Digital Commons Network^™

Building A Foundation For Goal-Attainment And Problem-Solving In Interdisciplinary Studies: Reimagining Web-Based Core Curriculum Through A Classical Lens, Said Jardaneh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The core curriculum of interdisciplinary studies undergraduate programs represents interdisciplinarity as a consciously applied process, whether individually or collaboratively, of drawing and integrating insights from various disciplinary perspectives toward complex problem-solving and innovation. At the front-end of these programs students are often introduced to interdisciplinarity through terminology, metaphors, concepts, and context that are intended to familiarize them with the process. This initiation usually precedes what will ultimately entail a limited number of upper-division courses within the several disciplines or areas that will encompass a unique plan of study characterized by its breadth. The philosophy underlying current pedagogy in interdisciplinary studies …

The Impact Of Elementary Mathematics Workshops On Mathematics Knowledge For Parenting (Mkp) And Beliefs About Learning Mathematics, Heidi Eisenreich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which parents of first, second, and third grade students who attended a two-day workshop on mathematics strategies differed on average and over time, as compared to parents who did not attend the workshops. The following areas were measured: mathematics content knowledge, beliefs about learning mathematics, ability to identify correct student responses regarding mathematics, ability to identify student errors in solving mathematics problems, methods used to solve problems, and comfort level with manipulatives.

Public Opinion And The President's Use Of Executive Orders: Aggregate- And Individual-Level Analyses Across Time, Brett Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Presidential approval ratings are a political resource that presidents and their advisors hope to influence through strategic action in order to achieve their policy goals (McAvoy 2008, 284). Through 1999, scholarly literature had largely ignored the president's use of unilateral powers. Since Moe and Howell (1999a, 1999b), however, the literature on the unilateral presidency has expanded rapidly. Despite the rapid growth of literature examining the unilateral presidency, and 45 years of presidential approval ratings literature, literature examining the link between the president's use of unilateral powers and subsequent presidential approval ratings is virtually nonexistent. Existing research has not statistically examined …

Supporting Situation Awareness Through Robot-To-Human Information Exchanges Under Conditions Of Visuospatial Perspective Taking, Elizabeth Phillips

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The future vision of military Soldier—robot teams is one in which Soldiers and robots work together to complete separate, but interdependent tasks that advance the goals of the mission. However, in the near term, robots will be limited in their ability to successfully perform tasks without, at least, occasional assistance from their human teammates. A need exists to design, in robots, mechanisms that can support human situation awareness (SA) regarding the operations of the robot, which humans can use to provide interventions in robot tasks. The purpose of the current study was to test the effects of information exchanges provided …

From The Yellow Peril To The Model Minority: An Experimental Survey Examining Racial Attitudes Towards Asian Americans, Jenny Nguyen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Attitudinal research continues to show a more liberal trend in racial attitudes of Whites towards Blacks across a spectrum of issues (i.e. interracial marriage, residential integration, etc.) leading some to believe that we are moving into a post-racial society. However, a growing body of research has brought into question this utopian post-racial assertion. While Whites express support for racial equality in principle, they vehemently oppose race-targeted policies aimed to address racial inequality. This principle-policy gap has been consistently associated with persistent racial resentment; thus, contradicting the notion that of a post-racial era. Existing attitudinal research is often limited to the …

Practicing Teachers' Beliefs Regarding Racially, Culturally, Ethnically, And Linguistically Diverse (Rceld) Students In A Title I Secondary-School Environment, Lisa Sabino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Based on school-level data that included disparities in discipline rates, Title I status, teacher attrition, and teachers' statements, I designed a dissertation in practice to understand practicing teachers' personal and professional diversity beliefs regarding racially, culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse (RCELD) students in a Title I, secondary-school setting. Four hypotheses concerning type of secondary degree, years of experience, subjects taught, and racial or ethnic background were tested. Pohan and Aguilar's (2001a) Teachers' Belief Survey was administered to 59% of the GHS staff in order to measure the personal and professional beliefs of practicing teachers. I used descriptive and parametric tests …

