Albion College

About: Albion College is a education organization based out in Albion, Michigan, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Higher education. The organization has 485 authors who have published 754 publications receiving 20907 citations.

Aztec State Making: Ecology, Structure, and the Origin of the State

Abstract: It has become increasingly difficult to account for state formation solely in terms of ecological variables. It is suggested that consideration of prestate political structure and the interplay of ecological variables and political dynamics (political ecology) would enhance our understanding of why and how states emerge. The Aztecs provide a case for examination. [Aztecs, ecology, political competition, state origins] THE STATE IS A POWERFUL, COMPLEX, PERMANENTLY INSTITUTED SYSTEM Of centralized political administration. It exercises sovereignty in carrying out basic political functions (maintaining territorial rights, maintaining internal order, making and executing decisions regarding group action), and its authority in these matters is buttressed by sovereignty in the use of force within its jurisdiction (Keesing 1976:348; Sahlins 1968:4-7; Yoffee 1979:14-17). States are characterized by administrative complexity; administrative personnel are hierarchically ordered and specialized by administrative tasks (Johnson 1973:1-4; Wright 1978:49-68). The numerous attempts to explain why states emerge in some times and places but not others have been dominated by two contrasting approaches: the ecological and the structural. The first, based on the work of Julian Steward, relates state formation to the problems and/or opportunities presented to a human population by its environmental setting. In this approach, population growth and its resulting pressures provide the dynamic for state formation, and at least the initial stages are said to be promoted by the ecological benefits that the state confers on its general population. The second approach, growing out of the Marx-Engels tradition, regards state formation as a process generated by particular sociocultural orders. Certain types of societies (stratified societies, for example) are said to possess an internal dynamic that exerts pressure for state formation even when the relationship between the human population and its environment is stable. In this approach, the focus is less on a human population as a whole and more on social components and their interactions. Of these two approaches, the first has received a greater share of attention and has been elaborated more fully. As a result, some of its difficulties are now evident. The structural approach has been less thoroughly explored. This paper has three objectives: to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the ecological approach to state formation in its current form; to suggest how a greater em

Petrochronology of Himalayan ultrahigh-pressure eclogite

Abstract: The timing and nature of the India-Asia collision, Earth’s largest ongoing continent-continent collisional orogen, are unclear. Ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism of Indian continental margin rocks is used as a proxy for initial collision because it indicates subduction of India. Records of this metamorphism are preserved only at Kaghan Valley (Pakistan) and Tso Morari (Ladakh, India), separated by ~500 km and having published ages of peak pressure of 46.2 ± 0.7 Ma and 53–51 Ma, respectively. The apparent ~6 m.y. age difference may refl ect multiple subduction events, a large promontory along the former Indian margin, or inadequate constraints on the time of peak pressure recrystallization at Tso Morari. We present 108 coupled, in situ U/Th-Pb and rare earth element (REE) analyses of zircons in two Tso Morari eclogites to obtain age and petrologic information. The ages range from ca. 53 Ma to 37 Ma, and peak at ca. 47–43 Ma. Flat heavy REE slopes and the absence of an Eu anomaly are compatible with eclogite-facies zircon (re)crystallization. This (re)crystallization probably occurred at ultrahigh pressure, because 64% of the analyses are from zircon included in ultrahigh-pressure garnet and omphacite. These results are consistent with those from Kaghan Valley, and suggest that a single, protracted ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic event occurred contemporaneously across much of the orogen, following initial contact of the Indian and Asian continents at ca. 51 Ma or later.

Unrealistic Optimism: Self-Enhancement or Person Positivity?

Abstract: Researchers interested in unrealistic optimism disagree on whether the phenomenon reflects self-enhancement or person positivity. Past research in this area has used a paradigm that confounds the self/other dimension with the individual aggregate dimension, making it difficult to determine which alternative is correct. Two studies examined whether people are unrealistically optimistic only for their own futures or whether they are unrealistically optimistic for the future of any individual. Study 1 revealed that, in comparison with an aggregate of same-sex peers, participants were unrealistically optimistic for their own and a close friend's futures but not for the future of a non-self-relevant other Study 2 employed unconfounded measures and demonstrated that, in comparison with other individual social objects, participants continued to be unrealistically optimistic for their own futures. These results suggest that unrealistic optimism is a form of self-enhancement rather than person positivity bias.

Beyond mentoring and advising: Toward understanding the role of faculty “developers” in student success

Abstract: It is old news that interactions between students and faculty enhance student learning. In this article, Vicki Baker and Kimberly Griffin offer another role for faculty in their relationships with students—that of developer.