Digital Commons Network^™

“There Is No Racism In Cuba”: A Field Study Of The “Post-Race” Rhetoric Of Modern Cuba, Clarissa J. Walker

Open Access Dissertations

Claims of racelessness in present-day Cuba conflate identities and generate public discourse that misalign with the social realities of black Cubans on the island. Decolonial and critical race theorists argue the necessity of racial-identity language: Unconfronted race-based injustice and unproblematized whiteness are among the unaddressed issues concretized by racial democracy rhetoric. The aim of this qualitative study is to investigate the collective narrative of modern-day Cuban interviewees to determine their epistemological knowledge and current uses for the rhetorics of racelessness; further, the study tracks the island’s century-old rhetorical practices designed to sustain erasure of race rhetoric in Cuba. This work …

To Be Continued: Seriality In New Media, Ryan Engley

Open Access Dissertations

Seriality has maintained a pervasive presence across media for over a century. Despite widespread critical and popular interest into seriality and serial texts, very few book-length theories of seriality have been attempted. Though uncommented upon critically, Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan have both offered insights into seriality that this dissertation puts in dialogue with serial media texts. My dissertation begins in the Victorian era with Freud’s encounter with serial fiction through Charles Dickens. I then turn to looking at new media texts such as the “Twitterature” of Jennifer Egan and Joshua Clover, the first season of Sarah Koenig’s and WEBZ-Chicago’s …

Alexa Or Alex? Gendered Technology’S Influence On Consumer Judgments, Jiyoon An

Open Access Dissertations

This research attempts to examine when technological products are seen as a gendered agent rather than an object. Based on a review of the literature on consumer- technology relationship and social cognition theory, this research addresses the conditions for gendering of technology, its process and outcomes by using multi-method empirical studies. The stereotype model tests the mediating and moderating hypotheses regarding gendering and its effects on consumer judgments. The disruption model attempts to disrupt the stereotyped gender effects by using a counter-stereotypical gendered cue. The research provides theoretical, managerial, and public policy insights.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Online Reviews: The Trouble With Trolls And A Role For Contract Law After The Consumer Review Fairness Act, Wayne R. Barnes

Georgia Law Review

The advent of the internet has brought innumerable
innovations to our lives. Among the innovations is the
meteoric rise in the volume of e-commerce conducted on
the internet. Correspondingly, consumer-posted
information about merchants, goods, and services has
also become a rich source of information for consumers
researching a purchase online. This information takes
many forms, but a major category is the narrative review
describing the purchase and experience. Such reviews
are posted on websites such as Yelp, Amazon, and
TripAdvisor, on apps, and on social media such as
Facebook and Twitter. The amount and volume of
reviews has exploded in …

Fixing Ever-Ready: Repairing And Standardizing The Traditional Survey Measure Of Consumer Confusion, Eric D. Derosia

Georgia Law Review

In trademark infringement litigation, courts often rely
on consumer surveys that use the “Ever-Ready” method
to measure consumer confusion. Courts are
understandably careful to scrutinize consumer surveys
for ways in which their methodology might have biased
their results toward the outcome desired by their
proponents. This Article strengthens and improves such
examinations by empirically testing and improving the
Ever-Ready method itself.
The findings of four new empirical studies reported in
this Article indicate the faith placed by the courts in the
Ever-Ready method is somewhat misplaced. Seemingly
subtle variations in the wording of the Ever-Ready
questions have a consistent and …

Beyond English Only: Addressing Language Interpretation In Professional Psychology Training, Timothy B. Smith, Clay A. Frandsen, Derek Griner, Domenech Rodriguez, Guillermo Bernal

Faculty Publications

Professional guidelines direct that psychologists working with clients with limited English proficiency should involve an interpreter if a mental health professional fluent in the client’s language is unavailable. However, complexities of interpreted therapy require training. We describe nine relevant areas of trainee skill acquisition and also surveyed 102 multicultural course instructors in APA-accredited psychology programs regarding current professional training. Only 55 (54%) instructors reported providing any training on working with language interpreters, with 16 (16%) providing more than 2 hours of training. Instructors ranked nine proposed skill areas and gave recommendations for over coming barriers and working with interpreters to …

