Digital Commons Network^™

Social Network Development During Study Abroad In Japan, Spencer A. Ring, Daniel Gardner, Dan Dewey

Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we investigate how students studying abroad in Japan form social networks. As Whitworth (2006) and Fraser (2002) have found, social networks can play an integral role in language proficiency development and language gains during study abroad (SA). However, much is yet to be understood regarding the processes by which SA students form social networks. The present study addresses this issue. Using the Study Abroad Social Interaction Questionnaire (SASIQ), we collected data regarding the social network formation of 204 students who studied abroad in Japan. Sample trends include students' participation in school and community clubs and social circles, …

Matching Contributions And Saving Outcomes: A Behavioral Economics Perspective, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Including a matching contribution increases savings plan participation and contributions, although the impact is less significant than the impact of nonfinancial approaches. Conditional on participation, a higher match rate has only a small effect on savings plan contributions. In contrast, the match threshold has a substantial impact, probably because it serves as a natural reference point when individuals are deciding how much to save and may be viewed as advice from the savings program sponsor on how much to save. Other behavioral approaches to changing savings plan outcomes—including automatic enrollment, simplification, planning aids, reminders, and commitment features—potentially have a much …

Simplification And Saving, John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

The daunting complexity of important financial decisions can lead to procrastination. Weevaluate a low-cost intervention that substantially simplifies the retirement savings planparticipation decision. Individuals received an opportunity to enroll in a retirement savingsplan at a pre-selected contribution rate and asset allocation, allowing them to collapsea multidimensional problem into a binary choice between the status quo and the pre-selected alternative. The intervention increases plan enrollment rates by 10–20 percentagepoints. We find that a similar intervention can be used to increase contribution rates amongemployees who are already participating in a savings plan.

Planning Prompts As A Means Of Increasing Rates Of Immunization And Preventive Screening, Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Building on psychological insights about the way people make decisions, behavioral scientists have proposed various methods to increase behaviors that promote welfare without limiting freedom of choice (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). Recently, researchers have begun exploring the power of such methods for encouraging people to engage in beneficial health-related behaviors, particularly those that are often put off or forgotten (Loewenstein, Brennan, & Volpp, 2007). For example, motivated by evidence of substantial inertia at the status quo, researchers have demonstrated that if people are automatically assigned an appointment to receive a flu shot (while retaining the right to change or cancel …

The Nature Of Adolescent Learner Interaction In A Virtual High School Setting, J. Borup, Charles R. Graham, R.S. Davies

Faculty Publications

This study used survey data to measure the effect of learners’ reported interactions with content, peers, and instructors on several course outcomes in two virtual high school courses that emphasized interactive learning. Surveys found that the large majority of students viewed all investigated types of interaction as educational and motivational. Students perceived learner–instructor and learner–content interactions to have significantly higher educational value (a < 0.01) than learner–learner interactions, and viewed learner–instructor interaction to be significantly more motivational (a < 0.01) than learner–content interaction. Furthermore, nine significant correlations were found involving the time students reported spending on human interaction and course outcomes. Seven of the significant correlations were related to the time students reported spending in human interaction and the more affective outcomes, such as course satisfaction and disposition towards the subject area. Outcomes also indicate that learner–learner interaction had higher correlations with course outcomes than learners’ interactions with the content or their instructor. Students’ perceived learning was not significantly correlated with any type of interaction, and only students’ total reported time spent on learner– learner interaction and students’ social learner–learner interaction were significantly correlated with their grade.

A Framework For Institutional Adoption And Implementation Of Blended Learning In Higher Education, Charles R. Graham, Wendy Woodfield, J. Buckley Harrison

Faculty Publications

There has been rapid growth in blended learning implementation and research focused on course-level issues such as improved learning outcomes, but very limited research focused on institutional policy and adoption issues. More institutional-level blended learning research is needed to guide institutions of higher education in strategically adopting and implementing blended learning on campus. This research investigates six cases of institutional adoption of blended learning to examine the key issues that can guide university administrators interested in this endeavor. Cases were selected to represent institutions at various stages of blended learning adoption including (1) awareness/exploration, (2) adoption/early implementation, and (3) mature …

The Nature Of Parental Interactions In An Online Charter School, Jered Borup, Charles R. Graham, Randall S. Davies

Faculty Publications

A belief commonly held in the K–12 education community is that parents can have a positive impact on their child’s learning. However, little research has examined parental involvement in an online learning environment. In this study, researchers using survey data found that generally students and parents viewed parent–instructor and learner–parent interactions as motivational. Students viewed learner–parent interaction as significantly more motivational than did their parents. The quantity of reported parental interactions was generally negatively correlated with course outcomes. These negative correlations may be the result of parents’ tendency to increase interaction levels following poor student performance and may not reflect …

An Analysis Of Research Trends In Dissertations And Theses Studying Blended Learning, Jeffrey S. Drysdale, Charles R. Graham, Kristian J. Spring, Lisa R. Halverson

Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the research of 205 doctoral dissertations and masters' theses in the domain of blended learning. A summary of trends regarding the growth and context of blended learning research is presented. Methodological trends are described in terms of qualitative, inferential statistics, descriptive statistics, and combined approaches to data analysis. Research topics are divided into nine topics (learner outcomes, dispositions, instructional design, interaction, comparison, demographics, technology, professional development, and other), each containing several sub-topics. Patterns in these topics are analyzed to identify gaps in research and to highlight opportunities for future research as the field of blended learning continues …

The Influence Of Asynchronous Video Communication On Learner Social Presence: A Narrative Analysis Of Four Cases, Jered Borup, Richard E. West, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

Online courses are increasingly using asynchronous video communication. However, little is known about how asynchronous video communication influences students’ communication patterns. This study presents four narratives of students with varying characteristics who engaged in asynchronous video communication. The extrovert valued the efficiency of making video comments but saw little value in viewing the video comments of her peers. Somewhat inversely, the English language learner valued the video comments of her peers but lacked the ability to fully participate herself. The introverted student valued the flexibility and richness of asynchronous video but spent an inordinate amount of time recording her videos. …

World Cup Watching, Jack Ryan

English Faculty Publications

This essay describes Jack's experience dealing with World Cup fever in Bath, England, during the 2010 World Cup. It's Jack's outsider's perspective on the impact of world cup competition while he taught in the Advanced Studies in England Program.

Enhancing Auditor Professional Skepticism: The Professional Skepticism Continuum, Steven M. Glover, Douglas F. Prawitt

Faculty Publications

The Standards Working Group (SWG) of the Global Public Policy Committee of the six largest global accounting networks is committed to improving the quality of financial statement audits and as such has a keen interest in advancing the understanding and application of professional skepticism. The SWG accordingly commissioned leading academics to produce this thought leadership paper. The purpose of the paper is to facilitate an ongoing discussion between the profession, standard setters, regulators, investors, audit committees, and other interested stakeholders. While the SWG believes this paper accomplishes that objective, not all of the views expressed in this paper necessarily represent …

Urban American Indians: A Comparison Of Father Involvement Predictors Across Race, Jonathan Padilla, Peter Ward, Gordon E. Limb

Faculty Publications

Father involvement in families of urban American Indians has been a neglected area of research. In this study, the authors examined the associations among parental relationship quality, father involvement, and coresidence. The authors conducted a multiple group analysis through structural equation modeling comparing 107 American Indian fathers with fathers of the general population in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Although the results were similar between groups, findings indicated two key differences for urban American Indians. First, emotional supportiveness had a stronger relationship with physically active engagement for American Indian fathers. Second, parental relationship quality had greater total standardized …

Neuromuscular Fatigue And Biomechanical Alterations During High-Intensity, Constant-Load Cycling, Amanda Julie Overton

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Neuromuscular fatigue is an inevitable process at play during prolonged exercise, and may be caused by multiple alterations within the central nervous system and peripheral musculature. As fatigue develops, the neuromuscular system must adapt to these changes by making compensatory movement pattern adjustments so as to use motor pathways that are less fatigued in an effort to maintain task performance; motor variability is thus increased. The primary purpose of the four studies contained within this doctoral thesis was to detail the progression of exercise-induced neuromuscular fatigue, and to improve our understanding of the muscle activation and joint kinematic alterations that …

Representation And Symbolic Politics In Indonesia : An Analysis Of Billboard Advertising In The Legislative Assembly Elections Of 2009, Eva Leiliyanti

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The overarching characteristic of the 2009 legislative elections lay in the legislative candidates’ politics of image. It stemmed from the amendment to the election Law no. 10/2008 article 214 that ostensibly cut off the parties’ power in determining their candidates without the public’s “direct” consent. The public was then given a direct opportunity to choose and vote for their preferred candidates in the 2009 elections. This marked the emergence and proliferation of the candidates’ image construction, especially in the “outdoor” political arena. Billboards were chosen as the most effective outdoor advertising medium to introduce the candidates and propagate their slogans …

Pictures In Words : Indexing, Folksonomy And Representation Of Subject Content In Historic Photographs, Brian Stewart

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Subject access to images is a major issue for image collections. Research is needed to understand how indexing and tagging contribute to make the subjects of historic photographs accessible.

