Why the Cameron-Clegg coalition will be a shock to both Tory and Liberal Democrat voters

There has been intensive speculation about how Conservative and Liberal Democrat voters will react to the coalition government cemented in their name. Pippa Norris of Harvard University has the first stunning data, showing that in 2010 Tories predominantly put the far right parties as their second preference, and Liberal Democrat voters predominantly wanted Labour as their second choice

Engaging low skilled employees in workplace learning : UK Commission for Employment and Skills Evidence Report no. 43

The Employee Demand study (UKCES, 2009) highlighted the significant barriers to learning that are faced by a number of UK employees. This report sets out the findings of a study into the motivators and barriers to participation in workplace learning by low skilled employees. Employees in low skilled jobs are a group which has been overlooked in previous research. The study was carried out by the Employment Research Institute (ERI) at Edinburgh Napier University on behalf of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (the UK Commission). The report presents the results of a survey of both employee and employer views on participation in workplace learning in the care sector in north east England and the hotel sector in Yorkshire and Humberside. As well as a standard survey, the report also outlines the stated preference approach adopted. The stated preference approach allows employees to consider a hypothetical case of participation in workplace learning. Employees were given choices of combinations of job and learning related factors that might affect their preference for or against workplace learning. In conclusion, the report suggests many positive features which employers, individuals and policy makers could build on in developing the skills of people in low skilled jobs, which is important in securing our competitive advantage in the long term

Effects of Mode Shares on Mode Choice

This study considers the influence of the knowledge of existing mode shares on travelers mode choice. This contrasts with traditional mode choice models, where the main objective is to predict the overall mode shares as the aggregate of individual mode choices according to variables encompassing attributes of the modes, and characteristics of the travelers. In this study, a computer-administered adaptive stated preference survey is developed and applied to a sample of subjects selected from the University of Minnesota. The results indicate that the presence of mode shares in the mode choice model does influence the decision of travelers.mode choice, mode shares, mixed logit, stated preference.

Student Perceptions of the Clinical Education Environment

This Masters Project surveyed nursing clinical students at a University School of Nursing in the Pacific Northwest using a recently developed tool, the Student Evaluation of Clinical Education Environment (SECEE, version 3). Use of the SECEE (version 3) helped identify differences in student perceptions of various clinical learning environments. Results of nonparametric statistics were non-significant due to the small sample size; however there appeared to be consistent preference by students for clinicals at Magnet designated facilities. Additionally, higher instructor facilitation scores were also noted among students assigned to the university main campus (n = 31, M = 45.19, SD = 9.39) compared to students assigned to the distance campus (n = 9, M = 36.89, SD = 20.63). The findings have implications for nursing education, specifically the potential benefit of student learning at Magnet designated facilities and the importance of adequate support and engagement between university faculty and students in distance learning environments

Attitudes toward and preferences for male and female personal trainers

Previous research has considered the perceptions of athletes towards gender of coach and strength and conditioning coach. However, to date there appears little research considering the perceptions of clients towards gender of personal trainer. The purpose of this study was to investigate male and females perceptions of same- or opposite-gender personal trainers. Four hundred and two (male = 201, female = 201) undergraduate University student participants completed an adapted version of the Attitudes of Athletes toward Male versus Female Coaches Questionnaire (AAMFCQ; 23). A 2 x 2 multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that neither males nor females showed any preference for gender of hypothetical personal trainer (p > 0.05) although both males and females reported that a personal trainer of the opposite gender might make it harder to concentrate (p < 0.05). Previous research has reported a preference for male coaches/strength and conditioning coaches from both male and female athletes. However, this study suggests that there is no such gender bias towards personal trainers in this population

The effect of patients’ preference on outcome in the EVerT cryotherapy versus salicylic acid for the treatment of plantar warts (verruca) trial

Background Randomised controlled trials are widely accepted as the gold standard method to evaluate medical interventions, but they are still open to bias. One such bias is the effect of patient’s preference on outcome measures. The aims of this study were to examine whether patients’ treatment preference affected clearance of plantar warts and explore whether there were any associations between patients’ treatment preference and baseline variables in the EverT trial. Methods Two hundred and forty patients were recruited from University podiatry schools, NHS podiatry clinics and primary care. Patients were aged 12 years and over and had at least one plantar wart which was suitable for treatment with salicylic acid and cryotherapy. Patients were asked their treatment preference prior to randomisation. The Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to test the association between preference group and continuous baseline variables. The Fisher’s exact test was performed to test the association between preference group and categorical baseline variables. A logistic regression analysis was undertaken with verruca clearance (yes or no) as the dependent variable and treatment, age, type of verruca, previous treatment, treatment preference as independent variables. Two analyses were undertaken, one using the health professional reported outcome and one using the patient’s self reported outcomes. Data on whether the patient found it necessary to stop the treatment to which they had been allocated and whether they started another treatment were summarised by treatment group. Results Pre-randomisation preferences were: 10% for salicylic acid; 42% for cryotherapy and 48% no treatment preference. There was no evidence of an association between treatment preference group and either patient (p=0.95) or healthcare professional (p=0.46) reported verruca clearance rates. There was no evidence of an association between preference group and any of the baseline variables except gender, with more females expressing a preference for salicylic acid (p=0.004). There was no evidence that the number of times salicylic acid was applied was different between the preference groups at one week (p=0.89) or at three weeks (p=0.24). Similarly, for the number of clinic visits for cryotherapy (p=0.71) Conclusions This secondary analysis showed no evidence to suggest that patients’ baseline preferences affected verruca clearance rates or adherence with the treatment

Popularization in the Higher Education and Optimal Educational Policies

In this paper, we construct a model which explains a change in demand for education, considering an individual preference for the higher education (university). We suppose that the individual preference for education depends on the average level of education in a society and changes drastically at some level. We consider a possibility that diffusion of education brings about discontinuous increase in demand for education, and examine the optimal educational policies in dynamic setting

Assigning proctors to exams with scatter search

In this paper we present an algorithm to assign proctors to exams. This NP-hard problem is related to the generalized assignment problem with multiple objectives. The problem consists of assigning teaching assistants to proctor final exams at a university. We formulate this problem as a multiobjective integer program (IP) with a preference function and a workload-fairness function. We then consider also a weighted objective that combines both functions. We develop a scatter search procedure and compare its outcome with solutions found by solving the IP model with CPLEX 6.5. Our test problems are real instances from a University in Spain.Multiobjective combinatorial optimization, metaheuristics, scatter search