Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

U.S. Employment Outlook For 2016, Randall W. Eberts

Periodical Articles

No abstract provided.

My Manifesto For A Bold Housing Policy That We Can Build On, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Current housing policy is a ragbag of policies, each with their own timelines— some more specific than others, some more realistic, some embarrassingly awful and others potentially beneficial. With a general election in the offing, therefore, I’m curious to hear what the various parties and aspirant TDs have to say about housing. Pre-election housing policies are usually poorly thought-out, often populist and frequently have no evidence to justify them. Worse, they demonstrate little understanding of the likely intended and unintended outcomes of their proposals.

The Real Footprint Of Electric Vehicles, And What That Could Mean For Our Future, Krista Brown

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper looks at the impact of electric vehicles on CO2 emissions specifically based on the type of electricity used in each New England state analyzed. The research looks at the question of whether or not emissions will in fact be lowered as electric cars start to take the majority of vehicles used instead of the conventional cars that take up a much larger percent of the motor vehicles used today. Taking into account the use of electricity and how many sources of electricity also release a substantial amount of emissions, we see how valid the public opinion of electric …

The Effect Of The Deer Population On The Number Of Car Accidents, Timothy J. Hallock Jr

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper examines the relationship between the deer population and the number of car accidents in New York State from 2002-2012. Data collected includes information on the amount of deer hunted, the number of car accidents, and the number of hunting permits issued. This paper also involves a county level analysis within New York State of 56 counties from 2007 - 2012. An important part of analysis of this paper is the examination of the Buck population vs. the Doe population on the number of car accidents. This is an important study because of its possible policy implications regarding the …

The Effect Of Information On Avoidance Behavior And Bicycle Transportation: A Study Of “Spare The Air” And Bay Area Bikeshare, Paige W. Whistler

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper seeks to address the effect of “Spare the Air” pollution control alerts in the San Francisco Bay Area in California on the use of Bay Area BikeShare as a form of transportation. By observing the daily alerts on the duration of rides using BikeShare, this paper observes if STA ozone alerts are effective in changing human behavior. The results show that only as a subscriber to the BikeShare program and on an alert day does duration decrease whereas customers regardless of if it is an alert day will ride more often and at longer distances. The results contradict …

Socioeconomic Attributes’ Relationship To Green Commercial Office Buildings, Tianyang Zhou

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper examines the relationship between the socioeconomic attributes of a state and its green commercial office space adaptation. I hypothesize that a state with high socioeconomic status will have a high green building adoption. Additionally, the high socioeconomic status states may be more likely to invest in green commercial buildings with higher LEED certification levels, and various types of LEED commericial office projects are affected by the socoeconomic attributes differently.

Who Cares About The Environment? A Study Of Environmental Behavior In Maine, Chandler L. Blake

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

Identifying and targeting environmentally minded people is crucial to making any environmental campaign successful. It allows you to advertise to the people who will be the most helpful and supportive to your cause. The goal of this study is to identify the general demographics of environmentally minded people. To do this I examine voting data through each county in Maine and run a regression to test whether income, education level, and household size have any correlation to how the county votes on environmental issues. I found that the higher a county’s income, the more environmentally friendly their voting. I also …

Analyzing Consumers’ Willingness To Pay For Eco-Labeled Seafood Products In Coastal And Inland Maine Counties, Gaby E. Carpenter

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

Around the world, green labels are used for a wide range of food products, both in grocery stores and restaurants. Often, the price for these labeled products is higher due to higher production costs associated with the goods. This leads to demand for these goods in the market and consumers that are willing to pay. Here, I will examine the willingness to pay for three different eco-labeled seafood dishes at a Maine restaurant using a consumer choice experiment survey. I will use this survey to conduct a benefits transfer analysis to approximate the willingness to pay of consumers in each …

Do Peers Get Punished: Stock Market Effect Of Bp Oil Spill On Peers, Yuga Koda

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper examines the stock market reaction to the British Petroleum oil spill on April 20, 2010. This event study looks at different sectors that may be affected by the oil spill. It finds that different industries do not have significant abnormal returns, with two exceptions. First, utilities companies have a very small positive abnormal return for a short period of time after the incident. Second, when only looking at BP's direct competitors, there is a statistically significant negative abnormal return, implying that BP's competitors are punished for BP's mishap.

