Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Position Value And Wage Determinants In The Nhl, Sean Watterson

All Theses

The landscape of the NHL has changed significantly following the lockout season that began in 2004. This paper studies the effects of the rule changes that followed the lockout, the rule changes effect on the documented discrimination against French Canadian players, and models the determinants of wage in the NHL for the three positions in the NHL: forward, defenseman, and goaltender.
The rule changes and stricter enforcement of existing rules resulted in an increase in average scoring by all teams. The rule changes caused the value of scoring to decrease, and they increased the value of skilled defensemen, particularly those …

Digital Social Imagery In Silhouette, Ashley Triplett

All Theses

Society places an extreme emphasis on outward appearance and beauty that is often unattainable. The short film, Silhouette, reminds audiences of the dangers that can result from society's infatuation with physical perfection, and the film's production is the focus of this thesis. The goal of the film is to effectively communicate the impact of society on an individual's self-worth and self-image and to illustrate the consequences that result when trying to attain physical perfection. An integral part of this project is an examination of how women have been portrayed in art historically as compared to present day. To visualize …

A Comparison Of Recreation Therapy Intervention Using Nintendo Wiitm Bowling With Participation In A Tai Chi Program On Balance, Enjoyment, And Leisure Competence Of Older Adults In A Community Based Setting, Hollie Summey

All Theses

Many older adults experience a decrease in physical activity, which often leads to decreases in functioning. Older adults have been shown to have the lowest levels of physical activity for all age groups. This lack of physical activity has been shown to lead to decreases in performance of activities of daily living (ADLs), independence, quality of life, and increases in number of falls, chance of institutionalization, morbidity, and mortality. Physical activity programs in community settings help to restore or maintain physical function and lessen the level of dependence so that individuals will be able to reach the highest level of …

The Traits Of Colleges And Universities That Influence Crime, Rita Palermo

All Theses

Crime on college and university campuses has been a growing problem in recent years. Schools desire to decrease crime, but often do not understand the best and most efficient way to do so. In this paper, we will attempt to understand which attributes are most influential by looking at features and crime rates for 492 different schools for which the FBI had released relevant crime data in 2006.
The data showed that many of the variables such as campus size, number of student organizations, school setting, school size, and many other topics, had a noticeable relationship with the total crime. …

Study Abroad Program Evaluation: What Can Be Learned From Student Satisfaction Surveys?, Jenny Brown

All Theses

ABSTRACT
The rapid growth in the number of students going abroad has prompted a recent endeavor among international educators to begin the cumbersome undertaking of evaluating the quality of study abroad programs being offered at U.S. colleges and universities. In response to this increased participation in study abroad programs, the Office of International Affairs at Clemson University initiated an internal program evaluation in the spring of 2007. In collaboration with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment, an evaluation team assessed the components of these programs from the viewpoint of the participants. This study explored the following question: When it …

Adolescents' Experience Of The Factors Influencing Their Diabetes Treatment Regimen, Roger W. Apple

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to better understand and provide a description of the factors that influence adolescents' adherence to the diabetic treatment regimen from the adolescents' experience. The sample consisted of nine adolescents diagnosed with Type I diabetes. A qualitative phenomenological methodology is used to look for significant statements, meanings, and themes that resulted in an exhaustive description of the adolescents' experience.

In-depth interviews are the primary method of data collection. Data analysis includes: transcribing the interviews and reading the transcripts, extracting significant statements, developing formulated meanings, organizing the formulated meanings into clusters of themes, and developing an …

Persistence And Success: A Study Of Cognitive, Social, And Institutional Factors Related To Retention Of Kalamazoo Promise Recipients At Western Michigan University, Michelle Ann Bakerson

Dissertations

The Kalamazoo Promise, a universal scholarship program announced in November 2005 provides four years of tuition and fees at any of Michigan's two- or fouryear public colleges or universities for students who have attended Kalamazoo Public Schools. This investment in the community is being replicated elsewhere across the nation, including Denver and Pittsburgh. The scholarship program lowers the cost of postsecondary education, thereby increasing incentives for high school graduation, college enrollment, and college completion. Of the 307 Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship recipients who have attended Western Michigan University since its inception, 16% have been academically dismissed.

