Returns to Investment in Ontario University Education, 1960-1990, and Implications for Tuition Fee Policy

Because students' university enrolment decisions are influenced by expected returns to their educational investment, policy decisions should be informed by calculations of such returns. Private rates of return, by field of study, for Ontario university graduates in 1990 ranged from 7% (humanities) to 21% (medicine). Returns were generally higher for women than for men. The 1990 results were virtually unchanged from 1985 when there was a sharp reversal of the long-run decline in rates of return that occurred from 1960 to 1980. Alternative assumptions about tuition fee levels show that doubling tuition fees from 1990 levels, or abolishing fees, would change the rates of return by only about two percentage points in either direction. Doubling fees in the major professional faculties would leave rates of return still in excess of returns to arts and science at current fee levels.Les personnes, qui décident si elles veulent fréquenter l'université, tiennent compte du rendement du capital qu'elles auraient à investir aux fins de leurs études. Par conséquent, ce facteur devrait être pris en considération dans l'élaboration des politiques en matière d'enseignement supérieur. Selon la discipline de formation, les taux de rendement propres aux diplômés des universités ontariennes variaient en 1990 de 7% (lettres et sciences humaines) à 21% (médecine). Les taux en question étaient en général plus élevés chez les femmes que chez les hommes. Les résultats de 1990 étaient à peu près identiques à ceux de 1985, soit l'année où un net revirement s'était produit par rapport à la diminution constante des taux qui avait eu lieu de 1960 à 1980. Selon d'autres hypothèses sur les incidences du niveau des frais de scolarité, le fait de doubler les frais en vigueur en 1990 ou de carrément les abolir donnerait lieu à une variation du taux de rendement n'atteignant qu'environ deux pour cent dans un sens ou dans l'autre. Même si les frais de scolarité perçus par les principales faculté professionnelles étaient doublés, les taux de rendement de leurs diplômes seraient toujours supérieurs à ceux que les diplômes des programmes d'arts et de sciences obtiennent en fonction des frais de scolarité actuels

An Abbreviated Catalogue of the Australian Bats in the Collections of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California, USA.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM) is the repository for some 90,000 mammal specimens of world-wide provenance, and is particularly strong in its collections of Chiroptera. As the result of numerous collecting expeditions undertaken by one of us (KES) since 1954, a substantial representation of Australian bats has been assembled. It is our intent in this paper to bring these collections to the attention of our Australian colleagues, so that this biogeographic and systematic resource might be more widely used

Halcyornis toliapicus (aves: Lower Eocene, England) indicates advanced neuromorphology in Mesozoic Neornithes

Our recent X-ray micro computer-tomographic (μCT) investigations of Prophaethon shrubsolei and Odontopteryx toliapica from the Lower Eocene London Clay Formation of England revealed the avian brain to have been essentially modern in form by 55 Ma, but that an important vision-related synapomorphy of living birds, the eminentia sagittalis of the telencephalon, was poorly developed. This evidence suggested that the feature probably appeared close to the end of the Mesozoic. Here we use μCT analysis to describe the endocranium of Halcyornis toliapicus, also from the London Clay Formation. The affinities of Halcyornis have been hotly debated, with the taxon referred to the Charadriiformes (Laridae), Coraciiformes (Alcedinidae, and its own family Halcyornithidae) and most recently that Halcyornithidae may be a possible senior synonym of Pseudasturidae (Pan-Psittaciformes). Unlike Prophaethon and Odontopteryx, the eminentia sagittalis of Halcyornis is strongly developed and comparable to that of living species. Like those London Clay taxa, the eminentia sagittalis occupies a rostral position on the telencephalon. The senses of Halcyornis appear to have been well developed. The length of the cochlear duct of the inner ear indicates a hearing sensitivity within the upper range of living species, and enlarged olfactory lobes suggest a reasonable reliance on sense of smell. The optic nerves were especially well developed which, together with the strong development of the eminentia sagittalis, indicates a high degree of visual specialization in Halcyornis. The advanced development of the eminentia sagittalis further supports a Mesozoic age for the appearance of this structure and associated neural architectural complexity found in extant Aves. The eminentia sagittalis of living Psittaciformes is situated caudally on the telencephalon, making a Pan-Psittaciformes relationship unlikely for Halcyorni

Pulmonary adaptations to swim and inspiratory muscle training

Because the anomalous respiratory characteristics of competitive swimmers have been suggested to be due to inspiratory muscle work, the respiratory muscle and pulmonary function of 30 competitively trained swimmers was assessed at the beginning and end of an intensive 12-week swim training (ST) program. Swimmers (n = 10) combined ST with either inspiratory muscle training (IMT) set at 80% sustained maximal inspiratory pressure (SMIP) with progressively increased work–rest ratios until task failure for 3-days per week (ST + IMT) or ST with sham-IMT (ST + SHAM-IMT, n = 10), or acted as controls (ST only, ST, n = 10). Measures of respiratory and pulmonary function were assessed at the beginning and end of the 12 week study period. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in respiratory and pulmonary function between groups (ST + IMT, ST + SHAM-IMT and ST) at baseline and at the end of the 12 week study period. However, within all groups significant increases (P < 0.05) were observed in a number of respiratory and pulmonary function variables at the end of the 12 week study, such as maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressure, inspiratory power output, forced vital capacity, forced expiratory and inspiratory volume in 1-s, total lung capacity and diffusion capacity of the lung. This study has demonstrated that there are no appreciable differences in terms of respiratory changes between elite swimmers undergoing a competitive ST program and those undergoing respiratory muscle training using the flow-resistive IMT device employed in the present study; as yet, the causal mechanisms involved are undefined

Origin of complex crystal structures of elements at pressure

We present a unifying theory for the observed complex structures of the sp-bonded elements under pressure based on nearly free electron picture (NFE). In the intermediate pressure regime the dominant contribution to crystal structure arises from Fermi-surface Brillouin zone (FSBZ) interactions - structures which allow this are favoured. This simple theory explains the observed crystal structures, transport properties, the evolution of internal and unit cell parameters with pressure. We illustrate it with experimental data for these elements and ab initio calculation for Li.Comment: 4 pages 5 figure

Static Critical Behavior of the Spin-Freezing Transition in the Geometrically Frustrated Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet Y2Mo2O7

Some frustrated pyrochlore antiferromagnets, such as Y2Mo2O7, show a spin-freezing transition and magnetic irreversibilities below a temperature Tf similar to what is observed nonlinear magnetization measurements on Y2Mo2O7 that provide strong evidence that there is an underlying thermodynamic phase transition at Tf, which is characterized by critical exponents \gamma \approx 2.8 and \beta \approx 0.8. These values are typical of those found in random spin glasses, despite the fact that the level of random disorder in Y2Mo2O7 is immeasurably small.Comment: Latex file, calls for 4 encapsulated postscript figures (included). Submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters