bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Variations in Individual Decision Making: Children, Adults, and Economic Theory
Authors: Grieggs Patricia C.
Published: March 2016

This study examines differences in individual decision making between children and adults using a paired lottery choice experiment. A lottery choice experiment involves selecting between two options, one with a small difference in payoffs and one with a large difference in payoffs, for each of ten decisions with increasing probability of obtaining the higher payoff. Based on subject decisions, risk preferences can be inferred. Particular attention is given to age and gender differences. The main result reveals that children choose significantly fewer “safe” lotteries than adults on average. Specifically, children act as risk-seeking in low winning percentage lotteries. There is no significant difference in safe choices between genders in both samples. These findings can prove to be an important asset when developing policies to curb hazardous behavior in children.
Looking Back
Authors: Grimes Paul W.
Published: March 2016

The American Economist has a distinctive legacy in economics by being the official publication of the organization that honors academic excellence in the field, Omicron Delta Epsilon, The International Honor Society in Economics. This paper examines the history of The American Economist from its beginnings as a student-produced annual publication to a professionally produced academic journal with a global reach. During its more than 50-year run, the journal has published original works by many eminent economists, including 23 Nobel Prize winners. As one of the first journals that academic economists encounter, The American Economist continues to have a unique influence and impact on the economics profession.
How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time
Authors: Varian Hal R.
Published: March 2016

Editor’s Introduction

Originally published in Volume 41, Number 2, Fall 1997, pages 3-10. Hal Varian (born 1947) is widely known by professional economists for his pathbreaking work in the economics of information and networks. Many more know him as the author of two bestselling microeconomics textbooks, one written for undergraduate college students and one designed for advanced graduate students. Through his research and his books, Professor Varian’s ideas have influenced a generation of economists. In this paper, Professor Varian outlines how he approaches the task of building an economic model to explain an observed phenomena or solve a problem. His words are encouraging advice for graduate students and young economists learning how to “practice the art” of economics. Professor Varian offers a number of tips ranging from how to choose a topic, when to read the literature, and even to how to effectively manage your bibliographic citations. Professor Varian’s advice has passed the market test as this paper remains one of the most referenced and downloaded papers in The American Economist’s backfile. However, after including the paper on a course reading list several years ago, one doctoral student pointed out to this editor that Professor Varian fails to explain how to find the “spare time” that he references in the title!
The Walters-Lawson Affair and the Two Worlds of Communication
Authors: Szenberg Michael
Published: March 2016

Editors’ Introduction

Originally published in Volume 35, Number 1, Spring 1991, pages 19-20. This paper recounts an interesting chapter in the life of The American Economist and its then Editor-in-Chief, Michael Szenberg. It is not often that an academic journal becomes the unwitting source of a “news scoop” resulting in an international political controversy. However, this is exactly what happened in 1989 when the British newspaper Financial Times ran a story quoting Sir Alan Walters’ opinion of a plan to integrate Britain into the European Monetary System. Walters was then serving as the personal economic advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and had prepared an article for Professor Szenberg’s commissioned series of papers on the lives of eminent economists. Walters’ quote from this article was seen by some as an affront to Nigel Lawson, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and an embarrassment to the Thatcher government. It made headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. After the affair faded from view, Professor Szenberg took the opportunity to prepare this paper comparing and contrasting the world of academic publishing with the world of reporting and publishing the news. During the ordeal, The American Economist became confused with the British news magazine The Economist, which resulted in a brief legal dispute, all because a quote was taken out of context.
The Efficient Tariff: Systematically Balancing Security and Welfare Concerns
Authors: Ashton Michael
Published: March 2016

Imposing a tariff on imports of petroleum has two major effects that encourage conflicting public-policy responses. One effect is the well-documented welfare loss suffered by the domestic economy as a result of the tariff's distortional effects. The other effect is the potentially positive effect that a tariff can have on national security. When tariffs decrease, more of domestic demand is supplied by foreign suppliers—which increases the expected value of the economic damage caused by potential future embargoes. The author derives the equation for the “marginal disruption risk cost” and equates this to the marginal welfare cost to find an “efficient” tariff.
Optimal Rent-Seeking Group
Authors: Lee Sanghack
Published: March 2016

This note characterizes rent-seeking competition under the possibility of cooperation between rent seekers. Rational individuals are shown either to form a group to fight for the rent or not, depending upon costs and benefits of group formation. In the normative respect, group formation by rent seekers turns out to reduce social wastes resulting from rent-seeking competition.
Working Capital Finance and the Balanced Budget Multiplier
Authors: Chang Wen-ya , Lai Ching-chong
Published: March 2016

The macroeconomic literature has long agreed that the balanced budget multiplier is positive. By adopting the viewpoints of working capital finance on aggregate supply, this paper reexamines the impact of an expansion in government spending on output with a balanced government budget and finds that the balanced budget multiplier may be negative depending on the extent of the interest-sensitive aggregate supply effects.
Philosophical Pattern Comparisons among Eminent Economists
Authors: Szenberg Michael
Published: March 2016

This paper offers philosophic comparisons based on the autobiographical essays on the life philosophies of twenty-two of the 1930's generation of eminent economists. The contributing economists are examined from the perspective of their conceptions of human nature, society, and justice, and technique which involves normative valuation, the openendedness of economic behavior, and the overmathematization of the discipline.
An Analysis of Protectionist First-Price Auctions
Authors: Koh Winston T. H.
Published: March 2016

The paper considers the following problem: One local firm and one foreign firm, each risk-neutral, bid to supply a government project, each knowing its cost, and knowing that the rival's cost is independently uniform on [0,1]. The government wishes to maximise the local surplus, defined as the sum of consumer surplus and the local firm's profit. The paper analyses the equilibrium bid strategies for the protectionist first-price auction, and shows that the protectionist first-price auction generates a larger local surplus compared with the protectionist second-price auction when rule-of-thumb discrimination is practised. The result provides another reason for the prevalence of sealed-bid auctions in government procurement.
Measuring Discrimination against Females: Is the “Non-Discriminatory” Wage the Male or the Female Wage?
Authors: Robinson Michael D.
Published: March 2016

Typically, when using Oaxaca's decomposition to measure discrimination against females, either the wage regression for males or the wage regression for females is used as the “non-discriminatory” wage.

The appropriate method for estimating discrimination depends upon whether discrimination consists of a bias against females, a bias for males, or some combination of both. This paper uses a wage frontier approach to estimate the “true” wage regression for both males and females. This approach for measuring discrimination does not require the assumption that the “non-discriminatory” wage is either the male or the female wage.
Pareto Optimality in a Becker Model of Time Allocation
Authors: Holtmann A. G. , Idson Todd L. , Ding Qian
Published: March 2016

This paper addresses the question of the consistency of utility maximization in Becker's time allocation model with Pareto optimality. We find that when the general conditions of Pareto optimality are investigated, as opposed to the parochial specification of equal marginal rates of substitution across all individuals, Becker's model does, in fact, support a Pareto optimal allocation.
Earnings Differentials between Natives and Immigrants with College Degree
Authors: Daneshvary N.
Published: March 2016

Recent immigration law is intended to direct the U.S. legal immigration flow somewhat more toward professionals and skilled labor. Historically, labor provisions of immigration laws have been based on occupational (skill) needs of the labor market, while protecting the employment opportunities and wages of “similar” domestic workers. This paper examines the relative earnings of college educated immigrants. The regression results indicate lack of difference in returns to education and U.S. labor market experience between natives and immigrants. The endowment effect and the residual difference are 3 percent in favor of immigrants and 7 percent in favor of natives, respectively.
Equivocation in Mathematical Economics
Authors: Miller Edward M.
Published: March 2016

Correct mathematical reasoning requires each word (or symbol) to have only one meaning. Because mathematical symbols do not carry with them associated definitions, the error of equivocation is easy to make. “Money” is used with multiple meanings in the standard textbook IS/LM apparatus, and in discussions of the Keynesian paradox of saving, and liquidity trap. Typically, no definition of money is consistent with both a fixed quantity of money and the holding of money for the speculative motive. Such errors can, and should be avoided by explicitly defining terms and stating which units are being used.
The Demand for Chess in the United States, 1946–1990
Authors: Chressanthis George A.
Published: March 2016

This paper provides estimates on the determinants of the per capita demand for membership in the United States Chess Federation (USCF) from 1946–1990. The USCF is the principal body in this country which promotes and sponsors chess activities. The empirical results confirm not only hypotheses derived from the law of demand concerning the effects from price, income, taste changes, and efforts by the USCF to increase membership, but also implications from allocation of time decisions concerning work-leisure tradeoffs. ( JEL – ZIO, D12)
Competition and the Equivalence of Tariffs and Quotas
Authors: Chen Xiangqun
Published: March 2016

This paper considers the conditions under which tariffs and quotas are equivalent. I examine an oligopoly in which conjectural variations are consistent. I find that quotas eliminate competition from foreign firms, thus altering firms' conjectures, whereas tariffs do not. The results indicate that when the number of domestic firms is more than one, tariffs and quotas are equivalent only under constant marginal costs. When the number is one, they are generally not equivalent.
An Expanded Graphical Representation of the Portfolio Balance Model of Exchange Rate Determination
Authors: Zietz Joachim
Published: March 2016

