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Persistence Rates Of First-Year College Students Who Attend An Extended Orientation Camp Program Compared To Those Who Do Not Attend, Kristy G. O'Keefe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Student retention is a topic of concern among higher education institutions. The dissertation pronounces a comparative quantitative research study to examine participation in summer extended orientation programs as a predictor of fall-to-spring persistence for first-year college students. This research study was conducted through a conceptual replication of a decade-old study at a regional Texas institution. In this conceptual replication study, the researcher observed the enrollment impacts, such as persistence rates and grade point average, of first-year college students who attended a summer extended orientation program compared to those of students who did not. Conducting more specific research in the area …

Fighting Exclusion: Women In The Palm Oil Industry In Ghana Since 1957, Grace Okine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women were integral to the production of palm oil in the region that is currently known as Ghana. Right from the start, they have worked in the palm oil industry as farmers, oil processors, and traders of palm fruits and oil. Yet, the story of the unique challenges and experiences of women who worked in the Ghanaian palm oil sector have largely been left out of history books. This thesis contributes to addressing this gap partly by focusing on how relevant colonial and post-colonial government policies and strategies shaped the place and roles of women who were involved in the …

On Your Marks, Handset, Go: An Illustrative Case Study Of A Professional Development Initiative About Mobile Learning, Nichole A. Scarlett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Technology is shaping our personal and professional lives every day, yet many educators struggle with its implementation and therefore are not using it to the fullest potential. The purpose of this single-case study was to analyze how a teacher’s participation in a Professional Development (PD) initiative influenced the implementation of mobile technology in teaching and learning mathematics. Using the Teaching for Robust Understanding (TRU) framework (Schoenfeld et al., 2016a) and the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition (SAMR) model (Puentedura, 2006) in this qualitative research, I employed a case study approach to understand the challenges faced by a teacher and ways of …

Isocrates's Place In Postmodern Advertising, Christopher Barkley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study in communication and rhetoric seeks to ascertain constructive applications for distinct advertising practices by examining Isocrates’s work and place in postmodern advertising. The focus uses 5 principles known to Isocrates which are: 1) commonwealths of households, 2) integration of reputation, elegance, substance and style, 3) education and public discourse, 4) phronesis and praxis, and 5) truth and verisimilitude. These 5 principles can form a constructive and practical advertising approach. This study is important. It examines Isocrates through the lens of advertising and extends the research done about him by leading Isocrates scholars who have looked primarily at his …

Black Ads Matter: An Analysis Of Black Representation In Advertising., Elyssa Quinn Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the summer of 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) became a rallying cry throughout the United States and the world. At that time, many individuals and organizations reflected on how they could better support the movement for equality, equity, and inclusion, but some of the results were ingenuine, perceived as virtue signaling or woke washing. In this thesis I explore the Black representation in advertising from three prominent car brands from both pre- and post-summer 2020. I analyze ads from Acura, Buick, and Lincoln to determine if they are synergistic and include multi-dimensional Black representation, criteria Burgess et al.’s (2020) …

Loving The Mountains, Leaving The Mountains: The Appalachian Dilemma And Jim Wayne Miller’S The Brier Poems, Madeline Dawson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For decades now, the Appalachian community has been internally combatting two equally strong feelings—an inherently rich love of the mountains and a conflicting urge to leave the mountains. In recent years, Appalachian writers have produced a new literary tradition of identifying, discussing, and remedying this dilemma. Jim Wayne Miller’s 1997 The Brier Poems unapologetically explores the Appalachian community’s complicated relationship to its region. bell hooks’ 2012 Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place and Savannah Sipple’s 2019 WWJD and Other Poems then expand Miller’s exploration as both hooks and Sipple collectively represent voices that have often been left out of the stereotypical …

Responses To The Incarceration Of Nikkei Among Churches Of Christ In America, Joel Childers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During World War II (WWII), the United States of America relocated and incarcerated thousands of people of Japanese descent, also known as Nikkei, living in the

western United States. Some of these incarcerated Nikkei were Japanese nationals, but the majority were American citizens. Most white Americans said and did very little to oppose the incarceration or to aid incarcerated Nikkei, and American Christians were no exception. This study examines how one Christian group, Churches of Christ, responded to the incarceration in light of this group’s theological character.

While the responses of members of Churches of Christ to the incarceration are …

The Few Among The Many: Women's Labour In British Guiana Prisons, 1838-1917, Estherine Gwendoline Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the history of incarceration in British Guiana between 1838 and 1917 with emphasis on the interconnections between the colony’s burgeoning carceral apparatus and the life and labour of women. It highlights the intersection of coerced labour and colonialism in the colony in the post-emancipation period, by centering the lives of incarcerated women to understand the nature of state governance and the use of labour in this colonial spaces. I argue the plantocracy leveraged the expansion of the penal apparatus not to control crime but to control labour.

