Hello Canvas Community! I teach for a virtual program in my county and interact with Canvas on a daily basis. One feature my colleagues and I started to use quite a bit was the "notes column" feature of the grade book. We liked the idea of being able to see a students total grade and seeing a note about the student. I like to use the note for what communication I have made with the students parent. We quickly noticed the entry for the column feature is limited to a certain amount of characters.
This got us thinking how nice it would be if Canvas had some sore of Communication Log where we could keep track of student contact. Right now we use google sheets to make a spreadsheet of this contact. I wanted to see if the community saw any interest in having a contact log feature or idea built with in Canvas? This could possibly just be an extension of the notes column feature to allow for more characters.
I understand this would be an idea for the feature request page, but I wanted to see if there was any interest here in the discussions area first.
Dropout Detective by The specified item was not found. has this feature where we can enter in this type of information by student and have the option of sharing it (or not) with other Instructors and/or with Admins (Coaches, Advisors, etc). In addition, it also includes students grades, missed assignments, late assignments, etc.
Dropout Detective – While our main purpose is to identify students that are at risk by analyzing their performance across ALL courses, we also have a Notes log that is attached to the student (not the gradebook or the course) and can be shared by teachers, counselors and admins. We create personalized dashboards so you can monitor just the students assigned to you. We have many Canvas online K-12s using us, including Olin Virtual School, Idaho Distance Education Academy, Kenai Peninsula and others. We have nearly 100 Canvas clients using Dropout Detective and your CSM will know us well.
Instructor Insight – This helps you keep track of the performance and engagement of the teachers in their courses. Are they logging into their courses? Are they posting grades? Tons of other data elements are presented.
Please let me know if you'd like to set up some time for a web demo. Thanks!
Thank you for the responses, I assume since this is a third party it would be something we have pay for instead of being housed with in Canvas, is that correct?
Yes, we are a third party -- one of Alliance Partners that Canvas has. So yes, there is a fee for our service. However, with our LTI integration, we are single sign-on with Canvas so we don't appear to be "housed" separately or force users to access our dashboards separately. We are worth it!
YES, 100% totally worth it! We've been using this solution for over three years and have been VERY happy with it in terms of the services, features, and information it provides us about our students!
Thank you guys for your feedback. I may end up going the feature request route. I think that a expanded notes column feature may be a simpler solution for our needs.


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Home / Kids, Youth, and Teens Classes / Kids Can Do Stuff! / Kids Can Draw! (ages 6 – 8) – Saturdays, January 28 – March 18, 2023 Valley Gardens School
Kids Can Draw! (ages 6 – 8) – Saturdays, January 28 – March 18, 2023 Valley Gardens School
7 Saturdays, January 28 – March 18, 2023 (No classes on Louis Riel Long Weekend, February 20, 2023)
Valley Gardens School Library
Instructor: Wayne Elliott
Join professional artist and art educator, Wayne Elliott, as he teaches you how to use simple shapes to draw animals, people, cartoon, and game characters. This class teach you about different art techniques, such as how to blend colours using pencil crayons.
All materials are included!
Kids Can Draw! (ages 6 - 8) - Saturdays, January 28 - March 18, 2023 Valley Gardens School quantity
SKU: WSY2023-16 Categories: Kids Can Do Stuff!, Kids, Youth, and Teens Classes, Youth Arts and Crafts
Indoor Soccer for Kids (ages 7 – 10) – Wednesdays, February 8 – March 22, 2023 Ecole Sun Valley School
Kids Can Style! Awesome Braids and Curls (ages 10 – 13) – Monday, March 6, 2023 – Kildonan East Collegiate
Bollywood Dancing for Teens (ages 13 – 17) – Wednesdays, February 8 – March 22, 2023 (No class on February 15) – Ecole Neil Campbell School
Kids Can Draw! (ages 8 - 12) - Saturdays, January 28 - March 18, 2023 - Valley Gardens School Get Your Drum On! (ages 5 - 6 years old) - Thursdays, February 9 - March 16, 2023 Bernie Wolfe School
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Leona Lewis Is The New Face of The Body Shop
Leona Lewis is raising her voice for cruelty-free beauty.
The U.K. X Factor winner and The Body Shop have joined forces to ask you to take the pledge to support Cruelty Free International's initiative to ban on animal testing for cosmetic purposes. Don't worry, they've made it easy for you, since you can pledge in store on May 15th or you can shop Lewis' limited-edition makeup and fragrance collection. It consists of two shimmer palettes, four lips glosses, synthetic blusher brush and White Musk Libertine, a fragrance that comes as an eau de toilette and an eau de parfum.
Lewis has taken the cause to heart, driving everything to take a closer look at what's in their cosmetics case. "I'm passionate about beauty, and I'm all about animal rights and Community Fair Trade," Leona told Women's Wear Daily."The fact is that there are alternative tests that are far more superior to testing on animals. It's a cruel, barbaric and an unnecessary process. This cruelty can end if we speak out loud enough and I urge everyone to sign this pledge."
The line will be available March 26 in-store and at TheBodyShop-USA.com $10.60 – $24.25.


