Digital Commons Network^™

Justilm: Few-Shot Justification Generation For Explainable Fact-Checking Of Real-World Claims, Fengzhu Zeng, Wei Gao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Justification is an explanation that supports the verdict assigned to a claim in fact-checking. However, the task of justification generation is previously oversimplified as summarization of fact-check article authored by professional checkers. In this work, we propose a realistic approach to generate justification based on retrieved evidence. We present a new benchmark dataset called ExClaim for Explainable Claim verification, and introduce JustiLM, a novel few-shot retrieval-augmented language model to learn justification generation by leveraging fact-check articles as auxiliary resource during training. Our results show that JustiLM outperforms in-context learning (ICL)-enabled LMs including Flan-T5 and Llama2, and the retrieval-augmented model Atlas …

Outrageous Women Of Civil War Times, Virginia Mercher

Civil War Book Review

Fascinating Females

Book seeks to highlight historical figures

Demographics And Perceptions Of Work Environment For Registered Nurses, Pamela Brotherton Sedano

Master's Projects

Registered nurses (RNs) are the lifeblood of hospitals. Therefore, retaining skilled nurses is necessary to insure the viability of these institutions. A two-year longitudinal, non-experimental research study utilized a descriptive design to compare the perceptions of RNs who remained on their units to those who left or changed units over a two-year time period. The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether there was a statistically significant difference between these two groups. Results in several areas indicate that further evaluation is necessary by nurse managers and administration. This information could help retain RNs as well as attract qualified nurses …

Supporting Field Study With Personalized Project Spaces In A Geographical Digital Library, Ee Peng Lim, Aixin Sun, Zehua Liu, John Hedberg, Chew-Hung Chang, Tiong-Sa Teh, Dion Hoe-Lian Goh, Yin-Leng Theng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Digital libraries have been rather successful in supporting learning activities by providing learners with access to information and knowledge. However, this level of support is passive to learners and interactive and collaborative learning cannot be easily achieved. In this paper, we study how digital libraries could be extended to serve a more active role in collaborative learning activities. We focus on developing new services to support a common type of learning activity, field study, in a geospatial context. We propose the concept of personal project space that allows individuals to work in their personalized environment with a mix of private …

A Survey Of California's Nurse Practitioners' Regarding Practice, Knowledge And Atitudes Of The National Asthma Management Guidelines, Colleen M. Hughes

Master's Projects

Background: Pediatric asthma morbidity and mortality continues to rise in the United States despite the institution of the National Institute of Health/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's diagnostic and treatment guidelines. This study examines the practices, knowledge and attitudes of California's pediatric and family nurse practitioners regarding the national asthma guidelines. Method: A quantitative mail-in survey of pediatric, pulmonary, emergent, urgent care, and family nurse practitioners was utilized to gather the data regarding the care of pediatric asthma patients. The survey collected demographic data and the NP' s current asthma practices in a Likert scale format. Results: The nurse practitioners …

Factors Impacting E-Government Development, Keng Siau, Y. Long

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

E-government is a way for governments to use new technologies such as the Internet to provide citizens with more convenient access to government information and services, to improve the quality of services, and to provide greater opportunities for citizens to participate in democratic institutions and processes. This research investigates factors impacting e-government development. Based on the growth theory and human capital theory from the economics literature, we hypothesize that information and computer technology, and human development are two factors impacting e-government development. The hypotheses were empirically tested using secondary data from the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme. …

An Architecture For Spam Regulation, David Dickinson

Federal Communications Law Journal

Junk email, commonly referred to as "spam," is the current scourge of the Internet. In late 2004, unwanted email messages were being delivered at a rate of 12.4 billion per day. The variety of tools used to combat spam have failed to make a significant impact. Legislative efforts, such as the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, met with substantial enforcement complications. The communications industry responded with a variety of technical advances, such as filters and blacklists, but those innovations are still unable to reliably distinguish between wanted and unwanted messages. Real coordination between legislative and technical spam control tactics has yet …

Torts, Deron R. Hicks

Mercer Law Review

In Music v. Steamco, Inc., the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of a restaurant in a slip and fall action. The action was filed by a patron of the restaurant who suffered injuries when she fell down a set of stairs while exiting the restaurant. Plaintiff, after having lunch with her friends at defendant's restaurant, prepared to leave the restaurant by way of the same stairs she used to enter the restaurant. As she stood at the top of the stairs, plaintiff noticed water on the steps; however, the steps …

Crow's Nest, December 1, 2004, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The December 1, 2004, issue of the Crow's Nest.

Drs Quarterly Council Report: Issue 9, Alec Robertson

Quarterly Council Reports

Reports in this QCR Issue include reviews of the Biennial Conference FUTUREGROUND hosted in November 2004 by Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Different points of view are provided by Council members, Seymour Roworth-Stokes and Alec Robertson, along with Australia (West) ICM Terry Love. Vesna Popovic ICM for Australia (East) also provides Part 1 of an overview outlining design research within Universities of the region.

Contents

International Reports

Australia (West), Terence Love
Australia (East), Vesna Popovic

Council Officer Reports

Design Studies Editor (ex-officio), Nigel Cross
Events Secretary, Seymour Roworth-Stokes
Publications Officer, Alec Robertson

J Am Coll Dent 2004 71 4

Journal of the American College of Dentists

The Journal of the American College of Dentists (JACD) publishes scholarly articles, editorials, essays, and reflections addressing the ethical, professional, and social dimensions of dentistry. The Journal serves as a forum for advancing ethics, professionalism, leadership, and excellence within the dental community. By fostering dialogue across disciplines and perspectives, JACD provides readers with insights that encourage ethical, professional practice, lifelong learning, and service to the public, reinforcing dentistry’s commitment to advancing oral healthcare and the common good.

Cultural-Competency Training For School-Based Mental Health Service Providers, Natasha Lian Smith

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Literature on cultural competence has primarily developed in the fields of counseling psychology and counselor education. The field of school psychology has responded to the increased focus of cultural competency by providing recommended skills needed to provide psychological services in schools to diverse individuals and groups. Currently, research in effective cultural competency training has primarily focused on graduate training programs. This study extends the literature on cultural competency training by developing a training model that is appropriate for professionals who are already working in the field. This study first evaluated the impact of a needs assessment on the preparation of …

Pathways To Self-Esteem In Late Adolescence: The Role Of Parent And Peer Attachment, Empathy, And Social Behaviors, Deborah J. Laible, Gustavo Carlo, Scott C. Roesch

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The goal of this study was to examine both the direct and indirect relations of parent and peer attachment with self-esteem and to examine the potential mediating roles of empathy and social behavior. 246 college students (Mage = 18.6 years, s.d. = 1.61) completed self-report measures of parent and peer attachment, empathy, social behavior, and self-esteem. Structural equation modeling revealed that parental attachment had mostly direct effects on self-esteem. Among females, the links between peer attachment and self-esteem, however, were entirely mediated by empathy and prosocial behavior. The findings from this study suggest that although close supportive relationships with parents …

Reinforcement Schedules Modulate Discriminative Stimulus Properties Of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine And Cocaine, Daniel Kueh

Masters Theses

Drug discrimination is a model used to assess the subjective effects of different psychoactive drugs such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and cocaine. However, results from MDMA discrimination studies across different laboratories have not been consistent. Possible confounds for this inconsistency may include the use of different reinforcement schedules such as the fixed-ratio 20 (FR20) and the variable interval 15 seconds (VI15 s) during discrimination training. Studies examining the effects of these two schedules on the discriminative stimulus properties of MDMA and cocaine have not been conducted. Thus, the present study compared the FR20 and the VI15 s schedules to determine their …

Preferences Of Chinese Alzheimer’S Patients For Music Therapy Activities: Singing, Instruments, Games, Dance/Movement, And Composition/Improvisation, Karen Kwok

Masters Theses

This research, based on Brotons and Pickett-Cooper’s 1994 study, examined the preferences of Chinese Alzheimer’s patients for music therapy activities. Fifteen Chinese senior residents residing in a Toronto, Canada ethnic nursing home participated in this study. Five different language and culturally appropriate music therapy activities were used, which included singing, dance/movement with music, musical games, instrument manipulation and improvisation/composition. Subjects met in small groups of 3 for a total of five 30-minute sessions in two weeks. During each session, one of the five music therapy activities was presented. At the end of each session, subjects were asked to state how …

Quantitative Models Of The Rat Pulmonary Arterial Tree Morphometry Applied To Hypoxia-Induced Arterial Remodeling, Robert C. Molthen, Kelly L. Karau, Christopher A. Dawson

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Little is known about the constituent hemodynamic consequences of structural changes that occur in the pulmonary arteries during the onset and progression of pulmonary arterial remodeling. Many disease processes are known to be responsible for vascular remodeling that leads to pulmonary arterial hypertension, cor pulmonale, and death. Histology has been the primary tool for evaluating pulmonary remodeling, but it does not provide information on intact vascular structure or the vessel mechanical properties. This study is an extension of our previous work in which we developed an alternative imaging technique to evaluate pulmonary arterial structure. The lungs from Sprague-Dawley rats were …

The V1647 Orionis (Iras 05436–0007) Protostar And Its Environment, Peregrine M. Mcgehee, J. Allyn Smith, Arne A. Henden, Michael Richmond, Gillian R. Knapp, Douglas P. Finkbeiner, J. Brinkmann

Articles

We present Sloan Digital Sky Survey and United States Naval Observatory observations of the V1647 Ori protostar and surrounding field near NGC 2068. V1647 Ori, the likely driving source for HH 23, brightened significantly in November 2003. Analysis of SDSS imaging acquired in November 1998 and February 2002 during the quiescent state, recent USNO photometry, and published 2MASS and Gemini data shows that the color changes associated with brightening suggest an EXor outburst rather than a simple dust clearing event.

Information Structure In Narrative Texts In Byali (A Gur Language Of Benin), John J. Berthelette

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an application of Knud Lambrecht’s 1994 work, Information structure and sentence form, to Byali, a Gur language of northwestern Benin (West Africa). In particular, it concerns an analysis of how the different focus structures are marked in Byali, according to Lambrecht’s framework.

Given that this is an application of a theoretical framework in order to describe a language, the thesis has three purposes: (1) to provide an overview of Lambrecht’s framework; (2) to provide an analysis of Byali data using this framework; and (3) to evaluate the suitability of Lambrecht’s framework for analyzing Byali focus structure.

Undergraduate Academic Success During The Semester Of Reinstatement Following Academic Dismissal, Michael F. Cogan

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the success patterns of academically dismissed undergraduate students who were subsequently reinstated at a mid-sized research university the following semester. The academic dismissals in this study occurred between the fall of 1999 and the spring of 2003. The university reinstatement policies provided the researcher with a unique opportunity to measure a relatively large sample (N=973).

Two regression techniques were utilized to identify significant predictor variables that could be utilized to make administrative decisions regarding future reinstatement activities. Linear regression results indicated that honor point deficiency accrual during the semester of dismissal was a significant predictor of term …

The Opinion Volume 43 Issue 3 – December 1, 2004, The Opinion

The Opinion Newspaper (all issues)

The Opinion newspaper issue dated December 01, 2004

Consequences Of Announcements To Voluntarily Adopt The Fair Value Method Of Accounting For Stock-Based Compensation, Shilpa Manaktala, John D. Phillips, Karen Teitel

