Digital Commons Network^™

Expository Based Discipleship Plan For Freed Youth Ministry Of Riverdale Baptist Church, Kshitiz Sharma Ghimire

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this DMIN action research project was to develop an expository-based discipleship plan that implements expository preaching and uses it to empower the discipleship of youths through small groups and parental involvement. The objective was to see spiritual maturity in the teenager through expository preaching and discipleship as proposed by the expository-based discipleship plan. The expository preaching plan sought cooperation from the youth, leaders, and parents to see how expository preaching and effective discipleship can help students grow spiritually so that they stay at church after they graduate from youth group. All the middle schoolers and high schoolers …

Scenario - Based Training In Law Enforcement, Troy Michael Bankert

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The discovery of the value and obstacles of scenario-based training for law enforcement from a phenomenological perspective was pursued from a grounded theory. The lack of empirical data and research guided the use of the grounded theory methodology, which attempts through individual professional interviews to discover the values and obstacles of scenario-based training for law enforcement. Clarifications and comprehensive definitions of the constituent elements characterizing a scenario-based training methodology are presented while concurrently identifying the intricate interdependencies between its qualitative measurement and associated cost factors. The exploration of implementing scenario-based training was conducted through personal interviews of criminal justice practitioners …

Scalable Methods For Performant Control Of Hyperfine Qubits In Atoms And Ions, Matthew N. H. Chow

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

Qubits encoded within internal energy levels of atoms and ions have been used to demonstrate high-performance primitives of quantum computing for small numbers of qubits. Yet, the path to achieving sufficient size and fidelity for useful fault-tolerant quantum computation remains daunting. In this dissertation, I present several techniques I developed as steps along this path. These results include high-fidelity, low-loss detection for alkali atoms in optical tweezers, crosstalk-mitigated parallel one-qubit gates, robust entangling gates on trapped ions, and leakage-to-erasure conversion for non-destructive detection of atom loss errors. Through this collection of techniques, I have sought to make full use of …

A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Leaders At North Carolina Community Colleges When Addressing Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Initiatives On Campus, Trina J. Jones

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study sought to understand mid-level leaders' personal and professional experiences at North Carolina community colleges as they address DEI initiatives. The theory guiding this study is Transformational Leadership theory. The theory refers to leaders who seek to create ideas and new perspectives. Transformational leadership theory aligns with practices held by leaders that are best utilized when addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The phenomenological qualitative research is as follows: (1) What are leaders' experiences in North Carolina community colleges addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives? A purposive sample was conducted with 15 mid-level leaders among the 58 North …

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Emotional Preparedness Of U.S. Transitioning Servicemembers: Differences In Military Officers And Enlisted Personnel, Jasmine L. Hayes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This interpretive phenomenology analysis study examines the specific emotions of 10 U.S. transitioning veterans (5 enlisted personnel and 5 military officers) during the transitioning process. 9 out of the 10 participants stated that they had anxiety about transitioning out of the military. A common theme among military officers and enlisted personnel is that they were all anxious about healthcare after transitioning from the military. In contrast, a common theme among military officers that was not a theme among enlisted personnel was the anxiousness of feeling like they were leaving the military and not completing what they started. A common theme …

Impact Of Disruptive Behavior On Academic Performance, Annie R. Franklin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the impact of disruptive behavior on academic performance among high school students in the southeastern United States, a critical area of research given the well-documented connection between behavioral issues and educational outcomes. Disruptive behaviors, including absenteeism, fighting, and misconduct, are linked to significant student Grade Point Average (GPA) declines. This study aimed to explore how these behaviors influence academic performance while also investigating the moderating roles of factors such as gender, race, grade level, and English learner (EL) status. Utilizing a correlational research design, the study employed linear regression analysis and the Hayes Process Macro Model to …

Fringe-Field Actuation Of Mems Cantilever Resonators: Capacitance Model For Frequency-Amplitude Response Of Parametric Resonance, Miguel A. Martinez, Dumitru I. Carantu

