Digital Commons Network^™

Aging Effects On The Transcription Of Differentially Impaired Dysarthric Speech, Molly Anne Duggan

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Thirty participants transcribed 60 words and 30 sentences spoken by persons with dysarthria. Participants, all aged 65 and older were divided into three age groups: Young-Old, Middle-Old, and Old-Old. Each group was comprised of 10 participants. Stimuli were recorded by two male speakers with differing severity levels of dysarthria. Results suggested age did affect the transcription scores, as the Young-Old participants were able to transcribe words and sentences with greater accuracy than the Old-Old participants. The severity of the dysarthric speaker also affected the accuracy of participants in transcribing their words and sentences. Utterances produced by the speaker with mild …

Allergies In University Of Northern Iowa College Students, Lisa Krausman

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Allergies diseases, comprising of asthma and allergies, in some direct or indirect way affect most American families as more than 40 to 60 million or one in four Americans suffer from allergic diseases. Allergic diseases are a widespread problem that has a great monetary cost to society and a negative impact on the quality of life for those afflicted. This research was based on an analytical cross-sectional study design with a convenience sample of young adults in a college population. The paper based survey consisted of 55 questions asking various questions throughout various periods of life including the topics of …

Late Charges, Regular Billing, And Reasonable Consumers: A Rationale For A Late Payment Act, Norman I. Silber

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

This essay considers the reasonable behavior of consumers in relation to law and the policies that tolerate the assessment of late payment penalties, fees, and surcharges. Attention is trained principally on the inadequately-regulated cycle of creditor billing and debtor repayment practices, rather than on excessively high fees. The focus here is on the credit card issuers and, to a lesser degree, the wireless telecommunication vendors. Problems associated with late fee billing cycles cut a wide swath of billing for recurring debt repayment, however. A variety of different demands on consumers imposed sector-by-sector interact to magnify the consumers' difficulties.

Part I …

Signposts And Crossroads: A Model For Live Action Mediator Assessment, Dorothy J. Della Noce, James R. Antes, Robert A. Baruch Bush, Judith A. Saul

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

In this paper, we describe and explain the Signposts and Crossroads model-a performance-based approach that is directed toward the formative assessment of practice competence in mediators who follow the transformative framework. We present the historical background of this project in Part II. In Part III, we articulate the conceptual foundations of the model. In Part V, we provide an overview of the model. We conclude in Part V with a discussion of the implications of this model for the future of performance-based assessment initiatives in the mediation field generally. In particular, we discuss in that section the potential for this …

The Failure Of Title Vii As A Rights-Claiming System, Deborah L. Brake, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article takes a comprehensive look at the failure of Title VII as a system for claiming nondiscrimination rights. The Supreme Court's recent decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, 127 S. Ct. 2162 (2007), requiring an employee to assert a Title VII pay discrimination claim within 180 days of when the discriminatory pay decision was first made, marks the tip of the iceberg in this flawed system. In the past decade, Title VII doctrines at both ends of the rights-claiming process have become increasing hostile to employees. At the front end, Title VII imposes strict requirements …

Author Biographies, Leah Strege

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Examining Veterans' Interest Groups: Understanding Success Through Interest Group Ratings, Nicole Schiller '08

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

While many legislative scholars have consistently concerned themselves with the motivations behind congressional votes, very little has been done to examine the specific motivations behind votes on veterans’ legislation. By using the congressional ratings compiled by veterans’ interest groups as well as a variety of variables that may affect those ratings, this paper seeks to gain a deeper understanding of what factors contribute to the successes of individual veterans’ organizations. It is concluded that, while some constituency characteristics did play a small role in explaining legislative successes, the majority of success is explained by both legislator party affiliation and ideology.

Environmentalism: Material Or Post-Material Need?, Amanda Weier '08

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Environmentalism in Latin America has become of increasing concern throughout the world from the poor conditions in urban areas that affect the health of the population to the vast destruction of precious areas such as the Amazon. This paper seeks to discover what causes Latin American governments to take environmental actions. Are factors such as economic stability, environmental knowledge and education, or poor health conditions important in influencing the government to join environmental intergovernmental organizations?

