Digital Commons Network^™

Teaching Big History, Richard B. Simon, Mojgan Behmand, Thomas Burke, Esther Quaedackers, Seohyung Kim, Kiowa Bower, Neal Wolfe, James B. Cunningham, Cynthia Taylor, Martin Anderson, J. Daniel May, Philip Novak, Debbie Daunt, Jaime Castner, Ethan Annis, Amy E. Gilbert, Anne Reid, Suzanne Roybal, Alan Schut, Cynthia Brown, Harlan Stelmach

Harlan Stelmach

Can Engagement Be Compared? Measuring Academic Engagement For Comparison, Ling Tan, Xiaoxun Sun, Siek Toon Khoo

Dr Siek Toon Khoo

Student engagement is a reflection of active involvement in learning. In digital learning environment, research studies on engagement have been focused on detecting behavioral and psychological engagement indicators from the patterns of activities using feature engineering, but student engagement estimates were rarely compared across sessions or across domains of learning. This paper describes how this could be done by revisiting engagement instrument, diagnosing engagement indicators, estimating engagement parameters, and equating. This study illustrates how engagement reliability can be improved by refining engagement indictors. We demonstrated through DataShop data that student engagement levels can be compared across domains of learning.

Mario Hacks The Shush Castle, Paul V. Stenis, Jaimie Beth Colvin, Mary Ann Naumann, Marc Vinyard

Jaimie Beth Colvin

No abstract provided.

Mario Hacks The Shush Castle, Paul V. Stenis, Jaimie Beth Colvin, Mary Ann Naumann, Marc Vinyard

Marc Vinyard

No abstract provided.

Political Competition And Local Social Spending: Evidence From Brazil, Carew Boulding, David Brown

David C. Brown

Electoral theories of democracy imply electoral competition insures accountability. Using data on local elections, socioeconomic factors, and municipal budgets from more than 5,000 municipalities in Brazil for the years 1996, 2000, and 2004, we find that municipalities with more competitive elections allocate less to social spending compared to municipalities with little political competition. We argue that previous theory on political competition and public goods obscures the critical role that financial resources play in shaping the dynamics of social spending and political competition. Municipalities with small budgets lack the resources necessary to engineer convincing electoral victories. Where resources are negligible, voter …

Examining Cohort Differences And Resilience Among The Aging Lgbt Community: Implications For Education And Practice Among An Expansively Diverse Population, Michael Dentato, John Orwat, Marcia Spira, Benjamin Walker

Marcia Spira

Examining Cohort Differences And Resilience Among The Aging Lgbt Community: Implications For Education And Practice Among An Expansively Diverse Population, Michael Dentato, John Orwat, Marcia Spira, Benjamin Walker

John Orwat

A Better Direction For California's Climate Change Policy, David Gamage, Mark Gergen

Mark P. Gergen

No abstract provided.

Interactive Visualization: Video Walls For Collaborative Research And Discovery (Snapshot Of Curve), Krista Graham, Khyle Hannan, Joseph Hurley, Bryan Sinclair

Joe A. Hurley

Discusses large-scale video walls in libraries designed for collaboration that can change users’ perspective and reframe and amplify digital content in shared physical spaces. Georgia State University Library’s newly-opened CURVE: Collaborative University Research & Visualization Environment features a 24-by-4.5-foot, high-resolution CURVE interactWall that expands student and faculty access to digital resources, data visualization, and more.

Who's Talking About (And Citing) Me? Tracking Your Work Using Databases, Google, Web Of Knowledge, And Altmetrics Tools, Julia Lovett, Andrée Rathemacher, Amanda Izenstark

Julia Lovett

Slides and handouts from a presentation, "Who's Talking About (and Citing) Me? Tracking Your Work using Databases, Google, Web of Knowledge, and Altmetrics Tools," offered at the University of Rhode Island Libraries on April 9 and April 10, 2014.

"Stop using the impact factor as a measure of the value of your research. There are better ways. In this hands-on session find out about tools that can help you learn how your work is being received, used, and disseminated across scholarly platforms and social media networks."

Part of the University Libraries' Search Savvy Seminar series.

Copyright, Fair Use, And Education: Your Rights As A Student, Faculty Member, And Researcher, Julia Lovett, Andrée Rathemacher, Angel Ferria

Julia Lovett

Slides, handouts, and classroom examples from a presentation, "Copyright, Fair Use, and Education: Your Rights as a Student, Faculty Member, and Researcher," offered at the University of Rhode Island Libraries on February 24 and February 25, 2014.

"Learn how Fair Use can help you incorporate copyrighted works (written material, images, video, etc.) into your research, teaching, and academic projects. Have questions about Fair Use and Copyright? Please bring them to these interactive sessions!"

Part of the University Libraries' Search Savvy Seminar series.

Creating A Culture Of Meaningful Evaluation In Public Libraries: Moving Beyond Quantitative Metrics, Bill Irwin, Paul St-Pierre

Bill Irwin

The current state of practice sees public libraries, like all public institutions, enduring funding challenges within the dominant political-economic environment, which is shaped by the tenets of new public management and the neoliberal audit society. Libraries, feeling threatened and unsure about their future stability, seek new ways to demonstrate their value. However, they face institutional cultural constraints when attempting to introduce new assessment methods to meet this challenge. The new dynamics require them to go beyond output measures (counts). With research findings supported by survey and interview data from Ontario public libraries, and in agreement with the current literature on …

Equitable Sharing: Distributing The Benefits And Detriments Of Democratic Society, Thomas Kleven

Thomas Kleven

The book argues that a principle of equitable sharing is fundamental to the concept of democracy and to the democratic society the United States purports to be. It examines the political philosophies of John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and John Rawls, all of which contain a principle of equitable sharing in some form. It then examines the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, both of which evidence a commitment to equitable sharing as foundational to the democratic society they contemplate. The book argues that the Supreme Court also has a meaningful role to play in the dialogue over the requirements …

Toward A Radical Integral Humanism: Macintyre’S Continuing Marxism, Jeffery Nicholas

Jeffery Nicholas

I argue that we must read Alasdair MacIntyre’s mature work through a Marxist lens. I begin by discussing his argument that we must choose which God to worship on principles of justice, which, it turns out, are ones given to us by God. I contend that this argument entails that we must see Mac- Intyre’s early Marxist commitments as given to him by God, and, therefore, that he has never abandoned them in his turn to Thomistic-Aristotelianism. I examine his reading of Marx, with its emphasis on the concept of alienation as a Christian concept, and explain how this reading …

The Impact Of Hurricane Katrina On The Environmental Security Of The Us Gulf Coast Region And Beyond, John Lanicci, James Ramsay

John M Lanicci

No abstract provided.

Retrieval Of Aerosol Microphysical Properties From Aeronet Photopolarimetric Measurements: 1. Information Content Analysis, Xiaoguang Xu, Jun Wang

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

This paper is the first part of a two-part study that aims to retrieve aerosol particle size distribution (PSD) and refractive index from the multispectral and multiangular polarimetric measurements taken by the new-generation Sun photometer as part of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). It provides theoretical analysis and guidance to the companion study in which we have developed an inversion algorithm for retrieving 22 aerosol microphysical parameters associated with a bimodal PSD function from real AERONET measurements. Our theoretical analysis starts with generating the synthetic measurements at four spectral bands (440, 675, 870, and 1020 nm) with a Unified Linearized …

Mario Rufino Méndez Y La Caricatura Política En Nuestra Raza: Estudio Testimonial De Una Rica Producción Cultural De Los Afro-Uruguayos (1933-1948), María Cristina Burgueño

Modern Languages Faculty Research

This work is a one volume published by the National Library of Uruguay with a prologue by Dr. George Reid Andrews. It provides an in depth analysis of the corpus of caricatures made by Mario R. Mendez, an afro-Uruguayan artist, for the magazine “Our Race” during its second period 1933-1948. These editorial caricatures made a strong statement against the Fascism in Europe and the League of Nations’ attitude towards the invasion of Ethiopia ordered by Benito Mussolini. They also satirized the political and social reality in Uruguay. Both, the caricatures and the magazine provide a testimony of an extensive cultural …

Schooling The Supreme Court, Christine Chabot

Faculty Publications & Other Works

Supreme Court Justices' uniform professional backgrounds have drawn increasing criticism. Yet it is unclear how diverse professional training would affect the Court's decisions. This Article offers the first empirical analysis of how Justices with diverse professional training vote: It examines a unique period when Justices with formal legal education sat with Justices who entered the profession by reading the law alone.

