Computers in Third World schools: the example of China

The introduction to this article discusses a dilemma facing many Third World countries: should they place computers in their schools and, if so, for what purposes? The author outlines four common rationales—the Social, Vocational, Pedagogical and Catalytic—and refers to two less common ones—the Information Technology Industry and Cost-effectiveness Rationales. The main text describes policy in China at national level, and analyses policy and practice in Beijing City and Zhejiang Province. The paper is based on an international co-operative study of computers in African, Asian and Arabic- speaking schools, funded by the Harold Macmillan Trust.     

Legal Defensibility of Standards: Issues and Policy Perspectives

What legal issues may arise in setting content or performance standards? What precedents are relevant? What practices are defensible?     

A nation at risk: The economic consequences of neglecting career development

Conclusion Computer-based career systems should be the focal point of popular, and effective career development initiatives which are of tremendous benefit to individuals. Such initiatives also have the potential to significantly reduce public expenditures and enhance the nation's competitive position internationally. The key lies in helping people understand that we can no longer afford to neglect the career development needs of Americans.I am most grateful for this opportunity to share my thoughts with you. I encourage you to promote the use of computer-based career systems by defining their benefits in economic terms. However, be sure you can prove your system does more than simply entertain its users, or leave them with extensive computer printouts.Phillip S. Jarvis is Manager, Careerware Research and Product Design, STM Systems Corp., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and the author of CHOICES. This is the text of a paper presented to the Annual Conference of the Association of Computer-Based Systems for Career Information ((ACSCI) in St. Louis, Missouri on December 2, 1988.     

A comparison of the anthropometric, strength, endurance and flexibility characteristics of female elite and recreational climbers and non-climbers.

There is limited information on the anthropometry, strength, endurance and flexibility of female rock climbers. The aim of this study was to compare these characteristics in three groups of females: Group 1 comprised 10 elite climbers aged 31.3 +/- 5.0 years (mean +/- s) who had led to a standard of 'hard very severe'; Group 2 consisted of 10 recreational climbers aged 24.1 +/- 4.0 years who had led to a standard of 'severe'; and Group 3 comprised 10 physically active individuals aged 28.5 +/- 5.0 years who had not previously rock-climbed. The tests included finger strength (grip strength, finger strength measured on climbing-specific apparatus), flexibility, bent arm hang and pull-ups. Regression procedures (analysis of covariance) were used to examine the influence of body mass, leg length, height and age. For finger strength, the elite climbers recorded significantly higher values (P < 0.05) than the recreational climbers and non-climbers (four fingers, right hand: elite 321 +/- 18 N, recreational 251 +/- 14 N, non-climbers 256 +/- 15 N; four fingers, left hand: elite 307 +/- 14 N, recreational 248 +/- 12 N, non-climbers 243 +/- 11 N). For grip strength of the right hand, the elite climbers recorded significantly higher values than the recreational climbers only (elite 338 +/- 12 N, recreational 289 +/- 10 N, non-climbers 307 +/- 11 N). The results suggest that elite climbers have greater finger strength than recreational climbers and non-climbers.     

International co-production of distance-teaching courses

Co-production occurs when two or more institutions contribute funds and labour to the processes of making course components for distance teaching. The author summarises reasons for international co-production of multimedia distance-teaching courses and provides a checklist of questions that should be considered before entering upon such co-production.
The second half of the article consists of a composite case study based on the UK's Open University experience of international co-production. The paper ends with three questions: Is international co-production of this kind worth trying? Can the chances of success be made high enough by careful planning to justify risking capital in such ventures? Are other forms of collaboration more likely to be cost-effective?     

Quantum algorithms: A?survey of some recent results

Quantum algorithms are a field of growing interest within the theoretical computer science as well as the physics community. Surprisingly, although the number of researchers working on the subject is ever-increasing, the number of quantum algorithms found so far is quite small. In fact, the task of designing new quantum algorithms has been proven to be extremely difficult. In this paper we give an overview of the known quantum algorithms and briefly describe the underlying ideas. Roughly, the algorithms presented are divided into hidden subgroup type algorithms and in amplitude amplification type algorithms. While the former deal with problems of group-theoretical nature and have the promise to yield strong separations of classical and quantum algorithms, the latter have been proved to be a prolific source of algorithms in which a polynomial speed-up as compared to classical algorithms can be achieved. We also discuss quantum algorithms which do not fall under these two categories and give a survey of techniques of general interest in quantum computing such as adiabatic computing, lower bounds for quantum algorithms, and quantum interactive proofs.