Digital Commons Network^™

Now That's Promising: A Social Influence Model Of Innovation Evaluation, Peter Boumgarden

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Identifying and investing in innovative initiatives is a fundamental challenge for individuals in the contemporary organization. And yet, while we know a good deal about the psychology of innovation evaluation, we know decidedly less about how such processes are influenced by the formal and informal structures within which individuals in this setting operate. To address these limitations, I first draw from work on the psychology of idea evaluation to identify and develop a heuristic of evaluation relevant to the evaluation of innovation--that of an initiative's promise. I then suggest that such promise evaluations will be simultaneously influenced by the formal …

The Relationship Between Hand-Nearness, Emotional Arousal, And Visual Processing, Christopher Davoli

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

When an observer holds his or her hands near an object: hand-nearness), visual processing of that object differs in several ways from visual processing of an object far from the hands. Interestingly, the changes that visual processing undergoes during hand-nearness are the same as those that occur when an observer is emotionally aroused. In the present dissertation, three experiments examined whether hand-nearness and emotional arousal affect visual processing through a shared cognitive mechanism. More specifically, it was proposed that hand-nearness activates the same visual processing mechanism that is engaged during arousal. All experiments included replications of studies that have shown …

Stress Reactivity, Stress Appraisal And Coping Responses In Schizophrenia, Zainab Delawalla

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Psychosocial factors have long been recognized as important to the etiology of schizophrenia. According to the stress-vulnerability model, the experience of stress is critical to the onset and/or maintenance of schizophrenia. Although there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that people with schizophrenia experience more stressful events than the general population, there is ample evidence that stress is linked with the course of illness. Traditionally, two lines of research have examined stress processing mechanisms: one focusing on the biological response to stress by studying the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal: HPA) axis and the other focusing on the psychological mechanisms delineated in the transactional …

Sizing Up The Competition: Quantifying The Influence Of The Mental Lexicon On Auditory, Visual, And Audiovisual Spoken Word Recognition, Julia Feld

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

A central question in research on spoken word recognition is whether spoken words are recognized relationally, in the context of other words in the mental lexicon: McClelland & Elman, 1986; Norris, 1994; Luce & Pisoni, 1998). The current research evaluated metrics for measuring the influence of the mental lexicon on spoken word recognition in auditory-only: A-only), visual-only: V-only) and audiovisual: AV) conditions, and assessed the extent to which lexical properties influence recognition similarly across modality of input. Lexical competition: the extent to which perceptually similar words influence recognition of a stimulus word) was quantified using metrics that are well-established in …

A Laboratory-Based Study Of Mood And Eating Behavior In Overweight Children, Andrea Goldschmidt

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Loss of control over eating refers to the sense that one cannot control what or how much one is eating. Loss of control eating is prevalent among overweight children and is associated with psychosocial impairment. Self-report data suggest that pediatric loss of control eating may be related to the experience of aversive emotions, with investigators theorizing that loss of control eating is a maladaptive means of alleviating negative mood. However, these data need to be substantiated using more objective methodology. The current study utilized a feeding laboratory paradigm to further explore the relation between mood and eating in 46 overweight …

Evaluating The Patient-Centeredness Of Medicare Part D, Melissa Hensley

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The implementation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit: "Part D") has brought about many changes in the provision of prescription medications to adults with serious mental illness. Existing research on the impact of Part D on this population, for the most part, examines the benefit from the perspective of the physicians who treat these individuals. This research seeks to use a framework of patient-centered care to examine the impact of the Part D benefit on adults with mental illness, from the viewpoints of beneficiaries themselves and the case managers: "community support workers") who serve them. In addition, data from the …

Spirit & Practice, Maine Medical Center

Annual Reports

Annual Report on Nursing, 2009-2010

An Argument For The Moral Obligation Of Physicians To Practice Healthy Behaviors, Kathryn A. Skimming

Honors Theses

Obligations of physicians to practice healthy behaviors are analyzed through three ethical frameworks. Physicians can be considered public benefactors and are able to influence patients to adopt healthier habits and increase total utility. Society creates a moral obligation for physicians to follow the norms regarding a physician's appearance. Kant's categorical imperative also shows physicians have a moral obligation to practice healthy behaviors. Finally, a healthy lifestyle can be considered a mean between extreme behaviors. The medical community should try to promote an environment in which physicians are better able to practice healthy behaviors, because a situation can influence our behaviors.

