Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Eudem2: Overview And Some Early Findings, Karin De Bruyn, Mike Barais, Claudio Bruschini, Jerzy Wtorek

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

After the overwhelmingly positive feedback and encouragement in response to the EUDEM1 project, work on EUDEM2 has begun. This article describes the second version of the EUDEM study and some of its initial results.

Explosive Remnants Of War: The Negotiations Continue, Paul Ellis

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

From 16–27 June 2003, States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) met in a Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) to discuss a draft proposal for an Instrument on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW). A previous article in the Journal of Mine Action outlined the background to this process, and the June meeting was the second to take place in 2003. This article explains what was discussed in June, what will happen next and some of the broad issues of interest to the mine action community.

Logistics-Explosives-Safety, Rolf Oechslin, Jørgen Schneider

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Cost, safety, and compliance with international regulations are among the most important factors with respect to shipping explosives. The following article gives detailed insight into the transport and storage of explosives necessary for destroying mines and UXO.

They Started With A Temple: Jahds In Thailand, Paddy Blagden

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Japanese Alliance for Humanitarian Demining Support (JAHDS), better known for its research and development of Ground Penetrating Radar (Mine Eye), recently became involved in mine clearance. In the process of testing mine clearance equipment, JAHDS cleared an area around an ancient Khmer temple.

Ccmat Update, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The following article includes excerpts from the Canadian Center for Mine Action (CCMAT) Newsletter intended as a means of keeping the public up to date on CCMAT programs.

Myths, Mines And Ground Clearance, Andy Smith

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Building on an article published in issue 2.3 of this journal, the author discusses some of the prevailing myths that beset the humanitarian demining (HD) industry and which he believes restrict its progress. Intended as a discussion prompt, some of the points he makes may be contentious.

Deminers Facing More Responsibilities In Developmental Phase, Leng Mouly

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In Cambodia, mine action is no longer only about saving lives; it is also about supporting development efforts. However, in the context of development, the quality of mine clearance will be scrutinized. A recent mine accident during road construction has raised new issues involving the responsibilities of deminers.

An Update On The Mine Action Support Group, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The following article highlights the recent activities of the Mine Action Support Group (MASG). This includes updates on the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Mine Free Planet: A Sri Lankan Vision, Michael Pickering

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

One organisation is determined to make a difference in the lives of thousands living in mine-affected areas of Sri Lanka. Conservative estimates reveal the humanitarian demining work to be carried out in Sri Lanka will take between 10 and 15 years. Although an official figure is yet to be confirmed, a recent report suggests an estimated 900,000 mines have been laid in Jaffna and Killinochchi districts alone. This does not include UXO and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The Progress Of Mozambique’S Accelerated Demining Programme, Florencio Chongo

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In order to help make Mozambique a safer place, the Accelerated Demining Program (ADP) has expanded its capabilities with the addition of more mine detection dogs (MDDs) and a new mechanical clearance device.

The Survey Action Center, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Survey Action Center (SAC) is an international non-profit organization created in response to the need for defining and quantifying the scope and impact of landmines worldwide. At present, SAC is operating in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Lebanon and Somalia.

Opportunities For Regional Cooperation In Mine Action In Southeastern Europe, Ian Mansfield

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The goal of addressing landmine problems in southeastern Europe (SE Europe) with a regional approach entails the cooperation of countries on a number of complex issues. The following article discusses some of the primary issues involved in the process of incorporating a regional approach to landmine problems in SE Europe.

Dynamics Of The Australian Youth Labour Market : The 1975 Cohort, 1996-2000, Gary Marks, Kylie Hillman, Adrian Beavis

LSAY Research Reports

Over the last three decades, the transition from full-time education to full-time work has been characterised as problematic for a significant proportion of young adults. It is often argued that a high proportion of young people continually move between unemployment, part-time work, low status full-time work and withdrawal from the labour force. Young people are viewed as ‘significant losers’ from changes in the labour force that have occurred over recent decades (Spierings, 1999).

This report focuses on labour market dynamics between the ages of 20 and 25 for a cohort of young people born in 1975. The early 20s is …

Awara Phonology, Edward C. Quigley

Theses and Dissertations

Awara is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea spoken in the Finisterre Mountain Range. Though it has been mentioned in papers written about the Finisterre-Huon languages and about the Wantoat language (another language in the Wantoat family), the Awara sound system has not been described in depth.

This paper describes the Awara phonemic inventory, autosegmental features, morphophonemic processes, and implications for the Awara orthography. The analysis is presented within the framework of rules-based Generative Phonology.

Interesting aspects of the language shown here are 1) prenasalized voiced stops, 2) complex, phonemes /kw/, /ŋw/ and /gw/, 3) non--universal morphophonemic processes such …

Ua12/2/1 A Year In Review, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

Special edition of the College Heights Herald.

• Ransdell, Gary. Welcome to Western!
• Campus Map
• A Few Words You’ll Live by While Traversing the Hill
• Bowling Green Community College Offers Unique Learning Opportunity
• Pike, Daniel. Dorms Wired for Computer Access
• Correspondence Courses Available
• Moore, Michael. Talisman Provides Unique Documentary
• New Telephone System Increases Services, Options

Boltzmann Machine Learning With The Latent Maximum Entropy Principle, Shaojun Wang, Dale Schuurmans, Fuchun Peng, Yunxin Zhao

Kno.e.sis Publications

We present a new statistical learning paradigm for Boltzmann machines based on a new inference principle we have proposed: the latent maximum entropy principle (LME). LME is different both from Jaynes maximum entropy principle and from standard maximum likelihood estimation. We demonstrate the LME principle BY deriving new algorithms for Boltzmann machine parameter estimation, and show how robust and fast new variant of the EM algorithm can be developed. Our experiments show that estimation based on LME generally yields better results than maximum likelihood estimation, particularly when inferring hidden units from small amounts of data.

Pushing Germany Off The Cliff Edge, Jorg Bibow

Archives of the Levy Economics Institute

No abstract provided.

Identifying Behavioral Risk Factors For Acquaintance Rape In College Females, Sherrie Maher

Dissertations

In the current study, a videotaped scenario was used to assess sexual communication skills among a sample of undergraduate women. The study was designed to identify specific communication strategies that may serve as risk or protective factors in acquaintance rape situations. Given that women with a prior sexual victimization history are at increased risk for subsequent sexual assault, the study examined whether these women exhibit particular communication skills deficits in dating situations. Using a validated videotaped vignette, 47 undergraduate women without a history of victimization (NVP) were compared to 28 women with a history of sexual assault (SVP) (assault occurring …

Theory-Driven Evaluation In Action: Lessons From A $20 Million Statewide Work And Health Initiative, Stewart I. Donaldson, Laura E. Gooler

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Despite the burgeoning literature explicating the benefits of theory-driven program development and evaluation, there remains a strong need for practical advice, written insights and experiences, and examples from evaluation practice illustrating how to implement this approach. The purpose of this paper is to move the field closer to a concrete understanding of the strengths, limitations, and challenges of implementing theory-driven program development and evaluation in modern human service organizations. This is accomplished by describing the evaluation process, resulting program theories, and lessons learned from the evaluation a five year, $20 million statewide Work and Health Initiative.

Foreign Direct Investment In Developing Countries: Uncertainty, Trade And Welfare, Adugna Lemi

Dissertations

The objectives of this three-essay thesis are first, to analyze the role of economic and political uncertainty in affecting FDI flows; second, to test competing hypotheses that explain the determinants of sales of affiliates of U.S. multinational firms to alternative destinations; and third, to investigate the welfare impact of FDI flow on local firms in a host country. These issues are interrelated, as uncertainty is one of the main impediments in developing countries to attract foreign direct investment, and uncertainty in turn affects business practices of foreign affiliates in a host country. The combined effects of uncertainty and business practices …

Spatial Aspects Of Metaphors For Information: Implications For Polycentric System Design, Paul Charles Schroeder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents three innovations that suggest an alternative approach to structuring information systems: a multidimensional heuristic workspace, a resonance metaphor for information, and a question-centered approach to structuring information relations. Motivated by the need for space to establish a question-centered learning environment, a heuristic workspace has been designed. Both the question-centered approach to information system design and the workspace have been conceived with the resonance metaphor in mind. This research stemmed from a set of questions aimed at learning how spatial concepts and related factors including geography may play a role in information sharing and public information access. In …

Language In Social Contexts: An Examination Of The Effects Of The Linguistic Intergroup Bias On Social Categorization And Interpersonal Behavior, Virginia Ann Cylke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the role of language in social contexts. Specifically, two experiments were designed to extend our understanding of the Linguistic Intergroup Bias (LIB) by elucidating its effects on stereotype application and social behavior. The LIB is the tendency to describe positive in-group and negative out-group behaviors more abstractly than negative in-group and positive out-group behaviors. The first experiment examined the extent to which the LIB augments intergroup categories and perpetuates stereotype use. When asked to match positive and negative behavioral descriptions written at different levels of abstraction to in-group and out-group faces, participants tended to categorize abstract negative …

Cost-Effectiveness Of Targeted Reemployment Bonuses, Christopher J. O'Leary, Paul T. Decker, Stephen A. Wandner

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Targeting reemployment bonus offers to unemployment insurance (UI) claimants identified as most likely to exhaust benefits is estimated to reduce benefit payments. We show that targeting bonus offers with profiling models similar to those in state Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services systems can improve cost effectiveness. Since estimated average benefit payments do not steadily decline as the eligibility screen is gradually tightened, we find that narrow targeting is not optimal. The best candidate is a low bonus amount with a long qualification period, targeted to the half of profiled claimants most likely to exhaust their UI benefit entitlement.

Measuring Underemployment At The County Level, Mark C. Berger, Christopher Bollinger, Paul Coomes

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

As labor markets tightened in the last half of the nineties, economic development and community leaders sought to identify more locally available workers than were indicated by published statistics. Using results from commissioned surveys, they pointed to large numbers of part-time workers who desired full-time work, and to full-time workers who were qualified for better jobs. These statistics were often used to negate low official unemployment rates that deterred firms, concerned by the ostensible shortage of workers, from locating in their counties. We have conducted a larger, statewide, survey of underemployment and linked it to the detailed demographic and labor …

Mentoring Relationships For The New Graduate Assistant: The Role Of Communication Apprehension And Information Seeking Strategies, Sara Cyr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Graduate assistants are in unique positions within the university system as they may teach or conduct research as well as complete their own coursework. As a newcomer, graduate assistants learn about the university's culture and history, the norms and expectations of their peers, and their own job duties. To reduce the uncertainty that surrounds a new environment, a new graduate assistant may enact different information seeking strategies. For example, they may directly ask questions from a supervisor, quietly observe their co-workers, or ask indirect questions about a topic. These strategies can vary from person to person, depending on the type …

August 2003 (Vol. 76, No. 4)

The Ohio Independent Baptist

No abstract provided.

The Case Against Libraries As ‘Safe Places’, Anthony Bernier

Anthony Bernier

No abstract provided.

Opportunities For Regional Cooperation In Mine Action In Southeastern Europe, Ian Mansfield

Global CWD Repository

The goal of addressing landmine problems in southeastern Europe (SE Europe) with a regional approach entails the cooperation of countries on a number of complex issues. The following article discusses some of the primary issues involved in the process of incorporating a regional approach to landmine problems in SE Europe.

Religiosity And Aggression In College Students., Shanea J. Watkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined whether high and low religiosity had any relationship to a person’s five measures of aggressiveness. The participants in this study consisted of 274 female and 202 male undergraduates. The results revealed that: (A) high scores of Religious Conflict and Hostility to Church yielded higher scores of aggression, (B) high scores of Religious Orthodoxy, Religious Solace and Religious Tranquility yielded lower scores of aggression, (C) high scores of Religious Conflict and Hostility to Church yielded higher scores of total aggressiveness, and (D) high scores on Religious Solace and Religious Orthodoxy yielded low scores of total aggression. Frequency …

Research To Practice: Innovations In Employment Supports: Washington State's Division Of Developmental Disabilities, John Butterworth, Allison Cohen Hall

Research to Practice Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

As evidence of the positive outcomes associated with integrated employment develops it is important to identify policy and practices at the state level that expand access to employment opportunity. This brief presents findings from Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) case study research focused on state agencies that support individuals with developmental disabilities.