Working memory (WM) has been closely linked to learning and achievement in children (Gathercole et al., 2004). The Forchelli Following Directions Task (FFDT) is a 15-item group-administered screener designed to assess working memory ability in school-aged children. The FFDT was developed to address the need for early identification of children with working memory difficulty. It specifically focuses on the need for easily administered and ecologically valid assessment. The FFDT was developed based on tasks cited in research to assess WM. The measure was developed across three iterations after receiving continual review from research experts in working memory and a group of three elementary school teachers. It also was piloted by three elementary school children to assess group-administration considerations. Participants in the validation study were 70 elementary school students 5 to 10 years of age spanning kindergarten to third grade were recruited from schools in the greater Philadelphia area. Participants were administered the group-administered working memory screener and completed individually administered measures of working memory, the WISC-IV Digit Span and Spatial Span, for comparison. Parents and teachers also completed behavior rating scales (i.e., BRIEF) measuring working memory. The FFDT demonstrated a sufficient Alpha's coefficient, indicating internal consistency. Significant Pearson correlations were found between existing measures of WM and the FFDT, indicating that the FFDT measures WM ability to a similar extent. The FFDT demonstrated good sensitivity to age and grade, as well. Further, the results of a ROC analysis comparing the identification of WM difficulty on the FFDT to existing measures of WM demonstrated a low to moderate effect. Overall, results indicate that the FFDT exhibited good reliability and validity. The anecdotal support of elementary school teachers and time efficiency of the task compared to existing WM measures also suggests good ecological validity. This study also demonstrated the utility of the FDDT in populations within a Response to Intervention (RtI) framework. Further research will be challenged to investigate the FFDT further scrutinize the construct validity and demonstrate significance in a larger, more representative sample of students. / School Psychology

Urban, agriculture and coal mining land use/cover impacts upon aquatic habitat, toxicity and biodiversity were investigated in Leading Creek, a 388 km2 watershed in southeastern Ohio. Abandoned strip mine land (ASML) and active deep underground mines were examined along with abandoned near-surface underground mine land (AUML). The work focused on assessment of aquatic toxicity, water quality, and biodiversity through investigation of associated ecological responses for both treated and untreated AMD. Relations were examined among land use/cover, chemistry, and various ecological and toxicological endpoints. Sources of data (scale 1:24000) included Landsat5 imaging from 1988 and 1994, and directly digitized extents of underground mining activities dating to the 19th century, with more recently created strip mines. USEPA and Ohio EPA qualitative habitat scoring protocols were used. Land use/cover thresholds were established using ASML=3%, AUML=2% to 10%, Urban=3% to 5%, and Bare Soil=3%. Biodiversity was assessed using qualitative benthic macroinvertebrate taxon richness and abundance, for total and EPT groups, respectively. A better understanding of acid mine drainage (AMD) was demonstrated linking land use/cover, coal bed, sediment, and water column chemistry to aquatic ecotoxicity through examination of the origin and fate of sulfate, magnesium, iron, manganese, and zinc. Key findings in risk assessment of Leading Creek indicated that (1) abandoned near-surface underground mine lands (AUML) were associated with >90% of untreated AMD reaching Leading Creek; (2) degradation to aquatic ecology was primarily associated with water quality degradation due to AMD, not with sediment quality degradation; (3) modest habitat destruction, especially sedimentation effects, were observed for ASML>3%, and urbanization>5% in small subsheds; (4) unique chemical signatures differentiated mining techniques instream; and (5) in situ Corbicula fluminea growth rates were dependent upon drainage area. Sporadic signs of agricultural and urban impacts were indicated from acute toxicity with Ceriodaphnia dubia and chronic in situ toxicity testing with C. fluminea. Both the ecotoxicological tests were shown to be reliable indicators of AMD impact from AUML, on watershed and subwatershed scales. AMD was strongly associated with depressed biodiversity, low pH, and elevated zinc. Ecotoxicity monitoring supported interconnections found between sediment and water chemistry, land use/cover, and biodiversity. / Ph. D.

