Abstract In this article, the writer studies ways of motivating Circuit City sales employees. The goal of the proposed study is to attempt to motivate employees to increase sales in each of the city's five Circuit City stores through offering sales personnel in each of those stores, gift card incentives for reaching certain sales goals. The writer notes that the hypothesis for the study is that, during the month that the gift card bonus incentive program is in place, within the five target Circuit City stores city-wide, sales per employee, and overall sales per store, will increase as a result of these incentives.
Outline:
Introduction
Background of the Problem
Study Subjects
Independent Variables
Dependent Variables
Research Methods
References
From the Paper "No magic formula exists, anywhere, for motivating employees, but when employees feel unmotivated, not only morale, but business itself suffers. Industrial psychologists might argue that secret(s) to motivating employees lie, in knowing and understanding what makes individual employees tick: what their interests, values, hobbies, and goals are; what they like to do outside work, what they enjoy most (or least) about their jobs, etc., as well as how employees work well together."
Abstract While diabetes and depression are diseases common on their own, about 30% of diabetics suffer from depressive symptoms. In fact, individuals with diabetes suffer from depression twice as much as non-diabetics. This paper shows that the current research on diabetes and depression is contradictory. Some studies have shown that depression causes diabetes, while others have shown that diabetes leads to depression. The paper examines current research in the field.
From the Paper "On the other hand, there is a possibility that depression may increase the risk of diabetes. This could occur through changes in the body like the opening of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the activation of the immune system (Palinkas et al., 2004). Increased activity of norepinephrine, dopamine, and adrenaline in fluid are also seen in individuals depressed (Arroyo, Hu, Ryan, Kawachi, Colditz, & et al., 2004). In fact, those are coupled with impaired glucose tolerance and increased blood glucose (Arroyo et al., 2004). This causes a decreased ability to handle carbohydrate load, which increases the risk of type 2 diabetes (Arroyo et al., 2004). Additionally, depression can increase the risk of developing diabetes through poor diet and a decrease in physical activity (Palinkas et al., 2004)."
Abstract This study proposal targets several detection methods and measures the mammogram's success rate against incidences of detection in which the cancer patient did not have routine mammograms performed. The study hypothesizes that using mammograms as an early detection tool for breast cancer in women between the ages of 40-49 will produce significant early detection thereby making early treatment more possible.
Table of Contents:
Statement Of Problem
Significance Of Study
Review Of Literature
Hypothesis
Design Of Study
Population
Method Of Gathering Data
Instrumentation
Sampling
Data Collection
Results
Recommendations
Discussion
From the Paper "The significance of this study is that it will allow physicians to become more confident in what tests and tools they order used in the suspicion of breast cancer.
"This not only means a higher survival rate for the patients but it also can mean a reduced financial strain on the insurance companies and the health field in general. Many people who have cancer do not have insurance and this means that the cost of treatment almost always falls to the taxpayers to handle. Early detection provides the ability to use less invasive and fewer lengthy treatment options which in turn mean that it creates a reduced cost to treat."
Abstract This paper presents an experiment that was done in order to test the relationship between grip strength and gender. The paper presents the methods used to do the experiment and the results and concludes with a discussion on the results obtained. The paper concludes that while the results indicate greater grip strength among males than among females, they do not form a conclusive case against the suitability of females for physically demanding situations.
Table of Contents:
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
From the Paper "General knowledge suggests that the average male grip strength is greater than the average female grip strength. When visitors to AnswerBag.com, a popular Q&A site, were asked the question, "are men stronger than women?" each of the six responses indicated a belief that men are stronger (Kovaciny). This was used as a hypothesis: If fourteen subjects consisting of both genders equally represented and of a similar or equivalent average age, then those subjects of the male gender will have demonstrably greater grip strength."
Abstract This paper explains that, for standardized tests to support learning objectives, the construction of the test must be aligned with the intended aspects of the learning goals. The author points out that test results not only must be used for accountability purposes but also should be disaggregated to identify patterns. The paper states that, when school districts can discover creative and productive ways to use assessment tests rather than punitive mandates, they can make improvements in their ability to prepare students to meet the rigors of life after high school.
From the Paper "John Easton showed how districts use the results from standardized tests in a 2000 study prepared for the Consortium on Chicago School Research and the Illinois Business Round-table. Curriculum directors or superintendents from 60 districts were interviewed by telephone and 75 districts completed an assessment survey. One key research questions was "what do districts do with their test results?" Easton reported that 77 percent of the districts marked "evaluating school improvement" as their greatest reason for using the standardized tests."
