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A Phenomenological Study Of High School Teachers' Motivation As Related To Teacher Performance Management, Richard Hugh Wildman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teacher motivation factors prominently in the sustainable development of educational institutions, and relate to self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and retention. Prior motivational research in education has addressed factors relating to teacher motivation, but there is a dearth of research into the impact of performance management on motivation. This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of 5 teachers in relation to the performance management process in the selected school. The project study was guided by Bandura's social cognitive theory, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory. In-depth, semistructured interviews were used to extract the essence of the lived experiences as expressed …

Aligning Sales Promotion Strategies With Buying Attitudes In A Recession, Paulin Adjagbodjou

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some managers lack an effective strategy for aligning sales promotion strategies with consumers' buying attitudes in a recession. The intent of this comparative design was to determine the most effective sales promotion strategy for sales improvement and business sustainability during a recession. The theories of (a) sales promotions, (b) consumer behavioral metrics, (c) price reductions, and (d) strategy in a competitive environment represented the theoretical framework that grounded and complemented this research. Using a confidential paper-based survey and random sampling method, preference data were obtained from 287 consumers in retail stores located in a city in the southern United States. …

Productivity Standards, Marriage And Family Therapist Job Satisfaction, And Turnover Intent, Gilbert Ernest Franco

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Turnover among mental health professionals is high, which can have a direct impact on access to services and continuity of care. Informed by goal-setting theory, social-cognitive theory, and self-efficacy, this quantitative study investigated how California community mental health agency productivity standards were related to self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and marriage and family therapist (MFT) turnover intent among 141 MFTs. Participants completed a Demographic and Productivity Questionnaire, Job Self-Efficacy Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale, and Turnover Intention Scale. The relationship between participant age, gender, experience, number of work hours, licensure status, and job site with job satisfaction and turnover intent were assessed using …

Effects Of Investor Sentiment Using Social Media On Corporate Financial Distress, Tarek Hoteit

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The mainstream quantitative models in the finance literature have been ineffective in detecting possible bankruptcies during the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis. Coinciding with the same period, various researchers suggested that sentiments in social media can predict future events. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between investor sentiment within the social media and the financial distress of firms Grounded on the social amplification of risk framework that shows the media as an amplified channel for risk events, the central hypothesis of the study was that investor sentiments in the social media could predict t he level …

The Influence Of Nursing Home Administrator Turnover On Resident Quality Of Life, Juliet Iheoma Madubata

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

By 2040, 79.7 million older adults will live in the US, and nearly 40% will need nursing home services that are primarily funded by Medicare and Medicaid. Researchers have underscored the importance of leadership in quality healthcare care delivery, suggesting that nursing home administrator turnover could influence resident quality of life, causing ill-health for the residents and preventable medical costs for taxpayers. In spite of the suggested association, little research has specifically examined the role of administrator turnover on resident quality of life. As such, the purpose and central research questions of this case study were designed specifically to address …

A Case Study Of Blue-Collar Worker Retirement Investment Decisions, Mark Eldridge Griffin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The finances of blue-collar workers were the most acutely impacted as these workers lost their jobs during the Great Recession of 2007 through 2009. The literature revealed a minimal understanding of how blue-collar workers allocated funds for their retirement, and what their investments might be when they invested. To address this problem, the current qualitative study addressed (a) how blue-collar workers chose to invest or not invest for retirement and (b) how blue-collar workers diversified their portfolio if they chose to invest. Theoretical foundations of the study were based on regret theory and prospect theory. A nonrandom purposeful sample of …

A Comparison Of Regional Health Care Structures For Emergency Preparedness, Leslie Porth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Since 2001, increased policy attention and federal funding mechanisms have required more effective disaster response by government actors and private sector organizations, including the health care system. However, there is limited scholarly evidence documenting which structural elements have been associated with efficacious regional coalitions. This study addressed the gap by examining whether the number of different participating disciplines (a proxy for coalition roles), community setting, and prior weather-related disaster declaration influenced the number of activities (a proxy for coalition responsibilities) conducted by the health care coalition. Social network theory was the theoretical lens with which the study results were used …

A Phenomenological Study Of Female Gender Inequality In The Defense Industry, Erica Helaine Woods

