Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Teaching Parenting Skills In A Methadone Treatment Setting, Randy R. Gainey, Kevin P. Haggerty, Charles B. Fleming, Richard F. Catalano

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Family factors significantly affect children’s risk of substance abuse, delinquency, and other problem behaviors (Arthur, Hawkins, Pollard, Catalano, & Baglioni, 2002). Children of substance abusers represent a particularly high-risk population. Prenatal exposure to addictive substances and the medical complications that may arise are important factors that, from conception, place this population at high risk of drug abuse and other problem behaviors (Griffith, Azuma, & Chasnoff, 1994). As children of substance abusers mature, their lives are characterized by exposure to continued drug and alcohol abuse by family members, recurrent or chronic illnesses, frequent moves, financial troubles, legal conflicts, family disorganization, and …

You’Ve Always Got Time: (Disposable) Coffee Cup Litter As Discursive Regime(S), Marc A. Ouellette

English Faculty Publications

Quick, convenient cups of coffee from the seemingly infinite number of outlets might fuel a nation(’s workers) but once the liquid has been consmed little can be done with the supposedly disposable paper, fibre or styrofoam cups. Even though the cups cannot be recycled they do not necessarily find their way into the trash – at least not immediately. The coffee’s convenience and the concomitant (alternative) disposal methods of consumers have produced a discourse in litter by virtue of the places and positionings – that is, the practices – through which what I will call “discursive littering” occurs. Once the …

Internal Increasing Returns To Scale And Economic Growth, John A. List, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

This study develops a model of endogenous growth based on increasing returns due to firms' technology choices. Particular attention is paid to the implications of these choices, combined with the substitution of capital for labor, on economic growth in a general equilibrium model in which the R&D sector produces machines to be used for the sector producing final goods. We show that incorporating oligopolistic competition in the sector producing finals goods into a general equilibrium model with endogenous technology choice is tractable, and we explore the equilibrium path analytically. The model illustrates a novel manner in which sustained per capita …

Transnational And Intimate Crossings: The 'Threatening Body' Of The 'Migrant Sex-Worker', Melissa Autumn White

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This paper introduces the rubric of the "migrant sex-working body" in order to theorize the affective and geopolitical valences of power 'threatened' by such bodies. The everyday and affective labours of migrant sex-workers whose bodies have been positioned as a 'threat' to the imagined community of the nation and to Hetero Factory's (Rossi 2003) family are fetishized in a Marxian sense in order to make an exploration of the collusion of transnational "structures of feeling" and border security regimes possible. In other words, the focus of the paper is not on or about the "migrant sex-working body", but rather on …

The Whitening Of Brown Skins And The Darkening Of Whiteness, Elaine Laforteza

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This paper draws on the interrelation of whiteness and Orientalism to provide a framework for examining the use of skin-bleaching lotions and soaps by some Filipino men and women. Through this focus, I investigate the ways in which skin-bleaching negotiates the "threatening" existence of brown flesh upon the contours of Filipino bodies and within the corpus of western(ised) nations. These threats are negotiated through the skin wherein various chromatic inflections of the flesh become processed as a part of or a threat to normative comfort zones. Skin-colour is thus the site of and for discursive construction and a domain of …

Attacking The Body Politic: The Terroristin In 1970s German Media, Clare Bielby

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

In a 1977 special feature on female terrorism, the German weekly newsmagazine, Der Spiegel, published a photograph of a woman with a bomb strapped to her front, masquerading as a pregnant woman. This image perfectly encapsulates the "paradoxical" quality of the female terrorist, who instead of giving life takes it. Furthermore, if, according to Tamar Mayer, women are represented in national and cultural narratives as "the nation's social and biological womb," the threatening quality of such representations for the body politic of the nation starts to become clear. As Mayer asserts "an attack on these [female] bodies becomes an …

The Body Of The Terrorist In Contemporary Cinema, Robert Duggan, Páraic Finnerty

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This article will explore the presentation of the body of the terrorist in a range of British and American films with a particular emphasis on how these films combine political and romantic plotlines. As part of a broad consideration of how the terrorist is presented, this essay will concentrate in particular on Cal (1984), The Crying Game (1992), The Dancer Upstairs (2002) and The Quiet American (2002). Rather than fully engage with the more complex discourse of politics, often these films ask audiences to conceptualize the transgressive figure of the terrorist through the very familiar vocabulary of love and sexual …

Terrorizing Bodies, Chris Gutierrez

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Beginning with one single body painted by Gustave Courbet in 1866 and one temple destroyed on September 11th, this paper moves to consider the far reaching impact that the War on Terror has on the entire social body. By paying attention to the unknowable status of both the events and the perpetrators of terrorism, it will be argued that the overwhelming ambiguity of terrorism and counter-terrorist activity has allowed the War on Terror to return to prior discourses of racism and homophobia to mark the corporeal otherness it hopes to confront. Here, images from Abu Ghraib prison, joke pictures forwarded …

Fatigue's Influence On Workload, Situation Awareness, And Performance In A Military Simulation Of Combat, Carlotta M. Boone

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Military operations routinely require military personnel to consistently perform their duties over several hours or days. Tasks that require prolonged work can lead to mental fatigue and decreased performance. The transactional model proposes that individuals cope with changes in the environment and maintain performance. This ability to cope is determined by factors of the environment and the individual's personality. One environmental factor that can influence coping is extended task performance. This study examined the effect of extended task performance and its interaction with task difficulty. Participants interacted with the military simulation game Command and Conquer: Generals™ for three hours. They …

Cognitive Implications Of Facilitating Echoic Persistence, Carryl L. Baldwin

Psychology Faculty Publications

Seventeen participants performed a tone-pattern-matching task at different presentation levels while concurrently engaged in a simulated-driving task. Presentation levels of 60, 65, and 70 dBC (SPL) were combined factorially with tone-matching delays of 2, 3, and 4 sec. Intensity had no effect on performance in single-task conditions and short-delay conditions. However, when the participants were engaged concurrently in the driving task, a significant interaction between presentation level and delay was observed. In the longest delay condition, the participants performed the tone-patten-matching task more efficiently (more quickly and without additional errors) as presentation intensity increased. These findings demonstrate the interaction between …

The Role Of Expectation And Memory In The Hindsight Bias Effect: A Test Of Cognitive Reconstruction Models, Ivan K. Ash, Clinton S. Comer

Psychology Faculty Publications

(First Paragraph) The Hindsight Bias Effect (HBE) describes the observation that once people are aware of an outcome to a situation, they have a tendency to falsely believe that they would have predicted the true outcome (see Guibault et al., 2004) Historically, the most popular explanations for this effect can be described as Cognitive Reconstruction Models of retrospective judgment formation (Hawkins & Hastie, 1990). These theories propose the hindsight bias occurs when people do not or cannot directly recall their initial judgment at the point of retrospection. Therefore, people attempt to reconstruct their original predictive judgment by re-judging the situation …

Real Estate Mutual Funds: A Style Analysis, Crystal Lin, Kenneth Yung

Finance Faculty Publications

We find that the characteristics of real estate related securities are different from those of the general common equities. To help investors understand better the products offered by real estate mutual funds, we develop style descriptors that are specifically created for real estate related securities. Among the universe of real estate securities, we find real estate funds tilt toward large stocks and favor growth moderately over value. Growth managers outperform value mangers in this sector by 1.51% to 2.30% per year. However, there is evidence of shifts in the investment style among the funds. Our results help investors in evaluating …

Gis-Based Integration Of Swat And Remm For Estimating Water Quality Benefits Of Riparian Buffers In Agricultural Watersheds, Y. Liu, Wanhong Yang, Xixi Wang

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a process-based, watershed-scale model with a hydrologic response unit (HRU) as the basic computation element, which makes it difficult to accurately represent riparian buffers using their physical parameters (e.g., vegetation structure). On the other hand, the field-scale Riparian Ecosystem Management Model (REMM) provides the opportunity to consider details of hydrologic processes within a riparian buffer zone. However, the runoff and its associated constituents from the upland area that is hydraulically connected to the riparian buffer zone must be provided as inputs into REMM. The rationale proposed here is that the integration of …

Istart 2: Improvements For Efficiency And Effectiveness, Irwin B. Levinstein, Chutima Boonthum, Srinivasa P. Pillarisetti, Courtney Bell, Danielle S. Mcnamara

