The purpose of this research study was to conduct an exploration of the dating preferences of African American women and U.S. men between the ages of 30-74 years old. This research focuses on the dating preferences and desirability of African American women and if they are influential on the high unmarried rates of African American women. A weighted stratified sampling of 2,800 personal advertisements of African American, Asian, Latino and White men and women from Match.com were collected to conduct the research. The five research hypotheses of this study were tested using frequency and percentage distribution, logistic regression and cross-tabulation models. The findings partially support the hypotheses African American women are more likely to prefer a mate with a bachelor's degree or higher and African American women are more likely to prefer a mate of the same race compared to U.S. women of other races. The findings also suggested non-African American men are less likely to have an interest in dating African American women and non-African American men, who are interested in dating African American women, are less likely to prefer women with a bachelor's degree or higher or a more socially desirable body type.

Les processus de prise de décision dans la conception demandent aux concepteurs de prioriser les spécifications et les variables afin de développer des solutions plus proches des objectifs du produit. Néanmoins, la taille des informations est souvent volumineuse et difficile à comprendre : garder la trace de la liste des variables dépendantes, des variables indépendantes et des objectifs de conception est une tâche complexe, avec potentiellement des retraitements et perte de temps, surtout lorsqu'il est nécessaire d'identifier quand une modification sur une variable peut avoir un impact sur les performances du produit.L'objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une méthode qui permettant d'obtenir un trade-off entre les objectifs de conception. Ce trade-off est basé sur deux aspects : i) le développement d'un modèle de traçabilité, gérant les informations à partir des exigences du produit (dans le domaine linguistique) jusqu'à la définition des variables (dans le domaine des nombres réels). ii) un cadre d’amélioration de la conception, fondé sur la définition des fonctions de désirabilité des objectifs de conception. La propagation de ces fonctions jusqu’à les variables de conception permettent de calculer la combinaison de valeurs qui maximisent l’index global de désirabilité de la solution.La proposition de thèse peut être comprise comme une approche hybride, comprenant une partie exploratoire interactive et une partie interactive inductive. Sur la partie exploratoire, les concepteurs peuvent modifier les variables à l'aide d'outils visuels afin de comprendre en temps réel l'impact de ces modifications sur les objectifs de conception. Sur la partie inductive, les concepteurs utilisent une méthode de pré-dimensionnement proposée, qui calcule les valeurs des variables qui maximisent la désirabilité des objectifs de conception. Cette méthode fonctionne sur un environnement de conception multidisciplinaire, avec des problèmes convexes ou non-convexes. / Preliminary design decision-making processes are related to the prioritisation of design specifications and variables in order to develop solutions that are closer to product's requirements. Nevertheless, the size of the information is often large and hard to understand: keeping in track the list of dependent variables, independent variables and design objectives is a challenging task, with potentially reprocessing and loss of time, especially when it is necessary to identify how a modification on a variable might impact the performance of the product.The objective of this thesis is to generate a method that can obtain a trade-off among the design objectives desirability. This trade-off process is supported on two aspects: i) the development of a traceability model, managing information from the input requirements (in the linguistic field) up to the variables definition (in the real numbers field). ii) A design amelioration framework, based on the definition of the design objectives desirability functions; the propagation of these functions until design variables allow to calculate the combinations of values that maximise the global desirability of the solution.The proposal of the thesis can be understood as a hybrid approach, including an interactive exploratory part and an inductive interactive part. On the exploratory part, designers can modify the variables using visual tools in order to understand in real time how these modifications have an impact on the design objectives. On the inductive part, designers make use a proposed pre-sizing method that calculates the values of the variables that maximise the desirability of the design objectives. This proposal is developed to perform on a multidisciplinary design environment, facing, either convex and non-convex problems.

The purpose of this study is to see the factors that shape and create the desirable child in the teachers' speech regarding conflict and conflict management. We have chosen to use discourse analysis based on social constructionism and poststructuralistic language theory to see the discourses that had an active part in the teachers' approach.  We have chosen to use Foucault's power theory to investigate what power structures and power relationships are shown in the pedagogues' speech about conflicts. We have also chosen to use Eva Johansson's study (2013) on children's perspective to investigate whose perspective is expressed in conflict management situations. To collect the empirical data, we have chosen to use qualitative interviews that we analyzed from a discourse analysis perspective. What we have found in the study is that the desirable child is created in conflicts through interconnected discourses that reacts and interacts. These discourses are based on the educators' views on conflicts, rules and the environment, and form the corners of our model which can be seen in the discussion where we highlighted this. The pursuit of the desirable and democratic child as an ideal is conveyed by the curriculum and followed by the educators. The study's results show that the educators assume a traditional view of conflicts and their management, despite attempting to approach an alternative view.

