The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Community Survey, 2014 and Trends 2009–2014: A Sourcebook of Community Attitudes

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Community Survey (Mat-Su Survey), conducted annually since 2006, is a cooperative research effort between the Justice Center at University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The survey asks Mat-Su Borough residents to evaluate the quality of Borough services, provide opinions about Borough decision-making, and sum up their perceptions about a range of issues relevant to the present and future of the Mat-Su community. The 2014 survey was distributed to 2,491 adult heads-of-household in the Mat-Su Borough in the winter and spring of 2014; a total of 1,003 surveys were returned, for a response rate of 40.3%. This sourcebook presents both the results from the 2014 Mat-Su Survey and trends from 2009–2014 in five major areas: (1) evaluation of current borough services; (2) use of borough facilities; (3) life in Mat-Su neighborhoods; (4) local government access, policies, and practices; and (5) respondent background information. A set of additional questions focusing on salmon and the environment was added to the 2014 Mat-Su Survey at the request of the Nature Conservancy. Additionally, findings from a derived importance-performance analysis of the survey data are presented, as is a compilation of respondent comments.Matanuska-Susitna BoroughIntroduction / Organization of Sourcebook / Methods / Executive Summary / 2014 RESULTS AND 2009–2014 TRENDS / Part I. Evaluation of Current Borough Services / Part II. Use of Borough Facilities / Part III. Life in Matanuska-Susitna Borough Neighborhoods / Part IV. Local Government: Access, Policies and Practices / Part V. Open Space and Salmon / Part VI. Sample Characteristics / Part VII. Derived Importance-Performance Analysis / Part VIII. Respondents’ Comments / Appendix: Questionnair

the cultural evolution of institutional religions

In recent work, Atran, Henrich, Norenzayan and colleagues developed an account of religion that reconciles insights from the ‘by-product’ accounts and the adaptive accounts. According to their synthesis, the process of cultural group selection driven by group competition has recruited our proclivity to adopt and spread religious beliefs and engage in religious practices to increase within group solidarity, harmony and cooperation. While their account has much merit, I believe it only tells us half the story of how institutional religions have evolved. Their cultural evolutionary account of religion only looks at the cultural dynamics arising from competition between groups, not at the dynamics arising from within the group. Drawing from game-theoretic analyses of the emergence and cultural evolution of social institutions, I outline two sets of important ‘within-group’ dynamics that shape institutional religions. The first follow from the necessity to keep the interaction of the participants in an equilibrium state in order to maintain the social institution. The second arise from the competition of institutional features for traction within the group. Bringing these dynamics into account enables us to explain prominent features of institutional religions that cannot be satisfactorily explained by the current model of the cultural evolution of religions

The Cowl - v.78 - n.8 - Oct 31, 2013

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 78 - No. 8 - October 31, 2013. 24 pages

Illinois Technograph v. 057, iss. 3 Dec. 1942

published or submitted for publicatio

Spartan Daily, May 12, 1981

Volume 76, Issue 69https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/6773/thumbnail.jp

The Cowl - v.54 - n.10 - Dec 6, 1989

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 54, Number 10 - December 6, 1989. 20 pages

Exercises to increase auditory discrimination in retarded readers of grades four, five, and six.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit