Digital Commons Network^™

Running Out Of Oxygen: Revealing The Interannual And Intra-Annual Dynamics Of Bottom Water Hypoxia In A Great Lakes Estuary Using Time-Series Observations, Experiments, And Analyses, Nate M. Dugener

Masters Theses

Bottom water hypoxia, a condition of low dissolved oxygen in the bottom waters, negatively effects lakes and freshwater and marine coastal estuaries globally. As climate change shifts climatological and ecological patterns, hypoxia continues to shift in duration and severity. In Muskegon Lake, Michigan, hypoxia occurs annually, restricting fish habitat, increasing cyanobacteria blooms, and disrupting ecological and socioeconomic prosperity. In the current study, we examined the duration and severity of hypoxia over a 11 years (2011-2021) utilizing data from the Muskegon Lake Observatory buoy (MLO, https://www.gvsu.edu/wri/buoy/). During 2021, we analyzed the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations observed by the MLO, conducted biweekly …

The Deep End: A Journey Of Faith, Janet M. Henderson

Masters Theses

This paper is an expansion of papers written in my MFA program’s creative non-fiction writing class and workshop. In English 600: Editing, Layout, and Publishing, the class wrote a paper to document our faith journey and our approach to understanding ourselves and our worldview based on our religious indoctrination. This paper was 10-15 pages long and had a title page, a table of contents, an acknowledgment page, and a dedication page. After writing this paper, I began to consider the possibility of writing a longer work that would dig deeper into the real essence of my faith walk. It would …

Stravinsky's Symphony Of Psalms Compared With Burton's Psalms Symphony, Roberto L. Burton

Masters Theses

"Stravinsky's own account of the composition of this great work follows and needs no addenda. But since composers don't always point out their greatest masterstrokes, here are a few additional comments. Listen closely to the first chord it recurs several times during the opening minutes of the first movement for although it is a simple e minor triad, in Stravinsky's hands even a conventional chord becomes distinctive. In assigning the triad's notes to the instruments of the orchestra, Stravinsky hands out twice as many G’s (minor triads) as the root of E or the fifth of B, contrary to what …

Identification And Treatment Of Kierkegaardian Despair: An Informal Indirect Apologetic Strategy, Licio Soares

Masters Theses

The central question this paper aimed at addressing was: How to present the gospel to people that are resistant to its presentation? The Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard suggested that the best strategy in this scenario was indirect communication. In Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous writings many theological themes were indirectly presented as philosophical ones. The following Kierkegaardian themes were selected and arranged into a two-phase apologetic strategy that can be used in informal conversational settings: Anxiety, Despair, The Crowd, Single Individual, Revelation, and Faith. Indirect communication takes place in the first phase which is comprised of the first four themes. The …

Exploring The Pulse Of Design And Music: The Impact Of Visual Rhythm In Design For Auditorily Impaired Music Students, Nina Marie Tedeschi

Masters Theses

Auditorily impaired music students struggle to understand musical rhythms and patterns which can lead to frustration, low self-esteem, lack of developing musical skills, and reduced music appreciation. Often, the needs of those with hearing challenges are overlooked in the curriculum planning process. This research aims to show the importance of providing appropriate learning methods and materials for music students who are hearing impaired. Specifically, this study focuses on the elements of patterns, repetition of patterns, and rhythm within the visual designs used in the instruction of musical elements. The methods used in this research are based upon observation, investigation, and …

Utilizing Campbell's Listening Models In The Elementary Music Room, Rachel Haass Boyer

Masters Theses

Patricia Shehan Campbell work revolves around her created Listening Models to teach World Music to students of all ages utilizing a culturally accurate method. As a result, from her research, this study asks do Campbell’s Listening Models help students retain cultural and musical information on a music culture, specifically the Eastern Shoshone. Although example lessons exist in Campbell’s works as well as the Smithsonian Folkways website, research on the effectiveness is lacking. In order to test the effectiveness, this study offers a set of lessons based on the Eastern Shoshone for fourth and fifth grade students and tracks their learning …

Paul J. Rainey: Northeast Mississippi's Hidden Legend, Peyton Elizabeth Holliday

Masters Theses

Paul J. Rainey was a man of the 20th century who had it all. A fortune, land, ability to travel, and fame. He was a big game hunter who out did all others and a wildlife filmmaker who broke records and helped to finance the beginning of Universal Studios. While all his claims to fame were with hunting and filmmaking, Rainey went on to serve in the Great War as an ambulance driver, spy, and Captain in the British army. Rainey was originally from Ohio, but in 1901 he bought land in Northeast Mississippi. Here, Rainey established his Tippah Lodge …

