TCU Digital Repository (Texas Christian Univ.)
Not a member yet
54550 research outputs found
Sort by
EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF STATE-LEVEL LOBBYING REGULATIONS ON POLICY OUTCOMES: A FIFTY-STATE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
No full textThis project investigates the impact of lobbying regulations at the state level on policy outcomes through a fifty-state comparative analysis. Using the Newmark (2017) index as a measure of lobbying regime restrictiveness in each state, the study evaluates whether states with more stringent lobbying regulations are less likely to adopt policies associated with corporate or elite interests. Dependent variables selected were minimum wage, corporate tax rates, occupational licensure, universal school choice, adoption of California emissions standards, and right-to-work laws. Through a combination of OLS and logistic regression analyses, statistically significant relationships were identified in four of the six models. Stricter lobbying laws were found to be associated with higher minimum wages, higher corporate tax rates, greater likelihood of adopting California emissions standards, and a lower likelihood of enacting right-to-work laws. The findings suggest that anti-lobbying rules play a modest but meaningful role in shaping policy outcomes, especially those most squarely involving direct economic considerations. The results contribute to the growing literature assessing the real-world consequences of these regulations and to the debate on the efficacy of reforms aimed at curtailing special interest influence
The 1994 Peso Crisis: Overvaluation or Overreaction
No full textThe understanding of financial market crashes evolves over time. First Economists were confident that the 2008 Global Financial Crisis was caused purely by a housing bubble, then it became clearer that systemic problems in the US financial system caused a much bigger crisis than a housing bubble would justify. With financial crises in smaller economies, often this evolution of understanding takes more time -- if it is ever reached. And this paper will shed light on whether the prevailing opinions on the 1994 Mexican Peso Crisis are accurate. Here the opinions of peso overvaluation during this period will be challenged, and by using economic theory of what underlying factors determine the price of a currency, I will create a prediction of the peso price between 1991 and 1999 as its underlying determinates would reflect. This prediction then will be compared to the actual price of the peso and from there the gap between the predicted and actual price will determine what overvaluation or undervaluation occurred and to what extent. The results show that although the overvaluation before the crisis, as predicted by economists, was present, it was much overstated and concludes that this overvaluation wasn't a justifiable cause of the crisis or a significant explanation to why the Mexican Economy was destined for financial collapse
TTL PC: The poetics of the internet
No full textTTL PC: The Poetics of the Internet investigates how QR codes embody the fluidity of online interaction. Through objects, images, and drawings, viewers engage with code-laden surfaces, shape time-based constructs, and access real-time textual or visual content. Each piece functions as a hyper-object by employing QR technology, connecting physical presence with algorithmic processes that simultaneously reflect personal biases and broader societal contexts. The pieces foreground the tension between private and public data, highlighting how iterative feedback loops obscure or reveal meaning. By mapping daily rituals, digital ephemera, and shifting news sources onto tangible artifacts, TTL PC underscores how digital networks constantly modify our perception, inviting participants to question their role as authors and information subjects in an ever-changing cultural landscape
Barriers to implementing interprofessional team training: Faculty’s and administrators’ perspectives
No full textPurpose: Despite emphasis on interprofessional collaboration in schools, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and educators often enter the workforce without formal training in teamwork competencies. This study explored faculty’s and administrators’ perceptions of implementing an interprofessional team-based training for students enrolled in speech-language pathology and education programs.
Method: Using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), qualitative interviews were conducted with four academic leaders from Communication Sciences and Disorders (COSD) and Education departments. Data were analyzed through thematic analysis.
Results: Facilitators included certification/program requirements, supportive leadership, faculty willingness, and existing coursework overlap. Barriers included limited funding, faculty and student workload, inconsistent interdepartmental communication, and differing delivery formats.
