Technology: Its influence in the secondary school upon achievement in academic subjects and upon students' attitude toward technology

Summary Many programs in the United States have undertaken to show the benefits to students of integrating academic disciplines. The TEC-Lab project, however, is unique among them because of its innovative approach. First, the TEC-Lab students are in senior high school, grades 9 to 12, while most innovative efforts are concentrated at the elementary and middle school levels. Second, the TEC-Lab approach uses technology as a means of meeting the usual academic requirements, rather than attempting to integrate the other academic areas into technology. The difference between these two approaches is subtle but profound.The first semester of the project was fraught with problems as equipment deliveries were late and installation difficulties delayed implementation even further. There was too little time to provide adequate teacher preparation. The students' lack of familiarity with the technologies in the TEC-Lab complicated implementation.It is actually remarkable that these serious implementation problems apparently had little negative effect on the achievement levels of the students in the project. The lack of significant differences between the TEC-Lab and comparison classes in physical science and geometry in January, 1992 gave an early indication that immersion in the TEC-Lab environment was not disadvantageous to students. The comparisons made in May, 1992 of all TEC-Lab and comparison classes identified only one significant difference in achievement levels, when the TEC-Lab technology class achieved significantly better than the comparison technology class. This difference may well be explained by the overlap between the subject matter of the course and the technologies in use in the TEC-Lab.The changes in student attitudes towards technology during the academic year are particularly provocative. Participation in the TEC-Lab project, whether in one of the TEC-Lab classes or in one of the comparison classes taught by the TEC-Lab teachers, resulted in positive changes in attitude toward technology. The shift was consistent, appearing in each of the factors as well as the overall attitude scale.     

The Effect of Municipal Services and Local Taxes on Housing Values

This paper presents an economic model which casts the "Tiebout Hypothesis" in a Von Thumen type model of spatial equilibrium and considers the effect of differential provision of municipal services on household utility levels and housing prices in a politically fragmented urban area. Also in the context of this model three alternative methods of financing municipal services are examined. The article suggests that different levels of municipal services may cause spatial disequilibrium in an urban area, and as households move within the urban area to maximize their utility, they bid up (or down) the price of housing to the extent that their consumer's surplus is capitalized in housing values. Thus, the resultant urban rent gradient may be "kinked" or discontinuous. This paper also presents empirical findings examining the relationship between housing values and several municipal services.     

Multicollinearity and Reduced-Form Price Equations For Residential Markets: An Evaluation of Alternative Estimation Methods*

One of the problems that has plagued researchers in their estimation of reduced-form price equations for specific housing markets has been multicollinearity—the lack of statistical independence of the explanatory variables. This paper evaluates the suitability for structural analysis and prediction of stepwise regression and principal components regression as alternatives to the standard regression model in the estimation of equations with interdependent data. In general, the results of this study indicate that under conditions of multicollinearity principal components regression is the superior estimation technique.     

Street-lighting projects selection: A rational decision making approach

The study presented in this paper represents a new and fresh approach to the problem of efficiently and optimally allocating scarce resources in the provision of public services—namely, street-lighting. The methodology developed is aimed at introducing more systematic and rational thinking in a way which is both technically and politically feasible. To the best of the author's knowledge, the study presents, for the first time, a procedure for the comprehensive quantitative estimate of the utility accruing from street-lighting. The utility value derived from each street-lighting project depends upon several factors, some of which can be technically assessed and others estimated only by subjective values.

In order to deduce the subjective values, the Delphi method was employed. This method permits derivation of subjective values for groups of interviewees whose assessments may reasonably be assumed to be crucial in determining the relative values of the objectives of the utility function. Those components of the utility function representing subjective values were identified and estimated.

The conventional practice, whereby residents have no explicit say in the planning of the lighting system in their city, was abandoned. Residents' value judgements concerning the relative importance of the objectives to be gained by the lighting system were incorporated into the planning process. An optimization model based on an integer programming algorithm was employed because it permits periodic (e.g. annual) selection of a set of indivisible projects to be realized during a given period. This enables maximum economic and social utility to be derived, subject to budgetary and technological constraints.

The selection process was extended and deepened so as to render it sensitive to benefit from economies of scale and external economies. The optimization process was carried out with the use of an IBM-MPS X (an integer programming algorithm). The methodology was applied to a large and diverse quarter in the city of Jerusalem that is divided into seven semi-homogeneous neighborhoods—in terms of their physical as well as their socio-economic and demographic characteristics. This represents a very different approach when compared to the conventional way in which the planning design and installation of street-lighting projects are currently carried out.     

A Neo‐Gramscian Approach to Corporate Political Strategy: Conflict and Accommodation in the Climate Change Negotiations*

ABSTRACT A neo‐Gramscian theoretical framework for corporate political strategy is developed drawing from Gramsci's analysis of the relations among capital, social forces, and the state, and from more contemporary theories. Gramsci's political theory recognizes the centrality of organizations and strategy, directs attention to the organizational, economic, and ideological pillars of power, while illuminating the processes of coalition building, conflict, and accommodation that drive social change. This approach addresses the structure‐agency relationship and endogenous dynamics in a way that could enrich institutional theory. The framework suggests a strategic concept of power, which provides space for contestation by subordinate groups in complex dynamic social systems. We apply the framework to analyse the international negotiations to control emissions of greenhouse gases, focusing on the responses of firms in the US and European oil and automobile industries. The neo‐Gramscian framework explains some specific features of corporate responses to challenges to their hegemonic position and points to the importance of political struggles within civil society. The analysis suggests that the conventional demarcation between market and non‐market strategies is untenable, given the embeddedness of markets in contested social and political structures and the political character of strategies directed toward defending and enhancing markets, technologies, corporate autonomy and legitimacy.     

Human resourec management and a culture of Respect: Effects on employees' organizational commitment

The literature is reviwed to produce a set of 37 Human Resource Management (HRM) activities related to showing respect for the individual. Eighty-eight full-time employees from different organizations and enrolled in a part-time MBA program report HRM department motivation for such activities and the degree to which they are committed to their organizations. Respectful treatmentis indeed perceived to be one of the HRM departments' reasons for performing these 37 activities, although it was not usually the most common reason. After controlling for job satisfaction, subjects' organizational commitment is positively related to the perception that HRM activities are motivated by (a) management's desire to show respect for the individual and (b) management's desire to attact/retain employees. When the company's HRM activities are perceived to be motivated by the firm's desire to improve performance or to comply with the law, there is no significant relationship with organizational commitment.