Media Effects On Solar Panel Installations Across 20 States, Casey Romeo

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper looks at the relationship between media coverage of solar power and the solar panel installation at a state level. Specifically, it aims to find if more newspaper articles cause more households to adopt solar energy. Use data from 20 states from 2009 to 2014. I find that there is a modest, yet positive and statistically significant relationship between newspaper articles and installations, which suggests that the media does influence the decision to install solar panels. There is possible endogeneity between these two variables. Disentangling this endogeneity is beyond the scope of this research and would be a topic …

Renewable Energy Consumption: Initiatives In Colorado And Washington, Robin K. Doroff

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper examines the use of policy mechanisms to increase renewable energy consumption within the United States. In order to effectively measure the change of renewable energy consumption, I analyze two initiatives that promote energy consumption from renewable sources and overall increases in energy conservation. Colorado and Washington had approved initiatives in the years 2004 and 2006, respectively. Although the results are not entirely statistically significant, I find that the initiatives lead to increases in total renewable energy consumption and decreases in total energy use.

Stock Market Reactions To The Iarc Announcement Linking Red Meat And Processed Meat To Cancer, Scott B. Lehman

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This study investigates how food companies were affected by the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s report that linked processed meat and red meat consumption to increased risk of cancer. The results indicate that neither fast food companies nor meat producers were greatly affected by the announcement in the days immediately following the release.

Who Wants The Right To Know? An Analysis Of Gmo-Labeling In California, Sylvia M. Xu

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

There are many studies that have been done to examine what types of voting behavior or patterns are present when voting for environmental ballot measures. This paper examines what characteristics of people are likely to cause them to support Proposition 37 in California, an initiative that, if passed, would require GMO-labeling on all genetically modified foods. Using voting data at a zip code level, I use OLS regression to identify specifically what type of political party, education, occupation, household status, and income levels are more likely to support the bill. I also run weighted regressions by population and number of …

Property Value Changes From Public Transportation: How The Greenbush Commuter Line Affected Property Values, Sarah C. Evans

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

Prior studies have investigated the impact on property values to the proximity of established public transportation stations. Public transportation is thought to increase value of towns and properties, giving residents more options for transportation to and around the city. Both benefits and consequences of public transportation exist, allowing for either a raise or lower of property values in towns with stops. This paper analyzes the Greenbush Commuter line in Massachusetts, seeing if the proximity to the stops has an affect on the property of values in the towns. A difference – in – difference model is used to investigate a …

The Effectiveness Of The Colby College Electricity Competition On Promoting Electricity Conservation To Students, Jeff Vaz

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper examines the effectiveness of the Colby College electricity reduction competition in altering students’ behavior to conserve electricity. The Colby College electricity reduction competition is an information-based policy that Colby implemented to promote the conservation of electricity, which are a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States. The study analyzes if different residence halls reduce electricity consumption by different amounts during the competition period. Results indicate that only 4 of 22 residence halls reduced electricity usage during competition periods in a statistically significant manner. The study concludes that the electricity competition at Colby College is …

Invited Introduction To Jerec, Matthew Kotchen

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

No abstract provided.

Welcome By The Editor, Nathan W. Chan

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

No abstract provided.

Passive RGe Or Developmental Gene-Environment Cascade? An Investigation Of The Role Of Xenobiotic Metabolism Genes In The Association Between Smoke Exposure During Pregnancy And Child Birth Weight, Kristine Marceau, Rohan H.C. Palmer, Jenae M. Neiderhiser, Taylor F. Smith, John E. Mcgeary, Valerie S. Knopik

