Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Neoliberalism And The Law Reassessing Historical Materialist Analysis Of The Law For The 21st Century, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Historical materialism has been called in question by the triumph of neoliberalism and the fall of Communism. I show, by consideration of two examples, the 2008 crisis and recent Supreme Court campaign spending First Amendment jurisprudence, that neoliberalism instead vindicates the explanatory power of (non-mechanical and non-deterministic) historical materialism in accounting for a wide range of recent legal developments in legislation, executive (in)action, and judicial decision-making.

La Innovación Es Requisito Para Mejorar El Nivel De Vida, Guillermo Arosemena

Guillermo Arosemena

No abstract provided.

Alianzas Estratégicas, Guillermo Arosemena

Guillermo Arosemena

No abstract provided.

Review: The Mainstreaming Of The Extreme Right In France And Australia: A Populist Hegemony?, By Aurélien Mondon, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

No abstract provided.

No Bridge Over Troubled Waters: The Cypriot Left Heading The Government 2008-2013 (With Gregoris Ioannou), Giorgos Charalambous Dr

Giorgos Charalambous

No abstract provided.

Kpelle Children At Play, David F. Lancy

David Lancy

Although children’s play has been a relatively popular subject for anthropologists who study childhood, comprehensive studies of the entire play repertoire in a society are rare. One such study was carried out among the Kpelle people in the remote Liberian village of Gbarngasuakwelle four decades ago. A summary of that study reveals that Kpelle children have access to a rich store of traditional play-forms including make-believe, board-type games, active play, contests and folklore. A major finding affirmed that play, far from being the antithesis of work or a reversal of cultural ideals, fundamentally supports and affirms the child’s ...

"The Falling Man" As Viewed In The Lens Of The "Public Sphere", Laura Reinacher

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Does Foreign Aid Reduce Tax Revenue? Further Evidence, John Thornton

John Thornton

A common criticism of foreign aid is that it reduces domestic tax effort. Empirical research on the issue has been hampered by the failure to tackle endogeneity issues effectively. We use measures of geographical and cultural distance to donor countries as instrumental variables to uncover the causal effect of aid on tax revenue in a panel of 93 countries. The tax to GDP ratio is found to decrease following aid inflows. This reduction in tax effort is statistically and economically significant; a one SD increase in aid causes a 0.52 percentage point drop in the tax-to-GDP ratio. The results ...

Teacher Quality At The High-School Level: The Importance Of Accounting For Tracks, C. Kirabo Jackson

C. Kirabo Jackson

Unlike in elementary school, high-school teacher effects may be confounded with both selection to tracks and unobserved track-level treatments. I document sizable confounding track effects, and show that traditional tests for the existence of teacher effects are likely biased. After accounting for these biases, high-school algebra and English teachers have much smaller test-score effects than found in previous studies. Moreover, unlike in elementary school, value-added estimates are weak predictors of teachers’ future performance. Results indicate that either (a) teachers are less influential in high school than in elementary school, or (b) test scores are a poor metric to measure teacher ...

The Exporter Productivity Premium Along The Productivity Distribution: Evidence From Quantile Regression With Nonadditive Firm Fixed Effects, David Powell, Joachim Wagner

David Powell

A vast literature on the international activities of heterogeneous firms finds the existence of a positive exporter productivity premium. On average, exporting firms are more productive than firms that sell on the national market only. The Melitz (2003) model, however, has implications for not only mean differences but also differences in the distribution of productivity. Furthermore, exporting firms may be different from non-exporting firms for reasons that are not included in the Melitz model. We believe that conditioning on firm fixed effects and studying the distribution of productivity are both necessary for empirical tests of the Melitz model. This paper ...

Narrative Visualization Of The Outcomes Of Federal Investments In Research, Diana Hicks

Diana Hicks

We offer here a narrative visualization entitled: Technology hot spots and the Office of Science and position its contribution within discussion of novel forms of communicating research results as an aid to maximizing use of research evaluation. In this study, patent co-citation analysis was used to systematically identify emerging high impact technologies in the US technology ecosystem and then to establish that Office of Science of the US Department of Energy (DOE) funds research that underpins these technology “hot spots.” We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this novel form of communicating evaluation results based our experience. The video at ...

Importance Of School Library Programs, Cynthia Strong

SPU Works

Within the discipline of library science, over 20 research studies have been done in the United States attesting to how high-quality school library programs contribute to improved academic achievement. On the other hand, in the fields of education, school counseling, administration, and school leadership, and so on, there is a dearth of scholarship and recognition of the positive impact librarians and library media program have on student success. This conceptual paper first presents an overview of the empirical research on school library programs and the positive impact they have on the academic achievement of students in the United States. Second ...

Evolving Chineseness, Ethnicity And Business: The Making Of Ethnic Chinese As A 'Market-Dominant Minority' In Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon

Chang Yau HOON

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Coping With Change - Understanding Ethnic Chinese Business Behavior, Chang Yau Hoon

Chang Yau HOON

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Policies For Innovative Financing In Infrastructure Systems, Ali Mostafavi, Dulcy Abraham, Charlene Sullivan

Infrastructure System-of-Systems (I-SoS ) Research Group

Infrastructure systems are drivers of the economy in the nation. A dollar spent on infrastructure development yields roughly double the initial spending in ultimate economic output in the short term; and over a twenty-year period, and generalized ‘public investment’ produces an aggregated $3.21 of economic activity per $1.00 spent [1]. Thus, formulation of policies pertaining to infrastructure investment and development is of significance affecting the social and economic wellbeing of the nation. The aim of this policy brief is to evaluate innovative financing in infrastructure systems from two different perspectives: (1) through consideration of the current condition of ...

When Does A Platform Create Value By Limiting Choice?, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Hanna Halaburda

Hanna Halaburda

We present a theory for why it might be rational for a platform to limit the number of applications available on it. Our model is based on the observation that even if users prefer application variety, applications often also exhibit direct network effects. When there are direct network effects, users prefer to consume the same applications to benefit from consumption complementarities. We show that the combination of preference for variety and consumption complementarities gives rise to (i) a commons problem (to better satisfy their individual preference for variety, users have an incentive to consume more applications than the number that ...

The Geography Of Racial Stereotyping: Evidence And Implications For Vra Preclearance After Shelby County, Christopher S. Elmendorf, Douglas M. Spencer

Douglas M. Spencer

The Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder (2013) effectively enjoined the preclearance regime of the Voting Rights Act. The Court deemed the coverage formula, which determines the jurisdictions subject to preclearance, insufficiently grounded in current conditions. This paper proposes a new, legally defensible approach to coverage based on between-state differences in the proportion of voting age citizens who subscribe to negative stereotypes about racial minorities and vote accordingly. The new coverage formula could also account for racially polarized voting and minority population size, but, for constitutional reasons, subjective discrimination by voters is the essential criterion. We demonstrate that the ...

The International Regulation Of Climate Engineering: Lessons From Nuclear Power, Jesse Reynolds

Jesse Reynolds

Proposals for climate engineering—intentional large-scale interventions in climate systems—are increasingly under consideration as potential additional responses to climate change, yet they pose risks of their own. Existing international regulation of large-scale field testing and deployment is considered inadequate. This article looks to the closest existing analogy—nuclear power—for lessons, and concludes that climate engineering research will most likely be promoted and will not be the subject of a binding multilateral agreement in the near future. Instead, climate engineering and its research will probably be internationally regulated gradually, with an initially low degree of legalisation, and through a ...

A Tale Of Two Cities? The Heterogeneous Impact Of Medicaid Managed Care, James Marton, Aaron Yelowitz, Jeffrey Talbert

Aaron Yelowitz

Evaluating Accountable Care Organizations is difficult because there is a great deal of heterogeneity in terms of their reimbursement incentives and other programmatic features. We examine how variation in reimbursement incentives and administration among two Medicaid managed care plans impacts utilization and spending. We use a quasi-experimental approach exploiting the timing and county-specific implementation of Medicaid managed care mandates in two contiguous regions of Kentucky. We find large differences in the relative success of each plan in reducing utilization and spending that are likely driven by important differences in plan design. The plan that capitated primary care physicians and contracted ...

Exploring The Factors That Influence And Motivate Female Students To Enroll And Persist In Collegiate Stem Degree Programs: A Mixed Methods Study, Rosemary L. Edzie

Educational Administration: Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research

Nationally, the need for an increase in interest, enrollment, and degrees awarded from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degree programs continues to suffer. While students are enrolling in collegiate STEM degree programs, it is not occurring at a rate that meets the workforce demand. In addition to the concern that there is not a sufficient amount of collegiate STEM majors, there is a concern over too few females enrolling and persisting in collegiate STEM degree programs.

This mixed methods sequential exploratory research study considered the factors that influence and motivate undergraduate female students to enroll and persist in collegiate ...

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Maltreated Multiracial Youth, Harpreet Kaur

UNLV Theses/Dissertations/Professional Papers/Capstones

Lemos-Miller and Kearney (2006) first identified depression as a meditator of (1) dissociation and posttraumatic cognitions and (2) PTSD in maltreated children. In addition, they found that African American status weakened the mediating relationship, whereas multiracial status strengthened the mediating relationship. Multiracial youth in Lemos-Miller and Kearney's study experienced a stronger relationship between depression and PTSD than other ethnic groups.

The present study evaluated the Lemos-Miller and Kearney (2006) model of PTSD among a larger sample of multiracial youth. The present study sought to identify whether the Lemos-Miller and Kearney (2006) finding regarding multiracial youth could be replicated. The ...

Willingness To Pay For Vehicle To Grid (V2g) Electric Vehicles And Their Contact Terms, George R. Parsons, Michael K. Hidrue, Willett Kempton, Meryl P. Gardner

George R. Parsons

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) electric vehicles can return power stored in their batteries back to the power grid and be programmed to do so at times when the grid needs reserve power. Since providing this service can lead to payments to owners, it effectively reduces the life-cycle cost of owning an electric vehicle. Using data from a national stated preference survey, this paper presents the first study of the potential consumer demand for V2G electric vehicles. In a choice experiment, 3029 respondents compared their preferred gasoline vehicle with two V2G electric vehicles. The V2G vehicles were described by a set of electric ...

