Digital Commons Network^™

Folk Music In New England: A Living Tradition, Monica Diane Littlefield

Masters Theses

This master’s thesis investigates traditional folk music in New England in an effort to recognize its current practices and understand how this music creates and reflects identity for participants. Often described as a living tradition, folk music culture is deeply embedded in a historical context but is constantly shaped by musicians that play it today. During fieldwork in Vermont and Maine I examine this relationship between the music and musicians, recognizing that folk music provides a holistic experience that is deeply meaningful to participants. With an emphasis on fiddle and via an outsider lens, I discover what a beginner can …

In Search Of A More Republican Naval Defense: Thomas Jefferson, Congress, And The Gunboat Debate, 1802-1810, Ethan David Zook

Masters Theses

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, sought to reduce the national debt, eliminate taxes, and reduce spending regarding the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy. To this end, Jefferson enlisted the assistance of congressional Republicans to authorize and fund the construction of lightly armed, coastal-defense gunboats. By examining Jefferson’s writings and congressional speeches, “In Search of a More Republican Naval Defense: Thomas Jefferson, Congress, and the Gunboat Debate, 1802-1810” explains both Jefferson’s interest in the small warships, and why from 1801 to 1809 Congress appropriated $1,205,500 to build approximately 180 gunboats. This thesis argues that Jefferson …

"Seeing" Music Theory: Graduate Music Theory For The Visually Impaired Music Student, Moriah Leigh Wilson

Masters Theses

Visually impaired individuals often encounter obstacles when seeking to become financially independent and obtain marketable skills. An increase in technology has allowed visually impaired persons, who desire to further their musical skills, the capability to seek further education. However, there is a lack of curriculum, especially in higher education, for teaching music theory skills to visually impaired individuals. Because a foundational knowledge of music is developed through music theory, it is essential that music educators at higher education institutions are prepared and equipped to properly and adequately teach and prepare visually impaired individuals for the music industry. By building on …

Exploring The Essence Of Participation Of The Female Puerto Rican Basketball Athlete, Roberto Medina

Masters Theses

In Puerto Rico, little is known regarding how female collegiate and professional basketball players perceive and experience their playing participation. The population of girls playing basketball has experienced recent increases. However, the culture in Puerto Rico has yet to embrace the participation of female basketball athletes. Attempting to address the void in scholarly literature, this study explored female athlete participation perceptions in competitive basketball within the Puerto Rican sport culture. The investigation implemented a qualitative approach using a phenomenological methodology to form descriptive themes. Data was obtained from 14 female basketball athletes, of which 10 were student-athletes, and four were …

Reeformation, Adelina Koleva '10, Aysu Aysoy

Masters Theses

As the sea level rises, millions of vulnerable homes will be put at risk. Simultaneously, vital coastal habitats are disappearing due to pollution and rising ocean temperatures. The domain for this thesis will focus on a coastal region in Makassar, Indonesia, where the research ambition is to generate ecologically resilient, multifunctional offshore structures for urban living. The design of these structures aims to perform at multiple scales. Firstly, it seeks to support an underwater ecosystem through a porous topology capable of occupation by marine life from the cellular level. This will provide opportunities for the structure to act as a …

Diatom Community Responses To Development And Climate Change In Lake George, An Oligotrophic Lake In The Adirondack Mountains, Adam T. Ruka

Masters Theses

Lake George is a highly monitored, oligotrophic lake that experiences widespread tourism in the summer months. The southern basin is more developed than the northern basin, suggesting a north-south gradient of anthropogenic impairment. This study aimed to assess differences in nearshore diatom communities regarding gradients of water chemistry and watershed development throughout the lake. Using Redundancy analyses, water chemistry was found to explain more variation within diatom assemblages than watershed variables. Weighted averaging optima and tolerances specified taxa of concern, F. gracilis and A. formosa, that indicate increased phosphorus (μg/L) and conductivity (μS/cm), respectively. Two hypotheses related to the effect …

Variation In The Maternal Provisioning Of Alkaloids In The Strawberry Poison Frog Oophaga Pumilio: The Relationship Between Mothers And Their Tadpole Offspring, Olivia L. Brooks

Masters Theses

Within and among populations, alkaloid defenses of strawberry poison frogs (Oophaga pumilio) vary spatially, temporally, and with life history stage. Natural variation in defense has been implicated as a critical factor in determining the level of protection afforded to an individual from predators and pathogens. Oophaga pumilio tadpoles sequester defenses from nutritive eggs and are thus entirely dependent on their mothers for their alkaloids. However, it remains unclear how the alkaloid composition of a tadpole relates to that of its mother and if maternally provisioned defenses are effective against predators. Here, I demonstrate that natural variation in the alkaloid composition …

