Search results

This chapter focuses on the state-of-the-art modeling approaches used in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) and the frameworks for researching and operationalizing individual and group models of performance, knowledge, and interaction. We adapt several ITS methodologies to model team performance as well as individuals’ performance of the team members. We briefly describe the point processes proposed by von Davier and Halpin (2013), and we also introduce the Competency Architecture for Learning in teaMs (CALM) framework, an extension of the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT) (Sottilare, Brawner, Goldberg, & Holden, 2012) to be used for team settings.

The purpose of this article is to provide some further empirical evidence on the ex ante forecasting performance of the three major independent modelling groups in the United Kingdom, namely, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NI), the Centre for Economic Forecasting of the London Business School (LBS) and the Liverpool Modelling Group (LI). The motivation for our analysis is threefold. First is the fact that according to many forecasting practitioners, the ultimate test of an econometric model is its predictive ability.

Reviews the literature on trade union membership in OECD countries. After considering the ways in which trade union membership is measured, trends in both membership and density since 1970 are examined. When cross‐sectional determinants are considered, density is found to be unrelated to size of employment in the manufacturing sector and the share of female employment, but it is related to the level of collective bargaining and the size of the public sector. An examination of individual and job‐related characteristics finds membership is higher among males, those with family responsibilities, those with lower occupational status and those with low educational achievements and that job dissatisfaction and left‐wing views are also important. Time‐series studies find that while union growth and decline are linked to the business cycle, with wages, prices and unemployment affecting membership, economic factors are not the sole explanation. Concludes by surveying the causes of union decline since 1980, together with recent error‐correction and cointegration approaches to modelling trade union membership.

Peston points out that the conventional measure of unemployment (the number of persons unemployed) is inadequate as a measure of the social and economic costs of unemployment. He outlines a new approach which consists of weighting the number of unemployed in, say, each occupation, by a relative wage rate. This paper takes up Peston's suggestion and extends it to other measures of the labour market. Attempts are then made to obtain numerical estimates of these measures and compare them with the more conventional measures.

Welfare states are sets of rules and policies that redistribute resources across social classes and across generations. In nearly all western nations, social spending on the aged has surpassed spending on all other age groups combined. In 1992 alone, spending in the U.S. on Social Security topped $250 billion and on Medicare $130 billion.

Past research has shown that forecast combination typically improves demand forecast accuracy even when only two component forecasts are used; however, systematic bias in the component forecasts can reduce the effectiveness of combination. This study proposes a methodology for combining demand forecasts that are biased. Data from an actual manufacturing shop are used to develop the methodology and compare its accuracy with the accuracy of the standard approach of correcting for bias prior to combination. Results indicate that the proposed methodology outperforms the standard approach.

The vast bulk of the discourse surrounding reproduction is centered on women. Yet, the rate of childlessness in the United Kingdom (and much of the world) is higher among men. Recently, there has been an increased focus on fatherhood and fathering in academia, policy, practice, and the general media. However, data on men who do not become fathers has been excluded and their experiences minimized and dismissed. Infertility research has shown that failure to achieve the high social status of parenthood has the similar effects on mental and physical health as a diagnosis of life-threatening illness. In this chapter, I will draw on two qualitative research studies to show how not achieving the pronatalist ideal of parenthood impacts on men’s identity, sense of self, behaviors, health and well-being and social networks across the life course. The workplace is an arena where people who do not fit socio-cultural norms and expectations are overtly and/or covertly stigmatized and discriminated against through policy, working practices and everyday interaction between groups and individuals. I will argue that failing to acknowledge men’s experience of non-reproduction has a significant impact on both individuals and institutions alike.