Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Analysis Of Zebrafish Optic Tectum Visual Processing Before And After Optic Nerve Crush, Angela Mcdowell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The visual system processes information at various levels. Initial processing takes place in the retina, which then sends information to the optic tectum, the first visual brain center in lower vertebrates, for further processing. There were two main goals of this study. The first goal was to obtain tectal evoked responses (TER) from adult zebrafish and to compare them to previous electroretinogram (ERG) spectral sensitivity data (Bilotta & Harrison, 1999). The second purpose of this study was to examine neural regeneration in the adult zebrafish at various times post-crush and to compare visual processing of these subjects to the normal …

Alienation And Exploitation Among Restaurant Servers: A Qualitative Analysis, Zachary Brewster

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The primary purpose of this research was to examine a sample of fifteen restaurant servers regarding the degree to which they feel alienated and exploited within their working environment. From this information several interpretive findings regarding servers' self-reported job satisfaction are made. In order to explore any possible socioeconomic effects the sample of servers was selected from two different restaurants that varied according to check average and mean dinner price. Data were gathered via indepth, semistructured interviews and overt nonparticipant observations. Although no SES effect was found, the data did suggest that servers experience high levels of alienation in terms …

Reading Mastery Versus Word Study Instruction As It Pertains To Third Graders' Reading Achievement Scores, Mia Sullivan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study was conducted in order to compare two phonics-based approaches to teaching reading. The two approaches were Reading Mastery (SRA Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, 1995) and Word Study (Bear et al. 1996). While Reading Mastery has been compared to other reading methods to examine the effectiveness of instruction with reading achievement measures, there are no studies that compare Word Study to other methods of reading instruction. The purpose of the present study was to compare Reading Mastery and Word Study instruction groups in terms of reading achievement scores. This study included 36 third grade students, 18 in each group. All students were …

Emotional Intelligence, Social Competence, And Success In High School Students, Amanda Crick

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The relationship between emotional intelligence, social competence, and success was investigated. Success was operationally defined as elected leadership within a school group, club, or organization. The study sample consisted of 31 males and 89 females ages fourteen to seventeen years (grades 9 through 11) from three counties in south-central Kentucky. Student participants were characterized as Leaders, Joiners, or Non-Joiners of school groups and were asked to complete the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory: Youth Version (BarOn EQi:YV) (BarOn & Parker, 2000), which assessed emotional intelligence, and the Social Skills Rating System - Secondary Student Form (SSRS) (Gresham & Elliott, 1990), which …

Social Intelligence: Social Skills Competence And Emotional Intelligence In Gifted Adolescents, Lisa Corso

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Two schools of thought diverge into an ongoing debate as regards to the social intelligence of gifted youth. One view holds that the gifted are often maladjusted (Chronbach, 1960; Hollingworth, 1942). The contrary view is that they are more likely to be well adjusted, with overall above average social and emotional intelligence (Allen, 2000; Chesser, 2001; Kihlstrom & Cantor, 2000; Neihart, 1999). The current research is consistent with views supporting enhanced overall social and emotional intelligence of gifted youth. Some researchers have argued that emotional intelligence and social skills competence are subsets of social intelligence (Chesser, 2000; Greenspan, 1979; Kihlstrom …

The Viability Of The Implicit Association Test Applied To Attitudes Toward Individuals With Disabilities And Measurement Of Coworker Attitudes Toward Individuals With A Disability, Andrea Doyle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Attitudes toward individuals with disabilities were examined using two different methods: (a) the Implicit Association Test assessing general implicit attitudes and (b) a vignette study assessing coworker attitudes. The Implicit Association Test was used in an attempt to replicate Tringo's Hierarchy of Preference using five exemplar disabilities: (a) Cancer, (b) Paraplegic, (c) Mental Illness, (d) Alcoholic, and (e) HIV Positive. The results did not support a replication of the Hierarchy of Preference. Three dimensions of disabilities were manipulated for the vignette study. These dimensions were the overtness of the disability, the level of risk associated with the disability, and response …

Adolescent Drinking And Driving: A Descriptive And Intervention Study, Emalee M. Fields

Masters Theses

Given the high rates of alcohol use and abuse among adolescents in our society, it is not surprising that drinking and driving is also relatively common. This paper starts with a summary of national statistics, which is followed by a critical review of previous interventions. The purpose of this project was to attempt to find an effective drinking and driving intervention for high school students which was relatively inexpensive, less time intensive than past interventions and required little or no training for the facilitator to present. Two related intervention conditions (a video only intervention and a slightly more extensive package …

Black Single Fathers: Choosing To Parent Full-Time, Roberta Coles

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

This ethnographic study uses the narratives of African American, single, full-time fathers to explore the motivations precipitating their choice to parent. While the fathers had in common a number of demographic characteristics, such as full employment, residence, and support systems, which factored into their timing of and ability to take full custody, none of these are salient in their own narratives expressing why they wanted to be full-time fathers. Instead, their main motives centered on fulfilling a sense of duty and responsibility, reworking the effects of having had weak or absent fathers themselves, wanting to provide a role model for …

