Digital Commons Network^™

Hunger In A Food Lover's Paradise: Understanding Food Insecurity In Singapore, Emma Glendinning, Siew Ying Shee, Tania Nagpaul, Jinwen Chen

Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research

This report provides a deeper understanding of the food insecurity situation in Singapore. Food insecurity refers to the lack of physical and/or economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. The report sheds light on those experiencing food insecurity and the factors affecting this experience. In addition, it identifies gaps in food support provision and makes recommendations on how these gaps might be filled for a smoother and targeted food support distribution system.

A Dual-Process Team Mood Framework Of Team Creativity, Sean Teck Hao Lee

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

While it has been recognized that mood can exert a substantive influence on an individual’s level of creativity, much of the creative needs of organizations today are being fulfilled by brainstorming teams rather than individual employees. As such, researchers have begun to examine the effects of mood on creativity in the context of teams. Existing findings, unfortunately, have not been consistent, such that positive mood has been shown to be beneficial towards team creativity at times (e.g., Grawitch, Munz, Elliott, & Mathis, 2003), while at other times being harmful towards team creativity (e.g., Tsai, Chi, Grandey, & Fung, 2012). Similarly, …

Collating Historic Weather Observations For The East Asian Region: Challenges, Solutions, And Reanalyses, Fiona Williamson, Rob Allan, Guoyu Ren, Tsz-Cheung Lee, Wing-Hong Lui, Hisayuki Kubota, Jun Matsumoto, Jurg Luterbacher, Clive Wilkinson, Kevin Wood

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Historic instrumental weather observations, made on land or at sea from as early as the 17th century (e.g., Camuffo etal., 2010), are integral to extending our understanding of the decadal and centennial variations of Earth’s climate and forcomparison with paleo-proxy data. The potential of such data is shown to best effect when used in dynamical 4D globalreanalyses to reconstruct climate patterns and fluctuations over more than 250 years, improving climate projections and con-tributing to climate change detection and attribution studies. This longer temporal dimension permits the resolution of morerealizations of decadal to multi-decadal climate variations (Bengtsson et al., 2007). The …

Beware Of Geeks With Good Intentions, Ijlal Naqvi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Using sci-fi’s metaphors, ideal types, and counterfactuals to consider our real-world problems, old and new. Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, a science fiction novel much beloved of geeks, has special resonance among those who imagine themselves as visionaries using advanced knowledge to transform society for the better. When the SpaceX rocket launched in early 2018, its unusual payload even included a copy of the Foundation series as a symbolic gesture.

Has The Development Gap Between The Ethnic Minority And Majority Groups Narrowed In Vietnam?: Evidence From Household Surveys, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

Using household data for rural northern Vietnam between 1993 and 2014, we find that the ethnic minority group continued to lag behind the majority group in various development indicators despite the overall improvement in living standards. Our regression and decomposition analyses show that the structural differences between the two groups are an important cause of persistent development gap. However, the nature of structural differences changed over time and no single source of structural difference explains the persistent gap. We argue that more minority‐appropriate policies are needed to lift poor minority households out of poverty further and reduce the development gap.

Women's Education, Intergenerational Coresidence, And Household Decision-Making In China, Cheng Cheng

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

ObjectiveThis study examines how intergenerational coresidence modifies the association between women's education and their household decision‐making power in China.BackgroundPast research on how married women's education increases their decision‐making power at home has focused primarily on nuclear families. This article extends prior research by examining how this association varies by household structure. It compares women living with their husbands with those living with both their husbands and parents‐in‐law.MethodThis article used data from the China Family Panel Studies in 2010 and 2014. It employed marginal structural models to address the concern that certain characteristics selecting women of less power into coresidence with …

Spaces Of The Religious Economy: Negotiating The Regulation Of Religious Space In Singapore, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Over the past three decades, the theory of religious economy has been established, applied, debated, developed, and rejected. It has proven to be as divisive as any "general theory" of religion should be, and yet its core tenets continue to engage and unite scholars around the world. In response to broader shifts within the sociology of religion, this article reframes religious economy by advancing a spatial approach to its theorization. A spatial approach can help develop new perspectives on the regulation of religion, and the resistant agency of religious groups. With a focus on the "secular monopoly" of Singapore, it …

Using Multiple Methods To More Fully Understand Causal Relations: Positive Affect Enhances Social Relationships, Shannon Moore, Ed Diener, Kenneth Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We review research indicating that higher levels of positive affect help produce better social relationships for that person and those around him or her. By better relationships we mean those that are experienced as more pleasant and less aversive, are closer and more supportive, and are long-lasting. We review longitudinal, experimental, experience-sampling, cross-cultural, and other types of evidence that suggest that not only do good relationships produce positive affect, but that positive affect can lead to them as well. We also focus on the mediators that create the association going from positive affect to sociability and high-quality relationships. Finally, we …

Unobtrusive Detection Of Frailty In Older Adults, Nadee Goonawardene, Hwee-Pink Tan, Lee Buay Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Sensor technologies have gained attention as an effective means to monitor physical and mental wellbeing of elderly. In this study, we examined the possibility of using passive in-home sensors to detect frailty in older adults based on their day-to-day in-home living pattern. The sensor-based elderly monitoring system consists of PIR motion sensors and a door contact sensor attached to the main door. A set of pre-defined features associated with elderly’s day-to-day living patterns were derived based on sensor data of 46 elderly gathered over two different time periods. A series of feature vectors depicting different behavioral aspects were derived to …

Identifying Elderlies At Risk Of Becoming More Depressed With Internet-Of-Things, Jiajue Ou, Huiguang Liang, Hwee Xian Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Depression in the elderly is common and dangerous. Current methods to monitor elderly depression, however, are costly, time-consuming and inefficient. In this paper, we present a novel depression-monitoring system that infers an elderly’s changes in depression level based on his/her activity patterns, extracted from wireless sensor data. To do so, we build predictive models to learn the relationship between depression level changes and behaviors using historical data. We also deploy the system for a group of elderly, in their homes, and run the experiments for more than one year. Our experimental study gives encouraging results, suggesting that our IoT system …

Coping With Stereotype Threat: Multiple Identities And The Role Of Gender-Professional Identity Integration (G-Pii), Amy Jia Ying Lim

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Negative stereotypes concerning females’ inferior quantitative abilities continue to hinder females’ preference and success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Studies on multiple identities show that priming females with a favorable identity, a social identity they possess that is associated with superior quantitative abilities, can reduce the aversive effects of stereotype threat. However, this line of research overlooked the fact that females manage their multiple identities in different ways and therefore respond to identity cues differently. This paper examined the role of gender-professional identity integration (G-PII), an individual difference on perceived compatibility of gender and professional identities, in …

Social Class, Control, And Action: Socioeconomic Status Differences In Antecedents Of Support For Pro-Environmental Action, Kimin Eom, Heejung S. Kim, David K. Sherman

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Addressing social issues such as climate change requires significant support and engagement of citizens with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. The present research examines whether individuals who vary in their socioeconomic status significantly differ in their psychological antecedents of support for pro-environmental action. Study 1, using U.S. nationally representative data, showed that personal beliefs about climate change predicted support for pro-environmental policies more strongly among individuals with a higher, relative to lower, SES background. Studies 2 and 3, by employing correlational and experimental approaches respectively, found that general sense of control over life outcomes underlies the extent to which support for pro-environmental …

Technology-Enabled Medication Adherence For Seniors Living In The Community: Experiences, Lessons, And The Road Ahead, Hwee Xian Tan, Hwee-Pink Tan, Huiguang Liang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Medication non-adherence in seniors can lead to severe health complications, including morbidity, mortality and decreased quality of life. In view of ageing populations worldwide, there is significant interest among the healthcare sector and researchers to improve medication adherence rates for seniors. However, existing studies in the literature focus primarily on identifying the predictors of medication non-adherence. In this paper, we present our work on technology-enabled medication adherence for 24 community-dwelling seniors over a period of more than 2 years. We leverage Internet of Things (IoT) devices to track inferred medication consumption in the seniors’ homes, and provide quasi real-time alerts …

What Fishermen Have In Common With Uber Drivers, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Preferred working hours show a clear return to experience.

Addressing Social Needs Through Remote Based Design Thinking, Hoe-Chin Goi, Wee Liang Tan, Yuki Hara, Shuichi Takao

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

With ageing as the coming and increasing phenomenon in Japan, there is a need for innovative solutions for seniors to lead active lives in their residing communities. Little research has been conducted on the use of design thinking as a means to develop social innovations, especially with the designers not being present on-site from a distance. This paper reports the study on the effectiveness of employing a remote based design thinking in a university course with the goal for participants to develop social innovations that elderly, as stakeholders, would be engage to adopt and implement. The study involved two cohorts …

The Role Of Bilingual Interactional Contexts In Predicting Interindividual Variability In Executive Functions: A Latent Variable Analysis, Andree Hartanto

