Digital Commons Network^™

Conversion To Evangelical Christianity During College: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Meagan Alicia Brunson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Psychology has a history of ignoring and pathologizing spiritual experiences. Many of the fathers of early psychology including Freud, Ellis, and Skinner modeled this trend. However, with the increasing awareness of the importance of multicultural factors as they relate to mental health, religion and spirituality have gained recognition in the professional literature. Research on religion and spirituality and college students has mainly consisted of survey studies collecting demographic data. The current study uses a qualitative research design to explore the experiences of college students who converted to Christianity during college. The guiding questions of this research pertain mainly to the …

The Effect Of Ignoring Statistical Interactions In Regression Analyses Conducted In Epidemiologic Studies: An Example With Survival Analysis Using Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Model, Kristina Vatcheva, Joseph B. Mccormick, Mohammad H. Rahbar

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Objective: To demonstrate the adverse impact of ignoring statistical interactions in regression models used in epidemiologic studies.

Study design and setting: Based on different scenarios that involved known values for coefficient of the interaction term in Cox regression models we generated 1000 samples of size 600 each. The simulated samples and a real life data set from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort were used to evaluate the effect of ignoring statistical interactions in these models.

Results: Compared to correctly specified Cox regression models with interaction terms, misspecified models without interaction terms resulted in up to 8.95 fold bias in estimated …

Listening To Their Voices: An Ethnographic Study Of Children's Values And Meaning Ascribed To Learning World Music In Elementary School General Music, Juliana Cantarelli Vita

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The primary purpose of this ethnographic study is to examine the values and meaning children ascribe to learning world music in an elementary school general music program. This research seeks to explore the potential of world music pedagogies for deepening children's understanding of music and its sociocultural context more completely. The participants in this study included fourth-grade students and their music teacher who designed and taught a Music-Culture Curricular Unit on Afro-Brazilian traditions. Data include field notes of music classes collected during seven weeks of observations, focus group and individual interviews with fourth-grade students, audio and video recordings, conversations with …

Cross-Spectral Full And Partial Face Recognition: Preprocessing, Feature Extraction And Matching, Zhicheng Cao

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cross-spectral face recognition remains a challenge in the area of biometrics. The problem arises from some real-world application scenarios such as surveillance at night time or in harsh environments, where traditional face recognition techniques are not suitable or limited due to usage of imagery obtained in the visible light spectrum. This motivates the study conducted in the dissertation which focuses on matching infrared facial images against visible light images. The study outspreads from aspects of face recognition such as preprocessing to feature extraction and to matching.;We address the problem of cross-spectral face recognition by proposing several new operators and algorithms …

Pedagogical And Performance Aspects Of Three American Compositions For Solo Piano: John Corigliano's Fantasia On An Ostinato, Miguel Del Aguila's Conga For Piano, And William Bolcom's Nine New Bagatelles, Tse Wei Chai

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research document focuses on three American compositions: John Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato, Miguel del Aguila's Conga for Solo Piano, and William Bolcom's Nine New Bagatelles. These three pieces fall into the category of standard contemporary works which require pianists' advanced technique, sound exploration, and imagination. The intention of this research is to provide guidance for pianists and piano instructors who want to learn, perform, or teach any of these contemporary pieces. There are five chapters in this document. Chapter One highlights the existing literature regarding these three pieces. Chapter Two, "John Corigliano," has three main sections. Section one …

Three Essays On Decomposition Analysis Of The Territorial Co 2 Emissions And The Emissions Embodiment In Trade Attributable To Consumption Of Service-Oriented Economies, Chairat Choesawan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With the pace of globalization, the rapid growth in international trade has led to a widespread perception of increasing CO2 embodied emissions. As the fragmentation of international production has become a dominant feature of modern international trade, there is a vibrant debate over how embodied emissions should be attributed and allocated among economies. To contribute to the debate on emission allocations and mitigation effort comparisons, it is important to consistently investigate the structures of carbon transfers across global economies. The role of carbon transfer structures in affecting mitigation efforts can be explored as part of the consequences of various emission …

