Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Obsession: Journalistic Pieces Through Four Years, Rebecca Melnitsky

Journalism Program

No abstract provided.

Multimedia Portfolio, Dan Clark

Journalism Program

For a journalist, there are only a few things that can land you a job. One of those things is having a professional portfolio. That’s why the Journalism Department has its students complete a professional portfolio as part of their Honors program. The Honors Program takes work students have already completed, then asks them to revise it, or even do it again. That way, when we leave the program, we’re ready to start sending out portfolios and resumés to potential employers. My portfolio is dominated by work that I wrote for a print medium because that’s what our program focuses …

U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense, Norad And The Canada Conundrum, Joel Sokolsky

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Intrusive And Deliberate Rumination Predict Posttraumatic Growth In Members Enrolled In A Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Program, Erika Jade Gerwe

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Posttraumatic growth (PTG) can be defined as the experience of positive change, or psychological growth, that occurs as a result of a highly challenging life event or crisis (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). Given that over one-third of the American population lives with some form of cardiovascular disease (American Heart Association, 2011), promoting posttraumatic growth in this population may promote more successful adaptation and coping and may serve to reduce morbidity and mortality (Affleck, 1987). Thus, the present study investigated the predictors of posttraumatic growth in a cardiac rehabilitation setting at rehabilitation entrance (PTG1) and exit (PTG2) and examined change in …

An Examination Of Factors Related To Suboptimal Cognitive Validity Test Performance In A Mildly Concussed Military Sample, Elizabeth M. Seats

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

While cognitive and emotional symptoms which persist beyond what is typical following a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are often attributed to the physical or neurological impact of the concussion, numerous studies have suggested that these symptoms are maintained by other factors, such as psychiatric symptoms and compensation seeking (Binder & Rohling, 1996; Feinstein, Ouchterlony, Iverson & Lange, 2003; Somerville & Jardine, 2011). The current study utilized archival data to examine these factors in an active military sample (N=76). Effort and ethnicity’s impact on participants’ cognitive validity test (CVT) performance was also examined. It was hypothesized that a …

The Effect Of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy On Caregiver Rigidity, Job Satisfaction And Childhood Misbehavior, Victoria Tackett Riley

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

This research studied the effects of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) training in a residential care facility for children with histories of maltreatment. Initially, five direct care staff were trained to provide an adapted version of PCIT to a randomly assigned child in the facility. The goal was to improve staff’s interactions with the children in their care and increase job satisfaction while decreasing the instances of misbehavior among those children. Data was recorded four times (pre, during, and post intervention) to assess the efficacy of the intervention and included completion of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI), the Rigidity scale …

The Effects Of Mindfulness And Distress Disclosure On Emotional Expression, Kelsey E. Eitel

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a mindfulness exercise on participants’ distress disclosure (as measured by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count). I employed a trauma written disclosure paradigm as an analogue to a therapy session in regard to disclosure. It was predicted that participants who were asked to engage in a 15-minute mindfulness exercise prior to writing about a personally traumatic event would use more emotion and cognitive processing words in their writing samples (i.e., increased distress disclosure), as compared to the participants who simply listened to a neutrally valenced audio clip. Participants were …

Health, Nutrition, And Disease In Rural Northern Jordan: A Study Of Enamel Defects Related To Childhood Stress In Skeletal Samples From The Bronze Age To The Byzantine Period, Teresa Veronica Wilson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Northern Jordan has seen periods of climate change, political transformation, and economic prosperity between the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Byzantine period. This research tests the assumption that the rural agricultural communities of this region were undernourished by examining the dentition for periodic childhood stress. Canine teeth from five sites (Ya'amun, Sa'ad, Yasileh, Natfieh, and Waqqas) that covered the time periods in question were collected to study overall quality of life.

The teeth were thin-sectioned and examined under a light microscope. Digital micrographs were made of the thin-sectioned teeth in order to record the number and location …

Maturing Temporal Bones As Non-Neural Sites For Transforming The Speech Signal During Language Development, Lisa A. Hogan

Anthropology ETDs

Developmental events in the temporal bones shift the pattern of a given speech sounds acoustic profile through the time children are mapping linguistic sound systems. Before age 5 years, frequency information in vowels is differentially accessible through the years children are acquiring the sound systems of their native language(s). To model the acoustic effects caused by developing temporal bones, data collected to elicit steady-state vowels from adult native speakers of English and Diné were modified to reflect the form of children's hearing sensitivities at different ages based on patterns established in the psychoacoustic literature. It was assumed, based on the …

Women And Cultural Production: Fiestas, Families, And Foodways In San Rafael, New Mexico, Stephanie M. Sanchez

Anthropology ETDs

Historically, New Mexico scholars and folklorists have often omitted womens roles in Hispanic cultural production and heritage maintenance. However, women make significant contributions to the retention, transmission, and adaptation of traditional Hispanic practices. In this dissertation, I examine how particular Hispanic women, who I refer to as 'center women' (Brodkin Sacks 1988), from a small village named San Rafael, New Mexico mobilize their families and other community members in order to successfully perform traditional New Mexican events such as the annual fiesta in honor of the local patron saint, Las Posadas, a Christmas time novena, and Good Friday commemorations. These …

