Thursday, April 04, 2013

Children with sleep apnea have higher risk of behavioral, adaptive and learning problems

"This study provides some helpful information for medical professionals consulting with parents about treatment options for children with SDB that, although it may remit, there are considerable behavioral risks associated with continued SDB," said Michelle Perfect, PhD, the study's lead author and assistant professor in the school psychology program in the department of disability and psychoeducational studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "School personnel should also consider the possibility that SDB contributes to difficulties with hyperactivity, learning and behavioral and emotional dysregulation in the classroom."

The five-year study, which appears in the April issue of the journal SLEEP, utilized data from a longitudinal cohort, the Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea Study (TuCASA). The TuCASA study prospectively examined Hispanic and Caucasian children between 6 and 11 years of age to determine the prevalence and incidence of SDB and its effects on neurobehavioral functioning. The study involved 263 children who completed an overnight sleep study and a neurobehavioral battery of assessments that included parent and youth reported rating scales.
Source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine

 Read: Children with sleep apnea have higher risk of behavioral, adaptive and learning problems.

How Housing Matters Survey Finds American Attitudes Transformed by Housing Crisis, Changes in Lifestyle

From the introduction:

The How Housing Matters Survey, a new national survey conducted by Hart Research Associates and commissioned by the MacArthur Foundation, found while financial markets, as well as homebuilding and home sales data, may suggest the prolonged housing crisis is over, the American public is not ready to agree, with nearly 8 in 10 (77%) believing we are still in the middle of the crisis, or that the worst is yet to come. When it comes to remedying the housing crisis, two-thirds of adults (65%) now believe the focus of national housing policy should be split fairly equally between rental and ownership, as opposed to promoting one over the other. Three in five adults (61%) now believe that renters can be just as successful as owners in achieving the American Dream.
Source: MacArthur Foundation 
Read the survey report (pdf) or complete survey data.

New Report on First Premarital Cohabitation in the United States

From the Report Description:
This report provides an updated description of trends and patterns in first premarital cohabitations among women aged 15–44 in the United States using the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Trends in pregnancies within first premarital cohabiting unions and differences by Hispanic origin and race, and education are also presented.
About the survey:
The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) gathers information on family life, marriage and divorce, pregnancy, infertility, use of contraception, and men's and women's health. The survey results are used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and others to plan health services and health education programs, and to do statistical studies of families, fertility, and health.
Source: Centers for Disease and Control Prevention National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG)

Download pdf Report on First Premarital Cohabitation in the United States

Self-Image and Strategic Ignorance in Moral Dilemmas

Abstract: 
Avoiding information about adverse welfare consequences of self-interested decisions, orstrategic ignorance, is an important source of corruption, anti-social behavior and even atrocities. We model an agent who cares about self-image and has the opportunity to learn the social benefits of a personally costly action.  The trade-off between self-image concerns and material payoffs can lead the agent to use ignorance as an excuse, even if it is deliberately chosen. Two experiments, modeled after Dana, Weber, and Kuang (2007), show that a) many people will reveal relevant information about others' payoffs after making an ethical decision, but not before, and b)  some people are willing to pay for ignorance. These results corroborate the idea that Bayesian self-signaling drives people to avoid inconvenient facts in moral decisions.
Source:  Departmental Working Papers, Department of Economics, UCSB, UC Santa Barbara [via eScholarship Repository]

Download full pdf publication: Self-Image and Strategic Ignorance in Moral Dilemmas

After the Withdrawal: A Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan

From RAND Corpoation:
Testimony presented before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Joint Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa and Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific on March 19, 2013.
 Download full pdf publication

Research Report: 2012 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Executive Officers and Top Earners

The 2012 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Executive Officers and Top Earners provides critical statistics to gauge women’s advancement into leadership and highlights the gender diversity gap. Each year Catalyst tracks:
  •  Women’s share of all Executive Officer and top earner positions. 
  •  Companies with 0 percent, 25 percent or more, and 40 percent or more women Executive Officers. 

The appendices provide additional points of comparison by region and industry, as well as list companies with the highest and lowest representation of women Executive Officers.
  • In 2012, women held 14.3 percent of Executive Officer positions at Fortune 500 companies and 8.1 percent of Executive Officer top earner positions. 
  • In both 2011 and 2012, one-fifth of companies had 25 percent or more women Executive Officers, yet more than one-quarter had no women. 
Source: Catalyst 

Download full pdf research report | Go directly to Catalyst site for multiple downloads

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Digitized: The Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press collection

About the collection:

The Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press collection documents and showcases historic Mexican and Mexican American publications published in Tucson, El Paso, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sonora, Mexico from the mid-1800s to the 1970s. The collection covers important periods in Mexican-American history, from the Mexican Revolution to the Bracero Program to the Chicano Movement. There are about 1,900,000 Latino and Hispanic population in Arizona and more than 50 million in the United States. Having this collection available to the public through digitization of these materials, will raise awareness to issues that advance the image and identity of Latinos in American politics and media and their contributions to the United States.
Source: University of Arizona Libraries

 Link to The Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press collection

Wilson Center Digital Archive: Declassified Historical Documents available to the Public

About:
The Digital Archive is a resource where students, researchers and specialists can access once-secret documents from governments and organizations all over the world.
Constructed and maintained by the Wilson Center’s History and Public Policy Program, the Digital Archive contains newly declassified historical materials from archives around the world—much of it in translation and including diplomatic cables, high level correspondence, meeting minutes and more. The historical documents presented in the ever-expanding Digital Archive provide fresh, unprecedented insights into recent international history. By making new sources available and easily accessible, the Digital Archive serves to deepen and enrich international scholarship, history education, and public policy debate on important global issues and challenges.
Included collections:

The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP)

The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. It seeks to accelerate the process of integrating new sources, materials and perspectives from the former "Communist bloc" with the historiography of the Cold War which has been written over the past few decades largely by Western scholars reliant on Western archival sources.

The North Korea International Documentation Project (NKIDP)

The North Korea International Documentation Project (NKIDP) serves as an informational clearinghouse on North Korea for both the scholarly and policymaking communities by widely disseminating newly declassified documents on the DPRK from its former communist allies as well as other resources that provide valuable insight into the actions and nature of the North Korean state.

The Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP)

The Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP) is a global network of individuals and institutions engaged in the study of international nuclear history through archival documents, oral history interviews and other empirical sources. Recognizing that today’s toughest nuclear challenges have deep roots in the past, NPIHP seeks to transcend the East vs. West paradigm to work towards an integrated international history of nuclear weapon proliferation.
Browsing and Search options available: Wilson Center Digital Archive: International History Declassified.