text:
Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2006 (2007)
Chapter: Front Matter
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine. 2007. Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2006. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11906.
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VAgent eterans and Orange Update 2006 Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides (Sixth Biennial Update) Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This study was supported by Contract No. V101 (93) P-2136, TO#3 between the National Academy of Sciences and US Department of Veterans Affairs. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided sup- port for this project. International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-10708-2 (Book) International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-10708-3 (Book) International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-10709-9 (PDF) International Standard Book Number-10: 978-0-309-10709-1 (PDF) Library of Congress Control Number: 2007937818 Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu. For more information about the Institute of Medicine, visit the IOM home page at: www. iom.edu. Copyright 2007 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. The serpent has been a symbol of long life, healing, and knowledge among almost all cultures and religions since the beginning of recorded history. The serpent adopted as a logotype by the Institute of Medicine is a relief carving from ancient Greece, now held by the Staatliche Museen in Berlin. Suggested citation: IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2007. Veterans and Agent Orange: Up- date 2006. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examina- tion of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the Na- tional Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. www.national-academies.org
COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE HEALTH EFFECTS IN VIETNAM VETERANS OF EXPOSURE TO HERBICIDES (SIXTH BIENNIAL UPDATE) JOHN J. STEGEMAN (Chair), Senior Scientist, Department of Biology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts RICHARD A. FENSKE, Professor, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle JORDAN FIRESTONE, Clinic Director Haborview Medical Center, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle PETER H. GANN, Professor, Department of Pathology, University of Illinois, Chicago MARK S. GOLDBERG, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, McGill University, Quebec, Canada CLAUDIA HOPENHAYN, Professor, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington NANCY I. KERKVLIET, Professor, Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis LINDA A. MCCAULEY, Professor, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia DEJURAN RICHARDSON, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, Lake Forest College, Chicago, Illinois HOLLIE I. SWANSON, Associate Professor, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington MARY K. WALKER, Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque STEPHEN D. WALTER, Professor, Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada Staff Mary Burr Paxton, Study Director Jennifer A. Cohen, Program Officer Rose Marie Martinez, Director, Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice Tia S. Carter, Senior Program Assistant Sonia J. Cheruvillil, Senior Program Assistant (through June 2006) Norman Grossblatt, Senior Editor v
Reviewers This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures ap- proved by the National Research Council's Report Review Committee. The pur- pose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manu- script remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Christine B. Ambrosone, Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York Frederick R. Appelbaum, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington Lesa L. Aylward, Summit Toxicology, Falls Church, Virginia Linda S. Birnbaum, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina Robert L. Black, Stanford University and Private Practice, Pediatrics, Monterey, California Margit L. Bleecker, The Center for Occupational and Environmental Neurology, Baltimore, Maryland David G. Hoel, Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Epidemiology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston vii
viii REVIEWERS Stephen H. Safe, Department of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, College Station Robert D. Sparks, TASER Foundation, El Dorado Hills, California G. Marie Swanson, College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson Bailus Walker, Jr., Department of Community Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive com- ments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recom- mendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Kristine M. Gebbie, Columbia University School of Nursing, New York. Appointed by the National Research Council, she was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
Preface In 1991, Congress passed Public Law (PL) 102-4, the Agent Orange Act of 1991, to address the uncertainty about the long-term health effects on Vietnam veterans who during their service in Vietnam were exposed to herbicides (mix- tures of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid [2,4-D], 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid [2,4,5-T], and its contaminant 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin [TCDD], picloram, and cacodylic acid). That legislation directed the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ask the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to perform a comprehen- sive evaluation of scientific and medical information regarding the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange, other herbicides used in Vietnam, and the various chemical components of those herbicides, including TCDD. The resulting com- mittee report Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam (VAO) was published by the NAS Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1994. That report evaluated and integrated the scientific evidence regarding statistical associations between health outcomes and exposure to the herbicides and TCDD, based on published literature that had accumulated prior to 1994. As required by PL 102-4, the Secretary also asked that NAS conduct updates at least every 2 years for 10 years from the date of the first report, to review newly available literature and draw conclusions from the overall evidence. The first of these updates, Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 1996 (Update 1996) was published in March of that year. The second, Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 1998 (Update 1998) was published in 1999. The third, Veterans and Agent Or- ange: Update 2000 (Update 2000) was published in 2001. The fourth, Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2002 (Update 2002) was published in 2003, and the fifth, Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2004 (Update 2004) was published in 2005, concluding 10 years of updates. ix
x PREFACE PL 107-103, the Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001, extended the period for biennial updates until 2014. The present report is the first of this second 10-year period of evaluation. The focus of this update is on the scientific studies published since the re- lease of Update 2004. To accomplish the review, the IOM established a commit- tee of 12 members representing a wide range of expertise to evaluate the newest scientific evidence and to consider this in light of the studies reviewed in VAO, Update 1996, Update 1998, Update 2000, Update 2002, and Update 2004. Five of the members of the committee responsible for this report were recruited from the committee responsible for Update 2004, providing a link to the experience and expertise of the previous committees. All committee members were selected because they are experts in their fields, have no conflicts of interest with regard to the matter under study, and have taken no public positions concerning the potential health effects of herbicides in Vietnam veterans or related aspects of herbicide or TCDD exposure. Biographical sketches of committee members and staff appear in Appendix D. Embarking on this second decade of evaluation, the committee approached a number of issues concerning the presentation of the information in the report, as well as seeking the most accurate information and advice from the widest possible range of knowledgeable sources for consideration. Consistent with NAS procedures, the committee met in a series of closed sessions in which members could freely examine, characterize, and weigh the strengths and limitations of the evidence. The committee also convened two open meetings in March and June, 2006, to provide the opportunity for veterans and veterans' service organizations, researchers, policymakers, and other interested parties to present their concerns, review their research, and exchange information directly with committee mem- bers. The oral presentations and written statements submitted to the committee are listed in Appendix A. The committee thanks the individuals who provided valuable insights into the health problems experienced by Vietnam veterans. The committee is grateful to Mary Paxton, who skillfully served as study director for this project. The committee would also like to acknowledge the excel- lent work of IOM staff members Jennifer Cohen, Tia Carter, Sonia Cheruvillil, David Butler, and Rose Marie Martinez. Thanks are also extended to Christie Bell, who handled the finances for the project; Norman Grossblatt, who provided editorial skills; and William McLeod, who conducted database searches. The committee also benefited from the assistance of several scientists and researchers who generously lent their time and expertise to help give commit- tee members insight on particular issues, provided copies of newly released research, or answered queries concerning their work. Dr. Maria Teresa Landi, an investigator at the National Cancer Institute, gave the committee a very informa- tive presentation on her work on the Seveso Women's Health Study. Dr. Michael Alavanja, also of the National Cancer Institute, was very helpful in answering questions about the conduct of the Agricultural Health Study, as were Julienell
PREFACE xi Robinson and Billy Jackson of Brooks Air Force Base in addressing questions about the Air Force Health Study. Special thanks are extended to Dr. Han Kang, Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Environmental Epidemiology Service, for his prompt response in providing supplementary analyses on the data presented in his recent publication on Vietnam-era veterans who served in the Army Chemical Corps. John Stegeman, Ph.D., Chair
Contents ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS xvii SUMMARY 1 1 INTRODUCTION 17 Charge to the Committee, 18 Conclusions of Previous Veterans and Agent Orange Reports, 19 Organization of This Report, 27 References, 27 2 EVALUATING THE EVIDENCE 29 Choice of Health Outcomes, 29 Identification of Relevant Literature, 29 Committee's Approach, 34 Evaluation of the Evidence, 37 References, 46 3 TOXICOLOGY 47 Highlights of Previous Reports, 48 Update Toxicity Profile of 2,4-D, 49 Update Toxicity Profile of 2,4,5-T, 56 Update Toxicity Profile of Cacodylic Acid, 58 Update Toxicity Profile of Picloram, 61 Update Toxicity Profile of TCDD, 62 References, 117 xiii
xiv CONTENTS 4 EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES—NEW CITATIONS FOR UPDATE 2006 AND BACKGROUND ON REPEATEDLY STUDIED POPULATIONS 139 New Citations Reviewed in Update 2006, 140 Relevant Populations: New Reports with Multiple Endpoints or Results on Previously Studied Groups, 150 Occupational Studies, 151 Environmental Studies, 168 Vietnam-Veteran Studies, 172 References, 186 5 EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT 214 Exposure Assessment in Epidemiologic Studies, 214 Occupational Exposure to Herbicides and TCDD, 221 Environmental Exposures to Herbicides and TCDD, 232 Military Use of Herbicides in Vietnam, 237 Exposure Assessment in Studies of Vietnam Veterans, 240 References, 247 6 CANCER 261 An Exhaustive and Unambiguous System for Addressing Cancer Types, 264 Oral, Nasal, and Pharyngeal Cancer, 267 Lip Cancer, 277 Tongue Cancer, 279 Tonsil Cancer, 281 Cancers of the Digestive Organs, 283 Esophageal Cancer, 286 Stomach Cancer, 291 Colorectal Cancer, 299 Hepatobiliary Cancers, 310 Pancreatic Cancer, 318 Laryngeal Cancer, 325 Lung Cancer, 330 Bone and Joint Cancer, 342 Soft-Tissue Sarcomas, 346 Skin Cancer—Melanoma, 354 Skin Cancer—Basal-Cell and Squamous-Cell Cancer (Non-Melanoma), 366 Breast Cancer, 371 Cancers of the Female Reproductive System, 382 Prostate Cancer, 388
CONTENTS xv Testicular Cancer, 402 Bladder Cancer, 407 Renal Cancer, 414 Cancers of the Eye and Orbit, 421 Brain Cancer, 423 Endocrine Cancers, 433 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, 443 Hodgkin's Disease, 457 Multiple Myeloma, 465 AL Amyloidosis, 472 Leukemia, 474 Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, 486 Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, 490 Summary, 494 References, 498 7 REPRODUCTIVE AND DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS 517 Fertility, 518 Spontaneous Abortion, 525 Stillbirth, Neonatal Death, and Infant Death, 529 Birth Weight and Preterm Delivery, 531 Birth Defects, 535 Childhood Cancer, 546 Summary, 553 References, 557 8 NEUROLOGIC DISORDERS 566 Neurobehavioral (Cognitive or Neuropsychiatric) Disorders, 568 Movement Disorders, 570 Parkinson's Disease and Parkinsonism, 570 Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, 580 Peripheral Neuropathy, 585 Summary, 591 References, 593 9 OTHER HEALTH EFFECTS 599 Chloracne, 600 Porphyria Cutanea Tarda, 602 Respiratory Disorders, 604 Immune-System Disorders, 617 Diabetes, 620 Lipid and Lipoprotein Disorders, 632
xvi CONTENTS Gastrointestinal and Digestive Disease, Including Liver Toxicity, 639 Peptic Ulcer Disease, 640 Liver Disease, 640 Circulatory Disorders, 644 Hypertension, 671 Circulatory Diseases, 673 AL Amyloidosis, 675 Endometriosis, 675 Thyroid Homeostasis, 680 Summary, 686 References, 688 10 RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS 699 References, 704 APPENDIXES A Agendas of Public Meetings Held by the Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides (Sixth Biennial Update) 705 B Classification of Cancer Groupings Used in Reporting Results, with Correspondence to NIOSH Cause-of-Death Codes and ICD Codes for Cancers 707 C Epidemiologic Tables for Chapter 4 717 D Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides (Sixth Biennial Update) and Staff Biographies 778 INDEX 784
Abbreviations and Acronyms 2,4-D 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid 2,4-DB 4-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)butyric acid 2,4-DCP 2,4-dichlorophenol 2,4,5-T 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid 2,4,5-TCP 2,4,5-trichlorophenol 2,4,5-TP 2-(2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy)propionic acid or Silvex 4NQO 4-nitroquinolone 1-oxide ACC Army Chemical Corps AFHS Air Force Health Study on veterans who served in Vietnam in Operation Ranch (Ranch Hand subjects) who were compared to Vietnam-era Air Force veterans who were deployed to Southeast Asia (SEA comparisons) AhR aryl hydrocarbon receptor AHRE Ah-responsive element AhRR aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor AHS Agricultural Health Study of commercial and private herbicide applicators and the spouses of private applicators in Iowa and North Carolina ALL acute lymphocytic leukemia ALS amyotrophic lateral sclerosis AML acute myelogenous leukemia ARNT aryl hydrocarbon nuclear translocator xvii
xviii ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS BCC basal cell carcinoma BIRLS Beneficiary Identification and Record Locator Subsystem BMI body-mass index CADM concentration- and age-dependent elimination model CAS Chemical Abstracts Service CCR California Cancer Registry CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CLL chronic lymphocytic leukemia CNS central nervous system COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease CPUR California Pesticide Use Reporting Database CRR crude rate ratio DHT dihydrotestosterone DMA dimethylarsinic acid or cacodylic acid DNA deoxyribonucleic acid DoD Department of Defense EC50 effective concentration for 50 percent of subjects treated EOI exposure opportunity index EPA Environmental Protection Agency FSH follicle-stimulating hormone GCT germ-cell tumor GD gestation day GIS geographic information system HD Hodgkin's disease HR hazard ratio IARC International Agency for Research on Cancer ICD; ICD-# International Classification of Diseases; specifies edition of ICD IOM Institute of Medicine IUGR intrauterine growth retardation JEM job–exposure matrix LD50 lethal dose to 50 percent of treated animals LH luteinizing hormone
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS xix M molar MCPA 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid MCPP 2-(2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxy) propionic acid or Mecoprop MPTP 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine NAS National Academy of Sciences NCI National Cancer Institute NCV nerve-conduction velocity NHL non-Hodgkin's lymphoma NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health NMDA N-methyl-D-aspartate NOEL no-observed-effect level OR odds ratio ORH Operation Ranch Hand PBPK model physiologically based pharmacokinetic model PCBs polychlorinated biphenyls PCDD/Fs polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans PCT porphyria cutanea tarda PD Parkinson's disease PL Public Law PND postnatal day PNS peripheral nervous system ppb parts per billion (109), equivalent to g/kg or ng/g ppm parts per million (106), equivalent to mg/kg or g/g ppt parts per trillion (1012), equivalent to ng/kg or pg/g PSD presenile dementia PTD preterm delivery PTSD posttraumatic stress disorder RA rheumatoid arthritis RBC red blood cell RR relative risk SCC squamous cell carcinoma SEA Southeast Asia SEER National Cancer Institute Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results SES socioeconomic status SIR standardized incidence ratio SMP submitochondrial particle SMR standardized mortality ratio
xx ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS SRMR standardized relative mortality ratio STS soft-tissue sarcoma SWHS Seveso Women's Health Study TCDD 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin TCP trichlorophenol (not specifically 2,4,5-TCP) TEF toxicity equivalency factor, potency of a dioxin-like compound relative to TCDD TEQ total toxicity equivalency quotient, sum of TEFs for a mixture of PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs TH tyrosine hydroxylase TNF tumor necrosis factor-alpha TPA 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate UFW United Farm Workers of America VA Department of Veterans Affairs VAO Veterans and Agent Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in Vietnam, first report in series VAO Veterans and Agent Orange, used to indicate this series of reports (VAO and updates) and the committees responsible for their preparation
VAgent eterans and Orange Update 2006
Next: Summary »
Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2006 Get This Book
From 1962 to 1971, the U.S. military sprayed herbicides over Vietnam to strip the thick jungle canopy that could conceal opposition forces, to destroy crops that those forces might depend on, and to clear tall grasses and bushes from the perimeters of U.S. base camps and outlying fire-support bases.
In response to concerns and continuing uncertainty about the long-term health effects of the sprayed herbicides on Vietnam veterans, Veterans and Agent Orange provides a comprehensive evaluation of scientific and medical information regarding the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used in Vietnam. The 2006 report is the seventh volume in this series of biennial updates. It will be of interest to policy makers and physicians in the federal government, veterans and their families, veterans' organizations, researchers, and health professionals.
Front Matter i–xxii
1 Introduction 17–28
2 Evaluating the Evidence 29–46
3 Toxicology 47–138
4 Epidemiologic Studies - New Citations for Update 2006 and Background on Repeatedly Studied Populations 139–213
5 Exposure Assessment 214–260
6 Cancer 261–516
7 Reproductive and Developmental Effects 517–565
8 Neurologic Disorders 566–598
9 Other Health Effects 599–698
10 Research Recommendations 699–704
APPENDIX A Agendas of Public Meetings Held by the Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides (Sixth Biennial Update) 705–706
APPENDIX B Clarification of Cancer Groupings Used in Reporting Results, with Correspondence to NIOSH Cause-of-Death Codes and ICD Codes for Cancers 707–716
APPENDIX C Epidemiologic Tables for Chapter 4 717–777
APPENDIX D Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides (Sixth Biennial Update) and Staff Biographies 778–872