Cameroonian Immigrants ' Behaviors, Beliefs And Knowledge Of Type 2 Diabetes: In Minnesota, Brendabell Ebanga Njee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nondiabetic immigrants from Cameroon who migrate to Minnesota lack knowledge of risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes and face challenges accessing health care services. Nondiabetic immigrants from Cameroon lack culturally appropriate health care services and therefore find it difficult to follow providers' recommendations. This phenomenological study explored the perceptions and experiences of nondiabetic immigrants from Cameroon regarding access to affordable, quality health care services as well as their behaviors, beliefs, and knowledge of type 2 diabetes self-management. Bronfenbrenner's social ecological model provided the theoretical framework. Research questions addressed access to affordable health care services, knowledge, and perception of type …

Stylistic Imitation As An English-Teaching Technique : Pre-Service Teachers’ Responses To Training And Practice, Min Yi Liang

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This action research case study project examines stylistic imitation as an English-Teaching technique and includes (1) a review of literature about the history of stylistic imitation and current college composition practice, (2) an analysis of the close imitation journals which were written by senior English majors and minors by following the model paragraph from Katharine Anne Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” (1965), and (3) writers’ comments and reflections on doing stylistic imitation. Stanley Fish (2005) argued: “[s]tudents can’t write clean English sentences because they are not being taught what sentences are” (as cited in Stodola, 2013, p. 57). Lacking …

Successful Strategies For Using Knowledge Management In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Josephine Kayaga Nsubuga-Mugoa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Knowledge management (KM) is vital for an organization to succeed in a highly dynamic and competitive world. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use to effectively integrate KM into business practices. The study population comprised 5 managers from 2 SMEs operating in Uganda. The eligibility criteria for this study were that participants had to be from Ugandan SMEs with a knowledge-intensive environment, managers with some responsibility of KM in the organization, and experienced with at least 1 year of successful KM practices. The conceptual framework for this …

Secondary School Educators' Perspectives On Strategies To Support Acculturation Of Haitian Students, Brian Clarke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adjusting socially and emotionally to a new cultural environment can be challenging for immigrants. Yet, the academic and behavioral performance of immigrant children can be enhanced when acculturative strategies are implemented in schools to address their unique cultural differences and needs. However, a scarcity of information exists pertaining to educational strategies to support acculturation of Haitian students, particularly those with disabilities. A qualitative case study was conducted to explore strategies that support acculturation of Haitian students with disabilities and the link between the use of acculturation strategies and student achievement from the perspectives of 3 regular education educators, 2 special …

Teacher Perceptions Regarding The Influence Of Secondary Phonics Instruction On Student Reading, Alani Ramos

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a Southern state at a rural high school, leadership staff implemented phonics-based strategies with 9th grade English teachers to improve students' Lexile reading scores. The absence of formative data related to program implementation left stakeholders without a clear understanding of the influence of the phonics-based strategies. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to obtain formative information from teachers to discern the perceived influence of the phonics-based strategies on reading. Dual coding theory was used to examine teachers' perceptions of the influence of phonics-based strategies on students' motivation, fluency, and self-efficacy. Data were collected using interviews with …

Women's Empowerment As A Policy For Poverty Reduction In Haiti, Flore Saint.Louis Weinstein

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women represent more than 50% of the population of Haiti and embody the poorest group due to their lack of socioeconomic development. Numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) including diaspora NGOs (DINGOs) have engaged in the fight to reduce poverty in Haiti by enabling empowerment programs to help women become self-reliant. The programs appear to be ineffective because the level of poverty remains high and there has been little research on the relative effectiveness and sustainability of the programs implemented by the DINGOs. Using the feminist theories of DeBeauvoir and Friedan in conjunction with the empowerment theory of AlMaseb and Julia as …

