Digital Commons Network^™

Psychological Impairment And Extreme Weather Event (Ewe) Exposure, 1980–2020: A Global Pooled Analysis Integrating Mental Health And Well-Being Metrics, C. Chique, P. Hynds, M.M. Nyhan, S. Lambert, Martin Boudou, J. O'Dwyer

Articles

Extreme Weather Events (EWEs) impose a substantial health and socio-economic burden on exposed populations. Projected impacts on public health, based on increasing EWE frequencies since the 1950s, alongside evidence of human-mediated climatic change represents a growing concern. To date, the impacts of EWEs on mental health remain ambiguous, largely due to the inherent complexities in linking extreme weather phenomena with psychological status. This exploratory investigation provides a new empirical and global perspective on the psychological toll of EWEs by exclusively focusing on psychological morbidity among individuals exposed to such events. Morbidity data collated from a range of existing psychological and …

Developmental Neurorobotics Models Of Counting And Numerosity Judgment, Leszek Pecyna

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis presents novel developmental robotics models of number cognition which take into account the embodied basis of this process. The ability to perceive quantity is undoubtedly crucial for both humans and animals. Nowadays, automation is becoming increasingly important in society; it seems that the way, similar to humans, to perceive and process numbers is one of the pressing issues for the future of robotics. This is important in the context of proper interaction between robots and humans which requires machines - at least on some level - to understand complex/abstract words such as number names. This thesis takes into …

Writing Centers And Programs: Their Role In Democratization Policies In Higher Education In Argentina, Diana Monica Waigandt, Fabiana Castagno, Sonia Gabriela Lizarriturri, Gabriela Lujan Giammarini, Estela Ines Moyano, Maria Del Carmen Novo

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

Writer Types, Writing Strategies: Introducing A Non-English Text, Schreiben Und Denken, To A New Audience, Nadja Sennewald

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

Digital Health’S Impact On Integrated Care, Carer Empowerment And Patient-Centeredness For Persons Living With Dementia, Nicole Gross, Vivienne Byers, Susi Geiger

Articles

E-health or digital health technologies endeavour to connect key stakeholders and thereby lay the foundation for better integrated as well as potentially more patient-centered care. However, despite the promise of empowerment, efficiency and value, digital health has yet to become part of the daily lives of the people who care for persons living with dementia

Drug Education Best Practice For Health, Community And Youth Workers: A Practical And Accessible Tool-Kit, Clay Darcy

Articles

Objectives Drug education is delivered by a broad spectrum of multi-disciplinary practitioners within the fields of health promotion, drug prevention and treatment, social care, and community and youth work. However, drug education is often misunderstood or conflated with drug information and/or drug prevention. This ambiguity of understanding is problematic and, when coupled with drug education being delivered by practitioners who may not have formal training in drug education, can result in poor delivery, poor participant engagement and poor outcomes. This paper provides conceptual clarity for practitioners on drug education, differentiating it from other approaches to drug issues. Methods The paper …

Tracing Learning Environment In Java Programming Language, Sarah Alhammad

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

The visualisation approach is one of the programming learning styles that has been taken into account in programming education. A collection of visualisation tools has emerged with the aim of assisting novice programmers in learning how to program. Each tool has its own set of features that may or may not be helpful in gaining a better understanding. The methods that we used in this study are focused on using memory referencing and visualisation to clarify what happens during individual program statement executions. Understanding the efficacy of current instructional resources is a critical component of gathering students' requirements and needs …

Media Discourses On The Economy In Ireland: Framing The Policy Possibilities, Brendan K. O'Rourke

Books/Book Chapters

Ireland suffered a lot economically in the Great Recession, yet its policies continued on a neoliberal trajectory, making Irish neoliberalism less a non-dead Zombie and more like a reinvigorated Frankenstein’s monster, with ordoliberal transplants from Germany grafted into an Anglo-American neoliberal composite body. Yet along with these continuities come much change. There was political change in party strengths and personnel. There was change in the Irish state’s capacity for policy analysis (MacCarthaigh, 2017) an increase in the number of Ireland’s policy analysts and their specialisms, and an increased stress on evidence-based policy-making. How can we explain both these continuities and …

The Nature Of Verbs In Sign Languages: A Role And Reference Grammar Account Of Irish Sign Language Verbs, Irene Murtagh

Articles

This paper is concerned with the special nature of sign language verbs, in particular to this research, Irish Sign Language verbs. We use Role and Reference Grammar to provide a definition of the structure of lexical entries that are sufficiently rich and robust in nature to represent Irish Sign Language verbs. Role and Reference Grammar takes language to be a system of communicative social action, and accordingly, analysing the communicative functions of grammatical structures plays a vital role in grammatical description and theory from this perspective. This work is part of research on the development of a linguistically motivated computational …

Embracing Online Engagement With Undergraduate Supervisors: Collective Perspectives On The Online Pivot, Roisin Donnelly, Yurgos Politis

Journal Articles

The sudden national move to online/remote teaching and learning has presented a unique dual opportunity to explore the strategic value and importance of embracing learning technology toincrease the proportion of the undergraduate (UG) supervision community actively developing their practice. We have delivered a redesigned module as part of an accredited professional development (PD) masters programme, which offers online practices and approaches sought by UG supervisors. This paper proposes an experiential and reflective contribution by educational developers in supporting the PD of UG supervisors. Our aim is to boost institutional informal conversations on UG supervision through formal engagement strategies in the …

An Exploratory Study Of Food Traditions Associated With Imbolg (St. Brigid’S Day) From The Irish Schools’ Folklore Collection, Caitriona Niphilibin, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

Articles

This study explores the food traditions of Imbolg or St. Brigid’s Day (1st February), one of the quarter days of the Irish calendar year, which heralds the awakening of spring. Imbolg is comparable to Christmas eve, in that celebratory potato dishes such as colcannon or ‘poundies’ and boxty are consumed. Throughout the Schools’ Collection (6,000 copybooks filled with folklore collected by over 50,000 children), a rich food history where customs, superstitions, divinations and a mixing of the pagan and Christian traditions is evident. Four main themes: ‘Dishes’, ‘Brigid’s Crosses’, ‘Biddy Boys and Brídeogs’ and ‘Brigid, miracles and religion’ were identified, …

Developing An Open-Book Online Exam For Final Year Students, Keith Quille, Keith Nolan, Brett Becker, Sean Mchugh

Conference Papers

Like many others, our institution had to adapt our traditional proctored, written examinations to open-book online variants due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper describes the process applied to develop open-book online exams for final year (undergraduate) students studying Applied Machine Learning and Applied Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning courses as part of a four-year BSc in Computer Science. We also present processes used to validate the examinations as well as plagiarism detection methods implemented. Findings from this study highlight positive effects of using open-book online exams, with 85% of students reporting that they either prefer online open-book examinations or …

Detecting Interlocutor Confusion In Situated Human-Avatar Dialogue: A Pilot Study, Na Li, John D. Kelleher, Robert J. Ross

Conference papers

In order to enhance levels of engagement with conversational systems, our long term research goal seeks to monitor the confusion state of a user and adapt dialogue policies in response to such user confusion states. To this end, in this paper, we present our initial research centred on a user-avatar dialogue scenario that we have developed to study the manifestation of confusion and in the long term its mitigation. We present a new definition of confusion that is particularly tailored to the requirements of intelligent conversational system development for task-oriented dialogue. We also present the details of our Wizard-of-Oz based …

A Comparison Of Instructional Efficiency Models In Third Level Education, Murali Rajendran

