The Work Environment Index: Technical Background Paper

The vast majority of Americans work for a living. The track record of different states varies widely when it comes to providing decent opportunities for working people. The Work Environment Index (WEI) captures these differences and provides a basis for evaluating how well each state does in creating an economy that supports its working population. The purpose of this article is to detail the construction of the WEI and to explain the design of the Index. This paper serves as a technical companion to the report Decent Work In America: The 2005 Work Environment Index. Many factors contribute to a good environment for working people: quality jobs, adequate opportunities for employment, basic social protections, and being treated fairly. The WEI is a composite measure of these different dimensions and provides a basis for comparing the quality of the work environment in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The WEI has multiple objectives: 1) to capture and quantify the various dimensions of the work environment on a state-by-state basis. 2) to provide a direct, relatively transparent, and easy-to-understand measurement that is firmly rooted in publicly available data sources. 3) to provide a basis for making comparisons between the states that are fair and objective. 4) to create a tool for analyzing other socio-economic issues at the state level: e.g. poverty rate differentials, job quality and quantity trade-offs, and patterns of economic growth.labor, work environment, business climate, decent work, poverty, job growth, economic growth, business start-ups

Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (4th ED.) Edited By Robert L. Haig

(Excerpt) Four years ago, I reviewed Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (3d ed.), concluding then that notwithstanding the dwindling “brick-and-mortar,” traditional law libraries, this multi-volume treatise is a worthy tool in the arsenal of the business litigator. Well, now nineteen years after its inception, the treatise, Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (4th ed.) (“BCL”), is in its Fourth Edition, having added twenty-five new chapters leading to three more volumes. Is it still worth the shelf space? Unquestionably, this landmark treatise remains an essential guide for commercial litigators and in-house counsel alike. The addition of the new chapters is an important recognition of the evolution of commercial litigation that plays out in the federal courts. As with the past editions, the roster of authors for each of the chapters continues to be a “who’s who” of practitioners and judges well-known in the commercial arena

Decent Work in America: The 2005 Work Environment Index

What are the factors that make for a decent work environment and how do the conditions of work vary in different parts of the United States? To address these and similarly important questions in a clear and accessible way, we have developed a new approach for measuring the work environment on a state-bystate basis throughout the United States (including the District of Columbia) – the Work Environment Index (WEI). This is the first installment of the WEI, and we intend to update it every year. The WEI is a unique social indicator that brings together in one measure a range of factors that, in combination, define the quality of our working lives in the U.S. today. The WEI examines three basic dimensions of the U.S. work environment: job opportunities, job quality and workplace fairness. We rank the 50 states and the District of Columbia according to these three categories. Based on our measures of job opportunities, job quality, and workplace fairness, we find that, overall, Delaware offers the best relative work environment in the United States. Other states with high WEI rankings include New Hampshire, Minnesota, Vermont and Iowa. The states with the lowest WEI rankings are Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Utah, South Carolina and Mississippi. Our state-by-state WEI ranking enables us to consider a crucial and widely-discussed issue: Do the states that provide a relatively decent work environment end up paying a penalty in terms of their overall economic climate? For example, do states that rank high according to the WEI score poorly in terms of their overall growth rate, the pace at which new businesses are being formed in the state, or their rate of new job creation? In fact, we find that overall economic conditions in states with a high WEI rank are at least as favorable, if not somewhat more favorable, than those with low WEI rankings. Along with this, we also find that poverty rates in states with high WEI rankings are consistently lower than states with low WEI rankings.labor, work environment, business climate, decent work, poverty, job growth, economic growth, business start-up

Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (3D ED.), Edited by Robert L. Haig

(Excerpt) The BCL is comprehensive, up-to-date, and very user-friendly. The practice aids, strategic considerations, checklists, and forms all make this set of books a must-have for every business litigator who is or will be going to federal court. Even as law libraries seem to be moving toward cutting book subscriptions, if one were to subscribe to only a single set of practice-based books, this should be it

Synthesis and evaluation of symmetrical biphenyltetrols as aggregation inhibitors for Alzheimer’s amyloid-β peptide

