Digital Commons Network^™

Transnationalism, Immigration Stress And Subjective Well-Being Among Ecuadorian Immigrants In London, Lucia E. Orellana-Damacela

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore antecedents to transnational practices among Ecuadorian immigrants in London, and to determine the connection between these practices and their subjective well-being. The study examined the extent to which Ecuadorians stay linked to their home country via various transnational practices, and the association with relevant demographic, immigration and integration factors. This research also aimed at examining the relations that immigration stress and transnational practices had with subjective well-being, as measured by perceived transnational social support, self-esteem, and psychological well-being. Overall, the findings from this study indicate that gender, socio-economic status, having family in …

The Computer Integration Into The Efl Instruction In Indonesia: An Analysis Of Two University Instructors In Integrating Computer Technology Into Elf Instruction To Encourage Students' Language Learning Engagement, Pius Nurwidasa Prihatin

Dissertations

Computer technology has been popular for teaching English as a foreign language in non-English speaking countries. This case study explored the way language instructors designed and implemented computer-based instruction so that students are engaged in English language learning. This study explored the beliefs, practices and perceptions of university faculty in integrating computer technology into English instruction. This research was conducted in English education program in Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia. Communicative language teaching, Engagement Theory, and learner-centered principles were used as the pillars for developing the theoretical framework. The researcher conducted interviews, observed the classroom situation, and reviewed teaching instruments. This …

Teachers' Concerns Regarding The Implementation Of Integrated Thematic Instruction: A Study Of Primary Grade Teachers In Kanisius Catholic Schools In Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Catur Rismiati

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore primary grade teachers' stages of concern and their implementation of an educational reform initiative called Integrated Thematic Instruction (ITI) in Indonesia. The Indonesian minister of education mandated primary grade teachers to implement ITI in 2006. Using a convenience sampling method, 150 Kanisius primary grade teachers participated in the study. The data collection method used was a questionnaire that consisted of three parts: The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ), the Integrated Curriculum Implementation Scale, and demographic questions. The data analysis employed in this research were descriptive, a one way ANOVA test and multiple …

Professional Learning Communities In Improved Illinois Elementary Schools: The Value Of Professional Learning Communities For Leaders Of Illinois Elementary Schools Formerly In "No Child Left Behind" Status, Steven James Thomas

Dissertations

The "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 has created a system, which potentially labeled 82% of US school as "failing" in 2011. Consequences for failing schools go beyond public ostracism to the release of numerous staff and school leaders or the closing of the school. Reforms to prevent these consequences come in two forms, structural and cultural. Structural reforms in schools are often include hiring staff or implementing new programs. Often structural reforms only focus on non-proficient or nearly proficient students. Cultural reforms change the way staff educate all students. One …

Stepping Stone Community Education – A Stepping Stone To Third Level Education., Lorraine Perkins

Dissertations

The focus of this research is to explore supports that facilitated participation and retention of learners on a community education course and additional supports needed to progress to third level education. This research was in partnership with Irish National Association of Adult Education (AONTAS) and supported by Community Links, Technological University Dublin. (DIT)

This research is qualitative in nature. For this purpose, a focus group of community learners and semi-structured interviews with community education professionals was conducted. The research gives in-depth insight into learners experiences of what supports facilitated participation in community education and additional supports needed to progress to …

Explaining Investment Policies In Microstates: The Case Of The Fiji Islands, Sudarsan Kant

Dissertations

Prevailing theories have failed to take into account the development of policy and institutions in microstates that are engineered to attract investments in areas of comparative advantage as these small islands confront the challenges of globalization and instead have emphasized migration, remittances and foreign aid (MIRAB) as an explanation for the survival of microstates in the global economy. This dissertation challenges the MIRAB model as an adequate explanation of investment strategy in microstates and argues that comparative advantage is a better theory to explain policy behavior of microstates. These small economies can take advantage of their exotic locations and natural …

Response To Autism: An Assessment Of Services For Students With Autism In Kentucky's Public Schools, Leigh Anne Roden

Dissertations

The full implementation of school-based autism services has grown in importance over the past few decades. School systems are expected to provide high-quality educational services for students with autism spectrum disorders. Though several organizations provide recommendations for appropriate program components, Kentucky does not supply education agencies with a means of evaluating the current autism services offered within their districts and schools.

This descriptive study examined the current level of implementation of school-based autism services within an educational cooperative in Kentucky. The research was conducted to determine whether or not school districts are fully implementing essential program components as recommended by …

Legal Discourse, Conceptual Metaphors, And Basic Writing Programming: A Study Of Ayers V. Fordice, Joyce Olewski Inman

Dissertations

In what ways does legal discourse influence our perceptions of students labeled as basic writers and these students’ perceptions of themselves? How does standards-based discourse affect student writers’ abilities to define themselves in academe? This dissertation involves an examination of legal and public discourse surrounding Ayers v. Fordice, one of the most prominent desegregation cases in higher education, in an attempt to answer these questions. Its intent is to explore how conceptual metaphors prevalent in these discourses affect our understandings of basic writing programming in the state of Mississippi but also in the field of composition more globally.

My …

That He May Raise, Armond Joseph Boudreaux

Dissertations

This dissertation is a work of fiction written during the author's time as a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Son Of A Thousand Fathers, Colter Patterson Cruthirds

Dissertations

The following collection, which explores the often tenuous relationships between fathers and sons, was written by the author between 2008-2011.

Moral Performances: Melodrama And Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Jeffrey Taylor Pusch

Dissertations

Despite a high number of ticket sales, theater reviews, and innumerable letters and diary entries detailing trips to the theater, the stereotype that theater in nineteenth-century America was almost culturally invisible continued well into the twentieth century. Indeed, a scan of anthologies of American literature fails to yield any examples of nineteenth-century drama, even though figures like Henry James were also theater critics and playwrights. Just as it did in American life, theater exhibits a strong presence in the literature of the time. Considering theater’s pervasiveness, this dissertation seeks to restore it to its proper place in our study of …

On The Interpenetration Of Nature And Spirit: A Loving Relationship With The Earth And Our Natural Environment, Christina Marie Gould

Dissertations

In this dissertation I examine our relationship with the Earth and our natural environment by clarifying what it means to be human. I do this by looking at the interpenetration of spheres of being or philosophical anthropology to articulate how the human being is the dynamic meeting point of life and spirit. In this interpenetration of life and spirit, the task of the human being as loving flashes forth. On the basis of this task, it is possible to realize a loving relationship with the Earth and our natural environment that is not based on domination or use. To understand …

Is There A Relationship Between Electronic White Boards In The Classroom And Student Success?, John Joseph Mundy

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of interactive electronic white boards, an advanced technology, on the academic performance of kindergarten through fifth grade elementary students. The participants represent seven local school districts with approximately 700 teachers instructing 16,421 students. The research gathered data from the teachers through a questionnaire designed by the researcher. Student data was also gathered as well as perceptions of trainers, teachers and administrators.

The study was designed to examine the independent variables and the impact or effect it has on students’ achievement in a Kindergarten through fifth grade elementary classroom. The independent …

Barriers And Enablers Of Interdisciplinary Research At Academic Institutions, Leslie Suzanne Thornton Butler

Dissertations

This research study examines the factors that motivate and lead to the success of faculty members who conduct interdisciplinary research. Because a comprehensive study of the research patterns of interdisciplinary researchers has not been conducted, the main intent of this research project was to create an instrument that would measure research habits and attitudes. It is important that such research be conducted using individuals who are interdisciplinary researchers as well as disciplinary researchers. One intent of the research study was to provide comparisons between disciplinary researchers and interdisciplinary researchers. Another intent was to provide university administrators with a better understanding …

Ladies And Gentlemen, Robert John Bartholomew

Dissertations

This collection of short stories treats of the following diverse themes: the redemptive possibilities for seemingly despicable characters; the ways in which circumstances and the social environment affect characters' sexualities and personal relationships; the lengths to which characters are willing to go to get what they want, which want is often the desire to make contact with others; the struggle between characters' narcissism and their need to come to terms with a new self image, a self image which is often at odds with the one they wish for themselves; and the beauty of vulnerability. Additionally, one of the chief …

Behavioral Cues Associated With Lies Of Omission And Of Commission: An Experimental Investigation, Brianna Ratliff

Dissertations

Deception is a universal communication behavior across and within species. In humans, the purpose of verbal deception, or lying, is to intentionally mislead, and this behavior can be intuitively broken down into two unique categories based on the method used to mask the truth: omission and commission. Lies of omission involve the intentional exclusion of important information, whereas lies of commission involve the intentional generation of false information. Because these two types of deception involve contrasting methods of delivery, it is possible that lies of omission and lies of commission could result in differing behavioral presentations. Accordingly, the purpose of …

The Impact Of The Mississippi Department Of Education's Dyslexia Grant Program On Third Grade Achievement, Cena Windham Holifield

Dissertations

Dyslexia is the most common reading disability and is non-discriminatory, affecting learners of all races and cultures (Shaywitz, 2003). Scientific data reveals dyslexia affects 70-80% of students with poor reading skills (Moats & Dakin, 2008).

The Mississippi Legislature appropriates funds yearly to support the Mississippi Department of Education, (MDE) Grant Pilot Program (MDE, 2009). The purpose of this dyslexia grant program is to support general education teachers in meeting the needs of regular education students who have been identified as having dyslexia and related disorders (MDE, 2009).

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the MDE …

Mad Or Bad? The Portrayal Of Mentally Ill Offenders In The Irish Print Media, Karla Duffy

Dissertations

It has been argued (Pustilnik, 2005) that the majority of representations of mentally ill offenders falls into one of two models: the moral/punitive model, and the medical/therapeutic model. The moral/punitive model views mental illness as a personal failure rather than a medical condition, and any representations of offenders in this model will be unsympathetic. The medical/therapeutic model views mental illness as a medical condition, and views mentally ill offenders in a sympathetic manner. The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether the representation of mentally ill offenders in the Irish print media conforms to one of these two models. …

Extensions Of Snomed Taxonomy Abstraction Networks Supporting Auditing And Complexity Analysis, Duo Wei

Dissertations

The Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine – Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) has been widely used as a standard terminology in various biomedical domains. The enhancement of the quality of SNOMED contributes to the improvement of the medical systems that it supports.

In previous work, the Structural Analysis of Biomedical Ontologies Center (SABOC) team has defined the partial-area taxonomy, a hierarchical abstraction network consisting of units called partial-areas. Each partial-area comprises a set of SNOMED concepts exhibiting a particular relationship structure and being distinguished by a unique root concept. In this dissertation, some extensions and applications of the taxonomy framework are considered. …

A Som+ Diagnostic System For Network Intrusion Detection, Chester Louis Langin

Dissertations

This research created a new theoretical Soft Computing (SC) hybridized network intrusion detection diagnostic system including complex hybridization of a 3D full color Self-Organizing Map (SOM), Artificial Immune System Danger Theory (AISDT), and a Fuzzy Inference System (FIS). This SOM+ diagnostic archetype includes newly defined intrusion types to facilitate diagnostic analysis, a descriptive computational model, and an Invisible Mobile Network Bridge (IMNB) to collect data, while maintaining compatibility with traditional packet analysis. This system is modular, multitaskable, scalable, intuitive, adaptable to quickly changing scenarios, and uses relatively few resources.

Strange Places, Alex James Morris

Dissertations

Strange Places is a collection of short stories and short shorts written during my time at The University of Southern Mississippi. Set primarily in Akron, Ohio, the stories in this collection explore a range of themes, such as trauma, death, alienation, social class, and the struggle to connect to others. This collection is preceded by a critical introduction.

