PHD, Kent State University, 2018, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of salient student-, school-, and region-level factors on Chinese students' mathematical literacy. Secondary data from Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macao, and Chinese Taipei participants of PISA 2012 was utilized to examine (a) how problem solving skills and noncognitive learning characteristics are related to mathematical literacy, while taking into account the effect of covariates; (b) how school-level factors moderate the relationships between student level variables and mathematical literacy; and (c) how region level factors interact with the student and school level variables. Three level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was selected as the analytic method due to its capability in exploring multilevel data. The results of this study indicated that, at student level, actual behavioral control (mathematics learning behavior and work ethic), perceived behavioral control (mathematics self-efficacy and self-concept), and problem solving skills showed positive impact on Chinese students' mathematical literacy. At school level, providing students with cognitive activation in mathematics lessons, experience with pure mathematics tasks, and mathematics extracurricular activities helped to improve mathematical literacy; however, constructivist practice, in terms of teacher behaviors on student orientation and on formative assessment, showed negative impact on their mathematical literacy. Finally, three regional factors (regional infrastructure, educational resources, and teacher shortage) interacted with applied mathematics tasks at school and problem solving skills, respectively, to conjointly impact mathematical literacy. This study also offered implications for future policy and classroom practice, such as continue considering teaching general problem solving skills as a critical aspect in mathematics education.

Committee: Jian Li (Committee Chair); Tricia Niesz (Committee Member); Christopher Was (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Policy

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2015, Atmospheric Sciences

Long-term (1895-2012) soil moisture proxy data are collected and analyzed for its spatial and temporal variability across the United States in conjunction with air temperature and diurnal temperature range (DTR) variations over the same period. Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) summer data were subjected to a Rotated Principle Component Analysis (RPCA) that identified 10 regions (components) having unique patterns of PDSI spatial and temporal variability. Four of those regions (RPC1: Ohio River Valley; RPC2: upper Midwest and eastern Northern Plains; RPC3: southeastern United States; RPC5: Southern Plains) are analyzed further with regard to DTR variations. In conjunction to the summer PDSI time series scores produced by the RPCA, mean DTR, T-max, and T-min (maximum and minimum temperatures) were obtained using GHCNM station data within each of the regions of interest and analyzed for trends. The twelve wettest and driest summers were also identified for each of the 4 regions based on the rank of their PDSI time series scores. The average temperature/DTR for each of these cases (wet or dry) were then compared. Soil moisture in the Ohio River Valley (RPC1) has an increasing trend throughout the 20th-21st centuries. T-max shows a downtrend of 0.5°C while T-min has increased ~ 0.7°C producing a downward trend in DTR throughout the period of record. The upper Midwest and eastern Northern Plains (RPC2) produced similar behavior as the Ohio River Valley with more moist soil conditions at the end of the 20th and early 21st century. DTR trends downward in this region due to a very clear upward trend in T-min coupled with a negligible downtrend in T-max. PDSI in the southeastern United States (RPC3) does not have a strong trend but does show a slight increase. T-max produces a trivial, but slight increasing trend while T-min shows a stronger increase in temperatures. This outcome produces a decreasing trend in DTR. Soil moisture in the Southern Plains (RPC5) shows an o (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jeffery Rogers Dr. (Advisor); Jay Stanley Hobgood Dr. (Committee Member); Jialin Lin Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences; Climate Change; Meteorology

MA, Kent State University, 2013, College of Communication and Information / School of Media and Journalism

Many communications scholars study political communication using frame analysis. There is, however, a lack of research into how frames are used in political communication to transmit meaning about economic class and inequality in American discourse. America long has been perceived as a land where opportunity is available to all. That notion is being challenged by an increasing disparity between the resources and opportunities that are available to a large percentage of Americans and what are available to a privileged few. Some journalists and economists call this the Great Divide between the 1 percent and the 99 percent most recently popularized by the Occupy Wall Street movement and protests. The presidential debates and the media coverage that followed the public outcry provided a rich source of elite frames that communicated meaning about class in America during the presidential election of 2012. This research explores the elite frame contest that surrounded the issues of class and the responsibilities of living in a shared economy. Its findings confirm the existence of a two-class structure, an emerging class struggle between the two, and the ideologies that drive the conflict.

Committee: Danielle Coombs Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jacqueline Marino M.A. (Committee Member); Jeff Fruit M.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Mass Communications; Mass Media

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, Spanish and Portuguese

The Kaqchikel Maya inhabit the fractured and dissonant society of contemporary Guatemala: increasing religious plurality, economic and ethnic inequality, drug-related violence and the legacy of military violence and discrimination. The Mayas face ongoing lack of recognition and voicelessness in a society that values them only insofar as their culture can be appropriated for a growing tourism industry. The Kaqchikels respond to this environment by using their spirituality to generate legitimacy. Mayan spirituality with its pre-Columbian episteme, when viewed in this social context, becomes a means by which the Kaqchikels articulate their agency. Both Mayas and foreign tourists regard the knowledge communicated through spirituality as one of the great achievements of the ancient Mayas. The contemporary Mayan populations consider this knowledge to be inherited, as they expertly wield its tools in a manner that sometimes, in their assessment, even supersedes the abilities of Western knowledge. This indexical past and relevant present make spirituality a salient practice for the contemporary Kaqchikels to utilize as they seek to redefine the relationship between their group and the state, as well as vis-a-vis foreign influences brought about by increasing tourism. This research posits that contemporary Kaqchikels utilize spirituality as a means to resist continued domination and the lingering effects of colonialism. For these reasons, although the revitalization of Kaqchikel spiritual practices is not generally discussed in the pan-Maya cultural movement, it should be understood as a parallel initiative to rearticulate constructions of Mayan culture. I analyze Kaqchikel ceremonial practices that seek to reclaim, rearticulate, and (re)traditionalize ancient Mayan episteme. Moreover, I examine how the trickster Rilaj Mam challenges models of religious syncretism, instead helping the Kaqchikels to process what is felt as hybrid in their social world. Finally, the Kaqchikel (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Maureen Ahern (Advisor); Ulises Juan Zevallos Aguilar (Committee Co-Chair); Dorothy Noyes (Committee Member); Fernando Unzueta (Committee Member) Subjects: Folklore; Latin American Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2008, American Culture Studies/English

Apocalypse is often viewed entirely as a politically conservative phenomenon, conjuring images of evangelical Christians anxiously awaiting the return of Christ. However, such a reading oversimplifies competing tensions within apocalyptic discourse. This study examines interpretations of ancient apocalypses, both Jewish and Christian, paying particular attention to the workings of what has been termed the apocalyptic imagination in order to establish a basic framework to consider contemporary instances. The apocalyptic imagination may be characterized as a "revolution of the imagination" and is largely concerned with the status of truth, and what ways of knowing may constitute truth. Additionally, apocalypse may be calibrated either towards a focus on destruction and purification or creation and redemption. The condition of postmodernity and "postmodernists" have been characterized as apocalyptic in and of themselves. This study argues that contemporary engagements with the apocalyptic imagination are largely informed by a perceived failure of the Enlightenment project, both in terms of politics and ways of knowing. Speculations about a nearing "end" of the Mayan calendar identify a coming apocalypse in the year 2012. Debates within this discourse, specifically between Daniel Pinchbeck and Whitley Strieber, illustrate the tension between purification and redemption. Furthermore, there is a concern with reexamining what constitutes knowledge, particularly that feelings about the world are worth knowing. Primitivist discourse cites civilization itself as the source and agent of domination and exploitation. The apocalyptic implications of overthrowing civilization are examined paying particular attention to the epistemological claims made within primitivist discourse. Apocalypse exhibits many conflicting tendencies within its discourse and cannot be characterized monolithically. Just as it is an oversimplification to view it in conservative or reactionary terms, cas (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Cynthia Baron PhD (Advisor); Gary Heba PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Philosophy