Tarek Hoteit Notebook

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Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:24 AM | Permalink | Comments

"ScienceDaily (Feb. 7, 2010) — Although children can be depressed for many reasons, new evidence suggests that there are physiological differences among depressed children based on their experiences of abuse before age 5. Early abuse may be especially damaging due to the very young age at which it occurs."

Labels: society, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:05 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: education, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:58 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:58 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: finance, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:55 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application."

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:51 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: finance, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:46 AM | Permalink | Comments

CATHERINE RAMPELL writes

"If you are happier than your wife, you may be at greater risk of divorce.

That is the main takeaway from a new working paper looking at happiness and divorce rates in Australia. From the abstract:

Controlling for the level of life satisfaction of spouses, we find that a higher satisfaction gap, even in the first year of marriage, increases the likelihood of a future separation. We interpret this as the effect of comparisons of well-being between spouses, i.e. aversion to unequal sharing of well being inside couples. …
[C]ouples are more likely to breakup when the difference in life satisfaction is unfavorable to the wife. The information available in the Australian survey reveals that divorces are indeed predominantly initiated by women, and importantly, by women who are unhappier than their husband."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 1:17 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: politics, religion, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: arab, middle east, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

Regards,
Tarek Hoteit
http://tarek.hoteit.org

Labels: society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

"(Jan. 14, 2010) — While genetics play a key role in children's initial reading skills, a new study of twins is the first to demonstrate that environment plays an important role in reading growth over time."

Journal Reference:

1. Stephen A. Petrill, Sara A. Hart, Nicole Harlaar, Jessica Logan, Laura M. Justice, Christopher Schatschneider, Lee Thompson, Laura S. DeThorne, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Laurie Cutting. Genetic and environmental influences on the growth of early reading skills. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2010; DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02204.x

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments

"A new study concludes that people tend to match their risk perceptions about policy issues with their cultural values, which may explain the intense disagreement about proposals to vaccinate elementary-school girls against human-papillomavirus (HPV). The study also says people's values shape their perceptions of expert opinion on the vaccine."

View a Webcast with Dan Kahan of Yale University.

read complete article : nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) News - Who’s Afraid of the HPV Vaccine? - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

"A new Cornell study of online poker seems counterintuitive: The more hands players win, the less money they're likely to collect - especially when it comes to novice players.

The likely reason, said Cornell sociology doctoral student Kyle Siler, whose study analyzed 27 million online poker hands, is that the multiple wins are likely for small stakes, and the more you play, the more likely you will eventually be walloped by occasional - but significant - losses.

This finding, Siler said, "coincides with observations in behavioral economics that people overweigh their frequent small gains vis-à-vis occasional large losses, and vice versa." In other words, players feel positively reinforced by their streak of wins but have difficulty fully understanding how their occasional large losses offset their gains.

The study, which was published online in December in the Journal of Gambling Studies and will be published in a forthcoming print edition later this year, also found that for small-stakes players, small pairs (from twos to sevens) were actually more valuable than medium pairs (eights through jacks)."

Labels: finance, science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments

Introduction

Introduction Various Artists Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements Various Artists Economic Thought Before Adam Smith

1. The First Philosopher-Economists: the Greeks

1. The First Philosopher-Economists: the Greeks (continued)  

The First Philosopher-Economists: the Greeks Various Artists Economic Thought Before Adam Smith

2. The Christian Middle Ages

2. The Christian Middle Ages (continued)

The Christian Middle Ages Various Artists Economic Thought Before Adam Smith

3. From Middle Ages to Renaissance

3. From Middle Ages to Renaissance (continued)

From Middle Ages to Renaissance Various Artists Economic Thought Before Adam Smith

4. The Late Spanish Scholastics

4. The Late Spanish Scholastics (continued)

The Late Spanish Scholastics Various Artists Economic Thought Before Adam Smith

5. Protestants and Catholics

5. Protestants and Catholics (continued)

  5. Protestants and Catholics (continued)

Protestants and Catholics Various Artists Economic Thought Before Adam Smith

 

Labels: finance, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:56 AM | Permalink | Comments

"GUANG GUO, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Abstract

Is childhood such a critical period that, by the end of this period, cumulative poverty would have exerted maximum effect on children's cognitive outcomes? Or are cognitive outcomes more a function of the length of exposure to poverty regardless of the life stage in which the child is exposed to poverty? The NLSY, which measures each child's cognitive development repeatedly over time, was analyzed to answer these questions. We distinguish between ability and achievement. Ability is a more stable trait than achievement and tends to be determined by both environmental and genetic factors early in life. Achievement on the other hand is more acquired. This study shows that long-term poverty has substantial influences on both ability and achievement, but the time patterns of these influences are distinctly different. Childhood appears to be a much more crucial period for the development of cognitive ability than early adolescence. In contrast, poverty experienced in adolescence appears to be more influential to adolescent achievement than poverty experienced earlier in life. "

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:26 PM | Permalink | Comments

ScienceDaily (Jan. 4, 2010) — Review study confirms gender difference in responses to sexual stimuli

"Women's minds and genitals respond differently to sexual arousal, whereas in men, the responses of the body and mind are more in tune with each other, according to Assistant Professor Meredith Chivers, from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, and her international collaborators, Michael Seto, Martin Lalumière, Ellen Laan, and Teresa Grimbos. Their meta-analysis1 of the extent of agreement between subjective ratings and physiological measures of sexual arousal in men and women is published online in Springer's journal Archives of Sexual Behavior"

Journal Reference:

1. Chivers ML et al. Agreement of self-reported and genital measures of sexual arousal in men and women: a meta-analysis. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2010; DOI: 10.1007/s10508-009-9556-9

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Women's participation in national politics, at 18 percent of elected national legislatures globally, is pretty dismal. Some countries have made impressive progress, including Sweden and Rwanda, where women constitute more than 40 percent of the national parliaments. The Middle East and North Africa region has the lowest rates in the world though, with less than 10 percent of elected parliamentarians being women. ."

Labels: arab, middle east, politics, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments

"ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2009) — A study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) shows that expert advice may shut down areas of the brain responsible for decision-making processes, particularly when individuals are trying to evaluate a situation where risk is involved."

Journal Reference:

Engelmann et al. Expert Financial Advice Neurobiologically 'Offloads' Financial Decision-Making under Risk. PLoS ONE, 2009; 4 (3): e4957 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004957

Labels: finance, science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Brains in middle age, which, with increased life spans, now stretches from the 40s to late 60s, also get more easily distracted. Start boiling water for pasta, go answer the doorbell and — whoosh — all thoughts of boiling water disappear. Indeed, aging brains, even in the middle years, fall into what’s called the default mode, during which the mind wanders off and begin daydreaming.

Given all this, the question arises, can an old brain learn, and then remember what it learns? Put another way, is this a brain that should be in school?

As it happens, yes."

Labels: education, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments

"ScienceDaily (Dec. 30, 2009) — Scrambled connections between the part of the brain that processes fear and emotion and other brain regions could be the hallmark of a common anxiety disorder, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The findings could help researchers identify biological differences between types of anxiety disorders as well as such disorders as depression."

“This image shows, in red, brain regions with stronger connections to the amygdala in patients with GAD (generalized anxiety disorder), while the blue areas indicate weaker connectivity. The red corresponds to areas important for attention and may reflect the habitual use of cognitive strategies like worry and distraction in the anxiety patients. (Credit: Image courtesy of Stanford University Medical Center)”

read complete article : Brain scans show distinctive patterns in people with generalized anxiety disorder

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:23 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Over a fifth of parents admit to borrowing money from their children’s savings accounts, according to a new study.

Engage Mutual Assurance, the child trust fund provider, says the majority of parents surveyed blame the recession for their gloomy financial outlook, forcing some to use their children’s savings to support day-to-day expenses.

Of the parents who borrow from their children, 44 per cent take out between £200 and £500 for up to five months, though 30 per cent say they “feel incredibly guilty” about doing so, the research found.

Although the majority plan to pay back the money once financial circumstances improve, Engage Mutual said the figures underscore the desperate reality many parents face as they resort to using their children’s savings as the last alternative.

Two thirds of parents say they have no other option"

Labels: finance, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:29 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Now researchers at The University of Nottingham, SRI International in Silicon Valley California, two Canadian universities -- Simon Fraser and York -- and online games developer Multiverse are to begin a new three-year international project examining online behaviour in virtual gaming environments.

The Virtual Environment Real User Study (Verus) will explore the relationships between the real-world characteristics of gamers and the individual activities and group dynamics of their avatars in online virtual worlds. Investigating how individuals interact within online environments will have many benefits."

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:21 AM | Permalink | Comments

"ScienceDaily (Dec. 29, 2009) — Despite being a significant risk group, young men are amongst those least likely to seek professional help when mentally distressed or suicidal. The 'Back of the Net' programme, a pilot initiative using football (called soccer in the U.S.) and cognitive behavioural based techniques was effective in decreasing symptoms of depression in young men. Such programmes may offer a highly accessible and cost-effective alternative route to mental health promotion in this challenging target group."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:07 AM | Permalink | Comments

"We examined whether responses to three comparative judgment tasks conformed to a general- or a task-specific model of decision making and confidence. We sought to determine if individual differences in confidence and decision making were evident for these tasks, and if cognitive styles accounted for these individual differences. Undergraduate students completed cognitive styles measures in a mass-testing session, and they performed the computer-administered comparative judgment tasks in later experimental sessions. Confirmatory factor analyses of the confidence and decision making indices revealed that a general model of decision making best described the data in that stable individual differences in decision and confidence processing emerged across tasks. However, with the exceptions of a significant effect of Desire for Structure on response time and of Need for Cognition on accuracy, there were no significant effects of the cognitive styles on decision and confidence processing. Hence, although stable individual differences in comparative judgment were clearly evident, the specific basis for these differences remains elusive."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Two studies examined the relationship between authoritarianism, cognitive style and heuristic processing. Focusing on Epstein’s (2003) cognitive-experiential self-theory, Study 1 shows that authoritarianism is related to Epstein’s dimension of faith in intuition, but not need for cognition, even when controlling for individual differences in need for structure. Study 2 confirms that authoritarianism is related to greater heuristic processing. The discussion suggests ways in which individual differences in cognitive style and heuristic processing may account for established effects of authoritarianism."

Labels: politics, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Comments

"A pair of Kansas State University researchers found that people who tend to think in the long term are more likely to make positive decisions about their health, whether it's how much they drink, what they eat, or their decision to wear sunscreen.

"If you are more willing to pick later, larger rewards rather than taking the immediate payoff, you are more future-minded than present-minded," said James Daugherty, a doctoral student in psychology who led the study. "You're more likely to exercise and less likely to smoke and drink.""

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments

"ScienceDaily (Dec. 24, 2009) — An unhealthy lifestyle, unreasonable working conditions, and then the stress of having to deliver 152 million Christmas gifts in 24 hours. The extreme accomplishments of Santa Claus are making researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden doubt his very existence…

Santa's quite obvious abdominal obesity and deep red facial complexion are convincing indicators that the man is at risk for both heart attack and stroke. "I'm confident that he would benefit from treatment of both diabetes and high blood pressure. And cholesterol-lowering drugs would probably not hurt either. As if that wasn't enough, new research shows that his abdominal obesity is a risk factor for dementia," says Annika Rosengren, professor at the Department of Emergency and Cardiovascular Medicine."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

“UCSB emeritus professor of sociology Thomas Scheff explores the place that emotion holds in cognition. [8/2009] [Humanities] [Show ID: 16938”

Labels: education, science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:14 AM | Permalink | Comments

* The Implications of Water and Electricity Supply for the Time Allocation of Women in Rural Ghana

Authors: Joana Costa, Degol Hailu, Elydia Silva and Raquel Tsukada

Download: http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCWorkingPaper59.pdf

* Water Supply in Rural Ghana: Do Women Benefit?

Authors: Joana Costa, Degol Hailu, Elydia Silva and Raquel Tsukada

Download: http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager101.pdf

Labels: society, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments

Author: Francesca Bastagli

Series: Working Paper # 60

Download: http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCWorkingPaper60.pdf

Labels: finance, society, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments

"University of Scranton psychology professor Carole Slotterback analyzed about five years’ worth of children’s letters to Santa that were sent to her city’s central post office. Kids asked for everything from Pokemon cards to a mother, but, Slotterback found, few of them were very polite; there was even a death threat. The letters also reflected kids’ awareness of current events — like patriotic-sleigh drawings, fewer toy requests after 9/11, and hand-drawn “stamps” during the recession. Related: Vancouver Sun blogger Chad Skelton discusses whether believing in Santa is good or bad for kids."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

"It's a cliché to say that America is Comeback Nation, so instead, let's acknowledge the familiar ritual that Tiger Woods has now embarked upon. When celebrities screw up, there's a well-worn path they must travel before they're welcomed back by the famously forgiving American public. There has to be contrition and cleansing, and it has to look like something significant has changed. Usually some time has to elapse while the Fallen One hovers in purgatory, to signify sacrifice (although Letterman seems to have skipped this step). It's kind of like going through a carwash: You go in dirty, get hosed down and battered around, emerge dripping wet, then air-dry for a little while until you're good as new."

Labels: media, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: media, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: science, society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

Regards,
Tarek Hoteit
http://tarek.hoteit.org

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments

Regards,
Tarek Hoteit
http://tarek.hoteit.org

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Your day begins with a wake-up call from your Google Android phone. As you run to the shower, you hit Google News and check headlines, then Gmail. Your first appointment of the day has been moved to a new location; Google Maps will direct you there. Quickly update your expense report--including the printout of that sales presentation using, say, Google Template--and shoot them to the back office in India (in Hindi, if you prefer, with Google Translate). Your boss wants to discuss your group's contributions to some marketing documents? Lean on Google Groups. You're not even out the door yet. You have the rest of the day to search for work-critical information on the Web while you're at the office--to say nothing of snatching a few moments to download a game, check stock prices, organize your medical records, share photos and pick a restaurant and movie for the evening. How convenient.

