bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Data Collection/Data Distribution Center: Building a Sustainable African-American Church-Based Research Network
Authors: Roberson James T. , Carey Tim , Godley Paul , Howard Daniel L. , Boyd Carlton , Ammerman Alice
Published: November 2008

Background: This article describes the Carolina–Shaw Partnership for the Elimination of Health Disparities efforts to engage a diverse group of Black churches in a sustainable network.
Objectives: We sought to develop a diverse network of 25 churches to work with the Carolina–Shaw Partnership to develop sustainable health disparities research, education, and intervention initiatives.
Methods: Churches were selected based on location, pastoral buy-in, and capacity to engage. A purposive sampling technique was applied.
Lessons Learned: (1) Collecting information on the location and characteristics of churches helps to identify and recruit churches that possess the desired qualities and characteristics. (2) The process used to identify, recruit, and select churches is time intensive. (3) The time, energy, and effort required managing an inter-institutional partnership and engage churches in health disparities research and interventions lends itself to sustainability.
Conclusions: The development of a sustainable network of churches could lead to successful health disparities initiatives.
Focus on the Future: A Community Health Worker Research Agenda by and for the Field
Authors: Rosenthal E. Lee , de Heer Hendrik , Rush Carl H. , Holderby Lisa-Renee
Published: November 2008

Problem: Research articles describing community health worker (CHW) programs often focus on program activities and short-term outcomes, failing to assess CHWs’ long-term contributions to improving individual and community health. Reflecting this, CHWs are supported by short-term public and private funding.
Purpose: To inform policies that will potentially increase support and funding for CHW work, specific research is needed providing evidence of CHW effectiveness. This article describes the development of a CHW research agenda by and for the field.
Key Points: CHWs, researchers, and stakeholders (policy makers, funders, others) collaborated during and after a conference to develop and refine a 164 question agenda targeting six areas (Table 1).
Conclusions: Key research areas identified by the agenda development participants include:
•   
CHW impact on health status;
•   
CHW cost effectiveness;
•   
Building CHW capacity and sustaining CHWs on the job;
•   
Funding options;
•   
CHWs as capacity builders; and
•   
CHWs promoting real access to care.
The West End Revitalization Association (WERA)’s Right to Basic Amenities Movement: Voice and Language of Ownership and Management of Public Health Solutions in Mebane, North Carolina
Authors: Wilson Omega R. , Bumpass Natasha G. , Wilson Omari M. , Snipes Marilyn H.
Published: November 2008

The West End Revitalization Association (WERA) cultivated strategies for assessing environmental hazards, managing stakeholder participation, and implementing corrective actions in three low-income African American communities in Mebane, North Carolina. The community voices evolved into language to drive WERA’s “Right to Basic Amenities Movement” as a way to address health, legal, and quality-of-life disparities. The sustainability of this movement depends on communicating a solutions process with funding equity. Disparities are a way of life for impacted residents: dusty dead-end streets, contaminated drinking water, failed backyard septic tanks, and putrid odors. WERA organized on “common knowledge” for effective use of public health statutes and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. WERA’s board, staff, and volunteers exercised their voices in the language of government, public health, university research, and legal agencies. WERA’s best practices and lessons learned may influence public policy in comparable communities in North Carolina and throughout the nation.
Building a Successful Community Coalition–University Partnership at the Arizona–Sonora Border
Authors: Hill Anne , de Zapien Jill Guernsey , Stewart Rosie , Whitmer Evelyn , Caruso Yolanda , Dodge Lea , Kirkoff Mary , Melo Emma , Staten Lisa
Published: November 2008

Purpose: The purpose of the case study is to explore a successful community–university partnership through community-based participatory action and to examine the partnership’s ability to make policy changes toward improving health behaviors.
Background: Diabetes mortality at the U.S.–Mexico Border is twice the national average. Poor health care access is also a concern. These factors prompted Douglas community members to form a community coalition and invite university participation.
Historical Overview: Douglas coalition members and University of Arizona (UA) partners worked together to improve chronic disease prevention and control in Douglas, Arizona, by engaging programmatic and policy activities and working with the local schools and government.
Coalition/Partnership Effectiveness, Strengths, and Weaknesses: Data were collected from multiple sources, including key informant interviews, the Wilder Collaboration Factors Inventory, and annual evaluations to document effectiveness, strengths, and weaknesses.
Conclusion: A successful community coalition–university partnership is the result of long-term collaboration, equal participation, and acknowledgement that policy work takes time. The Douglas partnership, through policy, has effected local health behavior changes.
Assessing Community Readiness for Change in the Nashville Hispanic Community Through Participatory Research
Authors: Hull Pamela C. , Canedo Juan , Aquilera Jose , Garcia Erandi , Lira Irma , Reyes Francisco
Published: November 2008

