Digital Commons Network^™

Adoptive Parents' Lived Experience Of Bonding With Their Adopted Infants: A Phenomenological Study, Sharon M. Bator

Dissertations

Nurses' roles facilitating bonding between adoptive parents and their infants have been premised on the idea that the experience is the same as for biological parents. Developmental theorists Bowlby (1969) and Erikson (1959) maintained that bonding between an adoptive parent and their adopted child is essential for normal growth and development. The purpose of this study was to study the experience of bonding between adoptive parents and children.

A Qualitative Investigation Of The Development Of Teacher Leaders In The Implementation Of Grade-Level And/Or Departmentalized Professional Learning Communities Across Eight Parochial Schools, Adrienne Leigh Govero

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative methods research is to study the development of teacher leaders in the implementation of grade-level and/or departmentalized professional learning communities across eight parochial schools. When working with teacher leaders in the leading of grade-level or departmentalized professional learning teams, there are many facets involved in the growth and development of teacher leaders. Teacher leaders will be given the guidance and tools to lead their grade-level or departmentalized professional learning team effectively. Teacher leaders will use the knowledge and skills they possess related to leadership and professional learning communities with the help of building administrators to …

Improving Dysarthric Speech Recognition By Enriching Training Datasets, Sophie Cullen

Dissertations

Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder that results from disruptions in the neuro-motor interface and is characterised by poor articulation of phonemes and hyper-nasality and is characteristically different from normal speech. Many modern automatic speech recognition systems focus on a narrow range of speech diversity therefore as a consequence of this they exclude a groups of speakers who deviate in aspects of gender, race, age and speech impairment when building training datasets. This study attempts to develop an automatic speech recognition system that deals with dysarthric speech with limited dysarthric speech data. Speech utterances collected from the TORGO database are …

Hybridization Of Biologically Inspired Algorithms For Discrete Optimisation Problems, Elihu Essian-Thompson

Dissertations

In the field of Optimization Algorithms, despite the popularity of hybrid designs, not enough consideration has been given to hybridization strategies. This paper aims to raise awareness of the benefits that such a study can bring. It does this by conducting a systematic review of popular algorithms used for optimization, within the context of Combinatorial Optimization Problems. Then, a comparative analysis is performed between Hybrid and Base versions of the algorithms to demonstrate an increase in optimization performance when hybridization is employed.

Does Co-Speech Gesture Support Children’S Analogical Reasoning? An Investigation Into The Differential Effects Of Gesture On Learning, Katharine F. Guarino

Dissertations

Although the general consensus is that gesture supports learning across a wide range of learning contexts, nuances to gesture’s effects are found across the gesture-for-learning literature. The purpose of this body of research was to advance our understanding of gesture’s effect on learning. Specifically, we explored the utility of gesture in a domain that had not been considered in the gesture literature previously: analogical reasoning (Study 1). We aimed to understand whether gesture supports children’s analogical reasoning ability and why gesture might support this type of reasoning. Specifically, we investigated whether gesture could support learning through directing visual attention, thereby …

Changes In Teacher Pedagogy And Student Engagement In Elementary 1:1 Classrooms, Adam Douglas Smeets

Dissertations

Technology advances at a pace that far exceeds the rate of change possible in education. Without adjustments to their pedagogy, teachers continue leveraging pedagogical practices that do not match the effective use of technology in classrooms. This qualitative, retrospective instrumental case study explores two areas of the connected elementary classroom: (1) how teachers adapt their instructional practices as a result of 1:1 device adoption at their school and (2) teacher perceptions of change to classroom communication and student engagement the adoption of 1:1 devices. The data for this study was collected through a questionnaire, three-part semi-structured interviews, and district document …

Discovery Of Counter Iads Swarming Autonomy Behaviors With Machine Learning, Joshua Robbins

Dissertations

Counter air-defense operations in highly contested airspaces pose significant risk to human life and scarce material resources, making it desirable to reduce the exposure of personnel to risk of loss of life and limb. Replacing human-piloted air platforms with a swarm of low-cost, unmanned systems in the contest for air superiority is therefore an area of intense interest. However, no doctrinal or tactical best practices for swarming combat yet exist. This dissertation documents research conducted to develop a systematical framework for discovery of counter-air defense tactics for unmanned aerial vehicles under control of a cognitive agent, using a reinforcement learning …

Schooled To The Streets? Exploring The Relationship Between K-12 Educational Experiences And Early Careers In Activism, David Abraham Castro

Dissertations

Since the late eighteenth century, organizing and activism have been part of the urban landscape, from the labor organizing of Eugene Debs in the early twentieth century to the community organizing work of Saul Alinsky during the 1950s and 1960s. The development of community organizers is strongly tied to local institutions such as factories, houses of worship, and schools. For many youths in Chicago, schools often become the sites of political and social awakening and lead to activism beyond the schoolhouse. Within the current context of urban education scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and community organizers alike agree that the perspectives of …

