Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluation Of Career Readiness At An Industrial Technology Program Using A Fuzzy Approach, Ahmed Deif, Cameron Stark, Kathryn Butler, Eric Olsen

Industrial Technology and Packaging

In this research, a quantitative model to measure the “career readiness” performance level of the current curriculum of the Industrial Technology and Packaging program at California Polytechnic State University is proposed. Career readiness is first defined through performance attributes and these attributes are further classified into specific categories and metrics. Using a fuzzy logic computational approach, “career readiness” measures are developed and a “career readiness” score referred to as (CRS) is calculated. The model is designed to be flexible, dynamic and easy to use. It should enable a systematic measurement of career readiness by producing a final integrated unit-less score. …

The Effect Of Control Source And Control Framing On Employee Effort, Pinky Rusli

Theses and Dissertations--Accountancy

Prior research suggests that controls can negatively impact the motivation of employees to exert effort and that the detrimental effects of controls depend on control source. That is, controls cause more adverse behavior when employees attribute the source of control implementation to their manager’s decision than when the source of control implementation is beyond their manager’s authority. This study uses experiments to investigate whether the behavioral effects of controls depend not only on control source, but also on control framing, by which managers can frame the control implementation either for monitoring or coordinating purposes. The study also suggests that the …

Issues Of Language, Insider/Outsider Positionality, And Advocacy Dilemmas In Researching Plurilingual Asian Im/Migrants, Jihea Kang Maddamsetti

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Drawing on the notion of reflexivity, I examine researcher positionality concerning the issues of language and tensions in navigating perceived insider/outsider positioning, and advocacy dilemmas that I experienced in ethnographic qualitative research with plurilingual Asian im/migrant students in South Korea and in the U.S. Through reflexive analysis of my ethnographic fieldwork, I studied about my researcher’s positionality and voice during and after research and highlighted the partial, situated, and subjective nature of knowledge production through qualitative research. My view is that qualitative researchers should critically reflect on their social location and power relations interlinked with their analysis and positionality, and …

Sociocultural Influences Pertaining To Language, Cognition, And Social Emotional Developmental Relationships: An Early Head Start Perspective, Kimberly Ann Sharkins

All ETDs from UAB

Early childhood poverty is a prevalent social issue, conservatively impacting one in two children worldwide and one in five in the United States. It has been well established that factors associated with poverty have been linked to diminished cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional outcomes in children. Additionally, young children are being increasingly exposed to media, technology, and screen time (MeTS) at home and in instructional settings, and little is known about the long-term effects of MeTS in regard to children’s development. Although individual components that relate to language, cognitive, and social-emotional development in young children have been identified, additional examination of …

Linking Residual Language Capacity, Structural Damage, And Surviving Network Function In Chronic Post-Stroke Aphasia With Multi-Modal Mri, Joseph Griffis

All ETDs from UAB

The advent of advanced neuroimaging techniques has enabled unprecedented insights into the neurobiology of language recovery after stroke. Current theories of language recovery after stroke, however, are limited by their dependence on the results of small imaging studies that have typically focused on only single imaging modalities. This likely contributes to discrepancies in the literature regarding critical topics such as how each hemisphere contributes to residual language abilities, whether different compensatory mechanisms are engaged by patients with different amounts of left hemispheric damage, whether poor long-term outcomes are primarily due to a loss of local cortical function or result from …

Teacher Perceptions Of Character Education On Self-Regulation In Early Childhood Through The Implementation Of Children’S Literature: A Multiple Case Study, Latonya Barnes

All ETDs from UAB

Throughout history, education has had two primary goals: to help young people gain knowledge and develop character (Lickona, 1991). The first goal has been widely researched; however, there is considerably less research on the experiences of character development and children’s behavior (Emilson, 2007). The lack of character education implementation has fostered a moral decline in youth, which is evidenced by increased rates of violence, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and other socially unacceptable behavior (Britzman, 2005). The purpose of this study was to explore teacher perceptions of character education, children’s literature, and self-regulation in one urban school district in central Alabama, …

Extrasynaptic Signaling To Interneuron Networks, Angela Nietz

All ETDs from UAB

In recent years, a form of extrasynaptic signaling through fast neurotransmitters, termed spillover, has been shown in multiple brain regions. This discovery suggests that spillover is more ubiquitous than previously thought. The circuitry within the cerebellar cortex has been well mapped. However, glutamate from cerebellar climbing fibers (CF) has been shown to spill over to nearby interneurons and alter their tonic activity. Cerebellar Golgi cells are spontaneously active interneurons at the input stage to the cerebellar cortex re-sponsible for regulating influx of cortical information. Previous research has shown an in vivo connection between CFs and Golgi cells (GoC), with CF …

Harmonizing Cultural Ip Across Borders: Fashionable Bags & Ghanaian Adinkra Symbols, J. Janewa Oseitutu

Faculty Publications

Global copyright and trademark laws protect symbols, names, and literary and artistic works. However, when their primary significance is cultural, because they are neither individual original works nor symbols that are used as commercial identifiers, intellectual property laws do not protect these symbols or artistic works. This is true, even if these goods are protected under national laws as part of that nation’s cultural heritage. Once these cultural goods cross borders, there is no international law that will enable the country from which these goods originate to assert its rights in other countries. This Article characterizes these cultural goods as …

Introduction

Russian Language Journal

No abstract provided.

Teaching A Russian Media Course Based On The Theory Of Multiliteracies Pedagogy, Andrea Liebschner

Russian Language Journal

This paper is intended to provide a pedagogical framework for specific choices that instructors can make about tasks and their relationship to course goals for teaching a Russian media course to non-native speakers of Russian. The course materials involve work with literary texts, television, and the Internet. This paper first considers the New London Group’s (1996) theory of multiliteracies to build a fitting pedagogical framework for working with different types of media and communication channels in a Russian media course outside of Russia. The paper then provides an overview of existing courses about Russian media. Finally, it analyzes in detail …

The Development Of Syntactic Complexity In The Writing Of Russian Language Learners: A Longitudinal Corpus Study, Olesya V. Kisselev, Anna A. Alsufieva

Russian Language Journal

To make inferences about how second language (L2) learners develop over time, most Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research has traditionally relied on cross-sectional one-time sampling design, in which data collected from different groups of learners at different levels of language proficiency are compared against a preestablished set of measures. Rarer are longitudinal studies, in which researchers track a small number of participants over a relatively long period of time. Recent developments in technology and the rise of the language corpora have made it possible to combine the benefits of these two approaches; longitudinal LEARNER LANGUAGE CORPORA, large databases collected continuously …

What Makes Russian Advertisements Russian? Contemporary Russian Advertising As A Sociocultural Phenomenon, Valentina Iepuri

Russian Language Journal

It is common knowledge that advertisements reflect society. They play an important role in the formation of stereotypes and impose a certain way of life and a certain system of values. By analyzing both the foreground and the background of advertisements as texts, it is possible to reveal not only their primary sales messages but also the embedded social and cultural ones (Frith 1997, 3).

Sociocultural, anthropological, and psychological aspects of Russian advertising and various forms of its impact on public consciousness, morality, and public taste require special attention and research, especially now that advertising has become an integral part …

Full Issue

Russian Language Journal

No abstract provided.

Cultural Identity And Cuisine In Taiwan, Cassidy A. Pfau

University Honors Theses

This paper explores the relationship between food, culture, and national identity in the Taiwanese context. Beginning with a review of relevant Taiwanese history, this paper then shifts into a theoretical discussion on the topics of hybridity, globalization, identity formation, and how cuisine impacts cultural and national identity. In order to understand how these theories operate in Taiwan, a discussion of three topics is then presented: Aboriginal culture and cuisine, Japanese colonial history and its impact on Taiwanese identity, and Taiwanese-specialty foods as a symbol of national identity. Taiwan has created a unique cultural heritage using cuisine (among other cultural elements), …

Predictors Of Bullying Role Behavior In Preschool, Kristen Kocher

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Reading, The Academy, And The ‘Soft’ Avant-Garde: Tan Lin’S Heath And Heath Course Pak, Alan Golding

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Popular Culture Is Killing Writing, Bronwyn T. Williams

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Bad Ideas About Writing counters major myths about writing instruction. Inspired by the provocative science- and social-science-focused book This Idea Must Die and written for a general audience, the collection offers opinionated, research-based statements intended to spark debate and to offer a better way of teaching writing. Contributors, as scholars of rhetoric and composition, provide a snapshot of and antidotes to major myths in writing instruction. This collection is published in whole by the Digital Publishing Institute at WVU Libraries and in part by Inside Higher Ed.

