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James F. Berry has been named vice president‐general manager, production program for the McDonnell Douglas C‐17 airlifter.

The decade of the 1980s was unique for the sheer quantity of education reform reports and legislation. Virtually every state enacted education reform legislation, including reforms of teacher education, licensing, and comprehension. According to Darling‐Hammond and Berry, over 1,000 pieces of legislation related to teachers have been drafted since 1980, and “a substantial fraction have been implemented.” As I discussed in my 1989 RSR article, “Five Years after A Nation at Risk: An Annotated Bibliography,” two waves of 1980s reform reports were identified in the enormous body of primary and secondary literature dealing with education reform. The reform publications of the early 1980s stressed improvements in curricular standards, student performance outcomes, and changes to the education programs, such as salary increases, teacher testing, and stricter certification requirements. The second‐wave reform publications emphasized more complex issues centered around the concepts of restructuring the schools and teacher education programs, as well as empowering teachers to become more involved in curriculum and governance issues.

It may be desirable to commence by saying a few words about the Engineer‐in‐Chief's Library and the departments which it serves. The library is primarily intended to serve the scientific and engineering staff of the Engineering and Factories Departments of the Post Office. The work undertaken by these departments is of great and increasing diversity. Besides the ordinary work of the departments in connection with telegraphy, telephony and radio‐communication I might mention the inspection and testing of all the materials used by these departments, the work of the staff on the cable ships, the construction and repair of apparatus by the Factories Department and the work of the Training Branch, which has only recently been established as a separate branch.

Few countries have sufficiently long and detailed returns data for real estate to permit sophisticated analysis. This paper aims to examine the potential diversification of private real estate investments using returns data for major regional centres in Ireland and the UK.

Optimal real estate‐only portfolios are constructed using total returns, income returns and appreciation returns for office and retail real estate in ten cities within Ireland and the UK. The analysis uses IPD data for the period 1984 to 2002. Total return, income return and appreciation returns are treated as separate asset streams in the modelling of portfolios.

The results show different risk levels; in particular the income stream carries low risk, whereas the capital appreciation element is much more volatile and risky. Optimal portfolios, office or retail, whether income, appreciation or total returns, indicate that provincial markets perform well and are capable of pushing London out of the optimised portfolios.

Limitations stem from the optimal portfolios being based on return series without a consideration of market depth. Future research will seek to construct weighted portfolios.

The paper constructs optimal portfolios for three scenarios: low return; medium return; and high return across sectors, return streams and major regional centres in Ireland and the UK. The results show that regional centres perform well and can exclude London real estate from optimal portfolios.

Examines the application of taxation breaks in stimulating investment into property development. Examples are drawn from Dublin and Berlin to highlight how accelerated depreciation allowances have been utilized in different market sectors. Emphasis is placed on similarities and differences in the regulations regarding use of taxation‐based incentives. Outcomes of the policy are evaluated including the risk of over‐supply of office floorspace in the medium term and the re‐targeting of incentives towards residential development. Argues that the experience drawn from each city provides interesting parallel and contrasting outcomes.

Model estimation gives students insights beyond what they can gain from textbook presentations. This paper introduces a way to make doing this easier and more effective. It introduces the program Gnu Regression, Econometrics and Time‐series Library (GRETL) which may be downloaded free of charge, and which students can place on their computers quickly and easily. Using GRETL to produce ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates is an easy, intuitive exercise. Therefore, instructors may assign such exercises without taking a large amount of time to introduce the computer and OLS estimation. GRETL, though designed to facilitate instruction, has grown into a full econometrics package that instructors can use as a research tool as well as an instructional aid.

The paper provides an overview of GRETL's accessibility and its capabilities. Next it addresses the use of GRETL for instructional purposes. Then it shows how GRETL can be used as a research tool.

The paper shows that GRETL can be a useful addition to the instructor who is showing novices how to use regression models. Also, it can be used as a research tool.

Given software like GRETL, instructors no longer need to omit model estimation because of the difficulties in accessing software and showing students how to use it.

This paper introduces a relatively new option, the use of a powerful open‐source software package to instructors in finance and accounting courses.

The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for estimating the costs of adaptation to climate change impacts on ecosystems.

While existing studies on costing adaptation base themselves on either the financial flows on conservation or the costs of specific adaptation measures at the global level, the methodology presented here takes into account the impacts on ecosystems, the identification of vulnerable areas, and adaptation options at a more regional level.

The framework is then applied to forest ecosystems in India. The authors find that the total adaptation costs for forest ecosystems in India until 2085 are in the range of $1.34‐2.32 billion.

The key contribution of this paper is the proposal that for any robust estimation of adaptation costs, people should take into account the regional level impacts and the multiple adaptation options linked to those impacts.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate land use and option pricing theories using case study analyses to compare a portfolio of uses comprising single and mixed‐use development on the same site and assess the effects on the risk‐return profile of potential development schemes. The integration of land use development based on highest and best use (HBU) is tested against a combination of uses on the selected sites at a point in time in the downswing of the real estate cycle.

The proposed methodology integrates the development valuation approach with option theory in which both consider the relationships of cost and value associated with alternative development options. The approach used in this paper addresses the broader consideration of project coordination inclusive of land use flexibility and opportunity costs endogenously associated with development strategies. By investigating the uncertainty of economic options specific to the development process, the methodology considers the significance of complementary components of strategic decisions and entrepreneurial effort within a return/risk management strategy.

The stochastic model when compared to the real option model enhances strategic decisions and development project management by allowing the consideration of single/mixed‐use alternatives. The development process is facilitated by the research findings whereby alternative uses are tested to maximise the potential use of the site. The analyses consider optimal funding strategies in developing and investing for a range of use options on regeneration sites.

The significant insights apparent from the research is the quantification of the strategic specification of development as a productive process and an investment endeavour. The proposed model enables a comparison of a HBU based on a single development, a mixed‐use development or a combination of uses as the difference between the scenarios impacts on land value and profit measures, especially where these measures are calculated as distributive residuals.

The stochastic model developed in this paper provides a value‐added contribution to real estate literature by considering the complexity of the interrelationships between urban land economics, land use theory, valuation appraisal methodologies, portfolio analysis and option pricing as applied in the development of regeneration schemes.