Evaluation of the NAS-ILAB Matrix for Monitoring International Labor Standards: Project Report

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) engaged the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to recommend a method to monitor and evaluate labor conditions in a given country. The method focuses on 5 labor standards: freedom of association and collective bargaining, forced or compulsory labor, child labor, discrimination, and acceptable conditions of work

Seasonal emergence and larval habitat characteristics of ceratopogonidae in Tennessee

The seasonal emergence activity of adult Ceratopogonidae and characteristics of their associated larval habitats were determined using emergence traps placed in muddy habitats in eastern Tennessee during 1985 and 1986. Species of Culicoides were identified to species, all other ceratopogonids were identified only to genus. Larval habitats were classified according to the duration of time each site was inundated with water during the study. The Culicoides spp. collected in order of abundance were C. spinosus Root and Hoffman, C. stellifer (Coquillett), C. baueri Hoffman, C. biguttatus Coquillett, C. venustus Hoffman, C. haematopotus Malloch and C. bickleyi Wirth and Hubert. Small numbers of C. obsoletus (Meigen), C. crepuscularis Malloch and C. variipennis (Coquillett) were also collected. Culicoides baueri, C. bickleyi and C. venustus were collected from sites that contained surface water throughout the study. Culicoides spinosus and C. stellifer were collected from sites of intermediate wetness, while C. haematopotus and C. biguttatus were collected from sites that were wet for less than 3 months each year. Culicoides haematopotus, C. biguttatus and C. bickleyi were present only in the spring while the rest emerged throughout the spring and summer. The effect of variation in site wetness, indicated by the presence of surface water, upon the seasonal emergence activity of the adult Ceratopogonidae was noted for each species and genus. Culicoides haematopotus, C. spinosus and C. stellifer had extended emergence periods in sites that were wet longer than in sites that dried quickly. Other Culicoides species either occurred only in a particular habitat type or were apparently unaffected by moisture variations. Seven genera of Ceratopogonidae other than Culicoides were collected between April and October 1986. In descending order of abundance these were Stilobezzia Kieffer, Dasyhelea Kieffer, Palpomyia Meigen, Atrichopogon Kieffer and Bezzia Kieffer. The genera Alluaudomyia Kieffer and Clinohelea Kieffer were collected infrequently. All genera except Atrichopogon and Dasyhelea emerged mostly in the spring. Atrichopogon was common throughout the spring and summer and Dasyhelea occurred mostly in late summer. These Ceratopogonidae were generally not affected by variations in wetness. Stilobezzia, however, had a second emergence peak in sites that remained wet for the majority of the season

Angelina and Madonna: Why All the Fuss? An Exploration of the Rights of the Child and Intercountry Adoption Within African Nations

This Development argues that the international community should focus its energy on finding ways in which to support African families. Birth parents need this support so that they are not forced to place their children into orphanages when the child has family members who are willing but unable to care for them. African children who are placed in orphanages are often adopted by individuals living outside of Africa, thereby leaving them without connections to their countries of origin. This Development further supports the goals laid out in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child ( African Charter ), which include restricting intercountry adoption to an option of last resort. Although this Development seeks to encourage the international community to help improve the situations of citizens in African countries, it does not argue that intercountry adoption is wrong or that intercountry adoptions should be discontinued. Instead it attempts to show that intercountry adoption should not be seen as a solution to a much greater problem. If and when intercountry adoption is allowed, it should be properly implemented, monitored, and enforced, while conclusively evaluating the possible effects, both negative and positive, of intercountry adoption on the child. Part I introduces a brief history of Africa, which is followed in Part II by an investigation into the roles played by the different treaties that address intercountry adoption. These treaties have different requirements and preferences and play an important role in determining what ensures that an intercountry adoption is in fact legal. Part II also discusses the growing popularity of international adoptions within the US. This Development next investigates whether intercountry adoption is in the best interest of the child. Part III analyzes a South African court\u27s decision in Minister for Welfare and Population Development v Fitzpatrick where the court found a provision of South Africa\u27s constitution unconstitutional. The provision had restricted adoption to South African citizens, therefore disallowing non-citizens from adopting children from South Africa. The restriction was found to be inconsistent with another section of the constitution which enumerated the rights of the child. Part IV then discusses some of the pitfalls associated with allowing intercountry adoption, including issues regarding: the rights of the birth parents, the implications of trans-racial adoptions, gender preferences, child trafficking, and mechanisms for enforcement. Part V concludes by attempting to determine how the international community and implicated authorities should define best interests of the child. [CONT

