Digital Commons Network^™

Cyberbullying Among Young Adults: Effects On Mental And Physical Health, Brett M. Goshe

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Study Of Problem-Based Learning Of English In China, Xinning Cui

Master's Theses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of problem-based learning on 9^th grader Chinese students’ performance on writing, speaking and self-efficacy in learning English. Of particular interest to this study was the comparison of problem-based learning with the traditional Chinese learning method for improving students’ performance on English language writing and speaking, and in addition, students’ self-efficacy towards English learning. An empirical experiment was conducted in Qingdao No.2 high school in Shandong province, China. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The findings show that students using the problem-based learning method tend to have stronger …

Overtime Work Hours, Health Behaviors And Health Outcomes For Correctional Officers: An Examination Of Moderated Effects, Diana C. Tubbs

Master's Theses

Most of the existing research on corrections officers (COs) has focused on stress and burnout as well as the organizational factors that contribute to these outcomes. Recent studies have also revealed that COs are more likely to be obese and hypertensive than the general population. Studies not specific to corrections provide evidence that overtime hours are associated with poor employee health, and the present study aimed to address this general lack of research on the potential health impacts of overtime hours for COs. More specifically, this study investigated whether the effect of healthy behaviors on health and wellness outcomes changed, …

Childhood Obesity Prevention In Income-Disadvantaged Populations: An Evaluation Of Two Novel Approaches, Kayla L. Vosburgh

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Self Relevance Of Stigma: The Impact Of Weight Stigma On Normal Weight Women's Health Cognitions, Paige Martinez

Master's Theses

Previous research has demonstrated that weight stigma is associated with negative health outcomes among women who are overweight; this effect has been shown in both experimental and longitudinal studies. However, normal weight women do not tend to experience negative health impacts from exposure to weight stigma. This study attempted to manipulate the self-relevance of weight stigma among 150 normal weight women, in order to test whether self-relevance of stigma has an impact on health cognitions. Limited support for this framework was found.

Perceived Self-Efficacy And Financial Incentives: Factors Affecting Health Behavior And Body Weight In Individuals With Overweight And Obesity, Julia Ann Simon

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Understanding How Intentionally Unplugging From Cell Phones Shapes Interpersonal Relationships And The Undergraduate College Experience, Jadelin P. Felipe

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of what motivated college students—the Unplugged Students—to intentionally use their cell phones less and how they understood the impact that unplugging had on their interpersonal relationships and college experience. Nine undergraduate college students from four private schools were interviewed in one-on-one semi- structured interviews. These students, considered non-users, provided a particularly useful perspective as these students made a conscious choice to counteract social norms and experienced both being plugged in and unplugged. Cell phones and the act of unplugging proved to make up a complex and more nuanced topic than …

Individual Differences In Sensitivity To Morphological Structure In Words And Nonwords, Oliver M. Sawi

Master's Theses

Understanding visual word recognition has been a central goal of psycholinguistics from its early beginnings. Examination of the statistical properties of language has uncovered many aspects of words that facilitate recognition. In addition, evidence from both behavior and computational modeling suggests that individual differences in experience and the strength of connections in an individual’s reading network affect the sensitivity to these statistical properties in language. Morphology has special properties in this sense as morphologically related items have statistical regularities across both form and meaning. The current study examined whether individual differences in skill modulate sensitivity to morphological structure. Specifically, we …

Inducing Emotional Response In Interactive Media, Keenan M. Reimer

Master's Theses

Video games, and entertainment media have been developed for many years, and eliciting emotional experiences is an integral part of that process. Producing and editing game content in order to affect desired emotional experiences can be expensive and cumbersome to developers. This paper presents a study intended to show that such experiences can be affected with simple after-the-fact audio-visual effects. As subjects of the study, participants experience three different emotional states, fear, peace, and none, over three rounds and in three different game environments. They are given a simple narrative in each environment that directs them to gather various objects. …

Prejudice And Discrimination In U.S. Graduate Geography Programs: Reports From Domestic And International Students, Karen C. Johnson

Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on domestic and international students and their experiences of discrimination and prejudice while enrolled in graduate geography programs in the United States. This is an issue that relates to three important and interrelated trends in graduate education in the United States: increasing numbers of international students; growing efforts to reduce and eliminate discrimination and prejudice in higher education; and rising awareness of the role that academic “climate and culture” play in sustaining or changing current patterns of participation by students of diverse backgrounds. A web-based survey was developed and used to collect data from 420 students in …

The Poet's Corpus: Memory And Monumentality In Wilfred Owen's "The Show", Charles Hunter Joplin

Master's Theses

Wilfred Owen is widely recognized to be the greatest English “trench poet” of the First World War. His posthumously published war poems sculpt a nightmarish vision of trench warfare, one which enables Western audiences to consider the suffering of the English soldiers and the brutality of modern warfare nearly a century after the armistice. However, critical readings of Owen’s canonized corpus, including “The Show” (1917, 1918), only focus on their hellish imagery. I will add to these readings by demonstrating that “The Show” is primarily concerned with the limitations of lyric poetry, the monumentality of poetic composition, and the difficulties …

Being With Bees: An Anthropological Study On Human-Animal Relations In Southern Beekeeping, Kori Nadine Armstrong

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the complex and dynamic communicative relationship between beekeepers and their managed honey bee colonies, providing insight into the relationship between bees, their stewards, and the interface between nature and culture. It also helps unravel the ways in which this interspecies relationship changes a beekeepers’ perception of what it means to be human. Data collection features extensive participant observation with 21 semi-structured interviews with Southern beekeepers.

The interrelationship between communication and interaction, as well as diverse ways in which messages and cues manifest in the bee yard are explored through olfactory, optical, touch, and mechanical modalities. Variables including …

Establishing A Link Between Personality And Social Rank In A Group Of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), Erin Elizabeth Frick

Master's Theses

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) have been documented to possess personality traits that remain consistent over time (Highfill & Kuczaj, 2007) and across contexts (Kuczaj, Highfill, & Byerly, 2012). Such individual differences are thought to play an important role in various social contexts such as hierarchical dominance (Highfill & Kuczaj, 2010). The present study investigated the relationship between personality and social rank within a captive group of bottlenose dolphins housed at the Roatan Institute for Marine Science (RIMS). Social rank was established using questionnaires distributed to the RIMS experienced staff. Personality traits were derived from behavioral coding using context-specific …

Shaken, Not Stirred: Espionage, Fantasy, And British Masculinity During The Cold War, Anna Rikki Nelson

Master's Theses

This project seeks to define and explore the development of Cold War British masculinity and national identity in response to decolonization. Following World War II, Great Britain experienced a time of political and cultural rebuilding. This project argues that following World War II, Britain had to renegotiate gender and national identity within the context of decolonization, the rise of the welfare state, and Britain’s diminished role in global politics, and the tensions within gender and national identity were expressed in Britain’s interest in espionage narratives both real and fictionalized. British spy novels by Ian Fleming, Desmond Cory, and John Le …

An Assessment Of Number Representation In The Small-Eared Bushbaby (Otolemur Garnettii), Tiffany Aycia Woodard Baker

Master's Theses

In an effort to explain the underlying mechanisms of number representation, both the object-file and the approximate number system have been proposed. Despite the recognition in animals, both nonhuman and human, it remains unclear how numbers are represented cognitively or what system is employed. Furthermore, primate numerosity research has been almost exclusively conducted within haplorhine species (monkeys and apes). Within the strepsirhines (lemurs, lorises, and galagos), it has only been investigated in 15 diurnal and cathermal Malagasy primate species. No study to date has looked at this ability in either African strepsirhines or nocturnal primates. To examine the extent of …

Family Influences On Ethnic Identity Development Among Transracial Adoptees, Holly Mee Seong Stangle

Master's Theses

This study focused on the experiences of transracial adoptees in the United States, in an effort to examine the roles of cultural socialization and family influences on adoptees’ ethnic identity development. This study explored these issues through in-depth interviews with 11 adult transracial adoptees. Qualitative data analysis indicated various factors influencing participants’ ethnic identity development. Analysis compared levels of parental connection to adoptees’ birth culture, according to participants’ responses to interview questions. Analysis also compared socialization activities perceived by participants as meaningful to those that participants described as superficial or lacking in meaning. Themes included freedom of choice, opportunities for …

Decolonizing The Ya North: Environmental Injustice In Sherri L. Smith’S Orleans, Micah-Jade M. Coleman

Master's Theses

Young Adult (YA) dystopias, in recent years, have imagined a future world fueled by the overuse and misuse of technology, the advancement of science for human gain, as well as societies ruled by governments that govern based on their own self-interests and economic gain. Such novels have opened the door for discussion about how the present-day actions of societies can impact the future of the environment; yet many only focus their attention on societies in the North— regions considered “developed” by the western world. In her YA novel, Orleans (2014), Sherri L. Smith focuses attention on the aftermath of Hurricane …

The Effects Of Nicotine On Conditioning, Extinction, And Reinstatement In Humans Using A Virtual Reality Conditioned Place Preference Paradigm, Alexandra N. Palmisano

Master's Theses

Despite an abundance of evidence illustrating the harmful effects of nicotine use, only a small percentage of users successfully quit (Messer et al., 2008). Moreover, current treatments for nicotine cessation produce only a slight increase in the likelihood of successfully quitting, which emphasizes the need for more effective strategies that facilitate smoking cessation (Hopkins et al., 2001). Several studies suggest that difficulty in controlling nicotine use behaviors results from nicotine’s ability to enhance the motivating function of cues associated with obtaining rewards. These studies indicate that it is of value to understand the behavioral and neuropharmacological mechanisms by which nicotine …

Information Processing In The Hippocampus And The Medial Prefrontal Cortex During Hippocampal Dependent And Independent Task: An Lfp Analysis, Jinah Yoon 4863671

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Biomarkers Of Orthodontic Tooth Movement With Fixed Appliances And Vibration Device: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Marie-Claude Chouinard

Master's Theses

Biomarkers of orthodontic tooth movement with fixed appliances and vibration device: A randomized clinical trial

Marie-Claude Chouinard D.M.D.

ABSTRACT

Background: On average, comprehensive orthodontic treatments last approximately 21-27 months in non-extraction cases and 25-35 months when teeth elected for extraction. Longer treatment times have been associated with multiple detrimental effects such as white spot lesions, root resorption, gingival inflammation and dental caries. Recently, some evidence has shown that the application of mechanical vibration to the dentition can increase the rate of tooth movement. However, the biological mechanism underlying this effect is not clearly understood. The aims of this study were …

The "Creative Workspace": A Comparative Analysis Of Stakeholder Perceptions, Augustina Radziunaite

Master's Theses

The rise of information technologies and creative industries formed a new class of “creative knowledge workers” with special needs for a workspace design. The recent tendency of playful and bold workspace designs for creative industries was labeled by some researchers as a “creative workspace,” but a body of knowledge about design strategies supporting “creative knowledge workers’” performance is still limited.

This master’s thesis research attempts to define “creative workspace” design phenomenon based on the three main stakeholder groups’ perceptions. The research analyzes existing literature and conducts in-depth interviews with designers and users to collect the data and compare the findings. …

The Effects Of A Uniformly Weighted Exercise Suit On Biomarkers Of Bone Turnover In Response To Aerobic Exercise In Postmenopausal Women With Low Bone Density, Haley Frances Terndrup, Alison K. Ventura, Todd Hagobian, Scott Hazelwood

Master's Theses

Current options for maintaining or slowing aging-related bone mineral density (BMD) loss in postmenopausal women primarily include pharmaceutical agents. More recently, physical activity and exercise have been suggested as highly effective, low cost alternatives. Weighted aerobic exercise, utilizing load carriage systems (LCS), is known to increase the gravitational forces impacting bone, creating a higher osteogenic stimulus than standard aerobic exercise. In response to the positive research on aerobic exercise with well-designed LCS, Dr. Lawrence Petrakis, MD, developed a unique 5.44 kg uniformly weighted exercise suit. This study aimed to examine the effects of the uniformly weighted exercise suit on serum …

The Interrelations Between Work Factors, Family And Work Health Climate, Work Schedule, And Individual Behaviors, Jennifer C. Buden

Master's Theses

Background: The rates of obesity in the United States continue to rise, particularly with disparities in high stress, low job control occupations such as corrections. Employers are in a unique position to improve employee health through development of Total Worker Health interventions that integrate worker safety and health promotion to improve employee health and well-being.²⁵ Understanding influences on health behaviors in the workplace such as social support, and work schedules as well as family environment, may aide in developing worksite preventive strategies with the anticipation of chronic disease reduction and weight management. Purpose: The purpose of these studies was …

Incivility As A Communication Barrier: The Effects Of Incivility Experiences, Appraisals, And Context On Employees’ Constructive Voice Behavior, Kerri C. Nelson

Master's Theses

In today’s competitive environment, organizations and researchers alike are placing increasing emphasis on the role of communication and, more specifically, employee voice at work. However, much less is known about workplace mistreatment as an antecedent factor that might hinder this important workplace asset. The current research examined a specific antecedent factor, workplace incivility, and its effects on constructive voice and engagement using a transactional stress theory framework. Currently, no research has investigated the potential for a connection between incivility and constructive voice, limiting our current understanding of their relationship. In an initial study, psychological safety and appraisals of control were …

Increased Delta As A Compensatory Strategy During Working Memory In High-Performing Patients With Schizophrenia, Faith Steffen-Allen

Master's Theses

Working memory (WM) impairment is a core cognitive deficit in schizophrenia and has been linked to dysfunction in the gamma, alpha, and theta bands. However, successful WM performance in high-performing patients is less well characterized. This study aims to investigate modulation of the EEG signal during successful WM performance in schizophrenia and to examine how that modulation differs from controls.

Patients with schizophrenia (n=7) and controls (n=9) had scalp EEG recorded during a modified Sternberg WM task with two difficulty levels. The task was subdivided into four stages (pre-trial baseline, encoding, retention, and probe). Task-induced amplitudes were computed for the …

The 2013 Boston Marathon Attacks: An Experimental Investigation Of Worldview Change Following Film Re-Exposure To Mass Trauma, Ian A. Gutierrez

Master's Theses

Models of meaning making and post-traumatic growth contend that traumatic events are catalysts for significant and long-lasting change in a person’s worldview—that is, their beliefs about social, metaphysical, theological, and political reality. Nearly all tests of this contention have employed retrospective and cross-sectional methods. However, the limitations inherent in these designs preclude causal conclusions. The current study represents the first longitudinal, laboratory-based experimental examination of belief change following trauma exposure using the trauma film paradigm. Findings reveal that the trauma film paradigm can successfully induce posttraumatic affective responses with live news coverage of a mass trauma (i.e., the 2013 Boston …

The Impact Of A Smarter Lunchrooms Makeover On Children's Food Choice And Consumption, Polina Zhuzhina

Master's Theses

Childhood obesity has tripled over the past three decades and poses a serious public health problem. The Smarter Lunchrooms Movement aims to increase healthy eating by incorporating low-cost to no-cost alterations to the school lunchroom in an effort to increase consumption of healthier foods, such as fruits and vegetables, by making them more attractive and convenient.

Our study implemented Smarter Lunchrooms interventions at two primarily Hispanic elementary schools in Paso Robles, CA. The interventions focused on increasing the appeal of the salad bars, including installation of age-appropriate signage highlighting fruits and vegetables, as well as branding of fruits and vegetables …

Automating Self Evaluations For Software Engineers, Jonathan Rodrigo A. Miranda

Master's Theses

Software engineers frequently compose self-evaluations as part of employee perfor- mance reviews. These evaluations can be a key artifact for assessing a software engineer’s contributions to a team and organization, and for generating useful feed- back. Self-evaluations can be challenging because a) they can be time consuming, b) individuals may forget about important contributions especially when the review period is long such as a full year, c) some individuals can consciously or unconsciously overstate their contributions, and d) some individuals can be reluctant to describe their contributions for fear of appearing too proud [24].

UNBIASED, Useful New Basic Interactive Automated …

Graph-Based Data Visualization In Virtual Reality: A Comparison Of User Experiences, Paul Andrew Sullivan

Master's Theses

Virtual reality is currently in the spotlight, attracting intense scrutiny by the press, technology companies, and consumers. After twenty years of dormancy, the technology has experienced a renaissance following advancements in both hardware and software. Most of these developments, and thus press attention, have been centered on entertainment. However, if the technology is going to continue to grow, it must be useful in a wide variety of situations. This paper explores the effectiveness of visualizing data in virtual reality in comparison to traditional presentations.

In this thesis, we present an approach to displaying data in a virtual reality environment. We …

The Impact Of Performance Management System Characteristics On Perceived Effectiveness Of The System And Engagement, Laura Ricci

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to comprehensively examine performance management systems to determine the characteristics that are most influential in predicting desirable organizational outcomes. Results of an online survey administered to 159 participants revealed that the four performance management system categories significantly predicted employees’ perceived effectiveness of their performance management system and employee engagement. The activities category was found to be the strongest predictor of perceived effectiveness and employee engagement. Four performance management system characteristics significantly led employees to perceive their performance management system to be effective and be engaged at work. These four performance management system characteristics include …