Oral Sessions

Session 1:

Associate Professor Janne Gaub 

Assistant Professor Doug Markant 

Senior Lecturer Pilar Zuber 

Session 2: 

Professor Elizabeth Stearns 

Teaching Assistant Professor Honore Missihoun

Professor Malin Pereira 

In recent years, Sub-Saharan Africa has witnessed significant growth. Between 2010 and 2018, the region recorded an average growth rate of 4.2%. Yet, the dividends of growth have not been evenly distributed as evidenced by 60% of the global poor residing in the region as of 2018. This disparity, further characterized by high levels of income and gender inequality, has shifted the developmental agenda towards inclusive growth, emphasizing equitable economic opportunities. To that end, social protection policies have emerged as key contributor to inclusive growth. Yet, the in-depth nexus between social protection and inclusive growth remains inconclusive. Some faction suggests that social protection contribute significantly to inclusive growth whilst others argue that it may hinder it due to its negative redistribution effect channels such as cash transfer serving as a disincentive instrument reducing productivity. Thus, this study aims to empirically assess the role of social protection in driving inclusive growth in SSA. Using the Least Square Dummy Variable Corrected (LSDVC) method and Principal Component Analysis, the study analysed data from 2005 to 2018 for 19 selected SSA countries drawing data from SWIID and WDI database. Social protection policies were classified into high and low in effectiveness. The findings indicate that effective social protection policies significantly enhance inclusive growth. Additionally, factors such as urbanization, quality of governance, higher gender equality are significant drivers of inclusive growth. However, inflation and access to electricity impedes inclusion although it is statistically muted. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers, and international organizations focused on sustainable and inclusive development SSA. It underscores the critical need for relevant policies in curbing urbanizat

In health research, applying game design techniques to create engaging health interventions has been becoming more common (2). Researchers have noted challenges in implementing and evaluating game-based health interventions due to a lack of theory-driven approaches and standard reporting practices (1; 3). Experts in game-based approaches have provided recommendations to bring cohesiveness to this line of work and evaluate systematically the effectiveness of these approaches (4). This literature review aims to determine the extent to which recent health intervention studies are in line with current recommendations, in terms of their methodologies and guided theory, in order to offer guidance for future research. For this study, we review 26 published articles selected from multiple databases (e.g., PsychInfo) and AI tools (Elicit.org), each presenting use of a game-based intervention task the authors developed, and targeting the improvement of a health outcome. We coded for game mechanics (reinforcement, immersion, performance, social components, and ecological components), theories from psychology or game design, and research methods and design approaches (qualitative/quantitative, user-centered approaches, testing strategies, and iterative approaches) used to support intervention development. Our analyses revealed some consistent patterns across studies. All studies included more than one game mechanic, most studies grounded their interventions in psychological theory, and quantitative methods were often used to determine intervention impact. In line with recommendations, the majority of studies used large sample sizes and applied their interventions in real-world settings. However, future studies still need to utilize interdisciplinary teams, user-centered and iterative approaches, and standard forms of reporting on intervention design components. We hope this review helps to inform the future development of game-based health interventions. 

This study examines growth mindset and belongingness in online asynchronous classrooms for improved academic outcomes. Research has shown that growth mindset and belongingness messaging can be used to improve academic outcomes for students in traditional classrooms. This research explores the effects of a growth mindset and belongingness language intervention that was designed to be used in an asynchronous online course. Two sections of the same psychology course, taught during the fall of 2020 at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, were recruited. The courses consisted of 552 students. The control group had 281 and the treatment group had 271. Both courses used the same shell course, assignments and grading scale. The only differences were one course instructor used growth mindset and belongingness messaging language in the syllabus, weekly email communications, and assignment directions. We hypothesized that these changes will have a positive effect on the academic outcomes of students in online classrooms. To test this, a linear mixed model was used to compare exam scores between the treatment and control groups. Students exposed to the treatment did not perform significantly differently on their exams compared to students in the control group. To further assess the hypothesis additional analyses were run. The control groups’ exam grade average and final exam grade average were higher than the treatment group. The control groups’ final grade average score was lower than the treatment group. A hierarchical linear regression was conducted to see if exposure to the treatment had an effect on final grades. The results indicated that if a student moved from the control group to the treatment group their final grades improved by 2.15 points. This initial analysis of growth mindset and belongingness messaging's affects in online classrooms encourages further exploration of teaching strategies to improve student outcomes for online learners. 

The advent of big data and the rapid advancement in computing technology has facilitated the collection of data with precise spatial information including geographic coordinates. However, this spatial information is often ignored when evaluating non-spatially explicit clustering algorithms like the K-Means. Failure to address the spatial expression of clusters derived from non-spatially explicit approaches has the tendency to mask embedded spatial patterns in clusters, since cluster subjects may not only share similarities in the parameter space but may also display unique spatial patterns that can be interesting for further exploration. A possible reason for this neglect is the absence of a formal framework in the literature for doing so. In the light of this, the current study proposes a framework that deploys the construct of alpha shapes in spatially evaluating clustering algorithms that are non-spatially explicit. Alpha shapes are mathematical formulations used to generalize the bounding polygons enclosing a set of points in space. Five metrics are proposed here in this regard: normalized alpha size-to-elements ratio, alpha size-to-area ratio, number of intersections, alpha size-to-intersection ratio, and ratio of elements in intersecting regions to elements in non-intersecting regions. The framework was applied to evaluate the clustering of high injury road segments within the city of Charlotte. Preliminary results indicate that the use of alpha shapes in spatially evaluating clusters has the potential for refining the number clusters as well as facilitating the understanding of the nature of individual clusters. Further research will be needed to test, improve, and extend the metrics proposed here. 

Diversity and representation are pivotal in the growth of organizations, particularly in policing, where women make up less than 13% of the total force in the US. Despite various factors contributing to this underrepresentation, the way female officers are portrayed in the media i.e. television and film can potentially influence public perceptions, affecting aspirations to join the police force and overall views on women's capabilities in law enforcement. This study addresses a critical gap by investigating how media, specifically television and film, representation of women in policing, shapes the public's perception of female officers. Using an online survey which will be administered to a diverse sample of students at UNC Charlotte, the study will employ correlation and regression analysis to analyze the collected data. By exploring the multifaceted nature of media influence on public perception, this research fills a void in understanding the connection between media representation of female officers, how perceptions about women in policing are impacted, societal attitudes, and gender diversity in law enforcement. The findings will offer valuable insights for media practices, diversity initiatives, and a deeper comprehension of women's roles in policing.

My research falls under the Humanities Research Track as a case study. Video game players are a diverse group of people, however, video game protagonists tend to be homogenous. This homogeneity is especially noticeable with disability, as finding a protagonist with a visible disability is rare. Using a case study, I analyze two popular games featuring disabled protagonists to analyze how the games represent their disabilities based on mechanics and narratives. Methodology: This case study is on the video games The Vale: Shadow of the Crown and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. The case study is guided by two theories: the social model of disability with a focus on Foucault’s body discipline and procedural rhetoric. For data collection, I played through each game, taking notes on the disabled body’s representation in the game mechanics and narrative, and then analyzed these findings. Results: Preliminary analysis of the games reveals overlaps with gender and race that would benefit from further study. Both protagonists are white European females who receive substantial male guidance and have fathers who view them as defective. The disabilities represented (blindness and psychosis) are portrayed in game mechanics as beneficial. Examples include more effective stealthing and extra advice for overcoming puzzles. A full analysis will reveal what works well in representation, what doesn't, and what could be extended to include invisible disabilities. Significance: This case study is significant for media representation and social acceptance of the disabled community. There are many studies on the benefits of seeing diverse individuals in media, especially if the viewer identifies with the individual. Accurate and respectful representation ensures that disabilities are not minimized or exaggerated for the viewer, and such representation sparks educated empathy instead of sympathy from able-bodied viewers.  

