Digital Commons Network^™

Rhode Island’S Agricultural Production And Climate Change: Practices, Perceptions, And Limitations, Mishreky N. Lawandy

Open Access Master's Theses

Climate change is projected to have significant impacts on the productivity and sustainability of agricultural production in coming years. In order to safeguard agricultural productivity and strengthen the resilience of regional food systems, farmers and other agricultural stakeholders will need to explore and adopt on-farm practices that are adaptive and/or mitigative. Understanding how farmers perceive and respond to climate change on their farms is essential to resilience building efforts.

The goal of this research is to address the lack of information on the concerns and response strategies of food-producing specialty crop growers in the U.S. Northeast, specifically the state of …

Wiki-Based Collaborative Writing In Esl Classrooms: A Study On Teachers And Students Perspectives And Attitudes., Mirella Gomes Da Silva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Computer-mediated collaborative writing has drawn attention from second language researchers and instructors for a few decades, and due to recent developments in Web 2.0 technologies, the possibilities of wikis for collaborative writing have increased enormously. However, few studies have explored the nature of wiki collaboration and interaction, especially with small group writing activities using wikis. This study investigated how intermediate-level international ESL students at an urban U.S. Mid-South university interacted within the wiki-based collaborative writing platform Pbworks.com. Students and instructors perspectives toward the integration of wikis in writing assignments addressed. Sixty-four students, grouped into twenty-five groups of three, were asked …

A Quantitative Study On The Construct Of Planning And Designing Instruction For Early Childhood Teachers Professional Development In Selected Tennessee Schools, Jennie Gibson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Abstract The purpose of this study is to evaluate early childhood teachers perceptions regarding their specific needs and the job-embedded professional development training they have been provided. The study will explore two core areas regarding the program planning of early childhood teacher professional development: planning context and designing instruction. In this study, planning context includes opportunities for reflection, collaboration and feedback, and choices regarding structure and content. As these are key components of job-embedded professional development, they are included to measure teacher perceptions of prior professional development. Designing instruction involves the following concepts: topics of student teacher relationships, child development …

Elementary Literacy Teachers Perceptions On The Impact Of Literacy Job-Embedded Professional Development, Racquel Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This qualitative case study focused on exploring elementary literacy teachers perceptions on the impact of literacy job-embedded professional development (JEPD). The study was guided by the following research questions: RQ1. What are elementary literacy teachers perceptions of literacy job-embedded professional development in which they have been participants?RQ2. What are elementary literacy teachers perceptions of the benefits of literacy job-embedded professional development in which they have been participants?RQ3. How does literacy job-embedded professional development, in which elementary literacy teachers have been participants, impact literacy teachers? RQ4. What are elementary literacy teachers perceptions of what makes literacy JEPD effective?A demographic survey and …

Effect Of Flipped Classroom Approach On Middle School Students Math Motivation And Math Anxiety In India, Smita Jain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this experimental posttest-only study was to determine the effect of the flipped classroom approach (FCA) instructional strategy on motivational orientations of middle school students in math in India. The research questions focused on the effect of FCA on students value component (intrinsic goal orientation, extrinsic goal orientation, task value), expectancy component (self-efficacy and control beliefs), and affective component (test anxiety). These variables were measured using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ).Two intact sections of eighth-grade students (n=66) from a private K-12 school in India participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two …

Mama Bear Conversations: A Template Analysis Of Mothers Message Board Discussions Of Hpv Vaccination And Weight Management For Their Pre-Adolescent And Adolescent Children, Kristin Whitten Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The growth of the Internet has allowed users to gather in online spaces to share thought processes and information about any number of topics, and mothers in particular have found value in these communities as they seek to navigate the rough waters of motherhood. The aim of this research is to examine three message board forum threads at Cafemom.com where mothers gather to discuss two specific health care concerns for their pre-adolescent and adolescent children: human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and weight management. In an attempt to understand how mothers gather in these spaces to discuss these important pre-adolescent and adolescent …

Entry Mode Strategy, Management Control, And Foreign Subsidiary Performance: The Case Of Korean Multinational Corporations, Tong Hyouk Kang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Ownership control through equity ownership-based entry mode strategies of multinational corporations (MNCs) and their foreign subsidiary performance have received increased attention from scholars over the past decades. However, previous research has reported mixed findings on subsidiary performance outcomes. This research, therefore, addresses some of these findings by combining ownership control and operational control via staffing parent country nationals to consider performance. Specifically, I investigated the moderating effects of the high-tech industry and cultural distance on this relationship. Using an unbalanced panel sample of 3,071 Korean MNCs foreign subsidiaries (11,281 subsidiary-year observations across 49 countries from 2007 to 2013), I found …

The Effects Of Intergroup Contact On Intergroup Anxiety And Transgender Prejudice: An Examination Using Structural Equation Modeling, Yasuko Kanamori

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Background: Evidence suggests that transgender individuals face high levels of prejudice, discrimination, and violence. Despite the known negative impact of transgender prejudice, research is lacking on interventions to reduce transgender prejudice. One possible solution might be found in the intergroup contact theory, which has substantial empirical support as an effective strategy to reduce prejudice across diverse populations and situations. Aims: The present study sought to apply the intergroup contact theory to the study of transgender prejudice. First, the study developed and pilot tested the performance of the Transgender Affect Misattribution Procedure (Transgender AMP), a measure of implicit transgender prejudice. Second, …

An Analysis Of School Administrators Perceptions Of The Role Of School Counselors And The Relationship Between Tvaas Scores And The Student To Counselor Ratio, Ann Keyl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of current school administrators on the roles of the school counselor and the impact it had on TVAAS scores and student-to-school-counselor ratios. The participants were chosen from a survey administered by the Tennessee Department of Education in the spring of 2016. This research was a quantitative correlational study. The researcher implemented an index called the Administrators Perception Index to give value to survey responses to analyze through a linear regression model any correlational data. The research showed that there was no significance with the Index score and student-to-counselor ratio and …

Graduate Survey, 2018-2019, Hart Career Center, Illinois Wesleyan University

First Destination Survey

No abstract provided.

Exposure To Health Warning Labels On Waterpipe Tobacco Packages: An Application Of The Modified Extended Parallel Process Model On Quitting Behavior From Three Waves Of The Path Study, Jayaprakash Kumar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The prevalence of waterpipe (WP) smoking has increased steadily in the United States despite growing evidence of its serious health consequences and addictive potential. Although, health warning labels (HWLs) on cigarette packages are effective in preventing initiation and cessation of smoking, the effect of HWLs on WP tobacco packages have seldom been studied. This study modified the extended parallel process model (EPPM) by adding motivation as a mediating construct and applied to examine if it predicts the effect of health warning label on waterpipe tobacco packages on quitting behavior. Data from the three waves of the Population Assessment of Tobacco …

Laughing Revolutions: The Popular Culture Of Modern Aesthetic Manifestos, Stephen Everett Leet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

During the first quarter of the twentieth century, a veritable manifesto-craze in the arts swept across Europe and the Americas. Inaugurated by F.T. Marinettis Founding and Manifesto of Futurism (1909), this phenomenon saw the publication of thousands of manifesto texts and parodic manifestos announcing new aesthetic theories and movements in the form of bombastic and often incredulous rhetoric. This dissertation intervenes in the extant body of literary criticism on the subject of this phenomenon. It argues that, contrary to current analytic trends, these manifestos were irreducible to their generic antecedents in the realm of politics. Rather than seeking legitimacy for …

Premature Treatment Termination In Integrated Primary Care: A Mixed Methods Investigation Among African American Adults With Chronic Pain, Courtney Maclin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Despite the growing number of U.S. patients impacted by chronic pain (Nahin, 2015), many, particularly African Americans go without adequate treatment due inequitable care (Anderson, Green, & Payne, 2009; Resnik, Rehm, & Minard, 2001). Even when the gold-standard treatment is accessible, many African Americans do not remain in care, electing to prematurely terminate treatment (Bonham, 2001; Green, Baker, Sato, Washington, & Smith, 2003). The Behavioral Model for Healthcare Utilization (BMHU) is widely used to understand how individuals engage in health care treatment and was recently expanded to be more inclusive for racial minorities (Bradley et al., 2002). However, little research …

The Role Of Executive Function In Supporting Reading Fluency In Students With Dyslexia: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis, Ashley Mayhew

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine the role of executive function (EF) skills (i.e., working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition) in supporting the development of reading fluency in elementary school students with dyslexia. Participants were 47 students (i.e., second to sixth grade) attending a private school in the Mid-South region of the United States that provides an intensive day-treatment program for students diagnosed with dyslexia. Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM) was used to explore the concurrent and predictive relation between EF and oral reading fluency across a school year. Overall, results from the study indicated that executive function …

Behind The Veil: Mothering Empowerment, Rebecca Darby Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

