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The purpose of this paper is to show how information and communications technology (ICT) literacy skills reflect twenty‐first century requirements for researching and communicating information in digital environments. An interactive problem‐based, scenario‐based, web‐based assessment tool, iSkills^TM, has been developed through a broad‐based effort to establish standards for performance and certification of ICT literacy proficiencies. This paper aims to discuss the assessment's potential in determining the effectiveness of instruction programs.

Since January 2001, a consortium of experts in ICT literacy served as advisors to the Educational Testing Service (ETS) test developers as they designed an internet‐delivered assessment that measures students' abilities to research, organize, and communicate information using technology. This paper reviews that R&D process, concluding with an example of its application to information literacy program planning and evaluation. A mixed methods approach collected and analyzed qualitative sources and iSkills^TM pre‐test/post‐test data for first‐year Purdue University students.

Findings informed curricular decisions for instituting an integrated problem‐based learning (PBL) information literacy program. Secondary goals included developing an understanding of how information‐processing skills are acquired, identifying best practices for integrating information literacy into the curriculum, and assessing the impact of skill acquisition on overall academic achievement. ICT literate students are generally better problem‐solvers, more self‐directed, and communicate ideas more efficiently.

Universities are beginning to require ICT literacy as competencies for graduation. This paper presents a new strategy for assessing the effectiveness of instructional programs which aim to matriculate proficient students.

This paper reports on the efficacy of a problem‐based learning (PBL) approach involving three convergent principles of design: the organization and dissemination of information, the creation and communication of information, and problem solving within the context of research projects and assignments. As such, it provides important insights into pairing an innovative instructional approach and the iSkills^TM ICT literacy assessment.

This paper examines the effects of foreign debts on the economic performance of small countries. Forty‐eight small countries, each with a population of approximately five million, have been desegregated according to their per capita income and geographical location. The groups in question include Africa, the Caribbean region, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe. Using correlation analysis, analysis of variance, and multiple comparison procedure, the collected data on fourteen economic indicators for each group of countries were analyzed. It was found that the economic effects of external debt varied among countries not only on the basis of their income level, but also on the basis of their geographical locations. Middle Eastern and European countries, being more prosperous, were able to maintain a relatively lower external debt to export ratio and thus were able to attain better economic accomplishments as compared to the poorer nations such as those in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean region. Within this latter group, those countries which were able to borrow more in relation to their GDP were able to perform better as far as their export, import, and government expenditures are concerned.

This paper aims to evaluate the use of Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses for judging the effects of alcohol consumption on the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).

This paper presents a review of methodology for MR and describes its early application to judging health effects of alcohol, current uses and a recommended approach of combining MR results with those from observational and experimental studies.

Early applications of MR to health effects of alcohol consumption were inadequate for providing unbiased results, but newer attempts using polygenic scores show promise. It is important to combine data from MR analyses with those from observational and experimental studies to obtain an unbiased and scientifically sound estimate of alcohol’s effects on health.

Giving advice to the public regarding alcohol consumption must be based on accurate, unbiased scientific data; this paper describes attempts to use MR for achieving this goal.

Given that light-to-moderate alcohol intake is associated with a lower risk of CHD, type II diabetes mellitus and total mortality, it is important to be able to evaluate both the benefits and harms from alcohol before giving advice regarding drinking.

This is part of a group of three papers dealing with the potential health benefits and harms associated with alcohol consumption.

Controversy has long swirled over the claim that Donald Trump's base has deeply rooted authoritarian tendencies, but Trump himself seems to have few doubts. Asked whether his stated wish to be dictator “on day one” of second term in office would repel voters, Trump said “I think a lot of people like it.” It is one of his invariable talking points that 74 million voters supported him in 2020, and he remains the unrivaled leader of the Republican Party, even as his rhetoric escalates to levels that cautious observers now routinely call fascistic.

Is Trump right that many people “like” his talk of dictatorship? If so, what does that mean empirically? Part of the answer to these questions was apparent early, in the results of the 2016 American National Election Study (ANES), which included survey questions that we had proposed which we drew from the aptly-named “Right-Wing Authoritarianism” scale. Posed to voters in 2012–2013 and again in 2016, those questions elicited striking responses.

In this chapter, we revisit those responses. We begin by exploring Trump's escalating anti-democratic rhetoric in the light of themes drawn from Max Weber and Theodor W. Adorno. We follow this with the text of the 2017 conference paper in which we first reported that 75% of Trump's voters supported him enthusiastically, mainly because they shared his prejudices, not because they were hurting economically. They hoped to “get rid” of troublemakers and “crush evil.” That wish, as we show in our conclusion, remains central to Trump's appeal.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

Addresses the standardization of the measurements and the labels for concepts commonly used in the study of work organizations. As a reference handbook and research tool, seeks to improve measurement in the study of work organizations and to facilitate the teaching of introductory courses in this subject. Focuses solely on work organizations, that is, social systems in which members work for money. Defines measurement and distinguishes four levels: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Selects specific measures on the basis of quality, diversity, simplicity and availability and evaluates each measure for its validity and reliability. Employs a set of 38 concepts ‐ ranging from “absenteeism” to “turnover” as the handbook’s frame of reference. Concludes by reviewing organizational measurement over the past 30 years and recommending future measurement reseach.