Digital Commons Network^™

Theory Of Mind In Chimpanzees: A Rationalist Approach, Benjamin Grant Purzycki

Nebraska Anthropologist

The question of whether or not chimpanzees possess the ability to mentally represent others' mental states has been a popular question since Premack and Woodruff (1978) originally asked the question. It is well established that humans have a theory of mind (ToM), but extending this psychological faculty to our evolutionary cousins has created a massive amount of literature and research attempting to resolve this issue. Such a resolution is arguably not possible given the nature of the debate. An Either/Or approach to chimpanzee theory of mind both ignores the essential components of ToM as well as foreclosing on the possibility …

Factor Structure And Construct Validity Of The Anxiety Sensitivity Index Among Island Puerto Ricans, Jennifer A. Cintrón, Michele M. Carter, Sonia Suchday, Tracy Sbrocco, James Gray

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

The factor structure and convergent and discriminant validity of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) were examined among a sample of 275 island Puerto Ricans. Results from a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) comparing our data to factor solutions commonly reported as representative of European American and Spanish populations indicated a poor fit. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicated that a two-factor solution (Factor 1, Anxiety Sensitivity; Factor 2, Emotional Concerns) provided the best fit. Correlations between the ASI and anxiety measures were moderately high providing evidence of convergent validity, while correlations between the ASI and BDI were significantly lower providing …

First Documentation Of Combinatorial Song Syntax In A Suboscine Passerine Species, Daniel Leger

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Birds with songs having two or more acoustically distinct elements can arrange them either rigidly (i.e., in the same sequence) or flexibly. Flexible song syntax can be achieved either by varying the number of repetitions of elements or by combining elements in different ways. Combinatorial syntax has been documented only in the songs of oscine passerines and in one nonpasserine, but not in the suboscine passerines. Dawn and day songs of a tyrant flycatcher, the Flammulated Attila (Attila flammulatus), were recorded in Costa Rica. Flexible syntax was noted in both dawn and day song. Attilas not only varied …

An Action Research Project On Preparing Teachers To Meet The Needs Of Underserved Student Populations, Gayle A. Buck, Jeanene G. Cordes

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

The focus of this action research study was on the initial stage in reforming our teacher preparation programs. We designed, conducted, evaluated, and revised the components of our teacher preparation programs that were aimed at providing preservice teachers with the confidence and knowledge needed to meet the needs of youth populations underserved in science education. The conceptual framework of this study predicted that providing preservice teachers with experiences in teaching science to at-risk youth in a nonformal educational setting and that exploring these experiences in a seminar setting will increase the teachers’ confidence and knowledge in regard to teaching science …

Documenting And Improving Student Learning Through The Linguafolio, Aleidine Kramer Moeller, Vickie Scow, Jacque Bott Van Houten

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Imagine a language portfolio that provides a context for students and teachers to document and analyze learning progress. Students set learning goals, review and reflect on these goals regularly, and track their own learning to self-assess their progress. Teachers review the portfolio, measure student achievement, and plan curriculum to meet the needs of their students. How can such a portfolio be integrated into the classroom? What are the benefits of using a portfolio? This article addresses these two questions and describes the Nebraska and Kentucky LinguaFolio project aimed at improving student achievement and teacher quality through the integration of a …

The Degree Of Chlmpanzee Theory Of Mind And The Evolution Of Modularity, Benjamin Grant Purzycki

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Whether or not chimpanzees have the ability to mentally represent others' mental states or theory of mind (ToM) has yet to be definitively established. This results from three problems. First, modular theory of mind accounts lead researchers to adopt an either/or approach to psychological faculties which obfuscates both within- and across-species variability. Second, present research continues to rely on the continued trend to polarize nature and nurture. Third, the bulk of the work compares humans with chimpanzees rather than looking at the entire range of primate species. I propose "degree approach" by way of the Integrated Causal Model which particularizes …

Christian Aramaism: The Birth And Growth Of Aramaic Scholarship In The Sixteenth Century, Stephen G. Burnett

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Since the mid-nineteenth century, Jewish historians have marveled at the vigorous growth and vitality of Christian Hebrew scholarship in early modern Europe. Ludwig Geiger and Moritz Steinschneider chronicled parts of this astonishing and unexpected phenomenon. During the past 50 years, Karlheinz Burmeister, R. Gerald Hobbs, Bernard Roussel, Gerard Well, and Jerome Friedman have provided biographies and analyses of the achievements of some of the most important Christian and Jewish scholars who made this possible. In my own research I have sought to quantify the growth of Hebrew learning among Christians through analyzing the Christian Hebrew printing industry as it developed. …

"Spokesmen For Judaism": Medieval Jewish Polemicists And Their Christian Readers In The Reformation Era, Stephen G. Burnett

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

When Christian Hebraists reprinted Jewish polemical works they served as "Spokesmen for Judaism" in two different ways. While it is true that Christian Hebraists did report authentically Jewish opinion when they ppblished Jewish polemical texts or excerpts from them, they did so in ways, which reflected Christian standards and expectations. All of the scholars who served as editors and translators of medieval Jewish polemics were university professors, who were obligated by law, oath and conscience to defend the Christian confession of the state, which supported their university. They were sometimes required to enforce the censorship ordinance of their locality as …

Globalisation And 'La Pièce De Cent Sous': Balzac's Nation-State, Marshall C. Olds

French Language and Literature Papers

Seen from an Olympian perspective, globalisation in today's world denotes the use of a standard model to establish relationships economic, cultural, and moral—across peoples in the absence of national boundaries capable of restraining the formation of such ties. From the national, or local, perspective, it is the invasive imposition of foreign influence in the form of a single model. From either vantage point, change and adaptation are the order of the day. Take-overs of one culture by another, whether hostile or friendly, are not historical novelties; what seems to distinguish globalisation is its planetary scope and impetus to take over …

Geographic And Ontogenetic Variation In The Contact Calls Of The Kea, Alan B. Bond, Judy Diamond

Papers in Behavior in Biological Sciences

Regional and ontogenetic variation in the contact calls of the kea (Nestor notabilis), an omnivorous and socially complex New Zealand parrot, were examined throughout the range of the species. We recorded samples of kee-ah contact calls from sixteen resident adults and eleven juveniles and demonstrated significant differences between age classes in the acoustic form of the vocalization. Canonical correlation analysis revealed a gradient in the form of the kee-ah call in both adults and juveniles along and across the escarpment of the Southern Alps, the primary longitudinal mountain range on the South Island of New Zealand. Although the …

Book Review: Gideon Yaffee, Manifest Activity: Thomas Reid’S Theory Of Action, Jennifer Mckitrick

Department of Philosophy: Faculty Publications

Gideon Yaffee’s Manifest Activity is an important contribution to both the studies of Thomas Reid’s views and action theory. Reid is known as an early advocate of an agent-causal view of free will; more recent advocates include Roderick Chisholm. Manifest Activity is a well-appreciated effort at bringing Reid’s particular version of agent-causalism and his arguments for it into the contemporary discussion. Manifest Activity should be of interest to Reid scholars, action theorists, and anyone who wants to explore a focused, critical analysis of a fascinating thinker.

Yaffee’s writing is clear and readable, yet rigorous and detailed. Yaffee’s aim in each …

Effects Of A Prereading Intervention On The Literacy And Social Skills Of Children, J. Ron Nelson, Scott A. Stage, Michael H. Epstein, Corey D. Pierce

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

This study investigated the effects of an intensive prereading intervention on the beginning reading skills and social behavior of kindergarten children at risk for behavioral disorders and reading difficulties. Children identified through a systematic screening process were assigned randomly to experimental or nonspecific treatment conditions. Children who received the intensive prereading intervention showed statistically and educationally significant gains in their beginning reading skills relative to their counterparts in the nonspecific treatment condition. In contrast, improvements in teacher ratings of the classroom competence, emotional and behavioral self-control, and self-confidence of children in the experimental and nonspecific treatment conditions were not statistically …

Kennewick Man, Kinship, And The "Dying Race": The Ninth Circuit's Assimilationist Assault On The Native American Graves Protection And Repatriation Act, Allison M. Dussias

Nebraska Law Review

This article examines the Bonnichsen case and the Ninth Circuit's controversial and fundamentally flawed rewriting of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), in light of the history of Native Americans' encounters with anthropologists and of the goals that NAGPRA was intended to achieve. Part II discusses the history of anthropologists' activities involving Native Americans and the remains of their deceased kin, revealing the longstanding practices that NAGPRA was enacted to redress. This historical background provides the context in which NAGPRA must be understood and interpreted, and in light of which decisions under the statute should be made. …

Omaha Metals, Coinage, And Syntax: Outside Influence?, Rory Larson

Nebraska Anthropologist

A study of acculturation terms for metals and money in Omaha and some of the neighboring native languages related to it sheds light upon the historical circumstances in which these terms were coined

Centennial Bibliography On The History Of American Sociology, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

THE CENTENNIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY is intended as an inclusive clearinghouse for sources, studies, and other references that illuminate the origins and subsequent development of the sociological enterprise in the United States of America.2 As such, this bibliography is necessarily provisional and is envisioned as an on-going project to which further citations may be added as they are discovered and as new works are published. Due to the enormous scope of the project, and the short time frame within which the initial compilation was completed, countless useful and insightful references have been unintentionally omitted. Some portions …

