Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating The Causes And Cures For Unclear Scholarly Writing, Marlene Ingrid Mahony

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation investigated possible causes and cures for unclear scholarly writing. For this study, a stipulative definition of unclear scholarly writing, or “academese,” is that the language tends to be vague and verbose. The problem, according to the included literature, is that people who use or accept vague language have less academic, social, professional, and civic power. Academese, some say, can detach readers and that can accordingly diminish collective exchange. Because higher education is meant to share knowledge, promote agency, and prepare students to communicate powerfully within and beyond the university, this study researched the causes and cures of …

What Do We Really Know About Grit? A Multivariate Statistical Investigation On The Construct Validity Of Grit, Christine M. Collaco

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to collect evidence on the construct validity of grit using convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity principles. To accomplish this purpose and extend previous research on grit, college students from two schools completed an instrument comprised of a cognitive ability test, and a questionnaire. The questionnaire was comprised of existing and multiple measures of grit, interest, self-efficacy, locus of control, and conscientiousness along with a number of college success measures. Structural equation modeling was used as the primary statistical analysis technique. Factor analysis, correlation analysis, and path analysis were also used.

First, the results …

Teaching Social Justice With Literature Circles To Improve Reading Discussions: An Action Research Study, Lori Teuton

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses a problem of practice stemming from the lack of engagement students exhibit for reading social justice texts. Students today are in more culturally and socially diverse classrooms; their curriculum needs to reflect these social changes. A review of the problem of practice led to the research question: Does implementing literature circles with social justice texts in a secondary classroom foster engagement in reading and classroom discussions for students? The primary purpose of this proposed action research study was to examine if implementing literature circles with social justice texts leads to increased conversations and engagement in the classroom. …

Frontier Re-Imagined: The Mythic West In The Twentieth Century, Michael Craig Gibbs

Theses and Dissertations

T The author begins by reviewing Frederick Jackson Turner’s 1893 “Frontier Thesis” and by surveying the twentieth-century consensus of the “New Western Historians.” The author then poses a question: even though the physical frontier “closed” in the late-nineteenth century, did American writers turn away from the imaginative frontier? To a great extent, the writers of literary fiction did turn to other material during the modernist period. Simultaneously, however, Westerns began to dominate popular fiction and film. More notably, writers such as Raymond Chandler began to transform the traditional Western. In Philip Marlowe, Chandler created an urban cowboy; this cowboy locates …

Intersection: Reading, And Adult Homelessness And Public Libraries, Deborah W. Yoho

Theses and Dissertations

A deeper understanding of reading as more than a set of word-attack and decoding skills may help to guide public librarians seeking to fully implement the ethical professional standard of equitable access to information for everyone, including marginalized patrons such as adults experiencing homelessness. As public libraries respond to questions about their continued relevance in a digital age, an understanding of how libraries can contribute to solutions to community social needs such as homelessness has the potential to broaden community support for more inclusive library programming. In this qualitative study of the experience of reading among eight adults in a …

The Effect Of Emphasizing Key Vocabulary On Student Achievement With English Learners, Sarah L. Owen

Theses and Dissertations

This action research seeks to determine the impact of teacher training and the use of specific instructional strategies, per the research-based SIOP® teaching model, on English language arts achievement of formally identified first grade English Learners. The study aims to discover if using strategic techniques to teach vocabulary positively affects language acquisition and comprehension. English Learners have historically lagged behind grade level peers in all academic areas. English Learners tend to have many outside variables that can affect their ability to focus on school. Issues with immigration, class, culture, and race are all relevant topics with this population. This study …

From Seeds To Shoreline®: A Place-Based Approach To Impacting Student Engagement And Achievement, Molly Lloyd

Theses and Dissertations

Place-based education refers to pedagogy that connects student learning with the local environment and students’ lives. Educators’ preoccupation with standardized test scores have increased the disconnect between formal education and student’s life experiences. Schools have developed systems of learning in isolated subjects through reading texts, listening to lectures, or watching videos rather than authentic, experiential learning. School districts have embraced a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and science) approach to education as a way of invigorating student learning. There are many approaches to integrating, hands-on, inquiry-based science lessons. As science PASS test scores have declined, educators are examining best STEM instructional …

Attitudes And Thoughts On Tone Quality In Historic Piano Teaching Treatises, Jeongsun Lim

Theses and Dissertations

Various approaches to the perception and production of tone quality on the piano have been suggested throughout the history of piano pedagogy. Tone quality differences are controversial among physicists, acoustic scientists, pianists, and piano pedagogues. Studies and research began to investigate tone quality with scientific experiments, and physicists and scientists asserted that differences in tone quality are differences in pitch, intensity, duration, and in combinations of tone and noise. They asserted that tone quality does not change with different physical touches and the pianist cannot control the quality of the tone. However, pianists and pedagogues believed that pianists have control …

