Selected roles of information goods and services in the U.S. national economy

The study examines selected roles of the information sector in the national economy. Among the findings are the following: (1) the information sector conducts relatively little international trade, in comparison to its domestic activity. Roughly 12% of U.S. exports are attributable to the information sector; over 97% of the sector's output is sold within the U.S.; and the sector's exports account for only a small fraction of 1% of GNP. (2) The historical pattern of employment shows that the portion of information workers has risen from 8% of the U.S. work force in 1870 to 41% in 1970. Relatively little of this growth is the result of new technological innovations such as telephones, radio, television and, more recently, computers. Rather, the growth of public and private bureaucracies, which now total 26% of our total work force, largely explains the growth of the sector. (3) Unemployment within the information sector has consistently been lower than in either the manufacturing or agricultural sectors of the national economy. (4) Since 1967, the high technology elements of the information sector, such as electronic components, computers and telecommunications equipment have experienced appreciably less price rise than has the economy as a whole. However, over the same time period, the service elements of the sector, including finance and insurance, education and medical care, have experienced greater rates of inflation than has the economy as a whole.     

National testing for college and university: The role of the Service for Admission to College and University (SACU) in Canadian higher education

Taking the present crisis of the Canadian Service of Admission to College and University as a starting point, the authors examine the history of SACU, which in 1971 was still a comparatively efficient organisation. Changes in the wider society, such as growing provincialism in Canada as well as stagnation or decline in enrolment together with a broader acceptance of the philosophy of open admission, have led to a drastic decline in the number of participants in the tests and to severe criticism of the predominantly selective function of SACU. It is felt that a reorientation of the testing activities of SACU should be in the direction of distributive and counselling functions, thus adopting the 1970 recommendations of the Commission on Tests of the American College Entrance Examination Board.     

Influence of a conservative sleep management strategy during a solo Pacific Ocean crossing on anxiety and perceived fatigue: a case study

The aim of this case study was to determine whether a sailor's deliberate choice of a conservative strategy to manage sleep deprivation would allow him to cross the Pacific Ocean and to minimize his state of anxiety and perceived fatigue. The participant, who had more than 10 years' sailing experience in severe conditions, was tested on a small catamaran without any living quarters during a solo Pacific Ocean crossing. Estimations of sleep hours, state anxiety, and perceived fatigue were self-reported by the sailor on a daily basis using a specific questionnaire. The most important finding is that the sailor's deliberate sleep strategy, 5.4 h sleep per day (24% less than on-shore), was enough to keep his anxiety and perceived fatigue within acceptable limits and enabled him to achieve his goal, which was the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean on a catamaran of less than 6 m. In conclusion, our results suggest that the sailor observed in the present case study was able to minimize anxiety and perceived fatigue with adequate sleep to optimize his performance, security, and to achieve his goal.     

Using a college human sexuality course to combat homophobia

The present study seeks to identify factors among university students that may be associated with homophobic attitudes and whether homophobia may be reduced by educational interventions, such as knowledge-based curricula found in college sexuality courses. Participants were 128 undergraduate students attending a small, private university in the northwestern region of the United States. At the beginning and end of the fall semester 2004, survey packets consisting of a demographic questionnaire, the Sexual Opinion Survey, the Homophobia Scale, a sexual knowledge survey, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory were administered to students attending a human sexuality class and a comparison group of students enrolled in professional and social science introductory courses. Relative to the comparison group, homophobia levels significantly decreased over the course of the semester among students attending the sexuality class. The effect of attending the class on reducing homophobia was partially mediated by an increase in self-reported knowledge about sexual matters. Taken together, these results suggest that the knowledge-based curriculum of sexuality courses may play an important role in affecting broader attitudes about sexuality among college students, including attitudes about homosexuality.     

College students' views on criminal justice

We surveyed 683 college students to examine their attitudes toward the death penalty, other criminal sanctions, and the war on drugs. College seniors were consistently less likely than freshmen to hold punitive views; this suggests a “liberalizing” effect of the college experience. This liberalizing college effect on attitudes toward criminal justice was not apparent for criminal justice majors, however, particularly when criminal justice seniors' attitudes toward the death penalty were compared with those of freshmen in criminal justice. The views of criminal justice majors overall did not differ appreciably from other students' views. We found no support for the expectation that criminal justice majors with experience in criminal justice would express more conservative, more punitive views than would criminal justice majors in general.