Broaching The Topics Of Religion And Spirituality In Therapy: Considering The Influence Of Therapist Competence And Organizational Competence, Papa N. Adams

Dissertations

Many individuals have identified religion and/or spirituality (R/S) as integral in the construction of their worldview and important in mental health. Research has demonstrated that clinicians hold positive attitudes towards integrating R/S into therapy yet reported low levels of actually integrating R/S into therapy sessions. This study examined therapist behavior in regard to broaching discussions about R/S in psychotherapy sessions. This study proposed that clinician broaching behavior would be correlated with the clinician’s R/S competence. Furthermore, the relationship between broaching and clinician’s competence would be moderated by the R/S competence of the clinician’s environment (defined as the organizational/institutional R/S competence). …

School Leaders’ Assessment Of Teachers’ Preparedness For Culturally Responsive Teaching, Victoria Maria Siliunas

Dissertations

Societal and school inequities continue to be highlighted via widening achievement gaps that adversely impact historically marginalized groups of students and their communities. An acknowledgement of the importance of developing teachers who are prepared to work with students of culturally differing identities from their own in the day-to-day work of teaching has inspired a shift in language and practice from a more general multicultural approach to a culturally responsive teaching methodology in which a purposeful inclusion of the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of students is prioritized. Addressing challenges schools face related to cultural difference between teachers and the students they …

Leadership Styles And Effective Leadership Among Higher Education Leaders In The North American Division Of Seventh-Day Adventists, Patrice A. Wright

Dissertations

Problem

Leadership has been shown to be crucial in the success of organizations, especially in higher education. However, little research has been done about leadership styles and effectiveness in North American Division (NAD) of Seventh-Day Adventists (SDA) higher education institutions. My study examined transformational, transactional, and passive avoidant leadership styles and leadership effectiveness in these higher education institutions.

Method

To examine leadership in Adventist colleges, I used the online MLQ-5X short form. I secured participation from 12 colleges and after repeated emails secured 168 responses. I analyzed the relationship between leadership styles, several leader characteristics and leader effectiveness, using SEM, …

"The Best Man That Ever Trod Shoe Leather" And His "Crown Of Rejoicing" : The Personal Relationship Of James And Ellen White, 1845-1881, Gerson Cardoso Rodrigues

Dissertations

James White (1821-1881) and Ellen G. White (1827-1915), co-founders (with Joseph Bates) of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, were united in marriage on August 30, 1846, and lived together for thirty-five years until James died. As leaders (though Ellen White never assumed any administrative post) of the emerging denomination and putting all effort for the growth and mission of the Adventist cause, the Whites lived an intense life of writing, publishing, preaching, and traveling. Though their marriage was a blessing for both of them, the intensity of their lives, health issues, and their humanity, caused marital difficulties in some periods of …

Self-Efficacy And Job Satisfaction As Predictors Of Burnout Among School Psychologists In The Midwest United States, Elizabeth Mcknight-Romney

Dissertations

Problem

The concept of burnout is expressed as a syndrome evidenced by chronic exhaustion, depersonalization, and a lack of personal accomplishment. Burnout or work burnout syndrome is conceptualized as a prolonged process of emotional fatigue, involving loss of motivation and expectations, generating a feeling of failure affecting personal, work, and social levels (Maslach et al., 2001). Victims of burnout usually become exhausted, cynical about work-related matters, and question their capacity or ability to perform. Job burnout includes feeling exhausted physically, emotionally, and or mentally in the context of work (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). The demanding profession of school psychology has …

Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction, Autonomy Support, And Mindsets As Predictors Of Self-Regulation In University Online Learners, Ting Jin

Dissertations

Problem

In contrast to more traditional learning environments, it can be difficult to "see and hear" both the instructor and, more crucially, the students when engaging in online education. This has been one of the most common criticisms leveled against online education for a long time. The COVID-19 disruption and transformation of online learning in higher education underlines the fact that variance among online learners in terms of academic success and psychological well-being are determined by the level and quality of self-regulation. What is the degree of self-regulation among American university students who study online because of the COVID-19 pandemic's …

Indicators Of Typology In The Narrative Of Elijah: An Investigation Into The Predictive Nature Of Biblical Theology, JôNatas De Mattos Leal

Dissertations

Elijah is among the most popular prophets in the Judeo-Christian tradition. In Judaism, the hope for his return has evolved into a plethora of legends in which he functions as a helper to the righteous in the present and avenger to the wicked in the future eschaton. In Christianity, the expectation involving his return has also a multitemporal dimension, but its fulfilment is typologically oriented. More often, scholars study the fulfilment of the Elijah typology from the NT perspective in a backward movement. This dissertation investigates this typology in a forward movement going from the OT to the NT while …

Childhood Obesity Interventions In The Republic Of Trinidad And Tobago: A Qualitative Study Exploring Government Policies And Their Implementation By Health Practitioners, Phyllis Woolford

Dissertations

Because of the rising prevalence of childhood obesity and overweight in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and the observation that efforts to address the problem were showing disappointing results, this study seeks to explore the experiences and views of policymakers, health practitioners, and parents of overweight and obese children, in order to inform leaders and policy makers regarding the current interventions.

Method

A qualitative research case study methodology is the research design used, which, with my research questions, I considered would best uncover knowledge and provide perspectives that would provide an increased understanding of the issues arising from the …

The Emotional Side Of Dynamic Assessment: L2 Writing From Vygotsky's Perezhivanie Lens, Ali Kushki

Dissertations

This qualitative multiple-case study investigated the emotional perceptions of English-as-a-foreign language learners (EFLs) and an English writing instructor as they met online via the Zoom application. Dynamic Assessment (DA) and the Vygotskyan perezhivanie notion guided the study. DA is an interactive assessment approach that combines instruction and assessment processes during student-instructor interactions with the goal of diagnosing and developing learners’ abilities. As to the perezhivanie notion, Vygotsky (1994) argued for uncovering the particular prism through which the individual refracts (i.e., shapes) the influence of the environment, and how she “becomes aware of, interprets, and emotionally relates to a certain event” …

Defending Gender: Transprejudice As Gender System Maintenance, Linas Mitchell

Dissertations

The high levels of interpersonal and policy-based discrimination that transgender people face can be understood as a way of responding to transgender threats to gender systems. By understanding gender as a system of meaning and power, I apply System Justification Theory to interpret transprejudice as a form of gender system maintenance that may be influenced by one’s position in the gender system (gender) and general support for the status quo (conservatism). The present studies test whether transprejudice functions as a form of system affirmation/threat rejection. I found that exposure to system threat did not lead to greater transprejudice than a …

Racial And Cultural Competence Through The Eyes Of Public-School Educators, Laquita Mcmillion

Dissertations

The discussion of racial and cultural competence in public schools today is necessary. The student population of public schools across the United States has significantly grown racially and culturally diverse. Through the use of a narrative inquiry and a critical lens, this study explored the perception and experiences of public-school educators focused on the topic of racial and cultural competence as it relates to their classroom practice and educational policies. The focus of this research (1) describes and analyzes my personal experiences through the use of qualitative approaches, (2) shares the experiences and perceptions of three public-school educators, and (3) …

Impact Of Parent Presence On Stress In Infants In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Susan M. Horner

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine potential relationships between cumulative stress exposure in infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICU), as measured using a resting salivary cortisol level at NICU discharge, and the amount (hours per week) or frequency (days per week) of parent presence and skin-to-skin care (SSC). This descriptive study was conducted via a secondary analysis of a dataset representing 78 NICU families from a tertiary level NICU in the Midwest. Median length of stay was 33 days, and a resting salivary cortisol level collected at one month of age was used for infants not discharged …

An Analysis On Network Flow-Based Iot Botnet Detection Using Weka, Cian Porteous

Dissertations

Botnets pose a significant and growing risk to modern networks. Detection of botnets remains an important area of open research in order to prevent the proliferation of botnets and to mitigate the damage that can be caused by botnets that have already been established. Botnet detection can be broadly categorised into two main categories: signature-based detection and anomaly-based detection. This paper sets out to measure the accuracy, false-positive rate, and false-negative rate of four algorithms that are available in Weka for anomaly-based detection of a dataset of HTTP and IRC botnet data. The algorithms that were selected to detect botnets …

Evaluating The Performance Impact Of Fine-Tuning Optimization Strategies On Pre-Trained Distilbert Models Towards Hate Speech Detection In Social Media, Aidan Mcgovern

Dissertations

Hate speech can be defined as forms of expression that incite hatred or encourage violence towards a person or group based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. Hate speech has gravitated towards social media as its primary platform, and its propagation represents profound risks to both the mental well-being and physical safety of targeted groups. Countermeasures to moderate hate speech face challenges due to the volumes of data generated in social media, leading companies, and the research community to evaluate methods to automate its detection. The emergence of BERT and other pre-trained transformer-based models for transfer learning in the …

Investigating The Effect Of An Immersive Extracurricular Stem Program On Underrepresented And Disadvantaged High School Students' Self-Efficacy, Science Anxiety, And Career Aspirations, Nikki Mertz

