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Acculturation And Seeking Campus Counseling Services Among Saudi International Students In The United States: An Intrepretative Phenomenological Analysis, Abdullah Almutairi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study adopts a phenomenological qualitative approach to explore and examine the acculturation process of Saudi students living in the United States, particularly in relation to their access to campus counseling services. The findings of this study identify five themes: 1) premigration expectations and realities, 2) journey of cultural adaptation, 3) navigating academic adaptations, 4) coping with acculturation and academic pressures, and 5) expectations of services provided by campus counseling experiences. This study highlights that the acculturation journey is a complex experience that affects Saudi students’ psychological well-being, which hinders their access to campus counseling services. The purpose of this …

The Relationship Between Nutrient Intake And Performance Recovery In Ncaa Softball Athletes, Derionne Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collegiate athletes are faced with the challenge of maintaining optimal performance outcomes in spite of their demanding training schedules. As a result, athletes rely on recovery strategies such as nutrition and adequate sleep to optimize their recovery in these shortened windows. This study aimed to explore the relationship between dietary intake, sleep, and athletic performance in female collegiate athletes (N=27) using dietary recalls analyzed using the Nutrition Data System for Research, self-reported sleep data, and data collected using PERCH devices. Twenty-seven current members of a collegiate softball team participated in the data collection throughout their fall season (August – December). …

"A Transient Veil": Appropriation Of Exclusionary Form In Eighteenth-Century Women's Writing, Andrea Ferniany

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“’A Transient Veil’ : Appropriation of Exclusionary Form in Eighteenth-Century Women’s Writing” is an exploration of how women writers of the eighteenth century strategically and subversively appropriated patriarchal, often misogynistic, literary idioms to expand literary discourse and craft flexible, alternative, and feminine literary forms. It emerges from the desire to underscore what rhetorical features of women’s writing can tell us about the creative agency of women writers. By exclusionary form, I mean to reference both rhetorical conventions and aesthetic traditions that excluded women writers by assuming a male subject position or by the explicit objectification of feminine figures. This dissertation …

Community Engagement/Involvement In School Life: Connecting The Missing Pieces Between School And Community, Shanika Hardy-Hickmon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Long Creek Elementary School is a small, rural school with approximately 292 students in Sallis, Mississippi. Long Creek Elementary School has historically struggled with stronger parent involvement in their children’s school life. To address this concern, the administration, faculty, and staff at Long Creek Elementary School targeted barriers to parental involvement/engagement to increase community engagement/involvement in school life and connect the missing pieces between school and community. This has led to discussions of the creation of a parent center to provide parents with daily support and needed resources to contribute to their child/children’s academic success.

The purpose of this study …

Exploring The Role Of Chief Marketing Officer In Profit And Non-Profit Organizations, Aisha Ghimire

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the significance of marketing in top management teams (TMTs) by examining three key areas: CMO studies in marketing strategy literature, the role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in non-profit TMTs, and the role of CMO in crises such as privacy policy changes. Through a combination of panel data analysis, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, and event studies, this dissertation investigates the influence of CMOs and provides insights for both researchers and practitioners. Overall, the essays aim to test the relevance of CMO presence in different contexts, given that the title of CMO is a significant representation …

Crosscultural Backchannelling Responses Among Second Language Learners, Chien-Hui Hsu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Backchannel responses (Yngve, 1970) have always been an essential component of conversational interactions that facilitate speaker-listener engagement and mutual shaping of narratives (Bavelas et al., 2000). This study aims to investigate the cross-linguistic difference in backchannelling responses between Taiwan Mandarin and English (General American) second language (L2) learners, and how those differences might impact communication in a cross-cultural classroom. The current study examines 20 participants, ten each from Taiwan Mandarin speakers and American English speakers. Each speaker was observed in an online conversation to eliminate the influence of non-verbal cues such as gestures and facial expressions. The backchannelling responses they …

The Metaphysics Of Creaturely Love In The Philosophy Of Anne Conway, Jeremiah Joseph Langer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A common belief during the early modern period held that humans bear ethical relations only to creatures with whom we share the right kinds of similarity. A tradition attributed to René Descartes holds speciesist and anthropocentric views according to which nonhuman animals are mere automata who lack rational minds. Even Baruch Spinoza, who was much more radical in his Ethics, suggests creaturely similarity is restricted to beings with rationality. As such, Descartes and Spinoza conclude that lower beings cannot be morally evaluated for their actions and humans cannot be morally evaluated for their treatment of lower creatures. In her sole …

Examining Institutional Effectiveness Planning As A Tool To Advance Student Success Outcomes For Underrepresented Males, Jazmine Kelley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Higher education should operate as a tool by which democratic equality is enhanced for the betterment of society and its occupants; however, there are systemic inequities as it pertains to educational attainment for different groups when considering race, ethnicity, and sex (Anthony et al., 2021a). More often than not, male collegiates that hold racial and ethnic identities outside of the cultural majority have less than satisfactory student success outcomes when compared to their female as well as White counterparts. As scholars have noted, the burden of improvement and advancement of these outcomes should be placed on the institutions rather than …

The Third Ethos: Asexual Potentialities In Transnational Literature Between 1900-1926, Kimberly Allyn Kotel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Third Ethos responds to the call put forth by sexuality studies for more extensive research into asexualities as a burgeoning field of identity and modality. At the same time, it furthers recent literary scholarship that locates the origins of modernism in earlier aesthetic movements such as symbolism, decadence, and aestheticism, underscoring the influence of modernization on artistic output during the fin de siècle while concurrently contributing to the development of Decadent studies. Analyzing Rachilde’s La Jongleuse, Willa Cather’s O Pioneers!, and Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes, I argue that the Western sociocultural understanding of sex that existed in the …

Bigger Than Bees: Victorian England’S Relationship To The Bee – Considering Symbolism And Understanding, Grace Jacqueline Kaim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The complex and beautiful relationship the people in Victorian England had to the bee is one that goes beyond ideas of politics and religion. This thesis will explore this relationship by utilizing print, ephemera, jewelry, and household items, to demonstrate how the representation and symbolism of the bee was recognized and cherished by Victorians. While bees did certainly have an intimate relationship to the areas of politics and religion, one that is acknowledged throughout this work, their connection to grander themes of introspection, industrialism, folklore, morality, and status helps us understand the Victorians on a deeper level.

Examining The Impact Of Mississippi's Early Learning Collaboratives In Supporting Children From Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds With Autism, Lisa Suzanne Ryals

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mississippi established the Early Learning Collaborative Act, MS Code § 37-21-51 (2023), in 2013 to expand pre-k opportunities statewide. This study examined the processes within Mississippi’s Early Learning Collaboratives that support school readiness for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds with autism. Improving access, participation, and supports for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds with autism by increasing the components of high-quality inclusive settings allows children to gain the necessary readiness skills for kindergarten. A policy analysis of the Mississippi Early Learning Act (2023) established the first phase of the research, followed by focus groups from the Mississippi Department of Education Office …

A Qualitative Examination Of The Interplay Of Attachment Styles, The Supervisory Relationship & Counseling Self-Efficacy, Kamiron Ball Tran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological qualitative study explores the intricate dynamics between attachment styles, the supervisory relationship, and counseling self-efficacy among supervisory dyads in counseling. The findings reveal five themes: supervision is relational, supervision is a therapeutic space, security within supervision bolsters self-efficacy, supervision is a mirror for clinical practice, and the nuanced "both/and" nature of attachment and self-efficacy dynamics. This study addresses a gap in the literature by offering qualitative insights into the interplay of attachment styles, supervisory relationship, and counselor self-efficacy, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of the complexities within supervisory practices in counseling.