Abstract This paper identifies a research issue, opportunity or problem that uses a data set consisting of at least 10-20 absolute zero measurements. In particular, the paper details primary and secondary data obtained from the Internet and other resources that expound upon the issue of declining teen pregnancy rates in the US. The paper further describes the methods used to collect the data along with calculations for the measures of central tendency and dispersion. The paper then displays the descriptive statistical data using graphic and tabular techniques along with an explanation of the data. The paper concludes with an action plan for the teenage pregnancy issues based on the data.
Outline:
Abstract
Introduction
Literature Review
Hypothesis
Methodology
Data Analysis
Conclusion
From the Paper "The pregnancy rate of teenagers in the United States continues to be an issue of high social concern. "While teenage birthrates have declined significantly in the past decade, they remain high and still impose a social and individual cost" (King, 2005). Knowing the rates have declined, a relevant question is; what factors facilitated the decline and can the factors be used to continue the decline? Two reasons accredited for the decrease in trend include the increased accessibility and use of family planning services and the exposure given to the dangers of unprotected sex by the mainstream media. Additionally, this report will provide details on the collection of primary data associated with the hypotheses."
Tags: data, teenage, pregnancy, family, planning, counseling, sex, health
Abstract This paper details a hypothesis (regarding teen pregnancies in the United States) using varying statistics and statistical methods performed on data. It includes a hypothesis statement and details for the performance of the five-step hypothesis test on the data. The paper also includes a description of the results of the tests and a comparison of the results from the new hypothesis to the former.
Table of Contents:
Abstract
Hypothesis A
Analysis of Hypothesis A
Further Research Consideration
Hypothesis B
Analysis of Hypothesis B
Hypothesis Comparisons
Conclusion
Appendix I
From the Paper "The United States, compared with all developed countries of the world, has one of the highest per capita pregnancy rates of teenagers (King, 2005). According to data posted on the March of Dimes website, the number of teenage girls that become pregnant each year is about 860,000. Although the statistics are alarming, evidence of a change in the trend is apparent. The National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention produced data revealing a 23% decline in birth rates of unmarried teenagers in the past decade (King, 2005). This report will explore a specific influence that has affected the declining trend. Two hypotheses will be presented as support along with a description and analysis of the hypothesis testing."
This paper is a thesis in which a signal level simulator in uplink is implemented according to the physical layer specification of the IMT-2000 WCDMA system.
Abstract This paper explains that the goal for the next generation of mobile communications system is to seamlessly integrate a wide variety of communication services such as high speed data, video and multimedia traffic as well as voice signals. The author reports that, for the analysis for this thesis, an analytical WCDMA system through the use of linear algebra techniques is utilized along with a simulation tool in Matlab, which was developed for this work. The paper demonstrates performance improvement due to processing gain, PN sequence, RAKE receiver, smart antenna and multiuser detection, which are compared with respective theories. The paper includes many tables, charts, illustrations, equations and all the source codes.
Table of Contents:
Introduction to WCDMA
Introduction
Applicable Techniques to Enhance System Performance
Spreading
Multipath Diversity
Multiuser Detection
Smart Antenna
Outline of This Thesis
Abbreviations
List of Symbols
Analytical WCDMA System Model
Introduction
CDMA System Model for the Uplink
Mobile Radio Channel Model
Discrete Time Base Band Uplink Model
Synchronous CDMA
Asynchronous CDMA
Single Path Model
Multipath Model
Multiple Antenna Model
Conclusion
Spreading in WCDMA
Introduction
Properties of PN Sequence
Spreading and Scrambling in the Uplink of WCDMA
Walsh-Hadamard Codes and Spreading
Gold Codes and Scrambing
Conclusion
RAKE Receiver and Multiuser Detection
Introduction
System Model
The RAKE Receiver
Multiuser Detection
Input Signal Modeling
Optimal Detection
Suboptimal Detection
Decorrelating Detector
Linear Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE)
Adaptive MMSE Algorithm-RLS Algorithm with Adaptive Memory
Conclusion
Smart Antenna in WCDMA
Types of Smart Antenna
Signal Modeling
Beamforming Schemes
Conventional Beamforming
Optimum Beamforming
Adaptive Beamforming
Conclusion
Simulation
System Setup
Channel
System Performance
Performance without RAKE Receiver and with RAKE Receiver
Performance of 1-D RAKE Receiver with EGC or Selection Combining
Performance of 1-D RAKE Receiver with Decorrelating Detector and MMSE
Performance with PN Sequence and Random Sequence
Performance with Processing Gain
Performance with Adaptive MUD- RLS Algorithm with Adaptive Memory
Performance with Smart Antenna
Conclusion
Conclusion
Summary of Research
Future Work
From the Paper "The despreaded sequence is forwarded to the multiuser detector unit. In this unit, performance enhancing signal processing such as beam forming, RAKE combining including channel estimation, antenna diversity combining, multiuser detection and error control decoding can be included. If perfect channel information is available, beam forming, RAKE and antenna diversity combining merely represent linear transformations to obtain a minimal set of sufficient statistics. From the fundamental digital communication theory, this is in fact equivalent to filtering matched to the received waveform in order to maximise the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)."
