Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Understanding Household Preferences For Alternative-Fuel Vehicles Technologies, Hilary Nixon, J. D. Saphores

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This report explores consumer preferences among four different alternative-fuel vehicles (AFVs): hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) vehicles, and electric vehicles (EVs). Although researchers have been interested in understanding consumer preferences for AFVs for more than three decades, it is important to update our estimates of the trade-offs people are willing to make between cost, environmental performance, vehicle range, and refueling convenience. We conducted a nationwide, Internet-based survey to assess consumer preferences for AFVs. Respondents participated in a stated-preference ranking exercise in which they ranked a series of five vehicles (four AFVs and …

Risk And Protective Factors Contributing To Depressive Symptoms In Vietnamese American College Students, Meekyung Han, Mary Lee

Faculty Publications

With the demographic shifts the United States faces, understanding the contributing factors to mental well-being among minority college students is crucial. This study examines the roles of parental and peer attachment, intergenerational conflict, and perceived racial discrimination on depressive symptoms while also analyzing the mediational role of sense of coherence (SOC) on depressive symptoms in Vietnamese American college students. Results from 134 Vietnamese American students surveyed showed that higher levels of parental and peer attachment predicted lower depressive symptoms; SOC partially mediated the effect of parental attachment on depressive symptoms; and SOC played a full mediational role via perceived racial …

Firm And Industry Effects In Accounting Versus Economic Profit Data, Matthew J. Holian, Ali M. Reza

Faculty Publications

This article presents estimates of firm and industry fixed-effects on profit rates for large US corporations, using both Economic Value Added (EVA), the popular measure of profits produced by Stern Stewart and Company, as well as simple (unadjusted) accounting measures as the dependent variable. We find that the improvement in explanatory power of the fixed-effect model is substantially greater when using EVA than has been documented with alternative measures.

Lessons Learned In Attempting To Survey Hard-To-Reach Ethnic Segments Along With The Presentation Of A Comprehensive Questionnaire, Research Report Wp-10-02, Richard A. Werbel

Mineta Transportation Institute

A survey questionnaire was developed and administered to transit users in the Sacramento Metropolitan Area to analyze the degree to which global satisfaction with transit is impacted by ethnicity and other relevant independent variables. Although the data collected was not analyzed because the sample size was substantially smaller than required, the questionnaire used, which is included in its entirety in an appendix, has some uncommon variables and measurement approaches that can be used in a number of other survey questionnaires used in transit studies. Options involving sampling methodology and methods of administering the questionnaire that would have generated an acceptable …

Does Pedagogy Matter To Librarians?, Anamika Dasgupta

Faculty and Staff Publications

I started attending Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) events in 2008 when I received a Title III faculty mini-grant to do research in the use of new and evolving technologies in teaching and learning. I attended the first event because it was mandatory for grant recipients. These events were very informative and stimulating because guest speakers and audiences talked about the various teaching methods that they incorporated into their practices. And since then I continued to attend CETL events whenever possible. In most colleges and universities, librarians conduct Information Literacy classes and help students at the reference …

Recognition Of Library Terms And Concepts By Undergraduate Students, Lydia Ola Adedibu, Isaac Olugbenga Ajala

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study investigated the recognition of library terms and concepts used by undergraduate students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology students, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. 2,039 questionnaires were analysed. Four hypotheses were tested using Analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study revealed that the variables; age, gender, use of library, visitation to library, educational level, and familiarity with library before admission into the university were all significantly positive (P<0.01) thus influencing the extent of awareness of the respondents to the library terms, and concepts. Various recommendations such as librarians to always try to define terms, concepts, and jargon used for the first time, request for feedbacks from students either monthly, quarterly or bi-annually, and try to make access and retrieval of library resources more efficient and user friendly by using the language that users understand.

Computer And Internet Facilities Use In Distance Education: A Survey Of Sandwich Students Of University Of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria, Samson Oyeniyi Akande

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Education is an agent of transformation and change. Many people who cannot afford traditional educational delivery have opted for distance education.Distance education emphasizes electronic communications and use of ICT facilities, but few studies have been conducted to investigate the level of use of computer and Internet facilities by sandwich students in Nigerian universities. "Sandwich students" take an extra year to complete their degrees. The extra year is spent gaining relevant work experience.This study investigates the extent to which the sandwich students make use of computer and Internet facilities for their programme using the University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria, as a case …

Library Resources And Services Of Engineering Colleges In Karnataka, B. U. Kannappanavar, K. V. Manjunatha

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper highlights the issues concerning library resources and services in the engineering college libraries in Karnataka. The study found that a majority of the colleges are managed by the private institutions. Nearly all are understaffed. Very few college libraries are functioning in a independent library buildings. Most have good collections of books, while journal collections vary. Most provide an array of library services.

Reading Culture And Nigeria’S Quest For Sustainable Development, Kingsley Nwadiuto Igwe

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The paper highlights the role of reading culture as an aspect of the educational system in the development of a nation. With Nigeria as the nation in focus, it laments the neglect of its education sector including libraries over the years in terms of funding and inadequate infrastructures for human resource development; and emphasizes on the fact that qualitative and functional education remains the focal point for development. The paper also enumerates constraints to the improvement of reading culture. Strategies for the improvement and development of reading culture in Nigeria were suggested, of which if implemented will see the country …

Comparative Analysis Of Research Output Of Federal Universities In Southern Nigeria, Victoria N. Okafor

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study was carried out to compare the research output of academics in science and engineering faculties in southern Nigeria using bibliometric analysis. Descriptive survey method was used for the study. Through stratified random sampling six federal universities were selected out of 13 for the study. Two hundred and ninety-one academic staff with the rank of lecturer II and above were used for the study. The research output considered in this study was counting of journal articles and supervision of postgraduate students. The study showed that University of Benin had the highest publication of all the universities but mainly in …

Haiti Earthquake January 2010: What Actions And Policies Can The Government Of Haiti Implement To Improve Emergency Management Response, Steve Cohen

Master's Projects

In 2010, Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake that destroyed much of its capital city and the governmental offices that should have guided the response to the disaster. This research focuses on how Haiti can benefit from the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency’s standards for disaster resilience as it works to recover from the earthquake. Unfortunately, Haiti has long been dependent on assistance from non-governmental organizations due to its extreme poverty; its recovery is complicated by the need to integrate disaster assistance and on-going economic and social assistance into its development of a more resilient society.

Nevada County’S Assisted Outpatient Treatment Program: A Model For Other California Counties To Adopt?, Ralph J. Murrieta Jr.

Master's Projects

In May 2008, Nevada County became the first county in California to fully implement an Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program under the guidelines established by Assembly Bill 1421 (Keller, 2011). The Assisted Outpatient Treatment Demonstration Project Act of 2002, more commonly known as “Laura’s Law”, established guidelines for the court ordering of treatment for persons incapacitated by a mental disorder (California Department of Mental Health [CA DMH], 2003).

Passed in September 2002, the bill was highly controversial leading up to its passage and remains a very divisive issue today (Fagan, 2010). This paper will focus on the provisions of the …

A Weighted Finite State Transducer Implementation Of Phoneme Rewrite Rules For English-To-Korean Pronunciation Conversion, Hahn Koo

Faculty Publications

Words change their phonetic as well as orthographic form when they are borrowed and used by speakers of another language. A formal model that properly captures this change has theoretical implications in phonology and practical applications in speech processing and machine transliteration. This paper describes a method for developing a finite- state model that predicts how English words and named entities are pronounced in Korean. The model predicts nativized pronunciation using weighted finite-state transducers implementing context-dependent phoneme rewrite rules derived from English-to-Korean pronunciation pairs and syllable phonotactics in Korean.

