Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Influencing College Students’ Learning Satisfaction With Educational Videos, Fei Wang

Education (PhD) Dissertations

With the development of digital education worldwide, the Chinese Ministry of Education has accelerated the pace of building online education platforms. Especially during the COVID-19 global pandemic from 2020‒2022, online education produced a large number of educational videos. Educational videos have become supplementary teaching resources for teachers in the classroom and independent digital learning materials for students outside of the classroom. However, the rapid production of educational videos to meet teaching needs has led to uneven video quality and caused complaints from students.

This study was conducted in a private university in China, aiming to explore the influencing factors of …

Becoming And Thriving As An Efl Instructor: Exploring Key Factors Contributing To Positive Identity Construction, Weiyi Xia

Education (PhD) Dissertations

This mixed methods study delved into the identity construction of English as a foreign language (EFL) instructors in private universities in China through a sequential two-stage exploration. The first stage adopted a 34-item EFL teacher identity questionnaire. Ninety valid responses were collected and subjected to correlation analysis using SPSS. Due to nonnormality in the data, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman’s rho tests were employed to derive referential outcomes. Data analysis revealed teaching experience and overseas experience were not influencing factors, whereas professional title was important in identity construction. Quantitative data provided references to participants’ recruitment and question design in the second stage …

Shattering The Glass Ceiling: A Grounded Theory Exploration Of Barriers And Facilitators To Women Leaders’ Career Advancement Within Private Universities In China, Xiuying Han

Education (PhD) Dissertations

The underrepresentation of female leaders across various career sectors, especially within higher education institutions (HEIs), has been an ongoing challenge worldwide. Moreover, little has been probed into women’s leadership development within the context of private HEIs in China. This study addresses the gap in academic research by applying a constructivist grounded theory to explore the experiences of women leaders in Chinese private universities. Through interviewing 26 mid- and senior-level women leaders, this study investigates the barriers and facilitators experienced by women leaders in their leadership development journeys within private HEIs in China. The study indicates these women leaders have overcome …

Investigating Factors Influencing Chinese Private College Students’ Engagement In Emergency Online Learning, Limei Cao

Education (PhD) Dissertations

Online learning has witnessed a rapid growth following its widespread adoption across global higher education throughout the COVID-19 global pandemic. Although online learning was intended to maintain continuity of education during the public health emergency, the issue of student engagement in emergency online learning (EOL) has risen to prominence. Given the close association between student engagement and academic outcomes, investigating factors influencing student engagement in EOL is crucial for informing effective educational policies and interventions that support student success. In the absence of a comprehensive theoretical model for understanding student engagement in the unique context of EOL, this study proposed …

Comparative Analysis Of Sensory Attributes, Acceptance, And Evoked-Emotions Between Gluten-Free And Gluten-Containing Cookie Products, Shaelyn Frauenhoffer

Food Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The demand for gluten-free products has increased over the past few decades as more people have been diagnosed with gluten-related dietary restrictions. Although there has been much research into certain gluten-free food products, there remains a gap in understanding the sensory attribute differences between traditional and gluten-free cookies. The aim of this study was to determine differences in sensory attributes and consumer acceptance of gluten-free versus gluten-containing chocolate chip cookies. Twelve chocolate chips across 11 brands were used in this study with 7 being gluten-free and 5 containing gluten. Eighty-nine participants were involved in the two-day study, with six cookies …

Moisture Sorption And Quality Characteristics Of Instant Rice, Anna Mays, Griffiths Atungulu

Food Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Market demand for instant rice--a processed form of rice that is cooked and dehydrated before it is sold--has risen tremendously and become a significant component of the rice industry. Compared to freshly cooked rice, the quality of instant rice (in terms of texture, color, aroma, etc.) is much lower. There exists little information regarding how instant rice’s storage conditions affect its quality. Such information may be elucidated by studying sorption isotherms which describe the storage temperature, relative humidity, and instant rice moisture relationships.

The purpose of this study was to generate moisture sorption isotherms of instant rice for temperatures and …

Artificial Intelligence In The Hotel Industry: The Benefits And Effects On Corporations, Carlie Malone

Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research delves into the benefits and effects of artificial intelligence in the hotel industry. Through a qualitive design, the study shows how the hotel industry since Covid-19 has tried to grow in the technology. The findings were valuable insights from CEO’s, CFO’s, Executives, Directors, and Managers. Nine hotel and technology executives from around the country participated in interviews covering the basic topics of demographics, AI utilized in/on the hotel property, AI and employee experiences, and guest satisfaction with AI.