An Analogue Study Of The Mechanism Of Change In Functional Analytic Psychotherapy, Cristal Elizabeth Weeks

Theses and Dissertations

The study attempted to isolate the mechanism of change of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) using non-clinical participants engaged in stable, cohabitating romantic relationships. Employing an analogue, concurrent, multiple-baseline A/A+B design, the A phase controlled for attendance, self-monitoring, instructions for increased engagement in interpersonal behaviors, and ongoing review of interpersonal behaviors. The A+B phase added a manualized FAP interaction emphasizing therapist contingent responding to in-vivo target behaviors. In addition, daily couple interactions were tracked using the Weeks Interpersonal Interaction Inventory (WIII). Targeted behaviors appeared to increase after introducing the manualized FAP interaction. Limitations and future considerations were also ...

Gender And Race Heterogeneity: The Impact Of Students With Limited English On Native Students' Performance, Tim Diette, Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere

Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere

The influx of immigrants has shifted the ethnic composition of public schools in many states including North Carolina. Recent evidence from North Carolina suggests that a larger share of Limited English students is associated with a slight decline in performance solely for students at the top of the achievement distribution. The heterogeneous peer effects by achievement level lead us to explore in this paper whether the increased immigration has differential effects by gender and race. Utilizing fixed effect methods that allow us to address possible endogeneity with respect to the schools students attend, we find evidence of heterogeneous peer effects ...

Understanding The Role Of Trust In Cooperation With Natural Resources Institutions, Joseph A. Hamm

Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research: Department of Psychology

This dissertation investigates the role of trust in predicting cooperation with a natural resources management institution. It begins with an exploration of the legal landscape against which the relationship between land owners and natural resources management institutions is contextualized, presents a review of the often ostensibly disparate trust literature and a framework for its integration, and proposes and tests a model of trust and cooperation in the natural resources context. The results provide mixed support for the model as proposed but confirm the importance of trust in this context and suggest implications for policy, especially the potential importance of increasing ...

Predicting Tourist Inflows To Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Using Google Trends, Michelle E. De La Oz Pineda

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports

This paper seeks to demonstrate that the incorporation of search statistics in autoregressive models used to predict the arrivals of tourists to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, improve the predictive power of the models. This paper explores whether the Internet search information in “Punta Cana” in the United States and Canada between January 2004 and August 2013, reflects the behavior of this variable in real time by using nowcasting methodology that combines variables with different frequencies of time. We find that including the searches of “Punta Cana” that Canadians make on Google in the first week of a month helps predict ...

Generational Differences In Work Motivation Of Healthcare Workers, Rose Leavitt

Theses, Dissertations, & Student Scholarship: Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication Department

This study examined the motivational differences across the major generations and the specific cusps between the Veterans and Baby Boomers, between Baby Boomers and Generation X, and between Generation X and Generation Y.

Data were collected from 1,098 self-selected employees of a large healthcare system in the Midwest. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed to statistically analyze the data. Significant differences in the sources of motivation among the four generations and the cusps of generations for four of the five MSI subscales were identified.

Intrinsic process motivation was found to be significantly higher for Generation Y than ...

Storytelling As A Policy Tool: An Examination Of Same-Sex Marriage In Massachusetts, Edward F. Kammerer

Law and Public Policy Dissertations

Policy debates often hinge on careful frame selection. Frames are ways of organizing the world, emphasizing certain aspects of a policy debate or issue while deemphasizing others. Storytelling is a useful technique for framing. Stories are central to how the mind processes information and makes decisions. Stories, and storytelling, present information that may not be purely rational, but is still important in the decision making context. They add emotion and heighten interest. Applied Legal Storytelling scholars have begun exploring the role of stories in legal disputes. Using the framework developed in that literature, this study looks at the types of ...

Traditional Masculinity & Advertising Image Approval, Danielle W. Kailing, Peggy Cantrell Phd

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project investigates the relationship between adherence to traditional masculinity and approval of selected advertising images. Because traditional masculinity includes characteristics supportive of aggression and dominance; I hypothesize that an increase in adherence to traditional masculinity will correlate with approval of the violence found in some print advertisements. Participants include 259 men who completed an anonymous, online, survey. Adherence to masculinity is measured using the Male Role Norm Inventory-Revised (MRNI-R) (Levant, et. al, 2007). Each picture is scored on a 5-point Likert Scale. As hypothesized, an increase in total MRNI-R score, is significantly correlated with an increase in the approval ...

Long-Term Unemployment In The Great Recession, Rand Ghayad

Economics Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays that employ theoretical, experimental and empirical tools to investigate recent labor market issues concerning the outward shift in the Beveridge curve and the rise in long-term unemployment.

The first chapter (with William Dickens), entitled "What Can We Learn By Disaggregating the Vacancy and Unemployment Relationship", explores the nature of the change in the vacancy and unemployment relationship since the end of the Great Recession by disaggregating the data by industry, age, education, and duration of unemployment, and by examining blue- and white-collar groups separately. The bulk of the evidence suggests that the outward shift ...