Evaluation Of Concavity Compression Mechanism As A Possible Predictor Of Shoulder Muscle Fatigue, Suman Kanti Chowdhury

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined the lived experiences of American Muslim principals who serve in public schools post-9/11 to determine whether global events, political discourse, and the media coverage of Islam and Muslims have affected their leadership and spirituality. The aim of the study was to allow researchers and educators to gain an understanding of the adversities that American Muslims principals have experienced post-9/11 and to determine how to address these adversities, particularly through decisions about educational policy and district leadership. A total of 14 American Muslim school leaders who work in public schools post-9/11 across the United States participated in the …

The Opinions And Attitudes Of Police Officers To Proposed Changes To Law Enforcement, Jason C. Contessa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The field of policing has recently come under the public scrutiny due to the events surrounding the deaths of several citizens at the hands of police officers. Although not the first time policing has been criticized, the issues have caused the country to become increasingly divided on whether or not American police forces are in need of reform. There has been an overwhelming amount of complaints against law enforcement and suggestions to improve policies. As political and public figures have taken sides and police administration has made statements regarding the issues, the voices of those that would be most affected …

Encounters With The Avant-Garde: Four Case Studies In The Reception History Of Contemporary Flute Works (1971 To Present), Amanda Cook

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Using reception history as a historiographical lens, this study traces the development and maturation of critical language used to describe selected flute works from 1971 to present that include extended playing techniques in addition to theatrical elements specified by the composer. Only English-language documentation is examined, and the majority of these items are reviews. The works used as case studies are George Crumb's Vox Balaenae (1971), Toru Takemitsu's Voice (1971), Karlheinz Stockhausen's Flautina (1989), and Marcos Balter's Descent from Parnassus (2012).;The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) Define the role of temporality in relation to the developmental arc of …

Differences In School Climate Means: Exploring Contextual Factors Among A Sample Of Appalachian Youth, Shay M. Daily

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides a means for states to streamline current assessment systems and integrate multidimensional measures. The use of comprehensive measures (i.e. school climate) is important in understanding non-academic factors that influence the quality of a school. There are limited studies which describe how contextual factors influence the learning and behavior of students within demographically homogenous populations, especially from rural settings. Rural populations are characterized to have higher prevalence of multiple social, behavioral, and contextual characteristics that negatively affect their perception of school when compared to their urban counterparts.;The purpose of this study was to examine …

Evaluating Reforestation Success On Reclaimed Coal Mines In West Virginia And Determining The Release Of Nutrients In Overburden Materials, Kara Dallaire

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Coal mining remains an important industry in West Virginia and mining operations drastically disturb the forested landscape. After mining operations, reforesting the land provides economic and ecological benefits. In order to promote successful reforestation, the Appalachian Reforestation Initiative supports the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA). The FRA recommends creating a suitable rooting medium and ensuring that no compaction occurs. In 2005, three 2.5-ha research plots were established at the Catenary Mine in southern West Virginia. One plot was constructed with 1.2 m of brown sandstone, another with 1.5 m of brown sandstone, and the third with 1.5 m of gray sandstone. …

Young Adult Daughters And Their Parents: Communication About Workcareer And Family, Rita Daniels

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Employing adult daughters' (N = 254) perspectives of their communication, relational quality, and identities with and surrounding their relationships with parents, I bridge organizational and family communication's scholarship realms to address family socialization regarding work/career and family. Specifically, I examine: (a) the content and context of memorable messages about work and/or family; (b) the connection between daughters' closeness to parents and daughters' likelihood to transmit these messages; and (c) the impact of mothers' socialization messages about work/career and family on daughters' personal, relational, and enacted identities (identity layers within the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI; Hecht (1993)). Using both online …