And a little creepy, perhaps."

Labels: society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:27 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Well, it's a good thing life comes with an unlimited data plan, as a recent study conducted by the University of California, San Diego has found that Americans consume plenty of gigabytes in the average day. Thirty-four gigabytes, to be specific, which translates to a grand total of of 3.6 zettabytes of information consumed by American households in 2008 (or 3.6 billion trillion bytes). Of course, that doesn't just consist of gigabytes "consumed" the traditional way, but instead encompasses everything from TV (still the leader by a wide margin) to phone calls to newspapers. In terms of time, the study found that Americans spent about 11.8 hours a day consuming information in one way or another, the majority of which was spent staring at a screen of some sort -- and, yes, they did take HD content into account, but its growth apparently hasn't yet resulted in a huge jump in data consumption."

Labels: society, technology, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The combination of alcohol and caffeine produces a potentially lethal mix that just makes it harder to realise you are actually drunk in the first place.

And the study published in Behavioural Neuroscience suggests popular caffeinated energy drinks could also raise risks from intoxication rather than lessen them. "

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:54 PM | Permalink | Comments

"It's not surprising that an intensive six-month training program for children with poor reading skills improves their performance, as a new study has demonstrated. The unexpected finding is that the skills program actually spurred brain changes that could be the underpinnings for the children's progress.
The study, published today in the journal Neuron, was lauded by the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Thomas R. Insel. The NIMH funded the research.
"We have known that behavioral training can enhance brain function," Insel said in a news release. "The exciting breakthrough here is detecting changes in brain connectivity with behavioral treatment. This finding with reading deficits suggests an exciting new approach to be tested in the treatment of mental disorders, which increasingly appear to be due to problems in specific brain circuits.""

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 2007 and 2008 — National-level tabulations from the Current Population Survey on this population group are shown by a wide range of characteristics including education, marital status, employment status, occupation and industry, earnings and poverty, and household type and tenure. Unique to this data set are tables that show the foreign-born population by these characteristics crossed by generation status (i.e., first, second or third). Internet address:
2007 <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign/cps2007.html>;
2008 <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign/cps2008.html>."

Labels: society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments

"The Foreign-Born Labor Force in the United States: 2007 — This analysis from American Community Survey data looks at the characteristics of the civilian foreign-born vs. native labor force population on topics that include educational attainment, occupation and industry.
Internet address: <http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/acs-10.pdf>."

Labels: society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments

"In short, the situation is not good - and it's getting worse. Out of the five elements the 2008 Sikkuy report checks, in four - housing, health services, welfare services and employment - the gap between Arab and Jews has widened. In education there has been a slight improvement, but it was more due to a decline in the Jews' achievements.

…

Just to give an impression of the dangerous slop we are on, here are a few proposals and declarations made by cabinet ministers in the few months the Netanyahu government has been in power:

- The minister of transportation, Israel Katz (Likud), is promoting an initiative according to which all Arab names on road signs will be replaced with Jewish ones.

- The minister for Tourism, Stas Misezhnikov (Israel Beytenu), demanded that the pope cancel meeting with the Arab mayor of Sakhnin on his visit to Israel.

- The Housing Minister Ariel Atias (Shas) called to stop Arab "spreading" in Wadi Ara, a region densely populated by Israeli-Arabs. he is currently pushing a plan for a city for orthodox Jews in the area.

- The Education Minister Gidon Saar (Likud) ordered that Arabs won't be allowed to teach the term Nakba, referring to their national disaster of 1948.

- The minister of the Police, Yitzhak Aharonowitz, has told an undercover agent he "looks dirty like a real Arabush" (a Hebrew slang word that carries a cultural meaning very similar, or even worse, than "nigger" in the US).

- The Finance Minister, Yuval Shtainitz, declared that one of Israel's problems is that Arab women "don't want to work".

- and finally, Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Liberman - a man who disgraces not only the state, but the entire Jewish people - promotes plans for striping Palestinians of their Israeli citizenship or from the rights is gives them.

By its actions, the Israeli government is currently doing more than any of Israel's enemies to bring life to the claim that Zionism inevitably leads to racism."

Labels: middle east, politics, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments

"A shocking report released overnight reveals that sexual abuse by Catholic Priests in Ireland was covered up for decades by both the church and police.

The 720-page report says the official policy from 1975 to 2004 was to protect the reputation of the church at the expense of the victims.

Maree Collins was sexually assaulted in 1960. But when she reported the abuse, the Catholic Church moved the priest to another parish.

The report says that was a common practise for dealing with abusive priests because there was a conspiracy to protect the church, not the welfare of the children in its care.

"It was a policy, it was a system, it was throughout the church and therefore wherever the Catholic Church is, that same system will have been in place," Ms Collins said.

"It's not just rogue elements who were just going their own way, this was a system of cover-up, of protecting the institution and it's going to be the same wherever the Catholic church is.""

Labels: religion, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: middle east, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: middle east, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 12:59 AM | Permalink | Comments

"We are a society of shoppers. We have been since we were prehistoric hunters and gatherers. From the souks of the Middle East to the night markets of Asia to the concourses of Tysons Corner, human beings come together to browse, bargain and purchase. Shopping isn't just about the acquisition of goods -- whether the season's hot toy or some sharp tool necessary for surviving the winter -- it's also about how we interact with each other."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments

" WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Tuesday urged Americans to volunteer to help feed their neighbors, noting that almost 15 percent of the country's households had a hard time getting enough to eat last year.

Every American can chip in to fight hunger, the Agriculture Department said as it unveiled the Obama Administration's new Feed a Neighbor initiative, encouraging activities such as volunteering time at local food banks, helping the elderly get fresh produce, and planning ways to feed children who depend on free school lunches when school is out.

A USDA survey last week found one in seven Americans struggled to get enough to eat in 2008, the highest level since the report began in 1995.

More than 49 million people "had difficulty obtaining food...due to a lack of resources" during 2008, the report said. This includes 17 million children."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

"This Thanksgiving, millions of Americans will eat a meal paid for with funds provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as Food Stamps. The United States is currently providing supplemental nutrition benefits to 36.5 million people, or 11.9% of the American population (see Figure). That’s up from 9.3% last year and 6.7% a decade ago."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

"A new report says that at least four out of five children in orphanages around the world have a living parent.

The charity Save the Children says some institutions coerce or trick poor parents to give up their children.

As a result, the report says, millions of children are put at risk through living in an institution, and face rape, trafficking and beatings. "

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

"According to a report released last month by the New York City advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless, there are currently almost 37,000 people in the city shelter system. This includes approximately 10,000 homeless families with 16,500 children.

The number of homeless housed by the city marks an 11 percent increase over last year and is the highest number of people seeking shelter on record. These figures are all the more significant because they reflect the state of the homeless population before the cold weather has started." (by  Sandy English and Ali Ismail )

Labels: society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments

"ABSTRACT: Family violence is a pervasive and costly problem, yet there is no consensus on how to interpret the phenomenon of violence by one family member against another. Some analysts assume that violence has an instrumental role in intra-family incentives. Others argue that violent episodes represent a loss of control that the offender immediately regrets. In this paper we specify and test a behavioral model of the latter form. Our key hypothesis is that negative emotional cues – benchmarked relative to a rationally expected reference point – make a breakdown of control more likely. We test this hypothesis using data on police reports of family violence on Sundays during the professional football season. Controlling for location and time fixed effects, weather factors, the pre-game point spread, and the size of the local viewing audience, we find that upset losses by the home team (losses in games that the home team was predicted to win by more than 3 points) lead to an 8 percent increase in police reports of at-home male-on-female intimate partner violence. There is no corresponding effect on female-on-male violence. Consistent with the behavioral prediction that losses matter more than gains, upset victories by the home team have (at most) a small dampening effect on family violence. We also find that unexpected losses in highly salient or frustrating games have a 50% to 100% larger impact on rates of family violence. The evidence that payoff-irrelevant events affect the rate of family violence leads us to conclude that at least some fraction of family violence is better characterized as a breakdown of control than as rationally directed instrumental violence."

David Card, Gordon Dahl

NBER Working Paper No. 15497^*
Issued in November 2009
NBER Program(s):   LS

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Abstract  We investigate the relationship between having children at home and life satisfaction. Contrary to much of the literature, our results are consistent with an effect of children on life satisfaction that is positive, large and increasing in the number of children. The effect, however, is contingent on the individual’s characteristics. In particular, our findings are consistent with children making married people better off, while most unmarried individuals appear to be worse off with children. We also analyze the role of factors such as gender, age, income and education."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments

"What's your brain doing, right now? Award-winning journalist Judith Horstman writes about health and medicine for doctors as well as the general public. Her work has appeared in hundreds of publications worldwide and on the Internet.
Horstman discusses what your brain is doing as you go through a typical day: sleeping, waking, fighting, loving and making important decisions."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Iceland (1) has claimed the top spot of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2009 from Norway (3) which slipped to third position behind Finland (2). Sweden (4) completed the Nordic countries’ continued dominance of the top four. The report’s Index assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources and opportunities. South Africa and Lesotho made great strides in closing their gender gaps to enter the top 10, at sixth and 10th position respectively. The Philippines (9) lost ground for the first time in four years but remains the leading Asian country in the rankings.

Out of the 115 countries covered in the report since 2006, more than two-thirds have posted gains in overall index scores, indicating that the world in general has made progress towards equality between men and women, although there are countries that continue to lose ground."

download from http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2009.pdf

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments

"A private university in Brazil said Tuesday that because of negative public reaction, it reversed a decision to expel a student who wore a short dress to class, but the school's assistant rector defended the original decision."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: media, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments

" Social issues have never taken up so much corporate and CEO attention since the world wars.Income inequalities, public health, labour unrest, climate change, poverty, ethics, values, the role of business ... all that kind of thing.
Suddenly, corporate social responsibility has come to acquire a brand new meaning. It’s not about the Gates Foundation any more, it’s about bankers bonuses. It’s about climate change, green technology, social justice. Developmental and behavioural economics is edging out the discredited mathematical and pure market economics. "

Labels: finance, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

What Women Want with Eija Ailasmaa.
"A new female consumer is emerging, bringing along a massive shift in women's consumer behavior. Today's brands need to be creating, cultivating and supporting the web of women. It's about storytelling and creating brands that fits in with a woman's story of herself as well as engaging her as a consumer with vibrant and authentic brand stories - "

FORA.tv - What Women Want

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

Would you be happier if you were richer? www.morgenkommichspaeterrein.de/ressources/download/125krueger.pdf

sent via web

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/randomfriendly/status/5152721689
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 2:49 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Two out of every three black children born between 1985 and 2000 were raised in neighborhoods with at least a 20 percent poverty rate, compared with just 6 percent of white children, a new report from the Pew Foundation finds. These numbers are virtually unchanged from thirty years ago. Among children born between 1955 and 1970, 62 percent of black children were raised in neighborhoods with at least a 20 percent poverty rate, compared with only 4 percent of white children, according to the Pew report. This gap persists even when the poorest families are excluded from the analysis. Among children from the upper three income quintiles, almost half of black children -- 49% -- lived in high-poverty neighborhoods, defined as those with at least a 20% poverty rate. Only one percent of white children from the upper three income quintiles lived in high-poverty neighborhoods."

Labels: society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

"(PhysOrg.com) -- A new British study has found that the children of working mothers are less likely to eat right and exercise than children of mothers who stay home."

"The U.K. Millenium Cohort Study analyzed data on 12,576 singleton children aged nine months to five years old. The study found children whose mothers worked were more likely to have unhealthy habits such as snacking on potato chips and consuming sweet drinks, and they were less likely to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and get proper exercise. The results were similar for mothers who worked part time and full time, and were not related to factors such as the mother's education level or ethnicity."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Nearly 8.3 million adults (age 18 and older) in the U.S. (3.7 percent) had serious thoughts of committing suicide in the past year, according to the first national scientific survey of its size on this public health problem. The SAMHSA study also shows that 2.3 million adult Americans made a suicide plan in the past year and that 1.1 million adults — 0.5 percent of all adult Americans — had actually attempted suicide in the past year."

Labels: science, society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 1:53 AM | Permalink | Comments

"… Census Bureau, which on September 10 reported that median household income fell 3.6% in 2008, the largest one-year decline on record, while the poverty rate rose to 13.2% in 2008 from 12.5% in 2007. The Census also reported that the number of Americans without health insurance rose to 46.3 million in 2008 from 45.7 million in 2007."

Labels: society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:14 AM | Permalink | Comments

"…EMR  (Electronic Medical Records) technology has been available for more than a decade, yet members of the medical community have been slow to adopt it due to the perception of EMRs being disruptive, expensive and hard to implement. The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates only 38.4 percent of doctors are using EMRs. In a new study by the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE), which polled 1,000 members, physicians argued that current EMR systems were clunky, hard to use and not far enough along in their development. However, when the process is outsourced, doctors and hospitals are more likely to experience less disruption and frustration because they have access to expertise and specialized skills in implementing such systems and realize a greater return on their investment."

Labels: science, society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The use of open source in healthcare will break down many barriers, from high cost and lack of interoperability, to inaccessibility and complexity….

From 44,000 to 98,000 hospital deaths each year are caused by preventable medical errors, representing the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States. These errors, however, can largely be eliminated through the adoption of an EHR and the subsequent clinical transformation the EHR enables.

….

At present, only 15 percent of U.S. hospitals have comprehensive clinical information systems in place. This deficit is caused by many factors, chief among them poor clinical adoption, capital-intensive business models, antiquated vendor business models that promote silos of data, and lack of transparency and interoperability. "

Labels: science, society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Abstract:
Every state in the United States has laws which prohibit sexual activity with individuals under a certain age. These laws are typically strict liability. Generally, they are justifed under the auspice of protecting young women from 'predatory' older males. However, nobody has examined the effectiveness of these laws. Using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLSY), and exploiting the differences in the laws among states and over time, we examine whether the laws restricting the number of legal sexual partners delays the sexual debut of both males and females. We find that the laws are successful in accomplishing these goals. Overall, an additional 1 year of potential partners leads to about a 10% increase in the probability of sexual debut at any age. "

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments

"A  Sept. 10 report from the Census Bureau shows that the child poverty rate rose to 19.0% in 2008, from 18% in 2007. That translates to 14.1 million children living in poverty in the richest nation on earth.

In 2008, more than one in three - 35.3% - of all people living in poverty were children. EPI projects that with the continuing deterioration in the labor market, by 2009 a quarter of all children in this country will be living in poverty and by 2010 the child poverty rate will be 26.6%.

This would represent an increase of 10.4 percentage points from 2000 to 2010 – truly a lost decade. "

Labels: finance, society, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

"(AP)  Dangerous staph bacteria have been found in sand and water for the first time at five public beaches along the coast of Washington, and scientists think the state is not the only one with this problem.
The germ is MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - a hard-to-treat bug once rarely seen outside of hospitals but that increasingly is spreading in ordinary community settings such as schools, locker rooms and gyms."

read complete article : Staph Germs Found at West Coast Beaches - CBS News

  (AP / CBS)

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments

"(Sept. 11) - A 7-year-old autistic girl who once struggled to speak found her voice through the gift of song, and now she's sharing her talent in arenas all over the country."

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments

"(PhysOrg.com) -- Research reported in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology has shown that men go ga-ga over pretty women. They simply lose their minds (while women keep theirs)."

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments

"In 2005, the United Nations effectively adopted Mayange, Rwanda selecting it as one of 80 model villages across Africa, where tourism strategies intended to cut poverty in half by 2015 are being tested. It's Mayange's status as a "Millennium Village" that draws crowds down from Kigali. But the full-day tour of a local farm, school, and health clinic, among other sites, exemplifies a fast-growing trend in global travel." (CSMonitor100 on YouTube)

read complete article : YouTube - Witnessing how the poor live

Labels: society, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:51 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Staff writer Matthew Clark and photographer Mary Knox Merrill report on a women's advocacy group trying to stop rape by soldiers and militiamen in Congo." (CSMonitor100 on YouTube)

read complete article : YouTube - Rape in Congo: Women for Women International

Labels: society, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:49 AM | Permalink | Comments

read complete article : YouTube - Walking with a purpose

Labels: society, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Two and half million people in India are HIV positive. But it is a subject people do not like to talk about.The stigma associated with the illness means there is a lack of understanding about the virus. So India's health authorities are using catchy commercials to spread a "safe-sex" message.Al Jazeera's Hamish Macdonald reports from New Delhi." (Aljazeera on YouTube)

Labels: media, society, world

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe is the most dangerous Arabic celebrity in cyberspace, according to research from McAfee. The security company found that Wehbe was the Arabic celebrity whose name was used most often to draw web surfers to websites with unsafe and malicious content.

Singer Wael Kfoury was the second most commonly used celebrity name for unsafe sites in the Middle East, with Paris Hilton ranking as number one worldwide." read complete article : Haifa Wehbe most dangerous Arabic celebrity online | LebSpy.com

(2007 news but worth to remind society on the dangers of clicking on celebrity-related links on some of the websites.

