Digital Commons Network^™

Communicating With Muted Groups: The Case Of Human Trafficking, Amy Matzke-Fawcett

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

The problem of human trafficking is global, affecting men and women, adults, and children, with exploitation of various forms including (but not limited to) sex work, hospitality and entertainment, labor, agriculture, soldiering, forced begging and organ removal. While it has been the focus of movies, news articles, documentaries, legislation and research, the discussion of the communication surrounding human trafficking is still in the formative stages. What is the messaging about human trafficking in legislation, both historically and in the present day, and how did news and popular media help to frame the discourse around trafficking in the United States? Using …

Frameaxis: Characterizing Microframe Bias And Intensity With Word Embedding, Haewoon Kwak, Jisun An, Elise Jing Jing, Yong-Yeol Ahn

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Framing is a process of emphasizing a certain aspect of an issue over the others, nudging readers or listeners towards different positions on the issue even without making a biased argument. Here, we propose FrameAxis, a method for characterizing documents by identifying the most relevant semantic axes (“microframes”) that are overrepresented in the text using word embedding. Our unsupervised approach can be readily applied to large datasets because it does not require manual annotations. It can also provide nuanced insights by considering a rich set of semantic axes. FrameAxis is designed to quantitatively tease out two important dimensions of how …

One Year On Since Ge2020: Thinking Afresh For The Post-Covid Era, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In this commentary, the author opined that even as political competition in Singapore sharpens, a deeper understanding and broader consensus must develop on critical issues. He believes that remaking Singapore to be a fairer, more just, and compassionate society in a post-Covid world is a key responsibility for Parliament.

The Guardian, Week Of June 28, 2021, Wright State Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

News articles from The Guardian for the week of June 28, 2021. The Guardian is the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. It has been published regularly since March of 1965.

The Value Of Republishing Scientific Literature In Institutional Repositories, Sue Ann Gardner, Linnea Fredrickson, Paul Royster

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

Background: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln University Libraries institutional repository was founded in 2005 on the Digital Commons platform. It currently contains more than 118,000 full-text scholarly works that have been downloaded over 73,000,000 times.

Problem that drove the project: Older scientific literature may only occasionally circulate from university library collections or be purchased by readers from remaindered publishers' stock.

Methods: This research will employ statistical analyses to demonstrate the value of making available four series of scientific literature in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln University Libraries Digital Commons: Insecta Mundi, the Nebraska Bird Review, the Transactions of the Nebraska …

The Extended Parallel Processing Model (Eppm) And Risk Perceptions Of Twitter Messages Related To Covid-19, Muhammad E. Rasul

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since its genesis, the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 has claimed millions of lives across the world and has infected many more. The population in the US experienced one of the worst outbreaks of COVID-19 in the world, with the number of deaths rising monolithically at one point. Although the development and inoculation of a large number of the public has helped, newer variants threaten to revitalize the growth and spread of COVID-19. Scholars have extensively studied health messages related to COVID-19 in a variety of contexts. However, little attention has been paid to the risk perceptions of health messages related …

Student Loans And Health-Related Financial Hardship, Sophia T. Anong, Robin Henager

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Research has shown that student loan borrowers in repayment exhibit physical and mental health problems. These can be exacerbated by and contribute to health-related financial hardship. We use the 2015 U.S. National Financial Capability Study to examine the likelihood of having past due medical bills and of avoiding health care services by not purchasing prescribed medication, skipping tests or follow-up with a doctor or not seeking care for a medical problem. Borrowers on income-driven repayment plans and those who made late payments are found to be more likely to have unpaid medical bills and to have avoided required medical attention. …

The Guardian, Week Of June 21, 2021, Wright State Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

News articles from The Guardian for the week of June 21, 2021. The Guardian is the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. It has been published regularly since March of 1965.

A Remote Environment’S Effect On The News Consumption Of College Students, Amelia R. Webb

Anthós

This study investigates how PSU Honor Students' news interactions have changed with the shift to a remote environment. After conducting four interviews, it found that students' news exposure increased in a remote environment. This change caused students to be more aware of the news's mental health impacts, and they adjusted their news interactions accordingly.

