Digital Commons Network^™

Novanet's Effect On The Reading Achievement Of At-Risk Middle School Students, Alice Harris Jackson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

At-risk and special education students in the 7th and 8th grades in a rural middle school in western Alabama, in the years following the introduction of the No Child Left Behind federal legislation in 2002, failed to achieve adequate yearly progress in reading. School districts are increasingly implementing flexible computer-based intervention programs to improve their students' reading achievement. Using a between-group design, the purpose of this study was to determine whether NovaNET, a newly adopted reading intervention program, enhanced the reading attainment of at-risk and special education students. Guided by constructivist theory, archived reading achievement data from the 2009-2013 Alabama …

The Implications Of Employee Turnover On Credit Unions, Jason Carreno

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A lack of managerial responses to employee needs contributes to an increased rate of employee turnover in credit unions. Some managers do not possess the skills and strategies necessary to reduce employee turnover. This case study explored what strategies managers used to successfully reduce employee turnover. The population for this study was managers of a financial institution in Northeast Kansas with at least 1 year of leadership experience using methods to reduce employee turnover. Theory X and theory Y theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data collection included semistructured face-to-face interviews with 10 managers and an exploration of …

Associations Between Leadership Style And Employee Resistance To Change In A Healthcare Setting, Tanisha Garcia

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

. Abstract

Health reform is forcing healthcare administrators to make rapid changes. A tendency to resist change can present problems for these organizations, including the large, not-for-profit Catholic healthcare systems. In order to make positive contributions towards healthcare, it's important to recognize the nature of the organization's involvement to change. The transformational leadership style has been shown to be positively correlated with change however, the relationship among leadership styles, employees' behaviors, and motivation to change are still not well understood and require further study. Further, although Oreg's Resistance to Change (RTC) approach has been researched in direct patient care areas, …

Exploring The Defensive Actions Of Drug Sellers In Open-Air Markets: A Systematic Social Observation., Eric Piza, Victoria A. Sytsma

Publications and Research

Objectives: The current study contributes to the literature through a systematic social observation of the defensive actions of drug sellers within open-air retail markets. The study expands upon previous literature by incorporating a novel data collection and coding method.

Methods: Video footage of narcotics transactions was extracted from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) system of the Newark, NJ Police Department. Researchers transcribed and coded the footage to measure the frequency of defensive actions incorporated by drug sellers. Fisher’s exact tests measured whether the frequency of each defensive action significantly differed across geographic setting or time of day.

Results: The frequency of …

Vulnerability And Exposure To Crime: Applying Risk Terrain Modeling To The Study Of Assault In Chicago., Leslie W. Kennedy, Joel M. Caplan, Eric L. Piza, Henri Buccine-Schraeder

Publications and Research

Prior research has applied risk assessment and spatial analysis techniques to the study of violence. This paper builds on those results, tying the practical outcomes of spatial risk analysis methods to broader spatial issues on the articulation of risky places for aggravated assault. We begin by conceptualizing key relationships, addressing the effects of environmental factors on creating distinct, identifiable areas that are conducive to crime. Propositions of the theory of risky places are posed and then empirically tested using a GIS based program, RTMDx, on aggravated assault data in an urban area. Given the current thinking about crime vulnerability based …

Deaths Due To Use Of Lethal Force By Law Enforcement: Findings From The National Violent Death Reporting System, 17 U.S. States, 2009–2012, Sarah Degue, Katherine A. Fowler, Cynthia Calkins

Publications and Research

Introduction: Several high-profile cases in the U.S. have drawn public attention to the use of lethal force by law enforcement (LE), yet research on such fatalities is limited. Using data from a public health surveillance system, this study examined the characteristics and circumstances of these violent deaths to inform prevention.

Methods: All fatalities (N¼812) resulting from use of lethal force by on-duty LE from 2009 to 2012 in 17 U.S. states were examined using National Violent Death Reporting System data. Case narratives were coded for additional incident circumstances.

Results: Victims were majority white (52%) but disproportionately black (32%) with a …

Place-Based Correlates Of Motor Vehicle Theft And Recovery: Measuring Spatial Influence Across Neighbourhood Context, Eric L. Piza, Shun Feng, Leslie Kennedy, Joel Caplan

Publications and Research

Social scientists have long shown great interest in the spatial correlates of crime patterns. A subset of the literature has focused on how micro-level spatial factors influence the formation of crime hot spots. At the same time, tangential research has highlighted how neighbourhood disadvantage influences crime occurrence. The current study focuses on the intersection of these perspectives through a spatial analysis of Motor Vehicle Theft (MVT) and Motor Vehicle Recovery (MVR) in Colorado Springs, CO. We begin by conducting a Risk Terrain Modelling analysis to identify spatial risk factors significantly related to MVT and MVR occurrence. We then test whether …

Ethics Pertaining To The Legalities Of Male Routine Infant Circumcision And Surrogate Consent To Non-Therapeutic Surgery, Jason A. Domashevskiy, Artem V. Domashevskiy

Publications and Research

Circumcision is the most contentious surgery performed in the world today. Approximately 38% of the world male population has been circumcised, mostly during the neonatal and prepubescent periods. Circumcision in regularly practiced ubiquitously throughout the Islamic countries, Israel, and the United States; the US is only country who regularly circumcises its boys for a non-religious reason. No world health body advocates circumcision prior to adulthood. Routine Infant Circumcision (RIC) violates the United Nations Policy on Genital Integrity, the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors, and the rules for surrogate consent to surgery. Studies have shown no benefits to circumcision during the …

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 …

Changing The Narrative: The Difference Women Make In Public Administration, Maria J. D'Agostino

Publications and Research

The dominant narrative about women’s progress in public administration focuses on identifying the obstacles to that progress and how to overcome them. But to make real progress toward gender equality and social justice, we must rethink our entire approach to research. Understanding the difference women make via narrative inquiry is a necessary change to the prevailing dialectic.

