Digital Commons Network^™

The Rhetoric Of Crisis: How We Talk About The Vulnerability Of Youth, Casey Cramer

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The classical definition of rhetoric is generally understood to be the art of persuasion. Originating in ancient Greece, rhetoric was one of the three original liberal arts. It focused on effective use of language, most often in the arena of politics and public discourse (Brummett, 35). By mastering persuasive language, politicians were able to shape and sway public opinion in their favor. Conversely, by understanding the mechanics of rhetoric, citizens were able to recognize and interpret speech that was purposefully constructed. The prevalence of rhetoric in political speech made it an integral part of a democratic society - politicians needed …

Faculty Rights And Scholarly Communication Practices, Denise Troll Covey

Denise Troll Covey

No abstract provided.

Bicycle Access To Public Libraries: A Survey Of Pennsylvania Public Libraries And Their Accessibility To Patrons Arriving Via Bicycle, Samantha Hypatia Thompson

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

In 1994, the US Department of Transportation set the goal of doubling the number of bicycle trips undertaken in this country. Impediments to this goal are trip and destination barriers. One major public destination intended for universal access is the public library. This is relevant to young adults, the poor, and recent immigrants, all of whom may choose bicycle transportation at higher rates than the general population. A survey of 225 public libraries in Pennsylvania found that 54% of respondent libraries had poor overall bicycle accessibility. These overall levels were the result of the trip or destination barriers at each …

Legally Speaking--John Doe And The Patriot Act, Bryan M. Carson

DLPS Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Major Chinese Full-Text Electronic Information Resources For Researchers And Scholars, Jue Wang

DLPS Faculty Publications

China’s electronic publishing industry has developed very rapidly over the past decade. China has become one of the electronic publishing centers in Asia and will continue to flourish in the future. Chinese electronic databases provide the most efficient way for scholars, researchers and students to perform searches as well as to provide information for businesses and governments. In this article, the author gives a brief overview of selected databases which represent a small portion of the Chinese electronic resources and hopes it will serve as a reference to Chinese scholars world-wide.

Religion And Family Relational Health: An Overview And Conceptual Model, Loren Marks

Faculty Publications

This paper presents a review of research addressing religion and family relational health. Strengths of the extant data include the correlation of three dimensions of religious experience (religious practices, religious beliefs, and religious community) with certain aspects of mother–child, father–child, and marital relationships and specific connections between the three dimensions of religious experience and family relationships are identified. Key weaknesses in the research at present include a paucity of research examining the hows, whys, and processes involved behind identified religion–family correlations and a lack of data on non-nuclear families, families of color, interfaith families, and non-Christian religions including Judaism and …

The Revised 40 Principles For Software Inventions, Umakant Mishra

Umakant Mishra

Applying 40 Principles is one of the earliest and most popular techniques of TRIZ. There are no controversies on application of 40 principles by any of the TRIZ schools. Although they are fundamentally sound, there is some difficulty in applying those in software related problems. As they were originally developed for mechanical or technical problems, the meaning of many terms like 'thermal', 'aerodynamic', 'hydrodynamic', 'ultrasonic', 'infrared', 'temperature', 'liquid', 'gas' etc. are embarrassing in a software context.

This article reviews the 40 principles in the context of software industry and rephrases the principles and their applications to make them suitable for …

Reforming 529 College Savings Plans To Better Reach Low-Income Families, Margaret Clancy, Leslie Parrish

Center for Social Development Research

Reforming 529 College Savings Plans to Better Reach Low-Income Families

Do Assets Affect Well-Being? Perceptions Of Youth In A Matched Savings Program, Edward Scanlon, Deborah Adams

Center for Social Development Research

Do Assets Affect Well-Being? Perceptions of Youth in a Matched Savings Program

Saving For College In Maine's Matching Grant Program: Account Owner Experiences, Lisa Reyes Mason, Margaret Clancy, Margaret Sherraden, Chang-Keun Han

Center for Social Development Research

Saving for College in Maine's Matching Grant Program: Account Owner Experiences

Wealth Building In Rural America: Potential In Human Diversity, Jami C. Curley, Brian Dabson, Anna Lee, Kathleen K. Miller, Luxman Nathan, Trina R. Shanks, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Wealth Building in Rural America: Potential in Human Diversity

