scholarly journals Socio-environmental extremes: rethinking extraordinary events as outcomes of interacting biophysical and social systems

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Balch ◽  
Virginia Iglesias ◽  
Anna Braswell ◽  
Matthew Rossi ◽  
Maxwell B Joseph ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Events ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
High Exposure ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Environmental Extremes ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Extreme droughts, heat waves, fires, hurricanes, floods, and landslides cause the largest losses in the United States, and globally, from natural hazards linked to weather and climate. There is evidence that the frequency of such extremes is increasing, particularly for heat waves, large fires, and intense precipitation, making better understanding of the probability and consequences of these events imperative. Further, these events are not isolated, but rather interact with each other, and with social and ecological vulnerability, to amplify impacts. Less is known about the nature and strength of these interactions. Natural and social science subfields frame extreme events with different definitions and analytical approaches, and most analyses neglect interactions and the subsequent novel extremes that can arise. Here we propose a framework for socio-environmental extremes, defined as extraordinary events that emerge from interactions among biophysical and social phenomena and have some degree of social impact. We review how different fields approach extremes as interacting phenomena and propose a synthetic framework for conceptualizing and defining extremes from both an environmental and social perspective. This approach recognizes multiple drivers and responses that yield extreme events and extreme outcomes, and reconciles the gap between understanding extremes as biophysical processes and their social underpinnings and impacts. We conclude with a future research agenda that adds clarity and direction to understanding the extreme events that matter to society. This agenda will help to identify where, when, and why communities may have high exposure and vulnerability to socio- environmental extremes—informing future mitigation and adaptation strategies.

scholarly journals Socio-environmental extremes: rethinking extraordinary events as outcomes of interacting biophysical and social systems

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Balch ◽  
Virginia Iglesias ◽  
Anna Braswell ◽  
Matthew Rossi ◽  
Maxwell B Joseph ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Events ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
High Exposure ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Environmental Extremes ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Extreme droughts, heat waves, fires, hurricanes, floods, and landslides cause the largest losses in the United States, and globally, from natural hazards linked to weather and climate. There is evidence that the frequency of such extremes is increasing, particularly for heat waves, large fires, and intense precipitation, making better understanding of the probability and consequences of these events imperative. Further, these events are not isolated, but rather interact with each other, and with social and ecological vulnerability, to amplify impacts. Less is known about the nature and strength of these interactions. Natural and social science subfields frame extreme events with different definitions and analytical approaches, and most analyses neglect interactions and the subsequent novel extremes that can arise. Here we propose a framework for socio-environmental extremes, defined as extraordinary events that emerge from interactions among biophysical and social phenomena and have some degree of social impact. We review how different fields approach extremes as interacting phenomena and propose a synthetic framework for conceptualizing and defining extremes from both an environmental and social perspective. This approach recognizes multiple drivers and responses that yield extreme events and extreme outcomes, and reconciles the gap between understanding extremes as biophysical processes and their social underpinnings and impacts. We conclude with a future research agenda that adds clarity and direction to understanding the extreme events that matter to society. This agenda will help to identify where, when, and why communities may have high exposure and vulnerability to socio- environmental extremes—informing future mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Aesthetic Identity Development Among Trans Adolescents and Young Adults

2020 ◽  
pp. 0887302X2097538
Author(s):  
Jenifer K. McGuire ◽  
Andrew Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Role Taking ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Emotional Aspects ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Dress And Identity ◽  
Binary Gender

Dress is used by transgender and nonbinary (TNB) individuals as a way to develop and maintain identity, whether to reinforce a binary gender code or disrupt social expectations. However, safety issues of living in a society where TNB persons are discriminated against, harassed, and assaulted, and where binary gender violations are met with resistance, creates tension between expression of authentic gender identity and navigation of social systems. A framework for creating an aesthetic identity based on dress and identity development scholarship was created and used to analyze responses from interviews with 90 TNB individuals located in the United States, Canada, and Ireland. Findings revealed the dialectic tension between performativity and safety. The framework explores aesthetic identity through concepts including sensory, cognitive, and emotional aspects of clothing; scaffolding and feedback; role making and role taking; and exploration and commitment. Limitations and future research are discussed.

scholarly journals “Let’s Not Have the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good”: Social Impact Bonds, Randomized Controlled Trials, and the Valuation of Social Programs

2021 ◽  
pp. 016224392110420
Author(s):  
James W. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Program Outcomes ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Social Impact Bonds

This article uses the case of “social impact bonds” (SIBs) to explore the role of social science methods in new markets in “social investment.” Pioneered in the UK in 2010, SIBs use private capital to fund social programs with governments paying returns for successful outcomes. Central to the SIB model is the question of evaluation and the method to be used in determining program outcomes and investor returns. In the United States, the randomized controlled trial (RCT) has been the dominant method. However, this has not been without controversy. Some SIB practitioners and investors have argued that, while this may be the perfect tool, the need to grow the SIB market demands a more pragmatic approach. Drawing from a three-year study of SIBs, and informed by Science and Technology Studies (STS)-inspired work on valuation and the social life of methods, the article explores RCTs as both a valuation technology central to SIB design and the object of a micropolitics of valuation which has impeded market growth. It is the relationship between, and the politics of, evaluation and valuation that is a key lesson of the SIB experiment and an important insight for future research on “social investment” and other settings where methods are constitutive of financial value.

scholarly journals Climate Change: Vulnerability of the Niger Delta Region, in Nigeria

2019 ◽  
pp. 764-788
Author(s):  
Stephena Udinmade Ighedosa
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Niger Delta ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
High Exposure ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
Wind Events

Climate change is not just a global threat, but an unprecedented public health emergency. Climate change has been characterized by global warming, increased frequency and intensity of   precipitation, catastrophic wind events, and extreme weather events, associated with heat waves, flooding disasters, and prolonged droughts. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) attributes climate change to anthropogenic or human activities.  Globally, the most vulnerable regions, to hazardous impacts of climate change, are the mega-deltas of Africa and Asia, due to high exposure to sea level rise, storm surges, coastal erosion, and river flooding, compounded by increasing human-induced pressures on coastal areas. The vulnerability of the Niger Delta region, is exacerbated by oil spillages, gas flaring. and environmental degradation. This review article highlights, the urgent implementation of mitigation and adaptation as opportunities for full transformation of economies, of the Niger delta region, in line with sustainable developmental goals (SDGs).

Refining Evidence-Based Treatments for Late-Life Depression

GeroPsych ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
Grace C. Niu ◽  
Patricia A. Arean
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Aging Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Late Life Depression ◽  
Evidence Based Treatments

The recent increase in the aging population, specifically in the United States, has raised concerns regarding treatment for mental illness among older adults. Late-life depression (LLD) is a complex condition that has become widespread among the aging population. Despite the availability of behavioral interventions and psychotherapies, few depressed older adults actually receive treatment. In this paper we review the research on refining treatments for LLD. We first identify evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for LLD and the problems associated with efficacy and dissemination, then review approaches to conceptualizing mental illness, specifically concepts related to brain plasticity and the Research Domain Criteria (RDoc). Finally, we introduce ENGAGE as a streamlined treatment for LLD and discuss implications for future research.

A Silenced Population

Crisis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 433-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Gryglewicz ◽  
Melanie Bozzay ◽  
Brittany Arthur-Jordon ◽  
Gabriela D. Romero ◽  
Melissa Witmeier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
At Risk Youth ◽  
Peer Relationship ◽  
Student Records ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Method Student

Abstract. Background: Given challenges that exceed the normal developmental requirements of adolescence, deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) youth are believed to be at elevated risk for engaging in suicide-related behavior (SRB). Unfortunately, little is known about the mechanisms that put these youth potentially at risk. Aims: To determine whether peer relationship difficulties are related to increased risk of SRB in DHH youth. Method: Student records (n = 74) were retrieved from an accredited educational center for deaf and blind students in the United States. Results: Peer relationship difficulties were found to be significantly associated with engagement in SRB but not when accounting for depressive symptomatology. Limitations: The restricted sample limits generalizability. Conclusions regarding risk causation cannot be made due to the cross-sectional nature of the study. Conclusion: These results suggest the need for future research that examines the mechanisms of the relationship between peer relationship difficulties, depression, and suicide risk in DHH youth and potential preventive interventions to ameliorate the risks for these at-risk youth.