Esl College Students' Perspectives On Classroom Content Delivery And Assessments, Nalda J. Francis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gather the perspectives of English as a Second Language (ESL) students to determine their views regarding content delivery and assessments in their content’ specific classes. This case study is based on the concept that students’ perspectives should be considered when planning content delivery and assessments for ESL students at Constitution College (pseudonym), a 4-year college in South Florida. ESL college students receive content and assessments in the same manner as native English - speaking students at Constitution College after completing an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program. Even after this program, …

Recommendations For African American Family Caregivers Of Adult With Congestive Heart Failure., Callista Chika Ejim

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African Americans suffer disproportionately higher incidence of congestive heart failure (CHF) at an earlier age of onset and with more rapid progression compared to other races. Due to this escalating prevalence of CHF within the African American population and the lack of culturally responsive support for the caregiving role, African American family caregivers of adult CHF patients face greater challenges and suffer increased caregiver burden, stress, depression, and financial strain compared to European American caregivers. The purpose of this project was to conduct a systematic literature review to find the recommendations that target African American family caregivers of adult CHF …

Multi-Element Long Distance Dependencies: Using Spk Languages To Explore The Characteristics Of Long-Distance Dependencies, Abhijit Mahalunkar, John Kelleher

Conference papers

In order to successfully model Long Distance Dependencies (LDDs) it is necessary to under-stand the full-range of the characteristics of the LDDs exhibited in a target dataset. In this paper, we use Strictly k-Piecewise languages to generate datasets with various properties. We then compute the characteristics of the LDDs in these datasets using mutual information and analyze the impact of factors such as (i) k, (ii) length of LDDs, (iii) vocabulary size, (iv) forbidden strings, and (v) dataset size. This analysis reveal that the number of interacting elements in a dependency is an important characteristic of LDDs. This leads us …

The Political Power Of Twitter, James Usher, Pierpaolo Dondio, Lucia Morales

Conference papers

In June 2016, the British voted by 52 per cent to leave the EU, a club the UK joined in 1973. This paper examines Twitter public and political party discourse surrounding the BREXIT withdrawal agreement. In particular, we focus on tweets from four different BREXIT exit strategies known as “Norway”, “Article 50”, the “Backstop” and “No Deal” and their effect on the pound and FTSE 100 index from the period of December 10th 2018 to February 24th 2019. Our approach focuses on using a Naive Bayes classification algorithm to assess political party and public Twitter sentiment. A Granger causality analysis …

Accessing Mental Health Services For Students In Public Schools, Wendy L. Hite

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to learn what practicing Educational leaders state are the competencies needed for school administrators to access school-based mental health services for students. Research questions included what competencies of elementary principals facilitate the provision of mental health services for students in elementary public schools and what administrative structures, policies, and procedures are needed in elementary schools for students to access mental health services. Standards for school administrators in pre-service programs were reviewed to determine if there are gaps in what administrators are taught in pre-service programs versus what knowledge they need to have in …

Kurdish Culture And Identity: Building The Homeland In Tennessee, Steve Wininger

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without their own state, and are one of the most controversial, overlooked and understudied ethnic groups in academic research. In the field of communication, there is very little research of the Kurdish diaspora in the United States. Identity is a complex subject in itself, but for the Kurds it is even more complicated because of the controversy surrounding them, their claims, and their status as a stateless ethnic group. The necessity for the Kurds to keep their culture and identity has cost them their freedom, homes, and lives, yet they …

Dialogic Teaching In A Detracked High School Ela Class: "We Talk Here", Signy Emler

Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation combines the two fields of dialogic teaching and detracking in a study of one teacher’s English Language Arts high school classroom. The policy of tracking students into separate academic classes perpetuates segregation and is antithetical to the principles of democracy. Dialogic teaching is where students and the teacher engage in inquiry and exploratory talk to co-construct knowledge, and all students are provided with frequent opportunities to express their voices. Grounded in theory that views language and identity as socially constructed and situated, this qualitative case study examined how students from different racial, socio-economic, political and cultural backgrounds worked …

Application Of Computational Intelligence To Explore And Analyze System Architecture And Design Alternatives, Gene Lesinski

Doctoral Dissertations

"Systems Engineering involves the development or improvement of a system or process from effective need to a final value-added solution. Rapid advances in technology have led to development of sophisticated and complex sensor-enabled, remote, and highly networked cyber-technical systems. These complex modern systems present several challenges for systems engineers including: increased complexity associated with integration and emergent behavior, multiple and competing design metrics, and an expansive design parameter solution space. This research extends the existing knowledge base on multi-objective system design through the creation of a framework to explore and analyze system design alternatives employing computational intelligence. The first research …

Counseling Competencies In Audiology: A Modified Delphi Study, Alex Meibos, Karen F. Muñoz, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Faculty Publications

Purpose: Counseling practices in audiology play a critical role in helping patients and families understand, accept, and adjust to the dynamic impacts ear related disorders have on their lives. The purpose of this study was to identify what competencies (i.e., knowledge, skills, and attitudes) are important for audiologists to possess to provide effective counseling in practice.

Method: A modified Delphi study design was used to survey a panel of thirty-three professionals with expertise in audiologic counseling from five different countries. In the first survey round, experts were asked to respond to three open-ended prompts. Responses were condensed and …

Principals’ Experiences Leading Strategic Planning In High-Performing Primary Schools In Trinidad And Tobago, Adesh Reitoo Ramlal

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the education system in Trinidad and Tobago, only 60% of students are achieving mastery in literacy and numeracy as documented by national tests. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore principals’ experiences leading strategic planning designed to increase achievement in literacy and numeracy in 8 high-performing primary schools in Trinidad and Tobago. Fullan’s change process theory provided the framework for the study. Data were collected from interviews with 8 principals. Data analysis included coding, categorizing, and identifying themes. Findings indicated that principals plan, implement, and monitor the facilitation of change processes through in-depth strategies in teaching …

Sustainable Business Growth: An Exploration Of Ghanaian Small Business Survival, John W. Atanga

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses are significant contributors to a nation’s job creation and employment. These enterprises face many challenges that often lead to failure within 5 years. Some small business owners fail because they lack the necessary strategies for maintaining a sustainable business operation. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was to analyze how to overcome the high failure rate of small businesses in Accra, Ghana. The conceptual framework for this study was institutional and planned behavior theories. The research questions sought participant’s experiences with small business survival that may have led to sustainable businesses. Data were collected from 20 …

Cultural Competence Of Public Health Nurses Who Care For Diverse Populations, Althea Michelle Otuata

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite advances in health, science, and technology, U.S. healthcare lags in providing access to care and quality care to racial and ethnic minorities. Cultural competence has been noted as a strategy to improve access and quality. The purpose of this project was to assess public health nurses' cultural competence before and after participating in cultural competence informational modules. Two conceptual models were used in this project for theoretical guidance: Leininger's cultural care diversity and universality theory and Campinha-Bacote's process of cultural competence. To assess the nurses' cultural competence, the Cultural Competence Self-Assessment Checklist questionnaire was e-mailed to 57 public health …

High School Drop Outs With Learning Disabilities In The U.S. Virgin Islands, Tanya M. Lockhart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A decline in high school dropout rates of students with learning disabilities (SWLDs) has been reported in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). Of the2 school districts in the USVI, St. STT/STJ and STX, the researcher examined high school experiences of SWLDs who dropped out and did not attain a high school diploma in STX. Utilizing the conceptual framework of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, participants' personal high school experiences were examined in an effort to understand factors leading to their choice to drop out. The researcher interviewed 12 participants who were drop out SWLDs, ages 18 years and older. Interview data …

Disease Diagnosis And Management: The Experiences Of Hemorrhoid Herbal Vendors And Customers In Oyo State, Nigeria, Abolaji Azeez, Uche Isiugo-Abanihe

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Hemorrhoids (or piles) are an anorectal condition that affects many individuals who do not necessarily seek medical support. Many who suffer from this condition resort to home treatment, especially cultural diagnosis and treatment. Consequently, an herbal remedy, popularly known as jedijedi drinks, has gained high patronage but with contested effectiveness. Thus, this study explored the diagnosis and use of hemorrhoid herbal remedy. Using a mixed-methods research design, information was elicited from those who used or sold the remedy at the three points of sales: 107 consumer respondents were surveyed and three herbal vendors were interviewed in Ibadan, Oyo Town, and …

Preparing School Counselors In Training To Implement English As A Second Language (Esl) Strategies During Classroom Lessons, Leonissa Johnson, Amy Cain

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

School counselors provide academic, social-emotional, and college and career access information to all students via core curriculum classroom lessons. English Learners benefit from differentiated classroom instruction that makes content engaging and accessible. Despite this need for differentiated instruction, few educators have received English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching strategies training. This mixed methods study examined how an ESL teaching strategies workshop influenced the utilization of these approaches by school counselors in training. A triangulation mixed methods design was used to collect complementary data about participant behavior and thinking. Modeling ESL strategies alone did not yield statistically significant differences in …

From Language Learners To Language Teachers: Construction And Implementation Of Pedagogical Competence In Pronunciation Instruction, Chin-Wen Chien

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

This study explored 36 undergraduates’ knowledge construction and implementation of pedagogical competence in pronunciation instruction. These undergraduates were language learners themselves, but they were trained to become language teachers receiving pronunciation instruction in an English Pronunciation Instruction course at a university in Taiwan. Data in this study included interview, document, and videos. This study had the following major findings. First, their language competence, knowledge of phonology and pedagogy were constructed in the tertiary course through the instructor’s demonstration and their own teaching practice. Secondly, they demonstrated limited knowledge in explicitly explaining pronunciation features to their learners and designing drill practices. …

Short-Term Study Abroad For Pre-Service Teachers: Personal And Professional Growth In Brighton, England, Erin Mikulec

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

This study examines the personal and professional development of 34 pre-service teachers who participated in a study abroad program for education majors in Brighton, England. The participants completed a variety of assignments and learning activities before, during, and after the program, including 20 hours of observation in area schools. The results indicate that in terms of personal development, the pre-service teachers experienced increased levels of self-confidence, autonomy, tolerance for ambiguity, flexibility and adaptability, and interpersonal skills. Professionally, the participants identified the role of culture in education and pedagogy, described being better equipped to work with diverse learners in the United …

Music Information Retrieval For Irish Traditional Music Automatic Analysis Of Harmonic, Rhythmic, And Melodic Features For Efficient Key-Invariant Tune Recognition, Pierre Beauguitte

Doctoral

Music making and listening practices increasingly rely on techno logy,and,asaconsequence,techniquesdevelopedinmusicinformation retrieval (MIR) research are more readily available to end users, in par ticular via online tools and smartphone apps. However, the majority of MIRresearchfocusesonWesternpopandclassicalmusic,andthusdoes not address specificities of other musical idioms. Irishtraditionalmusic(ITM)ispopularacrosstheglobe,withregular sessionsorganisedonallcontinents. ITMisadistinctivemusicalidiom, particularly in terms of heterophony and modality, and these character istics can constitute challenges for existing MIR algorithms. The bene fitsofdevelopingMIRmethodsspecificallytailoredtoITMisevidenced by Tunepal, a query-by-playing tool that has become popular among ITM practitioners since its release in 2009. As of today, Tunepal is the state of the art for tune recognition in ITM. The research in …