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Ay 2003/2004 Awards List, Elizabeth Bird

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Nothing To Declare But Their Childhood: Reforming U.S. Asylum Law To Protect The Rights Of Children, Rachel Bien

Journal of Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Protect Downward Departures: Congress And The Executive's Intrusion Into Judicial Independence, Skye Phillips

Journal of Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Motivation For Studying Abroad, Wendy M. Buesing

Masters Theses

The motivational factors among students who have completed a study abroad program or who are currently studying abroad were investigated. Several variables were explored including gender, age, major and whether the student was an international student who has studied or is currently studying in the United States from another country or an American student who has studied or is currently studying in another country. Two hypotheses were tested: 1) American students are more likely motivated to study abroad by cultural motives such as sightseeing and gaining awareness about a different culture, and 2) International students are more likely motivated to …

The Individualized Education Plan: Parental Satisfaction And Involvement, Melissa Habing

Masters Theses

Little recent research has examined parents' involvement and satisfaction with their child's Individualized Education Plan (IEP). For the current study, parents of children with special needs were surveyed. Out of 1,000 questionnaires mailed out by an agency that provides support to families who have a child with a disability, 348 parents completed and returned the survey. As a result of the parents' written responses, it was determined that 234 (67%) of the children they reported on were boys and 114 (33%) were girls. The age of the children whose parents completed the questionnaire ranged from two to twenty-two. All eligible …

Distinct Group Differences And Discriminant Validity Of The Adjustment Scales For Children And Adolescents: Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder Versus Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Kim D. Miller

Masters Theses

The present study examined the distinct group differences and discriminant validity of the Adjustment Scales for Children and Adolescents (ASCA). Participants included 36 children in Kindergarten through eleventh grade. Twenty-seven of the children met DISC-IV I DSM-IV (DSM-IV-TR, 2000) criteria for ADHD, and 9 met criteria for ODD. The participants were classified based on the results of the DISC-IV (Shaffer, Fisher, Lucas, Dulcan & Schwab-Stone, 2000) interview completed with the parent. The referring classroom teacher then completed the ASCA. Results of the present study did not support the distinct group differences and thus the discriminant validity of the ASCA. The …

Eating Disorder Tendencies And Pathogenic Weight Control Usage In High School Female Athletes, Natasha L. Mcdonald

Masters Theses

For many years, eating disorders have become more prevalent in American society. Researchers have recently identified a "new" at risk group, female athletes. The primary purpose of this study was to answer two questions: First, are tendencies toward eating disorders and the use of pathogenic weight control techniques different between female high school athletes and female high school nonathletes? Secondly, among high school female athletes, are tendencies toward eating disorders and the use of pathogenic weight control techniques different between performance sports and traditional sports? Each participant completed a survey packet to gather information on (1) demography including athletic participation, …

Exploring Balanced Polymorphism Theory: Homosexuality, Personality, And Attractiveness, Rikki Singh

Masters Theses

An evolutionary theory known as balanced polymorphism (Hutchinson, 1959), which accounts for the prevalence of the deadly hereditary disease called sickle cell anemia, may prove to be a possible solution to the evolutionary paradox of homosexuality. The evolutionary advantage supported by the theory may account for the current and future prevalence of homosexuality. The theory works on the basis of a heterozygotic advantage, which is simply the advantage gained by a combination of two extreme genotypes. In this case, the heterozygotic advantage is the personality of a homosexual and the sexual orientation of a heterosexual. To test this theory, forty-eight …

Congressional Actions And Public Reactions., Jason Gainous

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This paper explores the link between congressional actions and public attitudes about government responsiveness, public efficacy, and public trust in government. Congressional actions are moves by members of Congress that are potentially consequential to public opinion. The theory contends that actions taken by Congress influence these perspectives on government within an alert stratum of the public. This relationship is demonstrated by employing a pooled time-series logistical regression modeling data that come from the American National Election Studies merged with historical actions data. The findings support the contention that increased actions by Congress increase public efficacy and trust in government, and …

An Observational Study Of Delivered And Received Aggression, Gender, And Social-Psychological Adjustment In Preschool: Abstract "This White Crayon Doesn't Work ... ", Jamie M. Ostrov, Kathleen E. Woods, Elizabeth A. Jansen Yeh, Juan F. Casas, Nikki R. Crick

Psychology Faculty Publications

A semi-structured observational study investigated gender differences in delivered and received relational, physical, verbal, and nonverbal aggression in a young preschool sample (N = 60). Findings revealed that gender differences in subtypes of aggression may be apparent as early as 3 years of age. Specifically, girls were found to deliver and receive more relational aggression than males, whereas boys tended, although not significantly, to deliver and significantly received more physical aggression than females. Relational and physical subtypes of delivered and received aggression were differentially associated with preschoolers' social-psychological adjustment.

The Impact Of A Garden Program On The Physical Environment And Social Climate Of A Prison Yard At San Quentin State Prison, Kathryn E. Waitkus

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the fact that the physical environments and social climates of prisons have been found to be physically and mentally stressful to inmates, more than 70% of those within the California prison system return to prison within three years after being paroled. As part of an effort to reduce these high recidivism rates, a rehabilitative gardening program was started at San Quentin State Prison. The intent of this project was to determine the impact of a garden project on the physical environment and social climate of a prison yard, from both inmate and staff perspectives. Research was primarily qualitative, consisting …

Dialogue 'On The Ground': The Complicated Identities And The Complex Negotiations Of Catholics And Hindus In South India, Selva J. Raj

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Interreligious dialogue is a vital theological concern for the Catholic Church in India. Over the past three decades, church leaders, progressive theologians, and maverick monastics have experimented with various models and forms of interreligious dialogue. Quite distinct from these contrived institutional initiatives is the dynamic of intimate, subtle, and spontaneous ritual exchange and dialogue between ordinary Hindus and Catholics occurring in the arena of popular piety and rituals at the grassroots level - often in opposition to institutional norms and directives - that may be described as "dialogue on the ground." In light of ethnographic research at the shrine of …

Book Review: "Yoga And Psychology: Language, Memory, And Mysticism", Bradley Malkovsky

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

A review of Yoga and Psychology: Language, Memory, and Mysticism by Harold Coward.

The Intra- And Inter-Religious Conversions Of Nehemiah Nilakantha Goreh, Jon Keune

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

The life of Nilakantha Goreh contains a wealth of inter-religious and cross-cultural encounters, yet surprisingly little has been written about him. Goreh was a traditionally educated Chitpavan Brahmin, growing up outside the pale of British education and British-influenced Hindu reform movements. His name is best known now for how his initially staunch and public opposition to Christianity slowly gave way until he finally was baptized in 1848. What little scholarship there is on Goreh has tended to either focus on or view his whole life in light of his inter-religious conversion. Although Goreh's inter-religious conversion was undeniably crucial and worthy …

Book Review: "Indian Critiques Of Gandhi", Lance E. Nelson

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

A review of Indian Critiques of Gandhi edited by Harold Coward.

Exploring The Changing Relationship Between Formal Carers, Informal Carers And Carees During The Elder-Care Process, Sing Nam Hung

Lingnan Theses

There are increasing studies looking at effects of caregiving to the frail elderly in Hong Kong. However, many studies often focus only on a single dimension of caregiving in either informal or formal carers without the focus on the elderly that receiving cares. Few studies have viewed elder caregiving as an integrative and dynamic approach, with limited examination and exploration on the caring processes and interactions between the formal and informal carers and elderly carees, and the reasons for this pattern.

Thus a caregiving triad might be considered as consisting of the elderly caree, the formal and informal carer, and …

Women's Retirement And Leisure In Hong Kong : A Life Course Approach, Ho Yee, Vienne Tso

Lingnan Theses

According to the life course perspective, individuals’ life pattern could be viewed from vertical and horizontal dimension, including “preparation”, “establishment” and “culmination”; family, education/work and leisure respectively. There is prevailing gendered division of household labor that “men’s out, women’s in” in patriarchal societies, like Hong Kong. For men, paid work tends to affect the household labor and leisure time. While women’s career aspiration and leisure consumption tend to be influenced by their family duties during their employment life.

