Innovative R&D and optimal investment under uncertainty in high-tech industries: An implication for emerging economies

In order to continue on the path to convergence with advanced countries, emerging countries need to strengthen their research capabilities. Often they try to do this through the development of strategic industries. The objective of this paper is to contribute to the debate on the effectiveness of policies aimed at the development of strategic industries in emerging economies. The paper develops a three-phase model for product innovation with capital investment under uncertainty to study the investment decisions of a manufacturer in an industry facing a volatile market demand for new inventions. The findings demonstrate the importance of interactions between market structure, a firm's market power and the associated cost of adjustment. The paper draws out implications for emerging economies with regard to policies striving to develop strategic industries in sectors such as semiconductors and information technology.     

A Layered Framework for Considering Open Science Practices

The open science movement, although not new to social science broadly, has gained momentum recently within communication science. In response, journals in our field have begun encouraging open science practices, from data and materials sharing to submitting preregistered research reports. However, this momentum has also led to some confusion over what is and is not considered open science and what the value of open sciences practices is. In this editorial we lay out an “onion model” of open science that describes increasing levels of transparency and suggests how open science practices can be understood less as a revolutionary concept but more as a logical extension of some of the historical pillars of scientific norms. Through this model, we provide tangible steps for how scholars may begin thinking about how to introduce open science practices into their current and future empirical efforts.     

Efficient online index maintenance for contiguous inverted lists

Search engines and other text retrieval systems use high-performance inverted indexes to provide efficient text query evaluation. Algorithms for fast query evaluation and index construction are well-known, but relatively little has been published concerning update. In this paper, we experimentally evaluate the two main alternative strategies for index maintenance in the presence of insertions, with the constraint that inverted lists remain contiguous on disk for fast query evaluation. The in-place and re-merge strategies are benchmarked against the baseline of a complete re-build. Our experiments with large volumes of web data show that re-merge is the fastest approach if large buffers are available, but that even a simple implementation of in-place update is suitable when the rate of insertion is low or memory buffer size is limited. We also show that with careful design of aspects of implementation such as free-space management, in-place update can be improved by around an order of magnitude over a naïve implementation.     

Phonological Awareness and Rapid Naming Skills of Children with Reading Disabilities and Children with Reading Disabilities Who Are At Risk for Mathematics Difficulties

Limited research has examined the skills of children with a reading disability (RD) and children with RD and a mathematics disability (MD). Even less research has examined the phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) skills in these two groups of children and how these skills relate to reading and math achievement. Additionally, various classification criteria are frequently implemented to classify children with MD. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the PA and RAN skills in children who met different criteria for RD only and children with RD who are at risk for mathematics difficulties (MDR). Participants were 114 second‐ or third‐grade students with RD from public elementary schools in three large metropolitan areas. Students were classified as at risk for mathematics difficulties utilizing a 25th‐percentile cutoff and a 15th‐percentile cutoff as assessed by the KeyMath‐Revised Test ( Connolly, 1988 ). A series of PA and RAN measures were administered along with a range of reading and mathematics measures. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that children with RD only evidenced a different pattern of results compared to children with RD + MDR. Additionally, using a more stringent criterion to classify children at risk for mathematics difficulties resulted in a differential pattern of results when compared to a less stringent classification criterion.     

‘If there's a dead rat,don't leave it’. Young children's understanding of their citizenship rights and responsibilities

Concerns about pupil disengagement from school and society have led to compulsory citizenship education in state schools in England. However, there is little evidence that the new citizenship education is meeting its goals. The research described here assesses a new approach to citizenship education that appears to overcome some of the identified obstacles in current practices. Hampshire's ‘Rights, respect and responsibility’ initiative is a rights‐based whole school reform of school policies and practices. Under this initiative the contemporaneous citizenship status of pupils is respected, pupils are taught about their rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and democratic participation is made meaningful in classroom and school functioning. Of particular interest is that the initiative starts in infant schools. This research indicates that young children can understand their rights and responsibilities in ways that are meaningful to their everyday behaviour and that rights‐based whole school reform has the capacity to improve pupil learning and citizenship behaviours.     