Tags: spreading, scrambling, gain, rake, detection
Abstract This paper discusses different approaches to collecting data for research purposes. It also attempts to evaluate whether these approaches are suitable to answer the stated research question, "do murderers choose the method of killing a victim according to their personality traits?." The paper establishes the differences between qualitative and quantitative research and then introduces the most common forms of data collection methods (interviews, focus groups, case studies, observations, documentary sources, questionnaires and experiments). The paper contains a bibliography, as well as a list of sources used.
Table of Contents:
Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research
Interviews
Focus Groups
Case Studies
Observations
Documentary sources
Questionnaires
Experiments
Conclusions
From the Paper "Regarding the present research question, questionnaires are a suitable approach to determine murderers' personality traits. Already existing personality questionnaires, such as the Big Five Marker (Goldberg, 1992), the NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the Big Five Inventory (John, Donahue & Kentle, 1991) could be used to determine the prisoners' personality traits, which show high reliability and validity rates. Generally, questionnaires seem to be appropriate because it allows for a large sample size. Furthermore, getting permission to post questionnaires to prisoners might be easier than getting the permission to administer questionnaires by hand or conduct interviews and focus groups in a prison setting. And not to forget the fact that sending out questionnaires is less time consuming and more cost effective than the other above mentioned data collection procedures."
This extensive paper is a research study asking if a democratic systems of governance remain the most ideal form of government to effectively achieve a state's developmental aims.
Abstract This paper investigates the connection between the types or forms of government and their performance in terms of the human development index (HDI), which is a more reliable measurement of development as a referent of its effect and contribution to the human person. The author argues that democratic forms of government are better able to provide for the advancement of human development because they allow for more meaningful public participation. The paper indicates that more than 60% of all dominant-assembly-oriented types (mostly referred to as parliamentary systems of government) and 20% of accountable-executive-oriented (mostly referred to as presidential systems) fall within categories regarded as "high human development" and roughly 24 percent of the former and 57% of the latter countries are within the "medium human development" category.
Table of Contents:
Abstract
Introduction
Related Literature
Structures of Government
Table. Riggs's Classification of Polity's (Political Systems)
Democracy and Development
Human Development
Classification of Forms of Government
Table. Classification of Forms of Government Used in the Paper
Human Development Index and Forms of Government
Table. High Human Development
Table. Medium Human Development
Table. Low Human Development
Distribution of Each Governmental Type across HD Levels
Table. Distribution of Each Type of Governmental Form across HD Levels
Table. HDI by Designated Regions and Clusters
Conclusion: Democracy for Human Development
From the Paper "There are governments as well, which may have plurality in terms of decision-making but it is dispersed among a few like-minded individuals advancing a common cause and not allowing for existence of competing groups or parties. This characterizes the third type of governmental system which still greatly persists in the present era--the ruling-party oriented type (Type 3). Theocratic governments are sub-classified under this since theocratic governments whether multi-party or not, allow a rather very little room for ideological dissent and since their main goals are to conservatively advance a particular religion and way of life and sometimes at the expense of political rights and civil liberties."
Tags: choice participation, elected representatives, human development index, orthotonic
Abstract This paper explains that virtually all bacteria strains have viruses specific to them. The paper then describes an experiment that takes coliphages from sewage and, after enrichment and filtration processes, exposes the E.Coli R10 strain to the phages to obtain the phage specific to the strain. The paper further explains that the bacteria strains are grown on agar plates in the presence of coliphages, and strains W3104-A on plates K12 and W3104 and R12-B on plate K12 developed resistance. The paper then reports that the W3104-A strain is further tested and retains its resistance.
Table of Contents:
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Method
Isolation and Enrichment of Coliphage from Raw Sewage
Filtration of Coliphage Mixtures
Dilution and Plaque Preparation of R10A and R10B E. Coli Strains
Mutation and Isolation of Phage-Resistant E. Coli Strains
Sensitivity of Phage-Resistant Mutants to Bacteriophages
Results
Discussion
Table: Colonies of Bacterial Strains Response to Coliphages
From the Paper "Bacteria have the ability to develop resistance to viruses [6], so as it can be expected some strains (namely W3104-A and R12-B) developed phage-resistant colonies. It is known that certain genetic elements called "episomes" are instrumental in creating phage-resistance in E. Coli strains such as K12 [8]. As indicated in table 1, there were numerous contaminations; this was certainly due to many of the unfiltered cultures that were used. This was done because of time constraints and shortage or missing supplies in the lab."
