title: Risk transfer and uncertainty in privatisation: Cases from air transport

authors: Francis, Graham

subjects: risk

abstract: This paper seeks to challenge  the notion of risk transference via examples of PPP and privatisation of state owned assets. The paper draws on case studies in air transport operations, in which the private sector has been encouraged to take full / part responsibility for previously state-controlled operations. Cases have been drawn from the UK and New Zealand since these countries have been at the forefront of air transport privatisation, and provide examples of a variety of public/private arrangements and their outcomes. The state cannot avoid uncertainty through such contractual arrangements. The quantified approach to risk sharing has grave limitations under conditions of uncertainty. So, contrary to governments’ espoused expectations, although ownership and some benefits have been transferred, some risk elements have ultimately not been transferred. This is in part due to uncertainties surroundings the future prospects of the privatised entities / PPP’s. Indeed, the loss of control may result in greater risk, as private sector investors can reap the rewards of financial returns if the market remains buoyant, but at the same time they are protected to some extent by the state from the financial risk of losing their investments.

text: Risk transfer and uncertainty in privatisation: Cases from air transport This paper seeks to challenge  the notion of risk transference via examples of PPP and privatisation of state owned assets. The paper draws on case studies in air transport operations, in which the private sector has been encouraged to take full / part responsibility for previously state-controlled operations. Cases have been drawn from the UK and New Zealand since these countries have been at the forefront of air transport privatisation, and provide examples of a variety of public/private arrangements and their outcomes. The state cannot avoid uncertainty through such contractual arrangements. The quantified approach to risk sharing has grave limitations under conditions of uncertainty. So, contrary to governments’ espoused expectations, although ownership and some benefits have been transferred, some risk elements have ultimately not been transferred. This is in part due to uncertainties surroundings the future prospects of the privatised entities / PPP’s. Indeed, the loss of control may result in greater risk, as private sector investors can reap the rewards of financial returns if the market remains buoyant, but at the same time they are protected to some extent by the state from the financial risk of losing their investments.

year: 2006-10

title: An Examination of the Effectiveness of Precision Teaching

authors: McQuarters, Desiree Julia Bettina

subjects: precision teaching

abstract: This research examined the effect of adding precision teaching to an already used method of times table practice, compared practice with and without precision teaching, and finally compared precision teaching to rate building.  In the first experiment there was no significant difference in students' rates, endurance, stability, application or adduction of answering times table equations, depending on whether or not they had received precision teaching.  Due to some confounding variables in the first experiment, a second experiment was performed where these variables where better controlled.  The results from the second experiment also showed no significant difference in students' rates of answering time's table equations, or their retention of these rates, between students who had received precision teaching and those who had not.  Again due to some confounding variables preventing a good comparison of practice with and without precision teaching, a further experiment was conducted.  As the third experiment was conducted in the same setting as the second, precision teaching was compared to rate building instead of practice with no precision teaching.  The results of this study suggest that rate building results in significantly larger increases in rates of answering times table equations than precision teaching.  While there was a significant difference between the two groups' increases in rate, there were some confounding variables that may have affected the outcome of this study.  Overall, students in all three experiments made increases in rate that are comparative to gains reported in the precision teaching literature.  As such while this research does not add support for all the methods used in precision teaching, as described in the literature, it does suggest that the use of rate building results in the achievement of faster rates.

text: An Examination of the Effectiveness of Precision Teaching This research examined the effect of adding precision teaching to an already used method of times table practice, compared practice with and without precision teaching, and finally compared precision teaching to rate building.  In the first experiment there was no significant difference in students' rates, endurance, stability, application or adduction of answering times table equations, depending on whether or not they had received precision teaching.  Due to some confounding variables in the first experiment, a second experiment was performed where these variables where better controlled.  The results from the second experiment also showed no significant difference in students' rates of answering time's table equations, or their retention of these rates, between students who had received precision teaching and those who had not.  Again due to some confounding variables preventing a good comparison of practice with and without precision teaching, a further experiment was conducted.  As the third experiment was conducted in the same setting as the second, precision teaching was compared to rate building instead of practice with no precision teaching.  The results of this study suggest that rate building results in significantly larger increases in rates of answering times table equations than precision teaching.  While there was a significant difference between the two groups' increases in rate, there were some confounding variables that may have affected the outcome of this study.  Overall, students in all three experiments made increases in rate that are comparative to gains reported in the precision teaching literature.  As such while this research does not add support for all the methods used in precision teaching, as described in the literature, it does suggest that the use of rate building results in the achievement of faster rates.

year: 2009

title: Researching collaborative artistic practice.

authors: Barbour, Karen

subjects: arts research

abstract: In this paper we offer discussion of collaboration in artistic practice, based on a two-and-a-half-year-long research project undertaken by artists/researchers at the University of Waikato, working in collaboration with local performers. Grounded in kaupapa M¯ori, feminist and phenomenological research methodologies, this research project provided a context for exploring existing understandings of collaborative processes in the arts, and for immersion in and development of alternative processes, across artistic mediums and cultures. Drawing on contemporary understandings of cross-cultural and intercultural practices in the arts, we discuss how shared conceptualisation of ideas, immersion in different creative processes, personal reflection and development over extended periods of time were found to foster collaboration. In this paper we will explore the value and nature of relationships within collaboration, and discuss how selfdetermination or tino rangatiratanga might be maintained within the context of collaborative performance art.

text: Researching collaborative artistic practice. In this paper we offer discussion of collaboration in artistic practice, based on a two-and-a-half-year-long research project undertaken by artists/researchers at the University of Waikato, working in collaboration with local performers. Grounded in kaupapa M¯ori, feminist and phenomenological research methodologies, this research project provided a context for exploring existing understandings of collaborative processes in the arts, and for immersion in and development of alternative processes, across artistic mediums and cultures. Drawing on contemporary understandings of cross-cultural and intercultural practices in the arts, we discuss how shared conceptualisation of ideas, immersion in different creative processes, personal reflection and development over extended periods of time were found to foster collaboration. In this paper we will explore the value and nature of relationships within collaboration, and discuss how selfdetermination or tino rangatiratanga might be maintained within the context of collaborative performance art.

year: 2007