The 711-acre Mueller development is located just three miles northeast of downtown on the former site of the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. Planned as one of Austin’s major transit-oriented New Urbanist developments, Mueller contains a pattern of pedestrian and bike friendly streets to encourage a range of transportation options for residents and visitors. Mueller is 30% complete and provides housing and jobs to over 3000 residents and 3000 employees. This MDS seeks to understand how current residents, employees, and visitors use the bike lanes, sidewalks, and roads in the Mueller community. To evaluate the transportation infrastructure, the author designed and coded a custom Google Maps survey that asked residents to draw common routes, points of interest, and points of concern related to their transportation choices. The results of this study then influenced a future urban design of the undeveloped portion of Mueller. / text

Målgruppen för studien är de elever som i högstadiet blivit obehöriga till gymnasiet och nu går på något introduktionsprogram. Studien syftar till att belysa hur de talar om sin position och hur detta påverkar resonemanget kring framtiden samt hur de förhåller sig till normer i resonemangen. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär med livshistorisk metod och det empiriska materialet består av intervjuer. Det saknas i princip framåtblickande studier för denna målgrupp men tidigare forskning finns för den närliggande gruppen dropouts där positionen beskrivs som kostsam. Intressant är därför att vidga forskningsområdet till den position där de obehöriga eleverna som ännu finns kvar i utbildning befinner sig. Slutsatsen är att elever på introduktionsprogrammet talar om sin position som ett fråntagande av deras ansvar för framtiden. De talar om positionen som en brytpunkt där deras önskan om att följa normerna för utbildning ökar motivationen till kompromisser i framtidsvalet. Studiens slutsats är att positionen förskjuter fokus i elevernas resonemang från valalternativen till att få tillgång till en valmöjlighet. / The target group for this study are the students that has become ineligible for upper secondary school and educates in a introductory program. The study aims to convey a picture of how these students speak about their position and how this affects their reasoning about the future and how they relates to norms in this reasoning. The study is qualitative with a life-historical method and the empirical material consists of interviews. There are no prospective studies for this target group but previous research on dropouts in general describes the position as costly. Interesting is therefore to expand the research to the position where ineligible students are in their education. The results of the study suggest that these students speak of the position as a deprivation of their responsibility for their future. These students speak about the position as a breaking point where the desire to follow the norms of education increases motivation to compromise. The study concludes that the position shifts the focus about their future from selections of choice to the ability to choose.

This dissertation is composed of two essays that relate topics in the fields of labor economics, migration, experimental economics and entrepreneurship, taking into account a gender perspective. The first essay examines collective remittances, those sent by migrants' associations to be invested in community projects in their hometowns, matched by governmental funds through the Mexican program 3x1 Para Migrantes. This study evaluates the effect of collective remittances on the probability of wanting to migrate, being employed and in the labor force, and on the amount of hours worked of adult men and women in 2002 and 2005 in Mexico. Collective remittances have a positive, albeit modest, impact on the employment and labor force participation of adults in participant municipalities, but no effect on the preferences to migrate. Important differences are observed by type of project executed and by gender and age cohort, with younger men and women benefiting the most from investments in schools and sports facilities. The second essay conducts a series of laboratory experiments to test the hypothesis that, while stress worsens entrepreneurial choices and outcomes for all, it does so more for women than men. Results show that the effects of stress on choice and performance are more negative for women. Experimentally-induced stress causes more long-lasting productivity losses for women, and additional losses for making choices that do not maximize income given one's productivity. The negative treatment effect on women's productivity, choice quality, and earnings is driven by women who experienced negative life events. The mechanisms that affect choices also differ by gender. Men are more likely to present inconsistencies during a series of entrepreneurial decisions, and women to have inaccurate beliefs about their performance.

This study examined the use of information sources in college choice processing of historically-under-represented students from four different types of colleges who traditionally have not been studied in previous research. Historically under-represented types of students included students who were older than 24 years of age, African-Americans, Latinos, and low SES. The four types of colleges included a traditional public university, public community college, proprietary university, and proprietary college. Students from similar college programs of study were surveyed regarding their demographics to determine their categorization as historically under-represented and their use of information sources. Administrators from the selected colleges were interviewed and surveyed. Five students from each college were then interviewed. While most college choice processing research and the development of models are based on traditional college students, this study demonstrated that historically under-represented students generally utilize information sources and perform their college choice processing differently from traditional college students. These differences question the applicability of college choice processing models, such as Hossler and Gallagher's three stage model, without revisions. These revisions include redefinition of the stages and how they are executed in order to embrace the lack of college choices of historically under-represented students due to their lack of college informational motivators. The use of alternate information sources by historically-under-represented students and their motivational impact that differ from those utilized by traditional college students demonstrated the need to employ these sources within traditional colleges in order to increase college access for historically-under-represented students. This includes the utilization of non-traditional college informational motivators, such as the media, spouses, employers, and children, access to college informational motivators for students and their parents at all levels of schooling, and greater college access for older adults/parents. This study provided evidence that historically-underrepresented students still experience deficiencies in their access to college due to their lack of access to traditional information sources and their resulting compensation by utilizing alternative sources which were motivational as well as informational.

Objective. To compare energy balance and nutrient intake of elite and non-elite school-aged gymnasts, as well as to evaluate their nutritional knowledge and eating attitude and its effect on dietary intake and practices. Methods. Demographic information, anthropometric measurements, menstrual status, sources of nutritional information, nutritional habits as well as supplement use was documented. Eating attitudes were measured by the EAT26 test and nutritional knowledge by a standardised questionnaire. Dietary intake and practices were determined with a 3-day weighed food record, while energy expenditure was measured with an Actical® accelerometer (Mini Mitter Co., Inc. Bend, OR, USA). Results. The total daily energy intake (non-elite = 6 944.37 ± 1 272.28 kJ vs. elite = 6 543.01 ± 2 570 kJ) in both groups was similar to their daily energy expenditure values (non-elite = 6 393.77 ± 1 244.19 kJ vs. elite = 6 696.09 ± 1 676.58 kJ). Elite gymnasts tended to have higher protein (21.37 vs. 15.4% total energy intake (TE), small effect size, d = 0.1) and lower fat (28.9 vs. 33.6% TE, medium effect size, d = - 0.6) intakes. More non-elite gymnasts (n = 7, 88.88%) used micronutrient supplements than elite gymnasts (n = 4, 45.45%, medium effect size, d = 0.45). Most of the gymnasts (55%) ate snacks during the day, which consisted mostly of refined carbohydrates. In the total group of gymnasts the most frequently used source of nutritional information was the coach (60%). There was no difference in nutritional knowledge between the groups (elite = 61.8% vs. non-elite = 62.8% respectively). Lastly, elite gymnasts had a practically significantly higher risk than non-elite gymnasts to follow a diet (large effect size, d = 1.32), while non-elite gymnasts exercised practically significantly more self-control over their food intake com pared to elite gymnasts (large effect size, d = - 1.03). Conclusions. South African elite gymnasts do not differ from non-elite gymnasts in terms of energy-, carbohydrate-, protein-, or fat intake. There is also no difference in energy expenditure or risk in developing an eating disorder, probably due to less competitiveness compared to other international gymnasts. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Dietetics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Policymakers, politicians, and media outlets have declared an obesity epidemic. In doing so, they have named a variety of villains, including fast food. Despite the framing of fast food as being a leading contributor to weight gain and obesity, we have yet to understand the impact that fast food has on those who work with it every day. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand the food choices, BMIs, and self perceived weights of the food service worker population. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and field, I investigate the role of the workplace and external cultural influences, such as the family, in navigating an obseogenic workplace environment that is centered on selling highly caloric food to the Canadian public in a quick and cost effective manner. The first stage of this research addresses the question: Are food service workers more likely to be overweight or obese and perceive themselves as being overweight compared to the general population? In order to do this, I analyzed secondary survey data from the Canadian Community Health Survey cycle 5.1 (2009-2010). I used logistic regression techniques to construct models that analyze the likelihood of having high BMIs and high self perceived weights in both the food service worker and general Canadian populations. In addition to this, I sought to understand the food choices that contribute to weight gain in fast food workers. To do this, I conducted forty semi-structured qualitative interviews with workers from a variety of fast food chains. The results of my research disprove my original hypothesis that food service workers are more likely to be overweight or obese because of their frequent exposure to fast food. Instead, I found that they are less likely to be overweight or obese than the general Canadian population. Additionally, they are also less likely to perceive themselves as being overweight or obese. Through the qualitative interviews, I found that these individuals participate in a process of regulation where they monitor their food intake at work. Additionally, I found that their consumption patterns stemmed from habitus generated through cultural exposures in other areas of their lives. Pierre Bourdieu (1984) argues that we develop habitus through meaningful cultural exposure. We use our habitus, or engrained dispositions, to navigate hierarchical spaces or fields. Through this research, I found that workers viewed their jobs as being temporary and their cultural consumption patterns did not seem to change from their exposures to their workplaces. The majority were part time students, working in this industry to pay for living expenses and tuition. For the most part, they were raised in middle class homes where their mothers prepared food for their families from scratch on a daily basis. Fast food was viewed as a special treat and not an item to consume on a regular basis. I conclude that the meaningful exposures we have to food and cultural norms throughout life are more important in determining our food choices than our exposure to fast food restaurants.

No description available.

Theories of nuclear weapons proliferation cannot fully account for the nuances of certain cases because proliferation is a complex process involving numerous variables, the importance of which can potentially shift across time. This seems especially true when applied to the case of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) where motivations have shifted in relevance numerous times in its proliferation history. In order to investigate this, this thesis reviews extant theories of nuclear proliferation and their ability to explain the case of the DPRK by critically examining its historical nuclear progress and nuclear weapons ambitions across time. The result is that indeed, proliferation theories are ill-equipped to completely account for the DPRK’s nuclear choices. The DPRK has ostensibly been motivated by numerous variables at different times, each having varying degrees of influence, inexplicable for mono-causal and often western and ethno-centric accounts of its proliferation motivations.

This study examines socio-economic factors underlying the demand for private tutoring. The analysis utilizes two samples of students from lower- and upper-level secondary schools in Poland based on the PISA 2006 data set. Special attention is paid to channels through which private tutoring may endure socio-economic inequalities, especially in the context of the gender gap in education outcomes. We find that parents' decisions concerning private education are sensitive to student gender, which may raise concerns for policymakers committed to provide equal opportunities and outcomes in education. At the level of gymnasium (lower-level secondary school), female students are more likely to enrol in private tutoring in mathematics than male students. The evidence indicates the opposite with respect to private tutoring in Polish and preparatory courses for the gymnasium final examination. The grade from the final exam does not affect the probability of graduating from gymnasium, but it is used by upper secondary schools for the admission purpose. In upper secondary schools, we find that male students are less likely to participate in private education services than female students. This may be indicative of an increase in power of students in household's decision-making as they graduate from gymnasium. (author's abstract)

The study deals with young people with visual impairment and their choices of upper secondary school, what is behind and how they are affected by other aspects and other people around them. It also describes how these students experience the career counseling they received for the election. This has been the purpose of the study and was examined through qualitative method and interviews with five young people aged 15 to 21 years with severe visual impairment or blindness. The results and conclusion is that these young people are greatly affected by their parents in choice of upper secondary school and that the school’s attitude to the pupil has a major impact on whether the pupil chooses the school. Most students report that they are satisfied with the career counselling they received in elementary school, but it also occur shortcomings. The basis of the work was Careership theory thanks to its concepts about turning points and routines, mainly in young people's lives such as the transition from elementary to upper secondary school.