Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Challenge Of Adopting Sexual Orientation Resolutions At The Un Human Rights Council, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since the mid-1990s, UN special procedures reports have increasingly addressed human rights violations related to sexual orientation. However, it was not until 2011 that the first UN resolution on human rights and sexual orientation was adopted. After considerable difficulty, a follow-up resolution was adopted in late 2014. This policy and practice note examines the challenges of adopting sexual orientation resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council. The discussion is organized around six challenges: the need for Southern leadership, the strong counter-reaction that sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) issues generate at the UN, finding a strong leader, divisions within civil …

Restitution [2015], Man Yip

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Contract Law [2015], Yihan Goh, Pey Woan Lee, Chee Ho Tham

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Expectancies And Motivations To Attend An Informal Science Lecture Series, Niveen Abighannam, Leeann Kahlor, Anthony Dudo, Ming-Ching Liang, Sonny Rosenthal, Jay L. Banner

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This study explored the expectancies and motivations that prompt audiences to attend a university science lecture series. The series features talks by science experts from the host campus and around the USA. Each lecture typically attracts between 300 and 600 attendees, including middle and high school student groups, university students, and families and adults from the area. We conducted 47 semi-structured interviews with attendees in order to evaluate their expectancies and motivations. A template analysis of the interviews was grounded in social cognitive and self-determination theories. Results suggest that participants were mostly driven by intrinsic motivations and acquired strong sensory …

Singapore: From Planned Chaos To A Distinctive City, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan highlighted that Singapore is a living laboratory by which its development and urban planning experience and expertise can be studied and harnessed by other cities in the urbanisation and human development journey. He noted that while Singapore's urban planning experience may not be directly relevant to other cities, its experience suggests that political will with public support, innovation, and boldness can make a vital difference in urban planning outcomes. He added that all these require thoughtful decisions on resource allocation and policy choices that deeply engage all stakeholders.

Review Of Queer Christianities: Lived Religion In Transgressive Forms, By Kathleen T. Talvacchia, Michael F. Pettinger, And Mark Larrimore, Dawne Moon

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Predicting Academic Performance: A Commitment Perspective, Frank E. Gomez Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Shifts from scientific and theoretical exploration to occupational preparation within academic scholarship has led researchers to focus on performance variables, such as grade point average (GPA), to better understand how to promote academic success. For example, researchers have examined variables to determine their influence on GPA. The purpose of this study was to identify if commitment variables in conjunction with executive functioning significantly predicted cumulative GPA in a college setting beyond previously established predictors. Results indicated that high school GPA (b = .44) was the only significant predictor of cumulative GPA. When high school GPA was eliminated from …

Summer 2016, Friends Of Dacus Library

Friends of Dacus Library Newsletter

In this Issue:

Annual Dinner Meeting to be October 3
D.B. Johnson and Rock Hill Rotary 1918
Rhythms of a New Year--- Dean Mary Y. Herring
Membership Form

Forces At Work: Workforce Perspectives In Print Journalism Amid Paradigm Shift, Stephanie Bernat

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

Print newspapers are in an age of disruption that has radically affected readership, news consumption, news production and news distribution. As such, the industry has experimented with new business models that incorporate online, including blog-style reporting, short-format stories, and investigatory reporting via social media. This experimentation could be identified as a Kuhnian pre-paradigmatic phase of a print news industry in crisis. Meanwhile the workforce of print newspapers is experiencing a disruption of identity as what it means to be a journalist has changed in reaction. Exodus of journalists from print newspapers has been both involuntary through layoffs and voluntary as …

Visegrad Revival: Where Less Is More, In The Prospect Of Smaller Numbers, Aaron G. Sander

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This project began a number of years ago, in 2011, as a final paper for a class on the topic of Europe and the world, for which I wrote what is effectively the chapter on European defense and the formation of the Visegrad battlegroup. The topic interested me as I was perplexed when, on the matter of inter-state cooperation set against the backdrop of the formation of the EU, it was possible that the four states of Visegrad were able to agree and formulate a plan on how to get this battlegroup off the ground, all the while not having …

Methodologies For Estimating Traffic Flow On Freeways Using Probe Vehicle Trajectory Data, Khairul Azfi Anuar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Probe vehicle data are increasingly becoming the primary source of traffic data. As probe vehicle data become more widespread, it is imperative that methods are developed so that traffic state estimators such as flow, density, and speed can be derived from such data. In this dissertation three different methodologies are proposed for predicting traffic flow or volume on a freeway. All of the proposed methodologies exploit several different traffic flow theories in conjunction with probe vehicle data to predict traffic flow. The first methodology takes advantage of the fundamental diagram or speed-flow relationship. The relationship states that flow can be …

Robust Repositioning To Counter Unpredictable Demand In Bike Sharing Systems, Supriyo Ghosh, Michael Trick, Pradeep Varakantham

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Bike Sharing Systems (BSSs) experience a significant loss in customer demand due to starvation (empty base stations precluding bike pickup) or congestion (full base stations precluding bike return). Therefore, BSSs operators reposition bikes between stations with the help of carrier vehicles. Due to unpredictable and dynamically changing nature of the demand, myopic reasoning typically provides a below par performance. We propose an online and robust repositioning approach to minimise the loss in customer demand while considering the possible uncertainty in future demand. Specifically, we develop a scenario generation approach based on an iterative two player game to compute a strategy …

Buffering The Associations Between Negative Mood States And The Incentive Salience Of Alcohol: A Brief Mindfulness Induction, Adrian J. Bravo

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study examined drinking to cope (DTC) motives and state mindfulness (via a brief mindfulness induction) as two distinct factors that may enhance (DTC) and reduce (state mindfulness) the association between negative mood states (i.e., sadness and anxiety) and the incentive salience of alcohol (i.e., subjective alcohol craving and attentional bias for alcohol-related cues) among college student drinkers. Participants were 207 undergraduate students from a large, southeastern university in the United States that consumed at least one drink per typical week in the previous month. The majority of participants identified as being either White, non-Hispanic (n = 81; 39.1%), …

Understanding The Determinants Of Parental Decision-Making And Harsh Parenting Behavior, Ralitsa Stoyneva Maduro

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The high prevalence and negative consequences of hash parenting among US parents is well-documented. However, intervention and prevention efforts aimed at reducing the rates of harsh parenting have had limited success. A goal of this paper was to provide a novel method of studying parenting behavior; moving beyond correlational findings. Specifically, I argued that preventing harsh parenting has been a challenge, in part because of lack of understanding of the decision-making processes underlying the behavior. In an effort to incorporate tradition decision making methodology, I designed a between subjects, single-blind, randomized experiment. The experimental manipulations were design to induced emotional …

Measuring Team Collaboration And Effects Of Target Guidance In A Visual Search Task, Christopher Morley

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Many professional tasks, including military operations and medical operations, involve a team of operators searching for a target on a common visual display. Previous works on collaborative visual search employed analysis of mean response time (RT) and error rates, which may not offer direct measurement of the capacity of a team nor changes in performance across task time. Workload capacity, indexed by the capacity coefficient, C(t), measures performance efficiency for cognitive systems with multiple and concurrent information-processing channels (Townsend & Nozawa, 1995). The current study applied a workload capacity analysis to quantify performance efficiency of pairs of participants in a …

Executive Dysfunction As A Trait Marker For Depression In Children And Adolescents, Emily Oettinger

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Perinatal depression has been recognized as a public health problem in the United States, which is important because of the demonstrated wide-reaching negative effects of maternal depression on child outcomes. Some evidence suggests that maternal depression is a risk factor for executive dysfunction in children. By contrast, there is abundant evidence that maternal depression is a risk factor for later child depression. Therefore, this study focuses on executive dysfunction in children as a potential trait marker for later depression in childhood and adolescence, utilizing data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Participants were from 10 …

A Counselor’S First Encounter With Non-Death Loss: A Phenomenological Case Study On New Counselor Preparation And Experience In Working With Non-Death Loss, Charles P. Carrington

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

New counselors graduating from a CACREP master’s program are presumed to have competency to work with the common issues seen in clients. This study examined the lived experience and impact on new counselors when working with clients struggling with overt or covert non-death losses. Through qualitative case study of multiple (n=8) new counselors, the study presents the phenomenon of real-life experiences of counselors when first encountering clients with an issue of loss. Of primary interest was how new counselors identified loss in client’s issues, how they applied theory of interventions, the counselors level of confidence in training and preparedness to …

Magnopark, Smart Parking Detection Based On Cellphone Magnetic Sensor, Maryam Arab

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

We introduce a solution that uses the availability of heavy crowds and their smart devices, to gain more result as to where potential parking is possible. By leveraging the raw magnetometer, gyroscope, and accelerometer data, we are able to detect parking spots through the natural movement exerted by the walking pedestrians on the sidewalks beside the streets. Dating back as far as 2013, a very large portion of pedestrians composing the crowds on the sidewalk, possessed at least one smart device in their hand or pocket14]. It is this statistic that fuels our application, in which we depend on crowds …

Computational Modeling Of Facial Response For Detecting Differential Traits In Autism Spectrum Disorders, Manar D. Samad

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation proposes novel computational modeling and computer vision methods for the analysis and discovery of differential traits in subjects with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) using video and three-dimensional (3D) images of face and facial expressions. ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs an individual’s nonverbal communication skills. This work studies ASD from the pathophysiology of facial expressions which may manifest atypical responses in the face. State-of-the-art psychophysical studies mostly employ na¨ıve human raters to visually score atypical facial responses of individuals with ASD, which may be subjective, tedious, and error prone. A few quantitative studies use intrusive sensors on …

Extension Of The Gravity Model: A Risk Integrated Approach Towards The Impact Analysis Of Mega Sports Events On Inbound Tourist Arrivals, Abdul Sami Stanekzai

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Mega sports events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup are highly attended and countries compete ferociously to host such events due to their perceived long term positive effects. Inbound tourist forecasting is an important aspect of the hosting decision both for the organizing committees and the hosting nations. As a precaution against letting the event fall into incapable hands, which can lead into chaos and mismanagement, measures needs to be taken. Capacity evaluation of interested parties is possible, only by knowing the number of people who may attend the event. However, due to the infrequent occurrence of …

Communities In (Digital) Space: Creating Networks For Daily Living Through Pervasive Media, Jamie Lynn Henthorn

English Theses & Dissertations

Studies of online communities often focus either on communities that produce texts or the texts with which individuals engage. This dissertation examines online communities that practice in ongoing activities, in their leisure time, often with no end goal of producing any final text. Through interviews, surveys, and community forum analysis of running, gaming, and translation communities, this study finds that place and everyday habits factor heavily into the ways that sustained online communities structure their work. “Place” can have several meanings within this context, including the communities valuing specific locations or working with specific individuals because of where they live. …

Caffeinated Alcohol Use In A Daily Context, Ashley N. Carmichael

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Caffeinated alcoholic beverage (CAB) use is associated with a range of substance-related problems. Few have examined socio-environmental and cognitive factors that may relate to CAB use and influence associations between use and negative consequences. Moreover, much research on CABs has been based on cross-sectional and retrospective reports, which can be subject to recall biases. The current research aimed to address the gaps in our understanding of use patterns by conducting a daily diary study. Participants were 122 (73.8% women) heavy drinking, college student CAB users. Mean age was 20.39 (SD = 2.08) years. Students completed a baseline questionnaire and up …

Fake It Until You Make It? Female Leaders’ Emotional Expression Management And Subordinates’ Gender Stereotypes, Rebecca C. Garden

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

As part of their organizational role, leaders manage their emotional expressions for the purpose of maintaining influence over followers, a concept that has received far less attention than the impact of other leadership behaviors. Further, there is almost no existing research regarding an employees’ reactions to the female supervisors’ emotional expression management (EEM), or the influence of subordinates’ underlying gender stereotypes on the relationship between leaders’ EEM and subordinate outcomes. To gain a better understanding of how EEM and the followers’ perception of gender roles interactively influence affective and attitudinal outcomes, this study used multi-source data from female leaders and …

The Relationship Between Resilience, Attachment, And Emotional Coping Styles, Jennika K. Jenkins

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The construct of resilience has been widely associated with the ability to adequately cope with stressors, which leads to positive long-term health outcomes. Attachment and emotional coping style literatures have both been tentatively linked to resilience, with dismissive and secure attachment styles as well as the repressive coping style positively associated with resilience. However, both avoidantly attached and repressive individuals employ coping strategies that allow them to dissociate from negative emotions, which seems to contradict the stress adaptive quality of resilience. The goal of this study was to explore the theoretical parallel between the attachment and emotional coping styles literature …

An Etiological Model Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Female Oef/Oif/Ond Veterans: Adding Military Sexual Trauma As A Risk Factor, Erin Doty Kurtz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Studies on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have involved limited focus on the specific risk and protective factors for female veterans and how these may differ from factors identified for male veterans. Additionally, models incorporating risk and protective factors for PTSD in female veterans have yet to include military sexual trauma (MST) as a risk factor. Given the prevalence of MST among female service members, this study examined whether MST predicts PTSD diagnosis in addition to other frequently examined variables (premilitary trauma exposure, combat exposure, postmilitary trauma, and perceived social support). In addition, the degree …

The Relationship Between Trauma-Related Shame, Disordered Behaviors, And Contextual Factors Of Sexual Trauma Beyond Trait-Shame And Sex-Guilt, Michele Laaksonen

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Relatively little is known about the effect of contextual factors of sexual trauma (age at trauma, type of trauma, perpetrator gender, tactics, and relationship) and trauma-related shame and risk-taking motivations. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine this relationship among a sample of 360 undergraduate women with histories of sexual trauma, hypothesizing that trauma-related shame and motivations for participation in extreme sports, drinking games, and sex would differ based on the contextual factors of sexual trauma and the past experience of non-sexual trauma. Age was related to the linear combination of trauma-related shame and risk-taking motivations. Furthermore, contact, relationship, and …

Effects Of Visibility And Alarm Modality On Workload, Trust In Automation, Situation Awareness, And Driver Performance, Smruti J. Shah

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Driving demands sustained driver attention. This attentional demand increases with decreasing field visibility. In the past researchers have explored and investigated how collision avoidance warning systems (CAWS) help improve driving performance. The goal of the present study is to determine whether auditory or tactile CAWS have a greater effect on driver performance, perceived workload, system trust, and situation awareness (SA). Sixty-three undergraduate students from Old Dominion University participated in this study. Participants were asked to complete two simulated driving sessions along with Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire, Background Information Questionnaire, Trust Questionnaire, NASA Task Load Index Questionnaire, Situation Awareness Rating Technique …

Acculturation And Enculturation, Perception Of Depressive Symptoms, And Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Korean Americans, Kristoffer Park

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The literature suggests that acculturation, enculturation, and the perception of mental health symptoms are some of the factors that explain help-seeking behaviors in Asian Americans. While there has been previous research addressing these concerns for Asian Americans as a unified ethnic group, few studies have examined these factors to explain help-seeking behaviors specifically in Korean Americans. 107 Korean Americans were recruited from Korean American churches in a large metropolitan city in the southeast region. Participants completed an online questionnaire, which included instruments assessing acculturation (AVS-R) and enculturation (EAVS-AA-R) levels as well as their perception of how problematic depressive symptoms were …

Do Trait Positive And Trait Negative Affect Predict Progress And Discharge Outcomes In An Inpatient Medical Rehabilitation Population, Valerie Dominique Ward

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Differences in emotional adjustment were examined as predictors of medical rehabilitation gains within an inpatient setting. Specifically, the International Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF), along with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), were administered to adult patients during their inpatient medical rehabilitation hospitalizations. The I-PANAS-SF was used to examine if trait affect plays a significant role in rehabilitative treatment, as well as final outcomes (i.e. total number of days spent in rehabilitative treatment, and amount of measurable cognitive and physical improvement). Previous research has demonstrated significant correlations between emotional constructs such as trait affect and medical outcomes. …

Education And Post-Release Employment: An Exploratory Study Of Offender Perceptions, Frank R. Wood Jr.

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Employment is an essential component of the reintegration process for returning offenders. As one of the eight criminogenic needs, improving employment opportunities for returning offenders increases the ability of returning offenders to reintegrate back into the community, as well as decreases the potential threat of recidivism. However, further research is needed to examine how an offenders’ prospectus from educational experiences influences their perceptions of finding legal employment after release. The current study contributes to current literature by explaining why employment is a barrier to offender reentry, specifically, how educational factors influence an offender’s belief that he or she will find …