Background: “New-growth communities” with rapidly growing Hispanic populations often have little experience with addressing the needs of this population. “Community readiness for change” is the degree to which a community is prepared to take action on an issue.
Objectives: This study assessed the stage of community readiness for change in the area of Hispanic health in Nashville, using the community readiness model (CRM) and a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, through a partnership between an academic research center and a nonprofit, grassroots, Hispanic organization.
Methods: Qualitative and quantitative data were collected by trained community interviewers and the academic researcher using a semistructured questionnaire based on the CRM. The sample of key informants included (1) a purposive sample of 18 organizations, and (2) a convenience sample of 50 Hispanic community members.
Results: The organizations were at a higher stage (stage 5, preparation) than the Hispanic community members were (stage 4, preplanning), particularly in the dimensions of Leadership, Resources, and Knowledge of Efforts. The community members were also aware of fewer local efforts focused on Hispanic health than the organizations (average of 4.5 vs. 7.6).
Conclusions: Recommendations were made for stageappropriate, community-level interventions. The assessment results are being used by Nashville Latino Health Coalition (NLHC) to plan collaborative initiatives to address Hispanic health needs in Nashville. This study demonstrates the utility of the CRM as a model for assessing a community’s stage of readiness to take action, and the feasibility of applying it using a CBPR approach in a “new-growth” Hispanic community.
Increasing Accessibility for Community Participants at Academic Conferences
Authors: Travers Robb , Wilson Michael , McKay Colleen , O’Campo Patricia , Meagher Aileen , Hwang Stephen W. , Parris Urica Jenny , Cowan Laura
Published: November 2008

Background: To decrease the gulf between academic and community perspectives, there has been an increased call among stakeholder groups to collaborate in solving complex urban health problems. Despite these recent shifts, however, community partners face barriers to participate in conferences, ultimately limiting exchange of ideas and uptake of research data. This paper reports on the evaluation of the strategy used to engage community participants at the 4th International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH) held in Toronto, Canada, in October, 2005.
Method : We surveyed participants ( n = 98) and conducted follow-up interviews ( n = 23) to assess factors that facilitated attendance at ICUH 2005 as well as the impact of the conference on their work.
Results: Community registrants were drawn by accessible fee structures, scholarship opportunities, and preconference workshops relevant to their interests. Both community and academic registrants were drawn by the presence of a separate conference stream showcasing high-quality and rigorous community-based participatory research (CBPR). The conference provided valuable opportunities for networking with other community-based researchers by facilitating the development of relationships between community registrants and researchers, increased the profile and legitimacy of CBPR, and reinforced the value of community input in research. It also provided opportunities for capacity building—knowledge sharing and heightened awareness of CBPR.
Conclusion: The 4th ICUH had a significant impact on community registrants and provided valuable opportunities to bridge academic and community divides. These data support the need for comprehensive strategies for community engagement at health conferences.
Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Among Latinas Attending Culturally Specific Educational Programs
Authors: Jandorf Lina , Bursac Zoran , Pulley LeaVonne , Trevino Michelle , Castillo Anabella , Erwin Deborah O.
Published: November 2008

Background. Latinas in the United States have higher morbidity and mortality rates for breast and cervical cancers (compared with non-Latina Whites), often due to lower screening rates. A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach could help to improve screening rates by creating a culturally customized educational program for Latino men and women addressing low knowledge, gender roles, and spirituality.
Objectives. This study was designed to assess the effectiveness of a culturally customized program ( Esperanza y Vida [Hope and Life]) in increasing breast and cervical cancer screening among Latinas, and to examine how screening rates related to changes in cancer knowledge, differences in ethnic origins, and geographic location.
Methods. Participants were recruited to attend either a breast and cervical (intervention) or diabetes (control) education program, within a randomized plan. Sixty-nine programs (44 intervention; 25 control) were conducted in Arkansas (AR; n = 39) and New York City (NYC; n = 30) with a total of 847 Latino men and women. Telephone follow-up data were collected on 49% of the women who consented to being contacted 2 months postintervention.
Results. At the 2-month follow-up call, screening rates were significantly higher for the intervention versus the control group for clinical breast examination (CBE; 48% vs. 31%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1–4.2), breast self-examination (45% vs. 27%; aOR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.1–5.0), and Pap testing (51% vs. 30%; aOR, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.1–14.1), but not for mammography (67% vs. 58%; aOR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.1–3.6). The aORs accounted for the significant effects of study site (AR vs. NYC) and marital status.
Conclusions. Esperanza y Vida has the potential to reduce health disparities in breast and cervical cancer morbidity and mortality rates through increasing cancer screening and thereby increasing early detection.
Building International Partnerships Through an On-Line Humor Exchange
Authors: Welch Kathleen J. , Maiuri Tiffany , Poleshchuk Anatoly
Published: November 2008

