Beyond Bathsheba: Managing Ethical Climates Through Pragmatic Ethics

This paper explores the puzzling nature of leader behavior in order to understand the conditions that encourage unethical decision-making. Building on the extant literature of pragmatic ethics, I explore how leaders can increase the quality of ethical decision-making within their organizations by understanding the incentives of rational choice. I have developed a rational choice-based ethical decision-making model to understand the incentives behind ethical leader behavior and find that ethical behavior is likely to be rational as long as audience costs remain higher than the savings benefits incurred by unethical behavior. I conclude with analysis of how the ethical rational model compares to other prominent theories that explain unethical leader behavior and propose that the probable outcomes derived from my model better explain bad leader behavior than competing control-oriented models. The results of this inquiry underscore the transactional and practical characteristics of leadership as a tool to help leaders manage their ethical climates, improve business practices and management policies, understand the nature of individual incentives, and capture transactional components of leader behavior

Is Democracy the Answer to Terrorism?

This essay appeared in the 2010 JSOU and NDIA SO/LIC Division Essays Report / JSPU Report 10-4. Major Long’s paper was the winning entry in the 2010 JSOU/NDIA SO/LIC Division Essay Contest.This essay examines the virtues and potential downfalls of a continued reliance on the policy of “democratization” to stop terrorism

Connectivity gaps among matroids with the same enumerative invariants

Many important enumerative invariants of a matroid can be obtained from its Tutte polynomial, and many more are determined by two stronger invariants, the $\mathcal{G}$-invariant and the configuration of the matroid. We show that the same is not true of the most basic connectivity invariants. Specifically, we show that for any positive integer $n$, there are pairs of matroids that have the same configuration (and so the same $\mathcal{G}$-invariant and the same Tutte polynomial) but the difference between their Tutte connectivities exceeds $n$, and likewise for vertical connectivity and branch-width. The examples that we use to show this, which we construct using an operation that we introduce, are transversal matroids that are also positroids

A Magnetic and Moessbauer Spectral Study of Core/Shell Structured Fe/Au Nanoparticles

Fe/Au nanoparticles have been chemically synthesized through a reverse micelle reaction and investigated by both conventional and synchrotron based x-ray diffraction and by magnetic and Moessbauer spectral studies. The powder x-ray diffraction patterns reveal both the presence of crystalline alpha-iron and gold and the absence of any crystalline iron oxides or other crystalline products. First-order reversal curves, along with the major hysteresis loops of the Fe/Au nanoparticles have been measured as a function of time in order to investigate the evolution of their magnetic properties. The iron-57 Moessbauer spectra of both uncoated iron nanoparticles and the Fe/Au nanoparticles have been measured at 78 and 295 K and indicate that two major iron containing components are present, namely the expected alpha-iron and the unexpected amorphous Fe1-xBx alloy; several poorly crystallized ordered iron(III) oxide components as well as paramagnetic iron(II) and iron(III) components are also observed. These results indicate that the Fe-core/Au-shell nanoparticles synthesized through reverse micelles are far more complex that had been believed.Comment: 31 pages, 1 table, 8 figures, to appear in Chemistry of Material

Experimental Line Parameters of the b^(1)Σ^(+)_g ← X^(3)Σ^(-)_g Band of Oxygen Isotopologues at 760 nm Using Frequency-Stabilized Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy

Positions, intensities, self-broadened widths, and collisional narrowing coefficients of the oxygen isotopologues ^(16)O^(18)O, ^(16)O^(17)O, ^(17)O^(18)O, and ^(18)O^(18)O have been measured for the b^(1)Σg + ← X^(3)Σg − (0,0) band using frequency-stabilized cavity ring-down spectroscopy. Line positions of 156 P-branch transitions were referenced against the hyperfine components of the ^(39)K D_1 (4s ^(2)S_(1/2) → 4p ^(2)P_(1/2)) and D_2 (4s ^(2)S_(1/2) → 4p ^(2)P_(3/2)) transitions, yielding precisions of ~0.00005 cm^(−1) and absolute accuracies of 0.00030 cm^(−1) or better. New excited b^(1)Σg + state molecular constants are reported for all four isotopologues. The measured line intensities of the ^(16)O^(18)O isotopologue are within 2% of the values currently assumed in molecular databases. However, the line intensities of the ^(16)O^(17)O isotopologue show a systematic, J-dependent offset between our results and the databases. Self-broadening half-widths for the various isotopologues are internally consistent to within 2%. This is the first comprehensive study of the line intensities and shapes for the ^(17)O^(18)O or ^(18)O_2 isotopologues of the b^(1)Σg + ← X^(3)Σg − (0,0) band of O_2. The ^(16)O_2, ^(16)O^(18)O, and ^(16)O^(17)O line parameters for the oxygen A-band have been extensively revised in the HITRAN 2008 database using results from the present study

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Younger and Older Adults\u27 Simulated Highway Driving Performance Under Single and Dual Task Conditions

Driving is a complex psychomotor task that is often interrupted by secondary activities that divert attention away from the roadway. The risk of inattentive driving is known vary with age. The degree to which culture impacts these changes is less established. To study the impact of age and culture on drivers’ capacity to manage dual task demands, we developed a parallel driving simulation in the US and Korea. We assessed the performance of 135 drivers divided into two age groups, younger (20–29) and older (60-69). Both age and cultural group differences in basic highway driving performance measures were observed. However, the relative impact of the dual task demands on driving performance was largely consistent across cultures

Academic and Social Barriers to Black and Latino Male Collegians\u27 Success in Engineering and Related STEM Fields

Historically underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities (i.e. African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans) have experienced barriers to their success in engineering and related STEM fields. These student populations have had lower degree attainment rates, switch to non-STEM majors more frequently, and experience unique social challenges when compared to White and Asian Pacific Islander counterparts. To examine these findings, nearly 50 interviews were conducted and analyzed in the present study to better understand the academic and social experiences of African American and Latino American men in these fields. Interviews revealed that these students tend to (1) feel alone and invisible, (2) lack same race peers and faculty members, (3) have difficulty applying theory to practice, and (4) lack the pre-college preparation necessary to succeed in STEM fields

Molecular mechanisms of increased cerebral vulnerability after repeated mild blast-induced traumatic brain injury

AbstractThe consequences of a mild traumatic brain injury can be especially severe if it is repeated within the period of increased cerebral vulnerability (ICV) that follows the initial insult. To better understand the molecular mechanisms that contribute to ICV, we exposed rats to different levels of mild blast overpressure (5 exposures; total pressure range: 15.54–19.41psi or 107.14–133.83kPa) at a rate of 1 per 30min, monitored select physiological parameters, and assessed behavior. Two days post-injury or sham, we determined changes in protein biomarkers related to various pathologies in behaviorally relevant brain regions and in plasma. We found that oxygen saturation and heart rate were transiently depressed following mild blast exposure and that injured rats exhibited significantly increased anxiety- and depression-related behaviors. Proteomic analyses of the selected brain regions showed evidence of substantial oxidative stress and vascular changes, altered cell adhesion, and inflammation predominantly in the prefrontal cortex. Importantly, these pathological changes as well as indications of neuronal and glial cell loss/damage were also detected in the plasma of injured rats. Our findings illustrate some of the complex molecular changes that contribute to the period of ICV in repeated mild blast-induced traumatic brain injury. Further studies are needed to determine the functional and temporal relationship between the various pathomechanisms. The validation of these and other markers can help to diagnose individuals with ICV using a minimally invasive procedure and to develop evidence-based treatments for chronic neuropsychiatric conditions