Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Use Of Behavior Skills Training To Teach Paraprofessionals Discrete Trial Teaching, Ali Jo-Celeste Headley

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Behavioral skills training (BST) was used to teach discrete trial teaching (DTT) to three paraprofessionals. Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) has been used successfully with students with autism to individualize and simplify classroom instruction. DTT is an evidence-based training procedure used with elementary aged children to promote the development of communication/language, adaptive behavior, cognitive/academic skills, social and play skills, and for reducing interfering behaviors. Behavioral skills training is a training package that includes instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess the treatment effects. The paraprofessionals in this study increased their implementation of DTT …

A Qualitative Study On The Meaning Of Having A Child For Mothers Who Were Abused In Their Childhood, Maki Shigematsu

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to understand what having a child means for mothers who experienced child abuse, how their children affected the motherhood positively, and how the mothers tried to overcome their child abuse experiences. Three mothers were found as participants for the study. The data were collected by qualitative, open-ended interviews. Each of the mothers had one interview that lasted around 1-1.5 hours. The mothers' lived-experiences are portrayed with analysis and in-depth interpretation. The study shows how child abuse experiences impacted the participants' lives and parenting, how the participants made progress in their experiences growing up, and …

Does Person And Process Praise Influence Success Of Transferring Knowledge?, Leah Mae Wilson

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The effects of person, process, and neutral praise were examined to assess differences in the types of praise used to frame participant motivation and subsequent transfer success. A sample of undergraduate psychology students (N = 66) were tested using the Tower of Hanoi puzzle to assess transfer success based on the number of trials and average time per trials necessary to solve the transfer task. Participants also reported levels of existing achievement goal orientations and task-specific intrinsic motivation. Exploratory analyses indicated that the number of trials, average time per trial across conditions, as well intrinsic motivation did not differ by …

Measuring Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Caroline Taich, Merissa Piazza, Kara Carter, Alexa Wilcox

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Examining entrepreneurial ecosystem measurement is an interesting and important research activity for several reasons. First, there is a significant amount of taxpayer investment in play through public financing of small businesses and early stage companies. Second, practitioners and funders are currently seeking ways to expand entrepreneurial activity in order to increase regional prosperity.

The goal of this research study is to quantitatively and qualitatively explore the indicators of entrepreneurial ecosystems. This study, with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, focuses on two major questions: 1) what are the indicators of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and which of these best reflect …

Practitioner Guidebook: Measuring Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Merissa Piazza

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This study, with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, focuses on two major empirical questions: 1) Does the theoretical model established by Stangler and Bell-Masterson (2015) quantitatively hold for regions? Meaning, when the theoretical model is empirically evaluated, will the same data groupings emerge? and 2) What are the key indicators which entrepreneurs and the economic literature view as essential for entrepreneurial ecosystem vibrancy?

A Pilot Trial Of The Effectiveness Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Self-Help For Problematic Pornography Viewing, Scott Thane Heninger

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Although problematic pornography viewing (PV) is quite prevalent (Carroll et al., 2008), very few studies have been done to test treatments addressing this issue. Preliminary research indicates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a promising potential treatment for problematic pornography viewing, but this has only been evaluated in face-to-face therapy trials to-date. This study sought to determine the effectiveness of a general ACT self-help book on PV. A sample of 19 participants were recruited and given a copy of the book with directions to read and apply its principles over the course of 8 weeks. Assessments were completed at baseline, …

Turning Points In The Lives Of Lesbian And Gay Adults Age 50 And Older, Anna M. Muraco, Karen I. Fredriksen-Goldsen

Sociology Faculty Works

Little is known about how lesbians and gay men perceive the turning points that define their life trajectories. This study uses qualitative interview data to understand which experiences lesbian women and gay men age 50 and older identify as turning points and explore gender differences. In depth, face-to-face qualitative interviews were conducted with a subset of participants (n=33) from the Caring and Aging with Pride survey. The most common turning points identified were relationship and occupation related. Lesbians more frequently identified the break-up of a relationship and occupational and educational related experiences as turning points. Gay men more commonly indicated …

An Investigation Into Hybrid Models Of Mindreading: A Dual Type Theory Account, Alexandra Jewell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mindreading, or attributing mental states to others, involves instances of simulation and theory; but there is controversy over which one of these methods is the primary, or default, mechanism. I propose that mindreading is a theory-based process, such that we utilize theory over simulation when both are available and reliable. To argue my position, I suggest that theory has been inaccurately portrayed in past discussion and that we possess two types: a connectionist network (tt1) and a traditional, conceptual folk-psychology (tt2). By dividing theory in this way, we can explain common phenomena of mindreading that other theory-based accounts do not …

Examining Exemplary P-20 Partnerships Using A Mixed Methods Approach, Elizabeth Erin Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Historically, P-12 schools and institutions of higher education have operated independently of each other, creating a gap that acts as a barrier between high school and postsecondary institutions. This gap is blamed for many societal issues including high college remediation rates, low college-going rates among minority groups, and low six-year college graduation rates. P-20 partnerships, agreements between P-12 schools and institutions of higher education with the purpose of improving the P-20 education system, have emerged as a way to address these problems.

From laboratory schools in the 19th century to modern-day professional development schools, P-20 partnerships in teacher education have …

A Content Analysis Of Advertising On Children’S Television Networks, Demarius Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This content analysis study on licensed characters in advertising collected data in summer 2015 from three children’s cable networks: Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Using Social cognitive theory and based on past research (Barcus, 1975; Atkin, 1976; Calcott & Lee, 1994; Stitt & Kunkel, 2008; LoDolce et al., 2013; Castonguay et al., 2013), the study examined whether the use of licensed characters and emotional appeals varied in advertising for healthy or unhealthy foods, mass media genre and the character’s gender. The study found licensed characters are more likely to be used to promote unhealthy foods, originate from movies and …

The Power Fantastic: How Genre Expectations Mediate Authority, Angela Rose Cox

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reconciles academic and popular uses of the term genre, concluding that genre is a transmedial, mutable, associative, recognized system regulated through tacit understandings of prestige and power in a given Social space. The study employs a digital humanities method (dependent on digitally facilitated data analysis), conducting descriptive discourse analysis on collected online discussions from fan spaces concerning the fantasy genre and matters related to fantasy. In this way, I construct an image of the fantasy genre, and genre in general, as a multimodal space in which material freely passes between traditional and new media and participants actively negotiate …

A Tale Of Three Bishops: Ideologies Of Chineseness And Global Cities In Vancouver's Anglican Realignment, Justin Kh Tse

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Most accounts of the 2002 departure of some conservative Anglican parishes from Vancouver’s Diocese of New Westminster (DoNW) over same-sex blessings seemed to fit the narrative of a battle over sexuality in the global realignment of the Anglican Communion. However, attention to the consecration of two new Chinese Anglican bishops—Silas Ng Tak-yin and Stephen Leung Wing-hong, both from Hong Kong—reveals that their split from the DoNW’s Bishop Michael Ingham had more to do with an ideology of cultural pluralization deploying “Asian values.” I, therefore, argue that the schism in Vancouver was a division over the three bishops’ imaginations of global …

Sharing Sequential Values In A Network, Ruben Juarez, Chiu Yu Ko, Jingyi Xue

Research Collection School Of Economics

Consider a sequential process where agents have individual values at every possible step. A planner is in charge of selecting steps and distributing the accumulated aggregate values among agents. We model this process by a directed network where each edge is associated with a vector of individual values. This model applies to several new and existing problems, e.g., developing a connected public facility and distributing total values received by surrounding districts; selecting a long-term production plan and sharing final profits among partners of a firm; choosing a machine schedule to serve different tasks and distributing total outputs among task owners. …

Determining The Optimal Public Debt Threshold For Nigeria, Babatunde S. Omotosho, Sani Bawa, Sani I. Doguwa

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This paper investigates the existence of threshold effects in the relationship between public debt and economic growth in Nigeria using quarterly data. Generally, we found empirical support for an inverted U-shape relationship between public debt types and economic growth. For total public debt as percentage of GDP, model results identified a threshold level of 73.70 per cent, while the estimated inflexion points for external and domestic debts were 49.4 and 30.9 per cent, respectively. The implication of this finding is that debt accumulation in excess of the estimated threshold levels could hurt economic growth. A retrospective examination of the country’s …

Volatility In The Nigerian Stock Market: Empirical Application Of Beta-T-Garch Variants, Olaoluwa S. Yaya, Abiodun S. Bada, Victor N. Atoi

