What Can Studies of e-Learning Teach Us About e-Research? Some Findings from Digital Library Research

Abstract: e-Research is intended to facilitate collaboration through distributed access to content, tools, and services. Lessons about collaboration are extracted from the findings of two large, long-term digital library research projects. Both the Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype Project (ADEPT) and the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS) project on data management leverage scientific research data for use in teaching. Two forms of collaboration were studied: (1) direct, in which faculty work together on research projects; and (2) indirect or serial, in which faculty use or contribute content to a common pool, such as teaching resources, concepts and relationships, or research data. Five aspects of collaboration in e-Research are discussed: (1) disciplinary factors, (2) incentives to adopt e-Learning and e-Research technologies, (3) user roles, (4) information sharing, and (5) technical requirements. Collaboration varied by research domain in both projects, and appears partly to be a function of the degree of instrumentation in data collection. Faculty members were more interested in tools to manage their own research data than in tools to facilitate teaching. They also were more reflective about their research than teaching activities. The availability of more content, tools, and services to incorporate primary data in teaching was only a minimal incentive to use these resources. Large investments in a knowledge base of scientific concepts and relationships for teaching did not result in re-use by other faculty during the course of the project. Metadata requirements for research and for teaching vary greatly, which further complicates the transfer of resources across applications. Personal digital libraries offer a middle ground between private control and public release of content, which is a promising direction for the design of digital libraries that will facilitate collaboration in e-Research."

Source: UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Publications.

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Presidential Claims of Executive Privilege: History, Law, Practice and Recent Developments

Presidential claims of a right to preserve the confidentiality of information and documents in the face of legislative demands have figured prominently, though intermittently, in executive-congressional relations since at least 1792. Few such interbranch disputes over access to information have reached the courts for substantive resolution, the vast majority achieving resolution through political negotiation and accommodation. In fact, it was not until the Watergate-related lawsuits in the 1970's seeking access to President Nixon's tapes that the existence of a presidential confidentiality privilege was judicially established as a necessary derivative of the President's status in our constitutional scheme of separated powers. Of the eight court decisions involving interbranch or private information access disputes, three have involved Congress and the Executive but only one of these resulted in a decision on the merits. The Nixon and post-Watergate cases established the broad contours of the presidential communications privilege. Under those precedents, the privilege, which is constitutionally rooted, could be invoked by the President when asked to produce documents or other materials or information that reflect presidential decisionmaking and deliberations that he believes should remain confidential. If the President does so, the materials become presumptively privileged. The privilege, however, is qualified, not absolute, and can be overcome by an adequate showing of need. Finally, while reviewing courts have expressed reluctance to balance executive privilege claims against a congressional demand for information, they have acknowledged they will do so if the political branches have tried in good faith but failed to reach an accommodation. However, until the District of Columbia Circuit's 1997 ruling in In re Sealed Case(Espy), and 2004 decision in Judicial Watch v. Department of Justice, these judicial decisions had left important gaps in the law of presidential privilege. Among the more significant issues left open included whether the President has to have actually seen or been familiar with the disputed matter; whether the presidential privilege encompasses documents and information developed by, or in the possession of, officers and employees in the departments and agencies of the Executive Branch; whether the privilege encompasses all communications with respect to which the President may be interested or is it confined to presidential decisionmaking and, if so, is it limited to any particular type of presidential decisionmaking; and precisely what kind of demonstration of need must be shown to justify release of materials that qualify for the privilege. The unanimous panel in Espy, and the subsequent reaffirmation of the principles articulated in Espy by Judicial Watch, authoritatively addressed each of these issues in a manner that may have drastically altered the future legal playing field in resolving such disputes. Source: Congressional Research Service

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Public Expresses Mixed Views of Islam, Mormonism

Benedict XVI Viewed Favorably But Faulted on Religious Outreach

The Muslim and Mormon religions have gained increasing national visibility in recent years. Yet most Americans say they know little or nothing about either religion's practices, and large majorities say that their own religion is very different from Islam and the Mormon religion.

A new national survey reveals some notable similarities, as well as major differences, in the ways that Americans view these faiths and their followers. Public impressions of both religions are hazy – 58% say they know little or nothing about Islam's practices, while 51% have little or no awareness of the precepts and practices of Mormonism. The number of people who say they know little or nothing about Islam has changed very little since 2001. Source: Pew Research

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Extraterritorial Application of American Criminal Law

Crime is usually territorial. It is a matter of the law of the place where it occurs. Nevertheless, a surprising number of American criminal laws apply outside of the United States. Application is generally a question of legislative intent, expressed or implied. In either case, it most often involves crimes committed aboard a ship or airplane, crimes condemned by international treaty, crimes committed against government employees or property, or crimes that have an impact in this country even if planned or committed in part elsewhere. Although the crimes over which the United States has extraterritorial jurisdiction may be many, so are the obstacles to their enforcement. For both practical and diplomatic reasons, criminal investigations within another country require the acquiescence, consent, or preferably the assistance, of the authorities of the host country. The United States has mutual legal assistance treaties with several countries designed to formalize such cooperative law enforcement assistance. Searches and interrogations carried out on our behalf by foreign officials, certainly if they involve Americans, must be conducted within the confines of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. And the Sixth Amendment imposes limits upon the use in American criminal trials of depositions taken abroad. Our recently negotiated extradition treaties address some of the features of our earlier agreements which complicate extradition for extraterritorial offenses, i.e., dual criminality requirements, reluctance to recognize extraterritorial jurisdiction, and exemptions on the basis of nationality or political offenses. To further facilitate the prosecution of federal crimes with extraterritorial application Congress has enacted special venue, statute of limitations, and evidentiary statutes. Source: Congressional Research Service


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Reports by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict

Summary of the 2007 Report

Part one gives an overview of critical themes relating to children and armed conflict and highlights significant developments over the reporting period. It emphasizes the role of field visits of the Special Representative as a key element of her advocacy strategy and outlines the main findings of missions to the Sudan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The report also lists commitments made by parties to conflict during the course of those field visits, stressing the need for timely and systematic follow-up to ensure their practical implementation. Part one concludes that Member States should apply concrete and targeted measures against recalcitrant violators, particularly where they have refused to enter into dialogue or where such dialogue has failed to yield tangible protection for children.

Part two of the report presents the findings of a strategic review of the study by Graça Machel entitled “Impact of armed conflict on children” (see A/51/306 and Add.1), which marked the 10-year anniversary of that groundbreaking report. In view of the scope of that report, the strategic review was co-convened with the United Nations Children’s Fund, with which a special strategic review secretariat was established. The strategic review report was prepared with an inter-agency advisory group and featured a multi-stakeholder process involving United Nations system partners, Member States, non-governmental organizations and other representatives of civil society, as well as children themselves. The Special Representative presents part two of the report on behalf of the co-convenors as well as the multi-stakeholder partnership. Source: United Nations

Download pdf of 2007 Report

Link to report archive

Reports from the Carsey Institute

The Carsey Institute builds knowledge for families and communities in the 21 st century by providing data and analysis in engaging publications that are accessible to the public. The Institute is currently producing reports and policy papers on rural America, New England, and women and work. Reports on children and youth are under development.

The Carsey Institute’s reports and policy papers provide historical perspective, incorporate the most recent data available, and explore policy implications. Community case studies illustrate critical challenges and useful strategies for rural areas and the nation as a whole.

Source: Carsey Institute, Univeristy of New Hampshire


Link to online gateway

Available for download:
Rural America in the 21st Century
Demographic Trends

Links to more reports, policy briefs, fact sheets etc.

Gender Justice, Citizenship and Development

Although there have been notable gains for women globally in the last few decades, gender inequality and gender-based inequities continue to impinge upon girls’ and women’s ability to realize their rights and their full potential as citizens and equal partners in decision-making and development. In fact, for every right that has been established, there are millions of women who do not enjoy it.

In this book, studies from Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are prefaced by an introductory chapter that links current thinking on gender justice to debates on citizenship, entitlements, and law and development. A concluding chapter situates the discussion of gender justice, citizenship, and entitlements in current development debates on poverty alleviation and social exclusion. The book brings together multidisciplinary perspectives from leading feminist scholars of sociology, political science and legal studies, among others, and in doing so, provides new insights for both advocacy and research. Edited by Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay and Navsharan Singh Source: International Development Research Center

Full book available online.

