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  Neither Foster nor Orphanages

  Tami Thayne and Judy Norman

  Clearly, there are circumstances requiring out-of family placement for children. Foster care in the U. S. and orphanages in numerous countries remain available or the only alternative for care of some children at-risk. The mental status of children while in alternative care has received little research attention while much research has focused on the post-care, long-term negative consequences of such care, including developmental delays or impairment (Norman & Park, 2009; Pearce & Pearce, 2001). Research suggests a significant negative psychological impact for children raised in orphanages. While foster care has been viewed as an improvement in the care of vulnerable children, research also indicates long-term psychological problems for children raised in foster care. Neither foster nor orphanage care provide the conditions for adequate social and emotional adjustment of children later in life. Renewed attention must focus on improving the care of vulnerable children.

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  Saving the Surfer Identity: The Paddle-out Ceremony

  Charles R. Thomas and John Hawkins

  The circle has many forms within Surf Culture, including the lei. The Circle in the Paddle-out is known as the Symbol of Eternity.

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  Evaluating the impact of HIT resources on Patient Welfare: Evidence for the ARRA

  Evan S. Thomas and Mark Showalter

  Using differencing, OLS, and probit modeling techniques, demographic and performance information for more than 1,600 U.S. hospitals was used to test whether Electronic Medical Record (EMR) usage had any effect on both outcomes and processes of patient care. The findings showed that EMR use did not have a significant impact on patient mortality rates, 30-day readmission rates, or clinical procedures in treating patients suffering from Acute Myocardial Infarctions (AMI). Additional research into the correlation between EMR usage and average Medicare reimbursement rates found that healthcare facilities using an EMR received lower reimbursements on average than those hospitals using a paper-based recordkeeping system.

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  The Paradox of English in Tonga: Attributed Status vs. Social Aversion

  Pauline Tuitavuki and John Hawkins

  My research took place among young adult Tongans, ages 18-30 on the main island of Nuku'alofa in the last remaining Pacific Kingdom of Tonga where Tongan and English are both recognized as official languages. Previous research in Tonga shows that robust sectors of the economy, involving business, tourism, and education, requires English language proficiency for good employment. Consequently, Tongans highly esteem English proficiency, although my experience revealed English practically non-existent in daily communication. Why? Divulging, interviewing, and surveying the impacts of English, past, present, and future, presented three main reasons for social aversion toward speaking English which for them, often outweigh the positive connections of it. Those reasons: (1) public mockery, even for minuscule mistakes; (2) linked with snobbery as speaking English flaunts connections outside of Tonga, and most importantly; (3) speaking English differentiates you from the community which opposes a core Tongan value of group orientation.

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  Daily Health Experiences of Vietnam Veterans

  Rachel VanWickle and Jeremy Yorgason

  Research about war veterans has shown that they suffer from more physical and mental health problems than the general United States population (Singh et al, 2005). Even more health problems have been reported by veterans living in rural areas, as opposed to urban populations (Weeks et al., 2004; Weeks, Wallace, Wang, Lee, & Kazis, 2006). As the Vietnam veteran population is aging, and soon entering later life, researchers are examining the daily health need of these veterans. The current study will be looking at health in Vietnam era veterans and their civilian counterparts. Variables that will be examined in relation to their health are: individual factors, marital interactions, family and social support, as well as rural and urban settings.

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  Towards Measuring Relational Embeddedness: 2 Factor Analyses of TRENDS Pilot Survey Data

  Tim Walker, Joseph Olsen, and Julie Hite

  Relational Embeddedness. A theoretical construct that attempts to describe reasons why per-sons maintain certain interpersonal relation-ships. The specific theory of interest was formulated by Hite (2001). Simply stated relational embeddedness is a function of the level to which an individual’s relationship involves more or less of three components: Dyadic Interaction: The extent and quality of interpersonal interaction. Personal Relationship: Amounts of the emotional connections in the relationship. Social Capital: The level of mutual and communal reciprocity affecting the relationship.

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  Marital Quality and Risk Factors for CHD

  Rebecca Wallace, Nicole Barber, Bryan J. Jensen, and Paige Vella

  Epidemiological research indicates that marriage may significantly protect individuals from various causes of morbidity and mortality including cardiovascular disease6,7. There is also growing evidence that marital quality may be equally if not more important than marital status. While married individuals have greater health benefits relative to unmarried individuals, unhappily married individuals may be worse off than unmarried8-10. For instance, marital distress has been associated with a 2 to 3 fold increase in the risk of heart disease11and for recurrent coronary events12.

