Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Thinking Outside The Box Turtle: Public Perceptions Of An Imperiled Species, Colleen M. Hartel, Stuart Carlton, Linda S. Prokopy

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) experience negative impacts from human activities. Collection for the pet trade or mortalities caused by lawn mowers and vehicles are detrimental to populations, which have experienced rapid decline in Indiana. Understanding perceptions and attitudes held about species can help outreach. This study aims to observe how perceptions and fear response differ between a) genders, b) contact with box turtles, and c) conservation group membership. Mail surveys were administered to 1,378 residents of the Blue River Watershed in Southern Indiana. Respondents rated box turtles on 11 semantic differential pairs and reported their agreement …

Preliminary Findings From An Interventional Study Using Network Analysis To Support Management In Local Health Departments In Florida, Chin S. Park, Hado Byon, Jonathan W. Keeling, Leslie M. Beitsch, Jacqueline A. Merrill

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Management is the core service that integrates and coordinates essential public health services. Managers of local health departments (LHDs) are experts in practice but may not have expertise in organizational management. We conducted an evidence-based training intervention in 10 LHDs in Florida to support managers’ decision-making on organizational integration and coordination. We deployed a standard survey to collect organizational network measurements pre and post intervention. We presented results as evidence-based performance feedback and interviewed managers to document how they used the results in the context of each organization. Post intervention we found unexpected, significantly higher network centralization in daily work. …

Characteristics Of A Local Health Department Associated With The Use Of The Health Equity Index, Moira A. Lawson, Sharon Mierzwa, Michael Knapp

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Local health departments are tasked with understanding and addressing health inequities in the populations they serve. To meaningfully address health inequities, local health departments have identified the need for credible local data to better understand the relationship between community conditions and health outcomes. Yet, when given access to these data, we observe a very large variation in the level of interest between local health departments.

In this study, we offered Connecticut’s Local health departments access to the Health Equity Index, a web based tool that provides data on health outcomes and community conditions at the state, municipal or neighborhood levels. …

Evaluating Use Of Custom Survey Reports By Local Health Departments, Nadya M. Belenky, Christine A. Bevc, Elizabeth Mahanna, Carol Gunther-Mohr, Mary V. Davis

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

This report demonstrates how providing survey feedback, like comparative reports, to survey respondents can result in improvement activities. For each of the past three years (2010-2013), the North Carolina Institute for Public Health (NCIPH) has invited local health departments (LHDs) from 40 states to participate in a preparedness capacities survey. In addition, NCIPH fielded a six-question evaluation survey to a subset of LHDs (n=70) to determine how LHDs use these reports. LHDs that reported using their custom reports compared their preparedness capacities to other LHDs, conducted strategic planning (e.g., benchmarking, setting preparedness goals), planned staff trainings, and disseminated the report …

The Relationship Between Quality Improvement And Health Information Technology Use In Local Health Departments, Kendra Johnson, Kim K. Nguyen, Shimin Zheng, Robin P. Pendley

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

This research examined if there is a relationship between engagement in quality improvement (QI) and health information technology (HIT) for local health departments (LHDs) controlling for workforce, finance, population, and governance structure. This was a cross-sectional study that analyzed data obtained from the Core questions and Module 1 in the NACCHO 2010 Profile of LHDs. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, and logistic regression analyses were conducted. Findings suggest that LHD engagement in QI has a relationship with utilization of HIT including electronic health records, practice management systems, and electronic syndromic surveillance systems. This study provides baseline information about the HIT use …

Commentary: The Road To Quality In Public Health, A Long But Important Journey, F. Douglas Scutchfield, Glen Mays, Marylou Wallace

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Quality improvement (QI) in public health departments is a focus in this sixth issue of Frontiers. Data is important to the development of quality improvement efforts. As we see growth of and meaningful use of electronic health records, the health department is in a position to take the lead as a data hub and to use this information wisely to both improve their QI efforts and link that QI to outcomes.

October 18, 2013: Austen Film Festival Covered In Western Herald // Also: Note Corrected Room!, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

An Invitation To Debate: Envisioning An Africa-Centered Perspective, Engaging Sociological Endeavor, Nikitah O. Imani

Black Studies Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Presented at the 2013 James Madison University Africana Studies Conference October 18, 2013

Onboard From The Beginning: A Successful Library Partnership With A Distance Learning Phd Program, Anne Marie Casey

Staff Works - Hunt Library

This presentation described the development of a distance education PhD program that included a librarian in the planning from the start. Beginning its fifth year, the PhD in Aviation Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) considers the library an integral part of its success. The presentation covered funding, ongoing library participation, and tips for involvement in planning.

