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Mike Murphy: The association between parental fertility, disrupted childhood and siblings' fertility with early childbearing in contemporary Denmark

We examine the fertility experience of about one million people born in Denmark between 1960 and 1975 using the register data in Statistics Denmark. We confirm that the positive relationship between fertility of successive generations remains in these recent cohorts. This relationship holds for both men and women with the sibship sizes of both natural and half sibs and with number of older and younger sibs. Birth order effects also exist. We find that living without natural parents at age 15 is associated with early childbearing, but the effect lar¬gely disappears after age 23. We find there is no difference in whether the father or mother is absent, but that effects are larger for daughters than for sons. Fertility of sibs has a substantial effect on a person's own fertility, com¬parable in magnitude to that of parents.

This chapter explores the role of universities in job creation. It does this by taking two approaches. The first is to look at how the university sees its role as expanding from traditional first and second mission activities to encompass third mission activities including industry engagement and how this supports job creation and economic development. The second approach is to examine how new jobs are created in a geographic region or country, and the role that the university can play in support of this. Typical third mission activities such as incubators, technology transfer, and science parks are also examined; including the role of government support and incentives.

By 1921 the American sociologist Thorstein Veblen in his book The Engi-neers and the Price System argued for a technocracy in which the welfare of humanity would be entrusted to the control of the engineers because they alone were competent to understand the complexities of the industrial system and processes and thereby optimize and maximize its output. This chapter sets out to explore the extent to which Veblen's technocratic leadership thesis has come to pass. We first review the role of the engineer in society and in the context of Europe, the US and China, and examine the influence of the engineering profession on the management and economic welfare of nations. Second we review trends in engineering education and formation in Europe, China and the US, and the substantive developmental role of the Grand Écoles in 18th-century France. A comparison is made between the economies of Ireland and China, in the context of their recent economic performance. Third a review of commentary on the interconnectedness of world economies and shift in economic power from nineteenth century United King-dom market dominance to twentieth century United States supremacy and to present day emergence of China as the world's second largest and fastest growing economy, is made in the context of the role of engineering leadership. We finally ponder whether a hybrid political environment, with blending of meritocracy with technocratic leadership and moderated by non-engineering influences, might be a recipe for sustained economic success of nations.

This paper begins by setting out the rationale for why today's university must be involved with job creation in terms of institutional mission and global competitiveness. We present a review of recent literature, from both sides of the Atlantic, regarding universities, technology and science parks and job creation. Measuring the impact of university actions is reviewed in terms of general criteria, impact of incubators, and where jobs are being created. A case study of Silicon Valley is reviewed as well as a discussion of roles that government might play. The paper concludes with the presentation of findings from the literature review and the lessons learned from them. Finally the authors advance a set of recommendations for universities as they address this increasingly important imperative. This paper should be of interest to university administrators seeking to refine or broaden third mission activities.

This paper describes the European Bologna process, provides a 'mid-term' review of its implementation status and discusses its possible positive and negative impacts on US – European links in the fields of engineering and technology education. The first section of this paper describes the meaning and rationale behind each of the Bologna objectives, and why there is a need to establish a European area of higher education. It also comments on how these objectives are interpreted within educational institutions. The second section provides a mid-term report on the implementation status within European universities, focussed primarily on engineering and technology education. The third section of this paper describes the issues associated with successfully implementing Bologna in engineering and technology education. These include critical issues such as degree structure, how educational institutions are addressing the two-cycle requirement, the employability of first cycle graduates, and quality enhancement at both an institutional and a national level. The final section outlines the implications and impacts for US – European institutional co-operation and links, particularly in the area of student exchange.

In exploring the epistemology of engineering science we propose a model of engineering. This model incorporates the goals of engineering, the approach to engineering (also called the engineering method) and the role of experience in engi-neering. The basis for understanding the nature of engineering science will be ex-plored, and will be contrasted with natural science. To begin, a large-scale engi-neering project that was successfully completed in Ireland many years ago is dis-cussed - specifically, the development of a megalithic passage tomb as an exemplar of the engineering method in structural design, project management and aesthetics. This exemplar firmly demonstrates that engineering method existed before the de-velopment and understanding of the relevant natural science. We next contrast the nature of engineering or engineering science and natural science. This discussion will further develop the engineering model, but will contrast the philosophical dif-ferences between engineering and science. We then return to build upon the 'engi-neering model' through the modern day exemplar of the development of the jet engine, demonstrating that invariably multiple factors, including creative design initiatives from different sources, global, political, economic and cultural circum-stance, and the passage of time contribute to the evolution and success (or failure) of large sustainable scientific and engineering projects. In conclusion, the engineering model is mapped to a philosophical model demonstrating that philosophy is as rele¬vant to engineering as it is to other fields.

In exploring the epistemology of engineering science, we propose a model of engineering. This model incorporates the goals of engineering, the approach to engineering (also called the engineering method) and the role of experience in engineering. The basis for understanding the nature of engineering science will be explored, and will be contrasted with natural science. To begin, a large-scale engineering project that was successfully completed in Ireland many years ago is discussed - specifically, the development of a megalithic passage tomb as an exemplar of the engineering method in structural design, project management and aesthetics. This exemplar firmly demonstrates that engineering method existed before the development and understanding of the relevant natural science. We next contrast the nature of engineering or engineering science and natural science. This discussion will further develop the engineering model, but will contrast the philosophical differences between engineering and science. We then return to build upon the 'engineering model' through the modern day exemplar of the development of the jet engine, demonstrating that invariably multiple factors, including creative design initiatives from different sources, global, political, economic and cultural circumstance, and the passage of time contribute to the evolution and success (or failure) of large sustainable scientific and engineering projects. In conclusion, the engineering model is mapped to a philosophical model demonstrating that philosophy is as relevant to engineering as it is to other fields.

Whilst considering the context to which public transport is planned in Ireland and internationally, the research has been concerned with studying the methodology and the roles of key stakeholders for the planning, implementation, management and operation of public transport projects in order to gauge the efficiency and suitability of the Irish planning process in relation to our international counterparts The paper will present principal findings from structured interviews undertaken with key stakeholders involved in the Irish process and will provide a basis for debating the issues raised as a consequence of these interviews. Key issues raised include: 1) the possible complexity of the planning process in Ireland, 2) the role of political agendas in the decision making process; and, 3) the governance and institutional arrangements for planning public transport projects in Ireland in contrast to other international countries.