Synergistic Modeling Of In-Vitro And In-Vivo Data Via Stochastic Kriging With Qualitative Factors (Skq), Behnam Dehghan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this study is to model in-vivo propranolol plasma concentration after administrating oral propranolol extended-release (ER) tablets. In-vivo data are typically expensive and scarce. To save time and cost needed to achieve high-quality in- vivo profile, this work utilizes both in-vitro and in-vivo data.;The ensemble of in-vitro and in-vivo data is modeled by stochastic kriging with qualitative factors (SKQ). It treats in-vivo and in-vitro as the two distinct levels of a qualitative factor. By synergistically modeling both types of data, SKQ is able to provide fitted in-vivo profiles whose quality is much higher than those obtained from modeling …

Wireless Implantable Magnetoelastic Sensors And Actuators For Biomedical Applications, Andrew Derouin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Magnetoelastic sensors represent a low-cost wireless and battery-less method for monitoring parameters in embedded or implanted applications; however, some limitations still exist preventing their commercial implementation. Presented in this work are a variety of studies that are aimed at improving the feasibility of magnetoelastic materials for sensing and actuating applications. Magnetoelastic resonant sensors of non-standard geometries were investigated to determine if geometry could play a role on the sensitivity of the sensor response to mass loading. It was shown that a significant increase in sensitivity could be achieved by using triangular sensors rather than standard rectangular strips. A method for …

Media Use, Body Image And Sexual Satisfaction In Emerging Adults, Alison Leigh Brennan

Human Development and Family Science

Emerging adults in America are avid users of media, including magazines and pornographic film. Use of this media is associated with body dissatisfaction and reduced sexual satisfaction. However, existing research has not examined media use, body dissatisfaction and sexual satisfaction within the same study. Additionally, the effects of pornographic film use on body image have not been extensively studied, and existing research does not adequately consider how reasons for use might relate to effects of viewing this type of media. The present study tests an integrated model of the relationships among media use, body dissatisfaction and sexual satisfaction and examines …

Experience Needed: Recruitment Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Clients In Coamfte-Accredited Training Programs, William Osgood Pearson

Human Development and Family Science

This study explored the efforts that faculty at accredited Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) training programs made to recruit lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients, and to what extent these reflected the LGB-affirmative therapy training literature. The sample for this study included 63 faculty members from accredited CFT programs. The data for this study originated from a larger survey and included one Likert scaled item and one open-ended item focused on LGB client recruitment. The thematic analysis revealed five categories: (1) Fostering an LGBAffirmative Clinic Identity, (2) Marketing Efforts, (3) Networking and Collaborating, (4) Creating LGB-specific Training Opportunities and Programs, …

The Relationship Of Static And Dynamic Hip Muscle Activation On Running Related Injury Rates In Recreational Runners, Abby Mae Reynolds

Health Nutrition and Exercise Science

Running has become an increasingly popular sport and research is necessary to examine the variables associated with running related injury. The purpose of this study was to analyze the overall relationship between static and dynamic hip strength and the rate of running related lower limb injuries in recreational runners. In addition, gender differences in hip muscle activation were analyzed. Surface electromyography was used to quantify static and dynamic hip muscle activation. Statistically significant decreases in muscle activation were observed in the one-mile testing period in both genders. Significant differences in muscle activation were present between genders. Although there was no …

Analysis Of Availability, Quality, And Price Of Food Options In Denver, Co Grocery Stores, Jesse Adam Lunsford

Health Nutrition and Exercise Science

In certain areas in the United States low-income, non-white populations have less access to healthy foods. This lack of access can manifest itself with higher costs, lower quality, or less availability of healthy food options. Research has shown a correlation between health status and ethnic and/or income status, which is related to negative correlations in health disparities and dietary intake. This study examined the Denver area grocery stores to identify if any populations had significant differences in food cost, food availability, or food quality. Thirty stores were randomly selected from Denver and analyzed using Nutritional Environmental Measure Survey for Supermarkets …

Concurrent Validity Of The Fitbit Flex Personal Activity Monitor And Actigraph Gt3x+ In Free-Living Setting, Nicklaus Alan Redenius

Health Nutrition and Exercise Science

This study investigated the concurrent validity of two accelerometer-based physical activity (PA) monitors, the wrist-worn Fitbit Flex, and ActiGraph’s hip-worn GT3X+. Specifically, we examined the relationship, differences, and level of agreement between Fitbit and GT3X+ sedentary behavior (SED) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) estimates. Sixty-seven adults (mean age: 47.1 ± 14.1, female: 73.1%) from North Dakota State University wore the Fitbit and GT3X+, and logged any sleep and non-wear time, for seven consecutive days in free-living conditions. GT3X+ estimates were calculated using ActiGraph Freedson, Troiano, and Freedson’s VM3 cut-points. Fitbit estimates were calculated via Fitabase. Only data during waking hours where …

The Role Of Music Among Healthy Older Performance Musicians, Barbara Hutchison

Human Development and Family Science

This qualitative study explored the role of music in the lives of 18 healthy older performance musicians (PMs). PMs began music education in early childhood and developed music competencies of advanced, expert, and virtuoso by voice, instruments, and composing music. The phenomenology approach to data consisted of a 7-item demographic questionnaire, and an 18-semi-structured interview questionnaire. From the themes of community music participation, wellness, and happiness emerged 11 subthemes. The role of participating in community music validated PMs’ music identity. First, values and beliefs explained music was life and a livelihood; second, music participation continued for decades because conductors chose …

Measuring Motivation And Performance On The Army Physical Fitness Test In North Dakota Army National Guard Soldiers, Andrew Robert Carlson

Health Nutrition and Exercise Science

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationships between a soldiers’ type of motivation to complete the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) and their performance on the APFT. In research most self-determined (MSD) forms of motivation have been associated with more positive performance outcomes than least self-determined (LSD) forms of motivation. METHODS: 208 soldiers completed a survey regarding motivation and performance on the APFT. A Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation was performed between motivation and APFT performance outcomes. Significance was set at alpha ≤0.05 RESULTS: As participants’ MSD scores increased, the following variables improved: current APFT score, current APFT passing status, and APFT failure history. …

Effects Of The Early Risers Program On Children's Social Skills And Parents' Emotion And Cognition, Zhen Yang

Human Development and Family Science

The Early Risers Skills for Success Program provides comprehensive skills training to children with adjustment problems and offers parent training to their parents. The present study expects parenting training contributes to increases in parenting confidence and involvement and decreases in relational frustration of parents in the program compared with the control. We also want to know whether improving children’s social competence mediates the program’s effects on parents’ positive feeling and cognition. 114 early elementary school students and their parents received the intervention and training and 76 children and parents were in the control. Five waves of data were collected over …

Preface, Rebecca Barrett-Fox

Journal of Hate Studies

By midway through 2016, the year was shaping up to be a rough one. Terrorist attacks had occurred nearly daily worldwide, with significant loss of life in around the world. In June, the Brexit vote. Continued war in Syria and political turmoil in nearby nations caused continued suffering for refugees. In the U.S., protests continued in across the country. In North Dakota, indigenous people have gathered in the largest meeting of Native American people in modern history in an effort to halt the erection of an oil pipeline dangerously close to native lands and waters. And the year ended with …

Discussing Auschwitz, Scholarly Integrity And Governmental Revisionism: A Case Study In Academic Intimidation, Kevin Mccarthy

Journal of Hate Studies

In September 2015, I became embroiled in a controversial and confrontational media discourse that rapidly assumed a global context as external actors engaged in a hateful campaign of intimidation and threatening behavior. It was initiated by a letter I had published in the Belfast Telegraph, which included a reference that localised anti-Semitism was a factor in the Nazi decision to locate the Auschwitz-Birkinau extermination camp in Poland. It was a response to a letter thread that had included multiple mentions of Poland, Auschwitz-Birkinau, and hateful intimidation. However, a forensic examination of the letter suggests the confrontation had, in fact nothing …

Elements Of Bile: Placing Daniel Ottolengui (1836-1918) In The Heritage Of Hate, Sally Stokes

