Digital Commons Network^™

Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration And Learning, Deana D. Pennington

All UNF Research

Complex environmental problem solving depends on cross-disciplinary collaboration among scientists. Collaborative research must be preceded by an exploratory phase of collective thinking that creates shared conceptual frameworks. Collective thinking, in a cross-disciplinary setting, depends on the facility with which collaborators are able to learn and understand each others’ perspectives. This paper applies three perspectives on learning to the problem of enabling cross-disciplinary collaboration: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, constructivism, and organizational learning. Application of learning frameworks to collaboration provides insights regarding receptive environments for collaboration, and processes that facilitate cross-disciplinary interactions. These environments and interactions need time to develop and require …

Technology-Aided Participative Methods In Environmental Assessment: An International Perspective, Ainhoa Gonzalez, Alan Gilmer, Ronan Foley, John Sweeney, John Fry

Articles

Provisions for citizen involvement in the assessment of potential environmental effects of certain plans, programmes and projects are present in current legislation. An international survey revealed that public participation is common practice in European and some other countries worldwide. However, a number of issues are observed to affect public involvement in EIA/SEA processes and expert opinion differs when evaluating the effectiveness of existing participative methods. Results suggest that technology-aided methods can improve traditional participation processes. In particular, GIS has the potential to increase community knowledge and enhance involvement by communicating information more effectively. Variable accessibility to technology and data quality …

Ua77/1 Wku Spirit, Wku Alumni Relations

WKU Administration Documents

WKU alumni magazine. Contents:

• Ransdell, Gary. President’s Letter
• Gift from Anthem Foundation Funds WKU Mobile Health Unit
• WKU Enrollment Increases to 19,761; Number of African-American First-time Freshmen Up 19.6%
• WKU Honors Bowling Green Family During Weekend Event – Tinius Family
• WKU Alum Harry Gray Honored as Outstanding Alumnus of Kentucky
• Alumni Association Enters Relationship with PartnersFirst
• HealthCo Corp. Opens World Headquarters in WKU Center
• Jarve Family Create Endowed Professorship in Honors
• Planned Giving Q&A on the Charitable Gift Annuity
• Private Support Enhances Capital Improvements at WKU
• Interfaith Chapel
• LaFantasie, Glenn. Why Are There No More Abraham Lincolns?
• Capitol Spotlight – …

Accurate Mental Maps As An Aspect Of Local Ecological Knowledge (Lek): A Case Study From Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland, John Mckenna, Rory J. Quinn, Daniel J. Donnelly, J. Andrew G. Cooper

All UNF Research

A mental map of the substrate of Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland, compiled from interviews with local fishermen, is compared with maps produced by science-based techniques. The comparison reveals that the mental map is highly accurate. This finding contrasts with the spatial distortion characteristic of the classic mental map. The accuracy of the Lough Neagh map is attributed to the fact that it is a compendium of the knowledge of several generations, rather than an individual perception. Individual distortions are filtered out, and accuracy is promoted by economic self-interest. High accuracy may be characteristic of the mental maps held by artisanal …

Epistemological Pluralism: Reorganizing Interdisciplinary Research, Thaddeus R. Miller, Timothy D. Baird, Caitlin M. Littlefield, Gary Kofinas, F. Stuart Chapin, Iii, Charles L. Redman

All UNF Research

Despite progress in interdisciplinary research, difficulties remain. In this paper, we argue that scholars, educators, and practitioners need to critically rethink the ways in which interdisciplinary research and training are conducted. We present epistemological pluralism as an approach for conducting innovative, collaborative research and study. Epistemological pluralism recognizes that, in any given research context, there may be several valuable ways of knowing, and that accommodating this plurality can lead to more successful integrated study. This approach is particularly useful in the study and management of social–ecological systems. Through resilience theory's adaptive cycle, we demonstrate how a focus on epistemological pluralism …

Interactive Landuse Planning In Indonesian Rain-Forest Landscapes: Reconnecting Plans To Practice, Eva Wollenberg, Bruce Campbell, Edmond Dounias, Petrus Gunarso, Moira Moeliono, Douglas Sheil

All UNF Research

Indonesia’s 1999–2004 decentralization reforms created opportunities for land-use planning that reflected local conditions and local people’s needs. We report on seven years of work in the District of Malinau in Indonesian Borneo that attempted to reconnect government land-use plans to local people’s values, priorities, and practices. Four principles are proposed to support more interactive planning between government and local land users: Support local groups to make their local knowledge, experience, and aspirations more visible in formal land-use planning and decision making; create channels of communication, feedback, and transparency to support the adaptive capacities and accountability of district leadership and institutions; …

Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences - Volume 9 2008, Several Authors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Strategic Importance Of Higher Education And Research In Positioning Gujarat For Global Competitiveness, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

No abstract provided.

Instructions For Authors, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Gloria Steinem, "Testimony Before Senate Hearings On The Equal Rights Amendment" (6 May 1970), Jill M. Weber

Communication Studies Faculty Scholarship

In her testimony before the Senate ERA hearings, Gloria Steinem refuted sex‐based myths about women and championed the ERA. Situating the ERA within the larger civil rights movement, Steinem called on Congress to acknowledge women's oppression as a serious political issue. She also worked to make women's rights issues more appealing to a mainstream audience by talking about the ERA's benefits for men and women and by emphasizing the democratic principles it embodied.

Capitalizing On Affect: Viagra (In)Action, Kristin A. Swenson

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Recent cultural criticisms of Viagra’s advertisements and promotional materials have argued that rhetorical constructions of Viagra users reestablish a hegemonic masculinity premised on heterosexual standards of traditional gender norms (Baglia, 2005; Bordo, 2000; Loe, 2004). Cultural critics have also noted that Viagra’s promotional materials allow “for alternative readings by potential users who do not fall into the category of the ‘traditional/ideal’ Viagra user” including women and homosexual men (Mamo & Fishman, 2001, p. 14). What most criticisms fail to take into account is that Viagra, like other lifestyle drugs, does not only reestablish cultural constructs of the contemporary gendered body …

Catalyzing Personal And Social Change Around Gender, Sexuality, And Hiv: Impact Evaluation Of Puntos De Encuentro´S Communication Strategy In Nicaragua, Irela Solorzano, Amy Bank, Rodolfo Pena, Henry Espinoza, Mary Ellsberg, Julie Pulerwitz

HIV and AIDS

Somos Diferentes, Somos Iguales (SDSI) is a communication for social change strategy whose objective is to prevent future HIV infections in Nicaragua, through mass communication actions that include educational entertainment programs, strengthening of local capacity, and the development of alliances within the communities. This report presents the results of an interinstitutional evaluation to explore the impact of SDSI on gender equity, stigma reduction, personalization of risk perception, knowledge and use of services, interpersonal communication, HIV prevention practices, and individual and collective effectiveness for HIV prevention. The impact evaluation showed that the SDSI strategy made a great contribution in key aspects …

Outside The Frame: Towards A Phenomenology Of Texts And Technology, Anthony Crisafi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The subject of my dissertation is how phenomenology can be used as a tool for understanding the intersection between texts and technology. What I am suggesting here is that, specifically in connection with the focus of our program in Texts and Technology, there are very significant questions concerning how digital communications technology extends our humanity, and more importantly what kind of epistemological and ontological questions are raised because of this. There needs to be a coherent theory for Texts and Technology that will help us to understand this shift, and I feel that this should be the main focus for …

Exploring Interdisciplinary Prayer Research In A Health Context, E. James Baesler

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

Communication, Psychology, and Sociology are three leading academic disciplines engaged in the social scientific study of prayer, the spiritual communication between a believer(s) and God, but rarely do these disciplines collaborate in interdisciplinary prayer scholarship. Possibilities for interdisciplinary prayer research in a health context are explored through a review of the literature and academic interviews. Interdisciplinary linkages in the prayer-health context are organized in an integral "all-quadrant" theoretical model, and an assessment of the viability of interdisciplinary prayer-health research is considered.

History Of The School Of Communication: A Perspective On Communication, Change, And Community, 1985-2008, Victoria Smith Holden

UND Departmental Histories

This departmental history was written on the occasion of the UND Quasquicentennial in 2008.

Collaborative Ro1 With Ncbo Semantics And Services Enabled Problem Solving Environment For Trypanosoma Cruzi, Amit P. Sheth, Rick Tarleton, Prashant Doshi, Mark Musen, Natasha Noy, Satya S. Sahoo, Daniel B. Weatherly

Kno.e.sis Publications

No abstract provided.

