computers, smart phones, and tablets, mobile technology is used as a means to discover a sense of individuality through wireless devices and essentially the Internet. This is a case study on how to design a better educational app designed to teach culture through visual exploration and user testing. This thesis also explores how design affects behavior through usability. Through an analysis of interdisciplinary subjects, Exploring Cultural Identity aims to provide a visual prototype to teach culture, specifically focusing on Korean art. The goal …

Mookkoori, Myungsuk Kim

Theses

Mookkoori is a 20-minute narrative film written and directed by Myungsuk Kim. The film was completed and shown in May 2014 at the RIT School of Film and Animation's Spring Screenings. The film's main character is Bora, who is the teenage daughter of a shaman in Korea. She is betrayed by Sunhee, her only friend in high school and she is being bullied and threatened by a gang. Bora's mother, who reveals herself to be quack shaman, blames Bora for getting involved in fighting. Fearing for her future, Bora reads her fortune at a shrine and sees three different ways …

Impact Of Guided Inquiry On Tenth Graders’ Understanding Of Chemical Bonds, Badreya Esmaeil Abdul Raheem Al Zarooni

Theses

Students' understandings of scientific conceptions have been of considerable interest to science education researchers and science teachers in recent years. Accordingly, many scholarly studies have been conducted on the students' understandings and misunderstandings, particularly, those concerned with chemistry. For the present study, the term misconception is used to encompass both alternative responses that arise from formal intervention; such as classroom study, as well as those resulted from the students own interactions with, and observations of their surrounding environment. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the understanding of the Grade-10 students about the concepts and misconception regarding the …

Impact Of Guided Inquiry On Tenth Graders' Understanding Of Chemical Bonds, Badreya Esmaeil Abdul Raheem Al Zarooni

Theses

Students’ understanding of scientific conceptions have been of considerable interest to science education researcher and science teacher in recent years. Accordingly,many scholarly studies have been conducted on the students' understandings and misunderstanding, particularly. Those concerned with chemistry. For the present study, the term misconception is used to encompass both alternative responses that arise from formal intervention: such as classroom study as well as those resulted from the student own interaction with, and observation of their surrounding environment

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the understanding of the Grade- students about the concepts and misconception regarding the chemical …

Principals’ Integration Of Technology In Education At Sharjah City Government Schools, Samer Husni Abdel Khaleq Alsaleh

Theses

No abstract provided.

Unmentionable: Socio-Structural Discrimination Of Incontinence; Engendering Dignity By Design, Brendan Charles Gordon

Theses

Although present in medical and historical texts for millennia, urinary incontinence remains a somewhat taboo topic, with both affected individuals and remedies for the condition--such as adult diapers--subject to ridicule, embarrassment, status loss, discrimination, and even exile. Reinforcing this discriminatory behavior, the adult diaper--a spur from the baby diaper invention--tracks a parallel path to incontinence. With diapers and adult incontinence rooted in a misunderstood cross-pollination with infant incontinence, individuals must struggle against known stereotypes and stigmas liable to label them as incompetent, impotent, or unclean. The stigma of incontinence is thus aligned with the diaper, reinforcing social ignorance and discriminating …

Forword: A Study On An Interactive Learning Environment In Foreign Language, Christina A. Curtis

Theses

With constant advances in technology, the world becomes a smaller community each day. In line with its reputation as a cultural melting pot, children of immigrants are the fastest growing student population in the United States today. It's clear that the U.S. needs a strong approach in language education; one that can keep pace with our potential and our lives. Technology can be used to foster student collaboration and shared learning experiences, thereby increasing learner interest, motivation and learning outcomes. ForWord aims to use interaction design in foreign language education to meet this need. ForWord has four main goals: provide …

The Effect Of Optical Brightening Agent (Oba) In Paper And Illumination Intensity On Perceptibility Of Printed Colors, Changlong Yu

Theses

Widely utilized sanctioned color aims for commercial printing are based on paper substrates without optical brightening agents, also known as OBAs. However, in today's market, more and more paper is manufactured with OBAs. This could be problematic for commercial printers as OBAs influence not only paper conformity, but also the accuracy printed colors. This can lead to color mismatch between proofs and the final prints. Recognizing this condition, the objectives of this research were two-fold: first, to verify the perceived color difference between prints due to the presence of OBAs, and second, to study the perceptibility of color differences caused …

The New Relevance: Motives Behind Youtube Use, Xinchen Xu

Theses

This study applies the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) to discover how people are motivated to use YouTube, an example of Internet based technologies, similarly and differently to watch traditional broadcast television. The new features such as commenting, liking and uploading that YouTube offers can be seen as new affordances that might offer ne gratifications to users, which were not found salient to television viewing. A convenience sample of 127 students was recruited to participate in an online survey that included measures of traditional media motives (Rubin, 1983) as well as new media motives adapted from Sundar and Limperos (2013). …

Perceptions And Realities: Contemporary Impressions Of Formative And Temporal Experiences, Holly Lee Brewer

Theses

This thesis describes contemporary, non-traditional printmaking processes aimed at creating a metaphor for our perceptions of time and how the passage of time affects us both internally and externally in our attempt at constructing our self-identity. The language of this metaphor adopts the internal patterns of tree burls and altered pieces of manufactured wood in communicating the transience of time and mutability of memory. Texture is highlighted in many of the pieces for the exhibition, not only with that of irregular wood grain, but also in the series with skin-like handmade flax paper. In order to demonstrate how memory is …

Cyberdemocracy: Assessing The European Parliament, Maria Cataldo

Theses

New information technologies have been widely predicted to change the nature of governance. The Internet has made the ideal of cyberdemocracy more attainable as the world grows smaller and more connected. Although the ideal no longer seems so distant a destination, nagging questions remain: Where is this place? Are we there yet? How much longer? This paper evaluates the website of one of the most powerful legislatures in the world, the European Parliament, to determine where we are, how far we have come, and what remains to be done to achieve the ideal of cyberdemocracy. Five criteria are used in …