The traditional one-diagram representation of the portfolio balance model gets high marks for conciseness and efficiency but falls short in providing an intuitive understanding of the forces that drive the model. This paper offers an expanded graphical representation of the model. It features a diagram for each of the three assets considered by the portfolio balance model, domestic bonds, foreign bonds, and domestic money. The purpose is to make the economic adjustments that are taking place in the model's markets more intuitively obvious.
Velocity and the Variability of Yields on Financial and other Assets
Authors: Payne James E.
Published: March 2016

This paper examines the effects of the variability of yields on financial and other assets upon M1 velocity. The empirical results present some evidence that the variability in the yields on financial assets Granger-cause velocity.
The Propensity to Itemize in the Context of a Human Capital Model
Authors: Izraeli Oded , Kellman Mitchell
Published: March 2016

The decision whether or not to utilize the “long-form” and itemize deductions depends on income and non-income factors. The distribution of these factors among the various States tends to be stable over long periods of time. It follows that the federal individual income tax (FIIT) may be associated with a systematic deviation from location—neutrality. This is argued to be especially germane in periods associated with major reforms in the tax codes.

It is suggested that this phenomenon is explicable in terms of a human capital model. The decision in any given year to itemize is a function of past accumulation of specific and specialized human capital. The effect of a tax reform is a large scale destruction of such capital. Therefore, certain predictions concerning the time path of the “propensity to itemize deductions” (PID) follow. Empirical support for this model is found from cross-section data at the State level, from years both preceding and following the 1986 Tax Reform and Simplification Act (TRA).
Resale Price Maintenance or Dealer Exclusive Territories? Toward a Theory of Product Distribution
Authors: Boyd David W.
Published: March 2016

A theory of product distribution is presented by examining a manufacturer's choice between resale price maintenance (RPM) and dealer exclusive territories to solve the standard retail free riding problem. The choice depends critically on the life cycle of the product being distributed: manufacturers of products with long life cycles are more likely to distribute their products with exclusive territories, with RPM becoming more probable as the life cycle of the product shrinks. These results provide a link between a product's characteristics and the likely manner in which it is offered at retail.
How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time
Authors: Varian Hal R.
Published: March 2016

Most of my work in economics involves constructing theoretical models. Over the years, I have developed some ways of doing this that may be worth describing to those who aspire to practice this art. In reality the process is much more haphazard than my description would suggest—the model of research that I describe is an idealization of reality, much like the economic models that I create. But there is probably enough connection with reality to make the description useful—which I hope is also true for my economic models.
Chaos Theory Versus Heisenberg's Uncertainty: Risk, Uncertainty and Economic Theory
Authors: Khalil Elias L.
Published: March 2016

The paper argues that there is a fundamental difference between the indeterminism of chaos theory and the indeterminism of quantum mechanics. The difference somewhat resembles Knight's distinction between risk and uncertainly. Theorists interested in going beyond equilibrium economics have failed to notice the difference. Therefore, they confuse between two kinds of economic change which involve indeterminism, viz., nonlinear dynamics and technological/institutional development. They also regard the evolutionary paradigm as an alternative of the equilibrium one—whereas each deals with a different phenomenon.
Using an Empirically Estimated Production Function for Major League Baseball to Examine Worker Disincentives Associated with Multi-Year Contracts
Authors: Woolway Mark D.
Published: March 2016

This paper uses cross-sectional data from the 1993 Major League Baseball season to derive the production function for the industry. Using that function, the hypothesis that employee productivity drops in response to the job security of a multi-year contract is test ed by comparing the marginal products of players in the year preceding and the year following the signing of a multi-year contract.

I find that the production function for Major League Baseball exhibits increasing returns to scale and, contrary to the popular belief of observers of the sport, hitting is more important to team success than pitching. I also find compelling, statistically significant evidence of worker disincentives associated with multi-year contracts.
Racial Differences in National Basketball Association Players' Salaries: A New Look
Authors: Dey Matthew S.
Published: March 2016

This article empirically examines racial salary differences in the National Basketball Association from 1987 to 1993. The results of our analysis depict the NBA as a racially equal labor market which experienced tremendous growth over this period. In contrast to studies using mid-1980's data which estimated a white advantage between twelve and twenty-five percent, we find that no significant racial wage differential exists. The convergence of the salary differential between 1984 and 1993 can be fully explained by a narrowing in the relative prices paid for additional production and an increase in the relative production of black players. Furthermore, a regression capturing customer preferences yields the result that customers, who during the mid-1980's preferred white players, no longer differentiate between white and black players.
Determinants of Professional Golf Tournament Earnings
Authors: Moy Ronald L. , Liaw Thomas
Published: March 2016

This paper examines the structure of the three professional golf tours and the factors that are most important in determining the earnings of professional golfers. The results show that the greater level of competition on the men's tour, relative to the senior and women's tours indicate that a solid well-rounded game is necessary for success on the men's tour. In addition, the weaker level of competition on the women's and senior's tours, coupled with the shorter, less demanding golf courses played on these tours indicates that the seniors and the women can succeed by attaining sound iron games and becoming good putters.
Keynes' Antagonist: Correspondence between Alvin Hansen and Dennis Holme Robertson
Authors: Higgins Anthony L. , Wright J. W.
Published: March 2016

Sir Dennis Holme Robertson's work provides a major contribution to the study of industrial fluctuation in the economy. An early collaborator with John M. Keynes, Robertson later became a major antagonist of the General Theory. In addition, new evidence from recently found documents indicates that Robertson not only criticized Keynes' work, but also that of his supporters, especially Alvin Hansen. This study provides an analysis, within the history of macro economic thought, of the importance of Robertson and Hansen's correspondence.
A Case for Private Provision but Collective Ownership of Public Goods
Authors: Gerdes William D.
Published: March 2016

One strategy for generating Pareto results in a public good model is to create an environment where traders internalize the public good externality. The model presented here accomplishes this by separating the provision and ownership of public goods. Such goods are privately provided but collectively owned. Under this arrangement, Lindahl prices are generated through the voluntary exchange activities of consumers. Persistent attempts to free ride are not consistent with maximizing behavior which leads to internalization.
The Decline of Rental Completions in the U. S. Housing Market: 1970–1994
Authors: Ramrattan Lall B.
Published: March 2016

This paper presents the theoretical and empirical bases for the performance of the U.S. rental market during the 1970–1994 period. On the theoretical side is a renter maximization problem using a state dependent, intertemporal, discrete choice utility function with constraints relating to budget, credit, FHA, tax, and demand. On the empirical side are several statistical specifications to examine the rental market performance. We have specified a single equation model to capture the effects of FHA's participation, tax policies, and financial problems in that period. We then proceeded to examine the model's sensitivity within the disequilibrium environment of Fair, (1972, 1974) and the equilibrium environment of Maisel (1963, 1965). We also examined the results from the rational expectation point of view that was developed to explain anomalous predictions in that period. We found that the results do not reject the hypotheses that spurious tax policies, lower FHA's participation, and capital and credit problems have significantly influenced the decline of the rental housing production during the time period.
Tariffs, Import Quotas, Voluntary Export Restraints and Immiserizing Growth
Authors: Yeh Y. H.
Published: March 2016

This paper shows another difference among tariffs, import quotas and voluntary export restraints in their economic effects. A country may or may not experience immiserizing growth in the presence of a trade restriction. The outcome depends on whether the country restricts its trade with tariffs, import quotas or voluntary export restraints. Immiserizing growth never arises in the presence of import quotas. However, immiserizing growth can arise in the presence of tariffs and voluntary export restraints. The offer curve approach is used in this study.
On Total Price Uncertainty and the Behavior of a Competitive Firm
Authors: Adrangi Bahram , Raffiee Kambiz
Published: March 2016

In this paper, a general model of the competitive firm's behavior under output and factor (total) price uncertainty is developed to evaluate the role of market interdependencies in analyzing long-run equilibrium conditions and comparative statics analysis of increased uncertainty in output and input prices. It is demonstrated that the results shown in the literature are a special case of the findings reported here and market interdependencies play a central role in determining the firm's long-run equilibrium under uncertainty.
Demand: The Neglected Participant in the Long Run U.S. Productivity Record
Authors: Walker John F. , Vatter Harold G.
Published: March 2016

Emphasizing the empirical record, demand influences in U.S. post-World War II economic history are shown to have played a focal role in the standard production function. Public spending appears to have been a strategic component of demand influence on productivity over extended periods. Neither capital nor labor shortages appear in the longest post-war expansions. Neither hours worked nor changes in capital stock regularly vary directly with output.
The Drive to Work
Authors: Blumenberg Evelyn , Pierce Gregory
Published: March 2016

Transportation enables low-income individuals to find and travel to employment. This article analyzes the relationship between access to automobiles and public transit and employment outcomes of low-income households. We use longitudinal survey data from participants in the Welfare to Work Voucher Program, which was conducted in five US metropolitan areas between 1999 and 2005. Multinomial logistic regression shows that baseline access to automobiles has a strong positive relationship to follow-up employment but public transit access and receipt of housing assistance do not. Our findings suggest that enhancing car access will notably improve employment outcomes among very-low-income adults, but other assistance will have, at best, marginal effects.
“Men Wanted”
Authors: Barber Kristen
Published: March 2016

