Digital Commons Network^™

Planning Serendipitous Liaison Outreach, John Glover, Bettina Peacemaker

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

College and university students, staff, and faculty are busier in 2010 than ever before. Many students work full-time in addition to school. With budget cuts, staff members are doing multiple jobs. Faculty members are being hired as fixed-term, temporary, or adjunct instructors more than ever. People do not come to the library as much as they used to, and they are often in a rush when they do.

At the same time, evolving models of reference service mean that liaison librarians are often sequestered in their offices, working elsewhere on campus, or otherwise not available when their patrons happen to …

Xenophobia: The Consequences Of Being A Zimbabwean In South Africa, Philip Edward Culbertson

Theses and Dissertations

This paper seeks to explain and describe the xenophobia and xenophobic attacks of Zimbabwean refugees and migrants in South Africa. The political and social instability in Zimbabwe has led to mass exodus of Zimbabweans in search of stability and a means to survive. Many of these Zimbabweans have sought opportunity and refuge in South Africa only to be met with hurdles that metastasized into xenophobia. Research was done on the target population of Zimbabweans in Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, along with interviews conducted through Medicines Sans Frontiers, and active players in the civil society in Cape Town.

Enhancing Collaborative Problem Solving In Distance Education Courses Using Web-Based Concept Mapping, Ludmila Ortegano-Layne, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena, Carrie Main

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of web-based concept maps as a communications and problem-solving tool in an online graduate level course. The study used an exploratory-descriptive research design that applied a qualitative methods approach in order to explore how concept maps foster collaborative problem-solving activities in an online learning environment. Three of the five groups participating in the study effectively used concept mapping, which they combined with other communication strategies such as eliciting group suggestions, asking questions, and brainstorming ideas, to reach consensus and solve the CBR project required. These results indicate that concept maps …

Predictors Of Learner Satisfaction And Transfer Of Learning In A Corporate Online Education Program, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena, Jennifer Linder-Vanberschot, Deborah Lapointe, Lalita Rao

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This study explores factors that predict learner satisfaction and transfer of learning in an online educational program at a multinational corporation, established to improve organizational learning through providing training in technical skills. A mixed-methods design was employed, selecting both quantitative methods utilizing survey research and qualitative methods employing open-ended questionnaire items, face-to-face and phone interviews, gathering the perspective of students, instructors, and instructional designers. The online courses were designed using a problem-centered and case-based approach to learning, and utilized technologies including Learning Management Systems such as Blackboard, Sharepoint, as well as instructional design tools such as Breeze, Captivate and PowerPoint. …

Unm Camp Newsletter - 2010-2011 Cohort, Unm Camp

College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP)

No abstract provided.

A Tale Of Election Day 2008: Teaching Storytelling Through Repeated Experiences, Serge A. Martinez, Stefan H. Krieger

Faculty Scholarship

In Part I, we describe our experience supervising our clinic students on Election Day 2008 and our observations of their learning through the repetitive experiences they had representing several clients in rapid succession. In Part II, we discuss cognitive science research into skills learning, including several necessary elements for optimal learning. In Part III, we review existing legal scholarship on teaching storytelling to lawyers and compare it with cognitive science findings. Finally, in Part IV, we apply cognitive science principles to teaching storytelling through experiential learning and describe the necessary elements for creating effective learning situations. We also suggest some …

Arts Voices: Middle School Students And The Relationships Of The Arts To Their Motivation And Self-Efficacy, Heather Moorefield-Lang

The Qualitative Report

This study explores the question "Does arts education have a relationship to eighth-grade rural middle school students' motivation and self-efficacy?" Student questionnaires, focus-group interviews, and follow-up interviews were data collection methods used with 92 eighth-grade middle school students. Strong emphasis was placed on gathering personal narratives, comments, and opinions directly from the students. Content analysis was used to analyze the student interviews. Middle school students felt that there were both positive and negative relationships between their arts education classes and their motivation and self-efficacy. The students in this study had much to share on the arts courses offered in their …

