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The Hero Never Leaves The Tavern: Complicating Narrative In Dungeons & Dragons, Christopher Nelson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis aims to explore how Dungeons & Dragons complicates storytelling elements such as the role of narrator and audience and the structure of the hero’s journey. Using the Game Trailers Archive’s Tabletop Adventures series as a case study, I analyze over 50 hours of gameplay along with studying Dungeons & Dragons’s history and what influenced its creation and narrative style. This study is meant as an examination of the role of audience and narrator in Dungeons & Dragons and the game’s narrative elements using the lenses of Wayne Booth’s theories on the narrator as stated in his book The …

First-Generation, Underrepresented Community College Graduates And The Accrual Of Social Capital, Jorge Nieto

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Social capital contributes to the ability of individuals to navigate formal and informal systems and organizational structures. This qualitative research study features the perspectives of twenty first-generation community college graduates of color who completed their associate degrees in arts or science. This study describes the navigation of these graduates through the structure and systems of the community college, and the sources of social capital that were helpful to them in completing their associate degree as a part of their academic journey.

Microbiome And Metagenome Of An Anthropogenic Hyperalkaline Slag-Fill Waterway In South Chicago, Illinois, Usa, Jan Ingemar Ohlsson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The aquifers and waterways around the Lake Calumet area of south Chicago, IL, USA have been affected by a century of intensive industrial waste dumping. Steel slag in particular was used as infilling to claim most of the Calumet Wetlands for industrial and residential development. Since the prohibition and cessation of these disposal activities, a growing body of research has recorded the environmental and health effects of the infill, particularly where interactions between slag minerals and rainwater produces extremely alkaline groundwater (pH ≥13). Atmospheric carbon dioxide interacting with these calcium hydroxide-rich slag fluids produces massive precipitation of a loose, white …

A Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis Of The Aerodynamic Performance Of Wind Turbine, Ashkan Ostovari

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Renewable energy resources are likely to be a future energy solution. Among them, the wind has gained a lot of interest. Despite the theoretical limitation in wind energy harnessing efficiency, it is, still, one of the most promising renewable resources with utilizing turbines to extract this energy. Wind turbines, based on their axis of rotation are categorized into vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) and horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), which HAWT’s have shown relatively higher efficiency than VAWT’s. The aim of this thesis is first to develop a scaled-down model of a wind turbine in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) environment …

Cognitive Bias Modification For Negative Sexual Assault Disclosure Experiences: Examining A Mechanism For Improving Post-Disclosure Well-Being, Caitlin Mary Mcnamara Pinciotti

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Following a sexual assault, many survivors choose to disclose the experience to others. More commonly, these conversations occur between friends, family members, or significant others, but survivors may also disclose to professionals, such as law enforcement and medical professionals. Unfortunately, support providers often do not respond supportively to disclosing survivors, and unsupportive acknowledgement and turning-against reactions are common. Extant literature has overwhelmingly indicated that these negative reactions have lasting detrimental effects on survivors, including leading to increased symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other adverse outcomes. Although social support and PTSD theories converge to suggest that negative disclosure experiences …

Seabird Threats On Land And At Sea: Measuring Nearshore Response To Invasive Predator Eradications And Storm Petrel Diet Response To Fishing Expansion, Lyndsay L. Rankin

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Seabirds are crucial components of many marine and island ecosystems, and yet they are the world’s most threatened group of birds. They spend most of their lives at sea, where they face numerous threats including climate change, pollution, and fisheries. When they return to land to breed, they are threatened by human disturbance and invasive species. This research examines seabird response to threats on land and at sea using stable isotope analysis. Seabirds provide multiple ecosystem services, such as depositing rich marine-derived nutrients into the islands where they nest. Invasive predators disrupt this bottom-up control by decimating seabird populations. Successful …

Exploring The Relationship Between Facets Of Mindfulness And Emotion Regulatory Flexibility, Anthony Nicholas Reffi

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Emotion dysregulation can often be attributed to an inability to employ a range of regulatory strategies across varying stressful situations (i.e., regulatory flexibility). Therefore, it remains clinically relevant to determine the mechanisms that facilitate regulatory flexibility. Although mindfulness and regulatory flexibility have been linked, relations between mindfulness facets and regulatory flexibility have not yet been considered. This study aimed to determine which facets of self-reported trait mindfulness are related to regulatory choice flexibility. Using a previously validated performance-based emotion regulation choice paradigm, undergraduates (N = 78; 62.8% female; Mage = 19.82, SD = 2.03) chose to use either reappraisal or …

A Multimethod Investigation Of Emotional Labor And Sleep Quality: Can Perceptions Of Sleep Quality Influence Health And Emotion Regulation?, Arielle P. Rogers

