Digital Commons Network^™

Put Him In Grandma's House: Investigating Variation In Kinship Policy And Procedure Across Ohio's County-Based Child Welfare System, Andreja M. Siliunas

Senior Independent Study Theses

Since 1980, the U.S. child welfare system has exhibited an increasing reliance upon kinship caregivers as a resource for children who have been removed from the homes of their birthparents due to allegations of abuse or neglect. Literature suggests that agencies differ considerably in their treatment of kinship care providers; however, limited research has been conducted examining the causes and implications of this variation, especially in the case of Ohio’s county-based system. The current study thus aims to define the distinguishing characteristics of kinship policies and procedures of child welfare agencies across Ohio, and to consider the impact of various …

The Effects Of Hospital Consolidation On Hospital Financial Performance And The Potential Trade-Off Of Hospital Consolidation For Society, Aaron W. Mckee

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study examines the impact of hospital consolidation on the financial performance of consolidating hospitals. In doing so, this study also addresses the potential trade-off of hospital consolidation for society between decreased competition and improved efficiency. Based on economic theory, we hypothesize that hospital consolidation leads to an improvement in hospital financial performance by decreasing competition, which allows consolidating hospitals to charge higher prices, and by increasing efficiency, which lowers the costs of providing a given level of services for consolidating hospitals. Furthermore, we hypothesize that consolidation produces a competition/efficiency trade-off for society, as illustrated by the Williamson Trade-Off Model. …

Normalizing Abnormality: An Exploration Of Social Forces Driving Gendered Disparity In Rates Of Anxiety Disorder Diagnoses, Sara Tebeau

Senior Independent Study Theses

According to recent statistics provided by the National Institute of Mental Health (2013), American women are twice as likely as men to face diagnosis with an anxiety disorder. While there are existing bodies of sociological and feminist work theorizing both the social construction of mental illness categories and the historical pathologization of women, there is no contemporary dialogue centered on gendered disparity in anxiety diagnosis rates. In this paper, I contribute to ongoing discussion of neoliberal influence on the gendering of mental illness through an exploration of the forces contributing to disparity in rates of diagnosis with anxiety disorders. In …

A Bayesian Model Of Fertility Decisions In Relationship To Female Labor Force Participation, Rebecca C. Wardrop

Senior Independent Study Theses

Due to the increasing number of women in the labor force, opportunity costs associated with labor force participation are becoming an important factor in fertility decisions. Further, these decisions are assumed to be dynamic as the opportunity costs change as a woman progresses through her career. A Bayesian statistical model , which allows the distribution of the likelihood of having children to be updated as information is gathered, lends itself to the dynamicity of the decision-making process. A generalized model for fertility decisions in terms of labor force participation is created. I also discuss potentials for implementation and furthering the …

The Youth Unemployment Crisis Facing Welfare Regimes: How States Develop New Social Policy, Andrew C. Campbell

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

Rising From The Ashes: Hansen’S Disease, Carville, And Patient Identity In 20th Century America, Lauren Quimby

Senior Independent Study Theses

This paper investigates the reactions of patients in the national leprosarium at Carville, Louisiana to the loss of their old identities and the gain of a new one as a patient during the middle of the 20^th century. The patient identity was formed by isolation, stigma, community, and domesticity within the hospital. Over the course of their time in the hospital, residents rejected, embraced and worked to change the patient identity. They typically reacted in a combination of these ways. This paper uses memoirs, oral histories, and patient published newspapers to investigate questions of patient identity at Carville. The …

Does The Trend Need A Mend? The Effects Of Herding Behavior On The Returns To Higher Edcuation, Amy K. French

Senior Independent Study Theses

Using the human capital model, supplemented by a preference framework focusing on utility maximization, this paper examines the decision making process of the individual when considering enrollment in higher education. The study applies a theory of herding behavior to the investment decision, arguing that individuals use the decisions of others who have gone before them as signals to reduce information costs and to aid in their own decision making process. The paper further discusses the possibility of this behavior leading to irrational investment decisions. Herding behavior will likely lead to an increase in the supply of highly educated workers, perhaps …

Valuing The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: A Defense Of Countercultural Environmentalism, Mae Manupipatpong

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

The Analytic Hierarchy Process: A Mathematical Model For Decision Making Problems, Giang Huong Nguyen

Senior Independent Study Theses

The ability to make the right decision is an asset in many areas and lines of profession including social work, business, national economics, and international security. However, decision makers often have difficulty choosing the best option since they might not have a full understanding of their preferences, or lack a systematic approach to solve the decision making problems at hand. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) provides a mathematical model that helps the decision makers arrive at the most logical choice, based on their preferences. We investigate the theory of positive, reciprocal matrices, which provides the theoretical justification of the method …

Dueling For Their Votes: A Study On The Impact Of Presidential Debate Rhetoric On Public Opinion, Daniel J. Cohen

Senior Independent Study Theses

The debates are key events for presidential candidates to influence public support for their policies. This study examines the impact of rhetorical strategies during presidential debates on public perceptions of unpopular issue stances. Using generic criticism, I examined the first two 2012 debates between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney and uncovered four rhetorical strategies used by the candidates: issue framing, appeals to authority, use of rebuttals, and appealing to liberal and conservative presumptions. I then tested an example of issue framing from each candidate to determine its effectiveness in persuading public opinion on unpopular issue stances. My results showed that …

Generalist And Specialist Pollination Syndromes: When Are They Favoured? A Theoretical Approach To Predict The Conditions Under Which A Generalist Or Specialist Pollination Syndrome Is Favoured., Tyler L. Poppenwimer

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

Lineage Ii Of Southeast Asian/American Denv-2 Is Associated With A Severe Dengue Outbreak In The Peruvian Amazon, Maya Williams, Sandra V. Mayer, William L. Johnson, Rubing Chen, Evgeniya Volkova, Stalin Vilcarromeor, Steven G. Widen, Thomas G. Wood, Luis Suarez-Ognio, Kanya C. Long, Katherine A. Hanley, Amy C. Morrison, Nikos Vasilakis, Eric S. Halsey

Faculty Publications

During 2010 and 2011, the Loreto region of Peru experienced a dengue outbreak of unprecedented magnitude and severity for the region. This outbreak coincided with the reappearance of dengue virus-2 (DENV-2) in Loreto after almost 8 years. Whole-genome sequence indicated that DENV-2 from the outbreak belonged to lineage II of the southeast Asian/American genotype and was most closely related to viruses circulating in Brazil during 2007 and 2008, whereas DENV-2 previously circulating in Loreto grouped with lineage I (DENV-2 strains circulating in South America since 1990). One amino acid substitution (NS5 A811V) in the 2010 and 2011 isolates resulted from …

She Saves Us From Monsters: The Navajo Creation Story And Modern Tribal Justice, Heidi J. Todacheene

Tribal Law Journal

The goal of this paper is to attempt to provide a general social and political framework of the Navajo tribe using the creation story and journey narrative. This will provide a comprehensive insight into the history and modern functioning of the tribe for someone who may not understand traditional Navajo thought. Modern legal cases have been integrated into this paper to demonstrate how Navajo courts use and preserve traditional concepts in current legal analysis. This paper will try to convey a traditional Navajo perspective whose ideology is deeply rooted in the creation story and illustrated through the Holy Beings, especially …

Pulsed Melodic Affective Processing: Musical Structures For Increasing Transparency In Emotional Computation, Alexis Kirke, Eduardo Miranda

School of Art, Design and Architecture

No abstract provided.

Jacina's Worldview 2.0: Revisiting, Refinding, And Refining Faith In The University Years, Jacina Shultz

Honors Theses

In this non-fiction, 44-page, creative extended essay, I revisit my worldview essay from HONS105-106 Western Heritage, specifically focusing on my belief in a loving God. I trace my path to this belief, beginning with my freshmen year of college when I first started to question its legitimacy. Though teetering on the edge of agnosticism, I eventually learned how a belief in a loving God need not be a blind one. I came to understand what it means to have a relationship with God. This project reconstructs the reasoning that verified to me that a faith in God does not have …

Visual Cognition While Listening To Stories, Nathalie Borges

Honors Theses

Different people have different perceptual patterns in response to language. Different language accents may influence visual cognition by increasing cognitive load when different objects are referenced in stories. The purpose of this study was to record differences in eye movement patterns while subjects listened to stories in two different accents which served as the accent-induced stimulus load to increase cognitive processing. Using the eye tracker, eye movement patterns were recorded as subjects looked at an object array on a computer screen. My hypothesis that subjects would delay eye movement patterns to target objects while listening to stories in a foreign …

Cellular And Molecular Mechanisms Of Biomineralisation In A Silicifying Haptophyte Prymnesium Neolepis, Grazyna Durak

