Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Daniel Green, Dept. Political Science & International Relations. Includes bibliographical references.

<p>Despite the crucial role that conference committees can play in the legislative process, relatively little is understood about the forces that influence conference outcomes and the priorities of conferees. In particular, the literature on conferences rarely considers the importance of parties, while prominent theories of party government in Congress do not engage the role of conferences in the legislative process. Given the unique features of the conference reports (i.e., they are subject only up-or-down votes, they are generally protected from further amendments, they enjoy a high probability of passage, and they provide a means to make controversial changes/additions to legislation with minimal scrutiny) conferences can be a useful means for majority conferees to further the legislative goals of their party. To the extent that one of the goals of a legislative majority is to pass legislation that better reflects the interests of its members, then partisan politics should play an active role at the conference stage and in the decisions of conferees. This dissertation serves to connect the conference and party government literatures by considering the claim that majority parties in Congress can and do use the conference process to pursue a partisan legislative agenda.</p><p>This broad claim is considered in three separate chapters that test hypotheses about the role of party politics in different aspects of the conference process. Chapter two tests the hypothesis that more partisan conference delegations are associated with changes in policy that are more consistent with the majority party's preferences. Since the Speaker of the House has sole discretion over the composition of the House's delegation it is possible that strategic selection of conferees could advantage the preferences of the majority in the House. Using original data that includes information on every conference committee from 1981-2008 the empirical analysis shows that changes in House minority support in roll call vote before and after conference are smaller for conferences where the percentage of the House majority delegation is larger. Increases in minority shifts of support within both chambers is also predicted by increased support for the report by minority conferees and more bipartisan support in the opposing chamber. Though the analysis cannot directly test whether strategic selection by the House Speaker is effective, the results do show that if a conference delegation is dominated by the majority party that conference reports are more partisan. Thus the results indicate that the decision to appoint conferees can be used to influence the partisan content of conference outcomes.</p><p>Chapter three looks at whether compromises made in conference reflect a bias towards the interests of majority members. Using newly available data from the first session of the 110th Congress, which allow for a comparison of earmarks before and after conference, the chapter provides one of the first analyses of how earmarks are changed during bicameral negotiations. Specifically, this chapter tests hypotheses on whether the earmarks of majority, well-connected, and electorally vulnerable members are advantaged in how conferees decided to change the value of pork barrel projects in conference. Lastly, since earmarking is generally considered to be free of partisan conflict, the data provides a demanding test of the existence of a majority bias. The results show evidence of majority bias for Representatives and Senators in conference earmarking during the 110th Congress.</p><p>Chapter four focuses on decision making in conference at the level of individual conferees. Using original data collected on every conferee's decision to sign a report from 1981-2008 the analysis this chapter tests the extent to which party loyalty is a factor in conferee decision making. Through descriptive, multivariate, and multilevel analyses of signature decisions the results show that majority affiliation, relative to committee and individual preferences is increasingly the dominant factor in predicting whether a conferee signs a conference report. This results also establish that contextual features of a conference, such as whether the bill was referred to multiple committees before conference, whether the bill considered was an appropriations measure, and whether the House was in a position to act first on the conference report, are all significant predictors of disagreement. Lastly, the results provide evidence that partisan conflict in support of conference reports generally increased over this period and that unified governments accentuate this conflict. These results support the overarching claim of the project in that conflict over the content of conference reports is increasingly divided along party lines to the advantage of the majority party.</p><p>Together the different analyses of the three chapters provide evidence of the claim that majority parties can and do pursue partisan goals in the contemporary conference process. Furthermore the results advance scholarly understanding of the many forces at play in conference committee bargaining and how they contribute to legislative outcomes through the complexities of the conference process.</p> / Dissertation

The lack of a real English environment in Taiwan and big class teaching had long limited the opportunities for Taiwanese English learners to use English. Due to thriving development of internet technology in recent years, the predicament has been broken through. Internet not only opens a new communicational channel for teachers and students, but also creates an authentic environment for English learners. As the new curriculum policy ¡§coherence curriculum of civil education¡¨, which emphasizes on setting information instruction into each subjects, is taken into practice, learning English with internet tools must will become a trend in the future. Therefore, this research examines the distance between the ideal and the reality using an internet-based English teaching project, and probe into some feasible ways to conduct similar program in the future. There were four purposes of this research: 1. To find out the key factors of success in internet-based English teaching from relative theories and former researches. 2. To understand the teacher¡¦s and students¡¦ performances and the students¡¦ reflections during the first half year joining an internet-based English teaching project. 3. To probe into the merits and defects of the internet-based English teaching project, AJET. 4. To discover the difficulties and feasible ways for senior high schools to carry out internet-based English teaching. The subjects of this research were a senior high school class and their teacher who first joined an internet-based English teaching project named ¡§Advanced Joint English Teaching¡¨ (AJET) in Kaohsiung. All 44 students were male. During the research period, they participated in six internet-based teaching activities, which were ¡§group e-mailing,¡¨ ¡§web-based course,¡¨ ¡§e-mail writing program,¡¨ ¡§English homepage design,¡¨ ¡§video conference¡¨ and ¡§chatroom discussion.¡¨ The researcher traced the students¡¦ performances and collected their work pieces mainly through e-mail, AJET homepage and telephone during the research period. A questionnaire was given to elicit relevant information on the participants¡¦ perception of, and attitudes towards, using the internet technology to complete their Internet-based English projects. Follow-up interview with 10 students and 2 teachers were also collected at the end of the research to understand their reflections on the project. In addition, the students¡¦ performances at the second homepage contest were also recorded. After data collection, the quantitative and qualitative methods were performed. The quantitative statistic analysis was employed using descriptive analysis to investigate the learners¡¦ perceptions towards the Web-based project. The qualitative analysis made from the student responses to the open-ended questions and the researcher¡¦s observation, provided the opportunity to uncover deeper issues than might have been apparent in a quantitative study. Students¡¦ responses to the open-ended questions were broken down into excerpts, where each excerpt represented one complete answer to a question, including any follow-up questions or clarification by student interviews. The main findings and conclusions of this research are as follows: 1. The students¡¦ participation and interaction were not good, and need the teacher¡¦s supervision to help them to form active learning habits. 2. The teacher was overloaded in the project and found it difficult to do both administration and teaching. There is a need of others¡¦ coordination. 3. The students liked and approved of English learning through internet, but differed in their opinions about its benefits to English learning. 4. The project provided the students an opportunity to experience new technologies, felt the pleasure of learning and increased their learning possibilities. 5. To carry out an internet-based English project, the project must spread relative concepts, consider the teacher¡¦s and students¡¦ loads, design each activity with proper number of participants, conduct relative training, and enhance the equipment and communicational efficiency. To sum up, although there is a distance between the ideal and the reality in the internet-based English teaching project, this way of English teaching is worth developing and expanding. Finally, according to the findings of this research, the researcher provides some suggestions for future organizations, teachers and researchers who are interested in this field.

The intent of this study was to determine if men’s football and men’s basketball coaches at the university or college level utilize an assessment instrument when recruiting and evaluating potential student-athletes. Specifically studied through interviews were the characteristics that these coaches look for in successful and unsuccessful student-athletes, how they currently collect information during the recruitment period and the importance of collecting data on student-athletes. Swanson’s Performance Diagnosis Matrix and Human Capital Theory framed the research. The population for this study consisted of current Division IA men’s football and men’s basketball coaches in the Big 12 Conference. Prior to contacting the Big 12 coaches a pilot study was conducted at two Division IA Universities and with a former head football coach at a Big 12 Conference University. These interviews were instrumental in the final development of the questions used to interview the Big 12 Conference coaches. The participants were sent a letter asking for their participation in the study and then were contacted by phone to set up an interview. The interviews were conducted in the months of July, August, and September 2006 by phone. This study found that most coaches do not have or utilize an assessment instrument. Significant data showed coaches believe that the evaluation process of student-athletes is the most difficult and critical part of their job. Using emergent category designation I found seven themes (characteristics) of successful student-athletes, as indicated by the coaches: competitive, a hard worker, has a supportive family, is a leader, has good character, and is honest. I also found the themes (characteristics) of an unsuccessful student-athlete to be: undisciplined, lacks character, has an unstable family and is not competitive. The study helps to define through research and development an assessment instrument to more effectively define the needs of student-athletes prior to entering universities and coaches will have additional data for meeting the needs of student-athletes.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-157).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 430-443). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR46000

Thesis (M.R.E.)--Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, 1965. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [76]-78).

Thesis (M.R.E.)--Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, 1962. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [60]-62).

Es waren auf den neun internationalen Philosophiekongressen vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg immer auch russische Denker anwesend, wenngleich in insgesamt kleiner Zahl. Die Kongresse fanden bis in die 1930er Jahre hinein hauptsächlich in Westeuropa statt (Paris, Genf, Heidelberg, Bologna, Neapel, Oxford), einmal in Mitteleuropa (Prag) und einmal in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (Cambridge, Mass.). Die akademischen und die politischen Verrhältnisse brachten es mit sich, dass vor allem solche russischen Beiträger auftraten, die bereits etablierte Kontakte zur westeuropäischen Universitätssphilosophie besaßen. Für die vorliegende Untersuchung wird als russische Philosophie oder russisches Denken all das in Betracht gezogen, was von der nationalen oder kulturellen Zugehörigkeit der Autorin bzw. des Autors als russisch gelten kann, aber auch, was thematisch dem Problemkreis russischer Philosophie zuzuordnen ist.

It is becoming increasingly recognized that the flood of anthropogenic CO2 into the atmosphere should be reduced in order to mitigate the Earth’s atmospheric greenhouse and slow climate change. If immediate action is required, then a number of greenhouse gas reduction strategies may need to be implemented even before complete study of their impacts can be fully understood. Energy production through combustion produces large amounts of CO2 in a relatively small number of locations at which CO2 capture and compression to a liquid, transportable form can be achieved. Physical disposal offers the best option for sequestering this waste CO2. Because of the costs of transportation, geological sequestration will be most applicable for one set of power plants, deep ocean sequestration may be most applicable for some others. In both cases, the sequestration processes can provide some economic benefits. Ocean CO2 disposal can produce desalinated, treated water as a byproduct.