Digital Commons Network^™

Spectator 2008-12-03, Editors Of The Spectator

The Spectator

No abstract provided.

Pathways To Drug Use Among Rural And Urban African American Adolescents: The Mediating And Moderating Effects Of Parent And Peer Influences, Trenette Clark

Theses and Dissertations

African American adolescents have traditionally engaged in drug use at disproportionately lower rates than youth of other ethnic groups. Nonetheless, African American youth and adults suffer disproportionately higher rates of drug-related consequences. This paradox is a health and social disparity that has been given fair attention but needs additional culturally intelligent theoretical and empirical explanations. Research that targets African American adolescent drug use has emerged but has failed to fully or moderately explain this paradox. The purpose of this study was to fill a gap in the literature by helping to explain the first part of the paradox, African American …

Considerations Of Multicultural Science And Curriculum Reform: A Content Analysis Of State-Adopted Biology Textbooks In Florida, Margaret H. Delgato

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the extent to which multicultural science education, including indigenous knowledge representations, had been infused within the content of high school biology textbooks. The study evaluated the textbook as an instructional tool and framework for multicultural science education instruction by comparing the mainstream content to indigenous knowledge perspectives portrayed in the student and teacher editions of 34 textbooks adopted in Florida within the last four adoption cycles occurring from 1990 to 2006. The investigation involved a content analysis framed from a mixed methods approach. Emphasis was placed, in consideration of the research questions …

As-675-08 Resolution On New Degree Programs For Social Sciences, Curriculum Committee

Academic Senate Resolutions

Endorses the elimination of the BS in Social Sciences and implements BS in Anthropology-Geography and BA in Sociology.

Academic Senate - Meeting Minutes, 12/2/2008, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Spartan Daily, December 2, 2008, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily (School of Journalism and Mass Communications)

Volume 131, Issue 48

Mens Sana In Corpore Sano: José M. Ramos Mejía And The Medicalization Of Argentine Society, D Galeano

English

Objectives: To present an analysis of the health situation in Argentina during the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, where the medical gaze' played a decisive role through the influence of prominent hygienists of the period.'

A Reassessment Of James Joyce's Female Characters, Anna Margaretha Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

The female characters in James Joyce's fiction have received considerable critical attention since the publication of his writings and are often denigrated as misogynist portrayals of women. However, a textual and historical analysis of the female characters in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Dubliners, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake shows them in a more constructive light. Such an analysis reveals them to be sympathetic portrayals of the situation of Irish women at the turn of the twentieth century. An historical contextualization of the characters is essential in any reading of Joyce, but is particularly important for his …

Academic Senate - Agenda, 12/2/2008, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

The Nature And Dynamics Of Internet Pornography Exposure For Youth., Chiara Sabina, Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor

Sociology

Abstract

We examined exposure to Internet pornography before the age of 18, as reported by college students (n = 563), via an online survey. Ninety-three percent of boys and 62% of girls were exposed to online pornography during adolescence. Exposure prior to age 13 was relatively uncommon. Boys were more likely to be exposed at an earlier age, to see more images, to see more extreme images (e.g., rape, child pornography), and to view pornography more often, while girls reported more involuntary exposure. If participants in this study are typical of young people, exposure to pornography on the Internet can …

The Prospects For Cyberocracy (Revisited), David Ronfeldt, Danielle Varda

Working Papers

The deepening of the information age will alter the nature of the state so thoroughly that something new emerges: "cyberocracy." While it is too early to say precisely what a cyberocracy will look like, the outcomes will include new kinds of democratic, totalitarian, and hybrid governments, along with new kinds of state-society relations. Thus, optimism about the information revolution should be tempered by an anticipation of its potential dark side. This paper reiterates the view of the cyberocracy concept as first stated in 1992, and then offers a postscript for 2008. It speculates that information-age societies will develop new sensory …

Grand Valley Forum, Volume 033, Number 15, December 1, 2008, Grand Valley State University

2008-2009, Volume 33

Grand Valley Forum is Grand Valley State's faculty and staff newsletter, published from 1976 to the present.

Revisiting “Mass Communication” And The “Work” Of The Audience In The New Media Environment, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This paper revisits the concept of mass communication, which has faced persistent challenges to its continued relevance in light of changes that have taken place in the media environment. This paper offers a counterpoint to claims of the term’s diminished relevance, as well as to some recent efforts to reposition the term, by putting forth an interpretive approach that is not exclusive to the “institutional communicator” and that allows the term “mass” to extend to both the senders and receivers of messages. This paper argues that this interpretive approach is in keeping with some early interpretations of the concept’s meaning, …

The Rationalization Of Audience Understanding, Philip M. Napoli

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

This paper reviews the literature that has examined how media organizations make sense of their audiences, the analytical techniques and technologies employed, and how this information is embraced or resisted in the operation of media organizations. As this review illustrates, the historical trend in audience understanding has been one of a steady process of rationalization in how media organizations have approached their audiences. In documenting this process of the rationalization of audience understanding, this review identifies key historical moments in this process. This review identifies the external forces that have influenced this process; the underlying reasons for it; and critiques …

Primetimes Newsletter, Winter 2008, Office Of Lifespan Studies

PrimeTimes Newsletter

PrimeTimes is the newsletter of the Office of Lifespan Studies in the College of Science at Coastal Carolina University.

Communicator, Dec. 2008, San Jose State University, Department Of Kinesiology

Communicator (Kinesiology)

Volume 21, Issue 2

Torch (December 2008), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Eastern Kentucky University Magazine, Fall/Winter 2008, Eastern Kentucky University, Alumni Relations

The Eastern Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Chat Room, Vol. 12, College Of Education And Professional Studies

The Chat Room (CEPS Newsletter)

The Chat Room is the College of Education and Professional Studies newsletter. This is Volume 12, December 2008.

“It’S A Choice, Simple As That”: Youth Reasoning For Sexual Abstinence Or Activity, Rochelle L. Dalla

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

This investigation was designed to fill gaps in the extant literature by examining reasons give by youth for refraining from or engaging in sexual intercourse, in addition to their perceptions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of premarital intercourse. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 103 graduating seniors; 60 self-identified as sexually abstinent and 43 as sexually active. Survey indices were used to assess parent-youth relationships, and parent and peer attitudes toward premarital sex, religiosity, and dating patterns; open-ended questions were used to assess reasons for either engaging in or refraining from sexual intercourse, and to identify benefits and problems …

Insights, Winter, 2008, Utah State University

Discovery Magazine

Bi-annual alumni newsletter for the College of Science of Utah State University in Logan.

Changes In The Distribution Of Income Among Single Mother Families: Murphy Brown Meets Inequality, Christopher Bollinger, James P. Ziliak

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

We document the demographic and economic forces underlying changes in income inequality among single mother families over the past three decades in the United States. Using decomposable measures of after-tax income-to-needs inequality, we examine within- and between-group inequality based on education attainment, age, past marital status, race, and employment status. We also conduct income factor decompositions to quantify the relative contributions of earnings, transfers, other income, and taxes to inequality. Our results from the March Current Population Survey show that income-to-needs inequality rose nearly 30 percent between 1979 and 2005. The demographic decompositions indicate that most of the change in …

Principals' Knowledge Of Idea And Their Implementation Of Special Education Services, Karen Smith Collins

Dissertations

This correlational study was designed to determine the relationship between the principals' knowledge of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and their implementation of special education services, as well as to determine if there was a relationship between principals' knowledge of IDEA and their beliefs and practices; experience, training, and demographic characteristics. The respondents, principals in New Orleans area schools, were divided into three groups: charter, city/district, and state operated. Their knowledge of IDEA was measured using a survey instrument developed by Wakeman (2005) and Copenhagen (2005). It also included a small section on specific characteristics of the principals assigned …

