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Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Scope of Study: This dissertation investigates the effect of cost and dose on the hemodialysis treatment modality. This modality of dialysis is an alternative to renal transplantation for people diagnosed with end-stage renal disease. The mortality rate is used as a quality indicator of the hemodialysis treatment by assessing the quality of service in Colombia and comparing it with the quality of service in the United States.Findings and Conclusions: The hypothesis testing used in this research shows that there is a significant difference between the delivered dose of hemodialysis in Colombia and the United States. The mortality rate for patients in hemodialysis in Colombia for a comparable age group (45-64) is higher than that of the United States. This is attributed in great part to the effect of the hemodialysis dose on the treatment. A simple linear regression shows a strong negative relationship between mortality rate and dose. Cost also has an impact on the quality of service of the hemodialysis therapy. Nevertheless, a direct relationship between cost and mortality rate could not be established. Factors such as patient's vascular access and dialyzer flow rates are not evaluated in this investigation.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - As distance education schools grow in popularity, contemporary educators are raising important instructional questions about quality of these programs. A vital question involves concerns about the level of interactivity or interaction between students and between teachers and students. Interactivity is a challenging subject because there are few research studies that address the issue. It is a dynamic entity that involves a number of important elements, but the researcher stressed three vital elements: communication, participation, and feedback. The study highlights research results from a survey of students who were pursuing on-line graduate degrees (masters and doctoral). Important distance education issues are discussed such as feedback from professors and the quality of academic dialog during a computer-mediated class. The text offers a relevant analysis of interactivity that should help distance educators and administrators in their quest to develop programs that meet the needs of todayÍs adult learners.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The role of the school board in public K-12 schools is considered from the agency and the stakeholder perspectives. A new theoretical model for the school board members practice of due diligence encompassing content and process issues is developed from empirical literature on agency and stakeholder relationships, vision content and process, and strategy-making process capability. A four pronged methodology is used to test the model and resolve research issues on the practice of due diligence: 1) Development of an accountability measure of student performance using the Accountability Report from the New Mexico State Department of Education; 2) Testing of 10 propositions and 7 hypotheses using case studies of seven districts, survey results of 89 district board presidents and superintendents, and the measure of student performance; 3) Determination of existence of due diligence through case studies of seven school boards; 4) Comparison of existing models of due diligence with the literature based model. The sample is all New Mexico Public K-12 school districts. Case studies focused on monitoring of district educational and financial plans and the coherency between the two plans. The surveys were replications of Larwood (1993,1995) et al on vision and Hart/Banbury (1994) on strategy-making process capability. Key findings: 1) Uniform accountability measures are available for all districts in the state but case study districts used these selectively with regard to student performance measures; 2) Board presidents and superintendents were capable of articulating a vision for the district but vision alignment was not evident; 3) The New Mexico board/superintendent contract is a behavioral versus performance contract. Diagrams of the theoretical and New Mexico models are included along with a revised model of due diligence. Recommendations for training school boards include the use of questions provoking examination of board practice leading to improved student achievement.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Scope of Study: This dissertation summarizes the current use of concurrent software engineering (CSE) by information technology (IT) organizations in the United States and its effectiveness in improving software delivery time, quality, and cost. From a total population of 7,173 IT organizations, a one-third sample of 2,391 were surveyed. A net valid response of 142 organizations was received, which represents a valid return rate of 6.2 percent. The responses were then analyzed against software development time, quality, and cost metrics according to the software development methodologies used. Findings and Conclusions: This study shows the extent to which pure CSE and CSE in combination with the traditional system development life cycle (SDLC) are used in the United States. There are strong indications that CSE improves software development time and cost, but this could not be statistically proven from the data. There is no indication that CSE improves software quality.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Quasi-Monte Carlo methods, which are often described as deterministic versions of Monte Carlo methods, were introduced in the 1950s by number theoreticians. They improve several deficiencies of Monte Carlo methods; such as providing estimates with deterministic bounds and avoiding the paradoxical difficulty of generating random numbers in a computer. However, they have their own drawbacks. First, although they provide faster convergence than Monte Carlo methods asymptotically, the advantage may not be practical to obtain in 'high' dimensional problems. Second, there is not a practical way to measure the error of a quasi-Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, unlike Monte Carlo methods, there is a scarcity of error reduction techniques for these methods. In this dissertation, we attempt to provide remedies for the disadvantages of quasi-Monte Carlo methods mentioned above. In the first part of the dissertation, a hybrid-Monte Carlo sequence designed to obtain error reduction in high dimensions is studied. Probabilistic results on the discrepancy of this sequence as well as results obtained by applying the sequence to problems from numerical integration and mathematical finance are presented. In the second part of the dissertation, a new hybrid-Monte Carlo method is introduced, in an attempt to obtain a practical statistical error analysis using low-discrepancy sequences. It is applied to problems from mathematical finance and particle transport theory to compare its effectiveness with the conventional methods. In the last part of the dissertation, a generalized quasi-Monte Carlo integration rule is introduced. A Koksma-Hlawka type inequality for the rule is proved, using a new concept for the variation of a function. As a consequence of the rule, error reduction techniques and in particular an 'importance sampling' type statement are derived. Problems from different disciplines are used as practical tests for our methods. The numerical results obtained in favor of the methods suggest the practical advantages that can be realized by their use in a wide variety of applications.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Society's evolving perception of the role of and value of higher education relates to education's role in employment. Employment is the most cited reason for school completion. The creation of peer tutoring programs was to improve the academic performance of underprepared students. This study evaluated tutors registered in the Tutorial Training Course T-15 at Chabot College, Hayward, California. The Tutor Evaluation and Self-Assessment Tool (TESAT) was utilized to measure the tutors' performance. Thirty tutors performed the pre- and post-assessments. The instructor also evaluated the tutors with the TESAT, after the tutors' post-assessments to investigate the relationship between the tutors' and their instructor's perception of their tutorial skill. The tutors rated themselves as being proficient. There was a moderate correlation between the tutors' and the instructor's assessments. Attempts are currently being made to certify Chabot College's Tutorial Instructional Program with the College Reading and Learning Association. This certification in the field of tutorial education will assist the enhancement of the tutoring profession.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The analysis reported here compares male and female rape reporting behavior. Results from an analysis of National Crime Survey data indicate that the characteristics of rape, and factors that influence a rape reporting decision, differ by sex, and that sex role socialization may largely influence the rape reporting decision for both males and females. Both men and women were more likely to report victimization when there was physical evidence, but only women were affected by such variables as the victim/offender relationship, the age of the offender, and whether or not the victimization was perceived to be completed. The analysis also found that women reported victimization more frequently than men, and that there were differences between male and female victims with respect to the characteristics of the rape itself.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The problem this project attempts to solve is to develop a workable moral education in light of the clash between religious forms of moral education and U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning them. The concept of story and storytelling has been suggested as a unifying focus for disparate prescriptions for moral education. Several recent approaches to moral storytelling have been proposed. The approaches of William Bennett, Nel Noddings, and Herbert Kohl are among those which have attempted to combine moral education and storytelling within the last decade. Bennett is identified with other theorists whose primary concern is the moral content of a story. Noddings is identified as a process theorist, whose primary concern is the process of moral storytelling, not the content. Kohl is identified as a reflection theorist, whose approach challenges tradition in the hope of creating a more moral society. Each one of these three approaches attempts to provide a comprehensive program of moral education, but they fall short of that goal. The purpose of this project, then, is to construct a storytelling moral education program that improves upon earlier approaches. Using the three levels of moral thinking posited by R.M. Hare, a three-level approach to moral storytelling is proposed. The intuitive, critical, and meta-ethical levels of moral thinking that Hare refers to are used to frame a new, three-level, approach to moral storytelling. The three-level approach combines content, process, and reflection into a unified prescription for moral education. Thus, a more comprehensive plan for moral education through storytelling is developed, one that respects traditional forms of moral education while remaining within the parameters set by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The effects of a communications protocol in a synchronous on-line chat environment on the satisfaction of students in a Web-based computer science course was studied. Two undergraduate faculty members who teach Web-based courses, and 42 students in four separate computer science courses participated in the study. Students completed a pretest that measured their prior experience, current attitudes, and expectations with regards to synchronous chats in a Web-based course. Two classes of students were introduced to a communications protocol by the instructors that was used throughout the course while in synchronous chat. The other two classes did not use a protocol. A posttest was administered to all students at the end of each course that measured student satisfaction with the synchronous chats held throughout the semester. A communications protocol, in the context of this investigation, is a set of rules or guidelines that are adhered to by all participants while engaged in a synchronous electronic discussion.This study answered the question: What effect does a communications protocol in a synchronous on-line chat environment have on the satisfaction of students in a Web-based computer science course The study showed that the use of a communications protocol in on-line synchronous chats had no effect on student satisfaction with Web-based courses.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Karl Mannheim, and Karl Marx suggested that there is a relationship between economic and political institutions and that behaviors and attitudes are influenced by this. Viewing this postulate as a conception which posits the economic mode of production as the locus of causality for culture, this examination of capitalism as culture, investigates how education and its pedagogical techniques, as a means of 'enculturation,' reflects the capitalist economic mode of production. Building on the theoretical notions in the Sociology of knowledge and Structuralism, this hermeneutical analysis discusses how pedagogical techniques and curriculum arrangements of public schools in capitalist societies correlate with the organization of labor (for it is that role of the self which is dominant in capitalist societies). Data for this research was gathered through the content analysis of pedagogical techniques and curriculum arrangements adopted by The School Board of Broward County, Florida. Results show that the current shift in the organization of labor (from industrial to post-industrial) parallels, and therefore correlates with, the shift in curriculum and pedagogical arrangements of The School Board of Broward County, Florida; as such, it is a legitimate claim to suggest that the socialization of the self is determined by its relation to the mode of production.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The purpose of this study was to examine two instructional methods for delivering a radar operators training class for members of a municipal police department. The first method examined was the traditional classroom-based training with a certified radar instructor. The second method was a computer-based training (CBT) course based on the instructional material from the classroom-based course. The CBT course was administered on CD-ROM using the police department s Windows based computers. This study compared the two methods of delivery to determine if the CBT course was as effective as the traditional classroom-based course.Effectiveness was measured by the completion times of the two courses, examination scores, and overall participant satisfaction levels. These measures were conducted using quasi-experimental design that involved two sample groups. The total population was sixty-nine police officers. The sample contained fourteen participants, divided into two equal groups of seven.The independent variable was the instructional method. The dependent variables were the course completion times, examination scores, and the satisfaction levels of the participants. Of the two groups of police officers, Group 1 received the CBT for radar operators, while Group 2 received the traditional classroom training. Data was gathered regarding the completion times, test results, and participant satisfaction levels of the two courses. A statistical analysis of the data was conducted to determine the difference in course completion times, test scores, and participant satisfaction levels between the two courses.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Unlike many other works in this area, this research is devoted to the micro issues of banking. There are many excellent texts that study the macroeconomics of banking, and the role of financial institutions in a monetary economy. This area [micro issues] of banking is important. Bank professionals require a thorough grounding in the micro foundations of banking, if they are to make important managerial decisions, or implement banking policies. What exactly will be the nature of the future of banking These pages provide you with comprehensive insight into where banking is going.In order to provide a thorough understanding of the subject, this study begins by looking at the traditional theory of banking. A bank is a financial firm which offers loan and deposit products on the market. The intermediary role played by banks, another area of our interest, is the reason why banks exist in modern economies.The main objective of Chapter 2 is to provide an overview of bank structures and related issues in industrialised countries, developing economies and emerging markets in Eastern Europe. Chapter 2 also considers various stylised facts on contemporary banking. It reveals some large differences between countries in the way banks operate. It reviews various performance measures of banks, and considers the results of several investigations of bank performance.The remaining part of the research analyses modern trends of Global banking development. During the course of study the following trends were recognised as major and the most noteworthy ones: Consolidation, Globalisation, Development of Information Technology, Risk Management, Competition, The Euro, Regulation, Development in Asset Management.