Audience Engagement Strategies In The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Rachel Halle

Masters Theses

Audience engagement research examines the strategies content creators use to enhance audience involvement beyond simply watching the content. This analysis applies audience engagement strategies generated from television, branding, and social media research to video blogs (vlogs), specifically in the context of the narrative of The Lizzie Bennett Diaries. As part of that analysis, this effort also identifies ways in which those strategies integrated into the vlog format. The strategies included addressing the audience directly, mentioning the vlog within the narrative, mentions of YouTube or the internet, asking the audience for input, and mentioning audience input with the vlog. All strategies …

Romantic Rejection In Gay Potential Relationships: A Gay Blog Analysis, Rebecca Ferlotti

Masters Theses

Little research has been done on gay potential relationships (when two daters had gone on five or fewer dates or would-be dates), and there was no existing research available on romantic rejection in gay potential relationships. Most existing literature on romantic rejection focused on heterosexual relationships and long-term homosexual relationships. This thesis analyzed 48 blog entries from four publicly-accessible gay dating blogs ( The Guyliner ; It Gets Worse ; Gay Dating Stories ; and 100 Guys, 100 Storie s) that described romantic rejections. This thesis concluded romantic rejections for the four gay bloggers overall were most frequently implicit, due …

Geographic Variation In Agonistic And Territorial Behavior By Genetically Distinct Groups Of The Eastern Red-Backed Salamander (Plethodon Cinereus), Jessica Ryan

Masters Theses

Geographic variation in agonistic and territorial behavior is largely unknown in terrestrial plethodontid salamanders, even though territoriality is widespread throughout this group. Using the color polymorphic Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus), I compared the aggressive and submissive behaviors of two genetically distinct groups in northern Ohio using male and female salamanders from six populations. As in other populations of P. cinereus studied, I expected to find agonistic and territorial behavior present in the populations in this study. Additionally, I predicted that the genetic group that is monomorphic for the striped morph would exhibit a higher degree of agonistic and territorial …

Evaluation Of Engineering Properties Of Soil In Al Butayn, Mudarraj Al Qassim And Turubah - Hail Saudi Arabia, Turki Essam A. Sehly

Masters Theses

"Fractures, sinkhole, building cracks, and ground subsidence have spread in many regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, some of which are related to seismic activity, others due to the presence of unstable soils (collapsing soils and Expansive soils) and others because of faults, while others result from drawing groundwater at great rates. The current study has several facts related to the formation of cracks and landslides, including:
1) A general study of geomorphology and geology of the study areas.
2) The causes affecting the formation of cracks and subsidence.
3) Detailed geomorphological and geological studies of the locations of …

Values Of Artificial Intelligence In Marketing, Yingrui Xi

Masters Theses

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is causing radical changes in marketing and emerging as a competent assistant supporting all areas of the marketing field. The influences and impacts AI has created in various marketing segments have aroused much interest among marketing professionals and academic scholars. Comprehensive and systematic studies on the values of AI in marketing, however, are still lacking and the existing literature fragmented. This research provides a comprehensive review of the existing literature in the relevant fields as well as a series of systematic interviews using the Value-Focused Thinking approach to understand the values of AI in marketing. This research …

Development Of Amine-Functionalized Mesoporous Alumina For Radioiodine Removal From Water, Mansour Mohammed Alsalbokh

Masters Theses

“Radioactive materials have spread due to careless disposal and nuclear disasters. Some radionuclides can exist in an aqueous media, like radioactive iodine. As a result, in this work amine-functionalized mesoporous alumina was developed to adsorb radioactive iodine from the liquid phase. Bismuth was incorporated, using a wet impregnation method, to test it as a possible silver replacement. Amine grafting was used to functionalize the surface of the mesoporous alumina. All materials prepared in this work were characterized by N₂ physisorption, FTIR and TGA to determine the textural properties, surface functionality, and amine loading. The synthesized materials were tested for …

Social Studies Instruction And Integration, Morgan Wood

Masters Theses

Social studies education has been on the decline for many years. With a big part of the blame on standardized testing, it’s important to find ways to utilize the growing reading instructional time to make connections to history. This research utilized a variety of primary sources in social studies lessons. This allowed for the teacher to be able to meet many different standards across content areas in one lesson. Student motivation and engagement was heightened through cross-curricular lessons. The research conducted was completed in a small, rural school; one limitation being there were only 15 students included in the research. …

Dam Effects On Freshwater Mussel Growth And Recruitment In A Midwestern Stream, Taylor Lyndon Fagin

