Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How Far Does The Apple Fall? Intergenerational Processes Underlying The Attainment Of Decent Work And Implications For Occupational Health And Well-Being, Baylor A. Graham

All Dissertations

Despite decades of progress spurred by the Decent Work Agenda (International Labor Organization, 1999), efforts to improve working conditions, ensure fair wages, and establish health and well-being as fundamental standards in employment practices continue to be sorely needed. The burden of inadequate decent work has demonstrated profound effects on individual health and well-being. However, the effects of inadequate decent work are rarely investigated over long periods of time and are entirely unexplored in relation to effects on children as they age and enter the workforce themselves. Accordingly, this dissertation investigated the intergenerational effects of decent work, extending beyond the immediate …

Exploring The Use Of Social Media Among Theme Park Guests: A Uses And Gratification Theory Approach, William J. Henderson

All Dissertations

Theme parks have provided billions of dollars to the local economies of tourist destinations (Blair & Rush, 1998; Warden, 2019). In the digital age, the theme park experience is shared with vast online audiences and so there is a need to understand how theme parks are presented on social media from the guest perspective. Specifically, it is vital to understand the uses and gratifications of social media use and content creation from guests and influencers within a theme park context.

The Uses and Gratifications Theory serves as a foundational theory for this research to understand the psychological gratifications found through …

Mental Health Of Healthcare Workers In Kosovo During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Latif Hoxha

All Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This study explored the mental health of healthcare practitioners in Kosovo during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the prevalence of stress, depression, and anxiety, and the associated individual, family, and work-related factors. The research employed a cross-sectional design with a sample of 449 healthcare workers from two hospitals in Kosovo. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to assess mental health symptoms, while socio-demographic and work-related information was collected through a questionnaire.

Based on the descriptive statistics of DASS-21 scores, the prevalence of mental health issues among the participants included high levels of depression (18%), anxiety (25%), …

Everyday Ingroup Colourism And Racial Esteem: Investigating The Moderating Role Of Assimilation To A Nationalistic Identity Among Afro And Indo Trinidadians, Jenneil Charles

All Dissertations

Colourism is a form of prejudice based on skin tone that occurs intraracially among communities of colour. Whereas light-skin tones are highly favoured, dark-skin tones are privileged in terms of perceived ethnic authenticity and legitimacy, thus, leading to assumptions about greater group level support and resources for dark-skinned persons. This study challenges these assumptions on the premise of ingroup colourism jeopardizing the relationship between Afro and Indo Trinidadians, and their racial-ethnic groups based on the tenets of Social Identity Theory and Social Identity Threat Theory. Social Identity Threat Theory proposes that the response to rejection from one’s ingroup depends on …

Cyber Threats, Cyber Risks, And Cybersecurity Responses: Modeling Whole-Of-Nation Strategy Implementation For American Organizations And Citizens, Vincent Leon Guerrero

All Dissertations

Amid a landscape of cyber attacks on America occurring below the threshold of armed conflict, strategic national policy efforts recommend a whole-of-nation approach where individuals and public and private organizations increase their defensive posture in cyberspace. Motivation to address the risk of a cyber event includes a continuum of cyber threats that can range from low-level disruptive events to cybercrime and cyber espionage to the possibility of a potentially catastrophic attack on critical infrastructure. In this dissertation, I conduct a survey experiment of various cyber threat conditions and cyber policies to model cybersecurity responses, risk perceptions to a possible cyber …

Opportunities To Learn In Rural South Carolina Schools: Rurality, Place, And Passion, Grig Sawyer

All Dissertations

High school principals can change the status quo of the current iniquitous disparities in the education system between South Carolina’s rural high schools and their more populated and affluent suburban schools. Using a non-standard structure and the resources in their control, these school leaders can find solutions so schools can offer rural students advanced math and science programs. Yet, there is a paucity of studies examining how small rural school principals make advanced math and science courses available to their students, particularly in rural South Carolina. Thus, studies must examine how South Carolina school leaders successfully offer advanced math and …

