Digital Commons Network^™

Judicial Legitimacy And The Dearth Of State Supreme Court Knowledge, Tj Kimel

Theses and Dissertations

As western democracies face challenges unseen since the Cold War ended, understanding the correlates of legitimacy for democratic institutions has grown in importance. While scholars have well-developed theories and empirical evidence of Supreme Court support, we know far less about state supreme court legitimacy. This is despite the fact that these courts hand down 100,000 legal decisions annually. Relying on an original survey conducted with participants in 46 states, I develop and test a theory that respondents rely on the Supreme Court as a cue when deciding whether they should extend legitimacy to state supreme courts they know next to …

Time: A Measure Of Change, Brittany A. Gentry

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the metaphysical nature of time by drawing on literature in epistemology of measurement. Using such literature, I defend an account of time as a measure of change. I use literature on measurement to critique other metaphysical accounts of time and argue that some current metaphysical accounts of time are inadequate as accounts of time. The inadequacies we find in these accounts of time along with various other demands we have of an account of time push us further towards accepting the account of time I offer. While I defend a particular account of time, adopting that account …

Bel Canto To Punk And Back: Lessons For The Vocal Cross-Training Singer And Teacher, Lara C. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Most singing studied and taught before the 20th century was based on western European classical forms. The continual development of opera and its increase in popularity caused singers to adjust vocally as orchestras grew in size and theaters became larger. As a result, the pedagogy of classical vocal styles has been studied, developed and described in print for hundreds of years.

With the invention of both recorded and amplified sound however, new styles of singing emerged, allowing singers to be heard without the need to project over large orchestras in huge spaces. These new singing styles, developed for the most …

To Prelude (V.): The Art Of Preluding And Applications For The Modern Classical Guitarist, Christopher Schoelen

Theses and Dissertations

In Western classical music, there are many types of compositions; some examples include sonatas, symphonies, fugues, and motets, each with a particular form. The prelude stands out as one of the few classical music forms in which the title can also be used as a verb. This is not frequently seen with other compositional types; there is never a case of “sonata-ing,” and an orchestra cannot suddenly burst into “symphony-ing.” However, there is a practice known as preluding. Historically, preluding was a common improvisational practice although many musicians today are unfamiliar with the tradition. Generally unexplored, preluding has played an …

Multidimenstional Balance In Youth With Visual Impairments, Adam Pennell

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three studies which examined multidimensional balance in youth (≤ 21 years; Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2004) with visual impairments (VIs) using the Brief-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Brief- BESTest). These studies have the potential to inform (adapted) physical education curricula and therapeutic/rehabilitative practices by providing novel understandings of balance performance in youth with VIs. If identified as a meaningful mechanism of action, the assessment and development of multidimensional balance in youth with VIs should be given elevated status by practitioners. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to investigate multidimensional balance in youth with VIs.

The …

African American Hair And Beauty: Examining Afrocentricity And Identity Through The Reemergence And Expression Of Natural Hair In The 21st Century, Tiffany Nicole Peacock

Theses and Dissertations

In the 21st century, African American women are challenging the stereotypes and limitations of who or what defines beauty. More African American women are cutting off their relaxed tresses and starting anew with the natural roots that was inherited from their African ancestors. The recent transition challenges post-colonial ideas of what it means to have good or bad hair through the empowerment of Black men and women. Rooted within the Black Power and Black is Beautiful movements of the 1970s, African American women are no longer accepting or tolerating how someone else will define their hair. By altering their kinky, …

An Examination Of Lukas Ligeti’S Thinking Songs: An Analysis Of Compositional Techniques For Ligeti’S Contemporary Solo Marimba Composition, Caitlin Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Thinking Songs by Lukas Ligeti is a contemporary solo five-octave marimba work containing five movements. Thinking Songs is expansive in terms of length, content, and marimba technique. This study explores compositional influences throughout the piece and unveils influences in both Western Classical music and African music. This document contains seven chapters and a bibliography. Each movement unveils unique compositional influences that will be explored. Movement One, “Dance,” reveals the music of the Chopi people and timbila xylophones to be a compositional influence. The standard lamento bass line, as well as György Kurtág are stylistic influences in movement II, “Lamento.” Movement …

A Model Of Impression Formation In Recruitment, Jonathan Levi Hendricks

Theses and Dissertations

Applicant impressions of organizations are a critical antecedent to applicant decisions within the recruitment process. Recruitment research has examined how applicant perceptions are influenced by organization-specific information within a given industry. However, current recruitment models fail to describe the process of impression formation during recruitment, which inhibits understanding of the recruitment process. Specifically, only limited research has considered how applicants integrate context- related associations (such as perceptions about an industry) with recruitment materials in forming initial perceptions about the organization. Over the course of two experimental studies, I integrate social cognitive research on impression formation into recruitment models to develop …

