Baby Boomers turn 60

"In 2006, the oldest of the baby boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964, will turn 60 years old. Among the Americans celebrating their 60th will be our two most recent presidents, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Other well-known celebrities reaching this milestone include Cher, Donald Trump, Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton. To commemorate this occasion, the Census Bureau has compiled a collection of facts relating to, perhaps, our most celebrated generation." Source : U.S. Census Bureau

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Electronic Surveillance Laws

The National Conference of State Legislatures provides a summary of federal and state laws on electronic surveillance. "Electronic Surveillance involves the traditional laws on wiretapping--any interception of a telephone transmission by accessing the telephone signal itself--and eavesdropping--listening in on conversations without the consent of the parties." The site includes a table and links to other NCSL reports.

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Knowledge Base Social Sciences in Eastern Europe

"The Knowledge Base Social Sciences in Eastern Europe is designed to provide an ongoing overview of the development of social sciences in Central and Eastern Europe. It intends to offer a living and long term mapping of the disciplines in the region. It gives access to facts and background information and serves as a meeting point for experts." It is maintained jointly by The Social Science Information Centre (IZ)in Bonn and GESIS in Berlin. This valuable service offers access to reports on the social sciences (political science, sociology, empirical social research, the development of social science data archives), to academic networks, journals and events.

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Creative Thought as a nonDarwinian Evolutionary Process

ABSTRACT:Selection theory requires multiple, distinct, simultaneously-actualized states. In cognition, each thought or cognitive state changes the 'selection pressure' against which the next is evaluated; they are not simultaneously selected amongst. Creative thought is more a matter of honing in a vague idea through redescribing successive iterations of it from different real or imagined perspectives; in other words, actualizing potential through exposure to different contexts. It has been proven that the mathematical description of contextual change of state introduces a non-Kolmogorovian probability distribution, and a classical formalism such as selection theory cannot be used. This paper argues that creative thought evolves not through a Darwinian process, but a process of context-driven actualization of potential.
Source : Journal of Creative Behavior. 39 (4), pp. 65-87. [via U.C. eScholarship repository]
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Fertility of American Women

" This report describes fertility patterns of American women and is based on data collected in the June 2004 supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS). Unlike fertility statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHA), which are compiled from birth certificates, CPS data are collected from two survey questions asked of women 15 to 44 years old: (1) "How many children have you ever had?" and (2) "What is the date of birth of your last child?" The report provides estimates of recent fertility and nonmarital childbearing, highlighting differences among women by race, Hispanic origin, and nativity status." Source : U.S. Census Bureau

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How Deployments Affect Service Members

"The authors undertook the preparation of this monograph with the objective of offering insights into the challenges faced by active-duty service members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, the resiliency they and their families have shown in coping with these challenges, and the adequacy of defense manpower policy in assisting members and families. The monograph draws on the perspectives of economics, sociology, and psychology; provides a formal model of deployment and retention; reviews published work; reports on the results of focus groups conducted in each of the services; and presents findings from an analysis of survey data. The focus groups and survey data relate to the period from 2003 to early 2004." Source: RAND Corporation

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Nieman Reports: Intelligent Design

Collection of essays intended for journalists reporting on intelligent design:

Table of Contents:

Science and Journalism Fail to Connect by Dan Fagin
Strengthening the Line Between News and Opinion by Jeff Bruce
Editorial Pages and Intelligent Design by Cynthia Tucker
In Kansas, the Debate about Science Evolves by Diane Carroll
When the Conflict Narrative Doesn't Fit by Diane Winston
Courtroom Testimony Offers and Excellent Road Map for Reporters
Probing Beneath the Surface of the Intelligent Design Controversy by Gailos Totheroh
Intelligent Design Has Not Surfaced in the British Press by Martin Redfern

Source: The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University

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Improving End of Life Care: Why Has It Been So Difficult?

"For this project, The Hastings Center invited some of the country’s experts on end of life care to explore the significance of changes in end-of-life care. The final report, Improving End-of-Life Care: Why Has It Been So Difficult? features essays on subjects ranging from disability rights to public policy, examining where we have been, and where we have yet to go. Each essay asks us to consider what we believe to be true about end-of-life care, to consider what is actually true, and to envision a different approach to concerns such as personal autonomy, advance directives, disability rights, and the legal system. Free registration required to access report. Source: The Hastings Center

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Will the Euro Eventually Surpass the Dollar as Leading International Reserve Currency?

