Digital Commons Network^™

Judicial Innovation And Sexual Harassment Doctrine In The U.S. Court Of Appeals., Laura P. Moyer, Holley Takersley

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The determination that sexual harassment constituted “discrimination based on sex” under Title VII was first made by the lower federal courts, not Congress. Drawing from the literature on policy diffusion, this article examines the adoption of hostile work environment standards across the U.S. Courts of Appeals in the absence of controlling Supreme Court precedent. The results bolster recent findings about the influence of female judges on their male colleagues and suggest that in addition to siding with female plaintiffs, female judges also helped to shape legal rules that promoted gender equality in the workplace.

Managing Employees’ Use Of Mobile Technologies To Minimize Work-Life Balance Impacts, Suprateek Sarker, Saonee Sarker, Xiao Xiao, Manju Ahuja

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Organizations recognize that employees’ use of mobile technologies improves productivity. Yet there is concern that mobile usage can impact employees’ work-life balance (WLB). In this article, we report on the undesirable impacts on WLB and offer a framework and a set of strategies for managing WLB. We propose that there is a continuum of WLB perceptions, with some seeing work and personal life as separate domains, others viewing work as overlapping with personal life and yet others perceiving the two domains as integrated

Low Cost Neurochairs, Frankie Pike

Master's Theses

Electroencephalography (EEG) was formerly confined to clinical and research settings with the necessary hardware costing thousands of dollars. In the last five years a number of companies have produced simple electroencephalograms, priced below $300 and available direct to consumers. These have stirred the imaginations of enthusiasts and brought the prospects of "thought-controlled" devices ever closer to reality. While these new devices were largely targeted at video games and toys, active research on enabling people suffering from debilitating diseases to control wheelchairs was being pursued. A number of neurochairs have come to fruition offering a truly hands-free mobility solution, but whether …

"The Adding Machine": A Director's Notebook, Esteban Arévalo Ibáñez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis is a compilation and analysis of my experiences during the process of directing The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice, from its conception in the director's imagination, to the collaboration with the design team and the actors. It begins with research and the director's approach to the play. Then a description of the process follows, starting with the design meetings and auditions, and going through rehearsals, performances, and evaluations of the show by faculty and peers. This description is accompanied by a journal that contains the director's thoughts and reactions to discoveries and challenges that came up during …

A Process Analysis Of Engineering Problem Solving And Assessment Of Problem Solving Skills, Sarah Grigg

All Dissertations

In the engineering profession, one of the most critical skills to possess is accurate and efficient problem solving. Thus, engineering educators should strive to help students develop skills needed to become competent problem solvers. In order to measure the development of skills, it is necessary to assess student performance, identify any deficiencies present in problem solving attempts, and identify trends in performance over time. Through iterative assessment using standard assessment metrics, researchers/instructors are able to track trends in problem solving performance across time, which can serve as a gauge of students' learning gains.
This research endeavor studies the problem solving …

Essays On Sourcing Decisions: A Behavioral Perspective, David Hall

All Dissertations

This dissertation examines how managers make and perceive supply chain governance decisions. A plethora of supply chain management literature suggests that managers will a priori choose a governance form that will manage risks while pursuing benefits. A number of theories have been used to inform this view: agency, resource-based view and transaction cost economics. Agency theory, the resource-based view and transaction cost economics all share the common assumption that a manager is considering both the risks and benefits of their decisions. In addition each of these perspectives assumes managers are boundedly rational. Taken together these two assumptions suggest managers have …

Million Dollar Plus Donors Within Intercollegiate Athletics: A Qualitative Analysis Of Donor Motivations, Nancy Carol Hixson

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of Preservice Teachers' Perceptions Of Locus Of Control, Self-Regulation, And Motivation In Online Learning, Sung-Ho Min

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Fall Of "Augustinian Adam": Original Fragility And Supralapsarian Purpose, John Schneider