Preparation And Instructional Competency Needs Of The New Dental Hygiene Educator: A Phenomenological Study, Kelly Donovan

Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on the instructional competency needs of new dental hygiene educators. The purpose of this qualitative and phenomenological study was twofold: (a) to explore the lived experiences and perceptions of 14 dental hygiene educators who have transitioned from clinical practice into the California Community College education system to further understand preparation experiences and instructional competence as related to knowledge, dispositions and skills and (b) to explore what recommendations dental hygiene educators might offer to better support new professors in developing instructional competence as related to knowledge, dispositions, and skills. The researcher collected data by conducting semi-structured interviews. Several …

A Correlational Study Comparing The Relationship Between School Leader Intercultural Development, Selected Demographic Variables, And Student Achievement, Patricia L. Claar

Theses and Dissertations

Public schools in the 21st century are faced with multiple challenges, many of which are guided by State and Federal mandates aimed at closing the achievement gap that continues to exist between our White, Non-Hispanic children and children of color, and a growing number of children living in poverty. From No Child Left Behind to the ESEA Flexibility Initiative, adoption of the Common Core, and most recently, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), school leaders have been called on to provide greater accountability, more uniform instruction, higher academic standards, and stricter teacher evaluation standards. Amidst this flood of managerial and …

Social Justice Leadership: Advocating Equity, Access And Opportunity For Black Students Attending Urban High-Poverty Elementary Schools, Cherise Roper

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore and describe the lived experiences and perspectives of 4 elementary school principals and 4 instructional leaders committed to social justice practices who have improved and sustained grade level performance in reading with Black students for the duration of 3 consecutive years. Four research questions guided this study and included: What strategies are used by elementary principals and instructional leaders to advance equity, access, and opportunity, to improve core teaching and curriculum, address barriers faced, and develop resilience when leading the work of social justice? Data were collected through semi-structured interviews …

An Examination Into The Instruction Of The Alphabet During Preschool Years, Amanda Titus

Masters Theses

Instruction of the letters of the alphabet is a controversial topic among early childhood educators. Not only is it debated whether letter instruction is developmentally appropriate but there is then the discussion concerning how the letters are best taught once a program deems it is developmentally appropriate. In this study, 87 children were assessed at two separate times during the school year to determine a method of instruction that proved most effective. The study took place over three consecutive school years. The first year, 27 students were exposed to alphabetic instruction through a combination of music and mnemonic device assisted …

An Analysis Of Black Undergraduate Students' Social Activism Through Social Media Usage, Tayla Richards

Masters Theses

Social media has become a tool for college students to engage in social activism. Black undergraduate students is one population that actively utilize social media's impact as illustrated through recent activist movements and demonstrations within university communities. This study sought to explore and analyze the ways that Black undergraduate students utilize social media platforms in general and for activism. The researcher conducted one-on-one interviews with three Black undergraduate students and analyzed their posts on each of their frequently used social media platforms in order to study how their personal narratives were connected to their social media use.

Results showed that …

Yoga, Christians Practicing Yoga, And God: On Theological Compatibility, Or Is There A Better Question?, Andrea R. Jain

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Houston is a wildly diverse city; nonetheless it should come as no surprise that the Houston Chronicle “Belief” section frequently features stories about church expansions or declines, pastoral developments, and other reports on Christian communities. Christians, after all, make up over 70% of the city’s population. A provocative cover of a 2011 Belief section, however, shed light on a very different face of religion in Houston. The cover featured an image of local yoga teacher and entrepreneur Jennifer Buergermeister donning fashionable yoga attire and in the posture of a South Asian goddess, complete (thanks to clever photography) with six arms. …

KristapurāṆA: Reshaping Divine Space, Pär Eliasson

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

If a place is simply a physical location, the word space can be used for something shaped by mental processes. Physical places influence our lives by putting limits to the physically practicable, whereas spaces exercise their influence through mental processes like shaping our beliefs, values and sentiments. A space may be a mental superstructure based on an actual place, but, since its power is mental, it is not necessary that this place physically exists. One such space, with power to affect the lives of human beings, is heaven. Belief in heaven has had and still has great impact on …

Making Preemption Less Palatable: State Poison Pill Legislation, Robert A. Mikos

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Congressional preemption constitutes perhaps the single greatest threat to state power and to the values served thereby. Given the structural incentives now in place, there is little to deter Congress from preempting state law, even when the state interests Congress displaces far exceed its own. The threat of preemption has raised alarms across the political spectrum, but no one has yet devised a satisfactory way to balance state and federal interests in preemption disputes. This Article devises a novel solution: state poison pill legislation. Borrowing a page from corporate law, poison pill legislation would enable the states to make preemption …

Getting The Upper Hand: Natural Gesture Interfaces Improve Instructional Efficiency On A Conceptual Computer Lesson, Shannon Bailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As gesture-based interactions with computer interfaces become more technologically feasible for educational and training systems, it is important to consider what interactions are best for the learner. Computer interactions should not interfere with learning nor increase the mental effort of completing the lesson. The purpose of the current set of studies was to determine whether natural gesture-based interactions, or instruction of those gestures, help the learner in a computer lesson by increasing learning and reducing mental effort. First, two studies were conducted to determine what gestures were considered natural by participants. Then, those gestures were implemented in an experiment to …

A Comprehensive Study Of The Learning Styles Of Student Athletes And Academic Advisors At Three Institutions In The American Athletic Conferences And The Tools And Resources Used To Ensure Academic Success., Dianna Lampitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collegiate athletics plays an important role in higher education. As a result of this importance student athletes also play a significant role in higher education. However, due to their athletic responsibilities they face a number of challenges while enrolled in a college or university. An academic advisor for student athletes is responsible for not only helping the student athletes with their academics, they also play an important role in ensuring the eligibility of college student athletes so they are able to compete. As a result, academic advisors for student athletes use a number of tools and resources that help ensure …

83 Orange Peels, Klara Hammoud

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

83 ORANGE PEELS is a feature-length film written and directed by Klara Hammoud and produced by Biddayat as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema from the University of Central Florida. The project aims to challenge existing conventions of the documentary filmmaking on multiple levels – aesthetic, narrative, and technical– while also examining growing importance of workflow throughout all aspects of production. These challenges were both facilitated and necessitated by the limited resources available to the production team and the academic context of the production. This thesis is a record of the …

Factors Influencing Hypoglycemia Care Utilization And Outcomes Among Adult Diabetic Patients Admitted To Hospitals: A Predictive Model, Waleed Kattan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diabetes Miletus (DM) is one of the major health problems in the United States. Despite all efforts made to combat this disease, its incidence and prevalence are steadily increasing. One of the common and serious side effects of treatment among people with diabetes is hypoglycemia (HG), where the level of blood glucose falls below the optimum level. Episodes of HG vary in their severity. Nevertheless, many require medical assistance and are usually associated with higher utilization of healthcare resources such as frequent emergency department visits and physician visits. Additionally, patients who experience HG frequently have poor outcomes such as higher …

Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures In The Age Of Convergent Technologies, Daniel Powell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The first two decades of the new millennium have witnessed an abundance of change in the areas of textual production, digital communication, and our collective engagement with the Internet. This study explores these changes, which have yielded both positive and negative cultural and developmental outcomes, as products of digital dissonance. Dissonance is characterized by the disruptive consequences inherent in technology's incursion into the print publication cultures of the twentieth century, the explosion in social-media interaction that is changing the complexion of human contact, and our expanding reliance on the World Wide Web for negotiating commerce, culture, and communication. This study …