Digital Commons Network^™

"Repossessing Her Self-Possession": A Lesson In Communal Pedagogy, Crystal Dekesha Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation uses historical and literary mediums to assign pedagogical skills and communal benefit to African American female subjugation and labor typically associated with turmoil, ignominy, and struggle. Accordingly, Black feminist commentary (Lorde) is in conversation with theories of pedagogy (hooks, Ladson-Billings, Dewey) as well as literary philosophy and criticism (Bakhtin, Baraka) about the particular ways each field of study contribute to the analysis of twentieth century African American literature but also provide specific methods for Black communities to construct, implement, and sustain educational principles throughout time. Using the term communal pedagogy, I argue that African American culture has an …

First-Year Writing Program Assessment At Small Liberal Arts Colleges, Nathan Wade Henton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This project examines first-year writing program assessment practices at small liberal arts colleges and universities in an effort to understand how these practices resemble or diverge from prevailing scholarship on writing program assessment. There is extensive literature on best practices in writing program assessment, but nearly all of it by scholars and researchers working at public comprehensive universities who assume that type of institution as their model. At the same time, scholarship on writing program assessment at small liberal arts institutions is scant, amounting to fewer than ten publications in the last twenty years, even as these schools are structurally …

Incomplete Surgical Resection In Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Population-Based Cohort From The Mid-South Region Of The United States, Yu-Sheng Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Lung cancer accounts for approximately 25% of all cancer deaths in the United States, and most long-term survivors of lung cancer undergo surgical resection. However, the effectiveness of surgical resection is impaired when tumor tissue remains at the margin of the resected specimen after the surgery, known as incomplete resection. The incidence of incomplete resection varies with patient demographic, clinical, surgeon, and institutional characteristics. The anatomic sites of margin involvement may also have impacts on long-term survival. Recommended postoperative treatment options for incomplete resection include re-resection, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. However, some of these recommendations are not based on high-level …

Borders As Documents Of Violence: Colonial Cartography And The Epidermal Border, Kalemba Kimera Kizito

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation analyzes the role of violence as constitutive and integral to border experiences. I focus on my lived experiences through transnational interaction with borders as analytical texts through which I realize that I am and have always been branded a Black man. I analyze the role of colonial cartography in the construction of the racialized body in Half of A Yellow Sun (2013) by relating the contrived mapping of Africa as symbolic of the mapping of race on to the black body. I also analyze the fixity of the colonial gaze in The Last King of Scotland (2006), focusing …

The Effects Of A Mobile App-Based Sky Map In Teaching College Students About Constellations, Aklilu Maasho

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using a mobile app-based sky map to teach college students about constellations, stars, nebulae, and star clusters. The name of the app was Star Chart. The setting for the study was a community college in West Tennessee. Twenty out of 60 participants were males, with 83% of all being less than 25 years old. The first effect studied was concerning students level of attitude toward astronomy after they used the mobile app to learn about sky constellations, stars, nebulae, and star clusters. The second effect investigated in the study …

Deeper Understanding Of Tutorial Dialogues And Student Assessment, Nabin Nabin Maharjan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Bloom (1984) reported two standard deviation improvement with human tutoring which inspired many researchers to develop Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) that are as effective as human tutoring. However, recent studies suggest that the 2-sigma result was misleading and that current ITSs are as good as human tutors. Nevertheless, we can think of 2 standard deviations as the benchmark for tutoring effectiveness of ideal expert tutors. In the case of ITSs, there is still the possibility that ITSs could be better than humans.One way to improve the ITSs would be identifying, understanding, and then successfully implementing effective tutorial strategies that lead …