Ghana's Public Diplomacy Under Kwame Nkrumah, Isaac Antwi-Boasiako

Conference Papers

The concept of public diplomacy is one of the trending approaches in modern international relations and diplomacy. Communicating and engaging effectively with the foreign public in a particular nation by a government to achieve its foreign policy objective is every government’s goal. The field of public diplomacy as an academic discipline in Ghana in particular and Africa has not received much attention compared to the Western World. This article attempts to bridge this gap by opening Ghana’s public diplomacy to academic scrutiny that has, as yet, been underdeveloped. This paper’s principal objective is to bring to light the public diplomacy …

A Feverish Spring: A Comparative Analysis Of Covid-19 News Framing In Sweden, The Uk, And Egypt, Hend Abdelgaber Ahmed El-Behary

Theses and Dissertations

Based on framing and the social responsibility theoretical frameworks, this comparative study analyzes the dominance of frames in the media coverage of the COVID-19 global pandemic across three countries that have adopted different preventative measures: Sweden (herd immunity) the United Kingdom (full lockdown) and Egypt (partial lockdown ‘curfew’). While several studies have investigated the media’s role during COVID-19, few have analyzed the frames used by the media. The analyses that were made here, for the most part, is on individual countries. The current study bridges a gap by using a comparative approach to interpret the frames discovered in news articles …

The Impact Of Contact Tracing On The Spread Of Covid-19: An Egocentric Agent-Based Model, Andrew Pilny, Lin Xiang, Corey Huber, Will Silberman, Sean Goatley-Soan

Communication Faculty Publications

At its core, contact tracing is a form of egocentric network analysis (ENA). One of the biggest obstacles for ENA is informant accuracy (i.e., amount of true contacts identified), which is even more prominent for interaction-based network ties because they often represent episodic relational events, rather than enduring relational states. This research examines the effect of informant accuracy on the spread of COVID-19 through an egocentric, agent-based model. Overall when the average person transmits COVID-19 to 1.62 other people (i.e., the R₀), they must be, on average, 75% accurate with naming their contacts. In higher transmission contexts (i.e., …

Data Sharing In Southeast Asia During The First Wave Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Arianna Maever L. Amit, Veincent Christian F. Pepito, Bernardo Gutierrez, Thomas Rawson

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Background: When a new pathogen emerges, consistent case reporting is critical for public health surveillance. Tracking cases geographically and over time is key for understanding the spread of an infectious disease and effectively designing interventions to contain and mitigate an epidemic. In this paper we describe the reporting systems on COVID-19 in Southeast Asia during the first wave in 2020, and highlight the impact of specific reporting methods.

Methods: We reviewed key epidemiological variables from various sources including a regionally comprehensive dataset, national trackers, dashboards, and case bulletins for 11 countries during the first wave of the epidemic in Southeast …

Building A Leader's Identity On Social Media, Morningstar Dickson

University Honors Theses

How can leaders use social media effectively to shape their identity as a leader? Based on previous scholarship, this paper argues that using an authentic leadership approach to social media usage, would balance a leader’s true identity as well as maintaining their relationship with their followers. Which would allow the leaders’ influence to be more effective. This paper consists of a literature review on authentic leadership, and trust, and then builds a conceptual model that will break down how a leader should build and present their identity on online formats. The model shows how identity on social media is a …

North American Expatriates In Mexico: A Discourse Analysis Of Facebook Groups, Liliana Carolina Brock

University Honors Theses

North American expatriates in Mexico often live in enclaves or affluent communities at a fraction of what it would cost in the US or Canada. Despite living in Mexico for years, many expatriates are poorly integrated into Mexican culture and society. This integration is made more difficult because many are unable to speak Spanish fluently. Instead, expatriates rely on English language Facebook groups to help them navigate life in Mexico. While scholars have explored the intersections of communication and interculturalism in expatriate communities, comparatively few have explored how the internet and the presentation of self on social media (specifically Facebook) …

Farm Dinner Theater: Improving Health And Safety For Farm Families, Deborah B. Reed, Debra Mccallum, Eileen Legault

Journal of Extension

This article provides a brief overview of Farm Dinner Theater (FDT), a novel intervention that positively influences the health and safety behaviors of senior family farmers and their family. The FDT uses principles of adult learning and engages the audience in conversations about their health and safety experiences. The FDT was developed through interdisciplinary community-engaged research and tested using a repeated measures design with 553 intervention and 317 comparison participants. Significant changes were reported and the FDT is now being used by Extension through the use of a toolkit developed by the project.

Mapping Online Reading Behaviour Of University Students: A Case Study Of Mizoram University, Aizawl, K. Lalzawmtluangi , Former Student, Department Of Mass Communication, Vanlalruata , Ph.D Scholar, Department Of Mass Communication, V. Ratnamala , Associate Professor, Department Of Mass Communication

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examines the media habits and the online reading behaviour of university students in Mizoram. The primary objectives of the study are 1) To map the media habits of university students 2) To study the reading behaviour of university students 3) To determine online news reading behaviour of university students. We employed a survey method as the major research method in this study and the questionnaire is a tool used for collecting survey data. We divided the questionnaire into four sections dealing with socio-demographic information, media habits, reading behaviour and news-consuming behaviour. Mizoram University is selected as the population …

Effects Of Social Technology On Older Adults In A Residential Living Facility, Katherine Bennett, Mia L. Gonzalez, Sydney L. Harper, Madison N. Logan, Kaeli M. Jeffers, Alexandrea C. Springer, Jeanne Sowers

Student Journal of Occupational Therapy

Personal connection and social interaction are vital components of health throughout the lifespan. Loneliness and social isolation among the older adult population impacts both physical and mental health negatively. Analysis of published research demonstrates the importance of considering the use of different social technology platforms to foster opportunities for social support among family and friends. Researchers noted an increased relevance of the need for social technology in residential living facilities with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing. The study aims to investigate the impact of social technology, via Sherish℠ Connect on older adults’ reported levels of loneliness …

Religion In Crisis: Exploring Muslim Refugee Coping Strategies, Isabella Yeager

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

A significant portion of today’s refugee population is either practicing or ethnically Muslim. Because the refugee experience can be very stressful and taxing, many refugees turn to religion as a coping tactic, a resource that informs both one’s general perspective on life and the development of coping strategies. Muslims draw specific coping strategies from their adherence to the Holy Qur’an and other Islamic teachings and practices.This research proposal aims to explore and describe the unique coping strategies that individuals develops and use throughout the Muslim refugee experience.

The Guardian, Week Of June 14, 2021, Wright State Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

News articles from The Guardian for the week of June 14, 2021. The Guardian is the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. It has been published regularly since March of 1965.

Catastrophic Failure: How Covid-19 Was Relayed From The Media To The Public, Samuel D. Johnson, Jr.

College of Communication Theses and Dissertations

This research utilizes content analysis and mixed methods as a way of understanding how COVID-19 related information was relayed from the media to the public during crucial times in U.S. history. The information analyzed entails news media broadcasts that occurred from June 26 to October 2, 2020, when the pandemic was on the rise in terms of cases and deaths. In addition to analyzing specific broadcasts, a comparative analysis was conducted between MSNBC vs. Fox News, in an effort to highlight key events that took place during the battle against COVID-19. This research utilizes agenda setting and framing principles to …

Communication After A Romantic Breakup, Kayleigh Jordan Mahoney

College of Communication Theses and Dissertations

Throughout a person’s life, it is likely that they will experience a romantic breakup at some point. However, post breakup experiences can differ from person to person. Many different things can impact a person’s post breakup experiences including their investment during the time of the relationship, as well as any communication that takes place after the breakup. Previous research has taken a look at post breakup experiences. However, little to no research has examined post breakup experiences while taking into consideration romantic beliefs. This study (N = 72) tested how a person’s investment during the relationship predicts post breakup distress, …

Understanding Milk Consumption Habits Among College Students In Order To Redesign Outreach, Stacey F. Stearns, Adam N. Rabinowitz

Journal of Extension

College students consume less dairy milk than in the past. Increased competition in the beverage aisle influences their choices. However, much of the population is not meeting the recommended intake guidelines for calcium. A survey of undergraduate college students with university dining plans focused on milk consumption habits, beverage choices, and student attitudes toward healthful foods and nutrition. Results are guiding Extension program educational outreach campaigns to college students. By focusing on the healthful and nutritional benefits of milk, Extension educators could increase consumption among college age consumers, and their long-term healthful outcomes.

