Digital Commons Network^™

Integrating Human Factors Engineering And Information Processing Approaches To Facilitate Evaluations In Criminal Justice Technology Research, Anthony V. Salvemini, Eric L. Piza, Jeremy G. Carter, Eric L. Grommon, Nancy Merritt

Publications and Research

Background: Evaluations are routinely conducted by government agencies and research organizations to assess the effectiveness of technology in criminal justice. Interdisciplinary research methods are salient to this effort. Technology evaluations are faced with a number of challenges including (1) the need to facilitate effective communication between social science researchers, technology specialists, and practitioners, (2) the need to better understand procedural and contextual aspects of a given technology, and (3) the need to generate findings that can be readily used for decision making and policy recommendations.

Objectives: Process and outcome evaluations of technology can be enhanced by integrating concepts from human …

Youth And Parental Perspectives On The Functional Family Therapy Programme, Katarzyna Celinska, Cherng-Cheng Chia, Nikiesha J. Virgil

Publications and Research

Assessing clients’ satisfaction with family therapy interventions has important practical and theoretical implications. This article presents findings on client satisfaction after participating in functional family therapy (FFT), which addresses youths at risk of delinquency behaviour and communication problems in the family. Qualitative interviews and quantitative research methods are employed to compare programme perceptions with standardized therapeutic outcomes. The data include a parent or guardian interview, a youth interview, a services tracking form and the initial and discharge strengths and needs assessment (SNA). We observed high levels of satisfaction with FFT, yet satisfaction with family therapy and therapists was higher among …

Hathrasi Rasiya: An Intermediate Song Genre Of North India, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

Hathrasi rasiya is a traditional song genre of North India’s Braj region, performed by semi-professional members of music clubs (akhār.ās) and informed by a complex set of prosodic schemes, with secondary melodic aspects. As these schemes involve, however tangentially, a kind of music theory, and the genre is patronized by local elites and enjoyed by connoisseurs, it constitutes a member of the “intermediate sphere” of regional genres that share features of both classical and folk musics. Although currently in a state of decline, Hathrasi rasiya flourished vigorously in the twentieth century. This article surveys its formal features and its place …

Religiosity And Reactions To Terrorism, Amy Adamczyk, Gary Lafree

Publications and Research

Although many of the world’s most serious outbreaks of conflict and violence center on religion, social science research has had relatively little to say about religion’s unique role in shaping individuals’ attitudes about these events. In this paper we investigate whether Americans’ religious beliefs play a central role in shaping attitudes toward the continuing threat of terrorism and their willingness to assist officials in countering these perceived threats. Our analysis of an original data collection of almost 1600 Americans shows that more religious respondents are more likely to express concerns about terrorism. However, this relationship is mediated by their level …

Investigating Differences In How The News Media Views Homosexuality Across Nations: An Analysis Of The United States, South Africa, And Uganda, Amy Adamczyk, Chunyre Kim, Lauren Paradis

Publications and Research

While there is a wealth of information about the extent to which people across the world disapprove of homosexuality, we know a lot less about the lenses through which they view same-sex relations. The aim of this study is to understand better how homosexuality is framed in the public press, and how religion and economic development may combine to shape this discourse. Through an analysis of almost 400 newspaper articles, this study compares how homosexuality is framed in Uganda, South Africa, and the United States. Because these nations have high levels of religious belief, but differ in their level of …

Academic Freedom Isn’T For Me, Aaron Barlow

Publications and Research

Challenging Stanley Fish on the topic of academic freedom, the author is critical of neo-liberal trends in higher education.

Robot Saints, Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

In the Middle Ages, articulating religious figures like wooden Deposition crucifixes and ambulatory saints were tools for devotion, techno-mythological objects that distilled the wonders of engineering and holiness. Robots are gestures toward immortality, created in the face of the undeniable fact and experience of the ongoing decay of our fleshy bodies. Both like and unlike human beings, robots and androids occupy a nebulous perceptual realm between life and death, animation and inanimation. Masahiro Mori called this in-between space the “uncanny valley.” In this essay I argue that unlike a modern person apprehending an android (the uncanny human-like object that resides …

Teaching High School Biology Students To Coordinate Text And Diagrams: Relations With Transfer, Effort, And Spatial Skill, Bradley W. Bergey, Jennifer G. Cromley, Nora S. Newcombe

Publications and Research

There is growing evidence that targeted instruction can improve diagram comprehension, yet one of the skills identified in the diagram comprehension literature—coordinating multiple representations —has rarely been directly taught to students and tested as a classroom intervention. We created a Coordinating Multiple Representation (CMR) intervention that was an addition to an intervention focused on Conventions of Diagrams (COD) and tested their joint effects on diagram comprehension for near transfer (uninstructed biology diagrams), far transfer (uninstructed geology diagrams), and content learning (biology knowledge). The comparison group received instruction using a previously validated intervention that focused exclusively on COD. Participants were 9th–10th …

Using Diagrams Versus Text For Spaced Restudy: Effects On Learning In 10th Grade Biology Classes, Bradley W. Bergey, Jennifer G. Cromley, Amanda Kirchgessner, Nora S. Newcombe

Publications and Research

BackgroundandAim. Spacedrestudyhasbeentypicallytestedwithwrittenlearning materials, but restudy with visual representations in actual classrooms is under- researched. We compared the effects of two spaced restudy interventions: A Diagram- Based Restudy (DBR) warm-up condition and a business-as-usual Text-Based Restudy (TBR) warm-up condition.