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite advances made during the women's movement, gender inequality is a problem for women seeking leadership opportunities within the U.S. Defense Industry today. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the perceptions of civilian females who had experienced gender inequality obstacles in their professional advancement opportunities within the U.S. Defense Industry. The mommy track framework, defined as the family/work imbalance; the gatekeeper framework; and the institutional sexism framework were used to guide this study. The research questions focused on how these women perceived both internal and external barriers to their professional advancement in the U.S. Defense Industry. A …

Lincoln's Autocrat: The Life Of Edwin Stanton, William Nester

Civil War Book Review

An In-Depth Look at Lincoln’s “Hatchet-Man"

With his ZZ-Top beard, granny glasses, beady eyes, receding hairline, pudgy face, and downturned mouth, Edwin Stanton is among the more instantly recognizable characters from an era filled with striking visages. He is also among those most ....

Cwbr Author Interview: The British Gentry, The Southern Planter, And The Northern Family Farmer: Agriculture And Sectional Antagonism In North America, James L. Huston

Civil War Book Review

Interview with James L. Huston, Regents Professor of History at Oklahoma State University

Interviewed by Zach Isenhower

Civil War Book Review (CWBR): Today the Civil War Book Review is happy to speak with James L. Huston, Regents Professor of History at Oklahoma State University. Professor Huston previously authored, among several books, Calculating the Value of the Union: Slavery, Property Rights, and the Coming of the Civil War, as well as Stephen A. Douglas and the Dilemma of Democratic Equality. Today we get to talk about his most recent book, The British Gentry, the Southern Planter, and the …

The Death Of Rules And Standards, Anthony Casey, Anthony Niblett

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Scholars have examined the lawmakers’ choice between rules and standards for decades. This Article, however, explores the possibility of a new form of law that renders that choice unnecessary. Advances in technology (such as big data and artificial intelligence) will give rise to this new form—the microdirective—which will provide the benefits of both rules and standards without the costs of either.

Lawmakers will be able to use predictive and communication technologies to enact complex legislative goals that are translated by machines into a vast catalog of simple commands for all possible scenarios. When an individual citizen faces a legal choice, …

Academic Program Assessment Manual: Guidelines And Procedures, Office Of Assessment And The Academic Program Review Office

UNM HLC 2018-19 Assurance Argument Evidence

A comprehensive manual for administrators, faculty, staff, and students concerning overall guidelines and procedures for assessment at the university. This includes information on student learning goals (Chapter 3), developing an assessment plan (Chapter 5), and guides for annual reporting to the institution (Chapter 7).

Unm Latin American & Iberian Institute, 2015-16 Annual Report, Office Of Academic Affairs

UNM HLC 2018-19 Assurance Argument Evidence

A 2015 report from the Latin American & Iberian Institute (LAII), detailing its various services and programs. As stated in the About the LAII section of the report (pg. 6), the institute “was founded to coordinate Latin American programs on campus.” The report goes on to detail its outreach efforts among communities external to the university (pg. 8), its relationship to Latin American Studies (pg. 28), and other facets of the institution.

State Of Academic Affairs Report, Office Of Academic Affairs

UNM HLC 2018-19 Assurance Argument Evidence

A comprehensive overview of the Office for Academic Affairs covering the years 2013 through 2015 as it is described by the Faculty Hanbook policy A83 "Annual Reports." This includes reports on all 12 schools and colleges, and on all administrative units including Enrollment Management and GEO.

Coevolution And Cospeciation In A Bark-Beetle Fungal Symbiosis, Ryan Russell Bracewell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Bark beetles in the genus Dendroctonus are some of the most important insects in forest ecosystems worldwide and are known to be involved in symbiotic relationships with fungi. However, we have a poor understanding of beetle-fungal coevolution and if the specificity we see in beetle-fungal relationships may translate to cospeciation over longer time frames. In this dissertation, I attempt to answer these questions by investigating the western pine beetle (Dendroctonus brevicomis)-fungal symbiosis, a beetle that consists of two putative cryptic species in the early stages of divergence on two susbspecies of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). In the first chapter, I …

Microbial Responses And Contributions To Climate Change In Greenland, Frances Rose Gilman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite the fact that microorganisms are the major drivers of global biogeochemical cycles, the relationship of microbial community activity and greenhouse gas production is still largely unexplored. The body of work presented here identifies previously unknown microbial community structure in bare ice, tracks shifts in permafrost active layer microbial communities along a moisture gradient, examines microbial trends throughout the Arctic growth season under climate change scenarios, and goes beyond identifying organisms working to link the structure and function of microbial communities to process level measurements. With deep sequencing of 16S rRNA, this study determined that bare ice collected from the …

It's A Small World: Biogeography And Invasion In The Mouse Intestine, Ellen Lark

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Host associated systems are of particular interest to many microbiologists because invasion of these systems can lead to disease. One important host-associated systems is the intestinal microbiome, but in many studies, including those on pathogenesis, this system is represented by samples from one location (generally the feces or cecum). This body of work was initiated in part because I wondered why a large and diverse ecosystem was being was being represented by samples from only one habitat.

The biogeography of living organisms has an impact on landscape ecology studies, including those in the field of invasion ecology. Despite several studies …

The Influence Of Pioneer Riparian Vegetation On River Processes From The Plant To Reach Scale, Sharon Verdawn Bywater-Reyes

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Alluvial rivers have morphologies that are shaped to varying degrees by the character of the riparian vegetation they support. Floodplain vegetation produces bank cohesion, for example, which in turn is responsible for inducing river meandering that gives rise to in-channel bars suitable for pioneer vegetation recruitment. Once established, pioneer vegetation is inundated by channel-forming flows, where it interacts with flow and sediment transport processes. This dissertation quantifies interactions between in-channel pioneer vegetation, which is under-studied relative to floodplain vegetation, and river processes across spatial scales.

At the seedling scale, I link field experiments measuring woody riparian seedling uprooting forces to …

Influence Of Resonant And Non-Resonant Vibrational Excitation Of Ammonia Molecules In Gallium Nitride Synthesis, Hossein Rabiee Golgir, Yunshen Zhou, Kamran Keramatnejad, Yongfeng Lu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Attempts on the selective promotion of gallium nitride (GaN) growth were investigated by deploying laserassisted vibrational excitation of reactant molecules, which deposits energy selectively into specific molecules and activate the molecules towards the selected reaction pathways. Laser-assisted metal organic chemical vapor deposition (LMOCVD) of GaN was studied using a wavelength-tunable CO2 laser. The NH-wagging modes (υ2) of ammonia (NH3) precursor molecules are strongly infrared active and perfectly match the emission line of the CO2 laser at 9.219, 10.350, and 10.719 μm. On- and off-resonance excitations of molecules were performed via tuning the incident laser wavelengths at on-resonant wavelength 9.219 μm …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Ipad Usage On Elementary Mathematical Skills And Attitudes, Grant Patrick Swicegood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Currently, many schools are implementing one-to-one initiatives, where the goal is to give every student in a classroom a tablet or laptop computer. However, there is a dearth of research backing up the assumption that they significantly improve student learning. This study explored the effects of these new instructional devices by focusing on two second-grade classrooms implementing a one-to-one iPad program. Specifically, it investigated how iPad usage affects student and teacher attitudes toward mathematics, student mathematics performance in and out of app environments, the instructional purposes for which iPads are used in the classroom, and implementation issues of the technology. …

Video Prompts For Self-Regulated Learning: Metacognition And Reflection Activity, Janet Sedgley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explored video metacognitive prompts as a method of engaging students in self-regulated learning. The study was completed in the naturalistic setting of fully online learning. Such learning environments imply a distance between faculty and students that makes student self-direction vital to success. However students are only infrequently practicing self-regulated learning skills.

Consequences Of Biomass Harvesting On Forest Condition And Productivity In The Northern Rocky Mountains, Woongsoon Jang

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Emerging public interests to utilize forest woody biomass as an alternative feedstock accompanies a concern about potential nutrient depletion by increased woody biomass extraction. This study was conducted to investigate the long-term impact of intensive biomass utilization on site productivity and forest condition in the northern Rockies. The 1974 Forest Residues Utilization Research and Development Program site at Coram Experimental Forest of western Montana were revisited, and responses from individual tree to ecosystem level were measured. The experiment was designed to address the effect of biomass utilization intensity (high, medium and low) combined with prescribed broadcast burning treatment following conventional …

Dna Methylation In Humans And Dogs: Evaluating The Impact Of Nutritional And Particulate Exposures, Luke Benjamin Montrose