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The paper investigates the frequency-amplitude response of micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) cantilever beams, which are actuated by the fringe field at parametric resonance. In this design, a micro cantilever beam (flexible electrode) and a ground plate (fixed electrode) are placed in parallel and connected through an AC voltage. The electrostatic force is due to electric field lines within the volume directly between the cantilever and the ground plate. The parallel-plate capacitance is directly related to the overlapping area of the two electrodes. However, to accurately compute the capacitance of the two electrodes, the effects due to the fringing field must be …

A Case Study Of The Perceived Pedagogical Strategies Used To Increase Student Motivation And Effective Technology Use In The Secondary Classroom, Adam Herring

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this single-instrument case study is to understand the strategies that educators perceive to be effective in successfully increasing student motivation when using personal technology in the high school classroom at River Valley High School in the Southeast United States. The theory guiding this study is Ryan and Deci’s theory on self-determination as it examines the relationship between motivation and academic achievement. The central research question in this study, that is, how can relatedness, competency, and autonomy support the use of personal technology in the secondary education classroom, explores how personal technology could influence the perceived motivation of …

Early Childhood Educators' Training And Support For Addressing Challenging Behaviors Of Students: A Phenomenological Study, Sonia Monica Sumner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the training and support early childhood educators receive when addressing challenging behaviors. The theory guiding this study is Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. Many early childhood educators response to repeated challenging behaviors is to suspend or expel. This can be an ineffective strategy with many negative developmental trajectories for the future. This study explored the central research question: How do early childhood educators address repeated challenging behaviors from their students? The participants were early childhood educators from the state of North Carolina and were recruited using snowball and purposeful sampling. Data …

Obedience, Courage, And Loyalty: The 81st “Wildcat” Division During World War I, Harold Allen Skinner Jr

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

When the United States entered the First World War in April 1917, the United States Army was rated on par with the armies of Portugal and Belgium. Yet by November 1918, the United States had organized and deployed a two million-man-strong American Expeditionary Force (AEF) to Europe. The speed at which the US Army deployed twenty-nine divisions into the Western Front upended European strategic calculations and hastened the collapse of the Central Powers coalition in late 1918. Yet, the story of the AEF has been marginalized in American historiography, a historical vacuum filled instead by Euro-centric historians who minimized the …

Home Educators’ Experiences Teaching Beginning Readers: A Phenomenological Study, Meghan K. Allred

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate how home educators describe their experiences teaching literacy to beginning readers in the United States. The theory guiding this study was Gagné’s conditions of learning theory as it relates to the literacy teaching experiences of presenting literacy content, eliciting performance of literacy skills, assessing literacy performance, and enhancing literacy retention and transfer in homeschool settings. The central research question was: How do home educators describe their literacy teaching experiences for beginning readers? A transcendental phenomenological approach was used to explore the shared homeschool experience of teaching beginning readers. Participants were selected …

Equipping Church Leadership Through Team Ministry: A Dissertation-In-Praxis Model, Judith Aarian Hawkins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Using teams in the workplace has become an efficient means to employ workers' creativity, productivity, and effectiveness (Ross et al., 2008). Likewise, ministry through teams offers the Church these same outcomes to meet its charge of the Great Commission (King James Bible, 1769/2017, Matthew 28:16-20). This research was implemented with BOLD Deliverance Ministries Incorporated (BOLD), a non-denomination church in Temple Hills, Maryland. The church’s theme of “Where together we equip the saints to serve all people” indicates an existing ideology of collaboration. This project aimed to build on this collaborative mindset by applying team leadership theory within a team ministry …

Organizational Citizenship & Counterproductive Workplace Behaviors: Personal Trauma & Workplace Conduct, Patricia Giaccone