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Sleep and emotional labor (i.e., emotion regulation at work) are integral to health and job performance. Poor sleep quality has been linked to decreased emotional labor; however, no study has examined the reason for this relationship. This study draws from models of self-regulation to suggest that perceptions of good sleep quality can increase employees’ motivation to exert emotional labor in the absence of display rules (i.e., “display autonomy”), resulting in better emotion performance (i.e., coded affective displays) and health (i.e., decreased emotional exhaustion). College students (N = 205) were randomly assigned to a “display rules” or “display autonomy” condition and …

The Study Of Scandate Cathode And Its Characterization Under Various Stages Of Processing, Xiaomeng Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Scandate cathode under various processing stages: scandia nano-powder, tungsten scandia mix powder, sintered and impregnated pellets, were characterized with techniques that included electron microscopy, EDS, XPS, and work function measurements. The size and shape uniformity of nano-scale scandia particles changed from round to square and polyhedron during heat treatment. Reduction in size and improvement in size uniformity as heat treating temperature increased were observed. When determining the highest Sc coverage, three assessment methods were used and with their combined results, it was concluded that set VII had the highest Sc at%. In the sintered pellets, it was observed with SEM …

Synthesis, Functionalization, And Application Of Nanofiltration And Composite Membranes For Selective Separations, Andrew Steven Colburn

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Future nanofiltration (NF) membranes used for selective separations of ions and small organic molecules must maintain performance in environments where high concentrations of total dissolved solvents or foulants are present. These challenges can be addressed through the development of composite membranes, as well as the engineering of enhanced surface properties and operating conditions for existing commercial membranes.

In this work, ion transport through commercial thin film composite (TFC) polyamide NF membranes were studied in both lab-prepared salt solutions and industrial wastewater. The dependence of several variables on ion rejection was investigated, including ion radius, ion charge, ionic strength, and temperature. …

Towards The Rational Design And Application Of Polymers For Gene Therapy: Internalization And Intracellular Fate, Landon Alexander Mott

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Gene therapy is an approach for the treatment of acquired cancers, infectious disease, degenerative disease, and inherited genetic indications. Developments in the fields of immunotherapies and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing are revitalizing the efforts to move gene therapy to the forefront of modern medicine. However, slow progress and poor clinical outcomes have plagued the field due to regulatory and safety concerns associated with the flagship delivery vector, the recombinant virus. Immunogenicity and poor transduction in certain cell types severely limits the utility of viruses as a delivery agent of nucleic acids. As a result, significant efforts are being made to develop …

Synthesis, Characterization And Applications Of Reduced Graphene Oxide And Composite Membranes For Selective Separations And Removal Of Organic Contaminants, Ashish Aher

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Among the next generation materials being investigated for membrane development, partially reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) has received increasing attention from the membrane community. rGO-based nanofiltration membranes have shown promising results in applications such as partial desalination, organic contaminant removal, gas-phase separations, and separations from solvent media. rGO offers a unique platform compared to common polymeric membranes since it can be used for separation applications in both aqueous and organic solvent media. An rGO-based platform could also be utilized to synthesize reactive membranes, giving rGO membranes the additional capability of reactively removing organic contaminants. This research focuses on the synthesis of …

Nanoharvesting And Delivery Of Bioactive Materials Using Engineered Silica Nanoparticles, Md Arif Khan

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) possess large surface areas and ample pore space that can be readily modified with specific functional groups for targeted binding of bioactive materials to be transported through cellular barriers. Engineered silica nanoparticles (ESNP) have been used extensively to deliver bio-active materials to target intracellular sites, including as non-viral vectors for nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) delivery such as for siRNA induced interference. The reverse process guided by the same principles is called “nanoharvesting”, where valuable biomolecules are carried out and separated from living and functioning organisms using nano-carriers. This dissertation focuses on ESNP design principles for both applications. …

Modeling The Condensed-Phase Behavior Of Π-Conjugated Polymers, Walker Mask

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

It is well established that the morphology and physical properties of an organic semiconducting (OSC) material regulate its electronic properties. However, structure-function relationships remain difficult to describe in polymer-based OSC, which are of particular interest due to their robust mechanical properties. If relationships among the molecular and bulk levels of structure can be found, they can aid in the design of improved materials. To explore and detail important structure-function relationships in polymer-based OSC, this work employs molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study various π-conjugated polymers in different environments. Two independent investigations are discussed in this work. One investigation examines how …

Middle School And High School Teachers' Actual And Perceived Use Of Praise And Reprimand, Melissa Beaudoin

