The cover story outlines how the United States can do much more to prepare for a contingency in the Western Pacific, focusing on the threat posed to Taiwan by China. Articles discussing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program confirm the correlation between this program and clinically meaningful improvements in the health-related quality of life among the children enrolled. An article about the state takeover and privatization of Philadelphia schools says that reforming public education management has been at least as effective as resorting to privatization, which is one of the measures promoted by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Additional stories recommend ways to counteract antisocial behavior in Britain, to resolve problems within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and to implement lessons from community-based participatory research. Brief news items discuss New Orleans police retention, Cincinnati police behavior, California hospital safety, urban design assumptions, shopping mall attacks, and nation-building lessons.

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