Digital Commons Network^™

Examining An Adult Education Partnership Through A Positive Organizational Lens, Lewis H. Burke Jr

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This companion dissertation reports the findings of applied case study research on four community college organizational units that consistently meet or exceed standard performance measures. In addition, prior ample evidence confirms that performance extended significantly beyond what might be explained by available tangible resources alone. The case study contexts are common in higher education in general: a) an external partnership, (b) an ad hoc team, (c) a traditional, cross-divisional service unit, and (d) a grant-funded student service unit.

Emerging positive organizational theory and research show promise for revealing performance-influencing phenomena and behaviors that are not adequately represented in standard measures. …

The Influence Of Race And Socioeconomic Status On Routine Screening Practices Of Physician Assistants, Deshana Ann Collett

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Health disparities in minorities and those of low socioeconomic status persist despite efforts to eliminate potential causes. Differences in the delivery of services can result in different healthcare outcomes and therefore, a health disparity. Some of this difference in care may attribute to discrimination resulting from clinical biases and stereotyping which may provide a possible source for the persistence of health disparities. Health disparities may occur because the delivery of services at some level is inadequate. Disparities resulting from the quality and quantity of care delivered by a practitioner result in differentiated delivery of healthcare, thus unequal health outcomes. The …

Validation And Descriptive Analysis Of The System For Observing Dance Activities In The Classroom Environment (Sodance), Meredith E. Sims

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

The first part of this study sought to validate the System for Observing Dance Activities in the Classroom Environment (SODANCE) based off the System for Observing Fitness Instructional Time (SOFIT). Female students age 11-17 years (N=42) participated in an activity protocol of SOFIT activities and common dance activities to validate appropriate coding categories. Each student wore a heart rate monitor and accelerometer while participating in the activities lying, sitting, standing, walking, running, single leg balances, leg swings, pirouettes, and leaps. Heart rate, maximum heart rate percentage, heart rate reserve percentage, vertical axis accelerometer counts, and vector magnitude accelerometer counts for …

A Positive Approach Toward Unit Functioning In Higher Education, Susan T. Berry

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This companion dissertation reports the findings of applied case study research on four community college organizational units that consistently meet or exceed standard performance measures. In addition, prior ample evidence confirms that performance extended significantly beyond what might be explained by available tangible resources alone. The case study contexts are common in higher education in general: a) an external partnership, (b) an ad hoc team, (c) a traditional, cross-divisional service unit, and (d) a grant-funded student service unit.

Emerging positive organizational theory and research show promise for revealing performance-influencing phenomena and behaviors that are not adequately represented in standard measures. …

The Use Of A Narrative Simulation In Rural Residential Fire Prevention: A Preliminary Study Of Changes In Behavioral Intention, William Clark Goetz

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

Rural Kentucky residents suffer twice as many fire residential deaths than the national average. Fire prevention programs are primarily aimed at elementary school children however these children do not make the decisions nor take the precautions necessary to alter these conditions; their adult parents do. There is little research into the development of fire safety instructional interventions that need to reach these rural at-risk adults. In this study, a well-designed story simulation Uncle Charlie’s Christmas was developed to provide an instructional intervention to prevent injury and fatality from rural residential fires.
An intervention-control repeated measure research design was conducted to …

The Effect Of Augmented Reality Treatment On Learning, Cognitive Load, And Spatial Visualization Abilities, Nedim Slijepcevic

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

This study investigated the effects of Augmented Reality (AR) on learning, cognitive load and spatial abilities. More specifically, it measured learning gains, perceived cognitive load, and the role spatial abilities play with students engaged in an astronomy lesson about lunar phases. Research participants were 182 students from a public university in southeastern United States, and were recruited from psychology research pool. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: (a) Augmented Reality and Text Astronomy Treatment (ARTAT); and (b) Images and Text Astronomy Treatment (ITAT). Upon entering the experimental classroom, participants were given (a) Paper Folding Test to measure their spatial …

Experiences Of Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students: An Exploratory Phenomenological Study, Anysia J. Ensslen

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

Within the past decade little research has been conducted in the United States to examine the preparedness of beginning speech-language pathologists; the seminal article used for this research study comes from the United Kingdom (Horton, Byng, Bunning, & Pring, 2004). Literature from the past few decades indicates that there may be deficiencies in the way that beginning speech-language pathologists are being trained clinically.

The review of the literature suggests that the field may lack a clear and broadly supported learning theory or framework for the clinical supervision and training of speech-language pathology graduate students. The literature further supports the importance …

Support Services And Programmatic Interventions Four-Year Institutions Have In Place To Assist And Graduate Students With Low Academic Credentials: A Mixed Methods Study, Nada El Majzoub

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

This mixed methods study investigates the influence of student characteristics and institutional support services and interventions on graduation rates. Regression analysis was conducted using a dataset constructed from multiple publically available resources to estimate graduation rates. Regression results showed High School Grade Point Average to be the highest estimator of graduation rates, among other student and institutional characteristics. The results confirmed existing findings on the influence of student pre-college and demographic characteristics on graduation rates for students with academic needs. Content analysis of survey data from office of support service personnel at public four-year institutions shows institutions implement a wide …

Measuring Transformational Leadership In Athletic Training: A Comparative Analysis, Kristan M. Yates

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

The purpose of this study was to measure the construct of transformational leadership among athletic training academicians and clinicians. Additionally, this study sought to determine whether perspectives regarding transformational leadership were the same or different based on full-time vocational roles. Finally, this study introduced a methodology for survey data analysis relatively unknown in athletic training research circles. Participants included athletic training education program directors as well as individuals in leadership roles at the state, district, and national level.

Strategies Under Stress: How Senior Student Affairs Officers Are Managing In The Midst Of Institutional Retrenchment, Christopher Thuringer

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Higher education had been one of the highest funding priorities in most states, however, in recent years, governors and state legislators have focused their efforts in higher education on cutting budgets to deal with historic gaps in revenue. As a result, university administrators have been challenged to modify their institutions’ academic programs, administrative units, and student affairs operations to contain costs and increase revenue. This study examined the extent of financial challenges faced in student affairs divisions at four-year, state-supported institutions during the period between 2008 and 2012 and the strategies utilized by senior student affairs officers to manage them. …

Positive Workplace Dynamics: A Qualitative Exploration Of Exceptional Performance In Community College Units, R. Michael Stapleton

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

In this companion dissertation findings are reported of applied case study research on four community college organizational units that consistently meet or exceed standard performance measures. Ample prior evidence confirmed that performance extended significantly beyond what might be explained by available tangible resources alone. The case study contexts are common in higher education in general: a) an external partnership, (b) an ad hoc team, (c) a traditional, cross-divisional service unit, and (d) a grant-funded student service unit.

Emerging positive organizational theory and research shows promise for revealing performance-influencing phenomena and behaviors that are not adequately represented in standard measures. Therefore, …

Behavioral Intentions And Nonmedical Anabolic Steroid Use Among Non Intercollegiate Athlete Males Ages 18-30, Vitesh Enaker

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of factors associated with nonmedical anabolic steroid use among males ages 18-30 who do not participate in intercollegiate athletics. The Behavioral Intentions and Ergogenic Aid/Performance Enhancer use among non-intercollegiate athlete males survey instrument was developed, reviewed for content validity by a jury of experts, and pilot tested. The pilot testing results (n=25) demonstrated acceptable reliability (Cronbach’s alpha= 0.74). The final version of the Behavioral Intentions and Ergogenic Aid/Performance Enhancer use among non-intercollegiate athlete males survey instrument was administered at two distribution sites which included Ford’s Fitness Center in Lexington, Kentucky and …

The Challenges “Facing” Copyright Protection For Tattoos, Yolanda M. King

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

This Article addresses the ambiguity regarding the legal protectability of tattoos and the negative impact such ambiguity has on the rights of tattoo artists and their clients/customers. Notwithstanding the lack of federal court decisions in this area of the law, this Article determines that tattoos meet the requirements of copyrightability in the United States—originality and fixation in a tangible medium of expression. This Article examines the challenges presented by providing copyright protection for tattoos. In particular, this Article responds to the expert testimony of Professor David Nimmer, the author of a treatise often cited in the field of copyright law, …

Employee Reactions To Job Insecurity In A Declining Economy: A Longitudinal Study Of The Mediating Role Of Job Embeddedness., Wendy M. Murphy, James P. Burton, Stephanie C. Henagan, Jon P. Briscoe

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

In the context of the Great Recession, we examined the relationships among perceptions of job insecurity, job embeddedness, and important individual work outcomes. Specifically, we tested the role of job embeddedness as a mediator between job insecurity and the withdrawal outcomes of intention to remain and job search behavior. Results of a longitudinal study of 115 working adults indicated that perceptions of job embeddedness fully mediated the relationship between perceptions of job insecurity and intention to remain and partially mediated job insecurity’s relationship with job search behavior.

Ain't I Cool: Investigating The Lived Experience Of Cool For Black Male Collegians, Kyle Nathaniel Boone

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of cool for Black male college students. Cool, defined as a means to navigate cross-cultural structures, serves as Black men’s acknowledgement of, and response to, the rules of their self-identified cultural group when confronted by dominant racial, gendered, and/or class hegemonies. Results of this study note that cool is a major part of the fabric in the identity development of Black males and is contextualized through environmental factors. For this study, four theoretical frameworks were used to understand Black male cool: Phinney’s (1989) Ethnic Development Model, 2) Performance Theory …

Critical Race Empiricism: A New Means To Measure Civil Procedure, Victor D. Quintanilla

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article reflects the second phase in a research line examining the effects of highly subjective pleading rules, specifically, Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009), and was an invited contribution to a symposium, which explored the intersection of empirical legal methods and critical race theory. In this phase, I updated the empirical legal analysis in a prior article, Beyond Common Sense: A Social Psychological Study of Iqbal’s Effect on Claims of Race Discrimination, 17 Michigan Journal of Race and Law 1 (2011), in three ways. First, I lengthened the time horizon from 18 months to 24 months, increasing the …

The Creation Of "Trash The Dress" : A Solo Play, Kristina Sutton

LSU Master's Theses

The thesis project called for the MFA candidate to create a one-person show of originality and entertainment between 25 minutes and 45 minutes in length. This thesis, submitted to the Graduate School of Louisiana State University as partial requirement for graduation with the Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre, follows the creation of a solo performance piece by Kristina Sutton, called “Trash the Dress.” The thesis includes inspiration for creating this solo performance piece, initial correspondence between the MFA candidate and consultants, research material and a copy of the script, personal reflection on writing and rehearsal challenges, photos from …

Multi-Informant Investigation Of College Student Drinking Behaviors And Social Anxiety : The Role Of Perceived Descriptive And Injunctive Norms, Anthony H. Ecker

LSU Master's Theses

Problematic alcohol use in college is a major public health concern. Identification of variables related to development of alcohol-related problems is an important research goal. Social anxiety and perceived social norms are two such variables. Social anxiety is associated with concurrent experience of alcohol-related problems and development of future problems with alcohol. Perceived norms, especially norms related to perceived approval of risky alcohol use (i.e., injunctive norms), are related to greater drinking problems among college students with higher social anxiety. College students typically overestimate the amount that other students in general use alcohol, and the discrepancy between perceived and actual …

Against Neorehabilitation, Jessica M. Eaglin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In the face of severe budget constraints, bipartisan calls for reform, dropping crime rates, and judicial intervention, states are seriously considering and implementing criminal justice reform to manage prison populations for the first time in three decades. Scholars agree that states need a guiding theory to transform emergency and short-term reforms into a long-term shift in policy and practice away from mass incarceration. Numerous scholars advocate for a return to an improved theory of rehabilitation to guide the states in implementing such reform. This return-through neorehabilitation, or the rehabilitation of rehabilitation-centers on the use of evidence-based programming and predictive tools …

Empirical Fallacies Of Evidence Law: A Critical Look At The Admission Of Prior Sex Crimes, Aviva A. Orenstein, Tamara Rice Lave

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In a significant break with traditional evidence rules and policies, Federal Rules of Evidence 413-414 allow jurors to use the accused's prior sexual misconduct as evidence of character and propensity to commit the sex crime charged. As reflected in their legislative history, these propensity rules rest on the assumption that sexual predators represent a small number of highly deviant and recidivistic offenders. This view of who commits sex crimes justified the passage of the sex-crime propensity rules and continues to influence their continuing adoption among the states and the way courts assess such evidence under Rule 403. In depending on …

The Effects Of Parent Factors On Children's Separation Anxiety, Anna Catherine May

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Parental anxiety is a well-known factor that contributes to the development of anxiety in children. However, little is known about how specific parental factors influence the development and trajectory of childhood anxiety. There is also a paucity of research on separation anxiety disorder specifically. Complicating matters, children who suffer from clinically significant separation anxiety tend to be younger and thus it is harder to obtain accurate information from this age group. The purpose of the present study was to determine the mechanism through which parental factors such as somatization, anxiety sensitivity, and separation anxious behaviors might influence the development of …

I Died I Lived : Shaping An Ecological Balance, Shelby Prindaville

LSU Master's Theses

I Died I Lived: Shaping an Ecological Balance is a body of work about our tenuous ecological situation and the power humanity has to preserve or destroy it. Through a broad range of two- and three-dimensional media, my installation transforms the gallery into an environment that demonstrates the enrichment nature delivers and the compensatory responsibility we have to conserve that experience.