From Mario To Manhunt: The Effects Ofviolent Video Game Content And Competition On Hostility And Aggressive Cognitions, Courtney Lee '08

Honors Projects

Research has shown that playing violent video games can lead to increases in aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This study further examined this effect using a specially designed video game that allowed for precise manipulation ofviolent game play. Competition was independently manipulated and the interactive effects of competition and violence were studied. It was hypothesized that violence combined with competition would lead to greater aggressive thought and feelings. Consistent with this hypothesis, results show that male participants in the high violence, high competition condition report significantly greater hostility than participants in other conditions. Female participants show significantly greater hostility in …

The Effects Of Cardiorespiratory Fitness On Behavioral And Neuroelectric Indices Of Cognition In Young Adults, Elizabeth K. Mraz '08

Honors Projects

Effects ofcardiorespiratory fitness on cognition were assessed for 72 young adults. Participants completed an executive control task while behavioral and neuroelectric indices ofcognition were obtained. Behavioral (reaction time, response accuracy) and neuroelectric (P3 amplitude, P3 latency) measures ofcognitive function and processing were examined in relation to fitness to determine the unique influence offitness on cognition. A graded maximal exercise test was used to measure fitness by assessing maximal oxygen consumption. Higher fitness was associated with a smaller difference in P3 amplitude across expectancies as well as a longer P3 latency at the central midline site, suggesting a relationship between fitness …

The Effects Of Social Ostracism On Frontal Lobe Electroencephalogram Activity, Jennifer A. Morozink '08

Honors Projects

This project is part of a larger investigation involving personality traits and their relation to the individual's response to ostracism as well as effects of social ostracism on frontal lobe EEG activity.

The "Evolution" Of Media: The Influence Of A Media Literacy Campaign On Self Esteem And Body Image, Vasiliki D. Dremonas '08

Honors Projects

For decades, society has criticized the media for instigating many of the physical, social, and psychological maladies that affect females of all ages. However, recent advertising approaches, namely the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, endeavor to sell products by responsibly endorsing attainable beauty ideals. The present study seeks to empirically evaluate whether campaign efforts like Dove's are successful at reducing negative female body image, or whether they are instead counterproductive to their goal due to what social psychologists term "sleeper effect" processes. 102 female undergraduates were either exposed to the Dove commercial Evolution in its entirety, Evolution in part, or …

Behavioral Responses To Predictable And Unpredictable Competitors And C-Fos Expression In The Amygdala And Nucleus Accumbens, Jennifer Schnupp '08

Honors Projects

The present study examined the effects of the presence of a competitoron the behavior of individual rats in a foraging paradigm as was done in Farmer-Dougan, Dougan, Knight, Toelle, and Chandrashekar (2007). Rats foraged for food in a large open field, with pellets delivered in one patch on a Variable Interval schedule (VI). During alone conditions, each rat foraged by itself. During the unpredictable competitor condition, a competitor rat was introduced on an unpredictable basis on the last day of foraging. In this condition, the rats displayed avoidance behavior and were significantly undermatching as was observed in Farmer-Dougan et al. …

Increasing Condom-Related Behavioral Intentions, Motivation, And Willingness Via Social Ties In Advertisements, Marylee Richardson '08

Honors Projects

Although researchers have identified factors associated with increased condom use, STI prevalence rates are still high, and condom use rates are still low. Various advertising techniques have been implemented to increase condom use, but these techniques are largely self-focused. Based on research in exercise adherence and cognitive interdependence, this study used advertisements targeting social ties to increase condom use. One hundred forty-seven Illinois Wesleyan University students viewed one of six critical advertisements--a self-focused condom advertisement, a relationship-focused condom advertisement, a friendship-focused condom advertisement, a self-focused sunscreen advertisement, a relationship-focused sunscreen advertisement, or a friendship-focused sunscreen advertisement. Participants then completed measures …

The Effects Of The Norepinephrine Agonist, Guanfacine, On Scopolamine-Induced Memory Impairments In The Rat, Andrew P. Tharp '08

Honors Projects

Cognitive deficits associated with Alzheimer's disease are known to result from decreases in acetylcholine within the cholinergic system ofthe medial septal area, which projects to the hippocampus. Recent studies have proposed that increasing levels ofthe neurotransmitter norepinephrine may help to decrease the cognitive impairments associated with Alzheimer's disease and aging. The present study measured the effects that Guanfacine, an alpha-2 noradrenergic agonist, has on memory deficits produced by the acetylcholine antagonist, Scopolamine. Memory ability was assessed using an object recognition task and a socially transmitted food preference task. Following administration of Scopolamine, memory ability was significantly impaired from baseline levels …

