Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

1 Platform, 31 Libraries: Pedagogy And Digital Identity In The Wake Of A Cuny Discovery Layer, Nora Almeida, Helen Georgas, Alexandra Hamlett

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

A Decision Model For Recommending Which Building Occupants Should Move Where During Fire Emergencies, Norman E. Groner

Publications and Research

This paper describes a decision model for managing the movement of building occupants during fire emergencies. Currently available guidance from standard practice, egress modeling, codes and the re-search literature, is too general to provide much help to persons charged with the responsibility of where groups of occupants should be located given a fire scenario. The occupant movement decision model described in the paper uses three basic yes–no questions to divide building occupants into groups during a fire emergency. For any particular group, the decision model recommends one of two basic actions:(1) people remain where they are already located; or, (2) …

The Problematic Pleasures Of Productivity And Efficiency In Goa And Navegador, Nancy M. Foasberg

Publications and Research

Eurogames are a specific subset of modern board games known for mathematical beauty, low conflict and light themes. However, despite their apparent nonviolence, they often use colonial themes. This article argues that the uncritical embrace of these themes and "abstracting away" of troubling historical content results in a narrative that supports colonialism. Two examples of the genre, Goa and Navegador are analyzed in detail.

South African Marriage In Policy And Practice: A Dynamic Story, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

Law forms one of the major structural contexts within which family lives play out, yet the precise dynamics connecting these two foundational institutions are still poorly understood. This article attempts to help bridge this gap by applying sociolegal concepts to empirical findings about state law's role in family, and especially in marriage, drawn from across several decades and disciplines of South Africanist scholarly research. I sketch the broad outlines of a nuanced theoretical approach for analysing the law-family relationship, which insists that the relationship entails a contingent and dynamic interplay between relatively powerful regulating institutions and relatively powerless regulated populations. …

Repetitive Motor Movement, Social Responsiveness, And Global Development In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jenny Waltzer

Theses and Dissertations

This study assessed whether specific repetitive motor movements (involving body), are associated with social abilities and global development. Additionally, we evaluated whether our observational measures of specific repetitive behaviors corresponded to standard diagnostic measures. Sixty-nine children, aged 32 to 82 months, with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or autism were enrolled.

Investigating The Social And Cognitive Factors Influencing Risky Sexual Behaviors In Emerging Adults, Anthony W. Surace

Theses and Dissertations

The present investigation tested a regression model predicting sexual risk behavior among emerging adults using social and cognitive factors. Participants were 301 sexually active young adults living in New York City. Social and cognitive factors predicted sexual behavior individually, but did not interact with one another in the regression model.

The Effects Of Changing Attention And Context In An Awake Offline Processing Period On Visual Long-Term Memory, Timothy M. Ellmore, Anna Feng, Kenneth Ng, Luthfunnahar Dewan, James C. Root

Publications and Research

There is accumulating evidence that sleep as well as awake offline processing is important for the transformation of new experiences into long-term memory (LTM). Yet much remains to be understood about how various cognitive factors influence the efficiency of awake offline processing. In the present study we investigated how changes in attention and context in the immediate period after exposure to new visual information influences LTM consolidation. After presentation of multiple naturalistic scenes within a working memory paradigm, recognition was assessed 30 min and 24 h later in three groups of subjects. One group of subjects engaged in a focused …

Impact Of Irrigation Method On Water Use Efficiency And Productivity Of Fodder Crops In Nepal, Ajay K. Jha, Razan Malla, Mohan Sharma, Jeeban Panthi, Tarendra Lakhankar, Nir Y. Krakauer, Soni M. Pradhanang, Piyush Dahal, Madan Lall Shrestha

