Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Positive Social Comparative Feedback During Practice On Motor Sequence Learning, Performance Expectancies, And Resting State Connectivity, Allison Foster Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

Positive social comparative feedback indicates to the learner that they are performing better than others. While this type feedback supports motor skill learning in some tasks, the effect of social comparative feedback on motor sequence learning remains unknown. In addition, the OPTIMAL theory predicts that positive social comparative feedback may trigger a dopaminergic response in the brain. However, no studies have utilized neuroimaging techniques to investigate this question. Therefore, the aim of these studies was to determine the effect of positive social comparative feedback on motor sequence learning, performance expectancies, and resting state connectivity of dopaminergic neural pathways.

In the …

Investigating Performance Of Model Fit Indices In Multiple-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis: Complications With Ordinal Data, Ning Jiang

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of three commonly used model fit indices when measurement invariance is tested in the context of multiple-group CFA with categorical-ordered data. As applied researchers are increasingly aware of the importance of testing measurement invariance, as well as Likert-type scales are frequently used in the social and behavioral sciences, specific guidelines are in need for establishing measurement invariance using model fit indices.

To achieve the study goal, two Monte Carlo simulation studies were conducted. Study 1 investigated the sampling variability of fit indices under different levels of invariance tests. Based on …

Truth And Identity In Dostoevsky’S Raskolnikov And Prince Myshkin, Gwendolyn Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Situated in the context of Bakhtin’s understanding of Dostoevsky’s narrative structure, the goal of this thesis aims to analyze the ways in which Dostoevsky’s characters negotiate their identities through a dialogic process of truth-telling as it appears in two forms: an explicit expression of truth that is consciously made by a novel’s characters in earnest dialogue, and an unspoken, even unconscious expression of truth that is not openly expressed, but can be inferred from the seemingly illogical reactions and behaviors of characters in the novel. The latter form is established in terms of Freud’s discussion of the unconscious and unconscious …

Examining The Relationship Between School Policing Behaviors And The Depressive Symptoms Experienced By Black Students, Collin Perryman

Theses and Dissertations

The school policing literature has two major themes: (a) the negative safety outcomes of school safety (Gottfredson et al., 2020) and (b) the central role that school police play in placing Black students into the school-to-prison-nexus (Morris, 2016; Turner & Beneke, 2020). The study of school police roles, how school police interact with educators, and the safety effects of school police presence is important. Just as important is knowing the mental health effects of physical and nonphysical school policing behaviors on Black students. This dissertation sought to fill this gap in part by studying the relationship between school police behaviors …

Action Research Assessing The Perceptions Of Arabic Military Flight Students Using A Gamified Learning Intervention During Flight School Training, Matthew R. Middleton

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to evaluate flight students’ perceptions of a reward-based gamification intervention for their motivation to study outside the classroom while attending the Initial Entry Rotary Wing (IERW) flight school in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has an ever-increasing population with a diverse number of teachers from all over the world teaching curricula not suited to Saudi Arabians; thus, the Kingdom is striving to improve its education system to motivate its students. The most popular way of enhancing the education system is by empowering and inspiring students to perform better. The Saudi Arabian …

Food Insecurity Resilience Of Refugee Families In The United States: A Qualitative Study, Maryam Suliman Alhabas

Theses and Dissertations

Refugee families living in the United States often encounter a number of challenges while trying to build a new home and maintain their household food security. Refugee families at high risk of experiencing food insecurity in the resettlement country. Food insecurity among US refugee families is a major public health concern as it adversely impacts their health and wellbeing, since it affects dietary intake and mental health and associated with illness, poor nutrition, and obesity. Little is known about what happens when refugee families face food insecurity experience, and the role of their social contexts in that experience. The objective …

Meaningful And Interactive Learning Experiences Provided Through A Learning Management System: An Action Research Study In Ninth Grade Advanced Placement Human Geography, Daniel Robert Plonski

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods action research was to determine if increased interactive Schoology-based modules could alter learner perceptions concerning the lack of meaningful learning (learner-instructor, learner-learner, learner-content) in the culture unit of instruction in an Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG) classroom. A series of instructional modules were facilitated through the learning management system (LMS) Schoology to students (n = 16) in APHG at a southeastern U.S. high school. The interactions were designed to enhance interaction based upon the criteria provided by Piaget’s (1981) social constructivist theory, specifically Moore and Kearsley’s (2011) systems approach and Miyazoe and Anderson’s (2010) …

Evaluation Of The Throw-Catch Assessment, Bryan Terlizzi

Theses and Dissertations

Motor competence assessment has been characterized by the evaluation of motor skill performance in closed performance contexts that lack task and environmental constraints reflective of real-world contexts. In contrast, the throw-catch (TC) assessment employs a dynamic task environment that allows performers to adapt over multiple trials to evaluate the degree of skilled performance via demonstration of a flexible and adaptable repertoire of both throwing and catching actions. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the developmental validity of the TC, as well as the content validity of the TC in terms of assessing throwing skillfulness.

Performance of the TC …

An Examination Of Attachment And Aspirations In Diverse Rural Youth: The Role Of Peers And Teachers, Gresi Bonomo Irdam

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three studies that examined diverse rural youths’ educational and rural aspirations. These studies have the potential to inform rural communities, educators, and parents by providing novel understandings of how peers and teachers in mathematics and science classrooms influence diverse rural youths’ rural attachment, and aspirations (i.e., educational, rural residential, community, and proximity). Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to investigate rural teachers and their diverse students from White, African American, Hispanic, and Native American backgrounds. In particular, the studies within this dissertation examine how teachers’ social connectedness to their rural communities relates to their teacher …

Reconceptualizing Informal Learning In An Online Learning Environment, Silvia Clark

Theses and Dissertations

In 2020, many organizations moved their formal training programs to an online learning context due to COVID-19. Informal learning, which refers to activities that are self-guided and occur independently outside of formal learning contexts has gained significant interest among researchers and practitioners in the past two decades as it has been identified as the primary type of learning in today's organizations. Despite the increasing interest in informal learning, no attempt has been made to examine and understand informal learning in an online learning environment.

This dissertation provides an integrative review of prior work on formal and informal learning in online …

Uniquely Persistent: Examining The Experiences Of Undergraduate Students Who Attend Multiple Institutions, Susannah Waldrop

Theses and Dissertations

Today’s college student has a wide variety of enrollment choices and is increasingly choosing different routes to degree completion. The purpose of this research is to understand the experiences of students who attend multiple universities (more than two) during their undergraduate enrollment to better understand the reasons behind their decisions. Nine students participated and shared their college journey. Using narrative inquiry to analyze their interviews, their unique stories through higher education unfold and provide insight into how these students could be better helped on campus. Schlossberg’s (1981, 1984, 2011) transition theory and the 4 S System provided a theoretical framework …

Living With Ulcerative Colitis: Exploring Dietary Inflammatory Intake, Physical Activity, And Methods To Manage The Burden Of Illness, Kelli E. Dubois

Theses and Dissertations

Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is a chronic illness under the umbrella of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). IBD is becoming a global health issue as incidence rates are rising throughout the world. UC is characterized by chronic inflammation and ulcerations in the colon’s mucosal lining due to abnormal inflammatory and immune system responses. Patients with UC experience a range of gastrointestinal and extraintestinal symptoms as well as psychosocial challenges throughout the course of illness that generate a significant burden on daily life. Periods of active disease, or flares, present exacerbations of disease symptoms and the greatest burden on daily functioning, yet disease …

Using Visual Arts To Teach Beginning Literacy Skills, Stacy Phaxaysithideth

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effect of using visual arts to teach rhyming words and word family words. Two interventions were used, both utilizing the use of visual arts to learn both literacy skills. The interventions were then assessed with a pre- and post-test to see the if the interventions were successful. A student attitude survey was also given at the end of the study to see how the students felt about the interventions. A semi-structured interview was done at the end of the interventions as well to collect the thoughts of my co-teacher on the interventions. Lastly, my teacher observations …

Examining The Effects Of A Well-Being Therapy Protocol On Sexual Minority Individuals’ Psychological Well-Being, Thomas M. Toomey

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minority individuals are at higher risk of mental health concerns than heterosexual individuals due to the impacts of minority stress. Previous counseling interventions for sexual minority individuals have focused on pathology and reducing negative symptoms. However, there is a need for more empirical counseling interventions that address these disparities from a positive psychology perspective. Utilizing a multiple baseline single case research design, the current study examined the impact of a wellbeing therapy protocol for improving the psychological well-being and decreasing depressive symptoms for three sexual minority individuals. There was no functional relationship observed for the Well-Being Therapy protocol on …

Africanizing The Curriculum: African Diaspora Literacy Instruction In Elementary Classrooms, Jarvais Javon Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Using a Critical Case Study design, this study examines the implementation of African Diaspora Literacy (ADL) in three elementary classrooms in order to understand successes, challenges, and student outcomes. African Diaspora Literacy (ADL) refers to becoming literate about African Diasporic peoples, histories, cultures, languages, epistemologies, cosmologies, and axiologies (King, 1992; Boutte et. al., 2017). Against the backdrop of worldwide and systemic anti-Black racism--the most dominant and virulent form of racism (Dumas & Ross, 2016), there is a need for instructional and curricular antidotes in K-12 schools and in the academy (Boutte et. al., 2017). African Diaspora Literacy offers a promising …

Integrated Behavioral Health And Primary Care: Refining A Determinant Framework, Ariel Michelle Domlyn

