bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Owning Genetic Information and Gene Enhancement Techniques: Why Privacy and Property Rights May Undermine Social Control of the Human Genome
Authors: Moore Adam D.
Published: March 2003

In this article I argue that the proper subjects of intangible property claims include medical records, genetic profiles, and gene enhancement techniques. Coupled with a right to privacy these intangible property rights allow individuals a zone of control that will, in most cases, justifiably exclude governmental or societal invasions into private domains. I argue that the threshold for overriding privacy rights and intangible property rights is higher, in relation to genetic enhancement techniques and sensitive personal information, than is commonly suggested. Once the bar is raised, so‐to‐speak, the burden of overriding it is formidable. Thus many policy decisions that have been recently proposed or enacted – citywide audio and video surveillance, law enforcement DNA sweeps, genetic profiling, national bans on genetic testing and enhancement of humans, to name a few – will have to be backed by very strong arguments.
The Argument from Intrinsic Value: A Critique
Authors: Stretton Dean
Published: March 2003

In his recent book Abortion and Unborn Human Life, Patrick Lee develops an argument for foetal personhood based on intrinsic value. Lee argues that since the foetus is identical with the rational, self‐conscious being who will exist a few years later, and since this rational, self‐conscious being indisputably is intrinsically valuable, therefore the foetus must already be intrinsically valuable; for nothing can come to be at one time but become intrinsically valuable at another. I show that this argument fails on two counts. First, the crucial premise that a thing’s intrinsic value must derive from its essential properties is question‐begging and devoid of support. Second, that premise is inconsistent with the pro‐life position.
Regulating the Market for Human Eggs
Authors: Resnick David B.
Published: March 2003

This essay provides a rationale for a regulated market for human oocytes. Although the commodification of human oocytes raises important moral concerns, these concerns do not justify laws banning commerce in human eggs. Given the burgeoning ART industry and the growing oocyte market, the most prudent course of action is to develop regulations for the human oocyte market that are designed to protect and promote important social values, such as health, safety, liberty, and respect for human life. Other responses, such as banning the sale of eggs altogether or allowing donors to be compensated only for their services, would either create a black market or would lead to corruption and abuse. Society still needs to debate specific rules and policies that should govern the human egg market, but further discussion of that important task is best left to legislative bodies and other commentators.
Constitution and Common Law in Bioethics
Authors: Santosuosso Amedeo
Published: March 2003

The use of rights based arguments to justify claims that donor offspring should have access to information identifying their gamete donor has become increasingly widespread. In this paper, I do not intend to revisit the debate about the validity of such rights. Rather, the purpose is to examine the way that such alleged rights have been implemented by those legislatures that have allowed access to identifying information. I will argue that serious inconsistencies exist between the claim that donor offspring have a right to know the identity of their gamete donor and the way such a right is currently met in practice. I hope to show that in systems where non‐anonymous donation is practised, an understanding of the proclaimed right of donor offspring to know their genetic identity is one composed of two different rights – the right to know the circumstances of their conception and the right to information identifying the gamete donor – can provide important insights into this important area of public policy.
What can the Social Sciences Contribute to the Study of Ethics? Theoretical, Empirical and Substantive Considerations
Authors: Haimes Erica
Published: March 2003

This article seeks to establish that the social sciences have an important contribution to make to the study of ethics. The discussion is framed around three questions: (i) what theoretical work can the social sciences contribute to the understanding of ethics? (ii) what empirical work can the social sciences contribute to the understanding of ethics? And (iii) how does this theoretical and empirical work combine, to enhance the understanding of how ethics, as a field of analysis and debate, is socially constituted and situated? Through these questions the argument goes beyond the now commonly cited objection to the over‐simplistic division between normative and descriptive ethics (that assigns the social sciences the ‘handmaiden’ role of simply providing the ‘facts’). In extending this argument, this article seeks to establish, more firmly and in more detail, that: (a) the social sciences have a longstanding theoretical interest analysing the role that a concern with ethics plays in explanations of social change, social organisation and social action; (b) the explanations that are based on the empirical investigations conducted by social scientists exemplify the interplay of epistemological and methodological analyses so that our understanding of particular substantive issues is extended beyond the conventional questions raised by ethicists, and (c) through this combination of theoretical and empirical work, social scientists go beyond the specific ethical questions of particular practices to enquire further into the social processes that lie behind the very designation of certain matters as being ‘ethical issues’.
Care and the Problem of Pity
Authors: Boleyn–Fitzgerald Patrick
Published: March 2003

