Digital Commons Network^™

Thinking Pink? Consumer Reactions To Pink Ribbons And Vague Messages In Advertising, Kim Bartel Sheehan, Kati Tusinski Berg

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Many brands partner with causes in their advertising campaigns. Consumers appreciate that the brands they purchase participate in activities that contribute to a society’s well-being. This study uses copy-testing techniques to evaluate the number and types of thoughts and brand attitudes in the presence and absence of cause-related messages. Individuals saw an ad for one of two products. None of the ads stated the brand’s financial support to the cause, which is representative of many messages today. People viewing the Dansko ads with the pink ribbon generated significantly fewer thoughts than those viewing the ad without the pink ribbon. For …

Do Discipline Style And Parenting Self-Efficacy Interact To Predict Observed Child Behavior? Outcomes From A Representative Sample Of Mothers With Young Chilren, Emily Noel Neger

Theses and Dissertations

Both parenting style and parents’ sense of their own parenting self-efficacy (PSE) have been found to predict child behavior outcomes in young children. Parents who engage in lax or overreactive parenting practices or who lack confidence in their parenting abilities are more likely to have children who display disruptive and noncompliant behavior. Until now, very little research has examined whether an interaction exits between these two constructs in predicting child behavior outcomes. The current study looked to fill this gap and assess whether a significant moderation relationship exists between parents’ parenting style and PSE in predicting observed child behavior. A …

Framing Risk, Responsibility, And Resolution: A Mixed-Methods Study Exploring Traditional And Social Media Coverage Of The 2014 Elk River Chemical Spill, Tracey Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Background: The 2014 Elk River Chemical Spill raised policy questions concerning chemical safety and revealed an immediate need for improved emergency communication. This two-phase study explored how media presented causes of and longterm solutions to the spill through an examination of media frames. The study also explored how health risks were communicated through traditional and social media. The specific aims of Phase I were to examine media coverage in the days following the spill and compare coverage across media channels. The specific aims of Phase II were to understand how public health stakeholders perceived coverage of the spill and how …

The Environmental Crisis Of The 2003 Iraq War: A Moral Obligation Or A Mandatory Measure Under International Treaties, Ramy A. Ibrahim

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fighting Depression At Christmas, Neal Deroo

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Depression is a hard thing to understand and an even harder thing to explain. But you don’t have to ‘get it’ to help your loved ones this holiday season."

Posting about factors that contribute to depression from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/fighting-depression-at-christmas/

Understanding Generosity At Military Colleges And Universities: Characteristics And Motivations Of Major Donors At The Federal Service Academies And Senior Military Colleges, John Paul Dowd Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics and motivations of major donors at three federal service academies and the six senior military colleges. Although much literature has been published on donor motivation, as well as studies determining what donor characteristics are linked to the decision of alumni to financially contribute back to their alma maters, research specific to the federal service academies and the senior military colleges could not be found. Therefore, this study addressed the void in the literature. The methods used to gather this data were survey instrument and personal interviews. The researcher sent letters …

Nurses Utilizing The V.O.I.C.E.S. Hiv Prevention Intervention In The Black Church Community, Jason Richard

Theses and Dissertations

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic is a significant problem in the United States, especially in the “Bible Belt” Deep South where the epidemic is hitting this region the hardest. The HIV epidemic in the state of South Carolina is very real, significant, and quite alarming. In fact, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) labels South Carolina as an HIV “hot spot.” All racial and ethnic groups are susceptible and impacted by HIV. However, evidence shows that African Americans – especially young adults 18-35, bear the brunt of the burden to the extent that the “new face” of …