Promoting Environmentally Responsible Behaviors Using Motivational Interviewing Techniques, Sarah L. Tribble '08

Honors Projects

An experimental design was used to determine whether environmentally responsible behaviors (ERBs) could be promoted by exposing participants to two motivational interviewing techniques-provision ofinformation and engagement in a decisional balance exercise. We hypothesized (a) a main effect of the information manipulation such that provision ofbasic as well as normative information about the current state ofglobal warming would be more effective than basic information only at promoting ERBs, which would in turn be more effective than a control information group and (b) a main effect ofthe decisional balance manipulation such that engagement in a decisional balance activity would be more effective …

Rethinking The Organisational: From ‘Form’ To ‘Forming’, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

The organisational theory literature has identified the emergence and evolution of organisational forms as a critical issue to be addressed, yet new ways of looking at organisational form have yet to be addressed and there are concerns about the largely ahistorical and aprocessual character of much organisational theorising. Most “new” theories that have been put forward continue to view form as something already formed, as an essence, with the attention focused on what constitutes form. Further, extant organisational theories, from the original Weberian ideal type through all other theories, be they in appearance ahistorical (i.e., contingency) or historical (i.e., ecological) …

An Approach To Machine Development Of Musical Ontogeny, Marcelo Gimenes

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This Thesis pursues three main objectives: (i) to use computational modelling to explore how music is perceived, cognitively processed and created by human beings; (ii) to explore interactive musical systems as a method to model and achieve the transmission of musical influence in artificial worlds and between humans and machines; and (iii) to experiment with artificial and alternative developmental musical routes in order to observe the evolution of musical styles. In order to achieve these objectives, this Thesis introduces a new paradigm for the design of computer interactive musical systems called the Ontomemetical Model of Music Evolution - OMME, which …

Motivation And The Placebo Response : Predicting Non-Specific Therapeutic Benefits From The Concordance Of Therapeutic Rituals With High-Level Goals, Ben Whalley

School of Psychology Theses

Predicting individual differences in placebo responding has proved hard. Predictions from dispositional or personality variables are unreliable for two reasons: first, because dispositional predictions fail to account for situational variability, and second, because the dimensions identified in popular dispositional models are inter-individual variables, and may not map on to intra-individual structures and processes involved in placebo effects. This thesis describes a new psychological mechanism of placebo responding—motivational concordance—which links placebos with established research on human values and goal-striving. Progress towards goals, particularly goals which are self-actualising, is associated with positive emotional states. Findings presented here support the view that when …

Naipaul’S Children: Representations Of Humor And Ruin In Miguel Street, Aaron Eastley

Faculty Publications

The piece had originally appeared in the Demerara Daily Argosy in neighboring British Guiana, and was contributed by a writer who signed himself simply as "Clarence" ("Immigration"9). Under the subheading "UNJUST TO IMMIGRANTS" Clarence argues that abolishing the system of indentured labor, which brought a recorded 141,615 immigrant workers from India to Trinidad between 1845 and 1917 (Weller 151-3), would be "an act of veiled cruelty to the immigrants themselves" ("Immigration 9). He credits the system with keeping immigrants under skilled care and supervision until they ha[ve] learned how to live under the new conditions" of life in the West …

Attitudes Towards Managing The Work-Family Interface: The Role Of Gender And Social Background, Melrona Kirrane, Kathy Monks

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

The effective management of the work-life interface is an issue increasingly recognised as of strategic importance to organisations and of significance to employees (Forsyth & Polzer-Dedruyne, 2007; Nord et al., 2002; Russell & Bowman, 2000). A pan-European investigation (Brannen et al., 2002) concluded that young Irish people characterize the two domains of work and family as operating in conflict with each other. Given the high rate of workforce participation in the Irish labour market, and the corporate imperative of effective retention strategies (Messersmith, 2007; Cappelli, 2000), understanding how this perspective may influence behavioural intentions with respect to managing the work-family …

Residential Child Care Can Do With All The Assistance It Can Get, Charles Sharpe

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

Essay review of : Ward, A., Kasinski, K., Pooley, J. and Worthington, A. (eds) (2003). Therapeutic Communities for Children and Young People. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Effects Of Friendship In Transactions In An Emerging Market: Empirical Evidence From Brazil, Wesley Mendes-Da-Silva, Thaís Fernanda Salves De Brito, Rubens Famá, Jonathan T. Liljegren

Faculty Publications

This paper considers the inclusion of human behavioral aspects and implications of cognitive psychology and anthropology in decisions relating to the emerging field of behavioral finance. The formulated hypotheses were tested using 400 questionnaires, answered by students enrolled in MBA programs. The principal results suggest that individuals involved in transactions among friends or among strangers assume different behaviors—friends agree about the price attributed to an asset, while strangers show the propensity to bargain.

