Digital Commons Network^™

The Downside Of National Team Identity: A Model To Measure Negative Outcomes Of Team Identity, Fei Gao

Theses and Dissertations

Team identity has been a prevailing subject and has drawn a wide range of attention from both academia and the sport industry. The previous literature indicates that team identity had significant impact on team-related purchases, game attendance, TV viewership, loyalty, other social identities (e.g., national identity), etc. However, the majority of team identity studies were merely focused on unveiling these positive outcomes of team identity. Little is known about how team identity works on fans’ negative sentiment toward outgroup members. The purpose of this dissertation was to establish a model to measure the effect of team identity on xenophobia and …

The Utility Of Using Virtue Locales To Explain Criminogenic Environments, Hunter Max Boehme

Theses and Dissertations

Place-based criminology has a long history of examining the potential causes and correlates of criminogenic environments. This line of scholarship has been able to establish that crime, levels of social guardianship, and racial/ethnic groups are unevenly distributed throughout space. Routine activity theory and environmental criminology are two prominent explanations of the causes of criminogenic environments. Specifically, the crime generator and crime attractor scholarship (Brantingham & Brantingham, 1995) has found recent success uncovering which certain land uses that may be “risky facilities” (e.g., pawn shops, payday lenders, bars). However, these paradigms have yet to discover which businesses are crime-reducing and an …

Parsimonious Sociology Theory Construction: From A Computational Framework To Semantic-Based Parsimony Analysis, Mingzhe Du

Theses and Dissertations

In the social sciences, theories are used to explain and predict observed phenomena in the natural world. Theory construction is the research process of building testable scientific theories to explain and predict observed phenomena in the natural world. Conceptual new ideas and meanings of theories are conveyed through carefully chosen definitions and terms.

The principle of parsimony, an important criterion for evaluating the quality of theories (e.g., as exemplified by Occam’s Razor), mandates that we minimize the number of definitions (terms) used in a given theory.

Conventional methods for theory construction and parsimony analysis are based on heuristic approaches. However, …

The Relationship Between Sense Of Community And Job Satisfaction Among Employees In Campus Recreation Center, Mina Woo

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Sense of Community (SOC) and job satisfaction of employees in Campus Recreation Center (CRC), and the impact of demographic information, including gender, job position, and job tenure, on the extent of their SOC and job satisfaction. This study utilized quantitative method and developed a questionnaire with two scales: Spector’s (1985) Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), and Sense of Community Index 2 (SCI-2) created by Chavis, Lee, and Acosta (2008). The results indicate positive correlation between SOC and job satisfaction among the employees in CRCs. On the other hand, the results …

Does Inhibitory Control Training Reduce Weight And Caloric Intake In Adults With Overweight And Obesity? A Pre-Registered, Randomized Controlled Event-Related Potential Study, Kaylie A. Carbine

Theses and Dissertations

Overweight and obesity are prevalent public health problems that impact physical, mental, and social health. Many studies have evaluated weight loss treatments, but most individuals are unsuccessful at maintaining weight loss long-term. Behavioral and cognitive interventions may be effective in promoting weight loss and weight loss maintenance. One cognitive intervention that has shown potential success in reducing weight and caloric intake is inhibitory control training (ICT). ICT involves trainings where individuals are asked to repeatedly withhold dominant responses to unhealthy or high-calorie food images in an effort to increase food-related inhibitory control abilities. Reductions in caloric intake or weight may …

Physician Behaviors, Nursing, And Other Obstacles In End-Of-Life Care: Additional Critical Care Nurse Perceptions, Elizabeth Elouise Willmore

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Critical Care Nurses (CCNs) frequently provide end of life (EOL) care in intensive care units (ICUs). Barriers to EOL care in ICUs exist and have been previously published, but qualitative reports from CCNs themselves remain scarce. Qualitative data exploring barriers faced during ICU EOL care may increase awareness of obstacles and help remove them. Objective: Excluding family experiences, what are the major themes recounted by CCNs when asked to share common obstacles experienced in providing ICU EOL care? Methods: Members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses were randomly surveyed and responses to a single qualitative question were used. …

Examining Career And Technical Education Practitioner Preparation And Professional Development Needs, Shane Wilson Lange

Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study was used to investigate Illinois automotive educator professional development needs and to identify the demographic landscape of Illinois secondary and post-secondary automotive teachers. The study should bring a greater understanding of what automotive teachers feel they need to learn in order to continue as successful educators. A modified Borich (1980) needs assessment model was used to identify the perceived importance and ability levels for 32 professional competencies. Mean Weighted Discrepancy Scores (MWDS) were calculated using the importance and ability scores in order to report the professional development need. The administered survey was also utilized to examine their …

The Polite Abuser: Using Politeness Theory To Examine Emotional Abuse, Cimmiaron Alvarez

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few decades more and more cultural attention has been paid to intimate partner violence, especially emotional abuse. Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, and Polek (1990) established that emotional abuse fell into six distinct categories, however, little attention had been paid to how abusers can utilize polite communication to hurt their partner. Equally, Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987) had never been applied to problematic communication (Austin, 1990). This study aimed to understand how polite communication can be used as a form of emotional abuse. In-depth, semi structured interviews were conducted with 20 participants who self-identified as having been …

Perceptions Of Outreach, Theory, And Practice At Centers For Teaching And Learning, Samantha Dunn

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) and how they are perceived by the instructors and employees who work in higher education. CTLs focus on accessing and assessing faculty and staff while creating programs and research which offers insight into the faculty, instructional, and organizational needs of an institution. The needs that CTLs focus on include the professional, educational, instructional, and, sometimes, personal development of employees. Yet, the theories and practices which drive the research of educational development—specifically CTLs—are fragmented due to the interdisciplinary nature, vast scope, and practical-focus of directors and researchers.

This study builds upon previous …

Trajtimi I Pacientëve Që Janë Përdorues Të Alkoolit Në Institutin E Psikiatrisë Dhe Forenzikës Të Kosovës (Ipfk), Vedat Ademaj

Theses and Dissertations

Çrregullimet psikiatrike ndodhin më shpesh në mesin e alkoolikëve sesa në popullatën e përgjithshme. Çrregullimet psikiatrike që alkoolikët më së shpeshti i pësojnë përfshijnë çrregullimet e humorit (p.sh., depresioni), çrregullimet e ankthit dhe çrregullimi i personalitetit antisocial. Vlerësimi i simptomave psikiatrike në pacientët me alkool është i komplikuar nga

marrëdhënie të shumta që ekzistojnë midis pirjes së rendë, simptomave psikiatrike dhe faktorëve të personalitetit. Për shembull, alkoolistët me depresion që ndodhin mund të jenë në rrezik më të madh të problemeve psikosociale, relapsit dhe vetëvrasjeve. Në të kundërt, pirja e rëndë mund të prodhojë ose përkeqësojë simptoma depresioni ose ankthi. …

Recognizing Potential Cyberspace Warriors Through The Use Of Suspicion Propensity Index, Meghan G. Strang

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force currently suffers from excessively high attrition rates in the cyberspace career. The field is currently aiming to develop an entrance examination for the career, striving to improve personnel selection and decrease these high attrition rates. The attribute of suspicion is a key focus of the preliminary examination development, theorizing that it is a potential indicator present among competent cyber operators. This research makes use of the Suspicion Propensity Index (SPI), a reliable measure of one’s tendency to be suspicious, along with the highly cited Mayer’s trust questionnaire in order to compare the attributes that appear in successful …

Feminine Gender Identification And Mother-Daughter Connectedness As Predictors And Sociocultural Buffers Against Adult Sexual Victimization In Latinas And Caucasians, Erika A. Pobee-Mensah

Theses and Dissertations

The growing body of literature on childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has highlighted increased risk for adult re-victimization and transgenerational sexual abuse such that children of adult women with CSA histories are at increased risk for being sexually abused. Despite these research trends, there is less research specific to victimization risk and transgenerational sexual abuse. Furthermore, there is limited information on ethnic/racial differences in these trends, particularly regarding Latinas. Despite research suggesting an over-representation of reported CSA among Latina children, there are apparent disparities suggesting underreporting of sexual victimization among Latinas in adulthood. The present study examines interactional effects of sociocultural …

A Grounded Theory Of Professional Development Preferences Of Millennial Educational Professionals, Bobbie M. Downs

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this grounded research study is to answer the question: How should professional development be designed to best meet the preferences of educational professionals of the millennial generation? As the workplace, including the field of education, becomes more generationally diverse, it is education leaders who must learn the unique needs of their staff members and develop meaningful professional development opportunities that meet these requirements. Both generational cohort theory and transformative learning theory became the underpinnings of the research. The research was conducted primarily through qualitative interviews at an educational services commission in New Jersey. A theory about millennial …

Small-Town Living: Do Illinois Universities Understand The Rural College Student?, Erik Andrew Dalmasso

Theses and Dissertations

Rural students are confronted with unique challenges when considering postsecondary choices. According to McShane and Smarick (2018), scholarship on this overarching issue is limited, as it is “often shunted to specialized journals that have not been able to integrate findings into the broader education policy conversation” (p. 1). Rural students, and to a broader extent, rural education have little voice in the postsecondary pathways that have been created within higher education (Goldman, 2019). Recruitment of rural students, financial aid policy, remediation/developmental programming, state and federal postsecondary legislation have largely treated rural students in tandem with their urban and suburban peers, …

The Battlefield Of The Academy: The Resilience And Resistance Of Black Women Faculty, Jacqueline Hester

Theses and Dissertations

This research study explored the resilience of 8 Black women faculty teaching at historically white institutions (HWIs). Crenshaw's (1991) intersectionality, Ladson-Billings and Tate, (1995) critical race theory, and resilience theory are the three theoretical frameworks used in this study to examine the experience of Black women faculty in HWIs. The purpose of this study was to address these experiences to advance the conceptual understanding of resilience as a form of resistance. The research methodology selected involved a qualitative study that used narrative inquiry as a platform for Black women faculty to share their personal narratives and examined the strategies that …

The People And Place Of Al-Hattaba: A Socio-Temporal Juncture, Heba El-Sawy

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on a neighborhood located in Historic Cairo called al-Hattaba. It is a neighborhood that is located on the citadel wall, houses over 500 families, and is considered a buffer zone to the citadel with an urban fabric that speaks to a different time and place that has managed to survive, rupture and challenge our own perceptions of mainstream urban planning trends. I focus on rhythms of change and the experiences of temporality in the everyday as entry points into al-Hattaba and its people. The times of al-Hattaba cannot be reduced nor contained into a linear progression of …

"Maintaining Order Over Chaos": A Study Of The Ba And Baw Concepts In The Predynastic Period, Early Dynastic Period, And Old Kingdom, Bianca Van Sittert

Theses and Dissertations

Among the corpus of ancient Egyptian religious terminology, bA and bAw stand out as two of the oldest, most wide-spread, and enduringly used terms. From the 1st Dynasty until the very end of ancient Egyptian history, these terms were utilized in a wide variety of contexts, including divine, royal, and non-royal names, titles, and epithets, didactic literature, and mortuary, administrative, temple, and royal propagandistic texts. However, despite their prominence and significance in the ancient Egyptian textual record, the function and meaning of these terms are still imperfectly understood, as evidenced by the multiple and varying translations within the Egyptological literature. …

The Reproduction Of Privilege: Education, Jobs And Precarity In Rural Upper Egypt, Ghosoun Tawfik

Theses and Dissertations

In modern imaginaries, social advantage and mobility are rooted in and linked to the educational achievements and the type of jobs acquired by individuals. In fact, these two factors have long been connected, and have been considered as a stepping stone to a stable and secure livelihood (Assaad & Krafft, 2014). However, with neoliberal policies and the ongoing restructuring of the Egyptian economy and society, as well as around the world, the links between acquiring a formal academic certificate and obtaining a job requires new and more nuanced examination. Other factors, such as social networks, now determine the scale and …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Professional Identity And Communities Of Practice, Heidi Mohamed Badr El-Din Sadek

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the perceptions of English instructors on their professional identities, within private higher education institutions. The aim of the current study is to explore the perceptions of teachers' professional identities and the aspects that affect it, as well as, their perceptions of communities of practice and its effect on their professional identity. The study is conducted on 26 English instructors, who teach Academic English in private institutions. A qualitative approach is utilized and individual interviews, and focus group interviews were conducted with all the participants. Findings show that there are four main aspects that shape and affect a …

Accountability In School Governance In Egypt, Nadeen Baraka

Theses and Dissertations

The educational system in Egypt is struggling in between challenges and reforms. The low quality of the educational service provided is, ultimately, negatively impacting students' learning. This thesis deliberates how poor accountability in school governance is a major hinder in the improvement process, where the system lacks key practices, and standards, that are essential to enforce accountability measures and attain good governance. This study is a build up of three junctures; the first is the current state of knowledge in literature that discusses the effective accountability on quality of education in schools, and the linkages of enhanced comprehensive school accountability …

Sexual Harassment Gender, Power, Ideology And Time: A Case Study Of The Hill-Thomas And Ford-Kavanaugh Senate Hearings, Salah Mohamed

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual harassment is a social issue in the U.S. and around the world that is gaining more attention, especially with the popularity of social movements such as #MeToo and #Timesup. People usually attempt to frame their positions in sexual harassment narratives using a wide range of strategies, which show insidious ideologies and power imbalances ingrained in the culture of a specific community. The current study investigates sexual harassment through data from the U.S. Senate confirmation hearings for two nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court: Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh. The two nominees were accused of sexual harassment by two professors: …

Uses And Gratifications Of Social Media In The Middle East North Africa Region, Yousra Osama Taha

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relation between the adoption of various social media platforms and the demographic variables of users consuming these platforms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It also provides a better understanding of the positive and negative gratifications acquired when users adopt social media in the region. The uses and gratifications (U&G) perspective is the theoretical grounding of the study applied to newer media, social media platforms in specific. A quantitative questionnaire, conducted within the social media users whose home countries are from the MENA region (N=561) to indicate the behavior of social media adoption …

Alienation And Dissent In The Poetry Of Allen Ginsberg And Fadhil Al-Azzawi, Farah Geninah

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the thematic similarities and contrasts between Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Fadhil Al-Azzawi’s “The Teachings of F. Al-Azzawi.” To contextualize my topic, I briefly introduce the Beat generation as a whole, drawing parallels between them and the corresponding Kirkuk group in Iraq. Ginsberg and Al-Azzawi are, by and large, among the main spokespeople for said literary and cultural groups. The two groups were made up of marginalized individuals who struggled to fit in within mainstream society due to their controversial beliefs and lifestyles. I examine the prominent themes of alienation and dissent in the poems, and explore how …

The Matrimonial Culture In Cairo's Upper Middle Class: Capital, Collective And Consumption, Mariam Al-Mokadem

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on discourses and practices relating to the journey to matrimony in Cairo's upper middle class. In other words, I will focus on how members of this social class communicate and perform their beliefs about matrimony. It is a journey to matrimony in Cairo's upper-middle class, with reference to the temporalities a bride undergoes in order to actualize the new ordinary of marriage through suitor selection, matrimonial practices, and consumption patterns. I will investigate the basis on which a bride selects her suitor and the extent to which a bride and groom involve their parents (and in-group members) …

The Politics And Poetics Of Memory: Law And Temporality In Contemporary Egypt, Mayy El Sheikh

Theses and Dissertations

Eight years have passed since the 25th of January revolution in 2011 which succeeded in removing former President Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power. Initially, the revolution was hailed for its promise of democratization and its anticipated positive impact the condition of human rights. Today, Egypt is under military authoritarian rule and the human rights situation is worse than it has ever been in the country's modern history. This thesis investigates the role of law in Egypt's current wave of tyranny and how it contributed to, rather than stood up against, the failure of the revolution's promise. This thesis …

Improving Student Outcomes In Introductory Earth Science Courses Using Active Learning Strategies, Kalyca N. Spinler

Theses and Dissertations

For many students, introductory core earth science courses, like UA Little Rock’s Earth and the Environment course, represent their last formal education in the Earth Sciences. This project looked to determine if using active learning strategies during lectures will increase understanding in introductory geoscience courses. A series of ConcepTests with Peer Instruction, intended to increase student involvement, were used. To assess the impact of using ConcepTests, two sections of the course, fall 2018 and spring 2019, were given pre- and post-tests using Geoscience Concept Inventory questions. Pre- and post-test scores were compared with classes that did not use ConcepTests with …

On The Field Of School Choice: Conversations Capturing White Middle Class Maternal Privilege: A Case Study, Jill Tabachnick Levi

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the results of high school choice in a small community through the experiences of White Middle class mothers. In capturing the conversations of these mothers I aimed to make explicit the implicit structures of power inherent in the school choices of this small community. Using a Bourdieusian framework I was able to document ways that the White Middle Class strategize within these structures for their own gains. I was also able to document the ways that these structures advance these strategies often at the expense of those in subordinate positions, and in this country subordinate positions are …

Somewhere Between Distance And Intimacy: Vija Celmins In California 1962-1981, Jessie Lebowitz

Theses and Dissertations

During her nineteen years spent in California (1962-81), the young Vija Celmins formulated a distinct landscape informed by California’s physical topography as well as the stylistic and materialistic advances resulting from the city’s newfound cultural awakening. With an intimate technical application, Celmins engages viewers with the spatial and optical facets of desert, sea, and sky.

Moving Up The Pipeline: Factors Associated With Interest In School Psychology Programs, Amrita Singh

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the growing number of minority students in U.S. public schools, only a small percentage of school psychology graduate students, trainers and practicing school psychologists identify themselves as racial minorities. Analyses were conducted on 512 responses to a national survey that investigated demographic and other qualitative factors that are associated with interest in school psychology master’s and doctoral programs. Additionally, analyses were also conducted to examine demographic differences that exist between undergraduate students interested in PsyD versus PhD school psychology programs. The study aimed to investigate whether there was: (a) a significant relationship between doctoral interest and higher household incomes, …

Perceptions Of Implementation Of Civic Education Curriculum In A Suburban School District, Sheena Jacob

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore and develop an understanding of teachers and coordinator perceptions of a civic education and to analyze how the program was implemented in a suburban school district. This qualitative case study explored the experiences of one school district’s civic education program. and was informed by interviews, observations and documents. The researcher interviewed a K-12 social studies coordinator and two teachers. The researcher also observed four civic education classes within the school district. Finally, the researcher analyzed documents that comprised the syllabus for the 12th grade Civic courses, student work from 12th …