Corporate environmental assessment by a bank lender : a social constructionist perspective

Over the last decade evidence has emerged which suggests that lenders are considering environmental impact of corporate borrowers as part of their lending decisions. Environmental consideration by lenders may considerably influence the level of financial support available for economic growth and environmemntal management. The primary aim of this research project is to examine the development and use of corporate environmental assessment techniques by members of a commercial lending bank. The research will build upon previous findings that highlight the influences of culture upon bank members perception of environmental credit risks. Specific emphasis will be placed on evaluating the role of mechanisms for the communiaction of bank policy. These will be analysed to find out how and why corporate environmental performance considerations shape the lending process. Research will be undertaken in the form of a case study facilitated by Lloyds TSB Group plc. Analysis will centre on an evaluation of the rationalities for environmental assessment displayed by bank members and their justification for the application of specific environemnatal assessment techniques. The findings are expected to be of direct practical benefit to bank lending officers and others interested in lending processes and/or corporate environmental assessment techniques

New teachers as learners : a model of early professional development

This project was designed to improve the learning of new teachers by developing a research-based, practical model of early professional learning. In addition to detailing the main part of the learning process that statutory standards neglect, the research implies that existing standards should be differentially weighted to reflect the multidimensional development process we have identified. In so doing, we have shown that it is possible to 'connect the conflicting' experience and standard through a more sophisticated recognition of early professional learning

Is devolution good for the Scottish economy? A framework for analysis

This briefing sets out a framework for addressing the question: Is devolution good for the Scottish economy? We are currently implementing the approach and shall report the results in due course. We begin with two observations. Economic issues were clearly not the sole, or even the primary, motivation for Scottish devolution. However, given the current priority given to the decentralised delivery of policies to improve productivity the effect is of considerable interest. Devolution being 'good for the Scottish economy' is not necessarily the same thing as being 'good for the Scottish people'. If, for example, Scotland wanted to become 'greener', this could imply a desire for slower growth than in the rest of the UK. We set out below the aggregate effects and the specific mechanisms through which devolution might be expected to impact on the economy

Reasoning up and down a food chain: Using an assessment framework to investigate students' middle knowledge

Being able to make claims about what students know and can do in science involves gathering systematic evidence of students' knowledge and abilities. This paper describes an assessment system designed to elicit information from students at many placements along developmental trajectories and demonstrates how this system was used to gather principled evidence of how students reason about food web and food chain disturbances. Specifically, this assessment system was designed to gather information about students' intermediary or middle knowledge on a pathway toward more sophisticated understanding. Findings indicate that in association with a curricular intervention, student gains were significant. However, despite overall gains, some students still struggled to explain what might happen during a disturbance to an ecosystem. In addition, this paper discusses the importance of having a cognitive framework to guide task design and interpretation of evidence. This framework allowed for the gathering of detailed information, which provided insights into the intricacies of how students reason about scientific scenarios. In particular, this assessment system allowed for the illustration of multiple types of middle knowledge that students may possess, indicating that there are multiple “messy middles” students may move through as they develop the ability to reason about complex scientific situations. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 94: 259–281, 2010Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65025/1/20368_ftp.pd

Are orthodontic educational opportunities adequate?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32251/1/0000313.pd

The Political Economy of US Military Spending

The causes of the dramatic rise in military spending in the post-war era have been the subject of much political and academic controversy. No extant formulation seems to provide a compelling explanation of the dynamics involved in the levels of, and rates of change in, such spending. In light of this, the authors develop a new model, based mainly on a political-business cycle argument, to account for these dynamics. The basic proposition in this model is that variations in national defense spending arise from political considerations which are related to real and desired conditions within the national economy. Applying this model to the experience of the United States 1948-1976, the authors show that it has a large measure of empirical validity. If one removes the effects of war-time mobilization, it is clear that for the United States the principal driving forces in military spending dynamics were (1) the perceived utility of such spending in stabilizing aggregate demand, (2) the political or electoral value of the perceived economic effects arising out of such spending, and (3) the pressures of institutional-constituency demands.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68958/2/10.1177_002234337901600202.pd