Absolute risk aversion and the returns to education

Individual absolute risk aversion is measured in a sample of 1583 male house-hold heads, using the data drawn from the 1995 wave of the Survey on the Income and Wealth of Italian households. This measure, conditional on household financial wealth, is used as an instrument for attained education in a standard log earnings equation. In line with most of the literature, I find that the gap between the IV and the OLS estimates of the returns to education is large.     

The Impact of Research and Teaching Quality Inputs on the Employment Outcomes of Postgraduates

In this paper we analyse the extent to which the quality of teaching and research inputs, as measured by Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) scores, can account for variations in the employability of taught postgraduates. Pooling data from the 1997, 1998 and 1999 First Destinations Surveys we estimate regression equations for male and female UK postgraduates. Our results suggest that the lack of direct financial rewards associated with a higher QAA score may have persuaded many institutions to adopt a ‘threshold’ approach to Subject Review. However, the impact of RAE score suggests that students in institutions with a stronger research culture do have enhanced levels of employability. This is in line with the strong emphasis on active research input mandated by many professional bodies at the postgraduate level. When considered alongside recent policy pronouncements, this suggests that many institutions choosing to become teaching‐only, may ultimately risk becoming undergraduate‐only.     

An authoring and learning kit for digital electronics

A multimedia component kit for digital electronics authoring and learning is presented. It is based on a sophisticated structuring mechanism and a flexible link management scheme. Components available on the Internet facilitate sharing and reuse of educational software during the authoring process, make possible the support of all phases of the learning process, and allow students to achieve their desired depth of understanding. Emphasis is put on the implementation of a great number of components based on simulation and animation that provide a high level of interactivity and allow some presentation difficulties inherent in the subject to be overcome. An analysis of the impact of using the kit for authoring and learning is currently being performed.     

Mathematics and positive sciences: a reflection following Heidegger

In this article, I make a case for the inputs that Martin Heidegger's theoretical perspective offers to current concerns about the nature of mathematics, its teaching and learning, and the problem of subjectivity. In particular, I consider Heidegger's notion of positive science and discuss both its applicability to mathematics and its importance to mathematics education. I argue that Heidegger's ontological position is consonant with some sociocultural approaches in mathematics education and that Heidegger's work can shed some light on the problem of knowing and being. Finally, I raise some questions concerning subjectivity and the link between language and mathematical objects.     

Centenary birth anniversary of E. W. Beth (1908–1964)

Evert Willem Beth (1908–1964) was a Dutch logician, mathematician and philosopher, whose work mainly concerned the foundations of mathematics. Beth was among the founders of the Commission Internationale pour l’étude et l’Amélioration de l’Enseignement des Mathématiques and was a member of the Central Committee of the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction, founded in Rome in 1908. Beth and Piaget made an important contribution to research in cognitive development.     

Richard Rorty (1931–2007) and his legacy for mathematics educators

Richard McKay Rorty passed away on June 8, 2007 at age 75. His philosophical approach can be very relevant to reflection in the field of mathematics education.     

Holistic face processing in newborns, 3-month-old infants, and adults: evidence from the composite face effect

Holistic face processing was investigated in newborns, 3-month-old infants, and adults through a modified version of the composite face paradigm and the recording of eye movements. After familiarization to the top portion of a face, participants (N = 70) were shown 2 aligned or misaligned faces, 1 of which comprised the familiar top part. In the aligned condition, no visual preference was found at any group age. In the misaligned condition, 3-month-olds preferred the face stimulus with the familiar top part, adults preferred the face stimulus with the novel one, and newborns did not manifest any visual preference. Results revealed that both infants' and adults' eye movements may be affected by holistic face information and demonstrated holistic face processing in 3-month-olds.     

Optimum coherent imaging of a limited field of view in the presence of angular and aperture noise

An optimal procedure is established for the reconstruction of the angular object distribution in a given field of view (FOV). The object is coherently illuminated and located in the far zone of the receiving aperture. The procedure is “uniformly” optimal in the sense of minimizing the statistical r.m.s. difference between the object distribution, modeled as a random function of the angular coordinates and its reconstructed image, for each direction belonging to the FOV. The observable complex amplitude distribution of the field on the aperture is due in the general case not only to the incidentfield scattered by the object but also to background disturbance, or “angular noise”, randomly distributed inside and outside the FOV, and is affected by “measurement noise”, that is random errors introduced in measuring the aperture field. The reconstruction algorithm consists of summing a truncated series of special functions—prolate spheroidal for the linear case and their generalizations for two dimensional apertures—weighted by appropriate coefficients. These coefficients depend upon the observed aperture field and upon the relative power densities associated with the object field and the various types of noise. The series is truncated to a number of terms (“effective degrees of freedom” of the image) determined through an information theoretical method: each term of the series, suitably ordered, provides an information gain less than the preceding one, and the information gain goes rapidly to zero. A relationship between information transfer and mean squared error for each term in the image series is established. Numerical examples are discussed.     

Technological innovation in services and manufacturing: results from Italian surveys

This paper provides fresh empirical evidence on technological innovation in the service sector, and highlights major similarities and differences with manufacturing. The main findings are the following. Technological innovation is quite a diffused and variegated phenomenon in market services. Engineering, technical consultancy, computing and software emerge as the most innovative sectors. Innovation expenditure per employee in these industries is rather close to the manufacturing average. Service firms as well as the manufacturing ones rely on a wide range of innovation sources. The acquisition and development of software and investment in machinery are the most cited. Investment, R&D and software are the major components of firms' innovation expenditure. Both in services and manufacturing the most important objective of firms' innovation strategies consist of improving service/product quality, increasing market shares and reducing production costs. Major obstacles for introducing technological innovation in services, as well as in manufacturing, are of an economic nature—i.e. lack of appropriate sources of finance and cost of innovation too high. Technological information is drawn mainly from in-house production departments as well as from outside suppliers of equipment, clients and customers. Again this is a pattern which is quite similar to the one found in the manufacturing sector. Finally, in the near future the importance of technology for firms' performance is expected to increase in all service industries. Overall, service and manufacturing sectors show more similarities than differences with respect to some basic dimensions of innovation processes.