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Despite a huge number of studies examining bilingual advantages in executive functions (EFs), the research findings with regards to the relations between bilingualism and EFs are mostly inconsistent and mixed. In order to shed light on these inconsistent findings, the current research aimed to tackle on both conceptual and methodological limitations that are prevalent in previous studies, namely: (a) failure to consider bilingual experiences in assessing bilingual advantages, and (b) task impurity due to substantial influence of non-EFs processes on EFs task performance. Based on Adaptive Control Hypothesis and Control Process Model of Code-switching, a theory-driven multisession study coupled with …

Long-Term Care Needs In The Context Of Poverty And Population Aging: The Case Of Older Persons In Myanmar, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Myanmar is one of the poorest and least healthy countries in Southeast Asia. As elsewhere in the region, population aging is occurring. Yet the government welfare and health systems have done little to address the long-term care (LTC) needs of the increasing number of older persons thus leaving families to cope on their own. Our study, based on the 2012 Myanmar Aging Survey, documents the LTC needs of persons aged 60 and older and how they are met within the context of the family. Nearly 40% of persons in their early 60s and 90% of those 80 and older reported …

Mobile Bodies, (Im)Mobile Beliefs? Religious Accord And Discord As Migratory Outcomes, Lily Kong, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article advances a new understanding of the outcomes that arise from the movement and settlement of religion. These outcomes can range from religious accord to discord; or, from the full integration of migrant religions to inter-religious conflict. It identifies two axes that determine such outcomes. The first relates to the interplay between transnational religious agency and the strength of local religious structures. Harder structures are more likely to require migrant religious groups to make greater compromises to bring about situations of religious accord, while softer structures are less likely to do so. The second relates to the interplay between …

Politics And The Price Of Rice In Thailand: Public Choice, Institutional Change And Rural Subsidies, Jacob Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Despite the Thai state’s long record of rice market interventions, historically politicians failed to leverage rice subsidies in their pursuit of political support, notwithstanding the large number of farmers in the country. Since Thaksin Shinawatra’s election in 2001, though, each government has subsidised rice producers, although at varying degrees. What explains this change? This article traces the four-decade history of rice price support programmes. It is proposed that these policies be interpreted through the dual lens of institutionalism and public choice theory, demonstrating how political institutions have shaped incentives for politicians to cater to different constituencies. During the pre-1980 period, …

Distinguishing Agent-Relativity From Agent Neutrality, Matthew Hammerton

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The agent-relative/agent-neutral distinction is one of the most important incontemporary moral theory. Yet providing an adequate formal account of it hasproven to be difficult. In this article I defend a new formal account of the distinction,one that avoids various problems faced by other accounts. My account is based on aninfluential account of the distinction developed by McNaughton and Rawling. I arguethat their approach is on the right track but that it succumbs to two seriousobjections. I then show how to formulate a new account that follows the key insightsof McNaughton and Rawling’s approach yet avoids the two objections.

Big Data For Climate Change Actions And The Paradox Of Citizen Informedness, Kustini Lim-Wavde, Robert J. Kauffman

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Advanced sensor technology, social media, and other information technologies have provided us with “big data” on climate change. Due to the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Climate Observing System, climate observations and records, as well as discussions on climate-related concerns such as measurement of air temperature, are widely available now. The United Nations’ Global Pulse visualises public engagement on climate change globally, with data such as the volume of climate-related tweets. Big data, data analytics, and the sharing of scientific results in the popular press have created, as a result, an unprecedented level of citizen informedness—the degree to which citizens have …

Migration: 2017 The New York Times Asia-Pacific Writing Competition, New York Times

Student Publications

This is a yearly writing competition organised by International New York Times (INYT). This year's topic is "Migration" and SMU's law student Averill Chow Mingni was the winner in the University category. See her essay:

• New homes, better lives by Averill Chow Mingni on page 16-17

Real World, Large Scale Iot Systems For Community Eldercare: Experiences And Lessons Learned, Alvin Cerdena Valera, Wei Qi Lee, Hwee-Pink Tan, Hwee Xian Tan, Huiguang Liang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The paradigm of aging-in-place - where the elderly live and age in their own homes, independently and safely, with care provided by the community - is compelling, especially in societies that face both shortages in institutionalized eldercare resources, and rapidly-aging populations. When the number of elderly who live alone rises rapidly, support and care from their communities become increasingly critical. Internet-of-Things(IoT) technologies, particularly in-home monitoring solutions, are becoming mature. They can become the fundamental enabler for smart community eldercare. In this chapter, we share our real-world experiencesgleaned from an ongoing large-scale project on IoT-enabled community eldercare. We identify technology-centric challenges …

Liquid Futures: Water Management Systems And Anticipated Environments, Sayd Randle, Jessica Barnes