Happily Ever After: Construction Of Family In Disney Princess Collection Films, Jennifer Hecht

Master's Theses

This thesis examined the role and characterization of family members in Disney princess films. The purpose of this study was to fill gaps in previous research on the Disney princess films by analyzing the themes and collection as a whole, including the newest film in the collection, The Princess and the Frog. Using content analysis, this study identified three variables that were present in every Disney princess film in the collection - nuclear family, love, and appearance. The researcher found little family diversity in terms of types of households, parenting roles, and characterization of family members. Siblings were especially underrepresented. …

Icts And Information Needs Of Rural Female Farmers In Delta State, Nigeria, Edwin I. Achugbue, Sylvester O. Anie

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Female farmers in Delta State play an important role in crop production, poultry farming, and socioeconomic development of the communities. This research work investigates ICTs and information needs of rural female farmers in Delta State, Nigeria. It also ascertains the level of their ICT-compliance in the management of agricultural information for increased productivity. The paper uses descriptive survey method to determine the information needs of rural female farmers and the impact of ICTs on rural female farmers. It was discovered that female farmers in Delta State, Nigeria, are very keen to know more about treatments of animals, application of fertilizers, …

Indispensability Of Library Services To All Professions, C. O. Ajidahun

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Delivered at the Annual Lecture organised by the Nigerian Library Association, Ekiti State Chapter on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at the Conference Hall, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti.

The Role Of Public Libraries In Promoting Adult Education In Nigeria, Daniel O. Akparobore

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The aim of this article is to help demonstrate that libraries are vital institutions for improving human resources. These human resources are the wealth of nation, and adult education, which helps in the development of these resources, provide foundations for adult learners. Public libraries play a crucial role in lifelong learning and increasing information literacy for adult learners.

Book Availability And Performance Measure In An Academic Library: The Case Of The Walter Sisulu University (Wsu) Library, Mthatha Campus, Gbade A. Alabi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study evaluates the book availability as well as the performance measure of the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) Library and determines the levels of satisfaction among its users. Attention was focused on four parameters of performance measure, namely: Acquisition (Pa), Circulation (Pc), Users' performance at the catalogue and success in obtaining materials from the shelf (Pu), and, the Library administrative operation (Pm), all of which were independently measured. An overall availability rate of 33% was obtained for the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) Library. This is rather low. This low availability level obtained was associated with the low circulation performance (Pc) …

Library Instructon Programme As A Correlate Of Student Catalogue Use In Colleges Of Education Libraries, Samuel Arubam Amkpa, Amudat I. Imam

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study investigated the relationship between library instruction programme components and students' catalogue use in colleges of education libraries. The study addressed the issue of students' inability to use catalogue to retrieve materials within the libraries. Four objectives guided the study with four null hypotheses tested. Survey research deign was used for the study. The population was 2,560 NCE III students chosen from four colleges of education in south-western Nigeria. While 256 samples were used for the study, Questionnaire was used for data collection. Data gathered was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) coefficient for hypotheses tested. The study …

The Economic And Social Benefits Of Ict Policies In Nigeria, Sylvester Ozioma Anie

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examined the economic and social benefits of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policies in Nigeria: Igyor (1996) declared that one of the most striking structural changes in the world's economies over the years has been the shift of allocation of human and capital resources from the task of processing material goods to that of processing information. On the basis of occupational statistics, those individuals whose function is primarily to create, process and handleinformation can be identified in a growing nation of working professionals that share in the information age, people such as administrators, clerks, secretaries, bankers, lawyers, scientists, …

The Prevalence Of Arabic And Ajami Manuscripts In Northern Nigeria, Implications For Acccess, Use, And Enduring Management: A Framework For Research, Musa Abdu Auyo

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

A paper presented at a National Conference on Exploring Nigeria’s Arabic/Ajami Manuscript Resources for Development of New Knowledge, organized by Arewa House and Ford Foundation Office of West Africa Region, Kaduna, Nigeria, 7th-8th May, 2009

