Digital Commons Network^™

Tuned In: An Investigation Of The Use Of Group Amplification Systems For Students, Including Those On The Autism Spectrum, In First Grade Mainstream Classrooms, Emily Velichka

Senior Independent Study Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the academic benefits and challenges, if any, of utilizing a group amplification system in first-grade mainstream classrooms. More specifically, this study measured the influence of a group amplification system throughout language-based tasks, such as spelling accuracy. A total of 33 first-grade students, including two students reportedly diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), participated in the study, with 17 students in Classroom A and 16 students in Classroom B. This study’s experimental procedures included a spelling pretest, two intervention activities, and a spelling posttest, administered over the course of four days. The …

Zero To Hero: Elite Burials And Hero Cults In Early Iron Age Greece And Cyprus, Alina M. Karapandzich

Senior Independent Study Theses

Adulation of heroes, including the flawed, militaristic, authoritative men of Homeric epic, was an important feature of ancient Hellenic culture. This phenomenon is reflected in cults and shrines built in the Archaic period. How did these so-called “hero cults” form, and can Early Iron Age (EIA) elite burials form a connection between the tomb cults of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) and the hero cults of the Archaic and later Classical periods? The purpose of this study is to examine EIA burials whose elite goods and archaeologically visible tombs reflect the burial of a “heroic” person. In doing so, I …

Resilience In Stem Students: An Analysis Of The Demographic, Intrapersonal, And Interpersonal Predictors Of Resilience, Catherine B. Kuzmishin

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study is interested in the relationship between students of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and resilience. Specifically, this study aims to identify demographic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal predictors of resilience in STEM students. It was hypothesized that coping would mediate the relationship between anxiety and STEM students’ resilience. Data was collected to determine the predictors of resilience. There was no difference in STEM and non-STEM students’ resilience. With males demonstrating slightly higher resilience than females, however there were no racial group differences in resilience. Hierarchical linear regression analysis revealed that locus of causality significantly predicted resilience, specifically, that STEM …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Perceptions Of Campus Climate And Academic Competence, Cheyenne Mcqueen

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

The Dissemination Of Responsibility: Exploring The Audience As Bystander In Theatre, Helen Rooker

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study focuses on finding how theatrical technique and process changes when the audience is reframed as bystanders. I hoped to find ways that theatre artists could fight against the bystander effect in life by bringing it into our theatres. The study was written in conjunction with a production of Nine by Jane Shepard. Nine is a piece about two women who are imprisoned. The audience does not know where they are, how long they have been there, or who has taken them—just that they are regularly raped and tortured. The play is treated as a focal point for my …

Beyond The Breakfast Club: The Influence Of Breakfast Type On Cognition, Jillian D. Saccogna

Senior Independent Study Theses

The glycemic index (“GI”) of a food refers to the magnitude with which the food elevates an individual’s blood glucose levels, and this value can be used to calculate the glycemic load (“GL”) of a specific portion of food. Some evidence suggests that blood glucose levels may play a key role in self-control. Emerging research suggests that consuming low GI or GL breakfasts may enhance memory performance and result in greater levels of positive affect compared to high GI or GL breakfasts. Participants in the present study were randomly assigned to consume either a low GI/GL breakfast or a high …

The Influence Of Exposure To Unbalanced Sex Ratios On Perceived Vocal Attractiveness, Taylor N. Sikich

Senior Independent Study Theses

The population sex ratio greatly impacts human behavior, especially mating patterns. Recent research shows that visual exposure to unbalanced sex ratios influences perceived facial attractiveness for opposite-sex faces. When opposite-sex faces are scarce in exposure, subsequent opposite-sex faces are rated as more attractive than when they are plentiful during exposure. The current work examines an auditory analog of this effect by exposing listeners to unbalanced ratios of male and female voices and measuring the perceived attractiveness of subsequently presented opposite sex voices. A 2x2 ANOVA was conducted with participant sex and sex ratio exposure as the between-subject factors. Results showed …

Real Fake News: The Colbert Report And Affective Polarization, Jeffrey J. Skoroda

Senior Independent Study Theses

This Independent Study examines the relationship between political satire and affective polarization. Affective polarization is a newly growing form of political polarization wherein partisans are polarized based on mutual dislike for opposing partisans rather than ideological disagreements. Political news has been linked to this recent trend in polarization. Over the past two decades, political scientists have taken an interest in investigating the impact of political satire programs like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report through the same lens as traditional political news. These satirical news programs implement satire, a more complex form of comedy that can require more cognitive …

Crime Around The World: Using Mathematical Modeling Techniques To Model Aggregated Worldwide Crime Rates, Kelly M. Steurer

Senior Independent Study Theses

This aim of this study was to determine what affects aggregate crime rates around the world. This thesis used Mathematical Modeling techniques to build generalized linear models for homicide rates and burglary and housebreaking rates using the following predictive factors: economic indicators, education rates, government quality indicators, ethno-linguistic fractionalization, GDP per capita and its growth, drug consumption rates, and age and gender ratios. We used a series of factor selection techniques including linear and stepwise regressions, principal component analysis, and regression analysis to select factors to use to build final models of homicide and burglary and housebreaking.

