Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Predicting Recessions Using The Yield Spread: The Mexican Northern Border Case, Laura Mariel Saenz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Business cycle analysis is a difficult endeavor. Policymakers are justifiably concerned over recessionary prospects for their respective economies. Being able to predict an incoming recession allows implementing measures to ameliorate the effects of downturns. The yield spread has been extensively used to analyze business cycles in high income economies. The probit model, the most widely utilized model for this type of analysis, enables estimation of the probability (between 0 and 1) that a recession will occur. This study evaluates the predictive power of the Mexico yield spread, the United States yield spread and the real exchange index to anticipate the …

Physical Engagement As A Way To Increase Emotional Rapport In Interactions With Embodied Conversational Agents, Ivan Gris Sepulveda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

One of the major goals in research on embodied conversational agents (ECAs) is to increase the believability and perceived trustworthiness of agents. To improve the efficacy of the interaction between humans and ECAs, I focus on the development of rapport, which is a complex and extensive behavioral state of affinity, synchronicity, coordination and mutual understanding that is difficult to model, measure and interpret. I present our AGENT Framework and our ECA, Adriana, which is capable of speech recognition and gesture recognition over long periods of time. Our current system provides up to 60 minutes of human-ECA interaction in a jungle-survival …

Communication Of Self And Cyberlife Through Avatars In Second Life Online Communities, Kyron Joseph

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Virtual worlds are becoming more and more recognized for its social capabilities. It's making a splash on the global scale as the use for virtual worlds is surpassing the expected means of the creators. The purpose of this study is to investigate how users in the virtual world of Second Life identify themselves with fellow users through their Avatars through the theory of narrative identity. In the virtual world of Second Life, there are many different avenues that users can express themselves, through the narrative plot analysis these avenues will show the relation to the users and self.

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Keywords: …

The Window To The Bilingual Mind: Eye Movements Reveal Psycholinguistic Grain Unit Sizes Of Bilingual Spoken Word Recognition, Yu-Cheng Lin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Although there are common phonological units across different languages, previous studies have shown that individual differences of language proficiency affect sound unit preferences in monolingual and bilingual speakers. The cross-language lexical activation of phonological representations in bilingual minds can provide a great opportunity for testing hypotheses about how this key factor modulates the cross-linguistic phonological transfer across languages. In this study, I used the eye-tracking technique and quantitative methods (i.e., growth curve analysis and multilevel regression) to examine how individual differences in language proficiency affect cross-language phonological unit size transfer in Chinese-English bilinguals. Participants heard a spoken word and were …

Keep Your Head Up: Building Life Skills In Youth For Social Reintegration And Success, Olga Lizbeth Ochoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There are multiple factors that contribute to a juvenile's future incarceration when facing difficult environmental circumstances: adjudication (it is like an adult criminal conviction, but generally does not subject the youth to the same direct consequences), community characteristics, the age a young person is discharged, criminal history, and gender. This research is important because it applies social science research in community-based settings to address a social concern, moves beyond theoretical research while contributing to a new orientation of an applied project, and provides a model of university-community partnerships for finding innovative strategies to address issues of social concern for local …

Sexual Self-Esteem And Its Relation To Substance Use And Sexual Risk In A Sample Of Latino Men Who Have Sex With Men And Who Are Living With Hiv, Miriam Pando

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The objective of the present study was to assess whether sexual self-esteem -- an individual's tendency to feel sexually pleased, attractive, and in control of their sexual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors -- influences the relationship between substance use and sexual risk behavior in a sample of men who have sex with men (MSM) and who are living with HIV. We sampled 106 Latino adult MSM living with HIV who were being treated at a clinic in El Paso, Texas that offers comprehensive HIV/AIDS services. We assessed demographic variables, as well as two domains of sexual self-esteem (i.e., overall feeling of …

Rare Pride Campaigns: Evaluating Participatory Communication In Conservation Efforts Throughout Indonesia, Lauren Elizabeth Perez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Communication scholars who study international development and social change have found that if facilitators of social change hope to find positive, lasting solutions to complex social and environmental issues, they must incorporate more participatory approaches. However, even the practitioners with the most noble intentions oftentimes fall short of facilitating truly participatory practices because their strategies are the product of linear processes for evaluating the change context. In this study, I apply Lennie and Tacchi's (2014) approach to evaluating communication for development in a case study of Pride Campaigns implemented by managers throughout Indonesia who partnered with the conservation non-governmental organization …

Neighbor Discovery In Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Esau Enrique Ruiz-Gaistardo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Neighbor Discovery (ND) is the process that initializes a reliable communication between one-hop neighbors in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). This process consists of scheduled exchanges of control messages, called â??Hello Messagesâ?? (HMs) between one-hop neighbors. HMs build bidirectional links that are used to announce the topology information. Each node uses ND and the topology information to populate its routing tables and to communicate with every other node in the network. In MANETs, ND process is a permanent process to discover one-hop neighbors. It is based on two parameters: 1) ND message interval (the period of time in between sending …

Dating Across Difference: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Interracial Same-Sex Relationships In Targeted Media Outlets, Victor Santana-Melgoza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine how interracial same-sex relationships are constructed and communicated within gay themed media outlets, specifically magazine publications, and the possible effects such construction may have on various consumer populations through the frame of cultivation theory. I studied three major gay publications and surveyed 90 articles for both textual content and visual representation. Categories were then created and articles were grouped by relevance to each category. Through iterative processes, the number of useable articles fell to 68. Articles were mainly captured using online sources. Through this medium of online reading, other access points were …

Tiger Shell, Christopher Sinnett

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Poetry is everything. A poem is a shell filled with a sliver of poetry. Life goes in, life comes out. These shells are filled with what we know, and deep inside, what we do not know. The ocean goes in and out. Art is in the shell. The poet enters, does not perform, does not act, does not do. The poet is.

Virtual Rapport With Extraverted Agents, Jacqueline Brixey

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Studies from psychology conclude that "birds of a feather flock together"- or, in other words, people tend to seek companionship with those who have a similar personality to their own. Researchers in the fields of Linguistics and Psychology have found numerous markers that differentiate the dialogue of extroverts from that of introverts. Recent work in Human Computer Interaction has sought to understand the nature of creating and maintaining rapport between humans and Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs).

Seeking an interdisciplinary approach that combines knowledge from HCI, Linguistics, and Psychology, I sought to establish whether introverted users report the highest level of …

Acculturation, Psychological Distress, And Smoking In Latinos Living With Hiv/Aids, Jessica Armendariz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the United States smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of preventable death, and smoking is of particular health concern among people living with HIV. Depression has been consistently linked to smoking in the literature, and data indicate that acculturation to the U.S. is associated with increased depression among Latinos.

This study examined if acculturation moderates the impact of depression on smoking behavior among Latinos living with HIV through the mediating effect of social support. The results may extend to the sociopsychological construct of culture. We studied 300 Latinos who live with HIV on the U.S./Mexico border.

Results demonstrated there …

Examining The Effects Of Political Trust, Attribution Of Responsibility, And Media Framing On Public Support For Outside Intervention In The Mexican Drug War, Rodrigo Alberto Borunda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

To what extent does the Mexican society support cooperation with foreign authorities to combat the drug cartels? Who does the Mexican society trust in combating the drug cartels? Employing survey data from the Roper Center along with original experimental data, I examine the determinants of public support for foreign cooperation to combat drug cartels. Focusing on different forms of the U.S.-Mexico cooperation, I explore which type and form of foreign intervention is most acceptable to the Mexican public. Specifically, I examine public support for the following forms of cooperation: training Mexican police and military personnel, providing money and weapons to …

La Lutte Pour L'Azawad: Mnla Public Relations Responses To Conflict In Northern Mali, 2011-2014, Sean Neil Curtis

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis examines the Internet public relations content of Mali's Tuareg rebel group, the Mouvement National de la Liberation de L'Azawad (MNLA). Content analysis grounded in speech act securitization theory is applied to the 259 posts on the MNLA's primary French language website in order to determine if MNLA website posts correlate with the events occurring in the northern Mali conflict. The data reveals that various characteristics of MNLA statements do correlate with events in the conflict. What the MNLA says provides important insight into the organization and the conflict itself. The identified correlations allow for MNLA rhetoric and activity …

One Size Does Not Fit All: Looking Beyond Homeless Housing-First And Housing-Ready Approaches To Enhanced Models Of The U.S.-Mexico Border And New York City, Jacqueline Loweree