Dissertations

This mixed methods study was designed to assess how an immersive extracurricular STEM program affected a student’s self-efficacy, science anxiety, and career aspirations. This study utilized the SIC-STEM survey to quantify student self-efficacy in science and the STEM Semantics survey to quantify student interest in STEM. Both surveys also assessed student interest in pursuing careers in STEM. The Science Anxiety survey was used to evaluate how student anxiety in science changed throughout the study. A subject matter survey was utilized to quantify student understanding and comprehension of an advanced science topic. Focus groups were used as the qualitative piece to …

Adaptive Sliding Mode Control Of Small Satellites In Formation For Distributed Beamforming Applications, Mason Earl Nixon

Dissertations

The rising popularity of small satellites over the past few decades has created a new boom in space, and, in particular, in low-Earth orbit. Exciting novel applications are being proposed that enable these small satellites to offer many advantages over their monolithic counterparts which can allow for augmentation, or possibly even replacement of more expensive and large alternatives. One particular enabling method is flying small satellites in formation for antenna array applications, which, through coupled dynamical modeling, can be facilitated through robust, nonlinear techniques of control. Thus, control of a perturbed satellite formation antenna array, with dual quaternion dynamics, is …

Adaptive Element Spacing Synthesis Technique In Phased Array Antennas, Tanzeela Mitha

Dissertations

Phased array antennas are widely used in a variety of military and civilian applications. For a given application, their radiation characteristics, such as the sidelobes, position of the nulls, and the main beam direction, need to be altered to enhance the array performance. To control these properties for a given requirement, the elements of phased array antennas need to be either properly excited or physically rearranged in different periodic and aperiodic configurations. However, once the position of the elements is fixed to control a single aspect of the generated pattern, it cannot simultaneously fulfill any other specification. To further alter …

Functionalized Nanomaterials As Tailored Theranostics, Kavini M. Rathnayake

Dissertations

Theranostic nanoparticles are a type of biodegradable and biocompatible multifunctional nanosystems in combination with diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities for more specific and personalized disease management. However, difficulties still exist in engineering biocompatible theranostic nanoparticles with highly specific to intracellular bacteria and tumor. Development of nanoassemblies which can overcome these difficulties to achieve maximum therapeutic efficacy of the drugs will be discussed in this dissertation. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is an opportunistic pathogen, which causes serious lung infections in immunocompromised patients. Traditional oral intake of large quantities of small-molecule antibiotics to treat bacterial infections leads to off-target toxicity and development of drug-resistant …

The Case For Alternate Media Requirement Expressions In Systems Engineering, Jason Kolligs

Dissertations

“Requirements” are often presented as a necessary, if not mandated, component or tool of the systems engineering process. Despite their place in engineering, low quality requirements are the first potential mistakes of an engineering project and their effects are potentially felt downstream in the form of increased costs and schedule overruns. Innovations to improve requirements engineering have historically omitted the requirement media. This research provides the rationale and process heuristics to include alternate media requirement expressions within systems engineering which shifts accountability to higher context requirement expressions that may require less cognitive load while decreasing effort and schedule thereby potentially …

Reuse Considerations For Successful Complex Systems Integration, Logan Grumbach

Dissertations

As systems have become increasingly complex, engineers are relying on reuse of components and subsystems as a method to curb complexity. However, integrating these reuse components and subsystems have historically often resulted in catastrophic failures. Technical principles key to integration success and the role of reuse in these principles are not currently defined. The objective of this research is to, first, derive and validate a set of technical integration principles and subsequently to explore how incorporating reuse impacts integration success. This research uses historical system integration data and a combination of qualitative analysis techniques and quantitative techniques to draw conclusions …

Academic Library Succession Planning In The University Of California (Uc) System, Crystal Goldman

Dissertations

The Library and Information Science (LIS) literature has made clear that academic libraries in the U.S. have experienced decades of hiring freezes and budget cuts that reduced staffing overall and eliminated many middle management positions. Consequently, now that baby boomer library managers and administrators are beginning to retire, there are few qualified applicants to replace them. Thus, many in the LIS field have called for better succession planning by top-level library administrators (e.g., Deans, Directors, University Librarians). Few studies, however, have directly addressed this issue by examining these administrators’ perceptions or behavior regarding succession planning. This study begins to fill …

Understanding Unrecognized Chicana Leadership: Adversity, Resilience, Healing, And Liberation, Blanca Tavera

Dissertations

The path to Chicana leadership is laced with struggle, adversity, and intergenerationaltrauma—but strengthened by resilience. This research focused on unrecognized Chicana leadership generated by adversity and in response to years, decades, and centuries of social injustices, inequities, and systematic oppression. Interviews and focus groups were conducted using a Chicana feminist epistemology lens and testimonio methodology. Culture, language, spirituality, and intuition were dominant factors in the research. From an intuitive knowing, the women of the study redefined notions of sacrifice, healing, resilience, leadership, and liberation. In modeling what their mothers and the women before them had done, they understood the embodiment …