2,584 research outputs found
A Music Programming Course for Undergraduate Music Conservatory Students: Evaluation and Lessons Learnt
No full textThis paper introduces the content and organisation of a music programming course offered to undergraduate Conservatory students in the spring of 2022. A number of evaluation procedures, including pre- and post-course questionnaires and exercises, and a final assignment have been administered by the teacher. Results indicate an increased confidence in the use of computers and programming, although some aspects of creativity and computational thinking need further revision. The authors examine the course content in light of the results obtained, discuss the followed approach, and make assumptions for the improvement of both course content and assessment methods
Integrating computational thinking with the curriculum of future professional musicians
No full textThe purpose of this study is to look at how a music programming course affects the development of computational thinking in undergraduate music conservatory students. In addition to teaching the fundamentals of computational thinking, music programming, and logic, the course addresses the Four C's of education. The change in students' attitudes toward computer and algorithmic skills, creativity, communication, and collaboration is measured using a pre-and post-test experimental design. Additionally, computational thinking abilities are assessed through the administration of music analysis, procedural, graphical, and logic quizzes, while creativity is evaluated through a qualitative grading of the students' final music projects. Results show a general perceived improvement of the students' attitudes toward the Four C's as well as a good ability to convert learned computational models into musical creativity. However, more effort is needed in order to guarantee an overall improvement in the students' actual computational thinking abilities
Stranger in our Midst::The Becoming of the Queer God in the Theology of Marcella Althaus-Reid
No full textThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the link in this record.Book description: Marcella Althaus-Reid was one of the most fascinating and controversial theologians of the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Her strong personality and her iconoclastic work inspired a whole generation of theologians in the UK and worldwide. Marcella's creative life was cut short by her death from cancer in 2009. Yet she lives on, not least in those who have been inspired by her work and continue to engage with it. "Dancing Theology in Fetish Boots" draws together a number of world-class scholars and others who engage with the main themes of Marcella's work and show how the critical and controversial conversations which Marcella has begun can and do continue. It is therefore far more than a Festschrift, but a celebration of an intellectual life Marcella-style
THE POLICY TRILEMMA AND THE FUTURE OF THE EUROZONE
No full textThe paper aims at estimating the existence of a trilemma in the Eurozone, i.e. to assess to what extent the net capital flows, the volatility of bond yields and the fiscal stance are strictly linked to each other constraining countries’ ability to manage the internal policy goals. The existence of constraints on policy alternatives is estimated for 11 Eurozone countries from 2002 till 2012. The sample is then divided into pre- (2002-2008) and post-crisis (2009-2012) periods. A further division between the PIIGS and the non-PIIGs is then applied. The results show the validity of the trilemma for the whole Euro area and for the whole period but with some distinction between the pre- and post-crisis periods and between the PIIGS and the non-PIIGS countries. The existence of the trilemma underlines the presence of national constraints and suggests, for the future existence of the Eurozone, to push towards centralized fiscal policy instruments
Does Euroscepticism or the economy drive parties’ orientation towards the European Union? A comparison between EMU and non-EMU countries
No full textSupposing that parties in EMU countries behave differently from other EU parties in supporting the integration process, this paper explores, simultaneously, the role of economic variables as well as voters’ attitudes and party characteristics in the EU positioning of European national political parties. Empirical analysis relies on CHES data for 84 parties in 14 European countries in the period 1999-2010. Fractional logistic regression results show that public Euroscepticism drives parties positioning only in the EU countries. Ideological extremism is, instead, negatively related to European integration only in the Eurozone. EU positioning is responsive to larger parties in all the countries. Among economic determinants, party support for the EU is conditioned only by price stability in Eurozone countries, while all the economic determinants affect non-Eurozone parties
Does Euroscepticism or the economy drive parties’ orientation towards the European Union? A comparison between EMU and non-EMU countries
No full textSupposing that parties in EMU countries behave differently from other EU parties in supporting the integration process, this paper explores, simultaneously, the role of economic variables as well as voters’ attitudes and party characteristics in the EU positioning of European national political parties. Empirical analysis relies on CHES data for 84 parties in 14 European countries in the period 1999-2010. Fractional logistic regression results show that public Euroscepticism drives parties positioning only in the EU countries. Ideological extremism is, instead, negatively related to European integration only in the Eurozone. EU positioning is responsive to larger parties in all the countries. Among economic determinants, party support for the EU is conditioned only by price stability in Eurozone countries, while all the economic determinants affect non-Eurozone parties
Social Support, Industrial Parks and FDI Location Choice Across Hungarian Counties
No full textThis study analyses the determinants of foreign direct investments in Hungarian
counties in the period 2001–2011. Unlike previous studies, the role of local public policies
was also tested. To this end, local government social welfare expenditures and special
economic regulations are considered in the econometric model. The results highlight the
importance of local government interventions in creating a favourable environment to
attract FDI to Hungarian counties. Furthermore, market size, labour skills and agglomeration
economies significantly influence FDI location choices
Ethnic identity and labour market outcomes of immigrants in Italy
No full textThe paper explores the relationship between ethnic identity and labour market outcomes of immigrants in Italy. Using an IV strategy to deal with endogeneity concerns, we find that the probability of being employed, both regularly or irregularly, is higher for integrated immigrants. Interestingly, our analysis shows that assimilated foreigners have no better chances of being employed than separated ones. Therefore, these results seem to suggest that public policies supporting foreigners’ assimilation to the majorities’ culture might not be effective if not combined with policies aimed at maintaining the customs and traditions of the minorities
Dynamic modelling of price expectations and judgments
No full textOfficial data about consumers’ qualitative expectation and perception of inflation are derived from repeated surveys conducted by national statistical institutes. In EU, these data are published in aggregate form, and cannot be described by means of classical methods based on cumulative models for ordinal data. This article illustrates an integrated approach that locates CUB mixture models for ratings in a time series perspective in order to investigate the joint evolution of inflation judgments and expectations in Italy. In order to measure the common sentiment of interviewees through the feeling component of the model, net of possible uncertainty and nuisance effects, its estimation is pursued through profile likelihood methods given the empirical frequency distributions of consumers’ opinions observed over time. Then, the relationship between the time series of the estimated feeling parameters is modelled using a dynamic regression model and the results are compared in three periods marked by different economic conditions. Results indicate that each series has a substantial inertial component, and thus it is characterized by a slow variation over time, and that both judgments about past price levels and previous expectations affect current expectations about the future in fairly different ways for the three time periods
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