The Value Of Empathy For Teachers In Nontraditional Classrooms, Mindy Clair Waldrop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about the experience of teachers in nontraditional classrooms, particularly those in Juvenile Detention Centers (JDCs). Using the tenets of hermeneutic phenomenology this study interpreted the lived experience of teachers in nontraditional classrooms. Hermeneutic principles involve using texts, including interview transcripts, to develop understanding and interpret meaning. Following interviews with teachers currently practicing in the JDC nontraditional classroom setting, the researcher engaged in the hermeneutic circle of understanding, which requires an ongoing commitment to the attitude of hermeneutic phenomenology and reflection (Alsaigh & Coyne, 2021). Four themes emerged as significant to the experience of teachers and their use …

Dixieland Do Sul: Brazilian Racial Democracy And The Recontextualization Of Transnational Confederate Symbols (Vol. 1), Maximilian Xavier Conrad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following their defeat in the American Civil War, tens of thousands of American Southerners, many of them former Confederates, fled the United States to seek out new homelands in Latin America. Thousands would set their sights on Brazil, encouraged by the promise of arable land and the prospect of a new society in one of the hemisphere’s last slaveholding societies. Though many of these Confederados returned to the United States after Reconstruction, their influential presence in Brazil has remained a persistent factor. What has been the resulting impact of this nineteenth century Confederate immigration? This thesis volume will argue that …

Dixieland Do Sul: Brazilian Racial Democracy And The Recontextualization Of Transnational Confederate Symbols (Vol. 2), Maximilian Xavier Conrad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following their defeat in the American Civil War, tens of thousands of American Southerners, many of them former Confederates, fled the United States to seek out new homelands in Latin America. Thousands would set their sights on Brazil, encouraged by the promise of arable land and the prospect of a new society in one of the hemisphere’s last slaveholding societies. Though many of these Confederados returned to the United States after Reconstruction, their influential presence in Brazil has remained a persistent factor. This thesis volume will focus on a semiotic struggle over the role of transnational Confederate symbols in the …

Using The Disc Personality Assessment To Enhance Organizational Climate And Culture At A Mississippi University, Brian Carlyle Grizzell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Employee turnover presents a costly challenge for institutions of higher learning. This includes significant financial burdens, diminished productivity, and disruptions in business operations. Moreover, high employee turnover erodes morale and negatively influences organizational climate and culture. According to the literature, many organizations have incorporated tools such as the DiSC, a personality assessment tool that measures individuals’ behavioral styles based on four key traits: Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C), to enhance team cohesion and improve person-environment fit (PE-Fit). However, limited research exists on whether the DiSC assessment is effective in addressing these issues in a higher education …

Quality & Credibility Ff Adhd Information On Social Media And Adhd Help-Seeking Intentions, Saara Zakkiya Nasruddin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: There is an increased prevalence of adult Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and stimulant prescription use in the United States, especially when compared to years prior to 2020. Due to accessibility and popularity of ADHD on social media, many individuals gain information on ADHD from these sources. People may view information on social media as credible due to its ability to provide connection, community, and empowerment. However, content analyses of ADHD information on social media show the quality of content on social media is poor. These content analyses utilized outdated quality evaluation tools that are not specific for social media. Principles …

Student Informed Instruction: Vertical Non Permanent Surfaces, Cononiah L. Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I, an 8th grade mathematics teacher, have used vertical dry erase boards in my classroom for years to promote student engagement and perseverance after participating in a book study on Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedahl. Year after year, the implementation of this strategy was constantly refined based on research, other teachers’ experiences, and my perceived notions of students’ experiences while at the dry erase boards. I never, however, asked students to thoughtfully share their experiences. In this study, I introduce the method of student informed instruction to refine how I use vertical dry erase boards in my classroom. After …

