ecent natural disasters in the United States, namely Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, left disturbing images in the minds of many. Media outlets across the world broadcast reports illustrating the disparities between those who were able to successfully evacuate following these disasters and those who could not. Those who were left behind were segments of American society that historically have experienced social inequities, including low-income individuals, the disabled, the elderly, and non-English speakers.These events highlighted the issue of social equity in the provision of emergency management services. For a nation that had allocated significant resources to preparing an effective response to disasters since 9/11, the United States was remarkably unprepared to respond quickly to these emergencies. The problem was particularly acute for local governments, which are the first to respond during an emergency. Following Frederickson's contention that "all important matters of social equity are local, in the sense of consequences" (2005, 35), this study uses data from 31 localities across the United States to examine whether (and how) county and city governments consider vulnerable populations in the development of their emergency operations plans (EOPs), which guide their response efforts to disasters. The analysis suggests that much work remains to be done to protect these groups during and after local emergencies. Social Vulnerability and Social EquityThose who are subject to the impact of disasters often are conceptualized as "victims," but there are considerable differences within this seemingly homogenous group (Fordham 1999). Scholars have acknowledged that risk and vulnerability are not indiscriminately distributed in disasters, nor are preexisting systems of stratification eliminated (Couch and Kroll-Smith 1985;Morrow 1997;Fordham 1999). During the early 1990s, social scientists began examining issues of vulnerability. Vulnerability, in the disaster context, is the capacity of a person or group to "anticipate, cope with, resist, and recover from the impact of a natural hazard" (Blaikie et al. 1994, 9). Various scholars have found that vulnerability may be increased due to factors such as a person's age, gender, social class, disability status, race, and ethnicity (see for

The goal of this study is to understand if there are any variations regarding student engagement and course outcomes based on the course format. A new course format was introduced in fall of 2006 that involves a hybrid approach (large lecture with small recitations) with a higher level of student enrollment than traditional research methods courses. During the same time frame, the discipline maintained its traditional research methods courses as well. A survey was administered to all students enrolled in research methods regardless of course format in fall 2006 and spring 2007. Student responses are discussed, including information concerning the preparation, design, cost and benefits of offering a hybrid research methods course format.

Using data from embedded participant-observers and a field experiment at the second largest mobile phone factory in the world, located in China, I theorize and test the implications of transparent organizational design on workers' productivity and organizational performance. Drawing from theory and research on learning and control, I introduce the notion of a transparency paradox, whereby maintaining observability of workers may counterintuitively reduce their performance by inducing those being observed to conceal their activities through codes and other costly means; conversely, creating zones of privacy may, under certain conditions, increase performance. Empirical evidence from the field shows that even a modest increase in group-level privacy sustainably and significantly improves line performance, while qualitative evidence suggests that privacy is important in supporting productive deviance, localized experimentation, distraction avoidance, and continuous improvement. I discuss implications of these results for theory on learning and control and suggest directions for future research.

As high‐performing employees with high potential (or superstars) are rare in the workplace, practitioners often face a performance–potential trade‐off when deciding who to promote. We use regulatory focus theory as a framework to examine whether Canadian managers (n = 58) and human resource (HR) professionals (n = 121) show a preference for performance or potential when making near‐term promotion recommendations. We show that respondents generally had a preference for performance versus potential when making their recommendations, and HR professionals versus managers accorded greater weight to potential. We discuss the implications of the relative emphasis on performance versus potential in promotion recommendations and when this may contribute to organizational inefficiencies.

We identified appropriate family law content and a pedagogical vehicle to support instructors interested in teaching family law to students of family studies and human development programs. Additionally, we provide instructors with an overview of a family law course, a detailed model syllabus, strategies, and model assignments for using cooperative learning as the core pedagogy. We review the pedagogical value of cooperative learning in general and give specific cooperative assignments for our readers. The course model is designed to improve students' critical thinking, team building, and problem-solving skills toward understanding the intersection of families and the law.