Resources available in the Quincy, South Shore, and Boston areas for enrichment of the curriculum in the intermediate grades of the Quincy, Massachusetts public school system,

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Interactions between Domestic and Foreign Investment

We present a model of portfolio allocation by noise traders who form incorrect expectations about the variance of the return distribution of a particular asset. We show that for many types of misperceptions, as long as such noise traders do not affect prices, they earn higher expected returns than do rational investors with similar degrees of risk aversion. Moreover, many such noise traders survive and dominate the market in terms of wealth in the long run, in the sense that the probability that noise traders will eventually have a high share of the economy's wealth is arbitrarily close to one. Noise traders come to dominate the market despite the fact that they take excessive risk that skews the distribution of their long run wealth and despite their excessive consumption. We conclude that the theoretical case against the long run viability of noise traders is by no means as clear cut as is commonly supposed.

Boys\u27 Writing Genre Choices

Teaching students according to their learning styles has become one of the most accepted approaches for effective instruction. The purpose of this action research was to discover what elementary boys do when given the opportunity to choose the genre of their own writing within writing workshop. More and more boys have resisted writing instruction and have slowly opted not to view themselves as writers. Boys\u27 and girls\u27 brains are structured differently and need different methods of instruction. Choice has been a motivating factor when encouraging boys to engage in any task. This is certainly true of writing. Students should view themselves as writers, so this study sought to find which genres were most enjoyable for males to write and how the opportunity to choose the genre changed participation in writing tasks. Six third grade boys were given opportunities to choose their genres and were observed during pull-out writing instruction. The participants also completed questionnaires to express thoughts about boys\u27 writing and aspects of writing related to genres. Each participant was also interviewed by the researcher in order to elaborate on actual writing choices. The researcher gathered qualitative information about each student\u27s decision-making process as each participant chose a genre and crafted his writing

Optimal Control of Electrodynamic Tethers

Low thrust propulsion systems such as electrodynamic tethers offer a fuel-efficient means to maneuver satellites to new orbits, however they can only perform such maneuvers when they are continuously operated for a long time. Such long-term maneuvers occur over many orbits often rendering short time scale trajectory optimization methods ineffective. An approach to multi-revolution, long time scale optimal control of an electrodynamic tether is investigated for a tethered satellite system in Low Earth Orbit with atmospheric drag. Control is assumed to be periodic over several orbits since under the assumptions of a nearly circular orbit, periodic control yields the only solution that significantly contributes to secular changes in the orbital parameters. The optimal control problem is constructed in such a way as to maneuver the satellite to a new orbit while minimizing a cost function subject to the constraints of the time-averaged equations of motion by controlling current in the tether. To accurately capture the tether orbital dynamics, libration is modeled and controlled over long time scales in a similar manner to the orbital states. Libration is addressed in two parts; equilibrium and stability analysis, and control. Libration equations of motion are derived and analyzed to provide equilibrium and stability criteria that define the constraints of the design. A new libration mean square state is introduced and constrained to maintain libration within an acceptable envelope throughout a given maneuver. A multiple time scale approach is used to capture the effects of the Earth’s rotating tilted magnetic field. Optimal control solutions are achieved using a pseudospectral method to maneuver an electrodynamic tether to new orbits over long time scales while managing librational motion using only the current in the tether wire

TO THE POINT: HOW MANAGEMENT FACULTY USE POWERPOINT SLIDES AND QUIZZES

This exploratory study examines U.S. management faculty usage of two types of supplements: PowerPoint (PPT) slides and quizzes. Results suggest the majority (67%) of experienced management faculty frequently employ PowerPoint in their classes. However, they do not see PPT basic slides provided by the publisher as very central to getting their message across. In using PPT they tend to personalize publisher slides to cover issues discussed in class and to embellish slides with visuals and videos for interest. Primarily they encourage their students to use PowerPoint slides provided on the instructor’s website to review lectures and chapter material to prepare for exams. Half of our study’s management professors used quizzes sparingly or not at all. When quizzes were used, professors developed their questions more often based on material presented in class as well as from the text. Further research investigating the reasoning behind faculty’s choices is warranted

BREAKING BAD NEWS IN HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS: APPLICATION OF THE SPIKES PROTOCOL

Organizational downsizing has increased exponentially worldwide and is also affecting the healthcare industry. It is one thing to speak abstractly of the need to reduce costs and quite another to actually tell a worker the bad news that he or she has been laid off. This paper offers practical advice to healthcare managers on conducting unpleasant conversations with employees based on a widely used medical model—the SPIKES protocol. This strategy has been extensively employed by physicians and other health care professionals who frequently communicate negative information to patients and is offered as an approach that can be easily and effectively adapted by healthcare managers when they must tell a person they have been terminated. Although breaking the bad news of a cutback will never be easy, having a plan of action that entails sound business and medical advice and is also the necessary thing to do can help firms carefully manage and execute reorganizations for the well-being of the organization and the terminated worker

STICKER SHOCK: MANAGEMENT PROFESSORS’PERSPECTIVES ON THE RISING COSTS OF COLLEGETEXTBOOKS

This study uses Internet survey methodology to target management instructors’ views on the cost of textbooks and the strategies that might be exercised by universities, publishers, and legislatures to control cost increases. From a random sample of 2,893 management professors selected, using university websites, from universities throughout the United States, 228 provided useable responses. Findings suggest that management instructors, particularly those with years of experience, acknowledge the concerns their students have over high textbook prices. They are willing to have legislation enacted to force changes in the marketing of the textbooks by publishers, but they do not want university policies that unduly (from their perspective) restrict their choices for texts. Nor are they in favor of possible publisher cost saving strategies that appear to add administrative burdens on faculty involved in the adoption process. Future research should include investigating techniques for reducing the rising costs of textbooks

Differences In Management and Marketing Professors\u27 Perspectives On The Rising Cost of College Textbooks

Textbooks are an integral component of the higher education process. However, a great deal of concern about the high costs of college textbooks has been expressed by those inside and outside of higher education. This paper focuses on the results of a study of the differences in Management and Marketing professors\u27 criteria and use of textbooks and their reactions to some of the changes that have been implemented or may be implemented by universities, state legislatures, and publishers to combat these cost escalations. Findings suggest that management and marketing instructors, particularly those with years of experience, acknowledge the concerns their students have over high textbook prices. They are willing to have legislation enacted to force changes in the marketing of the textbooks by publishers, but they do not want university policies that (from their perspective) restrict their choices for texts. Nor are they in favor of possible publisher cost saving strategies that appear to add administrative burdens on faculty involved in the adoption process

Supporting information for National, regional, and worldwide estimates of low birthweight rates in 2015, with trends from 2000: a systematic analysis

Data produced by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, LSHTM and Johns Hopkins University to estimate national low birthweight (LBW) and numbers for 195 countries. LBW data was collated through a systematic review of national routine/registration systems, nationally representative surveys, and other data sources, and subsequently modelled using restricted maximum likelihood estimation with country-level random effects. Data includes a list of 1447 rate data points used as an input to the modelled estimates, yearly national-level covariates for each of the 195 countries studied from 2000 to 2015, and information on estimated low birthweight rates from 2000 to 2015 for 148 countries with data. Stata code used to generate these estimates is provided