Digital Commons Network^™

Evolutionary Strategies For Data Mining, Rose Lowe

All Dissertations

Learning classifier systems (LCS) have been successful in generating rules for solving classification problems in data mining. The rules are of the form IF condition THEN action. The condition encodes the features of the input space and the action encodes the class label. What is lacking in those systems is the ability to express each feature using a function that is appropriate for that feature. The genetic algorithm is capable of doing this but cannot because only one type of membership function
is provided. Thus, the genetic algorithm learns only the shape and placement of the membership function, and in …

The Sex Trade, Evil And Christian Theology, Glenn M. Harden

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Is Punishment Relevant After All? A Prescription For Informing Juries Of The Consequence Of Conviction, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Publications

The American jury, once heralded as “the great corrective of law in its actual administration,” has suffered numerous setbacks in the modern era. As a result, jurors have largely become bystanders in a criminal justice system that relies on increasingly severe punishments to incarcerate tens of thousands of offenders each year. The overwhelming majority of cases are resolved short of trial and, even when trials occur, jurors are instructed to find only the facts necessary for legal guilt. Apart from this narrow task, jurors need not, in the eyes of the law, concern themselves with whether a conviction and subsequent …

The Effect Of Dividing Attention On The Maintenance Of Object Representations, Jillian Christine Mayer

Theses

Numerous theories have been developed in explanation of object perception, such as Feature Integration Theory, which posits that an object is perceived after two stages: a pre-attentive stage and a focused attention stage. It is during the focused attention stage that a representation of the perceived object is formed. Theories such as object file theory account for the maintenance of these object representations following their creation. Evidence for object file theory has been provided by studies of the object specific preview benefit. This thesis seeks to examine the effect that dividing attention has on the maintenance of object representations. Using …

The Influence Of Auditory Cues On Visual Spatial Perception, Joseph W. Geeseman

Theses

Traditional psychophysical studies have been primarily unimodal experiments due to the ease in which a single sense can be isolated in a laboratory setting. This study, however, presents participants with auditory and visual stimuli to better understand the interaction of the two senses in visuospatial perception. Visual stimuli, presented as Gaussian distributed blobs, moved laterally across a computer monitor to a central location and "bounced" back to their starting position. During this passage across the screen, a brief auditory "click" was presented via headphones. Participants were asked to respond to the bounce of the ball, and response latency was recorded. …

Joint Effects Of Communication Mode And Consensus On Virtual Team Decision Quality, Dennis George Nasco, Jr.

Dissertations

The purpose of this research study is to expand upon the body of knowledge and research regarding the conditions and processes for effective decision-making in virtual team environments. Specifically, this study sought to demonstrate that teams instructed in consensus produce higher quality decisions and attain the assembly effect (synergy) on complex decision tasks. In addition, teams in virtual communication environments will produce higher quality decisions and attain the assembly effect (synergistic decisions) less often than face-to-face teams on complex decision tasks. Mostly undergraduate students from business courses (N = 358) completed the NASA Survival Exercise complex decision task first individually, …

The Co-Production Of Social Contagion: A Comparative Analysis Of Two Social Networking Sites, Michael Fisher

Student Scholarship

Theories of technology product adoption and diffusion fail to adequately explain social contagion or viral growth. Additionally\, the role of product design in users propensity to use and recommend products is both understudied and poorly understood. To address a vexing gap in knowledge about what explains viral growth\, we conducted ethnographic interviews with technology executives and users of two social networking sites that have experienced dramatically different growth patterns. Our findings reveal that product co-production and user self identity- not product attributes fuel viral growth. Social networking products co-produced by users and providers\, with meaning socially constructed by customers\, permit …

Temporal Tribes: The Origin And Resolution Of Tenure Based Affective Conflict In Venture Backed Top Management Teams, Mary Abbott

Student Scholarship

Venture backed firms with both exceptionally high and relatively low growth experience a comparatively fast turnover of executives, often resulting in multiple cohorts within the top management team (TMT). These tenure cohorts often act like warring tribes, generating value destroying affective conflict. While several studies have validated the relationship between tenure diversity and affective conflict, none explain its source. To address this gap in knowledge, we conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews with 34 executives from six U.S. venture backed private companies. Our results move beyond those of previous studies on tenure based affective team conflict by revealing its source to be …

