Digital Commons Network^™

Climate Change (Mal)Adaptation As Governmentality: The Case Of The Ada Sea Defense System In The Volta River Delta Of Ghana, Kwame Ntiri Owusu-Daaku

Theses and Dissertations

River deltas are complex natural environments that represent a confluence of many physical, biological and human processes vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The likely biophysical impacts of climate change on deltas have received substantial attention. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the ways in which the different stakeholders of deltaic environments frame the vulnerability of residents of deltas to climate change. The Volta River Delta (VRD) of Ghana is a compelling site in which to conduct such an examination because of the clear climaterelated changes taking place in the Delta, and the fact that like many …

Simulation-Based Interprofessional Education In A Rural Setting, Ann D. Scott

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a simulation-based IPE experience for pre-licensure nursing, pharmacy, and medical students on a rurally-located campus. Using a mixed-methods, explanatory sequential approach, this project: 1) examined the feasibility of implementing a simulation-based IPE experience using telehealth tools; and 2) evaluated student perceptions of inter-professional teamwork, roles and responsibilities, and patient outcomes for collaborative practice, both pre- and post-scenario.

Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS. Results revealed 94% agreed/strongly agreed the IPE experience resembled a real-life situation. 100% of nursing/medical students and 80% of the pharmacy students indicated they …

Institutional Brokerage And The Governance Of Global Value Chains: The Case Of The Us Apparel Industry., Alessandro Perri

Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative study of the apparel industry, I analyze the governance of buyersupplier interfaces in outsourced global value chains through an institutional theory lens. I set forth that transactional and relational cross-national barriers, linked to institutional distance between home and host country in outsourced production networks, and supplier capabilities are key determinants of variations in the governance mode chosen by lead buyers for their outsourced value chain. I further posit that lead buyers respond to the additional costs imposed by home–host country institutional distance and by structural supplier capability constraints, by means of governance modes that provide institutional brokerage, …

Meeting The Needs Of Middle Grades Social Studies Students With Language Based Learning Disabilities: An Analysis Of Students’ And Teachers’ Perspectives, Monica J. Hacker Hadwin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the consistency with which middle level social studies and special education teachers and administrators assist, educate, and guide middle level social studies students with language-based learning disabilities. The study was an inquiry into the students’, teachers’, and administrator’s literacy beliefs and practices and it examined the coherence and congruence among these beliefs and practices.

Conducted as an action research study, it examined the extent of the alignment using data collected from five teachers, six students and one administrator by means of interviews, focus groups, photographs, journal entries, and inventories. The data from …

Branded For Success: A Longitudinal Examination Of Brand Associations As Drivers Of Team Identification For A New Sport Brand, Henry Wear

Theses and Dissertations

The competition for the sport consumer has intensified over the last decade, and many teams are now seeking to establish a foothold in the marketplace (Baker, McDonald, & Funk, 2016). To form a competitive advantage in the sport industry, many sport organizations are beginning to think of their organizations as brands to be managed (Ross, 2006). From a sport marketer’s perspective, it is difficult to rely on brand characteristics based on success or team composition to promote a sport brand and develop fans due to the unpredictable nature of the sport product. Conversely, brand characteristics regarding the logo, color scheme, …

Functional Data Smoothing Methods And Their Applications, Songqiao Huang

Theses and Dissertations

In many subjects such as psychology, geography, physiology or behavioral science, researchers collect and analyze non-traditional data, i.e., data that do not consist of a set of scalar or vector observations, but rather a set of sequential observations measured over a fine grid on a continuous domain, such as time, space, etc. Because the underlying functional structure of the individual datum is of interest, Ramsay and Dalzell (1991) named the collection of topics involving analyzing these functional observations functional data analysis (FDA). Topics in functional data analysis include data smoothing, data registration, regression analysis with functional responses, cluster analysis on …

Piglia And Russia: Russian Influences In Ricardo Piglia’S Nombre Falso, Carol E. Fruit Diouf

Theses and Dissertations

In his work Nombre falso (False Name, 1975), leading Argentinian writer Ricardo Piglia (1941-2017) presents a double tale composed of the story of a search, and of the supposed results of the search: the short story Luba. According to the narrator, the short story is written by influential Argentinian author Roberto Arlt (1900-1942), but it is in fact a distorted copy of Russian writer Leonid Andreev’s (1871-1919) The Dark (T’ma, 1907). Piglia mixes real life with falsification to create his work, changing elements of the life of Arlt and modifying Andreev’s story. In this work, I revisit Piglia’s text, paying …

Internet Speed And The Effect On Health Information Technology Adoption, Matthew W. Yuen

Theses and Dissertations

Background. The Internet has become pervasive in everyday life; the Pew Research Center reported over 84% of Americans use the Internet either on their phone or a computer. However, due to the methods by which the Internet was created, an Internet digital divide was created. The Internet digital divide is the disparity in access and speed of Internet of certain populations. This study looked into the disparity between urban and rural populations and their Internet access in two forms: e-prescriptions adoptions and Internet health information seeking behavior (HISB) through their mobile devices.

