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This research explores the lived experiences and life choices of voluntarily childfree women in the United States. The purpose of this study is to investigate why women choose voluntary childlessness as well as to examine how they come to make a childfree decision. Drawing on indepth, semi-structured interviews with voluntarily childfree women, this paper discusses the selfreported reasons women decide not to bear children. Although this is a working paper in the early stages of data inquiry, preliminary analyses suggest that one of the ways voluntarily childfree women account for their childlessness is by the means of trauma narratives. As the women discuss the experience of traumas throughout their life course, they underscore conceivable reproductive risks and uncertainties--physical, social, and psychological ones. Moreover, they describe beliefs of untenable sacrifice and loss of self with regard to having children. The childfree women's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors emphasize how childbearing and childrearing affect personal well-being. Their reproductive decision-making processes are related to a variety of past and ongoing social, cultural, and psychological experiences, all of which inform the women's resistance to circumstances that accompany the possibility of, for example, dependency, loss, instability, or unpredictability. Grounded in a social psychological and social constructionist framework, I argue that the childfree women talk about, negotiate, and justify contested identities to self and others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we present results of a discourse analysis of the interactions between two partners, Uma and Sean, through a feminist lens. During roughly five hours of small group work in a teaching experiment, how each partner used language to position each other's thinking as mathematically significant and establish a collaborative environment varied dramatically. Specifically, Uma shouldered the burden of continuously working to maintain collaboration, oftentimes at the expense of having her thinking positioned as mathematically significant. On the other hand, Sean regularly offered little opportunity for Uma to engage openly with his thinking, which ultimately constrained Uma's opportunities to learn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anaerobic digestion of MSW has received the recognition as a mode of producing energy-rich methane gas, abolishing morbific bacteria and decreasing difficulties related with the discarding of organic waste. The paper waste which thrive far and wide counting the instantaneous atmosphere is a great source material for biogas production. Rather than putting them in fire or letting them littered around, these paper waste (PW) can be used for energy production. This paper states that sustained flammable methane gas can be produced by the PW by blending with animal waste and implementing pre-treatment methods for paper waste. The pre-treatment improves the methane production as papers are biosolids, have very long retention time and has low degradation efficiency due to the presence of lignocellulosic. The accessibility of microorganisms to the fermentable sugars is restricted by their complex structure. These preventive aspects are associated with first stage of anaerobic digestion (AD) that is hydrolysis, this stage is important for the degradation of feedstock. To avoid these limiting factors pre-treatment methods, achieve significant result in degradation of PW. Therefore, by enhancing the selected variables to accelerate biogas production is the agenda of the current study. This reduces the common problems that arise throughout anaerobic digestion. The study also involves the improvement of performance parameters associated with Anaerobic digestion using paper waste and cow dung. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Conference Papers -- Psychology of Mathematics & Education of North America is the property of Psychology of Mathematics & Education of North America and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines recent institutional innovations aimed at improving workplace conditions among the paid in-home care workforce. The ranks of care workers who serve the elderly, young children, and people with disabilities are rapidly expanding, and civil society and government actors are adopting new strategies to ensure that these workers receive the pay and treatment guaranteed to them by law. In recent years, worker organizations and labor unions have won new policies, such as Domestic Workers' Bills of Rights, yet a disconnect persists between rights on paper and labor conditions in household workplaces. This paper explores one initiative that seeks to mend that disconnect: the creation of a local government agency in New York City charged with promoting rights enforcement among paid care workers. Through interviews with staff of worker organizations and government offices, I analyze the strengths and weaknesses of this institutional innovation. Preliminary findings suggest that this model offers promising but limited tools for defending workers' rights in home-based care. Some limitations may be overcome by further reforms, but others are more formidable, such as the dilemma of regulating individual households who directly hire care workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of female demining teams in simultaneously creating gender equality and environmental justice. By focusing on literature on the gendered body by Butler and Foucault, this study analyzes how women deminers utilize their bodies to shift gender norms in regions where traditional gender expectations are important. This paper also relies on Bourdieu's concepts of social and cultural capital to better understand the material changes that occur on the ground for women deminers. Using the HALO Trust as a case study with supporting data from an interview with a former employee, I analyze the organization's structure and mission to include women in the workforce. Relying on representative, capacities, and cultural forms of justice and their frameworks, this paper explores how demining efforts that include women, like those of HALO's, can be considered feminist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study expands on sociological concepts of transborder ties through a case study of Armenian diaspora members in the United States and Canada. Building on migration scholars who note that ties to the homeland do not dissolve after an individual migrates, this paper asks the questions of if and how transborder activism can promote feelings of belongingness amongst several generations of immigrants and explores how to qualitatively measure the effectiveness of activism done by nonlocal individuals. This paper draws on virtual ethnographic interviews that were conducted in the span of the 20182019 academic year with Armenians in the diaspora. The respondents of this study hold membership ties to diaspora youth organizations, such as the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), and others are participants of Birthright Armenia, creating a diverse sample of Armenians who can speak to the experience of being in the homeland. This study is particularly important as it seeks to better understand how the Armenian 2018 Velvet Revolution was successful in being peaceful. By relying on literature that focuses on the role of globalization and technology, the responses in this study help to explain the impact of social media's role in influencing international social movement participation. This paper intersects concepts of social theory, politics, anthropology, and technology to add to current immigration dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although more women enter formerly maledominated fields, they remain underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This paper examines how adolescent's social environment, defined as friends in class and other (nonfriend) classmates, influence genderspecific STEM choices. We study if boys and girls are influenced differently by the math achievement of the environment and by the gender normative ideas of their environment. We used three waves (N = 726) from the CILS project, which surveyed adolescents in secondary education in the Netherlands at age 15 (2011/2012) and after secondary education at age 1718 (2014 & 2015). Using multinominallogistic regression analyses, results show that the likelihood of choosing STEM fields over nonSTEM fields increases when friends in class are better in mathematics, but decreases when friends in class have a higher comparative advantage in mathematics (are better in mathematics compared to languages). A higher math achievement of nonfriend classmates decreases the likelihood of choosing biology over nonSTEM fields, but their higher comparative advantage in mathematics increases the likelihood of choosing biology. We conclude that both the average math achievement and the comparative advantage in mathematics of students' environment matter for STEM choices, but that the environment's achievement does not explain gender differences in STEM fields. Moreover, friends and nonfriend classmates are different aspects of students' social environment as they influence students' STEM choices differently. Lastly, a more traditional gender normative environment impedes girls from entering STEM fields, suggesting that gender stereotypes of STEM fields as masculine are influential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing primarily on in-depth-interviews with 1.5-generation Brazilian immigrants who migrated to Massachusetts during the 1980s and 90s, this paper examines how race, class, and (il)legality shapes their post-schooling transitions and work experiences. While some scholars argue that illegality can become a master status during adulthood, I analyze how situational whiteness, middle class roots, and (il)legality work together to shape 1.5-generation Brazilians' post-schooling lives in important ways. I find that their positions of power in race and class hierarchies gives them access to important financial resources and networks that can help them overcome barriers to mobility due to illegality. Their networks and financial resources can also help them avoid downward trajectories when they face challenging life events, such as teen pregnancy, dropping out of high school, or deportation. Furthermore, although few 1.5- generation Brazilians identify as white, many can pass as white, at least in certain situations, leading them to report that their everyday interactions in white spaces, including work contexts, are easier for them than for their darker-skinned peers. Finally, many 1.5-generation Brazilians, who were only able to migrate on tourist visas and overstay because of their middle class roots, have been able to adjust their status to become lawful permanent residents and citizens - opening up important education and work opportunities for them in adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the banknotes the Cuban postrevolutionary government canceled, and overall