Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item An adaptive genetic algorithm for fitting DeGroot opinion diffusion models on social networks(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Johnson, Kara Layne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: John J. BorkowskiWhile a variety of options are available for modeling opinion diffusion--the process through which opinions change and spread through a social network--current methods focus on modeling the process on online social networks where large quantities of opinion data are readily available. For in-person networks, where data are more difficult to collect, models that predict the opinions of the individuals in the network require that the structure of social influence--who is influenced by whom and to what degree--is specified by the researcher instead of informed by data. In order to fit data-driven opinion diffusion models on small networks with limited data, we developed a genetic algorithm for fitting the DeGroot opinion diffusion model. We detail the algorithm and present simulation studies to assess the algorithm's performance. We find the algorithm is able to recover model parameters across a variety of network and data set conditions, it continues to perform well under the assumption violations expected in practical applications, and the algorithm performance is robust to most choices of hyperparameters. Finally, we present an analysis of data from the study that motivated the methodological development.Item Documentary photography, climate crisis, and immigration: 'Migrant mother' as a lens to understand contemporary migrant stories(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Leary, Courtney Lynne Burns; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mary MurphyPhotographs are an important tool for understanding American culture and have the potential to influence public perception. Documentary photography specifically can often be used to enact social change and facilitate discourse about uncomfortable or difficult topics from both the past and present. Individual photographs can become defining symbols of entire periods of American history. Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother' is one such example. The current research within the fields of History and American Studies regarding photography is mainly centered on how it can be used in museums and how it fits into our understanding of the past. However, it is also important to acknowledge how particular images have influenced our present understanding of America and how images can be used to facilitate conversations that will contribute to social change. As social media and mass media at large become more integrated into our daily lives and we, as consumers of media, become increasingly inundated with painful images the impact of documentary photography is changing. This first part of this thesis examines the history and tradition of documentary photography in America, including Dorothea Lange's contributions to the field and how 'Migrant Mother' impacted and continues to impact people's understanding of the Great Depression through that single photograph. Chapter Two focuses on the relationship between climate crisis and human migration patterns by examining the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s and the current climate crisis, with a focus on border communities. Chapter Three then examines modern examples of documentary photography to understand how today's documentary photographs impact American attitudes and the effect that America's current state of extreme political polarization has on the social power of particular photographs. Specifically, I analyze three examples: the picture taken of a drowned Syrian child migrant who was attempting to reach Greece in 2015, a photograph taken during the summer of 2019 of a migrant father and his young child drowned in the Rio Grande River after attempting to cross the border into the United States, and recent images taken during the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August of 2021.Item Documentary: the weapon of choice for both sides of the climate change debate(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2019) Sindelar, Hugo Richard, IV; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Theo LipfertThe climate change debate has been a hot button issue in the U.S. for at least the last decade. Both sides of the debate have used documentary film as a 'weapon' to help create support for their side of the debate. In this paper, I examine two documentaries that support climate change, An Inconvenient Truth and Before the Flood, and two documentaries that deny climate change, Cool It and Climate Hustle. How do these documentaries present the actual science of climate change? Documentaries give filmmakers wide latitude in the presentation of facts, and both sides of the climate change debate have used them hoping to influence public opinion. In their efforts to change minds, the filmmakers often misrepresent the science, which I argue can cause credibility issues for the whole scientific community. Current research also shows that documentaries might not be an effective means of changing opinions, but rather are best suited for galvanizing action from supporters on an issue. Researchers also suggest that the general public looks to documentary content for both information and entertainment. My thesis films, a virtual tour of the Reynolds Creek watershed, aim to make dense peer-reviewed science more relatable through animations and entertaining narration. The whole library of climate change documentaries and science films may not affect an individual person's opinion who is watching a single film, but it appears, it is slowly shifting the American and worldwide discourse on the topic, strengthening public belief and support of the issue. My hope is that my thesis films add a small piece to the larger puzzle of climate change science communication.Item Guiding visions of the space age: how imaginative expectations directed an industry(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Goodman, Daniel Waymark; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Michael ReidyThis essay presents a unique historical perspective on the roots of the burgeoning private space industry's fixation with Mars as an inevitable frontier for human settlement. While changing legislation, new innovations and discoveries, and the flux of geopolitics influenced the private space industry, a set of underlying visions - inspired at times by millenarian anticipations as well as techno-utopian expectations and popularized by both science fiction as well as media sensationalism - operated as the subsurface dynamos pushing the space industry into the future. Although a broadly shared ideology of technology steeped in both apocalyptic and transcendent visions for the future emerged over many centuries, this ideology's collision with the Space Age produced a discourse that has influenced the space industry's development in important ways. Comprised of countless science fiction texts, media sensationalism, and futuristic visions put forth by public intellectuals throughout the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, apocalyptic fears and techno-utopian hopes have consistently defined much of this discourse since its conception. In fundamental ways it has directed the long-term goals of NASA as well as more recent private space companies. In particular, Mars as an assumed next-step destination in the progress of humanity's spread into the cosmos grew out of this discourse. This essay shows how this discourse significantly influenced the development of the private space industry and argues that the contemporary private space industry can generate enormous public enthusiasm by making real or appearing to make real the public's dreams of eventually accessing space with ease and colonizing Mars.Item Status of attitudes toward incorrigibility(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1959) Sherick, Stephan R.Item A follow-up study of the Delphi survey of priorities in clinical nursing research(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1977) Nicholls, Daniel JohnItem Attitudes and perceptions of voters, teachers and students toward the four-day school week at Sheridan County School District no. 1 West(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1983) Roadifer, Wayne PhilipItem Indicators affecting the perceptions of the quality of Montana schools(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1994) Hill, Richard JamesItem Western nature--German culture : German representations of Yellowstone, 1872-1910(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1994) Pfund, Johanna MariaItem The public's perception of extension in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1988) Garoutte, Charlene Rich