Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Demonstration: Real-Time Semantic Analysis Of Sensor Streams, Harshal Kamlesh Patni, Cory Andrew Henson, Michael Cooney, Amit P. Sheth, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan

Kno.e.sis Publications

The emergence of dynamic information sources - including sensor networks - has led to large streams of real-time data on the Web. Research studies suggest, these dynamic networks have created more data in the last three years than in the entire history of civilization, and this trend will only increase in the coming years. With this coming data explosion, real-time analytics software must either adapt or die. This paper focuses on the task of integrating and analyzing multiple heterogeneous streams of sensor data with the goal of creating meaningful abstractions, or features. These features are then temporally aggregated into feature …

Ohio's Aerospace & Aviation Industries, Wright State University Center For Urban And Public Affairs

Economic Development

Despite the struggling economy and the challenges that have plagued the commercial aviation market, the U.S. Aerospace and Aviation industries have experienced growth and an increase in profits and sales from 2005 to 2009.

There is a window of opportunity for the State of Ohio to emerge as a global industry leader. In order to capitalize on this opportunity, the State must address critical gaps in workforce and economic development. The talent development pipeline must focus not only on meeting the current business demand, but also on anticipating future national demand. This forward reaching strategy would position the state to …

Outstanding Business Reference Sources: The 2011 Selection Of Recent Titles, Carolyn S. Fang, Susan Hurst, Nathan Rupp, Diane Campbell, Craig Eich, Ann Fiegen, Joan Giglierano, Gene Hayworth, Van Houlson, Pauly Iheanacho, Michael Matos, Michael Oppenheim, Terry Zarsky

University Libraries' Staff Publications

Each year, the Business Reference Sources Committee of BRASS selects the outstanding business reference sources published since May of the previous year. The committee reviewed 31 entries; 3 were designated as “outstanding,” and 7 were placed into the other noteworthy titles category. Of the 7 noteworthy titles, 2 were labeled as significant new editions. These works cover a variety of topics: industrial/organizational psychology, leadership, law and finance, economic history, marketing and demographics, as well as operations research and management science.

Cost Efficiencies And Rankings Of Flagship Universities, G. Thomas Sav

Economics Faculty Publications

Problem Statement:

Each state in the U.S. touts a premier university as the flagship of its publicly funded higher education system. With decreased government budgets and increased interest in public management reforms, these institutions are being pressured to provide evidence of and set examples for ever greater improvements in operating cost efficiencies. The problem, however, is that empirical measures of their efficiencies or inefficiencies can be sensitive and, therefore, vary widely depending upon the underlying model specification.

Approach:

The study used stochastic frontier analysis to estimate university cost inefficiencies over the 2005-09 academic years. Transom and Cobb-Douglas specifications were combined …

The Guardian, Orientation, 2011, Wright State University Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

Twenty page issue of The Guardian, the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. The Guardian has been published regularly since March of 1965.

Suicidal Behavior, Language Acquisition, And Deafness: Evaluating The Potential Relationship Between Age Of Language Acquisition And Prevalence Of Suicidal Behavior In A Deaf Population With Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorder, Jared A. Embree

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Since 2008, the Deaf Off Drugs and Alcohol (DODA) Program has provided culturally appropriate cessation and recovery support services via e-therapy to Deaf/HH individuals with a clinically diagnosed substance use disorder (SUD). The information collected by the DODA program presented an opportunity to study the relationship between delayed language acquisition and suicidal ideation and attempts in a population that has historically been understudied, yet has increased prevalence in both suicidal behavior and significantly delayed language acquisition compared to the general population. Of the 107 prelingually Deaf consumers in the program, 18 reported language acquisition later than age ten. This study …

A Program Evaluation Of A Martial Arts Therapy Program For Children, Jennifer Ann Esterman

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Treatments for children with externalizing behavior problems vary from medicating the children to implementing various forms of psychotherapy and behavioral interventions such as Behavior Therapy. In recent years, martial arts group therapy has been explored as an ingredient in treatment protocols to modify these externalizing behaviors. A group martial arts therapy program for children was evaluated. Forty-one children began the program and out of which twenty-six children completed. The participants were separated into three groups based on length of time in the program at the outset of this evaluation. The children's parents were surveyed three times throughout a period of …

The Relationship Of Personalized And Traditional Iats With Explicit Attitude And Behavioral Measures, Rebecca Rae Riffle

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Researchers suggest that the Implicit Association Test (IAT) is structurally flawed, allowing contamination of responses that are influenced by stereotypical associations. This research investigated the use of a personalized IAT (PIAT) to reduce extrapersonal associations. The IAT and the PIAT were adapted to measure unconscious gender bias in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Explicit gender bias was measured by self-reports and a new measure, the Instant Uncontrollable Reactions (IUR) questionnaire. Partial support was found for the PIAT-explicit attitudes relationship reflecting less gender bias than the IAT-explicit attitudes relationship. It was expected that the PIAT-IUR relationship would show less …

Sibs Remembered: Online Support And Resources For Bereaved Siblings, Candace Beck

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The relationship that exists between siblings is unique, significant, and often lifelong, and to lose a sibling to death impacts the surviving sibling for a lifetime. There are many factors that can affect the bereaved sibling's grief responses, such as developmental factors, funeral attendance, cause of death, family dynamics, and time since the death. Interventions for the bereaved include individual, family, or group therapy, and support groups. Unfortunately, surviving siblings are often the "forgotten mourners" who are not connected to supportive services, and/or the community is lacking in programming for assisting bereaved children. Given the unique aspects of sibling bereavement …

A Positive Psychological Approach To Student Impairment: A Model For Schools, Jessica M. Kajfasz

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Despite increasing interest in the issue of clinician impairment over the past 25 years, relatively little research has been conducted regarding the occurrence and management of impairment during the predoctoral and trainee stages of clinical psychology education. This is a particularly notable gap in the literature, given the unique stressors associated with that stage of professional development that may make students and trainees especially vulnerable to impairment. Failing to properly address this issue at an institutional level can present training programs with a variety of potential problems, including legal repercussions, resource drain, impact upon the overall student body, and possible …

Exploring The Potential For Independent Control With The Nia/Brainfingers System - Is Independent Control Of Glance, Muscle, Alpha And Beta Waves Possible?, Jehangir Cooper

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BCI (Brain-Computer-Interface) devices on the market today, such as the NIA, have the capability to assign computer commands to specific channels (e.g., EMG, EOG, Alpha, and Beta) associated with different methods of control. However, the utility of this capability is dependent on the ability of users to selectively/independently control the specific channels. The NIA system was evaluated to determine if independent control of its channels is possible. Two users with varying levels of experience were used in this study. The users played pong using each of the channels to control the pong paddle, while the data on the activation levels …

Negotiated Regulation: The Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board As A Model Regulatory Process, Caroline E. Wellman

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Using a comparative framework and based on interviews with the primary actors involved in the debate for and against humane farm animal standards in Ohio, this thesis examines the roles of special and public interest groups, bureaucrats, technocrats, and the public in the rulemaking process of the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board. This study finds that the creation of the board as a policy solution was likely impossible without the efforts of a policy entrepreneur and a "fixer;" that the board's relevance relies on a problem-setting approach to developing standards that includes a multitude of interests; and that continued public …

Evaluating Oblique Interventions In Reducing Anti-Glbt Prejudice, Steven Michael Saus

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Existing evaluative research of interventions to reduce anti-GLBT prejudice remains methodologically incomplete, but suggests that those most in need of the intervention display the least amount of change - if not a strengthening of their prejudicial opinion. Cognitive and marketing research suggest that directly challenging prejudicial attitudes will strengthen, rather than reduce prejudice.

This research created an instrument to replace the Index of Attitudes toward Homosexuals and then employ an experimental design to provide much-needed methodological rigor to the evaluation of interventions. This design will be in service of assessing the impacts from a directly- and indirectly-challenging survey-based intervention. Contrary …

Relationships Between Organizational Variables And The Inclusive Language Used By Leaders, Matthew J. Keller

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I investigated relationships between organizational variables and leadership, as measured by inclusive language use. Specifically, I examined whether organization size and profitability relate to the organization leader's use of language. I expected language use to be more inclusive in smaller and more profitable organizations, relative to larger and less profitable organizations. In this study, I used a regression approach to test my hypotheses. Results indicated that organization size was positively related to passive voice indicators, in support of Hypothesis 1. However, profitability was negatively related to inclusive pronouns and positively related to passive voice indicators, both of which were opposite …

Sex And Racial Differences In Socially Desirable Responding, Kathryn G. Van Dixhorn

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The purpose of this study was to examine the magnitude of sex and racial differences in faking behavior, specifically socially desirable responding, in a large (N = 295,517), applied sample. Results indicated that females are engaging in more intentional socially desirable responding, whereas males are engaging in more inadvertent socially desirable responding. However, these differences are not likely to influence selection. Caucasians are displaying more intentional socially desirable responding than African Americans (d = 0.55), Hispanics (d = 0.57), and Asian Americans (d = 0.29). Asian Americans - iii - engaged in less inadvertent socially desirable responding than Caucasians (d …

The Decision To Pursue Self-Interests: Cultural Implications At The Individual Level, Corinne Patrice Wright

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In the current study I examined the relationships between personality, culture, and the decision to pursue self-interests. Specifically, I proposed that conscientiousness, extraversion, idiocentrism, masculinity, and power distance would be positively related to the decision to pursue self-interests whereas agreeableness would be negatively related to the pursuit of self-interests. I also proposed an exploratory examination of interactions between personality and individual cultural values in predicting the decision to pursue self- interests. As predicted, idiocentrism and masculinity significantly predicted the decision to pursue self-interests. In addition, masculinity moderated the effects of both agreeableness and neuroticism on the pursuit of self-interests. Also, …

Team Conflict And Effectiveness In Competitive Environments, Julie A. Steinke

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Substantial time and money are spent assessing workplace teams to delineate what makes a team effective. Historically, as teams developed into vital components of organizations, they also became the target of empirical research (see Kozlowski and Bell, 2003, for a review). However, questions remain concerning how individuals function within teams. My study was restricted to influences on individual functions within teams, and I offer a conceptual model of the effects of both individual and team factors on individual level outcomes (e.g., conflict and team effectiveness). Specifically, I examined these effects for a relatively unexamined population, i.e., college athletic coaching staffs. …

The Effects Of Causal Attributions On Subordinate Responses To Supervisor Support, Kevin Eschleman

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Causal attributions can play an integral part in how employees respond to events in the work environment (Bowling and Beehr, 2006; Dasborough and Ashkanasy, 2002; Perrewé and Zellars, 1999). Causal attributions of a work behavior or event include locus of causality (i.e., self-directed, supervisor-directed, organization-directed), stability, and intentionality (i.e., altruistic, self-serving). In the current study, I examined the consequences of subordinates' causal attributions on responses to emotional and instrumental supervisor support. As expected, emotional and instrumental supervisor support were positively associated with job satisfaction, supervisor satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviors, and organizational commitment assessed 30 days later. Emotional supervisor support also …

Turnover Reasons And Employee Attitudes: Examining Linkages Within The Framework Of Behavioral Reasoning Theory, Gregory D. Hammond

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This study investigated the relationship between individuals' reasons for leaving their former employers (e.g., inadequate pay) and relevant attitudinal variables (e.g., attitudes regarding pay and other compensation). The role of attitudes as a mediator of the relationship between reasons and intentions was also investigated. Finally, the relationship between reasons, attitudes, and reemployment in the same industry was investigated. Results from an archival sample of former employees (n = 5044) from 8 small to medium-sized companies in a variety of industries indicated mixed support for the hypotheses. Implications and directions for future research were discussed.

Personality And Simulated Employment Decisions In Perceived Gay And Lesbian Applicants, Megan Brianne Morris

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Currently, there is no research that assesses how individual's perceptions of personality and other characteristics in gay male and lesbian applicants affect employment decisions. I examined individuals' perceptions of personality in gay and lesbian applicants and the effect of these perceptions on employment outcomes. I hypothesized that individuals would prescribe gender atypical traits to gay male and lesbian applicants, and that qualification ratings for these applicants would depend on job-type match with the applicants' gender atypical traits. In the current study, I used a sample of undergraduate students. Each participant evaluated a resume that potentially contained cues reflecting a homosexual …

Discretion Without Choice: Sexual Offender Legislation And Judicial Discretion, Jonathan C. Varhola

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In a historically recent development, sex offenders have arguably become a focal point of attention in discourses surrounding sexuality, childhood, and crime. Much research has been accomplished regarding the treatment and recidivism of such offenders, as well as consequences of sex offender legislation and policy initiatives. However, little research has been done regarding specifically the discretion of criminal justice agency professionals involved in the day-to-day handling of these types of cases. This study focused on the effects of such policies on judicial discretion, as measured by sentencing outcomes. Data was collected from publicly available internet sexual offender registries and county …

A Comparison Of Work-Specific And General Personality Measures As Predictors Of Ocbs And Cwbs In China And The United States, Qiang Wang

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Previous studies on frame-of-reference effects have focused on domain-specific personality measures as predictors of performance in North America. The current study expands on this research by comparing work-specific and general personality as predictors of CWBs and OCBs in an East Asian culture (i.e., China). Consistent with the literature on frame-of-reference effects in personality assessment, I found that three Big Five personality dimensions, including agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability, were significantly related with OCBs and CWBs. Also, use of a frame of reference that is conceptually relevant to the criterion led to increased validity as a result of the decrement in …

Multipurpose Map Designs For Gps Surface-Vehicle Navigation: Spatial Knowledge And Advisory Functions, Caitlan A. Rizzardo

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Current car navigation systems primarily utilize track-up maps with spatial turn arrows, which facilitate turn decision-making but do not facilitate acquisition of spatial knowledge of the region. North-up maps do facilitate acquisition of regional spatial knowledge, however, these displays sometimes have arrows heading in directions misaligned with a driver's forward view, such as when the car is heading south. Drivers have difficulty making turn decisions in these misaligned maps because of stimulus-response reversals (Chan and Chan, 2005; Levine, 1982; Levine, Marchon and Hanley, 1984; Montello, 2010). A new display was designed using a fixed orientation north-up map and added a …

Developing A Word Fragment Completion Task For Measuring Trait Aggression, Steven Khazon

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The goal of this paper was to develop a test that uses the implicit processing style to assess aggression. This paper begins by reviewing current aggression theories and how aggression is assessed. Next it discusses the implicit and explicit processing styles and how scholars have used these methods of information processing to create psychological assessments. Afterwards, it presents a new indirect test of trait aggression that is based on the word fragment completion task and attempts to evaluate its validity in three experiments. In Study 1, psychometric methods are used to derive a 9-item trait aggression scale and initial support …

The Role Of Deliberate Behavior In Expert Performance: The Acquisition Of Information Gathering Strategy In The Context Of Emergency Medicine, Frank Eric Robinson

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Effective performance in dynamic domains requires experts to assess problems and implement solutions within the constraints of their work system, but these processes are not well accounted for in the expertise literature. I observed resident and attending emergency physicians to determine the behaviors that distinguish doctors as they manage patients and what contextual variables may affect these behaviors. Factor analyses revealed three types of behavior: goal establishment behavior, goal enactment behavior, and acknowledging uncertainty. Multilevel analyses indicated that doctors' experience and both the local and global context of care impact these behaviors. More experienced doctors appear to be more sensitive …

Sound Localization In Multisource Environments: The Role Of Stimulus Onset Asynchrony And Spatial Uncertainty, Brian David Simpson

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Several studies have shown that detection of a target in a concurrent noise masker improves when the masker onset occurs prior to that of the target (see, e.g., Zwicker, 1965; McFadden, 1966; Yost, 1985). Recent research indicates that this "masker fringe" (i.e., the portion of the masker occurring prior to the target onset) also facilitates sound localization in noise (Simpson, Gilkey, Brungart, Iyer, & Romigh, 2009a; Simpson, Gilkey, Brungart, Iyer, & Hamil, 2009b). However, these studies do not provide a clear indication of what information listeners are exploiting to obtain this improved localization performance. This dissertation was designed to determine …

Shanghai Cooperation Organization As A Counterbalance Against The United States, Bakhtiyar T. Dauekeev

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According to the balance of power concept, nations tend to unite for opposing a hegemon with an equal force. Therefore, for the leading position of the US and its ability to project power globally, there should be an opposite and equal reaction from the other emerging power centers.

Since the collapse of the USSR, the hegemonic position of the United States has been unchallenged. However, there is a possibility that it might be counterbalanced in future by the growing political influence of emerging powers like Russia and China, which have already succeeded in countering the US influence in some parts …

Replacing Indirect Manual Assistive Solutions With Hands-Free, Direct Selection, James W. Leonard Jr.

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Case study BK is a teenage male who suffers from severe cerebral palsy, making communication very difficult using his current assistive technology. His performance with a manual switch was compared to a hands-free system for computer interaction (Cyberlink Brainfingers/ NIA). BK uses a switch scanning menu, which steps through predetermined options till he chooses the current option being read aloud by pressing a button. A yes/no menu was used for the switch scanning interface for both manual and hands free conditions, as well as the point and click condition. In both hands-free conditions, BK was as fast and accurate as …

When Prohibition And Violence Collide: The Case Of Mexico, Kyleigh M. Clark

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Some theorists have found a positive correlation between increased drug prohibition enforcement and a rise in violence. These studies focus on the United States and Colombia, arguing that prohibition amplifies violence, rather than decreasing it. Much like the United States and Colombia earlier in their histories, Mexico has recently experienced an escalation in violence. Since beginning a democratic transition in 2000, the Mexican government has intensified a war on drugs by strengthening the rule of law, battling corruption, and cooperating with the United States' drug war. This study, using a congruence method with process-tracing, will analyze the Mexican case in …

Reconstructing Autism: A Phenomenological Study Of The Relationship Between Parents And Their Children Diagnosed With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Laura Elizabeth Solomon

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This study aims to serve as a deconstruction of the experience of parenting a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The increasing number of families with children affected by ASDs has led to many questions about the impact of ASDs on the family unit; however, the voice of parents is sorely missing in the extant research. The history of ASDs and disability in general continues to impact the ways families, society, and professionals treat families affected by ASDs, and particularly the ways they view and value the parent-child relationship. Six mothers of children with ASDs were interviewed about their …