Other Post Employment Benefits-The Other Elephant in the Room

The governments of the fifty states of the United States have made promises to past and present employees regarding retirement benefits-predominately pensions and healthcare coverage. The issues surrounding the pension obligations made to these employees have been well examined but the obligations due to promises of healthcare coverage have not received as much attention. There is great variance among the OPEB liability reported by the states. This study examines reasons for the variance. The future payment of healthcare obligations, like pensions, will put extreme stress on states in the future if the impact of these promises is not understood now. Understanding the influence healthcare assumptions have on the reported liabilitites is an important step to understanding these liabilities

The challenge hypothesis revisited: Focus on reproductive experience and neural mechanisms.

Our review focuses on findings from mammals as part of a Special Issue "30th Anniversary of the Challenge Hypothesis". Here we put forth an integration of the mechanisms through which testosterone controls territorial behavior and consider how reproductive experience may alter these mechanisms. The emphasis is placed on the function of socially induced increases in testosterone (T) pulses, which occur in response to social interactions, as elegantly developed by Wingfield and colleagues. We focus on findings from the monogamous California mouse, as data from this species shows that reproductive status is a key factor influencing social interactions, site fidelity, and vigilance for offspring defense. Specifically, we examine differences in T pulses in sexually naïve versus sexually experienced pair bonded males. Testosterone pulses influence processes such as social decision making, the winner-challenge effect, and location preferences through rewarding effects of T. We also consider how social and predatory vigilance contribute to T pulses and how these interactions contribute to a territory centered around maximizing reproduction. Possible underlying mechanisms for these effects include the nucleus accumbens (rewarding effects of testosterone), hippocampus (spatial memories for territories), and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (social vigilance). The development of the challenge effect has provided an ideal framework for understanding the complex network of behavioral, environmental, physiological and neural mechanisms that ultimately relates to competition and territoriality across taxa. The opportunity to merge research on the challenge effect using both laboratory and field research to understand social behavior is unparalleled

Face Value

There is growing evidence of systematic heterogeneity in behavior by observable characteristics, such as what one would see in a face. We ask, is there informational value in knowing these characteristics in a strategic interaction? Subjects are given the opportunity to purchase a photograph of their partner in the play of a trust game. Not everyone purchases the photo, even at prices as low as $0.20. Senders (first movers in the game) have a more inelastic demand for pictures than responders (second movers). White senders have a substantially higher demand than nonwhite senders or responders. For responders, there is no difference in demand for pictures across ethnicity or sex. White senders who pay to see the picture of their partner use the information to discriminate, sending significantly less to black responders than to white responders. Overall, responders return a higher percentage of the amount received as offers go up, but they do differentiate that percentage when they see the picture of the sender, returning more to a member of the same ethnicity. A face, it appears, has strategic value, especially for those who will use the information to differentiate their decisions.

The relationship between teachers' educational philosophies and the ability-achievement growth of their elementary school classes.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit