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Turn That Frown Upside Down: The Experience Of Higher Education Faculty Moving From Disillusionment To Vitality, Robert J. Martin

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined the journey of six higher education faculty

members who encountered a state of professional disillusionment in their careers but later

moved to a professional sense of vitality in the professoriate. Building on the extant

literature, this study investigated this phenomenon of moving from professional

disillusionment to vitality in the professoriate through the lenses of life course, agency,

and job satisfaction. These components provided the structure for the study’s conceptual

framework. Employing interpretative phenomenological analysis based on semistructured

interviews, the study traced the journey of these professors to understand how

the key encounters of their lived experiences …

Factors Affecting Unsatisfactory Performance During Air-To-Air Refueling In The C-17 Pilot Checkout Course, Richard Smith

Theses and Dissertations

In 2014, the USAF reduced its personnel by approximately 20,000. One of the areas hit hardest by the cuts were the faculty at the USAF C-17 formal training unit, where students are trained to fly the C-17 transport plane. Due to the reduction in forces, faculty staffing dropped by 30% though the number of students remained the same. Air-to-air refueling during the Pilot Checkout Course is the most commonly failed syllabus event. When a student fails to progress on a syllabus event, it requires additional instructor, simulator, and aircraft resources. In an effort to reduce the amount of failures and …

Recall Of Novel Words In Adolescents Following A Brief Mindfulness Exercise, Anna Lauren Schimmelpfennig

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness has been associated with various benefits, including enhanced attention, improved recall, and increased emotional well-being. Previous research has suggested that a brief mindfulness exercise can enhance recall of novel words in female college students. Participants in the current study were 82 students (41 female, M = 14.6, SD = 1.2) from a rural, Midwestern secondary school. Participants were randomly assigned to listen to a 20-minute body scan exercise or a control lecture before learning English-Swahili word pairs. Results revealed no significant effect of group on immediate or delayed recall of word pairs. Additionally, there was no significant effect of …

The Effects Of An Active Study Break Intervention In College Students: An Observational Study, Kathryn Joann Southard

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Sedentary lifestyles are a major public health concern. Research has shown that frequent active breaks are beneficial to productivity, mental and physical health, and may prevent obesity.

Purpose: This study examined the effectiveness of a signage intervention in a university library to promote the use of physically active (AB) compared to inactive (IB) study breaks.

Methods: College students were observed over three weeks: pre-intervention (PRE); signage intervention (SIGN); and post-intervention (POST). Each week of observation consisted of 12 hours, (6, 2-hour segments) on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (36 hours total). SIGN consisted of table tents and signs posted in …

The Impact Of Victim Age And Religious Affiliation On Perceptions Of Cleric Sex Offenders, Kaylee Ann Stone

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined perceptions of sex offenders using a 2 (victim age: 11-year-old vs. 15-year-old) X 2 (type of sexual offense: rape vs. statutory rape) X 3 (affiliation of the perpetrator: public school teacher vs. Catholic priest teacher vs. Lutheran pastor teacher) factorial design. Participants (N = 286) were asked to read one of 12 vignettes describing charges of improper sexual activity between a male teacher and his male student. Results indicated that participants recommended a shorter sentence and registry level, attributed more blame to the victim and less to the offender, and found the victim more mentally unstable …

The Relationships Among Imagery Use, Imagery Ability And Mental Toughness In Adolescent Figure Skaters, Michele Marie Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

Coaches and athletes have requested strategies that develop and maintain mental toughness because they find it to be an essential part of performance (Clough, Earle, & Sewell, 2002). Yet, little research has been conducted to examine psychological skills that contribute to gain and maintain mental toughness. This study examines imagery and mental toughness in adolescent figure skaters. Imagery use was assessed by the Sport Imagery Questionnaire- Children (Hall, Munroe-Chandler, & Fishburne, 2009) and imagery ability with the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Children (Martini, Carter, Yoxon, Cumming, & Ste-Marie, submitted December 2014). Mental toughness was assessed using the Mental Toughness Index (Gucciardi, Hanton, …

The Impact Of A Brief Mindfulness Exercise On Autobiographical Memory Specificity In Trauma-Exposed College Students, Katie Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

When comparing performance on the Autobiographical Memory Task (AMT) between individuals who have been exposed to traumatic events and those who have not, individuals exposed to traumatic events tend to provide autobiographical memories that are more often characterized as being overgeneral with relatively fewer memories that reference a particular date or time. Studies have found that post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) may be particularly responsible for this effect. Researchers have posited that this effect may be due to cognitive overload from avoiding negative memories, or from shallow retrieval of the memory in order to avoid further emotional discomfort. Mindfulness training, which …

An Analysis Of The Factors Influencing Self-Rated Health In East Asia, William Charles Stangler

Theses and Dissertations

An accurate assessment of a population’s health is a valuable tool for a nation in terms of planning and policy making. In this paper, I use cross-sectional data from the 2010 East Asian Social Survey to create a model for self-rated health. In this paper I pay particular attention to how factors that affect psychological well-being influence one’s self-rated physical health. These factors include measures of religion, trusting other people, and refraining from visiting a doctor. What I find is that among the respondents of the East Asian Social Survey, non-religious people are 11% more likely to have a high …

The Relationship Between Interrogative Suggestibility And Decision-Making, Darci Van Dyke

Theses and Dissertations

Interrogative suggestibility is the individual's tendency to yield to misleading questions and negative feedback. Individuals who exhibit this tendency have been found to be more likely to falsely confess to a crime, a decision with often severe negative consequences. Many individual differences in cognition, emotion, and personality have been linked with interrogative suggestibility. These individual differences have also been found to be related to an individual's decision-making ability. However, the relationship between interrogative suggestibility and decision-making has not been investigated. The current project sought to determine how decision-making abilities, cognitive ability, memory, and anxiety predict variability in interrogative suggestibility. Results …

Experiential Learning & Engagement: The Role Of Professional Development And Engagement In The Graduate Assistant Experience, Abbey Marie Muetzel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the lived experiences of graduate assistants pursuing a master’s degree in higher education. Graduate assistants now comprise approximately 12% of all postgraduate students in higher education. Thus, this qualitative study seeks to understand graduate assistants’ experiences and support them in honing the quality of their interactions and communication with supervisors (faculty and staff). With dual roles of student and employee, graduate assistants face various challenges and also encounter unique opportunities while pursuing their academic and professional journeys. The field of higher education administration has demonstrated an interest in understanding the experience of entry-level professionals. While there is …

Influencing Unrealistic Optimism In Young Women’S Perceived Risk Of Skin Cancer, Karen Elizabeth Vanderzanden

Theses and Dissertations

Past research has shown that individuals have a strong tendency to believe that they are less likely than others to experience negative health outcomes (Weinstein, 1980). This tendency to be “unrealistically optimistic” can contribute to greater engagement in risky health behaviors, and in turn, greater actual risk of the negative health outcome. Within the current study, factors previously shown to influence unrealistically optimistic health perceptions (i.e., images of risky/protective health behavior, peer risk estimates, personal risk/protective factors) were directly manipulated to examine their effects on young women’s perceived risk of developing skin cancer. Participants were 363 Caucasian women between the …

Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Facilitates Epileptiform–Activity In The Entorhinal Cortex Via Crf2 Signaling Mechanisms, Lalitha Kurada

Theses and Dissertations

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is characterized by hyperexcitability of limbic structures. The entorhinal cortex (EC) is involved in the initiation and maintenance of TLE. Layers II and III of the EC in particular are hyperexcitable and are more susceptible to epileptogenesis. TLE is influenced in a complex manner by the stress-released epileptogenic neuropeptide, corticotropin-releasing factor or hormone (CRF/CRH). Nevertheless, the action site and underlying mechanisms of CRF in epilepsy are not fully understood. Here we found that the EC expresses high levels of CRF and CRF2 receptors without the expression of CRF1 receptors. CRF increased the frequency of picrotoxin (PTX)-induced …

Beyond Batterers: A Primary Prevention And Adult Learning Approach To Engage Well-Meaning Men To Prevent Violence Against Women, Lorett Sturgill Swank

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This purpose of this research is to examine the critical issue of intimate partner violence and to explore a how non-battering “well-meaning men” can help to end this violence against women. Domestic violence has been primarily considered a women’s issue, and current efforts to prevent this violence have been led mostly by women. In spite of these efforts, violence against women still persists and “well-meaning men” have not been part of a proactive solution. This growing movement to engage men in preventing violence against women, empowers men to learn about and identify the issues that support a culture that tolerates …

Development And Validation Of The Scale Of Atheist Microaggressions (Sam), Louis Anthony Pagano

Theses and Dissertations

Atheists in the United States are a gradually growing population representing an increasingly important percentage of the population (Pew Research Survey, 2012). The United States, a largely religious country, and its citizens cultivate many negative positions and principles towards Atheists that progress into discriminatory actions of varying degrees. To date there have been limited attempts to assess how Atheists experience and perceive discrimination in a generally religious country that does not trust Atheists or feel that they fit with the paradigms of what it means to be an American. The purpose of this dissertation project was to create an instrument …

Interorganizational Collaboration And Systemic Change Framework For Building Information Modeling (Bim) Adoption, Rehema Joseph Monko

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

It was found that an integrated framework needs to be developed for the construction industry that allows optimized interorganizational collaboration and systemic change while using Building Information Modeling (BIM) technologies. The framework needs to be effective so the industry can adopt BIM through a set of interdependent activities beyond their organizational boundaries. The adoption has been proven difficult because of industry competitiveness and a fragmented work environment. Meanwhile, existing frameworks vary between studies. This research developed an integrated framework, identified critical factors, and provided an evaluation guide for interorganizational collaboration and set of coordinated changes necessary to adopt BIM. This …

Dopamine Transporter Phosphorylation, Palmitoylation And Membrane Localization And Mobility In Health And Disease, Madhur Shetty

Theses and Dissertations

The dopaminergic system is a regulatory system of the brain controlling various motor, cognitive and behavioral activities. Neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) plays an important role in modulating brain circuits controlling functions of this system with dopamine transporter (DAT) maintaining its homeostasis. Abnormalities in this homeostasis and/or nucleotide polymorphisms in the DAT structure leads to its association with a wide range of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) being one of them.

Disrupting the normal function of DAT, many psychostimulants such as amphetamine (AMPH) upon being transported via DAT into the pre-synaptic neuron alters DAT properties triggering N-terminal DAT …

Investigating Flipped Learning: Post-Secondary Student Self-Regulated Learning, Perceptions, And Achievement, Sarah Rae Sletten

Theses and Dissertations

The flipped classroom is a current educational model that is gaining popularity at the post-secondary level. In a flipped classroom, content (i.e., lectures), which is normally delivered in-class, is assigned as homework in the form of video lectures, and assignments that were traditionally assigned as homework, are done as learning activities in class. It was hypothesized that the effectiveness of the flipped model hinges on a student’s desire and ability to adopt a self-directed learning style. The purpose of this study was two-fold; it aimed examining the relationship between two variables—students’ perceptions of the flipped model and their SRL behaviors—and …

The Role Of Motives And Decision Rules In Restaurant Tipping, Jacob Lee Hiler

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this research is to address critical deficiencies in our understanding on how bill size, service quality, motives, and decision rules affect tipping behavior. This research uses social norm and equity theories to define the role of motives and decision rules used in determining tipping behavior. Additionally, it provides further evidence of other operant motives and decision rules through qualitative analysis. A conceptual framework and operational model are developed and empirically tested.

The Relationship Between A Series Of Vitamin D Levels And A Blood Glucose Level In Pregnant Women In The Upper Midwest, Jeanine Louise Senti

Theses and Dissertations

Hyperglycemia during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for both mother and offspring. In order to facilitate glucose delivery to the fetus, insulin resistance increases as gestation progresses which results in hyperglycemia if the mother’s body is unable to compensate by producing adequate insulin in response to these changes in glucose metabolism. Evidence suggests that calcidiol (vitamin D) influences insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism in the non-pregnant population yet there are inconsistent findings on the effects of calcidiol on maternal glucose levels during pregnancy. A secondary analysis was completed on a de-identified data set. The original prospective study included a …

How Shared Experiences Impact Teachers Who Remain In American Indian Elementary Schools More Than Five Years, Rae Marie Wilkie-Villebrun

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined shared experiences of teachers who remain at American Indian schools teaching for five years or more in an attempt to help administrators understand what factors impact a teacher’s decision to stay. Teachers, regardless of their race or gender, who have worked at an American Indian school for five years or longer, were interviewed. The teachers were recruited to participate in this study through their superintendent/principals and personal contacts. The theoretical framework used to guide this study was a social support model studied by LaRocco, House, and French in 1980. They examined the effect of perceived social …

Examining Openness To Pedagogical Change Among Secondary Mathematics Teachers: Developing And Testing A Structural Model, Cathy J. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (NGA & CCSSO, 2010) and other career and college readiness standards have prompted changes in the pedagogical practices of secondary mathematics teachers in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine factors contributing to a math teacher’s willingness to alter pedagogical approaches. Key to the research was development of an instrument for measuring openness to change. The survey tool was created based on constructs drawn from the literature and was emailed to secondary mathematics teachers in the United States

(N = 571). The instrument consisted of 65 …

Junior Level Baccalaureate Nursing Students' Lived Experiences With Test Anxiety: Can Music Serve As A Means To Reduce Test Anxiety And Increase Self-Efficacy?, Keeley Clark Harmon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Test anxiety is a pervasive problem in education programs. Nursing education is not an exception as approximately 30% of nursing students are impacted by varying levels of test anxiety that can affect their ability to succeed. This mixed methods study utilizes concepts from Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, the Cognitive-Attentional (Interference) Model, and the Georgi Lozanov method to explore the lived experiences of junior level baccalaureate nursing students with test anxiety. The 39 participants in the quantitative portion of the study were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The experimental group (n=18) listened to a nine minute and 27 second …

A Tale Of Two Cultures: A Qualitative Narrative Of Nigerian Immigrant Parenting In The United States, Chinwe Onwujuba