the 1961 currency reform, arguing they were conceived to give shape to a revolutionary, fidelista figured world of power that extended and legitimized Castro's rule. The author first analyzes the Cuban currency reform, considering its financial, political, and symbolic impacts, further discussing in detail the visuality of each of the banknotes in Series 1961. She finally concludes that from the conception of the reform to the design of the notes were strategies of logistics that, as Chandra Mukerji argues, helped to define a new, revolutionary social world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social connections with others can have a profound impact on mental health, particularly in adolescence. However, it is unclear if the relationship between social network integration and depressive symptoms in adolescence has an enduring effect on mental health into adulthood, or if the mental health benefits and strains of peer contexts in adolescence are left behind as individuals move into subsequent stages of the life course. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health (Add Health, N=14,003, 50.95% white, 50.99% female) and growth curve models, we examine how two dimensions of integration in social networks, popularity and expansiveness, predict trajectories of depressive symptoms from adolescence to adulthood. We find that popularity is associated with lower depressive levels, particularly in respondent's early twenties, but that this benefit then tapers off so that benefits of prior popularity are no longer experienced by adults in their early 30's. Expansiveness, however, is associated with an enduring benefit to mental health, associated with trajectories showing lower levels of depressive symptoms into adulthood, especially for men. Overall, this study indicates that social integration among peers can have lasting positive benefits to mental health long after individuals leave adolescent social settings and that practitioners and researchers should further consider how connections with peers in adolescence can have an enduring relationship with pathways of adult mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, politicians across western welfare states and ideological positions have taken a keen interest in voluntary social work based on two sets of expectations. Firstly, volunteers are expected to provide a different, less bureaucratic kind of care than public sector employees. Secondly, volunteering is expected to widen the horizon of the participant and produce social capital, generalized trust, civic virtues and, thus, thriving liberal democracies. For politicians in financially challenged welfare states in search of innovative welfare solutions at low costs, volunteers have thus gained political momentum. Third sector scholars argue that this political interest increases the instrumentalization and professionalization of third sector organisations and potentially eschew the organisational focus towards the needs of the volunteers rather than beneficiaries, as volunteers equals legitimacy and funding. Despite such concern, only few studies examine how the political agenda translates into certain ways of organising voluntary social work and affect intra-organizational interaction. Based on an ethnographic study of a cross-sector project where volunteers provide virtual tutoring for ethnic minority pupils, this article contributes with knowledge on these interconnected dynamics. A key finding is, that the organization, in response to a competitive institutional environment, integrates New Public Management techniques which, together with the technological setup of the organisation, produces a bounded, efficient and activitycentred interaction between volunteers and beneficiaries. While not meeting the moral expectations towards volunteering, the author argues that this bounded organisational practice enabled the unequal positions as "resourceful volunteer" helping an "at-risk youth" to be superimposed by the roles as "on demand service-provider" and "user". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Little is known about how the excessive drinking culture entrenched in college social life influences the fear of missing out (FOMO) on the binge drinking experience among college students and how such fear plays in the mechanisms linking various risk factors with binge drinking intentions. Objectives. The main objectives of this study were to 1) develop and validate a self-report measure of alcohol-related FOMO, and 2) assess the role of alcohol-related FOMO in increasing binge drinking intentions through mediating the effect of alcohol expectancies and enhancing susceptibility to peer norms. Method. A college student sample (N = 490; 66.3% female) completed a one-shot survey. Selfreport data was analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and structural equation modeling along with mediation and moderation analyses. Results. Factor analyses supported an 18-item multidimensional scale tapping the alcoholrelated FOMO (ALFOMO). The scale demonstrated good internal consistency, satisfied the validity requirements and was free of gender bias. Additionally, ALFOMO was a significant focal predictor of binge drinking intentions. It significantly mediated the effect of alcohol positive expectancies and mediated and moderated the positive effect of peer descriptive norms. Conclusions. This paper presents the development and initial validation of the alcohol-related FOMO scale. The present study also provides the first theoretical and empirical investigation of the alcohol-related FOMO in