The Maine/Komi Online Collaborative (MKOC) provides an online learning tool for high school students in Franklin County, Maine, and Komi, Russia. The tool, or “Humor Exchange,” teaches students to use positive humor to manage stress and provide social support. Rural, disadvantaged students also become more competitive to enter college due to the language and multicultural experiences. Students utilize Blackboard’s Discussion Forum and videoconferencing. Art and theater are integral components of this tool. The majority of students report that the tool is “fun” and that they have learned humorous ways to deal with stress, provide social support, and experience another culture. The videoconferencing has proven to be a unique and exciting way to communicate. This tool promotes social well-being among two countries that have been adversaries. It has mobilized social change by including the community, namely, rural high school students, where it is difficult to obtain multicultural experiences.
Macroeconomic Crises since 1870
Authors: Barro Robert J. , Ursúa José F.
Published: November 2008

We build on Angus Maddison’s data by assembling international time series from before 1914 on real per capita personal consumer expenditure, C, and by improving the GDP data. We have full annual data on C for twenty-four countries and GDP for thirty-six. For samples starting at 1870, we apply a peak-to-trough method to isolate economic crises, defined as cumulative declines in C or GDP of at least 10 percent. We find 95 crises for C and 152 for GDP, implying disaster probabilities of 3½ percent a year, with mean size of 21–22 percent and average duration of 3½ years. Simulation of a Lucas-tree model with i.i.d. shocks and Epstein-Zin-Weil preferences accords with the observed average equity premium of around 7 percent on levered equity, using a coefficient of relative risk aversion of 3.5. This result is robust to several perturbations, except for limiting the sample to nonwar crises.
Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox
Authors: Stevenson Betsey , Wolfers Justin
Published: November 2008

The “Easterlin paradox” suggests that there is no link between a society’s economic development and its average level of happiness. We reassess this paradox, analyzing multiple rich datasets spanning many decades. Using recent data on a broader array of countries, we establish a clear positive link between average levels of subjective well-being and GDP per capita across countries, and find no evidence of a satiation point beyond which wealthier countries have no further increases in subjective well-being. We show that the estimated relationship is consistent across many datasets and is similar to that between subjective well-being and income observed within countries. Finally, examining the relationship between changes in subjective well-being and income over time within countries, we find economic growth associated with rising happiness. Together these findings indicate a clear role for absolute income and a more limited role for relative income comparisons in determining happiness.
When Does Policy Reform Work?: The Case of Central Bank Independence
Authors: Acemoglu Daron , Johnson Simon , Querubín Pablo , Robinson James A.
Published: November 2008

Questions of the effectiveness of economic policy reform are inseparable from the political economy factors responsible for distortionary policies in the first place. Distortionary policies are more likely to be adopted where politicians face fewer constraints. Hence reform should have modest effects in societies where the political system already imposes strong constraints, and in societies with weak constraints, because it does not alter the underlying political economy. Reform should be most effective in societies with intermediate constraints. Furthermore, effective reform in one dimension may lead to deterioration in others, as politicians address the underlying demands through other means—a phenomenon we call the seesaw effect. We report evidence that central bank reforms reduced inflation in countries with intermediate constraints but had no or little effect where constraints were strong or weak. We also present evidence consistent with the seesaw effect: in countries where central bank reform reduces inflation, government expenditure tends to increase.
Earning from History?: Financial Markets and the Approach of World Wars
Authors: Ferguson Niall
Published: November 2008

Are world financial markets paying due heed to geopolitical risk? Despite unchallenged U.S. military supremacy, the financial consequences of a terrorist nuclear strike, or war in the Middle East or the Taiwan Strait—or some totally unforeseen conflict—could still be enormous. That globalization under a powerful hegemon has strengthened linkages among national economies may not rule out another major war: such linkages were also strong on the eve of World War I, which thus caught investors off guard. Investors try to learn from history, but the very different financial impacts of the two world wars and the Cold War reveal the tendency of military technology and regulatory regimes to shift significantly, reducing the relevance of past experience. Any lessons investors might take from the last war could have limited relevance for the next—or be forgotten after a generation of relative peace has led to complacency.
The Economics of Place-Making Policies
Authors: Glaeser Edward L. , Gottlieb Joshua D.
Published: November 2008

Should the national government undertake policies aimed at strengthening the economies of particular localities or regions? Agglomeration economies and human capital spillovers suggest that such policies could enhance welfare. However, the mere existence of agglomeration externalities does not indicate which places should be subsidized. Without a better understanding of nonlinearities in these externalities, any government spatial policy is as likely to reduce as to increase welfare. Transportation spending has historically done much to make or break particular places, but current transportation spending subsidizes low-income, low-density places where agglomeration effects are likely to be weakest. Most large-scale place-oriented policies have had little discernable impact. Some targeted policies such as Empowerment Zones seem to have an effect but are expensive relative to their achievements. The greatest promise for a national place-based policy lies in impeding the tendency of highly productive areas to restrict their own growth through restrictions on land use.
Trade and Wages, Reconsidered
Authors: Krugman Paul R.
Published: November 2008

Standard economic analysis predicts that increased U.S. trade with unskilled labor–abundant countries should reduce the relative wages of U.S. unskilled labor, but empirical studies in the 1990s found only a modest effect. Has the situation changed in this decade, given the surge in imports from very low wage countries? In fact, most of this increase has been in skill-intensive goods such as computers, so that one would expect little additional impact on U.S. relative wages. However, developing countries appear to be specializing in unskilled labor–intensive niches within these industries. If so, the effect on wage inequality could still be significant. The paper develops a model and a numerical example showing that when developing countries can take over the unskilled labor–intensive portions of vertically specialized industries, the consequences can closely resemble the textbook effect. But determining the actual impact will require more finely disaggregated factor content data than are currently available.
Denuncia y univocidad: la narración del trujillato
Authors: Cuiñas Ana Gallego
Published: November 2008

Este ensayo hace un recorrido por las variadas modulaciones que adopta la representación literaria de la dictadura de Trujillo a través del tiempo: entre la denuncia y la univocidad. Las distintas formas que adquiere esta ficción dan cuenta de la complejidad del fenómeno del trujillato, integrándolo en una causalidad de orden explicativo que apunta a una realidad social traumatizada que, por ende, cristaliza discursos literarios traumatizados. Tras la muerte del dictador, el escritor dominicano trató de horadar el silencio y el miedo impuesto por la tiranía de Trujillo y ensayó maneras de abrir algunos espacios—a través de la ficción—que permitieran procesar esa experiencia. Las repuestas a las dictaduras son de naturaleza plural, pero suelen integrar a élites y culturas populares, expandiendo espacios que en la tiranía habían sido inexplorados por la férrea censura. En el caso del trujillato esto se traduce principalmente en la producción de novelas que siguen los presupuestos de la mimesis tradicional, y se concentran en los efectos de la dictadura en el pueblo. Entonces, lo que se va a recrear será la denuncia del contingente trujillista y los hacedores de su ideología por un lado; y por otro, la vindicación de los héroes anónimos que lucharon fervientemente por derrocar la dictadura. Será en la década de los noventa cuando se produzca el viraje y las plumas dominicanas, junto con las de fuera, emprendan un proceso de desmitificación del tirano, adentrándose en el terreno de la novela de dictador.
Indeterminacy and the Subversive in Representations of the Trujillato
Authors: Lifshey Adam
Published: November 2008

The mid-twentieth-century dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo established in the Dominican Republic one of the most hermetically tyrannical states in the history of Latin America. The most well-known literary reconstruction in Spanish of that regime is La fiesta del Chivo by Mario Vargas Llosa, a grimly denunciatory novel published in 2000. La fiesta del Chivo , however, does not seem particularly subversive. This is due to its general absence of ambiguity at levels of both structure and content. The reader is led tightly by the author from character to character, narrative strain to narrative strain, with little freedom of interpretation beyond that inherent in any literary artifact. By contrast, less-disseminated texts by Dominicans that consider the Trujillato, such as Freddy Prestol Castillo's testimonial novel El Masacre se pasa a pie and Juan Bosch's short story "La mancha indeleble," mask their subversiveness in, respectively, narrative fragmentation and uncertain allegory. These fictions are compellingly indeterminate in that the ambiguities offered by a choppy polyphony in one case and an imprecise symbolism in the other force a reader to work actively to arrive at conclusions about the dictatorship. Although the indeterminate nature of the two Dominican texts leaves open interpretive possibilities that are not contestatory of the regime they consider, at a deeper level such readerly freedom works against the suffocating control of word and person wielded by Trujillo.
Revealing Beauty/Revealing History in El sueño de Venecia
Authors: Soliño María Elena
Published: November 2008

Paloma Díaz-Mas's El suenõ de Venecia is a historical novel that traces not only important eras of Spanish history between the seventeenth century and 1992, but also Spain's literary history, since each chapter is written in a style imitative of that corresponding to the time in which the action takes place. What holds together such a literary mosaic is the wedding portrait that appears in each chapter as an ancestral treasure for the descendents of the Jewish courtesan Gracia de Mendoza. The conclusion, titled "Memoria," parodies the discourses of the art historian whose task it is to decipher the mystery of the lady in the portrait. Thus, Díaz-Mas, a historian herself, has produced a novel that blends a critique of modern Spanish historiography with a portrait of the Spain of 1992 that is revealed as a liminal space where modernity and the past coexist uneasily. The present essay posits that the novel is structured as a female picaresque in which through her self-fashioning, Gracia invites the modern reader to recover a past that imperial Spain banished. In keeping with the novel's invitation to uncover hidden truths, I argue that the character Gracia has precedents in historical women, mainly the Sephardic heroine Gracia Nasi Mendes. Finally, through a study of the novel's last chapter, we turn to the use of a child narrator who functions as the cultural critic who through the innocence of her gaze, bids the reader to embrace the complexities of the past for a nation that is still resisting the seductive beauty of a legacy that is both Semitic and feminine.
Confinement, Consolation, and Confession in Galdós's La desheredada
Authors: Ewald Liana
Published: November 2008

This article examines the motif of confinement in Galdós's La desheredada (1881) as an anxious commentary on socio-political structures in Restoration Spain and on the writer's literary form in this novel. The objective of the study is to show that Galdós's appraisal of successive levels of confinement in La desheredada constituted a crucial stage in his development as a writer that would lead him to innovations in both his literary content and form after the publication of this work. The narrative of La desheredada reveals that nineteenth-century psychiatric therapies such as the moral treatment and medical interrogation were indebted to the pastoral practices of consolation and confession. This melding of disparate discourses establishes a troubling continuity between the cultural systems of the Old Regime and modernity that is expressed in the text through the motif of enclosure. The notion of confinement is shown to pervade the novel at the formal level of narrative technique through the fusion of medico-religious discourse with narrative modes of representing consciousness. And the physical particulars of the publication history of La desheredada are shown to extend the motif of confinement beyond the pages of the novel. The first chapter of La desheredada was serially excerpted in the medical journal El Diario Médico , thereby enclosing the narrative in the same medical discourse that the novel is engaged in critiquing.
The Politics of Form: Three Twentieth-Century Spanish American Poets and the Sonnet
Authors: Kuhnheim Jill S.
Published: November 2008

This article engages the idea of poetic form to create a dialogue among three very different twentieth-century Spanish American poets: Argentine Alfonsina Storni, Chilean Enrique Lihn, and Cuban Reinaldo Arenas. Each of them uses the sonnet's privileged position in Western aesthetic tradition to manifest shifting relations to this tradition and to modernity. In this, they open a dialogue with the lettered elite and use part of their cultural inheritance as letrados to confront the old order through an established aesthetic form, to reconfigure or question the opposition between high and low cultural forms to varying degrees and to different ends. These poets resignify their cultural legacy and in the process demonstrate its malleability—the sonnet is not monolithic, but mutable. An invitation to reinvent, the sonnet as employed by these poets embodies a range of intercultural experiences of both continuity and transformation. These readings, which engage with a range of poetic traditions (such as North American New Formalism), reveal how the choice of poetic form both shapes and depends upon the author's and his or her readers' experience and how a particular aesthetic form is both charged and changed by circumstance.
Gay Teachers' Negotiated Interactions with Their Students and (Straight) Colleagues
Authors: Mayo J.B.
Published: November 2008

In this article, the author examines two sets of complex relationships at school: one between gay teachers and their students and another between the same gay teachers and their colleagues at school. Some researchers have maintained that gay teachers fail to advocate for gay and questioning youth because they fear showing support for these students places their jobs in jeopardy. The author found, however, that the gay teachers in this study responded to gay students' needs and demonstrated support in a variety of ways, despite working in school environments that were often hostile toward the GLBT community. The author also discusses an array of relationships found between gay teachers and their heterosexual colleagues at school. These relationships uncovered no particular pattern, but reinforced the idea that gay teachers must negotiate each faculty interaction and make decisions about revealing their sexual orientation accordingly. The author closes with recommendations for school administrators and teacher educators, and strongly suggests that all faculty members take responsibility for the well being of gay and questioning students.
Experiencing Attrition of Special Education Teachers Through Narrative Inquiry
Authors: DeMik Sheryl A.
Published: November 2008

In the area of special education, there exists a shortage of qualified teachers, partially due to the departure of special education teachers from the field. In this study, the attrition of special education teachers was examined through case studies of current and former special educators using a narrative inquiry style. Study participants offered insight into their role as a special educator. While these special education teachers each displayed passion for their job and their students, the differences in their personalities drove them toward unique responses to the pressures of the job, causing some to choose to stay in the field and others to leave. They also expressed a need for more cooperation between general educators and themselves.
Do High School Students Know What Practices are Appropriate in Physical Education
Authors: Barney David , Strand Brad
Published: November 2008