Psychology and Child Development

There is considerable evidence that smoke exposure during pregnancy (SDP) environmentally influences birth weight after controlling for genetic influences and maternal characteristics. However, maternal smoking during pregnancy—the behavior that leads to smoke exposure during pregnancy—is also genetically-influenced, indicating the potential role of passive gene-environment correlation. An alternative to passive gene-SDP correlation is a cascading effect whereby maternal and child genetic influences are causally linked to prenatal exposures, which then have an ‘environmental’ effect on the development of the child’s biology and behavior. We describe and demonstrate a conceptual framework for disentangling passive rGE from this cascading GE effect using …

Media Literacy Education: A Media Literacy Campaign On The Social Significance Of Media Literacy And Its Educational Need, Agnes Poliquin

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Research has shown that the amount of media that today’s youth is exposed to continues to rise dramatically each year. Averaging 11 hours a day, youth are encountering new challenges like miscommunication and risking becoming a less productive citizen by the time they finish secondary school. Media literacy is a tool that combats this overexposure of media to educate, create and develop ways youth can combat this influence of mass media messages. This project promotes media literacy education, based in the use of the Jon Piaget’s constructivist learning theory and George Gerbner’s cultivation theory. The project is a media literacy …

Strengthening Archival Digitization Efforts With An Interdepartmental Approach: A Case Study, Jessica Hayden, Jane D. Monson, Emory J. Trask

Journal of Western Archives

This case study details how the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) Libraries made the shift from a centralized model where digitization took place largely within the archives department, to a decentralized one that encompasses multiple library units. This shift came about as the result of the addition of a digital initiatives librarian position and the formation of a digitization steering committee comprised of employees representing different departments from throughout the Libraries. The result was a marked increase in the number of objects that could be digitized and made available online within a given period of time.

Popular Sources, Advertising, And Information Literacy: What Librarians Need To Know, Rachel King

Brooklyn Library Faculty Publications

Sponsored content, also known as “native advertising,” is a relatively new form of advertising in which corporate sponsors fund articles in periodicals and often exert significant control over the editorial process. This model is a dramatic reversal from past practice; throughout the 20th century, allowing advertisers and sales departments to dictate editorial content was considered unethical by most observers both inside and outside of journalism. Because the information literate student is one who can navigate both library databases and the open web, this article urges academic reference and instruction librarians to gain a deeper understanding of how advertising impacts the …

A Person-Centered Approach To Commitment Research: Theory, Research, And Methodology, John P. Meyer, Alexandre J. S. Morin

Psychology Publications

There has been a recent increase in the application of person-centered research strategies in the investigation of workplace commitments. To date, research has focused primarily on the identification, within a population, of subgroups presenting different cross-sectional or longitudinal configurations of commitment mindsets (affective, normative, continuance) and/or targets (e.g., organization, occupation, supervisor), but other applications are possible. In an effort to promote a substantive-methodological synergy, we begin by explaining why some aspects of commitment theory are best tested using a person-centered approach. We then summarize the result of existing research and suggest applications to other research questions. Next, we turn our …

Evaluation Of An Electric Bike Pilot Project At Three Employment Campuses In Portland, Oregon, Nicholas Kobel

PSU Transportation Seminars

Electric bicycles are growing more popular every year, but little research yet exists on how they might play a role in our transportation systems. Much of the literature on biking for transportation focuses on the standard bicycle and infrastructure to support it, less so on the vehicle itself. This project evaluates an electric bicycle program at three Kaiser Permanente campuses in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area and examines participants' impressions of e-bikes.

Results support the hypothesis that e-bikes allow for a broader participation in cycling and for existing cyclists to go to more places.

Utilizing High Resolution Bus Gps Data To Visualize And Identify Congestion Hot-Spots In Urban Arterials, Nicholas B. Stoll

PSU Transportation Seminars

The research uses high resolution bus data to examine sources of delay on urban arterials. A set of tools were created to help visualize trends in bus behavior and movement, which allowed for larger traffic trends to be visualized along urban corridors and urban streets. By using buses as probes and examining aggregated bus behavior, contoured speed plots were used to understand the behavior of roadways outside the zone of influence of bus stops. These speed plots can be utilized to discover trends and travel patterns with only a few days’ worth of data. Congestion and speed variation can be …

Training For Research And Teaching In Geropsychology: Preparing The Next Generation Of Scholars And Educators, Brian D. Carpenter, Erin Sakai, Michele J. Karel, Victor A. Molinari

Aging Studies Faculty Publications

For geropsychology to flourish in the years ahead, we need scientists to advance knowledge and teachers to draw new professionals into the field. In this project the authors surveyed 100 geropsychologists who completed a doctoral degree in clinical or counseling psychology about their experience with training for research and teaching. The majority were currently conducting some degree of research (38%) and some form of teaching (45%). The majority of ratings for components of research training were in the “very good to excellent” range, whereas elements of teacher training were rated in the “poor to good” range, though there was variability …

Pornography Use And Dating Patterns Among Young Adults, Bonnie Young, Brian Willoughby

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Pornography use is known to be disruptive in relationships by creating unrealistic expectations for intimacy and partner image (Daneback, Træen, &Mansson, 2009; Yucel & Gassanov, 2009). This is significant because as emerging adults are searching for potential marriage partners, dating practices may be negatively influenced by attitudes and practices rooted in pornography exposure. By understanding the relationships between dating and pornography viewing behaviors, we will be able to understand the best way to help individuals struggling to date because of pornography related behaviors and more generally how pornography is generally influencing the dating culture among young adults. This will lead …

Creating A Better World With Information And Communication Technologies: Health Equity, Sajda Qureshi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

When news broke on 23rd July 2014, that a case of the deadly virus Ebola had been confirmed in Lagos, home to about 21 million people and a major transportation hub, the World held its breath. If not contained, this virus could spread quickly killing a multitude of people around the World. By 15th October, cases of Ebola had been recorded around the World: Liberia reported 4249 cases with 2458 deaths, Sierra Leone reported 3252 cases with 1183 deaths, Guinea 1472 cases with 843 deaths, Nigeria reported 20 cases with 8 deaths, the USA reported 3 cases and 1 death, …

Factors Associated With Unmet Needs Among African-American Dementia Care Providers, P. J. Desin, Allison M. Caban-Holt, Erin L. Abner, Linda J. Van Eldik, Frederick A. Schmitt

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Racial and ethnic minorities currently comprise 20% of the U.S. population; in 2050, this figure is expected to rise to 42%. As a result, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the 5th leading cause of death for people aged 65 and older, is likely to increase in these groups. Most dementia caregiving for these populations comes from family and friends, especially among families with lower socioeconomic status. A convenience sample of 30 African-American dementia caregivers was interviewed to determine unmet needs. Participants expressed a limited desire for formal services, such as support groups, legal advice, case management, and homemaker services. Instead, commonly expressed …

Consumer Understanding Of Nutritional Supplements: An Irish Context, Julie Anne Walsh, Angela Wright

Dept. of Organisation & Professional Development Publications

Nutritional Supplements have been available in Ireland for over thirty years. Originally available in health food stores only, supplements now have several distribution channels including pharmacy, practitioner, and online. Recommendations for consumption can come from many sources including general physicians, alternative practitioners, dieticians and nutritionists. The demand for Nutritional Supplements has increased over the years, and the industry has expanded exponentially. Nutritional Supplements provide an important opportunity to optimize illness prevention. As scientists and health professionals start to understand the value of Nutritional Supplements in terms of the prevention and treatment of disease, consumers follow suit. Market growth of Nutritional …

Depression, Suicide, And Performance Monitoring: Identifying Neuroelectric Markers Of Suicidal Behavior, Kaylie Carbine, Michael Larson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

From 2000-2009, suicide mortality rates increased by 15% (Rockett, et al., 2012) and 98% of individuals who complete suicide have diagnosable psychopathology (Bertolote, Fleischmann, De Leo, & Wasserman, 2003). Individuals at risk for suicide exhibit cognitive impairments in decision-making and problem-solving abilities (Pollock & Williams, 2004; Jollant, et al., 2005). These cognitive deficits may be related to deficits in performance monitoring. Performance monitoring is the ability to continually assess behavior in order to make adjustments and improve performance. Performance monitoring is mediated by the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which is related to cognitive control abilities. Furthermore, suicidal thoughts and behaviors …