Masters Theses

There have been many studies that examine the negative impact of dams on freshwater mussel populations. However, recent studies suggest that some dams may create more suitable growing conditions immediately below some dams. This study’s main objectives were to 1) document where faster growth of mussels is found in relation to the Charleston Dam, 2) determine if sites with faster growth have higher recruitment and 3) investigate which water quality variable(s) could be correlated with faster growth. Live Corbicula sp. were set in cages in multiple sites at varying distances from the dam and shells of two native mussel species …

Female Student Veteran's Transition To College, Doug Michaels

Masters Theses

This study was focused on learning more about the experiences female student veterans have while transitioning from the military to college as well as what types of resources they utilized during this time. Research on this population is very limited, but the number of relevant studies completed is increasing. A narrative qualitative approach was utilized for this study in order to give this population the platform to tell their stories and for their voices to be heard. There were four participants who have all served at least one year in the military and have completed at least one year of …

Persistence Of African American Students At Predominately White Institutions, Candace Thompson

Masters Theses

Using qualitative methodology, the persistence of African American students at predominately White institutions was analyzed. This was conducted through semi-structured interviews by six participants which evaluated African American students’ overall persistence. Participants expressed what determined their selections of institutions as well as what institutional and personal factors negatively and positively affected their matriculation throughout the institution. In addition, the study provided recommendations to student affairs professionals to better serve this population.

A Qualitative Study Of Why Women Join Panhellenic Organizations, Alex T. Martens

Masters Theses

Each year more and more women across the country are enrolling in higher education institutions. However, this increase in attendance is not reflected in sorority recruitment. Studies are either non-existent on why women are joining sororities, or the studies that are conducted focus on harm reduction, including alcohol and hazing. Studies also seem to focus more on men, and fraternities. This study was designed to focus on the experience that women are experiencing during recruitment and the reasoning for joining their respective chapters. Using a qualitative approach, the researcher interviewed six women who varied in race, year in school, and …

Stability Of The Learning Behaviors Scale, Nikki Davidson

Masters Theses

Learning behaviors are observable actions, habits, and manifestations of attitudes that facilitate learning, such as persevering at difficult tasks, showing interest in academic subjects, demonstrating care and concern about classwork, and graciously accepting feedback (Buchanan, McDermott, & Schaefer, 1998). Assessment of these learning behaviors is an essential first step to effective intervention. It is important to know which learning behaviors to target and the degree of deficit in order to remediate learning problems. The present study examined the medium length (two-month) stability of scores obtained from the Learning Behaviors Scale (McDermott, Green, Francis, & Stott, 1999). Fifty K-8 teacher rater …

An Investigation Of Parental Involvement And Student Academic Achievement In Middle School, Laura Smokoska

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the relationship between parental involvement and student academic achievement in middle school. Additionally, this study investigated whether there were patterns among parental involvement and student academic achievement among different ethnicities. The study was conducted in a diverse school in the Chicago suburbs to determine parental involvement levels and student academic achievement levels among different ethnicities. The study had 41 student and parent participants who took a survey about parental involvement at home and parental communication with the school. In addition to the surveys, students’ final English grades, final science grades, and …

How Leaders In Greek Life View Alcohol, Blake Miller

Masters Theses

The researcher in this study used qualitative methodology to explore perspectives of undergraduate student leaders in fraternity and sorority life at a mid-sized, Midwest institution on alcohol, especially within the Greek life system. Eight informants participated in semi-structured, open-ended interviews and were asked about their views on and experiences with alcohol, both as a new member and after having leadership experience. Informants were also asked about alcohol intervention and prevention measures. A majority of informants maintained or developed an indifferent or aversive view of alcohol, had decreased their personal levels of alcohol use, had made attempts to change the way …

Translingualism: Breaking The Language Policies And Politics In Composition Pedagogy And Protecting Cultural Identities Of International Students, Md Fahad Hossain

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the debates and conversations relating to a translingual pedagogical approach that helps preserve the cultural and ethnic identities of international students who take college composition courses in universities across the United States of America. Since domination of English in teaching, learning, and research in the United States of America is prevalent, this thesis explores much talked pedagogical approach – a translingual approach – in college composition that intends to protect the cultural and ethnic identities of international students studying in universities across the country. The translingual orientation in composition pedagogy is constantly adding new conversations to teaching …

Analyzing Students' Historical Thinking Skills At Different Grade Levels, Aaron Callaway

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research study is to compare and contrast the historical thinking abilities of students in distinct age-groups through their use of disciplinary literacy skills. This was accomplished by having eight total subjects from four distinct student age-groups participate in a guided inquiry activity about the beginning of the Korean War. As they engaged in the inquiry activity, the participants’ cognitive process and responses to the researcher’s questions were recorded and transcribed and later analyzed. These transcriptions were juxtaposed with one another in search of any major patterns that emerged during the inquiries. Several patterns were identified including …