Information Literacy For Evidence-Based Practice: Creating A Self-Paced Online Course, Julie Evener

Other Topics

Distance students are often at the disadvantage of not receiving the same interactive information literacy instruction as their on-campus counterparts. The University of St. Augustine library, which supports four completely online degree programs in addition to campus-based programs, created a one credit, self-paced, online course called Information Literacy for Evidence-Based Practice in order to better reach our distance students. Though evidence-based practice (EBP) is a popular concept, studies show that many practitioners are not actually doing it. One reason the practitioners themselves cite is lack of skill in searching the literature. The goal of the credit-course is to help our …

Frontiers Of The New Social Marketing, R. Craig Lefebvre

GW Health Communication and Marketing Symposium Series

No abstract provided.

The Project That Hurts Your Head: Simple Project Management For The Innovating Law Librarian, Cynthia Bassett, Resa Kerns

Faculty Publications

Today’s law librarians are working to increase the value we add to our organizations as well as our visibility. To do this, we have taken on sophisticated projects, often involving multiple partners. The need has never been greater to grow and hone our project management skills. Using the case studies of a website redesign project involving multiple departments and the implementation of an institutional repository, we will explore the overall project life cycle. This session will provide tools for common pitfalls such as losing energy and focus, troubles balancing long term goals with short term needs, and the triple whammy …

Orderly And Disorderly Environments And Creativity: Environment Effects On Behavior., V. Krishna Kumar

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Residual Fmri Sensitivity For Identity Changes In Acquired Prosopagnosia, Christopher J. Fox, Giuseppe Iaria, Bradley C. Duchaine, Jason J. S. Barton

Dartmouth Scholarship

While a network of cortical regions contribute to face processing, the lesions in acquired prosopagnosia are highly variable, and likely result in different combinations of spared and affected regions of this network. To assess the residual functional sensitivities of spared regions in prosopagnosia, we designed a rapid event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment that included pairs of faces with same or different identities and same or different expressions. By measuring the release from adaptation to these facial changes we determined the residual sensitivity of face-selective regions-of-interest. We tested three patients with acquired prosopagnosia, and all three of these patients …

Chimes: October 18, 2013, Calvin College

Chimes

Budget gap shrinks 33 percent after first round of cuts by Ryan Struyk

Talks continue on RA work load by Ben Rietema

GRPD joins prolonged investigation after 17 bikes stolen from Calvin by Loukas Peterson

Dining services cuts weekend hot breakfasts, bonus bucks, B-quiv by Leah Jonker

CRC joins with Michigan farmers to fight for immigrants by Anna Delph

A night of worship by Nick Keeley

Calvin takes MIAA lead by Brian Exner

Authority Control For Digital Collections, Jeremy Myntti, Nate Cothran

Faculty Publications

Library 2013 Worldwide Virtual Conference

Database Trial And Evaluation: Proquest Executive Branch Documents & Serial Set, Georgia Southern University, Zach S. Henderson Library

Library Publications (1999-2023)

• Database trial and evaluation: ProQuest Executive Branch Documents & Serial Set

Playing In The Sandbox: Using Mixed Methods And Social Network To Examine Interorganizational Relationships Between Nonprofit Housing Organizations In The Richmond Metropolitan Area, Tamarah Holmes

Theses and Dissertations

Nonprofit housing organizations primarily exist to address the housing needs of low-income residents, whose housing needs are not sufficiently met by the public or private housing market. NHOs are very similar to private corporations in their size, productivity and commitment to the “bottom line.” However, unlike private firms, NHOs are “mission driven” instead profit-driven corporations. The development of affordable housing in the nonprofit housing sector requires a myriad of financial and non-financial resources. As competition for financial resources intensifies many organizations are adopting strategies as a means to not only reduce organizational uncertainty and sustain them, but also increase or …

E-Bikes In The United States, John Macarthur

PSU Transportation Seminars

Electric bicycles (e-bikes) are well established in China and other Asian and European countries but have yet to realize their potential in the United States, although recently the number of e-bikes has been growing. Research on the economic, operational, and safety issues of e-bikes in the U.S. is limited. This research aims in part to understand if different bicycling technology, in this case electric assist bicycles or e-bikes, can reduce barriers to bicycling and encourage more bike trips and longer bike trips, and increase the diversity of people bicycling, including people with a disability or chronic injury to bicycle. Some …

The Influence Of Technology On Family Dynamics, Alessondra Villegas

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

A powerful tool, that contemporary society uses not only to entertain but also to communicate and educate, there is an ever-present availability to media access. However, there is an ongoing debate over whether or not the power of this influence and its ubiquitous availability yields positive or negative consequences in different aspects of our lives. One area of concern, in particular, is the dynamics of the American family. With the rapid progression of technological advances it is difficult to observe the influence that these devices are having on the ways in which a family interacts. There is research to support …

"Nobody Wants To Eat Them Alive:” Ethical Dilemmas And Dual Media Narratives On Domestic Rabbits As Pets And Commodity, Gayane F. Torosyan, Brian Lowe

