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Between Florida and the World: Young People and the Politics of Citizenship
No full textThis thesis critically examines how American high school students experience and make sense of global citizenship within the context of a commercial educational tour. Drawing on a case study of students from a Title I public high school in Florida, the research interrogates the narratives of civic transformation promoted by educational travel companies and explores how these narratives intersect with students’ lived realities. Combining ethnographic methods, interviews, and critical discourse analysis, the study reveals that global citizenship is not meaningfully realized through such travel experiences; rather, it is fragmented, depoliticized, and often disconnected from the civic education students receive in school. Through an analysis of students’ reflections and institutional practices, the study foregrounds the contradictions inherent in global citizenship education: between marketed ideals and structural exclusions, between the promise of civic empowerment and the reality of constrained agency. Students expressed moments of skepticism, refusal, and critique—indicative of a nascent political awareness—but these moments rarely cohered into a stable political subjectivity. Instead, they reflected the broader incoherence of civic formation in an educational landscape shaped by neoliberalism, consumerism, and political restriction. The findings call into question dominant assumptions about how young people become citizens and highlight the futility of attempting to cultivate global competencies without attending to local political conditions—particularly in the context of Florida’s increasingly restrictive educational environment. Ultimately, the thesis argues for a reimagining of civic and global education: one that embraces contradiction, centers youth voice, and critically engages with the structural conditions shaping belonging, identity, and participation in public life
Understanding Community College Students’ Thoughts and Motivations Regarding Tutoring in an Undergraduate Mathematics Course
No full textThis mixed-methods study examines community college students’ thoughts and motivations regarding tutoring, with the aim of identifying disparities in tutoring utilization and engagement at a community college in North Carolina. The purpose of the dissertation is to evaluate tutoring effectiveness and explore students’ perceptions of tutoring. The findings of this study led to proposed solutions to reduce or eliminate the barriers that today’s community college students encounter when needing academic support.
To evaluate tutoring effectiveness, I collected quantitative data from institution registration reports, transcripts, tutoring logs, and an anonymous student survey for students enrolled in multiple sections of a single math course. To explore students’ perceptions of tutoring, I conducted nine confidential focus groups with 63 total participants. The participants revealed why a majority do not use traditional tutoring and what they use instead. Major findings indicate that tutoring is effective for most users, especially when tutoring is initiated before or at midterms. However, may students avoid tutoring due to fear of judgment, rejection, and feelings of inferiority for seeking academic support. Further, instead of seeking help from faculty or tutors, students often rely on resources including peers and online resources, including artificial intelligence.
Students at this community college in North Carolina are opting out of tutoring, primarily due to embarrassment, shame, anxiety, and fear of being judged poorly by peers, faculty, and tutors. This dissertation explores these findings and proposes practical, sustainable, and cost-effective recommendations to address students’ perceptions and improve academic support services to help them achieve their academic goals
Improving Professional Learning Communities (PLCS) for Singletons
No full textParticipation in professional learning is generally recognized as a required component of the teaching profession. One type of professional learning is professional learning communities (PLCs). However, there are challenges to implementing successful PLCs that result in relevant professional learning. One challenge is non-standard PLC groupings that contain singletons, especially when those PLC groups are primarily all singletons. This action research study examined educators’ and administrators’ expectations of and experiences with PLCs in a special education cooperative in the Midwest. The goal of the mixed methods research design was to gather enough information from participants to facilitate the creation of an action plan to enhance PLCs for the following school year. The small sample size made it difficult to make any definitive conclusions; however, certain elements were identified as important components of future PLC planning, such as teacher autonomy in the form of choice, support for teacher leadership, and the participation of administrators in PLCs. Because this study was of local significance and the findings were unique to the setting, it may not be possible for other districts or cooperatives to replicate this study and achieve similar results. The findings of this study align with current research about PLCs and adult learning theory, so it is possible that other schools or districts would benefit from applying that research to their PLC practices. The next step that was identified for the cooperative’s PLCs was to gather additional information from educators to support the implementation of the action plan created during the focus group
An Economic Evaluation of Cook at All Costs
No full textCooking shows have been popular for decades with many variations, prizes, and a collection of talented chefs. The Netflix series Cook at All Costs provides a newer playing field incorporating auctions into the challenging landscape. Home chefs are challenged with creating unique dishes from mystery ingredients boxes acquired through various auction types in hopes of winning a monetary prize. The chefs must balance the trade-off between spending money on higher-quality ingredients to improve their chances of winning and saving money across rounds. This thesis will explore the economic concepts presented in the show by providing an understanding of how the game structure, connections to economic theory, and strategies observed through episode data. Analyzation of the show concludes that a balanced bidding strategy yields the best outcomes along with a mix of uncertainty related to skill level and knowledge. Ultimately, this thesis offers a deeper understanding of the strategic decisions contestants face and provides an opportunity for future research
Self-Efficacy and Mathematical Identities in a Rural Georgia Middle School Classroom
No full textEven into adulthood, some people have a strong resentment of math. Their beliefs toward their mathematical abilities have created a fear of the subject, resulting in an avoidance of anything math-related. These thoughts and beliefs regarding math and mathematical abilities begin somewhere along an individual’s academic journey in a math classroom. This action research study, using a mixed-methods approach, attempted to uncover the origins and development of self-efficacy and mathematical identities in rural eighth-grade students. Furthermore, this study explored ways that a teacher can influence these sets of beliefs and examined the impact on academic performance. The framework used to guide this study consisted of self-efficacy theory and mathematical identities theory. Led by the teacher-researcher, this study involved an intervention aimed at improving focal participants’ self-efficacy and mathematical identities. Themes uncovered through the study were: what happens in the teacher’s classroom from the eyes of students, grades, and confidence. Results indicated that through the intervention, academic performance, self-efficacy, and mathematical identities all improved for the focal participants, outperforming participants who did not participate in the intervention. Based on these findings, recommendations were made for teachers to 1) develop a deep understanding of their students, especially their levels of self-efficacy and mathematical identities, 2) be mindful of their actions, both academically related and non-academically related, and 3) seek out the forgotten students
Academic Wellness in Health Professional Students: The Intersection Between Dietary Attitudes and Behaviors, Sleep Quality, and Mental Health
No full textAcademic success is strongly influenced by student well-being, with nutrition, sleep, and mental health emerging as critical and interconnected components. Health profession students often face significant mental and physical demands, as they navigate their educational training, which can challenge their ability to maintain healthy behaviors and access necessary support. Although these students are often trained to recognize, treat, and promote wellness in others, they may struggle to prioritize or seek care for themselves. This work aims to explore the health behaviors and care-seeking patterns of health profession students, with a focus on dietary habits, sleep, and barriers to mental health care. Using a cross-sectional design, we conducted two studies that gained insight into the health behaviors, wellness challenges, and help-seeking patterns of health profession students at one large university in the southeastern United States. Study 1 We examined the dietary behaviors, eating disorder (ED) risk, and sleep patterns of 34 professional master’s-level athletic training students (age = 23 ± 1 years). Participants completed an online prescreening, lab visits (including anthropometrics, resting metabolic rate, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI], Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3), and EDI-3 Symptoms Checklist (EDI-3 SC), and free-living monitoring (7-day food log and Polar Ignite watch for sleep tracking). Results showed that most participants had poor energy balance (EB = -1078.1 ± 695.1 kcal/day), low carbohydrate intake (70.8%), and high saturated fat intake. ED risk was high (61.8%), and PSQI scores indicated poor sleep quality (6.3 ± 2.2). Additionally, a significant association was found between year in school and ED risk (χ²₍₁,₃₄₎=3.85, P=.05). Study 2 We assessed the attitudes and barriers to mental health care among 176 health profession students (age = 23 ± 3 years) across multiple health profession disciplines using an online survey. The survey included demographic questions, past medical history, the the Barriers to Help Seeking Checklist (BHSC), the Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS), and the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help–Short Form (ATSPPH-SF). Results showed that 48.3% of participants reported previous mental health concerns while being a health professional student, and 31.8% of the sample had history of utilizing campus mental health services. MHSAS and ATSPPH-SF scores were 5.38 ± 1.13 and 19.7 ± 5.1, respectively, indicating generally positive attitudes toward seeking help. However, major barriers included lack of time (75.6%), difficulty accessing services (73.5%), and concerns that providers would not understand their needs (42.6%) were present. Conclusion Findings highlight that health profession students, specifically those in athletic training are experiencing elevated risk for eating pathologies, insufficient sleep, and inadequate diet. Factors that may be influenced by their academic and clinical education demands. Across multiple disciplines, health profession students generally possess positive attitudes toward seeking mental health care. Although significant barriers such as lack of time, limited availability, and concerns about provider understanding, are hindering utilization of available services. The personal health and help-seeking behaviors exhibited illuminate the need for institutions to prioritize accessible, supportive environments that bridge gaps between education, behavior, and resource utilization for health profession students