In recent years philosophers and bioethicists have given considerable attention to the concept of care. Thus we have seen important work on questions such as: whether there is a uniquely female approach to ethics, whether ethics should be partial or impartial, and whether care must be supplemented by justice. Despite this valuable and extensive work, however, some important distinctions have gone largely undiscussed. This paper tries to fill a gap left in our understanding of the concept of care itself by distinguishing between compassion and two kinds of pity. While all three are kinds of caring, we should not give them similar moral evaluations. Consequently, the distinction between compassion and different kinds of pity gives us an important insight into the question of whether we can consider care a virtue for health care professionals.
The Conjoined Twins and the Limits of Rationality in Applied Ethics
Authors: Cowley Christopher
Published: March 2003

In this article I consider the case of the surgical separation of conjoined twins resulting in the immediate and predictable death of the weaker one. The case was submitted to English law by the hospital, and the operation permitted against the parents’ wishes. I consider the relationship between the legal decision and the moral reasons adduced in its support, reasons gaining their force against the framework of much mainstream normative ethical theory. I argue that in a few morally dilemmatic situations, such a legalistic–theoretical approach cannot plausibly accommodate certain irreducible and ineliminable features of the ethical experience of any concrete individual implicated in the situation, and that this failure partly undermines its self–appointed role of guiding such an individual's conduct. For example, the problem as experienced by the judge and by the parents might not be the same problem at all, and some of their respective reasons may be mutually unintelligible or impotent. I certainly do not argue for a rejection of law or of moral theory; I merely challenge their implicit claim to comprehensiveness and their fixation with an idealised and putatively universal rationality modelled on converging scientific enquiry. Finally, I claim that at least in the twins’ case there may be insufficient normative robustness to the conclusions reached, or indeed reachable, by the court in a situation where intuitions and moral reasons pull in fundamentally incommensurable directions; as such, there may be room for an acknowledgement of the spiritual, through a humble abstention from making a decision – which is not to be confused with deciding to do nothing.
The Problematic Role of ‘Irreversibility’ in the Definition of Death
Authors: Hershenov David
Published: March 2003

Most definitions of death – whether cardiopulmonary, whole brain and brain stem, or just upper brain – include an irreversibility condition. Cessation of function is not enough to declare death. Irreversibility should be limited to an organism's ability to ‘restart’ itself after vital organs have ceased to function. However, this would mean that every hour people who cannot be revived without the intervention of medical personnel and their technology are coming back from the dead. However, the alternative of irreversibility being dependent upon technology will lead to even more counterintuitive results such as: some people are dead at a particular time and place, but others in more technologically advanced eras and locations are alive despite their being in identical physical states; in the future, millions of cryogenically frozen human beings could spend centuries in a non–dead state because of the future technological breakthroughs; or large numbers of ‘frozen’ people are dead for aeons but coroners are not able to declare them so because they are unaware of what biological conditions science will never be able to reverse. So death should be defined only in non–relational biological terms with a self–starting condition similar to that once advocated by Lawrence Becker.
What Provision for Pupils with Challenging Behaviour?
Authors: Porter Jill , Lacey Penny
Published: March 2003

Jill Porter and Penny Lacey, lecturers in special education in the School of Education, University of Birmingham, describe a survey of the provision made by schools for pupils with learning difficulties and challenging behaviour, which focused on in‐class support; curriculum access; and additional facilities and resources for such pupils.
The Connotation of Special Education Labels for Professionals in the Field
Authors: Norwich Brahm
Published: March 2003

Brahm Norwich, Professor of Educational Psychology and Special Educational Needs at Exeter University (formerly Professor of Special Education, at the Institute of Education, University of London) discusses ways in which labelling can affect attitudes to, and provision for, pupils with special educational needs. He gives details of an in‐depth study on the attitudes of experienced teachers, trainee teachers and trainee educational psychologists.
Pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties as Personal Target Setters
Authors: Rose Richard , Fletcher Will , Goodwin Gaynor
Published: March 2003

Richard Rose, Senior Lecturer at University College, Northampton, and Will Fletcher and Gaynor Goodwin, Watling View School, St Albans, argue that although many schools have attempted to enable pupils with special educational needs to play an active part in their own planning procedures and assessment, few have identified and analysed the skills required by both pupils and teachers. Theydescribe a one‐year small‐scale action‐research project, in a school for children with severe learning difficulties, which resulted in the development of procedures for the assessment of ‘pupil readiness’ for full involvement in the target‐setting process.
Focus on Practice: Using a readiness scale for reintegrating pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties from a Nurture Group into their mainstream classroom — a pilot study
Authors: Doyle Rebecca
Published: March 2003

