Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Working Memory In Simultaneous Interpreters: Effects Of Task And Age, Teresa Signorelli, Henk Haarmann, Loraine Obler

Publications and Research

This study examines whether interpreters have better working memory (WM) than noninterpreters, taking into account different WM components and the potential modulatory influence of age. Younger and older interpreters and non-interpreters were tested on reading span, nonword repetition, and order- and category-cued recall, using English, second-language materials. Articulation rate was also assessed. Interpreters outperformed non-interpreters in reading span and nonword repetition, but not cued recall and articulation rate. These results suggest that interpreters have better ability to manipulate information in working memory and process or store sub-lexical phonological representations, but have no advantage in short-term retention of words and their …

Growing Up Policed In The Age Of Aggressive Policing Policies, Brett G. Stoudt, Michelle Fine, Madeline Fox

Publications and Research

Spray-painted atop an old tenement building in the East Village of Manhattan is a large fossilized graffiti image of a tyrannosaurus rex that reads: “NYC EATS ITS YOUNG.” With its ribs exposed and mouth open, this image represents symbolically what many young people in the neighborhood already know intimately and have experienced: New York City (NYC) is not an easy place to grow up. Their social safety nets are being dismantled and the public institutions they rely on every day often fail them. In NYC, public school budgets are being slashed each year even though the high school dropout/push-out rates …

The (Coming) Social Media Revolution In The Academy, Jessie Daniels, Joe R. Feagin

Publications and Research

A revolution in academia is coming. New social media and other web technologies are transforming the way we, as academics, do our job. These technologies offer communication that is interactive, instantaneous, global, low-cost, and fully searchable, as well as platforms for connecting with other scholars everywhere.

Dominican Related Dissertations In The U.S.: An Analytical Approach (1939-2009), Sarah Aponte

Publications and Research

This article seeks to present an overview of Dominican-related dissertations produced in the United States from 1939 to 2009. All dissertations that are known to deal in any way with Dominican affairs have been included. Some factors explored include: 1) trends in the annual production of doctoral degrees; 2) characteristics of doctorate recipients, including race/ethnicity and gender; 3) significant topics, concepts, and institutions that have shaped this diverse list; and 4) the most popular fields of study and the most frequently attended institutions of higher education. Entries include highlights on seminal works, lesser-known important dissertations and feature essays that will …

Marginalized Stakeholders And Performative Politics: Dueling Discourses In Education Policymaking, Celina Su

Publications and Research

American urban education policy debates pivot around dueling lines of discourse on what ails inner-city youth; such students are portrayed as emblems of a largely African-American and Latino ‘culture of failure’, even as their voices remain largely absent from debates about them. In response, youth-led organizations attempt to forward youth as political stakeholders. I draw upon ethnographic data from two such organizations to examine the performative aspects of their campaign work. I focus on how they engaged in (1) counter-scripting, to imagine themselves as political stakeholders and substantively prepare themselves for their new roles, and in (2) counter-staging, to gain …

Future Is Now: Introducing Ereaders To Cuny Libraries, Stefanie Havelka, Jennifer King, Rebecca Arzola, Alevtina Verbovetskaya

Publications and Research

Amazon.com’s announcement in July 2010 that eBooks out sold print books for the previous three months indicates that eBooks are here to stay. What effect will this have on teaching and learning? Will ease of access and portability facilitate cheating and plagiarism? How will eBooks and eReaders work in an urban academic environment? Are eReaders and eBooks the new digital divide?

Faculty from the Leonard Lief Library at Lehman College will share their experience with Sony eReaders and downloadable eBooks via OverDrive. Following this presentation there will be a guided discussion on eReader and eBook issues, such as:

• How do …

Brave New World: Redesigning Lehman College Library’S Website, Stefanie Havelka, David Stevens

Publications and Research

Since today’s students are digital natives, they naturally expect more from an academic library website. Well-designed websites, virtual games, social networking as well as search engines are an integral part of their daily digital lives. Consequently, challenges faced during redesign of a library’s website are two-fold:

• Concepts of web usability must be applied. The website needs to be well organized and present its information and content in a user-friendly manner.
• The website needs to be visually appealing since it serves both as the virtual extension of the physical library, as well as a significant outreach tool promoting the Library’s and …

Review Of The Website Founders Early Access, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

Review of the website Founders early access.