Link to full online publication | Link to online Summary with links to download book chapters in pdf format

The Sentencing Project - A 25-Year Quagmire: The War on Drugs and Its Impact on American Society

The Sentencing Project has released a new report that examines the burden of the "war on drugs" on the criminal justice system and American communities.

The report also provides policy recommendations that can help effectively reinvest government resources in community safety by encouraging comprehensive drug treatment and prevention strategies to address drug addiction.

Source: The Sentencing Project

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Prison Health Care: Is Contracting Out Healthy?

ABSTRACT:
U.S Prison health care has recently been in the news and in the courts. A particular issue is whether prisons should contract out for health care. Contracting out has been growing over the past few decades. The stated motivation for this change ranges from a desire to improve the prison health care system, sometimes in response to a court mandate, to a desire to reduce costs. This study is a first attempt to quantify the impact of this change on inmate health. As morbidity measures are not readily obtainable, we focus on mortality. More specifically, we use a panel of state prisons from 1979-1990 and a fixed effects Poisson model to estimate the change in mortality associated with increases in the percentage of medical personnel employed under contract. In contrast to the first stated aim of contracting, we find that a 20 percent increase in percentage of medical personnel employed under contract increases mortality by 2 percent. Source: Department of Economics, UCSB.

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How We Got into the Subprime Lending Mess

"When mortgage default rates started to climb earlier this year, many experts thought the damage would be confined to the minority of issuers that had binged on subprime lending.

It's turning out much worse. Consumer spending is off, the credit crunch is spreading, the housing market is in a slump and the stock market has been shaken.

The economy is so threatened that the Federal Reserve set aside its worries about inflation and on September 18 cut short-term interest rates by half a percentage point for the first time in four years, hoping a shot of stimulus would head off a recession. The Fed pointed to worries about "tightening of credit conditions" that could deepen the drop in housing prices and the recent pullback in homebuilding." Source: Knowledge@Wharton

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Related: The Housing Finance Revolution

Divorce Better for Children than Living with Unhappily Married Parents

"While the public strongly prefers the traditional mother-and-father home, this endorsement has some clear limits - -by a margin of 67% to 19%, Americans say that when there is a marriage in which the parents are very unhappy with one another, their children are better off if the parents get divorced. Similarly, by a margin of 58% to 38%, more Americans agree with the statement that "divorce is painful, but preferable to maintaining an unhappy marriage" than agree with the statement that "divorce should be avoided except in an extreme situation." Thus, public attitudes toward divorce and single parenting have taken different paths over the past generation. When it comes to divorce, public opinion has become more accepting. When it comes to single parenting, public opinion has remained quite negative. Yet rates of divorce, after more than doubling from 1960 to 1980, have declined by about a third in recent decades, despite this greater public acceptance. On the other hand, the rates of births to unwed mothers have continued to rise, despite the steadfast public disapproval." Pew Research Center

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The Oprah Factor and Campaign 2008

Do Political Endorsements Matter?

"Hillary Clinton continues to lead Barack Obama by a wide margin in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. But Obama has something Clinton doesn't have – the support of Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey endorsed Obama in May of this year and recently held a fundraiser for him at her Malibu, Calif. home. While political endorsements generally have little impact on voter preferences, there is no telling whether Winfrey can do for Obama what she has done for the countless books and products she's endorsed over the years." Source: Pew Research Center for people and the press


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Distinguishing Spurious and Real Peer Effects: Evidence from Artificial Societies, Small-Group Experiments, and Real Schoolyards

"In a variety of important domains, there is considerable correlational evidence
suggestive of what are variously referred to as social norm effects, contagion effects, information cascades, or peer effects. It is difficult to statistically identify whether such effects are causal, and there are various non-causal mechanisms that can produce such apparent norm effects. Lab experiments demonstrate that real peer effects occur, but also that apparent cascade or peer effects can be spurious. A curious feature of American local school configuration policy provides an opportunity to identify true peer influences among adolescents. Some school districts send 6th graders to middle school (e.g., 6th-8th grade "junior high"); others retain 6th graders for one additional year in K-6 elementary schools. Source: Center for the Study of Law and Society Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program. U.C. Berkeley


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Public Regulation and Private Lawsuits in the American Separation of Powers System

"I investigate causes of the legislative choice to mobilize private litigants to enforce statutes. I specify the statutory mechanism, grounded in economic incentives, that Congress uses to do so, and I present a theoretical framework for understanding how certain characteristics of separation of powers structures, particularly conflict between Congress and the president over control of the bureaucracy, drive legislative production of this mechanism. Using new and original historical data, I present the first empirical model of the legislative choice to mobilize private litigants, covering the years 1887 to 2004. In addition to testing separation of powers hypotheses, this new data allows me to evaluate four additional hypotheses concerning legislative mobilization of private litigants that have long appeared in the scholarly literature but have never been tested due to lack of appropriate data. The findings provide robust support for the proposition that interbranch conflict between Congress and the president is a powerful cause of congressional enactment of incentives to mobilize private litigants." Author: Sean Farhang Source: Center for the Study of Law and Society Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program. U.C. Berkeley [via eScholarship Repository]

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Japan's Currency Intervention: Policy Issues

"Japan's intervention to slow the upward appreciation of the yen has raised concerns in the United States and brought charges that Tokyo is manipulating its exchange rate in order to gain unfair advantage in world trade. This coincides with similar charges being made with respect to the currencies of the People's Republic of China and South Korea. In the 109th Congress, S. 377 (Fair Currency Enforcement Act of 2005) would require negotiation and appropriate action with respect to certain countries that engage in currency manipulation. H.R. 3283 (United States Trade Rights Enforcement Act) would require the Secretary of the Treasury to provide to Congress a periodic assessment of countries -- including Japan -- that intervene to influence the value of their currency. Japan intervened (bought dollars and sold yen) extensively to counter the yen's appreciation in 1976-1978, 1985-1988, 1992-1996, and 1998-2004." Source: Congressional Research Service

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Study Challenges Assumption that Private Colleges Make Better Faculty Workplaces

"Faculty at public colleges and universities rate tenure clarity, the clarity of performance expectations, and the reasonableness of those expectations higher than faculty at private institutions, according to a survey of nearly 7,000 junior faculty members from across the country. Early-career faculty at public institutions also expressed greater satisfaction than those at private institutions with work/life balance. The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE), a research project based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, compiled and compared trends between public and private institutions of higher education based on responses from junior faculty members at 77 colleges and universities." Source: Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education, Harvard University Graduate School of Education

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Adolescents, Neighborhoods, and Violence

"Although some adolescents are more violent than others, and some neighborhoods experience more crime and violence than others, the factors that mitigate violent and criminal behavior are largely unknown. The NIJ Research in Brief Adolescents, Neighborhoods, and Violence: Recent Findings From the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods describes the results of a study that examined the neighborhood conditions, individual characteristics, and family characteristics that contribute to adolescent violence. Results from the study work to erase misleading stereotypes about race and violence, emphasizing the importance of neighborhood conditions and social processes in contributing to adolescent violence." Source: (U.S.) National Institute of Justice

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U.S. Health Care Spending: Comparison with Other OECD Countries

The United States spends more money on health care than any other country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD consists of 30 democracies, most of which are considered the most economically advanced countries in the world. According to OECD data, the United States spent $6,102 per capita on health care in 2004 -- more than double the OECD average and 19.9% more than Luxembourg, the second-highest spending country. In 2004, 15.3% of the U.S. economy was devoted to health care, compared with 8.9% in the average OECD country and 11.6% in second-placed Switzerland. Why does the United States spend this amount on health care? Economists break health care spending into two parts: price and quantity (which includes the number of visits to health care providers and the intensity of those visits). In terms of quantity, OECD data indicate that the United States has far fewer doctor visits per person compared with the OECD average; for hospitalizations, the United States ranks well below the OECD and is roughly comparable in terms of length of hospital stays. The intensity of service delivery is a different story: the United States uses more of the newest medical technologies and performs several invasive procedures (such as coronary bypasses and angioplasties) more frequently than the average OECD country. In terms of price, the OECD has stated that "there is no doubt that U.S. prices for medical care commodities and services are significantly higher than in other countries and serve as a key determinant of higher overall spending." Source: Congressional Research Service

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Petraeus' Proposals Favored, But No Lift in War Support

"Last week's congressional testimony by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, followed by President Bush's address to the nation, has not changed bottom-line public attitudes toward the war in Iraq. However, there has been a modest increase in positive views about the U.S. military effort, accompanied by largely positive public reactions to General Petraeus' recommendations." Source: Pew Center for People and the Press

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Ethnic Identity and Immigrant Homeownership

"Immigrants are much less likely to own their homes than natives, even after controlling for a broad range of life-cycle and socio-economic characteristics and housing market conditions. This paper extends the analysis of immigrant housing tenure choice by explicitly accounting for ethnic identity as a potential influence on the homeownership decision, using a two-dimensional model of ethnic identity that incorporates attachments to both origin and host cultures. The evidence suggests that immigrants with a stronger commitment to the host country are more likely to achieve homeownership for a given set of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, regardless of their level of attachment to their home country." Source: Institute for the study of labor

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The long-run impact of orphanhood

"This paper presents unique evidence that orphanhood matters in the long run for health and education outcomes, in a region of Northwestern Tanzania. The paper studies a sample of 718 non-orphaned children surveyed in 1991-94, who were traced and re-interviewed as adults in 2004. A large proportion, 19 percent, lost one or more parents before the age of 15 in this period, allowing the authors to assess the permanent health and education impacts of orphanhood. The analysis controls for a wide range of child and adult characteristics before orphanhood, as well as community fixed effects. The findings show that maternal orphanhood has a permanent adverse impact of 2 cm of final height attainment and one year of educational attainment. Expressing welfare in terms of consumption expenditure, the result is a gap of 8.5 percent compared with similar children whose mother survived till at least their 15th birthday." Source: World Bank

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When a Black Tee Shirt Is More than a Black Tee Shirt: Why Brands Aren't Losing Their Luster

"Several years ago, VF Corporation, the world's largest apparel manufacturer, embarked on an aggressive growth strategy that rests heavily on branding, including opening new retail outlets. The company, which had been known for producing intimate apparel and everyday Wrangler and Lee jeans, is building on a group of brands that symbolize an entire lifestyle.

The model is based on North Face, a label that encompasses products ranging from jackets and shoes to shorts and tents, all communicating an outdoors-oriented lifestyle. Since it acquired North Face in 2000, VF has gone on to buy Reef -- which is aimed at surfers -- high-end jeans maker 7 for All Mankind and lucy, a women's active apparel brand focusing on the loose-fitting yoga look. VF also sold off its long-time intimate apparel divisions, which manufactured the Vanity Fair and Vassarette labels, because research showed that consumers viewed those lines simply as products, not as a symbol of a broader lifestyle, according to VF CEO Mackey McDonald.

"Our capability today is in building brands," he says. "That is what I believe is driving our growth and success."

If VF's strategy is any indication, brands don't seem to be losing their luster. Despite serious challenges from private label manufacturers and low-price global production, branding remains an important way for consumers to choose among products in a crowded marketplace. At the same time, brands are also taking on a growing role in building consumers' own identities, according to Wharton faculty and marketing analysts. But, these experts add, with little room to compete on cost, brands will need to be vigilant when it comes to differentiating themselves from increasingly sophisticated competitors." Source: Knowledge@Wharton, Univ. of Penn.

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A Nation of "Haves" and "Have-Nots"?

Far More Americans Now See Their Country as Sharply Divided Along Economic Lines

"Over the past two decades, a growing share of the public has come to the view that American society is divided into two groups, the "haves" and the "have-nots." Today, Americans are split evenly on the two-class question with as many saying the country is divided along economic lines as say this is not the case (48% each). In sharp contrast, in 1988, 71% rejected this notion, while just 26% saw a divided nation." Source: Pew Research Center

Note: Quotes work of 2007-08 Fellow Emmanuel Saez

Link to online report

Peru: Political Situation, Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations

"Peru, a coca-producing country in the Andean region of South America, has had a turbulent political history. Despite its tumultuous past, Peru has recently taken steps to consolidate its democracy and pursue market-friendly economic policies. For the past six years, Peru, a leading mineral exporter, has posted some of the fastest economic growth rates in Latin America. GDP growth reached 8% in 2006 and, despite damage caused by a recent earthquake, is expected to exceed 7% in 2007. In June 2006, former president Alan Garc�(1985-1990) was elected president in a close race. Since taking office, Garc�has embraced the proposed United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) and launched an aggressive coca eradication campaign. The United States enjoys strong ties with Peru, with trade issues a key U.S. priority. The proposed PTPA was ratified by the Peruvian legislature in June 2006, and amended to include labor and environmental provisions in June 2007. After a trip to Peru in August 2007, congressional leaders indicated that consideration of the proposed PTPA would likely occur this fall." Source: Congressional Research Service

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‘Martyrdom culture’ not major cause of Afghan suicide attacks, UN reports

"Suicide attackers in Afghanistan, including children, are being coerced or duped into carrying out such operations, and seemed to be motivated by a variety of grievances such as foreign occupation, anger over civilian casualties and humiliation rather than a “martyrdom culture,” according to a new United Nations report." Source: united Nations

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Sudanese children still enduring grave human rights violations – UN report

"Sudanese children continue to face grave violations of their human rights, from being recruited and used by armed forces and groups to suffering rape or sexual abuse at their hands, according to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report on children and armed conflict in the African country." Source: United Nations

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New Census Bureau Data Reveal More Older Workers, Homeowners, Non-English Speakers

From the Census Bureau Press Release: "released annual data on key social, economic and housing characteristics for the nation, states, and geographic areas with populations of 65,000 or more. Covering topics ranging from language to education, from family size to work commute, the American Community Survey (ACS) provides annual data that help decision makers and planners better respond to change.

“The American Community Survey meets a critical need for timely information,” said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. “In these fast-paced times, 10 years is too long to wait for detailed census data. These data are vital for the planning, implementation and evaluation of policies ranging from building new schools and roads to establishing initiatives that drive economic development.”

While the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Program provides the official estimates of population size, including by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, the ACS looks at a wide range of social, economic and housing characteristics for the population by a multitude of demographic variables. The data are available for more than 7,000 areas, including all congressional districts as well as counties, cities, metro areas and American Indian and Alaska Native areas of 65,000 population or more.

Link to press release and data table links

Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities

"...examines the educational progress and challenges that racial and ethnic minorities face in the United States. This report shows that over time larger numbers of minorities have completed high school and continued their education in college. Despite these gains, progress has varied, and differences persist among Hispanic, Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White students on key indicators of educational performance." Source: National Center for Education Statistics

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Perceptions and Expectations of Youth With Disabilities.

"Perceptions and Expectations of Youth With Disabilities. A Special Topic Report of Findings From the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2): Scheduled for release on September 11, this report from NCSER provides a picture of the self-representations and expectations of youth with disabilities, how they differ across disability categories and demographic groups, and how they compare with youth in the general population. The National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), funded by IES, was initiated in 2001 and has a nationally representative sample of more than 11,000 students with disabilities. This report presents findings drawn primarily from telephone interviews or self-administered mail surveys collected from youth when they were ages 15 through 19. The report addresses questions such as how youth with disabilities describe their feelings about themselves and their lives, their secondary school experiences, their personal relationships, and their expectations for the future." Source: National Center for Education Statistics

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Why We Aren't as Ethical as We Think We Are: A Temporal Explanation

"This paper explores the biased perceptions that people hold of their own ethicality. We argue that the temporal trichotomy of prediction, action and evaluation is central to these misperceptions: People predict that they will behave more ethically than they actually do, and when evaluating past (un)ethical behavior, they believe they behaved more ethically than they actually did. We use the want/should theoretical framework to explain the bounded ethicality that arises from these temporal inconsistencies, positing that the "should" self dominates during the prediction and evaluation phases but that the "want" self is dominant during the critical action phase. We draw on the research on behavioral forecasting, ethical fading, and cognitive distortions to gain insight into the forces driving these faulty perceptions and, noting how these misperceptions can lead to continued unethical behavior, we provide recommendations for how to reduce them." Source: Harvard Business School Working Paper Series

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U.S. Labor Department issues sixth annual report on child labor in trade beneficiary countries

ILAB prepared the department's 2006 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor under the child labor reporting requirement of the Trade and Development Act of 2000. The act requires trade-beneficiary countries and territories to implement their international commitments to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.

As defined by the International Labor Organization Convention 182, the worst forms of child labor include any form of slavery, such as forced or indentured child labor; the trafficking of children and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; child prostitution and pornography; the use of children for illicit activities such as drug trafficking; and work that is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

This report presents information on the nature and extent of the worst forms of child labor in each of the 141 countries and territories and the efforts being made by their governments to eliminate these problems. The bureau's Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking collected data from a wide variety of sources, including U.S. embassies and consulates, foreign governments, nongovernmental organizations and international agencies. In addition, bureau staff conducted field visits to some countries covered in the report. Source: U.S. Dept. of Labor

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Economic Freedom of the World: 2007 Annual Report,

"The annual peer-reviewed report uses 42 different measures to create an index ranking countries around the world based on policies that encourage economic freedom. The cornerstones of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange of goods and services, freedom to compete and security of privately owned property. The lead authors of the overall report are James D. Gwartney, Professor of Economics at Florida State University, and Robert A. Lawson, Professor of Economics at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio."

Countries’ economic freedom scores are telling as the report has found that nations that are economically free out-perform non-free nations in indicators of well-being.

Source: Cato Institute

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Connecting Kids to Health Coverage: Evaluating the Child Health and Disability Prevention Gateway Program

Three years later, CHCF commissioned research to examine the program’s performance, identify successes and challenges, and create a road map for the future.

The report found that while the CHDP Gateway is succeeding in its goal of pre-enrolling large numbers of children into temporary Medi-Cal coverage, it has had less success moving those children into long-term coverage.

Source: California Health Care Foundation

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Clinton and Giuliani Seen as Not Highly Religious; Romney's Religion Raises Concerns

"So far religion is not proving to be a clear-cut positive in the 2008 presidential campaign. The candidates viewed by voters as the least religious among the leading contenders are the current frontrunners for the Democratic and Republican nominations – Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, respectively. On the other hand, the candidate seen as far and away the most religious – Mitt Romney – is handicapped by this perception because of voter concerns about Mormonism." Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press.

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Congress and the Internet: Highlights

"The relationship between Congress and the Internet is complex and multifaceted. Today, scores of technology measures are introduced in the House and Senate, influencing the work of nearly all congressional committees and Members and spawning the growth of a new array of interest groups. The Internet's influence is evident within and between the chambers of Congress. Despite widespread discussion about how the Internet will revolutionize legislative politics and policymaking, Congress usually reacts cautiously to the use of new technologies. This report explores how new technologies are introduced to Congress; discusses the impact of the Internet on two key centers of institutional power -- committees and political parties -- and provides a number of summary observations about the internet and congressional governance. This report will be updated only if warranted by new developments." Source: Congressional Research Service.

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Income Inequality and the U.S. Tax System

"While the extent of income inequality is debated periodically, one rarely discussed aspect of inequality is its impact on the tax system. Given the nature of the U.S. federal tax system, changes in the distribution of income can have significant implications for who pays the taxes, how much they pay, and federal tax revenues. One common measure to characterize inequality or the dispersion of income is the Gini coefficient, which varies from 0 to 1. A Gini coefficient of 0 indicates that income is evenly distributed among the population (that is, everyone has the same income) while a value of 1 indicates perfect income inequality (that is, one individual has all the income). Between 1980 and 2004, the Gini coefficient for household income increased from 0.403 to 0.466 -- a 15.6% increase. The Gini coefficient for earnings increased by 22.4% from 0.331 in 1980 to 0.405 by 2004. Inequality has, therefore, increased over the past 25 years." Source: Congresional Research Service

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More than half of U.S. black workers earn low wages and lack advancement options

"A new report by the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education finds that more than half of black workers in the United States have jobs that don’t pay well, provide retirement and health benefits, or offer avenues for advancement. The report, “Job Quality and Black Workers: An Examination of the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York,” analyzes low‐wage jobs among black workers, using data from the 2000 U.S. Census." Source: U.C. Berkeley Center for Labor Research

Download full pdf report | Download pdf Executive Summary | Link to Labor Center

Unwanted Fertility, Contraceptive Technology and Crime: Exploiting a Natural Experiment in Access to The Pill

Abstract: Donohue and Levitt (2001) claim to explain a substantial part of the recent decline in U.S. crime rates with the legalization of abortion undertaken in the early 70s. While the validity of these findings remains heavily debated, they point to unwanted fertility as a potentially important determinant of a cohort’s criminality. In that spirit, I exploit a natural experiment induced by policy changes during the 60s and .70s. After the introduction of the contraceptive pill in 1960, single women below the age of majority faced restricted access to this new contraceptive method. Mostly as a by-product of unrelated policy changes, these access restrictions were lifted deferentially across states during the .60s and .70s. This deferential timing of contraceptive liberalization induces exogenous variation that can be used to identify the causal effect of unwanted fertility on crime. Preliminary results are consistent with the arguments of Donohue & Levitt. They indicate that greater flexibility to avoid unwanted pregnancies (through better contraceptive technology) reduces crime about two decades later, when undesired children would have reached their criminal prime. Source: California Center for Population Research. On-Line Working Paper Series

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract

"Economic and Social Rights in Afghanistan"

The purpose of this report is to present the findings of the 2006 human rights field monitoring activity conducted between January and December 2006 by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This report also provides recommendations aimed at strengthening the observation of economic and social rights in Afghanistan, atpromoting their advancement and protection. Source: United Nations and Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

Download full pdf report | Download pdf summary

'Best of Palo Alto' - Results of annual poll of local area resources

Readers of the local Palo Alto Daily Newspaper voted for their pick in a variety of categories including: Restaurants, Services, Shopping and "Fun Stuff."

A good place to find new dinner sites, a dry cleaner, book and toy stores etc.

Palo Alto Daily 'Best of 2007' list online.

Challenged and Banned Books

"Banned Books Week emphasizes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them." Source: American Library Association

Link to online resource | Link to list of 100 most frequently challenged books

Report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel

"On April 16, 2007, Seung Hui Cho, an angry and disturbed student, shot to death 32 students and faculty of Virginia Tech, wounded 17 more, and then killed himself. The incident horrified not only Virginians, but people across the United States and throughout the world. Tim Kaine, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, immediately appointed a panel to review the events leading up to this tragedy; the handling of the incidents by public safety officials, emergency services providers, and the university; and the services subsequently provided to families, survivors, care-givers, and the community."

"As reflected in the body of the report, the panel has made more than 70 recommendations directed to colleges, universities, mental health providers, law enforcement officials, emergency service providers, law makers, and other public officials in Virginia and elsewhere." Source: Virginia office of the Governor.

Download full pdf report | download executive summary (pdf)

Census Bureau Report: Household Income Rises, Poverty Rate Declines, Number of Uninsured Up

"Real median household income in the United States climbed between 2005 and 2006, reaching $48,200, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the second consecutive year that income has risen."

"Meanwhile, the nation’s official poverty rate declined for the first time this decade, from 12.6 percent in 2005 to 12.3 percent in 2006. There were 36.5 million people in poverty in 2006, not statistically different from 2005. The number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 44.8 million (15.3 percent) in 2005 to 47 million (15.8 percent) in 2006." Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Download pdf : Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States

FBI director notes from March 2004 Ashcroft-Gonzales meeting

"FBI Director Robert Mueller's personal notes, Federal Bureau of Investigation, August 14, 2007 [released personal notes revealing that former US Attorney General John Ashcroft was "feeble, barely articulate, and clearly stressed" during a confrontation with then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales at Ashcroft's hospital room in March 2004]." Source: House Jucdiciary Committee via the Jurist (Pitt Law School)

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States, colleges work to cut textbook costs

"College students across the country are experiencing sticker shock at their bookstores. At the University of Maryland, a new Understanding Business book sells for $139. At the University of North Carolina, Tar Heels could shell out $153.35 for Principles of Economics. And at the University of Wisconsin, Chemistry and Chemical Reactivity goes for $109.90 – used.

