Intercultural Education and Intercultural Competence in Higher Education in Ukraine

The establishment of independent Ukraine in 1991 created a political and social climate that entailed a need and possibility for democratic educational reforms in Ukraine. An integration of Ukraine in multicultural European and global society can be supported academically by infusing intercultural education in primary, secondary, and higher education curricula.

Salient factors in child molestation: Moral development, social competence, and type of offender

The current study was designed to build on and extend the existing knowledge base of factors that cause, maintain, and influence child molestation. Theorized links among the type of offender and the offender's levels of moral development and social competence in the perpetration of child molestation were investigated. The conceptual framework for the study is based on the cognitive developmental stages of moral development as proposed by Kohlberg, the unified theory, or Four-Preconditions Model, of child molestation as proposed by Finkelhor, and the Information-Processing Model of Social Skills as proposed by McFall. The study sample consisted of 127 adult male child molesters participating in outpatient group therapy. All subjects completed a Self-Report Questionnaire which included questions designed to obtain relevant demographic data, questions similar to those used by the researchers for the Massachusetts Treatment Center: Child Molester Typology 3's social competency dimension, the Defining Issues Test (DIT) short form, the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS), the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule (RAS), and the Questionnaire Measure of Empathic Tendency (Empathy Scale). Data were analyzed utilizing confirmatory factor analysis, t-tests, and chi-square statistics. Partial support was found for the hypothesis that moral development is a separate but correlated construct from social competence. As predicted, although the actual mean score differences were small, a statistically significant difference was found in the current study between the mean DITP scores of the subject sample and that of the general male population, suggesting that child molesters, as a group, function at a lower level of moral development than does the general male population, and the situational offenders in the study sample demonstrated a statistically significantly higher level of moral development than the preferential offenders. The data did not support the hypothesis that situational offenders will demonstrate lower levels of social competence than preferential offenders. Relatively little significance is placed on this finding, however, because the measure for the social competency variable was likely subject to considerable measurement error in that the items used as indicators were not clearly defined. The last hypothesis, which involved the potential differences in social anxiety, assertion skills, and empathy between the situational and preferential offender types, was not supported by the data. ^

Professional Ethics and Welfare Reform: The Importance of Ethical Competence

This paper explores the professional ethics of welfare reform providers and its influence in the achievement of welfare reform goals. Four themes address the professional ethics and ethical competence of welfare reform providers.

Caring and being cared -for: Perceptions of adolescent males at -risk for school failure

This qualitative study used grounded theory methods and purposeful sampling to explore perceptions on caring and being cared-for. Twenty-four adolescent male participants, identified as at-risk for school failure, completed a two phase interview process exploring these phenomena within three relationships; the relationship with the friend, with the most caring person they knew and with the teacher they felt cared for them. ^ Each participant was asked a predetermined set of open questions in an initial semi-structured interview. In addition each participant was encouraged to explore his own reflections on caring. A second interview allowed for member checking and for the participant to continue sharing his meaning of caring and being cared-for. ^ Line by line analysis with open, axial and selective coding was applied to interview transcripts along with a constant comparative method. Results indicated that the core category integrating all other categories was attachment bonding. Participants' stories manifested characteristics of proximity seeking, secure base, safe haven and distress upon involuntary separation from an attachment figure. ^ Strategies facilitating attachment bonding were influenced by the power positions of the relational players. Participants responded positively to the one-caring when they felt cared-for. Results further indicated that participants did not need to feel a sense of belonging in order to feel cared-for. Teacher behaviors indicating openness for authentic connections with students were specific to teacher's friendliness and professional competence. Teachers who nurtured feelings of being cared-for were uncommon in the participants' educational experience. ^ The number of adolescent males leaving high school prematurely is both a personal problem and a social problem. Despite a “mask” of indifference often exhibited by adolescent males at-risk for school failure, teachers might consider the social/emotional needs of these students when implementing the curriculum. In addition, policy makers might consider the social/emotional needs of this vulnerable population when developing programs meant to foster psychological well-being and connectedness for adolescent males at-risk for school failure. ^