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Asthma is among the most common chronic diseases in children, among the leading causes of hospitalization for children, and one of the leading causes of school absenteeism. Discovery of preventable factors and the underlying mechanisms that exacerbate asthma among prevalent cases is important for mitigating the health burden of this childhood disease. Environmental factors such as exposure to particulate matter (PM) or nutritional deficiencies can lead to poor respiratory health among susceptible children. Recent animal studies suggest that PM exposures and dietary nutrients may influence asthma pathways through epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetic modifications are heritable changes that can regulate gene activity …

Wilderness And Epistemic Wildness, John T. Stanfield

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The traditional concept of wilderness was a product of the time out of which it came. Times have changed. The social context of conservation, how humans affect nature, and scientific understanding of how ecosystems function have all shifted in ways that make the wilderness idea problematic. The values that people found in wilderness are still relevant, however. It is the way that they are tied together in the concept of wilderness that has become a problem.

I propose a revised concept of wilderness that meets the concerns of critics of wilderness, and accounts for the tension between the wild and …

The Tower Of Hanoi In Dynamic Creative Problem Solving, Lia Harrington

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Creativity and emotions are well-studied constructs, and there is much work on their interrelations. However the empirical application of dynamical systems analysis to them is still relatively rare. For these reasons, a study was conducted on the dynamics and interrelationships of creativity, emotion, and psychopathology using state space grids (SSG) in 33 young adult participants assessed for autism spectrum and negative schizotypy traits, using a computerized Tower of Hanoi (ToH) creative problem-solving task. An overview of the dual importance of convergent and divergent thinking styles to creativity is provided as a context for the experiment. The hypothesis that participants with …

Blended Framework: Bill Mckibben's Use Of Melodrama And Comedy In Environmental Rhetoric, Megan E. Cullinan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the last five years, as climate change became less abstract and more noticeable, conversations surrounding the issues have begun to change. In the past, solutions to climate change were framed in terms of how individuals can made a difference—and yet, no significant changes have occurred. Research shows that the main contributors to climate change are the fossil fuel industry, as both extraction and consumption of fossil fuel products are irresponsible and unsustainable. Thus, it is important for climate change conflict to leave the personal sphere and become more prominent as a political controversy.

Bill McKibben’s blended framing of climate …

A 'Paradox Of Expression': Bertolt Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt In Performance, Cohen L. Ambrose Mr.

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Radiant Heat Effects On Ceramic Artifacts From The American Southwest: From Experimental Results To Site Treatment Guidelines, Rebekah R. Kneifel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Archaeological assemblages in the American Southwest are currently subjected to periodic wildfires and prescribed burns, and have been exposed to fires in the past. Ceramics are a key constituent of these assemblages, leading to questions regarding the effects of post-depositional heat exposure on pottery. Alterations of ceramic surface appearance and other attributes have been observed following wildfires, and such changes are significant because intact ceramics provide important temporal context and social information. Over the past 150 years, southwestern wildfires have shifted away from the historical high-frequency, low-severity regime; thus, cultural resources can be exposed to fires that are potentially more …

Why Do Countries Cooperate? The Effect Of Cross-Border Pollution, Eric D. Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

As evidence regarding the consequences of climate change grows, the need to act cooperatively becomes increasingly apparent. International environmental agreements are one of many means being pursued to improve environmental management and combat climate change at large. This study examines factors that influence international environmental treaty participation among European countries. Using panel data on 35 European countries for 1980-1999, joint treaty participation is estimated as a function of various globalization variables with specific attention given to the effects of cross-border air pollution, foreign direct investment, and trade. These results suggest that cross-border air pollution does increase cooperation even after controlling …

The Bioscience-Industrial Complex, Radical Materialist Aesthetics, And Interspecies Political Ecologies: The Unforeseen Posthuman Future In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein And Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam Trilogy, Sarah Sydney Lane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project traces how Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy, science fiction novels from the Romantic and contemporary literary periods respectively, contest the problematic relationships between subjecthood, science, ecological health, and patriarchal, capitalist societies by crafting radical materialist alternatives to such a system and its dualistic and destructive interpersonal/interspecies relations. Through the theoretical framework of ecofeminism that recognizes the conceptual linkages between women and nature in Western systems of thought, as well as psychoanalytical feminist critiques of the masculinization of scientific epistemology, this project examines the developmental and ontological overlaps between literary “masculine” and “scientific” subjects socialized under …