Dissertations

This study investigates the validity and sensitivity of a novel model of instructional efficiency: the parabolic model. The novel model is compared against state-of-the-art models present in instructional design today; Likelihood model, Deviational model and Multidimensional model. This models is based on the assumption that optimal mental workload and high performance leads to high efficiency, while other models assume that low mental workload and high performance leads to high efficiency. The investigation makes use of two instructional design conditions: a direct instructions approach to learning and its extension with a collaborative activity. A control group received the former instructional design …

Human Age And Gender Classification Using Convolutional Neural Networks, Eamon Kelliher

Dissertations

In a world relying ever more on human classification, this papers aims to improve on age and gender image classification through the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). Age and gender classification has become a popular area of study in the past number of years however there are still improvements to be made, particularly in the area of age classification. This research paper aims to test the currently accepted fact that CNN models are the superior model type for image classification by comparing CNN performance against Support Vector Machine performance on the same dataset. Using the Adience image classification dataset, …

Women In British Window Display During The 1920s And 1930s, Kerry Meakin

Academic Articles

This paper examines the role of women in window display in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s. Window display in 1920s Britain was very much men’s work. Even when women were encouraged by those outside the profession, they were not necessarily encouraged by those within it. In 1923 the daily press and women’s journals devoted space to the debate on window dressing as an ideal and suitable profession for women. However, the editorial of Display, the official organ of the British Association of Display Men, disagreed. Display believed that women were unsuccessful at window dressing, justified by claiming they …

Improving The Exchange Rate For Student-Athletes: Transferable Skills, Athletic Identity, And Career Development, Parker Rhomberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study examined whether an intervention facilitating student-athletes awareness of their transferable skills increased their career adaptability and positive career outcome expectations. This study also explored whether the strength of student-athletes athletic identities was associated with changes in scores on the career outcome variables of interest. Data obtained from student-athletes (N = 26) and non-student-athletes (N = 24) at a Division I midsouth university indicated positive gains in the career outcome variables but athletic identity was not related to the effects of the intervention. The findings suggest partial support for the efficacy of an intervention for student-athletes focused on increasing …

Stress And Subjective Well-Being Among Online College Students: Examining The Role Of Social Support, Angela Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between stress and well-being among online undergraduate college students, and to explore the role of social support as a potential moderator in this relationship. This study utilized cross-sectional survey data collected from 175 undergraduate students enrolled exclusively in online courses during the spring 2021 semester at an urban, public university in the midsouth US. Roughly 65% of the sample was comprised of nontraditional-aged students, those 24 years and older. A series of MANOVAs revealed statistically significant differences in perceived stress and social support across age, gender, and race. Regression results …

Inside The Gay Homosociality: Skrip Seksual Dan Dominasi Maskulinitas Dalam Ruang Lingkup Pertemanan Antarsesama Gay, Fitri Ayunisa

Antropologi Indonesia

Three categories of identity among gays, namely top, bottom, and versatile embodied in the different roles in sexual activity, were also motivated by differences in characteristics and specific friendship patterns in daily life. Until now, discrimination in heterosexual social relations is still experiencing by most homosexuals has triggered the formation of gay homosociality. Besides, proving selfexistence, the friendship between gays is also a way to get social support and entertainment from the pressure of heterosexual friendship routines. The subjects involved in the study included eight people with different gay sexual identities, consisting of 4 bottoms, 2 tops, and 2 versatiles. …

Asia Pacific Perspectives Vol. 17 No. 1, 2021, University Of San Francisco

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Contents:

Editor's Introduction by Melissa S. Dale

We are pleased to announce the publication of the latest issue of Asia Pacific Perspectives (vol. 17, no. 1). This issue showcases the resilience and creativity of scholars doing research and writing about the Asia Pacific during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These scholars, like others in the humanities and social sciences, have not only found ways to continue their scholarship during these trying times but to even re-image how to go about doing research moving forward.