The Socio-Cognitive Dynamics Of Entrepreneurial Ideation, Robert M. Gemmell

Student Scholarship

Entrepreneurs need creative ideas to develop innovative new products. We interviewed 32 technology entrepreneurs to generate a grounded theory about how technology entrepreneurs use social behaviors, techniques and cognitive processes to attain, develop, refine, validate and filter (for usefulness) creative ideas for successful new products, processes or services. The results reveal a complex, cyclical and recursive multi-level social process with emphasis on active and social experimentation. Greatest ideational productivity occurs when strong social ties interactively solve problems in an environment of trust -- in particular, when 'Trusted Partners' exchange and refine ideas through a form of shared cognition. Findings will …

Toward An Understanding Of Entrepreneurship Environment: The Case Of Puerto Rico, Moraima De Hoyos-Ruperto

Student Scholarship

This study aims to address the unexplained stagnant entrepreneurial environment in Puerto Rico despite average or above average entrepreneurial potential, capabilities, and intentions compared to other high-income countries. Analysis of interviews with public, private and civic sector leaders and both successful and less successful entrepreneurs suggest a pervasive lack of support for entrepreneurs from formal organizations charged with entrepreneurship development and a failure of entrepreneurs themselves to develop networks to support venture startup and sustainment.

The Role Of Transformational Leadership In Empowering Work Teams: A Diagnostic Study At The Oil Projects Company (Ministry Of Oil), Ali H. Altaee, Alyaa J. Mohammed

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

Focus of the research problem to study the interest of Oil Projects Company / Ministry of Oil to consolidate the notion of empowering the team & confidence through the senior leadership were tested the role of senior leadership promotion strategy to enable the group through the correlations & influence, So that we propose appropriate recommendations to address them & reached a search to several conclusions. Notably & a high level of transformational leadership at the level of sub-dimensions, Confirmed the results on the significant relationship between transformational leadership & empowerment of work teams which indicated that the application of ideas …

The Life Space Interview In Therapeutic Crisis Intervention: An Action Research Study On Its Implementation In A Suburban High School, Susan J. Flood

Education Doctoral

Students with emotional and behavioral disabilities experience less school success than any other subgroup of students. The educational system is the only institution mandated to serve children and youth with emotional disabilities; however, for approximately 51% of these students, the educational experience ends with the decision to drop out of school. For novice teachers, an early experience with a disruptive student can end their career, while even experienced teachers may feel daunted by student behavior. Educators are searching for more effective means of working with students with emotional needs whose unresolved conflicts can escalate into classroom disruption, lack of student …

Montana Kaimin, December 1, 2010, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

First Generation Hispanic High School Students Going To College: Experiences That Support Decisions And College Going Pathways, Norma Ibarra-Cantú

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In this study I examined the question: How do first generation Hispanic high school students decide to attend college? To understand how the students made college decisions and what supported their pursuit of college aspirations, I interviewed six Hispanic high school students from five different high schools in a south Texas-Mexico border town. Student participants were the first generation in their immediate family to graduate from high school and to consider going to college. I conducted qualitative open-ended interviews with each of the participants and used inductive multilayered analyses to identify how students made decisions to attend college and how …

Predicting College Student Classroom Performance With A Simple Metacomprehension Scale, Amber Lee Klein

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The present study investigated the relationship between college student metacomprehension and the error of predicted classroom performance. College student metacomprehension was evaluated using the Metacomprehension Scale (MCS) designed by Moore, Zabrucky, and Commander (1997a). Prior to an examination administered by a course instructor, covering course content, students predicted the percentage score he/she expected to achieve. The predicted score was subtracted from the obtained score generating an error score. It was hypothesized that error of predicted classroom performance is a function of student metacomprehension, as measured by the MCS. Results indicate the MCS was not a reliable indicator of student predicted …

Provide Visual Structure For Students With Asd, Tina Taylor

Faculty Publications

World renowned animal scientist and autism self-advocate Temple Grandin said, "People on the autism/Asperger spectrum have uneven skills. They are often good at one type of learning and bad at another. Educators need to work on building up the area of strength." She explains that three cognitive areas of strength are those who are visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, and word thinkers. Visual thinkers are more inclined to think in pictures rather than words. They may excel in graphic design, industrial design, animation, geometry, or trigonometry. Pattern thinkers have abstract visual thoughts where they can see patterns and relationships between numbers. …

Measured And Estimated Ground Reaction Forces For Multi-Segment Foot Models, Dustin A. Bruening, Kevin M. Cooney, Frank L. Buczek