Review Of The Book Jewish Responses To Persecution, Vol. I: 1933-1938, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

Review of the book Jewish responses to persecution, Vol. I: 1933-1938.

Accumulation, Excess, Childhood: Toward A Countertopography Of Risk And Waste, Cindi Katz

Publications and Research

This piece grows out of my on-going project, ‘Childhood as Spectacle’, and my enduring concern with social reproduction and what it does for and to Marxist and other critical political-economic analyses. After more than 30 years of Marxist-feminist interventions around these issues, symptomatic silences around social reproduction remain all too common in analyses of capitalism. Working through these issues and their occlusion, I offer what I hope is a useful and vibrant theoretical framework for examining geographies of children, youth, and families. Building this framework calls into play three overlapping issues; neoliberal capitalism in crisis and David Harvey’s notion of …

The Geography Of Black Candidate Electoral Success, Marcus Allen, Marvin King

Publications and Research

In this manuscript, we reexamine claims about the geography of electoral success of African American candidates. Barack Obama's historic election in 2008 prompted journalists, partisans, and scholars to review prior notions of where African American candidates can successfully contend for elected office. Although Obama's victory is just an anecdotal national example (albeit an important one), we review the available evidence at the state level to understand what factors might impede African American electoral success. Heretofore, the literature focused on the density of the black population, and the interconnectedness of region and white racial attitudes. This paper shows that these old …

Forecasting The New York State Economy With “Terraced” Vars And Coincident Indices, Eric Doviak, Sean P. Macdonald

Publications and Research

This paper introduces “Terraced” Vector Autoregressive (VAR) models, an innovative twist on traditional VAR modeling, which allows the econometrician to simultaneously forecast both exogenous and endogenous variables and the confidence intervals around those forecasts. In an application of our Terraced VAR framework, we have estimated coincident indices of economic activity for the United States, New York State and the six largest metropolitan areas of New York State and incorporated them into Terraced VARs, which forecast the unemployment rate, total non-farm employment, real wages and average hours worked in manufacturing in those regions.

La Hispanización Y La Identidad Hispana En Filipinas, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Trouble With Archie: Locating And Accessing Primary Sources For The Study Of The 1970s Us Sitcom, All In The Family, Kathleen Collins

Publications and Research

The US television sitcom, All in the Family was groundbreaking in its social relevance with regard to contemporary issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation and politics, among others. The interest in All in the Family continues into the 21st century, and television historians and fans continue to seek out elusive historical video of the show. The author addresses the challenges in discovering, locating and accessing primary source visual material for its study and speculates on the future of accessibility of historical broadcasts, the impact on television studies and potential solutions. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Mothers In Trouble: Coping With Actual Or Pending Separation From Children Due To Incarceration, Katarzyna Celinska, Jane A. Siegel

Publications and Research

Although female offenders are the fastest growing population in prison today, relatively few studies focus on their unique experiences as mothers. In this study, the authors utilize 74 semistructured interviews with mothers before trial and during incarceration to document coping strategies employed to deal with potential or actual separation from their children. From the study data, seven strategies emerge: being a good mother, mothering from prison, role redefinition, disassociation from prisoner identity, self-transformation, planning and preparation, and self-blame. The findings show that mothers used multiple strategies and tended to employ emotion-focused and adaptive coping techniques. The policy implications are discussed.

Editor’S Farewell, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Negative Effects Of Paternal Age On Children's Neurocognitive Outcomes Can Be Explained By Maternal Education And Number Of Siblings, Ryan D. Edwards, Jennifer Roff

Publications and Research

Background Recent findings suggest advanced paternal age may be associated with impaired child outcomes, in particular, neurocognitive skills. Such patterns are worrisome given relatively universal trends in advanced countries toward delayed nuptiality and fertility. But nature and nurture are both important for child outcomes, and it is important to control for both when drawing inferences about either pathway.