Comparison Of The Effects Of Growing-Season Burns And Dormant-Season Burns On Vegetation Structure And Grassland Bird Diversity In East-Central Illinois Prairies, Joseph Lee Boise

Masters Theses

For managed grasslands, prescribed burns are a method to manage species composition by preventing crowding by bunch grasses and woody encroachment. While dormant-season (spring) burns are routinely performed, managers have recently introduced growing-season (late summer/fall) burns to prairies in east-central Illinois. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of dormant-season and growingseason burns on vegetation structure and associated avian diversity. Specifically, objectives were to determine if: (1) Growing-season burns increase bird diversity or density of rare/declining species relative to dormant season burns; (2) Growing-season burns cause more bare ground to open and reduce litter and woody species …

Transcriptome Analysis Of Neuro-2a Cells Treated With Asiatic And Madecassic Acid, Fatimah M. Alqam

Masters Theses

Traditional herbal medicine is ingrained as a source of therapeutic compounds to medicate various diseases. The family Araliaceae (Ginseng family) is rich in traditional medicine species, such as Centella asiatica (CA). For many centuries, CA has been used by the indigenous Indian and Chinese in Ayurvedic and traditional medicine, respectively, to improve intelligence, learning, memory, and cognitive performance. Previous studies on cell culture and animal models supported the beneficial effects of CA on the nervous system. However, the exact composition of CA extract and its molecular mechanism that leads to neuroprotection is still unclear. We examined the effect of asiatic …

Values-Based Recruitment: Recruitment Strategy Effectiveness On Gaining Generation Z Matriculation, Alexandra Thompson

Masters Theses

This study investigated the values of Generation Z students that matriculated at a rural mid-sized mid-west institution. Further, this study examined what recruitment strategies were effective in gaining this populations matriculation and the intersection of values and recruitment strategy effectiveness. A quantitative method was utilized with a mixed model approach. Participants included students that were born between 1995 and 2010 that were enrolled during the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters as first-time first-year students. Findings indicated that this population values Honesty, Hard-Work, Personal Growth, Financial Fulfillment, and Education. The most effective recruitment strategies to gain matriculation were indicated to …

Music Identity And Listening Preferences Of Students In High School Performing Ensembles, Caitlin Harris

Masters Theses

The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to examine and identify the listening preferences and musical identity of high school members of performing ensembles. Participants were involved in five stages of data collection; the initial questionnaire, the first listening journal, a feedback questionnaire, the second listening journal, and individual interviews. Data was collected during the 2017-2018 school year, and participants completed all phases during their personal time. Three research questions framed this study:

1) How do the listening preferences of students help shape their musical identities?

2) Do students’ listening preferences outside of school conflict with their in …

The Cast Of A Giant's Shadow, Angela Kay Steineman

Masters Theses

Adapting fairy tales and folklore has been an ongoing endeavor by storytellers and artists since the very first story was repeated. The evidence can be seen in the many versions of fairy tales like those of the sleeping beauty, from Giambattista Basile’s “Sun, Moon, and Talia” to Walt Disney’s Maleficent. However, unlike their European counterparts, adaptations of American tales outside of children’s literature are not as ubiquitous. My writing rectifies this by adding to the resurging interest as seen in recent retellings like Matt Bell’s Appleseed: The Monstrous Birth (2019).

In an effort to reframe the American tall tale …

The Impact Of Shared Reading On 1st Graders’ Writing Using Author’S Craft, Kelsey Bolin

Masters Theses

This study was conducted in a first grade classroom with twenty participants. This study took place over five and a half weeks, where students were introduced to three mentor texts in a shared reading setting. The students asked and answered questions about the texts and participated in extension writing activities. Students were given opportunities to engage with the mentor texts and writing in whole group settings as well as individual settings. Students were expected to write a final assignment using the form of author craft portrayed in the final mentor text, which students were able to complete successfully.

Students practiced …

Effects Of Chemical Variation On Competition And Insect Communities Across Solidago Altissima Genotypes, Bryan Scott Foster Ii

Masters Theses

Individuals within a plant species can differ greatly from one another, especially regarding the range of chemical compounds produced. However, the functions of many of these chemicals are unknown, but likely include defenses against herbivores, attractants for pollinators and seed dispersers, as well as mechanisms for resource competition. To assess the effects of foliar chemical composition on interspecific plant competition and insect communities, I conducted a common garden and greenhouse experiment using 24 genotypes of the allelopathic species Solidago altissima for which the foliar chemistry had been characterized. Using these data and chemical profiles of S. altissima, I linked …