Publications and Research

Improved irrigation use efficiency is an important tool for intensifying and diversifying agriculture in Nepal, resulting in higher economic yield from irrigated farmlands with a minimum input of water. Research was conducted to evaluate the effect of irrigation method (furrow vs. drip) on the productivity of nutritious fodder species during off-monsoon dry periods in different elevation zones of central Nepal. A split-block factorial design was used. The factors considered were treatment location, fodder crop, and irrigation method. Commonly used local agronomical practices were followed in all respects except irrigation method. Results revealed that location effect was significant (p < 0.01) with highest fodder productivity seen for the middle elevation site, Syangja. Species effects were also significant, with teosinte (Euchlaena mexicana) having higher yield than cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). Irrigation method impacted green biomass yield (higher with furrow irrigation) but both methods yielded similar dry biomass, while water use was 73% less under drip irrigation. Our findings indicated that the controlled application of water through drip irrigation is able to produce acceptable yields of nutritionally dense fodder species during dry seasons, leading to more effective utilization and resource conservation of available land, fertilizer and water. Higher productivity of these nutritional fodders resulted in higher milk productivity for livestock smallholders. The ability to grow fodder crops year-round in lowland and hill regions of Nepal with limited water storages using low-cost, water-efficient drip irrigation may greatly increase livestock productivity and, hence, the economic security of smallholder farmers.

Affirmative Action In American Government Introductory Textbooks, Sherri L. Wallace, Marcus D. Allen

Publications and Research

The history of affirmative action policy consists of a broad collection of executive orders, bureaucratic decisions, course cases, and state legislation designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination of applicants to educational programs or professional employment, to remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and to prevent discrimination in the future. Although targeted legislation has expanded protections beyond underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in education and employment to include women, people of a certain age, people with disabilities and veterans, the actual policy intent of affirmative action remains a source of confusion for students, particularly when college textbooks define the topics within …

Writing Cuisines In The Spanish Caribbean: A Comparative Analysis Of Iconic Puerto Rican And Cuban Cookbooks, Melissa Fuster

Publications and Research

Puerto Rico and Cuba, linked by a common colonial history, culture, and tropical environments, have similar cuisines. The islands’ shared historical trajectories have been increasingly divergent in the last century, especially since the 1959 Cuban Revolution. This paper analyzes the concurrent social changes since the 1950s in these two contexts, through the work of two iconic cookbook writers, Carmen Valldejuli (Puerto Rico) and Nitza Villapol (Cuba). Writing and publishing during the second half of the twentieth century, these women’s books became an important part of the culinary imagination in their respective islands and diaspora communities. This article analyzes how their …

The Feliks Gross Collection, Brooklyn College

Finding Aids

Feliks Gross was born in 1906 in Karakow, Poland. He taught at Brooklyn College for the Sociology Department from 1946-1977 and also lectured at the CUNY Graduate Center on political sociology. He was a member of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. Over his long career. Feliks Gross also held positions at the League of Nations, London School of Economics, lectured at NYU and the College of Europe. He authored more than 20 books and countless articles which have been published in many languages.

The Papers Of Belle Zeller, Brooklyn College

Finding Aids

The Papers of Belle Zeller contains materials from her personal life, as well as her professional life which was richly involved in education, politics and philanthropy. Within this collection, researchers will find a plethora of items including over 150 photographs; awards; hand-written and typed correspondence between colleagues and administrators of Brooklyn College, the New York State Legislature, the Senate and the House of Representatives; numerous publications and scholarly papers; a unique hand-made scrapbook detailing the events of World War I; as well as her personal classroom materials such as her grade books and propaganda advertisements created during World War II. …

Shirley Chisholm Collection, Brooklyn College

Finding Aids

Within this collection, researchers will find roughly 300 photographs, typed and handwritten correspondence between Chisholm's constituents and members of her campaign team (including James Pitts), magazines and newspapers, various forms of media including CD’s, video cassette tapes, DV-Cam’s, and a DVD, as well as ephemera from Chisholm's historic Presidential campaign. The bulk dates of this collection are from 1968-1982, and the inclusive dates are from 1944-2012.

The Records & Papers Of The New York State Women’S Political Caucus, Brooklyn College

Finding Aids

The New York State Women’s Political Caucus is a thriving branch of the national organization. Adele Cohen, the creator of this collection, was highly involved with the organization on the state and national level and served as the president of the New York State caucus from 1992-1994. She began her association with NWPC in the 1980s and remained actively involved after her presidency.

