california

Numerous studies have shown that automotive pollution has a wide range of negative health effects, including heart and lung disease. Much of the blame has been pinned on gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone, but the role of suspended particulate matter has been less clear.

Manufacturing plays a big role in California’s economy. About 10% of residents are employed in manufacturing, which generates $150 billion in value, and the jobs pay well: In 2004 the average income earned in manufacturing was $57,000, 54% more than the state’s median income.

Between 1970 and 1997, Hispanics in South Los Angeles increased from 10% of the population to approximately 50%. During the same period, 300,000 manufacturing jobs were lost and replaced by low-wage positions held by immigrants. At the same time, small businesses shifted from African-Americans to Latinos and Asians. After tensions erupted in widespread violence in 1992, incidents have continued between Latinos, African-Americans and other ethnic groups.

The Hispanic population in the United States grew from 35.3 million in the 2000 Census to 46.9 million (or 15.4% of the total population) in 2008.  Of these, 62% are native born while 38% are foreign born. Historically, Hispanic participation in the census has been lower than other groups. In 2000, their return rate was 69%, compared to 79% for non-Hispanic households. This lead the Census Bureau to dedicate 20% of its ad budget on awareness campaigns aimed at Hispanics.

Interest groups are a feature of American politics, but studies of their actual effect on issues has been relatively scarce. A 2008 study by the International Monetary Fund, “Do Interest Groups Affect U.S. Immigration Policy?” seeks to quantify if and how different groups influence policy.

If ever there were a natural event worth forecasting, it would be a major earthquake. Currently, there are dozens of long-term predictive models employed around the world that attempt to do just that with varying degrees of success. One such model, named EEPAS (Every Earthquake a Precursor According to Scale), attempts to predict the magnitude, location and probability of a future major quake based on indicative measures of the minor earthquakes that precede it.