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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Cyberspace And Real-World Behavioral Relationships: Towards The Application Of Internet Search Queries To Identify Individuals At-Risk For Suicide, Casey C. Miller Jun 2012

Cyberspace And Real-World Behavioral Relationships: Towards The Application Of Internet Search Queries To Identify Individuals At-Risk For Suicide, Casey C. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

The Internet has become an integral and pervasive aspect of society. Not surprisingly, the growth of ecommerce has led to focused research on identifying relationships between user behavior in cyberspace and the real world - retailers are tracking items customers are viewing and purchasing in order to recommend additional products and to better direct advertising. As the relationship between online search patterns and real-world behavior becomes more understood, the practice is likely to expand to other applications. Indeed, Google Flu Trends has implemented an algorithm that accurately charts the relationship between the number of people searching for flu-related topics on …


Forecasting Effects Of Influence Operations: A Generative Social Science Methodology, Christopher W. Weimer Mar 2012

Forecasting Effects Of Influence Operations: A Generative Social Science Methodology, Christopher W. Weimer

Theses and Dissertations

Simulation enables analysis of social systems that would be difficult or unethical to experiment upon directly. Agent-based models have been used successfully in the field of generative social science to discover parsimonious sets of factors that generate social behavior. This methodology provides an avenue to explore the spread of anti-government sentiment in populations and to compare the effects of potential Military Information Support Operations (MISO) actions. This research develops an agent-based model to investigate factors that affect the growth of rebel uprisings in a notional population. It adds to the civil violence model developed by Epstein (2006) by enabling communication …


Understanding The Instruments Of National Power Through A System Of Differential Equations In A Counterinsurgency, Cade M. Saie Mar 2012

Understanding The Instruments Of National Power Through A System Of Differential Equations In A Counterinsurgency, Cade M. Saie

Theses and Dissertations

Models that account for the progression of nation-building and the impacts of the instruments of national power -- Diplomacy, Informational, Military, and Economic effects -- are rare. This research proposes the development of such a model. Through the derivation of state indices for the operational variables of Political, Military, Economic, Social, Infrastructure, and Information, a functional form of a system of differential equations is developed to account for the interactions between the state indices and instruments of national power. This methodology is a mean-field inverse problem which solves for the coefficients of the differential equations in a data-driven manner. Publicly …


Analysis Of Social Network Measures With Respect To Structural Properties Of Networks, Joshua D. Guzman Mar 2012

Analysis Of Social Network Measures With Respect To Structural Properties Of Networks, Joshua D. Guzman

Theses and Dissertations

Social Network Analysis (SNA), the study of social interactions within a group, spans many different fields of study, ranging from psychology to biology to information sciences. Over the past half century, many analysts outside of the social science field have taken SNA concepts and theories and have applied them to an array of networks in the hope of formulating mathematical descriptions of the relations within the network of interest. More than 50 measures of networks have been identified across these fields; however, little research has examined the findings of these measures for possible relationships. This thesis tests a set of …


Value Focused Thinking For Nation Building In Afghanistan: A Regional Perspective, Muhammad S. Riaz Mar 2012

Value Focused Thinking For Nation Building In Afghanistan: A Regional Perspective, Muhammad S. Riaz

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an effort to mathematically model the nation building effort that is underway in Afghanistan. The thesis examines this nation building effort from the perspective of a local person who understands Afghan culture better than a foreigner. The thesis employs value-focused thinking to categorize the factors that we need to focus on for nation building in descending order of priority. This research adds a new dimension to the models already available in the literature and is likely to be more readily embraced by the local people who are sometimes in conflict with American priorities.


Predictors And Predictive Effects Of Attitudinal Inconsistency Towards Organizational Change, Scott T. Drylie Mar 2012

Predictors And Predictive Effects Of Attitudinal Inconsistency Towards Organizational Change, Scott T. Drylie

Theses and Dissertations

Studies have largely portrayed individual resistance as a pervasive, irrational, and problematic response to organizational change initiatives. The current study confronts this interpretation with a model of attitudinal inconsistency that provides a more holistic perspective of the individual during times of change. Inconsistency reveals the degree to which the mental evaluations of a change initiative may conflict and produce weak attitudinal foundations to govern behavior. Measuring affective-cognitive consistency, the tests in this study demonstrate that employees may form inconsistent attitudes towards a change initiative. Inconsistency relates negatively to the perceived quality of management transition techniques such as participation, communication, structured …


The Effect Of Multiple Interventions On Environmental Attitudes And Behaviors, Jeremy P. Kinne Mar 2012

The Effect Of Multiple Interventions On Environmental Attitudes And Behaviors, Jeremy P. Kinne

Theses and Dissertations

New federal mandates require federal entities to reduce resource usage across the board. Additionally, commercial enterprises are evaluating methods of reducing resource consumption to reduce costs and become more ecologically friendly. In response, researchers have begun to evaluate the intentions and behaviors of individuals to determine how to encourage individual participation in reduction methods. This study used a quasi-experimental design of non-equivalent groups to evaluate the effects of Computer Based Training and persuasive speech on individual environmental attitudes and behavior. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior model to determine intentions and behaviors, this study utilized surveys to evaluate the relative …


Reducing Operating Costs By Optimizing Space In Facilities, Jared J. Maline Mar 2012

Reducing Operating Costs By Optimizing Space In Facilities, Jared J. Maline

Theses and Dissertations

Facility maintenance and sustainment costs can represent a large portion of a company's or government's expenditures. The U.S. Government has a pressing need to reduce these costs and meet energy efficiency goals while remaining fiscally responsible. Research has shown that the government currently has little to no optimization standards or means of integrating such requirements into a decision making model. This is despite the fact that the data necessary to make educated decisions are already being collected through asset management and geospatial activities. This paper utilizes the Air Force's facility portfolio as a case study to better understand the problems …


The Relationship Between Key Supply Chain Process Implementation, Competitive Advantage, & Organizational Performance, Anthonelli White Jr. Mar 2012

The Relationship Between Key Supply Chain Process Implementation, Competitive Advantage, & Organizational Performance, Anthonelli White Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

In spite of an ever-accumulating body of research on the topic of supply chain management (SCM), an agreed upon definition or framework regarding its essential constructs or practices does not exist. There are, however, a few leading academic perspectives on SCM that have been bolstered by the acceptance of industry leaders. One such perspective is that presented by the Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF). This study applies established survey methods to expand the body of knowledge pertaining to SCM by empirically validating the relationships conceptualized by the GSCF framework through an analysis of the perception of mid-level managers and senior-level …