Table of Contents
- Research Article
A Multilevel Analysis of Mobility Disability in the United States Population: Educational Advantage Diminishes as Race-Ethnicity Poverty Gap Increases PDF Carlos Siordia Until now, they idea that economic inequalities affect health outcomes remains of interest and a topic under debated. If disability can be considered an adequate indicator of health and an acceptable argument could be made that educational attainment is partially affected by "life changes", then investigating how educational attainment correlates with the likelihood of being "disable" and how it varies by level of social inequality in residential area may be of interest for research on health disparities. Microdata from the American Community Survey (ACS) 2009-2011 is used in a hierarchical logistic model that accounts for various person-level factors and differences in race-ethnicity poverty gap at the Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) level. After nesting a total of 3,752,372 observations over 2,055 PUMAs, results indicate that risk for mobility disability decreases with educational attainment and that this protective effect decreases as the race-ethnicity poverty gap in the PUMA increases. Because unjust and avoidable health disparities should be mitigated, future work should continue on the topic. - Research Article
No Empathy without Self-Boundaries: A New Spatial Attention Concept for Understanding Empathy PDF Klaus Blaser Study of inter-personal perception has so far focused chiefly on the person doing the perceiving. In this article, we demonstrate by means of a spatial inter-personal model of attention how empathic perception of a fellow human presents a perfect opportunity to also take into consideration the person being perceived.
If we follow the logic of this new model, it becomes clear that the personal mental self-boundary is vitally important for the capacity for empathy. By comparing empathy with compassion and the theory-theory mode of perception, it is shown that the perception of others is determined by the spatially defined location of attention. At the same time, it becomes clear that the quality of these different perceptions of others are also determined by one's own self-boundary and that of the other. - Research Article
Analytic Models to Assess Terrorist Organizations and Their Determinants PDF Jeyong Jung, Julak Lee In this paper, the criminality of terrorist groups is examined through the relationships between terrorist and organized crime groups. Based on the similarities or dissimilarities between terrorist groups and conventional criminal groups, the possible four models are suggested. The four models such as cooperation, alliance, self-creation, and conflict models are predicated on distinctive theories, which are conspiracy theories, business network theories, "in-house" criminality theories, and conflict theories. However, these models are not separate ones, but pose as a continuum. - Research Article
Derivation of Benefits from Dislikes in the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) College Readiness System PDF Samuel L. Rutherford, Richard W. Schmertzing, Lorraine C. Schmertzing, Simmie A. Raiford, Chester C. Ballard This phenomenological study employed a sequence of three interviews per student to explore the experiences of 20 students in the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) college readiness program. Data from recorded interviews was analyzed using categorizing and connecting strategies. Responses indicated that students varied most in their perceptions of the utility of various AVID strategies, but that students recognized they acquired skills that would serve them in the future. Some participants indicated that they disliked specific strategies of the AVID program. Nevertheless, findings showed that students benefitted from strategies, which they stated that they did not enjoy. - Research Article
How Do Public Actors Influence Foreign Policy? A Case of Abduction Issue between Japan and North Korea under the LDP Government PDF Yutaka Okuyama In Japan, since the North Korean leadership admitted that its agents were responsible for kidnapping a certain number of Japanese in 2002, the government-sponsored normalization campaign has been halted. In addition to the missile and nuclear issues, the abduction is one of the strong obstacles to prevent both countries to normalize relations. Nevertheless, the issue between Japan and North Korea offers an interesting insight over the public-government relations in a democracy. The public reaction against North Korea had an official policy of normalization with North Korea turned over, which is a quite interesting to observe, because even a democratic government does not necessarily take all public demands into serious consideration. Thus, the North Korean abduction issue fits in a category of public-oriented policy realization. This study indicates that the public actors could get involved in the policy-making arena, if a government does not tackle an issue with certain determination and is polarized to reach consensus. - Research Article
General Multilevel Opportunity and Crime PDF Hyungjin Lim, Yongtae Chun Since the 1960s, criminologists have tried to find the cause of crime in the opportunities for crime instead of in the characteristics of individuals. As a result, many opportunity theories emerged. Also, the opportunity theories were conceptualized and tested by much research. Most of the research focused on opportunity theories at single levels of analysis. However, recently there has been a trend in the field among some to move toward "multilevel" explanations. The remarkable thing among the trend is general multilevel opportunity theory. Noting that both the context surrounding an individual and the characteristics of the individual affect crime symbiotically, they tried to integrate opportunity theories and social disorganization theory to explain the phenomenon. This paper reviewed multilevel approach in conceptualizing and testing opportunity theory and the crime prevention implications according to multilevel criminal opportunity were suggested. - Research Article
National Culture and Corporate R&D Investment PDF Sanghoon Lee This paper examines the relationship between national culture and corporate R&D investment behavior. Based on Hofstede's work and the cushion hypothesis, we predict that firms in East Asian countries are more likely to engage in R&D investment than are firms in Western countries because East Asian cultures are collectivistic and long-term oriented while Western cultures are individualistic and short-term oriented. We use firm-level panel data for seven countries and apply dynamic GMM methods. The regression analysis shows that R&D investment is positively sensitive to internal funds for firms in East Asian countries, but not sensitive for firms in the Western countries. The result is robust to model specification and sample splitting. Moreover, the level of financial development and the legal environment do not systemically affect the relationship between R&D investment and internal funds. We suggest that this evidence supports the hypothesis that national culture affects corporate decisions. - Research Article
City Government in Bangladesh: An Alternative Approach to Bring Efficiency & Effectiveness in Urban Governance PDF A.N.M. Zakir Hossain, Raqibul Hasan Democracy and development are interelated. Bangladesh is facing a number of difficulties to ensure development through democray in every aspect of its life. City government is an approach to improve and accelerate the process of democracy through governance, where development is major concern, in urban areas of Bangladesh. The conflict between mayors and local MPs (Member of Parliament) is a common phenomenon that is account for failure the development programs in city corporations. The present study aims to clarify the present condition of urban local government and possibility of City Government in Bangladesh. The study found ruling party interfere in local election, which must be avoid, financial independence is crucial issue for city government which will be managed locally if city government established. Awareness of the people, literacy and motivation can increase people's participation for effective governance in cities. Public Accountability and maintaining hierarchy was also marked as an important for effective city government. Delegation of authority and autonomy of city (local) government were found the precondition to establish of city government in Bangladesh where party politics must be keeping away from.