Russia and the first World War: Time to think again?

Professor Dominic Lieven, Senior Research Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge and co-head of the Russia Studies Programme at LSE IDEAS, discussed the role Russia played in the outbreak of the First World War, in the context of documents recently declassified from the Russian archives and new trends in scholarship

Essays on Property Tax Limitation Mechanisms

Over the last half-century, the United States has experienced a tax revolution at the local level of government. Driven by preferences of many residents to limit the size and growth of local government, the tax revolts have spread rapidly since the installment of Proposition 13 in the state of California in the late 1970s. Today, tax and expenditure limitations (TELs), such as property tax limits, have been implemented in the vast majority of states for a variety of reasons. This expansion in the use of TELs has raised three main questions among economists. First, why are TELs implemented to begin with? Second, do TELs achieve the objectives that they have been set out to accomplish? Lastly, are there any consequences or adverse effects of the implementation of TELs? In this study, I shed light on each of these three questions with a primary focus on the use of county-level property tax assessment caps in the state of Maryland. The “Homestead Property Tax Credit” was reformed in Maryland in 1992 to allow each county-level government the right to set an assessment cap associated with owner-occupied property tax bills at any magnitude between zero and ten percent. This unique structure of the property tax allows for the empirical examination of the choice of magnitude of assessment caps in Essay 1 to further understand those characteristics associated with preferences for varying levels of residential property tax relief. Results suggest that substitutability among revenue sources and shocks to the housing market play a key role in the preferences for such tax relief. In Essay 2, I examine an important consequence associated with targeted tax relief by empirically investigating shifts in the relative burden of the property tax. Results indicate that jurisdictions associated with preferences for higher levels of residential property tax relief may increase the level and share of non-residential property tax levies, shifting the relative burden of the property tax from homeowners to businesses. The results in each of these two essays provide policymakers with important information regarding the effects of installing property tax limits at various magnitude

Inferentialism and Science Education: Towards Meaningful Communication in Primary Science Classrooms

Classroom talk is a central aspect of teaching and learning science. A significant challenge for primary teachers is to think and talk about science with pupils in ways that support meaning-making in science classrooms that develops meaningful understanding. An influential response to this challenge is Mortimer and Scott’s research framework. They analyse social interactions in science classrooms, identifying patterns that represent communicative and pedagogic practices that make classroom talk visible. Their representational approach is inspired by Anglo-American Vygotsky scholar James Wertsch and his sociocultural theory. However, the present thesis challenges sociocultural approaches, drawing on alternative but emerging Vygotsky scholarship. Of significant interest is Jan Derry’s philosophical perspective, which attends to Vygotsky’s Hegelian heritage, long-neglected by Anglo-American interpretations and (post-) Vygotskian research. Furthermore, her interpretation acknowledges developments in contemporary philosophy, namely ‘Inferentialism’ – a neo-Hegelian perspective on language, mind and epistemology. Inferentialism offers a more fine-grained analysis of thought and talk than representational approaches by privileging the role we humans, as rational, knowing agents, play in making judgments and being responsible for those judgments in discursive practices. Inferentialism offers rich theoretical resources in explaining meaningful communication that make these neglected human dimensions explicit. Adopting an inferentialist-Vygotskian lens to challenge Mortimer and Scott’s meaning-making research framework, the present study illustrates how an inferentialist epistemology critically informs theory and analysis and illuminates practical challenges in science classroom research. This first involves re-theorising concept-meaning and communication. Secondly, it involves a critical revision of analysing classroom discourse and, thirdly, a re-interpretation of meaning-making in classroom practice and pedagogic research. These critical insights systematically reorient our understanding of meaning-making, which remains under-theorised by sociocultural perspectives. This thesis aims to demonstrate how these inferentialist insights have implications for teachers in planning, teaching, and talking science in supporting children’s meaningful understanding of science concepts in primary classrooms

Rift Valley Fever in Southern Rhodesia

A CAJM article on veterinary health medical issues for domestic animals in the then Southern Rhodesia in the 1950's.Rift Valley fever is a virus disease characterised by a short incubation period, typical liver lesions and heavy mortality in young lambs and calves. The aetiological agent is an arthropod- borne pantropic virus exhibiting marked hepa- totropism. It is chiefly a disease of ruminants, but man and monkeys are highly susceptible, as also several rodent species. Daubney and Hudson (1931) first recognised the disease as an entity, and as a result of their investigations concluded it was a filterable virus and probably mosquito transmitted. It was not, however, until Smithburn, Haddow and Gillett (1948) isolated the virus from wild caught mosquitoes in the Semliki Forest of Western Uganda that the mode of transmission was definitely established. Apart from Kenya and Uganda, the virus has been isolated from the Union of South Africa during the course of an outbreak of heavy mortality amongst sheep and cattle in the Western Free State, Southern and Western Transvaal and North-Western Cape Province (Alexander and Dickson, 1951)

Bayesian Analysis of 3-State Devices

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The risk ratio versus odds ratio argument revisited from a compositional data analysis perspective

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Effect of whole language instruction in reading comprehension scores of first grade students

The purpose of this study was to determine whether any significant difference in the reading comprehension scores of first grade students utilizing a whole language method of instruction as opposed to phonics-based method of instruction existed. An experimental and control group of first grade students, with 20 children in each group, were administered the Silver Burdett Ginn Reading Comprehension test. Both groups were pre-tested to ascertain their level of reading comprehension before a treatment was administered. Next, the experimental group received the whole language method of reading instruction. Through repeated readings, students were exposed to reading and phonics at the same time. Beginning with familiar texts, the teacher drew attention to the concepts of print, specific words, letter/sound patterns (phonics), and reading strategies. Reading skills and strategies were taught and also assessed directly. This method employed the use of meaningful stories, poems, and opportunities to engage in varied activities (reading, reciting, writing, performing) to enhance the reading experience. One of its goals was making reading more enjoyable, thus increasing the student\u27s desire to read as opposed to the rote memorization procedures of phonics-based methods. At the end of the study, the experimental and control groups were posttested to determine whether one group scored significantly higher on Silver Burdett Ginn Reading Comprehension test. It was hypothesized the first grade students receiving reading instruction through the whole language method would score significantly higher than the first grade students receiving reading instruction through the phonics-based method. The researcher concluded there was no significant difference in reading comprehension test scores between the experimental and control groups. Under these circumstances, the conclusions drawn support the need for more research in this area

Gas Dynamics in the Barred Seyfert Galaxy NGC4151 - II. High Resolution HI Study

We present sensitive, high angular resolution (6" x 5") 21-cm observations of the neutral hydrogen in the nearby barred Seyfert galaxy, NGC4151. These HI observations, obtained using the VLA in B-configuration, are the highest resolution to date of this galaxy, and reveal hitherto unprecedented detail in the distribution and kinematics of the HI on sub-kiloparsec scales. A complete analysis and discussion of the HI data are presented and the global properties of the galaxy are related to the bar dynamics presented in Paper I.Comment: 13 pages including 9 figures and 3 tables; accepted for publication in MNRA

A STUDY OF MODELS IN SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY, PARTICULARLY THE MODELS CONCERNED IN THE VARIOUS CONCEPTS OF CREATION

The thesis is a study of the use of models in science and theology, particularly those concerned in the various concepts of creation. After a brief review of the philosophical background which looks at models of science, the discussion begins with the understanding and use of models in science. These are defined, their functions and applications are classified and the limitations are noted. It is then shown how the language of models is at the present time used much more widely and includes its use in theology. The relationship of this to metaphor, analogy and symbol is briefly discussed. The study continues with the understanding and use of models in theology and this compared with that in science. From this theoretical base, specific examples are considered and it is shown how model language can be used of the Biblical understanding of God the creator, and of the creation. The question is asked of the ways in which models change or are changed, and this is considered in the context of T. S. Kuhn's book, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions"; and it is asked if change occurs by revolution or development. Four particular topics are then considered to illustrate the themes; cosmological models from early times to Kepler (the Copernican Revolution); models of the origins of the earth (the genesis/geology debates); present day theories of cosmology; and some further biblical and theological aspects. In conclusion some general suggestions are proposed about the inter-relationships between models in science and theology