Testing Whiteness: No Child Or No School Left Behind?, Helen A. Moore

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

I began my study of schooling and critical pedagogy as a research assistant for a program called PRIME: Program Research in Multicultural Education. One of our challenges in the mid-1970s was to assist the Principal Investigator, Dr. Jane Mercer, in constructing educational materials for her role as an expert witness in Larry P. v. Riles. Through that project, I learned a great deal about testing issues as they relate to the whiteness of educational, political, legal and policy perspectives. Today, as a sociologist, I commit my research to an understanding of the processes and consequences of testing policy and the …

The Educational Roots Of Reformed Scholasticism: Dialectic And Scriptural Exegesis In The Sixteenth Century, Amy Nelson Burnett

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Over the last twenty years research on later sixteenth- and seventeenth-century theology has led to a reappraisal or Protestant scholasticism and its relation to the Reformation. Earlier historians of doctrine viewed Protestant scholasticism as overly rationalistic at the expense of Reformation biblicism, heavily dependent on Aristotelian philosophy, and organized around a central doctrine such as predestination. The current consensus is that Protestant scholasticism reflected the Orthodox theologians’ deep familiarity with and commitment to the scriptural text; that if it did appropriate Aristotle, such appropriation was eclectic rather than slavish; and that the idea of a central dogma organizing all of …

Diagnostic Assessment Of Childhood Apraxia Of Speech Using Automatic Speech Recognition (Asr) Methods, John-Paul Hosom, Lawrence Shriberg, Jordan R. Green

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

We report findings from two feasibility studies using automatic speech recognition (ASR) methods in childhood speech sound disorders. The studies evaluated and implemented the automation of two recently proposed diagnostic markers for suspected Apraxia of Speech (AOS) termed the Lexical Stress Ratio (LSR) and the Coefficient of Variation Ratio (CVR). The LSR is a weighted composite of amplitude area, frequency area , and duration in the stressed compared to the unstressed vowel as obtained from a speaker’s productions of eight trochaic word forms. Composite weightings for the three stress parameters were determined from a principal components analysis. The CVR expresses …

Lessons From The Interpretation/ Misinterpretation Of John Ogbu’S Scholarship, Edmund T. Hamann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In November 2003, the Council on Anthropology and Education honored John Ogbu with the George and Louise Spindler Award, for exemplary and long-term contributions to educational anthropology. But in March 2003, a noted economist condemned Ogbu’s work as serving an “oppressive function.” In this paper, such contradictory instances are cited as the author recounts his encounters with Ogbu’s scholarship. Disparate assessments of Ogbu’s ideas and legacy raise important questions. What responsibility do educational anthropologists have for how their research is understood? Which aspects of Ogbu’s legacy should we hold onto as his work is interpreted in politicized and polarized ways?

Algorithmic Estimation Of Pauses In Extended Speech Samples Of Dysarthric And Typical Speech, Jordan R. Green, David R. Beukelman, Laura J. Ball

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and performance of an algorithm designed to automatically extract pauses and speech timing information from connected speech samples. Speech samples were obtained from 10 people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and 10 control speakers. Pauses were identified manually and algorithmically from digitally recorded recitations of a speech passage that was developed to improve the precision of pause boundary detection. The manual and algorithmic methods did not yield significantly different results. A stepwise analysis of three different pause detection parameters revealed that estimates of percent pause time were highly dependent on …

Development Of Auditory Event-Related Potentials In Young Children And Relations To Word-Level Reading Abilities At Age 8 Years, Kimberly Espy, Dennis L. Molfese, Victoria J. Molfese, Arlene Modglin

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty Publications

A relationship between brain responses at birth and later emerging language and reading skills have been shown, but questions remain whether changes in brain responses after birth continue to predict the mastery of language-related skills such as reading development. To determine whether developmental changes in the brain-based perceptual skills are systematically related to differences in word-level reading proficiency at age 8 years, brain event-related potentials (ERPs) to speech and nonspeech stimuli were recorded annually at the ages of 1 through 8 years in a sample of 109 typically developing children. Two measures of word-level reading (one that requires decoding of …

Pod Network News, Fall 2004

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: POD Network News

President's Column

POD's Strategic Planning Activities

POD Core Committee Self-Nomination

TIA Call for Manuscripts

Bright Idea Awards 2004 Call for Submissions

POD Represented at Two International Conferences

POD Conference Corner

An Invitation for POD Members to Participate in a National R & D Project

Other Conferences

Why Professors Don't Change

POD Network Grant Program 2004-2005 Call for Proposals

New Faces and Places

Books by POD Members

Newsletter Deadline

Connecting with POD

POD Core Committee Self-Nomination Instructions

Contacting the POD Office

29th Annual Conference: The POD Network

To Improve the Academy Reviewer Self-Nomination Form

POD Bright Idea Award 2004 Application Instructions …

The Empowering Role Of Enterprise Information Portals In Knowledge Management, Alireza Hejazi

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

The increasing role of enterprise information portals (EIPs) in different applications of information, including knowledge management (KM), makes it a necessity to elaborate the issue in a more serious and scientific way. The contribution and role that these kinds of portals have in empowering KM provide a theoretical framework through which to offer a conceptual basis for present and future KM trends. So the main purpose of this article is to organize theoretical concepts discussed on EIPs in a summarized manner and provide a conceptual context for thinking and working on them. It should be noted that the perspective …

If It Ain't Broke ... : Changing Search Philosophies, John M. Weiner

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

This study employs simulation analyses to determine the consequences of two search philosophies. The first is called the a posteriori approach and involves terms selected arbitrarily by the user without knowledge of the specific content of the documents. The second is the a priori approach and involves terms selected because the user knows that the author employed those exact terms in describing his/her findings. Further, the authors' combinations of these terms would be known. The results of simulation studies show that the a posteriori approach was comparable to a random walk. If the need to correctly identify documents was …

We Welcome The New Immigrants, John Defrain, Rochelle L. Dalla, Douglas A. Abbott, Julie Johnson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

From the very beginning of this project we have focused on taking a balanced approach to identifying the strengths and challenges of new immigrants in the Great Plains. Discussions of change in our world invariably focus on problems, and only occasionally on the strengths. We set out to look at new immigrants from a different perspective, in our view, a more realistic perspective: seeing the inherent strengths they possess as newcomers to our region and the gifts they bring, and examining the cultural assets the newcomers and the longer-term residents all can rely upon in working together to meet the …

Women In Honors Education: The Case Of Western Washington University, George Mariz

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay is concerned with women and their educational experience in an Honors Program, and with their educational choices. It deals briefly with the history of women in higher education in the Western world and in the light of this history compares WWU Honors women with historical trends, with men and women students in the institution, and with students nationally in terms of major choices and career aspirations. It is not an attempt to view Honors women’s education comprehensively nor to look at WWU women along side Honors women more generally. In fact, it is not possible to do so, …

Language-Related Open Archives: Impact On Scholarly Communities And Academic Librarianship, Jung-Ran Park

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

The evolution of new forms of scholarly communication since the advent of Web technology has brought unprecedented opportunities for potential global connection among the rapidly growing number of electronic repositories among scholarly communities. Under the open archive infrastructures, scholarly resources that had been invisible to Web search engines and thus afforded limited dissemination and access are now becoming increasingly visible with speedy and wide distribution. This paper addresses the emergent issues and challenges faced by academic librarians: participation in archiving, organization, and preservation of open repositories; integration of Web-based repositories into traditional collections; and mediation and direction of academic users …

Concerns Of Hispanics And Service Providers In Southwest Missouri, James Wirth, Susan Dollar

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This descriptive study identifies the key concerns voiced by the Hispanic community and service providers in rural southwestern Missouri. Three surveys were conducted in 2001 with 381 Latino adults, Latino youth, and human service providers located in over 20 rural cities and towns throughout southwest Missouri. Demographic information, socioeconomic status, and mobility patterns of Latino respondents are profiled, and their housing, educational, and healthcare needs are reported. Language barriers, legal and documentation issues, a lack of job availability, and nonacceptance in the broader community are identified as key concerns of Latinos. Human-service providers identified language barriers, a lack of understanding …

Family, Peer, And Acculturative Correlates Of Prosocial Development Among Latinos, Maria Rosario T. De Guzman, Gustavo Carlo

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The present study was designed to examine the roles of family cohesion and adaptability, parent and peer attachment, and acculturation in predicting prosocial behavior tendencies in Latino adolescents from Nebraska, A total of 63 Latinos (M age = 14.52 years) from Lincoln, NE, completed measures of acculturation, parent and peer attachment, family adaptability and cohesion, and tendencies to perform prosocial behaviors. Results of a series of multiple regression analyses suggest that acculturation negatively predicted pro social behavior tendencies (i.e., the higher the level of acculturation, the lower the tendency to perform prosocial acts). Peer but not parent attachment, and family …

The Challenge Of Editing Einstein's Scientific Manuscripts, Tilman Sauer

Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979–2011)

The Einstein Papers Project is a long-term editorial project devoted to publishing the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein (CPAE). The first volume was published by Princeton University Press in 1987 [CPAE1], followed by eight more volumes to date [CPAE2j-[ CPAE9j. To complete the series, some twenty more volumes are anticipated during the next 30-40 years. The documentary edition of the CPAE is supplemented by an English translation series. In addition to these publications in b09k format, the project has launched a website jointly with the Albert Einstein Archives of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Known as Einstein Archives Online (www.alberteinstein.info). …