Presence Of Other People In Urban Parks: Exploring Psychological Effects Using Virtual Reality, Eye Tracking, And Qualitative Methods, Shuai Yuan

All Dissertations

Urban parks are essential public spaces that provide numerous benefits, but the presence of others can significantly influence these benefits. This dissertation explores the complex and context-dependent effects of the presence of other people on urban park experiences by drawing on diverse disciplinary perspectives and employing multiple methodological approaches, including theoretical synthesis, virtual reality, eye tracking, and qualitative methods.

Chapter 2 develops a comprehensive theoretical framework that bridges social psychology, environmental psychology, and practice-based fields. It categorizes the impacts of the presence of others on park users' experiences into perceptual, behavioral, cognitive-emotional, and symbolic domains. Chapter 3 utilizes virtual reality …

We Train Ai, Why Not Humans, Too? An Exploration Of Human-Ai Team Training For Future Workplace Viability, Caitlin M. Lancaster

All Dissertations

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workforce is transforming team dynamics, leading to the emergence of Human-AI Teams (HATs). These teams offer opportunities to capitalize on human strengths with AI's prowess, offering significant opportunities for innovation and efficiency. Effective HAT functioning requires aligning human expectations with AI capabilities and bridging knowledge gaps between teammates. Despite this potential, key integration challenges remain, such as developing shared mental models, addressing skill limitations, and overcoming negative AI perceptions. Existing training efforts often apply human-human teaming principles directly to HATs, overlooking AI's role as a teammate and limiting the development of HAT-specific …

Disrupting The Cascade: Using Improvement Science To Mitigate Negative Outcomes Associated With Exclusionary Discipline Practices In Schools, Katelyn Singleton

All Dissertations

The use of exclusionary discipline practices in schools has continued to increase since the advent of Zero Tolerance discipline policies in the 1990s. Research indicates that these practices are largely ineffective in addressing behavior, and result in detrimental outcomes for students and communities. This study focused on the use of Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs (DAEPs) as a form of exclusionary discipline. Using an improvement science design, the purpose of this study was to identify how DAEPs can be leveraged to mitigate negative outcomes associated with exclusionary discipline. Specifically, this study sought to understand how implementing explicit skill instruction and adult …

The Growth And Governance Of American Classical And Christian Schools, Cassidy Syftestad Klutts

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Classical and Christian education has proliferated across education sectors over the last decade. As a result, school leaders must implement these timeless philosophies of education and navigate such high demand. This dissertation seeks to equip relevant parties with research about what drives their skyrocketing enrollment and how to support school leaders and their governing boards. My first chapter uses in-person focus groups to understand the school choices of 25 parents whose children are enrolled in Texas-based classical charter schools. I explore the ways in which parents found their children’s school; what made them enroll their children; and whether they are …

The Riddle Of Religious Language, Luke Hillman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following project analyzes religious life through the lens of religious language. Motivated by ideas of Wittgenstein and Wittgensteinians, religious language is shown to be nonsensical, and yet significant. Wittgenstein connects how we understand language with how we understand life, and this connection extends to religious life. This project offers an answer to how religious language is unique by comparing religious language to riddles and the process of answering riddles. In addition, religious language becomes understandable with imagination, a relationship with the transcendent, and an understanding of the kinds of language present in religious discourse. These ideas are solidified with …

Essays On Networks And Gender Dynamics In Corporate Finance, Xiaonan Wei

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In my dissertation, I explore the effect of networks and gender dynamics on corporate finance. In my first essay, I examine the effects of personal network on insider trading decisions. Using COVID-19 as a shock to test personal network effect, I find individuals were influenced by information about COVID-19 provided by the members of their personal networks. S&P 1500 insiders whose personal networks contained higher fractions of socially connected individuals from countries affected by early stages of COVID-19 were more likely to sell shares of their firms in the period preceding the U.S. stock market decline, and they are less …

