Digital Commons Network^™

The Structure Of Student Engagement In Community College Student Success Programs: A Quantitative Activity Systems Analysis, Deryl K. Hatch

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Community colleges increasingly implement various student success programs, including 1st-year seminars, college skills courses, learning communities, and orientation, in an effort to boost degree completion. However, it is unclear how success programs’ curricular designs may contribute to these and associated student outcomes. Such inquiry is limited, in part, by the lack of methodological frameworks for program impact heterogeneity research. This study proposes a new conceptualization of nominally different student success programs as instances of a broader activity, which also provides a way to operationalize their curricular structures in comparable ways. Second, to briefly illustrate this approach, the study leverages matched …

Educational Attainment And Egalitarian Attitudes Toward Women In The Mena Region: Insights From The Arab Barometer, Amy Auletto, Taeyeon Kim, Rachel Marias

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Despite increasingly egalitarian attitudes toward women in the Middle East and North Africa, nations in this region continue to rank among the lowest in measures of gender equality. Using survey data, we examine the relationship between educational attainment and support for women. We find that increased educational attainment is predictive of greater support for women’s employment and women’s participation in post-secondary education. We also find that egalitarian attitudes have increased over time and education continues to remain a strong predictor of these attitudes. We argue for increased investment in education that promotes egalitarian attitudes for both genders in the MENA …

Understanding The Right To Education In The Early 21st Century South African Context, Robert T. Zipp , '18

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

Evaluating the implementation of human rights norms as broad as the right to education at the domestic level requires the use of supplemental analytical frameworks. In this project, I discuss the implementation of the core norm of the right to education as it manifests in the prescriptive norms guided by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Using the framework set forth by Betts and Orchard, I find that the current structural and ideational factors influencing access to primary education in South Africa are impacted by the country's historical legacy of racial inequality and the economic decisions of the post-apartheid government in …

Bringing Farm Advisors Into The Sustainability Conversation: Results From A Nitrogen Workshop In The U.S. Midwest, Julie E. Doll, Adam Reimer

Journal of Extension

Increasingly, farmers are looking to private sector advisors to inform their nitrogen decisions, but little is known about these important actors. We held a Sustainable Nitrogen Roundtable workshop to bring together important groups—private sector farm advisors, Extension educators, scientists, and farmers—to discuss new research and more sustainable use of nitrogen in midwestern cropping systems. We gained important insights by reaching outside academia and including private sector farm advisors as valued participants. Ninety percent of participants found that their understanding of varied viewpoints on nitrogen management improved, and an equal proportion would recommend such a workshop to a colleague.

Rethinking The Design Of Low-Cost Point-Of-Care Diagnostic Devices, Faith W. Kimani, Samuel M. Mwangi, Benjamin J. Kwasa, Abdi M. Kusow, Benjamin K. Ngugi, Jiahao Chen, Xinyu Liu, Rebecca Cademartiri, Martin M. Thuo

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Reducing the global diseases burden requires effective diagnosis and treatment. In the developing world, accurate diagnosis can be the most expensive and time-consuming aspect of health care. Healthcare cost can, however, be reduced by use of affordable rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). In the developed world, low-cost RDTs are being developed in many research laboratories; however, they are not being equally adopted in the developing countries. This disconnect points to a gap in the design philosophy, where parameterization of design variables ignores the most critical component of the system, the point-of-use stakeholders (e.g., doctors, nurses and patients). Herein, we demonstrated that …

“Our Greatest Songs Are Still Unsung”: Educating Citizens About Schooling In A Multicultural Society, Simona Goldin, Erin E. Flynn, Cori Mehan Egan

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines how a practice-based unit informs undergraduates’ understandings of the dynamics of teaching and learning in a multicultural society, and how these intersect with equity in U.S. classrooms. Citizens’ nuanced understanding of teaching and learning is increasingly important for their engagement with U.S. schools. Practice-based opportunities can allow students to “see” the complexity of teaching and to challenge assumptions about teaching and learning, which are central to preparing an informed citizenry. Findings further suggest that a single course is not sufficient to expand undergraduate students’ understanding of the role of diversity in social life. More concentrated and ongoing …

The Economic And Social Integration Of The Syrian Migrants And Refugees In El-Rehab City In Egypt., Miranda Mahmoud

Theses and Dissertations

The current Syrian refugee crises have captured the world's attention. Much of the existing research have focused on the humanitarian and security impacts of Syrians' displacement in hosting countries. This research, explores how Syrian refugees in el-Rehab city are unique through focusing on their economic and social impacts on the city since the beginning of their arrival in 2011. The study also sheds light on the relation of Syrian refugees and the Egyptian state. Moreover, it states the distinct reasons that dejects them from registering as asylum seekers with UNHCR. Syrians' and Egyptians' integration in el-Rehab city existed through shared …

Hillary Clinton And The Media: From Expected Roles To The Critique Of Feminism, Martina Topic, Etajha C. Gilmer

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, we analysed Hillary Clinton’s relationship with the media starting from her first appointment at a US First Lady to her being the Democratic nominee for the US presidential elections in 2016. Thus, we analysed academic literature demonstrating Clinton’s problems with the media bias, and then added our own discourse analysis of articles on Clinton and feminism in two main national newspapers that have consistently demonstrated the power of setting the agenda and forming public opinion in the U.S. – The Washington Post and The New York Times. Discourse analysis has been used to analyse 20 selected articles …

Keys For Strong Commitment In Marriage, Kailee Hansen, David G. Schramm

All Current Publications

This fact sheet presents three types of commitment and describes how to strengthen your marital commitment.

Physicians' Moral Dispositions, Role Perceptions, And Patient Interactions: Exploratory Findings From Physicians In The Midwestern United States, Aaron B. Franzen

Faculty Publications

We know that patients and their well-being is important to physicians, but what this means in terms of their practice is not always as clear. One potentially fruitful approach to understanding this variation is to look to physicians' value dispositions and moral foundations. Prior work within the general population has highlighted the place and importance of religion/spirituality, but very little is known about physicians and how moral foundations matter for medicine more broadly. The purpose of this research note is to explore these issues with a sample of physicians in Michigan. We find that individual characteristics are related to physicians' …

Health-Related Quality Of Life Variations By Sociodemographic Factors And Chronic Conditions In Three Metropolitan Cities Of South Asia: The Carrs Study, Kavita Singh, Dimple Kondal, Roopa Shivashankar, Mohammed K. Ali, Rajendra Pradeepa, Vamadevan S. Ajay, Viswanathan Mohan, Muhammad Masood Kadir, Mark Daniel Sullivan, Nikhil Tandon, K M Venkat Narayan, Dorairaj Prabhakaran

Community Health Sciences

Objectives: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a key indicator of health. However, HRQOL data from representative populations in South Asia are lacking. This study aims to describe HRQOL overall, by age, gender and socioeconomic status, and examine the associations between selected chronic conditions and HRQOL in adults from three urban cities in South Asia.
Methods: We used data from 16 287 adults aged ≥20 years from the baseline survey of the Centre for Cardiometabolic Risk Reduction in South Asia cohort (2010-2011). HRQOL was measured using the European Quality of Life Five Dimension-Visual Analogue Scale (EQ5D-VAS), which measures health status …

Dangerous Crossings: Voices From The African Migration To Italy/Europe, Robert M. Press

Faculty Publications

Africans continue to migrate across the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea, where tens of thousands have drowned. In Libya, many suffer enslavement and other harsh treatment as they flee persecution or poverty, or both. Yet there have been few studies of their journey. This study, based primarily on some sixty interviews by the author in 2014–2016 with African migrants in Italy and France, provides a portrait of resilience, courage, and strategic decisions that differs sharply from media images of helplessness. It suggests reconsidering migrant networks and typologies in view of the breakdown and attempted repair of networks on these journeys, …

Citizenship Education In A Fragile State: Ngo Programs For Democratic Development And Youth Participation In Haiti, Gary W.J. Pluim

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This research centres on NGO citizenship education programs in Haiti to better understand youth experiences, outcomes, and perceptions of democracy. The findings from this study illustrate how programs from Western-based NGOs with liberal democratic traditions typically construct citizenship education in relation to the individual agency of the learners, whereas youth living in the context of fragility note the prerequisite for stable social structures as a foundation for citizenship. Through multi-dimensional analyses, this article highlights the importance of historical perspectives, the value of comparing disparate societies, and the necessity to explicate social locations in cross-cultural research. The concluding proposition states that …

Film And Religion: Critical Concepts In Media And Cultural Studies, Joel Mayward

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of S. Brent Plate, ed. Film and Religion: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies. London: Routledge Press, 2017.

Dreams, Doubt, And Dread: The Spiritual In Film, Joel Mayward

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Zachary Settle and Taylor Worley, eds. Dreams, Doubt, and Dread: The Spiritual in Film. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2016.

Manila's "Chinatown": Globalization And Built Heritage, Erik Akpedonu, Czarina Saloma

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

Philippine society and culture are generally viewed as the convergence of indigenous Austronesian and Hispanic elements. Often overlooked, however, are the significant contributions of the Chinese. In this article, we trace Chinese contributions to the built heritage of Manila beginning in the sixteenth century and examine the process of globalization as “glocalization.” Our main proposition is that in Manila’s “Chinatown,” these contributions are a refraction of Chinese architectural and art styles through local architectural and art traditions. Such mixing, blending or adapting of two or more processes accompanied the evolving search of Chinese migrants (notably artisans) from (primarily) Fujian Province …

The Mediating Role Of Work Values In The Relationship Between Islamic Religiosity And Job Performance: Empirical Evidence From Egyptian Public Health Sector, Dr. Maha Ahmed Zaki Dajani, Dr. Mohamed Saad Mohamed

Business Administration

This study attempts to empirically examine the job performance of Egyptian employees working in public health sector from the perspective of Islamic religiosity, when work values play a mediating role; based on cognitive dissonance theory. These relationships were tested within a sample of (400) participants working in ten public hospitals located inside greater Cairo area, only (335) responded, with a response rate of 83.75%. Results revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between Islamic religiosity and the four dimensions of work values (instrumental, cognitive, social/altruistic, and prestige), and there is partial mediation between work values and job performance (task …

A Meta-Analysis To Determine The Impact Of Restaurant Menu Labeling On Calories And Nutrients (Ordered Or Consumed) In U.S. Adults, Thaisa M Cantu-Jungles, Lacey A. Mccormack, James E Slaven, Maribeth Slebodnik, Heather A Eicher-Miller

Health and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

A systematic review and meta-analysis determined the effect of restaurant menu labeling on calories and nutrients chosen in laboratory and away-from-home settings in U.S. adults. Cochrane-based criteria adherent, peer-reviewed study designs conducted and published in the English language from 1950 to 2014 were collected in 2015, analyzed in 2016, and used to evaluate the effect of nutrition labeling on calories and nutrients ordered or consumed. Before and after menu labeling outcomes were used to determine weighted mean differences in calories, saturated fat, total fat, carbohydrate, and sodium ordered/consumed which were pooled across studies using random effects modeling. Stratified analysis for …

Use Of Gene Editing In Usda Research, Mark R. Mclellan, Patsy Brannon, Adriana Campa, Carrie Castille, Steven Daley-Laursen, Roch Gaussoin, Govind Kannan, Mark Lawrence, Dawn Thilmany

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Science Advisory Council was established in FY2016 as a subcommittee of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board by the Chief Scientist as a result of recommendations from the 2012 report on Agricultural Preparedness by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The Council's charge is to provide advice and guidance, on a scientific basis, on the overall strength, practicality, and direction of agricultural research, including emerging technology and scientific issues and report any findings publicly to the NAREEE Advisory Board.

The USDA Chief Scientist first asked the Council to examine rigor and …

Key Dynamics Of Internationalization Of Public Policy In The Context Of Policy Transfer, Alexander Hamonangan Nainggolan

Jurnal Politik

The article aims at examining how policy could be transferred as a complex and dynamic process in terms of internationalization and globalization. In addition, it will explore significant channels for the international movement of ideas, policies, and practices through an international policy learning process formed in policy transfer, lesson drawing, policy diffusion, and policy convergence. Further, it is argued that policy transfer literature is increasingly central, leading to the development of related topics in comparative politics and public policy. This article investigates the involvement of non-government organizations, civil society and political issues in driving the learning process about what government …

Kekuasaan Presiden, Institusi Informal, Dan Pengesahan Ruu Tentang Badan Pengelola Jaminan Sosial (Bpjs), Haryo Ksatrio Utomo

Jurnal Politik

This article examines the power exercise of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in the discussion of the Social Security Administering Body Bill (BPJS Bill) when the president intervenes the process of deliberating the bill in parliament. In the middle of the process, the President intervened the House through a joint forum of political parties that support the government in the House of Representatives or known as the Joint Secretariat (Setgab) by asking them, which have no official position in the state president’s intervention has limited the power of the House of Representatives that should work independently and be free from …

Keberhasilan Kelompok Tani Sekar Mulyo Dalam Memengaruhi Kebijakan Pemerintah Kota Batu Tahun 2009-2016, Hisab Akbar Regaty

Jurnal Politik

This article will outline the factors that can drive the success of a civil society orga¬nization at the village level in influencing decisions by local governments, with case study of the Sekar Mulyo farmer group in Batu City. The question raised is why the Sekar Mulyo farmer group influences the local agriculture and infrastructure policy more successfully in Batu City in 2009-2016. This article uses qualitative approach by using primary and secondary data. The research found that there are determinants of success are collaborative strategies of civil society organizations, social capital, and clientelistic relation.

The Influence Of Parenting Model Toward Juvenile Delinquency And Its Prevention In West Sumatera, Efren Nova

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

This research was conducted with legal research methods that can be revealed how the law was perceived and implemented by the community through research Juridical Sociological including reviewing legal issue s as an integral part of the community or research approach which emphasizes the legal aspects with regard to the subject to be discussed, is associated with the fact in the field. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of the influence and the role of parents in caring and educating children through parenting models that cause juvenile delinquency, as well as the effortsthe parents' role in …

Hatred Simmering In The Melting Pot: Hate Crime In New York City, 1995-2010, Colleen E. Mills

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Hate crime proves prevalent in American society, inflicting a variety of harms on victims as well as society at large. Scholars have long sought to understand the motivations and conditions behind hate crime offending. Green and his colleagues conducted the classic neighborhood studies examining the conditions that foster hate crime (Green, Glaser, & Rich, 1998; Green, Strolovich, & Wong, 1998; Green, Strolovitch, Wong, & Bailey). Using data from the New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force, the current study replicates and extends Green's neighborhood studies by investigating hate crime in New York City from 1995 to 2010. This study …

A New Approach To The Analysis Of Timbre, Megan L. Lavengood

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two distinct approaches to timbre analysis exist, each with complementary strengths and limitations. First, music theorists from the 1980s adopt a positivist mindset and look for ways to quantify timbral phenomena, often using spectrograms, while avoiding any cultural dimensions in their work. Second, writings of the past five years focus on the cultural aspects of timbre but make no use of spectrograms. This dissertation builds upon these two approaches by synthesizing them: discussion is grounded in spectrogram analysis, but situated within a broad cultural context, through interactions with listener experience and ethnographic study of music periodicals and other published interviews. …

W.E.B. Du Bois: Freedom, Race, And American Modernity, Elvira Basevich

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation defends W.E.B. Du Bois’s philosophy of modern freedom, which he grounds in the historical reconstruction of the American civic community on the moral basis of free and equal citizenship. Rather than ascribe to him an elitist politics of racial ‘uplift’ and assimilation to Anglo- American folkways, I instead argue that he defends black moral and political autonomy for securing state power and civic equality. Additionally, he challenges both historical and the contemporary political philosophers, including John Rawls, Axel Honneth, and Philip Pettit, to articulate the racial dimension of the development of a social order that actualizes the moral …

Preventing Sexual Violence Where It Most Often Occurs: An Investigation Of The Situational And Structural Components Of Child Sexual Abuse In Residential Settings, Nicole Colombino

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Given that sex offenders tend to perpetrate crimes against people they know (e.g., Greenfield, 1997) and first encounter victims in residential locations (Colombino, Mercado, Levenson, & Jeglic, 2011), it is important that research examine the circumstances of sexual offenses within residential settings. Although previous research has examined the perpetration patterns of sexual offenses against children, especially related to grooming tactics (e.g., Conte, Wolf, & Smith, 1989) and situational factors (e.g., Wortley & Smallbone, 2006), there are few studies that specifically examine the correlates of child sexual abuse within residential settings. This type of data would allow for the development of …

Posthumanist Animals In Art: France And Belgium, 1972-87, Arnaud Gerspacher

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation traces the changing role and increased importance of nonhuman animals in art of the 1970s and 80s. Focused largely on artists in France and Belgium, this period stands at the head of a wide-ranging re-conceptualization of animality that continues to unfold today. Pivotal moments in ecology (beginning with the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm), animal ethics and ethology (such as the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights proclaimed in 1978), and philosophy (specifically the biopolitical and deconstructive currents critiquing the centrality of the humanist subject), all converge as stress points along long held anthropocentric …

Desire, Curiosity, And The Search For Truth In Proust, Moreno, And Bechdel, Santiago Parga Linares

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Marcel Proust’s influence on twentieth century literature is broad and has been well documented. This dissertation attempts a comparative reading of À la recherche du temps perdu that places it in contrast with Colombian writer Marvel Moreno’s 1987 novel, En diciembre llegaban las brisas, and Alison Bechdel’s 2006 comic memoir, Fun Home. Starting from a Deleuzian reading of the Recherche, this dissertation proposes the notion of the “proustian truth seeker”, a thematic and stylistic phenomenon which can be traced in all three writers. The characteristics of the truth seeker can be used to understand the ways in …

Essays On Economics Of Inequality, Aboozar Hadavand

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters all around the subject of inequality. The first chapter provides a novel analysis of the trend in income inequality in the United States between 1979--2013. There are two ways in which this chapter contributes to the literature. First, I analyze how much of the existing inequality in the U.S. is due to the demographic changes that happened over this period. Using microdata from Luxembourg Income Study and after decomposing inequality into within- and between-age group components, I find that the within-group share of overall inequality in the U.S. is high and steady compared to …