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Presumed Motive as a Mechanism for Presumed Media Influence
No full textThe media not only affects individuals directly but also indirectly through their perceptions of how the media affects others. People form impressions about how media affect others and may act upon these impressions, which is known as the influence of presumed influence. Over the years, various mechanisms have been proposed to explain why presumed media effects on others occur in the first place. Dimensions such as the characteristics of the perceivers, the quality of the messages, and the features of the perceived have been found to moderate the strength of presumed media effects on others.
The current dissertation proposes a new mechanism for presumed media influence by introducing presumed motive and its functionality in shaping presumed media influence on others. As people presume the motives of others and are exposed to media content that others see, they estimate the influence of media on others based on assumptions about the alignment between presumed motive and media messages. Study One was a survey that examined the potential relationship between presumed motive and presumed media influence. Seven hundred three participants rated their thoughts on the motives of political out-group members and how these individuals could be influenced by opposing partisan media. The survey results revealed a significant relationship between presumed motive and presumed media influence. Furthermore, Study Two, which consisted of an experiment with 373 participants, was conducted. Descriptions and partisan commitment cues of a member belonging to the participants’ opposing parties were manipulated. The experiment results provided evidence that partisan cues caused a change in presumed motive, which, once again, had a significant relationship with presumed media influence. However, results from neither the survey nor the experiment provided evidence for a significant relationship between presumed media influence and its behavioral component, namely, corrective actions and support for censorship
Adaptive Leadership and Data-Driven Coaching: Cultivating Collaborative Culture and Deepening Learning for Reading Achievement
No full textAdaptive school leaders continually address the pressing issue of student achievement gaps stemming from cultural and instructional factors. A gap in the literature regarding the efficacy of the adaptive leadership style combined with a systematic data-coaching framework within a parochial Catholic school exists. This inside action research qualitative study, using B. Glaser and Strauss’s (2017) constant comparative method, involved examining whether the impact of professional development designed and delivered to two to three leaders and 13 reading teachers at a large, urban, private (PK-8th grade) Catholic school campus, Great Victory School (a pseudonym), during the Fall of 2024 would increase team capacity to focus direction, cultivate collaborative culture, and deepen learning designed to maximize accountability and ultimately grow student reading achievement. Through analysis of interviews, surveys, and exit tickets, the goal was to develop clear explanations and a theory regarding an adaptive leadership stance within Fullan and Quinn’s coherence framework (2016), combined with specific data coaching techniques, to improve reading teacher efficacy
Acquiring Identity Capital in Addiction Recovery Through Collegiate Recovery Program Supported Higher Education; A collaborative Ethnography
No full textAddiction recovery is a multi-faceted process of change that goes beyond mere abstinence. One important component of the recovery process is identity change. Successful recovery requires a change in one’s identity and self-perception, that moves them from an addict identity, to an identity that is focused on personal growth and development. Existing research reveals that people in addiction recovery can experience positive identity development by accessing and integrating into new pro-social and pro-recovery networks. However, beyond the pro-social pathway to positive identity development, there remains a gap in the literature that indicate other pathways to positive identity development. To address this gap in the literature, this collaborative ethnography aimed to qualitatively determine what role CRP supported college education had on self-perception and identity among college students in addiction recovery. Three data collection methods were utilized to answer the research question, semi-structured interviews, field notes from cultural observations, and field notes taken from consultant member checking meetings. Thematic analysis generated five broad themes demonstrating a process of positive identity development had occurred among the students. Specifically, the students progressed from feeling inadequate and inferior in the college context to becoming socially and academically integrated and influential in the college setting. Although the collegiate recovery program was instrumental in helping the students situate in the college ecology, the students also flourished in the wider college context. By accessing personal, social and community capital together, a fourth recovery capital domain formed i.e., identity capital. Future studies utilizing quantitative methods to measure identity capital among students in addiction recovery would further advance the field
Improving Social Presence in Online Learning by Enhancing Affective Expression, Open Communication, and Group Cohesion
No full textThis study investigated the impact of enhancing social presence—specifically affective expression, open communication, and group cohesion—on learner satisfaction, perceived learning, and motivation in online military training environments. Grounded in the Community of Inquiry framework and social constructivist theory, a quasi-experimental mixed-methods design was employed with 79 participants from two asynchronous U.S. Air Force courses. One session of each course served as a control group, while the second implemented structured social presence interventions following instructor orientation.
Quantitative analyses revealed statistically significant post-intervention gains in all measured variables, with open communication emerging as the most consistent predictor of learner outcomes. Affective expression significantly influenced perceived learning and motivation, while group cohesion most strongly predicted satisfaction. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses supported the quantitative findings but also highlighted ongoing challenges with peer collaboration and technology access. Results suggest that strategically designed social presence interventions can improve learner engagement in high-structure environments such as military education
Representations of Womanhood and Art as Political Activism: An Analysis of Contemporary Sri Lankan War Narratives
No full textSri Lankan literature is heavily influenced by ethnic and political violence that occurred from the 1980s. The civil war (1983-2009) fought between the Sinhalese dominated state and Tamil militant groups, especially the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the political conflict between the state and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) form the backdrop of many narratives. While themes of loss, trauma, identity politics and dislocation explored by both diasporic and resident Sri Lankan novelists have been studied previously, diverse portrayals of womanhood, especially in relation to Tamil women, and the role of art within conflict zones have not received adequate attention. This research explores how the rhetoric of woman-as-nation unfolds in popular culture and literature via the dominant tropes of women as mothers, victims and militants. Contemporary Sri Lankan war narratives challenge such essentialist representations by providing alternative readings of womanhood within conflict zones. Accordingly, women perform crucial roles as political activists, medical experts in addition to their roles as mothers, wives and sisters within their communities. This research also explores how artistic modes of expression such as painting, sculpture and photography become tools through which collective and personal trauma are communicated, especially where language fails. Art is recognized as a form of political activism and a site of resistance against the pain and violence experienced by individuals during and after war. Using postcolonial feminism and trauma theory as a theoretical framework, these concepts are discussed through an analysis of the novels Song of the Sun God by Shankari Chandran, Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera, Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan, Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje and The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Empowering Educators and Cultivating Instructional Excellence: A Coaching and Feedback Framework to Elevate Instruction and Advance Equitable Student Achievement
No full textThis action research study explores the impact of instructional coaching, peer-to-peer coaching, and immediate feedback on building teacher instructional capacity and self-efficacy in the classroom. The study was conducted over a four-week period with five participating teachers. It implemented structured coaching cycles that incorporated targeted and individualized feedback. Teachers engaged in one-on-one coaching sessions, peer collaboration, and real-time feedback coaching to refine instructional practices. Pre- and post-surveys were administered to measure changes in teacher self-efficacy and perceptions of instructional growth. Data collection also included observations, teacher reflections, and differentiated feedback to assess the effectiveness of the coaching interventions. Findings indicate that coaching and immediate feedback are crucial in developing teacher pedagogical knowledge, enhancing confidence, and enhancing Tier 1 instruction. The study highlights the importance of collaborative professional development and provides implications for sustainable coaching models that can be integrated into ongoing instructional improvement efforts
An Assessment of Fine-Scale Microclimate Conditions in Eastern Purple Martin Artificial Housing and its Influence on Productivity
No full textAerial insectivores are experiencing significant long-term declines throughout their ranges. The eastern subspecies of Purple Martin’s (Progne subis subis) reliance on artificial housing to successfully reproduce has made it particularly vulnerable, and while classified as a species of least concern in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN Red List), the North American Breeding Bird Survey reports an annual decline of 0.5% annually with long-term population declines averaging 37% over the last ten years. This decline could be attributed to many factors, including habitat loss, climate change, declines in insect populations, and nest site competition with non-native species.
