A Rapid or Evolutionary Approach: The EEC\u27s Adoption of the ECU as a Common Currency

Perhaps the EEC should move to a common currency, but there is no reason to rush towards such a dramatic change. According to optimal currency area theory, the current system of limited flexibility within the EEC is ideal. Any move to a common currency should be flexible in that it initially allows member states the ability to use national monetary policy if necessary. The British proposal allows just this kind of flexibility

No Hablo Ingles: Court Interpretation as a Major Obstacle to Fairness for Non-English Speaking Defendants

A Cuban man was convicted on drug charges for uttering the words above. He used the words in response to a request for a loan and, given the dialect of the speaker and the context of the statement, they can properly be translated as [m]an, I don\u27t even have ten cents. Instead, the court interpreter mistakenly translated them as, [m]an, I don\u27t even have ten kilos. \u27 This case demonstrates the influence the court interpreter can have on the outcome of a case. As extraordinary as this situation may appear, however, it is not an isolated incident. Rather, what is unusual about this case is that someone caught the error and that the conviction was overturned. Since no safeguards exist in the judicial system designed to catch mistakes made by court interpreters, most mistakes are never discovered. Any communication using two languages, sometimes even communication using the same language, may give rise to misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the speaker\u27s intent. No less than any other type of communication, court interpretation is susceptible to this type of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Court interpretation can be an imprecise process,\u27 and often the result of this imprecision may be an unfair trial for the non-English speaking defendant

Noise diffraction patterns eliminated in coherent optical systems

Lens rotation technique of noise diffraction pattern elimination spreads diffracted energy, normally concentrated over small area of image, over much larger annular area. Technique advantages include simplified lens selecting process, reduced clean room requirements, and low cost equipment requirements

Representing Americans Employed Abroad: The Extraterritorial Application Of Federal And State Anti-Discrimination Laws

More than two million American citizens work in civilian jobs outside of the United States

Elimination of coherent noise in a coherent light imaging system

Optical imaging systems using coherent light introduce objectionable noise into the output image plane. Dust and bubbles on and in lenses cause most of the noise in the output image. This noise usually appears as bull's-eye diffraction patterns in the image. By rotating the lens about the optical axis these diffraction patterns can be essentially eliminated. The technique does not destroy the spatial coherence of the light and permits spatial filtering of the input plane

Zero bias anomaly out of equilibrium

The non-equilibrium zero bias anomaly (ZBA) in the tunneling density of states of a diffusive metallic film is studied. An effective action describing virtual fluctuations out-of-equilibrium is derived. The singular behavior of the equilibrium ZBA is smoothed out by real processes of inelastic scattering.Comment: 4 page

Using tasks to explore teacher knowledge in situation-specific contexts

This article was published in the journal, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education [© Springer] and the original publication is available at www.springerlink.comResearch often reports an overt discrepancy between theoretically/out-of context expressed teacher beliefs about mathematics and pedagogy and actual practice. In order to explore teacher knowledge in situation-specific contexts we have engaged mathematics teachers with classroom scenarios (Tasks) which: are hypothetical but grounded on learning and teaching issues that previous research and experience have highlighted as seminal; are likely to occur in actual practice; have purpose and utility; and, can be used both in (pre- and in-service) teacher education and research through generating access to teachers’ views and intended practices. The Tasks have the following structure: reflecting upon the learning objectives within a mathematical problem (and solving it); examining a flawed (fictional) student solution; and, describing, in writing, feedback to the student. Here we draw on the written responses to one Task (which involved reflecting on solutions of x+x−1=0 of 53 Greek in-service mathematics teachers in order to demonstrate the range of teacher knowledge (mathematical, didactical and pedagogical) that engagement with these tasks allows us to explore