Digital Commons Network^™

A Study Of Current Practice Of Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr) And An Examination Of The Relationship Between Csr And Financial Performance Using Structural Equation Modelling (Sem), Lorraine Sweeney

Doctoral

There has been a significant increase in interest in CSR in recent years (Gulyas, 2009; McGehee et al, 2009) and it is regarded as an important topic for research (Burton and Goldsby, 2009). Not only has this topic received academic attention but it is becoming a mainstream issue for many organisations (Renneboog et al, 2008; Nijof and Brujin, 2008). However, it has been noted that research on CSR in SMEs is quite scant (Burton and Goldsby, 2008; Cilberti et al, 2008). A second area of literature that remains unresolved is the relationship between CSR and financial performance (Park and Lee, …

Broadcasting Multiculturalism: Migrant Representation And Participation In Irish Radio, Kathleen Moylan

Doctoral

In the cultural context of recent inward migration to Ireland, this research focuses on migrant representation on Irish radio. Employing diverse approaches drawn from cultural studies and public sphere theory, this study examines radio programmes produced by and about new Irish migrant communities, and the ways in which 'diversity' is framed and managed by national and EU broadcast policy. This work incorporates analyses of programme content and broadcast policy in relation to Irish national public service broadcasting (Radio Telefis Eireann) and Dublin community radio.

U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Liability Survey: Inaccurate, Unfair, And Bad For Business, Theodore Eisenberg

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce uses its Survey of State Liability to criticize judiciaries and seek legal change but no detailed evaluation of the survey’s quality exists. This article presents evidence that the survey is substantively inaccurate and methodologically flawed. It incorrectly characterizes state law; respondents provide less than 10 percent correct answers for objectively verifiable responses. It is internally inconsistent; a state threatened with judicial hellhole status ranked first in the survey while venues not on the list ranked lower. The absence of correlation between survey rankings and observable activity suggests that other factors drive the rankings. Two factors …

Special Issue On People With Disabilities And Social Welfare: Introduction, Barbara Barton

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

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 …

Review Of Autobiography And Decolonization: Modernity, Masculinity And The Nation State. Philip Holden. Reviewed By James Midgley., James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Philip Holden, Autobiography and Decolonization: Modernity, Masculinity and the Nation-State. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008. $55.00 hardcover.

Review Of The Gender Impact Of Social Security Reform. Estelle James, Alejandra Cox Edwards And Rebecca Wong. Reviewed By Silvia Borzutsky., Silvia Borzutsky

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Estelle James, Alejandra Cox Edwards and Rebecca Wong, The Gender Impact of Social Security Reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. $35.00 hardcover

Attempted Cloning Of A Wnt Gene From Botrylloides Violaceus, Manasa Chandra, James Tumulak

Biological Sciences

Botrylloides violaceus is a colonial ascidian with the ability to undergo sexual and asexual reproduction as well as regeneration. The canonical pathway starts with the extracellular protein Wnt and ends with β-catenin, a transcription factor, which also functions in cell adhesion. The Wnt signaling pathway is involved in embryogenesis and regeneration in a variety of other species. In our studies we attempt to isolate and sequence both a Wnt gene and from Botrylloides via degenerate primer design and PCR. Using bioinformatic methods we aligned sequences from other organisms, as the Botrylloides genome has not yet been sequenced. Using mouse, Ciona, …

Inland Island Change: Lter Network Synthesis Prospectus, Long Term Ecological Research Network

Long Term Ecological Research Network

Climate change will profoundly affect socio-ecological systems, particularly those built around terrestrial ecosystems where climate is a major driver of ecological processes and ecosystem services. While socio-­ecological systems will vary in their responses to climate change, the relative sensitivities of different systems, and the mechanistic basis and consequences of these differential sensitivities, are largely unknown. At present, our ability to predict social and ecological consequences of potential climate changes in different systems is constrained by a lack of fundamental data derived from common conceptual frameworks and approaches. The LTER network is uniquely positioned to meet this critical need with a …

Learning Condition-Specific Networks, Sushmita Roy

Computer Science ETDs

Condition-specific cellular networks are networks of genes and proteins that describe functional interactions among genes occurring under different environmental conditions. These networks provide a systems-level view of how the parts-list (genes and proteins) interact within the cell as it functions under changing environmental conditions and can provide insight into mechanisms of stress response, cellular differentiation and disease susceptibility. The principle challenge, however, is that cellular networks remain unknown for most conditions and must be inferred from activity levels of genes (mRNA levels) under different conditions. This dissertation aims to develop computational approaches for inferring, analyzing and validating cellular networks of …

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. …

Analysis Of Higher Education Employee Exercise Behaviors, Michele Linder

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With the introduction of technology into our daily lives, the need for physical exertion has decreased, which has led to an increase in sedentary lifestyles. Sedentary lifestyles lead to the state of obesity, and nearly two-thirds of the Unites States’ adult population is considered overweight or obese. This has resulted in a reduced quality of life, adverse health effects that strain the health care system, and tension on the financial condition of American companies. Current literature indicates that organizations that had implemented exercise or wellness programs reported healthier and more productive employees, an improved morale within the company, and significant …

The Embodied Mind In Early Development: Sitting Postural Control And Visual Attention In Infants With Typical Development And Infants With Delays, Regina T. Harbourne

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As infants learn to sit between the ages of 5 and 8 months, they undergo many changes in their bodies as well as in their minds, creating conditions for the emergence of skills that allow greater interaction with their environment. The present study focused on the interaction of developing postural control in sitting with cognition, exemplifying the concept of the embodied mind. Look time, or the time an infant looks at an object, served as a proxy for the construct of cognitive processing. Three experiments examined developmental changes in sitting postural control and looking. The first experiment examined archival data …