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This essay is framed by conflict between Christianity and Darwinian science over the history of the world and the nature of original human personhood. Evolutionary science narrates a long prehuman geological and biological history filled with vast amounts, kinds, and distributions of apparently random brutal and pointless suffering. It has also unveiled an original human person with animal psychosomatic heredity. This narrative seems to discredit Christianity's (Augustinian) metanarrative of the Fall-Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. The author contends that the Augustinian story and its character of Adam are implausible, anyway, for reasons of theology and apologetics. He proposes that Christians …

Custom, Contract, And Kidney Exchange , Kieran Healy, Kimberly D. Krawiec

Duke Law Journal

In this Essay, we examine a case in which the organizational and logistical demands of a novel form of organ exchange (the nonsimultaneous, extended, altruistic donor (NEAD) chain) do not map cleanly onto standard cultural schemas for either market or gift exchange, resulting in sociological ambiguity and legal uncertainty. In some ways, a NEAD chain resembles a form of generalized exchange, an ancient and widespread instance of the norm of reciprocity that can be thought of simply as the obligation to "pay it forward" rather than the obligation to reciprocate directly with the original giver. At the same time, a …

Custom, Normative Practice, And The Law, Gerald J. Postema

Duke Law Journal

Legally binding custom is conventionally analyzed in terms of two independent elements: regularities of behavior (usus) and convictions of actors engaging in the behavior that it is legally required (opinio juris). This additive conception of custom is deeply flawed. This Essay argues that we must abandon the additive conception and replace it with an account of custom that understands legally relevant customs as norms that arise from discursive normative practices embedded in rich contexts of social interaction characterized by intermeshing anticipations and interconnected conduct. The hallmark of legally binding customs, it is argued, is not the addition of belief or …

The Custom-To-Failure Cycle, Steven L. Schwarcz, Lucy Chang

Duke Law Journal

In areas of complexity, people often rely on heuristics—by which we broadly mean simplifications of reality that allow people to make decisions in spite of their limited ability to process information. When this reliance becomes routine and widespread within a community, it can develop into a custom. As long as such a heuristic-based custom reasonably approximates reality, society continues to benefit. In the financial sector, however, rapid changes in markets and products have disconnected some of these customs from reality, leading to massive failures, and increasing financial complexity is accelerating the rate of change, threatening future failures. We examine this …

Brooding Deficits In Memory: Focusing Attention Improves Subsequent Recall, Paula T. Hertel, Amanda A. Benbow, E. Geraerts

Psychology Faculty Research

Ruminative habits of thought about one’s problems and the resulting consequences are correlated with symptoms of depression and cognitive biases (Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco, & Lyubomirsky, 2008). In our orienting task, brooders and nonbrooders concentrated on self-focusing phrases while they were also exposed to neutral target words. On each trial in the unfocused condition, participants saw and then reported the target before concentrating on the phrase; in the focused condition, the target was reported after phrase concentration. A brooding-related deficit on a subsequent unexpected test of free and forced recall was obtained in the unfocused condition only. Brooders recalled more successfully in …

Utah Angler Specialization And Its Relationship To Environmental Attitudes And Angler Motivations, Joseph W. Unger Iii

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For this research, I sampled 10,000 anglers who purchased a Utah fishing or fishing/hunting combination license from January through November, 2011. An online survey link was provided to the potential participants during November-December, 2011, to determine levels of specialization, motivations for fishing, and environmental awareness/concern. Anglers were also compared to a sample from the general public to compare the two groups’ feelings toward several practices taking place on public lands. Finally, anglers were divided into consumptive and nonconsumptive subgroups to compare the environmental attitudes of these two groups.

Three angler specialization groups were identified from the sample of respondents. Anglers …

Transportation Network Resiliency: A Study Of Self-Annealing, Sunil Babu Pant

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Disasters have the potential to hit any geographical location with or without warning. As such, it is desirable that transportation networks are able to withstand the adverse effect of disasters and maintain the normal functioning of all sectors of society. Resilient transportation networks are least affected by disruptions created by natural and manmade disasters and are still able function with an acceptable level of service. Such networks also have ability to return earlier from disrupted state to the normal functioning state. Resilience possessed by a transportation network measures the ability of networks to maintain functionality despite adverse conditions posed by …

Medical Professionalism: An Expiremental Look At Physicians' Facebook Profiles, Joseph Wright Clyde

