The Removal of Carl Romanelli from Pennsylvania\u27s 2006 U.S. Senate Ballot

This article is a case study of the ballot qualification challenge brought by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party against Carl Romanelli, the Green Party Candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006. The study argues that the state\u27s legal process for challenging signatures on ballot access petitions imposes a greater burden on independent and minor party candidates than the letter of the law suggests; that Pennsylvania signature challenge process is motivated more by partisan political considerations than by a genuine public interest in preventing signature fraud. The study concludes that Romanelli may have qualified for a place on the ballot had the standard applied to him been that suggested by the ballot access law without the various criteria for disqualifying signatures added by his partisan opposition, legal precendents, the court-ordered review process, and the states database of registered voters

An Exploration into the Impacts of Life Satisfaction and Social Support on Military Wives\u27 Successful Performance while Enrolled in Graduate School

The military population is a unique segment of American society. Military members have specific obligations to their unit and fulfilling the mission. Even though military spouses do not wear the United States Armed Forces uniform, they play an integral direct, and supportive role in their partners’ lives. Military wives experience personal and professional challenges that influence their success in a graduate program. The purpose of this archival study is to examine the association between the independent variables, life satisfaction, and social support and the dependent variable, military wives’ successful performance while enrolled in graduate school. Life satisfaction is measured with the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS); social support is evaluated with Military Spouse Deployment Survey, and religiosity is assessed by the Religious Commitment Scale-10 (RCI-10). Graduate school success is assessed by Grade Point Average (GPA). The theoretical framework for this study is the bottom-up life satisfaction theory. The current study used archival records comprising of 812 graduate students from one large Southeastern U.S. university. This study\u27s three research questions are: What is the association between life satisfaction and military wives’ successful performance while enrolled in graduate school? What is the relationship between social support and military wives’ successful performance while enrolled in graduate school? Is the relationship between the independent factors of life satisfaction and social support and the dependent variable successful performance while enrolled in graduate school moderated by religiosity

Effect of ultrasonic, thermal and ozone pre-treatments on waste activated sludge solubilisation and anaerobic biodegradability

In order to enhance the efficiency of anaerobic digestion, the effects of ultrasounds, ozonation and thermal pre-treatment have been studied on waste activated sludge. The feature of this study was to carry out the comparison of the three pre-treatments in the same conditions and on the same sludge sample. Each treatment was tested in two conditions close to optimum conditions to maximise batch anaerobic sludge biodegradability. All treatments led to chemical oxygen demand and matter solubilisation and had little influence on mineral matter. In terms of solubilisation thermal pre-treatment was better than sonication or ozonation. But, in terms of batch anaerobic biodegradability, best results were obtained with ultrasounds with an energy of 6250 or 9350 kJ/kg TS and a thermal treatment at 170 or 190°C. Moreover, treatments had effects on physicochemical characteristics of sludge samples: apparent viscosity decreased after all treatments but the reduction was more important with thermal treatment. Median diameter of sludge flocs were reduced after sonication, increased after thermal treatment and did not change after ozonation. Finally, capillary suction time (CST) increased after ozonation, increased highly after sonication and was reduced after thermal treatmen

Islam in Western Soudan

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Book Reviews: Networks : John Scott: Network Analysis: A Handbook. London, England, and New bury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1992. Stanley Wasserman and Katherine Faust: Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Cambridge, England and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66509/2/10.1177_000169939403700408.pd

Title Wave: The Diffusion of the CEO Title throughout the US Corporate Network

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51340/1/576.pd

Validity theory (VT) and modern test theory (MTT) in assessment measurement and design

Background: Healthcare education use assessment results (test scores) to make inferences about students’ knowledge and ability. The NMP curriculum, therefore, assumes a standard of proficiency achievement in successive student cohorts. Therefore, these assessments are high-stakes and must be valid as they may have implications for patients’ safety. Aims: This study aimed to apply Kane’s (2006) validity theory to evidence whether the assessments capture the proficiency it purports to assess and modern test theory to measure the appropriateness of the score interpretation. Method: Theory-Driven Thematic Analysis (TDTA) was used to code and content analyse the reflections; Ryle (1949), Mezirow (1981), Benner (2001) and Bloom’s (1956) theories instructed the content validity, quality and evidenced mastery of the NMP subject and theory domains. The Structured Clinical Examination (SCE) criterion was analysed using the Rasch one-parameter logistic model (1-PL) to measure relationships between the test item criteria, the student ability and test-items parameters capacity to discriminate among students with varying ability. Results: Representation of Ryle’s, Mezirow’s, Benner’s, and Bloom’s theories in the reflections were at the lower levels of achievement. The SCEs, criterion analyses showed the test item favoured students with limited ability, indicating an easy test; overall, suggesting the assessments’ validity is compromised. