Effectiveness Of Economic Sanctions: Empirical Research Revisited

This paper reexamines economic sanctions research and identifies explanatory variables used by many previous theoretical and empirical research studies on the effectiveness of voluntary and non-voluntary economic sanctions since World War I. A normative legal, political, and economic methodology is used to measure effectiveness of economic sanctions as a random walk process.  The paper concludes that choosing a target and imposing economic sanctions is a random process that occurs when a sender is faced with a real or perceived threat.  Sanctions are imposed as an alternative to inaction or going to war.  The theory and research on effectiveness of sanctions has been a mere exercise in running regressions on a series of random numbers and do not shed any light to guide policymaking

Developmental Relationship Programs: An Empirical Study Of The Impact Of Peer-Mentoring Programs

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the impact and effectiveness of developmental relationships provided through academic intervention programs at a medium-size master’s level public university in the Northeastern United States.  The programs’ curriculum follows the Model of Strategic Learning’s four pillars of learning and is administered to students with diverse interventional needs. This paper presents a brief review of the literature about effective developmental relationship programs (mentoring and coaching) in higher education.  Then, Ordinary Least Squares regressions, as well as paired samples t-tests, are used to test the impact of programs offered through developmental relationships to students with varying academic deficiencies.  The immediate, as well as longer-term, impact and sustainability of students’ enhanced performance is statistically examined.  The paper concludes that students who fully take advantage of developmental relationships benefit the most and sustain their higher level of performance beyond the immediate post one-time intervention period.  However, in the absence of additional intervention, the academic performance gains seem to subside and flatten out

Immunolocalization of the short neuropeptide F receptor in queen brains and ovaries of the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta Buren)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Insect neuropeptides are involved in diverse physiological functions and can be released as neurotransmitters or neuromodulators acting within the central nervous system, and as circulating neurohormones in insect hemolymph. The insect short neuropeptide F (sNPF) peptides, related to the vertebrate neuropeptide Y (NPY) peptides, have been implicated in the regulation of food intake and body size, and play a gonadotropic role in the ovaries of some insect species. Recently the sNPF peptides were localized in the brain of larval and adult <it>Drosophila</it>. However, the location of the sNPF receptor, a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), has not yet been investigated in brains of any adult insect. To elucidate the sites of action of the sNPF peptide(s), the sNPF receptor tissue expression and cellular localization were analyzed in queens of the red imported fire ant, <it>Solenopsis invicta </it>Buren (Hymenoptera), an invasive social insect.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the queen brains and subesophageal ganglion about 164 cells distributed in distinctive cell clusters (C1-C9 and C12) or as individual cells (C10, C11) were immuno-positive for the sNPF receptor. Most of these neurons are located in or near important sensory neuropils including the mushroom bodies, the antennal lobes, the central complex, and in different parts of the protocerebrum, as well as in the subesophageal ganglion. The localization of the sNPF receptor broadly links the receptor signaling pathway with circuits regulating learning and feeding behaviors. In ovaries from mated queens, the detection of sNPF receptor signal at the posterior end of oocytes in mid-oogenesis stage suggests that the sNPF signaling pathway may regulate processes at the oocyte pole.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The analysis of sNPF receptor immunolocalization shows that the sNPF signaling cascade may be involved in diverse functions, and the sNPF peptide(s) may act in the brain as neurotransmitter(s) or neuromodulator(s), and in the ovaries as neurohormone(s). To our knowledge, this is the first report of the cellular localization of a sNPF receptor on the brain and ovaries of adult insects.</p

Chaining Behavior in Urban Tripmaking: Interim Report

Phase I of the “Chaining Behavior in Urban Trip Making” research project has focused on the achievement of three principal objectives:&nbsp;Formulation of a theory of complex trave1 behavior based on a recognition of the full range of interdependencies associated with an individual's travel decisions in a constrained environment.&nbsp; Development of an operational system of models based on that theory.&nbsp; Initial empirical verification of the system of models developed.&nbsp;The approach advanced in this study is based on a comprehensive theory of individual travel behavior that positions travel in a broader context than in single-trip methodologies. In this approach travel is viewed as input to a more basic process involving activity decisions. A fundamental tenet of this approach is that travel decisions are driven by the collection of activities that form an agenda for participation and, as such, cannot be analyzed on a link-by-link basis. Rather, the utility of any specific travel decision can be determined only within the context of the entire agenda.&nbsp;A significant element in the development involves a theory of individual choice set formulation that includes both the effect of environmental/household constraints and that of individual limitations with respect to information processing and decision making. An alternate view of utility maximization and its relationship to decision making is presented in which the utility of a decision is comprised of two components: (1) the outcome of the decision and (2) the decision process itself