ABSTRACT: Research has shown that the quality of preschool teacher-child relationships can forecast children’s social-emotional development, academic achievement, and school attitude; these benefits are amplified for impoverished children. However, teachers tend to have conflictual relationships with children living in poverty. Additionally, research in this area mostly focuses on either teacher or child factors. Therefore, driven by the educational dilemma and research gap, I investigated contributions of both teacher and child factors to teacher-child relationships in preschools serving children living in poverty (i.e., attending Head Start). Stemming from a preliminary study, this study examined the relations of child gender, problem behavior, teacher-child racial/ethnic match, and teacher education and job stress to teacher-reported teacher-child relationships. Based on the estimations of a priori power analyses, 129 teachers and 635 children from collaborating Head Start agencies across the U.S. were recruited in this study. Teachers completed a set of well-validated self- and child-focused questionnaires through an online survey system. Considering the nested nature of data (children clustered within classes), a multilevel modeling approach was employed for data analysis. Several main findings emerged: First, boys tended to have more conflictual relationships and girls tended to have closer relationships with teachers, which could be partially explained by their different levels of problem behaviors. Second, teacher-child racial/ethnic match did not play a role in the quality of teacher-child relationships. Third, having a degree (AA, BA, and MA), as compared to having a certificate (i.e., CDA) was associated with a closer and less conflictual teacher-child relationship. Fourth, less job control perceived by teachers were associated with more teacher-child conflict. Implications were discussed in this study.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 9, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): At-risk children, Problem behavior, Teacher-child relationships, Teacher education, Teacher job stress
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Beth Phillips, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stacey Rutledge, University Representative; Alysia Roehrig, Committee Member; Jeannine Turner, Committee Member; Qian Zhang, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Educational psychology
SUBJECT: Early childhood education
SUBJECT: Teachers--Training of
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Chen_fsu_0071E_15311.pdf
TITLE: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis of Chinese Undergraduate English Language-Learners' Personal Factors and Contextual Factors Based on Self-Determination Theory
AUTHOR: Chen, Yanyan
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Turner, Jeannine E.
MEMBER (university representative): Sunderman, Gretchen L.
MEMBER (committee member): Yang, Yanyun
MEMBER (committee member): Roehrig, Alysia D., 1975-
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (147 pages)
ABSTRACT: This study investigated the relationships among Chinese undergraduate English learners’ motivation for learning English (i.e., students’ internal choice, students’ external pressure), integrative orientation (i.e., students’ engagement with the target language culture or community), students’ perceptions of psychological need satisfaction, English self-efficacy, classroom engagement, and their English academic achievement. The theoretical framework underlying this study is Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000a, 2000b, 2017). To investigate the relationships among the variables, a quantitative research methodology of a full structural equation model with single indicators was used. Although language learners’ motivation for learning a second/foreign language is a well-studied construct, there is a paucity of studies to investigate whether or not Self-Determination Theory applies to Chinese collectivistic culture for understanding Chinese college English language learners’ motivation for learning English. The purpose of this dissertation study was to investigate the relationships among Chinese undergraduate English language learners’ personal variables (i.e., motivation for learning English, integrative orientation, English self-efficacy, classroom engagement, and English academic achievement) and contextual variables (i.e., students’ perceptions of psychological need satisfaction) in a full structural model. The participants of this study were 1,378 Chinese undergraduate English majors from middle-level national public universities in the Southeast of China. Findings of the current study showed that Chinese undergraduate English language-learners, who were primarily regulated by internal choice (i.e., intrinsic regulation, identified regulation), were likely to perceive that teachers met their psychological-needs for intrinsic motivation, and to have greater intentions to engage in the target-language culture and community, which in turn predicted their learning-related beliefs (e.g., a high sense of English efficacy), learning-related behaviors (e.g., active involvement in learning activities), and English achievement. Nevertheless, students who were primarily regulated by externally-controlled reasons for learning English, including introjected regulation (i.e., performing a task to avoid feeling guilty), external regulation (i.e., performing a task for obtaining rewards), and parental persuasion (i.e., parents’ influence toward learning English) were also likely to perceive that their teachers met their psychological-needs, which may have influenced their intention to integrate into the target-language culture and community. This dissertation study investigated Chinese undergraduate English learners’ motivation for learning English as a foreign language and the consequent learning outcomes. Findings of this study broadened understandings of students’ motivation for learning a language by showing how students’ initial reasons for learning a language may influence their learning beliefs, classroom engagement, and language achievement. Keywords: Chinese undergraduate English majors, motivation, psychological need satisfaction, integrative orientation, self-determination theory
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Spring Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): April 12, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Chinese undergraduate English majors, Classroom engagement, Integrative orientation, Motivation, Psychological need satisfaction, Self-determination theory
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Jeannine E. Turner, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gretchen Sunderman, University Representative; Yanyun Yang, Committee Member; Alysia Roehrig, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Educational psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Chen_fsu_0071E_15394.pdf
TITLE: De Haas-Van Alphen Measurements in Topological Metals and Semimetals
AUTHOR: Chen, Kuan-Wen
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Baumbach, Ryan E.
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Balicas, Luis
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Greene, Laura H.
MEMBER (university representative): Shatruk, Mykhailo
MEMBER (committee member): Manousakis, Efstratios
MEMBER (committee member): Graf, David E. (David Earl)
MEMBER (committee member): Collins, David C. (David Christopher)
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Physics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (101 pages)
ABSTRACT: This thesis studied the electronic structure at the Fermi level and the topological character of topological semimetals via torque magnetometry. Torque magnetometry measures the anisotropic magnetization of the sample in a tilted magnetic field. In our measurements, the magnetic field is up to 35 T and the temperature is down to 300 mK. The oscillatory signal of the magnetization is detected, which is the so called “de Hass van Alphen (dHvA)” effect. By using dHvA effect, many important parameters such as the geometry of Fermi surfaces, effective masses, quantum mobilities, Land ́e g factors and Berry’s phases. It is especially important for the Berry’s phase extraction. It is known that if there is a cyclotron orbit encircling a Dirac node, a non-trivial Berry’s phase π can be extracted and a trivial Berry’s phase 0 is expected for a conventional parabolic band. In the study of MAl3, we provided a detailed study of the dHvA oscillations and provided a comparison with the calculated band structures. The angular dependence of their Fermi surface cross-sectional areas reveals a remarkably good agreement with our first-principles calculations. dHvA supports the existence of tilted Dirac cones with Dirac type-II nodes located at 100, 230 and 250 meV above the Fermi level EF for VAl3,NbAl3 and TaAl3 respectively, in agreement with the prediction of broken Lorentz invariance in these compounds. However, for all three compounds we find that the cyclotron orbits on their FSs, including an orbit nearly enclosing the Dirac type-II node, yield trivial Berry phases. We showed that if one would like to derive a convincing Berry’s phase from quantum oscillations one has to take into account the spin dephasing term in the LK formalism, and the precise location between the cyclotron orbit and the Dirac node. M2Te2X is studied via both torque magnetometry and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Bulk two-dimensional Fermi surfaces are well-described by the dHvA oscillations and first principles calculations. Intriguingly, slab electronic structure calculations predict Dirac-like surface states at different locations within the Brillouin zone, which is consistent with ARPES observations.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Physics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 8, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): de Haas-van Alphen, Dirac, quantum oscillations, topological, torque, Weyl
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Ryan E. Baumbach, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Luis Balicas, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Laura H. Greene, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Michael Shatruk, University Representative; Efstratios Manousakis, Committee Member; David E. Graf, Committee Member; David C. Collins, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Condensed matter
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Chiu_fsu_0071E_15397.pdf
TITLE: The Impacts of Health Care Capital Controls on Health Outcomes and Regional Competition
AUTHOR: Chiu, Kevin
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Kantor, Shawn Everett
MEMBER (university representative): Lee, Keon-Hyung
MEMBER (committee member): Kitchens, Carl T.
MEMBER (committee member): Rodgers, Luke P.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Economics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (109 pages)
ABSTRACT: Capital control policies, such as certificate of need (CON) regulations, are often touted as a means of combatting the rising costs of healthcare. However, such policies often have little to no concern with their impact on health outcomes. This dissertation examines this impact. The first chapter, “The Impact of Certificate of Need Laws on Heart Attack Mortality,” explores the relationship between heart attack deaths and CON laws, assessing the differential impact on states adopting CON regulation between 1968 and 1982. Using neighboring counties on opposite sides of a state border to account for the endogeneity of healthcare preferences across regions, I find that the introduction of CON regulations led to 6-7 additional heart attack deaths per 100,000 (which represents a 4.2% increase in deaths relative to the pre-CON mean). The goal of the next two chapters is to explain possible mechanisms that links CON policies to the additional deaths. The second chapter, “Health Returns to Hospital-Level Capital Investments: Evidence from Endowment Shocks,” measures the effect of capital on health outcomes. Taking advantage of the fact that non-profit hospitals follow a rigid endowment spending policy based upon the market value of their endowments, my coauthor (Shawn Kantor) and I develop an instrumental variable for current capital spending that is based upon each non-profit hospital's endowment level interacted with stock market shocks over time. Using patient-level discharge data from non-profit hospitals in the state of Florida from 2006 to 2014, we find that for every $1,000,000 increase in a hospital's capital expenditure, mortality decreases by 0.0062 to 0.0123 percentage point for the average ER visitor, and 0.0064 to 0.0110 percentage point for the average patient admitted to the hospital. This equates to about 6.2 to 12.3 individuals per 100,000. This effect, however, is economically small, since the average hospital treats 1,357 patients per year. Finally, the third chapter, “Using Certificate of Need Regulations to Deter Entry into the Healthcare Market: Case Study of Florida Prior to Repeal,” is a case study of Florida's CON regulations prior to repeal in 2019. The goal is to provide a description of the CON approval process for future research on the impact of CON. This chapter explores the traditional methods of entry deterrence in the healthcare market then discusses how the regulatory environment may provide an additional option for incumbents to use unproductive capital to deter entry into a CON regulatory environment. I then provide an exploratory analysis of whether an incumbent has an impact on CON approval, conditional on the entrant reaching the decision to file a CON application, and briefly describe what needs to be accounted for in any future analysis.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Economics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): June 28, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Acute Myocardial Infarction, Capital Control, Certificate of Need, CON, Health Outcomes, Health Policy
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Shawn Kantor, Professor Directing Dissertation; Keon-Hyung Lee, University Representative; Carl Kitchens, Committee Member; Luke Rodgers, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Economics
SUBJECT: Public health
SUBJECT: Public policy
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Choi_fsu_0071E_15383.pdf
TITLE: An Investigation of Social Enterprise: Uncovering Its Potential for Co-Production, Relationship with Government, and Employees' Organizational Commitment
AUTHOR: Choi, Donwe
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Berry, Frances Stokes
MEMBER (university representative): Weissert, Carol S.