Genotypes Frequencies Of Rs9923231 And Rs7294 Snps In The Vkorci Gene Among Emiratis And Their Implications For Warfarin Dosage, Hayat Saad Al-Jaibeji

Theses

Warfarin is the most commonly used oral anticoagulant medication given as a prophylaxis and/or treatment of venous and arterial thromboembolic disorders. Warfarin doses vary up to 10-fold among patients due to pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacogenomics factors. In addition, Warfarin has a low therapeutic index with the risk of developing serious side effects such as severe bleeding or failure of therapy. Therefore, the main challenge to achieve the therapeutic goal in warfarin treatment is estimating the appropriate dose for each patient. It is estimated that pharmacogenomics factors contribute to more than 60% of dose variability. The gene encoding for the target …

Genotypes Frequencies Of Rs9923231 And Rs7294 Snps In The Vkorc1 Gene Among Emiratis And Their Implications For Warfarin Dosage, Hayat Saad Al-Jaibeji Al-Jaibeji

Theses

Warfarin is the most commonly used oral anticoagulant medication given as a prophylaxis and/or treatment of venous and arterial thromboembolic disorders. Warfarin doses vary up to 10-fold among patients due to pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacogenomics factors. In addition, Warfarin has a low therapeutic index with the risk of developing serious side effects such as severe bleeding or failure of therapy. Therefore, the main challenge to achieve the therapeutic goal in Warfarin treatment is estimating the appropriate dose for each patient. It is estimated that pharmacogenomic factors contribute to more than 60% of dose variability. The gene encoding for the target …

A Methodological Framework For Evaluating The Environmental Performance Of Large-Scale Sanitation Systems In Developing Countries, Pedro Cruz-Diloné

Theses

It is 2014 and approximately 40% of the world population still has no access to adequate sanitary toilets. For these 2.6 billion people the problem is not only finding a safe and dignified place to defecate, but also trying to combat deadly diseases associated with the exposure to pathogens in feces left on the ground or near waterways. Improving sanitation is not only favorable to health, but also promotes dignity, economic benefits and environmental conservation. Although there have been numerous efforts to improve sanitation systems in the developing world, adoption rates and long term use are relatively low due to …

Metacognition And Decision-Making Style In Clinical Narratives, Limor Hochberg

Theses

Clinical decision-making has high-stakes outcomes for both physicians and patients, yet little research has attempted to model and automatically annotate such decision-making. The dual process model (Evans, 2008) posits two types of decision-making, which may be ordered on a continuum from intuitive to analytical (Hammond, 1981). Training clinicians to recognize decision-making style and select the most appropriate mode of reasoning for a

particular context may help reduce diagnostic error (Norman, 2009).

This study makes preliminary steps towards detection of decision style, based on an annotated dataset of image-based clinical reasoning in which speech data were collected from physicians as they …

Museum Visitors’ Perceptions Of Mobile Games: A Case Study, Sarah Exley Ozimek

Theses

Previous research in mobile gaming focused on use among grade school students and heavy gamers (e.g., Groff, Howells, & Cranmer, 2010; Poels, Kort, & Ijsselsteijn, 2012), but little is known about museum visitor usage. This study examined museum visitors' mobile technology habits and perceived uses of mobile games in museums. A survey of individuals on a local museum's mailing list found a positive relationship between visitors' familiarity with mobile devices and their perceptions of enjoyment and learning experiences with mobile games. This indicates that mobile games may be a welcome addition to the museum experience for heavy users of mobile …

A Study Of Nucleosome Sequence And Relative Position To Gene Transcription Start Sites In Yeast And Human Genomes, Greg Wright

Theses

The positions of nucleosomes were studied to determine the relationship between sequence and relative position to transcription start sites. Five sets of nucleosome data were analyzed from yeast and human cell lines; the nucleosomes were categorized based on the weak and strong dinucleotide frequency within the major and minor grooves of the nucleosomal DNA. The relative positions and density of nucleosomes were determined around transcription start sites and compared to gene expression data. The yeast data sets consisted of different collection techniques and cell environments to confirm that the nucleosome tendencies were not a factor of a particular data set. …

Use Of Mobile Technology Among Museum Visitors: A Case Study, Meg Miller Taber

Theses

Museums have employed mobile modes of communication for decades: pamphlets and audio tours. The popularity of mobile technology prompted museums to integrate mobile experiences with personal devices. A survey collected information from the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) email list to understand adoption of MAG's mobile experience through the lens of the technology acceptance model to learn how perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use influence visitors use or intent to use MAGart 2.0. The study proposed two museum specific variables, MAG frequency of visitation and MAG engagement, to examine adoption of MAGart 2.0. Results suggest behavioral intention and actual use …

Putting Men Back In The Menstrual Cycle: A Qualitative Analysis Of Men's Perceptions Of Menstruation, Katherine Fishman

Theses

Although menstruation is typically regarded as an indication of health (Kissling, 1996), strong cultural messages about menstruation perpetuate the belief that it is dirty, disgusting and a state that must be managed (Ussher, 2006). Many women internalize this belief and go to great lengths to hide their menstrual status (Chrisler, 2007). Negative attitudes toward menstruation have been linked to decreased body satisfaction (Schooler, Ward, Meriwether, & Caruthers, 2005), perceptions of decreased competence and likability (Roberts, Goldenberg, Power, & Pyszynski, 2002), and the belief that menstruating women are more emotional, less attractive, and more irritable than non-menstruating women (Forbes, Adams-Curtis, White, …