The Impact Of Social Justice Pedagogy On Transformational Resistance In Low-Socioeconomic, African American Students, Jalesa Parks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study focuses on bridging the gap in the literature as it relates to the use of social justice pedagogy as a proactive means by which to address the achievement gap, inherent biases, and deficit views of low-socioeconomic, African American students in todays schools. Research questions for the study are as follows: 1) What practices within social justice pedagogy do students find to be distinct from traditional classroom practices? 2) How do Black students perceive the impact of social justice pedagogy on their Transformative Resistance? 3) How do Black students perceive the impact of social justice pedagogy on their self-efficacy …

"This Is The Liberian Way": Coping And Health Literacy In Narratives Of Sickness From Liberia, West Africa., Crystal Dawn Daugherty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Following two consecutive civil wars, Liberias health infrastructure was left in shambles. As the country moved forward in restoring health facilities, a mysterious virus began to sweep through the country. Ebola traumatized Liberia and most of West Africa from 2014-2016. This qualitative study explores how people in rural Liberia, West Africa manage sickness. My work is situated in narrative theory and a culturally centered approach as well as literature on health narratives, approaches to medical treatment, and coping. Using semi-structured interviews, I collected health narratives from 30 individuals who identified as community members and 16 individuals who identified as healthcare …

Sleep Matters For Adolescents To Rise And Thrive: A Brief Motivational Intervention For Short Sleep Among Adolescents With Large Bodies, Kristina Decker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Sleep plays an essential role in health and well-being throughout the lifespan. Short sleep duration (< 8 hours/night) is highly prevalent among adolescents and is associated with a myriad of problematic psychosocial and physical health outcomes including obesity. There are a number of mutable, behavioral predictors known to be associated with short sleep; however, interventions targeting these behaviors to increase sleep duration are either limited or yield inconsistent findings. Researchers suggest that Motivational Interviewing (MI) interventions may be a feasible and acceptable means to improve sleep duration, yet no known research has examined MI to improve sleep duration among adolescents with large bodies. The purpose of the current study was to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a brief, individually-delivered, MI intervention that utilized tailored feedback and values-based strategies to improve sleep among adolescents with large bodies. Thirteen adolescents (aged 13-18; 62% female; 77% Black; Mage=15.2) with large bodies and self-reported short sleep participated in an MI intervention incorporating personalized sleep feedback generated from weeklong monitoring via sleep diary and Fitbit. The present study employed a one-group design with pre-test/post-test assessment to examine the feasibility and acceptability of this brief MI intervention. Session attendance was feasible given high retention from baseline to post-intervention (100%) and follow-up (92%, N=12). Monitoring sleep via Fitbit was acceptable and moderately feasible, while sleep diary completion was neither. Regarding intervention content, teens found personalized sleep feedback helpful and activities easy to understand. From baseline to six-week follow-up, teens reported improvements on perceived importance of sleeping more as well as increased confidence in their ability to get more sleep and readiness to sleep more. Findings support the feasibility and acceptability of an MI intervention for short sleep among teens with large bodies and will be used to inform future intervention development and adaptation for use in a randomized controlled trial. The brevity and practicality of this intervention also enhances long-term sustainability and ease of integration into busy multidisciplinary clinics.

Computational Thinking Self-Efficacy In High School Latin Language Learning, Dennis Clark Dickerson, Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Research suggests that computational thinking is a necessary skill exercised in STEM courses, non-STEM fields, and in everyday life. However, very little research has investigated the potential transfer of computational thinking self-efficacy available through classical Latin courses. This causal comparative study contrasted the computational thinking self-efficacy of computer science students with no exposure to Latin to computer science students with exposure to Latin at a Memphis all-boy high school. The independent variables were Latin language learning experience, i.e., up to 6 years total of Latin language learning (n = 33), versus 0 years of Latin language learning experience (n = …

The Relationship Between Student Achievement, Teacher Effectiveness, Merit Pay, And Selective Teacher Demographics In A Rural School District, Jill Webb Faulkner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Teacher merit pay has become popular among policymakers to meet accountability mandates related teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Legislation at the federal level has provided grants and financial incentives to state and local districts to implement merit pay plans. In 2013, Tennessee required all districts to develop a differentiated compensation plan by revising an earlier differentiated compensation policy from 2008. With more rigorous standards and testing at the forefront of education reform in Tennessee, the rural school district in this study developed a strategic compensation plan with bonus pay based on student test scores as one of the components. The …