But relief may be on the way as states and university officials move to lower the cost of college textbooks by taking aim at some publisher and faculty practices blamed for raising prices.

This year – when students at four-year public universities spent an average of $942 on books and supplies, the College Board reported – there were 86 bills in 27 states that dealt with textbook affordability, according to the National Association of College Stores (NACS).

Some of the bills proposed direct relief through sales-tax exemptions or credits and deductions, but the seven states that enacted laws – Arkansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington – largely targeted the behavior of publishers and college faculty. They follow the lead of Connecticut and Virginia, which in the last two years passed bills to cut textbook costs." Source: Pew Research | Stateline.org

Read online report

P.L. 110-55, the Protect America Act of 2007: Modifications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

"On August 5, 2007, P.L. 110-55, the Protect America Act of 2007, was signed into law by President Bush, after having been passed by the Senate on August 3 and the House of Representatives on August 4. The measure, introduced by Senator McConnell as S. 1927 on August 1, makes a number of additions and modifications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), as amended, 50 U.S.C. ǧ 1801 et seq., adds additional reporting requirements, and sunsets in 180 days. This report describes the provisions of P.L. 110-55, discusses its possible impact on and parallels to existing law, and summarizes the legislative activity with respect to S. 1927, H.R. 3356, and S. 2011." Source: Congressional Research Service

Download full pdf report | link to online summary

The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of U.S. Public Schools

"The 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in June to strike down school desegregation plans in Seattle and Louisville has focused public attention on the degree of racial and ethnic integration in the nation's 93,845 public schools. A new analysis of public school enrollment data by the Pew Hispanic Center finds that in the dozen years from 1993-94 to 2005-06, white students became less isolated from minority students while, at the same time, black and Hispanic students became slightly more isolated from white students." Source: Pew Hispanic Center

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary

Michael Vick Case Draws Large Audience

"Michael Vick's legal troubles attracted a large news audience last week. One-in-four Americans followed the Vick story very closely and 18% said it was the single news story they followed more closely than any other. Overall, the public believes Vick, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, has been treated fairly by the press, but there is a sharp racial divide on this issue. While 69% of whites say the press has been fair in the way it has covered this story, only 38% of blacks agree. A narrow majority of blacks (51%) say Vick has been treated unfairly by the media." Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press

Download full pdf report | download topline questionnaire | Link to online summary

Teaching and Learning across an ethnic divide

Abstract: "My fieldwork at Shiroyama１public elementary school began dramatically, as Mr. Nakamura, a Japanese teacher in his fifties, explained his views on Latino cultures. “‘Hasta mañana’ tte wakaru,” he asked me. (“Do you know ‘hasta mañana’ [until tomorrow]?”)2“Perū-jin mo burajiru-jin mo, ratenjin dakara, shigoto shinai shi, jikan mo mamoranai. Itsumo ‘hasta mañana’ da” (“Peruvians and Brazilians are Latino, so they don’t work, and they don’t value time. It’s always hasta mañana.”) “Raten-kei dakara,” he explained. (“It’s because they’re Latino.”) Amid national and local public policy discussions of developing Japan into a multicultural society, th difficulties of communicating with foreign parents who speak little to no Japanese often frustrate Japanese public school teachers. As frustrations mount, teachers also complain that these parents are not acquiring Japanese language and culture quickly enough and are remaining too foreign. In contrast, foreign parents complain about the structural constraints that limit their ability to effectively interact with the school, despite their desire to be more involved. Based on ongoing research, this case study uses examples from parent-teacher interactions, including each side’s expressed concerns about the other, to explore the often-tense relationship between Peruvian parents and Japanese teachers. This approach challenges some teachers’ “definition of the situation” (Thomas 1923), and highlights structural factors that place the parents in a disadvantageous position when interacting with the school, including poor language support, ineffective remedial language instruction, and the view that parents’ cultural difference is a source of problems at the school. This article also describes Peruvians’ settlement in Shiroyama, and examines the ways that parents’ class and immigrant status are influencing their ability to gain the social and cultural capital necessary for them to more effectively participate in their children’s education." Author: Robert Moorehead, University of California, Davis Source: Pacific Rim Research Program

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

National Intelligence Estimate: Prospects for Iraq’s Stability: Some Security Progress but Political Reconciliation Elusive

"There have been measurable but uneven improvements in Iraq’s security situation since our last National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in January 2007. The steep escalation of rates of violence has been checked for now, and overall attack levels across Iraq have fallen during seven of the last nine weeks. Coalition forces, working with Iraqi forces, tribal elements, and some Sunni insurgents, have reduced al-Qa’ida in Iraq’s (AQI) capabilities, restricted its freedom of movement, and denied it grassroots support in some areas. However, the level of overall violence, including attacks on and casualties among civilians, remains high; Iraq’s sectarian groups remain unreconciled; AQI retains the ability to conduct high-profile attacks; and to date, Iraqi political leaders remain unable to govern effectively. There have been modest improvements in economic output, budget execution, and government finances but fundamental structural problems continue to prevent sustained progress in economic growth and living conditions. " Source: Office of the Director of National Intelligence

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A Study of Academic Entrepreneurs Using Venture Capital Data

"Academic entrepreneurship has become an increasingly important channel through which universities contribute to economic development. This paper studies academic entrepreneurs using a comprehensive venture capital database. I find that about two-thirds of the academic entrepreneurs locate their businesses in the same state as their universities. National academy membership and number of faculty awards, measures of a university’s research quality, are the most significant variables in explaining the number of academic entrepreneurs from a university. In contrast, the abundance of venture capital near the university has no significant effect on academic entrepreneurship." Source: Institute for the Study of Labor

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Is the Chinese Growth Miracle Built to Last?

Abstract: "Is the Chinese growth miracle – a remarkably high growth rate sustained for over two decades – likely to persist or are the seeds of its eventual demise contained in the policies that have boosted growth? For all its presumed flaws, the particular approach to macroeconomic and structural policies that has been adopted by the Chinese government has helped to deliver high productivity and output growth, along with a reasonable degree of macroeconomic stability. In tandem with a benign international environment, this approach makes it unlikely that the economy will face a collapse in growth. But there comes a point when the policy distortions needed to maintain this approach could generate imbalances, impose potentially large welfare costs, and themselves become a source of instability. The traditional risks faced by emerging market economies, especially those related to having an open capital account, do not loom large in the case of China. In the process of securing protection against external risks, however, Chinese policymakers may have increased the risks of internal instability. There are a number of factors that could trigger unfavorable economic dynamics that, even if they don’t rise to the level of a crisis, could have serious adverse repercussions on growth and welfare. The flexibility and potency of macroeconomic tools to deal with such negative shocks is constrained by the panoply of policies that has supported growth so far." Source: Institute for the Study of Labor

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Parenting and the different ways it can affect children’s lives: research evidence

Seven literature reviews of research on parenting.

Policy-makers and commentators often blame ‘bad parenting’ for children and young people’s troublesome behaviour. What can research tell us about the influence of parenting, especially the parent-child relationships in millions of ‘ordinary’ families?

