Gender differences in the use of high-variance strategies in tournament competition

We report on a series of experiments in which participants first completed a simple game of chance and then competed in a tournament based on a multiple cue probability learning task. The results show that men made riskier choices in the simple game of chance, but women adopted the high-variance strategy more frequently in the tournament. However, after controlling for differences in forecasting skill, we find no significant differences in the rates at which men and women adopted a high-variance strategy. Although altering the difficulty of the forecasting task produces differences in the rate at which participants selected the high-variance strategy, it did not produce a significant difference in the rate at which men and women selected the strategy. Thus, this paper suggests that although women are more risk-averse than men, women are no less likely to adopt a high-variance strategy in a tournament competition.     

‘We don’t have any limits’: Russian young adult life narratives through a social generations lens

A social generation framework attends to how emergent historical patterns of social organization shape young adult contemporaries, noting shared strategies to constructing subjectivity within a common political, social, and economic milieu. However, the perspective has given scant attention to how young people engage in reflexive life management outside of well-documented Western contexts. Additionally, the framework needs further consideration of how youth lives are shaped by the social relations of globalization. To address these omissions, this article examines how educated, urban Russian young adults engage in reflexive life management. In drawing on a social generations rather than transitions approach, youth meaning-making is analyzed through grounded analysis rather than reliance on previously conceived categories. The study of youth reflexive life management can be reframed as a question: ‘what does making a life mean to educated urban post-adolescents in Russia?’ We explore how respondents interpret difference and inequality through transnational comparisons, center globality in the biographical project, and encounter citizenship constraints. We focus on three meaning-making projects: idealized globality, assuming nonlinear paths, and vigilant evaluative work.     

An investigation of a quadratic design criterion for estimation of the hemodynamic response function

Optimal experimental design for estimation of the hemodynamic response function (HRF) is investigated using a nonlinear model with a quadratic mean squared error design criterion. This criterion is used, along with a genetic algorithm, to select locally optimal designs that are shown to be, in most cases, more efficient than designs selected with the more commonly used linear expansion criterion. These designs are also shown to result in lower overall asymptotic estimator variance and bias. The investigation focuses on a single stimulus type, but the criterion can also be used with multiple stimulus types.     

Path-Goal Theory: A Successful Columbia Records Story

This analysis applies the principles of path-goal theory to a renowned music recording company, Columbia Records. By and large, path-goal theory posits that leaders can positively inspire the performance, contentment, and motivation of their employees by clarifying the path on how to achieve performance goals, bestowing rewards for achieving these goals, and removing obstacles that are stopping employees from achieving these goals. A major conclusion of this analysis is that, by thoroughly applying the multiple styles and tenets that path-goal theory offers, Columbia Records executives and chairmen have made this music recording company the most successful in history.     

An on-site ergonomic program: A model for industry

Work related conditions caused by overexertion or repeated trauma affect millions of American workers. These conditions can result in time off from work, decreased productivity, and high financial costs, not to mention impairment of the worker. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct) of 1970 [26], employers are required to provide hazard free workplaces for their employees. Fortunately resources exist to help employers set up on-site ergonomic programs to reduce the hazards that contribute to cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) or other injuries. Companies that have implemented comprehensive ergonomic programs have reported benefits, most significantly, decreased injuries, and cost savings. A model is described for industry on starting and managing a successful on-site ergonomic program.     

Demilitarizing disarmament with mine detection rats

ABSTRACT

This paper considers a new technology for mine action in Cambodia: the mine detection rat. Used successfully in Africa for mine detection since 2003, the rats were implemented for the first time in 2015 in Cambodia by the international NGO, APOPO. APOPO entered a small-scale partnership with the state mine action organization, Cambodian Mine Action Centre. The partnership revealed a tension between APOPO’s aspiration to ‘demilitarize’ mine action and the highly militarized nature of mine action under the state. The rats were unique among militaristic structures and experiences and allowed the international NGO to promote an ideal of what demilitarized mine action should look like. But the rats also condition the possibilities for the demilitarization of mine action through their own biological and historical attributes. This paper will use observations from over 14 months of fieldwork among this partnership with mine detection rats, showing tensions between local militarized methods for disarmament and an NGO’s aspirations for global humanitarianism.