Les effectifs scolarisés en France: XIXème et XXème siècles

This article aims to present an analysis of the change over long periods in school attendance figures in France in the 19th and 20th centuries. The interest of the approach is twofold. Firstly it is of immediate practical interest insofar as it is an original reconstruction of the French educational system. It is also of theoretical interest, as it provides better knowledge of the mechanism regulating the development of the system over a long period. In this respect, reflection is in three parts. First, the chronological series compiled are presented to prepare the statistical analysis. The trends observed are then described and finally a preliminary analysis of the causes of the change is provided, with stress laid on the institutional aspects.     

Comprendre l'éducation physique à partir de la comparaison: le cas de la France et de l' Espagne

Le but principal de cet article est de comparer à partir des textes législatifs, des enquêtes ministérielles et européennes, et des revues spécialisées en France et en Espagne les propriétés de deux organisations scolaires singulières nommées «éducation prioritaire» ainsi que les mises en ?uvre de l'éducation physique. En nous appuyant sur l'approche de la construction sociale, nous présentons comment ces deux pays européens organisent cet enseignement dans les milieux défavorisés. Une analyse des aspects visibles du système éducatif à l'aide d'indicateurs généralistes (organisation des études, formation des enseignants, dépenses publiques) aurait laissé envisager d'importantes différences. Cependant, la comparaison à l'aide d'indicateurs «plus fins» des mises en ?uvre de l'éducation physique dans les écoles traditionnelles (poids de l'éducation physique, préoccupations gouvernementales et celles des enseignants, programmes d'enseignement) puis dans les milieux difficiles ZEP et CAEP (choix didactiques et pédagogiques) indique de fortes similitudes. Ces différences de résultats soulignent l'intérêt des analyses comparatives secondaires et la nécessité de considérer des analyses détaillées.

The main aim of this study is to compare two particular school organisations labelled ‘priority education’ in France and Spain, in relation to physical education using laws, ministerial and European surveys, and specialised journals. The social constructivist approach has been used to describe how both these European countries organise the teaching of physical education in under‐privileged environments. The analysis of the visible aspects of these educational systems with general indicators (organisation of studies, teacher education, public expenses) seems to imply differences. However, the comparison using more detailed data in the implementation of physical education in traditional schools (weight of the physical education in the system, governmental and teachers concerns, teaching programmes) indicates strong similarities. In addition, didactic and pedagogic choices in physical education in under‐privileged schools appear to be quite similar. These results underline the interest of secondary comparative studies and the necessity of taking into account detailed analyses.     

Baseball

The purpose of this study was to quantify and compare kinematic, temporal, and kinetic characteristics of American and Korean professional pitchers in order to investigate differences in pitching mechanics, performance, and injury risks among two different cultures and populations of baseball pitchers. Eleven American and eight Korean healthy professional baseball pitchers threw multiple fastball pitches off an indoor throwing mound positioned at regulation distance from home plate. A Motion Analysis three‐dimensional automatic digitizing system was used to collect 200 Hz video data from four electronically synchronized cameras. Twenty kinematic, six temporal, and 11 kinetic variables were analyzed at lead foot contact, during the arm cocking and arm acceleration phases, at ball release, and during the arm deceleration phase. A radar gun was used to quantify ball velocity. At lead foot contact, the American pitchers had significantly greater horizontal abduction of the throwing shoulder, while Korean pitchers exhibited significantly greater abduction and external rotation of the throwing shoulder. During arm cocking, the American pitchers displayed significantly greater maximum shoulder external rotation and maximum pelvis angular velocity. At the instant of ball release, the American pitchers had significantly greater forward trunk tilt and ball velocity and significantly less knee flexion, which help explain why the American pitchers had 10% greater ball velocity compared to the Korean pitchers. The American pitchers had significantly greater maximum shoulder internal rotation torque and maximum elbow varus torque during arm cocking, significantly greater elbow flexion torque during arm acceleration, and significantly greater shoulder and elbow proximal forces during arm deceleration. While greater shoulder and elbow forces and torques generated in the American pitchers helped generate greater ball velocity for the American group, these greater kinetics may predispose this group to a higher risk of shoulder and elbow injuries.     

