Digital Commons Network^™

Sentencing Length Disparities: Assessing Why Race And Gender Influence Judges’ Decisions, Janna Akers

Scripps Senior Theses

The purpose of this study is to assess why the race and gender of defendants influence judges’ decisions using the focal concern theory. This study will require around 84 participants. Participants will be federal judges who will be recruited via email. In an online survey, participants will be randomly assigned to one of four conditions . Participants will all read a vignette which an individual was convicted for in trafficking of Xanax. The vignette will be manipulated by the name and accompanying a mugshot based on the race (Black/White) and gender (male/female) of the defendant. The expected result is that …

Doggone Smart: A Canine-Assisted Reading Program And The Effect On Self-Efficacy And Standardized Test Scores, Valerie Daifotis

Scripps Senior Theses

The use of dogs in a reading program is not a new concept. However, this study addresses the gap in the literature by exploring the connection between reading to dogs, reading self-efficacy, and reading standardized test scores. Using an experimental control group design, this study will look at below-average readers in the fifth grade with half randomly assigned to read once a week to a certified therapy dog and volunteer and the other half randomly assigned to read to just an adult volunteer with no dog. This study will use a reading self-efficacy questionnaire (Carroll & Fox, 2017) and the …

Shizen Nōhō: Restoring The Relationship Between Food, Nature, And People In Japan, Katharine Graham

Scripps Senior Theses

In Japan’s postwar era, agriculture has become highly industrialized, involving heavy machinery, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides, all in the name of “progress.” Through employing such practices, humans have attempted to improve upon nature’s way of doing things, and in turn have degraded the soil’s fertility, natural ecosystems, and human health. In response to this, Shizen Nōhō has emerged in Japan as an alternative way of cultivating food. Shizen Nōhō practitioners challenge the notion that we need chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery to farm successfully. Rather, they advocate for a way of growing food that functions seamlessly with natural ecosystems. This …

Cooperative Success Under Shared Cognitive States And Valuations, Shannon Marie Klotz

Scripps Senior Theses

A mental model of the another person’s state of mind including their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, otherwise known as Theory of Mind (ToM), can be created to better predict their behavior and optimize our own decisions. These representations can be explicitly modeled during both the development and presence of stable cooperation via communication outcomes, allowing us to understand the sophistication or depth of mental coordination, involved in an individual’s social perception and reasoning. Almost all current scientific studies of ToM take a spectatorial approach, relying on observation followed by evaluation (e.g., the Sally-Anne Task). However given evidence that social cognition …

Tinder Lies, Irina D. Manta

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

The rise of Internet dating—in recent years especially through the use of mobile-based apps such as Tinder or Bumble—forces us to reexamine an old problem in the law: how to handle sexual fraud. Many people with romantic aspirations today meet individuals with whom they do not share friends or acquaintances, which allows predators to spin tales as to their true identities and engage in sexual relations through the use of deceit on a greater scale than was previously practicable. Indeed, according to some studies, about eighty percent of individuals lie on at least some part of their online dating profiles, …

A Pluralistic Approach To Mediation Ethics: Delivering On Mediation's Different Promises, Robert A. Baruch Bush

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

The article explores a pluralistic approach to mediator ethics by examining a hypothetical case involving a classic dilemma confronted by practicing facilitative and transformative mediators. In the case, a divorced couple fight over full custody of their 11-year-old daughter. Also cited are the dilemma confronting the mediator as s/he is against the agreement reached by the couple, the nature of ethical dilemma, as well as the mediation codes and models.

