Examining the Impact of Interscholastic State Activity Association Athletics Expansion at the Middle School Level in a Large Urban School District

Few studies have been conducted to investigate the educational benefits of participation in extracurricular activities during middle school (Hughes et al., 2016; Knifsend & Graham, 2012). This mixed-methods study involved elicitation of athletic directors’ perceptions and analysis of secondary data to determine the impact of interscholastic athletics participation on school connectedness. The qualitative portion of the study involved an analysis of the perceptions of athletic directors. The quantitative portion of the study involved an analysis of grade-point average (GPA), attendance, and discipline data of middle school students who participated in intramural athletics during the 2016–2017 school year and those who competed in interscholastic athletics between the school years of 2016–2017 through 2019–2020. The qualitative data revealed the following themes: interscholastic athletics participation positively impacts GPA, attendance, and discipline, and students participating in interscholastic athletics experience greater school connectedness. Following analysis of secondary quantitative data both overall and by gender for each year, it was concluded that while there was no significant difference in GPA, there was a significant difference in attendance and discipline; therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. The qualitative and quantitative data directly support the theory of students being more connected to school through interscholastic athletics participation (Finn, 1989; Gowing, 2019; Marsh, 1993)

Cell Phone Use and Adolescent Weight Problems

Overweight in adolescence increases the risk of obesity and many adverse health outcomes later in life. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to investigate the association between cell adolesphone use and weight status in adolescents, ages 14-17 years old, living in the United States. The socio-ecological model (SEM) was used to explain the link between cell phone use and overweight among adolescents. Three research questions were used to explore (a) the relationship between cell phone use and adolescent weight status after controlling for age, gender, and race; (b) the effect of cell phone use on overweight and normal weight statuses among adolescents aged 14-17 years after controlling for age, gender, and physical activity; and ( c) the modifying effect of race on the relationship between cell phone use and adolescent overweight after controlling for age and gender. Secondary data from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System were analyzed using binary logistic regression to answer the research questions. High cell phone use significantly and positively predicted overweight in adolescents after controlling for age, gender, and race (p < 0.001). After accounting for age, gender, and physical activity, high cell phone use was a significant predictor of overweight (p < 0.001). Similarly, race had a significant modifying effect on the positive association between high cell use and overweight among adolescents (p < 0.001). The key positive social change implication of this study is the potential to integrate healthy cell phone use with existing obesity public health interventions that can reduce overweight and positively impact individuals, families, and communities

Integrating Accelerators in Heterogeneous Systems

This work studies programmability enhancing abstractions in the context of accelerators and heterogeneous systems. Specifically, I focus on adapting abstractions that have been successfully established to improve the programmability of CPUs. Specialized accelerators including GPUs, TPUs, and FPGAs promise to deliver orders of magnitude improvements in performance and energy efficiency. However, to exploit these benefits programmers must port existing applications, or develop new ones, that target accelerator-specific programming environments. The availability of established programmability abstractions aids this process and extends the performance benefits to a wider range of applications. This work presents three cases of known CPU abstractions and studies their suitability for accelerator programming; virtual memory, operating system services, and mapping of high-level languages. I study both theoretical suitability in terms of existing operational semantics, as well as design considerations necessary for efficient implementation. First, I study the mapping of high-level dynamic languages to accelerators. High-level languages, like Python, are increasingly popular with designers of scientific applications with a large selection of support libraries. High-level languages are often used to bind together otherwise highly optimized components to form a complete program. I use this observation to examine a specific case of cognitive modeling workloads written in Python and propose a path to efficient execution on accelerators. I demonstrate that it is often possible to extract and optimize core computational kernels using standard compiler techniques. Extracting such kernels offers multiple benefits; it improves performance, it eliminates dynamic language features for more efficient mapping to accelerators and it offers opportunities for exploiting compiler-based analyses to provide direct user feedback. The second major area of study is the access to system services from accelerator programs. While accelerators often work as memory-to-memory devices, there is an increasing amount of evidence in favour of providing them with direct access to network or permanent storage. This work discusses the suitability of existing operating system interfaces (POSIX) and their semantics for inclusion in GPU programs. This work considers the differences between CPU and GPU execution model and the suitability of CPU system calls from both semantics and performance point of view. Finally, I examine challenges in implementing virtual memory for accelerators. To avoid expensive data marshaling overhead, accelerators often support unified virtual address space (also called unified virtual memory). This feature allows the operating system to synchronize CPU and accelerator address spaces. However, designing such a system needs to make several trade-offs to accommodate the complexities of maintaining the mirror layout and at the same time matching accelerator specific data access patterns. This work investigates integrated GPUs as a case study of accelerators and identifies several opportunities for improvement in designing device-side address translation hardware to provide unified virtual address space. Overall, this thesis studies programmability enhancements known from the CPU world and their applications to accelerators. It demonstrates that these techniques adapt well and provide programmability and familiarity to application programmers. Such combination not only opens door to new applications but allows for straightforward acceleration of existing ones, delivering performance benefits of accelerators to a wide range of applications. Proposed extensions to accelerators were implemented and data collected on real systems without any use of system simulators or hardware emulation

