Journals at the University of Arizona
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Designing Valid and Reliable Vignette Experiments for Survey Research: A Case Study on the Fair Gender Income Gap
No full textIn survey research, vignette experiments typically employ short, systematically varied descriptions of situations or persons (called vignettes) to elicit the beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors of respondents with respect to the presented scenarios. Using a case study on the fair gender income gap in Austria, we discuss how different design elements can be used to increase a vignette experiment’s validity and reliability. With respect to the experimental design, the design elements considered include a confounded factorial design, a between-subjects factor, anchoring vignettes, and blocking by respondent strata and interviewers. The design elements for the sampling and survey design consist of stratification, covariate measurements, and the systematic assignment of vignette sets to respondents and interviewers. Moreover, the vignettes’ construct validity is empirically validated with respect to the real gender income gap in Austria. We demonstrate how a broad range of design elements can successfully increase a vignette study’s validity and reliability
Covert Assessment of the Family System: Patterns, Pictures and Codes
No full textCovert measures of the family system can tap concepts and discover patterns of which family members themselves are unaware and can avoid social desirability bias. Covert measures can be particularly useful in cross-cultural research and can avoid many pitfalls of language and translation. Three such measures which have been used cross-culturally are described. The first is a method of measuring triangulation of children by the parents based on patterns of agreement in a true-false questionnaire describing the family. The second is a projective measure in which family members as a group create a picture of their family distinguishing relationships between individuals and boundaries within and around the family. The third is a global coding scheme used to evaluate family processes from taped interaction
A Method of Optimizing Programming Topics to Succeed in IT Certification Exams
No full textThis paper focuses on the skill sets required for an information technology (IT) graduate to be successful in the fast-changing technological world. It addresses the value of professional IT certifications offered by various technological companies in the job market. Specifically, it focuses on how to optimize various topics that should be covered in a graduate-level programming course such that students are not only technically prepared for their professional careers but also equipped to succeed in the widely recognized Microsoft Certification exams on programming. The authors investigate the use of the Solver feature of Microsoft Excel to evaluate strategies for selecting topics that should be included in a graduate-level programming course. The results indicate that to succeed in the Windows-based Microsoft certification exams, we need to increase the coverage in the areas of object-oriented programming, database, XML, COM and other advanced topics . To succeed in the Web-based Microsoft certification exams, we need to increase the coverage in the areas of database, storage and advanced topics . This increase in effective coverage correlates with an increase in passing rates from approximately 40% to over 50% after making a change in our curriculum. Our findings can be useful for instructors who wish to reformulate their programming courses and challenge students with professional certifications that prepare students for successful IT careersDOI:10.2458/azu_itet_v5i2_ro
Political ecology of health in the Land of Fires: a hotspot of environmental crimes in the south of Italy
No full textAbstract Environmental crimes, if they are perceived as victimless, have not received the appropriate governmental response and have been frequently ranked low on the law enforcement priority list, punished with lenient or no administrative sanctions. This has contributed to an underestimation of the immediate consequences of environmental crimes, which can go undetected for lengthy periods. On the contrary, the mismanagement and illegal trafficking of waste in the Land of Fires, an area in the Campania region in the South of Italy, has been experienced as a 'victimful' crime. Using a political ecology of health approach, and integrating qualitative and quantitative methods, we investigate how the perception of being a victim of waste-related environmental crimes has been magnified by evidence of serious disease outcomes. Health concerns have become a central issue in the resurgence of grassroots movements against waste mismanagement in Campania. Keywords: Environmental crime, political ecology of health, waste conflict, Campani
Degrowth: culture, power and change
No full textAbstract Harmful environmental consequences of growth have been rigorously documented and widely publicized throughout the past half-century. Yet, the quantity of matter and energy used by human economies continues to increase by the minute, while governments and businesses continue to promise and to prioritize further economic growth. Such a paradox raises questions about how we humans change course. This introduction to a Special Section offers a new theoretical approach to change, together with glimpses of adaptations underway around the world. It directs attention away from individual decision-making and toward systems of culture and power through which socialized humans and socioecological worlds are (re)produced, sustained and adapted. Potential for transformative change is found in habitual practices through which skills, perspectives, denials and desires are viscerally embodied, and in cultural systems (economic, religious, gender and other) that govern those practices and make them meaningful. Case studies reviewed illuminate diverse communities acting to maintain old and to forge new moral and material worlds that prioritize wellbeing, equity and sustainability rather than expansion. This article endeavors to galvanize change by conceptualizing degrowth, by decolonizing worldviews of expansionist myths and values, and by encouraging connections between science and activism, north and south. Key words: degrowth, transition, climate change, socioecological system
PANEL DISCUSSION: THE FOUR COMPONENTS OF THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM-- LYMPH, LYMPH NODES, LYMPHOCYTES, AND LYMPHATICS
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PATENT BLUE V ENCAPSULATION IN LIPOSOMES: POTENTIAL APPLICABILITY TO ENDOLYMPHATIC THERAPY AND PREOPERATIVE CHROMOLYMPHOGRAPHY
No full textThe water soluble dark blue stain Patent Blue V was incorporated into liposomes to increase its depot properties. Experiments with intraperitoneal and intramuscular application in rats and with intralymphatic injections in rabbits showed a substantial difference between the pharmacokinetics of aqueous and liposomal solutions. Independent of the route of administration, the dye-stain remained much longer in the tissues using liposomes. Most notably, retroperitoneal lymph nodes in rabbits remained dark blue up to 28 days after hindlimb endolymphatic instillation of liposomal patent blue. This vastly superior depot effect may be clinically adaptable for endolymphatic therapy with cytostatic drugs to enhance nodal drug retention and concentration or for preoperative chromolymphography to facilitate nodal visualization at laparotomy