Digital Commons Network^™

Benefits Associated With Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics Learning, Ryan Edward Holt

Open Access Dissertations

Innovation and discovery are important for driving the advancement of human society. As a result, there has been a large growth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) employment opportunities. Science and technology have become a strong prerequisite for successful integration into higher academics and the labor force of the United States. The increase in demand for STEM positions necessitates motivating future workers from schools in kindergarten through 12th grade. A metaphor of a pipeline has been used to describe the retention of students through the completion of an academic program in STEM fields. Several science organizations have created the …

Neonatal Readmission In Term Infants: Maternal, Infant, Provider And Institutional Factors, Angelita M. Hensman

Open Access Dissertations

Hospital readmissions are a patient safety and quality concern. Readmission rates in term-born infants in the past decade have been < 1.3% in the United States and < 8% globally. Most readmissions have been for jaundice/hyperbilirubinemia. Changes in exclusive breastfeeding rates, healthcare/institutional policies and demographics may have influenced the rate of neonatal readmission. Most literature on term-born neonatal readmission (within 28 days of birth) is conflicting and outdated. This study aimed to quantify the risk of maternal, infant, provider and institutional factors associated with neonatal readmission to the birth hospital in healthy term infants. Secondary aims estimated the incidence of neonatal readmission and characterized birth length of stay (in hours), readmission diagnosis, birth weight loss > 7% and breastfeeding quality ([LATCH score] ≤ 6). A nested case-control study (N=390) was conducted at a Level III hospital in the Northeastern United States. There were 11, 958 infants delivered between January 1, 2016 through May 8, 2017. A cohort of in-state domicile, healthy term (370/7 - 416/7 weeks gestation) infants (n = 5,940) admitted directly to the well-baby nursery were identified. Cases (n =130) were infants from the cohort readmitted within 28 days of …

The Impact Of The 2014-2016 Ebola Epidemic On Sierra Leonean Immigrants In The United States, Daphne J. Cole

Open Access Dissertations

The 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic represented the largest outbreak in the history of the disease and it took a tremendous toll on the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone who were impacted by a disease that had never been seen in their part of the world. While the epidemic significantly impacted those three nations, reported cases also spread to African countries such as Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal, as well as countries in the western world, such as Spain and the U.S. prior to the West African epidemic. Ebola was perceived in the U.S. as a distant threat dramatized …

Transtheoretical Model Development For Retail Health Clinic Utilization, Stephen V. Matsko

Open Access Dissertations

Primary Care is considered to be in a crisis in the U.S. related to increasing rates of chronic disease, increasing numbers of patients, less physicians, and less money. This dilemma has led to the rise of what could be a disruptive innovation in the form of retail health clinics, health clinics located within retail settings like pharmacies and large retail stores. The core aim of this study was to use a sequential approach to measurement development to develop TTM measures for the Stage of Change, Decisional Balance, and Self-Efficacy for patients’ readiness to utilize retail health clinics using split half …

Exploring The Treatment Experiences Of African American Substance Using Women And Perceptions Of Culturally Competent Care, Janan Patrice Wyatt

Open Access Dissertations

Research continues to suggest that substance use treatment retention and completion presents an ongoing problem, especially among marginalized groups. In particular, African American women have the lowest rates of treatment retention and completion across all substance using groups. While gender and ethnoracial identities continue to be examined in their relation to substance use treatment, these identities are often studied in isolation offering limited information about how intersecting identities impact substance use treatment for African American women. Researchers have commented on the immediate need for research aimed at describing, understanding, and improving treatment for this population. Research using the voices of …

Compassion: Can Service Learning Make A Difference, And If So, How?, Edward Goldberg

Open Access Dissertations

The future of education is often framed in terms of bringing education into the second half of the 21^st century. Technology and along with it, faster and better ways to bring content to our students are important topics for discussion; but how our students treat each other and other members of their community is equally, if not more, important.

This study takes a look at how we may be able to encourage and foster compassion among our students. I wanted to know how compassionate thoughts and feelings develop following a service-learning experience focused on compassionate behavior. In this qualitative …

Refining The Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Screening: Is There A Distinct Role For Anxiety?, Meada R. Daly-Cano

Open Access Dissertations

Anxiety and depressive symptoms were investigated using the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) in a convenience sample of 371 mothers who were referred to a maternal mentoring program for mothers with, or at risk for, postpartum depression. Social support is considered a protective factor for postpartum mothers at risk for depression but there is less research about the connection between postpartum anxiety and social support.

A factor analysis of the EPDS provided evidence of a two-factor correlated model with a three-item anxiety subscale and six-item depression subscale. Comparisons, using chi-square tests, were done of risk factors, associated with postpartum depression …

Does Being An Expert Make You More Negative? An Investigation Of Subjective Expertise And Electronic Word-Of-Mouth Communication, Jiangmeng Liu

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is aimed at filling a gap in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) literature by examining how communicator’s subjective expertise impacts generation of eWOM. Based on a review of literature in psychology, marketing, consumer research, and communication, four underlying mechanisms (sense of power, dogmatic cognition style, hubristic pride, and emotions) were proposed to explain the effect of subjective expertise. Two distinctive features of eWOM platforms were incorporated into the study as potential moderators: anonymity and audience size of the review platform. Based on prior literature, this study proposed 14 hypotheses in total and 2 research questions. Two empirical studies were conducted. …

Influencers Experienced In The College Search Process By International Chinese Undergraduate Students Who Use Educational Agents, Brocdyl Joseph Porta

Open Access Dissertations

This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews of five International Chinese Undergraduate (ICU) students attending a research university in South Florida to better understand how they experienced the college choice process. Unlike traditional U.S. native-born students, the literature indicates that some international students may have influencers linked to the financial costs associated with hiring educational agents in the college choice phases (Pimpa, 2003; Hossler & Gallagher, 1987), parental and familial aspirations for student, and institutional ranking information connected to marketing materials. Using thematic analysis, the following two major themes associated to four subthemes emerged as general findings from these analyses: 1) …

Intestinal Exposure To Pcb 153 Induces Inflammation Via The Atm/Nemo Pathway, Matthew C. Phillips

Open Access Dissertations

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants that adversely affect human health. Although production of PCBs has stopped, they remain a pressing environmental problem due to their slow biodegradation and high lipophilicity. These properties enable PCBs to bio-accumulate in food chains leading to high levels of PCBs in the tissues of foodstuffs, especially fish. Despite dietary exposure being one of the main routes of exposure to PCBs, the gut has been widely ignored when studying the effects of PCBs. We set out to investigate the effects of PCB 153, the most environmentally prevalent PCB, on the gut, looking specifically for …

Proactive Hiv Testing Among Youth, Oluwamuyiwa Winifred Adebayo

Open Access Dissertations

HIV testing is used to identify people at risk for HIV infection, or those who are infected, and provide linkage to appropriate care that will decrease HIV risk or manage HIV infection. However, youth have low rates of HIV testing and participate in testing mainly due to recommendations from healthcare providers. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the factors that influence proactive HIV testing among youth and how these factors are related to the decision to test for HIV infection. The Information Motivation Behavior (IMB) model, and the Ottawa Decision Support Framework (ODSF) were used to guide the …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Acoustic Measures Of English Prosody And Holistic Measures Of English Proficiency In Extemporaneous Speech Of Native Chinese Speakers Of English As A Second Language, Carl Tyler Johnson

Open Access Dissertations

English prosody works as a structural and semantic glue that establishes relationships among words and phrases within a sentence, and among sentences within a larger discourse. This dissertation hypothesizes and demonstrates an association between acoustic measurements of English prosody and holistic measures of English proficiency. To test this hypothesis, acoustic data was used from 10 examinees each of low, medium, and high oral English proficiency groups of L1 Chinese speakers who took Purdue’s Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT). Prosodic measurements of duration, F0, and intensity were gathered from adjacent function and content words in the OEPT audio data and compared …

