Abstract IT Research Articles

A note on the distribution of income in the USSR under Gorbachev

IT IS WELL KNOWN that the availability of published economic statistics has greatly improved under Gorbachev.' One important field where this has taken place, which does not yet appear to have received attention in the academic literature, is that of income distribution. Soviet publications have now begun to provide not just derived statistics (e.g. about decile ratios) but the underlying data themselves. Data on the distribution of income in the USSR in 1988 are set out in Table 1. They are based on the family budget surveys undertaken by Goskomstat.

Political Decisions Where the Technical Component is Substantial

IT IS THE BURDEN OF CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE AND technology to produce change at a rate, and of a scale and character, which is genuinely without precedent. Science and technology have between them made the world a smaller and inescapably interdependent place, and as catalysts and instruments of change they are far from finished yet. In fact, the introduction into industrial societies of systematic research, development and innovation, as contrasted with the more or less serendipitous activity of invention, bids fair to being one of the few major benchmarks of history. It is also a benchmark to which political systems, and above all the international system (if one may so dignify what is still in many respects a rag-bag) have still fully to accommodate themselves.

The Concept of ‘Ideological Struggle’: Some Soviet Interpretations

IT IS NOW OFTEN SAID THAT THE MODERN WORLD IS interdependent, that there is an intensive interaction of military, political, economic and other factors in the world. There is no doubt that one of the most important aspects of this interaction process is the international flow of information, and that political ideas have a special place in that exchange of information.What follows is an attempt to look at some phases in the development of the Soviet perception of Western non-socialist political ideas over the past few years. As is generally known, Soviet ideologists have often emphasized the need for ideological struggle against these non-Marxist, bourgeois political ideas, and they continue to do this even in the present period of perestroika. At the same time it is obvious that major changes are taking place in Soviet political thought.

Hume on Development: the First Volumes of the History of England

IT IS often said that we do not understand development, the manner in which less developed countries (LDCs) are transformed into nations with prosperous economies and stable political institutions. If we glance at nations such as Panama or the Philippines today we see stagnant economies plagued by cronyism, inflation, and a radical insecurity of property, aggravated by insurgencies which threaten what little stability exists. Private armies are common and in some places seem to afford the only security. Development economists recommend massive infusions of foreign aid, which is supposed to help build the capital infrastructure for a modern economy, but often the major result is wasteful spending together with large dollar accounts in foreign banks for the politically influential and their cronies. Our puzzlement over development, in short, was summed up a dozen years ago by a distinguished economist and political scientist who wrote:

Integrating Microcomputers into the History Curriculum

IT IS SURPRISING TODAY to find large numbers of university students, especially among those studying history, for whom the computer remains a mystery and a fearful one at that. At the same time, many of these students intuitively feel the computer is important. The result is a strange combination of feelings: a feeling of inadequacy coupled with frustration often buttressed by a heavy dose of anger at the insurmountable technical knowledge seemingly demanded by today's hi-tech environment. It was to deal with these sentiments that we decided to organize a course which would focus on the use of computers for students of history. Both of us had used computers, especially the behemoth mainframes, and had required computer-based research in some courses using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)I software and databases that we had developed for our own research. We also had substantial experience with micro computers. We decided that given the recent availability of micros and appropriate software both inside the university and in the workplace, we would focus on their use. In the back of our minds lurked the idea that such skills would enhance the students' confidence to deal with the increasingly computerized workplace. We also began with a belief that the course should not focus solely on computers and computer methodologies. Instead we wanted to focus on the study of history using computers. We wanted to avoid the dangers involved in unnecessary reliance on computers: the churning out of

Relaxation of infinite dimensional control systems

IT IS well known that convexity is crucial in the solution of optimal control problems. Namely, if the orientor field determined from the deparametrization operation is convex valued and satisfies some kind of set valued upper semicontinuity hypothesis, then one can prove the existence of optimal controls. The first such existence result was proved by Filippov [ 141 for a time-optimal control problem in IR”, with a control vector field that is continuously differentiable in the state variable [ 14, theorem 11. In that same paper, Filippov presents an example of a time optimal control problem that does not satisfy the convexity hypothesis and so does not have an optimal solution (see Section V of [14]). What happens in that example, is that the minimizing sequence of optimal controls (u,( -)I, z , , rapidly oscillates between + 1 and 1, remaining at each value for the same length of time. Then the Dirac measures 6u,(-), converge weakly (narrowly in the Bourbaki terminology), to the probability distribution &I, + $3_, . This suggests that we have to consider an extension of the original variational problem with measured valued controls, which satisfies the convexity requirement. This extension of control problems, was introduced independently by Gamkrelidze [15], Ghouila-Houri [ 171 and Warga [27]. Gamkrelidze called the controls of the extended problem “sliding regimes” or “chattering controls”, while Warga called them “relaxed controls”. Here we follow the terminology of Warga, which appears to be more widely used, at least in the western literature. We should also mention that other existence results like theorem 1 of Filippov [14] were also proved by Roxin [24] and Wazewski [29]. Later Berkovitz, Cesari, Olech and others improved those results. A very lucid account of the existing theory with complete bibliographical information, can be found in the books of Berkovitz [2] (in particular Chapters III and IV) and Cesari [12]. A detailed study of the relaxed problem, can also be found in the books of Gamkrelidze [ 161 and Warga [28], In the late sixties, Cesari in a series of important papers (see [8-111 and the references therein), addressed the question of existence of optimal controls for distributed parameter systems. Throughout his existence results, Cesari had a convexity hypothesis in the form of the well known by now, property (Q). Our work in this paper can be viewed to a certain extend, as a continuation of the work of Cesari 18-l 11. Namely we examine what happens when the con_ _ vexity hypothesis is no longer satisfied. If this is the case, then we can always convexify the orientor field and this in a control theoretic level corresponds to the introduction of time

Explaining Government Contraction: a Demand-Side Model for Education in the States

IT IS RARE that a major governmental function contracts in size. Indeed, supply-side theories of governmental size suggest that growth is an inevitable result of various government processes, e.g., bureacratic expansionism (Niskanen 1971; Borcherding 1971), interest group interaction (Downs 1957; Lewis-Beck and Rice 1985), productivity lags in the public sector (Baumol 1967), fiscal illusion (Wagner 1976; Cameron 1978), and the cumulative unintentional consequences of past government activities (Davis, Dempster, and Wildavsky 1974). Yet educational spending of American state and local governments has declined over the last decade in relation to the national economy. Educational spending as a percent of total personal income in the United States rose from 3 percent in 1952 to its peak of 7 percent in 1976, and has since leveled off at about 5.6 percent through 1984 (see Figure 1). This pat-

Work Study Volume 37 Issue 10

IT IS TO BE hoped that by the time these words are being read the dispute over the Electricians' Union and the TUC will have been solved; and, we hope, with satisfaction to both parties.

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT IN THE HEALTH SERVICE

IT IS increasingly realised that property is a valuable asset which, if badly managed, can be an impediment to good practice, and a burden, in the National Health Service. But at the same time it represents an important resource which, together with finance and manpower, provides the means whereby health services are provided, improved or extended.

Catholic Conservatives, Population, and the Family in Twentieth Century France

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO STUDY the Catholic approach to population problems without locating it in a specific social context. Philosophers and theologians study ideas and beliefs in and of themselves; social historians insist on the inextricable link between ideas and the people who hold them. Ideas exist hic et nunc, and their meaning varies with time and place. From this perspective, it is particularly interesting to look at the case of twentieth century France, since Catholics have played an important part in the adoption of French pronatalist and family policies. This is so despite the fact that in political terms, Catholics constitute a minority in France. Although France is said to be a Catholic country, the political scene during much of the Third Republic (1870-1940) was dominated by anticlerical Republicans. Indeed the very success of the Republic has been perceived as a defeat of Catholic politics. Consequently, in the political sphere at the end of the nineteenth century, the weakness of French Catholics was more evident than their strength. How, then, did Catholics in the twentieth century manage to realize a family policy that embodied most of their aims? We must make some preliminary distinctions before beginning to answer this question. The first point to make is that it is impossible to speak of French Catholics at the turn of the century as a unity. They were profoundly divided not only on political issues, but even on religious matters. Actually, their conflicting political views were the consequence of conflicting conceptions of life and religion. As seen from abroad, or as seen from the point of view of French Republicans or Protestants, French Catholicism might have appeared to be homogeneous. It certainly was not. One faction obstinately opposed the Republic as a form of government and, indeed, as the embodiment of a set of principles, a philosophy, a way of life counter to Catholic values. Another faction opposed Republican anticlerical policies, but progressively accepted the principles of

Medieval Timber and Earthwork Fortifications in Western Ireland

IT IS BECOMING increasingly apparent that conventional classification schemes for medieval timber and earthwork fortifications in Ireland are compromised by two factors. First they depend upon ethn...