Seasonal emergence and larval habitat characteristics of ceratopogonidae in Tennessee

The seasonal emergence activity of adult Ceratopogonidae and characteristics of their associated larval habitats were determined using emergence traps placed in muddy habitats in eastern Tennessee during 1985 and 1986. Species of Culicoides were identified to species, all other ceratopogonids were identified only to genus. Larval habitats were classified according to the duration of time each site was inundated with water during the study. The Culicoides spp. collected in order of abundance were C. spinosus Root and Hoffman, C. stellifer (Coquillett), C. baueri Hoffman, C. biguttatus Coquillett, C. venustus Hoffman, C. haematopotus Malloch and C. bickleyi Wirth and Hubert. Small numbers of C. obsoletus (Meigen), C. crepuscularis Malloch and C. variipennis (Coquillett) were also collected. Culicoides baueri, C. bickleyi and C. venustus were collected from sites that contained surface water throughout the study. Culicoides spinosus and C. stellifer were collected from sites of intermediate wetness, while C. haematopotus and C. biguttatus were collected from sites that were wet for less than 3 months each year. Culicoides haematopotus, C. biguttatus and C. bickleyi were present only in the spring while the rest emerged throughout the spring and summer. The effect of variation in site wetness, indicated by the presence of surface water, upon the seasonal emergence activity of the adult Ceratopogonidae was noted for each species and genus. Culicoides haematopotus, C. spinosus and C. stellifer had extended emergence periods in sites that were wet longer than in sites that dried quickly. Other Culicoides species either occurred only in a particular habitat type or were apparently unaffected by moisture variations. Seven genera of Ceratopogonidae other than Culicoides were collected between April and October 1986. In descending order of abundance these were Stilobezzia Kieffer, Dasyhelea Kieffer, Palpomyia Meigen, Atrichopogon Kieffer and Bezzia Kieffer. The genera Alluaudomyia Kieffer and Clinohelea Kieffer were collected infrequently. All genera except Atrichopogon and Dasyhelea emerged mostly in the spring. Atrichopogon was common throughout the spring and summer and Dasyhelea occurred mostly in late summer. These Ceratopogonidae were generally not affected by variations in wetness. Stilobezzia, however, had a second emergence peak in sites that remained wet for the majority of the season

The Use and Abuse of Wealth in America

No. 2 in a series of Familiar Vestry Talks on Christ\u27s Christianity as Applied to Economic Questions: The Use and Abuse of Wealth in America. Written by Rev. F. S. Root, Pastor of the High Street Congregational Church, Auburn, Maine, circa 1887

Incentives and Efficiency in Constrained Allocation Mechanisms

We study private-good allocation mechanisms where an arbitrary constraint delimits the set of feasible joint allocations. This generality provides a unified perspective over several prominent examples that can be parameterized as constraints in this model, including house allocation, roommate assignment, and social choice. We first characterize the set of two-agent strategy-proof and Pareto efficient mechanisms, showing that every mechanism is a "local dictatorship." For more than two agents, we leverage this result to provide a new characterization of group strategy-proofness. In particular, an N-agent mechanism is group strategy-proof if and only if all its two-agent marginal mechanisms (defined by holding fixed all but two agents' preferences) are individually strategy-proof and Pareto efficient. To illustrate their usefulness, we apply these results to the roommates problem to discover the novel finding that all group strategy-proof and Pareto efficient mechanisms are generalized serial dictatorships, a new class of mechanisms. Our results also yield a simple new proof of the Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem