When the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group was established, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) was

Despite the very extensive literature on dropout from higher education, much remains unknown about the nature of the dropout process. In large measure, the failure of past research to delineate more clearly the multiple characteristics of dropout can be traced to two major shortcomings; namely, inadequate atten-tion given to questions of definition and to the development of theoretical models that seek to explain, not simply to describe, the processes that bring individuals to leave institutions of higher education. With regard to the former, inadequate attention given to definition has often led researchers to lump together, under the rubric of dropout, forms of leaving behavior that are very differ-ent in character. It is not uncommon to find, for instance, research on dropout that fails to distinguish dropout resulting from academic failure from that which is the outcome of voluntary withdrawal. Nor is it uncommon to find permanent dropouts placed together with persons whose leaving may be temporary in I am indebted to my research assistant, John B. Cullen, for having made an extensive literature search and compiling summaries of the literature for me. I am also indebted to Professors Peter Moock, to John Weidman, and to an unknown reviewer for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The work reported here overlaps to a large extent work performed for the Office of

This article discusses the conduct and evaluation of interpretive research in information systems. While the conventions for evaluating information systems case studies conducted according to the natural science model of social science are now widely accepted, this is not the case for interpretive field studies. A set of principles for the conduct and evaluation of interpretive field research in information systems is proposed, along with their philosophical rationale. The usefulness of the principles is illustrated by evaluating three published interpretive field studies drawn from the IS research literature. The intention of the paper is to further reflection and debate on the important subject of grounding interpretive research methodology.

PVS is a prototype system for writing specifications and constructing proofs. Its development has been shaped by our experiences studying or using several other systems and performing a number of rather substantial formal verifications (e.g., [5,6,8]). PVS is fully implemented and freely available. It has been used to construct proofs of nontrivial difficulty with relatively modest amounts of human effort. Here, we describe some of the motivation behind PVS and provide some details of the system. Automated reasoning systems typically fall in one of two classes: those that provide powerful automation for an impoverished logic, and others that feature expressive logics but only limited automation. PVS attempts to tread the middle ground between these two classes by providing mechanical assistance to support clear and abstract specifications, and readable yet sound proofs for difficult theorems. Our goal is to provide mechanically-checked specificati

Abstract not found

Nobody wants to use technology to recreate education as it is, yet there is not much to distinguish what goes on in most computer-supported classrooms versus traditional classrooms. Kay (1991) has suggested that the phenomenon of reframing innovations to recreate the familiar is itself commonplace. Thus, one sees all manner of powerful technology (Hypercard, CD-ROM, Lego Logo, and so forth) used to conduct shopworn school activities: copying material from one resource into another (e.g., using Hypercard to assemble sound and visual bites produced by others), and following step-by-step procedures (e.g., creating Lego Logo machines by following steps in a manual). With new technologies, student-generated collages and reproductions appear more inventive and sophisticated-with impressive displays of sound, video, and typography-but from a cognitive perspective, it is not clear what, if any, knowledge content has been processed by the students. In this chapter we offer a suggestion for how to escape the pattern of reinventing the familiar with educational technology. Knowledge-building discourse is at the heart of the superior education that we have in mind. We argue that the classroom needs to foster

Abstract not found

Abstract not found

Abstract not found

Many prominent theorists have argued that accurate perceptions of the self, the world, and the future are essential for mental health. Yet considerable research evidence suggests that overly positive selfevaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism are characteristic of normal human thought. Moreover, these illusions appear to promote other criteria of mental health, including the ability to care about others, the ability to be happy or contented, and the ability to engage in productive and creative work. These strategies may succeed, in large part, because both the social world and cognitive-processing mechanisms impose filters on incoming information that distort it in a positive direction; negative information may be isolated and represented in as unthreatening a manner as possible. These positive illusions may be especially useful when an individual receives negative feedback or is otherwise threatened and may be especially adaptive under these circumstances. Decades of psychological wisdom have established contact with reality as a hallmark of mental health. In this view, the wcU-adjusted person is thought to engage in accurate reality testing, whereas the individual whose vision is clouded by illusion is regarded as vulnerable to, if not already a victim of, mental illness. Despite its plausibility, this viewpoint is increasingly difficult to maintain (cf. Lazarus, 1983). A substantial amount of research testifies to the prevalence of illusion in normal human