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October 29, 2010
From SPSS Technical Support - IBM SPSS Proactive Notification -- Apple Java Update for Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 disables charts in Statistics 18.0.x
IBM SPSS Statistics version 18.0.x for Macintosh administrators and users should be aware of a problem in chart drawing caused by the latest Apple Java Updates for Mac OS X. If IBM SPSS Statistics version 18.0.x is installed either on Macintosh OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or on OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and the latest Apple Java Update 8 for Mac OS X 10.5 or the Apple Java Update 3 for Mac OS X is applied, it is not possible to create IBM SPSS Statistics charts. Attempting to create any chart will result in the error "The JVM cannot be started".
More details can be found in knowledgebase resolution 91842.
NOTE: This does not affect IBM SPSS Statistics 18 for Windows or Linux, and is NOT an issue in IBM SPSS Statistics for Mac OS X version 19.
If you encounter this issue, please obtain the fix along with installation instructions and download information on the support web site at http://support.spss.com. Enter your login information, select the "Patches" menu under the Statistics product, and choose the "Statistics 18.0.3.4 Hotfix". All installations should first be patched to 18.0.3 before applying the 18.0.3.4 HotFix.
You will need your Support Web site User ID and Password to access this information. If you have forgotten your user ID or password you can use the Find Password feature found at: http://support.spss.com/password.html
We are continually striving to improve our communication to our clients. However, if you do not wish to receive further proactive e-mails from SPSS Support, please reply to this message with REMOVE on the subject line.
Thank you,
SPSS Technical Support
IBM Business Analytics
IBM Software Solutions Group
Posted by ronbo at 10:41 PM
October 28, 2010
From ICPSR - Recent ICPSR updates and additions - New Releases through 2010-10-24
Below is a list of new data collection additions to the ICPSR data archive along with a list of released data collections that have been updated:
New Additions
24611 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA): Loan Application Register (LAR) and Transmittal Sheet (TS) Raw Data, 2006
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR24611
29043 ABC News/Washington Post Monthly Poll, November 2009
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR29043
Updates
4538 Chitwan Valley [Nepal] Family Study: Changing Social Contexts and Family Formation http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04538
6550 CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll, April 1995
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06550
9108 CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll, August 1988
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09108
9497 CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll, January 1990
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09497
9796 National Health Interview Survey, 1974: Hypertension Supplement
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09796
9797 National Health Interview Survey, 1974: Medical Care Supplement
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09797
9798 National Health Interview Survey, 1974: Currently Employed Supplement
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09798
2010-10-25
Posted by ronbo at 06:53 PM
From IES Newsflash - New IES Report Examines Access to Education and Community Activities for Young Children with Disabilities
A new Institute of Education Sciences report finds that most kindergarteners with disabilities are educated in a regular education classroom. Based on data from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS), the report covers access to community activities and kindergarten classroom experiences for young children with disabilities and examines how access and participation in these activities may vary by child, family, and school district characteristics. Selected findings from the report, Access to Educational and Community Activities for Young Children with Disabilities, include:
• For those PEELS children still receiving special education services in kindergarten, 73 percent of teachers indicated that the regular education classroom was considered the main education setting during kindergarten; 27 percent indicated the special education setting was the main setting.
• In terms of kindergarten curriculum, 44 percent of teachers reported that the child received regular grade-level materials without any modifications; 29 percent reported that the child received regular curriculum materials with some modifications; 12 percent received substantial modifications; and 14 percent received specialized curriculum or materials.
• More than 90 percent of parents reported that their child went to restaurants (95%), grocery stores (95%), and shopping malls (94%) in the past month, and more than half of parents reported that their child went to places of worship (72%), parks (72%), movies (58%), or libraries (52%).
For more information, see the report at:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/20113000/
Posted by ronbo at 06:45 PM
From ICPSR News - NCRP Data - Restricted Access
The National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) data are currently available only as Restricted-Use Data through the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD). The reason for removing the NCRP data from the direct public access has to do with BJS' response to new requirements pertaining to protecting the confidentiality of persons in statistical data collections. BJS and NACJD are undertaking a data disclosure review of the NCRP data. This process will identify whether some details should be made available only through restricted access. If any details are identified, a new public version of NCRP data will be made available on the NACJD Web site, and users needing more detail will be able to request the restricted data files. Please contact nacjd@icpsr.umich.edu with any questions or concerns.
The restricted data contain the same variables that have previously been publicly available through NACJD. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement form and specify the reasons for the request. A copy of the Restricted Data Use Agreement form can be downloaded at: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/private/, or requested by calling 800-999-0960. Completed forms should be returned to:
Director, National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
Institute for Social Research
P.O. Box 1248
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248
or by fax: 734-647-8200
Upon submission and approval of the restricted access application, NCRP data, with the level of detail traditionally made available, will be sent to the user.
Posted by ronbo at 06:18 PM
ICPSR Data Fair: Just over one week left to register!
Just over a week left to register for ICPSR’s Virtual Social Science Data Fair!
The November 8 – 11, 2010 fair will cover data management, North American data sources, International data sources, and data resources for teaching.
Selected Organizations and Projects Discussed at the Free, Virtual Data Fair:
• The Censuses of Germany, The Netherlands, and the US
• UNdata and the World Bank’s Data Catalog
• Cultural Policy and the Arts National Data Archive (CPANDA)
• Latin American Public Opinion Project
• Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA)
• The Roper Center
• American FactFinder, data.gov, & Bureau of Labor Statistics
• The Health and Retirement Study
• Panel Study of Income Dynamics
• ODESI (Canada)
• Minnesota Population Center
• Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science
• Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE)
Register for any and all sessions here: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/datafair/program.jsp
Posted by ronbo at 05:42 PM
October 26, 2010
From SAS Technical Support - Reminder: Enterprise Guide 4.1 die date
The original SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1 expiration date is December 1st of this year. SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1 customers who have not applied the SAS Enterprise Guide hot fix 41EG09wn or later will be affected. The workaround is to download and apply the latest hot fix:
http://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/ent_guide41.html
SAS Enterprise Guide die dates and extensions are documented in the SAS Note 33359:
http://support.sas.com/kb/33/359.html
Posted by ronbo at 07:44 PM
October 25, 2010
From ICPSR News - ICPSR offers guidelines on data management plans
As one of the leaders in data archiving for nearly 50 years, ICPSR is in a unique position to assist researchers with the data management plans increasingly being required by federal funding agencies such as NIH and NSF. Therefore, we are pleased to offer a new set of guidelines for preparing data management plans. We hope these resources can assist researchers in all disciplines meet these new requirements, and better understand how to preserve and disseminate their research data.
Our guidelines provide a detailed list of the elements of a data management plan, developed through a gap analysis of existing recommendations for such plans. We also list existing examples of data management plans, as well as other resources available on the Web.
Depositing data with ICPSR can be an integral part of a data management plan. In fact, the NSF's Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences recently named ICPSR as an archive that would help grant applicants meet its requirement for data storage. Our data management plan guidelines also provide information on how to deposit data with ICPSR.
We plan to update our guidelines regularly, and welcome any suggestions via email at web-support@icpsr.umich.edu.
ICPSR is also hosting a Webinar on data management plans as part of our Social Science Data Fair scheduled for November 8-11. Enrollment is currently open for all sessions.
Posted by ronbo at 06:27 PM
From Revolutions blog by David Smith - A workflow for R
Writing an R script is one thing. Organizing your process: where to put the data, how to refer to files in scripts, how to run the scripts, and how to produce and collect and report the results; that's quite another. Every R user has their own workflow for doing data analysis with R, but the best workflows achieve the following goals:
Posted by ronbo at 05:47 PM
From IES Newsflash - NCES Releases Update to State Education Reforms Website
New state-level data on statewide policies on assessments, adequate yearly progress, high school graduation, and certification requirements for teachers are now available on the State Education Reforms website, hosted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences.
The State Education Reforms website, which draws primarily on data collected by organizations other than NCES, compiles and disseminates data on state-level education reform efforts in five general areas: 1) accountability, 2) assessment and standards, 3) staff qualifications and development, 4) state support for school choice and other options, and 5) student readiness and progress through school. Examples of specific reform topics within these areas are school report cards, student and teacher assessments, high school graduation policies, and professional development.
The “Accountability” and “Staff Qualifications and Development” sections of the website each had one table updated. Five tables were updated and one table was added in the “Assessment and Standards” section. In the “Student Readiness and Progress through School” section of the website, two tables were updated. To locate these tables on the SER website, please look for the "Updated!" and “New!”tags next to the table titles.
To view the site, please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/
Posted by ronbo at 02:41 PM
October 19, 2010
From SPSS Technical Support - IBM SPSS Proactive Notification - PASW Text Analytics for Surveys 3.0.6 Patch availability notice
IBM SPSS Technical Support announces the availability of the PASW Text Analysis for Surveys 3.0.6 Patch. This scheduled point release is a free incremental update to PASW Text Analysis for Surveys 3.0.x. This update encompasses all customer reported defects fixed since the PASW Text Analytics 3.0.1 installation media was released.
For detailed information on the description of this patch, installation instructions, and downloading information, please browse to: http://support.spss.com and log in to the web site. After entering your login information, select the "Text Analysis for Surveys" menu link then click on "Patches".
You will need your Support Web site User Id and Password to access this information. If you have forgotten your user id or password you can use the Find Password feature on our Web site. This can be found at: http://support.spss.com/password.html
We are continually striving to improve our communication to our clients. However, if you do not wish to receive further proactive e-mails from SPSS Support, please reply to this message with REMOVE on the subject line.
Thank you,
IBM SPSS Technical Support
IBM Business Analytics
Posted by ronbo at 05:25 PM
From IES Newsflash - NCER releases report and data from the Social and Character Development Research Program
A new report released by the National Center for Education Research (NCER) found that seven Social and Character Development programs had no impact on students’ social and emotional competence, behaviors, academic performance, or perception of their school. The report, Efficacy of Schoolwide Programs to Promote Social and Character Development and Reduce Problem Behavior in Elementary School Children, examined 6,660 3rd grade students, caregivers, teachers, and principals in 84 schools and was a joint project between the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the study, schools were randomly assigned to implement one of the seven SACD programs for three years (the treatment group) or continue with their traditional SACD activities (the control group). Students were evaluated on their social and emotional development, behavior, academic performance, and perception of their school climate. The key findings include:
• All seven SACD programs increased the reported implementation of classroom activities intended to increase students’ social and character development.
• All control schools also reported using a variety of activities intended to increase students’ social and character development as “standard practice” but not at the same levels as the treatment schools.
• There were no differences in students' social and emotional competence, behaviors, academic performance, or perceptions of school climate between students in schools implementing one of the seven SACD programs and those in the control schools.
The report is available at http://ies.ed.gov/ncer/pubs/20112001/
This longitudinal data set includes child, primary caregiver, teacher and principal reports on 20 student and school outcomes related to social and emotional competence, behavior, academics, and perceptions of school climate. Also available are annual teacher and principal reports on the level of SACD activities taking place in the classroom and school.
Researchers can obtain the data files, documentation, and an electronic codebook from the multi-program evaluation after obtaining a restricted-use data license from IES (for information on such a license please see http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/licenses.asp ). Please use the following label when requesting the data set: Multisite Data, Social and Character Development Research Program, Complete Restricted Use Data Files and Documentation, February 2009.
Posted by ronbo at 05:23 PM
Recent ICPSR updates and additions - New Releases through 2010-10-18
Below is a list of new data collection additions to the ICPSR data archive along with a list of released data collections that have been updated:
New Additions
27765 ABC News/Washington Post Monthly Poll, June 2009
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR27765
27766 ABC News/Washington Post Monthly Poll, July 2009
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR27766
29063 Evaluation of Better Jobs Better Care: Clinical Manager Survey, 2004-2007 [Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont]
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR29063
Updates
6703 CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll, December 1995
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06703
7354 Study of Political Violence Attitudes, Personal Experiences with Violence, Emotional Reactions to Assassination and Violence in the Media, 1968
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07354
8339 Health Interview Survey, 1974
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08339
27881 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), 1994-2002: Obesity and Neighborhood Environment Files [Restricted Use]
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR27881
Posted by ronbo at 05:16 PM
October 13, 2010
From ICPSR News: National Longitudinal Mortality Study
The National Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS) consists of a database developed for the purpose of studying the effects of demographic and socio-economic characteristics on differentials in U.S. mortality rates. The NLMS is a unique research database in that it is based on a multistage stratified sample of the non-institutionalized population of the United States. It consists of U.S. Census Bureau data from Current Population Surveys, Annual Social and Economic Supplements and a subset of the 1980 Census, combined with death certificate information to identify mortality status and cause of death. The study currently consists of approximately 3.0 million records with over 250,000 identified mortality cases. The content of the socio-economic variables available offers researchers the potential to answer questions on mortality differentials for a variety of important socio-economic and demographic subgroups not covered as extensively in other databases.
[ full article ]
Posted by ronbo at 07:19 PM
From IPUMS Project: IPUMS-CPS 2010 Update
Dear IPUMS-CPS user,
The IPUMS-CPS project (http://cps.ipums.org/cps) is pleased to announce the addition of the 2010 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) public-use file to the data series. The database now includes the March supplements from 1962 onwards and adds several sources of data that must otherwise be merged manually at considerable effort: the replicate weights for more precise variance estimation; the experimental alternative poverty measures created by the Census Bureau; and the summary enhanced health insurance variables created at the University of Minnesota's State Health Access Data Assistance Center, which are available only in IPUMS-CPS.
Additionally, the IPUMS-CPS interface has been improved. It is now easier to browse and select data in one step, and the overall process of making an extract has been streamlined.
As always, we welcome your feedback and questions.
Regards,
The IPUMS Team
Posted by ronbo at 01:38 PM
October 12, 2010
From US Census Bureau - 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) Brief Series
The U.S Census Bureau is pleased to announce the release of twelve more reports from the American Community Survey (ACS) Brief series for 2009. These short reports cover a wide range of topics including public transportation usage, population with Haitian ancestry in the United States, rental housing market conditions, and science and engineering degrees. An initial set of seven reports was released on Sept. 28, 2010.
