Digital Commons Network^™

Focus Of Attention Instructions Impact On Pitching Accuracy Among College Baseball Pitchers, Brian Solemsaas

Research Papers

Previous research has consistently demonstrated that using an external focus of attention rather than an internal focus of attention enhances motor skill learning and performance. The purpose of this study was to examine whether using different focus of attention (i.e. internal or external) influenced pitching accuracy. It was hypothesized that highly skilled baseball pitchers utilizing an external focus of attention would display greater pitching accuracy when compared to trials performed following instructions that were designed to direct attention internally. Participants (N=11) completed 60 trials under internal and external conditions, 20 trials per day over a six day period …

The Importance Of Early Counseling And Education Of Persons Diagnosed With Alzheimer's Disease And Their Caregivers, Haley Pottorff Basnett

Research Papers

When people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, they go through periods of depression simply because the prognosis is eventual and certain death. By the same token, many healthcare professionals and insurance companies with whom individuals and their families must deal take an often cold approach to the diagnosis, considering counseling as a waste of time for a situation in which a physical prognosis is hopeless. In treating the physical aspect of the disease, many doctors do in fact prescribe an antidepressant, which ironically, will exacerbate the physical condition of the person affected, hastening the physical decline. Therefore, while the ultimate tragedy …

An Effective And Efficient Analytic Technique: A Bootstrap Regression Procedure And Benford's Law, Ik Seon Suh, Todd C. Headrick

Publications

Previous studies in auditing have proposed statistical analytic techniques to determine the presence of unusual fluctuations in financial data. However, these techniques use past financial data and/or other explanatory variables to compute expectation parameters. If past data were contaminated with errors or fraud, then the precision of developed expectations is questionable and this leads to an increase in Type II error. The current study introduces a new analytic technique known as the bootstrap regression (BREG) procedure in the context of Benford’s Law. The BREG procedure mitigates Type II error based on Benford parameters and exact confidence intervals to assess for …

Disagreeing About Disagreement: How Conflict In Social Networks Affects Political Behavior, Casey A. Klofstad, Anand Sokhey, Scott D. Mcclurg

Working Papers

At the center of debates on deliberative democracy is the issue of how much real deliberation citizens experience in their core social networks.  These “disagreements about disagreement” come in a variety of forms, with scholars advocating significantly different empirical approaches (e.g., Huckfeldt et al. 2004; Mutz 2006), and coming to significantly different substantive conclusions.  We tackle these discrepancies by investigating the effect of conceptual and measurement differences on key findings relating interpersonal political disagreement to political attitudes and behaviors. Drawing on the 2008-2009 ANES panel study, we find evidence that different measures of disagreement have distinct effects when it comes …

Assessing An Individual With Coexisting Disabilities: Traumatic Brain Injury, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, & Substance Use, Kimberly T. Heard

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Social Network Hierarchy And Rational Group Decision Making: An, Sean Richey

2011

No abstract provided.

Reconsidering The Benefits Of Minority Cohesion: The Difference Between Relative And Absolute Cohesion In The U.S. House Of Representatives, Bryce J. Dietrich

2011

Cohesion has long been a topic of interest for those studying minorities in the U.S. Congress. Generally, it is thought that cohesion gives minorities an advantage in legislative bargaining, which ultimately helps them influence the legislative process. However, this only assumes absolute not relative cohesion. When minorities work more with each other they are less able to work with those outside their group. This makes legislative influence more difficult for minorities. By examining sponsorship-cosponsorship networks from the 97th-103rd Congresses, I show that cohesion actually hurts the ability of minorities to influence the legislative process. This affect is felt differently for …

Is Influence Mightier Than Selection? Forging Agreement In Discussion Networks During A Campaign, Meredith Rolfe, Jason Bello

2011

To what extent do social networks shape a person's vote choice? Using data on political networks gathered during a novel, multi-wave panel study conducted during the 2010 election cycle in the UK, we argue that although people may choose to discuss politics more often with those who hold similar political views, remaining disagreements in political discussion networks can still have a substantial impact on vote choice. Our study is the first large scale, general population sample survey to track changes in an individual's named political discussion partners over the course of an election campaign, and thus provides a unique opportunity …

Behavioral Cusps, Basic Behavioral Repertoires, And Cumulative-Hierarchical Learning, Michael D. Hixon

The Psychological Record

Much behavior development is cumulative and hierarchical in
that subsequent learning is dependent on prior learning. The
behavior or behavioral changes that produce subsequent
important behavioral changes are referred to as basic behavioral
repertoires or behavioral cusps. This progression of learning is
called "cumulative-hierarchical learning," and it may be an
important concept for understanding much complex human
behavior. Despite its potential importance, there has been little
systematic study of the concept within behavior analysis or
psychology in general, which limits our understanding of complex
human behavior. One reason for the lack of research may be the
difficulty in studying cumulative-hierarchical …

The Optimism-Neuroticism Question: An Evaluation Based On Cardiovascular Reactivity In Female College Students, Donna K. Kennedy, Brian M. Hughes

The Psychological Record

In order to assess the competing roles of dispositional
optimism and neuroticism on reactivity to psychological stress, we
selected 50 women (mean age = 18.76 years; SD = 1.9 years)
from a screening sample of 150 college students on the basis of
having high and low scores in dispositional optimism. In a
laboratory, participants provided cardiovascular measures before,
during, and after a mentally challenging task, as well as anxiety
scores before and after the task. Participants also supplied
measures of neuroticism and ratings of task-stressfulness. It was
found that neuroticism and not optimism exerted an influence on
diastolic blood pressure …

Habits And Lifestyles Of Successfully Aging Women In A Rural Area, Julia L. Sheffler

Honors Theses

Older adults in rural areas have unique challenges to maintain well-being.  The goal of this project was to examine those unique factors related to successful aging in a sample of older women living in a rural area in the Midwest using both quantitative and qualitative methods.  Mental and physical health, personality traits, cognitive abilities (i.e., working memory, vocabulary and attention), and activity levels were assessed.  A semi-structured interview using a life narrative approach was also used to explore habits, family relationships and lifestyles over the past 20 years.  The women were administered the following measures: 1) Big Five Factor Personality …

Conflict Management Education In Medicine: Considerations For Curriculum Designers, Jeffery Kaufman

Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development

It is important to address conflict in the medical field for a variety of reasons ranging from reducing turnover to increasing the quality of care received by patients. One way to assist with the management of medical conflict is by teaching resolution techniques to medical personnel. There is an opportunity for conflict management curriculum to address many of the issues facing physicians, administrators, staff and patients, however, it is also necessary for those developing that curriculum to understand the nature of the environment and appropriate conflict management tools to be used in that environment as part of the design process. …

A Research Framework For Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Implementations Of Social Media In Higher Education, Abbas Foroughi

Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development

Following the lead of today’s hi-tech businesses and industries, many college campuses have begun using Web.2.0 social media technologies like Facebook, blogs, Twitter, and YouTube to facilitate information sharing and collaboration among administrators, faculty, and students. An examination of research on campus social media initiatives revealed that universities are beginning to provide support and infrastructure to support social media initiatives, and that social media tools are being used as part of course content and delivery, where students can use them for collaboration and group decision making on real-world projects. However, much of the research to date was found to be …

A Perceptual Analysis Of The Benefits And Barriers To Creating All Inclusive Learning Environments In Secondary Agricultural Education Programs, Antoine J. Alston, Chastity K. Warren English, Anthony Graham, Dexter Wakefield, Frankie Farbotko

Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development

The purpose of this study was to gauge the state of inclusion in American Secondary Agricultural Education programs as perceived by state directors of agricultural education. It was found agricultural education is beneficial for minorities and women. Additionally, it was perceived that inclusion overall was critical for secondary agricultural education: however, barriers to its full implementation in secondary agricultural education were found to be the lack of role models, stereotypes, the perception of agriculture itself, guidance counselor support, and understanding student learning styles. Solutions to improving inclusion in secondary agricultural education were perceived to be preservice and inservice training in …