The Effectiveness Of Video Modeling With Video Feedback On A Given Piece For Mid-To-Late Elementary Piano Students, Huiyun Liang

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of video modeling with video feedback for developing mid-to-late elementary piano students’ motor skills in learning the piece “Polka” by Dmitri Kabalevsky. The secondary purpose was to evaluate the benefits of this method for other aspects of performance and performance retention. Five (N=5) piano students, 8 to 9 years old, at mid-to-late elementary level were selected to participate in this study. The results of the study summarized the performance progress of four participants who demonstrated similar levels of technical and reading skills and completed the test requirements.

The full-scale …

Self-Affirmation And Perspective Taking In Organizations: An Integrated Framework For Examining Process-Oriented Phenomena As Trajectories Of Change, Patrick J. Flynn

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals’ perceptions of their fit within in an organization unfold as a process over time that is subject to influence and change. This dissertation is a program of research that takes a process-oriented approach to understanding change from patterns of outcome trajectories and trajectory changes. Appendix A presents a study that introduces a conceptual framework for a temporal approach to change. Appendix A showed that strong events serve to change the trajectory of individuals’ affective commitment. Appendix B presents a first intervention study with surprising results where instead of self-affirmation, perspective taking appeared to facilitate positive trajectory changes in individuals’ …

Path Loss Models For Two Small Airport Indoor Environments At 31 Ghz, Alexander L. Grant

Theses and Dissertations

Path loss modeling plays a fundamental role in the design of fixed and mobile communication systems for a range of applications. Another term for path loss is channel attenuation, or reduction in signal power from transmitter to receiver. Work here was in support of a NASA project for advanced air traffic management (ATM) applications, specifically for improving the efficiency of airports. Measurements in the millimeter wave (mmWave) band were conducted at 31 GHz in indoor settings at a small municipal airport, the Jim Hamilton–L.B. Owens Airport, in Columbia, SC. Some measurements were also taken at 5 GHz for comparison. A …

Rage Expression And Inflammation In Alzheimer’S Disease: In Vitro Model Development And Investigation Of A Potential Peptoid Inhibitor, Lauren Michell Wolf

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), efforts to establish a definitive treatment or cure have met with little success. Many previous therapeutic strategies for AD have focused on the aggregation and accumulation of amyloid-b (Ab) in the brain, concentrating on its small intermediate aggregates as the primary targets to ameliorate neurotoxicity and damage. This approach has yielded little progress, and more recent discussions have shifted to strategies geared toward a multifaceted pathology, with chronic neuroinflammation emerging as an important factor in the disease etiology and progression.

The receptor for advanced glycation end-products, or RAGE, is …

Essays In The Economics Of Education, Breyon J. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

I examine, separately, the impact of three education programs on student achievement, using difference-in-differences and difference-in-difference-in-differences designs. First, I examine whether spillover benefits on achievement exist from preschool. I estimate the effect of exposure to a South Carolina preschool program that targets disadvantaged four-year-olds on students’ test scores in grades 3 through 5, where exposure means residing in a school district once the program was made available and disadvantaged students are those eligible for free or reduced-price lunch or Medicaid. I find that exposure to the preschool program not only increases the math and reading scores of targeted students, but …

Minimum Wage And National Culture, Zhongyu Cao

Theses and Dissertations

Minimum wage adjustment affects economic agent behaviors and leads to an unintended side effect s. The first chapter of the dissertation studies the impact of the minimum wage level on the college enrollment. Using institution-level data from IPEDS, the results show that the real minimum wage level has significant and diverse effects on different types of enrollment. The results are robust using several alternative specifications and individual level analysis. The second chapter of the dissertation addresses another side effect of the minimum wage law: crime. Using U.S. state-level arrest and offense data and agency-level offense data, this chapter provides empirical …

Child Sport Fan Behavior: An Examination Of The Effects Of Socialization, Branding, And Alternatives On Children’S Psychological Connections To Sports Teams, Katherine Rose Nakamoto Reifurth

Theses and Dissertations

This three-study dissertation focuses on child fans of professional sport teams and the ways in which they become fans and attach themselves and connect to these sport brands. In Study 1, the researchers focused on the socialization into fandom of young children and the effects of communities and the game-day environment on this socialization utilizing qualitative observations and interviews with children ages 6 to 14 and resulted in an expanded understanding of the dame-day aspects that attract and excite children most. In Study 2, the researchers focused on the aspects of a new team’s brand that children ages 5 to …