Given that managed artificial housing promotes high productivity, climate varies across the species’ range, and that there is a wide variety of housing options available to Purple Martin enthusiasts, the goal of my research is to better understand the influence of microclimate on egg and chick survival across the range of the eastern Purple Martin among different artificial housing types and ecoregions. I collected microclimate data from Purple Martin colonies across the range of the eastern subspecies using Maxim Integrated Semiconductor data loggers (i.e. iButtons) on the inside of six selected control housing types containing no nests and five to seven randomly selected houses with active nests within each colony. iButtons recorded air temperature and relative humidity at 10-minute intervals until all breeding activities were completed among all cavities. Nest checks were conducted weekly at each colony according to the Purple Martin Conservation Association’s established protocol.
Results revealed significant colony-level variation in temperature and Vapor Pressure Deficit with strong and consistent effects of house type, diel period, and orientation parameters. My data indicate that, of the six housing types included in this study, Excluder, Troyer Horizontal, and Troyer Vertical gourds were consistently warmer and more arid than external ambient conditions across all study locations (p < 0.0001), whereas Chirpy Houses and Natural gourds maintained cooler and more humid internal conditions compared to external conditions (p < 0.0001). Nest survival was significantly associated with internal microclimate conditions, with Upper Thermal Safety Margin (UpperTSM), or the estimate of how close nest temperatures come to critical physiological heating limits, emerging as the strongest predictor of daily survival across both incubation and nestling stages. Each 1 °C increase in UpperTSM reduced daily failure risk by approximately 2–3%, yielding cumulative survival advantages over the full nesting cycle. Daily temperature range had a secondary but significant effect, with wider fluctuations increasing failure probability. Housing type remained an independent predictor after accounting for microclimate: Chirpy and Excluder designs were associated with improved survival, while Troyer and Natural gourds exhibited an elevated failure risk, although small sample sizes constrained the estimates. Humidity-related variables received minimal model support, indicating that thermal stress, rather than dehydration, was the dominant environmental constraint on productivity
Geochemistry of pathological Palmatolepis from the Late Devonian Sweetland Creek Shale, Iowa
No full textThe Lower Kellwasser biogeochemical event (LKE) is marked by faunal turnover, dysoxic shales, and an associated positive δ13C excursion recording anoxic/euxinic conditions which alter elemental cycling within the ocean. In addition, shales from the type Sweetland Creek, Iowa, record an abundance of aberrant conodont morphotypes during the LKE. This research tests the hypothesis that the malformed conodonts develop through increased uptake of reduction-oxidation (redox)-sensitive elements into their apatite against the null hypothesis of development through repair of typical damage.
This study combines qualitative description of conodont morphology and quantitative analysis of conodont geochemistry to better understand biotic impacts of the LKE. Oil immersion microscopy is used to observe conodont growth laminae and assess the null hypothesis. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images are used to describe pathology while electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) is used to preliminarily map spatial variation of elements on the conodont platform. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) quantifies elemental concentration in normal and pathological conodonts.
Mean elemental concentration data reveals statistically significant increases in Zn concentration within pathological conodonts compared to their normal counterparts that cannot be caused diagenetically. Enrichment of Zn within malformed specimens warrants further investigation into pathological conodonts as records of environmental crises
Enduring Because of Who You Are: The Impact of Identity on Persistence
No full textPersisting through challenging tasks is a crucial skill for a successful life. Reminding people of an identity relevant to the task may serve as an intervention for increasing task
persistence. The present study tested whether priming a physical strength identity increases persistence on a physical task compared to priming a task-unrelated identity. After establishing baseline performance on a static weight hold task, participants were randomly assigned to answer questions relating to either their physical strength identity or their family member identity. Participants then completed the weight hold task again and responded to surveys assessing desire to quit, physical strength identity centrality, and task motivation. The change in weight hold time did not significantly differ between the conditions and the observed effect size was small (~4 second difference; d=-0.20), raising questions about the intervention’s practical significance. However, participants’ perception of the weight hold task’s relatedness to physical strength significantly moderated the intervention effect. Among participants in the family member identity salience condition, those who perceived the weight hold as more related to physical strength showed greater performance improvement. This relationship was non-significant in the physical strength identity salience condition. These findings suggest that identity primes may be a weak intervention with small practical effects for improving persistence
