Time, Experience, Memory Through experience we are conscious of time. Through time, our experiences become memories, influencing both conscious and unconscious thought. It is through our five senses; touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste, that these experiences are gathered. Humans are also born with inherent knowledge that our species has collected from generation to generation. This inherent knowledge, also called the collective unconscious, has a direct effect on the way we perceive experiences from our senses. The challenge of this thesis is to awaken the individual by interweaving the experiential qualities of the structure with the memories from the individuals' collective unconscious creating a space that offers a place to pause and reflect on life. / Master of Architecture

Research has examined student leadership in positions within residence life (Andersen, 2000; Levy, 1995; Posner & Brodsky, 1993; Romero-Aldaz, 2001), Greek life (Adams & Keim, 2000; Posner & Brodsky, 1992; Posner & Brodsky, 1994) and student government (Astin, 1992; Downey, Bosco, & Silver, 1984; Kuh & Lund, 1994; Schuh & Laverty, 1983; Schwartz, 1991). Very little research has been done to examine the leadership of orientation leaders. The purpose of this study was to examine the leadership practices of orientation leaders, by exploring how they rated their own leadership practices and how those practices were rated by first-year matriculants in their orientation groups. Differences by level of experience (first-year v. experienced), race (Caucasian v. non-Caucasian), and gender (male v. female) were examined. Data were collected by administering the student versions of the Leadership Practices Inventory (Kouzes & Posner, 2005a, 2005b). These instruments evaluate leadership using the Kouzes and Posner (1987, 2002a) model. The samples included 30 leaders and 584 matriculants who participated in five selected orientation sessions at a large, public research institution in the United States. Overall, orientation leaders self-reported high engagement on all five scales while matriculants indicated moderate engagement by orientation leaders on all five scales. Significant differences were revealed in the ratings of orientation leaders by level of experience and gender. Significant differences were not found in the matriculants' ratings of orientation leaders by level of experience or race. Interaction effects of race and gender were revealed on all five scales of orientation leader ratings. / Master of Arts

The goal for this thesis is to create a second screen application that will enhance the experience while watching a first screen. In order to create that type of application research within the subject and reviews of existing application is conducted. The reviews resulted in functionality and content that a second screen application should have. One of the big challenges for working with a second screen balance the focus between the screens and to make sure that the application creates value, rather than taking time and being frustrating. A concept of an application based on findings and iterations that will en- hance the experience were created. The concept were realised in wireframes and design mockups. The main functionality for the application is implemented with the native language objective-c as a working prototype on iPad. The biggest finding during this thesis is to remember to focus on solving one specific problem for the user.

Several positive student academic outcomes are associated with women's college attendance, yet little is known about how women's college students make meaning of classroom practices, experiences, and interactions. The purpose of this study, a qualitative research endeavor in the hermeneutic phenomenological tradition, was to achieve a better understanding of the nature of the lived classroom experience at a women's college and the meaning women's college students made from their everyday lived classroom experiences. The sample consisted of 10 participants at a single women's college in the southern region of the United States who had completed at least 60 credit hours at the institution and were enrolled as full-time residential students. Data were collected through a series of three interviews conducted with participants and reflection essays authored by participants. Study participants described the women's college classroom environment as a place where professors encouraged student participation in classroom discussions and where students could voice ideas, experiences, and uncertainties in an accepting space. The women's college students in this study indicated they received individual reaffirmation and intellectual validation from professors and peers, and over time became more likely to take risks with their thinking, aloud, in the classroom environment. Study participants made meaning from their classroom experience by actively reflecting on how these experiences fostered personal growth, comparing lived experiences to preconceptions, and imagining how their undergraduate experience would have been different had they chosen to attend a coeducational college. / Ph. D. / Several positive student academic outcomes are associated with women’s college attendance, yet little is known about how women’s college students make meaning of classroom practices, experiences, and interactions. The purpose of this study was to achieve a better understanding of the nature of the lived classroom experience at a women’s college and the meaning women’s college students made from their everyday lived classroom experiences. The sample consisted of 10 participants at a single women’s college in the southern region of the United States who had completed at least 60 credit hours at the institution and were enrolled as full-time residential students. Data were collected through a series of three interviews conducted with participants and reflection essays authored by participants. Study participants described the women’s college classroom environment as a place where professors encouraged student participation in classroom discussions and where students could voice ideas, experiences, and uncertainties in an accepting space. The women’s college students in this study indicated they received individual reaffirmation and intellectual validation from professors and peers, and over time became more likely to take risks with their thinking, aloud, in the classroom environment. Study participants made meaning from their classroom experience by actively reflecting on how these experiences fostered personal growth, comparing lived experiences to preconceptions, and imagining how their undergraduate experience would have been different had they chosen to attend a coeducational college.

"The architectural experience silences all external noise, it focusses attention on one's very existence." - An architecture of the Seven Senses: Juhani Pallasma As I sat down thinking about this quote images of the courtyard of the Salk institute, the central reading area of the Library of Congress, Tadao Ando's Church on Water and light, the step wells of Adalaj in India, Peter Zumthor's Therme Vals came to my mind. I feel that the scale and being part of something larger than what man could create such as the sky, the ocean and an experience that appeals to the senses, one that is a perfect orchestration of the color of light, the pattern of shadows, the materiality of the wall, the feeling of warmth, the sound of waves, the reflection of the waters creates a sense of calm within. Drawing from my personal experiences, the thesis shall explore the above idea in a school of architecture with a public interface located along the waterfront. "Buildings should be monumental and spiritually inspiring." - Louis Kahn / Master of Architecture

Student affairs practitioners attempt to combine in-class and out-of-class learning. One example of this is first year residential programs. In these programs freshmen live together in one residence hall. Each program is different, but common characteristics include increased student staff, freshmen seminar, and increase programming on adjustment issues. This study examines one first year program (FYP) and attempts to determine the effects of the program on the academic success of the participants. Gender differences and ethnic differences were also examined. Academic success was defined as those elements of students' collegiate experiences that relate to retention and graduation. The instrument used in this study was based on a specific definition of academic success. Five hundred and thirty five students were asked to participate in the study, and a total of 249 usable instruments were returned, for a response rate of 48.44%. Of the 249 participants, 264 (49.35%) were in the FYP and 271 (50.65%) were not in the FYP. The non-FYP students lived in a variety of buildings on campus. There were significant findings in several areas of academic success. FYP participants had higher grades overall and completed more class credits. FYP students were more likely to understand academic policies and requirements. FYP students were more likely to complete all assignments before class and they were more likely to begin taking steps towards their career goals. Students in the FYP also reported higher levels of contact with faculty and higher attendance at university events. The FYP appeared to offer opportunities that enabled students to reach higher levels of academic success. / Master of Arts

Given that the focus of strategic management research is understanding the determinants of firm performance, and that product development capabilities have been shown to influence firm performance, the research question this dissertation attempts to answer is: what factors influence a firm's product development capabilities? Building on the resource based view and evolutionary theory, this dissertation proposes that firms leverage knowledge generating resources to modify or develop their routines. Firm level routines are theorized to influence the capabilities of the firm. This dissertation focuses on two firm-level product development capabilities: effectiveness and efficiency. Effectiveness refers to a firm's ability to develop desirable products and efficiency refers to the firm's ability to develop those products quickly. The knowledge generating resources this dissertation examines is the firm's prior experience in product development and the firm's relational resources pertinent to product development. Specifically, this dissertation develops theory on four types of experience: market niche, component technology, platform technology, and general product development. Additionally, theory is developed regarding the effects of platform relational resources, as well as the breadth and depth of co-developers a firm utilizes in the development of their products. Using the videogame development industry as the empirical context, few hypothesized relationships are statistically or substantively significant. Prior experience with component technologies lowered the effectiveness of a firm' product development capabilities, but were found to increase efficiency. In addition, older firms tended to create more desirable products despite controlling for the four types of experience which may suggest that the age of the firm contributes something to the firm's ability to create desirable products beyond specific types of experience. This dissertation makes contributions to the theory on how capabilities are developed and enhanced by introducing mechanisms regarding how firms can leverage knowledge generating resources to improve their capabilities. More specifically, this dissertation provides contributes to the product development literature as well as the literature on how experience and relational resources influence a firm's product development capabilities. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative exploration of the relationship between Appalachian identity and the college experience among Giles High School graduates who attend Virginia Tech. The population for this study was Giles High School graduates who attend Virginia Tech. The sample size included ten volunteers who graduated from Giles High School in Pearisburg, Virginia, and have attended Virginia Tech in the past three years. Data collection was obtained from the sample by conducting semi-structured interviews. Coding occurred in two phases using thematic coding. The first phase consisted of an initial coding to establish an understanding of the responses and develop codes to fit the responses for analysis. The second phase of coding consolidated, re-affirmed, compared, and contrasted categories created in the first phase using matrices. The results revealed that the interviewees did communicate an Appalachian identity. When describing Appalachia, the interviewees communicated both positive and negative perceptions of their hometown. Attending college did result in a change in their Appalachian identity. Common changes were in their willingness to accept people different from themselves, their perceptions of Giles County in comparison to more diverse and urban areas, and their appreciation for the natural beauty of Giles. Compared to previous research, I found that Giles High School students seem to have less of a disrupting experience when attending college; however, dominant cultural messages still influence the identity of Appalachian students. Further research should be conducted to confirm the results and analysis. / Master of Science

This study examined individual differences in spatial memory performance in 12-month-old infants using brain electrical activity and walking experience. Greenough's experience-expectant and experience-dependent model of development was used to examine EEG power values among infants with different levels of walking experience (non-walkers, novice, experienced). In accordance with this model, a trend was shown for novice walkers to have higher EEG power values than both non-walkers and experienced walkers only in the central region. Walkers were also found to score higher on an object retrieval (OR) spatial memory task than non-walkers, with amount of walking experience being inconsequential. In addition, infants who scored higher on the OR spatial memory task showed a trend for higher EEG power values in medial frontal, central and parietal areas than infants scoring lower on the OR task. This was not the case for the manual search spatial memory task (AB). There was no interaction among spatial memory performance, walking experience and brain electrical activity. The utility of OR as a spatial memory task that requires the integration of relevant perceptual-motor integration is discussed. / Master of Science

Can architecture live in the passage of real time and memory? It has occured to me that movement must not be limited to action (horizontal and vertical.) For instance, the movement of people, light or objects are not the only consideration. In fact I have overlooked passive motion. Perhaps a design could link both passive and active motion as the design element. The independent African American Filmmaker creates a cinematic experience that lives in layers of time. In the end the film is sustained in the memory of the viewer. / Master of Architecture