Persuasion Knowledge In A Post-Truth Era, Emma Welch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Commenting on a world replete with conspiracy theories, fake news, and virality on social media, some have dubbed the era we are currently living in as the “post-truth” era, defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”. The post-truth era is said to affect how individuals make decisions, form opinions, and communicate with one another. Although many frameworks have emerged along the way that describe how consumers deal with persuasive communication, truthful or otherwise, emerging technology has added a new layer to the …

Substance Use Amongst Veterans Following Post-Deployment Reintegration: An Examination Through The Lens Of Acculturation, Brittany Hampton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Each year, approximately 46.3 million Americans are diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD), which costs the United States healthcare system approximately $13 billion in annual costs. One group particularly at risk for SUD is veterans due to the unique stressors that veterans face (e.g., being apart from loved ones, exposure to life threatening events, transitioning between military and civilian life) and a military culture that often reinforces maladaptive patterns of substance use. Little research has been done to examine substance use as a negative outcome associated with the acculturative experience veterans face when transitioning from military life back to civilian …

Make It Funny! Developing A Novel Humor-Based Digital Positive Psychology Intervention To Investigate The Influence Of Duchenne Laughter And Mirth On Psychological Distress In Daily Life, Joshua Semko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the present research was to develop a novel digital humor-based PPI (Make it Funny!) to investigate the influence of Duchenne laughter and mirth on psychological distress in daily life. Participants (N = 159; Agemedian = 39 years; 47.77% biologically female; 68.15% White) were tasked with completing Make it Funny! or a placebo activity every day for 7 days. Duchenne laughter frequency had a small negative cross-sectional moderation effect on the relationship between the occurrence of stressful events and psychological distress (t(79.71) = -2.33, b = -10.89, p = .022). Within participants, Duchenne laughter frequency slightly increased the …

Lesbian Ferality: Ecco/Kin Disturbance In Sapphic Modernist Literature, Kara Michelle Russell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lesbian Ferality: Eco/Kin Disturbance in Sapphic Modernist Literature considers the intersections of lesbian literature, queer modernity, and multispecies ecofeminisms in its discussion of literary kinship and worldmaking practices. Colette’s La Naissance du jour (1928), Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929), Olive Moore’s Spleen (1930), and Djuna Barnes’s Nightwood (1936) are all texts committed to unsettling various binaries through attempts at non-normative kinship. This dissertation examines these attempts and encounters as modes of disturbance for personal and political ends. The limiting dualities of natural/unnatural, political/anti-social, insider/outsider, and domestic/wild are challenged by an attention to and intimacy with nonhuman entities that I term lesbian …

The Perceived Effects On The Motivation, Anxiety, And Online Language Learning Of Saudi Efl Learners During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Ali Hasan Alamry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although many restrictions initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic are no longer imposed, massive changes across the globe have impacted online language learning afterward. Technology infrastructure, students' and teachers' digital literacy, and proper distance learning pedagogies were among the challenges of online learning during the pandemic. Nevertheless, valuable lessons can be learned from the pandemic to better handle online language learning classes in the future. Globally, increasing attention in the literature has been directed toward the effects of the pandemic on L2 learners' different affective factors. Locally, this study focuses on the perceived impacts on Saudi EFL learners' motivation, anxiety, and …

Exploring The Perspectives Of Black Male Students At An Hbcu In Rural Mississippi And The Role Non-Cognitive Factors Within A First-Year Experience Program Play In Their Continued Enrollment, Billy J. Benson, Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Retention and graduation rates are declining nationwide but are exceptionally low for Black men. Extant research substantiates that various influences contribute to a student’s ability to persist to graduation. Apart from the positive impact of HBCUs on educational outcomes for Black students, empirical research highlights that enrollment, campus engagement, retention, success, and graduation are problematic (Palmer et al., 2013). Many factors—academic and non-cognitive—affect a student’s ability to persist to graduation (Bosco, 2021).

