The greatest improvement of any country: economic development in Ullapool and the Highlands, 1786-1835

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 24, 2007)Includes bibliographical references.Thesis (M.A.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2006.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- History.This thesis explores the possible causes underlying the failure of Ullapool to develop in the half century after its founding. The study seeks to place Ullapool within a wider context, examining several interconnected aspects of economic development in the Highlands of Scotland. Several different measures, including, but not limited to, development of social overhead capital, promotion of the fishing industry, and the construction of villages, were adopted in an attempt to encourage growth in a lagging region of Britain. These measures, and their success or failure, will be analyzed through the application of recent economic theory. The measures adopted show many striking similarities with these later theories, suggesting different results might have been possible. However, it was the lack of "the greatest improvement of any country" - roads - which ultimately doomed Ullapool to failure

Oppisopimuskoulutuksen järjestäjän viranomaistehtävät

Opinnäytetyön aiheena on selvittää oppisopimuskoulutuksen järjestäjän viranomaistehtävät. Tavoitteena on selvittää oppisopimuskoulutuksen viranomaistehtävään vaikuttavat lait ja asetukset sekä miten lainsäädäntö vaikuttaa oppisopimuskoulutuksen järjestäjän toimintaan. Tässä opinnäytteessä tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin kvalitatiiviseen tutkimusmenetelmään kuuluvaa teemahaastattelua. Haastattelun teemoja olivat oppisopimuskoulutuksen viranomaistehtävät, lainsäädäntö sekä niiden vaikutus oppisopimuskoulutuksen järjestäjän toimintaan. Teemojen valintaan vaikuttivat opinnäytteen keskeiset käsitteet. Haastateltaviksi valittiin henkilöitä, jotka toimivat oppisopimuskoulutuksen viranomaistehtävissä. Tutkimus osoitti, että oppisopimuskoulutusta koskeva lainsäädäntö on laaja ja monipuolinen. Toimintaa ohjaavat lait ja asetukset useasta eri laista. Oppisopimuskoulutuksen järjestämistä voidaan pitää tarkimmin säädeltynä koulutuksen järjestämismuotona. Oppisopimuskoulutuksen viranomaistehtävät ovat sekä hallinnollisesti että oikeudellisesti vaativimpia koulutuksen järjestäjän tehtäviä. Oppisopimuskoulutus on erityinen koulutuksen järjestämismuoto. Siksi sen erityispiirteiden tulee vaikuttaa oppisopimuskoulutuksen järjestäjän toiminnan organisointiin. Oppisopimuskoulutuksen järjestäminen ei ole oppilaitoslähtöistä toimintaa vaan koulutuksen järjestäjälle kuuluvaa hallinnollista toimintaa. Tämän vuoksi toiminnan organisoinnissa on otettava huomioon henkilöstön osaaminen ja määrä sekä annettava oppisopimustoimistolle riittävän itsenäinen asema, jotta viranomaistehtävän hoito korostuu. Tutkimuksessa tuli esille että oppisopimuskoulutuksen viranomaistehtävää ei ole selkeästi määritelty lainsäädännössä. Oppisopimuskoulutuksen järjestäjien toimintaa on syytä ohjata yhdenmukaisemmaksi.This thesis deals with the official duties of an apprenticeship training provider. The purpose is to find out about the laws and regulations that affect apprenticeship, and how legislation affects the operation of an apprenticeship training provider. Qualitative research methodology, including a theme interview, was used as a research method. The interview topics included the official duties of apprenticeship training and legislation and their impact on the operation of an apprenticeship training provider. These subjects were chosen because of the key concepts of the thesis. The interviewees were people who work for an apprenticeship training provider. The research showed that apprenticeship legislation is wide and varied. Operation is guided by different kinds of laws and regulation. Apprenticeship training can be regarded as the most closely regulated form of organized training. The official duties of apprenticeship training are legally and administratively the most demanding tasks of an education provider. Apprenticeship training is a special type of vocational training. Therefore, special features will affect the organization of an apprenticeship training provider’s operation. Apprenticeship training in an organization should not be school-oriented; it should be administrative activity that is responsibility of the apprenticeship training provider. Therefore, the amount and expertise of personnel and independence has to be taken into account. Also, the apprenticeship training provider must be able to function independently enough so that the task of apprenticeship training as an official duty will be emphasized. The research showed that the official duties of an apprenticeship training provider are not clearly defined in legislation. The apprenticeship training providers’ operation should be controlled to make it more uniform

A Consistent Dark Matter Interpretation For CoGeNT and DAMA/LIBRA

In this paper, we study the recent excess of low energy events observed by the CoGeNT collaboration and the annual modulation reported by the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration, and discuss whether these signals could both be the result of the same elastically scattering dark matter particle. We find that, without channeling but when taking into account uncertainties in the relevant quenching factors, a dark matter candidate with a mass of approximately ~7.0 GeV and a cross section with nucleons of sigma_{DM-N} ~2x10^-4 pb (2x10^-40 cm^2) could account for both of these observations. We also comment on the events recently observed in the oxygen band of the CRESST experiment and point out that these could potentially be explained by such a particle. Lastly, we compare the region of parameter space favored by DAMA/LIBRA and CoGeNT to the constraints from XENON 10, XENON 100, and CDMS (Si) and find that these experiments cannot at this time rule out a dark matter interpretation of these signals.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

The Promise of a Healthy California: Overcoming the Barriers for Men and Boys of Color

PolicyLink argues for a community approach to expanding opportunities for men and boys of color, acknowledging the importance of "place" to ultimate life outcomes. The report takes key conclusions from "Building Equalizing Schools" and expands on it with recommendations for developing public will and building a platform and infrastructure for action

Application of Wavelet Transform on Signal Analysis

This research was supported by a Grant in Aid of Research by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society

Dissociating Sensory and Motor Components of Inhibition of Return

Two explanations for inhibition of return (IOR) have been proposed. The first is that IOR reflects inhibition of attentional processing at previously cued locations, resulting in altered sensory analysis. The second is that IOR reflects the inhibition of responses directed towards those previously cued locations. We used a variant of a double-saccade paradigm to dissociate these two proposed effects of IOR and attempted to reveal both effects within the context of a single experimental task. Subjects viewed a series of exogenous cues and then made a localization response to subsequent targets with either a target-directed saccade or a pointing response. Results were similar for both response modes. An important finding was that the pattern of IOR depended critically on how subjects reacted to the exogenous cues. Subjects either oriented to the cued locations (via saccades or pointing) prior to responding to the target (Respond), or passively viewed the cues before responding (Ignore). In the Respond condition, IOR was observed at the most recently cued position. Although this could be consistent with an altered sensory interpretation, it would also be consistent with a spatiotopic representation. In the Ignore condition, the sole inhibited location was not the most recently cued position, but the first cued position. This finding is surprising and in conflict with previous work with multiple exogenous cues. The data are discussed in relation to a number of prominent issues in the area of IOR and suggest important new constraints and boundary conditions