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“It’s alright not to be all right” – Grace as a catalyst for everyday political talk
No full textThe escalation of political polarization in the U.S. has permeated all aspects of life, where engaging in casual political, social, and moral discussions can risk jeopardizing professional careers and personal relationships. Although popular psychology has brought attention to grace as a solution to encourage constructive, deliberate conversations with others for a healthy democracy, its role in everyday political talk has never been empirically studied. Furthermore, definitions and existing psychometric measurements have largely neglected human grace as distinct from religious grace.
This research agenda addresses this gap by developing and validating new measures of human grace in political talk and investigating its impact on everyday political discourse. First, a pilot study was conducted consisting of an open-ended survey ( = 100) to form a grounded definition of human grace. Results of this study identified three central theoretical dimensions: Empathy & Perspective-Taking, Forgiveness & Acceptance, and Allowing for Growth & Change. From the pilot study’s findings, Study 1 sought feedback from subject matter experts ( = 7) to develop and assess the content validity of three Human Understanding of Grace (HUG) to Self, to Others, and Perceived from Others measures. Study 2 ( = 401) and Study 3 ( = 402) then utilized a longitudinal design to empirically validate these HUG scales in political discussions.
The findings exhibited good content, convergent, discriminant, predictive, and incremental validity for the effects of grace in everyday political talk within one’s social circles. Finally, Study 4 used a 2 (target high/ low grace) x 2 (political match/ mismatch) experimental design ( = 239) to assess whether individuals were significantly more willing to communicate about politics with strangers who were perceived to offer more grace, regardless of whether their political affiliations were matched or opposed. The findings across these five studies contribute to the theoretical understanding of human grace and are the first to empirically demonstrate its potential to foster constructive, deliberate political dialogue
Earth observations for climate adaptation: tracking progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation through satellite-derived indicators
No full textAs climate change intensifies, adaptation is essential. This Perspective explores how space-based Earth Observation (EO) data can support tracking progress under the Paris Agreement's Global Goal on Adaptation. Focusing on agriculture, biodiversity, extreme events, and health, it highlights EO’s strengths and challenges. The paper offers recommendations for integrating EO in indicator development, drawing parallels with the Sustainable Development Goals and emphasising the need for standardised, operational EO-based adaptation indicators
Adoption and Diffusion of a Learning Management System as an Instructional Tool: A Community College Case Study
Get PDFThis case study investigated the adoption and diffusion of the Blackboard platform, a widely used Learning Management System (LMS), as an instructional tool within a community college setting. The study explored faculty members’ adoption patterns, perceptions, and factors influencing the utilization of the Blackboard platform, drawing on Rogers’s diffusion of innovation theory and Chickering and Ehrman’s “Seven Principles: Technology as a Lever” as theoretical frameworks.
A cross-sectional online survey was conducted to gather insights from faculty members, capturing their usage patterns, perceptions of the Blackboard platform, and specific components and tools utilized when integrating the LMS into their courses. An overall theme emerged, where nonusers expressed agreement more than did users regarding their lack of exposure to the Blackboard platform, limited opportunities to observe its usage, and the inability to try it properly.
The study revealed that the majority of users employed various components of the Blackboard platform, including announcements, full grade center, course copy, tests, surveys, pools, and discussion boards. However, other components such as export/achieve course, dashboard, import course cartridge, course calendar, course report, and journal were employed by fewer faculty members. These components have the potential to enhance communication between faculty and students.
The study’s findings highlight the need for targeted professional development activities to address the concerns of nonusers and encourage the adoption and utilization of the Blackboard platform. The limitations of the study suggest the importance of a comprehensive research design to fully grasp the complexities and factors influencing the adoption of learning management systems in community college settings. The recommendations derived from this research contribute to a better understanding of the adoption and use of learning management systems as instructional tools, emphasizing the significance of user satisfaction, effective strategies for promoting adoption, and implications for faculty training and institutional strategies
An Evidence-Based Approach to Leading and Managing Change: A Validation Study
No full textTo help bridge the gap across the academic and practitioner divide, revisions were made to a tool, The Managing Change Questionnaire, that has been used in executive education programs for over thirty-five years to facilitate discussions and learning about navigating organizational change.
This study sought to update the tool to be consistent with current research on organizational change and compile best practices across change models to increase the likelihood of success with organizational change initiatives. Additionally, the revised tool incorporated concepts such as leadership and system psychodynamics to provide a more holistic perspective on navigating organizational change. To better reflect the content in the revised questionnaire it was renamed the Leading and Managing Change Questionnaire (LMCQ).
