New StatsSA releases

Retail trade sales September 2007

Retail trade sales show an increase in real terms:
Retail trade sales at constant (2000) prices, for the third quarter of 2007, showed an increase of 4,6% compared with the third quarter of 2006. Similarly, retail trade sales at constant (2000) prices, for the first nine months of 2007, increased by 7,1% compared with the first nine months of 2006. This is lower than the 9,9% growth for the first nine months of 2006 compared with the corresponding nine months of 2005.

Wholesale trade sales September 2007

Wholesale trade sales increase in real terms
Wholesale trade sales, at constant (2000) prices, for the third quarter of 2007 increased by 4,5% compared with the third quarter of 2006. Similarly, seasonally adjusted wholesale trade sales, at constant (2000) prices, for the third quarter of 2007 increased by 1,1% compared with the previous quarter.

Motor trade sales September 2007

Motor trade sales for the third quarter of 2007 increased by 3,5% compared with the third quarter of 2006. This is lower than the 15,7% increase reported for the third quarter of 2006 compared with the third quarter of 2005.
The growth in the motor trade sales since April 2007 was partly affected by difficulties in the registering of new and used vehicles following the introduction of the new eNaTIS system, the new National Credit Act which was introduced on 1 June 2007, as well as tighter monetary conditions. September 2007 was negatively affected by the motor industry strike

Leading Social Science Research Delivered Daily

Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is devoted to the rapid worldwide dissemination of social science research and is composed of a number of specialized research networks in each of the social sciences.

The SSRN eLibrary consists of two parts: an Abstract Database containing abstracts on over 166,700 scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers and an Electronic Paper Collection currently containing over 133,300 downloadable full text pdf documents. The eLibrary also includes the research papers of a number of Fee Based Partner Publications.

The networks are: Accounting; Economics; Entrepreneurship; Financial; Information Systems and eBusiness Networks; Management; Marketing and others.

Each network will cover the following:

• Partners in Publishing Research
• Paper Series
• Conference & Meetings
• Subject Matter eJournals
• Job Openings
• Professional Announcements
• Subscribing Organizations

Subscribers also have the option of viewing the Top Papers; Top Authors and Top Institutions. (subscription is free)

Free Anti-Plagiarism software

The Plagiarism Resource Site, Virgina. The goal of this web site is to help reduce the impact of plagiarism on education and educational institutions. At present, it distributes free software to detect plagiarism and provides links to other resources.
Links to other Plagiarism sites
Assesment in Higher Education: Plagiarims from the Central Queensland University. This page aims to provide a one-stop shop for links and resources specifically devoted to the subject of plagiarism.


Articles on Plagiarism:
http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/documents/papers/2006Papers21.pdf
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/
http://www.cqpress.com/docs/Combating%20Plagiarism.pdf
http://bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/workshops/avoidplagiarism.htm
http://chronicle.com/jobs/2002/05/2002051401c.htm
http://www.plagiary.org/papers_and_perspectives.htm
http://www.slate.com/id/2157435/

World's Top Universities

The World University Rankings 2007 are online here
Martin Ince reveals the winners and losers in The Times Higher-QS World University Rankings 2007.

... The world's top ten universities are in the UK or the US, according to the annual Times Higher-QS World University Rankings published with this issue.

Harvard has emerged as the world's top university for the fourth time in succession, with Cambridge, Oxford and Yale universities all tied for second place.

The UK has four institutions in the top ten this year, compared with three last year. Imperial College London makes fifth place, up from ninth last year. University College London rose 16 places, making it to ninth place. Princeton, California Institute of Technology, Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology make up the rest of the top ten.
... The rankings are based on the opinion of 7,000 active academics and graduate recruiters, alongside quantitative data on research impact, staff and student numbers, and universities' levels of internationalisation.
... The rankings confirm the modest world status of universities in continental Europe, with the top university being France's Ecole Normale Superieure in 26th place.
... The top 200 includes four from the developing world: two in Brazil, one from Mexico and, for the first time, an African university, Cape Town, in 200th place.
... A total of 28 nations have at least one institution in the 200. Virtually every university in Australia is in the rankings, with 12 representatives, while the Netherlands, with 11, emerges as continental Europe's principal power in higher education.
... Several significant Asian universities have risen markedly in the table including Hong Kong, up 15 places to 18th.

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Academic Conferences Worldwide

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