Testing Social Media Water Conservation Messages That Convey Extension Evaluation Results, Laura A. Warner, Colby Silvert, Jamie Loizzo, Jarred A. Shellhouse

Journal of Extension

In this study, we tested frames Extension professionals could use to promote residential water conservation through social media. We randomly assigned Florida residents to view one of six visual messages with water conservation facts or stories and then measured willingness to engage with education programs and conservation behaviors. There were clear differences in message frame performance, but better performance was highly dependent on outcome metrics used. Therefore, we were unable to identify a preferred frame. These findings need to be further examined in an authentic social media environment to inform best practices in social media message framing for Extension professionals.

The Impact Of The Media Coverage Of Sexual Violence On Its Victims/Survivors, Jaidaa Taha

Theses and Dissertations

As part of their daily routine, journalists are often assigned to cover accidents or traumatic events to keep the public updated. With the high competition and the constant deadline pressure, reporters are usually pressured to talk to the subjects of these traumatic accidents too soon to publish their stories. This in turn leaves limited room for them to think about how this coverage is affecting their interviewees. This study aims to examine the impact of the media’s coverage of sexual assault on the victims/survivors of the assault themselves. Media outlets often follow stories of sexual violence, tackling a lot of …

E(Raced): Race And Use Of Self Amongst Bipoc Social Workers, Anita Reinette Gooding

Dissertations and Theses

Use of self is defined as the social worker's instrument, and involves an intentional engagement of one's personhood in ways that facilitate client change (Heyt & Sherman, 2005). This dissertation argues that race is one component of the social worker's self that is visible, and that can affect how Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) social workers use self in their practice. Using Critical Race Theory, Social Identity Theory and an Interpretive Description methodology, this dissertation engages 27 BIPOC field instructors in semi-structured interviews in order to answer the following research questions: a) What are the components of use …

An Examination Of Covid-19 Health Behaviors And Public Health Messaging Using The Health Belief Model And Organization-Public Relationship Quality, Aaron L. Nichols

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the context of the most severe pandemic in over 100 years, this study examined public health behavior and public health messaging using the health belief model (HBM) and organization-public relationships (OPR) as frameworks. The study employed a cross-sectional survey of students (N = 288) and employees (N = 203) at a large public university in the southeastern United States. First, the study empirically tested the components of the HBM as determinants of engaging in public health behaviors meant to slow or prevent the spread of COVID-19 and found all components of the model to be significantly related to engaging …

Influences On Business Journalists In Egypt During Imf-Backed Economic Adjustments Of 2016-2019, Tamim Salman

Theses and Dissertations

The economic adjustments that Egypt implemented as part of an IMF-backed program between 2016 and 2019 were a milestone event in the country's economic history. Business journalism was an important part of it as people, policymakers and businesses tried to grasp the developments. Using qualitative in-depth interviews with business journalists and editors, this study attempts to examine the various influences experienced by journalists that affected their framing of news and the quality and type of coverage. The study argues that journalists came under the influence of political pressure and media controls, as well as the technical allure of market sources …

Strengths And Weaknesses Of Digital Diaries As A Means To Study Patient Pathways: Experiences With A Study Of Hypertension In The Philippines, Jhaki A. Mendoza, Maureen L. Seguin, Gideon Lasco, Lia M. Palileo-Villanueva, Arianna Maever L. Amit, Alicia Renedo, Martin Mckee, Benjamin Palafox, Dina Balabanova

Development Studies Faculty Publications

The rise of digital mobile communications has made possible novel research methods that can provide a better understanding of patients’ experience of non-communicable diseases. This study explores the opportunities and challenges in employing “digital diaries” via mobile phones to track the lived experiences of people with hypertension in the Philippines. Following in-depth interviews, 40 hypertensive adults were invited to submit digital diaries over 12 months. Mobile phones were found to be an efficient way of reaching participants, although it was difficult to collect in-depth narratives about their experiences using the medium beyond nominal responses about symptoms and treatment. Possible explanations …

The Guardian, Week Of June 7, 2021, Wright State Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

News articles from The Guardian for the week of June 7, 2021. The Guardian is the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. It has been published regularly since March of 1965.