Unintended consequences on gender diversity of high-tech growth and labor market polarization

There has been considerable media coverage highlighting the lack of gender diversity in Silicon Valley, stressing the relatively low participation of women in the high-tech economy. Austin offers a unique case for testing whether similar gender issues characterized other high-tech regions because the city has historically benefited from the expansion of Silicon Valley’s large high-tech firms since the 1980s. The gender-biased business practices identified in Silicon Valley firms may have been transferred to their branch plants in Austin. Our analysis shows women’s losses in middle-skill occupation employment shares were concentrated in the low-tech industry and were partially offset by job share gains in high-skill occupations in the same sector between 1980 and 2015. Men’s losses in middle-skill occupation job share were also mainly concentrated in the low-tech sector but were partially offset by employment share gains in high-skill occupations only in the high-tech industry during this period. Women made large gains in relative real median wages only in high-skill occupations in the high-tech industry while their relative real median wages in other skill occupations and in the low-tech industry stagnated around zero during this period. Men’s gains in relative median wages were also concentrated only in the high-tech industry but were less than half of women’s and were negative (between ?10 and ?21 percent) in other occupations in the high-tech industry and across all occupations in the low-tech industry. As noted in previous studies, the impact of job polarization is not well understood across sectors and gender. This study finds the high-tech industry in Austin has had unintended consequences in terms of job polarization across gender, providing relatively fewer job opportunities in high-skill occupations to women than men but offering much higher gains in relative real median wages to women than men. Males also found relatively more job opportunities in high-skill occupations in the high-tech industry than women but experienced only half of women’s gains in relative median wages in this industry between 1980 and 2015.     

The Flipped Classroom as a Tool for Engaging Discipline Faculty in Collaboration: A Case Study in Library-Business Collaboration

This case study focuses on an innovative approach to the flipped classroom as a tool for productive library-discipline faculty collaboration on information literacy instruction. The argument is presented that the flipped classroom can be a pathway into the disciplines that can be used in overcoming the disadvantages of the one-shot and other barriers to collaboration. The case study will outline the reasons for a successful collaboration on integrating information literacy into this undergraduate business course and for its extension to five additional business courses. Practical examples of learning outcomes, in-class activities, and assessment are provided.     

Women’s Perceptions Using the CenteringPregnancy Model of Group Prenatal Care

A qualitative nonexperimental thematic analysis was conducted at a hospital-based midwifery practice to explore the views of participants in group prenatal care and its impact on pregnancy, birth, and postnatal care. Ten women and three support people, recruited through purposive sampling, shared their feedback on the program. The findings conveyed three broad themes: program experience, midwife relationship, and support. Women enjoyed the opportunity for in-depth learning, and peer-group support led to normalizing of pregnancy concerns. Having support people as participants also helped during pregnancy, birth, and child care. The findings showed the enhanced opportunity for education, learning, and interpersonal support provided by CenteringPregnancy to expectant mothers had a positive impact on their pregnancy experiences.     

Do pictures ‘tell’ a thousand words in lectures? How lecturers vocalise photographs in their presentations

This article explores how 145 photographs collected from 20 PowerPoint lectures in undergraduate psychology at 16 UK universities were integrated with lecturers’ speech. Little is currently known about how lecturers refer to the distinct types of photographs included in their presentations. Findings show that only 48 photographs (33%) included in presentation slides were referred to explicitly by exploring their features to make a point related to the lecture content, with only 14 of these used to invite student questioning. Most photographs (97 or 67%) represent a case of ‘unprobed representations’, that is, either ‘embedded’ in the talk as ‘illustrations’ of the speech topic or not referred to at all. A taxonomy of uses that lecturers made of the photographs in their slideshows was created through adapting a Peircean semiotic analysis of the photograph–speech interaction. The implications in terms of lecturer and student engagement with the photographic material are discussed, arguing the case for more Critical Semiotic Exploration of photographs in HE practice.     

十大独具创意的约会

Go beyond the old standby-dinner and movie-with thesefun date ideas.这些妙趣横生的约会创意打破了以往那种吃完晚餐看电影的俗套,定会给你不同的感觉! The best part about dating-besides the prospect of zeroing in on your "soul mate" -is that you have the perfect excuse to plan interesting outings. True, the din-ner-and -a-movie gambit is a classic, but sitting silently in a theater cuts down on the chance to get to know one     

Infant Chimpanzees Spontaneously Perceive Both Concrete and Abstract Same/Different Relations

We used a familiarization-novelty procedure to determine whether 4 infant chimpanzees spontaneously perceive the sameness of and the difference between both concrete objects and relations between objects. In Experiment 1, a single object was presented on the Familiarization Trial 1 and the animal's looking time recorded. On the Test Trial 2, an object was presented that was either identical to or different from that shown on Trial 1. Looking times on Test Trial 2 were less when the same item had been presented on the preceding familiarization trial. Novel items on Trial 2 were attended to longer, indicating that the infant chimpanzees perceived concrete objects were either the same or different. In Experiment 2, a single pair of objects was presented on the Familiarization Trial 1, and handling time was measured. The objects in a pair were either the same or different (e.g., AA vs. CD). On the Test Trial 2, a new object pair (e.g., BB vs. EF) was presented that instantiated either the relation shown on Trial 1 or the alternative relation. Handling time on Trial 2 was influenced by the relation instantiated on Trial 1. Handling times on Test Trial 2 were less when the identical relation had been presented on the preceding familiarization trial. Novel relations on Trial 2 were attended to relatively longer. This result indicates that infant chimpanzees perceive similarities and differences between abstract relations as well as between concrete objects. That is to say, they perceived relations between relations in Experiment 2. Despite this ability to perceive both concrete and abstract "same/different" relations, the same chimpanzees subsequently failed to use the latter knowledge in a matching-to-sample task in Experiment 3. Although they successfully matched single objects, they were unable to match object pairs instantiating the same relation (e.g., if AA then match BB; if CD then match EF). These results contradict claims that failure to learn an instrumental discrimination involving abstract relations reflects an inability to detect such relations. In every species there may be a disparity between the ability to perceive spontaneously a property of the world and the ability to use the concept instrumentally.     

Probability puppets

We describe how we used puppets as tools to draw 9 to 10‐year‐old students into conversations about probability. Puppets supported classroom discourse by putting forth probabilistic arguments for critique, introducing extreme and unusual examples of concepts, and introducing an element of surprise.     

Books and Print Reference Sources

Madeline Miele, et al. (eds.) The Bowker Annual of Library and Book Trade Information (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1976---$23.50)

Sigfred Taubert (ed.) The Book Trade of the World, Volume II: The Americas, Australia, New Zealand (New York: R.R. Bowker/London: Andre Deutsch, 1976---$36.00)

Kenneth Kister's Encyclopedia Buying Guide 1975- 1976: A Consumer Guide to General Encyclopedias in Print (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1976--$15.50)

J.M. Brittain and S.A. Roberts's Inventory of Information Resources in the Social Sciences (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books/ Saxon House, 1976--$18.00)

Harry Carter's A History of the Oxford University Press, Volume I, to 1780 (London: Ox ford University Press, 1976---£15.00 or about $30.00)

Daniel Gore (ed.) Farewell to Alexandria: Solutions to Space, Growth, and Performance Problems of Libraries (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1976---$12.50)

Lester D. Stephens' Historiography: A Bibliography (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1975--$9.00)

W. Philip Leidy's A Popular Guide to Government Publications (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976--$25.00)     

Educational Equity Policies and the Centralization of American Public Education: The Case of Bilingual Education

Sixty years ago, federal guidelines regarding the instruction of special populations in American public schools were nonexistent. Racial minorities, language minorities, women, the poor, and those with physical and mental disabilities had not been identified as groups that needed special protections. Much has changed since then. Federal legislation that is designed to ensure that all of these groups have access to equal educational opportunities in the United States is now in place. This article examines the evolution of policies surrounding bilingual education to illustrate that the need to ensure the educational opportunities of certain student populations compelled the federal government to become more involved in the governance and oversight of American public education. The implementation of such federal “protection policies” designed to expand educational opportunities for traditionally underserved groups of students ultimately fortified and solidified the federal government's more pronounced role in public education.