MEMBER (committee member): Lee, Keon-Hyung
MEMBER (committee member): Feiock, Richard C.
MEMBER (committee member): Brower, Ralph S.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
CORPORATE NAME: Askew School of Public Administration and Policy
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (138 pages)
ABSTRACT: This dissertation aims to enhance our understanding of social enterprise, particularly from the perspective of public policy and management. More specifically, the three papers within this dissertation attempt to make three significant contributions to the existing literature on this topic. The first paper explores the potential of social enterprise as a platform for co-production through illustrations from international practice. Combining social enterprise research and co-production literature, it presents a conceptual framework of the relationship between social enterprise and co-production. The findings also help public administrators to better understand the advantages of social enterprise for co-production. The second paper examines the impact of government funding on public value creation. Linking public policy and organizational performance, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between government and social enterprise. The findings also provide policymakers with practical guidance on how to promote social enterprise so that it can create more social outcomes. The third paper investigates the impact of social enterprise’s social orientation on the organizational commitment of individuals working for social enterprises from the perspective of public management. This paper contributes both to social enterprise research and organizational commitment literature by uncovering what promotes the organizational commitment of individuals working for social enterprises. In addition, through unpacking the difference between millennials and earlier generations in regard to organizational commitment, this paper provides social entrepreneurs and social enterprise managers with practical guidance on how to manage their employees, especially millennials.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 19, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): co-production, millennials, organizational commitment, public value creation, social enterprise, social enterprise policy
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Frances S. Berry, Professor Directing Dissertation; Carol S. Weissert, University Representative; Keon-Hyung Lee, Committee Member; Richard Feiock, Committee Member; Ralph Brower, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Public administration
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Chong_fsu_0071N_15433.pdf
TITLE: Threat-Related Attentional Bias, Cognitive Control, and Temperament in Young Children
AUTHOR: Chong, Lyndsey Juliane
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Meyer, Alexandria
MEMBER (committee member): Proudfit, Greg Hajcak
MEMBER (committee member): Ganley, Colleen M.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Psychology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (57 pages)
ABSTRACT: Anxiety disorders occur early in development and are one of the most common forms of psychopathology in children. Moreover, anxiety is associated with persistent impairment across the lifespan; therefore, investigating mechanisms that underlie anxiety in early childhood is crucial for prevention and intervention efforts. A fearful temperament in childhood has been shown to predict anxiety across development. Decreased cognitive control and threat-related attentional biases have also been linked to the development of anxiety, but little to no work has examined how temperament (i.e., fearfulness) and cognitive control may simultaneously predict threat-related attentional bias. Additionally, previous work on attentional bias has used less reliable reaction time (RT) based measures of attention. In the present study, we 1) investigated the psychometric properties of an eye-tracking measure of attentional bias, 2) tested if fearfulness and cognitive control were related to attentional biases to threat, and 3) examined if these relationships had unique or overlapping effects. Results showed good psychometric properties, comparable to that found in adult eye-tracking studies. However, contrary to our hypothesis, fearfulness and cognitive control did not significantly predict threat/neutral dwell time and attentional biases. Future studies may explore if cognitive control and fearfulness prospectively predict threat attentional bias and the onset of anxiety using a longitudinal design.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 10, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): attentional bias, cognitive control, development, eye-tracking, fearfulness, temperament
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Alexandria Meyer, Professor Directing Thesis; Greg Hajcak, Committee Member; Colleen Marie Ganley, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Psychology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Claxton_fsu_0071E_15251.pdf
TITLE: Feminine Body Ideals in Teen Girl and Women Fashion Magazines and Instagram
AUTHOR: Claxton, Elyse Taylor
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Rohlinger, Deana A.
MEMBER (university representative): Dennen, Vanessa P., 1970-
MEMBER (committee member): Burdette, Amy M.
MEMBER (committee member): Waggoner, Miranda R.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Sociology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (217 pages)
ABSTRACT: Media are important agents of socialization. Accordingly, media images reflect as well as inform what characteristics symbolize feminine beauty. In the field of female beauty and fashion magazines in the U.S., visual portrayals of women with characteristics such as a thin body shape, Caucasian skin color, blue eye color, and blonde hair color are so frequent that these characteristics are viewed as symbols of ideal feminine beauty. However, recent changes in the fashion magazine field indicate a potential for newer, more diverse representations. Body positivity advocates utilize Internet Communication Technologies (ICTs) to organize and engage in body politics as they petition magazines to take ‘body oaths,’ a promise to incorporate more inclusive portrayals of feminine beauty. This research utilizes field theory to explore magazine readers and activist groups use of social media to engage, praise, and critique the fashion magazine field in an effort to change the field and its content. A quantitative content analysis is used to compare the body portrayals found in the pictorial content of four different teen girls’ and women’s print magazines and their Instagram accounts (Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, and Teen Vogue during the summer and fall editions/months of 2016 and 2017) and a qualitative analysis looks at user engagement on the magazines’ Instagram accounts. This data addresses the question: Are the changes in the female fashion magazine field enough to challenge field practices that subjugate female beauty to narrow definitions where thin bodies are constructed as the embodiment of ideal femininity? Considering body ideals as social constructions, meaning they are created, maintained, and also re-created, by a particular society and particular fields embedded within a society. This research considers how factors inside and outside the magazine field act upon the magazine outlet’s constructed ideals of femininity specifically as it relates to bodies. The current research provides three key contributions to the field. First, the study asks whether sociological understanding of contemporary pictorial representations of bodies in popular media is changing within the field of female fashion magazines. Secondly, the research furthers understanding of the interactions between movement activists and readers and technological changes in light of the dynamics of the media field. Finally, the study helps us more thoroughly understand the way body ideals are constructed and reconstructed. The research addresses the following topics: gender, social movements and media
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): May 15, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): gender, internet communication technologies, media, social movements, women's studies
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Deana A. Rohlinger, Professor Directing Dissertation; Vanessa Dennen, University Representative; Amy Burdette, Committee Member; Miranda Waggoner, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Sociology
SUBJECT: Mass media
SUBJECT: Women's studies
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Collins_fsu_0071E_15356.pdf
TITLE: Bridging the Medical Pipeline: An Examination of a Medical Pipeline Program to Assess Student Perceptions and Benefits
AUTHOR: Collins, Rhonda
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Park, Toby J.
MEMBER (university representative): Glueckauf, Robert L.
MEMBER (committee member): Jones, Tamara Bertrand
MEMBER (committee member): Schwartz, Robert A.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (101 pages)
ABSTRACT: Healthcare professions are faced with a problem, a shortage of underrepresented minorities (URM) who resemble the racial, ethnic, and gender structure of the community that they will one day serve. Further impacting this problem is the fact that fewer URMs are entering medical schools. Pipeline programs have been identified as one possible solution to increasing URM matriculation into medicals schools. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of one medical pipeline program, the Florida State University College of Medicine’s Bridge to Clinical Medicine Program, in attaining student goals. Building on existing research about pipeline programs, the research asked about the pre-medical school characteristics of Bridge Program students, their academic outcomes, and perceptions about the program. Based on a review of pipeline program literature, an online survey was developed and distributed to all former Bridge Program students, approximately 150 students. Student academic data was obtained to include all 18 years of the Bridge Program to compare student performance. An analysis of the data and survey responses indicated the Bridge Program is meeting the student focused short and intermediate goals. Long-term goals were not addressed due to the small number of Bridge students that have graduated the program, medical school, and completed residency programs. Data and survey responses provided a better understanding of how Bridge students compared to other students admitted directly into the medical school program. Survey responses offered former Bridge student perceptions about their experiences and impact of the program. Based on the findings, the main recommendations include enhancement of existing mentoring and research activities, more high-stakes examination preparations, moving to a pass/fail grading system, as well as making the Bridge Program more visible through publicity, recognition, and additional research. Overall, the Bridge Program has met the student focused goals and could benefit from enhancements to current activities and continued research.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): June 9, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): medical pipeline, Program evaluation
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Toby J. Park, Professor Directing Dissertation; Robert Glueckauf, University Representative; Tamara Bertrand Jones, Committee Member; Robert Schwartz, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Educational evaluation
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Corbett_fsu_0071E_15389.pdf
TITLE: Simulation Studies of Oxidized Human Thioredoxin Ionization
AUTHOR: Corbett, Karen M. (Karen Marie)
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Yang, Wei
MEMBER (university representative): Schlenoff, Joseph B.
MEMBER (committee member): Hoekman, Timothy
MEMBER (committee member): Stroupe, M. Elizabeth (Margaret Elizabeth)
MEMBER (committee member): Silvers, Robert
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Institute of Molecular Biophysics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (260 pages)
ABSTRACT: Protein residue ionization often plays a vital role in protein function, such as enzyme catalysis and pH-dependent structural changes. Inadequate conformational and protonation state sampling in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations has limited the accuracy of predictions of residue pKa values and structural change concomitant to residue ionization state change. As part of an ongoing effort in the Yang lab to address this conformational sampling issue, we developed a novel enhanced sampling MD simulation method, called adaptive dynamic reporting (ADR). In this thesis, we show that the ADR method has excellent accuracy, precision, and convergence time for a wide range of simulation parameter sets and order parameters, compared to previously established methods. Next, using ADR-based high-order orthogonal space tempering (OST) methods, we studied a number of ionization-dependent properties for all human oxidized C62A/C69A/C73A thioredoxin ionizable residues. To carry our this study, we developed a novel alchemical OST pKa titration scheme: 1) to sample the relevant protonation microstates of thioredoxin, and 2) to calculate the microscopic pKa values, protonation microstate populations, titration curves, and apparent pKa for all human oxidized C62A/C69A/C73A thioredoxin ionizable residues. The OST pKa simulations accurately predict the apparent pKa values for each of these residues. Moreover, from our OST pKa simulations we identified novel thioredoxin conformations and dynamics corresponding to biologically essential ionization states. These long-timescale, ionization-coupled motions observed were in good agreement with NMR spectroscopy observations of homologous thioredoxin. In addition, we were able to utilize the observed the ionization-coupled dynamics of human oxidized C62A/C69A/C73A thioredoxin to identify possible sources of the pKa shifts for several titratable residues. We then studied ionization coupling between residues using their deprotonation free energies. Several interacting residues showed nonlinear deprotonation free energies over various pH ranges. In summary, there are four main contributions in this dissertation. First, we developed and analyzed a novel, rigorous, and widely-applicable enhanced sampling method, ADR. Second, we developed a novel titration scheme, and in combination with OST pKa simulations, calculated and analyzed all of the residue microscopic pKa values in human oxidized C62A/C69A/C73A thioredoxin. Third, we established how the hierarchical dynamics of thioredoxin are constructed to respond to external pH perturbations by characterizing novel protonation-dependent dynamics of thioredoxin. Finally, we extensively studied inter-residue ionization cooperativity in thioredoxin by calculating residue deprotonation free energies and by analyzing the dynamics of thioredoxin coupled to the ionization of these residues.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Institute of Molecular Biophysics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 11, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Enhanced Sampling, Ionization, pKa, Protonation, Thioredoxin
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Wei Yang, Professor Directing Dissertation; Joseph B. Schlenoﬀ, University Representative; Timothy Cross, Committee Member; M. Elizabeth Stroupe, Committee Member; Robert Silvers, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Biophysics
SUBJECT: Chemistry, Physical and theoretical
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Cox_fsu_0071E_15264.pdf
TITLE: The Development of Mathematical Practices through Word Problem Solving Instruction for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
AUTHOR: Cox, Sarah K. (Sarah Kirsten)
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Root, Jenny Rose
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Whalon, Kelly J.
