John Porter Lecture: Liberal Nationalisms Revisited

Liberal Nationalisms: Empire, State and Civil Society in Scotland and Quebec argues that the emergence and character of nationalism are directly related to changes in patterns of political rule and the liberal settlements that underlay that rule. The focus is on the emergence of two nationalist groups in Scotland and Quebec at the beginning of the twentieth century: the Young Scots’ Society and Ligue nationaliste canadienne. They exhibited liberal nationalisms differently (1) in response to the British Empire's predatory imperial policies, (2) in the perception that their states had failed to effectively accommodate the Scottish and French Canadian nations, and more problematically (3) on the place of organized religion in civil society. Their responses suggest the emergence of two quite distinct liberal nationalisms: one in which the emphasis was on universal individual rights, and the other in which particular group rights were more clearly favored. The article offers some further reflection on the relationship between nationalism and liberalism, specifically on the existence of a symbiotic relationship and more generally that liberalism is successful when embedded in nationalism.     

Economywide Impact of Maize Export Bans on Agricultural Growth and Household Welfare in Tanzania: A Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium Model Analysis

Export bans have been frequently used by developing countries in recent years in an attempt to ensure domestic food supplies and insulate domestic market prices from international price hikes. This article uses Tanzania to examine the impact of export bans using a computable general equilibrium model. We find that banning cross‐border maize exports has very little effect on the national food price index and that the benefits from lower maize prices are captured primarily by urban households, while maize producer prices decrease significantly. The export ban further decreases the wage rate for low‐skilled labour and the returns to land, while returns to non‐agricultural capital and wage rates for skilled labour increase, further hurting poor rural households and thus increasing poverty for the country as a whole.     

Typical and Atypical Development of Visual Attention in 3‐ to 9‐Month‐Old Infants

The interactions between attention and stimulus encoding in infancy were examined using heart rate (HR) and visual habituation measures. At 3, 6, and 9 months of age, infants (N = 119) were habituated to an adult face; longest look (LL) duration was measured as an indicator of encoding speed. Three groups were formed based on LL change from 3 to 9 months: Large Decrease, Small Decrease, and Increase. Using concurrent electrocardiograph recordings, attention was measured through the percentage of looking time in orienting, sustained attention, and attention termination. We partially replicated previous findings regarding developmental patterns of attention in these three groups, notably that these patterns were different for the Increase group. Looks away from the stimulus were also assessed in each attentional phase and, as predicted, HR acceleration phases showed less visual engagement than HR deceleration phases. We also found anomalous behavior for the LL Increase group. In general, this small but distinct group showed similarities at 3 months to the presumably more mature behavior of typical 9 month olds, but by 9 months, they behaved more like typical 3 month olds regarding some, but not all, cognitive measures. These results are discussed in the context of the development of endogenous attention.     

A self-validating numerical method for computation of central and non-central F probabilities and percentiles

A self-validating numerical method based on interval analysis for the computation of central and non-central F probabilities and percentiles is reported. The major advantage of this approach is that there are guaranteed error bounds associated with the computed values (or intervals), i.e. the computed values satisfy the user-specified accuracy requirements. The methodology reported in this paper can be adapted to approximate the probabilities and percentiles for other commonly used distribution functions.     

Preferences for Work Locations Among Social Workers

This is a report of a survey conducted in 1975 of students following social work courses in nineteen universities in England and Wales. The respondents were asked to state their preferences for future employment amongst different areas in England and Wales. The results show clear preferences with Devon at the top closely followed by Somerset and North Yorkshire. Most areas with positive scores were counties with substantial rural components but two urban areas were also high in the choice list. The least popular were two densely populated urban areas in the West Midlands and the London boroughs. There are interesting variations amongst these two low scoring groups. Whilst locational preference is only one of the factors determining mobility it is, nevertheless, of some importance.     

中国加入WTO后人员素质能力的建立战略

人力或劳动力对生产力的贡献对一个国家的发展来说是非常重要的。任何一种形式的生产力，不管是一个公司，还是一个经济体，都会因高效的使用人的生产能力而加速发展。因此，对人的生产技术开发的大力投资会帮助一个国家持续健康地发展。忽视人力生产力因素的发展会因人为的错误而导致成本上升，并阻碍创新，会使一个国家的经济衰退。波特在分析一个国家的竞争力时强调：一个国家竞争力的主要决定因素取决于其生产力因素，包括人的技能，它可保证一个国家在某一特定产业，甚至是在整体行业上都具有竞争优势。在当今时代，对人力技能因素的投…     

Examining rounding error in least absolute values regression computations

Two techniques for detecting inaccuracies in least absolute values (LAV) regression computations are presented and discussed. Examples of the use of the methods are given. The techniques are shown to apply to the more general case of M-estimation.