Designing a humane multimedia interface for the visually impaired

Whilst graphical user interfaces (GUI) have gained much popularity in recent years, the need of the visually impaired to use applications in a non-visual environment is great. This paper promotes the provision of interfaces that allow users to access most of the functionality of existing GUIs using speech. This has been achieved by the design of a speech control tool that incorporates speech recognition and synthesis into existing packaged software, such as Teletext, the Internet or a word processor. The tool developed has taken the menu structure as a means of demonstrating what is accessible by the use of speech input and output. The tool provides the facility to dump screen text into clipboard and read it out loud. Adapting existing GUI applications in this way requires successful integration of speech, which in turn requires a profound understanding of the medium and the development of human engineering techniques.     

Examining the factor structure of the Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale—Revised

The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure of the Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale—Revised (FCCERS-R) in high-stakes contexts. The results of an exploratory factor analysis revealed three dimensions of quality on the FCCERS-R: (1) Activities/Materials, (2) Language/Interaction, and (3) Organization. This study also explored whether abridged versions of the FCCERS-R could serve as a proxy for the full instrument. In addition to subsets of FCCERS-R items created from the factor structure, purposively and randomly chosen item subsets were created. The purposively chosen subsets included 6-, 9-, and 12-item scales comprised of the items with the highest factor loading across the three factors, whereas the randomly chosen subsets consisted of 12 items. Results of a discriminant analysis showed that the factor subsets were poorer proxies for the total FCCERS-R score than were the other subsets, which demonstrated comparable internal consistencies and discriminant power as the full FCCERS-R when classifying homes into general quality categories. Implications for adopting shorter versions of the FCCERS-R are discussed.     

Die Erfassung der Bildungsinvestitionen im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert

Zusammenfassung Nach einer langen Phase, in der die Theorie der Langen Wellen keine Beachtung fand, wurde sie in den 1970-er Jahren von Wirtschaftshistorikern wieder belebt, um sie neuen, dynamischen Anwendungen in der makro?konomischen Analyse zuzuführen. Im gleichen Zeitraum erh?hte sich in den gro?en Volkswirtschaften die Variabilit?t der Wachstumsraten der Realeinkommen. Hierdurch wurde das Ende der Phase fast ununterbrochenen Wachstums markiert, die die meisten industrialisierten Volkswirtschaften nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg durchlaufen hatten. Das erneuerte Interesse an der Theorie der Langen Wellen, das mit der Krise der Keynesianischen Wirtschaftstheorie einher ging, wurde zunehmend als grundlegender Neuansatz innerhalb der makro?konomischen Theorie angesehen. Dieser Artikel stellt einen Beitrag zu diesem Prozess dar; es wird postuliert, dass zwischen den Ausgaben für Humankapital (Bildung und Ausbildung, L?hne, Gesundheitsvorsorge etc.) und den Ausgaben, die für das materielle Wachstum get?tigt werden, ein Zusammenhang besteht.

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Summary A Method of Recording Educational Investment in the 19th and 20th Century — Germany, France, Great Britain and Spain compared After a long period of hibernation, long wave theory was brought out and dusted off again by economic historians in the 1970s for new, vigorous applications in macroeconomic analysis. During the same period, the major market economies experienced greater variability in real income growth rates, thus marking the end of a period of an almost uninterrupted growth enjoyed by most industrialized economies since World War II. This renewed interest in long wave theory, which coincided with the crisis in Keynesian economics, became increasingly identified with a profound rethinking of macroeconomic theory. This paper is a contribution to the process, and postulates a link between expenditure on human development (education, wages, health care, etc.) and that devoted to material growth.

     

Iodine content of oyster shells

A report is given of the investigation of the iodine content of oyster shells taken from the reefs found in the Gulf of Mexico. The pulverized shells as sold on the market contain 200 to 300 parts per billion of iodine. Water soluble and alcohol soluble iodides appear to be absent. The granulated undried shells contain 500 parts per billion of iodine. Apparently there is a loss of iodine due to the temperature at which the pulverized shells are dried.