Explaining the President's Executive Actions on Guns

President Obama recently announced a package of executive actions intended to reduce gunviolence and make our communities safer. In a nation where 33,000 Americans die by gun everyyear, these common sense regulations seek to give teeth to our existing gun laws, some of whichhave been nearly impossible to enforce as written. Though these actions include more than adozen components, including increased funding for mental health treatment, the addition of morelaw enforcement agents and background check examiners, and the foundation of an InternetInvestigations Center to track online gun trafficking, four are particularly likely to raise the ire of theNational Rifle Association (NRA) and its allies. This memo breaks down each: examining the flawsin our current enforcement system and explaining how these actions remedy them

2008 Disability Status Reports: United States

The Annual Disability Status Reports provide policy makers, disability advocates, reporters, and the public with a summary of the most recent demographic and economic statistics on the working-age (ages 21-64) population with disabilities. They contain information on the population size, prevalence, employment, earnings, poverty, household income, home ownership, and activity limitations of working-age people with disabilities, as well as the composition of this population by age, race, gender, and educational attainment. This year, for the first time, the report also includes information about health insurance coverage and veteran’s service-connected disability rating

New York State Disability and Employment Status Report, 2009.

This Status Report is intended to provide information on disability in New York State, focusing on the working-age population (16-64 years old, except where noted). The report presents: 1) estimates of disability prevalence overall and among various groups; 2) indications of where disparities exist in employment rate, educational attainment, and financial status between people with and without disabilities; and 3) characteristics of New York State which may influence employment outcomes for people with disabilities

Orthotic Satisfaction Survey

The foot is made up of many bones, joints, and ligaments that help support the foot and body. When these structures are not properly aligned the appropriate biomechanics of the foot become compromised. Foot orthotics act as a conservative method of treatment to address some of the painful symptoms associated with these conditions. Common problems that have previously been addressed include plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, shin splints, flat feet, hallux valgus, and patellofemoral, heel and back pain. In this study, we hope to indicate when and where orthotic use is indicated and what diagnoses benefit most when using orthotics as a conservative treatment method. This information can assist clinicians in making necessary referrals and determining patient prognoses. Data was collected retrospectively to evaluate the effectiveness of the orthotics for increasing activity and reducing pain levels. Also evaluated were how gender, age and BMI affected these outcomes and if the patients perceived the benefits to outweigh the costs. We found that gender and age did not significantly affect outcomes. Participants who had excess weight showed greater increases in activity levels and decreases in pain than normal weight individuals. When categorized by diagnosis the majority of participants reported a decrease in pain after orthotic use. Orthotics are an effective method to reduce pain and increase activity levels, however, to what extent is still unknown

Absence and Disability Management Practices for an Aging Workforce

The goal of Disability and Absence Management programming is to limit absence, control costs, and retain workers to maintain a productive workforce. This can include the development of supportive policies (e.g. flexible work options), manager and employee education, supportive benefit programs, return to work programs, among others. Increasingly, older workers have become a group of interest among Absence and Disability Management professionals, in part because many baby boomers are forgoing retirement and working longer. Projections suggest that by 2020 those 55 and over could account for 25% of workers. This shift is especially important given that disability prevalence increases with age – as the workforce ages, organizations will increasingly need to ensure their programming supports older workers. During the fall and winter of 2012-13, Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute and the Disability Management Employer Coalition (DMEC) collaborated on a survey and key informant interviews with DMEC members and conference attendees to learn more about what organizations are doing to respond to and prepare for an aging workforce

Testing perceived moral transgressions as mediating links of PTSD symptoms to distress

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms cause distress for 5-20% of individuals worldwide. Cognitive models of PTSD emphasize negative social cognitions about the world, and recent research suggests a relatively unexplored moral dimension. In this study, we test whether perceived moral transgressions mediated the relationship between PTSD symptoms and distress, using both correlational and experimental data., Participants recruited via MTurk (N = 400) completed measures of PTSD symptoms and perceived transgressions of others in the past week, read randomly assigned news vignettes, with and without transgressions, and endorsed current distress levels. We will present study design and preliminary regressions results

2010 Disability Status Report, United States

The Annual Disability Status Reports provide policy makers, disability advocates, reporters, and the public with a summary of the most recent demographic and economic statistics on the non-institutionalized population with disabilities. They contain information on the population size and disability prevalence for various demographic subpopulations, as well as statistics related to employment, earnings, household income, veterans\u27 service-connected disability and health insurance. Comparisons are made to people without disabilities and across disability types. Disability Status Reports and other statistics are available for the United States overall, each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico at www.disabilitystatistics.org. The Status Reports primarily look at the working-age population because the employment gap between people with and without disabilities is a major focus of government programs and advocacy efforts. Employment is also a key factor in the social integration and economic self-sufficiency of working-age people with disabilities. The estimates in the 2010 Disability Status Reports are based on American Community Survey (ACS) data - a US Census Bureau survey that has replaced the Decennial Census long form. See the ACS User Guide on www.disabilitystatistics.org for additional information on the ACS. The estimates in these reports are based on responses from a sample of the population and may differ from actual population values because of sampling variability and other factors. Differences observed between the estimates for two or more groups may not be statistically significant. Finally, the 2010 Disability Status Report estimates should not be compared to estimates based on ACS data collected prior to 2008. In 2008, the US Census Bureau made a number of significant changes to the ACS. These changes included an entirely new set of disability questions as described on the following page. For a summary of all changes to the ACS 2008 survey see the following Census Bureau document: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/methodology/ content_test/SummaryResultsACS2006ContentTest.pd

Henry Hughes Interview 2017

This is a brief interview detailing Henry Hughes’s experiences as a Professor in the English department at Western Oregon University. In the interview, Professor Hughes answers questions regarding his time here at Western with the students and faculty