Characteristics of Alumni Donors Who Volunteer at their Alma Mater

In the competitive marketplace of higher education, colleges and university leaders increasingly rely on the influence and service of their alumni to further institutional goals. Because of their demonstrated financial commitment to the institution, alumni donors are often enlisted to serve important roles as volunteers and political advocates. Using binomial logistic regression, this study examines a large sample of alumni donors from a large doctoral/research extensive university to predict donors who are most likely volunteer at the institution (via advisory board service, political advocacy, alumni club support). The study suggests that volunteering among alumni donors is predicted by capacity variables related to gender, residence, and overall civic engagement. Inclination to volunteer is associated with the quality of academic experience while an undergraduate student, beliefs about alumni volunteer roles, and number of degrees earned at the institution.     

Education for sustainable development: A Sino-English comparative study in environmental education

In the People’s Republic of China and England, the Government has devoted much attention in recent years to environmental education. the approaches taken in both countries differ, however. The paper looks at some of the similarities and differences that exist and the reasons for them. In particular the paper looks at policy issues as well as practical aspects of environmental education. The idea of Education for Sustainable Development, which is referred to more in England than in China, is critically examined. Project(D09702) supported by the State Education Ministry for the “Ninth Five-Year” Plan.     

Developing Online Graduate Coursework in Adapted Physical Education Utilizing Andragogy Theory

Graduate adapted physical education (APE) courses have typically been taught using face-to-face formats where the instructor and learners physically meet in a classroom and engage in discussions and experiential exercises. However, because in-service physical educators have time demands associated with teaching, coaching, and family commitments, face-to-face meetings may not be feasible. Therefore, online learning may provide a more efficient and effective method for training in-service physical educators to become APE specialists. The purpose of this article is to disseminate guidelines for developing and implementing online coursework in APE within the theoretical framework of andragogy (adult learning). In this article, the authors describe characteristics and implementation of an online APE graduate course for in-service physical educators based on andragogy theory. Andragogy theory addresses the particular needs of adult learners and is based on the idea that there are significant differences in learning characteristics between children and adults (Knowles, 1989). This article first describes four components fundamental to andragogical instruction: experiential learning, self-directed learning, engagement, and transformative learning. The narratives provide information and characteristics about online APE course development for PE teachers’ professional development and how andragogy approach is a useful and beneficial approach to enhance learning.     

A Campus-Wide Study of STEM Courses: New Perspectives on Teaching Practices and Perceptions

At the University of Maine, middle and high school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers observed 51 STEM courses across 13 different departments and collected information on the active-engagement nature of instruction. The results of these observations show that faculty members teaching STEM courses cannot simply be classified into two groups, traditional lecturers or instructors who teach in a highly interactive manner, but instead exhibit a continuum of instructional behaviors between these two classifications. In addition, the observation data reveal that student behavior differs greatly in classes with varied levels of lecture. Although faculty members who teach large-enrollment courses are more likely to lecture, we also identified instructors of several large courses using interactive teaching methods. Observed faculty members were also asked to complete a survey about how often they use specific teaching practices, and we find that faculty members are generally self-aware of their own practices. Taken together, these findings provide comprehensive information about the range of STEM teaching practices at a campus-wide level and how such information can be used to design targeted professional development for faculty.     

The production of anatomical teaching resources using three‐dimensional (3D) printing technology

The teaching of anatomy has consistently been the subject of societal controversy, especially in the context of employing cadaveric materials in professional medical and allied health professional training. The reduction in dissection‐based teaching in medical and allied health professional training programs has been in part due to the financial considerations involved in maintaining bequest programs, accessing human cadavers and concerns with health and safety considerations for students and staff exposed to formalin‐containing embalming fluids. This report details how additive manufacturing or three‐dimensional (3D) printing allows the creation of reproductions of prosected human cadaver and other anatomical specimens that obviates many of the above issues. These 3D prints are high resolution, accurate color reproductions of prosections based on data acquired by surface scanning or CT imaging. The application of 3D printing to produce models of negative spaces, contrast CT radiographic data using segmentation software is illustrated. The accuracy of printed specimens is compared with original specimens. This alternative approach to producing anatomically accurate reproductions offers many advantages over plastination as it allows rapid production of multiple copies of any dissected specimen, at any size scale and should be suitable for any teaching facility in any country, thereby avoiding some of the cultural and ethical issues associated with cadaver specimens either in an embalmed or plastinated form. Anat Sci Educ 7: 479–486. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.