Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Mergers On Those Left Behind - Maintaining Employee Engagement After Merger-Based Restructuring In A Financial Services Firm, Victoria L. Basinger

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study explored the impact of organizational restructuring on associate engagement in a financial services firm due to a merger. It determined how much weight interpersonal relationships carry on associate opinions of the new organization, and what the new organization can do to reduce uncertainty and re-engage their newly acquired associates. The literature review looked at Uncertainty Reduction Theory, Belongingness and principles from Social Information Processing Theory to identify solutions for a decrease in engagement. A survey distributed to all associates at a financial services firm that recently underwent a merger yielded data for this study, as did five individual …

Leading Higher Education Organizations: The Role Of Humor, Peggy E. Collins

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

The role of humor in life is an important one. Though important, few people can explain humor, and can only describe instances of humor. This qualitative study was based on three common communication theories relative to humor: incongruity, relief, and superiority. Senior academic leaders discussed their particular use of humor and their leadership styles through semi-structured interviews. Examination of humor theories and leadership styles revealed a mix of leadership styles (transformational and transactional), and a blending of humor styles, with an emphasis on self-deprecating humor. Humor is a potentially critical communication skill, and a leadership skill. It is also likely …

Identifying And Preventing Cyberbullying Among Adolescents, Matthew Michael Keller

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This project examines the ways adolescent children use the internet to pick on peers; look at ways this so-called “cyberbullying” mirrors traditional schoolyard bullying; and postulate ways to stop the violence. After reports of cyberbullying began appearing in the mainstream media from around the United States, it became imperative to find more detailed and scientific information about this phenomenon. Information from the Cyberbullying Research Center (2004) showed that more than 20 percent of children had been harassed online in 2010. With this type of growth, it is important to identify what makes a person become a cyberbully and more importantly, …

Using Interpersonal Communication And Social Penetration As A Means Of Strengthening Mentorships In High Schools, Jonathan Max Dashner

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Mentoring is an educational process wherein a more experienced person takes time and invests it in a less experienced person in guiding that person in areas of professional life, academic life, and personal life. In today’s high schools, students need teachers to guide them through both their academic lives and also their tumultuous personal lives. Through the Phenomenological Tradition, teachers can mentor students by sharing their stories and listening to the stories of their mentee students. By utilizing social penetration, teacher mentors, through the use of interpersonal communication skills, learn more about their students’ personal lives while divulging more of …

The Institutionalization Of Minority Students In Education, Andrea P. Garibay

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Child Abuse In Foster Care: Risk Factors, Magali Sanchez-Gomez

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Sustainability Package Advertising On Consumer Purchases, Ronald Ringler

Graphic Communication

This research project focused on factors influencing consumers’ purchasing behavior. Specifically, the project focused on sustainability of packaging and attempted to find if sustainability of a package (represented by post-consumer content) affected a consumer’s decision to buy that product. The specific question asked was: “Are consumers willing to purchase a product based on the environmental friendliness of its package even if it goes against the consumer’s brand preference, or if it has a higher price point than competing products?” Research data was gathered through a multi-page survey comprised of seven questions of varying complexity. Participants were primarily aged 18-25 and …

Exploration Of Physical Computing: Digital Interfaces Using Microsoft Kinect And Peggy 2 Led Matrix, Jeffrey Franklin

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

Physical computing, or more specifically social immersive media, is an offshoot of New Media that incorporates interactive physical systems (software/hardware systems) to sense and respond to the analog world. This serves as a creative framework for understanding our own relationship to the digital world. In this project, computer vision is incorporated as a medium between both input and output through the use of two cameras, a typical webcam and a Microsoft Kinect. For the first part of the project, a webcam streams visual data into a computer program which interpolates the video data into a 25x25 virtual dot matrix. This …

Exploring The Factors Affecting The Perceived Program Quality Of International Sports Education Programs: The Case Of A Chinese Sports University, Luke Lunhua Mao, James Zhang

Journal of Applied Marketing Theory

This study explored and tested factors affecting the perceived quality of international sports education provisions in the context of a Chinese sports university. Based on a comprehensive literature review, on-site observations, interviews with students and administrators, and a test of content validity by a panel of experts, a questionnaire was developed and administered to 61 international students attending a sports university in China. An exploratory factor analysis produced five factors related to perceived program quality, with 22 items retained (i.e., leaning environment, service orientation, administrative professionalism, content assurance, and academic growth). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that these program quality factors …