Mixed spatial and nonspatial problems in location based services

With hundreds of millions of users reporting locations and embracing mobile technologies, Location Based Services (LBSs) are raising new challenges. In this dissertation, we address three emerging problems in location services, where geolocation data plays a central role. First, to handle the unprecedented growth of generated geolocation data, existing location services rely on geospatial database systems. However, their inability to leverage combined geographical and textual information in analytical queries (e.g. spatial similarity joins) remains an open problem. To address this, we introduce SpsJoin, a framework for computing spatial set-similarity joins. SpsJoin handles combined similarity queries that involve textual and spatial constraints simultaneously. LBSs use this system to tackle different types of problems, such as deduplication, geolocation enhancement and record linkage. We define the spatial set-similarity join problem in a general case and propose an algorithm for its efficient computation. Our solution utilizes parallel computing with MapReduce to handle scalability issues in large geospatial databases. Second, applications that use geolocation data are seldom concerned with ensuring the privacy of participating users. To motivate participation and address privacy concerns, we propose iSafe, a privacy preserving algorithm for computing safety snapshots of co-located mobile devices as well as geosocial network users. iSafe combines geolocation data extracted from crime datasets and geosocial networks such as Yelp. In order to enhance iSafe's ability to compute safety recommendations, even when crime information is incomplete or sparse, we need to identify relationships between Yelp venues and crime indices at their locations. To achieve this, we use SpsJoin on two datasets (Yelp venues and geolocated businesses) to find venues that have not been reviewed and to further compute the crime indices of their locations. Our results show a statistically significant dependence between location crime indices and Yelp features. Third, review centered LBSs (e.g., Yelp) are increasingly becoming targets of malicious campaigns that aim to bias the public image of represented businesses. Although Yelp actively attempts to detect and filter fraudulent reviews, our experiments showed that Yelp is still vulnerable. Fraudulent LBS information also impacts the ability of iSafe to provide correct safety values. We take steps toward addressing this problem by proposing SpiDeR, an algorithm that takes advantage of the richness of information available in Yelp to detect abnormal review patterns. We propose a fake venue detection solution that applies SpsJoin on Yelp and U.S. housing datasets. We validate the proposed solutions using ground truth data extracted by our experiments and reviews filtered by Yelp.

Mixed Spatial and Nonspatial Problems in Location Based Services

With hundreds of millions of users reporting locations and embracing mobile technologies, Location Based Services (LBSs) are raising new challenges. In this dissertation, we address three emerging problems in location services, where geolocation data plays a central role. First, to handle the unprecedented growth of generated geolocation data, existing location services rely on geospatial database systems. However, their inability to leverage combined geographical and textual information in analytical queries (e.g. spatial similarity joins) remains an open problem. To address this, we introduce SpsJoin, a framework for computing spatial set-similarity joins. SpsJoin handles combined similarity queries that involve textual and spatial constraints simultaneously. LBSs use this system to tackle different types of problems, such as deduplication, geolocation enhancement and record linkage. We define the spatial set-similarity join problem in a general case and propose an algorithm for its efficient computation. Our solution utilizes parallel computing with MapReduce to handle scalability issues in large geospatial databases. Second, applications that use geolocation data are seldom concerned with ensuring the privacy of participating users. To motivate participation and address privacy concerns, we propose iSafe, a privacy preserving algorithm for computing safety snapshots of co-located mobile devices as well as geosocial network users. iSafe combines geolocation data extracted from crime datasets and geosocial networks such as Yelp. In order to enhance iSafe's ability to compute safety recommendations, even when crime information is incomplete or sparse, we need to identify relationships between Yelp venues and crime indices at their locations. To achieve this, we use SpsJoin on two datasets (Yelp venues and geolocated businesses) to find venues that have not been reviewed and to further compute the crime indices of their locations. Our results show a statistically significant dependence between location crime indices and Yelp features. Third, review centered LBSs (e.g., Yelp) are increasingly becoming targets of malicious campaigns that aim to bias the public image of represented businesses. Although Yelp actively attempts to detect and filter fraudulent reviews, our experiments showed that Yelp is still vulnerable. Fraudulent LBS information also impacts the ability of iSafe to provide correct safety values. We take steps toward addressing this problem by proposing SpiDeR, an algorithm that takes advantage of the richness of information available in Yelp to detect abnormal review patterns. We propose a fake venue detection solution that applies SpsJoin on Yelp and U.S. housing datasets. We validate the proposed solutions using ground truth data extracted by our experiments and reviews filtered by Yelp.

Socioemotional outcomes of children sexually abused during early childhood

This study investigated the nature and impact of the sexual abuse of children ages birth through 6 years. The purpose was to enhance knowledge about this understudied population through examination of: (1) characteristics of the abuse; (2) socioemotional developmental outcomes of young victims; and (3) potential moderating effects of family dynamics. An ecological-developmental theoretical framework was applied. Secondary data analysis was conducted using data collected from the consortium Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). A sample of 250 children was drawn from LONGSCAN data, including children who were sexually abused (n=125) and their nonabused counterparts (n=125), matched on demographic variables. Results revealed that young victims of sexual abuse were disproportionately female (91 girls; 73%). The sexual abuse committed against these youngsters was severe in nature, with 111 children (89%) experiencing contact offenses ranging from fondling to forcible rape. Sixty-two percent of child victims demonstrated borderline, clinical, or less than adequate functioning on normative, expected socioemotional outcomes. Child victims reported low degrees of perceived competence and satisfaction in the social environment. When compared with their nonabused counterparts, child victims demonstrated significantly poorer socioemotional functioning, as evidenced by aggressive behaviors, attention and thought problems. Sexually abused youngsters also reported lower self-perceptions of cognitive and physical competence and maternal acceptance. Family dynamic factors did not significantly moderate the relationships between abuse and socioemotional outcomes, with one exception. The caregivers’ degree of empathy for their children had a significant moderating effect on the children’s social problems. This study contributes to an otherwise scant body of literature on the sexual abuse of preschoolers. Findings provide implications for social work practice, especially in the development of assessment and prevention strategies.

Scaling geospatial searches in large spatial databases

Modern geographical databases, which are at the core of geographic information systems (GIS), store a rich set of aspatial attributes in addition to geographic data. Typically, aspatial information comes in textual and numeric format. Retrieving information constrained on spatial and aspatial data from geodatabases provides GIS users the ability to perform more interesting spatial analyses, and for applications to support composite location-aware searches; for example, in a real estate database: “Find the nearest homes for sale to my current location that have backyard and whose prices are between $50,000 and $80,000”. Efficient processing of such queries require combined indexing strategies of multiple types of data. Existing spatial query engines commonly apply a two-filter approach (spatial filter followed by nonspatial filter, or viceversa), which can incur large performance overheads. On the other hand, more recently, the amount of geolocation data has grown rapidly in databases due in part to advances in geolocation technologies (e.g., GPS-enabled smartphones) that allow users to associate location data to objects or events. The latter poses potential data ingestion challenges of large data volumes for practical GIS databases. In this dissertation, we first show how indexing spatial data with R-trees (a typical data pre-processing task) can be scaled in MapReduce—a widely-adopted parallel programming model for data intensive problems. The evaluation of our algorithms in a Hadoop cluster showed close to linear scalability in building R-tree indexes. Subsequently, we develop efficient algorithms for processing spatial queries with aspatial conditions. Novel techniques for simultaneously indexing spatial with textual and numeric data are developed to that end. Experimental evaluations with real-world, large spatial datasets measured query response times within the sub-second range for most cases, and up to a few seconds for a small number of cases, which is reasonable for interactive applications. Overall, the previous results show that the MapReduce parallel model is suitable for indexing tasks in spatial databases, and the adequate combination of spatial and aspatial attribute indexes can attain acceptable response times for interactive spatial queries with constraints on aspatial data.

Assessing the effects of professionals' career decision -making on their participation reasons in continuing education in Taiwan

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between working professionals' Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy beliefs (CDMSE beliefs) and their reasons for participating in in-service master's level programs in Taiwan. ^ The data collection instruments used were Grotelueschen's (1985) Participation Reasons Scale (PRS), and Betz, Klein, and Taylor's (1996) Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy-Short Form (CDMSE-SF), and a Demographic Data Form (DDF) developed specifically for this study. ^ Surveys were administered to 800 working professionals who participated in inservice master's level programs at 22 Taiwanese universities. The survey was conducted in May 2004. Data were analyzed by simple descriptive statistics, principal component factor analysis, and multiple regression. Four factors of participation reasons were found and five components of CDMSE beliefs were scored. ^ Five components of CDMSE beliefs are structured into the CDMSE-SF instrument: Self-Appraisal, Occupational Information, Goal-Selection, Planning, and Problem Solving. The reasons for participation found in this study were: Professional Improvement and Development, Professional Service, Personal Benefit and Job Security, and Professional Competence and Collegial Interaction. Pearson-product moment correlations revealed significant positive correlations between the five CDMSE subscales and the four factors of participation reasons. Multiple regression analysis revealed that participants' beliefs in their abilities to obtain information about occupations accounted for the preponderance of variance of scores on the Participation Reasons Scale (PRS). ^ This study concluded that professionals who believed that they were efficacious in obtaining information about occupations or professions tended to believe that the four reasons for participation represented by the factors of the PRS were important to them in making the decision to participate in continuing education. Additionally, it was noted that the reasons for participations for professionals who did not feel confident in their abilities to find such information could not be determined. ^ Recommendations are offered to assist those individuals responsible for developing recruiting programs in continuing education for professionals in Taiwan. These recommendations focus only on strategies intended to attract this target population of professionals who believe that they are efficacious in obtaining information about occupations. ^

