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The article offers news briefs related to the plastic film industry in the U.S. Cleveland, Ohio-based Freedonia Group Inc. has issued a report which shows plastics exceeding paper in packaging demand in the U.S. by 2012. The September 2008 issue of "Plastics Engineering" featured an article on advances in blown film technology. Freedonia Group predicted that demand for specialty films in the country will approach 7.6 billion dollars in 2012.

In recent years, computer-based testing (CBT) has grown in popularity, is increasingly being implemented across the United States, and will likely become the primary mode for delivering tests in the future. Although CBT offers many advantages over traditional paper-and-pencil testing, assessment experts, researchers, practitioners, and users have expressed concern about the comparability of scores between the two test administration modes. To help provide an answer to this issue, a meta-analysis was conducted to synthesize the administration mode effects of CBTs and paper-and-pencil tests on K-12 student reading assessments. Findings indicate that the administration mode had no statistically significant effect on K-12 student reading achievement scores. Four moderator variables—study design, sample size, computer delivery algorithm, and computer practice—made statistically significant contributions to predicting effect size. Three moderator variables—grade level, type of test, and computer delivery method—did not affect the differences in reading scores between test modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, senior judges in Britain have signalled a departure from the long-established but for test used for direct discrimination cases. They appear to favour instead that the defendant held a discriminatory motive, or even hostility, for liability. In the United States, courts have settled upon a requirement for discriminatory motive, but afforded it such a broad interpretation that is scarcely distinguish- able from the but for model, and is a convenient, if inaccurate label. This paper aims to demonstrate, using seven kinds of direct discrimination case, that neither a discriminatory motive doctrine, nor the but for test, are suitable models to analyse direct discrimination claims, and that the proper approach is a simple purposive interpretation of the statutory formula provided in both the UK and the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses various studies that investigated the influence of colored paper on the response-rate to mail surveys in the U.S. Response-rates to surveys and questionnaires using differently colored paper; Scores from the meta-analyses of the colors separately and their statistical significance; Variables possible in the design and presentation of printed surveys and questionnaires.

The article focuses on a study, entitled "Paper Versus Plastic in Packaging," by the Freedonia Group. The study reports that plastic is expected to increase its share to 53 percent by 2010 in the 18 competitive markets in the U.S. It notes that plastic's competitive cost and performance advantages will enable it to make further inroads in almost all of the markets studied.