MEMBER (university representative): Ke, Fengfeng
MEMBER (committee member): Jakubowski, Elizabeth M.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Special Education
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (175 pages)
ABSTRACT: This study investigated the effects of a problem solving instructional strategy known as Modified Schema Based Instruction (MSBI) on the Mathematical Practices of four students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics highlight the importance of not only content standards for mathematics, but also mathematical practices such as communication, representation, and reasoning. Students with ASD often demonstrate difficulties with these skills as a result of deficits in social communication, theory of mind, and executive functioning. Through a multiple probe across participants design, this study demonstrates that MSBI is an effective strategy to increase the use of mathematical practices for middle school students with ASD when solving multiplicative word problems. Four students eligible for special education services under the area of autism enrolled in sixth grade general education mathematics classes increased their use of mathematical practices for both problem types taught (multiplicative comparison and proportion), and maintained the use of some mathematical practices 4-8 weeks after intervention. Additionally, all four participants generalized their use of mathematical practices to novel multiplicative comparison problems containing extraneous information while three of the participants generalized mathematical practice skills to proportion problems containing extraneous information. Implications for practice are discussed.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Special Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): April 30, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): autism, intervention, mathematics
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Jenny R. Root, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Kelly Whalon, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; FengFeng Ke, University Representative; Elizabeth Jakubowski, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Special education
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Cukadar_fsu_0071E_15052.pdf
TITLE: An Evaluation of Four Methods for Determining the Number of Factors Underlying Measurement Indicators under the Presence of Guessing Effects
AUTHOR: Cukadar, Ismail
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Yang, Yanyun
MEMBER (university representative): Huffer, Fred W. (Fred William)
MEMBER (committee member): Becker, Betsy Jane, 1956-
MEMBER (committee member): Binici, Salih, 1974-
MEMBER (committee member): Paek, Insu, (Professor of measurement and statistics)
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (152 pages)
ABSTRACT: In factor analysis, determining the number of factors underlying measurement indicators is important. An incorrect decision on the number of factors may mislead practitioners in terms of estimating parameters in factor analysis, reporting students’ scores, calibrating items through an item response theory model, equating or linking different test forms, estimating reliability, examining differential item functioning, and investigating validity. Exploratory factor analysis, parallel analysis, Kaiser’s rule, and Cattell’s scree test are commonly used methods for deciding on the number of factors in educational and psychological assessments. When a test consists of multiple-choice or ordinal-scaled items, some test takers might find the correct answers to the items through guessing. The guessing effect might impact the correlation coefficients among items. Thus, it might also impact the decisions on the number of factors via exploratory factor analysis, parallel analysis, Kaiser’s rule, and Cattell’s scree test. These four methods do not consider the guessing effects through modeling a guessing parameter when examining the dimensionality of data. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of guessing on the performance of exploratory factor analysis, parallel analysis, Kaiser’s rule, and Cattell’s scree test in determining the number of factors underlying measurement indicators. Among these four methods, Cattell’s scree test is a subjective method because the determination of the elbow point in the scree plot requires the user to make a judgmental call. Therefore, another purpose of this study is to propose a method that may allow for a more objective evaluation of Cattell’s scree test, specifically, through calculating angles in the scree plot. A Monte Carlo study was conducted to examine the performance of exploratory factor analysis, Kaiser’s rule, parallel analysis, and the revised scree test in determining the dimensionality of data when guessing effects were present. The following design factors were manipulated: factor structure, sample size, test length, the number of factors, values of the pseudo-guessing parameters, and the correlation between factors. The study results showed that all four methods performed worse for determining the number of factors under the presence of guessing effects than under the absence of guessing effect. In other words, none of the four methods was robust to the presence of guessing effects. Among the four methods, parallel analysis performed the best. The study results also showed that all four methods tended to retain fewer factors as the guessing effects became greater. Across all levels of guessing effects, parallel analysis was the best method for identifying the number of factors under conditions with simple structures, while exploratory factor analysis using the chi-square difference test was the best method for determining the dimensionality of bifactor models. In terms of the methods for estimating polychoric correlations, the maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods performed almost identically and led to similar estimated numbers of factors via the four methods. The current study design indicated that two different cutoff values were reasonable to use for determining the number of factors via the revised Cattell’s scree test: 161 for simple-structure models and 173 for bifactor models. The revised Cattell’s scree test performed better for determining the number of factors under conditions with simple structures than with bifactor models using these two cutoff values. Although practitioners and researchers may consider using the revised Cattell’s scree test to evaluate a scree plot in a more objective way, it is important to use the indicated cutoff values with caution in that they may not be applicable under other study conditions.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Spring Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): April 18, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Cattell's scree test, Exploratory factor analysis, Guessing effects, Kaiser's rule, Number of factors, Parallel analysis
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Yanyun Yang, Professor Directing Dissertation; Fred W. Huffer, University Representative; Betsy J. Becker, Committee Member; Salih Binici, Committee Member; Insu Paek, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Educational tests and measurements
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Dan_fsu_0071E_15333.pdf
TITLE: Origin of Intrinsic Selectivity in F-Block Complexes
AUTHOR: Dan, David
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Albrecht-Schmitt, Thomas E.
MEMBER (university representative): Fajer, Piotr G.
MEMBER (committee member): Hu, Yan-yan
MEMBER (committee member): Stiegman, Albert E., 1953-
MEMBER (committee member): Dalal, Naresh S.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (113 pages)
ABSTRACT: This dissertation seeks to determine fundamental differences between lanthanides and actinides, as well as how their bonding influences ligand selectivity, for possible actinide separations from nuclear waste. The f-elements are significantly understudied when compared to other parts of the periodic table such as the d-block. Research into the f-elements, and more specifically the 5f elements, has undergone a renaissance of sorts with steadily increasing interest over the past few decades. It was previously predicted that the chemistry for later actinides was identical to that of their lanthanide counterparts. However, a review by Neidig et al., “The covalency in f-element complexes”, helped introduce the concept of a greater degree of covalency in the actinides than in the lanthanides, creating a substantial dividing point for chemists to explore.1 The goal of this work is to shed further light on how later actinides behave and can be utilized. These new findings could help in the design of future separations techniques and materials. The first half of my dissertation will focus on the bonding in later actinides. I focus on an americium and californium complex [M(EtBTP)3][BPh4]3•3CH3CN (M = Am, Cf) (EtBTP = ethyl bistriazinyl pyridine). I also compare the [Am(EtBTP)3]3+ to its neodymium analog. Structural analysis of these complexes revealed that these compounds contain M3+ cations bound by tridentate EtBTP ligands, to create a tricapped trigonal prismatic geometry around the metal centers. Collection of high-resolution, single crystal X-ray diffraction data also allowed for reduction in bond distance estimated standard deviation (esd’s) such that a slight contraction of Δ = 0.0158(18) Å in the Am‒N versus Nd‒N bond distances is observed, even though these cations ostensibly have matching ionic radii. Theoretical evaluation revealed enhanced metal-ligand bonding through back donation in the [Am(EtBTP)3]3+ complex that is absent in [Nd(EtBTP)3]3+. The [Cf(EtBTP)3]3+ complex was also compared to its lanthanide analogs, gadolinium and erbium. Upon analysis of these complexes, Cf showed significantly stronger bonding than Gd and Er. The contractions of some of the Cf bonds with the nitrogen atoms on EtBTP, revealed that Er could be a better analog for Cf complexes that are expected to have greater covalent characteristics. These two studies provide new information about how Cf and Am bond to ligands, and reveal how they differ from their lanthanide analogs. The second half of this dissertation centers on possible applications for f-block ligands. The two main points of interest are photochromic properties of [M(EtBTP)3][BPh4]3•3CH3CN (M = La, Eu, Gd, Yb) complexes, as well as a dithioamide ligand with possible separations applications. The [M(EtBTP)3][BPh4]3•3CH3CN (M = La, Eu, Gd, Yb) complexes exhibit a long-lived color change when exposed to intense light. This color change lasts on the order of hours, and increases in length as you go across the series. This color change is caused by a radical formation upon exposure to light. The long-lived nature of this color change is attributed to a trapped triplet excited state, with a relaxation that is moderated by the metal center. This shows the versatility of EtBTP and how it can be used in possible photochromic materials. The practicality of dithioamides as ligands for separations has yet to be greatly understood. The dithioamides were compared to their diamide counterparts, and the dithioamides showed greater selectivity for AmIII over EuIII. This selectivity is due to the softer donor properties of the sulfur atoms. This study showed the merit of studying other sulfur donor ligand systems for use in actinide extractions.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 3, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Actinides, Lanthanides
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Thomas E. Albrecht-Schmitt, Professor Directing Dissertation; Piotr Fajer, University Representative; Yan-Yan Hu, Committee Member; Albert E. Stiegman, Committee Member; Naresh Dalal, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Chemistry, Inorganic
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Dasgupta_fsu_0071E_15347.pdf
TITLE: Shape Based Function Estimation
AUTHOR: Dasgupta, Sutanoy
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Srivastava, Anuj, 1968-
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Pati, Debdeep
MEMBER (university representative): Klassen, E. (Eric), 1958-
MEMBER (committee member): Huffer, Fred W. (Fred William)
MEMBER (committee member): Wu, Wei
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Statistics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (128 pages)
ABSTRACT: Estimation of functions is an extremely rich and well-researched topic of research with broad applications spanning several scientific fields. We develop a shape based framework for probability density and general function modelling. The framework encompasses both shape constrained and unconstrained estimation, and can accomodate a much broader notion of shape constraints than has been considered in literature. The estimation approach is a two step process where the first step creates a template or an initial guess, and the second important step ``improves" the estimate according to an appropriate objective function. We derive asymptotic properties of the estimators in different scenarios, and illustrate the performance of the estimate through several simulation as well as real data examples.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Statistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): June 21, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Density Estimation, Electricity Load Forecasting, Function Estimation, Shape constrained Estimation
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Anuj Srivastava, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Debdeep Pati, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Eric Klassen, University Representative; Fred Huffer, Committee Member; Wei Wu, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Statistics
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Daucourt_fsu_0071N_15441.pdf
TITLE: The Home Math Environment and Math Achievement: A Meta-Analysis
AUTHOR: Daucourt, Mia Cristina
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Hart, Sara, (Professor of Psychology)
MEMBER (committee member): Ganley, Colleen M.
