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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

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Smith College

Series

2011

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Local Negotiation With Heterogeneous Groundwater Users, Gordon C. Rausser, Susan Stratton Sayre, Leo K. Simon Dec 2011

Local Negotiation With Heterogeneous Groundwater Users, Gordon C. Rausser, Susan Stratton Sayre, Leo K. Simon

Economics: Faculty Publications

This paper assesses the political implications of intra-aquifer heterogeneity in the benefits and costs of optimal groundwater management. We use simulation modeling to predict groundwater extraction regimes under two alternative local decision-making structures and compare these structures to optimal management. Local collective action performs poorly when the intra-aquifer disparity in the potential gains is large. Moreover, large intra-aquifer disparity is generally associated with large potential gains. As a result, local collective action is unlikely to be successful in capturing the largest welfare gains. Individual subregions within a groundwater basin almost always benefit most from political structures whose outcomes diverge from …

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Indecisiveness And Hoarding, Randy O. Frost, David F. Tolin, Gail Steketee, Milim Oh Nov 2011

Indecisiveness And Hoarding, Randy O. Frost, David F. Tolin, Gail Steketee, Milim Oh

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Hoarding behavior and the problems associated with it have been the subject of an increasing amount of research. Early theorizing has suggested that problems with decision-making constitute a core feature, yet relatively few studies have examined this in depth. In the present study, indecisiveness was examined in large samples of adults who self-identified as having significant hoarding problems (n = 887), adult children of such individuals (n = 295), and spouses of such individuals (n = 120). People with hoarding problems reported more decision-making problems than children or spouses, and considerably more than community controls from other studies. Adult children …

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A History Of Low Back Pain Associates With Altered Electromyographic Activation Patterns In Response To Perturbations Of Standing Balance, Jesse V. Jacobs, Sharon M. Henry, Stephanie L. Jones, Juvena R. Hitt, Janice Y. Bunn Nov 2011

A History Of Low Back Pain Associates With Altered Electromyographic Activation Patterns In Response To Perturbations Of Standing Balance, Jesse V. Jacobs, Sharon M. Henry, Stephanie L. Jones, Juvena R. Hitt, Janice Y. Bunn

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

People with a history of low back pain (LBP) exhibit altered responses to postural perturbations, and the central neural control underlying these changes in postural responses remains unclear. To characterize more thoroughly the change in muscle activation patterns of people with LBP in response to a perturbation of standing balance, and to gain insight into the influence of early- vs. late-phase postural responses (differentiated by estimates of voluntary reaction times), this study evaluated the intermuscular patterns of electromyographic (EMG) activations from 24 people with and 21 people without a history of chronic, recurrent LBP in response to 12 directions of …

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Adaptive Significance Of Natural Variations In Maternal Care In Rats: A Translational Perspective, Annaliese K. Beery, Darlene D. Francis Jun 2011

Adaptive Significance Of Natural Variations In Maternal Care In Rats: A Translational Perspective, Annaliese K. Beery, Darlene D. Francis

Neuroscience: Faculty Publications

A wealth of data from the last fifty years documents the potency of early life experiences including maternal care on developing offspring. A majority of this research has focused on the developing stress axis and stress-sensitive behaviors in hopes of identifying factors impacting resilience and risk-sensitivity. The power of early life experience to shape later development is profound and has the potential to increase fitness of individuals for their environments. Current findings in a rat maternal care paradigm highlight the complex and dynamic relation between early experiences and a variety of outcomes. In this review we propose adaptive hypotheses for …

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House Prices And Marital Stability, Martin Farnham, Lucie Schmidt, Purvi Sevak May 2011

House Prices And Marital Stability, Martin Farnham, Lucie Schmidt, Purvi Sevak

Economics: Faculty Publications

We investigate the effect of house price changes on divorce using data for 1991-2010 from the Current Population Survey and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Our findings suggest that changing house prices significantly affect the share of a cohort that is divorced, and that these effects are asymmetric with respect to housing gains versus losses. In addition, we find differential effects for groups that are more likely to be homeowners versus renters. Some of this evidence is consistent with homeowners being locked into their homes-and hence marriages-by increased transactions costs in down markets.

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Development And Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation Of The Children's Saving Inventory, Eric A. Storch, Jordana Muroff, Adam B. Lewin, Daniel Geller, Abigail Ross, Katherine Mccarthy, Jessica Morgan, Tanya K. Murphy, Randy Frost, Gail Steketee Apr 2011

Development And Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation Of The Children's Saving Inventory, Eric A. Storch, Jordana Muroff, Adam B. Lewin, Daniel Geller, Abigail Ross, Katherine Mccarthy, Jessica Morgan, Tanya K. Murphy, Randy Frost, Gail Steketee

Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study reports on the development and initial psychometric properties of the Children's Saving Inventory (CSI), a parent-rated measure designed to assess child hoarding behaviors. Subjects included 123 children and adolescents diagnosed with primary Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and their parents. Trained clinicians administered the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS), items assessing Family Accommodation and the Clinical Global Impressions-Severity index. Parents completed the CSI, Child Obsessive-Compulsive Impact Scale (COIS)-Parent Version and Child Behavior Checklist. Youth completed the COIS-Child Version, Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory Child Version (OCI-CV), Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, and Children's Depression Inventory-Short Form. A four factor solution was identified; factors …

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Words And Things In Yucatán: Poststructuralism And The Everyday Life Of Mayan Multiculturalism, Fernando Armstrong-Fumero Mar 2011

Words And Things In Yucatán: Poststructuralism And The Everyday Life Of Mayan Multiculturalism, Fernando Armstrong-Fumero

Anthropology: Faculty Publications

This article draws on ethnographic examples to examine how rural Maya-speakers in the Mexican state of Yucatán ground the experience of identity politics in quotidian engagements with pre-Hispanic objects and utterances in the Maya language. My argument is intended as a revision of models of critical scholarship that have been influenced by poststructuralism and that place an overwhelming emphasis on discourse as a modality through which politically viable identities are created and performed. Specific examples show how vernacular multiculturalism is shaped by the agency of forms of language use and physical objects that have been a part of local life-worlds …

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Plasma Fetuin-A Concentrations In Young And Older High- And Low-Active Men, Nathan T. Jenkins, Jennifer A. Mckenzie, James M. Hagberg, Sarah Witkowski Feb 2011

Plasma Fetuin-A Concentrations In Young And Older High- And Low-Active Men, Nathan T. Jenkins, Jennifer A. Mckenzie, James M. Hagberg, Sarah Witkowski

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

Fetuin-A is a liver-derived factor that may play a role in insulin resistance and age-related chronic diseases (eg, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular [CV] disease). Regular exercise improves CV risk and insulin sensitivity; however, it is unknown whether chronic exercise training is related to circulating levels of fetuin-A. Therefore, this study examined whether plasma fetuin-A levels were related to age and chronic physical activity in men. We hypothesized that chronic physical activity would be related to lower plasma fetuin-A levels in younger and older men. In healthy high-active (HI) and low-active (LO) young (HI, n = 7; LO, n …

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Inflation Targeting And Relative Price Variability: What Difference Does Inflation Targeting Make?, Chi Young Choi, Young Se Kim, Róisín O'Sullivan Jan 2011

Inflation Targeting And Relative Price Variability: What Difference Does Inflation Targeting Make?, Chi Young Choi, Young Se Kim, Róisín O'Sullivan

Economics: Faculty Publications

This article studies the effects of inflation targeting (IT) on relative price variability (RPV) using a data set of twenty countries comprising both targeters and nontargeters. We find that a decline in mean inflation after IT adoption is not necessarily associated with a similar fall in RPV and that what matters most for the structural changes in RPV is the initial inflation regime prior to the adoption of IT rather than IT adoption itself. IT adoption impacts the shape of the underlying relationship between inflation and RPV in countries with initially high inflation rates, moving it from monotonie to the …

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Akt1 G205t Genotype Influences Obesity-Related Metabolic Phenotypes And Their Responses To Aerobic Exercise Training In Older Caucasians, Jennifer A. Mckenzie, Sarah Witkowski, Andrew T. Ludlow, Stephen M. Roth, James M. Hagberg Jan 2011

Akt1 G205t Genotype Influences Obesity-Related Metabolic Phenotypes And Their Responses To Aerobic Exercise Training In Older Caucasians, Jennifer A. Mckenzie, Sarah Witkowski, Andrew T. Ludlow, Stephen M. Roth, James M. Hagberg

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

As part of the insulin signalling pathway, Akt influences growth and metabolism. The AKT1 gene G205T (rs1130214) polymorphism has potential functional effects. Thus, we determined whether the G205T polymorphism influences metabolic variables and their responses to aerobic exercise training. Following dietary stabilization, healthy, sedentary, 50- to 75-year-old Caucasian men (n= 51) and women (n= 58) underwent 6 months of aerobic exercise training. Before and after completing the intervention, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to measure percentage body fat, computed tomography to measure visceral and subcutaneous fat, and oral glucose tolerance testing to measure glucose total area under the curve (AUC), …

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Exploring Leadership Through International Education: Civic Learning Through Study Abroad In Uganda, Adam Weinberg, Rebecca Hovey, Carol Bellamy Jan 2011

Exploring Leadership Through International Education: Civic Learning Through Study Abroad In Uganda, Adam Weinberg, Rebecca Hovey, Carol Bellamy

Lewis Global Studies Center Staff Publications

Leadership education in the 21st century cannot ignore the global risks, opportunities and realities of our interconnected world; so too international education cannot avoid its responsibility to provide the knowledge and vision needed to resolve critical issues we will face as a global community. We argue that a model of international education is needed which acknowledges the diverse global community in which institutions are based and learning takes place. In linking leadership and international education, we propose an alternative approach to both based on recognition, reciprocity and responsibility toward others.

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Piety And Redistributive Preferences In The Muslim World, Thomas B. Pepinsky, Bozena C. Welborne Jan 2011

Piety And Redistributive Preferences In The Muslim World, Thomas B. Pepinsky, Bozena C. Welborne

Government: Faculty Publications

This article tests two competing theories of the relationship between piety and redistributive preferences in the Muslim world. The first, drawn from the new political economy of religion, holds that more pious individuals of any faith should oppose redistributive economic policies. The second, drawn from Islamic scripture, holds that pious Muslims should favor more redistributive economic policies. Employing survey data from twenty-five countries, the authors find that there is no clear relationship between piety and redistributive preferences among Muslims. The authors find that more pious Muslims are less likely to favor government efforts to eliminate income inequality, but they find …

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