Digital Commons Network^™

Tortured Language: Lawful Permanent Residents And The 212(H) Waiver, Julianne Lee

Fordham Law Review

    Recent amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act have greatly expanded the grounds for removal of lawful permanent residents (LPRs) and, at the same time, constricted judicial review of agency decisions to deport immigrants. Language added to the 212(h) waiver of inadmissibility has increased the number of LPRs that are now ineligible for relief from removal by barring certain LPRs from applying for a waiver if, since the date of their admission, they have committed an aggravated felony or have failed to accrue seven years of continuous presence. The controversy discussed in this Note stems from differing interpretations of this …

Modeling Heterogeneity In Growth Mixture Models: A Case Study Of Model Selection Using Direct Behavior Rating, Janice Kooken

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates student classroom behavior changes over one year using multilevel growth mixture modeling to demonstrate how modifying assumptions of invariance affects parameter estimates, number of classes, and proportion of students assigned to each class. Current best practices for growth mixture modeling emphasize the importance of the proper specification, but the impact of these assumptions on the parameters and latent class composition has not been thoroughly addressed in applied research in multilevel growth mixture models. Using the Direct Behavior Rating Single Item Scale measures from 1975 students in lower elementary, upper elementary and middle school, a series of models …

7 'Pc' Ways To Make People-Centric Policies, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

If asked to describe 2015 for Singapore, I would summarise it as "a people-centric year". For just about everyone - politicians, civil servants, community leaders, academics, journalists, social activists or the public itself - the attention was centred on issues that matter to the people. It may seem obvious that being people-centric should characterise how Singapore goes about things. But when people-centricity is driven by populist concerns or political correctness, the outcomes can be self-defeating at best and disastrous at worst. It is important that individuals, communities and the Government, who adopt the ideal of being people-centric, know what it …

It’S All In How You Use It: Managers’ Use Of Meetings To Reduce Employee Intentions To Quit, Joseph E. Mroz, Joseph A. Allen

Psychology Faculty Publications

Meetings are often viewed as unnecessary, wastes of time, and overall negative experiences at work. In this study, we examined the positive side of meetings, specifically, how the relationship a manager fosters with subordinates in meetings affects those employees’ intentions to quit (ITQ). Using an online survey of working adults who regularly attended meetings, we found that the relation between perceived organizational support (POS) and leader–member exchange (LMX) quality in meetings on ITQ depended on an employee’s level of negative affectivity (NA). When POS or LMX in meetings was low or average, high-NA employees held significantly higher ITQ than low-NA …

Prediction Of Laser Ablation In Brain: Sensitivity, Calibration, And Validation, Samuel J. Fahrenholtz

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The surgical planning of MR-guided laser induced thermal therapy (MRgLITT) stands to benefit from predictive computational modeling. The dearth of physical model parameter data leads to modeling uncertainty. This work implements a well-accepted framework with three key steps for model-building: model-parameter sensitivity analysis, model calibration, and model validation.

The sensitivity study is via generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) paired with a transient finite element (FEM) model. Uniform probability distribution functions (PDFs) capture the plausible range of values suggested by the literature for five model parameters. The five PDFs are input separately into the FEM model to gain a probabilistic sensitivity response …

The Nature And Function Of Professional Support Networks For Teachers Of English Language Learners, Betsy Lynn Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations

The English learner (EL) population in the United States continues to grow. To improve their pedagogy in working with this population, many educators have received training in English as a Second Language (ESL), but the gap between ELs and their native English speaking peers persists. When teachers engage as members of professional support networks, they are more likely to successfully implement the strategies learned in their ESL professional development (Echevarria, Richards-Tutor, Chinn, & Ratleff, 2011). This study considered the nature and function of the professional support network of a district's ESL-endorsed teachers. Using network theory methods, 257 teachers and other …

New Genres In The Art Classroom: Shifting Ideas And Identities, Alyssa Grant Ridge

Theses and Dissertations

Secondary art education programs primarily offer courses in traditional mediums like drawing, painting, sculpture, and ceramics. In addition to valuing these traditional art forms, art education research supports integrating new technologies and media in the classroom. However, the possibilities of creating an exclusively contemporary, new genres curriculum have yet to be explored. This study examines the affordances and limitations of a high school-level new genre curriculum and describes how students reacted to these new genres and how their perceptions of art, student-peer relationships, and artist identities changed over time. By introducing students to new genres, the author found students expanded …

Evidences Of Critical Thinking In The Writing Of First-Year College Students, Shannon Bryn Soper

Theses and Dissertations

A healthy civil society depends on citizens who have mature critical thinking skills and a willingness to entertain opposing points of view. The development of critical thinking in young adults has long been studied, but there has been little agreement on what the attributes of critical thinking are and how to reliably assess them. While many studies have attempted to assess the critical thinking abilities of college students, none have yet measured critical thinking through using the Critical Thinking Analytic Rubric (CTAR) to assess first-year college students' writing. This study used a modified version of the CTAR rubric to investigate …

From Networked Learning To Operational Practice: Constructing And Transferring Superintendent Knowledge In A Regional Instructional Rounds Network, Timothy J. Travis

Dissertations

Instructional rounds are an emerging network structure with processes and protocols designed to develop superintendents’ knowledge and skills in leading large-scale improvement, to enable superintendents to build an infrastructure that supports the work of improvement, to assist superintendents in distributing leadership throughout their district, and to develop a cadre of educational leaders focused on developing their practice (Rallis, Tedder, Lachman, & Elmore, 2006). In a platform-learning model, learning in a superintendents’ network can be viewed as occurring both individually and collectively on an external platform outside each individual school district (Schulz & Geithner, 2010). In this phenomenological study, I explored …

Becoming American: Constructing Mexican Immigrants In Local Newspapers, Zheng Zhu

Publications and Research

Media representation of Latino immigrants has been extensively studied by scholars across diverse academic disciplines. Particular to the U.S. context, preceding scholarships pertaining to the ways in which Latinos were represented centered on the media representation of Latino immigrants either as the exotic racial other or undesirable foreigners. In light of the important role that the Mexican immigrants played in understanding the current national debate on illegal immigration and the overall historical experiences of immigrants in Washington State (WA), this study critically investigated how news articles published in WA represented Mexican immigrants. As a crucial point of departure from prior …

Consumer Assessment Of New Creative Products Across China And The United States, Eva Teruzzi

Creative Studies Graduate Student Master's Theses

This cross-cultural research investigates how consumers assess creativity in new products and if their assessment impacts desire to own. Implicit and explicit scale-based measures were tested in China and the U.S. in online consumer samples and were positively correlated. Novelty, affect and importance dimensions of creative products were tested through Horn and Salvendy’s (2006, 2009) Product Creativity Measurement (PCM) scale. Findings point to a different role of novelty in determining desirability of creative new products across-cultures.In fact, novelty and affect are key to explain desire to own in China, while affect and importance are the drivers in the U.S. Affect, …

Soviet Launch Of Sputnik: Sputnik-Inspired Educational Reform And Changes In Private Returns In America, Hyeonggu Cha

All Dissertations

On October 4th 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, into an elliptical low Earth orbit. This surprise triggered an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, and science-oriented educational reform in the U.S. The Sputnik swung off of the U.S. in military, politics, policies, and education. The Sputnik woke Americans up from complacency came from technology, science, and educational superiority. Educational reform started with emphasizing science and defense education and it was expanded to educations at all level. Early reforms, National Science Foundation (NSF), National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958, …

Examining The Space-Time Constraints Concept On Tourist Behavior For Visitors To The South Carolina Coastal Area Of The United States, Sanghoon Kang

All Dissertations

This dissertation explored three themes with regard to the spatial aspects of tourist behavior, conducting three independent analyses. For these analyses, this dissertation research adapted Shoval's (2012) definition of the space-time constraints concept developed by Hagerstrand (1970): the purpose of trip (i.e., authority constraints), the length of visit (i.e., capability constraints), and the composition of travel party (i.e., coupling constraints). The purposes of the three analyses were to examine the relationships 1) between the space-time constraints and the spatial patterns of travel; 2) between ICT use (i.e., smartphones) and the spatial patterns of travel, space-time constraints, tourists' unplanned destination visits, …

Development And Implementation Of The Generations Eating Together Through Cooking (G.E.T.T. Cooking) Curriculum And Its Effects On An Inter-Generational Population: A Pilot Study, Elizabeth Ramirez

All Dissertations

The obesity epidemic continues to be a problem both in the US and worldwide. A number of factors have been attributed including: frequency of fast-food consumption, increased portion sizes, increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, increased sedentary lifestyles, lack of nutrition knowledge, and lack of cooking skills. Nutrition intervention programs continue to be created providing innovative and creative ways of educating the public with pertinent knowledge and skills necessary for improving healthful behaviors; however, few programs focus on cooking skill development within a familial environment. The Generations Eating Together Through Cooking (G.E.T.T. Cooking) program was created by the lead researcher as …

The Impact Of Co-Workers On Safety Outcomes: Comparing Models Of Mediation, Moderation, And Incremental Effects, Anna Mcfadden

