Digital Commons Network^™

Toward A General Theory Of Csr’S: The Roles Of Beneficence, Profitability, Insurance, And Industry Heterogeneity, Paul C. Godfrey, Nile Hatch, Jared M. Hansen

Faculty Publications

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a tortured concept. A number of alternative definitions of the construct exist at the theoretical level, and much debate surrounds the meaning (and its related implications for practice) of the term. Empirically, CSR research reaches few remarkable conclusions. In this article, the authors reconceptualize CSR into a number of discrete corporate social responsibilities (CSRs), each of which can have a positive or negative social impact, and each of which has an endogenous managerially driven component and an exogenous stakeholder-driven component. Using an industry-level sample drawn from the KLD database, the authors test the impact of …

Do Voluntary Disclosures That Disavow The Reliability Of Mandated Fair Value Information Reflect Legitimate Concerns About Reliability?, Walter G. Blacconiere, James R. Frederickson, Marilyn F. Johnson, Melissa F. Lewis-Western

Faculty Publications

One consequence of the shift to fair value measurement is the emergence of voluntary disclosures in audited financial statements that question the reliability of mandated fair value information. We refer to these disclosures as reliability disavowals and address three questions: Are fair value estimates less reliable for firms that disavow? Do managers of disavowal firms have reason to believe that they cannot reliably estimate the disavowed fair values? Are factors indicative of reliability problems associated with the decision to disavow? We address these questions in the context of managers’ stock option compensation estimates disclosed under SFAS 123. Our results suggest …

Predicting Speeding In Young Adults: Expanding The Focus Of Problem-Behavior Theory, Jenny E. Dozier

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Drivers under the age of 25 die in more crashes that involve speeding than any other age group. Research in this area has recognized the influence of numerous factors affecting young driver behavior. Problem-Behavior Theory has been successful in accounting for numerous health compromising behaviors, including drinking and driving. The theory suggests that adolescent and young adult problem behaviors are interrelated and associated with other problem behaviors. This theory focuses on systems of psychosocial influence: the Personality system, the Perceived Environment system, and the Behavior system. These systems and other factors affecting young adults' health compromising behaviors, such as social …

Coping With Work-Life Conflict: Antecedents To Seeking Policy-Based And Individually Negotiated Accommodations, Heather M. Lauzun

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Research concerning coping with work-life conflict has been limited (Eby et al., 2005). This thesis suggests that employees can cope by seeking a work-life accommodation. Contextual and individual antecedents of seeking policy-based and individually negotiated accommodations are explored. Hypothetical accommodations and actual accommodations sought were assessed as outcomes. A sample of 148 working adults from a variety of organizations was surveyed online. As hypothesized, for the hypothetical outcome, family supportive organizational perceptions, family supportive supervisor perceptions, and human capital significantly predicted seeking individually negotiated accommodations. Furthermore, as hypothesized, both family supportive organizational perceptions and family supportive supervisor perceptions had significantly …

Investigation Of Nitrogen Release During Coal Pyrolysis In An Oxy-Fuel Combustion Process, John M. Sowa, Kolbein K. Kolste, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

Three coals were studied in a flat flame burner (FFB) to determine nitrogen release during pyrolysis as a function of the temperature from 1600 to 1900 K in an oxy-fuel environment. The oxy-fuel environment was created by replacing the background N2 with CO2 in the FFB experiments. Both types of experiments were conducted under fuel-rich conditions, with no O2 present in the postflame gases. The oxy-fuel results were compared to previous results from FFB experiments in a N2 atmosphere. A bituminous coal showed no difference in mass and nitrogen release between the two environments. The sub-bituminous coal exhibited higher mass …

Dare To Compare: Determining What "Other Available Methods" Can Be Considered Under Federal Rule 23(B)(3)'S Superiority Requirement, Andrea J. Parker

Georgia Law Review

When certifying a class action lawsuit, Federal Rule 23(b)(3) requires a federal district court judge to determine that a class action lawsuit is superior to "other available methods "of handling the dispute. A disagreement has emerged among the district courts regarding what constitutes an available method under the Rule. Several courts have found that private refund programs or settlement agreements instituted by a defendant can count as available methods under the superiority requirement, while other courts have found that they do not. This Note evaluates the question of whether private refund programs or settlement agreements should be compared to class …

Phase Six Pandemic: A Call To Re-Evaluate Federal Quarantine Authority Before The Next Catastrophic Outbreak, John T. Clarkson