"Might the dollar eventually follow the precedent of the pound and cede its status as leading international reserve currency? Unlike the last time this question was prominently discussed, ten years ago, there now exists a credible competitor: the euro. This paper econometrically estimates determinants of the shares of major currencies in the reserve holdings of the world’s central banks. Significant factors include: size of the home country, inflation rate (or lagged depreciation trend), exchange rate variability, and size of the relevant home financial center (as measured by the turnover in its foreign exchange market)." Source : Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, Faculty Research Working Paper Series

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Air Power Against Terror: America’s Conduct of Operation Enduring Freedom

"The terrorist attacks of 9/11 plunged the United States into a determined counteroffensive against Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist network. This report details the initial U.S. military response to those attacks, namely, the destruction of al Qaeda’s terrorist infrastructure and the removal of the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan. It first outlines the efforts of the Bush administration to prepare for war, including pulling together an effective coalition, crafting a war strategy, moving forces and materiel to the region, forging alliances with indigenous anti-Taliban elements in Afghanistan, laying the groundwork for a target-approval process, and planning for humanitarian relief operations. It then follows the unfolding of Operation Enduring Freedom from its beginning, starting with air strikes against Taliban early warning radars, airfields, ground force facilities, and other fixed targets. The author also explains how allied Special Operations Forces (SOF) were successfully inserted into Afghanistan and how those forces, enabled by U.S. air power, were eventually able to work with indigenous friendly Afghan fighters in defeating and routing the Taliban. He then outlines problems that were later encountered in Operation Anaconda — an initiative by U.S. Army forces to push into the high mountains of Afghanistan where hard-core al Qaeda holdouts were known to be regrouping. This was to be a conventional ground force operation, but unexpected resistance and resultant fierce fighting required the emergency summoning of fixed-wing air power. This air involvement proved pivotal in producing a successful outcome and, in hindsight, pointed to the failure of Operation Anaconda’s planners to make the most of the potential synergy of air, space, and land power that was available to them. The author describes some of the friction and conflicts that arose within U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) over how best to use air power in the war. Perhaps the most serious inefficiency had to do with strict rules of engagement and a resultant target-approval bottleneck at CENTCOM that often allowed many important but fleeting attack opportunities to slip away. The author emphasizes, however, several distinctive achievements in this war, including the use of SOF-enabled precision weapons that were effective irrespective of weather, the first combat use of Predator unmanned aerial vehicles armed with Hellfire missiles, and the integrated employment of high-altitude drones and other air- and space-based sensors that gave CENTCOM unprecedented round-the-clock awareness of enemy activity."
Source: RAND Corporation

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Katrina Index: Tracking Variables of Post-Katrina Reconstruction

"Three months since Hurricane Katrina it remains difficult to ascertain what progress has been made in rebuilding New Orleans and its region. Using a wide array of about 50 economic and social indicators, the Metropolitan Policy Program has compiled the first in a series of monthly snapshots of economic and both short term and long term reconstruction trends, finding that the area remains mired in a state of emergency still." Source: The Brookings Institution, Metropolitan Policy Program

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The State of the World's Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible

"Hundreds of millions of children are suffering from severe exploitation and discrimination and have become virtually invisible to the world, UNICEF said today in a major report that explores the causes of exclusion and the abuses children experience." Source: UNICEF

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Government Secrecy: Is Too Much Information Kept from the Public?

"An unusually comprehensive account of current issues in government secrecy policy has been published by Congressional Quarterly's CQ Researcher. The growth in classification, the state of the Freedom of Information Act, the declining culture of openness, and the problem of leaks are among the topics explored by CQ writer Kenneth Jost. A copy of the 24 page publication is available here through January 2006, courtesy of CQ Press..." Source: CQ Researcher (via Federation of American Scientists)

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Foundation Giving Trends Preview

"This two-page snapshot report provides a first look at 2004 grantmaking patterns. The detailed analysis will be published in February in the 2006 edition of Foundation Giving Trends. Among the Preview's key findings: giving by the largest private and community foundations rose 8.1 percent between 2003 and 2004, following two years of decline." Souce : The Foundation Center

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Russia and the Information Revolution

"This work, the result of a six-year study, sheds light on Russia’s role in the global Information Revolution. It examines Russia’s increasing reliance on information and communications technologies (IT) to improve its government institutions, modernize business and industry and stimulate economic growth, broaden information access, and enhance the quality of life for Russian people. The author examines Russia’s emerging IT sector, how businesses in Russia are seeking to use IT to enhance productivity and profitability, the impact of IT on government, and the course of the Information Revolution in Russian society." Source: RAND Corporation