The NASPE Appropriate Practices for High School Physical Education document was published for the purpose of "addressing key aspects of instructional strategies and practices that are essential to delivery of quality physical education to adolescents and young adults" (pg.3). The purpose of this study was to investigate high school student's knowledge of appropriate practices in high school physical education. Three hundred and sixty-nine high school students were surveyed regarding appropriate practices in high school physical education. It was found that picking teams in class was appropriate, that dressing out for class and attendance is a part of their grade in class and that out of class assignments is inappropriate for student to have in class.
Top 10 Ways For a Smooth Graduation Project Implementation
Authors: Lowder Christopher M.
Published: November 2008

The Graduation Project is a new high school exit project required by the state of North Carolina beginning with the Class of 2010. After 18 months of comprehensive Graduation Project planning in Cabarrus County, N.C. a suburban district with approximately 27,000 students, this district can offer specific implementation guidelines that will assist other school districts. There are 10 ways, based on recent implementation experience, that are suggested to make the process simpler and easier for districts that are beginning the process.
Health-enhancing Behaviors among High School Students in Turkey
Authors: Siyez Diğdem M.
Published: November 2008

Problem Statement: A body of research has documented the positive consequences of health-enhancing behaviors. Studies in western countries showed that participation in health enhancing behaviors declines in the period of adolescence. The aim of the study was to examine the involvement in health-enhancing behaviors among adolescents in Izmir, Turkey. In this study interrelations among the health-enhancing behaviors and whether the adolescents' healthy behaviors differed significantly in their gender were also investigated Method: A total of 1237 adolescents (666 girls, 571 boys) randomly selected from high schools in Izmir were surveyed. The Health-Enhancing Behavior Index (HEBI) was used to identify the healthy behaviors. Results: Turkish adolescents showed a low prevalence of healthy diet, exercise, and a high prevalence of sedentary behaviors. In addition, the findings revealed that adolescents' health-enhancing behaviors were statistically correlated with each other's, and involvement in health-enhancing behaviors differed by gender. Conclusions: These results may be useful in developing targeted health education programs in Turkey.
Who's Taking the Advanced Placement Courses and How Are They Doing: A Statewide Two-Year Study
Authors: Moore George W. , Slate John R.
Published: November 2008

Enrollment in Advanced Placement courses in all high school campuses in the State of Texas was examined for the 2004-2005 and the 2005 2006 school years to determine the extent to which student diversity was present. A higher percentage of the female student body, 17%, was enrolled in Advanced Placement courses than was the male student body, 13%. Almost a fifth of the White student body was enrolled in Advanced Placement courses, compared with slightly over 10% of the Hispanic student body and the African American student body. The percentages of economically disadvantaged students, Limited English Proficient, and students with special learning needs were low, as anticipated. Student success in these courses, however, differed as a function of gender and ethnicity, with African American students experiencing the least success. Of interest was that Hispanic students demonstrated the highest degree of success in these courses. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Export-Led Growth Hypothesis: A Multivariate Cointegration and Causality Evidence for Jordan
Authors: Husein Jamal
Published: November 2008

Empirical evidence supporting the export-led growth (ELG) hypothesis has been mixed and inconclusive. Many previous studies may have been misspecified since they tested the ELG hypothesis using bivariate models. Other studies used cointegration and error correction models in a multivariate framework, but failed to tackle the important issues of unit root testing and optimal lag length when testing for cointegration. Following Dhawn and Biswal (1999), this study examines the ELG hypothesis for Jordan in a multivariate framework by including terms of trade as a third variable and by using available annual data (1969-2005). We utilize Johansen and Saikkonen and Lütkepohl cointegration procedures and error correction modeling to test long-run and short-run relations between GDP, exports, and terms of trade. The study finds that real GDP, real exports, and terms of trade are cointegrated. The evidence suggests long-run bidirectional causality between real exports and real GDP. The results of this study suggest that promoting exports via export promotion policies will contribute to economic growth in Jordan.
The Monopoly Power of Multinational Enterprises in the Service Sector of a Developing Country
Authors: Gelan Abera
Published: November 2008

This paper draws attention to the implications of the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the presence of monopoly power of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the industries that are natural monopolies of a developing host country. We also take into account the MNEs' behavior that relies on the local capital market in order to finance their FDI. In a simple general model, we show that these firms use their advanced technology to lure local resources to the industries under their control away from the industries under the control of indigenous firms. As a result, the MNEs are likely to prosper from their activities at the expense of indigenous firms. This reduces employment and leads to a fall in real national income of the host country. It is further shown that a long-run expansion of the indigenous firms may be stalled by the monopoly power of MNEs which impedes the allocative efficiency of relative price and hinders local resources from adjusting to factor rewards.
Social Interactions, Spatial Dependence, and Children's Activities: Evidence From India
Authors: Chamarbagwala Rubiana
Published: November 2008

After controlling for a wide range of determinants of children's participation in work, school, and idleness, we examine whether or not there exists spatial dependence in children's activities in neighboring Indian districts. We find that correlation among neighboring districts' unobservables play a significant role in determining the proportion of children who attend school, work, and are idle in a district. We attribute a large part of spatially correlated unobservables to common social attitudes, beliefs, and norms with respect to children's activities in neighboring districts. This suggests implementing policies that not only target the quality and quantity of education, but also change social attitudes in favor of education and against idleness and child labor.
The Effect of Economic Factors on the Tax Ratio in Trinidad and Tobago
Authors: Sookram Sandra , Saridakis George
Published: November 2008

We focus on the potential economic factors of tax revenue in Trinidad and Tobago and present cointegration test statistics for a second order VAR(2) based on Johansen's maximum likelihood approach. Our results suggest a positive relationship between the level of income and the tax ratio and also that external debt and inflation impede the collection of taxes. Additionally, we find that the degree of openness exerts an insignificant impact on the tax ratio. Our study recommends potential areas that may be targeted in order to raise tax revenues and which may also raise the consciousness that tax reform is a very important subject matter.
The Impact of Corruption on Deforestation: A Cross-Country Evidence
Authors: Koyuncu Cuneyt , Yilmaz Rasim
Published: November 2008

We hypothesized that corruption could contribute to deforestation. The present study, therefore, try to identify such a relation between corruption and deforestation. By using three different corruption indices, we found a statistically significant strong positive relation between corruption and deforestation for different periods across different countries. This finding remains valid in both univariate and multivariate models. Also, the model takes the potential heteroscedasticity problem, common in cross-section studies, into account and makes correction if necessary. To our best knowledge, this study is the first cross-country study addressing to the issue by utilizing all available corruption indices, namely Corruption Perception Index (CPI), International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) index, and Business Intelligence (BI) index. Policies and measures taken towards reducing corruption, therefore, may help to decrease illegal forest activities (e.g. illegal logging and timbering, smuggling of forest products etc.) and in turn depletion of forests.
Government Expenditures on Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Education
Authors: Welsch David M.
Published: November 2008

Most underdeveloped countries spend much more on tertiary education per student versus primary and secondary education per student, while in developed countries this ratio is much smaller. To examine this issue I present an overlapping generations model with heterogeneous agents. Heterogeneity arises from differential innate ability. Agents choose how many years of school to attend. The government also provides different amounts of funding for primary plus secondary schooling and tertiary schooling. The government allows only the top percentile of students graduating from secondary education to participate in tertiary education. I find that insufficient funding for primary and secondary school hurts every individual in the economy as well as decreasing output and increasing inequality, while excessive funding for primary plus secondary school per pupil leads to a huge tax burden, decreasing the welfare of all individuals.
Savings and Growth in Bangladesh
Authors: Agrawal Pradeep , Sahoo Pravakar
Published: November 2008

Savings and growth are often strongly correlated. Thus, it is important to study the determinants of savings and the direction of causality between savings and growth as these have important implications for development policy. Yet, careful empirical studies on savings behavior are missing for Bangladesh. Thus, in this paper, we estimate the long-run total and private savings functions for Bangladesh using recent time series techniques. We find that the total savings rate is mainly determined by the GDP growth rate, dependency ratio, interest rates and bank density. The private savings rate is also affected by the public savings rate. Further, using the Granger Causality tests, we find that in Bangladesh, there is a bi-directional causality between savings and growth. We also carry out the Forecast Error Variance Decomposition (FEVD) analysis using the VAR framework. The FEVD results confirm the causality results obtained using the Granger causality tests as well as the estimated savings functions.
Economic Geography and Manufacturing Productivity in Africa: Ananalysis of Firm Level Data
Authors: Elbadawi Ibrahim , Mengistae Taye , Temesge Tilahun , Zeufack Albert
Published: November 2008

We compare samples of textiles and garments producers across groups of countries to find that, in general, productivity is far lower in Sub-Saharan Africa than it is in India. Indian manufacturers in turn are significantly less productive than their counterparts in Morocco, while producers in some SSA countries do match or exceed the Indian standard. The paper assesses the importance of geography as a possible factor in these gaps compared to such possible causes as trade policy and the quality of public institutions. It turns out that both institutions and trade policy are strong influences on country productivity averages. However, geography is also as powerful an influence in as far as it affects access to export markets and to input supplies.
Trade Facilitation And Africa's Manufactured Goods' Export: A Panel Data Analysis
Authors: Akinkugbe Oluyele
Published: November 2008

This paper examines how issues of trade facilitation continue to discourage the export of manufactured goods from Africa. Pooled, cross-country, annual time series data for the period 1995 – 2004 for 20 African countries were used to examine nature of the relationship between some selected indicators of trade facilitation—Corruption perception index, roads network, number of start-up procedures for register a business, taxes on exports—and export of manufactured goods. Our conclusions are that policy-regime improvements and conscious efforts at removing all forms of constraints to the free flow of goods could have a significant impact on goods exports from Africa. Our recommendations are that governments in the different African countries will need to focus on ways of achieving acceptable standards and best practices in terms of facilitating trade expansion. Reform policies have to be targeted at these indicators so as to be more engaged in the global value chain.
Farmers' Knowledge of Health Risks and Protective Gear Associated with Pesticide Use on Cotton In Mozambique
Authors: Jones Eugene , Mabota Anabela , Larson Donald W.
Published: November 2008

Cotton production and chemical use have increased considerably in Mozambique. These changes mean that it is important to understand whether farmers know the hazards of using chemicals and also know the available preventive measures. Observed farmers' behavior leads us to believe that Mozambican farmers lack knowledge of the risks of pesticide use and do not take preventive measures. This paper investigates factors that determine farmers' knowledge of protective gear and health risks associated with pesticide use. Personal interviews were completed with a random sample of 90 households in the Nampula cotton-producing region of Mozambique during summer of 2002. Logistic models are specified that highlight determinants of health risk and use of protective gear knowledge among farmers. The level of health risk knowledge and the level of knowledge of protective gear are modeled as binary variables. Results of the knowledge of health risk provide evidence that availability of health risk information and producer network membership increases the farmers' health risk knowledge.
Measuring the Benefit of Prenatal Care in a Less-Developed Country: Semi-Parametric Estimates from Uruguay
Authors: Jewell R. Todd , Rous Jeffrey J.
Published: November 2008

This study extends extant research on prenatal care and birthweight to the South American country of Uruguay. The data represent a population of poor women from a less-developed country with a health care system that provides both prenatal and obstetric care free of charge. We find a positive effect of increased prenatal care use on birthweight, with a small marginal effect that is similar to that found in studies using US data. The results highlight the usefulness of existing methodologies for estimating the effect of prenatal care on birthweight and the importance of extending these methodologies to data from developing countries.
Foreign Aid and Growth in Nepal: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Bhattarai Badri Prasad
Published: November 2008

Using cointegration and error correction mechanism, this paper investigates the effectiveness of aid in Nepal during the period 1983-2002. Specifically, it examines the long-run relationship between aid and per capita real GDP. To address the current debate on whether aid works only in a good policy environment, we have included policy variables for macroeconomic stability, financial sector development and openness in an extended model. The results show that foreign aid has a positive and statistically significant effect on per capita real GDP in the long-run. More importantly, aid effectiveness improves in the presence of good policy environment.
Is It Economic Growth or Socioeconomic Development?: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Determinants of Infant Mortality
Authors: Arik Hulya , Arik Murat
Published: November 2008

Some recent studies suggest narrowly defined economic growth is the key to reducing the infant mortality rate. A host of new studies emerged in reaction to this assertion. These new studies emphasize the role of increased health expenditures in reducing infant mortality rates. Analyzing the infant mortality rate using cross-sectional data for provinces in Turkey, this paper first ranks provinces by their level of socioeconomic development, and then tests both linear and nonlinear regression models to explore the relationship between the infant mortality rate and the indicators of socioeconomic development. This paper contributes to the infant mortality literature by providing additional insights into the determinants of infant mortality using consistently measured cross-sectional data for the provinces within a developing country. Our findings indicate that per capita gross domestic product is a significant determinant of the infant mortality rate, but the relationship is not a linear one.
Export Led Growth vs. Growth Led Exports: LDCs Experience
Authors: Bahmani-Oskooee Mohsen , Economidou Claire
Published: November 2008

Previous studies that investigated the export led growth hypothesis, relied upon Granger or Sims causality detection approach. Since these approaches employ first differenced variables, any inference could be short-run in nature. In this paper we consider the relation between exports and economic growth to be a long-run phenomenon. After applying Johansen's cointegration technique to establish the long-run relationship between exports and output (in presence of other factors), we rely upon weak exogeneity tests proposed by Johansen to establish exogeneity of exports or output. Annual data over 1960-99 period from 61 countries are used for analysis. The results are country specific and there is no uniform pattern.
“A Library of the Most Celebrated & Approved Authors”: The First Purchase Collection of Union College
Authors: Dibbell Jeremy B.
Published: November 2008

The first library collection of Union College in Schenectady, New York, formed in the late 1790s, differs notably from its predecessors at the colonial colleges and from many contemporary libraries at other post-Revolutionary institutions of American higher education. The library, created by a committee of Union’s trustees and its first president, John Blair Smith, was intentionally designed to serve as a functional book collection for the college’s students and faculty; it reflected and enhanced the original course of study. The surviving portion of the library reveals significant evidence of early use and readership. This study draws on the extensive archival evidence documenting the creation of the library as well as on a close examination of the remaining volumes.