Digital Commons Network^™

It’S Elementary: The Curricular Decision-Making And Instructional Practices Of Black Male Elementary Teachers., Ashlea Jean Campbell

Dissertations

This study explored the curricular decision-making and instructional practices of four Black male elementary teachers in a large suburban school district. In order to capture the intersection of their racial and gender identity with their educational practices, the researcher utilized educational connoisseurship and criticism, a methodology that examines the nuances that exist in the curricular and pedagogical choices of teachers. Critical race theory provided a framework for addressing the nuance that exists while also challenging dominant ideology regarding Black male elementary teachers. In addition to interviews and observations, this study provided space for participants to contribute directly to the data …

Bayesian Approach To The Mixture Of Gaussian Random Fields And Its Application To An Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study, Mozhdeh Forghaniarani

Dissertations

Due to the functional nature of fMRI data, random field theory is used as a remedy to the multiple comparisons problem in brain signal detection. Traditionally, a Gaussian random field model is fitted to the functional data using this approach. However, fMRI data are not homogeneous, and there exist multiple underlying classes in functional data, so traditional inferential methods may fail. Here, we proposed a new model for signal detection in fMRI data in which we addressed the heterogeneity in such data. The proposed model is a mixture of two Gaussian random fields. We developed a Bayesian approach for hypothesis …

Effectiveness Of A Brief Parent Training In Pivotal Response Treatment For Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Hesham F. Hassan Abda

Dissertations

This study used a single-case research design across subjects. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of a brief 6-hour training program in Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) for parents of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on the increased use of social functional utterances (SFU) by their children during play sessions. Baseline data were collected before the parent training. Training commenced once baseline trends showed stability, at which point the parents – all of whom were three fathers – received instruction in PRT motivational techniques for use in the home setting during play sessions. During the …

Identifying Early Warning Indicators For Improved High School Outcomes For Students, Dina Perfetti-Deany

Dissertations

Over the last 100 years, the overwhelming majority of Americans have attended this nation’s public schools. There are clearly documented deleterious effects for students who do not successfully graduate from high school. Further, scholars and practitioners have recognized the adverse impacts on communities and the economy. Unfortunately, Colorado youth persistently have graduated at lower rates than the national average. The information yielded from this study can assist school leaders who wish to identify middle school students at risk of not graduating on time in order to provide an intervention that will set them on a path to graduation. This study …

Non-Psychiatric Registered Nurses' Perceptions Of Caring For Persons With Mental Illness In A Non-Psychiatric Healthcare Setting, Debra Sue Ollila

Dissertations

Patients with mental illness receive care in acute medical facilities for medical and acute psychiatric problems. Non-psychiatric nurses are responsible for the care of patients with mental illness regardless of their training in psychiatric nursing skills. The purpose of this study was to inform the nursing profession and nursing education of the needs of non-psychiatric nurses in caring for patients with mental illness. This study also sought to discover non-psychiatric nurses’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research study used qualitative descriptive phenomenology to explore the research phenomenon. Eight participants were interviewed virtually using a semi-structured interview guide with interview …

Deeper Learning And District-Level Curriculum Leadership: A Case Study Of One Large Public School District, Jonathan Warren Cooney

Dissertations

A key element within school accountability frameworks across the United States is student performance as measured by standardized assessments. Scholars have argued that these types of assessments and accountability systems have narrowed the curriculum to emphasize students' development of discrete, specialized skills. Researchers have recently suggested that deeper learning approaches will better support students in building the skills and understanding needed for life and work. Unfortunately, deeper learning has not commonly been observed at the school-wide level. Recent research suggested that a prevailing culture of district-level curriculum leadership serves as a potential barrier to the enactment of deep learning in …

The Experiences Of Mental Health Service Providers Adapting Counseling Treatments For Refugee Clients, Gurusewak Singh Khalsa

Dissertations

This study examined the perceptions of mental health professionals through their experiences of adapting counseling treatments to meet the cultural needs of their refugee clients. For this interpretative phenomenological study, 11 licensed clinicians participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews that utilized multicultural counseling and vicarious trauma theories. Results were presented in superordinate and subordinate themes. This study added to the literature and exploration of the unique experiences of mental health providers culturally adapting their counseling approaches in order to provide more effective services to refugee communities. Participants discussed the influences of their cultural backgrounds, the challenges, supports, and areas of growth …

Social-Emotional Experiences For Young Male Adults Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing In The Eastern Province Of Saudi Arabia, Abdulrahman Khalid Alsayed

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth understanding of the social-emotional experiences in connection with language and communication development for Saudi individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) who use spoken language as their main method of communication. The following research questions guided this study: Q1 What are the perceptions of Saudi individuals who are DHH and use spoken language regarding their social-emotional experiences currently and during their (K-12) education? Q2 What educational practices did teachers deliver and how did those educational practices promote social-emotional experiences for Saudi individuals who are DHH and who use …

An Instrumental Case Study Of Teachers' Perceptions Of Mandatory Professional Development During Educational Reform Efforts, Jennifer Elaine Wakeman

Dissertations

This instrumental case study explored 12 public-school teachers’ perceptions of mandatory professional development (PD) during times of educational reform efforts in the state of Colorado. The participants in this study represented five unique school districts in suburban and semi-rural settings who had experienced 14 hours or more of mandated PD on a single topic in the past 24 months and had at least five years of classroom experience. Two research questions guided this case study: What are teachers’ perceptions of professional development that is mandated as part of a district-wide instructional improvement initiative? What do teachers say they need in …

Comprimario Tenor Repertoire: An Alternative Approach To Teaching The Developing Operatic Tenor, Stewart Cramer

Dissertations

Not every tenor is destined to sing romantic leading roles. Fortunately, the expansive body of secondary tenor repertoire is just as exciting. Not only are these roles a possible avenue for a successful career, they also offer a wealth of technical resources for young, developing tenors and their teachers. When diving into the wide-ranging and diverse world of the comprimario tenor, there are more than just Parpignols and Armoured Men; there are Frantzes, Witches, and Hylases. Each character demands unique technical, musical, emotional, and acting skills. This paper examines the pedagogical relevance of the comprimario tenor repertoire in the voice …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Novel Organic Ligands With Their Complexes Of Platinum, Copper And Uranium, Mustafa Adnan Yasin Aldulaimi

Dissertations

Transition metal complexes of symmetrical and asymmetrical Schiff bases have played a significant role in the field of coordination, inorganic, and bioinorganic chemistry as models for biological, analytical, industrial, and pharmaceutical applications. Over recent years a great deal of interest has developed in new transition metal complexes of Schiff base ligand. The preparation of novel organic ligands is the most important step in the development of metal complexes that exhibit unique properties and novel reactivity. To highlight the presentation of this dissertation and to provide more detailed investigations, the dissertation was separated into six chapters according to the sequence of …

Veteran Social Network: Peer Support Impact On Mental Health Service Utilization, Stacy A. Harris

Dissertations

Of the 20 million US Veterans, approximately 30% receive health care benefits from the Veterans Affairs system. Research confirms that these Veterans are less likely to seek professional mental health services as a result of a belief that mental illness equates with weakness. Research on peer support with Veterans suggests that Veteran social networks reduce stigma and facilitate help seeking behavior. Most studies on Veteran help seeking for mental health services use subjects who receive health care from the Veterans Health Administration or Department of Defense. The purpose of the current study is to gain an understanding of Veterans who …

Three Essays On Quantitative Easing Policy, Daniel Abraham Mengistu

Dissertations

The main objective of these three essays is to examine the impact of quantitative easing (QE) policies on macroeconomic indicators. The first essay focuses on the cross-border effect of U.S. QE shocks in Latin America, while the second and third essays focus on the effects of Japan’s QE policies on consumer and stock prices. In the first essay, I examine the global impacts of U.S. QE shocks on output and inflation in Latin American countries through trade linkages. It presents a monthly global model that combines individual country vector error-correction models in which domestic (endogenous) variables are related to the …

Effects Of Behavioral Skills Training On Preservice Teachers’ Ability To Code Articles, Rena Vanderwall

Dissertations

The research-to-practice gap in education has been well documented over the decades (e.g., Abbott et al., 1999; Burns & Ysseldyke, 2009; Cook & Odom, 2013; van Ingen & Ariew, 2015). To best benefit PreK-12 student outcomes, educators must understand and implement scientifically based practices in their teaching (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6301 et seq., 2015; Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq., 2004). However, this task can be daunting. When presented with educational research, teachers often struggle with identifying the key information, as well as applying it to their …

Doing More With Less: A Quantitative Analysis Of Mindfulness, Meditation, Sustainable Consumption Awareness And Practice Among University Undergraduates, Teresa Van Horn

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Climate change, overconsumption, air, and water pollution continue to be pressing issues for society. Given the significant impact of overconsumption, the search for strategies to promote more sustainable behavior has become a topic for investigation. Universities are uniquely positioned to help students work toward sustainable solutions. This research explored the role of mindfulness in university students' sustainable consumption awareness and practice as there are gaps in the literature concerning definitions, constructs, and research regarding mindfulness and sustainable consumption.

To address these disparities, this research used stepwise regression analysis to investigate the extent to which mindfulness and select demographic measures …

Personal Data Privacy And Protective Federal Legislation: An Exploration Of Constituent Position On The Need For Legislation To Control Data Reliant Organizations Collecting And Monetizing Internet-Obtained Personal Data, Giovanni De Meo

Dissertations

In the past twenty years, the business of online personal data collection has grown at the same rapid pace as the internet itself, fostering a multibillion-dollar personal data collection and commercialization industry. Unlike many other large industries, there has been no major federal legislation enacted to monitor or control the activities of organizations dealing in this flourishing industry. The combination of these factors together with the lack of prior research encouraged this research designed to understand how much voters know about this topic and whether there is interest in seeing legislation enacted to protect individual personal data privacy.

To address …

Reproducing The Status Quo In The Middle School English Classroom: A Critical Examination Of Literacy Learning Via Personalized Learning Technology, Michele Mcconnell

Dissertations

Personalized learning technology (PL Tech) is a growing educational reform movement supported by federal grant dollars. As a bourgeoning educational movement, no research has been conducted to explore the potential effects of such structures in supporting student literacy learning. Additionally, current education reform research often lacks the perspective of the students experiencing the reform. Therefore, this study sought to examine the lived experiences of middle school students using PL Tech to understand what structural and cultural arrangements influenced students’ literacy learning.

Portraiture, a qualitative methodology, was employed to conduct the study at a charter school in Fresno, California implementing PL …

A Qualitative Exploration Of The Patient Care Experience As Perceived By Hispanic Patients Receiving Care At A Safety-Net Facility, Silvinia Cuizon

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand how English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanic patients seeking kidney and liver transplant care at a safety-net facility perceive and interpret the care experience with the goal of generating a grounded theory model to guide care delivery and improve perception of care for this population.

Background/Rationale: The patient experience is the current federally mandated hospital quality indicator that measures the range of interactions patients have with their hospital admission, which has fiscal and clinical implications for the delivery of care. Many safety-net health care delivery systems, which primarily serve traditionally underserved populations, and …

The Asymmetric Effect Of Sentiment On Equity Returns, Mishal Ahmed

Dissertations

In the first chapter titled “The Asymmetric Effect of Sentiment on U.S. Equity Returns”, we test the asymmetric impact of investor sentiment, proxied by the Baker-Wurgler (2007) investor sentiment index, on expected stock returns in the U.S. We regress sentiment on market and economy-wide fundamentals, use the residuals as a measure of excess sentiment and estimate long-horizon return regressions using positive and negative components of excess sentiment as predictors. We hypothesize that excessive optimism leads investors to make significant portfolio changes whereas excessive pessimism makes investors more cautious about investing, due to loss aversion. Primary results confirm our hypothesis with …

Non-Affirmation As A Moderator Between Social Support And Quality Of Life For Transgender Populations, Michael Evitts

Dissertations

This research builds upon scholarship exploring the quality of life of transgender populations. Knowledge on quality-of-life (QOL) for transgender populations has been limited due to the fact that most studies have focused on gender affirming medical procedures as interventions (Nobili et al., 2018). Other protective factors, such as social support, have been identified in the literature but have been defined in broad terms. The purpose of the study was to better understand additional factors that promote QOL and psychological well-being, specifically social support. It is unclear how non-affirmation of gender identity affects the protective effects of social support for QOL. …

Exploring Generational Difference Of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity And Racial Identity In Liberian Immigrants And Their Children Living In The United States, Breezie J. Gibson

Dissertations

Prior literature on immigrants has focused on the impact of acculturation for groups such as Asians and Hispanic or Latinx immigrants (Orjiako & So, 2014; Sall, 2019). Compared to these two groups, the literature on Black immigrants’ experience of acculturation is scarce. In addition to the minimum visibility of Black immigrants in the acculturation literature, there is also limited knowledge relating to differences in the ethnic identity and racial identity of Black immigrants because these immigrants are often grouped monolithically with minimum attention to their diverse countries of origin. Understanding the influence of acculturation, ethnicity, and race is important because …

Racial Identity, Masculinity, And Academic Help-Seeking Behaviors In African American Male College Students, Walter T. Malone

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of Black racial identity attitudes, as measured by the Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS), and masculine norms, as measured by the Conformity to Masculinity Norms Index -46 (CMNI-46), in relation to men's academic helpseeking behavior. Participants were 120 African American undergraduate males at a historically White university in the Midwest region of the United States. Four hypotheses were designed to help guide the measure's influences on two academic help-seeking variables, avoidance and perceived benefits. The first and second hypotheses both focused on the effects of Black college men's racial attitudes. …

Three Essays On The Relationship Between Policy Uncertainty And Foreign Direct Investment, Chikezie Kenneth Okoli

Dissertations

Foreign direct investment (FDI) occurs when an entity in one country establishes a significant degree of ownership in an enterprise in another country. FDI is a critical component in ensuring the development of any economy. It often aids with the development of an industry or sector within an economy by bringing in capital, new technologies, manufacturing methodologies, and managing expertise to the receiving country. This dissertation examines the relationship between policy uncertainty and foreign direct investment (FDI) in developed economies.

The first essay focuses on U.S. policy uncertainty and its effects on U.S. FDI inflows, while the second essay focuses …

Preclinical Behavioral Assessment Of Chronic, Intermittent Low-Dose Psilocybin In Rodent Models Of Depression And Anxiety, Harmony I. Risca

Dissertations

Recent studies have demonstrated the clinical efficacy of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. Amidst the overall success of recent clinical trials using a single high dose of psilocybin, anecdotal reports indicate anxiolytic and antidepressant effects following a repeated low dose regimen. As therapeutic outcomes are often tightly intertwined with the individual’s subjective experience, animal models are used as objective measures to investigate the underlying mechanisms responsible for the putative antidepressant/anxiolytic effects of psychedelics. Three rodent models predictive of anxiolytic or antidepressant effects were used to evaluate effects of chronic intermittent low dose (CILD) psilocybin treatment; the Light/Dark conflict …

Understanding The Unique Role Of The Special Education Teacher And The Essence Of The Special Education Teacher’S Life In The Inclusive Setting, Evelyn C. Phillips

Dissertations

The drive for inclusive practices has required the special education teacher to become an integral part of the general education setting. Yet as the nation recovers from the ubiquitous COVID-19 virus, many schools are challenged to provide a learning environment that is conducive to all students while balancing the need to provide safety and an appropriate education. As schools find their way to a new normal, this study examines the unique role of the special education teacher engaged in inclusive practices. Using a phenomenological approach combined with the constant comparative method, this study explores what meaning special education teachers ascribe …

Contingent Reinforcement And Instructed Generalization In A Laboratory Analog Of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy: A Mixed Within-Group, Between-Group Design, Rebecca Rausch

Dissertations

Functional Analytic Psychotherapy emphasizes using social interactions in the therapeutic relationship to enhance interpersonal outcomes. The proposed mechanism of action in FAP is reinforcement provided by the therapist responding contingently to client improvements as they occur in session. The result is a stronger therapeutic relationship and improved social relating in daily life. Generalization is expected due to functional similarities inherent in interpersonal interactions and explicit attempts to link in-session learning to clients’ life via verbal descriptions and homework. The present study was a laboratory-based analog of the proposed processes occurring in FAP.

Using a modified fast friends’ procedure (FFP) and …

An Examination Of Types Of Health Insurance And The Reported Prevalence Of Autism In The United States, Jennifer L. Thompson

Dissertations

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders continues to rise despite barriers of changes to diagnostic criteria and lack of insurance coverage. Increases in prevalence affect costs associated with a disorder since cost of health care services are often estimated based on utilization of services. This can also affect an individual’s ability to access to health care services. To equitably distribute autism services to individuals an accurate estimation of the true prevalence of autism is needed.

Access to health care can be influenced by the type of insurance coverage a person holds. Other factors, such as socio-economic status, ethnicity, location of …

Young Adults With Disabilities Acquire Vocational Skills With Video Modeling, Carly Schroeder-Mackay

Dissertations

Students with disabilities often require substantial support to acquire the skills needed to secure work experience and paid employment. Special education transition programs have an obligation to utilize evidence-based practices to facilitate the acquisition of such skills. In the present project, three studies were conducted to examine the effects of video modeling on the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of job-related tasks taught in a classroom setting to young adults with developmental disabilities. In Study 1, a multiple baseline across behaviors experimental design with four participants was used to assess the effects of video prompts on the percentage of correctly completed …

To Write Or Type? A Comparison Of Flashcard Creation Methods On College Students’ Exam Scores, Sally Weigandt

Dissertations

College students frequently use flashcard-based study methods to prepare for exams and other course-related activities (Kornell & Bjork, 2007; Kornell & Bjork, 2008; Hartwig & Dunlosky, 2012, Wissman et al., 2012). Despite the popularity of flashcards, there has been little research evaluating the various methods used by students to create the flashcards and how those methods effect learning outcomes (Sage et al., 2016; Sage et al., 2019). The rise in popularity of web-based flashcard applications such as Quizlet (https://www.quizlet.com) and Cram (https://www.cram.com), combined with an increase in online learning, has produced a need for formal evaluation of handwriting versus typing …

"Not In My Town": A Community's Response To Water And Soil Pollution, Karolina Staros

Dissertations

At the core of this dissertation is the acknowledgment that social movements are complex networks of people who face many obstacles in their efforts to achieve social change. One critique of social movements is that their goals and mission are limited to short term ideas and not long-term, systemic transformation. The lack of long term, systemic change can be observed when social movement groups mobilize for the same cause over and over again with what appears to be little progress over a period of time. The exact blueprint for a social movement’s success does not exist, but it is posited …