<p> </p><p>Two recent tendencies are brought together in this study; the emergence of a postcolonial academic discipline and the restructuring of international development aid and cooperation. Researchers have tried to advocate a postcolonial perspective in policies for international development. This study investigates to what extent this has been done in key documents from SIDA and USAID. A qualitative dimensional analysis was performed from which the results are then used for a comparative analysis. The findings show that documents from both agencies only to a limited extent express a postcolonial perspective, though; documents from SIDA show a stronger prevalence of a postcolonial perspective in some dimension and in the overall index. As demonstrated with the MIP index, both agencies policy documents have more non-postcolonialist rhetoric. The documents demonstrate a development discourse in which the donor countries own national development is prioritized at the cost of that of the receiver countries.</p>

Two recent tendencies are brought together in this study; the emergence of a postcolonial academic discipline and the restructuring of international development aid and cooperation. Researchers have tried to advocate a postcolonial perspective in policies for international development. This study investigates to what extent this has been done in key documents from SIDA and USAID. A qualitative dimensional analysis was performed from which the results are then used for a comparative analysis. The findings show that documents from both agencies only to a limited extent express a postcolonial perspective, though; documents from SIDA show a stronger prevalence of a postcolonial perspective in some dimension and in the overall index. As demonstrated with the MIP index, both agencies policy documents have more non-postcolonialist rhetoric. The documents demonstrate a development discourse in which the donor countries own national development is prioritized at the cost of that of the receiver countries.

Federal education policy has targeted children who are disadvantaged in order to improve their academic performance. The most recent federal education policy is the No Child Left Behind law signed by President Bush in 2001. Indicators often used to identify an at-risk youth range from economic, personal, family, and neighborhood characteristics. A probit model is used in this study to estimate the probability that a student graduates from high school as a function of 8th grade variables. Students are classified as at-risk of dropping out of high school or non at-risk based on having one or more risk factor. The main measures of academic outcomes are high school completion and post-secondary academic achievements. The main measures of labor market outcomes are short-term and long-term earnings. The results show that a student who comes from a low income family, has a sibling who dropped out, has parents with low education, is home alone after school for three hours or more, or comes from a step family in the eighth grade is at-risk of dropping out of high school. At-risk students are less likely than non at-risk students to graduate from high school. They appear to be more sensitive to existing conditions that may impair/assist their academic progress while they are in high school. At-risk students are also less likely to select a bachelor’s degree. When they are compared to comparable non at-risk students, a greater percentage of at-risk students select a bachelor’s degree or post-graduate degrees than non at-risk students. At-risk individuals face long-term disadvantage in the labor market, receiving lower wage offers than the non at-risk group. Comparing only those without post secondary education shows that the average earnings offered to at-risk individuals were lower than those offered to non at-risk individuals. At-risk college graduates also receive lower earnings than non at-risk college graduates. The wage differential is largely due to the disadvantage at-risk individuals face in the labor market.

This paper concerns a comparative analysis between two pre-Roman burial ground and the cremated individuals buried there, Skogome cemetery in Bohuslän and Smörkullen cemetery in Östergötland. The comparative analysis consists of several parts that concern both cemeteries inner and outer burial customs, and the osteological analysis of a total of 18 cremated invidvidulas. By studying the different parts separately, it has been possible to identify similarities and differences between the two contemporary cemeteries. There are great similarities between the cemeteries, differences were mainly observed in the osteological material relating to the amount of bone in each burial. The smaller amounts of bone in the graves of Skogome also holds a higher degree of fragmentation, but can not be explained by a higher combustion rate than the skeletal material from Smörkullen. This may indicate differences in the management of the individual’s remains after the cremation at the two sites. According to Borgström (1973) all agegroups probably buried in the cemetery Smörkullen, which also was observed trough the osteological analysis of the graves from Skogome. No gender assessments have been conducted since the methods have shown a need to further development in order to be applied on cremated individuals (Franzen 2011). Thus, questions about the gender distribution of the two grave fields remain unanswered. Mortality, health and gender assessments within of the two populations may be performed if the remaining graves from the burial grounds were further studied. The osteological analysis showed similar skeletal lesions of degenerative changes in the vertebraes in the two skeletal materials.The larger proportion of the graves contained no today preserved archaeological artefacts. The artefacts that occur are mainly different tools and costume details. The discussion has been an attempt to interpret these similarities and differences in order to identify if they could have a ritual, traditional or functional background. A clear distinction has been difficult. The analysis requires larger archaeological contexts, and further comparisons before this can be done. Local differences have been observed, but the great similarity between of the two burial grounds reflects the pre-Roman Iron Age expression in the mortuary traditions of the two populations.

