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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

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University of Massachusetts Amherst

2010

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Articles 1 - 30 of 186

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Fairmount Greenway - A Community Initative, Leah H. Bamberger, Liliana Carvajal, Mary F. Dehais, Yuanfang Gong, John E. Hulsey, Eric C. Kells, Kimberley Klosterman, Pamela Jo Landi, Adam G. Monroy, Seth A. Morrow, Bryan O'Bara, Jie Su, Arianna Thompson, Owen M. White Dec 2010

Fairmount Greenway - A Community Initative, Leah H. Bamberger, Liliana Carvajal, Mary F. Dehais, Yuanfang Gong, John E. Hulsey, Eric C. Kells, Kimberley Klosterman, Pamela Jo Landi, Adam G. Monroy, Seth A. Morrow, Bryan O'Bara, Jie Su, Arianna Thompson, Owen M. White

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

This studio was based on the Fairmount Greenway that was developed through a series of public meetings with the neighborhood community and with consultants from the firm Crosby, Schlessinger and Smallridge (CSS). The Fairmount Greenway, while drawing its identity from the traditional greenway model is in fact a reinterpretation of an urban greenway. The greenway path follows along both primary and secondary city streets because of the lack of space along the rail right-of-way. The Fairmount Greenway begins at what will be a new station stop at New Market South Bay near Upham’s Corner in northern Dorchester. The greenway follows …

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Validation, Resistance, And Exclusion: Neo-Nationalist Cultural Heritage In A Globalized World, Neil A. Silberman Nov 2010

Validation, Resistance, And Exclusion: Neo-Nationalist Cultural Heritage In A Globalized World, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

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Open Education Resources At Umass Amherst, Marilyn S. Billings Nov 2010

Open Education Resources At Umass Amherst, Marilyn S. Billings

Marilyn S. Billings

This presentation was the third part of a panel discussion entitled Open Textbook Models: View from the Library.

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Case Study: Reporting Incidence Of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), M.J. Peterson, Paul A. White Nov 2010

Case Study: Reporting Incidence Of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), M.J. Peterson, Paul A. White

International Dimensions of Ethics Education in Science and Engineering

The SARS case is an in-depth study of the 2002-2003 global outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). It focuses specifically on how information about the disease was shared among countries.

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Financing Peace: International And National Resources For Postconflict Countries And Fragile States, James K. Boyce, Shepard Forman Oct 2010

Financing Peace: International And National Resources For Postconflict Countries And Fragile States, James K. Boyce, Shepard Forman

James K. Boyce

This background paper for the World Bank’s World Development Report 2011 discusses current financing arrangements for postconflict countries and fragile states, with a focus on official development assistance. In recent years a consensus has emerged that in these “difficult environments” the core objective is to build effective and legitimate governance structures that secure public confidence through provision of personal security, equal justice and the rule of law, economic well-being, and essential social services including education and health. Yet tensions persist between business-as-usual development policies on the one hand and policies responsive to the demands of peacebuilding on the other. The …

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Faithful To A Fault: Was It Really Necessary To Remake "Let The Right One" In In English?, Kevin Taylor Anderson, Salman Hameed Oct 2010

Faithful To A Fault: Was It Really Necessary To Remake "Let The Right One" In In English?, Kevin Taylor Anderson, Salman Hameed

Adjunct Faculty Author Gallery

No abstract provided.

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Gloucester Marine Station: Future Development Feasibility Study, Jack F. Ahern, Ben Eli Webb Oct 2010

Gloucester Marine Station: Future Development Feasibility Study, Jack F. Ahern, Ben Eli Webb

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The study commenced in July 2009 with historical research about the site and its context, site analysis, including the existing conditions and development regulations. This analysis included: topography, soils, vegetation, structures, utilities, easements, property deed, and city, state, and federal regulations. From this analysis an assessment of future development potentials was made based on the existing data/documents from UMass files, public records, Mass GIS data, site visits, and interviews with Gloucester, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and other officials and stakeholders. From the assessment we identified potential future uses, building locations, and feasible alternative layouts of the site. These alternatives were summarily …

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Relations Of Production And Modes Of Surplus Extraction In India, Amit Basole, Deepankar Basu Oct 2010

Relations Of Production And Modes Of Surplus Extraction In India, Amit Basole, Deepankar Basu

Economics Department Working Paper Series

This paper uses aggregate-level data, as well as case-studies, to trace out the evolution of some key structural features of the Indian economy, relating both to the agricultural and the informal industrial sector. These aggregate trends are used to infer: (a) the dominant relations of production under which the vast majority of the Indian working people labour, and (b) the predominant ways in which the surplus labour of the direct producers is appropriated by the dominant classes. This summary account is meant to inform and link up with on-going attempts at radically restructuring Indian society.

