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2006

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Articles 6661 - 6690 of 8226

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Contents Jan 2006

Contents

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

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Foreword, Helle Mathiasen Jan 2006

Foreword, Helle Mathiasen

The Bridge

Since its founding in 1977, the Danish American Heritage Society (DAHS) has encouraged and supported efforts to research and preserve our ethnic heritage in Canada and the United States. The Society believes in the intrinsic value of building bridges between ideas and people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. An additional goal is the promotion of fellowship among those with an interest in events relating to Danish life, culture, and history.

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Karen Blixen: The Quintessential Dane, Linda G. Donelson Jan 2006

Karen Blixen: The Quintessential Dane, Linda G. Donelson

The Bridge

The year 2005 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen and the 150th anniversary of the death of Soren Kierkegaard. It also is the 120th anniversary of Karen Blixen' s birth in 1885, and it is appropriate to talk about her at this conference. For the millions of Americans who have seen the movie Out of Africa, she may be the most famous Dane of all. We often imagine Karen Blixen as personified by Meryl Streep in the movie. But if you have read the book Out of Africa, you may rather think of Karen Blixen …

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The Greater Challenge: Staying Home Or Emigrating?, Inger Wiehl Jan 2006

The Greater Challenge: Staying Home Or Emigrating?, Inger Wiehl

The Bridge

This presentation poses the challenge of emigrating versus that of staying home, exemplified by a Southern Jutlander who stayed home during the years of Prussian rule between 1864 and 1920 and one who left for America during those years. It begs the larger question of who endures more, those who leave or those who stay behind, a salient issue underlying all emigration and any significant parting. Put in classical terms: Who faces the greater challenge Odysseus or Penelope? He endures any number of dangers on his way back from Troy; she stays by her loom and keeps home intact for …

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Culture For Sale In Solvang, California: A Little Bit Of Denmark, Disney, Or Something Else?, Hanne Pico Larsen Jan 2006

Culture For Sale In Solvang, California: A Little Bit Of Denmark, Disney, Or Something Else?, Hanne Pico Larsen

The Bridge

Danish educators coming from a Danish settlement in the Midwest founded Solvang in 1911. During the first 20 years or so, Solvang looked like an average Pacific Coast American town - but underneath lurked Danish, Grundtvigian values and philosophy. Little by little, the picture changed. After World War II, many original buildings representing these Danish values, such as a Folk High School and an assembly hall, even if not particularly Danish looking, were demolished in order to provide space for new "Danish-style" buildings in the commercial center of town. A Danish-style architecture was introduced and since then, the town became …

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The History Of Wind Technology In Denmark, James D. Iversen Jan 2006

The History Of Wind Technology In Denmark, James D. Iversen

The Bridge

Wind--a phenomenon we do not always understand or pay much attention to, perhaps because we cannot see it, only its effects. And its effects can be devastating, such as the terrible destruction due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the United States in August and September, 2005. As a member of the American Association for Wind Engineering, I am aware of that organization's attempts to influence local government agencies in the southeastern coastal areas of the United States in the improvement of building codes so that buildings can better withstand the destructive power of the wind.

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Grundtivigianism In America, Yesterday And Today, Thorvald Hansen Jan 2006

Grundtivigianism In America, Yesterday And Today, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

It has been said, "In Denmark, everyone is a Grundtvigian whether he knows it or not." This certainly is not the case in America. Indeed, there are very few Grundtvigians in this country, and the prospects for increasing that number are very slight. This is not because the followers of Grundtvig have been "hiding their light under a bushel," but because the vast majority has not accepted it as light.

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A Structural Model Of Relationships Between Employee Characteristics, Supervisory Mentoring Behaviors And Job Satisfaction, Florence R. Jinadu Jan 2006

A Structural Model Of Relationships Between Employee Characteristics, Supervisory Mentoring Behaviors And Job Satisfaction, Florence R. Jinadu

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Organizational researchers have consistently found that developmental mentoring has a positive effect on employees professional and career success. Some of the benefits that have been cited include increased job satisfaction, increased organizational commitment, and increased self-esteem among mentored employees. In addition to these short-term benefits, developmental mentoring has also been found to positively impact long-term career outcomes in the form of increased compensation and career mobility for mentored employees as compared to non-mentored employees. Traditionally, mentors have been described as influential senior members of an organization who provide career support and developmental opportunities to less experienced employees, who are referred …

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The Politics And Economics Of Health: A Cross-National Comparison Of Civic Engagement And Health Status, Suzanne J. Wood Jan 2006

The Politics And Economics Of Health: A Cross-National Comparison Of Civic Engagement And Health Status, Suzanne J. Wood

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Over the past two decades, various structural modifications associated with the provision of national health and its systems have been undertaken. The preponderance of liberalization experiences have occurred in the absence of epidemiological, political, or social considerations associated with adoption and implementation. Often, financial and political manipulation by international organizations and powerful foreign governments has served as the impetus for fundamental shifts leading to an asymmetrical distribution of resources by population density, geography, and along various socio-cultural boundaries. Consequently, structural adjustments have resulted in unpredictable and divergent outcomes with regard to health status. The question of whether or not health …

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El Arte De Criar Hijos Felices: Equilibrio Entre Disciplina Y Afecto, Cecilia Montiel-Nava Jan 2006

El Arte De Criar Hijos Felices: Equilibrio Entre Disciplina Y Afecto, Cecilia Montiel-Nava

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Objetivos de Este Libro: A pesar de que este es un libro escrito para padres de niños entre 2 y 8 años que puedan estar experimentando dificultades en el manejo de sus niños; la idea central no es convertir súbita y repentinamente a los niños es obras perfectas sin ningún problema, el lograr que los padres sientan y ejerzan control justo y lógico sobre sus hijos. Las metas de este libro son: 1) Mejorar las destrezas de los padres para manejar y convivir con niños con problemas de conducta, especialmente con aquellos niños desobedientes y con actitudes retadoras y desafiantes. …

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Exploring Opportunity In America: Immigrant Entrepreneurship And Rags To Riches Success, Anna Erdheim Jan 2006

Exploring Opportunity In America: Immigrant Entrepreneurship And Rags To Riches Success, Anna Erdheim

Honors Theses

The United States is, indeed, a land of vast opportunity. A diverse group of individuals continually benefit from the prospects provided by this inherently free nation. Although some constraints in America have prevented people from realizing their ultimate potentials, this nation offers immense possibilities overall to progress socially, economically, and culturally. America allows for people of all socioeconomic, religious, racial, and ethnic backgrounds to take full advantage of the various opportunities offered by this mainly egalitarian land. I will demonstrate how various people have emerged from disadvantaged circumstances to succeed in the United States. In America, the majority of successful …

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Role Of Home Equity In Retirement Saving: Building Your Nest (Egg), Caroline Theoharides Jan 2006

Role Of Home Equity In Retirement Saving: Building Your Nest (Egg), Caroline Theoharides

Honors Theses

This study examines the role of home equity in retirement saving. Using data from the 2001 and 2003 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study first updates the existing literature by regressing active saving on real housing capital gains using median regression techniques. Consistent with the literature, an increase in housing capital gains results in a decrease in active saving. While the active saving literature provides an initial analytical framework regarding saving behavior and home equity, the demographic shift in the U.S. due to the imminent retirement of the baby boomers indicates that the impact of changes in home equity …

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Non-Adherence: A Symptom Of The Current Health Care Model, Margaret Duggan Jan 2006

Non-Adherence: A Symptom Of The Current Health Care Model, Margaret Duggan

Honors Theses

This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the discourse surrounding patient adherence in an effort to illustrate the extent of the problem, how it is framed, and how intervention is currently approached. The paper begins with a general review of adherence, to ground the reader in the current discourse. The next section of the paper will focus specifically on adherence through the lens of HIV/AIDS. Since HIV/AIDS treatment and adherence to antiretroviral drugs is pertinent to adherence issues due to the complexity and lifelong duration of treatment. Furthermore, adherence with HIV/AIDS medications is particularly important due to the …

