Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ tourism policy : the current state of play / M Whitford

Tourism is viewed as a vehicle which can produce an array of benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander [ATSI] peoples. Although ATSI tourism is a small sector of the Australian tourism industry, its ability to facilitate diverse benefits should not be underestimated. While numerous Australian Governments have produced tourism policies to facilitate the development of ATSI tourism, the effectiveness and appropriateness of these policies have been questioned. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which Australian State/Territory Government ATSI tourism policies can facilitate the development of ATSI tourism. This paper describes a qualitative study examining the foci of current Australian State/Territory Governments’ ATSI tourism policies. The study concluded that ideally, these policies should demonstrate a more balanced distribution of foci across the economic, socio-cultural, ecological and political environments to avoid accusations of rhetoric and thus demonstrate a propensity for facilitating long term sustainable outcomes for ATSI tourism

Innovation, generative relationships and scaffolding structures: implications of a complexity perspective to innovation for public and private interventions

The linear model of innovation has been superseded by a variety of theoretical models that view the innovation process as systemic, complex, multi-level, multi-temporal, involving a plurality of heterogeneous economic agents. Accordingly, the emphasis of the policy discourse has changed over time. The focus has shifted from the direct public funding of basic research as an engine of innovation, to the creation of markets for knowledge goods, to, eventually, the acknowledgement that knowledge transfer very often requires direct interactions among innovating actors. In most cases, policy interventions attempt to facilitate the match between “demand” and “supply” of the knowledge needed to innovate. A complexity perspective calls for a different framing, one focused on the fostering of processes characterized by multiple agency levels, multiple temporal scales, ontological uncertainty and emergent outcomes. This contribution explores what it means to design interventions in support of innovation processes inspired by a complex systems perspective. It does so by analyzing two examples of coordinated interventions: a public policy funding innovating networks (with SMEs, research centers and university), and a private initiative, promoted by a network of medium-sized mechanical engineering firms, that supports innovation by means of technology brokerage. Relying on two unique datasets recording the interactions of the organizations involved in these interventions, social network analysis and qualitative research are combined in order to investigate network dynamics and the roles of specific actors in fostering innovation processes. Then, some general implications for the design of coordinated interventions supporting innovation in a complexity perspective are drawn

The Study of Mastery Testing Strategy Versus an Averaging Testing Strategy

In addition to the traditional learning style, an alternative approach is mastery learning. Traditional classroom settings typically include lectures and seat work. These methods are believed to support a masculine style of learning, as they are more individualistic and competitive. Boys tend to respond to questions quickly and confidently. Girls tend to wait longer and choose words more carefully. This leads to male students dominating the classroom. Mastery learning encourages a more cooperative style of learning. Mastery learning theorizes that if students are given the necessary amount of time needed to attain a mastery of a skill, and if the student spent that much time learning the skill, then the student would reach mastery. This master thesis examined the two different testing strategies to see if mastery learning can be appropriate for use in the school system. The study compared two testing strategies in a high school Regents chemistry class. The first allowed students to retake tests and quizzes up to three times, if desired, and the average for all taken would be recorded. The second strategy demanded an 80% or higher mastery level for each unit. Failure to reach 80% would result in a zero. Possible grades for this strategy were 0, 80, 90, and 100. Two teachers used both testing strategies using traditional methods alongside cooperative activities. Results show that there is no significant difference between testing strategies when examining exam averages and passing percentages, however students had a significantly higher percentage of achieving an 80 or higher in the mastery testing strategy. Girls in particular performed much better with the mastery strategy than with the averaging strategy

Divergence of opinion and risk : an empirical analysis of the Ex Ante beliefs of institutional investors

Bibliography: p. [24-25

Corporate Governance in the Bankruptcy Reorganization of Large, Publicly Held Companies

Part I of this Article describes the context in which the issues of corporate governance typically arise and the common sources of conflict among management, shareholders, and creditors. We also review other studies which bear on the corporate governance issues we address. Part II describes the sources of management power and the means by which that power is limited or controlled by various constituencies. In Part III, we examine the uses managements made of their power. We attempt to assess how much power managements had and for whose benefit they applied it. In Parts II and III, our discussion is informed both by theoretical perspectives that would attempt to predict a priori how management should behave and our empirical findings on how they in fact did behave. In Part IV we evaluate a proposal to avoid the problem of corporate governance by requiring an auction sale of the company shortly after the filing of the case. We express serious doubt. Part V addresses the normative question that lies at the center of the article: for whose benefit should management govern the large, publicly held company in bankruptcy reorganization