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This thesis proposes a reconceptualization of the 'attitude' as a multidimensional latent process, which may be unstable across situations, individuals, and time. A review of the literature in light of this reconceptualization reveals aspects of the survey situation that may systematically influence measures of attitudes, behaviors, and social norms. This suggests that contradictory findings regarding attitude-behavior consistency may be partly due to specific inadequacies of conventional measures. A reflexive research strategy is proposed, which supplements survey methods with both quantitative and qualitative assessments of measurement validity. This strategy is applied in a case study of attitudes, norms, and diet in five vegetarian student cooperative houses. Analyses test the sufficiency of a revised Model of Reasoned Action for predicting members' intentions to abstain from eating beef, chicken, or fish. Throughout the analyses, several methodological issues are explored in an effort to optimize validity: elicitation and fixed response items, generality of referents and expected consequences, subjective and objective measures of social norms, allowance for composite behavioral intentions, and specification of regression models. Implications for future theoretical research and the design of reflexive behavioral interventions are discussed.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The effect of video and written modeling on self-efficacy of 70 master's degree students enrolled in their first techniques course was investigated. The ability to understand and use reflection of content, feeling, and meaning was presented to the experimental group through videotaped instruction and examples and the control group through written instruction and examples. Facts about reflecting skills, which included information and three vignettes, demonstrated the use of the skills. Through two pilot studies, the Reflecting Skills Questionnaire (RSQ) developed for this study showed convergent validity with the Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory (COSE). Participants' indication of self-efficacy for the reflection of content, feeling, and meaning was assessed by the RSQ. A t - test was computed to determine whether video or written treatment had an effect on the self efficacy of counselors in training. Using a two-tailed t - test for independent groups, no significant difference (p > .05) was found.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This study investigated young children's expectations regarding others' potential reactions to their emotional displays. These expectations were considered precursors to the display rules for emotional expression evident in middle childhood. Possible gender differences in the children's expectancies for the expression of anger, sadness and fear were examined.Preschool and early grade school children (ages 4.3-6.4 & 7.0-8.7, respectively) were presented with eight hypothetical narratives illustrated with felt puppets. The identity of an audience figure accompanying the protagonist of each narrative varied between subjects in three experimental conditions: mother, father, and same-sex peer. The narratives also varied the social context within which the protagonist expressed an emotion. The scenarios were qualitatively coded to assess if children expected favorable or unfavorable reactions from the audience figure to the protagonist's emotional display. The expression of anger elicited substantial unfavorable expectancies from children in both age groups but the expression of sadness and fear did not. It was theorized that the display rules for these emotions have different developmental timelines. Anger receives early socialization pressure while sadness and fear are not sanctioned until after approximately age 8. Children expected peers and parents to respond equally unfavorably to expressions of anger, suggesting that both groups are important agents in emotional socialization at this age. Unlike the preschoolers, the early grade school children used social information about a provocateur's status and intentions to mediate their expectations regarding audience reactions to anger. The only significant gender difference to emerge was that the older girls expected mothers to be more disapproving of anger than fathers or peers. It was suggested that gender role requirements for emotional expression may not be enforced until children reach grade school ages and that the same-sex parent may come to be the primary socialization agent for these roles. Asian-American children held fewer unfavorable expectancies for the expression of anger than children of other ethnicities. African-American girls held more unfavorable expectancies for the expression of anger than African-American boys. Future research should elaborate upon the specific content and developmental timelines associated with different cultures' emotional display rules.