The documents in this collection range in date from the late 1980s to the early 2000s and include information on the governance and activities of the organization as well as correspondence, newsletters, and endorsements.

Brooklyn College Community Garden Collection, Brooklyn College

Finding Aids

This collection consists of the records of the Brooklyn College Community Garden and two scrapbooks. The records contain correspondence spanning the years 1991 – 2011, newspaper articles, garden plans, legal documents, and two DVDs. The scrapbooks contain over 300 photographs, along with other ephemera, which document seventeen years of the Brooklyn College Community Garden.

The Papers Of Peter James Mcguinness, Brooklyn College

Finding Aids

The Papers of Peter J. McGuinness profiles the political career of Peter McGuinness, his power in the local Brooklyn Democratic party and in city government, as well as his civic dedication to the place he called “The Garden Spot of the World,” his neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. McGuiness held was an elected official from 1919 to 1948.

The bulk of this collection is in the form of large scrapbooks containing news clippings collected by McGuiness. The eleventh box contains correspondence, speeches, photographs and personal memorabilia.

Information Literacy Instruction And Assessment In A Community College: A Collaborative Design, Carlos Arguelles

Publications and Research

This article describes practical steps taken in the planning of an integrated information literacy instruction linked to a course assignment for community health majors at Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York. The library sessions integrated the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and were based on faculty-librarian collaboration. A course outline was designed to support a step by step course project. Tools to collect evidence of student learning were designed and adjustments to the course plan and activities were made based on those assessments. Suggestions for using these tools …

Community College Library 2030 Focus Group Protocol, Jean Amaral

Publications and Research

This protocol was used in focus groups with students, faculty, staff, administrators, and librarians at BMCC in 2016-17.

What Accounts For The Success Of New Ethnically Based Parties In Latin America And The Rise Of Ethnopopulism: – A Comparative Study Between Ecuador, Bolivia And Peru, Monica M. Orellana

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Getting To Great: Transitioning From A Special To An Academic Library, Linda Miles

Publications and Research

Case study description of the transition from the field of special libraries (non-academic, non-public) to academic libraries. The author spent eleven years moving up through the ranks in an arts education library, before successfully transitioning to a position in a university library.

Where Should These Books Go?, Haruko Yamauchi

Publications and Research

Designed for pre-college and first-year students new to conducting independent research, this is a lesson plan for an activity that is part of a workshop to strengthen students’ skills in using books for research. The activity includes small groups coming to consensus about a hypothetical shelf order for a set of books, and a larger class discussion about the Library of Congress call number system as a useful-to-know but ultimately arbitrary system created within a particular historical context. Chapter within the Assocation of College and Research Association’sCritical Library Pedagogy Handbook, vol. 2.

Social Practice Artists In The Archive: Collaborative Strategies For Documentation, Maggie Schreiner, Claro De Los Reyes

Urban Library Journal

Over a seven month period in 2015, My Baryo My Borough, a community-based arts and oral history project, partnered with Queens Memory, the Queens Library’s local history project, to collaboratively document the Filipino and Filipino-American communities in Queens, NY. My Baryo, My Borough and Queens Memory worked with the Filipino-American community to collect oral history recordings and digitize photographs from the local Filipino-American experience. Central to our success was a shared understanding that our partnership was building mutual legitimacy and trust, creating local capacity and shared ownership, and centering leadership for the project within the Filipino-American community in Queens. More …

Inclusivity And Indie Authors: The Case For Community-Based Publishing, Zetta Elliot

Urban Library Journal

African Americans remain marginalized within the children’s publishing industry, despite the 2014 increase in books about Africans/African Americans. This sudden spike was not paired with a comparable increase in the number of books by Blacks, however, suggesting that power remains where it has always been: in the hands of whites. The homogeneity of the publishing workforce matches the homogeneity of published authors and their books. The marginalization of writers of color is the result of very deliberate decisions made by gatekeepers within the children’s literature community—editors, agents, librarians, and reviewers. These decisions place insurmountable barriers in the path of far …

Response To A Standard Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention By Age Of Onset Of Obesity, Kristie Rupp, S. E. Taverno Ross, W. Lang, J. M. Jakicic

Publications and Research

Background The purpose of this study was to examine weight loss, physical activity, fitness and diet changes in response to a standard behavioral weight loss intervention in adults with self-reported juvenile onset (n = 61) or adult onset (n = 116) obesity.

Methods Participants (n = 177; 43.0 ± 8.6 years; body mass index [BMI] = 33.0 ± 3.4 kgm2) engaged in an 18-month standard behavioral weight loss intervention. Participants were randomized into three different intervention groups as part of the larger parent trial. BMI, physical activity, fitness and diet were assessed at baseline, 6, 12 and 18 months. Separate …

Oil & Gas Drilling In National Parks, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman

Publications and Research

While a great deal of public attention addresses the Halliburton loophole of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Bureau of Land Management efforts to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public lands, less attention has been paid to the National Park Service “9B Regulations,” which provide a national regulatory framework governing the exercise of nonfederal oil and gas rights in national parks. This article begins with a review of law pertaining to oil and gas drilling in national parks. The article examines the tension in striking a balance between environmental protection, conservation of national lands and achieving energy independence, including National …

Universalizing Primary Education In Sierra Leone: Promises And Pitfalls On The Path To Equity, Grace Pai

Publications and Research

What barriers remain in the progress towards achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE), and how does the UPE agenda affect out-of-school children? Through a mixture of historical, quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis, this study examines these questions using the developing context of Sierra Leone as a case study.

Findings from over 100 interviews show that first of all, the most salient barrier that prevents children from participating in primary school is the fact that school is not free de facto in spite of the national abolishment of primary school fees in 2004. Rather than commonly cited constraints such as a …

Reconstructing Education In Post-Conflict Sierra Leone, Grace Pai

Publications and Research

This study finds that by prioritizing universal development programmes instead of employing a conflict-sensitive approach rooted in attending to the specific inequities present in Sierra Leone, the current education system is ignoring the needs and desires of certain subpopulations of youth. Specifically, although the state has been very successful in increasing overall access to basic education for both boys and girls in rural Sierra Leone, the current focus on improving the quality of academic education has sidelined the growth of technical and vocational education that many youth desire. Instead, sectors such as tertiary education are prioritized above all else.

Furthermore, …

Beyond Baby Steps An Empirical Study Of The Impact Of Environmental Justice Executive Order 12898, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman, Gunwant Gill, Miriam Jovanovic

Publications and Research

This study evaluated the impact of Executive Order (EO) 12898 to advance environmental justice. We conducted a review evaluating the frequency and effective use of EO 12898 since execution with particular focus following President Obama’s Plan EJ 2014. We found that both EO 12898 and Plan EJ 2104 had little, if any, impact on federal regulatory decision making. To the extent federal agencies discussed EO 12898, most did so in boilerplate rhetoric that satisfied compliance but was devoid of detailed thought or analysis. In the 21st year, with the exception of the Environmental Protection Agency, very little federal regulatory activity …

Drilling For Common Ground: How Public Opinion Tracks Experts In The Debate Over Federal Regulation Of Shale Oil & Gas Extraction, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman

Publications and Research

Public interest in environmental and health impacts from shale oil and gas extraction (what the public calls “fracking”) is growing. Industry claims the public outcry against the new technology is not grounded in science. In February 2013, Resources for the Future (“RFF”) published a list of high priority “risk pathways” that experts from NGOs, academia, government, and industry all agreed were real concerns about fracking. This article used the risk matrix to evaluate whether public comments in dockets of federal agencies that proposed regulation concerning hydraulic fracturing tracked expert concern. The article found that the public tracked many of the …

Community College Library 2030 Pre-Focus Group Activity, Jean Amaral

Publications and Research

This pre-focus group activity was used in a research study on the future library with students, faculty, staff, administrators, and librarians at BMCC in 2016-17.