Combating Climate Change in the Capital of Car Culture: Part 1

Say the words "Los Angeles," and you might conjure visions of epic traffic jams, air pollution so thick you can't see the hills, and a city that seems designed to intimidate and marginalize pedestrians and bicyclists.But a new reality is emerging in the city of angels. A slew of developments over the past decade is helping the world capital of car culture transform itself into a world leader in sustainable transportation. While traffic is still bad, the air is significantly cleaner, and public transit alternatives are expanding.If the trends continue, L.A.'s transportation sector could become a model for California -- and the nation -- as we struggle to end our dependence on oil

Reducing LRIS longslit spectra in IRAF

The word IRAF scares me to date, though I am slowly getting used to using it. Here I am putting together my notes for reducing LRIS longslit spectra in IRAF. I will try to be general, but only to the extent that I expect my usage to vary. The document will often contain things which are pertinent to my current folders setup, gratings I use, etc. The scripts referred to in this document are available on request. I might eventually upload a tarball containing all the codes

Public interest litigation in India : overreaching or underachieving ?

Public interest litigation has historically been an innovative judicial procedure for enhancing the social and economic rights of disadvantaged and marginalized groups in India. In recent years, however, a number of criticisms of public interest litigation have emerged, including concerns related to separation of powers, judicial capacity, and inequality. These criticisms have tended to abstraction, and the sheer number of cases has complicated empirical assessments. This paper finds that public interest litigation cases constitute less than 1 percent of the overall case load. The paper argues that complaints related to concerns having to do with separation of powers are better understood as criticisms of the impact of judicial interventions on sector governance. On the issue of inequality, the analysis finds that win rates for fundamental rights claims are significantly higher when the claimant is from an advantaged social group than when he or she is from a marginalized group, which constitutes a social reversal, both from the original objective of public interest litigation and from the relative win rates in the 1980s.Gender and Law,Judicial System Reform,Human Rights,Information Security&Privacy,Legal Institutions of the Market Economy

Do international treaties promote development ? the convention on the rights of the child and basic immunization

Little evidence is available on whether changing global rules so as to promote human rights can enhance development outcomes. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was almost universally ratified by the mid-1990s, but it is unclear whether treaty ratification was associated with better or wider protection of children’s rights. This paper uses an instrumental variable approach to investigate whether treaty ratification was associated with stronger effort at the country level on child survival, and particularly with higher rates of immunization coverage. The paper finds that ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child was correlated with a subsequent increase in immunization rates, but only in upper middle and high-income countries. Treaties can promote development outcomes, but require institutional support to do so.Population Policies,Labor Policies,Treaties,Human Rights,Children and Youth