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Use of social networking services (SNS) is on the rise. While many users sign in for personal purposes, it is not uncommon for professionals to connect over SNSs with clients, students, and patients. The present study was concerned with examining a particular group of professionals, medical doctors, and how their profiles on an SNS site related to potential patient's impressions of professionalism. Participants recruited from Utah State University (USU; n = 253) and through Survey Monkey (n = 39) were randomized to view one of six vignette Facebook profiles. Profiles were populated with solely professional material or personal material …

Patriarchy And Militarism, Dylan Hallagan

Verbum

No abstract provided.

Approaches To The Divine, Adrienne Aldridge

Verbum

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph.

"Composed of philosophical and cultural ideas and unique art and practices, Hinduism is an eastern religion predominately practiced in India. Millions of people practice Hinduism which is one of the Earth’s oldest religions. Notably, this faith’s main distinctive qualities are the belief in reincarnation, the Path of Desire and the Path of Righteousness and one absolute being, Brahman. Hinduism seeks to answer the fundamental questions of life: what do we want out of this life and how can we obtain it? The religion explores the idea that there is …

‘The Rose Of No Man’S Land [?]’: Femininity, Female Identity, And Women On The Western Front, Nancy Martin

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article provides an analysis of a range literary texts and memoirs written by, and about, women who served as nurses, VADs, and ambulance drivers on the Western Front. It explores how these texts represent “feminine” identity in relation to the war’s emotional and physical trauma and focuses, in particular, on moments where conventional notions are challenged, or made impossible, by the war’s chaos. In addition, this article explores how these women understood, articulated, and represented the men they sought to aid. Fundamental to this discussion is an exploration of the period’s propaganda and iconography and how these women writers …

Understanding Antiwar Activism As A Gendering Activity: A Look At The U.S.’S Anti-Vietnam War Movement, Say Burgin

Journal of International Women's Studies

Research into the gendered nature of war experiences has provided rich ways of understanding how gender constructs society and the nation. Scholarship on peace activism and gender has deepened our knowledge of women’s roles within warring societies and the ways women have understood themselves as promoters of peace. While much of this research asks how antiwar activities and war are predicated upon dominant gender ideals and focuses in particular on women’s experiences, this article aims to explore how some wartime events, specifically antiwar activism, constitutes or reconstitutes gender. Focusing on the United States’ anti-Vietnam War history, I examine how activists …

Non-Binary Gender Concepts And The Evolving Legal Treatment Of Uk Transsexed Individuals: A Practical Consideration Of The Possibilities Of Butler, Alex Harris

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay seeks to bridge the gap between the UK legal system’s treatment of transsexuals and post-structuralist gender theory. It argues that whilst the greater representation of transsexuals in UK legal discourse embodied in the Gender Recognition Act is a positive move forward in terms of classic liberal notions of human rights and in its acceptance of transsexuals as proper subjects before the law, it nonetheless represents an essentialist conception of transsexuals; requiring them to ‘fit’ within binary categories of male and female. It is argued that post-structuralist thought regarding gender can illuminate some of the problems inherent within the …

Interpersonal Desirability Of The Self-Defeating Humorist, Ashley N. Barnes

Honors Theses

Humor is a multifaceted construct and can be defined in terms of the different ways people tend to use humor, which are referred to as humor styles. The present study examined the potential effects that the four different humor styles (Affiliative, Self-enhancing, Aggressive, and Self-defeating) have on other people’s perceptions of the individual producing the humor, and whether that impact was moderated by the attachment style of the individual perceiving the humorist. The goal was to investigate the interaction between the humor styles and physical attractiveness of a target in predicting how attractive a person is perceived and the degree …

Information Outlook, November/December 2012, Special Libraries Association

Information Outlook, 2012

Volume 16, Issue 6

Perfecting Criminal Markets, David Jaros

All Faculty Scholarship

From illicit drugs to human smuggling to prostitution, legislators may actually be perfecting the very criminal markets they seek to destroy. Criminal laws often create new dangers and new criminal opportunities. Criminalizing drugs creates the opportunity to sell fake drugs. Raising the penalties for illegal immigration increases the risk that smugglers will rely on dangerous methods that can injure or kill their human cargo. Banning prostitution increases the underground spread of sexually transmitted disease. Lawmakers traditionally respond to these “second order” problems in predictable fashion — with a new wave of criminalization that imposes additional penalties on fake drug dealers, …

Cartels As Rational Business Strategy: Crime Pays, John M. Connor, Robert H. Lande

All Faculty Scholarship

This article is the first to analyze whether cartel sanctions are optimal. The conventional wisdom is that the current level of sanctions is adequate or excessive. The article demonstrates, however, that the combined level of current United States cartel sanctions is only 9% to 21% as large as it should be to protect potential victims of cartelization optimally. Consequently, the average level of United States anti-cartel sanctions should be approximately quintupled.

The United States imposes a diverse arsenal of sanctions against collusion: criminal fines and restitution payments for the firms involved and prison, house arrest and fines for the corporate …

Comparing Risk-Taking And Digit Ratio (2d:4d) In Offenders And Non-Offenders, Taja Anderson

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Offenders differ from non-offenders in their propensity to engage in risk-taking behaviour. The ratio of the index and ring fingers (2D:4D), a proxy of prenatal testosterone exposure, has been linked to risk-taking behaviour. The present study compared risk-taking in 45 male offenders and 66 non-offenders using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Furthermore, it sought to determine the relationship between their 2D:4D ratios and risk-taking behaviours. No significant differences were found between the two groups in their risk-taking behaviour and no significant correlations were found between 2D:4D and risk-taking in either group. These findings are discussed in relation to previous …

How Will Ocean Acidification Affect Marine Photosynthetic Organisms? A Review, Michael Jarrold

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Atmospheric carbon dioxide is increasing year on year, mainly as a result of burning fossil fuels. Although carbon dioxide dissolves in the oceans, mitigating atmospheric effects, it does result in a reduction of the alkalinity of sea water; an effect termed Ocean Acidification (OA). The subsequent changes in carbon chemistry will most likely affect marine photosynthetic organisms in a number of ways; including the ability of organisms to build calcium carbonate shells or skeletons (calcification) and primary production. Previous work indicates that both processes respond to OA, but not always in the same way. Consequently the aim of this review …

Investigating Placebo Mechanisms: Could A Pdp System Exist?, Francesca Payne

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Placebo mechanisms are a neglected area of research. Kirsch’s (1985) response expectancy theory described the stimulus-placebo response process as direct and unmediated. However, Hyland (2011) argued that the placebo effect is mediated by a parallel distributed processing (PDP) system, whereby all cognitive input is processed simultaneously, resulting in perseveration of the placebo effect. The present study examined this theory by utilising a TENS device as a placebo ‘effecting’ reaction times to a computer task, with an additional cognitive load task to further test the PDP system’s existence. Although a general placebo effect was found that increased in the cognitive load …

Understanding Adolescent Perceptions Of Science Education, Ellen Kress Ebert

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study used the Relevance of Science Education (ROSE) survey (Sjoberg & Schreiner, 2004) to examine topics of interest and perspectives of secondary science students in a large school district in the southwestern U.S. A situated learning perspective was used to frame the project. The research questions of this study focused on (a) perceptions students have about themselves and their science classroom and how these beliefs may influence their participation in the community of practice of science; (b) consideration of how a future science classroom where the curriculum is framed by the Next Generation Science Standards might foster students' beliefs …

The Leadership Orientations And Effectiveness Of College And University Career Services Directors, Jacob A. Livengood

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Career service directors lead the third most common division within student affairs departments, but the leadership of a collegiate career services office has not been represented in higher education research. Obtaining a "good job" has consistently been noted as a main reason to attend college (Pryor, Hurtado, Saenz, Santos & Korn, 2007). The rising costs of higher education have also yielded the question, "What can college do for me?" financially and with future career opportunities (Baum & Payea, 2005; Moretti, 2004; Pryor, Hurtado, Saenz, Santos & Korn, 2007; Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2009). The functions of career services …