Georgia Law Review

At some point in the future, the United States will confront a deadly pandemic. One potential response to blunt the impact of an outbreak may be the use of a large-scale quarantine. The current statutory framework governing federal quarantine authority, however, is outdated and in need of revision. Any reform must acknowledge that the federal government may be best positioned to respond to national health threats and must simultaneously create limits on federal power to ensure a proper balance of power remains between the states and the federal government. This Note proposes that Congress focus its reform efforts on adding …

Table Of Contents

Georgia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defense Against Outrage And The Perils Of Parasitic Torts, Geoffrey C. Rapp

Georgia Law Review

Two prominent narratives in tort law scholarship
address the increasing recognition of claims for loss of
emotional tranquility and the expanding privilege to use
force in defense of self and others. This Article explores a
puzzle in tort law that challenges these traditional
accounts. Can force be used to defend against intentional
extreme or outrageous conduct threatening a person with
severe emotional distress? The answer in the case law and
articulated doctrine appears to be "no." The law permits
the use of force to protect dignitary interests, in the case of
offensive battery and assault, but seems to deny the …

Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog, 2010-2011, Grand Valley State University

Course Catalogs, 1963 - Current

Grand Valley State University 2010-2011 undergraduate and/or graduate course catalog published annually to provide students with information and guidance for enrollment.

Exploring Diverse Settings For Language Acquisition And Use: Comparing Study Abroad, Service Learning Abroad, And Foreign Language Housing, Wendy Baker, Rob A. Martinsen, Dan P. Dewey, Jennifer Brown, Cary Johnson

Faculty Publications

This study compared the amount of the second language (L2) use and linguistic gains made by students in three short‑term language immersion programs: (1) traditional study abroad, (2) service-oriented study abroad, and (3) foreign language (FL) housing. These were chosen because they represent three distinct program types, providing students with different ways of interacting in the target language and different types and amounts of contact with native speakers. This allowed us to evaluate relationships between study setting, language use, and language gains. Learners completed language logs detailing their use of the L2 as well as pre- and post-immersion oral tests …

American English Listeners’ Discrimination Of Australian, South African And Southeast England Varieties Of English: What Variation Matters?, Wendy Baker, Lyndsay Nay

Faculty Publications

Recent studies suggest that listeners are able to identify regional varieties of their native language (Clopper & Pisoni, 2007; Gooskens, 2005). These studies have also demonstrated that listeners use specific vowel, consonant, and intonational variation to make these identifications (Clopper & Pisoni, 2004; van Bezooijen & Gooskens, 1999). In most of these previous studies, however, listeners were asked to identify varieties with which they had at least some contact. What is not known is whether listeners can also distinguish between varieties with which they have little or no exposure and what linguistic features they use to do so. In particular, …

A Review Of “The Wall Street Primer: The Players, Deals, And Mechanics Of The U.S. Securities Market”, Leticia Camacho

Faculty Publications

Wall Street Primer provides a good insight into the world of Wall Street: the environment, the functions, operations, and the professionals or “players.” It was written by Jason A. Pedersen, a former investment banker and securities lawyer.

An Exploratory Analysis Of Health Insurance Decisions Among Rural Western Montana Small Business Owners, Rebecca Esther Goe

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

For decades small business owners have been struggling to offer health insurance to their employees. Health insurance reform has been an issue of contention over the last few decades, culminating in the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23,2010. One measure policy makers took to increase access to health insurance was to provide incentives to small business owners to offer health insurance. However, prior research has indicated that economic incentives alone do not guarantee the provision of health insurance coverage by small business owners. Previous research has rarely examined the noneconomic (social/cultural) factors behind why …

Developing Trust And Managing Differences In Perception: Building Relationships Between The Missoula Police Department And Local News Media, Melissa Jensen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Finding the right balance in the relationships that develop between law enforcement officers and members of the media can be difficult for both sides. Police officers who work with the media are trying to navigate through the process of informing the public of crime activity, while protecting those involved in the cases being reported on by the media. Reporters on the other hand are trying to navigate their way through the sometimes unclear process of gathering criminal justice information to report crime stories to the public, while learning the proper procedures for working with law enforcement.

The End Of Farming In The “Northern Periphery” Of The Southwest, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Prehispanic farmers belonging to the Virgin and Fremont traditions once occupied most of Utah and adjacent parts of Arizona and Nevada. Through much of the twentieth century, these areas were called the "Northern Periphery'' of the Southwest, but in recent decades, both Fremont and Virgin have often been left out of syntheses of southwestern archaeology-even though they clearly had strong connections to the Southwest and represented, respectively, the northernmost and westernmost extensions of maize-based horticulture in western North America. This exclusion results from a combination of factors, the most important of which are geography and the territorial behavior of some …

A Review Of Fieldworks Language Explorer, Chris Rogers Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

One of the most important goals in language documentation is to produce reference materials as well as to create long-lasting (i.e., archivable) materials for the languages. Fieldworks Language Explorer (FLEx) 3.0 is software for organizing and analyzing linguistic data and is produced for free download by SIL International (SIL)1 . This review has three goals: to show how the current version of FLEx addresses problems in earlier versions of the program, to highlight some of the more useful features of FLEx 3.0, and to indicate how it compares to other database programs.

Cultural And Contextual Differentiation Of Mesoamerican Iconography In The Southwest/Northwest, Michael T. Searcy

Faculty Publications

Ample research has documented the long-term interaction between Mesoamerica and the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico (SW/NW). Nelson (2006:345) has used the phrase "Mesoamerican interaction markers" as a way to describe evidence of this contact in the SW/NW. He further defines these as "a variety of archaeological patterns that are reminiscent of Mesoamerican counterparts" including "objects, practices, and styles." Some of the interaction markers that have been studied at length are trade goods such as copper bells, macaws, shell, and iron pyrite mirrors (Bayman 2002; Bradley 1993; Ericson and Baugh 1993; Kelley 1966, 1995; Mathien 1993; McGuire 1993b; Nelson 2000; Riley 2005). …

The Applicability Of The Megargee Classification System For The Mmpi-A, Joel Andrew Dillon

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Megargee (1977) originally developed a classification system for MMPI profiles for male offenders, and eventually expanded this system to also accommodate the MMPI profiles of female offenders (Megargee, 1992). Recently Megargee expanded and modified this system for use with the MMPI-2 (Megargee, Carbonell, Bohn, and Sliger, 2001). The purpose of the current study was to examine the utility of Megargee's systems as applied to adolescents in correctional facilities based on MMPI-A results. The Megargee classification criteria were modified for the purposes of this study, generally based on quite limited modifications to accommodate the lower profile ratings typically found for adolescents …

Psychometric Properties Of The Mmpi-A Harris-Lingoes And Si Subscales In A Forensic Sample, Ashley K. Winkleman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine the internal and external psychometric properties of the Harris-Lingoes subscales. This was accomplished by use of both self-report and caregiver-rated external criterion measures. The present study employed an archival data set consisting of 760 adolescents (470 boys and 290 girls) who completed the MMPI-A at an outpatient adolescent treatment facility as part of a court-ordered psychological evaluation. Overall, a number of subscales demonstrated good internal consistency reliability (e.g., D4 and Hy3) whereas other subscales (e.g., Pd2) demonstrated unacceptable internal consistency reliability for both genders. Correlations with external self-report scores and caregiver …

Optimization Models And Algorithms For Spatial Scheduling, Christopher J. Garcia

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Spatial scheduling problems involve scheduling a set of activities or jobs that each require a certain amount of physical space in order to be carried out. In these problems space is a limited resource, and the job locations, orientations, and start times must be simultaneously determined. As a result, spatial scheduling problems are a particularly difficult class of scheduling problems. These problems are commonly encountered in diverse industries including shipbuilding, aircraft assembly, and supply chain management. Despite its importance, there is a relatively scarce amount of research in the area of spatial scheduling.

In this dissertation, spatial scheduling problems are …

Comparative Validity Of Mmpi-A Scales Scores In African American And Caucasian Male Juvenile Delinquents, Stacy Natasha Wilson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study examined comparative validity of the MMPI-A scale scores of African American and Caucasian male juvenile delinquents utilizing a step down hierarchical regression procedure proposed by Laughtenschlager & Mendoza (1986). The MMPI-A (Butcher et al., 1992) was administered to 281 African American and Caucasian juvenile delinquents while their caretakers filled out the CBCL (Achenbach, 1991; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) and DBRS (Barkley & Murphy, 1998), which were used as extra-test measures. Significant overall prediction bias was detected in 15 out of 56 regressions. Statistically significant prediction bias was found for a subset of criterion variables for Clinical Scales 2, …

Married With Children: The Influence Of Parental Status And Gender On Ambulatory Blood Pressure, Wendy C. Birmingham, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Adam M. Howard, Dustin Thoman

Faculty Publications

Background Although there is substantial evidence that social relationships and marriage may influence both psychological and physical health, little is known about the influence of children. Purpose This study examined the competing predictions regarding the directional influence of parental status and its interaction with gender—given that mothers are typically disproportionately more responsible for everyday care of children—on cardiovascular functioning. Method We examined ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) over 24 hours among 198 married males and females. Results Couples without children had significantly higher ambulatory SBP and DBP than those with children. Moreover, we found a significant interaction between parental status and …

Empathy And Error Processing, Scott A. Baldwin, Michael J. Larson, Joseph E. Fair, Daniel A. Good