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Climate change and its impact on hydrological dynamics have become key topics of concern among water managers and policy makers in many parts of the world. Yet while practitioners often frame adaptation to a climate-changed future as a novel issue, ideas about future environments have long influenced systems of water management. Reviewing ethnographic and historical accounts of waterscapes across the globe, this article examines the relationship between imagined environmental futures and the policies, practices, infrastructures of water management and legal frameworks. We show, first, how conflicting ideas about environmental stasis and perturbation have been built into water networks across space …

Perceived Entitlement Causes Discrimination Against Attractive Job Candidates In The Domain Of Relatively Less Desirable Jobs, Margaret Lee, Marko Pitesa, Madan M. Pillutla, Stefan Thau

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

People generally hold positive stereotypes of physically attractive people and because of those stereotypes often treat them more favorably. However, we propose that some beliefs about attractive people, specifically, the perception that attractive individuals have a greater sense of entitlement than less attractive individuals, can result in negative treatment of attractive people. We examine this in the context of job selection and propose that for relatively less desirable jobs, attractive candidates will be discriminated against. We argue that the ascribed sense of entitlement to good outcomes leads to perceptions that attractive individuals are more likely to be dissatisfied working in …

The Relevance Of Sleep And Circadian Misalignment For Procrastination Among Shift Workers, Jana Kuhnel, Sabine Sonnentag, Ronald Bledow, Klaus G. Melchers

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This daily diary study contributes to current research uncovering the role of sleep for employees' effective self-regulation at work. We focus on shift workers' effective self-regulation in terms of their general and day-specific inclination to procrastinate, that is, their tendency to delay the initiation or completion of work activities. We hypothesized that transitory sleep characteristics (day-specific sleep quality and sleep duration) and chronic sleep characteristics in terms of circadian misalignment are relevant for procrastination. Sixty-six shift workers completed two daily questionnaires over the course of one work week, resulting in 332 days ofanalysis. Results of multilevel regression analyses showed that …

Book Review: Multinational Maids: Stepwise Migration In A Global Labor Market By Anju Mary Paul, Andy Scott Chang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

From Singapore and Tel Aviv to Rome and Vancouver, Filipina domestic workers have captured the hearts of international employers, thanks to their English proficiency, educational attainment, and cosmopolitan outlook. Though confined to indentured servitude in nearly every country, Filipinas trot the world scouring for higher salaries, job security, and even pathways to citizenship. Their Indonesian counterparts likewise undertake multinational journeys, beginning in neighboring Malaysia and concluding in high-wage economies like Taiwan. But while Filipinas view employment in newly industrial economies as a springboard for the West, Indonesians display limited interest in settlement outside origin communities, content as they are with …

Revealed Traits: A Novel Method For Estimating Cross-Cultural Similarities And Differences In Personality, Cory Costello, Dustin Wood, William Tov

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Cross-cultural research on personality has often led to surprising and countertheoretical findings, which have led to concerns over the validity of country-level estimates of personality (e.g., Heine, Buchtel, & Norenzayan, 2008). The present study explores how cross-cultural differences can be indexed via revealed trait estimates, which index the personality traits of individuals or groups indirectly through their likelihood of responding in particular ways to particular situations. In two studies, we measure self-reports of personality, revealed traits, and revealed preferences for different expected effects (e.g., experiencing excitement) of two cultural groups (U.S. and Singaporean participants). We found typical East–West differences in …

Judgments Of Interpersonal Warmth Predict Class-Based Differences In Political Candidate Support, Jacinth J. X. Tan, Michael W. Kraus

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The present research examines how warmth communications shape classbased patterns of political candidate support. Drawing on theory and evidence that lower-class individuals are more attuned to others, we predicted that, relative to upper-class individuals, they will modulate their trust and support in response to communications of warmth generated by and about political figures. In Experiment 1, lower-class compared to upper-class participants reported less trust and support for a political candidate who communicated his warmth in a campaign video, while no class differences emerged when he communicated competence or hostility to an opponent instead. In Experiment 2, lower-class compared to upper-class …

Early Detection Of Mild Cognitive Impairment In Elderly Through Iot: Preliminary Findings, Hwee-Xian Tan, Hwee-Pink Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) results in the gradual decline in a person’s cognitive abilities, and subsequently an increased risk of developing dementia. Although there is no cure for dementia, timely medical and clinical interventions can be administered to elderly who have been diagnosed with MCI, to decelerate the process of further cognitive decline and prolong the duration that they enjoy quality of life. In this paper, we present our preliminary findings of early detection of MCI in elderly who are living in the community, through the use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices for continuous, unobtrusive sensing. Multimodal sensors are …