The development of a Nurture Group can help a whole school to become ‘a more inclusive, nurturing establishment’, according to Rebecca Doyle. In this article she describes the evolution of a detailed Reintegration Readiness Scale, building on Nurture Group principles and practices. Two case studies illustrate the kinds of progress that can be made by individual pupils. This article goes on to note the benefits that nurturing approaches can bring to the whole school community and to indicate further developments for the future. Rebecca Doyle runs the Nurture Group at Canterbury Infant School in Thetford and used a DfEE‐funded Best Practice Research Scholarship to develop the approaches she details in this practical and thought‐provoking report.
Teaching approaches which support inclusive education: a connective pedagogy
Authors: Corbett Jenny
Published: March 2003

In this article, Jenny Corbett, a Reader in Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, considers the factors which can help to support effective inclusive learning. She uses her reading of the growing body of literature on inclusion in order to reflect upon her own enquiries into practice at an inclusive primary school in London. Drawing upon the three key elements in the Index for Inclusion, she presents findings about school culture, school policy and school practice. Her conclusions will help policy‐makers and practitioners to reflect upon the relationships between effectiveness and inclusivity.
Classroom studies into cognitive style in mathematics for pupils with dyslexia in special education in the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK
Authors: Chinn Steve , McDonagh Donna , Elswijk Rob van , Harmsen Hans , Kay Julie , McPhillips Therese , Power Angela , Skidmore Les
Published: March 2003

The project reported here was designed to explore the cognitive style used by pupils with dyslexia when answering a range of mathematical questions. The research involved 132 pupils aged between 9 and 13 years, including 66 pupils in mainstream and 66 pupils in specialist schools, in three countries in Europe.

Detailed studies of the methods used by pupils attempting the given questions on a test of cognitive style suggested that they fell into two main categories. These pupils were observed when completing the test and their responses were categorised accordingly. The resulting numerical data were then analysed for differences between pupils within each country and between their non‐dyslexic counterparts.

The results showed significant differences in the balance of cognitive styles employed by pupils with dyslexia as opposed to their non‐dyslexic counterparts. Also there were interesting differences occurring between the pupils with dyslexia within the three countries on initial testing. Further differences were established after a six‐month intervention period, suggesting that the characteristics of different curriculum models do have an impact upon pupils' flexibility as learners.
Focus on Practice: Whose Standards? Using the Standards Fund for children with Speech and Language Needs — a Survey of Allocation of Resources in England
Authors: Law James , Luscombe Maria , Roux Judy
Published: March 2003

The provision of speech and language therapy services is a topic of continuing concern and debate for policy makers and practitioners alike. In this article, James Law, of the Department of Language and Communication Science at City University, London; Maria Luscombe, of the Speech and Language Therapy Department at Northwick Park Hospital, London; and Judy Roux, of the Speech and Language Therapy Service in the London Borough of Newham, report the results of their research into the use of Standards Fund money in relation to children with speech and language needs. This report takes forward and updates many of the issues raised in Law, Lindsay, Peacey, Gascoigne, Soloff, Radford, Band and Fitzgerald’s article in BJSE in September 2001 but also opens up new areas for discussion. These matters will be central to the task of promoting collaboration between the various agencies charged with responsibility for supporting children with speech and language needs.
Focus on Practice: Researching Special Needs
Authors: Wilson John
Published: March 2003

In the March 2002 issue of BJSE, Richard Rose argued that the agenda for research in special education should be determined by establishing ‘effective partnerships’ between teachers and researchers. He suggested that teachers are beginning to be more involved in research but that educational researchers needed to ‘take a lead in involving classroom practitioners in the development of school–based projects’. John Wilson, an author of many books on philosophy and education, and currently Senior Research Associate at the Oxford University Department of Educational Studies, agrees that, if educational research is to drive forward improvements in practice, it must engage ‘the minds and understandings of practitioners’. This article takes the debate further, however. John Wilson proposes that research into special educational needs has also to engage with an exploration of the meaning of the phrase ‘special needs’ and a review of the values that underpin the use of this phrase by practitioners, policy makers and researchers. He concludes that this process will entail the development of new forms of enquiry, new ways of working, and new ways of thinking about research and special educational needs.
Teaching Education about Sexuality: a Scottish Regional Case Study
Authors: Watt Sheila , Horn Elizabeth , Higgins Cassie
Published: March 2003

