Anthropologists behaving badly? Impact and the politics of evaluation in an era of accountability

This paper discusses the move within UK social science funding to use non-academic ‘impact’ as a measure of quality and success for social research. It suggests that behind this move are a set of unspoken assumptions about what constitutes ‘good’ and ‘bad’ impact, and the paper seeks to problematize these. By way of provocation, it presents three classic cases of anthropological research, in which the impact of anthropologists on the societies in which they worked was at worst reprehensible, and at best controversial. These controversies – Darkness in El Dorado, the Human Terrain System and Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood – are used to demonstrate the difficulty with which we can assess impacts as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and the problems with attempting to do so

Book Review: \u3ci\u3eThe Divine Body in History: A Comparative Study of the Symbolism of Time and Embodiment in St. Augustine and Rāmānuja.\u3c/i\u3e

Book review of, The Divine Body in History: A Comparative Study of the Symbolism of Time and Embodiment in St. Augustine and Rāmānuja. by Ankur Barua

Alcohol Advertising and Advertising Bans: A Survey of Research Methods, Results, and Policy Implications

This chapter surveys the literatures on advertising bans and alcohol consumption or abuse, and advertising expenditures and alcohol consumption. Studies of state-level bans of billboards are examined as well as studies of international bans that cover broadcasting media. For expenditures, the survey concentrates on econometric methods and the existence of an industry advertising-sales response function. Selected results from survey-research studies of advertising and youth alcohol behaviors also are discussed. The chapter concludes that advertising bans do not reduce alcohol consumption or abuse; advertising expenditures do not have a market-wide expansion effect; and survey-research studies of youth behaviors are seriously incomplete as a basis for public policy. Results of the survey are applied to the Supreme Court's Central Hudson test for constitutionality of restrictions on commercial speech.

THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF BREASTFEEDING: A REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

A minimum of $3.6 billion would be saved if breastfeeding were increased from current levels (64 percent in-hospital, 29 percent at 6 months) to those recommended by the U.S. Surgeon General (75 and 50 percent). This figure is likely an underestimation of the total savings because it represents cost savings from the treatment of only three childhood illnesses: otitis media, gastroenteritis, and necrotizing enterocolitis. This report reviews breastfeeding trends and previous studies that assessed the economic benefits of breastfeeding.Breastfeeding, economic benefits, otitis media, gastroenteritis, necrotizing enterocolitis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Breastfeeding Promotion Research: The ES/WIC Nutrition Education Initiative and Economic Considerations

Educating low-income women about the advantages of breastfeeding their babies increases the number who breastfeed. This report summarizes the results of four projects that focused primarily on promoting breastfeeding, which is considered to be the most healthful and beneficial feeding method for most infants. Research has shown that breastfeeding improves the general health, growth, and development of infants and significantly reduces the risk of several health problems both during early life and in later years. Lower income women have been less likely to breastfeed than higher income women. One step the USDA has taken to promote breastfeeding is the ES/WIC Nutrition Education Initiative. This combines the strengths of two nutrition programs for low-income families, the Cooperative Extension System's Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program and the Food and Nutrition Service's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. This report shows that breastfeeding education before delivery increases the initiation of breastfeeding among low-income women. The results also indicate that breastfeeding support soon after delivery increases the duration of breastfeeding.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Advertising Bans, Monopoly, and Alcohol Demand: Testing for Substitution Effects Using Panel Data

Using a panel of 45 states for the period 1982-97, this study analyzes the importance of several restrictive alcohol regulations, including advertising bans for billboards, bans of price advertising, state monopoly control of retail stores, and changes in the minimum legal drinking age. In contrast to previous research, the study allows for substitution among beverages as a response to a regulation that targets a specific beverage. A restrictive law that applies only to one beverage (or one form of advertising) can result in substitution toward other beverages (and other media). Allowing for substitution means that the net effect on total alcohol consumption is uncertain, and must be determined empirically. The empirical results demonstrate that monopoly control of spirits reduces consumption of that beverage, and increases consumption of wine. The effect on beer is positive, but is not statistically significant. The net effect on total alcohol is significantly negative. Higher minimum legal drinking age laws have negative effects on beverage and total alcohol consumption. Partial bans of advertising do not reduce total alcohol consumption, which in part reflects substitution effects. Results in the paper are applied to the Supreme Court's Central Hudson test for First Amendment constitutionality of restrictions on commercial speech.

Mid-infrared emission from dust around quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries

We report the discovery of excess 4.5 and 8 μm emission from three quiescent black hole low-mass X-ray binaries, A0620−00, GS 2023+338, and XTE J1118+480, and the lack of similar excess emission from Cen X-4. The mid-infrared emission from GS 2023+338 probably originates in the accretion disk. However, the excess emission from A0620−00 and XTE J1118+480 is brighter and peaks at longer wavelengths, and thus most likely originates from circumbinary dust that is heated by the light of the secondary star. For these two sources, we find that the inner edges of the dust distributions lie near 1.7 times the binary separations, which are the minimum radii at which circumbinary disks would be stable against tidal disruption. The excesses are weak at 24 μm, which implies that the dust does not extend beyond about 3 times the binary separations. The total masses of circumbinary material are between 10^22 and 10^24 g. The material could be the remains of fallback disks produced in supernovae, or material from the companions injected into circumbinary orbits during mass transfer