Information Seeking Behaviours Of Rural Women In Malaysia, Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examines the information needs and seeking behaviours of women in a rural setting of Malaysia The aim of the study is to identify the information needs of women, and to determine the information sources used by women in a rural village, to determine their information seeking behaviours and to identify any accessbarriers to those sources of information. A sample was selected and given a questionnaire. The return rate was 64 percent. The study revealed that respondents were concerned with information related to food and child education. When seeking information on food and child education, respondents used family or …

Use Of Newspapers By Students Of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria, O. M. Bankole, S. O. Babalola

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study investigates the relative importance of newspaper information, purposes for consultation, types of information sought, the extent and satisfaction derived from the use of library newspaper services, and problems that might constrain students from visiting the newspaper sections of Olabisi Onabanjo University library, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria. A survey research design and interviews were used for data collection. A self-administered questionnaire was given to 456 who had used the library newspaper services in the past, of which 92.1% were found usable. The students ranked newspaper information as their third most important source of overall daily information. The respondents …

Newspaper Reading Habits Of University Students: A Case Study Of Chaudhary Charan Singh University, India, Devendra Kumar, Rajkumar Singh, Jamal Ahmad Siddiqui

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study analyzed the newspapers reading habits of university students of Chaudhary Charan Singh University, India. Structured questionnaires were distributed among P.G. Students, M. Phil. Students, and Research Scholars of Chaudhary Charan Singh University, India. Data was gathered on various aspects of newspaper reading habits of university students including languages read, time spent on newspaper reading; sources of newspapers; and which sections of newspapers are read most.

Information Needs Of Policy Makers In Nigeria: The Case Of Imo State Civil Service, Emmanuel U. Anyanwu, Enyinna Zander, Desmond Oparaku

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

A questionnaire was used to conduct a study of the information needs of policy makers/senior civil servants in Imo State Nigeria. Work activities and information needs of the policymakers were identified and resources of government libraries were evaluated. It was discovered that the government libraries are not adequate in all aspects. They are underfunded. The sources of information and factors affecting access to information needs were identified. Recommendations include the implementation of Information and Communication Technology.

Internet-Based Resources And Services Among Librarians In Tamil Nadu, India, S. Dhanavandan, G. Saravanan, S. Mohamed Esmail, M. Nagarajan

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examines the Internet use of library professionals in Tamil Nadu. Questionnaire, interviews, and observation were used to collect data. The data collected were analyzed and inferences made based on standard statistical methods. The finding of this study will assist Internet users in improving their knowledge and skills..

The Use And Impact Of Electronic Resources At The University Of Lagos, Halima Sadia Egberongbe

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The paper examines the various electronic resources in University of Lagos, use and impact of electronic resources on productivity of end users.A questionnaire survey was used for data collection, and 82 out of a 100 were returned.The analysis of data collected covered awareness of electronic resources use of, impact of use of electronic resources on the academic productivity of respondents and problems faced by researchers while using electronic resources. The study found that the e-mail and Internet are the most used of the e-resources. There was a general indication that respondents did not receive adequate training in the use of …

A Critical Examination Of Information And Communication Technology Policies: Effects On Library Services In Nigeria, Emmanuel E. Baro

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have changed nations and their citizens across the world regardless of their political or socioeconomic systems. The paper critically examined the effectiveness of the various ICT policies in Nigeria, and their effect on library services. This study became imperative due to the fact that, nations like Nigeria need strong ICT policies that are fully implemented to change the nation and her citizenry. It is obvious that the various information and communication technology policies in Nigeria have not achieved the set objectives. This is because the policies are not fully implemented by the various …

Ict And Collection Management In Public Libraries: A Survey Of South- South Of Nigeria, Daniel Emojorho

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigerian public libraries was explored using a questionnaire was used to collect data. The research findings show that ICT improves public library services, but most libraries have not been digitized; hence, a considerable number of staff and users are not ICT-literate

User Perception Of Library Services In Academic Institutions In The Southern Districts Of Tamil Nadu, India: A Case Study, C. Baskaran

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper describes the perceptions of academic library users of library services. The study explored user preferences regarding the collection, services such as interlibrary loan, and Web browsing habits.