Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Portrait Of A Peddler, Enok Mortensen

The Bridge

Editors learn about potential articles in many ways. Last spring my wife and I were participating in "volunteer week" at the Danish Immigrant Archive - Dana College. During one of the twice daily breaks for coffee and kringle, Marilyn Juul Hanson, a volunteer from Cedar Falls, Iowa, shared some anecdotes about her great uncle, an itinerant peddler named Jergen Juul. When I expressed an interest in the story of Jergen Juul, Marilyn and her husband, Roger Hanson, a retired professor of physics at the University of Northern Iowa, gave me a copy of an article in English about the peddler …

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The Bridge

Written in the 1930s, Petersen, in his memoirs, tells the story of his life beginning with his childhood in Denmark in the 1860s and concludes in the 1890s when he married and became a settled citizen in Dannebrog, Nebraska. He is best known for his decade-long service as postmaster in Dannebrog and publisher of the Dannebrog News. But instead of telling about his career as postmaster and publisher, he relates, in great detail, events from his youth, his various jobs, his travels from place to place as his work directed him, and incidents that he witnessed. Nevertheless, his story is …

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The Bridge

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Effect Of Instructional Styles And The Duration Of Class Time On The Sense Of Classroom Community Of Military Urban Graduate Students, William J. Davis Jr.

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This study measured the effect that instructional style, duration of class time, and repeated administrations of the Classroom Community Scale (CCS) had on the sense of classroom community of military urban graduate students (N = 263). The Instructional Styles Inventory (ISI) was used to determine instructional style, and the CCS was utilized to measure sense of classroom community. In addition, this research contained qualitative data that were extracted from a random sampling of participants during small focus groups.

Quantitative analysis of the data showed that duration of class time and instructional style had an effect on sense of classroom …

Multi-National Project Team Communications And Cultural Influences, Morgan E. Henrie

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This exploratory case study dissertation examined multinational project teams' communication satisfaction as influenced by the project team's cultural attribute of power distance. Utilizing a exploratory case study, semi-guided interview research approach, ordinal scale data and open-ended contextual based question responses was obtained. This data was gathered from United States---Russia and Canada---Angola multi-national, complex, high technology oil transportation project teams. Triangulation data gathering techniques were utilized to obtain empirical data from multiple sources of data and multiple data types. Subsequent data analyses combined descriptive statistical analysis, graphical analysis, cluster analysis, and content analysis techniques to derive a theoretical construct of multi-national …

Examination Of The Impact Of Acculturation, Stress, And Religiosity On Mental Health Variables For Second-Generation Arab Americans, Mona M. Amer, Joseph D. Hovey

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hidden Messages: Advertising And The Messages They Send To Society About Women, Alyssa Michaelides

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Liberalization Of Village Banking In Guatemala: Structural Differences In Village Banking Institutions, Erica L. Hill

Honors Theses

The International Year of Microcredit in 2005 facilitates public awareness campaigns of microfinance initiatives. Village banking allows microfinance services to reach a wider geographic region, with particular emphasis on rural regions and the poorest sector of society. It attends to those marginalized by a history of repression and conflict. In Guatemala, ethnic diversity and its accompanying social divisions have deep roots. Guatemala is an important case for village banking because of its economic reliance on village banking, the size of the country, and the large number (9) of VBIs in the country. Recent literature calls for an increase in flexibility …

Extension Of National Membership: Government Promises, Immigrant Expectations And The Impact On The Foreign Population In Germany, Justin Dubois

Honors Theses

This study posited that the gap between the governmental goals and actual outcomes of the Reform to the Citizenship Law of 1999 was produced by a variety of factors, the most influential one being the institutions of the Federal Republic. Other suggested variables were domestic public pressure and a failure in policy implementation. The earlier chapters of this study concluded that these three factors did in fact contribute to the goals-outcomes gap of the citizenship reform.

