Digital Commons Network^™

Legitimising The Subjectivity Of Human Reality Through Qualitative Research Method, Adrian K. Morgan, Vicki B. Drury

Research outputs pre 2011

The controversy that has surrounded the value of quantitative research methods as opposed to qualitative approaches as a means to increasing the knowledge and understanding of human behaviour in health and illness, has been contested by nurse scholars for several decades. This paper continues debate around this issue and provides a critique of the problems associated with these competing paradigms. It challenges the convention that all nursing research must be objective and value free in order to be scientific, and provides an overview of the processes that should be considered by researchers utilizing qualitative methods of inquiry.

Patterns Of Engagement In Authentic Online Learning Environments, Janice Herrington, Ron Oliver, Thomas Reeves

Research outputs pre 2011

The use of authentic activities within online learning environments has been shown to have many benefits for learners in online units and courses. There has been renewed interest in the role of student activities within course units, as constructivist philosophy and advances in technology impact on educational design and practice. Courses based on these principles have been used successfully across a wide variety of discipline areas. In spite of the growing evidence of the success of authentic learning environments, they are not without their problems. In this paper we discuss patterns of engagement that have emerged from our own research …

Adoption Of M-Commerce: A Question Of Values?, Patricia Mcmanus, Craig Standing

Research outputs pre 2011

Mobile commerce is experiencing rapid growth. The underlying reasons for adoption of mobile services at the individual level are still unclear. The aim af this paper is to examine theoretical explanations for mobile adoption and to assess the significance of perceived values as an explanatory theory at the individual level. An understanding of consumers' perceived values can be useful for organisations since it has a deeper explanatory capability because it examines the intrinsic rationale in the decision making process. These can be more easily used/or predictive purposes.

Increasing The Adoption Of Electronic Commerce By Smes: Reflections From An Empirical Study, Rosemary Stockdale, Craig Standing

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper examines the perceptions of SMEs, local business associations and government workers in four regions of Western Australia regarding the adoption of electronic commerce. It first discusses the drivers and barriers that affect SME participation in e-commerce as identified by the literature, before offering an alternative to the notion oj SMEs as a homogenous group, The authors reflect on the concerns raised in a recent empirical study and offer some conclusions and recommendations.

Intranet Usability And Design, Susan Stoney

Research outputs pre 2011

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Use Of The Web By Print Firms, Greg Parry

Research outputs pre 2011

The disruptive impact of electronic commerce on the print industry has the potential to radically transform its value proposition. The challenge for the industry is to utilise the disruptive aspects of emerging technology to offer customers greater variety in the delivery of information and communication, and take advantage of potential cost innovations to improve declining rates of return. This paper reviews these developments and reports on an exploratory study of the Australian print industry that suggests that the extent of transformation has, to date, been limited.

Performance Benchmarking Australian Fixed Interest Funds: Some Optimal Factors, Victor Soucik, David E. Allen

Research outputs pre 2011

In this paper we analyse the performance of fixed interest managed funds. We examine five measurement models across three risk-free proxies, nine benchmarks (covering conditional and unconditional as well as single and multi factor definitions) over two independent periods in an effort to identify (in a consistent setting) the most accurate and least biased methodology. The use of an Australian dataset, sourced from the Australian fund-rating agency ASSIRT means that we can provide some independent results from US studies of these. There is little prior work on Australian fixed-interest managed funds. We examine three risk-free proxies, six benchmark classes encompassing …

Multivariate Garch Modelling Of Volatility And Comovements In Asia Pacific Markets, Mahendra Chandra

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper examines the correlation estimates for some Asia-Pacific markets equity markets using the DCC-MGARCH, CC-MGARCH and a simple moving average regression based on a sliding window of 100 days. Using daily return series, the equity markets of Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore are analysed for the period 1990 to 2001. Parsimonious specifications for the multivariate GARCH framework are used to shed light on the correlation structure of these markets. The dynamic nature of the correlation between pair-wise countries is captured using the dynamic conditional correlation multivariate GARCH framework and explained. Both global as well as regional factors are …

Is-Lm Model With A General Consumption Tax, Y. H. Cheung

Research outputs pre 2011

OECD tax revenue statistics show that on average the share of consumption tax is almost equal to that of income tax. However, consumption tax hardly attracts any attention from intermediate macroeconomic textbooks, not to mention its inclusion in IS-LM model. This paper compares the IS curves under an income tax regime and a general consumption tax regime. It also examines the trade off between the income tax rate and the consumption tax rate in a dual tax regime.

Effects Of Bank Funds Management Activities On The Disintermediation Of Bank Deposits, David E. Allen, Jerry T. Parwada

Research outputs pre 2011

This study investigates the alleged disintermediation of banks’ traditional deposit-taking in favour of investment management activities. Using data on Australian bank-affiliated funds and a nine-year record of the parent banks’ liability balances, this study finds that managed funds do not displace bank liabilities. Prudential capital adequacy requirements dissuade banks from using in-house managed investments as indirect conduits for raising funds in the same manner as deposit-taking.

An Exploratory Study To Identify The Predictors Of Sexual Reoffending By Male Sexual Offenders In Western Australia, Deborah Dawson, Alfred Allan

Research outputs pre 2011

As the prediction of the risk of sexual reoffending behaviour has become more important in the corrections setting, so has the development of instruments to assist practitioners in doing risk evaluations. International research underpins most of the instruments used in Western Australia (WA), and in Australia for that matter. The present study explored the predictive accuracy of instruments developed internationally and locally as a function of ethnicity (Indigenous and non Indigenous) and nature of offending (non violent sexual and violent sexual). The Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Recidivism (RRASOR) and the Static 99 were the international instruments, for the prediction …

Crosstalk-Resiliant Coding For High Density Digital Recording, Mohammed Zaki Ahmed

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Increasing the track density in magnetic systems is very difficult due to inter-track interference (ITI) caused by the magnetic field of adjacent tracks. This work presents a two-track partial response class 4 magnetic channel with linear and symmetrical ITI; and explores modulation codes, signal processing methods and error correction codes in order to mitigate the effects of ITI. Recording codes were investigated, and a new class of two-dimensional run-length limited recording codes is described. The new class of codes controls the type of ITI and has been found to be about 10% more resilient to ITI compared to conventional run-length …

Plasma Interaction With Microbes, M. Laroussi, D. A. Mendis, M. Rosenberg

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The germicidal effects of a non-equilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma generated by a novel resistive barrier discharge on representatives of the two classes of bacteria (Gram-negative and Gram-positive) are discussed. The plasma exposure, while being lethal to both bacterial classes, also produced gross structural damage in the Gram-negative E. coli while none was observed in the more structurally robust Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis. An electrophysical process involving the role of the electrostatic tension on a charged body in a plasma is invoked to explain both observations. Since the efficacy of this electrophysical process depends not only on the tensile strength of …

Hispanic Citizenship, Registration, And Voting Patterns In Comparative Perspective During The 2000 Presidential Elections, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines citizenship, registration, and voting patterns of Latinos during the 2000 presidential elections.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: The participation rates among potential Hispanic voters who were citizens of the U.S. 18 years of age and older were the lowest of any of the major racial/ethnic groups in the nation during the 2000 presidential elections as well as …

Comparative Income Distribution Patterns Among Hispanic Households In New York City, Census 2000, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic aspects of the Latino population of the New York City area in the year 2000.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Household income distribution data found in the 2000 U.S. census revealed a pattern of stark differentiation in New York City among the three principal racial/ethnic groups: Whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics or Latinos. Additionally, within …

Highways Of The Mind: The Haunting Of The Superhighway From The World's Fair To The World Wide Web., Helen J. Burgess

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation investigates the way in which the rhetorical construction of the highway has been haunted, first by narratives of promise and progress and then of decay and death. Highways are figured as technological wonders marking the advent of a better future in the 1939 World's Fair and the advertising campaigns of the 1950s, and then as wired-up networks of death in science fictional accounts from the 60s to the 90s. At stake in this project is the very status of metaphor in the analysis of technology. The highway is a compelling 20th-century metaphor that reveals anxieties we have about …

2003 Aasu Men's Golf Roster, Armstrong State University

Armstrong Athletics: Men's Golf Records (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Living Logos: Framing The Discourse Of The University Presidency., Mortimer Williams Gamble

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to analyze speeches and opinion articles of four presidents of doctoral-extensive universities to determine how the four leadership frames of Bolman and Deal (1984, 1997) are manifested in the public utterances of the presidents, and whether there is any relationship between those frames and the occasion and purpose for the discourse as defined by situational contingencies and the significance of the occasion. Conclusions were drawn as to whether the president, through his/her discourse, consistently operated in one or more frame(s) apparently chosen for what occasion and/or purpose; whether there is a correlation between frame …

Testing Forward Exchange Rate Unbiasedness Efficiently: A Semiparametric Approach, Douglas J. Hodgson, Oliver Linton, Keith Vorkink

Faculty Publications

We apply semiparametric efficient estimation procedures for a seemingly unrelated regression model where the multivariate error density is elliptically symmetric to study the efficiency of the foreign exchange market. We consider both cointegrating regressions and standard stationary regressions. The elliptical symmetry assumption allows us to avoid the curse of dimensionality problem that typically arises in multivariate semiparametric estimation procedures, because the multivariate elliptically symmetric density function can be written as a function of a scalar transformation of the observed multivariate data. We test the unbiasedness hypothesis on both weekly and daily exchange rate data and strongly reject unbiasedness at the …

Research Opportunities In Internal Auditing, Douglas F. Prawitt

Faculty Publications

This chapter discusses staffing and managing the internal audit function (IAF) as a component of organizational governance, and has two main purposes. First, it familiarizes interested practitioners and researchers with current trends and issues in staffing and managing the IAF. Second, it suggests questions and topics for future thinking and research among practitioners and academics. Managing and staffing an IAF is a vast and complex undertaking that remains relatively unexplored by rigorous research. The chapter contains several citations to practitioner information and academic research, but it does not attempt to include a comprehensive literature review of all relevant articles or …

Can Reading Help?, Chris Crowe

Faculty Publications

I've not slept well for many months. Until recently l had assumed that my fitful nights were merely the combined effects of impending writing deadlines, ALAN presidential duties, middle age, a long list of incomplete house and yard chores, a six-digit mortgage, my university students and classes, a neurotic and noisy cat, and two teenage daughters.