Novel Perspectives Of The Iraq War, Olivia R. Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

My dissertation, "Novel Perspectives of the Iraq War," explores literary representations of the American occupation of Iraq. Responding to Roy Scrantons argument that the prevailing narrative of the traumatized veteran returning home from war with experiential knowledge (what David Buchanan calls combat gnosticism) has overshadowed other important perspectives, this project interrogates the manner in which cultural representations can both sustain and challenge national mythologies. Each of my chapters responds to a specific problem in our cultures popular narratives of war and argues that solutions to extant misperceptions are available via counternarratives. What connects these problems are their prevalence in the …

Examining How Parent Child Interaction Therapy (Pcit) Skills Influence Childrens Eating During A Structured Eating Task, Tiffany Mary Rybak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Early childhood is a critical period for the development of healthy eating behavior. This study aimed to examine how mothers behaviors during an eating scenario align with evidence-based parenting skills (e.g., Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) skills) and to determine how these skills influence childrens eating. This study observationally coded videos of dyadic parent-child interactions for 50 mothers and 50 children (ages 4 to 7 years old) from a primarily low-income population using Noldus Observer XT software. It examined interactions during a structured eating task (e.g., taste testing of foods) by first, applying and modifying the PCIT coding scheme to determine …

Exploring Help-Seeking Behavior Among Minority Women Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence (Ipv) In The Mid-South Of The United States, Michael Schmidt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

One in four US women have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV): lifetime prevalence of physical IPV 31.5% and psychological aggression 47.1% among survivors. African American and Hispanic womens lifetime IPV is 43.7% and 37.1%, respectivelyhigher than White womens (34.6%). IPV poses significant risks to physical, psychological, and emotional health. Women affected by IPV, especially minority survivors, face barriers in seeking help from informal and formal supporters. Barriers and facilitators to formal help-seeking for minority survivors are not well understood. This study explored barriers and facilitators to formal support help-seeking among African American and Hispanic IPV women survivors. Qualitative study using …

Louder Than Words: Voicing, Sounding, And Listening To Deafness In "A Quiet Place", Sarah Mayberry Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation analyzes the ways voice, sound, and hearing are represented in John Krasinskis 2018 film, A Quiet Place. Using a theory of close reading inspired by the works of Michael Leff and informed by a Deaf epistemology animated by the works of sound artist Christine Sun Kim, this dissertation uses A Quiet Place as a touchstone from which to explore issues of sound within the Deaf community. Kims art, demonstrations, and lectures provide focus for the three critical vibrational pulses of this project: Seeing Voice, Subjective Loudness, and (LISTEN). Vibrating these areas of exploration against A Quiet Place allows …

Reading Strategies Implemented By Teachers Whose Students Successfully Passed The Third Grade Reading Summative Assessment In The State Of Mississippi, Sebrina Shantell Perkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The low income and poverty-stricken areas of Mississippi have historically suffered from low-test scores, low graduation rates, and a high concentration of special education students Additionally, poor, Black Mississippians have performed lower, have lower graduation rates, and score lower in college readiness than do students in the rest of the nation. Similar, Mississippi continues to rank last or near the bottom on national measures of reading achievement. To reverse this trend, in 2013 the Mississippi State Legislature passed the Literacy- Based Promotion Act to improve the literacy skills of students beginning in kindergarten and extending through third grade. The law …

More Is Better: A Meta-Analysis Of Dose And Efficacy In Face-To-Face Psychological Treatments For Gambling Disorder, Rory A. Pfund

