Digital Commons Network^™

The Challenges Faced By The Freedmen’S Bureau Agents Of Deep East Texas, Jacy D. King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The years following the Civil War proved to be tumultuous for the nation and caused great social and economic upheaval in the South. Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands in 1865 to provide a smoother transition in former Confederate states and to guard the liberties of the former bondsmen. The agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau in Deep East Texas faced the same challenges and hardships as their counterparts in other areas of the state and throughout the South. Numerous historians have written on Reconstruction and the Freedmen’s Bureau in Texas, but in a broader sense.

This …

An Evaluation Of Geotagged Twitter Data During Hurricane Irma Using Sentiment Analysis And Topic Modeling For Disaster Resilience, Ike Robert Vayansky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Disasters require quick response times, thought-out preparations, overall community, and government support. These efforts will ensure prevention of loss of life and reduce possible damages. The United States has been battered by multiple major hurricanes in the recent years and multiple avenues of disaster response efforts were being tested. Hurricane Irma can be recognized as the most popular hurricane in terms of social media attention. Irma made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm and preparation measures taken were intensive thus providing a good measure to evaluate in terms of efficacy. The effectiveness of the response methods utilized are …

Play And Exhibitions: Expanding Definitions Within Museums, Helena Sizemore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of the utilization of play, as a method for visitor engagement, within the context of the museum. Play, as a method for learning and engagement, is often a contested topic between scholars and practitioners within the museum field. This is in part due to the ambiguous nature of defining play, the ever-present dichotomy between work and play, and the struggles museums find in balancing education and entertainment. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Denver, Colorado names play as part of one of its core values. Using anthropological theoretical and methodological approaches, I examine …

Professor Who? A Phenomenological Exploration Of Working Professionals Who Feel Called To Teach As Adjunct Faculty, Molly A. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study explores the meaning that those who feel called to teach make out of their adjunct teaching experience in higher education. In addition to understanding more about how these individuals describe their call to teach, the study explores how adjunct faculty characterize the relationship between personal identity, calling, and professional identity as a teacher. This study also explores how adjunct faculty articulate the relationship between their identity, teaching intentions, and professional practice. Five essential themes emerged as characterizing the phenomenon of feeling called to teach as an adjunct member in higher education, including (1) Enjoyment, (2) Alignment, (3) …

Agreeing To Submit: Authority Constructions In Modern Sunni Islam, Trevor E. Wolff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the modern age, Sunni communities are often claimed to be in a moment of crisis. However, despite outward arguments about this crisis, Sunni communities are more accurately described as within a state of transformation. By analyzing constructions of authority from Sayyid Qutb, the clerical establishment of Saudi Arabia, and the greater American Muslim communities, Sunni theology is best seen as seeking out methods to transform and re-center authority within Sunni communities.

Understanding Public Library Services And Use: A Structural Equation Modeling Framework, Ian Burke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes the process of fitting publicly available data from the 2015 Public Libraries Survey and 2015 American Community Survey to a structural equation model based on a theory of action for public libraries relating operating revenue to latent factors measuring service availability and library use within the context of matched community demographic data. The process of using theory-based data analysis to investigate publicly-available data is examined. Key findings include acceptable estimates of goodness-of-fit for hypothesized factors representing public library service availability and public library use, an inconsistent mediation effect of service availability on the relationship between public library …

Social Determinants Of Health And A Grounded Mixed-Methods Approach To Explain Declining Life Expectancy In Eastern Kentucky : 1980 – 2014., William Renda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trends in life expectancy for the United States from 1980-2014 suggest general improvement overall. However, eastern Kentucky stands out with a cluster of counties experiencing declining life expectancy. Given that life expectancy is an excepted indicator of overall population health, this anomaly in eastern Kentucky warrants investigation. This thesis uses a grounded mixed methods approach to explore this trend across the greater Appalachian region. Content and discourse analysis of interviews with public health and medical professionals in the study area revealed key themes perceived as being related to declining life expectancy, which informed variable selection for regression analysis. Regression models …

The Influence Of High-Performance Work Systems And Intangible Strategic Resources On The Entrepreneurial Orientation-Firm Performance Relationship., Shankar Naskar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The entrepreneurship literature indicates that entrepreneurially oriented firms perform better and grow faster than firms that are conservatively oriented. Firms with an entrepreneurial orientation (EO) jointly exhibit risk-taking, innovative and proactive behaviors. The EO-firm performance relationship is a well-established one. However, scholars have bemoaned the lack of focus on internal organizational factors that may influence or affect the nature of the relationship. My dissertation uses the framework of the resource-based theory of the firm to argue that the influence of EO on performance is contingent on the resources and the internal organizing context (organizing capability) of a firm. The resource-based …

Location Matters: A Geospatial Analysis Of Principal Turnover In The Denver Metropolitan Area, Lorna O. Beckett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that principals leave their school on average every three years. Additional research is needed to understand factors that are related to principal turnover. In this study I used geographic information systems to examine the geospatial variance between school characteristics, student achievement, and principal turnover in the Denver metropolitan area. I found that principal turnover is an issue in both urban and suburban areas, with suburban areas in the Denver metropolitan area experiencing similar trends in principal turnover. In this study I also highlight the importance of understanding local context when examining principal turnover patterns.