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This thesis is divided into 4 chapters summarizing this contribution on selected topics related to chlorophyll biosynthesis and biogenesis of the photosynthetic apparatus. The first chapter deals with the state of Pchlide in nonilluminated leaves. The comparison of the photoactive Pchlide absorbance spectra throughout the development in the dark, reveals that the proportion of P638-645 and P650-657 is not much modified during this period. The Gaussian deconvolutions of 77 K fluorescence spectra of nonphotoactive and photoactive Pchlide indicated the presence of three and 5 spectral forms, respectively. None of the nonphotoactive Pchlide forms is accumulated during the dark-growth. In constrast, photoactive Pchlide P650-657 is particularly accumulated. In the second chapter, we describe the photoreduction of Pchlide to Chlide. We conclude that the mechanism of photoreduction is independent on the leaf developmental stage. Using 77 K fluorescence spectroscopy, the Chlide spectral forms corresponding to the three photoactive Pchlides were identified. In leaves with proplastids, C670-675 is mainly formed whereas in leaves with etioplasts C684-696 is produced. During the 1st hour of greening, the newly formed Chlide molecules are not protected by carotenoids. The evidence for the involvement of a photocycle involving two spectral forms of Chlide in protection of newly formed Chlide is presented. In the third chapter, a method for the isolation of photoactive Pchlide yielding complexes characterized by spectral properties similar to those found in intact leaves is described. In the fourth chapter, it is explained that the different fates of the first products of the photoreduction, described in the 2nd chapter, influence the greening process. In fact, C684-696 is only produced in small amounts in plants with proplastids. Therefore the increase of the photosynthetic activity of these leaves is delayed. Nevertheless, during the first 8 h of greening, a weak photosynthetic activity is detected in these leaves. Fluorescence measurements reveal that a large part of the Chl remains nonintegrated to the photosystems. In young leaves, rapid Chl integration into the photosynthetic units occurs when both carotenoids and Chl are massively synthesized.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Almost from the very beginning of the digital age, people have sought better ways to communicate with computers. This research investigates how computers might be enabled to understand natural language in a more humanlike way. Based, in part, on cognitive development in infants, we introduce an open computational framework for visual perception and grounded language acquisition called Experience-Based Language Acquisition (EBLA). EBLA can watch a series of short videos and acquire a simple language of nouns and verbs corresponding to the objects and object-object relations in those videos. Upon acquiring this protolanguage, EBLA can perform basic scene analysis to generate descriptions of novel videos. The general architecture of EBLA is comprised of three stages: vision processing, entity extraction, and lexical resolution. In the vision processing stage, EBLA processes the individual frames in short videos, using a variation of the mean shift analysis image segmentation algorithm to identify and store information about significant objects. In the entity extraction stage, EBLA abstracts information about the significant objects in each video and the relationships among those objects into internal representations called entities. Finally, in the lexical acquisition stage, EBLA extracts the individual lexemes (words) from simple descriptions of each video and attempts to generate entity-lexeme mappings using an inference technique called cross-situational learning. EBLA is not primed with a base lexicon, so it faces the task of bootstrapping its lexicon from scratch.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The problem of controlling sensory perception for use in discrete event feedback control systems is addressed in this thesis. The sensory perception controller (SPC) is formulated as a sequential Markov decision problem. The SPC has two main objectives; 1) to collect perceptual information to identify discrete events with high levels of confidence and 2) to keep the sensing costs low. Several event recognition techniques are available where each of the event recognisers produces confidence levels of recognised events. For a discrete event control system running in normal operation, the confidence levels are typically large and only a few event recognisers are needed. Then, as the event recognition becomes harder, the confidence levels will decrease and additional event recognisers are utilised by the SPC. The final product is an intelligent architecture with the ability to actively control the use of sensory input and perception to achieve high performance discrete event recognition. The discrete event control framework is chosen for several reasons. First, the theory of discrete event systems is applicable to a wide range of systems. In particular, manufacturing, robotics, communication networks, transportation systems and logistic systems all fall within the class of discrete event systems. Second, the dynamics of the sensing signals used by the event recognisers are often strong and contain a large amount of information at the occurrence of discrete events. Third, because of the discrete nature of events, feedback information is not required continuously. Hence, valuable processing time is available between events. Fourth, the discrete events are a natural common representational format for the sensors. A common sensor format aids the decision process when dealing with different sensor types. Fifth, the sensing aspect of discrete event systems has often been neglected in the literature. In this thesis we present a unique approach to on-line discrete event identification. The thesis contains both theoretical results and demonstrated real-world applications. The main theoretical contributions of the thesis are 1) the development of a sensory perception controller for the dynamic real-time selection of event recognisers. The proposed solution solves the Markov decision process using stochastic dynamic programming (SDP). SDP guarantees cost-efficiency of the real-time SPC by solving a sequential constrained optimisation problem. 