My Identity Blew Up On Tiktok: Exploring Content Creators And The Transparasocial Relationship, Russell Garret Harger

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated transparasocial relationships as they relate to identity management for content creators. Unlike traditional parasocial relationships, transparasocial relationships indicate high levels of interactivity between the creator and audience members. This study investigates how this interactivity affects the identity of the creators, specifically content creators on TikTok. A diverse set of 21 creators were reached out to and interviewed in a semi-structured respondent style over videoconference calls. Thematic analysis was conducted to discover how these creators are managing their identities within the context of their roles as content creators. A particular interest was taken to see if there were …

Cultural Theory And Climate Change Risk Perceptions: Factors That Affect Support For Climate Change Mitigation Policy In Arkansas, Benjamin Galloway

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the intricate interplay between climate change perceptions, policy preferences, and the role of Cultural Theory in shaping public opinion. It begins by acknowledging the multifaceted impact of the climate crisis and emphasizing the critical importance of policy responses to mitigate its effects. Recognizing the diverse perspectives within the general public, the dissertation adopts a nuanced approach, leveraging Cultural Theory to investigate climate change risk perceptions and policy preferences. First, I examine disparities in fracking policy preferences between the general public and policy elites, employing Narrative Policy Framework-style narrative treatments. It reveals divergent responses to narrative elements, signaling …

Strategies For Misinformation Correction: Evidence For The Power Of Negation, Angel Houts

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigated the effectiveness of different correction strategies for misinformation using a 2 (Source: no source, credible source) x 2 (Structure: negation, affirmation) within-subjects design with an additional control condition that had no corrections. Participants read 40 Twitter-like statements, which included 25 pieces of misinformation and 15 truthful statements, and rated their emotional responses on a Likert scale. After completing a distractor task, participants read additional Twitter-like statements across five different conditions. The first four conditions aimed to correct misinformation: negation with a credible source, negation without source, affirmation with a credible source, affirmation without source. The fifth …

Exploring The Role Of Whiteness In Sociopolitical Development: Predictive Contexts And Trajectories, Jesiah P. Salazar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Critical consciousness is the ability to understand and challenge oppressive social systems, believe in one's power to create positive social change, and take actions toward making those changes. Sociopolitical development theory suggests that this awareness grows through a mix of social influences, opportunities for activism, and personal identity. Historically, this concept has been viewed as a way to empower youth of color to challenge systemic oppression, rather than just cope with it. Therefore, most research has focused on critical consciousness in youth of color. Recently, however, researchers have begun to explore critical consciousness among White adolescents. Using a person-centered approach, …

Segac: Sample Efficient Generalized Actor Critic For The Stochastic On-Time Arrival Problem, Honglian Guo, Zhi He, Wenda Sheng, Zhiguang Cao, Yingjie Zhou, Weinan Gao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper studies the problem in transportation networks and introduces a novel reinforcement learning-based algorithm, namely. Different from almost all canonical sota solutions, which are usually computationally expensive and lack generalizability to unforeseen destination nodes, segac offers the following appealing characteristics. segac updates the ego vehicle’s navigation policy in a sample efficient manner, reduces the variance of both value network and policy network during training, and is automatically adaptive to new destinations. Furthermore, the pre-trained segac policy network enables its real-time decision-making ability within seconds, outperforming state-of-the-art sota algorithms in simulations across various transportation networks. We also successfully deploy segac …

Facilitating Parental Scaffolding Of Joint Book Reading With Toddlers, Tiffany Pempek Rahl

Dissertations, 2020-current

Developmental research confirms the importance of early parental language input for building children’s vocabulary and language skills (Hart & Risley, 1995). While reading with a caregiver is a common way for language input to occur, the approaches parents utilize often fail to capitalize on techniques for improving language and pre-literacy skills (Huebner & Meltzoff, 2005). The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of embedding tips for scaffolding parent reading strategies into a children’s book. Thirty-eight parent-child dyads participated in a 2-week intervention. Families were randomly assigned to receive either a book with embedded tips (experimental condition) or …

Antiracism In Higher Education: An Integrated Psychological Perspective, Rhea E. Nesbitt

Dissertations, 2020-current

Antiracism is a complicated and important term with prominent, influential voices claiming that systemic equity and the reconfiguration of white identity are the central solutions to eradicating American racism. Within the profound sociocultural effects of the existing antiracist rhetoric, there is vagueness, conflict, and incoherence. Language serves as a fundamental aspect of human experience, facilitating individual meaning-making and comprehension. Effective communication hinges on the ability to articulate subjective experiences and justifications clearly, a challenge evident in discussions surrounding antiracism. Despite advocating for antiracism as crucial and unending work, scholars recognize significant hurdles, including unclear responsibilities for implementation and entrenched structures …

Factors That Help And Hinder Experience Of Reflective Functioning In An Attachment-Based Intervention: An Enhanced Critical Incident Technique Analysis Of Parents’ Experiences, Shelly-Ann Peart James

Dissertations, 2020-current

This study explored parents’ experiences as it relates to their capacity to think about their child’s thinking and feeling, Parental Reflective Functioning (PRF), an attachment theory construct. PRF was explored in the context of an attachment-based intervention, the Secure Child Program (SCP), that focuses on children and their families. Parents’ voices were centered in this study through the employment of narrative research methodology, specifically, the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique. Participants consisted of seven parents within the SCP. A semi-structured interview developed for the study was informed by extant measures of PRF. Findings indicate helping and hindering categories with the vast …

Enabling Sustainable Freight Forwarding Network Via Collaborative Games, Pang Jin Tan, Shih-Fen Cheng, Richard Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Freight forwarding plays a crucial role in facilitating global trade and logistics. However, as the freight forwarding market is extremely fragmented, freight forwarders often face the issue of not being able to fill the available shipping capacity. This recurrent issue motivates the creation of various freight forwarding networks that aim at exchanging capacities and demands so that the resource utilization of individual freight forwarders can be maximized. In this paper, we focus on how to design such a collaborative network based on collaborative game theory, with the Shapley value representing a fair scheme for profit sharing. Noting that the exact …

Firm-Level Ai Ethical Awareness: Measurement And Effects, Yan Ma, Nan Hu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With rapid integration of AI technologies into business operation, ethical issues associated with AI development, implementation, and deployment, has become increasingly conspicuous. An effective measure of firm-level AI Ethical Awareness (FAIEA) is crucial for both academics and practitioners to assess FAIEA efficiently. In this study, based on qualitative information in earning conference call, we construct and validate a firm specific measure of FAIEA. Upon establishing a reliable measure, we explore the determinants and consequence of FAIEA. We find Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) engagement and the presence of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) as key determinants of higher FAIEA, suggesting the …

Decoding Gpt Mania In Chinese Stock Market, Yan Ma, Nan Hu, Shuyang Jia

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This study investigates the impact of investor attention on stock market reactions to ChatGPT using dialogues on the Chinese interactive investor platforms (IIPs). We measure investor attention by the number of investors’ questions toward ChatGPT on the IIPs and categorize the firms’ answers as Investing, Speculative, and Absent. The research reveals positive and statistically significant market reactions surrounding the initial questions that occur before firm responses. Positive abnormal returns are also observed around the initial answer dates, with Investing firms evoking the highest market response, followed by Speculative firms, and Absent firms exhibiting the lowest reactions. Our results suggest that …