Cyberbullying And Social Media Responsibility In Schools, Michelle Leviner

Theses and Dissertations

A rapidly growing and destructive phenomenon among today’s adolescent students is cyberbullying, a malicious use of the easy and widespread accessibility of electronic devices and the internet. Whereas traditional bullying typically involves and is known to only a few people, cyberbullying allows perpetrators to spread cruel information to a large audience in a short amount of time, typically via social media. Cyberbullying has negative results for adolescents at school, even if it occurs outside of school hours. With the growing inclusion of technology, specifically social media, in education, educating students on responsible technology usage is more important than ever. This …

The Effects Of Using An Information Literacy Model On The Information Seeking Behavior Of Sixth-Grade Students, Jessica L. Kohout-Tailor

Theses and Dissertations

This action research study describes how teaching an information literacy model affects the information behavior of sixth-grade students. The theoretical framework that supported this study was Carol Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process or ISP (1989). This study used a sequential mixed-methods design to examine the following questions: “How will teaching the Simple Four information literacy model (Alewine, 2006) to sixthgrade students affect their information seeking behavior?” The study also explored the effects the model had on students’ affective behavior through the second research question: “How will teaching the Simple Four information literacy model (Alewine, 2006) to sixth-grade students affect their confidence …

“Poetry Doesn’T Restore Ecosystems”: Garbage And Poetry In The Anthropocene, Joseph Russell Hendryx

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the representation of material garbage in American poetry, from the development of industrial waste management in the late nineteenth century to the present day ecological crises. In the early to mid-twentieth century, garbage serves as a new Romantic nature, allowing poems’ speakers to reflect on themselves and their society through this trashed landscape. The presence of the material garbage itself, however, was never a central concern and continued to be hidden behind its various metaphorical utilizations. A.R. Ammons’s poem Garbage opened up the poetic conversation by searching for a more nuanced and worldly treatment of garbage. The …

An Investigation Of Brain Normalization And Lesion Compensation Techniques Applied To Stroke, Taylor Hanayik

Theses and Dissertations

One of the most ubiquitous steps in neuroimaging is the normalization of brain images. The process of normalization attempts to match any given brain to a standardized template image (e.g. the MNI 152 image). However, clinical images such as those from stroke participants present many challenges when we attempt to warp them to the space of template images, which are typically representative of neurologically healthy individuals. Many software packages exist to facilitate normalization of brain images, but most have limited options available to compensate for brain injury, which is often disruptive to these algorithms. Of the injury compensation methods that …

Showing One’S Manhood: The Social Performance Of Masculinity, Fayaz Kabani

Theses and Dissertations

Contrary to much criticism of the past thirty years that regards Shakespeare’s Prince Hal as the epitome of unfettered Machiavellian subjectivity, Hal should be regarded as a teenaged male navigating the contradictory discourses of early modern masculinity in order to perform an integrated, consistent masculinity for his audience. His acceptance of hegemonic masculinity is complicated by his father Henry IV’s usurpation of the throne. The resulting ambivalence in Hal results in his participation in the countermasculine world of Eastcheap. However, once Hal “chooses” his role as Prince of Wales, he finds it difficult to sacrifice his personal self, or body …

College Students And Corporate Social Responsibility: An Examination Of Corporate-Social Responsible Behavior In College Athletics From The Students’ Perspective, R. Jacob Gilbert

Theses and Dissertations

Much research has been done on corporate social responsibility in the business world. Additionally, while there are major gaps in research on the sports side of corporate social responsibility, there has been very little - if any - research done into corporate social responsibility in college athletics. With approximately 130 major Division I football programs with operating budgets rivaling major corporations, in addition to a plethora of other revenue sports, the actions of these institutions also need to be studied. Thus, in an effort to understand the socially responsible actions of these institutions, this paper dives into the student perspective …

A Rotatable Asymmetric Variable Compensation Mirt Model, Xinchu Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to develop, estimate, and interpret a new variable compensation multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) model, named the Rotatable Asymmetric Variable Compensation Model (RAVCM), that allows for transformation between different correlation structures. Since the model is rotatable like the common compensatory models (CM), it is not necessary to specify or estimate the correlation of abilities to recover the model. Also, it can approximate the existing MIRT models well. In simulation, the RAVCM is shown to estimate the parameters with small error, especially when the non-compensatory model (NCM) is the true model and the correlation of …