Methods. This study used 4 datasets, …

Odor And Power In The Americas: Olfactory Consciousness From Columbus To Emancipation, Andrew Kettler

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes discourses concerning odor within the Atlantic World from approximately 1492 until 1838. Numerous historians and philosophers have described how the Reformation’s emphasis on texts and an increased concentration on visual science during the Enlightenment influenced Western Europeans to heighten the importance of the eye to the detriment of the lower sense of smell. This dissertation begins by thinking about materialist contours of this olfactory decline through a linguistic analysis of sulfur within seventeenth century England. It then proceeds to examine how in the early Americas such a repudiation of the sense of smell did not occur. The …

Multilevel And Multisectoral Processes Of Implementing Nutritionsensitive Ideology And Programming In Ethiopia’S Development Landscape, Andrea Marie Warren

Theses and Dissertations

This research sought to understand the ways in which ideas and discourses in international development are adapted in a country context. Our particular focus was on how ideas at the international and national level become reality at the subnational and community levels. We primarily examined the sensitization of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program to nutrition across sectors and down levels of government as a way to understand how the global momentum around nutrition, particularly multisectoral or nutrition-sensitive initiatives, can be translated into action.

The first manuscript delves further into the operational realities of implementing multisectoral nutrition-sensitive programming among the neglected …

Longitudinal And Geographical Modeling Of Circular Data With An Application To Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Xinyan Cai

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to study seasonality of death in U.S. infants who died from SIDS. We also propose to investigate secular trends and geographical patterns of seasonal patterns of mortality. The application of circular statistics is used to describe the seasonality of the month of death in infants who died from SIDS in 1990, 2000 and 2010. The secular trends of seasonal patterns of SIDS mortality are investigated using a circular linear regression model after adjusting for potential confounders. The geographical variation in seasonal patterns of SIDS mortality is explored from the U.S. map and quantified by …

A Poetic And Musical Analysis Of Fiancailles Pour Rire By Francis Poulenc With Poems By Louise De Vilmorin, Mary Elizabeth Gasson

Theses and Dissertations

Francis Poulenc is known for setting text of lesser-known poets. He set six of Louise de Vilmorin’s poems from Fiancailles pour rire to music. The style in which Vilmorin writes is quite intriguing, while Poulenc’s method of setting the text brings the mysteries of her poems to life. Their collaboration produced a charming work. The author will provide an in-depth poetic and musical analysis of Poulenc’s set Fiancailles pour rire. This study of Fiancailles pour rire may be used as a performance guide.

Ethics, Eugenics, And Public Education In Georgia (1910-1965), Aaron Gerald Guest Sr.

Theses and Dissertations

This study traces the eugenics movement in Georgia, focusing on the ideology behind the social policies that led to the forced sterilizations of over four thousand Georgians from 1939 to 1965. This thesis will address the following questions: 1) How were Georgia’s public policies affected by eugenics? 2) To what extent were the racial views of Georgians affected by scientific proclamations? 3) What role did the public schools play in educating the populace about eugenics? This research will focus primarily on the scientific racial dynamic of America during the twentieth century, arguing that American political thought and the idea of …

A Phenomenological Study Of How Biblical Spiritual Disciplines Influence Women's Character And Leadership Practices In Christian Faith-Based Institutions In Higher Education In North America, Kristin Michelle Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

As Christian faith-based institutions of higher education strive to uphold Christian values, there is a need to be intentional in identifying and developing future leaders. This study was viewed through the lens that women are underrepresented in senior-level positions in Christian institutions, they have unique leadership attributes to offer, and learning more from their lived experiences might increase the number of women in senior-level roles in Christian institutions of higher education. is study utilized a qualitative phenomenological research design. The researcher interviewed 8 Christian women leaders who serve as Deans in institutions that are full members of the Council for …

Seeking Social Capital And Expertise In A Newly-Formed Research Community: A Co-Author Analysis, Christine E. Forte

Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study applies social network analysis techniques to existing, publicly available data to understand collaboration patterns within the co-author network of a federally-funded, interdisciplinary research program. The central questions asked: What underlying social capital structures can be determined about a group of researchers from bibliometric data and other publicly available existing data? What are ways social network tools characterize the interdisciplinarity or cross-disciplinarity of co-author teams? The names of 411 grantees were searched in the Web of Science indexing database; author information from the WoS search results resulted in a 191-member co-author network. Research domains were included as attribute …

Providing Hope: A Systematic Development Of A Resource Manual For Mental Health Professionals Treating Latino/A Adolescents With Suicidal Ideation, Rebecca Gutierrez