Supernatural Evil As Evidence For The Existence Of God, Shane Stone Geisler

Masters Theses

This study challenges widely held beliefs about the supernatural realm. Those who believe the supernatural realm exists tend to accept there is a personable higher power at work in our world. The naturalistic worldview denies the existence of anything or anyone beyond our physical universe. This paper will first inform the reader of a history of beliefs in the supernatural. Next, an innovative approach will be taken to provide evidence for the supernatural world. Finally, the evidence will be examined to determine its reliability and identify common themes found throughout the research. The information provided is not intended to be …

Wrongfully Accused: Germany And The Origins Of World War I, Jauschua Curtis Stout

Masters Theses

By examining the events that led to the outbreak of the First World War, one can determine whether any one nation was responsible for starting the war or failed to exercise its ability to prevent it. The origins of The First World War have seen no shortage of attention from historians in the hundred-plus years since its conclusion. Nevertheless, none have successfully presented a case that explains how what should have been a relatively minor diplomatic crisis transformed into the First World War. Instead, the traditional stance of blaming Germany for the war has been the de facto argument since …

Chaplaincy Upholds The West’S Value Of Tolerance Not Acceptance, Monique Decandido

Masters Theses

Throughout history, the differences between humanity led mankind to experience many hardships, even wars. These differences include religion or beliefs, tribal differences, racial differences, and geographical differences. Over time, and after much bloodshed and despondency of life, critical thinking men began to develop a strategy for humanity to get along together despite their differences. The question and the challenge of how mankind can get along together without engaging in conflicts about their differences became the chief thinking cap throughout the West. Humanity realized that the answer to their question and challenge was tolerance. Now forwarding into the 21st century, the …

Using Plot Photographs To Estimate Tundra Vegetation Cover In Northern Alaska, Hana Christoffersen

Masters Theses

Plot photography can provide a quick, robust method to measure vegetation, especially in polar environments where logistics can be expensive and challenging. The success and widespread adoption of plot photography in the Arctic hinges on the accuracy of image analysis and data product interpretation. The relative cover of eight vegetation classes was estimated using a point frame and digital camera across thirty, 1-m² plots at Utqiaġvik, Alaska from 2012 to 2021. Geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) was applied to generate objects and classify the three band (red, green, blue) images. Machine learning classifiers (random forest, gradient boosted model, classification …

God Alone Is Good And Wise: A Free Will Defense For The Logical Problem Of Moral Disagreement, Maria Carolina Reis Baeta

Masters Theses

Moral disagreement is commonly regarded as a threat to objective morality in academic literature and popular culture and perhaps one of the most significant objections against the Christian theistic moral theory. Some skeptics argue that, since people diverge about what is right and wrong, and in doing so, they provoke moral evil and human suffering, the Christian view that an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God is behind morality is inconsistent. Numerous questions about the revelation of God's moral law, God's power to prevent moral disagreement, and even the reasons for creating a world with such moral disagreements lead people to …

The Advantage Of An Iterative Writing Process For Novels And Short Stories, Annie Jackson

Masters Theses

Many writers struggle with completing a novel when they follow the traditional process of working through plot, character and world building problems in prewriting activities followed by sitting and drafting the story in a linear process scene by scene and chapter by chapter. This thesis proposes an alternate iterative approach. Iterative drafting creates multiple smaller versions of the full story that build to a first draft. By moving several problem solving activities into the draft itself writers can find increased opportunity for quick analysis, low effort corrections and a more efficient drafting method. This thesis lays out the description and …

Defending The Resurrection Of Jesus Through The Reliability Of The Credible Witnesses, Gregory K. Cherven

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to illuminate the fact that there is sufficient evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ through the reliability of the credible witnesses. Although physical evidence is lacking, it does not mean there is not sufficient evidence. Is it necessary to have physical evidence to secure a conviction? Criminal cases will be explored in which murder convictions were secured without the recovery of a dead body, physical evidence, or a confession. The convictions were secured based solely on witness testimony. The eye-witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus are evaluated through a modern lens and there …

New Models For Worship: Music Education Philosophy In The Multiculturally Fragmented Sanctuary, Sandra Diana Constanze Hendricks