This article builds heterosexuality into the concept of aesthetic labor to better understand corporate efforts to construct gendered brands and consumer identities. By theorizing heterosexual aesthetic labor, I show how two men’s salons, Adonis and The Executive, hire for, develop, and mobilize the sexual identities and gender habitus of straight and conventionally feminine women to masculinize the hair salon. Drawing from ethnographic observations of and interviews with employees and clients at these men’s salons, I move the discussion of aesthetic labor beyond recruitment to show how service workers become interactional resources for customers’ projections of privileged identities. Emphasizing workers’ agency, I show how the women deploy professionalizing rhetoric and protocols and essentializing frameworks to manage the dilemmas of heterosexual aesthetic labor. These management strategies allow women a sense of legitimacy and at the same time keep gender and sexual hierarchies intact and naturalize men’s entitlement to women’s bodies.
Excess spaces: Movement and ethnoscapes in Brian De Palma’s Scarface and Edward James Olmos’ American Me
Authors: Adrián Francisco-J. Hernández
Published: March 2016

This article explores notions of movement and spatiality in two US films about ‘Latino’ gangsters, Brian De Palma’s Scarface (1983) and Edward James Olmos’ American Me (1992). In examining the distinction between gangster films and specifically Latino gangster films, I consider how the detention centre, the penitentiary and the neighbourhood are constructed as ethnic spaces in the sense that they stand in an antagonistic and peripheral relation to mainstream perceptions of the ideal American home. I address the presence of ethnic traces that these films portray variously as archaic, exotic and remote, adding a dimension of excess to filmic constructions of cultural difference. This excess, flamboyantly or grimly displayed in both films under the guise of irrational violence, grotesque gender performativity and cultural deficiency represents – or, rather, figures – the contours of another space, an excess space that vaguely and hesitantly translates fantasies of Latino gangsters while imaging Latinos as gangsters.
Robin Hood’s rules: Gang-culture in early-modern outlaw tales?
Authors: Cartlidge Neil
Published: March 2016

This article discusses the extent to which ‘gang-culture’ can be seen as central to the social world imagined in English ballads featuring the outlaw Robin Hood. Focusing on two ballads from the mid-sixteenth century manuscript known as the ‘Forresters’ collection, it illustrates some of the ways in which such texts show themselves to be aware of some of the social dimensions of banditry: for example, in relation to Hobsbawm’s concept of ‘peasant outlaws’ and in relation to apparent anxieties about the phenomenon of forced marriage. However, it also emphasises that ballad-material is often distinctively shaped by the demands of (implied) performance, and that the role played by gangs in such texts directly reflects particular assumptions about the nature of their reception. In the end, the specific characteristics of Robin Hood’s gang is at least as much a product of literary dynamics as of social ones.
Bayesian clinical classification from high-dimensional data: Signatures versus variability
Authors: Shalabi Akram , Inoue Masato , Watkins Johnathan , De Rinaldis Emanuele , Coolen Anthony CC
Published: March 2016

When data exhibit imbalance between a large number d of covariates and a small number n of samples, clinical outcome prediction is impaired by overfitting and prohibitive computation demands. Here we study two simple Bayesian prediction protocols that can be applied to data of any dimension and any number of outcome classes. Calculating Bayesian integrals and optimal hyperparameters analytically leaves only a small number of numerical integrations, and CPU demands scale as O(nd). We compare their performance on synthetic and genomic data to the mclustDA method of Fraley and Raftery. For small d they perform as well as mclustDA or better. For d = 10,000 or more mclustDA breaks down computationally, while the Bayesian methods remain efficient. This allows us to explore phenomena typical of classification in high-dimensional spaces, such as overfitting and the reduced discriminative effectiveness of signatures compared to intra-class variability.
Supervising for Robust Hermeneutic Phenomenology: Reflexive Engagement Within Horizons of Understanding
Authors: Spence Deborah Gail
Published: March 2016

Undertaking philosophically hermeneutic research requires embodying the fundamental hermeneutic notions espoused by Heidegger, Gadamer, and other related philosophers. For both supervisors and students, there is “a way” of working that infuses a hermeneutic project with a particular kind of contemplative openness. In this article, I will draw from my own experience of coming to appreciate the nature of this approach. Reading Gadamer challenged me to see that, before interpreting the meanings inherent in research data, I first needed to grapple with the fact that I brought ready-made prejudices to the interpretation. Further, and perhaps more importantly, was the recognition that while prejudices may have a negative influence, they could also bring a positive view. Just as I needed to understand key Gadamerian notions to shed light on the interpretive nature of philosophical hermeneutics, I will unpack these to underpin the ongoing discussion of hermeneutic research strategies. In articulating “how” to be hermeneutic, I explain how I guide students embarking on hermeneutic research. Discussion centres on surfacing and engaging with preunderstandings through ‘presuppositions interviewing‘, journalling and the careful selection of words that refine and crystallise meanings in ways that reflectively and reflexively engage and expand horizons of understanding. In this article, I use examples from my own experience as a doctoral student and supervisor of doctoral students to assist other supervisors and students understand both the importance of “being hermeneutic” and ways of achieving robust and philosophically congruent hermeneutic research.
Plasticity of Sensorimotor Networks
Authors: Buch Ethan R. , Liew Sook-Lei , Cohen Leonardo G.
Published: March 2016

Redundancy is an important feature of the motor system, as abundant degrees of freedom are prominent at every level of organization across the central and peripheral nervous systems, and musculoskeletal system. This basic feature results in a system that is both flexible and robust, and which can be sustainably adapted through plasticity mechanisms in response to intrinsic organismal changes and dynamic environments. While much early work of motor system organization has focused on synaptic-based plasticity processes that are driven via experience, recent investigations of neuron–glia interactions, epigenetic mechanisms and large-scale network dynamics have revealed a plethora of plasticity mechanisms that support motor system organization across multiple, overlapping spatial and temporal scales. Furthermore, an important role of these mechanisms is the regulation of intrinsic variability. Here, we review several of these mechanisms and discuss their potential role in neurorehabilitation.
Media Use and the Social Identity Model of Collective Action: Examining the Roles of Online Alternative News and Social Media News
Authors: Chan Michael
Published: March 2016

This study examines the potential for alternative and social media to stimulate the core antecedents of protest participation (identity, efficacy, and anger) in the context of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. Findings from a representative sample supported the social identity model of collective action (SIMCA), such that all antecedents predicted intended protest participation. Identity and anger mediated the relationship between online alternative news and protest intention, while anger and efficacy mediated the relationship between social media news and protest intention. The findings demonstrate the benefits of theoretical integration from related disciplines to better understand the mobilizing potential of collective action through news media use.
The Influence of Non-Misogynous and Mixed Portrayals of Intimate Partner Violence in Music on Beliefs About Intimate Partner Violence
Authors: Franiuk Renae , Coleman Jill , Apa Bethany
Published: March 2016

In this study, we investigated the effect of songs that offer non-misogynous and ambivalent portrayals of intimate partner violence (IPV). Participants ( N = 103) were exposed to a misogynous song about IPV, a song critical of IPV, and a song that offered an ambivalent portrayal of IPV. Our results showed positive effects of the anti-IPV song, and both positive and negative effects of the ambivalent portrayal on participants’ beliefs about a violent relationship. These findings suggest that the context in which IPV is portrayed should be considered when evaluating the impact of media depicting IPV.
Negotiating Masculinity across Borders
Authors: Suh Stephen Cho
Published: March 2016

Recent studies of ethnic return migration have explained why (economic, political, and affective) and where (Asia and Europe) this phenomenon has primarily occurred. Of the research available, however, few have examined the manner in which framings and practices of gender impact the experiences of those who participate in these transnational sojourns. This study fills this void by examining how Korean American male ethnic return migrants understand and negotiate their masculine identities, as they “return” to their ancestral homeland of South Korea. Utilizing data from in-depth qualitative interviews, this study finds that respondents initially configure South Korea as a site where they may redeem their marginalized masculine identities by taking advantage of the surplus human capital afforded to them by their American status. Over time, however, “returnees” come to realize the fluidity of masculinity and its ideals, exposing the tenuousness of their claims to hegemonic masculinity even in South Korea.
Influence of load, sliding speed, and microstructure on wear response of AZ91 Mg alloy
Authors: Kumar Sanjeet , Kumar Deepak , Jain Jayant , Hirwani Jaswant Kumar
Published: March 2016

This article deals with the tribological study of solution-treated and peak aged AZ91 Mg alloy. Tribological studies were carried out using reciprocating sliding contact under lubricated conditions. The effect of load, sliding speed, and microstructure on wear response of AZ91 Mg alloy was investigated. The wear response was characterized using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping. The peak aged alloy showed excellent wear resistance against Al6351 Al alloy as compared with solution-treated alloy. The formation of γ-Mg17Al12 precipitates in aged sample was found to increase the wear resistance. The specific wear rate for peak aged alloy was almost one-third than that of solution-treated alloy. In both the samples, i.e. solution-treated and peak aged, the coefficient of friction decreases with increase in sliding speed at low load, while the behavior of peak aged sample was found to be opposite at higher load. At low load, the wear mode for peak aged sample was oxidative which further shifted to adhesive at higher loads.
Counselling in STD/HIV/AIDS in the context of rapid test: Perception of users and health professionals at a counselling and testing centre in Porto Alegre
Authors: Carvalho Fernanda T , Both Nalu S , Alnoch Edi M , Conz Jaqueline , Rocha Katia B
Published: March 2016

