Discusses the importance of competitiveness to the American economy and examines three areas where federal information policies affect American competitiveness: providing the private sector with technical information; making federal information resources available to industry; and restricting foreign access to those resources. For each area,…

Discusses the issue of society-controlled science. Analyzes the present state of science with respect to society, including moral issues, attitude differences between nineteenth century scientists and contemporary ones, risk management, and reductionism. (YP)

While homelessness results from a variety of factors, ultimately its cause is an insufficient supply of suitable housing. The Federal government must massively intervene to halt the loss of additional low-income housing units, and benefits paid to the welfare-dependent population must approximately double. (MW)

According to Sam Keen, education's fascination with high technology is taking us into a highly consumptive, urban, competitive, individualistic, and corporate future. Instead, a more organic relationship with the natural world is needed to sustain life. The integrity of rural life and the virtues of self-reliance represent reasonable alternatives…

Introduces this special issue and presents a variety of clinical, research, interview, classroom, observation, assessment, and survey techniques. These techniques are intended to improve children's lives. Notes that some of the articles provide theoretical support for the techniques suggested and used, some describe programmatic models, and some…

Vincent Scully, Yale art historian, discusses urban architecture, classical influences, and the role of technology. He argues for a public architecture that expresses and supports the concept of communities, and discusses the decline and rebirth of American cities. (MJP)

Development of a parent report measure for assessing the quality of life of children with cancer is described. The Pediatric Oncology Quality of Life Scale assesses physical function and role restriction, emotional distress, and reaction to current medical treatment. Reliability and validity assessments provide preliminary support for the…

A benefit-cost analysis was conducted to compare services for 11 individuals with severe mental retardation and challenging behaviors who had been moved from an institution to a community setting. Overall, the community-based program costs represented slight public savings over costs in the state institution. Less quantifiable benefits were also…

West Virginia's strong environmental legislation is due to the efforts of the West Virginia Environmental Council. The history of the statewide coalition is presented, as well as organizational aspects that make the council successful, such as loose structure based on consensus, and respect for all the different shades of green comprising the…

To distinguish the homeless from the housed poor, 144 adults were randomly sampled from several sites and classified into 3 groups: the currently homeless, the previously homeless, and the never-homeless poor. The homeless group was less likely to be receiving public benefits and more likely to experience substance abuse and violence. (RJM)

The development of a structured interview designed to assess leisure satisfaction in persons with mental retardation is described along with initial reliability, validity, and leisure satisfaction findings with 40 individuals with developmental disabilities. Also considered are the rationale for measuring leisure satisfaction based on quality of…

The practice of requiring that children with disabilities undergo public medical examinations attended by numerous professional and student personnel is challenged. These discriminatory practices are attributed to uninformed attitudes of members of the medical establishment, and the implications for patients' quality of life are noted. (JDD)

Considers Directive to Physician, Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare Decisions, and Medical Ethics Decision Form. Notes importance of process individuals go through in defining what quality of life means to them. Sees current struggle being individual articulation of one's wishes based on personal definition of quality of life set forth in…

This presidential address discusses realities that may alter political, social, and economic priorities in the future; examines how these realities will affect the lives of people with mental retardation and their families; and addresses ideas for responding to these realities and promoting greater opportunities and quality of life for citizens…

Mothers of toddlers were interviewed and observed. In laboratory observations, maternal employment adversely affected maternal behavior when satisfaction with social support or work role was low. In home and laboratory observations, the effect of poor quality child care was greater when mothers were employed. (BC)