Blind Adults in America: Their Lives and Challenges

In an effort to learn more about Americans with disabilities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) decided that the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) would be used to gather information about men, women, and children with disabilities living all across the country. They interviewed thousands of adults and children with disabilities in 1994 and 1995, including 779 legally blind adults representing 993,766 non-institutionalized adults ages 18 and older nationwide, and 52 children representing 65,296 non-institutionalized legally blind children ages 5 to 17 nationwide. The federal government, however, never used the data to provide information to advocates or policy makers about the daily lives of legally blind adults and children. The National Center for Policy Research (CPR) for Women & Families used the NHIS data to conduct the first comprehensive statistical analysis of data on blind adults. With the support of the Aid Association for the Blind of the District of Columbia, we have summarized the information into this report. Some of the findings support assumptions that have been made about blind adults, while other findings highlight previously unrecognized needs of this very important group of Americans

Transition Events in Butane Simulations: Similarities Across Models

From a variety of long simulations of all-atom butane using both stochastic and fully-solved molecular dynamics, we have uncovered striking generic behavior which also occurs in one-dimensional systems. We find an apparently universal distribution of transition event durations, as well as a characteristic speed profile along the reaction coordinate. An approximate analytic distribution of event durations, derived from a one-dimensional model, correctly predicts the asymptotic behavior of the universal distribution for both short and long durations.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

A proposal for regularly updated review/survey articles: "Perpetual Reviews"

We advocate the publication of review/survey articles that will be updated regularly, both in traditional journals and novel venues. We call these "perpetual reviews." This idea naturally builds on the dissemination and archival capabilities present in the modern internet, and indeed perpetual reviews exist already in some forms. Perpetual review articles allow authors to maintain over time the relevance of non-research scholarship that requires a significant investment of effort. Further, such reviews published in a purely electronic format without space constraints can also permit more pedagogical scholarship and clearer treatment of technical issues that remain obscure in a brief treatment.Comment: This is a draft white paper and we seek comments from the communit

Biosecurity: A 21st Century Challenge

Based on a review of key reports and experts' opinions, summarizes the debate over "dual-use" technologies and the various approaches to controlling biosecurity risk. Outlines proposed preventive measures and steps to build response capacity