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Assimilating Immigrants: Why America Can and France Cannot

"The United States and France differ greatly in their responses to mass immigration. The U.S. adapts its own culture and that of the immigrants, most recently with Latinos. France wants the immigrants to do it all. As a result, the Muslim North Africans of France’s first wave of mass immigration are not assimilating well. The author compares the two current cases and briefly discusses the policy implications: The U.S. seems on its best course, but France needs policy changes to at least keep the peace." Source: RAND Corporation

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Harry Potter and the Unforgivable Curses: Norm-formation, Inconsistency, and the Rule of Law in the Wizarding World

The astounding success of the Harry Potter series of children's fantasy novels is an unexpected cultural phenomenon, but a welcome one for lawyers and legal academics: Harry's story is a story about law, and about a society trying to establish a rule of law. There is law in every chapter, and on almost every page, of all six books. Sometimes the legal questions hang in the background, while at other times they are the focus of the story: We see numerous trials, and the author gives us statutes, regulations, school rules, and even international agreements to consider.

Harry's world is administered, ineptly, by the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry of Magic's muddling misrule is not quite dictatorship, but it is not fair and just, either. Under the stress of the first war against Voldemort's Death Eaters the Ministry regime, like some Muggle governments in similar circumstances, adopted an ad hoc and inconsistent approach to justice. It imprisons people, and sometimes executes them, without a trial. It keeps careful tabs on law-abiding citizens, but is unable to track down terrorists. It reaches inaccurate results in about half of its criminal trials, in large part because defendants are not represented by counsel. This article attempts to examine the problems with the wizarding word's legal system by focusing on one particular problem: the Unforgivable Curses, three spells whose use on humans is punishable by life imprisonment. The three Unforgivable Curses are the Cruciatus Curse, which causes unbearable pain; the Imperius Curse, which allows the user to control the actions of the victim; and the Killing Curse, which causes instant death.

There are inconsistencies both in the application of the law and in the selection of certain curses as Unforgivable. The choice to outlaw these three spells, and not others that may be even worse, reflects something about the values of both Harry's world and ours. The article explores the moral assumptions underlying this choice, examining the legal treatment of these spells under the Ministry's regime as well as under relevant British (Muggle) and international law. Author: Schwabach, Aaron Thomas Jefferson School of Law Source: Roger Williams University Law Review via Social Science Resosurce Network

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Myths and Realities of American Political Geography

The division of America into red states and blue states misleadingly suggests that states are split into two camps, but along most dimensions, like political orientation, states are on a continuum. By historical standards, the number of swing states is not particularly low, and America's cultural divisions are not increasing. But despite the flaws of the red state/blue state framework, it does contain two profound truths. First, the heterogeneity of beliefs and attitudes across the United States is enormous and has always been so. Second, political divisions are becoming increasingly religious and cultural. The rise of religious politics is not without precedent, but rather returns us to the pre-New Deal norm. Religious political divisions are so common because religious groups provide politicians the opportunity to send targeted messages that excite their base. Source : NBER

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New Evidence on the Causal Link Between the Quantity and Quality of Children

A longstanding question in the economics of the family is the relationship between sibship size and subsequent human capital formation and economic welfare. If there is a “quantity-quality trade-off,” then policies that discourage large families should lead to increased human capital, higher earnings, and, at the macro level, promote economic development. Ordinary least squares regression estimates and a large theoretical literature suggest that this is indeed the case. This paper provides new evidence on the child-quantity/child-quality trade-off. Our empirical strategy exploits exogenous variation in family size due to twin births and preferences for a mixed sibling-sex composition, as well as ethnic differences in the effects of these variables, and preferences for boys in some ethnic groups. We use these sources of variation to look at the causal effect of family size on completed educational attainment, fertility, and earnings. For the purposes of this analysis, we constructed a unique matched data set linking Israeli Census data with information on the demographic structure of families drawn from a population registry. Our results show no evidence of a quantity-quality trade-off, though some estimates suggest that first-born girls from large families marry sooner. Source : NBER

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A First Look at the Literacy of America’s Adults in the 21st Century

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) measures the English literacy of America's adults (people age 16 and older living in households and prisons). NAAL builds on the previous national assessment of literacy completed in 1992. The 2003 assessment defines literacy as “using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.” Results are reported in terms of scale score averages and literacy levels on three literacy scales: prose, document, and quantitative. The literacy levels were described as below basic, basic, intermediate, and proficient. Each level corresponded to a specific range of scale scores and was described in terms of the abilities associated with each level and the types of tasks that adults could complete at that level. An additional component comprising 5 percent of the adult population was the non-literate in English. The non-literate in English included the 2 percent who could not be tested because they could not communicate in English or Spanish, and the 3 percent who took an alternative assessment because they were unable to complete a minimum number of simple literacy screening questions. Results showed that the average quantitative literacy scores of adults increased 8 points between 1992 and 2003, though average prose and document literacy did not differ significantly from 1992. Among Blacks, average prose literacy scores increased by 6 points and average document literacy scores rose by 8 points between 1992 and 2003 (figure 1). The average prose scores of Asians/Pacific Islanders increased as well, rising 16 points between 1992 and 2003.The average prose literacy scores of Hispanics fell 18 points from 1992 to 2003, while average document literacy scores decreased by 14 points. Average prose and document literacy scores among Whites did not change significantly. Source : National Center for Education Statistics

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Can Publishers Survive The Shift From Print To Online

"For most scholarly journals, the transition away from the print format and to an exclusive reliance on the electronic version seems all but inevitable, driven by user preferences for electronic journals and concerns about collecting the same information in two formats. But this shift away from print, in the absence of strategic planning by a higher proportion of libraries and publishers, may endanger the viability of certain journals and even the journal literature more broadly — while not even reducing costs in the ways that have long been assumed.

Although the opportunities before us are significant, a smooth transition away from print and to electronic versions of journals requires concerted action, most of it individually by libraries and publishers." Source : Inside HigherEd

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Guide to Journalist Shield Laws

The online Guide to Journalist Shield Laws is provided by the Poynter Institute, a school for current and future journalists, as well as teachers of journalists, based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The guide provides a state-by-state listing of what protections are available for journalists under state law. For each state, the guide indicates whether there are common-law or statutory protections. Specific code sections are indicated and code section text is excerpted. Relevant cases are also noted with complete citations. If a state does not have a shield law, relevant
state constitutional provisions are listed. Source : Poynter Institute

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Government Gazettes Online

"Government Gazettes, which are published by federal governments worldwide, are the means through which the government can communicate to officials and the general public. Although most countries publish a gazette, their regularity and content varies widely, which is noted in the description of each gazette. Gazettes are useful not only to monitor the actions of the government, but also as primary source documentation in research."

"This website attempts to list all online government gazettes and their characteristics to aid researchers. A description of the contents and coverage are included for each gazette. Anyone wishing to do further research on foreign law will find useful resources in the bibliography."

Source : University of Michigan Documents Center

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Characteristics of U.S. 15-Year-Old Low Achievers in an International Context: Findings From PISA 2000

"This report analyzes results of reading literacy among 15-year-olds based on the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and carried out in 32 countries, including the United States. It focuses on the characteristics of students who perform at the lowest levels of reading literacy. The report has two objectives: first, to explore how the demographic and educational characteristics of low performing students compare to other students within the United States; second, to analyze if the United States differs from the other PISA countries in terms of the characteristics of its low performing students. It describes the extent to which a particular characteristic is more or less likely to be observed among the low performers than on average." Source: National Center for Education Statistics

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Inside The Black Box of Doctoral Education: What Program Characteristics Influence Doctoral Students' Attrition and Graduation Probabilities?

"In this paper, we go inside the 'black box' of graduate education to investigate what characteristics of graduate programs in the humanities and related social sciences actually influence PhD students’ attrition and graduation probabilities. We make use of data from the Graduate Education Survey; a retrospective survey of all graduate students who entered PhD programs in the treatment and control departments during the 1982-1997 period that was conducted by Mathematica Policy Research Inc. for the Mellon Foundation." Source: Cornell Higher Education Research Institute

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Survey of Mexican Migrants, Part Three

"The vast majority of undocumented migrants from Mexico were gainfully employed before they left for the United States. Thus, failure to find work at home does not seem to be the primary reason that the estimated 6.3 million undocumented migrants from Mexico have come to the U.S.... Once they arrive and pass through a relatively brief period of transition and adjustment, migrants have little trouble finding work. Family and social networks play a significant role in this.... They easily make transitions into new jobs, even though most find themselves working in industries that are new to them. Also, many are paid at minimum-wage levels or below, and it is not uncommon for these workers to experience relatively long spells of unemployment." Source: Pew Hispanic Center

Executive Summary | Part Three

Other Related Reports

Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity?

"The report finds that current food and beverage marketing practices puts children's long-term health at risk. If America's children and youth are to develop eating habits that help them avoid early onset of diet-related chronic diseases, they have to reduce their intake of high-calorie, low-nutrient snacks, fast foods, and sweetened drinks, which make up a high proportion of the products marketed to them." Source: Institute of Medicine (National Academies)

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Bicultural identity integration (BII): Components and psychosocial antecedents

Abstract : The present study examines the underresearched topic of bicultural identity; specifically, we: (1) unpack the construct of Bicultural Identity Integration (BII), or the degree to which a bicultural individual perceives his/her two cultural identities as "compatible" versus "oppositional," and (2) identify the personality (Big Five) and acculturation (acculturation stress, acculturation attitudes, bicultural competence) predictors of BII. Differences in BII, acculturation stress, and bicultural competence were measured with new instruments developed for the purposes of the study. Using a sample of Chinese American biculturals, we found that variations in BII do not define a uniform phenomenon, as commonly implied in the literature, but instead encompass two separate independent constructs: perceptions of distance (vs. overlap) and perceptions of conflict (vs. harmony) between one's two cultural identities or orientations. Results also indicated that cultural conflict and cultural distance have distinct personality, acculturation, and sociodemographic antecedents. Source : Journal of Personality. 73 (4) via California Digital Repository eScholarship.

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Electronic Democracy America: Civil Society, Cyber Society and Participation in Local Politics

"Internet diffusion and use is growing faster than any communications technology in history, and for many sectors of the population, it is becoming indispensable (ITU 2002,Hoffman, Novak, and Venkatesh 2004). Of Americans online, eighty-eight percent say the Internet plays a role in their daily routines (Fallows 2004). Given these trends, social scientists have begun exploring the political and social implications of Internet use (e.g., Hampton 2003, Hill and Hughes 1998, Bimber 2003, Norris 2001, Davis 1999, Wellman and Haythornthwaite 2002). Of particular interest are comparisons between offline and online modes of political engagement and whether Internet users engage the political system differently. In general, this body of research seeks to understand Internet use in relation to political and community life offline. That is, the question this literature generally seeks to answer is, what does the advent of the Internet mean for offline politics and community life. This research, by contrast seeks to understand what is politics and “community” life like on the Internet as a medium distinct from a variety of offline mediums where politics and “community” life take place? In doing so, we engage in a comparative analysis of politics and interactions with various groups both offline and online." Source : Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations. I.T. in Government. Paper 362.

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A virtual reality platform for modeling cognitive development

ABSTRACT:
We present a virtual reality platform for developing and evaluating embodied models of cognitive development. The platform facilitates structuring of the learning agent, of its visual environment, and of other virtual characters that interact with the learning agent. It allows us to systematically study the role of the visual and social environment for the development of particular cognitive skills in a controlled fashion. We describe how it is currently being used for constructing an embodied model of the emergence of gaze following in infant-caregiver interactions and discuss the relative benefits of virtual vs. robotic modeling approaches.

Source : Biomimetic Neural Learning for Intelligent Robots: Intelligent Systems, Cognitive Robotics, And Neuroscience. 3575

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Pet ownership and human health: a brief review of evidence and issues

Summary points:
+ Over 90% of pet owners regard their pet as a valued family member.
+ Reluctance to part with a pet may lead to non-compliance with health advice.
+ Pets may be of particular value to older people and patients recovering from major illness.
+ The death of a pet may cause great distress to owners, especially when the pet has associations with a deceased spouse or former lifestyle.
+ Many people would welcome advice and support to enable them to reconcile or manage pet ownership and health problems whenever possible."
Source: British Medical Journal

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Why China's Banking Sector Isn't as Weak as It Might Look -- and Other Myths

China's transformation from a stagnant, government-controlled economy to a more international free market system has been accelerated by banking and other financial reforms, according to speakers at a conference on China sponsored by the Global Interdependence Center, a non-profit organization based at the University of Pennsylvania and focused on increasing global trade. Jeffrey R. Williams, president of Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB), described three main elements of banking reform, while Ted Chu, senior manager of economic and industry analysis at General Motors, debunked what he sees as current misconceptions about the Chinese economy.Source: Knowledge@Wharton, University of Pennsylvania

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New media/Internet research topics of the association of Internet researchers

Abstract: This study summarizes prior reviews of new media and Internet research, and the growth of the term Internet in academic publications and online newsgroups. It then uses semantic network analysis to summarize the interests and concepts of an interdisciplinary group of Internet researchers, as represented by session titles and paper titles and abstracts from the 2003 and 2004 Association of Internet Researchers conferences. In both years, the most frequent words appearing in the paper abstracts included Internet, online, community, social, technology, and research. The 2003 papers emphasized topics such as the social analysis/research of online/Internet communication, community, and information, with particular coverage of access, individuals, groups, digital media, culture; role and process in e-organizations; and world development. The 2004 papers emphasized topics such as access; news and social issues; the role of individuals in communities; user-based studies; usage data; and blogs, women, and search policy, among others. Source: Ronald E. Rice, University of California, Santa Barbara

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Seeking the Roots of Terrorism: An Islamic Traditional Perspective

"This article analyzes the associational relationship between Islam and terrorism as embedded in the current popular culture. Two questions are examined: (a) whether from a historical and political perspective current organizations that are terror threats and Bin Laden are natural outgrowths of the Islamic tradition; (b) whether the Muslim popular tradition has historically interpreted some Qur'anic terms such as Jihad and Kuffar "allegedly infidels" to promote hate and violence against non-Muslims. In view of this discussion, the article suggests that the current terror treats is due to the politicization of the Muslim faith, rather than rooted in Islamic teachings." Source: Journal of Religion and Popular Culture

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Marriage Not Enough to Guarantee Economic Security

"More than one in four children with married parents is low income. The majority of low-income children in rural and suburban areas live with parents who are married, and most single parents were formerly married as well. The majority of married low-income parents are employed, and 41 percent of their children have two employed parents. Illness and disability are commmon reasons for unemployment. Low wages, lack of employee benefits, frequent moves, and low levels of education are common among these parents, and their need for public health insurance and food stamps is rising." Source: National Center for Children in Poverty (Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health

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Who Picks the President?

"FairVote's Who Picks the President report tracks television spending and campaign visits by major candidates during the height of the 2004 presidential election. The report seeks to ascertain just how wide the gulf between swing and non-swing states has become in a modern election, and the conclusion--vast-- is hardly reassuring for supporters of American Democracy." Source: FairVote

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State Rankings

"In general, we know that online learning develops through interaction and that it’s a collaborative process where students actively engage in writing

"In general, we know that online learning develops through interaction and that it’s a collaborative process where students actively engage in writing and reading messages among themselves and with the instructor. However, it’s also well known that in any online community, not all users are equally active, and there are indeed people who never take an active part -- the so-called lurkers. This article focuses on the lurkers; the authors ran extensive experiments to demonstrate whether there’s a relationship between the writing and reading behavior of online students and whether active participation influences learning efficiency. An interesting related result that emerged from the study is that the effort of the instructor in terms of reading and writing posts is higher than that of the learners themselves!" Source : Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

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Adolescent Angst

"The Priory Group recently commissioned independent research among 1,000 young people aged 12 – 19 nationwide to understand their attitudes and behaviours toward a wide range of issues ranging from schoolwork and relationships to sex, drugs, suicidal ideation and self-harm. The results confirm what the medical profession has known for years: an unacceptably high proportion of British youngsters suffer from a wide range of mental health issues that adversely affect family life, friendships, development and academic achievement. Priory's research also reveals that young people today are experimenting with sex, alcohol and drugs, dealing with violence in the home and in relationships and contemplating suicide at ever-decreasing ages, fuelling a mental health crisis in this vulnerable population." Source: The Priory Group (UK)

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National Strategy for Victory in Iraq

"The following document articulates the broad strategy the President set forth in 2003 and provides an update on our progress as well as the challenges remaining." Source: National Security Council

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Housing Tenure and Wealth Distribution in Life-Cycle Economies

"Common practice in the housing and wealth distribution literature has proceeded as if the modeling of housing rental markets was unnecessary due to renters’ relative low levels of wealth and the small fraction they represent in the total population. This paper shows, however, that their inclusion matters substantially when dealing with wealth concentration over the life cycle. Renters are concentrated in the poorer and younger groups. This concentration results in a pattern of housing wealth concentration over an agent’s life that is decreasing, with a slope as steep as that of nonhousing (or financial) wealth. The author constructs an overlapping-generations economy with a housing rental market that is consistent with this fact." Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

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