Public Policy and the Economic Wellbeing of Elderly Immigrants

In this paper we document the economic outcomes of elderly immigrants to Canada. Our objective is to describe the extent to which elderly immigrants may have low income (are “in povertyâ€) and their interactions with the Canadian income transfer system. The study has two main parts. First, using a combination of administrative and survey data, we describe the age dimensions of immigration to Canada since 1980, and the evolution of policies directed towards older immigrants (i.e., immigration selection, and eligibility for age-related social security programs). Second, using the SCF and SLID surveys spanning 1981 through 2006, we document the composition and levels of income for immigrants to Canada. We estimate the degree to which older immigrants support themselves, either through working, or living with relatives, as well as the degree that they rely on various income transfer programs, especially OAS, GIS, and Social Assistance (SA). We also summarize their overall living standards, and the extent to which they live in poverty (have “low incomes.â€) Throughout the paper, we also explore the family dimensions to the outcomes of older immigrants: distinguishing between individual and family sources of income, as well as outlining differences in the living arrangements (family structure) of older immigrants, and the implications for measures of their well-beingImmigration; Retirement; Public Pensions; Living arrangements and family structure

Solitary lift : redesigning the base and tilter modules to meet customer needs

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 21).A theoretical investigation towards the redesign of the base and the tilting module of the Solitary Lift prototype improved the machine with a weight reduction of 5.731bs. Besides lighter weight, the other criteria used to measure improvement were speed, ease of use, and durability. In these areas this iteration of the prototype increased the speed to raise the tilter by 25 seconds, replaced a complicated locking mechanism with a familiar sleeve lock found on folding tables, and considered the substitution of plastic materials for aluminum in the structure.by Elliot B. Vasquez.S.B

The 22-Class Tower of Q(−5460)\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-5460})

The seminal papers in the field of root-discriminant bounds are those of Odlyzko and Martinet. Both papers include the question of whether the field $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-5460})$ has finite or infinite $2$-class tower. This is a critical case that will either substantially lower the best known upper bound for lim inf of root-discriminants (if infinite) or else give a counter-example to what is often termed Martinet's conjecture or question (if finite). Using extensive computation and introducing some new techniques, we give strong evidence that the tower is in fact finite, establishing other properties of its Galois group en route

Color in context: psychological context moderates the influence of red on approach- and avoidance-motivated behavior.

A basic premise of the recently proffered color-in-context model is that the influence of color on psychological functioning varies as a function of the psychological context in which color is perceived. Some research has examined the appetitive and aversive implications of viewing the color red in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts, respectively, but in all existing empirical work approach and avoidance behavior has been studied in separate tasks and separate experiments. Research is needed to directly test whether red influences the same behavior differently depending entirely on psychological context. The present experiment was designed to put this premise to direct test in romance- and achievement-relevant contexts within the same experimental paradigm involving walking behavior. Our results revealed that exposure to red (but not blue) indeed has differential implications for walking behavior as a function of the context in which the color is perceived. Red increased the speed with which participants walked to an ostensible interview about dating (a romance-relevant context), but decreased the speed with which they walked to an ostensible interview about intelligence (an achievement-relevant context). These results are the first direct evidence that the influence of red on psychological functioning in humans varies by psychological context. Our findings contribute to both the literature on color psychology and the broader, emerging literature on the influence of context on basic psychological processes

Can Fractals Help Us Understand Transpersonal Experiences?

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Transpersonal Psychology and an Agnostic Experiential Exploration of Mediumship and the Ostensible Phenomenon of Life after Death

This paper presents results of an autoethnographic personal experiential research study of mediumship and the ostensible phenomenon of life after death. The researcher’s experiences center on his attempt to make contact with his deceased brother, as part of a doctoral research project. The researcher concludes with a skeptical interpretation of the phenomenon of medium-facilitated communications regarding the deceased; he suggests these are likely to involve cold reading, sensory cues, coincidence, and subjective validation rather than constituting genuine evidence of life after death. The researcher’s conclusions leave room for the possibility of a paranormal interpretation, though this is not favored

A College Psychology Teachers Experience of Cell Phone Addiction in the Classroom: Autoethnographic Reflections

This article describes the author s auto ethnographic reflections of his experiences with college students excessive and inappropriate use of cell phones in the classroom from his perspective as a college psychology instructor The article s focus is upon a combination of personal relevant experience in the context of the qualitative research method of autoethnography its interplay with performance in the context of giving a presentation about cell phone addiction in the college classroom at a humanistic psychology conference exposure of the negative consequences of the excessive and inappropriate use of cell phones in college classrooms and what the author refers to as humanistic antidotes to offset these negative consequences The thrust of the article is based upon the author s personal relevant experiential reflections during his Spring 2016 college psychology teaching and his subsequent preparation and delivery of his related conference tal

Art and Mental Disturbance

This article presents a perspective on psychology that relates directly to Abraham Maslow’s focus upon studying the highest levels of human functioning, but is geared specifically toward a psychological study of what I refer to as the “successful creative artist” and the relationship between art and mental disturbance. The focus is upon what I consider to be “natural” as opposed to “normal,” i.e. individual self-motivated creative expressions vs. widespread socially approved norms and expectations. Along the lines of Thomas Szasz and R.D. Laing, what is referred to as “mental illness” is viewed from a non-judgmental perspective, but with the distinctive feature of suggesting that some people who are considered to be mentally ill may have significant creative artistic potential that can be highly therapeutic for them to engage in. To clarify and justify the main thesis, personal examples and references to current research are utilized, as well as brief descriptions of the work of Otto Rank, Ken Wilber, Howard Gardner, Jean Houston, Julia Cameron, R.D. Laing, Ayn Rand, Thomas Szasz, Ernest Schachtel, Lawrence Kubie, Marion Milner, and the phenomenon of Indigo Children

The Creative Artists Support Group: A Therapeutic Environment to Promote Creativity and Mental Health

In this article a variety of what the author refers to as creative artists support groups are described The descriptions illustrate a great deal of divergence in terms of structure and range of group leadership or facilitation ranging from virtually leaderless groups modeled along the lines of the structure of 12-step support groups to groups led by a trained psychotherapist who directs the group with a series of structured therapeutic techniques to a Rogerian person-centered facilitator who gently guides the group with little or no structure whatsoever Furthermore person-centered group facilitators of creative artists support groups may adhere to the basic ingredients of Rogerian person-centered psychotherapy by relating to the essence of the person but may do so in a flexible way that allows for occasional active interventions Utilizing auto ethnographic research inclusive of a description of the author s motivation in writing this article illustrations are given of some therapeutic interactions from the author s own creative artists support group to demonstrate this kind of flexibility in the facilitation of a person-centered creative artists support group It is concluded that a common foundational ingredient in all the creative artists support groups described in this article is the dual focus on creativity and mental healt

Extraneous color affects female macaques’ gaze preference for photographs of male conspecifics

Humans find members of the opposite sex more attractive when their image is spatially associated with the color red. This effect even occurs when the red color is not on the skin or clothing (i.e. is extraneous). We hypothesize that this extraneous color effect could be at least partially explained by a low-level and biologically innate generalization process, and so similar extraneous color effects should be observed in non-humans. To test this possibility, we examined the influence of extraneous color in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Across two experiments, we determined the influence of extraneous red on viewing preferences (assessed by looking time) in free-ranging rhesus monkeys. We presented male and female monkeys with black and white photographs of the hindquarters of same and opposite sex conspecifics on either a red (experimental condition) or blue (control condition) background. As a secondary control, we also presented neutral stimuli (photographs of seashells) on red and blue backgrounds. We found that female monkeys looked longer at a picture of a male scrotum, but not a seashell, on a red background (Experiment 1), while males showed no bias. Neither male nor female monkeys showed an effect of color on looking time for female hindquarters or seashells (Experiment 2). The finding for females viewing males suggests that extraneous color affects preferences among rhesus macaques. Further, it raises the possibility that evolutionary processes gave rise to extraneous color effects during human evolution