The Impact Of Board Capital And Servant Leadership On Board Effectiveness: A Study Of Florida Community Foundations, Lauren Obyrne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Community foundations have considerable potential for positive social change in the communities they serve yet are understudied in nonprofit management and leadership literature. Recently, community foundations have become one of the largest avenues of organized philanthropy. The boards of community foundations frequently consist of a different composition of members than other nonprofit organizations, making a focus on individual characteristics of board members a worthwhile area of study. This exploratory study considers board capital through human capital, structural capital, and social capital and the impact this has on board effectiveness. In addition, it considers the impact of servant leadership on board …

Greed, Grief, A Gift. War-Traumatized Women And Contextualizing Expressive Arts Therapy, Sjoukje Marloes Van Houten

Lingnan Theses

This dissertation explores the universality of trauma-storing in the body and the need for contextualization when it comes to treatment. Of the two central themes addressed, the first is war-related trauma and the intersection of expressive arts therapy and South (East) Asia (Nepal and Hong Kong in particular) with its specific imagery, art, and culture, and to see how both feed into each another and can transform as a result. The question is how to locally sensitize expressive arts therapy, which has its roots in Europe and the United States, to the Hong Kong setting; more specifically, to working with …

Evaluating Floating Treatment Wetlands To Improve Nitrogen Removal In A Wet Detention Pond, Zachary Marimon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wet detention ponds are used for stormwater treatment across the United States and reduce most pollutants by at least 60%, but only remove 30% of total nitrogen. Floating Treatment Wetlands (FTWs) are an emerging technology that uses aquatic plants suspended in the pelagic zone to remove nitrogen through vegetative assimilation and microbial denitrification. A before-after field experiment evaluated nitrogen removal in a an existing pond in Orlando, FL, retrofitted with BioHaven® FTWs planted with the aquatic macrophytes Juncus effusus (Soft Rush) and Pontederia cordata (Pickerelweed). Surface water samples were used to compare the nitrogen removal performance of the pond under …

Defining Community Art : Theoretical And Practical Reconstruction, Kei Shun, Samson Wong

Lingnan Theses

This research investigates the area of practice commonly known as community art, defined to be where a gathering of people participates in facilitated collaborative art making aimed to be increasing their autonomy in generating artistic and social satisfaction and enrichment. This definition is a result of integrating existing research, literature, interviews with practitioners and analyses of their work. It is an interdisciplinary research conducted through a grounded methodology where data from practitioners and literature mutually inform to yield insights into a seemingly unstructured practice.

Seven interviewees were chosen to represent a coherent and recognized body of practice. They are practicing …

Impaled On Morton's Fork: Kosovo, Crimea, And The Sui Generis Circumstance, Christopher R. Rossi

Emory International Law Review

Since NATO's intervention in Kosovo, the invocation of sui generis, or unique circumstances, has been used to justify circumventing international law on the use of force and state secession. In this Article, Professor Christopher Rossi addresses lessons learned from NATO's 1999 intervention in Kosovo and adapts those teachings to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea. Professor Rossi exposes internal tensions within the United Nations Charter system that threaten to further weaken the system and expose it to dangerous manipulations. These weaknesses help explain why two of the most significant doctrinal developments to emerge from the midst of Kosovo'the Responsibility to Protect …

Which Matters More? Effects Of Surface- And Deep- Level Diversity On Team Processes And Performance, Mai P. Trinh

Management Faculty Publications

This chapter reviews what we know about the effects of surface-level diversity (age, sex, and ethnicity) and deep-level diversity (personality characteristics such as conscientiousness, openness to experience, extraversion, emotional stability, and agreeableness) in organizational teams. It also outlines challenges to today’s diversity management and Human Resource (HR) practices, such as the lack of definite conclusions from research results, the mismatch between team diversity research designs and organizations’ needs, and the lack of research examining simultaneously different aspects of diversity. Drawing from analysis results of team data from 55 teams of volunteers from Shanghai, the author recommends that HR training and …

Internal Funding Newsletter, Academic Year 2015-2016, Uno Office Of Research And Creative Activity

Internal Funding Newsletters

This newsletter features: a letter from Scott Snyder, Chief Research Officer, Office of Research and Creative Activity; UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND CREATIVE ACTIVITY (UCRCA) Faculty Awards; FACULTY AWARD: ADROCA; 2015-2016 Internal Funding Awardees Student Awards; 2015-2016 FACULTY MENTORS; and Internal Funding Opportunities and Summary.

Intracellular Ros Mediates Gas Plasma-Facilitated Cellular Transfection In 2d And 3d Cultures, Dehui Xu, Biqing Wang, Yujing Xu, Zeyu Chen, Qinjie Cui, Yanjie Yang, Hailan Chen, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

This study reports the potential of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) as a versatile tool for delivering oligonucleotides into mammalian cells. Compared to lipofection and electroporation methods, plasma transfection showed a better uptake efficiency and less cell death in the transfection of oligonucleotides. We demonstrated that the level of extracellular aqueous reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by gas plasma is correlated with the uptake efficiency and that this is achieved through an increase of intracellular ROS levels and the resulting increase in cell membrane permeability. This finding was supported by the use of ROS scavengers, which reduced CAP-based uptake efficiency. In …

Ethical Leadership In Social Enterprises : Multilevel Investigation Of Its Influence On Team And Individual Prosocial Voice, Pok Man Tang

Lingnan Theses

This research paper seeks to draw on social learning theory (Bandura, 1977) as an overarching framework to examine how unit managers’ ethical leadership style affects the team and individual prosocial voice behaviors in the context of social enterprises in Hong Kong.

Ethical leadership has been found to be conducive to both desirable team and individual employee behaviors. However, scholarly understanding of the multi-level effects of ethical leadership and the underlying mechanisms involved is rather limited. Moreover, previous research has directed attention almost exclusively to the influence of ethical leadership in the context of commercial organizations. This narrow stance has curiously …

Genetic And Cellular Studies Highlight That A Disintegrin And Metalloproteinase 19 Is A Protective Biomarker In Human Prostate Cancer, Gerard F. Hoyne, Caoline Rudnicka, Qing-Xiang Sang, Mark Roycik, Sarah Howarth, Peter Leedman, Markus Schlaich, Patrick Candy, Vance Matthews

Health Sciences Papers and Journal Articles

Background: Prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men worldwide. Current treatments include surgery, androgen ablation and radiation. Introduction of more targeted therapies in prostate cancer, based on a detailed knowledge of the signalling pathways, aims to reduce side effects, leading to better clinical outcomes for the patient. ADAM19 (A Disintegrin And Metalloproteinase 19) is a transmembrane and soluble protein which can regulate cell phenotype through cell adhesion and proteolysis. ADAM19 has been positively associated with numerous diseases, but has not been shown to be a tumor suppressor in the pathogenesis of any human cancers. Our group …

How Does Exposure To The Internet Affect Political Knowledge And Attitudes Among Rural Chinese?: A Field Experiment, Wenwen Shi

Wayne State University Dissertations

The Internet's political implications reach far beyond an advanced communication device in authoritarian regimes. The heated debate on the Internet's political potential in China is complicated by a lack of causal evidence demonstrated in the literature. Thus far, studies have only examined consequences of the rise of the Internet and the characteristics of netizens (wangmin), but they have failed to account for the possible transformative effect the Internet has on individual citizens. This study attempts to fill this gap by testing the impact of the Internet on rural Chinese villagers' political knowledge and political attitudes through a field experiment over …

Emerging Genres Of Online Technical Communciation, Luke Anthony Thominet

Wayne State University Dissertations

Emerging Genres of Online Technical Communication is a study of how the proliferation of non-professional participation has the potential to significantly change the shape of technical communication. More specifically, I use a genre analysis methodology to investigate three forms of user-generated content: crowdsourced documentation wikis, video games user reviews, and video game open development. In the first study, I analyze five crowdsourced documentation wikis and find systemic inconsistency in the workflow and content quality of the documentation. Subsequently, I argue that practitioners should use minimalist documentation theory to design more effective user-centered author support for the wikis. My second chapter …