2) A sensitivity analysis method for the sensory perception controller has been developed by exploring the relationship between Markov decision theory and linear programming. The sensitivity analysis aids in the robust tuning of the SPC by finding low sensitivity areas for the controller parameters. Two real-world applications are presented. First, several event recognition techniques have been developed for a robotic assembly task. Robotic assembly fits particularly well in the discrete event framework, where discrete events correspond to changes in contact states between the workpiece and the environment. Force measurements in particular contain a significant amount of information when the contact state changes. Second, the sensory perception control theory and the sensitivity analysis have been demonstrated for a mobile navigation problem. The cost-efficient use of sensory perception reduces the need for mobile robots to carry heavy computational resources.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The purpose of this study was to uncover the counseling-related thoughts and feelings of special education students who began their participation in counseling involuntarily. Under exploration were the client variables and other influences that accounted for resistant or cooperative approaches toward participation in counseling. Eight students enrolled in special education classes at one middle school and two high schools in a rural area of Western New York State were randomly selected from a list of 24 potential research participants. The list of 24 potential research participants was assembled by a local expert commissioned to do so using a purposeful sampling method. A qualitatively designed, semi-structured interview format was chosen as the means of data collection. All interviews were transcribed by the investigator. Review of student records, triangulation of the data, and peer-debriefings were employed as methods by which to establish credibility of the findings. Records were also reviewed to identify counselor variables related to age, race, gender, and level of experience. The findings revealed a number of client variables and other influences that accounted for the development or maintenance of resistance toward counseling. Client variables that accounted for resistance included negative expectations of counseling, denial of need, and uncertainty regarding what to expect from counseling. Other influences that accounted for resistance toward counseling included specific requirements of the counseling process and counselors who are perceived as uncaring, overbearing, or prone to lecturing. Client variables that accounted for cooperation and active participation in counseling were the development of optimism and hope that counseling would be a positive experience and the recognition of the value of the services offered. Other influences that contributed to cooperation and active participation were the inclusion of activities and games into the counseling process, a perceived escape from the stress of the school day, and counselors who were viewed as 'cool,' funny, open, and genuinely concerned about their clients.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The purpose of this study is to examine the questioning behavior of males and females in an undergraduate Speech class. Whether one is analyzing social, mental, emotional, or verbal behavior of students, biological sex is usually a factor.This study describes differences between male and female questioning and discusses the implications of these differences for classroom teaching.The classroom is a small society with its own special language, a language that contributes to classroom events. Student questioning, a behavior that provides information on how students adapt and function within the classroom, is an important part of the student learning repertoire.Although researchers have devoted much attention to teacher questioning, they have devoted little attention to male/female questioning in the college classroom. This qualitative study gathers data in the form of direct observation, field notes, coding of students' questions, journals, and audio-taping over a period of two months [thirteen observations].My findings revealed no differences between males and females on the types of questions they asked. Males, however, asked more questions overall than females.This study offers suggestions for further research.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This dissertation is an attempt to define a Chinese 'modernism,' exemplified by the narrative practices of four major writers in Taiwan today, from the perspective of comparative literature and recent development of literary theory. I propose that modernity of Taiwanese fiction is not so much a result of Western influences as an evolution of Chinese narrative tradition itself. To argue my point I delineate a poetics of Chinese narrative, from which I devise a method of reading and a criterion of evaluation for contemporary Taiwanese fiction in defining its achievement and historical significance. This study of Taiwanese fiction also aims at providing a better understanding of fundamental aesthetic assumptions of Western 'modernism' in the context of its own literary tradition. Chapter One, 'Introduction,' investigates the theoretical foundation and its line of development in Western and Chinese poetics respectively. It first examines the Platonic view of mimesis and Aristotelian aesthetic view of fictionality and their influence on the critical tradition, the continuity of the ancient battle between philosophy and poetry as seen in the structuralist and deconstructionist theories, then the relationship between subjective fictionality and ironic objectivity in Chinese poetics, the continuity of the dilemma in the Chinese novelists in their dual allegiance to the ideal and the real. A final section gives a critical overview of the literary scene in Taiwan. The following four chapters provide examples of the internal tension