Digital Commons Network^™

Effectiveness Of Team-Building And Teamwork In Real And Virtual Worlds, Rachana Ranade

All Theses

Given the increasing importance of globalization and collaboration, this research investigates the possibility of performing team-building training for globally dispersed teams using the capabilities of the virtual world Second Life. Three meeting conditions, the 3D virtual world Second Life, a combination of face-to-face and Second Life and face-to-face were evaluated. Thirty randomly assigned 3 person teams performed an ice-breaker session and then a team-building activity in each meeting condition. Four dependent variables were measured: task completion time; quality of task performance; the subjective satisfaction with the process based on group cohesiveness, perception of the process and satisfaction with the outcome; …

Influence Of Technology On Adolescent Development And Spiritual Formation, Kevin Daniel Monahan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Adolescence is the time when a person develops perceptions about religious thoughts and with proper guidance, can be a stronger follower of Christ. The purpose of this project is to analyze the effects of technology on young people and to show a direct correlation between the influence of technology and spiritual growth of adolescents. I will argue that both the positive and negative influences of technology have made our students more informative yet less personally intimate. This shift of personal interaction presents a challenge to the cognitive development and spiritual formation of all students.

Preadmission Academic Achievement Criteria As Predictors Of Nursing Program Completion And Nclex -Rn Success, Tanya L. Rogers

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Admission policies and practices in higher education, including those in nursing programs, are diverse; yet administrators have traditionally relied upon preadmission academic achievement for selection of qualified students. Higher education administrators have the responsibility to serve the institution and all of its constituents, ensuring that admission policies and regular systematic evaluation of those policies are important aspects of that service.;The nursing shortage and limited resources have pressed nursing schools to implement innovative strategies to increase the number of qualified graduates. State University's School of Nursing has used a score sheet to rank associate degree nursing applicants since 1984. The preadmission …

Soldiers And Stereotypes: Mountaineers, Cultural Identity, And World War Ii, C. Belmont Keeney

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

To what extent are Appalachian stereotypes true and how much is pure fabrication? This study seeks to answer this question by examining the experiences of West Virginia soldiers during World War II. Appalachian hillbillies, believed to be culturally backward, uncivilized, isolated, and prone to violence, were often sent straight to the infantry because it was believed that their wild mountain heritage made them inherently better fighters. Using interviews, letters, and a collection of over 1,200 firsthand written accounts of Appalachian veterans collected by West Virginia University in 1946, this study traces the evolution of the cultural and individual identities of …

Globalization, Diversity, And The Search For Culturally Relevant Models For Adult Education, Patricia K. Kubow

International Education

This is a book review for Curriculum Development for Adult Learners in the Global Community (Volume II, Teaching and Learning). Victor C.X. Wang (Ed.), 2009. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company.

Board Level Strategic Decision-Making: Process Characteristics And Context, Bernard C. Bailey

Student Scholarship

How do boards make strategic decisions? Semi-structured interviews with twenty eight directors of small to medium size publicly traded U.S. companies in the high technology sector were conducted in order to gain insights into strategic decision-making at the board level. We identified six characteristics that distinguish two divergent views about strategic decision-making. These characteristics include the role of the board chair, the boardroom climate, the board's shared vision and goals, the board's agency primacy, the board's process for decision closure and the board's level of involvement in the strategic planning process.

Workers' Compensation, H. Michael Bagley, J. Benson Ward

Mercer Law Review

There were minimal legislative changes during the survey period from June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009, but several interesting decisions were issued by the Georgia Court of Appeals. Among those were cases affirming the exclusive remedy doctrine, a case providing insight on the applicability of statutory employment when the general contractor is an owner in possession of the property, and several statute of limitations cases

Catholic Institutions Of Higher Education And K-12 Schools Partnering For Social Justice: A Call For Scholarship, Joan Whipp, Martin Scanlan

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

This article calls for scholarship on emerging partnerships between Catholic institutions of higher education and Catholic K-12 schools that aim at socially just schooling. Justice, ethical care, learning, and social entrepreneurship are explored as possible conceptual frameworks for this research.

You've Got Your Mother's Laugh: What Bankruptcy Mediation Can Learn From The Her/History Of Divorce And Child Custody Mediation, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

Due to our current deep economic woes, growing bankruptcy filings, and apparent legislative unwillingness to expand the number of judges, bankruptcy courts are exploring the use of mediation to help resolve adversary proceedings, negotiate elements of reorganizations, and deal with claims that cannot be heard directly in bankruptcy proceedings. In addition, mediation advocates have been consistent in urging greater use of the process to reduce debtors’ and claimants’ costs, bridge the jurisdictional and standing challenges that bankruptcies can pose, and offer claimants the opportunity to be heard and determine their own resolution of claims. At this point, the relatively few …

The 'I' In Team: Effects Of Performance Appraisal Type On Teamwork Variables, Brandy Brown

All Theses

The following research examined the effects of performance appraisal condition on teamwork variables. As more reliable models of teamwork emerge, there remains a noticeable lack of information regarding team motivation and feedback in an organizational context. This paper first reviews the current findings on team motivation, feedback, and performance appraisals and then applies that topic to teamwork processes. The researcher proposed that individual, team, and dual (individual and team feedback) performance appraisals would have different effects on teamwork processes and performance. Positive effects on team orientation, mutual trust, and team performance in the team and dual performance appraisal conditions were …

Deviant, Courtney Richards

All Theses

ABSTRACT
I create portraits and self-portraits that explore the dualities of the western human condition, namely the deviant and the ideal, the refined and the unrefined, and the perfect and the flawed. Drawing on personal experiences with people considered outsiders or social deviants, I construct figures that embody the conflicting ideas inherent in these dualities. I explore these conflicts in drawings that are constructed with marks and shapes that are both basic and refined, and in photographs that use analytic documentation to describe social turmoil. I reference artists both contemporary and historical, such as Egon Schiele, Robert Longo, Kathe Kollwitz, …

Physically And Viscerally Made, Jenny Hutchinson

All Theses

Through the mediums of painting and drawing, I seek to create a figure that communicates particular states of being relative to contemporary conditions in society. Today we are individuals consumed by visual media and interconnectivity. I question -in wake of those conditions- how often we are self-aware. By living our lives through these two devices, we increasingly satisfy external needs, but may neglect internal needs. This situation, I believe, causes a dislocation of mind from body, and allows us to behave body-less. The distortion that we feel viscerally and live physically is actualized through the paint and drawing mediums. An …

Structures Serving The Visibly Homeless: An Emergency Shelter Response In Charleston, South Carolina, Ellen Martin

All Theses

This thesis is an architectural exploration into how to partially address the housing crisis affecting the visibly homeless population of Charleston, South Carolina. Thousands of men, women, and children in the United States are homeless in Charleston there is a significant and increasing number of visibly homeless. Those who sleep outside shelters are generally known as the 'visibly homeless' or street homeless. The visibly homeless is the most underserved group within the entire homeless population and is composed of those who sleep in places not intended for human habitation, such as bus stations, subway trains, automobiles, doorways, and abandoned buildings. …

Cyber Attacks: Does Physical Boundary Matter?, Qiu-Hong Wang, Seung-Hyun Kim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Information security issues are characterized with interdependence. Particularly, cyber criminals can easily cross national boundaries and exploit jurisdictional limitations between countries. Thus, whether cyber attacks are spatially autocorrelated is a strategic issue for government authorities and a tactic issue for insurance companies. Through an empirical study of cyber attacks across 62 countries during the period 2003-2007, we find little evidence on the spatial autocorrelation of cyber attacks at any week. However, after considering economic opportunity, IT infrastructure, international collaboration in enforcement and conventional crimes, we find strong evidence that cyber attacks were indeed spatially autocorrelated as they moved over time. …

Optimal Experience In Relationships, Activities, And Beyond: Connecting Flow With Self-Expansion, Brandy M. Dean

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Flow is a state of optimal experience characterized by complete immersion in an enjoyable activity and has been associated with positive experience in activities. Self-expansion is a state of increase in the diversity and complexity of the self and has been linked with positive experience in relationships. Despite phenomenological similarities, the connection between these two states has not been examined. The current study used a correlational design to explore the degrees of overlap between these states by comparing them in general, situation-specific, and predictive contexts. It was expected that flow and self-expansion would occur at similar frequencies, be produced by …

Working Memory, Cues, And Wayfinding In Older Women, Rebecca L. Davis, Barbara A. Therrien, Brady T. West

Peer Reviewed Articles

Individuals create cognitive maps based on relationships between cues in the environment. Older individuals are often impaired in wayfinding, especially in environments that lack distinctive features. This study examines how working memory ability in older women is related to wayfinding performance in the presence of salient (distinctive, prominent) or nonsalient cues. The degree of salient cue complexity is also examined, thus leading to the hypothesis that salient, complex cues are important in wayfinding and that working memory capacity is related to wayfinding performance. The virtual computer-generated arena is used to test this hypothesis in 20 healthy older women in three …

A Pilot Study Of An Automated Voice Response System And Nursing Intervention To Monitor Adherence To Oral Chemotherapy Agents, Veronica Decker, Sandra L. Spoelstra, Emily Miezo, Renee Bremer, Mei You, Charles W. Given, Barbara A. Given

Peer Reviewed Articles

This study was designed to develop and test a system to monitor adherence with non-hormonal oral chemotherapeutic agents using an automated voice response (AVR) system plus nursing intervention. Participants received the Symptom Management Toolkit then participated in an interview for symptom severity, satisfaction, and beliefs about oral agents. Patients received weekly AVR calls, which assessed adherence to oral agents and severity of 15 symptoms. Patients who reported adherence of < 100% of prescribed oral agents or symptoms of 4 or greater (0-10 scale) for three consecutive weeks, were called by a nurse for assistance with symptom management and adherence to oral chemotherapy medications. Following the 8 weekly AVR calls, patients participated in a follow up interview and medical record review. Subjects were 30 oncology patients who were ambulatory and treated at two cancer centers in Midwest USA. The results indicate 23.3% non adherence rate to oral chemotherapy medications due to symptoms and forgetting to take the medication. An association between symptom management and adherence was found. Symptom severity and beliefs about medications were not significantly different between adherent and non adherent patients. This pilot study demonstrated the ability to accrue patients for a longitudinal trial and informed intervention design, while providing guidance for future interventions and research studies.

This study was designed to develop and test a system to monitor adherence with nonhormonal oral chemotherapeutic agents using an automated voice response (AVR) system plus nursing intervention. Participants were patients …

Treatment Of Late-Life Insomnia, Christina S. Mccrae Phd, Joseph M. Dzierzewski Ms, Daniel Kay

Faculty Publications

Insomnia, defined as difficulty initiating and/or maintaining sleep at least 3 nights/week that is accompanied by complaints of sleep-related daytime impairment 1, 2, is the most common sleep disturbance in later life. Although insomnia can occur as an acute disorder (7 days or less), older adults are often afflicted with chronic insomnia (12 months or more3 ). Additionally, insomnia in older individuals is most frequently co-morbid in nature, occurring in the context of age-related medical/psychiatric conditions, increased medication usage, and/or polypharmacy. This chapter will focus on the conceptualization, assessment and treatment of late-life insomnia from a behavioral sleep medicine perspective. …

Hand In Hand, Winter 2009

Hand in Hand

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Milwaukee, WI

Hand in Hand Finding Aid

In Re Marriage Of Matchen, 866 N.E.2d 683 (Ill. App. Ct. 2007): Illinois Removal Standards Do Not Match Up With The Current National Trend, Misty Edwards

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act provides that a parent who wishes to move out of the state of Illinois with a child must first petition the court for permission.  The court then bases its decision whether the child may be removed on the "best interests of the child" standard.  This Casenote examines the difficulty of applying the "best interests of the child" standard and advocates that Illinois adopt a standard favoring the present national trend: the ability of a custodial parent to move out of state unless motivated by bad faith.

Parental Perceptions Of Body Mass Index Referrals And Overweight School-Age Children, Misty Schwartz

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

It is well documented that there is a worldwide epidemic of obesity in children. To address obesity in children, emphasis must be on factors within family, school, and community environments. Although most parents and school officials are aware of the problem of overweight children, there is little data available to guide decision making about the acceptability of school-based Body Mass Index (BMI) screening and referral programs. As states mandate BMI screening and referral, parental insight is essential to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of BMI notification.

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the perceptions of parents …

Principals Perceptions Of Factors Affecting Teacher Collaboration In Secondary Schools, Lonnie E. Myers

College of Education Dissertations

This qualitative multi-case study examined how various practicing secondary principals in the Northwest Region of Arkansas perceive teacher collaboration within secondary schools. Job-embedded opportunities for teacher collaboration have been cited as successful ways for promoting teacher learning, which in turn will promote increased student learning (Little, 1990). Researchers and theorists cite properly supported collaboration as key to lasting school improvement (DuFour & Eaker, 1998; Fullan, 1997; Little, 1990). In order for the practice of collaboration to be embedded in secondary schools, a culture must be created within a supportive environment to support the collaborative efforts. DuFour and Eaker (1998) credit …

An Economic Development Paradox: The Impact Of Linkages And Synergies Among Local Agents In The Development Of An Emergent Bioscience Cluster And Associated Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Francisco Montalvo

Student Scholarship

Although bioscience industrial clusters have been widely researched in the last decade, the role of knowledge creation, management, and transfer as driving forces for industrial cluster competitiveness remains unclear. A better appreciation of knowledge creation and retention as determinants of industrial cluster success, and the role of foreign direct investment may be of value to industry decision makers, policy makers, and researchers worldwide. Our research revealed a paradox regarding the intensity of foreign direct investment (FDI) by multinational companies (MNCs) and the limited development of a local entrepreneurial ecosystem in an emergent bioscience cluster. While cluster development seems a logical …

Fly With Me: Developing The Skill Of Flying Tying, Suzanne M. Ciesla

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

No abstract provided.

Manifesting Love: Developing A Bible Camp Week For Gay Young Adults, Scott A. Luikart

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project serves to create an inclusive camp community to teach young gay adults about love and give them a sense of belonging in a religious setting. This sense will be manifested as the participants discuss four forms of love and create a personal manifesto. This project is grounded in Biblical scripture, and Lutheran tradition, but is not exclusive to the Lutheran tradition. Scripture, and literature sources were evaluated and considered in creating a structure for future implementation of a spiritually based camp. ___________________________________

An Examination Of The Organizational, Social And Psychological Climate For Individuals Infected With Or Affected By Hiv/Aids, Rashone Scott-Williams

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

An examination of the organizational, social and psychological climate for individuals infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. Enclosed is an identification of the organizational (household), social (family, spouse, friends, church, etc.) and psychological (mental health, thoughts, feelings etc.) press/environment effecting individuals diagnosed with the virus or disease. This project examines and applies the elements of Ekvall’s 10 dimensions of a creative environment for women who are infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS; the results are reflected in a Creative Climate Survey. The participants of the survey were anonymous and voluntary. The survey was distributed throughout an entire month to a …

Dreams Deferred: Disability Definitions, Data, Models, And Perspectives, Barbara Barton

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

When Ed Roberts, who had polio, forged new ground for people with disabilities by developing the first Center for Independent Living in 1972, the stage was set for people with disabilities and advocates to join together in a new civil rights movement. 'Invisible' no more, the disability community started what was expected to be a stratospheric leap into community inclusion. There was substantial hope held in the anticipated impact of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 (P.L. 101-336, 104 statute 327). For millions of Americans, it appeared that the ADA would provide avenues for increased …

Influences On Job Retention Among Homeless Persons With Substance Abuse Or Psychiatric Disabilities, Russell K. Schutt, Norman C. Hursh

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Job retention is an important psychosocial rehabilitation goal, but one that is not often achieved. We investigate facilitators of and barriers to employment retention among homeless individuals with psychiatric and substance abuse diagnoses who were re-interviewed eight or more years after participating in a traditional vocational rehabilitation program. Most program graduates who maintained employment had secured social support from a variety of sources; personal motivation was also a critical element in job retention and compensated in some cases for an absence of social support. Both the availability of social support contacts and personal motivation influenced likelihood of maintaining sobriety. Physical …

Connecting Youth And Communities: Customized Career Planning For Youth With Psychiatric Disabilities, Kim Brown

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Young people with psychiatric disabilities are significantly overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, tend to be employed sporadically if at all, and frequently have negative connections within and to their communities. Recent research conducted in Montana with youth who have developmental and/or physical disabilities demonstrates the effectiveness of using a customized career planning model to increase linkages to resources and access to community- based employment. Side benefits include improved self-esteem and positive community connections. The customization model holds promise as a way to reduce the risk factors young people with psychiatric disabilitiesf ace and increase the resiliency factors that can …

Major Airline Pilot Hiring, Low Cost Versus Legacy, Daniel Lang

Theses and Dissertations

There are 15 major airlines and 15 different types of initial pilot selection processes. Airlines generally publish low minimum application requirements in order to comply with non discrimination laws in the United States. However, most applicants will have far exceeded these minimums in order to be competitive. As airlines become more selective, their applicant pool becomes smaller resulting in a more homogenous group. Since all major airlines draw from this relatively small homogenous group, why does every airline have a different selection process? Most major airlines administer written and or computer tests, simulator evaluations, psychological tests, and aeronautical knowledge tests. …