Current Debates over Exchange Rates: Overview and Issues for Congress

[Excerpt] This report provides information on current debates over exchange rates in the global economy. It offers an overview of how exchange rates work; analyzes specific disagreements and debates; and examines existing frameworks for potentially addressing currency disputes. It also lays out some policy options available to Congress, should Members want to take action on exchange rate issues

Sovereign Debt in Advanced Economies: Overview and Issues for Congress

[Excerpt] Sovereign debt, also called public debt or government debt, refers to debt incurred by governments. Since the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, public debt in advanced economies has increased substantially. A number of factors related to the financial crisis have fueled the increase, including fiscal stimulus packages, the nationalization of private-sector debt, and lower tax revenue. Even if economic growth reverses some of these trends, such as by boosting tax receipts and reducing spending on government programs, aging populations in advanced economies are expected to strain government debt levels in coming years. High levels of debt in advanced economies are a new global concern. High public debt levels have become unsustainable in three Eurozone countries: Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. These countries turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other European governments for financial assistance in order to avoid defaulting on their loans. Japan’s credit rating was downgraded by Standard and Poor’s (S&P) in January 2011 over concerns about debt levels, and its rating was put on a negative outlook in April 2011. In August 2011, S&P downgraded long-term U.S. government debt from AAA (the highest possible rating) to AA+. To date, many advanced-economy governments have embarked on fiscal austerity programs (such as cutting spending or increasing taxes) to address historically high levels of debt. This policy response has been criticized by some economists as possibly undermining a weak recovery from the global financial crisis. Others argue that the austerity plans do not go far enough, and that more reforms are necessary to bring debt levels, especially with aging populations in many countries

The G-20 and International Economic Cooperation: Background and Implications for Congress

[Excerpt] This report analyzes why countries coordinate economic policies and the historical origins of the G-20; how the G-20 operates; major highlights from previous G-20 summits, plus an overview of the agenda for the next G-20 summit; and debates about the effectiveness of the G-20 as a forum for economic cooperation and coordination

U.S. Foreign Trade in Services: Trends and U.S. Policy Challenges

[Excerpt] This report provides background information and analysis on U.S. foreign trade in services. The focus of the report is an analysis of the policy challenges that the United States confronts, especially the challenge of negotiating a set of international disciplines on trade in services and dealing with the complexity of measuring trade in services. The report also focuses on emerging issues and current negotiations, especially those pertaining to the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement

The Ostrich Market

Marketing,

Predicting Recidivism Among Juvenile Sex Offenders: The Validity of the ERASOR

Clinicians are often called upon to estimate the level of risk of a juvenile sex offender to sexually reoffend. Risk assessment evaluations often employ measures utilizing structured professional judgment to weigh empirically supported risk factors associated with recidivism in order to determine an overall level of risk. However, there is a lack of empirically validated risk assessment measures specifically developed for adolescent sex offenders. This study will examine the ability of the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offender Recidivism (ERASOR) to predict sexual and nonsexual reoffending. The archived records of 100 juvenile sex offenders, who had previously been the subject of a risk assessment by a forensic psychologist, were rated on the ERASOR and were coded for other relevant historical and clinical information. The predictive validity of the ERASOR was examined using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) and Cox regression analyses. Results indicate that the ERASOR did not accurately predict sexual recidivism and had limited ability to accurately predict nonsexual or general recidivism. Implications on the future use of sexual recidivism specific risk assessment tools are discussed

How Adult EFL Teachers Can Effectively Utilize Duolingo in Their Curriculum

The proliferation of cell phones and application technology has changed the way individuals access learning. It’s also opened up a space for profit-driven companies to be included in educational options. This project focuses on Mobile-Assisted Language Learning applications, in particular Duolingo, and how they can best be used by Language teachers, especially English teachers of adults in non-immersive environments, to use Duolingo as a supplement to their teaching. The literature shows that these applications can be helpful, but need traditional support to be most effective. The question the literature brings to mind is how teachers can best use these apps. This project consists of a website for adult EFL teachers to use as a reference, as well as a podcast which includes adult language learner and teacher input on using Duolingo in their learning and teaching

Master of Science

thesisLimited coverage has been given to comparative studies involving the nature of cultural discourse between American Indians and American mainstream society. This thesis compares two incidents of American Indian and American mainstream discourse involving rare similar circumstances and substantially different outcomes. In 1996, two sets of ancient remains were discovered, one eroding out of the banks of the Columbia River, in Kennewick, Washington, and one discovered during a cave exploration on Prince Wales Island, Alaska. The remains discovered in Kennewick became the focus of an almost decade long battle between a group of eight scientists and the landowners, the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which had denied the scientists access to study the remains. USACE, representing tribal interests, wished to repatriate the remains to five tribes who had submitted a claim of ownership. After years of dispute, the federal district court held that the remains were not Native American and therefore fell under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA) making them a cultural resource, and granted the scientist plaintiffs the right to study the remains. The 9th Circuit court of Appeals upheld the District Court's opinion. In contrast, the agreement by tribes to support study of the remains discovered at On Your Knees Cave in Alaska faced a 2-week discussion of government officials, interested scientists, and Alaska tribes. All agreed on a plan of scientific study and excavation of the site. Twelve years later, after all requested analysis had been completed, a coalition of interested tribes filed a claim of ownership, and in 2008 the remains were repatriated and reburied. The research question of this thesis was simple: What role did culture play in these two events, and, if it played a significant part, how did culture affect the resulting escalation and de-escalation of conflict. This thesis explores the impact of culture, specifically, differences in cultural element placement, priority, and privilege that led to the disparate amounts of conflict

Determining Types of Health Effects to Persian Gulf Veterans Due to Exposure to Occupational Hazards

Persian Gulf Veterans\u27 Illnesses (PGVI) consists of multiple illnesses with overlapping symptoms and causes. This research examined health effects literature concerning several occupational chemicals, to identify significant adverse health trends and assess research quality, completeness, and relevance. After compiling this knowledge base, the research focus was narrowed to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), solvents, and pyridostigmine bromide (PB). The existing data was analyzed and compared to PGVI health data using the nonparametric statistical method of contingency table analysis to prove or disprove a link between the substance and PGVI. The results of the contingency table analysis were used to make inferences concerning the relationship between the substances and PGVI. Results indicate there are many current data gaps concerning health effects from exposure to occupational chemicals. There was a statistically significant relationship between the symptom frequencies of CFS and PGVI, but not for solvents or for PB. These results suggest that CFS should be further examined as a possible related diagnosis for PGVI. Further research in this area should probably not be spent looking into solvents, as there was no association with the symptom frequencies of PGVI. PB should be examined at a synergistic agent in combination with other chemicals

The Practical and the Aspirational: Managing the Student Employee Experience in Library Publishing Efforts

Student employees are a critical component in the workforce of academic libraries. While more established library services have the benefit of attracting student employees specifically interested in their work, scholarly communication programs, and library publishing efforts in particular, have more difficulty describing and garnering interest in their work. This article describes the journey of the Digital Initiatives Unit at Utah State University Libraries as we navigated the particular trials that come with library publishing—specifically delving into the work of our institutional repository (IR) and the role of student employees in those efforts. The labor of our program is variable and largely project-based, which has presented a number of challenges related to our student employees: understanding the larger context of their work; retention of knowledge and skills alongside their ability to prioritize; and a struggle to transfer skills from one project to another. Addressing these problems involved more intentional gathering of student feedback, colleague brainstorming, and trial and error; through which process and results we are gaining a more developed understanding of the critical importance of the student experience. When student employees see their work as more than just a job, and recognize the skills they are learning, they come away with greater satisfaction and our unit benefits from improved outputs. Using what we have learned, we will be able to continue our efforts for a better student experience as well as creating future goals for our unit