Browsing by Subject "Information processing"
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Item Analytic bureaucracy and the policy process : evidence from three states(2023-04-17) Flatt, Henry Joel; Jones, Bryan D.; Epp, Derek A; Roberts, Brian E; Kogan, VladimirI argue that “analytic” bureaucratic agencies are essential actors in the modern policy process because of their essential role acting as information processing organizations and policy evaluation specialists. Analytic agencies can exert unique influence over lawmaking activities because legislators consider them expert information sources in a multitude of areas. Whereas previous policy process scholarship almost exclusively examines elected officials and federal agencies, I study analytic agencies in the three most populous states: California, Texas, and Florida, to test how, when, and where expert information is used in the legislative process. I utilize a mixed-methods approach that combines interviews with statistical analyses to show expert information is incorporated frequently and early in the lawmaking process and the internal governmental actors responsible for generating much of the expert content possess vastly different skills from standard street-level or civilian bureaucrats.Item Cognitive function in chronic non-malignant pain patients treated with sustained-release morphine sulfate (Avinza)(2005-12) Panjabi, Sumeet Sham; Shepherd, Marvin D.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association between sustained-release morphine (Avinza®), and performance on neuropsychological tests assessing short term memory, information processing, and motor skills in chronic pain patients, while controlling for stages of pain model variables and the effects of benzodiazepines. A convenience sampling procedure was utilized to enroll a sample of patients who had a trial of short-acting narcotic analgesics for their chronic non-malignant pain. Enrolled patients were treated with long-acting morphine Avinza.® Patient interviews were conducted at enrollment and one-month follow-up. A total of 129 patients were enrolled in the study. Mean pain intensity ratings at the highest, lowest, and average levels in the previous week were lower at follow-up (10.90, 4.56. 7.64) than at baseline (12.71, 6.76, 10.01) respectively. Reduction in pain levels was associated with a corresponding reduction in levels of pain unpleasantness, pain suffering, and pain behaviors. The models evaluating the associations between the stages of pain model variables, morphine dose, benzodiazepine dose, and digit span test (chi square = 147.79, p = 0.76), digit symbol test (chi square = 128.06, p = 0.5), and paced auditory serial attention test fit the data well (chi square = 160.39, p = 0.85). There was a statistically significant inverse association between frequency of pain behaviors and digit span test scores at baseline (-0.49, p = 0.01). Although the association between pain behaviors and digit symbol test scores (- 17. 0 %, p = 0.09) and paced auditory serial addition test scores (-4.0%, p = .28) at baseline were not statistically significant, a large negative effect was found. At follow-up, the association between pain behaviors and digit span test was positive and not significant. The negative association between frequency of pain behaviors and digit symbol test scores (-4.4%, p = 0.67 ) and paced auditory serial addition test scores (-2.8%, p = 0.21) at follow-up were considerably weaker. There were no significant association between opioid dose and cognitive function test scores. Opioid therapy, particularly, sustained release morphine therapy (Avinza) does not contribute to cognitive impairment in chronic pain patients.Item Communicating climate change : investigating the effectiveness of interactivity and audience segmentation in climate change strategies(2023-08-08) Yu, Na, Ph. D.; Atkinson, Lucinda; Oh, Jeeyun; Dudo, Anthony; Kahlor, Lee Ann; Coleman, RenitaThis dissertation aimed to investigate the effectiveness of interactivity and audience segmentation in communicating climate change. Through two experiments, this dissertation explored how segmented audiences process interactive messages using either systematic or heuristic information processing, influencing perceptions of information insufficiency and risk information engagement intentions. Study 1 employed an online experiment using a 3 (audience segment: Engaged v. Disinterested v. Skeptical) * 2 (video interactivity: 360-degree v. traditional) between-subject factorial design, with the audience segment as a measured factor and video interactivity as a manipulated factor. Built upon Study 1, Study 2 further looked into how interactive features of 360-degree videos affected participants’ risk information engagement intentions and information sufficiency via systematic or heuristic information processing modes. This dissertation indicated that audience segmentation is an important predictor in participants' information processing, risk information engagement intentions, and perceive information insufficiency. This study offered insightful information on how audience segmentation can improve risk communication strategies related to climate change.Item Get the message : how the Department of Finance sets California’s legislative agenda(2020-06-22) Flatt, Henry Joel; Jones, Bryan D.Theories of information processing note that professional staff and bureaucratic agents play an essential role in the collection, interpretation, and analysis of information required to implement policy. Identifying which agencies are