Suchergebnisse

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY IS A PROBLEM THAT HAS PLAGUED POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSORS FOR GENERATIONS. IN RECENT YEARS, HOWEVER, ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AMONG COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES APPEARS TO HAVE REACHED EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS. CHEATING ON MAJOR EXAMINATIONS HAS BECOME HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED AND THE PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF PLAGIARIZED TERM PAPERS IS NOW A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS. POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSORS CAN THEREFORE NO LONGER ASSUME THAT TRADITIONAL METHODS OF TESTING AND GRADING ARE VALID NEW METHODS OF DETECTING AND PREVENTING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY MUST BE DEVELOPED AND IMPLEMENTED IF GRADES ARE TO HAVE ANY MEANING. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER IS TO PROVIDE MEMBERS OF OUR DISCIPLINE WITH SOME IMPORTANT GUIDELINES FOR DEALING WITH ACADEMIC DISHONESTY. FIRST, THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM IS EXAMINED AND SOME OF THE PRESSURES AND SITUATIONS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO DISHONEST BEHAVIOR ARE IDENTIFIED. AND SECOND, SOME SPECIFIC TIPS ARE OFFERED TO HELP AVERT DISHONEST STUDENT BEHAVIOR IN THE FUTURE. SPECIAL ATTENTION IS GIVEN TO CLASSROOM LOGISTICS, TEST CONSTRUCTION, AND FACULTY DEMEANOR

AbstractHazards researchers frequently examine complex socioenvironmental problems, a difficult undertaking that is further compounded by the challenge of navigating the many disciplinary approaches in the field. This article draws on key insights from studies of the interdisciplinary process and proposes the "sharing meanings approach" for improving interdisciplinary collaboration in hazards research. The sharing meanings approach addresses common challenges to interdisciplinary teamwork and organizes them into four focal areas: (1) worldviews (including ontological, epistemological, and philosophical perspectives), (2) language, (3) research design, and (4) project goals. The approach emphasizes the process of sharing rather than seeking to develop a single set of shared meanings related to the four focal areas. The article identifies common challenges and recommends strategies and actions within each focal area for guiding teams toward sharing their implicit meanings. A hypothetical example is introduced to demonstrate how the approach offers a path for revealing and overcoming the common roadblocks experienced in interdisciplinary hazards research. By making interdisciplinary hazards teams' implicit assumptions explicit, the sharing meanings approach offers an operational process to seize on moments of difference as productive tension and to see such challenges as opportunities—rather than obstacles—for innovating toward hybrid methodological research designs in hazards research.

Mit dem Ziel, diesen Campus national und international als attraktiven Wirtschafts- und Wissenschaftsstandort zu etablieren, wurde das Projekt "Nachhaltige Vitalisierung des kreativen Quartiers um den Campus Berlin-Charlottenburg" (NAVI BC) mit einer Laufzeit von zwei Jahren (01.11.2008 – 31.12.2010) unter der Leitung der Adlershof Projekt GmbH initiiert. Dabei wurde eine Wachstumszone als Fördergebiet definiert, dessen Kern die wissenschaftlichen Einrichtungen beider Universitäten und weiterer außeruniversitärer Forschungseinrichtungen (z.B. Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, vier Fraun- hofer-Institute) darstellen. Die grundlegende Idee bestand darin, ausgehend von einer vorhandenen Konzentration und auf Basis der Berücksichtigung vielfältiger Interessen unterschiedlicher Akteure aus Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Politik, eine gemeinsame Strategie für den Standort zu formulieren. Vernetzung, Einbettung sowie interdisziplinäre Innovations- und Lernprozesse zwischen den Akteuren waren die tragenden Prinzipien.

There is significant disparity of cancer outcome (incidence, survival, and mortality) for black Americans when compared with white Americans. The extent of disease is inversely associated with survival and directly associated with mortality rates. Blacks, who tend to be diagnosed at later stages of cancer than their white counterparts, may have a poorer outcome even when diagnosed within the same stage. Socioeconomic status and class have been shown to be significant predictors of poor outcome, and blacks are disproportionately represented among the poor and disadvantaged. Some studies continue to show significant "race" effects after controlling for income, a result likely due to unmeasured related variables. Possible solutions are discussed that deal primarily with promotion of cultural and class- sensitive educational interventions and efforts aimed at overcoming barriers to early and effective prevention and treatment. A more comprehensive plan based on providing opportunities for upward mobility is likely to be the ultimate solution, but this will require national governmental commitment, which is not presently evident.

Abstract
The central implication of maximising behaviour amid competition is that rates of return tend toward equality. We test that implication in a market whose participants have the traits that behavioural economics suggests should make it hardest to find evidence of maximisation: the market for panhandling at Metrorail stations in Washington, District of Columbia. We find that stations with more panhandling opportunities attract more panhandlers and that cross-station differences in hourly panhandling receipts are statistically indistinguishable from zero. Panhandling rates of return thus tend toward equality. Extreme 'behavioural' traits do not prevent maximisation in this market.

AbstractThis paper analyzes the determinants of network structure, as measured by hierarchy and monopolization, by examining various black market networks. We examine structures of networks on the Internet Dark Net (Virtual) and compare it to network structures of traditional black markets (Ground), using agent-based modeling. The purpose of modeling these two different types of illicit markets is to understand the network structure that emerges from the interactions of the agents in each environment. Traditional black markets are relatively hierarchical, with high degree and high betweenness. We compare the density and average length of the shortest path of the simulated Ground black market networks with our simulated Virtual network. We find that hierarchy and monopolization tendencies in networks are products of different transaction costs and information asymmetries. The Internet is an effective way to lower multiple aspects of network structure. We observe that the network structure surrounding the interactions in the Virtual black market is less hierarchical and slightly more monopolistic than the network structure of the Ground market.

Motivation: Proper management of fecal sludge has significant positive health and environmental externalities. Most research on managing onsite sanitation so far either simulates the costs of, or the welfare effects from, managing sludge in situ in pit latrines. Thus, designing management strategies for onsite rural sanitation is challenging, because the actual costs of transporting sludge for treatment, and sources for financing these transport costs, are not well understood. Methods: In this paper we calculate the actual cost of sludge management from onsite latrines, and identify the contributions that latrine owners are willing to make to finance the costs. A spreadsheet-based model is used to identify a cost-effective transport option, and to calculate the cost per household. Then a double-bound contingent valuation method is used to elicit from pit-latrine owners their willingness-to-pay to have sludge transported away. This methodology is employed for the case of a rural subdistrict in Bangladesh called Bhaluka, a unit of administration at which sludge management services are being piloted by the Government of Bangladesh. Results: The typical sludge accumulation rate in Bhaluka is calculated at 0.11 liters/person/day and a typical latrine will need to be emptied approximately once every 3 to 4 years. The costs of emptying and transport are high; approximately USD 13 per emptying event (circa 14% of average monthly income); household contributions could cover around 47% of this cost. However, if costs were spread over time, the service would cost USD 4 per year per household, or USD 0.31 per month per household—comparable to current expenditures of rural households on telecommunications. Conclusion: This is one of few research papers that brings the costs of waste management together with financing of that cost, to provide evidence for an implementable solution. This framework can be used to identify cost effective sludge management options and private contributions towards that cost in other (context-specific) administrative areas where onsite sanitation is widespread.

The varied effects of recent extreme weather events around the world exemplify the uneven impacts of climate change on populations, even within relatively small geographic regions. Differential human vulnerability to environmental hazards results from a range of social, economic, historical, and political factors, all of which operate at multiple scales. While adaptation to climate change has been the dominant focus of policy and research agendas, it is essential to ask as well why some communities and peoples are disproportionately exposed to and affected by climate threats. The cases and synthesis presented here are organized around four key themes (resource access, governance, culture, and knowledge), which we approach from four social science fields (cultural anthropology, archaeology, human geography, and sociology). Social scientific approaches to human vulnerability draw vital attention to the root causes of climate change threats and the reasons that people are forced to adapt to them. Because vulnerability is a multidimensional process rather than an unchanging state, a dynamic social approach to vulnerability is most likely to improve mitigation and adaptation planning efforts. This article is categorized under:Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Values-Based Approach to Vulnerability and Adaptation.