FunkyTown is proud to be associated with Daniah (10) and Jedijah (12), two sisters from Jeffreys Bay who recently returned from Los Angeles where they took part in the annual World Championships of Performing Arts held in Hollywood.
28 medals were achieved between them for various categories, including duet vocals, solo vocals and acting.
Daniah received the Grand Champion of the World award for acting overall for the for ages 5-15.
Jedijah and Daniah also received the Grand Champion of the World award for vocal duet overall for ages 5-15.


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"Diptyching"
Audio, video, wood, doors, exterior lights, ladders and paint.
On view at the Mattress Factory from Sept. 12th, 2013 - May 25th, 2014 as part of the group show "Detroit:Artists in Residence"
"Diptyching" is intended to be a visceral, confusing and destabilizing experience. The artists play a psychological game with the viewer by presenting a welcoming (or at least familiar) structure that is attempting to contain a disquieting audio component that is coming from within. An ominous "soundtrack" and an unsettling array of screams and construction sounds challenge and warn the viewer of the impending calamity on the other side. Both entrance and exit doors are equipped with automatic door closures to create a one-way in and one-way out corralling experience. Being corralled forces the viewer to reconsider the meaning of the piece in terms of the viewers own interaction with it and with their own anxieties the piece may invoke. The exterior doors, pilasters and pediment - along with the color scheme - come from a duplex the artists saw during their residency at the Mattress Factory in Troy Hill (a neighborhood in Pittsburgh). Combined with a mini barn mock Tudor design, the façade represents what the artists refer to as an ever pervasive "contractor aesthetic."
The video component of this installation piece is part performative document and part comedic catharsis. Kuperus/Miller laboriously built the initial façade themselves, filmed its Buster Keaton-like fall and its deconstruction (by the duo themselves) - only to rebuild it again with a new built-in psychodrama. Kuperus/Miller play the roles of the overtly fetishized and stereotyped, genderless and buffoonish construction workers; which are part autobiographical and part archetypal. These construction characters personify sexuality, perversion, self-preservation, work, purpose, failure and defeat. While the video is often difficult, painful or unsettling to look at, each scene or vignette plays like a blooper reel of the absurd. The video oscillates between a serious and yet comedic spectacle. The artists believe some viewers will find the video disgusting or unnerving, while others will find it laughable, ridiculous and totally entertaining. Kuperus/Miller are attempting to create a surreal sense of place with equal degrees of the grotesque and the humorous.
The sound compositions in "Diptyching" are available on a 12" vinyl record (released on their own label Ersatz Audio) that they have made into a special limited edition pressing of only 313 signed copies (313 is the Detroit area code). This 12" record "Work/Wreck" was made in conjunction with this exhibition and has been made available for purchase as a document of this installation in the museum shop or online at Ersatz Audio.
Below: Production stills from the video component.
Below: Stills of the Installation.


Student ratings of instruction (also known as student evaluations of teaching or course evaluations) are the most commonly used method for evaluating and getting feedback on teaching, as well as one of the most studied topics in higher education. Despite their ubiquity, misperceptions about ratings and problematic use of their results are common in the academy. This page provides resources specific to U-M's online ratings system, overviews of the research on this topic, and suggestions for using student ratings results effectively, both for improvement and evaluation. To set up an appointment with a CRLT consultant to discuss results of your student ratings, complete our consultation request form.
While research indicates that ratings do provide one useful source of data about teaching quality, there is also widespread agreement that they should never be used in isolation. CRLT's page on the evaluation of teaching offers an overview of best practices for teaching evaluation, as well as information about other sources of data, such as peer review.
U-M Office of the Registrar: Student Ratings - The Registrar's Office runs the U-M online student ratings system. Their website has information on selecting questions, a list of key dates for the evaluation process, answers to frequently asked questions, and data on response rates across campus.
Providing Helpful Feedback to Your Instructor: A Handout for Students - A one-page handout instructors can give to students that explains the key features of helpful written feedback on student ratings. These include addressing comments to the instructor, being specific, and avoiding comments not related to learning (e.g., comments about appearance or insults).


