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Canine Emotions And The Bond Between Humans And Dogs, Robert G. Franklin Jr.

Animal Sentience

I explore how the findings reviewed by Kujala (2017) influence our understanding of the human-dog bond. The special social cognitive abilities of dogs may be unique among animal species, probably influenced by the circumstances surrounding canine domestication. The bond has influenced animal welfare policies, giving dogs a privileged place among animals. To determine what protections other species should have in a rational animal welfare policy, more research is needed on whether other species have similar social cognitive abilities.

Do We Understand What It Means For Dogs To Experience Emotion?, Lasana T. Harris

Animal Sentience

Psychologists who study humans struggle to agree on a definition of emotion, falling primarily into two camps. Though recent neuroscience advances are beginning to settle this ancient debate, it cannot solve the private-language problem at the heart of inferences about social cognition. This suggests that when we consider the emotional experiences of other species like canines, biological and physiological homologs do not provide enough evidence of emotional experiences similar to those of humans. Secondary complex emotional experiences are even more difficult to attribute to non-humans since such experiences rely, by definition, on social cognition. Given the contextual differences between human-human …

Animal And Human Emotion: Concepts And Methodologies, Cátia Correia Caeiro

Animal Sentience

The human-dog relationship is particularly interesting for the study of emotions. The underlying concepts need to be made explicit and methods need to be adapted to the characteristics of the species studied as well as the shortcomings of the human experimenter’s perception.

Beyond The Provable?, Márta Gácsi

Animal Sentience

Reading Kujala’s (2017) target article, I wondered whether we really need to approach the issue of animals’ emotions the traditional way, asking whether animals have emotions that are identical, similar or precursors to those of humans. As an ethologist, I prefer to examine psychological phenomena from an evolutionary perspective, focusing on Tinbergen’s (1963) four questions (Bateson & Laland 2013).

Empathy In Dogs: With A Little Help From A Friend – A Mixed Blessing, Sabrina Karl, Ludwig Huber

Animal Sentience

Kujala (2017) presents an extensive overview of existing research on canine emotions in comparison to those of other non-human animals and humans. This commentary provides some additional research results on the intensively debated field of empathy in dogs. We focus on recent advances in the understanding of a fundamental building block of empathy — emotional contagion — and on dogs’ remarkable sensitivity for human emotions, including the skills of assistance dogs.

Perceptions And Practices Of Administrators And Teachers In Jesuit Secondary Schools In The Hazaribag Province Of India Regarding Ideal Ignatian Educators, Vincent Hansdak

Doctoral Dissertations

The growing number of complex learning contexts and needs of students has challenged the quality of education at all levels. The need to offer the most satisfactory and meaningful education to all students consistently attracts researchers, policymakers, and educators to comprehensively understand what comprises successful learning, and in particular, what qualities do effective teachers have around the world. Though some developed countries have made significant progress toward quality education, many developing countries experience numerous obstructions to guaranteeing quality education to students. Most importantly, India, due to its economic, cultural, and social divides, still grapples with equity and the quality of …

Exploring The Racial And Gender Identity Formation Of Men Of Color In Student Leader Roles Who Have White Women Supervisors And Advisors In Higher Education, Alejandro Frank Covarrubias

Doctoral Dissertations

Daily experiences of isolation and invalidation create adverse campus climates that often lead to men of color dropping out of higher education. Student leadership positions can increase feelings of belonging, provide greater access to campus resources and increase retention for men of color, particularly when they centralize identity exploration. White women are overrepresented in student affairs direct student contact positions in higher education and are likely to supervise and/or advise men of color student leaders, but many student affairs professional are not properly trained to supervise or advise through an identity-based framework. This study explored: how do men of color …

The Educational Dimensions Of Filipina Migrant Workers’ Activist Identities, Rowena Magdalena Tomaneng

Doctoral Dissertations

There are 10.4 million Filipino/a migrant workers worldwide, with the large majority of Filipina migrants working in traditional gendered labor such as domestic work, care giving, nursing, teaching, and factory work (Ruiz, 2013). Because of the private nature of household work, Filipina migrants are vulnerable to mental and physical abuses from their employers in addition to labor exploitation. While researchers recognize migrants’ agency and acknowledge migrants as political and social actors, few studies connect Filipina migrant workers’ activist identities to the political education they receive from grassroots organizations in the Philippines, United States, and other countries. Consequently, the purpose of …

Factors And Characteristics Of Alumni Role Identity: Implications For Practice In Higher Education Fundraising And Alumni Relations, Jay Le Roux Dillon