Effects Of Repeated Quetiapine Treatment On Conditioned Avoidance Responding In Rats, Jun Gao, Min Feng, Natashia Swalve, Collin Davis, Nan Sui, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The present study characterized the behavioral mechanisms of avoidance–disruptive effect of quetiapine in the conditioned avoidance response test under two behavioral testing (2 warning signals vs. 1 warning signal) and two drug administration conditions (subcutaneous vs. intravenous). In Experiments 1 and 2, well-trained adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were tested under the subcutaneous (s.c.) quetiapine treatment (5.0, 15.0, 25.0, 50.0 mg/kg) for 7 days in a novel procedure consisting of two conditioned stimuli (CS) (white noise serving as CS1 and pure tone as CS2). Only the highest dose (50.0 mg/kg) produced a persistent suppression of the avoidance response without impairing the …

Finding A Place To Belong: The Role Of Social Inclusion In The Lives Of Homeless Men, Meaghan Bell, Christine A. Walsh

The Qualitative Report

This study explores the role of informal social support networks of male homeless shelter residents. Authors utilized ethnographic methods, relationality and reflexive research approaches and key informant interviews with 10 shelter residents to investigate perceptions of belonging in overcoming social exclusion and countering the stigmatization cast onto as a result of their condition of homelessness. Study findings challenge our normative conceptions of homelessness by discerning between “rooflessness” and “rootlessness” suggesting that homelessness is more than the absence of shelter, but rather denotes the absence of support and inclusion in one’s community. This research highlights a community within the shelter characterized …

Exploring The Professional Beliefs Of An Efl Teacher: A Narrative Inquiry, Seyyed Ali Ostovar-Namaghi, Shabnam Norouzi, Mobina Hosseini

The Qualitative Report

The applied science model of teacher education implies that the relationship between theory and practice is unidirectional. In this study, however, the researchers make a case in the opposite direction, i.e., they believe that professional practice can also shed some light on theories of language teaching. Since narrative inquiry is best for capturing the detailed stories or life experiences of a single life, the researchers took it as a legitimate mode of research to uncover and make sense of the professional experience of an experienced and professionally popular language teacher. Analysis revealed six themes, which reflect the participant’s professional beliefs. …

Post-Fall Decision Making Among Older Women Living In Continuing Care Retirement Communities: A Mixed Methods Study, Caroline D. Bergeron

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: One in every three adults over the age of 65 experiences a fall every year, with women experiencing more falls than men. Falls can affect how older women perceive themselves and their independence. The purpose of this study was to examine older women's health decision making after experiencing a fall. Methods: I conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 older women living independently in continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) who had experienced a fall within the previous six months and 11 individuals the women identified as being involved in their post-fall decision making. I also conducted an exploratory survey on post-fall …

A Qualitative Study Of The Massage Therapy Foundation's Best Practices Symposium: Clarifying Definitions And Creating A Framework For Practice, Ann Blair Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

Large numbers of individuals seek massage therapy for wellness/disease prevention purposes and research supports consumer reported benefits including physical and psychological improvements. However, challenges within the profession may be hindering the advancement of the field. To better understand the process and outcomes and ultimately develop best practices for massage therapy as well as better inform education, policy and research, it is necessary to investigate how massage and/or massage therapy are defined and operationalized in practice. This study entailed qualitative analysis of cross-sectional data using a grounded theory approach to examine the data gathered from a two-day symposium held in 2010 …

Statistical Power In Meta-Analysis, Jin Liu

Theses and Dissertations

Statistical power is important in a meta-analysis study, although few studies have examined the performance of simulated power in meta-analysis. The purpose of this study is to inform researchers about statistical power estimation on two sample mean difference test under different situations: (1) the discrepancy between the analytical power and the actual power and (2) the influence of unequal sample size and unbalanced design on the power. Results indicated that there are noticeable discrepancies between the estimated power and actual power under certain conditions. In general, unbalanced design decreases the statistical power in the meta-analysis. Recommendations are provided for researchers …

General Strain Theory And Bullying Victimization: Do Parental Support And Control Alleviate The Negative Effects Of Bullying, Jonathon Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

