Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Bayesian Model Of Fertility Decisions In Relationship To Female Labor Force Participation, Rebecca C. Wardrop

Senior Independent Study Theses

Due to the increasing number of women in the labor force, opportunity costs associated with labor force participation are becoming an important factor in fertility decisions. Further, these decisions are assumed to be dynamic as the opportunity costs change as a woman progresses through her career. A Bayesian statistical model , which allows the distribution of the likelihood of having children to be updated as information is gathered, lends itself to the dynamicity of the decision-making process. A generalized model for fertility decisions in terms of labor force participation is created. I also discuss potentials for implementation and furthering the …

The Youth Unemployment Crisis Facing Welfare Regimes: How States Develop New Social Policy, Andrew C. Campbell

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

Does The Trend Need A Mend? The Effects Of Herding Behavior On The Returns To Higher Edcuation, Amy K. French

Senior Independent Study Theses

Using the human capital model, supplemented by a preference framework focusing on utility maximization, this paper examines the decision making process of the individual when considering enrollment in higher education. The study applies a theory of herding behavior to the investment decision, arguing that individuals use the decisions of others who have gone before them as signals to reduce information costs and to aid in their own decision making process. The paper further discusses the possibility of this behavior leading to irrational investment decisions. Herding behavior will likely lead to an increase in the supply of highly educated workers, perhaps …

Valuing The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: A Defense Of Countercultural Environmentalism, Mae Manupipatpong

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

Dueling For Their Votes: A Study On The Impact Of Presidential Debate Rhetoric On Public Opinion, Daniel J. Cohen

Senior Independent Study Theses

The debates are key events for presidential candidates to influence public support for their policies. This study examines the impact of rhetorical strategies during presidential debates on public perceptions of unpopular issue stances. Using generic criticism, I examined the first two 2012 debates between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney and uncovered four rhetorical strategies used by the candidates: issue framing, appeals to authority, use of rebuttals, and appealing to liberal and conservative presumptions. I then tested an example of issue framing from each candidate to determine its effectiveness in persuading public opinion on unpopular issue stances. My results showed that …

Norms And Varieties Of English And Tesol Teacher Agency, M. Obaidul Hamid, Lingyan Zhu, Richard B. Baldauf Jr.

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The growing recognition of the plurality of English underling the World Englishes (WE) paradigm has problematised the conventional second language acquisition (SLA) views of errors. If English use in emerging English-speaking contexts is to be judged by local norms, as argued by WE scholars, applying exocentric norms in these contexts can be inappropriate. On the other hand, despite the significant growth of WE, varieties of new Englishes have yet to develop widely acceptable endocentric norms. These developments have raised a critical question: How can TESOL teachers distinguish between errors in the SLA sense and varietal features in the WE sense? …

The Evolution Of English Language Teaching During Societal Transition In Finland – A Mutual Relationship Or A Distinctive Process?, Riitta Jaatinen, Toni Saarivirta

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study describes the evolution of English language teaching in Finland and looks into the connections of the societal and educational changes in the country as explanatory factors in the process. The results of the study show that the language teaching methodology and the status of foreign languages in Finland are clearly connected to the changes in society and its education system. Since the first decade of the 20^th century, Finnish society has developed from an inward-looking agrarian country into an economically and technologically advanced and industrialized society joining in various ways to the rest of Europe and global …

The Relationship Between Alienation Levels Of Physical Education Teacher Candidates And Their Attitudes Towards The Teaching Profession, Mustafa Kayihan Erbas

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study aimed to determine the alienation levels and attitudes of physical education teacher candidates towards the teaching profession and identify the relationship between their alienation levels and their attitudes towards teaching. The relational research model was used in the study. The study group consisted of 695 teacher candidates (M_age = 21.53, SD = 2.284) of which 276 (40%) were female and 419 (60%) were male, all of whom were studying in physical education and sports teaching departments. In the data analysis, a t-test for independent groups was conducted to determine whether the alienation levels and the attitudes towards …

Automated Evaluation Of Approximate Matching Algorithms On Real Data, Frank Breitinger, Vassil Roussev

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Bytewise approximate matching is a relatively new area within digital forensics, but its importance is growing quickly as practitioners are looking for fast methods to screen and analyze the increasing amounts of data in forensic investigations. The essential idea is to complement the use of cryptographic hash functions to detect data objects with bytewise identical representation with the capability to find objects with bytewise similarrepresentations.

Unlike cryptographic hash functions, which have been studied and tested for a long time, approximate matching ones are still in their early development stages and evaluation methodology is still evolving. Broadly, prior approaches have …

Book Review: American Jericho: A Book Review Of The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor, Giovanna Shay

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Child Sexual Abuse, Attachment, Dating Behaviors, And Sexual Assault, Lucie Holmgreen

Dissertations (1934 -)

The current study used survey methodology to investigate the relationships among child sexual abuse, adult attachment, risky dating behaviors, and sexual assault. Specifically, it tested a model whereby attachment mediates a hypothesized relationship between child sexual abuse and risky dating behaviors, thus partially explaining sexual abuse survivors' risk of sexual assault (or revictimization). Results indicate that child sexual abuse relates to attachment anxiety but not to avoidance or the dating behaviors studied. While risky dating behaviors are associated with increased rates of sexual assault, most of them were not predicted by attachment. Attachment avoidance does relate, however, to some key …

I Cheat Because I Can: Power, Sexism And Approval Of Infidelity, Teni Davoudian

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study examined the moderating role of ambivalent sexism in the relationship between power and approval of infidelity. College students were randomly assigned to high- and low-power conditions and completed measures assessing their perceived power, endorsed sexism toward men and women, and approval of their own possible infidelity. It was hypothesized that the association between perceived power and permissive attitudes toward infidelity would vary according to participants' endorsement of hostile and benevolent sexism. The hypotheses were partially supported, and the results revealed the importance of both participant gender and sexism as predictors of attitudes toward infidelity. Hostile sexism toward men …

Parent And Family Outcomes Of An Empirically Validated Social Skills Intervention For Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Jeffrey Scott Karst

Dissertations (1934 -)

Past research has indicated that raising a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with increased parenting stress, decreased parenting self-efficacy, and increased family distress. While ASD therapies often include significant parental involvement and are typically time-intensive and expensive, studies of ASD treatment have not widely evaluated the impact of treatment on caregivers or the family. There is evidence that successful long-term treatment outcomes are dependent on healthy systemic functioning, and thus it is important to understand how any particular treatment adjunctively affects parents and the family system. The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills …

Ethnic Power Sharing: Three Big Problems, Donald L. Horowitz

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Consumption, Risk And Prioritarianism, Matthew D. Adler, Nicolas Treich

Faculty Scholarship

In this paper, we study consumption decisions under risk assuming a prioritarian social welfare function, namely a concave transformation of individual utility functions. Under standard assumptions, there is always more current consumption under ex ante prioritarianism than under utilitarianism. Thus, a concern for equity (in the ex ante prioritarian sense) means less concern for the risky future. In contrast, there is usually less current consumption under ex post prioritarianism than under utilitarianism. We discuss the robustness of these results to learning, and to other forms of prioritarian social welfare functions.

Trade, Competitiveness And Employment In The Global Economy, Susan N. Houseman

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Explicit Listening Strategy Instruction On The Listening Comprehension Of English As Second Language (Esl) Community College Students, Yi Guan

Doctoral Dissertations

This mixed methods study explored the effects of explicit listening strategy instruction on the beginning-level ESL learner's listening comprehension at a community college in Northern California. Most previous studies measured the effectiveness of listening strategy instruction by comparing students' test scores, but little research explored the students' listening strategy development and their perceptions of the strategy instruction. Furthermore, no prior research exists on the effects of listening strategy instruction among community college students.

The researcher employed the concurrent triangulation approach, collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously. Data sources included interviews, a listening test, background surveys, and classroom …

Getting The Crowd Into Obituaries: How A Unique Partnership Combined The World’S Largest Obituary Index With Utah’S Largest Historic Newspaper Database, Jeremy Myntti, John Herbert, Alan Witkowski, John Alexander

Faculty Publications

The Utah Digital Newspapers (UDN) and FamilySearch are joining forces to create an innovative obituary index. UDN contains 282,000 obituaries in its extensive database of historic Utah newspapers. UDN’s headlines are manually keyed (double-keyed and reconciled), and are nearly letter-perfect. However, the article text is created from raw optical character recognition software, which is often less than fully accurate.

What Can Hunter-Gatherers Teach Us About Servant-Leadership?, Richard Leider, Larry C. Spears

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

For most humans living today, it is hard to imagine life without mobile phones and tablets. Every day we all face endless choice points. As our technologies accelerate the speed and frequency of choices coming at us, the faster we feel compelled to respond to each choice. We can be overwhelmed by the emails, tweets, phone calls, text messages, voice mails, all piled on top of the basic life we Iive each day.

Servant-Leadership: A Feminist Perspective, Kae Reynolds

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

At the heart of this paper is the notion that servant-leadership has potential as a feminism-informed, care-oriented, and gender-integrative approach to organizational leadership. Although there is a significant body of literature on feminist and gender-based interpretations of leadership, the same is not true for servant-leadership. The main contributors to date include Crippen's (2004) narrative inquiry of three women servant-leaders, Eicher-Catt's (2005) feminist critique of servant-leadership, Oner's (2009) and Barbuto and Gifford's (2010) empirical studies of gender differences in servantleadership, and Ngunjiri's (2010) phenomenological study of African women servant-leaders.

Enlightened Leadership In A Changing, Troubled World, George Patrick Murphy

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

No abstract provided.

