Information technology (IT) has become a strategic vehicle for small businesses to achieve and sustain their competitive advantage. Prior research has suggested that information technology plays an important role in the decision-making process. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between organizational IT performance and…

In the first part of this dissertation, we study the competition among network service providers in a parallel-link network with the presence of elastic user demand that diminishes both with higher prices and congestion. First we analyze a game where providers strategically price their service for single class of traffic. Later we analyze a game…

Since they were enacted in 1998, the "anti-circumvention" provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), codified in section 1201 of the Copyright Act, have not been used as Congress envisioned. Congress meant to stop copyright infringers from defeating anti-piracy protections added to copyrighted works and to ban…

Discontent with failed, top-down reform and the immediate prospect of political change have created a rare opportunity to reinvent education policy and to think afresh about how teachers and children should be encouraged to develop their full potential. "The Pendulum Swings" explores alternative, genuinely transformative conceptions of…

Data from speed skating during World Cup 1,500-m middle-distance races were analyzed to (a) determine the time/velocity distribution during the race and (b) assess the impact of time spent in several race sectors on performance outcome. Absolute and relative sector times for the first 300 m (S1) and the following three 400-m laps (S2-S4) and their…

Amusement park physics is a popular way to reinforce physics concepts and to motivate physics learners. This article describes a novel physics competition where students use simple tools to take amusement park ride measurements and use the data to answer challenging exam questions. Research into the impact of participating in the competition…

The purpose of this paper is to provide educators and counselors with a framework for understanding the academic self-concepts of gifted students. As academic self-concept is theoretically linked with other constructs, including academic achievement and aspirations, it is vital that educators and counselors are aware of the experiences gifted…

Hosting an engineering competition can bring great success to a technology department. Development and planning of an event can prove frustrating at times, but it pays off in the end. The author describes the first-ever engineering competition held at Maple Avenue Middle School in Saratoga Springs, New York, which provided an evening of creative…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of human resource development (HRD) for law firms in the UK. It examines how the characteristics of legal professional practice in the UK, including the partnership structure, long established methods of targeting solicitors and the law society, may act as barriers to the…

A new form of bare pedagogy is emerging in higher education focused on market-driven competitiveness and even militaristic goal-setting, while critical pedagogy, with its emphasis on the hard work of critical analysis, moral judgments, and social responsibility (critical pedagogy that goes to the very heart of what it means to address real…

The experimental examination applied in the 40th International Physics Olympiad held in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, is presented. The examination consisted of two parts: (1) based on the measurements of a diffraction pattern produced by a diode laser impinging on a sharp edge of a razor blade, the students were asked to estimate the wavelength of the…

The past two decades have been a period of far-reaching policy experimentation in state financing of higher education. Between 1986 and 1999, 21 states adopted prepaid college tuition plans. Thirty-one states adopted some form of college savings plan. Both kinds of policies were designed to enhance the affordability of higher education during a…

Manufacturers often claim that their particular toothbrush design is better than the competitors, but is it? As a result, engineers must consider the economic issues involved with selling the products they create, as well as their functionality: to produce the best possible toothbrush regardless of cost, or the toothbrush that will sell the most,…

Demand is far outpacing resources in one hot segment of the education innovation market, as districts, schools, and nonprofit organizations pitch reform proposals worth $12.8 billion for competitive grants to be awarded under the federal Investing in Innovation Fund, or "i3"--nearly 20 times what the U.S. Department of Education has available. The…

High EdWell aware of the growing importance of the global university ranking exercises, many governments in East Asia have introduced different strategies to benchmark with leading universities in order to enhance the global competitiveness of their universities. With strong determination to do better in such global ranking exercises, universities…