Master of Science

thesisStudies of dancers have indicated they experience a variety of psychological issues including low body satisfaction, low self-esteem, and poor mood. Researchers have suggested that perceptions of the dance climate may impact psychological well-being and have concluded that promoting task-involving climates is beneficial to dancers' well-being. Other researchers have suggested that caring climates are integral to optimizing well-being. However, perceptions of a caring climate have not been examined in dance studios and little is known about the relationship between perceptions of a broader climate and aspects of psychological well-being. Additionally, no studies have examined whether types of dance studios (competitive or technical) influence dancers' experiences of the climate or their well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceptions of the social psychological climate (task-involving, ego-involving, and caring) and aspects of psychological well-being (positive and negative affect, body-esteem, and teacher and peer friendship quality) in both technical and competitive adolescent dancers. Eighty-three female dancers (M age = 16.28 +/- .93) completed questionnaires regarding perceptions of their studio's dance climate and self-reported well-being. Competition dancers perceived their dance climate to be more task-involving, more caring, and less ego-involving and reported higher levels of psychological well-being (positive affect, body-esteem, and friendship) than technical dancers. Dancers' overall perceptions of task-involving and caring climates were related to higher positive affect, greater body-esteem, and better quality relationships with teachers and peers (r range: .33 - .68). A second order factor analysis of the subscale scores revealed two factors. The first factor, exemplifying a thriving climate, accounted for 47.93% of the variance and involved aspects of a positive climate and positive well-being. The second factor, characterizing a threatening climate, accounted for an additional 14.70% of the variance and included an ego-involving climate and negative loadings on well-being. Results demonstrate perceptions of a positive social psychological climate are vital to promoting psychological well-being in adolescent dancers. These findings suggest dance teachers should be considerate of the impact the climate has for promoting well-being in their dance students. Educating dance teachers to create such a climate should be included in any dance pedagogy program

Environmental factors, not plants, contribute to functional diversity of soil bacteria in the dunes of lake michigan.

Soil bacteria play important roles in nutrient cycling and other ecosystem functions, and many biotic and abiotic factors can influence bacterial functional diversity. The goal of this field study was to examine differences among bacterial communities in sand dunes of Lake Michigan. I used Biolog Ecoplates™ to compare bacteria functional diversity associated with four different plant species: the native dune-building grass Ammophila breviligulata, invasive species Leymus arenarius and Gypsophila paniculata, and native legume Lathyrus japonicus across 13 sites in Michigan, representing a gradient in abiotic factors such as precipitation and temperature. I found no differences in bacterial function associated with plant species, but did find strong effects of precipitation, elevation, organic matter, plot distance from forest, and latitude. I conclude that abiotic and edaphic factors played a much larger role in shaping bacteria community function than changes in plant species

IN THE DISRUPTIONS: HOW UNDERGRADUATE WRITERS CONCEPTUALIZE VOICE

This project investigates how undergraduates conceptualize writerly voice, questioning what student writers think voice means and how they identify voice in their own writing. A connection between voiced writing and good writing is part of the fabric of the discipline of composition studies; however, for the students in this study and for their writing, such a connection does not exist. According to these students, voiced writing is not necessarily good writing. This project details three separate case studies focused on asking undergraduate writers to define voice and to identify their own voices in their own writing. Over a period of two years, a total of 239 student participants and 10 faculty member participants were involved in these studies. Guided by constructivist grounded theory, the research included approximately 300 surveys, 9 interviews with students, 12 hours of classroom observation, and roughly 1700 pages of student work for analysis. The results suggest that students see voice differently from how writing professionals and writing teachers conceive of voice. Students identified their own voices in their own flawed writing, often pointing to the flaws themselves as evidence of their voice. They identified their voices in writing that was biased, overly personal, emotional, and grammatically or mechanically deficient. Composition studies theorist Peter Elbow has suggested that voice is actually located in the cracks or deficiencies of student writing, and these case studies seem to support his claim. This is a very different view of voice than what many writing scholars and writing teachers hold

An inherently infinite-dimensional quantum correlation

Bell’s theorem, a landmark result in the foundations of physics, establishes that quantum mechanics is a non-local theory. It asserts, in particular, that two spatially separated, but entangled, quantum systems can be correlated in a way that cannot be mimicked by classical systems. A direct operational consequence of Bell’s theorem is the existence of statistical tests which can detect the presence of entanglement. Remarkably, certain correlations not only witness entanglement, but they give quantitative bounds on the minimum dimension of quantum systems attaining them. In this work, we show that there exists a correlation which is not attainable by quantum systems of any arbitrary finite dimension, but is attained exclusively by infinite-dimensional quantum systems (such as infinite-level systems arising from quantum harmonic oscillators). This answers the long-standing open question about the existence of a finite correlation witnessing infinite entanglement

A Brief Examination of Predictors of E-Learning Success for Novice and Expert Learners

As the prevalence of e-learning continues to grow in higher education settings, so too does the need for empirical research examining the antecedents of success in this environment. Previous research has suggested some characteristics that may determine success in an online course; however, little empirical evidence exists relating potential predictors of e-learning success with actual performance outcomes, particularly for different levels of learners. Students new to college may need different kinds of support to succeed in an online course compared to students with more experience in taking college-level courses, whether online or in-class, and navigating institutional resources. A primary goal of the current study is to determine the kinds of support needed to help lower-level and upper-level learners succeed in an e-learning environment. We assess several predictors of e-learning success and compare the relative effectiveness of these characteristics across novice and expert learners. Findings suggest that for lower-level students, access to technology predicted learner performance, whereas for upper-level students, motivation and self-discipline predicted learner performance. We discuss the implications of these results for e-learning instructors, instructional designers, and knowledge management practitioners

Postpartum Hemorrage: Are There Physiological Mechanisms of Prevention?

The postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) it is one of the worst complications of the pregnant woman and the leading cause of maternal mortality in the world, as it produces potentially catastrophic effects on patients, with high morbidity and morbidity. Likewise, the reduction in maternal mortality, which is particularly high in low income countries, but rising even in developed countries (as in USA), is one of the eight primary global health current goals of the WHO. In the complex pathophysiological phenomenon of PPH, the uterine contractility and connective tissue arrangement are poorly investigated. Both topics are scantly little understood and investigated, in terms of pelvic functional anatomy and pathophysiology. The anti-version uterine posture is essential for the optimal and necessary muscle contraction in the immediate postpartum stage, to avoid PPH onset. In this review, authors analyzed the physiology of uterine contraction related to the childbirth and the PPH, identifying an anatomical system involved in the physiological post-partum uterine contraction. This biological system is the integrated pelvic myofascial system and it has a prime importance in the physiological reduction of the PPH risk and to maintain uterine contractility during and after childbirth

Personal Web Use in the Workplace: Why Does it Persist in a Context of Strict Security and Monitoring?

Over the last decade, Personal Web Use (PWU) in the workplace has received considerable attention. This study examined factors that both inhibit and encourage PWU behaviors. The context was a municipal government agency in the U.S. with strong policy and electronic restrictions on PWU. Our study builds on extant research byinvestigating both self-reported PWU (from an online survey of 116 users atthe agency) and objective reports fromthe agency’s electronic monitoring (EM) of PWU. Results of our hypothesis tests indicated that group norms,individual moral norms, and perceived time availability had an effect on PWU while boredom had no effect. Group norms moderated individual moral norms’ effect on PWU. Discrepancies between individuals’ self-reports and the agency’s electronic reports of PWU are explained in terms of differing perceptions of what defines PWU. We describe implications important to both scholars and practitioners