Methods and Findings We examined cross-sectional patterns in six developmental outcome measures among children in the U.S. Collaborative Perinatal Project (n=31,346). Many of these outcomes at 8 mo, 4 y, and 7 y of age (Bayley scales, Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale, Graham-Ernhart …

Alternation Rate In Perceptual Bistability Is Maximal At And Symmetric Around Equi-Dominance, Rubén Moreno-Bote, Asya Shpiro, John Rinzel, Nava Rubin

Publications and Research

When an ambiguous stimulus is viewed for a prolonged time, perception alternates between the different possible interpretations of the stimulus. The alternations seem haphazard, but closer inspection of their dynamics reveals systematic properties in many bistable phenomena. Parametric manipulations result in gradual changes in the fraction of time a given interpretation dominates perception, often over the entire possible range of zero to one. The mean dominance durations of the competing interpretations can also vary over wide ranges (from less than a second to dozens of seconds or more), but finding systematic relations in how they vary has proven difficult. Following …

The Uneven Distribution Of Social Suffering: Documenting The Social Health Consequences Of Neo-Liberal Social Policy On Marginalized Youth, Michelle Fine, Brett G. Stoudt, Maddy Fox, Maybelline Santos

Publications and Research

In 2009, British epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett published "The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Strong", in which they argue that severely unequal societies produce high rates of ‘social pain”: adverse outcomes including school drop out, teen pregnancy, mental health problems, lack of social trust, high mortality rates, violence and crime, low social participation. Their volume challenges the belief that the extent of poverty in a community predicts negative outcomes. They assert instead that the size of the inequality gap defines the material and psychological contours of the chasm between the wealthiest and the most impoverished, enabling …

Management Of Online Tutorials: A Model For A Step-By-Step Approach, Kanu A. Nagra, Dorothea J. Coiffe

Publications and Research

Online tutorials have great potential to reach a large population and to accommodate multiple learning styles anytime and anywhere. This paper describes the management of online tutorials and related concepts in detail. The review of literature method is used to study the variables. The variables under study include the mission, objectives, funding, manpower, in-house creation, outsourcing, incorporation in curriculum, content, type, technology, metadata, discovery services, script design, standards, assessment, professional training, marketing techniques and future goals for creation and management of online tutorials in libraries. A practical model based on literature study and the authors' experience with online tutorials is …

Electronic Document Delivery: A Survey Of The Landscape And Horizon, Nathan Hosburgh, Karen Okamoto

Publications and Research

The authors examine, based on a survey of users, the electronic document delivery methods currently in place as well as changes in the recent past and future developments. Interlibrary loan and document delivery staff were surveyed from institutions across the United States in order to ascertain what document delivery mechanisms are currently in place, how they are being used, and why. Findings from this study should lead to an increased awareness of electronic delivery options in libraries across the country and elucidate the dynamics involved at individual sites. This, in turn, will assist librarians in making decisions, based not only …

Ageing, The Urban-Rural Gap And Disability Trends: 19 Years Of Experience In China - 1987 To 2006, Xiaoxia Peng, Shige Song, Sheena Sullivan, Jingjun Qiu, Wei Wang

Publications and Research

Background: As the age of a population increases, so too does the rate of disability. In addition, disability is likely to be more common in rural compared with urban areas. The present study aimed to examine the influence of rapid population changes in terms of age and rural/urban residence on the prevalence of disability.

Methods: Data from the 1987 and 2006 China Sampling Surveys on Disability were used to estimate the impacts of rapid ageing and the widening urban-rural gap on the prevalence of disability. Stratum specific rates of disability were estimated by 5-year age-group and type of residence. The …

Weighing In: A Critical Analysis Of New York City’S Calorie Labeling Law, Josephine Barnett

Publications and Research

The ‘obesity’ epidemic has The health of New York City Residents has been a significant concern of public health officials with the rates of obesity and diabetes ranking eighth of all cities nationally. The New York City (NYC) Board of Health laid the foundation and influenced the legislative efforts of means to address the ‘obesity-diabetes’ epidemic for public health officials consider this to be one of the major health concerns among Americans and particularly NYC residents. The major initiatives implemented by NYC official include: (1) a ban on trans-fat (2) a city registry of those with diabetes, and (3) menu-labeling. …

Drug Offenders’ Perceptions Of Motivation: The Role Of Motivation In Rehabilitation And Reintegration, Lior Gideon

