Digital Commons Network^™

Hospital Treatment Rates And Spill-Over Effects: Does Ownership Matter?, Badi H. Baltagi, Yin -Fang Yen

Center for Policy Research

This paper studies the effect of hospital ownership on treatment rates allowing for spatial correlation among hospitals. Competition among hospitals and knowledge spillovers generate significant externalities which we try to capture using the spatial Durbin model. Using a panel of 2342 hospitals in the 48 continental states observed over the period 2005 to 2008, we find significant spatial correlation of medical service treatment rates among hospitals. We also get mixed results on the effect of hospital ownership on treatment rates that depends upon the market structure where the hospital is located and which varies by treatment type.

Efficacy Of Property Marking: Police Identification Of Stolen Property, Craig Separovic, David J. Brooks Dr.

Australian Security and Intelligence Conference

Property marking, as a situational crime prevention technique, has found to be largely ineffectual in the reduction of property theft, although past studies have not considered the role property marking as an aid to the return of stolen or lost property. However, automotive identification and some studies have found that in some cases property marking is effective. Furthermore, many crime prevention groups focus on property marking as a means to reduce crime and the fear of crime.

Therefore, the study investigated the processes of lost, stolen and seized goods by law enforcement personnel. The study undertook a qualitative analysis of …

Coping With Smart Phone 'Distractions' In A College Classroom, Kehbuma Langmia

Department of Strategic, Legal, and Management Communications Faculty Publications

The influx of smart phones in most college classroom is impacting instruction in a way that was never anticipated. Thus, a survey of full-time faculty members at a local university in the United States was conducted to test three hypotheses, followed by a one-on-one interview with a random sample of the same respondents to ascertain the effect of smart phones in the classroom. Results showed conflicting approaches by faculty on how to handle the situation. While some faculty members use smart phones for pedagogic reasons and experience positive results, most of them apply strict classroom phone policy with little success. …

A Judges's Perspective On Perspectives Courses: Three Suggested Rubrics…With Examples, Stephen J. Fortunato Jr.

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Editor's Page, Joseph M. Valenzano Iii

Basic Communication Course Annual

This year the National Communication Association (NCA) celebrates its centennial. NCA began over a dispute between speech teachers and English teachers over the perception of oral communication receiving less instructional attention, and for the last century communication experts have been the primary party responsible for communication instruction of college students. Over the years the basic course has largely been focused on public speaking as the course to deliver this instruction, though we developed, and still teach, interpersonal communication and hybrid courses that also include small group communication. There have been several different venues in which the basic communication course has …

Clicking Instead Of Speaking: The Impact Of Students’ Communication Apprehension On Their Evaluation Of Mediated Participation And Learning In The Basic Course, Katherine J. Denker

Basic Communication Course Annual

As research has well established the benefits to students of an engaged classroom, faculty are called to transform their classrooms into spaces focused on the learner (Petress, 2001). Though the basic course has traditionally been an engaged space, some formats of the basic course are limiting interaction. Researchers have argued that Student Response Systems (SRS) or “clickers” are one of the most promising technologies in transforming the classroom, particularly with the basic course, and offer venues for engagement for students particularly those who are most prone to avoid interaction. Nonetheless, many claims about these types of pedagogical tools have yet …

Basic Communication Course Annual Vol. 26

Basic Communication Course Annual

Full issue (276 pages, 9.7 MB)

Does An It Organization Transform Its Identity When Engaged In Outsourcing?, Carol Mcguire

Student Scholarship

Firms have outsourced since the infant days of manufacturing. Many firms find that the ability to fill gaps in their expertise or gaps in human capital with individuals outside the organization is crucial to keep pace with customer demand. Much has been published about the decision making process and resulting impacts of outsourcing from business operations point of view, with financial considerations being extensively explored. But less has been published about the relationship between outsourcing and the identity of the organization engaged in outsourcing. Worldwide IT spending was estimated to be $2 Trillion in 2013 with approximately 12% directed to …

Purposeful And Repeated Use Of Standardized Assessment Of Information Literacy: A Case Study At A U.S. Private Liberal-Arts University, Carolyn J. Radcliff, Kevin Ross

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

Chapman University is a private medium-sized liberal arts university located in Orange, California. With aspirations of national prominence, Chapman University is poised to enter the national stage in the United States and the university library will play an important role in this endeavor. One way that the library has demonstrated this commitment has been to create a scaffolded information literacy program that encourages lifelong-learning and provides instruction to our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students.

A crucial element of any highly effective information literacy program is a diversified approach to assessment. The Leatherby Libraries sought out new ways to assess our …

Eye Of The Needle: Cold Stress, Clothing, And Sewing Technology During The Younger Dryas Cold Event In North America, Alan J. Osborn

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

This paper examines the possible underlying systemic context(s) for spurred flake gravers and eyed bone needles recovered from Paleoindian sites in North America. The idea that spurred flake gravers and eyed bone needles were closely associated is not new. Archaeologists in both Eurasia and North America have also proposed that eyed bone and ivory needles were used for manufacturing tailored skin clothing. It is suggested here that spurred flake gravers and eyed bone needles may, in fact, be the material correlates of critical non-subsistence related work carried out by women to meet the challenges of very severe winters and cold …

Developing A Conceptual Framework For Modeling Deviant Cyber Flash Mob: A Socio-Computational Approach Leveraging Hypergraph Constructs, Samer Al-Khateeb, Nitin Agarwal

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

In a Flash Mob (FM) a group of people get together in the physical world perform an unpredicted act and disperse quickly. Cyber Flash Mob (CFM) is the cyber manifestation of flash mob coordinated primarily using social media. Deviant Cyber Flash Mob (or, DCFM) is a special case of CFM, which is categorized as the new face of transnational crime organizations (TCOs). The DCFM phenomenon can be considered as a form of a cyber-collective action that is defined as an action aiming to improve group’s conditions (such as, status or power). In this paper, we conduct a conceptual analysis of …

Mind Playing Tricks: Individualism, Upward Mobility, And The Commitment To Self-Determination Among The Urban Poor, Will Bryerton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ethos of the American Dream offers a popular and straightforward prescription for success: Work hard, rely on yourself before others, avoid bad choices, and prosperity will follow. It is a decidedly optimistic, largely undefined, and intensely individualistic promise with serious implications for Americans’ views on achievement and upward mobility. For all of these reasons, the validity of this ethos has come under attack. Philosophically, it is seen as illusory, ambiguous, and unrealistically demanding of individual exceptionalism. Sociologically, it is admonished for being too dismissive of structural constraints, systemic inequalities, and the value of relationships, social embeddedness, and mutual dependence. …

The Imagined After: Re-Positioning Social Memory Through Twentieth-Century Post-Apocalyptic Literature And Film, Amanda Ashleigh Wicks

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Maurice Halbwachs first proposed a collective approach to memory in the early twentieth century, but the vast majority of subsequent scholarship investigates memory’s social properties from a theoretical point of view. This project instead proposes that memory functions as a social phenomenon in significant and real ways, primarily understood through the social relations that arise within social frameworks, which provide a structure against which people’s memories come together to form important memory-narratives that configure individual and social consciousness. Once people transform memory from individual thought-image into socially structured language, memory takes on social properties. Memory relies upon social frameworks to …

Do Groups Matter? An Agent-Based Modeling Approach To Pedestrian Egress, Andrew Collins, Terra Elzie, Erika Frydenlund, R. Michael Robinson

VMASC Publications

Festivals in city parks attended by individuals and families are a universal feature of urban life. These venues often have the common attributes of vendors and other obstacles that restrict pedestrian movement through certain areas, as well as fixed number of exits. In this study, the authors build an agent-based model (ABM) that incorporates group cohesion forces into this type of pedestrian egress scenario. The scenario considered was an evacuation of 500 people through a single exit. This allowed an investigation into the use of two different simulated pedestrian's heading updating rules.

A Hybridized Approach To Validation: The Role Of Sociological Research Methods In Pedestrian Modeling, Erika Frydenlund, Terra Elzie, Andrew Collins, R. Michael Robinson

VMASC Publications

Pedestrian and crowd-movement models are difficult to validate using traditional empirical methods because of data-related issues such as generalizability, collection ethics, and costs. Commonly used validation methods make strong assumptions about emergence and the importance of crowd structure, leaving a gap in validation literature. The paper reviews the most common methods of validating pedestrian models and proposes a hybridized qualitative approach to validating models that covers more complex group dynamics and possible situations of panic.

Whites And The Active Representation Of Racial Minority Interests, Maykao Y. Hang

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

This study explored personal and organizational factors that contribute to White public administrators actively representing the interests of racial minority minorities. Data collection comprised of 15 semi-structured interviews. The average age was 54, and the length of service was 3-33 years. Subjects were asked about their personal background, what it means to be White, and work experiences in local county government.

Personal factors found were racial consciousness, major life events, and significant relationships with people of color. Organizational factors included a diverse and inclusive work environment, bureaucracy, legal and compliance issues, and supervisor support. Findings included that Whites did not …

When Speech Isn't Free: Legal Barriers And Consequences Of Reporting Sexual Violence, Kevin M. Fleming

Departmental Honors Projects

Incidents of sexual violence continue to be a serious problem for society. Likewise, acts of sexual violence impose severe consequences for survivors. The consequences initially begin at the onset of the survivor’s journey to psychological recovery following the traumatic sexual assault. The consequences take on a unique set of characteristics when the survivor attempts to use the justice system to confront the perpetrator who committed the offense. These characteristics can transform an adversarial process into an isolated battle for the survivor. In the worst cases, the justice system empowers individuals who wish to silence survivors with free speech restrictions instead …

Three Pluralisms: Theories, Methodologies, And Levels Of Analysis In The Study Of World Politics, Lucas M. Dolan

