Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Failure To Launch: Evaluating The Costs And Benefits Of America’S Strategy For Building Afghanistan’S Air Force, Alexander Smith

Senior Theses

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for twenty years. For eighteen of these years, it has spent precious time, money, and resources to modernize the Afghan Air Force (AAF). In my thesis, I conduct a cost-benefit analysis of this strategy to determine whether the net benefits and the overall outcome of the program justify the level of U.S. investment. I compare U.S. efforts with the AAF to those with the Iraqi Air Force while exploring the idea of path dependency. My analysis reveals that U.S. efforts to modernize the AAF have been a failure. The United States …

Essays In Health And Behavior, Zehra Çagıl Valencia Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

I study decision-making in healthcare choices and competitions. In my analysis, I use both quasi-experimental and experimental methods. In the first chapter, I investigate the effects of C-sections on babies and their mothers. Using administrative data from South Carolina, I exploit the breech position to isolate variation in C-sections that is uncorrelated with the ex-ante health of the infant and mother. I find that a C-section increases the probability of abnormal conditions for babies immediately after birth. However, there are no significant effects on babies’ future health conditions after birth. Mothers who deliver by C-section are more likely to develop …

The Determinants And Consequences Of Foreign Direct Investment, Alexandra Dinu Troidl

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the regional economic effects of foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI is known to have benefits for both national and regional economies. These benefits include an increasing number of higher paying jobs, productivity spillovers for local firms, and elevated economic development (SelectUSA, 2020). Many governments compete to attract large FDI projects, often through the use of controversial incentive packages. Incentives are criticized because it is not clear that they affect the location of FDI and furthermore, whether the benefit of incentives outweigh the costs (Bartik, 2018).

In the first paper, I assess the impact of incentives on the …

Why So Long? Examining The Nexus Between Case Complexity And Delay In Florida’S Death Penalty System, Corey Daniel Burton

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few decades, there has been greater recognition that increased time on death row is a significant problem in the United States that is getting worse. Beginning with the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in Lackey v. Texas (514 U.S. 1045, 1995), numerous defendants have attempted to assert Eighth Amendment claims of cruel and unusual punishment on the grounds that the length of their death row confinement combined with their subsequent execution is unconstitutional. Although such claims have been unsuccessful in the U.S. Supreme Court, other federal courts have examined the issue. In 2014, the Central District …

The Association Between Type-2 Diabetes Pathophysiology & Exercise Adherence, Sydney Raymond

Senior Honors Projects

According to the American Diabetes Association, 1 in 3 Americans will be diagnosed with diabetes. While some of these individuals will be prescribed medications as part of their treatment, most will also be advised to begin an exercise program to assist with blood glucose control. Additionally, while regular exercise is associated with lower HbA1C and decreased insulin/medication dependence, it is estimated that only about half of those diagnosed with diabetes will adhere to their exercise plans. Social, psychological, and physiological factors all play roles in affecting ones ability to adhere to an exercise regiment, and individuals with Type 2 Diabetes …

How To Get Away With Murder: The Effectiveness Of Blood Detectors On Surfaces Cleaned Of Blood, Grace Cavanaugh

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this experiment was to test blood detectors against household cleaners. Similar experiments have been run before, but not on the selected surfaces. It is important to understand what one is looking for at a crime scene, and what a cleaned surface may look like. Four surfaces were chosen for this experiment: ceramic tile as a control, concrete, laminated wood flooring, and drywall. For each surface, 0.5mL of pig’s blood was allowed to dry before being cleaned off with either Clorox bleach, Dawn soap and hot water, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, or Mrs. Meyer’s Multi-Purpose Concentrate. Bluestar …

Clubhouse And Voice In Public Affairs, Laila El Baradei

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Discursive Power And Resistance In The Information Worlds Maps Of Lgbtqia+ Community Leaders, Vanessa Kitzie, Travis L. Wagner, Alexander N. Vera

Faculty Publications

Purpose: This qualitative study explores how discursive power shapes South Carolina LGBTQIA+ communities' health information practices and how participants resist this power. Design/methodology/approach: Twenty-eight LGBTQIA+ community leaders from South Carolina engaged in semi-structured interviews and information worlds mapping – a participatory arts-based elicitation technique – to capture the context underlying how they and their communities create, seek, use, and share health information. We focus on the information worlds maps for this paper, employing situational analysis – a discourse analytic method for visual data – to analyze them. Findings: Six themes emerged describing how discursive power operates both within and outside …

Measuring College Students’ Dependency On E-Cigarettes And Perceptions Using A Behavioral Economics Model, Margaret Duplantier

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

With A Female Vice President In Office, Has Media Gender-Bias Left The Presidential Campaign Trail? The Short Answer Is No, And The Reason Why Is Deep Rooted, Nora Tarte

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

An examination of treatment in the media of female vice presidential candidates—Geraldine Ferraro (1984), Sarah Palin (2008) and Kamala Harris (2020)—surfaces a trend of gender bias perpetuated by subtly sexist language in all three campaigns. While society has made strides in equality in the 36 years between campaigns, the media treatment of Vice President Kamala Harris is not that far removed from the treatment of Geraldine Ferraro. The bias exists both overtly and subtly with obvious sexist language and more subtle forms of sexist language in coverage doled out by top media outlets, but subtle sexism is what often flies …

Parent-Child Relationships And Student Outcomes In Children: A Comparison Before And During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Angela Kladias

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

The current study investigated the connection between parent-child relationships, academic achievement, and child attitudes in school-aged children both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, I examined relationships among parent- and child-perceived emotional closeness, attitudes toward school, and child achievement in elementary and middle school aged children. The current study examined associations between parent-child relationship factors and academic student outcomes, comparing these associations both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Differences in student outcomes were examined based off of COVID-19 circumstances as well as what level of emotional closeness and interaction the parents and child have. Attitudes and achievement of …

Hidden Framings And Hidden Asymmetries In The Measurement Of Personality: A Combined Lens-Model And Frame-Of-Reference Perspective, Julian Schulze, Stephen G. West, Jan-Philipp Freudenstein, Philipp Schaepers, Patrick Mussel, Michael Eid, Stefan Krumm

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Objective: The symmetry principle and the frame-of-reference perspective have each made contributions to improving the measurement of personality. Although each perspective is valuable in its own right, we argue that even greater improvement can be achieved through the combination of both. Therefore, the goal of the current article was to show the value of a combined lens-model and frame-of-reference perspective. Method We conducted a literature review to summarize relevant research findings that shed light on the interplay of both perspectives and developed an integrative model. Results: Based on the literature review and on theoretical grounds, we argue that a basic …

Impact Of Penalty Cost On Customers' Booking Decisions, Jianghua Zhang, Daniel Zhuoyu Long, Rowan Wang, Chi Xie

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study a novel newsvendor-type problem where the information on demand quantity is not exogenously given. The customer needs to make the booking decision based on her estimation on demand, which is affected by the value of shortage penalty cost. The problem is motivated by low-cost airline service practices where passengers need to book baggage allowance for their travel. The baggage overweight price affects the accuracy of passengers’ baggage weight estimation and thus their booking quantities. Through stochastic decision models, we analytically characterize the impact of shortage penalty cost on passengers’ booking decisions as well as airline’s profit. We consider …

Urban Consolidation Center Or Peer-To-Peer Platform? The Solution To Urban Last-Mile Delivery, Qiyuan Deng, Xin Fang, Yun Fong Lim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The growing population in cities and booming e-commerce activities create huge demand for urban last-mile delivery, exerting intense pressure on the cities' well-being. To keep congestion and pollution under control, a consolidator can operate an urban consolidation center (UCC) to bundle shipments from multiple carriers before the last-mile delivery. Alternatively, the consolidator can operate a peer-to-peer platform for the carriers to share delivery capacity. We provide guidance for the consolidator to choose between these two business models by comparative analysis. We capture the interactions between the consolidator and carriers using a game-theoretical framework. Under each business model, the consolidator first …

Impact Assessment And Measurement With Sustainable Development Goals, Hao Liang, David Fernandez, Mikkel Larsen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

With the rapid growth of sustainable and responsible investment and widespread adoption of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and integration by organizations, how to assess and measure ESG impact has become a critical issue. Although the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a useful framework for investors and organizations globally to align their standards, the SDGs are vague on how to implement them at an organizational or activity level. Current practice relies heavily on third-party ESG rating providers, whose scores mostly apply to public equities only. They also suffer from biases, inconsistencies, and a lack of sufficient disclosure. …

Tips For Sme Transformation Amid Covid-19 Pandemic, Siow-Heng Ong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The author shared that following the economic downturn in 2020, revival in 2021 can only be very gradual. SMEs in different sectors of the economy face different challenges and have different options for response. Overall, SMEs are hopeful rather than confident. SMEs are generally hoping to manage cash flow and stretch their current funds for immediate business sustainability. Inevitably, their focus is on meeting critical business needs. Turnover and profits are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels so any increase in hiring or other planning for the future will be slight. He suggested that for pragmatic managers of SMEs …

Frontmatter (Volume 41, Issue 3), Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

In Lieu Of A Review: Reminiscences On Reading One Word Of Truth; The Cold War Memoir Of Michael Bourdeaux And Keston College, Mark R. Elliott

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

I first met Michael Bourdeaux in October 1983, at the beginning of one month of research at his Keston College Library and Archive, located in a southwest suburb of London, England. The back story to what gave occasion for our first meeting dates back a decade, to 1974, the year I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky and the year my wife, Darlene, and I made our first trip to the Soviet Union.

Remembering Canon Michael Bourdeaux, Founder Of Keston Institute, Walter Sawatsky

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Through a regular email prayer letter from Mission Eurasia,1 its Director Sergey Rakuba and his close colleague Dr. Michael Cherenkov, I learned of the death on March 29, 2021, of Michael Bourdeaux, and his funeral on April 12, 2021, in Oxford. Bourdeaux’s persistence over many decades to make known the appeals for prayer, for assistance in making known the plight of prisoners of conscience in the Soviet Union has continued, in spite of many changes and transformations over the decades. Even today the harassment of believers not conforming to Russia’s current state-church close integration and its banning of the Jehovah’s …

The Ethical And Practical Challenges Of Archiving Refugee Accounts: Reflections From Two Research Projects In The Uk, Emma Stewart, Marnie Shaffer

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Since the 2015 ‘refugee crisis’, the lens of researchers has been increasingly focused upon asylum seekers and refugees around the world. Nevertheless, working in the field of refugee studies poses several methodological and data challenges. For example, there is a relative paucity of detailed statistical data on refugee stocks, which has led to researchers favouring the collection of personal, qualitative stories from refugee populations. Although this produces a substantial volume of rich narratives, these can be geographically and temporally specific. The collection of qualitative data is also expensive, time consuming, and labour intensive. Therefore, alongside the increasing institutional and mandatory …

The Library As A Safe(R) Space: Student Thoughts About The Library’S Role On Campus, Jessica Crossfield Mcintosh, Kristin Cole, Megan Powell

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

As the demographics of college students continue to evolve, libraries must examine areas of need between their staff and the campus community. These changes and recent other recent campus events required Otterbein’s Courtright Memorial Library to question its role in providing safe(r) spaces to students of minority communities and to examine its role as a social justice advocate for inclusivity on campus. Our student body is historically white, yet our 2019 freshman class was the most diverse in its history with 23% students of color. The enrollment of students with diverse backgrounds continues to climb with our welcoming of first-generation …

The Inescapable Effects Of Discourse As Knowledge And Power: Refugee Youth’S Resistance To “The System” In Pursuit Of Higher Education, Fallon Puckett

Theses and Dissertations

Employing a Foucauldian inflected analytic framework, I examine how youth resettled in and around Unity, NC, ambivalently managed racializing discourses associated with being ‘refugee’ as they pursued access to higher education (HE). Like many scholars who are drawn to post-structuralist concepts, I understand ‘discourse’ to be a form of knowledge and power, which operates through institutions implicated in advancing forms of self-government. In my video-conferenced interviews with youth they revealed cogent interpretations of the many ways these different U.S. governmental (and some non-governmental) institutions operated in their lives as “the System.” In the particular case of refugee youth, they used …

Treatment Of Hiv-1 Associated Neurocognitive Disorders Through Mechanisms Of Neurogenesis With 11-Hour Voluntary Running Wheel Exposure, Alex Steiner

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with HIV-1 taking combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) live longer with less morbidity associated with the infection. The increase in lifespan has created a critical need for the deterrence of HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) reported in the aging population. Previous reports indicate that the HIV-1 infection may cause impairment in neurogenesis, leading to many of the cognitive deficits seen. The current paper proposes that exercise, as defined by voluntary wheel running, would be a potent inducer of neurogenesis that results in the neuro-restoration of CNS properties and cognitive functioning. Each animal had free access to 11-hour nocturnal wheel-running seven …

Essays In The Economics Of Tournaments, Eren Bilen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays that focus on tournaments, incentives, and performance. The first essay presents evidence of cheating that took place in online examinations during COVID-19 lockdowns and proposes two solutions with and without a camera for the cheating problem based on the experience accumulated by online chess communities over the past two decades. The best implementable solution is a uniform online exam policy where a camera capturing each students computer screen and room is a requirement.

The second essay investigates the "superstar effect" using observations from chess tournaments. Superstars exist in many places. In competition, they might …

Enhancing Recruitment Efforts In School Mental Health: Pilot Assessment Of A Certificate Training Program, Samantha Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

The expansion of school mental health (SMH) has been critical for children and adolescents to access needed mental health services. Though SMH is needed to support children and adolescents, there have been challenges with recruitment and mental health professional retention. Individuals within the field indicate burnout as a primary predictor for retention issues, but little research has been done on intentional strategies to increase recruitment and retention. The South Carolina Department of Mental Health (SCDMH), a leader in SMH services, developed a strategic plan to address recruitment and retention concerns of clinicians working in schools within the state. The purpose …

The Shape Of The Bilingual Mental Lexicon: Testing The Cognate Continuum, Danielle Kristine Fahey

Theses and Dissertations

Items in the mental lexicon have three storage and processing strata, the concept, lemma, and lexeme, which equate to semantic, syntactic and phonological information. Lexical items relate to each other at each stratum. Bilingual lexicons, which contain items from all languages, may contain cognates, items sharing concepts and with overlapping lexemes. Because cognates likely relate at the lemma level also, this research proposed the Cognate Continuum, a categorization of cognates and noncognates in the bilingual mental lexicon. The Cognate Continuum includes three sets of cognates:

(i) true cognates have the closest phonology and syntax.

(ii) lemma cognates have close syntax …

Using Aeolian Depositional Lag Times To Relate Dune Vegetation And Topographic Change, Jacquelyn Brianna Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations

Sediment deposition impacts dune morphology and is a product of many environmental factors. Dune vegetation is related to post-storm dune recovery and morphology. Though it is widely agreed that vegetation impacts sediment deposition, this relationship has not yet been quantified in the field. This research was conducted at Isle of Palms, a meso-tidal barrier island in South Carolina, where we collected topographic and vegetation data over an incipient foredune. Vegetation data were classified by functional type (dune-builder or dune-stabilizer) or land cover (sand, wrack). We identified land cover changes resulting in greater surface roughness. To relate land cover change to …

Information Processing Costs And Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence From The Sec’S Xbrl Mandate, Jeff Z. Chen, Hyun Hong, Jeong-Bon Kim, Ji Woo Ryou

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

The IRS uses information contained in financial statements as well as tax returns to detect tax avoidance behavior. We examine the impact on corporate tax avoidance behavior of reductions in the IRS’s information processing costs resulting from the mandatory adoption of XBRL for financial reporting. Motivated by the recent debate in the U.S. Congress over the cost-benefit of mandatory XBRL reporting for small firms, we pay particular attention to small firms, which inherently have relatively high information frictions. We find that the adoption of XBRL for financial reporting results in a significant decrease in tax avoidance. We further find …

Organizational Resources, Country Institutions, And National Culture Behind Firm Survival And Growth During Covid-19, Yu Liu, Mike W. Peng, Zuobao Wei, Jian Xu, Lixin Colin Xu

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This paper provides one of the first comprehensive and most updated studies on the effects of firms’ organizational resources, country institutions, and national culture on the survival and growth of private firms around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzing World Bank Enterprise Follow-up Surveys on COVID-19 that cover 18,770 firms in 36 countries, the paper documents four sets of findings. (1) During the pandemic, firms with favorable organizational resources (state ownership and affiliation with parent companies) are more likely to survive and grow, whereas firms with foreign ownership or more financial obstacles are less likely to survive or grow. …

Building Organizational Resilience Through Strategic Internal Communication And Organization–Employee Relationships, Young Kim

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

This study explores the impacts of internal strategic communication and relationship management with employees for organizational resilience in effective internal crisis communication, thereby filling a gap in crisis communication research. Specifically, it provides empirical evidence for how organizational resilience in a crisis can be achieved through strategic internal communication and relationship building with employees. A nationwide survey (N = 830) was conducted among full-time employees in the United States. The results revealed the important mediating role of organization–employee relationships (OER) between resilience and its antecedent, demonstrating that OER is a strong underlying factor in understanding how two-way symmetrical communication …