Masters Theses

Worship seems to have been approached from theological and sociological perspectives but not through the lens of ideas and frameworks in music education philosophy. This study uses a survey of scholarly works to examine the influence these ideas and frameworks could have on the event of worship leading regarding changes to the agency of fragmented and multicultural worship identities. The study is based on a model of transformative historical research. It analyses ideas and frameworks of music education theory in the context of Christianity in the post-structuralist era. The results and interpretation confirmed that the application of tendential rhizomatic models …

Pay-To-Play: A Quantitative Analysis Of Opportunity, Achievement, And Parental Motivation In Youth Club Soccer, Alec Joseph Golini

Masters Theses

In the last twenty years, the youth sport experience in the United States has been shaped by a family’s ability to pay. Under the pay-to-play model in American youth sports, advancing to the highest levels of the game not only requires the standard expenditures, but significant investment which accounts for coaching, equipment, travel, training, and other resources. Previous research on the topic has analyzed the impact of income, educational attainment, and race and ethnicity on access to elite-level sports opportunities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the pay-to-play model and factors associated with athletic outcomes at three youth …

Making Music Theory Fun, Jordan E. Montana Richards

Masters Theses

This curriculum project will attempt to demonstrate how having fun can facilitate learning music theory. Furthermore, in this project, I also propose that using games, songs, mnemonic devices, and other types of wordplay and edutainment (the marriage of education and entertainment) can combat summer learning loss and other learning gaps or school breaks, in addition to inspiring the motivation, interest, and desire within students to learn. My curriculum project will also claim that by having fun and enjoying their learning, students will be more likely to improve and develop their musicianship skills. Within this curriculum project, I will attempt to …

Free Slave: Artist Statement, Thesis, And Working Novel, Leeland Francis Johnson

Masters Theses

This is a fictional slave narrative about a young man born free and taken into slavery. He wrestles with the concepts of forgiveness and mercy as he undergoes his trials and tribulations. As I am a white man taking on this endeavor, I wrestle with the artist's statement about how much care I have taken to make this a replica of a faithful slave narrative. I hope this work will be viewed as a tributary piece.

Comparative Anatomical Study Of The Brachial Plexus Of Primates, Alison Leann Camero

Masters Theses

Old world monkeys, new world monkeys, and humans all originate from a common ancestor. Although humans and old world monkeys are phylogenetically more closely related, old world monkeys and new world monkeys have similar locomotion. A difference in muscle patterns exists between old world monkeys, new world monkeys, and humans. Different musculature may be due to differences in locomotive patterns and species-specific use of their forearms. Muscles in the forelimbs are innervated by the nerves of the brachial plexus. There are differences among the brachial plexuses of human and non-human primates as well as variability within the species.

In this …

How The Power Of Film Inspires Christianity, Stephanie Mullins Sellers

Masters Theses

Ruthie’s Game is a screenplay designed to repeat supernatural episodic events, which, according to research, may act as foundations for faith systems because watching films is a prayerful act, and the more it is repeated the longer the brain stores the memory. The thesis explores how Christian messages are received through film with a brief on the science behind the brain’s activities and how it reflexes film’s episodic events for later use. Testimonies, interviews, and personal comments show an audience seeking secular films with intellectual storyline and with no preaching to the choir. Ruthie’s Game shares Christian messages in an …

Songs Of Travel: An Analytical Study Of Ralph Williams’ Compositional Styles, Jonathan Jacobs Lawton

Masters Theses

Ralph Vaughan Williams is perhaps one of the most prolific and diverse composers from the British Isles to grace the world with his compositions. He was born in the middle of the English Musical Renaissance, a time of musical rejuvenation of the British Art Song that embraced the principles of the Romantic period and placed significance on the importance of national identity. Ralph Vaughan Williams was the embodiment of musical citizenship – a musical philosophy that leans heavily on national identity for inspiration of word and song. In 1901, a young Ralph Vaughan Williams began writing music for Songs of …

The Importance Of Regional Music To Music Education: The 1927 Bristol Sessions, Valerie E. Pickard

Masters Theses

It is widely accepted that the culture in which one lives is important to his/her understanding of self. Likewise, it has been shown that a working knowledge of cultural music aids in developing one’s musical identity. Although research indicates that there appears to be a gap in cultural music education, there has been little written as to how that gap can be filled, especially with respect to Appalachian cultural music. The Southern Appalachian Mountains are rich in musical diversity. In addition to the already present Native Americans, settlers came from Ireland, Germany, Africa, and other European countries and brought with …

Curriculum Development For Beginning Band: Recruitment And Retention Of Minority Students Living In Poverty, Thomas Andrew Langford

Masters Theses

Despite efforts in many schools to offer quality music education to all students, issues still prevent many minority students from participating in band programs. There are important and unique implications for minority students and students who live in poverty and their ability or desire to participate in a band program. Developing curriculum and teaching strategies to reach minority students and students living in poverty is one way to bridge the educational gap and provide an avenue for students to make a better way for themselves. The study examined existing literature to determine factors attracting or retracting this student population from …

Ell Cultural Inclusion Initiative, Julia L. Gidley

Masters Theses

This project draws on Maslow’s theory of motivation using his hierarchy as a framework, as well as Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. This project aims to engage and involve English Language Learners (ELL) in the classroom by informing educators of strategies that help to find commonalities among students and cultivate communication between Native English Speakers and ELLs thus developing a culturally inclusive classroom. By building the relationships between the two student subgroups (ELLs and NESs) teachers will gain a class of students who have a well-developed world view, increase language acquisition, and develop a deep appreciation and respect for other cultures. Through …

Multimodal Vocabulary Instruction: An Approach For Supporting Reading Comprehension, Mary K. Van Singel

Masters Theses

Children bring a wide range of vocabulary knowledge and prior experiences with them when they enter school. Research suggests that in order to bridge childrens’ word knowledge and the word knowledge needed for academic success, teachers must take on a multimodal instructional approach to foster vocabulary development and reading comprehension in students. This project explores how word knowledge develops in children as well as various research based features of vocabulary instruction to support word learning in the classroom. The project is designed to offer teachers professional development that works to grow teacher expertise for what effective vocabulary instruction is, the …

Addressing Disengagement In Text Through An Increase In Autonomy, Access, And Relevant Text Selection, Amanda L. Saffian

Masters Theses

This project proposal employs a broad range of research to design a plan of implementation that would address the effectiveness of increased permanent exposure to more diverse text sets. The essential components of this design are to investigate the efficacy of increasing access to multimodal, high-interest, and responsive texts in closing educational equity gaps as a substantive conceptual model of educational effectiveness and theory-based approaches to increase engagement in literacy and learning. This work would include developing a comprehensive catalog of texts which would allow for the most significant impact on student engagement. The literature used to justify design includes …

The Japanese Church And Cultural Engagement, Sarah Jane Garon

Masters Theses

This thesis addresses the current cultural engagement done by the Japanese church, with particular attention given to music and the arts. Japan has hosted Christian missionaries for over five centuries and yet most of the population do not claim the religion as their own. Much research has been devoted to understanding the history of Christianity in Japan and the relationship between Japanese Christians and non-Christian Japanese culture. However, very little research has been done on the interactions between Japanese Christians and music and art specifically. This thesis, therefore, is dedicated to discovering how Japanese Christians are currently engaging with music …

Developing Coping Strategies For Early Elementary Students In Relation To Anxiety, Kayle M. Ogrodzinski

Masters Theses

There has been a growing concern about the number of students exhibiting anxiety in schools. Research shows that implementing interventions can help reduce the amount anxiety in students. School counselors can implement small group lessons with a focus on a theoretical approach using cognitive behavioral therapy to help address this concern. This method allows the student to be in control of their feeling and learn to cope with what is making them anxious. This project acts as a guide for school counselors to implement small group lessons. It provides an outline of seven weekly sessions for students in early elementary …

A Case Study Of Organizational Mobilization Best Practices For Natural Disasters, Jaclyn Ermoyan

Masters Theses

Researching mobilization best practices for natural disasters has concluded that volunteers respond best to having meaning behind the work that they do and when they are involved at all levels of the service they are doing. After interviewing a representative from the American Red Cross and a representative from Team Rubicon, it is clear that having a local focus leads to successful mobilization practices. Both organizations are able to move quickly and innovate because of their understanding that all disasters are different. The two organizations focus on training their volunteers and having various deployment requirements. According to this research, technology …

Design, Manufacture, And Characterization Of A Novel Miniature Coaxial Ion Trap Mass Analyzer, Kyle Davis Lyman

Masters Theses

In the ever-evolving field of mass spectrometry, a void exists in the availability of field-portable devices that can provide in situ analysis with suitable performance characteristics. In this work, a miniaturized coaxial ion trap mass analyzer is developed, simulated, and characterized. This work, funded by the National Science Foundation, is carried out in conjunction with Brigham Young University. The device in discussion is novel in that it utilizes a rectilinear ion guide (RIG), a simplified toroidal ion trap (STorIT), and a cylindrical ion trap (CIT) in the device’s center. The inclusion of the STorIT provides a high trapping capacity, and …