This problem of practice (PoP) explores the perspectives of Black male students at an HBCU in rural Mississippi and the role non-cognitive factors within a first-year experience program …

Campus Recreation Student Employee Professional Development Curriculum: Perceived Student Employee Outcomes, Amanda Alpert Jessee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kuh and colleagues (2008) use the term high-impact practices (HIPs) to describe co-curricular programs that are particularly effective in advancing student learning. The original list of HIPs does not include campus employment, which McClellan et al. (2018) argued should be added. According to the results from the 2019 NASPA survey reported by Burnside et al., recreational services is one of the top three areas in the number of student staff members. These student employees tend to come from a diverse academic background (Kampf & Teske, 2013) and may not be pursuing a future career within the recreation field. Campus recreation …

An Applied Research Study On Improving Special Education Identification And Support For Grades 3-6: Assessing The Impact Of The Tier 3 Process, Nickie Malone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Addressing the urgent need for effective literacy instruction, especially for students with diverse learning needs, is paramount in today's educational landscape. This dissertation investigates the implementation and impact of the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework, particularly the Tier 3 process, at AUES in grades 3-6. The study aims to shed light on the systemic gaps in special education identification and support, evolving pedagogical approaches, and the role of educators and institutions in shaping literacy outcomes.

Grounded in the principles of equity and inclusion, the MTSS framework emerges as a promising avenue for providing personalized support and instruction tailored to …

Efficient Design Of Neural Network Hardware Accelerator For Enhanced Performance In Deep Learning Systems, Tamador Nadem Mohaidat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Artificial intelligence (AI) hardware accelerator is an emerging research for several applications and domains. The hardware accelerator aims to provide high computational speed while retaining low cost and high learning performance. The main challenge is to design complex machine learning models on hardware with high performance. In this thesis, the aim is to develop the hardware implementation of perceptron within a neural network. Innovative hardware-based approaches are explored to optimize perceptron networks, enhancing accuracy, reliability, and fault tolerance while minimizing resource requirements and power consumption.

A thorough investigation into machine learning accelerators and associated challenges was initially conducted. The hardware …

Understanding Recruitment Practices In A Rural Mississippi Community College Honors Program, Morgan B. Ricks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate identifies the Dissertation in Practice as “a scholarly endeavor that impacts a complex problem of practice,” within its framework for Doctor of Education programs. This Dissertation in Practice is designed to help address the following problem of practice within the Northeast Mississippi Community College Honors Institute: despite numerous benefits, not all students who are eligible for admission and membership in the honors program will join. This Dissertation in Practice is divided into three manuscripts. Manuscript I provides rationale for why pursuit of this topic is important, including the author’s own positionality, conceptual framework, …

The Relationship Between Sport Club Participation And Academic Success In Undergraduate Students At The University Of Mississippi, Gabrielle Sokol

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Degree attainment is a shared goal of college students, higher education institutions, and the larger society, as graduates have lower rates of unemployment, higher rates of civic engagement, pay higher taxes, and are able to better prepare future generations for academic success as compared to their counterparts (Museus et al., 2008). Additionally, institutions with higher retention rates have the chance to increase their reputation and may be presented as more prestigious to potential students and their families (Hagedorn, 2005).

Despite the clear incentives for all parties, every year many students, including those at the University of Mississippi, choose to leave …

Tanzanian Cyberscape: Exploring Language Preference Patterns Among Instagram Users, Carolyne Saria Ulomy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Virtual platforms such as Instagram are not only characterized by massive collaboration, sharing, and access to information but also by multilingual exchanges. For example, Tanzanian social media users choose to disseminate or publish information online using different languages present in their linguistic repertoires. This study explores multilingualism in social media (Instagram) within the Tanzanian context, as well as address the statuses of Swahili, English, Swanglish/Kiswanglish, Community Languages (CLs) and Foreign Languages (FLs) on social media. Specifically, the research investigated two overarching questions: What are the factors influencing language choices among Tanzanian Instagram users? and is there an association between content …