Small-group teaching in geography.

The manual guides staff in geography departments through the purposes, advantages and disadvantages of small-group teaching as an educational device in geography degrees. The manual covers issues of authority, roles, syllabus, learning outcomes and skills. It highlights areas of potential difficulty and how to cope with these. There is a wide range of examples of how small-group teaching can be used with different types of material, students at different stages, and to achieve a variety of learning outcomes and skills

Time variation in the inflation passthrough of energy prices

From Bayesian estimates of a vector autoregression (VAR) which allows for both coefficient drift and stochastic volatility, we obtain the following three results. First, beginning in approximately 1975, the responsiveness of core inflation to changes in energy prices in the United States fell rapidly and remains muted. Second, this decline in the passthrough of energy inflation to core prices has been sustained through a recent period of markedly higher volatility of shocks to energy inflation. Finally, reduced energy inflation passthrough has persisted in the face of monetary policy which quickly became less responsive to energy inflation starting around 1985.

Review of Barry J. Nalebuff and Adam N. Brandenburger, \u3cem\u3eCo-opetition 1. Revolutionary Mindset that Redefines Competition and Co-operation 2. The Game Theory Strategy that\u27s Changing the Game of Business\u3c/em\u3e

In this book, Brandenburger and Nalebuff use game theory to develop a set of guidelines that will make it easier to explain the reasoning behind a proposed strategy. The games that they use as analogies do not involve sports with their zero-sum outcomes; instead, they consider a variety of games that allow for mutual benefit, as well as harm, for the players. They use the term co-opetition, which is consistent with their message that cooperation pays off in some situations, competition in others. They encourage readers to think about not only how to play the game, but also how to change the rules. Examination of these games leads them to make recommendations for managers, many of which are relevant to marketing managers. So, to the extent that a game is like a business, this book should be useful. My aims in reviewing the book are to ask: (1) Is it new? (2) Is it useful? and (3) Is it supported? The book has flaws, particularly in the area of supporting evidence, but it is an important book

Literature survey: Rural non-farm economy (RNFE) and local governance

It is widely acknowledged that increased food security and sustainable natural resources management are not sufficient conditions for reducing rural poverty. Diversification of livelihoods and non-farm income are important to poor households. Most donor agencies accept the role of the RNFE in poverty reduction. The aim of this review is to synthesise existing knowledge and inform research priorities and the design of country studies, and to assist in policy design in relation to governance issues relevant for RNFE

Hunch Mining: Intuition Augmented with Cognitive Computing, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence

Hunches are important tools for executives making time-critical highly complex decisions in turbulent environments. However, hunches are also elusive and exist below the surface when not being used for immediate decision making. These latent hunches can be useful for developing analytical models. This paper coins the term hunch mining to describe the process of surfacing latent hunches from corporate decision makers as well as workers and using them as models for data analytics. We present the Organizational Hunch Matrix and show how organizations can make the leap from time-consuming manual cognitive analysis to artificial intelligence and analytics driven analysis facilitated by Cognitive Computing Engineers

Tocqueville, Alexis de (1805-1859)

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) was a French intellectual and politician, who has been variously considered as historian, sociologist, and political theorist. His most well-known work is Democracy in America (1835–1840), a classic study not only of democracy in America but of democracy itself. Sociologists have found in this analysis of the early years of the American Republic a seminal source of inspiration for the study of contemporary American society and politics. By the 1970s, the interest of sociologists in Tocqueville’s work began to dwindle. By contrast, in political science Tocqueville’s status as a classic thinker of democracy was never in question. In recent years, however, sociologists have joined political scientists in responding to Tocqueville’s call for a “new political science”. His writings provide sociologists with an enduring source of inspiration for the analysis of social problems such as slavery, revolution, inequality, individualism, materialism, religion and colonialism.info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio

Revisiting Tocqueville: Citizenship Norms, Political Repertoires, and Cultural Participation

What are the reasons for Tocqueville’s eternal youth?” This is the question Raymond Boudon asks in his recent book, Tocqueville for Today (Boudon 2006: 2). In other words, why do we keep reading Democracy in America, a book written in the 1830s, in order to understand how liberal democracy works today, both in the US and elsewhere? Boudon’s answer — that Tocqueville gave us a new and innovative sociological analysis that has yet to be surpassed — points to the exceptional character of his contribution to the understanding of modern societies. Alongside the names of Weber and Durkheim, Boudon doubtless includes Tocqueville as one of his most admired classic social thinkers. Curiously enough, Boudon’s assessment of Tocqueville as a sociological classic was itself an exceptional judgment only a generation ago

A study to identify the need for videotaped training material for civilian clubs

The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a need and a market for the production of video-taped employee training films specifically geared to subjects unique to club management. Data was collected by telephonic inquiries to the major commercial film houses affiliated with the production of hospitality training films, by inquiry with all nationally organized club management associations, and routine queries with professionals in the field on the subject matter. The hypothesis is upheld by the research and the study goes further to suggest an answer to this need by production of training films

The Impact Of Lecture Capture On Student Performance In Business Courses

This paper examines the effect of the e-learning technology of lecture capture on the performance of undergraduate business students in business law, economics, finance, and management courses. The sample consists of 890 student observations at a midsized regional institution located in the Southwestern region of the United States. The dependent variable is percentage score on a comprehensive final exam in advanced business courses. The empirical model controls for effort, grade point average, standardized test scores (SAT/ACT), and instruction mode. Demographic variables are gender, ethnic background, age, major, and transfer students. Effort measured via homework score, grade point average, ability measured via standardized test scores, academic major, and access to lecture capture are the five model variables that are positive and statistically significant. Age, classification as a transfer student, and online courses without lecture capture are the three statistically significant variables with a negative coefficient. The demographic variables associated with African-American, Hispanic, and gender are not statistically significant determinants of performance on the final exams. The results indicate that students completing business courses with access to lecture capture score approximately three percent higher on the final exam, holding other factors constant