Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of The Mother's Appraisal Of Her Employment Status On The Preterm Infant's Development At 3 Months, Joanne M. Youngblut

Dissertations

The issue of whether maternal employment has negative consequences for the child has been frequently studied, although with conflicting results. Only one study has been reported that examined the effects of maternal employment on preterm infants. With more mothers of children under 1 year of age in the labor force and with improvements in preterm infant care, it is important to examine the effects of maternal employment for this group. In addition, with the mixed results obtained in previous studies, it is important to explicate the process by which these effects might occur.

Predicting Leader Survival: Evidence From Covert Action Case Study Analysis, Joy S. Patton

Dissertations

This research explores the unique relationship between covert action and leader survivability, in particular, how leadership styles and personality traits influence this relationship. The life of a ruler is ephemeral. For those who are lucky, their exit from office is through retirement or old age. For most, their tenure is short, often ending through violent means. The overthrow of rulers by their rivals is a common theme throughout world history, and the strategy remains a popular choice in contemporary warfare. However, despite the frequency of regime change, very little is discussed in international relations about covert regime change and its …

Validation Of A Scale To Measure Phonological And Morphological Knowledge And Skill Of Speech-Language Pathologists And Elementary Teachers, Susan S. Perry

Dissertations

Phonological and morphological skills are crucial to the process of reading. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have received advanced trained in these basic foundations of language and could be an untapped resource in our school systems for teaching beginning reading skills. The purposes of this research were to examine SLPs’ and general education elementary (K-6) teachers’ attitudes toward SLPs taking part in reading instruction, to compare the differences in phonological and morphological knowledge and skill among SLPs and teachers, and to assess the performance of the Revised Basic Language Constructs Surveywhen administered to SLPs and teachers.

Results indicated that, although fewer …

The Cultural Adaptation Experiences Of Chinese Higher Education Students In The American Deep South: A Comparison Across Disciplines, Xiaonan Song

Dissertations

In the past decade, Chinese international students have been found as one of the largest international student groups at American institutions across the country. However, the American Deep South was not less frequently studied in the past. Due to the distinctiveness of the Deep South, the researcher conducted this qualitative research on Chinese international students studying in this historically and culturally distinctive region. Mississippi was chosen as a representative state of the Deep South in the current study. The researcher collected data from in-depth interviews from three publicly funded institutions in Mississippi. Besides reporting many common issues regarding to cultural …

Music Integration And Self-Efficacy Among Middle School Teachers, Cassandra L. Weiss

Dissertations

Middle school teachers have a difficult task of finding new and creative ways to help their students achieve academic success. Research has shown that integrating music into regular academic classes has tremendous results. Music has the ability to help students relax, memorize, and engage, using their whole brains. Self-efficacy is an individuals’ belief in their ability. One’s level of self-efficacy can play a major role in one’s motivation to carry out certain tasks.

Despite that music has many benefits in the classroom, it if is not being used, the students will not benefit from it. Low musical self-efficacy could be …

Mississippi Registered Nurse Perceptions When Communicating With Limited-English-Speaking And Non-English-Speaking Patients, Mary Pipper Widdig

Dissertations

Communication serves as the foundation for safe and effective healthcare practice. Effective nurse-patient communication is the cornerstone of the nurse-patient relationship and is vital for the delivery of safe and effective healthcare. Research has shown patients who are communication impaired are at a greater risk of medical error and poorer health outcomes. A review of the literature revealed various nurse perceptions of barriers when providing care for limited-English-speaking patients and non-English-speaking patients. LEP and NEP patients also identified similar perceived barriers when receiving care. Both nurses and patients revealed a distrust for interpreters and interpreter services. The literature review revealed …

The Lived Experience Of Underrepresented Pre-Nursing Students: An Exploration To Diversify The Nursing Workforce, Katie Bagley

Dissertations

Understanding about the experience of underrepresented students making the decision to choose nursing as a career would improve the ability of nursing programs to recruit applicants from a more diverse background. The purpose of this research was to explore the experience of underrepresented students who are considering nursing as a career but have not yet applied to a nursing program. This research was conducted using a descriptive phenomenological research method. Thirteen participants participated in the study. The participant interviews were interpreted as an expression of pre-nursing students from racially or ethnically underrepresented backgrounds who are feeling they are in a …

English As A Second Language: Adult Programs And Their Impact On Second Language Learners’ Aspirations, Hala Gheriani

Dissertations

Over the years, millions of immigrants have made the trek to the United States to start a new life away from the known and the familiar (Lopez, Bialik, & Radford, 2017). English as a Second Language (ESL) centers are often the first formal introduction to the English language, and many immigrants will wait on long waiting lists for the chance to learn proper English and, therefore, ascend to a future identity sometimes years in the making (Jhangiani, Tarry, & Stangor, 2015; National Council of State Directors of Adult Education, 2016). The purpose of this study was to investigate, through a …

Perspectives On English Language Learner Programs: A Case Study, Stacie Thompson

Dissertations

English language programs across the country have experienced a recent swell in English language learner enrollment (McFarland et al., 2017). In this qualitative case study, the researcher elicited the perceptions of multiple groups of individuals directly impacted by the English language program in District B. Two elementary principals, five general education classroom teachers, three English language teachers, two English language paraprofessionals, and five English language learners were interviewed to gain perspective on the current status and effectiveness of the English language program in District B. Little research has been conducted on the perceptions of teachers and the implementation of English …

Bridging The English Language Divide And Building Self-Confidence In Marginalized Communities: An Exploratory Study In Tamil Nadu, India, Radha Aravamudhan

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to critically evaluate the implementation of a community based English program in villages in Tamil Nadu, India and examine their model from the perceptions of students, parents, teachers, program tutors, trainers and administrators. The study using visual qualitative research methods describes the experiences of various stakeholders in the program. The data for the study was collected in video format through in-person interviews and site observations and edited to produce the documentary film “I Can!” Findings demonstrated that an asset based approach utilizing strengths in the community, culturally responsive teaching practices and a positive teacher …

Tracing Sehnsucht To Place: Mythopoeia, Visions, Transcendence, And The Journey Of The Rhetorical Refugee, G. Brandon Knight

Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to explicate a rhetorical conceptualization from C. S. Lewis’s notion of longing, or sehnsucht, in hopes of extending its employment to two other contemporary contexts—Christian Hedonism and American Humanism. To do so, I utilize the method of rhetorical criticism to analyze Lewis’s most famous sermon entitled The Weight of Glory. Following this paradigm chapter, I then compare uses of longing within the contemporary evangelical philosophy called Christian Hedonism initiated during the eighties through the seminal text entitled Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. In doing so, I uncover distinct aspects of longing within …

“Goth Barbies”: A Postmodern Multiperspective Analysis Of Mattel’S Monster High Media, Danianese Woods

Dissertations

This research examines the historical, cultural, and social context in relation to the monster characters of Mattel’s Monster High, a franchise about animated dolls that are the offspring of famous horror monsters. The animated dolls are an intersection of complex gender and racial identities that are constructed in a postmodern reality. The goal of this research is to formulate a more complex understanding of the social and cultural contexts, relationships, interactions and meanings within production, circulation, and distribution of Monster High media.

The preferred reading of the Monster Highseries is postmodernism. Monster Highdisplays a multitude of postmodern …

“I Am Whatever You Say I Am”: The Social Construction Of Identity In Rural Drug-Using Women’S Narratives, Amanda Bolton

Dissertations

Previous narrative criminology research has examined how drug users manage their identities through discussions of themselves, while providing little insight into how they manage their identities through discussions of others(McIntosh & McKeganey, 2000; Rødner, 2005; Sandberg, 2009).It is important to consider others because according to many symbolic interactionists (Cooley, 1902; Goffman, 1959; Mead, 1934), identity is a social product that is constructed and maintained through social interaction with others and is based on perceptions of others. Cooley (1902) more specifically argued that one’s primary group (i.e., those that are relationally or proximally close to an individual) are even …

The Process Of Oral Academic Discourse Socialization And Workplace Enculturation Of International Graduate Students Of Business, Denise Mussman

Dissertations

This study addresses the process of oral academic socialization that learners of a second language and culture undergo to succeed in disciplinary graduate courses. The participants were students from Mainland China and Taiwan pursuing an International Master of Business Administration (IMBA) degree at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). Guided by social constructivist and language socialization theories, this ethnographic case study investigated factors that facilitated oral academic discourse socialization of speakers of Chinese. A group of eight IMBA Chinese and Taiwanese students studied their first academic year in their home country before transferring to study abroad in the U.S. to …

How Professional Physical Therapist Education Programs Develop Cultural Competence Within Their Students: An Exploratory Concurrent Mixed Methods Study, Dustin E. Domingo

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory concurrent mixed methods study was to describe experiences that shape the factors of cultural intelligence (CQ) as perceived by students of professional physical therapist education programs. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to determine whether any particular factor of cultural intelligence influenced one’s overall cultural competence according to the cultural competence continuum by Cross et al. (1989).