between fictionality and ironic awareness in the Taiwanese modernist texts. I suggest that instead of stretching the metaphorical potential of fiction to a highly intellectualized abstraction or playing down the interpretive claims of fiction by dramatizing its vulnerability like their Western counterpart, the Taiwanese modernists create their texts on the borderline between the high and the low. Self-assertive as well as self-denying, each of them confronts his own intellectual vision with paradox and ambivalence. In Ch'en Ying-chen, this is expressed as a battle between a lyrical vision of ideological values and an instinctive self-clowning, in Ch'i-teng Sheng, as a form of competition between pattern and contingency, in Wang Chen-ho, as a celebration and abuse of the fictionality of fiction, and in Wang Wen-hsing, an intense self-parody. I conclude that the sensitivity to the irrational and contradiction, inherent with a resistance to didacticism, constitutes the best part of the Chinese humanistic tradition, which is continuously enriched with new dimensions by the contemporary Taiwanese writers.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The enhanced access of developing countries to the international financial market since the seventies has been characterized by boom-bust cycles of unfettered external borrowing followed by abrupt financial crises. The first chapter analyzes the macroeconomic effects of volatile capital flows to a developing country. The analysis shows that investment, consumption, and the current account deficit depend positively on the expected availability of external finance. If international investors may unexpectedly decide to reduce their exposure to financial assets issued by the country, the optimal cost of external borrowing should exceed the interest rate paid by domestic residents in the international financial market. In the absence of insurance markets for this type of risk, a tax on capital inflows can be optimal.Recent endogenous growth models characterize a firm's technology as a commodity which is both partly excludable and associated with some production inputs, such as human capital and equipment. The second chapter explores the nature of the link between equipment investment and technology at the plant level in a large sample of Colombian manufacturing establishments. The results support the endogenous growth model's notion that technology is associated with the production inputs. Larger plants that invest more in machinery and equipment and employ higher levels of human capital tend to be more efficient.Models of investment with non-convex costs of adjustment predict that microeconomic time series of investment may be characterized by infrequent investment spurts and prolonged periods of little or no investment. In the third chapter I study the pattern of investment at the plant level in different categories of capital goods. As in the U.S., plant-level investment in Colombia is lumpy, and the probability of observing a large investment episode depends positively on the time elapsed since the latest large investment episode. As a contribution to the literature, I propose and implement two alternative econometric methods for the estimation of a simple model of irreversible investment. The results show that increases in the real exchange rate (pesos per dollar) have a consistently negative effect on investment, regardless of the type of capital good.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This study uses two short stories by Flannery O'Connor to explore D. W. Winnicott's theory of early childhood development. This thesis proposes that the 'inherited potential' of the individual is determined by the quality of the early maternal environment, especially during the period of Winnicott's first two paradoxical stages of development: Absolute Dependence and Relative Dependence. The mother-adult/child relationships in O'Connor's two short stories 'Good Country People' and 'The Enduring Chill' serve as case studies to examine the ramifications of 'not good-enough' mothering on the infant's psychological state during these first two stages of development. The concepts of mirroring, impingement, true and false self development, illusion, transitional phenomenon, and aggression are considered in the context of the mother-child relationship to demonstrate how maternal inadequacy undermines all aspects of the child's 'going-on-being.'In 'The Enduring Chill' it was determined that protagonist Asbury Fox is psychologically fixated at the stage of Absolute Dependence because he exhibits symptoms indicative of repetitive early environmental impingement: He is maternally dependent, has little or no sense of self, exhibits primitive omnipotence and thwarted creativity. Conversely, Joy/Hulga Hopewell in 'Good Country People' achieves the developmental stage of Relative Dependence based upon her ability to physically and psychologically separate from her mother, forge her own identity, accomplish educational goals, and make use of transitional objects.In conjunction with the observation of mother-infant dyads, the impact of the absent father is further assessed to determine the level of impairment and quality of the adult-child's achievement of independence. It was concluded that Asbury Fox was unable to complete passage of the Oedipus complex, because his father died when he was five. Divorce, when Joy/Hulga is ten, leaves her without a father to mediate between mother and daughter. Thus, these two angry adult children experience either dependency, like Asbury Fox who searches for fathers in life, or rejection of maternal closeness like Joy/Hulga who attempts to forge a father in the creation of a name.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The electrostatic interaction between two charged spheres in the presence of a screening electrolyte is calculated at the level of the linearized Debye-Hückel theory. The calculation is performed analytically as a multipole expansion by applying two-center spherical harmonic expansions and symbolic manipulation methods. I focus on charge-charge and charge-induced dipole interactions, calculated for two spheres of possibly unequal size. The former interaction is given to good approximation by the familiar Debye-Hückel form ~ q1q2exp[-k(R-2a)]/[(epsilon\*r(1+ka)^2]. The new results are the charge-induced dipole interactions. Physically, these terms arise from two sources: (i) surface polarization charge at the surface of each sphere, and (ii) exclusion of the counterion cloud of each sphere from the volume occupied by the other sphere. With parameters appropriate for micelles, the charge-induced dipole interactions dominate the charge-charge interaction at small separations.Quasi-elastic light scattering measurements of the diffusion of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) micelles in aqueous solutions, and the diffusion of mesoscopic optical probes through the same solutions, were carried out at 35°C and multiple solvent ionic strengths. Assuming a spherical micelle, I deduced the micelle radius, aggregation number, charge, and hydration from nonlinear least-squares fits to both probe and mutual diffusion data. For SDS micelles the charge that I find is lower than reported in the literature [Hayter, J. B.; Penfold, J. Colloid & Polymer Science 1983, 261, 1022; Triolo, R.; Caponetti, E.; Graziano, V. J. Phys. Chem. 1985, 89, 5743.] because I used an improved functional form of the micellar electrostatic interaction. I find a smaller aggregation number and a larger micellar hydration than literature values. My analysis of CTAB data implies extensive micellar growth, and failure of the spherical micelle assumption.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - There is no doubt that electronic marketing has contributed positively in the life of modern societies, mainly the consuming societies. It allowed purchasing of materials cheaply without any limit, and without any restrictions. It also gave the chance to make a free selection and comparison between the prices of goods at the electronic department stores throughout the Internet. All such facilities are given to the consumers in a very short time without causing them to leave their office or home. In addition, the Electronic Marketing has exterminated the monopoly of goods and materials, all such acts of course are for the consumer's benefit.However, in addition to such advantages there are many disadvantages of such type of marketing; the Electronic Marketing has deleted the privacy of the consumer, because all of his movements through the Internet have been divulged and under control, in addition to lack of exclusive security through the Internet. Accordingly, many losses equally occurred to the customer and the merchant due to such acts of hackers who reveal the information and credit cards details.In addition, the Electronic Marketing caused many merchants, agents and monopolists to be vanquished because it gave the chance for direct communications between the producer and the consumer without passing through them; as such, many of such merchants have been yielded away from the way of this new technology.The Electronic Marketing was able to cause an upset down in many concepts and standards of economic science that have existed for so many years. Doors are still open for every new in this assumption and endless world as there are no limits that can stop such human ambition.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The at-risk student population is growing larger in number with educators finding increased difficulty in meeting their diverse needs. Traditional teaching methods are not always working successfully. Accommodative services and aternative methods of education must be implemented in a fashion that will ignite students to success. Standard forms of statistical measurement (attendance, dropout, and graduation rates) have consistently shown negative ratings in schools across America. These measurements are indicators that students' educational needs are not being appropriately dealt with. This study shows how increased accommodation has a major impact on the educational success rates of at-risk students. It also reveals the importance of going beyond societal expectations and limits to reach students educationally. Finally, this study proves at-risk students will take responsibility for their educational success without losing accountability or being enabled.

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - An empirical study was undertaken to (a) examine various determinants influencing (de-)centralisation in Trans-World, the largest producer of television programs in Taiwan, and (b) make normative recommendations as to how insights from organisational dynamics models can be used in practice. The research was based on a sample of 63 standardised personal interviews with all Trans-World employees. Scales were particularly developed for the purpose of this study. In-depth interviews, participant observer and archival data were combined with the survey data to test a model predicting uncertainty and interdependence as primary drivers of decentralisation. Results showed that despite high uncertainty and interdependence, Trans-World was highly centralised. This apparent paradox was explained by the overriding influence of two other factors not usually modelled, including both the owner-manager's desire to control and national culture. Reduced organisational effectiveness due to this partial 'misfit' was sustainable through the company's oligopolistic power based on personal relations. Managerial recommendations included the use of a 'company profile grid' to determine the optimal degree of decentralisation.