tasked with the aggregation and analysis of information allows us to better understand policy dynamics. While previous theories of bureaucratic responsiveness and analytical capacity have almost exclusively examined the U.S. Congress and related federal agencies, this paper documents how a state agency—California’s Department of Finance (DOF)—sets the legislative agenda by both processing information and communicating the Governor’s policy preferences. Using data culled from the state legislative archive, I demonstrate how the DOF’s recommendation regarding a given bill significantly impacts its likelihood of passage. The data examined span the six most recently completed legislative sessions (N ~26,000) and over 7,700 fiscal summaries produced by the DOF.Item Manipulating spatial frequency to understand global and local information processing in 7-month-old infants(2009-08) Gora, Keith Matthew; Cohen, Leslie B.It has been shown that infants build representations of their visual world by forming relations among its parts. However little is known about how they select the parts to relate. One possibility is that while constructing their visual world part by part they are also decomposing it, using finer and finer parts. One way to test this theory is to simply control the parts infants see. This easiest way to do this is to filter real life objects of their high and low spatial frequencies. High spatial frequencies provide information about the smaller parts where as low spatial frequencies provide information about the larger ones. By removing high or low spatial frequency we can control the coarseness of their representation and ultimately determine the level at which they function best. The present study examined infants’ ability to use high and low spatial frequencies to discriminate between objects. Infants were habituated and tested using a combination of high and low spatial frequency images. Only infants experiencing a consistent spatial frequency across habituation and test were able to discriminate between objects. Infants were also better at discriminating between objects containing high spatial frequencies. In a second study designed to be more true to life, infants were habituated to broadband images and tested using high or low spatial frequencies. This time infants did not discriminate between objects but they did look longer at low spatial frequency information than at the high. From these findings we can conclude that infants use both high and low spatial frequency information when discriminating objects, and that in certain cases one frequency may become more important than the other. The spatial frequency they use may be dependent on the context of the task. Numerous studies have shown that adults prioritize high and low spatial frequency information depending on how fast they want to process the object, the amount of detail they require, and whether they used high or low spatial frequency information during previous experiences. Infants may be similar. At times they may emphasize low spatial frequency information and the big picture. At other times they may emphasize high spatial frequency information and the detail. More studies examining how infants select information for processing are necessary and spatial frequency will likely to be an important tool in the investigation.Item Three essays on the diffusion and processing of digital media(2020-06-30) Krijestorac, Haris; Garg, Rajiv, Ph. D.; Mahajan, Vijay; Konana, Prabhudev; Saar-Tsechansky, MaytalThe digitization of media has affected how content spreads, how it is created, and how it is interpreted to arrive at judgments. Compared to more traditional media, digital content has potential to spread faster through rapid word-of-mouth (WOM) facilitated by the Internet. At the same time, online platforms have facilitated the creation of media, suggesting that digital media compete for attention in an increasingly competitive marketplace. As a result, the diffusion of digital media is sometimes perceived as random or unmanageable, and strategies to increase consumption of these media have been difficult to discern. In this dissertation, I will first present empirical findings that suggest strategies to promote digital media by leveraging cross-platform spillover effects. Second, I will introduce an approach to obtain empirical feedback to inform the creation of digital media such that these media are likely to achieve greater consumption; I will illustrate the effectiveness of this approach through an analysis of the personality of online videos. Finally, given these strategies on how increase media consumption, I will analyze how digital media influence decision-making in the context of organizational purchasing.Item Transcriptome Profiling of a Toxic Dinoflagellate Reveals a Gene-Rich Protist and a Potential Impact on Gene Expression Due to Bacterial Presence(Public Library of Science, 2010-03-12) Moustafa, Ahmed; Evans, Andrew N.; Kulis, David M.; Hackett, Jeremiah D.; Erdner, Deana L.; Anderson, Donald M.; Bhattacharya, DebashishBackground -- Dinoflagellates are unicellular, often photosynthetic protists that play a major role in the dynamics of the Earth's oceans and climate. Sequencing of dinoflagellate nuclear DNA is thwarted by their massive genome sizes that are often several times that in humans. However, modern transcriptomic methods offer promising approaches to tackle this challenging system. Here, we used massively parallel signature sequencing (MPSS) to understand global transcriptional regulation patterns in Alexandrium tamarense cultures