Faculty Publications

Recent research suggests a relationship between empathy and error processing. Error processing is an evaluativecontrol function that can be measured using post-error response time slowing and the error-related negativity (ERN)and post-error positivity (Pe) components of the event-related potential (ERP). Thirty healthy participants completedtwo measures of empathy, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Empathy Quotient (EQ), and a modifiedStroop task. Post-error slowing was associated with increased empathic personal distress on the IRI. ERN amplitudewas related to overall empathy score on the EQ and the fantasy subscale of the IRI. The Pe and measures of empathywere not related. Results remained consistent …

Use Of The Patient Care Monitor To Screen For Depressionin Adult Cancer Patients Interviewed With The Structuredclinical Interview For Dsm-Iv, Scott A. Baldwin, Arthur C. Houts, Damon Lipinski, James P. Olsen, Murad Hasan

Faculty Publications

Objective: To evaluate the Patient Care Monitor (PCM1.0) Acute Distress and DespairnormalizedTscores as indicators of a diagnosis of Major Depression according to theStructured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID).Methods: Subjects were 21 adult cancer patients identified by treating communityoncologists as having significant emotional distress matched on age, cancer type, treatmenthistory, and sex to 21 patients not having significant distress. All completed e/tablet PCM 1.0and SCID administered by trained interviewers. Unweighted kappa and receiver operatingcharacteristics (ROC) analyses were used to assess scale properties.Results: Agreement between SCID Major Depression and Acute Distress and Despair(TX65) were kappa50.751 and 0.755, respectively. ROC …

Japanese Elicited Imitation: Asr-Based Oral Proficiency Test And Optimal Item Creation, Hitokazu Matsushita, Deryle Londsdale, Dan Dewey

Faculty Publications

In this study we discuss the development of an optimal ASR-based grading system for an L2 oral proficiency test with a method called elicited imitation (EI). We also discuss EI test item creation from a linguistic point of view. Based on two issues found in a previous study (Matsushita & LeGare, 2010) we also investigate creation of improved language models for EI grading with speech corpus data. Finally, we examine the effectiveness of new EI items in our empirical study and suggest a method to retrieve authentic EI test items from corpus data.

Exploring Diverse Settings For Language Acquisition And Use: Comparing Study Abroad, Service Learning Abroad, And Foreign Language Housing, Rob A. Martinsen, Wendy Baker, Dan Dewey, Jennifer Brown, Cary Johnson

Faculty Publications

This study compared the amount of the second language (L2) use and linguistic gains made by students in three short-term language immersion programs: (1) traditional study abroad, (2) service-oriented study abroad, and (3) foreign language (FL) housing. These were chosen because they represent three distinct program types, providing students with different ways of interacting in the target language and different types and amounts of contact with native speakers. This allowed us to evaluate relationships between study setting, language use, and language gains. Learners completed language logs detailing their use of the L2 as well as pre- and post-immersion oral tests …

Area Of Enigma: V. S. Naipaul And The East Indian Revival In Trinidad, Aaron Eastley

Faculty Publications

On March 29, 1949, V.S. Naipaul was front-page news in the Trinidad Guardian. “Special ‘Schol’ Urged for QRC Student,” the headline stated, and beneath was a photo of a quietly smiling teenage Naipaul, looking studious and benign in a pair of large black-rimmed glasses (“Special”). Naipaul, the article reports, had earned marks of distinction in Spanish and French on the Cambridge Higher School Certificate Examination, but was not eligible for a Colonial Scholarship to study in England owing to a recently-introduced technicality. Through no fault of his own he had not completed all of the requisite course work to qualify …

Recovering And Updating Legacy Dictionary Data, Deryle W. Lonsdale, Dawn Bates

Faculty Publications

Ongoing efforts to annotate and web-enable Lushootseed language resources involve displaying complex dictionary information in ways suitable for diverse users. In this paper we discuss how we have converted dictionary data from its legacy format into a best-practice, state-of-the-art XML format. We also describe how we have been able to further leverage this XML data by making it compatible with Kirrkirr, a new dictionary browser designed to display dictionary information for Australian aboriginal languages. We sketch the process in adapting the dictionary browser to make it a very workable visualization tool for Lushootseed data as well. We also explain and …

Litigation Under Seqra Declining, Exemption Use Is Rising, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

The State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), the statute that requires the preparation of environmental impact statements (EISs) for discretionary actions by state and local governments that may have a significant effect on the environment, has long been by far the most fertile source of environmental litigation in New York. That is still so, but the volume has declined, probably because much of such litigation grows out of disputes over proposed construction projects, and there are fewer of those in the recent recession.