Navigating Mental Health Care Access In Louisville : An Ethnography Of Local Resources And Care Assemblages., Laura Drabelle Valentine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines barriers to care access present in Louisville, Kentucky's community mental health care infrastructure, and how individuals who seek mental health care experience and navigate those barriers. This thesis expands research about the impacts of health care reform following the Affordable Care Act and adds to literature about the political economy of health-seeking behaviors. Drawing on assemblage theory and ethnographic research with both care-providers and care-recipients of Community Mental Health Care Organizations, I argue that both groups attempt to alleviate barriers to care access and facilitate mental health recovery through the development of formal and informal strategies. Examining …

Community Connections: Public Outreach And Education At The Batesville Mounds Site, Lacy Nicole Mattson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is the result of a goal-driven, applied anthropology project that assisted the City of Batesville in the opening of The Batesville Mounds site as a public park on November 21, 2017. Other goals of this project consisted of providing park planners with historical information on the pre-contact Native American occupation as well as past archaeological investigations at the site and to make recommendations for the future of the Park. In order to facilitate the City in this capacity, comparable mounds sites were visited, surveys and interviews were conducted, an inventory of Batesville Mounds artifacts curated at the University …

An Analysis Of 8th Grade Student Achievement Of Private And Public Schools In The Dominican Republic In Rural And Urban Settings, Daniel Boyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the difference in student academic achievement in private and public schools in the Dominican Republic in rural and urban settings. The 2016 8th Grade National Exams school mean scale scores were analyzed to determine if statistically significant differences existed among the different school types and school settings. There was a lack of literature on student academic achievement in the Dominican Republic, in particular on private and public school and rural and urban school students. The extant literature indicated that in the Dominican Republic, private school students historically had higher academic achievement on …

Clustering Mixed Data: An Extension Of The Gower Coefficient With Weighted L2 Distance, Augustine Oppong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sorting out data into partitions is increasing becoming complex as the constituents of data is growing outward everyday. Mixed data comprises continuous, categorical, directional functional and other types of variables. Clustering mixed data is based on special dissimilarities of the variables. Some data types may influence the clustering solution. Assigning appropriate weight to the functional data may improve the performance of the clustering algorithm. In this paper we use the extension of the Gower coefficient with judciously chosen weight for the L2 to cluster mixed data.The benefits of weighting are demonstrated both in in applications to the Buoy data set …

Native American Occupation Of The Singer-Hieronymus Site Complex: Developing Site History By Integrating Remote Sensing And Archaeological Excavation, Claiborne Sea

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Located on a ridgetop in central Kentucky, the Singer-Hieronymus Site Complex consists of at least four Native American villages. The Native Americans who lived there are called the “Fort Ancient” by archaeologists. This study examined relationships between these villages, both spatially and temporally, to build a more complete history of site occupation. To do this, aerial imagery analysis, geophysical survey, and archaeological investigations were conducted. This research determined there were differences among villages in terms of their size, however other characteristics—internal village organization, village shape, radiometric dates, and material culture—overlapped significantly. Additionally, landscape-scale geophysical survey identified at least three potentially …

The State Of Outdoor Education In Northeast Tennessee: Preschool Teacher Attitudes Toward Outdoor Education, Cathy Landy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the state of outdoor education in preschool classrooms in Northeast Tennessee, with a specific focus on preschool teachers’ attitudes toward outdoor education. This comparative, mixed-methods study focused in part on teachers’ current beliefs about outdoor education, how they use the outdoor environment, and whether their attitudes influence their lesson planning for outdoor education. Participants were preschool teachers in public, private, church-affiliated, and Head Start preschools in 4 counties in northeast Tennessee. The study sample consisted of 81 participants (80 female; 1 male). Ages ranged from 20-65 years (M = 40.76). The …

Seasonal Occurrence, Relative Abundance, And Migratory Movements Of Juvenile Sandbar Sharks, Carcharhinus Plumbeus, In Winyah Bay, South Carolina, Caroline Collatos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Winyah Bay, located on the coast of South Carolina, is the fourth largest U.S. estuary by discharge rate (Voulgaris et al. 2002), and provides an annually used habitat for juvenile C. plumbeus (Abel et al. 2006, Gary 2009). From May to September 2016 and 2017, we set a total of 303 bottom longlines in middle and lower Winyah Bay to assess sex ratios, size distributions, and catch per unit effort (CPUE), as well as the potential influence of abiotic parameters on CPUE. A subset of eleven juvenile C. plumbeus was tagged with VEMCO (V16-4H) acoustic transmitters to analyze seasonal occurrence, …

