AI for social good: social media mining of migration discourse

The number of international migrants has steadily increased over the years, and it has become one of the pressing issues in today’s globalized world. Our bibliometric review of around 400 articles on Scopus platform indicates an increased interest in migration-related research in recent times but the extant research is scattered at best. AI-based opinion mining research has predominantly noted negative sentiments across various social media platforms. Additionally, we note that prior studies have mostly considered social media data in the context of a particular event or a specific context. These studies offered a nuanced view of the societal opinions regarding that specific event, but this approach might miss the forest for the trees. Hence, this dissertation makes an attempt to go beyond simplistic opinion mining to identify various latent themes of migrant-related social media discourse. The first essay draws insights from the social psychology literature to investigate two facets of Twitter discourse, i.e., perceptions about migrants and behaviors toward migrants. We identified two prevailing perceptions (i.e., sympathy and antipathy) and two dominant behaviors (i.e., solidarity and animosity) of social media users toward migrants. Additionally, this essay has also fine-tuned the binary hate speech detection task, specifically in the context of migrants, by highlighting the granular differences between the perceptual and behavioral aspects of hate speech. The second essay investigates the journey of migrants or refugees from their home to the host country. We draw insights from Gennep's seminal book, i.e., Les Rites de Passage, to identify four phases of their journey: Arrival of Refugees, Temporal stay at Asylums, Rehabilitation, and Integration of Refugees into the host nation. We consider multimodal tweets for this essay. We find that our proposed theoretical framework was relevant for the 2022 Ukrainian refugee crisis – as a use-case. Our third essay points out that a limited sample of annotated data does not provide insights regarding the prevailing societal-level opinions. Hence, this essay employs unsupervised approaches on large-scale societal datasets to explore the prevailing societal-level sentiments on YouTube platform. Specifically, it probes whether negative comments about migrants get endorsed by other users. If yes, does it depend on who the migrants are – especially if they are cultural others? To address these questions, we consider two datasets: YouTube comments before the 2022 Ukrainian refugee crisis, and during the crisis. Second dataset confirms the Cultural Us hypothesis, and our findings are inconclusive for the first dataset. Our final or fourth essay probes social integration of migrants. The first part of this essay probed the unheard and faint voices of migrants to understand their struggle to settle down in the host economy. The second part of this chapter explored the viability of social media platforms as a viable alternative to expensive commercial job portals for vulnerable migrants. Finally, in our concluding chapter, we elucidated the potential of explainable AI, and briefly pointed out the inherent biases of transformer-based models in the context of migrant-related discourse. To sum up, the importance of migration was recognized as one of the essential topics in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thus, this dissertation has attempted to make an incremental contribution to the AI for Social Good discourse

Undocumented, Unafraid, and Unapologetic: Exploring the Role of Activism in DACAmented Latinas/os/xs’ Thwarted Transition into Adulthood

Given the growing population of undocumented Latina/o/x immigrants who came to the United States as children, there is a need for research that explores the risk and protective factors of their experiences growing up in the United States. As they transition through adolescence, they emerge as adults in a very different world. No longer protected from deportation, they must take more serious risks with employment. Without access to federal financial aid, they face the reality that they may never be able to utilize their college education in the United States. Against these odds, and with the temporary protection of DACA, an increasing number of undocumented childhood arrivals are civically engaged in the immigrant rights movement. Employing a qualitative method based on constructivist and feminist frameworks called Consensual Qualitative Research, this study sought to explore the impact of activism in Latina/o/x DACAmented immigrants’ thwarted transition to adulthood, highlighting the ways in which Latina/o/x cultural values mitigate the impact of activism. The sample consisted of 12 Latina/o/x DACAmented activists, eight women and four men, ages 18-32, from Mexico (n = 10), Guatemala (n = 1), and Dominican Republic (n = 1). The findings in this study not only suggested that protective migration factors, DACA-related privileges, and strong coping skills contributed to Latina/o/x DACAmented immigrants’ decision to become activists, but they also noted that activism has been a protective factor in and of itself. The results also showed the ways in which Latina/o/x cultural values helped them make sense of their unique experiences and were consistent with the values within their activist communities. Existing clinical recommendations, resources, and research methods were highlighted as ways in which mental health providers can apply these findings in their clinical, training, and research practice

Artificial Intelligence and Education. Guidance for Policy-makers

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to address some of the biggest challenges in education today, innovate teaching and learning practices, and ultimately accelerate the progress towards SDG 4. However, these rapid technological developments inevitably bring multiple risks and challenges, which have so far outpaced policy debates and regulatory frameworks. This publication offers guidance for policy-makers on how best to leverage the opportunities and address the risks, presented by the growing connection between AI and education. It starts with the essentials of AI: definitions, techniques and technologies. It continues with a detailed analysis of the emerging trends and implications of AI for teaching and learning, including how we can ensure the ethical, inclusive and equitable use of AI in education, how education can prepare humans to live and work with AI, and how AI can be applied to enhance education. It finally introduces the challenges of harnessing AI to achieve SDG 4 and offers concrete actionable recommendations for policy-makers to plan policies and programmes for local contexts

Career development and understanding consequences of context: Angolan perspectives from the oil industry

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.Despite multidisciplinary and extensive coverage, existing career theory is largely premised on Western frameworks and limited research has been conducted into career development experiences of individuals from African countries in local or transnational settings. Thus the research presented in this thesis extends on existing constructionist career development commentary by gaining insight into the interplay between societal structures and individual action in an African context. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing the career development of professional Angolans working in the oil and gas industry and how experiences associated with living and working in Western contexts influences the career development of such individuals. The aim was to go beyond discovery of factors and analyse data in the form of highly personalised accounts from key informants to deepen understanding of African career development in transnational settings, mindful of postcolonial factors. Data were collected over an 18-month period using ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviewing with 24 participants. Within an ethnomethodological framework and drawing on developments in postcolonial theory, constructionist grounded theory approaches informed the hermeneutic analysis of data. Findings revealed that multiple and distinctly nuanced dynamics between institutional micro structures (e.g., family, education and employment) and societal macro structures (e.g., socio-economic, political, historical and cultural environments) significantly shape individual career decision making, behaviour and aspirations in the Angolan context. Experiences of living and working in Western settings were found to have a profound impact on personal and professional development as well as aspirations for international careers. The main limitations of this study derive from its relatively small sample size and particularist focus on a single industry, however its value stems from rich narratives captured and significant effort made to triangulate findings via ‘research conversations’ with informants and industry professionals. In light of the above, this study adds to existing career theory by incorporating postcolonial perspectives and career development experiences that go beyond planned structured careers in organisational settings by focusing on the individual consequences of international assignments in transnational settings. In light of this, insights offer value also for multinational organisations that are engaged in developing African talent

Computation in Complex Networks

Complex networks are one of the most challenging research focuses of disciplines, including physics, mathematics, biology, medicine, engineering, and computer science, among others. The interest in complex networks is increasingly growing, due to their ability to model several daily life systems, such as technology networks, the Internet, and communication, chemical, neural, social, political and financial networks. The Special Issue “Computation in Complex Networks" of Entropy offers a multidisciplinary view on how some complex systems behave, providing a collection of original and high-quality papers within the research fields of: • Community detection • Complex network modelling • Complex network analysis • Node classification • Information spreading and control • Network robustness • Social networks • Network medicin

Theory and Practice in Doctoral Dissertation Research, 2007-2017: A Content Analysis by Degree Type

In response to the overwhelming presence of professional practice doctoral degrees in the early 2000s, universities offering Doctor of Education (EdD) and/or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees in higher education studies began to question the purpose and value of each degree. These universities asked: What is the value of academic research if it does not aim to improve the condition of what is being studied? This led to a theory-practice debate among departments offering the EdD and the PhD from the perspective of the goal of the dissertation research: Truth or improvement. To address this tension, the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) was formed in 2007 with 22 founding members increasing to 100 by 2017 to examine the EdD critically. To assess dissertation development over the 10-year period of CPED’s existence, through content analysis, this study examined 761 EdD and PhD dissertation abstracts in higher education studies from 2007 and 2017. The goals were to understand how the theory-practice tension is reflected in higher education dissertations and to assess the degree of differentiation between EdD and PhD dissertations. Boyer’s (1990) expanded definitions of scholarship served as the theoretical framework, and the coding form designed by Melendez (2002) captured a range of dissertation characteristics for analysis. Results indicated more applied research characteristics focusing on improvement for the EdD from 2007 to 2017. In contrast, PhD dissertations in higher education studies exhibited more applied scholarship in 2007, but they had reverted to more traditional discovery- or truth-oriented research goals in 2017. These findings suggest greater differentiation between the EdD as application- and the PhD as theory-based over the 10-year period since the establishment of CPED

Theory and Practice in Doctoral Dissertation Research, 2007-2017: A Content Analysis by Degree Type

In response to the overwhelming presence of professional practice doctoral degrees in the early 2000s, universities offering Doctor of Education (EdD) and/or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees in higher education studies began to question the purpose and value of each degree. These universities asked: What is the value of academic research if it does not aim to improve the condition of what is being studied? This led to a theory-practice debate among departments offering the EdD and the PhD from the perspective of the goal of the dissertation research: Truth or improvement. To address this tension, the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) was formed in 2007 with 22 founding members increasing to 100 by 2017 to examine the EdD critically. To assess dissertation development over the 10-year period of CPED’s existence, through content analysis, this study examined 761 EdD and PhD dissertation abstracts in higher education studies from 2007 and 2017. The goals were to understand how the theory-practice tension is reflected in higher education dissertations and to assess the degree of differentiation between EdD and PhD dissertations. Boyer’s (1990) expanded definitions of scholarship served as the theoretical framework, and the coding form designed by Melendez (2002) captured a range of dissertation characteristics for analysis. Results indicated more applied research characteristics focusing on improvement for the EdD from 2007 to 2017. In contrast, PhD dissertations in higher education studies exhibited more applied scholarship in 2007, but they had reverted to more traditional discovery- or truth-oriented research goals in 2017. These findings suggest greater differentiation between the EdD as application- and the PhD as theory-based over the 10-year period since the establishment of CPED

A Phenomenology of the Experiences of Secondary Athletic Trainers with Athletic Training Student Aides in a Sports Medicine Career Technology Education Pathway in Texas

The intended purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the experience of athletic trainers in the secondary school setting who supervise career technology education (CTE) health science students in the sports medicine pathway at high schools in Texas. Through the lens of the social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hacket, 2006) as a theoretical framework, this study will answered the central research question: What is the lived experience of secondary school athletic trainers in Texas supervising CTE pathway athletic training student aides? Sub-questions sought to further explore the participants’ relationship to student self-efficacy in career exploration and career choice. Purposeful, criterion-based sampling with maximum variation was utilized to procure volunteer participants experiencing the phenomenon of being a secondary athletic trainer with athletic training student aides in the CTE health science sports medicine pathway at high schools in Texas. Data was collected through open-ended semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and journaling then analyzed according to phenomenological procedures as outlined by Moustakas’ (1994)