The Pragmatic Role Of Code-Switching And Simultaneous Production During Play Contexts Of Bimodal Bilingual Hearing Children Of Deaf Parents, John R. Hanson

Theses

It is difficult, if not impossible to find another code-switching condition that allows for the production of "simultaneous" language use in communication like that which is found in bimodal bilingualism. In 2002, Bauer, Hall, and Kruth conducted a study that examined code-switching in a play context for a German/English bilingual child. Emmorey, Borinstein, and Thomson in 2005 investigated bimodal bilingualism in adults. However there has not been a study like these for hearing children using ASL/English who have Deaf parents. By applying Bauer, Hall, and Kruth's study as a template for research into code-switching and adapting some of the processes …

Study Of Particle Swarm For Optimal Power Flow In Ieee Benchmark Systems Including Wind Power Generators, Mohamed A. Abuella

Theses

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Mohamed A. Abuella, for the Master of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, presented on May 10, 2012, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE:STUDY OF PARTICLE SWARM FOR OPTIMAL POWER FLOW IN IEEE BENCHMARK SYSTEMS INCLUDING WIND POWER GENERATORS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. C. Hatziadoniu, The aim of this thesis is the optimal economic dispatch of real power in systems that include wind power. The economic dispatch of wind power units is quite different of conventional thermal units. In addition, the consideration should take the intermittency nature of wind speed and operating constraints as …

Understanding Reading Through The Eyes Of Third-Grade Struggling Readers, Christine Elizabeth Wiggs

Dissertations

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF CHRISTINE E. WIGGS, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in EDUCATION, presented on October 19, 2012, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: UNDERSTANDING READING THROUGH THE EYES OF THIRD-GRADE STRUGGLING READERS MAJOR PROFESSORS: Dr. Marla H. Mallette / Dr. Lynn C. Smith Within the vast research base on struggling readers, very few studies address the nature of struggling readers from their own perspectives; that is, how struggling readers experience reading instruction. The purpose of this qualitative case study research was to gain a deeper understanding of how three third-grade struggling readers viewed themselves as …

2012 Manufacturers Safety Management System Pilot Project Report Design And Manufacturing Organizations, Jeff Duven, Linda Navarro, David Hempe, Alan J. Stolzer

Publications

In October, 2009, the Aircraft Certification Service (AIR) chartered a team to conduct the Manufacturers' Safety Management Systems (MSMS) pilot project. The pilot project began in January, 2011, and encourages voluntary implementation of Safety Management Systems (SMS) among aviation Design and Manufacturing (D&M) organizations in order to allow the FAA to assess how to provide oversight of these systems. Eleven companies representing the breadth of organizations that AIR oversees participated.

The MSMS pilot project culminated in December, 2012. Information, results, and lessons learned from the pilot project were captured via the MSMS Teams' final deliverable to AIR-150. The report was …

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Alters Histamine H3 Receptor Modulation Of Glutamate Release And Long-Term Potentiation In The Rat Dentate Gyrus, Rafael Koerich Varaschin

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder exhibit long lasting behavioral impairments, such as learning disabilities, problems in executive functioning and memory deficits. Currently, there are no rationally designed, clinically available pharmacological tools to circumvent prenatal alcohol-induced cognitive deficits. Recently, using a rat model of voluntary drinking during pregnancy, Savage and collaborators (2010) showed that the inverse agonist of histamine H3 receptors reverses fetal ethanol-induced deficits in learning and memory, without further increasing cognition in control rats. These differential effects and the notion that H3 receptors reside in presynaptic nerve terminals to inhibit neurotransmitter release, led to the hypothesis that fetal …

Reframing The Mediation Lens: The Call For A Situational Style Of Mediation, Tanya M. Marcum, Charles R. Stoner, Sandra J. Perry

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

Child custody mediation can have a positive impact on the parties involved in mediation as well as on the process of settlement itself.  The process of mediation focuses the parties on the needs of the children and helps the parents to be realistic in their expectations regarding custody and visitation of the children.  Mediators realize the importance of listening carefully to the parties involved in the custody dispute.  This article looks at three distinct groups of mediators involved in child custody mediation in the state of Illinois, the mediators perceived mediation styles, and their actual mediation styles.  As a result, …

Music Therapy And Quality Of Life: The Effects Of Musical Interventions On Self-Reported And Caregiver-Reported Quality Of Life In Older Adults With Symptoms Of Dementia, Alisha Snyder

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of music therapy on the quality of life of people with symptoms of dementia. Both self-reported and caregiver-reported quality of life scores were recorded before and after an eight-week treatment period. A control group of discussion and an experimental group of music therapy were included in the study, with a sample size of N = 13. Analysis of the data was done with t tests. No statistical significance was found when comparing the average quality of life scores in the discussion group or the music therapy group from pretest to …

Leadership In Building Communities: Walnut Hills, Fitz Center For Leadership In Community, University Of Dayton

Dayton Neighborhood Studies

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Pause Duration On Intelligibility Of Non-Native Spontaneous Oral Discourse, Ryan Frederick Lege

Theses and Dissertations

Pausing is a natural part of human speech. Pausing is used to segment speech, negotiate meaning, and allow for breathing. In oral speech, pausing, along with other suprasegmental features, plays a critical role in creating meaning as comprehensible speech is seen as a goal for language learners around the world. In order to be comprehensible, language learners need to learn to pause correctly in their speaking. Though this notion is widely accepted by applied linguists and many language teachers, the effect of pausing on intelligibility of spontaneous oral discourse has not been established by empirical data. This study isolates pause …

The Relationship Between Delay Discounting & Exploitation Behavior, Kaylyn J. Johnson, Rock Lim, Amanda R. Merner, Heath A. Demaree

Intersections Fall 2020

Individuals make decisions about whether or not they will explore or exploit their environment every day, but it is unclear how impulsivity, or an individual's rate of delay discounting, impacts this decision. It is hypothesized that individuals with higher rates of delay discounting exhibit more exploitative behaviors. Participants in this study were given the 27-item Monetary Choice Questionnaire asking them to choose between receiving a small reward immediately or a larger reward at a later time to measure their rate of delay discounting. High levels of delay discounting occurred when individuals preferred smaller, immediate rewards. Low levels of delay discounting …

Does Gamified Training Increase Job Performance? A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Bao Ho, Brooke Macnamara

Intersections Fall 2020

Gamification is the application of game elements such as badges, points, leaderboards, to a nongame area of activity. The corporate setting has burgeoned in incorporating gamification into areas such as recruitment, training, and marketing with established corporations reported to have success in gamifying their business. However, the current literature report mixed results on whether gamified training could lead to an improvement in performance. This article attempts to summarize the current state of gamified training and its effectiveness by conducting a meta-analysis on the subject. Although an effect size was calculated, the result was unreliable due to a lack of papers …

Avataraudiometer: An Online Simulation Platform For Pure-Tone Audiometry, Daniel Weidman, Lauren Calandruccio

Intersections Fall 2020

Simulation education for medical and health professional training bridges classroom learning and training in a clinical environment. Its use has been increasing over the past two decades. Guidance to avoid in-person contact due to SARS-CoV-2 has further increased demand. Pure-tone audiometry is part of an audiometric test battery used to evaluate the auditory system. At Case Western Reserve University, students typically learn to conduct audiometry in COSI 370: Introduction to Audiology. Under current pandemic circumstances, students are unable to gain in-person experience using standard hardware (an audiometer and calibrated headphones). AvatarAudiometer solves this problem via an interactive online tool that …

A Simplified Approach To Quantifying A Child's Bilingual Language Experience, Isabella Beninate

Intersections Fall 2020

There is an increasing need to accurately and efficiently describe a bilingual child's dynamic linguistic experience during audiological evaluations. This report documents an approach at qualitatively capturing linguistic exposure and usage information in a time-efficient manner. A well-known pediatric bilingual survey was administered to 83 parents of bilingual children, obtaining information on the child's exposure (input) to and usage (output) of Spanish and English on an hourly basis (17 time frames) during a typical weekday and weekend. Parents also completed a questionnaire that obtains demographic information of the child and family, parent-rated language proficiency of the child, and a family …

