Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

2008 March Newsletter, Nancy Rockey

Human Subject Research Archive

No abstract provided.

Stressed And Happy? Investigating The Research Between Happiness And Perceived Stress, Holly H. Schiffrin, D. Rezendes, S. Katherine Nelson

Psychological Science Articles

Developing interventions to increase happiness is a major focus of the emerging field of positive psychology. Common beliefs about the need to reduce stress to obtain happiness suggest that stress management activities should be included in these interventions. However, the research on the relationship between positive and negative affect is equivocal. Theoretically, they are conceptualized as independent dimensions, but research has often found an inverse relationship between happiness and stress. In addition,the research generally attempts to assess stress objectively rather than in terms of the cognitive appraisal process. The current study examines the relationship between perceived stress and happiness among …

Disarming The Shout Of Doom: Chopra’S Alkahest, Nicola Wilson Clasby

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Whilst researching for manifestations of the Arthurian “legend” in popular culture, I discovered threads of connection with my interest in art and interdisciplinary study, leading me, somewhat circuitously, through alchemy to the field of psychology, and in particular, “New Age” self-help psychology. Arthurian legend has been referenced, adapted and utilized fairly extensively in this field, with titles ranging from Crossing to Avalon: A Woman’s Midlife Pilgrimage¹ to The Return of King Arthur: Completing the Wholeness, Inner Strength, and Self-Knowledge. ² However, based on my research to date, I have found these works have received little acknowledgement by serious …

Appropriate Mix Of Energy Resources For Economic Development In Nigeria., Ngozi T. I. Agboegbulem*

Economic and Financial Review

The article identifies the various forms of energy resources available in Nigeria and proposed how best these energy resources could be into efficient use. It observed that Nigeria sis blessed with abundant renewal energy and non-renewable energy resources and appreciated the fact that, while renewables will continue to play a granting role, “they are not expected to overtake fossiI fuels in the near future in meeting both Nigerian and global energy demand. The paper concludes that most of the energy consumed in the country come from oil and gas and viewed this to be a move in the right direction …

An Empirical Investigation On The Effectiveness Of Open Market Operations (Omo) In Nigeria, Phebian N. Omanukwue, Magnus O. Abeng

Economic and Financial Review

This article attempts to investigate the effectiveness of the open market operations in Nigeria adopting an error correction methodology. The study showed that in the conduct of defensive open market operations, inflationary expectations, treasury bill rate, income and fiscal balances exert significant influences on the volume of bank reserves. The persistent effect of fiscal balances on the volume of bank reverses in the short run shows that consideration of government activities remains important in developments in the financial sector. Findings from the study revealed that the system adjusts itself to equilibrium within three quarters in the event of a shock. …

Appraising Nigeria's Tax Effort: A Comparative Econometric Analysis, Peter D. Golit

Economic and Financial Review

The article employs the conventional model of tax effort to appraise Nigeria’s tax performance in comparison to other counties of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). The key objective of the study is to determine whether Nigeria is limited it its revenue collections by a low capacity to generate tax revenue by non-commitment-towards using the available tax capacity to fund public services. If the country has the capacity to increase tax revenue, what are the appropriate channels through which tax revenue can be increased. Empirical evidence suggests that Nigeria is not making the optimal of her taxable capacity as the …

A Framework For Financial Stability, Rafiu O. Olaitan

Economic and Financial Review

This is a review of the article “a framework for financial stability” by Andrew Haldane, Central Banking Quarterly Journal, Vol XV, No. 3, February 2005.

Ec-Funded Mine Action In Africa: Volume 2 - Country Reports, Ted Paterson, Vera Bohle, Léonie Barnes, Mohamed Ahmed, Pamela Rebelo

Global CWD Repository

The Evaluation of EC support for mine action in Africa is the first of six regional mine action evaluations that the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) will conduct or commission for the European Commission (EC). These regional evaluations follow from a Global Assessment of EC support for mine action completed in 2005. Given the broad scope of a regional evaluation, no attempt was made to assess the performance of individual
projects; rather, the focus was on EC mine action strategy and programming issues at the country and regional levels. In addition to a document review, the evaluation team …

Is A Circuit Breaker The Solution For Property Tax Relief In New York?, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

A Pilot Study Into The Effects Of X-Ray And Computed Tomography Exposure On The Amplification Of Dna From Bone, Britta M. Grieshaber, Daniel L. Osborne, Alison F. Doubleday, Frederika A. Kaestle

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

This research investigates the intersection of radiography and aDNA, two commonly used methods in bioarchaeology. The goal of this project was to investigate the effects of radiation on the ability to amplify DNA from bone. Bones (n = 124) from domestic pig (Sus scrofa) feet were randomly sorted into a control group and four treatment groups: (1) single exposure X-ray; (2) single exposure CT; (3) multiple exposures X-ray; and (4) multiple exposures CT. Number of PCR cycles required to amplify DNA in 100 bp, 200 bp and 400 bp segments were used as a proxy for the …

Impact Of Language Immersion Programs On Foreign Language, Jean-Paul Chaussé

Theses and Dissertations

Communicating with other nations in their native language is an important and necessary aspect of a successful United States’ foreign policy. Critical to this success is the ability of military personnel to communicate clearly when in contact with foreign nationals, whether in peace-time or war. The Air Force has made great strides in the past 10 years to improve its foreign language capability, particularly through its application of the Language and Area Studies Immersion (LASI) program. The LASI program has significantly improved the foreign language capability of the Air Force, specifically those with previous language scores in the mid-tier range. …

Romance Of Leadership As A Leader Emergence Predictor, Troy A. Cerny

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether a link between romance of leadership and leader emergence exists. To test this proposition, a sample population was drawn from a military leadership development program for senior enlisted personnel. The school's 406 students were broken into 28 separate groupings called "flights", each led by an instructor. The data for this study was obtained by administering the Romance of Leadership Scale (RLS) and observing leader emergence within the individual flights over a six-week period. The hypothesis that individuals who exhibit a high romance of leadership will be more likely to emerge as …

Gifts In Psychotherapy: Practice Review And Recommendations, Sarah Knox

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

The presentation of gifts in psychotherapy, whether to or from the therapist, does not happen frequently, but its occurrence may nevertheless be quite provocative. This practice review summarizes theoretical and clinical perspectives regarding gifts in therapy, reviews the minimal extant literature on this topic, and offers recommendations for practice and research.

Case Studies Of The Attainment Of Insight In Dream Sessions: Replication And Extension, Sarah Knox, Clara E. Hill, Shirley A. Hess, Rachel E. Crook-Lyon

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

To replicate and extend the Hill, Knox, et al. (2007) case study of a client who attained insight in one session of dream work, the authors examined two additional single-session cases: one in which a client gained insight and another in which a client did not. The observations across all three cases suggest that the two clients who acquired insight had positive attitudes toward dreams; were motivated and involved in session; and were nonresistant, trusting, and affectively present but not overwhelmed. The client who did not gain insight questioned the value of dreams and was resistant, untrusting, and emotionally overwhelmed. …

Feasibility Of Jp-8 To Jet A Fuel Conversion At U. S. Military Facilities, Lance A. Vann

Theses and Dissertations

In FY06, The Department of Defense (DoD) military grade jet fuel expenditures eclipsed $6.6 billion dollars. In a search for more cost effective options, the Office of the Secretary of Defense Comptroller recently expressed interest in the quantity of commercial Jet A fuel that the United States Transportation Command uses in lieu of military grade JP-8. In accordance with AFSO 21 and LEAN concepts, this research examines the technical feasibility and opportunity for cost avoidance of a conversion from JP-8 to Jet A at six Northwestern United States military installations. The technical feasibility analysis examines the chemical likeness of JP-8 …

Bibliometrically Mapping Team Cognition Literature: A Co-Citation Analysis, Ryan A. Howell

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers investigating team cognition must source and review a challenging set of relevant, mature literature from a diverse array of academic disciplines. Such disciplines may include psychology, management, information science, military science, anthropology, and nursing science, etc. This thesis summarizes an effort to bibliometrically map team cognition literature using an author co-citation analysis methodology. The work began with a traditional literature review that identified key authors who were published in peer-reviewed journals. These authors were contacted and asked to provide their own listings of key researchers in the field, which were used in conjunction with the Social Sciences Citation Index …

Testing Our Schools - Talking Points, Derek Wilmott

Publications

The No Child Left Behind Act was officially signed on January 8, 2002, receiving broad bipartisan support in Washington. This documentary explores the debate over whether reliance on standardized tests could do more harm than good for the nation’s students and schools. It specifically looks at developments in Virginia, California, and Massachusetts. Interviews included administrators, educators, students, politicians, and test-designers to discuss their views concerning standardized testing in the public school systems. Prior to the 2002 legislation states had already begun looking at standardized testing as a means of evaluating students and teachers.

Managing Oil Price Risks In Developing Countries: A Review, Chioma P. Nwosu

Economic and Financial Review

This is a review of the article “managing oil price risks in developing countries” by-Julia Devin and Sheridan Titman, World Bank Research Observer 2004, Vol 19, No 1

The Emerging Death Penalty Jurisprudence Of The Roberts Court, Kenneth C. Haas

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “In 1976, four years after finding the nation’s death penalty laws to be constitutionally flawed, the U.S. Supreme Court established the parameters of modern American death penalty jurisprudence. Since then the Court has gone through several phases. The Court proceeded cautiously from 1977 to 1982, limiting the death penalty to those who committed murder in a manner deemed especially heinous and despicable by judges and juries, requiring even-handedness and consistency in capital sentencing, and insisting that sentencing authorities examine the individual characteristics of each offender and the particular circumstances of his crime. From 1983 to 2001, however, the Court …

The Death Penalty And Reversible Error In Massachusetts, Alan Rogers

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “This article will survey Massachusetts homicide cases from 1805 to 1996 in which the SJC found reversible error. For comparative purposes, the data will be grouped into three periods: from 1805, the year the SJC began to publish its decisions, to 1891, the year original jurisdiction for homicide cases was transferred from the SJC to the Superior Court; 1892 to 1939, the year Massachusetts law allowed the SJC to review the facts as well as the law of capital cases; and from 1940 to 1996, the year Chief Justice Paul Liacos resigned from the court and the importance of …

Death Is Unconstitutional: How Capital Punishment Became Illegal In America—A Future History, Jur. Eric Engle Ph.D.