Computer Science Faculty Publications

iSTART (interactive strategy training for active reading and thinking) is a Web-based reading strategy trainer that develops students' ability to self-explain difficult text as a means to improving reading comprehension. Its curriculum consists of modules presented interactively by pedagogical agents: an introduction to the basics of using reading strategies in the context of self-explanation, a demonstration of self-explanation, and a practice module in which the trainee generates self-explanations with feedback on the quality of reading strategies contained in the self-explanations. We discuss the objectives that guided the development of the second version of iSTART toward the goals of increased efficiency …

Assessing The Format Of The Presentation Of Text In Developing A Reading Strategy Assessment Tool (R-Sat), Sara Gilliam, Joseph P. Magliano, Keith K. Millis, Irwin Levinstein, Chutima Boonthum

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We are constructing a new computerized test of reading comprehension called the Reading Strategy Assessment Tool (R-SAT). R-SAT elicits and analyzes verbal protocols that readers generate in response to questions as they read texts. We examined whether the amount of information available to the reader when reading and answering questions influenced the extent to which R-SAT accounts for comprehension. We found that R-SAT was most predictive of comprehension when the readers did not have access to the text as they answered questions.

Quo Vadis? Polish-Ukrainian Relations In The Enlarging Europe, 1991–2004, Anna Makhorkina

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to analyze the development of Polish-Ukrainian relations in the context of the EU and NATO enlargements. It examines changes in the relationship during 1991-2004, and evaluates major factors that influenced it. The study of Polish-Ukrainian relations in 1991-2004 is important not only from an historical and geopolitical perspective, but also within the context of institutionally enlarging Europe. Poland has been a NATO-member since 1999 and an EU-member since 2004. Ukraine is a member of neither. This turns the Polish-Ukrainian relationship into a relationship between two states, where one side is an "insider" and the other an "outsider" …

Wealth And Achievement Gaps: An Examination Of Virginia Middle Schools, Paulette Natasha Richmond

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Studies

Achievement gaps, the focus of this research, result from unequal achievement and the variance in achievement existing between different segments of the student population, for example, the difference in achievement between minority students and non-minority students. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) focus on achievement gaps despite contradictory expressions about the efficacy of the act. The No Child Left Behind Act has created discussion and awareness of race, SES (economically advantaged and disadvantaged) and academic achievement.

There are conflicting beliefs about the impact of resources, funding and wealth on student achievement. This study …

Analysis Of Determinants In Neighborhood Satisfaction Between Defended And Defensible Communities Within The General And Urban Housing Environments, David William Chapman

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed examination and analysis of neighborhood satisfaction determinants among residents living within defended and defensible gated communities in the United States. The study considers whether there are significant differences in the determinants at national or regional levels and whether there are significant differences within the components of individual household characteristics, neighborhood quality characteristics, or both.

The theoretical framework and model for neighborhood satisfaction used with this study is based on a modified model of Lu's work on neighborhood satisfaction (1999, pp. 78-79) and residential mobility (1996) that were based on Speare's …

Pre-Tipping Point Operations As A Strategy For Maritime Security In The Global War On Terror, John W. Snedeker Jr.

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis proposes US maritime forces adopt a new strategy of pre-tipping point operations that involve proactive measures to enhance maritime security. At its core is the premise that since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the propensity of efforts in GWOT have focused on defeating terrorist organizations and denying sanctuaries on land, leaving the maritime operating environment open to the next wave of terror attacks.1 With the preponderance of commercial goods shipped through the maritime commons, this critical nexus remains valuable and vulnerable. Fragile states and ungoverned regions have become safe havens for a host of criminal elements including …

An Art Therapy Intervention To Help Military Children Cope With Parental Deployment, Eleanor Kai Lampell

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

Research regarding military children and their ability to cope with parental deployment is extensive. However, research dealing with art therapy and military children is limited. The purpose of this study was to explore the benefits of participating in group art therapy interventions for military children with a parent currently on deployment. Five group art therapy sessions were conducted with two military children with a parent currently in stage two of parental deployment. It was hypothesized that through participating in group art therapy, military children with a parent who is currently deployed would have a reduction of problematic behaviors in a …

Reverse Decision Making And Goal Attainment A Proof Of Concept As A New Approach To The Decision Making Process Under Uncertainty, Shitalkumar S. Sabne

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Decision making occurs when one must choose among alternatives. However, in uncertain environments where problems are complex and decision makers lack complete knowledge of the situation as well as decision alternatives, it's not possible for them to select an optimal decision outcome by 'Traditional Decision Approaches'. At present Reverse Decision Making is the central, although new and unproved, approach of Old Dominion University's Engineering Management and Systems Engineering research on decision making process for uncertain and complex situations. Even though research in decision making spans over one hundred years, there are still important problems which remain to be addressed.