Food For Thought: The Effects Of Past And Present Food Insecurity On Subjective Well-Being And Child Behavior, Jena C. Styka

Senior Independent Study Theses

Food insecurity arises when one does not have physical, social, or economic access to safe, sufficient, and nutritious food. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (2016), food insecurity affects 15.6 million U.S. households. Its effects go beyond the physical consequences that might arise from not having adequate nutrition, influencing subjective well-being and behavior in both adults and children. This 2 x 2 quasi-experiment investigated how current and prior food insecurity influenced depression, anxiety, stress, life satisfaction, and happiness in parents, as well as how it influenced child behavior. Results indicated that prior experiences of food insecurity resulted in …

Logic -> Proof -> Rest, Maxwell Taylor

Senior Independent Study Theses

REST is a common architecture for networked applications. Applications that adhere to the REST constraints enjoy significant scaling advantages over other architectures. But REST is not a panacea for the task of building correct software. Algebraic models of computation, particularly CSP, prove useful to describe the composition of applications using REST. CSP enables us to describe and verify the behavior of RESTful systems. The descriptions of each component can be used independently to verify that a system behaves as expected. This thesis demonstrates and develops CSP methodology to verify the behavior of RESTful applications.

Inclusion Of Blocking Power For A Complete Voting Power Analysis In The Imf, Shiwani Varal

Senior Independent Study Theses

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) calculates the voting power of a country by dividing the total of one member's votes by the total of all members' votes. This method of calculating the power of a state judges power as voting weight. However, voting weights are the total number of votes a country has in an institution, while voting power is the influence a country has on a policy decision. A better approach to calculate this voting power within an institution is by using voting power indices. However, literature only calculates the winning power, while voting power is defined as the …

The Effects Of Objectification On Varsity Athletes: A Comparison Of Its Consequences In Sports With Revealing And Non-Revealing Uniforms, Maggie C. Layde

Senior Independent Study Theses

To examine the influence of revealing and non-revealing uniforms on body image and appearance, restrictive dieting and compulsive exercise behaviors, and objectified body consciousness, this study involved the participation of 108 College of Wooster students, 83 of which were College of Wooster student athletes between the ages of 18 and 22. The study was directed towards determining whether the type of uniform (revealing or non-revealing) had an influence on male and female athletes and their feelings towards their body and appearance, compulsive exercise behaviors, restrictive dieting behaviors, and level of objectified body consciousness. A pilot study was run to determine …

Attachment Style And Romantic Satisfaction As Predictors Of Relationship Visibility On Facebook, Amanda I. Wells

Senior Independent Study Theses

The current study investigates the influence of adult attachment style on romantic posting behaviors on Facebook. Attachment theory has been widely used to examine behaviors and attitudes within romantic relationships, but little research has been done to extend these findings to the context of social media. A survey of 212 participants was conducted using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. The results of a linear regression analysis showed that attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety predicted lower levels of romantic satisfaction, a finding reflective of previous attachment research (Hazan & Shaver, 1987). Two separate regression analyses were conducted to examine possible predictors of participants’ …

Americanized Chinese Dishes As Heritage Food And Bridging Identities, Megu Itoh

Senior Independent Study Theses

Chinese food has become ingrained in the lives of everyday Americans. But while ordering Chinese takeout is now an ordinary occurrence, Chinese food culture still experiences the lasting consequences of discrimination in the United States. First viewed as the uncivilized other and later as the exotic other, the status of Chinese food has shifted overtime. Chinese food has also experienced changes in its actual form, adapting to the American palate by adjusting flavor and presentation. My research explores the ways in which this Americanized Chinese food has impacted the identities of Chinese restaurant workers, and continues to manifest change within …

Manipulating Diversity: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Annalise Keating’S Intersectional Portrayal Of Race And Sexuality On The Primetime Television Show How To Get Away With Murder, Melany Le

Senior Independent Study Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the intersectional portrayal of the character Annalise Keating as a black queer woman, navigating complex interracial relationships and highly institutionalized environments of legal and higher education systems throughout the first two seasons of How to Get Away with Murder. Utilizing ideological criticism, this research found that despite her marginalized identities, Keating carefully constructs her image to resemble a white, heterosexual woman in order to alleviate, or completely avoid oppression from the major institutions that govern her life and work. Additionally, Keating’s experiences and actions are unique within the world of How …

Sports Analytics With Computer Vision, Colby T. Jeffries

Senior Independent Study Theses

Computer vision in sports analytics is a relatively new development. With multi-million dollar systems like STATS’s SportVu, professional basketball teams are able to collect extremely fine-detailed data better than ever before. This concept can be scaled down to provide similar statistics collection to college and high school basketball teams. Here we investigate the creation of such a system using open-source technologies and less expensive hardware. In addition, using a similar technology, we examine basketball free throws to see whether a shooter’s form has a specific relationship to a shot’s outcome. A system that learns this relationship could be used to …

From Retribution To Restoration: An Analysis Of Restorative Justice As A Policy Reform Effort To Dismantle The School-To-Prison Pipeline In New York City Public Schools, Leigh T. Yartz

Senior Independent Study Theses

This Independent Study explores and examines restorative justice as a policy reform effort made by schools, specifically in New York City, to address a phenomenon known as the school-to-prison pipeline. While it has been found that zero tolerance policies fuel this pipeline through the criminalization of minor infractions, this study argues that using restorative justice policies to manage disciplinary matters within schools creates an avenue to dismantle this pipeline. This occurs through establishing a more inclusive school climate, thus leading to lower levels of punitive discipline and school push out, which ultimately lessens the rate at which youth come into …

Naphthenic Acids In Oil Sands Process Waters: Identification By Conversion Of The Acids Or Esters To Hydrocarbons, Michael J. Wilde, Steven J. Rowland

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Preferences For Shared Medical Decision-Making: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Fatimah Alharbi

School of Psychology Theses

The goal of this thesis project was to investigate cross-cultural differences in preferences for shared medical decision-making (SDM) by studying adults from the UK and Saudi Arabia. The aim of Study 1 was to gauge preferences for SDM in nonclinical samples from the UK and Saudi Arabia. Results show that there were indeed differences in SDM between Saudi and UK participants. Saudi participants tended to prefer stronger involvement from their doctor, whereas UK participants preferred to make choices themselves. The aim of Study 2 was to investigate in how far Saudi patients with Type 1 diabetes would be interested to …

Battling For Human Rights In Indian Country (Speech At The 50 Years Of The Indian Civil Rights Act Symposium), David E. Wilkins, Lumbee Nation

Tribal Law Journal

The speech discusses the Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA) and its implications on citizenship, specifically disenrollment. Prof. Wilkins discusses his view of “‘dismemberment’ as the act of cutting off a part of the tribal body—doing harm to both the politically discarded individual and the Nation itself—taking place behind the cloak of native sovereignty.”

The speech first provides a brief history of banishment within tribal communities followed by a discussion of federal Indian law and its impact on tribal banishment through a review of important federal Supreme Court cases as well as significant tribal court cases.

Second, the speech provides a …

The Biological Effects Of Engineered Nanomaterials On Soil Organisms: Surface Coating And Age Matter, Kristi Tatsi

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have been increasingly used in various applications. Often, the ENMs are functionalised with a surface coating to enhance their properties. Decades of research has provided information on mostly pristine and unmodified ENMs, while ecotoxicity of coated ENMs and how their hazard changes with age in soils is still uncertain. The thesis aimed to determine the toxic effects and bioaccumulation potential of CuO ENMs and CdTe quantum dots (QDs) with different chemical coatings (carboxylate, COOH; polyethylene glycol, PEG; ammonium, NH4+) on the earthworm (Eisenia fetida), and compare the effects to their metal salt (CuSO4) or micron-sized counterpart. Then, …

Exploring The Teaching-Research Nexus In College Based And University Higher Education, Cathy Ann Schofield

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

In traditional university higher education the normal expectation is that academic staff will undertake teaching and research. There is an implicit assumption that active researchers provide a high quality learning experience, with research-informed teaching at its core. The research presented in this thesis explores aspects of the teaching-research nexus in university and college-based higher education. As there is not traditionally a research culture within college-based higher education it may be assumed that the learning experience may be of a lesser quality. This research considered four aspects of provision. It considered institutional and lecturer views on the nexus before examining what …

