Digital Commons Network^™

Maximal Strength Effects Of Cross Education Training On The Elbow Flexors, Molly Dyer

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to compare the absolute and relative changes in maximal bilateral elbow flexion strength increase after a four-week intervention protocol between a unilateral and bilateral resistance training program in college age females.

Methods: Five non-athlete females, with a mean age of 21.6 years, completed the study. Eligible subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups; unilateral elbow flexion resistance training (n=2) or bilateral elbow flexion resistance training (n=3). Both groups completed a four-week resistance training three days per week using three sets of ten repetitions at 65% of their predicted one repetition maximum. Maximal …

Athletic Identity And Emotional Regulation In Adolescents, Kellye Kohn

Masters Theses

The ability to regulate emotion is necessary for adolescents to cope with everyday stressors and major life events. Sports participation has been linked positively to the ability to cope and regulate emotion. Athletic identity is a concept that has been linked to anxiety, burnout and lower academic performance; its relationship to emotion regulation had not yet been researched. This paper reviews the literature on athletic identity, sports participation, coping ability and emotional regulation. The current study examines the link between sports participation and athletic identity in youth and their ability to cope with stress and regulate their emotions. One hundred …

Understanding Mentoring Relationships: The Black Male Graduate Student Perspective, Kwame R. Patterson Jr.

Masters Theses

Black males face many obstacles in higher education. They are disproportionately represented among students who are forced to withdraw, underperform academically, and report negative experiences. Despite the negative experiences Black males may encounter, many still have a strong interest in education, and mentoring plays a role in that interest. The purpose of this study was to explore the mentoring relationships and influence on the Black male graduate students experience. A qualitative study was conducted with Black males who received their master's degrees from a regional Midwestern institution. Research revealed that mentoring played a major role in Black male's graduate experience …

Stress As A Moderator Of Visual Perception: Do Elevated Stress Levels Interfere With Visual Cognition?, Ashley Ebersole

Masters Theses

Stress is an unavoidable aspect of human life, and despite a large body of research on stress, the relationship between chronic or traumatic stress and cognition is not yet fully explained. One component lacking research is visual attention, an area of visual cognition which is an essential part of our ability to interact with the world around us. This is especially true in the context of trauma and stress related disorders, and having a better understanding of how traumatic stress impacts attention and perception can inform psychotherapy for these issues. The current study aims to conceptualize how stressors impact the …

Universal Design: A Student Affairs Perspective, Becca Lynn

Masters Theses

College is one of the most exciting times in an individual's life and could also be one of the most challenging. Students are coming in to college needing amenities and different accommodations for a variety of different reasons; very commonly, learning and physical disabilities. Utilizing qualitative methodology, this study aimed to explore five different student affairs areas on campus to see if they provide a universally designed environment for college students with both learning and physical disabilities. Each professional shared their knowledge of universal design, universal strategies that they currently use, areas professionals believe are the most accommodating on campus …

Socio-Emotional Development In Latin America: Family And Peer Relations, Ellyn Bass, Lina María Saldarriaga, Jonathan Santo

Psychology Faculty Publications

The goal of this special issue is to build a context-specific foundation of knowledge which accurately represents the Latin American experiences and perspective of socio-emotional development. Ultimately, we hope that the research contained in this issue will inform discussions of issues relating to socio-emotional development among children and adolescents, including awareness-raising and policy-building efforts, as well as to stimulate further research among Latin American populations. To this end, this final special issue aims to explore research on socio-emotional development in relation to family and peer relations from underrepresented contexts. In doing so, we have invited articles examining a range of …

Collective Impact Versus Collaboration: Sides Of The Same Coin Or Different Phenomenon?, Kelly Prange, Joseph A. Allen, Roni Reiter-Palmon

Psychology Faculty Publications

Collective impact is a recently developed concept and approach to solving social problems that rectifies many of the issues associated with isolated impact. We compared collective impact and the formal definition of collaboration and made integrations between the two concepts. Specifically, we explored effective assessment and facilitation methods and applied them to collective impact initiatives in order to facilitate more purposeful implementation of collective impact. We concluded that collective impact is a specific form of collaboration.

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Small-Business Closure In California: An Examination Of The Leadership Process, Theresa Robinson Harris

Theses and Dissertations

Small businesses are important to the United States economy, and yet the majority struggle to remain relevant and close prior to their fifth year. This qualitative phenomenological study explored small business closure in California by comparing the experiences of successful and unsuccessful small-business leaders, to understand their involvement with leadership during the early stages of the business, and the impact of this on the firms’ ability to survive. Participants’ experiences from two groups, successful and unsuccessful, were compared to glean an understanding of the leadership process, how leadership differs between the groups, and to see what themes or constructs emerged …

African American Gay Male Entrepreneurs: A Study Of Enabling And Inhibiting Factors Impacting Entrepreneurial Success, Floyd H. Hardin Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Minority and Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) businesspersons are carving out for themselves leadership roles in the world of business as entrepreneurs and CEO’s. As they are experiencing much success, and are sought after to help provide unique and necessary perspectives regarding best practices in the areas of inclusion, diversity and strategic planning; they are yet underrepresented in mainstream media and in the business community. This qualitative study explores the enabling and inhibiting factors that select African American Gay Male Entrepreneurs (AAGME) experience throughout their career and ascent into entrepreneurship. The qualitative research includes interviews from ten African American …

Od Practitioner Values And The Impact On Environmental Behavior, Arielle Threlkeld-Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

Organization Development has the potential to play an active role in supporting environmental change initiatives. This study explores the values of a group of OD practitioners who are working with environmental concerns as a consideration in their practice. Nine qualitative interviews were conducted to explore values and surface factors that have influenced those values. The Schwartz Value Questionnaire (SVQ) and the Nature Relatedness Scale were administered to better understand practitioner values. Elements of self-transcendent values were revealed amongst practitioners through both quantitative and qualitative methods. In addition, these practitioners scored higher than the average population on Nature Relatedness. This study …

Measuring Effectiveness Of A Culture Change Through A Financial Model Perspective, Robert Lo

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to quantify and measure the success of a culture transformation. Using the Organization Cultural Assessment Instrument (OCAI) to determine the current and desired culture state, 272 employees responded to the survey. An executive focus group provided in-depth understanding of the culture and worked to align the culture to the mission and strategy as they drove the change process throughout the organization to the preferred culture state. The study showed that bringing cultural awareness to an organization is important, and that organization design is a key component to successful organizations. The Human Capital Return on …

Accountability In Mixed-Generation Teams, Angela D. Martin

Theses and Dissertations

In 2014, more than 1.6 million patients received services across the U.S. from hospice care agencies. The teams within these agencies are supporting each other to play a vital role in assisting a person’s transition from this life to the next comfortably, as well as catering to the family. Hospice care companies are comprised of a variety of roles that are divided into teams. Staff members vary in age from 21 to 70 years, indicating the presence of mixed-generation teams. Generational diversity can create challenges in understanding different points of view, learning styles, and communication. Generational differences are one of …

Internship Directors' Perspectives On Psychological Assessment Training: Current Status And Emerging Trends, Shannon Bates

Theses and Dissertations

The psychological assessment literature has consistently reflected the importance of psychological assessment competency for professional psychologists across all training and practice settings. Past surveys of pre-doctoral internship directors have highlighted a troublesome misalignment between internship directors’ assessment-related expectations of students and the actual competencies demonstrated by many beginning pre-doctoral psychology interns. The purpose of the present study was to survey psychology internship directors within the United States to examine their perspectives regarding current practices, emerging trends, and desired modifications in psychological assessment training at the internship level. A 32-item, online questionnaire was developed for this study that consisted of five …

Norway Leads The World In Gender Equality And Work-Life Balance: A Qualitative Life Course Study Of Norwegian Women, Lene Karine Martin

Theses and Dissertations

Norway is one of the world's leading countries in gender equality and work-life balance and therefore proves to be an exceptional model for study to improve gender equality and work–life balance around the world (Strømland, 2009). Norway continues to rank top three in the Global Gender Gap Index in addition to being the happiest country, best country to live, leading country in gender equality and work-life balance, best country for motherhood, and one of the top three countries for business (Badenhausen, 2015; Berglund, 2010; Bradford, 2011; Dresser, 2010; Helman, 2011; McNeil, 2010; “Norway tops ‘best country’ list, U.S. ranks 10th,” …

Low-Head Dams On Habitat, Fish Functional Guilds And Genetic Structuring In A Midwestern River System, Shannon Cassandra Frary Smith

Masters Theses

The natural flow regime of the majority of rivers in the United States has been altered by anthropogenic structures. This loss of connectivity plays a strong role in shaping river ecosystems by altering physical habitat characteristics and shaping fish community assemblages. Although the impacts of large dams on river systems are well documented and often easy to observe, there are fewer studies on the effects of smaller low-head dams. Additionally, the influences of low-head dams on the genetic structuring of small-bodied riverine fishes have yet to be fully explored. I assessed the effects of two low-head dams on the Vermilion …

The Effects Of The Caterpillar Game On Classroom Behavior And Teacher Stress, Amber Jacoby

Masters Theses

A single-case, multiple baseline design was utilized to evaluate the effects of the Caterpillar Game, a classroom management system, on disruptive student behavior, teacher praise, and teacher stress. Three classrooms were included in the study (preschool, kindergarten, and second grade). When the Caterpillar Game was implemented across the three classrooms, student disruptive behavior decreased and teacher behavior-specific praise increased. Disruptive behavior and teacher praise results remained similar to intervention two to four weeks later and teachers reported being highly satisfied with the Caterpillar Game. One of the three teachers reported a decrease in stress. This study adds further support to …

Comparison Of Memory In College Students With And Without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Study Of Argument Recall Accuracy, Jordan Poll

Masters Theses

The memory abilities of college-aged adolescents (18-24) with ADHD were investigated using arguments. Previous ADHD research provides insight into ADHD's association with a decreased capability to recall important parts of statements. Students read a booklet containing 24 arguments to assess their ability to recall each argument. Participants read one statement, then, immediately after reading it, attempted to accurately recall it by writing it using paper and pencil. This process was repeated 24 times (total of 24 arguments). The researcher examined, specifically, the percent of correctly recalled predicates from those read arguments. Predicates were examined because it has been shown that …

Examination Of Externalizing Behaviors Within General Education, At-Risk, And Special Education Preschool-Aged Classrooms, Rebecca A. Rader

Masters Theses

This study examined the natural occurrence of externalizing behaviors within six preschool classrooms (two general education classrooms, two at-risk classrooms, and two special education classrooms). Approximately 100 direct observation minutes were collected in each of the six classrooms to obtain measures of student off-task and disruptive behavior. No significant off-task differences were found across the three classroom types. However, a significant difference in disruptive behavior was found between special education and general education classrooms and also between special education and at-risk classrooms. The most commonly observed disruptive behaviors across all six classrooms were talking out, being out of area, and …

Examining The Effect Of Caffeine And Technology On Adolescent Sleep, Kaci D. Clark

Masters Theses

The current study expands upon existing sleep research by assessing adolescent caffeine consumption and technology use around bedtime and group differences in caffeine consumption and technology use in regard to sleep onset time, duration and quality, as well as symptoms of delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS). Participants, ranging in age from 13 to 18 years, were recruited from two Midwestern high schools and one junior high school. Online survey software was used to capture adolescents' self-reported caffeine consumption, technology use, and sleep. Adolescents who drank more caffeine did not spend significantly more time using technology at night, nor did they …

The Recruitment Of Sexual Minority Students In Higher Education, Jorge El-Azar

Masters Theses

In a time when universities actively recruit diverse groups of applicants, some universities are seeing the need for a diverse student population and advancing their recruitment initiatives to recruit specific groups of students. The LGBTQ+ community has been perceived as an invisible community (Cegler, 2012) by some universities, but other higher education institutions are seeing the value of specifically recruiting students who identify as a part of this community. This study was designed to focus on the initiatives universities are implementing to effectively recruit students who identify as LGBTQ+. Using a qualitative approach, the researcher interviewed six participants who identified …

Transferring Writing Skills To A 3rd Grade Music Classroom, Megan A. Wilson

Masters Theses

The purpose of this action research study was to examine the use of writing skills in a third grade general music classroom. Students wrote narratives based on music they heard, used an interactive notebook to reflect on musical experiences, conducted a short composer research project and wrote a biography about the composer. The study was designed to investigate the following research question: Will the use of writing in the music classroom help the students apply writing skills from their general education classes while learning music content? The duration of the study was for an entire semester and the students attended …

Dairy, Democracy, & Pr: A Political Economic Analysis Of Associated Milk Producers, Inc. 1988-1989, Anna L. Percival

Masters Theses

This paper, using a political economic approach, explores the communication techniques used during a second-wave of consolidation in the dairy industry in the 1980s. After providing a historical context of the dairy industry and its connections with federal policy, this paper follows the story of a large dairy cooperative: Association Milk Producers, Inc. (AMPI) and how it influenced public policy and consumption through interconnected dairy organizations like the National Milk Producers Federation and by using a political action committee. This paper provides an example of Carey's (1997) treetops propaganda by way of the powerful political action committee C-TAPE and the …

Empathy, Perceived Popularity And Social Anxiety: Predicting Bystander Intervention Among Middle School Students, Nicole Menolascino

Masters Theses

Bullying is a prevalent issue in today's schools, and the importance of bystanders has been recognized; however, there are few studies that examine personal characteristics that relate to the five bystander behaviors within Latané and Darley's (1970) Bystander Intervention Model (notice the event, interpret as an emergency, accept responsibility, know what to do, and act). This study examined personal characteristics (i.e., cognitive and affective empathy, perceived popularity, and social anxiety) and their relation to each of the five steps of the Bystander Intervention Model in Bullying (Nickerson, Aloe, Livingston, & Feeley, 2014), as well as exploring gender as a moderator …

Preschool Oral Narrative Retell Intervention: A Contextualized Approach, Megan E. Miller

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a contextualized, explicit narrative intervention on oral narrative retell skills in typically developing preschoolers as a means for fostering the development of narrative structure, story comprehension, and narrative retell skills. Participants were recruited from the Childhood Development Laboratory preschool classrooms located in Buzzard Hall at Eastern Illinois University. Prior to intervention, participants' core receptive and expressive language abilities were assessed using the Comprehensive Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool-2nd Edition (CELF-P-2), and oral narrative retells were analyzed for narrative complexity using the Test of Narrative Retell-Preschool Edition (TNR-P). The six weeks …

Improving Children's Academic Performance Through Parent Engagement: Development And Initial Findings From The Your Family, Your Neighborhood Intervention, Stephanie Lechuga Peña

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Your Family, Your Neighborhood (YFYN) is an educational intervention with families in low-income and subsidized housing communities. YFYN supports households facing issues associated with poverty. These include supporting low-income families as they navigate their children's experience in poor performing schools, barriers and access to healthcare and role in addressing the challenges of living distressed neighborhoods they live in. Through the 10-week manualized curriculum, families work on connections that affect multiple systems in their lives with a focus on the family, school and neighborhood. This mixed methods study describes the development and provides results of the YFYN intervention on parental involvement …

The Commensurability Myth In Antitrust, Rebecca Haw Allensworth

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Modern antitrust law pursues a seemingly unitary goal: competition. In fact, competition—whether defined as a process or as a set of outcomes associated with competitive markets—is multifaceted. What are offered in antitrust cases as procompetitive and anticompetitive effects are typically qualitatively different, and trading them off is as much an exercise in judgment as mathematics. But despite the inevitability of value judgments in antitrust cases, courts have perpetuated a commensurability myth, claiming to evaluate “net” competitive effect as if the pros and cons of a restraint of trade are in the same unit of measure. The myth is attractive to …

Less Is More: Procedural Efficacy In Vindicating Civil Rights, Jennifer Bennett Shinall

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Eradicating discrimination is a lofty goal, and since the second half of the twentieth century, the United States has largely relied upon the legal system to achieve this goal. Yet a great deal of scholarship suggests that the legal system may not always do a credible job. Scholars have documented multiple instances of discrimination laws' inaccessibility to discrimination victims individually and inability to improve the labor market prospects of victims as a whole. Still missing from the literature, however, is an assessment of what separates effective discrimination laws from ineffective ones. This Article fills this gap, using both qualitative and …

Law & Neuroscience: What, Why, And Where To Begin, Owen D. Jones, Jeffrey D. Schall, Francis X. Shen

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This provides the Summary Table of Contents and Chapter 1 of our coursebook “Law and Neuroscience” (forthcoming April 2014, from Aspen Publishing). Designed for use in both law schools and beyond, the book provides user-friendly introductions, as well as detailed explorations, of the many current and emerging issues at the intersection of law and neuroscience.

One part of the book lays general foundations by exploring the relationships between law and science generally, and by comparing the views from law and from neuroscience regarding behavior and responsibility. A later part explains the basics of brain structure and function, the methods for …

Parsing The Behavioral And Brain Mechanisms Of Third-Party Punishment, Owen D. Jones, Matthew Ginther, Richard J. Bonnie, Morris B. Hoffman, Francis X. Shen, Kenneth W. Simons, Rene Marois

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The evolved capacity for third-party punishment is considered crucial to the emergence and maintenance of elaborate human social organization and is central to the modern provision of fairness and justice within society. Although it is well established that the mental state of the offender and the severity of the harm he caused are the two primary predictors of punishment decisions, the precise cognitive and brain mechanisms by which these distinct components are evaluated and integrated into a punishment decision are poorly understood.

Using a brain-scanning technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we implemented a novel experimental design to …

Antitrust Scrutiny For The Occupations: "North Carolina Dental" And Its Impact On U.S. Licensing Boards, Rebecca Haw Allensworth

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The American system of occupational licensing is under attack. The current regime – which allows for almost total self-regulation – has weathered sustained criticism from consumer advocate groups, academics, politicians, and even the White House itself. But the recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion in North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC,1 portends a sea change in how almost a third of American workers are regulated. The case has made it possible for aggrieved individuals and government enforcers to bring suits against most state licensing boards, challenging their restrictions as violating federal competition law. The case has prompted two responses: …