An inquiry into progression in primary technology: A role for teaching

Technological activity, taken in a broad craft sense, is not new to primary schools. What is new is its organisation as a serious curriculum subject in which pupils are expected to make valuable progress. Arguing about technology-as-education must include some understanding of what it can offer of wide value to successful students. Unfortunately those who have carried out empirical research in the field of primary technology have been unable to specify what such valuable progression might look like. There are just two rather limited sources of information relevant to development and progress in technology — cognitive psychology and teacher action research. Neither of these is easy to use as they stand because they are either unconnected with the act of teaching, or on a very small and personal scale. However this paper argues that, taken together, they are beginning to show that teaching has valuable and specific tasks to carry out, which can help pupils make recognisable progress in primary technology.     

The Role of the Surrogate Consumer in Service Delivery

This article considers the overlooked role of consumer surrogates in the marketing process. While it is commonly assumed that consumers are actively involved in important purchase decisions, it is proposed that in fact they often relinquish control to external surrogate services, which may collect market data, evaluate competitive alternatives, and even conduct transactions on their behalf. Some distinguishing characteristics of surrogate services are identified and discussed. Two types of consumer surrogates, interior decorators and wardrobe consultants, are highlighted as illustrations of surrogate activity, and survey data obtained from wardrobe consultants are presented regarding the perceived importance of a variety of both functional and intangible surrogate service benefits.     

Medical interventions among pregnant women in fee-for-service and managed care insurance: a propensity score analysis

This paper extends earlier research on the effect of managed care on the receipt of four medical interventions for pregnant women: ultrasound, induction/stimulation of birth, electronic fetal monitor, and Caesarean delivery. Propensity score methods are used to account for sample selection issues regarding insurance choice. Managed care enrollees are more likely to receive an ultrasound, which may be indicative of receiving better prenatal care. Managed care plans reduce the rate of Caesarean deliveries, but such limitations may be beneficial given the substantial medical evidence that Caesarean deliveries are over-utilized. The results indicate that insurance coverage does influence treatment intensity, but that utilization controls and provider financial incentives do not adversely affect care for pregnant women.     

Surrogate Money Managers in the 1990s: Marketing Strategy for Financial Services Retailers

This paper presents a study of financial surrogate usage among adult consumers. A scale to discriminate between heavy users and non-users the Desire for Financial Surrogacy Scale (DFSS) is developed and tested in a mail survey. Financial surrogacy usage is found significantly associated with biological sex, income, degree of financial opinion leadership, but not significantly associated with need for financial control, anxiety about money management, and risk-aversiveness. The DFSS is found to be the best discriminator between user groups. Marketing implicatiom of increased knowledge of who heavy users are and what they want are discussed in reference to new consumer segments, product innovation, and promotion.     

New directions in emissions trading: the potential contribution of new institutional economics

Once an arcane topic even among environmental economists, emissions trading systems have substantially increased during this past decade in the USA. Moreover, the implementation of these systems has necessitated increased involvement of professionals in many fields besides economics. This paper reviews the practical experience of the six major types of emissions trading systems, focusing on credit market development, participation and results, including transaction costs. Five more recent applications of emissions trading also are considered, as well as the possibility of inter-pollutant trading. While inter-pollutant trading has been successfully used for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the applicability of this experience is probably very limited. Additionally, it would be highly premature to attempt an evaluation of these newer emissions trading systems, some of which have yet to be even partially implemented. In order to improve these latter and future programs, the paper considers the potential contribution of the New Institutional Economics (NIE) to emissions trading. The NIE is used to develop theoretical insights and a series of predictions about the performance of a range of emissions trading systems.     

A survey and critique of multiobjective power plant siting decision rules

This paper reviews the use of multiobjective decision rules for solving power plant siting problems. After a discussion of exclusionary site screening methods for bounding the decision space, classes of multiobjective and goal programming desicion rules are discussedin the context of final site selection. Advances and limitations of these methods are highlighted. Although multiobjective decision rules have seen numerous applications to power plant siting in the literature, few electric utility companies have used these methods in practice. A review of the use of multiobjective methods in actual power plant siting decisions is also presented, and reasons for the paucity of real-world applications are suggested.