From Sanitation to Soybeans: Kitchen Hygiene and Nutritional Nationalism in Republican China, 1911-1945 by Sarah Xia Yu

This …

From Sanitation To Soybeans: Kitchen Hygiene And Nutritional Nationalism In Republican China, 1911–1945, Sarah Xia Yu

Asia Pacific Perspectives

This article investigates evolving expectations for Chinese individuals to clean, cook, eat, and nourish in their private kitchens, and how certain diseases became urgent touchstones for the change in public health priorities. Reformists promoted personal responsibility and popular interest in kitchen and dietary hygiene, which increased as Chinese audiences became exposed to globally- circulating ideas of sanitation and nutrition in individual homes. Furthermore, this occurred in tandem with increased institutionalized government developments for improved infrastructure. This article also highlights Chinese participation in the transnational dietary science movement of the early twentieth century, as reformists developed methods for beriberi and tuberculosis …

Demystifying Remote Research In Anthropology And Area Studies, Kaitlyn Ugoretz

Asia Pacific Perspectives

Physically cut off from locations and archives central to our work due to restrictions in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, area studies scholars must reimagine what constitutes rigorous and responsible research in their respective disciplines. The practice of remote research, however, is not a new one. Digital ethnography, an admittedly niche subdiscipline of anthropology, has long been grappling with the issues of how to value and conduct remote research. This essay explores a number of misconceptions regarding digital and remote research that may aid in contextualizing and coming to terms with the anxieties the broader scholarly community faces. I …

A Preliminary Examination Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy (Act) Versus Exposure And Response Prevention (Erp) For Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder On An Optimal Dose Of Ssris: A Randomized Controlled Trial In Iran, Mehdi Zemestani, Mojgan Salavati, Asrin Seyedolshohadayi, Julie M. Petersen, Clarissa W. Ong, Michael P. Twohig, Ebrahim Ghaderi

Psychology Student Research

This study compared the effects of adding acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) or exposure and response prevention (ERP) to adults diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) already on an optimal and stable dose of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Forty adults on SSRIs who were diagnosed with OCD participated in a randomized controlled trial in Iran of 12 individual weekly sessions of either ACT+SSRI, ERP+SSRI, or continued SSRI only. The results showed significant reductions in OCD symptom severity in ACT+SSRI and ERP+SSRI conditions at posttreatment with significantly greater reductions in both conditions compared to SSRI-only at follow-up. Additionally, psychological inflexibility …

The Role Of Psychological Inflexibility And Perspective Taking In Anti-Racism And Anti-Sexism, Carter Davis, Jennifer Krafft, Elizabeth Tish Hicks, Michael E. Levin

Psychology Student Research

Racism and sexism are pervasive forms of discrimination that cause significant individual and societal burden.Understanding manipulable psychological processes that contribute to these modes of discrimination would aid in developing anti-prejudice interventions that target them. Psychological flexibility has been proposed as a potential tool in combating prejudice by modifying one’s relationship with unwanted or automatic prejudicial thoughts, in addition to the ability to take the perspective of marginalized groups. A survey assessing psychological inflexibility and perspective taking along with anti-racist/anti-sexist attitudes and behaviors was administered to a sample of 395 undergraduate students. Perspective taking predicted anti-racist/anti-sexist behaviors above and beyond their …

In-Person And Online-Delivered Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For Hoarding Disorder: A Multiple Baseline Study, Clarissa W. Ong, Jennifer Krafft, Franchessca Panoussi, Juliana Petersen, Michael Levin, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Student Research

Hoarding disorder (HD) is associated with distress and functional impairment not only for the individual but also for their family members and community. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) already has broad empirical support and may be helpful for treating HD. In this nonconcurrent multiple baseline study (N = 6), we examined the effect of ACT on HD symptom severity, functional impairment, quality of life, co-occurring symptoms, and other outcomes. Participants consistently reported decreases in HD severity, clutter, functional impairment due to clutter, and depression at posttreatment. Scores were maintained at follow-up for two of three participants. Changes in other …

Preliminary Findings On Processes Of Change And Moderators For Cognitive Defusion And Restructuring Delivered Through Mobile Apps, Michael E. Levin, Jennifer Krafft, Woolee An, Clarissa W. Ong, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Student Research

A process-based therapy approach emphasizes examining how and for whom specific therapeutic components linked to specific processes of change function. This preliminary study explored the processes of change for cognitive defusion and restructuring with daily ratings of self-criticism from a larger component trial as well as self-compassion as a moderator of these daily effects. A sample of 51 adults high in self-criticism (M age = 22.69, 78% female, 88% non-Hispanic White) were randomized to a cognitive defusion or restructuring mobile app for two weeks and completed daily assessments. Both conditions improved over time on daily frequency, defused noticing, challenging, …

Weight-Related Psychological Inflexibility As A Mediator Between Weight Self-Stigma And Health-Related Outcomes, Julie M. Petersen, Carrie Durward, Michael Levin

Psychology Student Research

Weight self-stigma, the internalization of negative societal stereotypes, is a problem amongst populations with high weight. Weight self-stigma is associated with psychological inflexibility and maladaptive health-related behaviors. In this study, we explore how weight-related psychological inflexibility may influence weight self-stigma and health-related outcomes in 79 adults with high weight. Participants were primarily white (92.4%) and female (82.3%), with an average age of 39.56 and average body mass index of 33.78. The present study uses baseline, self-report data from a larger trial. Results indicate that weight self-stigma was negatively correlated with maladaptive eating behaviors, weight, and mental health. Weight-related psychological inflexibility …

Confirmatory Factor Analysis And Measurement Invariance Of The Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire-Body Image In A Clinical Eating Disorder Sample, Jennifer L. Barney, Tyson S. Barrett, Tera Lensegrav-Benson, Benita Quakenbush, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Student Research

Individuals with eating disorders (EDs) may be particularly susceptible to body image related cognitive fusion(i.e., excessive entanglement with one’s body image related thoughts such that they unduly influence on behavior). The Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire-Body Image (CFQ-BI) is the only existing measure of this construct, yet its psychometric properties have not been examined within a clinically diagnosed ED sample. The current study used confirmatory factor analysis and explored measurement invariance, construct validity, and incremental validity of the CFQ-BI when used with adolescent (n = 75) and adult (n= 100) females admitting to residential ED treatment. A modified version of the single-factor …

A Systematic Review And Psychometric Evaluation Of Self-Report Measures For Hoarding Disorder, Clarissa W. Ong, Jennifer Krafft, Michael E. Levin, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Student Research

Background: Hoarding disorder (HD) affects approximately 2.5% of the general population, leads to significant distress and impairment, and is notoriously difficult to treat. The crux of developing effective treatments for HD is our ability to reliably and validly measure relevant constructs in HD to better understand its presentation and, subsequently, formulate appropriate interventions.

Methods: We identified measures specific to HD and evaluated their psychometric properties using rating criteria formulated by the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) group.

Results: The 17 included measures were developed to assess adult and pediatric hoarding severity, functional impairment, and maladaptive …

Is Perfectionism Always Unhealthy? Examining The Moderating Effects Of Psychological Flexibility And Self-Compassion, Clarissa W. Ong, Eric B. Lee, Julie M. Petersen, Michael E. Levin, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Student Research

Objectives: Perfectionism is generally associated with worse mental health outcomes, though evidence suggests elements of it might be helpful. In light of these findings, we examined whether psychological skills like psychological flexibility and self-compassion moderated the relationship between perfectionism and wellbeing (i.e., quality of life, symptom impairment, and psychological distress).

Methods: Undergraduate students (N= 677) completed self-report measures.

Results: A latent profile analysis identified three perfectionism groups (low, average, high) based on four perfectionism subscales: concern over mistakes, need for approval, rumination, and striving for excellence. Generally, we found that psychological flexibility and/or self-compassion buffered the impact of average and …