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “A constitution is an organic fact of every state: it is a part of the being of the state. People, like the state, also have a constitution—a character. Just as people change over time, so do states. But just as there are natural limits on what people can or cannot become, so there are natural limits on what the state can and cannot fairly do. No man, nor any group of men, ex ante may justly take the life of another person, though perhaps their killing may be excused (or forgiven) ex post.”

"The death of Death would surely …

Women, Re-Entry And Everyday Life: Time To Work?, Dina R. Rose, Venezia Michalsen, Dawn R. Wiest, Anupa Fabian

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study focuses on women at various stages of re-entry into the community after involvement with the criminal justice system. In particular, it takes a close look at how the participants in the study manage their time in the face of the types of competing demands that are all too common to most people.

Why Brazil Has Not Grown: A Comparative Analysis Of Brazilian, Indian, And Chinese Economic Management, Fernando Ferrari-Filho, Anthony Petros Spanakos

Department of Political Science and Law Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper does not aim to dispute that Brazil would benefit from reforms in any or all of these areas. Rather, the paper offers a skeptical perspective on reform menus and proposes an alternative explanation for the faster growth of Brazil’s peers India and China2. The paper begins by introducing (section 1) the idea of the BRICs countries, to establish the basis for comparisons of most similar cases. It then surveys the results of a generation of Washington Consensus era growth (section 2). Although there is a considerable amount of divergence over what causes growth, it seems that something approaching …

Parental Divorce, Marital Conflict And Children’S Behavior Problems: A Comparison Of Adopted And Biological Children, Paul R. Amato, Jacob Cheadle

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We used adopted and biological children from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households to study the links between parents’ marital conflict, divorce and children’s behavior problems. The standard family environment model assumes that marital conflict and divorce increase the risk of children’s behavior problems. The passive genetic model assumes that parents’ and children’s behavior are linked because of genetic transmission from parents to children. The child effects model assumes that parents’ marital distress is the result of (rather than the cause of) children’s behavior. Our analysis shows that the associations between parents’ divorce and …

Review Of When Sex Became Gender, By Shira Tarrant., Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Shira Tarrant’s book, When Sex Became Gender, analyzes the intellectual work of five women between the first and second waves of feminism (i.e., between 1920 and 1965). Tarrant specifically “confronts the bonds of ideology” surrounding feminist theory that were created in the cold war years in the United States, Britain, and France. She does so in an in-depth examination of five women who wrote about women’s social location: Margaret Mead, the anthropologist who studied sex roles and socialization; Mirra Komarovsky, the functionalist sociologist who interrogated sex roles, paid labor, and marriage; Viola Klein, the sociologist and sociology of knowledge theorist …

Gender-Role Orientation As Determinant Of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, Mary Conway Dato-On, Stephen L. Mueller

Faculty Publications

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) is often included in entrepreneurial intentions models to explain why some individuals are more likely than others to become entrepreneurs. An unsettled question among researchers is whether ESE differs between men and women. While early studies seem to suggest that men have higher ESE than women, more recent studies are inconclusive. Lacking empirical support for gender differences in ESE compels researchers to look for other factors to explain variation in entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The present study confirms two recent studies finding no significant difference in ESE between men and women in a representative sample of MBA students. This …

Ui As A Safety Net For Former Tanf Recipients: Final Report, Christopher J. O'Leary, Kenneth J. Kline

Reports

No abstract provided.

Imperialism And Hegemony: Some Historical Reflections, Keith C. Sewell

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Hysteresis In Unemployment: Evidence From Latin America, Matias Mednik, Cesar Rodriguez, Inder J. Ruprah

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper tests the hysteresis hypothesis in unemployment for 13 Latin American countries covering the period 1980-2005. The tests exploit the time series and the cross sectional variation of the series, and allows for cross section dependence and a different number of endogenously determined structural breakpoints. The findings give support to the hysteric dynamic hypothesis for the majority of the countries analyzed. The implications of the results have ramifications regarding macro-stabilization, structural reform, and the design of social safety protection.

Economics Of Soil Conservation Adoption In High-Rainfall Areas Of The Ethiopian Highlands, Menale Kassie, Stein Holden, Gunnar Köhlin, Randall Bluffstone

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study measures the impact of fanya juu bunds (an important soil and water conservation technology and the most popular type of contour bund in east Africa) on the value of crop production in a high-rainfall area in the Ethiopian highlands using cross-sectional multiple plot observations. We applied switching regression, stochastic dominance analysis (SDA), and decomposition and propensity score matching methods to ensure robustness. The switching regression, SDA, and decomposition analyses relied on matched observations, which was important because regression and SDA often do not ensure that comparable plots with conservation technology (conserved) and plots without (unconserved) actually exist in …