Interactive monopoly power in the daily newspaper industry

The authors explore the debate over whether daily newspapers are natural monopolies and conclude that newspapers do not exhibit the traditional characteristics associated with such monopolies. Nevertheless, the authors argue, newspapers have a proclivity toward monopoly brought on by an interaction of factors, even absent anticompetitive behavior by newspapers. This proclivity provides monopoly power to newspapers similar to that provided by natural monopoly force, they aregue, saying public policy considerations need to take this interactive effect into account.     

Quadrotor vehicle control via sliding mode controller driven by sliding mode disturbance observer

Over the last decade, considerable interest has been shown from industry, government and academia to the design of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) autonomous aerial vehicles. This paper uses the recently developed sliding mode control driven by sliding mode disturbance observer (SMC-SMDO) approach to design a robust flight controller for a small quadrotor vehicle. This technique allows for a continuous control robust to external disturbance and model uncertainties to be computed without the use of high control gain or extensive computational power. The robustness of the control to unknown external disturbances also leads to a reduction of the design cost as less pre-flight analyses are required. The multiple-loop, multiple time-scale SMC-SMDO flight controller is designed to provide robust position and attitude control of the vehicle while relying only on knowledge of the limits of the disturbances. Extensive simulations of a 6 DOF computer model demonstrate the robustness of the control when faced with external disturbances (including wind, collision and actuator failure) as well as model uncertainties.     

Teacher education in practice: reconciling practices and theories in the United States context

This paper reports findings from an 18-month qualitative study that followed the experiences of nine teacher residents, their site professors, site coordinators, clinical teachers and principals in three professional learning schools. The study examined the tensions that emerged as teacher preparation theory intersected with the context-bound realities of daily life in schools and the political constraints that diminish possibilities for inclusive education. The paper addresses implications for teacher preparation programmes by reporting how teacher residents negotiated their understanding of and commitment for inclusive education through three themes: (a) critical reflection as an emergent practice, (b) whose learning, and (c) the trouble with behaviour. Interpreting these themes has implications for programmatic designs in teacher preparation.     

Commercial science, scientists’ values, and university biotechnology research agendas

Policies designed to promote the commercialization of university science have provoked concern that basic and publicly accessible research may be neglected. Commercialization policies have altered traditional institutional incentives and constraints, which raises new questions regarding the influence of scientists’ values on university research agendas. Our research builds on previous quantitative studies measuring changes in research outcomes and qualitative studies probing differentiation among scientists’ value orientations. We developed a nation-wide survey of 912 plant and animal biotechnology scientists at 60 research universities. Our analysis reveals that scientists’ value orientations on what we classify as “market” and “expert” science affect the amount of industry funding they receive, the proprietary nature of their discoveries, and the percentage of basic science research conducted in their laboratories. We also find that the percentage of industry funding is significantly associated with more applied research. Our findings provide insights for science and society theory and suggest that strong incentives for public-science research along with adequate public-research funds to preserve the university's vital role in conducting basic and non-proprietary research are needed to complement private-sector research investments at universities.     

Movies in Public Libraries: A Checklist Comparison with Internet Movie Database Recommendations

This research compares the fifty top-rated movies for 2000–2009 recommended by the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) with the holdings of ten medium-sized public libraries. The study shows that there was no relation between a movie's rank in the IMDb listing and the number of copies held. Relationships appeared between number of library holdings and country of production (U.S. productions favored), genre (family, sci-fi, animation, adventure favored), and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating (G, PG, PG-13 preferred). Library holdings seem to reflect preferences of IMDb raters aged 30 and older, not popular movie tastes.     

A Content Analysis Guide for Media Economics Scholars

The study of demand for media products requires an understanding of audience members' preferences, which are shaped by their taste for content. Despite the central role of content in understanding some aspects of media economics, media economics scholars sometimes apply content analysis in ways that are inconsistent with the generally accepted practices of the method. This article deals with some basic concepts underlying the method of content analysis to familiarize media economics scholars with the method. The adoption of accepted content analysis practices will yield better data and, in the long-run, help advance the understanding of media economics.     

Teaching Teachers About Energy: Lessons from an Inquiry-Based Workshop for K-8 Teachers

We report results and impressions from a three-day inquiry-based workshop for K-8 teachers, aimed at improving their understanding of energy from a science and engineering perspective. Results suggest that the teachers made significant gains in understanding and appreciation of important energy concepts, but their comprehension of some key ideas remained incomplete. The dissipation of energy into thermal energy of the environment proved to be a particularly difficult idea, and one that represents a serious obstacle to understanding the principle of the conservation of energy.