Asset-Based Policy In Indonesia: Pilot Study And Emerging Opportunities, Michael Sherraden, Li Zou

Center for Social Development Research

The Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis collaborated with the Indonesian Ministry of Social Welfare and researchers from the State Islamic University (UIN) to design a major asset-based, poverty-alleviation pilot project in Indonesia. The government committed significant resources to this 5-year study, which formed a major part of the welfare rethinking in the Indonesian Department of Social Welfare’s five-year plan (2006-2010). This pilot study operated in impoverished localities in parallel with Indonesia’s successful microfinance program (Cooperative Micro Businesses, or KUBE program). Discussion of asset building has grown steadily in Indonesian government circles since the idea …

Older Adults In Service To Society, Nancy Morrow-Howell, Fengyan Tang, Song-Iee Hong, Jaime Goldberg, So Yeon Kim, Amy Luman, Michael Sherraden, Amanda Moore Mcbride, Erin Auth, Kerry Finegan, Lisa Lawrence

Center for Social Development Research

Older Adults in Service to Society

Account Monitoring Report At December 31, 2005, Lisa Reyes Mason, Vernon Loke, Margaret Clancy

Center for Social Development Research

Account Monitoring Report at December 31, 2005

Contributions Of The Earned Income Tax Credit To Community Development In Indian Country, Kristen Wagner, Karen Edwards, Miriam Jorgensen, Dana Klar

Center for Social Development Research

The earned income tax credit (EITC) has become a central element in a suite of programs and polices that promote “asset building” for the poor. Increasingly, it has become a way not only for individuals but also communities to turn their economic circumstances around. The Center for Social Development in collaboration with Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies engaged ten Native community organizations currently providing free tax preparation services in a study that examined uptake and potential uses of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) income by Native people. Through community surveys we learned that a majority of survey …

Coordinating Individual Development Accounts And The Workforce Investment Act To Increase Access To Postsecondary Education And Training, Mark Greenberg, Nisha Patel

Center for Social Development Research

Coordinating Individual Development Accounts and the Workforce Investment Act to Increase Access to Postsecondary Education and Training

Using Individual Development Accounts To Save For A Home: Are There Differences By Race?, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Kristen Wagner

Center for Social Development Research

Research indicates that homeownership is a key variable in wealth accumulation. Using data from the American Dream Demonstration, this study examines the performance of low-incomeblacks and whites saving for homeownership through Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), a matched saving program. Results show black IDA participants saved smaller amounts and less frequently. Furthermore, findings suggest institutional variables have different associations with savings for blacks and whites. Implications for policymakers and program administrators are discussed regarding differential targeting of race groups in the design and implementation of programs aimed toward increasing savings and assets accumulation for low-income and minority households.

State-Level Individual Development Account (Ida) Policy: Opportunities And Challenges For Rural Areas, Karen Edwards, Jon Bailey

Center for Social Development Research

State-Level Individual Development Account (IDA) Policy: Opportunities and Challenges for Rural Areas

Building Assets From Birth: A Comparison Of The Policies And Proposals On Children Savings Accounts In Singapore, The United Kingdom, Canada, Korea, And The United States, Vernon Loke, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Holding assets is increasingly acknowledged as yielding positive effects and enhancing opportunities. In Assets and the Poor, Sherraden proposed that Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) should be opened for every person from birth in order to provide them with the lifetime potential to accumulate assets and to experience the effects of assets from a young age. a few countries have recently implemented or are proposing policies that build assets for every child starting from birth. Among these countries are Singapore, the United Kingdom, Canada, Korea, and the United States. The purposes and strategies adopted by each country are distinctive. This paper …

Academic Capabilities And Disadvantaged Students: The Role Of Institutions, William Elliott Iii, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Notwithstanding the far reaching intellectual and practical contributions of Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, researchers have suggested that it may not adequately address the role of institutions. This paper suggests that traditional measures of self-efficacy underemphasize institutional factors. This may have important implications, especially for considering the circumstances of disadvantaged groups. It may be productive to think of self-efficacy as a multidimensional construct that includes personal and institutional dimensions. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we examine how self-efficacy theory can be expanded to account for the social and economic realities of disadvantaged groups and lead to empirical work that can inform policy …

The I Can Save Program: School-Based Children's Saving Accounts For College, Margaret Sherraden, Lissa Johnson, William Elliott, Shirley Porterfield, William Rainford

Center for Social Development Research

This paper examines an innovative college savings program for public elementary school children. The project is based on the proposition that children will gain financial knowledge and be more likely to view college as an attainable goal because they are accumulating savings to help pay for higher education. As the latest in a long history of school-based savings programs, this program pioneers the idea of matched savings in which children and family savings in the students’ accounts are matched one to one up to a maximum of $3,500. Findings suggest that the principal, teachers, children, and their families are enthusiastic …

Seed Account Monitoring Research At June 30, 2006, Lisa Reyes Mason, Vernon Loke, Margaret Clancy

Center for Social Development Research

SEED Account Monitoring Research at June 30, 2006

Wealth Building In Rural America: Programs, Policies, Research, Jon Bailey, Jami Curley, Karen Edwards, Gena Gunn, Eric Henson, Njeri Kagotho, Anna Lee, Kathleen K. Miller, Luxman Nathan, Trina R. Shanks, Michael Sherraden, Margaret S. Sherraden, Jean Schumacher, Bill Schweke, Ann Ulmer

Center for Social Development Research

Wealth Building in Rural America: Programs, Policies, Research

Inclusion In College Savings Plans: Participation And Saving In Maine's Matching Grant Program, Margaret Clancy, Chang-Keun Han, Lisa Reyes Mason, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Inclusion in College Savings Plans: Participation and Saving in Maine's Matching Grant Program

Barriers To Asset Accumulation For Families In The Seed Pre-School Demonstration And Impact Assessment, Sondra G. Beverly, Jared Barton

Center for Social Development Research

Barriers to Asset Accumulation for Families in the SEED Pre-School Demonstration and Impact Assessment

How Young People Save Money: Findings From Interviews With Seed Participants, Edward Scanlon, Jennifer Wheeler Brooks, Deborah Adams

Center for Social Development Research

How Young People Save Money: Findings From Interviews With SEED Participants

Economic Empowerment As A Health Care Intervention Among Orphaned Children In Rural Uganda, Fred M. Ssewamala, Stacey Alicea, William M. Bannon Jr., Leyla Ismayilova

Center for Social Development Research

This study evaluated an economic empowerment intervention to reduce HIV risks among orphaned children in Uganda. Children (n=97) were randomly assigned to receive an economic intervention or to a control arm. Data obtained at baseline and 12-month follow-up revealed differences on HIV prevention attitudes, educational plans, and child-caregiver relationship for intervention arm children relative to control children. Findings lend support to use of economic empowerment interventions for HIV risk reduction among orphaned children.

Using Individual Development Accounts For Microenterprise Development, Fred M. Ssewamala, Margaret Lombe, Jami C. Curley

Center for Social Development Research

This study examines whether there is a role for microenterprise development as an anti-poverty strategy in the United States. This question is important because skeptical views exist regarding whether, generally, poor Americans would have the enthusiasm to undertake the risk of dealing with small-businesses, especially given that the United States has a public welfare system to take care of the poor and “abundant jobs” for those with the skills—compared to most developing countries where the only alternative open for a family investing in a small-business may be starvation. Using data from 14 community-based programs promoting small-business investment through Individual Development …

Wealth Building In Rural America: Perspective, Knowledge, Outlook, Jami C. Curley, Brian Dabson, Elisabeth Howard, E. G. Nadeau, Michael Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Wealth Building in Rural America: Perspective, Knowledge, Outlook

From Financial Literacy To Financial Capability Among Youth, Elizabeth Johnson, Margaret S. Sherraden

Center for Social Development Research

Youth in the United States are facing an increasingly complex and perilous financial world. Economically disadvantaged youth, in particular, lack financial knowledge and access to mainstream financial institutions. Despite growing interest in youth financial literacy, we have not seen comparable efforts to improve institutional access to financial institutions and services. Instead of aiming for financial literacy, we suggest aiming for financial capability, a concept that builds on the writing of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. The paper proposes that financial capability results when individuals develop financial knowledge and skills, but also gain access to financial instruments and institutions. The paper …