Ecological data is often fraught with many problems such as Missing Data and Spatial Correlation. In this dissertation we use a data set collected by the Ohio EPA as motivation for studying techniques to address these problems. The data set is concerned with the benthic health of Ohio's waterways. A new method for incorporating covariate structure and missing data mechanisms into missing data analysis is considered. This method allows us to detect relationships other popular methods do not allow. We then further extend this method into model selection. In the special case where the unobserved covariates are assumed normally distributed we use the Bayesian Model Averaging method to average the models, select the highest probability model and do variable assessment. Accuracy in calculating the posterior model probabilities using the Laplace approximation and an approximation based on the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) are explored. It is shown that the Laplace approximation is superior to the BIC based approximation using simulation. Finally, Hierarchical Spatial Linear Models are considered for the data and we show how to combine analysis which have spatial correlation within and between clusters. / Ph. D.

Traditional trails near backcountry stream corridors are often designed with disregard to their potential ecological impact. Ecological and trail related literature show that riparian landscapes are sensitive to recreation impacts. This thesis examines concepts for designing trails in ecologically compatible ways near backcountry stream corridors. The synthesis of the literature regarding the biophysical processes of stream corridors and the effects of trails on the environment is used to help develop principles and guidelines for locating trails near backcountry stream corridors. In turn, these principles and guidelines assisted in the development of a trail assessment manual useful to scientists, planners, and designers. Seven trail impacts are assessed: excessive soil erosion, wet trails, water on trails, excessive trail widths, multiple trails, root exposure, and stream sedimentation. Three backcountry study sites from the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Province of Virginia are evaluated. A ranking and measurement procedure is developed to characterize environmental, use, design/siting, construction, and maintenance factors because each of these influence the degree of impacts along studied trails. Results show that many steep trail segments, especially those without proper drainage features have incised or eroded trail treads. Likewise, many trail segments without drainage features located along flat adjacent landforms have wet soil and water on trail impacts. Overall results show that as use amount or type increase there is a parallel in trail and environmental degradation. Finally, a stream crossing and trail drainage concept is developed illustrating ways to reduce sediment inputs into nearby streams. / Master of Landscape Architecture

This cross-sectional survey study investigates the relationship between school attachment (SA) and adolescents' age at first intercourse (DV), as well as the influence of SA on DV in comparison to the influences of parent attachment (PA), other parent and school factors, and individual factors. Early first intercourse is defined as prior to age 15. Participants are 1,757 mostly African-American and White 7th through 12th grade adolescent boys and girls in five rural counties of a Mid-Atlantic state. Bivariate correlations comparing SA and PA revealed significant and positive correlations between SA and DV (p<.001), as well as PA and DV (p<.001). Linear regressions including only SA and PA showed SA was most predictive of DV for adolescents reporting the lowest (p<.05) and highest (p<.001) levels of PA. For those reporting moderate attachment to parents, SA was not predictive of DV. Several ethnic and gender differences are discussed. Finally, when the influence of individual, parent, and school contexts was compared using entry in a regression by blocks, SA was no longer a significant predictor of DV, and school variables did not account for a significant portion in the variance of age at first intercourse. Parent attachment was a significant and negative predictor, indicating that other parent, individual, and community variables are more influential. Implications are discussed. / Master of Science

As conservation subdivisions increase in popularity, large tracts of community open spaces are being created. The typical landscape treatment is usually reminiscent of the English Landscape School: acres of turf providing little wildlife habitat or environmental benefits. Many homeowners are sold on the idea of great expanses of turf similar to a golf course. The open spaces are generally left to the homeowners association to maintain. In some cases it is donated to local municipalities. Maintenance is often expensive and places a burden on local governments. This study will show that creating more sustainable open spaces can correct this problem. This can be accomplished through the use of an ecologically based planting design. The following thesis project focuses on an alternative landscape planting treatment for these large open spaces, a treatment that has a significant cost savings and offers a different experience. / Master of Landscape Architecture