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The influence of a survivor-advocates personal trauma history on their work and ability to cope with its challenges are inadequately understood. This research project aimed to distinguish if there was a significant difference in engagement between survivor-advocates and nonsurvivor-advocates in organizational citizenship behaviors or counterproductive workplace behaviors. Furthermore, this study looked at organizational employment tenure as a factor affecting such engagement. The data for this quantitative research project was collected from a nationwide pool of respondents who worked directly with victims of domestic violence in the United States resulting in a total of 54 participants completing the anonymous survey. Exploring …

Mitigating The Negative Effects Of Perceived Stress Using Wellness And Resiliency Training Programs On Job Satisfaction In Public Safety Officers In The United States, Benjamin T. Iobst

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The following quasi-experimental, cross-sectional, survey-based quantitative research study investigated the role of wellness and resiliency training programming in mitigating the adverse effects of stress on job satisfaction (JS) in US Public Safety Officers (PSOs). This research measured the dimensions of perceived stress, such as technological stress, critical incidents, organizational stressors, work-life balance, and social-conflict stress. Additionally, this research examined the relationship between these stressors, wellness, and resiliency education and their effect on job satisfaction in PSOs. It was found that perceived stress has a statistically significant negative correlation with job satisfaction (rs = -.466, p < .001). Additionally, organizational stress (rs = -0.556, p < 0.001), work-life balance stress (rs = -0.452, p < 0.001), critical incident stress (rs = -0.306, p < 0.001), and social conflict stress (rs = -0.298, p < 0.001) have a statistically significant negative correlation with job satisfaction, whereas technological stress does not (rs = -0.109, p = 0.129). Finally, it was found that resiliency training does not have a statistically significant relationship with job satisfaction (U (195) = 4647, p = .971) or perceived stress (U (195) = 4434.50, p = .608) based on the conditions that were tested. Police departments can use results from this research to guide and develop policies and training to address stress and job satisfaction in the public safety industry.

Nonverbal Cues In Real-World, High-Stakes Deception, Nancy L. Carr

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Decades of low-stakes deception research, in which participants lied without risk of severe personal, professional, or legal consequences, produced few reliable deception cues. As a result, deception detection methods based on low-stakes findings generated limited accuracy. More research was needed to identify reliable deception cues performed in real world scenarios. To address the problem, this within-subjects mixed methods study coded videos of public figures’ nonverbal (NV) cues during real-world high-stakes (RWHS) baseline, deception, and confession (BDC); tested each cue for significance; and identified demeanor (descriptively and quantitatively) for each condition. The qualitative study described how each subject’s behavior changed between …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Self-Care And Fruit Of The Spirit In African-American Pastors: A Multi-Case Study, Rashon Wallace Dalton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The role of a pastor today involves spiritual duties, administrative tasks, counseling parishioners, and preparing and giving Sunday morning sermons. Moreover, African-American pastors who have churches in inner cities face additional roles related to race relations, social inequality, and lack of resources. Due to the incredible demands of ministry and leadership, a pastor’s maintenance of self-care strategies can become secondary to the people they lead. When self-care is put on hold, the demonstration of the Spirit’s work in the pastor— “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”—may become overrun by feelings of stress and burnout. The purpose of …

General Education Teachers' Experience With Implementing Accommodations To Students With Special Needs: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study, Kari Connors Buono

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This hermeneutic phenomenological study describes general educators' experiences implementing interventions for students with special needs in classrooms across the Eastern United States. The study's theory is Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior. This research was conducted with eleven general education teachers participating through interviews, journal entries, and focus groups. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. The qualitative data was triangulated and analyzed for codes and themes. The themes were 1- Ways to improve attitudes, 2- Consequences of unsupported expectations (attitudes), 3- Responsibilities for school personnel to discern, 4-Perceived peer interactions and requirements (subjective norm), and 5- Belief in personal ability …

California's Home-To-School Transportation Program Funding And Rising Transportation Costs Impact On K-12 Public Education Pupil Transportation: A Multiple Case Study Of California K-12 Public Education Chief Business Officials, Jarrett L. Garife