The Impact Of Teaching Growth Mindset On Archery Skill Achievement: An Action Research Study, Phillip Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Although setbacks and failure are common in school, especially in outdoor adventure physical education classes, the ways in which students handle those setbacks and failure impact their academic achievement and performance. This dissertation describes a problem of practice based on observations of how the researcher’s students handle setbacks and failure in his outdoor adventure education class, specifically how these setbacks and failure affect the students’ archery performance. This study examined how teaching noncognitive skills using the computer program Brainology impacts student skill performance in archery and the students’ perceptions of this impact. This study used a concurrent mixed methods action …

Effects Of Lighting And Noise On Performance And Situation Awareness In Air Traffic Control Tasks, Saralee Pruksaritanon

Student Works

Work environment influences an individual’s performance and situation awareness (SA). This study aims to investigate the effects of lighting and noise on the performance and SA in air traffic control (ATC) tasks. These two variables are important in the domain of ATC because the tasks require an individual to receive and process information both visually and auditorily. The results are useful for designing air traffic control rooms, which are set differently among different air navigation service providers. The subjects are 16 students majoring in Air Traffic Management (ATM) at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) – Daytona Beach, FL. The research uses …

Family And School Impact On Psychological Functioning From Childhood To Late Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study Of Rural Chinese Youth, Yang Yue

Theses and Dissertations

The transition from childhood to adolescence can be a significant stressor for youth, leading to increases in internalizing problems for those who are vulnerable. Compared to the mounting research conducted on U.S. youth, children and adolescents in China have received less attention on their psychological adjustment. As Chinese youth constitute roughly 15% of the world’s population (World Health Organization, 2010), and the disproportionate quantity of longitudinal investigation on Chinese youth psychological functioning, understanding the influence of risk and protective factors, and their interactive effects on internalizing problems among Chinese youth is critical.

According to Life Course Theory, Ecological Systems Theory, …

Implementation Of A Depression Screening Tool For Cardiovascular Patients In The Primary Care Setting, Amber Nicole Ballentine

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) have a two-fold increased risk of depression as compared to patients without CVD. According to the American Heart Association (AHA, 2016), there is no gold-standard procedure for screening for depression in cardiovascular patients. Screening for depression varies greatly across specialties and practices, often leaving a gap for detection and treatment of depression in cardiac patients. There are many depression screening tools available; however, the AHA recommends use of the patient health questionnaire (PHQ) screening tool. The PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 questionnaires are the most brief, sensitive, and specific depression screening tool for patients with …

Prevalence And Predictors Of Anxiety Disorders In Adolescent And Adult Males With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Fragile X Syndrome, Jordan Ezell

Theses and Dissertations

disorders are the most prevalent disorders in children and adolescents, affecting approximately 15-20% of individuals under the age of 18 (Salum et al, 2013). Clinical subgroups, like autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and fragile X syndrome (FXS), have an elevated risk of a co-occurring anxiety disorder. Despite the elevated risk of anxiety in these groups, few research studies have investigated the rates and predictors of anxiety disorders in adolescents with these ASD and FXS. In the current study, participants included males with FXS (n=31) or ASD (n=20) aged 16 to 24. Measures included the Children’s Interview for Psychiatric Symptoms-Parent Version (P-ChIPS), …

The Short-Term Self-Control Stability Of College Students, Nicholas James Blasco

Theses and Dissertations

Since the stability problem was first outlined by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) in their influential work A General Theory of Crime it has received a steady stream of attention from the academic community. Researchers have studied juveniles and adults and have implemented a variety of methodological and statistical approaches. Many of these studies do not show support for the theoretical concept outlined by Gottfredson and Hirschi; yet, there were exceptions. The current study used a slightly different theoretical approach accompanied with research methodology that is still in its infancy. While most studies testing the relative stability of self-control use longitudinal …

A Quasi-Experimental Analysis Of School-Based Situational Crime Prevention Measures, Gary Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there has been an expansion of situational crime prevention (SCP) measures in K-12 schools, including physical controls, law enforcement personnel, and security policies that are designed to prevent crime by modifying the situational features of school environments. Although SCP measures are now increasingly commonplace in schools, there is inadequate research demonstrating the need for SCP measures and their impacts on school crime. In particular, there is contradictory and inconclusive evidence of their effectiveness and research has largely been limited to examining aggregate outcomes through the use non-experimental, correlational designs. This dissertation aims to address these gaps in …

Food Acquisition And Shopping Patterns And Associations With Body Mass Index, Xiaonan Ma

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Obesity is a big public health concern in the US. Previous studies examined its association with food shopping practices measured by distance to the food store, shopping frequency, and type of store selected. However, not much is known about the actual food acquisition and shopping habits integrating multi-dimensional aspects. The purpose of this study was to identify distinct food acquisition and shopping patterns in populations primarily residing in food deserts in South Carolina (SC) and a general population in the US and characterize these patterns with respect to socioeconomic status (SES), nutritional knowledge, and perceptions and store selection …