To date, few studies have sought to investigate whether the sequence in which individuals engage in coping strategies could impact the effectiveness of those strategies. The present study utilizes an EMA data collection approach to obtain a sample of N = 93 student participants to investigate this potential impact. I analyzed the data with a type of multilevel structural equation model (MSEM) called a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM), where the individual served as the higher level and surveys collected at various time points (three per day for five consecutive days) served as the lower level nested within those individuals. Autoregressive, cross-lagged, and moderation paths were tested to see which constructs at time point T-1 were significantly related to positive affect and negative affect at time point T. Findings indicated more significant relationships for positive affect at time point T than negative affect at time point T. Among these were moderation effects of coping strategy on the relationship between the presence of an interpersonal stressor and positive affect, such that emotion-focused coping buffers that effect and problem-focused coping amplifies it. / Doctor of Philosophy / The history of stress and coping research lends itself well to the consideration of coping with stress as a dynamic process that has effects at later times. Different coping strategies (problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant) may be differentially effective for coping with different types of stressors. This study consists of measuring stressor type, coping strategy, positive affect, and negative affect at 15 different time points, specifically to track the impact of the presence of a stressor, the use of certain coping strategies, and positive and negative affect at any given time point on positive and negative affect at a subsequent time point. Specifically, I hypothesize that stressors decrease positive affect and increase negative affect, and that coping strategies can either buffer or intensify these effects. Support is found for the idea that emotion-focused coping buffers an interpersonal stressor's tendency to decrease positive affect. Support is also found for the idea that problem-focused coping intensifies this same tendency.

<p dir="ltr">Compared to individuals low in schizotypal traits, those with elevated schizotypal traits present with social deficits and are at greater risk for developing schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and other forms of psychopathology. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is a powerful tool for understanding the real-world behaviors of schizophrenia-spectrum populations. Although studies have effectively utilized EMA to examine important aspects of social interactions (i.e., how often people interact [likelihood], the complexity of the content in these interactions [depth], and how much pleasure they derive from these interactions [enjoyment]) in people with schizophrenia, few have explored differences in social interactions using EMA across schizotypal traits (i.e., positive, negative, and disorganized). In this study, we used EMA to collect data from three universities. Our primary aim was to evaluate if positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypal traits in college students were significantly linked to individuals’ likelihood, depth, and enjoyment of social interactions in their everyday lives. Our secondary aim was to investigate whether affect and stress play a role in individuals’ likelihood, depth, and enjoyment of social interactions. Results revealed that negative schizotypal traits more strongly predicted social interaction depth and enjoyment compared to positive and disorganized traits. Contrary to hypotheses, positive affect was a better predictor of social interaction outcomes than negative affect and stress. Several notable interactions between schizotypal traits and affect also emerged. Overall, this study increases understanding of how schizotypal traits and affect impact daily social interactions. These findings may inform future research aimed at improving and individualizing interventions for social functioning deficits in individuals with elevated positive, negative, and/or disorganized schizotypal traits.</p>

Since the 1970s, the institution of fire management has been in a frustrated transition from fire suppression and control to ecologically informed fire management. Administrative boundaries, professional specializations and organizational incentives and funding mechanisms have stalled the adoption of landscape scale ecological fire restoration as a guiding paradigm. Using a case study approach, this dissertation examines the potential of a multi-scalar collaborative network, the US Fire Learning Network (FLN), to catalyze the changes necessary to overcome the frustrated transition. Established in 2002 in an agreement between the USDA Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, and the US Department of Interior, the FLN operates at landscape, regional and national scales. In this multi-scalar context, the network utilizes planning technologies, communication modalities, and interpersonal interaction to link participants at each scale and motivate them to enhance their collaborative ecological restoration planning capacities. The network directly addresses the challenges of the frustrated transition by enabling practitioners to collaborate across administrative and disciplinary boundaries, develop expertise in ecological fire restoration planning and management, and to inform policy changes at the federal level that can create new incentives and funding mechanisms that support landscape scale ecological restoration. While institutional transformation has yet to occur, the FLN sets the stage to address the core challenges that fire management practitioners and organizations face as they engage in landscape scale ecological fire restoration. This work provides theoretical and practical insights to collaborative planning research by introducing new forms of collaborative practice, describing how collaborative planning can be conducted across multiple scales simultaneously, and establishing how multi-scalar collaborative networks may be able to catalyze institutional change necessary to respond to complex cross scalar environmental problems. / Ph. D.

With our country's unsustainable building practices in the residential sector, there is a need to explore new types of housing to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of current building customs. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in tiny homes characterized as livable dwelling units typically under 400 square feet. However, there is a gap in scholarly knowledge that formally examines how the environmental impact and behaviors of tiny home occupants change after downsizing from a larger home. The purpose of this study was to provide measurable evidence to explore the relationship between downsizing to a tiny home and the corresponding environmental impact. This study, which employed an exploratory sequential mixed design approach, was conducted to measure the ecological footprints of tiny home downsizers. Eighty individuals who have lived in their tiny homes for at least a year volunteered to take an online survey used to calculate their ecological footprints in prior larger homes and current tiny homes. Following the survey, nine interviews were conducted to create an inventory of noteworthy behaviors in each participant's lifestyles that potentially influence ecological footprint changes. Data collected from the survey and interviews were analyzed separately and then comparatively to explore relationships between tiny home living and environmental impacts. This study found that among 80 tiny home downsizers located across the United States, the average ecological footprint was 3.9 global hectares (gha). This footprint was substantially less than the average previous ecological footprint of 7.0 gha and the national average of 8.4 gha. All five footprint components were positively influenced, showing that downsizing can influence many parts of one's lifestyle. Over 100 behaviors were identified that could contribute to ecological footprint changes. The overall insights derived from this study indicate that positive environmental impact behaviors outweigh negative ones by approximately six to one when downsizing to a tiny home. In addition, 100% of participants demonstrated an overall positive ecological footprint. The findings and conclusions of this study provide important insights for the sustainable housing industry that can inform policy and practice, with implications for future research in the sustainable residential field. / Doctor of Philosophy / With our country’s unsustainable building practices in the residential sector, there is a need to explore new types of housing to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of current building customs. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in tiny homes characterized as livable dwelling units typically under 400 square feet. However, there is a gap in knowledge to understand how the environmental impact and behaviors of tiny home occupants change after downsizing from a larger home. The purpose of this study was to see whether there is a relationship between downsizing to a tiny home and a changing environmental impact. This study measured the ecological footprints of tiny home downsizers. Eighty individuals who have lived in their tiny homes for at least a year volunteered to take an online survey used to calculate their ecological footprints in prior larger homes and current tiny homes. Following the survey, nine interviews were conducted to identify noteworthy behaviors in each participant’s lifestyles that potentially influence ecological footprint changes. Findings were analyzed and compared to explore relationships between tiny home living and environmental impacts. This study found that among 80 tiny home downsizers located across the United States, the average ecological footprint was 3.9 global hectares (gha). This footprint was substantially less than the average previous ecological footprint of 7.0 gha and the national average of 8.4 gha. All five footprint components were positively influenced, showing that downsizing can influence many parts of one’s lifestyle. Over 100 behaviors were identified that could contribute to ecological footprint changes. This study indicates that positive environmental impact behaviors outweigh negative ones by approximately six to one when downsizing to a tiny home. In addition, 100% of participants demonstrated an overall positive ecological footprint. The findings and conclusions of this study provide important insights for the sustainable housing industry that can inform policy and practice, with implications for future research in the sustainable residential field.