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

The Generalized Autoregressive Score (GAS), Exponential GAS (EGAS) and Asymmetric Exponential GAS (AEGAS) are new classes of volatility models that simultaneously account for jumps and asymmetry. Using these models, we estimate the dynamic pattern of the Nigeria All Share Index (ASI) from January 3, 2006 to July 22, 2014. Parameter estimates of the models were obtained using the Quasi Maximum Likelihood (QML) approach, and in-sample conditional volatility forecasts from each of the models were evaluated using the minimum loss function approach. Among the classical volatility models, the initial results detected IGARCH-t as the best model for predicting volatility in the …

The Causes Of Persistent Inflation In Nigeria, Victor O. Asekunowo

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This study sought to identify the traditional and institutional inflation variables responsible for inflation phenomenon and the magnitude of the contribution of the identified variables to the rise in general price level. Secondary data on key macroeconomic variables in the economy from 1974 to 2013 were used. The data collected were analysed using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds test. The results showed that there existed a longrun co-movement among the variables. Also, the ordinary least squares estimate showed that Real Effective Exchange Rate, Lagged Consumer Price Index, Real Broad Money and Real Profits were statistically significant in influencing Consumer …

A Three-State Markov Model For Predicting Movements Of Asset Returns Of A Nigerian Bank, Maruf A. Raheem, Patrick O. Ezepue

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

We present in this paper an alternative approach to determining and predicting the fluctuations in the daily prices and stock returns of a first-generation bank in the Nigerian Stock Market (NSM). The approach uses a three-state Markov to estimate the expected duration of the asset returns in states classified as rising (positive) (𝑅𝑘), falling (negative) state (𝑅𝑚) or stable (zero) state (𝑅𝑙). Related goodness-of-fit tests show that the Markov model fits the data adequately with an error rate of approximately 0.1. The maximum expected lengths of successively being in either positive or negative regime is 4 days, while that of …

Dynamic Effects Of Fiscal Policy On Output And Unemployment In Nigeria: An Econometric Investigation, Attahir B. Abubakar

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This study investigates the effect of fiscal policy shocks on output and unemployment in Nigeria under the Keynesian framework by employing the Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) methodology to analyse annual series on the relevant variables for the period 1981-2015. Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test for unit root result shows all variables to be integrated of order one and Johansen Cointegration test confirms the presence of long run association among the variables. Findings of the SVAR model shows shock in public expenditure as having a positive long- lasting effect on output. Revenue shock was found to exert a positive effect (lower …

On Building Inference For The Statistical Neural Network With Application To Naira-Dollar Exchange Rate Efficiency: A Bootstrap Approach, Christopher Godwin Udomboso Dr, Francisco U. Saliu

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

In this study, we developed an inference procedure for the neural network using the bootstrap approach, and applied it to the market efficiency of the Nigerian exchange rate. Data used are exchange rate values from 2001 to 2015. We conducted a test on the market efficiency hypothesis, including test for relevance of individual and joint network inputs using method of partial derivative. The network architecture used is the multilayer perceptron. A valid statistical inference based on the estimated Statistical Neural Network was conducted using a well-known statistical resampling technique. Test of hypothesis that input or groups of inputs are relevant …

Modelling Nigerian Banks’ Share Prices Using Smooth Transition Garch Models, Olaoluwa S. Yaya, Damola M. Akinlana, Olanrewaju I. Shittu

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This paper examined the application of nonlinear Smooth Transition-Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (ST-GARCH) model of Hagerud on prices of banks’ shares in Nigeria. The methodology is informed by the failure of the conventional GARCH model to capture the asymmetric properties of the banks’ daily share prices. The asymmetry and non-linearity in the model dynamics make it useful for generating nonlinear conditional variance series. From the empirical analysis, we obtained the conditional volatility of each bank’s share price return. The highest volatility persistence was observed in Bank 6, while Bank 12 had the least volatility. Evidently, about 25% of the investigated …

Modelling Volatility Of The Exchange Rate Of The Naira To Major Currencies, Reuben O. David, Hussaini G. Dikko, Shehu U. Gulumbe

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

The exchange rate between the Naira and other currencies has continued to witness variability with depreciation. This variability makes it difficult to predict returns. Against this background, this paper examines the naira exchange rate vis-a-vis four other currencies. The impact of exogenous variables in modelling volatility is considered using both the GARCH (1,1) and its asymmetric variants. Three of the four returns series showed heteroscedasticity. The results of the fitted models indicate that the majority of the parameters are significant and that volatility is quite persistent. Furthermore, the results of the asymmetric model indicate different impacts for both negative and …

Shrinkage Estimation Of Regression Models With Multiple Structural Changes, Junhai Qian, Liangjun Su

