bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multiple‐scale Homogenization for Weakly Nonlinear Conservation Laws with Rapid Spatial Fluctuations
Authors: Kevorkian J. , Bosley D. L.
Published: March 2003

We consider hyperbolic conservation laws with rapid periodic spatial fluctuations and study initial value problems that correspond to small perturbations about a steady state. Weakly nonlinear solutions are computed asymptotically using multiple spatial and temporal scales to capture the homogenized solution as well as its long‐term behavior. We show that the linear problem may be destabilized through interactions between two solution modes and the periodic structure. We also show that a discontinuity, either in the initial data or due to shock formation, introduces rapid spatial and temporal fluctuations to leading order in its zone of influence. The evolution equations we derive for the homogenized leading‐order solution are more general than their counterparts for conservation laws having no rapid spatial variations. In particular, these equations may be diffusive for certain general flux vectors. Selected examples are solved numerically to substantiate the asymptotic results.
Pulselike Exact Solutions for a Model Describing Nerve Fibers
Authors: Fusco D. , Manganaro N. , Migliardo M.
Published: March 2003

A quasi‐linear nonhomogeneous first order hyperbolic system describing nerve pulse transmission is considered. By requiring the compatibility of the governing equations with quasi‐linear differential constraints, exact solutions to the model in question are determined. Furthermore classes of material response functions amenable to the mathematical approach are characterized. Initial and/or boundary value problems of interest in nerve pulse propagation are solved. It is proved that the governing model admits solutions which describe a “space clamp” situation and the propagation of a localized action potential pulse along the nerve.
The Mirror Systems of Integrable Equations
Authors: Hu Jishan , Yan Min
Published: March 2003

We provide an algorithm to convert integrable equations to regular systems near noncharacteristic, movable singularity manifolds of solutions. We illustrate how the algorithm is equivalent to the Painlevé test. We also use thealgorithm to prove the convergence of the Laurent series obtained from the Painlevé test.
Unconditional Nonlinear Stability in Temperature‐Dependent Viscosity Flow in a Porous Medium
Authors: Payne L. E. , SStraughan B.
Published: March 2003

The equations of flow in porous media attributable to Forchheimer are considered. In particular, the problem of thermal convection in such a medium is addressed when the viscosity varies with temperature. It is shown that nonlinear stability may be achieved naturally for all initial data by working with L3 or L4 norms. It is also shown that L2 theory is not sufficient for such unconditional stability. Previous work has established nonlinear stability for vanishingly small initial data thresholds, but we believe this is the first analysis that addresses the important physical problem of unconditional stability. It is shown how to extend the nonlinear analysis for a viscosity linear in temperature to the cases when the viscosity may be quadratic or when penetrative convection is allowed in the layer.
Weak Nonlinear Long Waves in Channel Flow with Internal Dissipation
Authors: Yu J. , Kevorkian J. , Haberman R.
Published: March 2003

This article concerns the evolution of long waves (O(ε−1/2) wavelength) of small [O(ε)] amplitude in channel flow with internal dissipation. We use multiple scale expansions to derive a generalized Kuramoto–Sivashinsky (GKS) equation that governs the dominant asymptotic solution in the limit of small disturbances and marginal linear instability. We compare this solution with numerical integrations of the full quasilinear system, and show that the error is consistent with an asymptotic solution to ε3/2 over a time interval of order ε−3/2.
Differential Elimination–Completion Algorithms for DAE and PDAE
Authors: Reid Gregory J. , Lin Ping , Wittkopf Allan D.
Published: March 2003

Differential–algebraic equations (DAE) and partial differential–algebraic equations (PDAE) are systems of ordinary equations and PDAEs with constraints. They occur frequently in such applications as constrained multibody mechanics, spacecraft control, and incompressible fluid dynamics.

A DAE has differential index r if a minimum of r+1 differentiations of it are required before no new constraints are obtained. Although DAE of low differential index (0 or 1) are generally easier to solve numerically, higher index DAE present severe difficulties.

Reich et al. have presented a geometric theory and an algorithm for reducing DAE of high differential index to DAE of low differential index. Rabier and Rheinboldt also provided an existence and uniqueness theorem for DAE of low differential index. We show that for analytic autonomous first‐order DAE, this algorithm is equivalent to the Cartan–Kuranishi algorithm for completing a system of differential equations to involutive form. The Cartan–Kuranishi algorithm has the advantage that it also applies to PDAE and delivers an existence and uniqueness theorem for systems in involutive form. We present an effective algorithm for computing the differential index of polynomially nonlinear DAE. A framework for the algorithmic analysis of perturbed systems of PDAE is introduced and related to the perturbation index of DAE. Examples including singular solutions, the Pendulum, and the Navier–Stokes equations are given. Discussion of computer algebra implementations is also provided.
Setting: Does It Have to be a Negative Experience?
Authors: Aylett Anne
Published: March 2003