Neutrality and Security Policy as Components of the Swiss Model

IT IS NOT SO EASY TO DETECT THE SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE Helvetian model in the Switzerland of today. They should rather be sought in what has made Switzerland what it is in seven centuries of the association of different communities, often disunited, fiercely determined to maintain their own sovereignty and independence. Switzerland was born from the conviction that only a system of collective security would in the long term assure to each community the liberty to which all aspired. It was a double liberty: that which was threatened by external aggression, and that which had to be preserved against interference from those which one was committed to succour. For, in binding themselves, from the second half of the thirteenth century, by successive treaties of alliance, the first confederated cantons in no way surrendered their own liberties.The system of collective security thus set up in the thirteenth century was the cornerstone on which Switzerland was built, its spinal column. The engagements formed in the pact of 1291 were set out in a few lines, and are still valid seven centuries later. They have certainly enabled the Confederation to stand up to external danger almost until the end of the Ancien Régime in 1798. It is these secular experiences in matters of collective security which have inspired and, after many changes, fashioned modern Swiss security policy.

JAMA Student Body: High School to Postdoctoral

IT ISN'T LISTED among the nation's colleges and universities, and no team wearing its colors will appear on a foot-ball field this fall, but in pursuit of its educational missionTHE JOURNALhas a student body of its own. There is the Morris Fishbein Fellowship in Medical Journalism, a one-year program for physicians of working with JAMA 's editorial and production staff in Chicago. JAMA 's tenth Fishbein Fellow will be named next March 15 for the July 1, 1988, through June 30, 1989, fellowship year. Applications must be received no later than Jan 15. Then there is the senior elective program for medical students, who work with the JAMA staff for two or more months. The most recent to complete the program came from Houston and Philadelphia, and two more reported to work this month. Interested students may write to George D. Lundberg, MD, the editor, indicating when they

Work Study Volume 36 Issue 8

IT IS AXIOMATIC that journals like WORK STUDY leave politics severely alone. This is but sensible: whichever you praise, you will most certainly offend some of your readers. They are a cross‐section of the population and how they think (or vote) is their own business. It is not ours to inquire, nor, most certainly not to condemn.

Differentiability and topology of labyrinths in the disc and annulus

IT IS WELL-KNOWN that vector fields on the disc, or more generally on a planar surface, do not exhibit complicated global phenomena: by the Poincare-Bendixson theorem, every recurrent orbit is either a singularity or a simple closed curve. The situation is completely different for line fields. In particular, it was shown in [6] that it is possible for an orbit of a line field to lose itself in a labyrinth, i.e. to enter a disc and stay inside for ever without either going to a singularity or spiralling towards a compact cycle. Line fields in the disc and the annulus were studied and classified in [6], under the assumption that the singularities are thorns and tripods. It was also asked in [6] to what extent line fields with nontrivial recurrence can be differentiable. We intend in this paper first to partially answer this question, then to extend the classification in [6] to the case when singularities are thorns and saddles with any number of prongs. First we discuss differentiability. There are several natural definitions of C’differentiability for singular line fields (even for orientable ones). First one can require the line field to be C’ in the complement of the singularities; it was pointed out in [6] that being C” in this sense does not restrict the dynamics of the foliation. Another notion of differentiability imposes strong C’ local models near the singularities (see 92). Assuming C2-differentiability in this sense, we prove that the Poincart-Bendixson theorem continues to hold; that is, every orbit entering a disc and staying inside has to go to a singularity or spiral towards a compact cycle. The proof is inspired in part by Denjoy’s theorem about C2 vector fields on the torus. This is in sharp contrast with the fact due to Cherry [l], that on the torus minus a disc there are vector fields (Cm in the above sense) where every orbit coming in from the boundary stays inside forever and does not spiral towards a compact cycle. A very interesting question is whether the Poincare-Bendixson theorem continues to hold for line fields with hyperbolic-type singularities; by this we mean that the natural holonomy maps obtained by following a separatrix through a singularity are of the same form as for hyperbolic vector fields. In $3 and $4 of this paper, we extend the results of [6] to line fields with thorns and n-prong saddles. For the disc, the situation is not essentially different from the case of thorns and tripods. However, for the annulus, the study is quite different and more complicated. In both cases, we obtain a topological structure theorem for the foliation. In several instances the proofs we give simplify arguments in [6].

