Digital Commons Network^™

Heritage Hotel: A Marriage Of Heritage Tourism And Boutique Hospitality, Leah A. Embrey

Theses and Dissertations

As defined by Wai Mun Lim and Mel Endean in 2009 in their article “Elucidating the aesthetic and operational characteristics of UK boutique hotels” in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Boutique hotels have less than 100 rooms, have an individualistic and unique design, are often in historic buildings, and have highly personalized service for guests. I found that a boutique hotel that focuses on historic preservation and heritage tourism does four things. First, it respects the history of the building it is housed in, preserving as much of the original structure as possible. It also takes advantage of …

Perceptions Of The Homeless Toward Nonprofit Human Service Provider, Lequan M. Hylton

Theses and Dissertations

As the debate intensifies regarding developing remedies to meet the needs of America’s homeless, one solution is for governmental agencies to collaborate with and employ organizations from the nonprofit sector to assist with the needs of the homeless population. Included in the nonprofit sector, faith-based organizations (FBOs) have historically been a source of debate and contention in terms of collaborations with the government. However, Presidents Reagan, George H. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama have embraced the idea of including FBOs in the pool of service providers offering human services. In the Richmond, Virginia region, FBOs and nonreligious nonprofit …

Strata, Lauren Hale

Theses and Dissertations

In my mixed media pieces and sculptural books, I explore the significance of place. Place is not just a geographical location; it is a layered history that tells a story. My experiences in a specific environment and how I relate to it, study it, remember it, or imagine it drive me to create pieces. While the choices I make are influenced by my own experiences, I want to evoke feelings of familiarity, intrigue, and a sense of nostalgia.

In my process, I intuitively layer paint, printed materials, and mixed media to make a foundation for exploration. I continue to …

Examining The Effects Of Psychosocial Stress On The Hypertension Self-Management Behaviors Of African American Women, Michelle Laws

Theses and Dissertations

Hypertension is a preventable and yet major risk factor for early death and morbidity among African Americans. Compared to other women in the US, African American women continue to die earlier and more frequently from preventable and controllable chronic health conditions that are notably due to hypertension and hypertension-related illnesses. While there are multiple factors contributing to the high death rates of African American women, hypertension is one of the most common and modifiable risk factors associated with fatal health outcomes among African American women. The rate of death resulting from hypertension is more than double for African American females …

Black Feminist Discourse Analysis Of Portrayals Of Gender Violence Against Black Women: A Social Work Dissertation, Avina Ross

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored media discourse of gender violence against Black women in Black contemporary films. Four Tyler Perry films were examined using a novel, qualitative and analytical framework: Black Feminist Discourse Analysis. Discourses that were studied include, but were not limited to: portrayals of gender violence and victims, character dispositions and interactions, stereotypes, relationship dynamics as well as portrayals of race, gender, sexuality and religion. The use of new and existing controlling images based on systems of race, gender, sexuality and religion were revealed in a transitional and systemic model. Common themes across the films are provided. This research closes …

Propensity Score For Causal Inference Of Multiple And Multivalued Treatments, Zirui Gu

Theses and Dissertations

Propensity score methods (PSM) that have been widely used to reduce selection bias in observational studies are restricted to a binary treatment. Imai and van Dyk extended PSM to estimate non-binary treatment effect using stratification with P-Function, and generalized inverse treatment probability weighting (GIPTW). However, propensity score (PS) matching methods on multiple treatments received little attention, and existing generalized PSMs merely focused on estimates of main treatment effects but omitted potential interaction effects that are of essential interest in many studies. In this dissertation, I extend Rubin’s PS matching theory to general treatment regimens under the P-Function framework. From theory …

Women At The Crossroads, Women At The Forefront, American Women In Letterpress Printing In The Nineteenth Century, Dianne L. Roman Ms

Theses and Dissertations

The significant role of the female printer in the American home-based print shops during the colonial and early republic periods has been documented in print history, socioeconomic, labor, and women studies, yet with the industrialization of the printing trade, women’s presence is thought to have disappeared. Contrary to the belief that industrialization of the print shop eradicated women’s involvement in skilled employments such as typesetting, the creation of the Women’s Cooperative Printing Union in California and the creation and chartering of the Women’s Typographical Union in New York, both in the late 1860s, clearly indicate that women continued to work …

Is Your Student Fit For That College? A Study Of The Factors That Contribute To Students’ Academic Performance In College, Abdulaziz A. Alotaibi