As Toni Morrison states in her text, The Site of memory, early slave narratives were written with the purpose of providing a historical account that was representative of the race and of enticing readers to see the worth and human nature of the subjects. In doing this, Morrison notes that the authors fell short of revealing the interior life as it was often dubbed too terrible to relate. After examining the interior lives of the mother figures in the texts of Harriet Jacobs, Toni Morrison, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and Valerie Martin, it becomes clear that these maternal figures were not merely …

Physical Disabilities And Theatre: We Discover What It Is To Be Human And What Is Possible For Humans To Be., Jennifer Annette Nettleton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation examines the portrayal of physically disabled characters in dramatic literature over the course of the late nineteenth through the twentieth into the twenty-first century. My core argument is that performance art, sideshows, and theatre are safe means by which people have been able to look fixedly at those who are different. Additionally, this project will address the historical context of certain plays productions and how our evolving understanding of, representations of, and conceptions about those who are different change over time. Theatre allows individuals to be seen and to see; thus, by utilizing the core concepts and ideas …

Assessing The Factor Structure And Classification Accuracy Of The College Alcohol Problems Scale Using A Population Of Students With Disabilities, Kristi L. Nobbman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Alcohol use on college campuses is an issue of public health. Sixty percent of college students consume alcohol on a monthly basis. Identifying students risk of alcohol related problems is compounded when working with academically at-risk students. Students with disabilities (SWD) are considered an at-risk group and make up 11% of student population on college campuses. The College Alcohol Problems Scale (CAPS) is widely used on college campuses and has shown versatility with African American students, deaf and hard of hearing students, and Spanish speaking students. The purpose of this study was to determine if the two-factor model of CAPS …

Psychometric Evaluation Of A Theoretically-Derived Waterpipe Nicotine Dependence Instrument For Adolescent Waterpipe Smokers, Mohammad Masudul Alam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Introduction: Waterpipe smoking has become a global phenomenon in recent years, especially among adolescents. Some users exhibit symptoms of nicotine dependence (dependence), but instruments have not been developed to assess dependence in this population. This dissertation utilized 28 self-report items related to multiple features of dependence that were generated by work conducted at the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies (SCTS). These 28 items were used to develop and psychometrically evaluate an adolescent-specific waterpipe dependence instrument.Methods: From a five wave (two year) school-based cohort study of 498 8th and 9th grade students in Beirut, Lebanon, 192 current (past month) waterpipe smokers …

Sociocultural And Academic Acculturation Challenges Encountered By Saudi Female Students In The United States, Samar Ali Aldhahri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Coming from a completely different culture, Saudi female students encounter a number of challenges adapting to the American culture. These acculturation challenges may affect their academic, social, and life experiences in the United States. The purpose of this study was to explore the acculturation challenges encountered by Saudi female students in the United States and their strategies to cope with their challenges. The study also aimed to investigate the roles of participants demographic variables and the historical changes in Saudi Arabia on their experiences in the United States. To achieve these objectives, a mixed methods research was adopted implementing an …

A Study Of Saudi Teachers And Students Attitudes Toward The Use Of Esp At A Saudi Military Academy, Sulaiman Rashed Algofaili

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classes address the specific professional and technical fields of students learning English and attempt to use appropriate materials and approaches to do so. At the King Abdulaziz Military Academy (KAMA) in Saudi Arabia, ESP classes prepare students for military careers. However, officers who graduate from KAMA notice that their level of English is lower than that required to command non- Arabic speakers, and they struggle in communicating with others in English. The reason behind the students low competence at KAMA is still not clear but could result from the choice of approaches or texts used …

Investigating Sequential Vocabulary Learning Strategies As A Means Of Improving L2 Vocabulary Acquisition, Adel Marzouq Alharbi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

One of the key aspects to learning a language is building good vocabulary knowledge. However, building vocabulary is considered to be as hard a process as developing the language itself in the long term. In second language acquisition (SLA), the larger vocabulary size has been connected to intelligence and as a major determinant of successful language use. With the constant use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs), language learners have reported successful growth of their language learning. The current study investigated SpanishEnglish bilingual speakers beliefs and practices about sequential VLS processes as a means of improving second language vocabulary acquisition. The …

Professors And Students Perceptions About English As An International Language (Eil) In Speaking Instruction In Saudi Arabia, Shatha Ahmed Alkhalaf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

