Digital Commons Network^™

Rapid Decay Of Tree-Community Composition In Amazonian Forest Fragments, William F. Laurance, Henrique E.M. Nascimento, Susan G. Laurance, Ana Andrade, José E.L.S. Ribeiro, Juan Pablo Giraldo, Thomas E. Lovejoy, Richard Condit, Jerome Chave, Kyle E. Harms, Sammya D'Angelo

Faculty Publications

Forest fragmentation is considered a greater threat to vertebrates than to tree communities because individual trees are typically long-lived and require only small areas for survival. Here we show that forest fragmentation provokes surprisingly rapid and profound alterations in Amazonian tree-community composition. Results were derived from a 22-year study of exceptionally diverse tree communities in 40 1-ha plots in fragmented and intact forests, which were sampled repeatedly before and after fragment isolation. Within these plots, trajectories of change in abundance were assessed for 267 genera and 1,162 tree species. Abrupt shifts in floristic composition were driven by sharply accelerated tree …

Tigard-Tualatin School District Enrollment Forecast Update, 2007-08 To 2011-12, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Charles Rynerson, Vivian Siu

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

The Tigard-Tualatin School District (TTSD) enrolled 12,300 students in Fall 2006, an increase of 167 students (1.4 percent) from Fall 2005. Growth was concentrated in the elementary grades (K-5), which grew by 195 students (3.6 percent) between Fall 2005 and Fall 2006. This report presents the results of a demographic study conducted by the Portland State University Population Research Center (PRC). The study includes analysis of population, housing and enrollment trends affecting the District in recent years, estimates of the impacts of new housing development on TTSD enrollment, and forecasts of district-wide and individual school enrollments for the 2007-08 to …

Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection Bibliography - Volume Ii: English And European Languages (2000), Shaista Wahab

Digitized Afghanistan Materials in English from the Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection

In December 1995, the first volume of this bibliography was published. Volume I included all the Pashto and Dari language titles that were in the Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection at that time. Volume II includes English and European language materials. This volume contains titles that were added to the Collection prior to January 1998. The Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection is one of the largest collections of research materials on Afghanistan and serves scholars from around the world.

Three Rivers School District Population And Enrollment Forecasts, 2007-08 To 2016-17, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Charles Rynerson, Vivian Siu

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

The area served by the Three Rivers School District (TRSD) has experienced population and housing growth in recent years, but the District’s K-12 school enrollment in 2006-07 is 17 percent lower than its 1995-96 peak. Total K-12 enrollment has fallen in each of the past 11 years and is now lower than in any of the past 30 years. Losses have been greatest in the elementary grades (K-5), which enroll 27 percent fewer students than in 1996-97. The middle grades (6-8) have lost 20 percent in enrollment during the same period, while the high school grades (9-12) have lost only …

Volume 2: Demographic, Economic, Social, And Housing Characteristics Of The Hispanic Populations, Including Mexican, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Cuban, And Dominican, 2006, Community Research Institute-Johnson Center

Research, Reports, and Publications

No abstract provided.

Rent Concessions And Illegal Contract Penalties In Texas, James P. George

ExpressO

This article discusses penalty damages in residential leases in Texas. The sales pitch is a rent concession which is later reimposed if the buyer breaches. In contracts where the reimposed penalty reimburses the seller well beyond the consideration anticipated in the normal performance of the agreement, the reimposed discount is an illegal penalty. These contracts are pervasive but for the most part go unchalllenged.

Consumers Limit The Abundance And Dynamics Of A Perennial Shrub With A Seed Bank, Matthew J. Kauffman, John L. Maron

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

For nearly 30 years, ecologists have argued that predators of seeds and seedlings seldom have population-level effects on plants with persistent seed banks and density-dependent seedling survival. We parameterized stage-based population models that incorporated density dependence and seed dormancy with data from a 5.5-year experiment that quantified how granivorous mice and herbivorous voles influence bush lupine (Lupinus arboreus) demography. We asked how seed dormancy and density-dependent seedling survival mediate the impacts of these consumers in dune and grassland habitats. In dune habitat, mice reduced analytical lambda (the intrinsic rate of population growth) by 39%, the equilibrium number of above-ground plants …

The Double-Edged Sword Of Indian Gaming, Joshua L. Sohn

Tulsa Law Review

No abstract provided.

Online Student Evaluations And Response Rates Reconsidered, Joan Anderson, Gary Brown, Stephen Spaeth

Innovate: Journal of Online Education

No abstract provided.

Population Genetic Structure And Phylogeography Of Common Eiders (Somateria Mollissima), Sarah A. Sonsthagen

Biological Sciences

Population genetic structure of Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima) was assessed at increasing spatial scales (microgeographic [<1 km] to throughout their circumpolar distribution), using molecular markers with varying modes of inheritance and rates of evolution. Population genetic subdivision was observed at all spatial scales; however, the degree of structure differed among marker types. Relatively lower levels of spatial genetic structuring were observed at bi-parentally inherited markers, and high levels of structuring were observed at a maternally inherited locus. Differences in the degree of subdivision between marker types may be attributable to the breeding biology of eiders. Pair formation occurs on the wintering grounds; where several populations of eiders interact. Female eiders exhibit high natal and breeding philopatry; whereas, males accompany females back to breeding sites and may disperse long distances between breeding seasons. Significant structuring observed at microgeographic scales indicates that eiders may nest in kin groups. Though the underlying mechanism enabling female eiders to discriminate kin is unknown, waterfowl may achieve kin recognition indirectly through association during brood rearing. Genetic signatures of philopatry among Common Eider populations do vary among Alaskan populations. No genetic structuring at mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was observed among islands in the Beaufort Sea in close geographic proximity (1-49 km apart). However, high structuring was observed among island groups, suggesting females are philopatric to island groups rather than individual islands. In contrast, moderate levels of genetic partitioning for mtDNA were observed among Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) colonies (9-63 km apart); therefore, female eiders may be philopatric to individual colonies. MtDNA haplotypes representing Aleutian and YKD populations are more genetically similar to Canadian and Scandinavian populations than northern Alaska populations, indicating that southern Alaskan populations were colonized from central Canadian refugia. Data indicate that the North Slope may have been a refugium for eiders but contributed little to the post-glacial colonization of North America and Scandinavia. Finally, philopatry and winter site fidelity observed in waterfowl have predictable effects on population genetic structure. Researchers characterizing populations using molecular techniques could under- or over-estimate the degree of population genetic differentiation if estimates are based on a single marker type.

University To Lease Land To City Of Oxford For Fire Station, Tobie Baker

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. - The University of Mississippi announced today (Aug. 11) a plan to lease a tract of land to the city of Oxford for a new fire station.

Home Education: Declaring His Power To The Next Generation, Sandra Anderson

Master of Education Program Theses

Home education researchers have studied many facets of home schooling in America. They have studied the academic progress, the social interactions, the college acceptance and the characteristics of adults who were home schooled. But in spite of the fact that many home educators consistently claim they home school because they want to pass on their faith, there are no major studies and few research questions that link the method to religious values acquisition. This action research report discusses the results of an online survey of 1693 home-educated adults and parents of home-educated adults who were asked questions about whether home …

Allowing Girls To Hold Up Half The Sky: Combining Norm Promotion And Economic Incentives To Combat Daughter Discrimination In China, Lesley Wexler

Chicago Journal of International Law

In the 1990s and 2000s, the People's Republic of China ("PRC") has undertaken a sustained effort to reform the family planning program. These reforms include: (1) rectification, which combats coercion in enforcement and misappropriation of funds; (2) normalization, which focuses on sex selective abortions and the distorted sex ratio; and (3) incentivization, which provides monetary and other benefits for those in compliance with birth goals. Yet these reforms have not been accompanied by strong enforcement mechanisms or a decline in the sex birth ratio. Thus, this Article aims to develop some supplemental proposals to help ameliorate daughter discrimination.

