Digital Commons Network^™

"You Know How It Works, It Is A Dance, An Art, Not A Science": A Science Study On Decision Making By Public Two-Year College Presidents, Chad M. Coauttee

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore the decision making processes of public two-year college presidents. This research examines the factors that influence a public two-year college president's decision to respond or not respond to external stakeholders who request new or improved programming/services from the college. The researcher incorporates the concept of naturalistic decision making to augment Stark and Lattuca's ( 1997) model that illustrates influences on the college educational environment to examine how presidents respond to requests made by external stakeholders.

The researcher found that when presidents make decisions about responding to external stakeholder requests they are not …

Sense Of Connection And Learning In Traditional And Online Courses At A Rural-Serving Community College, Jayne M. S. Kiner

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to establish an overall measurement for student sense of classroom community in terms of the theoretical dimensions of emotional connection, and needs fulfillment (learning). Further intent was to determine the nature of differences, if they exist, between delivery method (traditional or online), teaching style cluster (containing formal authority style or facilitator style), course type, student’s residence (on-campus, off-campus commuting, or off-campus not commuting), age, and student major on sense of classroom community in terms of emotional connection and learning.

Quantitative research methods were used with a causal-comparative design and survey instruments. Differences were determined …

Oral Health Status Of Children In The Child Health Investment Partnership (Chip) Program, Latrice Foster

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe children’s dental disease status and functional health literacy of families enrolled in the Child Health Investment Partnership program in Roanoke Valley. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of children (n=166) enrolled in the Child Health Investment Partnership of Roanoke Valley, Virginia (CHIP). The parents of the 166 children completed the Life Skills Progression (LSP) survey at enrollment between September 2004 and September 2008 to assess their functional health literacy levels. Their LSP scores were used to determine their subsequent health care literacy (HCL), personal health literacy (PHL), and dental-child utilization …

Freshmen First: An Evaluation Of A Ninth Grade Transition Program, Troy Wright

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effect of a freshmen transition program on student success. Success was measured by achievement in test scores and grades, retention, attendance, and discipline. This study also examined the differential effects of student outcomes by student characteristics to include, sex, race, previous middle school, economic status, disability status, and proficiency in English. There were no significant differences between participant and control groups in the bivariate analysis. There were limited findings when considering students characteristics. There were main effects on Earth Science and World Geography test scores when previous middle school was held as a constant, and there …

Historical Geocollaboration: The Implementation Of A Scoring System To Account For Uncertainty In Geographic Data Created In A Collaborative Environment, Anthony D. Contreras

Theses and Dissertations

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is an existing tool to create, manage, analyze and visualize data with a spatial component, and is used by many types of organizations in many fields. For most of the tasks and projects within these fields, a GIS provides highly accurate results. Under certain circumstances (Massive Scope, Widespread Expertise and Multivalency), a GIS fails to provide adequate results in the field of historical geography, for example. Crowdsourcing tools like Wikipedia and Open Street Map (OSM) address some of these issues, but not all, and introduce new problems. This project focuses on geographic data dealing with …

The Meaning Of Development Of Filipinos By Filipinos In Diaspora: Rhetorical Vision In Participatory Communication, Louella Lim Lofranco

Theses and Dissertations

Development is currently one of the drivers of international migration resulting in south-to-north or third-to-first world movements of immigrants seeking for a better life in more developed countries. Consequently, new economic diaspora communities are being formed, most of which help alleviate poverty of relatives back home through regular remittances, now considered an important source of foreign capital in many developing economies. Amidst new challenges for the field of development is the question of the relevance of development communication in migration and diaspora. This exploratory study investigates the role of participatory development communication in expanding diaspora contributions to their home countries. …

Museums In The Classroom: Preservation Virginia’S John Marshall House Trunk, Denisse Marie De Leon

Theses and Dissertations

Since the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed in 2001, museum educators have faced new challenges in designing programming that incorporates state standards of education while remaining faithful to the integrity of the museum’s collection and mission. Some museums have created programs that address these educational standards and can be used in school classrooms. This project is a case study of how one Virginia museum, Preservation Virginia, created a classroom program that addresses the state mandated Standards of Learning (SOLs). The report of this project includes discussion of the current debates that surround NCLB and its relationship to …

From The Old To The New World: The Transformation Of Kongo Minkisi In African American Art, Mary Mccurnin

Theses and Dissertations

Minkisi (sing. nkisi) were sacred objects that housed ancestral spirits and were used for divination, healing and social justice by the Kongo people of Central Africa. When the Kongo were brought as slaves to the New World, they contributed significantly to the development of African American artistic and spiritual culture. In the Caribbean, aspects of minkisi have been retained in the creolized spiritual beliefs of Haitian Vodou, Cuban Palo Monte Mayombe and Brazilian Candomble. In North America, evidence of Kongo influence is apparent in examples of folk art and culture, including quilts, mojo hands, Afro-Carolinian face vessels, memory jugs and …

Nationalism In Charles De Gaulle's Speeches During World War Ii, Mayavel Amado

Theses and Dissertations

In a world where conflicts and supranational entities have emerged, nationalism has become an important topic for scholars in different fields. While much debate exists on what this term actually means and encompass, little attention has been paid to the rhetoric of nationalist leaders. Through scholarly and popular literature nationalism has often been confused with patriotism and populism. This work intends to look at what nationalism is, based on patterns drawn from observations in the rhetoric of nationalist leaders (sometimes opposing them to populist rhetoric) and at the same time it intends to expose Charles de Gaulle's nationalism in his …

Gendered Distances: A Methodological Inquiry Into Spatial Analysis As An Instrument For Assessing Gender Equality In Access To Secondary Schools In Mukono District, Uganda, Patrick Richard Wawro

Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on how accessibility to secondary schools in the Mukono District of Uganda is related to the sex and gender of the student and the distance that separates the student's home from the school they attend. This research is methodological inquiry exploring the use of spatial analysis, specifically how cognitive and metric distances can be used as alternatives to gross enrollment rates (GER) and net enrollment rates (NER) for assessing gender equality in realized accessibility to secondary schools. Student home locations were collected for 756 secondary students, including 437 boarding students and 319 day students from 8 different …

An Ontological Analysis Of Mainstream Addiction Theories: Exploring Relational Alternatives, Wiley Benjamin Hill Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals and societies have long struggled to understand and confront, by constructive means, the nemesis of addiction. No other human ill has provoked more concern, accounted for more suffering, or elicited greater consequence than addiction in all its diverse forms. Although alcoholism and drug abuse symbolize the traditional essence of addiction; compulsive sexuality, pathological gambling, eating disorders, tobacco use, etc., are also believed to have addictive properties according to contemporary concepts. Numerous commendable theories and therapies have been offered down through history to explain and mediate addictions conceptually enigmatic and therapeutically resistant nature. As this paper will clarify, many of …

A European Case Study On The Intersection Between Public And Private Space: Increasing Breastfeeding Rates In A Modern World, Steven Matthew Stearmer

Theses and Dissertations

Health organizations around the world, from international bodies of government to local advocacy groups, are pushing the benefits of breastfeeding. While this is commendable, no study has ever been completed to assess on a regional scale the available policy options and their effectiveness at producing increased breastfeeding rates. It is my contention that five key factors influence the effectiveness of breastfeeding policies in Europe; Acceptance of public breastfeeding, maternity resource commitment, legal protection of breastfeeding in public and business space, a united voice in favor of breastfeeding, and limitations to formula advertisements in hospitals on media outlets. These five factors …

Effects Of Computer-Based, Early-Reading Academic Learning Time On Early-Reading Achievement: A Dose-Response Approach, Benjamin Heuston

Theses and Dissertations

Academic learning time (ALT) has long had the theoretical underpinnings sufficient to claim a causal relationship with academic achievement, but to this point empirical evidence has been lacking. This dearth of evidence has existed primarily due to difficulties associated with operationalizing ALT in traditional educational settings. Recent advancements in computer-based instruction provide an unprecedented opportunity to model ALT and to test the underlying theory. A widely-used computer-based early-reading curriculum was operationalized using Berliner's model of ALT (Berliner, 1991). This curriculum was then mapped to a computer-based assessment to determine an appropriate method of quantifying early-reading ALT. Software limitations required that …

National Identity Transnational Identification: The City And The Child As Evidence Of Identification Among The Poetic Elite, Mary L. Hedengren

Theses and Dissertations

While poetry has historically been connected with rhetoric, few rhetoricians have studied contemporary poetry. Jeffery Walker suggests that this is because contemporary poetry, unlike classical poetry, no longer addresses all socio-economic levels of society but has become insular and self-referential (329). He criticizes that poetry no longer cuts vertically across one culture's hierarchy. I agree that poetry no longer addresses all segments of society, but I argue that this doesn't mean poetry is no longer rhetorical. Contemporary poetry now operates horizontally to unite the cultural elite of many national and ethnic groups by appealing to their identity as poetry readers. …

The Development Of A Tactical-Level Full Range Leadership Measurement Instrument, Rebecca Thurrell

Theses and Dissertations

Since the emergence of transformational and charismatic leadership models in the mid-1980s, full range leadership theory has become established as the predominant and most widely researched theory on leadership. The most commonly used survey instrument to assess full range leadership theory is the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, originally developed by Bass in 1985. Although much research has supported the strength of the psychometric properties of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, some researchers have suggested that contextual factors such as a leader’s hierarchical level can lead to conflicting results. This research effort involved an extensive review of existing literature to develop a new …

This Is Sportscenter: Performance And Performativity In Sports Broadcasting And Punditry, Anthony C. Gunn

Theses and Dissertations

Within the discipline of Performance Studies there is a debate about what is included within the ontology of “performance.” Peggy Phelan suggests that performance can only be experienced in the here and now, and any recording of a performance makes it “something other than performance.” Phillip Auslander argues the exact opposite, claiming that mediatized performance is not only valid, but also preferable to the live. This thesis is about performance in sports broadcasting, and states that performance, like sport, can be valid in both live and mediatized forms. The thesis also details how sports broadcasters perform and how their performance …

Design Of A Monocular Multi-Spectral Skin Detection, Melanin Estimation, And False-Alarm Suppression System, Keith R. Peskosky

Theses and Dissertations

A real-time skin detection, false-alarm reduction, and melanin estimation system is designed targeting search and rescue (SAR) with application to special operations for manhunting and human measurement and signatures intelligence. A mathematical model of the system is developed and used to determine how the physical system performs under illumination, target-to-sensor distance, and target-type scenarios. This aspect is important to the SAR community to gain an understanding of the deployability in different operating environments. A multi-spectral approach is developed and consists of two short-wave infrared cameras and two visible cameras. Through an optical chain of lenses, custom designed and fabricated dichroic …

Historic Fire Regimes On Eastern Great Basin (Usa) Mountains Reconstructed From Tree Rings, Stanley G. Kitchen

Theses and Dissertations

Management of natural landscapes requires knowledge of key disturbance processes and their effects. Fire and forest histories provide valuable insight into how fire and vegetation varied and interacted in the past. I constructed multi-century fire chronologies for 10 sites on six mountain ranges representative of the eastern Great Basin (USA), a region in which historic fire information was lacking. I also constructed tree recruitment chronologies for two sites. I use these chronologies to address three research foci. First, using fire-scar data from four heterogeneous sites, I assert that mean fire interval (MFI) values calculated from composite chronologies provide suitable estimates …

Islamic Architecture Of Mosques In The Town Of Vushtrri And Its Surrounding, Sami Isufi

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Margin And The Center: A Study In Selected Works From Contemporary Egyptian Novels, Linda Istanbulli

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a study of the margins and the centers of Cairo as viewed through the lens of modern and contemporary Egyptian novels. I trace how these and other Egyptian writers map the main forces that shape centers of power, how centers of power see and use the marginalized, how the marginalized themselves picture these centers. The marginalized, by conceptual necessity, are defined by two cultures and two societies at the same time; the margin and the center. I explore how Egyptian writers locate and represent these two forces, and how this duality creates relationships that keep these two …

The Act And Impact Of Whistle-Blowing On The Los Angeles Police Department, Deborah A. Gonzales

Theses and Dissertations

Few studies examine whistle-blowing from an organization's self-regulating perspective. The LAPD is one of the few municipal agencies that offer its employees 8 or more misconduct reporting avenues to choose from. Yet, despite this large number of resources, many police officers have opted to file civil lawsuits rather than utilize internal resources to resolve reports of specific types of misconduct. A total of 131 sergeants, detectives, lieutenants, captains and commanders were surveyed in 2009 regarding their likelihood of reporting specific types of organizational misconduct to any one of the internal departmental resources provided. Findings revealed 65% of the police officers …

A Study Of The Physical Fitness Test In Relation To Demographics, Academic Achievement, And Students' Physical Fitness Perceptions, Karen Mobilia-Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the overall results of the Physical Fitness Test (PFT) and the six fitness areas of the PFT, academic achievement, demographics and self perceptions and the potential impact on students' performance on the PFT. While academic expectations are increasing, the adolescent obesity rate is also increasing, producing a decline in the fitness levels of adolescents. This study is a two phase non-experimental, quantitative investigation of 2009 - 2010 currently enrolled tenth grade high school students as it relates to their performance on the 2008 - 2009 California Physical Fitness Test. Phase one addresses the analysis of extant data …

Tensions In A Nepali Telecenter: An Ethnographic Look At Progress Using Activity Theory, Jeffrey Chih-Yih Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Developing countries such as Nepal struggle to keep up technologically. While advances make it possible for average Nepalis to access mobile phones, computers, and digital cameras, barriers impede access. As with other governments (Huerta & Rodrigo, 2007; Mokhtarian & Meenakshisun, 2002), Nepal responded in 2004 with telecenters to push sustainable technology. Most telecenters still struggle to accomplish their purpose (M. K. Bhattarai, personal communication, June 29, 2009). Developing countries struggle to meet communities' technological demands (Colle & Raul, 2003). Issues other than technology limit telecenters from fully providing services and meeting the needs of the local community. These issues, which …

Terra Australis Incognita During The Age Of Exploration: A Window Into The Changing European World View, Adam Aaron Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

For nearly two millennia some Europeans believed that a vast, wealthy, and peopled continent, Terra Australis Incognita, lay in the southern ocean, and acted as a stabilizing counterweight to the northern landmasses. The presence of this frontier, if only imaginary, represented geographical opportunity, and served as a psychological safety valve. Until discoverers possessed the ability to accurately chart the southern seas, the existence of the theoretical continent went unchallenged. Two voyagers serve as bookends in this search during the Age of Exploration: Pedro Ferdinand de Quirós (1565-1615), and Captain James Cook (1728-1779). Beyond their actual voyages, these men serve as …

Examining The Appropriateness Of Nonverbal Measures Of Intelligence With Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing Children: A Critical Review Of The Literature, Martha S. Cook Klassen

Theses and Dissertations

There are a variety of assessment instruments available today that are widely used to assess the intellectual abilities of children. Specific considerations should be made when using these instruments to assess the deaf and hard-of-hearing population. This critical review of the literature begins with a brief overview of the D-HH population, a general history of intellectual assessment, and assessment considerations that are specific to the D-HH population. Information obtained from available literature regarding the internal consistency of six assessment instruments is presented. The instruments reviewed include the UNIT, the Leiter-R, the WISC-IV, the SB5, the CTONI, and the CAS. The …

Identifying Adults' Paths To Discovering Career Passion, Shannon Philip

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to identify the paths people take to discover their career passion and specifically endeavored to identify how people define passion, what process they follow to discover their passion, and what outcomes they experience as a result of exercising their passion in their work. A qualitative interview research design was used to conduct this study. Eight participants were identified using convenience sampling. Data were collected through in-person and telephone interviews. The research questions were answered using content analysis. Participants offered three definitions for passion: enjoying and feeling energized about one's work, engaging in hard work inspired by the …

A Study Of Efficacy And Professional Development Among Alternatively-Certified Teachers In Arizona, Carlyn Ludlow

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive and comparative study was to investigate the self-assessed efficacy levels of alternatively-certified teachers in Arizona. More specifically, this study examined the teachers' perceived ability to influence student learning and the extent to which, if at all, their self-reported efficacy levels differed based on the following professional development experiences: attendance in an intensive preparation program prior to teaching, participation in a district-sponsored induction program, and assignment of a mentor. This quantitative non-experimental and cross-sectional study collected original data from single groups of interns who hold a 2009-2010 Arizona Teaching Intern Certificate. A total of 164 teaching …

Executive Coaching And Personal Brand: Coach Training, Coach Mastery, And Client Satisfaction, Heather Backstrom

Theses and Dissertations

This project aimed to: (a) account for a method by which executive coaches may be trained in personal brand coaching, (b) describe the executive coaches' abilities to coach in particular personal brand matters pretest, posttest and posttest, and (c) assess levels of client satisfaction based upon receipt of personal brand coaching throughout a 3 month period. Thus, this grounded theory and phenomenological study sought to deduce a training process that can be used to train coaches on how to coach employing personal brand. Furthermore, the study deduced the abilities of these coaches in specific areas of personal brand coaching per …

Knowledge-Based Educational Game Authoring Tool, Yong Lai

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

High-Resolution, Low-Cost, Near-Infrared And Color Kite Aerial Photography As A Tool For Archaeological Site Prospecting And Recording, Peter A. Metzger

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.