Methodology: Students in a professional physical therapist education program completed a questionnaire, which included Likert scale questions, open ended questions, and a 37-item self-assessment based on the expanded cultural intelligence scale by Van Dyne …

The Effect Of Emotional Intelligence And Adversity Intelligence On Mental Health, Life Satisfaction, Career And Interpersonal Success Among Chinese Adults, Yuyang Zhao

Dissertations

Few studies examine the comprehensive effect of EQ and AQ on mental health (i.e., depression, anxiety, anger, positive automatic thoughts), life satisfaction, career success (i.e., job position and organizational commitment), and interpersonal success (i.e., interpersonal sensitivity and empty). By conducing two studies, totally 512 Chinese adults were recruited. Results from the multiple regression analysis revealed that part of EQ (i.e., regulation of emotion) and AQ (i.e., consistency of interest and acceptance of self and life) negatively predicted depression; whereas part of EQ (i.e., utilization of emotion) and AQ (i.e., personal competence) positively predicted depression. All aspects of EQ were not …

A Mixed-Method Study Evaluating English Second Language Student Classroom Placement At The Secondary Level In A Midwest Public School, Corbin Kreamalmeyer

Dissertations

English second language (ESL) learners have been present in the United States public schools for decades. While the identification and procedures for entering students into an ESL program have improved throughout the years, there still seems to be a lack of understanding of academic backgrounds and program support for these students with unique educational backgrounds and languages. Instructional techniques for ESL students have varied widely, but there has not been a common consensus on which technique to utilize with secondary ESL students. Placement of ESL students has proved to be a difficult task in districts with limited options and often …

The Attitudes And Learning Styles Of Adult Learners To E-Instruction Of The Spanish Language, Brian Santos

Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between adult learner attitudes toward technology and learning style. A sample of community college Spanish students in a Midwestern city in the United States was surveyed to determine (a) an attitude score toward Spanish E-Instruction based on the Lukow ATUTS (Attitudes toward Using Technology Survey) and (b) a learning style measured by the Kolb LSI (Learning Style Inventory). The majority of participants (n = 151) were aged 18-29 (95%), used between one and five software programs on a daily basis (88%), spent at least 11 hours a week online (88%), and reported an "Accommodating" …

Conversational Leadership Behaviors Of Exemplary Unified School District Superintendents, Jacqueline A. Cardenas

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the behaviors that exemplary unified school district superintendents practice to lead their organizations through conversation using Groysberg and Slind’s (2012b) 4 elements of conversational leadership: intimacy, interactivity, inclusion, and intentionality.

Methodology: This study utilized a qualitative phenomenological inquiry methodology to study the behaviors of 10 unified school district superintendents in Southern California. Semistructured interviews followed a peer researcher-developed guide and were used in conjunction with observations and artifacts to learn about the lived experiences and perspectives of conversational leadership. Data collection and analysis was facilitated by NVivo software to …

A Mixed-Methods Investigation Of The Workshop Model And Sri Scores In The Middle School Setting, Kelly Manning

Dissertations

The workshop method of teaching in English Language Arts classrooms allowed teachers to be student-centered. Through the method, teachers taught for a specific amount of time and focused on one skill. Students always received independent reading time during the class period. In this mixed-methods study, the researcher investigated the use of the workshop method of teaching and growth in Lexile scores with middle school students. The study began January 2017 and took place in a suburban school district encompassing three middle schools. Thirteen middle school English Language Arts teachers chose to participate and 1,180 student scores were analyzed. The researcher …

Identifying Potential Predictors Of Health Literacy And Steps Taken To Pursue Kidney Transplant Among African-Americans On Dialysis, Stacy Skelton

Dissertations

The dissertation attempts to address the disparity seen in all transplant centers today, the low number of African-American end-stage renal disease(ESRD) patients pursing kidney transplant as renal replacement therapy. Currently, there are two renal replacement options, dialysis or a kidney transplant. Research has shown that kidney transplant provides the best health care outcomes in terms of quality of life and decrease mortality. While African-Americans carry the burden of the disease by being four times more likely to have ESRD they only represent 1/3 of the kidney transplants done in the United States. There have been three attempts to increase access …

Social-Emotional Intelligence (Ei), Graduates And The Workplace – A Study Of A Tailored Approach To Ei Competency Development For Final Year Engineering Students, Ailish Jameson

Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated that higher social and emotional competence (EI) results in increased life and career success. To date, EI coaching programmes have been delivered in higher education and in the workplace and have demonstrated success in terms of increased EI competence, post intervention. However, to date no attempt has been made in an Irish context to design and deliver a tailored EI coaching programme, based on the stated needs of employers. This study aimed to address this gap in EI research. It was exploratory in nature with a mixed method design being employed. In Phase One, a survey …

The Social-Construct Of Race And Ethnicity: One’S Self-Identity After A Dna Test, Kathryn Ann Wilson

Dissertations

Self-identity—specific to race and ethnicity—is shaped by a myriad of factors, including genealogical evidence, family lore, learned behaviors and lived experiences. How these various factors affect self-identity varies greatly from individual to individual. Even those raised within the same household may hold different views of who they are. This study examines how individuals’ self-identity is affected by results from DNA testing.

This study is filtered through the lens of Social Constructivism theory and looks at many components which may have impacted how we see ourselves and develop our personal self-identification. The study used mixed methods and sources of data. Quantitative …

Positionality Matters: School Choice Decisions Based On Ethnographic Accounts Of African American Parents, Dr. Stacy L. Thomas

Dissertations

This research delves into experiences with reasoning and selected criteria for choosing the right school for their children. Beginning with a series of vignettes that assist with recognition of parental empowerment, this research archives acknowledgement of their own positionality when it comes to making life changing decisions. As selected parents of African American children grapple with the strategic balance and possibilities of educational outlets, family and finances, they offer ethnographic accounts of their successes and failures with school choice. Individual accounts of parental school choice decisions posing as data ascertained from interviews provided research that explored the critical frequencies and …

Hardware/Software Co-Design Of A Reconfigurable Accelerator Platform For Fuzzy Logic-Based Spatial Image Processing Filters, Aous Hammad Kurdi

Dissertations

Rapid development in the architecture and fabrication technology of field programmable gate array (FPGA) and system on a chip (SoC) in the last two decades is dramatically increasing the reliability of those devices as a cost-effective alternative for traditional real-time image processing systems. Module reusability nature of FPGA and SoC development decreases design and implementation time noticeably. On-site reconfigurability allows for intensive design alterations to occur at a small cost. This study is presenting the design and implementation of a new hardware accelerator for an edge detector on Xilinx 7 series FPGA devices based on a fuzzy logic approach. The …

An Investgation Of Multimodal Mobile Literacy Effect On Promoting 10th Graders’ Efl Writing, Motivation And Intercultural Competence, Amin Mefreh Amin Elkhayyat

Dissertations

This study aimed at investigating Multimodal Mobile Literacy (MML) effect on promoting EFL writing performance, writing motivation, and intercultural competence. The Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition Model (SAMR), as one of the 21st-century frameworks for evaluating mobile learning was adopted to select the MML device of the study. The study employed a quasi-experimental design. A convenient sample of 10th-grade students from public schools in three cities in the UAE was selected. The sample comprised of two groups: A treatment Group (n= 176) and a Control Group (n=179). The experimental group made use of the Mobile Learning platform to learn English writing …

Exploring Critical Reading Experience In English Of Emirati 11th Grade Students, Maryam Ali Salem Alsereidi

Dissertations

This study aimed at exploring the critical reading experiences of Emirati 11th-grade students in public high schools. A sequential explanatory mixed-method design was used to answer the five research questions posed in this study. In this study, data were collected in two consecutive phases and used different instruments including a questionnaire, classroom observation, and a semi-structured interview. In the first phase of the study, a total number of 11^th-grade students (n=645) participated by filling a questionnaire about their critical reading experiences. The second phase of the study featured an in-depth investigation of the teachers’ and students’ views about …

An Exploration Of Nurses' Knowledge Of Right Hemisphere Stroke Associated Communication Impairments, Susan K. Brooks

Dissertations

In the U. S. approximately 795,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke yearly. Stroke survival has increased with advances in medical technology. The impact of stroke on a patient's neurological status poses critical challenges for nurses. Communication is one area impacted by stroke. Strokes affecting the brain's right hemisphere (RHS) have been described in the literature as negatively impacting communication behaviors of patients, often in a subtle manner. The purpose of this exploratory descriptive study was to examine the knowledge that RNs in North Carolina possess about communication impairments associated with RHS and how these nurses anticipate using knowledge …

Exploring Workplace Spirituality And The Benefit It Has On Teams, Tracey Kimberly Johnson

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and understand the perception of nonprofit leaders on how spirituality in the workplace fosters a positive workplace culture.

Methodology: In this phenomenological qualitative study, data were collected using interviews of 12 nonprofit leaders. The essential data collection method for this study was in-depth, semi-structured, open-ended interview questions, key informant interviews, and pilot study data interviews. After the data were collected and transcribed, the coding process began, and themes were identified.

Findings: The research on spirituality in the workplace and spiritual intelligence of nonprofit leaders has been completed. There is still …

A Dynamic Approach To Understanding Immigration, Ethnicity And Violent Crime In Chicago Communities, Saundra Trujillo

Dissertations

Once again, politically-driven events in the United States have brought the relationship between immigration and crime to the forefront in public, political, and academic discourses. Yet, despite proclamations made by a key U.S. political figure claiming that immigrants, specifically Mexican immigrants, are “bringing drugs...[and] bringing crime” (Trump, 2015) to U.S. communities, criminological research consistently finds that there is either an inverse relationship between immigration and crime- or no relationship at all (see Ousey and Kubrin, 2017 and National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, 2015 for review). Moreover, with decades of research on the relationship between immigration and crime, this …