Special Education, Inclusion and Globalisation: a few considerations inspired in the Brazilian case

This article analyses contradictory aspects of globalisation in emergent countries and its reflections on special education taking the Brazilian context as reference. It argues that globalisation can only be positive if understood in its humanitarian sense which is in tune with the proposal of an inclusive education and the Education for All movement. The paper points out some key-terms used together with 'globalisation' and raises aspects related to the way(s) in which they affect the education of disabled people in Brazil. It suggests that understanding the new roles of education within the globalised world is imperative for inclusion to take place effectively.     

Use of jump process to model mobility in massive multiplayer on-line games

This paper proposes a methodology to model the mobility of characters in Massively Multiplayer On-line (MMO) Games. We propose to model the mobility of characters in the map of an MMO game as a jump process using two approaches to model the times spent in the states of the process: parametric and non-parametric. Furthermore, a simulator for the mobility is presented. We analyze geographic position data of the characters in the map of the game World of Warcraft and compare the observed and simulated data. The proposed methodology and the simulator can be used to optimize computing load allocation of servers, which is extremely important for game performance, service quality and cost.     

Improving predictive accuracy of logistic regression model using ranked set samples

Logistic regression is often confronted with separation of likelihood problem, especially with unbalanced success–failure distribution. We propose to address this issue by drawing a ranked set sample (RSS). Simulation studies illustrated the advantages of logistic regression models fitted with RSS samples with small sample size regardless of the distribution of the binary response. As sample size increases, RSS eventually becomes comparable to SRS, but still has the advantage over SRS in mitigating the problem of separation of likelihood. Even in the presence of ranking errors, models from RSS samples yield higher predictive ability than its SRS counterpart.     

A cointegration analysis of crime,economic activity,and police performance in São Paulo city

The main objective of this paper is to investigate possible causes for the significant reduction observed in crime rates in São Paulo city. By applying a cointegration analysis, we observed long-run relationships between crime, economic activity, and police performance. The results indicate that the lethal crime rate is positively related to unemployment and negatively related to real wages and to the results of law-enforcement activities, specifically arrests and seizure of firearms. Moreover, the hypothesis that the Disarmament Statute led to a reduction in the lethal crime rate is not rejected.     

Seeking Philosophy Journals on the Web

Abstract

Allan Scherlen introduces us to the elusive world of free, online, peer-reviewed journals in philosophy. He argues that free e-journals, although often well respected among specialists within the field, can paradoxically be obscured from library researchers because of poor representation in established indexes and directories. He evaluates three such e-journals in terms of their history, scope, design, navigation, and archiving. Serials Review 2002; 28:225–231.     

A modified approximate method for analysis of degradation data

Estimation of the lifetime distribution of industrial components and systems yields very important information for manufacturers and consumers. However, obtaining reliability data is time consuming and costly. In this context, degradation tests are a useful alternative approach to lifetime and accelerated life tests in reliability studies. The approximate method is one of the most used techniques for degradation data analysis. It is very simple to understand and easy to implement numerically in any statistical software package. This paper uses time series techniques in order to propose a modified approximate method (MAM). The MAM improves the standard one in two aspects: (1) it uses previous observations in the degradation path as a Markov process for future prediction and (2) it is not necessary to specify a parametric form for the degradation path. Characteristics of interest such as mean or median time to failure and percentiles, among others, are obtained by using the modified method. A simulation study is performed in order to show the improved properties of the modified method over the standard one. Both methods are also used to estimate the failure time distribution of the fatigue-crack-growth data set.     

Impact of early memories and current experiences of warmth and safeness on adolescents' psychological distress

A variable-centered and a person-centered approach were performed to examine the role of early memories of warmth and safeness (EMWS) and current experiences of warmth and safeness (CEWS) on depressive and anxious symptoms among adolescents from community and residential youth care (RYC) settings. Variable-centered results revealed EMWS were only indirectly (through CEWS) associated with depressive and anxious symptoms. Person-centered outcomes allowed to identify four different profiles based on EMWS and CEWS, which differed on depressive and anxious symptoms. EMWS and CEWS seem to play an important role in psychological distress during adolescence. CEWS seem to have a protective role on RYC adolescents' psychological distress, even when EMWS were poor.     

Predicting burrowing owl flight trajectories in urban environments

Urban Ecosystems - It is important to understand how animals respond to changes in landscape structure, especially when considering habitat alteration and urbanization. Using the burrowing owl...     

Accuracy of Numerical Solutions Using the Euler Equation Residuals

This paper is concerned with asymptotic properties on the accuracy of numerical solutions. It is shown that the approximation error of the policy function is of the same order of magnitude as the size of the Euler equation residuals. Moreover, for bounding this approximation error the most relevant parameters are the discount factor and the curvature of the return function. These findings provide theoretical foundations for the construction of tests to assess the performance of alternative computational methods.