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In-depth Examination (in-depth + examination)
Selected AbstractsThe Role of Political Instability in Stock Market Development and Economic Growth: The Case of GreeceECONOMIC NOTES, Issue 3 2000Dimitrios Asteriou This article examines empirically the relationship between stock market development, political instability and economic growth in Greece. We measure socio-political instability by constructing an index which captures the occurrence of various phenomena of political violence using time-series data. The main advantages of analysing political instability in a case study framework using time-series, in contrast with the widely used cross-country empirical studies, are: (a) a more careful and in-depth examination of institutional and historical characteristics of a particular country; (b) the use of a data set comprised of the most appropriate and highest quality measures; and (c) a more detailed exposition of the dynamic evolution of the economy. The empirical results indicate the existence of a strong negative relationship between uncertain socio-political conditions and the general index of the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) and support the theoretical hypothesis that uncertain socio-political conditions affect economic growth negatively, is true for the Greek case. (J.E.L.: G10, G14, O40, C32) [source] Using Scanner Technology to Collect Expenditure Data,FISCAL STUDIES, Issue 3-4 2009Andrew Leicester C81; C83; C33; C41 Abstract In terms of collecting panel expenditure data, there are trade-offs between the demands imposed on respondents and the detail and coverage of data collected. Comprehensive spending data tend to be cross-sectional whilst panel studies include only limited, aggregated expenditure questions. Recently, economists have begun to use detailed, bar-code-level spending data from household panels collected by market research companies. However, there has not been a detailed assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of this collection method or its implications for the recorded data. This paper seeks to fill this gap by providing an in-depth examination of data from one company, Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), recording grocery purchases over five years. We assess how far the ongoing demands of participation lead to ,fatigue' in respondents' recording of their spending and the implications for household attrition, and we provide a detailed comparison of the expenditure data collected by TNS and the well-established Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS). Broadly, we suggest that problems of fatigue and attrition may not be particularly severe, though there are differences in expenditures that cannot be attributed to demographic or time effects and may be suggestive of survey mode effects. [source] Developing cultural competence in working with Korean immigrant familiesJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2006Irene J. Kim The authors provide an in-depth examination of the historical background, cultural values, family roles, and community contexts of Korean Americans as an aid to both researchers and clinicians in developing cultural competence with this particular group. First, the concept of cultural competence is defined. A brief history of Korean immigration patterns to the United States and demographic information about Korean Americans are reviewed. Second, Korean cultural values, family structure, and family roles are examined as they impact relationships in research and clinical contexts. Three indigenous concepts (cf. L. Kim, 1992) that may be useful in developing cultural competence include haan (suppressed anger), jeong (strong feeling of kinship), and noon-chi (ability to evaluate social situations through implicit cues). Clinical case examples and accounts from a community-based research perspective illustrate these cultural values. Third, important community resources in the Korean American context are highlighted. Links between cultural competence and "ecological pragmatism" (Kelly, Azelton, Burzette, & Mock, 1994) are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Monitoring roughness and edge shape on semiconductors through multiresolution and multivariate image analysisAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 5 2009Pierantonio Facco Abstract Photolithography is one of the most important processes in the production of integrated circuits. Usually, attentive inspections are required after this process, but are limited to the measurement of some physical parameters such as the critical dimension and the line edge roughness. In this paper, a novel multiresolution multivariate technique is presented to identify the abnormalities on the surface of a photolithographed device and the location of defects in a sensitive fashion by comparing it to a reference optimum, and generating fast, meaningful and reliable information. After analyzing the semiconductor surface image in different levels of resolutions via wavelet decomposition, the application of multivariate statistical monitoring tools allows the in-depth examination of the imprinted features of the product. A two level nested PCA model is used for surface roughness monitoring, while a new strategy based on "spatial moving window" PCA is proposed to analyze the shape of the patterned surface. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is tested in the case of semiconductor surface SEM images after the photolithography process. The approach is general and can be applied also to inspect a product through different types of images, different phases of the same production systems, or different processes. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009 [source] Implementing Racial Anti-vilification Laws in New South Wales 1989-1998: A StudyAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2000Katharine Gelber Anti-vilification laws in Australia now have a decade-long history, yet remarkably little research has been conducted into their operation, nor has there been any systematic collation of outcomes. This paper seeks to fill this gap in the available research and also to make some proposals as to how to improve the legislation in practice. The paper reports on 10 years of complaints lodged under the NSW racial anti-vilification legislation, the oldest in Australia enacted in 1989. Other similar legislation followed in WA, SA, Tasmania. The results of all finalised case files from NSW since its inception in 1989 to the end of 1998 (568 cases) are examined. The research combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Some statistical data are provided, which are not relative; that is, there is no meaning available or implied between the different categories of outcome and each case has been interpreted separately. The qualitative method used provides an in-depth examination of specific case study outcomes in order to provide an accurate and sensitivepicture of the legislation in practice. The study may also be of use to researchers in other complaints-driven systems of regulation designed to support beneficial legislation. [source] Second Life in higher education: Assessing the potential for and the barriers to deploying virtual worlds in learning and teachingBRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Steven Warburton Second Life (SL) is currently the most mature and popular multi-user virtual world platform being used in education. Through an in-depth examination of SL, this article explores its potential and the barriers that multi-user virtual environments present to educators wanting to use immersive 3-D spaces in their teaching. The context is set by tracing the history of virtual worlds back to early multi-user online computer gaming environments and describing the current trends in the development of 3-D immersive spaces. A typology for virtual worlds is developed and the key features that have made unstructured 3-D spaces so attractive to educators are described. The popularity in use of SL is examined through three critical components of the virtual environment experience: technical, immersive and social. From here, the paper discusses the affordances that SL offers for educational activities and the types of teaching approaches that are being explored by institutions. The work concludes with a critical analysis of the barriers to successful implementation of SL as an educational tool and maps a number of developments that are underway to address these issues across virtual worlds more broadly. [source] On the Tasks of a Population Commission: A 1971 Statement by Donald RumsfeldPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 3 2003Article first published online: 20 APR 200 In its most familiar form, analytic assessment of the impact of demographic change on human affairs is the product of a decentralized cottage industry: individual scholars collecting information, thinking about its meaning, testing hypotheses, and publishing their findings. Guidance through the power of the purse and through institutional design that creates and sustains cooperating groups of researchers can impose some order and coherence on such spontaneous activity. But the sum total of the result may lack balance and leave important aspects of relevant issues inadequately explored. Even when research findings are picked up by the media and reach a broader public, the haphazardness of that process helps further to explain why the salience of population change to human welfare and its importance in public policymaking are poorly understood. The syndrome is not unique to the field of population, but the typically long time-lags with which aggregate population change affects economic and social phenomena make it particularly difficult for the topic to claim public attention. A time-tested, if less than fool-proof remedy is the periodic effort to orchestrate a systematic and thorough examination of the causes, consequences, and policy implications of demographic processes. Because the most potent frame for policymaking is the state, the logical primary locus for such stocktaking is at the country level. The Commission on Population Growth and the American Future was a uniquely ambitious enterprise of this sort. The Commission was established by the US Congress in 1970 as a result of a presidential initiative. Along with the work of two earlier British Royal Commissions on population, this US effort, mutatis mutandis, can serve as a model for in-depth examinations conducted at the national level anywhere. Chaired by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, the Commission submitted its final report to President Richard M. Nixon in March 1972. The background studies to the report were published in seven hefty volumes; an index to these volumes was published in 1975. Reproduced below is a statement to the Commission delivered on April 14, 1971 by Donald Rumsfeld, then Counsellor to President Nixon and in charge of the Office of Economic Opportunity. (Currently, Mr. Rumsfeld serves as US Secretary of Defense.) The brief statement articulates with great clarity the objectives of the Commission and the considerations that prompted them. The text originally appeared in Vol. 7 (pp. 1-3) of the Commission's background reports, which contains the statements at public hearings conducted by the Commission. National efforts toward comprehensive scientific reviews of population issues have their analogs at the international level. Especially notable on that score were the preparatory studies presented at the 1954 Rome and 1965 Belgrade world population conferences. The world population conferences that took place in Bucharest in 1974, in Mexico City in 1984, and in Cairo in 1994 were intergovernmental and political rather than scientific and technical meetings, but they also generated a fair amount of prior research. The year 2004 will break the decadal sequence of large-scale international meetings on population, and apart from the quadrennial congresses of the IUSSP, which showcase the voluntary research offerings of its members, none is being planned for the coming years. A partial substitute will be meetings organized by the UN's regional economic and social commissions. The first of these took place in 2002 for the Asia-Pacific region; the meetings for the other regions will be held in 2003-04. The analytic and technical contribution of these meetings, however, is expected to be at best modest. National efforts of the type carried out 30 years ago by the Commission on Population Growth and the American Future would be all the more salutary. 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