Your Patient And My Client: Perspectives From Legal Work With Unaccompanied Children, Wendy Wylegala, Esq.

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Drawing from a dozen years’ experience in providing legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children, the author describes the legal landscape navigated by immigrant children, and some of the challenges they face. The article suggests approaches to improved communication when serving a child who is an immigrant to the U.S., calls for an increase in cross-disciplinary collaboration, and concludes with a suggested reading and resource list.

Library As Laboratory: Using Primary Sources And Research Tools In The Hel Classroom, Kimberly Emmons, Melissa Hubbard

Researchers, Instructors, & Staff Scholarship

This essay is the result of an ongoing collaboration among an English faculty member (Kimberly Emmons), a humanities research librarian (William Claspy), and a special collections director (Melissa Hubbard). We work at a private research university, with an undergraduate population of approximately five thousand students. Our campus is best known for its scientific, medical, and engineering research and innovation. Accomplish- ments in the arts and humanities are equally robust, but undergraduates in these fields nevertheless find themselves justifying their interests to a more pragmatic and professionally oriented peer group. Initially, our collaboration was a simple show-and-tell activity meant to give …

Tragic Ways Of Killing A Lesbian: A Synchronic Analysis, Taylor D. Watt

University Honors Theses

Following an increase in queer characters over the last few decades, representation of the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, etc.) community on television has become a particularly rich field of inquiry for interdisciplinary scholars. One area of interest, the death of contemporary lesbian characters, remains fairly underdeveloped. This thesis attempts to identify structural patterns in the deaths of lesbian characters by subjecting their narrative arcs to structural analysis, specifically a method of linguistic analysis developed by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. I identify structural patterns in the deaths of 6 lesbian characters which took place between the years …

Carer Information Needs Following A Family Member's Right Hemisphere Stroke, Christyn Davidson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Previous studies have explored information needs for carers of persons with aphasia; however, there is minimal research on information needs of carers with right hemisphere disorder (RHD). RHD describes cognitive and communication impairments a person experiences following a right hemisphere stroke or brain injury. Carers have an important role in rehabilitation and the long-term quality of life of a person with RHD. This study explores the information needs for carers following a family member’s right hemisphere stroke throughout different periods of recovery.

Methods/Procedures: Participants completed online surveys and a semi-structured phone interview. Analysis of the interviews revealed four major …

Kink In Flux: Bdsm Theory And Sexual Praxis, Celeste Pietrusza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The opening decades of the 21^st century have seen a veritable explosion of representations of bondage, discipline and sadomasochism (BDSM) and kink practices in mainstream media and American culture. Along with this, empirical researchers working in sexuality studies continue to show, contrary to the history of stigmatizing accounts in the history of clinical psychology, no evidence of increased pathology and, in some studies, better outcomes on measures of mental health.

Given the legacy of psychoanalysis in foregrounding considerations of sadomasochism and sexuality for the human psyche, it seems particularly well positioned to approach the complexities of dynamic fantasies involved …

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: A Discourse Analysis Of Forensic And Psychological Truth In Child Narratives, Elizabeth Samson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation draws on a hermeneutically-informed modification of Potter and Wetherell’s (1987) discourse analysis methodology to explore how child memory and experience are conceptualized in two widely-used forensic psychology training manuals. Current research about child testimony tends to focus on how well children can factually recount their experiences, or on optimizing interviewer performance so as to obtain accurate accounts and minimize the risk of distorting children’s memories. Results of this discourse analysis include: 1) frequent advisement of evaluator caution, objectivity, and thoroughness, since evaluators are understood as responsible for preserving the accuracy of children’s memories during the evaluation process; and …

Evaluating The Knowledge Of Conversational Agents, Mina Park, Milam Aiken, Mahesh Vanjani

Southwestern Business Administration Journal

Several studies have tested chatbots for their abilities to emulate human conversation, but few have evaluated the systems’ general knowledge. In this study, we asked two chatbots (Mitsuku and Tutor) and a digital assistant (Cortana) several questions and compared their answers to 67 humans’ answers. Results showed that while Tutor and Cortana performed poorly, the accuracies of Mitsuku and the humans were not significantly different. As expected, the chatbots and Cortana answered factual questions more accurately than abstract questions.

Reparation Of Dignity: A Literature Review Of Trauma-Informed Addiction Treatment With Expressive Arts Therapy, Courtney R. Battistelli

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Substance Use Disorder is a public health problem that impacts society and individuals on many levels. In 2016, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) documented 64,000 deaths in America due to overdose (NIDA, 2017). The economic burden related to substance abuse is estimated at $740 billion annually in the United States (Priddy et al., 2018). High rates of relapse, approximately 60% in the first year after treatment, (Priddy et al., 2018, p.103), suggest the need for more effective treatment. A combination of trauma-informed practice and creative therapies in the treatment of substance use disorders show promising results. This literature …

Contradictions Of Freedom In The Tempest And The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao, Menaka Serres

Theses and Dissertations

In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1610-1611) and Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) the character negotiate contradictions of freedom: the entitlements that justify violence as well as oppression on the one hand and rights that grant access to emancipation from violence and imposition on the other.

Nature And The Poet: A Comparision Of The Poetry Of Joseph Freiherr Von Eichendorff And Kobayashi Issa, Jane Cox

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the bearing that metaphysical philosophy about nature has on two late 18^th century and early 19^th century poets. Although living in different hemispheres and cultures, the works of Romantic poet Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff and haikai Kobayashi Issa both used interactions with nature to illustrate their own personal experiences. However, their differing metaphysical beliefs concerning nature impacted their presentation of their experiences as well as their experiences themselves. Eichendorff viewed nature as a medium through which the divine can choose to communicate. Nature’s purpose is to act as a vehicle for the divine. His descriptions …

What Is The Source Of Bilingual Cross-Language Activation In Deaf Bilinguals?, Jill P. Morford, Corrine Occhino, Megan Zirnstein, Judith F. Kroll, Erin Wilkinson, Pilar Piñar

Articles

When deaf bilinguals are asked to make semantic similarity judgments of two written words, their responses are influenced by the sublexical relationship of the signed language translations of the target words. This study investigated whether the observed effects of ASL activation on English print depend on (a) an overlap in syllabic structure of the signed translations or (b) on initialization, an effect of contact between ASL and English that has resulted in a direct representation of English orthographic features in ASL sublexical form. Results demonstrate that neither of these conditions is required or enhances effects of cross-language activation. The experimental …

Self-Disclosure And Physiological Responses Among Adults Who Stutter, Sulema Rodriguez

University Honors Theses

Purposes: (1) To explore self-disclosure, physiological and affective responses in easy and difficult speaking situations, (2) to investigate physiological and affective responses in self-disclosure and no self-disclosure speaking contexts, (3) to examine types of self-disclosure statements used along with physiological responses, (4) and to gain an understanding of reasons why and how adults who stutter choose to self-disclose or not self-disclose about their stuttering.

Method: Four adults who stutter were randomly assigned to self-disclosure and non self-disclosure speaking contexts. Heart rate, skin conductance, and affective responses were measured during the following focus areas: 1) start baseline, 2) anticipation of the …

Serving Students With Moderate To Severe Disabilities: Perspectives Of Career And Technical Education Teachers In Mississippi, Patricia Kellie Fondren

Theses and Dissertations

Positive postsecondary outcomes have become a social issue as the gap between typical peers and students with disabilities grows for employment or postsecondary education. Using evidenced-based instruction strategies to create effective transition instruction has become a required and successful means of improving postsecondary outcomes for individuals with moderate to severe disabilities. The career and technical programs have been identified as an environment that currently implements evidence-based practices that have shown promise of improving instruction. However, participation is limited among individuals with moderate to severe disabilities in the career and technical programs. Through this study the researcher sought to understand how …

Three Sixth Grade Social Studies Teachers’ Beliefs, Knowledge, And Instructional Practices Of Disciplinary Literacy, Jennifer K. Sanders

Theses and Dissertations

During the fall 2017 and spring 2018 semesters, I investigated what 3 6th grade social studies teachers knew and believed about disciplinary literacy and how that knowledge and belief shaped their instructional practice. Descriptive case study design allowed me to investigate the 3 participants in order to develop a descriptive understanding and interpretation of the group. I collected the following data sources from each participant: a concept map illustrating ideas of literacy and social studies, 3 interviews, 4 observations, and teacher lesson plans and texts. I chose descriptive coding for the within-case analysis and pattern coding for the cross-case analysis. …

Displaced Consciousness And Historical Imprisonment In Pirandello’S Enrico Iv And Unamuno’S El Hermano Juan O El Mundo Es Teatro, Francesca Magario Wadlington

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work is to explore how Luigi Pirandello’s Enrico IV (1922) and Miguel de Unamuno’s El hermano Juan o el mundo es teatro (1929) utilize metatheatrical strategies to create plays that constantly question the juxtaposition, and yet the fluidity, of reality and fiction. Through a similar existential search, which is guided by a Sartrean psychoanalytic approach, the protagonists endure a transformation that reveals contrasting results: Enrico remains entrapped in his theatrical portrayal of Henry IV. Conversely, Don Juan frees himself from societal restraints that had portrayed him as a trickster through centuries of literary tradition. In these …

On The Role Of Environment Assertions In Requirements Engineering And Testing, Surendra Chekuri

Theses and Dissertations

Software developers dedicate a major portion of their development effort towards testing and quality assurance (QA) activities, especially during and around the implementation phase. Nevertheless, we continue to see an alarmingly increasing trend in the cost and consequences of software failure. In an attempt to mitigate such loss and address software issues at a much earlier stage, researchers have recently emphasized on the successful coordination of requirements engineering and testing (RET). Jackson points out that requirements reside in the environment which is comprised of certain phenomena, also known as environment assertions, and a large number of software issues stem from …

Sourcing Bifaces From The Alexander Collection At Poverty Point (16wc5) Using Vnir (Visible/Near-Infrared Reflectance) And Ftir (Fourier Transform Infrared Reflectance) Spectroscopy, Simon P. Sherman Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Poverty Point is a monumental earthwork center dating to the Late Archaic Period (ca. 3700-3100 Cal BP). The site is well known for its diverse collection of foreign lithic materials indicative of a wide-ranging acquisition network. Among the extra-local items recovered from the site are lithic raw materials that were used for bifaces in the form of projectile points and/or knives (PP/Ks). Here, I determined the atomic and molecular composition of 847 bifaces from the Alexander Collection using Visible/Near-Infrared Reflectance (VNIR) and Fourier-Transform Infrared Reflectance (FTIR) spectroscopy. The combined wavelength spectra datasets were compared to a raw material database to …

Relationship Between Empathy And Language Proficiency In Adult Language Learners, Mika Sakai

Dissertations and Theses

This study reviews concepts and the mechanism of empathy, and the relationship between empathy and language proficiency, focusing on the aspect of cognitive empathy. It also discusses whether empathy levels could be developed by learning language to a highly proficient level. I compared the empathy levels between high and low proficiency second-language learners to determine if there was correlation between empathy and other factors such as gender, studying abroad, education background, and usage of a second language. I found that there was no relationship between empathy level and language proficiency level; however, there was one between empathy and gender. For …

Latest From Acer International Offices

International Developments

ACER works through its international offices to deliver a diverse range of results-oriented projects. They are often implemented in partnership with global and local development partners with the goal to advance education outcomes and improve learning.

International Developments (No.9) 2019

International Developments

In this issue of International Developments, we summarise the research evidence gathered through the work of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the impact our projects make around the globe.

Impacts Of Demographics, Symptom Presentation, And Clinical Factors On Tf-Cbt Service Utilization, Lucia M. Walsh

Open Access Dissertations

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a common trauma, but up to half of youth who demonstrate associated symptoms do not obtain treatment in a timely manner. Demographic variables have been examined to better understand service utilization patterns in CSA youth, but more complex factors (e.g., symptom profiles) remain relatively ignored. This study sought to understand the relationship between symptoms, commonly examined demographics, and service utilization in a large sample of CSA youth. Youth were ethnically and linguistically diverse, predominantly low-income, and referred for evaluation and treatment at a Child Advocacy Center. Latent profile analysis was used to create profiles of …

Scan Statistics For Detecting A Local Change In The Scale Parameter For Gamma Random Variables, Qian Meng

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation scan statistics for detecting a local change in the scale parameter for gamma and exponential random variables are investigated for both one dimensional and two dimensional cases. The shape parameter is assumed to be known for the gamma random variables. When the size of the window where the local change occurs is known but the scale parameter in null hypothesis is unknown, conditional fixed window scan statistics are proposed. When the true window size is unknown, conditional multiple window minimum $p$-value scan statistics and variable window scan statistics based on generalized likelihood ratio test principle are developed. …

Early Intervention Referral Outcomes For Children At Increased Risk Of Experiencing Developmental Delays, Kristi Laurine Atkins

Dissertations and Theses

Research has shown that children born low birth weight (i.e., ≤2500 grams) and/or premature (i.e., birth prior to 37 weeks gestation) are at increased risk of experiencing developmental delays, as well as long-standing executive functioning and academic challenges. Despite these well-known risks, children born low birth weight are under-enrolled nationally in Part C Early Intervention (EI) services intended to support developmentally vulnerable children. Little is known regarding why EI enrollment is low in this high risk population, especially given children born LBW are readily identifiable as at increased risk of delays at birth. This study explored EI referral outcomes from …

Engaging In A Rural Deaf Community Of Practice, Kara Gournaris

Dissertations and Theses

The number of students taking American Sign Language (ASL) at the post-secondary level continues to increase as more Deaf-related graduate programs and employment settings require fluent ASL skills. Western Oregon University (WOU) is one of the few existing programs in the United States that offers four years of ASL instruction; however, as a rural university it has limited access to a Deaf community. The problem of practice is that students often have little exposure to rich language models who are fluent in ASL, which impacts their legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) in the local Deaf communities of practice (CoPs) and reduces …

Tytko Presents On Language Learner Engagement With Technology At The Sla Symposium, Ohio University College Of Arts & Sciences

All Forum Articles

No abstract provided.

Seasonal Masculinities: Seasonal Labor Migration And Masculinities In Rural Western India, Pronoy Rai

International & Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this research article, I study seasonal labor migration in rural western India to understand gender negotiations in the course of labor migration. Based on qualitative research conducted in six villages in rural Maharashtra state in Western India during the early Kharif cropping season in 2014 and during Kharif and Rabi cropping seasons in 2015–16, I examine gendered labor in migrant home communities and at various rural and urban employment destinations, the relationship of labor to the social construction of masculinities, and gender negotiations across space. I show that in their home communities, the politics of resistance of returnee laborers …

The Battle Of The Sexes: Montagu V. Swift, Madison Savoie

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Two of the most interesting “guardians” of eighteenth-century sociocultural standards were the satirists Jonathan Swift and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Swift is remembered by scholars as one of the “greatest prose satirists in the history of English Literature,” but Montagu, until recent decades, has been less well-known. This thesis will look at the satirical poetic dialogue between the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Swift and the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and provide insights into the sociocultural dynamics of gender in eighteenth-century British print life as revealed by the individual texts.

Gender Differences In Stem Sense Of Belonging For Academically Advanced Middle School Students, Monica C. Meadows

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated academically advanced middle school students’ sense of belonging as it pertains to the STEM disciplines. The study examined the relationship between STEM sense of belonging, STEM class/peer climate, amount of STEM exposure, and the strength of identification with STEM. A quantitative research design was used to examine factors that influence STEM sense of belonging. The researcher utilized a survey research design with data collection via a web survey. This was accomplished through the use of a descriptive rating, Likert-type sense of belonging survey, modified from the Sense of Belonging to Math Scale (PSOBS) created by Rattan, Good, …

Volume 41, Issue 1

The Reading Professor

No abstract provided.

How Students’ Reading Habits Are Affected By Library Genrefication, Sarah Fleming

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

Reading for pleasure has multiple benefits, including an increase in math and science skills, in the capability to empathize, and in inferential abilities. Unfortunately, as students reach adolescence, there is a decline in reading for pleasure. The purpose of this case study was to explore what effect the genrefication of a school’s library may have on the reading habits of self-identified reluctant readers in the seventh grade. The research questions of this study were focused on self-efficacy in terms of reading skill and self-selection materials, as well as time spent reading for pleasure. The study site was a public middle …