Saving Innocents: Tracing The Human Monster Hunter’S Hetero-Normative Agenda From The 1970s To Today, Adam Kem Yerima

Wayne State University Dissertations

In supernatural-themed American television programs that focus on hunting or exposing monsters and the monstrous, the human monster hunter’s representation and actions promote a conservative subtext. While horror scholarship prefers to examine the genre’s monsters and women, and regulate the hunter as simply being an expert, an exploration into the historical development of the figure reveals that there is a lot more to this character. The human monster hunter’s televisual depictions from the 1970s to today reveal a complex illustration that reifies the “American dream.” Time and time again, through the loss of an ideal middle-class experience, the human monster …

Novel Regulatory Mechanisms Of Inositol Biosynthesis In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae And Mammalian Cells, And Implications For The Mechanism Underlying Vpa-Induced Glucose 6-Phosphate Depletion, Wenxi Yu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Myo-inositol is the precursor of all inositol containing molecules, including inositol phosphates, phosphoinositides and glycosylphosphatidylinositols, which are signaling molecules involved in many critical cellular functions. Perturbation of inositol metabolism has been linked to neurological disorders. Although several widely-used anticonvulsants and mood-stabilizing drugs have been shown to exert inositol depletion effects, the mechanisms of action of the drugs and the role of inositol in these diseases are not understood. Elucidation of the molecular control of inositol synthesis will shed light on the pathologies of inositol related illnesses.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, deletion of the four glycogen synthase kinase-3 genes, MCK1, MRK1, MDS1, …

Social Media Adoption Among University Instructors In Saudi Arabia, Khalid Abdulaziz Alasfor

Wayne State University Dissertations

There is an orientation from the government of Saudi Arabia toward social media in general. The government of Saudi Arabia considers the significance of social media in educating the Saudi community. The Saudi Ministry of Education founded the National Center for E- Learning and Distance Learning (NCeL) because it considered the importance of e-learning and distance learning for higher education (he.moe.gov.sa). NCeL supports and rewards university instructors to integrate social media in the learning process (award.elc.edu.sa). Several studies proved the significance of social media with Saudi higher education students (Alkhalifa, 2008; Salem and Alghamdi, 2011; Almadhouni, 2011). Moreover, Saudi students …

Stop Identity Cues As A Cue To Language Identity, Paula Lisa Castonguay

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether language membership could potentially be cued by the acoustic-phonetic detail of word-initial stops and retained all the way through the process of lexical access to aid in language identification. Of particular interest were language-specific differences in CE and CF word-initial stops. Experiment 1 consisted of an interlingual homophone production task. The purpose of this study was to examine how word-initial stop consonants differ in terms of acoustic properties in Canadian English (CE) and Canadian French (CF) interlingual homophones. The analyses from the bilingual speakers in Experiment 1 indicate that bilinguals …

Novelistic Intimacies: Reading And Writing In The Late Age Of Print, Vincent Michael Haddad

Wayne State University Dissertations

In Novelistic Intimacies, I consider the political and aesthetic structure of intimacy in a diverse set of narrative forms produced in the so-called digital age, or the late age of print—from encyclopedic and metafictional novels to graphic storytelling and Afrofuturist fantasy. As an organizing principle, intimacy forces us to consider, at once, how novelists have attempted to restore language and narrative with personal meaning after postmodernism—often termed New Sincerity or post-irony. At the same time, intimacy allows us to see how novelists have experimented on the materiality of the book and the eroticism of language to invent new, impersonal modes …

Memes, Args And Viral Videos: Spreadable Media, Participatory Culture, And Composition Pedagogy, Mary Karcher

Wayne State University Dissertations

This project argues that spreadable media texts motivate people to engage in compositional activities advocated in First Year Composition (FYC). Drawing on Henry Jenkins’ assertion that participatory culture offers potential for learning, I use his list of eleven participatory culture skills that he believed necessary for all students. After showing how well the Participatory Culture Abilities (PCAs) align with the WPA Outcomes Statement (WPA OS), I put forth the WPA OS and the PCAs combined as a lens through which to view three spreadable media case studies: Spreadable Media Events, Fan Labor, and Alternate Reality Games. Based on my findings, …

The Affective Presidency, John Patrick Koch

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation explores the relationship between affect, political emotions, and presidential rhetoric. In examining the political philosophy and presidency of Woodrow Wilson, this dissertation explores how presidential rhetoric captures, channels, and/or directs the passions of the people. Drawing on research by Sarah Ahmed and Brian Masummi, this dissertation argues that presidential rhetoric intervenes into the affective process by directing the passions of citizens towards promises of happiness and investment in presidential power. Two case studies, one focusing on Wilson’s tour in support of the League of Nations and the other on presidential museums, highlight the affective function of presidential rhetoric. …

Using R2d2 To Create Information Literacy Objects In Academic Libraries: Design-Based Research, Kristin Orlich Lavoie

Wayne State University Dissertations

Academic librarians at the university level are increasingly called upon to create information literacy objects which are available to students online. These librarians, however, frequently have little or no training in any type of instruction, either face to face or online. Because of the unique attributes of online learning, librarians should be aware of instructional design models and learner preferences in order to maximize online student learning. Academic librarians’ utilization of the activities which promote efficacious online learning can be increased through awareness of an instructional design model best suited to this purpose. Research was needed to develop a guide …

Calponin And Cytoskeleton Dynamics In Macrophage Functions And The Pathogenesis Of Atherosclerosis, Rong Liu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Arterial atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease. Macrophages play a major role in the pathogenesis and progression of atherosclerotic lesions. Modulation of macrophage function is a therapeutic target for the treatment of atherosclerosis. Calponin is an actin-filament-associated regulatory protein that inhibits the activity of myosin-ATPase and dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton. Encoded by the Cnn2 gene, calponin isoform 2 is expressed at significant levels in macrophages. Deletion of calponin 2 increases macrophage migration and phagocytosis. In the present study, we investigated the effect of deletion of calponin 2 in macrophages on the pathogenesis and development of atherosclerosis. The results showed that …

Cardiolipin Is Required For Optimal Acetyl-Coa Metabolism, Vaishnavi Raja

Wayne State University Dissertations

The phospholipid cardiolipin (CL) is crucial for many cellular functions and signaling pathways, both inside and outside of mitochondria. My thesis focuses on the role of CL in energy metabolism. Many reactions of electron transport and oxidative phosphorylation, the transport of metabolites needed for these processes, and the stabilization of electron transport chain supercomplexes, require CL. Recent studies indicate that CL is required for the synthesis of iron-sulfur (Fe-S) co-factors, which are essential for numerous metabolic pathways. Activation of carnitine-acetylcarnitine translocase, which transports acetyl-CoA into the mitochondria, is CL dependent. The presence of substantial amounts of CL in the peroxisomal …

Navigating The Transition Into Motherhood: Women's Experiences Of Control, Emotions, And Social Ideals, Jody Sue Sauer-Sargent

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this dissertation, I sought to give postpartum women their own voices so that they could help define the postpartum experience on their own terms. It fills important gaps within the literature on new mothers’ experiences. A phenomenological approach was used, emphasizing the lived experiences of the women, with an overlay of autoethnography, where the personal experience of the researcher becomes important primarily in how it illuminates the phenomenon being studied. Thus, my personal experience of pregnancy into early motherhood is interwoven throughout this dissertation. Forty-two women participated in the in-depth, face-to-face interview, followed by a questionnaire. The qualitative data …

Loss Of Rap1gap: A Driver In The Progression From Dcis Of The Breast To Idc, Seema Shah

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine the role of Rap1Gap in the progression of DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) to IDC (invasive ductal cancer). We employed an in-vitro three-dimensional (3D) overlay model that provides a physiologically relevant microenvironment to study mechanisms of malignant progression. Previous studies from this laboratory aimed to determine specific gene expression changes common to three models of DCIS- MCF10.DCIS, SUM 102 and SUM 225 in comparison to MCF10A cells, a model of non-transformed human mammary epithelium. The expression of 295 genes was found to be significantly altered, with 63 being increased in expression in …