MEMBER (committee member): Meyer, Alexandria
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Psychology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (121 pages)
ABSTRACT: Mathematical thinking is in high demand in the global market, but compared to their international peers, U.S. school children fail to meet math performance benchmarks. This is especially problematic, given that early math skills predict later success in math and reading, beyond the effects of early reading skills and that math difficulties prior to formal schooling make it unlikely that children who start off behind will catch up. The home math environment (HME), which includes all math-related activities, attitudes, expectations, resources, and interactions between parents and children in the home, provides a potentially promising way to promote children’s early math development. In order to understand the role played by the HME in children’s math abilities, the a pre-registered meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the average weighted correlation coefficient, r between the HME and children’s math achievement and the sample, assessment, and study features that contribute to study heterogeneity. A multilevel correlated effects model was run on 51 studies and a total of 456 effect sizes, which found a positive, significant average weighted correlation of r = .14, p < .0001. Although the association found was low in magnitude, our combined sensitivity analyses showed that the present findings were robust, and that the sample of studies has evidential value. Interestingly, moderator analyses revealed that all moderators tested contributed to study heterogeneity and when the HME component moderation analyses were run, no significant between-study heterogeneity remained.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 10, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): achievement, home learning, home math environment, mathematics, math talk
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Sara A. Hart, Professor Directing Thesis; Colleen Ganley, Committee Member; Alexandria Meyer, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Developmental psychology
SUBJECT: Education
SUBJECT: Mathematics
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Davis_fsu_0071E_15413.pdf
TITLE: Quench Protection of Bi2Sr2Cacu2O8+X High Temperature Superconducting Magnets
AUTHOR: Davis, Daniel S. (Daniel Scott)
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Larbalestier, D. (David)
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Chiorescu, Irinel
MEMBER (committee member): Trociewitz, Ulf P (Ulf Peter Trociewitz)
MEMBER (committee member): Owens, Joseph F. (Joseph Francis), III, 1946-
MEMBER (committee member): Riley, Mark A.
MEMBER (university representative): Latturner, Susan
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Physics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (141 pages)
ABSTRACT: High temperature superconductors (HTS) allow for the construction of magnets generating fields of more than 30 T, enabling the investigation of new phenomena in condensed matter science and high energy physics. High field magnets store large amounts of energy that must be dissipated if the field collapses, but HTS materials require large quantities of heat for transitioning to the normal state. This makes HTS conductors very stable against fluctuations, yet difficult to protect from extreme temperature rise in the case that something generates a propagating normal or resistive zone in the magnet, i.e. quenches the superconductor. As HTS conductor is much more expensive than normal conductors or low temperature superconductors (LTS), protecting even prototype research coils and especially large-scale user solenoids and accelerator dipoles is paramount. Recently, a quench protection system relying on interfilament coupling currents within superconductors has been developed with LTS magnet systems. Coupling-loss induced quench (CLIQ) protection attempts to safely distribute the stored energy of a superconducting magnet over a larger volume by quickly bringing a significant fraction into the normal state by introducing oscillating currents into sections of the magnet generating heat due to the rapidly varying magnetic field. As HTS have larger energy margins to the normal state, in addition to different AC loss characteristics and conductor geometries, experiments and simulations are underway to evaluate and optimize AC loss induced quench for each conductor. Addressing the pressing need for reliable high field HTS magnets, presented here are the results for implementing these systems in magnets made from Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x (Bi-2212), which is the practical HTS most similar to LTS in both single strand and cable designs. Recent advances in the current carrying capacity of Bi-2212 (>1000 A mm^-2 at 5 T) due to improved starting powder and over-pressure heat treatment make this HTS appealing for large-scale magnet projects. Long sample conductor property measurements are underway to investigate if Bi-2212 has consistent electrical and mechanical properties along its length. Collaboration between the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) has allowed for testing on world-record sub-scale accelerator dipoles and test coils for a program working towards generating more than 1 GHz NMR spectra and fields in excess of 30 T.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Physics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 10, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Bi-2212, coupling-loss induced quench, magnet, quench protection, superconductivity
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): David C. Larbalestier, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Irinel Chiorescu, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Ulf P. Trociewitz, Committee Member; Joseph F. Owens, III, Committee Member; Mark A. Riley, Committee Member; Susan E. Latturner, University Representative.
SUBJECT: Physics
SUBJECT: Condensed matter
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Delehanty_fsu_0071E_15203.pdf
TITLE: Associations among Child Gestures and Developmental Outcomes in Toddlers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder during a Home Observation
AUTHOR: Delehanty, Abigail Diane
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Wetherby, Amy M.
MEMBER (university representative): Slate, Elizabeth H.
MEMBER (committee member): Cripe, Juliann J. Woods, 1952-
MEMBER (committee member): Ingvalson, Erin
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Communication and Information
CORPORATE NAME: School of Communication Science and Disorders
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, null
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (122 pages)
ABSTRACT: Limited research has examined the gesture use of young children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a home-based setting. Observation in the natural environment can supplement assessments that take place in structured clinical contexts and may provide useful information about a child’s strengths and needs and the family’s preferred activities and intervention priorities. This study documented the rates and relative frequencies of communicative acts, with a special focus on gestures, used by a sample of 211 toddlers who participated in everyday activities with a caregiver during a video recorded home observation at around 20 months of age. Participants were identified through prospective screening in the general population and diagnosed at approximately age 3 with ASD, non-ASD developmental delays (DD), or typical development (TD). Group differences were found on several measures of communication, including types of communicative acts, modes of communication used, and communicative functions expressed. Children with ASD, DD, and TD were observed to differ significantly on overall rate of communication during the home observation. Children with ASD used deictic gestures, non-word vocalizations, gesture + vocalization combinations, and communicative acts for behavior regulation at significantly lower rates than children with DD and TD. Rates of communication across different everyday activities in the home environment generally followed patterns of overall rate, with some exceptions. Statistically significant concurrent and predictive associations were observed between communicative acts at home and archival measures of social communication, developmental level, adaptive behavior, and autism symptoms. Finally, inventory of gestures was observed to have significant relationships with all archival measures. Results of this study have implications for both early identification of and early intervention for children with communication delays and ASD.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication Science and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): null.
NOTE (Date of Defense): April 17, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): autism spectrum disorder, early identification, gestures, home observation, toddlers
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Amy M. Wetherby, Professor Directing Dissertation; Elizabeth Slate, University Representative; Juliann J. Woods, Committee Member; Erin Ingvalson, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Speech therapy
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Derry_fsu_0071N_15434.pdf
TITLE: Developing a Conceptual Framework for Adolescent Vocabulary Intervention: A Scoping Review
AUTHOR: Derry, May McGee
MEMBER (professor co-directing thesis): Hall-Mills, Shannon S.
MEMBER (professor co-directing thesis): Morris, Richard Jack, 1950-
MEMBER (committee member): Tibi, Sana
MEMBER (committee member): Therrien, Michelle
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Communication and Information
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (127 pages)
ABSTRACT: The aim of the present study was to complete a scoping review of current research on adolescent vocabulary intervention across settings in order to develop a nascent conceptual framework for oral and written, expressive and receptive adolescent vocabulary intervention. Such a tool could be beneficial for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and teachers to utilize as they address the vocabulary, language, and literacy needs of diverse students in unique settings. Synthesis was completed first through a multiple database search of literature between 2003 and 2018. Studies were narrowed down from 811 to 17 based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and analyzed using a rubric which outlined characteristics of the interventions and their service delivery. From this information a synthesis and analysis of studies’ commonalities and differences was created, and implications were discussed. Some implications include the need for unified definitions of vocabulary skill measurement across the field of speech-language pathology, the use of multimodal approaches to intervention that incorporate collaboration and the reading of each student’s reality, and drawing upon social validity measures in order to create more effective interventions. Conclusions, limitations, and future research are discussed further, as well as the concept of creating a conceptual framework for adolescent vocabulary intervention which could become a tool for SLPs and teachers.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 11, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): adolescent, intervention, language impairment, semantic, speech pathology, vocabulary
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Shannon Hall-Mills, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Richard Morris, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Sana Tibi, Committee Member; Michelle Therrien, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Speech therapy
SUBJECT: Education
SUBJECT: Middle school education
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Devlin_fsu_0071E_15081.pdf
TITLE: The Role of Age of Diagnosis, Self-Efficacy and Social Support in the Relationship between Bipolar Disorder and Substance Use Severity
AUTHOR: Devlin, Elizabeth Justine
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Ebener, Deborah J.
MEMBER (university representative): Thyer, Bruce A.
MEMBER (committee member): Dong, Shengli
MEMBER (committee member): Osborn, Debra S., 1968-
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (149 pages)
ABSTRACT: Bipolar disorder is one of the 10 most disabling conditions in the world. As such, inpatient hospitalization for individuals with bipolar disorder is far greater than hospitalization rates for all other patients with behavioral health diagnoses.  Such statistics are alarming and illuminate the impact of bipolar disorder on functioning and overall quality of life. However, the constructs of self-efficacy, social support, and age of onset may impact and lead to a decrease in substance use severity (i.e., alcohol and illicit drug use) for individuals with a bipolar disorder diagnosis. A sample of 91 participants was recruited from bipolar disorder support group websites and blogs for people with bipolar disorder. Measures for the current study included the bMAST, DAST-10, GSE, and SSA-S. Research questions included (1) Are self-efficacy, age of onset, and social support related to alcohol use severity for individuals with bipolar disorder? (2) Are self-efficacy, age of onset, and social support related to illicit drug use severity for individuals with bipolar disorder? Statistical analyses for the variables included two hierarchical multiple linear regressions. Due to violated assumptions for multiple linear regressions, a non-parametric analysis was run separately for each research question. No significant results were indicated for the research questions included in the study. For both ordinal logistic regressions, the models with all predictors (age of onset, self-efficacy, and social support) did not significantly improve compared to the intercept only models. Results of this study were discussed related to improvement for future research and implications for future practice.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Spring Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): April 17, 2019.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Deborah Ebener, Professor Directing Dissertation; Bruce Thyer, University Representative; Shengli Dong, Committee Member; Debra Osborn, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Dietz_fsu_0071N_15341.pdf
TITLE: Assessing Variation in Dispersal Decisions in a Cooperatively Breeding Passerine
AUTHOR: Dietz, Samantha Lauren
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): DuVal, Emily H.