The evolution of organizational change management is discussed, acknowledging the history and a shift towards continuous change within organizations. Based on a review of organizational change literature, six domains for navigating organizational change were identified and have been evaluated by subject matter experts. After content validation was conducted the questionnaire was administered via Prolific. Upon obtaining an adequate sample statistical validation was conducted on the LMCQ. The analysis led to the identification of 27 questions about the current best practices for leading and managing organizational change
Asian American Community Leaders in Southern California: An Intrinsic Case Study
No full textThis dissertation examined seven Asian American community leaders in Southern California and their roles in fostering leadership and mentorship within the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. Conducted over three years, this case study utilized interviews, document reviews, and observations of community building.
The study addressed key questions:
1) How did the leaders create resilience within their AANHPI communities and in their work? 1a) What motivated them to pursue justice for the AANHPI community?
1b) What actions did they take to develop a network of mentorship for the next generation? 2) What leadership aspects did they aim to pass on?
2a) How did they remove barriers to leadership development? 2b) What effective leadership styles emerged within their organizations?
Key findings revealed six patterns in AANHPI leadership, including building collaborative relationships, transitioning from informal to structured mentoring relationships, and highlighting the role of learning from experience. The leaders also advanced servant leadership and cross-community support while enacting leadership at various levels within AANHPI communities and encouraging emerging sources of leadership. Ultimately, this study provides insights into resilience and collaboration within AANHPI communities in Southern California and suggests future steps for the Asian diaspora in the United States
GRID3 COD - Settlement Names v4.0
Get PDFThe GRID3 COD - Settlement Names v4.0 dataset consists of settlement points with name and attributes for fourteen provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (COD).
Province group 1: Haut-Katanga, Kasaï, Kasaï-Oriental, Kinshasa, and Lomami
Province group 2: Haut-Lomami and Tanganyika
Province group 3: Ituri and Kwilu
Province group 4: Maniema
Province group 5: Kasaï-Central
Province group 6: Tshopo and Mongala
Province group 7: Haut-Katanga, Kasaï, and Kasaï-Oriental (updates); Sankuru
This operational dataset has not been fully validated by government officials or ministries.
This current version supersedes the GRID3 COD - Settlement Names v3.0 (https://doi.org/10.7916/y9hf-gm15). The following changes were made:
Updated data for the provinces of Haut-Katanga, Kasaï, Kasaï-Oriental, Tshopo and Mongala.
Data for Sankuru Province have been added.
A data sources table has been included as part of the metadata.
Keywords: Settlement
GRID3 COD - Health Areas v4.0
Get PDFThe GRID3 COD - Health Areas v4.0 dataset consists of health area boundaries with name, location, health zone, and other attributes for fourteen provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (COD).
Province group 1: Haut-Katanga, Kasaï, Kasaï-Oriental, Kinshasa, and Lomami
Province group 2: Haut-Lomami and Tanganyika
Province group 3: Ituri and Kwilu
Province group 4: Maniema
Province group 5: Kasaï-Central
Province group 6: Tshopo and Mongala
Province group 7: Haut-Katanga, Kasaï, and Kasaï-Oriental (updates); Sankuru
This operational dataset has not been fully validated by government officials or ministries.
This current version supersedes the GRID3 COD - Health Areas v3.0 (https://doi.org/10.7916/ss3g-n396). The following changes were made:
Updated data for the provinces of Haut-Katanga, Kasaï, Kasaï-Oriental, Tshopo and Mongala.
Data for Sankuru Province have been added.
A data sources table has been included as part of the metadata.
Keywords: Health Area
The problem of programmatic funding: flexibility challenges for community health centers
Get PDFBackground
Community Health Centers (CHCs) are a vital part of the health safety net, providing high quality care to underserved communities with complex health and social needs. Yet, despite their crucial role, CHCs operate on slim financial margins, relying in part on grant funding streams. Little is known about the role that grant requirements have in directing the functioning of CHCs.
Methods
We conducted qualitative thematic analysis, based on 56 semi-structured interviews of CHC leadership and staff in New York City.
Results
Three overarching themes described ways that CHCs are hampered by the designs and requirements of grant funding: 1) narrowness of available funding, 2) lack of access to operational funding, and 3) inability to utilize available funding to address workforce needs.
