Solitary confinement and the U.S. prison boom

Solitary confinement is a harsh form custody involving isolation from the general prison population and highly restricted access to visitation and programs. Using detailed prison records covering 30 years of practices in Kansas (1985–2014), we find solitary confinement is a normal event during imprisonment: 38 percent of whites and 46 percent of blacks experienced solitary confinement during their prison term. Long stays in solitary confinement were rare in the late 1980s with no detectable racial disparities, but a sharp increase in capacity after a new prison opening began an era of long-term isolation that most heavily impacted black young adults. A decomposition analysis indicates the increase in the length of stay in solitary confinement almost entirely explains the growth in the proportion of people held in solitary confinement. Our results provide new evidence of increasingly punitive prison conditions and previously unmeasured forms of inequality during the prison boom.Accepted manuscrip

Breaking Through the Word Barrier

Institutional Repository nomenclature doesn’t always serve our users well and creates extra work for IR librarians who are tasked with translating the terms in order to upload appropriate versions of published work. I am advocating for a common-sense and conceptually consistent approach by proposing a new set of terminology for eprints. I will briefly outline academic publishing terms: preprints, postprints, eprints, and publisher’s pdfs. I will then demonstrate that the terminology is a known point of confusion by briefly looking at some of the alternate terms I\u27ve come across in the wild. Once we\u27ve reviewed the current situation, I will propose a set of terms that don’t require explanation but rather truly embrace a spirit of autological language and cohesiveness

GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN AGONISTIC AND TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOR BY GENETICALLY DISTINCT GROUPS OF THE EASTERN RED-BACKED SALAMANDER (PLETHODON CINEREUS)

Geographic variation in agonistic and territorial behavior is largely unknown in terrestrial plethodontid salamanders, even though territoriality is widespread throughout this group. Using the color polymorphic Eastern Red-backed Salamander (Plethodon cinereus), I compared the aggressive and submissive behaviors of two genetically distinct groups in northern Ohio using male and female salamanders from six populations. As in other populations of P. cinereus studied, I expected to find agonistic and territorial behavior present in the populations in this study. Additionally, I predicted that the genetic group that is monomorphic for the striped morph would exhibit a higher degree of agonistic and territorial behavior compared to the polymorphic genetic group consisting of both striped and unstriped morphs as an adaptive consequence of the altered social dynamics in monomorphic populations. In laboratory trials, residents from the polymorphic group were significantly more aggressive than residents from the monomorphic group, in contrast to my hypothesis. This finding was corroborated by a strong residency effect in the polymorphic group, an effect that was not as apparent in the monomorphic group. In particular, female residents from the polymorphic group displayed a significantly greater degree of aggression compared to female residents from the monomorphic group and were much more aggressive and less submissive as residents than as intruders. My results imply that the individuals in the polymorphic group, particularly females, are more aggressive and territorial than the individuals in the monomorphic group, suggesting they are more likely to secure a territory and defend it against intruders. Studying geographic variation in behavior may be a 2 valuable avenue of continued research to determine if divergent selection is occurring among genetically distinct groups within this species

A methodology for the assessment of the behavior and performance of artificial agents

Computer games are becoming more popular for both entertainment and educational applications. The growth of this technology and its realm of use creates a new demand for artificial intelligence (AI) systems: as AI becomes more prevalent, it becomes crucial for it to have a natural, human feel to it in order to best support its application. Consequently, the need for a reliable means of testing and comparing the behavioral development of the artificial intelligence used within game applications becomes important. Turings test has been the staple in evaluating the \u27intelligence\u27 of artificial agents in applications ranging from testing chatterbots to stopping web abuse. It is currently being used in evaluating the performance of specific artificial agents in particular games. In the following thesis, a methodology has been developed to provide a new contribution to the field of AI assessment. After bringing the perceptions of the human and AI onto the same level, the Turing test is used to evaluate the \u27humanness\u27 of diverse agents in generalized environments. Results of a pilot study probing the validity of this methodology are presented.\u2

The Gender Imbalance in U.S. Outbound Study Abroad: A Case Study of Semester at Sea

The purpose of this study is to explore the phenomenon of female college students studying abroad with Semester at Sea (SAS) at twice the rate of their male peers, in the hope of better understanding the significant gender imbalance overall in U.S. outbound study abroad. To put this issue into context, this study uses the theoretical framework of Deci and Ryan’s (1985) Self-Determination Theory of Motivation. Data was analyzed through the lens of intrinsic verses extrinsic motivation to answer the guiding research question: Is there a difference between male and female college students in their motivations to study abroad and, if so, does SAS appeal to these different motivations? To answer this research question, data was collected through a survey of 79 male and female students enrolled in SAS’s Spring 2015 Voyage. A group of four male students participated in an all-male focus group. Six recruitment staff members from the Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE) were also interviewed. Data analysis revealed that both male and female students are intrinsically motivated to study abroad with SAS. The top two motivations, regardless of gender, are the desire to travel and to have new experiences. Students chose to study abroad with SAS because of the program’s multi-country model, which allows them to “see the world”. However, male students intrinsically motivated to study abroad are the minority among their male college peers. While female students received support for their decision to study abroad from their female friends, male students reported that their male friends did not see the academic nor career value in studying abroad. Previous studies criticize study abroad marketing for only highlighting the intrinsic benefits of studying abroad, such as personal development. In order to effectively attract more male students, ISE should modify its programming and marketing to make it more appealing to the extrinsic motivations of male students. Strategies include showcasing successful male alumni, highlighting the academic and career benefits of the SAS program, and offering more STEM courses

Practice and Prestige

Practice and Prestige: An Exploration of Neolithic Warfare, Bell Beaker Archery, and Social Stratification from an Anthropological Perspective investigates the appearance of the ‘archer’s package’ in select Bell Beaker burials raising questions of daily life, warfare, and social stratification during the Neolithic period. It draws on a recent study by the author that applied an anthropological methodology to assess the bone morphology of these skeletons for signs of specialised archery activity. These analyses revealed results at both a population as well as an individual level. In order to contextualise these osteological findings, the book explores the evidence for warfare and archery throughout the Neolithic period in general and the Bell Beaker period in particular. This perspective considers warfare to be a primary function of archery, thereby associating ‘archer’ burials with concepts of warfare and the warrior. A second perspective delves into prehistoric concepts of specialisation and social hierarchy in order to situate archers, archery, and warfare within potentially stratified populations. These two perspectives allow for the contextualisation of the anthropological results within a broad archaeological framework in which archers and archery were prominent parts of a complex Bell Beaker society