These seven reports review existing research on:

* Parenting and outcomes for children (PDF, 227KB)
* Parenting and resilience (PDF, 217KB)
* Fathers and fatherhood (PDF, 143KB)
* Parenting and ethnicity (PDF, 244KB)
* Children’s views of parenting (PDF, 163KB)
* Parenting and poverty (PDF, 182KB)
* Barriers to inclusion (PDF, 140KB)

They include research based on the perspectives of mothers, fathers and children themselves. They were commissioned by the JRF to inform its own Parenting Research and Development programme. Source: Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Link to download site

Foreign-Born Latinos Make Progress on Wages

"Foreign-born Latino workers made notable progress between 1995 and 2005 when ranked by hourly wage. The proportion of foreign-born Latino workers in the lowest quintile of the wage distribution decreased to 36% from 42% while many workers moved into the middle quintiles, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center." Source: Pew Hispanic Center

Download full PDF Report | Link to online summary

Time for Reform: Aging Out and On Their Own

"Drawing on findings from focus groups conducted with youth who aged out or
expect to age out of foster care, research studies and interviews, this report
describes how the current foster care system fails to provide a permanent
family for every child and the difficulty children have staying connected to
family and friends while in foster care. The report also presents the latest
state-by-state data on the number of youth who have aged out of foster care,
and, in the words of former and current foster youth, describes the problems
young adults have when they have to face the future without a permanent
family to support them. The report briefly discusses the history of permanency
in child welfare policy and why one never grows too old to want and need a
permanent family. The report concludes with recommendations for public
policy reforms that could decrease the number of youth who age out of care
each year by improving the federal foster care financing system." Source: Pew charitable Trust

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Clinton and Giuliani's Contrasting Images

Views of Leading '08 Candidates

"Sen. Hillary Clinton is by far the most popular presidential candidate among her own party's voters, but has among the lowest overall favorable ratings of the leading candidates. In sharp contrast, the front-running Republican candidate, Rudy Giuliani, evokes relatively modest enthusiasm from the GOP base, but is as broadly popular with all voters as any candidate in either partyhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif." Source: Pew Center for People and the Press

Download full pdf report | Download pdf topline questionnaire

Preliminary Thoughts on Copyright Reform

"Myriad reasons can be proffered for undertaking a copyright reform project. For one thing, the current U.S. copyright law is way too long, now weighing at approximately two hundred pages long. The statute is also far too complex, incomprehensible to a significant degree, and imbalanced in important ways. It lacks, moreover, normative heft. That is, the normative rationales for granting authors some protections for their works and for limiting the scope of that protection are difficult to extract from the turgid prose of its many exceptionally detailed provisions."

Source: Berkeley Center for Law & Technology

Download pdf report | Link to online abstract

New Perspectives on Marijuana and Youth

Abstainers Are Not Maladjusted, but Lone Users Face Difficulties

"A lot of adolescents experiment with marijuana — the National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 46% of high school seniors have tried this drug at some time. Pushing boundaries is what young people do, and some researchers believe that trying marijuana is a normal part of growing up.

Does that mean that young people who do not indulge are somehow maladjusted?"

Source: RAND

link to online report

Boston Globe: Academia has '08 cash clout

"Professors and others in the education field have given more to federal candidates running in 2008 than those who work in the oil, pharmaceutical, and computer industries -- a sign of how academia has become a much bigger player in the political cash sweepstakes." Source: Boston Globe

Link to online article

Election Assistance Commission Issues Poll Worker Best Practices

"The United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC) has released two best practices guidebooks to help election officials recruit, train, and retain poll workers. “Successful Practices for Poll Worker Recruitment, Training and Retention” and “A Guidebook for Recruiting College Poll Workers” are available at www.eac.gov.

“Elections are becoming more complicated because of new federal and state laws, new procedures and new technical and security requirements for voting equipment,” said EAC Chair Donetta Davidson. “The need for trained poll workers is more urgent than ever, and we hope these guidebooks will help election officials find and keep good poll workers as well as recruit a new generation of poll workers.”

The guidebooks entailed a fifteen month development process involving two working groups and dozens of interviews and focus groups with election officials, voters and veteran poll workers. Draft versions of each guidebook were field-tested at six sites during the 2006 elections. The guidebooks were reviewed by the EAC’s Standards Board and Board of Advisors during a virtual public meeting last month. The draft documents and comments are available at www.eac.gov."

Link to download site at www.eac.gov

European Library: Online access to 30 European national collections.

The European Library is a non-commercial organisation. It provides the services of a physical library and the opportunity to benefit from a virtual environment in 20 languages.

This website allows to search through the resources of 30 of the 47 national libraries involved in The European Library. Resources can be both digital or bibliographical (books, posters, maps, sound recordings, videos, etc.).

Currently The European Library gives access to 150 million entries across Europe. The amount of referenced digital collections is constantly increasing. Quality and reliability are guaranteed by the 47 collaborating national libraries of Europe.

Link to search catalog | More about the European library

Iraq and Al Qaeda

"In building a case for invading Iraq and ousting Saddam Hussein from power, the Administration asserted that the regime of Saddam Hussein had a working relationship with the Al Qaeda organization. The Administration stated that the relationship dated to the early 1990s, and was based on a common interest in confronting the United States. The Administration assertions were derived from U.S. intelligence showing a pattern of contacts with Al Qaeda when its founder, Osama bin Laden, was based in Sudan in the early to mid-1990s and continuing after he relocated to Afghanistan in 1996. Critics maintain that the Administration argument did not demonstrate that the relationship, if it existed, was systematic or institutionalized, and that no hard data has come to light indicating the two entities conducted any joint terrorist attacks. Some major hallmarks of a consistent relationship were absent, and several experts outside and within the U.S. government believe that contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda were sporadic, unclear, or subject to alternate explanations." Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary

Broad Interest in Bridge Disaster, Good Marks for Coverage

"The bridge collapse in Minneapolis that killed five people and raised concerns about infrastructure safety nationwide surpassed all other news stories last week both in public interest and media coverage. Nearly half (48%) say this was the story they followed most closely last week, far exceeding interest in Iraq, the week's next most closely followed story (17% most closely)." Source: Pew Center for People and the Press

Download full pdf report | Download topline questionnaire | Link to online summary

Web-Style Multimedia Annotations

"Annotation of multimedia resources supports a wide range of applications, ranging from associating metadata with multimedia resources or parts of these resources, to the collaborative use of multimedia resources through the act of distributed authoring and annotation of resources. Most annotation frameworks, however, are based on a closed approach, where the annotations data is limited to the annotation framework, and cannot readily be reused in other application scenarios. We present a declarative approach to multimedia annotations, which represents the annotations in an XML format independent from the multimedia resources. Using this declarative approach, multimedia annotations can be used in an easier and more flexible way, enabling application scenarios such as third-party annotations and annotation aggregation and filtering." Source: U.C. Berkeley School of Information. Paper 2007-014.

Download full pdf publication | Link to online report

Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments

"This report describes results from the third and last field investigation in the NAEP Technology-Based Assessment Project, which explores the use of new technology in administering NAEP. (The first two focused on assessments of math and writing online.) In the TRE study, two extended scenarios within the domain of physical science were created for measuring students’ ability to solve problems using technology. The TRE Search scenario required students to locate and synthesize information about scientific helium balloons from a simulated World Wide Web environment. The TRE Simulation scenario required students to conduct experiments of increasing complexity about relationships among buoyancy, mass and volume. These scenarios were delivered via school computers or on laptop computers taken into the schools. The sample was nationally representative, consisting of over 2,000 public school 8th grade students tested in 2003. Students were randomly assigned to the assessment scenarios. The TRE project was intended as an exploratory study of how NAEP can use technology to measure skills that cannot be easily measured by conventional paper-and-pencil means. TRE Search produced a total score and two subscores, scientific inquiry and computer skills. The TRE Simulation scenario produced a total score and three subscores: scientific exploration, scientific synthesis, and computer skills. The results indicate that the TRE scenarios functioned well as assessment devices." Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Download full pdf publication | View online executive summary| Link to online abstract

The Role of Heritage Language Development in the Adjustment of Adolescents from Immigrant Backgrounds

Abstract: The influence of immigrant-background adolescents’ heritage language proficiency and use of the language on parent-adolescent relationships and ethnic identity was investigated in a sample of 414 ninth-grade participants from Latin American and Asian backgrounds. Heritage language proficiency, but not language use, was found to be positively associated with the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship, especially for Asian American adolescents. Although heritage language proficiency and language use were both associated with strength of ethnic identity, when taken together, only heritage language proficiency emerges as a reliable predictor of ethnic identity. These findings indicate that it is the development of proficiency in the heritage language that influences adolescents’ successful adjustment, rather than their own choice of languages. Source: California Center for Population Research. On-Line Working Paper Series. Paper CCPR-012-07.

Download full pdf publication | link to online abstract

Education Differences in Intended and Unintended Fertility

Abstract: Using a hazards framework and panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979-2002), we analyze the fertility patterns of a recent cohort of U.S. white and African American women. We examine how completed fertility varies by women’s education, differentiating between intended and unintended births. We find that the education gradient on fertility comes largely from unintended childbearing, and it is not explained by childbearing desires or opportunity cost. Less educated women want no more children than the more educated, so this factor explains none of their higher completed fertility. Less educated women have lower wages, but wages have little of the negative effect on fertility predicted by economic theories of opportunity cost. Our work highlights the importance of examining other mechanisms leading less educated women to have more unintended births. Source: California Center for Population Research. On-Line Working Paper Series. Paper CCPR-016-07.

Note: one of the authors, Paula England, was a CASBS fellow in the class of 2006.


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A Survey of Web-based Collective Decision Making Systems

Abstract: "A collective decision making system uses an aggregation mechanism to combine the input of individuals to generate a decision. The decisions generated serve a variety of purposes from governance rulings to forecasts for planning. The Internet hosts a suite of collective decision making systems, some that were inconceivable before the web. In this paper, we present a taxonomy of collective decision making systems into which we place seven principal web-based tools. This taxonomy serves to elucidate the state of the art in web-based collective decision making as well as to highlight opportunities for innovation." Source: Human Complex Systems. Lake Arrowhead Conference, 2007. U.C. Irvine Paper JHW2007-1.

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries

"This report describes how the education system in the United States compares with education systems in the other G-8 countries--Canada, France. Germany. Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom.
Twenty indicators are organized in five sections:
(1) population and school enrollment;
(2) academic performance;
(3) context for learning;
(4) expenditure for education; and
(5) education returns: educational attainment and income."

Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Download entire report as PDF | Link to download site with options for obtaining report in separate sections.

Final Report: An Evaluation of Selected AmeriCorps Programs

"In summary, AmeriCorps in California is not simply another social program in a relatively stable world. Rather, AmeriCorps arrives as an alternative to facilitate the positive forces of community change necessary to address substantial demographic, cultural, linguistic and economic changes over the past two decades. Whereas more traditional patterns of community service provision can become disconnected or “out-of-touch” with the changing realities of new people, new cultures, new economics and reduced state and local budgets, AmeriCorps programs possess the qualities of adaptability and flexibility necessary for relevant and timely service provision which meets local conditions and situations of need." Source: Institute for the Study of Social Change. U.C. Berkeley

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract

How Did the Statewide Assessment and Accountibility Policies of the 1990s Affect Instructional Quality in Elementary Schools?

NCLB aims to accomplish its goals by holding public schools accountable for their
students’ achievement. Under NCLB, public schools must test all students annually in math and reading in grades 3 though 8. Schools face corrective action or complete restructuring if their students fail to meet state standards for academic progress several years in a row. NCLB also makes it easier for students in low-performing schools to attend better schools or to obtain free tutoring.

Yet the law wisely gave states several years to comply with its most critical requirements. Not until the 2005-2006 school year, for example, did states need to have a “highly qualified” teacher in every classroom and reading and math testing in grades 3 through 8. Consequently, it is still too early to assess the effects of NCLB on the nation’s educational system. Fortunately, however, the assessment and accountability provisions of NCLB build directly on assessment and accountability policies begun a decade earlier. Spurred in part by the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 (Public Law 103–382), many states increased the number of tests they required students to take and some states began imposing consequences on schools or school districts when students performed poorly on those tests. Examining the effects of these state-wide reforms of the 1990s can help us understand the likely effects of NCLB and generate ideas about how to improve NCLB when it comes up for reauthorization. Prior work has examined the impact of state accountability policies on student achievement (e.g., Carnoy and Loeb 2002; Hanushek and Raymond 2005). This paper focuses instead on how such policies influenced teachers and school administrators—especially those who work in low-income schools. Source: California Center for Population Research. On-Line Working Paper Series. Paper CCPR-017-07.

Download pdf publication | Link to eScholarship Repository

U.S.-Peru Economic Relations and the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement

On December 7, 2005, the United States and Peru concluded negotiations on the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA). President Bush notified the Congress of the United States' intention to enter into the PTPA on January 6, 2006, and the agreement was signed on April 12, 2006 by U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman and Peruvian Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism Alfredo Ferrero Diez.

The PTPA is a comprehensive trade agreement that, if approved by Congress, would eliminate tariffs and other barriers in goods and services trade between the United States and Peru. The approval and implementation of a PTPA is a high priority for the Peruvian government. Peruvian President Alan Garc�a has met with President Bush and Members of Congress on several occasions in the United States to stress the importance of the agreement for Peru. The pending PTPA would likely have a small net economic effect on the United States because U.S. trade with Peru accounts for a small percent of total U.S. trade. For Peru, the impact would be more significant because the United States is Peru's leading trade partner. In 2006, 23% of Peru's exports went to the United States, and 16% of Peru's imports were supplied by the United States. In that same year, Peru accounted for 0.5% of total U.S. trade. Peru ranks 43rd among U.S. export markets and 42nd as a source of U.S. imports. The dominant U.S. import item from Peru is gold (24% in 2006) and the leading U.S. export items to Peru are petroleum oils and related products (9% in 2006). Upon implementation, a PTPA would eliminate duties on 80% of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products to Peru. Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress

Download pdf publiction | Link to online Summary

NCSL 50-State Legislative Tracking Web Resources

"At the request of NCSL's Legislative Research Librarians (LRL) staff section, NCSL has developed this resource of 50-state compilations covering various issues that concern state legislators and legislative staff. Here you will find a topical, alphabetical listing of legislative and statutory databases, compilations and state charts/maps."
Source: National Conference of State Legislature


Link to online database

Gangs in Central America

"The 110th Congress maintains a strong interest in the effects of crime and gang violence in Central America, and its spillover effects on the United States. Since February 2005, more than 1,374 members of the violent Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang have been arrested in cities across the United States. These arrests are raising concerns about the transnational activities of Central American gangs. Governments throughout the region are struggling to find the right combination of suppressive and preventive policies to deal with the gangs.

Some analysts assert that increasing U.S. deportations of individuals with criminal records to Central American countries may be contributing to the gang problem. Most experts argue that the repressive anti-gangs laws adopted by El Salvador and Honduras have failed to reduce violence and homicides in those countries, and that law enforcement solutions alone will not solve the gang problem. Analysts also predict that illicit gang activities may accelerate illegal immigration and trafficking in drugs, persons, and weapons to the United States, although a recent United Nations report challenges those assertions. Others maintain that contact between gang members across the regions is increasing, and that this tendency may cause increased gang-related violent crime in the United States. Several U.S. agencies have been actively engaged on both the law enforcement and preventive side of dealing with Central American gangs. The National Security Council (NSC) created an inter-agency task force to develop a comprehensive, threeyear strategy to deal with international gang activity. The strategy, which is now being implemented, states that the U.S. government will pursue coordinated antigang activities through five broad areas: diplomacy, repatriation, law enforcement, capacity enhancement, and prevention.
Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress

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What Can Business Learn from Potter Mania?

"With the release of J. K. Rowling’s long-promised final installment Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and the release of the fifth Harry Potter movie, the impact of this franchise is far reaching. As of August 3, the movie grossed $700 million in its first month and more than 11.5 million books have been sold in the U.S. alone.

Who profits becomes a larger issue. A sure winner is Rowling, who went from being an unemployed single mother, living with her sister in Edinburgh, Scotland, to becoming the world’s first billionaire author – and reportedly richer than the Queen of England." Source: Emory University [via Knowledge@Emory]

Link to online article

Nations Report Card: Economics

"This report presents results of the first ever National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) U.S. economics assessment in 2006. National results for a representative sample of students at grade 12 are reported in terms of students’ average economics score on a 0–300 scale, and in terms of the percentage of students attaining each of three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. The overall national average score was set at 150. National scores at selected percentiles on the scale (indicating the percentage of students whose scores fell at or below a particular point) are presented. This report also provides results for groups of students defined by various background characteristics (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, school location and parental education). The national results show that on average male students scored higher than female students, and White and Asian/Pacific Islander students scored higher than other racial/ethnic groups. Students from schools in large cities had lower average scores than students from schools in other locations. Students from families with higher levels of parental education scored higher, on average, than their peers from families with lower levels of parental education. Most 12th-graders reported some exposure to economics content during high school. The report also includes sample assessment questions and examples of student responses. The technical notes section provides information about sampling and weighting; participation, exclusion, and accommodation rates; and statistical significance." Source: National Assessment of Educational Progress, National Center for Education Statistics

Download pdf report | link to online site

Related:
Civics Report Card

History Report Card

From Public Housing to Regulated Public Environments: The Redevelopment of San Francisco’s Public Housing

"Contemporary approaches to concentrated poverty assume intractable ghettos and a dying urban core. In the meantime, welfare reform and gentrification have given rise to new systems of poverty management and new spatial arrangements of poverty within U.S. metropolitan areas. The public housing revitalization program known as HOPE VI (Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere) provides an opportunity to explore these developments. In the ideal, HOPE VI solves the problem of dense, isolated, crime-ridden projects that house only the most poor by replacing them with new communities that are more attractive, more integrated with their surroundings, and more mixed—both in terms of income and race. This paper argues that HOPE VI is a program of urban redevelopment and poverty management that is firmly rooted in the ideology and goals of welfare reform. Using San Francisco as a case study, it examines the institutional and spatial changes embedded in the city’s HOPE VI process. San Francisco offers a model of progressive HOPE VI, one which prioritizes resident participation, minimizes the loss of affordable housing units, and mediates public/private partnerships through the use of non-profit developers. Despite this progressive approach, the “transformation” of public housing promised by HOPE VI is not the transformation of a severely distressed property to a functional one or the transformation of an area characterized by concentrated poverty to one with a wider range of incomes. Rather, it is the transformation of public housing into a new post-welfare institution, what the author calls a regulated public environment." Source: Institute for the Study of Social Change, U.C. Berkeley [via eScholarship Repository]

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Assessing the Assignment Policy for Army Women

"The current U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) policy for assigning military women was issued in 1994, and the U.S. Army’s assignment policy dates to 1992. In the ensuing years, the U.S. Army has undergone significant technological and organizational transformation, which has changed how it organizes and fights. There is concern that, in the course of operations in Iraq, the Army has not been adhering to its own assignment policy, as there are several important and potentially problematic differences between the DoD and Army policies. For example, the DoD policy prohibits the assignment of women to units whose primary mission is direct combat, whereas the Army policy prohibits the assignment of women to units with a routine mission of direct combat, and their definitions of direct combat differ. The research finds that the Army is adhering to the DoD assignment policy but may not be complying with the separate Army assignment policy for women. Assessing the Assignment Policy for Army Women serves to inform DoD decisionmaking with regard to the clarity and appropriateness of the current DoD and Army assignment policies, especially given how units are operating in Iraq." Source: RAND Corporation

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Student Retention in Higher Education Courses : International Comparison

"This study compares and contrasts retention and participation rates in international Higher Education systems. The aim of the study is to put the performance of United Kingdom higher education institutions in comparative perspective and uncover interesting practice in the countries studied to improve retention rates." Source: RAND corporation


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The Immigrant Population in the United States

"Every state, as well as Washington, D.C., has seen its immigrant population grow since 2000. That holds true for Louisiana and North Dakota, which have seen an overall drop in population since 2000 — Louisiana because of the devastation of hurricane Katrina that displaced more than one million residents.” Two states and Washington, DC have seen arriving immigrants account for more than 100 percent of their population growth. Those are New York and Massachusetts." Source: Federation for American Immigration Reform

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Passenger Name Record Data Agreement between U.S. and Europe

"Under the new agreement, the Department of Homeland Security will collect 19 types of PNR data. The data will be maintained for seven years in an active file, and eight years thereafter in a dormant file with limited access. This ensures that we will be able to identify and investigate threats that might develop over a period of years.

The new agreement also changes how the department collects PNR data from airline reservation systems. Air carriers will now transmit PNR data directly to the department. The agreement also provides legal assurance to European air carriers that they will not be in potential violation of European privacy law when complying with U.S. law concerning PNR data." Source: United States Department of Homeland Security

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More of a Bridge than a Gap: Gender Differences in Arab-American Political Engagement

"Objective. Research on immigrant women’s economic and cultural adaptation has increasingly come to the fore of immigration research, yet relatively little remains known about their engagement in the political arena. This study examines this question among Arab Muslims, a group who has been at the center of much public debate but little scholarly discourse. Methods. Using nationally representative data on Arab Muslims, this study examines gender differences in political consciousness and activity and assesses the degree to which different dimensions of religious identity contribute to differences in men’s and women’s attitudes and behaviors. Results. Both women and men have high levels of political engagement, in part reflecting their relatively affluent socioeconomic positions. Men are slightly more involved than women, and this is explained by their greater participation in religious activities and higher levels of political religiosity. In contrast, subjective dimensions of religiosity—or being a devout Muslim—have no effect on political engagement. Conclusions. Overall, there are few gender differences in Arab Muslim political engagement, suggesting that collective identity based on ethnicity and religion is more salient for the political mobilization of this group. Further, religion is not uniformly associated with political activity, varying by gender and the dimension of religious identity in question, suggesting that future research needs to focus on how different facets of religion influence U.S. political involvement." Source: Center for the Study of Democracy. U.C. Irvine

Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders: Estimates Using Contiguous Counties

"Local case studies of minimum wages typically find no significant employment effects,while studies using national data find some negative effects for teenagers. We argue that heterogeneity in spatial employment trends generates biased estimates in national analyses and causes overstatement of precision in local and national studies. We propose two new local estimators that compare all contiguous counties or metro areas in the U.S. that straddle a state-based minimum wage gradient. We find that the negative elasticities in national fixed-effects models are generated by unobserved heterogeneities in employment trends. Our local estimators are more robust and show no employment effects." Source: Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Working Paper Series. [via eScholarship Repository]

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Handbook on Continuing Statistics Education with Technology Workshop

"The 2007 joint SOCR/CAUSEway continuing education workshop demonstrates the functionality, utilization and assessment of the current SOCR (http://www.SOCR.ucla.edu) and CAUSEweb (www.CAUSEweb.org) resources. The workshop and this handbook are most value to advance placement (AP) teachers and college instructors of probability and statistics classes who have interests in exploring novel IT-based approaches for enhancing statistics education. This handbook provides the complete Workshop program (http://wiki.stat.ucla.edu/socr/index.php/SOCR_Events_Aug2007) and instructional materials presented by the Workshop instructors. New strategies for integration of computers, modern pedagogical approaches, the Internet and new student assessment techniques are presented on the handbook.

Source: UCLA Continuing Statistics Education Workshop [via eScholarship repository]

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Public Blames Media for Too Much Celebrity Coverage

From summary: "An overwhelming majority of the public (87%) says celebrity scandals receive too much news coverage. This criticism generally holds across most major demographic and political groups. Virtually no one thinks there is too little coverage of celebrity scandals.

When asked who is most to blame for the amount of coverage these kinds of stories receive, a majority of the public points to the media. Fully 54% of those who say celebrity news is over-covered also believe news organizations are to blame for giving these stories so much coverage. Roughly a third (32%) say the public is to blame for paying so much attention to them, and another 12% say the media and the public are both equally to blame." Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press

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A Summer of Discontent with Washington

Clinton Widens Lead, Giuliani Slips

"As official Washington winds down for its summer holiday, all three branches of government are coming under fire from the American public. Just 29% approve of the way President Bush is handling his job, and only slightly more, 33%, approve of the job performance of the Democratic leaders of Congress. Even the U.S. Supreme Court is not immune from the current round of public disaffection: The court's favorable rating has fallen from 72% in January to 57% currently.

Opinion of all three institutions divides predictably along party lines – but even partisans offer comparatively modest support for both the President and the Democratic Congressional leadership. Bush's approval rating stands at only 69% among Republicans and the Democratic leaders can claim just a 62% approval score among Democrats. In contrast, sizable majorities of independents disapprove of the job performance of the President and of Capitol Hill's leadership. " Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press

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