Life patterns often change when people retired, as there are generally only family and leisure life left as work and children are …

The Denominator Blindness Effect: Accident Frequencies And The Misjudgment Of Recklessness, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

People seriously misjudge accident risks because they routinely neglect relevant information about exposure. Such risk judgments affect both personal and public policy decisions, e.g., choice of a transport mode, but also play a vital role in legal determinations, such as assessments of recklessness. Experimental evidence for a sample of 422 jury-eligible adults indicates that people incorporate information on the number of accidents, which is the numerator of the risk frequency calculation. However, they appear blind to information on exposure, such as the scale of a firm's operations, which is the risk frequency denominator. Hence, the actual observed accident frequency of …

Apology And Thick Trust: What Spouse Abusers And Negligent Doctors Might Have In Common, Erin O'Connor

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

As apology advocates have previously emphasized, much of the civil litigation that clogs court dockets in America today could be avoided with a simple heartfelt apology. Although sometimes difficult to offer, these expressions of remorse are profoundly powerful and valuable for humans as social animals. Nevertheless, apologies can be problematic. This Article used evolutionary theory as a tool to explore the costs of apology in two areas-spouse abuse and medical malpractice-to suggest that excessive victim forgiveness can, in some contexts, cast doubt on the effectiveness of a purely private litigation system for creating appropriate behavioral incentives. It also explored ways …

Principles Of Influence In Negotiation, Chris Guthrie

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Negotiation is often viewed as an alternative to adjudication. In fact, however, negotiation and adjudication may be more alike than different because each is a process of persuasion. Both in the courtroom and at the bargaining table, the lawyer's primary task is to persuade someone other than her own client that her client's positions, interests, and perspectives should be honored. Despite this apparent similarity, persuasion operates differently in adjudication and negotiation because the lawyer seeks to influence a different party in each process. In adjudication, the lawyer seeks primarily to persuade the judge or jury hearing the case. The judge …

Insights From Cognitive Psychology, Chris Guthrie

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

My goal in this paper is to explore cognitive psychology's place in the dispute resolution field. To do so, I first look back and then look forward. Looking back, I identify the five insights from cognitive psychology that have had the biggest impact on my own dispute resolution teaching and scholarship. Looking forward, I identify my five hopes for the future of cognitive psychology in the dispute resolution field.

How Different Is Death? Jury Sentencing In Capital And Non-Capital Cases Compared, Nancy J. King

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Drawing upon a recent study of felony jury sentencing in Kentucky, Virginia, and Arkansas, this essay highlights some of the similarities and differences between jury sentencing in capital cases and jury sentencing in non-capital cases. Unlike jury sentencing in capital cases, jury sentencing in non-capital cases includes functional differentials in judge and jury options for sentencing, and fewer controls on arbitrary decision-making. Jury sentencing in both contexts shares the potential for reluctance on the part of elected judges to reduce jury sentences, information gaps on the part of jurors in setting sentences, and, above all, service as a tool in …

Induced Litigation, Chris Guthrie, Tracey E. George

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

If "justice delayed" is "justice denied,"justice is often denied in American courts. Delay in the courts is a "ceaseless and unremitting problem of modem civil justice" that "has an irreparable effect on both plaintiffs and defendants." To combat this seemingly intractable problem, judges and court administrators routinely clamor for additional judicial resources to enable them to manage their dockets more "effectively and efficiently." By building new courthouses and adding new judgeships, a court should be able to manage its caseload more efficiently. Trial judges should be able to hold motion hearings, host settlement conferences, and conduct trials in a timely …

