Exploring multivariate data using directions of high density

The most common techniques for graphically presenting a multivariate dataset involve projection onto a one or two-dimensional subspace. Interpretation of such plots is not always straightforward because projections are smoothing operations in that structure can be obscured by projection but never enhanced. In this paper an alternative procedure for finding interesting features is proposed that is based on locating the modes of an induced hyperspherical density function, and a simple algorithm for this purpose is developed. Emphasis is placed on identifying the non-linear effects, such as clustering, so to this end the data are firstly sphered to remove all of the location, scale and correlational structure. A set of simulated bivariate data and artistic qualities of painters data are used as examples.     

The elimination of contraceptive acceptor targets and the evolution of population policy in India

In 1996 the government of India announced a new national population policy that eliminated numerical targets for new contraceptive acceptors. This paper examines the history of target setting in India and factors that led to the elimination of targets. The analysis is based on published and unpublished reports on India's population policy and the family planning programme and interviews with senior Indian and foreign officials and population specialists. Five factors are identified as playing a role in the evolution from target setting to a target-free policy: (1) the research of India's academics; (2) the work of women's health advocates; (3) the support of officials in the state bureaucracy who approved the target-free approach; (4) the influence of the donors to India's family planning programme, especially the World Bank; and (5) the International Conference on Population and Development.     

提高英语专业学生口语有效输出能力的探讨

以参加英语口语课堂活动的英语专业学生为研究对象,通过访谈、问卷、口语测试和课堂观察等方法,收集口语输出活动过程中的真实材料,并进行学生输出障碍分析。发现"可理解输出"未必是"有效输出"。情感过滤、课堂输出活动方式和学生的语用能力是影响课堂教学环境下学生口语有效输出的主要因素。认为情感支持、元语言环境下的话语互动和课堂语用教学是促进有效的口语输出、提高英语口语能力的重要策略。     

Social Networks and Social Service Workers

Correspondence to Peter Sharkey, School of Law, Social Work and Social Policy, Liverpool Polytechnic, 98 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, L3 5UZ. Summary ‘Networks’ is a word often used in the discussionof social work practice and within social services departments.It was a word which was central to the Barclay Report (1982)and important within the more recently published Griffiths Report(1988) on community care. It is a word also known to sociologistsand anthropologists through the development of ‘networkanalysis’. There is, however, a fairly wide gap betweenits use within social work and its use within social science.This article tries to explore this gap and the ways in whichsocial science ideas might have some use and relevance to socialservice workers. It does this by using some illustrative datafrom a study done of the personal networks of thirty elderlypeople who were all clients of a social service district office.     

Probation Practice, Effectiveness and the Non-Treatment Paradigm

Correspondence to Dr Peter Raynor, Department of Social Policy and Applied Social Studies, University of Wales, Swansea SA2 8PP. Summary This paper reports interim and largely positive results fromthe continuing evaluation of ‘Straight Thinking on Probation’,a substantial intensive probation programme in Mid-Glamorganbased on the work of Robert Ross et al. (1988) in Canada. Thepotential effectiveness of this type of programme is then discussedin relation to the influential model of the probation service'srole advanced by Bottoms and McWilliams in their 1979 ‘non-treatmentparadigm’. Are such programmes ‘treatment’,based on a model of offender pathology and therefore in conflictwith the paradigm, or are they ‘help’, based ona model of empowerment? An attempt to answer this question alsorequires consideration of how far the ‘non-treatment paradigm’was itself a response to perceived ineffectiveness requiringrevision in the light of new evidence. It is argued that suchrevision need not threaten the underlying moral philosophy ofthe paradigm.     

The Quebec Patronat: Proposing a Neo‐liberal Political Economy after All*

Les études récentes portant sur le patronat québécois avancent que ce dernier a modernisé son discours, passant du néolibéralisme à une concertation et à une coopération positive avec les syndicats et l'État. Ces études suggèrent que le patronat québécois est en train de développer une économie politique distincte du modèle libéral en vigueur ailleurs au Canada. Cet article analyse le discours du Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ) depuis sa création pour évaluer la pertinence de ces arguments. Il conclut que la vision stratégique du CPQ est restée néolibérale depuis le début des années 1980, ce qui suggére la nécessité de la prudence dans la formulation des arguments sur l'exceptionnalisme économique du Québec. Recent studies of the Quebec patronat argue that it has “modernized” its discourse, moving from neo‐liberalism to the embrace of positive‐sum concertation and co‐operation with unions and the State. These studies suggest Quebec's employers' associations are developing a different political economy than the liberal one found in the Rest of Canada. This article assesses these arguments using the discourse of the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ) since its inception. It argues that the CPQ's strategic outlook has remained steadfastly neo‐liberal since the early 1980s, which suggests the need for caution in developing accounts of Quebec's economic exceptionalism.     

INTERNATIONAL OUTSOURCING AND THE PRODUCTIVITY OF LOW-SKILLED LABOR IN THE EU

This article presents first insights into the role of international outsourcing on the productivity of low-skilled workers in EU manufacturing. Whereas in the short run international outsourcing exhibits a negative marginal effect on real value added per low-skilled worker, the long-run parameter estimates reveal a positive impact. This may be explained by imperfections in European labor and goods markets, which prohibit an immediate adjustment in the factor employment and the output structure. The change in the outsourcing intensity since 1993 alone acounts for a long-run increase of about 6.0% in the real value added per low-skilled worker. (JEL C33 , F14 , F15 )     

The cliquishness of world cities

Abstract Through an exploratory analysis of the world city network, we confront the dearth of studies on inter‐urban networks on a global scale. In the first section, we outline how a formal theoretical specification of the world city network as a social network has guided an extensive data gathering effort. Through this specification it becomes possible to apply standard techniques of network analysis to world cities. In the second section we outline a framework within which to explore the complex patterns that arise from the formal specification of the world city network. The conjectural use of connectivity, world city cliques and clique‐by‐clique comembership is then used in the third section as the input to an exploratory analysis of the measures of connectivity at different thresholds. The main findings are the two city dominance of the New York–London dyad, and the observation that inter‐city links at the global level retain an important regional dimension. Exemplary cases are the thorough interrelatedness of North American, Pacific Asian and European world cities.     

Ambiguity and User Involvement: Issues Arising in Assessments for Young People and their Carers

Correspondence to Peter R. Day CRSP, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University of Technology, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE 11 3TU. Summary Issues for service users and professional staff arising fromcontemporary community care policies emphasizing user involvementare reviewed. Against the background of a key expression ofthese policies, the Disabled Persons' Act of 1986, methods ofproviding assessments involving young people with learning disabilitieswere analysed. Problems identified for further study includeddifficulties arising for young people due to lack of experienceand immaturity, the low expectations of their parents or carers,problems arising from the culture of services and how assessmentsmay be developed which provide seriously disabled users themselveswith ways of expressing their wants and needs.