This qualitative research compared the practice of an expert preacher to co re concepts in homiletic theory (the art and craft of preaching), searching for discrepancies between what theory suggested and what the preacher practiced. It also sought to validate that the preacher practiced what homiletic theorists prescribed and to inform homiletic theory by describing strategies he employed unlike those espoused in homiletic theory. The research also revealed that the preacher had a personal homiletic philosophy where in everything in his preparation, message design, and deli very centered on relevancy. The preacher felt strongly tha t the message had to apply to his listeners in meaning li.rl ways. The preacher's strength centered not so much on how he prese nted, but what he prese nted. Hi s sermons were fill ed with what homilet ic theori st Sunu kjian call ed " time less truths." They made the preacher's sermons insightful, hopeful, and most of all, relevant to his listeners To discover whether the participant's practice was congruent with theory, I first identified seminal theories. They were class ified into the following modifi ed version or Broadus's ca tegories of ideal preaching: (a) co ntent. (b) arra ngement, (c) introduction, trans ition, and conclusion, (d) style, (e) illustra tions, and (f) the del ivery. I crea ted a rubric from the literature review as a standard from whi ch I compared the part icipant 's audio and video sermons. The rubric had six categories, 39 subcategories, and 58 characteristics of ideal preaching to which the preacher was compared. The anal ys is included frequency counts of certain words, phrases, illustrations, and the results of the Flesch's Reading Ease score. To find strategies employed by the participant but not represented in the literature, I also used an inductive method to analyze the integral parts and patterns of the sermons. The analysis revealed that the preacher's practice was congruent with theory yet the preacher had never read homiletic theory. Because the preacher was able to sidestep the need to study homiletics, it was concluded that for him preaching was an intuitive art/craft.

The accurate prediction of an RNA secondary structure from its sequence will enhance the experimental design and interpretation for the increasing number of scientists that study RNA. While the computer programs that make these predictions have improved, additional improvements are necessary, in particular for larger RNAs. The first major section of this dissertation is concerned with improving the prediction accuracy of RNA secondary structures by generating new energetic parameters and evaluating a new RNA folding model. Statistical potentials for hairpin and internal loops produce significantly higher prediction accuracy when compared with nine other folding programs. While more improvements can be made to the energetic parameters used by secondary structure folding programs, I believe that a new approach is also necessary. I describe a RNA folding model that is predicated on a large body of computational and experimental work. This model includes energetics, contact distance, competition and a folding pathway. Each component of this folding model is evaluated and substantiated for its validity. The statistical potentials were created with comparative analysis. Comparative analysis requires the creation of highly accurate multiple RNA sequence alignments. The second major section of this dissertation is focused on my template-based sequence aligner, CRWAlign. Multiple sequence aligners generally run into problems when the pairwise sequence identity drops too low. By utilizing multiple dimensions of data to establish a profile for each position in a template alignment, CRWAlign is able to align new sequences with high accuracy even for pairs of sequence with low identity. / text

Homoseksualizmas yra traktuojamas kaip lytinis potraukis tos pačios lyties asmeniui. Lietuvos ir Norvegijos visuomenėje vyrauja heteroseksualizmas, todėl netradicinės lytinės orientacijos asmenys yra mažuma. Tačiau pačių valstybių požiūriai į homoseksualius asmenys skiriasi. Norvegija yra tolerantiškesnė šalis. Šioje šalyje yra priimtas įstatymas, kurio dėka homoseksualios orientacijos asmuo gali įsivaikinti vaikus, bei turi teisę į santuoką su tos pačios lyties asmeniu. Lietuva yra homofobiška šalis. Didžioji dalis šios šalies piliečių bijo, nemėgsta, netoleruoja netradicinės lytinės orientacijos asmenų. Yra suteikiama mažai informacijos apie homoseksualių asmenų prigimtį. Lietuvos mokymo programose homoseksualizmas yra traktuojamas kaip tradicinės katalikiškos moralės ir vertybių priešprieša. Mokslininkas Herbert Spencer yra sakęs, jog yra vienas principas, užkertantis kelią žinojimui, atmetantis visus argumentus ir paverčiantis žmogų amžinu neišmanėliu, - pirma paniekinti, o paskui aiškinti (Mondimore, 2000). Taigi, svarbu sugebėti atskirti tinkamą informaciją, bei nesivadovauti pasenusiais stereotipais, kurie kartais būna neteisingi ir dėl jų mes nebesugebame atskleisti kas yra tikroji tiesa. Darbe yra pateikiama teorinė ir tiriamoji dalis. Teorinėje dalyje yra pristatoma lytiškumo samprata, lyties vaidmenys ir jų kaita, požiūrio į lytinę orientaciją kontraversija. Taip pat yra apžvelgiama lytiškumo ir lytinio ugdymo sampratos Lietuvoje bei Norvegijoje. Tyrimo tikslas... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Homosexuality is perceived as sexual attraction to a person of the same sex. Heterosexuality is the prevailing sexual attraction in both the Lithuanian and Norwegian societies; therefore people with non-traditional sexual orientation comprise a minority. However, the attitudes of the countries towards homosexual people are different. Norway shows more tolerance. This country enacted a law allowing homosexual people to adopt children and have the right to enter into marriage with a person of the same sex. Lithuania is homophobic country. Most of the Lithuanian citizens are afraid of, dislike and do not tolerate people with non-traditional sexual orientation. Little information is given about the nature of homosexuals. The Lithuanian education programs treat homosexuality as the opposite to the traditional catholic morals and values. The scientist Herbert Spencer once said: “there is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation” (Mondimore, 2000). Therefore, it is important to be able to differentiate the appropriate information and not to follow outdated stereotypes which may sometimes be wrong and cause us to be incapable of revealing the real truth.The paper consists of a theoretical part and a research. The theoretical part presents the concept of sexuality, roles of gender and their changes, and the controversy of the... [to full text]

The purpose of this thesis was to develop the best practices for completing a comparative analysis for a cultural landscape World Heritage nomination document. The research focused on existing secondary documents including written reports and nomination documents, as well as experts’ opinions. The two objectives of the research were to complete an examination of the existing World Heritage literature and to establish the best practices to undertake the comparative analysis. A comparative analysis is required to provide comparisons of the nominated site with sites that are on the World Heritage List and those that are not. The material emphasis of the World Heritage Committee review process is challenging for associative cultural landscape nominations. The individuality of each landscape and associated culture is what makes traditional sites unique and challenging to compare to other global sites.

This qualitative research compared the practice of an expert preacher to core concepts in homiletic theory (the art and craft of preaching), searching for discrepancies between what theory suggested and what the preacher practiced. It also sought to validate that the preacher practiced what homiletic theorists prescribed and to inform homiletic theory by describing strategies he employed unlike those espoused in homiletic theory. To discover whether the participant's practice was congruent with theory, I first identified seminal theories. They were classified into the following modified version of Broadus's categories of ideal preaching: (a) content, (b) arrangement, (c) introduction, transition, and conclusion, (d) style (e) illustrations, and (f) the delivery. I created a rubric from the literature review as a standard from which I compared the participant's audio and video sermons. The rubric had six categories, 39 subcategories, and 58 characteristics of ideal preaching to which the preacher was compared. The analysis included frequency counts of certain words, phrases, illustrations, and the results of the Flesch's Reading Ease score. To find strategies employed by the participant but not represented in the literature, I also used an inductive method to analyze the integral parts and patterns of the sermons. The analysis revealed that the preacher's practice was congruent with theory yet the preacher had never read homiletic theory. Because the preacher was able to sidestep the need to study homiletics, it was concluded that for him preaching was an intuitive art/craft. The research also revealed that the preacher had personal homiletic philosophy wherein everything in his preparation, message design, and delivery centered on relevancy. The preacher felt strongly that the message had to apply to his listeners in meaningful ways. The preacher's strength centered not so much on how he presented, but what he presented. His sermons were filled with what homiletic theorist Sunukjian called "timeless truths." They made the preacher's sermons insightful, hopeful, and most of all, relevant to his listeners.

The purpose of this thesis was to develop the best practices for completing a comparative analysis for a cultural landscape World Heritage nomination document. The research focused on existing secondary documents including written reports and nomination documents, as well as experts’ opinions. The two objectives of the research were to complete an examination of the existing World Heritage literature and to establish the best practices to undertake the comparative analysis. A comparative analysis is required to provide comparisons of the nominated site with sites that are on the World Heritage List and those that are not. The material emphasis of the World Heritage Committee review process is challenging for associative cultural landscape nominations. The individuality of each landscape and associated culture is what makes traditional sites unique and challenging to compare to other global sites.