Anne Aylett records the response in her school to concern about the possible underachievement of more able pupils. She describes her anxiety as a member of the learning support team about the introduction of setting in mathematics and English, particularly in its effects on the self‐esteem and motivation of pupils placed in lower sets. Her study sought to elicit the responses of pupils and teachers to this change, and its findings and conclusions provide some thought‐provoking comments on an ever‐debatable issue.
Counting difficulties at Key Stage Two
Authors: Houssart Jenny
Published: March 2003

Support teachers, and Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) in particular, will welcome Jenny Houssart's exploration, in this closely observed case study, of the difficulties children experience with counting. Her suggestions concerning the role of LSAs in the National Numeracy Strategy are as timely, in terms of the NNS, as they are sensitive to the needs and aspirations of LSAs.
The Royal Statistical Society Centre For Statistical Education
Authors: Davies Neville , Holmes Peter
Published: March 2003

We present our vision for the Centre’s role in raising statistical standards in the new millennium, particularly in relation to schools.
Amazing Graphs
Authors: Callaert Herman
Published: March 2003

A cautionary tale about bad habits in graphical displays.
Using Probability Intervals to Evaluate Long‐Term Gambling Success
Authors: Croucher John S.
Published: March 2003

Simple probability calculations show some of thedangers of gambling.
Pictograms in Excel
Authors: Hunt Neville
Published: March 2003

This article describes how pictograms can beconstructed using Microsoft Excel.
The World of Chance
Authors: Richardson Alice M.
Published: March 2003

This article describes ‘The World of Chance’, an unconventional statistics course taught at the University of Canberra since 1998, modelled on the Chance courses devised at Dartmouth College. Statistical concepts are introduced via a mixture of lectures, class discussions of news stories, and activities.
Liberatory Pedagogies in the Religious Studies Classroom
Authors: Pippin Tina
Published: March 2003

The author describes the risks and rewards of her use of liberatory pedagogies in a “Feminist and Womanist Ethics and Spirituality” course. In addition to defining liberation pedagogies and providing a brief bibliography, she includes classroom rules and the projects undertaken that contributed to the character and success of the course.
Teaching and Self‐Formation: Why the Ignoble “Intro to World Religions” Really Matters
Authors: Burns Charles P. E.
Published: March 2003

This paper explores the idea that the educational process plays a vital role in the formation and transformation of selves. Peter Hodgson's theological interpretation of education as paideia and Lucinda Huffaker's work on the achievement of “clarity of self” are brought together to demonstrate that empathy is central not only to evolution of self, but the educational process as well. The argument insists that introductory courses are places of immense potential for helping students in the lifelong task of achieving self‐clarity. The “Introduction to World Religions“ course is used as a practical illustration of the thesis.
“Can We Talk?”: Boundary Crossing and Sexual Misconduct in Seminary Teaching
Authors: Ashby Jr. Homer U. , Hepokoski Carol
Published: March 2003

This article explores a variety of personal and professional boundary issues encountered by seminary faculty. The authors contend that boundary crossing is inevitable in contemporary theological education, which is structured such that professors engage in multiple roles with students as they attend to the education of the whole person. Guidelines are reviewed for minimizing risk to students and professors. Topics include life as a community member, student‐faculty friendship, and romantic relationships. Attention to work/life balance is seen as critical to the prevention of misconduct. The article ends with a call for continued conversation as well as institutional accountability and change.
Wading Through the Quagmire of Religious History
Authors: McNary‐Zak Bernadette
Published: March 2003

How should we teach religious history? What is the impact of our methodology on what, and on how, our students learn? Is there a methodology that cultivates an awareness of the multiculturalism and the need for deeper social interaction that characterizes many of our classrooms? This essay proposes and briefly explores the potential value of empathetic engagement as a pedagogical tool in response to these concerns. A specific application of empathetic engagement is made to teaching and learning about the history of American Catholicism.
‘It’s All To Do With Words’: An Analysis of Spirit Possession in the Venezuelan Cult of María Lionza
Authors: Placido Barbara
Published: March 2003

Humans possessed by spirits are often described as ill or distressed, lacking power, control, and agency, and spirit possession has been described as a kind of ventriloquism in which mediums acquire a voice more powerful than their own as humans. What remains unsaid and unheard is what the spirits and humans talk about during possession episodes. This article suggests that the tendency to focus on the form and not the content of possession episodes has allowed for another form of ventriloquism, in which anthropologists themselves use the mediums to speak to their own agendas. Against this tendency, participants in the cult of María Lionza see words as central to the cult, to be listened to carefully. An analysis of the content of their possession episodes reveals how, far from being passive, deprived of agency, and ‘muted’, the possessed in the cult are actively engaged in an ongoing conversation with anthropologists, historians, the media, and the state.
Situating Gender Geographies: A Bibliometric Analysis
Authors: Garcia‐Ramon Maria Dolors , Caballe Alba
Published: March 2003

