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A Million Colors in Black and White
Full text linkSully is a precocious preteen whose dad is a victim of severe PTSD from the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His PTSD manifests as the ability to see the color and behavior of peoples’ auras. He dies shortly after returning home and Sully inherits his ability to see the auras. She enrolls in an art therapy program and quickly realizes it helps her express how she experiences the world around her. Sully’s story is also a coming-of-age story, where she learns how to cope with grief, puberty, and pre-algebra
The Fuzzy Line Between Structure and Agency: A Fuzzy Inference Approach to Modeling Agent Response to Governing Institutions
Full text linkThe representative realism of agent behaviors and emergent system phenomena in agent-based models (ABMs) plays a crucial role in computational social science and the study of social systems. As ABMs become more prevalent in mainstream use, informing the design of public policy decisions and other societal governance functions, the importance of ensuring credible simulated agent decisions becomes increasingly critical. In pursuit of this realism goal, ABM researchers have explored computational frameworks for both sides of a classical sociological theory debate concerning the primacy of structure or agency in shaping individual behavior, as well as integrative theories which challenges the rigid dichotomy between structure and agency. Integrative theories reject the notion of structure as purely deterministic and agency as completely unconstrained, emphasizing the active role of individuals in shaping and being shaped by social contexts. While sociological theory-based ABMs are richly represented in the literature, there is limited computational research focusing on operationalizing these integrative theories that bridge structure and agency. To address this gap, I propose fuzzy agent-based institutional modeling (fABIM) as an approach to emphasize social institutions and their influence on the reflexivity of agents—their adaptive capacity for considering strategies, rules, norms, or obligations in action decisions that comply with a dynamic internal mental model of social standards. My approach seeks a novel method for capturing the interdependent dynamics between institutional governance (structure) and deontic reasoning of individuals (agency). This work presents three contributions aimed at bridging the gap between theory and representative realism in computational modeling. Firstly, I build upon existing work for computationally characterizing structure within societies by incorporating the ADICO grammar of institutions by Crawford and Ostrom (1994) into ABMs. I introduce a sub-grammar in context of ABMs for each ADICO element, allowing for parameterization of agent reasoning and consideration of institutional tradeoffs. Secondly, fuzzy logic is implemented to connect individual context and interpretation of structure, to reasoning and subsequent action. This is achieved through the introduction of fuzzy logic functions that represent diverse and imprecise mental models of individuals, which capture varying degrees of support for governing institutions in different social contexts. These functions are integrated into a fuzzy inference system, serving as a heuristic construct for both framing and modeling the decision-making process of computational agents. Finally, I implemented and operationalized the first two contributions to demonstrate fABIM as an approach to apply within a computational framework, the theoretical foundations and dynamics between structure and agency. To examine and validate these advancements, a simple model of the commons governed by social institutions is used to examine each contribution. The research concludes with a discussion on the potential utility and application of the proposed fABIM concept to more representative real-world scenarios, specifically those characterized by highly divisive social contexts that are concerned about complicity of populations to imposed top-down structure (e.g., mandates). Such scenarios, for example, the inconsistent response of the US population to adopting nonpharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlight the significant impact that voluntaristic action can have on emergent societal outcomes that depend upon complicity with social institutions. Toward this, the central thesis of this research proposes that enhancing realism in models that capture adaptive individual agency in response to institutional governance holds broad applications, particularly for evidence-based policy development and decision-support
Impact on Civilians in Babanusa, West Kordofan, January 22 – May 9, 2024
Full text linkThis report summarizes the impact civilians, especially civilian infrastructure, from fighting involving the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Babanusa, West Kordofan, between January 22 and May 6 2024.Produced with the support of the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, United States Department of State
DISSERTATION IN MOTIVATED BELIEFS
Full text linkMotivated reasoning and self-serving bias have various important implications in many contexts. People may have the motivation to manipulate their beliefs in a self-serving way. In the dissertation, we investigate motivated beliefs in decision making and explore the underlying mechanism.Key questions in the motivated beliefs are what motivates people’s beliefs and how the belief updating patterns are influenced. We develop the theory and design an experiment to investigate the role of future desired effort in motivated beliefs and self-serving bias. We examine the relationship between future desired effort and motivated beliefs by exogenously controlling the situations of the second section of the task. We investigate three situations in which the effect of negative feedback on beliefs can be magnified: (1)when the future task becomes more difficult,(2)when the cost of effort in the future task becomes higher, and (3)when the future task is one month later. Our study explores how beliefs are maintained under the motivation-based theory and provides supports for defensive pessimism. The findings offer insights on the importance of the influence of future desired efforts on belief maintenance
Project 7: Outcomes of Re-transplantation in Intestine-Alone and Liver-Intestinal Transplants
Full text linkObjective: The study investigated how transplant outcomes (graft failure and patient mortality) vary by re-transplantation among intestine-alone and liver-intestinal transplant patients
Three Essays of Interest in Economics
Full text linkIn this dissertation, I explore three distinct topics of interest in economics.In the first chapter, I apply the principles of price theory to the question of college tuition, to assess the common theories of why college prices have risen faster than inflation. Using standard regression, I test three popular theories, and the model results contradict all three theories (“amenities,” “cost disease,” and “state support”). In the model, and via price theory, I observe a relationship between income and tuitions. I also observe a relationship between financial aid and tuitions. Finally, I argue that the increased value (whether perceived or real) of a college degree has increased the demand for college, thus increasing college prices. In the second chapter, I investigate the source of the incumbency advantage in federal elections. To isolate the effects of candidate quality, I study the electoral results for senators who were appointed to office between 1946 and 2022. Using candidate experience in prior elections as a proxy for quality, I find that an appointee’s experience is a significant factor in the candidate’s success in their first election following appointment. I conclude that there is strong evidence that candidate quality is the primary factor in the success of appointees, and likely best explains the incumbent advantage. In the third chapter, I assess the quality of the (mostly empirical) evidence in support of the Austrian theory of the entrepreneur. As there are few empirical studies that are intended to directly test the Austrian model of the entrepreneur, I review studies that might support particular aspects of the Austrian theory, particularly the various qualities of entrepreneurs as posited by the Austrian theory. I find that the weight of the evidence generally supports the theory, though for one of the key aspects of the Austrian entrepreneur—acting as an equilibrating force in the market—the evidence was tangential, obtained mainly through simulations
Do Patterns of Zero-Tolerance Policing Impact an Agency’s Legitimacy? A Study of 105 U.S. Agencies
Full text linkZero-tolerance policing (defined here as the increased use of arrests for minor or
misdemeanor crimes) proliferated in the 1990s and was adopted by many agencies
nationwide during that period. Some have suggested that this policing strategy left a deep
and lasting impression on communities, in particular, reducing police legitimacy in these
communities in the 2000s. However, little research has formally tested these claims. To
explore this hypothesis, this thesis explores the impact of long-term misdemeanor arrest
practices using trajectories of misdemeanor arrests developed by Lum and Vovak (2018)
on proxy measures of police legitimacy (as there are no direct measures that currently
exist). Four variables to approximate jurisdiction-level legitimacy were used: violent
crime, violence against officers, officer-involved shootings, and oversight/accountability
agreements. With one exception, this study finds that misdemeanor arrest patterns did not
significantly predict legitimacy when measured by these variables. Despite considerable limitations in the use of proxy measures, this study highlights the importance of police
agencies regularly collecting jurisdiction-level perception-based police legitimacy data to
better understand the impact of significant policies they implement
“Playing The Part:” Militarization, Resistance, and Agency of Active-Duty Military Officer Spouses
Full text linkSome scholars suggest military spouses are forced into militarization (a process through which an individual becomes controlled by or dependent on the military) as means to control a population that is not within direct control of the military. However, recent generations of military spouses are coming to resist militarization, influencing a growing problem in retention of the trained force. Through semi-structured interviews with 13 active-duty military officer spouses about their opinions and experiences, I sought to understand if the military officer spouse continues to be impacted by the military as a greedy institution, or an institution that requires the entirety of a participant’s focus, loyalty, and commitment. I also explore how military spouses define their relationship with the role of military spouse, and what influences a departure from embracing that role. We find that the military greedy institution does have a significant impact on the military spouse, and how the military spouse navigates their own thinking, decisions, and actions. We also find agency may play a role, with negative feelings about agency increasing the literal and figurative distance a military spouse puts between themselves and the military community, regardless of how deeply the military spouse role directs their day-to-day actions
Neoteric Intellectuals: How African Americans Navigate and Exercise Agency at Predominately White Institutions
Full text linkIn our political and cultural climate, where America is recovering from a pandemic, affirmative action is no longer the law of the land, DEI programs are being cut, and African American history and heritage are being denied and eradicated; how do African Americans navigate white spaces? How do African American leaders obtain a seat at the table? Are they accepted for their cultural and social capital once they get there? Can African Americans be a part of a predominately white institution (PWI) and maintain agency? What responsibility does the PWI have to the African American intellectual? And what are the strategies and tools needed to employ persistence and be successful in spaces where they are the minority? This dissertation looks at the role of “oppositional cultural theory” and “social dominance theory” at PWIs, African American’s ancestry, culture, and heritage connected to African principles and traditions using African consciousness theory, Afrocentricity, and the Ma’at principles; the role “social empathetic theory” plays in the lives and persistence of African Americans; and calls for transformative service-based leadership
An Exploration of Qualitative Research & Social Transformation via a Trauma Perspective: An Evocative, Analytic Auto-Ethnogrpahy
Full text linkThis study is contextualized within the teaching, learning, and facilitating of qualitative research as situated in social institutions that promote and perpetuate oppression. I contend that such oppression leverages trauma by evoking fear and promoting the lies of disconnection (i.e., social ranking and exclusion) and omission (i.e., the absence of authentic experiences of violence). The purpose of this dissertation is to expand understandings of fuller and more nuanced trauma perspectives and experiences by challenging, interrogating, and reporting on the lies of omission and disconnection. This study is rooted in qualitative scholarship – and supported by trauma scholarship – around connection and inclusion of authentic experiences. That literature is linked by the idea of love and is the basis of my conceptual framework: a loving inquiry from a trauma perspective. Such inquiry is requisite of generosity, time, and value for difference. Employing an evocative, analytic auto-ethnographic approach, I analyzed my experiences in facilitating three previous, connected studies related to vulnerability and trauma: case study, collaborative inquiry, and narrative inquiry. The layered analysis – in process, reflexive narrative, and thematic network analysis – surfaced contradictions in the qualitative research process. Those contradictions were posited as decision-making points toward violent orientations or healing inclinations. This study has implications for qualitative research teaching, learning, and praxis. The tools, methods, and methodologies of qualitative research were found to be useful in creating safer and more healing contexts for learning and researching. This study is an example of the inclusion of trauma in research broadly and an opening to alternative pathways for moving through traditionally restricted areas in systems and structures, as well as a more nuanced understanding of those barriers