Differential Item Functioning in a Teacher-Created Benchmark Mathematics Assessment

The purpose of this study was to examine the presence of gender and ELL Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in a teacher-created mathematics benchmark test in one public charter school district in Northeast Georgia. DIF occurs when an item behaves differently in different subgroups, rather than measuring a test taker’s true ability. The geometry assessment used in this study consisted of 34 dichotomously scored items, and the examinees (N = 183) were a mix of ninth-, tenth-, and eleventh-grade students. The study obtained and analyzed data in a convergent sequential design in two phases using the Delphi and Mantel-Haenszel methods. The first stage sought to find consensus amongst Delphi panel members on the items and their attributes (dis)favoring (a) male and female students and (b) ELL and non-ELL students. The second stage sought to find the amount of statistical DIF using the thin and thick matching variables of the Mantel-Haenszel method. A Delphi panel of 10 experts consented on 31 out of 34 items on gender DIF, and consented on 34 out of 34 items on ELL DIF with a high degree of consensus and a high degree of internal consistency. The panel found that 30% of items had high degree of ELL DIF items; however, no item displayed a high degree of gender DIF. The Mantel-Haenszel analysis of 183 student scores revealed that 10 out of 34 items exhibited ELL DIF and 4 items exhibited gender DIF. Finally, the researcher combined the results from the Delphi and Mantel-Haenszel analyses to explain the DIF phenomena in the teacher-created benchmark mathematics assessment. Critical feminist theory and critical race theory inform the philosophical approach to the problem of DIF. Although many national- and state-level exams are evaluated for DIF, most classroom exams are not. Given the importance of these tests in student assessment, placement, and access to opportunity, it is imperative that teacher-created tests do not discriminate against students belonging to particular gender or ethnic groups. Thus, this study makes recommendations on how to avoid building DIF into assessments

Mapping African American Entertainment Venues in Rutherford County, Tennessee from the 1860s to the 1960s: The History of Black Musical Geography and the Road to Popular Music

This thesis is a case study of African American entertainment venues and vernacular music culture in Rutherford County, Tennessee from the 1860s to the 1960s. The study utilizes spatial analysis of geolocated maps to understand the social, cultural, and historical contexts of this musical geography locally, regionally, statewide and nationally. These maps are imagined as an ethnic geography, suggesting unique relationships to the history of early road building systems and African American travel during the first half of the twentieth century. Put into a sociohistorical context, the venue maps suggest relationships to the cultivation, development and spread of African American vernacular music forms across a racialized, musical landscape that emerged during the twentieth century called The Chitlin’ Circuit