A Qualitative Approach To Understanding Audience's Perceptions Of Creativity In Online Advertising, Andrew Mcstay

The Qualitative Report

In this paper I seek to inquire upon audience's perceptions of creativity in online advertising - a heretofore poorly understood area. This paper initially outlines current academic understanding of creativity in online advertising, mainly derived from quantitative assessments. It then advances a qualitative methodology including diary-interviews and ethnographic online interviews across 41 participants. My starting point is a critique of the most comprehensive conceptual intervention in the area of advertising creativity - Smith and Yang's (2004) typology of "relevance" and "divergence". I assess to what extent this typology emerges from my participants' data. Two key features of relevance - contextual …

(Re)Constructing Reflexivity: A Relational Constructionist Approach, Diane Marie Hosking, Bettine Pluut

The Qualitative Report

This article distinguishes three discourses of reflexivity in relation to human inquiry. One of these arises from a post-modern, relational constructionist perspective which radically re-conceptualizes reflexivity: (a) as a local and co-constructed process oriented towards the question (b) how are we 'going on' together, and therefore paying attention to (c) the realities and relations we are co-creating during the research process and so (d) is concerned with local pragmatic and ethical issues (Gergen & Hosking, 2006; McNamee, 1994) rather than with the quality of truth claims. Regular reflexive dialogues as part of, and directed at, the research process can heighten …

Action Research In Practice: Issues And Challenges In A Financial Services Case Study, Peter Marshall, Phyl Wilson, Kristy De Salas, Judy Mckay

The Qualitative Report

In this paper we give a direct and personal account of the issues and challenges that occurred in an action research study. The research team consisted of five researchers from two Australian universities. The action research case was carried out in a small financial services company and concerned the development of an information systems strategy. However, the focus of the paper is not on information systems, but on the general methodological issues and problems of action research. The authors hope that readers will benefit from the direct and transparent account of the practical methodological problems encountered in the study.

Theoretical Versus Grass-Roots Development Of A Community Partnership, Socorro Escandón

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine Bracht, Kingbury, and Rissel's five-stage community development model as applied to a grass-roots community action group. The sample consisted of low-income, predominantly Hispanic women in a community action group in a Southwestern barrio, some of whom were experiencing domestic violence. The community group organizer was interviewed, and a content analytic table was constructed. Results showed that the community group's efforts would have benefited from a theoretically organized approach. The window of opportunity continues to be open for community development researchers to offer theoretical assistance to groups that are forming and to …

Depression: The Differing Narratives Of Couples In Couple Therapy, Eija-Liisa Rautiainen, Jukka Aaltonen

The Qualitative Report

How does the spouse of a person with depression take part in constructing narratives of depression in couple therapy? In this study we examined couples' ways of co-constructing narratives of depression in couple therapy. Three couple therapy processes were chosen for the study, one spouse in each couple having been referred to an outpatient clinic for treatment for his/her depression. Four sessions from each systemic couple therapy process (Jones & Asen, 2000) were analyzed using narrative analysis. According to our findings, couples co-constructed narratives of depression, each in their own way. It is crucial to focus not only on the …

Dialoguing With Body: A Self Study In Relational Pedagogy Through Embodiment And The Therapeutic Relationship, Chantale Lussier-Ley

The Qualitative Report

This article emerges from a self-study (Baird, 2004; Bergum, 2003; Grumet, 1990; Ham & Kane, 2004; Kitchen, 2005a, 2005b; Loughran, 2004) conducted as a requirement for a doctoral class at the University of Ottawa in the Faculty of Education. In this study, I reflected on my embodied experiences and the role of the body in my consulting practice in sport and performance psychology with athletes and dancers. Inspired by the work of Chehayl (2006), I engaged in a narrative analysis (Sands, 2002; Sparkes, 2002) of my own emerging autobiographic tale, and actively worked towards re-storying my body through a multi …

The Energy-Water Nexus: Socioeconomic Considerations And Suggested Legal Reforms In The Southwest, H. David Gold, Jason Bass

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Personnel File Of Fr. Marvin Archuleta, Catholic Church. Archdiocese Of Santa Fe (N.M.)