Doctoral Dissertations

Now more than ever, colleges and universities are relying on funds raised from alumni to support their operations. At the same time, the percentage of alumni donors is in decline and new research suggests that higher education fundraising strategies are overly reliant on alumni behaviors and demographics as predictors of giving. A 2011 study by McDearmon addressed this issue by establishing a psychometric measure of a graduate’s self-identification with his or her role as an alumnus/a, dubbed “alumni role identity.” Based in role identity theory (Stryker 1968, 1980; Callero, 1985), McDearmon’s research demonstrated that alumni role identity was associated positively …

Exploring Self-Regulated Learning (Srl) And Listening Strategy Instruction In A Chinese L2 Classroom, Yue Li

Doctoral Dissertations

This interpretive case study explored the effectiveness of listening strategy instruction that promoted self-regulated learning and gained insights into students’ and instructors’ perceptions of strategy-integrated listening instruction among second semester learners of Chinese as a second language at a military college in Northern California. Most of previous studies investigated listening strategy use and the relationship between listening strategy use and listening achievement. Few studies investigated the effectiveness of listening strategy instruction. Thus, this study addressed the gaps in research by examining the effectiveness of integrating listening strategies into regular curriculum and explored students’ and instructors’ perceptions of listening strategy instruction …

The Role Of Self-Determination And Co-Construction To Support Meaningful Student Participation In An Individualized Education Program Meeting In High School, Trudy Ruth Gross

Doctoral Dissertations

By participating within the educational setting in making decisions about their lives that reach beyond choice-making, students with disabilities who acquire the skills of self-determination may express interests and goals through their own authentic voice. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the experiences and participation of two high-school students labeled with intellectual disability or autism at their Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings following participation in the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI). Student participation in the IEP process provides an avenue through which self-determined qualities emerge, and verbal and nonverbal participation can occur in a meaningful …

Queens Speak - A Youth Participatory Action Research Project: Exploring Critical Post-Traumatic Growth Among Black Girls Within The School To Prison Pipeline, Stacey Michelle Ault

Doctoral Dissertations

A gap exists in both research and practice when it comes to issues related to girls within the school-to-prison pipeline. Girls are also often ignored in the educational literature about trauma. Educators tend to take a deficit approach toward youth experiencing trauma and often reinforce trauma through discriminatory and exclusionary disciplinary practices. Using a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methodology centered in the lives of Black girls, with an intentional focus on their agency and growth, this study educated, coached, and supported a research team called Queens Speak. The primary purpose of this qualitative study was to elevate the voices …

Navigating Conflict In Inclusive Education: Autoethnography From An Elementary School Principal, Kimberly Christine Adams

Doctoral Dissertations

Practitioners and researchers have interpreted and debated the concept of the least restrictive environment creating the operational practices of mainstreaming and inclusion to adhere to the laws of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Despite the laws to ensure equal access to general education classrooms, and the vast body of literature on the technical implementation of inclusive practices, students with disabilities continue to be segregated and educated in a separate and unequal system of special education.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the competing tensions and conflict in inclusive education that elementary school principals navigate on a …

Epistemology, Wisdom, And Social Transformation: Strategies At The Forefront Of The Contemplative Movement In Higher Education, Nicola Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

American society is currently experiencing a surging interest in contemplative practices. The secularization and professionalization of contemplative practices can be seen in the adoption of mindfulness-based approaches in sectors as wide-ranging as technology, nonprofit, and higher education. Amongst all these fields, institutions of higher education play a unique role within the contemplative movement in that the academy lays claim to the powerful social roles of producing and disseminating knowledge and, subsequently, of shaping societal values and behaviors.

In conducting this qualitative study, the researcher analyzed 1) what the academics in the contemplative movement expressed through their speech regarding the activities …

Papelitos: The Visual Testimonios Of Undocumented College Students, Olivia Munoz

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated the role art played in the lives of nine undocumented college students at different universities in Northern California. The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to examine how undocumented college students use art as a mechanism of resistance and activation of the political self related to their immigration status. This scholarship comes at the heels of the first year in office of the 45th president of the United States, who ran on a platform, in part, of anti-immigrant rhetoric. Much of the activism around undocumented immigrant rights has used art as a mechanism for collective action, allyship, …

17th Legislative Session, 2017-2019 File, Texas Silver-Haired Legislature

Texas Silver-Haired Legislature

17th Legislative Session 2017-2019 File . The first file in the folder, information on the orientation session, is the primary document on this record and the additional documents inside the file are attached to this record as additional files. See list below for additional files contents.

