How Going With The Flow Could Aid Factor Learning In Mathematics, Aaron M. Beuoy

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of elaborative processing and knowledge maps for learning the steps to factor polynomials with various numbers of terms when math anxiety was accounted for. The study took place in a college classroom during an eight day period when students were learning to factor polynomials. On Day 2, students studied the factoring steps using a list of steps or a flowchart and then engaged in free- and cued-recall tests. Day 3 was similar except that students did not complete a free recall test. Another set of cued recall tests were administered on Day 5, and …

Personalized Learning: An Engagement Strategy For At-Risk Student Populations, Abbigail Morris

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Personalized learning in the United States experienced a resurgence in the educational landscape as a result of increased technology access and computing power. The availability of affordable technology, software solutions, and access to the Internet led to the infiltration of technology into personalized learning approaches and provided a new platform for personalized learning advocates. Engagement and student agency were components of personalized learning attracting many educators to reinvest in personalized learning opportunities. This study focused on a rural, western Kentucky school district that piloted personalized learning through a blended learning environment. The study sought to measure engagement levels of both …

Attitudes Towards Self-Harm, Bradi Cislaghi

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, research with a concentration on self-harm has begun to surface. Most of this research focuses on methods and functions of self-harm, mental health disorders associated with self-harm, and attitudes towards self-harm from the perspective of others. However, self-harm research that focuses on examining attitudes towards people who self-harm is lacking. More specifically, research is limited on those who self-harm and their attitudes toward someone else who self-harms. The current study sought to fill this gap by examining how the level of familiarity with self-harm affects a person’s attitudes towards self-harm and if there are differences between the …

Impact Of Teacher Training Programs In Georgia On The Self-Efficacy Of Agricultural Education Teachers In Their First Year, Catrina Pollard, Catrina Pollard

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Teacher self-efficacy is directly tied to teacher longevity. The researcher conducted a causal comparative study to determine self-efficacy in three domains: classroom, FFA, SAE and compared them with demographic characteristics, along with where teachers obtained their teacher training/certification. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between agricultural teacher self-efficacy and the teacher preparation programs that they completed. This surveyed first-year teachers within the state of Georgia that teach agricultural education. The Beginning Agriculture Teacher Assessment determined that there was no connection between teacher self-efficacy and the teacher preparation program. The Beginning Agriculture Teacher Assessment did conclude that …

The Transition Experiences Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Students Into Postsecondary Education, Christy S. Adkins

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine what the transition experiences of deaf and hard of hearing students into postsecondary education were and what barriers, exist within the transition process. It is evident that deaf and hard of hearing students, face a number of challenges throughout their academic career. Aspects of deaf culture, language acquisition, and communication method, along with lack of support services further exacerbate, an already difficult transition from secondary school to college. This study sought to shed light on the additional obstacles faced by deaf and hard of hearing students, as they transition into their first …

The Impact Of Credible And Non-Credible Treatment Information On Depression Treatment Preferences In College Students, Sydney Hayden, Dr. Michael Bordieri, Phd

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated the importance of considering client treatment preference when providing treatment for depression. However, little research has focused on the impact of treatment information on client preference. This study investigated differences in treatment preference between potential clients that read credible treatment information and those that read non-credible treatment information. The study was conducted via an online survey that was administered to undergraduate students. Eighty participants were randomly assigned to either read credible treatment information or non-credible treatment information and treatment preferences was assessed via a free response item before and after information regarding treatments was given. Overall, …

Reasons For Academic Attrition Among Rural Community College Students By Way Of Satisfactory Academic Progress, Cathy Vaughan

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of the investigator’s research was to examine reasons for attrition among rural community college students by way of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) appeals. Seminal student departure theories of Spady (1971), Tinto (1993), Bean and Metzner (1985), and Braxton, Doyle, Jones, McLendon, Hirschy, and Hartley (2014) laid the foundation for this mixed methods investigation of challenges students face in meeting satisfactory academic progress as defined by federal financial aid guidelines: maintaining a 2.0 cumulative GPA, completing 67% of attempted coursework, and not exceeding the maximum time frame of credit hours for degree completion. Three broad categories of challenge …

Factors To Teacher Retention In Leave:Secondary Agricultural Education, Keasha Floyd

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to provide qualitative inquiry into the attrition rates of high school agriculture teachers in Tennessee. The supply does not equal the demand for high school agriculture teachers. The study investigated why teachers left the profession, their personal experiences while in the classroom, their feelings on preparedness, and identifiable trends among the participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with former secondary agricultural educators taught in a high school agricultural classroom between 2014 and 2019. Objective one sought to describe the demographic characteristics of secondary agricultural teachers. Two themes were found: Teachers who enter the agricultural education profession right out …

Changed Science Writs And State Habeas Relief, Valena Beety

Articles by Maurer Faculty

For decades now, the 1996 federal Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) has limited the scope and influence of federal courts in post-conviction case review, forcing convicted individuals to rely instead on state habeas proceedings for conviction relief. Due in large part to the 2009 National Academy of Sciences Report, petitions for conviction relief increasingly include challenges to the government’s scientific evidence at trial. These petitions analyze that evidence by comparing the trial evidence to the advancement of scientific findings and scientific knowledge in the years since the trial. State habeas petitions thus provide an avenue for relief from …

A Justification For Continued Management Of Turfgrass During Economic Contraction, James T. Brosnan, Ambika Chandra, Roch E. Gaussoin, Alec Kowalewski, Bernd Leinauer, Frank S. Rossi, Douglas J. Soldat, John C. Stier, J. Bryan Unruh

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

A novel coronavirus, termed COVID-19, spread worldwide and become a global pandemic in 2020. Forecasts show that COVID-19 will cause substantial economic contraction affecting almost every industry. Managed turfgrass, particularly in urban settings, has many positive societal and environmental benefits. In a contracted economy, will resources be available to manage turfgrass to achieve these benefits? In this paper, we outline the benefits of managed turfgrass on golf courses, playing fields, recreational parks, and urban landscapes to assist decision makers with resource allocation in the COVID-19 era.

Cover Crops And Weed Suppression In The U.S. Midwest: A Meta-Analysis And Modeling Study, Virginia Nicholas, Rafael Martinez-Feria, David Weisberger, Sarah Carlson, B. Basso, Andrea Basche

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

In addition to soil health and conservation benefits, cover crops (CCs) may offer weed control in the midwestern United States, but individual studies report vary- ing effects. We conducted a meta-analysis of studies measuring weed biomass (WBIO) or density (WDEN) in paired CC and no-cover treatments in corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr] rotations in the U.S. Midwest. Fifteen studies provided 123 paired comparisons of WBIO and 119 of WDEN. Only grass CCs significantly reduced WBIO, while no CC reduced WDEN. We found no evidence CC management factors (e.g., termination method) directly affected out- comes. Our dataset showed …

The Monument Of Memories As A Place/Space Of Multifarious Rhetorical Action, Meagan K. Winkleseth

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The number of people living with some form of dementia globally is growing. The absence of a cure, combined with this rapidly increasing presence of dementia, has directed attention away from fostering an understanding of the disease as it is socially experienced and toward the intricacies of determining its neurological properties. This study analyzes the Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County’s Monument of Memories as a cultural form with the potential to (re)frame how the experience of dementia is socially conceptualized in Windsor, Ontario, and beyond. Specifically, I employ theoretical and methodological insights from participatory critical rhetoric, postmodern architectural …

Culturally Responsive School Leadership: Examining White Male Principals’ Practices, Alex Schukow

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

K-12 principals must enact culturally responsive school leadership to close the opportunity gaps Black students and economically disadvantaged students experience. Critical race theory, the key model, and culturally responsive school leadership theory form the conceptual framework for this phenomenological study. The overarching research question for the study is as follows: How do Whiteness and masculinity influence the enactment of culturally responsive school leadership by White male K-12 principals in exurban school settings? Interviews, school handbook policy analysis, and examinations of participants’ professional social media posts provide data to critique the actions of four White male principals in Midwestern, exurban public …

Narrative Of The Wild: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Protected Areas Within The United States Of America, Isaac S. Reimer

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

As conditions for the global environment continue to degrade and the climate crisis deepens, wilderness and protected areas (PAs) serve as a bulwark for sustainability goals. As much of the protections and strengths of PAs stem from the public’s opinion of them, this research seeks to further understand the communicative underpinnings of PAs. Utilizing autoethnography and applying it to a rhetorical framework, this study explores the constitutive qualities narrative in conjunction with the wilderness can possess. The results offer suggestions for future communication scholars and advocates to employ while discussing and communicating about the wilderness.

The Lived Experiences Of First-Generation African American Males During Their Freshman Year At A Rural, Middle Atlantic Predominately White Institution, Sharon E. Procter

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

There has been a great deal of scholarly research over the past 50 years concerning the disparities in education for minority populations. Research relating to African American males specifically has increased over the past decade, highlighting the disparities and plight of Black males in kindergarten through postsecondary education. Additionally, the body of literature regarding this population of scholars has been from a deficit model. This is a phenomenological study that investigates the lived experiences of five first-generation African American male students during their freshman year at a rural, mid-Atlantic predominately White institution (PWI). The study specifically sought to learn about …

Hermione Syndrome: Reexamining Feminist Sidekicks And Power In 2000-2010 Children’S And Young Adult Fantasy Literature, Josiah Pankiewicz

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The 2000-2010 decade saw a proliferation of English language fantasy texts for young readers. In the wake of Harry Potter’s success, many other fantasy series followed patterns laid down in Rowling’s text, including writing female characters as Hermione-shaped girls and women. While there are positive aspects to these types of characters, which have been lauded thoroughly in popular culture and the academy, there are also significant drawbacks that have received far less attention. This thesis investigates these Hermione-shaped characters, and the texts from which they come, culturally, narratologically, and epistemologically. The culmination of this research finds that, even against authorial …

Precarious Womanhood: Maternal Instinct’S Role In Gender-Related Anxiety, Chelsey Kanipe

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The phenomenon of “precarious manhood” suggests that when a man perceives a threat to his masculinity, he will respond with anxiety and will subsequently increase his displays of traditional masculinity. The main purpose of this study is to address a parallel phenomenon in women (i.e., “precarious womanhood”), the existence of which previous authors have dismissed. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either high scores, low scores, or no scores following a supposed maternal instinct questionnaire. Then, their subsequent mood and gender identity endorsement were measured via self-report. It was hypothesized that, compared to participants who received either high or no …

What Happened To My Son: Parent Perspectives Of African American Male Students And Their Out-Of-School Suspensions During Middle School, Faith Ivey

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain and examine the parent and caretaker perspectives of African American male students and their out-of-school suspensions during middle school. African American male students are similar to an archipelago; although this group of students are a part of the school, they are slowly drifting away. The participants in this study included six African American parents from Midwestern Michigan whose sons did not primarily experience out-of-school suspensions prior to middle school. All of the participants voluntarily provided candid insight and background information on their son’s agency and school experience. The parents also provided school-related …

Investigation Of Emotional Intelligence And Computer Self-Efficacy On The Cybersecurity Interest Of High School Students, William Earl Hilliker Jr.

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

There is a lack of interest in young students in pursuing a career in cybersecurity. Defining potential traits that could identify an interested student could help fill the national shortage of cybersecurity professionals. This study examines the relationship between computer self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and an interest in a cybersecurity career of high school students in Southeast Michigan. It also attempts to determine if a student’s participation in STEM events and the location of the student’s school are significant moderating factors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 280 students in Grades 9 through 12 who attended school at …

Support For Screening And Intervening On Adolescent Depression: Provider-Reported Training Outcomes, Leah Rose Lalonde

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Given the potential consequences of untreated adolescent depression and the prevalence of untreated mental health among adolescents, the American Academy of Pediatrics has strongly recommended active support and monitoring of depressive symptoms in pediatric primary care. Primary care providers (PCPs), however, do not have sufficient training to provide this level of care, contributing to low rates of identification and management of depression. The purpose of the current pilot study was to evaluate a training aimed at supporting providers in the management of adolescent depression. Results demonstrated that providers were accepting of the training and that provider knowledge of depression management …

Infant Illness Severity And Perinatal Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder After Discharge From The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Kathryn J. Malin, Teresa S. Johnson, Sarah Mcandrew, Jacqueline Westerdahl, Jonathan Leuthner, Joanne Lagatta

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Risk factors for perinatal posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among parents of an infant in the NICU have varied in previous literature. The relationships between perception of illness severity and objective measures of illness severity with PTSD are not well understood.

Aims

To determine if PTSD among parents after an infant NICU discharge can be predicted by 1) objective measures of infant illness severity or 2) perceptions of infant illness severity.

Study design

A prospective, observational study.

Subjects

Parent/infant dyads who were in the NICU for ≥14 days.

Outcome measures

Objective measures of illness severity were obtained from the electronic …

Feasibility And Acceptability Of A Game-Based Symptom-Reporting App For Children With Cancer: Perspectives Of Children And Parents, Lauri Linder, Amy Rose Newman, Kristin Stegenga, Yin-Shun Chiu, Sarah E. Wawrzynski, Heidi Kramer, Charlene Weir, Scott Narus, Roger Altizer

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Children with cancer have difficulty identifying and describing the multiple symptoms they experience during hospitalization and between clinical encounters. Mobile health resources, including apps, are potential solutions to support child-centric symptom reporting. This study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a newly developed game-based symptom-reporting app for school-age children with cancer.

Procedure

Nineteen school-age children (6–12 years of age) receiving treatment for cancer at a COG institution in the Intermountain West of the United States used a game-based symptom-reporting app between clinical visits. Feasibility was evaluated through a summary of actual days of app use and interaction with each …

Positive Psychology And Older Adult Well-Being, Kenzie Delposen

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Positive Psychology is a new area of scientific study within the realm of psychology that focuses on the positives in life and the promotion of well-being. Well-being can be promoted though aspects such as flourishing, hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives, positive affect and emotions, happiness, and reappraisal. Older adults make up an ever growing percentage of our population. Despite this, there are still biases and negative viewpoints against aging and older adults. The decline in health and social connectedness in aging is not inevitable and resilience can be imperative to successful aging. It is important to ensure healthy aging so that …

Navigating Tenure-Track As A Female Faculty Of Color: Challenges, Insights, And Personal Experiences, Michele A.L. Villagran, Shamika D. Dalton

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Ethical Blind Spots In Adoption Lawyering, Malinda L. Seymore

Faculty Scholarship

Lawyers engaged in adoption work often call it “happy law,” and consider adoption – finding a child for yearning parents, finding parents for a needy child – an unmitigated good. That attitude can mask the fact that all adoption begins with loss. One family loses a child so that another family can gain one. A lawyer’s assurance that she is engaged in positive work can lead to ethical blind spots that ignore the complexities of adoption practice. And while the touchstone of adoption is the best interests of the child, the primacy in legal ethics of the interests of the …

Crowdsourcing Contests: Understanding The Effect Of Environment And Organization Specific Factors On Sustained Participation, Hanieh Javadi Khasraghi, Xuan Wang

Information Systems Faculty Publications

Crowdsourcing has increasingly become a recognized problem-solving mechanism for organizations by outsourcing the problem to an undefined crowd of people. The success of crowdsourcing depends on the sustained participation and quality-submissions of the individuals. Yet, little is known about the environment-specific and organization-specific factors that influence individuals’ continued participation in these contests. We address this research gap, by conducting an empirical study using data from an online crowdsourcing contest platform, Kaggle, which delivers data science and machine learning solutions to its clients. The findings show the statistically significant effects of structural capital, familiarity with organization, and experience with the organization …

Understanding The Relationship Between Smartphone Addiction And Well-Being: The Mediation Of Mindfulness And Moderation Of Hedonic Apps, Murad Moqbel

Information Systems Faculty Publications

The advent of handheld devices such as smartphones has changed the way we connect, navigate, and entertain and has been recognized as a revolution in information and communication technologies (ICT). Despite the plethora of benefits of this new technology, concerns have been raised about the unintended adverse consequences to well-being in the form of addictive use. Past research has linked smartphone addiction to negative consequences, but it remains unclear how, why, and when (i.e., under what conditions) smartphone addiction, in turn, is related to well-being. This study attempts to fill this void by addressing these questions through the lens of …

Understanding Country Level Adoption Of E-Commerce: A Theoretical Model Including Technological, Institutional, And Cultural Factors, Punit Ahluwalia, Mohammad I. Merhi

Information Systems Faculty Publications

This paper provides a theoretically grounded model of e-commerce adoption to explain differences in adoption rates among countries. The model extends the existing culture-policy-technology (CPT) framework to examine causal relationships between the technological, institutional, and cultural factors in order to examine country-level e-commerce adoption. Thus, interesting relationships among macro-level factors are hypothesized. The paper highlights the important of risk mitigating mechanisms or institutions to facilitate adoption of e-commerce in countries with high uncertainty avoidance. A call for empirical examination into country level adoption is answered by analyzing macro level data from 69 countries. The hypotheses are confirmed using PLS analytical …

Sheila Jackson And Ann Myers, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Biographies:

Sheila Jackson was born in the Harlem Hospital and has one older sister. For her undergraduate studies, Jackson went to the HBCU Morgan State University. After completing her undergraduate studies, she pursued her graduate education at Fordham University, where she obtained her Professional Diploma in Educational Leadership and Administration. During this time, Jackson pledged to the Eta Omega Omega Chapter. Jackson later became deeply involved in the chapter, mentioning that she served as the chapter’s Baselius president. Finally, she retired as Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction in District 29 of Queens.

Ann Myers was born in Virginia. She …

Assessing The Severity Of Health States Based On Social Media Posts, Shweta Yadav, Joy Prakash Sain, Amit P. Sheth, Asif Ekbal, Sriparna Saha, Pushpak Bhattacharyya

Publications

The unprecedented growth of Internet users has resulted in an abundance of unstructured information on social media including health forums, where patients request healthrelated information or opinions from other users. Previous studies have shown that online peer support has limited effectiveness without expert intervention. Therefore, a system capable of assessing the severity of health state from the patients’ social media posts can help health professionals (HP) in prioritizing the user’s post. In this study, we inspect the efficacy of different aspects of Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to identify the severity of the user’s health state in relation to two perspectives(tasks) …