Home Exercise Therapy For The Treatment Of Knee Osteoarthritis, Kezia Nixon

Theses and Dissertations

Knee pain is the chief complaint of most osteoarthritis patients, and encourages them to seek medical attention. Unfortunately, pharmacological approaches to the treatment of knee osteoarthritis have been found to be inadequate. Given the prevalence and chronicity of osteoarthritic knee pain, there is an obvious need for treatments that can be provided for the course of the disease, with minimal adverse side effects. Exercise therapy has been found to significantly improve both pain and function among individuals with knee osteoarthritis. The primary objective of this quality improvement project was to investigate the effectiveness of a home-based therapeutic exercise program on …

Towards A ‘Pedagogy Of Hybrid Masculinities’: The Effects Of Teacher-Selected Vs. Student-Selected Informational Texts On The Literacy Achievement And Masculine Identities Of Middle-Level Males, Elizabeth Coen Welch

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether teacher-selected informational texts or student-selected informational texts best contribute to literacy achievement and engagement for middle-level males and to examine middle-level males’ perception of the relationship between masculine performance and literacy practice. For the purposes of this study, literacy achievement was measured using pre-test/post-test comparison on an assessment which measured participants’ ability to determine the central idea of an informational text while engagement and the relationship between masculine expression and literacy achievement were analyzed using observational field notes and semi-structured focus group interviews. Over a nine-week period during the first nine-week …

Examining The Factor Structure, Concurrent Validity, And Predictive Validity Of The Social Motivational Orientations In Sport Scale (Smoss) In An Early Adolescent Sample, Alex M. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

Research demonstrates that youth are motivated to initiate and continue participation in sport for social reasons. Allen (2003, 2005) developed the Social Motivational Orientations in Sport Scale (SMOSS) to help facilitate the measurement of social goals in sport. This instrument consists of three subscales—affiliation (i.e. have fun, make friends; seven items), recognition (i.e. receive recognition from others about sport involvement or ability; four items), and status (i.e. belong to the popular group; three items)—designed to measure these aspects of participants’ social motivations to sport involvement. However, the SMOSS has only been used among high school students and older adults in …

A Culturally Tailored Intervention System For Cancer Survivors To Motivate Physical Activity, Golam Mushih Tanimul Ahsan, Jannatul F. Tumpa, Riddhiman Adib, Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed, Daniel Petereit, Linda Burhansstipanov, Linda U. Krebs, Mark Dignan

Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

It is necessary for a cancer survivor to have good health behavior. Essential exercise and proper diet are helpful to decrease the risk of recurrence of the disease and the development of a new cancer type. People from low socioeconomic status are more likely to participate in risky health behaviors and have a higher chance of recurrence of cancer. It is important to have a motivational system for cancer survivors that motivates them to perform regular physical activities. In this article, we discuss the development of an mHealth system, which aims to increase physical activity in Native American populations with …

The Possible Role Of Endogenous Retroviruses In Tumour Development And Innate Signalling, Emmanuel Atangana Maze

School of Biomedical Sciences Theses

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are fossils of ancient retroviral infection in the germline. In primates they represent around 5% of the genome sequence. During time spent in the genome, being transmitted in a Mendelian fashion, copies of ERVs have accumulated mutations, which rendered them inactive. However, some of them (the most recently integrated ones) are still able to transcribe and produce viral proteins, although few are capable of re-infection. In the past often considered as unharmful ‘junk DNA’, recent evidence link ERVs with cancer and several inflammatory diseases. For example, a few reports demonstrate that ERVs are involved in tumour development …

Barriers And Perceptions To Obtaining Palliative Care In The Emergency Department, Jacqueline Lucille Saucier

Dissertations

Background:

Purpose: This study explored barriers and perceptions of providing palliative care services while patients are in the emergency department (ED) in order to increase the>likelihood of caregivers to elicit palliative care methodologies for patients with chronic illness, who are not necessarily at the end of life, but rather who are identified through repeated visits to the ED.

Design and Methods: A mixed methods approach was used to explore the barriers and perceptions of providing palliative care services in the ED. By using a qualitative approach, evidenced by grounded theory, this study explored the barriers and perceptions of providing …

Constrained Bayesian Method For Testing The Directional Hypotheses, Kartlos J. Kachiashvili, Naveen K. Bansal, I. A. Prangishvili

Mathematical and Statistical Science Faculty Research and Publications

The paper discusses the generalization of constrained Bayesian method (CBM) for arbitrary loss functions and its application for testing the directional hypotheses. The problem is stated in terms of false and true discovery rates. One more criterion of estimation of directional hypotheses tests quality, the Type III errors rate, is considered. The ratio among discovery rates and the Type III errors rate in CBM is considered. The advantage of CBM in comparison with Bayes and frequentist methods is theoretically proved and demonstrated by an example.