Students valuation of the use of computers in education

Two schools for general secondary education in Enschede, The Netherlands took part in a 4-yr Technology-enriched Schools project. One of the research questions in this project was the valuation by the students of the use of computers in education. It was hypothesized that this valuation would be influenced by factors which deal with the perception of the student, the use of computers in teachinglearning situations, the circumstances in which the computers are used, and background information on the students. It was also hypothesized that the frequent use of computers in education could make the students less enthusiastic about computers.\ud \ud The research questions were investigated by means of two instruments with identical content: a paper-and-pencil questionnaire and a computerized questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to 816 students. About 20% of the students had had considerable experience with computers outside of school-hours.\ud \ud Results show that some students had used the computer at school very frequently. There was no evidence found in this study that students with much computer experience at school valued the use of computers in education differently than did students who had little experience. The intensity with which the computers were used by the teachers of the technology-enriched schools did not have a restraining influence on the enthusiasm and the motivation of the students

Death of a salesman

First paragraph: In December 2012 Australia became the first jurisdiction to mandate plain (or standardised) packaging for tobacco products. Many governments have been looking on with interest, anxious to learn if this is also the next step forward in their own efforts to tackle the harms caused by tobacco. This special issue begins to answer this question by presenting a series of studies which provide an initial evaluation of the policy. What have been the early impacts of plain packaging on young people and adult smokers? And are there any unintended consequences—has it reduced prices, for instance, or encouraged illicit tobacco use

The current status of oral reading in professional literature

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Probing the quantum vacuum with ultra intense laser pulses

This article presents: 1) The theoretical background of strong field physics and vacuum structure and stability; 2) The instrumental developments in the area of pulse lasers and considers the physics case for ultra intense laser facilities; and 3) Discussion of the applied and fundamental uses of ultra-intense lasers.Comment: Contribution in Special Topics issue for IZEST, 12 pages incl 1 figure. Contains extended citation list compared to published versio

CAFE Increases: Missing the Elephant in the Living Room

In a Joint Center paper, Kleit and Lutter identify externalities of about $0.08 per mile for driving light duty vehicles. Rather than recognize the huge externalities from current driving, they focus on a tiny increment that would come from increasing CAFE standards. A first best policy would tax congestion, pollution emissions and gasoline, and increase safety. If that policy is not politically feasible, a second best policy would increase gasoline taxes$1.75 per gallon. Contrary to Kleit and Lutter, we find sound economic reasons for CAFE.

Computer science in Dutch secondary education: independent or integrated?

Nowadays, in Dutch secondary education, computer science is integrated within school subjects. About ten years ago computer science was considered an independent subject, but in the mid-1980s this idea changed. In our study we investigated whether the objectives of teaching computer science as an independent subject are met when computer science is integrated within school subjects. The main problem was that there was no formal curriculum of computer science as an independent subject. Therefore we interviewed 13 experts in the field of computer science and then compared this formal curriculum with the operational (integrated) curriculum, which is still in the development stage. It appears that most of the components of the formal curriculum are being covered by the operational curriculum, and we therefore concluded that these curricula are equivalent, although there may be differences in the level of teaching. In our opinion the best approach to computer science is to combine the independent and the integrated approaches

Through the Eye of the Needle: Recent Advances in Understanding Biopolymer Translocation

In recent years polymer translocation, i.e., transport of polymeric molecules through nanometer-sized pores and channels embedded in membranes, has witnessed strong advances. It is now possible to observe single-molecule polymer dynamics during the motion through channels with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. These striking experimental studies have stimulated many theoretical developments. In this short theory-experiment review, we discuss recent progress in this field with a strong focus on non-equilibrium aspects of polymer dynamics during the translocation process.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, to appear in J. Phys.: Condens. Matter as a Topical Revie

Asset Allocation in the Euro-Zone: Industry or Country Based?

We investigate the relative importance of country and industry factors as determinants of international equity returns in the Euro-zone over the period 1990 to 2003.We conduct our analysis from a portfolio performance perspective, using mean-variance spanning and efficiency tests as well as style analysis, and show how to adjust the tests for time varying market wide volatility.Although unconditional analysis over the full sample suggests that country-based or industry-based EMU-wide portfolios provide similar risk-return trade-offs, a rolling window analysis indicates a striking change in the structure of equity returns in the Euro-zone over the last decade.From 1992 to 1998 country-based strategies outperform industry-based strategies: country based strategies offer higher Sharpe ratios and higher diversification potential as indicated by both spanning tests and style analysis.In the preconvergence period, equity returns in the EMU-zone clearly had a country structure.In contrast, after the introduction of the Euro the country outperformance has disappeared, both in terms of mean-variance efficiency and in terms of mimicking abilities.Industry factors and country factors are now equally important.Our findings suggest that following the adoption of the single currency, Euro-zone sector-based strategies, while not dominating country-based strategies, offer similar risk return trade-offs and diversification benefits.International financial markets;Mean-variance efficiency;Style analysis;EMU

Foreign and domestic bank participation in emerging markets: lessons from Mexico and Argentina

It is generally agreed that strong domestic financial systems play an important role in attaining overall economic development and stabilization. The role played by foreign banks in achieving this goal, however, is still controversial. This article brings new evidence to the debate over foreign participation by examining the lending patterns of domestic and foreign banks in Argentina and Mexico during the 1990s. The authors conclude that foreign banks in both countries typically have stronger and less volatile loan growth than their domestic counterparts. The corollary to this finding, however, is that bank health—not ownership per se—is the critical element in the growth, volatility, and cyclicality of bank credit. Still, diversity of ownership is found to contribute to greater credit stability in times of financial system turmoil and weakness.Bank loans - Argentina ; Bank loans - Mexico ; Banks and banking, Foreign ; Argentina ; Mexico

Foreign and Domestic Bank Participation in Emerging Markets: Lessons from Mexico and Argentina

The Asian Crisis has highlighted the importance of strong domestic financial systems in overall economic development and stabilization. Less agreement is evident on the role of foreign banks in achieving this goal. We explore this issue by studying bank-specific data on lending by domestically- and foreign-owned banks in Argentina and Mexico. We find that foreign banks generally have had higher loan growth rates than their domestically-owned counterparts, with lower volatility of lending, contributing to lower overall volatility of credit. Additionally, in both countries, foreign banks show notable credit growth during crisis periods. In Argentina, the loan portfolios of foreign and domestic privately-owned banks are similar, and lending rates analogously respond to aggregate demand fluctuations. In Mexico, foreign and domestic banks with lower levels of impaired assets have similar loan responsiveness and portfolios. State-owned banks (Argentina) and banks with high levels of impaired assets (Mexico) have more stagnant loan growth and weak responsiveness to market signals. Overall, these findings suggest that bank health, and not ownership per se, is the critical element in the growth, volatility, and cyclicality of bank credit. Diversity in ownership appears to contribute to greater stability of credit in times of crisis and domestic financial system weakness.