A Coupled Terrestrial And Aquatic Biogeophysical Model Of The Upper Merrimack River Watershed, New Hampshire, To Inform Ecosystem Services Evaluation And Management Under Climate And Land-Cover Change, Nihar R. Samal, Wilfred M. Wollheim, Shantar Zuidema, Robert J. Stewart, Zaixing Zhou, Madeleine M. Mineau, Mark E. Borsuk, Kevin H. Gardner, Stanley J. Glidden, Tao Huang, David A. Lutz, Georgia Mayrommati, Alexandra M. Thorn, Cameron P. Wake, Matthew Huber

Faculty Publications

Accurate quantification of ecosystem services (ES) at regional scales is increasingly important for making informed decisions in the face of environmental change. We linked terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem process models to simulate the spatial and temporal distribution of hydrological and water quality characteristics related to ecosystem services. The linked model integrates two existing models (a forest ecosystem model and a river network model) to establish consistent responses to changing drivers across climate, terrestrial, and aquatic domains. The linked model is spatially distributed, accounts for terrestrial–aquatic and upstream–downstream linkages, and operates on a daily time-step, all characteristics needed to understand regional …

Learning Is Not A Spectator Sport: Incorporating Active Learning Into High Risk Business Courses, Ashley Brooke Tasker

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This quantitative study examined courses that have incorporated active learning, including peer mentoring, into courses with high rates of Ds, Fs, and withdrawals, to determine if these techniques increase student success, measured by overall course grades. The study also focused on analyzing factors, such as gender, socioeconomic status, and ACT composite scores to see if there were statistically significant differences among those and student success. The intent is to contribute and build on to the current active learning research which lacks in the quantitative, non-laboratory courses such as business. The results indicated that there is a significant difference in success …

Think Twice Before Hitting 'Send': The Strategic Uses Of Information In Marketing Channels, Pui Ying Tong

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines the growing problem of information overload in the context of marketing channels. Information overload occurs when shared information requires more mental resources to process than the mental resources available to the receiver. This research offers strategies to attenuate information overload and examines the impact of information overload on channel outcomes. Strategic uses of information are proposed and conceptualized as a sender's alteration of information volume, content, and/or timing to assist a receiver in processing information. Hypotheses are developed based on the normative perspective of communication from the organizational communication literature. Data from 244 salespeople are analyzed using …

Performance Practice And Overview Of Selected Piano Works Of Barbara Kolb, Chiao Su Joyce Wang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Barbara Kolb (b. 1939), one of the many lesser-known American avant-gardes, composed several unique works that symbolize what we consider American Art Music of late 1970s. Kolb survived with short periods of college institutional teaching and sustained her musical life mostly with commissions, scholarships, and award recognitions for her tremendous compositional output. The biographical information in this study gives several perspectives of Kolb's personal life: her persistence to pursue a career in music and also to maintain a private life. To serve as a reference for piano instructors or performers, this work journals performance challenges, options, and technical concerns with …

Biochemical Characterization Of The Release Of Fak Autoinhibition, Jessica E. Hall

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Focal adhesion kinase is an essential nonreceptor tyrosine kinase that plays an important role in development, in homeostasis and in the progression of human disease. Multiple stimuli activate FAK, which requires a change in structure from an autoinhibited to activated conformation. In the autoinhibited conformation the FERM domain associates with the catalytic domain of FAK and PI(4,5)P2 binding to the FERM domain plays a role in the release of autoinhibition, activating the enzyme. This work aims to better characterize the residues involved in the release of the autoinhibitory conformation. The first aim was to characterize the effects of point mutations …

War On The Mind: Trauma And Coping Among Union Soldiers And Veterans, Kathleen Anneliese Logothetis Thompson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

"War on the Mind: Trauma and Coping in the Union Army," is a work of social, cultural, and military history and examines experiences of mental trauma in the Union Army during the war and among veterans in the post-war period. Without our modern definition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Civil War soldiers had a very different view of how they were mentally experiencing the war. By looking at soldier accounts and the records of insane asylums it is clear that soldiers did have experiences of trauma and insanity during or related to their wartime service. However, those same asylum records, as …

Developing Statistical Models To Assess Productivity In The Automotive Manufacturing Sector, Amir Abolhassani

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study is to identify the most important activity in a value chain, effective factors, their impact, and to find estimation models of the most well-known productivity measurement, Hours per Vehicle (HPV), in the automotive industry in North American manufacturing plants. HPV is a widely recognized production performance indicator that is used by a significant percentage of worldwide automakers. During a comprehensive literature review, 13 important factors that affect HPV were defined as launching a new vehicle, ownership, car segment, model types, year, annual available working days, vehicle variety, flexibility, annual production volume, car assembly and capacity …

Using Concept Mappingpattern Matching To Develop A Conceptual Framework For Successful Transition Of First Year Saudi Students Into Postsecondary Education, Atiyah A. Alghamdi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study identified the future ideal functions of PYP and developed a conceptual framework for the program at King Saud University. Four research questions were answered in this study including: 1) Using the Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching methodology, how do Saudi male and female postsecondary stakeholders conceptualize the future ideal functions of Preparatory Year Deanship to help students successfully transition into their first year of college/university?; 2) Does this Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching conceptualization compare and contrast with the current working model of the Preparatory Year Program at King Saud University?; 3) Does this Concept Mapping/Pattern Matching conceptualization compare and contrast with …

Assessing The Alignment Of Preparatory Year Program Vision, Mission, And Goals Statements With First-Year Student Success Principles, Atiyah A. Alghamdi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study used the nine steps of Content Analysis (CA) developed by Neuendorf (2002) to assess the alignment of the Preparatory Year Program's vision, mission, and goals statements with the Seven Central Principles of Student Success advanced by Cuseo (2014), and to also explore universities trends in developing the Preparatory Year Programs' students. The nonrandom sampling process, purposive sampling, was utilized for all 28 Saudi public universities. The Unit of Thoughts (UT) extracted from the vision, mission, and goals statements was counted, coded, and used to assess the alignment extent. A pilot study was conducted on seven Preparatory Year Program's …

Novel Mechanisms Controlling The Expression Of The Antidiabetic Hepatokine Fibroblast Growth Factor 21, Kimberly M. Alonge

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The incidence of obesity has increased at an alarming rate during the past thirty years. Current therapies for the treatment and prevention of obesity and metabolic syndrome are ineffective and/or produce undesirable side effects. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a liver derived hormone that mediates adaptive changes in hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism by elevating energy expenditure and reducing lipid storage. Pharmacological administration of FGF21 analogs in both animal and human models induces striking reversals of obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, the activity of FGF21 analogs exhibit short half-lives in blood circulation and are unsuitable for current treatment. …

Civil Religion And Ontological Threat, Matthew R. Arp

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Dyadic conflict research within international relations is largely reliant on the analysis of differences in regime or leadership characteristics as a catalyst for conflict. This dissertation challenges traditional scholarship through the introduction of a unique approach that examines more fundamental differences between states. These fundamental historical and cultural differences, which are enshrined in a states' civil religion, offer insights into the behavior of states during crisis. The three primary questions of this dissertation are the following: What role does societal norms and cultural values have in threat perception? Why do states practice restraint in some crises and escalation of belligerence …

Stochastic Geometry Analysis Of A Class Of Cooperative Relaying Protocols, Sri Lakshmi Phani Balineni

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis examines wireless relay networks that use hybrid-ARQ protocols. Relays networks efficiently combat fading and exploit the spatial diversity present in the channel. Hybrid-ARQ involves retransmitting the signal if it is not decoded correctly. In conventional HARQ, the retransmission comes from the source, but in cooperative HARQ the retransmission could come from a relay that has successfully decoded the message, thus attaining transmit diversity.;A Markov chain model is conceived and used to compute the effective throughput and outage probability in the presence of Rayleigh fading. The analytical results are validated with simulations. The spatial configuration of the network plays …

Associations Between Sleep, Infant Feeding Methods, Brain Development And Behavior: A Multimodal Approach To Assess Plasticity In The Brain, Christopher Edward Bauer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Purpose: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is a spectrum disorder that is estimated to effect a significant proportion of the pediatric population (1-3% in USA). SDB is able to disrupt and fragment sleep through frequent arousals and intermittent hypoxia. In addition, the long term effects of SDB in pediatrics have been well-documented; decreases in intelligence quotient (IQ), executive function, school performance, and alertness have all been observed. Although surgical treatments can be quite effective, there are no widely accepted prophylactic measures to prevent SDB development. Recently, breastfeeding duration in infancy has been demonstrated to be correlated with reduced SDB (lower AHI, RAI, …

Electrical Percolation Threshold Of Magnetostrictive Inclusions In Piezo-Electric Matrix Composite As A Function Of Relative Particle Size, Antoine Joseph Bedard Jr.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Magnetoelectric (ME) composites can be produced by placing magnetostrictive particles in a piezoelectric-matrix. Ferrite magnetostrictive (H) particles, if allowed to percolate, can short the potential difference generated in the piezoelectric (E) phase. This work focuses on modeling an ME composite as bi-disperse hard shells with the magnetostrictive H particles scaled to 100nm where particle dynamics is used to explore relationships among relative particle size, particle affinity, and electrical percolation with the goal of maximizing the percolation threshold. It was found that the two factors that increase the H to H intra-phase percolation threshold are: (1) the size of H particles …