The Effects of Increased Access to Mail-In and Absentee Voting Due to COVID-19 on Voter Turnout in the 2020 Presidential Election

With new voting policies in the fallout from the 2020 election, it is critical to understand their effects on voter turnout. I use a difference-in-differences approach to study effects of absentee voting policies from the fall of 2020 on voter turnout in four states. Using county-level data on the 2008-2020 presidential elections, I estimate turnout based on the county’s policy for the 2020 election. I use three sets of states, and I find positive effects on voter turnout for all three sets, two of which are significant. The results from the Montana policy hold through the robustness checks

Assessing Efficiency of Schools Participating in Startsmart K3+

New Mexico has administered and funded State K3+ program to reduce the achievement gap between students in kindergarten through third grade since 2007. StartSmart K3+ project is an experimental research to examine the cost-effectiveness of State K3+. This research attempts to measure the efficiency of the schools participating in StartSmart using valuable information and data collected by StartSmart K3+. A Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) originally developed to study production efficiency of micro-level organizations, and a regression model are used to analyze the efficiency of the schools participating in the first year of the project in 2011. The DEA is used to measure each school’s inputs and outputs ratio, such as teachers’ qualification and students’ performance, compares them and calculate the efficiency score. Efficiency scores generated by the DEA are biased by construction since the DEA constructs a lower bound on the true efficient frontier. Efficiency scores from the DEA are corrected using the bootstrap procedure as suggested in Simar and Wilson (1998, 2000). After generating DEA scores and correcting the bias, a regression model is used to identify the environmental factors that school may not control and affect schools’ performance. Two-limit Tobit with limits at zero and unity is used to estimate equations. Three performance measurements are identified as outputs: 1) average scores in reading, writing, math and vocabulary (each score is considered as one output and thus there are four outputs in total), 2) minimum scores in four subjects (four outputs), and 3) percentage of students with scores above 90 points in each subject tests based on the Woodcock-Johnson III classification (four outputs). Results suggest that between 50% and 58% of the schools were efficient in 2011, depending on the students’ performance measurements considered. Three Tobit regression models for three different types of outputs are estimated. Dependent variables are bias-corrected DEA scores and explanatory variables are education level of the closest caregiver, poverty rate in the school district and other variables. Results from the regression model tell us that education level of the closest caregiver is an important factor in explaining school efficiency. The time students spend watching television and playing non-education video games has a high impact in changes in school efficiency too. Schools in areas with high-risk populations will require a greater share of resources to provide the same quality of education enjoyed in more affluent areas. The goal pursue by the Government of New Mexico of reducing the existing achievement gap between students will be limited by these inefficiencies. An efficiency evaluation could be carried out at the end of each summer session to identify inefficient schools and to better allocate resources. Short and long run policies should be implemented to increase schools’ efficiency

Solar activity catalogue. Volume I - Catalogue of solar activity during 1954 - 1956

Catalog of solar activity during 1954-195

The Rahway valley trunk sewer and its relations to, and effect upon the city of Rahway

This treatise is divided into three separate parts, each portraying a particular phase of the Rahway Valley improvement. Although not directly connected with the Joint Meeting, the fact that I served as Assistant City Engineer in Rahway during 1931 and 1932 naturally presented to me the opportunity of attending meetings and studying the project especially as it pertained to the City of Rahway. Part one is a general review of the activities of the Rahway Valley Joint Meeting, both prior to and after the completion of the trunk sewer. The second portion reveals some of the intricate problems evolving in joint propositions of this nature, where arises the difficulty of determing what provisions should be incorporated in the contract to afford equally beneficial conditions to all participating municipalities. The third part is a discussion of the proposed scheme of treatment and the various units making up the disposal works. To one not acquainted with this particular project, it might seem, after a perusal of this report, that Rah way was somewhat unreasonable in its procedure and asked for privileges to which it was not entitled. But it must be kept in mind that if the communities it the upper part of the valley had failed to build a trunk line to the tidal waters below the City of Rahway, they no doubt would have been compelled by the State Board of Health to erect elaborate treatment plants which would provide effluents highly purified so as not to contaminate the Rahway River which is used as a source of water supply for domestic use in Rahway. Without question, the program adopted was by far the more economical for these municipalities. On the other hand, Rahway was in a position to handle the situation entirely independent of the other towns, inasmuch as a much smaller trunk would have been required and the disposal plant would have been comparatively inexpensive as its effluent would have been discharged into tidal waters not being used as a domestic water supply. Just why Rahway decided not to follow this latter course was a matter of choice based upon the presumption that these geographical conditions favoring Rahway would be considered in the contract and that the proposed improvement would not be delayed by dissension among the members of the Joint Meeting. The comprehensive analysis of the conditions previous to the adoption of the Supplemental Contract, disclosed many interesting facts to bear out the contention of Rahway that it was placed in a predicament entirely unsatisfactory when measured by the advantages available to the other municipalities, and consequently Rahway had no alternative than to proceed to demand, in the interests of its taxpayers, provisions in the new contract to insure a more equitable standing. This unfortunate state of affairs was one of the chief reasons for the delay in the completion of the project. While it is not my intention to condemn such joint proposals nor to Imply that Rahway was intentionally placed in such an unenviable position, nevertheless, I have come to the conclusion that in order to insure the consummation of such improvements to a satisfactory and economical termination with as little delay as possible, the most essential feature is the establishment of an unquestionably equitable basis of apportionment of cost formulated after a careful study of all pertinent factors involving each municipality individually. It is with this purpose of bringing to light this matter that I have included the second part of this thesis showing the consequences of this case as they related to the City of Rahway