relation to alcohol expectancies, peer norms, and binge drinking intentions. Results confirm that the ALFOMO scale is a promising measure and provide evidence for its indispensability in future research and interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the senior population has been increasingly engaged with reading on mobile technologies, research that specifically documents the impact of technologies on reading for this age group has still been lacking. The present study investigated how different reading media (screen versus paper) might result in different reading outcomes among older adults due to both cognitive and psychological factors. Using a laboratory experiment with eighty-one participants aged 57 to 85, our results supported past research and showed the influence of cognitive map formation on readers' feelings of fatigue. Our findings also suggested that individual levels of technophobia was an important barrier to older adults' effective use of mobile technologies for reading. In the post-hoc analyses, we further showed that technophobia was correlated with technology experience, certain personality traits, and age. The present study highlights the importance of providing tailored support that helps older adults overcome psychological obstacles in using technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Norwegian Annual Informatics Conference (NIK) has served as the most important national meeting point for the academic community in Norway during the last thirty years. National conferences often have a reputation of being of lesser quality than international conferences. Yet, NIK have practiced peer review with relatively low acceptance rates which is a trait of quality. Based on the assumption that quality and impact are related, this study set out to explore the actual impact of NIK in terms of citations over its thirty-year lifetime. As NIK is not being systematically indexed there are no readily available source of citation data and these were thus manually extracted. The results show that NIK papers do get cited at a level comparable to reputable international conferences, and the ratio of papers that are cited is increasing. The results also show that the title length and the number of authors per paper have increased, whereas papers written in Norwegian do not get cited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a paper converting process where master rolls are transformed to paper sheets with the minimal paper loss, including trim loss, set up loss, and over-production loss. Two different types of cutters are involved in the converting process - one transversal knife and two transversal knife machines. To solve the problem, various types of paper sheets specified by material type, size, and required quantity are grouped into all possible cutting patterns using a heuristic method. Then, a MILP model is proposed to assign cutting patterns to each type of cutter while satisfying the machine capacity constraints. Applying the methodology to industrial problems, we found the average total loss of 4.6% for single-product group problems and 3.1% for two-product group problems, which respectively correspond to 25.8% and 41.9% improvement over a current method based on worker experiences used by the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was an effort to uncover 4 major facts: (a) the predictive power of the proposed integrated model, which posits the influence of attitudes (ATT), subjective norms (SN), perceived behavior control (PBC), altruism, and two-types of self-construal on behavioral intentions to recycle paper materials; and (b) the moderating effects of individualism-collectivism (I-C) on the attitudes-intentions relationship and the subjective norms-intentions relationship. Conducted in 2 contrasting cultures, this cross-sectional research consisted of two phases: the TPB elicitation research and the main study. Participants were undergraduate students recruited from 2 major public universities in Thailand and the U.S. The sample size used in the main analysis comprised 417 respondents from Thailand (representing a collectivistic society) and 432 respondents from the U.S. (representing an individualistic society). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to investigate the predictability of the integrated model. Multigroup SEM was implemented to examine the moderating effects of I-C. The results yielded some significant findings enhancing our understanding of paper-recycling intentions of college students in the 2 countries. First, TPB determinants, especially PBC and SN, were potential predictors of paper recycling. Although ATT was not a successful antecedent of paper-recycling intentions in Thailand, it predicted intentions of U.S. participants. Second, altruism was a significant factor explaining ATT and PBC for both samples; it also directly influenced intentions. Finally, 2 types of self-construal significantly and distinctively affected ATT and SN. Findings can benefit communication campaigns targeting audiences in different cultural milieus. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing of non-linear loads in electric power system, power quality distortion has become a serious issue in recent years. In paper and pulp industries, due to presence of concentrated high power non-linear loads such as electric drives, this problem is a greater concern. In this paper, the impacts of harmonic distortions on the electric drives in Delta paper mill, Vendra, West Godavari(Dist),Andhra Pradesh, India is investigated. The harmonic measurement is done with Fluke 434 power quality analyzer. Different solutions exist to reduce the harmonic emission of Adjustable Speed Drives in order to fulfill the requirements of the international harmonic standards. In recently active power filters gained an increased attention due to their effective harmonic reduction. In this paper an active power filter has been designed for minimization of the harmonics, which is implemented in matlab/simulink based on real time measurement of the harmonic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing of non-linear loads in electric power system, power quality distortion has become a serious issue in recent years. In paper and pulp industries, due to presence of concentrated high power non-linear loads such as electric drives, this problem is a greater concern. In this paper, the impacts of harmonic distortions on the electric drives in Delta paper mill, Vendra, West Godavari(Dist),Andhra Pradesh, India is investigated. The harmonic measurement is done with Fluke 434 power quality analyzer. Different solutions exist to reduce the harmonic emission of Adjustable Speed Drives in order to fulfill the requirements of the international harmonic standards. In recently active power filters gained an increased attention due to their effective harmonic reduction. In this paper an active power filter has been designed for minimization of the harmonics, which is implemented in matlab/simulink based on real time measurement of the harmonic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper-top interface (PTI) is a fusion of paper and digital technology. We developed a PTI prototype system for increasing learning effects in a classroom. The prototype system uses a visual-marker-based AR (Augmented Reality) technique and projects e-Learning materials onto the corresponding papers on a classroom desk. A student is allowed to not only view e-Learning materials under his/her eyes but also write on the papers (pages of his/per notebook) using pencils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a paper converting process where master rolls are transformed to paper sheets with the minimal paper loss, including trim loss, set up loss, and over-production loss. Two different types of cutters are involved in the converting process - one transversal knife and two transversal knife machines. To solve the problem, various types of paper sheets specified by material type, size, and required quantity are grouped into all possible cutting patterns using a heuristic method. Then, a MILP model is proposed to assign cutting patterns to each type of cutter while satisfying the machine capacity constraints. Applying the methodology to industrial problems, we found the average total loss of 4.6% for single-product group problems and 3.1% for two-product group problems, which respectively correspond to 25.8% and 41.9% improvement over a current method based on worker experiences used by the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that explores citizen's engagement with a particular foreign policy issue on social media. It mentions that neither the scholarship on ‘foreign policy-media-public opinion' nexus nor soft power and public diplomacy bodies of literature sufficiently explain public engagement with foreign policy on social media. It further explores how social media impact citizens' engagement with the issue of Great Britain's departure from the European Union.

The article offers information on the communication strategies of entrepreneurs within social media networks and its impact on their firm performance. Topics discussed include information on the social networks in communication management; and the discussions on the conceptualization the communication of startups in social networks within the framework of communication management theory.

This meta-analysis examines the overall effectiveness of Internet supplemented health campaigns on behavior change in the United States. Results show that Internet supplemented health campaigns have significant but relatively small effects (d = 0.23) on behavior change. Moreover, further meta-regression analysis shows that campaign effect size was moderated by campaign topic, presence of audience segmentation, target behavior, behavior type, presence of theoretical foundation, and delivery channel. Aligns with the findings of previous meta-analyses, theorygrounded health campaigns were more effective (d = 0.30) than campaigns with no theoretical foundation (d = 0.16). Campaigns targeting adoption of new behaviors (d = 0.26) were more effective than those targeting cessation of undesirable behaviors (d = 0.10), while campaigns targeting addictive behaviors (d = 0.13) were less effective than those targeting non-addictive ones (d = 0.27). More importantly, the results of the meta-regression analysis shows supplementing the Internet as a delivery channel improves health campaign effectiveness. The results show empirical evidences that Internet can be an effective and cost-effective tool for health communication campaigns, and should be considered as an important supplement for campaigns in the digital era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers insight to a study conducted for examining message content of Tweets on social network site, Twitter regarding the ongoing Flint water crisis. It informs on audience-centric crisis communication research, and plurality of voices represented within Tweets centered around Flint's water crisis. It also informs on recommendations for incorporating social media in professional crisis and risk communication practices.