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Between Home And History, Neil A. Silberman Sep 2010

Between Home And History, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

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The Relationship Between Patient Object Relations And The Therapeutic Alliance In A Naturalistic Psychotherapy Sample, Paula Andrea Errazuriz Arellano Sep 2010

The Relationship Between Patient Object Relations And The Therapeutic Alliance In A Naturalistic Psychotherapy Sample, Paula Andrea Errazuriz Arellano

Open Access Dissertations

The quality of the patient-therapist relationship, or therapeutic alliance, is widely viewed as an important element of the psychotherapeutic process. Empirically, the therapeutic alliance is a well-established and robust predictor of therapeutic change. With its clear impact on therapeutic success, researchers have increasingly examined factors that contribute to alliance development, including patient psychological characteristics. This study examined the relationship between patients' object relations (i.e., mental representations of self and others) and alliance quality, and whether timing of the alliance rating and the rater perspective (patient vs. therapist) moderated this relationship. Participants were 73 patients and 23 therapists from two outpatient …

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Trajectories Of Mental Health And Acculturation Among First Year International Graduate Students From India, Dhara Aniruddha Thakar Sep 2010

Trajectories Of Mental Health And Acculturation Among First Year International Graduate Students From India, Dhara Aniruddha Thakar

Open Access Dissertations

From 2001-2007, students from India have consistently comprised the largest ethnic group of international students on college campuses across the United States (Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange, 2007). Despite a number of studies that have researched the mental health of international students in the U.S., none have done so primarily with Indian graduate students. Theoretical and empirical literature regarding the psychological changes and acculturation patterns that international students undergo after their transition do not explore the possibility of multiple pathways of change. The current study identified four separate mental health trajectories for Indian international graduate students during their …

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The Influence Of A Therapist Workshop In Alliance Strategies On Client Engagement: Feasibility And Preliminary Efficacy, Lotte Smith-Hansen Sep 2010

The Influence Of A Therapist Workshop In Alliance Strategies On Client Engagement: Feasibility And Preliminary Efficacy, Lotte Smith-Hansen

Open Access Dissertations

The client-therapist relationship has long been recognized as an important element in psychotherapy, and research has demonstrated its robust association with positive outcomes. This study examined the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of training therapists in strategies for improving therapeutic relationships with clients. The strategies were compiled from the empirical literature, drawing on the work of Hilsenroth and Cromer (2007), Castonguay (1996), and Safran and Muran (2000). The study employed a manipulated training design that has the benefit of addressing naturalistic effectiveness questions, while adhering to the rigorous scientific standards of controlled efficacy research (Hayes, 2002). Participants were 57 therapists working …

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Respirators, Morphine And Trocars: Cultures Of Death And Dying In Medical Institutions, Hospices And Funeral Work, John Martin Fox Sep 2010

Respirators, Morphine And Trocars: Cultures Of Death And Dying In Medical Institutions, Hospices And Funeral Work, John Martin Fox

Open Access Dissertations

In this dissertation I explore the cultures of death and dying in medical institutions, hospices and funeral work. I argue that not only are there competing cultures of death and dying in American society, but within these institutions that produce tension and conflict, sometimes among the workers, other times between the workers and those they serve, and other times between the institution and outside organizations. Medical institutions, by medicalizing death and dying, constructed a "death as enemy" orientation in which doctors fight death with the use of medical technology, practice detached concern from their patients, and marginalize religion and spirituality. …

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Ambivalent Modernity: Scientists In Film And The Public Eye, Stacy Evans Sep 2010

