Digital Commons Network^™

El Nuevo Cuento Latinoamericano: El ‘Terror Aparente Y Externo’ Versus El ‘Terror Real E Interno’ En Pelea De Gallos Y Grita De María Fernanda Ampuero, Y Las Voladoras De Mónica Ojeda, Alejandra Anahi Gaeta

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focusses on the new Latin-American short story; the ‘obvious and external horror’ vs. the ‘real and internal horror’ found in the works of Maria Fernanda Ampuero: Pelea de gallos (2018) and Grita (2020) as well as in Monica Ojeda’s Las voladoras (2020). The analysis encompasses situations that different protagonists experience in each short story to illustrate the message that the Ecuadorian writers intend to address the reader. Ampuero and Ojeda use their platform to expose the injustice that women and minors endure through their Latin American narratives. In the short stories that belong to the horror and the …

Finding Community As First-Generation Latina College Students In A Predominantly White Institution, Alondra Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the perception of first-generation Latina college students' sense of belonging at a predominately White institution, specifically at Rowan University. Based on the research questions this study identified the experiences of six first-generation Latina college students and their perception of community and belonging at Rowan University. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on all six participants and data was collected using an interview protocol that consisted of nine questions. The following themes were found in the study (1) first-generation Latinas and family, (2) campus involvement, (3) inclusivity and cultural competence, and, (4) faculty …

The Black College Student: How Success On A College Campus Is Influenced By Race, Jeffon F. Stubbs

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the racial identity of Black and African American students at Rowan University impacts the success of those students. Success was evaluated from three perspectives - academic success, social aptitude, and emotional wellness. In addition to conducting a comprehensive review of literature related to this topic, an independent research design was carried out to assess how student success is affected by race. A qualitative survey was constructed and distributed to residential students at Rowan University who identified themselves as either Black or African American. The survey asked questions to ascertain the experiences …

Paralinguistic And Rhetorical Capabilities Of Emojis In Marketing Communication, Jacob Christopher Almaguer

Theses and Dissertations

Consumers and social media marketers have over 3,000 emojis at their fingertips. Despite the popularity of emojis on social media, marketing research on emojis remains limited. Extant marketing research on emojis that does exist primarily focuses on the emotional and reinforcement capabilities, a remnant of the limitations of the emoticon ancestor, and largely ignores the additional paralinguistic and rhetorical potential of emojis. In this dissertation, emojis as a paralanguage are explored with a particular focus on the creation of meaning on social media (Essay 1), and emojis as a full (Essay 2) and partial (Essay 3) substitute for text in …

Examination Of 21st Century Organization Development: An Ethnography Of A Distance Learning Support Department At A Hispanic Serving Institution Of Higher Education, Bobbie Myatt

Theses and Dissertations

This study used an ethnographic lens to examine the historic organizational development of a distance education support department within a Hispanic-serving institution of higher education. The Borderlands University (BU; pseudonym) Online Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center (OTLT) is representative of the structure and culture of a successful distance education support department for the 21st century. Through qualitative ethnography, this research study examined the development of cultural and structural components necessary for the success of this organization. This includes the internal community of support departments housed within institutions of higher education. Technologically raised generations emerging from traditional schools, “digital natives,” are …

Understanding The Intersectionality Of Bilingual Identities: Language And Biliteracy In Emergent Bilinguals, Natalia Carrillo

Theses and Dissertations

Cummins (2018) argued that “emergent bilingual students struggle, often unsuccessfully, to escape from the externally imposed identity cocoon within which they find themselves” (p. x). This struggle leads to negative views and deficit thinking approaches to educating these students. In today’s educational context, meeting the cognitive needs of bilingual students is not sufficient. Schools must provide learning opportunities to affirm their identities to support their academic success. Research indicates that we must develop a deep understanding of the intersectionality of language, students’ identity construction, and language use (Norton, 2010; Potowski, 2007; Poza, 2016).

This study aimed to examine …

The Effects Of Esl Training On High School Teachers And Their Response To Ells, Benjamin Watt

Theses and Dissertations

This study purposes to uncovering the deficits in secondary teachers’ understanding and practice in the classroom with ELLs. As the study developed it has become clear teachers vary widely on classroom practice and understanding their EL learners. Many teachers feel ill equipped and that the provided professional development is often inconsistent. The study intends to inform education systems of the positive affects of professional development, college courses and self-enrichment on how teachers work with ELLs. The study builds on the research to increase our understanding of the gaps in teaching and how professional development can be most useful for teachers. …

Zinā In The Criminal Legislation Act (1999-2000): An Evaluation Of The Implication For Muslim Women's Right In Nigeria, Paul Orerhime Akpomie

