Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Japan As A Clean Energy Leader, Stefan N. Norbom

Gettysburg Economic Review

Over the past several decades, Japan’s energy strategy had positioned it as the world’s leader in clean and efficient electricity production and usage. This strategy, heavily dependent on nuclear energy, was essentially destroyed by one of history’s largest earthquakes, followed by a tsunami which overwhelmed five nuclear reactors on March 11, 2011. As of April 2012, all of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors have been shut down and it is uncertain when and how many may be restarted. This paper examines Japan’s options for crafting a new way forward with an energy policy to power the world’s third largest economy while …

An Attempt To Reshape Capitalism’S Image, Ross A. Nichols

Gettysburg Economic Review

John Stuart Mill claimed to be a disciple of both Jeremy Bentham and David Ricardo. This was a strange proclamation because each man advocated a competing theory of value; Bentham’s utilitarianism laid the foundation for the utility theory of value and Ricardo developed the labor theory of value. Mill’s goal in attempting to unify these theories of value was to provide a solution for the growing class conflict that plagued capitalism. Class conflict arose as feudalism was phased out and industrial capitalism replaced merchant capitalism as the dominant economic system. The Corn Laws symbolized this competition between classes. Capitalists were …

Statistical Analyses Cannot Be Divorced From Archaeological Theory: A Reply To Potter, A. Mesoudi, Michael J. O'Brien

History Faculty Publications

Potter criticizes our experimental study of the roles played by indirect bias and guided variation in shaping prehistoric Great Basin projectile point variation. His criticisms are technically correct from the standpoint of statistical convention, but he fails to understand the theoretical rationale of our study. Without such an understanding, hi s assertion that our conclusions are questionable is incorrect. Here we point out again (1) how our experimental work bridges the gap between cultural-transmission theory and the empirical record and (2) why our conclusions are indeed valid.

Beveled Projectile Points And Ballistics Technology, C. P. Lipo, R. C. Dunnell, Michael J. O'Brien, V. Harper, J. Dudgeon

History Faculty Publications

Explanations for beveled blade edges on projectile points have been debated in North America archaeology since the first systematic description of lithic assemblages in the nineteenth century. Debate has centered around two opposing perspectives. One views beveled edges as features of projectile points that cause them to spin during flight. The other views beveling as a product of edge resharpening that is done unifacially to conserve scarce resources. Here we use a fluid-dynamics model to simulate the effect beveling has on projectiles. Expectations derived from this modeling are evaluated using wind-tunnel experiments. Our findings indicate that beveling produces in-flight rotation …

Genes, Culture, And Agriculture: An Example Of Human Niche Construction, Michael J. O'Brien, K. N. Laland

History Faculty Publications

Theory and empirical data from a variety of disciplines strongly imply that recent human history involves extensive gene-culture coevolution, much of it as a direct result of human agricultural practices. Here we draw on nicheconstruction theory (NCT) and gene-culture coevolutionary theory (GCT) to propose a broad theoretical framework (NCT-GCT) with which archaeologists and anthropologists can explore coevolutionary dynamics. Humans are enormously potent niche constructors, and understanding how niche construction regulates ecosystem dynamics is central to understanding the impact of human populations on their ecological and developmental environments. We use as primary examples the evolution of dairying by Neolithic groups in …

Predictors Of Juvenile Court Dispositions In A First-Time Offender Population, Karen C. Kalmbach, Phillip M. Lyons

Psychology Faculty Publications

Scholars and policy makers have long been troubled by the potential for some youth to receive disparate sanctioning as a function of extralegal factors, especially against the backdrop of ethnic/racial minority group overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system as a whole. Beginning in the late 1990s, many states began to adopt a graduated sanctions model in response to the emerging ‘get tough’ zeitgeist of the day. Originally intended by the federal government to reinforce juvenile accountability and to ensure equitable treatment of all youth in custody, some stakeholders began to note concerns about uneven outcomes in the use of graduated …

Word Diffusion And Climate Science, R. A. Bentley, P. Garnett, Michael J. O'Brien, W. A. Brock

History Faculty Publications

As public and political debates often demonstrate, a substantial disjoint can exist between the findings of science and the impact it has on the public. Using climate-change science as a case example, we reconsider the role of scientists in the information-dissemination process, our hypothesis being that important keywords used in climate science follow "boom and bust" fashion cycles in public usage. Representing this public usage through extraordinary new data on word frequencies in books published up to the year 2008, we show that a classic two-parameter social-diffusion model closely fits the comings and goings of many keywords over generational or …

A Morphometric Assessment Of The Intended Function Of Cached Clovis Points, B. Buchanan, J. D. Kilby, B. B. Huckell, Michael J. O'Brien, M. Collard

