The Adolescents Preference for Counselors in Relation to Their Degree of Religious Conviction

In a highly complex culture, there are numerous factors that influence ones life. The more industrialized societies promote tremendous structure for the entire population. The past World War II era has been labeled The Age of Anxiety (28, p.3). In some respects children are being forced to mature at an earlier age. The storm and stress period of the adolescent is receiving considerable recognition in our current literature and the adults are taking on increasing amounts of structure which are all resulting in more complex culture

System Dynamics Models for the Valuation of Real Options in Infrastructure Investments

As public utilities and government owners face increased budget constraints and greater expectations, alternative project delivery methods will increasingly be used to fast track projects, reduce costs, promote innovation and ensure proper performance for various types of facilities and infrastructure systems. The goals of public utility owners along with economic and financial considerations suggest why some project delivery methods have been selected over other project delivery methods. In response, the first phase of this doctoral research presents a model for selecting the optimum project delivery method that considers economic sustainability as well as other goals of multiple project stakeholders. This first phase of research contributes to the existing body of knowledge and benefits industry practitioners by identifying best practices that improve the project delivery selection process while enhancing risk mitigation efforts. The procurement selection process uses multiple-criteria decision-making and financial risk analysis to select the most economically sustainable delivery method given each project’s unique characteristics. A present value analysis establishes a range of values that considers variables that will potentially impact lifecycle costs. The selection of the procurement process is based on best value where financial risks to the concerned government and other project stakeholders are mitigated through service fee agreements and project finance structures, which are both dynamic and provide for real options. The second phase of this research presents an innovative approach for the valuation of the types of real options on project finance structures which are specifically procured through a design-build-finance-operate project delivery method (also known as a public-private partnership) (P3). This second phase of research includes an investigation into systems engineering and System Dynamics (SD) simulation modeling. An SD model is used for the valuation of real options attached to a P3 project’s finance structure. The valuation of these real options is based on the simulation results related to infrastructure performance. The significance of this research is made greater considering that P3s are increasingly being pursued because of their ability to alleviate pressure on government budgets, promote innovation and implement new technologies. These types of contracts, however, tend to be long-term and often need to account for future yet-to-be-seen variables that potentially impact the feasibility of this procurement method. This is especially true when the P3 project exists within a portfolio of competing assets across infrastructure systems. This second phase of research presents An SD model that is used to analyze the complexity of an infrastructure asset procured through a P3 within such a portfolio. An illustrative case demonstrates how discrete and continuous events potentially impact the successful procurement of infrastructure within a portfolio of competing assets comprising a regional transportation system. This second phase of research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by demonstrating how An SD model can simulate the real-world causal relationships that impact the procurement of infrastructure through P3s. The SD model is used for the valuation of real options to promote public initiatives, encourage private participation and enhance economic sustainability of P3 as a viable procurement strategy. The third and final phase of this doctoral research considers the increasing complexity of infrastructure procurement as individual assets are increasingly viewed as being part of a larger network of interdependent systems. In response, the objective of this final phase is to present a methodology to simulate the behavior of assets that span across different types of infrastructure systems. This investigation presents a method for analyzing investments that traverses across different infrastructure systems with individual assets procured through a variety of project delivery methods. This third investigation also utilizes An SD simulation model. In the final phase of this doctoral research, however, the SD model captures the causal relationships between competing assets where simulation results elucidate the compounding effects of multiple investments that traverse across two or more infrastructure systems. By doing so, this research contributes to the existing body of knowledge and demonstrates how SD models are effectively used to value real options that are termed exotic. These exotic types of real options occur within a portfolio of competing infrastructure assets where the valuation of each real option must consider the compounding effects of competing alternatives as well as the value of the underlying asset. This research presents a methodology for the valuation of multiple types of exotic options in real investments that traverse across various types of infrastructure systems. This method can also be applied to the valuation of other types of exotic options in various industries including research and development pursuits

Imperial Influence On The Postcolonial Indian Army, 1945-1973

The British Indian Army, formed from the old presidency armies of the East India Company in 1895, was one of the pillars upon which Britain’s world empire rested. While much has been written on the colonial and global campaigns fought by the Indian Army as a tool of imperial power, comparatively little has been written about the transition of the army from British to Indian control after the end of the Second World War. While independence meant the transition of the force from imperial rule to that of civilian oversight by India’s new national leadership, the Dominion of India inherited thousands of former colonial soldiers, including two generations of British and Indian officers indoctrinated in military and cultural practices developed in the United Kingdom, in colonial India and across the British Empire. The goal of this paper is to examine the legacy of the British Empire on the narrative, ethos, culture, tactics and strategies employed by the Indian Army after 1945, when the army began to transition from British to Indian rule, up to 1973 when the government of India reinstituted the imperial rank of Field Marshal. While other former imperial officers would continue to serve in the army up to the end of the 20th century, the first thirty years after independence were a formative period in the history of the Indian Army, that saw it fight four major wars and see the final departure of white British officers from its ranks. While it became during this time a truly national army, the years after independence were one in which its legacy as an arm of imperial power was debated, and eventually transformed into a key component of military identity in the post-colonial era

The operation of milk marketing agreements in cities of Kansas

Typescript, etc.Digitized by Kansas State University Librarie

Photon number resolving detection using time-multiplexing

Detectors that can resolve photon number are needed in many quantum information technologies. In order to be useful in quantum information processing, such detectors should be simple, easy to use, and be scalable to resolve any number of photons, as the application may require great portability such as in quantum cryptography. Here we describe the construction of a time-multiplexed detector, which uses a pair of standard avalanche photodiodes operated in Geiger mode. The detection technique is analysed theoretically and tested experimentally using a pulsed source of weak coherent light.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, accepted to Journal of Modern Optic

Livestock and Small Farmer Labor Supply

Egypt's rural population contains a high proportion of farmers with very small farms. Average farm size, now thought to be less than 2.5 feddan, continues to decline under the pressure of the growing rural population. More than two thirds of the farming units are less than three feddan in size. Often it is asserted that a two to three feddan farm is necessary for "subsistence" or to avoid the need to work for others. Surprisingly, however, this study indicates that smaller farmers are not very active participants in hired farm labor markets. How, then, can such farmers survive? We contend that livestock production provides a vital alternative source of employment, food, and income to the small farmer. Livestock production may represent an important survival strategy for Egypt's small farmers. The authors discussed the problems in drawing upon national statistics as a source of information about livestock. Survey data found that livestock production generates a higher proportion of income on small farms than on large farms, and showed that small farmers devote more labor to livestock than to crops. Livestock production provides attractive opportunities for Egypt's farmers, particularly small farmers, to augment farm incomes as well as to obtain vital human food nutrients. An estimated sixty-five percent of all equivalent animal units were found to be on farms with three feddan and less. More than three quarters of the edible milk and dairy products are home consumed on farms on this size. Given the fact that livestock production is so heavily concentrated on these small farms and that they consume such a high proportion of what they produce, it follows that these farms cannot be counted upon to supply a very significant amount of dairy and other livestock products to Egypt's growing off-farm population. But data presented here indicates the opposite. Because they are so much more productive than larger farms, the amount of livestock products w hich is marketed by small farms exceeds that marketed by larger farms, when measured on either a per feddan or per animal unit basis. Is the intensification in livestock production which Egypt has experienced during the past two decades a temporary or a long term phenomenon? Apparently, it seems that livestock intensification cannot normally succeed in developing countries, in the face of high human population densities and the resultant competition for crop land. Data presented in this study seems to indicate that just the opposite may be true in Egypt during the current epoch. Why? Will the current situation last? Egypt's farm population has continued to grow on a fixed base of land. The average farm size has become smaller it is currently estimated to be about 2.4 feddan and the farm family labor available per farm and per unit area of land has increased. Evidence presented here indicates that livestock production has a much greater capacity than crop production for utilizing additional family labor. This factor favors livestock production, aside from the favorable relative price situation which exists. Livestock production has normally been intensified when declines in grain price have been the stimulus for a shift from arable to relatively more !intensive livestock farming."[14] Clearly, government policies have held grain and other crop prices relative to livestock prices. Without doubt this has contributed to livestock intensification. Should the Egyptian government decide to permit crop prices to rise towards their international trading equivalent, then the current incentives to produce livestock would be greatly reduce