Digital Commons Network^™

Top Management Team Attention To The Threats From Technological Disasters: Evidence From Polluters In The S&P 1500, Jaemin Kim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increased public attention to environmental disasters is reducing the likelihood firms can ascribe the consequential damages of stakeholders to "acts of Nature". This phenomenon indicates that the absence of top management team (TMT) attention to natural environmental issues leads a firm to control-reducing and likely-loss threats, but less is known about whether firms engage in environmental actions in response to technological disasters and why some firms actively undertake environmental action, while others do not. Drawing on the attention-based view, I propose that technological disasters that happen in a focal firm's affiliated industry cause a TMT to increase a firm's environmental …

The Impact Of Computer-Assisted Instruction On Ninth- And Tenth-Grade Students, Melanie Mcneely

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With over 60 years of education reform, including the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in 1958, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1975, and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002, the achievement gap still existed at the beginning of the 21st century, and the effectiveness of the U. S. public school system continued to be questioned. This study was conducted to examine the effect of the use of a computer-assisted instruction curriculum, Achieve 3000, among select secondary reading students in a central Florida school district and their implications for student achievement. This study showed significant difference existed in …

Traversing The Terrain: A Least Cost Analysis On Intersite Causeways In The Maya Region, Alexander Rivas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of ancient Maya causeways is crucial for understanding Maya social and spatial organization. Archaeologists have been interested in Maya causeways for decades, specifically documenting their locations. More recently, the use of Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, has been used for understanding the spatial organization of archaeological sites. GIS analyses on ancient Maya causeways however have been very limited. This thesis aims to evaluate ancient Maya causeways through GIS analysis. Specifically, five intersite causeway systems are looked at: the Mirador Basin, Yaxuna-Coba-Ixil, Uxmal-Nohpat-Kabah, Ake-Izamal-Kantunil, and Uci-Kancab-Ukana- Cansahcab. These causeway systems were evaluated using least-cost paths based on the terrain. …

A Thomistic Critique Of The Ethics Of Alasdair Macintyre, Marcus Otte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alasdair MacIntyre argues in favor of a historicist Thomism in ethics and political philosophy. In his theory, sociological categories take up much of the space traditionally occupied by metaphysics. This peculiar feature of MacIntyre's Thomism, and its merits and demerits, is already a subject that has been taken up by many critics. In this thesis, these criticisms are supplemented and unified by identifying what is perhaps the most fundamental difficulty with MacIntyre's ethics: his version of Thomism is problematic because it treats epistemology as first philosophy. This misstep compromises MacIntyre's ability to provide a defense of moral objectivity, while also …

Augmentative-Alternative Communication Access For Individuals With Communication Disorders In Medical Settings, Stephanie Amundsen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study surveyed speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working in medical settings in the state of Florida in order to: (a) assess the availability of AAC devices, related materials, and services in acute, sub-acute, long-term care, and outpatient medical facilities, (b) examine barriers and supports in providing AAC services to patients with complex communication needs (CCN) in the aforementioned settings, and (c) determine perceived levels of AAC knowledge of health care practitioners. One of the study's major findings was that 97.59% of SLPs served at least one patient they identified as having CCNs, and 94.1% of respondents indicated that their patients could …

Enhancing The Reading Strategies Of Parents Of English Language Learners Through Reading Strategies And Interventions(Rsi) Workshops, Milagros Rivera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandated that school districts and schools ensure that English Language Learners (ELLs) are provided with equitable opportunities and experiences that support student success academically. However, many ELL students have faced challenges at school, have not been academically successful, and struggle to read on grade level. NCLB has also mandated that elementary schools give parents the tools needed to support their children's learning in the home. Researchers have supported the importance of parental involvement in the academic success of children. The purpose of this study was to determine whether parents' knowledge of reading strategies and …

A Single Case Analysis Of The Impact Of Caregiver-Student Collaborative Learning On An Urban Community, Heather Edmundson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of caregiver-student collaborative learning classes on an urban community. The study examined whether the self-efficacy of the caregivers increased with helping their children with school work due to the caregiver-student classes. The study also examined whether providing access to a resource not normally provided within this particular community led to increased self-efficacy within caregivers. The research questions that guided the study were as follows: How do collaborative caregiver-student classes that focus on collaborative strategies impact the self-efficacy of the caregivers in helping their children with school work? How does increasing …

Examining Preservice Teachers' Performances And Pedagogies Of Practice In An Urban Classroom Through The Use Of A Simulated Learning Environment, Kelly Jennings

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The failure to staff the nation’s classrooms with highly qualified teachers, especially those in disadvantaged schools, is a problem in American education. Novice teachers who begin teaching in urban, low-income, diverse schools leave the field of education at alarmingly high rates. Schools are not being provided with the teachers they deserve; new teachers are especially ill-prepared to meet the needs of students in high-need urban settings. In return, these lowincome schools are not retaining sufficient numbers of the teachers they do recruit. A teacher’s performance has a tremendous impact on a child’s learning and academic journey. Teacher preparation programs need …

Chemical Differentiation Of Human Osseous, Non-Human Osseous, And Non-Osseous Materials Using Scanning Electron Microscopy - Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry (Sem/Edx) And Multivariate Statistical Analysis, Cayli Meizel-Lambert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identification of osseous materials is generally established on gross anatomical factors; however, highly fragmented or taphonomically altered materials are often problematic and alternative methods, such as biological, histological, or chemical analysis, must be utilized. Recently, chemical methods have been proposed to sort unknown materials according to their Ca/P ratios. Ubelaker and colleagues (2002) proposed using SEM/EDX to achieve this distinction and Christensen and colleagues (2012) have validated X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) for this application. An alternative method of analysis involves performing principal component analysis (PCA) on element spectra to classify unknown materials based on their trace element composition. Zimmerman (2013) …

Understanding The Effect Of Formulaic Language On Esl Teachers' Perceptions Of Advanced L2 Writing: An Application Of Corpus-Identified Formulaic Language, Alison Youngblood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A quantitative study was conducted to determine if the amount of formulaic language influenced ESL teachers' perceptions (n=102) of non-native writing skill, as evidenced by composite and sub-scale scores on the ESL Composition Profile (Jacobs et al., 1981). Formulaic language was operationalized as 25 three-word strings sampled from the writing sub-list of the Academic Formulas List (Simpson-Vlach & Ellis, 2010) and further validated as frequent in the Michigan Corpus of Upper Level Student Papers. The target formulaic sequences were divided into three experimental groups representing a low, mid, and high amount of formulaic language. Four advanced non-native writers generated argumentative, …

A Human-Centric Approach To Data Fusion In Post-Disaster Managment: The Development Of A Fuzzy Set Theory Based Model, Mubarak Banisakher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is critical to provide an efficient and accurate information system in the post-disaster phase for individuals' in order to access and obtain the necessary resources in a timely manner; but current map based post-disaster management systems provide all emergency resource lists without filtering them which usually leads to high levels of energy consumed in calculation. Also an effective post-disaster management system (PDMS) will result in distribution of all emergency resources such as, hospital, storage and transportation much more reasonably and be more beneficial to the individuals in the post disaster period. In this Dissertation, firstly, semi-supervised learning (SSL) based …

Semantically-Based Therapeutic Approach Through Aided Language Stimulation In A Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Annemarie Rozier Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of aided language stimulation in the context of a semantically-based therapeutic approach was studied using a single-subject design with a 7-year-old child with autism spectrum disorder who was minimally verbal. Techniques for increasing word retrieval (e.g., the repeated modeling of a small number of target words/symbols) were used in theme-based sessions in conjunction with modeling the use of picture symbols. Overall, the intervention had a small effect on the child's production of single spoken words, but had a large effect on her production of picture symbol combinations and spoken word + picture symbol combinations. No specific effect for …

Acting White Among Black College Students: A Phenomenological Study Of Social Constructions Of Race, Evette L. Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was a qualitative examination of Black college students' experiences with the Acting White label. In conducting this study, two gaps in literature were addressed: (1) the lack of literature on Black college students and the acting white label, and (2) lack of attention to a US racial history and current structures which allow a label such as "acting white" to exist. Thus, the purpose of this study was to call attention to the experiences of Black college students as it relates to the acting white label. Additionally, the study calls attention to social constructions that allow the acting …

The Impact Of Kindergarten Teachers' Theoretical Orientation To Reading On Curricular Planning And Classroom Practice In Literacy., Jacquelyn J. Singleton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using case-study analysis, this dissertation is a qualitative examination of kindergarten teachers’ beliefs, theoretical orientation toward reading, and outside pressures and their impact upon the educators’ classroom practice for literacy instruction. Selected for the study based upon their scores on DeFord’s Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (1985), eight teachers participated in two in-depth interviews and two separate 30-minute classroom observations for which they provided lesson plans. They also completed the Reading Interest-A-Lyzer (Reis, 2005). The results were coded with a coding scheme developed around the Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile and Vygotsky’s Activity Theory—the theoretical framework for the current study. …

Cultural Interpretations Of Socratic And Confucian Education Philosophy., Wang Heng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Socrates and Confucius constitute roots of western and eastern civilization respectively, as well as represent very different cultural values and educational traditions. Because of the very limited existing literature on the study of their educational philosophies, this paper is devoted to a comparative study of their educational philosophies, attempting to examine their historical and cultural contexts and unravel their implications on the current educational practices. The method employed in the study is hermeneutics, or interpretation of the literary texts. At the same time, the study is also cross-cultural in nature. Both of the philosophers lived around 4-5th century B.C.E., but …

Student Retention And First-Year Programs: A Comparison Of Students In Liberal Arts Colleges In The Mountain South, Jeff S. Howard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between the retention rate and 9 firstyear student programs at Liberal Arts Colleges in the Mountain South, a region in the southern Appalachian Mountains of the United States. Nine first-year programs were studied: Summer Bridge Programs, Preterm Orientation, Outdoor Adventure Orientation, Targeted Seminars, Learning Communities, Early Warning/Early Alert Systems, Service Learning, Undergraduate Research, and Assessment. The data for this study were accessed via the college database of The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2013). Chi Square tests were used for analysis to identify associations between first-year student retention and …

Native American Empowerment Through Digital Repatriation, Michelle L. Fitch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following the Enlightenment, Western adherence to positivist theory influenced practices of Western research and documentation. Prior to the introduction of positivism into Western scholarship, innovations in printing technology, literary advancements, and the development of capitalism encouraged the passing of copyright statutes by nation-states in fifteenth century Europe. The evolution of copyright and positivism in Europe influenced United States copyright and its protection of the author, as well as the practice of archiving and its role in interpreting history. Because Native American cultures practiced orality, they suffered the loss of their traditional knowledge and cultural expressions not protected by copyright. By …

The Road From Paraprofessional To Certified Teacher: A State, School District, And University Partnership, Robert A. Winstead

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few decades thousands of special education teachers have been teaching students with disabilities on emergency or temporary certificates (Barnes, Crow, & Schaefer, 2007). The majority of these teachers entered the field of education with little to no preparation. Most of these under qualified teachers were hired in rural areas. Prior to the establishment of the cohort between the Tennessee Department of Education and East Tennessee State University-Sevier County Schools in 2000, there had been little to no planning in addressing the challenge of teacher shortage, specifically teacher attrition, in East Tennessee for special education teachers (East Tennessee …

How Social Emotional Development Skills Gained In High Quality Public School Prekindergarten Impact Kindergarten Academic Readiness, Gale A. Collett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Longitudinal research has demonstrated that children’s emotional and social skills are linked to their early academic achievement (Wentzel & Asher, 1995). Children who have difficulty paying attention, following directions, getting along with others, and controlling negative emotions like anger and distress do not do as well in school (Arnokl et al., 1999; McClelland et al., 2000). Academic achievement in the early years of schooling appears to be built on a firm foundation of children’s social emotional skills (Ladd, Kochenderfer, & Coleman, 1997; O’Neil et al., 1997). Higher quality prekindergarten programs are associated with the early years of schooling and more …

Fire On The Prisoners: An Autoethnographic Study Of Ethics In Historical Storytelling, A. Trae Mcmaken

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During field experience as a storyteller constructing a performance based on the Battle of Kings Mountain on behalf of the Overmountain Victory Trail Association and the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, I encountered ethical and philosophical dilemmas. This challenge centered on ethical and spiritual convictions that put me in potential conflict with the task of creating a performance about war. This experience forms the basis of an autoethnographic approach to the art form, revealing the critical role played by personal ethics and a functioning engagement with historiography and narrative theory in producing effective performance stories. Historical performance storytelling has little …

Comparison Of Temperamental Rating Bilingually In Ukraine Using Child Behavioral Questionnaire (Cbq): Short Form, Nelly Ostrovsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The 2 goals of the present investigation were to 1) examine the reliability of the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire: Short Form (CBQ) in a sample of 4-7 year-old children from the Ukraine and 2) compare those children’s temperament profiles to a) one another when the form was administered in 2 different languages and b) their American counterparts from the CBQ standardization sample. Three waves of data were collected from the parents of 167 children residing in Kiev, Ukraine. Internal reliability analyses showed good internal consistency of the instrument. Comparative analyses conducted both within and between cultures showed similarities and differences across …

Teachers' Perception Of The English Language Curriculum In Libyan Public Schools: An Investigation And Assessment Of Implementation Process Of English Curriculum In Libyan Public High Schools, Salem Altaieb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the advent of globalization and technological development, English has become a necessary tool of international communication in many areas such as education, business, politics, commerce, science, and technology throughout the world. Also, English has become the most widely taught foreign language in the world (Kachru &Nelson, 1996). Moreover, the issue of successful implementation of the English language curriculum has been the focus of a number of studies. In the case of Libya, however, little research has been conducted on teachers' perceptions of the new English language curriculum in Libyan high schools. Thus, teachers' voices have not been examined or …

Alliances And Preferences: Party System Institutionalization's Potentially Intervening Role On Pre-Election Cooperation In Australia, Fiji, And Papua New Guinea, Lee T. Barrow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project examines the intervening role of party system institutionalization in determining the effect of electoral rules on the behavior of political parties. Highly institutionalized systems differ across multiple dimensions--supply stability, volatility of results, and rootedness of parties--from fluid systems. Party behavior can be depicted rationally as a response to both institutional incentives and the historical and sociological context of a nation's party system. Electoral incentives promoting certain types of party behavior can be negated by party system mechanics that deter those behaviors. The research uses a medium-N structured, focused comparison of elections from Australia, Fiji, and Papua New …

Making Sense: Rhetoric, Perception, And Materiality, Aaron P. Donaldson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation dwells on the intersections of language-use and perception. The premise is that language makes literal sense and this reality has profound implications for those Burke called "symbol-using/mis-using animals." Communication scholars have long accepted a model of communication that positions language as "constitutive articulate contact" as opposed to a discrete means of transmission (Stewart, 1994), but a great deal of work remains to be done in terms of developing the implications for individuals and their language-use.

Chapter One explores the stances embraced by rhetorical materialists struggling to describe how language matters. The first chapter fields a series of critiques …

Finding Their Way: Teacher Journeys Toward Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Krista Keogh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hawley & Nieto (2010) indicate that students’ race and ethnicity influence teaching and learning in two important ways: how students respond to instruction and curriculum, and teachers' assumptions about how students learn and how much students are capable of learning. Research has indicated that the most significant factor in student success is the classroom teacher (Goldhaber & Brewer, 1997; Gordon, Kane, & Staiger, 2006; Jordan, Mendro, & Weerasinghe, 1997; Marzano, 2007; Nye, Konstantopolous, & Hedges, 2004; Rivkin, Hanushek, &Kain, 2002; Rockoff, 2004; Rowan, Correnti, & Miller, 2002). Teacher professional development regarding culturally responsive pedagogy has been promoted to help teachers …

Acculturation, Marianismo Gender Role, And Ambivalent Sexism In Predicting Depression In Latinas, Andreana T. Jezzini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores acculturation, the Latina gender role of marianismo, and ambivalent sexism in predicting depression in a community sample of Latinas. A review of existing literature regarding these variables reveals that all three constructs can be both risk factors as well as protective factors. Since marianismo and ambivalent sexism may share similar traits, both may be self-protective coping mechanisms by Latinas in the context of a patriarchal environment with structured gender roles and strong gender disparities. One hundred and thirteen adult Latina participants from various ancestries of origin were solicited from the community using an Internet survey tool. …

Navigating The Paradox: An Examination Of Compliance-Gaining And Relational Development In Hostage Incidents, Justin P. Borowsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to examine potential relationships between compliance-gaining strategy use and the outcome of hostage negotiation events. Persuasion has been identified as being a critical yet understudied part of the negotiation process. Utilizing the theory of Speech Acts, this study argued that compliance-gaining strategies play an essential role in the hostage recovery process. Specifically, compliance-gaining strategies allow the negotiator to exercise persuasion during the negotiation process while also building an interaction context that allows the hostage taker to feel as if the negotiator is working with, rather than against, the perpetrator. This type of relationship allows the negotiator to …

Miracles And Militancy: The Evental Origins Of Religious Revolution, Timothy J. Isaacson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing the theoretical framework of philosopher Alain Badiou, this paper will examine the force and movement of religiously fueled, revolutionary politics. Badiou’s definition of event is read through the theological concept of miracle, put forward by jurist Carl Schmitt in order to elucidate the inauguration of new order. The theological concept of miracle radicalizes Alain Badiou’s definition of event by manner of divine authorization. While Schmitt uses miracle to explicate sovereign preservation of the State, and Badiou’s interest lies in its erosion, reading both thinkers through miracle, and through each other, conceptualizes the theo-political militant, authorized by event to interrupt …

Choosing A Career : A Study Of Motivational Factors And Demographics That Influence P-12 Pre-Service Teachers., Diane Mackenzie 1964-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze motivational and demographic factors that influence pre-service teachers’ decision to become teachers. The theoretical framework used in this study is the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (Richardson & Watt, 2006), which is rooted in Expectancy Choice (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) and Social Cognitive theories (Bandura, 1997). The results indicated that the motivational factors did not significantly influence respondents choices. The demographic factors, gender, ethnicity, type of program, and type of certification, were not significantly associated with motivational factors that influence pre-service teachers to choose teaching as a career. Findings suggest in terms of …

The Rhetoric Of Africa : Historical Turns In Constructing A Continent, 1780-1890., Dexter Peck Mahaffey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines historical rhetoric about Africa in British and American writings between the beginnings of the Abolition period and the 1884 Berlin Conference at which the continent was divided by colonial powers. Tracing rhetorical trends of travel writers and their constituents through the explorations of the continent, it demarcates two turns in the way Africans and Africa were constructed rhetorically. In the process it reveals a 19th-century evolution from depicting Africa largely in terms of its viability for commerce and reception of European culture, to an Africa fallen into darkness, to Africa as the Dark Continent, permanently fixed in …