The Influence Of Reduced Speech Signal Audibility On Masked-Speech Recognition For Young Adults With Normal Hearing, Alyssa Liusie, Peter A. Calandruccio

Intersections Fall 2020

Challenging communication environments, in which listeners must recognize and comprehend the target speech of interest amongst acoustic background competition, are prevalent in everyday life. Older adults with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), which occurs due to inner ear or neural pathway damage, are known to have significant difficulty hearing in such environments, and especially those with competing background talkers present (such as in noisy restaurants). Previous work in the Speech and Auditory Research (SpAR) laboratory has indicated that older adults with SNHL have deficits using prosodic contour differences (i.e., intonation differences) between target and masker speech to improve target speech recognition, …

The Effects Of Personality, Conformity, And Online Dating Platforms On The Perceptions Of Sexual Attraction Amongst Young Adults, Anil Nayak

Intersections Fall 2020

The process of dating has changed significantly in the past three decades. This has left people, especially young adults, confused, and unsure of what has changed or how to act. This literature review aims to explain the factors that have caused the "dating game" to change in regards to perceptions of sexual attraction, mainly the shift of personality preferences away from evolutionary characteristics, the decrease in conformity in today's society, and the recent rise of online dating. A brief overview of the timeless evolutionary factors, which have affected attraction for centuries, will set the stage for how these factors are …

Recovery Among Homeless Populations With Severe Mental Illness And Substance Use Disorders, Abigail M. Cross

Intersections Fall 2020

Homelessness among persons with severe mental illness (SMI) and co-occurring substance use disorders (SUD) is a prominent social issue in the United States today. Not only do persons with SMI make up a significant portion of the overall homeless population, SUDs make it more difficult for them to recover successfully. Recovery among these populations is multi-faceted, and all aspects of recovery should be accounted for so that this population has the best chance to succeed. There are a number of programs in place that attempt to place persons with SMI and SUD into housing while providing treatment, including Permanent Supportive …

The Relationship Between Behavioral Inhibition System Sensitivity And Neuroticism, Yuhan Zhang, Rock Lim, Amanda R. Merner, Heath A. Demaree

Intersections Fall 2020

Neuroticism is one of the dimensions of the Big Five personality model that measures different personality traits. Individuals who score high on the scale of neuroticism are more likely to experience negative emotions such as anxiety or fear, and these individuals are prone to lacking adaptive coping skills when dealing with stressors (Widiger, 2009). Another method to better appreciate differences in personality is known as the Behavioral Inhibition/Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS). Higher BIS scores are associated with increased sensitivity to punishments and increased experience of negative emotions such as anxiety and guilt (Carver &White, 1994). The relationship between neuroticism and …

A Motivated Workforce: A Mixed Methods Study Of Worker Motivation At A Nebraska Manufacturing Company, Kevin Wesley

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The study of worker motivation and human motivation in general, has been the focus of psychologists, sociologists, behavioral scientists, and leadership theorists for more than a century. An understanding of the factors that motivate workers is critical not only to corporate executives who concentrate on the bottom line, but more importantly to the security of our nation as it relates to competing in the global market. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to examine worker motivation in a Nebraska manufacturing company. A pragmatist worldview informs the convergent parallel design of this study, which consists of a qualitative strand using …

Effets Du Sida Sur La Côte D'Ivoire Et Stratégies Culturellement Pertinentes Pour En Prévenir La Propagation, Austin Lawry

The Kennesaw Tower Undergraduate Foreign Language Research Journal

Côte D’Ivoire remains a vital case in the fight against AIDS proliferation due to its status as one of the most centralized and influential state in West Africa. This paper analyzes the unique case that Côte D’Ivoire presents socially, economically and politically and how an effective and comprehensive prevention program must incorporate these three dimensions. Particular attention is given to the impact of recent cultural shifts in understanding HIV/AIDS, the Migrant Labor Thesis, the costs of the disease, and the role of war. Finally, through integrating these unique dimensions with the problems reported by existing AIDS prevention programs, several solutions …

Guidelines For Child Protection Mediation, Kelly Browe Olson Co-Editor

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Southern Alumni, Siu Alumni Association

SIU Alumni Magazine

No abstract provided.