Multi-Language Education For Indigenous Children In Taiwan, Cheng-Kan Chen

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Electrophysiological Investigation Of The Cognitive Processes Underlying Provoked Aggression In Humans, Jennifer Renee Fanning

Dissertations

Recently, the event-related potential (ERP) technique has been applied to questions of social information processing. Several studies have examined standard and social information processing variables in aggressive individuals, but little is known about the neurophysiological processes that take place in real-time during an aggressive encounter. In this study, 48 men and women high and low in aggression history exchanged noise blasts of varying intensity with a (fictitious) opponent in a modified version of a well-validated laboratory-controlled behavioral measure of aggression, the Taylor Reaction-time Task (Taylor, 1967), while ERPs were simultaneously being recorded at scalp sites. Mixed model ANOVAs were used …

The Black Plumb Line: Re-Evaluating Race And Africanist Images In Non-Black Authored American Texts, Lashondra Vanessa Robinson

Dissertations

This study evaluates Africanisms (representations of racialized or ethnicized blackness) within three contemporary non-black authors’ texts: Jewish American Saul Bellow’s novel Henderson the Rain King, white southerner Melinda Haynes’ novel Mother of Pearl, and Nyurican poet Victor Hernández Cruz’s works “Mesa Blanca” and “White Table.” Though not entirely unproblematic, each selection somehow redefines black identity and agency to challenge denigrated representations of Africanist people and culture. In the process, each author subverts faulty components of American myths of racial purity, particularly stratifying black-white dualisms that promote whiteness, racial supremacy, and resulting undue privilege. This study also traces how Bellow, Haynes …

An Exploration Of Concise Redundancy In Online Multimedia Learning, Yu-Feng Wu

Dissertations

With the rapid growth of multimedia in education, the importance of investigating the effect of redundancy, repeating instructional messages to enhance conceptualization in instructional material design, is becoming more important. Various studies have been conducted recently regarding the effects of different forms of redundancy. A multimedia lesson presenting concurrent on-screen text, still graphics or animations, and narration is a typical setting in redundancy research. Concise redundancy is the revision of the on-screen text into a concise form which is presented to the learners concurrently with visualizations and narration. The purpose of this study was to investigate, while controlling for spatial …

Transition To Adulthood For Students With Significant Disabilities: Culturally Diverse Parent Perspectives, Kara Francine Halley

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Power Dynamics And Questioning In Elementary Science Lessons, Lori Ann Reinsvold

Dissertations

Discourse interactions between a teacher and students in an inquiry-based fourth-grade science classroom were analyzed to investigate how power dynamics and questioning strategies within elementary science lessons help support students in building their science understanding. Five inquiry-based classroom sessions were observed; verbal interactions were audio- and video-recorded. Research data consisted of observation transcripts, teacher interviews, student work, and instructional materials. Analyses were conducted on the frequencies of utterances, participation roles, power categories, and questioning categories. Results revealed that when students used more frequent power, (a) no significant differences were noted between frequencies of teacher and student talk, (b) the teacher …

Undergraduate Elementary Teacher Education Program And Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Deborah A. O'Connor

Dissertations

This study examined an undergraduate elementary teacher education program that had been redesigned based on outcomes of a Teacher Quality Education grant and research on culturally responsive pedagogy. This research study was a program evaluation based on data gathered from the alumni of the program using classroom observations, surveys, and focus groups as data collection methods. Focusing on the concepts of equity, inquiry, and culturally responsive pedagogy, this study indicates program graduates did practice these concepts in their classrooms well, but with superficial understanding of the theory. The study suggests that in order for teachers to be agents of change …

The Effect Of Instructional Methodology On Pre-Service Educators' Level Of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Shannon Haley-Mize

Dissertations

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is presented by Mishra and Koehler (2006) as a form of complex, situated knowledge that is a prerequisite to seamless and successful technology integration into educational spaces. This form of knowledge is believed necessary for technology use to transform classrooms into vibrant, collaborative spaces that build 21^st century skills – a transformation that has been elusive in K-16 spaces. Preservice education programs are poised to develop this type of knowledge in future teachers to contribute to the development of educators that can act as change agents. This study used a quasi-experimental, pre/post-test design to …

Circadian Rhythm And Vigorous Activity: Do They Make A Difference In Executive Function?, Janie Sue Ryland

Dissertations

PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a federally mandated accountability system based on standards, attendance, and dropout rates has forced educational leaders to explore new avenues of student improvement. Research suggests that all three factors are impacted by scheduling preferences that are relative to time of day. The aim of this study was to extend evidence of executive function as it is impacted by time of day and diurnal preference when exposed to vigorous exercise conditions. Data were collected from a sample that included 100 sixth graders (60 females and 40 males) during the spring semester …