With growing reports of bullying victimization ranging from 8 percent to 46 percent in many countries, bullying victimization has been declared an international problem often affecting youth in or near one’s school with poor parental supervision. While there has been a growing body of research concerning bullying victimization, few studies have examined the collateral consequences of bullying victimization and the mediating role of family processes through the theoretical lens of general strain theory. This thesis attempts to shed light on such a complex social phenomena and contribute to the bullying and stress literature. This study posits that bullying victimization is …

Situationism And The Promise Of Virtue Ethics, Richard Barclay Holmes

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue that it is possible to develop an empirically adequate form of virtue ethics even if one grants that situationism is true. I define situationism as a skeptical thesis about globalism, or the thesis that temporally stable and trans-situationally consistent character and personality traits are widely instantiated. Situationists such as John Doris and Gilbert Harman argue that globalism is an empirically inadequate thesis. While I accept Doris and Harman’s situationist thesis, they also make a further argument which is the subject of this dissertation. They argue that since globalism is empirically inadequate and Aristotelian virtue ethics …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of Parents Of A Child Or Children Diagnosed With Deafness, David Patrick Leach

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined the lived experiences of twelve parents who have a child or children diagnosed with deafness, and the meaning these parents have made of their experiences. The researcher conducted individual, semi-structured interviews and analyzed the data in accordance with the practices of phenomenological research. Thirty-seven themes were identified in the interview data, which were discussed in terms of their implications for efficacious clinical services to this population, as well as for the field of counselor education.

A Comparison Of Three Levels Of Verbal Redundancy In Multimedia Learning And Its Effects On Memory Retention And Transfer In Legal Professionals, Angela Mizell Dooley

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to examine verbal redundancy in multimedia learning and its effects on memory retention and transfer in legal professionals who were randomly assigned to watch one of three multimedia videos. Tests of ANOVA showed no significant differences in performance, mental load, or combined efficiency scores among the three instructional groups, but participants in the complementary text group rated the video with complementary slides as significantly more helpful than the videos with redundant, overloaded text slides and spoken words only. Factorial ANOVA also revealed that the redundant text group with fewer than five years of experience scored significantly lower …

Community-Level Factors Associated With Health-Related Quality Of Life Among Older Adults, Yu-Hsiu Lin

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and well-being is a new topic area for Healthy People 2020 in the U.S. In a broad-based literature review, more research explored individual level factors of HRQOL, and few focused on older adults. Multilevel analysis was seldom adopted to investigate the relationship between area-level socioeconomic or social environment factors and HRQOL. In lieu of the traditional Chapter 4 (Results) and Chapter 5 (Conclusion), two manuscripts representing the two specific research aims are included. The main aim of first manuscript was to explore the association between area deprivation, area health resources and older adults’ HRQOL. …

Promoting Hpv Vaccination For Male Young Adults: Effects Of Social Influence, Wan Chi Leung

Theses and Dissertations

HPV vaccination is an important public health issue, but past research has mostly been done on the HPV vaccination for females. This study explores promotions of the HPV vaccination for men, focusing on how social influence plays a role in influencing young male adults’ attitudes toward the HPV vaccine. An online survey was conducted on Amazon Mechanical Turk, and responses from 656 males aged 18-26 in the United States were analyzed. Results indicated that exposure to messages were associated with perceived effects of the messages on others, which related to the perceived descriptive norm of vaccine uptake among other males. …

Survival: A Teach For America Memoir, Christopher Neal Schumerth

Theses and Dissertations

“I grab Franklin and pull him upright, standing in between him and the smaller student. I spread my arms in each direction. That second of new life gives the smaller student renewed vigor. His fists shoot around and even into me. Franklin, whose punches actually hurt, gladly obliges in kind. Suddenly, I am the main, albeit incidental, object of both children’s rage. A sharp, stabbing pencil glances off my wrist, drawing blood. I look at the two cafeteria workers, dressed in white and protected by a shield of glass and the food they are distributing. They look the other way.” …

Lanthorn, Vol. 50, No. 31, December 14, 2015, Grand Valley State University

Volume 50, July 13, 2015 - June 6, 2016

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Outing Privacy, Scott Skinner-Thompson

Northwestern University Law Review

The government regularly outs information concerning people’s sexuality, gender identity, and HIV status. Notwithstanding the implications of such outings, the Supreme Court has yet to resolve whether the Constitution contains a right to informational privacy—a right to limit the government’s ability to collect and disseminate personal information.

