Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Opinion Mining Of Sociopolitical Comments From Social Media, Swapna Gottipati

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Opinions are central to almost all human activities by influencing greatly the decision making process. In this thesis, we present the problems of mining issues, extracting entities and suggestive opinions towards the entities, detecting thoughtful comments, and extracting stances and ideological expressions from online comments in the sociopolitical domain. This study is essential for opinion mining applications that are beneficial for policy makers, government sectors and social organizations. Much work has been done to try to uncover consumer sentiments from online comments to help businesses improve their products and services. However, sociopolitical opinion mining poses new challenges due to complex …

Facial Features And The Effectiveness Of Apology, Michal Franc

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Apology is an important tool for the maintenance of positive and cooperative relationships in the workplace. This paper reviews the existing research in the field of apology, and identifies four main components of apology. It uses impression management theory and signaling theory to explain the effect of apology. In addition, it proposes moderating effect of the offender's facial dominance on the effectiveness of apology. Specifically, previous research (e.g., Perrett et al., 1998) found that people with high facial dominance are less trustworthy, which suggests that apology may act as an equalizer between people with high and low facial dominance. Through …

Connections, August 2014, University Library

Library Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Friedrich A. Hayek: The Road To Serfdom Condensed Version Study Guide, 2009, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

`Roaming In The Garden Of Freedom:' Constructions Of U.S. Ideology, Identity, And The Past In Television News's Anniversary Coverage About The Berlin Wall, Rachel Eve Somerstein

Dissertations - ALL

This study employs a multimodal close reading to examine and compare how NBC's Nightly News and various primetime CNN news shows construct the story of the Berlin Wall's opening from 1990 through 2009. It does so first by examining the networks' 1989 coverage and assessing the themes and ideologies circulated when the Berlin Wall's opening was breaking news. These themes and ideologies are used as a baseline to assess anniversary coverage that aired from 1990 through 2009. In the process of this close reading, special attention is paid to silences and omissions amid itin images and spoken discourses; the circulation …

The Effects Of Extended Time On Reading Comprehension Performance For English As A Second Language College Students: Is There A Need For Accommodations?, Laura Ann Miller

Dissertations - ALL

American colleges and universities are enrolling an increasing number of students for whom English is a second language (ESL). These students face literacy challenges that may impact their academic performance as well as create disadvantages on tests, particularly reading intensive tests under time constraints. This study examined the effects of extended time as a test accommodation on a timed reading comprehension test for ESL students compared to non-ESL peers under standard time, time and one half, and double time conditions. Results revealed that under standard time conditions ESL students with low Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) in English access significantly …

The Presidency Effect, Doreen K. Allerkamp

Dissertations - ALL

From humble beginnings with the merely managerial duties of a formal Chair, the rotating Council Presidency of the European Union (EU) has evolved into a crucial player in the context of EU decision making, although its impact remains largely unaddressed in accounts of EU output. More than from its formal job description, the rotating Presidency's four roles derive from the (informal) decision dynamics of the Council and the expectations it faces from its fellow Council members and the other EU institutions. Together, these factors can motivate the member state holding the Presidency to wield every tool at its disposal and …

How Context Matters In Digital Library Use, Swati Bhattacharyya

Dissertations - ALL

This research investigates how organizational context contributes to the use of digital libraries, an ICT-enabled information infrastructure. Traditionally digital-library use is measured with the help of statistical analysis of download and other related data, but statistics alone have limited power to explain how such an expensive information infrastructure is used to meet organizational goals. Such limitation was overcome in this study by relating digital-library use to the context of such use.

In the last decade many Indian research organizations have witnessed the abundance of such information infrastructures accessible directly by end-users. The convergence of several phenomena such as current business …

Investing In Sustainable Agricultural Resource Use - Reference Metrics: A Companion To The Report Card On Sustainable Natural Resource Use In Agriculture, Anne Bennett

All other publications

No abstract provided.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome And Neuropsychological Dysfunction: Understanding The Impact Of Obesity, Chelsea A. Hilsendager

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is the largest risk factor for the development of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), which is a common sleep-related breathing disorder that is associated with cognitive dysfunction. A growing body of literature suggests that obesity is related to negative neuropsychological outcomes independent of other health problems known to impact cognitive functioning (e.g., type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease). The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of obesity on the cognitive functioning of individuals with OSAS. Specifically, this study aimed to examine whether or not differences existed between obese and non-obese persons with OSAS on a battery of …

Lorain Police Department: A Study To Improve Patrol Deployment, Philip M. Stinson, Steven L. Brewer Jr, John Liederbach

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The Lorain (OH) Police Department requested research assistance from the Ohio Consortium of Crime Science (OCCS) for the purpose of evaluating and revising the current patrol districts and the allocation of resources within the districts. The OCCS is an association of researchers from universities and state agencies working together to provide evidence-based solutions to the real-world problems faced by local criminal justice agencies. The goal of the project was to evaluate and revise the current police districts and the allocation of resources within those districts. The first objective in support of the project goal was to assess calls for service, …

Revisiting The Feminine Mystique, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Cessation Of Nssi: Differences In Acquired Capability And Distress Tolerance, Rondel T. Kittleman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the role of cessation of NSSI in acquired capability and distress tolerance. It was hypothesized that individuals with longer time in-between assessment and NSSI would show lower levels of acquired capability and higher levels distress tolerance regardless of lifetime frequency. These hypotheses were tested by surveying 375 undergraduate university students (64% female; mean age = 20.3) Participants completed packets with self-report measures that included: Inventory of Statements about Self- Injury, Acquired Capability of Suicide Scale, Distress Tolerance Scale, and Demographics. Results suggested that individuals with longer amount of time since last NSSI …

Examining Group Differences Between Suicidal Veterans Classified As Wish To Live, Ambivalent, Or Wish To Die Using The Suicide Index Score, Brittany D. Morris

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A persistent difficulty in the field of psychology is identifying which individuals are at the greatest risk for suicide. Veterans of the US Military are at elevated risk for suicide as compared to the general population. One approach for designating tiers of risk is applying the “Suicide Index Score” to discriminate individuals based upon their reported wish to live (WTL) and wish to die (WTD; Kovacs & Beck, 1977). Brown, Steer, Henriques, and Beck (2005) demonstrated those who indicated a complete WTD and no WTL were at greatest risk to die. The current study expanded on previous research by using …

Short-Term Visual Deprivation, Tactile Acuity, And Haptic Solid Shape Discrimination, Charles E. Crabtree

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The visual cortex of human observers changes its functionality in response to visual deprivation (Boroojerdi et al., 2000). Behavioral studies have recently documented enhanced tactile abilities following a short period of visual deprivation (Facchini & Aglioti, 2003; Weisser, Stilla, Peltier, Hu, & Sathian, 2005). The current study investigated the effects of visual deprivation on two unique tactile tasks. While Facchini and Aglioti observed significant effects of visual deprivation, neither Wong, Hackeman, Hurd, and Goldreich (2011) nor Merabet et al. (2008) observed these effects. Corroborating these more recent results, no difference in grating orientation discrimination performance was observed between the sighted …

Subjective Vs. Objective Physical Pain In Individuals Who Report A History Of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: A Closer Look At What It Means To Experience Pain, Cassandra A. Sturycz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is the self-inflicted damage to one’s bodily tissues without the intent to die. Previous research has sought to discover the motivation of an individual to perform such behavior and differences in the experience of pain among those who self-injure. The goals for the current study were to reveal any relationships between the function of NSSI, the subjective experience of pain, and an objective measurement of pressure pain threshold. Participants completed the Inventory of Statements About Self- Injury (ISAS; Klonsky & Glenn, 2009), which measures the functions that NSSI serves, and a measure assessing subjective pain experience, specifically …

Alternate Forms Reliability For Written Expression Probes, Ashley Carey

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The use of Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) in schools continues to increase, as it is a useful brief assessment of students’ basic academic skills. CBM measures are used for multiple tasks such as identifying students at-risk, creating local norms, monitoring students’ progress during interventions, and assisting with special education eligibility determinations. Much of the research has focused on CBM in the areas of math and reading. Relatively few studies have examined the area of CBMWritten Expression. Even fewer studies exist exploring the reliability among alternate writing forms. This study determined alternate form reliability coefficients for written expression probes at the second, …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Regulatory Stormwater Monitoring Protocols On Groundwater Quality In Urbanized Karst Regions, Daniel C. Nedvidek

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Non-point pollution from stormwater runoff is one of the greatest threats to water quality in the United States today, particularly in urban karst settings. In these settings, the use of karst features and injection wells for stormwater management results in virtually untreated water being directed into the karst aquifer. Currently, no policies exist specifically to provide water quality protections to karst environments. This study utilized a combination of karst stormwater quality data, along with survey data collected from MS4 Phase II communities, and an analysis of current federal, local, and state water quality regulations, to assess the need for karst-specific …

Multi-Sensory Emotion Recognition With Speech And Facial Expression, Qingmei Yao

Dissertations

Emotion plays an important role in human beings’ daily lives. Understanding emotions and recognizing how to react to others’ feelings are fundamental to engaging in successful social interactions. Currently, emotion recognition is not only significant in human beings’ daily lives, but also a hot topic in academic research, as new techniques such as emotion recognition from speech context inspires us as to how emotions are related to the content we are uttering.

The demand and importance of emotion recognition have highly increased in many applications in recent years, such as video games, human computer interaction, cognitive computing, and affective computing. …

Evaluating The Use Of Tootling For Improving Upper Elementary/Middle School Students' Disruptive And Appropriate Behavior, Abigail Melanie Lambert

Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to extend the literature on a positive peer reporting procedure called Tootling. There has been limited research on the effectiveness of the Tootling intervention for reducing disruptive behavior in the classroom (Cihak, Kirk, & Boon, 2009; Lambert, 2012). Additionally, Tootling has primarily been utilized with lower elementary school students, and the present study evaluated the intervention procedures with upper elementary/middle school students (i.e., sixth and seventh grades). The current study also examined the effects of the Tootling intervention on individual target students referred for disruptive behavior in addition to classwide student behavior. An …

Effects Of Animal Management Changes On The Activity Budgets And Walking Rates Of Zoo Elephants, Angela Dawn Mackey

Dissertations

The current study aimed to assess the effects of two management strategies, weekly rototilling of the enclosure and the provision of unpredictable foraging opportunities, on the daily behavior of six elephants housed at the San Diego Zoo. Observations took place from January to June 2013 and were conducted throughout a 24- hour period. The study was divided into three phases, each two months in duration. During the first phase (baseline) no changes were made to the current management routine of the elephants. In Phase 2, rototilling of the elephant enclosures was increased from once monthly to once per week, while …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The Good Behavior Game With General Education High School Students Utilizing A Changing Criterion Component, Rachel Ritter Mitchell

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the interdependent group contingency procedure known as the Good Behavior Game (GBG) with upper-level (i.e., 10th, 11th, and 12th grade) general education high school students utilizing a changing criterion design. The effectiveness of the GBG has been investigated with a variety of behaviors across many developmental levels; however, limited research has been done at the high school level. To date, only a few studies have examined the effectiveness of the GBG with a general education high school population, one with a single 9th grade classroom (Kleinman & Saigh, 2011) …

Association Between Participation In Organized Sports And Positive Youth Development Among Grade School Students, Jennifer Wilenta

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This quantitative study aims to understand the role of organized sports in youth development from a parental perspective. Specifically, it addresses whether grammar school-aged children (Mean Age = 9) who participate in organized sports have higher levels of positive youth development (PYD) compared to those who do not participate or who minimally participate. This study also explores the barriers to participation for those who do not participate. The sample was drawn from the two public grammar schools in Secaucus, N.J. during the 2012-13 academic year.

The major findings of this study do not show a difference in PYD levels based …

Social Tipping Points And Earth Systems Dynamics, R.A. Bentley, E. Maddison, P. Ranner, J. Bissell, C. Caiado, P. Bhatanacharoen, Timothy Adrian Robert Clark, Botha M., Akinbami F., Hollow M., Michie R., Huntley B., Curtis S., Garnett P.

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Recently, Early Warning Signals (EWS) have been developed to predict tipping points in Earth Systems. This discussion highlights the potential to apply EWS to human social and economic systems, which may also undergo similar critical transitions. Social tipping points are particularly difficult to predict, however, and the current formulation of EWS, based on a physical system analogy, may be insufficient. As an alternative set of EWS for social systems, we join with other authors encouraging a focus on heterogeneity, connectivity through social networks and individual thresholds to change.

Automatically Measuring Individual Consumption Events During Natural Eating Using A Table Embedded Scale, Ryan Mattfeld

All Theses

This thesis is motivated to improve the tools available for tracking energy intake. The goal of this work is to develop a table-embedded scale capable of measuring the weight of individual consumption events during unrestricted eating. The method was tested on a data set gathered from 276 subjects eating 518 courses consisting of 22,383 marked individual consumption events in a cafeteria environment. Approximately 30% of the consumption events can be detected and weighed. The remaining 70% of the events occur without participants interacting with the scale or when noisy interactions with the scale prevent weight measurement. The relationship between bite …

Using The Bite Counter To Overcome The Effect Of Plate Size On Food Intake, Phillip Jasper

All Theses

According to a recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, overweight and obesity have reached epidemic levels in the United States (Flegal et at., 2010, NHANES, 2010) There are many treatments for overweight and obesity, the most popular being behavioral interventions (Berkel et al., 2005). Self-monitoring is one of the most important factors of successful behavioral interventions (Baker & Kirschenbaum, 1993). The Bite Counter is a newly developed tool for weight loss that aids in the self-monitoring process (Dong et al., 2011). The purpose of the current study was to determine if bite count feedback and an instruction on the …

The Effect Of 0.2 Hz And 1.0 Hz Frequency And 100 Ms And 20 - 100 Ms Amplitude Of Latency On Simulatory Sickness In A Head Mounted Display, Amelia Kinsella

All Theses

The purpose of the current experiment was to contribute to the existing literature on the relationship between frequency of latency and amplitude of latency and simulator sickness experienced in a head mounted display (HMD). Motion sickness has been studied for decades in a variety of vehicles including ships, planes, trains and automobiles. More recently virtual environments, including those utilizing an HMD have been shown to generate significant sickness, often termed simulator sickness. Many studies have linked system latency to simulator sickness and recent research has found that with current technology latency is not a constant; but rather it varies systematically …

Felt Stigma From Medical Professionals: Effects Of Body Mass Index On Medical Use, Adam Yates

All Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and perceived discrimination, using the frequency of routine medical care as a proxy for discrimination using waves I (1995) and II (2005) of the Midlife in the U.S (MIDUS) survey. This thesis examines stigma and discrimination of the obese in medical care using the theoretical framework of Felt Stigma and Identity Theory. This thesis addresses 5 research questions: (1) What effect does body mass index have on health usage patterns? (2) What effect does gender have on the relationship between body mass index and health usage patterns? (3) What effect …

Extension Assessments Of Farmer Interest In And Uses Of Climate Forecasts In Florida, North Carolina, And South Carolina, Alan Hooper

All Theses

Farmers can reduce the risks associated with climate variability by using climate forecasts. Extension personnel, as knowledgeable informants about farmers, can assess farmer interest in and uses of climate forecasts in agricultural decision making. Three surveys of extension personnel were conducted in Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina to assess, among other things, farmer interest in and uses of climate forecasts. Models of conditional probabilities are estimated with data from the surveys to show how extension assessments depend on characteristics of the extensionist and her clientele. An extensionist with more than six years of experience is more likely to think …

North Versus South: The Effects Of Foreign Direct Investment And Historical Legacies On Poverty Reduction In Post-Đổi Mới Vietnam, Scott R. Sanders

Faculty Publications

This research examines the factors that account for variance in provincial poverty reduction rates between 2002 and 2008 in Vietnam. In particular, this paper uses spatial regression modeling to show that foreign direct investment (FDI) and the capitalist legacies of southern Vietnam significantly affected provincial poverty reduction during this time period. These findings suggest that although Vietnam as a whole has benefited from post-Đổi Mới economic reform and FDI, the historical capitalist legacies of the former Republic of Vietnam played a strong role in aiding provinces in the south in attracting FDI and subsequently reducing provincial poverty.