Sample. One hundred and twenty-eight consented high school students in 15 classes.

Methods. Students completed daily warm-ups over a 4-week period. Students were randomly assigned to conditions within classrooms. Warm-ups were independently completed at the start of class meetings and consisted of questions about content covered 1–10 days prior to each warm-up. Students received feedback on their answers each week. A series …

Educational Psychology, Tony Perez, Bradley W. Bergey, Ting Dai, Jennifer G. Cromley

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Why George Has To Die: Gloria Naylor’S Mama Day And The Myth Of The Goddess, Thomas R. Frosch

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Nothing For Money And Your Work For Free: Internships And The Marketing Of Higher Education, Mara Einstein

Publications and Research

American universities have significantly increased their marketing expenditures over the last decade. The high cost of education, reductions in government funding, and precipitous declines in the traditional college-aged population (18-21 year olds) are some of the key factors forcing universities to be more aggressive with the promotional techniques they use to attract prospective students. In this competitive marketplace, schools promote the attributes they believe will be most compelling to high schoolers and their parents, including academics, sports, campus life, and careers. Tied into this last factor is the promotion of internship opportunities. While some of these hands-on experiences lead to …

Methamphetamine-Induced Short-Term Increase And Long-Term Decrease In Spatial Working Memory Affects Protein Kinase M Zeta (Pkmζ), Dopamine, And Glutamate Receptors, Stephen H. Braren, Damian Drapala, Ingrid K. Tulloch, Peter A. Serrano

Publications and Research

Methamphetamine (MA) is a toxic, addictive drug shown to modulate learning and memory, yet the neural mechanisms are not fully understood. We investigated the effects of 2 weekly injections of MA (30 mg/kg) on working memory using the radial 8-arm maze (RAM) across 5 weeks in adolescent-age mice. MA-treated mice show a significant improvement in working memory performance 1 week following the first MA injection compared to saline-injected controls. Following 5 weeks of MA abstinence mice were re-trained on a reference and working memory version of the RAM to assess cognitive flexibility. MA-treated mice show significantly more working memory errors …

Consciousness Doesn't Overflow Cognition, Richard Brown

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Facilitating Of Emotions In Sales Interactions May Hinder Performance, Selma Kadić -Maglajlić, Adriana Espinosa

Publications and Research

This article analyzes the relationship between facilitating of emotions, a branch of emotional intelligence, and salesperson performance. We employ an ability-based measure of facilitating of emotions on a sample of salespeople from Croatia (N = 245), and use structural equation modelling to test a linear versus non-linear relationship. We find that facilitating of emotions and salesperson performance share a relation that is modeled by a downward turning parabola. These findings contradict a linear relationship assumed in the conventional literature, and suggest that too little or too much facilitating of emotions may be detrimental to salesperson performance. These results provide new …

Voys Lessons: Whirling Words In Chaucer’S “House Of Rumour", Nicola Blake

Publications and Research

“Voys Lessons: Whirling Words in Chaucer’s ‘House of Rumour’” examines the lability of sound and its use in the dissemination, transposition, and authorship of stories within The House of Fame, a text exemplifying the mobility and flexibility of misused or unhinged words, as expressed through sound as opposed to text. By engaging the use and interpretation of sound in contrast to words, this new reading concentrates on the idea of narrative as material artifact with limited stasis. Geffrey’s pseudo-authorship, through his voyeuristic stance, engages the textuality of sounds and shows the related subtlety, elasticity, and democratic sociohistorical aspect of …

Activity-Based Therapies For Repair Of The Corticospinal System Injured During Development, Kathleen M. Friel, Preston T. J. A. Williams, Najet Serradj, Samit Chakrabarty, John H. Martin

Publications and Research

This review presents the mechanistic underpinnings of corticospinal tract (CST) development, derived from animal models, and applies what has been learned to inform neural activity-based strategies for CST repair.We first discuss that, in normal development, early bilateral CST projections are later refined into a dense crossed CST projection, with maintenance of sparse ipsilateral projections. Using a novel mouse genetic model, we show that promoting the ipsilateral CST projection produces mirror movements, common in hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP), suggesting that ipsilateral CST projections become maladaptive when they become abnormally dense and strong.We next discuss howanimal studies support a developmental “competition rule” …

Braincheck - A Very Brief Tool To Detect Incipient Cognitive Decline: Optimized Case-Finding Combining Patient- And Informant-Based Data, Michael M. Ehrensperger, Kirstein I. Taylor, Manfred Berres, Nancy S. Foldi, Myriam Dellenbach, Irene Bopp, Gabriel Gold, Armin Von Gunten, Daniel Inglin, René Müri, Reto W. Kressig, Andreas U. Monsch

Publications and Research

Introduction Optimal identification of subtle cognitive impairment in the primary care setting requires a very brief tool combining (a) patients- subjective impairments, (b) cognitive testing, and (c) information from informants. The present study developed a new, very quick and easily administered case-finding tool combining these assessments ('BrainCheck') and tested the feasibility and validity of this instrument in two independent studies.

Methods We developed a case-finding tool comprised of patient-directed (a) questions about memory and depression and (b) clock drawing, and (c) the informant-directed 7-item version of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE). Feasibility study: 52 general …

The Effects Of Sleep Loss On Capacity And Effort, Mindy Engle-Friedman

Publications and Research

Sleep loss appears to affect the capacity for performance and access to energetic resources. This paper reviews research examining the physical substrates referred to as resource capacity, the role of sleep in protecting that capacity and the reaction of the system as it attempts to respond with effort to overcome the limitations on capacity caused by sleep loss. Effort is the extent to which an organism will exert itself beyond basic levels of functioning or attempt alternative strategies to maintain performance. The purpose of this review is to bring together research across sleep disciplines to clarify the substrates that constitute …

Long-Distance Retinoid Signaling In The Zebra Finch Brain, Tina C. Roeske, Constance Scharff, Christopher R. Olson, Arpik Nshdejan, Claudio V. Mello

Publications and Research

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), the main active metabolite of vitamin A, is a powerful signaling molecule that regulates large-scale morphogenetic processes during vertebrate embryonic development, but is also involved post-natally in regulating neural plasticity and cognition. In songbirds, it plays an important role in the maturation of learned song. The distribution of the ATRA-synthesizing enzyme, zRalDH, and of ATRA receptors (RARs) have been described, but information on the distribution of other components of the retinoid signaling pathway is still lacking. To address this gap, we have determined the expression patterns of two obligatory RAR co-receptors, the retinoid X receptors (RXR) …

Music Education, Aesthetics, And The Measure Of Academic Achievement, Karl Madden, David Orenstein, Alexei Oulanov, Yelena Novitskaya, Ida Bazan, Thomas Ostrowski, Min Hyung Ahn

Publications and Research

Grades and test scores are the traditional measurement of academic achievement. Quantitative improvements on standardized scores in Math/Science/Language are highly-coveted outcomes for meeting accreditation standards required for institutional program funding. Music and the Fine Arts, difficult to assess by traditional academic achievement measurement, and often devalued as so-called “luxury” subjects, struggle for necessary funding. Showing measureable collateral value to other academic subjects—such as math—in order to justify music program funding is dubious. To objectify the purpose of music education in terms of its influence on other subjects is to overlook aesthetic value. The scholarly literature recognizes an historical tendency to …

Gestural And Symbolic Development Among Apes And Humans: Support For A Multimodal Theory Of Language Evolution, Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, Patricia M. Greenfield, Heidi Lyn, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh

Publications and Research

What are the implications of similarities and differences in the gestural and symbolic development of apes and humans?This focused review uses as a starting point our recent study that provided evidence that gesture supported the symbolic development of a chimpanzee, a bonobo, and a human child reared in language-enriched environments at comparable stages of communicative development. These three species constitute a complete clade, species possessing a common immediate ancestor. Communicative behaviors observed among all species in a clade are likely to have been present in the common ancestor. Similarities in the form and function of many gestures produced by the …

Differential Expressions Of The Alternatively Spliced Variant Mrnas Of The Μ Opioid Receptor Gene, Oprm1, In Brain Regions Of Four Inbred Mouse Strains, Jin Xu, Zhigang Lu, Mingming Xu, Grace C. Rossi, Benjamin Kest, Amanda R. Waxman, Gavril W. Pasternak, Ying-Xian Pan

Publications and Research

The µ opioid receptor gene, OPRM1, undergoes extensive alternative pre-mRNA splicing in rodents and humans, with dozens of alternatively spliced variants of the OPRM1 gene. The present studies establish a SYBR green quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay to more accurately quantify mouse OPRM1 splice variant mRNAs. Using these qPCR assays, we examined the expression of OPRM1 splice variant mRNAs in selected brain regions of four inbred mouse strains displaying differences in µ opioid-induced tolerance and physical dependence: C56BL/6J, 129P3/J, SJL/J and SWR/J. The complete mRNA expression profiles of the OPRM1 splice variants reveal marked differences of the variant mRNA expression among …