The Prescribing Patterns Of Gabapentin And Pregabalin In A Medicaid Population Amid The Opioid Epidemic, Sarah Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

OBJECTIVE: Drug overdoses continue to be the leading cause of accidental death in the United States resulting in a nationwide crisis. Opioids, many of them prescription, are now the primary cause of drug overdose related deaths. Gabapentinoids are being promoted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a safer alternative to opioids and have steadily been rising in prescribing rates. However, growing concern is mounting on the potential for gabapentinoid misuse. The goal of this dissertation was to deepen the knowledge and understanding of how gabapentinoids are currently being prescribed, with an emphasis on their co-prescribing with an …

Endolithic Microbial Carbon Cycling In East Antarctica, Natalie Tyler

Theses and Dissertations

Microbes adapt to inhospitable conditions by colonizing niches that protect them from severe environmental conditions, making them model organisms in the search for life on other planets. Endoliths are globally ubiquitous microbes that colonize structural cavities within rocks, which protect them from environmental stressors while maintaining access to nutrition and light sources. Despite harsh katabatic winds, extreme temperature fluctuations, harmful UV radiation and exposure to desiccation, endolithic communities have been observed in Antarctica. Previous studies have found viable and abundant microbial biomass through microscopy and the addition of isotopic labels. However, due to the slow metabolic activity of these microbes, …

Exploring Patient Perceptions And Misconceptions: Beliefs Regarding Hereditary Cancer, Margaret Flach

Theses and Dissertations

Many patients who enter a genetic counseling session have preconceived notions about why they or their family members developed a genetic condition. Often these perceptions are deeply rooted in personal, familial, and/ or cultural beliefs; individuals typically have a personal framework, or schema, into which they incorporate new information. There is limited research on what information patients are retaining during a genetic counseling session and how they are assimilating that knowledge into their existing views. We attempted to characterize these patient perceptions with respect to hereditary cancer, in order to assess how patients are adopting the information presented in a …

“A Solid Foundation Of Stable Possessions”: Gendered Genealogies In Shirley Jackson’S We Have Always Lived In The Castle, Andi Waddell

Theses and Dissertations

Shirley Jackson’s odd and unsettling novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, explores the relationship between family, gender roles, and property through the murdered and murderous Blackwood family. Throughout the novel, Jackson associates objects with either male or female legacies within the family. Constance, Julian, and Merricat Blackwood engage in repetitive, formalized handling of objects, and these ritualized interactions create family history. Even as items associated with the women constitute narratives of female history and thereby subvert the family’s patriarchal structure, objects in the text reveal the way patriarchy reproduces itself in the mundane and the personal. Merricat …

Perspective: Performance Art As A Measured Perception, Nicolas Tyler Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

Coining a seventh principle of architecture allowed for the creation of a solo performance based on architecture, performance and artificial intelligence. The future is impacted on what is presented today. The importance of the ever-changing American theatre is that it has the ability to influence and capture an audience. A sensation of existence crafted by feeling and poetry. A product of productivity – Disconnect is themed off of unconventional innovation. The six principles: Axis, Symmetry, Rhythm, Datum, Hierarchy and Transformation were all tools used to develop a script in characterizing the established space. The stage created the script, the script …

The Impact Of Peer Mediated Instructional Strategies In An Inclusive Project Based Learning Environment, Kathie Stroman

Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes a problem of practice that evolves from a shift in curriculum from a more traditional direct instruction format to that of a progressive, student centered project based learning model. This shift in instructional practices seeks to increase student engagement within the high school and reduce a number of negative factors that stem from low levels of student engagement. In order to adequately meet the needs of students with disabilities within this new model, a systematic review of the use of peer mediated instructional strategies led to the following research question: what impact can the peer mediated instructional …

Inflated Standard Errors Of Mcmc Estimates In Irt, Dongho Shin

Theses and Dissertations

Two widely used algorithms for estimating item response theory (IRT) parameters are Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and the EM algorithm. In general, the MCMC algorithm has advantages over the EM algorithm - for example, the MCMC algorithm allows one to estimate the desired posterior distribution and also works more straightforwardly with complex IRT models. This ease of use, allows one to implement the MCMC algorithm without carefully consideration. Previous studies, Hendrix (2011) and Lee (2016), noted that the estimated standard errors from the MCMC algorithm are larger than those from the EM algorithm. Therefore, this study investigate the reason …

Raising America Racist: How 1920’S Klanswomen Used Education To Implement Systemic Racism, Kathleen Borchard Schoen

Theses and Dissertations

Although not widely known by the modern public, during the height of the Ku Klux Klan's second rise to power in the 1920's, a women's auxiliary was formed – The WKKK, or Women of the Ku Klux Klan. The WKKK was a crucial component in the normalization of the Klan in this era, as they organized public events such as picnics, parades, and ceremonies to draw in the masses. It is imperative however, to move beyond the typical historiographical depiction of Klanswomen’s impact as public event planning because it downplays and ignores their foundational role in creating modern racism. One …

The Impacts Of Episodic Floods, Droughts, Turbidites On Organic Carbon Burial Over The Past 2,000 Years In The Santa Barbara Basin, California, Caitlyn Sarno

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past several millennia, Southern California has experienced episodic climate that have influenced the magnitude and composition of terrestrial and marine material that ultimately reaches ocean sediments. Here, we analyze elemental concentrations, stable isotopes, and n-alkane lipids as tracers of terrestrial and marine sources in drought, turbidite, and flood horizons from a well-dated sediment core in the Santa Barbara Basin (SBB) that spans the last 2,000 years. Stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N), indicate that more terrestrial organic carbon (OC) input occurred during floods relative to non-event periods, while bulk C/N ratios remained relatively constant (~10). Long chain n-alkanes, (C27, …

The Impact Of A Global Education Program On The Critical Global Awareness Level Of Eighth Grade Students In A Rural School In South Carolina, Marina Mosneaguta

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few years of teaching at a school district in a southeastern state, the researcher noticed that her students had become increasingly interested in various global topics. Students wanted to talk about world events and cultures around the world, but they had a limited understanding of their own roles as world citizens. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of global education program on the critical global awareness levels of eighth grade students at East Bridge Middle School. This researcher analyzed the effects of global education program on the critical global awareness level of eighth …

Building Worlds Out Of Inadequate Materials: Infrastucture And Affect In John Dos Passos’ Manhattan Transfer And John Steinbeck’S The Grapes Of Wrath, David Scott Mathews

Theses and Dissertations

The beginning of the 20th century in America featured the rapid economic and infrastructural development of New York City, recently dubbed the “second metropolis.” The technological advancements in electric power and automobility made it possible, and economically desirable, for a larger and larger community to have access to the promise of good fortune that being connected to the metropolis signified. The result of this promise was the formation of the subway system and the highway system. Both John Dos Passos’ Manhattan Transfer and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath explore the space between these poles. In this essay I argue …

Three Essays On Banking, Xinming Li

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation includes three essays related to banking. In the first essay, I identify an important channel through which stronger legal enforcement boosts the real economy – by increasing bank liquidity creation. Results suggest that effective enforceability of contracts increases total, asset-side, liability-side, and off-balance sheet- side liquidity creation, implying favorable causal real economic effects.

In the second essay, we conduct the first broad-based international study on bank- level failures covering 92 countries over 2000-2014 and investigate national culture values as bank failure determinants. We find individualism and masculinity are positively associated with bank failure but operate through different channels. …

The Warped One: Nationalist Adaptations Of The Cuchulain Myth, Martha J. Lee

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I trace the use of the mythic Irish hero Cuchulain by early Irish nationalists. From 1878 to 1939, Standish James O’Grady, Lady Augusta Gregory, and William Butler Yeats employed this figure for specific political and cultural agendas. Cuchulain makes a fitting symbol for the “poet warrior” stereotype that was purposely and incidentally cultivated during the cultural nationalist phase of the Irish Literary Revival, when writers were beginning to explore the Cuchulain myth to demonstrate cultural and linguistic ideals. Nationalists found in Cuchulain a symbol that could tie the cultural to the political and the political to the …

Useful Beauty: Tiffany Favrile, Carnival Glass, And Consumerism At The Turn Of The Twentieth Century, Chelsea Grayburn

Theses and Dissertations

Commercial markets within the United States were changing rapidly in the nineteenth century as improved transportation and efficient methods of mass production made goods available to a wider portion of the population than ever before. The glass market was one of many that changed drastically from the opening of the nineteenth century and on into the early twentieth century. Iridescent art glass, whether cheap pressed glass or expensive blown glass, provides a small window into how advertising and purchasing habits changed and why. The burgeoning middle class was looking for new ways to proclaim respectability and enhance their living space. …

Dead Eye Open., Carlos Guillermo Gomez

Theses and Dissertations

This collection chronicles the youth and adulthood of a speaker, and how those experiences shaped considerations of masculinity, intimacy, and sexuality.