Semantic geographic information system

This thesis research describes the design and implementation of a Semantic Geographic Information System (GIS) and the creation of its spatial database. The database schema is designed and created, and all textual and spatial data are loaded into the database with the help of the Semantic DBMS's Binary Database Interface currently being developed at the FIU's High Performance Database Research Center (HPDRC). A friendly graphical user interface is created together with the other main system's areas: displaying process, data animation, and data retrieval. All these components are tightly integrated to form a novel and practical semantic GIS that has facilitated the interpretation, manipulation, analysis, and display of spatial data like: Ocean Temperature, Ozone(TOMS), and simulated SeaWiFS data. At the same time, this system has played a major role in the testing process of the HPDRC's high performance and efficient parallel Semantic DBMS.

Socioemotional Outcomes of Children Sexually Abused during Early Childhood

This study investigated the nature and impact of the sexual abuse of children ages birth through 6 years. The purpose was to enhance knowledge about this understudied population through examination of: (1) characteristics of the abuse; (2) socioemotional developmental outcomes of young victims; and (3) potential moderating effects of family dynamics. An ecological-developmental theoretical framework was applied. Secondary data analysis was conducted using data collected from the consortium Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). A sample of 250 children was drawn from LONGSCAN data, including children who were sexually abused (n=125) and their nonabused counterparts (n=125), matched on demographic variables. Results revealed that young victims of sexual abuse were disproportionately female (91 girls; 73%). The sexual abuse committed against these youngsters was severe in nature, with 111 children (89%) experiencing contact offenses ranging from fondling to forcible rape. Sixty-two percent of child victims demonstrated borderline, clinical, or less than adequate functioning on normative, expected socioemotional outcomes. Child victims reported low degrees of perceived competence and satisfaction in the social environment. When compared with their nonabused counterparts, child victims demonstrated significantly poorer socioemotional functioning, as evidenced by aggressive behaviors, attention and thought problems. Sexually abused youngsters also reported lower self-perceptions of cognitive and physical competence and maternal acceptance. Family dynamic factors did not significantly moderate the relationships between abuse and socioemotional outcomes, with one exception. The caregivers’ degree of empathy for their children had a significant moderating effect on the children’s social problems. This study contributes to an otherwise scant body of literature on the sexual abuse of preschoolers. Findings provide implications for social work practice, especially in the development of assessment and prevention strategies.

Examining argumentative coherence in essays by undergraduate students of English as a foreign language in Mainland China and their English speaking peers in the United States

I conducted this study to provide insights toward deepening understanding of association between culture and writing by building, assessing, and refining a conceptual model of second language writing. To do this, I examined culture and coherence as well as the relationship between them through a mixed methods research design. Coherence has been an important and complex concept in ESL/EFL writing. I intended to study the concept of coherence in the research context of contrastive rhetoric, comparing the coherence quality in argumentative essays written by undergraduates in Mainland China and their U.S. peers. In order to analyze the complex concept of coherence, I synthesized five linguistic theories of coherence: Halliday and Hasan's cohesion theory, Carroll's theory of coherence, Enkvist's theory of coherence, Topical Structure Analysis, and Toulmin's Model. Based upon the synthesis, 16 variables were generated. Across these 16 variables, Hotelling t-test statistical analysis was conducted to predict differences in argumentative coherence between essays written by two groups of participants. In order to complement the statistical analysis, I conducted 30 interviews of the writers in the studies. Participants' responses were analyzed with open and axial coding. By analyzing the empirical data, I refined the conceptual model by adding more categories and establishing associations among them. The study found that U.S. students made use of more pronominal reference. Chinese students adopted more lexical devices of reiteration and extended paralleling progression. The interview data implied that the difference may be associated with the difference in linguistic features and rhetorical conventions in Chinese and English. As far as Toulmin's Model is concerned, Chinese students scored higher on data than their U.S. peers. According to the interview data, this may be due to the fact that Toulmin's Model, modified as three elements of arguments, have been widely and long taught in Chinese writing instruction while U.S. interview participants said that they were not taught to write essays according to Toulmin's Model. Implications were generated from the process of textual data analysis and the formulation of structural model defining coherence. These implications were aimed at informing writing instruction, assessment, peer-review, and self-revision.