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to expand the extent of available literature in regard to the factors that contribute to students’ academic performance in college. It focused on a neglected segment of the student population, which is Saudi Arabian students studying in the United States. This study utilized a nonexperimental quantitative research design in order to investigate the relationship between the independent variables (the characteristics of the student, the characteristics of the program, and the academic and social integration between the student and the program) and the dependent variables (degree GPA, ability to graduate within academic program time frame, …

What’S Real? What’S Not? : Reality Tv’S Effect On Relational Aggression Among Black College Women, Ashley N. Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Relational aggression, behaviors that manipulate social relationships, is a pressing issue among Black college women (Dahlen, Czar, Prather, & Dyess, 2013). As a result of experiencing and using relational aggression, Black women may experience diminished interpersonal interactions and poorer overall psychological well-being (Gomes, Davis, Baker, & Servonsky, 2009). The present study examined how Black reality television (BRTV) models relationally aggressive behaviors for viewers. According to Cultivation theory, television has the power to influence the social reality (i.e. attitudes and perceptions) of individuals who consume high amounts of television (Gerbner et al, 2002), while Identification theory suggests that deep cognitive and …

Adjustment Profiles Among Youth In Diverse Cultural Contexts: Individual, Family, And Contextual Influences, Alicia Borre

Theses and Dissertations

Recent literature has noted that not all youth who experience adverse circumstances (e.g. poverty, exposure to violence, maltreatment) end up displaying expected unfavorable outcomes (e.g. academic failure, depression, drug dependence); in fact, some youth display “resilience,” broadly understood as adaptive functioning in the face of adversity (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000). Overall, research on resilience has offered a new approach to the study of at-risk populations, emphasizing the study of strengths, processes, and mechanisms among individuals and communities that may favor positive adaptation, rather than emphasizing deficits among those experiencing adversity (Schoon, 2012). Although resilience research has come a long …

Mission-Driven Communication For The Non-Profit Organization: A Case Study Of The Downtown Spokane Partnership, Lindsey Pilar Klemmer

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"The development, content, and application of mission statements have been highly researched, studied, and discussed in generic terms. This case study was designed to develop and expand understanding of the mission of Downtown Spokane Partnership, rather than to generalize beyond it. Mission-focused questions were included in a communication audit conducted for Downtown Spokane Partnership [DSP], a non-profit organization [NPO] that advocates for the development of the downtown Spokane area. The study investigated perceptual differences and similarities of the DSP mission expressed by downtown business owners and DSP constituents compared to those expressed by DSP's staff and board members. The results …

Outstanding University Lecturers: Ambitious Altruists Or Mavericks Of The Academy?, Sharon Lierse

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The paper discusses the results of a research study to determine what characteristics outstanding university lecturers have in common. Academic staff and graduate students at an Australian university were invited to participate in a survey questionnaire followed by voluntary interviews. Lecturers who had been identified as outstanding were also interviewed. The five characteristics were expertise, holistic approach to learning, engaging the student, open door policy and ambitious altruists. This study found that outstanding lecturers were unconventional in their work practices and valued student learning often at the sacrifice of their own career paths. Outstanding university lecturers are ambitious altruists who …

Career Motivations, Role Expectations And Curriculum Knowledge Of Prospective Secondary English Teachers In Western Australia, Brian Moon, Barbara Harris

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teacher quality, teaching standards, and entry criteria for teacher education courses are currently subjects of intense national debate and policy development in Australia. As tertiary institutions respond to calls for a review of standards, there is a need for more data on the characteristics of entrants to teacher education and the factors that are likely to influence their performance as teachers. This survey-based study investigated the entry characteristics of four cohorts of secondary English majors at one institution. Prior studies have focussed on graduate-level students in one-year preparation courses, and addressed fewer factors. This study surveyed undergraduate students embarking on …

Marriage By Force? Contestation Over Consent And Coercion In Africa, Annie Bunting, Benjamin N. Lawrance, Richard L. Roberts

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

With forced marriage, as with so many human rights issues, the sensationalized hides the mundane, and oversimplified popular discourses miss the range of experiences. In sub-Saharan Africa, the relationship between coercion and consent in marriage is a complex one that has changed over time and place, rendering impossible any single interpretation or explanation.

