Campaign for a Moral, Balanced Immigration Overhaul (CAMBIO), Strategic Review

In March 2014, Campaign for an Accountable, Moral, and Balanced Immigration Reform (CAMBIO) commissioned us to conduct an external review of the CAMBIO campaign. This report summarizes findings based on data gathered during an in-person focus group conducted with members of the CAMBIO Steering Committee in May 2014; a review of approximately 20 CAMBIO corporate documents and 36 internal meeting minutes; and 41 semi-structured telephone interviews conducted principally in June and July 2014

Emergency department use among Asian adults living in the United States: Results from the National Health Interview Survey (2006 – 2013)

This paper presents secondary analyses of the National Health Interview Survey data focused on emergency department (ED) utilization among Asian adults residing in the United States. National Health Interview Survey data provided from survey years 2006-2013 was pooled and disaggregated by single-race Asian ethnic subgroups (Filipino, Chinese, Asian Indian, other Asian). We explored trends in reports of an ED visit over the survey years for the purpose of determining whether reports of an ED visit increased or decreased over survey years. We also explored background/biologic, environment, access to care, and behavior factors and their associations with having an ED visit. The majority of respondents were foreign-born (75.9%) and had lived in the United States for ten or more years (54.3%). Estimates for reports of any ED visits ranged from 8.3% for the Chinese to 15.3% for the Filipino subgroups. Filipinos were more likely to have an ED visit compared to the Chinese and other Asians (except Asian Indians). For the eight years of survey data, estimates indicate a trend of fewer reports of any ED visit among the Asian Indian and Filipino subgroups. Among Filipinos, having diabetes and a smoking history were associated with an ED visit. The odds of an ED visit were higher among Asians in the youngest age category, among other Asians born in the United States, and among those who saw/talked to a mental health professional within the previous year. As there is a paucity of information available about ED use among Asians or Asian subgroups, this report adds to the literature on patterns of health care utilization among Asian subgroups living in the United States with a specific focus on ED utilization

Commitment and Credibility in FDI

How can firms in foreign direct investment (FDI) best protect their assets from host government contract beach? FDI is the largest and most stable form of external financing to less developed countries (LDCs). It increases job growth, technological development, and efficiency in the host country, subsequently increasing economic development. Companies prefer to invest in countries that are less prone to contract breach. I propose that credibility of commitments can help explain variation in contract breach. I propose that firms are most likely to avoid contract breach when they are involved in supply chains and when the host country has a preferential trade agreement (PTA). I measure this relationship using a difference of means test and logistic regression. Using data from 1992-2008 from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), I find that on average, the least amount of cases filed involved supply chains and PTAs. Only 4% of cases involved supply chains and PTAs, suggesting a protective force in FDI. The interaction between supply chains and PTAs has a significantly positive effect on investors winning their cases in the ICSID. My results suggest that in the event of a contract breach, my interaction variable of membership in supply chains and PTA\u27s help investors protect their assets. The implications of these findings are twofold. To safeguard their FDI, firms can ensure better protection from contract breach through supply chains. Furthermore, host countries can attract more FDI from PTAs. For future research, I suggest case study analysis as well as interviews with representatives from foreign firms that have dealt with contract breach

Young Children\u27s Understanding of the Relationship Between Conventionality and Communication

This dissertation explores children\u27s understanding of the conventionality of language, the notion that shared knowledge of the meanings of linguistic symbols enables communication using those symbols. Three studies investigate whether monolingual children recognize that different speakers share knowledge of lexical conventions, in this case the labels for objects, independent of children\u27s own knowledge of those labels. Further, children\u27s ability to use evidence of shared conventional knowledge when reasoning about communicative interactions is tested using a novel third-party communication task. Results indicate that three-year-old children track consistent labeling of novel objects across different speakers, and infer underlying shared knowledge of object labels across consistent speakers. Further, under supportive conditions, three-year-old children infer that inconsistent speakers know different labels for the same object, overriding their own default bias to assume that everyone will use the same label for an object when given evidence to think otherwise. Finally, four-year-old children can reason about communicative interactions in an unfamiliar language, recognizing that a bilingual speaker intends to direct her speech toward a particular monolingual speaker, depending on which language she uses: e.g., toward another Spanish speaker when speaking in Spanish). This result suggests that four-year-olds understand that shared knowledge of a particular language enables communication between those speakers, and recognize the communicative efficacy of an unfamiliar language. Three-year-old children\u27s difficulty with this communicative task suggests that children\u27s conception of conventionality and its role in communication becomes enriched across early childhood

The Civic Constitution

Reviewing Elizabeth Beaumont, The Civil Constitution: Civic Visions and Struggles in the Path Toward Constitutional Democracy; John E. Finn, Peopling the Constitution; and Kristin A. Goss, The Paradox of Gender Equality: How American Women’s Groups Gained and Lost Their Public Voice

A Delightful Challenge: 330 Days, $410,000 for Books, and No Staff Added

This presentation explains the challenge that The Phoenix Public Library was faced with when given $410,000 to purchase, receive, catalog, process, and pay for approximately 20,000 replacement library books within a 9-month period without additional staff. With only two Collection Development librarians available to order the replacements and no added staff to catalog and process these materials, staff looked for other ways to accomplish targeted, community-based material purchases in a fraction of the time usually allotted to such a large project. This paper concentrates on this challenge and explains the process taken to achieve the outcome. Ideas and implementations for the future are also shared