Sammy Zahran
Biographic Data
| ID | 3686201 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sammy Zahran |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sammy |
| FAMILY NAME | Zahran |
| SIGNATURE | ZAHRAN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Colorado State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4607-0851 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 353 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
The Longevity-Frailty Hypothesis
By the end of spring (31 May), the COVID-19 death rate was remarkably unevenly distributed across the countries in Europe. While the risk of COVID-19 mortality is known to increase with age, age-specific COVID-19 death rates across Europe were similarly unevenly distributed. To explain these mortality distributions, we present a simple model where more favorable survival environments promote longevity and the accumulation of health frailty among …
Hidden Costs of Blight and Arson in Detroit
Does Political Sophistication Minimize Value Conflict? Evidence from a Heteroskedastic Graded IRT Model of Opinions toward Climate Change
When citizens hold multiple values relevant to their policy opinions, they might experience value conflict, value reconciliation or make a value trade-off. Yet, it is unclear which individuals are able to manage their multiple values in these ways. We posit a sophistication-interaction theory of value pluralism where the most politically sophisticated individuals are able to reconcile the existence of multiple values, thus increasing the stabilit…
The Environmental Impact of Sharing
The carbon implications of declining household scale economies
Maternal exposure to hurricane destruction and fetal mortality
BACKGROUND: The majority of research documenting the public health impacts of natural disasters focuses on the well-being of adults and their living children. Negative effects may also occur in the unborn, exposed to disaster stressors when critical organ systems are developing and when the consequences of exposure are large. METHODS: We exploit spatial and temporal variation in hurricane behaviour as a quasi-experimental design to assess whether…
A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Maternal Altitude Exposure and Infant Birth Weight
Objectives. We analyzed singleton births to determine the relationship between birth weight and altitude exposure. Methods. We analyzed 715 213 singleton births across 74 counties from the western states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2000. Birth data were obtained from the Division of Vital Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, …
Abnormal Daily Temperature and Concern about Climate Change Across the United States
The relatively low level of concern about climate change among Americans has important implications for climate policy. While many studies have examined individual characteristics associated with climate change attitudes, fewer studies have considered the effects of environmental conditions on such attitudes. Here, we use two national samples of American adults to explore the impact of abnormal daily temperatures on levels of concern about climat…
The Founding of Environmental Justice Organizations Across U.S. Counties during the 1990s and 2000s
This research expands upon organizational ecology theory to examine variations in founding of organizations in the formalized sector of the environmental justice movement across U.S. counties for two time periods (1990—1999 and 2000—2008). Cross-movement effects are examined to determine if founding is more or less likely to occur in counties where related civil rights and environmental organizations are located. Consistent with the notion of agg…
Modeling national flood insurance policy holding at the county scale in Florida, 1999–2005
Vulnerability and Capacity
We examine the reasons why a US locality would voluntarily commit to the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) campaign. Using geographic information systems analytic techniques, we map and measure a locality's vulnerability to climate-change impacts at the county level of spatial precision. We analyze multiple measures of climate-change vulnerability, including expected temperature change, extreme weather events, and coastal proximity, as well as …
Personal Efficacy, the Information Environment, and Attitudes Toward Global Warming and Climate Change in the United States
Despite the growing scientific consensus about the risks of global warming and climate change, the mass media frequently portray the subject as one of great scientific controversy and debate. And yet previous studies of the mass public's subjective assessments of the risks of global warming and climate change have not sufficiently examined public informedness, public confidence in climate scientists, and the role of personal efficacy in affecting…
Rationality, Inequity, and Civic Vitality
This study examines the distribution of commercial treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs) of hazardous waste in the southeast. Four hypotheses are tested: (1) economic rationality, (2) social inequity, (3) civic capital, and (4) scientific rationality. The data set is a match of records on operational TSDFs and large quantity generators (LQGs) of hazardous waste from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, demographic data from the…
Risk, Stress, and Capacity