Exploration Of Comorbid Psychopathology Symptoms In Infants And Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Matthew Jason Konst

LSU Master's Theses

One area of research in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) involves efforts to better understand symptom manifestation at earlier points in an individual’s life. Researchers have consistently emphasized the importance of early intervention for children with an ASD, but the determination of the most efficacious treatment approach is often established on a case-by-case basis by taking into consideration an individual’s specific needs. The need for such individualized treatment approaches is accentuated by the high prevalence of comorbid psychopathology within the ASD population. The study of comorbid disorders among young children with ASDs has been hindered by a lack …

Minding The Gap : A Rhetorical History Of The Achievement Gap, Laura Elizabeth Jones

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Minding the Gap: A Rhetorical History of the Achievement Gap arose as an inquiry into the rhetorical congestion around the phrase achievement gap in public discourse. Having been used in support of multiple, often competing, education agendas, the phrase seems versatile almost to the point of emptiness, and yet it seemingly retains its persuasive power. Examining the history of the phrase, I reveal that the notion of the achievement gap is rooted in the logic of segregation and the rhetoric of disability, and serves to construct students in ways that paradoxically undermine efforts to expand access to educational opportunity. Although …

An Analysis Of Consumer Preferences For Grass-Fed Versus Grain-Fed Beef, Bo Lin

LSU Master's Theses

As a consequence of the growing concerns about human health and the environment, consumers are becoming more interested in grass-fed beef than conventional grain-fed beef. Therefore, the study of consumers’ preference towards grass-fed versus grain-fed beef steak is the focus of research. In this paper, 2,000 respondents who indicate they have eaten grass fed beef in the past years and 2,000 respondents that complete a nationally representative sample is the general population. Conjoint analysis is utilized to analyze the preference of consumers. Participants are presented ten hypothetical beef steaks to rate. All steaks are identical excluding their product type, source …

Documenting Postural Changes And Repetition Among Violin Players And Their Influence In The Development Of Musculoskeletal Disorders, Cristina Handal

LSU Master's Theses

The objective of this study was to document the changes in posture and the number of wrist and forearm repetitions among violin/viola players during an experiment session to attempt to understand the development of musculoskeletal disorders. Also, the perception of discomfort and pain felt by the violin/viola players in the past and the number that had been diagnosed with a disorder was documented. Finally, possible correlations were calculated between pain/discomfort with variables like the number of years playing the violin, hours of practice/day, frequency of pain, gender, and dominant hand and among different pain/discomfort variables (pain/discomfort before the experiment, after …

An Analysis Of The Allocation Of Fema Public Assistance Funds Along The U.S. Gulf Coast Following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, And Wilma, Pamela Camille Golden

LSU Master's Theses

Due to the effects of global climate change, natural disasters such as hurricanes are increasing in terms of both intensity and frequency. During the record-breaking hurricane season of 2005, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma struck the U. S. Gulf Coast, affecting areas from Texas to Florida and causing billions of dollars in damage. This study examines the allocation of FEMA Public Assistance across the affected Gulf of Mexico states, what factors account for variation in in assistance allocation, what are the priorities for recovery among county leaders and what obstacles they have encountered since 2005. This study includes 136 counties …

Characterization Of The Effect Of Alcohol On Recombinant Proteins Derived From Mammalian Adenylyl Cyclase, Emily Qualls Creekmore

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research suggests that the cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling pathway is implicated in the development of alcoholism. Previous work in our laboratory has demonstrated that alcohol enhances the activity of adenylyl cyclase (AC) in an isoform specific manner; human type 7 AC (AC7) is most enhanced by ethanol as measured by cAMP accumulation assay in whole cells. We hypothesize that alcohol enhances AC activity by directly interacting with the protein and that alcohol effects on AC can be studied using recombinant AC expressed in bacteria. Our objectives include: 1) design and optimization of the conditions for protein expression and protein purity …

Discrimination Of Sexual Minorities And Plans To Relocate, Margaret H. Smith

LSU Master's Theses

LGBTQ individuals make relocation decisions with their sexual orientation and gender identity in mind (Gorman-Murray, 2007). The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between non-violent discrimination faced by LGBTQ individuals and whether or not those individuals have future plans to relocate. A literature review of LGBTQ discrimination and LGBTQ relocation is discussed, and a secondary data analysis was conducted on a sample of LGBTQ individuals who participated in a quality-of-life survey. All hypotheses were supported except the hypothesis that analyzed anti-LGBTQ discrimination and its association with time until relocation. Results indicated that experiencing anti-LGBTQ nonviolent discrimination was …

Metacognitive Awareness : Impact Of A Metacognitive Intervention In A Pre-Nursing Course, Bronwyn Perry Doyle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

To function effectively as nurses in the evolving, complex healthcare system, nursing students must learn to be skilled thinkers, know how to learn, and know how to use what they know in novel situations. Research in the field of metacognition may offer a useful framework to improve learning and to enhance critical thinking and clinical decision-making in nursing students. The purpose of this study is to describe how pre-nursing students’ self-reported metacognitive awareness correlates with age and academic variables and to explore the effects of a metacognitive intervention on students’ metacognitive awareness. Using a quasi-experimental research design, the study consisted …