that were grown under four different conditions. Methodology/Principal Findings -- We generated more than 40,000 unique short expression signatures gathered from the four conditions. Of these, about 11,000 signatures did not display detectable differential expression patterns. At a p-value < 1E-10, 1,124 signatures were differentially expressed in the three treatments, xenic, nitrogen-limited, and phosphorus-limited, compared to the nutrient-replete control, with the presence of bacteria explaining the largest set of these differentially expressed signatures. Conclusions/Significance -- Among microbial eukaryotes, dinoflagellates contain the largest number of genes in their nuclear genomes. These genes occur in complex families, many of which have evolved via recent gene duplication events. Our expression data suggest that about 73% of the Alexandrium transcriptome shows no significant change in gene expression under the experimental conditions used here and may comprise a “core” component for this species. We report a fundamental shift in expression patterns in response to the presence of bacteria, highlighting the impact of biotic interaction on gene expression in dinoflagellates.Item Two essays on consumer behavior in a digital environment with superficial information processing(2020-05-05) Zheng, Jianqing, Ph. D.; Broniarczyk, Susan M., 1965-; Ward, Adrian F; Gershoff, Andrew D; Jarvenpaa, Sirkka LModern consumers are living in a digital environment overloaded with information (Lee and Lee 2004). Due to their limited information processing capacity, consumers are exhibiting very low reading and processing depths of online information (e.g. superficially reading only titles or the first few sentences of news articles and user-generate contents). This new behavioral pattern inspires my dissertation to investigate novel consumer behavior phenomenon and develop organic theories situated in the digital environment with superficial information processing. In essay 1, I explore how sharing via WOM shapes the self-concept with a specific focus on consumer subjective knowledge. We posit that sharing WOM content shapes the self-concept leading sharers to inflate their subjective knowledge related to their shared content, and we test internalized self-presentation as an explanation of this effect. Specifically, we posit that sharing digital content involves public self-presentation which signals expertise, and that as sharers internalize this behavior, they accordingly alter their self-concepts, leading to increased subjective knowledge of the shared content. Six studies provide correlational (study 1) and casual (study 2) evidence for this phenomenon, and examine the internalized self-presentation mechanism by varying the degree of self-presentation in the digital sharing process, including salience of self-presentation (study 3), freedom of sharing (study 4a) and interaction expectancy with audience (study 4b). Finally study 5 examines a downstream consequence of this effect: more risky financial decision making. In essay 2, I explore how a novel type of information during the consumer online decision journey, “mere simultaneous presence”, which refers to information about other consumers who are shopping synchronously, (e.g. “129 people are shopping for hotels in San Francisco on Expedia right now”), affects consumers’ decision-making. We propose that the mere simultaneous presence of others leads to more polarized product evaluations, causing decreased decision difficulty. In contrast to previous scarcity research, we hypothesize that this effect is independent of scarcity perceptions and instead caused by more elaborated processing towards the product options, which is facilitated by a “shared attention” state (Shteynberg 2015) with other consumers. Six studies explore the basic effect and provide evidence for the underlying shared decision process in multiple online decision settings.Item Whirlpools of information: information processing in policy subsystems 1995-2010(2015-12) Shafran, JoBeth Surface; Jones, Bryan D.; Workman, Samuel; Theriault, Sean; Moser, Scott; McDaniel, EricThis project focuses on information processing in policy subsystems, specifically how congressional committees in the domestic commerce, energy, and health care policy areas prioritize available information, with an extended analysis of information supply and prioritization in energy policy. I examine the conditions under which federal bureaucrats are most likely to supply information to Congress in these three policy areas. I seek to determine whether and to what extent the bureaucratic supply of information changes by issue area, presiding congressional committee, and in response to problem uncertainty. My findings suggest that the number of bureaucrats testifying varies by both policy area and committee type. Furthermore, as the problem uncertainty for a committee increases, so too does the number of federal bureaucrats invited to testify. These findings are especially true for careerist bureaucrats. Within energy policy, my findings show that the subsystem actors most likely to supply information at a hearing varies across committees, over time, and by specific issue area. By examining who supplies information, this project will provide a better understanding of how subsystem actors are prioritized by congressional committees as information suppliers. This study is important because the information supplied by these non-elected policy elites can then influence the problem definition process, structure policy debates, and impact policy formulation.