Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Examination Of The General Mobility Of Older Adults Based On Late-Life Depression And Its Treatment, Heather Kossick

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Older adults experience a variety of cognitive and physical declines as they age. Consequently, these changes can impact mobility and mental health (i.e., depression). Studies have suggested a relationship between driving habits changes (in particular, driving cessation) and depression (Fonda, Wallace & Herzog, 2001; Marottoli et al., 1997). Very little research has been conducted to examine the relationship between depression and other mobility changes in treated and untreated community dwelling older adults. Older drivers who ranged in age from 65 to 91 with a mean age of 73 completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (Radloff, 1977), Life …

A Survey Of Teaming And Assessment Practices Of Practitioners Trained In Transdisciplinary Play-Based Assessment, Breanna Bartley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This research project is an electronic survey of Western Kentucky University graduates of an OSEP funded personnel preparation project (Project TEAM) from the years 1993-2000. The program trained graduate students in transdisciplinary play based assessment from the disciplines of psychology, speech/language pathology, and Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education (IECE) through a series of coursework, seminars and an internship. Transdisciplinary play based assessment (TPBA) is recommended by experts and learned societies in the early childhood field and is considered to be child friendly, provides a holistic view of the child and promotes communication and collaboration between the professionals and family (Linder, 1990; …

A Comparison Of Two Measures Of Oral Reading Fluency, Kara Bletzinger

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Reading fluency is an important part of the process of learning to read. It is commonly assessed by the use of Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) techniques; however, a new assessment method emerged in the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement- Third Edition (WJ-III). Only one previous study had examined the validity of the Reading Fluency test from the WJ-III by comparing it to established CBM measures of reading fluency for a sample of third-grade students. The resulting correlation between the two measures supported the validity of the WJIII Reading Fluency test, but it was unclear as to the two tests' relationship across grade …

Developmental And Gender Patterns In Social Information Processing: Social Problem-Solving And Social Goals, April Bowersox

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of development and gender in first- through fifth-grade children's (N = 514) social information processing, as well as the role emotion plays in these patterns. Developmental patterns and goal selection have been relatively understudied in past social information processing literature. Videotaped ambiguous provocations were presented in which provocateur's emotion displays were manipulated (two each of happy, angry, and sad); children imagined being the provocateur's victim. Results revealed age and gender differences in children's goal selection and social problem-solving. Provocateur's emotion displays were also found to Influence goal selection and problem-solving in …

Religiosity, Volunteering, And Donating: An Examiniation Of The Association Between Religiosity, Volunteering, And Donating In America, Stacey Carnes-Darst

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

As a society we often attribute our actions to our religious beliefs, or level of religiosity, and assume that those who are more religious often do more to help others in need. However, from a conflict theorist's perspective, these beliefs regarding religiosity could be viewed as a way to maintain control and promote solidarity among the masses, as exemplified by the comment of George H.W. Bush. This study, using the special topic module on volunteering and donating from the 1996 General Social Survey, examines this question to determine whether religion and volunteering and donating are related and whether the relationship …

Gender, Occupational Position, And Incivility: The Role Of Status On Rude Behaviors At Work, Sherri Settle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examined the role of status (i.e., occupational position and gender) in the frequency and experience of workplace incivility. Participants were 89 university students over the age of 20 who currently were employed and completed measures assessing their experiences of incivility at work, the instigator of the incivility, and jobrelated outcomes (i.e., turnover intent, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment). Consistent with hypotheses, supervisors were more likely to be instigators of incivility than coworkers. Participants also reported lower job satisfaction when the instigator was a supervisor, and lower organizational commitment and higher turnover intent when the instigator was male. These …

A Strategic Management Learning Laboratory: Integrating The College Classroom And The College Human Resource Management Environment, Theodore D. Peters, Jeffrey S. Yanagi

Organization Management Journal

This capstone course extended the classroom to include practitioner-focused research projects and presentations to senior-level campus management. The course served as a student learning laboratory for experiencing working-world settings, problems, and expectations, using the controlled environment of a college human resource management office, working with the Director of Human Resource Management. Learning outcomes included 1) effectively using multiple business communication skills, 2) applying quantitative and qualitative reasoning for problem solving to integrate, synthesize and apply complex information for addressing practical problems; 3) experience in adapting to a real-life, changing environment, and 4) making management decisions that reflected the dynamic interrelationships …

Mine Action In Afghanistan: The Way Ahead, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

This paper presents the strategy for the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA), as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is committed to the vision of a country free from landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), where people and communities live in a safe environment conducive to national development, and where landmine and ERW survivors are fully integrated in the society and thus have their rights and needs recognized and fulfilled. The Way Ahead paper provides a vision and establishes end goals for the Afghan mineaction programme that are consistent with Afghanistan’s Ottawa Treaty obligations. Moreover, the strategy paper was …

May 2006: Homeland Security Digitial Library, Dacus Library

Dacus Docs News

No abstract provided.

The Internet Has Changed Many Things, But Not Everything: The Effects Of Internet Use On Gendered And Political Views, Jessica Ritchie

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Individuals who use the Internet can obtain uncensored information about nearly any subject with ease. The unlimited access and the perceived freedom make the Internet an extremely popular media form. The purpose of this research is to examine the differences in how the types of sites individuals visit affect their gendered views. I specifically examined (1) individuals who go to gender-issue sites are less likely to support traditional, female gender-roles and (2) individuals who go to political sites are more likely to support traditional female, gender-roles. This study, using special questions pertaining to gender-roles within the household and visiting gender …

Fat Teen Trouble: A Sociological Perspective Of Obesity In Adolescents, Katherine Malnor

Sociology Honors Projects

While many studies have sought to isolate some of the causes and possible solutions to the growing problem of childhood obesity in the United States, researchers have given scant attention to the influence of social factors on obesity. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, this study examines if social factors can explain adolescent obesity. Models predicting obesity as measured by body-mass-index found that different factors were associated with obesity for males and females, but had poor overall predictive power. Separate analysis of parents’ subjective assessment of adolescent obesity found different influences and no association with objective …

Impact Of Environmental Disturbance On The Stability And Benefits Of Individual Status Within Dominance Hierarchies, Lynne U. Sneddon, Sophie Hawkesworth, Victoria A. Braithwaite, Julia Yerbury

Ethology Collection

Changes in environmental conditions affect social interactions and thus may modify an individual’s competitive ability within a social group. We subjected three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, housed in groups of four individuals, to environmental perturbations to assess the impact on dominance hierarchy stability. Hierarchy stability decreased during increased turbulence or lowered water levels (‘simulated drought’) whereas control hierarchies became more stable in a constant environment. The dominant individual either became more aggressive and remained dominant during the environmental manipulation or was usurped by a lower rank member. Only simulated drought affected rates of aggression where levels of aggression were higher after …

Using Self-Organizing Maps To Recognize Acoustic Units Associated With Information Content In Animal Vocalizations, John Placer, C. N. Slobodchikoff, Jason Burns, Jeffrey Placer, Ryan Middleton

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Kohonen self-organizing neural networks, also called self-organizing maps (SOMs), have been used successfully to recognize human phonemes and in this way to aid in human speech recognition. This paper describes how SOMS also can be used to associate specific information content with animal vocalizations. A SOM was used to identify acoustic units in Gunnison’s prairie dog alarm calls that were vocalized in the presence of three different predator species. Some of these acoustic units and their combinations were found exclusively in the alarm calls associated with a particular predator species and were used to associate predator species information with individual …

Acoustic Structures In The Alarm Calls Of Gunnison’S Prairie Dogs, C. N. Slobodchikoff, J. Placer

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Acoustic structures of sound in Gunnison’s prairie dog alarm calls are described, showing how these acoustic structures may encode information about three different predator species (red-tailed hawk—Buteo jamaicensis; domestic dog—Canis familaris; and coyote—Canis latrans). By dividing each alarm call into 25 equal-sized partitions and using resonant frequencies within each partition, commonly occurring acoustic structures were identified as components of alarm calls for the three predators. Although most of the acoustic structures appeared in alarm calls elicited by all three predator species, the frequency of occurrence of these acoustic structures varied among the alarm calls for the different predators, suggesting that …

Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Improvement?, Kevin Cooper

Graphic Communication

No abstract provided.

New Innovations In State Legislatures: An Examination Of The Successes Of Diffusion And The Potential Of Personal Home Pages, Amber Jean Reetz Narro

Dissertations

This dissertation examined state legislators’ dissemination of innovations on their websites by determining the extent to which state legislators’ web sites reflect “best practices” as recommended by Park and Choi (2002) and Jewell (1982). The researcher utilizes content analysis to determine which legislators employ tools of sophistication, as well as relationship-building tools. In addition, the researcher interviewed webmasters across the country to determine the limitations placed on legislators. Finally, the researcher examined legislator and constituency demographics. Using chi-square analysis, the researcher determined if there were relationships between the tools on the websites and the demographics of the legislator and constituency …

Be The Change You Wish To See: National Attiudes And Climate Change Policy, Emilia Tjernstrom

Senior Scholar Papers

A multitude of views characterize what should or should not be done about climate change, and in the past decades, nations have acted very differently in the face of climate change. This study explores factors that affect individuals' attitudes and concerns towards the environment and how those attitudes ultimately affect climate change policy. One model investigates the link between individual attitudes and countries' actions on climate change, and the results show that attitudes indeed matter in the implementation of policy. Different measures of democracy such as freedom of the press also prove to be important as channels for these attitudes. …

Catholic Deaf Newsletter, May 2006

Catholic Deaf Newsletter

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Harford, CT

Catholic Deaf Newsletter Finding Aid

Columbia Chronicle (05/01/2006), Columbia College Chicago

Columbia Chronicle

Student newspaper from May 1, 2006 entitled The Columbia Chronicle. This issue is 40 pages and is listed as Volume 40, Number 29. Cover story: "Manifest waiting in wings" Editor-in-Chief: Jeffrey Danna

Blood Volume And Hemoglobin Oxygenation Response Following Electrical Stimulation Of Human Cortex, Minah Suh, Sonya Bahar, Ashesh Mehta, Theodore Schwartz

Physics Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Signs Of Faith, May 2006

Signs of Faith

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Paterson, NJ

Signs of Faith Finding Aid

Prologue, Michiko Nohara-Leclair

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

No abstract provided.

Investigation Into The Perception Of Beauty, Elysa Priester, Heather Kraft

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The possibility of a connection between the sense of smell and the perception of beauty was investigated. Twenty-two participants were sorted into three different groups: group 1 (no stimulus), group 2 (negative stimulus), and group 3 (positive stimulus). The research procedure consisted of participants filling out a quick survey before and after the experiment to evaluate mood. Each individual was then asked to rate the attractiveness of the ten models. The hypothesis was that smell would have an impact on perception, a negative impact associated with a negative smell, a positive impact associated with a positive smell. No statistical significance …

Effects On Mood By Various Spectrums Of Light From Eyeglasses, Marvin G. Herrod, Ashleigh L. Palmer

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This research paper investigates whether various spectrums of light can have an effect on mood. Eyeglasses of red or blue lenses were used to alter spectrum of light in this study. Participants in this study were male and female students from Lindenwood University ranging in age from 18 to 26. The research procedure consisted of a 10-minute questionnaire, interview and a perception test that will measure visual disability, mood, and bias to colors. The data collected from the three mood perception tests will be quantified and compared with one another to find if red spectrum of light influences a person’s …

Glasses And Facial Recognition, Rebecca Knoelke

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This study investigates whether glasses on a face reduce the accuracy with which people recognize that face. Forty-eight Lindenwood University undergraduates with a mean age of 20.25 years participated in this study. Two series of pictures were shown to the participants. The first contained pictures of models with and without glasses, and the second contained only pictures of models without glasses. The participants were asked to identify pictures of models in the second series who had also been in the first. A t-test revealed that participants recognized more pictures of models whom they initially viewed without glasses and fewer pictures …

Possible Undue Stress Factors On Graduating Seniors, Steven L. Hahne

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the hypothesis of the experiment is true, which was to find if the student body thinks that a policy to which the graduating seniors must turn in all graded work two weeks before the final exam is fair. It also offers a chance for the student body to voice opinions or suggestions in an open and anonymous questionnaire format. Fifty students chose to partake in a questionnaire that included questions about the university’s policy. They were divided into two groups: one group had twenty-three students [freshman and sophomores] of Human Subject …

Effects Of Chocolate On A Person’S Immediate Mood, Aaron Tighe, Katherine Hannemann

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

The following presents a study of chocolate and its effect on a person’s immediate mood. Prior research has suggested that chocolate affects a person biologically through neurotransmitters in the brain which can lead to an elevation in a person’s mood. Our study hopes to take this evidence a step further and discover if chocolate can alter one’s mood immediately, or if the chemicals in chocolate are released gradually, taking longer to affect a person’s mood. The participants were mainly recruited through the Human Subject Pool at Lindenwood University and were administered two surveys: one before a treat was consumed, and …

Hours Worked Versus Academic Grades In College Students, Erin Ferguson, Shelly Fuess

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

A students’ grade point average has a huge impact on the life of a student. This study proved that the amount of hours worked is not reflective of the students’ grade point average which proved our hypothesis incorrect. Past studies have shown varied results on grade point average and the amount of hours a student works. Individual differences may be a determining factor in considering how the individual balances work and school. There were sixty participates in this study from Lindenwood University. The results of this study showed a negative correlation of -.043 between the two variables.

Success Through Collaboration – Two Ohio Library Consortia, Jane Wu, Lois Szudy

Otterbein China Librarians Exchange Program Documentations and Publications

In May 2006, Jane Wu (the System Librarian at Otterbein) and Lois Szudy (the library director at Otterbein) were invited to visit five universities in China to explore the possibility of establishing an exchange program and interlibrary cooperation between Chinese academic libraries and Otterbein College. This presentation was done by Jane and Lois when they visited Shanghai Jiaotong University. The presentation introduced the two library consortiums in Ohio, OPAL and OhioLINK, and what makes OhioLINK and OPAL a success.

Culture, Rhetoric, And Reconciliation: The Place Of Language In The Northern Irish Conflict And Peace Process (1998-2002), Jennifer Dougherty

Peace and Conflict Studies

Alterations in public discourse towards multiculturalism, reconciliation and liberal democracy at the national level in Northern Ireland are evident from 1998 - 2002, but to what end? To what extent did language play a positive role in the Northern Ireland peace process? Recognizing that language does not tell the whole story of the Northern Irish experience of the Troubles or current peace process, the author highlights how language, as a transmitter and constitutor of culture, has played a role as a signifier of potential conflict, peace and progress (or lack thereof). In particular, the author considers several texts including excerpts …