Head Start Family Financial Capability: 2013–2014 Annual Report of the Asset Project

Head Start Family Financial Capability: 2013–2014 Annual Report of the Asset Projec

Annual Report on the ASSET Project\u27s Head Start Family Financial Capability Pilot: 2014–2015

Since the Great Recession (December 2007–2009 in the United States), poverty has compromised many families and increased the prevalence of young children living in neighborhoods of concentrated, deep poverty. However, financial literacy interventions have reported promising outcomes for influencing financial choices and financial knowledge, highlighting the potential of such programs for improving the economic positions of families and children. This report presents results from a mixed-methods evaluation of a financial literacy intervention with Head Start families in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The intervention combines savings incentives and one-on-one coaching with 10 hours of financial education on debt management, banking, budgeting, and credit. Results from 2 years of data suggest that participants’ understanding of core financial concepts, financial attitudes, and financial management behaviors increased after participation. Participants also noted that they gained insight on how to maximize available resources and achieve their financial goals

Annual Report on the Head Start Family Financial Capability Program: 2015–2016

This report presents results from a mixed-methods evaluation of the third year of implementation of a financial-capability program with Head Start families in the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area: The Head Start Family Financial Capability (HSFFC) Program. The program combined savings incentives, budget and credit counseling, and one-on-one coaching with 10 hours of financial education on debt management, banking, budgeting, saving, and credit. The results reported here come from analyses of data on 339 adult program participants from Head Start families, 107 Head Start staff who participated in the program, and administrators and staff implementing the program at Head Start sites. The analyses of Year-3 quantitative data suggest that participants’ understanding of core financial concepts, financial attitudes, and financial behavior increased after participation. Qualitative results indicated that participants gained insight on effective ways to recruit participants and connect to resources. Participants identified a shift toward a financial oasis: The HSFFC Program helped their center to make a cultural shift toward increased openness to discuss money management and financial goals. Also included are results from analysis of survey data from a subset of participants pursuing higher education. Results suggest that their status as student-parents exposed them to heightened levels of financial stress, including stress over student loan debt

Dynamic refractometer

A refractometer computer controls the rotation of a rotary plate upon which are mounted a prism optically coupled via an optical window to a spectroscopic cell holding a resin exhibiting a dynamic refractive index during photocuring. The computer system positions the prism and spectroscopic cell relative to a visible light laser which illuminates the prism-resin interface at selected incidence angles. A photodetector mounted on the plate generates a signal to the computer proportional to intensity of an internally reflected light beam. A curing light is selectively transmitted through the prism and into the photocurable resin. The refractometer determines the intensity of the internally reflected beam a selected incidence angles and determines the effective refractive index curve of the resin at an uncured state and, optionally, at a completely cured state. Next, an amount of uncured resin and selected optical components to be joined by the resin is placed in the spectroscopic cell and irradiated with the UV light. The refractometer is fixed at a selected incidence angle and measures the intensity of an internally reflected light beam of light throughout the cure cycle. The refractometer determines the resin's refractive index of the polymeric mixture by means of extrapolation of a horizontal shift in the effective refractive index curve of the resin from an uncured state to a selected point in the cure cycle

Strategic Idealizations of Science to Oppose Environmenal Regulation: A Case Study of Five TMDL Controversies

Proponents of environmental regulation have catalogued various strategies used by takeholders to delay or weaken regulatory efforts, including (1) manufacturing or magnifying uncertainty; (2) demanding “sound science” (and thereby imposing unreasonable standards of evidence); and (3) data quality initiatives that permit deconstruction of credible studies by highlighting inevitable assumptions, funding sources, and areas for further research. Such strategies can be termed “idealizations” of science insofar as they rely on an unrealistic image of good science as somehow capable of avoiding tentative conclusions, institutional interests, consensual assumptions, and the need for further research. The question remains, however, when does an argument based on scientific uncertainty reflect a valid concern, and when is such an argument merely strategic? This Article is based on a study that was structured to identify whether and how arguments and challenges based on idealizations of science were used in the initial (pre-litigation) stages of several Philadelphia-area water quality controversies. The purpose of this Article is to describe the results of our study, including our sense that idealized arguments, at least in the early stages of TMDL disputes, are not very effective

Strategic Idealizations of Science to Oppose Environmenal Regulation: A Case Study of Five TMDL Controversies

Proponents of environmental regulation have catalogued various strategies used by takeholders to delay or weaken regulatory efforts, including (1) manufacturing or magnifying uncertainty; (2) demanding “sound science” (and thereby imposing unreasonable standards of evidence); and (3) data quality initiatives that permit deconstruction of credible studies by highlighting inevitable assumptions, funding sources, and areas for further research. Such strategies can be termed “idealizations” of science insofar as they rely on an unrealistic image of good science as somehow capable of avoiding tentative conclusions, institutional interests, consensual assumptions, and the need for further research. The question remains, however, when does an argument based on scientific uncertainty reflect a valid concern, and when is such an argument merely strategic? This Article is based on a study that was structured to identify whether and how arguments and challenges based on idealizations of science were used in the initial (pre-litigation) stages of several Philadelphia-area water quality controversies. The purpose of this Article is to describe the results of our study, including our sense that idealized arguments, at least in the early stages of TMDL disputes, are not very effective

Strategic Idealizations of Science to Oppose Environmental Regulation: A Case Study of Five TMDL Controversies

This is the published version

Spinoza

"Spinoza", second edition. Encyclopedia entry for the Springer Encyclopedia of EM Phil and the Sciences, ed. D. Jalobeanu and C. T. Wolfe