Digitally Connected, Evolutionarily Wired: An Evolutionary Mismatch Perspective On Digital Work, Mark Van Vugt, Stephen M. Colarelli, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper makes the case for an evolutionary mismatch between digital work and the way human ancestors engaged in work. Psychological adaptations for producing things that early humans needed to survive and thrive, such as cognitive mechanisms for obtaining and processing food, toolmaking, and learning valuable working skills, evolved in the context of small networks of hunter–gatherers. These adaptations are central to understanding the significance of work in human evolution. Evolutionary mismatches operate when novel environments cue ancestral adaptations in ways that no longer provide adaptive benefits. We argue that digital work, although efficient and productive, is misaligned with some …

The Interaction Effects Of Fintech And Bank Lending On Growth: Evidence From The Asean Region, Tan Swee Liang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This study examined the interaction effects of traditional bank lending and emerging fintech credit on economic growth in six ASEAN economies from 2013 to 2020. Using a two-way fixed effects (FE) model and the panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) method, the study found a statistically significant and positive interaction effect between bank lending and fintech credit. Specifically, fintech credit became increasingly important in shaping economic growth as bank lending ratios exceeded a certain threshold. Countries with high bank lending ratios experienced greater GDP per capita growth when accompanied by greater fintech credit. These findings suggest that policies supporting fintech development alongside …

How Can Cbdcs Be Designed To Drive Financial Inclusion?, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

As a new form of national currency, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) hold the potential to be a transformative innovation that can enhance financial inclusion. However, the realization of this potential is very much contingent on their design. The realization of the benefit is also influenced by the barriers to financial inclusion that were identified in our first blog such as financial literacy, digital divide, and complexity.

Cancer Care Terminology In African Languages, Hannah Simba, Miriam Mutebi, Moses Galukande, Yahya Mahamat-Saleh, Elom Aglago, Adamu Addissie, Lidya Genene Abebe, Justina Onwuka

General Surgery, East Africa

Importance: Effective communication between patients and health care teams is essential in the health care setting for delivering optimal cancer care and increasing cancer awareness. While the significance of communication in health care is widely acknowledged, the topic is largely understudied within African settings.

Objective: To assess how the medical language of cancer and oncology translates into African languages and what these translations mean within their cultural context.

Design, etting, and participants: In this multinational survey study in Africa, health professionals, community health workers, researchers, and scientists involved in cancer care and research and traditional healers were invited to participate …

Press Benefits And The Public Imagination, Erin C. Carroll

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In an era when the press faces unprecedented challenges, those who believe in the importance of a free press find themselves playing defense. Press advocates have been forced to articulate, with renewed clarity and urgency, why the press is not merely important but vital to an effective democracy and why it needs to be saved from a “death spiral” and an “extinction-level event.” These arguments often focus on the crucial role the press plays—the “press function,” as lawyers call it—in informing the public, holding power to account, and facilitating democratic discourse.

Scholars and commentators generally discuss the press function through …

Religious Motives In Ukrainian Folklore: Linguistic Analysis, Olena Svysiuk, Zoya Biloshytska

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The paper explores the profound influence of religious motifs on the national identity of Ukrainians, emphasizing their impact on cultural, social, and spiritual dimensions. The enduring significance of religion in shaping cultural and societal development is highlighted, with particular attention to the intricate interplay of religious and national themes throughout Ukrainian history. In the context of contemporary globalization, the study underscores the critical role of religious elements in folklore, art, and literature as custodians of cultural memory and transmitters of traditional values. Ukrainian folklore, especially rich in religious themes, serves as a vital means of preserving national ideals and ethical …

Reachability-Aware Fair Influence Maximization, Wenyue Ma, Maximilian K. Egger, Andreas Pavlogiannis, Yuchen Li, Panagiotis Karras

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

How can we ensure that an information dissemination campaign reaches every corner of society and also achieves high overall reach? The problem of maximizing the spread of influence over a social network has commonly been considered with an aggregate objective. Less attention has been paid to achieving equality of opportunity, reducing information barriers, and ensuring that everyone in the network has a fair chance to be reached. To that end, the fairness objective aims to maximize the minimum probability of reaching an individual. To address this inapproximable problem, past research has proposed heuristics, which, however, perform less well when the …