Parents' Perceptions On The Quality Of Information Given By Professionals Regarding Their Deaf Children, Charles Phillips

Theses

Many deaf children have delayed language development that would greatly affect their future academic success (Marschark, Lang, & Albertini, 2002). Information given by professionals to parents could be a significant factor in overcoming this delay. To assess the quality of this information six parents of deaf children in the Rochester NY area, three deaf parents and three hearing parents were selected to participate in an interview and survey. After the data was examined, it was found that the majority of the parents in this study felt that the information they received from professionals concerning their child's language development was adequate …

Changes In Co-Survivorship Of Adult Children And Parents: Ju/'Hoansi Of Botswana In 1968 And 1988, Patricia Draper, Nancy Howell

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Our study addresses these issues in a sociological microcosm that makes questions about population aging particularly interesting. The group on whom we report are the Ju|'hoansi (!Kung) of western Ngamiland, part of the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. They constitute a noteworthy case for several reasons. Discussion of modernization and its impact on the lives of elderly in traditional society has focused most often on agricultural and peasant societies, rather than on economically simpler groups such as hunter gatherers1). Ju|'hoansi, though now living in permanent settlements, have a recent past of mobile hunting and gathering. Over the past sixty years, Ju|'hoansi …

"Don't Believe The Hype": The Construction And Export Of African American Images In Hip-Hop Culture., John Ike Sewell Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines recurring motifs and personas in hip-hop.

Interviews with influential hip-hop scholars, writers and music industry personnel were conducted and analyzed using qualitative methods. Interview subjects were selected based on their insider knowledge as music critics, hip-hop scholars, ethnomusicologists, publicists, and music industry positions.

The vast majority of constructed imagery in hip-hop is based on a single persona, the gangsta. This qualitative analysis reveals why gangsta personas and motifs have become the de facto imagery of hip-hop. Gangsta imagery is repeatedly presented because it sells, it is the most readily-available role, and because of music industry pressures.

This …

Comparing The Direct And Community-Mediated Effects Of Disturbance On Plant Population Dynamics: Flooding, Herbivory And Mimulus Guttatus, Bret D. Elderd, Dan F. Doak

Faculty Publications

Competition, trophic interactions and abiotic disturbances play important roles in governing plant population dynamics, yet few studies have addressed their relative contributions or interacting effects. We used Life Table Response Experiment (LTRE) analysis, coupled with stochastic analyses, to examine how a major abiotic disturbance, flooding, influences the fitness and population growth of a common riparian plant, Mimulus guttatus, and how this effect compares and interacts with that exerted by herbivory. We also extended LTRE analysis to include nested factors, which enabled us to examine differences across experimental sites. These spatial contributions to changes in population growth rate, λ, were compared …

Survey Of Reproduction Of The Southeastern American Kestrel (Falco Sparverius Paulus) In Electrical Transmission Towers In South-Central Georgia, Pamela Lynn Maney

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study involved a survey of the distribution and the reproductive biology of the rare southeastern subspecies of the American kestrel, Falco sparverius paulus, which was found to be breeding in the hollow cross-arms of the 230 kV electrical transmission towers between the Offerman substation in the east, to Plant Mitchell (Putney), in the west, in south-central Georgia. This subspecies of the kestrel has declined in the southeastern United States by more than 80% over the last fifty years, and populations of F.S. Paulus have nearly disappeared below the Fall Line in Georgia. The major factor contributing to this decline …

Examination Of The Issues And Scientific Evidence For The Identification Process Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Individuals With Learning Disabilities To Enhance Academic Outcomes, Scot Ferre

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Although the identification of learning disabilities (LD) is a viable means to provide appropriate

instructional and support services for students with academic difficulties, there is a limited

knowledge base about the identification, assessment, and intervention of and for LD in deaf and

hard of hearing (D/HH) students. Given the potential consequences of test results, this review

examined current and recent developments in the field of learning disabilities concerning the

conceptualization of learning disability and the validity and empirical support of earlier

identification methods and various assessment identification options with D/HH students.

Challenges to the process and the need for additional …

Examining The Relationship Between Student Support Services And Student Outcomes At A Four-Year Institution, Angela Williams

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study identified and examined the service variable combination(s) provided by Student Support Services (SSS) TRIO program that had a statistically significant relationship with program participants’ academic performance and retention. SSS is a federally funded program designed to increase the retention and graduation rates of undergraduate first-generation, low-income, disabled college students. While SSS has played a significant role in the retention of disadvantaged students, scarce empirical research exist which examine the combination of SSS services that affect students’ academic performance and retention. Considering SSS programs will probably not experience large increases in federal support in the future and given the …

