Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Bilingualism, Modality, And Concreteness In Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning, Naoko Tsuboi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The present study investigated claims in previous research that bilinguals may have an advantage over monolinguals in learning vocabulary in an unfamiliar language, but only if learning through the more proficient language. The present study examined whether bilingual adults learn new language vocabulary more efficiently than monolingual adults and whether language dominance or proficiency impacts associative memory performance. English monolinguals (n = 48), English-Spanish bilinguals (n = 48), and Spanish-English bilinguals (n = 48) learned Japanese words paired with English translations and completed cued-recall and associative-recognition tests. In contrast to previous research, there was no bilingual advantage in learning new …

Children And News Consumption: Tailoring News Broadcasts For Young Audiences, Yvette Van Oijen

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It is important for children to know what is going on in the world, but they should not get afraid of what they see in the news. The Dutch children television news show Jeugdjournaal makes the news more understandable and suitable for children by using strategies. The present study investigated Jeugdjournaal to discover how the show uses the consolation strategies by Van der Molen and De Vries (2003), and if they use any other strategies during tragedies to comfort children. Also, the show was investigated to find how they frame messages for children during all different news items. A media …

Towards Analytical Techniques For Systems Engineering Applications, Griselda Valdepeñas Acosta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

One of the main objectives of systems engineering is to design, maintain, and analyze systems that help the users. To design an appropriate system for an application domain, we need to know: what are the users' desires and preferences (so that we know in what direction we should aim to change this domain), what is the current state and what is the dynamics of this application domain, and how to use all this information to select the best alternatives for the system design and maintenance. Designing a system includes selecting numerical values for many of the parameters describing the corresponding …

Validating A Masculinity Scale In A Non-College Sample, Rubi Gonzales

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Sexual assault in the United States is prevalent. One out of every six American women has been the victim of an attempted rape or complete rape. Previous research demonstrates that hypermasculine attitudes are positively predictive of sexual aggression toward women. In these studies, researchers have continued to utilize outdated and inappropriate measures like the Hypermasculinity Inventory (1984) to assess hypermasculinity. Measures that assess hypermasculinity have only been validated on college samples. A modern measure of masculinity is the Auburn Differential Masculinity Inventory-23 (Burk, Burkhart, & Sikorski, 2004), which has been validated in college samples. The present research evaluated the psychometric …

Work Environment Factors Impacting The Report Of Secondary Trauma In U.S. Resident Assistants, Robert Jason Lynch

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

WORKING WITH TRAUMATIZED INDIVIDUALS can have potentially negative impacts on professional support personnel, including cognitive decline, increased anxiety, and declines in physical health. Despite the responsibilities of resident assistants as crisis-responders, few studies explore how they are impacted by secondary trauma. This study sought to understand how specific aspects of the RA work environment relate to their self-reported levels of secondary trauma. Using a sample of RAs (N = 208), the researcher conducted a quantitative secondary analysis of an existing dataset assessing symptoms of secondary traumatic stress in RAs. Findings indicated relationships between a variety of environmental factors and self-reported …

Students With Learning Disabilities, Pair Programming And Situational Motivation, Shana L. Pribesh, Wu He, Silvana M. Watson, Debra A. Major, Li Xu, Ling Li, Xin Tian, Anjee Gorkhali, Yuming He

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Persons with learning disabilities (LD) are underrepresented in computer science and information technology fields despite the explosion of related career opportunities and interest. In this study, we examine the use of pair programming as a collaborative intervention in with computer programming and compare students with learning disabilities to students who do not have learning disabilities. We concentrate on situational motivation constructs which tap into the desire to meet goals and acquire skills. We find that students with LD and similar students without LD fare the same. For the both groups, three of the four situational motivation subscales increase after the …

Community College Faculty's Attitudes And Self-Efficacy With Literacy Instruction In The Disciplines, Kristen H. Gregory, Linda Bol, Thomas Bean, Tony Perez

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Many community college students are entering college-level courses underprepared for the literacy skills required to be successful. Faculty are considered experts in their disciplines, yet are often not trained in pedagogy and literacy instruction (Furco & Moely, 2012; Moje, 2008; Tsui, 2002). We developed a questionnaire to measure faculty's (n = 231) perceptions of their role, level of self-efficacy, and classroom practice in regard to discipline- specific literacy instruction. We analyzed data using exploratory factor analysis, t-tests, and analysis of variance. The findings show that faculty have marginally positive perceptions and self-efficacy regarding incorporating discipline-specific literacy instruction in their courses. …

United States Coast Guard Aviation Safety: Relationship Between The Safety Survey And The Extent Of Hazard Reporting, James Cooley

Theses and Dissertations

Aviation safety outcomes, such as mishaps, are a product of an aviation organization’s safety culture (Reason, 2008; Reiman & Pietikäinen, 2012). Safety cultures should be assessed in order to improve an organization’s state of safety (Adjekum et al., 2015; Cooper, Collins, Bernard, Schwann, & Knox, 2019; Wiegmann, Zhang, von Thaden, Sharma, & Gibbons, 2004). Questionnaires are one of the best ways of obtaining information about an organization’s safety culture (Wiegmann et al., 2004; Wald, Gray, & Eatough, 2018). Additionally, the extent to which aviation hazards are reported (hazreps) serve as an indicator of the health of an aviation Safety Management …

Examining Self-Regulation Of Learning Among Community College Students In Developmental Mathematics Courses, Katrina M. Eberhart

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to self-regulate one’s learning is crucial to the success of all college students, but is particularly important to those who are considered to be underprepared; it puts students on a path towards successful course completion, subsequent course enrollment, and eventual graduation from a postsecondary institution. Those enrolled in remedial coursework are a large portion of students labeled as underprepared. Remedial education is a contentious topic in higher education. Thus, it is critical to investigate the use of classroom strategies to foster a self-regulated environment to support student success in these early classes and move onto the classes needed …

Thermal Performance Analysis Of The Liquid Cooling And Ventilation Garment (Lcvg) With Respect To Tubing Geometry, Kayla Marie Daniels

Theses and Dissertations

The technology of a liquid-cooled garment allows astronauts to complete extravehicular activities while maintaining a degree of thermal comfort. The garment has gone largely unchanged despite advancements in technology, materials, and knowledge. This research examines possible advancements in thermal efficiency with an alternate tubing geometry through heat transfer rate calculations. A semi-circle cross-section was selected and compared against the current circular cross-section tubing. Each tubing cross-section was 3-D printed and integrated into forearm sleeves. For comparison, the assembly of each sleeve resembled the current Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment used with the Extravehicular Mobility Unit. Subjects wore the forearm sleeves …

Measuring Friendship Maintenance In Gay Men, Eliah Reding

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the existing friendship maintenance literature to develop a psychometrically sound scale for the measurement of friendship maintenance among gay men. Existing friendship maintenance research does not adequately capture the uniqueness of gay male friendship. Utilizing DeVellis’s (2016) steps of scale development, this dissertation constructs a new scale, the GayFABS, to assess the unique aspects of friendship maintenance in gay men. Unique in this dissertation is the use of a focus group to establish content validity rather than the traditional approach of expert review. An exploratory factor analysis is conducted to structure the scale and its component subscales. …

Sexual And Relationship Victimization Of Hispanic Sexual Minority Women On A University Campus In A U.S.-Mexico Border City, Mika Gehre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Sexual minority women (SMW) are at high risk for health disparities in response to discrimination and stigma. Sexual victimization (SV) in campus settings is a common issue impacting a majority of female students. Rates of sexual victimization and violence within relationships are higher among SMW compared to non-SMW. To date, only a few studies report sexual and family victimization among minority populations in a campus setting. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the rates and relationships between sexual minority status, SV, and abusive relationships among Hispanic women on a University campus in a U.S.-Mexico border city. …

Listener Perception As A Measure Of Treatment Effectiveness In Voice Modification For A Transwoman, April M. Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess treatment effectiveness using listener perception as a measure of vocal femininity in a 22-year old transwoman.

Participant: The participant for this study was a monolingual, English-speaking, 22-year old transwoman. Inclusion criteria included self-identification as a transwoman. Exclusion criteria included surgical procedures to the vocal folds.

Methods: This cross-sectional survey study focused on using listener perception as a measure of treatment effectiveness in voice feminization. This study used surveys to investigate how naïve listeners would perceive the participants voice after she received voice modification treatment at the University of Texas at El …

Novel Maximum Entrophy Method For The Average Survival Time Differences Between Two Groups, Joscelyne Guzman - Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

We suggest a Maximum Likelihood estimator for the Average Survival Time Difference between two groups, based on the extra time in which should be added to one group to produce the maximum entropy of the result. The estimator is calculated only from time to event data, does not assume hazard proportionality and provides directly the magnitude of the clinical differences between the groups. Our Monte Carlo simulations show that, even at low sample numbers the estimator is a reliable predictor for the clinical differences between the groups, and therefore can be used to estimate from preliminary data whether or not …

The Language Content Of Computer-Mediated Versus Face-To-Face Motivational-Type Interviews, Karla Deyanira Llanes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an extensively used technique to facilitate behavior change by increasing a person's own motivation and commitment toward change. Recently, several innovative and effective ways to conduct motivational interviews have emerged. However, one potential option has not been investigated: the utility of conducting a motivational interview via computer. The current study begins to address this gap in knowledge by comparing the language content of computer-mediated motivational-type interviews and face-to-face motivational-type interviews. The motivational-type interviews were conducted with young adults who reported ambivalence about their level of recreational marijuana use. Specifically, non-marijuana users, occasional marijuana users, and frequent …

The Negative Impact Of Copy-Pasting Within Memoranda: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Army's Sharp Program Memoranda, Lionell Manlutac

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research used the framework of the coding system of grounded theory to analyze the United States Army's Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) Program memoranda. A rhetorical analysis framework was used to point out the need to incorporate social justice into technical communication. The analysis of the copy-pasted information shows that the author lacks an authorial voice and writing to a general audience, which creates a lack of exigency in creating a safe and healthy work environment.

Funny Politics: Examining The Motivations For Political Satire Consumption And Avoidance, And The Effects Of Political Satire Television Consumption On Political Knowledge, Engagement, And Trust In Institutions, Alexandra Rae Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Political satire television is continuing to develop into an integral part of political rhetoric and evaluation to its viewers. This thesis explores the effects that consumption of political satire television might have on its consumers. Specifically, this study uses quantitative methods to examine the effects political satire has on political knowledge, political engagement, and trust in democratic institutions. Further, this study provides insight into the motivations for viewing or avoiding political satire TV. This research uses a survey compiled of scales employed by previous research, slightly altered to reflect the changes in today's political climate and satire TV shows and …

Cross-Language Activation And Integration Of Concepts In Text Passages, Karly Meillyn Schleicher

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Learning from text requires the ability to efficiently activate and retrieve relevant concepts from long-term memory and connect these with new information that is being presented in the text. It is assumed that memory representations built from text can be influenced by both surface level information (i.e., word forms), or deeper, conceptual level information. The goal of the present study was to investigate the role of surface level features (i.e., language) influence memory representations developed from text. By recruiting Spanish-English bilinguals, the present study investigated how surface level features from a reader's two lexicons influences the activation and integration of …

Parenting Adolescents In Today’S World, Alina M. Baltazar

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Pham V. Airbnb, California Superior Court

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

Why Appeals Courts Rarely Reverse Lower Courts: An Experimental Study To Explore Affirmation Bias, Barry C. Edwards

Emory Law Journal Online

One of the most striking features of appellate courts in the United States is also one of the least understood: Appellate courts rarely reverse lower court decisions. The data reviewed in this Article indicate that roughly 90% of appellate court decisions affirm lower court rulings. Why do appeals courts so often affirm? Do trial court judges rarely make reversible errors or do appellate courts suffer from ¿affirmation bias¿ and fail to correct enough errors? These fundamental questions cannot be answered empirically, so I conducted a decision-making experiment with law students and political science majors. The results indicate that random variation …

Woodhull Freedom Foundation V. United States, District Of Columbia Court Of Appeals

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE EQUALITY NOW, THE COALITION AGAINST TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN, THE ORGANIZATION FOR PROSTITUTION SURVIVORS, RIGHTS4GIRLS, SHARED HOPE INTERNATIONAL, SURVIVORS FOR SOLUTIONS, AND WORLD WITHOUT EXPLOITATION IN SUPPORT OF APPELLEES

Bardales V. Lamothe, Middle District Of Tennessee

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

J.B. V. G6, California Superior Court

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

The Puzzle Of Inciting Suicide, Guyora Binder, Luis E. Chiesa

Journal Articles

In 2017, a Massachusetts court convicted Michelle Carter of manslaughter for encouraging the suicide of Conrad Roy by text message, but imposed a sentence of only 15 months. The conviction was unprecedented in imposing homicide liability for verbal encouragement of apparently voluntary suicide. Yet if Carter killed, her purpose that Roy die arguably merited liability for murder and a much longer sentence. This Article argues that our ambivalence about whether and how much to punish Carter reflects suicide’s dual character as both a harm to be prevented and a choice to be respected. As such, the Carter case requires us …

The Facilitators And Barriers For Active Seniors Attending Physiotherapy, Derek Wood

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Physiotherapists are healthcare professionals who can be utilized by the senior population to maintain or improve their health (CPA, 2012). This research examined the experiences of physically active, injured seniors receiving treatment from a physiotherapist in order to understand the barriers and facilitators to treatment and recovery. The study also examined this population’s experiences with physiotherapy (PT) as well as their physical activity (PA) levels and the effect PA had on them.

The study employed a qualitative design which used background questionnaires and semi-structured interviews for data collection. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis was used to analyze the …

Structural Investigation Of Bcsc: Insight Into Periplasmic Transport During Cellulose Export, William Scott, Joel T. Weadge

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A biofilm can be defined by a community of microbes coexisting within a self-produced protective polymeric matrix. Exopolysaccharide (EPS) is a key component in biofilms and a contributor to their virulence and pathogenicity. The cellulose bacterial synthesis complex is one such EPS system that is found in many Enterobacteriaceae,including Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp., and is responsible for the production and secretion of the EPS cellulose. BcsC is the periplasmic protein responsible for the export of the exopolysaccharide cellulose and was the focus of this research. Sequence homology comparisons and structural predictions between BcsC, and the previously characterized alginate …

An In-Depth Analysis Of The Health And Wellbeing Of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Brianne Redquest, Paula Fletcher Dr., Pam Bryden Dr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Over five studies, this thesis aimed to investigate the overall health and wellbeing of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The primary objectives were to: (a) explore the areas of concern among individuals with ASD across the spectrum; (b) understand the differences pertaining to the overall health, social and motor functioning between high functioning and low functioning individuals; (c) understand the sex differences pertaining to the overall health, social, and motor functioning among high and low functioning individuals with ASD; (d) gain in-depth detail regarding the social and motor functioning of children and youth with ASD through the perspectives of …

Aligning Best Practices In Student Success And Career Preparedness: An Exploratory Study To Establish Pathways To Stem Careers For Undergraduate Minority Students, Kimberly D. Kendricks, Anthony A. Arment, K. V. Nedunuri, Cadance A. Lowell

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

Undergraduate minority retention and graduation rates in STEM disciplines is a nationally recognized challenge for workforce growth and diversification. The Benjamin Banneker Scholars Program (BBSP) was a five-year undergraduate study developed to increase minority student retention and graduation rates at an HBCU. The program structure utilized a family model as a vehicle to orient students to the demands of college. Program activities integrated best K-12 practices and workforce skillsets to increase academic preparedness and career readiness. Findings revealed that a familial atmosphere improved academic performance, increased undergraduate research, and generated positive perceptions of faculty mentoring. Retention rates among BBSP participants …

Building A Sustainable Agricultural Career Pipeline: Effective Recruitment And Retention Practices Used By Colleges Of Agriculture In The United States, Antoine J. Alston, Richie Roberts, Chastity Warren English

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

This national study examined effective student recruitment and retention practices used by colleges of agriculture in the United States among 1862 land-grant, 1890 land-grant, and non-land-grant institutions. Respondents reported that faculty at colleges of agriculture were primarily white. Through the analysis of sub-group percentages, the researchers found that the ethnic makeup of faculty was not reflective of the general population. The researchers found that administrators from 1862 land-grant institutions reported statistically significant differences (p < .05) regarding the use of specific strategies to target underrepresented populations in student recruitment as compared to other institutional types. Further, 1862 land-grant institutions reported statistically significant differences in student retention strategies (p < .05) as compared to other institutional types regarding the delivery of programs that aimed to retain first-year students. Based on key findings from this investigation, the authors developed the agricultural student retention model (ASRM) to help guide colleges of agriculture in improving their holistic retention program as they navigate inclusive and diverse institutional contexts. Additionally, key recruitment strategies were identified as well, that could facilitate holistic student recruitment efforts. Perhaps more significant progress can be made toward creating a sustainable agricultural workforce that is more reflective of U.S. population demographics using this model.