Climate change and mitigation policies adopted by a locality indelibly impact urban form, landscape, and economy. The Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) has become a dominant movement organizing the localities to proactively address climate change. This study examines metropolitan area commitment to the CCP. Geographic information systems (GIS) and statistical techniques are used to analyze metros on dimensions of climate change risk, stress, an…
Social vulnerability and the natural and built environment
Studies on the impacts of hurricanes, tropical storms, and tornados indicate that poor communities of colour suffer disproportionately in human death and injury.2 Few quantitative studies have been conducted on the degree to which flood events affect socially vulnerable populations. We address this research void by analysing 832 countywide flood events in Texas from 1997-2001. Specifically, we examine whether geographic localities characterised b…
Identifying the impact of the built environment on flood damage in Texas
Floods continue to pose the greatest threat to the property and safety of human communities among all natural hazards in the United States. This study examines the relationship between the built environment and flood impacts in Texas, which consistently sustains the most damage from flooding of any other state in the country. Specifically, we calculate property damage resulting from 423 flood events between 1997 and 2001 at the county level. We i…
Examining the Relationship Between Physical Vulnerability and Public Perceptions of Global Climate Change in the United States
Although there is a growing body of research examining public perceptions of global climate change, little work has focused on the role of place and proximity in shaping these perceptions. This study extends previous conceptual models explaining risk perception associated with global climate change by adding a spatial dimension. Specifically, Geographic Information Systems and spatial analytical techniques are used to map and measure survey respo…
Theories of Ethnic Social Distance
Social science theories of ethnic division and antipathy are tested empirically using survey and zip code data for representative samples of whites, African Americans, and Mexican Americans in Texas. Ordered logistic regression tests estimate the effects of theoretically relevant variables on probabilities of racial and ethnic out-group social distance. Competing social science theories of ethnic and racial social distance are tested for multiple…
Collective Action and Citizen Responses to Global Warming
Drowning in Inequalities
The authors argue that age, sex, and racial differentials in swimming participation are conditioned by the availability of swimming infrastructure and the principle of social exclusivity that limits access of lower status groupings, even where pools and programs are available. In turn, the authors argue that participation in swimming and where that activity occurs (pool versus open water) affect life chances (accidental drowning rates) across sta…
Climate Change Vulnerability and Policy Support
Climate scientists note that the effects of climate change vary regionally. Citizen willingness to absorb the costs of adaptation and mitigation policies may correspond with these place-specific effects. Geographic information systems (GIS) analytic techniques are used to map and measure survey respondents' climate change risk at various levels of spatial resolution and precision. Spatial data are used to analyze multiple measures of climate chan…
Ecological Development and Global Climate Change
This article adapts a theory of ecological modernization to characterize countries by their economic, political, and cultural development to estimate their structural and strategic readiness to commit and comply with the Kyoto Protocol. Hypoth-eses logically derived from ecological modernization theory perform as expected, with substantial variation in Kyoto Protocol ratification explained by our variable pool. Results from logistic and Cox propo…
Collective Action, Environmental Activism, and Air Quality Policy
This article attempts to respond to Ostrom’s call for a behavioral model of collective action by generalizing the collective interest model of mass political action to explain citizen policy support and personal behavioral intentions in the context of air quality policy. The collective action problems inherent in air quality policy provide a critical research setting for testing hypotheses of the collective interest model. Key elements of the col…
Synthetic Planet
The Globalization of a Minor Sport
We examine the global spread of Masters Swimming (MS) focusing on the economic, social, and demographic conditions associated with its initiation in the United States and its international growth. We characterize MS as a modern sport and look at its subcultural form, organizational structure, practices, and early pattern of organizational growth from bottom to top. Then we describe the top down role of La Federation Internationale de Natation Ama…
Climate Change Vulnerability and Policy Support
Climate scientists note that the effects of climate change vary regionally. Citizen willingness to absorb the costs of adaptation and mitigation policies may correspond with these place-specific effects. Geographic information systems (GIS) analytic techniques are used to map and measure survey respondents' climate change risk at various levels of spatial resolution and precision. Spatial data are used to analyze multiple measures of climate chan…
Risk, Stress, and Capacity
