Digital Commons Network^™

The Branch Campus Contribution To The Mission Of The Main Campus In Kentucky, Caroline L. Atkins

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of branch campuses on the mission of their main campuses in Kentucky. An online survey and key informant interviews were conducted with administrators. Both research methods identified strategies to minimize the impact of institutional, situational, and dispositional barriers (Cross, 1981) that impede the successful academic and social integration (Tinto, 1975; 1993) of nontraditional students who frequent these campuses. In addition, institutional research offices provided student enrollment and credit-hour production data for analysis by site. The study classified demographic information on administrators, including gender, full- or part-time capacity, administrative title, and …

Factors Affecting Academic Procrastination, John Paul Reynolds

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study sought to understand the relationships among locus of control, parenting style, academic procrastination, and financial independence with a population of undergraduate students. A sample of 61 students (39 females, 21 males, 1 other) completed measures of demographics, locus of control, parenting style, and academic procrastination. Participants were recruited within the last two weeks of the semester. Therefore, the sample probably contained a higher percentage of procrastinators than the general population. There were no significant correlations across the total sample. There was a significant positive correlation between higher scores on the Parental Authority Questionnaire authoritative scale and the Procrastination …

Ua51/1 Collections & Connections, Jennifer Wilson

Collections & Connections

Collections & Connections is a bi-annual newsletter of WKU Libraries. This Spring-Summer 2015 issue features another successful book fest organized by the partnership of WKU Libraries, WC Public Library, and the Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Diana Gabaldon, an author known for her Outlander series, is featured in an headline article and so is Kiran Bhatraju, who received this year's Kentucky Literary Award.

Another article features the announcement of the launch of Kentucky Research Commons by WKU Libraries as well as the publication of the new Faith Community Nursing journal on its own digital institutional repository known as TopSCHOLAR.

Yet another …

Ua23 Progression Through Partnerships, Aurelia Spaulding Editor, Leah Ashwill, Lauren D. Cunningham

ALIVE Center Publications

No abstract provided.

Action Items, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Overview of action items handled by the Graduate Council.

The Relationship Between Bilingualism, Cognitive Control, And Mind Wandering, Leah J. Shulley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The unique linguistic experience of bilingualism purportedly produces cognitive control advantages. Although there is a significant body of evidence supporting this view, there are also several recently published research studies that failed to replicate bilingual advantages. Furthermore, there is some evidence of a publication bias that favors findings supporting a bilingual advantage. The purpose of this study was to address this discrepancy in the literature by examining performance of bilinguals and monolinguals on a variety of cognitive control tasks. A second purpose was to determine how bilinguals are able to achieve better performance if they do indeed have an advantage. …

The Electrophysiology Of Written Informal Language, Taylor S. Blaetz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Language is an essential component of human behavior. It is ubiquitous, but more importantly, it is malleable and it is constantly changing. Part of the dynamic nature of informal communication is the introduction and adoption of new linguistic elements. Online communication provides a window into this informal public discourse; therefore, it may be useful for testing hypotheses about the processes underlying the acquisition and use of new words. The comprehension of informal language may lead to an understanding of how these new informal words are integrated into our mental lexicon. The current study was an electroencephalographic (EEG) investigation of the …

Effects Of Life Review On Happiness And Life Satisfaction In Older Adults, Molly C. White

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Life review involves a systematic, chronological review of an individual’s life from birth to death as well as an examination of the meaningfulness of life experiences and events. The purpose of the current study was to discover the effects of life review on happiness and life satisfaction in the older population. Participants from 71 to 85 years of age completed a demographics questionnaire, the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). SHS and SWLS were completed every other day from the beginning to the end of the data collection process. Once a consistent baseline was reached …

An Apache Hadoop Framework For Large-Scale Peptide Identification, Harinivesh Donepudi

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Peptide identification is an essential step in protein identification, and Peptide Spectrum Match (PSM) data set is huge, which is a time consuming process to work on a single machine. In a typical run of the peptide identification method, PSMs are positioned by a cross correlation, a statistical score, or a likelihood that the match between the trial and hypothetical is correct and unique. This process takes a long time to execute, and there is a demand for an increase in performance to handle large peptide data sets. Development of distributed frameworks are needed to reduce the processing time, but …

Impact Of A Teacher Training Program To Increase Informative Praise And Decrease Commands And Negative Comments, Lauren A. Binford

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Research has found that many children who come from a low socioeconomic background often begin their schooling careers behind most students. Head Start programs around the nation are utilized to close the gap in achievement, by providing those students with the educational support necessary to prepare them for future schooling. However, when assessed with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), Head Start programs have been found to be weaker in the area of Instructional Support. As a result, teachers are falling short in the way they provide feedback, incorporate higher thinking skills, and foster language development. In order to strengthen …

A Mixed Methods Assessment Of The Development, Use, And Educational Effectiveness Of University Campus Sustainability Tours, Ellen R. Barringer

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Campus sustainability tours are available at dozens of colleges and universities across the United States. These tours are considered a vital tool in interpreting the environmental and sustainable aspects of a campus to educate the campus community. Minimal quantitative data have been collected regarding their development, use, and effectiveness. In order to develop a dataset regarding the use of campus sustainability tours, surveys and interviews were sent to universities with such tours to discuss use and methods of development. A campus-wide electronic survey was sent to the Western Kentucky University (WKU) main campus community to determine their experiences with the …

Ua68/8 History Alumni Newsletter, Wku History

WKU Administration Documents

WKU History Department alumni newsletter reporting activities of the department, faculty, staff and students.

Age Differences In The Impact Of Emotional Cues On Subsequent Target Detection, Brandon Wade Coffey

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Emotional cues within the environment capture our attention and influence how we perceive our surroundings. Past research has shown that emotional cues presented before the detection of a perceptual gap can actually impair the perception of elementary visual features (e.g., the lack of detail creating a spatial gap) while simultaneously improving the perception of fast temporal features of vision (e.g., the rapid onset, offset, and re-emergence of a stimulus). This effect has been attributed to amygdalar enhancements of visual inputs conveying emotional features along magnocellular channels. The current study compared participants’ ability to detect spatial and temporal gaps in simple …

Keeping The Magic: Fursona Identity And Performance In The Furry Fandom, Jakob W. Maase

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The furry subculture (also known as the anthropomorphic fandom) creates identity through anthropomorphism and therianthropy. Anthropomorphism is the giving of human traits to the non-human. Therianthropy is the giving of animal traits to the human. Through play and creating art, these individuals of the furry subculture take on an anthropomorphic identity (what furries call a fursona) while bridging local and global groups through communication technologies. For this folklore project I conducted ethnographic field works interviews with the Bowling Green, Kentucky fur group. I also build off of the interviews project with an online furry role-play group as well as a …

Zero-Waste Planning At Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study Of Western Kentucky University, Kianoosh Ebrahimi

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Over the past two decades, the number of universities that pursue zero-waste strategies has steadily increased. However, more study is required on several interrelated factors, policy barriers, and infrastructural fundamentals, which each influence the efficiency of waste management structures (WM) at universities. In this work, the role of the aforementioned factors in implementing an efficient sustainable WM program at higher education institutions was investigated, using Western Kentucky University (WKU) as a case study. The objectives of this study were to identify and assess what type of WM strategies should be priorities for a university that may lack stringent WM infrastructure. …

Crisis Of Man To Crisis Of Men: Ray Rice And The Nfl's Transition From Crisis Of Image To Crisis Of Ethics, Heidi E. Sisler

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Using typologies by Benoit (1995), Seeger (2006), and Heath (2006) this study argues that when an organization encounters multiple complications (e.g., perceived guilt, magnitude of harm, nature of the victims, etc.) compounding a crisis situation, that the organization’s best course of action is to employ atonement rhetoric. Second, this study also argues for the inclusion of a new best practice in crisis communication, which highlights the importance of organizations to recognize the impact visual evidence, especially video footage, has on complicating crisis response while also increasing demand for an appropriate and timely response. To do this the study uses the …

Faith Community Nurse Education: A Conceptual Model, Cristy Marie Daffron

International Journal of Faith Community Nursing

As a specialty practice, faith community nursing embodies knowledge that is unique to the practice and requires both generic and specialty training. Scarce research has been conducted on the effectiveness of basic faith community nurse curricula. As the landscape of education continues to be refined in the faith community nurse specialty practice, coupled with limited available research for the evaluation of effectiveness, a conceptual model for faith community nurse education is needed. Faith Community Nurse Education Conceptual Model incorporates both internal and external factors that impact the environment in which education occurs and acknowledges God as the author and finisher …

Practice Matters: Screening And Monitoring Hyperlipidemia, M. Laurie Branstetter Dnp, Maria E. Main, Tonya Bragg-Underwood Dnp

International Journal of Faith Community Nursing

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide Faith Community Nurses with current information on hyperlipidemia, a chronic disease responsible for the leading cause of death worldwide. Current guidelines for cholesterol screening and a risk calculator resource for estimating cardiovascular risk are provided. Myths and truths are presented for review with patients. Suggestions and resources for lifestyle modifications and patient education are included. Faith Community Nurses are at the center of community health and actively involved with improving health outcomes related to chronic disease.

Ua64/2 The Challenge: Magazine For The Center For Gifted Studies (No. 37, Summer 2015), Center For Gifted Studies, Tracy Inman Editor

Gifted Studies Publications

No abstract provided.

Leadership: The Essential Ingredient To Lean Transformation, Aaron W. Hughey

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ua3/9/7 2014-15 Fiscal Year-End Message, Wku President's Office - Ransdell

WKU Administration Documents

Email from WKU president Gary Ransdell to faculty & staff.

Current Events Club - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 543), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 543. Minutes, yearbooks, administrative papers and program information relating to the Current Events Club, a ladies literary club in Bowling Green, Kentucky, that was founded in 1902.

A Study On The Students' Perceptions Of The Applicability Of Lean Principles At Universities, Muhammad Jahan, Mark Doggett

SEAS Faculty Publications

Lean principles are well-established business management strategies, which are applied extensively in manufacturing and production industries to continuously improve value by reducing wastes. This paper investigated the applicability of lean principles at universities using the perceptions of undergraduate students at a higher education institution. The perceptions of the students were collected over a period of two years as a part of class assignments and discussions for a Lean Manufacturing class. The students’ opinions and comments concerned broad areas of stability, standardization, jidoka, just-in-time, employee involvement and customer focus. The majority of the students focused on the various categories of waste …

Bloody Diarrhea And Colorectal Bleeding -- Marathon Runner, P Nasiri, S Das, M L. Silvis

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

Please view the clinical abstract in the attached PDF file

Rasdall Family Papers (Mss 542), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 542. Correspondence and papers of the Rasdall and Smith families of Smiths Grove, Kentucky, principally the two generations following Urias Rasdall (1812-1892), credited with platting the town of Smiths Grove. Includes research collected into a family history by Barbara Schan.

Meeting Minutes, Wku University Senate

Faculty Senate

Meeting regarding course field trips, prayer policy, faculty handbook, instructor ranks, charter revisions, benefits, Colonnade Plan, on demand teaching compensation and equal treatment of students.

Best Practices Of Organizational Communication In Group Travel Planning, Natalie N. Gilliam

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

To succeed in the travel industry, professionals must continuously seek new ways to improve their service. In group travel, clients expect their tour director to meet and exceed all expectations. As I prepare to lead a tour group of high school students to Walt Disney World, I will put my knowledge of four organizational communication practices to the test. These best practices will be utilized in planning for challenges that may arise as well as handling any obstacles throughout the tour. Success will be measured through the thoughts of the clients during and after the trip and future recommendations will …

Applications Of Latin Hypercube Sampling Scheme And Partial Rank Correlation Coefficient Analysis To Mathematical Models On Wound Healing, Hannah M. Pennington

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Latin hypercube sampling and Partial Rank Correlation Coefficient procedure (LHS/PRCC) can be used in combination to perform a sensitivity analysis that assesses a model over a global parameter space. Through this analysis, the uncertainty of the parameters and therefore the variability of the model output in response to this uncertainty can be observed. Latin hypercube sampling divides the parameter space into equiprobable regions and sample without replacement, producing a global, unbiased selection of parameter values. For montonic, non-linear relationships, the correlation between the outputs and parameters can be understood by performing a Partial Rank Correlation Coefficient procedure. This sensitivity analysis …

Investigation Of Asymmetric Impacts On Protective Headgear, Kristina Medero

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This project explores helmet-to-helmet impacts and their detriments with a unique perspective. The propagation of dangerous waves into the brain can result in a concussion. Considering 60% of NFL players have had at least one concussion (Epstein 2011), it is imperative to understand the materials that construct helmets and observe how these materials behave in regards to impact location while recording wave propagations from the impacts. This study interrogates the effect of asymmetric impacts on gridiron football helmets using the Large Chamber Scanning Electron Microscope (LC-SEM). Utilizing two standard issued football helmets made of polycarbonates, a hard plastic, vibrations from …

Analysis Of Seed Preference Trials Of Red Veld Rats And Smith's Bush Squirrels And Trap Effectiveness In The Lowveld Of South Africa, Brooke A. Barber

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Large tree species in South Africa face reproductive decline, especially older trees that provide ecosystem connectivity. Management of Balule Nature Reserve, an extensive private nature reserve in South Africa, wanted to investigate the roles rodents play in the recruitment and survival of select tree species. Two large tree species of concern, marula (Sclerocarya birrea) and knobthorn acacia (Acacia nigrescens) are dominant, habitat providers and red bushwillow (Combretum apiculatum) is a smaller and more common, prolific seed producer. I investigated whether rodents, specifically red veld rats and Smith’s bush squirrels, may play a detrimental role …