The challenges stated by the participants were that AI is still in its early stages and being developed. An additional …

Dakodia Wohdaka: Indigenous Language Revitalization In The Lower Sioux Indian Community, Gavin Zempel

Student Research, Papers, and Creative Works

Many Indigenous languages in the Americas are drastically declining in the number of fluent speakers and use within their own communities. The Bdewakantunwan Dialect of Lower Sioux Indian Community in southwestern Minnesota is one of the afore-mentioned Indigenous languages with the last fluent speaker of Dakota in the community passing years ago. Language is essential for maintaining identity, conducting ceremony, mental health, maintaining Indigenous sovereignty, and much more. Revitalizing the Dakota language in Lower Sioux would facilitate the growth of and maintenance of all of the previously said benefits, along with the advantages of bilingualism. The text explores many different …

Evaluating “Grit” (Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied) Groups At The Highland Church Of Christ: An Intergenerational Enhancement Of Small Group Community Life, Beth Ann Fisher

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT This project, Evaluating “GRIT” (Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied) at the Highland Church of Christ: An Intergenerational Enhancement of Small Group Community Life is a response to the request for intergenerational partnership in worship, fellowship, and ministry by the university students at Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. The church’s robust small group life was a logical place to create a vehicle in which intergenerational partners could ride for a determined period in pursuit of their common goals of furthering Highland’s mission and vision. The “Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied” or GRIT groups were formed by combining existing small groups …

Protocols For Enhancing The Role And Value Of Spiritual Care Resources In The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Garrett Harper

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses the assessment of innovative practices in police chaplaincy. The purpose of the project intervention is to develop protocols that can guide police chaplains through an assessment process. The intervention relies on practical theology as exemplified through the ministry of chaplaincy. This ministry comprises police chaplains offering spiritual comfort to persons encountering critical incidents involving violence, accident, or other trauma-intensive events and situations. Adoption of innovations can allow police chaplains to be more effective in fulfilling many outward-focused tasks such as delivery of death notifications. I conclude that: (1) police chaplaincy is amenable to use of protocols to …

Drselects: Global Health Sig’S Emmanuel Tsekleves And Cláudia Libânio, Emmanuel Tsekleves, Cláudia Libânio

DRSelects

No abstract provided.

Cctfv2: Modeling Cyber Competitions, Basheer Qolomany, Tristan J. Calay, Liaquat Hossain, Aos Mulahuwaish, Jacques Bou Abdo

School of Computing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Cyber competitions are usually team activities, where team performance not only depends on the members’ abilities but also on team collaboration. This seems intuitive, especially given that team formation is a well-studied discipline in competitive sports and project management, but unfortunately, team performance and team formation strategies are rarely studied in the context of cybersecurity and cyber competitions. Since cyber competitions are becoming more prevalent and organized, this gap becomes an opportunity to formalize the study of team performance in the context of cyber competitions. This work follows a cross-validating two-approach methodology. The first is the computational modeling of cyber …

Accuracy Of Ora And Newer Generation Formulas For Iol Power Calculation After Prior Refractive Surgery, Raheel Khan, Mark Rolain

Posters

• Patients with cataracts have cloudiness of the lens that impairs vision.
• It must be replaced with a prosthetic lens however the lens’ refractive power has to be calculated using formulas to predict the kind of lens that will be implanted for best visual outcomes.
• Patients that have had prior refractive surgery of the cornea do not have as good refractive outcomes after cataract surgery.1
• The concern is that there is not a goldstandard formula that can be used for this population to predict the refractive power of the lens that should be implanted.
• Optiwave refractive analysis (ORA) is a new …

Coats And Coats-Like Retinopathy In Female Patients, Zara Saleem, Drew Scoles, Antonio Capone Jr

Posters

To report the presentation, stage, clinical characteristics, and course of female patients with Coats and Coats-like retinopathy.

Investigating The Antibacterial Properties Of Capsaicin In Synergy With Antibiotics Against A. Baumannii, Jack Guffey

Undergraduate Theses

As the ever-increasing issue of antibiotic resistance looms, naturally derived compounds have been increasingly investigated as possible synergists with antibiotics. One of these compounds, capsaicin, is a potent vanilloid that is the dominant cause of Capsicum peppers’ spiciness. Capsaicin’s intrinsic ability to inhibit a wide array of bacterial growth has been well documented. The focal organism of this study, Acinetobacter baumannii, has become an increasingly common hospital acquired infection due to its persistence on fomites. Capsaicin, however, is able to inhibit this growth at higher concentrations as well as reduce the necessary minimum inhibitory concentration while decreasing biofilm formation …

Examining The Effects Of Menstrual Cycle Phase And Hormonal Contraceptive Use On Women's Sleep, Charles Ethan Coombs

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Women overrepresent men for sub-optimal sleep, a consequence of hormone fluctuation in the menstrual cycle affecting sleep regulatory pathways. While research has examined the prevalence of sub-optimal sleep through cycle phases, little research has examined how hormonal contraceptives (HC’s) could similarly affect women’s sleep, while also neglecting to utilize subjective sleep measures. In this study, we examine subjective sleep quality among naturally cycling (NC) women, women using different HC types, and between active and inactive phase pill users by subjecting 463 women to a subjective sleep battery. We hypothesized that HC users would report more sub-optimal sleep than NC women. …

The Cognitive Implications Of Literary Devices And Perspective-Taking On Reading Time, Amelia Ward

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The study of literary devices in the context of published fiction is unusual in psychology; however, some research has suggested that reading time may be influenced by cognitive challenges that come with the extra work that may be necessary to understand the meaning behind an author’s usage of literary devices (Miall & Kuiken, 1994; Egen et al., 2019). Jumping off of this suggestion, this present study aimed to answer the question of whether reading time is influenced by factors such as narrative perspective, the usage of literary devices, a person’s print exposure, and a person’s need for cognition, as well …

Functional Biases Toward Formidable Men In Legal Domains, Bridget O'Neil, Mitch Brown

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The recurring threat of physical aggression throughout human evolutionary history presented a selection pressure that favored perceptual acuity threatening people. One heuristic of threat is men's formidability, often indexed by upper body strength. Although functional, such responses could be mismatched with demands of the U.S. legal system. The demands of a fair legal system could be at odds with ancestrally informed motives that serve to mitigate harm, a bias that has previously been demonstrated to increase sentencing length based on features deemed aggressive. This study extends previous findings by focusing on men's upper body strength while assessing how specific motivations …

On-Farm Nitrogen And Irrigation Management Strategies To Protect Groundwater Quality In The Bazile Groundwater Management Area, Arshdeep Singh

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Increasing groundwater nitrate (NO₃-N) contamination has raised significant environmental and health concerns in the irrigated sandy soils of Nebraska. Four studies were conducted to evaluate the impact the impact of 1) static (NE Yield Goal) vs. dynamic nitrogen (N) recommendations tools (Maize-N, Canopy Reflectance Sensing, Granular, and Adapt-N), 2) three N (optimum, suboptimum, and low) and irrigation rates (farmer’s full irrigation (FIT), 80% FIT, and 60% FIT), 3) conventional N sources vs. enhanced efficiency fertilizers (EEFs), and 4) multiple N splits (2, 3, 4, and 5-N splits) on agronomic (maize yield), environmental (NO3-N leaching), and economic returns (return …

Behavioral Biases In Daily Fantasy Baseball: The Case Of The Hot Hand, Jeremy M. Losak, Andrew P. Weinbach, Rodney J. Paul

Sport Management - All Scholarship

Despite mixed evidence, sport participants and fans heavily believe in the existence of the hot hand. Prior literature examining NBA and NFL betting markets found betters were biased toward hot teams. Using a unique market and data set, this study identifies if the hot hand is prevalent in daily fantasy baseball contests, if there is a profitable hot hand selection strategy, and if consumers believe in its existence. Results show that while there is no evidence of a hot hand effect, and no evidence of a profitable hot hand strategy, consumers believe in and incorporate it in their lineup decisions.

Closing The Opportunity Gap, Deanna S. Newton

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Combining Temperature-Dependent Life Table Data Into Insect Life Cycle Model To Forecast Fall Armyworm Spodoptera Frugiperda (Je Smith) Distribution In Maize Agro-Ecological Zones In Africa, Marian Adan, Henri E.Z. Tonnang, Cojdo E.F. Kassa, Klaus Greve, Christian Borgemeister, Georg Goergen

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), an invasive agricultural pest, has significantly impacted crop yields across Africa. This study investigated the relationship between temperature and FAW life history traits, employing life cycle modeling at temperatures of 20, 25, 28, 30, and 32̊C. The development time for eggs, larvae, and pupae varied from 0–3 days, 10–18 days, and 7–16 days, respectively. The optimal temperature range for immature stage survival and female fecundity was identified as 21–25̊C, with the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) and gross reproductive rate (GRR) peaking at 25–28̊C. Model validation confirmed the accuracy of …

The Use Of Stem Cells In Regenerative Medicine, Catharine Wingle, Ms

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

Regenerative Medicine, powered by stem cells, is an emerging field with continuous advancements that impact lives. Stem cells are the precursor to all human cells, and unique characteristics such as the ability to self-renewal and differentiate into other cell types make them versatile in research. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have a greater differentiation potential and can increase into almost any cell type, such as bone, skin, or brain. On the contrary, adult stem cells are more restricted in the cell type they will become. In research, various factors can be combined with stem cells, and these cells are genetically alternated …

The Mysterious Case Of The Attacks Against The Halifax Public Gardens: The Enclosure Of "Common" Property, Public Access To Nature, And Sustainability In The City, Sara Gwendolyn Ross

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This Article will first describe the “thick” textured approach and methodological tools of urban legal anthropology applicable to researching and analyzing urban contact zones, which is then applied as the Article proceeds with the case study of the Halifax Public Gardens and the tree girdling and arson incidents that took place in 2022 to 2023. To situate the category of property within Halifax and within which the Halifax Public Gardens are found in order to move further into a discussion of property access and enclosure in the city, the Article then provides a description of the categories of urban property …

The Rise And Fall Of A Video Game Dynasty And Its Road Back To Glory, Kade Rogerson

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

For years the EA Sports NCAA Football series had been a long-standing success story in the world of sports video games. Combining the unique feel of collegiate athletics with the realistic nature of the game that its technology provides led the series to be a major source of revenue for Electronic Arts, Inc. in the extremely competitive and profitable industries of video games and sports merchandising.

However, the series came to an abrupt halt in 2013. Spearheaded by the O’Bannon v. NCAA lawsuit, EA was forced to discontinue the series after legal action was taken regarding the game’s unauthorized use …

Increasing Utilization Of Community Resources To Address Social Determinants Of Health Barriers In Patients With Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, Kimberly Williams

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing DNP Capstone Projects

PURPOSE: To determine if identifying SDOH barriers to care in adults with DMT2 and providing information about community-based resources designed to decrease the impact of these barriers will improve adherence, decrease SDOH barriers, and reduce HbA1c levels.

DESIGN/METHODS: Quasi-experimental design. Participants completed PRAPARE screenings and received handouts detailing contact information for local resources. HbA1c levels were collected prior to or at the initial appointment. Contact was attempted at 4-6 weeks to ensure resources were utilized. 3-month follow up appointments were completed during which PRAPARE screenings were repeated, HbA1c levels were collected, and post-intervention surveys were completed.

CONClUSIONS: Participants who did …

The Politics Of Gender Affirming Healthcare: A New Battleground For Morality Policy?, Reaves Robinson

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Morality policy as a discipline saw its peak during the transformative years at the turn of the 21^st century; however, there has been very little scholarship to follow new social policy issues that have arisen in the past two decades. Anti-transgender policy, specifically, can be considered under the morality policy scope following years of LGBTQ+ scholarship that fell under the morality policy umbrella. In 2023 alone, more than 200 pieces of anti-transgender legislation were introduced in state legislatures across the nation. A trend among the increasingly popular policy realm can be seen from gender affirming healthcare bans, where almost …

Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller And The Death Of Liberal Republicanism, Anthony Sterba

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller once stood as one of the most prominent figures in the Republican Party, standing as a champion of liberal Republicanism. But from the heights that he achieved with his ascension to the vice presidency, he fell from grace, not being re-nominated for the post alongside President Gerald Ford in 1976. This thesis seeks to explain why this occurred. In explaining this, Rockefeller's previous primary campaigns, vice presidential actions, and ideology are all explored to show the conservative opposition that rallied itself against him. In light of this, Ronald Reagan's challenge of Gerald Ford in 1976 for the …

Short-Term Rentals And Its Impact On Housing Attainability And Availability In Branson, Missouri, And Fayetteville, Arkansas, Sophie Mcadara

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Recent research in the short-term rental (STR) industry shows a positive relationship between the expansion of usage of home-sharing platforms and the cost of housing, as well as an inverse relationship between STR expansion and the availability of long-term housing units. In these studies, as short-term rental units increase, housing costs tend to go up, and long-term housing unit availability tends to decrease by a measurable amount. As the utilization of STRs can be a valuable source of income for citizens and assist with increasing housing prices and the cost of living, leaders, and researchers are also concerned about their …

Foster Children Facing Communication Disorders, Ashlyn Carter

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Undergraduate Honors Theses

The foster care system is alarmingly overpopulated, which leads to many foster children experiencing neglect of care in many issues they face, whether medical, speech, or mental conditions; which is unacceptable. These children already face so many trials and difficulties throughout life and deserve to receive care and treatment in these situations the same as any other child. The purpose of this research is to work to make sure children who are dealing with speech and communication disorders are having those issues recognized, being taken to treatment, and being given the opportunity to fix these things, thus helping to avoid …