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Current demographic estimates indicate that the foreign-born population makes up about 13% (40 million) of the total U.S. population. This number consists of immigrants from all over the world, with a larger majority originating from Latin America and Asia. Research in the area of immigrant adaptation is robust and compelling; however, it is replete with studies on immigrants from the cultural regions identified above, and not as much on other regions with relatively less numerical representation, specifically Africa. From this region, Nigerian individuals and families make up a larger portion of this immigrant group. This study employs a qualitative research …

The Impact Of Therapist Self-Disclosure On Client-Perceived Working Alliance Amongst Psychiatrist Inpatients, Sean C. Morrison

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Working alliance has been shown to predict positive psychotherapy treatment outcomes. Past research focuses on therapist characteristics that correlate with working alliance after multiple therapy sessions (e.g., warmth, trustworthy) rather than employing experimental designs examining specific techniques that quickly improve working alliance. Specific techniques that have been empirically shown to improve working alliance quickly may be particularly beneficial today in the age of managed care wherein clinicians often face constraints limiting the amount of time they can spend with clients. Therapist self-disclosure (TSD) of information about a clinician’s personal life, when used appropriately, may have the potential to quickly improve …

The Effect Of Skydiver Experience On High-Performance Landing Fatalities, Gregory Bodensteiner

Theses and Dissertations

Skydiving fatalities upon landing, especially during high-performance landings, have

overwhelmed the sport as one of the largest categories of fatalities. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of an experienced skydiver on high-performance landing fatalities since the introduction of high-performance canopies. In addition, the study determined if experts in the field see factors of experience as contributors to fatalities. The United States Parachute Association fatality database published online was used to analyze the effect between skydiver experience and high-performance landing fatalities. Five interviews were conducted with industry experts. No statistically significant result was found relating experience to …

The Farmer-Labor Party In Minnesota Politics: 1918-1948, Philip Lloyd Darg

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an examination of the Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota politics between 1918 and 1948. This movement represented an exceptional chapter in Minnesota history, since the Farmer-Labor Party was the only sustained successful third party movement in the state. This study focuses on the origins of the movement and the reasons for its emergence, its main figures, the goals of the party, its continued electoral success from 1922 through 1936, its decline beginning in 1938, its merger with the Democratic Party of Minnesota in 1944, and finally the subsequent battle for control of this newly-merged DFL (Democratic Farmer-Labor) Party …

Perceptions Of Computer-Generated Child Pornography, Beth Catherine Kliethermes

Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined public perceptions of computer-generated child pornography (CGCP) and its association with pornographic material acceptance, usage, and sexual interests, as well as attitudes regarding children and sexual activities. Moral Foundations Theory was utilized to interpret these findings from a morality perspective. Additionally, the study explored public perceptions regarding the use of computer-generated child pornography in treatment and its effect on risk of contact offending. Participants included a community sample recruited using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Results indicated that participants had significantly lower support for illegality of computer-generated child pornography when compared to child pornography; however, support for illegality …

Hybrid Enhanced Epidermal Spacesuit Design Approaches, Joseph M. Jessup

Theses and Dissertations

A Space suit that does not rely on gas pressurization is a multi-faceted problem

that requires major stability controls to be incorporated during design and construction.The concept of Hybrid Epidermal Enhancement space suit

integrates evolved human anthropomorphic and physiological adaptations into its functionality, using commercially available bio-medical technologies to address shortcomings of conventional gas pressure suits, and the impracticalities of MCP suits. The prototype HEE Space Suit explored

integumentary homeostasis, thermal control and mobility using advanced bio-medical materials technology and construction concepts. The goal was a space suit that functions as an enhanced, multi-functional bio-mimic of the human epidermal layer …

Social Media Networks: The Social Influence Of Sentiment Content In Online Conversations On Dynamic Patterns Of Adoption And Diffusion, Tung Cu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The current study is focusing on diffusion and adoption of new digital artifacts. The goal is to explore the social role of user-generated content (UGC) during the diffusion process of digital artifacts in the context of online social networks. The study spans a wide range of analytics methods and tools such as predictive modeling, latent sentiment analysis, data retrieval, and other tools of time-series analysis & visualization. Data collection is conducted on 260 new digital products and more than 105 thousand social network nodes. Results of the study provide a deeper insight into the influence of textual UGC sentiment on …

Examining Alcohol Expectancy Differences Between Native American And Caucasian College Students, Elizabeth Luger

Theses and Dissertations

Native American (NA) alcohol use is problematic and concerning. Many of the factors related to general alcohol use are already understood. However, the majority of this research has been conducted using samples primarily consisting of Caucasian (CA) subjects. One factor that is significantly related to and predicts alcohol use among CAs is alcohol expectancy effects, which are beliefs one holds about the expected consequences, positive or negative, of using alcohol. Whether or not these findings are applicable toward understanding alcohol use in NA populations is questionable. Data were collected from 51 NA and 51 CA college students on alcohol use, …