This study examines how ethical vegan identity is communicatively conceptualized and impacted by human-animal relationship(s) with participants' companion animal(s) (i.e., "pets"). This study not only showcases a plurality of voices from ethical vegans whom are also companion animal guardians (i.e., "pet owners"), but it also seeks to expand our knowledge of the communicative constitution and function of human-animal relationships as related to individual identity/ies. Thirteen participants were interviewed and data were analyzed using iterative qualitative analysis. Data illuminated propositions of the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI). Identity enhancements were discovered for participants' personal-enacted identity regarding companion animal adoption and personal-enacted-relational identity regarding companion animal agency and shared, specialized space. An identity gap was also discovered pertaining to personal-enacted identity regarding spaying/neutering and companion animal diets that conflicted with ethical vegan values. However, these were communicatively negotiated via personalrelational identity. These findings illuminate the dynamic and fluid nature of identity for ethical vegans whom are also companion animal guardians. Ethical vegan identity was communicatively constructed as independent of, yet interdependent on, identification as a companion animal guardian in this context, thus, consistent with theoretical propositions of CTI. Findings also reveal how identities are communicatively negotiated among CTI's four intersecting frames. Implications of these findings are discussed as related to extant theory and research as well as ways that identity and human-animal relationships can be further researched and theorized within communication studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how playing "Papers, Please" (PP), a serious game that puts players in the role of an immigration officer, affects attitudes toward immigration after repeated exposure. The results are compared to a control group longitudinally playing "The Westport Independent" (WI), a game that puts players in the role of a newspaper editor. Though PP and WI players' attitudes showed no difference at baseline and after the first play session, PP players showed decreased attitudes toward migrants after the second play session compared with WI players. PP players also showed decreased perceived behavioral control in helping migrants relative to WI players after the first play session, but PP players' baseline and second session perceived behavioral control scores showed no differences. Additionally, perceived behavioral control for helping immigrants significantly decreased among PP players after the first and second play sessions relative to baseline scores, but the first and second PP play sessions showed no differences in perceived behavioral control scores. WI players' scores did not change over time. Overall, preliminary findings imply that playing PP reduced attitudes toward migrants relative to WI players. The results are linked to the cultivation hypothesis and vicarious reinforcement effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the confidentiality management of tax accrual working papers. It states that in interim, taxpayers are advised to take necessary measures that may help them in protecting confidentiality of their tax accrual working papers. It mentions the legal framework of the disputes in Canada, U.S., and Great Britain on the ability of tax authorities to access the subjective analysis of taxpayers and the analysis of their professional advisers.

The availability of reliable power supply at reasonable cost is important for economic growth and development of a country. Low system reliability leads to increased outages resulting more losses to business sectors. To evaluate such losses customer survey approach was adopted as the customer is in the best judge of losses affected by the outages. The study was conducted to establish monetary losses associated with aftereffects of outages. The Customer Damage Function (CDF) approach was used in this study. The CDF value comes out to be Rs. 16.65 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a longitudinal analysis of media substitution between personal computers (PCs) and mobile phones using Nielsen's PC-Mobile 2-Screen panel data. Topics include the interrelationship between mobile phones and personal computers (PCs), theoretical and methodological contributions to existing research on media substitution, and the time displacement effect on television caused by home computers.

A survey (n=208) evaluates the role of social media message source (expert and peer) on publics' intent to comply with crisis preparedness directives issued thereon and further crisis information seeking in two crisis scenarios (severe weather and Zika virus). ANCOVAs indicate a significant difference in subjects' intent to comply with crisis preparedness directives in the Zika scenario as they are more likely to comply with protocol issued through an expert (professional) Facebook account than a peer (layperson) Facebook account. The findings add understanding to the complex nature of crisis preparedness decision-making process and provide opportunities for future research examining the effect of social media message source across different crisis scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]