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand the perceived impact of California’s Local Control Funding Formula’s (LCFF) home-to-school transportation (HTST) program funding and rising pupil transportation operational costs on California’s K-12 public school districts and county offices of education (COE). Pfeffer and Salancik’s resource dependency theory was the theoretical framework for this study. California K-12 public school districts and COEs were the sites used for this multiple-case study. Ten Chief Business Officials (CBO) made up the sample. The central research question that guided my study asked, what are the impacts of state home-to-school program funding remaining at …

Multicultural Education: A Phenomenological Study Of How Elementary Teachers' Classroom Experiences Mirror The Knowledge And Skills Gained In Undergraduate Courses, Emily L. Hepner-Leffel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of the study was to conduct a phenomenological analysis of the experiences of elementary school teachers concerning multicultural education in an urban school district in Southern Virginia. The study aimed to explore and describe teachers' perceptions, beliefs, values, and attitudes regarding multicultural education and assess their preparedness to implement multicultural education practices in their classrooms. The research utilized a qualitative research design that involved in-depth interviews and observations with a purposive sample of 10 novice and experienced elementary teachers. The study also gathered information from various documents that were collected to generate data. The data underwent analysis through …

In Search Of New Originals: An Examination Of Experiences In Upper-Division Jazz Improvisation Pedagogy, Bruce Babad

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Jazz improvisation courses have become part of the canon within upper-division course offerings, yet only a few students end up sounding original or creative. This descriptive phenomenological study aimed to elucidate, understand, and articulate the significance underlying the lived experiences of adept jazz musicians as they contemplated developing and disseminating improvisational skills. Upper-division jazz improvisation pedagogy is rooted in music theory, a chord-scale approach to jazz harmony, solo transcriptions, and commonly used patterns. Combining these approaches has reduced improvisation to feats of problem-solving or painting by numbers. This study aimed to illuminate the lived experiences of original, creative jazz improvisers …

Mental Health Of Western Tennessee Police Officers, Jasmin Marie Powell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this grounded theory study is to understand the group think regarding mental health and wellness of police officers in the western Tennessee region. The theory guiding this study is group think, a theory first defined in 1972 by Irvin Janis. Irvin Janis, a psychologist introduced the phenomenon of groupthink and described it as a group of people, in this research case police officers, where loyalty was required from members and that this can cause both positive and negative side effects. The research population for this research will consist of 92 participants, including males and females, of different …

Discovering Their Purpose For Praise: Revitalizing Corporate Worship In An Ethnic Japanese Church In Hawaii, Marc Chikara Imamura

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The problem at Honolulu Christian Church Japanese Department is that ontologies skewed by traditionalism and Japanese culture prevented full participation in congregational worship, resulting in unawareness and deprived spiritual growth. The purpose of this project was to revitalize HCCJD’s corporate worship through research and pedagogy that empowered congregants with a purpose for their praise. It was hypothesized that if HCCJD discovered the purpose for their praise, then they would be more inclined to participate in corporate worship, increasing the likelihood of spiritual growth. Recruiting efforts yielded thirteen consenting adult HCCJD members, ten of whom were able to contribute to the …

The Nature Of Self-Evident Equality In The Declaration Of Independence And Its Implications For Jeffersonian Federalism, Thomas T. Cook

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The foundation for human equality is central to the question of political discourse, and the basis for self-government, consent, and consensus. On what basis can two people enter into contract or agree to be governed if they are not equal? The Declaration of Independence with its appeal to Nature’s God and its establishment of “rights” as coming from that God firmly establishes human equality in a metaphysical reality outside of human decision to change that reality. The lack of human acknowledgement of that reality, historically, does not change that reality. Philosophers and political theorists might reason that it is based …

Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnoses Within Bipoc Communities, Angela M. Houghton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With a pressing need to examine racial and ethnic differences in ASD detection to discern potential inaccuracies in diagnosis within groups, this study used a transcendental phenomenological design to explore the explanations for misdiagnosis within Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) households, comparing their encounters with Whites. The research involved six parents and one family member of children who were originally wrongfully identified, only to in the future confirm ASD. Through semi-structured conversations, the study delved into the distinctive trials of BIPOC households. Data analysis respected the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen technique, with thematic exploration used to recognize repetitions, highlighted differences in …

A Proposal For A Biblical School Of Thought On The Value Of Aggressive Disordered Behavior And Why It Exists, James Samuel Doyle

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Disordered behavior, within this research, is defined as rigid or inflexible behavior deemed destructive toward self and/or others. Examined further, predatorial disordered behavior describes and is defined as behavior benefiting the actor at the expense of others, even when the benefit is small and may only serve to enhance the ego of the predator. Nonetheless, the cost to the recipient of this behavior is generally severe manifesting itself in many maladaptive ways including without limitation a lack of self-worth, a need to control, and the presence of chronic anger or strong emotional reaction to perceived injustices. Due to a mask …

Cultural Competence And Cultural Humility Among Healthcare Students Related To Community Engagement And Service Learning: A Multiple Regression And Confirmatory Factor Analysis Study, Maryanne Koech Gathambo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, hierarchical multiple regression and confirmatory factor analysis study was to investigate the cultural humility and cultural competence (competemility) of healthcare students and examine the strongest predictor of cultural competemility based on demographic and experiential learning factors. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to investigate the degree to which the predictor variables age, gender, and community engagement/service hours (i.e., CEL/SL) could be forecasted by their competemility score (criterion variable) as measured by The Inventory for Assessing The Process Of Cultural Competemility Among Healthcare Professionals (IAPCC-HCP). Data were obtained from a criterion-based purposive sample of 70 survey participants …

Effectiveness Of Clinical Reasoning Reflection Prompts To Develop Clinical Judgment In Prelicensure Nursing Students: A Quasi-Experimental Study, Tiffany Condren

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The development of clinical judgment is an important topic in nursing education, and various teaching strategies have been proposed to improve this skill among nursing students and new graduate nurses. However, the effectiveness of these strategies is not well-researched. One promising approach is using higher-order questions to guide and develop the thought patterns of clinical reasoning. One suggested teaching strategy is using clinical reasoning reflection prompts based on Tanner’s Clinical Judgment Model. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of using clinical reasoning reflection prompts in the patient care setting to develop clinical judgment among 35 pre-licensure nursing students within …

Quality Assurance Of Cast-In-Place Foundation Elements, Tristen Mee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Construction of cast-in-place concrete deep foundation elements is a common practice, yet performed almost entirely blind, leaving uncertainty in the quality of the as-built, below-ground element. This dissertation focuses on three quality assurance aspects of cast-in-place foundations: an automated concrete tracking system for drilled shafts, an alternate approach to identifying if mass concrete conditions exist in cast-in-place foundations, and as-built auger cast pile grout volume determination.

The volume of concrete in a drilled shaft is relatively easy to track on a truck-by-truck basis, as well as the height of the rising concrete per truck. However, a more detailed volume distribution …

Behavioral And Neural Mechanisms Of Face-Specific Attention During Goal-Directed Visual Search, Jie Zhang, Xiaocang Zhu, Huihui Zhou, Shuo Wang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Goal-directed visual attention is a fundamental cognitive process that enables animals to selectively focus on specific regions of the visual field while filtering out irrelevant information. However, given the domain specificity of social behaviors, it remains unclear whether attention to faces versus nonfaces recruits different neurocognitive processes. In this study, we simultaneously recorded activity from temporal and frontal nodes of the attention network while macaques performed a goal-directed visual search task. V4 and inferotemporal (IT) visual category-selective units, selected during cue presentation, discriminated fixations on targets and distractors during the search but were differentially engaged by face and house targets. …

Vol. 39, No. 11 - Whole No. 248, Eleanor M. Farrell

Mythprint

Mythprint is the monthly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local and written discussion groups.