China in Latin America: lessons for South-South cooperation and sustainable development

This repository item contains a report from the Boston University Global Economic Governance Initiative. The Global Economic Governance Initiative (GEGI) is a research program of the Center for Finance, Law & Policy, the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, and the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. It was founded in 2008 to advance policy-relevant knowledge about governance for financial stability, human development, and the environment

Understanding Hope: A Review of Measurement and Construct Validity Research

Hope has been discussed by philosophers, theologians, educators, and scientists, to name but a few groups of people, over the preceding two millennia. During the last 15 years, C. R. Snyder and his colleagues at the University of Kansas have developed a theory and associated measures of the hope construct that have received extensive, detailed attention both within and outside the field of psychology. In this chapter, we describe Snyder\u27s hope model and some of the research findings that have supported the validity of this construct. Beginning with a conceptual definition of hope, we move to relevant findings about the usefulness of hope in the lives of individuals in various life arenas. We describe measures developed for assessing hope in children and adults, as well as current issues associated with the validity of hope measurement. Finally, we discuss future directions for further investigation of hope

In-Home Counseling for Young Children Living in Poverty: An Exploration of Counseling Competencies

Home-based counseling is increasingly an alternative mode of providing counseling services for children and families, reduces barriers to accessing traditional counseling services, and has also been shown to be effective. As such, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the competencies needed to provide such counseling services. This study yielded five categories of competencies—necessary knowledge sets, case conceptualization, counseling behaviors, flexibility in session, and professional dispositions and behaviors. We also outline implications for counseling practice, counselor education, and public policy

Consistency, Accuracy, and Fairness: A Study of Discretionary Penalties in the NFL

Prior studies of referee behavior focus on identifying a bias in when certain calls are made [Kovash, Kenneth, & Levitt, Steven (2009). Professionals do not play minimax: evidence from Major League Baseball and the National Football League (No. w15347). National Bureau of Economic Research; Rosen, Peter A. and Rick L. Wilson. 2007. An Analysis of the Defense First Strategy in College Football Overtime Games. Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 3(2):1-17; Alamar, Benjamin. 2010. Measuring Risk in NFL Playcalling. Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 6:11.]. We extend this research by evaluating the consistency of specific discretionary penalties in professional football. In doing so, all NFL plays from 2002 to 2012 are considered, isolating the occurrence of holding and pass interference calls. Even after accounting for game and play specific variables, including team characteristics, type of play, and the game\u27s score, we find the likelihood of both penalty types follows a quadratic trend, low at the beginning and ends of the game, but high in the middle. We suggest that these penalties are uniquely called with higher levels of discretion, in an attempt by referees to imply fairness in the flow of the game

Biased Impartiality Among National Hockey League Referees

This paper builds an economic model of referee behavior in the National Hockey League using period-specific, in-game data. Recognizing that referees are influenced by a desire for perceived fairness, this model isolates situations where a referee is more likely to call a penalty on one team. While prior research has focused on a systematic bias in favor of the home team, we find that referee bias also depends upon game-specific conditions that incentivize an evening of penalty calls. Refereeing games in this fashion maintains the integrity of the game, thus benefiting spectator perceptions and opportunities for financial returns

Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak - Public Unaware

National rates of gun homicide and other violent gun crimes are strikingly lower now than during their peak in the mid-1990s, paralleling a general decline in violent crime, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data. Beneath the long-term trend, though, are big differences by decade: Violence plunged through the 1990s, but has declined less dramatically since 2000.Despite national attention to the issue of firearm violence, most Americans are unaware that gun crime is lower today than it was two decades ago. According to a new Pew Research Center survey, today 56% of Americans believe gun crime is higher than 20 years ago and only 12% think it is lower.This report examines trends in firearm homicide, non-fatal violent gun crime victimization and non-fatal violent crime victimization overall since 1993. Its findings on firearm crime are based mainly on analysis of data from two federal agencies. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, using information from death certificates, are the source of rates, counts and trends for all firearm deaths, homicide and suicide, unless otherwise specified. The Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey, a household survey conducted by the Census Bureau, supplies annual estimates of non-fatal crime victimization, including those where firearms are used, regardless of whether the crimes were reported to police. Where relevant, this report also quotes from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports

Finn Hall Community Spaces Redesign

Carbon emissions negatively impact the environment through climate change, air pollution, and rising sea levels, among many other factors. One large contributor to carbon emissions is industrialization, more specifically, the building sector. Based on Architecture 2030, a non-governmental organization whose primary mission is to build an environment free from carbon emissions, building operations and the construction industry contribute to 40% of carbon emissions (Architecture 2030). As more buildings are being constructed, the need for reducing carbon emissions increases. This senior design project looked at Finn Residence Hall, a dormitory on the premises of Santa Clara University. The current design of Finn Hall consists of mainly engineered wood framing. Although, the use of steel framing, specifically hollow structural sections (HSS) and wide-flange beams, in the community spaces presented a focus for a redesign that would reduce carbon emissions. Since Finn Hall is a relatively new building, the comparison of carbon emissions and redesign costs would be more accurate. Also, the existing plans of Finn Hall were easily accessible as it is owned by the University. Thus, the community spaces were redesigned using cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (glulam) beams and columns. The completion of this design required a polished understanding of mass timber. The mass timber manufacturer Structurlam was referenced for mass timber dimensions, fire limitations, deflection limits, etc. This structural redesign included the design of the gravity system with a CLT floor diaphragm, glulam beams, and columns. The project also contains the design of connections of the mass timber redesign and to the existing sections of Finn Hall. Lastly, this project included a comparison of carbon emissions and costs between the existing building and the redesign

Portable Lab-on-a-Disc system integrating photo-switchable micro-valves for in-situ aquatic environmental monitoring

This work describes the first use of a portable centrifugal microfluidic analysis system (CMAS) for on-site lab-on-a-disc water quality monitoring. The centrifugal microfluidic platform designed for the detection of nitrite in multiple water samples incorporates photo-switchable microvalves, which are easily controlled using white light irradiation. Calibration of the CMAS system resulted in a linear response that obeys the Beer-Lambert Law. Excellent correlation of results between the CMAS device and a standard UV-Vis spectrophotometer were obtained

Monitoring the Petermann Ice Island with TanDEM-X

This paper presents the processing of TanDEM-X acquisitions for the monitoring of the topography of the Petermann ice island. In this particular case the area under study is continuously moving and the acquisition geometry is changing, so the processing of the iceberg’s DEMs is challenging and additional effects are to be considered. The SAR processing chain used is presented and the results obtained summarized, showing the effects and limitations observed during the process