This thesis firstly investigates the evidence of cognitive dissonance between indexers and users in the way they attribute subjects to historic photographs, and, secondly, how indexers and users might work together to enhance subject description. It analyses how current indexing and social tagging represent the subject content of historic photographs. It also suggests a practical way indexers can work with taggers to deal with the classic problem of resource constraints and …

Exercise As Medicine : Reversing Treatment Toxicities In Prostate Cancer Patients, Bradley A. Wall

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A common treatment for prostate cancer, which is the most common form of cancer after skin cancer in Australian males, is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). However, ADT is associated with an array of adverse effects including reduced bone and lean mass, loss of muscle strength, negative change in lipid profile, and increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as well as diabetes, all of which can compromise physical function and quality of life. Physical exercise has been suggested as a key lifestyle intervention for this group of cancer patients as it has enormous potential to limit and even reverse the effects …

A Moment To Give, No Moment To Take : A Mixed-Methods Study On Volunteer Tourism, Usep Suhud

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The number of research projects (theses and non-theses) on volunteer tourism (VT) has increased significantly over the last twelve years. However, few studies have measured an individual’s intention and stage of readiness to be involved in VT. The main purpose of this thesis is to develop a model to predict intention and stage of readiness to be involved in volunteer tourism by applying variables, including attitudes towards the concept of volunteer tourism (VT), subjective norms, altruistic lifestyle values, the sensation-seeking personality, social class, taking/receiving motivation, giving motivation, past experience in tourism, past experience in volunteering, past experience in VT, perceived …

Migration Matters : The Experience Of United Kingdom Registered Nurses Migrating To Western Australia, Caroline J. Vafeas

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This qualitative study uses heuristic inquiry to investigate the unique journey of 21 registered nurses (RN) who migrated from the United Kingdom (UK) to Perth in Western Australia (WA) between 2003 and 2008. The study explores the reasons for migration as well as the professional, social and psychological impact on each participant and their accompanying family during the first two years of settling in a new country.

In the contemporary climate of international nurse mobility, many employers are attempting to attract new employees, often with tantalising offers of an immediate visa and the enticement of a better climate and standard …

Power Relationships And Authentic Organisational Learning : Daring To Break The Silence On Meaningful Dialogue In Policing Organisations, Lindsay B. Garratt

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The 21st century presents great opportunities and threats for business: national and global markets are demanding high performance, innovation, creativity, and flexibility. Public sector organisations are continually asked to do more with less, with equal if not greater efficiency and creativity demands as the private sector. Organisational learning is a concept touted as an important and necessary strategy for organisations to keep pace with the rapid changing global environment that now plays host to opportunities as well as great economic and social volatility. However the reality for many is that they become proficient at the kind of organisational learning that …

A Robust Sound Perception Model Suitable For Neuromorphic Implementation., Martin Coath, Sadique Sheik, Elisabetta Chicca, Giacomo Indiveri, Susan L. Denham, Thomas Wennekers

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

We have recently demonstrated the emergence of dynamic feature sensitivity through exposure to formative stimuli in a real-time neuromorphic system implementing a hybrid analog/digital network of spiking neurons. This network, inspired by models of auditory processing in mammals, includes several mutually connected layers with distance-dependent transmission delays and learning in the form of spike timing dependent plasticity, which effects stimulus-driven changes in the network connectivity. Here we present results that demonstrate that the network is robust to a range of variations in the stimulus pattern, such as are found in naturalistic stimuli and neural responses. This robustness is a property …

The Pornographics Of Japanese Negrophilia, Jd Mackintosh

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

In 1974, a bizarre story, ‘Jigoku ni ochita wakamonotachi’ (‘Young Men Fallen into Hell’), appeared in the Japanese homo magazine Adon. It described in pornographic detail the sado-masochistic torture of Japanese men captured and forced to perform in a black circus troupe in American-occupied Japan. ‘Jigoku’ was unremarkable except that, in its stylised ‘pornographics’, it uniquely – for the homo imagination – configured sexual desire as a Japanese–black inter-racial intercourse. This article explores this imagination through a close reading of ‘Jigoku’. It traces a post-war ‘genealogy’ of blackness (Russell 2006), which finds affinity of meaning and value cutting across sub-cultural …