Deference, Denial, And Exclusion: Men Talk About Contraception And Unintended Pregnancy, Scott D. Johnson, Lindy B. Williams

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 men, ages 21-48, who have fathered at least one unintended pregnancy. The goal of the interviews was to explore the experiences of these men with unintended pregnancy, their communication with partners and others, contraceptive beliefs and practices, their relationships with their partners, and the outcomes and consequences of the unintended pregnancies. This essay describes results derived from their comments regarding their contraceptive practices and the pregnancy-outcome decisions, with thematic analysis used to identify prominent themes from participant comments. Two strong themes, "deference" and "denial," and one lesser theme, "exclusion," emerged from participant responses. …

Behavioral Economics And Institutional Innovation, Robert J. Shiller

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Behavioral economics has played a fundamental role historically in innovation in economic institutions, even long before behavioral economics was recognized as a discipline. Examples from history, notably that of the invention of workers’ compensation, illustrate this point. Though scholarly discussion develops over decades, actual innovation tends to occur episodically, particularly at times of economic crisis. Fortunately, some of the major professional societies, the Verein für Sozialpolitik, the American Economic Association and their successors, have managed to keep a broad discourse going, involving a variety of research methods including some that may be described today as behavioral economics, thereby maintaining an …

An Accessible Childcare Model, Noirin Hayes, Siobhan Bradley, Carole Newman

Reports

Report commissioned by National Women's Council of Ireland, 2005

Influence Of A Short Exercise Program On Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment, Kaori Mitsui

Masters Theses

The influence of a 4-week exercise program on older adults with mild cognitive (MCI) impairment was measured in the study. Six older adults from a long-term care facility met the criteria for participation. After taking the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the participants were then randomly assigned to either an exercise group or a non-exercise group. All participants from the two groups attended a game of Bingo before and after the 4-week exercise program, and their positive and negative behaviors were recorded. Three participants in the exercise group participated in music-based physical exercise (a combination of chair-seated aerobic exercise and strength …

Social Fields, Belief In Psi, And Their Effects On Mental Telepathy, Brandy Mcwhorter

Masters Theses

The current study was designed to explore two major issues involving the existence of mental telepathy. The first goal was the exploration of the relationship between psi ability, specifically mental telepathy, and belief in psi phenomena. In addition, the value of social field theory as an explanation and potential facilitator of telepathic communication was explored. A small group of research assistants attempted to telepathically send 1 of 4 target locations to large groups of participants acting as receivers. The receivers answered a question on a 7-point-scale indicating their level of belief in mental telepathy. Two separate runs of 16 trials …

Religiosity, Role Theory, And Self-Esteem, Melissa R. Mccarthy

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between religion, religiosity, archetypal roles and self-esteem. The sample consisted of 61 students at a Midwestern university. The participants completed a series of surveys including two measures of religiosity, a self-esteem measure, and a Female Archetype Scale. The findings indicated that religions differ on levels of religiosity and female archetypes. In addition, there were correlations between religiosity and archetype, and self-esteem and religiosity. The significant correlations for the feminine archetypes were that were that Sekhmet was positively correlated with intrinsic religiosity, and negatively correlated with extrinsic religiosity and Connectedness; Demeter …

Cover, Copy And Compare Method Versus Copy, Cover, And Compare Method For Teaching Mathematics: A Comparative Analysis, Joel Grafman

Masters Theses

This study compared the fluency and accuracy rates produced when using the Cover, Copy, and Compare and Copy, Cover, and Compare interventions to complete subtraction math problems. Two second grade classrooms consisting of 20 or more students participated in the study. Participants were administered a pretest, Cover, Copy, and Compare worksheet, Copy, Cover, and Compare worksheet, and a posttest. Results revealed significantly higher digits correct per second (i.e. fluency) scores on the posttest and Cover, Copy, and Compare worksheets when compared to the pretest and Copy, Cover, and Compare worksheets with no difference in the errors per second (i.e. accuracy) …

Inventory Management Improvement Techniques, James Lanman

Masters Theses

An inventory management system that does not ensure inventory record accuracy greatly reduces the ability of a company to control inventory levels and fulfill customer requirements. This study investigated how two principles of inventory management affected three business metrics: on-time delivery, inventory record accuracy, and inventory level management.

Eight manufacturers of aircraft parts and equipment in northeastern lllinois responded to a survey created to analyze the effects of ABC classification of inventory and cycle counting techniques on inventory management. Survey data were collected via teleconference with a representative of each manufacturer.

Half of the manufacturers reported using ABC inventory classification …

Crime, Punishment, And Prevention: An Economic Approach, Jeff Arthur

Masters Theses

Gary Becker's seminal paper laid the foundation for the economic analysis of crime. Using this framework, the government has attempted to increase the costs of crime to a level that effectively deters individuals from criminal activity. Despite the relative lack of discussion in economics, Becker's model suggests alternatives to deterrence. Instead of focusing exclusively on increasing the costs of crime, society can increase the benefits of lawful behavior. Rather than punish the crook, reward the citizen. The purpose of this research is to compare the relative effectiveness of prison and police expansion with prevention programs. Prevention programs aimed at increasing …

Poverty And Income Distribution In The Transition Economies Of Central And Eastern Europe And Central Asia, Andreea Chiritescu

Masters Theses

For the transition economies of Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia, this study reveals that poverty and income distribution move in the same direction. Following a low income inequality and a target of zero poverty before 1989, the transition caused a worsening of distribution of income and wealth, and an increase in absolute poverty.

Using simple trend analysis, some factors that have a positive influence on poverty in these transition economies are the external debt ratio and the population growth rate, and some factors that have a negative influence on poverty are foreign aid, external debt, foreign direct investment, …

Trends Of Employment-Based Health Insurance: Why Did The Coverage For Private-Sector Workers Decrease During Economic Boom, Yan Ni

Masters Theses

After a decade of erosion of employment-based health insurance coverage in the American population, the overall employment-based health insurance coverage increased beginning in the mid-1990s when the strong economy occurred. According to the previous studies, the labor market and health insurance premium are primary determinants of the coverage rate. However, in spite of the tight labor market and non-existent health care cost inflation (the growth of health insurance premiums is close to the growth of wages), the health insurance coverage of private-sector workers continued to decline. Since the private sector workers are the bulk of the population who benefit from …

Effects Of The State Minimum Wages On Youth: Evidence From The States Of Washington And Connecticut, Zhi Su

Masters Theses

Youth aged from 16 to 24 is the group that is most likely to hold minimum wage jobs. A concern of economists and policy makers is: 1) whether the employment opportunities to youth are discouraged by the minimum wage and 2) how the minimum wage influences their choice over work or study. This study advances and combines some ideas from previous studies to examine the effects of the state minimum wages upon youth employment and behavior patterns over school and work. The study concentrates on conditions in the states of Washington and Connecticut during the period of 1998 to 2003, …

Cultural And Individual Influences On Foreign Policy, Emine Sunduz Demir

Masters Theses

The principle aim of this thesis is to examine how strategic culture affects foreign policy decision-making, as contrasted to the particular decree of influence the individuals have on the foreign policy process in the concept of an immediate extended deterrence. This thesis is based on three case studies that are tested separately using both Cha's notion of strategic culture and Allison's Bureaucratic Politics Model in order to find which model (if any) best explains foreign policy decision making. Cases are: The SemiVietnamese War in 1979 and Deng Xiaoping, the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996 and Jiang Zemin, and the Kosovo …

Ethnicity And Religion: An Inquiry Into The Origin And Nature Of Conflicts In Nigeria, Ugochukwu Chrys. Nwabueze

Masters Theses

The policy goal of a Pax Nigeriana in the African continent is hardly realizable without a focused confrontation by Nigeria of its own security deficits. A security and politically deficient Nigeria will have nothing to offer the African continent in terms of peace and political stability if it cannot by example overcome its own accidental and structural flaws.