A Phenomenological Study On The Role Of Juche, Militarism, And Human Rights In The Educational Life Experiences Of North Korean Defectors, Andrea Lee

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This transcendental phenomenological study describes the essence of the premigration, transmigration, and postmigration educational life experiences of 15 North Korean defectors in South Korea in light of their exposure to Juche, militarism, and human rights violations. The literature review includes a theoretical framework rooted in the transformative learning theory and pertinent themes related to the educational experiences of North Korean defectors. Data was collected through a demographic survey; a timeline of primary life events; standardized, open-ended interviews; and journal entries. The central research question examined primary themes from the educational life experiences of North Korean defectors during premigration, transmigration, and …

Emotion Focused Therapy For Couples In Addiction Treatment: The Relationship Between Quality Of Recovery, Attachment Style, And Relational Satisfaction, Bonnie Bassett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigates the efficacy of Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples in an addiction recovery program. The literature review revealed that individuals with a secure attachment style experience increased relational satisfaction and report better ability to manage life's challenges as compared with individuals with an insecure attachment style. A pretest-posttest design was used to investigate the effect of EFT on quality of recovery from addiction. The primary measure's percentile rank scores were comparatively analyzed. A single case multiple baseline design was implemented to draw inferences based on examining the participants' assessment scores across baseline and intervention phases. The purpose …

What Do You Mean I Have A Bad Review?: The Effects Of Race On Perceptions Of Performance Appraisal Fairness And Deviant Behaviors, Theresa Atkinson

All Theses

Perceptions of unfair performance appraisals have been found to be associated with various negative organizational outcomes, including increases in workplace deviant behaviors and decreases in organizational citizenship behaviors. A main goal of the present study was to examine the process through which perceptions of performance appraisals lead to different behavioral outcomes by using psychological contract breaches within the framework of Affective Events Theory (AET). Another major goal was to investigate if race and core self-evaluations affected outcomes associated with performance appraisals. Results from the present study revealed that race did not impact perceptions of psychological contract breaches, and that the …

Have Sentence Enhancements Had A Deterrent Effect On Crime And What Are The Social Welfare Implications Of These Laws?, David May

All Theses

In the early 1990s many states adopted some form of sentence enhancement law for repeat offenders. A three-strike law in many states, most notably California's, was a common form of these laws. Using a difference-in-difference methodology, this thesis demonstrates that sentence enhancement laws reduce property crime rates by 10 percent or more. A basic cost-benefit analysis, however, leaves open the question of whether social welfare is enhanced by sentence enhancements.

Phenylalanine Control Predicts Cognition And White Matter Integrity In Children With Phenylketonuria, Anna Marie Hood

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Rrh Library Newsletter, May 2014, Libraries At Rochester Regional Health

Rochester Regional Health authored publications and proceedings

Newsletter sections include: Managing Stress; Important News -- Medical Library Renovations; STAT!Ref Bookshelf

The Best Intentions : Does Positive Parental Religious Coping Moderate The Relationship Between Parental Perceived Control And Child Anxiety In African American Family Dyads?, James V. Simms

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Kentucky Politics : Where Are All The Women?, Carrie Mattingly

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This paper seeks to uncover the reasons for the underrepresentation of women in politics, with a geographical emphasis on the state of Kentucky. The research question explored is, “Why do so few women run for political office?” Surveys of women currently enrolled in college and phone interviews with women serving in the Kentucky state legislature are used to investigate this question by testing two hypotheses. First, the tendency of women to avoid running for office in the first place may be attributed to either weak recruitment of women or lack of political ambition among women. Second, a female tendency to …

Sovereign Democracy : Russia's Response To The Color Revolutions., Sarah Fisher

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The Russian Federation developed very different ideologies on the concept of democracy. In 2006, Vladislav Surkov, the First Deputy of the Chief of the Russian Presidential Administration, coined the term “sovereign democracy”. This gave a name to the Russian form of “managed” democracy and introduced a Russian alternative to Western liberal democracy: Sovereign Democracy. It asserts that Russia is a democracy and this fact must never be questioned by any state or such action will be viewed by the Kremlin as unwanted intervention in its domestic affairs. The Kremlin reacted to the recent Color Revolutions in the former Soviet Bloc …

E-Volving Information Literacy Tutorials With E-Maginative And E-Ngaging Design, Damecia Donahue, Axa Liauw, Rebeca Peacock, Jill Wurm

Library Scholarly Publications

Presentation on May 22nd, 2014, at The Workshop for Instruction in Library Use (WILU), at Western University, Ontario, Canada.

Copyright Awareness, Partnerships, And Training Issues In Academic Libraries, Deborah H. Charbonneau, Michael Priehs

School of Information Sciences Faculty Research Publications

This article reports on the results of a national survey of academic librarians and library staff (N = 226) in the United States about their awareness of various copyright policies, partnerships with campus groups to address copyright issues, and training needs. A majority of the survey respondents reported that they have answered copyright-related questions in the workplace, yet only 49% (n = 98) of the respondents perceived they were prepared to provide copyright information to library users. Awareness of various copyright policies among librarians and staff members varied, including a reported minimal awareness of the T.E.A.C.H. Act. In addition, survey …

Relative Importance Of Predictors In Multilevel Modeling, Yan Liu, Bruno D. Zumbo, Amery D. Wu

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The Pratt index is a useful and practical strategy for day-to-day researchers when ordering predictors in a multiple regression analysis. The purposes of this study are to introduce and demonstrate the use of the Pratt index to assess the relative importance of predictors for a random intercept multilevel model.

Predicting Survival Time Of Localized Melanoma Patients Using Discrete Survival Time Method, Taysseer Sharaf, Chris P. Tsokos

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Melanoma is the most fatal type of skin cancer. It is ranked first in death of skin cancer diseases. This study establishes a statistical model that can predict the survival time of localized melanoma patients, as a function of age at diagnosis, tumor thickness, and extension of the tumor (tumor invasion). The discrete time survival method was used to build the statistical model. The patients involved in the current study were observed from the SEER database. Patients were divided into nine groups according to age at diagnosis. Variation in survival time was found to be significant among some of the …

Population Mean Estimation With Sub Sampling The Non-Respondents Using Two Phase Sampling, Sunil Kumar, M Viswanathaiah

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The problem of non-response in double (or two phase) sampling is dealt with combined ratio, product and regression estimators. Expressions of bias and MSE for these estimators are obtained. Comparisons of a proposed strategy with a usual unbiased estimator and other estimators are carried out and results obtained are illustrated numerically using an empirical sample.

Estimation And Testing In Type-Ii Generalized Half Logistic Distribution, R R. L. Kantam, V Ramakrishna, M S. Ravikumar

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A generalization of the Half Logistic Distribution is developed through exponentiation of its survival function and named the Type II Generalized Half Logistic Distribution (GHLD). The distributional characteristics are presented and estimation of its parameters using maximum likelihood and modified maximum likelihood methods is studied with comparisons. Discrimination between Type II GHLD and exponential distribution in pairs is conducted via likelihood ratio criterion.

A Compound Of Geeta Distribution With Generalized Beta Distribution, Adil Rashid, T R. Jan

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A compound of Geeta distribution with Generalized Beta distribution (GBD) is obtained and the compound is specialized for different values of β. The first order factorial moments of some special compound distributions are also obtained. A chronological overview of recent developments in the compounding of distributions is provided in the introduction.

Hierarchical Clustering With Simple Matching And Joint Entropy Dissimilarity Measure, A Mete ÇilingtüRk, ÖZlem ErgüT

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Conventional clustering algorithms are restricted for use with data containing ratio or interval scale variables; hence, distances are used. As social studies require merely categorical data, the literature is enriched with more complicated clustering techniques and algorithms of categorical data. These techniques are based on similarity or dissimilarity matrices. The algorithms are using density based or pattern based approaches. A probabilistic nature to similarity structure is proposed. The entropy dissimilarity measure has comparable results with simple matching dissimilarity at hierarchical clustering. It overcomes dimension increase through binarization of the categorical data. This approach is also functional with the clustering methods, …

An Exploratory Graphical Method For Identifying Associations In R X C Contingency Tables, Martin L. Lesser, Meredith B. Akerman

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

On finding a significant association between rows and columns of an r x c contingency table, the next step is to study the nature of the association in more detail. The use of a scree plot to visualize the largest contributions to Χ² among all cells in the table in order to determine the nature of the association in more detail is proposed.

Separate Ratio-Type Estimators Of Population Mean In Stratified Random Sampling, Rajesh Tailor, Hilal A. Lone

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Separate ratio-type estimators for population mean with their properties are considered. Some separate ratio-type estimators for population mean using known parameters of auxiliary variate are proposed. The bias and mean squared error of the proposed estimators are obtained up to the first degree of approximation. It is shown that the proposed estimators are more efficient than unbiased estimators in stratified random sampling and usual separate ratio estimators under certain obtained conditions. To judge the merits of the proposed estimators, an empirical study was conducted.

Evaluation Of Area Under The Constant Shape Bi-Weibull Roc Curve, Sudesh Pundir, R Amala

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve generated based on assuming a constant shape Bi-Weibull distribution is studied. In the context of ROC curve analysis, it is assumed that biomarker values from controls and cases follow some specific distribution and the accuracy is evaluated by using the ROC model developed from that specified distribution. This article assumes that the biomarker values from the two groups follow Weibull distributions with equal shape parameter and different scale parameters. The ROC model, area under the ROC curve (AUC), asymptotic and bootstrap confidence intervals for the AUC are derived. Theoretical results are validated by simulation …