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Haptophytes are renowned for the most prominent and biogeochemically important group of marine calcifiers: coccolithophores. The unexpected discovery of a unique, silicifying member of this clade - Prymnesium neolepis - prompted questions regarding mechanisms of silicification and their origin in the calcifier-dominated haptophytes. To address these questions I used cell physiology, biochemistry and molecular approaches, investigating cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in silicification in haptophytes. Comparisons of this system with calcification in coccolithophores and other silica-based systems in eukaryotes were also made. Here I report that P. neolepis is an obligate silicifier, producing silica scales in a process fundamentally different …

How Does Focus On Form Affect The Revising Processes Of Esl Writers?: Two Case Studies, Eun-Young Julia Kim

Faculty Publications

This study considers the ongoing “grammar correction debate” in second language writing by examining how a focus on formal accuracy would affect the revising processes of ESL writers and the students’ written products. A case study approach was used to find out how two ESL students would respond in the two different rewriting situations: (a) when there is no explicit expectation for them to produce grammatically correct text, and (b) when this expectation was clearly present. The protocol analysis and interviews with the participants showed that students’ revision processes had not been affected by the kind of instruction and expectation …

The First Year At University: Giving Social Capital A Sporting Chance, Fiona Budgen, Susan Main, Deborah Callcott, Brenda Hamlett

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The first year of university has been identified as an area of interest and concern for several decades because, for many students, their first year at university is also their last. The researchers developed a program based on a Sports Education model to influence the engagement and retention of first year students. The program sought to build social capital by providing opportunities for students to connect with their peers and establish supportive social and collegial networks at university. The data highlighted a number of interesting outcomes for both the first year students and mentors. First year students reported that the …

The Value Of Aesthetic Teacher Learning: Drawing A Parallel Between The Teaching And Writing Process, Joanne Yoo

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Although teacher learning has often been overlooked in discussions surrounding classroom practice, it is believed that learning cultivates the resilience and vitality needed for teachers to thrive. Teachers have often been required to demonstrate a high level of skill and professionalism as they orchestrate tasks that maximise student engagement. Their work has consequently been compared to that of artists, who display their skills of craftsmanship as they construct meaningful learning activities, such as a keen sense of discernment, creativity and presence. The current article illustrates how learning to write reflectively can help teachers acquire the aesthetic skills needed to craft …

Norms And Varieties Of English And Tesol Teacher Agency, M. Obaidul Hamid, Lingyan Zhu, Richard B. Baldauf Jr.

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The growing recognition of the plurality of English underling the World Englishes (WE) paradigm has problematised the conventional second language acquisition (SLA) views of errors. If English use in emerging English-speaking contexts is to be judged by local norms, as argued by WE scholars, applying exocentric norms in these contexts can be inappropriate. On the other hand, despite the significant growth of WE, varieties of new Englishes have yet to develop widely acceptable endocentric norms. These developments have raised a critical question: How can TESOL teachers distinguish between errors in the SLA sense and varietal features in the WE sense? …

Western Australian Music Teachers And The Wace Music Syllabus Five Years Down The Track: Where Are We Now?, Geoffrey M. Lowe, Andrew Sutherland

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Western Australia introduced a new Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) Music course for Year 11 and 12 students in 2009. The construction of the course was protracted due to political interference at the ministerial level, input from vested interests within the music teaching community and adverse publicity in the wider community. The result has been the creation of a long and potentially confusing syllabus document. This paper reports on music teacher experiences with the WACE music course five years after its initial implementation. A questionnaire was distributed to all WACE music teachers asking them to respond to 27 statements …

Teaching Practice In Cameroon: The Effectiveness Of The University Of Buea Model And Implications For Quality, Margaret Nalova Endeley

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The paper aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the teaching practice model in the University of Buea, which is different from that of other teacher education institutions in Cameroon. Teaching Practice is an important component of a teacher education programme and the quality of supervision and duration are key in achieving effectiveness which is an indicator of the quality of teachers being trained. The study was a descriptive survey that made use of a 22-item closed ended questionnaire with indicators of effectiveness as competencies acquired, supervision and duration of teaching practice, obtained from a review of literature. The questionnaire was …

Science Teacher Education Partnerships With Schools (Steps): Partnerships In Science Teacher Education, John Daniel Kenny, Linda Hobbs, Sandra Herbert, Mellita Jones, Gail Chittleborough, Coral Campbell, Andrew Gilbert, Christine Redman

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports on the STEPS project which addressed international concerns about primary teachers’ lack of confidence to teach science, and on-going questions about the effectiveness of teacher education. The five universities involved had each independently established a science education program incorporating school-based partnerships between the university and local schools to enable primary pre-service teachers (PSTs) to teach science.

The diversity of the programs enabled an examination of the relevant literature underpinning the approaches and comparison of data from participants to identify key features and success factors for establishing and maintaining working relationships with schools.

This preliminary analysis of learning …

The Literacy Skills Of Secondary Teaching Undergraduates: Results Of Diagnostic Testing And A Discussion Of Findings, Brian Moon

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: The capacity of secondary school teachers to support general literacy and to teach discipline-specific literacy skills depends upon their personal literacy competence. Diagnostic testing of 203 secondary teaching undergraduates at one Australian university revealed deficiencies in personal literacy competence that could affect their future teaching effectiveness. The sample of undergraduates was tested in spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation. Analysis of the results showed high rates of error on general spelling and vocabulary tasks. The degree of error in many cases was severe. For some undergraduates, the prospect of successful remediation so late in their academic career appeared poor. It is …

Student Teachers’ Implementation And Understanding Of Repeated Picture-Book Reading In Preschools, Clodie Tal, Ora Segal-Drori

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Research conducted among student teachers during three academic years (2010-2011; 2011-2012 ; 2012-2013) at Israel’s Levinsky College of Education sought to ascertain (a) the extent of implementation of repeated picture-book reading (RPBR) with preschool groups each academic year ; (b) how does the implementation of RPBR progress throughout the years of the study ? (c) students’ understanding of the value of RPBR; and (d) the perceived benefits and difficulties of RPBR by student-teachers. Of approximately 250 students who completed questionnaires each semester, most report that they regularly perform RPBR – implementation in 2013 was 96% for students in the four-year …

Creating Space For Pre-Service Teacher Professional Development During Practicum: A Teacher Educator’S Self-Study., Tabitha G. Mukeredzi

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article reports on my self-study of leading cohorts of Bachelor of Education student teachers through collaborative reflections applying reflective questions strategy during four weeks of residential practicum in a rural school. I explore the potential for reflective questions approach as an effective tool for reflection and professional learning in teaching and mentoring pre-service teachers. Data consisted of journal entries describing my experiences as classroom teacher and teacher educator and, of teaching and mentoring groups of students during residential practicum. Reading teacher education as text and, the audio recorded collaborative reflection conversations also provided data. Students’ documented personal and collaborative …

The Approaches To Teaching Inventory: A Preliminary Validation Of The Malaysian Translation, Pauline Swee Choo Goh, Kung Teck Wong, Mohd Sahandri Gani Hamzah

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a Malaysian translation of the 22-item Approaches to Teaching Inventory for application in higher education. The Approaches to Teaching Inventory was a quantitative measure used by teachers of higher education to gauge their own teaching approaches that had been psychometrically assessed and widely used in western universities. Data in the present study came from 172 teachers in two institutions of higher learning. Principal factor analyses with varimax rotation and confirmatory factor analyses support a model with 17 items categorized into five sub-factors that were subsumed within two main factors. The alpha values …

Professional Dialogue, Reflective Practice And Teacher Research: Engaging Early Childhood Pre-Service Teachers In Collegial Dialogue About Curriculum Innovation, Kym M. Simoncini, Michelle Lasen, Sharn Rocco

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While embedded in teacher professional standards and assumed aspects of teacher professionalism, willingness and ability to engage in professional dialogue about practice and curriculum initiatives are rarely examined or explicitly taught in teacher education programs. With this in mind, the authors designed an assessment task for pre-service teachers that required them to interview their supervising teachers about the implementation of sustainability as cross-curriculum priority in the Australian national curriculum, and to write a reflective account of the process. Forty-seven early childhood pre-service teachers and their supervising teachers consented to the interview transcripts and reflective accounts being used as research data. …

A Cognitive Analysis Of Students' Activity: An Example In Mathematics, Jean-Francois Hérold

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In this paper, we argue for an engagement of productive connections between research findings and teaching, this since the vocational training of the teachers. We exemplify how analyses of written tests by using a cognitive approach lead to better interpretations and understanding of the learner’s knowledge. We show how a teacher can do it and we discuss the possibility of introducing it to the available scientific knowledge in teacher education, in order to include it in the current practices of teachers’ methods.