Climate change and mitigation policies adopted by a locality indelibly impact urban form, landscape, and economy. The Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) has become a dominant movement organizing the localities to proactively address climate change. This study examines metropolitan area commitment to the CCP. Geographic information systems (GIS) and statistical techniques are used to analyze metros on dimensions of climate change risk, stress, an…
Collective Action and Citizen Responses to Global Warming
Social vulnerability and the natural and built environment
Studies on the impacts of hurricanes, tropical storms, and tornados indicate that poor communities of colour suffer disproportionately in human death and injury.2 Few quantitative studies have been conducted on the degree to which flood events affect socially vulnerable populations. We address this research void by analysing 832 countywide flood events in Texas from 1997-2001. Specifically, we examine whether geographic localities characterised b…
Collective Action, Environmental Activism, and Air Quality Policy
This article attempts to respond to Ostrom’s call for a behavioral model of collective action by generalizing the collective interest model of mass political action to explain citizen policy support and personal behavioral intentions in the context of air quality policy. The collective action problems inherent in air quality policy provide a critical research setting for testing hypotheses of the collective interest model. Key elements of the col…
Ecological Development and Global Climate Change
This article adapts a theory of ecological modernization to characterize countries by their economic, political, and cultural development to estimate their structural and strategic readiness to commit and comply with the Kyoto Protocol. Hypoth-eses logically derived from ecological modernization theory perform as expected, with substantial variation in Kyoto Protocol ratification explained by our variable pool. Results from logistic and Cox propo…
Identifying the impact of the built environment on flood damage in Texas
Floods continue to pose the greatest threat to the property and safety of human communities among all natural hazards in the United States. This study examines the relationship between the built environment and flood impacts in Texas, which consistently sustains the most damage from flooding of any other state in the country. Specifically, we calculate property damage resulting from 423 flood events between 1997 and 2001 at the county level. We i…
The Founding of Environmental Justice Organizations Across U.S. Counties during the 1990s and 2000s
This research expands upon organizational ecology theory to examine variations in founding of organizations in the formalized sector of the environmental justice movement across U.S. counties for two time periods (1990—1999 and 2000—2008). Cross-movement effects are examined to determine if founding is more or less likely to occur in counties where related civil rights and environmental organizations are located. Consistent with the notion of agg…
Abnormal Daily Temperature and Concern about Climate Change Across the United States
The relatively low level of concern about climate change among Americans has important implications for climate policy. While many studies have examined individual characteristics associated with climate change attitudes, fewer studies have considered the effects of environmental conditions on such attitudes. Here, we use two national samples of American adults to explore the impact of abnormal daily temperatures on levels of concern about climat…
Does Political Sophistication Minimize Value Conflict? Evidence from a Heteroskedastic Graded IRT Model of Opinions toward Climate Change
When citizens hold multiple values relevant to their policy opinions, they might experience value conflict, value reconciliation or make a value trade-off. Yet, it is unclear which individuals are able to manage their multiple values in these ways. We posit a sophistication-interaction theory of value pluralism where the most politically sophisticated individuals are able to reconcile the existence of multiple values, thus increasing the stabilit…
Maternal exposure to hurricane destruction and fetal mortality
BACKGROUND: The majority of research documenting the public health impacts of natural disasters focuses on the well-being of adults and their living children. Negative effects may also occur in the unborn, exposed to disaster stressors when critical organ systems are developing and when the consequences of exposure are large. METHODS: We exploit spatial and temporal variation in hurricane behaviour as a quasi-experimental design to assess whether…
Rationality, Inequity, and Civic Vitality
This study examines the distribution of commercial treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs) of hazardous waste in the southeast. Four hypotheses are tested: (1) economic rationality, (2) social inequity, (3) civic capital, and (4) scientific rationality. The data set is a match of records on operational TSDFs and large quantity generators (LQGs) of hazardous waste from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, demographic data from the…
The Globalization of a Minor Sport
We examine the global spread of Masters Swimming (MS) focusing on the economic, social, and demographic conditions associated with its initiation in the United States and its international growth. We characterize MS as a modern sport and look at its subcultural form, organizational structure, practices, and early pattern of organizational growth from bottom to top. Then we describe the top down role of La Federation Internationale de Natation Ama…
A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Maternal Altitude Exposure and Infant Birth Weight
Objectives. We analyzed singleton births to determine the relationship between birth weight and altitude exposure. Methods. We analyzed 715 213 singleton births across 74 counties from the western states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2000. Birth data were obtained from the Division of Vital Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, …
Synthetic Planet
The Globalization of a Minor Sport
We examine the global spread of Masters Swimming (MS) focusing on the economic, social, and demographic conditions associated with its initiation in the United States and its international growth. We characterize MS as a modern sport and look at its subcultural form, organizational structure, practices, and early pattern of organizational growth from bottom to top. Then we describe the top down role of La Federation Internationale de Natation Ama…
Drowning in Inequalities
The authors argue that age, sex, and racial differentials in swimming participation are conditioned by the availability of swimming infrastructure and the principle of social exclusivity that limits access of lower status groupings, even where pools and programs are available. In turn, the authors argue that participation in swimming and where that activity occurs (pool versus open water) affect life chances (accidental drowning rates) across sta…
Climate Change Vulnerability and Policy Support
Climate scientists note that the effects of climate change vary regionally. Citizen willingness to absorb the costs of adaptation and mitigation policies may correspond with these place-specific effects. Geographic information systems (GIS) analytic techniques are used to map and measure survey respondents' climate change risk at various levels of spatial resolution and precision. Spatial data are used to analyze multiple measures of climate chan…
Ecological Development and Global Climate Change
This article adapts a theory of ecological modernization to characterize countries by their economic, political, and cultural development to estimate their structural and strategic readiness to commit and comply with the Kyoto Protocol. Hypoth-eses logically derived from ecological modernization theory perform as expected, with substantial variation in Kyoto Protocol ratification explained by our variable pool. Results from logistic and Cox propo…
Collective Action, Environmental Activism, and Air Quality Policy
This article attempts to respond to Ostrom’s call for a behavioral model of collective action by generalizing the collective interest model of mass political action to explain citizen policy support and personal behavioral intentions in the context of air quality policy. The collective action problems inherent in air quality policy provide a critical research setting for testing hypotheses of the collective interest model. Key elements of the col…
Examining the Relationship Between Physical Vulnerability and Public Perceptions of Global Climate Change in the United States
Although there is a growing body of research examining public perceptions of global climate change, little work has focused on the role of place and proximity in shaping these perceptions. This study extends previous conceptual models explaining risk perception associated with global climate change by adding a spatial dimension. Specifically, Geographic Information Systems and spatial analytical techniques are used to map and measure survey respo…
Theories of Ethnic Social Distance
Social science theories of ethnic division and antipathy are tested empirically using survey and zip code data for representative samples of whites, African Americans, and Mexican Americans in Texas. Ordered logistic regression tests estimate the effects of theoretically relevant variables on probabilities of racial and ethnic out-group social distance. Competing social science theories of ethnic and racial social distance are tested for multiple…
Collective Action and Citizen Responses to Global Warming
Vulnerability and Capacity
We examine the reasons why a US locality would voluntarily commit to the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) campaign. Using geographic information systems analytic techniques, we map and measure a locality's vulnerability to climate-change impacts at the county level of spatial precision. We analyze multiple measures of climate-change vulnerability, including expected temperature change, extreme weather events, and coastal proximity, as well as …
Personal Efficacy, the Information Environment, and Attitudes Toward Global Warming and Climate Change in the United States
Despite the growing scientific consensus about the risks of global warming and climate change, the mass media frequently portray the subject as one of great scientific controversy and debate. And yet previous studies of the mass public's subjective assessments of the risks of global warming and climate change have not sufficiently examined public informedness, public confidence in climate scientists, and the role of personal efficacy in affecting…
Rationality, Inequity, and Civic Vitality