Inhibiting the aggregation of amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ) is one therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. We have previously demonstrated that biphenyl-3,3′,4,4′-tetrol (3,4-BPT) effectively abrogates Aβ aggregation at stoichiometric concentrations. To investigate molecular architecture and determine how the positioning of the hydroxyl hydrogen-bond donors impacts inhibitor efficacy, we have synthesized four additional symmetrical biphenyltetrols (2,3-, 2,4- 2,5- and 3,5-BPT). We have evaluated these inhibitors by means of Congo red and Thioflavin T dye-binding assays to monitor Aβ aggregation as a function of time and to determine inhibitor IC50 values for reducing equilibrium levels of aggregation. 2,3- and 2,5-BPT were observed to be promising inhibitors of Aβ aggregation: we have qualitatively assessed their IC50 values to be approximately 7X and 3-4X, respectively. In contrast, 2,4- and 3,5-BPT showed little to no inhibition. Thus, 2,5-BPT was the most successful of the four inhibitors evaluated, however; it was not as effective as 3,4-BPT, studied previously (IC50 = 1.0 ± 0.3X). The four isomers we have characterized exhibit a range of IC50 values spanning more than one order of magnitude, likely due to varying abilities to bind to A assemblies. Future work will involve further evaluation of the symmetrical biphenyltetrols, by methods including circular dichroism and transmission electron microscopy, which will afford greater insight into the Aβ assemblies formed in the presence and absence of inhibitors. These results will aid in the rational design of additional small-molecule aggregation inhibitors, including unsymmetrical biphenyltetrols and other architectures bearing hydroxyl substituents in those positions associated with the greatest inhibitory efficacy

Trends in the Portrayal of the Puritans Found In American History Textbooks from the 1870s through the 1990s As Influenced By Secular Educational Philosophy

There has been a movement to exclude a Biblical worldview from high school American history textbooks exchanging it for a secular worldview through the use of historical revisionism. Available literature failed to adequately address the impact of revisionism within the pages of American history textbooks specifically concerning the portrayal of the American Puritans. Therefore, an analysis of American history textbooks beginning in the 1870s through the 1990s was necessary to demonstrate the existence of historical revisionism regarding the treatment of the American Puritans and whether a trend existed to revise their place in American history textbooks over the past two centuries. Sixty-five high school American history textbooks were examined in this analysis, five from each decade covering the 1870s to the 1990s. Three research questions were asked: What is an appropriate historical view of the Puritans? What are the changes that have occurred in the treatment of the Puritans over the time span from the earliest high school American history textbooks until the end of the twentieth century? And what is the impact of secular education (revisionism) on the portrayal of the Puritans? An analysis document also directed the examination of each textbook and was validated by the work of Perry Miller and United States History: Heritage of Freedom published by A Beka Book. Findings were presented that illustrated trends of secular (progressive) revisionism in twenty-seven categories and topics. The most prominent means of revising the story of the Puritans was the elimination of material concerning their beliefs and practices. The removal of this history served to diminish the presence of a Biblical worldview while promulgating an alternate secular worldview. Implications of this trend analysis were outlined and suggestions made for Christian education. Historical revisionism is a by-product of secular educational philosophy. In this study of sixty-five high school American history textbooks it was evident that historical revisionism had influenced the treatment of the Puritans. The result of this revisionism was biased, superficial textbooks promoting ignorance of America’s rich Christian heritage

Demonstrative Faith in the Public and Private Life of John Adams Based on His Writings

John Adams was the second President of the United States (1797-1801). Considered to be a passionate sage, many historians quote him in their manifold volumes. There is a problem, however, in many references to Adams\u27 faith. Ignored, dismissed, and distorted by these writers, the context of Adams\u27 life expediently conforms to secular writers\u27 presuppositions and conclusions. These misrepresentations occur in lieu of the many references to God, Providence, and the Supreme Being found in his personal letters and other writings. The purpose of this thesis was to chronicle elements of Adams\u27 life related to his faith in public and private, removing popular notions that he was an atheist, agnostic or Deist. To accomplish this goal, his peculiar beliefs warranted examination. Areas related to Adams’ personal theology, private and public conduct, and views on the church and family were treated. Based on evidence derived from his own words, Adams’ faith aligned most closely with a biblically-based, Christian worldview

The Marginal Effects Of Consumer Characteristics On Internet Channel Choice

Multiple retail channels (e.g., retail stores and catalogs) have been available to consumers for more than a century, while consumer decision making and academic research focused on channel choice with regard to the Internet is limited.  This research integrates and adapts relevant literatures to develop a model of channel choice based on demographics and for the first time explicitly measures consumer switching propensities between channels.   The findings suggest that consumers with Internet access tend to switch from traditional direct response retailing to the Internet and that time pressured consumers tend to switch from physical retail stores to the Internet and vice versa for older consumers.  Strategic implications are also provided