English Dialects and Folklore:A Neglected Heritage

IT IS a privilege, and indeed a pleasure, to speak on this annual occasion commemorating the life and work of Dr. Katharine Briggs who was a staunch champion of folklore studies and a tireless ambassador of the Folklore Society both in the British Isles and overseas. She did much to maintain the standards of British folklore scholarship, not least in the uneasy years of transition during which both the discipline and the Folklore Society itself faced the challenge of new approaches and of changing attitudes which characterise the second century of their existence. The years following the end of the Second World War, coinciding almost exactly with the centenary of the establishment of the term folklore, offer very different though equally exciting prospects, not only for scholars today but also for the future. At times of rapid change such as that in which we now live, the study of our contemporary language and traditions and of their development over many centuries, though worthwhile and rewarding in itself, can also serve much more practical functions. By searching into the traditions practised today, and recognising their firm anchorage in history, folklorists can provide reassurance by identifying the structures and patterns which impart a sense of stability and permanence to our culture. It is to these established frameworks that we instinctively turn when the bewildering variety and speed of change threaten to overwhelm the institutions which lie at the heart of our traditional way of life. A fuller and deeper knowledge of our traditions, and a recognition of their importance in our everyday lives, can be instrumental in countering the destructive forces of anomie, while at the same time helping us to come to terms with the present, and suggesting practical steps for the maintenance of our cultural identity in the future. Such an approach to the study of our cultural traditions is essentially dynamic and forward-looking. Rather than looking back with nostalgia and sentiment to a vanished past which so often seems to be presented by writers on folklore as a perpetual golden age, our approach should focus attention on the present and the future, but without losing sight of the historical depth of tradition on which our culture is so firmly based. At the present time there is unprecedented public interest in all aspects of the English heritage as people from all walks of life cast around for whatever elements of that heritage may offer them a sense of belonging-a means of identifying themselves as individuals within a framework of tradition established over many centuries. Consciously or otherwise we continue to seek for whichever manifestations of 'the English way of life' offer us at least a temporary sense of security amidst the flux of change. Paradoxically it is often the case that this sense of the long history and apparent permanence of our cherished institutions is so deeply ingrained in our consciousness that we tend to take them for granted. Indeed the study of our language and folklore, those twin pillars on which the whole fabric of our cultural traditions rests, suffers from a quite extraordinary neglect. This is all the more remarkable at a time when there is such a high level of public interest in both.

Work Study Volume 35 Issue 8

IT IS AN AXIOM that engineers never stop learning. Every fresh job is a fresh challenge that must be met and overcome.

‘Fire, fire’, be it in Noah’s Flood

IT IS A COMMONPLACE THAT BRITISH POLITICS ARE AT PRESENT less consensual, and more polarized ideologically, than they have been for a generation. It is also a commonplace that the ideological polarization of the 1980s has its roots in the economic and political failures of the 1960s and 1970s.

Work Study Volume 34 Issue 9

IT IS QUITE a few years ago that we reported cases of university graduates forced to take jobs as labourers or suchlike because no other work was available. Indeed, our editorial last month dealt with such a case although that one had a much happier outcome.

Work diaries as a tool for examining in-service training needs: their use with HEOs

IT IS now widely accepted that adult learners, particularly professionals, are problem oriented in their approach to and interested in the immediate application of their learning. Knowing what these problems and immediate applications are likely to be, however, is very much easier in some profession al groups than in others. Health education officers (HEOs), it is suggested, fall into the latter category. This paper describes the use of work diaries as a framework for identifying the in-service training needs of three regional groups of HEOs and considers some of the weaknesses of this approach. It con cludes that the process of feedback of the results of a diary analysis is as important as the diary data as a basis for planning training programmes.