Background Health education programs that are aimed at improving individuals' skills to self-manage are increasingly recognised as a critical component of chronic disease management. Despite the apparent need for such interventions, current studies show inconsistent results regarding program effectiveness, with meta-analyses indicating only marginal effects for some disease groups. A closer examination of these studies however suggests that the magnitude and inconsistency of the findings may be related to the types of outcomes that were assessed rather than specific disease groups. Where self-report measures were used, results tended to be smaller and inconsistent. It is therefore possible that current studies do not adequately reflect program effects because self-report outcomes have a high risk to be confounded by a range of potential biases. Objective The aim of this thesis was to identify and quantify the potential influence of biases in the measurement of change in chronic disease self-management interventions using self-report. Methods The research design targeted the processes that individuals undergo when filling out questionnaires and whether this has an influence on their self-report outcomes. This was achieved by developing a three-group research design. The Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ) was used to collect outcomes data. While pretest questionnaires were identical across groups, three questionnaire versions were randomly distributed at posttest. One of the groups filled out traditional posttest questions (n=331), whereas the other two groups were asked to provide data in addition to posttest questions, with one group providing transition questions (n=304) and one providing retrospective pretest data (n=314). Resulting datasets were further examined for possible confounding effects through response shift and social desirability bias. Through the random allocation of the heiQs it was ensured that data were not influenced by potential intra-group effects. Results The thesis revealed that the design of the posttest questionnaire significantly influenced people's ratings of their posttest levels. In particular, when participants were asked to provide ratings of their retrospective pretest levels in addition to their posttest levels, the latter scores were significantly higher than those of participants who did not perform this additional task. Subsequent analyses however suggested that these differences could neither be explained by response shift nor by social desirability bias. Conclusions This research has provided important insight into the measurement of outcomes of chronic disease self-management interventions. While the threat to the validity of traditional pretest-posttest data due to confounding effects through response shift and social desirability biases could not be supported, the thesis has highlighted that the cognitive task that subjects are asked to perform when providing data at posttest significantly influenced their self-reported outcomes. Given that previous research has predominantly focused on other aspects of validity - such as applying control group designs to circumvent common threats to internal and external validity - this study suggests that more attention must be paid to the design of questionnaires. The thesis concludes that further research, in particular into the influence of cognitive tasks on obtained scores, is important to improve the interpretation of self-report outcomes data derived from participants of self-management interventions.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

Globally, the justice system has set up courts to respond to complaints of a criminal and civil nature. Courts also respond to complaints which require swift relief by way of shortened procedures, in the form of motion proceedings. In all these complaints, courts have to respond in a manner that leaves litigants with a feeling of satisfaction that justice has been done. To the end of ensuring that there is legal certainty, justice systems in all jurisdictions have established a hierarchy of courts, with lower courts being bound by the decisions of higher courts in their jurisdiction. There has been no problem in the application of this principle called stare decisis, or judicial precedent, in disputes of law. However, in disputes of constitutional interpretation, courts have demonstrated a marked shift from observing the rule of judicial precedent. The disregard for this rule manifests itself particularly in the adjudication of cases surrounded by controversy. It is argued herein that constitutional interpretation is no different from legal interpretation, in that the rule of judicial precedent which characterises court decisions in legal disputes, should characterise court decisions in constitutional interpretation disputes. The Constitutional Court of South Africa itself, though it is the highest arbiter in constitutional matters, is bound by its own previous decisions, unless its previous decisions have become manifestly wrong. Three constitutional rights are analysed. The right to life in its three manifestations, namely, the right to life of the unborn child, the right to life of the convicted criminal not to be hanged, and the right of the terminally ill to continue living by receiving medical care at state expense. The other two rights are the right to privacy, and the right to culture. The right to privacy is the right that has been claimed in political controversies. In isolated instances, specifically mentioned herein, the Constitutional Assembly and the drafters of the Constitution have also contributed to the resultant inconsistency in constitutional interpretation. This is especially so with regard to the right to practise one‘s culture. / Constitutional, International and Indigenous Law / LL.D.

在後數位化時代，有無數的數位服務生態圈在爭奪著有限的市場。而要贏得這場競爭最好的方式就是遵照服務設計的理論來滿足顧客的渴望。本研究期望運用科技化的輔助方式來幫助服務設計者建立一個以顧客主導邏輯為基礎的區塊鏈服務生態系統。在這個方法裡面，我們必須要解譯服務設計者的服務價值主張，並且找出與之相關的價值活動來作為之後服務設計的樣本。最後透過服務渴望度、創新度以及利害關係人認可程度三個面向來衡量整個價值結構設計是否可行並有發展潛力。 / In the post-digital era, there are countless digital ecosystems to fight for the limited market share. Using service design theory to fulfill customers’ desire is the best way to win the competence. This paper proposes a technology facilitating approach to help service designers configure their blockchain-based service ecosystem with customer-dominate logic. We rephrase the service value proposition inputted by service designers and filtering related value activities as the model of designed ecosystem. To make the decentralized ecosystem become a destination, we have to examine the value configuration from three different perspectives which are desirability, disruption, and consensus. These three dimensions provide service designers with a method that can help assess if a configuration is making sense or not. After all, this paper is aimed to support service designers to create a digital destination ecosystem by recommending activities and evaluating score of ecosystem configuration.

Kwan, John, Kenny, Bond, and Robins conceptualize self-enhancement as a favorable comparison of self-judgments with judgments of and by others. Applying a modified version of Kwan et al.’s approach to behavior observation data, we show that the resulting measure of self-enhancement bias is highly reliable, predicts self-ratings of intelligence as well as does actual intelligence, interacts with item desirability in predicting responses to questionnaire items, and also predicts general life satisfaction. Consistent with previous research, however, self-ratings of intelligence did not become more valid when controlling for self-enhancement bias. We also show that common personality scales like the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale reflect self-enhancement at least as strongly as do scales that were designed particularly for that purpose (i.e., “social desirability scales”). The relevance of these findings in regard to the validity and utility of social desirability scales is discussed.

Geller’s Actively Caring Survey (ACS) was theorized to measure person states deemed necessary to “Actively Care” or act altruistically toward others. Empirical research of the ACS has been limited, and this researcher sought to evaluate its reliability, validity, and factorial consistency. Undergraduate students (n = 1,095) completed the measure online. Hypotheses were partially supported. Unrotated primary component analysis found the ACS to be a unitary measure with 73.3% of the items loading onto the first factor. The ACS showed excellent internal consistency. Convergent and divergent validity with existing measures (i.e., the Big 5 Personality, Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability, Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, Barratt Impulsiveness, and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Venturesomeness scales) was found in 88.9% of the predicted relationships; the ACS was negatively correlated with social desirability. An abbreviated ACS revision produced similar findings. Future studies should evaluate the measure in nonstudent populations, use clinical and industrial settings, and explore predictive validity.

Ett flertal forskare har noterat sambanden mellan intrycksstyrning och social önskvärdhet som växt fram ur Erving Goffmans dramaturgi om människans agerande i sociala kontexter. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur olika intrycksstyrningsstilar används av universitetsstudenter och vilka samband som existerar mellan dessa stilar och den upplevda sociala önskvärdheten. För att uppnå detta använde vi Social Desirability Scale SDS-17 och Impression Management Styles Scale IMS. En enkät skickades ut på Facebook och LinkedIn för att erhålla svar på forskningsfrågorna. Samtliga hypoteser testades, där den första hypotesen visade ett signifikant samband mellan social önskvärdhet och användandet av intrycksstyrningsstilar. Den andra hypotesen förutsäger att studenter med högre social önskvärdhet kommer att använda intrycksstyrningsstilen inställsamhet mer frekvent än de med lägre social önskvärdhet. Den tredje hypotesen förväntar sig att studenter kommer att öka sitt socialt önskvärda beteende med ett ökat antal studieterminer. Dessa hypoteser testades genom en multipel regressionsanalys. I studien deltog 135 personer (N=135) varav majoriteten var kvinnor (71.1%). Resultaten av den multipla regressionsanalysen visade att intrycksstyrningsstilen bedjande var en signifikant prediktor för social önskvärdhet (p = .014). Denna insikt ger en viss ökad förståelse för dynamiken mellan intrycksstyrning, social önskvärdhet och universitetsstudenters beteendemönster. / A number of researchers have noted the relationship between Impression Management and Social Desirability that have originated from Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory of human interaction in social contexts. The purpose of this essay is to explore how various Impression Management Styles are implemented by university students and to examine the correlations that exist between these styles and perceived Social Desirability. To achieve this we used Social Desirability Scale SDS-17 and Impression Management Styles Scale IMS. A survey was published on Facebook and LinkedIn to collect data to answer the research questions. All hypotheses were tested, where the first hypothesis sought a significant correlation between Social Desirability and the use of Impression Management Styles. The second hypothesis predicted that students with higher Social Desirability will use the Impression Management Style ingratiation more frequently than those with lower Social Desirability. The third hypothesis expected that students will enhance their social desirable behaviors with an increased number of studied semesters. These hypotheses were tested through a multiple regression analyses. The conducted study included 135 people (N=135) with a majority of women (71.1%). The results of the multiple regression analyses showed that the Impression Management Style supplication was a significant predictor of Social Desirability (p = .014). This insight provides a certain heightened understanding of the dynamics between Impression Management, Social Desirability, and the behavioral patterns of university students.