Social Sciences

As he packed off the army knapsack used by renowned "wartime poet" Robert Graves, Robert Bertholf -- curator of the University at Buffalo Poetry and Rare Books Collection -- reflected on the value of the items he often sends to museums from around the world. The knapsack was sent last month to the Imperial War Museum in London, where it is part of the exhibition, "Anthem for Doomed Youth: Twelve Soldier Poets of the First World War." It is one of four major exhibits in which the UB Poetry and Rare Books Collection, which is quietly achieving international notoriety for its significance, is participating over the next few months.

Using non-invasive geophysical tools -- and without turning one shovel of soil -- a team of University at Buffalo scientists has discovered in the Jordanian desert an ancient Nabatean settlement buried beneath a 2nd-century Roman fort, which itself is buried a few feet below the desert surface.

Juliana Read, a doctoral candidate in the University at Buffalo who previously was a genuine arachnophobe, is conducting research to determine whether an hour of treatment can produce clinically significant reductions in anxiety among those afraid of spiders.

The popular response to the events of 9/11 has been wholly appropriate, moving and important, says historian Michael Frisch, but now the "war" metaphor is being used at the policy level to justify actions whose consequences place the U.S. and its people in greater and greater danger.

The appetites and spending habits of American consumers have changed substantially during the one-year period after Sept. 11, according to an expert on retail strategy and consumer perception at the University at Buffalo.

The Sept. 11 terrorists attacks have dramatically changed attitudes Americans have about themselves, their country and war, says Bruce Jackson, Samuel P. Capen Professor of American Culture in the Department of English at the University at Buffalo.

Commemoration of the 9/11 tragedies may trigger episodes of post-traumatic stress in people who suffer from the disorder, says Nancy Smyth, associate professor in the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. An expert on psychological trauma, Smyth says rebroadcast of news clips showing the tragic events could cause survivors to "relive" the events.

A study by an education researcher at the University at Buffalo has found that the "celebratory grand epic" about America that prevails in many of the nation's history classrooms and textbooks is no longer taken at face value by the increasingly heterogeneous population of U.S. high school students.

The prevalence of physical aggression among adults "eclipses rates based on police reports or victimization surveys by a factor of 10," according to a study by University at Buffalo researchers recently reported in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. They found that 1 in every 3 men between the ages of 18 and 30 and 1 in 5 women in that age category are the target of physically aggressive behavior on an annual basis.

The first study of vitamin D status in a group of Kashmiri women and their babies has revealed across-the-board deficiency of the nutrient, which increases the risk of rickets, osteoporosis, other bone disorders and muscle weakness in this population.