News articles play a critical role in informing the public about various issues, including public health and politics. Data visualization is increasingly important in conveying new information about high-stakes issues. However, research shows that prior attitudes can be challenging to change, which can lead to missing essential information, especially in domains such as public health. Given the increasing use of data visualizations in news articles, researchers are exploring ways to encourage people to think more about the information presented to them. Inspired by a New York Times article, we conducted two experiments to evaluate the effect of elicitation and contrasting narratives on attitude change, recall, and engagement. In Study 1, two different elicitation conditions, "draw trend" and "categorize trend," were tested in comparison to a control group with no elicitation. The hypothesis was that eliciting prior beliefs would lead to more elaboration, which would eventually result in higher attitude change, more engagement, and better recall. Although there was an overall attitude change across all experiment conditions, there was no significant effect of belief elicitation on attitude change. However, participants in the "draw trend" elicitation exhibited significantly lower recall error compared to the "categorize trend" elicitation. In the follow-up study, contrasting narratives were added to make the main article appear strikingly different. Compared to the results of Study 1, contrasting narratives improved engagement in terms of surprise and interest but resulted in higher recall errors and no significant change in attitude. Additionally, we discussed the effects of elicitation and contrasting narratives in the context of topic involvement and the strengths of temporal trends encoded in the data visualization. This research can help designers create more effective visualizations that encourage more elaboration about the information. 

Although colonialism gave birth to racism, mainstream studies on race focus on current systems that reproduce and reinforce racial boundaries, often neglecting racism’s historical context and its continuities into the present. Empire preceded the concept of race, established racism, and therefore can better inform the analytical framework for sociology of race. In this regard, I argue that current treatment of and view on Native American should be understood in the context of imperial U.S. history. Attitude toward Native American, a racialized group whose history of exploitation and displacement is directly tied to the foundation of the United States, should be examined to see how logic of colonialism persists. This paper employs a multiple linear regression analysis based on survey data to show how southern U.S. college students’ sense of nationalism is related to their attitude toward Native American. The results show that nationalism and fundamentalist religious beliefs are negatively associated with tolerant attitude toward Native Americans.  

Stemming from the “end” of slavery, the evolution of chain gangs into prison road labor, and the direct removal of rights, North Carolina has seemed to remain at the forefront in the maximization of exploitation. Focusing on North Carolina, using a racial lens with a history from below approach, this paper will chronologically highlight the evolution of slavery to mass incarceration and incarceration to prison labor exploitation, as well as the evolution of the “legal” removal of voting rights despite the Fourteenth Amendment protections. I argue the harm caused by felony disenfranchisement in the modern era continues from the original Three-Fifths Compromise. This thesis will specifically focus on analyzing and establishing North Carolina’s exploitation of Black and minority populations using mass incarceration in road prisons and voting disenfranchisement through felony disenfranchisement, to further propagate the systemic racism and structural inequalities set in place since the era of Jim Crow, to the direct benefit of state infrastructure, in a manner that emulates a modern Three-Fifths Compromise.  

“What is a woman?” Simone de Beauvoir asks in her introduction to The Second Sex — her landmark feminist monograph. The Second Sex examines how femininity is enacted is Western culture and unequivocally places blame on patriarchal belief systems for women’s subversion under men. Women are a subaltern other in a world where men are universally dominant. Kirsten Guest utilizes a similar framework in her examination of the women in Matilda by analysing the ways the adult women enact patriarchal femininity, that Matilda then subverts. “Matilda as Agent and Keyholder of Agency” draws from both of these texts to explore the limiting patriarchal world Matilda grows up in and how she both enacts agency for herself and inspires agency in those around her despite the tyrannical adults working in her life. Ultimately, this analysis shows that the ability to act, rather than to be acted upon, is a key dichotomy of Matilda, and that Matilda is able to find agency for herself, and open routes towards agency for others, even despite such a seemingly impenetrable force as systemic patriarchy through her prodigious young reading ability, her intricate pranks on her parents, and her telekinetic abuse of Miss Trunchbull. 

The following experimental research was primarily authored by a student in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Design Research Track. Roommate relationships may shape how one makes the social transition to a college environment, as assigned roommates are typically among the first people in this space with whom freshmen can socially connect. The extent to which people define themselves in terms of close relationships, known as Relational-Interdependent Self-Construal (RISC), has been shown to improve roommates relationship quality through maintenance behaviors, such as self-disclosures (Gore, Cross, & Morris, 2006), as individuals high in RISC may be more likely to self-disclose as a means of improving both their relationship and subsequently their personal well-being. However, less is known about what might prevent relational people from self-disclosing to roommates. Given that previous research suggests a negative association between loneliness and self-disclosures, feelings of loneliness might limit the likelihood of self-disclosures from relational people due to a discouraging lack of confidence in maintaining a relationship (Henson, Dybvig-Pawelko, & Canary, 2004; Solano, Batten, & Parish, 1982). Using mixed modeling, we tested this hypothesis with secondary analyses of a study that followed roommate dyads across their first semester. While actors’ RISC was consistently associated with partners’ reports of actors’ disclosure, this effect was not moderated by actors’ loneliness. The findings suggest that loneliness does not substantially alter the link between the relational self and relationship maintenance, concurring with previous research suggesting that those high in RISC would use proactive maintenance strategies to avoid feelings of loneliness (Canary & Spitzberg, 1993). 

Of the homeless youth population, 40% identify as LGBTQ+. Homelessness is considered a severe risk to LGBTQ+ youth as they make up only 7% of the youth population. Parental and familial rejection is reported to be the most common cause of homelessness for sexual and gender minority youth. The importance of parental acceptance has been established throughout the literature leading to an increase in familial acceptance interventions. This presentation will provide insight into effective strategies to prevent parental rejection and homelessness of LGBTQ+ youth by promoting familial acceptance. It draws on a literature review of peer-reviewed articles published between 2009-2023 about i) the relationship between parental rejection and homelessness and ii) different interventions specifically focused on promoting familial acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities and experiences between family members and youth and young adults. The review identifies the Family Acceptance Project as a prominent organization in promoting LGBTQ+ family acceptance, using the first evidence-based practice to promote acceptance. Additionally, it underscores the need for the evaluation of educational programs. The information in this presentation will be guided toward mental health professionals, community development professionals, educators, and advocates for the LGBTQ+ community. 

The pursuit of freedom by enslaved individuals in the Revolutionary Wars of Post-independence Venezuela., During the revolutionary wars in Venezuela, mechanisms were established to grant enslaved individuals freedom, regardless of allegiance. Post-independence, challenges persisted as enslaved individuals faced obstacles in obtaining formal freedom certificates through court trials. This study examines the effectiveness of networking with influential military officials for freedom. Three case studies—Andres Vargas, Ambrosio Susarregui, and Juan Nepomuceno Tovar—reveal explicit agency among enslaved individuals, emphasizing the role of networking. Despite their crucial role in the patriot cause, limited scholarship has explored soldier enslaved individuals in Venezuela. This study contributes insights into the nuanced manumission process, challenging prevailing narratives and highlighting enslaved individuals' strategic agency in their quest for freedom. 

This study delves into the realm of spending for environmental protection. It uses the political ideology framework to explore whether individual’s perceptions of government spending on this matter are associated with their political views. The study employs a multinomial logit regression to analyze different levels of perceptions on environmental spending, including perceiving it as too much, too little, or about right. We argue that that political ideology influences partisan’s attitudes towards government actions, including environmental spending. Generally, in the context of the United States, Conservatives are less likely to support spending on environmental protection, while Liberals are very supportive of environmental spending. Our research suggests that although the growing level of environmental degradation is changing people's perception of environmental issues, the US political bipartisanship remains the main factor determining people's attitudes towards environmental funding. This political division continues to affect the efforts of addressing environmental issues.