The legal experts, anthropologists, historians, and development workers contributing to Marriage by Force? focus on the role that marriage plays in the mobilization of labor, the accumulation of wealth, and domination versus dependency. They also address the crucial slippage between marriages and other forms of gendered violence, …

Discovering Design Principles For Persuasive Systems: A Grounded Theory And Text Mining Approach, Mohammad Al-Ramahi, Omar F. El-Gayar, Jun Liu

Research & Publications

Persuasive systems aim to change users' behavior and lifestyle. These systems have been gaining popularity with the proliferation of wearable devices and recent advances in information technology. In that regard, recent research aims at identifying system design principles that are specific to persuasive systems. In this article we extend the existing literature by discovering design principles for persuasive systems from a systematic analysis of users feedback from the actual use of persuasive systems. Specifically, we use grounded theory and text mining (topic modeling) to extract design concepts from online user reviews of mobile diabetes applications. Overall, the results extend existing …

Defining Place Image, Candi Clouse, Ashutosh Dixit

Business Faculty Publications

The image of a place is important as it has implications for investments made in cities, workforce locations, and tourism. Place image incorporates concepts including brand, visual image, reputation, the sense of place, and the identity of the place - all of which create an overall image of a place and can lead to investment or abandonment. Place image has ramifications for decisions made about the place, including where businesses locate, where workers live, and where tourists visit (Smith, 2006). Place image has serious ramifications for decisions made about the place as people choose to stay, work, visit, and invest. …

Gender Differences In Factors Contributing To Frequency Of Victimization Among Youth In Residential Placement, Chelsey Hukriede

Theses and Dissertations

Violence and victimization are common aspects of life for incarcerated individuals, even youth, with a large majority of offenders reporting experiences of some form of victimization during their stay in custody. Routine activities theory argues that most criminal acts require a convergence of motivated offenders, suitable targets, and the absence of capable guardianship. The purpose of this study is to explore quantitatively, facility and individual level factors that may affect experiences of robbery, physical and sexual assault victimization among youth in residential custody, and how these factors might vary by gender. To answer my research question, secondary data from The …

Concussion Knowledge And Attitudes: The Impact Of Hegemonic Masculinity, Allyssa Jean Schlosser

Theses and Dissertations

Concussions are a significant public health issue, however, there is a lack of knowledge about concussions and a minimization of their severity in society. Prior research has identified various social stigmas, particularly in the world of contact sports, as deterrents for men reporting concussions. This study expands on the reasons why men do not report concussions by exploring the relationship between adherence to hegemonic masculinity and the knowledge and attitudes men have about concussions. College men (N =126) responded to survey questions related to concussion knowledge, concussion attitudes, adherence to toughness, and adherence to restrictive emotionality. Regression analyses were performed …

The Impact Of Cultural Identity And Social Capital On American Indian Elders' Subjective Health, Cole Lewis Ward

Theses and Dissertations

Data gathered from the National Resource Center on Native American Aging at the University of North Dakota was utilized (N = 8,396) to see if a relationship exists between cultural identity and social capital, the independent variables, and the dependent variable, subjective health. It is anticipated that there will be strong relationships between cultural identity, social capital, and subjective health because it is culturally expected that the younger generations of American Indians will take care of their elders by providing support when needed. This will provide a strong sense of well-being for American Indian elders. Additionally, cultural identity is expected …

Preparing Doctoral Students For The Professoriate: An Ethnographic Study Of Students’ Experiences In A Formal Preparatory Course, Mohammed Saleh Alkathiri

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of doctoral students relating to the factors that influence their understanding, preparation and attitude toward the professoriate. Participants were enrolled in a formal course that was designed to prepare them for the professoriate. Acquainted with critical realist ontology, the researcher argued that it was necessary to investigate the understanding and preparation of doctoral students in order to better clarify the complex experiences that underlie their practices of making meaning and maintaining balance and well-being in the professoriate. The study was conducted using an ethnographic case study approach with multiple data collection methods that …

Contraceptive Self-Efficacy: Educational And Familial Influences, Jenelle Suzan Swenberger

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines educational and familial influences on contraceptive self-efficacy among young adults. Self-efficacy theory states that beliefs about personal efficacy constitute the key factor behind human agency. Contraceptive self-efficacy refers to the belief in one’s ability to utilize contraceptives in a sexual situation. Based on previous literature it is expected that young adults who have had comprehensive reproductive health education, report higher levels of individual educational attainment, and report higher levels of mothers’ and fathers’ educational attainment will report higher levels of contraceptive self-efficacy. To test these associations, data from a stratified random sample of undergraduate students enrolled at …

Bicycle Transit And The Journey To Work: An Exploration Of Bicycle Accessiblity In 10 Large U.S. Cities, Brandon Lee Andreasen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the access to bicycle infrastructure from home locations and the locations of employment opportunities. The accessibility of bicycle infrastructure to employment is calculated using distance thresholds of 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 kilometers and compared using the road network, all bicycle infrastructure, and only bicycle paths for 10 United States cities. Findings indicate that on average, 71 percent of jobs in a city have access to bicycle infrastructure, which is found to be statistically significant at the 0.05 level in relation to the bicycle commute mode share, as opposed to 66 percent of residents which was …

Tradeshow Exhibits As Places Of Learning: A Case Study Of An Exhibit House In The Midwest, Sachel Colin Josefson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to understand tradeshow exhibits as places of learning. The existing literature suggests that tradeshows are events of learning, but the purpose of this research study was to fill a pronounced gap in the literature by better understanding tradeshow exhibits as places of learning through the perceptions and experiences of industry professionals at a Midwestern exhibit house. Tradeshows have traditionally been understood to be temporary marketplaces where organizations from a given industry convene to display their products and services to potential buyers. While tradeshow exhibits are still seen in this research study as temporary …

Anomie In The Oil Patch? An Examination Of Durkheim’S Anomie Theory Through A Case Study Of The Bakken Region, Fred Matthew Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Emile Durkheim serves as one of the seminal contributors to the field of sociology; his contributions to criminology are numerous as well. Many authors consider Durkheim’s concept of anomie to be his most important contribution to the field of criminology (Lunden, 1972). Durkheim’s anomie theory has been subject to extensive empirical examination, these efforts have resulted in disparate findings. Graeff and Mehlkop (2007) insist this lack of coherence is due to improper operationalization of Durkheim’s anomie by some researchers. In particular, it is the utilization of cross sectional data in these previous studies which contributes to these disparate results. The …

Not Your Business: Pedagogical Lessons Of Activist Resistance To Neoliberalism In Canadian Higher Education, Jorunn Thordarson

Theses and Dissertations

The growing power and permeation of neoliberal ideology across all facets of social life has been instrumental in promoting and orchestrating a shift among Canadian post-secondary institutions towards a reductive view of schooling at the expense of a more liberatory vision of education. The aim of this study was to examine the connections between power, education, and democracy in relation to the neoliberal restructuring of higher education in Canada, while simultaneously exploring discourses of resistance to neoliberal hegemony. Using critical discourse analysis, this study begins by establishing the promotion and naturalization of neoliberal ideology within the policy landscape of Canadian …

A Dual-Level Approach To Enrollment Management, Jason Trainer

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing institutional dependency on tuition revenue paired with rising political pressures towards student success outcomes has many institutions turning to enrollment management (EM) to improve their institution’s enrollment outcomes. EM is a comprehensive and inclusive process focused on achieving the optimum recruitment, retention, and graduation institutional outcomes. The academic community remains at the epicenter of this EM process. Chief enrollment officers failing to create an institutional partnership with the academic community will unlikely attain desired enrollment outcomes.

This study seeks to assist institutions by assessing how a “shared sense of responsibility” for enrollment outcomes is developed through the eyes of …

A Thoughtful Faith: Essays On Belief By Mormon Scholars, Philip L. Barlow

Books

No abstract provided.

Cruising The Borderlands: Queer Latinx Creating Space In Lowrider Culture, Elisia I. Campos

Senior Independent Study Theses

This ethnographic and interview-based study explores how queer Latinx lowriders create community through art, such as The Q Sides, an exhibition of photographs by Vero Majano, Kari Orvik, and DJ Brown Amy. Both lowrider culture and the queer Latinx community are marginalized communities that are often silenced, ignored, and not included in historical preservation or well documented. Lowrider culture and the queer Latinx community have largely been explored separately, such as ethnographer Ben Chappell and interdisciplinary scholar Michael Hames-García. My Senior Independent Study project examines the unique intersection of the queer Latinx experience in lowrider culture in the context of …

Policies And Clinical Practices Regarding Candidacy And Auditory Treatment For Hispanic Pediatric Patients In Cochlear Implant Centers In The United States, Matthew Ehrenburg

Senior Independent Study Theses

This research sought to investigate the policies and clinical practices regarding candidacy and auditory treatment for Hispanic pediatric cochlear implant patients at cochlear implant centers in the United States. More specifically, the study investigated treatment services provided to pediatric patients who are raised in monolingual Spanish, English as a second language (ESL), and bilingual English-Spanish speaking homes. The study made use of survey research to examine cochlear implant centers regarding their policies, clinical practices, and their referral processes for this specific group of cochlear implant recipients. The survey was distributed electronically through the online survey software Qualtrics via email to …

Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog, 2016-2017, Grand Valley State University

Course Catalogs, 1963 - Current

Grand Valley State University 2016-2017 undergraduate and/or graduate course catalog published annually to provide students with information and guidance for enrollment.