Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Distribution-Free Stochastic Frontier Model With Endogenous Regressors, Levent Kutlu

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We provide a guideline for estimating a distribution-free panel data stochastic frontier model in the presence of endogenous variables. In particular, we consider variations of the within estimator of Cornwell et al. (1990) to allow endogenous regressors.

Peer Influence On Payout Policies, Binay K. Adhikari, Anup Agrawal

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Using a large sample of US public companies, we find robust evidence that firms’ payout policies, i.e., dividends and share repurchases, are significantly influenced by the policies of their industry peers. To overcome endogeneity problems, we employ instrumental variable techniques based on peers’ stock price shocks. Peer influence on payouts is more pronounced among firms that face greater product market competition and operate in better information environments. With regards to dividends, firms, especially smaller and younger firms, are more sensitive to industry peers that are similar to them in size and age. However, mimicking repurchases is concentrated among large and …

Impact Of Neurodevelopmental Genes On The Trajectory Of Adhd Severity: A Pilot Study, Agnieszka Mlodnicka

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity, and is associated with delays in neural development. To assess the association of genes involved in neurodevelopment with symptoms and trajectory of ADHD, saliva was collected and genotyped from 145 participants from a longitudinal study of preschoolers who were followed annually for 7 years. We examined four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes associated with neurodevelopment: neuregulin-1 (NRG-1; SNP rs3924999), neurotropin-3 (NT-3; SNP rs6489630), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF; rs6265), and regulator of G protein signaling 4 (RGS4; rs951439). Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that neuregulin-1 and …

Neural Hypervigilance In Trauma-Exposed Women, Seungyeon A. Yoon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Trauma-exposed people often experience hypervigilance, which is a tonic condition of elevated alertness and excessive scanning for potential threat. A cardinal feature of hypervigilance is that no actual threat is needed to evoke or maintain the over-alertness and heightened affective response. However, most neuroimaging research in trauma to date has only focused on reactivity to an actual threat. Thus, the overarching aim of this dissertation was to investigate neural signatures and salivary markers of post-trauma hypervigilance in the absence of threat that can cause impairment in daily functioning and contribute to developing other trauma-related symptoms such as heightened threat reactivity. …

Still Life: Growing Up With Death - A Visual Memoir, Lindsey Roth-Rosen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone is a multidimensional visual narrative project that incorporates heuristic methodology to illustrate complicated grief that emerged from early childhood loss. The memoir’s intention is to exemplify grief as a complex and mutable composite response to the death of my mother. One objective of this capstone is to understand melancholy, commonly associated with mental illness or symptomatic of depression, as an aesthetic emotion as well as a conduit for philosophical reflection. I use non-verbal approaches to the genre of a memoir by incorporating my photography to epitomize art as a powerful means to comprehend the totality of loss: as …

An Analysis Of Successful And Unsuccessful Terrorist Assassinations: Informing Counterterrorism Through Situational Crime Prevention, Marissa Mandala

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study applies environmental criminology and situational crime prevention (SCP) to study successful and unsuccessful assassinations by terrorists. Using these perspectives, a series of hypotheses were devised to understand the situational factors that contribute to successful compared to unsuccessful assassinations. A random sample of roughly 1,000 successful and 1,000 unsuccessful assassination attacks taking place between 2005 and 2014 was acquired from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). Open source materials were then consulted to supplement the GTD with the creation of new SCP variables. The hypotheses were tested in a binary logistic regression, and additional regression models were created for 4 …

Economics, Politics And The Environment, Ron Mandelbaum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Classical economists were interested in macroeconomic issues, i.e. how the economy worked as a whole and how it grew over time. This is opposed to neo-classical economists, which focus on decision-making processes of individuals and individual firms. This thesis sets out to examine how that change occurred and what it means for the way that economics studies the environment. In order to provide a partial answer to this question, this paper describes the different outlooks between classical and neo-classical economists regarding value. It also examines and contrasts the economic approaches of Marx and Mill, whose way of thinking about social …

Together Without Consensus: Class, Emotions And The Politics Of The Rule Of Law In The Lawyers’ Movement (2007-09) In Pakistan, Salman Hussain

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is an ethnographic examination of how political emotions, historical memory and notion(s) of the rule of law are mobilized in postcolonial Pakistan. It examines how liberal legality (the rule of law, judiciary and courts) and discourses of rights have become popular hegemonic languages for mobilizing political protests and legal claims in South Asia. In particular, the dissertation studies a protest movement, the Lawyers’ Movement for the Restoration of Judiciary and Democracy (2007-09), that was led by the lawyers and their allied educated and professional middle-classes, and investigates how the lawyers successfully galvanized Pakistanis against the then prevalent military …

Moral Mode Switching: From Punishment To Public Health, Stephen Koppel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A public health response to drug offenses has potential to improve both public safety and public health. However, the public’s desire for retribution represents a possible hindrance to reform. Relying on dual-process theory of moral decision-making, this dissertation examines agreement among laypeople about the relative blame deserved for various crime types, and probes several possible predictors of support—the need for cognition (“NFC”), intergroup bias, and free-will doubt—for retributive as well as consequentialist responses to crime. Findings from several web-based experiments show: (a) in comparison to core crimes (eg., murder) substantially less agreement about the relative blame deserved for noncore crimes …

Embody: The Transformation Of Intimate Knowledges Through Generations In Liberal Societies, Lisa Kronberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis project aims to examine how intimate knowledges[1] are transferred and communicated between generations in Western, liberal societies. By ‘Intimate knowledges’ I mean to encompass diverse knowledge of emotional intelligence, sexual identity, and gender.

Intimate knowledges evolve with human life circle everywhere and at all times, but in Western popular discourse of today, are treated with confusion and repression; they thus emerge as a “loud display of simultaneously silent sexual desire.” (Fine and McClelland, 2006) I explore this tension through a critical, feminist lens that sheds light on the ways in which political economy creates cultural norms that …

Gendered Violence: An Analysis Of State Legal Accountability For Sexual And Gender-Based Violence Amongst Refugee Women, Maria Sigalas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sexual and gender-based violence is a rampant issue affecting women internationally. Its incidence is exacerbated by conflict and the disruption of social patterns caused by displacement. Refugee women are often at greater risk of violence, due to their transient status in their countries of refuge. There exist many challenges in the protection of refugee women. The erosion of the refugee regime through the securitization of displacement has led to the depiction of displaced populations as threats rather than populations in need of humanitarian assistance. Additionally, there remain systemic social and cultural barriers at both international and local levels based on …

A Discourse Of True And False: An Analysis Of The Publications Of The Afl-Cio Between 1955-1965 As Archived In The Tamiment Library, John J. Gorham Jr.

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 1955 the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations healed their twenty-year schism. Provisions of the NIRA and the Wagner Act had given promising opportunities for union organization in the early 1930’s. Unions in coal and steel saw possibilities in organizing vertically entire industries, rather than according to traditional crafts. In 1935 some unions left the AFL to form more aggressive organizations under the banner of the newly formed CIO. The public perception of aggressive strikes led to anti-labor laws, most noticeably the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. The increasingly hostile political climate, as states enacted the “right …

Libraries And The Missing Narrative: Practitioner Explorations In The Use Of Design Psychology And Environmental Autobiography For Library Buildings And Designs, Amy Beth

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Environmental Autobiography as a research method of Environmental Psychology and Design Psychology informs this study of the meaning and experiences of libraries described by six library-building design practitioners. Participants were guided through an adaptation of Toby Israel’s (2010) Design Psychology Toolbox (hereafter known as the DPT or the “Toolbox”) exercises. The research is intended to expand the practice of designing libraries as places and spaces where social and emotional affordance is supported. Emphasizing the significance of libraries as place and space where people often have rich and even transformative experiences serves to augment use-efficiency and evidence-based space planning. Primary goals …

Military Citizenship In The Post-9/11 Homefront, Estefania Ponti

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In discussion with the literature on the treatment of veterans in the United States and the nature of American citizenship ideology, the following dissertation asks how post-9/11 veterans are defining, (re)creating, and contesting citizenship in the contemporary U.S. By studying a localized community of post-9/11 veterans, my dissertation highlights the dilemmas of U.S. citizenship at a time when the U.S. is engaged in a global War on Terror using less than 1% of the U.S. population as paid volunteers. Soldiers and veterans occupy states and spaces of exception, marking military citizens as distinct from civilians. Military citizenship benefits the nation …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Various Feedback Presentations On Typing Accuracy And Speed, Julieanne Guadalupe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In organizational behavior management, performance feedback is often described as information that is presented to a performer that enables a change in his or her future performance. Performance feedback is frequently used in combination with other procedures in applied settings. Despite its popularity, it is unclear whether performance feedback is more effective alone or in combination with procedures identified as behavioral consequences or antecedents. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine which combination of performance feedback was most effective to improve typing accuracy and speed. Participants were assigned to one of four groups: (1) no feedback group, (2) …

The Shari'a Courts Of Mogadishu: Beyond "African Islam" And "Islamic Law", Ahmed Ibrahim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation, based on a year and eight months of fieldwork, is a historical ethnography of a Shari‘a-based movement which appeared in Mogadishu, Somalia within a year after the complete disintegration of the central government in 1991. The movement originated when religious authorities and “traditional” elders established centers in various neighborhoods in Mogadishu to deal with the vacuum of power after the fall of the state. Since Shari‘a structures of authority and discourse were integral to the formation and functioning of the centers, they became known as Shari‘a courts. My work on the Shari‘a courts intervenes in the literature on …