Theses and Dissertations

This resource guide was developed to further cultural competency for mental health clinicians working with suicidal Latino/a adolescents (ages 10-18) based on a comprehensive review of the literature. The development of the resource consisted of three main steps: 1. Reviewing the literature to determine risk and protective factors of suicide for Latino/a youth; 2. Reviewing literature to determine common themes of Evidence-Based Practices focused on addressing suicide for adolescents; and 3. Integrating the literature from both topics to inform the contents of the manual. The resource guide provides the results in a brief, user-friendly format for clinicians to use as …

Grit Attitudes Demonstrated By School Superintendents In California Urban School Settings, Andrea Elena Arias

Theses and Dissertations

This study’s purpose is to explore grit attributes California urban school superintendents demonstrated. The literature review revealed 5 grit attributes: courage, conscientiousness, endurance toward long-term goals, optimism and resilience, and excellence over perfection. There is scant scholarly research connecting urban school superintendents to the 5 grit attributes and understanding grit’s 5 attributes school district leaders reflected is valuable to the industry and the profession. This research implemented a qualitative methodology. Following an extensive review of the literature, a panel of experts developed and reviewed research questions to establish validity. The data collected were gathered from publicly available and accessible published …

Best Practices In Adult Online Learning, Autumn Luscinski

Theses and Dissertations

Students in the United States are obtaining more college degrees than ever before. In 1975, 21.9% of Americans held bachelor’s degrees, and in 2012, 33.5% of Americans held bachelor’s degrees (Rampell, 2013). A study in 2011 indicated that Americans possessing a bachelor’s degree earn approximately $2.27 million, those with master’s degrees earn $2.67 million and those with doctoral degrees earn $3.65 million over their adult lifetime, dwarfing those with some college, who earn $1.55 million, or no college, who earn $1.30 million (Burnsed, 2011). Unfortunately, the increase in college degree attainment in the United States does not include all Americans. …

The Central Intelligence Agency And Cuba: How The Trap Of Success Led To The Bay Of Pigs, Yandy Orozco

Theses and Dissertations

This research looks at how covert operations in Iran and Guatemala shaped the decision to launch the Bay of Pigs invasion, and why the United States government embarked on an operation that had little chance of success. Key areas of discussion are the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its role in the removal of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq (Iran) and President Jacobo Arbenz (Guatemala), the Dulles faction, the anti-Castro program, and President Kennedy’s relationship with the CIA. Upon examining these areas, the study shows that the covert action success in Iran and Guatemala fueled American hubris and obviated the recognition …

Trailer Park Residents: Are They Worthy Of Society's Respect, Steve Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Existing research is limited in explaining the existence of and reasons for stereotypes held against trailer park residents. This study uses an experimental design to measure attitudes towards trailer park residents, specifically in terms of being considered worthy of society’s respect. An Internet questionnaire was designed and administered to a sample of 559 introductory sociology students at a Midwestern university using semantic differentials to measure attitudes towards a fictitious couple. Participants were divided into a control and an experimental group. The groups were presented with two different vignettes, which were the same except for the experimental group where the vignette …

The Impacts Of Lake-Effect Snow On Traffic Volume In Ohio And Indiana, 2011-2015, Daniel Allen Burow

Theses and Dissertations

Snowfall presents a hazard to drivers by reducing visibility and increasing safe stopping distances. As a result, some drivers cancel trips if snowfall is occurring or forecasted, and traffic volumes often decrease on snowy days. Lake-effect snow is very localized and is thus hypothesized to have a lesser influence on traffic volume than synoptic-scale snow, which usually covers a broader areal extent. Traffic volume in northeast Ohio and northern Indiana is studied using a matched-pair analysis to determine if volumes differ between lake-effect and synoptic-scale snowfall in these regions. While little statistical evidence is found to support this hypothesis, other …

Evaluating Wetland Expansion In A Tallgrass Prairie-Wetland Restoration, Katie Mae Engelmann

Theses and Dissertations

Remote sensing is an effective tool to inventory and monitor wetlands at large spatial scales. This study examined the effect of wetland restoration practices at Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge (GRNWR) in northwest Minnesota on the distribution, location, size and temporal changes of wetlands. A Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) land cover classification method was applied that integrated spectral data, LiDAR elevation, and LiDAR derived ancillary data of slope, aspect, and TWI. Accuracy of remote wetland mapping was compared with onsite wetland delineation.

The GEOBIA method produced land cover classifications with high overall accuracy (88 – 91 percent). Wetland area …

Oil Extraction Infrastructure Development And Resulting Land-Cover Change In Mckenzie County, North Dakota, 2009 To 2014, Eric Torgerson

Theses and Dissertations

Improved techniques and methods in directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing have allowed once inaccessible resources to become profitably accessible in the Bakken Region of North Dakota (Fershee 2011). This recent development has been rapid, and associated land-cover change can be described as spatially extensive (Baker et al. 2012). After an extensive literature review and to the best of my knowledge, little research has been conducted in the Bakken Region regarding land-cover change associated with oil development. Using high-spatial-resolution, four-band imagery from the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) in conjunction with Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) techniques, it is possible to …

An Evaluation Of Elk Home Range Variation In North Dakota, Jacqueline Marie Amor

Theses and Dissertations

In North Dakota, dispersing elk (Cervus elaphus) were colonizing areas of suitable habitat in Turtle Mountain, Pembina Hills, and Porcupine Hills, ND, USA. Although these 3 elk herds were small (~100–250 individuals each), they had been responsible for crop depredation in these areas. The North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGF) had little information on these elk herds. In cooperation with Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and Manitoba Department of Sustainable Development, NDGF contracted with the University of North Dakota (UND) to collect and analyze critical baseline information to better manage these elk herds. The objectives of this study were to …

Mimic-Women: Twentieth-Century American Women On The Edges Of Exploration, Michele R. Willman

Theses and Dissertations

Women have been involved in exploration as adventurers, discoverers, mountaineers, and botanists for centuries. Yet, women have largely been unrecognized as explorers. This project shows that women in exploration have had to practice physical and rhetorical strategies to overcome historical and traditional gender biases in exploration and its related fields. Expanding on Homi Bhabha’s explanation of colonial mimicry, I argue that twentieth-century American women explorers practiced a form of gender-based mimicry to make their presence in exploration possible. At times, they mimicked their male explorer-counterparts such as when they inhabited the imperial gaze. At other times, they employed gendered rhetorical …

Teacher Beliefs On Inclusion Of Students With Disabilities In Kindergarten, First Grade, And Second Grade In One Southern California Urban School District, Denise Macallister

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive, and comparative study was achieved by investigating and comparing general and special education kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade teacher beliefs on inclusion, as well as their perceptions of accommodations, preparation, and barriers to inclusion. More specifically, three categories or variables of general education and special education teachers’ beliefs were explored: (a) core perspectives, (b) expected outcomes, and (c) classroom practices for student inclusion. The researcher utilized the My Thinking About Inclusion (MTAI) survey developed by Stoiber, Gettinger, and Goetz (1998). The following research questions guided this study: (a) What relationships, if any, exist …

Employee Training To Increase Efficiency In The Saudi Private Sector, Megren Abdullah Altassan

Theses and Dissertations

Saudis in the private sector tend to change employers, and this study sought information on whether training and education experience, and access to these, influenced their career choices. A study of a Saudi conglomerate was used as representative of larger firms who offered training to their employees; and the sample, 105 Saudi nationals, were self-selected for an online survey. Analysis of demographics, and the participants' employment and training experience and intentions are presented. Analysis included medians and percentages of demographic characteristics and employee experiences and intentions, then descriptive analyses for relationships between the main questions and the demographic characteristics. The …

Mobile Apps For Cognitive Restructuring: A Review And Comparative Analysis, Natasha A. Beck

Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive restructuring is a central component of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and thought records have for decades been a widely used method for helping clients to identify, evaluate, and modify dysfunctional thoughts. The widespread adoption of mobile technology along with changing habits and expectations of therapy clients have led to the development of numerous mobile apps aimed at replicating this core aspect of CBT. This review identifies, describes, and compares current CBT apps that include digitized versions of thought records. Searches of the Apple App Store, Android Google Play Store, published literature, and relevant websites yielded 19 apps that were …

Factors That Lead To Retention Of Acquired Engineers At Microsoft In Silicon Valley, Omar Morales

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined factors that lead to retention of engineers who joined Microsoft in Silicon Valley as part of an acquisition. The study findings surfaced two set of factors that are important in retaining acquired engineers. The factors are broken up by pre- and post-acquisition. Recommendations of this study include the importance of comprehensive communication plans, community and belonging, and personal and professional growth in retaining acquired engineers. Recommendations for further research include expanding the study beyond Microsoft Silicon Valley, and mapping to motivational theories. This study concludes that organizational development practitioners should understand the strategic intention of an acquisition …

Leadership Development In A Multigenerational Workplace: An Exploratory Study, Rene Heredia

Theses and Dissertations

The boundaries within our workplace continue to disappear and employees at all levels are impacted by the cultural and technological differences among generations. The gaps in values, beliefs, life experiences and attitudes are increasing. Leadership is essential in bridging these gaps to achieve top performance and operational excellence. There is no single strategy to provide support for developing leaders, each business must implement what works for them. Executive coaching, as an increasingly popular leader development strategy, seems to maximize employee engagement while fostering collaboration and teamwork. This exploratory research study explores how executive coaches are preparing leaders to succeed in …