Masters Theses

This study aimed to examine teachers' natural praise and reprimand rates among 66 middle and high school teachers. In addition, teachers' perceptions of how often they praised and reprimanded were compared to their actual use of praise and reprimands. A total of 1,320 direct-observation minutes were collected using 20-min observations for each teacher. After teachers were observed they completed a survey rating their perceived use of praise and reprimand. Teachers were observed to use significantly more general praise compared to behavior specific praise. They were also observed to use significantly more mild reprimands compared to any other type of reprimand. …

Teacher Perceptions Of Evidence-Based Classroom Management Practices, Chloe Lindstrom

Masters Theses

The current study examined teachers' perceptions of 20 evidence based classroom management strategics. Participants were asked to complete an online survey that required them to rate their use, acceptability, and self-efficacy for each of the strategies, as well as demographic questions such as whether they had taken a behavior management course during their training program, and how long they have been teaching. Participants included 202 kindergarten through eighth grade teachers across the state of Illinois. Results indicated that teachers on average reported using 18 of the 20 strategies, and that there was not a significant difference in number of strategies …

Student Use Of Institutional Social Media, Hayley Elizabeth Hanger

Masters Theses

This study is a quantitative exploration of student use of their university's social media accounts at a mid-sized Midwestern institution. The survey was conducted via Qualtrics and was emailed to all undergraduate on-campus students. T-tests showed that differences in reason for use existed across gender, race, and first-generation status. Chi Square test results showed a statistically significant gap between the amount of White and non-White students following institutional social media accounts. Descriptive statistics also indicated that lack of awareness is the driving reason students do not follow institutional social media accounts. Recommendations were made to increase advertisement of social media …

Exploring High School Students' Attitudes Towards Reading, Heather G. Crivilare

Masters Theses

This study explored high school students’ attitudes towards reading as both a recreational activity and academic endeavor; while there are numerous studies regarding the reading habits of younger children, there is a deficit of research into the reading habits of students beyond the middle school years. This study surveyed and interviewed freshmen-through-senior students in a medium-sized, rural Illinois high school about their habits as readers in order to explore the relationship between different environmental factors and reading, as well as between reading habits and college readiness. This study found a gender gap in reading enjoyment favoring female students; a decline …

College Students Experiences Participating In International Alternative Break Trips, Dayton L. Ehrlich

Masters Theses

This study sought to explore undergraduate students’ experiences participating in international alternative break trips. A qualitative approach was used to understand the motivating factors as well as the impact the trip had on them. Participants included three female undergraduate students who had participated in an international alternative break trip in Mexico were interviewed one-on-one. The results demonstrated there were multiple different motivating factors and impacts the students experienced. The motivating factors consisted of student involvement, they were all personally invited on the trip, practicing a new language, opportunity to leave the country, and service was not a motivator. The impacts …

Construct Validity Of The Teate Depression Inventory (Tdi) With A Middle Eastern/Arab American Sample, Dalia Bunni

Masters Theses

The purpose of the study was to examine the construct validity of a newer test used to measure depressive symptoms, the Teate Depression Inventory (TDI). The primary focus of the study was on Middle Eastern/Arab Americans (ME/AA). Previous research has demonstrated that ethnic minority groups may experience and present internalizing disorders, such as depression and anxiety differently than the majority ethnic group, White/Caucasian (W/C) individuals. Further, research suggests that there is a disparity in mental health care among ethnic minority groups, starting with detecting and diagnosing mental health disorders. Inaccurate detection and diagnoses informs inaccurate treatment, further creating a disparity. …

Obtaining And Retaining Engagement In Nonprofit Organizations, Sierra Price

Masters Theses

This project is a guide for directors to strategically communicate and display behavior that will influence volunteers to be engaged nonprofit settings. Engagement and motivation is influenced by communicative patterns from directors. Volunteer engagement can result to acceptance of leadership styles, clear understanding of vision, and building trust. Directors should minimize disengagement by fostering behavior that is correlated to working with volunteers in a partnership.

Beyond Words: Newspapers, Language Usage And Disability Stigma, Laura Kruczinski

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Sociology has a long history of documenting socio-political views that are used by media to portray stereotypes and perpetuate the potential stigmas associated with race, social class, gender, and other disadvantaged social categories. There is comparatively little existing research that discusses how media coverage is connected to disability-related stigma. In this thesis, I use grounded theory to construct a content analysis of newspapers coverage of the 2016 United States Presidential Election. From the data, I examine how stereotypes related to disability may be used in political discourse, drawing from the refined theory of stigma, as outlined by Link and Phelan …

Implementation And Evaluation Of Gated Recurrent Unit For Speech Separation And Speech Enhancement, Sagar V. Shah