This article examines the efficacy of policy and practice, within one Scottish region, of education about sexuality in secondary schools. The primary focus is on teaching sexuality to pupils with recorded learning difficulties, with a particular emphasis on the concepts of inclusion, normalisation and integration. The authors are Sheila Watt, Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Dundee; Elizabeth Horn, a teacher of pupils with special educational needs; and Cassie Higgins, a research assistant also based in the School of Education at the University of Dundee.
The Stanley Segal Award: ‘Do You Want to be in My Gang?’: A Study of the Existence and Effects of Bullying in a Primary School Class
Authors: Torrance Deirdre A.
Published: March 2003

The winner of the 1997 Stanley Segal Award, Deirdre A. Torrance, a learning support teacher in a special school for secondary pupils with identified social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, considers the existence and effects of bullying in an Edinburgh mainstream primary school.
School Support for Lower Achieving Pupils
Authors: Duffield Jill
Published: March 2003

Jill Duffield, a Research Fellow in the Institute of Education, University of Stirling, reports on a study in a Scottish local authority of four schools focusing upon measures of school effectiveness and socio‐economic status (SES). Factors influencing the progress of lower achieving pupils in the early secondary years are also considered, including the pupil support systems in place: learning support, behavioural support and guidance.
Including all learners: QCA’s approach
Authors: Wade Judith
Published: March 2003

Judith Wade, QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) Principal Manager for Equal Opportunities and Access, outlines recent and future developments initiated by the QCA. She highlights the challenges faced by the QCA to encourage all staff to take into account all learners, including those with special educational needs. The points she makes are not only relevant to schools and LEAs (Local Education Authorities) but also to all community organisations and service providers.
Teachers reviewing Annual Reviews
Authors: Jones Phyllis , Swain John
Published: March 2003

Phyllis Jones, Senior Lecturer (Special Educational Needs), and John Swain, Reader in Disability Studies, at the University of Northumbria, report on the first stage of a qualitative investigation into participants’ views of, and feelings about, Annual Reviews. Although this article was submitted before the publication of Special Educational Needs: Consultation Document on the Proposed Revision of the SEN Code of Practice (DfEE, 1999), both highlight the need ‘to reduce the paperwork required of schools and of LEAs in relation to annual reviews’ (p.4). The Document does not envisage any fundamental change to the current regulatory framework for Annual Reviews but this small‐scale study highlights the pressing need for organisationalreform.
Integrated Learning Systems and pupils with low attainments in reading
Authors: Lewis Ann
Published: March 2003

Ann Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Education in the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick, considers the research evidence from UK evaluations of Integrated Learning Systems, discusses the value of these systems for pupils with learning difficulties, and focuses on their effects on the reading attainments of lower achieving pupils.
Focus on Practice: Oliver Twist: an exploration of interactive storytelling and object use in communication
Authors: Park Keith
Published: March 2003

Keith Park invites practitioners to respond to his detailed plans for integrating communication skills, and the use of real object ‘props’, with the teaching of literature to pupils with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties. This article builds on work described in two previous contributions to the pages of the British Journal of Special Education. In the first (Park, 1997), Keith Park reviewed the theory and practice of communicating using ‘objects of reference’. In the second article (Park, 1998), he described an approach to teaching Dickens which used interactive storytelling as a context for promoting communication skills. Keith Park combines these themes in this article, which provides both a theoretical commentary and ideas for a series of practical sessions.
The use of video as a teaching resource in a new university
Authors: Barford Jane , Weston Colin
Published: March 2003

This paper reports on a survey of the use of video as a teaching resource within one British University, drawing on evidence gathered during 1995 from fourteen Schools within its four Faculties. It identifies the factors and issues which influence the use of video in teaching, including management of video resources within the Schools; how video is used to support teaching strategies; and its perceived usefulness as a teaching resource. Findings note the extent to which video is used across the University; the factors that support or discourage its use; and the awareness and expectations that teaching staff have of video as a teaching tool. The discussion offers some recommendations as to how video use may be supported and improved within the University. The research could form the basis for a larger study to establish whether the findings from this survey may be typical of the picture in higher education generally.
Dynamic Courseware Generation on the WWW
Authors: Vassileva Julita , Deters Ralph
Published: March 2003

We have developed a tool for the authoring of adaptive CAL courses, called “Dynamic Courseware Generator” (DCG). It generates an individual course according to the learner's goals and previous knowledge, and dynamically adapts the course according to the learner's success in acquiring knowledge. The DCG runs on a WWW server. The learner receives from this server an individualised course targeted to a specified goal. Afterwards, s/he is adaptively guided by the course through a space of teaching materials on the WWW. Unlike other CAL courses on the WWW, a course produced by the DCG is interactive, it tests the learner's knowledge and dynamically adapts to the student's progress. The authoring tool can be used also for collaborative authoring and learning.
Pragmatic user model implementation in an intelligent help system
Authors: Fernandez‐Manjon Baltasar , Fernandez‐Valmayor Alfredo , Fernandez‐Chamizo Carmen
Published: March 2003

We present an intelligent help system for the Unix operating system called Aran. Aran is a passive, knowledge‐based help system whose main goal is to help users deal with problems related to Unix operation. Aran gives the user access to different kinds of information, and it is designed to help the user accomplish a given task, while, at the same time, expanding the user's knowledge of the operating system. In order to accomplish its job Aran is endowed with an explicit representation of both domain specific knowledge and a pragmatic user model (UM) that takes into account the individual's characteristics. In Aran, user modelling is dynamic and based on stereotypes. The UM is implemented with the same representation environment, Loom, used in the rest of the knowledge base (KB) modules. This environment is based on a description logics formalism that facilitates the construction and maintenance of all the modules.
Technology transfer in schools: from research to innovation
Authors: Bottino Rosa Maria , Forcheri Paola , Molfino Maria Teresa
Published: March 2003

Technology transfer should be a central objective of research into educational information technology, as it is generally acknowledged that the quality of this process is a critical factor in effectively bringing about innovation. The central focus of this paper is on this problem. In particular, we discuss the peculiarity of information technology transfer in schools as opposed to the transfer of technology in companies; we indicate some central problems of this transfer and discuss a typology of approaches to the transfer of educational information technology from research to school.
Video email: a method of speeding up assignment feedback for visual arts subjects in distance education
Authors: Inglis Alistair
Published: March 2003

The type of asynchronous communication offered by electronic mail has been shown to be particularly effective for providing feedback on assignments in distance education. However, the use of electronic mail has generally been restricted to the exchange of textual information. For practical assignments which include a large visual component, a method of providing feedback which enables the tutor to point to features of the student's work is needed. This paper reports the results of a recent investigation into the feasibility of providing visual feedback to students in practical art subjects by sending compressed digital video clips as attachments to email messages. It concludes that transmission of video by email is now technically feasible, although bandwidth constraints of dial‐up links and the time taken for compression put a tight limit on the amount of video that it is practicable to transmit. Nevertheless, developments in technology are expected to improve this situation quickly. Many of the issues that are examined are relevant to other areas of multimedia delivery
Cultural Issues of the Internet in Classrooms
Authors: Joo Jae‐Eun
Published: March 2003

Despite the rapid and broad diffusion of the Internet in schools, educators have paid relatively little attention to the cultural impact of this new technology in teaching and learning. This article investigates some cultural issues that the Internet has introduced into classrooms, with illustrations of good practice. It aims to stimulate critical discussions among educators on ethical and cultural aspects of Internet use, including equality of access and participation for all people, and mutual respect for, and promotion of, under‐represented languages and cultures. This article finally demonstrates an urgent need to re‐shape the Internet as a human, rather than merely computer, network.
Cultural Issues Related to Transnational Open and Distance Learning in Universities: A European Problem?
Authors: Van den Branden Jef , Lambert José
Published: March 2003

Open and Distance Learning (ODL) is much more than a didactic or technological issue. On the basis of contemporary approaches to culture, it is both an agent and a barometer of culture: culture influences the appearances, models and contents of ODL, but is influenced itself as well by the ODL phenomenon. Illustration of the point is made through an analysis of the historic roots of ODL in comparison with Europe's contemporary transnational and technology based ODL. The analysis results in an agenda for important cultural issues, such as the institutional character of ODL, its contribution to Europe's competitiveness, the shaping of a European citizenship, and the nature of European ODL in terms of its cultural barriers and cultural assets. The ambiguity of culture typically emerges when looking at language. European transnational, and especially technology based ODL, may be hindered by the multilingual societies of Europe, and remain so as long as language policies are imposed. It is advocated that language policies be replaced with language management, applied in a creative way (eg, by implementing appropriate technical solutions). The final question examined here, is whether these problems and solutions are particular to Europe, or whether there are good reasons for acknowledging the cultural origins, barriers and assets of a wider ODL model.
The Business Café Project: viewing to browsing?
Authors: Salmon Gilly
Published: March 2003

