Electronic Thesis or Dissertation

The purpose of this dissertation research is to examine the perspectives of early childhood teachers with regard to multicultural education in South Korea. This study sought to identify teachers’ personal and professional beliefs about multicultural education as defined by their perceptions, descriptions, feelings, judgments, memories, and discussions with others. To better understand early childhood teachers’ perspectives of multicultural education in South Korea, the following research questions serve as a compass for the study: (a) What are South Korean early childhood teachers’ understandings and beliefs about multicultural education in their classrooms? (b) How do South Korean early childhood teachers implement multicultural practices in their classroom environment and curriculums? Findings show that teachers recognized a need for multicultural education because of the increasing diversity in South Korea. Although they understood embracing diversity, they shared opposing views about multicultural families while recognizing their bias as a challenge in the classroom. Teachers were unaware of the significance of the classroom environment and its influence on multicultural teaching, adding multicultural materials to accommodate children from multicultural families rather than actively integrating multiculturalism in curriculum and instructional interactions. Implications suggest avenues for increased multicultural understanding through teacher preparation, professional development, curricular revision, and policy changes.

There has been a strong push for workplace diversity in the United States (U.S.) in recent years. Work teams consisting of employees with diverse backgrounds can augment firms’ competitive advantage. This view is consistent with the cognitive diversity hypothesis, which depicts multiple perspectives generated by cognitive differences among organizational members resulting in creative problem-solving. In this study, I investigate the role of cognitive diversity, measured by differences in a set of seven cultural traits between the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), in shaping firm financial reporting quality. Relying on the upper-echelon theory that executive characteristics affect firm outcomes and the cognitive diversity hypothesis that diversity reduces groupthink, sparks innovation, increases employee retention rate, and builds a positive firm culture, I expect to find a positive relationship between cognitive diversity and financial reporting quality.
In determining firm performance and outcomes, differences in executive demographic characteristics such as age, tenure, gender, and race may have an impact on how executive cognitive perceptions, values, and information sets, shape their decisions and outcomes. Therefore, I then examine the effect of executive demographic diversity on the link between executive cognitive diversity and financial reporting quality. Diversity has received a lot of attention over the last decades, but it is unclear ex ante how different types of diversity interact with each other in shaping firm outcomes. Therefore, I examine but do not hypothesize the direction of the effect of executive demographic diversity on the link between executive cognitive diversity and financial reporting quality.

Proton Therapy, an effective cancer treatment, poses unintended consequences for patients and personnel due to secondary neutron production. This study investigates neutron attenuation in shielding materials like concrete using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations to optimize shielding requirements. Experimental limitations, such as detector sensitivity, energy range response, and spatial resolution, lead to inaccurate evaluations. MC simulations address that by modeling radiation transport and neutron interactions with shielding materials.
The TOPAS-MC code simulated secondary neutrons generated by a 226.5 MeV energy proton beam on a 30 cm diameter tissue-equivalent target. The target was placed in a 200 cm spherical concrete shell with a 100 cm inner radius and 2.3 g/cm3 density. Energy deposition and particle fluence were scored in 20 radial points across 18 angular positions, and the mean value per particle was estimated. Neutron fluence to ambient dose equivalent conversion coefficients from ICRU Report No. 95 were used to calculate the total dose equivalent values, which were scaled based on distance and concrete shield thickness.

Pleurogonius malaclemys is a digenean trematode with a life cycle that begins in Ilyanassa obsoleta as a first and second intermediate host and Malaclemys terrapin as a definitive host. The fluke matures and reproduces within terrapins and, therefore, relies on terrapins for dispersal. Thus, we hypothesized that the genetic structure of flukes would reflect contemporary changes in the connectivity of terrapin populations. Flukes were sampled by dissecting mudsnails collected from eight sites along the eastern United States. Following amplification of the COI mitochondrial marker, 21 haplotypes were identified and a high degree of structure was detected. We propose that this suggests the parasite could serve as a tool for monitoring terrapin populations. This study sets a foundation for the genetic diversity of the fluke, and provides a first step towards developing the species as a proxy for studying terrapin population size, connectivity, and health, which may help conserve both species.

Plasma-based diagnostics are ideal for detecting a variety of diseases because they offer a method of detection that is minimally invasive, readily available, and easy to use for monitoring patients as they progress through a disease or respond to treatment. The only serum marker for PDAC is CA19-9 which lacks specificity, has limited sensitivity, and is unreliable for early detection. It is therefore of great importance to develop a diagnostic that is viable for screening and early detection. Exosomal miRNA were determined via bioinformatics analyses and then examined in PDAC cell lines to identify markers with greatest potential. These markers were then examined in plasma from PDAC patients and control groups. Four markers, miR-93-5p, miR-339-3p, miR-425-5p, and miR-425-3p, emerged as the most viable biomarker panel with the ability to detect PDAC in 100% of the early stages (N=5) compared to CA19-9 which showed increased levels in only one patient with early stage PDAC. Additionally, the diagnostic has a specificity of 80% and a sensitivity of 94.7%, making it comparable to CA19-9, and may even be beneficial for use in conjunction with CA19-9.
A plasma-based diagnostic was also developed for multi-strain HIV-1 detection utilizing the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method. LAMP primers were developed against the integrase and vpr regions of the HIV-1 genome. They were tested first in cultured HIV samples and then examined for their ability to amplify HIV-1 subtypes A-G. The integrase primer set provided a reliable means of diagnosing all 55 strains and isolates in under 30 minutes, whereas vpr was inconsistent and exhibited high variability in detecting the HIV subtypes. Our limit of detection for B-subtype with integrase was 30 viral copies/reaction. This could provide the basis for a novel, point-of-care diagnostic for use in underdeveloped regions.