Examination and Critique of Codebook for Textual Analysis

The researcher presents the details, findings, and critique of a pre-pilot study conducted on a codebook created for a textbook comparison. She used Cohen’s alpha and percent agreement to determine inter-rater reliabilities for coding categories. These values revealed changes needed in the coding scheme and in the coder training process for the future comparison study.

Cognitive competence and life course change in multi-problem adolescents

The dissertation reports on two studies. The purpose of Study I was to develop and evaluate a measure of cognitive competence (the Critical Problem Solving Skills Scale – Qualitative Extension) using Relational Data Analysis (RDA) with a multi-ethnic, adolescent sample. My study builds on previous work that has been conducted to provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the RDA framework in evaluating youth development programs (Kurtines et al., 2008). Inter-coder percent agreement among the TOC and TCC coders for each of the category levels was moderate to high, with a range of .76 to .94. The Fleiss' kappa across all category levels was from substantial agreement to almost perfect agreement, with a range of .72 to .91. The correlation between the TOC and the TCC demonstrated medium to high correlation, with a range of r(40)=.68, p<.001 to r(40)=.79, p<.001. Study II reports an investigation of a positive youth development program using an Outcome Mediation Cascade (OMC) evaluation model, an integrated model for evaluating the empirical intersection between intervention and developmental processes. The Changing Lives Program (CLP) is a community supported positive youth development intervention implemented in a practice setting as a selective/indicated program for multi-ethnic, multi-problem at risk youth in urban alternative high schools in the Miami Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS). The 259 participants for this study were drawn from the CLP's archival data file. The study used a structural equation modeling approach to construct and evaluate the hypothesized model. Findings indicated that the hypothesized model fit the data (χ2 (7) = 5.651, p = .83; RMSEA = .00; CFI = 1.00; WRMR = .319). My study built on previous research using the OMC evaluation model (Eichas, 2010), and the findings are consistent with the hypothesis that in addition to having effects on targeted positive outcomes, PYD interventions are likely to have progressive cascading effects on untargeted problem outcomes that operate through effects on positive outcomes.

Subject -centered and problem -based approaches to teaching clinical competence in physical therapy

Physical therapy students must apply the relevant information learned in their academic and clinical experience to problem solve in treating patients. I compared the clinical cognitive competence in patient care of second-year masters students enrolled in two different curricular programs: modified problem-based (M P-B; n = 27) and subject-centered (S-C; n = 41). Main features of S-C learning include lecture and demonstration as the major teaching strategies and no exposure to patients or problem solving learning until the sciences (knowledge) have been taught. Comparatively, main features of M P-B learning include case study in small student groups as the main teaching strategy, early and frequent exposure to patients, and knowledge and problem solving skills learned together for each specific case. Basic and clinical orthopedic knowledge was measured with a written test with open-ended items. Problem solving skills were measured with a written case study patient problem test yielding three subscores: assessment, problem identification, and treatment planning. ^ Results indicated that among the demographic and educational characteristics analyzed, there was a significant difference between groups on ethnicity, bachelor degree type, admission GPA, and current GPA, but there was no significant difference on gender, age, possession of a physical therapy assistant license, and GRE score. In addition, the M P-B group achieved a significantly higher adjusted mean score on the orthopedic knowledge test after controlling for GRE scores. The S-C group achieved a significantly higher adjusted mean total score and treatment management subscore on the case study test after controlling for orthopedic knowledge test scores. These findings did not support their respective research hypotheses. There was no significant difference between groups on the assessment and problem identification subscores of the case study test. The integrated M P-B approach promoted superior retention of basic and clinical science knowledge. The results on problem solving skills were mixed. The S-C approach facilitated superior treatment planning skills, but equivalent patient assessment and problem identification skills by emphasizing all equally and exposing the students to more patients with a wider variety of orthopedic physical therapy needs than in the M P-B approach. ^