You can access all reports at: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/data_documentation/ACS_briefs/
Posted by ronbo at 01:51 PM
October 11, 2010
From SAS Technical Support: SAS Institute TS: New Hot Fixes for the SAS 9.2 Family of Products
New Hot Fixes are available on the Technical Support Hot Fix Web site for the SAS 9.2 family of products. The latest Hot Fixes are for:
Base SAS 9.21_M3
B25049 (Windows, Windows for IPF, Windows for x64,
64-bit Enabled HP-UX, 64-bit Enabled Solaris, 64-bit Enabled AIX,
Linux, HP-UX IPF, Linux for x64, Solaris for x64,
OpenVMS on HP Integrity)
B25032 (Windows, Windows for IPF, Windows for x64,
64-bit Enabled HP-UX, 64-bit Enabled Solaris, 64-bit Enabled AIX,
Linux, HP-UX IPF, Linux for x64, Solaris for x64)
B25044 (z/OS, Windows, Windows for IPF, Windows for x64,
64-bit Enabled HP-UX, 64-bit Enabled Solaris, 64-bit Enabled AIX,
Linux, HP-UX IPF, Linux for x64, Solaris for x64,
OpenVMS on HP Integrity)
SAS Financial Management 5.1_M2
C50001 (Windows, Windows for x64)
SAS Strategy Management 5.1_M2
C55001 (Windows, Windows for x64)
For more information, please review the SAS 9.2 Hot Fix "What's New" page:
http://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/HF2/92_whats_new.html
For help in determining which product releases and hot fixes are installed on your system, please refer to SASNote 35968:
http://support.sas.com/kb/35/968.html
For information on SAS 9.2 Product-Specific Release Numbers, please see:
http://support.sas.com/software/92/productnumbers.html
Please also review the "Important Changes to Hot Fixes" document relating to hot fixes for SAS 9.2 (TS2M0) and higher:
http://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/HF2/sas92_important.html
A comprehensive list of all Hot Fixes is available at:
http://www.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/hotfix.html
Posted by ronbo at 06:03 PM
From ICPSR - Recent ICPSR updates and additions: New Releases through 2010-10-10
Below is a list of new data collection additions to the ICPSR data archive along with a list of released data collections that have been updated:
New Additions
26621 National Survey of the Japanese Elderly, 1996
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR26621
27581 Political Business Cycles in Open Economies in 28 Developing Countries
>From Latin America, Asia, and Africa, 1976-2002
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR27581
Updates
6615 CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll, December 1994
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06615
9618 CBS News/New York Times Monthly Poll, December 1990
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09618
24642 Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities, 2005
http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR24642
_______________________________________________
Recent-updates-and-additions mailing list
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/mailman/listinfo/recent-updates-and-additions
Posted by ronbo at 06:01 PM
From Social Explorer (10/11/2011)- New Detailed Religion Data Now Available on Social Explorer
by Sydney Beveridge
Social Explorer users now have access to new and detailed religion demographics from infoGROUP’s American Church List (ACL) data for 2009. The ACL provides the most complete and accurate database of churches and religious associated businesses with approximately 350,000 houses of worship.
The data includes over 20 groups and 230 denominations, and are viewable by religious tradition or family. The reports offer a detailed breakdown of each religion, such as this table for Jewish congregations and adherents in New York County (Manhattan).
[ full article ]
Posted by ronbo at 05:56 PM
October 06, 2010
From ICPSR - ICPSR's Social Science Data Fair
ICPSR is pleased to announce our Social Sciences Data Fair scheduled for November 8-11, 2010. The event will bring together representatives, practitioners, and users of several intriguing social sciences data organizations to provide in-depth orientations to the data and teaching resources they offer.
Presenters have been asked to answer two primary questions: "What data/teaching resources are available from the organization(s)?" and "How does the data user/instructor access those resources?"
All sessions will be available on the Web through GoToWebinar technology. All sessions also will be recorded and posted on the Web for future viewing.
For a sneak peek, please see our At-A-Glance program, containing abridged abstract, presenters and schedules. You can also register for sessions through the links in the program.
This data fair has been organized for the social sciences data community at large including researchers, librarians, teaching faculty, students, and policymakers from around the world who are interested in the use of social sciences data.
More information will be posted soon!
Posted by ronbo at 06:35 PM
October 05, 2010
From NewsBreak - OECD iLibrary Officially Launched as Rebuilt Website
by Barbara Quint
Posted On September 30, 2010
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has had a website for identifying and distributing its own and other agency publications since the beginning of the century. Until recently, the site was named SourceOECD, but over the last 4 or 5 years, according to Toby Green, head of publishing, the OECD has been working with Publishing Technology (formed in 2007 with the merger of Ingenta, VISTA, and Publishers Communication Group (PCG)) to redesign its site and many internal functions as well. The result is OECD iLibrary. In the course of investigating this development, probably my most interesting discovery had nothing to do with the newness of the site, but with the discovery of the many countries the data covered outside the 33 developed country members of OECD itself.
Posted by ronbo at 08:41 PM