Theses and Dissertations

The integration of behavioral health and primary care is a best practice to improve patient outcomes and achieve health equity. However, the process of integrating is opaque, requiring organizational change and sometimes a complete system overhaul. Implementation science offers useful ideas for helping healthcare organizations to implement care. This field has identified potential environmental conditions and determinants of successful implementation; however, much is still unknown about how these factors may be relevant for organizations seeking to integrate care. To address the limited existing knowledge in this area, this dissertation gathers practice-based evidence using exploratory methods. Results are translated into an …

A Novel Cognitive Stress Paradigm To Assess Subtle Cognitive Differences In Women With The Fmr1 Premutation, Jillian Margaret Gierman

Theses and Dissertations

Fragile X premutation (FXPM) is a genetic mutation of the FMR1 gene characterized by having between 55-200 CGG repetitions. FXPM women are at risk for a variety of reproductive, cognitive, and neuropsychiatric deficits, including fragile X-associated primary ovarian insufficiency (FXPOI) and fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). FXTAS is a late-onset neurodegenerative disorder characterized by tremor, gait ataxia, cognitive decline, brain atrophy, and deficits in executive functions. With the evidence supporting premature aging, prevalence of cognitive deficits, and risk of developing FXTAS and dementia, it is imperative to find a reliable measure that identifies at-risk FXPM women and their subtle cognitive …

Where The Home Fires Burn: The Heart Of Geographic Mobility In Rural Southern America, Mariah Moran

Theses and Dissertations

In the context of the recent surge of interest in domestic U.S. geographic mobility, this study presents findings on the reasons people choose to move or not move that challenge the predominant explanations of geographic mobility and responds to the need for theoretical expansion. This qualitative study is set in a rural county of Georgia, further situating the findings alongside the rural-urban continuum literature. In-depth interviews were conducted with thirty participants from the rural county that represent three different mobility decisions: people who stayed, left, and returned. The findings suggest that there are multiple connected reasons for mobility including three …

Association Between Postpartum Weight Retention And The Dietary Inflammatory Index, Nyrobi Tyson

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The objective of this thesis is to examine the relationship between the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), measured during the postpartum period, and postpartum weight retention.

Setting and Participants: We used the Infant Feeding Practices Study (IFPS) II (n=5000), a longitudinal study of women from late pregnancy through their infant’s first year of life conducted between 2005 and 2007. Survey topics included feeding practices, infant health, food allergies, sleeping arrangements, mother’s employment, childcare, and mother’s dietary intake.

Main Outcomes: Postpartum weight retention (PPWR) was calculated in kilograms by subtracting self-reported body weight at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postpartum …

Relationships Among Sleep, Physical Activity, And Weight Status In Children And Adolescents, Agnes Bucko

Theses and Dissertations

Sleep and physical activity are both associated with multiple behavioral and metabolic health outcomes, and both behaviors have been linked to the development of weight status. Recent estimates suggest that many children are not meeting sleep recommendations or participating in adequate levels of physical activity, which may be related to the high prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity. Much of the research assessing these relationships has focused on adults and older children, and has relied on parent- or child-reported, cross-sectional research in predominantly White samples. Little work has focused on these relationships in very young children. Although more research has …

Subject Cognitive Decline In Informal Caregivers, Eunika Simons

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose. The United States is experiencing unprecedented demographic shifts as the population continues to age. More than 53 million Americans are caregivers and that number is continuing to grow. Caregiving has become a significant societal and public health issue to be addressed. This study provided a population-based national perspective regarding informal caregivers to identify differences between caregivers reporting cognitive decline and those caregivers reporting no cognitive decline. The analysis explored the relationships between the type and characteristics of informal caregivers, the nature of the caregiving relationship, caregiver unmet needs, and the general, physical, and mental health-related outcomes of the caregivers. …

Structure Preserving Reduced-Order Models Of Hamiltonian Systems, Megan Alice Mckay

Theses and Dissertations

Large-scale dynamical systems are expensive to simulate due to the computational cost accrued y the substantial number of degrees of freedom. To accelerate repeated numerical simulations of the systems, proper orthogonal decomposition reduced order models (POD-ROMs) have been developed. When applied to Hamiltonian systems, however, special care must be taken when performing the reduced order modeling to keep their energy-preserving nature. This work presents a survey of several structure-preserving reduced order models (SP-ROMs). In addition, this work employs the discrete empirical interpolation method (DEIM) and develops an SP-DEIM model for nonlinear Hamiltonian systems. The wave equation is considered as a …

An Evaluation Of A School Mental Health Program For Underserved Youth In Rural South Carolina, Tristan Collier

Theses and Dissertations

School, community, and youth-serving system partnerships can support implementing comprehensive school mental health (SMH) systems including services beyond direct therapy for students (i.e., multiple tiers of support). Utilizing a comprehensive approach to SMH allows clinicians to form stronger relationships with administrators, school staff, and most importantly, students who may need services. This comprehensive approach to SMH includes incorporating the SMH clinician into the culture and daily activities of the schools (e.g., helping direct students in the bus line), to increase the visibility of the clinician and services available as well as provide opportunities for direct outreach to students. One such …

The Moderating Impact Of Gender And Friendship Quality On The Effects Of Interparental Conflict On Adolescent Internalizing Problems, Jessica Dandan

Theses and Dissertations

In response to escalating concerns about the increasing incidence of adolescent internalizing disorders, several mechanisms have been investigated to understand their etiology. Though genetic predisposition contributes to the risk for psychopathology, its interaction with environmental stressors such as interparental conflict appears to further increase this risk. Girls are more susceptible to stressors and twice as likely as boys to develop internalizing problems. However, friendship quality may buffer some of the adverse effects incurred from exposure to interparental conflict. A recent review of proposed mechanisms through which conflict is associated with youth psychopathology pinpointed the need for further adolescent-focused research including …

“No Tits In The Pits!”: An Exploratory Analysis Of The Experiences Of Female Decision Makers In Motorsports In The United States, Alexia Pedo Lopes

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the lived experiences of sixteen women who have decision-making roles in motorsports in the United States. The purpose was to shed light on the experiences of women who broke the glass ceiling in this unexplored male-dominated industry (Glass & Cook, 2016). The challenges these women encountered along with the mechanisms they employed to navigate those, and finally their motivation to continue pursuing a career in this industry, were assessed via in-depth semi-structured interviews and then the data was analyzed following a constant comparison thematic analysis. Challenges and coping mechanisms were classified according to the four levels, namely …

Providing Voice And Choice In The Classroom: The Effect Of Choice Boards On Student Motivation And Attitudes, Deborah B. Malinoski

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to explore how incorporating choice boards as a tool for personalized learning in social studies influenced sixth-grade students to engage in the classroom. Engagement in the classroom is necessary for students to meet educational goals. To engage in learning, students need intrinsic motivation to encourage them to strive to meet their potential. Research in personalized learning shows students who are provided opportunities for “voice and choice” show higher signs of achievement in meeting their goals (Pane et al., 2017). This action research study was guided by two research questions that explored the effect …

Knowledge-Infused Learning, Manas Gaur

Theses and Dissertations

In DARPA’s view of the three waves of AI, the first wave of AI, symbolic AI, focused on explicit knowledge. The second and current wave of AI is termed statistical AI. Deep learning techniques have been able to exploit large amounts of data and massive computational power to improve human levels of performance in narrowly defined tasks. Separately, knowledge graphs have emerged as a powerful tool to capture and exploit a variety of explicit knowledge to make algorithms better apprehend the content and enable the next generation of data processing, such as semantic search. After initial hesitancy about the scalability …

Middle School Transition: The Influence Of An Academy Approach And The Role Of Leadership, Kimberly Calhoun Odom

Theses and Dissertations

Students entering middle school frequently encounter challenges in their transition as they leave the comforts of elementary school. Traditionally, fifth grade students experience their last year in elementary school in a similar fashion to the previous five years of elementary school. They are in self-contained classrooms with one teacher for the majority of their school day. This study’s objective is to determine best practices and strategies that support fifth grade students in transitioning to the rigors of middle school. More specifically, the research focuses on the impact of an Academy structure in the elementary setting that models the transitions of …

Investigating The Impact Of Nonlinguistic Cognitive Reserve On Naming Pre- And Post-Treatment, Lillian Jarold

Theses and Dissertations

Background: The relationship between linguistic and nonlinguistic cognition in persons with aphasia is complex and often debated in the literature. Furthermore, the impact of nonlinguistic cognition on aphasia treatment outcomes is unclear. The present study sought 1) to examine the relationship between WAIS scores and performance on a test of naming and 2) to examine the relationship between WAIS scores and change scores on a test of naming between baseline and post-treatment in persons with chronic aphasia.

Method: This retrospective study utilized data from participants (N=102) who were recruited for a multi-center cross-over trial (POLAR: Predicting Outcomes of Language Rehabilitation). …

Customer Touchpoint: Conceptualization, Index Development, And Nomological Validation, Hyunsu Kim

Theses and Dissertations

Business executives across a wide variety of sectors, including retail, education, banking, healthcare, as well as hospitality and tourism, have increasingly realized that offering a superior customer experience is vital to a firm’s long-term success. Due to the experience-based nature of hospitality and tourism offerings in terms of heterogeneity, inseparability, intangibility, and perishability, providing exceptional CXs has long been recognized as essential to gaining a competitive advantage and establishing a foundation for brand loyalty.

To better understand what CX entails, hospitality and tourism scholars have conceptualized different forms of experiences, including flow experiences and memorable dining experiences. However, little attention …