Socially Diverse Polis: Social and School Exclusion

This paper addresses the questions of citizenship in socially diverse polities. Such issues are presently not dealt with adequately because social scientists, parliamentarians and policy makers do not have an informed view which is relevant for the governance of stable democratic systems which embody cultural diversities. The role of social policy systems in ensuring equity in the delivery of services is important in ensuring the citizenship rights of all groups in society.

At the present time economic policies have created a culture of winners and losers which makes the efforts of schools more difficult.

The schools and the educational systems face the challenge of creating a common and shared values orientation on the diversities in the polity. Such communities also present the schools with immense possibilities, if teacher education, school policies and practice, curriculum and classroom organisation can be optimised. Such measures may help obviate the school exclusion of specific groups.     

University Presidents’ Perceptions and Practice Regarding the Carrying of Concealed Handguns on College Campuses

Abstract

Objective: To assess the perceptions and practices of a national sample of college and university presidents regarding their support for concealed handguns being carried on college campuses. Participants: The sample for this study consisted of a national random sample of 900 college or university presidents. Methods: In the spring of 2013, a 3-wave mailing procedure was used to ensure an adequate response rate to a valid and reliable questionnaire. Results: The response rate was 46%, more than what was needed based on the power analysis. The vast majority (95%) of respondents were not supportive of carrying concealed handguns on campuses. They perceived there to be more disadvantages than advantages to handguns on campus. However, college administrators were not focused enough on the primary prevention of campus firearm trauma. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest a number of activities that could be implemented to enhance safety on college and university campuses.     

Approximate tests of hypotheses in regression models with grouped data

Techniques for testing hypotheses about parameters in the regression models under the situation of grouped data are provided. A test statistic similar to conventional F statistic is considered. A simulation study performed for a few cases shows that the proposed statistic has an approximate F distribution and is useful in applications.     

Optimization in statistics: an overview

This note presents a brief overview of the applications of optimization techniques in statistics. Optimizing techniques are broadly classified as classical, variational, numerical, and mathematical programming. A brief discussion of their applications to statistics is given, and a few references are provided for illustrative purposes.     

Religion,human rights and intercultural education

Religions in the contemporary world are Janus-faced institutions. They have the potential of being positive forces but also the capacity of being negative forces. Educators can use the positive aspects and dimensions of religion to foster interfaith and intercultural understandings. In this respect, educators can use the human rights instruments that most nations have approved to ensure that the legal and secular basis of the state provides safety and security to all faiths. This paper discusses these issues and the role of intercultural education in facilitating interfaith education and understanding.     

Dilution of ownership in multinational concerns

This paper examines the issue of ownership dilution of foreign operations on a voluntary or involuntary basis. Involving some 628 cases of foreign ownership dilution by British multinationals in various parts of the world, the paper highlights two main aspects: (1) the degree of dilution, and (2) the geographical spread.A framework of corporate policies on ownership dilution and foreign investment policies of host nations involved has been developed. Twenty-one cases of changes in national and corporate policies are monitored for the entire operational period of these investments. Since some of the statistics obtained during the study are still being consolidated, the findings are not wholly conclusive.