MEMBER (committee member): Underwood, Nora C.
MEMBER (committee member): Burgess, Scott C.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Biological Science
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (84 pages)
ABSTRACT: Natal dispersal, the period where an organism moves from its birthplace to the area where it settles and attempts to breed, may have significant consequences for individual fitness. Individuals vary in both the decision to initiate dispersal and the decision to settle and attempt reproduction. In cooperative species, some individuals delay their departure from the natal territory and forego reproduction for one or more breeding seasons, while others disperse much sooner. The timing of when individuals depart their natal site can affect their ability to locate and establish a breeding territory. Availability of local breeding sites, competition among the natal group, and an individual’s development are hypothesized to influence dispersal initiation. Once an individual departs the natal territory, they also must choose a settlement area that will affect their access to potential mates, resources, and exposure to predators. Understanding how a juvenile’s experience prior to dispersal influences their timing and settlement decisions may help explain variation in fitness among individuals within a population. Despite the importance of settlement site, individuals often appear to settle in low-quality habitat when high-quality habitat is available. The Natal Habitat Preference Induction hypothesis posits that individuals may choose breeding habitat that is similar to their natal habitat, rather than habitat of the highest quality. I investigated factors that influenced variation in dispersal behavior in a population of cooperatively breeding Brown-headed Nuthatches (Sitta pusilla) by addressing two questions: (1) What factors influence whether and when individuals depart from the natal territory? and (2) How do individuals make settlement decisions? I found that males dispersed earlier when they experienced more competition within the natal group, and females dispersed earlier when they were smaller in size relative to their siblings, and when local breeding opportunities were constrained. I found no evidence that individuals were choosing settlement sites based on habitat cues as predicted by the Natal Habitat Preference Induction hypothesis. My thesis broadens understanding of how multiple aspects of an individual’s experience might affect dispersal decisions, and assesses one hypothesis that potentially explains how dispersers make settlement decisions.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Biological Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Spring Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): April 24, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Cooperative Breeding, Natal Dispersal, Natal Habitat Preference Induction
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Emily H. DuVal, Professor Directing Thesis; Nora Underwood, Committee Member; Scott Burgess, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Ecology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Dingess_fsu_0071E_15104.pdf
TITLE: The Impact of Positive Psychology Coping Mechanisms on Stress Levels of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
AUTHOR: Dingess, Kara M.
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Ebener, Deborah J.
MEMBER (university representative): Hanline, Mary Frances
MEMBER (committee member): Osborn, Debra S., 1968-
MEMBER (committee member): Dong, Shengli
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (155 pages)
ABSTRACT: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) impacts one in every 59 children in the United States of America (CDC, 2018). Not only does ASD affect the life of the child, but it also impacts the lives of the child’s caretakers. Parental stress related to perceptions of symptom severity, the impact of the child’s diagnosis, fear of relapse, social stigma, cost of care, and daily stressors of simply having a child can impact the psychosocial well-being of the parents (Seltzer et. al., 2009; Woolfson, 2004). Gaining insight into coping mechanisms of parents of children with ASD allows the opportunity to increase awareness, create individualized intervention approaches, and provide families with the care they need. The aim of this dissertation was to explore the impact of humor, optimism, and spirituality on the stress levels of parents of children with ASD. Specifically, the goal was to determine if the use of the positive psychology constructs of humor, optimism, and spirituality were related to parental stress. An additional aim of the study was to determine if there were differences in parental stress by parental perception of symptom severity. The study examined three specific symptom severity levels for this question based upon DSM-V criteria for ASD. To collect data, a sample of adults with children with ASD were recruited via social media, then surveyed through the Qualtrics survey system. A standard multiple linear regression was used to examine whether humor, optimism, and spiritualty could predict parental stress. A one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine differences between parental perception of symptom severity on parental stress. The 7-item Coping Humor Scale (CHS; Lefcourt & Martin, 1986) was used to measure humor. The 10-item Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R; Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994) was used to measure optimism. The 20-item the Spiritual Well Being Scale (SWBS; Ellison, 1983; Ellison & Smith, 1991) was used to measure spirituality. The 36-item Parental Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF; Abidin, 1995) was used to measure parental stress. Participants (n =166) for the study were mostly comprised of females (n = 122) and individuals of Caucasian ethnicity (n =101). While mothers primarily represented the sample, there was a small representation of males (n = 39). Regarding the child’s diagnosis, ASD was most frequently reported (n = 122). The results of the study indicated the use of optimism as a positive coping mechanism predicted decreased levels of parental stress in parents of children with ASD, with 5.9% of the variance explained. However, the use of humor and spirituality were non-significant. The One-way ANOVA indicated groups differences between mild severity and severe severity in that those individuals with mild symptom severity perceptions experience more parental stress than those with severe symptom severity perceptions, with 4.9% of the variance explained. A discussion of the findings, limitations of the study, and implications for theory, practice, and research are provided.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Spring Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): April 11, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Autism, Humor, Optimism, Parental Stress, Positive Psychology, Spirituality
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Deborah Ebener, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mary Frances Hanline, University Representative; Debra Osborn, Committee Member; Shengli Dong, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Counseling psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Dobrowolski_fsu_0071N_15212.pdf
TITLE: Examining Oral Reading and Reading Comprehension in Aphasia
AUTHOR: Dobrowolski, Cathryn Elizabeth
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Madden, Elizabeth Brookshire
MEMBER (committee member): Lansford, Katlin L.
MEMBER (committee member): Wagner, Richard K.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Communication and Information
CORPORATE NAME: School of Communication Science and Disorders
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (51 pages)
ABSTRACT: As the rate of stroke increases, the rate of aphasia, an acquired impairment of language and communication, also increases. Aphasia can result in many impairments, including alexia, or acquired reading difficulties. Yet, research in this area is relatively sparse. This study aimed to determine the relationships, interactions, and differences between oral reading and reading comprehension in 43 individuals with aphasia. Additionally, differences between oral reading and reading comprehension within and between alexia subgroups were examined. Results indicated a significant relationship between oral reading and reading comprehension, with oral reading predicting, to a significant degree, overall and single word reading comprehension performance. Results also showed overall reading comprehension was significantly better than overall oral reading. Regarding reading subgroups in the larger sample, findings included that individuals classified as reading within normal limits and those with more mild alexia (i.e., phonological alexia) demonstrated better reading comprehension across all reading levels when compared to those with more severe alexia types (i.e., deep and global alexia). Our findings regarding the strong relationship between oral reading and reading comprehension reinforces literacy theories, especially those of early childhood reading development. Our findings regarding differences between and within the alexia groups support alexia classifications and the respective impact of severity on reading comprehension. These findings are important to research regarding alexia, as the compiled evidence is relatively small considering the occurrence of the disorder and may be beneficial both academically and clinically regarding reading abilities in individuals with aphasia and alexia.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication Science and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Spring Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): April 17, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): alexia, aphasia, oral reading, reading comprehension
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Elizabeth Madden, Professor Directing Thesis; Kaitlin Lansford, Committee Member; Richard Wagner, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Speech therapy
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Douty_fsu_0071E_15145.pdf
TITLE: A Conductor's Guide to Selected Works by Female Composers for Chamber Wind Ensemble
AUTHOR: Douty, Michael Scott
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Clary, Richard
MEMBER (university representative): Clendinning, Jane Piper
MEMBER (committee member): Dunnigan, Patrick, 1957-
MEMBER (committee member): Kelly, Steven N.
MEMBER (committee member): Madsen, Clifford K.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Music
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (155 pages)
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this project is to provide historical background, formal and thematic analysis, and technical performance considerations for selected works by female composers for chamber wind ensemble. Chapter 1 introduces the project, providing the rationale, the selection process for included compositions, and a summary of conventions utilized throughout the text. Chapters 2 through 5 each explore one of the following works and composers: Dixtuor pour instruments à vent by Claude Arrieu, Dos Danzas Latinas by Nancy Galbraith, Arsenal of Democracy by Julia Wolfe, and Wind Sinfonietta by Ruth Gipps. This document may be utilized by directors and/or conductors of academic or professional chamber ensembles to facilitate preparation of these works, thereby promoting an increasing number of performances for these distinguished compositions.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): June 24, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): chamber, composer, composition, conductor, female, wind
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Richard Clary, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jane Piper Clendinning, University Representative; David Patrick Dunnigan, Committee Member; Steven Kelly, Committee Member; Clifford Madsen, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Music
SUBJECT: Music--Instruction and study
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Eady_fsu_0071E_15275.pdf
TITLE: On the Use of Conformal Mappings, Invariants and Warpings in Investigations of the Cortical Surface
AUTHOR: Eady, Carolyn M. (Carolyn Marie)
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Cogan, Nicholas G.
MEMBER (university representative): Stroupe, M. Elizabeth (Margaret Elizabeth)
MEMBER (committee member): Bowers, Philip L., 1956-
MEMBER (committee member): Mio, Washington
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Mathematics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (149 pages)
ABSTRACT: Brain mapping studies the structure and function of the brain through imaging techniques in an effort to relate function to specific anatomical regions. The highly folded nature of the human brain makes visualization difficult; thus neuroscientists desire quantitative methods to assist with characterization of anatomical differences between subjects. As cortical folding patterns are unique to each person, methods for quantifying differences across subjects are lacking. A first step in quantifying data is to define a normal, healthy brain in terms of both shape and function. Establishing spatial characteristics of a healthy brain, or an aggregate of healthy brains, will allow for better diagnosis and treatment of brain injuries and diseases. The research discussed in this thesis uses a two-dimensional, or ``flat", map of the cortical surface based on a three-dimensional reconstruction from medical images acquired using magnetic resonance imaging. Such mappings can be used to measure cross-subject differences, as well as the development of abnormalities in longitudinal studies of diseased patient brains. The ``flat" mappings we discuss are constructed using a mathematical approach known as circle packing. Our research makes use of conformal mappings and the properties preserved under them, defining ways to apply them to brain data. These conformally invariant properties take into account aspects of the three-dimensional shape of the surface which are not easily visualized, and allow us to quantify them in a two-dimensional result. In particular, we develop methods for calculation of extremal length and harmonic measure. We also give various forms of visualization of each invariant, and in some cases visualization of biological data in conjunction with our calculations. After calculating methods of comparison to be used indirectly, we offer two adaptations to an existing program which allow for the direct comparison of cortical surfaces. The data we use does not fit specific criteria of the program, so these adaptations are necessary to generalize the usage of the existing program. We again use the concept of circle packing for ``flat" mappings; however, the ingenuity of our adaptations lies in the connecting between these ``flat" maps. We follow a procedure for transforming the coordinates of a source surface into those of a destination surface, through a system of weighting vertices by barycentric or gyrobarycentric coordinates. Though our research focuses on a small region of the human brain, we proceed with the expectation that all methods can be generalized to other regions of the brain. As many psychological disorders have structural manifestations, the research can be used to investigate anomalies in brain data for such illnesses. Additionally, the methods we provide can be further generalized to surfaces other than the brain, laying groundwork for use in general investigations of two and three-dimensional surfaces.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Mathematics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): June 26, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): biomathematics, brain mapping, conformal, mathematical biology
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Nicholas G. Cogan, Professor Directing Dissertation; M. Elizabeth Stroupe, University Representative; Philip L. Bowers, Committee Member; Washington Mio, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Mathematics
SUBJECT: Biology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Edmonds_fsu_0071E_15320.pdf
TITLE: Revitalizing Feminist Ethics for Composition Studies: from Standpoint to Epistemology
AUTHOR: Edmonds, Julianna L.
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Graban, Tarez Samra
MEMBER (university representative): Sinke, Suzanne M.
MEMBER (committee member): Fleckenstein, Kristie S.
MEMBER (committee member): Lathan, Rhea Estelle, 1961-
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of English
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (237 pages)
ABSTRACT: In this study, I re-theorize identity and self-positioning as central focuses of feminist composition pedagogy by building a theory of ethos as epistemology within writing studies. My study moves ethos beyond a mere rhetorical strategy by posing it as a way of knowing. Thus, I analyze the concept of ethos as a feminist way of teaching and ultimately present a fuller theory of feminist ethos that draws on ecological and epistemic frameworks to re-conceptualize how the ancient concept could be employed as a teachable habit within TA preparation programs and within the feminist composition classroom. This study contributes to conversations in composition studies, first-year composition, feminist rhetorics, and multiculturalism, and in doing so, it seeks to foreground the importance of rhetorical knowledge and epistemic diversity within composition pedagogy. While the first three chapters of my study present a revitalized theory of ethos as epistemology, in the concluding chapters, the project gathers information about how Florida State University composition instructors understand and implement two things in their college composition classrooms: (1) feminist rhetorical principles; and (2) the concept of ethos –understood in pragmatic terms as “tone,” “voice,” “personal appeal,” “credibility,” but more recently considered in feminist rhetorical theory as an embodied dimension of selfhood that reflects the changing subject positions and locations from which all rhetors speak and compose. In short, my project enacts a combination of empirical and theoretical methods: first I build a theoretical model of ethos as epistemology within writing studies by situating the concept within the following theoretical conversations: feminist pedagogy, epistemology, critical race theory, intersectionality, and multiculturalism. As I theorize ethos alongside these theoretical conversations, I attend to the ways that identity is flattened, especially within studies of multiculturalism and intersectionality. Then I collect and analyze instructors’ responses to questions about their major epistemological leanings in pedagogy and patterns of practice in order to make speculative conclusions about how the theoretical model could potentially be taken up within new instructor preparation programs. In addition to surveying current FSU composition instructors to trace patterns in their understandings of feminist pedagogy, I collect and analyze sets of classroom teaching materials (syllabi, assignment sheets, classroom activities) in order to consider how instructors create opportunities for students to craft ethos within the curricula they build. My study begins from the guiding premise that teachers are learners (especially within the learning site of TA preparation), and that premise guides my theorizing. From that theorizing, I aim to consider how this model of ethos as epistemology could be used within TA preparation specifically to shape those perceptions and misperceptions of TAs. Therefore, my interest in teacher perceptions is a motivating interest and a potential useful outcome for creating a model of ethos as epistemology within writing studies. Considering the implications of this theory-building on TA preparation also interrogates the idea of liminality, as pre-service TA preparation is a site of convergence for these co-existing identities of teacher and student.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): June 24, 2019.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Tarez Samra Graban, Professor Directing Dissertation; Suzanne Sinke, University Representative; Kristie Fleckenstein, Committee Member; Rhea Lathan, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Rhetoric
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Edralin_fsu_0071E_14824.pdf
TITLE: The Relationships among Personality Factors, Negative Career Thoughts, and Profile Elevation
AUTHOR: Edralin, Christine
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Lenz, Janet G., 1953-
MEMBER (university representative): McWey, Lenore M.
MEMBER (committee member): Osborn, Debra S., 1968-
MEMBER (committee member): Sampson, James P.
MEMBER (committee member): Dozier, V. Casey (Virginia Casey)
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2018
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (171 pages)
ABSTRACT: The present study examined personality factors in relation to negative career thoughts and profile elevation. Study participants (n = 128) were undergraduate students enrolled in five sections of a career development course at a large, public, Southeastern university. The NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3 Form S (NEO FFI-3 Form S; McCrae & Costa, 2010) was used to measure the five factors of personality (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness). The Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI; Sampson et al., 1996a) was used to measure negative career thoughts and the Standard Self-Directed Search (StandardSDS; Holland & Messer, 2017) was used to measure profile elevation. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine if the five personality factors (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) on the NEO FFI-3 were predictors of negative career thoughts (CTI Total Score). Results of the hierarchical multiple regression showed that 27.1% of the variability in the CTI Total Score was explained by the combined effect of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were the only statistically significant predictors of the CTI Total Score. In addition, a simple linear regression was conducted to determine if negative career thoughts (CTI Total Score) predicted profile elevation on the StandardSDS. The simple linear regression results showed that 3.6% of the variance in profile elevation could be explained by the CTI Total Score. Finally, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine if the five personality factors (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) on the NEO FFI-3 and negative career thoughts (CTI Total Score) predicted profile elevation on the StandardSDS. The hierarchical regression revealed that 38.0% of the variability in profile elevation was explained by Openness, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, CTI Total Score, and Agreeableness. Openness was found to be the strongest predictor of profile elevation, followed by Agreeableness, Conscientiousness as the third strongest, and Extraversion as the fourth strongest predictor of profile elevation. Additional analyses showed that 7.9% of the variance in profile elevation could be explained by DMC. Additional analyses also revealed a significant positive relationship between Neuroticism and DMC, as well as significant negative relationships among DMC, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness. A significant positive correlation was found between Neuroticism and CA, as well as a significant negative correlation between Conscientiousness and CA. Finally, a significant positive correlation was found between Neuroticism and EC, as well as significant negative correlations among EC and Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. A discussion of the study’s findings and limitations are offered. Lastly, implications for theory, practice, and future research are included.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2018.
NOTE (Date of Defense): May 23, 2018.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Janet G. Lenz, Professor Directing Dissertation; Lenore M. McWey, University Representative; Debra S. Osborn, Committee Member; James P. Sampson, Jr., Committee Member; V. Casey Dozier, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Edwards_fsu_0071N_15289.pdf
TITLE: The Processes Underlying Ran Predicting Reading Fluency
AUTHOR: Edwards, Ashley Ann
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Schatschneider, Christopher
MEMBER (committee member): Hart, Sara, (Professor of Psychology)
MEMBER (committee member): Cabell, Sonia Q.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Psychology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (32 pages)
ABSTRACT: Previous research has shown rapid serial naming to be predictive of reading fluency, although the mechanisms underlying this connection are much less established. Despite the strong relationship with rapid serial naming (RAN), oral reading fluency is much less predicted by isolated naming (IN). Since the requirements involved in completing these tasks are similar, yet differ in their predictive abilities, the sources of this predictive power must lay in the differences between these tasks. The present study investigates these differences to attempt to determine the specific underlying processes that make rapid serial naming predictive of reading fluency. Results showed no significant difference in correlation with the addition of an underline to a RAN task to help keep track of the current location and location tracking did not mediate the relationship between RAN and ORF suggesting that individual differences in location tracking abilities may not explain the relationship between RAN and ORF. Furthermore, no significant difference in correlation was observed between ORF and IN and ORF and either of the cluttered IN tasks. This suggests that the cluttered visual scene may not explain the difference in ability to predict ORF between IN and RAN. Lastly, no difference in correlation with ORF was observed for three different IN gap sizes. Implications of these unexpected findings are discussed.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): May 29, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): isolated naming, rapid naming, reading fluency, serial naming
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Christopher Schatschneider, Professor Directing Thesis; Sara A. Hart, Committee Member; Sonia Q. Cabell, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Developmental psychology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Engstrand_fsu_0071E_15310.pdf
TITLE: Intermetallic Carbides, Borides, and Carbide Hydrides from Re/Ni Fluxes (Re = La, Pr)
AUTHOR: Engstrand, Tate O. (Tate Owen)
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Latturner, Susan
MEMBER (university representative): Siegrist, Theo
MEMBER (committee member): Albrecht-Schmitt, Thomas E.
MEMBER (committee member): Stiegman, Albert E., 1953-
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (110 pages)
ABSTRACT: Metal flux synthesis is a useful technique for the discovery of novel intermetallic phases. The molten state enhances diffusion rates which improves rates of reaction. Reactions can proceed at lower temperatures, allowing for the observation of metastable phases. The technique also allows favorable conditions for single crystal growth. In this work, two mixed metal fluxes were explored. The first was a Pr/Ni binary mixture in a 3:1 ratio, melting at a temperature of 525 °C. The mixture acted as a solvent for iron and other transition metals to react with main group elements. The second was a binary La/Ni eutectic 67% rich in lanthanum, m.p. 517 °C. This latter flux was used to grow an intermetallic carbide using anthracene as a reactant. Reactions of silicon and phosphorus with iron and carbon in the Pr/Ni binary mixture produced phases of the new structure type Pr62Fe21M16C32 (M = Si, P) in the P4/mmm space group (a = 15.584(2) Å, c = 11.330(1) Å for the Si analog). These compounds have a zeolite-like iron carbide framework of corner-sharing FeC3 subunits filled with a cationic Pr/M network. Building blocks in the structure were found to be in common with those in Pr21Fe8Si7C12, a new analog of the previously reported La21Fe8Sn7C12. Magnetic susceptibility measurements and band structure calculations for Pr62Fe21Si16C32 indicate that the iron atoms in the compound are not magnetic; the low temperature complex antiferromagnetic ordering is due to the Pr3+ ions. Conversely, both iron and praseodymium moments contribute to the magnetic behavior of Pr21Fe8Si7C12. Pr/Ni flux reactions with tellurium, iron and boron resulted in the intermetallic phase with new structure type Pr21Fe16Te6B30 in the cubic space group P-43m (a = 10.61709 Å). Initially, the phase appeared to grow in the Pm-3m space group, but bond length analysis indicated the growth of the phase was subject to twinning. The P-43m local structure was verified by TEM measurements. The phase features Fe16B30 clusters composed of an Fe16 Friauf polyhedron surrounded by a complex network of boron atoms. Adjacent Fe16B30 clusters are bridged by boron-boron dimers and are surrounded by a cationic Pr/Te network. Both the praseodymium ions and the iron contribute to the effective magnetic moment of this compound. Reactions of iron and anthracene in a La/Ni flux produced the new metal carbide La15(FeC6)4H. Anthracene acts as a carbon and hydrogen source. The presence of hydride in the product was indicated by single crystal X-ray diffraction and probed by 1H MAS NMR.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): June 25, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): borides, carbide hydrides, carbides, flux chemistry, flux synthesis, intermetallics
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Susan E. Latturner, Professor Directing Dissertation; Theo Siegrist, University Representative; Thomas E. Albrecht-Schmitt, Committee Member; Albert E. Stiegman, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Materials science
SUBJECT: Chemistry
SUBJECT: Chemistry, Inorganic
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Ennis_fsu_0071E_15309.pdf
TITLE: Differential Effects of Emotional State on Physiological Arousal and Pain Perception among Individuals Who Enagage in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury
AUTHOR: Ennis, Chelsea R. (Chelsea Rhianon)
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Taylor, Jeanette E.