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The dose-response relation is a well-established finding in the general psychotherapy literature. Investigators from this literature define the dose-response relation as how much face-to-face treatment is needed to realize a statistically reliable improvement in psychological symptoms. However, there is presently mixed evidence on the presence of a dose-response relation in the literature on face-to-face psychological treatment for gambling disorder. In the present study, meta-regression was employed to synthesize results from past studies on the efficacy of psychological treatment for gambling disorder to determine the possible presence of a dose-response relation in those treatments. The hypothesis was that there was no …

A Failed Water Intervention In The Haitian Central Plateau, Christine M. Platt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Secular and non-secular mission efforts to developing countries continue to grow and voluntourism is at an all-time high. The literature is corpulent with examples of failed mission health interventions. However, a noticeable gap exists of studies that address conflict leading to intervention failures as a result of intercultural communication. The purpose of this exploratory is to better understand intercultural communication challenges existing in short-term medical missions (STMMs) by better understanding the lived experience of participants of a clean water intervention in the Haitian Central Plateau. The intervention was planned and executed after the devastating 2010 earthquake and resulting cholera outbreak. …

Emotional Intelligence And Conflict Management Styles, Helen Chen, Xuemei Xu, Patrick Phillips

Articles

Purpose – This paper aims to use a multi-level approach to examine the effects of emotional intelligence (EI) components on conflict management styles of Chinese managers when the respondents were in conflicts with their subordinates, peers or superiors.

Design/methodology/approach – The primary research was conducted in Dalian, China, via a personal survey resulting in 885 usable observations for analysis. EI was measured using the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS; Wong and Law, 2002), which is made up of 16 questions measuring four dimensions. The conflict management component was measured via Rahim’s (1983) five conflict management styles, which are …

Tectonics Of The Incipient Continental Rifting, Youqiang Yu, Cory Reed, Kelly H. Liu, Stephen S. Gao

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Investigate The Rheological Behavior Of High Viscosity Friction Reducer Fracture Fluid And Its Impact On Proppant Static Settling Velocity, Mohammed Ba Geri, Abdulmohsin Imqam, Andrey Bogdan, Lingjuan Shen

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The recent and rapid success of using high viscosity friction reducers (HVFRs) in hydraulic fracturing treatments is due to several advantages over other fracture fluids (e.g. linear gel), which include better proppant carrying capability, induce more complex fracture system network with higher fracture length, and overall lower costs due to fewer chemicals and less equipment on location. However, some concerns remain, like how HVFRs rheological properties can have impact on proppant transport into fractures. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the influence the rheological characterization of HVFRs have on proppant static settling velocity within …

Smart Building And Construction Materials, Donglu Shi, Julian Wang, Wen Deng

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Dynamical Interference In The Vibronic Bond Breaking Reaction Of Hco, Shanyu Han, Xianfeng Zheng, Steve A. Ndengue, Yu Song, Richard Dawes, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

First-principles treatments of quantum molecular reaction dynamics have reached the level of quantitative accuracy even in cases with strong non-Born-Oppenheimer effects. This achievement permits the interpretation of puzzling experimental phenomena related to dynamics governed by multiple coupled potential energy surfaces. We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of the photodissociation of formyl radical (HCO). Oscillations observed in the distribution of product states are found to arise from the interference of matter waves-a manifestation analogous to Young's double-slit experiment.

Well-Ordered Mesoporous Silica And Bioactive Glasses: Promise For Improved Hemostasis, Sara Pourshahrestani, Nahrizul Adib Kadri, Ehsan Zeimaran, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Immediate control of uncontrolled bleeding and infection are essential for saving lives in both combat and civilian arenas. Inorganic well-ordered mesoporous silica and bioactive glasses have recently shown great promise for accelerating hemostasis and infection control. However, to date, there has been no comprehensive report assessing their specific mechanism of action in accelerating the hemostasis process and exerting an antibacterial effect. After providing a brief overview of the hemostasis process, this review presents a critical overview of the recently developed inorganic mesoporous silica and bioactive glass-based materials proposed for hemostatic clinical applications and specifically investigates their unique characteristics that render …

Access To Capital Challenges And Opportunities, Rosalinda V. Maury, Brice M. Stone, Kicia Sears, Andrew M. Sander

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This paper describes how veterans report financing their businesses, their potential difficulties accessing capital, and the potential reasons they may encounter credit and loan denials. We conclude with a discussion on the possible implications and put forward a preliminary argument for further study that would explore some of the more nuanced aspects of access to capital barriers. Helpful for veterans seeking information about financing their business.

Atomistic Simulations Of Nanoindentation Response Of Irradiation Defects In Iron, M. Mustafa Azeem, Qingyu Wang, Muhammad Zubair

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Radiation response of a material is a consequence of defects' evolution in any radiation damage event. The radiation-induced defects can significantly alter the mechanical properties of a material. Radiation damage initiates from incident neutron by bombardment on solid material causing production and evolution of Frenkel defects. Since voids are formed due to aggregation of a large number of vacancies that cause dimensional changes and hence irradiation-induced swelling. In order to characterize the effect of irradiation defects, we have performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate nanoindentation response of point defects and voids in Fe and their effects on mechanical parameters. …

In Situ Mechanical Characterization Of The Mixed- Mode Fracture Strength Of The Cu/Si Interface For Tsv Structures, Chenglin Wu, Congjie Wei, Yanxiao Li

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In situ nanoindentation experiments have been widely adopted to characterize material behaviors of microelectronic devices. This work introduces the latest developments of nanoindentation experiments in the characterization of nonlinear material properties of 3D integrated microelectronic devices using the through-silicon via (TSV) technique. The elastic, plastic, and interfacial fracture behavior of the copper via and matrix via interface were characterized using small-scale specimens prepared with a focused ion beam (FIB) and nanoindentation experiments. A brittle interfacial fracture was found at the Cu/Si interface under mixed-mode loading with a phase angle ranging from 16.7° to 83.7°. The mixed-mode fracture strengths were extracted …

Smart Building And Construction Materials, Donglu Shi, Julian Wang, Wen Deng

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Advances and innovations in materials science and engineering have always played a substantial role in civil engineering, building structural design, and construction. In recent years, extensive effort has been devoted to the applications of stimuli-responsive smart materials and nanostructures in buildings. These smart materials used in the built environment can be defined as those offering specific functional and adaptable properties in response to thermal, optical, structural, and environmental stimuli. Not only do these materials enhance the overall performance of new building construction but also promise safer structures, longer durability of building elements, efficient building energy savings, greater environmental sustainability, and …

Understanding Esl Undergraduate Students' Beliefs About Learner-Centered Instruction, Mahjabeen Hussain

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study was undertaken to determine undergraduate ESL students’ beliefs about learner-centered teaching (LCT) practices in English classes and to understand to what extent their learner-centered learning experiences influenced their beliefs about the quality of LCT practices. The study involved explanatory sequential mixed-methods. The Learner-centered Battery Student Survey and focus group interviews were used to collect data. One hundred and twelve undergraduate ESL students at a Midwestern university took part in the survey, 17 of whom, predominantly Asians, subsequently took part in multiple mini focus groups that lasted approximately 50-70 minutes each. Quantitative data analysis included descriptive statistics, t-Tests, and …

Increasing Student Perceptions Of Success And Inclusion Through Strategic Programming Of Underrepresented Composers, Joyce J. Beyer

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

There is a disproportional representation of women and people of color in orchestra and classical music. Both on the stage and in the music being performed, white and male musicians are more prominent than women and people of color. This disproportionality impacts underrepresented people, especially young students.

A study was done to see if introducing students to successful women and people of color who were musicians would increase student perceptions of success and inclusion in orchestra. The study included 37 students from 5 public school orchestra programs. The treatment was a series of pre-designed mini-lessons on underrepresented musicians. Growth was …