The study finds that Justices' levels of agreement and politically independent voting vary significantly according to their professional training. In cases which divided the Court, Justices who shared the benefit of formal legal education (1) voted together more often …

Ua1c11/55 Gordon Wilson Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs taken by and of Gordon Wilson.

A Kinect-Based System For Automatic Recording Of Some Pigeon Behaviors, Damian Lyons, James Macdonall, Kelly Cunningham

Faculty Publications

Contact switches and touch screens are the state of the art for recording pigeons’ pecking behavior. Recording other behavior, however, requires a different sensor for each behavior, and some behaviors cannot easily be recorded. We present a flexible and inexpensive image-based approach to detecting and counting pigeon behaviors that is based on the Kinect sensor from Microsoft. Although the system is as easy to set up and use as the standard approaches, it is more flexible because it can record behaviors in addition to key pecking. In this article, we show how both the fast, fine motion of key pecking …

Dangerous Diagnoses, Risky Assumptions, And The Failed Experiment Of “Sexually Violent Predator” Commitment, Deirdre M. Smith

Oklahoma Law Review

In its 1997 opinion, Kansas v. Hendricks, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law that reflected a new model of civil commitment. The targets of this new commitment law were dubbed “Sexually Violent Predators” (SVPs), and the Court upheld indefinite detention of these individuals on the assumption that there is a psychiatrically distinct class of individuals who, unlike typical recidivists, have a mental condition that impairs their ability to refrain from violent sexual behavior. And, more specifically, the Court assumed that the justice system could reliably identify the true “predators,” those for whom this unusual and extraordinary deprivation of liberty …

An Examination Of Intimate Partner Violence And Cigarette Smoking Among African American Women In 12 States, Eboneka Coleman

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

Abstract

Introduction. African American female intimate partner victims (IVP) are more likely to abuse substances, suffer from depression and anxiety, and experience mental health issues, including PTSD, all of which are risk factors for smoking. The purpose of this study is to determine among African American women who have ever experienced IPV the prevalence of smoking and whether it is influenced by education and income.

Methods. Data for this study comes from the 2005 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state-based Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). This primary study population was African American females who answered IPV-related questions …

Development Of In Vitro Denture Biofilm Models For Halitosis Related Bacteria And Their Application In Testing The Efficacy Of Antimicrobial Agents, Tingxi Wu, Xuesong He, David J. Bradshaw, Alyson Axe, Zvi G. Loewy, Honghu Liu, Renate Lux

Touro College of Pharmacy (New York) Publications and Research

Objective: Since dentures can serve as a reservoir for halitosis-causing oral bacteria, halitosis development is a concern for denture wearers. In this study, we surveyed the prevalence of four selected halitosis-related species (Fusobacterium nucleatum, Tannerella forsythia, Veillonella atypica and Klebsiella pneumoniae) in clinical denture plaque samples, and developed denture biofilm models for these species in vitro to facilitate assessment of antimicrobial treatment efficacy. Design: Denture plaque from ten healthy and ten denture stomatitis patients was screened for the presence of aforementioned four species by PCR. Biofilm formation by these halitosis-associated species on the surfaces of denture …

Design And Development Of The Portable Build Platform And Heated Travel Envelope For The Multi3d Manufacturing System, Steven Daniel Ambriz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The final product functionality of parts produced by Additive Manufacturing (AM) can, in part, be improved by the inclusion of multi-material capabilities. The “Multi3D system” that is under development at The University of Texas at El Paso uses material extrusion printing (or fused deposition modeling), solid conductor wire embedding, direct-write, component placement, and micromaching to enable multi-material fabrication. The Multi3D was designed to transport a workpiece between manufacturing stations via a six-axis robot, portable build platform (PBP), and a controlled temperature environment or chamber that travels to each manufacturing station. The heated travel envelope (HTE) was included to mitigate thermal …

Engaging In Social Justice With Toddlers, Susan M. Nasiombe

Capstone Collection

This study was created as a way to highlight and begin filling a large void in academic information regarding the ways caregivers engage in social justice with the toddlers they care for. Through an online survey, participants were asked to explain their role and experience as caregivers, give their definition of social justice, share the social justice resources they use to help inform their engagement with toddlers, and list the limitations and barriers they face in achieving their goals in this area. Participants were also asked to assess their value of various elements commonly used to engage toddlers in social …

Public Health System Partnerships And The Scope Of Maternal And Child Services: A Longitudinal Study, Sharla Smith, Glen Mays, Tommy Mac Bird, Michael A. Preston

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Local health departments (LHDs) struggle to serve their communities in the face of ongoing fiscal constraints. Fiscal constraints have led to the elimination and reduction of maternal and child health services (MCH). LHDs have used various strategies to minimize the negative impact fiscal constraints of elimination or reduction of services provided to their communities. Many LHDs have used strategies such as developing partnerships. While these strategies are assumed to increase the delivery of services and improve outcomes, there is limited research on the type of partnerships needed to service delivery. Our interest was identifying the type of partnerships associated with …

Exploring The Process, Models, And Outcomes Of Hospital-Public Health Partnerships, Danielle M. Varda, Jessica H. Retrum, Carrie Chapman

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Health care reform has resulted in changes throughout the health system, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirement that hospitals conduct community health needs assessments, taking into greater consideration the public health of their respective communities. This has led to growing strategies to develop partnerships between hospitals and public health (PH) as a way to meet these needs¹. Meantime, there is a need for data on Hospital-PH partnerships, due to the growing emphasis that these types of partnerships get implemented in practice. In this paper we analyze a secondary data set to explore how hospitals and public health …

A Case Study Of Cross-Jurisdiction Resource Sharing: The Merger Of Two Tuberculosis Clinics In East Tennessee., Anne Kershenbaum, Margaret A. Knight, Martha L. Buchanan, Janet Ridley, Paul C. Erwin

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Cross-jurisdiction resource sharing is considered a possible means to improve efficiency and effectiveness of public health service delivery. A merger of the Tuberculosis (TB) clinics of a rural and a metropolitan jurisdiction in East Tennessee provided an opportunity to study service provision changes in real time. A mixed methods approach was used, including quantitative data on latent TB treatment outcomes and qualitative data from staff interviews, as well as documentation of changes in staffing time in TB services. Results showed a mix of efficiency changes, indicating probable increased pressure on key service providers after the merger, in addition to expected …

Health Communication As A Public Health Training And Workforce Development Issue, Nancy L. Winterbauer, Ann P. Rafferty, Katherine A. Jones, Mary Tucker-Mclaughlin, Colleen Bridger

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Effective communication is one of the core competencies for public health professionals and is required for local health department (LHD) accreditation. Public health communication specialists play a critical role as conduits of health information, particularly with regard to managing relationships with media and the message that is ultimately represented by news outlets. However, capacity for engagement with traditional media in community health improvement at the local level has not been well-described. As part of a larger study examining the use and impact of the County Health Rankings in North Carolina, LHD media staffing and interaction with traditional media were examined …

What “Community Building” Activities Are Nonprofit Hospitals Reporting As Community Benefit?, Erik Bakken, David Kindig, Jo Ivey Boufford

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revised and standardized the reporting policy for community benefit expenses for nonprofit hospitals. These expenses are required for tax exemption. At that time, the IRS designated some categories of activities as non-eligible as a community benefit, but still mandated their reporting on hospitals’ Form 990, the annual tax filing for nonprofit organizations. One such category was community building, which encompasses a broad range of nonmedical determinants of health and an important potential source of population health revenue. This is the first study to analyze community-building dollars at any level, examining New York State’s …