MEMBER (committee member): Joiner, Thomas, Jr.
MEMBER (committee member): Franklin, Joseph
MEMBER (committee member): Boot, Walter Richard
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Psychology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (74 pages)
ABSTRACT: Individuals engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) to decrease intense negative emotions. Notably, self-injurers are more likely to engage in NSSI in the context of certain emotions (i.e., anger, rejection, guilt). This may be partially explained by the fact that anger is related to increased physiological arousal relative to other emotions (i.e., sadness). However, this hypothesis has yet to be tested among those who engage in NSSI. The current study addressed gaps in the literature regarding the effect of specific emotions on physiological arousal and pain perception by inducing several emotional states, including anger, sadness, happiness, and a neutral emotion. Hypotheses were tested among 92 females with a history of NSSI. The hypotheses that participants in the anger condition would have the highest physiological arousal during the emotion induction and following pain offset was not supported. Additionally, the hypothesis that individuals in the anger condition (relative to the other emotion conditions) would have significantly higher pain threshold, pain tolerance, and pain endurance, and significantly decreased pain threshold intensity was also not supported. The current investigation is the first study to examine the interplay between emotions, arousal, and pain among those who engage in NSSI and has several implications.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 8, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Emotion induction, Nonsuicidal self-injury, Pain perception, Physiological arousal, Self-harm
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Jeanette Taylor, Professor Directing Dissertation; Tomi Gomory, University Representative; Thomas E. Joiner, Committee Member; Joseph Franklin, Committee Member; Walter Boot, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Clinical psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Fan_fsu_0071E_15268.pdf
TITLE: Characterization of Linc Complex Assembly in Budding Yeast
AUTHOR: Fan, Jinbo
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Yu, Hong-Guo
MEMBER (university representative): Wang, Yanchang, (Biomedical Sciences Professor)
MEMBER (committee member): Bass, Hank W.
MEMBER (committee member): Chadwick, Brian P.
MEMBER (committee member): McGinnis, Karen M.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Biological Science
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (106 pages)
ABSTRACT: The linker of the nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton (LINC) protein complex bridges the inner and outer nuclear membranes and regulates a range of nuclear activities that include telomere tethering and chromosome movement. The canonical LINC complex is composed of a pair of transmembrane-domain proteins, with the KASH protein localized to the outer nuclear membrane, and the SUN protein to the inner nuclear membrane. In budding yeast, Csm4, which is specific to meiosis, and Mps2 are two KASH-like proteins, whereas Mps3 is the sole SUN protein. The current notion posits that Mps3 pairs with either Csm4 or Mps2 to form separate LINC complexes at the telomere and the centrosome, respectively. Here we show that Mps2 mediates the interaction between Csm4 and Mps3 to form a functional heterotrimeric composition of LINC complex that regulates telomere attachment and meiotic recombination. Csm4 binds to Mps2, and both localize to telomeres. Csm4's localization depends on Mps2 and Mps3, but Mps2's association with the telomere depends on Mps3 but not Csm4. The Mps2-mediated heterotrimeric LINC complex controls nuclear shape, telomere bouquet formation, recombination, and homolog pairing in prophase I. These findings reveal the heterotrimeric composition of the yeast LINC complex and have implications for understanding LINC variants in higher eukaryotes. To further characterize the heterotrimeric LINC complex, we have reconstructed the meiotic LINC complex in vegetative yeast cells by ectopically expressing Csm4. In the wild-type cells, both Mps2 and Mps3 are concentrated at the centrosome. In the presence of Csm4, Mps2 and Mps3 form “mitotic patches” at the leading edge of the budding daughter cell during mitosis. Importantly, the presence of Mps3 patch depends on Mps2, while the presence of Mps2 patch does not depend on Mps3, demonstrating that Mps3’s interaction with Csm4 requires Mps2. Furthermore, we show that the Mps2/Mps3 patch is absent in yeast cells treated with the actin depolymerizing drug latrunculin B, indicating that ectopic t-LINC formation in vegetative cells depends on actin. These findings support our meiotic model in which the yeast telomere-associated LINC complex is composed of Mps3, Mps2, and Csm4. Finally, we have revealed that Csm4 is a short-lived protein, whose degradation appears to regulate meiotic telomere-associated LINC complex disassembly. The protein level of Csm4 peaks during prophase I but is barely detectable by Western blotting after metaphase I. We hypothesize that the disassembly of the yeast telomere-associated LINC complex is regulated by the degradation of Csm4. To test this hypothesis, a targeted genetic screen was performed and two CSM4 interacting factors were identified, UBC7 and DOA10, which encode the E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme and the E3 ligase of the endoplasmic-reticulum-associated protein degradation (ERAD) pathway, respectively. These findings therefore provide a clue to how the yeast telomere-associated LINC complex is downregulated during the cell cycle. In summary, we show that a heterotrimeric LINC complex is assembled at the telomere in budding yeast meiosis, and Mps2 is the linker between Mps3 and Csm4. Our work not only clarifies the composition and function of the telomere-associated LINC complex in budding yeast, but also provides implications for LINC variant formation in other organisms. In addition, we show that the KASH-like protein Csm4 is likely subject to ERAD pathway regulation for protein turnover, which may provide a mechanism for LINC complex disassembly during the cell cycle.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Biological Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): May 16, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): ERAD, KASH protein, LINC complex
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Hong-Guo Yu, Professor Directing Dissertation; Yanchang Wang, University Representative; Hank W. Bass, Committee Member; Brian P. Chadwick, Committee Member; Karen M. McGinnis, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Biology
SUBJECT: Cytology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Fargason_fsu_0071E_15374.pdf
TITLE: Love Song to the Demon-Possessed Pigs of Gadara
AUTHOR: Fargason, William H.
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Kimbrell, James, 1967-
MEMBER (university representative): Galeano, Juan Carlos, 1958-
MEMBER (committee member): Epstein, Andrew, 1969-
MEMBER (committee member): Hamby, Barbara, 1952-
MEMBER (committee member): Kirby, David, 1944-
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of English
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (92 pages)
ABSTRACT: In this manuscript, I explore issues of masculinity, mental illness, and spirituality—often using the form of elegy. Many of the elegies in this manuscript are in conversation with critic Jahan Ramazani’s arguments about elegies: “the modern elegist tends not to achieve but to resist consolation, not to override but to sustain anger, not to heal but to reopen the wounds of loss.” The arc of the book shows the speaker working through grief, healing from loss, and confronting mental illness. The poems of healing interrogate that “wound of loss” Ramazani describes, while detailing the inherent difficulty of opening or closing the wound. The book is structured in four sections, with each section having the central threads braided throughout. Each braid connects back to—and is filtered through—the speaker: his struggle with God, his constant conflicts with the father figure, his romantic relationships, and his own crumbling mental health. In addition to these recurring themes, I attempt to explore the distances between two people (or figures), in either a literal way, or through memory. In reckoning with those distances, the focus of exploration twists inward: the poems about other people become about the speaker. The knowledge gained from the focus inward becomes become holes in the speaker’s perceived identity that the poems must then work their way out of. Several of my poems are influenced by a strained relationship with an emotionally and physically abusive father. This father figure informs my speaker’s sense of masculinity through notions of power and love, which becomes mirrored in the speaker’s tenuous relationship toward God throughout the manuscript. In the poems that deal directly with family, I write in the tradition of such contemporary poets as Sharon Olds. However, many of the poems in this manuscript don’t glorify the body and the sensuous relationship a person can have with their body, as many of Olds’ poems do. Instead, many poems look at the way the body breaks down and is impacted through chronic illness, inherited conditions, aging, and ultimately, death. Many of the poems in this manuscript filter claustrophobic human experiences and interactions through the self, attempting to navigate new knowledge that fractures one’s understanding of the world. My speaker’s encounters with intimacy tend to reveal the erotic to be just as claustrophobic as the self. The poems dealing with intimacy are written in the tradition of such poets as Robert Creeley (with his unresolved desire of his idealized lover) and Richard Siken (with his attempts to revive and reanimate the dead lover in Crush). Several poems attempt to reconstruct memories and fail, thereby giving the reader the sense that the speaker is always already aware that memories—even traumatic or closely held memories—degrade over time. The end of the manuscript shows the speaker working toward recovery from his mental illness, but it doesn’t present that healing process in an unrealistic way, knowing that the healing process is never complete. Rather, the ending shows the speaker struggling to move forward, but moving forward nonetheless.
NOTE (embargo): 4
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): July 9, 2019.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): James Kimbrell, Professor Directing Dissertation; Juan Carlos Galeano, University Representative; Andrew Epstein, Committee Member; Barbara Hamby, Committee Member; David Kirby, Committee Member.
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Feng_fsu_0071E_15304.pdf
TITLE: Essays on Sovereign Debt and Partial Default
AUTHOR: Feng, Shuang
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Atolia, Manoj
MEMBER (university representative): Kercheval, Alec N.
MEMBER (committee member): Dmitriev, Mikhail I., 1986-
MEMBER (committee member): Marquis, Milton H.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Economics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (165 pages)
ABSTRACT: My dissertation involves the study of sovereign debt flows with an emphasis on the determinants and characteristics of sovereign default in emerging markets, accounting for the partial nature of this default. It consists of three chapters: Firstly, Chapter One and Chapter Two empirically explore the determinants of sovereign default. Secondly, Chapter Three quantitatively investigates the macroeconomic implications of the partial nature of sovereign default. In Chapter One and Chapter Two, I empirically examine the monetary and default responses of sovereign countries to the fluctuations in world commodity prices in a panel of 21 emerging countries with annual observations from 1970 to 2013, constructing and using a country-specific commodity price index with time-varying weights. The selection of the sample countries is based on both the definition of an emerging market by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the available information of the external public and publicly-guaranteed (PPG) debt arrears in the World Development Indicators (WDI) database. It is commonly known that emerging markets are vulnerable to global shocks, such as the shocks to world commodity prices. Large fluctuations in world commodity prices over the business cycles can greatly affect their foreign revenues, causing excessive external imbalances in international payments. Countries with external imbalance, especially with excessive current account deficits, are most likely to experience limited spending due to constraints on the inter-temporal substitution in expenditure and are likely to default on their external debt denominated in foreign currencies. I choose world commodity prices as the main predictor for the monetary and default responses to investigate, because for many of the countries in the sample, commodities are a large proportion of their export and foreign revenues. Large fluctuations in commodity prices, causing external imbalance, greatly affect their ability to service the external debt, which is typically denominated in foreign currencies. Chapter One, “World commodity prices, money, and foreign exchange in emerging markets: New evidence”, investigates countries’ monetary responses (the change of broad money and the choice of exchange rate regimes) when they are encountering the foreign revenue reduction caused by the fluctuations in world commodity prices, before making the decision to default. The estimated results show that the declines in world commodity prices significantly, positively affect the ratio of broad money to GDP and that countries tend to have more flexible exchange rate regimes when world commodity prices are depressed for an extended period. The investigation of the response of the broad money supply is consistent with the open economy trilemma and the estimates of the exchange rate regime flexibility fills the gap of the literature on the determinants of the choice of exchange rate regimes. By capturing the type of global shock as well as the time-varying country characteristics, the effect of the price index (excluding the country fixed effect) well explains the time-series variation and country-specific variation of the exchange rate regimes. Chapter Two, “World commodity prices and partial default in emerging markets: An empirical analysis”, mainly explores the effects of the fluctuation in world commodity prices on sovereign default. The results show that the decrease in the price index increases the default rate. The response of the default rate varies across countries and it generally increases with a country’s dependence on the commodity exports and external indebtedness. This chapter provides the first economically-significant, quantitative estimates of the effect of world commodity prices on the default rate. A few unique features of my approach allow me to make this contribution: The first feature is the price index. In this chapter, the details of developing the novel country-specific commodity price index are given. The price index is constructed with a two-stage aggregation using time-varying weights based on commodities exported and is used as the main explanatory variable. By accounting for the changes in export structure, the time-varying weights allow me to use data for a longer period, from 1970 to 2013, for my analysis, covering the emerging markets debt crisis, currency crisis, and the recent contraction. This country-specific nature of the price index helps control for other common, global shocks in the estimation. The second feature is that I focus on the realized default risk and use the partial default rate, other than default events, country spreads, or credit ratings, as the proxy for that risk. Along with the price index, the default rate provides longer-period data and allows me to do the analysis starting from 1970. In Chapter Three, “Sovereign debt: A quantitative comparative investigation of the partial default mechanism”, I build and quantitatively solve the partial default models of a small open economy, in both endowment and production environments, to investigate the responses of the borrowing, default, and pricing of sovereign debt to economic shocks and to examine how the partial default mechanism improves the predictions of the sovereign default models. The simulation results of the models can well predict the country spreads, default-related statistics, and other business cycle indicators. My models assume the non-exclusion from the international capital market after default. Thus, I can also examine the impulse responses of various macroeconomic variables to the shocks to better understand the underlying propagation mechanism of partial default. The un-realistic assumptions and the limited prediction performance of full default models are the two main reasons that motivate me to choose the partial default mechanism and to build the partial default models. Firstly, the standard theory of sovereign default assumes that countries always default on all of their debt and are excluded from the international capital market after default. However, the empirical regularities show that countries always default on only part of their debt and they continue to borrow while having debt arrears. Besides being inaccurate assumptions, the full default model has the limitations in terms of predicting some of the critical debt indicators, like the debt-to-output ratio and the default frequency, although it can predict that default happens in bad times and can predict counter-cyclical country spreads. The partial default models can improve the predictions of the debt level and the default frequency without losing the performance of matching other data moments. Moreover, it also can predict the partial default rate, which the full default model is not designed to and cannot predict. The partial default models in Chapter Three have three features: firstly, the partial default is endogenously-determined, which allows me to compute the default rate; secondly, there is a preemptive recovery payment of the default, which enables the price function of the short-term debt to have the feature that the price of the long-term debt has; and thirdly, there is no exclusion from the international capital market after default, so I can examine the impulse responses of various macroeconomic variables. Compared with the partial default model with endowment, the partial default model with production generates better predictions for the debt service and improves the over-predicted volatilities of consumption and interest spreads. Besides simultaneously matching the mean spread and the debt-to-output ratio, its simulated results can predict the pro-cyclical investment and closely match the relative volatility of investment.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Economics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): May 30, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): Exchange rate regime, Monetary policy, Partial default, Sovereign debt, Sovereign default, World commodity prices
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Manoj Atolia, Professor Directing Dissertation; Alec N. Kercheval, University Representative; Mikhail Dmitriev, Committee Member; Milton H. Marquis, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Economics
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Frank_fsu_0071E_15354.pdf
TITLE: Understanding the “Success” of an All Girls' Boarding School in Rural Tanzania: Perspectives of Graduates, Teachers, and Administrators
AUTHOR: Frank, Alison
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Khurshid, Ayesha
MEMBER (university representative): McDowell, Stephen D., 1958-
MEMBER (committee member): Akiba, Motoko
MEMBER (committee member): Zuilkowski, Stephanie Simmons
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (165 pages)
ABSTRACT: International aid agencies and policymakers over the last several decades have sought strategies and policies to support education for girls throughout the world. Despite significant interventions from world aid organizations, non-governmental agencies, and individual countries, more than half of children not attending school are girls. Girls’ transition rate from primary to secondary education has been especially alarming in sub-Saharan Africa: close to 50% of children do not matriculate from primary to secondary school in Africa. In some countries, the numbers have been even higher. As of 2013, less than 20% of Tanzanian children continued on to the secondary level of education (UNESCO, 2013). In this dissertation, I explored factors and processes at an all-girls’ boarding school in rural Tanzania that supported students’ high performance on national exams as well as high retention and graduation rates. Drawing upon in-depth interviews, this research illustrated how teachers, administrators, and graduates of this school defined, approached, and made sense of factors that made this particular girls’ education program a success.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): June 21, 2019.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Ayesha Khurshid, Professor Directing Dissertation; Steve McDowell, University Representative; Motoko Akiba, Committee Member; Stephanie Zuilkowski, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Education and state
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: FuentesKeuthan_fsu_0071N_15166.pdf
TITLE: Searching for Irène Némirovsky: A Study of Némirovsky's Role in the Russian Diasporain Inter-Warparis
AUTHOR: Fuentes-Keuthan, Justin Robert
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Wakamiya, Lisa Ryoko, 1969-
MEMBER (committee member): Efimov, Nina A.
MEMBER (committee member): Boutin, Aimée, 1970-
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (46 pages)
ABSTRACT: This paper analyzes the critical literature on Irène Némirovsky in the context of her engagement of the Inter-war émigré Russian community of Montparnasse, Paris as well as the broader French public. This paper begins with a detailed account of the Inter-war Russian community of Montparnasse, Paris to provide historical context and evaluate existing research on the Russian émigré community. A traditionally held notion that the community was closed off from outside influence and unified ideologically will be dispelled as part of an effort to illustrate how the setting in which Irène Némirovsky worked and lived facilitated her ability to write and qualifies her as an appropriate subject for study of Russian émigré literature. It also serves a crucial role in providing context when analyzing her more controversial works such as “David Golder”. Subsequently, an analysis of the scholarly work on Irène Némirovsky is conducted followed by an analysis of three of her most well-known novels. Study of these novels prove that Némirovsky was an atypical émigré in some ways but typical in others, but that above all, the community of Russian Montparnasse held a symbiotic relationship with its French host and a free exchange of literary ideas and cultures was available if it were sought after.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Spring Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): April 8, 2019.
NOTE (Keywords): diaspora, emigre, interwar, Montparnasse, Nemirovsky, transnational
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Lisa Ryoko Wakamiya, Professor Directing Thesis; Nina Efimov, Committee Member; Aimee Boutin, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Slavic countries
SUBJECT: Slavic literature
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Fuzia_fsu_0071E_15345.pdf
TITLE: The Sunyaev-Zel'Dovich Effect in Galaxy Clusters
AUTHOR: Fuzia, Brittany
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Huffenberger, Kevin M., 1977-
MEMBER (university representative): Zhao, Peixiang
MEMBER (committee member): Collins, David C. (David Christopher)
MEMBER (committee member): Murphy, Jeremiah Wayne
MEMBER (committee member): Prosper, Harrison B.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Physics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (123 pages)
ABSTRACT: Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound structures in the Universe, and they provide valuable insights into astrophysics and cosmology. One method of studying galaxy clusters - the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich Effect - involves using the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) as a backlight. As CMB photons pass through the hot electron gas of the intracluster medium, a small portion are scattered and gain energy. This causes a distortion in the spectrum of the CMB which depends mainly on the total mass of the galaxy cluster and is independent of redshift, making it an important means of probing high-redshift systems. Only recently have telescopes become sensitive enough to detect the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect for low masses. In this thesis, we discuss the work done using the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect to study low-mass galaxy clusters and to identify new galaxy clusters in CMB maps.
NOTE (embargo): 0
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Physics in partial fulfillment of the 2019.
NOTE (Degree Awarded): Summer Semester 2019.
NOTE (Date of Defense): May 29, 2019.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Kevin Huﬀenberger, Professor Directing Dissertation; Peixiang Zhao, University Representative; David Collins, Committee Member; Jeremiah Murphy, Committee Member; Harrison Prosper, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Astrophysics
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Gaboardi_fsu_0071E_15307.pdf
TITLE: Populated Polygons to Networks: A Population-Centric Approach to Spatial Network Allocation
AUTHOR: Gaboardi, James D. (James David)
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Folch, David C.
MEMBER (university representative): Brusco, Michael J.
MEMBER (committee member): Horner, Mark W.
MEMBER (committee member): Uejio, Christopher K.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Geography
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2019
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (224 pages)