Compelled Disclosure of Scholarly Research: Some Comments on “High Stakes Litigation”

Resisting compelled disclosure in court will continue to be at best a tenuous and uncertain journey for researchers who have been subpoenaed

Dispersants and Risk Communication

Risk communications is a research area of the social sciences which is closely associated with human dimensions and external communications. External communications, traditionally in the purview of public affairs, may have multiple purposes including influencing public beliefs, opinions, and judgments about the incident. There are many approaches toward risk communications. Some of them focus on improving the way external communications about risks are conducted, e.g., developing better messages, and some focus on the content of risk communications, that is, sharing technical information to support the assessment of the potential for risks

School Connectedness and Racial-Ethnic Identity Among Alaska Native Students: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study

This study was conducted from a theoretical foundation of Feagin’s (2010) racial framing and Brayboy’s (2005) tribal critical race theory. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of school connectedness as those perceptions relate to racial-ethnic identity among Alaska Native students in a large, predominately White school district. A quantitative phase in which School Climate and Connectedness Survey data were used to evaluate perceptions of school connectedness was followed up by a qualitative phase in which two focus group interviews were conducted to evaluate the degree to which Alaska Native students attributed their perceptions of school connectedness to racial-ethnic identity. The scope of the study involved Alaska Native students (n = 325) and Alaska non-Native students (n= 4059) in the quantitative phase and 13 Alaska Native students in the qualitative phase. The quantitative results indicated there are differences in the seven dimensions purportedly measured by the SCCS that are based upon ethnicity but that those differences are small. The qualitative results indicated that the Alaska Native students in this study did not attribute their perceptions of school connectedness to racial-ethnic identity. The Alaska Native students in this study attributed their perceptions of school connectedness to some teachers who provide encouragement, peers who accept them as Alaska Native students, extra-curricular activities representative of their Alaska Native cultural heritage, and hard working families who encourage them to do well in school. Programs that target Alaska Native students, encouragement from some teachers, a lack of exposure to and education about racial-ethnic identity and racism, and effective anti-racist counter frames contributed to positive perceptions of school connectedness among the Alaska Native students in this study. It is recommended that school districts provide opportunities for all students of color to learn about racial-ethnic identity in addition to opportunities for all students to discuss and learn from each other about racial and cultural differences. It is further recommended that educators are mindful of processes and structures within the context of the school and classroom that contribute to racial opportunity costs among students of color and provide greater perceptions of school connectedness for all students

Participatory Conservation of Coastal Habitats: The Importance of Understanding Homeowner Decision Making to Mitigate Cascading Shoreline Degradation

Along densely populated coasts, the armoring of shorelines is a prevalent cause of natural habitat loss and degradation. This article explores the values and decision making of waterfront homeowners and identifies two interlinked and potentially reversible drivers of coastal degradation. We discovered that: (1) misperceptions regarding the environmental impacts and cost-effectiveness of different shoreline conditions was common and may promote armoring; and (2) many homeowners reported only altering their shorelines in response to damage caused by armoring on neighboring properties. Collectively, these findings suggest that a single homeowner’s decision may trigger cascading degradation along a shoreline, which highlights the necessity of protecting existing large stretches of natural shoreline. However, our study also found that most homeowners were concerned with environmental impacts and preferred the aesthetics of natural landscapes, both of which could indicate nascent support and pathways for conservation initiatives along residential shorelines