764 research outputs found
Making Connections: A Handbook for Effective Formal Mentoring Programs in Academia
This book, Making Connections: A Handbook for Effective Formal Mentoring Programs in Academia, makes a unique and needed contribution to the mentoring field as it focuses solely on mentoring in academia. This handbook is a collaborative institutional effort between Utah State Universityâs (USU) Empowering Teaching Open Access Book Series and the Mentoring Institute at the University of New Mexico (UNM). This book is available through (a) an e-book through Pressbooks, (b) a downloadable PDF version on USUâs Open Access Book Series website), and (c) a print version available for purchase on the USU Empower Teaching Open Access page, and on Amazon
A Behavioural Decision-Making Framework For Agent-Based Models
In the last decades, computer simulation has become one of the mainstream modelling techniques in many scientific fields. Social simulation with Agent-based Modelling (ABM) allows users to capture higher-level system properties that emerge from the interactions of lower-level subsystems. ABM is itself an area of application of Distributed Artificial Intelligence and Multiagent Systems (MAS). Despite that, researchers using ABM for social science studies do not fully benefit from the development in the field of MAS. It is mainly because the MAS architectures and frameworks are built upon cognitive and computer science foundations and principles, creating a gap in concepts and methodology between the two fields. Building agent frameworks based on behaviour theory is a promising direction to minimise this gap. It can provide a standard practice in interdisciplinary teams and facilitate better usage of MAS technological advancement in social research. From our survey, Triandis' Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (TIB) was chosen due to its broad set of determinants and inclusion of an additive value function to calculate utility values of different outcomes. As TIB's determinants can be organised in a tree-like structure, we utilise layered architectures to formalise the agent's components. The additive function of TIB is then used to combine the utilities of different level determinants. The framework is then applied to create models for different case studies from various domains to test its ability to explain the importance of multiple behavioural aspects and environmental properties. The first case study simulates the mobility demand for Swiss households. We propose an experimental method to test and investigate the impact of core determinants in the TIB on the usage of different transportation modes. The second case study presents a novel solution to simulate trust and reputation by applying subjective logic as a metric to measure an agent's belief about the consequence(s) of action, which can be updated through feedback. The third case study investigates the possibility of simulating bounded rationality effects in an agent's decision-making scheme by limiting its capability of perceiving information. In the final study, a model is created to simulate migrants' choice of activities in centres by applying our framework in conjunction with Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The experiment can then be used to test the impact of different combinations of core determinants on the migrants' activities. Overall, the design of different components in our framework enables adaptations for various contexts, including transportation modal choice, buying a vehicle or daily activities. Most of the work can be done by changing the first-level determinants in the TIB's model based on the phenomena simulated and the available data. Several environmental properties can also be considered by extending the core components or employing other theoretical assumptions and concepts from the social study. The framework can then serve the purpose of theoretical exposition and allow the users to assess the causal link between the TIB's determinants and behaviour output. This thesis also highlights the importance of data collection and experimental design to capture better and understand different aspects of human decision-making
LIPIcs, Volume 261, ICALP 2023, Complete Volume
LIPIcs, Volume 261, ICALP 2023, Complete Volum
Neurodiagnostic Program Director Perceptions on Low Enrollments
Higher education enrollments have trended downward over the last several years and fallen further due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem addressed in this study was low student enrollment in neurodiagnostic programs in the United States, resulting in an increasing shortage of neurodiagnostic professionals working in the field. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of neurodiagnostic program directors and their views on the low enrollments in neurodiagnostic programs in the United States. A descriptive qualitative design was used to understand the perspectives of these program directors. Human capital theory, the theory of planned behavior, and self-determination theory were used as the framework for this study. The research question was designed to help provide an understanding of the perceptions of neurodiagnostic program leadership on low student enrollments in neurodiagnostic programs in the United States. Program directors from nine neurodiagnostic programs were interviewed using semistructured interviews. Open-ended questions addressed enrollment trends, visibility of the neurodiagnostic career path, and neurodiagnostic licensure. Inductive and reflexive thematic analysis were used when coding and analyzing the interview data to identify emerging themes and determine the causes of low enrollments. The results of this study demonstrated a lack of visibility of the field of neurodiagnostics, the lack of clinical sites, and a lack of standardization, impacting low enrollments. Future research could incorporate a larger group of program directors as well as broaden the study to include additional modalities within the field of neurodiagnostics. Implications of these findings may be that hospital administrators review entry-level requirements for new hires, advocate for more clinical sites, and engage in better marketing campaigns to encourage increased visibility of neurodiagnostic programs and higher enrollments
Concepts in Animal Parasitology: Master Bibliography
Master bibliography for the open educational resource/open access textbook Concepts in Animal Parasitology, Scott L. Gardner and Sue Ann Gardner, editors, published by Zea Books, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, 2023. This includes the references from literature cited and suggested supplemental reading
Cultivate Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging Methods to Measure Markers of Health and Translate to Large Scale Cohort Studies
