Middle Tennessee State University
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The Effects of Plyometric Training Volume and Surface Composition on Jump Performance
No full textPlyometric training (PT) is a popular method used to improve vertical and horizontal jump performance. However, the influence of training surface and volume on the effectiveness of PT remains unclear. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the effects of training surface and volume following a 6-week PT program on jump performance in physically active individuals (PAI). For study 1, participants (N = 18) completed a 6-week PT program on either a soft (2-inch foam surface; n = 9) or hard (hardwood gymnasium floor; n = 9) surface. Vertical jump performance was assessed by squat jump (SJ), counter-movement jump (CMJ), and approach jump (AJ) before and after the PT program. For Study 2, participants (N = 12) completed a 6-week PT program with either moderate volume (1460 total foot contacts) or high volume (1850 total foot contacts).Jump performance was assessed using broad jump (BJ), SJ, CMJ, AJ. Participants for both studies were recruited through email at Middle Tennessee State University. The results of the first study indicated significant improvement in SJ, CMJ, and AJ regardless of training surface. The results of the second study similarly indicated significant improvement from pre- to post-testing for BJ, CMJ, and AJ, regardless of training volume. Notably, neither training group exhibited significant improvements in SJ performance. Considering the findings of these studies, practitioners looking to elicit improvements in vertical jump should align the PT training surface with individual needs, preferences, and resources. Additionally, improvements in vertical and horizontal jump performance can be elicited with programs as low as 1460 total foot contacts. With the two volumes utilized in this dissertation, there is no apparent benefit to the higher training volume based on the outcomes measured.Ph.D
Pension Reforms, Financial Markets, and Wage Growth: Three Essays on the Political Economy of Pensions
No full textThis dissertation comprises three essays that examine the political economy of pensions. The first essay investigates the impact of investment restrictions on pension participants in Nigeria following the transition to a defined contribution model in 2004. The study argues that restrictions on foreign investment in Nigeria ultimately harm pension participants by denying them access to high-performing securities. The essay highlights that Nigeria's regulations impede capital formation anticipated by funded pension plans by restricting pension funds' access to foreign assets and encouraging them to invest up to 80% of their assets in domestic sovereign debt. The study found that Nigerian pension funds could optimize their returns by investing at least 46.86% of their assets in global markets.
The second essay examines the role of pension reforms in the development of the Nigerian financial markets. Using an error correction model (ECM), the study analyzes the influence of pension assets on prices and volatility in the stock, bond, and money markets. The results show that pension fund assets positively impact all three financial market segments in both the short and long run. The findings suggest that pension reforms have contributed to the development of the Nigerian financial markets and highlight the importance of pension funds as institutional investors.
The third essay investigates the impact of declining relative real wage growth on the shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension plans in the US private sector. The study hypothesizes a direct relationship between real wage growth and DB plan participation. Using an error correction model (ECM) and annual data from 1975 to 2021, the study finds that a decrease in the share of national income going to wages and salaries, as well as total compensation including proprietor's income, is associated with a decrease in the share of pension assets allocated to DB plans. The findings suggest that declining real wage growth has contributed to the decline of DB plans and may have implications for retirement security and income inequality.Ph.D
Hookup Culture in the Modern Society: A Creative Exploration of Its Affects;Creative Project Title: Disconnected Intimacy
No full textThe content of this creative thesis project centers around my personal experiences
and emotions regarding hookup culture and other young adults struggling to find genuine
relationships in today's society. This project is significant as I care deeply about people
and their struggles. I aspire to be a confidant and source of support for those in need,
even if the favor is not returned. This outlook also shapes my perspective on
relationships, doing anything in my power to prove my loyalty and love. In today's world,
many individuals seek only instant gratification, and once they achieve it, they tend to
move on. I intend to create a handmade book utilizing multiple-colored papers and
mediums, composing multiple illustrations, along with the works of others, to convey
how this culture negatively impacts today's young adults
Qualifying Novices' Conceptual Resources in Computer Science I
No full textLearning can be conceptualized as change in long-term memory, but this change is mediated
by the concepts, strategies, and values learners bring into the classroom. This thesis
describes an ontology of the prior knowledge novice programmers enter introductory computing
courses with and how such knowledge mediates their programming practice. To generate
this ontology, I conducted 1:1 clinical interviews with 6 novice programmers recruited
from introductory programming courses at Middle Tennessee State University. During the
interviews, I presented novices with a series of programming problems and asked them to
think aloud as they reasoned about them. I found that novice programmers entered their
programming courses with manifold conceptions of the assignment operator and conceptual
resources about knowledge of programs. This thesis clarifies the difficulties novices
have when learning to program, contributes a computing-specific description of novices’
knowledge, and provides groundwork on which future design-based research may be conducted
Role Recognition and Perception of Success in Baseball Batting Orders
No full textThis study investigates the recognition of roles and perceptions of success linked to different positions in baseball batting orders. By including a range of statistical analyses in the literature review, the researcher was able to compare and contrast participant responses with data-driven ideal scenarios. Using a phenomenological methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather rich, detailed accounts of individual experiences. The study identifies several key themes, including the understanding and significance of batting order roles, self-perception and identity within those roles, psychological adjustments to changes in batting order position, impacts of individual performance, dynamics between teammates and coaches, and strategic situational hitting. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the psychological and performance-related aspects of batting order placement in baseball.M.S
The Impact of Teacher Sensemaking and Attribution Theory on Instructional Decision-Making
No full textThis dissertation discusses the relationship between teacher sensemaking, attributions, and instructional adjustments prompted in response to student performance data. Through this qualitative observation study, this paper explores the varying perspectives of teachers, including their level of assessment literacy, and the dynamics of their Professional Learning Community (PLC) teams, and how they impact the teachers’ perceptions of student performance data. Furthermore, this research examines how leaders in the field can leverage the insights gained from teachers’ sensemaking processes to better support them in the context of a PLC. This dissertation aims to contribute to the research surrounding teacher sensemaking and attribution theory to gain a deeper understanding of factors that influence instructional decision-making.Ed.D
An Analysis of the Relationship Between Work-Related Stressors and Criminal Behavior
No full textThe U.S. work culture places a significant burden on working families, with so-called "bad jobs" drawing attention for their detrimental impact on employees’ well-being and their association with negative behavioral outcomes, including criminal behavior. While prior research has focused on the association between workplace stress and crime among law enforcement professionals and perpetrators of white-collar crimes, there is a lack of research on other occupations and for different types of offenses. My study aims to investigate whether work-related stressors, such as job strain, job dissatisfaction, low job commitment, and family-work conflict, contribute to individuals in the United States resorting to illegal means to fulfill their needs. More specifically, I examined the associations between work-related stressors and several criminal outcomes, including criminal offending, intimate partner violence (IPV), arrest, and incarceration, whether these associations were mediated by negative affective states (e.g., depression or anxiety), and whether individuals’ sex, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES) moderated these associations. To achieve these objectives, I use data from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative study of adolescents, and employ a series of logistic regression analyses to investigate the proposed associations. Findings reveal that low job commitment was associated with increased odds of criminal offending, IPV, arrest, and incarceration, while work-family conflict was associated with increased odds of IPV. In addition, job strain was positively and job dissatisfaction was negatively associated with incarceration. Depression and anxiety partially mediated the associations of low job commitment and work-family conflict with intimate partner violence. These findings suggest that individuals’ identities may be shifting away from the influence of work, and that the growth of low-quality employment needs to be stymied as it may have far-reaching effects on oneself and one’s community.M.A
Identification With the Weapon: Sword Angel
No full textWithin all forms of narrative media, objects that characters make use of often become emblematic of their identity. Within the action genre, this manifests as characters becoming synonymous with the weapons they carry. Section I of this thesis analyzes how the bound-weapon trope provides avenues for authors to introduce themes of reinvention, rebirth, and rite-of-passage into their stories. It discusses the historical origins of the trope and modern interpretations of it. It investigates why the trope exists, as well as dissects various literal and metaphorical applications of it. Section II of this thesis includes an original screenplay (Sword Angel) and supplementary reading materials. The main character of the screenplay participates in the bound-weapon trope by creating a bound weapon of their own.
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Making the Mission Matter: Exploring the Novice School Leader’s Sense Making A Qualitative Action Research Study
No full textABSTRACT
A principal’s journey to leading an effective school is paved with many winding roads with different choices of which path to take. The number of challenges a principal can experience daily is astronomical and overwhelming, especially for a novice principal learning the trade. With all the different voices and influences coming at the leadership of a school, the principal needs a guiding light to lead the school in the same direction towards the success of all. Lezotte and Snyder (2011) describe seven strategies to creating a successful school, one of which, the school mission, became the focus of this research. This study set out to explore the sense-making process and experiences of a novice principal as they worked to keep the mission central. This qualitative action research study focused on a novice principal’s sense making processes related to leadership experiences considering the school’s mission. The author served as that novice principal in this study and tracked reflections, sense making and experiences across a three-month journaling period. Results indicated that the school mission played a significant role in the sense-making process of a novice principal, regardless of the type of experience at hand such as personnel decisions, professional learning communities and collaboration, as well as instruction and student learning. In addition, the study showed that keeping the mission central during the sense-making process allowed for the novice principal to move in a direction that was consistent and allowed the “noise” of the world of education to be quieted to remain focused on the task at hand: educating all. The study results found that additional research needs to be conducted on school mission and its direct connection to student achievement and school outcomes.Ed.D
IMMUNOMODULATORY ACTIVITY OF SYNTHETIC AURONE DERIVATIVES, AZAAURONES, IN LPS-STIMULATED RAW 246.7 MACROPHAGE-LIKE CELLS
No full textInflammation, a fundamental biological response, is essential for various physiological processes. However, dysregulated or chronic inflammation is linked to numerous pathological conditions. This thesis delves into the unexplored realm of azaaurone derivatives, nitrogen-substituted versions of aurones, investigating their potential as anti-inflammatory agents. The research comprises two distinct chapters, each shedding light on different facets of the anti-inflammatory properties of azaaurones. In the first experiment, titled "Evaluation of Twenty-Seven Azaaurone Derivatives as Potential Anti-Inflammatory Agents," a screening of 27 azaaurones for cytotoxicity in RAW 264.7 cells, a murine macrophage-like cell model, was conducted. Four promising derivatives (AAA2Me, AAA3Br, AAAPh and AAA3Me) were identified as showing minimal cytotoxicity. Subsequent treatments of the macrophage-like cells demonstrated a dose-dependent reduction in nitrite production, with AAAPh and AAA3Me exhibiting notable inhibitory effects. Importantly, azaaurones displayed anti-inflammatory potential at concentrations approximately 40 times lower than aurones, highlighting their considerable bioactivity. In the second experiment, titled "The Effects of the Synthetic Azaaurone (Z)-1-Acetyl-2- Benzylideneindolin-3-one on iNOS, NF-κB, and MAPK Pathways in LPS-Stimulated RAW 264.7 Cells," the focus shifted to (Z)-1-Acetyl-2-Benzylideneindolin-3-one and its derivatives. The study assessed iNOS protein expression, NF-κB and MAPK pathway activation, and TNF-α secretion in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. While azaaurones did not significantly reduce iNOS protein expression, they demonstrated promising effects
on inflammation-associated signaling pathways. Notably, AAA2Me showed a significant reduction in p38 protein expression, indicating a potential mechanism of action. Additionally, a trend towards decreased pp38 and reduced TNF-α secretion by multiple derivatives further supports their anti-inflammatory efficacy. These findings collectively underscore the considerable anti-inflammatory potential of azaaurone derivatives, positioning them as promising candidates for further drug development. The significant inhibition observed at low concentrations, coupled with insights into their molecular interactions and impact on key signaling pathways, provides a solid foundation for future research and therapeutic applications targeting inflammatory responses. The potential of azaaurones to address chronic inflammation and associated diseases opens up new possibilities for advancing drug discovery and improving clinical outcomes.Ph.D