Faculty Publications

Accurate measurement of ground reaction forces under discrete areas of the foot is important in the development of more advanced foot models, which can improve our understanding of foot and ankle function. To overcome current equipment limitations, a few investigators have proposed combining a pressure mat with a single force platform and using a proportionality assumption to estimate subarea shear forces and free moments. In this study, two adjacent force platforms were used to evaluate the accuracy of the proportionality assumption on a three segment foot model during normal gait. Seventeen right feet were tested using a targeted walking approach, …

Memory For Emotionally Provocative Words In Alexithymia: A Role For Stimulus Relevance, Mitchell Meltzer, Kristy A. Nielson

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Alexithymia is associated with emotion processing deficits, particularly for negative emotional information. However, also common are a high prevalence of somatic symptoms and the perception of somatic sensations as distressing. Although little research has yet been conducted on memory in alexithymia, we hypothesized a paradoxical effect of alexithymia on memory. Specifically, recall of negative emotional words was expected to be reduced in alexithymia, while memory for illness words was expected to be enhanced in alexithymia.

Eighty-five high or low alexithymia participants viewed and rated arousing illness-related ("pain"), emotionally positive ("thrill"), negative ("hatred"), and neutral words ("horse"). Recall was assessed 45 …

Families' Perspectives On The Effect Of Constipation And Fecal Incontinence On Quality Of Life, Astrida S. Kaugars, Alan Silverman, Margo Kinservik, Susan Heinze, Lisa Reinemann, Megan Sanders, Brian W. Schneider, Manu Sood

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Objectives: Understanding families' quality of life can be important for interdisciplinary treatment planning. The present study examined child and parent perspectives about how constipation and fecal incontinence affect families' quality of life.

Patients and Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 children/adolescents and 8 caregivers. All of the children met Rome II criteria for functional constipation. Interviews were analyzed by an interdisciplinary team using a content analysis approach, which included developing a coding manual that described emergent themes from the interview transcripts.

Results: Qualitative and quantitative responses revealed the varied experiences of participating families. Child and parent views may be …

Our Country Right Or Wrong: A Pragmatic Response To Anti-Democratic Cultural Nationalism In China, Sor-Hoon Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since Deng Xiaoping came into power, China has been described as pragmatic in its approach to politics and development, and in the nineties there has been a revival of interest in Chinese cultural tradition. What is the relation between these two phenomena? Do they coexist, separately in mutual indifference, or in tension? Has there been constructive engagement, or at the very least does the potential for such engagement exist? More specifically, what roles, if any, do they play in China's quest for democracy? Does Dewey's pragmatism have any relevance to China in the twenty-first century? The issue of cultural tradition …

Global Shifts, Theoretical Shifts: Changing Geographies Of Religion, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The paper evaluates the burst in geographical research on religion in the last decade. It examines: (1) the relative emphases and silences in analyses of different sites of religious practice, sensuous geographies, population constituents, religions, geographies and scales of analyses; (2) the rise in the discourse of postsecularization; and (3) four contemporary global shifts (growing urbanization and social inequality, deteriorating environments, ageing populations, and increasing human mobilities), the ways in which religion shapes human response to them, and the implications for new research agendas. © 2010 The Author(s).

An Assessment Of Faculty Job Satisfaction In Georgia's Technical College System Using Bolman And Deal's Four Organizational Frameworks, Samuel Bee Hart

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This research examined the extent to which elements within Bolman and Deal's (2003) four organizational frameworks impact the job satisfaction of full-time faculty working within the Technical College System of Georgia. A researcher developed survey instrument was made available to all full-time faculty members within the Technical College System of Georgia. A factor analysis coupled with a linear regression analysis found that elements within the structural framework had the greatest impact on full-time faculty job satisfaction followed by elements within the human resources, political, and symbolic frameworks respectively.

The Principal's Roles In Creating And Maintaining Working Conditions In Schools In Georgia, Sandra Wallace Nethels

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study examined principal's role in creating and maintaining working conditions in schools in Georgia. The researcher reviewed the literature related to the five major domains of teacher working conditions in schools. The five major domains were time: facilities and resources; teacher empowerment; leadership; and professional development. The study was conducted to understand how the principal created and maintained conditions conducive to support teachers. The design of the study was a case study with multiple sites on the role of leadership in school working conditions. The researcher interviewed three principals, conducted three focus group interviews with teachers from elementary, …

The Effect Of Early Maltreatment, Victimization, And Partner Violence On Hiv Risk Behavior Among Homeless Young Adults, Lisa A. Melander, Kimberly A. Tyler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to examine the relationship between child maltreatment, physical and sexual victimization, and partner violence victimization with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors among a sample of homeless young adults from the midwestern United States.
Methods: Data are from the Homeless Young Adult Project. A total of 199 young adults aged 19–26 years were interviewed over 14 months using a systematic sampling strategy. The final sample included 172 young adults who were homeless or had a history of running away and being homeless.
Results: Results from the path analysis revealed that sexual abuse is …

Exploring The Effects Of An Art Based Trauma Protocol With An Active Duty Police Officer Experiencing Symptoms Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Khaki Wieters

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

Because of repeated exposure to traumatic events as part of their job requirements, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is a common problem found among police officers. Although treatments in some agencies are limited, they can include, Critical Incident Stress Management, mandatory referrals to mental health professionals, and trained peer support. Art therapy is an efficient treatment for trauma because it bypasses defenses and aids in processing and integrating traumatic imagery by naturally connecting the brain’s right and left hemispheres. Police diagnosed with PTSD may benefit from art therapy since it can penetrate resistance and has proven effective for processing traumatic imagery.

This …

International Security Strategy And Global Population Aging, Christian Leuprecht

Journal of Strategic Security

To be successful, grand strategy requires objectives, concepts, and resources to be balanced appropriately with a view to defeating one’s enemy. The trouble is, of course, that Generals are always well prepared to fight the last war. In the words of Yogi Berra, predictions are always difficult, especially when they involve the future. Yet, grand strategy is all about the future. But how is one to strategize about a future that is inherently difficult to predict? One way to overcome this conundrum is to rely on independent variables that can be projected into the future with reasonable accuracy. Aside from …

Devolving Jihadism, Aaron Rosler

Journal of Strategic Security

The danger and effectiveness of religiously motivated terrorist organizations is undeniable. However, a different type of threat is on the rise on the global playing field as a result of the ongoing operations against these organizations. "Devolved" jihadism, Islamist terrorism conducted by native, amateur, untrained and unfunded individuals, or small ad hoc groups, has recently garnered headlines and the attention of terrorists and counterterrorists alike. These devolved jihadist operations are planned and carried out by native members of a country's populace, radicalized in their home country, resulting in the interchangeable monikers of "homegrown" or "grassroots" jihadism.

"I Unsex'd My Dress": Lord Byron's Seduction Of Gender In "The Corsair", "Lara", And "Don Juan", Alexis Spiceland Lee

Dissertations

The goal of this project is to posit a theory of how Byron’s texts, specifically through the development of his hero, construct gender and sexuality as styles of seduction that resist easy classification by binary systems. I propose that Byron’s works characterize gender through ironic performances of seduction that, because they reveal that binary structures lack a stable core, dissolve systemic differentiation and thus fatally complicate any attempt to force the individual into rigid categories of gender or sexual identity. Byron’s works deploy seduction as a tactic of ironic representation of both gender and sexual practice that is necessarily multiplicitous …

The Impact Of Self-Efficacy And Motivation Characteristics On The Academic Achievement Of Upward Bound Participants, Brenda Leigh Brown

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of self-efficacy and motivation characteristics on the achievement of at-risk students. Seventy-nine Upward Bound program participants completed self-efficacy, motivation, and demographic questionnaires. The relationship between GPA and self-efficacy was significant, negative, and low in strength. High GPA was associated with high self-efficacy (as shown by lower numbers on the survey). Gender, length of time in the Upward Bound (UB) program, length of participation in the UB summer program, college sponsor (community or four-year college), self-efficacy characteristics, and motivation characteristics significantly predicted academic achievement as measured by GPA. The relationship between …

Recasting Genre In Tennessee Williams's Apprentice Plays, Christina Ilona Hunter

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates Tennessee Williams’s earliest full-length plays, also known as the apprentice plays—Candles to the Sun, Fugitive Kind, Not About Nightingales, Spring Storm, and Stairs to the Roof—by comparing, contrasting and contextualizing them in relation to Daniel Chandler’s generic criteria of drama; namely, narrative, characterization, setting, topics, iconography, and staging techniques. The present study also draws upon an extensive body of scholarship pertaining to genre theory, Williams’s cultural contemporaries, and the historical and psychological backdrop of Depression-era America. In these early plays, Williams diverged sharply from the dramatic generic conventions of his day, manipulating them in new …