Hurricane Katrina : An Act Of God?, Juliette M. Jeanfreau

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I plan to present a framework of four theodicies which organizes various responses to and attempted explanations of the suffering experienced during Hurricane Katrina; to examine several post-Katrina sermons in which pastors and priests address suffering within each theological framework; and to discuss the important leadership implications that the ideas expressed on the pulpit carry for how citizens understand the rebuilding of New Orleans. Although the city is home to citizens from a diversity of faith traditions including Judaism and Islam, this thesis will focus on responses expressed within Christian contexts. In the following pages, I will …

Early Christian Contempt For The Flesh And The Woman Who Loved Too Much In The Gospel Of Luke, Mark I. Wallace

Religion Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Letting The Outside In: Connectedness To Nature’S Buffering Effects Against Social Rejection, Case E. Lovell

Honors Papers

Can the need to belong be met in ways other than relationships with other people? This study tested whether connectedness to nature can serve the same function as interpersonal emotional connections in response to interpersonal rejection. Participants (n = 75) either relived an interpersonal rejection experience, or an academic failure. Levels of aggression, negative affect and cognitive deficit, along with their levels of interdependence and connectedness to nature were then measured. Connectedness to nature was found to be activated and elevated in importance by rejected participants who were chronically less emotionally connected to nature. Though connectedness to nature did not …

Assimilation And Discrimination: The Contradictions Of Japanese Colonial Education In Taiwan, 1895-1945, Luna Stevenson

Honors Papers

Japan colonized the island of Taiwan from 1895-1945. During this period, the colonial administration set up the first modernized education system on the island, which emphasized learning the Japanese language at the expense of the students' native Chinese language. The government espoused ideals of equality between the Taiwanese and the Japanese that extended to equal opportunity in schooling and in the work place. However, in reality the Japanese colonial government discriminated against the Taiwanese, and this manifested itself within all levels of the education system. The Japanese harbored racist attitudes against the Taiwanese, and were reluctant to provide opportunities for …

The School-To-Prison Pipeline: How Schools Are Failing To Properly Identify And Service Their Special Education Students And How One Probation Department Has Responded To The Crisis, Kristina Menzel

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Encouraging The Use Of Community Involvement And Restorative Practices As Treatment For Trauma With Black Juvenile Offenders, Uduakobong Ikpe, Kendell L. Coker

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Organizational Liability And The Tension Between Corporate And Criminal Law, Miriam H. Baer

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay, written as part of the 2010 Hon. David G. Trager Public Policy Symposium, recasts the corporate criminal liability problem as a tension between corporate and criminal law. On one hand, we would like to use criminal law to exact retribution from corporate entities, express our moral condemnation for the acts that have taken place within and through those entities, and to impose structural reforms that prevent future wrongdoing. Where publicly held corporations are concerned, however, it is difficult to do to impose entity-level criminal liability without also invoking responses from shareholders and innocent employees, who argue quite forcefully …

The Civil Rights Revolution In The United States, George C. Wright

President Emeritus George C. Wright Speeches

No abstract provided.

Blacks In 20th Century Texas, George C. Wright

President Emeritus George C. Wright Speeches

No abstract provided.

Positive Aging: Resilience And Reconstruction, Kenneth J. Gergen, M. Gergen

Psychology Faculty Works

From a social constructionist perspective, conceptions of aging emerge from participation in relationships. Thus, there is reason to counter the Western stereotype of aging as decline with a more robust and positive vision. In the same way, resilience in everyday life may be achieved by engaging creatively and collaboratively in coordinating the flow of circumstances and interpretations making up daily life. We illustrate the potentials of resilience in terms of collaborative attempts to generate positive reconstructions of what are often defined as debilitating circumstances: reduced income, diminished attractiveness in physical appearance, declining physical and mental abilities, physical handicaps, the “empty …

Convalescence, Adam D. Rook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This composition is intended to unfold more or less linearly, as a progression of temperament or attitude. Its most prominent compositional characteristic is recurring motive for cohesion and unification, both within and across movements, as opposed to much direct repetition. Each movement is tonally based and establishes at least one principle key area, but each also employs the common use of mode mixture, sometimes frequent modulation, and some extent of chromatic passages.

Theories Of Discrimination & Gay Marriage, Adam Farra

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Washington University Magazine, Spring 2010

Washington University Magazine

No abstract provided.

Commencement Program 2010, Whitworth University

Commencement Programs

Undergraduate Commencement exercises of Whitworth University in May 2010.

2010 Aasu Women's Basketball Guide, Armstrong State University

Armstrong Athletics: Women's Basketball Records (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Service Attributes Satisfaction And Actual Repurchase Behavior: The Mediating Influence Of Overall Satisfaction And Purchase Intention, Syed H. Akhter

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

The study proposes that the effect of service attributes satisfaction on actual repurchase behavior is mediated by overall satisfaction and purchase intention. Data collected through a survey questionnaire were used to test the proposed model. Findings support the mediation hypothesis and show that service attributes satisfaction has a positive and significant impact on overall satisfaction; overall satisfaction has a positive and significant impact on purchase intention; and purchase intention has a positive and significant impact on actual repurchase.

Segmentation In Social Marketing: Insights From The European Union’S Multi-Country, Antismoking Campaign, Gianfranco Walsh, Louise M. Hassan, Edward Shiu, J. Craig Andrews, Gerard Hastings

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose – In 2005, the European Union launched a four-year antismoking television advertising campaign across its 25 Member States. This study aims to evaluate the second and third years (2006 and 2007) of the campaign based on telephone interviews with over 24,000 consumers (smokers, non-smokers, and ex-smokers).

Design/methodology/approach – The study focuses on smokers and examines the potential for using segmentation and targeting in informing the campaign. Three important factors are used to identify clusters: attitude toward the campaign; comprehension of the campaign; and inclination to think responsibly about their smoking behaviour.

Findings – Cluster analyses identify three distinct and …

Trauma Exposure And Risk Recognition In Young Adults: The Role Of Attention Biases And Memory Biases, Elizabeth Reichert

Open Access Master's Theses

The vast literature on trauma and revictimization suggests that it is still relatively unknown as to why some people are more susceptible to re-experiencing trauma. Research suggests that women with previous histories of sexual victimization are at increased risk for revictimization. Increasingly, studies have demonstrated that women with histories of sexual assault took significantly longer to recognize risk as compared to non-victimized women. However, the research on risk recognition has focused almost exclusively on sexually victimized women. Extant studies however, have not examined risk recognition in a more diverse group of traumatized individuals nor the potential contributions of cognitive biases …

Federalizing Public Education, Thomas Kleven

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Exploring Men’S Intimate Relationships (With Feminism): Another Side Of Feminist Consciousness, Jol Dupler

McNair Scholars Journal

Research on feminist consciousness and its corresponding benefits has largely been conducted on women. Many feminists find this problematic because it neglects feminist men and the favorable outcomes that have been empirically linked to strong feminist identities for men. In this study, I examined men’s feminist consciousness and explored whether correlations exist between men’s feminist consciousness, their partners’ and peers’ attitudes towards feminism, and the overall health of their long-term monogamous relationships. Several different measures of consciousness were utilized, including “Self-identification” (Gurin, 1980), “Feminist Analysis” (Henderson-King & Stewart, 1997) and “Sensitivity to Sexism” (Henderson-King & Stewart, 1997). Additionally, previously developed …

Transmission Of Quantum Information Via Laguerre Gaussian Modes, Aaron Schutza

McNair Scholars Journal

A new era of technology is fast approaching in which quantum computation may become a reality. In the near future, technical applications may require a method of correlating two isolated quantum systems. This would require a signal carrier to be a quantum entity in itself. We survey the quantum states of photon as a medium for encoding information. A communication scheme using the modulation of spatial modes and polarization states on free space or fiber glass optics is proposed. The Laguerre-Gaussian spatial mode is studied with these applications in mind. We also study biographic slide film as a means of …