Digital Commons Network^™

Examination Of Varying Pair Programming Strategies In Computer Science Laboratory Environments, Lily Sisouvong

Open Access Master's Theses

Pair programming is a technique within the computer science space in which two programmers are paired on one computer to solve a related programming task. This technique is often practiced in both the industry and the academic setting, as it has a consistent history of positively impacting working professionals and students regarding personal experience and performance in programming. As a result, there has been a large focus within the computer science education field on how and why pair programming is a successful technique. More specifically, what traits of pairing students together make pair programming successful. At the University of Rhode …

Assessing Well-Being Impacts Of Sargassum Events In Puerto Rico, Patricia Valentin

Open Access Master's Theses

Since 2011, Sargassum events have become larger and more recurrent in Puerto Rico and appear to have come to stay. While some studies have described economic and ecological impacts on the archipelago, studies of Sargassum impact on human well-being are lacking. However, in the context of Puerto Rico, only a few studies have been conducted in terms of general impacts of sargassum events and its management. Puerto Rico, like most territories of the region, lacks an efficient strategy for sargassum management. Currently, only one set of protocols or guidelines has been produced since sargassum accumulations have become an issue for …

Temporal Associations Between Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms And Depression In Response To Online Expressive Writing Interventions In A Hispanic Sample, Michiyo Hirai, Serkan Dolma, Laura L. Vernon, George A. Clum

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Some expressive writing (EW) interventions targeting posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) may reduce both PTSS and comorbid depression symptoms. The temporal associations between PTSS and depression symptom levels in response to EW interventions are unknown. This study examined the directionality of PTSS and depression symptom levels from baseline to 1-week, 1-month, and 3-month follow-ups of two online EW interventions in a Hispanic sample with diverse trauma experiences. Participants (n = 70) completed either emotion-focused or fact-focused writing for 3 consecutive days online. A manifest autoregressive model with cross-lagged effects and treatment condition was analyzed. All but one first-order autoregressive path …

One World, One Autism? A Commentary On Using An Intersectionality Framework To Study Autism In Low-Resourced Communities, Cecilia Montiel-Nava, María Cecilia Montenegro, Ana C. Ramirez

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Testing The Adequacy Of Formal Models Of An Irrational Learning Effect, Lenard Dome

School of Psychology Theses

The inverse base-rate effect (IBRE) is an irrational phenomenon in predictive learning characterized by as a preference for rare, unlikely outcomes in the face of ambiguity. This thesis investigates the adequacy of formal explanations for this puzzling phenomenon. In the first project, I will focus on mechanisms of learning that mathematical models posit underlie this preference. A class of attentional explanation produces a counter-intuitive prediction: the effect disappears under concurrent load. I confirm the prediction, but only when participants were under an obvious time constraint -- irrationality reduces under increased task demands. This suggests that multiple learning mechanisms operate independently …

Effects Of Parent-Implemented Interventions On Outcomes Of Children With Autism: A Meta-Analysis, Wai Man Cheng, Timothy B. Smith, Marshall Butler, Tina Taylor, Devan Clayton

Faculty Publications

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been shown to beneft from parent-implemented interventions (PIIs). This meta-analysis improved on prior reviews of PIIs by evaluating RCTs and multiple potential moderators, including indicators of research quality. Fifty-one efect sizes averaged moderately strong overall benefts of PIIs (g=0.553), with studies having lower risk of research bias yielding lower estimates (g=0.47). Parent and observer ratings yielded similar averaged estimates for positive behavior/social skills (g=0.603), language/communication (g=0.545), maladaptive behavior (g=0.519), and to a lesser extent, adaptive behavior/life skills (g=0.239). No other study, intervention, or participant

Fostering Spatial Ability Development In And For Authentic Stem Learning, Caiwei Zhu, Chloe Oi-Ying Leung, Eleni Lagoudaki, Mariana Velho, Natalia Segura-Caballero, Dietsje Jolles, Gavin Duffy, Gunter Maresch, Marianna Pagkratidou, Remke Klapwijk

Articles

Empirical interdisciplinary research has explored the role of spatial ability in STEM learning and achievement. While most of this research indicates that fostering spatial thinking in educational contexts has the potential to positively impact students’ enrollment and performance in STEM subjects, there is less agreement on the best approach to do so. This article provides an overview of various types of effective spatial interventions and practices in formal or informal educational contexts, including targeted training of STEM-relevant spatial skills, spatialized curricula embedded in schools, integrated STEM practices addressing students’ use of spatial skills, and spatial activities in informal STEM education. …

An Exploration Of Institutional And Personal Barriers To Online Academic Engagement At A Brazilian University, Cinthia Bittencourt Spricigo, Bárbara Maria Camilotti, Charles R. Graham, Ruth Baptista

Faculty Publications

The recent global pandemic has raised institutional awareness around the world concerning the importance of having high quality online learning options for students. Learner engagement is often correlated with quality outcomes such as student academic success and student satisfaction. Learner engagement is commonly thought of as having three important dimensions: affective engagement, behavioral engagement, and cognitive engagement (ACE framework). Engagement is also enabled or limited by facilitators/barriers. Three important categories of facilitators/barriers are learner characteristics, personal environment, and course environment. Elements in each of these three areas enable or are barriers to students fully engaging in a course. This research …

The Development Of The Process Mining Event Log Generator (Pmelg) Tool, Steven R. Hawkins, Jeffrey Pickerd, Scott L. Summers, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

Process mining is an emerging technology that allows users to visualize all potential variations of business processes within an organization. It holds significant potential for impacting the field of accounting. However, training professionals and students in its use is challenging due to a lack of event data applicable to accounting and auditing scenarios. To address this issue, we developed an easy-to-use tool called the Process Mining Event Log Generator (PMELG) for generating process mining data files for the order-to-cash process. With the PMELG tool, users can create realistic datasets that incorporate key accounting and auditing concepts, such as segregation of …

Auditing With Data And Analytics: External Reviewers’ Judgments Of Audit Quality And Effort, Scott A. Emett, Steven E. Kaplan, Elaine G. Mauldin, Jeffrey Pickerd

Faculty Publications

Audit firms hesitate to take full advantage of data and analytics (D&A) audit approaches because they lack certainty about how external reviewers evaluate those approaches. We propose that external reviewers use an effort heuristic when evaluating audit quality, judging less effortful audit procedures as lower quality, which could shape how external reviewers evaluate D&A audit procedures. We conduct two experiments in which experienced external reviewers evaluate one set of audit procedures (D&A or traditional) within an engagement review, while holding constant the procedures’ level of assurance. Our first experiment provides evidence that external reviewers rely on an effort heuristic when …

Synergising Bim And Real-Time Data For Improved Efficiency: An Irish Case Study, Ahmed Hassan, Ankur Mitra, Alan Hore, Mark Mulville

Conference papers

The evolution of 3D visualisation and the Internet of Things (IoT) presents a substantial opportunity for integrating real-time data with Building Information Models (BIM) to improve its functionality and construction workflow efficiency. Integrating real-time data with BIM can enhance the digital representation of construction buildings’ physical and functional characteristics and provide recordable status of on-site operations. Nevertheless, the integration between Visualisation and IoT technologies with BIM remains in its preliminary stages and faces a myriad of technical and operational challenges. Furthermore, developing advanced solutions to facilitate this complex integration requires a considerable understanding of the viability and feasibility of merging …

Challenges And Opportunities For Automating Physical Compliance On Construction Sites, Ankur Mitra, Mark Mulville

Conference papers

The construction project lifecycle includes several compliance requirements that need to be checked at multiple levels and at different phases of the project. Inability to comply with these regulations due to lack of time and resources or human oversight can affect the project throughout its service lifecycle with the potential for severe outcomes. Following a number of high-profile failings and owing to the high stakes nature of compliance, digitalisation has been introduced in this field of construction over the past few decades to reduce mistakes and neglect. Although the compliance checking process in the design phase has seen significant digital …

The Value Of The Serious Leisure Perspective In Understanding Cultural Capital Embodiment In Festival Settings, Giulia Ressetti, Bernadette Quinn

Presentations

Festivals have been conceptualised as serious leisure activities as well as arenas for cultural capital acquisition and embodiment. However, there is still theoretical confusion surrounding the process of cultural embodiment, especially in leisure practices. This paper suggests that the serious leisure perspective, in combination with cultural capital ideas, offer a means of deepening understanding of how cultural capital can be embodied in festival settings. To make its arguments, the paper draws on qualitative data collected at two long-established literary festivals, one in Ireland and one in Italy. Observations and interviews with festival participants were used to develop an understanding of …

Neo‐Fluxus: Multimedia Performance Art And Architecture, Mathew Emmett

School of Art, Design and Architecture

Abstract. Space Interface is a collaboration between artist‐architect Mathew Emmett and the legendary Eberhard Kranemann, a German neo‐Fluxus artist and founding member of electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk. Here, Emmett describes how, through mixed‐reality performance and audiovisual installation, their work transforms architectural settings by using video and electronic improvisation to evoke extended levels of architectural reality. They consider buildings as psychological prostheses, and their experiments attempt to invert and extend what might constitute architecture.

Consulting Staff On Change Management Initiatives Takes A Lot Of Valuable Time And Effort - Why Not Just Let The Decision Makers Get On With The Task?, Gerard Glynn, Kevin Byrne, Edward Sweeney

Conference proceedings

Purpose: The disciplines of organisation development (OD), organisational behaviour (OB) and supply chain management (SCM) share much in terms of the ongoing occurrence of change and how it is facilitated and managed. This paper utilises scenario foresight planning as an instrument of change management through the lens of OD, OB, and SCM. It gives particular emphasis on how the involvement and engagement of the people dimension [human supply chain continuum], contributes to the achievement of satisfactory outcomes. It seeks to outline progression in terms of both research into the fields and business process improvement. Design/Methodology/approach: The authors commenced an assessment …

Contingency As A Barrier To Decolonial Engagement: Listening To Multilingual Writers, Grace Lee-Amuzie

The Writing Center Journal

Based on the concept of transformative listening by García (2017) that views listening as a form of decolonial work that must take place in writing centers, the article examines colonial thinking and contingency as toxic preexisting conditions of writing center ecology that hinder our ability to listen to marginalized multilingual voices. Recognizing the commonality between multilingualism and contingency, both as ignored marginalized intersecting identities in the hierarchy of the racialized and corporatized university system, the article describes the complexity of engaging contingent workers in decolonial work and listening. Further, it argues that contingency creates significant barriers to the type of …

The Proof Is In The Pudding – Using Perceived Stress To Measure Short-Term Impact In Initiatives To Enhance Gender Balance In Computing Education, Alina Berry, Sarah Jane Delany

Academic Posters Collection

The problem of gender imbalance in computing higher education has forced academics and professionals to implement a wide range of initiatives. Many initiatives use recruitment or retention numbers as their most obvious evidence of impact. This type of evidence of impact is, however, more resource heavy to obtain, as well as often requires a longitudinal approach. There are many shorter term initiatives that use other ways to measure their success.

First, this poster presents with a review of existing evaluation measures in interventions to recruit and retain women in computing education across the board. Three main groups of evaluation come …

Co-Design Of An Interactive Wellness Park: Exploring Design Requirements For A Multimodal Outdoor Physical Web Installation With Older Adults, Fatima Badmos

Academic Posters Collection

The global demographic landscape is experiencing a notable shift, characterised by a growing proportion of adults over 60. According to projections, the proportion of individuals aged 60 and above is expected to reach one-sixth of the global population by 2030. Furthermore, by 2050, this demographic is projected to exceed a staggering two billion people. Amidst this shift, there is an urgent need to develop interactive and innovative solutions to address older adults' unique challenges, particularly in outdoor physical activity.