text:
Jason Richwine
A Compendium of Recent Academic Work Showing Negative Impacts of Immigration
By Jason Richwine on June 27, 2022
[Editor's Note: This is the third and most up-to-date edition of the compendium. It was originally published in 2019 and then revised in 2020.]
Is there a scholarly consensus that immigration benefits all Americans? Listening to advocates and their allied media, one might assume so. Vox once ran this headline: "There's no evidence that immigrants hurt any American workers." A writer for Forbes claimed that immigration restrictionists "are on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of social science". Reason's Shikha Dalmia has claimed that George Borjas is "literally the only economist of any repute who questions the economic benefits of immigration".
The purpose of this compendium is to dispel such self-serving myths. The truth is that the costs and benefits of immigration are routinely measured, weighed, and debated in academic journals. No fair reading of the literature could conclude that immigration has only benefits — or only costs, for that matter. A 2016 review by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine demonstrated the mixed effects of immigration, as have dozens of studies appearing since that time. This compendium uses the National Academies as a starting point, then summarizes a sample of subsequently published papers that find costs associated with immigration. These papers address the labor market impact of immigration as well as broader effects.
The National Academies' 2016 Review
Chapters 4 and 5 of the National Academies' book-length report review the theoretical and empirical research on how immigration affects wages and employment. Anyone who takes the time to read this material will understand that immigration is costly to certain groups of Americans. For example, Table 5-2 from the report lists several major studies measuring immigration's impact on wages. Notice the negative values in the "Wage Effect" column:
Unfortunately, not everyone has done the reading. The economist-activist Esther Duflo once told a whopper about the National Academies' report. According to her, the report "summarized maybe hundreds of studies, and they all come to the conclusion that the effect of low-skilled migration on low-skilled wages is zero." It is these types of assertions, thoroughly unmoored from reality, that fuel the impression of consensus about immigration's benefits.
Since the National Academies' report was published in 2016, academics have continued to produce papers finding costs associated with immigration. A curated list of these recent papers is provided below. Please note that the authors are mainstream academics writing for mainstream outlets. Harvard's George Borjas, who was alleged to be "the only economist" to publish these types of studies, clearly has a lot of company. Like Borjas, these authors usually stress that they have found both costs and benefits. One-sided claims about immigration are rarely true.
In each of the following paper summaries, I focus on the immigration aspects of the paper, draw out policy implications, and link to related CIS research whenever helpful.
Wage and Employment Effects
Anthony Edo, "The Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market", Journal of Economic Surveys, Vol. 33, No. 3, July 2019.
This review paper is similar in content to the National Academies' chapters, but it takes a more international perspective. After considering over 50 studies of immigration in developed countries, the author concludes that "immigration can create winners and losers among the native-born workers." Because low-skill immigration tends to make low-skill natives the "losers" and high-skill natives the "winners", rising inequality is a natural consequence. This conclusion stands in stark contrast to the advocates' position that "there is no evidence that immigrants hurt any American workers." While some Americans gain from immigration, others certainly do lose.
Joseph Price, Christian vom Lehn, and Riley Wilson, "The Winners and Losers of Immigration: Evidence from Linked Historical Data", NBER Working Paper No. 27156, May 2020.
This paper acknowledges the winner-loser framework right in its title. The authors use genealogical data to track millions of men between decennial censuses in the early 20th century. Following these individuals allows the authors to improve upon past research that focused only on community-level impacts of immigration. They find that older and higher-skilled workers were the "winners" — their incomes tended to go up when immigrants entered their local labor market. By contrast, younger and less-skilled workers were the "losers" — they were more likely to move away and suffer income losses as a result of immigration.
In the modern-day context, CIS has emphasized that immigration tends to have strong disemployment effects on the youngest and least-skilled Americans of all: teenagers.
David A. Jaeger, Joakim Ruist, and Jan Stuhler, "Shift-Share Instruments and the Impact of Immigration", NBER Working Paper No. 24285, February 2018.
Several studies try to isolate the impact of immigration on wages by comparing cities with different levels of immigration. The problem is that immigrants do not choose destination cities randomly. If they choose cities that have rising wages, the negative impact of immigration may be obscured.
This paper shows that a common "instrumental variables" technique to deal with that problem still unintentionally captures more than just the initial impact of immigration. When a local area experiences an influx of immigrants, the wage goes down for a time, but then it rises back toward equilibrium as more businesses come in or other workers leave. Since immigrants tend to go to the same places year after year, the instrumental-variables technique captures both the negative short-term wage effect and the positive "catch-up" wage effect from earlier waves of immigrants. As a result, all of the short-term wage effects estimated using this method appear less negative than they really are.
The authors of this paper provide a long list of prior studies that underestimate negative wage effects because of this faulty method. Giovanni Peri, an economist famous for downplaying the negative impact of immigration, has 12 different papers on the list.
Michael Amior and Alan Manning, "Monopsony and the Wage Effects of Migration", CEP Discussion Paper No. 1690, May 2021.
In the standard model first developed by George Borjas, immigrants produce small economic gains for natives (an "immigration surplus") but do so by lowering the wages of competing workers. The model is built on the assumption of "perfect competition" in the labor market, meaning that employers compete for labor until the wage is bid up to equal the workers' value added. But what happens if the assumption of perfect competition is relaxed?
The authors of this paper argue that various legal and cultural barriers prevent immigrants from moving between jobs as easily as natives do. With less competition among employers to hire workers, immigration could reduce the ability of workers to demand a wage that reflects the full value of their labor. If so, both the surplus and the corresponding wage reductions would increase in magnitude.
L. Jason Anastasopoulos, George J. Borjas, Gavin G. Cook, and Michael Lachanski, "Job Vacancies and Immigration: Evidence from the Mariel Supply Shock", Journal of Human Capital, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2021.
It may seem that the Mariel Boatlift (summarized here by CIS) has been studied to death, but this is an innovative paper. It uses a database of historical job listings to establish that job vacancies for low-skill workers in Miami declined after a sudden wave of Cuban refugees arrived in the city in 1980. The implication is that the labor market was not able to immediately adjust to the influx of new workers.
Christian Dustmann, Uta Schönberg, and Jan Stuhler, "Labor Supply Shocks, Native Wages, and the Adjustment of Local Employment", Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 132, No. 1., 2017.
Maria Forthun Hoen, "Immigration and the Tower of Babel: Using Language Barriers to Identify Individual Labor Market Effects of Immigration", Labour Economics, Vol. 65, 2020.
These two papers analyze immigration surges in different countries but come to similar conclusions. In the first paper, a change in commuting policy led to a sudden increase in Czech workers in a border area of Germany. The result was lower wages and employment levels for natives, particularly for those who were older and had less attachment to the labor force. In the second paper, an expansion of the EU labor market caused a surge of immigration to Norway. Wages for young workers fell in the most affected industries, and workers of all ages — especially older ones — experienced declines in employment and increases in disability enrollment.
Although these two papers focus on Europe, they have important implications for U.S. policy. As CIS has argued, the tight labor market in the U.S. in 2019 led employers to recruit from marginalized groups such as high school dropouts and the disabled. Expanding immigration in a tight labor market could short-circuit that employer outreach.
Michael Amior, "The Contribution of Immigration to Local Labor Market Adjustment", CEP Discussion Paper No. 1678, September 2021.
Why don't more Americans leave economically depressed places and move to the parts of the U.S. where more jobs are available? One answer, according to this paper, is that foreign immigration crowds them out. New immigrants tend to settle in high-employment areas, reducing the potential rewards for natives who move there. This phenomenon again illustrates how immigration can limit the opportunities for down-and-out natives to benefit from economic growth.
Javier Ortega and Gregory Verdugo, "Who Stays and Who Leaves? Immigration and the Selection of Natives Across Locations", Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 22, No. 2, March 2022.
George J. Borjas and Anthony Edo, "Gender, Selection into Employment, and the Wage Impact of Immigration", NBER Working Paper No. 28682, February 2022. Both of these papers show that immigration in France has imposed downward pressure on wages and encouraged natives to move away from high-immigration areas or leave the labor force entirely. Because the natives who exit tend to be less-skilled, the wage impact of immigration on a particular area may be understated if researchers do not take into account the new workforce composition.
Joan Monras, "Local Adjustment to Immigrant-Driven Labor Supply Shocks", Journal of Human Capital, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2021.
This is another paper that demonstrates how internal migration can partially disguise longer-term labor market effects of immigration. After the Mariel boatlift initially caused wages to decline in Miami, the labor market returned to equilibrium. However, about half of the adaptation can be ascribed to low-skill workers moving away from (or declining to move to) Miami.
Bin Xie, "The Effects of Immigration Quotas on Wages, the Great Black Migration, and Industrial Development", IZA Discussion Paper No. 11214, December 2017.
Just as economists have studied sudden surges in immigration to assess the labor market effects, the results of sudden restrictions on immigration are also instructive. According to this analysis, restrictive immigration laws in the 1920s raised manufacturing wages and drew black migrants from the South into northern factories. This result provides further support for the theory that immigration deters natives from moving into emerging labor markets.
Interestingly, immigration restriction also appears to have slowed the growth of electric-powered assembly lines, which illustrates how the relationship between skills and technology has changed over time. Low-skill workers were once needed to man the assembly lines that displaced skilled artisans. Today, technology generally advances with skilled workers — e.g., computer programmers in Silicon Valley. (See the Brunello et al. paper listed below for more on this point.)
Ran Abramitzky, Philipp Ager, Leah Boustan, Elior Cohen, and Casper W. Hansen, "The Effect of Immigration Restrictions on Local Labor Markets: Lessons from the 1920s Border Closure", American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, forthcoming.
This paper also finds that 1920s immigration restrictions benefited rural Americans who migrated into cities to replace lost labor. In contrast, farmers mechanized rather than attempting to recruit new workers.
Amy Wax and Jason Richwine, "Low-Skill Immigration: A Case for Restriction", American Affairs, Winter 2017.
The authors combine the "top-down" Census Bureau data on native job losses with "bottom-up" ethnographic research on employer preferences for immigrant labor. They make a strong qualitative case that businesses use immigrants to replace natives in their low-skill workforces.
In 2019, CIS published a follow-up report that focused on Equal Employment Opportunity Commission cases in which employers are accused of favoring immigrant workers over native workers. The details of these cases are consistent with the claim that employers use immigration to depress wages and working conditions.
Maria Hoen, Simen Markussen, and Knut Roed, "Immigration and Economic Mobility", Journal of Population Economics, 2021.
Using administrative data from Norway, the authors find that low-skill immigration has reduced social mobility, causing inequality to increase. Interestingly, they connect their findings to the politics of immigration. Opposition to immigration from lower classes in Norway arises not necessarily from "bigotry", but as a rational response to their weakened economic position.
David Neumark and Cortnie Shupe, "Declining Teen Employment: Minimum Wages, Other Explanations, and Implications for Human Capital Investment", Labour Economics, Vol. 59, 2019.
The primary focus of this paper is the minimum wage, but it finds some role for immigration in reducing teen employment. In contrast, the authors find only minimal evidence that teens voluntarily left the labor market because the economic returns to a high school diploma had increased.
Anthony Edo and Hillel Rapoport, "Minimum Wages and the Labor Market Effects of Immigration", Labour Economics, Vol. 61, December 2019.
This paper uses state variation in minimum wage laws to show that immigrants tend to lower the wages and employment levels of the natives with whom they compete most directly. Specifically, natives suffer greater wage and employment losses due to low-skill immigration in states with lower minimum wages. Whether increasing the minimum wage would be wise policy is beyond the scope of the paper, but it does show once again that immigrants and natives are — at least to a large extent — substitutes in the labor market.
John Bound, Guarav Khanna, and Nicolas Morales, "Understanding the Economic Impact of the H-1B Program on the U.S", in High-Skilled Migration to the United States and Its Economic Consequences, Eds. Gordon H. Hanson, William R. Kerr, and Sarah Turner, University of Chicago Press, 2018.
General equilibrium models can be highly sensitive to assumptions. It sometimes seems that one can build a model to prove virtually any proposition. In this case, however, the model confirms basic economic theory: High-skill immigration in the 1990s lowered the wage for competing native workers but reduced consumer prices and increased corporate profits, again illustrating the trade-offs inherent to immigration policy. Consumers and corporations win, while some workers lose.
Giorgio Brunello, Elisabetta Lodigiani, and Lorenzo Rocco, "Does Low-skilled Immigration Increase Profits? Evidence from Italian Local Labour Markets", Regional Science and Urban Economics, Vol. 85, November 2020.
Though its results are likely underestimated due to use of the instrumental-variables technique discussed in the Jaeger et al. paper listed above, this paper finds the usual result that low-skill immigration reduces wages and increases profits in affected industries. The authors speculate that low-skill immigration has retarded Italy's transition to a more high-tech economy.
There is an interesting parallel here to U.S. agriculture, where CIS research has found that immigration delays mechanization of the harvest. (Also see the Abramitzky et al. paper above.)
Simone Bertoli and Steven Stillman, "All That Glitters Is Not Gold: Wages and Education for U.S. Immigrants", Labour Economics, Vol. 61, December 2019.
Education generally correlates with earnings, but the relationship is weaker among immigrants. This paper finds that when a highly-educated immigrant is selected at random, 25 percent of the time he or she will have lower earnings than a less-educated immigrant who is also selected at random. The corresponding figure for high- versus less-educated natives is about 14 percent. "Conferring a pivotal role to education in the selection of migrants might fail to induce a substantial increase in their average quality, and it might even potentially backfire," the authors warn. For one thing, these allegedly "skilled" workers could end up competing with less-educated natives.
The findings are consistent with several reports published by CIS. First, despite their faster educational gains, recent immigrants have not improved relative to natives on measures of income, poverty, and welfare consumption. Second, college-educated immigrants are more likely than college-educated natives to hold low-skill jobs, especially when the immigrants are from Latin America. Third, immigrants with foreign college or advanced degrees score lower on tests of English literacy, numeracy, and computer operations compared to natives with the same level of education. Finally, the value of foreign degrees varies substantially by source country.
Cultural and Political Effects
Kathleen Kürschner Rauck and Michael Kvasnicka, "The 2015 European Refugee Crisis and Residential Housing Rents in Germany", IZA Discussion Paper No. 12047, December 2018.
Kathleen Kürschner Rauck, "Not in My Backyard! The 2015 Refugee Crisis in Germany", Working Paper on Finance 2020/04, September 2020.
These companion papers fall at the intersection of economics and culture. They find that the influx of Syrian refugees to Germany lowered apartment rents and the prices of single-family homes in areas where the refugees were most concentrated, despite the sheer increase in people needing housing. The reason is that native Germans did not wish to live near large numbers of refugees. Immigration changes host countries in a variety of ways, and these papers offer a rare quantitative look at how natives sometimes avoid the areas most affected.
Umair Ali, "Native Flight Responses to Immigration: Evidence from K-12 School Enrollments", EdWorkingPaper No. 22-579, May 2022.
In the U.S., a growing immigrant population in a metropolitan area increases the likelihood that white and black natives will exit the public schools. The effect is especially strong among white students, who tend to move over to private schools. By contrast, Hispanic and Asian students do not leave the public schools. The author of this paper suggests that "homophily" — the desire for cultural familiarity — can explain why immigration appears to be so disruptive to the student body. Lower levels of immigration would of course mitigate these cultural disruptions, as CIS has emphasized.
Courtney Brell, Christian Dustmann, and Ian Preston, "The Labor Market Integration of Refugee Migrants in High-Income Countries", Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 34, No. 1, Winter 2020.
Resettling refugees may be a humanitarian good, but the argument that refugees are somehow an economic boon to their host nations is dubious. This paper reviews the evidence that refugees struggle to integrate into the economies of high-income host nations. In the U.S. specifically, refugees perform unusually well in finding jobs. However, in line with their counterparts in other rich nations, U.S. refugees earn low wages even after 10 years of residency.
CIS estimated in 2020 that the average new refugee in the U.S. imposes a fiscal cost of about $60,000 in lifetime net present value. The corresponding cost for refugees who enter as adults is $133,000.
Zachary Ward, "The Not-So-Hot Melting Pot: The Persistence of Outcomes for Descendants of the Age of Mass Migration", American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Vol. 12, No. 4, October 2020.
The idea that Great Wave immigrants of varied nationalities disappeared into a "melting pot" is an exaggeration. In 1880, large differences in earnings (as measured by occupational status) existed among immigrants of different nationalities. By 1940, the grandchildren of those immigrants still exhibited about half of the initial differences. Although this paper focuses primarily on Great Wave immigrants, the author warns that "there are many reasons to expect the persistence of ethnic gaps to be stronger for more recent times."
Indeed, a CIS report finds that the grandchildren of Mexican immigrants still lag behind white Americans in education and earnings. Immigration advocates who brush aside concerns about assimilation need to address this worrisome evidence.
Dafeng Xu, "The Effects of Immigration Restriction Laws on Immigrant Segregation in the Early Twentieth Century U.S.", Journal of Comparative Politics, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2020.
The ethnic enclaves in which Great Wave immigrants gathered eventually withered away, leading to less residential segregation. According to this paper, the process was aided by immigration restriction in the 1920s. The paper finds that residential segregation decreased more rapidly among the immigrant groups that were most restricted, such as Italians and Poles. The effect occurred mainly by denying ethnic enclaves "reinforcements" in the form of new immigrants, although the author also finds some evidence that return migration became more likely among enclave residents compared to non-enclave residents. The results suggest that, to the extent that the "melting pot" operates, it can be strengthened by limiting immigration.
Deniz Gevrek, Cahit Guven, and Z. Eylem Gevrek, "The Relationship Between Early-life Conditions in the Home Country and Adult Outcomes Among Child Immigrants in the United States", Economics & Human Biology, Vol. 45, 2022.
Immigrants who arrive in the U.S. as children generally have the benefit of growing up with institutions that help them integrate into their new society. However, this paper finds that the infant mortality rate in the children's sending country is negatively associated with their academic performance in U.S. middle schools and with their subsequent labor market outcomes as adults. The authors argue that this association is causal. However, even if the relationship is due to other factors, it is still a sobering reminder that long-term exposure to U.S. institutions (including costly social programs) cannot always overcome pre-existing differences. CIS has reflected on this problem in several papers, including an analysis of academic tests that include the scores of U.S. immigrants and their children.
Paola Giuliano and Marco Tabellini, "The Seeds of Ideology: Historical Immigration and Political Preferences in the United States", NBER Working Paper No. 27238, May 2020.
While previous papers analyzed the socioeconomic assimilation of Great Wave immigrants, this one focuses on political assimilation. The authors find that preferences for redistribution among Americans today are correlated with the historical presence of immigrants. Specifically, immigrants seem to have imported the political ideology of their home countries and then spread those views to natives. Whether this political effect of immigration is truly "negative" will depend on one's own political views, but remember that any significant political shift, to the left or to the right, usually involves social disruption.
Crime and Health Effects
Alexander Billy and Michael Packard, "Crime and the Mariel Boatlift", Working Paper, October 2020.
Research on the Mariel Boatlift usually focuses on the labor market impact. (See Anastasopoulos et al. above.) This paper investigates the impact on crime. Compared to similar cities, Miami experienced a 41 percent increase in the murder rate, a 70 percent increase in the rate of robberies, and at least a 25 percent increase in the rate of property crimes after the boatlift. The authors caution, however, that extrapolating to ordinary immigrants would be unjustified, since Fidel Castro added inmates of prisons and mental hospitals to the ranks of the Marielitos.
In a 2009 report, CIS discussed the challenges of measuring immigrant crime. A follow-up piece in 2015 summarized recent developments, with particular emphasis on choosing an appropriate baseline for comparison.
Brandyn F. Churchill, Andrew Dickinson, Taylor Mackay, and Joseph J. Sabia, "The Effect of E-Verify Laws on Crime", Industrial and Labor Relations Review, forthcoming.
States that mandated E-Verify saw a 7 percent decline in property crime committed by working-age Hispanics. The authors believe that the decrease in labor market competition with illegal aliens steered Hispanic citizens toward work and away from crime.
Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel, Naci H. Mocan, Semih Tumen, and Belgi Turan, "The Crime Effect of Refugees", NBER Working Paper No. 30070, May 2022.
The influx of millions of Syrian refugees into Turkey caused crime to rise in the most affected provinces, although this study cannot distinguish between Syrian and Turkish offenders. The authors theorize that economic competition is one of the drivers of conflict between the two groups.
Although massive refugee flows are more associated with Europe, the U.S. may eventually confront similar issues. For example, when the Biden administration began accepting tens of thousands of Afghan refugees last year, CIS warned that vetting was woefully insufficient. An additional CIS report discussed evidence that crime rates among Afghan refugees in Europe are troublingly high. Whether the U.S. will experience similar refugee crime problems remains to be seen.
Philipp Ager, James J. Feigenbaum, Casper Worm Hansen, and Hui Ren Tan, "How The Other Half Died: Immigration and Mortality in US Cities", NBER Working Paper 27480, July 2020.
Analyzing the aftermath of the 1924 immigration restriction, the authors develop a measure of "missing immigrants", meaning the difference between the actual number of immigrants post-1924 and the number expected based on pre-1924 trend lines. Cities with more missing immigrants saw greater declines in infectious-disease deaths. The authors argue that reduced crowding led to improved sanitation in cities, boosting the health of immigrants and natives alike.
The link between overcrowding and disease became highly salient during the Covid-19 pandemic. As CIS has shown, household overcrowding contributes to the spread of respiratory diseases, including Covid-19, and modern immigration has added significantly to the overcrowding problem in the U.S. — just as it did prior to 1924.
Melike Dedeoğlu, Emrah Koçak, and Zübeyde Şentürk Uucak, "The Impact of Immigration on Human Capital and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the USA: An Empirical Investigation", Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, Vol. 14, 2021.
This paper shows that immigration to the U.S. increases the country's greenhouse gas emissions. While allowing that mitigating climate change requires a multi-faceted approach, the authors argue that policymakers should not ignore the role of immigration when devising environmental policies. Previous CIS research has made largely the same point.
Topics: Costs of Immigration
United Nations to Hand Out Hundreds of Millions in Cash to U.S.-Bound Immigrants in 2023
Chicago Mayor Wants Money for Migrant Care, Illinois Says It's 'Exhausted Available Fiscal Resources'
Massive Spending Bill Includes $785 Million to Feed, House, and Transport Migrants
More Evidence for Cultural Persistence
Immigration Crowds Out Native Workers
DeSantis Should Try Again for Universal E-Verify


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Q: openssl_pkcs12_export_to_file includes CA? When I export certificates with PHP's openssl_pkcs12_export_to_file the phone I test it on says it includes a root CA, which is a self-signed CA (so it seems, at least)
The code I'm using is as follows:
Class X509 {

    protected $db;
    private $certificate_validity       = 1826;
    private $certificate_values         = array(
                                              "countryName" => "NL",
                                              "stateOrProvinceName" => "XX",
                                              "localityName" => "xxxxxxxxxxxx",
                                              "organizationName" => "xxxxxx",
                                              "organizationalUnitName" => "xxx",
                                              "emailAddress" => "x@xxx.xxx.xxx"
                                          );
    private $signing_configuration      = array(
                                              "digest_alg" => "sha1"
                                          );

    public function __construct() {
        IF(!function_exists(openssl_pkcs12_export_to_file)) {
            return false;
        }
    }

    public function createCertificate($commonName) {
        $this->certificate_values['commonName']     = $commonName;
        $this->certificate_values['internalName']   = $commonName;

        $privateKey     = self::_createPrivateKey();
        $password       = self::_generatePassword();
        $signRequest    = self::_createSignRequest($privateKey);
        $serial         = self::_getNewSerial();
        $signedRequest  = self::_signRequest($signRequest, $serial);

        #Export.
        $export_csr     = self::_exportCSR($signRequest, $commonName);
        $export_p12     = self::_exportP12($signedRequest, $commonName, $privateKey, $password);
        $export_cer     = self::_exportCER($signedRequest, $commonName, $privateKey);
        $export_pkey    = self::_exportPKey($privateKey, $commonName, $password);

        return array("name" => $commonName, "password" => $password);
    }

    private function _createPrivateKey() {
        return openssl_pkey_new(array('private_key_bits' => 1024));
    }

    private function _createSignRequest($privateKey) {
        return openssl_csr_new($this->certificate_values, $privateKey);
    }

    private function _getNewSerial() {
        // making a random serial, since it does not matter YET
        return rand(65000, 65536);
    }

    private function _generatePassword() {
        return 'Derp1234!@';
    }

    private function _signRequest($signRequest, $serial) {
        return openssl_csr_sign($signRequest, $this->root_ca_certificate, array($this->root_ca_privatekey_file, $this->root_ca_privatekey_pass), $this->certificate_validity, $this->signing_configuration, $serial);
    }

    private function _exportCSR($signedRequest, $commonName) {
        return openssl_csr_export_to_file($signedRequest, $this->certificate_csr_path.$commonName.".csr");
    }

    private function _exportP12($signedRequest, $commonName, $privateKey, $password) {
        return openssl_pkcs12_export_to_file($signedRequest, $this->certificate_p12_path.$commonName.".p12", $privateKey, $password);
    }

    private function _exportCER($signedRequest, $commonName, $privateKey) {
        return openssl_x509_export_to_file($signedRequest, $this->certificate_cer_path.$commonName.".cer");
    }

    private function _exportPKey($privateKey, $commonName, $password) {
        return openssl_pkey_export_to_file($privateKey, $this->certificate_pkey_path.$commonName."privatekey.pem", $password);
    }
}

$c = new X509();
var_dump($c->createCertificate($_GET['cn']));

Am I overlooking something, or doing it completely wrong?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Running a referral program can be a lot of work. The good news is there's help. This infographic illustrates some of the most common problems that can be solved with referral automation software.
The production of leads from our partners is spotty and based on the relationship with our partner managers.


You are going to start modelling soon, but first you should get to know the viewports and and how to navigate in them.
If you want to change the visible range or fov of the 3d view, right click in it and go to GXL Properties.In gxl properties screen, you can change the fov and visible depth using the sliders.
Left mouse click pans the 2D views and rotates the camera in 3D view.
Right mouse click and the mouse wheel zooms in or out both in 2D and 3D views.
Right mouse click mouse click pans the 2D views and rotates the 3D camera.
Left mouse click draws a selection box in all views.
Mouse wheel zooms in or out in all views.
Pressing and holding Alt key temporarily switches to camera tool. Therefore controls for the camera gets activated. If you stop holding alt key it will switch back to your previously selected tool. So if you want to pan 2D views you have to press Alt key and click on the left mouse button at the same time.


text:
Q: A question of the semantic meaning of the (non-relativistic) propagator In the Wikipedia article it says "the propagator is a function that specifies the probability amplitude for a particle to travel from one place to another in a given period of time".
Let us write the propagator going from state $A$ to state $B$ as $K_t(A,B)$.
According to the definition this amplitude should correspond in some sense to the probability $P(A|B)$. But this can't be so since:
$$\sum_AP(A|B) = 1$$
but
$$\sum_A |K_t(A,B)|^2 \neq 1$$
instead:
$$\sum_A  K_t(A,B) =1$$
However we do have $\sum\limits_B K_t(A,B)\Psi_0(B)  = \Psi_t(A)$ which corresponds to the probabilities $P(A) = \sum\limits_B P(A|B)P(B)$. But we have $|\sum\limits_B K_t(A,B)\Psi(B)|^2 = |\Psi_0(A)|^2$. Hence the amplitude $K_t(A,B)$ can't be associated with any probability as the equation cannot be factored. Wave functions, of course, satisfy $\sum\limits_A|\Psi_t(A)|^2=1$
Hence, what right have we to call $K_t(A,B)$ a "probability amplitude" when it's absolute square does not correspond to a probability?
It is acceptable to call $K_t(A,B)$ a "time evolution operator" as we can interpret it as a matrix $K(t)^{AB}$ where $A$ and $B$ can be thought of as indices of a matrix.
Is this just being semantically picky? Or is there a fundamental difference between the complex amplitude given by a wave function $\Psi$ and the complex "amplitude" given by the propagator $K$?Because it seems to me that $K$ does not satisfy the definition of amplitude given by a complex number whose modulus squared represented a probability.

A: According to the statement that you quote from Wikipedia, the propagator is a conditional probability amplitude: Given a particle in one place, it tells us the probability amplitude for the particle in another place. In other words, to get a probability amplitude, one needs to multiply the propagator with another probability amplitude and integrate. This is exactly what you are doing at one point:
$$ \sum\limits_B K_t(A,B)\Psi(B) = \Psi_0(A) . $$

A: If $\Psi(B)$ is a delta-function, then you get back to your initial equations. Thus, the problem is really with how one normalizes the continuum states - not specifically with the propagator. E.g., this problem would not arise, if you work in k-space.


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12 - Screening and referral ✕
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Objective 12 in the Global Compact for Migration
Strengthen certainty and predictability in migration procedures for appropriate screening, assessment and referral
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) is based on 23 objectives. This page provides resources for objective 12 (Strengthen certainty and predictability in migration procedures for appropriate screening, assessment and referral):
"28. We commit to increase legal certainty and predictability of migration procedures by developing and strengthening effective and human rights-based mechanisms for the adequate and timely screening and individual assessment of all migrants for the purpose of identifying and facilitating access to the appropriate referral procedures, in accordance with international law.
To realize this commitment, we will draw from the following actions:
(a) Increase transparency and accessibility of migration procedures by communicating the requirements for entry, admission, stay, work, study or other activities, and introducing technology to simplify application procedures, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and expenses for States and migrants
(b) Develop and conduct intra- and cross-regional specialized human rights and trauma-informed trainings for first responders and government officials, including law enforcement authorities, border officials, consular representatives and judicial bodies, to facilitate and standardize identification and referral of, as well as appropriate assistance and counselling in a culturally-sensitive way, to victims of trafficking in persons, migrants in situations of vulnerability, including children, in particular those unaccompanied or separated, and persons affected by any form of exploitation and abuse related to smuggling of migrants under aggravating circumstances
(c) Establish gender-responsive and child-sensitive referral mechanisms, including improved screening measures and individual assessments at borders and places of first arrival, by applying standardized operating procedures developed in coordination with local authorities, National Human Rights Institutions, international organizations and civil society
(d) Ensure that migrant children are promptly identified at places of first arrival in countries of transit and destination, and, if unaccompanied or separated, are swiftly referred to child protection authorities and other relevant services as well as appointed a competent and impartial legal guardian, that family unity is protected, and that anyone legitimately claiming to be a child is treated as such unless otherwise determined through a multi-disciplinary, independent and child-sensitive age assessment
(e) Ensure that, in the context of mixed movements, relevant information on rights and obligations under national laws and procedures, including on entry and stay requirements, available forms of protection, as well as options for return and reintegration, is appropriately, timely and effectively communicated, and accessible." (GCM, 2018: para. 28)
Objective 12 aims to bring in certainty and predictability in migration procedures, by conceiving human rights based mechanisms for the screening of migrants, upon arrival in countries of transit and destination, allowing for timely identification and access to appropriate referral mechanisms enabling migrants to receive treatment consistent with international human rights standards.
To achieve this, it is essential that migrants have access to accurate and timely information and are aware of migration procedures and of their rights, which would reduce their vulnerabilities and empower them and provide agency during migration proceedings. Concurrently, accessible and transparent migration procedures, which are sensitive to the needs of vulnerable migrant groups, must be established by countries, to ensure identification of the protection needs of vulnerable groups.
As many countries have entry systems and border management procedures that could be improved upon, governments need to work on introducing comprehensive regulations, sensitive to the vulnerabilities of migrant population, provide training and capacity building for border officials, and elaborate operational guidelines to define the roles and responsibilities of (first contact) officials. The latter would include guidance on how to respond to persons with protection and other specific needs, such as victims of trafficking in persons and persons affected by any form of exploitation and abuse related to smuggling of migrants under aggravating circumstances, including how to screen, identify, and refer them to appropriate processes and procedures. Such initiatives must incorporate sensitivity towards the vulnerability of migrant groups and specifically encourage the adoption of child- sensitive, gender-responsive and disabled people-friendly procedures.
The Global Compact for Migration (GCM) report is available in AR, ZH, EN, FR, RU, ES.
IOM Guidance on Referral Mechanisms
The practical guidelines contained in this publication provide guidance on how to develop and implement referral mechanisms for the protection and assistance of migrants vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse.
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Refugee Protection and Mixed Migration: The 10-Point Plan in Action 2016 Update
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1st multi sectoral consultation in the framework of IMRF devoted to "role of Youth in GCM implementation "
The 1st multidimensional three-stages consultations on implementation of GCM in Azerbaijan dedicated to the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) has been launched on March 30, 2022 with collaborative event co-organized by IOM Azerbaijan and State Migration Service.
30 March 2022 +04 , 3 - 5:30pm
The Migration Network Hub: Training session for CSOs and stakeholders
We are pleased to invite you to join a training session on how to use the Migration Network Hub. The session will cover the use of the Discussion Spaces, the Repository of Practices and the Experts and Resource Database.
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Migration Governance Indicators (MGI)
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Toolkit for Integrating Migration into Private Sector Development and Trade Interventions
This Toolkit has been developed by IOM in collaboration with UNCTAD with the support of the European Union under the Mainstreaming Migration into International Cooperation and Development (MMICD) project.
Handbook on European law relating to asylum, borders and immigration - Edition 2020
The European Convention on Human Rights and European Union law provide an increasingly important framework for the protection of the rights of foreigners. European Union legislation relating to asylum, borders and immigration is developing fast.
European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
MiTA - Migration Translation App
Since the arrival of COVID-19, MiTA — IOM's new Migration Translation App—has been given a rapid upgrade to take account of the added challenges facing migrants in the Western Balkans.
IMRF Round table 1 Dialogue Part 2
Part 2 of the webinar on Round table 1 of the IMRF held as part of the Dialogue Series in the build up to the Forum on 19 January 2022.


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Voltea, the global leader in membrane-capacitive deionization (CapDI©) electro-desalination technology, has been named in the coveted Green Builder Media HOT 50 innovative, sustainable residential products of 2019!
Our innovative DiEntry is the next generation of home water purification systems and addresses the most pressing water issues in the market: quality, taste and waste.
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The electric car has been a ray of hope in solving the world's emission problems since a huge amount of carbon dioxide and air pollutants come from vehicles. The birth of the electric car has been involved in a lot of controversy since it was removed from the streets faster than it was built. General Motors initially held a strong interest in developing these cars they called the EV1 but all of a sudden decide that they want to end the project. The car company may have been the one who built the new electric car but it is also the one who killed it.
"Who Really Killed the Electric Car?" topic?
Even if General Motors will never confirm it, the decision to scrap all the manufactured EV1's is a result of business interests. GM knows that pursuing the electric car will have negative impacts on the traditional car industry. If ever the electric car becomes an economical and efficient mode of transportation, it will replace the conventional cars on the road leading to the fall of the fossil fuel car. It will "cannibalize sales of conventional cars". The absence of an engine in an electric car means less replacement parts and maintenance costs for drivers. This will in turn affect profits coming from the sale of car parts. For instance, the EV1 has a regenerative braking system which protects it from wear and tear; this will cause the industry to lose money from the sale of brake parts which is a very profitable industry in itself (Sony). Although we cannot be certain, we can also speculate that mutual understandings with oil companies may have also affected the 180-degree turn made by GM.
Apparently, it is clear that GM took the EV1 vehicles from the roads to the crushing facilities because of hidden agendas (Edmunds). Even as the batteries may have some flaws, GM would not destroy all these vehicles which cost them billions since it would be a complete waste of good funds. More so, denying the petition of some drivers to buy the cars for $1.9 million is questionable since if GM had no hidden agenda in getting the EV1 off the roads, it would sell these electric cars for whatever profit it could make instead of incurring great losses from destroying it (Germain). From this, we can ascertain that GM hopes to earn more with the EV1 off the road. The car company took things into their own hands handing out the corporate decision to destroy the cars after identifying the negative financial implications the electric cars will have on the company's future.
The batteries used in the EV1 may be flawed in some ways but this is not a reason to completely abandon the project since it is still in its early stages. The batteries were not poorly performing as opposed to what the car company claims. The initial lead-acid battery could cover 60 to 80 miles of distance with one charge. Later on, the EV1 was able to cover 100 to 120 miles with the NiMH battery (Sony). The lack of demand for the EV1 is another issue why the production of the electric car was put to a halt (Germain). Further research into developing better batteries that cover greater distance and greater speeds would solve a lot of issues. Government and private efforts to forward research on such areas would have the electric car a more viable alternative than it already is.
Years later, GM came up with a type of fuel processor that extracts hydrogen from gasoline to use as fuel. It would appear that GM was not vent on eliminating oil in the automobile industry. Rather, it came up with something that would still use oil for fuel (Autoparts Report).
GM also been argued that the electric car will not reduce emission levels since it is only diverting the emissions away from the vehicle and into the power plants since the power plants still make use of fossil fuels much of which is coal which produces more emissions compared to oil (Germain). While this is true, the world needs to address the need to switch to renewable energy sources and eliminate dependence on fossil fuel. In this way, emissions will be totally eliminated and not just be diverted into another smokestack. In fact, one of the first automobiles did not run on fossil fuels. It ran on electricity. Also, not all locations get electricity from fossil fuels.
It is not the battery that killed the electric car. Neither is it the consumers, or the oil companies. It is not the government. It is not the resource board. It is not the hydrogen fuel cell. It is its very own creators that destroyed it.
Autoparts Report. "GM Demonstrates Onboard Fuel Processor That Extracts Hydrogen From Gasoline". 15 August 2001. BNET.
Edmunds. "Who Killed the Electric Car? We're Not Sure Anyone Did". 2008.
Germain, David. "'Who Killed the Electric Car?" is a timely doc". MSNBC.
Sony. "Who Killed the Electric Car".
Who were the sans-culottes? Why did the knight become the supreme fighting force in medieval Europe? Why is the Great Wall of China built?


No, not The Terminator; this time it's Sebastian Lukacs Gorka, the red faced, bespectacled, Mephistopheles-like, Hungarian troll. Truth to tell, he never left; though on May 1, 2017, under pressure, the White House announced his imminent departure. Today (August 15), three and a half months later, four minority caucuses in the House of Representatives are again calling on the White House to fire the Deputy Assistant Advisor to the President – for his remarks in the aftermath of the Charlottesville tragedy.
Who is this dude and why should you care about him? I've written about him twice before, but he's a cancer in the White House and, given his position as Deputy Advisor to the President, Americans should know his story.
Sebastian Lukacs Gorka was born in London of Hungarian refugee parents. After attending school in the UK he migrated to Hungary where he spent 16 years padding his resume' with a bogus PhD and a set of self-created counter-terrorism credentials. While doing so, he attached himself to the right wing autocratic government of Viktor Orban and aligned himself with local neo-Nazi, anti-Roma, and anti-Semitic organizations. In 2008 he was granted a Green Card and immigrated to the US with his neo-con American heiress wife. He immediately associated himself with Fox and Brietbart News. In 2012 he became a naturalized American citizen, and in 2016, following the election of Donald Trump, he rode the coattails of Steve Bannon from Brietbart to the White House.
Early in 2016 he was arrested at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport for attempting to carry a 9mm Browning handgun through security in his carry on luggage. One month later he was arrested for reckless driving for the second time in two years. On February 3, 2017, two weeks after Trump's inauguration as President, the gun charge was dismissed. What do you suppose the chances are that another immigrant would be treated this leniently on the same charge? Everyone deserves a second (or third) chance but what does this tidy little set of criminal violations tell us about the man and about the new White House?
Lately, Bannon's Hungarian avatar has been prowling around the media outlets on behalf of the White House threatening viewers and issuing imperatives like "Do not challenge Donald J. Trump…". Over the weekend he told Fox viewers that the Unite the Right, white supremacy, neo-Nazi protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, was likely a "false flag" event created by leftists to provoke a violent response, discredit the right, and crack down on First Amendment rights.
Trump and Bannon apparently believe Gorka's Lucifer-like gravitas lends a kind of Euro-trash credibility to the white supremacist rhetoric they're peddling. Gorka seems to pop up on the Sunday morning news shows whenever Steven Miller, the other Bannon mouthpiece, gets savaged by the press corps for his brash nerdy assertions that the President has the power to do anything he wants – period.
Lately there is gossip throughout the mediaverse that Bannon and his posse will soon be dismissed, but contrary to his reputation at The Apprentice DJT is a coward when it comes to firing people. He insults, demeans, and defames them via Twitter, but doesn't have the courage to confront them. Consider the way he fired FBI Director James Comey; by sending a termination letter via courier to FBI headquarters in DC while the Director was speaking to FBI agents in Los Angeles. With others, his strategy is to Tweet them to death and hope they will be too embarrassed to stay in their jobs. Surprisingly, little Jeffy Sessions didn't do that.
Trump is a weakling and a coward! This is not reality TV. This is the Presidency of the United States. When will this national nightmare end?
I cringe every time I see him descend the steps of Marine One, see him unbutton his suit jacket, see his too long tie and fat belly, and the short fingered salute he gives the Marine guard at the foot of the steps. This coward, who never served a day in the military, is a disgrace to those of us who did.
I only hope that his infatuation with all things military and his respect for Kelly, Mattis, and McMaster, the grown-ups in his Cabinet, will lead to the dumping of Bannon, Miller and Gorka before more white supremacist gibberish or neo-Nazi dog whistles spew out of the White House. He won't man up and do it, of course, but McMaster or Kelly might take just charge and throw them out. Cross your fingers, troops.
Good news – looks like this piece of trash is GONE!


Robert Wassmer and Imaez Wahid set off a bit of a firestorm several months ago with an ill-considered article in Housing Policy Debate that asked whether NIMBYism might actually be "rational" in a world where "likely residents of affordable housing" might actually lower property values. In other words, if the world discriminates, it becomes rational for supposedly non-biased homeowners to do so as well, since other people's beliefs will affect their property values.
I'm not going to get into a thorough debunking of their argument and policy proposal, because three published responses do the job quite thoroughly: "Comment on 'Does the Likely Demographics of Affordable Housing Justify NIMBYism?'" by J. Rosie Tighe and Edward G. Goetz; "Affordable Housing and Its Residents Are Not Pollutants," by Mai Thi Nguyen and Corianne Payton Scally; and, for the scholars, "A Methodological Critique of Wassmer and Wahid," by Philip M. E. Garboden and Prentiss A. Dantzler. They are currently free to download, but that might be temporary.
If you ignore the history behind discriminatory land use and credit policies, you will misinterpret the reason for lower home prices in areas with certain demographics and therefore inaccurately predict how current changes in demographics will affect other areas.
Using language that gives any credence to inaccurate associations between, for example, crime and affordable housing, is incredibly harmful, even in theory.
One thing that struck me about this whole kerfuffle, though, is that it's a good example of why using homeownership as an asset-building mechanism and retirement plan might not be a great thing for our society.


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Reviews - June 2016
Labor of we
Layers and alliance in Kenji Liu's 'Map of an Onion'
Rajiv Mohabir
Photo of Kenji Liu (right) by Margarita Corporan.
Kenji Liu's debut poetry collection does not start quietly; rather, it breaks into the world, denouncing the United States' attempted erasure of migrants through legalese that alienates non-English-speaking people. The collection begins with the birth of the speaker in Kyoto, Japan, and spends layer upon layer puzzling the violences that the colonial center wreaks against the periphery. Liu's overarching metaphor for intersectionality and assemblage of identities is the onion without a full and "real" center.
Infrastructure writing
A review of David Buuck's 'Site Cite City'
James Sanders
"[I]t is precisely a special way of writing that realism requires," writes Lyn Hejinian in her essay, "Two Stein Talks."[1] Site Cite City is a book of realism, in the sense Hejinian uses it: realism is the product of a method, of a "special way of writing." The realism of Site Cite City is directed less at the "pure products of America" than at the infrastructure in which they interact.
"[I]t is precisely a special way of writing that realism requires," writes Lyn Hejinian in her essay, "Two Stein Talks."[1] Site Cite City is a book of realism, in the sense Hejinian uses it: realism is the product of a method, of a "special way of writing." The realism of
The urban interior-exterior ideal
Jennifer K Dick
A review of Donna Stonecipher's 'Model City'
Photo by Vadim Erent, 2011.
There is something easygoing about reading Donna Stonecipher's Model City, which leads the reader through the pages as if on a walk. Lured inside this landscape, we are invited to see, to reflect, to ponder, to muse, to sense the spaces in these seventy-two "model cities," but also outside of the pages in the world which surrounds us.


Wall Street banks are cutting their forecasts for Treasury yields and shelving calls for the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates this year amid signs of slowing economic growth.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. still forecast yields rising over this year, but by less than expected -- to 2.8 percent and 2.75 percent, respectively, from 2.44 percent now. Morgan Stanley now sees 10-year Treasury yields ending 2019 at 2.25 percent, down from 2.35 percent previously.
Read about HSBC's move to slash its yield forecast.
Societe Generale SA also lowered its 10-year yield forecast, to 2.5 percent from 2.8 percent previously, on the view that worries over global growth will likely support haven assets. Europe has been beset by what traders are calling a Japanification of fixed-income markets, with German bond yields below zero percent for the first time since 2016.


The end of Radio Shack as we know it?
This is a US-centric post, so apologies to those in areas where this is irrelevant. Our beloved Radio Shack is closing stores, while going through the form of bankruptcy protection that would allow them to downsize and regroup. Alas, this may not be the case at all. Darren Grant, CEO of Tandy Corporation in the UK, had passed along some information about the fate of the US Radio Shacks which sheds more light on what is really happening.
Tandy UK today has many of the familiar Radio Shack brands from the past, like Archer. They have gone to original suppliers wherever possible to bring back items that were once lining the walls of Tandy stores over there. They even have items that were eliminated from the still-existing Radio Shacks in America. Plus, they have things like the Raspberry Pi 2 and Adafruit electronics kits.
I sure wish we could see something like this happen in the US.
If you have not visited the Tandy UK website, take a look. It's what Radio Shack could have done over here.
This entry was posted in Misc on March 1, 2015 by Allen Huffman.