More students of better quality? Effects of a mathematics and physics aptitude test on student performance

This paper examines whether subject-specific admission tests may allow Swedish higher education institutions to admit better-performing students. The performance of students admitted via a mathematics and physics aptitude test was reviewed with a focus on activity, retention, and credits earned, and the results were compared with students admitted in traditional ways, such as secondary school grade point averages (GPA). The results show that the students admitted in the test quota show a higher activity rate as well as a higher retention rate than most other students, but that they are not as successful as the GPA quota students in acquiring their intended credits. It is concluded that subject-specific admission tests seem to entail higher student motivation and that they therefore may be a valuable instrument to supplement traditional admission instruments. The observed differences in the study have generated a number of hypotheses that would need further study to fully understand the merits of different admission instruments.     

Fragments of an economic habitus. Conceptions of economic phenomena in freshmen and seniors

The article reports on parts of an empirical longitudinal study. Students of engineering, business administration, medicine and psychology have been interviewed at the beginning and at the end of their education. The focus in the present article is on the students of business administration. Two of the questions in the interview asked for the student’s conceptions about the most prominent contemporary economic problem and the cause of famine in the underdeveloped countries. The results show that the students of business administration to a large extent seem to change form an initially held political, distributionoriented perspective on the two questions to a more depoliticized efficiency perspective. This change means, in the case of the more general question about the most prominent economic problem that the initial emphasis on the uneven distribution of economic resources either in an international or in a national perspective in many cases was replaced by a stress on a more efficient utilization of resources or the necessity of more incentives for individual or collective initiatives. This tendency is not found among the students of medicine. In the second question the initially fragmented reasons for famine in terms of the relationship between developed and underdeveloped countries decreased in frequency leading to a stress on unfavorable conditions for food production or the new Maltusian notion of the different rates of population growth and increase in food production.     

Getting Pole Position: Research strategies in the Humanities at Swedish universities

The aim of this paper is to study research strategies in the Humanities in Sweden. The Swedish higher education sector is under transformation and a new funding system has been proposed. The study investigates the university strategy processes, mainly at the dean’s level. The results show that most institutions are active in order to be well prepared when a new funding system is launched. There are, however, big differences between universities in attitudes towards the proposed changes as well as the level of activity.     

Public opinion and political outspokenness in pre‐1997 Hong Kong: Two tests of the spiral of silence theory

This study analyses the impact of perceptions of the opinions of others on political outspokenness in Hong Kong. Based on the results of two representative telephone surveys conducted in Hong Kong in 1993 and 1995, the spiral of silence theory is tested in the context of public opinion regarding the Sino‐British dispute over Hong Kong's political future and the 1995 Legislative Council election. As hypothesized, respondents in both surveys were more willing to voice their political opinions publicly when they perceived the majority opinion to be on their side, or when they perceived a trend in support of their own political viewpoint. However, this effect was observed only for respondents who were not much concerned about either issue. People's political outspokenness was primarily boosted by higher issue salience, more exposure and attention to television news and news magazines, and higher political interest and efficacy.     

Attacker's advantages in a homogeneous market: The case of GSM

Abstract

This article deals with the market entry and competitive strategies of two third entrants into the Western European GSM market: The Greek mobile communications operator Cosmote and the German operator E‐Plus. Starting point of our research is the analysis of the entire Western European GSM market, which shows a broad variance in performance indicators of the operators although the market characteristics regarding the product, the supply and the demand side are quite homogeneous. In order to explain the performance variance and the success of late movers we examine the market entry and competitive strategy of the most successful third entrant in Western Europe, Cosmote, and contrast this case to E‐Plus. The market environment and the company characteristics of both companies are similar, but their performance differs significantly. The major results of our analysis are (1) that quality of service, including particularly the network coverage at launch and in the first stage, is more important than time to market, (2) that the image of an operator depends strongly from the customer's perception in the starting phase, and (3) that the commitment in combination with the resources of the shareholders are crucial for the operators’ success.     

Competition for Viewers and Advertisers in a TV Oligopoly

Abstract

This study considers a model of a TV oligopoly where TV channels transmit advertising and viewers dislike such commercials. It is shown that advertisers make a lower profit the larger the number of TV channels. If TV channels are sufficiently close substitutes, there will be underprovision of advertising relative to social optimum. This study also finds that the more viewers dislike ads, the more likely it is that welfare is increasing in the number of advertising-financed TV channels. A publicly owned TV channel can partly correct market distortions, in some cases, by having a larger amount of advertising than private TV channels. It may even have advertising in cases where advertising is wasteful per se.     

Accelerometer-measured daily physical activity related to aerobic fitness in children and adolescents

Abstract

Maximum oxygen uptake ([Vdot]O_2PEAK) is generally considered to be the best single marker for aerobic fitness. While a positive relationship between daily physical activity and aerobic fitness has been established in adults, the relationship appears less clear in children and adolescents. The purpose of this paper is to summarise recently published data on the relationship between daily physical activity, as measured by accelerometers, and [Vdot]O_2PEAK in children and adolescents. A PubMed search was performed on 29 October 2010 to identify relevant articles. Studies were considered relevant if they included measurement of daily physical activity by accelerometry and related to a [Vdot]O_2PEAK either measured directly at a maximal exercise test or estimated from maximal power output. A total of nine studies were identified, with a total number of 6116 children and adolescents investigated. Most studies reported a low-to-moderate relationship (r = 0.10–0.45) between objectively measured daily physical activity and [Vdot]O_2PEAK. No conclusive evidence exists that physical activity of higher intensities are more closely related to [Vdot]O_2PEAK, than lower intensities.     

An analytical model for university identity and reputation strategy work

Universities face increasing global competition, pressuring them to restructure and find new identities. A multidimensional model: identity, image and reputation of strategic university identity and reputation work is developed. The model includes: organizational identity; employee and student attitudes; symbolic identity; influence from buildings, artefacts and reputation; and external stakeholders’ valuations. Image perceptions among employees, students and external stakeholders are proposed to have a transition-mediating function with respect to university identity. The model serves as an analytical tool for both academic scholars and university administrators in the strategic work with university identity, image and reputation, and aim to clarify the complex relations between these concepts.     

The assessment of practical work in school science

In this paper we provide an overview of the literature on understandings of drop out/opt out from science, technology and mathematics (STM) higher education programmes. After outlining the literature on students leaving higher education programmes in general, we then explore the research on drop out/opt out from STM programmes in particular, with an emphasis on research since 2000. We show that most of the research focuses on overcoming deficits in students' prior knowledge, but that a more specific focus on identities as an analytical framework for understanding young people leaving STM higher education programmes is also emerging. We show that it is important to shift from considering drop out as an individual problem for the student to regard it as a feature of the relationship between students and their study programmes. In the same way, measures to increase retention rates must shift from focusing on individual student adaptation to studies addressing institutional change. However, this change is difficult since it is entwined with fundamental conceptions of science and teaching.     

The role of lead users in knowledge sharing

This paper introduces a model of knowledge sharing in an online community of practice that suggests that knowledge contributions will be made by those who possess the relevant knowledge. For them, matching a ready-made solution to a problem is low cost. We hypothesize that lead users – due to their characteristics – are likely to possess more relevant solution knowledge and thus be centrally involved in contributing knowledge. Our results support the hypothesis by showing that lead user characteristics relate positively to making contributions to the community. In addition, we find that search and integration of knowledge from different external sources of relevance to the community positively moderates knowledge contributions by lead users.