A Case For Implementing An Electronic Document Managament System (Edms), Scott D. Seiler

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

We live in a world where documentation and record keeping are considered not only necessary but also essential. This documentation produces and unprecedented amount of paperwork. Keeping track of this volume of paper is a task of monumental proportions. Faced with this task, I sought to sell the idea of an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) to the senior staff of the governmental agency that employs me. Participation in the Creative Critical Thinking Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has afforded me the opportunity to formulate an implementation scheme to accomplish this. Included in my synthesis project are the …

The Relationship Of Corpus Callosum And Cingulate Gyrus Surface Areas With Intelligence Scores In Persons With Early Hydrocephalus, Heather Gerschler

Theses and Dissertations

This study served as a pilot study of cingulate gyrus surface areas and their relation to intelligence in individuals with hydrocephalus. Surface areas of the corpus callosum and cingulate gyrus regions were compared between individuals with early hydrocephalus (n = 9) and controls (n = 7). Subsequently, the surface areas were correlated with full-scale intelligence scores and the verbal and nonverbal discrepancy scores. Corpus collosum surface areas were significantly smaller in participants with hydrocephalus. These areas also robustly correlated with full-scale intelligence scores. Although the cingulate gyrus did not differ significantly between the groups, the cingulate gyrus regions were increasingly …

The Interrelationship Of Status And Health In The Tellico Reservoir: A Biocultural Analysis, Tracy K. Betsinger

Masters Theses

Anthropologists have been interested in the interaction of health and status in prehistoric populations for many years. Utilizing a biocultural perspective, this paper will investigate how social stratification affected health at sites from the Tellico Reservoir in eastern Tennessee. These sites, Citico (40MR7), Toqua (40MR6), and Tomotley (40MR5), were occupied in the late Mississippian period in Tennessee, during the Dallas phase (A.D. 1300-1600) (Schroedl, 1998). Skeletal indicators of stress were used to determine the health of the people interred at the three sites, and burial location was utilized to establish the status of these people.

Intra-site and inter-site analyses were …

Locating Landmines And Uxo: A Methodological Lesson From The Ethiopian Landmine Impact Survey, Michael Fleisher

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

One of the most important parts about implementing effective Landmine Impact Surveys is first identifying which communities have a landmine/UXO problem. The author describes how Expert Opinion Collection (EOC) is used in Ethiopia to overcome the obstacles survey teams face when gathering their information.

One Leg Dancing (Um Pé Que Dança) Angola Embraces The Future, Joe Lokey, Ken O'Connell

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

During a period of peace, demining efforts in Angola continue to require top priority in order to reopen the country to desperately needed aid programs. Unfortunately, funding by countries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in recent years has been low due to a sense of confusion and an unsuccessful history of previously under-funded projects.

One Of A Kind: The Quick Reaction Demining Force, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Mr. Harry “Murf” McCloy shares some of his insights into the formation and resulting success of the U.S. State Department’s unique Quick Reaction Demining Force (QRDF).

An Interview With Angelina Jolie, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie discusses her time in Cambodia and the effects of landmines there as well as the impact the trip had on her personally. She is willing to share her experiences with the world to help raise more awareness for mine action.

The Mine Action Information Center And The State Department’S Humanitarian Demining Fellowship: Molding The Future Of The Landmine Community, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

James Madison University (JMU) is host to the State Department’s Mine Action Information Center (MAIC). The MAIC has given many students the opportunity, whether through local employment or the State Department’s Humanitarian Demining Fellowship, to learn and experience mine action. Today, many of JMU’s former students are players in the global landmine community.

Trying To Understand The Different Pieces Of The Construct Validity Puzzle Of Assessment Centers: An Examination Of Assessor And Assessee Effects, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examined the effects of assessor-related factors (i.e., type of assessor) and assessee-related factors (i.e., type of assessee profile) on the construct validity of assessment center ratings. In particular, 3 types of assessors (26 industrial/organizational [I/O] psychologists, 20 managers, and 27 students), rated assessee performances that varied according to cross-exercise consistency (i.e., relatively inconsistent vs. relatively consistent) and dimension differentiation (relatively undifferentiated vs. relatively differentiated). Construct validity evidence was established for only one assessee profile and only in the I/O psychologist and managerial samples. More generally, these results indicate that 3 factors (poor design, assessor unreliability, and especially cross-situational …

Creative Book Arts Preserving Family History, Sarah Owen Tabor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the project I have developed a series of four artist's books from material I have collected pertaining to my family history. Over the last four years I have collected written narratives, photographs, tape-recorded interviews, genealogies, letters, electronic communications, and other documents. The first book in the series is an accordion-style book contrasting a trip my Great Grandmother took to Yellowstone National Park by covered wagon from Oklahoma Territory in 1903 with my trip from Maine to the same park in 1978. Though technology had changed the mode of transportation, and the intervening years had seen changes in many other …

A Curriculum-Based Approach For Social-Cognitive Skills Training: An Intervention Targeting Aggression In Head Start Preschoolers., Erika Michelle Carpenter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a social-cognitive skills training curriculum targeting aggression in Head Start preschoolers. Developmental psychopathology research clearly suggests that early intervention with aggressive preschoolers is critical. Despite the fact that aggressive behavior becomes stable by the elementary school years, there has been relatively little interest in intervening with preschool-aged children. In the present study, the COMPASS program is a 12-session curriculum teaching basic individual social skills (e.g., sharing, questioning, listening). Following the work of Mize and Ladd (1983; 1990), the curriculum was puppet-facilitated and employed the components of instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and …

Fiscal Reforms And The Relationship Of Central-Local Governments In China, Myoung-Shik Kim

Masters Theses

In 1978, China started its economic reforms, and the main characteristic of Chinese economic reforms is fiscal decentralization. This means that the central government wanted local governments to develop the local economies with their fiscal autonomy. By and large, this strategy was successful. However, it also brought many structural problems such as the increase of government deficits and instability of macroeconomic policy. As a result, the central government was increasingly concerned with the potential political and economic consequences of its weakening fiscal power. The ceter finally introduced a new fiscal reform program (the tax-sharing system) in 1994. The main objective …

Balancing Equality And Liberty In Rawls’S Theory Of Justice, Young-Soon Bae

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the balance of equality and liberty in Rawls’s theory of justice. By analyzing the contents of his two principles of justice, this thesis supports his claim that the principles of justice adequately represent the values of equality and liberty.

The point that this thesis focuses on is the relationship between two principles of justice. According to Rawls, the relationship between them is created by priority rules. Rawls arranges two principles of justice in lexical order – the priority of the first principle over the second. This idea of priority rules does not provide an adequate standard to …

In Search Of Permanent Homes: Singapore's House Churches And The Politics Of Space, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper focuses on one category of the 'unofficially sacred'-namely, those secular spaces which are used for worship and, in particular, residential spaces which are turned into 'house churches'. Using the case study of a house church in Singapore, the paper examines issues about the politics of religion in urban landscapes in a secular and simultaneously multireligious state. Contrary and in addition to current wisdoms about the politics of religious space, it is argued that various politics are observed: a politics of inclusion; a politics of hybridisation and in-betweenness; a politics of appropriation and nationalisation; and a politics of impermanence …

The Evolution And Utilization Of The Gatt/Wto Dispute Settlement Mechanism, Pao Li Chang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper attempts to study the usage of the GATT/WTO dispute settlement mechanism and to explain its patterns across different regimes and decades, using a unified theoretical model. This study first explores the role of the degree of legal controversy over a panel ruling in determining countries’ incentives to block/appeal a panel report under the GATT/WTO regime. The model is able to explain the surge in blocking incidence during the 1980s over the preceding GATT years and the immense frequency at which the new appellate procedure under the WTO is invoked. Furthermore, a two-sided asymmetric information framework is used to …

Endogenous Tariff Formation With Intra-Industry Trade, Pao-Li Chang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Previous theoretical contributions on endogenous tariff formation have focused on trade models with homogeneous goods and constant returns to scale. This paper investigates the political equilibrium of trade policy when economic structure is instead characterized by differentiated products and increasing returns to scale and there exists intra-industry trade. The result shows that endogenous tariffs are positive for all industries with non-negligible shares of world production. However, the level of protection is less than the optimal tariff that would otherwise be imposed by a benevolent government in an unorganized industry, and higher in an organized industry. The protection provided to all …

Sapl Newsletter : 2002 : 08 (Summer), Nelson Poynter Memorial Library., Society For Advancement Of Poynter Library.

Society for Advancement of Poynter Library

No abstract provided.

Media, Sexuality, And Identity Among ‘New Ethnic’ Youth In A Midwestern Community, Meenakshi Durham

Meenakshi Gigi Durham

No abstract provided.

Reconceptualizing Involvement As Patterns Of Routine Activities: The Relative Impact Of Opportunity And Bonds To Society On Adolescent Drinking, Katherine Novak

Katherine B. Novak

Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Chicago, IL, August 16-19, 2002.

Poetry And Public Life, Charles Lemert

Charles C Lemert

The public life is one entered more by the patience of the poetic ear than by the sharpness of the pen or the truth of the facts.

'...The Times They Are A-Changin': Political Protests—Iowa State University—May 1970, A Photographic Essay And Oral History, Gerry Mckiernan, Michele Christian

Michele Christian

In early May 1970, thousands of Iowa State University students gathered to protest the expanding war in Vietnam and Southeast Asia and the killing of four unarmed students on the campus of Kent State University. This photographic essay seeks to document significant events of the first week in May 1970 on the ISU campus and in Ames, Iowa, utilizing photographs selected from the archives of the Iowa State University Library, Special Collections Department, excerpts of reports from the university newspaper, the Iowa State Daily, and summaries from a chronological account of these and other events presented in a masters thesis …

The Length Of The Retention Interval, Forgetting, And Subjective Similarity, Donald L. King, Farrasha L. Jones, Ronald C. Pearlman, Abraham Tishman, Cassandra A. Felix

Ronald Pearlman