Revisiting Lockhart: A Case For A Conditional Operator, Eric J. Tsai

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis presents a case for a binary modal conditional operator compatible with both circumstantial and epistemic modal bases. Certain contexts involving might conditionals require might to take wide-scope over a conditional proposition. A restrictor-view analysis of conditionals is unable to derive both the intuitive meaning of the might conditional and the necessary conditional proposition without positing a covert circumstantial necessity modal. However, based on observations of the temporal orientation of conditionals, such a modal lacks independent motivation. On the other hand, a binary modal conditional operator not only provides the necessary conditional proposition but is also able to derive …

Conditions Of Personhood And Property, Zachary James Acree

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper seeks to demonstrate that a more robust understanding of personhood both reveals flaws in the underlying assumptions of modern property law, and orients that law to a more just application. To do this, the law needs not only a better definition of what persons are, but also a better understanding of how persons function in their society. First, in order to provide some context to the issues at stake, there is a brief historical introduction to some of the problems that personhood inquiries have faced. After the introduction, this paper is divided into four sections. Part I summarizes …

The Bronx Was Brewing: A Digital Resource Of A Lost Industry, Michelle Zimmer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Bronx: a bucolic oasis laden with history, a suburb within city-limits, an urban warzone, and thanks to the recent renaissance, a phoenix of progress rising from the proverbial ashes of the fires that burned through the borough in the 1970’s. But many people are unaware that the Bronx also brewed.
Uncovering the brewing industry of the Bronx tells not only the story of the lost industry, but it also communicates the narrative of the development of the Bronx. The brewers were German immigrants who developed a thriving industry by introducing lager beer to the United States by taking advantage …

Rescinding Rancière: An Investigation Into The Conservative Tendencies Of A Leading Proponent Of Radical Democracy, And A Reconstruction Of The Participatory Democracy Of Ancient Athens, Tyler J. Olsen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis advances a critique of the political theory of Jacques Rancière, focusing on the problems that arise as a result of its rigid form combined with its narrow content. I argue that Rancière gets caught in a practice of immanent critique that merely presupposes bourgeois abstract right; and that his ontological and pragmatic commitments prohibit him from projecting a norm that would transcend the liberal order. I trace these ontological and pragmatic commitments in detail by examining the intellectual milieu from which Rancière’s project emerged, the post-foundational political philosophy of the 1980s, with particular attention given to Claude Lefort. …

The Phenomenon Of Match-Fixing In Soccer: A Plague Without A Cure?, Nikolaos Petropoulos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Introduction: Today, match-fixing is considered as one of the most significant threats to the integrity of soccer. Everyone seems to talk about it. However, the phenomenon itself has received relatively limited academic interest despite the media coverage that match-fixing scandals have enjoyed, mainly over the last 10-15 years. This study will seek to explore the match-fixing landscape and provide a detailed account of how extensive the phenomenon is and who are the main stakeholders.To achieve this goal, we will rely heavily on a series of INTERPOL bi-weekly reports on match-fixing cases that cover the period from 1^st of …

New Yorkers On The Move: Recent Migration Trends For The City And Metro Area, Frank Donnelly, Anastasia Clark, Janine Billadello

Publications and Research

1. The population of New York City and the New York Metropolitan Area increased significantly between 2010 and 2016, but annually growth has slowed due to greater domestic out-migration.

2. Compared to other US cities and metro areas, New York's population growth depends heavily on foreign immigration and natural increase (the difference between births and deaths) to offset losses from domestic out-migration.

3. Between 2011 and 2015 the city had few relationships where it was a net receiver of migrants (receiving more migrants that it sends) from other large counties. The New York metro area had no net-receiver relationships with …

Inlp Newsletter, February 2018, Indigenous Nations Library Program

Monthly Newsletters

Contents:

- University Libraries Hours

- INLP Transition

• INLP Computer Lab
• Leave a Book, Take a Book

- Words, Art, & Icons Project

- Design Your Movement Poster Challenge

- A Match Made in Learning - INLP/CAPS Collaborative Event

- Student Employee Spotlight - Luke Gibson

5 Deans In 5 Years: Chairs Leading Through Change, Janna L. Scarborough

ETSU Faculty Works

The chair/dean relationship often has a direct impact on departmental success. What happens when the there is a change in deanship? The presenters will share their experience of having five deans in five years. Through case studies and dialogue, strategies for navigating dean transitions will be shared and examined.

Charleston Comings And Goings, Leah H. Hinds

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Back Talk-Balacing The Books, Jim O'Donnell

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

From Your Editor, Katina Strauch

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Optimizing An Octopus: A Look At The Current State Of Electronic Resources Management And New Developments In The Coral Erm System, Heather Wilson

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Optimizing Library Services — How Information Scientists Can Help Fix The Broken Peer Review Process, Lindsay Wertman, Caroline J. Campbell, Jeremy Horne

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Questions And Answers-Copyright Column, Laura N. Gassaway

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.