This Article probes informational privacy theory and jurisprudence to better understand the judiciary’s reluctance to fully embrace a constitutional right to informational privacy. The Article argues that while existing scholarly theories of informational privacy encourage us to broadly imagine the right and its possibilities, often focusing on informational privacy’s ability to promote individual …

When A Derelict Angel Speaks, Michael K. Bourdaghs

Valparaiso Fiction Review

No abstract provided.

The Crash, Teresa Milbrodt

Valparaiso Fiction Review

No abstract provided.

Predicting Volunteer Motives Among University Faculty And Staff: A Functional Approach, Richard J. Harnish, K. Robert Bridges

PRISM: A Journal of Regional Engagement

Anchor institutions tend to be non-profit organizations that are spatially immobile and are an economic engine for their communities. Because of pressures on institutions of higher education to generate new revenue, it may be more difficult for such institutions to meet the criteria or maintain their status as an anchor institution. In this article, we argue that volunteerism may be one means to strengthen partnerships in the community thereby assisting the university or college in their attempts to meet the criteria or maintain their status as an anchor institution. Volunteerism is an other-oriented prosocial behavior in which one’s self is …

The Relationship Between Enrollment In Service Learning Courses And Deep Approaches To Learning: A Campus Study, Thomas W. Hahn, Julie A. Hatcher

PRISM: A Journal of Regional Engagement

Utilizing 2012 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data for both freshmen and senior students on a college campus, this study isolates the influence of participation in service learning courses on freshmen and senior students’ application of deep approaches to learning. Deep learning, as compared to surface learning, describes the extent to which a student engages in the learning process. Students who use deep learning strategies make more robust connections to course material by emphasizing learning activities such as integration, synthesis, and reflection. By making deeper connections, students focus on both the substance and the underlying meaning of their studies. …

Searching For Connection: A Heuristic Study Of The Role Of Consciousness In Identifying And Meeting Human Needs Through Expressive Movement, Amy Leow

Creative Arts Therapies Theses

The purpose of this study was to draw initial conclusions regarding the relationships between expressive movement, consciousness, and human needs. Additionally, this study also aimed to illustrate how the process of shifting conscious awareness through expressive movement enables clients of DMT to identify and meet their needs. Data was collected using a heuristic examination of my own experience, as the only participant of this study, engaging in six Authentic Movement sessions over six weeks. Data analysis, using a heuristic methodology, resulted in several conclusions which piece together an initial framework from which to understand how the process of shifting conscious …

Commencement Convocation Program, St. Petersburg Campus, December 13, 2015, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg

USF St. Petersburg Graduations and Commencements

King O'Neal Award: Nora Khatcherian, Taylor Lents, Siarra Rogers; Outstanding Graduate: Rachel Gordon; Regional Chancellor's Award for Civic Leadership: Paul C. Tash

Plague And Perception: The English Interpretation Of Plague In Massachusetts, Sarah Peck

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Evidence suggests that the early economic and political success of the English in Plimoth Colony is due to the introduction of European diseases into coastal Massachusetts during the late sixteenth century. Building upon Alfred Crosby’s 1972 publication The Columbian Exchange, modern environmental historians and cultural historians recognize the important interconnection between parasitism, disease, and historic trends. It is now fairly well recognized in both the science and humanities disciplines that any study of the political and economic development of European settlements and colonization of the Americas correlates with studies and research about the introduction of foreign diseases, as well as …

Fall 2015 Commencement Program, University Of Alabama In Huntsville

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.