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Optimal Bandwidth Selection In Heteroskedasticity-Autocorrelation Robust Testing, Yixiao Sun, Peter C.B. Phillips, Sainan Jin Jan 2006

Optimal Bandwidth Selection In Heteroskedasticity-Autocorrelation Robust Testing, Yixiao Sun, Peter C.B. Phillips, Sainan Jin

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

In time series regressions with nonparametrically autocorrelated errors, it is now standard empirical practice to use kernel-based robust standard errors that involve some smoothing function over the sample autocorrelations. The underlying smoothing parameter b, which can be defined as the ratio of the bandwidth (or truncation lag) to the sample size, is a tuning parameter that plays a key role in determining the asymptotic properties of the standard errors and associated semiparametric tests. Small- b asymptotics involve standard limit theory such as standard normal or chi-squared limits, whereas fixed-b asymptotics typically lead to nonstandard limit distributions involving Brownian bridge functionals. …

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Sinusoidal Modeling Applied To Spatially Variant Tropospheric Ozone Air Pollution, Nicholas Z. Muller, Peter C.B. Phillips Jan 2006

Sinusoidal Modeling Applied To Spatially Variant Tropospheric Ozone Air Pollution, Nicholas Z. Muller, Peter C.B. Phillips

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

This paper demonstrates how parsimonious models of sinusoidal functions can be used to fit spatially variant time series in which there is considerable variation of a periodic type. A typical shortcoming of such tools relates to the difficulty in capturing idiosyncratic variation in periodic models. The strategy developed here addresses this deficiency. While previous work has sought to overcome the shortcoming by augmenting sinusoids with other techniques, the present approach employs station-specific sinusoids to supplement a common regional component, which succeeds in capturing local idiosyncratic behavior in a parsimonious manner. The experiments conducted herein reveal that a semi-parametric approach enables …

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Simultaneous Search, Hector Chade, Lones Smith Jan 2006

Simultaneous Search, Hector Chade, Lones Smith

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We introduce and solve a new class of “downward-recursive” static portfolio choice problems. An individual simultaneously chooses among ranked stochastic options, and each choice is costly. In the motivational application, just one may be exercised from those that succeed. This often emerges in practice, such as when a student applies to many colleges. We show that a greedy algorithm finds the optimal set. The optimal choices are “less aggressive” than the sequentially optimal ones, but “more aggressive” than the best singletons. The optimal set in general contains gaps. We provide a comparative static on the chosen set.

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Cinematic Scripture: The Structure And Usage Of The Lord Of The Rings As Equipment For Living, Brent Yergensen Jan 2006

Cinematic Scripture: The Structure And Usage Of The Lord Of The Rings As Equipment For Living, Brent Yergensen

Masters Theses

This project argues that film has the capacity to function as cinematic scripture for Christian audiences. Cinematic scripture means that films are authoritative for audiences the same way that written scripture is. In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, this new form of scripture works as equipment for living by encouraging Christian audiences to go to war against evil through the structure of the film's biblical themes of bifurcation, redemption, and millennialism. This culmination of the rhetorical vision of war comes from three fantasy themes that emerge when Christian Internet writers describe how they use the films: repentance, strength, …

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Economic Growth, Inequality And Poverty In Africa, Fassil N. Fanta Jan 2006

Economic Growth, Inequality And Poverty In Africa, Fassil N. Fanta

Masters Theses

The most important development endeavor is to reduce poverty. There has been an ongoing debate on the actual contribution of growth to poverty reduction. In addition, a related question frequently raised is whether the main focus of development strategies should be placed on growth, or poverty reduction with or without a change in inequality. Without doubt, faster economic growth is associated with faster poverty reduction, given other factors affecting poverty. But an interesting policy implication can be drawn by answering the question of how responsive is poverty for a given level of economic growth or a given change in inequality. …

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Endogenous Money Theory: A Unique Alternative?, Goktug Aksan Jan 2006

