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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Efficient Market Hypothesis And Environmental Stocks: Market Reactions To Capital Investment In Renewable Energy Projects And The Pricing Of Environmental Securities, John Crampton
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
The focus of this paper is on the efficient market hypothesis which states that securities are all efficiently priced based on all available information. Furthermore, once an announcement is made or there is new information available, the market reacts and adjusts prices. I hope to analyze this theory and test it against environmental stocks focused on renewable energy generation (solar fields, wind turbine fields, etc.). Then, the analysis of what characteristics of a security make up the pricing of that stock, such as the price of oil, dividend yield, time of the year (cyclical factors), types of capital investments (solar …
Cost Benefit Of Cafe Standards, Brian Levinson
Cost Benefit Of Cafe Standards, Brian Levinson
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
Cost and benefit analysis of Cafe (MPG) standards and ways to improve current techniques
The Value And Preferences For Improved Cook Stoves: A Choice Experiment In Ethiopia, Gilbert Kiggundu
The Value And Preferences For Improved Cook Stoves: A Choice Experiment In Ethiopia, Gilbert Kiggundu
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
This paper investigates preferences and the willingness to pay for improved cook stoves using a choice experiment administered in Ethiopia. Previous research indicates that traditional cooking methods are harmful to human health as well as the environment, as people need to cut down trees or collect other biomass sources for fuel. However, clean stoves can solve both these environmental and health problems, as well as provide a sustainable method for cooking and heating in developing countries. In this study, we use a choice experiment survey to understand Ethiopian households valuations of different characteristics of stoves, including their durability, fuel reduction, …
Rethinking How To Efficiently Fund Public Goods: An Agent-Based Modelling Of A Group Funding System Accommodating Different Human Behaviors And Influences Affecting Decision-Making, Shama Ramos
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
In neoclassical economics, we assume individuals generally based their decisions on their own welfare maximizing their utility. Due to this assumption, we created a tax system in order to provide public goods so that no one will act as a free-rider. Nonetheless, this system only provides general optimal utility instead of optimal utility for each individual. Because of the set assumption that humans only seek self-interest, economists overlooked other significant factors affecting peoples decision-making processes. In this research, I applied an agent-based model in order to take in consideration other factors affecting human decision-making and propose a new system in …
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Through Grassland Restoration In The Upper Midwest, United States: A Spatially-Controlled Cost-Benefit Analysis, Paco Defrancis
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Through Grassland Restoration In The Upper Midwest, United States: A Spatially-Controlled Cost-Benefit Analysis, Paco Defrancis
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
The global agriculture sector is responsible for close 20% of gross anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions emitted since the start of the industrial age. Much of these emissions are attributed to the degradation of soils due to land use change when native ecosystems were converted to agricultural fields. Soil organic carbon (SOC) has been found to decrease in temperate soils when the native (such as a forest or grassland) ecosystem is replace by croplands. The aggregate amount of organic carbon stored in soils globally is estimated be 3.3x the size of the atmospheric carbon pool. Further soil degradation and reduction …
Outside Spending In The 2014 Midterm Elections: The Lasting Effects Of Citizens United, Lucas Fortier
Outside Spending In The 2014 Midterm Elections: The Lasting Effects Of Citizens United, Lucas Fortier
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
The purpose of this study was to shed light on the controversial area of independent expenditures in the post-Citizens United world of campaign finance. The study focuses on three questions: who are the main players participating in this area of campaign finance, how are these outside groups being funded, and how do these groups spend their money to influence elections? Some findings of the study were that, while there was a large number of registered SuperPACs and political nonprofits in the 2014 midterm elections, only a relatively small group of 70 major organizations accounted for over 90 percent of total …
Land Reform And The Use Of Violence: Creating A Set Of Conditions Using The Case Of Zimbabwe, Dylan Ciccarelli
Land Reform And The Use Of Violence: Creating A Set Of Conditions Using The Case Of Zimbabwe, Dylan Ciccarelli
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
The purpose of this paper is to develop a set of conditions under which land reform becomes violent, looking specifically at the fast-track land reform policy implemented in Zimbabwe from 1998-2003. The roots and use of violence in the context of land reform is a topic that has not been widely researched in previous land reform literature, however it is important as the issue of land inequality has been, and is, an ongoing issue in many sub-Saharan African countries, including Zimbabwe. This paper will argue that land reform will become violent when certain economic, political, and social conditions are present. …
South African Survivor: The National Party’S Survival In The Context Of The Cold War, John Hartigan
South African Survivor: The National Party’S Survival In The Context Of The Cold War, John Hartigan
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
Apartheid continued in the Republic of South Africa until 1993, far longer than any other minority dominated government on the continent of Africa. In this paper, I analyze the reasons why Afrikaners were able to perpetuate their grip on political power far longer than any of their white colleagues around the continent. This paper is comparative; I place the South African experience in context with other minority ruled statesKenya and Mozambiquethat experienced the break down of minority rule far sooner than the South Africans. I argue that there are three main factors that ensured the that the National PartySouth Africas …
State-Building And Intrastate Conflict In Africa, Lillian Holland
State-Building And Intrastate Conflict In Africa, Lillian Holland
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
In my poster I will be examining under what conditions does state building measures turn into intrastate violence in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and Kenya.
The Causes Of The Civil Wars In Côte D'Ivoire, Matthew Ayers
The Causes Of The Civil Wars In Côte D'Ivoire, Matthew Ayers
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
No abstract provided.
Post-Conflict Child Soldier Networks In Africa, Andrew Currier
Post-Conflict Child Soldier Networks In Africa, Andrew Currier
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
No abstract provided.
Analyzing Climate Change Awareness And Responsibility Effects, Connor Clancy, Sarah Beth Solomon
Analyzing Climate Change Awareness And Responsibility Effects, Connor Clancy, Sarah Beth Solomon
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
No abstract provided.
Environmental Justice In California: An Analysis On The Correlation Between Toxic Release And Population Distribution, Maria Urrutia
Environmental Justice In California: An Analysis On The Correlation Between Toxic Release And Population Distribution, Maria Urrutia
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
No abstract provided.
African American Women In Business: The Black Press, Jozef Moffat
African American Women In Business: The Black Press, Jozef Moffat
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
No abstract provided.
Wins And Revenues, Kenny Jacobson, Thomas Brewster, Grace Mcvey, Peter Mcauliffe
Wins And Revenues, Kenny Jacobson, Thomas Brewster, Grace Mcvey, Peter Mcauliffe
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
No abstract provided.
Learning By Giving: The Youth Homelessness Initiative, Camille Gross, Christina Mccourt, Molly Nash, Eleanor Powell
Learning By Giving: The Youth Homelessness Initiative, Camille Gross, Christina Mccourt, Molly Nash, Eleanor Powell
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
As part of the Colby Undergraduate Student Philanthropist (CUSP) foundation, funded by the Learning by Giving Foundation, we are collaborating with United Way of Mid-Maine to write a 10,000 grant allocated over a three-year period in support of United Way of Mid-Maines Youth Homelessness Initiative. This program would provide homeless or at-risk for homelessness youth ages in junior and high school (grades 5 through 12) in northern Kennebec, Somerset, and western Waldo counties with the basic needs they require in order to stay in school and ultimately earn a high school diploma.During the 2011-12 pilot project of the Youth Homelessness …
Single And Ready To Mingle: Factors Affecting Risky Sexual Behavior, Ines Castro, Jacqueline Charlton, Rebecca Stoutamyer, Katherine Kimball
Single And Ready To Mingle: Factors Affecting Risky Sexual Behavior, Ines Castro, Jacqueline Charlton, Rebecca Stoutamyer, Katherine Kimball
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
College students today are having a lot of unprotected sex with multiple partners, making the risk of college students contracting an STI extremely high. Previous research has found that high self-esteem increase the likelihood that an individual will use a condom. It has also been found that extroversion leads to decreased condom use, perhaps due to the fact that extroverts are more likely to seek out risky situations. This study looked at how extroversion, gender, and sociosexual orientation moderated the relationship between self-esteem and condom use. We measured self-esteem, extroversion, SOI, condom use intentions and willingness and demographics using an …
Decentralization And Ethnic Violence, Joseph Long
Decentralization And Ethnic Violence, Joseph Long
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
Analyzes the effects of three forms of decentralization on the incidence and intensity of ethnic violence in African states.