Information Governance: An Investigation Of Interface Errors Between Source And Receiving Systems, Michelle R. Mitcheff

Applied Research Projects

The monitoring of interoperability of information in healthcare organizations is of increasing interest due to patient safety, operational and financial considerations. This monitoring is referred to as information governance (IG) and is a complex topic based on several underlying concepts. Interfacing information at the foundational, structural and semantic level is necessary for meaningful use of health information. Issues that arise range from incongruent transfer of information from source systems to receiving systems, discrepancies in the source system and receiving system and failures in interfacing information. This research project examines information governance from the perspective of failures in interfacing information from …

Will Meaningful Use (Mu) Improve Cancer Data Reporting?, Curtisha Manire

Applied Research Projects

The American Recover and Reinvestment Act directives supply the healthcare community with the improvement of technology across the nation through the Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act passed in 2009 by promoting healthcare technology. In order to reach the goal of an interoperability that supports reliable communication systems, certain individual technological objectives need to be addressed in particular, Meaningful Use (MU). Meaningful Use objectives contribute to interoperability, with potential outcomes that may increase accuracy and reduce time for reporting. This study will describe how cancer data reporting methods impacts data accuracy and turnaround time evolving around transitions …

Flamenco Jazz: An Analytical Study, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

When A Tribal Entity Becomes A Nation: The Role Of Politics In The Shifting Federal Recognition Regulations, Lorinda Riley

American Indian Law Review

Before a tribal entity can exercise the privileges and immunities of external sovereign status, they must first be recognized by the United States. For a variety of reasons, some legitimate tribal entities remain unrecognized today. The Department of the Interior has created a federal acknowledgement process under 25 C.F.R. Part 83, providing a procedure for a petitioning Indian entity to establish federal recognition. Reaching beyond a discussion of the overarching federal acknowledgment process this paper delves into the application of politics on the Department of the Interior’s administrative actions. This article explores how each presidential administration has both shaped and …

Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction Beyond Citizenship And Blood, Addie C. Rolnick

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Native Americans And The Legalization Of Marijuana: Can The Tribes Turn Another Addiction Into Affluence?, Melinda Smith

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Bureau Of Land Management's Finalized Hydraulic Fracturing Rule On Tribal Lands: A Responsibility Or Intrusion?, Kerstie B. Moran

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting Tribal Skies: Why Indian Tribes Possess The Sovereign Authority To Regulate Tribal Airspace, William M. Haney

American Indian Law Review

Since the advent of human flight, lawmakers in the United States have struggled to keep pace with advancements in aviation technology. Similarly, many doctrines of federal Indian law that govern the exercise of the sovereign powers of Indian tribes in the United States are based on outmoded conceptions of the capabilities and interests of Indian people and tribal governments. For decades, tribal governments have worked to protect their sovereign interests in tribal territory from the effects of aviation activities that occur within tribal airspace. There has been no exploration of tribal airspace issues in the academic community and limited examination …

A Starving Culture: Alaskan Native Villages’ Fight To Use Traditional Hunting And Fishing Grounds, Jeffrey W. Stowers, Jr.

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Implementing A Greener Redd+ In Black & White: Preserving Wounaan Lands And Culture In Panama With Indigenous-Sensitive Modifications To Redd+, Cindy Campbell

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Competing Visions Of Appellate Justice For Indian Country: A United States Court Of Indian Appeals Or An American Indian Supreme Court, Eugene R. Fidell

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Promise Zone Initiative And Native American Economic Development: Only The First Step Forward Toward The Promise Of A Brighter Future, James Hall

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Human Trafficking Among Native Americans: How Jurisdictional And Statutory Complexities Present Barriers To Combating Modern-Day Slavery, Maggie Logan

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Winner, Best Appellate Brief In The 2016 Native American Law Student Association Moot Court Competition, Ashley Akers, Maureen Orth

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why Indigenous Peoples’ Property Rights Matter: Why The United Nations Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples May Be Used To Condemn Isis And The State Of Iraq For Their Failure To Protect The Property Rights Of Indigenous Peoples In The Nineveh Plains, Brooke E. Hamilton

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defending The Cobell Buy-Back Program, Rebekah Martin

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property Rights And Informed Consent In American Indian Communities: Legal And Ethical Issues, Naomi Palosaari

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Christman V. Confederated Tribes Of Grand Ronde: A Chapter In The Disenrollment Epidemic, Tabitha Minke

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trespass To Culture: The Bioethics Of Indigenous Populations’ Informed Consent In Mainstream Genetic Research Paradigms, Alexandra Winters

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Women Bear God's Image: Considerations From A Neglected Perspective, Jo Ann Davidson

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.