Turning A Multivalent Lens Toward Depictions Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In Film, Ashley Ann Albrecht

Open Access Dissertations

With innovations in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) advancing at an exponential rate, it is ever the more pertinent to interrogate the ramifications and potentialities of these developments. Luciano Floridi, known as “the Google philosopher,” considers this phenomenon an integral part of the digital information age or the “Fourth Revolution.” We are now forced to confront the following problems: What is the relationship between humans and AI? What does it mean to be “human”? What futures are possible given our current coevolution with AI? Such questions motivate close philosophical consideration. Here, the theoretical polarization of the doomsday neo-Luddite versus …

Elucidating The Biosynthetic Routes And Biological Mechanisms Involved In The Release Of Phenylpropanoid/Benzenoid Volatiles From Plant Cells, Funmilayo Adebesin

Open Access Dissertations

Sessile organisms, such as plants, have developed intricate means of responding and interacting with their environment in order to grow, reproduce, and survive environmental stresses such as attacks by other organisms and competition for resources with neighboring organisms. Plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play vital roles in resolving these evolutionary constraints associated with the sedentary nature of plants by attracting pollinators and seed dispersers necessary for reproduction. VOCs also mediate plant-plant interactions and provide defense against biotic stresses (pathogens, predators, and herbivores) and abiotic stresses (oxidative stress, high temperature stress, drought). Beyond the importance of VOCs to plants, humans have …

Game On: Massively Multiplayer Online Games (Mmog) As Tools To Augment Teaching And Learning, Papia Bawa

Open Access Dissertations

The study investigated the use of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) in English and Business classrooms in Higher Education from the context of learners’ performance outcomes, as well as stakeholders’ (learners, administrators, and faculty) perceptions pertaining to their experiences when using an MMOG based curriculum. The findings strongly suggest that MMOGs helped enhance learner performances in statistically significant ways, and provided valuable insights into elements of interest and concerns of stakeholders about MMOG usage in classrooms. Based on these insights, I designed a practitioners’ guide to assist future scholars interested in this curricular approach. This guide provides innovative tips on …

Improving The Policy Specification For Practical Access Control Systems, Haining Chen

Open Access Dissertations

Access control systems play a crucial role in protecting the security of information systems by ensuring that only authorized users are granted access to sensitive resources, and the protection is only as good as the access control policies. For enabling a security administrator to express her desired policy conveniently, it is paramount that a policy specification is expressive, comprehensible, and free of inconsistencies. In this dissertation, we study the policy specifications for three practical access control systems (i.e., obligation systems, firewalls, and Security-Enhanced Linux in Android) and improve their expressiveness, comprehensibility, and consistency. First, we improve the expressiveness of obligation …

Cultivating Asian Students' Willingness To Communicate In American Classrooms Using An Online Video-Based Pre-Arrival Course, Hui-Ching Kayla Hsu

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was: 1) to document the design and implementation process of an online video-based pre-arrival course that was intended to cultivate Asian students’ willingness to communicate in American Classrooms; 2) to assess the effectiveness of the course by measuring students’ oral proficiency and willingness to communicate; and 3) to investigate their first-year classroom participation as well as their experiences with the pre-arrival course. This research inquiry was guided by two research questions: 1) How does completing an online pre-arrival course influence Asian students’ speaking abilities, willingness to communicate, and verbal participation in their first-year …

A Web-Based Intervention With Culturally Tailored Messages To Improve Mental Health Among Asian International Students With Mild-To-Moderate Depression: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial, Lan Jin

Open Access Dissertations

The study aims to: 1) design, develop, and test culturally tailored messages to address the mental health needs of Asian international students (AIS); and 2) assess the potential and acceptability of a web-based intervention (myCompass program) with culturally tailored messages to reduce depressive symptoms and improve related mental health outcomes among AIS with mild-to-moderate depression. The culturally tailored messages were designed, developed and tested through three focus groups (N=15), thirteen individual interviews (N=13), and an online survey (N=85) with AIS. Data was analyzed using the constant comparative method. The final cultural message themes used in the intervention arm included: 1) …

Household Decision Making Under Stress: Three Essays On Agricultural Production In Southern Africa, Anna Leigh Josephson

Open Access Dissertations

Rural households in Southern Africa face numerous economic challenges, arising from a range of idiosyncratic and covariate risks. This research seeks to understand strategies employed by households to cope with different types of shocks, in the context of Zimbabwe and Malawi. I focus on several techniques used to cope with risk and shocks in an uncertain environment, including intra-household resource, land, and crop, as well as labor allocations. To provide insight on household decision making, I expand and adapt theoretical models. This helps me to better understand household decision making in the complex and risky environments in which they reside …

Exploring Transformative Learning Pedagogies To Teach Human-Centered Design: A Collaborative Action Research Approach, Cole Hatfield Joslyn

Open Access Dissertations

In this research, I present the problem that a culture of disengagement endemic in engineering and engineering education (see Cech, 2014) is exacerbated by deeply rooted habits of mind and their underlying assumptions that are at odds with social justice ideals and resistant to change, thus, perpetuating the status quo (see Riley, 2008). Furthermore, current engineering education curricula focusing primarily on mathematics, science, and engineering sciences (see Sheppard, Macatangay, Colby, & Sullivan, 2009) further entrench this culture along with these habits of mind and assumptions. In an attempt to address the culture of disengagement, I propose a framework for humanizing …

Engineering Play: Exploring Associations With Executive Function, Mathematical Ability, And Spatial Ability In Preschool, Zachary Samuel Gold

Open Access Dissertations

Engineering play is a new perspective on preschool education that views constructive play as an engineering design process that parallels the way engineers think and work when they develop engineered solutions to human problems (Bairaktarova, Evangelou, Bagiati, & Brophy, 2011). Early research from this perspective supports its use in framing play as a key learning context. However, no research to date has examined associations between engineering play and other factors linked with early school success, such as executive function, mathematical ability, and spatial ability. Additionally, more research is needed to further validate a new engineering play observational measure. This study …

Reciprocal Relationships Between Parental Psychological Aggression And Adolescent Behavioral Problems, Yoonyoung Kwak

Open Access Dissertations

An extensive body of research has shown that parents’ harsh parenting and children’s behavioral problems are bidirectionally associated. These findings are in line with the transactional process theoretical model. Parental psychological aggression (PPA) is a nonphysical type of harsh parenting that is more prevalent among adolescents than corporal punishment and has rarely been tested for bidirectional relationships with diverse behavioral problems. This dissertation includes an investigation of the bidirectional relationship between PPA and four adolescent behavioral problems (delinquency, alcohol use, smoking, and running away) separately using samples from two different cultural contexts. The first sample is 591 adolescents who had …

Probabilistic-Based Modeling Of Human Perceptual-Motor Behaviors With Application To Wheelchair Targeting Locomotion, Chih-Wei Li

Open Access Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to develop an empirically-based probabilistic model of the perception-action behaviors of human wheelchair locomotion and navigation over short distance ranges relevant for small space scenarios. More specifically, a probabilistic description and model is sought for the visual perception of distance and orientation with respect to objects, and for wheelchair locomotion based upon straight line and turning behaviors. Further, the specific behavior of manual wheelchair users boarding a small platform area, relevant for lifts and small elevators, is studied experimentally and in a probabilistic-based simulation. The approach taken consists of two parts. First, human subject …

Developing And Testing A K-12 Engineering Epistemic Frame To Uncover Engineering In The Interactions Of A High School Summer Session, Tamecia Raishuan Jones

Open Access Dissertations

Educational reform has expanded K-12 standards to include engineering. Not only will K-12 teachers have to be trained to teach engineering concepts, but assessments must evolve to reflect the various aspects of engineering. Engineering as a profession is expressed via multiple dimensions of an epistemic frame, such as skills, knowledge, identity, values, and epistemology, but many of these elements are not measured in K-12 formal and informal spaces. In a summer session of a college preparatory program, a research project revealed that although students had design journals, storyboards, and traditional assessments, the in situ video recordings captured decisions, evolution of …

An Investigation Of The Neural Circuitry Of Cued Alcohol Behaviors In P And Wistar Rats., Aqilah Maryam Mccane

Open Access Dissertations

Alcohol-paired cues invigorate alcohol-seeking and drinking behaviors in both rodents and individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Additionally, genetic susceptibility plays a key role in alcohol addiction behaviors. Alcohol preferring (P) rats model both genetic vulnerability and symptoms of AUD. The basolateral amygdala (BLA), prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus (HC) and nucleus accumbens (NA) are important brain regions involved in cued alcohol seeking. These regions are interconnected and their functional connections are hypothesized to be critical in the expression of motivated behaviors. Electrophysiological recordings in these four regions were collected in P rats engaged in a cued alcohol task. Data were …

Exploring The Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment And Adolescent Substance Use: Mediating Effects Of Family And Peer Relationships, Alexandra C. Marin

Open Access Dissertations

Child maltreatment is a key risk factor for maladaptive behaviors throughout the life course, including substance use. Although the effects of maltreatment on several domains of functioning have been thoroughly documented in past literature, the social mechanisms through which maltreatment affects individual trajectories have received considerably less attention, especially in relation to the contribution of different maltreatment dimensions (such as subtype, timing, and severity). Examining these dimensions and social mechanisms could hold the key to answering the question of why some maltreated children experience long-spanning negative developmental outcomes, while others maintain resiliency and are seemingly unaffected by these experiences. In …

Effect Of Feed Additive Enzymes On Growth Performance And Immunological Response In Growing Pigs And Poultry, Emily R. Otto-Tice

Open Access Dissertations

As demand for oilseeds and grains increase for uses beyond livestock feeds, swine and poultry producers are continually challenged to source alternative feed ingredients or co-products that are traditionally fed to ruminant animals. Many of these alternative feed ingredients have characteristics, such as higher fiber content or inherent antinutritional factors, that may reduce the feeding value for swine and poultry. To help improve the nutrient availability as well as understanding the positive affect that feeding fiber can have on gut health, biotech companies have developed novel enzymes to help breakdown these complex carbohydrate structures to release additional energy or reduce …

Active Learning For Designing Detectors For Infrequently Occurring Objects In Wide-Area Satellite Imagery, Tanmay Prakash

Open Access Dissertations

For designing detectors for infrequently occurring objects in wide-area satellite imagery, we are faced with the challenge that such objects are difficult to find for the purpose of generating the needed training data. As a result, a human agent must expend an inordinate length of time in order to produce a sufficient number of labeled training data. In this dissertation, we reduce this annotation burden by drawing upon the research that has been carried out recently in the area of active learning, whereby the machine searches for human annotation those unlabeled samples that can actually improve the detector. The search …

A Closer Look: How Middle School Principals' Perceptions About Teacher Mindset Impact Instructional Coaching, Jayson P. Snyder

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how a middle school principal’s perception about a teacher’s mindset affects how he provides that teacher with coaching and feedback as an instructional leader. The research took an in-depth look at two middle school principals with experience as teacher evaluators and instructional leaders. The theoretical framework for this qualitative study was phenomenology. All data came from interviews conducted with middle school principals. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and confirmed prior to individual and team coding and data analysis. The study was designed to shed light on how a middle school principal’s …

Prone To Drone: Unmanned Aircraft Systems' Effects On Public Support For The Use Of Military Force, William Shelby

Open Access Dissertations

Unmanned aircraft systems (drones) have seen widespread use by the United States in the “War on Terror.” Drones keep soldiers out of harm’s way and they reduce the financial cost of military operations, all while maintaining high levels of precision like regular soldiers. Because they provide the benefits of using force without the risks, drones could make the public more willing to support the use of force. If true, the public may be more prone to support using force rather than seek out other alternatives to solve a foreign policy crisis because they perceive less risk involved in using force. …