Identity as Theory and Method for Ethnic Studies

The question of identity is fundamental to human life. Who am I, as a biological and psychological being; as a member of a human group with a particular style and history; as a participant in the common human values, perceptions, and processes which transcend any particular group? Ethnic studies should have as its focus the whole human being, articulated in the biological, socio/cultural, and psycho/personal categories, and the methodology for ethnic studies should reflect the process by which people live and move within the named categories. The interaction of people who are self-consciously engaged in exploring their lives biologically, culturally, and personally, and the articulation of the boundaries at which these interactions take place, determines the scope and content of ethnic studies

Promoting School Competition Through School Choice: A Market Design Approach

We study the effect of different school choice mechanisms on schools' incentives for quality improvement. To do so, we introduce the following criterion: A mechanism respects improvements of school quality if each school becomes weakly better off whenever that school becomes more preferred by students. We first show that no stable mechanism, or mechanism that is Pareto efficient for students (such as the Boston and top trading cycles mechanisms), respects improvements of school quality. Nevertheless, for large school districts, we demonstrate that any stable mechanism approximately respects improvements of school quality; by contrast, the Boston and top trading cycles mechanisms fail to do so. Thus a stable mechanism may provide better incentives for schools to improve themselves than the Boston and top trading cycles mechanisms.Matching; School Choice; School Competition; Stability; Efficiency

Recollections about father

I have prepared a sketch of my father as a person rather than as a teacher of accounting, a university administrator and an author of textbooks and numerous articles in accounting journals. Hopefully this will be of help to those who did not know my father

Temperature extremes: Effect on plant growth and development

AbstractTemperature is a primary factor affecting the rate of plant development. Warmer temperatures expected with climate change and the potential for more extreme temperature events will impact plant productivity. Pollination is one of the most sensitive phenological stages to temperature extremes across all species and during this developmental stage temperature extremes would greatly affect production. Few adaptation strategies are available to cope with temperature extremes at this developmental stage other than to select for plants which shed pollen during the cooler periods of the day or are indeterminate so flowering occurs over a longer period of the growing season. In controlled environment studies, warm temperatures increased the rate of phenological development; however, there was no effect on leaf area or vegetative biomass compared to normal temperatures. The major impact of warmer temperatures was during the reproductive stage of development and in all cases grain yield in maize was significantly reduced by as much as 80−90% from a normal temperature regime. Temperature effects are increased by water deficits and excess soil water demonstrating that understanding the interaction of temperature and water will be needed to develop more effective adaptation strategies to offset the impacts of greater temperature extreme events associated with a changing climate

Price Controls, Non-Price Quality Competition, and the Nonexistence of Competitive Equilibrium

We investigate how price ceilings and floors affect outcomes in continuous time, double auction markets with discrete goods and multiple qualities. When price controls exist, the existence of competitive equilibria is no longer guaranteed; hence, we investigate the nature of non-price competition and how markets might evolve in its presence. We develop a quality competition model based on matching theory. Equilibria of the quality competition model always exist in such price-constrained markets; moreover, they naturally correspond to competitive equilibria when competitive equilibria exist. Additionally, we characterize the set of equilibria of the quality competition model in the presence of price restrictions. In a series of experiments, we find that market outcomes closely conform to the predictions of the model. In particular, price controls induce non-price competition between agents both in theory and in the experimental environment; market behaviors result in allocations close to the predictions of the model

Analysis of interagency needs assessment for adult and community education.

This study was to determine whether meaningful data could be obtained from an interagency designed needs assessment for use in planning adult and community education activities in the Oklahoma City area. A search of the literature revealed that many educators lack an understanding that needs assessment is a part of the decision making process. Sound decisions are based on valid and reliable data which can be used to help bring about the needed changes to improve the quality of life of people in a community. Due to the lack of simple and flexible needs assessment instruments, some authorities recommend that committees may be better off developing their own needs assessments which can reflect the uniqueness of their own areas.The CECLL "Needs Assessment Instrument" identifies nine major problem areas covering lifelong learning activities and information sources. The needs assessment included 69 specific items in nine general problem areas, plus the supportive services required for program participation. This study measured significant relationships between the projections of 26 local agencies of the Community Education Consortium for Lifelong Learning (CECLL) with the positive responses of 186 community households. Results of the study revealed that the CECLL "Needs Assessment Instrument" produced meaningful data that can be used in the decision making process for lifelong learning activities. Using SPSS and sub-programs to measure agreement, 75% significant agreement was identified at .05 level. High percentage of agreement may reflect a reduction in agency biases through an interagency agreement to cooperate in the needs assessment process. The simple and flexible design of the needs assessment used in this study, along with its degree of validity and reliability, may be helpful to other similar communities or agencies interested in developing a needs assessment without starting from scratch