Conclusion: While participants recognized the value of team-based training, logistical and structural barriers challenge its implementation. Faculty or administrators who want to implement an interdisciplinary team training should align goals of the training with accreditation standards and develop strategies to bring faculty from different disciplines together. The barriers and facilitators identified in this study should be used to improve the sustainability of interdisciplinary team training in university programs
Medicare Reimbursement for Revision Arthroplasty Procedures Decrease Over 20+ Years, a Concerning Trend for Arthroplasty Subspecialists and Their Patients
No full textBackground: Numerous studies have highlighted a rise in procedure volume and fall in physician reimbursement for various primary arthroplasty procedures. The aim of our study was to investigate these same trends in revision hip, knee, ankle, elbow, shoulder, and wrist arthroplasty from 2000 to 2021. Methods: The Medicare Part B National Summary Data File was analyzed for Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes related to revision knee, hip, shoulder, wrist, ankle, and elbow arthroplasty. For each code and year, the total number of procedures and total amount billed and reimbursed was collected. Monetary values were adjusted to the 2021 US Dollar. Results: All procedures had full data from 2000 to 2021 except codes associated with rTSA and rTEA which only had data from 2013 to 2021. When comparing the first and last year of the study period, all codes had a percent increase in procedure volume except 27137 and 24370, which decreased by -51.6% and -5.3%, respectively. All codes had a percent decrease in reimbursement except 24370, which increased by 8.0%. Conclusion: Orthopedic surgeons are performing more revision arthroplasty procedures while receiving lower inflation-adjusted reimbursement. This reduction reflects reimbursement not keeping pace with inflation rather than true cuts in absolute payment per procedure. Exceptions to this general trend include code 27137, which had a decrease in both metrics, as well as 24370, with a decrease in volume and increase in reimbursement. These developments should urge policymakers to reassess current reimbursement policies and how it may affect access to quality arthroplasty care. Level of evidence: Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence
Roots of amnesia
No full textIn my Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, Roots of Amnesia, I explore the fleeting
sense of memory that, through my work, I try to make graspable through image-making and
reflection. The visual language of my photographs draws on a nonlinear understanding of time,
the presence of symbols embedded in the landscape, and the endurance of memory through acts
of daily practice. Using this framework, I consider memory not as a static archive, but as a living
process shaped by symbols, histories, and survival
Case Study: The Effects of Unilateral Cross Training Via Additional Weight Load on Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters Pre and Post Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction
No full textPrevious literature has discovered that many ACLR patients are at a high risk of undergoing bone deformation in their surgically repaired knee within five years of their initial surgery. It is thought to be the effect of the current standard of care for ACLR rehabilitation's lack of focus on long term knee health which leads to a decrease in patient knee stability after their recovery. The decrease in knee stability causes patients to decrease their weight load on that knee, this is the root cause of their bone deformation. An idea about how adding additional weight to a patient while walking was had, data was collected, and a case study was formed to analyze the spatiotemporal parameters of step width, step length of the surgically affected leg, and step time for each of the four participants. The data consisted of motion tracked data that was then quantified into the spatiotemporal parameters of step width, step length, and step time. Pre-ACLR participant data was compared to post-ACLR data to determine how additional weight load and unilateral quadricep strengthening affected those specific spatiotemporal parameters. Participants underwent the same walking trial on a treadmill under a non-weighted and weighted condition before receiving ACLR surgery and three months after their surgery. In between the two tests, three experimental participants underwent the current standard of care for ACLR plus twenty-four sessions of single leg quadricep training on their healthy leg. The one control participant just underwent the current standard of ACLR rehabilitation. Each of the four participants responded to manipulated variables of weight and rehabilitation protocol differently. Each participant improved or failed to improve from pre to post-ACLR in different patterns of step width, step length, and step time. Since a trend between participant variable improvement was unable to be determined, the case study is inconclusive. The inconclusive findings might be attributed to the limitations of the actual experiment that include the number of participants involved and the length of time that the study took place over. Further research should consider looking at a longitudinal study that assesses the spatiotemporal parameters of gait over the full length of a participant's ACLR rehabilitation process and follow up within five years of the participant?s surgery to understand how different rehabilitation protocols and weight load can affect long-term health knee health
Skill Issue: Relationship Between Beliefs About Emotions, Achievement Goals for Emotion Regulation, and Mental Health
No full textEmotion regulation is important for various areas of functioning, including well-being and mental health (Aldao et al., 2010). Previous research (Rusk et al., 2011) shows that people differ on how motivated they are to demonstrate their ability to control their emotions (performance goals) and how motivated they are to learn to control their emotions better (learning goals). The current study explored the relationship between beliefs about controllability and usefulness of emotions and how much the participants endorsed higher performance and learning emotion regulation goals. The study also explored how emotion regulation goals and emotion beliefs correlated with various indicators of well-being. The initial correlational study showed that believing emotions can be controlled predicted higher performance-avoidance goals for emotion regulation, while believing that emotions were generally useful had a weak negative association with learning emotion regulation goals. Additionally, higher emotion controllability beliefs, predicted lower well-being, which was mediated by performance-avoidance goals. A second study was conducted to replicate the findings and assess the causal relationship between emotion controllability beliefs and performance-avoidance emotion regulation goals by manipulating emotion controllability beliefs. Correlation analysis showed results contrary to the first study, with higher controllability beliefs predicting lower performance-avoidance goals, higher performance-approach goals, and better well-being. The experiment did not show a significant increase in performance goals following the manipulation. More research is needed to confirm these findings and assess current methodologies in the field
Afro-Asian rhetoric in women-led blaxploitation and Japanese genre films of the 1970s
No full textAfro-Asian Rhetoric in Women-led Blaxploitation and Japanese Genre Films of the 1970s analyzes women-led genre films from the early 1970s from two social contexts: the United States and Japan. I argue that, through a Blues consciousness, the women-led blaxploitation and genre films from the United States and Japan, respectively, express counter-hegemonic conceptions of Black, Korean (Zainichi), and Japanese women through Afro-Asian rhetorics. The first half of the project focuses on the blaxploitation films of Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson. Using the writings of the women of the Black Panther Party, the testimonies of the Vietnamese “long-haired warriors,” as well as the Black feminist ideas of the Combahee River Collective, Patricia Hill Collins, and Toni Cade Bambara, and others, I trace how Grier’s and Dobson’s characters enact their quest to enact community justice. The second half focuses on Japan where I use texts ranging from Onishi Yuichiro to Shigematsu Setsu to analyze how Wada Akiko’s and Kaji Meiko’s performances of Afro-Asian rhetoric in two Stray Cat Rock youth genre films enable them to be leaders dedicated to the rights and well-being of Japanese women, Korean (Zainichi), and Afro-Japanese communities in Japan. Afro-Asian Rhetoric in Women-led Blaxploitation and Japanese Genre Films of the 1970s reflects my overall goal in centering how intercultural rhetorical expressions between African American and East Asian women in popular culture aided each group in their mutual quest for complete liberation and social equality. The study of this legacy offers greater understanding between contemporary African American and East Asian women and inspires strategies and ideas for greater harmony globally
Introductory note mini-breaths prepare zebra finches for song
No full textZebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) produce a learned song that is preceded by at least one introductory note; previous work questioned whether introductory notes have a preparatory function. The current study investigated changes in respiratory patterns generating the introductory notes sequences that preceded song in zebra finches. Changes in the area, mean, and peak amplitude of inspiratory and expiratory features of introductory notes were observed, where the results showed that birds progressed toward a song-like respiratory pattern. A sequence was observed with a transition from early introductory note inspiratory features gradually transitioning toward features of the first song inspiration. Weaker evidence of a similar respiratory transition toward song respiration was found for expiratory features of introductory notes. These data provide a clear relationship between introductory notes and song; they likely serve as respiratory preparation for breathing before singing, allowing birds to ready the air supply and tempo to match song respiration