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Using semiotic analysis, this study explores changes occurring in the societal perception of rabbits as farm animals as juxtaposed to their increasing popularity as domestic companions. This study is based on a preliminary hypothesis that rabbits are increasingly perceived and portrayed in media as domestic companion animals similar to cats and guinea pigs, which challenges a parallel narrative that views rabbits as commodities for their meat and fur. Operating within a theoretical framework that considers news media as both socially constructed reality and recorded history, the study examines the dynamics of change in numbers of coded news narratives drawn as …

Argumentation Analysis Presentation: Evaluating Rhetoric-In-Action, Evelyn Plummer

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Via a small group project format, students conduct a close analysis of a persuasive message (a speech, an editorial, a position statement, etc.) Referring to models of argumentation (e.g. Toulmin [1958], Eemeren & Grootendorst [2004] , Rieke, Sillars, & Peterson [2012]), the team members work cooperatively to examine the communicator’s rhetorical choices in structuring claims, selecting data, and establishing warrants. After assessing the effectiveness of the message, each team presents its findings to the class.

This activity accomplishes several additional learning objectives, including: collaborative learning, critical analysis, applied communication, reinforcement of classic rhetorical canons and/or Aristotelian forms of artistic proof, …

Beyond Critical Communication: Noor's Soap Opera, Noura Hajjaj

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

Noor has occupied the minds and the hearts of the Arab audiences. This Turkish soap opera has reached levels beyond ordinary success of a soap opera and gained wide ranges of popularity. The aim of this research is to examine traditional and modern roles that the main characters play within the episodes of Noor. Paying special attention to the roles of female actors within the episodes, the critique will also scrutinize how Noor presents the Western definitions of acceptable roles for women. It is hoped that the results will help to illustrate a wide-ranging dialogue about women and feminism in …

Mediated Bodies: The Construction Of A Wife, Mother, And The Female Body In Television Sitcoms: Roseanne, Saniya Lee Ghanoui

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

After first examining several theoretical concepts related to the construction of gender on television and the way in which women are characterized, this paper examines the television show Roseanne to explore the way it changed the representation of a feminist on television. No longer did women have to be childless and career-minded to be equal to men or in some cases better than men, as the character Roseanne Conner reveals on the show. Rather, women were able to articulate their feminist outlooks through their opinions, expressions, and actions. I break the show into four distinct notions of gendered representations: socioeconomic …

“Their Image Of Me”: A Phenomenological Study Of Professional Dress Choices Of Female Professors, Laura Abbasi

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

In recent years, scholarly attention to professional dress as a form of nonverbal communication has faded into the background. However, I believe professional dress is an important area of study, considering the changing conditions in the world of work. Therefore, I decided to conduct this phenomenological study of the dress choices of female professors at a small, liberal arts college to discover what professional dress did for them internally and professionally. The analysis of the data suggests that these women try to use dress to represent themselves as who they are internally, without losing sight of their image as a …

Keynote: The Transmission Of Information: An “Awful Deformation” Of What Communication Really Is – John Shotter, John Shotter

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

It is easy to think of communication as being primarily to do with the transmission of information, with the communication of facts, of intelligence, of things people want to know about—a view given scientific expression long ago by Shannon and Weaver (1949). The taken-for-granted background to this view being the Cartesian assumptions of a mechanical world of separate, identifiable, interacting entities in motion according to discoverable laws. Everything changes, however, once we switch to a view of communication as occurring within a ceaseless, indivisible flow of entwined strands of spontaneously responsive, expressive, living, bodily activity—a view adopted by all those …

Keynote: Fast Media/Media Fast – Tom Cooper, Tom Cooper

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

This Keynote address was delivered at the 70th annual New York State Communication Association Conference on October 12, 2012. Dr. Cooper showcases an overview of some of the highlights in the history of media ethics research and key conclaves. His “overview of overviews” will lead to an examination of the epistemology and ecology of an important overview topic in the field – media saturation. Just as Thoreau went to Walden to gain a perspective on the environment of his day, Dr. Cooper conducted a “media fast” to examine the media environment of the 1980s and has been taking his classes …

From The Editor, Roxanne M. O'Connell

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

In this foreword, I’d like to do three things: 1) give the readers a sense of the amazing “reach” we have now that we are on the BePress system; 2) give a summary of what this issue of the proceedings contains; and 3) muse a bit on the kinds of publishing we as scholars are involved in.

Open Access: A Brief Overview, Lisa M. Villa

Open Access Week at Holy Cross

This presentation given to the Library Services staff provides a brief overview of the principles of open access and introduces CrossWorks, the institutional repository of the College of the Holy Cross.

Toeing The Line Between Offense And Education, Natalie S. Sherif

Blogging the Library

Medical history can be gruesome. People shy away from blood and guts and images of death perhaps because it makes us question our own mortality or perhaps because it reminds us a bit too much about the origins of that hamburger we ate for lunch. Whatever the reason, a lot of humans cannot stomach the truly heinous. [excerpt]