Employment Retention and Advancement Project: Results from the Post-Assistance Self-Sufficiency (PASS) Program in Riverside, California

A random assignment evaluation of a voluntary postemployment program for workers who recently left welfare shows participants had increased employment and earnings during the first two years of follow-up

Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration: delivery, take-up, and outcomes of in-work training support for lone parents (Research report No 727)

"This report focuses on the delivery, take-up and outcomes of the in-work training support provided through the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration... The ERA demonstration was designed to test the effectiveness of a programme to improve the labour market prospects of low-paid workers and long-term unemployed people." - page 4

Statistical Machine Translation Features with Multitask Tensor Networks

We present a three-pronged approach to improving Statistical Machine Translation (SMT), building on recent success in the application of neural networks to SMT. First, we propose new features based on neural networks to model various non-local translation phenomena. Second, we augment the architecture of the neural network with tensor layers that capture important higher-order interaction among the network units. Third, we apply multitask learning to estimate the neural network parameters jointly. Each of our proposed methods results in significant improvements that are complementary. The overall improvement is +2.7 and +1.8 BLEU points for Arabic-English and Chinese-English translation over a state-of-the-art system that already includes neural network features.Comment: 11 pages (9 content + 2 references), 2 figures, accepted to ACL 2015 as a long pape

PEMBUATAN APLIKASI UNTUK KOMUNITAS MINI4WD

Saat ini, komunitas-komunitas Mini4WD di Indonesia masihtetap aktif mengadakan lomba balap. Para pemain Mini4WD saat ini menggunakanmedia sosial untuk berinteraksi. Media sosial yang saat ini digunakan olehkomunitas Mini4WD adalah facebook. Dari hasil analisis diketahui facebook belummemenuhi kebutuhan. Kebutuhan tersebut adalah event, jual beli yangmenyediakan kategori sparepart Mini4WD, dan grup sebagai wadah komunitasyang dapat memberikan informasi lokasi yang detail. Maka dari itu, dibuat sebuahmedia sosial yang menyediakan kebutuhan pemain Mini4WD. Pengguna dapatmelihat lokasi grup komunitas dalam tampilan peta, pengguna dapat mencari grupyang terdekat. Selain itu, pengguna dapat melihat semua event lomba yangdiadakan oleh pengguna lainnya. Pada halaman jual-beli pengguna dapat melihatbarang yang dijual oleh pengguna lain dalam kategori khusus Mini4WD. Desaindata menggunakan Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD). Desain prosesmenggunakan flowchart. Aplikasi dibuat dengan menggunakan phonegap danmenggunakan framework 7. Uji coba dilakukan dengan verifikasi dan validasi.Verifikasi dilakukan dengan cara mencoba semua fitur danproses yang ada padaaplikasi dan memastikan fitur dan proses yang telah dibuat bebas dari error dansesuai dengan tujuan pembuatan sistem. Validasi dilakukan dengan caramemberikan kesempatan kepada pengguna untuk mencoba aplikasi yang telahdibuat dan setelah itu diberikan angket pertanyaan seputar aplikasi. Dari pembuatanTugas Akhir yang telah dilakukan, dapat disimpulkan bahwa sistem dapatmembantu pemain Mini4WD untuk mencari grup, event, dan jual beli. Dari hasilkuisioner didapatkan saran untuk pengembangan sistem selanjutnya yaitu untukmenambahkan bentuk dari track, dan memperbaiki bentuk tampilan dari aplikasi

PEMBUATAN APLIKASI UNTUK KOMUNITAS MINI4WD

Saat ini, komunitas-komunitas Mini4WD di Indonesia masihtetap aktif mengadakan lomba balap. Para pemain Mini4WD saat ini menggunakanmedia sosial untuk berinteraksi. Media sosial yang saat ini digunakan olehkomunitas Mini4WD adalah facebook. Dari hasil analisis diketahui facebook belummemenuhi kebutuhan. Kebutuhan tersebut adalah event, jual beli yangmenyediakan kategori sparepart Mini4WD, dan grup sebagai wadah komunitasyang dapat memberikan informasi lokasi yang detail. Maka dari itu, dibuat sebuahmedia sosial yang menyediakan kebutuhan pemain Mini4WD. Pengguna dapatmelihat lokasi grup komunitas dalam tampilan peta, pengguna dapat mencari grupyang terdekat. Selain itu, pengguna dapat melihat semua event lomba yangdiadakan oleh pengguna lainnya. Pada halaman jual-beli pengguna dapat melihatbarang yang dijual oleh pengguna lain dalam kategori khusus Mini4WD. Desaindata menggunakan Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD). Desain prosesmenggunakan flowchart. Aplikasi dibuat dengan menggunakan phonegap danmenggunakan framework 7. Uji coba dilakukan dengan verifikasi dan validasi.Verifikasi dilakukan dengan cara mencoba semua fitur danproses yang ada padaaplikasi dan memastikan fitur dan proses yang telah dibuat bebas dari error dansesuai dengan tujuan pembuatan sistem. Validasi dilakukan dengan caramemberikan kesempatan kepada pengguna untuk mencoba aplikasi yang telahdibuat dan setelah itu diberikan angket pertanyaan seputar aplikasi. Dari pembuatanTugas Akhir yang telah dilakukan, dapat disimpulkan bahwa sistem dapatmembantu pemain Mini4WD untuk mencari grup, event, dan jual beli. Dari hasilkuisioner didapatkan saran untuk pengembangan sistem selanjutnya yaitu untukmenambahkan bentuk dari track, dan memperbaiki bentuk tampilan dari aplikasi

High performance shape memory polyurethane synthesized with high molecular weight polyol as the soft segment

Shape memory polyurethanes (SMPUs) are typically synthesized using polyols of low molecular weight (MW~2,000 g/mol) as it is believed that the high density of cross-links in these low molecular weight polyols are essential for high mechanical strength and good shape memory effect. In this study, polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) with MW ~6000 g/mol as the soft segment and diisocyanate as the hard segment were used to synthesize SMPUs, and the results were compared with the SMPUs with polycaprolactone PCL-2000. The study revealed that although the PEG-6000-based SMPUs have lower maximum elongations at break (425%) and recovery stresses than those of PCL-based SMPUs, they have much better recovery ratios (up to 98%) and shape fixity (up to 95%), hence better shape memory effect. Furthermore, PEG-based SMPUs showed a much shorter actuation time of < 10 s for up to 90% shape recovery compared to typical actuation times of tens of seconds to a few minutes for common SMPUs, demonstrated their great potential for applications in microsystems and other engineering components

Using Administrative Data to Explore the Effect of Survey Nonresponse in the UK Employment Retention and Advancement Demonstration

Background: Even a well-designed randomized control trial (RCT) study can produce ambiguous results. This paper highlights a case in which full-sample results from a large-scale RCT in the United Kingdom (UK) differ from results for a sub-sample of survey respondents. Objectives: Our objective is to ascertain the source of the discrepancy in inferences across data sources and, in doing so, to highlight important threats to the reliability of the causal conclusions derived from even the strongest research designs. Research design: The study analyzes administrative data to shed light on the source of the differences between the estimates. We explore the extent to which heterogeneous treatment impacts and survey non-response might explain these differences. We suggest checks which assess the external validity of survey measured impacts, which in turn provides an opportunity to test the effectiveness of different weighting schemes to remove bias. The Subjects included 6,787 individuals who participated in a large-scale social policy experiment. Results: Our results were not definitive but suggest non-response bias is the main source of the inconsistent findings. Conclusions. The results caution against overconfidence in drawing conclusions from RCTs and highlight the need for great care to be taken in data collection and analysis. Particularly, given the modest size of impacts expected in most RCTs, small discrepancies in data sources can alter the results. Survey data remain important as a source of information on outcomes not recorded in administrative data. However, linking survey and administrative data is strongly recommended whenever possible

Pemanfaatan HTML 5 Canvas Dalam Proses Rendering Diagram Relasi Entitas Dengan Notasi Crow’s Foot

Proses mendesain data model dengan menggunakan notasi tertentu adalah salah satu tahap awal dalam pengimplementasian sebuah sistem. Notasi Crow’s Foot adalah salah satu notasi yang dapat dipakai untuk menggambarkan diagram relasi entitas dari sebuah data model. Untuk menggambar diagram ini dibutuhkan sebuah alat bantu dan teknologi HTML5 Canvas dapat dimanfaatkan untuk membuat sebuah aplikasi berbasis web yang mampu menggambar diagram relasi dengan notasi Crow’s Foot ini. Sebuah aplikasi dibuat dan diuji coba untuk menggambar notasi Crow’s Foot dengan beberapa macam kombinasi relasi untuk melihat kevalidan gambar yang dihasilkan. Hasil uji coba menunjukkan bahwa teknologi HTML5 Canvas telah dapat menghasilkan luaran seperti yang diharapkan

Pathways to Financial Resilience: 36-Month Impacts of the Grameen America Program

This report summarizes 36-month findings from the evaluation of the Grameen America program, a microfinance institution that provides loans to women with low incomes in the United States who are seeking to start or expand a small business. Its objective is to reduce poverty through the provision of small loans, financial training, and peer support.The Grameen America evaluation used a randomized controlled trial design to explore the mechanisms of program operations and whether the model leads to improved outcomes for borrowers. The evaluation includes an implementation analysis, which examines how the program operates and the experiences of borrowers and program staff, and an impact analysis, which assesses the program's effects on participants' outcomes, including the study's two primary outcomes: overall net income and types of material hardship. Other outcomes include wage-based work and self-employment, wage-based and self-employment earnings and other income, credit scores, savings, assets and remittances, social support, and financial well-being. The implementation analysis includes outcomes from program-tracking data, as well as findings from interviews with borrowers and Grameen America staff, focus groups, and researchers' observations of the program. The impact findings in this report are based on study participants' responses to a 36-month survey and credit report data from a major credit reporting agency. The Grameen America evaluation was funded by the Robin Hood Foundation

A Multi-Level Analysis of the Impacts of Services Provided By the UK Employment Retention and Advancement Demonstration

Background: The United Kingdom Employment Retention and Advancement (U.K. ERA) demonstration was the largest and most comprehensive social experiment ever conducted in the United Kingdom. It examined the extent to which a combination of postemployment advisory support and financial incentives could help lone parents on welfare to find sustained employment with prospects for advancement. ERA was experimentally tested across more than 50 public employment service offices and, within each office, individuals were randomly assigned to either a program (or treatment) group (eligible for ERA) or a control group (not eligible). Method: article presents the results of a multilevel nonexperimental analysis that examines the variation in office-level impacts and attempts to understand what services provided in the offices tend to be associated with impacts. Result: The analysis suggests that impacts were greater in offices that emphasized in-work advancement, support while working and financial bonuses for sustained employment, and also in those offices that assigned more caseworkers to ERA participants. Offices that encouraged further education had smaller employment impacts. Conclusion: Plausible results are obtained identifying those particular implementation features that tended to be linked to stronger impacts of ERA. The methodology employed also allows the identification of which services are associated with employment and welfare receipt of control families receiving benefits under the traditional New Deal for Lone Parent program