Transactional Distance And Course Structure: A Qualitative Study, Beth L. Vealé

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The last ten years has born witness to the rapid development and widespread offering of education at a distance. Even though distance education has been around since the 1970s, little attention has been given to how the structure of an online course influences students’ connections to the course or the instructor. Based on Michael G. Moore’s (1972) theory of transactional distance, this study examined one cluster of his theory—course structure. An extensive review of relevant literature revealed that there was a gap in research related to online course structure. In an effort to contribute to closing this gap, this study …

Addressing Behavior Needs By Disability Category, Cynthia Serfass

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to determine whether students with identified behavioral needs were provided a different level of behavioral intervention based on their special education disability category verification. A second purpose of this study was to determine what caused potential differences as interpreted by individuals working in the field.

The participants in this study were school-aged students (K-12) verified in the special education categories of Behaviorally Disordered (BD), Autism, and Other Health Impaired (OHI) from four Nebraska school districts. Multidisciplinary Team (MDT), Individualized Education Plan (IEP), functional behavioral assessment (FBA), and behavior intervention plan (BIP) documents were analyzed …

Satellite-Based Estimation Of Chlorophyll-Α Concentration In Turbid Productive Waters, Wesley Moses

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Inland, coastal, and estuarine waters, which are often turbid and biologically productive, play a crucial role in maintaining global bio-diversity and are of immense value to aquatic life as well as human-beings. Concentration of chlorophyll-a (chl-a) is a key indicator of the trophic status of these waters, which should be regularly monitored to ensure that their ecological balance is not disturbed. Remote sensing is a powerful tool for this.

Due to the optical complexity of turbid productive waters, standard algorithms that use blue and green reflectances are unreliable for estimating chl-a concentration. Algorithms based on red and near-infrared (NIR) reflectances …

Fully Exponential Laplace Approximation Em Algorithm For Nonlinear Mixed Effects Models, Meijian Zhou

Department of Statistics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nonlinear mixed effects models provide a flexible and powerful platform for the analysis of clustered data that arise in numerous fields, such as pharmacology, biology, agriculture, forestry, and economics. This dissertation focuses on fitting parametric nonlinear mixed effects models with single- and multi-level random effects. A new, efficient, and accurate method that gives an error of order O(1/n²), fully exponential Laplace approximation EM algorithm (FELA-EM), for obtaining restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimates in nonlinear mixed effects models is developed. Sample codes for implementing FELA-EM algorithm in R are given. Simulation studies have been conducted to evaluate …

A Medical Monitoring Claim For Asymptomatic Plaintiffs: Should Illinois Take The Plunge?, Herbert L. Zarov, Sheila Finnegan, Craig A. Woods, Stephen J. Kane

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

No abstract provided.

Canon Law, American Law, And Governance Of Catholic Schools: A Healthy Partnership, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Roman Catholic schools developed in the United States during the latter part of the 19th century partially in response to a significant wave of anti-Catholic sentiment that swept the nation. Consequently, Catholic schools were established as a kind of parallel system largely free from civil laws, as bishops, pastors, and other religious leaders were free to operate their schools largely under the Church's own internal juridical system, the Code of Canon Law. However, by the middle of the 20th century, due to a variety of demographic factors, the composition of Catholic schools began to change dramatically, particularly with regard to …

Necessary Subjects: The Need For A Mandatory National Donor Gamete Databank, Naomi Cahn

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

No abstract provided.

Application Of Different Bioanalytical Workflows For Proteomics Of Prostate Cancer, Li Chen

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

In the current dissertation, we focused on the development and application of multiple mass spectrometry-based bioanalytical platforms for phosphoproteomic characterization in cell culture and clinical specimens of prostate cancer; and on the application of optimized methods to analysis of differential protein expression to reveal molecular mechanism of drug action in animal model of prostate cancer.

Characterization of the phosphoproteome in prostate cancer

Our study in phosphoprotein signatures on a large scale in prostate cancer focused on the LNCaP human prostate cancer cell line, and on human prostate cancer tissue.

For the LNCaP prostate cancer cell line, we applied a combination …

Stepped Care For Smoking Cessation: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis And Simulation Of Future Outcomes, Brandi E. Franklin

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

It has been well established that smoking is the leading avoidable cause of premature morbidity and mortality in the United States and abroad. Smoking is attributable to over 400,000 annual deaths, and $193 billion in healthcare costs and lost productivity. Despite the apparent dangers and tremendous costs of tobacco use and dependence, smokers find difficulty quitting. Recently, stepped care has been proposed as a viable intensive approach for achieving long-term cessation. This research sought to evaluate cost-effectiveness of stepped care in a diverse population of smokers and analyze future health outcomes of smoking cessation.

Cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted from an …

Methods For Karyotyping And For Localization Of Developmentally Relevant Genes On The Chromosomes Of The Purple Sea Urchin Strongylocentrotus Purpuratus, Celeste C. Eno, Stefanie A. Boettger, Charles W. Walker

Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Illuminations, Fall Issue, December 2009, Ucf Libraries

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Installments, Winter Break Issue, December 2009, Renee Montgomery

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

End Of The Year Tax Planning, Anthony J. Cataldo Ii, Anthony P. Curatola

Accounting Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Since You're Here, Volume 3, No. 12, December 2009, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. Nelson Poynter Memorial Library

Since You're Here

The December 2009 issue of the newsletter "Since You're Here."

From Means To Ends: Artificial Nutrition And Hydration, Cheryl Monturo, Kevin Hook

Nursing Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.