Domestic Megalithic Architecture: An Analysis Of Status And Community At And Around The Ancient Maya Site Of Uci, Yucatan, Mexcio, Joseph S. Stair

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

Variation in domestic architecture results from the agency households exercise in their daily lives. This study defines the domestic expression of the megalithic architectural style, based on data collected in and around the ancient Maya site of Ucí, Yucatan, Mexico, by comparing it to its expression in monumental structures. It also shows how the analysis and documentation of architectural variability away from the monumental core can locate more than just commoners and elites within the social organization of the Ancient Maya. This analyzes provides evidence for higher social status for households that possess megalithic architecture since they also possess larger …

Library As Place: Being Human In A Digital World, Amanda C.R. Clark

The Christian Librarian

Despite the increasingly digital nature of information retrieval, both users and computers continue to occupy physical space, and the library – as place – offers an essential location for inspiration. In an age when one might assume that the digital negates the physical, a finite place can root the individual within space regarding both composition and information retrieval. In this seeking for the essentially human element of the physical book within space, we may also discover a need for the library as place.

Christian Librarians And The Library Bill Of Rights: A Survey Of Opinions And Professional Practice, Scott Kaihoi

The Christian Librarian

This study used a survey methodology to discover how Christian librarians working in academic libraries responded to the American Library Association’s (ALA) ethical standards as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights (LBR). The results showed that while the Christian librarians surveyed largely support the LBR and adhere to it professionally, their interpretation of its sometimes ambiguous language is made through the lens of a Christian worldview and can conflict with the ALA’s interpretation. Of particular concern to the respondents were issues of collection development and access to content like pornography, violence, or other similar material that conflicts with Christian …

Investing In The Student Staff Development Process, Jeremy Mcginniss, Joshua B. Michael

The Christian Librarian

This paper argues for the need for librarians to invest in the student staff development process, particularly in the context of biblical higher education. The foundational pieces of hiring, training, development and assessment which inform the student staff development process are defined and explored to see how they should fit into the library context. Examples from the library literature coupled with practical experience provide a framework that encompasses theoretical and pragmatic application. This paper narrates how a particular library worked through this process while providing principles from which libraries of varying sizes of collections and staff can benefit.

Using Prezi As A Library Instruction Tool, Amy James

The Christian Librarian

Prezi is a cloud-based presentation tool that is built with the help of many open source projects. Not only in Prezi free, but users also gain access to video tutorials, live online training sessions and webinars given by Prezi experts; and community forums where users can talk about problems, give tips, and learn from one another. Signing up for the “Edu Enjoy” account with an .edu email address provides additional benefits. This article will cover the features of Prezi, discuss pros and cons, and will conclude with ways to successfully incorporate Prezi into information literacy instruction sessions.

The Effect Of Library Orientation On Library Knowledge, Lilli-Anna Baca

The Christian Librarian

Previous research shows that the anxiety of not knowing how to use the library is a major factor in the decline in library attendance. In this study, the hypothesis was that the knowledge and attitude of students who participated in the library orientation would positively increase. A survey was emailed to 150 students of John Brown University (JBU) measuring their pre and post library orientation knowledge and attitudes of the library. The results of the study showed an increase in library knowledge, t (53) = -10.01, p = 0.007, d = 7.33, an increase in confidence in using the library, …

Bank Valuation In Malaysia: An Empirical Comparison Of Conventional And Interest-Free (Islamic) Banking Models, Charlie Charoenwong, Ramin Cooper Maysami, David K. Ding

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Islamic banking, according to institute for Islamic Banking and Insurance "refers to a system of banking or banking activity that is consistent with the principles of the Shari'ah (Islamic rulings) and its practical application through the development of Islamic economics. Shari'ah prohibits the payment or acceptance of interest charges (riba) for the lending and accepting of money, as well as carrying out trade and other activities that provide goods or services considered contrary to its principles." The thrust of the current article is to examine the underlying factors and variables that guide the valuation of a sample of five Malaysian …

How Jamini Roy Found A Home In Baker Street, Nirmalya Kumar

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Jamini Roy is considered the father of Indian modern art as he attempted to use his paintings to find cultural independence from Western notions of art grafted by the British on its colonies. This quest was taking place alongside the India's fight for political independence. On his death in 1972, the Indian government declared his art national heritage and banned all further exports. The chapter describes how one of the largest collections of Jamini Roy paintings in the world came to be curated in an apartment on Baker Street in London.The author interweaves the story of Jamini with his own …

Perspective-Taking And Willingness To Engage In Intergroup Contact, Cynthia S. Wang, Kenneth Tai, Gillian Ku, Adam D. Galinsky

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The current research explored whether perspective-taking increases willingness to engage in contact with stereotyped outgroup members. Across three studies, we find that perspective-taking increases willingness to engage in contact with negatively-stereotyped targets. In Study 1, perspective-takers sat closer to, whereas stereotype suppressors sat further from, a hooligan compared to control participants. In Study 2, individual differences in perspective-taking tendencies predicted individuals’ willingness to engage in contact with a hooligan, having effects above and beyond those of empathic concern. Finally, Study 3 demonstrated that perspective-taking’s effects on intergroup contact extend to the target’s group (i.e., another homeless man), but not to …