Conclusions
Our analysis illuminates the tension between the weighty charge placed on CHCs as key pillars of the health safety net and the inflexible grant funding mechanisms available to sustain them. Restrictive funding limits CHCs’ capacity to deliver comprehensive care and meet community needs
Unpacking International Status in the Japanese Context
No full textWhile the resurgence of interest in the study of status in international politics has brought forth new insights into how status influences political decision-making and the behavior of states internationally, there are still areas where our understanding of status is hampered by inconsistent theorizing and a lack of empirical testing of the many assumptions these theories rest on. Over the course of three separate papers, I address three issue areas within the study of international status with the goal of clarifying theoretical gray areas and substantiating hypotheses that are key pillars within in this research program. In particular, across the three papers, I show how the current application of social identity theory, though flawed, not only can still push the field’s understanding of status further, but can also fill in gaps in the existing literature that other frameworks have yet to do.
In my first paper, I point out fundamental issues with the Larson and Shevchenko (2014, 2019) reinterpretation of SIT for the international political context. Like Ward (2017), I show that their framework conflates the related, but distinct concepts of social mobility and individual mobility in such a way that destroys the boundaries between individualistic and group-oriented strategies and introduces a level of analysis issue not originally present in the original conception. I offer a reconceptualization of the social identity approach to international status that introduces a two-tiered framework that differentiates status strategies available based on whether the social identity of study is nationality or whether it is the state’s membership in informal and formal international groups and organizations. While the former is a social identity that is salient for most members of a nation at any given time, I theorize that the latter is a social identity likely most salient to those who engage in foreign policy or represent the state internationally in a formal capacity. This reconceptualization not only addresses a fundamental issue present in the current framework, but also connects sub-national and individual level causal processes implied by many state level theories of status in international relations to state action and policy. Through this paper, I show the continued importance of SIT to our understanding of the influence of status concerns on political decision-making.
In my second paper, using Japanese national survey data from 2013, I provide evidence that status is not just the projection of an individual’s personal belief regarding a nation’s international standing. Individuals not only differentiate between their personal evaluations of their own country’s status and the evaluations they assume of others outside their nation, but these evaluations hold even in the face of incentives to downplay another’s status due to ongoing animosity between their countries. Furthermore, I show that individuals who are dissatisfied with the international status of their country not only are more supportive of status-seeking behavior from their state in the form of hosting the Olympics, but are in favor of increased government spending to potentially acquire more international status and national prestige. Status is not only a differentiable belief, but it also impacts support for status-seeking behavior.
In my final paper, I again use Japanese national survey data from 2011 to investigate the relationship between status dissatisfaction, nationalism, and patriotism. Social identity theory suggests that individuals will pursue international status due to a desire to positively distinguish their country from other countries and maintain national pride. Given that national pride can manifest as either nationalism or patriotism, which have diverging effects on intergroup relations, to what extent is the desire for status rooted in nationalism and/or patriotism? Using public opinion data from the October 2011 wave of the Survey on the Image of Foreign Countries and Current Topics (SIFCCT) I conduct a regression analysis and find that between nationalism and patriotism, status concerns that drive status seeking behavior are rooted in the former and not the latter. Holding nationalist beliefs makes an individual more likely to be in a state of status dissatisfaction, whereas no significant relationship was found between patriotism and status dissatisfaction. This relationship holds regardless of whether the indicators for patriotism and nationalism are tested independent of one another or when both are included in the same model. These results have important implications regarding what kind of behavior is to be expected from status dissatisfied actors in international politics and the nature of international status seekin
Learning to Remember, Summarize, and Answer Questions about Robot Actions
Get PDFRobots and other systems using deep learning are increasingly common. It is essential to accurately keep track of what they have done and determine if they are operating as we intend. In this dissertation, I introduce several approaches to enable better monitoring and understanding of these systems.
I propose and demonstrate robot action summarization and question answering in natural language. The first step in understanding and controlling robots is knowing what they are doing. Much research has been done on training robots to learn to follow natural language instructions; robot action summarization is a complement to this research, enabling robots to report back succinctly and accurately what they have done after completing a task. I demonstrate that such summaries can be generated from multimodal inputs using recurrent and transformer networks.
I then investigate question answering about robot action episodes using a dataset of questions and answers I introduce. I show that learning to answer questions can help a model summarize by enabling it to learn about some objects solely during question answering and then transferring that representational knowledge to summarization.
If robots are to summarize and answer questions about their past actions, it will be necessary for them to store and recall episodes of action. I introduce a technique to form compact memory representations which can be used for these tasks, as well as for guiding choices about actions which should be taken during an action sequence. In addition to helping users keep track of what robots or other machine learning systems are doing, such artificial episodic memory representations could also pose some undesirable risks. I therefore propose a set of principles to guide the safe development of artificial episodic memory.
Finally, I introduce a method to learn to predict a neural network’s accuracy on particular inputs by training a second network to examine the outputs from its intermediate, hidden layers or its final outputs