Acculturation And Cross-Cultural Adaptation Among Refugees: The Moderating Role Of Emotions, Ezdehar Z. Alsahow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a result of venturing across language and culture boundaries, individuals may

be exposed to different ways of living and thinking in which may trigger changes in the

way they conceptualize themselves and others. However, such experiences are not

identical for everyone, and the circumstances facing the crisis of refugees would appear

to be exceptionally difficult.

This paper aimed to address refugees’ attempt to acculturate and integrate into a

new society by examining potential moderating factors of emotional processes. The study

focuses on anger, anxiety, pride, and guilt; emotions that refugees carried with them

when they arrived to the new …

Factors Impacting Teacher Turnover In Texas Public School Districts With Fewer Than 500 Students: A Mixed Methods Study, Paige N. Benoy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rural Texas districts experience higher rates in teacher turnover compared to other districts. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study was designed to explore the relationships among district size and the factors that contributed to teacher turnover. Data was collected from Texas public school districts with fewer than 500 students. A simple correlation determined that no relationship existed between district size and teacher turnover rate during the 2016-2017 school year in the 313 districts that had fewer than 500 students. Participating districts came from two different regions. Four superintendents were interviewed about the factors surrounding turnover regarding the teacher turnover in …

Jon Sobrino’S Liberation Christology And Its Implication For The “Crucified People” Of The Niger Delta Region In Nigeria., Augustine Wayii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The thesis was carried out to investigate Sobrino’s liberation Christology and its implication for the “crucified people” of Niger Delta region in Nigeria. The thesis became very crucial because God’s gift of oil to the Niger Delta region has become a source of sorrow and death as a result of unjust structures by the Nigerian government and the multinational oil companies. Sobrino’s liberation Christology was very much appropriate for this research work because of the way he uses the present-day crucified people to understand better the crucified Christ. The “crucified people” in the Niger Delta region like the other crucified …

A Theological Analysis Of Confessional-Centric Curriculum Of Christian Religious Education: Towards An Inclusive Religious Pluralistic Centered Curriculum For Nigeria Colleges Of Education, Ilesanmi Ajibola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Desire to live in peace and unity despite the multi ethnic and multi religious composition of Nigeria, remain ideals that are constant in the nation’s Constitution. However, accruable benefits of a culturally and religiously pluralistic society have continued to elude Nigeria due to incessant religious violence arising from the mutual suspicion of Christians and Muslims in the country. Nevertheless, the nation’s National Policy on Education proposes the education sector as one of the platforms to inculcate a sense of unity and religious tolerance in the country. The policy considers the nation’s learning centers and religious courses offered in such institutions …

H. Odera Oruka And The Right To A Human Minimum: A Sagacious Quest For Global Justice, Michael Kamau Mburu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation primarily aims at making contribution to the advancement of philosophy from the practical point of view. It does so by analytically and critically studying H. Odera Oruka (1944-1995), arguably one of the finest 20^th century African philosophers. Thus, it identifies, expounds, and critiques Oruka’s philosophical cum ethical commitment by situating him within various philosophical discourses touching such important global issues as justice, human rights, ethical duty, ecology, humanism and politics. It specifically advances Oruka’s argument for the right to a human minimum, establishing how that ethical principle can be applicable in addressing some distressing human conditions …

Illuminating The Eighteenth-Century British Stage: Perfecting Performance Through Education, Bethany Csomay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Actress studies has become “a truly interdisciplinary field” that “intersect[s] with art, music, literature, history, economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, and fashion” (Engel 752). While much scholarship has been conducted on the actress’ life, interaction with material culture, public spectacle, authority, femininity, and writings, the role of an actress’ education in her success has yet to be explored adequately or examined beyond biography. My project seeks to examine the educational beginnings of actresses and I assert there are three modes that eighteenth-century actresses often undertook to cultivate their celebrity and success: inheritance, discovery, and trial and error. This project examines the …

The Disjointed Moment : Marking, Mapping, And Making The Real In William Eggleston's Election Eve (1976)., Joel Darland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the photographic book Election Eve (1976) produced by photographer William Eggleston. Eggleston’s photographs represent a complex network of connections between material objects and the potential truth of depiction. The often-nondescript locations that Eggleston photographed in Sumter County, GA in October 1976 appear specific at the outset, but quickly lose their adherence to the supposed realities that they depict. Since his first major exhibition in the mid 1970s, Eggleston’s photographs have presented difficulty because they from often-disparate material sources. Despite of the complexity of Eggleston’s engagement with both art and non-art photography, scholarship continues describe Eggleston’s “snapshot aesthetic” …

Killing Martin County : Resiliency In A Central Appalachian Community., David Adam Sizemore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental stressors, anything that poses a threat to human and environmental health, are disproportionately located in marginalized communities. Coal extraction companies produce and concentrate environmental stressors in Central Appalachia, a sub-region of Appalachia with high poverty rates and economic hardship. Through destructive coal extraction methods, the coal industry has jeopardized Central Appalachian health and environmental quality. The coal industry’s power to cause destruction in Central Appalachia is a product of historical strategic initiatives. Since the late 1800s, the coal industry has forcefully altered the culture and ideology of Central Appalachians and developed relationships with local, state, and federal policymakers to …

Potential For Developing Run-Of-River Systems In Eastern Kentucky : A Gis Approach To Site Suitability., Thomas Jeffords

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coal has a questionable future with the potential exhaustion of available coal. Alternate sources of energy production should be considered, such as hydropower dams, or the more environmentally friendly, Run of River (RoR) hydropower system. This study seeks to answer the question: What is the potential for RoR hydroelectric systems in Eastern Kentucky counties with significant decreases in coal production and employment? I hypothesize that GIS will identify suitable sites within Pike County for RoR systems. Site suitability for Eastern Kentucky was assessed and determined that Pike County did not have a suitable physical environment for RoR systems. The power …

There Is Water In The World For Us : The Environmental Theories Of Alice Walker., Janae Lewis Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of African-American Environmental thought responds to the ongoing erasure of Black experiences and their perspectives on nature. Mainstream environmentalism maintains a legacy of perceived innocence and incorruptibility towards the land, while Black Environmentalism demonstrates the limitations of that ideology. Limitations include the erasure of history in regards to stealing land from Indigenous people, the brutality of slavery, legalized lynching, forced removal from the land, exploitation in sharecropping, destruction of sacred lands, heavy pollution in urban centers, and harmful environmental policies. For Black and Indigenous peoples, it is impossible to view American soil as innocent. This project surveyed the …

Breaking With Tradition(?) : Female Representations Of Heroism In Old English Poetry., Kathryn A. Green

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the Anglo-Saxons, strength, bravery, and the willingness to put oneself in harm’s way for king and kingdom were not only part of contemporary society but recurring themes in Old English literature. Poems like Beowulf and The Battle of Maldon reinforce the important bond between lord and retainer and the heroic ethos key to that relationship. Women were not historically part of this relationship and, therefore, not subject to the heroic code in the same way; consequently, they are rarely seen as anything more than conventional mothers, queens, wives, sisters, daughters, and virgins, all identified by their relationships to men, …

Institutional Processes To Determine Community Engagement Impact : A Collective Case Study., Amanda Marie Bowers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative, collective case study is designed to examine the processes by which urban, metropolitan institutions determine the impact their community engagement has within the local community. The study addresses the lack of research on community engagement at the institutional level, the processes that track and coordinate engagement, as well as the perspectives of community partners in this work. Research is more developed regarding individual engagement activities and student learning outcomes than it is to institutional accountability structures or community impact. Studies that center the institution as the unit of analysis are needed to address these limitations in research and …

Assessing The Curve Number Method For Modeling Urban Watershed Stormwater Runoff Across Louisville, Ky., Garrett J. Seay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to the US EPA when a watershed reaches 75% impervious land cover, surface runoff accounts for 55% of precipitation input losses compared to 10% for a ‘natural cover’ watershed, exacerbating urban flooding during extreme rainfall events. This research modeled historical rainfall-runoff processes for six urban watersheds within the city of Louisville, KY for a series of these extreme rainfall events. Precipitation and resultant runoff discharge events were collected in the field over the spring and summer of 2016. Surface biophysical data in the form of gridded elevation, land cover and soil type were also collected and processed for each …

An Assessment Of The Disaster Preparedness Knowledge Of Emergency Medical Services Providers In Hajj Of 2016., Ahmed Meaiwedh Al-Otaibi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: 1) Assess knowledge regarding disaster preparedness for mass gathering among SRC-EMS providers during the Hajj 2016 2) Explore the relationship between the demographic variables and knowledge about disaster preparedness among SRC-EMS providers during the Hajj 2016 3) Explore the sources of knowledge for SRC-EMS providers about disaster preparedness. Method: The data collection for this study was a cross-sectional survey using an online Qualtrics survey. It was convenience sample of 1650 respondents. For the analyses descriptive statistics was used, one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons tests, multiple regression analyses, and Pearson’s product coefficients. Results: The main findings in …