Theses and Dissertations

The research engages in an exploration of human rights in Islam. Human rights issues are then contrasted with international law positions. The data gotten is then used for investigating women’s human rights issues in Shariʾa penal tradition regarding zinā (adultery) in Nigeria. The re-emergence of Sharia penal codes adopted by 12 Northern states in Nigeria in 1999 as an operative Islamic law has sparked concerns about rulings amounting to stoning to death in several cases of zinā. These events raised concerns about Shariʾa penal traditions’ legality and relationship with other legal traditions operational in Nigeria, a secular political space. …

Age-Related Differences In Food-Specific Inhibitory Control: Electrophysiological And Behavioral Evidence In Healthy Aging, Whitney D. Allen

Theses and Dissertations

The number of older adults is estimated to double from 52 million to 95 million by 2060. Approximately 80-85% of older adults are diagnosed with a chronic health condition. Many of these chronic health conditions are influenced by diet and exercise, suggesting improved diet and eating behaviors could improve health-related outcomes. One factor that might improve dietary habits in older adults is food-related inhibitory control. We tested whether food-related inhibitory control, using behavioral (response time, error rate) and scalp-recorded event-related potential (ERP; N2 and P3 components) measures of food-related inhibitory control differed between younger and older adults over age 55. …

Dating App Facilitated Sexual Assault: A Growing Phenomenon, Kristen Mella Hamblin

Theses and Dissertations

Dating App Facilitated Sexual Assault (DAppSA) is a new phenomenon and growing concern. Research on DAppSA is extremely limited. This study aimed to identify unique victim and assault characteristics associated with DAppSAs. A retrospective SAMFE chart review of patients (N = 3,413) from 2017 to 2020 was conducted. Sexual assault nurse examiners completed SAMFEs. Inclusion criteria for DAppSA cases included 1) victim was 14 years of age or older; 2) victim indicated they met the perpetrator on a dating website or app; 3) the SA occurred at the initial in-person meeting; 4) victim had a SAMFE with evidence collection. DAppSAs …

Tidal Translations: Thinking-With Untranslatability In Craig Santos Perez's From Unincorporated Territory, Maryn Gardner

Theses and Dissertations

Craig Santos Perez's poetic series from Unincorporated Territory describes and decries the U.S. militarization, colonization, and environmental degradation of Guam in the Western Pacific through multilingual, excerpted, and series-long poems. Perez's writing style requires slow, careful reading with translations sometimes appearing on the same page, various pages later, or not at all. I describe this kind of elongated translation as slow translation, recalling translation theorist Michael Cronin's "Slow Language" movement. This thesis invites readers, especially multispecies ethnographers, to slow down the translation of nonhuman species and their stories by paying attention to moments of untranslatability in multispecies literature and interactions. …

An Investigation Into The Experiences Of Secondary Social Studies Teachers Regarding A Change In State-Level Social Studies Standards In A Colorado School District, Lindsay Mcmichael Sitterley

Theses and Dissertations

The researcher investigated the perceptions of secondary social studies teachers regarding the change in state - level social studies standards, especially in terms of their response in instructional practice. Furthermore, the study included a discussion of the factors that influence the actions of teachers related to the change in the social studies curriculum. This allowed for an analysis of potential changes in instructional decision making, such as including cooperative learning strategies, that were the result of the change in curriculum. The study is significant as changes in recommended instructional strategies have occurred in recent years. Additionally, research in the field …

Communities Of Water: An Examination Of Cooperation And Conflict In Water Management Practices In The Central Peruvian Andes, Sylvie D. Littledale

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores two examples of water management in the highland Peruvian villages, San Pedro de Llancha and San Antonio de Chinchina. One example is of cooperation and union between the two communities. The other is of conflict between the same two villages just 40 years prior. I examine ethnographic and ethnohistorical data from both the collaborative period and the conflictive period of these two communities’ relations over water. The data suggest that, while the outcomes of these two periods were drastically different, the processes through which these communities came into relation with one another were quite similar. Their communal …

Outdoor Air Pollution And Psychological Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis, Jeremy Stanley Bekker

Theses and Dissertations

Human life takes place as part of a global ecosystem, meaning that human mental health is at least partially tied to the health of the planet. Health experts who seek to promote psychological well-being should consider how changes to the broad ecological system may impact their efforts. Given the potential impact of the environment on human well-being, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the impact of air pollution on subjective well-being. The goal of this project was to outline the current state of the research on these constructs and provide a clear framework for what research is still needed. Nonsignificant …

Psychometric Properties Of The Survey On Flourishing (Surf) In A Nationally Representative Adolescent Sample, Gus C. Salazar

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Adolescent subjective well-being is a topic that has gained significant focus over recent years. This focus is reflected in the formation of measurement tools and interventions used to better understand and improve adolescent mental health. While these are important steps, there still exist problems related to adolescent subjective well-being measurement. Notably, current measurement tools are limited in their content, applicability to various populations, and in their accessibility. Aims: The purpose of this paper is to examine the psychometric properties of the Survey on Flourishing (SURF) when used with a nationally representative adolescent sample. The SURF aims to address some …

Orienting Pacha: Value As Action In The Late Horizon Xauxa-Pachacamac Axis, Ridge C. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The Andean Late Horizon (ca. AD 1438–1532) was a period of exceptionally rapid and far-reaching cultural change. Over this short span of only a few generations, the Inka ethnic group established an empire that was greater in size than any other pre-colonial American polity. The Inka accomplished their expansion without the use of certain institutions (i.e., a standing army, formal writing system, monetary system, or price-setting markets) that the received anthropological wisdom has long held as being necessary preconditions to imperial expansion. Standard explanations of Late Horizon culture change tend to overemphasize the roles of environmental constraints, social evolution, and …

Witches, Victims, And Villains: #Metoo And The Political Polarization Of Sexual Violence, Hannah Shoaf

Theses and Dissertations

The MeToo movement, which sought to combat sexual violence, evolved into a partisan problem, where support for or against the movement fell across party lines. This polarization negatively impacted the progress of the MeToo movement, fitting the larger pattern of increasing polarization in the United States. My thesis seeks to understand the politicized nature of sexual violence and to explore what language and themes are drawn on to politicize conversations around sexual violence by using the MeToo movement as a case study. My thesis found that the political polarization of sexual violence increased during the MeToo movement (and especially during …

Parental Incarceration As A Predictor Of Legal Cynicism, Mackenzie Joy Heim

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have established that legal cynicism is linked to violence, deviant behavior, and crime. In response to the potentially dangerous implications of a legally cynical society, research in recent years has attempted to identify experiences and conditions that play a role in the development of legal attitudes. Given that youths' familial and social conditions appear to be influential predictors, this study tests the relationship between parental incarceration and legal cynicism. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study were used for this analysis. Results from three OLS regression models indicate that parental incarceration is not a significant predictor of …

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Group Therapeutic Relationships And Group Member Symptom Improvement: An Archival Analysis, Aileen Marie Rands

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers and clinicians have long recognized that therapeutic relationships play a fundamental role in client symptom change during treatment. At the same time, it has been proposed that improvement in client symptoms is associated with improvement in therapeutic relationships. To date, very few studies have investigated this reciprocal relationship; even fewer have examined group therapeutic relationship factors. The present study is an archival analysis on Group Questionnaire (GQ) (i.e., positive bond, positive work, and negative relationship) and Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45) data that aims to analyze the reciprocal relationship between group therapeutic relationships and client symptom change. More specifically, this study …

Returning Thanks To God And Others: The Relational, Prosocial, And Emotional Consequences Of Transcendent Indebtedness, Jenae Marie Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Gratitude and indebtedness facilitate cooperative relationships and altruism. Although most of the world endorses some belief in God, gratitude and indebtedness to God have not received adequate empirical attention. The "Gratitude to God" research initiative was created to address this gap, of which the current project is an appendage. This project encapsulates a multiphase research proposal, including three parts; a pilot study and two experimental studies. The purpose of the pilot study (N = 475) was to create and test experimental manipulations for the two experimental studies. Experiment 1 (N = 659; highly religious emerging adult sample) was a 3x2 …

Using Connections To Make Predictions On Dynamic Networks, Rebecca Dorff Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Networks are sets of objects that are connected in some way and appear abundantly in nature, sociology, and technology. For many centuries, network theory focused on static networks, which are networks that do not change. However, since all networks transform over time, static networks have limited applications. By comparison, dynamic networks model how connections between objects change over time. In this work, we will explore how connections in dynamic networks change and how we can leverage these changes to make predictions about future iterations of networks. We will do this by first considering the link prediction problem, using either Katz …

Satanic Injustice: A Pentadic Rhetorical Analysis Of State Of Arkansas V Echols And Baldwin, Shaelee Bryne Erickson

Theses and Dissertations

Injustice continues to be a highly discussed topic in many scholarly disciplines, including rhetoric and law. Scholars in both fields are exploring how language in legal discourse contributes to systematic inequality, discrimination, and unfairness--racial and nonracial. This rise in scholarly interest correlates with civic concern, as there have been many court cases in the last few decades that have captured public and media attention. One of these cases involved Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, two teenage boys who were convicted for murdering three 8-year-old boys. Echols and Baldwin were tried during the late 20th-century satanic panic, a well-documented social phenomenon …

Exploring How Developmental Education Students Make Meaning Of Identity, Competence, And Relationship Building Through Supplemental Instruction: A Grounded Theory Study, Jennifer Gasparino