All Dissertations

The current study examined the role of co-worker support for safety within the broader context of perceived safety climate predicting safety behavior and outcomes for the mobile worker population of team truck drivers. Namely, the mediation, moderation, and incremental direct effects of co-worker support for safety were tested. The current study examined 366 team truck drivers from a single trucking company. Results indicated that co-worker support for safety did not moderate the relationship between safety climate perceptions and behavior and injury outcomes. However, co-worker support for safety did partially mediate the relationship between safety climate perceptions and safety behavior. Additionally, …

Web-Based Nutrition Education Intervention For African American Women Using The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Joyce Senior Angulo

All Dissertations

African American women have been disproportionately impacted for decades by the obesity epidemic, which frequently leads to severe chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and hypertension. This increase in chronic diseases amongst African American women is the motivation for the design of a culturally tailored nutrition education (NE) program that combines a strong theoretical base with the use of technology such as the Internet, since its usage within the college aged African American community has rapidly increased. Little is known about the variables that motivate behavior change in regards to eating and physical activity habits among college aged African …

Tomorrow's Leading Ladies: How Core Self-Evaluations, Leadership Perceptions, And Social Support Influence Young Women's Leadership Aspirations, Lauren Ellis

All Dissertations

Given that women are an underrepresented population in organizational leadership, the purpose of this dissertation was to understand the forces driving college-aged women’s leadership aspirations. Using a two-study design, the current research sought to understand the influence that internal (psychological) and external (social) factors can have on a young woman’s desire to lead. In Study One, which included 228 college-aged female participants, results indicated there was a significant, positive between Core Self Evaluations (CSE) and leadership aspirations and provided partial support for the mediating effects of leadership fit on the CSE-aspiration relationship. Results from Study One failed to support the …

An Examination Of Academic Grit In Urban High Schools, Ronald Gorman

Dissertations

Currently, in America’s schools, approximately one in five high school students will not graduate with his or her peers, and many others will never receive a high school diploma (Stillwell & Sable, 2013). Many students arrive in our nation’s high schools without the requisite skills to be successful, and when they exhibit failure for the first time, a large percentage of them do not have the passion and perseverance to accomplish their long term goals – otherwise known as “academic grit,” a term coined by Duckworth (2007), a leading researcher in the area.

To investigate the issues mentioned above, a …

The Classic, Winter 2015-2016, Public Relations

The Classic, 2010-2019

Zwemer View: A History of Overcoming Challenges; Around the Green: Taiwan-Bound; In Box; Community Service; Top of the Class; Graduate School Boosts Fall Enrollment; Campus Life: Improv Tradition; Raider Days; New in the Classroom: Wade Druin, Mark Haselhoff '12, Dr. Seunghun "Hun" Hong, Tonya Moore-Huss, Corky Koerselman '82, Chris Nonhof, Erica (Van Meeteren '00) Vonk; On Board; VanOort Accepts Call to Denver; Adoption-Friendly; Global Education Director; Face Value: Thomas Holm; Investing in the Mission; Award Winners: Ron De Jong '71, Janet (Hassebroek '84) Guthmiller, Marjorie (Hartog '56, '58) Vander Aarde; Red Zone; Beanie Babies; 1000 Words: Practicing to Compete; Things …

Social Learning Systems: The Design Of Evolutionary, Highly Scalable, Socially Curated Knowledge Systems, Nolan Hemmatazad

Student Work

In recent times, great strides have been made towards the advancement of automated reasoning and knowledge management applications, along with their associated methodologies. The introduction of the World Wide Web peaked academicians’ interest in harnessing the power of linked, online documents for the purpose of developing machine learning corpora, providing dynamical knowledge bases for question answering systems, fueling automated entity extraction applications, and performing graph analytic evaluations, such as uncovering the inherent structural semantics of linked pages. Even more recently, substantial attention in the wider computer science and information systems disciplines has been focused on the evolving study of social …

December 2015 Commencement Program, Bowling Green State University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Situating Care In Mainstream Health Economics: An Ethical Dilemma?, John B. Davis, Robert Mcmaster

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Standard health economics concentrates on the provision of care by medical professionals. Yet ‘care’ receives scant analysis; it is portrayed as a spillover effect or externality in the form of interdependent utility functions. In this context care can only be conceived as either acts of altruism or as social capital. Both conceptions are subject to considerable problems stemming from mainstream health economics’ reliance on a reductionist social model built around instrumental rationality and consequentialism. Subsequently, this implies a disregard for moral rules and duties and the compassionate aspects of behaviour. Care as an externality is a second-order concern relative to …

Suicide Prevention Strategies In Tennessee Community Colleges: A Case Study, Sandra Perley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students; annually approximately 1,100 students in institutions of higher education die by suicide. However, most research related to college student suicide was conducted using the sample of 4-year institutions. Community colleges have seldom been included in the sample of suicide research studies. This qualitative case study research explored the student suicide prevention strategies in the 13 community colleges in the Tennessee Board of Regents higher education system. Data were collected from surveys, institutional web sites, and interviews with institutional personnel.

Approximately half of the institutions offer suicide prevention information to …

Teacher Well-Being And Virginia Standards Of Learning, Matthew W. Mccarty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) were created by the Virginia Department of Education as a method to assess student learning. The SOLs were implemented in the mid-1990s and were used as end of grade and end of course assessments for grades 3-8 and secondary courses. The SOLs have taken on a foundational role within the Virginia public schools as they now count toward student graduation and teacher evaluation. Virginia now uses a teacher evaluation system that is in large part based upon student performance on the SOL assessments. This evaluation system is in place in all public school divisions …

Self-Disclosure Relies On Social Context: Examining The Similarity And Differences Of Chinese Students In The U.S. And China When Disclosing Information On Wechat, Xiyan Cui

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to fill a research gap by examining WeChat to explore whether changes of social context would exert any influence on the information disclosure of social networking site (SNS) users. Selective Exposure Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory were used as the theoretical foundation for this study. Four-hundred Chinese college students in China and the U.S. who have a WeChat App and have logged in to use it within the last 30 days from the day administered were asked to participate in a survey about their motivations and consequences when using WeChat. Results from MANOVA showed that the …

The Relationship Between Pass Completion Percentage And Perceived Player Workload In Ncaa Division I Women's Soccer, Alexa L. Passingham

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In an attempt to demonstrate the interconnecting nature of the pillars of sport (Hacker, 2000) this thesis explores the relationship between physical, psychological and technical variables. Five National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Women’s Soccer players were analyzed in four conference matches. The athlete's rate of perceived exertion (RPE) values were correlated to pass completion percentages (PC%) to investigate the potential effect that psychological satisfaction or dissatisfaction of technical performance has on perceived exertion ratings. PlayerLoad^TM (PL) values, gathered through the utilization of a Catapult Minimax S4 GPS device (miniMax-10 Hz, Catapult Innovations, Melbourne, Australia), were used as …

Innocent Until Proven Guilty: Shakespeare's Use Of Source Material In Three Plays, Alexandria C. Mcqueen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In my thesis, I discuss and analyze William Shakespeare’s utilization and adaptation of source texts within three of his dramas: Henry IV, Part I, a history; Twelfth Night, a comedy; and Julius Caesar, a tragedy. By comparing Shakespeare’s adaption of sources to the contemporary United Kingdom intellectual property policies, it becomes possible for me to determine whether Shakespeare’s extensive and popular dramas would violate modern copyright law.

The first chapter, “Printing and Writing in the Early Modern Period,” discusses the development of proprietary interests among the Elizabethan people. I break down the individual components of the printing process in …

Life In The Lgbtq+ Community: Protective Factors Against Depression In The Community And In Everyday Life, Kristen Paris

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract

In this study, we examined potential protective factors against depression in the LGBTQ+ community by determining whether outness, self-esteem, perceived social support, life meaning, courage to challenge or resilience/hardiness, life satisfaction, and hope were correlated with less depression. There were 149 participants in the study, 38 of whom identified as members of the LGBTQ+ community, and 107 of whom identified as heterosexual. Participants completed an online survey that took approximately 30 minutes. It was predicted that protective factors would be negatively related to depression. Results of both correlation and regression analyses revealed no significant relations between protective factors and …

Creando Las Estrellas: Determining The Quality Of The Dominican And Cuban Player Development Systems, Samuel C. Hearn

Honors Theses

Recently, there has been a huge rise in the number of Cuban ballplayers, or peloteros, as the baseball playing Latinos are known. Why do Major League Baseball (MLB) teams go to such lengths to sign Cubans, when a heavy presence already exists in Cuba’s Caribbean neighbor, the Dominican Republic? Through the comparison educational systems, statistics of each country’s elite players, and comparative accounts of the Dominican and Cuban player development systems, the contrast between the two systems is evident. Though the Dominican system creates a large return in the investment MLB teams make in the country, the socialized sport system …

Review Of Aviation Research: A Content Analysis Of Articles Published In The Collegiate Aviation Review, 2007–2012, Safak Aktemur

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to conduct a content analysis of the methodological quality of articles published in the Collegiate Aviation Review (CAR)” a refereed journal of the University Aviation Alliance (UAA)”to determine if actual practices of aviation researchers were consistent with commonly recommended research methods and procedures. The accessible population consisted of the 76 articles published in CAR between 2007 and 2012 (Volumes 25“30). The sample consisted of N = 69 articles and excluded literature reviews, meta-analyses, studies that described the development or validation of an instrument, philosophical inquiries, position papers, or historical studies. The analysis focused on …