This article discusses the perceptions of professionals and users about counselling practices at a counselling and testing centre in Porto Alegre/RS based on interviews with 27 service users and 14 members of the staff. The following categories emerged from thematic analysis: professionals’ perceptions on counselling, users’ perceptions on counselling and changes in counselling due to the introduction of rapid test procedures. The results show that, although initially there were some imprecision and apparent contradictions in its use, rapid testing was considered an invitation to rethink practices, bringing service closer to users’ needs.
Experiences in the health services network and in the street: Captures and detours in psychology training for public health services
Authors: de Sousa Severo Ana Kalliny , de Melo Arraes Amorim Ana Karenina , Romagnoli Roberta Carvalho
Published: March 2016

This article discusses the internships at the psychosocial health system of Natal, Northeast region of Brazil, as part of training in psychology. The objective of these internships is to offer students work experiences in public health both inside and outside health services. Based on Institutional Analysis and Schizoanalysis, these experiences were examined through two analysers: (1) the power of knowledge and (2) the need for by-passes. We conclude that health provokes tensions between instituted practices in health services and those instituted in psychology training.
Matrix Support in mental health: The experience in Vitória, Espírito Santo
Authors: Iglesias Alexandra , Avellar Luziane Z
Published: March 2016

This study discusses the implementation of Matrix Support in Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil, through analysis of documents and semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that Matrix Support evolved over time to provide community services that reflect local reality, enabling the integration of mental health into primary care practices as well as boosting reduction in the number of psychiatric hospital admissions. Results suggest that the use of collaborative spaces to evaluate Matrix Support network and the services it provides helps to ensure that this strategy is not lost in hierarchies and specialisms.
Group work in the public health context: A proposal for training in psychology
Authors: Rasera Emerson F , Pegoraro Renata F , Pereira Eliane R
Published: March 2016

The entry of psychologists into the public health sector in Brazil is usually connected to a traditional clinical model, and, thus, marked by a lack of training for group work. A reflection on the training of psychologists for group work is essential. Aiming at contributing to this theme, the objective of this article is to discuss the training for group work in the public health sector. In particular, we aim to introduce a proposal for training in psychology in a Brazilian public university, covering a theoretical–practical module, as well as basic and professionalizing internship programmes.
A critical view of the ‘social reinsertion’ concept and its implications for the practice of psychologists in the area of mental health in the Brazilian Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde)
Authors: Frazatto Carina F , Sawaia Bader B
Published: March 2016

Improving psychological practice in mental health services in the Brazilian Unified Health System ( Sistema Único de Saúde) requires a critical analysis of core concepts of the psychiatric reform, such as ‘social reinsertion’. This analysis, oriented by the dialectics of exclusion/inclusion, showed that this concept is impregnated with the adaptation paradigm and asylum view which prevents its effective implantation. The results suggest it is necessary to include social aspects in the discussion of mental health, articulating it with networks of social work and recuperating the revolutionary aspects of the psychiatric reform, thus demarcating the political nature of professional practices.
SIB health psychology in Brazil: The challenges for working in public health settings
Authors: Spink Mary-Jane P , Brigagão Jacqueline M , Menegon Vera M , Vicentin Maria-Cristina G
Published: March 2016

Considering the diversity of theoretical approaches and settings for psychological practice, this editorial provides a background for the articles that have been included in this special issue concerning health psychology in the context of the Brazilian Unified Health System (Sistema Unico de Saude). We addressed issues concerning the national curricular outline for undergraduate training in psychology and historical data on the social movements that led to the creation of the Sistema Unico de Saude and the Psychiatric Reform which created an important area for psychological work absorbing a considerable number of psychologists.
Psychologists in public health: Historical aspects and current challenges
Authors: Ferreira-Neto João L , Henriques Mariana A
Published: March 2016

This article presents the historical context of the insertion of psychology, as a profession, in health policies in Brazil, in order to understand its current challenges. Analysis was based on a non-systematic literature review about professional training, practice, and research in psychology. Three challenges were identified: working in high social vulnerability contexts, practice in multidisciplinary teams and the need to expand the research agenda. We conclude that dealing with these challenges will depend on the area’s capacity to reinvent itself and become more permeable to interdisciplinary dialogue.
Evaluation on thermal behavior of concrete-filled steel tubular columns based on modified finite difference method
Authors: Xiong Ming-Xiang , Wang Yonghui , Liew JY Richard
Published: March 2016

This article presents a modified finite difference method specific for predicting temperatures in concrete-filled steel tubular composite columns. The modifications were based on existing researches on heat transfer analyses of composite columns by finite difference method. The temperature predictions by the modified method were implemented via MATLAB. Validity was established by comparing the predicted temperatures with test results and those obtained from finite element analyses via ABAQUS. The comparisons showed reasonable predictions by the modified finite difference method. Sensitivity studies were also carried out on the effects of emissivity of fire, thermal contact resistance, thermal property model, and cavity ratio based on the modified method. Through the implementation with MATLAB, it is attractive to calculate fire resistance of the concrete-filled steel tubular columns by combining the modified method with the simple calculation models according to Eurocode 4.
Thermographic and mobile indoor mapping for the computation of energy losses in buildings
Authors: López-Fernández L. , Lagüela S. , González-Aguilera D. , Lorenzo H.
Published: March 2016

A mobile indoor mapping system combined with infrared thermography was used for the acquisition of data needed for the quantification of heat loss through a building envelope by conduction; that is, temperature values and building geometry. The methodology presented orthothermograms to provide measurement of heat loss and thermographic images with geometric information. This way, not only the energy loss through the building envelope is provided, but also thermographic information regarding the existence of thermal pathologies, their location and their impact on the building can also be evaluated.
Experienced international business traveller’s behaviour in Iran: A partial least squares path modelling analysis
Authors: Rezaei Sajad , Shahijan Milad Kalantari , Valaei Naser , Rahimi Roya , Ismail Wan Khairuzzaman Wan
Published: March 2016

Few researchers have examined travellers’ experience with destinations despite the importance of their attitudes, behaviour and perception in selecting destinations. Current study aims to examine the relationship between risk perceptions, motivation, information source, travel experience and destination image among experienced international business travellers in Iran. The total number of 234 valid questionnaires was collected from international business travellers and structural equation modelling was employed using partial least squares path-modelling analysis to assess measurement and structural model for reflective constructs. Our empirical results support the negative relationship between destination image and risk perception, travel experience and risk perception while information sources were found to be unrelated to travellers risk perceptions. The results further shown that information sources and destination image, information sources and motivation, motivation and travel experience and destination image are related. However, the partial least squares-multigroup analysis results reveal that the significance of path coefficients differs across various demographic subgroups. Moreover, our results support experience and risk perception as a second-order reflective construct. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed along with a discussion on research limitations.
Host and backpacker perceptions of environmental impacts of backpacker tourism: A case study of the Yasawa Islands, Fiji
Authors: Sroypetch Supattra , Carr Neil , Duncan Tara
Published: March 2016

This paper examines host and backpacker perceptions of the environmental impacts of backpacker tourism on local communities in less-developed countries. The discussion is based on data collected in 2011 via surveys and interviews with host and backpacker populations in the Yasawa Islands of Fiji. The results suggest that there is a significant difference between the perceptions of hosts and their guests towards the environmental impacts of backpacker tourism. Backpackers believe that they generate a higher extent of negative environmental impacts on the destination than those perceived by their hosts. This study broadens the understanding of the impacts of backpacker tourism from dual perspectives – both the hosts and guests.
Introduction to touring consumption
Authors: Sonnenburg Stephan , Wee Desmond
Published: March 2016

This Journal of Consumer Culture Special Issue reviews core perspectives of touring consumption as a means to explore tourism and mobilities as categories of meta-analysis for consumption and consuming. It advances theory and research on various kinds of ‘touring’ that shift towards the agencies of the tourist/traveller as consumer and consumption as being embodied as part of everyday practice in transitional states of touring. What becomes evident is the incorporation of co-consumptive practices based on a reflexive touring, especially in how we consume, authenticate and experience. The objectives for the special issue include (1) a critical understanding of how the material and imagined worlds intersect through commodification processes in touring contexts, (2) an in-depth appreciation of how touring consumption may contribute to our understanding of mobile and fluid states of consumption practices and (3) a critical insight into the expanding implications of how the everyday is being shaped by touring. A brief summary of the six articles that follow appears in this introduction.
Touring the consumption of the Other: Imaginaries of authenticity in the Himalayas and beyond
Authors: Howard Christopher A.
Published: March 2016

Based on a mobile ethnography of tourism and pilgrimage in the Himalayan region, this article interprets performances and imaginaries of Western travellers as a meta-commentary on late modern life. Being typically critical of consumer culture, Himalayan travellers often demonstrated positive yet naive appraisal and nostalgia for places and people perceived as non-modern, natural and authentic. Such eco-utopian imaginaries are consistent with media representations of the region and the wider discourse of reflexive modernity. While Himalayan journeys are often inspired and oriented by a search for authenticity and the seduction of difference, such valued ideals are contested by the same late capitalist conditions that make encounters with the Other and global mobility possible. Tourist consumers thus seek to capture authentic objects of desire before they are destroyed, while paradoxically contributing to their destruction in the process. At the same time, it is shown how the quest for authenticity exposes travellers to the possibility of other, less consuming and more sustainable forms of life.