Maternal Instinct: Exploring The Dynamic Between Mother And Non-Mother Characters In Contemporary Plays, Julia Moriarty

Wayne State University Dissertations

What happens when radical intentions meet ingrained narrative patterns? Focusing on Birth and After Birth by Tina Howe, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake) by Sheila Callaghan, and The How and the Why by Sarah Treem, this paper will unpack the way these texts address cultural attitudes surrounding motherhood and childlessness. A feminist lens will be applied to a dramaturgical study of these plays and the inherited legacies of mothers and non-mothers on stage with which these playwrights grapple. Despite their attempts to expose and dismantle the oppressive cycle of essentialized maternity, these plays all utilize a protagonist/antagonist structure to …

Attitudes Toward Using And Teaching Confidence Intervals: A Latent Profile Analysis On Elementary Statistics Instructors, Hyung Won Kim, Woo Jin Kim, Aaron T. Wilson, Ho Kyoung Ko

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The use of confidence intervals (CIs) for making a statistical inference is gaining popularity in research communities. To evaluate college statistics instructors’ readiness to teach CIs, this study explores their attitudes toward teaching CIs in elementary statistics courses, and toward using CIs in inferential statistics. Data were collected with a survey that classifies instructors’ attitudes on the basis of three previously established pedagogical components: affective, cognitive, and behavioral. Based on the survey responses from 270 participants, we created three profiles (subgroups) via latent profile analysis, and identified each profile’s pattern of attitudes toward CIs and common characteristics of the instructors …

Transformational Leadership Theory And The Characteristics Of Holistic Coaching In Sports, Evan Flanagan

Open Access Master's Theses

For this study I developed two hypotheses. The first is that the four characteristics of Transformational Leadership Theory represent a guideline for holistic coaching in sports because as of now, there is only a definition of holistic coaching, not a set of characteristics. These characteristics of Transformational Leadership Theory are Individualized Consideration, Intellectual Stimulation, Inspirational Motivation, and Idealized Influence. The second hypothesis, that Transformational Leadership would relate more to holistic coaching than Transactional Leadership. In order to do this, I surveyed 25 athletes from various athletic teams at the University of Rhode Island. I also interviewed five coaches of various …

Coastal Zone Access And The Pell Elementary School Sail Newport Program: Experiential Education Outcomes In Newport, Rhode Island, Leah Feldman

Open Access Master's Theses

Newport, Rhode Island is a diverse community. Although there is a population of very wealthy households in Newport, roughly 11% of the population lives below the poverty line. Newport is one of the more demographically diverse communities in Rhode Island, with 49.7% of its populous identifying as white, 27.1% identifying as black, and 18.2% identifying as Hispanic. The state of Rhode Island consists of 81% white, 6.5% African American and 5.8% other races and ethnicities. In this thesis I discuss the effects of a place-based experiential environmental education program, the Pell Elementary School Sail Newport Program, on this diverse demographic …

Plastic Perceptions: Surveying Public Opinion Of Plastic Pollution In Rhode Island, Sabrina Pereira

Open Access Master's Theses

This research surveyed 200 coastal and noncoastal Rhode Island residents to determine their perceptions of marine plastic debris and their support for plastic and paper bag legislation. The results suggest that one’s residency, or geographic distance from the coast, has no bearing on plastic and paper bag policy support and that most participants, 77%, classify plastic pollution as a serious threat to various types of wildlife, the marine environment, human health, and Rhode Island’s economy. The data also seems to suggest support for a statewide plastic bag ban and a statewide fee of 10 cents on paper bags as a …

The Effects Of Concussion On Motor Neuron Reflex Excitability, Priscilla Villa

Open Access Master's Theses

Objective: Individuals who participate in high impact sports are prone to concussive injuries. Assessments used to measure concussion severity mainly examine cognitive domains and only minimally assess the motor system. Testing the motor system is important for athletes whose performance and safety rely heavily on motor control. To our knowledge, there are limited studies assessing motor dysfunction at the spinal level. The goals of this study were to assess the effect that a head injury has on 1) resting spinal motor neuron reflex excitability (MNRE) and 2) MNRE levels over time when preparing for a volitional movement (Motor Preparation).

Participants …

The Role Of Ethnic/Racial Classroom Dynamics In The Learning Environment And Mathematics Achievement, Christina Stephens

Open Access Master's Theses

In the U.S., ethnic and racial disparities in education persist throughout K-12 education. Empirical research has linked classroom ethnic/racial structures and achievement, and the learning environment and achievement. However, few studies have considered the complex manner in which ethnicity/race may interact with the learning environment and its relation to student success across diverse groups. The current study investigated the role that ethnic/racial congruence between the student, teacher, and classroom could have on the learning environment and mathematics achievement. A multilevel regression approach examined if these factors predicted academic achievement. Secondary data were from The National Center for Teacher Effectiveness, collected …

Exploring Typology Categorizations Of Male Perpetrators: A Methodology Study, Emilyl N. Weber, Ashely R. Taylor, Arturo L. Cantos, Barbara G. Amado, K. Daniel O'Leary

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators were categorized based on whether they were generally violent (GV) or family only violent (FO) using self-report or arrest records. Classification criteria to assess recidivism in perpetrators of IPV were evaluated herein to determine the incremental validity of using a perpetrator’s criminal history in addition to their self-report information for categorization purposes. The concordance rates for categorizing subtypes of male perpetrators were compared for two methods, namely, self-report versus criminal history data. Categorizations were made based on self-reported history of violence and federal criminal records separately. Between measures consistency was defined as whether or not …

How Epistemic Justice Can Inform Gender Equality In A Technological University, Yvonne Galligan, Sarah Clavero

Irish Journal of Academic Practice

This article has two aims: one is to map the landscape of gender (in)equality in science and technology universities and the customary lens through which this deficit is analysed. The second is to explore the concept of epistemic justice, unpacking its features and discussing its relevance in a higher education context. This leads to a consideration of the application of epistemic justice to science and technological universities, where knowledge production and sharing takes place in a highly masculinised environment. In this context, the intersection of epistemic justice and gender equality is a particularly relevant dimension of academic and institutional life. …

A Decade Of Disability Depictions In Newbery Award Books, H. Grow, Sharon Black, K. Egan, Tina Taylor, K. Moss, Rachel L. Wadham, Mary Anne Prater

Faculty Publications

Newbery awards are conferred annually on books recognized as having made the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature; these books reach a wide audience, and their depictions of characters with disabilities can influence children's perceptions and attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. Eight Newbery Medal and Honor books chosen from 2010 to 2019 were identified as portraying 11 main or supporting characters with a disability. Six disabilities were represented: emotional disturbance, deafness, specific learning disability, speech/language impairment, orthopedic impairment, and traumatic brain injury. Applying the Rating Scale for Quality Characterizations of Individuals with Disabilities in Children’s Literature, we found most of …

Learning At Literary Festivals, Giulia Rossetti, Bernadette Quinn

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Factors Influencing Consumer Wine Choice: The Case Of Wine Tourism, Margaret Connolly

Books/Book Chapters

This research was undertaken to examine the relationship between the wine tourism activities of consumers and their subsequent wine choices. Exploratory research was undertaken giving specific attention to wine tourism, first, as a factor of influence on decision-making, second, on levels of consumer involvement and third on long-term consumer loyalty. A convenience sample of 12 wine consumers in Dublin participated in the study. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to gather the qualitative data used. The findings clearly establish links made by consumers between their wine tourism experiences and their subsequent wine purchase preferences. The findings highlight the importance of facilitating …

Association Between Preseason Training And Performance In Elite Australian Football, Callum J. Mccaskie, Warren B. Young, Brendan B. Fahrner, Marc Sim

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose: To examine the association between preseason training variables and subsequent in-season performance in an elite Australian football team.

Methods: Data from 41 elite male Australian footballers (mean [SD] age = 23.4 [3.1] y, height =188.4 [7.1] cm, and mass = 86.7 [7.9] kg) were collected from 1 Australian Football League (AFL) club. Preseason training data (external load, internal load, fitness testing, and session participation) were collected across the 17-wk preseason phase (6 and 11 wk post-Christmas). Champion Data© Player Rank (CDPR), coaches’ ratings, and round 1 selection were used as in-season performance measures. CDPR and coaches’ ratings were examined …

Fake News And Propaganda: Trump’S Democratic America And Hitler’S National Socialist (Nazi) Germany, David E. Allen, Michael Mcaleer

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper features an analysis of President Trump’s two State of the Union addresses, which are analysed by means of various data mining techniques, including sentiment analysis. The intention is to explore the contents and sentiments of the messages contained, the degree to which they differ, and their potential implications for the national mood and state of the economy. We also apply Zipf and Mandelbrot’s power law to assess the degree to which they differ from common language patterns. To provide a contrast and some parallel context, analyses are also undertaken of President Obama’s last State of the Union address …

Screening For Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Ards Survivors: Validation Of The Impact Of Event Scale-6 (Ies-6), Megan M. Hosey, Jeannie-Marie S. Leoutsakos, Ximin Li, Victor D. Dinglas, O. Joseph Bienvenu, Ann M. Parker, Ramona O. Hopkins Phd, Dale M. Needham, Karin J. Neufeld

Faculty Publications

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are common in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) survivors. Brief screening instruments are needed for clinical and research purposes. We evaluated internal consistency, external construct, and criterion validity of the Impact of Event Scale-6 (IES-6; 6 items) compared to the original Impact of Event Scale—Revised (IES-R; 22 items) and to the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) reference standard evaluation in ARDS survivors.

Methods: This study is a secondary analysis from two independent multi-site, prospective studies of ARDS survivors. Measures of internal consistency, and external construct and criterion validity were evaluated.

Results: A total of …

“It Takes A Village To Raise A Rigorous Qualitative Project”: Studying Family Financial Socialization Using Team-Based Qualitative Methods, Loren D. Marks, Christina M. Rosa, Ashley B. Lebaron, E. Jeffery Hill

Faculty Publications

This purpose of this case study is to relate the methods used to conduct a qualitative research project about family financial socialization designed by emerging adults, primarily employing emerging adults as the primary research participants (although some of their parents and grandparents are interviewed). A sample of 153 respondents (128 undergraduate students, 17 parents, and eight grandparents) at three universities was recruited to assure diversity. We outline and discuss our team-based approach to qualitative data collection, analysis, and coding procedures, as well as how a team of 10 undergraduate students was incorporated into this approach. We relate the challenges and …

Late-Career Unemployment Has Mixed Effects In Retirement, Wendy C. Birmingham, Maren Wright Voss, M Beth Merryman, Lisa Crabtree, Kathy Subasic, Lori Wadsworth, Man Hung

Faculty Publications

Paid work forms a pattern of occupational engagement that shifts during both unemployment and retirement. Similar to unemployment, the occupational disruption associated with involuntary retirement has been linked to poorer physical and mental health outcomes. To better understand the health impact of work transitions during the pre- and post-retirement years, 24 retired individuals with late-career unemployment were interviewed at the Huntsman World Senior Games in October 2016. Demographic data were collected. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) approach was utilized to thematically analyse the interview data and interpretations were evaluated against existing theory. Themes identified included struggle, freedom, and transition, followed by …

Report On The Future Role Of Engineers In Society And The Skills And Competences Engineering Will Require, Brad Tabas, Una Beagon, Klara Kövesi

Reports

This literature review outlines the current state of the art knowledge in relation to the influence of diversity, attractiveness of the engineering profession and the skills and competencies required of engineers to achieve the SDGs. We aim to answer the overall research question: How do engineering educators develop new learning and teaching approaches (methods) that will attract a diverse group of students (and mature learners) whilst achieving the SDGs in 2030? The main objective of the A-STEP 2030 project is to create an attractive and fascinating learning environment to encourage young people with diverse backgrounds to engage in engineering studies …

Redmond (2002) Revisited: Have Standardized Behavioral Rating Scales Gotten Better At Accommodating For Overlapping Symptoms With Language Impairment?, Kirsten M. Hannig, Sean M. Redmond, Amy Wilder

Faculty Publications

Seventeen years ago, Redmond ¹ reviewed five standardized behavioral rating scales and identified several aspects of their design that made them prone to mischaracterize language impairments as socioemotional behavioral disorders. The purpose of this report is to provide an update and extension of the original audit. We consulted test manuals to evaluate: (1) representation of children with language impairments in their standardization samples; (2) presence of language, or academic items within their inventories; (3) accommodations for administering the measure to children with language impairments; and (4) procedures for identifying inordinately punitive ratings. Overlapping language and academic symptoms continued to be …

Bidirectional Interference Between Simulated Driving And Speaking, Christopher Dromey, Kelsey Simmons

Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study relied on acoustic measures of connected speech and several indices of driving performance to quantify interference between speaking and simulated driving. Method: Three groups of 20 younger (ages 20–30 years), middle-age (ages 40–50 years), and older (ages 60–71 years) adults produced monologues and completed a simulated driving task, which involved maintaining a constant speed and lane position on a freeway. Both tasks were completed separately and concurrently. Results: There were significant divided attention effects, with a reduced speaking time ratio, and increases in vocal intensity, speed variability, and steering wheel adjustments. There was a significant between-subjects age …

Listeners’ Ability To Identify The Gender Of Preadolescent Children In Different Linguistic Contexts, Christopher Dromey, Shawn Nissen, Sharalee Blunck, Anita Dromey

Faculty Publications

This study evaluated listeners’ ability to identify the gender of preadolescent children from speech samples of varying length and linguistic context. The listeners were presented with a total of 190 speech samples in four different categories of linguistic context: segments, words, sentences, and discourse. The listeners were instructed to evaluate each speech sample and decide whether the speaker was a male or female and rate their level of confidence in their decision. Results showed listeners identified the gender of the speakers with a high degree of accuracy, ranging from 86% to 95%. Significant differences in listener judgments were found across …

How Architecture And Engineering Students Conceptualize Design Creation: Report Of A Pilot Study, Shannon Chance, Mike Mimirinis, Ines Direito, John E. Mitchell, Emanuela Tilley

Conference papers

This study uses phenomenographic research methodologies to identify qualitatively different ways engineering and architecture students conceptualize design creation; it seeks to discover if and how their conceptualizations of design creation relate to their conceptualizations of knowledge generation. This work extends prior research by King and Kitchener (1994) and others (Baxter Magolda, 1992; Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986; Hofer & Pintrich, 2002; Perry, 1970) about the ways students develop increasingly sophisticated ways of: understanding and conceptualizing knowledge; sources of truth; how to evaluate various opinions and points-of-view; and ways to assess truthfulness and validity of new ideas. This project stems …

International Student Support Groups: Learning From Experienced Group Members And Leaders, Nathan` Page, Mark Beecher, Derek Griner, Timothy B. Smith, Aaron Jackson, Klint Hobbs

Faculty Publications

Adjustment to college can be particularly difficult for international students. A multi-site qualitative study investigated the experiences of six group leaders and 10 group members who participated in seven different university counseling center international student support groups. Analyses of interview data using hermeneutic interpretation resulted in nine major themes and ten sub-themes organized into four sections: (1) Recruitment and group design, (2) Experiences of group members, (3) Experiences of group leaders, and (4) Additional considerations. College and university counseling centers can effectively work with international students by providing outreach and support groups.

Learner Engagement In Blended Learning Environments: A Conceptual Framework, Lisa R. Halverson, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

Learner engagement correlates with important educational outcomes, including academic achievement and satisfaction. Although research is already exploring learner engagement in blended contexts, no theoretical framework guides inquiry or practice, and little consistency or specificity exists in engagement definitions and operationalizations. Developing definitions, models, and measures of the factors that indicate learner engagement is important to establishing whether changes in instructional methods (facilitators) result in improved engagement (measured via indicators). This article reviews the existing literature on learner engagement and identifies constructs most relevant to learning in general and blended learning in particular. The authors present a possible conceptual framework for …