The main objectives of this …

Measuring Graduating M.S.W. Students' Knowledge Of The Steps Of Evidence-Based Practice, Kellie D. Cody Jr.

Dissertations

Knowledge of evidence-based practice (EBP) is essential to social workers entering the workforce. The literature review revealed no studies that have measured the knowledge students have of the steps of EBP in the final semester of their master's of social work (M.S.W.) degree programs.

The purpose of this study was to administer a newly validated instrument to graduating M.S.W. students to measure their knowledge of the steps of EBP. Eighty-six students in four schools in Michigan completed the instrument and scored a mean of 6.23 out of a possible score of 15. An ANOVA showed no statistically significant difference in …

A Comparison Of Methods For Teaching Auditory-Visual Conditional Discriminations To Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Laura Lee Grow

Dissertations

Early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) is an approach to treating the behavioral deficits and excesses observed in children with autism spectrum disorders. The magnitude of improvement in the overall functioning of children receiving EIBI has stimulated additional research and widespread clinical dissemination through the publication of EIBI curricular manuals. Many EIBI manuals recommend teaching conditional discriminations using the simple/conditional method. Initially, component simple discriminations are taught in isolation and in the presence of a distracter stimulus. Finally, conditional discriminations, which include stimuli previously taught as simple discriminations, are presented to the learner. Although the simple/conditional method is often recommended …

Empirical Essays On The Impact Of Health-Aid On Health Outcomes, Elsy Thomas Kizhakethalackal

Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays that empirically explore the impact of multilateral health-aid on health outcomes like infant mortality rate (IMR) and incidences of an infectious disease, Tuberculosis, in developing economies. The first essay uses parametric and semiparametric mean regressions (additive and non-additive specifications) to capture the impact of education and health-aid on the IMR, after controlling for other covariates. Both specifications confirm education as an important factor in reducing IMR. However, the effect of health-aid on IMR is not significant. In our additive model, we do see a threshold level of health-aid after which the impacts of health-aid …

The Ethnic Identity Of Returning Immigrants To A Pueblo In Yucatan, David Piacenti

Dissertations

This study seeks to understand: 1) motivations for leaving and, if applicable, racialized, segregated environment, which is represented by the returned cholo, whose "urban gangbanger" mentality confronts the traditional, rural ethnic identity. San Francisco also affects the overall perception of immigration and desire for permanent U.S. residence. Of the San Francisco cohort, 42% say immigration is "positive overall." Conversely, 62% of the Kalamazoo cohort says that immigration is "positive overall." Only 29% of the San Francisco cohort desire permanent residence in the U.S. while 54% of the Kalamazoo cohort desire permanent U.S. residence. Therefore, the suburban context of Kalamazoo may …

Validating The Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders Scale, Charmeka. Whitehead

Dissertations

This study investigated the reliability and validity of the Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders Scale (ATS) measurement by assessing attitudes of counselors in training towards juvenile sex offenders. The specific aims of this study were to determine (a) internal consistency of the ATS, (b) construct validity of the ATS based on exploratory factor analysis, and (c) the degree to which this instrument has convergent and discriminate validity. The intellectual merit of this study was to provide appropriate scale validation of the ATS so that it might be used to assess attitudes of mental health professionals who work with juvenile sex offenders. …

Journalism Students, Web 2.0 And The Digital Divide, Mary Elizabeth Green

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to find out if students were utilizing Web 2.0 applications. Since the applications in question are often employed by the media industry, the study aspired to find out if students majoring in mass communication and journalism utilized the applications more often than other students. The “digital divide” is a term used to describe the difference in skill levels in using computer technology and the Internet. Some of the variables typically associated with the digital divide include gender, age, ethnicity, lack of a broadband connection and previous experience using the technology. This study looks at …

An Investigation Into The Use Of Geospatial Technologies As Part Of Disaster Management Efforts Related To The Asian Tsunami Of 2004, Robert William Redding Jr.