A Review Of Bast Fibres And Their Composites. Part 3: Modelling, John Summerscales, Amandeep Virk, Wayne Hall

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Respite Care, Marital Quality, And Stress In Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Amber Harper, Tina Taylor, James Harper, Susanne Olsen Roper, Mikle South

Faculty Publications

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are at risk for having higher stress and lower marital quality than other parents. Survey data regarding respite care, marital quality, and daily hassles and uplifts were obtained from 101 mother-father dyads who were together raising at least one child with ASD (total # of children = 118). Number of hours of respite care was positively related to improved marital quality for both husbands and wives, such that a one-hour increase in weekly respite care was associated with a one-half standard deviation increase in marital quality. This relationship was significantly mediated by …

Video Self-Modeling On An Ipad To Teach Functional Math Skills To Adolescents With Autism And Intellectual Disability, Cami Elizabeth Burton, Darlene Anderson, Mary Anne Prater, Tina Taylor

Faculty Publications

Research suggests that video-based interventions can provide increased opportunity for students with disabilities to acquire important academic and functional skills; however, little research exists regarding video-based interventions on the academic skills of students with autism and intellectual disabilities. The current study used a multiple baseline design across participants to investigate the effects of video self-modeling (VSM) on the mathematics skill acquisition of adolescents with autism. Four adolescent male students viewed videos of themselves on an iPad solving mathematical problems to estimate the amount of money used to pay for a given item and the amount to receive in change. Findings …

Delivery And Use Of Individualised Feedback In Large Class Medical Teaching, Sa Burr, E Brodier, S Wilkinson

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.

Perceived Food And Labor Equity And School Attendance Among Ugandan Children Living In Kin Care, Jini Roby, Stacey Shaw, Laurel George

Faculty Publications

Emerging research suggests that biological relatedness contributes to differential treatment between children being raised by kin and the biological children in the caregiver’s household. This potential concern may be elevated especially when household resources are stretched thin. In this study, 518 Ugandan youth and their caregivers were interviewed individually, examining the association between relatedness and perceived food and work equity, and school attendance. Household income, but not relatedness, was negatively associated with food inequity. However, relatedness was positively associated with perceived disparity in the distribution of work among children living in the household, and with children’s school attendance. These findings …

The Germans In The Seventh U.S. Cavalry At The Battle Of The Little Bighorn, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

About 15% or 131 men assigned to the Seventh Cavalry in June 1876 were born in Germany. A total of 78 of these men fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and 36 of these men were killed in action. The Germans in the Seventh Cavalry enjoyed a fine reputation as good soldiers, most of them were listed as having “excellent character,” and three of them were awarded the Medal of Honor for their action at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. This article deals with many issues including these men’s backgrounds, the condition of their lives, their height …

Remarital Chances, Choices, And Economic Consequences: Issues Of Social And Personal Welfare, Kevin Shafer, Todd M. Jensen

Faculty Publications

Many divorced women experience a significant decline financial, social, physical and psychological well-being following a divorce. Using data from the NLSY79 (n = 2,520) we compare welfare recipients, mothers, and impoverished women to less marginalized divorcees on remarriage chances. Furthermore, we look at the kinds of men these women marry by focusing on the employment and education of new spouses. Finally, we address how remarriage and spousal quality (as defined by education and employment) impact economic well-being after divorce. Our results show that remarriage has positive economic effects, but that is dependent upon spousal quality. However, such matches are …

Effects Of Leadership On Financial Performance At The Local Level Of An Industrial Distributor, Rod L. Flanagan, Gary Stewardson, Jeffrey P. Dew, Michelle M. Fleig-Palmer, Edward Reeve

Faculty Publications

An important component in the industrial products supply chain is the distribution segment of the channel. The health and success of industrial distributors can often influence the success cess of manufacturers whom they represent. Although research has demonstrated how leadership is a key ingredient in the success of large corporations across industries, very little leadership research has been conducted in the industrial distribution market segment—especially at the local level. This research fills the gap between what is know about leadership in larger organizations, and the need for greater understanding of leadership at the local level of an industrial distributor. The …

Actual Malice In The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights, Edward L. Carter

Faculty Publications

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights decided four cases in recent years that represent a positive step for freedom of expression in nations that belong to the Organization of American States. In 2004 and again in 2008, the court stopped short of adopting a standard that would require proof of actual malice in criminal defamation cases brought by public officials. In 2009, however, the court seemed to adopt the actual malice rule without calling it that. The court’s progress toward actual malice is chronicled in this article. The article concludes that the court’s decision not to explicitly use …