Journal of Hate Studies

Just east of Broadway, in 1846, Isaac D. Baker and Charles Scribner opened their publishing house on Nassau Street near Ann Street in lower Manhattan. By the time of the Civil War, Baker & Scribner had cemented a reputation for thoughtful and elevating texts. In 1867, the firm, now Charles Scribner & Co., having moved up to 654 Broadway and released a miscellany of Christian meditations, poetry by Robert Burns, and a translation of the Iliad, had picked up Henry Ward Beecher’s Norwood, or Village Life in New England. This lone novel by Beecher—orator, abolitionist, and minister of Brooklyn’s Plymouth …

League Of The South's Internet Rhetoric: Neo-Confederate Community-Building Online, Brett A. Barnett

Journal of Hate Studies

A nationwide backlash against the Confederate flag and other Confederatesymbols occurred after the deadly June 17, 2015, church shootings inCharleston, South Carolina, when images of the alleged gunman displayinga Confederate flag surfaced. This backlash sparked a reactionary movementamong pro-Confederate supporters who viewed the attacks on Confederatesymbols as an affront to their Southern heritage. Some neo-Confederategroups exploited the backlash, and the pro-Confederate sympathy it generated,as an opportunity to build their communities. This essay examineshow the neo-Confederate group League of the South (LOS) used its websiteto attract members to its community in the week before the Confederateflag’s removal from South Carolina’s state …

Beyond Hate: White Power And Popular Culture By C. Richard King And David J. Leonard (Surrey, Uk: Ashgate, 2014. 200 Pp. $31.96. Isbn 978-1472427465)., Bianca Gonzalez-Sobrino, Matthew W. Hughey

Journal of Hate Studies

In Beyond Hate, C. Richard King and David J. Leonard present a critical, virtual ethnography that examines the relationship between popular culture, media, and white supremacy. Their efforts center on the exploration of the intersections of white power and popular culture in the virtual world as articulated in the context of the contemporary United States. In specific, King and Leonard explore how white nationalists come to utilize the digital realm of popular culture as a clarion call to cleanup a society “polluted” by the rise of nonwhite populations, the proliferation of liberal ideology and to the supposed demise of the …

The Nazis Next Door: How American Became A Safe Haven For Hitler's Men By Eric Lichtblau (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. 288 Pg. $28.00 Isbn 978-0547669199)., Monique Laney

Journal of Hate Studies

The Nazis Next Door is a follow-up to a breaking news story Lichtblau authored in 2010 when an unredacted version of a 600-page report chronicling the activities of the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Nazi hunting” Office of Investigations was leaked to the New York Times.2 The fact that the United States has been harboring Nazis, some of whom were war criminals, has not been news at least since the 1970s, but as Lichtblau explains in his 2010 article, the report “goes further in documenting the level of American complicity and deception,” especially the CIA’s involvement in using Nazis for postwar …

Native America And The Question Of Genocide By Alex Alvarez (Lanham, Md: Rowman And Littlefield, 2014. 203 Pp. $34.13. Isbn 978-1442225817)., Lisa King

Journal of Hate Studies

On September 6th, 2015, Indian Country Today publicized a story that did not make mainstream news but resonated throughout Indian Country: a Navajo/Maidu student, Chiitaanibah Johnson, was ejected from her California State-Sacramento history class after asking the instructor to address the genocide of Native peoples in his coverage of American history. The instructor claimed that Native peoples had simply died of disease and that she was “hijacking” his class when she insisted (Schilling). Meanwhile, amid the protests of 50 different California tribes, Pope Francis made headlines when he canonized the controversial figure Juniper Serra, one of the leaders of the …

An Attribtue-Based Statistic Model For Privacy Impact Assessment, Yong Wang, Jun Liu

Research & Publications

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) includes any information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity such as name, social security number, date and place of birth, mother's maiden name, or biometric records. It also includes other information that is linked or linkable to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial, and employment information. PII is often the target of attacks, and loss of PII could result in identity theft. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the average number of U.S. identity fraud victims annually is 11,571,900 [1]. The total financial loss attributed to identity theft in …