Foreign direct investments have played a large role on China’s rapidly emerging economy. The author argues that foreign direct investments (FDI) in China have had no negative effects on the FDI flows to neighboring Asian countries. There was controversy in the 1990s when China was receiving a lot more FDI than surrounding countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The author argues that the scale of China’s economy justified its larger intake of FDI since its growing economy far outweighed those of less wealthy neighboring countries. Thus the amount of FDI was proportional to China’s scale. The author also denounced the belief that this was a zero-sum game, where more FDI to China meant less FDI to neighboring countries—in fact he states that it still benefitted the region. He also explains how China’s economic policies have favored FDI and is restructuring the regional economy. In order to demonstrate that China received proportional FDI, the article used economic data from an FDI Performance Index, which shows the ratio of FDI received by a country to its annual GDP. He collected this from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Thus he used publicly available data, which he collected available records. He also consulted the WTO and MOFTEC (Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation) for statistics. The article was well written and the author thoroughly explained his methods, making the research easily understandable.

Das, Dilip K. “Foreign Direct Investment in China: Its Impact on the Neighboring Asian Economies.” Asian Business & Management 6, no. 3 (2007): 285-301. doi:10.1057/palgrave.abm.9200225.

Environmental Beliefs and Attitudes in Sweden and the Baltic States

Geoffrey D. Gooch

Gooch, Geoffrey D. “Environmental beliefs and attitudes in Sweden and the Baltic states.” Environment and behavior 27.4 (1995): 513-539.

This particular article studies the topic of environmental behavior in Europe and challenges the dominant sociocultural paradigms, or a group’s way of looking at the world, regarding specific environmental beliefs and attitudes in Sweden and the Baltic states of Latvia, and Estonia. This is a relatively old study, conducted in 1995 and published in a Environment and Behavior Sage Publishing journal online, which I uploaded in PDF form. The principal purpose of the study was to determine correlations (if any) that prevail between a number of specified beliefs and values and degree of environmental concern, and what the consistencies are of those beliefs and values. Since the study is measuring beliefs and attitudes, the type of data needed to answer the question are shallow opinions and attitudes or deeply held opinion and attitudes depending on the individual’s perception of environmental issues. The cities in which the research was conducted were urban populations in Tartu, Estonia, Riga, Latvia, and the county of Ostergotland, Sweden. The study uses a data-gathering method of surveys and in-depth interviews and it utilized three scales to measure values and beliefs, a 6-question version of the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale that measures “primitive” environmental beliefs and their differences, a four-item scale to measure support for environmental science and technology, and another four-item scale version of Ronald Inglehart’s “post-materialism scale.” Methods of data analysis used in this research consisted of statistical analyses or interval/ratio data since the survey data were transferred into a quantitative fashion. Results of the surveys conducted revealed that support for the NEP, distrust of science and technology, post-material values, and concern for environmental conditions were only partially supported by the results of the Swedish study, and, not at all in the case of the Baltic samples.

The study seemed to be pretty comprehensive and it accounted for a lot of variability between the cities being analyzed in an attempt to make it as controlled as possible. However, I feel like there could’ve been a few more cities analyzed in case one of the urban areas wasn’t an accurate sample of the survey population. One thing I find quite interesting is that socio-cultural symbolic representations of reported global problems is used as a fourth explanatory factor in determining environmental attitudes for individuals for this study.

In the article “Lunch Pails and Thugs: The Richard Sherman Saga, Sport Literature, and the Racial Discourse of American Sports”, found in Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature XXXI: 1& 2, Matthew S. Tettleton writes about the categories and stereotypes of black and white athletes based on outbursts in interviews and their play on the field. The topic of race it seems has always been brought up in pro sports in America, going back to 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the immediate aftermath of the 2014 NFC Championship Game, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman interview with Erin Andrews created headlines after he yelled into the camera and called out San Francisco 49er receiver Michael Crabtree. Sherman who in the interview called himself ‘the best corner in the game’ is not the first athlete, black or white to show arrogance. Boxer Muhammad Ali famously said he was the greatest of all time as did golfer Phil Mickelson but what was shocking in this case was the  level of intensity that Sherman displayed. It was something that I don’t think America had ever seen before in a post game interview. In the days following and the lead up to the Super Bowl, “the ensuing public reaction on Twitter was sadly predictable” (47)with the majority of the criticism being directed towards Sherman. There were some online who called Sherman- who is black- a thug.

Sherman’s very public outburst brought the topic of race and sports back to mainstream media. Race itself is a social construct and something America deals with. And when it comes to sports, there are different narratives and stereotypes associated with each athlete based their skin color and background. At times, according to Tettleton there is no escaping these stereotypes. For example “we hear about black players being categorized according to the traits that mark their blackness” (60) while there are stories of “white athletes lauded for their work ethic, intelligence, teamwork” (60) and this is something that has been brought up over time. However by writing and understanding about where every athlete comes from, it allows us to get a better understanding of where they come from and in response we learn about ourselves as well.

Crime rates and how they are effected by poverty is the topic of interest to me. The journal Crime and Social Justice put out an analysis of the correlation between these two things. The article, “Crime Rates and Poverty – a Reexamination,” dives into the issues surrounding this very topic. The study of the topic was carried out using existing previously collected data from the US census bureau and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports. The two sets of data were then compared with one another in the efforts of searching for a correlation between the two. They tested for four different variables to represent poverty those being: low educational achievement, unemployment rates, and broken families. The study was designed to see specifically if violent and property crimes had a positive correlation with any or all of the four variables being tested. However, each variable was examined independently in order to see relationships between specific ones as well not just poverty in general. The researchers are suggesting that in the case of their study these variables “cause” crime and in that case they would like to make the argument that social interventions and actions could be used as a possible solution or to help begin to solve this positive correlation. The research did prove a positive correlation between all the variables and crime.  However they did find discrepancy in populations when testing for violent crime and therefore populations who commit violent and non-violent crimes are different socially. This combats the argument that social interaction may prove effective and leaves the discussion open for more debate and analysis.

Lieberman, Louis, and Alexander B. Smith. “Crime Rates and Poverty — A Reexamination.” Crime and   Social Justice, no. 25 (1986): 166-77. www.jstor.org.books.redlands.edu/stable/29766301.

In the article Climate Change and Sex Determination by Stephanie J. Kamel she talks about how the warming temperatures can affect sea turtles. Sea turtles are very sensitive reptiles and the temperature, location and when they are born is very important. These factors determine what sex the turtle is. During the middle part of a turtle’s incubation is when the sex of the turtle is determined. This all depends on the temperature of the egg at that time. If the temperature is higher, then the turtle will be female and if the temperature is lower, then the turtle will be male. Scientists are worried that if the temperatures get too high there will be less and less male turtles that are being reproduced. The topic of this article was about climate change and the determination of sex for sea turtles. The research question being answered in this article was, how will climate change effect the outcome of the sex of turtles? The data collection method used in this article was acts, behaviors and events. The method of analysis was quantitative data because the scientists were dealing with the numbers of turtles that were female vs. male.

I thought this article was very well written and was scientific with no bias opinions in the article. The author also made it easy enough to understand so that you did not need to have a science background to read it. I thought it was very interesting that the sex of the turtles is determined by the temperature of the egg at that incubation period.

Kamel, Stephanie J. “Verification Required.” Armacost Library. N.p., 2008. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://0-www.accessscience.com.books.redlands.edu/content/climate-change-and-sex-determination/YB081550>.

Simulated seasonal variations in nitrogen wet deposition over East Asia was written by Jin-Hui Yu, Mel-Gen Zhang and Jia-Linv Li. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16742834.2015.1136782 

The purpose of this study was to simulate the rain fall patterns in China and to measure where the most nitrogen and sulfur pollutants were falling though out the country and see if there was a difference depending on what season it is. In this study the researchers focused more in the amount of nitrogen wet amounts, which refers to the amount of nitrogen in precipitation like rain or snow. In order to be able to observe this the researchers applied the regional air quality modeling system Regional Atmospheric Modeling System–Community Multiscale Air Quality to estimate the spatial distribution and seasonal variation in nitrogen wet deposition over East Asia, though the article tends to concentrate more on China. “The simulated results were evaluated by comparing modeled precipitation rates and ion concentrations, such as ammonium , nitrate, and sulfate, in rainwater, against observations obtained from Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia and [weather stations] in China” (Jin-Hui Yu, Zhang, Li).

Once they had collected the data the researchers compared their modeled data to what they observed using the weather station and found that modeling system reproduces fairly accurate seasonal precipitation patterns.  Analysis of the modeled wet deposition distributions indicated that China experiences noticeable variation in wet deposition patterns throughout the year.

This study was conduced because even though many nitrogen deposition measurement programs have been launched in China since the 1980s the fluxes in nitrogen wet deposition were calculated only by using a few sites. A systematic nationwide monitoring network to obtain nitrogen deposition distribution data is absent in China, leading to insufficient information on regional-scale nitrogen deposition. These measurements were much fewer than those of the United States and most European countries so these researchers sought to try and fix this issue but doing a more accurate and modern measurement.

The type of data used to learn how much variation there was between a model and observed rain fall was through a report of and act and an actually action taken, which was to go to a weather station and observe the amounts of nitrogen in that rain. This research would be useful to see how various air currents effect the amounts of acid rain around the country and to better understand how much of the unnaturally present nitrogen in the surrounding countries is actually from China and not a product of their own actions. This could also be useful to compare with older data around similar topics to see if there is a correlation between them.

Yu, Jin-Hai, Mei-Gen Zhang, and Jia-Lin Li. “Simulated Seasonal Variations in Nitrogen Wet Deposition over East Asia.” Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters 9.2 (2016): 99-106. Web.

The article Some Begging is Actually Bragging, written by Douglas W. Mock in Nature, is about a research study done on one hundred forty-three bird species to examine parental responses to chicks’ begging signals. The researchers hypothesized that the parents would feed the offspring that begged the most, but they also had interests to see whether the larger/healthier offspring were given any special attention due to a sense of bragging. Mock described this with two different models: the signal-of-need model which meant that the parents would feed the offspring that needed it most, first, and then there was the signal-of-quality model which explained that the parents would favor and focus their attention on the stronger offspring. During research, environmental features such as the quality and predictability of food supply for each species were taken into consideration. In the end, researchers found that both models were represented. In environments, where food was predictable and essential, parents would feed all offspring equally, and then focus on the weaker ones so as to bring them to size. On the other hand, where there were volatile conditions, parents often preferred the stronger offspring.

For this type of research, the topic was chicks’ begging signals, and the question was to find the different variations of parental responses to the begging. To answer this question, the type of data needed is acts, behavior or events and the data collection method is detached observation. To analyze this data, researchers formed their observations into categorical data; that is, they grouped their findings into the different models of need or quality (begging or bragging). These were then compared to each other based on surrounding environments.

I believe that this research study was well conducted and resulted in some interesting findings. If further research was to be done, I think it would be interesting to find if there were other significant factors that correlated with a parent’s response to the begging or bragging.

Mock, Douglas W. “Animal behaviour: Some begging is actually bragging.” Nature 532.7598 (2016): 180-81. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.

Snow Temperature Changes within a Seasonal Snowpack and Their Relationship to Turbulent Fluxes of Sensible and Latent Heat

Sean P. Burns, Noah P. Molotch, Mark W. Williams, John F. Knowles, Brian Seok, Russell K. Monson, Andrew A. Turnipseed, and Peter D. Blanken

Snowpack in alpine regions is a critical reservoir for water storage. The warming climate is affecting the amount of snow in these areas and the timing for when that snow melts. High elevation areas are particularly vulnerable to changes in the climate. In order to better understand how specific changes in the climate will affect snowpack a better understanding of how energy moves through the snowpack is required. Snowpack’s within forested areas add and an additional level of complexity when investigating heat transfer. The tree canopy blocks incoming shortwave radiation from the sun and shades the snow pack. Trees enhance longwave radiation cooling during the night when shortwave radiation diminishes. Trees also shelter the snowpack from the wind, which decreases changes in temperature at the surface of the snow. Heat is transferred through a snowpack primarily by conduction through the ice crystals. The ice crystals are in contact with one another, allowing heat to transfer from one crystal to another. Changes in snow temperature in a snow pack equate to changes in snow crystal structure. Rapid fluctuations in temperatures can alter the snow grains and affect snowpack cohesion.

This article investigated the changes to internal snowpack temperatures and possible triggers for intensified snowpack warming prior to spring melt. The researchers used ratio data in the form of acts, behaviors, and events collected primarily at the Niwot Ridge Subalpine Forest AmeriFlux site in Colorado. Reports of acts, behaviors, and events in the form of meteorological data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was collected as well as data from corresponding studies. Quantitative analysis using equations was used to compare a wide range of variables from snow and soil temperatures to snowpack properties, energy fluxes, wind, and aspect. These were graphed and the information that was collected to describe environmental conditions that could create the conditions required for a warm u event.

One of the conclusions that were made was that “If air with a dewpoint temperature near the snow surface temperature is present, water vapor can condense on the snow surface releasing latent heat and causing the snowpack temperature to rapidly warm.” This article was strong in its evaluation of its own practices and its understanding of the limitations of its conclusions. However, describing the environmental conditions that could create scenarios with similar warm up potential demonstrated the scope the research had and the accuracy of its results.

A connection that I found from this research to my own topic was that the high winds triggering dust events could increase turbulent fluxes at the surface of the snow. If fewer trees are present as a consequence of drought and pine beetle (positive feedback loop kills more trees) then snowpack is less sheltered increasing risk of rapid temperature changes. Changes to internal snowpack temperature modify snow crystal structure, which could produce weaker layers increasing the risk of avalanche and increasing melting rate.

 Burns, S. P., Molotch, N. P., Williams, M. W., Knowles, J. F., Seok, B., Monson, R. K., . . . Blanken, P. D. (2014). Snow Temperature Changes within a Seasonal Snowpack and Their Relationship to Turbulent Fluxes of Sensible and Latent Heat. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 15(1), 117-142. doi:10.1175/jhm-d-13-026.1

The article by Gene H. Brody, Zolinda Stoneman, and Alice K. Sanders researched the effects in family interactions while viewing television.  Through an observational study, the researchers viewed twenty-seven middle-class families for twenty minutes.  For the first half families would watch television. With the time remaining, they would play with their children.  The families were selected from a family center located in a community in northeast Georgia. The families were observed in a living room setting through a one-way mirror.  The authors went through this research asking two questions: How do family interactions that characterize television-viewing influence cognitive, language, and social development? and Could it be that television is such a powerful attention-getter that it decreases both verbal and nonverbal communication within the family system? What they found through observing the children was that they talked less and tended to be less active when playing with their family.  They were more likely to touch their mother than father when the television was on.  Through observing the mother they found a large amount of physical contact between them and their children when the television was on. Observing the father they found that they were less likely to smile, talk, and look at their children while the television was on.  An interesting find was that the television was seen as a stimulus for the fathers and children. It also served to change the interactions of the family members to each other.  It would have been interesting if the authors viewed families with different backgrounds instead of focusing on Caucasian middle-class families to see if the interactions differed or stayed the same. 

Brody, Gene H., Zolinda Stoneman, and Alice K. Sanders. “Effects of Television Viewing on Family Interactions: An Observational Study.” Family Relations 29.2 (1980): 216-20. Jstor . Web. 12 Feb. 2017.

I selected an article titled Childhood Asthma and Anthropogenic CO₂ Emissions. The research done for this article attempted to find a link between CO₂ and childhood asthma given that the incidence of childhood asthma has paralleled with the drastic increase in carbon dioxide emissions over the last 20 years, if not longer. The Harvard Medical School and the Center for Health and the Global Environment released a report noting an increase in asthma incidence of 160% among preschool children between 1980 and 1994. Dr. Charles Keeling’s research laboratory in Hawaii conducted analysis of ancient air bubbles trapped by glaciers which revealed that CO₂ in the atmosphere varied from 200 to 300 parts per million for over 80,000 years; in 1980 the levels reached 350 ppm, and are continuously increasing. A CDC-based survey stated that the number of children under 17 years of age with asthma increased from almost 40 to 60 per 1000 individuals between 1980 and 1993.

The author used both expert knowledge and survey data in addition to other reports to gather knowledge to write his article. While the author concluded that the noted increase in asthma is partially a result of carbon dioxide emissions, he acknowledged that there are several other contributing factors all relating to climate change and carbon dioxide. One of the main contributing factors is that greater CO₂ levels in the air hastens the blooming of specific plants; a 2002 study of British plants demonstrated that earlier blooming of plants also releases pollen much earlier than normal. Pollen exposure, like CO₂ emissions, raises that number of documented asthma cases. The author noted that, “As CO₂ levels hypothetically double, the pollen season for oaks will start earlier and concentrations will be 50% higher.” This example shows that while in this case CO₂ emissions are not the primary cause, they affect certain flora that increases the number of asthma cases.

Dosanjh, Amrita. “Childhood Asthma and Anthropogenic CO₂ Emissions”. 4:103–105. 2011 Oct 10. doi: 10.2147/JAA.S24565