No End in Sight: The Agony of Prolonged Unemployment

Despite positive signs of economic growth and a rising stock market, millions of unemployed Americans see no end to the Great Recession that devastated their finances and threw their lives into turmoil. No End in Sight: The Agony of Prolonged Unemployment, a nationwide Work Trends survey of more than 900 workers who have been jobless since August 2009, documents their continuing struggle to find jobs and the sacrifices they have endured in a punishing economy. The report is based on a six-month follow-up survey with the national scientific sample of unemployed Americans reported in the Heldrich Centeras Anguish of Unemployment report released in September 2009. Seventy-six percent of those interviewed in August 2009 were re-interviewed by Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park, California between March 10-23, 2010

Strategic Audit of Facebook Through the Lens of International Reputation

This report investigates the history and current situation of Facebook, an international social media firm based in Menlo Park, CA. Facebook faces a number of international controversies and growing resentment from its userbase. In an industry where people are synonymous with capital, a strategic recommendation will be made to help Facebook regain some of its users’ lost faith and hopefully recapture old markets. This report will analyze Facebook’s internal situation using the framework of SWOT analysis, and the external environment Facebook exists in through PEST analysis. These tools will provide a helpful foundation to understand Facebook’s competitive advantages, and render an educated recommendation

The Shattered American Dream

This survey of unemployed American workers documents dramatic erosion in the quality of life for millions of Americans. Their financial reserves are exhausted, their job prospects nil, their family relations stressed, and their belief in government's ability to help them is negligible. They feel hopeless and powerless, unable to see their way out of the Great Recession that has claimed 8.5 million jobs.The survey shows that only one-quarter of those first interviewed in August 2009 have found full-time jobs some 15 months later. And most of those who have become reemployed have taken jobs they did not really want for less pay. Moreover, the recession has wreaked havoc on the retirement plans of older workers.The Heldrich Center first interviewed a national sample of 1,202 unemployed workers in August 2009, using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel(R) conducted by Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park, CA. Just over 900 were re-interviewed in March 2010, and 764 were re-interviewed between November 5 and 28, 2010 for this report

Status of Muon Collider Research and Development and Future Plans

The status of the research on muon colliders is discussed and plans are outlined for future theoretical and experimental studies. Besides continued work on the parameters of a 3-4 and 0.5 TeV center-of-mass (CoM) energy collider, many studies are now concentrating on a machine near 0.1 TeV (CoM) that could be a factory for the s-channel production of Higgs particles. We discuss the research on the various components in such muon colliders, starting from the proton accelerator needed to generate pions from a heavy-Z target and proceeding through the phase rotation and decay ($\pi \to \mu \nu_{\mu}$) channel, muon cooling, acceleration, storage in a collider ring and the collider detector. We also present theoretical and experimental R & D plans for the next several years that should lead to a better understanding of the design and feasibility issues for all of the components. This report is an update of the progress on the R & D since the Feasibility Study of Muon Colliders presented at the Snowmass'96 Workshop [R. B. Palmer, A. Sessler and A. Tollestrup, Proceedings of the 1996 DPF/DPB Summer Study on High-Energy Physics (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA, 1997)].Comment: 95 pages, 75 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Special Topics, Accelerators and Beam

Feasibility of surveying pesticide coverage with airborne fluorometer

Response of a Fraunhofer line discriminator (FLD) to varying distributions of granulated corncobs stained with varying concentrations of Rhodamine WT dye was tested on the ground and from an H-19 helicopter. The granules are used as a vehicle for airborne emplacement of poison to control fire ants in the eastern and southeastern United States. Test results showed that the granules are detectable by FLD but that the concentration must be too great to be practical with the present apparatus. Possible methods for enhancement of response may include: (1) increasing dye concentration; (2) incorporating with the poisoned granules a second material to carry the dye alone; (3) use of a more strongly fluorescent substance (at 5890 A); (4) modifying the time interval after dyeing, or modifying the method of dyeing; (5) modifying the FLD for greater efficiency, increased field of view or larger optics; or (6) experimenting with laser-stimulated fluorescence

Health Reform and Communities of Color: How Might It Affect Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities?

Examines provisions in the healthcare reform proposals that may reduce health disparities by expanding coverage and access to care for minorities, including Medicaid expansions, insurance exchange subsidies, and more funding for community health centers

Health Reform and Communities of Color: Implications for Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

Updates a November 2009 report with details of the 2010 healthcare reform bill, including provisions specific to health disparities, mainly for improved data collection and documentation, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and prevention efforts

Setting Medicare Payment Policy: Is There a Role for an Independent Entity?

Provides an overview of proposals to create an independent entity of experts that would determine Medicare payments without the influence of stakeholders or interest groups and slow the growth of healthcare spending. Outlines issues for consideration