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this constructivist grounded theory study was to explore Supplemental Instruction (SI) beyond its academic purpose, examining how community college developmental education students make meaning of their experience participating in SI. This study focused on how developmental education students experienced identity and competence through SI and examined how these students make meaning of their connections and relationships. Fifteen participants who placed below college-level in English and English Language Proficiency and who were enrolled in at least one college-level course with SI participated in semi-structured interviews and SI group observations. The findings support the need to integrate holistic support …

The Relationship Between Traumatic Brain Injury And Disruptions In Heart Rate Variability And Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback: A Systematic Review, Leah D. Talbert

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Traumatic brain injury is a significant public health problem. Heart rate variability is a potential modality to measure physiological dysfunction following traumatic brain injury to assist in determining recovery time and the relationship between traumatic brain injury severity and recovery. To date, a summary of the evidence across injury severities and the possible role of heart rate variability biofeedback in traumatic brain injury treatment is lacking but needed to determine potential clinical utility. Participants and Methods: We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Systematic literature searches on CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, and MEDLINE …

Her-Story: A Narrative Study On The Lived Experiences Of First-Generation African American Women Who Transfer To A Predominately White Institution, Delithea Evonn Davis

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this narrative research study was to explore the experiences of first-generation African American women who transfer to a predominately White institution. More specifically, this study focused on Black women students' ability to succeed while navigating against dominant majoritarian views and negative stereotypes while attending a predominately White institution. This study focused on the resilience and success of Black women as they worked towards obtaining an education. Black feminist thought and Anti-Deficit Achievement theory assisted the study in identifying negative stereotypes, oppression, and the women's abilities to be successful. The findings indicate that while these women faced negative …

Physical Aspects Of Sexuality, Attachment, And Sexual Satisfaction, Chelsea Zollinger Allen

Theses and Dissertations

Healthy sexuality includes relational, emotional, and physical elements (Busby et al., 2021). However, there are gaps in what is known about the physical aspects of sexual relationships. Genital acceptance and physical sexual knowledge are two areas of physical relationships that may have an effect on the satisfaction of sexual relationships. Attachment, namely levels of anxious and avoidant attachment, is another factor that has been related to sexual relationships (Allsop et al., 2021; Bennett et al., 2019; Busby et al., 2020). Results from a dyadic sample of 515 couples who had been in a relationship for at least two years were …

Psychological Distress Of Spousal Caregivers Of Older Adults: The Moderating Role Of Marital Quality, Avalon White

Theses and Dissertations

Caregiving, specifically caregiver burden, is commonly related to decreased psychological well-being. Conversely, marital quality is positively related to psychological well-being, though existing literature presents mixed findings as to whether or not a gender difference exists in this relationship. The current study examined the relationship between objective and subjective spousal caregiver burden and psychological distress with marital quality as a moderator. Gender differences in this relationship were also explored. 1,066 spousal caregivers from the National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) were used to estimate cross-sectional moderation models and plot significant interactions in Mplus. Results indicated a significant positive relationship between subjective caregiver …

Enhancing The Opportunities For Adults With Autism To Find Jobs Using A Job-Matching Algorithm, Joseph T. Bills

Theses and Dissertations

Adults with autism face many difficulties when finding employment, such as struggling with interviews and needing accommodating environments for sensory issues. However, autistic adults also have unique skills to contribute to the workplace that companies have recently started to seek after, such as close attention to detail and trustworthiness. To work around these difficulties and help companies find the talent they are looking for we have developed a job-matching system. Our system is based around the stable matching of the Gale-Shapley algorithm to match autistic adults with employers after estimating how both adults with autism and employers would rank the …

Metaphors Of Memory: Complexity And The Fourth Canon, Amber Lee

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines four main sites of memory scholarship (bodily memory, historical and historiographical memory, material memory, and digital memory), arguing that at each site, memory is treated in ways which are inconsistent with most current scholarly understandings of how it operates. Each chapter focuses on one of the major sites of memory scholarship, demonstrating how particular uses of keywords at that site undercut its own attempt to address memory’s complexity. In the process, I lay the groundwork for alternative conceptions of memory in that site that offer new avenues for memory research.

Economic Development, Political Processes And Climate Change Adaptation In The Solomon Islands, Adam Christopher Ereth

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change exacerbates existing societal inequalities, including those related to uneven adaptation developments. Often, climate change prompts societies in Oceania to implement adaptation strategies to deal directly and indirectly with related issues. The futures of island nation inhabitants have sparked as much curiosity and inquiry as it has fears of diminished futures for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Narratives and discourse on climate change adaptation range from engineered solutions to address sea level rise and storm wave issues, to pessimistic retreat with claims that islands are sinking and little can be done but move elsewhere. These disparate realities call into …