Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Does Truth Promote Peace? Toward A Greater Understanding Of Truth Commissions As Transitional Justice Mechanisms In Post-Conflict Countries, Eric Royer

Dissertations

This study explores the societal effects of transitional justice mechanisms in post-conflict countries. In particular, an emphasis is placed on exploring whether truth commissions, which are suggested in virtually all post-conflict situations today, exhibit a positive or negative effect on key indicators, such as democracy, human rights, economic development, and the durability of peace. Three central research questions are examined. First, do truth and reconciliation commissions “work”? In other words, are they associated with a reduction in communal violence and improvements in democratic institutions, human rights protections, and economic development? Second, must truth commissions be coupled with transitional justice mechanisms …

Chaco Canyon Dig Unearths Ethical Concerns, Katrina G. Claw, Dorothy Lippert, Jessica Bardill, Anna Cordova, Keolu Fox, Joseph M. Yracheta, Alyssa C. Bader, Deborah A. Bolnick, Ripan S. Malhi, Kimberly Tallbear, Nanibaa' A. Garrison

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

The field of paleogenomics (the study of ancient genomes) is rapidly advancing with more robust methods of isolating ancient DNA and increasing access to next-generation DNA sequencing technology. As these studies progress, many important ethical issues have emerged that should be considered when ancient Native American remains, whom we refer to as ancestors, are used in research. We highlight a recent article by Kennett et al. (2017), “Archaeogenomic evidence reveals prehistoric matrilineal dynasty,” that brings several ethical issues to light that should be addressed in paleogenomics research (Kennett et al. 2017). The study helps elucidate the matrilineal relationships in ancient …

The Anchor, Volume 131.11: November 22, 2017, Hope College

The Anchor: 2017

The Anchor began in 1887 and was first issued weekly in 1914. Covering national and campus news alike, Hope College’s student-run newspaper has grown over the years to encompass over two-dozen editors, reporters, and staff. For much of The Anchor's history, the latest issue was distributed across campus each Wednesday throughout the academic school year (with few exceptions). In recent years The Anchor moved to monthly print issues and a more frequently updated website. The Anchor is now published in print twice per academic semester. Occasionally, the volume and/or issue numbering is irregular.

Totally Fluent In What It Meant To Be A Professor: Remembering Bob Young, Erika Simpson

Political Science Publications

The article by Erika Simpson commemorates the life and career of Robert Young, a prominent political science professor at Western University. Young, who passed away on August 15 due to lymphoma, was celebrated for his dedication to scholarship, public policy, and federalism. A Rhodes Scholar, he was known for his extensive work on multilevel governance, secession, and federal-municipal relations. He received numerous accolades, including the Canada Research Chair and the Hellmuth Prize. Young was admired for his mentorship, succinct writing, and contributions to social science research. His memorial highlighted his profound impact on colleagues, students, and the academic community.

Undergraduate African American Males’ Narratives On The Personal Factors Influencing Retention In The Social Sciences, Dorrance Kennedy, Linda Wilson-Jones

Journal of Research Initiatives

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of undergraduate African American social science majors on the personal factors that influenced their retention in higher education. This was a qualitative study with 15 African American males who were enrolled in three universities in the University of North Carolina system. The data were collected using face-to-face interviews of approximately 45 minutes duration that took place on two separate occasions. They appeared eager to discuss their experiences as freshmen and the factors that influenced them to return to the university a second year. The main findings from this study were …

Genetic Differentiation In A Sample From Northern Mexico City Detected By Hla System Analysis: Impact In The Study Of Population Immunogenetics, Eva D. JuáRez CortéS, Miguel A. Contreras Sieck, AgustíN J. Arriaga Perea, Rosa M. MacíAs Medrano, Anaí Balbuena Jaime, Paola Everardo MartíNez, JoaquíN ZúÑIga, VíCtor AcuñA Alonzo, Julio Granados, Rodrigo Barquera

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

The major histocompatibility complex is directly involved in the immune response and thus the genes coding for its proteins are useful markers for the study of genetic diversity, susceptibility to disease (autoimmunity and infections), transplant medicine, and pharmacogenetics, among others. The polymorphism of the system also allows researchers to use it as a proxy for population genetics analysis, such as genetic admixture and genetic structure. In order to determine the immunogenetic characteristics of a sample from the northern part of Mexico City and to use them to analyze the genetic differentiation from other admixed populations, including those from previous studies …