Publications and Research

This article presents a qualitative analysis of participants’ perceptions of the importance of motivation in the detoxification and rehabilitation process. As part of an outcome evaluation of recovering drug addicts who participated in a prison-based therapeutic community, 39 participants (a nonrandomized subsample) are interviewed regarding their rehabilitation and reintegration experiences. Although many studies show that participation in prison-based drug treatment programs reduces the likelihood of recidivism, clients in this study suggest that other factors might be equally important, and in particular clients’ own motivation to change their lives. This study raises some questions about the true ability of drug treatment …

Effect Of Teammates On Changes In Physical Activity In A Statewide Campaign, Tricia M. Leahey, Melissa M. Crane, Angela Marinilli Pinto, Brad A. Weinberg, Rajiv Kumar, Rena R. Wing

Publications and Research

Objective—Most Americans do not meet physical activity recommendations. Statewide campaigns can effectively increase activity levels. Reported herein are physical activity outcomes from Shape Up Rhode Island (SURI) 2007, a statewide campaign to increase steps through team-based competition. Given the importance of social networks in behavior change, this paper focused on the effects of team and team characteristics on activity outcomes. Method—For 16-weeks, 5333 adults comprising 652 teams wore pedometers and reported their steps online. Results—Participants’ daily steps increased from 7029(3915) at baseline to 9393(5976) at SURI end (p<.001). There was a significant intraclass correlation for step change among team members (ICC=.09); thus, an individual’s change in steps was influenced by what team they were on. Moreover, baseline team characteristics predicted individual step change; being on a more active team was associated with greater increases in activity for individual members (p<.001), whereas being on a team with a broad range of steps was associated with smaller changes in activity for individual members (p=.02). Conclusion—These findings are the first to suggest that team members influence individual activity outcomes in team-based statewide campaigns. Future research should explore ways to use social network factors to enhance team-based physical activity programs.

Videos In The Kitchen: The Lesbian Herstory Archives As A Moving-Herstorical-Image, Shawn(Ta) D. Smith

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Labor Force And Economic Changes In Cuba, Pavel Vidal Alejandro, Omar Everleny Perez Villanueva, Mario A. Gonzalez-Corzo

Publications and Research

In November 2010, the Cuban government published a 32-page document called “Lineamientos De La Política Económica y Social” [“Guidelines of Economic and Social Policies], which outlines the economic transformations approved in the Sixth Communist Party Congress last April 2011. The guidelines presented in this document expand the economic changes initiated by Raúl Castro in 2008. One of the major changes that already began is the transfer of State workers to the (emerging) private sector. This is the most transformative labor oriented economic adjustment implemented in Cuba so far and is a clear indicator of Cuba’s movement towards a …

Leonard Lief Library Sony Reader Program: Leading Cuny In Digital Media Technology, Stefanie Havelka, Jennifer A. King, Adelaide Soto

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Newborn Infants Learn During Sleep, William P. Fifer, Dana L. Byrd, Michelle Kaku, Inge-Marie Eigsti, Joseph R. Isler, Jillian Grose-Fifer, Amanda R. Tarullo, Peter D. Balsam

Publications and Research

Newborn infants must rapidly adjust their physiology and behavior to the specific demands of the novel postnatal environment. This adaptation depends, at least in part, on the infant’s ability to learn from experiences. We report here that infants exhibit learning even while asleep. Bioelectrical activity from face and scalp electrodes was recorded from neonates during an eye movement conditioning procedure in which a tone was followed by a puff of air to the eye. Sleeping newborns rapidly learned the predictive relationship between the tone and the puff. Additionally, in the latter part of training, these infants exhibited a frontally maximum …

A Genealogical Review Of The Worldview Framework In African-Centered Psychology, Karanja Keita Carroll

Publications and Research

Of all the subject/content areas within Africana Studies, African-centered (African/Africana/Black) psychology has been instrumental in advancing culturally-specific theory and research. Central to the field of African-centered psychology is the usage of worldview as the conceptual and philosophical framework. This essay provides a genealogical review of the worldview framework as discussed within African-centered psychology. A focus is on understanding the developmental history and usage of worldview as it relates to producing culturally-specific theory and research consistent with the aims and goals of African-centered psychology and Africana Studies.