Beneficiaries of federal housing programs: A data reconnaissance

Abstract

This article reports on a reconnaissance of information systems containing data on the beneficiaries of direct and indirect federal housing expenditures. It covers data in the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, and the Treasury; the Resolution Trust Corporation; financial regulatory agencies; and secondary mortgage market actors.

Data varied widely across agencies in availability, accessibility, and quality. Data are more systematically collected for low‐income beneficiaries of housing programs than for the more affluent beneficiaries of indirect housing expenditures. The systems need improvements in data quality and coverage and database format, though they have improved recently. Many research topics can be explored with new and underused data systems: the characteristics of beneficiaries of rural housing programs, urban rental housing programs, low‐income homeownership programs, and mortgage guarantee and insurance programs. But the lack of information on the systems themselves makes data difficult to locate and access.     

The Effects of Environmental Exposure on the Optical,Physical, and Chemical Properties of Manufactured Fibers of Natural Origin

Manufactured fibers derived from natural origins include viscose rayon, azlon, and polylactic acid (PLA). A 2‐year study was conducted to document any changes these fibers undergo as a result of exposure to various environmental conditions. Fabric swatches representing each fiber type were exposed to freshwater, saltwater, heat, cold, ultraviolet light, or composter conditions. Fibers from the swatches were periodically analyzed using polarized light microscopy and Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy. Fiber solubility and melting‐point behavior were measured every 6 months. Except for the complete degradation of viscose rayon in the composter, saltwater, and freshwater environs, no changes in the optical properties, infrared spectra, solubility, or melting points of the remaining fibers in any of the environments were observed. However, microscopic morphological changes were observed in fibers from two azlon swatches submerged in freshwater and saltwater, two PLA swatches exposed to ultraviolet light, and two viscose rayon swatches exposed to ultraviolet light.     

India’s South-South Cooperation in Human Resource Development

ABSTRACT

The article reviews several of the main modalities of India’s human resources’ involvement with other developing economies, and especially those in Africa. These involve the provision of long-term scholarships and short-term professional training awards. Comparison is made, in the case of international students, between the scholarship and privately funded categories, and also between those from Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries. Comparable data on such assisted foreign student flows are also offered in respect of South Africa. Other modalities of India’s HRD engagement with Africa are analysed, including those associated with the India-African Forum Summits (IAFS). India also does capacity building through non-state actors, notably nongovernment organisations and the private sector. Furthermore, it promotes cultural diplomacy through its Indian Cultural Centres and Chairs of Indian Studies, though these are not restricted to developing economies. Although attention is paid to the Commonwealth dimension in these comparisons, it is acknowledged that the classification of students and countries as Commonwealth may not be as widespread or meaningful today as 60 years ago.     

TRAINING,SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF PARENTING COORDINATORS: FLORIDA STATEWIDE STUDY

This report details findings from the nation's first statewide study on parenting coordination. A survey was presented to all known practicing parenting coordinators (PCs) in Florida (N = 207), with 67 (32%) responding. Data concerning PC demographics, how PCs do their work, and how they perceive their clients at different stages of the parenting coordination process suggest substantial similarity between mental health and family law professionals in almost every realm of questioning. Study limitations, implications for further research, and practice considerations are discussed.     

Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reducing Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference

Kosuke Imai Department of Politics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 e-mail: kimai{at}princeton.edu Gary King Department of Government, Harvard University, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 Elizabeth A. Stuart Departments of Mental Health and Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, Room 804, Baltimore, MD 21205 e-mail: estuart{at}jhsph.edu e-mail: king{at}harvard.edu (corresponding author) Although published works rarely include causal estimates frommore than a few model specifications, authors usually choosethe presented estimates from numerous trial runs readers neversee. Given the often large variation in estimates across choicesof control variables, functional forms, and other modeling assumptions,how can researchers ensure that the few estimates presentedare accurate or representative? How do readers know that publicationsare not merely demonstrations that it is possible to find aspecification that fits the author's favorite hypothesis? Andhow do we evaluate or even define statistical properties likeunbiasedness or mean squared error when no unique model or estimatoreven exists? Matching methods, which offer the promise of causalinference with fewer assumptions, constitute one possible wayforward, but crucial results in this fast-growing methodologicalliterature are often grossly misinterpreted. We explain howto avoid these misinterpretations and propose a unified approachthat makes it possible for researchers to preprocess data withmatching (such as with the easy-to-use software we offer) andthen to apply the best parametric techniques they would haveused anyway. This procedure makes parametric models producemore accurate and considerably less model-dependent causal inferences. Authors' note: Our thanks to Dan Carpenter and Jeff Koch fordata; Alberto Abadie, Neal Beck, Sam Cook, Alexis Diamond, BenHansen, Guido Imbens, Olivia Lau, Gabe Lenz, Paul Rosenbaum,Don Rubin, and Jas Sekhon for many helpful comments; and theNational Institutes of Aging (P01 AG17625-01), the NationalInstitute of Mental Health (MH066247), the National ScienceFoundation (SES-0318275, IIS-9874747, SES-0550873), and thePrinceton University Committee on Research in the Humanitiesand Social Sciences for research support. Software to implementthe methods in this paper is available at http://GKing.Harvard.edu/matchitand a replication data file is available as Ho et al. (2006).     

Examining the effect of dl-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and methamphetamine on the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests

dl-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and methamphetamine are commonly used illicit drugs that are thought to impair driving ability. The Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs) are utilized widely to detect impairment associated with drugs other than alcohol in drivers, although limited evidence concerning MDMA and methamphetamine consumption on SFST performance exists. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the SFSTs were a sensitive measure for identifying the presence of the specific isomer d-methamphetamine and MDMA. In a double-blind, within-subject, counter-balanced and placebo-controlled study, 58 healthy and abstinent recreational drugs users were administered three treatments: 100mg of MDMA, 0.42 mg/kg d-methamphetamine, and placebo. For each condition the SFSTs were administered at 4 and 25 h post treatment. d-methamphetamine was not found to significantly impair SFST performance unlike MDMA, which significantly impaired SFST performance in comparison to placebo with 22% of the sample failing the test at the 4h testing time-point. No differences were observed at the 25 h testing time-point for any of the conditions. It was concluded that the SFSTs are not efficient in identifying the presence of low level d-methamphetamine, and are significantly better at detecting the presence of MDMA at the levels assessed.