Digital Commons Network^™

Promoting Sense Of Belonging And Interest In Geosciences Among Undergraduate Women Through Mentoring, Wenyi Du

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether students’ university sense of belonging mediates the relationship between mentor network diversity and students’ interest development among undergraduate women in STEM majors. The sample for this study was consisted of 277 undergraduate women majoring in a STEM discipline with initial interests in geosciences across nine universities within the United States. A regression-based mediation analysis was performed using the Hayes’ (2013) macro to test the indirect effect of mentor support on interest through university sense of belonging. Consistent with our hypothesis, the analysis revealed a statistically significant and positive indirect effect of …

A Critical Assessment On The Resources And Extraction Of Rare Earth Elements From Acid Mine Drainage, Christopher R. Vass

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Rare earth elements (REEs) are crucial to many modern products used in both civilian and defense applications. Currently, a reliable supply of these elements is uncertain with the clear majority of REE production and refining occurring predominately in China. Furthermore, domestic ore deposits with commercially attractive concentrations of REEs are uncommon in the United States. As a result, the identification of a domestic supply of these technology metals is essential not only for manufacturing consumer merchandise but also for national security. Recently, one promising source of REEs has been identified: coal and coal-byproducts. One of those is acid mine drainage …

Health Literacy And Family Factors In The Transition To Adult Care In Adolescents With Type I Diabetes, Ellen M. Manegold

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Successful management of type 1 diabetes (T1DM) in adolescence involves multiple daily tasks, developmental changes, and the expectation of transition to an adult provider. Health literacy is one variable to consider in the context of transition, as studies have demonstrated the correlation of parental health literacy with health behaviors and outcomes, yet not studied adolescent health literacy in T1DM. Family factors (e.g., management responsibility, diabetes-specific family conflict, parental support) also are important to behavior and health outcomes in adolescents with T1DM. Study aims were to: 1) examine the association of adolescent health literacy to transition readiness and health outcome in …

Stockmanship Education And Evaluation, John K. Yost

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation documents two separate works. The first is an evaluation of WVU SFMS/SOIDC Large Animal Module and the second is the development and use of the Stockman’s Scorecard. The WVU SFMS/SOIDC Large Animal Module provides foundational information on food animal husbandry and veterinary procedures to SOF Combat Medic candidates. A quasi-experimental design was used to determine if the module content resulted in an increase in food animal production knowledge for the participants. Seventy-five percent of the subjects had no previous livestock exposure and only seven percent had previously participated in 4-H or FFA. Matched pair analysis determined that the …

A Coordination-Based Approach To Subnational Variations In Split-Ticket Voting: The Case Of Ghana 1996-2016, Samuel Kofi Darkwa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation seeks to explain the causes of split-ticket voting (skirt and blouse voting) in emerging democracies like Ghana. The analysis carried out here has been approached at three levels. This is because voters’ decisions in the voting booth are affected by factors within the larger political environment which are often beyond the individual voter. Thus, the three approaches employed here consider individual-level, constituency-level, and elite-level factors that affect the phenomenon. In each case different datasets were used to examine split-ticket voting. The analysis reveals that the individual-level factors (demographic characteristics and political information variables) are weak in explaining ticket …

Following The Leaders: Issue Attention And Agenda Dynamics In Women’S Health Care Policy, Kara Anne Fisher

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation focuses on shifts in issue attention in the policy process and examines policy changes. Describing agenda setting is important not only for understanding congressional behavior in general but also for understanding the institutional context of other political behavior. I focus on the processes of positive feedback to explain periods of dramatic policy changes observed over a long period of time.

The purpose of this study is to examine the changes in the politics of health policy which opened the door to women’s health care as an important feature of health politics. Thus, my research is motivated by three …

Investigation Of Bovine Conceptus Galectins And The Effect Of Bovine Conceptus Secretory Proteins On The Endometrial Epithelial Transcriptome, Heather Lynn Baldwin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Pregnancy loss in cattle is greatest in the first 30 days of gestation. Near d15 of gestation, bovine conceptuses elongate and express LGALS1, an immunosuppressive glycan-binding protein believed to be essential for implantation. However, other members of the bovine galectin family, including LGALS3, LGALS4, LGALS7, LGALS8, LGALS9 and a galectin-13-like gene (LGALS13L), also may be expressed by the elongating conceptus. Therefore, galectin expression in elongating, d16 bovine conceptuses and intercaruncular endometrium as well as elongating, d14 ovine conceptuses and intercaruncular endometrium was assessed by RT-qPCR. Angus heifer and Texel ewes underwent estrous cycle synchronization and either inseminated or not bred. …

Automatic Detection Of Insecure Codes In Stack Overflow, Shifu Hou

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As the popularity of modern social coding paradigm such as Stack Overflow grows, its potential security risks increase as well (e.g., insecure codes could be easily embedded and distributed). To address this largely overlooked issue, we bring a new insight to exploit social coding properties in addition to code content for automatic detection of insecure code snippets in Stack Overflow. To determine if the given code snippets are insecure, we not only analyze the code content, but also utilize various kinds of relations among users, badges, questions, answers, code snippets and keywords in Stack Overflow. To model the rich semantic …

Henosis Experience In Gaming: A Metric For Adjustments To Global Schema And Appraised Meaning, Evan Robert Watts

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Meaningfulness is a media gratification distinct from enjoyment characterized by feelings of insight, contemplation, and poignancy. Video games, too, can elicit experiences of meaningfulness, but the mechanisms underlying meaningfulness are unclear and in need of further exploration. Adapting work from existential psychology, this research proposes the construct of henosis as one mechanism that might contribute to meaningful video game experiences. Henosis is a response to experiences in which a person’s fundamental schema about the world (global schema) is challenged by an event which contradicts this schema. Henosis describes the process by which this discrepancy is resolved via either reappraising the …

Trustworthiness And Stability In Same And Different Sex Relationships: Heterosexuals’ Attitudes Toward Bisexuality, Jeneice Shaw

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Although bisexuals are reportedly the largest sexual orientation minority group in North America (Copen, Chandra, & Febo-Vazquez, 2016), there is scant research examining the population without also including lesbian women and gay men. However, according to the American Psychological Association’s (2012) Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients, psychologists should endeavor to understand the unique experiences of the bisexual population. Bisexual individuals face different stereotypes, conflict within the LGB community, and different life experiences related to other sexual orientations (Rust, 2000). Two unique stereotypes applied to the bisexual community are that bisexuality is an unstable sexual orientation …

Measuring The Effects Of Interpretive Journalism On Trust And Credibility Perceptions In The Context Of Political News Coverage, Scott William Siker

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examines the effects of interpretive journalism on trust and credibility perceptions. Specifically, this study investigates interpretive journalism in the context of political news coverage and also examines the relationship between political ideology and the aforementioned variables. This study uses a 2 (interpretive journalism; fact-based journalism) x 2 (political ideology: conservative leaning; liberal leaning) between-subjects online experiment to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings illustrate the predictive value of credibility to trust within the context of political news coverage. Additionally, this study shows that individuals exhibit higher perceptions of trust and credibility towards fact-based political coverage as opposed to interpretive …

A Video Decision Aid To Influence Advance Care Planning, Angela Petry

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The best mechanism to achieve successful advance care planning has yet to be identified. A randomized, controlled, experimental study was performed with a sample of 54 men and women who met inclusion criteria and were randomized into the intervention versus the control group in an outpatient clinical setting in rural West Virginia (WV) from December 2018 to March 2019. Participant mean age was 72.4 years. For those who chose to participate (n=42), the intervention group received the usual standard of care, which was a face to face advance care planning (ACP) discussion with the new intervention of a video decision …

Character Morality, Enjoyment, And Appreciation: A Replication Of Eden, Daalmans, And Johnson (2017), Koji Yoshimura

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Much research on media entertainment seeks to explain why viewers enjoy and appreciate a variety of media content. Affective disposition theory suggests that media enjoyment results from perceptions of the morality of characters and viewers’ expectations for characters’ narrative outcomes. However, research has struggled to explain how characters with varying morality (i.e., not perfectly good or bad) entertain viewers. This study replicates a previous study conducted by Eden, Daalmans, and Johnson (2017) that investigated different types of morally ambiguous characters, using a typology of character types based on an online, collaboratively sourced typology.

Like the original study, this study found …

Psychological Trauma And Resilience Of Police Officers Involved In An Ambush: An Exploratory Study, Erin A. Teaff

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Law enforcement officers are widely recognized as having one of the most dangerous and stressful occupations, which can lead to lasting physical and psychological impacts. While research has examined the psychological trauma and resilience experienced by police officers, there have been very few research studies involving ambushes. Due to the continued risk of ambushes on police officers, gaining insight into the trauma and resilience of officers during these types of situations would be beneficial in providing psychologists with information to aid in their treatment officers involved in an ambush and similar unprovoked attacks. The primary aim of this study was …

Performance Study Of An Unconventional Breathresponse Papr Against A N95 Ffr And Conventional Paprs, Huihui Yang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are the first responders when infectious pathogens occur. Powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) are one of the most widely used personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. Currently, few studies have been performed with HCWs in the actual healthcare work environments to assess discomforts, acceptance and protective efficiency towards wearing and use of PAPRs. The main purpose of this dissertation was to introduce and assess a brand new unconventional PAPR (Koken breath-response PAPR). The protection performance and user preferance of this unconventional PAPR were studided and compared to that of a N95 FFR and traditional PAPRs.

Firstly, a laboratory …

Understanding The Novice Decision-Making Process In Forensic Footwear Examinations: Accuracy And Decision Rules, Madonna A. Nobel

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The reproducibility of experienced-based forensic pattern interpretation is founded on the notion that domain-specific knowledge can be successfully distributed and applied among experts within a group. This assumption persists, even when the examination is complicated by variations in case circumstances, such as impression clarity and totality, as well as media, substrate, collection mechanism and enhancement. While it is further theorized that many of these factors (as well as additional confounding factors) are at play during an examination, the manner and extent to which these sources of variability affect the examination of footwear evidence remain unclear. In order to explore this …

Parametric Study Of Coal Liberation Behavior Using Silica Grinding Media, Adewale Wasiu Adeniji

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study evaluates the coal liberation behavior using silica as the grinding media by assessing the effects of four operating factors including nominal feed size, media size, shaft speed and grinding time, each of three levels on two response variables, the product P₈₀ and the specific energy. The coal material used in this study was mixed-phase particles commonly referred to as middlings, sampled from dense medium circuit at the Leatherwood preparation plant in Kentucky. One-third fractional factorial design of resolution III was implemented. Since silica was obtained in three standard size ranges as per manufacturer’s design, media size was …

A Test Of Perseverance: Creating The Scenic Design For The Three Musketeers, Lindsay Maiorano

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This document is an account of the scenic design process for the West Virginia University School of Theatre & Dance's 2018 production of The Three Musketeers by Catherine Bush. It details the entire scenic design process, including script analysis, research, and design meetings, as well as the processes of construction, scenic art, and technical rehearsals. It illustrates the transformation of a series of renderings and models, which ultimately evolved to the finalized version of the scenic design.

Using Artistic Process To Provide Outlets Of Communication, Understanding, And Healing To Improve The Well Being Of Selected Learners, Sarah Allen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Public schools in America follow a carefully structured pattern tied directly to the societies and cultures from within. While this structure may create a positive and familiar learning environment for some, others who are unfamiliar with the societal and cultural norms within public school structures, may be left behind. Some learners have simple language barriers that exclude them from activities as well as others during the school day; some choose silence out of fear or embarrassment from unknown circumstances; while others are labeled as Special Education and are not able to speak to others verbally as a "normal" child would. …

It Takes A Village: Collaborative Social Justice Through Choral Musicking, Natalie Shaffer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

Toxicity Evaluations Of Nanoclays And An Associated Nanocomposite Throughout Their Life Cycle, Alixandra Wagner

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

Watching You Watching Me: Lateral Surveillance In Singapore, Yan Song Lee

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Historically, top-down surveillance -- surveillance from the state and other organizations -- has dominated social life, but not anymore. Technological advances drove down the price of surveillance equipment which aided in the proliferation of devices such as dashboard cameras. The widespread use of affordable surveillance equipment gave rise to the phenomenon of lateral surveillance, whereby laypersons can employ surveillance techniques to monitor individuals around them. The Singapore metropolis provides an excellent example with the ubiquitous use of dashboard cameras for cars today. In this research, I focus on Singaporean rideshare drivers who are simultaneously subjected to traditional forms of top-down …

Beef Cattle Effluent Treatment In A Denitrifying Bioreactor., Bethani Chambers

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Excess nutrient runoff, nitrates and phosphates, has led to the development of algal blooms and hypoxic zones worldwide. Based on a report from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation nearly half of all nutrient sources originate from agricultural production with a quarter of this resulting from improper management of manures. This project focuses on a novel adaption of a denitrifying bioreactor, which has demonstrated removals of agricultural nutrients, which may have implications on the treatment of manure nutrients. These subsurface bioreactors work by providing a substrate, usually wood based, to act as a carbon source to support denitrifying bacteria which in turn …

Prenatal Lactation-Focused Motivational Interviewing For Enhancing Breastfeeding Initiation, Exclusivity, And Duration: Feasibility And Preliminary Outcomes, Sarah H. Addicks

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Breastfeeding promotes health and well-being for both mother and infant. A variety of environmental and individual factors, including psychological ones, affect infant feeding practices. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of a single-session Motivational Interviewing (MI) intervention delivered during the third trimester of pregnancy for enhancing breastfeeding outcomes. The Theory of Planned Behavior provided a theoretical framework for the intervention and outcome measures. The sample consisted of predominantly rural participants living in the North Central Appalachian region. Women were recruited through social media, local clinics, and word of mouth. Participants (N = 81) completed …

Routine Regrets: Over Disclosure And Self-Violations Of Privacy In Social Media Spaces, Matthew P. Hartwell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A cognitive application of the theory of ritualized media is applied to computer mediated communication to explain unintended consequences of routinization in social media spaces connected to patterns of use and network growth, creating an increased opportunity for self-violations of privacy. While The unintentional self-violation of a digital user's privacy of information, thoughts, and behavior in part stems from interconnected structural components of a user's networks as well as the situational constraints they experience while utilizing social media. This study found that as networks increased in complexity, both in volume and diversity, SNS users experienced a higher likelihood of posting …

Experimental Analysis Of Unsteady Aerodynamic Covert Feather Behavior, Laura J. Ordaz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The interest in man-made flying vehicles has existed for over 100 years. Bird flight has been the major inspiration for the creation of such vehicles. More recently, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) have become more popular and their use in more applications has developed the need for improved maneuverability. UAVs are also decreasing in size which has allowed them to operate within similar flight conditions as birds. Studying bird feather behavior may open doors and shed some light as to how the bird achieves such agility and control, which may then be adapted to UAV flight. In this research, the motion …

Investigation Into Composting Efforts At Wvu: A Case Study., Marina Alexis Berry

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Institutional composting systems have been adopted by many land grant universities to help better manage their waste and protect the environment. West Virginia University (WVU) has yet to begin formally managing their animal manure and waste at the university farms. This investigation will look into what has been done at other land grant universities to see which methods could be applied at WVU. This could have environmental, economic, and social benefits and also serve as a living learning classroom. University composting systems have often started small and grown to accommodate campus food waste, which could also be a possibility for …

… Like Animals., Brandon Schnur

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

Examining Participant Perceptions Of Benefits, Barriers And Social Support In A Diabetes Lifestyle Program, Samantha Shawley-Brzoska

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Effects Of Chronic Additions Of Nitrogen, Sulfur And Lime On The Growth And Development Of A Central Appalachian Forest, Alexander J Storm

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

No abstract provided.