The Best MPhil Thesis in the Faculties of Architexture, Arts, Business& Economics, Education, Law and Social Sciences (University of HongKong), Li Ka Shing Prize, 2007-2008 / published_or_final_version / Geography / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

The present study sought to answer the following questions: Is there a correlation between time spent watching rap music videos and and perception of the imagery of women in rap music videos shown? 2) Is there a correlation between the perception of the imagery of women in rap music videos and their attitudes toward women? There were a total of 53 AAFA who participated in the study. The participants completed the Background Questionnaire and Attitude Toward Women Scale for Adolescents (AWSA). They then viewed approximately 10 minutes of rap music videos that portrayed women negatively, and completed the Opinions on Music Videos survey and the General Questions about Rap Music survey. The data were analyzed with two crosstabs matching time spent watching rap music videos per week with feelings about images of women in rap videos shown, and acceptance of images of women in rap videos shown. A t-test was used to compare AWSA scores and acceptance of images of women in rap music videos shown. A one-way ANOVA was used to compare AWSA scores and feelings about women in rap music videos shown. The results of the study suggest that the more time spent watching rap videos, the less likely the participants would accept the negative images of women in these videos as negative and vice versa. No relationship was found between time spent watching rap videos and feelings about the images portrayed. Regardless of the participant's AWSA score, it did not correlate with her perceptions of the images of women in rap music videos shown. Implications for research and practice were then discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

In an age of scarce resources and health care reform, it is important that computerized health care information systems be used effectively. The efficiency and effectiveness of computer applications in hospitals depends on the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and motivation nurses have about use of computers. The purpose of this correlational study is to examine relationships among nurses' attitudes toward computer use with knowledge, satisfaction, beliefs, motivation, and individual characteristics. The study was a modified replication study (Burkes, 1991) using Vroom's (1964) expectancy theory as a framework. Burkes (1991) developed the instrument used in this study to measure nurses' attitudes toward computer usage knowledge, satisfaction, beliefs, and motivation. Demographic data will also be collected.The convenience sample included 66 nurses from one Midwestern Indiana hospital who agreed to participate in this study. Confidentiality was maintained and only group data was reported. Participation was anonymous and voluntary.Findings in this study support Vroom's theory that there is a relationship between beliefs and motivation, between satisfaction and motivation, and between beliefs and motivation. Age, level of nursing experience and level of education did not determine satisfaction, beliefs or motivation to use computer applications. Conclusions from this study were that knowledge levels can vary in regard to use. However, computer knowledge did increase computer-use beliefs. The study indicated the amount of knowledge may increase beliefs and effect computer use attitudes.Further research should try to determine if any demographic information is consistently a predictor of attitudes scores. This information could be helpful in enhancing a successful implementation and utilization of computer systems. There should be research in the variables that impact attitudes of nurses toward utilization of computers.This study is significant because findings will provide information about attitudes and usage of computers in areas of nursing practices. Benefits include increased information about nurses' attitudes regarding computers and variables that may relate to computer use. The usefulness of measuring beliefs, satisfaction and motivation has a practical value in assessment of attitudes to assist educators and organization to meet nurses' needs in settings where computerized nursing programs are utilized. This information may be used in developing teaching strategies for nurses' use of computers in these settings. / School of Nursing

Afghan constitutions have had a tendency to marginalize Afghan society. As a result, the continued ethnic fragmentation of Afghanistan has minimized the capacity of constitutions of the past to achieve societal stability. Instead, past Afghan constitutions have explicitly supported regimes rather than address the problems of the fragmentation of Afghanistan into small ethnic, linguistic, familial, and in some cases religious elements. While Afghanistan's current constitution accommodates the multi-ethnic pattern of Afghan society, it provides only a partial solution to the challenges of state building created by multi-ethnic societies. The central purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to determine the sustainability of Afghanistan's current constitution by analyzing the legacy and impact of past constitutions on the current document and its relationship with Afghan society and polity. Each of Afghanistan's constitutions of the past is missing important elements that prevented its impact on even the nearest reach of the rural tribal society. The realities of the 2003 Constitutional Loyal Jirga, the manner in which it represented the population, and the language that it codified in Afghanistan's 2004 constitution will therefore have a lasting impact on Afghanistan's future as well as reveal critical policy implications regarding state building.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Ingeniera Civil Industrial / El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo diseñar y construir una metodología para la creación de un lexicón de opinión en el que se identifique su polaridad, considerando las características del español de Chile y basado en comentarios de Twitter, aplicado al proyecto OpinionZoom . Es desarrollado dentro del proyecto OpinionZoom, plataforma de análisis de sentimientos e ironía a partir de la información textual en redes sociales para la caracterización de la demanda de productos y servicios , donde se presenta la problemática de no tener un lexicón de opinión apropiado para el análisis de sentimientos que se realiza. La hipótesis de investigación de este trabajo postula que la construcción de un lexicón de opinión que considere las particularidades del español de Chile en Twitter mejora el desempeño de la herramienta OpinionZoom . Para comprobar esta hipótesis se ha utilizado una metodología basada en un corpus lingüístico para la generación de un lexicón de opinión. Se construyó un corpus de tweets clasificados en positivos y negativos según los emoticones que presentan, luego se utilizó este corpus en la construcción del lexicón, utilizando la frecuencia de las palabras presentes en comentarios positivos y negativos y calculando su polaridad en base a la información mutua que se tiene, empleando el cálculo de PMI. Para la validación del lexicón de opinión se midió el desempeño del sistema de análisis de opiniones con el lexicón de opinión actual, que presenta licencia sólo de uso académico, y con el lexicón de opinión construido en este trabajo. Comparando ambos desempeños, se observaron mejoras en cuanto a exactitud, precisión y exhaustividad para el sistema con el lexicón construido, por lo que la hipótesis planteada en este trabajo se comprueba. En conclusión, la utilización de un lexicón de opinión que considere las características del español de Chile mejora el desempeño del sistema de análisis de opiniones de OpinionZoom , la utilización de emoticones para identificar la polaridad representa un indicador representativo en comentarios de Twitter, por lo que se puede ampliar la investigación utilizando emojis para la identificación de polaridad.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / In this thesis we explore the potential for using content placed on the Internet as a vehicle for influencing public opinion. We conducted an experiment with 110 subjects to test whether subtle changes in a headline for a news article, without changing the content of the article, can affect a user's perception of the news event reported in the article. These online news articles were assembled from a number of major news organizations. The subjects were divided into three groups, each of which was exposed to a different version of the headline: positively biased, negatively biased, and unchanged from the original headline. Afterwards the subjects completed a survey to indicate their views on the news events. We then analyzed this data to determine the cause-effect relationship between perception of the news event and the version of the headline. We found a detectable influence when using positively biased headlines to lessen the impact of negatively biased news stories, although the influence was not statistically significant. No evidence regarding the influence of negatively biased headlines on negatively biased news stories was discovered. This research was focused on detecting the potential influence of subtle changes and does not address the potential influence of less subtle changes. / Ensign, United States Navy

Call number: LD2668 .P7 1973 R35

The following research attempts to determine the factors used by an individual to develop an attitude on the political issue of capital punishment. Using data from the 2000 National Election Study and ordered probit analysis, this research produces a multivariate, multi-stage model of death penalty attitudes. Demographic factors such as race, age, gender, and education level are included in the initial stage of the model. Attitudinal variables such as party identification, ideology, and religiosity are added, one-by-one, in the second stage of the model to determine their own individual effect on death penalty attitudes, and their effect on the preceding demographic variables. The result is a comprehensive model of death penalty attitudes.