Ambivalent Modernity: Scientists In Film And The Public Eye, Stacy Evans

Open Access Dissertations

Scientists are widely regarded as high status individuals, who are smarter than the vast majority of the population. Science holds a very high status as a discipline, both within and outside of academe. This notwithstanding, popular stereotypes of scientists are often highly negative, with the image of the socially inept or even mad scientist being commonplace. This apparent contradiction is worth exploring. Additionally, we see the label scientific being used to justify pseudoscience and other results that are flatly contradicted by the bulk of scientific research (e.g., links between vaccines and autism). This is not due, as some argue, only …

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Gendered Vulnerabilities After Genocide: Three Essays On Post-Conflict Rwanda, Catherine Ruth Finnoff Sep 2010

Gendered Vulnerabilities After Genocide: Three Essays On Post-Conflict Rwanda, Catherine Ruth Finnoff

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation addresses gendered vulnerabilities after the genocide of 1994 in Rwanda. It consists of three essays, each focusing on the experience of women in a particular aspect of post-conflict development. The first essay analyzes trends in poverty and inequality in Rwanda from 2000 to 2005. The chapter identifies four important correlates of consumption income: gender, human capital, assets, and geography, and examines their salience in determining the poverty of a household and its position in the income distribution. The second essay is an econometric examination of an important health insurance scheme initiated in post-conflict Rwanda. Employing logistic regression techniques, …

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School-Wide Positive Behavior Support: Student Surveys Of Expectations And Safety, Lisa Anne Fisher Sep 2010

School-Wide Positive Behavior Support: Student Surveys Of Expectations And Safety, Lisa Anne Fisher

Open Access Dissertations

School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) is a plan based on broad assessments of schools and their climate that can be implemented to create classrooms and schools that are focused on community and positive behavior (Horner, Sugai, Todd, & Lewis-Palmer, 2005). SWPBS involves creating and explicitly stating expectations, teaching those expectations, encouraging appropriate behavior, and defining ways to handle inappropriate behavior. Current tools that are suggested for use in conducting an assessment of school climate are: the Best Behavior School Discipline Assessment (BBSDA) also known as the Best Behavior Self-Assessment Survey (BBSAS), the School-Wide Evaluation Tool (SET), the Oregon School Safety …

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Uneven Development And The Terms Of Trade: A Theoretical And Empirical Analysis, Bilge Erten Sep 2010

Uneven Development And The Terms Of Trade: A Theoretical And Empirical Analysis, Bilge Erten

Open Access Dissertations

Despite the voluminous literature on North-South macroeconomic interactions and the key role of terms of trade variations in growth transmission from one region to another, a significant research gap persists for two reasons. First, there has been very little empirical work on testing of the relationships between growth patterns and terms of trade movements. Second, the empirical studies dedicated to testing the Prebisch-Singer Thesis (PST) focused on testing the long-run tendency for the terms of trade of primary commodities to deteriorate and neglected the joint nature of the predictions arising out of a complete formulation of PST. This dissertation seeks …

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The Employment Impacts Of Economy-Wide Investments In Renewable Energy And Energy Efficiency, Heidi Garrett-Peltier Sep 2010

The Employment Impacts Of Economy-Wide Investments In Renewable Energy And Energy Efficiency, Heidi Garrett-Peltier

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the employment impacts of investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency in the U.S. A broad expansion of the use of renewable energy in place of carbon-based energy, in addition to investments in energy efficiency, comprise a prominent strategy to slow or reverse the effects of anthropogenic climate change. This study first explores the literature on the employment impacts of these investments. This literature to date consists mainly of input-output (I-O) studies or case studies of renewable energy and energy efficiency (REEE). Researchers are constrained, however, by their ability to use the I-O model to study REEE, …

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Elemental Challenges: Environmental Troubles Beyond The Limits Of Democracy, Brad Mapes-Martins Sep 2010

Elemental Challenges: Environmental Troubles Beyond The Limits Of Democracy, Brad Mapes-Martins

Open Access Dissertations

From an examination of how environmental issues reshape politics, this inquiry focuses on the theoretical grounds of deliberative democratic theory to ask whether such a vision offers the best means of resolving environmental problems. Arguing that the very terms in which environmental politics have been defined retain features better suited to previous historical circumstances, the analysis proceeds from features typical of environmental problems to a more context-specific assessment of the role for democratic participation. Engaging the works of Jürgen Habermas, the author details the way in which deliberative democratic theory is indebted to a concept of communicative action that defines …

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Racial Inequality And Affirmative Action In Malaysia And South Africa, Hwok-Aun Lee Sep 2010

Racial Inequality And Affirmative Action In Malaysia And South Africa, Hwok-Aun Lee

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines racial inequality and affirmative action in Malaysia and South Africa, two countries with a politically dominant but economically disadvantaged majority group - the Bumiputera in Malaysia, and blacks in post-Apartheid South Africa. We aim to contribute comparative perspectives and current empirical research on affirmative action regimes and dimensions of inequality directly pertinent to affirmative action, chiefly, racial representation and earnings inequality among tertiary educated workers and in upper-level occupations. We discuss theoretical approaches to inequality and affirmative action, with attention to particular circumstances of majority-favoring regimes, then survey, compare and contrast affirmative action programs and their political …

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The Exclusion Of Non-Native Voters From A Final Plebiscite In Puerto Rico: Law And Policy, Ramon Antonio Rodriguez Sep 2010

The Exclusion Of Non-Native Voters From A Final Plebiscite In Puerto Rico: Law And Policy, Ramon Antonio Rodriguez

Open Access Dissertations

U.S. Puerto Rico relations have always been mystifying to countless U.S. citizens, due to inconsistent policies and judicial decisions from the United States. Puerto Ricans have no control over immigration, yet they can decide the future of the island nation. Puerto Rico is a nation under colonial rule. Paul R. Bras sistains the possibility of corporate recognition for the ethnic group as a separate nationality within an existing state evocative of the United States. The United States has treated Puerto Rico as foreign country nevertheless at times as domestic. Under U.S. law and jurisprudence Puerto Rico is not part of …

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Gossip Talk And Online Community: Celebrity Gossip Blogs And Their Audiences, Erin Ann Meyers Sep 2010

Gossip Talk And Online Community: Celebrity Gossip Blogs And Their Audiences, Erin Ann Meyers

Open Access Dissertations

Celebrity gossip blogs have quickly established themselves as a new media phenomenon that is transforming celebrity culture. This dissertation is an examination of the impact of the technological and textual shifts engendered by new media on the use of gossip as a form of everyday cultural production. Broadly, I investigate the historical role of gossip media texts in celebrity culture and explore how celebrity gossip blogs have reconfigured audience engagements with celebrity culture. Following Gamson’s (1994) approach to celebrity as a cultural phenomenon, I separate celebrity gossip blogs into three elements—texts, producers, and audiences—and examine the interplay between them using …

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Engineering Of Artificial Cellular Circuits Based On The Luxi-Luxr Quorum-Sensing System, Daniel Jon Sayut Sep 2010

Engineering Of Artificial Cellular Circuits Based On The Luxi-Luxr Quorum-Sensing System, Daniel Jon Sayut

Open Access Dissertations

Natural cellular networks are very good at processing diverse inputs, generating complicated responses, and confounding researchers with their complexities. As an alternative to traditional cellular engineering approaches, the field of synthetic biology attempts to avoid the complexities of natural systems by focusing on the bottom-up construction of artificial cellular circuits. By rationally building up circuit complexity, synthetic biologists hope to both create novel systems capable of programming unique cellular responses, and gain insights into the design principles of natural systems. Circuits that allow for the programming of intercellular responses are of particular interest, and researchers have focused on the use …

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Paradoxical Consequences Of Prohibitions, Sana Sheikh Sep 2010

Paradoxical Consequences Of Prohibitions, Sana Sheikh

Open Access Dissertations

Traditionally, attribution theory argues that strong external controls such as parental punishment undermine moral internalization. In contrast, this project argues that parental punishment does socialize morality, but it socializes moral prohibitions (rather than moral prescriptions) in particular. A strong focus on prohibitions, a proscriptive orientation, has unintended consequences. Study 1 found young adults' accounts of parental restrictiveness to predict their proscriptive orientation such that recalling the degree of how restrictive and punitive one's parents were activated a proscriptive dispositional sensitivity. Study 2 found that restrictive parenting was positively associated with shame. Further, for individuals with highly restrictive parents, temptations positively …

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Three Essays In Chapter 11 Bankruptcy: Post Bankruptcy Performance, Bankrupt Stock Performance, And Relationship With Hedge Funds And Other Vulture Investors, Min Xu Sep 2010

