The share of apartment complexes in housing stock of major cities in the developing world has been increasing. They represent a different housing submarket whose growing importance necessitates further research. Using survey data on transaction records of real estate agents, we employ a hedonic pricing model to explore the factors influencing apartment prices in the Metropolitan Izmit area. The site of a major reconstruction effort following a strong earthquake, Izmit has been in the forefront of the changes taking place in the Turkish real estate sector in particular, and in urban housing in general. We aim to get better estimates by focusing the study on apartment complexes in Metropolitan Izmit, the major submarket in the area. The results reveal that structural characteristics of an apartment as well as amenities provided in an apartment complex are important determinants of price. Air quality and proximity to a good public school have a major effect on price as well. The findings suggest that the submarket could be segmented further geographically.

Engineers today are required both to have traditional technological skills and to be competent with a variety of soft skills such as team-working and the ability to present or sell their ideas. Changes in professional requirements impose demands on the teaching methods in universities.In this day of mass information, the ability to fi nd and fi lter out the right information is a necessity in all walks of life. Success in professional life requires one to be able to work independently and as part of a team, always being ready to take the initiative, and to acquire new knowledge. Acquiring these professional skills requires good social skills and learning abilities, which employers emphasise. A good engineer is able to identify and defi ne a problem and fi nd a working solution. Our paper shows that the problem-based learning (PBL) approach is an effective method to cope with these changes and demands.While engineering technology changes at such a rapid pace, students, on the other hand, face the challenge of developing multidisciplinary skills and knowledge due to the multidisciplinary nature of the fi eld. Success in professional life requires one to be able to work independently and as part of a team, always being ready to take the initiative, and to acquire new knowledge. Acquiring these professional skills requires good social skills and learning abilities, which employers emphasise. A good engineer is able to identify and defi ne a problem and to fi nd a working solution to this problem. This paper describes a novel problem design with a cooperative, enquiry-based learning approach allowing both technical and soft skills to be developed in a supportive environment. To cope with these changes and demands, the problem-based learning approach, a promising approach that emphasises authentic problem solving, has been in use since 1999, in teaching the elementary circuit analysis courses in parallel to the traditional lecture-tutorial method at the Helsinki University of Technology. 1 Problem-based learning (PBL) draws on constructivist pedagogy, which assumes that learning is the product of both cognitive and social interaction. The PBL tutorial, as the learning environment is called, consists of a group of no more than eight students, a problem to be solved and a tutor/facilitator. The classic PBL version used in medical education utilises rich authentic medical problems, and encourages free inquiry. This freedom stimulates student-directed learning and learning motivation. [2][3][4] In the Electrical Engineering Department we have adopted a similar version of PBL for electronic circuit lessons where students tackle complex real problems in teams of eight with the guidance of a tutor. Students

We offer a reformulation of Pollak's model of domestic violence by incorporating a feedback relationship between the prevalence of wife abuse in a society and men's proclivity to violence at home and the impact of higher education. College educated women are significantly less likely to experience domestic violence and more likely to leave abusive partners. Moreover, husbands might become less hesitant to act violently if physical aggression were an accepted and pervasive part of family life in a society. Therefore, there might be a two-way relationship between the level of violence in the community and the level of violence at home.

We develop a model of educational standards that includes inequality in educational opportunities. Our model shows that policymakers setting an output maximizing standard need to consider structural factors such as inequality of income and opportunity, skill mismatch in the economy, profit and wage shares and labor market imperfections. High standards are not optimal under severe educational inequality; they lead to lower output when many cannot access quality education. Optimal standard rises along with increasing opportunities for poor students. Targeted subsidies enhance both distributional and efficiency-related objectives.Other effective policies to extend skilled labor and to improve poor workers' income are remedying information problems between employers and workers and distributing more of output gains toward labor.