It’S Our Money And We Want It Now:Secession In Resource Rich Countries And The Role Of The International Community, Kiernan Somers
It’S Our Money And We Want It Now:Secession In Resource Rich Countries And The Role Of The International Community, Kiernan Somers
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
Tensions between the right to self-determination and existing states have caused many conflicts around the globe. Resource rich regions such as Katanga, Biafra, South Sudan, East Timor, Cabinda, and Aceh all had to go through the international community to gain statehood and were either granted or declined the right to self-determination. Secessionist movements frequently challenge existing state borderlines; however, few reach the ultimate goal of statehood. Secession attempts in resource rich regions, whether carried out by unorganized rebels, or a fully functioning autonomous government, are dependent on the international community for success. Through textual analyses of academic journals, monographs, and …
A Learning By Giving Student Grant--Alfond Youth Center Rebound To Success Program: Opportunity, Prevention, Focus, Kayla Turner, Rebecca Forgrave, Thalia Giraldo, Amber Ramirez
A Learning By Giving Student Grant--Alfond Youth Center Rebound To Success Program: Opportunity, Prevention, Focus, Kayla Turner, Rebecca Forgrave, Thalia Giraldo, Amber Ramirez
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
The Alfond Youth Center in Waterville, Maine is the only combined Boys and Girls Club and YMCA in the country. This organization meets the needs of the central Maine community by providing an after school program on a sliding scale based of family income, pay-for-play recreational opportunities, and other services such as dental care and counseling when needed. Rebound to Success, another Alfond Youth Center-sponsored program, is a juvenile diversion program for first time offenders aged 11-18 in Kennebec and Somerset Counties. Most of the crimes the participants have committed are drug defined or related offenses (ie. possession or use, …
The Effect Of Choline Supplementation And The Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (Bdnf) On Medial Temporal Lobe Volume Changes As A Measurement Of Depression, Leigh Mathieu
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
Depression is a prevalent mood disorder categorized by a lowered mood state, social withdrawal, somatic symptoms, cognitive defects, and feelings of worthlessness or guilt. Prenatal supplementation of the essential nutrient choline increases adult hippocampal neurogenesis and can reduce the risk and improve prognosis of depression and other mood disorders. Characteristic in these disorders is dysfunction in neural plasticity as mediated through the growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Genetic variants and mutations in the genes that code for this and related proteins in humans and rats affect the brain in many ways, including how dopaminergic synapses in the reward pathway …
Watch What 'Whe-Eat' - A Cultural Analysis Of The Gluten-Free Diet, Monique Kelly
Watch What 'Whe-Eat' - A Cultural Analysis Of The Gluten-Free Diet, Monique Kelly
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
Ten years ago, most people had never heard of celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, but awareness of these conditions have recently exploded, resulting in a craze to purchase gluten-free food items. Walk down the isles of Whole Foods or any other grocery store today and you will see labels for gluten free everywhere. These products were originally designed for people who have been diagnosed with a gluten digestive disorder. However, the gluten-free diet has expanded beyond those diagnosed with gluten sensitivity because millions of people are claiming it makes them feel better or helps them lose weight. In this paper, …
An Analysis Of Municipality-Level Election Results Of The 2012 Presidential Election In New York, Pennsylvania, And Ohio, And Comparison Of These Results To Those From The 2008 Presidential Election, Gregory Naigles
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
The 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections were both similar and different in many ways. On one hand, the Democratic candidate was the same in both elections, and similar strategies were employed by both sides in the two elections. On the other hand, the candidates formed slightly different coalitions, turnout rates were different, and there were some differences in which states the campaigns chose to focus on. I have analyzed the results of these two elections, particularly the 2012 presidential election, in the three states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, in order to try to determine where the election results …
Colby Undergraduate Student Philanthropists- Center For Crisis And Counseling, James O'Leary, Jasmine Phillips, Maria Zeta Valladolid, Amanda Carbonneau
Colby Undergraduate Student Philanthropists- Center For Crisis And Counseling, James O'Leary, Jasmine Phillips, Maria Zeta Valladolid, Amanda Carbonneau
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
Students will present the Centers for Crisis and Counseling ,000 grant application. The students will demonstrate the necessity of funding the Center for Crisis and Counseling compared to other nonprofits and how this grant will improve the community. Moreover, the students will highlight the ways this organization and program will prevent the manifestation of mental illnesses for children in their adult life.
Bad Blood: Investigating The Ban On Msm Blood Donation, Lauren Lacy
Bad Blood: Investigating The Ban On Msm Blood Donation, Lauren Lacy
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
In 1983, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), responding to the AIDS epidemic, adopted a policy of deferring men who have had sex with men (MSM) at anytime since 1977 from donating blood. The current policy, adopted in 1992, continues to defer this group indefinitely. This paper investigates the societal implications of the deferred status. I will first examine the unique relationship gay and bisexual men have with the AIDS epidemic in American history.I challenge the FDAs claim that the ban is solely rooted in behavioral practices, using data on rates of contraction, behavioral practices relevant to MSM (condom use, …
Winded: Evaluating Community And Operator Relations In Maine Community-Based Wind Energy Projects, Madeline Wilson
Winded: Evaluating Community And Operator Relations In Maine Community-Based Wind Energy Projects, Madeline Wilson
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
Maines promising wind energy industry is growing and rural and island communities have begun pursuing wind turbine-generated electricity. The Fox Islands have, through the Fox Islands Electric Cooperative, successfully established a wind operation to provide the 1,500 island residents with electricity produced by three 1.5 megawatt turbines situated on Vinalhaven Island. However, shortly after the turbines began operation, a small but vocal group of Vinalhaven residents began to speak out against the noise issues they found as a product of living in the vicinity of the project. After numerous newspaper articles from both sides and formal complaints submitted to the …
Community Dental Center, Randall Person, Sarah Mann, Susan Fleurant, Lily Cabour
Community Dental Center, Randall Person, Sarah Mann, Susan Fleurant, Lily Cabour
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
We are writing a grant in partnership with a local nonprofit, the Community Dental Center in Waterville. The Community Dental Center provides comprehensive dental care for low-income patients in Kennebec and Somerset counties. The grant money would fund two programs targeting specific, at-risk populations of women in Central Maine. One program focuses on dental health education for teenage mothers at the Maine Childrens Home. The second program is the provision of dental services for victims of domestic violence. Dental health has been shown to directly influence school and work attendance, overall health, and self-esteem. With proper care and education, dental …
Passing And Transcendence In Political Identities And Socioeconomic Status, Sophie Hamblett, Ginger Brooker, Samuel Poulin, Megan Mackenzie
Passing And Transcendence In Political Identities And Socioeconomic Status, Sophie Hamblett, Ginger Brooker, Samuel Poulin, Megan Mackenzie
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
This study will examine passing, a phenomenon that occurs when an individual tries to hide a part of their identity, or takes on a new false identity in order to fit in with a certain social context. Passing might be especially important in a college setting, where students are in a stage of emerging adulthood and exploring new identities. This process can occur with all sorts of identity, commonly one that makes the individual a minority.In our study, we will focus specifically on passing in the areas of race and socioeconomic status, which has, thus far, not been addressed by …
Russia's Unveiling; An Examination Of Political Construction Through Media Coverage, Sydney Hammond
Russia's Unveiling; An Examination Of Political Construction Through Media Coverage, Sydney Hammond
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
On February 7, 2014, the day of Fisht Stadiums Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony, NBC ran an eight-hour tape-delay, releasing their idea of a more complete version of the 11:00 a.m. ET ceremony at 7:30 p.m. ET. The tape-delay allowed NBC to make edits to their film, which would include the exclusion of entire segments of the games. These abandoned segments, although no longer then five minutes each, depict a shifting image of Russia that gone unseen, can easily hinder American perceptions of Russia, allowing NBC to exploit dated notions of the countrys character. In the pages to follow, I will …
Municipal Recycling In Waterville: A Choice Experiment, Alexander Finigan, Katharine Eddy
Municipal Recycling In Waterville: A Choice Experiment, Alexander Finigan, Katharine Eddy
CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium
The Waterville, Maine community has experienced many struggles with establishing an economically and socially beneficial method for collecting recyclables from residents. In 2006, the town made the choice to terminate its curbside recycling pickup and open the Skills facility, where residents were able to transport there recyclables and dispose of them at the facility. This proved to also not be economically beneficial and the town ended this option for residents in 2012. The motivation behind establishing a new recycling program in Waterville is making Waterville more environmentally friendly, the creation of jobs for residents in the trash collecting business, moral …