Tracing the use of prisons in the colony, I demonstrate …

A History Of Freed Slaves' Homes In Northern Nigeria, 1900-1926, Ajibola A. Abdulrahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is about the children rescued from slave traders by the British colonial government in Northern Nigeria in the early twentieth century. The children were first settled in state-owned Freed Slaves Homes located at Zungeru and Borno provinces in 1904. After the state-owned Homes were abolished in 1909, they were moved to the privately-owned Lucy Memorial Freed Slaves’ Home. The study focuses on the experiences of these liberated children within the premises of the Freed Slaves' Homes and in settings outside of these institutions in Northern Nigeria. Drawing on previously unused archival materials obtained from various parts of the …

The Impact Of The United States Army Nurses Corps On The United States Army Fatality Rate In The Mediterranean And European Theater Of Operations During World War Ii, Joshua Benjamin Groomes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

World War II was the most devastating war in human history in terms of loss of life. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, plunged the United States into war. Less than seven thousand military nurses were on active duty at the time of the attack. By the end of the war, there were over fifty-thousand active-duty nurses. The army nurses performed under fire in field and evacuation hospitals, on hospital trains and ships, and as flight nurses on medical evacuation transport aircraft. The skill and dedication of the Army Nurses Corps insured a 95% survival rate …

The Study Of Copper Corrosion Mechanisms Using Electrochemical Experimental Techniques., Evan Grimm

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to discover and thoroughly explain the corrosion mechanisms of copper in saltwater, tap water and deionized water, and to apply these methods and findings when testing the corrosion mechanisms of other materials. The experimental procedure consisted of measuring the open circuit potential, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear sweep voltammetry, and Tafel analysis.

The copper was found to corrode at a greater rate in saltwater, followed by tap water then deionized water, with a larger difference between saltwater and tap water than between tap water and deionized water. Each reaction was found to be both kinetically …

Tennessee's Voluntary Prekindergarten (Vpk) Program And Kindergarten Achievement, Kindetta L. Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between Tennessee's Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) program and kindergarten achievement. I compared the academic growth of who attended a VPK program to students in Title 1 schools who did not attend a VPK program. Kindergarten gives the first easyCBM assessment in the second semester of school. I compared the easyCBM scores of the students who attended a VPK program to the ones who did not attend a VPK program. This could reveal if attending the VPK program is related to the students’ academic growth and the amount …

The Assumptionist Movement As Precursor To Vatican Ii: A Case Study On The Dogmatic Definition Of The Assumption Of Mary And The Teachings Of The Second Vatican Council, Eric Lafferty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Assumptionist movement (1863–1950) was a theological movement within the Roman Catholic Church that worked to obtain a dogmatic definition for the Assumption of Mary. This study employs a form of reception theory to argue for the doctrinal continuity between the Assumptionist movement and Vatican II. The first chapter examines the Assumptionist movement’s overlooked history. It uncovers two major characteristics of the movement. First, it was a global movement. Support for the Assumption dogma emerged from every populated continent. Second, it was a movement that involved every rank in the Church. The laity, priests, religious, and bishops worked together towards …

Competition In Economic Theory And The Skew In U.S. Corporate Wealth Creation, Marc H. Pentacoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historical studies of U.S. capital markets show a dramatic skew in the distribution of corporate wealth. This thesis investigates the evolution of economic thought related to realistic models of competition, seeking to find the most suitable theory of competition to explain this skew in U.S. corporate wealth creation. The incorporation of realistic elements into the static theories of competition leads to theoretical difficulties in the early 20th century. Another line of thought developed non-equilibrium dynamic models of competition, culminating in Schumpeter. In Schumpeter, firms seek to manage the uncertainty f rom rapid change induced by innovation and increasing returns by …

Soul Liberation: Black Christian Intellectual Engagement With Black Power, Jemar Tisby

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the Civil Rights movement, Black Christians figured prominently as clergy, leaders, and foot soldiers in the struggle. As a result, the presence of Black Christians during this phase of the Black activism is well-documented by historians. During the Black Power era, however, scholars tend to overlook the ongoing presence and significance of Black Christians in the movement. Soul Liberation corrects this omission by studying Black Christian engagement during the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Midwifery And Medicine In Britain: A Comparative View Of Midwifery And Childbearing In Scotland And England, 1650-1780, Summer Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I contend the female midwives and childbearing women did not passively accept the alteration of the experience of birth and the ideology surrounding it in eighteenth-century Britain. While the imposition of the man-midwife and the reframing of birth as a disease to be cured in some ways forced childbearing to shift to a medicalized event, many practices persisted from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, illustrating a vein of consistency in a seemingly tumultuous period. Furthermore, the changes that did take root were not solely the purview of the male medical community, but were influenced by women …

“That Those Hearing Or Reading Might Strive To Imitate”: Donative Intent, Positive Triangular Mimetic Desire, And The Portrayal Of The Mediator-Divine (Non)Object Relationship In Richard Rolle, Julian Of Norwich, And Richard Crashaw, Steven Geitgey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mystical texts often present themselves as possessing a “donative” intent, in which the writer aims to share the significance of their own experience. This dissertation will show how a consideration of donative intent and its textual results can enrich the study of medieval and early-modern mystical writings, approaching them from the broad concept of triangular mimetic desire in conjunction with other theoretical insights in order to examine the methods through which writers seek to portray their mediator-object relationship with God and inspire reading subjects’ mimetic desire.

I will elucidate Richard Rolle’s portrayal of his mediatorial purpose and unique experiences, and …

“We Didn’T Have A Lot Of Money, We Worked Hard, And We Ate Beans”: Examining The Narrative Inheritance From An Appalachian Father To His Son, Thomas Townsend

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The author contends that narratives, shaped not only by events but also by socioeconomic and geographic factors, are narratives that require exploration and analysis because these narratives build the lives in which individuals exist. By understanding narratives passed down with which they have built their lives, individuals can come to greater understanding of the narratives in which they live. To understand the narratives, he created and continues to craft about his life, the author needed to understand his narrative inheritance. When a proposed thesis study imploded, the focus of the study shifted to exploring the circumstances of a single interview …

Engaging Students In The Virtual Classroom: A Mixed-Methods Study Of Teacher Leaders Creating Connections Through Virtual Learning Communities, Michaine Suzanne Ashley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The core problem that drove this study was high attrition rates and low student academic growth in virtual students when compared to their brick and mortar peers. To investigate this issue, the study focused on one issue related to the core problem: student engagement. The purpose of the study was to determine what pedagogical practices and instructional strategies were utilized by teachers in their virtual learning communities (VCLs) in order to engage students in the virtual classroom. This explanatory-sequential, mixed methods, single case study was conducted through the collection of archival data and through a teacher questionnaire and follow up …

Designing Leadership Development Program Curriculum: A Narrative Research Study, Monica N. Moray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A high priority is placed on developing leadership skills because of its importance to organizational performance and growth. Since 2010, significant investment has been put into leadership programs by companies globally with the goal of producing more effective leaders. Despite the expenditure into leadership development, most training efforts fail to meet learners’ needs because they do not include participant perspectives in the content decision-making process, using outdated leadership theories as a framework for content development, or failing to evaluate training efforts. These failures result in a mismatch between the challenges leaders face in their roles and the content of a …

Agency, Identity, And Authority In Rwanda: 1950s Political Rhetoric As A Bridge To Post-Colonial Genocide, Amanda E. Rollinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the Rwandan genocide, Hutu targeted Tutsi and allies. Interpreting this complex event requires examining the late 1950s. Analyzing Tutsi and Hutu in central Rwanda in 1957 improves understanding of political and social context preceding the genocide. This study rejects that the genocide occurred as an inevitable event. Instead, it layers domestic actors with international groups: the White Fathers missionaries; the United Nations; Belgium; and the United States. Analyzing each group and synthesizing their interactions elevates Rwanda’s history from the falsehood of ancient adversaries to a complex, modern narrative. Studying Rwandan rhetoric and responses to it provides an opportunity to …

Influential Factors On Historic Interpretation: A Case Study Of Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site, Matthew Frye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Influences on the interpretation of Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site have caused many alterations to the site and the presentation of its history. Scholars have described how public history sites have continually expanded their interpretations as growing desires and interests from external influences such as the general public, state agencies, and donors. However, Tipton-Haynes has also faced many internal influences. While the creators of the site aided in the limitation and exclusion of the site’s vital history, over time the involvement and opinions of the board of trustee members, directors, and staff shaped an increasingly inclusive and expansive interpretation of the …

Viewing History Through A Lens: The Influence Of Film On Historical Consciousness, Brittany Bales

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an interdisciplinary study of the significance of contemporary film in our understandings of gender, race, and sexuality in Georgian England. I argue that while films set in this period may lack the subtleties and depth of the realities that make up the Georgian era, they are still valuable in informing current discussions concerning race, gender, and sexuality. By examining such films, we learn not only more about the Georgian period and how it is presented and understood by contemporary audiences, but these films tell us much about our own biases, attitudes, and society.

Leadership Styles Of Head Nascar Executives: A Historical Perspective, Joseph A. Hurd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to explore the leadership styles and theories employed throughout the existence of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The research examines the decision process and subsequent outcomes, exploring how they ultimately affected the business and trajectory of the sport. NASCAR is the product of unique and specific characteristics of racing enthusiasts who turned their passion into an international empire. This illustrates how leadership styles, specifically dictatorial leadership, successfully managed decisions of the business. Through the use of qualitative research to review historical accounts of events, this study strives to explain how leadership guided the …

Translation Technique And Versional Evidence: The Syriac Peshitta Version Of Colossians As A Witness To Its Greek Text, Ryne Alan Parrish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Syriac Peshitta version of the New Testament holds great potential for NT textual criticism, but its value to this field is partially dependent upon the ability to deduce the particularities of the Greek text from which it was translated. To assess this ability, a thorough understanding of translation technique in each NT book is required. Toward such an end, this thesis provides a detailed study of the translation technique of Peshitta Colossians (PCol) and an evaluation thereof as a witness to its Greek Vorlage. I argue that the translation technique of PCol does not consistently allow confident conclusions to …

In Situ Analysis Of Line-1 Promoter Activity Using Lacz Transgenic Mice, Partha Sarathi Saha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Apart from an evolutionary role, transposable elements have been implicated in animal development and also in pathophysiology. Non-LTR retrotransposons– LINE-1, Alu and SVA - are responsible for over 120 cases of human genetic diseases as heritable insertions, and are emerging as an important etiological factor for cancer and neurological disorders as somatic mutations. It is estimated that among the total number of 500,000 LINE-1s presents in the human genome, 80-100 LINE-1s remain competent for retrotransposition. Retrotransposition is only possible when LINE-1 is expressed. Because LINE-1 transcription is regulated by its 5’UTR promoter, it is essential to understand the spatiotemporal control …

Maurice E. Peloubet: A Life Of Impact On Accountancy And Society, Brandi Holley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maurice E. Peloubet was one of accountancy’s major players during the profession’s highly evolutionary period in the United States from before World War I to the Vietnam War. Though Peloubet spent his entire career from 1911 to 1964 in public accounting, he also promoted the profession on the academic, governmental, and international fronts. This dissertation explores his contributions to the profession of accountancy and in turn society at large. Particular focus is placed on his role in the evolution of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), his lobbying efforts before Congress concerning the Last-In, First-Out (LIFO) Inventory method …

Instant Schools: The Frenzied Formation And Early Days Of The Mississippi Private School Association, Ernest Flora Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The founding leadership of the Mississippi Private School Association (MPSA) used individual experience and extensive networking via the Citizens’ Council along with the community’s belief and desire to maintain white-only schools to create a coalition of quickly formed but well-resourced private schools. This political and social clout afforded them the ability to create a large, powerful organization almost “instantly” during a pivotal moment of southern educational history. Scholar Kenneth T. Andrews called the establishment of all-white academies in Mississippi, “a countermovement strategy that floout of the prior history of organized white resistance to the civil-rights movement.” The significance of this …

Global Gene Expression And Dna Methylation Of The Hypothalamus In Feeder Calves Fed A High Concentrate Diet Upon Entering Feedlot Phase, Jason E. Griffin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Feedlot finishing diets contain high energy to allow for rapid growth and fat deposition. Previous studies have shown the use of high concentrate diets changed DNA methylation and expression of genes in the hypothalamus involved with regulating feed intake, metabolism, signaling, and neuronal communication. This study investigates whether feeding a high concentrate diet to calf-feds enter the feedlot could alter DNA methylation in the hypothalamus affecting expression of growth and development genes. Angus-influenced steers (n=12) were randomly allocated to 2 treatment groups: 1) High Energy/High Concentrate (HE/HC, 1.33Mcal/kg net energy gain NEg) for 202 days; or 2) traditional Backgrounding/Finishing (B/F), …

Genetic Analysis Of A Novel Ftsk Homolog, Hfka, In Streptomyces Coelicolor Development-Associated Chromosome Segregation, Sumedha Sethi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A quintessential phenomenon occurring during prokaryotic development is accurate segregation of the replicated genomes into the daughter cells. Key energy-dependent processes like chromosome condensation and subcellular partitioning of the genomes are driven by conserved proteins like SMC, ParB, FtsK. During its complex developmental cycle, Streptomyces coelicolor segregates its genomes into chains of unicellular spores when its multigenomic syncytial aerial hyphae undergo division.

A novel ftsK-like gene, hfkA (Homolog of FtsK protein A), was examined for function and localization during development-associated chromosome segregation. Individual deletions did not affect segregation, but a ΔhfkA ΔftsK mutant exhibited 8% anucleate …