Predicting Sleep and Sleep Stage in Children Using Actigraphy and Heartrate via a Long Short-Term Memory Deep Learning Algorithm: A Performance Evaluation
No full textChildren\u27s ambulatory sleep is commonly measured via actigraphy. However, traditional actigraphy measured sleep (e.g., Sadeh algorithm) struggles to predict wake (i.e., specificity, values typically \u3c 70) and cannot predict sleep stages. Long short-term memory (LSTM) is a machine learning algorithm that may address these deficiencies. This study evaluated the agreement of LSTM sleep estimates from actigraphy and heartrate (HR) data with polysomnography (PSG). Children (N = 238, 5–12 years,52.8% male, 50% Black 31.9% White) participated in an overnight laboratory polysomnography. Participants were referred be-cause of suspected sleep disruptions. Children wore an ActiGraph GT9X accelerometer and two of three consumer wearables(i.e., Apple Watch Series 7, Fitbit Sense, Garmin Vivoactive 4) on their non-dominant wrist during the polysomnogram. LSTM estimated sleep versus wake and sleep stage (wake, not-REM, REM) using raw actigraphy and HR data for each 30-s epoch. Logistic regression and random forest were also estimated as a benchmark for performance with which to compare the LSTM results. A 10-fold cross-validation technique was employed, and confusion matrices were constructed. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated to assess the agreement between research-grade and consumer wearables with the criterion polysomnography. For sleep versus wake classification, LSTM outperformed logistic regression and random forest with accuracy ranging from 94.1to 95.1, sensitivity ranging from 94.9 to 95.9 across different devices, and specificity ranging from 84.5 to 89.6. The addition of HR improved the prediction of sleep stages but not binary sleep versus wake. LSTM is promising for predicting sleep and sleep staging from actigraphy data, and HR may improve sleep stage prediction
Jute mill songs: Mary Brooksbank and industrial tradition in a dying industry
No full textThis article outlines some key elements of Dundee’s industrial literary tradition, primarily associated with the city’s jute industry, as expressed in the songs and poems of Mary Brooksbank (1897-1978). It also explores ways in which writers working from the 1980s onwards have used the memory of the jute industry, Brooksbank herself, and associated verse traditions to imagine place and work in post-industrial Dundee
Assessing the Feasibility of Transportable Nuclear Reactors: A Radiological Risk Case Study
No full textThe feasibility of a truly transportable nuclear reactor presents significant radiological challenges that must be addressed to ensure compliance with regulatory limits and operational safety. This study evaluates the radiological constraints associated with the transportability of the Transportable Helium-cooled One-megawatt Reactor (THOR), focusing on neutron activation, shielding performance, and external radiation exposure. Using advanced radiation transport and activation modeling within the SCALE framework, a comprehensive analysis was conducted to quantify dose rates during operation, post-shutdown, and transport. A key aspect of this work involved assessing activation products in core materials, auxiliary components, and surrounding environments to determine their contribution to residual radiation. The Ground Radiological Overview Of Transportable-reactors (GROOT) framework was developed and applied to evaluate neutron-induced activation of ground materials, providing a scalable methodology for site decontamination assessments. Results indicate that while shielding effectively mitigates operational dose rates, post-shutdown activation remains a limiting factor for rapid relocation. Compliance with NRC 10 CFR 71.47 transport dose limits is achievable, though more detailed modeling would be required to ensure full confidence in shielding performance across varied operational scenarios. Ground activation was identified as a key concern for long-term site contamination, with results showing activation levels highly dependent on soil composition and trace elements. Wide-area activation modeling demonstrated that certain materials require extended decay periods before reaching regulatory decommissioning limits. The findings of this study establish a foundation for optimizing the deployment of mobile nuclear reactors while ensuring adherence to radiation protection standards. By advancing activation modeling techniques, refining shielding configurations, and improving transport logistics, this research supports the development of truly transportable nuclear power solutions for defense, emergency response, and remote energy applications
In the Shadow of Geopolitical Tensions: Three Essays
No full textThis dissertation focuses on geopolitical tensions and their effects on corporate global strategy. The dissertation includes two empirical studies and a measurement/database development study. Each of these three chapters introduces a novel perspective on firm strategies when faced with potential negative externalities arising from geopolitical tensions. In the first chapter, I investigate ownership complexity strategies large multinational enterprises (MNEs) use in an effort to conceal their identity and avoid the liability of foreignness. The second chapter compares strategic acquirers with financial acquirers, and investigates how geopolitical tensions influence their cross-border acquisition target selection. The final chapter draws from time-series statistics and develops a novel methodology to extract dynamic components from any given time-series, without the need for prior knowledge about the data structure of the given time-series