Media Literacy And The Public Sphere: A Contextual Study For Public Media Literacy Promotion In Ireland, Brian O'Neill, Cliona Barnes

Reports

This research documents the background to the development of media literacy as a matter of public policy, both within the European Union and internationally, and examines considerations that may be important in the emerging Irish debate on media literacy.

Measuring The Contribution And Complexity Of Nurse And Physiotherapy Consultants: A Feasibility Study., J Richardson, R Ainsworth, A Humphreys, E Stenhouse, M Watkins

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Advanced practice roles in nursing and other health professions have become integral to a range of healthcare services world-wide providing experienced practitioners with the opportunity to extend their roles and influence decision making whilst maintaining patient contact. However, there has been limited research to evaluate the impact on health services of these advanced practice roles.The aim of this feasibility study was to analyse Nurse and Allied Health Professionals (AHP) Consultant activity in the four functions of the role (education, expert practice, leadership, research). A structured diary assessed the activity of five Consultant Nurses and one Consultant Physiotherapist over a one …

Socioeconomic Factors And Illicit Drug Demand, Elizabeth Taylor '08

The Park Place Economist

How do we help to control the social dilemmas that are results of drug abuse? By investigating and better understanding the relationship between drug demand and socioeconomic status, much can be done to improve illicit drug control and regulation. This paper examines the relationship between socioeconomic status and demand for illicit drugs.

How Does Advertising Articulate The Tropes Of The Posthuman That Exist In Contemporary Culture?, Norah Campbell

Doctoral

The posthuman is a concept that has accrued much currency in disciplines as diverse as legal theory, artificial life science and philosophy. This thesis explores the meaning of the concept by initially examining what it means to be human, finding that art and science have so far failed to provide a long-lasting definition of humanness. Instead of a temporal “coming-after” stage of humanity, posthumanism might be more usefully seen as a concept that draws attention to the cracks that have always existed in the apparently water-tight description of the human- how the “human” has changed radically and continues to change …

The Influence Of The Servicescape On Post-Consumption Processes, Daire Hooper

Doctoral

The physical and atmospheric cues in service environments have long been accepted as potent contributors to consumers’ overall evaluations of their service experiences. Theoretical frameworks conceptualising how these environmental cues impact on both emotional and cognitive processes have been put forward, yet the empirical work supporting these theories has become highly disjointed with a great deal of confusion regarding what should be classified as an environmental stimulus. By integrating the extant literature, this dissertation attempts to overcome theoretical ambiguities and proposes a second order factor model of service environments, also known as the servicescape, which is subsequently tested using a …

Interaction Of The Legitimate System And The Shadow System In Organisations, Caroline Halpin, Philomena Hanlon

Conference papers

This research examines the relationship between the Legitimate and the Shadow Systems in organisations: an interaction that can result in bringing an organisation into a state of bounded instability, and therefore increased creativity and innovation. The Legitimate System consists of the formal hierarchy, bureaucracy, rules, controls and communication patterns in an organisation. A properly functioning Legitimate System is vital for the conduct of business in an organisation in order to ensure its survival and efficiency. The Shadow System is a term coined by Stacey (1997) to describe the informal network of relations within the organisations that are evident in casual …

Two Tribes Go To War: An Examination Of Social Interactions At Irish Football Games, Niamh Kirwan

Masters

research is to explore social life and interaction in sporting space. Despite the growing interest in the field of sport consumption, the experiences of supporters have not been adequately theorised. Studies acknowledging the sport supporter tend to focus supporters as lone individuals or as rigid groups of homogenous individuals that fit into a typology. In this study, I examine the distinct ways in which supporters in small groups interact in the sporting space through mutual relationships and interdependent social networks. Maffesoli (1996) is the original proponent in the study of tribal consumption groups. Maffesoli’s (1996) work has not been used …