Incorporating Nuclear Quantum Effects for Investigating Non-Adiabatic Dynamics

Accurately and efficiently simulating open quantum systems, such as electronic states interacting with nuclear vibrations or the photon field are one of the central challenges in theoretical chemistry and condensed matter physics. Directly performing exact quantum dynamics simulations of these systems remain computationally demanding. It is thus ideal to develop trajectory-based approaches, which can accurately describe the non-adiabatic electronic transitions among various electronic states while at the same time captures nuclear quantum effects (NQEs) through classical-like trajectories. Among the trajectory based approaches, recently emerged state-dependent Ring Polymer Molecular Dynamics (RPMD) approaches are promising to provide accurate non-adiabatic electronic dynamics while captures the NQEs with ring polymer quantization. Despite the initial success of state-dependent RPMD formalisms, they either can not be able to capture the electronic coherence effects due to the lack of explicit electronic state description (mean-field RPMD) or can not accurately predict the correct Rabi oscillation (mapping variable RPMD) or can not preserve quantum Boltzmann distribution (ring polymer Ehrenfest) in general. Here, in this thesis, we first developed a novel state-dependent RPMD formalism named Coherent State RPMD (CS-RPMD), which can be viewed as a unified classical theory for electronic states (mapping Hamiltonian) and nuclei (ring polymer). Our preliminary investigations suggest that CS-RPMD holds the promise to be the first trajectory-based approach that simultaneously preserves quantum Boltzmann distribution (in a limiting case) over an ensemble of trajectory and captures electronic Rabi oscillation, which is the first key findings of this thesis. Even though state-dependent RPMD based formalisms were originally developed for investigating quantum dynamics under thermal-equilibrium conditions, we investigated the validity of state-dependent RPMD formalism to study the non-adiabatic dynamics under non-equilibrium initial conditions. Our numerical results suggest that state-dependent RPMD has the potential to accurately describe the non-equilibrium dynamics while accurately captures the NQEs with ring polymer quantization. This is the second key findings of this thesis. Moreover, we apply the ring-polymer (RP) quantization to the cavity photon field in polariton chemistry. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first numerical demonstration of using RP quantization of cavity photon field, which is the third key findings of this thesis. Finally, we derived the state-dependent RPMD formalism from non-adiabatic Matsubara dynamics. This work provides a strong theoretical justification for the dynamics governed by these approaches and not only it explained the numerical success of the state-dependent RPMD approaches for equilibrium and non-equilibrium dynamics, but it also provides a general theoretical framework to understand the limitations of these approaches and further improving them. The rigorous justification of the state-dependent RPMD formalisms is one of the crucial discovery in this thesis

The Photoevaporation of Hot Jupiters and Its Observational Consequences

Extra-solar planets (exoplanets) exist in a wide variety of environments. The photoionization-driven evaporation of planetary atmospheres is a fundamental process for hot exoplanets, and is likely to have a significant impact on planets in the habitable zones of M-dwarfs. Given its importance, fully 3-D multi-physics simulations are needed in order to compare with observations. Using AstroBEAR, the transfer of ionizing photons into the atmosphere of a hot Jupiter is modeled self-consistently, the launch of the wind is tracked, and its large-scale evolution via tidal and non-inertial forces is examined. Chapter 2 describes the simulation methods used throughout the work. Simulations of anomalous absorption in the WASP-12 system are presented in chapter 3. Simulations for planets of 0.263 and 0.07 M♃ and stellar fluxes of 2 x 1013 and 2 x 1014 photons/cm2/s are presented and the properties of their winds studied in chapter 4. The role of radiation pressure in shaping exoplanet photoevaporation is examined in chapter 5. Radiation pressure from the host star has been proposed as a mechanism to drive the escaping atmosphere into a "cometary" tail and explain the high Doppler-shift velocities observed in the Lyman-α absorption. Using simulations of HD~209458b we demonstrate that, for the Lyman-α flux expected for HD~209458, radiation pressure is unlikely to significantly affect photoevaporative winds or explain their observed high velocities. Charge exchange between the stellar and planetary winds has also been suggested as a method for creating the observed Lyman-α absorption signature, but the results presented in chapter 6 suggest that it creates insufficient absorption to explain the observations. Alternative explanations and future directions for study are suggested in chapter 7

A Qualitative Exploration of Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in Collegiate Equestrian Competitors

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the impact of competing in collegiate equestrian sports on emotional intelligence and leadership development. It examined the lived experience of former collegiate equestrian competitors. The researcher explored their experience with emotional intelligence and leadership as part of their riding career and then how it impacted them outside of the equestrian competitive arena. This qualitative study used the phenomenological design. The researcher interviewed 10 individuals who met the criterion. Participants were selected using purposeful sampling. Data collection followed the steps outlined by Creswell and Guetterman (2019). To ensure credibility, the guidelines established by Shenton (2004) were followed. The researcher used bracketing to minimize bias. The researcher studied the interview transcripts and developed 32 codes from them. Significant statements were identified and clustered into three major themes. The themes included the impact of working with horses and emotional intelligence, the impact of the team experience on leadership development, and the transfer of emotional intelligence lessons from working with horses to working with humans. Additional findings indicated that members were very positive about their team experience and would encourage others to participate. The findings of this study substantiate the research regarding the development of emotional intelligence as a result of working with horses. Horses reflect human emotion and mirror their rider’s emotions, which requires the rider to have personal and social competence in emotional intelligence. Furthermore, participation in intercollegiate equestrian sports impacted leadership development. Finally, the emotional intelligence developed through interaction with horses transferred to post-academic pursuits. Further research into the development of emotional intelligence in collegiate equestrian competitors could involve a larger sample size, random sampling, or other qualitative methods. Quantitative studies that measure the emotional intelligence of IHSA members versus non-equestrians could also be undertaken to obtain results that can be more generalized to a wider population. Additional research could also encompass gender roles or former competitors who have been out of college for a longer period of time to understand the long-term impact of their equestrian sport experience on their leadership practices

Stories of Teachers' Long-Term Experiences with the National Writing Project

The purpose of this study is to utilize an interpretive design with narrative representation to explore the meaning-making of National Writing Project (NWP) participants regarding their long-term association with the NWP. The NWP is one long-standing professional development network that has been shown to impact teacher retention positively. Capturing the stories of educators will provide insight into how educators describe and make meaning of their continued professional development (CPD) with the NWP and how it relates to their long-term career satisfaction. Employing sociocultural theory and Relational Cultural Theory (RCT) as a framework for investigating the recursive nature of NWP CPD, the proposed research aims to illuminate the hows of teacher learning in NWP CPD experiences to inform the field on how to elevate teacher professionalism and dedication to the teaching career. The study fills a gap in the literature about CPD, focusing on the nuances of how teachers learn and grow instead of on the components of CPD. The work also begins to fill a methodological gap, utilizing new narrative data collection protocols to center teachers’ voices while also utilizing storytelling-as-research as data presentation

Direct and Indirect Impact of Operations Strategy on Management Consulting Firm Profitability

This dissertation examined the direct and indirect effects of firm operations strategy’s determinants, including two mediating variables, on firm performance. Data collected under this quantitively driven research focuses on top management of 146 consulting firms in the U.S. We employed regression analyses and used Hayes Macros tests to determine the relationships amongst operations strategy determinants – cost, service quality, differentiation, and flexibility, our mediators – advertising and employee turnover, and performance. This dissertation’s findings are aligned with other empirical works suggesting that performance is significantly and positively influenced by operations strategy determinants. The study results also show the significant mediating effect of adverting on the relationship between cost, quality, and performance. No mediating effect of advertising is found between flexibility, differentiation, and performance. Employee turnover mediating relationship between operations strategy determinants and performance emerged as insignificant. We contended that management must adopt strategic approach regarding operations strategy determinants as the means to enhance and sustain firm performance