Digital Commons Network^™

A Boundary-Based Measure For Gerrymandering, Carson Sprock

Master's Theses

This paper presents a new measure for quantifying legislative gerrymandering

based intuitive observation that in a non-gerrymandered district a randomly placed

observer should be able to walk in a straight line and only cross the boundary of the

district once, when the district is exited. We make this notion precise in terms of

the expected value of such crossings. The result is the Boundary Intersection

Number, or BIN. Properties of the BIN score are proven and its computational

properties discussed.

How International Is International Law: Remarks By Lori F. Damrosch, Lori Fisler Damrosch

Faculty Scholarship

Our moderator's questions begin with “in what sense is international law and in what sense isn't it universal?” and continue with whether international law may be “different in different places” and what the implications of such differences may be. I am here to defend the “universalist” perspective, as the immediate past president of the American Society of International Law and before that, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of International Law. Though both the Society and the Journal have “American” in their titles and our geographic headquarters is in the United States, the Society's mission statement commits us to pursue …

The Effects Of Blended Learning On K-12th Grade Students, Laura Hesse

Graduate Research Papers

Blended learning is used to incorporate technology into the classroom and to aid in instruction. This literature review examines the effects of blended learning on student engagement, student achievement, and student perception in K-12th grade classrooms. Twenty-five peer-reviewed studies published between 2008 and 2016 were selected for analysis in this review. The reviewed research indicates that student engagement, student achievement, and positive student perceptions of learning increased when blended learning was used. Students also developed additional skills through the use of blended learning, such as the ability to self-pace and self-direct. Future research into implementing blended learning in K-12 classrooms …

Annual Security Report For Calendar Year 2016, Illinois State University Police Department

Clery Act Annual Security Report

Illinois State University Police Department Annual Security Report

Toxocara Seroprevalence And Associated Risk Factors In The United States, Bruce L. Brown, Andrew N. Berrett, Lance D. Erickson, Shawn D. Gale, Allison Stone, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

Caused by the parasitic nematodes Toxocara canis and cati, toxocariasis in humans can result in covert toxocariasis, ocular toxocariasis, visceral larval migrans, and neurotoxocariasis. A common infection, toxocariasis exposure varies widely within and between countries, with a previous estimate of Toxocara seroprevalence using data from 1988 to 1994 in the United States of approximately 13%. Age, poverty, sex, educational attainment, ethnicity, and region have been associated with Toxocara seroprevalence. In this study, we sought to determine the seroprevalence of and factors associated with Toxocara seropositivity in the United States using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from …

What Does It Mean To Be Well? Understanding The Acehnese Youth Refugees' Resettlement Experience, Fairuziana Humam, Traci L. Weinstein, Holly L. Angelique

Antropologi Indonesia

This qualitative study describes the extent to which there is a perception of wellbeing among Acehnese refugees who arrived as adolescents to the United States and settled in the Mid - Atlantic States. Aceh is a province in Northwestern Indonesia consisting of approximately four million people. During 1990 to 2005, approximately 20,000 people left the province due to political conflict to seek asylum in Malaysia, their neighboring country, before resettling in a third country. The participants in this research study are Acehnese refugees that were resettled to the United States as adolescents during that peak migration phase. Results describe how …

The Creation Of Tribal Cultural Hegemony Under The Indian Arts And Crafts Act And Native American Graves Protection And Repatriation Act, Andrew W. Minikowski

North Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Expiring Seed Patents And The Farming Communities Of North Dakota: Where Gaps In Patent Protection Offer Opportunities For Innovation, Laura Goforth

North Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Surface Ozone And Its Precursors At Summit, Greenland: Comparison Between Observations And Model Simulations, Yaoxian Huang, Shiliang Wu, Louisa J. Kramer, Detlev Helmig, Richard E. Honrath

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Recent studies have shown significant challenges for atmospheric models to simulate tropospheric ozone (O3/and its precursors in the Arctic. In this study, ground-based data were combined with a global 3-D chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to examine the abundance and seasonal variations of O3 and its precursors at Summit, Greenland (72.34° N, 38.29° W; 3212 ma.s.l.). Model simulations for atmospheric nitrogen oxides (NOx/, peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), ethane (C2H6/, propane (C3H8/, carbon monoxide (CO), and O3 for the period July 2008-June 2010 were compared with observations. The model performed well in simulating certain species (such as CO and C3H8/, but some significant …

Young Adults In Transition: Factors That Support And Hinder Growth And Change, Mona Treadway

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Young adults between 18 and 24 years of age with mental illness are significantly less likely to receive mental health services than adults in older age groups.Nationally, higher rates of depression, substance abuse, and psychiatric issues are reported in this age group.A therapeutic model referred to as young adult transition programs has emerged to better address the unique developmental challenges found in this age group.This study examined 317 critical incidents that supported or hindered young adults in a therapeutic transition program.The research design used a combination of an instrumental case study and critical incident technique (CIT).Using interviews and the Outcome …

Parental Advocacy, Stress, And Efficacy: The Hidden Costs Of Diagnosing Learning Disabilities, Katherine A. Behar

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The allocation of educational resources has been a widely debated topic. While scholars and government officials have focused their attention on how resources are divided, significantly less attention has been paid to how parents are advocating for their children to obtain necessary resources themselves. Existing data agree that fighting for educational resources can cause stress to parents (Levine, 2006). This is especially true for parents of children with learning disabilities. These children often require more individualized academic and educational attention. Currently, little research exists which focuses on the relationship between parental stress and parental self efficacy (the belief that one …

Understanding Community Character As A Socio-Ecological Framework To Enhance Local-Scale Adaptation: An Interdisciplinary Case Study From Rural Northwest Connecticut, Joanna Wozniak-Brown

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Around the world, municipalities are facing new challenges, not the least of which is climate change. This is especially true for rural communities that, for a variety of reasons, will be disproportionately affected by the climatic changes and accompanying policies or programs.

This dissertation, written in manuscript-style, integrates climate change and social-ecological scholarship to address the unique character of rural communities, to communicate the complexity of rural identity through the term "rural character"; and to empower rural communities to incorporate adaptation strategies into their daily municipal operations and planning.

Specifically, this dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: What is …

A Poetics Of Food In The Bahamas: Intentional Journeys Through Food, Consciousness, And The Aesthetic Of Everyday Life, Hilary B. Booker

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This research explores intentional food practices and journeys of consciousness in a network of people in The Bahamas. Intentional food practices are defined as interactions with food chosen for particular purposes, while journeys of consciousness are cumulative successions of events that people associate with healing, restoration, and decolonization personally and collectively. This research examines (1) experiences and moments that influenced people’s intentional food practices; (2) food practices that people enact daily; and (3) how people’s intentional food practices connect to broader spiritual, philosophical, and ideological perspectives guiding their lives. The theoretical framework emerges from a specific lineage of theories and …

Understanding The Experience Of Immigration Among Adult Mexican-Born Males Living In The United States: An Exploration Of Grief, Loss, And Coping, Mauricio B. Ortiz

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study uses psychoanalytic object relations theory to understand and analyze the lived experiences of adult Mexican males which will include the psychological meaning of loss and grief resulting from immigrating into the United States. The literature review illustrates and serves as a guide to broaden the understanding of the complex psychological and emotional processes that adult Mexican immigrants experience when faced with the reality of adapting to a host-culture. Participants were interviewed through a descriptive phenomenological approach seeking a complete description of their lived immigration experiences of grief, loss, and coping. After analysis of the transcriptions, several notable themes …

Elements Of Effective Interorganizational Collaboration: A Mixed Methods Study, Patricia A. Greer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Interorganizational collaboration is a process used by committed stakeholders within a problem domain to solve 'messy’ or complex issues. Joint identification and resolution of complex problems is achieved through an iterative process, using elements for success: committed members, resources, time, communication, trust, shared goal, defined process, and collective identity. This study utilized an exploratory sequential mixed methods process as a practical approach, resulting in richer data and increased understanding of the phenomenon of collaboration. The guiding research problem explored which elements influence successful collaborations and, specifically, how collective identity is developed, sustained, and related to the perception of success. The …

Psychology's Struggle To Locate A Moral Vision In A Value-Neutral Framework: A Hermeneutic Perspective On Standard 3.05 Of The Apa Ethics Code, Tammera M. Cooke

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This research followed hermeneutic tradition by examining what is often unquestioned in clinical practice as it pertains to the moral, political, and philosophical foundations that underlie the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2002, 2010) and Standard 3.05, Multiple Relationships—it’s meanings and controversies. It did so in order to better understand the cultural influences reflected in and the political consequences that emanate from the Ethics Code. Data for this study were collected via semi-structured qualitative interviews with two American psychologists who lived in Washington State, experienced living and working in rural communities, and had …

Capital Jurors In An Era Of Death Penalty Decline, Brandon L. Garrett, Daniel Krauss, Nicholas Scurich

Faculty Scholarship

The state of public opinion regarding the death penalty has not experienced such flux since the late 1960s. Death sentences and executions have reached their lowest annual numbers since the early 1970s and today, the public appears fairly evenly split in its views on the death penalty. In this Essay, we explore, first, whether these changes in public opinion mean that fewer people will be qualified to serve on death penalty trials as jurors, and second, whether potential jurors are affected by changes in the practice of the death penalty. We conducted surveys of persons reporting for jury duty at …

Reducing The Rate Of Late Stage Breast Cancer Through Effective Health Communication: An Opinion Piece, Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: Health and illness are traditionally characterized and treated differently across various ethnic groups, which encourages American health systems serving these diverse populations to explore culturally competent and safe ways to effectively reduce illness within such populations. Certain ethnic groups of women in the United States (US) bear greater risk of late stage breast cancer because of various circumstances, which include but are not limited to a lack of insurance or underinsurance and discomfort with and/or resentment toward the US healthcare system. The dominant culture and the social aspects of the modern American health system often and most favorably serve …

Fostering Legal Cynicism Through Immigration Detention, Emily Ryo

Faculty Scholarship

Every year, tens of thousands of noncitizens in removal proceedings are held and processed through an expanding web of immigration detention facilities across the United States. The use of immigration detention is expected to dramatically increase under the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy. I argue that this civil confinement system may serve a critical socio-legal function that has escaped the attention of policymakers, scholars, and the public alike. Using extensive original data on long-term immigrant detainees, I explore how immigration detention might function as a site of legal socialization that helps to promote or reinforce widespread legal cynicism among immigrant …

The Fabianization Of The British Empire: Postwar Colonial Summer Conferences And Community Development In Kenya And Uganda, 1948-1956, Joseph M. Snyder

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines the influence of the Fabian Society on Britain's postwar colonial development regime between 1948 and 1956. This study demonstrates that a primary vehicle for the "Fabianization" of the British Empire was the Cambridge Summer Conference series, particularly the conference convened in 1948. Held on the "Encouragement of Initiative in African Society", the conference devised a policy framework of community development based on a model of mass education long-favored by Arthur Creech Jones, former chair of the Fabian Colonial Bureau (FCB) and then Secretary of State for the Colonies.;While the findings of this study attest that Fabian influence …

Measurement Of Transformative Learning In Study Abroad: An Application Of The Learning Activities Survey, Garrett A. Stone, Mat D. Duerden, Lauren N. Duffy, Brian J. Hill, Eva M. Witesman

Faculty Publications

Study abroad research has demonstrated that education abroad provides a host of benefits; however, it is still unclear how and to what extent these benefits occur. The present study aims to elucidate the study abroad learning process, especially as it pertains to the outcome of transformative learning. First, the study introduces the Learning Activities Survey (LAS), an instrument that operationalizes and quantitatively measures transformative learning constructs. Second, the study demonstrates the utility of the LAS for tourism educators, using data collected from students enrolled in the school of management at a private northwestern university. Results confirm that transformative learning occurs …

Novel Use Of Field-Portable-Xrf For The Direct Analysis Of Trace Elements In Marine Macroalgae., Annie Bull, Murray T. Brown, Andrew Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Samples of dried marine macroalgae (Fucus serratus, Palmaria palmata and Ulva lactuca) have been analysed for trace elements by a novel, non-destructive approach involving a Niton field-portable-X-ray fluorescence (FP-XRF) spectrometer configured in a low density plastics mode with thickness correction. Detection limits for a 200-s counting time ranged from <5 μg g(-1) for As and Pb in F. serratus and As in P. palmata to several tens of μg g(-1) for Cd, Sb and Sn in all species tested. Arsenic, Cu, Pb and Zn were detected by the XRF in samples collected from a protected beach (n = 18) and in samples therefrom that had been exposed to additional aqueous elements in combination (n = 72) with concentrations returned (in μg g(-1)) ranging from 3.9 to 39.7 for As, 13.0 to 307 for Cu, 6.1 to 14.7 for Pb and 12.5 to 522 for Zn. Independent measurements of trace elements in the macroalgae by ICP-MS following nitric acid digestion revealed a direct and significant proportionality with concentrations returned by the XRF, with slopes of the XRF-ICP relationships (As = 1.0; Cu = 2.3; Pb = 2.4; Zn = 1.7) that can be used to calibrate the instrument for direct measurements. The approach shows potential for the in situ monitoring of macroalgae in coastal regions that is currently being investigated.

Trace Elements In Fragments Of Fishing Net And Other Filamentous Plastic Litter From Two Beaches In Sw England, Andrew Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

In Situ Determination Of Trace Elements In Fucus Spp. By Field-Portable-Xrf, Andrew Turner, Hiu Poon, Alex Taylor, Murray T. Brown

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Metabolic And Reproductive Plasticity Of Core And Marginal Populations Of The Eurythermic Saline Water Bug Sigara Selecta (Hemiptera: Corixidae) In A Climate Change Context, J. A. Carbonell, D. T. Bilton, P. Calosi, A. Millán, A. Stewart, J. Velasco

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

A Sense Of The Cycling Environment: Felt Experiences Of Infrastructure And Atmospheres, Paul Simpson

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

This paper explores how cyclists gain a sense of the environments they move through by considering their felt experiences of the affective atmospheres that emerge in and through their movements. More specifically, the focus falls upon how various forms of transport infrastructure choreograph bodies in their movements through the city and so contributes towards the co-production of various affective atmospheres between differently mobile bodies. Drawing on video interviews with 24 commuter cyclists in Plymouth, UK, the roles that such infrastructures and atmospheres play in shaping the experience of cycling through shared forms of transport space are considered. Based on this, …

Innovative Tidal Notch Detection Using Tls And Fuzzy Logic: Implications For Palaeo-Shorelines From Compressional (Crete) And Extensional (Gulf Of Corinth) Tectonic Settings, S. Schneiderwind, S. J. Boulton, I. Papanikolaou, K. Reicherter

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Resolving Discrepancies Between Field And Modelled Relative Sea-Level Data: Lessons From Western Ireland, Robin Edwards, W. Roland Gehrels, Anthony Brooks, Ralph Fyfe, Katie Pullen, Joseph Kuchar, Kieran Craven

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Tropical Forest Light Regimes In A Human-Modified Landscape, Sophie Fauset, Manuel U. Gloor, Marcos P.M. Aidar, Helber C. Freitas, Nikolaos M. Fyllas, Mauro A. Marabesi, Andre L.C. Rochelle, Alexander Shenkin, Simone A. Vieira, Carlos A. Joly

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Stepping Through The Daylight Gate:Compassionate Spaces For Learning In Higher Education, Joanna Haynes, Emma Macleod-Johnstone

Plymouth Institute of Education

No abstract provided.