Conducting Large‐Scale Surveys in Secondary Schools: The Case of the Youth On Religion (YOR) Project

There are few published articles on conducting large‐scale surveys in secondary schools, and this paper seeks to fill this gap. Drawing on the experiences of the Youth On Religion project, it discusses the politics of gaining access to these schools and the considerations leading to the adoption and administration of an online survey. It is concluded that successful research in schools has to be planned carefully in collaboration with key members of staff, and justified as an educational activity. Providing speedy feedback was helpful to ensure schools benefited from the research and to keep them engaged with the project. © 2011 The Author(s). Children & Society © 2011 National Children’s Bureau and Blackwell Publishing Limited     

Comparing Social Work Students’ Perceptions of Risk Using Online Discussion Fora: Lessons Learned from a European Pilot Project

Comparisons of international child welfare systems have identified two basic orientations to practice; a ‘child protection’ orientation and a ‘child welfare’ orientation, which are founded upon fundamentally different values and assumptions regarding the family, the origins of childcare problems, and the proper role of the state in relation to the family. This paper describes a project which sought to compare how undergraduate social work students from three European Universities perceive risk in referrals about the welfare of children and to explore the impact of different cultural, ideological and educational contexts on the way in which risk is constructed by students. Students from Northern Ireland, Germany and Poland examined three vignettes via 10 online discussion fora each of which provided a narrative summary of their discussion. The paper presents some findings from the analysis of the qualitative data emerging from the student discussions and draws out the lessons learned in terms of how the project was designed and implemented using online discussion fora.     

基于在线算法的改进指数梯度投资组合策略

弱集成算法是对专家意见进行动态加权平均的在线学习算法。近年来,机器学习和人工智能等方法被用来研究在线投资组合问题。该文从弱集成算法的在线学习及其序列决策性角度出发,设计改进的指数梯度在线投资组合策略,以弥补指数梯度在线投资组合策略不能结合交易费用进行分析的缺陷。首先根据指数梯度在线投资组合策略的更新方法构建代表投资策略的专家意见池,并以此为基础应用弱集成算法加权集成专家意见得到改进的指数梯度在线投资组合策略,证明了该策略可与最优专家策略(基准策略)相媲美。其次将交易费用引入到改进的指数梯度在线投资组合策略中,进一步给出对应的投资策略,重要的是理论上证明了该策略实现的平均累积收益与最优专家策略实现的平均累积收益之间的差值存在渐进式下界,从而提高了指数梯度在线投资组合策略的实用性。最后利用国内外股票市场的历史数据进行实证分析,说明了改进的指数梯度在线投资组合策略的可行性和有效性。     

Evaluation in the Social Studies

Online role-playing games such as World Of Warcraft represent new participatory cultures in which today's students engage every day. They are appealing to players largely because of the social aspects of game play. Some features of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) can be incorporated into classroom culture to create more dynamic interactions between students and improve both content instruction and civic competence.     

Women Auto Know: Automotive knowledge,auto activism,and women's online car advice

Although women influence nearly 85 percent of new car sales, their experience at automotive dealerships differs significantly from that of men. Not only are women subject to sexist and patronizing behavior from automotive personnel, but they also often wind up paying considerably more for a vehicle than a male customer. In the past two decades, the Internet has evolved as a significant source of automotive information and advice. While the majority of car advice websites offer guidance to the general public, a handful address the automotive concerns of the female driver. These sites are significant not only for the information they make accessible to female visitors, but for what women gain—as drivers, consumers, and political actors—by reading them. This paper examines four popular websites that cater specifically to the woman driver. Calling upon feminist epistemologies, it demonstrates how such online locations empower women to become more informed drivers and consumers through the accumulation and distribution of women's automotive knowledge. Not only does this automotive knowledge aid women as negotiators, but it also provides them with the tools necessary to radically transform the hostile auto dealership culture, ultimately benefiting all in the market for an automobile.     

我国定期存贷款利率期权隐含波动率研究

拓展Jiang和Tian[1]模型获得了看涨看跌期权的无模型隐含波动率的理论表达式.并对理论表达式做了进一步处理,获得满足实际应用需要的计算表达式.根据无套利原理,由当前商业银行不同期限存贷款利率构造出不同执行价的看涨和看跌期权,再运用3次曲线拟合的方法,获得满足实际应用需要的一系列看涨和看跌期权；最后计算得到5年期定...     

Mapping the social geographies of autism – online and off-line narratives of neuro-shared and separate spaces

This paper draws together empirical work that has been produced by the authors in two different autistic spaces: the Swedish magazine Empowerment produced by and aimed at adults with autism, and English-speaking autistic communities online. While the two points of data collection are quite different, there are important points of commonality that enable us to explore central issues concerning autistic and neurotypical space and the meanings assigned to these in different contexts. The paper aims to introduce the notion of social geographies of autism, based on talks among adults with autism and a social movement to promote autistic identities, giving examples from our previous work that has spanned both online and off-line spaces. Key issues discussed in the paper include a focus on autistic political platforms and the carving out of both social and political spaces for people with autism. In doing so, neuro-separate and neuro-shared spaces must be negotiated.     

Student Perspectives of Online Discussions: Strengths and Weaknesses

SUMMARY

Limited research exists that examines student perceptions of online discussions in fully online classes. This is a report of initial investigation into undergraduate distance education majors' perspectives of the pedagogical value of online discussions. Over a two semester period (Spring and Fall, 2003), students taking the same online course delivered using Web Course Tools (WebCT) were surveyed regarding opinions of online discussions. The students surveyed were undergraduate students enrolled in a fully online degree program at New Mexico State University (NMSU). Although limitations exist due to small sample size and a non-standardized data collection instrument, findings from this exploratory study offer insight into undergraduate distance education student opinions of the strengths and weaknesses of online discussions as a pedagogical tool.     

The School Success Profile Online

SUMMARY

This article provides an overview of the purposes, development, and implementation of the School Success Profile Online (SSP)–a computerized, self-report survey for middle and high school students. The SSP takes advantage of World Wide Web technology and the increasing access of public schools to computers and the Internet to assess students' perceptions of their neighborhoods, schools, peers, and families, as well as their own psychological and physical health and school performance. The individual and group profiles generated by the SSP can help school social workers identify areas of concern, plan their interventions with students, and evaluate the impact of their efforts at the end of interventions.