Factors That Contribute To A Successful Secondary Vocational Education Program In The State Of Mississippi, Erin Leigh Parker

Dissertations

This study was designed to assess and identify factors that make a vocational program successful. Using qualitative methods for collection and analysis of data, vocational instructors and students in programs identified to be successful were interviewed to better depict the classroom setting, teachers, methods, etc. of these successful programs. Participants included instructors of and students enrolled in secondary vocational programs in the state of Mississippi identified to be most successful according to C-PAS test scores in each of the following training areas: Building Trades (carpentry), Business and Computer Technology, Marketing Management Technology, and Allied Health. MS-CPAS test scores were analyzed …

Factors Associated With Attitudes Toward Learning In An Online Environment: Transactional Distance, Technical Efficacy, And Physical Surroundings, Jodi Elizabeth Pettazzoni

Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between a student's environment in an online course and their academic achievement. This study surveyed students who completed world literature classes in an online format that were part of their universities' general education curricula. Students responded to items assessing several constructs and personal demographic variables that together defined their learning environments: content, delivery, assessment and feedback, technical support, learner experience with technology, learner experience with distance learning, interaction, physical space, support network, characteristics of adult learners, and major. Academic achievement was the dependent variable and was defined as anticipated grade in the course. Using Spearman …

Post-Disaster Effects Of Hurricane Katrina On Significantly Affected College Students Compared To Moderately Affected College Students, Charles Thomas Coleman

Dissertations

This quantitative study used independent t tests to explore the level of significance with four dependent variables of educational effects (grades), financial impact (monetary hardship), physiological effects (aches, pains, or injury), and psychological effects (mental stability or illness) related to significantly affected students and moderately affected students of post- Hurricane Katrina. To determine if there was a significant difference between moderately affected students compared to significantly affected students, a questionnaire specific to the dependent variables was administered to The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) students.

Data gathered in this study suggested the greatest significant difference among significantly affected students and …

A Letter From The Editor And Gsa President – Adapted From The 2008 Gsa Annual Meeting, Laurel Holland, David Jenks

The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology

Letter from the Editor & Georgia Sociology Association President

Immigration As Threat: A Content Analysis Of Citizen Perception, Michael T. Costelloe

The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology

Public discourse concerning immigration and immigration policy often relies on the characterization and universalization of the threats that are posed by increasing immigration. It is the specification and reference to these threats that allows one to consider immigration as "moral panic." It is through this lens, that I undertake a content analysis of letters to the editor that appeared in a large southwestern city newspaper from January 1st 2005 to December 31st, 2005. This study describes the extent to which these threats seem to resonate with individuals who wrote and had published letters to the editor regarding immigration issues.

Practice And Malpractice: Physician Responses To The Liability 'Crisis', Lynne Cossman, Debra Street

The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology

Mississippi is a largely rural state with many poor and unhealthy residents who are chronically underserved by the smallest per capita physician workforce in the nation. Anecdotal reports claimed Mississippi‘s medical malpractice climate jeopardized patient access to health care even further. Using survey data from Mississippi physicians, we document how medical liability perceptions shaped their practices at the height of the Mississippi malpractice crisis. Our findings show that physicians‘ risk profiles strongly influenced the extent to which physicians reported practicing defensive medicine or considered relocating or retiring early in response to malpractice conditions. This raises the specter of further compromising …

Why Catastrophic Organizational Failures Happen, Michael A. Roberto

Management Department Faculty Journal Articles

Excerpt from the introduction:

"The purpose of this chapter is to examine the major streams of research about catastrophic failures, describing what we have learned about why these failures occur as well as how they can be prevented. The chapter begins by describing the most prominent sociological school of thought with regard to catastrophic failures, namely normal accident theory. That body of thought examines the structure of organizational systems that are most susceptible to catastrophic failures. Then, we turn to several behavioral perspectives on catastrophic failures, assessing a stream of research that has attempted to understand the cognitive, group and …