This study examines the distribution of commercial treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs) of hazardous waste in the southeast. Four hypotheses are tested: (1) economic rationality, (2) social inequity, (3) civic capital, and (4) scientific rationality. The data set is a match of records on operational TSDFs and large quantity generators (LQGs) of hazardous waste from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, demographic data from the…
Risk, Stress, and Capacity
Climate change and mitigation policies adopted by a locality indelibly impact urban form, landscape, and economy. The Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) has become a dominant movement organizing the localities to proactively address climate change. This study examines metropolitan area commitment to the CCP. Geographic information systems (GIS) and statistical techniques are used to analyze metros on dimensions of climate change risk, stress, an…
Social vulnerability and the natural and built environment
Studies on the impacts of hurricanes, tropical storms, and tornados indicate that poor communities of colour suffer disproportionately in human death and injury.2 Few quantitative studies have been conducted on the degree to which flood events affect socially vulnerable populations. We address this research void by analysing 832 countywide flood events in Texas from 1997-2001. Specifically, we examine whether geographic localities characterised b…
Identifying the impact of the built environment on flood damage in Texas
Floods continue to pose the greatest threat to the property and safety of human communities among all natural hazards in the United States. This study examines the relationship between the built environment and flood impacts in Texas, which consistently sustains the most damage from flooding of any other state in the country. Specifically, we calculate property damage resulting from 423 flood events between 1997 and 2001 at the county level. We i…
Modeling national flood insurance policy holding at the county scale in Florida, 1999–2005
The Founding of Environmental Justice Organizations Across U.S. Counties during the 1990s and 2000s
This research expands upon organizational ecology theory to examine variations in founding of organizations in the formalized sector of the environmental justice movement across U.S. counties for two time periods (1990—1999 and 2000—2008). Cross-movement effects are examined to determine if founding is more or less likely to occur in counties where related civil rights and environmental organizations are located. Consistent with the notion of agg…
Maternal exposure to hurricane destruction and fetal mortality
BACKGROUND: The majority of research documenting the public health impacts of natural disasters focuses on the well-being of adults and their living children. Negative effects may also occur in the unborn, exposed to disaster stressors when critical organ systems are developing and when the consequences of exposure are large. METHODS: We exploit spatial and temporal variation in hurricane behaviour as a quasi-experimental design to assess whether…
A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Maternal Altitude Exposure and Infant Birth Weight
Objectives. We analyzed singleton births to determine the relationship between birth weight and altitude exposure. Methods. We analyzed 715 213 singleton births across 74 counties from the western states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2000. Birth data were obtained from the Division of Vital Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, …
Abnormal Daily Temperature and Concern about Climate Change Across the United States
The relatively low level of concern about climate change among Americans has important implications for climate policy. While many studies have examined individual characteristics associated with climate change attitudes, fewer studies have considered the effects of environmental conditions on such attitudes. Here, we use two national samples of American adults to explore the impact of abnormal daily temperatures on levels of concern about climat…
The carbon implications of declining household scale economies
The Environmental Impact of Sharing
Hidden Costs of Blight and Arson in Detroit
Does Political Sophistication Minimize Value Conflict? Evidence from a Heteroskedastic Graded IRT Model of Opinions toward Climate Change
When citizens hold multiple values relevant to their policy opinions, they might experience value conflict, value reconciliation or make a value trade-off. Yet, it is unclear which individuals are able to manage their multiple values in these ways. We posit a sophistication-interaction theory of value pluralism where the most politically sophisticated individuals are able to reconcile the existence of multiple values, thus increasing the stabilit…
The Longevity-Frailty Hypothesis
By the end of spring (31 May), the COVID-19 death rate was remarkably unevenly distributed across the countries in Europe. While the risk of COVID-19 mortality is known to increase with age, age-specific COVID-19 death rates across Europe were similarly unevenly distributed. To explain these mortality distributions, we present a simple model where more favorable survival environments promote longevity and the accumulation of health frailty among …
Economics (14 works) · Geography (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Climate change (9 works) · Climate Change Communication and Perception (8 works) · Demography (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Disaster Management and Resilience (6 works)