Dissertations

On the 26th of December, 2004, a tsunami impacted the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean, immediately killing over two hundred and eighty thousand people, displacing another million people, and initially causing at least US$10 billion in damage. The response by the international community was swift and massive. Disaster decision-makers who led their organization's responses to the tsunami used geospatial information to support their decision-making efforts with mixed success. When describing their use of geospatial technologies during the response, a select set of disaster decision-makers provided information about how they used geospatial information, they described what worked and what did not …

Venture Philanthropy In 2009: Developments In The Field Since "Virtuous Capital", Annika Many

Master in Public Administration Theses

This study will examine the evolution of the field of venture philanthropy since the late 1990s and will provide an updated guide to the types of organizations utilizing venture philanthropy strategies across the United States and internationally. The purpose of this research is to investigate how the field has changed as it has matured, to identify the key players and learnings of organizations across the field, and to develop a framework for the types of organizations that have been the most successful in implementing the venture philanthropy model.

Giving Back Not Giving Up: Generativity Among Older Female Inmates, Regina White Benedict

Doctoral Dissertations

Extensive research has been conducted to understand the experience of incarceration, with the focus on hardships inflicted on inmates via incarceration. In addition, the current graying of America‟s prisons has gained some attention from both policymakers and the general public. However, despite the recent upsurge in concern and interest in matters pertaining to prison inmates, the focus by and large remains on young males. Meanwhile, studies addressing the experience of incarceration for older females are virtually non-existent. Generativity, defined as the desire to give back and execution of that desire, is regarded as a universal life stage first occurring sometime …

Influence Of Parenting Behavior On Behavioral And Psychological Associations Of Proactive And Reactive Aggression, Jamie Lee Rathert

Masters Theses

Child aggression is often categorized by the motivation behind the behavior, namely proactive and reactive aggression. Proactive aggression is goal oriented in nature whereas reactive aggression is in response to a perceived threat. There is some evidence to suggest that these subtypes are associated with distinct behavioral and psychological problems, with proactive aggression being associated with delinquency and reactive aggression being associated with depression. However, the behavioral and psychological correlates of these subtypes of aggression are not one to one relations and little research has examined the variables that impact these relations. This is a notable omission in the literature, …

Living In A Material World: How Visual Cues To Material Properties Affect The Way That We Lift Objects And Perceive Their Weight, Gavin Buckingham, Jonathan Cant, Melvyn Goodale

Gavin Buckingham

The visual properties of an object provide many cues as to the tensile strength, compliance, and density of the material from which it is made. However, it is not well understood how these implicit associations affect our perceptions of these properties and how they determine the initial forces that are applied when an object is picked up. Here we examine the effects of these cues on such forces by using the classic "material-weight illusion" (MWI). Grip and load forces were measured in three experiments as participants lifted cubes made from metal, wood, and expanded polystyrene. These cubes were adjusted to …

"Being Literate About Something": Discipline-Based Information Literacy In Higher Education, Jill Anderson

Jill E. Anderson

This report examines how academic librarians and theorists have discussed the issue of discipline-based information literacy instructional approaches since the publication of the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education in 2000. As Kate Manuel has recently noted, the Standards balance outcomes and indicators of universal or general information-literacy skills with more discipline-specific skills. Prior to the publication of the ACRL Standards, Stephen Plum argued that disciplinary standards can provide valuable frameworks for library instruction; more recent theorists have focused attention on general skills, some arguing that discipline-based skills are the province of subject faculty, others suggesting that discipline-based …

Singing Across The Scars Of Wrong: Johnny Cash And His Struggle For Social Justice, Kenneth Tunnell, Mark Hamm

Kenneth Tunnell

The life and music of Johnny Cash are explored in this article as we detail his commitment to social justice. Situating his politics and biography within a cultural criminology orientation, we show that Cash's lived politics and edgy music reflect his concerns with the working class, the dispossessed, the rebellious, the American Indian, and above all, the convict. A pusher of social causes, Cash advocated for prison reform through decades of social activism and public and private politics.

DOI: 10.1177/1741659009346015

Chinese Investment In Ethiopia: Devlopmental Opportunity Or Deepening China's New Mercantilism?, Asayehgn Desta

Asayehgn Desta

Explaining Commercial Rents In Major U.S. Metropolitan Areas Using An Error Correction Model With Panel Data, Maria R. Ibanez

Maria Ibanez

This project presents rent models for flexible, industrial, retail and office properties in the Unites States. Panel data are used covering the largest fifty metropolitan areas in the U.S. for 27 years (1982-2009) to analyze the determinants of rents.

On The Rise Of Health Spending And Longevity, Raquel Fonseca, Pierre-Carl Michaud, Titus Galama, Arie Kapteyn

Titus Galama

We use a calibrated stochastic life-cycle model of endogenous health spending, asset accumulation and retirement to investigate the causes behind the increase in health spending and life expectancy over the period 1965-2005. We estimate that technological change along with the increase in the generosity of health insurance may explain independently 53% of the rise in health spending (insurance 29% and technology 24%) while income less than 10%. By simultaneously occurring over this period, these changes may have lead to a “synergy” or interaction effect which helps explain an additional 37% increase in health spending. We estimate that technological change, taking …

Toward A Theory Of Procedural Justice For Juveniles, Tamar R. Birckhead

Tamar R Birckhead

Courts and legislatures have long been reluctant to make use of the data, findings, and recommendations generated by other disciplines when determining questions of legal procedure affecting juveniles, particularly when the research has been produced by social scientists. However, given the United States Supreme Court’s recent invocation of developmental psychology in Roper v. Simmons, which invalidated the juvenile death penalty, there is reason to believe that such resistance is waning. In 2005 the Simmons Court found, inter alia, that based on research on adolescent development, juveniles are not as culpable as adults and, therefore, cannot be classified among the “worst …

A Limited Engagement: Mexico And Its Diaspora, Roger D. Waldinger

Roger D Waldinger

Responding to migrants’ many, ongoing involvements with their home communities, sending states have increasingly adopted policies of diaspora engagement, seeking both to retain the emigrants’ loyalties and shape their attachments so as best to meet home state leaders’ goals. This paper seeks to gain traction on the politics of diaspora engagement by studying two contrasting aspects of the Mexican experience – expatriate voting, a relatively new development, and provision of the matrícula consular, a long-standing component of traditional consular services, though one that has recently been transformed. Focusing on the complex set of interactions linking migrants, sending states, and receiving …

My Teaching Philosophy, Marilyn R. Pukkila

Marilyn R. Pukkila

This is my philosophy of teaching and learning, as developed during the ACRL Immersion Intentional Teacher Track in Nashville, TN in December of 2009

Communiqué For Elders On Reconciliation, Reunification And Peace In Cyprus: An Inter-Communal Civic Initiative, Nicos Trimikliniotis

Nicos Trimikliniotis

The visit of Elders in December 2009 is coinciding with a critical moment in the negotiation process, which is gradually entering into its final crucial phase. The two leaders appear determined to move forward with a settlement, despite the inherent difficulties; the Elders’ visit can assist the process by encouraging the leaders to show courage and boldness so as to press on with an agreement as soon as possible. Unlike in 2004, where both process and outcome were in the end delegitimized as ‘externally imposed’ and ‘not properly balanced’, this time the process is entirely owned and controlled by the …

Nicola Pratt, Democracy And Authoritarianism In The Arab World (London: Lynne Rienner, 2007, 235 Pp.), Mehmet Ozkan

Mehmet OZKAN

No abstract provided.

Trajectories Of Ptsd And Substance Use Disorders In A Longitudinal Study Of Personality Disorders, Meghan E. Mcdevitt-Murphy, Gilbert R. Parra, M. Tracie Shea, Shirley Yen, Carlos M. Grilo, Charles A. Sanislow, Thomas H. Mcglashan, John G. Gunderson, Andrew E. Skodol, John C. Markowitz

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

The Taiwan Question And The One-China Policy: Legal Challenges With Renewed Momentum, Pasha L. Hsieh

Pasha L. HSIEH

No abstract provided.