Endogenous Money Theory: A Unique Alternative?, Goktug Aksan

Masters Theses

Modern monetary policy, applied in developed and developing countries, is based on economic theories that have been in existence for 300 years. These theories, considered for the purpose of this thesis as the New Consensus theory, have its roots in the classical quantity theory of money, Milton Friedman's monetarism, and the rational expectations variant of New Classical and New Keynesian economics. Fundamentally, this theory assumes changes in the money supply have only limited impact on real economic variables such as unemployment and output in the long run. The primary monetary policy derived from this theory is reduction of inflation, with …

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The Effects Of Obesity On Health Care Expenditures And Health Insurance Premium Rates, Temenoujka Velkova Jan 2006

The Effects Of Obesity On Health Care Expenditures And Health Insurance Premium Rates, Temenoujka Velkova

Masters Theses

This study investigates the influence of obesity on rising health care expenditures in the United States, which helps us understand the rising health insurance premium rates. Health care expenditures are measured as a share of state gross domestic product. This measure is chosen because it allows me to take a look at not only the out-of-pocket costs but at all other sources of payment, which includes private health insurance. The estimated results suggest that obesity contributes to rising health care expenditures as a share of state gross domestic product. Overweight, heavy drinking, and age also have been found to have …

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An Issue Of Extraordinary Circumstances: The House Of Representatives And The Riddle Of Drug Policy, Richard D. Caldwell Jan 2006

An Issue Of Extraordinary Circumstances: The House Of Representatives And The Riddle Of Drug Policy, Richard D. Caldwell

Masters Theses

In 1988, Congress introduced H.R. 4462 which proclaimed it a goal to make the U.S. drug-free by 1995 (Nadelmann, 1998:111). This goal of Congress to make the U.S. drug- free has proven to fail miserably in application, as evidenced by the fact that many in America continue to use and abuse drugs on a regular basis. Furthermore, the issue of medical marijuana has grown in popularity throughout the country within the last ten years, which has led many states through referendum, or the legislative process to proactively change drug policy, sometimes with retaliation by the Federal Government. This paper seeks …

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Interest Groups Power And Politics In Decatur, Illinois, Melissa Trueblood Jan 2006

Interest Groups Power And Politics In Decatur, Illinois, Melissa Trueblood

Masters Theses

The thesis investigates perceptions of local interest groups concerning policy-making in Decatur, Illinois. Local interest group studies focus on economic groups such as the Chamber of Commerce. Literature indicates that these groups are influential in policymaking because of their important political resources. The literature lacks studies of noneconomic group involvement in policy-making. Furthermore, the literature lacks studies of local interest group processes in medium-sized cities. The thesis looks at noneconomic interest group perceptions of policy-making in a medium-sized city. To investigate perceptions, three hypotheses are explored using nineteen semi-structured interviews with group officials and document analysis. The thesis hypothesizes that …

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Student Evaluations Of Teaching: The Role Of Empathy And Instructions To Students, Shana L. Cunningham Jan 2006

Student Evaluations Of Teaching: The Role Of Empathy And Instructions To Students, Shana L. Cunningham

Masters Theses

The current study examined the effects of instructions given to college students before evaluating their professors. The results of a previous study by Addison and Tabb (2004) indicated that an effect could be produced when student participants were given explicit instructions for evaluating videotaped student lectures. The present study was designed to examine these effects in a situation more generalizeable to actual student evaluations of teaching. Specifically, this study investigated student evaluations of a guest lecturer in a classroom environment. Results indicated significant differences among the instructional groups on specific rating scale items. The current study also yielded a significant …

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The Changing Landscape Of Teaching And Teachers' Stress: A Revisit And Update, Mike Devillez Jan 2006

The Changing Landscape Of Teaching And Teachers' Stress: A Revisit And Update, Mike Devillez

Masters Theses

During the late 70s and into the 80s, there was a considerable amount of research devoted to the study of stress and teaching. During that time, it was well established that teaching can be a stressful profession. Since then, studies that examine stress and burnout in the profession of teaching have become more infrequent, although teaching has undergone rapid change. For example, new educational legislation, No Child Left Behind that has recently been passed directly impacts teachers and their approaches toward teaching. This study seeks to understand the current educational environment and the possible contribution to teacher stress. Results of …

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The Individualized Education Plan: Involvement And Satisfaction Of The Regular Education Teacher, Alison Dirksmeyer Jan 2006

The Individualized Education Plan: Involvement And Satisfaction Of The Regular Education Teacher, Alison Dirksmeyer

Masters Theses

A total of 376 general education teachers in grades kindergarten through high school completed a questionnaire about their involvement and satisfaction with the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process. The results from the current study suggest that many regular education teachers are not actively involved or satisfied with the IEP process. For example, less than half of the teachers surveyed indicated that they were completely or actively involved in determining IEP goals and less than one-fifth reported that they felt a major responsibility for helping students in their classroom achieve IEP goals. Many areas of dissatisfaction were also noted in teachers' …

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Oral Reading Fluency, Fluency Training, And Reading Comprehension In Sixth Graders, Lindsay B. Eck Jan 2006

Oral Reading Fluency, Fluency Training, And Reading Comprehension In Sixth Graders, Lindsay B. Eck

Masters Theses

This study examined the relationships among a measure of oral reading fluency and two measures of reading comprehension in sixth grade students at two urban schools in the Midwest. In one of the schools, fluency training was added to the usual curriculum. Participants, all sixth grade students in the two schools, were administered the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) indicator and two district-assigned reading comprehension measures during the third and fourth quarters of the school year. Results indicated that ORF scores were significantly correlated with comprehension scores, although to a lesser degree than typical for earlier grades. Fluency training had …

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A Comparison Of Two Phonological Awareness Interventions Between Samples Of Head Start Children, Kevin D. Farrell Jan 2006

A Comparison Of Two Phonological Awareness Interventions Between Samples Of Head Start Children, Kevin D. Farrell

Masters Theses

Phonological processing skills are an accurate predictor of pre-readers' reading performance years later. Historically, children have not been required to demonstrate phonological processing skills until kindergarten. Due to the importance of these early reading skills, it is critical that deficits within this area are remediated utilizing research based interventions. Recent research has demonstrated that preschool age children could be taught some early reading skills through direct instruction techniques known as Picture Sorts and Sound Boxes. However, little research exists on the efficacy of such methods with a Head Start population. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects …

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Explicit Timing As An Intervention For Children With Adhd, Monica Fischer Girten Jan 2006

Explicit Timing As An Intervention For Children With Adhd, Monica Fischer Girten

Masters Theses

Explicit timing is a procedure that alerts students of their time limits when completing academic tasks. Research on this procedure first emerged in the mid 1970's, and has focused on the effectiveness of this technique for increasing academic response rate. Empirical studies have demonstrated that the explicit timing procedure can increase response rate for a variety of academic skills including mathematics performance, writing composition and reading. However, few studies have focused on the effectiveness of this procedure on special populations, such as students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The purpose of the current study was to determine whether explicit …

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Using Social Stories To Correct Social Skills Deficits In A Student With A Learning Disability, April Larson-Evangelista Jan 2006

Using Social Stories To Correct Social Skills Deficits In A Student With A Learning Disability, April Larson-Evangelista

Masters Theses

Social stories have been deemed an effective intervention for people with autism (e.g., Richard, 2000). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the use of social stories with a participant not diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The participant was an 8 year-old second-grade girl of average intelligence who was diagnosed with a learning disability in mathematics. Upon consulting with her classroom teacher, two social skills were identified as the target behaviors to be addressed in the present study. The first prominent behavioral concern was violation of others' personal space or standing too close to others. The second …

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The Correlation Between Date Violence And Disordered Eating In College Aged Women, Kenzia N. Hartman Jan 2006

The Correlation Between Date Violence And Disordered Eating In College Aged Women, Kenzia N. Hartman

Masters Theses

Objective: Research has shown a correlation between date violence and disordered eating behaviors in adolescent females. Those who have experienced verbal, physical, or sexual date violence report an increased incidence in the use of unhealthy weight control practices such as fasting,g diet pills, laxatives, vomiting, and binge eating. In addition to unhealthy eating practices, lowered body image has also been associated with date violence. This study was designed to determine if there is a correlation between date violence, disordered eating behaviors, and lowered body image in college age women. Method: Questionnaire data were gathered from 150 college-aged female students at …

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