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Hearing aids, automatic speech recognition (ASR) and many other communication systems work well when there is just one sound source with almost no echo, but their performance degrades in situations where more speakers are talking simultaneously or the reverberation is high. Speech separation and speech enhancement are core problems in the field of audio signal processing. Humans are remarkably capable of focusing their auditory attention on a single sound source within a noisy environment, by de-emphasizing all other voices and interferences in surroundings. This capability comes naturally to us humans. However, speech separation remains a significant challenge for computers. It …

In And Out Of School Literacies: Adolescents Negotiating And Navigating Identities Through Social Media, Brooke Elizabeth Simon

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Through the theoretical lens of connected learning and a pedagogy of multiliteracies, this

embedded case study provides an intimate portrait of two adolescents (ages 14-15), Rehema and

Luis. The focus of the study is their uses of social media both in and out of the classroom, their

purposes, practices, and perspectives surrounding this use, and the tensions that exist between

building and maintaining their identities within social networking sites (SNS) and the crossover

of their teachers and school utilizing these same SNS for learning purposes. The findings reveal

that for these particular focal participants, the use of SNS, both in …

Functions Of Dfrp And Other Drg Pathway Genes In The Moss Physcomitrella Patens, Robert James Srygler

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

GTP binding proteins (G proteins) are molecular switches that regulate many aspects of physiology in all cells. DRG1 and DRG2 (Developmentally Regulated GTP-binding proteins) have been found in all eukaryotes examined. Amino acid identity across eukaryotes is about 65% within an orthologous group and 55% between paralogs of a single species. Although DRGs are likely involved in some aspect of translation regulation, details of their precise cellular functions are not known.

In addition to DRGs there are other genes/proteins that comprise the “DRG pathway.” DFRPs (DRG Family Regulatory Proteins) have been shown to physically and genetically interact with DRGs. Previous …

Outpatients' And Treatment Providers’ Cultural Model(S) Of Mental Illness In Northern Illinois, Emily Jean Stephen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

For this thesis, I interviewed outpatients and clinicians from mental health treatment providers from the DeKalb, Illinois area to investigate the cultural models of mental illness held by both groups. I employed ethnographic methods of semi-structured interviews, and with cognitive tasks (free-listing, and pile sorting) to research similarities and differences between the outpatients’ and mental health treatment providers’ cultural models of ‘mental illness.’ Both mental health clinicians and outpatients have experience with disorders commonly termed ‘mental illness.’ I found differences of experience and identity seemed to more strongly influence one’s cultural model of mental illness than one’s level or type …

Ita Language Proficiency Testing: Recommended Replacement For The Speak® Test, Anne Marie Stoughton

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Oral language tests have been used since the 1950s to assess the proficiency of spoken language. In the 1980s and 1990s, the need for oral proficiency testing increased as states began to mandate that universities within their jurisdictions test the English proficiency of instructors due to growing concerns over international teaching assistants’ (ITAs) comprehensibility. Many universities turned to the Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit® (SPEAK test), a language proficiency test created and distributed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), as means to test ITA proficiency in English. ETS’s discontinuance of the SPEAK test in 2010 has forced, and is forcing, …

A Climatology Of Quasi-Linear Convective Systems In The U.S., Jacob Adam Strohm

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Quasi-linear convective systems, or QLCSs, are a common, organized thunderstorm mode in the U.S. Over the last fifty years, severe weather research has focused on the supercell, but, recently, QLCSs have become an increasingly important area of study. Researchers and operational meteorologists realize that this morphology is difficult to forecast and may be responsible for a large proportion of the severe weather reports in the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. This study seeks to determine the degree to which QLCSs threaten humans and their assets by, first, assessing their climatology and, second, measuring their contribution to the severe report record. …

Are They Activated? The Study Of Age Metastereotype Activation In A Workplace Context, Courtney L. Thomas

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis addresses the topic of metastereotype activation in the workplace. The thesis reports research that was conducted in pursuit of two goals. The first goal was the development of an implicit measure of age metastereotype activation. The second goal was to refine and test a theoretical model of metastereotype activation in the workplace. The model suggests that age metastereotype activation in the workplace depends upon contextual elements (e.g., age salience and evaluation salience) as well as various individual difference factors (e.g., age metastereotype consciousness, age identification, age prejudice, public self-consciousness, and external locus of control). Three studies were conducted …

Is A Picture Worth A Thousand Numbers? An Exploration Of Understanding And Recall Of Data Presentations, Holly L. Roof

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reports results of a study with a quasi-randomized experimental component and a protocol analysis, or think aloud, component. The experimental component was designed to determine if people with no statistical training and people with some statistical training differed in their understanding and recollection of statistical information with varying degrees of complexity. Information was presented using data visualization techniques based on cognitive theory and compared to presentations using APA-style numerical tables of statistical output. The focus was on using empirically-supported graphical displays in PowerPoint presentations such as one might see at a research conference. Classroom groups of beginning and …