History Faculty Publications

A number of functions have been proposed for cached Clovis points. The least complicated hypothesis is that they were intended to arm hunting weapons. It has also been argued that they were produced for use in rituals or in connection with costly signaling displays. Lastly, it has been suggested that some cached Clovis points may have been used as saws. Here we report a study in which we morphometrically compared Clovis points from caches with Clovis points recovered from kill and camp sites to test two predictions of the hypothesis that cached Clovis points were intended to arm hunting weapons: …

An Assessment Of The Impact Of Hafting On Paleoindian Point Variability, B. Buchanan, Michael J. O'Brien, J. D. Kilby, B. B. Huckell, M. Collard

History Faculty Publications

It has long been argued that the form of North American Paleoindian points was affected by hafting. According to this hypothesis, hafting constrained point bases such that they are less variable than point blades. The results of several studies have been claimed to be consistent with this hypothesis. However, there are reasons to be skeptical of these results. None of the studies employed statistical tests, and all of them focused on points recovered from kill and camp sites, which makes it difficult to be certain that the differences in variability are the result of hafting rather than a consequence of …

Risk Of Resource Failure And Toolkit Variation In Small-Scale Farmers And Herders, M. Collard, A. Ruttle, B. Buchanan, Michael J. O'Brien

History Faculty Publications

Recent work suggests that global variation in toolkit structure among hunter-gatherers is driven by risk of resource failure such that as risk of resource failure increases, toolkits become more diverse and complex. Here we report a study in which we investigated whether the toolkits of small-scale farmers and herders are influenced by risk of resource failure in the same way. In the study, we applied simple linear and multiple regression analysis to data from 45 small-scale food-producing groups to test the risk hypothesis. Our results were not consistent with the hypothesis; none of the risk variables we examined had a …

Adult Learners In A Novel Environment Use Prestige-Biased Social Learning, C. Atkisson, Michael J. O'Brien, A. A. Mesoudi

History Faculty Publications

Social learning (learning from others) is evolutionarily adaptive under a wide range of conditions and is a long-standing area of interest across the social and biological sciences. One social-learning mechanism derived from cultural evolutionary theory is prestige bias, which allows a learner in a novel environment to quickly and inexpensively gather information as to the potentially best teachers, thus maximizing his or her chances of acquiring adaptive behavior. Learners provide deference to high-status individuals in order to ingratiate themselves with, and gain extended exposure to, that individual. We examined prestige-biased social transmission in a laboratory experiment in which participants designed …

Tipping Points Among Social Learners: Tools From Varied Disciplines, R. A. Bentley, Michael J. O'Brien

History Faculty Publications

There is a long and rich tradition in the social sciences of using models of collective behavior in animals as jumping-off points for the study of human behavior, including collective human behavior. Here, we come at the problem in a slightly different fashion. We ask whether models of collective human behavior have anything to offer those who study animal behavior. Our brief example of tipping points, a model first developed in the physical sciences and later used in the social sciences, suggests that the analysis of human collective behavior does indeed have considerable to offer.

Rape Sentencing Study: A Review Of Statutory Sentencing Provisions For Rape, Defilement, And Sexual Assault In East, Central, And Southern Africa, Jill Thompson, Felly Nkweto Simmonds

Reproductive Health

Several countries in East, Central and Southern Africa have responded to the problem of violence against women and children by amending outdated criminal laws relating to rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. This legislative review is Part I of a two-part desk review on sentencing of sexual offences and minimum sentences in the African and international context. It should be read in conjunction with Part II of the Rape Sentencing Study. The purpose of this review is to: 1) document the sentencing reforms made in selected countries in the East, Central and Southern African region since 1998; …

Sports Neuropsychology With Diverse Athlete Populations: Contemporary Findings And Special Considerations, Christine M. Salinas, Frank M. Webbe

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper aims to familiarize readers with the contemporary scientific literature available on sports concussion as it relates to populations divergent from adult males who play football and hockey. Herein, we focus on important issues such as age, gender, culture, language, sport type, and premorbid conditions (such as learning disabilities [LD] and attention deficit/hyperactive disorder [ADHD]) that can influence concussion incidence, severity, and recovery

Le Consensus De Bellagio : Recommandations Pour Améliorer L'Accès Aux Méthodes De Contraception Efficaces, Réversibles À Longue Durée D'Action, Population Council

Reproductive Health

Ce communiqué et cette déclaration proposent des recommandations pour améliorer l'accès aux méthodes de contraception efficaces, réversibles à longue durée d'action (LARC) et accélérer les progrès vers la réalisation de l'Objectif du Millénaire pour le développement relatif à l'accès universel aux services de santé reproductive.

---

This brief and statement offers recommendations for action to increase access to highly effective, long-acting, reversible contraception (LARCs) and accelerate progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goal of universal access to reproductive health services.

Repositioning Community-Based Family Planning In Ghana: A Case Study Of Community-Based Health Planning And Services (Chps), Stephen Ntsua, Placide Tapsoba, Gloria Quansah Asare, Frank K. Nyonator

Reproductive Health

The Population Council conducted a diagnostic appraisal of delivering family planning services using the community-based health planning and services (CHPS model) in Ghana. This study’s results indicate that the CHPS program is well appreciated by rural communities where it is operational. However, the study identified several developments with implications for service delivery: increased community health officer (CHO) workloads and concomitant reductions in outreach services and home visits by community health visitors (CHVs) have weakened the CHO-CHV working relationship, leaving both cadres working in isolation. CHPS has significantly improved health indices but its contribution to increasing family planning is limited and …

Routine Screening For Intimate Partner Violence In Public Health Care Settings In Kenya: An Assessment Of Acceptability, Chi-Chi Undie, Catherine Maternowska, Margaret Mak'anyengo, Harriet Birungi, Jill Keesbury, Ian Askew

Reproductive Health

Most research on intimate-partner violence (IPV) screening has been conducted in developed countries, so this study in Kenya serves as one of the first in a developing-country context to assess the acceptability of IPV screening from the perspective of providers and clients in public healthcare settings. The study conducted in Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi found that routine screening for IPV is acceptable to providers and clients at that location. However, to be effective as a routine service, the system needs to be reinforced in specific ways, including greater assurance of confidentiality, more positive provider attitudes, and higher respect for …

A Taxonomy Of Mobile Applications In Tourism, Heather Kennedy-Eden, Ulrike Gretzel

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The rapid growth in the use of smart phones and respective mobile applications has created new ways for the tourism industry to connect with their visitors while travelling. This paper proposes a taxonomy of mobile apps in tourism from two perspectives: a taxonomy on what services travel-related apps provide to the user and a taxonomy based on the level of customization the user has with the mobile application. The taxonomies provide insights into app development trends as well as gaps in the mobile app landscape. Understanding the opportunities currently provided by apps is also critical from a marketing perspective.

Migrant Remittances, Financial Sector Development And The Government Ownership Of Banks: Evidence From A Group Of Non-Oecd Economies, Arusha Cooray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study investigates the influence of migrant remittances on two dimensions of the financial sector, namely, size and efficiency in a sample of 94 non-OECD economies. Evidence suggests that migrant remittances contribute to increasing the size and efficiency of the financial sector. The study, in addition, examines the impact of remittances on financial sector size and efficiency through their interaction with the government ownership of banks. The results suggest that remittances lead to larger increases in financial sector size in countries in which the government ownership of banks is lower, and increases in efficiency in countries in which the government …

Technical Efficiency Performance Of Thai Manufacturing Small And Medium Sized Enterprises, Teerawat Charoenrat, Charles Harvie

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper employs a stochastic frontier production function and technical inefficiency effects model to measure and explain the technical efficiency of Thai manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Cross-sectional firm-level data from the industrial census conducted in 2007 is used. A simple average technical efficiency levels in all categories of manufacturing SMEs analysed in 2007 is found to be low, indicating a high degree of technical inefficiency in the production process. Despite reform measures aimed at improving firm performance, Thai manufacturing SMEs have remained predominantly labour intensive. The technical inefficiency effects model reveals that firm size, firm age, skilled …

Towards The Development Of An Evaluation Questionnaire For Academic Conferences, Clifford Lewis, Gregory M. Kerr

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Each year, academic conferences are held at destinations throughout the world. These conferences provide benefits to the host destination's economy as well as to the conference participants. Involving travel and accommodation, academic conferences can be classified as business tourism. Academics often have a range of conferences from which to choose. The conference experience therefore may be important in the decision to reattend or recommend a conference to other potential attendees. While many conference organizers distribute a "conference evaluation sheet" at the end of a conference, there is no evidence of a standardized questionnaire that evaluates the entire conference experience. The …

Heterogeneity Among Potential Foster Carers: An Investigation Of Reasons For Not Foster Caring, Melanie Randle, Leonie Miller, Sara Dolnicar, Joseph Ciarrochi

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Although Australia is experiencing a shortage of foster carers, there is currently little understanding of why people do not become carers. This study explores the reasons given for not fostering though a survey of 897 non carers. Results indicate that, at the aggregate level, people do not become carers because they do not know anything about fostering, or because they are busy with their own children, work, or commitments to family and friends. However, if we account for heterogeneity, differences in these barriers are observed for subgroups within the sample. We investigate the structure of the market of potential foster …

'So, What Did You Do?' A Performative, Practice-Based Approach To Examining Informal Learning In Wil, Bonnie Amelia Dean, Chris Sykes, Jan Turbill

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A growing body of research in work-integrated learning (WIL) demonstrates the importance of industry experience for student learning. Much of this research however focuses on individual, formal learning that occurs in WIL programs typically captured through assessment. What is less visible is the informal learning experienced during placement. In this paper, we argue that such omissions are suggestive of the incommensurability of the standard paradigm of learning with informal learning. The standard paradigm limits informal learning by privileging individual, cognitive processes of recall, thereby casting experience as “static and sedimented, separated from knowledge making processes” (Fenwick, 2009, p.235). This paper …

Identifying Barriers To Internal Supply Chain Integration Using Systems Thinking, Franciscus Bakker, Tillmann Boehme, Dirk Pieter Van Donk

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This exploratory site-centred research investigates barriers to internal supply chain integration in practice, using systems thinking. A multi-method procedure termed the Quick Scan Audit Methodology is applied to four engineering to order case companies from two different country settings to identify and categorize the actual barriers to internal supply chain integration. The study establishes that the case-significant barriers to internal supply chain integration chiefly relate to behavioral / cultural factors and the organizational arrangement / structures imposed on employees. A cross-case comparison reveals two major clusters of supply chain integration barriers termed “fire-fighting” and “functional-silo mentalities”. The fundamental structures of …

An Empirical Analysis Of Iran's Banking Performance, Amir Arjomandi, Charles Harvie, Abbas Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficiency and productivity growth of the Iranian banking industry between 2003 and 2008, encompassing pre- and post-2005-reform years.

Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a new decomposition of the Hicks-Moorsteen total factor productivity index developed by O’Donnell to analyse efficiency and productivity changes in a banking context. The advantage of this approach over the popular constant-returns-to-scale Malmquist productivity index is that it is free from any assumptions concerning firms’ optimising behaviour, the structure of markets, or returns to scale. The paper assumes that the production technology exhibits variable returns to …

Is The Rising Cost Of Education Uniform Across All Of Australia's Capital Cities?, Abbas Valadkhani, Shima Hassan Zadeh Forughi, Amir Arjomandi

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper compares and contrasts the aggregate cost of education in Australia with the cost of education in each of its eight capital cities surveyed in the Consumer Price Index. It appears that education is becoming a relatively more expensive item among Australian households with rising substantial differences across various geographical areas. Over the last three decades on average the Australian economy witnessed an overall annual inflation rate of 4.2 per cent, whereas the growth of education cost was 7.3 per cent per annum. It is interesting to note that the rising cost of education was not the same across …

Occupational Health And Safety Management In Organizations: A Review, Michael Zanko, Patrick Dawson

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In examining the research literature on occupational health and safety (OHS), this paper argues that the growth in the number of specialists in OHS has resulted in an emphasis on policy and practice away from more scholastic concerns previously addressed by academics in the disciplines of psychology and sociology. A hiatus has occurred, and this is evidenced by the general absence of studies in management, even though OHS is increasingly seen as a key operational and strategic concern of business organizations. The authors call for OHS to be placed firmly on the research agenda of management scholars, and advocate the …

Reply To "Response: Board Composition And Firm Performance: Evidence From Bangladesh - A Sceptical View", Afzalur Rashid, Anura De Zoysa, Sudhir Lodh, Kathleen Rudkin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper replies to Chowdhury’s (2010) response to the paper "Board Composition and Firm Performance: Evidence from Bangladesh" (2010). It challenges the strength of the criticisms, arguing that the factors discussed in Chowdhury (2010) do not necessarily impair the outcome of the research. The authors elucidate issues raised, and in so doing, reproduce the results incorporating the commentator’s suggestions

Emergency Service Volunteers: A Comparison Of Age, Motives And Values, Julie E. Francis, Michael Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Understanding why volunteers join an emergency service and why they stay is critical to developing more effective recruitment and retention strategies. Subsequently, this study examines the roles of age, motivations and values in satisfaction among New Generation (aged below 35 years) and Traditional Generation (aged 35 years and above) volunteers. The research conducted an online survey of 252 State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers. The results indicate a mix of similarities and differences across the generations. First and foremost though, the primary reasons for joining and staying with the service are the same for both age groups - and those reasons …

Continuance Of Mhealth Services At The Bottom Of The Pyramid: The Roles Of Service Quality And Trust, Shahriar Akter, Pradeep Ray, John D'Ambra

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Continued usage of information systems (or, IS continuance) has proven to be a critical success parameter for ICT implementation at the top of the global economic pyramid. However, there are few studies which have explored continued IS usage at the bottom of the economic pyramid (BOP) though it represents the majority of the world's population. To fill this knowledge gap, this study develops an mHealth continuance model at the BOP framing the impact of two post adoption expectation beliefs (i.e., perceived service quality and perceived trust). This study extends ECM (expectation confirmation model) perspective synthesizing the extant literature on continued …