Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Collegiate Athletes' Experiences With Cliques, Cora G. Dodson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

A significant body of literature examines team processes as they relate to the team as a collective unit (Eys et al., 2019). However, smaller units present within a team, such as cliques or subgroups, warrant further scientific exploration and dissemination (Wagstaff & Martin, 2018). Existent literature on cliques in an athletic setting established that intra-team groups are inevitable, while also highlighting their emergence and formation, and their relative consequences at the team level (Martin, 2020; Wagstaff & Martin, 2018). Despite the scientific advancement at the group level, research concerning cliques is scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was …

An Evaluation Of Social Media Use And Its Association With Nutrition Behaviors Among Female Parents, Meredith St. Cyr

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Recent studies have indicated that an unhealthy diet plays a role in the development of overweight and obesity, which are among the most severe public health challenges of the 21st century. One population that has become an emerging focus is female parents aged 21 – 35. Research has demonstrated that the transition to parenthood and the years following are often a turning point regarding developing obesity and that early effects on weight gain are likely to be cumulative and persistent. A unique characteristic of this population is their high utilization of social media. This study utilized a mixed methods study …

Correlates Of Celebrity Worship And Materialism, Caitlin T. Davis

Honors College Theses

The proposed study will further examine the relationship between celebrity admiration and narcissism. The proposed study will also examine the relationship of the variables to materialism. Finally, this study will examine how the extent to which one perceives themselves to be similar in some respect to their favorite celebrity correlates with the aforementioned variables. We expect that there will be positive relationships among the variables such that greater celebrity worship is associated with higher narcissism, materialism, and perceived similarity with one’s favorite celebrity.

Investigating The Relationship Between Inherited Geologic Framework And Saltwater Intrusion On St. Catherines Island, Georgia, Juliet Talaber, Jacque Kelly, Robert Vance

Honors College Theses

Since the late 1800s, the oldest cities on the Georgia coast have been withdrawing water from the confined Floridan Aquifer System. As the population has grown, a cone of depression has formed extending from Savannah, GA to St. Catherines Island, GA, a barrier island 50 km southeast of Savannah. On St. Catherines Island, the cone of depression has reversed the lateral and horizontal groundwater flow gradients causing saltwater intrusion into the Upper Floridan Aquifer from the Lower Floridan Aquifer through joints, faults, or solution collapse features. Previous studies from the southern and central areas of the island have found evidence …

The Development And Validation Of A Novel Patient-Derived 3d Meningioma Cell Culture Model, Laurien Lisette Van De Weijer

Peninsula Medical School Theses

Meningiomas are the most frequent intracranial brain tumours. Current treatment options of surgery and radiotherapy are sometimes insufficient and effective systemic therapies remain unestablished. The development of accurate in vitro systems to model the complexity of meningioma pathology is essential for predicting drug response and developing novel therapeutics. Therefore, in this study, I established an easy-to-use in vitro patient-derived meningioma spheroid model that maintained the morphological and molecular features of the parental tumours, including tissue histology, the tumour microenvironment, and the mutational profile. Comprehensive characterisation of the global transcriptomes of the novel patient-derived spheroids with traditional meningioma monolayer cultures and …

Pre-Clinical Targets For Ischemic Brain Injury, Daniel Morgan

Peninsula Medical School Theses

Stroke is the second most common cause of disability worldwide, and 87% of strokes result from a blockage in the cerebral blood flow which results in ischemia. Injury to the myelinated axons located in white matter is observed in ischemic injuries but is generally underappreciated. Research has shown that there is extensive vesicular glutamate release during ischemia, causing excitotoxic injury to oligodendrocytes, resulting in demyelination. Glutamate receptor antagonists have been trialled in stroke patients but fall short due to adverse side effects from high dose preparations. Stroke is largely a disease of ageing, and may occur in the presence of …

Internal And Social Sources Shape Judgments About The Mental And Physical Nature Of An Experience, Jacinth Jia Xin Tan, Alexander Karan, Dolores Albarracin

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although humans are intuitive dualists, little is known about whether they hold lay beliefs about the origins or sources of their intuitive perceptions of what is physical and what is mental. Drawing on theories of the sources of phenomenological experiences, we examined if people hold beliefs about the internal and social origins of judments that their experiences are physical or mental. In Study 1, participants provided physical or mental judgments about a range of personal experiences, and reported relying on both internal (i.e., examining own body and thoughts) and social (i.e., observing others) sources as information for their judgments. To …

Leveraging Instagram To Enhance Self-Esteem: A Self-Affirmative Intervention Study And Multilevel Mediation Analysis, Shuna Shiann Khoo, Hwajin Yang, Wei Xing Toh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although studies have consistently indicated that heavier use of social networking sites (SNS) perpetuates poorer self-esteem outcomes, no study has examined potential intervention methods that can yield positive effects from SNS use. We hypothesized that viewing one's Instagram profile would have self-affirmative effects on self-perception because the profile typically showcases curated instrumental positive aspects of self. Furthermore, these self-affirmative effects would indirectly improve state self-esteem via enhanced clarity of self-concept. To test our hypothesis, we designed an experimental intervention study where one group viewed their Instagram profile regularly, while another group viewed a neutral abstract art profile. Using multilevel latent …

The Effect Of Mere Presence Of Smartphone On Cognitive Functions: A Four-Level Meta-Analysis, Andree Hartanto, Verity Y. Q. Lua, K. T. A. Sandeeshwara Kasturiratna, Paye Shin Koh, Germaine Y. Q. Tng, Manmeet Kaur, Frosch Y. X. Quek, Jonathan L. Chia, Nadyanna M. Majeed

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

As smartphones have become portable and immersive devices that afford social, informational, and recreational conveniences unbounded by physical restrictions, most daily activities have become closely intertwined with the presence of smartphones. This constant presence of smartphones in daily activities, however, may be concerning as some studies have suggested that smartphones—even their mere presence—can be distracting and can impair cognitive outcomes. However, such findings have not been consistently observed. To reconcile mixed findings, the current meta-analysis synthesized 166 effect sizes drawn from 53 samples and 33 studies including 4,368 participants on the effect of mere presence of smartphone on cognitive functions. …

A Case Report: Regenerative And Robotic Rehabilitation In A Patient With Chronic Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy, Chieh Chen, Sun-Hui Tseng

Rehabilitation Practice and Science

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) occurs when the brain is deprived of sufficient oxygen or blood flow, resulting in brain dysfunction. According to the relevant literature, no curative therapies are currently available for HIE-related lifelong disabilities. Regenerative rehabilitation employs regenerative technologies and cell therapy combined with conventional therapeutic exercises to restore normal function. This study used robotic-assisted gait training with the Lokomat and two infusions of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) to treat an adolescent with chronic HIE. At the seven-month follow-up assessment, we determined that the patient’s motor function had improved based on the Gross Motor Function Measure-88 (GMFM-88) …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Interpretability Of Lda And Llm For Topic Modeling: The Case Of Healthcare Apps, Omar El-Gayar, Mohammad A. Al-Ramahi, Abdullah Wahbeh, Tareq Nasralah, Ahmed El Noshokaty

All Faculty Scholarship (Archived)

This study compares the interpretability of the topics resulting from three topic modeling techniques, namely, LDA, BERTopic, and RoBERTa. Using a case study of three healthcare apps (MyChart, Replika, and Teladoc), we collected 39,999, 52,255, and 27,462 reviews from each app, respectively. Topics were generated for each app using the three topic models and labels were assigned to the resulting topics. Comparative qualitative analysis showed that BERTopic, RoBERTa, and LDA have relatively similar performance in terms of the final list of resulting topics concerning human interpretability. The LDA topic model achieved the highest rate of assigning labels to topics, but …

Listening To The Voices Of America, Kathryn J. Edin, Corey D. Fields, David B. Grusky, Jure Leskovec, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Kristen M. Olson, Charles Varner

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We make the case for building a permanent public-use platform for conducting and analyzing immersive interviews on the everyday lives of Americans. The American Voices Project (AVP)—a widely watched experiment with this new platform—provides important early evidence on its promise. The articles in this issue reveal that, although public-use interview datasets obviously cannot meet all research needs, they do provide new opportunities to study small or hidden populations, new or emerging social problems, reactions to ongoing social crises, submerged values and attitudes, and many other aspects of American life. We conclude that a permanent AVP platform would help build an …

Display Of Battery Items In Web And Mail Surveys: Grids Versus Item-By-Item And Radio Versus Wide Buttons, Kristen M. Olson, Jolene D. Smyth, Angelica Phillips

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

How to display questions that are part of a battery in self-administered surveys is an important decision. Battery items may be displayed in a grid in a mail survey or computer web survey, but are often displayed as individual items on mobile devices. Although past research has com-pared grids to item-by-item displays in computer and mobile web surveys, almost no work has compared these displays in mail surveys. Additionally, many web survey templates use wide rectangular buttons to select response options in individual items using a mobile-optimized design, different from the standard round answer space format typically used in mail …

Remember, You Can Complete This Survey Online! Web Survey Links And Qr Codes In A Mixed-Mode Web And Mail General Population Survey, Kristen M. Olson, Amanda Ganshert

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Recruitment materials for concurrent mixed-mode self-administered web and mail surveys must communi-cate information about multiple modes simultaneously. Providing the link to the web survey on the cover of the paper questionnaire or including a QR code to access the web survey may increase the visibility of the web mode and thus increase the proportion of people who participate via the web, but whether including either piece of information does so has received surprisingly little empirical attention. In this paper, we exam-ine the results of experiments embedded in two general population probability-based concurrent mixed-mode surveys of Nebraska adults. First, in the …

Beyond Borders: Exploring The Lived Experiences Of International Migrant Women In Nigeria, A Deep Dive Into Healthcare Realities And Utilization, Juliet Nwafor, Rowland Edet, Ezebunwa Nwokoch

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study explored access to and utilization of healthcare facilities among migrant women in an urban slum community in Nigeria, focusing on factors influencing healthcare-seeking behaviors and the implications for public health interventions. A qualitative case study-oriented research design was employed, involving in-depth interviews with 21 migrant women of reproductive age and 4 key informant interviews with healthcare workers in the Ayobo community of Lagos State, Nigeria. Data collection occurred from June to September 2018, and thematic analysis was used to interpret the findings. Three main themes emerged: living conditions, pattern of healthcare utilization, and factors influencing accessibility and utilization …

Use Of Online Hybrid Supplemental Teaching In Field-Based Teacher Education Programs, Hank Bohanon, Wenjin Guo, Christopher Dickman

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

University faculty who implement field-based teacher education programs experience challenges providing instruction for clinical, site-embedded university-based students. These issues can include a lack of common times to meet with students, limited access to meeting space to provide direct instruction, and changes in the school schedule. A number of these barriers may be addressed by adding elements of online instruction to traditional in-person classes, making the course, in effect, a hybrid one. In this study, the researchers analyzed the perspectives of university-based, special education focused instructors and clinical partners on the barriers, needs, benefits, and content related to implementing hybrid instruction …

Employee Engagement: Understanding The ‘Personal’ Dimension Of Engagement, Hannah Newbury

Plymouth Business School Theses

Kahn’s ‘personal engagement’ (PE) concept centres on the ways which ‘people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances’ (1990, p.694). However, engagement has been viewed through a predominantly positivistic, unitarist framework (Sambrook, 2021; Shuck, Kim & Fletcher, 2021) that has ‘bent’ engagement through its appropriation to managerialist agendas, and ‘stretched’ in its meaning away from being an individual state of mind (Truss et al., 2013). This study explores Kahn's (1990) original framing of engagement as a deeply personal experience, considering what PE is and how it is understood and experienced by individual employees. This considers engagement …

Container Port Selection In The Asean Region: Korean Shipping Companies’ Perspective, Inhyeok Yeo

Plymouth Business School Theses

Ports are crucial platforms that connect the sea and inland transportation to foster logistics and transfer of goods and information. Thus, selection of the most optimal ports is ever crucial for decision makers. However, the increasing globalisation and international trade add to the already competitive and saturated market for marine container cargo shipping. Consequently, it may be of best interest to shift focus and find niche market, such as trading to the Southeast Asia, to increase profitability. In near proximity to Southeast Asia, South Korean multinational corporations’ investment and interest in the Southeast Asian countries are significant. South Korea maintains …

Investigating A Motivation Model For Gamified E-Learning: A Mixed Methods Approach, Ali Sen

Plymouth Business School Theses

Investigating A Motivation Model for Gamified E-learning: A Mixed Methods Approach Ali Sen Abstract There has been a recent increase in educational interest in gamification over the past five years (Behl et al., 2022; Ertan & Kocadere, 2022). A central tenet of the increase in its popularity may stem from its motivational power in educational settings (Sailer et al., 2017; Sailer & Homner, 2020). However, prior research on gamification has not sufficiently investigated the mechanisms by which the phenomenon induces its motivational effects. A crucial question to consider is how the motivational theories that underpin gamification work. Consequently, the current …

Tourist Perceived Destination Innovativeness (Tpdi) And Its Impacts On Tourist Experience And Tourist Satisfaction -The Case Study Of Hunan (China), Xiaoshan Yang

Plymouth Business School Theses

The primary purpose of this study is to develop a comprehensive understanding of tourist perceived destination innovativeness (TPDI) and to assess its impacts on tourist experience and satisfaction, and the thesis accordingly develops a multidimensional scale for measuring the concept of destination innovativeness. TPDI in this study refers to the willingness and capability of a destination to provide and deliver unique, interesting service and product. The development and validation of the multidimensional scale for the concept followed a rigorous procedure with three different stages of study, the data for which was collected from tourists in Hunan. The first stage analysed …

New Business Models For Technology Innovation In Healthcare: A Value Network Perspective, Aira Patrice Ong

Plymouth Business School Theses

Business models (BMs) play an important role in facilitating the delivery and integration of technological innovations within the healthcare sector, catering the needs of healthtech entrepreneurs, managers, healthcare providers, researchers and policy makers. However, despite the BM’s significance, existing conceptualisations of BM do not adequately guide in designing them taking into account the complexities of the healthcare environment. This demands a dynamic approach in designing BM, considering the healthcare value chain stakeholders’ thoughts, values, prejudices, views, feelings and perspectives. With the exploratory nature and lack of research in this area, the overall aim of the study is to design an …

Corporate Social Responsibility Practices In The Nigerian Public Sector, Abbas Mohammed

Plymouth Business School Theses

This study examines Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices in Nigerian public sector organisations using a comprehensive mixed-methods approach. The data collection process involved analysing 185 organisation-year observations from annual reports spanning 2011–2020, as well as questionnaires distributed to key stakeholders and interviews with senior executives from various organisations.The analysis utilised a multi-pronged strategy, including quantitative techniques such as regression analysis to explore the relationship between CSR practices and corporate governance mechanisms and qualitative methods such as narrative analysis and thematic coding to gain insights from survey responses and interviews.The findings indicate that CSR practices in the Nigerian public sector are …

Benchmarking Best-In-Class Corporate Governance Practices In Uk Sme (Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises) Charities: Accountability And Transparency., Rita Davies Ukachi-Lois

Plymouth Business School Theses

The study explores the implementation of corporate governance, accountability, and transparency (the Core Constructs) within UK SME charities to provide the most sort after answers to address the endless criticisms, demands for scrutiny, and requests for accountability and transparency to enhance their performance and credibility. This area of study is sparse on Small and Medium-sized charities, very little has been written on corporate governance, on occasions coupled with accountability or transparency but never with both. Nothing similar to this study has been done. The study seeks to investigate whether UK Small and Medium-sized charities implement effective corporate governance within their …

Exploring The Use Of Digital Technologies And Stakeholder Perspectives Of Online Harms And Harassment In The Higher Education Sector, Julie Swain

Plymouth Business School Theses

Julie Swain - Exploring the use of digital technologies and stakeholder perspectives of online harms and harassment in the Higher Education sectorThis research investigates the significant changes in the Higher Education (HE) sector over the past decade, driven by government policies, neo-liberal influences, and technological advancements. These changes have impacted accessibility, tuition fees, and living costs, shaping the HE landscape (Brown, 2011; Evitts, 2023). The study highlights the significant role of digital technologies in transforming communication and daily interactions, with the immediacy and pervasiveness of technology altering societal behaviours and expectations.Despite the widespread adoption of digital technologies, there remains a …

The Influence Of Marketing On Students' Choice Of Private Higher Education Institutes, Evangelos Vantzos

Plymouth Business School Theses

This thesis investigates the influence of marketing on students' choice of private higher education institutes (PHEIs). It critically examines the factors influencing students' decision to study at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), which offer overseas tourism and hospitality (T&H) programmes and assesses the implications of these factors for the design of marketing strategies of UK HEIs. A survey strategy was selected to support this thesis. 401 valid questionnaires were collected and analysed using the Social Science Statistics Package (SPSS) from international students enrolled in transnational T&H undergraduate programmes at five PHEIs in Switzerland and Singapore. The study results reveal that …

A Sequential Explanatory Mixed-Methods Study Of Fundraisers’ Self-Disclosure In Major Gift Fundraising Relationships, Deanna Nelson

Plymouth Business School Theses

Name: Deanna Nelson Title: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed-Methods Study of Fundraisers’ Self-Disclosure in U.S. Major Gift Fundraising Relationships This study explores the role of fundraisers’ self-disclosure in major gift fundraising relationships. Building relationships with major donors to secure major gifts is a primary concern for leaders of non-profit organisations (Buteau et al., 2019) because major gifts can have a transformational impact on an organisation’s work. However, the existing literature demonstrates that interpersonal aspects of relationship development, such as utilising self-disclosure to establish and strengthen relationships, have not been sufficiently researched in the literature. Social penetration theory (Altman & Taylor, 1973), …

Alarming Literacy Rates In One Of America’S Largest Cities: What Can Be Done In The City Of Detroit?, Hermina G.B. Anghelescu

School of Information Sciences Faculty Research Publications

Regarded as a major cultural and industrial center, Detroit is known for its contributions to art, architecture, design, and music, which led to its "Motown" nickname, in addition to its ties to the birth of the auto industry, which brought it the nickname of "Motor City." Despite hosting several higher learning institutions and a national research university, Detroit has been facing a continued decline of its adult literacy rates that amount to 47.00%, meaning that half of the City's population are functionally illiterate. Low literacy skills can profoundly affect adults' ability to fully participate in daily activities and contribute to …

Returning To Physical Activity Following Injury: Exploring Psychological Readiness In Middle-Aged Adults, Hunter Martin

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Previous researchers have focused on a variety of psychological aspects of injury rehabilitation in the context of returning to competitive sport (Ardern et al., 2016; Donald, 2019; Podlog et al., 2022; Webster et al., 2018). Return to sport decisions have been largely based on physical assessment and functional ability tests with little focus on psychological elements of recovery (Podlog et al., 2015). The existing literature on psychological readiness (PR) to return to sport has grown in recent years, primarily exploring the experiences of young adult athletes aged 18-30 (Podlog et al., 2022). There has been no previous research exploring the …

Variation In Mainland Northwest Territories Late-Winter Muskox (Ovibos Moschatus) Density Estimations And Habitat Associations Above And Below Treeline., Charlotte Rentmeister

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Arctic and Sub-Arctic ecosystems are seeing accelerated changes in temperature, landcover, and consequently species abundance and distributions. Reliable distributions, and associated population density estimates, are essential for effective conservation and management efforts. Growing concerns from northern communities regarding the relationship between muskox and declining caribou populations strengthens the need for updated information on muskox populations within mainland Northwest Territories (NWT). The first objective for my research was to quantify and map updated winter estimates of abundance, density, and distribution of muskoxen within three recent survey regions located in mainland NWT, using a multiple covariate distance sampling method (MCDS), paired …

The Influence Of Visual Perspective On The Cognitive Effort Required For Mental Representation, Jeffrey P. Hong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Mental representation is the process by which an individual simulates an event in their mind’s eye. This process is the foundation of the ability to remember the past, engage in prospective thinking, or imagine fictitious scenarios. An individual can mentally represent any event through their own eyes—the first-person perspective or from the viewpoint of an external observer—the third-person perspective. The perspective of representation influences outcomes related to memory, visuospatial processing, affect, social cognition, clinical diagnoses, and language processing. In turn, an individual’s tendency to favour either perspective is shaped by related factors.

The current research consists of four experiments, designed …