Some nights are worse than others, and I've supposed that when stress goes up, sleep goes down. But I've also noticed lately that when things go bump in the night, I jerk awake wondering if it was just wind, the dog, a neighbor's car …

Illuminating Theatre / Ariel Davis : Utah Innovator, J. Michael Hunter

Faculty Publications

The general history of stage lighting and of lighting in the Salt Lake Theatre are described. Ariel Davis (1912-1997) was a famous inventor of theatrical lighting equipment. He grew up in Provo and graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU).

The Idea Of An "Asian Monetary Fund": The Problems Of Financial Institutionalism In The Asia-Pacific, Shaun Narine

Documents

No abstract provided.

From The Front Lines At Seoul Bank: Restructuring And Reprivatization, Chungwon Kang

Documents

No abstract provided.

A Case Study Of Four School Library Media Specialists' Leadership In Louisiana., Linda Jean Underwood

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to understand the daily activities of effective school library media specialists in an elementary school, middle school, and high school in a Louisiana parish, non-church, public school system through qualitative research using interviews, observation field notes, and written documentation from the three schools. The importance of the study was that there is little known about the leadership role of the school library media specialist and the role of the school library media specialist. Further, the literature concerning effective schools and effective school library media specialists is separate. The study had four conclusions. First, an …

A Comparison Of Bond Strength Between An Orthodontic Adhesive Resin Cured With Halogen Light Or Plasma Arc Light: An In Vitro And In Vivo Study., Michael D. Signorelli

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to determine the in vivo survival rate and the in vitro shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets bonded with either a halogen light OrtholuxTMXT or a plasma arc light ORTHO LiteTM. Ninety extracted premolars were divided into 6 treatment groups. Bond strengths were tested with an Instron testing machine and bracket failure interface with ARI score. Data was analyzed using ANOVA. No significant differences in bond strength were found between the halogen light with a 20 second curing time and the plasma arc light with a 6 or 10 second curing time. For the …

A Hydrologic Analysis And Model Of A Watershed, Containing An Ecologically Important Wetland, In Canaan Valley State Park, West Virgina., Sam Lamont

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Canaan Valley, located in the northern mountains of West Virginia, is the largest area of inland freshwater wetlands in the central Appalachian mountain region. Small, isolated wetlands within the 5,000 ha valley often support many rare plant species. One such area is Abe’s Run wetland, in the southern end of Canaan Valley State Park.

A comprehensive hydrologic study was conducted within the approximately 135 ha Abes Run sub-basin to aid in the protection and management of the area’s rare plants. This study includes the analysis of: the gradient of the local water table using two inch, screened groundwater wells …

Predictors Of Physical Abuse History And Abuse Potential: An Observation Of Parenting Style In Mother-Child Dyads Referred For Child Disruptive Behavior Problems., Lisa M. Ware

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined the relation between parental behaviors (i.e., amount of interaction, positive behavior, aversive behavior, controlling behavior), child abuse potential (as measured by the Child Abuse Potential Inventory), documented history of child physical abuse, and demographic variables (e.g., socioeconomic status) among mothers of children with disruptive behavior problems. Results indicated that socio-economic status and child abuse potential were significant predictors of substantiated history of abuse. Further, only the presence of a documented history of abuse was significantly related to child abuse potential scores. Although the hypotheses that positive, aversive, and controlling behavior would be predictive of child abuse potential …

The Representation Of Male And Female Traits In High-Level And Low-Level Hiring In Public Relations., Juliana B. Frederick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research is an exploration of gender role stereotyping in the advertising of jobs in public relations. The study compares the existence of male and female traits in advertisements for manager and entry level positions in the field of public relations. Gender differences in leadership styles, activities and skills listed in the job descriptions are analyzed. The samples used in the study were companies that advertised public relations jobs on the internet. The study found that employers sought male traits in advertising for managerial jobs and female traits when advertising for technician jobs. This research also shows that more companies …

Correlation And Characterization Of Water Quality And Land Use And Land Cover In The Baker's Run Watershed, West Virginia, Mid-Atlantic Region., John Allen Gillilan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Water quality variables were sampled for five years in the Baker’s Run watershed, before and during construction of a segment of Appalachian Corridor H located in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The purpose of the study was to determine if any effect from the construction could be measured and related to the cumulative change in land use and land cover. Variables sampled were turbidity, pH, conductivity, total suspend solids, alkalinity, acidity, sulfate, chloride, iron, calcium, nitrate, ammonia, phosphate, and flow. Land use/land cover was interpreted and classified from 1:24,000 digital ortho-quarter quads and correlated to changes in water quality …