Spelling instruction through etymology: A method of developing spelling lists for older students

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether an approach to developing word lists centred on etymological roots would improve the spelling performance of older primary school students. Participants were 46 students in the last year of primary school in south-east Queensland (31 girls and 15 boys) across three classes, with two classes being assigned to control conditions. Students were evaluated pre- and post-intervention on three dependent measures: British Spelling Test Series spelling, spelling in writing and writing. The results of this intervention revealed improvements in spelling for girls but not for boys. The implications for improved teaching methods are discussed

Permanent and Transitory Components in Macroeconomic Fluctuations

Fluctuations in real GNP have traditionally been viewed as transitory deviations from a deterministic time trend. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the recent developments that have led to a new view of output fluctuations and then to provide some additional evidence. Using post-war quarterly data, it is hard to reject the view that real GNP is as persistent as a random walk with drift. We also consider the hypothesis that the recent finding of persistence are due to the failure to distinguish the business cycle from other fluctuations in real GNP. We use the measured unemployment rate to decompose output fluctuations. We find no evidence for the view that business cycle fluctuations are more quickly trend-reverting.

Consumption, Income, and Interest Rates: Reinterpreting the Time Series Evidence

This paper proposes that the time-series data on consumption, income, and interest rates are best viewed as generated not by a single representative consumer but by two groups of consumers. Half the consumers are forward-looking and consume their permanent income, but are extremely reluctant to substitute consumption temporarily. Half the consumers follow the "rule of thumb" of consuming their current income. The paper documents three empirical regularities that, it argues, are best explained by this medal. First, expected changes in income are associated with expected changes in consumption. Second, expected real interest rates are not associated with expected changes in consumption. Third, periods in which consumption is high relative to income are typically followed by high growth in income. The paper concludes by briefly discussing the implications of these findings for economic policy and economic research.

Are Output Fluctuations Transitory?

According to the conventional view of the business cycle, fluctuations in output represent temporary deviations from trend. The purpose of this paper is to question this conventional view. If fluctuations in output are dominated by temporary deviations from the natural rate of output, then an unexpected change in output today should not substantially change one's forecast of output in, say, ten or twenty years. Our examination of quarterly post-war United States data leads us to be skeptical about this implication. We find that a unexpected change in real GNP of one percent should change one's forecast by over one percent over a long horizon. While it is obviously imprudent to make definitive judgments regarding theories on the basis of one stylized fact alone, we believe that the great persistence of output shocks documented in this paper is an important and often neglected feature of the data that should more widely be used for evaluating theories of economic fluctuations.

The Role of Biostatistics in Medical Devices: Making a Difference in People’s Lives Every Day (Abstract)

Statistics plays a key role in society in general and, in particular, in the fields of biology and medicine

Computational Chemistry in the Cloud

Computational chemistry requires expensive computers and significant computer expertise. We are remedying these issues by using cloud computing to lower costs and by developing our Server In The Cloud (SITC) script to reduce the need for local expertise. SITC implements computational chemistry engines with the user-friendly WebMO interface on Google and Amazon cloud computers. In this way, we are making computational chemistry cheaper and more accessible to a wider range of chemistry students and researchers