Democratic Engagement In The Digital Age: Youth, Social Media And Participatory Politics In Kenya, Samuel Kamau

Graduate School of Media and Communications

As the communication world becomes more complex and participatory, social networking sites (SNSs) have emerged as a platform with the potential to invigorate democracy and political engagement. However, the value of SNSs in politics remains contested among researchers. The study reported on in this article was based on a survey of 600 university students, aged between18 and 35, to examine the relationship between social media use and political engagement among the youth in Kenya. The study focused on the extent to which SNSs facilitate consumption of political information and the role of SNSs in influencing political interest, knowledge and behaviour …

Research Brief: "Va Disability Compensation And Money Spent On Substance Use Among Homeless Veterans: A Controversial Association", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This research examines the amount of money homeless veterans spend on alcohol and drugs, as well as the association between public support income, i.e. VA disability compensation, and expenditures on alcohol and drugs. Though no association was found between VA disability compensation and substance use, this study does underscore the importance of policy establishing substance abuse treatment for homeless veterans. Future studies on this topic should include more female veterans.

Redeeming The Nigerian Economy From Recession: Librarians As Rescue Partners, Stephen Adekunle Ajayi Mr, Modupe Aduke Aboyade Dr, U Wisdom Madu Mr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The Nigeria economy was officially declared recessed in August, 2016 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Ever since then, efforts are being made by governments at different levels to revive the economy and bring it back to boom. To achieve this, every sector of the economy has a role to play. Given the centrality of information in all forms of development, effective and efficient provision both survival and citizen-action information becomes imperatives in redeeming the economy. This paper discusses the various types of libraries and the role they play towards economic development. It is an opinion paper that stresses …

Technology Acceptance Model In The Domains Of Lis And Education: A Review Of Selected Literature, Sureni Weerasinghe Mrs, Menaka Hindagolla Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is a theoretical framework that is most extensively utilized in explaining an individual’s acceptance of an information technology or an information system. This study reviews numerous literature related to the TAM focusing on TAM applications in the domains of Library and Information Science (LIS) and Education. The different studies in these areas were evaluated to understand the modifications incorporated into this model. The study attempts provide insight on future trends in the technology acceptance model as well to help identify gaps in literature where future research could be conducted.

Structure Analysis Of The National Libraries’ Websites Of The World, Monika Gupta

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The present study examines various features of structure of the national libraries’ websites of the world. National library of a specific subject are exempted from the study. The study evaluates all the national libraries’ website, which are in English or have a comprehensive English version, on the basis of designed checklist. The checklist is drafted on the basis of published literature and guidelines. The author highlighted that most of the selected features were found missing on the sampled websites of national libraries under study. The author also recommends that structure of the website is equally important and access of uploaded …

Value-Added Service To Academic Library Users In 21st Century: Using Competitive Intelligence Approach, Idiegbeyan-Ose Jerome, Christopher Nkiko, Osinulu Ifeakachuku

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Higher education in the twenty-first century globally has been characterized and driven on business ethos. The institutions are faced with stiff competition in an attempt to increase their student enrolment, attract international students and faculty, pioneer centres of excellence, show-case outstanding research output, produce astute graduates and get listed in top ranking league tables. The paper therefore examined the effects of leveraging on value-added services to academic library users through competitive intelligence as a predictor of competitive advantage among tertiary institutions. It identified value-added personnel, collection, processing of materials and dissemination of information as constituting specific target selling points to …

Courses Beyond Borders: A Case Study Of Mooc Platform Coursera, Huma Shafiq, Zahid Ashraf Wani Dr., Iram Mukhtar Mahajan, Uzma Qadri

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Purpose: The study assesses the participation of different institutions in online learning environment of Coursera. Collaborative efforts, involvement of instructors and the mode of course instruction were also looked at.

Design/Methodology: Data were harvested from the official website of Coursera. Through its various features, information pertaining to courses being offered, subject categorization, institutions and instructors involved was collected, tabulated and analyzed.