This study examined the environmental and anthropogenic factors that may influence loggerhead sea turtle nest site selection and how these factors vary between successful nesting attempts and false crawls on a high-density sea turtle nesting beach in Boca Raton, Florida. Beach morphology, sand texture, and nests’ proximity to artificial structures were measured using a combination of drone-based photogrammetry, traditional surveys with Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK GPS), and sediment granulometry. Proximity to dune crossover stairs was significantly different between nests and false crawls, and the probability of a false crawl occurring decreased as proximity to dune crossover stairs increased. The results of this study will provide researchers with a new tool for nest monitoring and a better understanding of the microhabitat cues that may influence loggerhead sea turtle nest site selection and aid in guiding beach and sea turtle management decisions.

The purpose of this study was to explore older adults’ perception of relational empathy in their healthcare providers and its relationship to medication adherence. In addition, the study examined whether older adults’ perception of relational empathy in their healthcare providers was associated with medication adherence, beyond predictive factors including medication beliefs, gender, and level of education. The sample consisted of 72 participants in a community-based program in an adult day center setting in South Florida. Correlation and linear regression analysis were used to test the two research questions. The results indicated that there was no statistically significant relationship between older adults’ perception of relational empathy in their healthcare provider and medication adherence (p = .344) and no significant predictor variables of change in medication adherence, with all p values in the regression model greater than .202. Although present study findings were inconclusive in supporting the association between relational empathy and medication adherence, secondary findings or considerations related to the low perception of relational empathy with healthcare providers and moderately low medication adherence provided a context for a thoughtful consideration of the implications of this study. Ideas for designing future research initiatives, specifically initiatives that promote a framework for understanding and practice of empathy during the clinical encounters with older adults are also discussed.

This dissertation is an anthropological lyric, a work that utilizes various modes of writing to examine and reveal the present-day predicament of the African-American woman. By engaging with transatlantic diaspora studies and Black feminist scholarship, particularly Zora Neale Hurston’s literary and linguistic contributions, herstory is bridged with the contemporary moment, allowing for an intricate and intimate dialogue between my ancestors and me. Providing a space for nontraditional voices exposes the divergent and intersecting conflicts that have and continue to arise for the descendants of slaves.
American culture is founded on war capitalism and an Africanist presence (a liberal modernity). Black women experience alarmingly high rates of discrimination, repression, oppression, and exploitation; fittingly, this work explores how haunting and trauma impact our livelihood and identity formation and functioning. Racial, monopolistic, and militaristic violences are exposed through the (re)telling of our stories, because the aftermath of colonial conquest and settlement most directly impacts our personhood. These stories portray the dynamic ways we have suffered and thrived in the face of imperialistic rule. Finally, this project aims to recompense my ancestors and me by reprinting our agencies through new forms of language.
This lyric becomes a form of feminist knowledge production that questions hegemonic epistemologies by applying various narrations. An intersubjective and reflexive account of truth grapples with linguistic hegemony and other forms of identity politics. Diasporic subjects “speak for themselves,” acting to revoke the systems and events, past and present, that strive to maintain their liminal group status.

The three novels of Henry James’s “major phase” have alienated many readers in James’s own time and today. I draw on the philosophical school of phenomenology, in particular the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and a recent extension by the philosopher Richard Kearney, to suggest that a lack of self-touch by characters in these novels has contributed in a significant but previously unnoticed way to many readers’ sense that these novels feel frustratingly intangible. I make a comparison to the instances of self-touch in other Edwardian novels to underline the difference. I suggest that James is putting forward a model of “middle-distance intimacy” in which intimates orbit each other at a fixed distance, neither coming closer nor moving further away. This kind of intimacy, for James, privileges the eye that sees from across the room over the hand that touches from up close. While this model of intimacy perplexed many readers in James’s time and later, it is a valuable exploration of a different yet—for some—no less satisfactory kind of emotional life.

This thesis analyzes if animacy facilitates the visual recognition of words in Spanish. I compared native-speaker reaction times to Spanish words with animate and inanimate referents in a word-nonword identification task, also known as the lexical decision task. Responses were collected from a database and coded for animacy as well as six lexical and semantic variables known to affect reading times. Linear mixed effects modeling suggested that participants responded to animate words significantly more quickly, independently of factors such as frequency and familiarity. The findings are interpreted from the perspective of parallel distributed processing model of word recognition in Seidenberg and McClelland (1989). The present study highlights the importance of animacy to language processing and presents one avenue through which we can understand which dimensions of the referential world are relevant to the processing and organization of language.