In Vivo, In Vitro Micropropagation And Chemical Characterisation Of Medicinal Compounds In Chamomile And Yarrow Species (Asteraceae), Banaz Mahmood

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

The Asteraceae family is frequently used to describe several medicinal plants which contain various phytochemical compounds including phenols, flavonoids and terpenoids. Among the Asteraceae family German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) and yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.) plants are extant species used in contemporary medicine. These phytochemical compounds have been traditionally used since ancient times in health care systems worldwide as a source of medicines. The use of micropropagation is essential to improve and increase these active compounds via plant tissue culture within a short period of time using the application of key plant growth regulators (PGRs). Furthermore, quantitative and qualitative analysis …

In-Service Teachers’ Training: The Case Of University Teachers In Yangon, Myanmar, Mark B. Ulla

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Research studies show a number of significant contributions of professional development programs towards teachers’ teaching skills. This paper explores the views of eight (8) university lecturers in a university in Yangon, Myanmar with regards to the teacher capacity building and language enhancement training program they attended from 2014-2016. The interview data, which were subjected to qualitative content analysis were taken from the participants’ personal knowledge and experience of the teacher training program. The data were read many times, coded, and assigned to different themes. Findings revealed two themes; appreciation and hardships. Although teacher participants were glad to be part of …

The Effects Of Writing Instructors’ Motivational Strategies On Student Motivation, Yin Ling Cheung

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While the last decade has witnessed a growing body of research on student motivation in second language acquisition, research about the impact of writing instructors’ motivational strategies on student motivation has remained underexplored. In order to fill this important gap, this study, guided by motivational strategy framework, investigates the effect of writing instructors’ motivational strategies on student motivation. Participants were 344 first-year undergraduate students taking a writing course at a university in Singapore. Classroom observation schemes, student surveys, and surveys with writing instructors were collected. Findings show that the more the writing instructors reported using strategies in generating students’ initial …

The Impact Of Intercultural Experiences On Preservice Teachers’ Preparedness To Engage With Diverse Learners, Denise A. Beutel, Donna Tangen

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The diversity of student populations globally is increasing more rapidly than the diversity of the teaching workforce. Concerns are that beginning teachers are ill-prepared to meet the needs of the diversity of students in their classrooms. This lack of preparedness has been partially attributed to inadequate preparation within teacher education programs. We advocate that preservice teachers need to understand how their prior intercultural experiences can be utilised to better prepare them for teaching diverse groups of learners. This qualitative study (n=40) draws on Hammer’s (2009) Intercultural Development Continuum to explore the impact that these experiences have on shaping preservice teachers …

Online Initial Teacher Education Students' Perceptions Of Using Web Conferences To Support Professional Conversations, Janet E. Dyment, Jill Downing

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper draws on the work of Helen Timperley (2015) who suggests there are six clear enablers that support educators to have professional conversations: processes, resources, culture, knowledge, relationships, as well as context. This purpose of this paper is two-fold: first, it describes how weekly web conferences that were offered for online initial teacher education students (ITES) were designed with due consideration for Timperley’s enablers for professional conversations; and second, it reports on student experiences of the ways in which the web conferences served to support professional conversations. In order to understand the complex and multifaceted ways that web conferences …

Factors Influencing The Evolution Of Vocational Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices Related To Classroom Management During Teacher Education, Céline Girardet, Jean-Louis Berger

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Two studies were conducted to investigate the evolution of 71 Swiss vocational teachers’ classroom management as a result of the inputs of a teacher education program, and to identify the factors that encouraged or impeded teacher change. Study 1 consisted of a longitudinal survey, and Study 2 of interviews. Longitudinal analyses were performed using a multilevel approach. This mixed-method study revealed that vocational teachers’ classroom management evolved towards the beliefs and practices encouraged by the teacher education program. Years of prior teaching experience and motivations for choosing teaching were found to moderate teachers’ evolutions. Moreover, influential people, providing alternative strategies …

Competition Versus Cooperation: Implications For Music Teachers Following Students Feedback From Participation In A Large-Scale Cooperative Music Festival, Geoffrey M. Lowe

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Competition is reported in the general education literature as having a largely detrimental impact upon student engagement and long-term motivation, yet competition has long been an accepted part of the music education ensemble landscape. Adjudicated ensemble competitions and competition-festivals are commonplace in most Australian states, as opposed to large-scale cooperative events. Arguments advanced in support of competitive events revolve primarily around perceived extra-musical benefits framed from the director / conductor perspective. The student voice is rarely considered in assessments of the impact of participation. This study presents student feedback following participation in an alternative large-scale cooperative music ensemble festival. Students …