Findings: As of February 2016, 138 institutions from 28 countries offered 1765 coursers through Coursera with the aid of 1903 instructors. Institutions were mainly from high economic zone countries. Nearly 59 percent courses were from USA based institutions and …

Keeping Our Story: Preservation Of Audio Visual Archives In Ghana, Monica Mensah Ms, Emannuel Adjei Dr, Musah Adams Dr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

ABSTRACT

To find out the state and challenges of preserving audio visual archives in Ghana.The study was qualitative. In depth interviews were used to obtain data used for analysis. Data used for analysis were obtained from eight (8) respondents comprising of staff of the AV archives in the University of Ghana Library System and the J.H Nketia AV archives in Ghana. Data obtained have been analyzed and presented under major themes. A key finding of the study was that although there was a fair degree of operational direction for the preservation of AV collections, both units studied were faced …

Gender, Culture, And The Educational Choices Of Second Generation Hmong American Girls, Bao Lo

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Research on the educational achievement of racialized minorities and immigrants have largely discussed culture as either a deficit or an advantage for academic success. This paper explores gender differences in educational achievement and how the educational choices of second-generation Hmong American girls are impacted by racially constructed gender norms. In response to hegemonic and subordinated femininities, second-generation Hmong American girls pursue education to enter mainstream America and reject Asian ethnic culture and femininity. Gender equality is normalized and equated with White femininity and American mainstream culture while Asian femininity and ethnic culture is constructed and subordinated as “other”. This research …

From Merchant To Manufacturer, Tara Marling Abraham

Leadership Hour at Otterbein University

Tara Marling Abraham, Chairman and Co-CEO of Accel, Inc., is one of the nation’s leading experts in contract packaging. A strategist and experienced entrepreneur, Ms. Abraham advances innovation throughout the businesses she has established and grown, as well as professional and industry groups to which she dedicates time. Her combined expertise in finance, marketing, relationship management, supplier diversity, and mergers & acquisitions has made her a leader within the retail and consumer packaged goods industries.

Coping Among Advocates With And Without Lived Experience Of Sexual Assault, Martina Mihelicova

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Volunteer sexual assault survivor advocates are vital to the provision of services by rape crisis centers. Volunteer advocates are exposed to trauma by witnessing the emotional and psychological impact of sexual assault on survivors. Trauma exposure places providers at risk for experiencing negative outcomes, such as vicarious trauma or secondary traumatic stress. Additionally, advocates who are survivors of sexual assault may be at higher risk for these negative outcomes. However, trauma exposure can also be a source of positive outcomes, such as posttraumatic growth. Focusing on advocate strengths, such as coping and self-care strategies that help advocates overcome distress during …

Predictors Of Cognitive Function Among Cognitively Impaired Older African Americans Living In Congregate Residential Settings, Zyra Daffodil Apugan

Dissertations

The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to identify potential psychosocial predictors of cognition, including social support, depression, and functional activity, among older African Americans, ≥ 65 years, with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and living in congregate residential settings. Guided by the main effect model of social support, this study used existing data from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set, an NIH-funded multicenter study. Results showed that on average, the participants (n=56) were 81.7 years of age with 13.8 years of education. All, but six, were married. Bivariate Pearson correlations indicate a moderately strong negative relationship …

End-User Development For Business Analysis Bus 405, Andrée Rathemacher

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

November 2017 (Issue 2) : Folic Acid And Neural Tube Defects, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi

Nutrition and Food Services Department (NFSD) Archives

• What is folic acid?
• Folic Acid and Neural Tube Defect
• Other Benefits of Folic Acid
• Folic Acid Supplments in Pregnancy
• Sources of Folate

Radiocarbon Test For Demographic Events In Written And Oral History, Kevan Edinborough, Marko Porčić, Andrew Martindale, Thomas J. Brown, Kisha Supernant, Kenneth M. Ames

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We extend an established simulation-based method to test for significant short-duration (1–2 centuries) demographic events known from one documented historical and one oral historical context. Case study 1 extrapolates population data from the Western historical tradition using historically derived demographic data from the catastrophic European Black Death/bubonic plague (Yersinia pestis). We find a corresponding statistically significant drop in absolute population using an extended version of a previously published simulation method. Case study 2 uses this refined simulation method to test for a settlement gap identified in oral historical records of descendant Tsimshian First Nations communities from the Prince …

Concentrated Poverty Increased In Both Rural And Urban Areas Since 2000, Reversing Declines In The 1990s, Brian C. Thiede, Hyojung Kim, Matthew Valasik

Carsey Publications

In this brief, authors Brian Thiede, Hyojung Kim, and Matthew Valasik discuss changes in poverty levels among U.S. counties using data from the 2000 U.S. Decennial Census and the 2005–2009 and 2011-2015 American Community Surveys. They report that the share of rural counties with high poverty rates (20 percent or more) increased from 20.6 percent in 2000 to 32.5 percent in the aggregate 2011–2015 data, and the share of high-poverty urban counties increased from 6.7 to 15.6 percent. The share of the population living in these high-poverty counties nearly doubled in both rural and urban areas during this period. Substantial …

Collaborative Librarianship Changes, Jill Emery, Michael Levine-Clark

Collaborative Librarianship

No abstract provided.

From Barrier To Bridge: Partnering With Teaching Faculty To Facilitate A Multi-Term Information Literacy Research Project, Elizabeth Pickard

Collaborative Librarianship

Academic librarians partner with teaching faculty in many ways, but it is uncommon for them to develop a partnership to experiment with course curriculum. It is especially rare to sustain this kind of partnership over multiple terms. This paper reports on such a collaboration and how it has allowed both librarian and instructor to compare the efficacy of different means of information literacy instruction in asynchronous, online-only courses. The paper also presents strategies for establishing a partnership and navigating the partners’ different needs in order to reach their common goal.

Evolving Through Collaboration: Standardizing Citation Instruction Across The Curriculum, Brandy R. Horne, Deborah Tritt

Collaborative Librarianship

To reduce inconsistencies in citation instruction across the curriculum, the Gregg-Graniteville Library at the University of South Carolina Aiken developed a model of citation support that involved the creation of citation instruction materials, the provision of citation support at the reference desk and via appointment, and the creation and delivery of citation style workshops and instruction sessions. These efforts evolved into a multi-pronged model of collaboration that involved coordination within the library, with the campus writing room, and with the teaching faculty. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of this model, which is both collaborative and …

A Spatial Collaboration: Building A Multi-Institution Geospatial Data Discovery Portal, Mara Blake, Karen Majewicz, Ryan Mattke, Kathleen W. Weessies

Collaborative Librarianship

As academic education and research increasingly take advantage of geospatial data and methodologies, we see a corresponding exponential growth in the number of available geospatial resources in the form of GIS datasets and scanned historical maps. However, users can experience difficulty finding these resources due to the unconnected multitude of platforms and clearinghouses that host them. Additionally, the resources are not always well described with web semantic metadata that facilitates discovery. In response to this challenge, The Big Ten Academic Alliance Geospatial Data Project began in 2015 to provide discoverability, facilitate access, and connect scholars to geospatial resources. Our project …

Manipulating Data And Moving Forward: Transitioning To A Shared Cataloging Environment, Jessica Lee, Guy Frost

Collaborative Librarianship

In May of 2017, the University System of Georgia (USG) finished migrating to Alma, a single, shared catalog for all its colleges and universities. Prior to migration, all the University System’s colleges and universities maintained an Integrated Library System (ILS) from Ex Libris, Voyager, which provided a virtual catalog comprising a union catalog, while each institution managed its own database. The current migration took nearly four years from early planning stages to go live. Migrating to a cloud-based shared bibliographic environment where master bibliographic records were not “owned” by anyone was a new concept for USG libraries. Valdosta State University …

What Collaboration Means To Me: Passing The Mic, Ali Versluis, Lillian S. Rigling

Collaborative Librarianship

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Pedagogical Agent Design On Training Evaluation Measures: A Meta-Analysis, Timothy J. Quesnell

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Pedagogical agents are, "conversational virtual characters employed in electronic learning environments to serve various instructional functions" (Veletsianos & Miller, 2008). They can take a variety of forms, and have been designed to serve various instructional roles, such as mentors, experts, motivators, and others. Given the increased availability and sophistication of technology in recent decades, these agents have become increasingly common as facilitators to training in educational settings, private institutions, and the military. Software to aid in the creation of pedagogical agents is widely available. Additionally, software use and agent creation often requires little formal training, affording nearly anyone the opportunity …

Individual And Contextual Factors And The Efficacy Of An Experiential Sexism Intervention, Samantha M. Smith

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a sexism-focused diversity training program. More specifically, this study examined the direct and indirect relationships between individual characteristics (i.e., gender, self-efficacy, and reactance), contextual factors (i.e., organizational diversity climate) and diversity training outcomes and training transfer. To test hypotheses, graduate and undergraduate students participated in a two-stage study (baseline and intervention stages), with the intervention consisting of a 90-minute sexism-focused diversity training workshop. Data from one hundred and forty participants were retained for regression analyses. Results suggest the workshop was generally effective at reducing endorsement of sexist attitudes, improving …