This paper describes and discusses critically a unique experiment in using a combination of broadcast television and an interactive Web site to reach people interested in business and management. The Open University's Business School, in collaboration with the BBC mounted the project, called The Business Café. The paper outlines the contents of the nine broadcasts and the site, which changed weekly. Developing the broadcasts and maintaining the site required complex procedures and teamwork. The broadcasts attracted an audience of 300,000 UK viewers and the Web site recorded over 60,000 visits during the series. The stakeholders and others who offered much constructive criticism, identified more project outcomes during an evaluation. Useful lessons emerged, in particular about cross‐team working and about learning from asynchronous networks like the Web. Web site:
Use of concept mapping to integrate the different perspectives of designers and other stakeholders in the development of e‐learning materials
Authors: Hughes Gwyneth , Hay David
Published: March 2003

Multi‐disciplinary teams and stakeholders are involved in the production of e‐learning materials and all have differing and valuable perspectives. A range of factors such as availability of new learning technologies, pedagogy or the learning market, may direct the design process. This article argues that a constructivist methodology for course design enables a project manager to build on all contributors' perspectives in a “bottom up” rather than a “top down” approach and be aware of any weaknesses and undesirable dominating influences. Concept mapping provided the basis for an e‐learning development project at the University of Surrey to develop such a constructivist methodology. The design team and wider stakeholders each produced individual concept maps and were analysed to identify both commonalties and unique contributions that might influence design. The project manager then integrated the individual maps to produce an overall map of the project and found the process valuable for a more critical and holistic approach to directing the project.
Body movements of boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) during computer video game play
Authors: Farrace‐Di Zinno Anna Marie , Douglas Graham , Houghton Stephen , Lawrence Vivienne , West John , Whiting Ken
Published: March 2003

The type and severity of body movements exhibited by 79 (unmedicated) boys clinically diagnosed with ADHD (30 Predominantly Inattentive Type and 49 Combined Type), and 67 non‐ADHD boys were recorded while playing Crash Bandicoot I, a Sony Playstation platform computer video game. In Crash Bandicoot, participants control the movements of a small animated figure (CB) through a hazardous jungle environment. Two tasks totaling 12 trials were administered, each of which incorporated with and without Distractor conditions. For those trials with the Distractor, a segment of the television show “The Simpsons” was simultaneously played on a television screen adjacent to the computer game monitor and at an equal volume. Contrary to theory and expectations an analysis of the data did not reveal any statistically significant differences in the frequency, type and severity of body movements between the ADHD and non‐ADHD boys, or between the ADHD subtypes during computer video game play. These findings have important implications for assessment and teaching processes in both classroom and therapeutic contexts.
The development and piloting of a training web site for health and safety enforcement officers
Authors: Ford Norma , Murphy Gai
Published: March 2003

This paper evaluates the development and piloting of a training web site for Local Authority (LA) based health and safety enforcement officers and reviews the technique of knowledge elicitation as a means of informing training content. The research was part of a project funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate the application of emerging technologies for enforcement officer training. A web site was developed to provide work‐based training in the field of accident investigation, using a group knowledge elicitation technique. Evaluation of eight key aspects of the training was carried out to determine the acceptability and utility of the web site for health and safety inspector training. The majority of the respondents believed that the training was realistic and that the embedded discussion facility had the potential to improve consistency of enforcement. Whilst many of the participants reported that this exercise was their first exposure to the Internet and some experienced minor difficulties using the technology, most found training via the Internet easy to use, an enjoyable experience and one they would like to repeat.
Literature review for hypermedia study from an individual learning differences perspective
Authors: Song Chiann–Ru
Published: March 2003

Most students cannot develop complex learning skills naturally. They have difficulty with acquiring complex knowledge. Hypermedia promises to accommodate individual differences enabling students to learn equally well. However, research reports have shown that not every student can benefit from hypermedia learning, because students need complex learning skills to manage the specific hypermedia learning environment. It is important to conduct effective individual difference research in order to provide information helpful to the instructional designers in designing interactive hypermedia. In this paper, 10 studies are divided into five categories according to current significant research groups in the hypermedia field. Learning from the learner’s perspective is discussed.
Challenges for design of computer–based learning environments
Authors: Häkkinen Päivi
Published: March 2003

After several decades of learning research and the reactions of cognitive psychology to this research, educational psychologists and training designers developed prescriptive model for the systematic design of instruction (Derry and Lesgold, 1994). This model, called Instructional Design (ID) or Instructional System Design (ISD), consists of knowledge, terminology and procedures that are widely accepted by professionals within the instructional design culture (eg, Dick and Carey, 1990; Gagne and Merrill, 1990). Designing instances of instruction or planning and preparing to instruct can be considered a subset of designing. Instructional design is directed toward the practical purpose of learning; the instructional design process aims at creating new instructional materials or systems with which students learn (Rowland, 1993). The process of instructional design attempts to develop an understanding of the conditions and desired outcomes of instruction, and to use all of this in specifying methods of instruction (Reigeluth, 1983). With the rising interest in more open, often computer–based learning environments, traditional definitions of instructional design need adaptation and more sophisticated models of design have been called for (Hannafin and Land, 1996; Lowyck and Pöysä, 2001; Reigeluth, 1996 and 1998). This paper presents a review of the basic foundations and more recent challenges of the main instructional design traditions.
Assessing activity–based learning for a networked course
Authors: Macdonald Janet , Twining Peter
Published: March 2003

Networked environments offer new scope for presenting activity based courses, in which activities and reflection form the central backbone of course pedagogy. Such courses promise an enriching approach to study, but there are also challenges for the design of assessment. This paper describes a qualitative study of student and tutor perspectives on the assessment of an innovative undergraduate course at the UK Open University which has employed an activity–based approach. It discusses the relationship between assessment, student participation, and the development of skills, and then outlines the priorities for the design of assessment for such courses.
The Impact of Collective Agreements on Working Time in Denmark
Authors: Scheuer Steen
Published: March 2003

This article examines the impact of collective agreements on the working time patterns of private‐sector employees in Denmark. The expected effect would be a reduction in working hours and overtime and an increase in overtime compensation. On the basis of an individual‐level survey of 1720 employees, it is shown that there is a clear union impact on working time behaviour, but that it varies by subject area. While in some areas there is a near total spillover of rules from collective agreements (the collective agreement has become a social norm), in others there is a clear ‘union mark‐down’, and in still others collective agreements seem to make no impact at all.
Exclusion and Disarticulation: The Transport and General Workers' Union in the Road Haulage Industry, 1979–1998
Authors: Smith Paul
Published: March 2003

The attrition of trade union organization and collective bargaining in the UK is accepted as having been a principal feature of industrial relations since 1980, but there is no general agreement as to the causes. This paper explores trade union disarticulation and exclusion in a 1979–98 study of the Transport and General Workers' Union Road Transport Commercial trade group, which organizes in the road haulage industry. It emphasizes the importance of the legal framework established by the Conservative government in inhibiting union power at a time of the ongoing restructuring of road haulage, providing companies with the opportunity and incentive to exclude trade union organization and fragment union bargaining power.
Steward Organization in a Professional Union: The Case of The Royal College of Nursing
Authors: Kessler Ian , Heron Paul
Published: March 2003

This article examines notions of renewal in a professional union by exploring the developing role of the steward in the Royal College of Nursing. Drawing on survey and other data, it assesses different dimensions of the union renewal process linked to workplace activities, issues and relations. The findings suggest that the process of renewal has been based primarily upon member rather than management‐facing activities, although there is strong evidence to suggest variation in the activities carried out by the RCN’s ordinary and senior stewards.
Female Part‐time Workers’ Attitudes to Trade Unions in Britain
Authors: Walters Sally
Published: March 2003

This paper discusses the reasons that can be offered for the lower trade union membership rates of female part‐time workers in the UK and focuses in particular on female part‐timers’ attitudes to trade unions. The findings are based on original research: 50 qualitative interviews with female part‐time workers in the retail industry. The paper argues that female part‐timers are supportive of the aims of the trade union movement and concludes that an integrated approach is necessary in order to understand part‐timers’ unionization rates. This includes structural factors, the approach that trade unions have taken towards part‐time workers and attitudes towards trade unions.
Still Searching for Excellence? International Accounting and the World's Most Outstanding Companies
Authors: Whittington Mark , Steele Tony
Published: March 2003

This paper measures the effect of accounting policy choices in the context of Davis, Flanders and Star's (DFS) (1991) league table of the world's most outstanding companies. Our study is an investigation of the robustness of the research underlying Kay (1993). The sensitivity of the rankings to the three major conventions that are used in calculating added value are examined: depreciation policy, the estimation of the cost of capital inputs and consistency of international generally accepted accounting principles. The key finding is that the degree of disruption caused by international accounting differences is likely to be the most material. It is equivalent, in this study, to a 60% increase in the cost of capital or an 80% change in the depreciation lives of fixed assets. After adjusting towards consistent international accounting, we now find that four Japanese companies appear in the top ten. Before adjustment there were none.
Security Abeyance: Coping with the Erosion of Job Conditions and Treatment
Authors: Hallier Jerry
Published: March 2003

