Three-dimensional geometric moment bounding techniques

Important problems exist in the field of communications theory whose solution is in the form of an expectation of a function of a random variable. Often it is not computationally feasible to evaluate these moments exactly. This paper presents a geometric bounding technique that yields tight upper and lower bounds to generalized moments of a broad class of random variables. This technique produces excellent results for these communications theory problems.     

A history of the book trade in the south

Long known as a difficult market for books, the South has become more receptive, largely through the efforts of booksellers. This article reviews the history of some of the South's book retailers and their role in their communities. The often strained relations between booksellers and publishers are discussed, including the role of the publisher's rep. The establishment of regional booksellers associations is described. The impact of wholesalers on retail business practices is reviewed, and the current state of the book trade in the South is assessed. Philip M. Pfeffer has served since 1978 as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Ingram Distribution Group Inc. of La Vergne, Tennessee. Ingram Distribution Group Inc. is the parent company of Ingram Book Company, the world's largest wholesaler of trade books. Mr. Pfeffer also holds the position of executive vice president and is on the board of directors of Ingram Industries Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.     

Developing Curriculum Leadership in Schools: Hong Kong perspectives

This study is designed to investigate the impact of school‐based curriculum development teams on teacher development within the tradition of school‐based curriculum development in a primary school in Hong Kong. Teacher interviews were used to evaluate the extent that teacher engagement in curriculum decision‐making processes within two school‐based curriculum development teams has led to teacher professional development which were triangulated with the videotaped meetings and tryout lessons. Qualitative evidence has revealed positively that participating teachers have developed themselves professionally through the process of planning, experimenting and reflecting (PER model) upon curriculum practice and innovation under certain conditions. However, the complexity of the structures and processes that were established for involving teachers in curriculum decision‐making processes needs further empirical and theoretical work. This paper only looks at data relating to teacher development in curriculum leadership collected in the second action cycle of the project from January to June 2005.     

Peer teaching: Academic achievement of teacher-led versus student-led discussion groups

Problem-based small-group discussions are the cornerstone of health sciences education at the University of Limburg (The Netherlands). In each of three courses, fifteen discussion groups of about eight students were randomly assigned a staff-tutor (control condition) or student-tutor (experimental condition).In two of the courses no significant differences in cognitive test achievement between the two conditions were found. In one course students tutored by staff-tutors performed significantly better than students tutored by student-tutors. However, no significant differences in test performance were found between students tutored by high-achieving versus average-achieving student-tutors. These findings contradict the congruence hypothesis from information processing theory. Several other explanations are explored.     

Design of an Industrial Management course: Bringing together engineering and educational approaches

This paper describes the process of restructuring a degree course at the Technical University of Sofia in Bulgaria so as to meet the demands of the new market economy and the changing political and educational environment. Achievements included development of a new curriculum, modularization, introduction of a new teaching quality assurance system and accreditation by the Institution of Electrical Engineers. The process of change is shown to require great sensitivity to the context and deployment of influencing strategies and skills designed to establish and maintain good relationships with a fluctuating range of stakeholders. Furthermore, the paper shows that systems engineering provides a useful framework for engaging in curriculum change in dynamic environments. One gap appears to be the need to deal explicitly with underpinning educational values, although, that said, the paper gently questions whether the accepted educational approaches can be applied to other cultures and traditions.     

Teaching portfolios in higher education and their effects: An explorative study

Although many authors claim benefits of teaching portfolios for use in higher education settings, there are few empirical studies that investigate these benefits.This article deals with the question of whether teaching portfolios are used in higher education, and if so, which effects they bring about. Furthermore, the attitude of teachers towards the use of teaching portfolios is examined. The study shows that currently not very many teachers are using teaching portfolios. When used, a teaching portfolio is an instrument that can bring about some important positive effects. Respondents report that, due to the use of portfolios, they were stimulated to reflect on their own teaching, to actualise the learning content, to improve their course materials, to search for alternative educational methods, etc. When teachers are using teaching portfolios it is important that, besides any negative effects, they also experience positive effects. If this is not the case, teachers will see the teaching portfolio only as an extra administrative inconvenience.