The Influence Of Students' Cognitive Style On A Standardized Reading Test Administered In Three Different Formats, Elizabeth Lynn Blanton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the means of scores on three forms of a standardized reading comprehension test taken by community college students in developmental reading classes. The three forms of the test were administered as a timed multiple-choice test, a constructed response test, and an un-timed multiple-choice test. Scores on the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) were used to classify the students who participated in the study as having field dependent (LOW GEFT), mid-field dependent/independent (MID GEFT), or fieldindependent (HIGH GEFT) tendencies. The paired samples test was used to analyze the scores among the students classified …

Exposure Matters: Examining The Physical And Psychological Health Impacts Of Toxic Contamination Using Gis And Survey Data, Christine A. Bevc

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the grassroots environmental movement brought national attention to the issues related to inequities in environmental quality. Previous research addressing these environmental inequities has progressively increased and advanced methodologically. However, the arguments and focus have been primarily limited to examining the socio-demographics in an ongoing debate of race and class. This thesis extends past the methodological stalemate focusing on the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) using survey data in an environmental justice case study of a community in south Florida. This approach examines the social, health and environmental impacts of a Superfund site …

Application Of Absorptive Treatments On Traffic Noise Barriers In Florida, Chin Boon Chua

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the parallel barrier analysis feature in the Federal Highway Administration Traffic Noise Model (FHWA TNM), which is based on RAYVERB was used to explore the effects of multiple reflections due to single and parallel barriers and the use of absorptive treatment. Database was developed from the data collected from previous research efforts was used to generate a best fit equation model that can be used as a predetermining tool to determine the magnitude of parallel barrier insertion loss. The best fit equation model was then used to test against measured/model result and TNM prediction results for its …

Evolving Models From Observed Human Performance, Hans Karl Gustav Fernlund

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To create a realistic environment, many simulations require simulated agents with human behavior patterns. Manually creating such agents with realistic behavior is often a tedious and time-consuming task. This dissertation describes a new approach that automatically builds human behavior models for simulated agents by observing human performance. The research described in this dissertation synergistically combines Context-Based Reasoning, a paradigm especially developed to model tactical human performance within simulated agents, with Genetic Programming, a machine learning algorithm to construct the behavior knowledge in accordance to the paradigm. This synergistic combination of well-documented AI methodologies has resulted in a new algorithm that …

An Investigation Into The Apparent Over-Representation Of Blacks In Educable Mentally Handicapped Programs In K-12 Schools Within The 67 Florida Public School Districts, Arlene H. Thomson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Placement into educable mentally handicapped (EMH) programs is necessary for some students in order to allow them the opportunity to receive an education appropriate for their special needs. Nonetheless, identification as EMH is often perceived as negative and demeaning. Decades of research have substantiated the over-representation of black students into certain categories of special education, including EMH, in comparison to white and Hispanic students. This disparity has raised questions within schools, academe and research communities, and legislative and governing bodies as to the causes, compelling factors, and related variables impacting the phenomenon. This study investigated the apparent over-representation of blacks …

Cell Phone Distraction Analysis Of Motor Response In A Simulated Driving Environment, Anusha Ravishankar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Does the use of a cell phone while driving influence the driver's ability to execute a proper turn? Is there difference between genders pertaining to motor skill while driving in a simulated driving environment? To accomplish this task, three groups of ten participants (5 women and 5 men) each were tested using a scripted test scenario focusing on left and right turns. The participants were made to drive through a test scenario to get used to the driving simulator. The scenario for the experimental group was an inner-city training scenario with the presence of vehicular traffic and the main focus …

Effective School Characteristics And Student Achievement Correlates As, James Doran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between effective school characteristics and norm referenced standardized test scores in American-style international schools. In contrast to schools in traditional effective schools research, international schools typically have middle to high SES families, and display average to above average achievement. Eleven effective school characteristics were identified and correlated with standardized test scores for grades 4, 6, and 8 and high school SAT scores. Data was gathered from an online teacher questionnaire designed for this study. All eleven characteristics were present in high performing international schools while frequent analysis of student progress, …