The Changing Climate's Snowball Effect

Shrinking snowpack, thawing permafrost, and shifting precipitation patterns have widespread consequences. Can new technologies—and public policies—help communities adapt?

Gulliver Unleashed? International Order, Restraint, and The Case of Ancient Athens

International relations often include orders of smaller powers led by major powers. Perhaps the most significant aspect of international order is whether the major power leader is restrained or nonrestrained. Restrained major powers respect smaller powers’ preferences, eschew wielding power to impose their preferences, and avoid violating the smaller powers’ sovereignties, often using binding institutions and rules. Nonrestrained major powers violate decision-making rules, seek to impose their preferences, and violate smaller powers’ sovereignties using coercion and force. This article asks, what causes an order to evolve from restrained to nonrestrained? It argues that when a major power grows in strength relative to smaller power order members, the major power becomes more likely to abandon restraint, using coercion and force to impose its preferences on the order. Further, there is a snowball effect, as initial acts of nonrestraint undermine the credibility of the major power's commitment to restraint, encouraging smaller powers to exit the order, fueling further major power nonrestraint. The theory is tested on the fifth-century BCE Athenian order. Athens’ transition from restraint to nonrestraint, what some call a transition from alliance to empire, supports the predictions of the theory. Neither ideology nor rent-seeking theories explain this transition.

How do Different Types of Synaesthesia Cluster Together? Implications for Causal Mechanisms

It is unclear whether synaesthesia is one condition or many and, this has implications for whether theories should postulate a single cause or multiple independent causes. Study 1 analyses data from a large sample of self-referred synaesthetes (N = 2925), who answered a questionnaire about N = 164 potential types of synaesthesia. Clustering and factor analysis methods identified around seven coherent groupings of synaesthesia, as well as showing that some common types of synaesthesia do not fall into any grouping at all (mirror-touch, hearing-motion, tickertape). There was a residual positive correlation between clusters (they tend to associate rather than compete). Moreover, we observed a “snowball effect” whereby the chances of having a given cluster of synaesthesia goes up in proportion to the number of other clusters a person has (again suggesting non-independence). Clusters tended to be distinguished by shared concurrent experiences rather than shared triggering stimuli (inducers). We speculate that modulatory feedback pathways from the concurrent to inducers may play a key role in the emergence of synaesthesia. Study 2 assessed the external validity of these clusters by showing that they predict performance on other measures known to be linked to synaesthesia.

The snowball effect: Planning for preservation infrastructure in a small library

Small libraries frequently face significant challenges related to funding and staff capacity when attempting to complete large projects and improve infrastructure. With careful planning and a bit of luck, however, it is possible to leverage small successes into much larger accomplishments. The University of Arizona Poetry Center, a special collections library of contemporary poetry within the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona, recently adopted this approach to implement a systematic overhaul of its preservation program.

Rock, Paper, Concrete...

MAVNS, a successful construction company, has been staying ahead of the innovation curve as it relates to construction technology and site development over the past few decades. However, stagnation in the evolution of its employee time keeping processes has created a snowball effect of other issues that are ultimately costing profitability and significant competitive advantage. Determining a way out of the "industrial dark ages" is critical for maintaining a competitive position and sustaining long term profits. How then, do they construct the right path forward?