Departmental Honors Projects

For much of its history, the discourse of International Relations (IR) has been characterized by clashes between paradigms, exclusion of non-positivist research methodologies, and the marginalization of various subfields. Since the fourth debate “pluralism” is rapidly becoming a buzzword within the literature, but without serious conceptual analysis “pluralism” risks becoming another intellectual fad given lip-service but not engaged with in a way that could produce positive change within the discipline. This project examines three varieties of pluralism: theoretical, methodological, and pluralism of level of analysis. A brief intellectual history of pluralism in international relations is outlined, culminating in the works …

Just Violence, Alice Ristroph

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Redescribing Health Privacy: The Importance Of Information Policy, Frank Pasquale

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Town Between Two Selves: Should Law Care More About Experiencing Selves Or Remembering Selves, Peter Huang

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chesterton: The Nightmare Goodness Of God [Review] / Wood, Ralph C., Nicholas Cross

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

The Louisiana Sciences Education Act's Impact On High School Science, Gareth Mitchell

LSU Master's Theses

Over the last two decades, extensive research has been conducted concerning the legality and effectiveness of teaching opposing viewpoints on controversial topics in science education. However, one of the most important aspects of this dilemma has been disregarded: the effect it has on individual teachers in their unique environments. The purpose of this research was to analyze teacher’s comprehension of recent state legislation as well as how it impacts their instruction. This quantitative approach took place through an online survey of secondary science teachers in biology, which focuses on their teaching experience, understanding of the Louisiana Science Education Act of …

Peer Bullying Of Academically Oriented Students: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, And School Context, Brett Lehman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation reports on several quantitative analyses of bullying victimization among U.S. high school students. The methods employed are secondary analysis of survey data originally collected by the National Center of Education Statistics through the Educational Longitudinal Study. The data analyzed are a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school sophomores from the year 2002. This report contains six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces public and scholarly interests on bullying victimization with a specific focus on approaching bullying from a sociological viewpoint. Chapter 2 reviews scholarly research that motivates each analysis in the report. Chapter 3 presents an analysis which is …

Commercial Mythmaking And The Gaelic Athletic Association: Exploring Irish Men’S Identity Work Within Influential Social Networks, Deirdre Duffy

Conference papers

This paper explores young men’s engagement with Irish sporting and cultural organisation, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), to show how the interrelations and influences of one’s social network or human interdependencies all serve as potential cues on which individuals learn to construct their identity projects. This research engages Foucauldian theory to consider the effects of power emanating from multiple sources (to include the influence of peers, family, community, mass media and social institutions) on the individual. By looking at the intricacies of mundane everyday practices, such as the participation in sport, allows a better understanding of how individuals actually come …

The Power Of Facebook For Universities: A Study Of Official Facebook Pages Of Florida's Universities, Jerrett R. Dumouchel

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate the potential power of Facebook to be used by higher education institutions as a key communication tool to provide viewers’ emergent impressions, or frames, of the institution. This study was intended to contribute to the knowledge base of social media and higher education by studying the emergent frames formed from the posts on the official Facebook page of each member university of the Florida State University System.

Thrillology: Affective Intensities And The Everyday-Spectacular In American Literature And Culture, Peter James Pappas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

“Thrillology: Affective Intensities and the Everyday-Spectacular in American Literature and Culture” presents thrill as a powerful thematic component centered on immediate affective gratification informing character development and narrative. This perspective rethinks theme as always having an affective dimension that accompanies its conceptual articulations, with the former, in many cases, being the more important element. Thrilled psycho-emotional states emerge, in their own right, as legitimizations of individuality and cultural autonomy from the perspective of the passional subject. Engaging with a broad spectrum of literary and cultural sources spanning the last hundred years, this project investigates various ways in which the self-fulfilling …

Revisiting Manufacturing Employment In South Carolina, Willis Lewis Jr., Timothy Goode, Ferdinand Difurio

Journal of Business, Industry, and Economics

This paper uses panel data from South Carolina to determine the impact of the regional economy on local manufacturing employment from 2001-2009. Tests for spatial dependence confirm the impact of the regional economy on manufacturing employment change. As such, stu

Glorious Adornment: The Social Function Of Cloth And Clothing In Israel's Tabernacle, Selena Billington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the tabernacle narratives of Exodus, the LORD instructs the Israelites to build a tabernacle and to make special garments in which to consecrate Aaron (proto-type high priest) and his sons (proto-type priests). The garments are to be for Aaron's and his sons' "glorious adornment." Detailed descriptions of the special garments are provided, and the description shares much in common with the descriptions of the cloths which comprise the tabernacle complex. What is there about the unique clothing of Aaron and the cloth of the tabernacle that causes Aaron and the tabernacle to be glorified? What is being said about …

The Hidden Costs Of Health Care Cost-Cutting: Toward A Postneoliberal Health-Reform Agenda, Frank Pasquale

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.