MFA, Kent State University, 2021, College of Communication and Information / School of Visual Communication Design

More than 800 golf courses in the United States have closed in the last ten years. That number is significantly larger than new courses opened. This thesis seeks to analyze how visual communication design helps to entice the millennial age group to participate in on-course golf play. The research focuses on millennial's feelings towards golf, what drives them to participate in new activities, and finally, how can visual communication design help to entice millennials to play golf. The secondary research focused on millennial habits, social media, content marketing, user-generated content, and other golf-specific statistics. To gather more of the needed data primary research was conducted through a series of surveys focusing on millennial participants. Through the use of secondary and primary research, this study aims to help not only the struggling golf courses but also to inform designers in what ways design can be used to get a millennial audience to try a new experience.

Committee: Sanda Katila (Advisor); Jessica Barness (Committee Member); David Roll (Committee Member); Ken O'Grady Visocky (Other) Subjects: Communication; Design

Bachelor of Sciences, Ohio University, 2017, Physics and Astronomy

Core collapse supernovae are an important class of objects in stellar evolution research as they are the final life stage of high mass stars. Supernovae in general are classified into several spectral types; this paper explores SN 2005da, classified as a Type Ic, meaning it lacks hydrogen and helium lines. The supernova was originally classified as a broad-lined Type Ic (Type Ic-BL), with expansion velocities near maximum light greater than or approximately equal to 15000 km/s. However, some of the elements present in the spectrum, namely carbon and oxygen, have narrower lines (FWHM approximately equal to 2300 km/s) than other elements, indicating an interaction with a previously ejected envelope. The supernova is also found to have a decay time, with a change in magnitude over 15 days following maximum light of about 1.4 magnitudes, that is significantly faster than typical Type Ic or Ic-BL. This is more akin to a rarer object type known as a Type Ibn, although it lacks the characteristic narrow helium lines of this type. Therefore, SN 2005da appears to be unlike known examples of Type Ic supernovae.

Committee: Ryan Chornock (Advisor) Subjects: Astronomy; Astrophysics; Physics

MS, Kent State University, 2015, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The internet and social media has boosted information sharing and user-generated content (UGC). As a result, many restaurant goers rely on online reviews for dining recommendations. The goal of this study is to add to the sparse literature on the influence of review extremeness, source credibility, website quality, and information usefulness on information adoption. Most notably, a hypothesized information adoption model with the addition of website quality will be tested in the context of restaurant review websites. Data was collected through an online survey, the link for which was emailed to 10,000 students in a Midwestern university. Three hundred and two students completed the survey. Results showed that the more negative a review, the more useful it is perceived. Perceived source credibility of the review writer exerted a positive impact on the perceived information usefulness. The only component of website quality that played a significant role in determining information adoption tendency of the review readers was the quality of the information disseminated in the website. Lastly, information usefulness also exerted a positive influence on information adoption. Managerial implications are discussed.

Committee: Swathi Ravichandran (Advisor); Aviad Israeli (Committee Member) Subjects: Organizational Behavior

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, Communication

The present study attempts to stimulate a new program of communication-effects investigations needed to catch up with the significant recent technological transformations in the communication environment. Eveland's (2003) mix-of-attributes (MOA) approach is argued to represent a needed adjustment to how communication field investigates media effects in today's communication environment. The MOA approach is used to explicate political user-generated content (UGC) and its five technological attributes. In this study, the most popular political UGC and traditional media Web sites are content analyzed to obtain a detailed description of the attribute presence across prominent groups of UGC Web sites, and to compare presence of attributes on UGC versus traditional news Web sites. Cluster analysis is used to develop a theoretically- and empirically-grounded classification of political UGC. Despite relatively low presence of attributes across different UGC Web sites, the study confirms usefulness of the MOA framework. Presence of attributes on traditional news Web sites suggests that the theoretical importance of the attributes might increase over time. This study advances communication-effects theory by: (1) examining the nature and potential effects of political UGC; and by (2) illustrating how MOA approach can be applied, given its strengths and weaknesses. Additional implications of results, study limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Committee: William Eveland PhD (Advisor); Kelly Garrett PhD (Committee Member); Michael McCluskey PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Political Science