Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The large-scale networks of suppliers and prime buyers in industrial districts have rarely if ever been studied as social networks, due to analytical complexity and rarity of such datasets. With a large relational dataset on buyer/supplier relationships among over 8,300 firms in a Tokyo industrial district, we analyzed the complex regional production system quantitatively so as to find its integration mechanisms. Tests of the small-world model―of local clustering, low average distance, lack of central hubs, and sparsity of connectivity―failed due to tendencies toward a power-law degree distribution, shorter-than-random average distances, and lack of local clustering. The scale-free network model was rejected because hubs in the network do not attract ties by supplier firms but actively organize their suppliers. We then explored an alternative explanation: Does the supplier-buyer network have layers as represented by a directed acyclic graph (DAG) or depth hierarchy where each link in a chain of suppliers and buyers is always directed up the hierarchy, never forming a directed transaction cycle? Controlling some data constraints, we found that acyclic depth partition can explain the structural properties of the network. Finally, we offer statistical evidence that the DAG should be a general property for the complex webs of supplier-prime buyer relationships in industrial production networks, as modeled by Harrison White, in lieu of small-world or scale-free network models.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Existing research suggests the need for improvement in the mathematical understandings of those who teach mathematics (Ball, 1990a; Ball & McDiarmid, 1990b; Cooney, 1999). Although some have characterized the types of knowledge mathematics teachers need (Shulman, 1986, Kennedy, 1998) there does not seem to be much research characterizing the depth of that knowledge. Using weighted mean as our context we identified characteristics of prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ mathematical thinking that would help us make distinctions concerning the depth of their knowledge. After analyzing four students’ interview tasks, as well as their classroom work, we noticed three characteristics that helped us distinguish the depth of their mathematical conceptions. These characteristics include: 1) Specificity of methods used to solve a problem, 2) Conceptual meaning attached to procedures, 3) Flexibility in meaning attached to mathematical ideas.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: One of the ways in which relationships develop and become more intimate is through the exchange of personal feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and desires. If self-disclosure is conceptualized as a means through which closeness or familiarity is produced between partners (under the premise that the disclosure is not negative), can such a response be attributable to mediated forms of self-disclosure between a viewer and character on television? The present study empirically tests the effects of two dimensions of self-disclosure―depth (private vs. public information) and mode of information delivery (character-to-viewer vs. character-to-character vs. narrator-to-viewer). Findings support the prediction that a viewer’s overall enjoyment of witnessing the disclosure of a character’s personal information, identification, and transportation are functions of depth and mode of information delivery. Further, results suggest the important role of “character address” in heightening audience engagement. Implications for the similarity of interpersonal and mediated relationships, societal expectations of privacy, effective entertainment formats, and online self-disclosure are discussed.

Publication Type: Poster Presentation
Abstract: Over the past century one of the biggest culprits of tillage induced soil erosion and translocation has been the moldboard plow. The distance soil will move by moldboard plow tillage has been shown to be correlated with slope gradient. Lindstrom et. al. (1992) developed regression equations describing the distance soil moves both parallel and perpendicular to the direction of tillage for the moldboard plow as affected by slope gradient. Points used to develop regression lines to characterize tillage erosion coefficients often show significant scatter. This variability is in part related to differences in machinery operation related to slope gradient and change in slope. One of the factors contributing to scatter is the effect of tillage depth. Gerontidis et. al. (2001) indicated that a plow depth reduction of 50% caused a > 75% reduction of soil displacement in a tillage erosion study in Greece. A moldboard plow calibration method that accounts for tillage depth was developed to improve the statistical relationship between moldboard plow soil displacement measurements and slope gradient. A relationship was developed between soil translocation and moldboard plow depth. This relationship was applied to measured tillage depth during the development of tillage translocation regression equations. Application of this relationship increased the coefficient of determination (r squared) from 0.52 to 0.94 for the relationship between moldboard plow soil displacement and slope gradient.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Readers’ trust in newspapers may not depend on the news content, but rather on the content’s reflection of its demographics. A quantitative content analysis of 36 newspapers for graphic use, math use, and source use found these characteristics did not correlate with readers’ trust in the newspaper. These characteristics of newspaper content have previously been recognized as evidence of in-depth news reporting, which recent research has shown influences a newspaper’s overall quality.
However, readers may trust in newspapers that use less in-depth news reporting, if it better reflects the make-up of their community. Three reliable scales of newspaper math content, which reflect basic math use, mid-level math use, and advanced math use, were created and analyzed with community demographics. As the population with a high school diploma or less increases, the newspapers’ use of basic math increases. However, as the percentage of high school graduates in the community increases, the newspapers do not limit their math content to basic math. Those newspapers that used math appropriate to their audience had slightly higher credibility with those audience members than those newspapers who did not use math appropriate to their audience, although this difference was not statistically significant.
Additionally, a substantive content scale that includes number of sources, number of graphics, and number of color graphics was created. Analysis showed the substantive content use increased as the overall income of the newspaper’s community increased. Therefore, these newspapers that gain the trust of their readers may do so not by employing in-depth news reporting techniques but rather by matching their writing techniques to their audience. Overall, these findings fill a gap in the current literature, and suggest an alternative answer to the question of why readers trust their newspapers.