Semantic Sensor Web, Amit P. Sheth, Satya S. Sahoo

Kno.e.sis Publications

Sensors are distributed across the globe leading to an avalanche of data about our environment. It is possible today to utilize networks of sensors to detect and identify a multitude of observations, from simple phenomena to complex events and situations. The lack of integration and communication between these networks, however, often isolates important data streams and intensifies the existing problem of too much data and not enough knowledge. With a view to addressing this problem, the semantic sensor Web (SSW) proposes that sensor data be annotated with semantic metadata that will both increase interoperability and provide contextual information essential for …

Semantic Provenance For Escience: Managing The Deluge Of Scientific Data, Satya S. Sahoo, Amit P. Sheth, Cory Andrew Henson

Kno.e.sis Publications

Provenance information in eScience is metadata that's critical to effectively manage the exponentially increasing volumes of scientific data from industrial-scale experiment protocols. Semantic provenance, based on domain-specific provenance ontologies, lets software applications unambiguously interpret data in the correct context. The semantic provenance framework for eScience data comprises expressive provenance information and domain-specific provenance ontologies and applies this information to data management. The authors' "two degrees of separation" approach advocates the creation of high-quality provenance information using specialized services. In contrast to workflow engines generating provenance information as a core functionality, the specialized provenance services are integrated into a scientific workflow …

Communication Within The Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment, Laura L. Ellingson

Communication

The comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) forms a cornerstone of geriatric care; the process is designed to assess the complex interaction of biological , psychological, and social challenges often faced by elder patients (e .g ., Extermann, 2003). Using a narrative case study of a patient undergoing a CGA by members of an interdisciplinary geriatric oncology team. I explore some of the communication challenges and opportunities for healthcare providers caring for geriatric patients. My goal in offering readers narratives of geriatric patient-healthcare provider communication-rather than only analysis of those interactions - is to complement typical analysis of research findings with an …

When (Post)Coloniality Meets Transnationalism, Hsin-I Cheng

Communication

Cultural differences are produced and maintained in numerous relations as spaces and places are. Spaces such as nation-states are made and organized hierarchically through historical agency within the parameter of unbalanced power interactions. They are imagined, contested, and enforced through processes in which multiple sociopolitical structures are implicated. In the de-territorialized age, the ways in which people "confound or reinforce the established spatial orders either through physical movement or through their own conceptual and political acts of re-imagination" are central for any research on people's dynamic acts of cultivating, identifying, and communicating processes (Gupta and Ferguson 17). This is especially …

Blogging About Feminist Lnterdisciplinarity In The Study Of Communication, Language, And Gender, Cynthia Berryman-Fink, Janet Bing, Deborah Cameron, Amy Sheldon, Anita Taylor

English Faculty Publications

This article provides information about several blog posts discussed during a round-table discussion on feminist interdisciplinary studies in relation to communication, language, and gender. Topics under discussion include the nature of interdisciplinarity and its relevance to feminist studies, intercultural communication, and the study and teaching of gender in women's studies programs in higher education.

The Making Of A Middlerace: The Social Politics Surrounding Black-White Interracial Marriages And Black White Biracial Identity, Yoftahe K. Manna

Masters Theses

In an attempt to uncover the social politics surrounding Black-White interracial marriages and Black-White biracial identity, this thesis investigates outsiders' and insiders' perspectives on the issues. Black and White participants of the study reported positive attitudes toward Black-White interracial marriage, while they reported negative attitudes toward Black-White biracial individuals. No statistically significant differences were found between Blacks and Whites in attitudes toward Black-White interracial marriages and Black-White biracial identity. No statistically significant differences were found between men and women, either. The insiders' reports, however, contradicted these findings. Both Black-White interracial couple and Black-White biracial adult participants of this study reported …

Bereaved Parents' Negotiation Of Identity Following The Death Of A Child, Paige W. Toller

Communication Faculty Publications

This study examines changes in bereaved parents’ identities following the death of a child. The bereaved parents in this study experienced two dialectical contradictions of identity, which are: (a) a parent without a child to parent and (b) I’m an outsider- I’m an insider. Results describe how parents used communication to negotiate these contradictions of identity. Implications for the study of parental bereavement, communication, and identity are discussed.

Joint Extraction Of Compound Entities And Relationships From Biomedical Literature, Cartic Ramakrishnan, Pablo N. Mendes, Rodrigo A.T.S. De Gama, Guilherme C.N. Ferreira, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

In this paper we identify some limitations of contemporary information extraction mechanisms in the context of biomedical literature. We present an extraction mechanism that generates structured representations of textual content. Our extraction mechanism achieves this by extracting compound entities, and relationships between them, occuring in text. A detailed evaluation of the relationship and compound entities extracted is presented. Our results show over 62% average precision across 8 relationship types tested with over 82% average precision for compound entity identification1.

Traveling The Semantic Web Through Space, Theme And Time, Amit P. Sheth, Matthew Perry

Kno.e.sis Publications

In this installment of Semantics and Services, we further develop the idea of spatial, temporal, and thematic (STT) processing of semantic Web data and describe the Web infrastructure needed to support it. Starting from Ramesh Jain's vision of the EventWeb as a view of what's possible with a Web that better accommodates all three dimensions of event-related information (thematic, spatial, and temporal), we outline the architecture needed to support it and current research that aims to realize it.

Gender Stereotypes In Spanish Language Television Programming For Children In The United States, Carlo Andre Romo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Children's television programming falling within the traditional Saturday morning time slot for four continuous Saturdays on five Spanish language networks in a southwest border city in the United States constituted the sample for this study. Each of the programs in the study was broken down and analyzed for character demographics, character behaviors and consequences received for those behaviors. Eight categories of behavior were scored, including four traditionally male behaviors (aggression, autonomy, construction, dominance) and four traditionally female behaviors (deference, dependence, harm avoidance, nurturing). The analysis of demographic data revealed male characters clearly outnumbered female characters and female characters were significantly …

Organizational Learning In A High-Risk Environment: Responding To An Anthrax Outbreak, Shari R. Veil, Timothy L. Sellnow

Communication Faculty Publications

The National Center for Food Protection and Defense, a Department of Homeland Security-sponsored Center of Excellence, identified and endorses 10 best practices for risk and crisis communication. The best practices model is designed to aid organizations of all types in preparing for and learning from crisis events. This analysis applied the best practices model to a case study of an anthrax outbreak that fostered a full-blown crisis response. This study analyzes the learning experience of the crisis cohort group that responded to the crisis. The researchers contend that by evaluating a crisis situation using best practices as a benchmarking procedure, …

Attachment Style's Impact On The Perception Of Self-Verifying And Self-Enhancing Comforting Messages, Krista Shellabarger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the connection between one's adult attachment style and one's evaluation of verifying or enhancing comforting messages. Drawing from research by Swann (2005) and Katz and Joiner (2002), the hypothesis predicted that an individual would prefer verifying messages over enhancing messages regardless of attachment style. A research question was also posed: Will an individual's adult attachment style moderate the degree to which a person perceives the communication of verifying or enhancing messages as helpful or effective? In an effort to find these answers, a questionnaire was completed by 251 individuals. Results indicate a preference for verifying messages among …

The Influence Of Biological Sex, Previous Experience, And Preparation Time On Classroom Public Speaking Grades, Judy C. Pearson, Jeffrey T. Child

Basic Communication Course Annual

How does biological sex affect public speaking grades? Students completed journal entries over the course of the semester. Hierarchical multiple regression incrementally examined competency measures (previous experience and overall preparation time) then biological sex on public speaking grade averages. Competency measures predicted higher speech grade averages, but women still earned higher speech grades even after the effects of competency had been removed. Among the explanations offered are that women may be more competent than men, a combination of competence and compliance explains women’s higher grades, or public speaking classrooms perpetuate a female competency bias.

Corpulent Counter-Publics: Radical Cheerleading And Resignification Of The Fat Body, Emily Dianne Cram

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This thesis investigates the power of language, discourse, and symbols in the dominant construction of corpulence, and how it simultaneously constricts subjectivity and offers avenues of resistance and revolt. I focus my analysis on the public protest actions of San Francisco's radical cheerleading troupe The Bod Squad. I argue that The Bod Squad's protest constitutes a counter-public sphere in its rhetorical functions of positive self-representation and public confrontation. Through their protest actions, The Bod Squad stretches dominant ideologies of corpulence to create discursive space for alternative articulations of identities, interests, and needs. This thesis challenges traditional counter-public sphere theory and …