The number of well-educated residents that areas draw can have a bearing on economic vitality, and yet local and regional planners must consider how far they should go in appealing to residents who will bring such “human capital.” One outstanding question remains precisely how cultural amenities such as museums and theaters translate into value beyond aesthetic enjoyment.

Research on the gambling industry has increased in recent years as more states have considered or enacted plans to permit the building of casinos or to allow other forms of gambling. Still, there has been relatively little on-site research chronicling gambling behavior at casinos themselves.

Migrants often have different reasons for coming to the United States. Two common motivations are their educational and employment aspirations for their children. The dutiful, hard-working child of immigrants has become a kind of cultural type in America, but research suggests the reality for such children is more complex.

An estimated 200 million migrants cross national borders each year around the globe, prompting concerns in many countries about the economic and social effects of these waves of newcomers. While backlashes against immigrants may be superficially similar across many cultures, underlying motivations can differ.

While depression is often linked with physiological factors, the larger human environment appears to contribute to and worsen existing depression. The degree to which this is true, however, and how much impact public health and safety efforts might help mitigate depression in the populace, is less certain.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has an open investigation into the genocide that occurred over the last decade in Darfur, Sudan. Though mass extermination is the chief focus of the international law, Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention also bans “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.”

Civic associations can enhance democracy in many ways. They can afford a voice to otherwise marginalized groups and promote direct citizen participation; they can also provide forums for public debate and create space for citizens to practice civic skills. Past research has suggested that their effectiveness in performing these vital functions is largely a product of resources and context.

In the absence of a constitutional mandate, the political parties in the United States have had to invent their own methods for selecting presidential candidates. States such as Iowa rely on caucuses — party-specific gatherings where participants publicly declare their candidate preference. Questions remain, however, about the fairness and representative nature of that particular electoral process.

For increasing numbers of people, sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are becoming crucial platforms for communicating with friends, family and work colleagues. Just as the mass-market introduction of phones, radio and the telegram changed patterns of emotional, social and political interaction across society, so too are Internet-based technologies and applications now. Precisely how these changes will play out, though, is just emerging.