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study explored two "enhanced" service and housing models for homeless persons in the U.S.-Mexico border and in New York City. From data collected in both regions, this study examined the relationship between homeless recidivism and the provision of services. The results suggest that services alone have minimal impact in reducing homeless recividism. This study also reviews the relationship between homelessness and poverty. To evaluate this interconnection, a socio-historical analysis was presented reviewing the application of poverty theories from the last two centuries, to policy-driven approaches with aims to treat indigence, poverty, inequality and more contemporary homeless issues. Using the …

A Positive Deviance Inquiry On Communicative Acts And Behaviors That Enable Working Mothers To Breastfeed, Jessica Molinar Munoz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The benefits of breastfeeding have been well documented for both mother and child. Breastfeeding provides optimal nutrition for an infant and includes decreased risk for numerous diseases and illnesses. However, there is evidence that when mothers return back to work from maternity leave, they often stop breastfeeding. The present research project utilizes the Positive Deviance approach to find working mothers who have successfully breastfed their children exclusively for six months and to determine what enables these mothers to continue to breastfeed past one year of birth while working full time. The purpose is to understand why some working mothers, who …

The Nigerian Economy And The Dutch Disease., Kenechukwu Daryl Nweke

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Dutch Disease explains the relationship between exploitation of natural resources and the decline in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. The dependent variable of the model shows the contraction of either the manufacturing or agricultural sector. The theory asserts that increase in revenues from natural resources will de-industrialize a nationâ??s economy by appreciating the real exchange rate, and exports on the booming commodity, which in turn makes the tradable sector less competitive.

The government of Nigeria has neglected the agriculture sector, causing the sector to be less competitive in the trade market. As a result, when economic activities in Nigeria increase …

Re-Specifying The Sacred Values Scale, Adon Lee Neria

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

An object or value becomes sacred when a person feels compelled to protect and admire it. When a person holds a Sacred Value (SV) they are less likely to accept compromises, or "taboo tradeoffs," to that value and will behave less rationally to protect it from perceived slights. Though research on SV has replicated well, there has yet to be a popularized scale measuring it. A previous attempt at developing a multidimensional scale for measuring the degree to which a person holds any value as sacred was made that resulted in a 15-item measure. Though this version demonstrated good predictive …

The Impact Of Baby Sign Training On Stress Levels Of Daycare Providers, Grisel Julieta Rodriguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Proponents of baby sign claim improvements in child-caregiver interactions and reductions in parental stress as benefits of implementing baby sign. Due to research contradicting the claims, and to the rise in daycare attendance, the current study investigated the effects of a baby sign workshop on the stress perception of daycare providers. A pre-test post-test between groups design with 20 participants was conducted using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS10) and a workshop-specific descriptive survey as measures. The difference between the post-test stress levels of experimental and control groups approached significance, as did the differences between pre-test and post-test results for the …

Forecasting Water Demand In Phoenix, Juan Pedro Cardenas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Water utility planning efforts are supported by short-term water demand forecasts. This study applies a Linear Transfer Function (LTF) approach in order to model and forecast water demand for single-family residential, multi-family residential, and nonresidential customer categories in Phoenix, Arizona. Out-of-sample simulations of water demand, with a monthly frequency, are generated for periods when actual demand is known. Descriptive measures and two formal tests are utilized to analyze the accuracy of LTF projections against two random walk benchmarks. The price elasticities for the single-family residential, multi-family residential, and nonresidential usage categories are -0.36, -0.31, and -0.75, respectively. The descriptive accuracy …

Sociocultural Influences On Perceived Risk In Latinos At Risk Of Developing Type 2 Diabetes, Allyson S. Hughes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Previous studies have shown that perceived risk is a predictor of positive health behaviors to avert preventative chronic conditions. As a major factor in the Health Belief Model, high levels of perceived risk may operate as a "perceived susceptibility" to disease and may function as a "perceived threat" that triggers action towards preventing the onset of disease (Champion & Skinner, 2008). Following an Ecodevelopmental Model approach in an effort to prevent prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (Castro, Shaibi & Boehm-Smith, 2009) includes understanding the potential protective effects of certain cultural factors (including sources of social support that can promote healthy …

Damas Y Caballeros, Guadalupe Mendez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Collected Poetry - Manuscript over socio - political and culturally relevant context.