Between-Domain Relations Of Students' Academic Emotions And Their Judgments Of School Domain Similarity, Thomas Goetz, Ludwig Haag, Anastasiya A. Lipnevich, Melanie M. Keller, Anne C. Frenzel, Antonie P. M. Collier

Publications and Research

With the aim to deepen our understanding of the between-domain relations of academic emotions, a series of three studies was conducted. We theorized that between-domain relations of trait (i.e., habitual) emotions reflected students' judgments of domain similarities, whereas between-domain relations of state (i.e., momentary) emotions did not. This supposition was based on the accessibility model of emotional self-report, according to which individuals' beliefs tend to strongly impact trait, but not state emotions. The aim of Study 1 (interviews; N = 40; 8th and 11th graders) was to gather salient characteristics of academic domains from students' perspective. In Study 2 ( …

Focal Cortical Thickness Correlates Of Exceptional Memory Training In Vedic Priests, Giridhar P. Kalamangalam, Timothy M. Ellmore

Publications and Research

The capacity for semantic memory—the ability to acquire and store knowledge of the world—is highly developed in the human brain. In particular, semantic memory assimilated through an auditory route may be a uniquely human capacity. One method of obtaining neurobiological insight into memory mechanisms is through the study of experts. In this work, we study a group of Hindu Vedic priests, whose religious training requires the memorization of vast tracts of scriptural texts through an oral tradition, recalled spontaneously during a lifetime of subsequent spiritual practice. We demonstrate focal increases of cortical thickness in regions of the left prefrontal lobe …

Explaining Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Use Of High-Volume Hospitals: Decision-Making Complexity And Local Hospital Environments, Karl Kronebusch, Bradford H. Gray, Mark Schlesinger

Publications and Research

Racial/ethnic minorities are less likely to use higher-quality hospitals than whites. We propose that a higher level of informationrelated complexity in their local hospital environments compounds the effects of discrimination and more limited access to services, contributing to racial/ethnic disparities in hospital use. While minorities live closer than whites to high-volume hospitals, minorities also face greater choice complexity and live in neighborhoods with lower levels of medical experience. Our empirical results reveal that it is generally the overall context associated with proximity, choice complexity, and local experience, rather than differential sensitivity to these factors, that provides a partial explanation of …

Prisons First: Putting Prisons At The Center Of The Criminal Justice Policy Debates, Jeremy Travis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Joint Influence Of Individual Choices, Parenting Practices, And Physician Advice On Adolescent Obesity, Nebraska, 2008, Hongmei Wang, Jungyoon Kim, Dejun Su, Liyan Xu, Li-Wu Chen, Terry T-K. Huang

Publications and Research

Introduction Reducing childhood obesity remains a public health priority given its high prevalence and its association with increased risk of adult obesity and chronic diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the joint influence of multiple risk factors on adolescent overweight status. Methods We conducted a random-digit-dialed telephone survey of adolescents aged 12 to 19 years in fall 2008 in a Midwestern city in Nebraska. On the basis of survey data for 791 youths aged 12 to 18 years, we conducted latent class analysis to group youths by the joint occurrence of dietary behavior, physical activity, parenting practices, …

Dynamics Of Alpha Control: Preparatory Suppression Of Posterior Alpha Oscillations By Frontal Modulators Revealed With Combined Eeg And Event-Related Optical Signal, Kyle E. Mathewson, Diane M. Beck, Tony Ro, Edward L. Maclin, Kathy A. Low, Monica Fabiani, Gabriele Gratton

Publications and Research

We investigated the dynamics of brain processes facilitating conscious experience of external stimuli. Previously, we proposed that alpha (8–12 Hz) oscillations, which fluctuate with both sustained and directed attention, represent a pulsed inhibition of ongoing sensory brain activity. Here we tested the prediction that inhibitory alpha oscillations in visual cortex are modulated by top–down signals from frontoparietal attention networks. We measured modulations in phase-coherent alpha oscillations from superficial frontal, parietal, and occipital cortices using the event-related optical signal (EROS), a measure of neuronal activity affording high spatiotemporal resolution, along with concurrently recorded EEG, while participants performed a visual target detection …

In What Senses Are Free Spirits Free?, Christa Davis Acampora

Publications and Research

My broadest claim in this article is, unsurprisingly, that there are multiple senses of freedom associated with the freedom of the free spirit. These include both positive and negative senses – that is, when describing how free spirits are free, Nietzsche sometimes characterizes this as freedom to do something, and sometimes as freedom from certain kinds of constraints. In this article, I do not aim to provide an exhaustive catalogue of the different senses invoked in Nietzsche’s ‘free spirit’ texts. Instead, I wish to highlight some particular senses, including some that are less frequently discussed in the scholarly literature and …