Glenwood Country Day School Elementary: Marketing Plan, Heather Ferragut

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Glenwood Country Day School Elementary, a newly expanding soon-to-be nonprofit, is in dire need of marketing assistance. This paper presents a marketing plan comprised of a mix of marketing strategies. In an effort to fill its classrooms, the school had previously advertised in a few local magazines. However, the response was poor. To obtain a more thorough understanding of the problem facing the school, multiple sources were consulted. Interviews were conducted; a survey was administered; a literature review was performed. Through research and analysis, seven marketing goals were proposed. These include adding clients, expanding current partnerships with the local community, …

Distribution, Growth And Egg Production Of Euphausiids In The Northern Gulf Of Alaska, Alexei I. Pinchuk

Marine Biology

The euphausiids Thysanoessa inermis, Thysanoessa spinifera and Euphausia pacifica are key pelagic grazers and important prey for many vertebrates in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This thesis provides the first account of distribution, egg production, growth, development, and temporal variability in abundance of the euphausiids in relation to environmental variations in the northern GOA. T. inermis and T spinifera were abundant on the shelf within 120-130 km from the coast, while E. pacifica originated from offshore and was advected onto the shelf during summer. E. pacifica produced multiple broods with brood size strongly related to ambient chlorophyll a concentrations. In …

The 2005 Benson Residents Survey, David J. Drozd, Jerry Deichert, Robert F. Blair

Past Publications

The Center for Public Affairs Research and the Urban Studies Program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha organized a telephone survey of Benson-area residents. The survey identified various neighborhood perceptions and activity patterns of alliance residents. The interviews occurred between November 20 and December 4, 2005, with 387 interviews being completed.

Small Treasures: Rare Frogs Of The New Zealand Rainforests, Heather Moulton

Inquiry Journal 2006

No abstract provided.

From The Ubiquitous To The Nonexistent: A Demographic Study Of Oclc Worldcat, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

Analysis of a random sample of bibliographic records from OCLC WorldCat finds that the great majority of items in WorldCat are held by very few participating libraries, and that an inverse geometric relationship exists between the number of libraries holding an item and the number of items with a given level of shared holdings. The findings provide a context for interpreting holding levels in WorldCat with regard to the proportion of widely shared items and the characteristics of items at various ranges of holdings. Used with other quantitative and evaluative measures, these findings will assist libraries in assessing their collections.

Columns Spring 2006, Southern Adventist University

Alumni Newsletter

Features the article "Sharing the Bread of Life". From Madagascar to Mali, current and former students and faculty of Southern are excited about evangelism and eager to share the gospel of Christ.

Using Geographic Information Systems To Assess Risk For Elevated Blood Lead Levels In Children In Kalamazoo County, Michigan, Amatun Noor

Masters Theses

Lead-based paint is the major source of childhood lead poisoning for children under six in the United States and was commonly used in pre-1950 homes. The main objective of this study for Kalamazoo County, Michigan is to identify risk homes to for public health workers, and determine common socioeconomic factors from the US Census that can be used to identify relative risk across census tracts. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is applied to locate the risk homes of 485 children provided at the aggregate level by the Michigan Department of Community Health. Independent variables were derived from the U.S. 2000 …

In The Cellars Of The Hollow Men: Use Of Solitary Confinement In U.S. Prisons And Its Implications Under International Laws Against Torture, Tracy Hresko

Pace International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Infertility: Testing A Helpseeking Model, Lynn K. White, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, David R. Johnson

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

This paper uses data from a study of 196 infertile women from the Midwestern US to examine a general theory of help-seeking behavior applied to infertility. All of these women report meeting the medical definition of infertility—12 months or more of regular intercourse without conception—at some point in their lives. Only 35 percent of this sample of infertile women identified themselves as having had fertility problems and only 40 percent had sought medical treatment.

Drawing on prior theories of help-seeking, we examine the effects of symptom salience, life course cues, attitudes, predisposing factors, and enabling conditions on help-seeking. We posit …

Rural Health Research In Progress In The Rural Health Research Centers Program, Maine Rural Health Research Center, Muskie School Of Public Service

Faculty, Staff, and Alumni Books

This book describes the research and policy analysis projects underway in the Rural Health Research Centers Program of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP), Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The objective of this program is to produce research and policy analyses that will be useful in the development of national and state policies to assure access to quality physical and behavioral health services for rural Americans.