Comic Book Fandom: An Exploratory Study Into The World Of Comic Book Fan Social Identity Through Parasocial Theory, Anthony Robert Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Comic books and their extensive lineup of characters have invaded all types of media forms, making comics a global media phenomenon that are having a wider profile in media and popular culture. The community of comic book fans has grown as well. The purpose of this study is to investigate how these fans identify with their favorite comic book character(s) through the application of parasocial theory, in order to discover if and how various identification levels lead to the fan's level of fandom or attachment. Various fans of comic books are interviewed, in order to investigate attachment levels and level …

The Impact Of Accented English On Speech Comprehension, Benigno Valles

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

In the context of shifting demographics in the United States and with an increasing multicultural workforce, the verbal exchange of information is vital especially between health care providers and patients. Although English is the official language in the United States, many individuals from different national origins speak English with some degree of accent. Before we can address health care provider/patient communication, it is necessary to investigate the potential impact of accented English on speech comprehension and its implications on basic communicative interactions. The verbal exchange of information between health care providers and patients is important in diagnostics, treatment, patient …

Stigma Towards Hiv Positive People In The El Paso Community, Evdokia Romanova

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Stigma and discrimination towards individuals living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a serious issue. The stigma experienced by people with HIV relates to how the virus has been primary associated with so-called deviant behaviors (e.g. promiscuity and homosexuality). Stigma may isolate infected individuals from society and create barriers when accessing medical care and seeking social support. Conducted in El Paso, Texas, this study aims to better understand the issue of stigma through the life stories of individuals living with HIV and to test an exploratory model of a community-based intervention for fighting self-stigma. This research project is divided into …

The Effects Of Sign On Speech Segmentation In Infants, Alma Rosa Acosta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: The ability to extract words from fluent speech (speech segmentation), perhaps one of the greatest obscure achievements for the purpose of learning language, is dependent upon imperceptible endeavors. Remarkably, infants are active participants from the moment they are born, using auditory and visual information to assist them segmenting speech. As motivated parents attempt to use baby sign to bridge communication gaps, visual information in the form of baby sign may benefit children in extracting words from speech. To examine the effects of baby sign on speech segmentation, a systematic replication of the Hollich et al. (2005) study, a within-subject …

Piecing Elections Together In The 21st Century: Social Media, Outreach Strategies, & Community Engagement, Joshua Acevedo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis analyzes the role of social media usage in campaigns and explores methods for operationalizing this campaign phenomenon. Understanding social media and its connection to politics is challenging, for countless researchers have found it difficult to try to explore a relationship between social media and political campaigns. While social media is relatively new and has been on the rise in recent years, there are challenges associated with measurement and capturing relationships. I will first provide a literature review noting key works on the subject that offer valuable insights on the importance of social media and its influence on the …

Recession Prediction For Us Border Economies. Can Probit Models Predict Recessions At An Msa Level Including Bi-National Variables?, Elias Daniel Saenz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Economic recession prediction has received substantial attention in recent years. The topic is important. Unemployment, business bankruptcies, and personal bankruptcies all increase during business cycles downturns.

Identifying appropriate indicators for recessions is a difficult task. Other variables have been used in prior studies. These variables have included the term structure of the yield curve (Fama 1984; Mishkin 1988a) and the difference between the yields of long-run treasury bonds and short run treasury bills (yield curve) (Estrella and Mishkin 1996; Dueker 1997; Kauppi and Saikkonen 2008; Nyberg 2010).

Estrella and Mishkin (1998) compare the effectiveness of different economic variables that are …

Three Essays On Global Ict Phenomenon: Productivity Paradox, Organizational Ict Use, And Privacy In Social Networks, Faruk Arslan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation aims to investigate the global diversity in information systems by studying three distinctive phenomena. The first essay investigates the existence of "IT Productivity Paradox" within firms operating in developing countries using an empirical approach. IT Productivity Paradox has been a widely investigated topic within the context of developed countries and primarily studied within the context of developing countries using a single country. Our research addresses a gap in the literature, which is the study of IT Productivity Paradox across several developing countries with diverse characteristics. The second essay studies the contextual factors (firm characteristics and perception of external …

At The Intersection Of Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals, The Migration Trust Network And Labor, Mario Javier Chavez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study unpacks the intersection of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Migration Trust Network and Labor. I use 9 in-depth qualitative interviews to address how such policies are affecting the labor acquisition and labor outcomes of DACA recipients. The Migrant trust network remained important for DACA recipients, although in a more indirect and macro-level way than described in Flores-Yeffal (2013). In particular, DACA recipients relied on the collective efficacy embedded within the community to facilitate their job search. Additional, migrant trust networks function differently according to the DACA recipients' level of education, but to fully benefit from the advantages …