Three Essays In Chapter 11 Bankruptcy: Post Bankruptcy Performance, Bankrupt Stock Performance, And Relationship With Hedge Funds And Other Vulture Investors, Min Xu

Open Access Dissertations

Firms that emerged from Chapter 11 as public companies have tons of characteristics. The first essay analyzes their post bankruptcy performance, duration effect, and the quality of their projection information. While the sample's post bankruptcy performance does show improvement, their projections tend to be optimistic. Firms with shorter durations in Chapter 11generally achieve better performance than those with longer durations, in terms of Z-scores, but not in excess returns. Compared to firms that did not provide (complete) projection information, the sample firms generally exhibit better improvement, as measured by Z-scores and short term excess returns. The second essay tracks the …

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Essays On Behavioral Labor Economics, Philip Pablo Mellizo Sep 2010

Essays On Behavioral Labor Economics, Philip Pablo Mellizo

Open Access Dissertations

Economists typically understand the firm as an organization comprised of a series of incomplete contracts among input suppliers (e.g. Coase, (1937), Williamson, (1985)). The ultimate right to make decisions that are not subject to a pre-existing contractual arrangement - hereafter referred to as decision-control rights, are assigned to some person or group associated with the enterprise. The entity with decision-control rights has the final say over how to organize essential firm operations that range from the determination of production techniques, to deciding how to monitor or compensate the firm's members. To the extent that firm members have competing interests or …

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An Examination Of Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Reactivity As A Partial Mediator Of The Relation Between Trauma And Self-Injurious Behavior, Eileen Katherine Bent Sep 2010

An Examination Of Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Reactivity As A Partial Mediator Of The Relation Between Trauma And Self-Injurious Behavior, Eileen Katherine Bent

Open Access Dissertations

Past work has linked self-injurious behavior (SIB) to a history of traumatic experiences and to problems regulating affect. While this affect dysregulation is conceptualized as occurring at a biological (as well as a behavioral) level, relatively little is known about the biological mechanisms involved. The current study explored whether reactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to an interpersonal stressor mediated the relation between trauma and SIB in a sample of 178 18-21 year-old heterosexual dating couples. As predicted, both trauma experience and symptoms positively predicted SIB. While the mediating model was not supported, SIB was associated with an HPA axis …

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The Exchange Rate, Diversification, And Distribution In A Modified Ricardian Model With A Continuum Of Goods, Arslan Ramzi Sep 2010

The Exchange Rate, Diversification, And Distribution In A Modified Ricardian Model With A Continuum Of Goods, Arslan Ramzi

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Several recent empirical and theoretical studies have revived interest in the relationship between the level of the exchange rate and economic development. This paper develops a dynamic model based on the Ricardian framework with a continuum of goods to consider the issue from a somewhat different perspective. In the short run, a devaluation can boost profits in spite of real wage rigidity. Moreover, the resulting diversification can offset the negative consequences for the trade balance of higher employment and profitability at home. Over the longer run, and in the presence of learning-by-accumulation, the initial boost to profits and investment induced …

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Exploitation And Profits: A General Axiomatic Approach In Convex Economies With Heterogeneous Agents, Roberto Veneziani, Naoki Yoshihara Sep 2010

Exploitation And Profits: A General Axiomatic Approach In Convex Economies With Heterogeneous Agents, Roberto Veneziani, Naoki Yoshihara

Economics Department Working Paper Series

This paper provides an innovative axiomatic analysis of the notion of exploitation as the unequal exchange of labour, focusing on the relation between exploitation and profits. General convex economies with heterogeneous agents endowed with unequal amounts of physical and human capital are considered. An axiomatic characterisation of the class of definitions that preserve the Fundamental Marxian Theorem (FMT) in this general context is derived. It is shown that none of the main received definitions preserves the FMT. Instead, a definition related to the `New Interpretation' (Dumenil, 1980; Foley, 1982) is presented which preserves the FMT and allows one to generalise …

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The Great Detour, Peter Skott Sep 2010

The Great Detour, Peter Skott

Economics Department Working Paper Series

This note comments on the state of macroeconomics, arguing that the ‘micro founded’ macro that developed after 1970s has been a wasteful detour. The paper will appear in a symposium in Homo Oeconomicus, vol. 27 (2), 2010, on the crisis and the response from the British Academy to the questions from the British Queen.

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