There …

A Blogger's Blog: Exploring The Definition Of A Medium, Danah Boyd

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph of Introduction]

While blogging is piquing the interest of mainstream media, youth, academic researchers, and entrepreneurial Silicon Valley, only a fraction of Internet users read blogs and many do not even know what the term means. Reports on how many people read blogs vary (Rainie 2005, Comscore 2005), but even in the United States, less than 50% of Internet users read blogs and many do not even know when they do (Buchwalter 2005). Numerous tools have been built to support blogging and people have extended those tools to do a wide variety of things that may or may …

Thoughts On Blogging By A Poorly Masked Academic, Michael Benton

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

My first attempt at blogging was the creation of Dialogic. I was working as an adjunct in 2004 at the University of Kentucky and developing original media literacy projects and assignments online. I had heard reports that universities might start claiming that course work developed on their servers would be technically the property of the university that owned the server. The precarious nature of adjunct life makes us susceptible to rumor, so I began to search for a new, cheap, relatively unmonitored forum to develop course work and to archive the wealth of information I was finding online. …

Blogademia, Craig Saper

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Academics, especially in the arts and humanities, have taken to blogs like ducks to water. At the same time, some of these blogs, especially those produced by graduate students and untenured faculty, have opened themselves to charges of wasting time gossiping about colleagues, and wallowing in unprofessional discourse, instead of working on serious scholarship. One blogger told me confidentially,

I just password-protected my blog for the period of my job search after reading this article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed, I actually got in trouble with my senior colleagues last semester for making a posting about …

Design And Play: Weblog Genres Of Adolescent Girls In Israel, Carmel L. Vaisman

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Unique circumstances existing in the Israeli blogsphere have attracted many adolescent girls. In recent years, a growing number of weblogs belonging to adolescent girls are challenging blogging norms, creating a tension between written narratives and performance narratives that combine design and play practices. Existing weblog research has explored the connections between gender, linguistic features, and genre but has not examined visual blog genres, nor questioned the role of features inherent in weblog software in the formation of gendered blog genres and blogging norms. Based on a work-in-progress of a larger scope, I shall argue that design supportive features distinctive to …

[Introduction:] Blogging And (Expatriate) Identity, Lauren Elkin

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

In Lettres parisiennes: Histoires d'exil, an exchange of letters on exile between francophone writers Nancy Huston and Leila Sebbah, Huston, a native of Alberta, Canada who moved to Paris in her early twenties, explains that she doesn't write in cafes because she would hate to be mistaken for the stereotypical "American in Paris": "one of those young women who I resemble a little too closely, with their blue, blue eyes and their bizarrely healthy skin, who you find sitting at café tables scribbling ostensibly in their diaries ("today: Mona Lisa") or filling out postcards ("Dear John, can you believe …

Identity And Credibility In The Global Blogosphere, David Sasaki

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

The post-national writer, in all its manifestations, is the most interesting and fruitful thing to have happened to world literature since the birth of modernism. It's safe to say this will be the literary hallmark of the new century, with the internet its Gutenberg. And post-nationalism itself is a sign of hope. After centuries of barbarity, a Union in Europe only became possible when it was harder to define who was French or German or Italian or Dutch. We can imagine what the world would be like if only Americans would become post-American.

That was Eliot Weinberger speaking …

My Life In The Panopticon: Blogging From Iran, Esther Herman

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

The Panopticon is a prison that was developed in the 19th century. All of the cells face inward toward a tower. Guards sit in the tower where they can see everything that is happening within the cells. The prisoners cannot see the guards. They do not even know if a guard is in the tower or not. The prisoners feel watched whether they are being watched or not. As such, they internalize the notion of being watched and become their own guards.

Why I Blog: Part 1, Michael Benton (Compiler)

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

No abstract provided.

Why I Blog: Part 2, Michael Benton (Compiler)

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

No abstract provided.