Digital Commons Network^™

One Swallow Does Not Make Spring: A Critical Juncture Perspective On The Eu Sanctions In Response To The Arab Spring, Andreas Boogaerts, Clara Portela, Edith Drieskens

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article examines to what extent the Arab Spring constitutes a critical juncture – a major turning point – for the EU’s sanctions policy towards Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia. Based on a multidimensional critical juncture operationalization, we find that the Arab Spring only constitutes such a turning point for the EU’s sanctions policy towards Syria. Both the level and nature of measures differ substantially from previous years. By contrast, the EU’s sanctions practice towards Libya, Egypt and Tunisia shows more resilience. More generally, changes in the nature of the measures are prominent, whereas changes in the level of the …

The Effect Of Board Independence On Information Asymmetry, Beng Wee Goh, Jimmy Lee, Jeffrey Ng, Kevin Ow Yong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Boards have an important role in ensuring that investors’ interests are protected. Our paper first examines whether the independence of a firm's board affects information asymmetry among investors. We provide evidence that greater board independence leads to lower information asymmetry. Next, we provide evidence that more voluntary disclosure and greater analyst coverage are two underlying mechanisms via which greater board independence reduces information asymmetry. Of the two mechanisms, we find that analyst coverage is more significant in influencing how board independence affects information asymmetry. Overall, our paper contributes to a better understanding of the effect of board independence on information …

Jiann-Ping Hsu College Of Public Health Magazine, Georgia Southern University

College of Public Health: News & Publications

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2016 Spring Commencement, Georgia Southern University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

An Extended Study On Addressing Defender Teamwork While Accounting For Uncertainty In Attacker Defender Games Using Iterative Dec-Mdps, Eric Shieh, Albert Xin Jiang, Amulya Yadav, Pradeep Varakantham, Milind Tambe

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Multi-agent teamwork and defender-attacker security games are two areas that are currently receiving significant attention within multi-agent systems research. Unfortunately, despite the need for effective teamwork among multiple defenders, little has been done to harness the teamwork research in security games. The problem that this paper seeks to solve is the coordination of decentralized defender agents in the presence of uncertainty while securing targets against an observing adversary. To address this problem, we offer the following novel contributions in this paper: (i) New model of security games with defender teams that coordinate under uncertainty; (ii) New algorithm based on column …

Spectrum Of Intracerebral Hemorrhage In Children: A Report From Picu Of A Resource Limited Country, Qalab Abbas, Qurat Ul Ain Merchant, Bushra Nasir, Anwar Ul Haque, Basit Salam, Gohar Javed

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in children is a rare but disabling disease that accounts for almost half cases of stroke. We report our experience of ICH in children. Retrospective review of medical records of children (1 month-16 years) admitted in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit between January 2007 and December 2014 was done. Data collected included age, gender, presentation, examination findings, neuroimaging done (CT, MRI, and angiography) management (conservative/intervention), and outcome. Results are presented as frequency and percentages. Of the total 50 patients, 58% were male and 26% were <1 year. On presentation 44% had vomiting, 42% had seizures, and GCS < 8 while 40% had altered level of consciousness. Single bleed was present in 88%, 94% had supratentorial bleed, and 32% had intraventricular extension. 72% had bleed volume of <30 mL and 8% had >60 mL. CT scan was done in 98% patients and MRI in 34%, …

The Space Of Art, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Three years ago, Tami Miller challenged me to think formally about “the concept of space as creative grounds for enlivenment and immersion,” and today’s talk revisits part of the lecture I gave here in 2013.3 The ideas presented then — as now — are grounded in my university training, research and teaching in the interrelated disciplines of geography, design studies, landscape architecture, community and regional planning, and sociology.

While mostly skipping over the concept of “time” (that’s quite another discussion), I will review five spatial constructs and related ideas useful in our work as docents.

Economic Hardship, Parents’ Depression, And Relationship Distress Among Couples With Young Children, Deadric T. Williams, Jacob E. Cheadle

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (N = 1,492 couples), we assessed stress, health selection, and couple-crossover hypotheses by examining (1) the bidirectional association between economic hardship and depressive symptoms one, three, and five years after the birth of a child; (2) the association between economic hardship and depressive symptoms on relationship distress for both parents; and (3) whether the associations vary by marital status. The results suggest a pernicious cycle for mothers after the birth of the child. Economic hardship increases depression, but maternal depression also increases economic hardship. These reinforcing mechanisms increase both mothers’ …

Statistical Analysis Of Paradigmatic Class Richness Supports Greater Paleoindian Projectile-Point Diversity In The Southeast, M. I. Eren, A. Chao, C. H. Chiu, R. K. Colwell, B. Buchanan, M. T. Boulanger, J. Darwent, Michael J. O'Brien

History Faculty Publications (Archived)

Ronald Mason's hypothesis from the 1960s that the southeastern United States possesses greater Paleoindian projectile-point diversity than other regions is regularly cited, and often assumed to be true, but in fact has never been quantitatively tested. Even if valid, however, the evolutionary meaning of this diversity is contested. Point diversity is often linked to Clovis "origins," but point diversity could also arise from group fissioning and drift, admixture, adaptation, or multiple founding events, among other possibilities. Before archaeologists can even begin to discuss these scenarios, it is paramount to ensure that what we think we know is representative of reality. …

2016-2017 Graduate Catalog, Armstrong State University

Armstrong Office of the Registrar: Graduate Catalogs (Archived)

Academic catalog for Armstrong State University.

Undergraduate Catalog, Georgia Southern University

Undergraduate & Graduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Mobile Cloud Computing Model And Big Data Analysis For Healthcare Applications, Lo'ai A. Tawalbeh, R. Mehmood, E. Benkhlifa, H. Song

Computer Science Faculty Publications (Archived)

Mobile devices are increasingly becoming an indispensable part of people's daily life, facilitating to perform a variety of useful tasks. Mobile cloud computing integrates mobile and cloud computing to expand their capabilities and benefits and overcomes their limitations, such as limited memory, CPU power, and battery life. Big data analytics technologies enable extracting value from data having four Vs: volume, variety, velocity, and veracity. This paper discusses networked healthcare and the role of mobile cloud computing and big data analytics in its enablement. The motivation and development of networked healthcare applications and systems is presented along with the adoption of …

Development Of A Dynamics Model For The Baxter Robot, Alex Smith, Chenguang Yang, Chunxu Li, Hongbin Ma, Lijun Zhao

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Bsmbench: A Flexible And Scalable Hpc Benchmark From Beyond The Standard Model Physics, E Bennett, B Lucini, Debbi L Del, K Jordan, A Patella, C Pica, A Rago

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

On Detecting Maximal Quasi Antagonistic Communities In Signed Graphs, Ming Gao, Ee-Peng Lim, David Lo, Philips Kokoh Prasetyo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Many networks can be modeled as signed graphs. These include social networks, and relationships/interactions networks. Detecting sub-structures in such networks helps us understand user behavior, predict links, and recommend products. In this paper, we detect dense sub-structures from a signed graph, called quasi antagonistic communities (QACs). An antagonistic community consists of two groups of users expressing positive relationships within each group but negative relationships across groups. Instead of requiring complete set of negative links across its groups, a QAC allows a small number of inter-group negative links to be missing. We propose an algorithm, Mascot, to find all maximal quasi …

A Comparison Of Fundamental Network Formation Principles Between Offline And Online Friends On Twitter, Felicia Natali, Feida Zhu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We investigate the differences between how some of the fundamental principles of network formation apply among offline friends and how they apply among online friends on Twitter. We consider three fundamental principles of network formation proposed by Schaefer et al.: reciprocity, popularity, and triadic closure. Overall, we discover that these principles mainly apply to offline friends on Twitter. Based on how these principles apply to offline versus online friends, we formulate rules to predict offline friendship on Twitter. We compare our algorithm with popular machine learning algorithms and Xiewei’s random walk algorithm. Our algorithm beats the machine learning algorithms on …

A Formalism For Plan – A Big Data Personal Learning Assistant For University Students, Timothy Arndt, Angela Guercio

Business Faculty Publications

Big Data-based methods of learning analytics are increasingly relied on by institutions of higher learning in order to increase student retention by identifying at risk students who are in need of an intervention to allow them to continue on in their educational endeavors. It is well known that e-Learning students are even more at risk of failing out of university than are traditional students, so Big Data learning analytics are even more appropriate in this context. In this paper, we present our approach to this problem. We wish to place control of a student’s learning process in his own hands, …

A Moving Imagination In Spaces Of Distress: Teacher And Student Agency In A Science Classroom, Annie Sunshine Adamian

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study explored the ways in which our classroom community (students and teacher) engaged with humanizing pedagogy in a seventh grade science classroom, toward the full development (e.g. personal, social, emotional, academic) of our classroom community, and the dismantling of inequitable practices and unjust policies that we recognized in our science classroom, school and/or community while utilizing the process of teacher and student participatory action research (tsPAR) (Adamian, 2015) and Critical Race Praxis for Educational Research (CRP-Ed) (Jayakumar & Adamian, 2015).

This study examined the complexities of mutually engaging across differing positionalities while intentionally working in spaces of distress …

An Investigation Of Multimedia Instruction, The Modality Principle, And Reading Comprehension In Fourth-Grade Classrooms, Laura Angela Sandoval

Doctoral Dissertations

Elementary-school teachers are faced with the responsibility of finding the most effective ways to educate their students using multimedia approaches. The use of instruction with visuals and audio has resulted in positive learning outcomes on retention and transfer tasks for junior-high and high-school students. This approach that results in the modality principle has been tested less frequently in elementary-aged students.

The purpose of this study was to examine two different multimedia instructional approaches to investigate which condition offers beneficial learning outcomes through recall and transfer assessments during a lesson on different types of energy in fourth-grade classrooms using a Powerpoint® …

Girls And Stem (Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics) In Catholic Schools: A Mixed Methods Exploration Of Interest, Confidence, And Perceptions Of Stem, Rachel Lynn-Pleis Mckenna

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past decade, there has been a considerable push in emphasizing STEM—an acronym standing for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math—as an integral aspect of educational curriculums. Even though research suggests that females tend to outperform males in standardized testing in STEM areas, they remain underrepresented in STEM careers and in the achievement of STEM degrees. In preparing this dissertation, therefore, the researcher investigated this issue by looking specifically at 4th- through 8th-grade girls in Catholic schools in the Diocese of San Jose, CA, which covers the Greater Silicon Valley region, one of the world's epicenters for technological innovations. In …

Effects Of The Green Life Nature Education Program For 4th Grade Students Who Attend Bay Area Title One Schools: A Mixed-Methods Study, Jessica Blundell

Doctoral Dissertations

This explanatory sequential design mixed-methods evaluation measures the effects of the GLNE program on (a) students’ personal and social skills (b) students’ stewardship of the environment (c) students’ knowledge and understanding of science concepts. Quantitative survey data and qualitative data from a phenomenologically-based study are analyzed and compared in order to understand the impact of attending Green Life Nature Education (GLNE) program, the only Bay Area Residential Outdoor School that serves urban youth with no-cost programing.

The quantitative data from student surveys implies that in general, attending GLNE has a neutral impact on students. While there were several negative impacts …

Training In Summarizing Notes: Effects Of Teaching Students A Self-Regulation Study Strategy In Science Learning, Michelle Mendoza Nebres

Doctoral Dissertations

The last two decades of national data assessments reveal that there has been a sharp decline in nationwide standardized test scores. International assessment data show that in 2012 a very low amount of American students were performing at proficiency or above in science literacy. Research in science literacy education suggests that students benefit most when they are self-regulated (SR) learners. Unfortunately, SR poses a challenge for many students because students lack these skills. The effects of having learned few SR strategies at an early age may lead to long term learning difficulties—preventing students from achieving academic success in college and …

Forecasting The Senate Vote On The Supreme Court Vacancy, Scott J. Basinger, Maxwell Mak

Publications and Research

This paper forecasts current senators’ votes on Merrick Garland’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, in the unlikely case that a vote actually takes place. The forecasts are necessarily conditional, awaiting measurement of the nominee’s characteristics. Nonetheless, a model that combines parameters estimated from existing data with values of some measurable characteristics of senators—particularly their party affiliations, party loyalty levels, and ideological positions—is sufficient to identify potential swing voters in the Senate. By accounting for a more nuanced and refined understanding of the confirmation process, our model reveals that if President Obama were to nominate almost any nominee (conservative or …

