Doctor of Philosophy / Startups can and do fail. For an entrepreneur, product developer, or researcher with a physical and capital-intensive product idea, this dissertation can serve as a resource to bridge the gaps between business, engineering, and design and reduce the risk of failure when trying to create a startup. The process described in this dissertation describes how to evaluate the key elements of an idea and conduct a series of interviews with potential customers to find evidence that supports pursing that idea further, challenge the startup team to change some aspect of the idea, or drop it altogether. Once the startup team has found a problem, as well as a solution to that problem, this dissertation describes an approach creating that solution. Then this dissertation describes an approach for critically evaluating the foundational elements of the problem and the solution. The goal for a critical evaluation is to identify additional foundational elements which relate to the product that may increase its value or decrease the risk of product failure.

Landscape visual preference research has indicated many potential indicators of preference; however a comprehensive framework concerning the relationship between visual preference and perception has not been solidified. Gestalt psychology, the predecessor to visual perception, proposes certain visual grouping tendencies to explain how humans perceive the world. This study examines if Gestalt grouping principles are reliable indicators of preference, and if they may be used to develop a broad context for visual assessment. Visual preference for 36 landscape scenes testing the proximity and similarity of landscape elements were ranked one through five by 1,749 Mississippi State University undergraduate, graduate, and faculty members in a web-based preference survey. Using a two-way between groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze responses, the results indicate that the proximal and similar configuration of landscape elements within a scene does significantly affect visual preference.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis advisor: David Broido / Despite its deceptive simplicity and because of its scientific and technological importance, bcc Fe is still the subject of research and debate. We develop an ab initio theoretical framework and apply it to calculate temperature-dependent phonon modes and magnetic interaction parameters in bcc Fe. This framework incorporates realistic thermal disorder in a coupled spin-lattice system. Thermal spin-lattice coupling is found to significantly renormalize the phonon modes and magnetic interaction strength, resulting in significant temperature-dependencies. A method for treating magnetic systems of unknown entropy is developed and applied to calculate phonon modes and investigate the anomalous thermal expansion of the classical invar alloy, Fe0.65Ni0.35. Results over the temperature range 50K to room temperature are consistent with the observed low thermal expansion of this material. Excellent agreement with measured data is achieved for calculated phonon modes in both bcc Fe and the invar alloy. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Physics.

Faculty facing challenges of teaching students in a post-Katrina environment used learning-centered approaches to restore educational opportunities to its populations of hurricane-displaced students, the growing population of Hispanic students, and the business community. The study sought to determine if the faculty members had made progress toward implementing learning-centered activities and strategies into the classroom after attending seminars and workshops that covered the learning-centered principles. Additionally, the research sought to determine if there were differences among academic disciplines in the implementation of the learning-centered principles in the classroom at the college. The study used quantitative research methods. To collect the quantitative data, the researcher used a learning-centered rubric along with specialized worksheets. The rubric assessed the five learning-centered principles: (a) function of content, (b) role of the instructor, (c) responsibility for learning, (d) purpose and processes of assessment, and (e) balance of power. Participants had the option to assess themselves at four levels of implementation for each of the learning-centered principles. The four levels were (a) the use of learner-centered approaches, (b) higher level of transitioning, (c) lower level of transitioning, and (d) the use of instructor-centered approaches. The results of the study revealed that the majority of the faculty members were at the higher level of transitioning for four of the learning-centered principles. The study indicated that the majority of faculty members were at the lower level of transitioning in implementing the balance of power. The findings also indicated that there were differences in the way faculty members implemented the learning-centered principles across three disciplines.

Acquired apraxia of speech (AOS) is a type of motor speech disorder (MSD) characterized by deficits in the motor planning or programming of speech movements (Duffy, 2005). Because AOS is often a chronic condition that may severely impair intelligibility and, thus, significantly reduce quality of life (Ballard et al., 2015), it is necessary to develop efficient and effective treatment protocols. A previous study by Youmans, Youmans, and Hancock (2011), demonstrated the efficacy of script training in the treatment of AOS. Furthermore, extensive research in general motor learning has shown that feedback is one of the most important components of motor learning (Schmidt & Lee, 2011). Research devoted specifically to speech motor learning has generally favored this view, though few studies have distinguished between the two major types of feedback: feedback providing knowledge of results (KR) and feedback providing knowledge of performance (KP). The present study is the first to examine feedback type in treatment for AOS, and the first to examine the utility of script training specifically for a participant with AOS, but no aphasia. The findings from this single-case experimental design study reveal that, compared to KR, KP resulted in greater improvements in speaking rate. KR and KP feedback resulted in comparable gains for accuracy, but condition differences were difficult to interpret due to unexpected rising baselines for the KR scripts. Both KR and KP scripts, but especially the KP scripts, outperformed the untreated control scripts, providing further support for the efficacy of script training for AOS. / Communication Sciences

The school has a democratic fostering mission, as it is tasked with conveying and anchoring respect for fundamental democratic values. The purpose of this study is to investigate how subject teachers relate to the democratic fostering mission. This study contributes to the research area by examining how social studies subject teachers manage the complexity of fostering for democracy and how teachers interpret and implement the democratic fostering mission. The study also enhances understanding of the relationship between fostering for democracy and respecting democratic principles. The main conclusions of this study are that the way teachers approach the fostering mission can vary depending on how the curriculum is interpreted and how they align with the purpose of the mission. This, in turn, will affect how the fostering mission is realized in teaching, primarily through dialogue and participation. The results also indicate that boundary-setting in teaching becomes crucial in understanding how teachers foster for democracy. It is through boundary-setting in teaching that teacher’s objective position is challenged, aiming to uphold the democratic values outlined in the educational document. Consequently, the democratic upbringing mission may sometimes appear to be incompatible with the fundamental democratic principles of society.

The abundance of forgiveness research has advanced scientific knowledge of the construct. Its multifaceted nature, however, has created specialization and domain-dependent research (e.g., close-relationship vs. non-relationship forgiveness). The current paper argues that a comprehensive framework that could be applied across domains is needed. The general principles perspective (Higgins, 1990, 1999), which identifies mechanisms that explain both chronic and situational variance, was used as a framework for forgiveness, specifically the mechanisms of accessibility and need for closure. Two studies tested the principles, a two-part study (N = 244 and 78, respectively) and an online survey (N = 214). The two-part study tested chronic accessibility for forgiveness (Accessibility Study One) within the context of the religiosity-forgiveness relationship (an area that has previously produced complex and contradictory results) and both the chronic and situational influence of need for closure (Need for Closure Study). The online survey was designed to test both situational and chronic accessibility (Accessibility Study Two) by priming half of the participants with religious words. Students from a large, Mid-Atlantic university participated. For accessibility, it was proposed that religious individuals would have higher chronic accessibility for forgiveness, because of the emphasis religions place on it; similarly, it was proposed that increasing accessibility for religiosity would increase situational accessibility for forgiveness. Results supported a weak, positive relationship between religiosity and chronic accessibility for forgiveness; however, increased accessibility did not relate to likelihood to forgive future transgressions. For situational accessibility, the religious prime did not successfully influence accessibility for religiosity; thus, situational accessibility could not be tested. For need for closure, it was proposed that forgiveness requires some comfort with uncertainty in order to engage in the process. Therefore, chronic need for closure was expected to negatively relate to likelihood to forgive future transgressions. Results replicated this previously found relationship. For situational need for closure, manipulated through perceived time limitations, it was proposed that it would interact with chronic forgiveness to predict likelihood to forgive, because as need for closure increases so too does automaticity. Forgiveness is arguably an automatic response for someone high in chronic forgiveness. Results did not support the interaction effect. In general, the project supported the chronic influence of the principles but did not support the situational. The limitations of the current project necessitate further inquiry for clarification, though some conclusions are suggested. Results suggest that motivations may be more influential than cognitions in forgiveness, that forgiveness research may require more highly contextualized models, and thus that the potential advantages of a comprehensive framework will require more sophisticated theoretical and empirical work. / Ph. D.