Abstract The paper critically assesses two differing research methodologies; quantitative and qualitative as both form an important part of sociological examination although fundamental differences exist between them. The paper provides an outline of each method and the manner in which it is employed followed by an examination of the inherent differences between the two methodologies. The paper concludes with an assessment as to what advantages can be attained when the two opposite approaches are used in conjunction with one another.
From the Paper "Therefore, from such a basis it is possible to see how the two different methods employ differing criteria when examining social phenomena. Quantitative methodology relies heavily on measurable scientific data (Phillips, 1976; p. 102). As such, wide ranging data collection is a consistent feature of the quantitative approach. This would include data collection methods such as surveys and questionnaires. Interviews could also play an important role in quantitative research but such interviews would be heavily structured. A clear and unambiguous structure is vital to the methodology employed so that clearly definable scientific results can be offered. Given this, the quantitative approach requires as a prerequisite that the individual researcher or interviewer adopts an impartial and detached stance toward the research. (Bailey 1994; p. 136). Becoming heavily and directly involved in the research process could impact on the mathematical result and therefore negatively affect the reliability of the data."
Abstract This paper proposes research that will evaluate the validity of the theory that human rights violations occur in China in greater frequency than others because of a system of governance that entrusts too much power on the ruling Communist Party. The paper
relates that the research will adopt a hermeneutical design because such a design not only promises a high degree of objectivity but also because it is considered the most appropriate methodology for a study of the social sciences. The paper also relates that empirical evidence will be gathered, interpreted and analyzed to disprove or confirm prior conceptions about the prevalence of human rights abuses in China.
Table of Contents:
Research Design
The Problem
Conceptual Framework
Theories and Assumptions
Overall Approach
Specific Methods
Reliability & Validity
Ethical Issues
Expected Contribution of Study
Influence of Chalmers
Political Science
Scientific Revolution
From the Paper "There is another assumption on the part of Chinese officialdom that needs to be examined because this is the official line often invoked to justify the harsh treatment of offenders. Every time outside criticism of human rights violations within China intensifies, the CCP leadership would cite the need to discipline parts of the citizenry in order to create a harmonious society as a whole. This policy is supposed to be based on Asian values that place the welfare of the many ahead of that of a few. In this view, giving citizens too much freedom is dangerous and that government must not show weakness or else social deterioration will ensue."
Analyzes three articles about criminal justice research from "Voices from the Field: Readings in Criminal Justice Research " by Pope, Lovell and Brandl (Ed.).
Abstract This paper examines the sampling techniques presented in three articles from "Voices from the Field: Readings in Criminal Justice Research " by Pope, Lovell and Brandl (Ed.). In each article, the author compares the sampling process to the optimal technique for the purpose of the study and analyzes the representativeness of the population from which it was drawn. The articles are 'Heavy Metal Music Preference, Delinquent Friends, Social Control, and Delinquency' by Singer and Levine, 'Collective and Normative Features of Gang Violence' by S. Decker and 'A Badge and a Baccalaureate' by R. Warden. The paper concludes that sampling is critical to the reliability of the study.
From the Paper "The first article is 'Heavy Metal Music Preference, Delinquent Friends, Social Control, and Delinquency'. The population used was public and private senior high school students in a large, New York suburban community. Using school board lists, 1,475 students were sampled. Of this number, interviews were completed with 705 youths. This study used proportionate sampling as its sampling technique. Crucial to this type of sampling is that the study specified the probability that any given element is included."
Tags: optimal reliability, senior high school students, active gang members, cluster sampling
Abstract This paper presents a proposal for an experimental study to improve New York public school children's eating habits at an early age in order to change their forecast of obesity for these future adults. The paper contends that minimizing or eliminating sugar intake and increasing nutritional subsistence value and physical activities should produce healthier children and increase their academic focus level. By having access to adequate nutritional products and consistent monitoring of nutrition and daily increased activities should create healthier children in the targeted communities. This should trickle over to the home life through the outreach part of the program.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Problem Statement
Hypotheses
Research Questions
The Study Rationale
The Theoretical/Conceptual Framework
Limitations of the Study
The Research Methodology
Design
Inclusion Criteria
Sampling Recruitment of Subject
Intervention
StatisticalAnalysis
From the Paper "The design of the intervention is to take three schools from each borough in the New York area and change the cafeteria menus for these schools. In addition, the school grounds will become sugar free. This means taking away all the candy and soda vending machines and replacing them with healthy food machine products. Students will be deterred from buying unhealthy products from outside venders who sell products on school grounds right outside of the school. Candy and soda will be considered contraband under this program, and outlawed at the school. Subjects of the study would have a home aspect of the research which would continue the study in the students' home through logs, home visits, controlled food products and weekly incentives to the families of the study."