Gender geography is now widely present on the agenda of international geography. In this paper we analyse its evolution through a bibliometric analysis of the articles and book reviews on gender published in 71 journals from 23 different countries, paying attention to the sex of the authors. We also make a thematic classification of the articles, taking into account the different languages and regions in which the journals are published. It is clear that gender geography from English speaking countries has played a very important role in the initial development of gender geography in other regional contexts, but, in spite of common origins and continuing strong influences, somehow different regional models of gender geography are emerging. We advocate the value of making greater efforts to integrate the work being done outside English speaking academia into the general surveys of gender geography.
The Construction and Experience of Nature: Perspectives of Urban Youths
Authors: Kong Lily , Yuen Belinda , Sodhi Navjot S. , Briffett Clive
Published: March 2003

In this paper, we explore the ways in which young people in a highly urbanised setting experience and develop constructions of nature. We do so by using Singapore as our case study, an Asian context in which urbanisation is total (Singapore's population is totally urbanised). Based on focus group discussions, we conclude that young Singaporeans have little interest in and affinity for nature. This stems from a few factors: growing up in a highly urban environment in which contact with nature is limited; over‐protective parents of two‐children families who worry about the ‘dangers’ their children are exposed to when playing in natural areas; and the abundance of other recreational and entertainment options. This predisposes them to adopting the rationality of the State in privileging development priorities above conservation imperatives. We conclude by suggesting that certain activities be introduced to bring people, especially children, to nature areas so that their civic and emotional development may be enhanced.
Set‐Aside and Environment: A Case Study in Southern England
Authors: Robinson Guy M. , Lind Margo
Published: March 2003

The characteristics of both voluntary and compulsory programmes, introduced respectively in 1988 and 1992, for the setting aside of farmland in the European Union (EU) are outlined, and the operation of set‐aside is analysed via a survey of farmers in a predominantly cereal‐growing area in Southern England. Emphasis is placed on the potential for set‐aside to yield environmental benefits. In analysing this potential, it is revealed that limited conservation gains have been realised, with restrictions attributable to the nature of the set‐aside scheme itself, farmers' attitudes to set‐aside and insufficient support for farmers to modify existing systems in favour of more environmentally‐friendly practices. Against the background of proposals to scale down set‐aside in the EU, the lack of attention to ensuring greater environmental gain from this scheme is viewed as an opportunity spurned by policy‐makers.
Geography of outsourcing: business service provisions among firms in Norway
Authors: Rusten Grete
Published: March 2003

This paper examines how business service provision partly relies on user firms’ internal resources, strategies and location depending on what can be obtained locally or is feasible to import elsewhere. Empirical evidence from small‐ and medium‐sized firms in three manufacturing industries in Norway shows that strategies searching for suitable suppliers can be divided into different categories, including one in which choice of service providers reflects a policy commitment to buy locally. A second type of strategy is when the choice of subcontractor is a result of a wide professional search process across regions in order to find the best alternative. A third is where service relations are co‐ordinated by a parent company or entail purchased goods. Finally, there is a group of firms that have left the matter of choice of service suppliers to brokers. These results add new elements to the discussion about the competitive role of industrial relations.
Ireland’s seaport system
Authors: Brunt Barry
Published: March 2003

Ireland is the most trade dependent country in the European Union. As a peripheral island economy, an effective seaport system is essential to link into international trade and facilitate export‐led development. During the 1980s, the growth in maritime trade was dispersed to benefit most of Ireland’s ports, although more recently traffic has polarised strongly on the ports of Cork, Dublin, Rosslare, the Shannon Estuary and Waterford. Four processes have played key roles in changing the comparative advantages of Irish ports and stimulating trade: deflection of trade to Northern Ireland ports; Europeanisation and globalisation; industrial policy and economic restructuring; peripherality and transport policy. National Development Plans have used structural funds to reduce the costs of peripherality and have focused investment on four strategic national ports which service two corridors of trade across the Irish Sea. A new context for port management has been created under the 1996 Harbours Act.
The Emergence of Online Food Retailing: A Stakeholder Perspective
Authors: Murphy Andrew
Published: March 2003

Recent research within retail geography has emphasised the intermeshing of economic and cultural facets of production and consumption, and strategy and corporate identity. This paper extends this intermeshing by taking a relational view of the firm. It considers the ways the retail firm determines and enacts its strategies, and how these affect the owners, managers, employees, suppliers and customers of whom it is comprised and with whom it interacts. The paper uses a stakeholder approach to examine stakeholder relations in the context of online food retail in New Zealand. By exploring the management of innovation and relations with customers and store employees through the lens of corporate culture, it shows that these relations cannot be defined in economic or cultural terms alone.
Benefits of Community MPLIS: Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Equity
Authors: Tulloch David L. , Epstein Earl
Published: March 2003

Traditional measures of benefits have focused primarily on efficiency, with some attention directed towards effectiveness. This paper describes community systems – ostensibly multipurpose land information systems (MPLIS) – that produce three categories of benefits: efficiency, effectiveness and equity (or empowerment). Building on the theoretical model of MPLIS development, the paper defines each type of benefit and describes when and where they can be observed and how they can be measured. The understanding of system benefits promoted by this paper is significant in that it places a higher emphasis on uses of system products throughout the community beyond the agencies that initiate the systems – and therefore community benefits than previous geographic information science benefits research.
Adding Human Health Risk Analysis Tools to Geographic Information Systems
Authors: Hellweger Ferdi L. , Wilson Lesley Hay , Naranjo Eugenia M. , Anid Paul J.
Published: March 2003

The development of a module for performing human health risk analysis is presented. This risk module differs from other tools in that it is integrated into a geographic information system (GIS) in a plug–in fashion. The main challenge in the development of the risk module was handling the many different spatial data structures in an open GIS environment. Selection of programming language and other development issues are discussed. The application of the risk module to two mining activities in Bolivia is described.
Banks, Financial Liberalisation and Financial Crises in Emerging Markets
Authors: Bird Graham , Rajan Ramkishen S.
Published: March 2003

The East Asian financial crisis has raised a series of important issues. Amongst them is the question of the role of the banking sector and financial liberalisation in contributing to financial crises. How do weaknesses in the domestic banking sector, when combined with both domestic and international financial liberalisation, engender currency crises? What is lacking in the literature is a simple conceptual framework within which these connections can be conceptualised and drawn out and in which the role of banks is explicitly discussed. This paper seeks to provide just such a framework. Within it, international financial liberalisation can be seen as fuelling a boom in domestic credit, which leads to acute balance sheet problems for domestic banks, and exposes the country concerned to a currency crisis in the event of a sudden reversal of capital inflows, which banking weaknesses may itself trigger.
Labour and Environmental Standards: The ‘Lemons Problem’ in International Trade Policy
Authors: Beaulieu Eugene , Gaisford James
Published: March 2003

Environmental and labour standards have become an important international trade issue. This article examines and ranks alternative trade policy responses available to an importing country with concerns over such standards. While a full import embargo may sometimes be preferable to allowing unrestricted access to unlabeled noconforming imports, a partial embargo that allows imports which demonstrably conform to the standard is always a better policy; and labeling solutions, which separate conforming and non‐conforming imports, are typically better still. Consequently, full import embargoes based on non‐conformity with labour or environmental standards are poor policy choices and should generally remain prohibited by WTO rules.
From the Soviet Union to the European Union: Estonian Trade Policy, 1991–2000
Authors: Feldmann Magnus , Sally Razeen
Published: March 2003

This paper examines the political economy of Estonian trade policy in the 1990s. Estonia is a unique case in the world economy, in that the country rapidly implemented unilateral free trade after regaining independence and sustained it right through the 1990s. We analyse the circumstances, interests, ideas and institutions that have shaped Estonian trade policy during the past decade. Our stress is on institutions, particularly the national decision‐making setting for trade policy. Through this prism we try to understand how a free trade regime was implemented and sustained, and what this experience suggests for the feasibility of tree trade elsewhere. We also look at the increasingly ‘multi‐track’ nature of Estonian trade policy through bilateral free trade agreements, WTO accession and, especially, the movement towards EU accession. Although the other trade policy tracks to some extent provide a lockin for unilateral reforms, we argue that EU accession is undermining the simple, classical liberal trade policy regime that existed during the 1990s.
The Brazilian Economy in 1994–1999: From the Real Plan to Inflation Targets
Authors: Averbug Andre
Published: March 2003