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an indispensable tool in healthcare and research, with a growing demand for its services. The appeal of MRI stems from its non-ionizing radiation nature, ability to generate high-resolution images of internal organs and structures without invasive procedures, and capacity to provide quantitative assessments of tissue properties such as ectopic fat, body composition, and organ volume. All without long term side effects. Nine published papers are submitted which show the cultivation of quantitative measures of ectopic fat within the liver and pancreas using MRI, and the process of validating whole-body composition and organ volume measurements. All these techniques have been translated into large-scale studies to improve health measurements in large population cohorts. Translating this work into large-scale studies, including the use of artificial intelligence, is included. Additionally, an evaluation accompanies these published studies, appraising the evolution of these quantitative MRI techniques from the conception to their application in large cohort studies. Finally, this appraisal provides a summary of future work on crowdsourcing of ground truth training data to facilitate its use in wider applications of artificial intelligence.In conclusion, this body of work presents a portfolio of evidence to fulfil the requirements of a PhD by published works at the University of Salford
Rebuilding the Appalachian Economy From the Ground Up: Towards A Holistic Organizational Framework for Community and Economic Development in Rural Extractive Areas
Central Appalachia specifically and rural extractive areas more generally face some of the most challenging socio-economic realities in North America. Community-based organizations (CBOs) are an important tool for addressing these challenges. As governments intensify efforts to mitigate climate change, and as fossil-fuel industries contract, extracted communities are experiencing economic, cultural, and environmental upheaval. Many leaders call for a âjust transitionâ away from fossil-fuels, which would make local extraction communities whole. However, achieving a truly just transition away from fossil fuels is extraordinarily challenging, and many extracted communities were never whole to begin with. I argue CBOs are the crucial vehicle through which effective community and economic development (CED) outcomes can materialize for distressed rural communities. Yet CBOs do not receive nearly enough funding, policy-focus, or high-level partnership. Technical assistance provided to CBOs is often ineffective, especially in rural settings. Evaluation systems for measuring rural CBO effectiveness are inadequate.
My research is primarily geared toward practitioners and aspiring practitioners. Findings, program designs and evaluative structures put forward herein are based on experience with Coalfield Development, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization I founded in southern West Virginia in 2010. Coalfield Development has essentially served as my research field lab. This dissertation provides four sections detailing organizational capabilities which local CBOs can develop and implement towards the goal of a just transition and improved quality of life for their unique rural place. In doing so, support is needed from funders and policy-makers in order to succeed. Much better evaluative systems are needed, as well, which could improve resource allocation decisions in these greatly under-invested communities and could also improve organizational effectiveness. The four capabilities and corresponding sections of this dissertation are: capacity building for rural CBOs incubating and investing in employment social enterprises human development for people facing barriers to employment and community-based real-estate revitalization
In this dissertation, I use mixed-methods to draw insights and best-practices from more than a decade of interventions through Coalfield Development including case studies, focus groups, surveys, cost-benefit-analyses, program designs and program evaluations. My research illustrates and articulates the value of all four capabilities, finding them each as essential components for CBOs working in extracted local economies. While this research is based in central Appalachia it is intended to be useful to practitioners, policymakers, funders, local leaders and researchers in other rural fossil-fuel communities throughout the world
Theological learning as formation in holy love : the lives and works of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen & Alexander John Scott
This dissertation investigates the lives and works of two underappreciated nineteenth-century Scottish theologians, Thomas Erskine of Linlathen (1788-1870) and Alexander John Scott (1805-1866). In their writings, theological engagements, and cultivation of communities of learning, Erskine and Scott claimed that the pursuit of âknowledge of Godâ (and thus, theological learning) received its proper orientation when animated by the telos of âat·one·ment, with Godâ, in holy love. Both men held that Christâs atonement was for the sake of creationâs at·one·ment, with God: ongoing, personal being-in-relationship with God that, much like a good friendship, transforms who and what we love, but also âhow we know and are knownâ. I argue that their sometimes-countercultural enactment of at·one·ment retrieves an orientation towards theological learning (and an epistemology appropriate to it) that continues to be relevant for theological education today.
In Chapter 1, I provide an historical survey of Western theological education and assess how its objects, modes, and meanings have been circumscribed over the last two centuries. In Chapter 2, I outline Erskineâs atonement theology and his schema of at·one·ment, noting his emphasis on the ontologically and epistemically constitutive nature of being-in-relationship with God. Because friendship is a critical metaphor here, in Chapter 3 I reappraise the fluid interplay of Erskineâs poetics and practices of friendship, elucidating connections between relational theology and the communities of theological learning he cultivated. In Chapter 4, I reconstruct Scottâs âpractical theological epistemologyâ based on writings around his trial before the General Assembly of 1831. In Chapter 5, I trace congruencies between Scottâs emerging at·one·ment, framework and his later educational involvements with women, working class men, and Nonconformists. In Chapter 6, I conclude by assessing how reorienting theological learning through a telos of âat·one·ment, with Godâ, in holy love, helps to reframe contemporary dialogues about theological education
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