With this in mind, the work sets out to address the origin, nature and resolution of conflict in Nigeria. Before adequate resolution therapy could be recommended for violent conflicts in Nigeria, any intending researcher must of necessity address the origin and nature …

Great Expectations: An Examination Of The Defense Spending And Military Modernization Of Poland, Hungary, And The Czech Republic Form 2002-2004, Kyle Raney

Masters Theses

In 1999 at the Madrid Summit, NATO officially opened its doors to three new states. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic were the first states to enter NATO since the end of the Cold War. The idea of NATO expansion has been heavily contested and critics argue that these new members do not have the capabilities to be strong contributors to the alliance and are unable to produce modern defense systems. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have all taken unique paths on the way into the alliance and all three states since their induction have in some form attempted …

Don't Forget About The Me In Afscme: An Analysis Of Collective Bargaining In Municipalities, Michael L. Woods Jr.

Masters Theses

Collective bargaining in the public sector is inherently political. Public unions negotiate either directly or indirectly with elected public officials. This thesis explores the political bargaining strategies adopted by municipal public unions and the inherent factors that surround the collective bargaining process (e.g. trust, state of the economy, community interest groups, and media). The intentions of this study were to see if these variables influenced negotiated wage increases and the likelihood of experiencing bargaining impasses. The findings suggest that public union political bargaining strategies positively affect negotiated wage increases. Trust, however, seems to evolve as the most important variable. Building …

Comparison Of The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test-Second Edition And The Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children-Fourth Edition, Ryan L. Mitchell

Masters Theses

Past research on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT; Kaufman & Kaufman, 1990) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III; Wechsler, 1991) have shown good reliability and validity between the scales. However, recently, the KBIT-2 and the WISC-IV have been published. The purpose of the current study was to independently evaluate the construct validity of the KBIT-2 with the WISC-IV. The participants in this study consisted of 48 students enrolled in kindergarten through ninth grade from school districts in central Illinois, who were referred for initial or triennial multidisciplinary evaluation. The results were as hypothesized, with high statistically …

Implementation Of An Open Source Enterprise Resource Planning (Erp) System, Jing Shao

Masters Theses

Characterized with free access, free distribution and high adaptability, open source ERP system provides an alternative to the high cost of adopting an ERP system in small and medium-sized business (SMB). This research explored the possibility of adopting open source ERP system in SMB, with Compiere -- a typical open source ERP system. The ERP system was designed and customized for a fictitious computer manufacturing company. Major processes including partner relations, quote to invoice, requisition to invoice, material management, and project management were implemented.

Through this research, it was realized that necessary procedures of implementing an open source ERP system …

Burnout And Job Dissatisfaction Among Practicing Illinois School Psychologists: A 1994 To 2004 Comparison, Nikolaus J. Hoffman

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to identify the primary variables associated with burnout among practicing Illinois school psychologists. More specifically, the purpose was to determine if the same variables that correlated highly with Illinois school psychologists burnout levels in a 1994 study by Niebrugge have held constant over the last decade. Survey materials used in the 1994 study, including the Maslach Burnout Inventory, a School Psychologists Stress Inventory, and a specially designed job satisfaction questionnaire were completed by a random sample of members of the Illinois School Psychologists Association (N = 52). As in the 1994 study, results suggested …

Web-Driven Database For E-Manufacturing Using Unified Modeling Language, Kaihong He

Masters Theses

E-manufacturing technology is enabling manufacturing companies to provide their customers with mass customization, from traditional mass production. This thesis explored how e-manufacturing strategy can be implemented using various technology to better serve customers and to efficiently manage inventory for manufacturing operations. In this study, a virtual computer manufacturing company was used to model e-manufacturing process in terms of customer interactions and inventory management. A web-driven database of inventory management was developed with Rational Unified Process. The e-manufacturing computing architecture was modeled in Unified Modeling Language.

The project implemented the e-manufacturing architecture using Java technology and Oracle database. Java Server Page …