This paper investigates the three main events that shook the Brazilian economy in 1994‐‐1999, a period that represented a turning point in the country's economic history. These events were the implementation of the Real Plan in 1994, the devaluation crisis in 1999, and the subsequent adoption of inflation targets. The principal contributions of this period were the drastic reduction of high inflation rates – the biggest problem in Brazil since the 1970s – and the reorientation towards economic growth, which were also supported by a privatisation programme, the openness of the economy to foreign capital, a trade liberalisation process, and the ongoing fiscal adjustments. Nevertheless, the period also left its scars, such as high budget and current account deficits, accompanied by a policy of elevated interest rates and, until 1999, a highly appreciated exchange rate. The paper concludes with a cautiously optimistic evaluation of the country's economic future based on the accomplishments of the 1990s and the possibility of a long‐term commitment to low inflation targets.
History, Linguistic Theory, California's CLAD, and the Oakland Public Schools Resolution on Ebonics: what are the Connections?
Authors: Croghan Michael
Published: March 2003

In this paper, I will trace the historical, linguistic, and educational contexts for the resolution passed by the Oakland Public Schools (OPS) School Board on December 18, 1996. I will argue that the OPS resolution did not spring from some spontaneous urge, nor from a drive to acquire federal funds. On the contrary, the OPS resolution is: (a) a sensible and sagacious extension of the linguistic and cultural history of the African‐American community; (b) a reasonable and logical implementation of research and theory that has come to light from linguistics and education research over the past 25 years, and (c) a natural and intrinsic desire on the part of African‐American parents to have their children's teachers acquire the principles, strategies, and competencies that frame California's Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development (CLAD) Teacher Certification and Credential.

It is necessary to provide some of the evidence from the cultural, linguistic history of African people in Diaspora, and to provide in detail the nature of the bi‐lingual and bi‐cultural [sic] experiences involved. It is crucial that academics, scholars, teachers, students, parents, and members of our community groups have the opportunity to learn to respect these experiences. (DeFrantz, 1995: 54, emphasis added)
The English‐language media in Hong Kong
Authors: Yuen‐Ying Chan
Published: March 2003

The forces of de‐colonization and globalization have shaped the development of the English‐language news media in Hong Kong over the past two decades. When in the mid‐1980s Hong Kong began the transition to Chinese sovereignty, the position of influence of the local English‐language press began to erode while the Chinese‐language newspapers started to proliferate and expand their readership. As Hong Kong moved out of the colonial era, however, a countertrend emerged with international English‐language media conglomerates, mostly US‐owned, extending their reach and reshaping Hong Kong's identity. The images of Hong Kong projected by the colonial press and then by the international media have often been distorted, reflecting the cultural biases of their writers, editors and producers. To increase Hong Kong's representation in an era of ‘new media,’ Hong Kong needs a new type of bilingual media professional with a high level of English proficiency who can contest the assumptions and biases in the English‐language news coverage of Hong Kong and China.
English as economic value: facts and fallacies
Authors: Grin François
Published: March 2003

This paper offers an overview of the economic approach to the question of the ‘value’ of English. In the first section, I discuss the reasons why this question is attracting increasing attention, showing that it reflects an increase in the objective frequency of contact between speakers of different languages, as well as a concern for the role of English in those contacts. Section 2 presents five important analytical distinctions which help to structure the investigation: they address the direction of causality considered; the ‘regulated’ or ‘unregulated’ nature of the context being examined; the difference between market and non‐market effects; the micro‐ as opposed to the macro‐economic level; and the contrast between, on the one hand, the issue of (more or less efficient) allocation of resources between uses and, on the other hand, the issue of the (more or less equitable) distribution of resources among actors. Section 3 turns to the labour market value of English language skills in Switzerland, presenting first some methodological aspects and then providing some fundamental statistical results. Switzerland currently is the only country in which English is neither a majority nor an official language for which the data necessary for such estimations are available. These results indicate that, for Switzerland taken as a whole, English language skills can be associated with remarkably high and statistically robust wage premia which, in the models estimated here, range from 12% to 30%. Section 4 discusses the implications of these results with respect to long‐term trends and policy orientations; the tentative prediction made is that the labour market value of English, relative to other skills, will erode in the long run, as a result of the dynamics of the labour market. This paper combines concepts from sociolinguistics on the one hand, and quantitative economics on the other hand. The presentation is kept non‐technical throughout, in order to make it accessible to practitioners of both disciplines.
Constructs of Indian English in language ‘guidebooks’
Authors: Chelliah Shobhana L.
Published: March 2003

This study follows the approach developed in Dendrinos (1992) for EFL textbook analysis, and presents a content analysis of 11 Indian ‘Common Errors in English’ (CEIE) guidebooks to illustrate how access to English is institutionally withheld from large parts of the Indian population. The paper examines seven features: organization, quality and extent of grammatical explanation, reliability of error lists, the pedagogical goals of the authors, how the materials are meant to supplement English language instruction, the variety of English being taught, and the fluency of the authors in the variety being taught. The study also compares the Indian CEIE books to five comparable works published in the United States and Great Britain. The comparative analysis illustrates how concern with standardized examinations encourages the use of memorization as a language learning strategy; this strategy shapes the pedagogy employed in the CEIE guidebooks. The employment of outdated teaching methods and the poor grasp of English exhibited by the authors of the guidebooks, serve to disadvantage students who rely on these books. While the elite agree that English is necessary for social advancement in India, the tools provided to some students for the mastery of English do not encourage fluency. To these students it must seem that the dominant ideology which values English for Indians does not do so for all Indians.
English as a second language in South Africa's tertiary institutions: a case study at the University of Pretoria
Authors: Webb Vic
Published: March 2003

This paper uses the University of Pretoria as a point of reference and explicates that the use of a second language as language of learning and teaching (LoL/T) could be detrimental to the academic development of students as well as to the assessment of their progress, if the students concerned do not have the expected proficiency in the LoL/T, which, in the case of the University of Pretoria, is English. The argument is motivated on the basis of the role of language in academic training and on the proficiency of the students concerned in English. The article then lists the language and language‐related problems at the University of Pretoria, evaluates the measures taken by the University to resolve these problems, and closes with a description of the language planning steps which are necessary if the language issue at the University is to be handled in a satisfactory way. Although directed at circumstances at one particular South African university it is hoped that the discussion may be applicable to similar institutions in the country, in particular institutions which formerly wholly or mainly used Afrikaans as LoL/T, and have had to adopt a dual‐medium approach to training since the country's democratisation in 1994.
English in China: a preliminary bibliography
Authors: Adamson Bob , Bolton Kingsley , Lam Agnes , Tong Q. S.
Published: March 2003

The research bibliography presented here is both a ‘preliminary’ and ‘partial’ bibliography. The core focus of the bibliography is on work published in English and available internationally, although, where possible, references have been made to relevant Chinese–language sources. Despite the obvious shortcomings, however, the authors hope that, given the general dearth of bibliographies of this kind, the following list of references will supplement the articles in the body of this special issue, and will serve as a useful entry point for scholars from a wide range of disciplines wishing to research the development of English studies in contemporary China
On Tolerating the Unreasonable
Authors: Kelly Erin , McPherson Lionel
Published: March 2003

Philosophy, Tufts University, USA
Environmental Regulations and New Plant Location Decisions: Evidence from a Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Jeppesen Tim , List John A. , Folmer Henk
Published: March 2003

Stricter environmental regulations are often opposed on the grounds that they will alter equilibrium capital flows. Empirical evidence in this area remains largely unresolved, mainly due to the quite disparate results found in the literature. This paper takes a positive look at the relationship between new manufacturing plant location decisions and environmental regulations by examining data from 11 studies that provide more than 365 observations. One major result from our meta‐analysis is that methodological considerations play a critical role in shaping the body of received estimates. Our empirical estimates also lend insights into future research that is necessary before any robust conclusions can be made regarding the effects of environmental regulations on capital flows.
Identifying Subareas That Comprise A Greater Metropolitan Area: The Criterion of County Relative Efficiency
Authors: Raab Raymond L. , Lichty Richard W.
Published: March 2003

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to rank the relative efficiency of thirty–two counties comprising the Greater Minneapolis–St. Paul Metropolitan Region and finds that the greatest external economies originate in the urban core and decline toward the periphery. By employing 1993 IMPLAN input–output database and county estimates of final payments (inputs) and final demands (outputs), DEA classifies efficient and inefficient counties that produce maximum output using minimum input, and a sensitivity analysis ranks counties according to robustness of the efficiency classifications. Efficiency differences between three groups identify the metropolitan core, transitional region, and peripheral region. Dominant industries in the three regions are identified and contrasted using location quotients. This study adopts the various analytical techniques into an urban regional systems approach for policy analysis and implementation.
A Children’s Author Recognition Test: A Useful Tool in Reading Research
Authors: Stainthorp Rhona
Published: March 2003

The relationship between exposure to print and reading ability is beginning to be well documented through the work of Stanovich and his colleagues (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1990; Stanovich and Cunningham, 1992; Cipielewski and Stanovich, 1992). In order to investigate exposure to print they have developed a number of measures which are reliable and effective including Author Recognition Tests. This paper discusses the development of a UK version of a Children’s Author Recognition Test and argues the need for developing culturally specific equivalents. A further study shows that a Children’s Author Recognition Test can be used as a tool for double checking self‐reports by parents of the amount of reading they do with their children.
The relationship between syntactic awareness and reading performance
Authors: Layton Anne , Robinson Julie , Lawson Michael
Published: March 2003

This study was designed to examine the relationship between syntactic awareness and reading performance. A major concern was to provide an estimate of the effect of syntactic training that was not confounded with training that focused on semantic features of words. The training exercises used in the study focused on all levels of syntactic awareness in order that the effect of such training could be assessed on students’ performance on tasks that tapped each of the levels. Results of this study showed that syntactic awareness could be improved through training. The effect was stable, being apparent at the two post‐test times. However, no evidence was found for a systematic effect of improved syntactic awareness on reading ability. Moreover, syntactic training did not show any greater effect than no treatment or semantic training on children’s grammatic comprehension, their ability to use fix‐up strategies, or on their general reading ability score. Training had a different impact on the accuracy of oral reading for the syntactic and semantic training groups. Thus, in terms of the developmental sequence of syntactic awareness proposed by Gombert (1992), children trained in the cloze procedure improved at the two highest levels, whilst showing neither a corresponding change in the lower levels of awareness, nor improved functional reading performance.
Phonological processing and early literacy
Authors: Passenger Terri , Stuart Morag , Terrell Colin
Published: March 2003

Phonological awareness and phonological memory have been cited separately as two cognitive skills thought to underpin literacy. Few studies, however, have investigated the relationship between these two skills and their relative contribution to early reading and spelling. The aims of this longitudinal study were to evaluate the developmental relationship between these two phonological processing skills and to consider their relative contributions to early literacy.

This paper reports results from the first 12 months of the study, which monitored 80 preliterate children during their first year of formal schooling. The findings discussed here suggest that phonological awareness and phonological memory both make significant yet distinctive contributions to early literacy: while early phonological awareness may predict subsequent single‐word reading, early phonological memory appears to play an important part in the development of the decoding strategies needed for later reading. Evidence that a qualitative change in phonological memory takes place during the first year of formal schooling confirms earlier claims that a phonological strategy for spelling may develop before a similar strategy for reading (Frith, 1985; Huxford, 1993).
The National Literacy Strategy and individual differences
Authors: Stainthorp Rhona
Published: March 2003

This is a discussion paper reflecting on the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) after one year of operation. It is argued that, despite claims that it has already had an effect on KS2 SAT (Standardised Assessment Test) performance, it is too soon to make such a judgement. Questions are raised about whether it is wise to use a non‐professional group of assistants to provide the Additional Literacy Support for at risk children in Key Stage 2 or the Key Stage 1 Intervention Programme. It is argued that those children who show atypical development need the most qualified and highly skilled teachers. Finally, it is argued that once the NLS becomes established it will be necessary for all teachers to engage with the research literature so that they teach from a position of professional understanding of the processes involved in reading and writing development.
Helping parents to read with their children: evaluation of an individual and group reading motivation programme
Authors: Collins Larissa , Matthey Stephen
Published: March 2003

Twenty‐two primary school children, aged 6–12 years, who were experiencing significant reading difficulties, were allocated to one of two parent‐instruction treatment conditions according to the parent’s preference. The treatments were based upon learning‐theory principles, and were aimed at teaching the parents optimal ways of helping their child learn to read. One condition involved the parent and child being seen individually by the therapist twice a week over five weeks. The other condition involved the parents meeting as a group for three weekly sessions, and then as a group with their children for the final two sessions. The same learning‐theory principles were taught in both treatment conditions. Seven children who were awaiting treatment provided waiting‐list control data over a five‐week period. Outcome measures of the children’s reading level and reading self‐concept, and the parents’ stress levels during reading‐time showed significant improvements for those in the individual treatment condition, and this improvement was maintained at a follow‐up after two months. While there were some gains for those in the group treatment condition, these were not maintained by the two‐month follow‐up.
The influence of narrative text characteristics on thematic inference during reading
Authors: Zhang Hao , Hoosain Rumjahn
Published: March 2003

Past studies of narrative text characteristics mainly focused on comprehension and memory of the contents stated explicitly, but not thematic inference. Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of the characteristics of narrative text on generation of thematic inference. In Experiment 1, a self‐paced reading method demonstrated that an appropriate title facilitated comprehension of the theme of a text. In Experiment 2, the same titles for the texts were used, together with variation in the goal of the protagonist and outcome of the story. Results indicated that generation of thematic inference depended on the interaction between the goal of the protagonist and the final outcome of a text. These findings are consistent with the global coherence assumption of contemporary text‐processing models in which the overarching theme is constructed during reading by integrating the title, the statements about the goal of the protagonist and the final outcome of a text.
Gendered readings: learning from children’s reading choices
Authors: Coles Martin , Hall Christine
Published: March 2003

This paper presents evidence from The W H Smith Children’s Reading Choices Project research in order to examine the relationship between achievement in English and the reading habits of 10‐ to 14‐year‐old children. Following a national questionnaire survey supplemented by a semi‐structured interview for a small sample of respondents, it was found that children read more books and periodicals in 1994 than in 1971. However, boys tended to read less than girls. Periodical reading is a strong feature in the reading diet of both sexes. The paper argues for the importance of recognising and respecting the range of reading children engage in, and the popular reading cultures in which they live. It suggests that officially sanctioned school definitions of literacy disempower many young readers, and inhibit their development as readers. In particular, schools should recognise and value the type of information‐rich reading that boys undertake away from school and should provide links between it and the ‘socially orientated’ reading, preferred by girls, that makes up much of the English school curriculum. Likewise, girls should be encouraged to undertake more technical and factual reading to better prepare them for the world of work. If this advice were adopted, both sexes would benefit and boys might be less inclined to perceive themselves as poor readers.
Orthographic analogies and phonological priming effects
Authors: Wood Clare
Published: March 2003

Bowey, Vaughan and Hansen (1998) have demonstrated that once phonological priming effects have been taken in account, there is no orthographic analogy effect for words with common end patterns (e.g. beak–peak). Goswami (1999) has argued that the study on which this claim is based is methodically flawed. This paper attempted to verify Bowey et al.’s claim by using an improved clue‐word procedure with a group of beginning readers, whose phonological awareness and vocabulary was also assessed. The results indicated that while rime‐based analogies seem to be phonological rather than orthographic in nature, beginning readers are able to use an orthographic analogy strategy when reading words that have similar beginnings (e.g. beak–bean).
The role of letter knowledge and phonological awareness in young Braille readers
Authors: Barlow–Brown Fiona , Connelly Vincent
Published: March 2003

Research into sighted children’s reading shows that letter recognition skill predicts phonological awareness skill. Congenitally–blind children do not receive exposure to environmental print and do not generally learn to recognise written letters of the alphabet prior to schooling in Braille. A cross–sectional analysis revealed that blind children with no knowledge of written letters or written words showed no ability at measures of phonological awareness. Blind children with knowledge of written letters and no written words showed much increased phonological awareness scores and blind children with knowledge of written letters and written words scored higher still on phonological awareness measures. It was concluded that letter learning is a major contributor to the development of phonological awareness in blind children. It suggests key similarities in the underlying processes of reading development across two different populations using different modalities to learn to read.
Producing Monthly Estimates of Unemployment and Employment According to the International Labour Office Definition
Authors: Steel David.
Published: March 2003

Monthly unemployment statistics are available in Britain from a monthly count of the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits. There has been considerable debate on the appropriateness of this measure. Unemployment and employment statistics are available quarterly from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), using International Labour Office (ILO) definitions. In this paper various options for producing monthly unemployment estimates according to the ILO definition are examined. Methods considered are a monthly LFS, calculating rolling averages from the quarterly LFS, and methods which combine LFS and claimant count data. It is proposed that a monthly LFS of 60 000 households be introduced which can produce monthly estimates of total unemployment and more detailed estimates quarterly. Such a survey would also fill an important gap by providing monthly employment statistics which are needed to provide a complete picture of the labour market.
Bayesian Updating in Reference Centile Charts
Authors: Fatti L. P. , Senaoana E. M. , Thompson M. L.
Published: March 2003

Reference centile charts, used for monitoring the health of an individual over time (e.g. the weight gain of pregnant women over successive periods in their pregnancy) do not take into account the longitudinal nature of the individual profiles. There is also generally more than one variable which affects the outcome of interest, and information regarding the path of a group of variables over time may prove advantageous in terms of sensitivity. We propose a Bayesian approach to this problem in which the successive deviations of the individual’s observations from the mean of the corresponding reference distribution are used to compute updated reference centiles for future measurements on the individual. The univariate and multivariate situations are discussed, and consideration is given to non-normal cross-sectional distributions. The theory is illustrated on data obtained from the records of weight gain and fundal height of pregnant women visiting a clinic at intervals during pregnancy.
A Methodological Strategy for a One-Number Census in the UK
Authors: Brown J. J. , Diamond I. D. , Chambers R. L. , Buckner L. J. , Teague A. D.
Published: March 2003

As a result of lessons learnt from the 1991 census, a research programme was set up to seek improvements in census methodology. Underenumeration has been placed top of the agenda in this programme, and every effort is being made to achieve as high a coverage as possible in the 2001 census. In recognition, however, that 100% coverage will never be achieved, the one-number census (ONC) project was established to measure the degree of underenumeration in the 2001 census and, if possible, to adjust fully the outputs from the census for that undercount. A key component of this adjustment process is a census coverage survey (CCS). This paper presents an overview of the ONC project, focusing on the design and analysis methodology for the CCS. It also presents results that allow the reader to evaluate the robustness of this methodology.