A Transfer Of Sequence Function Via Equivalence In A Connectionist Network, Fiona Lyddy, Dermot Barnes-Holmes, Peter J. Hampson

The Psychological Record

Connectionist networks may provide useful models of
stimulus equivalence and transfer of function phenomena. Such
models have been applied to a range of behavioral tasks and have
demonstrated transfers of function via equivalence relations
following appropriate training, with networks accurately simulating
the behavior of human subjects. In the current study, a
connectionist network was pretrained on a series of equivalence
and sequence tasks to simulate the preexperimental experience of
an adult subject. It was then exposed to the equivalent of six
conditional discriminations, and was tested for the formation of
three 3-member equivalence classes (corresponding to A 1-A2-A3,
B1-B2-B3, C1-C2-C3). …

Components Of Merit Compensation Systems For Faculty At Four-Year Universities, Matthew Taitt

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Attitudes Of Spouses Toward Job And Family Responsibilities Of Professionals In The Agricultural Education And Communications Profession, Adrienne M. Jackson Gulley Ms

Research Papers

The field of education, specifically the profession of teaching, is one of the most visible and underappreciated professions practiced today. Though improvements with recognition towards teachers have increased over time, the demands and expectations of teachers have also increased.  In the growing profession of agriculture, the demands and challenges of an agriculture teacher bring both positive and negative outcomes in the life of an individual.  The purpose of this study was to determine the job satisfaction of spouses toward job and family responsibilities of individuals in leadership positions within agricultural education and communications. This study was significant because it analyzed …

Sounds And Stories Of The Shawnee Forest, Kevin E. Boucher

Research Papers

AN ABSTRACT OF THE RESEARCH PAPER OF

Kevin E. Boucher, for the Master of Science degree in Professional Media & Media Management Studies , presented on March 9, 2011, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

TITLE:  SOUNDS AND STORIES OF THE SHAWNEE FOREST

MAJOR PROFESSOR:  Jan Thompson, Radio-TV Department

My central thesis is that in today’s highly technological civilization with its constant bombardment of stimuli   - especially sounds - people need to regularly get away to natural areas and surround themselves with the peaceful and soothing sounds of nature.  Through my research I have found that humans have had this need …

Effects Of Nicotine And Emotional Priming On Ability To Inhibit Eye-Gaze Toward Emotional Stimuli In An Antisaccade Task In Nonsmokers, Nathaniel J. Wachter

Honors Theses

Saccadic eye movement tasks like the antisaccade task (AST) have been used to assess impulsivity and response inhibition in a variety of populations, including tobacco-abstinent smokers.  Previous studies using ASTs have shown nicotine to reduce reaction times (RTs) possibly reinforcing the habit of smoking. Research also shows nicotine to reduce attention to and distraction by emotionally negative stimuli, which may account for some of the ability of nicotine to reduce negative affect.  The present study was the first to assess the interactive effects of nicotine, emotional priming and emotional target stimuli on AST performance in nonsmokers.  Ten male and 14 …

Job Burnout: The End Or A New Beginning?, Patricia J. Alsup Jr

Research Papers

Human services work entails providing services to others.  Services are personalized to meet the needs and desires of the recipient.  Providers may encounter a range of emotions, not only their own but those of the service recipient and other interested parties. Combined with increased workloads, fewer resources, and outside pressures, employees can experience job stress or burnout.  This work explores the nature of human services work and burnout and provides recommendations for further examination to aid in retaining service providers, thereby preserving continuity and quality of services.

Factors Contributing To Spectators' Perceptions Of A College Football Stadium During Its First Year, Lyle Yoder

Research Papers

The objective of the current study was to determine how predetermined factors contribute to a spectator’s overall perceptions of a new college football stadium.  It was predicted that fans who were highly identified with the SIU football team would have a more positive perception of the new stadium than low identified fans.  Second, individuals’ considering themselves to be sports fans would perceive the stadium more positively compared to those not considering themselves to be sport fans.  Third, females’ perceptions would be more positive than males.  Lastly, the greater the number of games an individual attends would result in a more …

The Identity Negotiation Of Silence By Black Males In Predominantly White Spaces, Charles P. Alexander

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

The Self, The Church, And Medieval Identities: The Evolution Of The Individual In Medieval Literature, Christopher Michael Flavin

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the construction of literary identities by medieval women, recognizable as an authorial voice that is distinct from those of her contemporaries yet congruent with the gender norms and expectations of her contemporary culture, in both religious and secular literatures from late antiquity through the waning of the Middle Ages. The argument posited here is that texts authored by women, as informed by concurrent male texts and the literary traditions in which individual authors seek to participate, can be read as a taxonomy of responses to the traditions individual authors appropriate and to their contemporaries, directly responding to …

Mourning, Melancholia, And Masculinity In Medieval Literature, Rebekah Mary Fowler

Dissertations

This dissertation examines male bereavement in medieval literature, expanding the current understanding of masculinity in the Middle Ages by investigating both the authenticity and affective nature of grief among aristocratic males. My focus is on the pattern of bereavement that surfaces across genres and that has most often been absorbed into studies of lovesickness, madness, the wilderness, or more formalist concerns with genre, form, and literary convention, but has seldom been discussed in its own right. This pattern consists of love, loss, grief madness and/or melancholy, wilderness lament/consolation, and synthesis and application of information gleaned from the grieving process, which …

Instrumental Evaluation Of Pediatric Dysphagia: Fees Versus Videofluoroscopy, Jennifer Allison

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Luxury Advertisemnts Depictions Of Women In Chinese Fashion Magazines, Chang Liu

Research Papers

With the rapid development of the Chinese economy, enlargement of the wealthy class and improvement of capability to consume, more and more Chinese people are able to afford luxurious products rather than to advocate them. Therefore Chinese women magazines, especially upscale women magazines, are serving primarily as advertising vehicles for the national luxurious fashion brands, aiming at fascinating middle-class women to consume luxury products.The objective of this study was a deeper understanding of portrayal of women’s images in luxury fashion advertisements in Chinese women magazines. I chose upscale women magazines with high popularity and large circulation in China such as …

Phonological Awareness And Reading Ability In Children, Roberta J. Morton

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Comparison Of Four Data Generating Procedures In Parametric And Nonparametric Anova, Anquan Zhang

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to empirically investigate the Type I error and power rates of four data transformations that produce a variety of non-normal distributions. Specifically, the transformations investigated were (a) the g-and-h, (b) the generalized lambda distribution (GLD), (c) the power method, and (d) the Burr families of distributions in the context of between-subjects and within-subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA). The traditional parametric F tests and their nonparametric counterparts, the Kruskal-Wallis (KW) and Friedman (FR) tests, were selected to be used in this investigation. The four data transformations produce non-normal distributions that have either valid or invalid …

A Comparison Of Native And Colonial American Conceptions Of Self: Implications For Competing World-Views, Marjorie R. Cavey

Theses

Native and Colonial Americans had vastly different approaches to the world, and viewed nature and other people in quite dissimilar ways. The concept of self is central to this project because personal values and attitudes toward others are grounded in agency - actions that emerge from the self and define the way that one treats his or her surroundings and everyone or thing in it. The way that one's self is perceived is necessarily communicated within the context of social settings. Situation in a world of other people (and of nature) requires that actions be weighed in accordance with agency. …

Everywhere You Look, Jeffrey Alan Nichols

Theses

Everywhere You Look documents the genesis, production process, performance history, and rewrites of a script informed by a concern for social justice issues in contemporary America. In the quest to generate believable, naturalistic dialogue and behavior informed by important questions of religious conviction, civil liberties, and the viability of violence as a political solution, the script is cast as social realism. After a discussion of the critical context in which the play exists, the lessons and pitfalls of collaboration in the production process are charted. A rewritten script is generated from a process of performance, talk-backs sessions, and committee recommendations. …