Personnel Files

No abstract provided.

Personnel File Of Fr. Robert Smith, Catholic Church. Archdiocese Of Santa Fe (N.M.)

Personnel Files

No abstract provided.

Adjustment Experiences And Ethnic Identity Attitudes Among High School Students In Advanced Academic Programs, Tiffany Michelle Hall

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

African American high school students have been historically underrepresented in advanced placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and dual enrollment (DE) programs. The adoption of more equitable admissions practices has helped many school divisions develop a more ethnically diverse AP, IB, and DE student body. Despite increased African American student enrollment, retaining these students remains an ongoing problem. Equally troubling is the persistent achievement gap that exists between African American and White students in AP, IB, and DE programs African American students do not perform as well as Whites on program exit exams nor do they complete these programs at a …

Developing A Model For Evaluating Software Tools In Education, Vedant Jain

Masters Theses

"This thesis proposes a research model to evaluate computer-mediated learning technology, user acceptance of the technology, and the effect of the technology on learning outcomes. This thesis also introduces two innovative research techniques for such evaluations, that is, eye-tracking and the think aloud protocol. Think aloud protocol allows us to understand a user's state of mind while he/she is interacting with the system. Eye-tracking provides additional insights into a user's cognitive state while using the system and can help triangulate the results. We demonstrated the application of the research model and research techniques in evaluating visualization software designed in a …

Athletes As Television Celebrities: Why We Watch; How They Benefit; Must They Be Responsible, Sherri Burr

Faculty Book Display Case

This chapter addresses a number of issues associated with athletes acquiring celebrity status based on their television performances. It first discusses what draws the public to watch sports on television and follow the lives of athletes. Second, this chapter highlights the benefits and burdens that athletes receive and endure from the public participation in their sports as observers on the field and off. This section will also highlight athletes rights to privacy and to publicity. Finally, this chapter addresses the responsibility of athletes, both amateur and professional, to behave in a responsible manner both on and off the court.

Seeking Educational Self-Determination: Raza Studies For Revolution, Margaret E. Montoya, Marcos Pizarro, Monica Nanez, Ray Chavez, Nadine Bermudez

Faculty Scholarship

This article is a multi-textured effort to explain the educational, social justice work of MAESTR@S, an innovative, organic group of educational activists fighting to address the needs of Latina/o youth. It is unlike anything we have ever written and probably unlike anything you are likely to read in an academic journal such as Equity & Excellence in Education.We do not have a well-defined result that we are reporting to you. Instead, we see ourselves on a quest, with a deep concern about the current educational choices facing most raza youth and their teachers, and a commitment to try to work …

Quality Of Life Among Rural Nigerian Women: The Role Of Information, Yetunde Abosede Zaid, S. O. Popoola

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The quality of life of people in developing countries including Nigeria is not near the expected standard. This is especially so with women living in the rural areas whose lives are characterized by poor income, poverty, hunger, diseases as well as lack of potable water, good shelter and access to medical attention. This is due to the fact that these women do not have access to valuable information and may not make use of available information which could help them meet the challenges of daily living. This study, therefore, investigated the extent to which information accessibility and use could improve …

Multispace & Multistructure. Neutrosophic Transdisciplinarity (100 Collected Papers Of Sciences), Vol. Iv, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The fourth volume, in my book series of “Collected Papers”, includes 100 published and unpublished articles, notes, (preliminary) drafts containing just ideas to be further investigated, scientific souvenirs, scientific blogs, project proposals, small experiments, solved and unsolved problems and conjectures, updated or alternative versions of previous papers, short or long humanistic essays, letters to the editors - all collected in the previous three decades (1980-2010) – but most of them are from the last decade (2000-2010), some of them being lost and found, yet others are extended, diversified, improved versions. This is an eclectic tome of 800 pages with papers …

Neutrosophic Diagram And Classes Of Neutrosophic Paradoxes Or To The Outer-Limits Of Science, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

These paradoxes are called “neutrosophic” since they are based on indeterminacy (or neutrality, i.e. neither true nor false), which is the third component in neutrosophic logic. We generalize the Venn diagram to a Neutrosophic Diagram, which deals with vague, inexact, ambiguous, illdefined ideas, statements, notions, entities with unclear borders. We define the neutrosophic truth table and introduce two neutrosophic operators (neuterization and antonymization operators) give many classes of neutrosophic paradoxes.

Paradoxism’S Manifestos And International Folklore, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The book is structured in two parts as follows:

- in the first part, the theory of paradoxism through its first six published worldwide

manifestos (1983-2010);

- in the second part, the paradoxism collected from the international (English, French,

Spanish/Arabic, and Romanian) folklore in images and paradoxist situations.

PARADOXISM is an avant-garde movement in literature, art, philosophy, science, based on

excessive use of antitheses, antinomies, contradictions, parables, odds, anti-clichés, deviations of senses,

against-the-grain speech, nonsense, paraphrases, oxymorons, inversions, digressions, paradoxes,

semiparadoxes, etc. in creations.

It was set up and led by the writer Florentin Smarandache since 1980's, who said: "The …

Begin The Adventure : How To Break The Light Barrier By A.D. 2079 (3rd Ed.), Florentin Smarandache, Homer B. Tilton

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This edition, the third, has undergone a subtle name change, going from "A.D. 2070" in the title to A.D. 2079 as the timeline is fine-tuned. Because of the almost universal failure to recognize the distinction between physical (reality-based, dynamical) and visual (appearance-based, kinematical) variables, a tremendous volume of mythology arose over the past 100 years centered around Einstein's reality view of the distortions of special relativity. To get a sense of it, we point the reader to Paul J. Nahin's heroic book, Time Machines, 2nd ed.,- to these Tech Notes in particular: TN#6. "A High-Speed Rocket Is a One-Way Time …

Environmental Law, Scott D. Deatherage, Brendan Lowrey, Christopher Smith, Ashley Phillips

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of A Mental Health-Related Diagnosis On Readmission Rates For Heart Failure, Ronald S. Freudenberger Md, Carol A. Foltz Phd, Lou A. Lukas Md, Donna F. Petruccelli Crnp, Hannah D. Paxton Rn, Mph, Victoria Sabella Bsn

Department of Medicine

No abstract provided.

In Praise Of Process: Examining The Sec, Rule 14a-8(I)(8), And Afscme V. Aig, Jena Martin

Faculty Articles

Part one of this essay will discuss the rule, including a brief analysis of proxy access generally and the "election exclusion" specifically. Part two will examine the AFSCME v. AIG case and the SEC's response thereto in more detail-discussing the arguments posited both for and against increased shareholder access, as well as the aftermath of the SEC's decision. Part three will analyze how the SEC's failure to change Rule 14a-8(i)(8) to allow greater shareholder access specifically caused one thread in the financial crisis-as a direct result of a loss of shareholder empowerment. Finally, part four offers an epilogue-a discussion of …

Just Talking With The Furniture, Emily A. Hartigan

Faculty Articles

The current social and political situation of the United States is post-modern, post-colonial, post-critical, and post-secular. It is located in a two-party system in which the substantive values of the population are radically fragmented. As such, American social and political culture needs new prospects for conversation, both about and constituting justice, which can cross the vast differences between its members. It is time to enter a discourse on substantive justice in a way that uses the imagined unity of modernist thought as a way station for something both old and new.

“Save The Land From Uncle Sam”: Using Life Insurance Premium Financing In Estate Planning, Lee Lytton

Faculty Articles

T

he federal estate tax can be particularly destructive to estates where there is a desire to pass on legacy holdings to succeeding generations. The estate lacks adequate cash for families to pay the resulting taxes. Therefore, life insurance premium financing may help families pay the estate taxes. An estate planning strategy utilizes life-insurance-premium financing that generates a ready cash pool to pay estate taxes is not universally applicable, but it can provide a cost-effective option for legacy preservation.

Life insurance is often used as part of an estate plan to generate and maintain separate cash reserves to pay death …