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  TRPV1 Modulation of Plasticity in the Hippocampus

  Curtis Walther, M. Mors, J. Blickenstaff, and B. Nelson

  Learning and memory are phenomena made possible via physical changes at neuronal synapses in the brain, a process known as synaptic plasticity. Dysfunctions in synaptic plasticity contribute to such diseases and disorders as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and retrograde amnesia (Brunetal., 2001). Recently, TRPV1 activation was shown to mediate synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus (Gibsonetal., 2008). TRPV1 is a presynaptic ligand-gated calcium (Ca2+) channel located throughout the CNS, including in the hippocampus. TRPV1 channels are activated by the binding of capsaicin, which is responsible for producing the “heat” of red peppers. Several studies implicate a role for TRPV1 in contextual fear learning (Marschetal., 2007), recall of spatial memory (Lietal., 2008), and anxiety-related disorders (Santosetal., 2007), including depression (Kasckowetal. 2004). Using field electrophysiolgical recordings in CA1 stratum radiatum we measured high frequency stimulation or the taburst-induced LTP in the presence and absence of TRPV1 agonists, TRPV1 antagonist and picrotoxin. Our data suggest that TRPV1 receptors mediating increased LTP are not expressed at theCA3-A1synapse, but possibly at the CA3 interneuron synapse. Further, we propose a novel mechanism by which TRPV1 activation enhances hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cell LTP via modulation of an inhibitory interneuron circut.

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  Public Transportation Decision Making

  Benjamin Y. Warner and Sven Wilson

  People make decisions regarding whether they will use public transportation based on many factors. I create a logistic binary response model where one’s decision about whether to use public transportation is a function of the size of a city that the person lives in, number of vehicles the person’s household has available, household income, working status, and day of the week. Workers may find public transportation more convenient if the transportation is close to their home. This is more likely to occur in an area with high population density.

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  Marketing To The Middle Class: Tourism In The 20th Century

  Abby Wheatley, Emily Melear, Candace Workman, and Brynn Riley

  Advertisements and promotional material from the 1950s to the present give unique historical insight into American middle class travel patterns. We researched how advertising of Route 66, State Slogans, Colorado Ski towns, and the Walt Disney Company focused on marketing experiences to families as opposed to marketing the site location itself. We aim to discover how advertising portrays a certain image and whether that portrayal is accurate with the experience in reality.

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  An ethnology of tillage: the role and bearing of land a societal force in Midwest agricultural communities.

  Olivia Wilkinson and Sheila Bibb

  Literary novelists have long revered the steady and resilient people of the plains. Sociologists and economic researchers have analyzed the drastic changes of the farming business in the recent decades of upheaval. Biochemists take sample after sample of dark brown earth to advance the science of crop growing.

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  Are All Sports Created Equal?

  Tiffany Wright and Benjamin Gibbs

  Extra-curricular activities have become the norm rather than the exception at public high schools around the country. Sports are particularly high on the list of the most available activities. While studies have shown that different types of extra-curricular activities generally have a favorable impact on student achievement, this study looks directly at individual sports to find that not all sports are created equally. Looking at Peabody Health Scores from waves one and three of the Adolescent Health Survey, I selected two sports, soccer and basketball, with similar structures and similar representation across class and gender to compare their effects on educational achievement. As such, this study shows that different sports resulting in either a negative or positive effects on achievement, showing that mere involvement in sports does not necessarily equal a positive return. Rather, involvement in one specific sport can see an improvement in scores, while involvement in another shows a negative impact on educational achievement. In addition, I show factor that might impact those who are involved in these sports to explore the possibility of a selection effect. Few of these factors show a significant impact and alone still do not entirely account the opposite effects of soccer and basketball. Further study into the networking of these sports is needed to see if there is an impact from the interactions of those who play these sports that will explain the effect on educational achievement.

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  Born to Achieve: Educational Attainment Among Hispanics

  Emily Yager, Logan Theodore, Maren Christiansen, and Bree Hernandez

  We predict that U.S.-born Hispanics will have higher educational achievement than foreign-born Hispanic immigrants in the United States.

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  Family-of-Origin Influence on Relationship Satisfaction in Intercultural Couples

  Keitaro Yoshida and Dean Busby

  Family-of-origin (FOO) experiences have been found to be associated with later intimate relationship quality (e.g., Larson & Homan, 1994). A few studies with Caucasian samples (e.g., Sabatelli & Bartle-Haring, 2003) have found that female partners’ FOO experience has a stronger impact in that it significantly predicts not only female partners’ own relationship quality, but also that of male partners’ (cross-over effect). However, this cross-over effect was not found in Asian couples (Yoshida & Busby, 2008). Therefore, the current study seeks to better understand the association between FOO experience and later relationship quality by examining the difference between Asian couples, Caucasian couples, and intercultural couples (between an Asian and a Caucasian).