Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Brief Monocular Deprivation As An Assay Of Short-Term Visual Sensory Plasticity In Schizophrenia - "The Binocular Effect", John J. Foxe, Sheralyn Yeap, Victoria M. Leavitt

Publications and Research

Background: Visual sensory processing deficits are consistently observed in schizophrenia, with clear amplitude reduction of the visual evoked potential (VEP) during the initial 50-150 of processing. Similar deficits are seen in unaffected first-degree relatives and drug-naïve first-episode patients, pointing to these deficits as potential endophenotypic markers. Schizophrenia is also associated with deficits in neural plasticity, implicating dysfunction of both glutamatergic and GABAergic systems. Here, we sought to understand the intersection of these two domains, asking whether short-term plasticity during early visual processing is specifically affected in schizophrenia.

Methods: Brief periods of monocular deprivation (MD) induce relatively rapid changes …

Mobile Information Literacy: Supporting Students’ Research And Information Needs In A Mobile World, Stefanie Havelka

Publications and Research

Mobile devices have changed everyday life and they have had a great impact in higher education. This article describes a pilot project in which an academic librarian at Lehman College, City University of New York, taught information literacy exclusively via mobile devices. The concept of mobile information literacy is also reviewed, and its role in current and future teaching practices is evaluated. Lessons learned from this project tell us that mobile information literacy, albeit in its infancy, could play an essential part in students’ learning, and therefore academic librarians could incorporate it as part of their practice.

Lacuny Adjuncts And Substitutes Roundtable Meeting Minutes, December 2013, Lacuny

Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Power In Organizational Corruption: An Empirical Study, David Jancsics, István Jávor

Publications and Research

This article concerns the extent to which corrupt behavior is dependent on the organizational power structure and the resources available for illegal exchange. This qualitative study is based on 42 in-depth interviews with organizational actors in different organizations in Hungary. Four core themes emerged from the analysis of the interviews: (a) isolated corruption at the bottom, (b) the middle level’s own corruption, (c) “technicization” when middle-level professionals and expert groups are used to legalize the corruption of the dominant coalition, and (d) “turning-off controls” when organizational elites intentionally deactivate internal and external controls to avoid detection.

Lacuny Serials Roundtable Meeting Minutes, December 2013, Lacuny

Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Gmm Estimation Of Spatial Autoregressive Models With Autoregressive And Heteroskedastic Disturbances, Osman Dogan, Süleyman Taşpınar

Economics Working Papers

We consider a spatial econometric model containing a spatial lag in the dependent variable and the disturbance term with an unknown form of heteroskedasticity in innovations. We first prove that the maximum likelihood (ML) estimator for spatial autoregressive models is generally inconsistent when heteroskedasticity is not taken into account in the estimation. We show that the necessary condition for the consistency of the ML estimator of spatial autoregressive parameters depends on the structure of the spatial weight matrices. Then, we extend the robust generalized method of moment (GMM) estimation approach in Lin and Lee (2010) for the spatial model allowing …

Estonia's Post-Soviet Agricultural Reforms: Lessons For Cuba, Mario A. Gonzalez-Corzo

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Lexical Retrieval In Discourse: An Early Indicator Of Alzheimer’S Dementia, Seija Pekkala, Debra Wiener, Jayandra Himali, Alexa Beiser, Loraine Obler, Yulin Liu, Ann Mckee, Sanford Seshadri, Philip Wolf, Rhonda Au

Publications and Research

We examined the progression of lexical-retrieval deficits in individuals with neuropathologically determined Alzheimer’s disease (AD; n=23) and a comparison group without criteria for AD (n=24) to determine whether linguistic changes were a significant marker of the disease. Our participants underwent multiple administrations of a neuropsychological battery, with initial administration occurring on average 16 years prior to death. The battery included the Boston Naming Test (BNT), a letter fluency task (FAS) and written description of the Cookie Theft Picture (CTP). Repeated measures analysis revealed that the AD-group showed progressively greater decline in FAS and CTP lexical performance than the comparison group. …

Out Of Information Poverty: Library Services For Urban Marginalized Immigrants, Lan Shen

Urban Library Journal

This paper provides an analytical overview of the literature on information poverty and the strategies of reducing such poverty for urban marginalized groups from cultural and structural perspectives. Focusing on the urban immigrants in the United States, this paper discusses their informational needs with respect to literacy skills, technology support, cultural awareness, and information resources. In addition, the paper evaluates the library services demonstrated by the selected urban libraries that supply diversified education programs and civic engagement activities in an attempt to establish a more equitable and harmonious community.

Digital Inclusion, Learning, And Access At The Public Library, Melissa Morrone, Shanelle Witt

Urban Library Journal

New York City is not an easy place to live. Brooklynites who are just learning about the Internet in 2013—20 years after the development of the World Wide Web—likely have more challenges than simply needing someone to show them how to open up the computer's browser. Brooklyn Public Library has been engaged in a digital inclusion project that brings together issues of ability, access, and learning styles. By giving our patrons skills and confidence to navigate technology both online and off, we are laying the groundwork for them to have a voice in the city.

Libraries, Information, And The Right Of The City 2013 Lacuny Institute Introduction, Jonathan Cope

Urban Library Journal

Introduction to the special issue from the 2013 LACUNY Institute "LIBRARIES, INFORMATION, AND THE RIGHT TO THE CITY"

The Value Of Community Ethnography In Public Library Crisis Preparation, Jessica Lingel

Urban Library Journal

In this brief article, I address the usefulness of including community-driven interviews into preparations for disasters. Drawing on Shera’s (1970) highly influential construction of library work as tied to communication, I analyze responses of three library organizations – the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library and the New Jersey Library Association – immediately following Hurricane Sandy. I then turn to a specific role of communication that libraries can offer surrounding communities, providing resources for local community members to conduct interviews among those who have experienced a disaster. By incorporating this kind of responsibility to communicate experiences of a …

White Screen/White Noise: Racism On The Internet, Rebecca Martin, Heather Mccann, Myrna E. Morales, Stacie M. Williams

Urban Library Journal

The Internet is critical for disseminating information, but it does not discriminate against information it carries. Hate speech and racist representations proliferate in social media, online news comment sections and community forums. What can information workers do to counteract those messages? How can critical race consciousness enhance on- and off-line library services? This article attempts to explore how information in the age of rapid technology innovation contributes to structural racism and what librarians and other information professionals can do about it.

Library Research For The 99%: Reaching Out To The Occupy Wall Street Movement, Darcy I. Gervasio, Angela Ecklund, Arieh Ress

Urban Library Journal

This article describes how librarians from three different universities in the greater New York area came together through the myMETRO Researchers Project to reach out to Occupy Wall Street. Using social media and free online tools to partner with Occupy’s environmental subgroup, the authors overcame proprietary roadblocks, copyright challenges, and distrust/skepticism to discover the authentic information needs of activists and compile an annotated bibliography of scholarly research on the real-world impacts of climate change. This successful collaboration is an example of how institutions can be used as contact points through which individuals can affect change on society, and how librarians …

Students Teaching Students: A Method For Collaborative Learning, Jean Halley, Courtney Heiserman, Victoria Felix, Amy Eshleman

Publications and Research

The Student Small Group Presentation (SSGP) model, a student-centered approach, is introduced and applied to learning communities. Similar to the jigsaw classroom, small groups of students in learning communities are responsible for teaching material to their peers. Unlike other jigsaw techniques, presentation groups in the SSGP teach an entire lesson based on collaborative work conducted outside of class. Presenters are responsible for thorough analysis of course material as they lead a discussion among a small group of peers. Students meet with the same small group throughout the semester, creating a feeling of intimate community within the larger learning community. By …

Libraries And The Right To The City: Insights From Democratic Theory Prepared For The 2013 Lacuny Institute: Libraries, Information, And The Right To The City, John Buschman

Urban Library Journal

David Harvey's right to the city is a productive point to discuss the role of urban libraries and democracy. Harvey's ideas, however, can be further deepened by engaging them with democratic theory. Within Harvey's broader challenge to neoliberalism, democratic theory helps to tie the work of librarianship to a meaningful instantiation of a right to the city through a review of: the concepts (and brief history) of rights the founding theories of rights themselves, the public sphere (a LACUNY Institute framing concept), community, and democratic voice.

Knowledge Studies, Jay Bernstein

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Cuny Librarians And Reassignment Time: What Is It? How Do I Get It?, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

Although librarians in CUNY had achieved Faculty Status by 1946 and Faculty Rank in 1965, they were still never put on the Faculty Calendar with the Summer (or its equivalent) off. Professional Reassignment leave for library faculty was added to the contract in 1978 as a two-week research leave, and it has since expanded to a maximum of six weeks. However, as Professional Reassignment leave increased, the amount of annual leave for new librarians decreased.

Communication And Common Interest, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Manolo Martínez

Publications and Research

Explaining the maintenance of communicative behavior in the face of incentives to deceive, conceal information, or exaggerate is an important problem in behavioral biology. When the interests of agents diverge, some form of signal cost is often seen as essential to maintaining honesty. Here, novel computational methods are used to investigate the role of common interest between the sender and receiver of messages in maintaining cost-free informative signaling in a signaling game. Two measures of common interest are defined. These quantify the divergence between sender and receiver in their preference orderings over acts the receiver might perform in each state …

Lacuny Adjuncts And Substitutes Roundtable Meeting Minutes, November 2013, Lacuny

Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

The Friedman Rule And The Zero Lower Bound, Sebastien Buttet, Udayan Roy

Publications and Research

We explain why central banks rarely implement the Friedman rule by studying the properties of a simple New Keynesian dynamic macroeconomic model that is generalized to incorporate the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates. We show that two long-run equilibria exist, one stable and the other unstable, and we characterize the conditions under which the economy plunges into a deflation-induced depression following a contractionary demand shock. As long as the sum of the inflation rate and the natural real interest rate stays positive, the economy converges back to the long-run stable equilibrium, even when the zero lower bound is …

Trends In Poverty Rates Among Latinos In New York City And The United States, 1990 - 2011, Justine Calcagno

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic factors regarding Latinos in New York City and the United States between 1990 and 2011 – particularly poverty rates.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: The analyzed data indicate that the poverty rate among the national population over the last two decades increased. However, there were nuanced and complex trends within both New York City …

Can Enlightenment Be Traced To Specific Neural Correlates, Cognition, Or Behavior? No, And (A Qualified) Yes, Jake H. Davis, David R. Vago

Publications and Research

The field of contemplative science is rapidly growing and integrating into the basic neurosciences, psychology, clinical sciences, and society-at-large. Yet the majority of current research in the contemplative sciences has been divorced from the soteriological context from which these meditative practices originate and has focused instead on clinical applications with goals of stress reduction and psychotherapeutic health. In the existing research on health outcomes of mindfulness-based clinical interventions, for example, there have been almost no attempts to scientifically investigate the goal of enlightenment. This is a serious oversight, given that such profound transformation across ethical, perceptual, emotional, and cognitive domains …

Lacuny Cataloging Roundtable Meeting Minutes, October 2013, Lacuny

Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

From Information Literacy To Mobile Literacy: Supporting Students’ Research And Information Needs In A Mobile World, Stefanie Havelka

Publications and Research

Presentation slides from a workshop at European Conference on Information Literacy, Istanbul, Turkey.

Master Talk: Assessing The Crime Decline: Did Bids Play A Role?, Jeremy Travis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Violent Youth Crime In U.S. Falls To New 32-Year Low, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

FBI crime data shows a decline in violent youth crimes between 2011 and 2012, reaching a new 32-year-low. Violent youth crimes reached a new low every year between 2009 and 2012. This databit shows the rate of violent youth crimes based on crime offense between 1980 and 2012.

Lacuny Interlibrary Loan Roundtable Meeting Minutes, October 2013, Lacuny

Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Linux For Academics, Part I, Steven Ovadia

Publications and Research

The article focuses on GNU/Linux, an open-source operating system based on Unix. Linux offers more choice and control to academic users. The article encourages academic users to explore Linux as a way to be more productive.

The American Association Of School Librarians (Aasl) Standards For The 21st Century Learner Lesson Plan Database, Christina Miller

Publications and Research

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards for the 21st Century Learner Lesson Plan Database (AASL Database) is a free, Open Access, interactive tool recently (2011) developed by the American Association of School Librarians, a division of the American Library Association, to assist librarians, teachers and other educators in implementing the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner (AASL Standards) and the Common Core State Standards. It is comprised of vetted, content-area lesson plans meant to provide excellent models to integrate AASL Standards across K-12 curricula; the platform also includes social networking features and a user portfolio. The AASL …