Labels: arab, media, middle east, society, technology

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments

Many Lebanese people are eager to show off. Latest event is that one person bought a phone line with unique digits (70-555555) for a 110,000 dollars. Recently, thirty individuals (I can't call them as 'investors') rushed to bid on twenty five special mobile numbers. A 110,000 dollars is a lot of money in Lebanon, since Lebanon’s GDP per capital is $8,000 annually (basically average income generated around $800 a month) and the cost of a regular phone line is not more than a hundred dollars. You can actually get a phone line for as low as three dollars! The least two valuable numbers were 70-505000 and 70-470000 and were sold for 8,000 dollars each, still hundred times more than purchasing a regular cell phone line. The phone line with such digits would not have any preferential treatment than any other phone line. It might even frequently disconnect more frequently when others start SMSing and make "missed calls'" to this number. It's value is only for its straight fives. Note that the 70 is a standard area code for cell phone numbers, so the buyer had no choice but accept such fact. I wonder what this buyer would be willing to pay if the number being sold was 55-555555 instead. If every unique set of numbers will entice some individual to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for each number then I believe we will have much of Lebanon's economic crisis resolved when the country sells multiple numbers of those. Selling ten sets of each 111111's, 22222's, etc. then 1111222's and so on will get us millions of dollars. Start coming up with more numbers, add more digits, changing area codes as well if needed, and we'll be saving more to cover Lebanon's mounting debt until the hype ends when people notices their own stupidity for offering so much money for just a set of numbers. But I guess not. Possessing a cell phone with a non-tangible number that costs much more than the phone itself seems more valuable then anything else life except maybe a car license plate that has a similar hype with expensive digits The only problem is when to show off. Would this buyer walk on the streets with a banner on his shirt that says "call me. I own 70-555555 and it's much more expensive than you!" or "I offer 1 dollar to pay to the poor. Call me at my $110,000 number 70-555555' or maybe starting calling everyone to let the whole world know how much his phone number worth but maybe then he would have spent more doing that than paying for the phone.

Labels: lebanon, middle east, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

"For thousands of years Egyptians have relied on irrigation from the Nile to cultivate vegetables and fruit. Now the system that has sustained their farms since ancient times could be in danger. Water shortages are forcing farmers to use contaminated water with deadly results.
Al Jazeera's Mohammed Vall reports from the banks of the river Nile."

read complete article : YouTube - Egyptian farmers forced to irrigate with sewage water - 5 Sep 09

Labels: arab, middle east, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments

"A UK survey has revealed that myths about contraception may be widespread.

One in five women said they had heard of kitchen items, including bread, cling film and even chicken skin, being used as alternative barrier methods.

Others had heard food items such as kebabs, Coca-cola or crisps could be used as oral contraceptives.

The survey questioned 1,000 women aged 18 to 50 and was carried out by market research company Opinion Health, sponsored by Bayer Schering Pharma. "

Labels: society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments

"Brain imaging shows playing Tetris leads to a thicker cortex and may also increase brain efficiency, according to research published in the open access journal BMC Research Notes. A research team based in New Mexico is one of the first to investigate the effects of practice in the brain using two image techniques."

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

"Pornography addiction is a health hazard that western culture is only just starting to recognize. This program demystifies the ... all » misconceptions that pornography is harmless and is based on the latest scientific facts. Interviews with sociologists, psychologists, scientists and law enforcement officials detail the negative side effects of pornography consumption. This program is guaranteed to help you or your loved one take the first step to understanding, discussing and addressing this secret problem of pornography addiction.." (YouTube) adcpvideo, October 03, 2007)

read complete article : YouTube - A Drug Called Pornography, Part 1/7. Understanding

Labels: media, science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: media, science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: media, science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments

ABSRACT: "We propose a model of communication in organizations in which the quality of communication depends on the match between senders and receivers of messages. The model allows for two dimensions of knowledge: breadth and depth. Specialists have deep knowledge of few areas while generalists have superficial knowledge of many areas. Generalists are useful because they can communicate with many different specialists. As a consequence, optimal organizational structures are such that generalists are at the top and specialists are at the bottom. Our model has implications for organization design, the optimal degree of centralization of decision making, and the depth of hierarchies. In particular, we show that an increase in the complexity of the environment together with improvements in communication technology lead to a decrease in specialization at the top."

Labels: society, technology, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: science, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

Hulu - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Good News/Bad News - Americas Recession

…thanks Wayne

Labels: media, society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments

"The rich have been getting richer for so long that the trend has come to seem almost permanent.

They began to pull away from everyone else in the 1970s. By 2006, income was more concentrated at the top than it had been since the late 1920s. The recent news about resurgent Wall Street pay has seemed to suggest that not even the Great Recession could reverse the rise in income inequality.

But economists say — and data is beginning to show — that a significant change may in fact be under way. The rich, as a group, are no longer getting richer. Over the last two years, they have become poorer. And many may not return to their old levels of wealth and income anytime soon."

 

Labels: finance, society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The Consumer Action Handbook - This guide from the Federal Citizen Information Center can help with your consumer problems and questions. Find help on such topics as buying and leasing cars, shopping from home and protecting your privacy and yourself from fraud."

Labels: society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments

"The latest ACT scores are another poke in the ribs to those who worry that American students are falling behind in math and science. But Public Agenda's research makes us wonder whether those who need to be nudged the most -- parents -- will feel a thing.
The ACT report notes slight improvements overall but found a "lack of college readiness is again most evident in the areas of science and math." Only 28 percent of the students who took the ACT are ready for college biology and 42 percent are ready for college algebra. By contrast, more than two-thirds are ready for college-level English composition." read complete article

Labels: education, science, society, united states

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments