An Action Research Intervention Towards Overcoming “Theory Resistance” in Photojournalism Students

Account of an action research project designed to understand and overcome 'theory resistance' in undergraduate photojournalism students, based on the Academic Literacies model. A collaboration with students using group reading exercises, drawing and questionnaire data to investigate students' relationships to the reading and writing encountered on their course

The Balancing Act: Creating New Academic Support in Writing While Honoring The Old

In 2009, our university launched a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Program in response to an accreditation core requirement to focus a universitywide initiative on student learning, often referred to as the Quality Enhancement Plan. The campus committee that envisioned and documented this plan, which fortifies students’ writing skills in their future professions and disciplines, requires all undergraduate students to complete five writing-intensive courses, including the two courses in the composition sequence and two program-required, content-area courses in their major prior to graduation.University Writing Cente

Integration of Spirituality and Cognitive-behavioral Therapy for the Treatment of Depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common mental health problem that is treated by many mental health practitioners. Cognitive-behavioral therapies have proven to be effective in helping restructure the cognitions of the client, which in turn reduces depressive symptom. Research has shown that individuals with MDD who value spirituality tend to view the world in a different way than those individuals that do not hold spirituality as an important value in their life. Spiritual individuals have religious schemas, and therefore, it would be important to incorporate spirituality into the treatment setting. This pilot study utilized a manualized treatment approach that focuses on spiritual growth and decreasing depression through a spiritually informed cognitive-behavioral approach (SICBT)

THE VALUE OF USDA OUTLOOK INFORMATION: AN INVESTIGATION USING EVENT STUDY ANALYSIS

The economic value of public situation and outlook information has long been a subject of debate. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the economic value of USDA WASDE reports in corn and soybean markets. The investigation is based on event study analysis, with the "events" consisting of the release of all monthly USDA WASDE reports for corn and soybeans from 1985 through 1998. The WASDE reports during the sample period are divided into two groups: one that represents "pure" outlook information and one that represents a "mix" of situation and outlook information. The statistical tests can be placed into two categories: mean price reaction and volatility reaction. Overall, the results suggest that USDA outlook information has a significant impact in corn and soybean markets. The most notable impact is found in options markets, where implied volatility consistently declines after the release of WASDE reports. For the group of monthly reports containing only outlook information, implied volatility for both corn and soybeans was lower on the report day than on the previous day about 60 percent of the time. The difference in mean implied volatility on the day of the report and on the previous day for both corn and soybeans was significantly different from zero. The average magnitude of the drop was between about two- and three-tenths of a percentage point (of annualized implied volatility), which would appear to be an economically non-trivial decrease. Hence, it can be concluded that USDA outlook information reduces the uncertainty of market participants' expected distribution of future prices. This reduction in market uncertainty is unambiguously welfare-enhancing.Crop Production/Industries, Marketing,

Making the Most of Existing Resources: An Online Rubric Database in University-wide Writing Program Assessment

When creating an assessment plan to measure writing outcomes for a university-wide writing across the curriculum (WAC) program, administrators considered multi-layered evaluation methods for benchmarking and measuring internal growth of students. Although assessment plans must address these needs, the actual assessment practices must be flexible, accessible to faculty, and feasible--based on existing technological structures and data systems at an institution. The writing assessment that is provided addresses all of these elements and is offered as a model for other programs. For this particular study, the internal aspect of the assessment plan that tracks growth of students over time is the centerpiece of the system. This online WAC rubric measures five distinct components of writing: Focus, Content, Organization, Style, and Language Conventions. Technical nuances of measuring longitudinal growth per individual student as well as the essential variables in data collection for future long-term meaningful analysis were considered when creating the online system. Data collected and analyzed through the system are shared. This online rubric, adaptable at other institutions, is offered as a method to balance the tension of large-scale accountability with course-specific writing assessment

THE ROLE OF MARKET ADVISORY SERVICES IN CROP MARKETING AND RISK MANAGEMENT: A PRELIMINARY REPORT OF SURVEY RESULTS

The purpose of this report is to provide a preliminary summary of the results of a survey designed to help answer the questions about subscriber use of market advisory services. Importantly, this research is a cooperative partnership between the University of Illinois and the Data Transmission Network. The survey participants are commercial producers of major grain, oilseed and fiber crops, representing important agricultural areas of the US. The survey has three broad objectives, including 1) how US producers perceive the riskiness of various aspects of farming; 2) how US producers manage farm business risk, and 3) how US producers select and use market advisory services.Marketing, Risk and Uncertainty,

The Impact of Situation and Outlook Information in Corn and Soybean Futures Markets: Evidence from WASDE Reports

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of situation and outlook information from World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) in corn and soybean futures markets over the period 1985 to 2006. Results indicate that WASDE reports containing National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) crop production estimates and other domestic and international situation and outlook information have the largest impact; causing return variance on report sessions to be 7.38 times greater than normal return variance in corn futures and 6.87 times greater than normal return variance in soybean futures. WASDE reports limited to international situation information and domestic and international outlook information have a smaller impact. The results show that the impact of WASDE reports has increased over time.corn, market impact, outlook, situation, soybeans, WASDE, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Financial Economics, Q100, Q110, Q130,

Framing Terror

Invited Keynote address at 'Mediated Visibility of Conflicts' PhD course/symposium, University of Copenhagen

Day Zero: Photographs at the Epicentre of History

If the World Trade Centre attacks occupied not only Ground Zero, but Day Zero, on which America’s new relationship to the world began and after which ‘nothing would be the same’, this day becomes fixed as an historical moment around which there can be no ambiguity. With this belief comes such a strong determination to respond and push forward into the future that everything before that September day ceases to exist and looking back is seemingly not required. At the same time, however, the event is firmly fixed within nostalgic frames that, rhetorically and visually, make sense of the new reality. This chapter looks at the commemorative work of photographer Joel Meyerowitz at Ground Zero along with the wider photographic representation of this event, considering photography as a site of tension between the denial of history and its fetishisation