Dissertation Defense Announcements

The environment where a person lives impacts their health more than clinical care provided. (RWJF, 2013) This research posits that the determinants of health (DOH) are best understood as a combination of social, structural, spatial and temporal aspects, not just “social”. Literature to date acknowledges these dimensions, although researchers have yet to fully explore. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, this research explores various DOH and their interactions spatially, structurally and temporally at the neighborhood level and how changes to those determinants are impacted by restructuring forces adversely affecting a Hispanic immigrant population. Specifically, this research aims to answer the following questions (1) How are the DOH impacted by the social, spatial, structural and temporal elements individually and in concert; (2) How has urban restructuring been a factor in the DOH for the Hispanic immigrant population in Southwest (SW) Charlotte; and (3) How does the acknowledgement of the structural, spatial and temporal aspects of DOH inform action to address the social and health needs of Hispanic immigrants living in Charlotte, NC. The South Boulevard corridor in the SW area of the city is the ideal case study location as it is simultaneously experiencing several forms of urban restructuring and an on-going influx of Hispanic immigrants. Ultimately, urban restructuring is an overlooked DOH in its own right - especially as it impacts vulnerable communities such as Hispanic immigrants as well as the importance of viewing the DOH in a nuanced manner acknowledging the influence and interactions of the various aspects.

Perfectionism was once thought to be a detrimental personality trait that impacts health and psychological outcomes in negative ways. However, modern conceptualizations demonstrate that this trait is multidimensional and that impacts on outcomes are complex. Additionally, person-environment interaction (PEX) theories stipulate that personality traits are only triggered and expressed in environments that are relevant for that trait, that individuals are drawn to environments that “fit” with their underlying personality traits, and that personality traits can interact with environmental conditions in unique ways. Thus, the present study was designed to apply this perspective and examine the impact of perfectionism on psychological outcomes in the context of one particularly perfection-focused environment: the social networking site of Instagram. Secondary analysis of an existing data set was undertaken to address three research questions: (1) Are perfectionists drawn to the social media environment of Instagram? (2) Does perfectionism impact specific aspects of Instagram use? and (3) Is Instagram a more detrimental environment for perfectionists than non-perfectionists? An overall pattern of findings across 70 regression analyses provided preliminary answers to these questions. Results demonstrate that individuals high in one dimension of perfectionism, evaluative concerns perfectionism (ECP), are more likely to use Instagram and that these individuals tend to engage in active and problematic Instagram behaviors. Additionally, results demonstrate that these specific Instagram behaviors exacerbate the detrimental impact of ECP on psychological outcomes. Results of this study shed new light on both perfectionism and Instagram use, as well as highlight the importance of contextualizing both person-level and environment-level determinants of health-related psychological outcomes in general. Empirical and applied implications are discussed.

We consider the approximation of unknown or intractable integrals using quadrature when the evaluation of the integrand is considered costly. This is a central problem in machine learning, including model averaging, (hyper-)parameter marginalization, and computing posterior predictive distributions.
Recently Batch Bayesian Quadrature (BBQ) has combined the probabilistic integration techniques of Bayesian Quadrature with the parallelization techniques of Batch Bayesian Optimization, resulting in improved performance compared to Monte Carlo techniques, especially when parallelization is increased. While the selection of batches in BBQ mitigates costs of individual point selection, every point within every batch is nevertheless chosen serially, impeding the full potential of batch selection. We resolve this shortcoming.
We developed a novel BBQ method which updates points within a batch without the costs of non-serial point selection. To implement this, we devise a dynamic domain decomposition. Combining these efficiently reduces uncertainty, lowers error estimates of the integrand, and results in more numerically robust integral estimates. Furthermore, we close an open question about the cessation criteria, which we establish and support using numerical methods.
We present our findings within the context of the history of quadrature, show how our novel methods significantly improve the literature, and provide possibilities for future research.

Despite its long history in the United States and abroad, the unconventional drilling industry, and specifically hydraulic fracturing technology, remain controversial. While the competing demands of energy from oil and gas are contrasted with environmental safety and protection, it is likely that unconventional drilling will remain a source of social friction and a wicked problem. From the viewpoint of social resilience in hydraulic fracturing communities, social conflict represents a potential threat to the bonds that are formed within a community. This research seeks to understand the impact of planning in communities that have implemented unconventional drilling technology by using a metric of litigation as a proxy for conflict. By seeking to illuminate how conflict is affected by both municipal and industry planning efforts this research seeks to answer the question of whether planning can reduce conflict and build resilience in communities where unconventional drilling is occurring. If conflict through litigation can be reduced through planning in these communities, then resilience may be preserved, enabling these extractive communities to reduce their exposure to disruption. This research begins with a quantitative analysis of the counties in Pennsylvania to determine which counties have detailed comprehensive plans that address unconventional drilling. The comprehensive plan data was then compared to the civil lawsuit data for each county to determine which counties have both detailed comprehensive plans and low rates of fracking related civil lawsuits. Using this quantitative data, three counties were chosen as case studies for the second phase of this research. Two counties demonstrating a high level of planning and also a corresponding level of social resilience were selected (Sullivan and Clinton counties). For contrast, one county with a high level of planning, but a low level of social resilience as measured by a high incidence of civil lawsuits per well was also studied (Lawrence). A series of semi structured interviews were conducted with community members and government staff to investigate the impact of planning in those counties relative to the unconventional drilling industry. While most unconventional drilling companies declined to be interviewed for this research, one company and an industry group were also interviewed. In Sullivan County, the social resilience appears to stem from the interconnectivity of residents, government, and industry that is encouraged by the comprehensive plan and further nurtured through industry involvement in the community. In contrast, Clinton’s plan provides a guiding vision for the industry, encouraging development upon prescribed paths that promotes conscientious and environmentally and socially responsible activity. In contrast, Lawrence county’s plan addressing unconventional drilling but is stymied by a lack of reciprocal interconnectivity from industry, though the county as adapted by transitioning to related industry by leveraging their manufacturing know-how. Social resilience is notoriously difficult to measure, but this research does provide support for the theory that counties that engage in high levels of planning and also have fracking companies that are active in community engagement may have improved social resilience through the building of social bonds.