A Different Type Of Lighting Research: A Qualitative Methodology, Kevin Kelly

Articles

As lighting researchers we can learn from our colleagues in the humanities who have progressed Qualitative Research methods to a high level of rigour. We should consider using Qualitative Research Methods more. Such methods allow exploration of complex issues involving human behaviour and facilitate researchers to address difficult to answer questions that otherwise go unanswered. Good quality Qualitative Research can provide rich explanations of what went on in a given situation. Validity and Reliability are considered differently with this type of research methodology. This paper attempts to identify when qualitative research is appropriate, what questions it can answer in lighting …

Gravity As An Ultra-Low Frequency Scattering Efect, Jonathan Blackledge

Articles

Under the weak gravitational field appromination and for the 00-component of the stress-energy tensor, Einstein's field equations for the gravitational potential. By considering Newton' field equation to be the result of an ultra-low frequency scattering effect (in the limiting) case, this work introduces a model where gravitational field is taken to be the result of an ultra-low frequency gravitational wave (propagating in a near-Cartesian Minkowski space) scattering from an object (a mass)

Time Series Analysis For A 1/Tb Memory Function And Comparison With The Lyapunov Exponent Using Volatility Scaling, Paddy Walsh, Jonathan Blackledge

Articles

Being able to provide accurate forecasts on the trending behaviour of time series is important in a range of applications involving the real time evolution of signals, most notable in financial time series analysis but control engineering in general. A critical solution for providing high accuracy forecasts is the filtering operation used to identify the position in time at which a trend occurs subject to a time delay factor that is inherent in the filtering strategy used. The paper explores this strategy and presents some example results that provide a quantitative measure of the accuracy used.

Learner-Centered Teaching For Environmental And Sustainability Studies, Loren B. Byrne

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

This volume merges two aspects of education that have rapidly changed in recent years: environmental and sustainability education, and knowledge about effective pedagogy. Its central purpose is to disseminate engaging teaching activities that instructors can use to help increase students’ environmental literacy. The included activities are that require minimal instructor preparation, do not require elaborate setups or specialized materials, and can be used in many course contexts but especially in traditional (i.e., non-laboratory, indoor) classroom spaces; most can be completed in one or two class sessions. The target audience is primarily higher-education instructors (including graduate level), but high school teachers …

Evaluating The Biogeochemical Functioning Of A Constructed Fen On The Post-Mining Landscape Of Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Fort Mcmurray, Alberta, Canada, Felix C. Nwaishi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Peatlands have a unique biogeochemical function, characterized by an imbalance between the rates of biomass accumulation and decomposition. These characteristics facilitate the ability of peatlands to support the sequestration of nutrients and carbon. In disturbed peatlands, these functions are compromised. Thus, reclamation targets amongst other key functions, the recovery of biogeochemical functioning. These functions could serve as a measure of recovery to conditions that are present in natural analogues. This thesis examines the recovery of microbially-mediated nutrient transformation processes in a fen peatland that was constructed on a post-mining landscape in the Athabasca oil sands region, Fort McMurray, Alberta. The …

Spanish River Carbonatite: Its Benefits And Potential Use As A Soil Supplement In Agriculture, James J

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A critical problem facing agriculture today is being able to consistently and sustainably provide plants with adequate nutrients for growth. With this problem being exacerbated by the ever-increasing human population, new perspectives and techniques are required to ensure global food security. In order to fully realize potential solutions, however, plant growth and nutrition cannot be exclusively focused upon. The soil-microorganism-plant system is comprised of many interconnected and interdependent processes that together support plant growth: it is upon these processes that the focus must be placed. In this work, the agromineral Spanish River Carbonatite (SRC) is characterized using the framework of …

Sm And Dy Interaction With Dissolved Organic Matter (Dom) In Freshwater Measured By Ion-Selective Electrode And Fluorescence Quenching Analytical Techniques, Alexandra Carvajal

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

With the increased demand for lanthanide metals in various industries, companies are looking into mining of these metals in Northern Canada. The release of these metals into the environment may have adverse effect on aquatic ecosystems; thus, it is important to understand potential toxicological effects of lanthanides on aquatic organisms. One way to predict these effects is by using a Biotic Ligand Model (BLM). Although incorporation of lanthanides into the model will require a substantial amount of future research, initial studies into speciation and toxicity can provide a useful basis for future reference. There are two main objectives to this …