Economics Department Working Papers

We identify 133 firms that between July and December 2002, announced plans to voluntarily adopt the fair value method of accounting for stock-based compensation. We investigate whether such announcements increased the quality of these firms’ earnings as perceived by market participants. Answering this research question not only provides evidence relevant to the debate surrounding the expensing of employee stock options, but doing so provides evidence that conservative accounting choices in general lead to higher perceived earnings quality. Using two measures of earnings quality, the price-earnings relation and the earnings response coefficient, we find evidence consistent with an increase in perceived …

Applying Intermediate Microeconomics To Terrorism, Charles Anderton, John Carter

Economics Department Working Papers

The authors show how microeconomic concepts and principles are applicable to the study of terrorism. The utility maximization model provides insights into both terrorist resource allocation choices and government counterterrorism efforts, while basic game theory helps characterize the strategic interdependencies among terrorists and governments.

Do Policy-Makers Earmark To Constrain Their Successors? The Case Of Environmental Earmarking, Neva Novarro

Economics Department Working Papers

This paper examines whether legislators earmark funds in order to constrain the spending of future legislators with different preferences. Specifically, panel data is used to estimate the probability a new environmental earmarking law is passed as a function of Democrats holding and subsequently losing majority control of the government. The results of this study do not support this hypothesis. In fact, Democrats with a large majority who subsequently lose this majority power following the next election are found to be less likely to earmark funds for the environment. One possible explanation for this finding may be that competing forces make …

European Administrative Proceedings, Sabino Cassese

Law and Contemporary Problems

Cassese discusses the third strategy of administrative integration, mixed or composite proceedings in which both Community and national authorities participate. Cassese analyzes how the common element takes root in the national part of the proceeding, what the national and supranational parts consist of, and the extent to which they remain distinct or appear instead as a single unit.

Three Generations Of Participation Rights Before The European Commission, Francesca Bignami

Law and Contemporary Problems

Bignami offers a conceptual framework for analyzing the development of participation rights before the European Commission from the early 1970s to the present day. Process rights before the Commission can be divided into three categories, each of which is associated with a distinct phase in European Community history and a particular set of institutional actors.

"Curiously Uninvolved": Social Work And Protest Against The War In Vietnam, Susan Kerr Chandler

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article reviews four leading social work journals from 1965-1975 for content on the War in Vietnam and the social issues arising from it. It finds that social work's major journals carried nearly no articles, letters, editorials, or short subjects related to the war and concludes that the dominant discourse constructed in the journals excluded meaningful engagement with the war or protest against it.

Intimate Partner Violence And Use Of Welfare Services Among California Women, Rachel Kimerling, Nikki Baumrind

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The current study is a population-based investigation of the association between past-year exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and current welfare use, while also accounting for the effects of other violence experienced in adulthood and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These data indicate that acute exposure to intimate partner violence is significantly over-represented among women currently on welfare. However, it appears to be a woman's cumulative exposure to interpersonal violence and associated symptoms of PTSD that are uniquely associated with welfare participation. These data highlight the prevalence of violence against women and its consequences for this population. Results suggest …

Cal Poly Magazine, Winter 2004

Cal Poly Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Status Of Reading Habit And Interests Among Secondary School Children In Sri Lanka, P.H.A.S. Abeyrathna, Awang Ngah Zainab

Research Publications (2000 to 2005)

Explores the leisure reading habits and interest among 300 secondary school students from 10 schools in Sri Lanka. The study also observes the students attitude towards reading, their use of the school library and knowledge of how the school library are organised for locating needed materials. The problems students face in' obtaining reading materials is also identified. The study uses a structured questionnaire as the survey instrument. The findings generally indicate that the students read regularly outside school hours. This reading however, is mainly confined to textbooks and mainly carried out for the purpose of acquiring knowledge or for study. …

Monitoring Activity Of Drosophila Larvae: Impedance & Video Microscopy Measures, Ann Simone Cooper, Robin L. Cooper

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.