Using an online charitable dictator game experiment (n=214), we explored how different, randomly assigned experimental treatments (social media posts) containing anti-climate-change sentiment (n=77, 36%), misinformation (n=74, 34.6%) and a control condition (n=63, 29.4%) impacted the real donation behaviour of pro-environmentalists to an environmental non-governmental organisation. Participants were recruited through social media (Facebook, Linked-In, and Reddit). We found that the treatments resulted in minimal differences to donation likelihood and amount. We used the same charitable dictator game experiment (n=56) to explore how these experimental treatments containing anti-climate-change sentiment (n=20, 35.7%), misinformation (n=26, 46.4%) and a control condition (n=10, 17.9%) impacted the social media response behaviour of pro-environments, as well as their real donation behaviour. We found that the treatments resulted in differences to reply frequency (p=0.02935) and minimal differences to reply tone (p=0.05698), while donation behaviour was unaffected. Donation behaviour did not stratify with demographic factors with the exception of geographic location (p=0.04825). These results suggest that the donation behaviour of pro-environmentalists is resistant to climate-change misinformation and anti-climate change opinions presented through social media, while these treatments may influence social media reply behaviour. Further research into the effect of this reply behaviour on other social media users and online spaces as well as whether these observations apply to the general population is necessary. These results also call into question the necessity of moderating misinformation and climate scepticism in online spaces, as there is some evidence that this content does not negatively affect prosocial behaviour, and instead may encourage cross-attitudinal discussion. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

yes / Biometric of Intent (BoI) is a Computer Vision (CV) automation, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, which presents a new approach that extends the reach of the classic biometric identification process. It provides an efficient mechanism which deters the threats raised by unknown individuals who have deceitful intentions and who aim to deploy unlawful operations such as terrorist attacks. In this context, our proposed BoI model is based on a framework constructed upon an automated machine learning facial expression analysis system which can assist law enforcement agencies who intend to deploy a systematic preventive security approach that aims to reduce the risk of potential unlawful attacks by rogue individuals through the evaluation of their emotional state in relation to their malicious intent.

Task-oriented dialogue (ToD) systems need to interpret the user's input to understand the user's needs (intent) and corresponding relevant information (slots). This process is performed by a Natural Language Understanding (NLU) component, which maps the text utterance into a semantic frame representation, involving two subtasks: intent classification (text classification) and slot filling (sequence tagging). Typically, new domains and languages are regularly added to the system to support more functionalities. Collecting domain-specific data and performing fine-grained annotation of large amounts of data every time a new domain and language is introduced can be expensive. Thus, developing an NLU model that generalizes well across domains and languages with less labeled data (low-resource) is crucial and remains challenging. This thesis focuses on investigating transfer learning and data augmentation methods for low-resource NLU in ToD. Our first contribution is a study of the potential of non-conversational text as a source for transfer. Most transfer learning approaches assume labeled conversational data as the source task and adapt the NLU model to the target task. We show that leveraging similar tasks from non-conversational text improves performance on target slot filling tasks through multi-task learning in low-resource settings. Second, we propose a set of lightweight augmentation methods that apply data transformation on token and sentence levels through slot value substitution and syntactic manipulation. Despite its simplicity, the performance is comparable to deep learning-based augmentation models, and it is effective on six languages on NLU tasks. Third, we investigate the effectiveness of domain adaptive pre-training for zero-shot cross-lingual NLU. In terms of overall performance, continued pre-training in English is effective across languages. This result indicates that the domain knowledge learned in English is transferable to other languages. In addition to that, domain similarity is essential. We show that intermediate pre-training data that is more similar – in terms of data distribution – to the target dataset yields better performance.

Within the past three decades, Star Wars has become nothing short of a household name. The millions of dollars gained from the films and various products, as well as the enjoyment and enthusiasm generated among fans, shows that Star Wars' value and significance in the realm of entertainment is substantial. In addition to this value, there are also many religious and mythological elements that are embedded within each of the movies. However, these elements do not carry the same prominence or interest that the plotline has with the audience. In an interview, Lucas stated that it was not his intent to use Star Wars to create a new religion or ideology. Nevertheless, the movie series has raised questions regarding its ability to attain such a devoted following. Consequently, the thesis will look into the dynamic between authorial intent and reader response. In addition, this thesis will investigate the religious themes and mythological elements of the Star Wars series and use this analysis to corroborate the position that Star Wars both resembles traditional religion and functions as religion for the fans. This thesis will analyze the religious elements and myths that are embedded in the general story, as well as those that are unique to the individual movies, by highlighting a family resemblance/functionalist approach to religion that focuses on not only the resemblances to traditional religion but also the religious effects that Star Wars has on its fans and society; namely, moral issues and the sense of meaning and belonging it inculcates among the fan base.

The interactive nature of video games offers players unique playthroughs of the same game. Choices made during gameplay, despite going through the same narrative story, create a journey that differs from other players. Music can help support a player's connection to the game's characters and narrative while also providing information to the player to guide their decisions. Ludomusicological studies in the past have shown how music can support a game's narrative, while also serving to inform players of changes in game states. The usability function of music, while crucial in this overall sonic experience, is not the sole purpose that music can fulfill. An area in ludomusicological research that's less explored is understanding how a composer's intent for their music is not indicative of the player experience but rather influences the way players play the game and how they are emotionally impacted by the music. Combat scenarios are an effective area that showcases the usability aspects of music as well as its impact on player presence, which will be demonstrated through the game Xenoblade Chronicles. By combining the principles of presence, immersion, engagement, topic theory, and adapting the dual semiotic approach of Iain Hart, this thesis seeks to analyze the composer's intent behind musical choices and how it shapes the overall player experience.

The internationalization of higher education curriculum, including programs in educational leadership, in the United States is increasing, and with the increase in graduate interest in study abroad, this study predicted graduate students pursuing a graduate degree in higher education administration or student affairs (HESA) at institutions in the southeastern United States intent to study abroad short-term. The Theory of Planned Behavior was used to frame the study, which identified the behavioral beliefs (future job prospects), normative beliefs (family expectations), and control beliefs (administrative support) of graduate students that were related to study abroad. Future job prospects, family expectations, and administrative support formed one variable, willingness to pay, which was hypothesized to influence intent to study abroad. Desire and affordability were also hypothesized to influence intent to study abroad. The Theory of Planned Behavior and each variable were assumed to be important to short-term study abroad intent. However, this was an initial study focused on solely graduate students in an education discipline regarding study abroad intent to use the Theory of Planned Behavior and the chosen variables. A survey was emailed to all graduate students in a HESA program at 15 institutions in the southeastern United States. There were 171 students that fully completed the survey. In this study, I found that future job prospects had a positive relationship with willingness to pay. Thus, hypothesis 2 was supported. However, family expectations and administrative support did not have a positive relationship with willingness to pay indicating that hypotheses 3 and 4 were not supported. Regarding intent to study abroad, both desire and affordability positively influenced intent to study abroad with path coefficients of .62 and .24, respectively, while willingness to pay did not indicating that hypotheses 5 and 6 were supported while hypothesis 1 was not supported. The data were analyzed using a structural equation model (SEM) to create a structural model to understand the strength of the relationship of each variable by the resulting path coefficients and variance. Understanding the beliefs and intentions of such students provided implications to establish or improve existing study abroad programs focusing on graduate students.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.