The construct of security abeyance is proposed to explain how general insecurity might commonly arise during organizational restructuring. Security abeyance refers to feelings of general insecurity that emerge in work settings where there is an absence of information about the meaning and intention of organizational change. The value of the abeyance construct is explored using a study of change in the air traffic sector. For security abeyance to emerge, unreadable management actions needed to be also accompanied by confusions about the worker's organizational value. In the face of an enduring frustration of meaning, initial, neutral attempts at sensemaking gave way to more proactive efforts to provoke management into clarifying workers' futures. Resolution of the abeyance predicament was found to require workers to let go of attempts to evaluate their current, personal worth to the organization and to extensively re‐evaluate their long‐term relationship with management. However, the emergence of highly distrustful worker constructions of management did not affect other, established organizational attachments. The case for developing security abeyance research is made.
The Influence of Western Concepts on Russian Marketing Theory
Authors: Jacobs Everett M.
Published: March 2003

As part of modernizing their economy, the Russians appear interested in learning about and adopting western business techniques. Attesting to this concern has been the recent publication of quite a few western‐ and Russian‐authored marketing books in the Russian language. Western and Russian concepts of marketing are compared, and the content of western marketing books in Russian translation is examined. It is explained how discrepancies between the original‐language and Russian‐language texts due to editing, and also distortions in translation, sometimes mar the proper understanding of western marketing concepts. In a review of current Russian marketing theory, it is suggested that the legacy of the Soviet period, current Russian conditions and the inexperience of Russian managers in western marketing techniques have combined to maintain a pronounced product (rather than a market) orientation in Russian concepts of marketing. All the same, there is evidence that at least some Russian business people, either through western training or intuitively, have applied western marketing concepts to their businesses.
Bridging the Relevance Gap: Aligning Stakeholders in the Future of Management Research
Authors: Starkey Ken , Madan Paula
Published: March 2003

This report examines the relevance gap in management research. Its focus is the nature of knowledge created by research at the interface between business and academia in the context of major changes likely to affect the nature of demand for such knowledge. Management research has been accused of a lack of relevance to managerial practice and of too narrow a discipline base. The report examines the conditions giving rise to this criticism, in the UK and elsewhere, and identifies an important strategic need to increase the stakeholding of users in various aspects of the research and knowledge creation and dissemination process. The report concludes with recommendations concerning new forms of research partnership and research training that will address the relevance gap. However, bridging this gap does not only require changes in the academic mind‐set. Managers and firms too need to rethink their involvement in the research process.
Ramsey Pricing and Environmental Regulation
Authors: Ebert Udo
Published: March 2003

The optimal pricing rule for public enterprises maximizing welfare under a profit constraint is well known. The paper extends the analysis to the case of production externalities and considers price regulation under various forms of environmental regulation which is assumed to be performed by a separate environmental agency. The modified Ramsey prices depend on the institutional setting. If the enterprise is liable for the damages it causes the externality is fully internalized. If an environmental tax is imposed the way its revenue is spent turns out to be crucial. The connection to Pigouvian taxes under imperfect competition is illuminated.
Information Efficiency in Betting Markets: a Survey
Authors: Williams Leighton Vaughan
Published: March 2003

The concept of information efficiency is central to many studies of financial markets, and these studies have been well surveyed to date. A betting market is an example of a simple financial market, but one which offers researchers the added advantage that it is characterized by a well‐defined termination point at which each asset (or bet) possesses a definite value. In consequence, it is much more convenient to use this particular context to formulate tests of information efficiency, and from these tests to draw useful conclusions. This paper surveys the rapidly growing literature which has to date addressed this issue of information efficiency in betting markets.
Equilibrium in Auction and Bargaining Markets When Agents Can Wait and Search
Authors: Kultti Klaus , Takalo Tuomas
Published: March 2003

The paper studies two market structures and two modes of trade. The agents, buyers and sellers, can choose whether to stay or search. The meetings take place randomly, and trades are consummated by auction or by bargaining. There are altogether four possible markets but in equilibrium at most two markets are active simultaneously. There is almost always a unique evolutionary stable equilibrium which consists of an auction market when the numbers of buyers and sellers differ greatly, and two simultaneous auction markets when the numbers are relatively close.
The Gradual Response of Cigarette Demand to Health Information
Authors: Gallet Craig , Agarwal Rajshree
Published: March 2003

The paper focuses on the US cigarette industry and uses a gradual switching regression model to estimate changes in the US demand for cigarettes over time. This technique is found to be superior to the use of dummy variables in capturing the health scare. The results show that cigarette demand gradually decreased over a ten‐year period coinciding with the release of key health information. Price and advertising elasticities have gradually diminished, which is consistent with a change in the mix of US consumers before and after the switch.