Fragments of the American Dream: Immigration, Race, and Medical Care in the Segregated South, 1929

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
John R Phillips
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American Dream ◽  
Black Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
Single Woman ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sunflower County

The cover photograph for this issue of Public Voices was taken sometime in the summer of 1929 (probably June) somewhere in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Very probably the photo was taken in Indianola but, perhaps, it was Ruleville. It is one of three such photos, one of which does have the annotation on the reverse “Ruleville Midwives Club 1929.” The young woman wearing a tie in this and in one of the other photos was Ann Reid Brown, R.N., then a single woman having only arrived in the United States from Scotland a few years before, in 1923. Full disclosure: This commentary on the photo combines professional research interests in public administration and public policy with personal interests—family interests—for that young nurse later married and became the author’s mother. From the scholarly perspective, such photographs have been seen as “instrumental in establishing midwives’ credentials and cultural identity at a key transitional moment in the history of the midwife and of public health” (Keith, Brennan, & Reynolds 2012). There is also deep irony if we see these photographs as being a fragment of the American dream, of a recent immigrant’s hope for and success at achieving that dream; but that fragment of the vision is understood quite differently when we see that she began a hopeful career working with a Black population forcibly segregated by law under the incongruously named “separate but equal” legal doctrine. That doctrine, derived from the United States Supreme Court’s 1896 decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, would remain the foundation for legally enforced segregation throughout the South for another quarter century. The options open to the young, white, immigrant nurse were almost entirely closed off for the population with which she then worked. The remaining parts of this overview are meant to provide the following: (1) some biographical information on the nurse; (2) a description, in so far as we know it, of why she was in Mississippi; and (3) some indication of areas for future research on this and related topics.

Questions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Gibson ◽  
Michael J. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
The U.S

We have investigated the differences in support for the U.S. Supreme Court among black, Hispanic, and white Americans, catalogued the variation in African Americans’ group attachments and experiences with legal authorities, and examined how those latter two factors shape individuals’ support for the U.S. Supreme Court, that Court’s decisions, and for their local legal system. We take this opportunity to weave our findings together, taking stock of what we have learned from our analyses and what seem like fruitful paths for future research. In the process, we revisit Positivity Theory. We present a modified version of the theory that we hope will guide future inquiry on public support for courts, both in the United States and abroad.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis D. Stimeling
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Country Music ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Music Culture ◽  
Rich Variety ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Folklore Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich

This chapter offers a historiographic survey of country music scholarship from the publication of Bill C. Malone’s “A History of Commercial Country Music in the United States, 1920–1964” (1965) to the leading publications of the today. Very little of substance has been written on country music recorded since the 1970s, especially when compared to the wealth of available literature on early country recording artists. Ethnographic studies of country music and country music culture are rare, and including ethnographic methods in country music studies offers new insights into the rich variety of ways in which people make, consume, and engage with country music as a genre. The chapter traces the influence of folklore studies, sociology, cultural studies, and musicology on the development of country music studies and proposes some directions for future research in the field.

The Energy Politics of the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 371-405
Author(s):  
Juliann Emmons Allison ◽  
Srinivas Parinandi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Energy Politics ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Subnational Governance

This chapter examines the development and politics of US energy policy, with an emphasis on three themes: the distribution of authority to regulate energy between national (or federal) and subnational governments, the relationship between energy and environmental policy and regulation, and the role of climate action in energy politics. It reviews patterns of energy production and consumption; provides an overview of national energy politics; and reviews literatures on federalism and energy politics and policy, the increasing integration of energy and environmental policies, and the politics of energy and climate action. The chapter concludes with a discussion of a future research agenda that underscores the significance of political polarization, subnational governance, and technological innovation for understanding US energy policy.

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