Catalogue of Solar Activity During 1958, Volume III

Solar flares, sunspots, radio emissions, solar events, geomagnetic storms, solar-terrestrial effects, and balloon flights for 195

Solar activity catalogue. Volume 4 - Catalogue of solar activity during 1959

Solar activity catalog covering solar flares, terrestrial effects, plage regions, radio emissions, geomagnetic storms, and balloon flight

Catalogue of solar activity during 1957

Catalog of major solar activity during 195

Symplectic and Semiclassical Aspects of the Schl\"afli Identity

The Schl\"afli identity, which is important in Regge calculus and loop quantum gravity, is examined from a symplectic and semiclassical standpoint in the special case of flat, 3-dimensional space. In this case a proof is given, based on symplectic geometry. A series of symplectic and Lagrangian manifolds related to the Schl\"afli identity, including several versions of a Lagrangian manifold of tetrahedra, are discussed. Semiclassical interpretations of the various steps are provided. Possible generalizations to 3-dimensional spaces of constant (nonzero) curvature, involving Poisson-Lie groups and q-deformed spin networks, are discussed.Comment: 40 pages, 8 figure

Demokraattisen tyytymättömyyden uhka : suomalaisten konservatiiviset arvot ja tyytyväisyys demokratian toimivuuteen

Tutkimus käsittelee Schwartzin arvoteorian mukaisten konservatiivisten perusarvojen ja tyytyväisyyden demokratian toimivuuteen välistä yhteyttä Suomessa. Lisäksi tutkitaan mikä rooli tässä yhteydessä on kahdella poliittisella arvolla, EU-kielteisyydellä ja maahanmuuttokielteisyydellä. Tyytyväisyys demokratian toimivuuteen on keskeinen mittari demokraattisen järjestelmän toiminnalle, ja Schwartzin arvoteoria vakiintunut tapa mitata ihmisten perusarvoja. Aineistona on European Social Surveyn kyselyaineisto, joka kerättiin Suomen osalta aikavälillä 9/2018–2/2019 (N=1755). Tilastomallina on lineaarinen regressio, jossa selitettävä muuttuja on kysymys: kuinka tyytyväinen olet siihen, kuinka demokratia toimii Suomessa? Selittävät muuttujat ovat Schwartzin arvoteorian kolme konservatiivista arvoa (turvallisuus, yhdenmukaisuus, perinteet), EU-kielteisyys (summamuuttuja), maahanmuuttokielteisyys (summamuuttuja), sekä taustamuuttujat ikä, sukupuoli ja koulutus vuosissa. Keskeisin tulos on, että konservatiivisista arvoista yhdenmukaisuus lisää tyytyväisyyttä demokratian toimivuuteen ja perinteet laskee tyytyväisyyttä. Kuitenkaan perinteet ei ole tilastollisesti merkitsevä, kun malliin lisätään poliittiset arvot EU-kielteisyys ja maahanmuuttokielteisyys, jotka molemmat laskevat tyytyväisyyttä demokratian toimivuuteen. Näyttää siltä, että erityisillä politiikkakysymyksillä koskien Euroopan unionia ja maahanmuuttoa voidaan selittää enemmän demokratiatyytyväisyydestä kuin Schwartzin konservatiivisilla arvoilla. Suomessa vaikuttaa olevan demokratiaan tyytymättömien joukko, joka ei määrity konservatiivisilla perusarvoilla, vaan politiikkakysymysten kautta määrittyvän kansalliskonservatiivisuuden kautta

Commens on filament disintegration and its relation to other aspects of solar activity

Los estudios de desapariciones bruscas en los ciclos solares 19 y 20 (hasta 1969) indican que estos eventos suceden frecuentemente. Aproximadamente el 30 % de todos los filamentos mayores en estos ciclos se desintegraron en el curso de su trayecto a través del disco solar.Asociación Argentina de Astronomí