Us Vs. Them

Keeping a daily log for her school principal, a school library media specialist records her work collaborating with a high school social studies teacher as together they teach a unit of the Cold War. The three-week long project utilizes ten key ideas in information inquiry and ten guiding library principles, explaining how the Cold War project teaches these information literacy skills in a style students find interesting yet educational

The influence of context on message-making and audience reception in graphic design

The reception of a graphic design solution is greatly affected by the environment in which it is viewed: the space around it, and how it is approached and accessed. Obviously, the designer cannot control the specific life experiences that shape a viewer\u27s personal response, or how that viewer may be situated in a broader, cultural context. Designers often have at least some degree of control over contextual factors that contribute to the message-making potential of a graphic design solution, as well as the form the solution takes, and how it is presented to an audience. When carefully constructed, content, application, display and context can work harmoniously together to effectively relay the intended message to a viewer (i.e., congruence). Conversely, planned incongruence between context, presentation and form can also be a helpful tool for designers: incongruence has the power to draw viewer attention, promote closer inspection or conversation, and provide a strategy for extending the message to alternative audiences. Graphic design, environmental graphic design, museum, gallery and exhibition studies, interior design and site-specific art take context into account as a primary concern from the upfront conceptual and material processes to final form and presentation stages. This thesis study examines context across disciplines, using these existing examples as the initial inspiration for the development of a group of incongruent, site-specific installations on the Rochester Institute of Technology campus

A Resource-Based Perspective on Green Supply Chain Management and Firm Performance

Due to the perceived performance implications of green supply chain management, research in this area has grown in recent years. However, the literature is limited on the determinants of green supply chain management and its performance implications. Thus, the literature has yet to furnish an accepted explanation for why green practices are manifested in supply chain management and, whether a positive relationship exists between green supply chain management practices and firm performance. This dissertation responded to these challenges through exploring the antecedents and consequences of green supply chain management. This dissertation built on the theoretical base of the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) and investigated two potentially important determinants of green supply chain management practices, and how such practices, in turn, shape firm performance. Specifically, a theoretical model was developed that offered hypothesized relationships among the resources of an environmental orientation, a supply chain orientation, and green supply chain management practices, and how these resources relate to firm performance. Significant results and good fit indices tested with structural equation modeling generated a number of interesting theoretical implications for scholars and practical implications for supply chain managers. The results challenge the current theoretical and operationalization of the green supply chain management construct. The results also show the strategic implications of firm orientations. Finally, for executives and strategists who are concerned about better managing their supply chains, this study provides insights for how firms can develop a competitive edge through the implementation of green supply chain management practices

Statistical analysis of maintenance growth curves

Annual data on labor hours incurred for maintaining individual trucks in a large fleet are available from a truck leasing firm. Up to seven consecutive annual reports are available for a single truck, and by allowing cumulative mileage, the primary explanatory variable, to serve as a measure of time, data for a single truck can be effectively viewed as a sample from a growth curve taken at irregular inspection times. The goal is to predict labor hours for a subsequent year. Under this framework, three methods of analyzing the data are considered;(1) A linear interpolation method: Linear interpolation is used to fit an empirical labor hour curve for each truck. Mean cumulative labor hours within fixed mileage intervals are estimated by averaging across these curves. This approach has the advantage of being easy to program and it does not require the entire history of the life of each truck. (2) Locally weighted regression (loess): Loess is a nonparametric method of fitting a regression surface to data by local fitting of linear or low order polynomial functions of the independent variables. The loess function contained in S-Plus is used to estimate the overall mean labor hour curve. Selection of the neighborhood parameter in the presence of heteroscedastic errors is achieved by a modification of the M-Plot. Bootstrap methods are used to estimate standard errors. (3) A longitudinal analysis using a mixed model: Cumulative annual labor hours are regarded as longitudinal data where each unit is observed at a different set of unequally spaced time points. Mixed models, with an overall mean curve for all the units (fixed effects) and an individual curve for each unit (random effects) are considered;Relative advantages and disadvantages of the three methods are discussed. A comparison of the methods based on 1994 data is also made

A critical study of Kenya's REDD readiness process and the feasibility of Carbon Removal Strategies

Carbon removal strategies and negative emissions technologies have in later years been emphasised as mechanisms that can help human-kind halt rising temperatures and fight climate change. However, such mechanism has been shown to have negative impacts on local communities. As a result, scholars of political ecology argue that carbon removal projects and offset mechanisms needs to be critically studied in order to develop further understanding of the feasibility concerns and socio-political consequences. This thesis aims to contribute to this conversation through a critical study of Kenya’s REDD readiness process. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) is one of the existing carbon offset mechanisms, and I argue that important lessons can be learned from critically assessing this this negative emission mechanism. This thesis uses the case of the REDD readiness process in Kenya in combination with the Mau Forest complex conservation project to illuminate how carbon removal strategies can facilitate to a process of accumulation in contrast to benefit sharing. This theoretical framework of accumulation by dispossession is a useful perspective when aiming to understand how policies of conservation, afforestation and reforestation can ultimately lead to appropriation of landscapes to the benefit of powerful actors like private companies and state agencies. To be able to answer the research question, a qualitative content analysis of relevant policy documents was applied. The findings show that the policy framework does not directly facilitate accumulation by dispossession. Nevertheless, in the Kenyan context, and without a strong framework for including and protecting communities and indigenous people, the policy opens up for misuse by more powerful actors.M-I

A study of quality improvement and its relationship to financial characteristics of selected Iowa public school districts

The purpose of this study was to assess whether a relationship existed between the financial characteristics and the perceived quality of selected Iowa public schools for the 1992-93 school year;Following a comprehensive review of literature, an assessment instrument designed for educational organizations based on the Baldrige quality award criteria was utilized to assess the perception of current quality and ideal quality of selected schools. Financial characteristics were compiled from State of Iowa information;The population used in the survey for this study included responses from five teachers, three support personnel, two administrators, the superintendent, all board members, and two high school students from 42 school districts in the State of Iowa. Schools selected were from all four geographical quadrants of Iowa, and the spread in student population was similar to the district profile of Iowa;Initial data analysis involved calculation of the mean perceived existing quality and perceived ideal quality responses for each school district in the sample for each of 45 survey items. The ratio of the perceived current quality average to the perceived ideal quality average (Perceived Quality Assessment Index or PQAI) was calculated for each district in the sample and for each district on each of the seven quality dimensions defined by the instrument. Linear regressions were calculated ([alpha] =.05) for each of the six identified financial characteristics in relation to the PQAI;Sample districts were separated into the high 1/3 group, middle 1/3 group, and low 1/3 group by PQAI. The six financial characteristics for the schools from the high and low PQAI groups were compared by sample and by the seven quality dimensions to test the null hypotheses for differences utilizing a two-tailed, t test ([alpha] =.05);There were significant differences between the high and low PQAI groups, however, there were not significant differences between the high and low financial characteristics by PQAI groups. Analyses didn\u27t result in significant correlations between financial characteristics and PQAI;In summary, it appears Iowa school districts shouldn\u27t expect financial characteristics to be related to quality improvement initiatives from data analyzed from the 1992-93 school year

Constitutional Court Landscape Post - Arab Spring: A Survey of Design

This is a case study seeking to survey the landscape of constitutional courts in the MENA region after the Arab Spring. To accomplish this, the case study identifies the traditional functions of constitutional courts, then analyzes the design features present in post-Arab Spring constitutional courts to determine how and to what extent these design features help – or hinder – each court in fulfilling its traditional functions. Analysis of design features will focus on (1) which (and how many) constitutional matters the court is empowered to decide (court jurisdiction), (2) the processes by which a court is presented a matter upon which it is empowered to decide (court access), and (3) the process by which judges are appointed to the court (court appointment)

LITTER MATE CORRELATIONS IN THE WEIGHT OF PIGS

Competition may influence the weights of animals confined to litters or pens, if conditions occur that limit the space and the feed provided, by inducing a negative correlation among the weights within the groups. An example of the phenomenon appeared in the birthweight of pigs where the intra-class correlation declined in a linear manner with increasing litter size. The data consisted of records on 33,165 pigs from 3282 litters raised on a single farm

BINOMIAL VARIATION IN THE SEX COMPOSITION OF PIG FAMILIES

Given the known mechanisms for sex determination, the number of males in families of pigs should follow a binomial distribution. A report of deviations from binomial expectation prompted an investigation of 33,176 pig records from two breeds collected on a single farm. Two methods of assessing the agreement with the binomial distribution found no evidence of significant lack of fit