AbstractAlkhalaf, Shatha. Ph.D. The University of Memphis. May 2018. Professors and Students Perceptions about English as an International Language (EIL) in Speaking Instruction in Saudi Arabia. Major Professor: Emily Thrush, Ph.D.Driven by the critical period hypothesis (CPH), Kachrus (1985) World Englishes paradigm, and Krashens (1982) theory of second language acquisition (SLA), this study examined instructors and learners attitudes toward English as an International Language (EIL) speaking instruction in Saudi Arabia and whether exposure to EIL speaking instruction influenced participants beliefs. Participants consisted of 23 professors teaching in the Department of English at Qassim University and 30 Saudi undergraduate students majoring …

Saudi Esl/Efl Learners Metacognitive Online Reading Strategies In Arabic And English, Hamad Mohammed Alluhaydan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Historically, Saudi readers have demonstrated poor metacognitive reading skills and literacy practices. This study investigates what online metacognitive reading strategies ESL and EFL Saudi learners believed they used more frequently in Arabic and English. It also shows perceived differences between Saudi male and female ESL/EFL learners in their strategy use while reading online texts. The lack of practice reading in Arabic or English affects comprehension skills; less than 25% of participants felt they could answer reading comprehension questions in class. Male and female participants did not differ in their use of global, support, and problem-solving metacognitive online reading strategies when …

The Impact Of School Profiles With The Competing Values Framework (Cvf) On The Decision Of Educators To Leave The Profession Entirely, Erika M. Ashford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between the perceived ways in which 248 Tennessee high schools address the organizational tensions, trade-offs, and conflicts (Cameron, Quinn, DeGraff, & Thakor, 2006, p. 50) embodied in the Competing Values Framework (CVF) and the percent of educators at those schools intending to leave education entirely. To this purpose, item-, scale, and quadrant-level responses aligned with the CVF were selected from data derived from the 2013 administration of the Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning survey in Tennessee (TELL Tennessee). To control for school characteristics that might confound the aforementioned relationships, …

Humor Styles And Self-Esteem As Mediators Of The Relationship Between Personality And Life Satisfaction, Emily Ruth Averitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Life satisfaction is a key component of hedonic or subjective well-being as well as a pivotal predictor of other health-related indices. One of the strongest predictors of life satisfaction is personality, including neuroticism (a strong inverse predictor) and extraversion. The current research examined two constructs that potentially mediate the relationship between the predictor variable of personality and the outcome variable of life satisfaction: humor styles and self-esteem. Path analysis procedures were utilized to examine a primary model, in which it was hypothesized that specific humor styles would partially mediate the relationship between extraversion and neuroticism and the outcome of life …

Sovereign Justice: Royal Prerogative And Justice In The Works Of Spenser, Shakespeare, And Milton, Melissa Haickel Bagaglio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

My dissertation joins a vibrant conversation in the intersection of literature and law to investigate the changing attitude towards the royal prerogative as it relates to law, mercy, and equity in the English early modern period. The royal prerogative, the sovereigns rights and privileges under English law, has long been a contentious aspect of the British legal system with many attempts over the centuries to limit the use of these powers. During Tudor times, royal prerogative was closely associated with the courts of Chancery and Star Chamber, which were highly regarded courts of equity. However, the same courts became associated …

Building A Case For Culturally Responsive Practices Used With Response To Intervention Models To Reduce Disproportionate Representation Among African Americans In Special Education, Sonia Perry Barber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The federal law, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which was enacted to provide funds to states to support special education programs and to ensure that children and parents rights are protected, has been reauthorized several times. Yet, despite the multiple amendments to improve the law, there remains a disproportionate representation of minority students in special education. Such disparity creates a plethora of problems for African-American students. This study extends a previous case study in relation to using culturally responsive practices to reduce disproportionate representation among African Americans in special education. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent …

Full Issue

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Bulletin Of Yale University School Of Nursing 2019-2020, Yale School Of Nursing

Yale School of Nursing Bulletins and Catalogues

Series 115, Number 15

September 5, 2019

From Breast Pump To Best Pump: A Human-Centered Evaluation, Rachel L. Bartels

Open Access Master's Theses

Mothers can experience breastfeeding challenges, and the breast pump is often at the center. Existing literature outlines the range of mothers’ negative experiences with breast pumps, though there is a gap in which breast pump characteristics are important to mothers. Identifying which breast pump characteristics (i.e., portability, ease of use, low-weight, fast milk extraction, comfortability, low-noise, discreet) are important to breast pumping mothers, and whether or not this importance varies between mothers who do or do not work outside of the home will help identify user needs. Collecting user needs informs future breast pump designs in a user-centered design …