Research Collection School Of Economics

In this paper, we consider the problem of determining the number of structural changes in multiple linear regression models via group fused Lasso. We show that with probability tending to one, our method can correctly determine the unknown number of breaks, and the estimated break dates are sufficiently close to the true break dates. We obtain estimates of the regression coefficients via post Lasso and establish the asymptotic distributions of the estimates of both break ratios and regression coefficients. We also propose and validate a data-driven method to determine the tuning parameter. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that the proposed method …

The Cultural Pragmatics Of Political Apology, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In recent decades, research on ‘political apology’, wherein the state apologizes to victims of its past wrongs, has multiplied, as redress movements based on human rights have proliferated around the world. Since most of this research has been conducted by political philosophers, however, analyses of political apologies tend to adopt formal and normative perspectives. To propose an alternative, empirically-grounded approach, in this paper, I develop the ‘cultural pragmatics’ of political apology. To this end, I first conceptualize political apology as a social performance aimed to ‘re-fuse’ an impaired relationship between the perpetrator state and the victim individual. This conceptual move …

2016: A Year Of Looking To The Future, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Six major events caused Singaporeans to ponder over the future and what it will bring. As 2016 comes to a close, it is timely to reflect on the past 12 months, which I would summarise as "a future-focused year" - one filled with events and issues that made people ponder about their own future and that of the country. It is useful to revisit the way we approached the key events and issues. After all, when it comes to thinking about the future, how we think is as important as what we think.

Violation Of Long-Term Mate Preferences, M. L. W. Long, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Violations of short-term mate preferences refer to instances in which a person in a short-term, casual sexual relationship has mate preferences that were in place when the relationship commenced but subsequently are not being met.

Providing Rural Public Services Through Land Commodification: Policy Innovations And Rural-Urban Integration In Chengdu, Qian Forrest Zhang, Jianling Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Zhang and Wu offer a detailed account of the innovative local policies in Chengdu, China, where a national land-use policy that has created widespread problems in other trial areas has been turned into a positive, transformative force in rural reconstruction. There are three key innovations in this so-called ‘Chengdu model’: First, leveraging on the most important resource in rural area, land, and through the commodification of land development rights, creating a financial source that can fund rural public services provision; second, transforming traditional rural residential patterns and concentrating the rural population in newly built residential communities; and, finally, using both …

Advertising, Jose C. Yong, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Advertisements, which are widely available, can provide insights into the evolved preferences of target audiences and serve as a useful supplement to other methods in evolutionary psychology research. This chapter discusses how advertisers create content that strategically exploits consumers’ values and preferences and how advertising content can provide insights into various aspects of our evolved psychology.

Differential Parental Investment, Jose C. Yong, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Differences in minimum obligatory parental investment contributed by men and women lead the sexes to diverge in their sexual strategies and affective experiences, although under certain conditions, men’s mating preferences converge with women’s. This chapter first describes necessary or obligatory parental investment, examines the origins of sex differences in obligatory parental investment, describes examples of such differences across a range of species, and highlights the consequences of these differences in terms of human sexual strategies, conflicts, and affective experiences.

The Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions Over The Earth (Acre) Initiative Acre China Workshop: Recovery, Digitization, And Analysis Of Pre-Mid-Twentieth Century Climate Observational Data In East Asia Workshop On 23-24 August, Beijing, China, Fiona Williamson, Guoyu Ren, Rob Allan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This commentary discusses a recent workshop designed to explore the extant historic instrumental record of weather observations for China, East Asia, and the China Seas region; to uncover new sources of observations; and to work on joint initiatives for their recovery and inclusion in open access data sets. The workshop was funded by the UK Newton Fund's Climate Science for Service Partnership China. It was organized by the Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions over the Earth China, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), the Beijing Climate Centre, and the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and held at CMA offices in Beijing.

Weak Convergence To Stochastic Integrals For Econometric Applications, Hanying Liang, Peter C. B. Phillips, Hanchao Wang, Qiying Wang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Limit theory involving stochastic integrals is now widespread in time series econometrics and relies on a few key results on functional weak convergence. In establishing such convergence, the literature commonly uses martingale and semimartingale structures. While these structures have wide relevance, many applications involve a cointegration framework where endogeneity and nonlinearity play major roles and complicate the limit theory. This paper explores weak convergence limit theory to stochastic integral functionals in such settings. We use a novel decomposition of sample covariances of functions of I (1) and I (0) time series that simplifies the asymptotics and our limit results for …