A co-design methodology involving older adults’ participation from the idea generation to the application development process will be adopted to address …

Enhancing Early-Stage Xai Projects Through Designer-Led Visual Ideation Of Ai Concepts, Helen Sheridan, Emma Murphy, Dympna O'Sullivan

Academic Posters Collection

The pervasive use of artificial intelligence (AI) in processing users’ data is well documented with the use of AI believed to profoundly change users’ way of life in the near future. However, there still exists a sense of mistrust among users who engage with AI systems some of this stemming from lack of transparency, including users failing to understand what AI is, what it can do and its impact on society. From this, the emerging discipline of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) has emerged, a method of designing and developing AI where a systems decisions, processes and outputs are explained and …

Automation, Ai, And Future Skills Needs: An Irish Perspective, Raimunda Bukartaite, Daire Hooper

Articles

This study explores insights from key stakeholders into the skills they believe will be necessary for the future of work as we become more reliant on artificial intelligence (AI) and technology. The study also seeks to understand what human resource policies and educational interventions are needed to support and take advantage of these changes.

Household Electricity Consumption: A Study On The Role Of Micro-Renewable Energy Systems In Vietnam, Luong Vinh Quoc Duy, Damien Cassells, Jim Hanly

Articles

Although nearly all households in Vietnam have connected to the national grid, electricity shortage in the residential sector is still an issue. One measure of residential electricity shortage is the micro-renewable energy system (micro-RES), but little is known about the drivers for household adoption of such system and whether the presence of a micro-RES can help to reduce household energy consumption. This paper examines the characteristics of households that have adopted a micro-RES and investigates whether the presence of micro-RES would result in a decrease in energy demand by using fixed-effects models. Analysis was carried out on the 2016 and …

Single-System And Dual-Process Accounts Of Explicit And Implicit Memory, Rory Wilfrid Spanton

School of Psychology Theses

While some expressions of memory are accompanied by conscious awareness, others do not elicit this awareness yet still impact task performance. Theorists have long questioned whether these explicit and implicit forms of memory are governed by separate cognitive systems or a single system. There is much behavioural evidence for multiple-systems and dual-process accounts, mainly focusing on studies of recognition memory and long-term repetition priming. However, experimental results and mathematical modelling have shown the ability of a single-system account to explain the relationship between various forms of explicit and implicit memory. This thesis uses behavioural experiments and mathematical modelling to further …

Utilising Event Cognition Principles To Explore The Effects Of Location Change On Memory Within Immersive Virtual Environments, Paul Watson

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

The thesis covers a series of studies that explore and investigate the application of event cognition theory to the design of virtual reality (VR) spaces for improved memory recall. The thesis starts with a usability study of a recovery position VR training app developed within the University of Plymouth (Watson 2018, 2021). This work compares the recall and satisfaction of using this application across mobile VR, desktop displays, and pre-recorded video. Based on the first prototype the question then posed is: “Can we better design immersive virtual training spaces that support cognitive processes that might aid learning.” Although enhancing memory …

Developing Entrepreneurial Skillsets Amongst Rural Women In Uganda, Sylvia Gavigan, Thomas M. Cooney, Klavs Ciprikis

Articles

Purpose: Rural women in Africa have less entrepreneurship opportunities than men. This is mainly due to societal expectations of women, but it may also be caused by a lack of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills due to their work in agriculture-related activities. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of entrepreneurship training on entrepreneurial skillsets of rural women working in Uganda and how such training influences their entrepreneurial activity.

Design/methodology/approach: The primary data set for this study comes from surveys of rural women working in agriculture who participated in a specific entrepreneurship training programme in Uganda. A …

Racialization Of Muslim Students In Australia, Ireland, And The United States: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Melanie C. Brooks, Miriam D. Ezzani Miriam D. Ezzani, Youcef Sai, Fida Sanjakdar

Journal Articles

The purpose of this qualitative cross-cultural case study was to better understand how Muslim students living in Australia, Ireland, and the United States navigated racism to identify ways in which school leaders and teachers can better address the structural, historical, and socioeconomic roots of racial injustice, discrimination, and ongoing oppression. Data collection was guided by a shared interview protocol that asked questions regarding family background, personal interests, identity, and friendships with a focus on their experiences of anti-Muslim racism in secondary schools. Findings suggested that Muslim students navigated racialization by (de)constructing their Muslimness, seeking voice, navigating between inclusion and exclusion, …

Workplace Implications For Female Leaders From Stereotype Threat In A Video Conferencing Context, Roisin Donnelly, Anthony Ryan

Journal Articles

Purpose – This study considered the use of video conferencing virtual backgrounds with employees located in a large multinational corporate organisation in Ireland and the USA to discern if background images evoking gendered stereotypes of leadership can cue stereotype threat in female technology workers undertaking a leadership activity, thus negatively effecting performance. This study aims to contribute to the body of research on stereotype threat by establishing whether virtual backgrounds used in video conferencing software are inherently identity safe or whether their use could have a negative performance impact onmarginalised groups.

Management Education In An Engineering Environment. The Case Of Bme, Mária Szalmáné Csete, Emma Lógó, Bence Bodrogi, Tamás Koltai

Practice Papers

Engineering higher education institutes need to integrate new skills and competences into their practice and curricula to accelerate the sustainability transition.

This paper introduces the interdisciplinary upskilling of engineering students enrolled in engineering programs at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and which has been provided by the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences (GTK) since 1998. The BME GTK delivers an educational experience that fits into the environment defined by the engineering faculties at BME. The BME GTK has experience of more than a quarter of a century in engineering education related to socio-economic and management upskilling. …

An Embodied Cognition Approach To Collaborative Engineering Design Activities, Gitte Van Helden, Barry Zandbergen, Anna Shvarts, Marcus Specht, Eberhard Gill

Practice Papers

Higher educational institutions have broadly adopted Collaborative Engineering Design (CED) activities to prepare students for complex problem-solving in multidisciplinary settings. These activities are non-linear and mediated by various social practices and tools. Therefore educators might struggle in facilitating the achievement of specific learning goals. Embodied cognition is an approach that explains non-linear behaviour through orgamism-environment interactions and might therefore provide educators with insights on how to prompt students towards desired actions in CED activities. According to embodied cognition, we learn through actions that emerge as a response to a problem (task) and environmental constraints. Educators can guide students’ behaviour by …

Enhancing Professional Skills Among Engineering Students By Interdisciplinary International Collaboration, Thomas Mejtoft, Helen Cripps, Melissa Fong-Emmerson, Christoper Blöcker

Practice Papers

Providing necessary knowledge and skills for engineering students to become successful professionals is a tricky task. Besides disciplinary knowledge, e.g., communication skills, ability to work in teams, and international experience are often mentioned as important. Regarding internationalization, most engineering programs in Sweden rely on either student exchange or low-level internationalization-at-home, such as international literature and lecturers. This paper explores sustainable international experiences for students on their home turf provided through an international interdisciplinary collaboration where engineering students in Sweden and marketing students in Australia work together on a project. The setup simulates a consultancy firm with development and marketing offices …

Embedding Sustainability In The Engineering Curriculum: Meeting The Requirements Of Professional Accreditation, Darren Carthy, Richard Manton, Louise O' Gorman

Practice Papers

Professional accreditation agencies are increasing requirements on sustainability in engineering education as a response to ethical obligations, industry needs and emerging academic best practice. In 2021, Engineers Ireland increased sustainability requirements in new accreditation criteria. This paper reports on a thematic analysis carried out by Engineers Ireland on the self-assessment and achievement of these new accreditation criteria on sustainability. The analysis was conducted on the self-assessment reports from a large Irish University, referred to as University A hereafter. The results indicate that, for the purpose of meeting accreditation requirements, University A has interpreted sustainability in their programmes as either meeting …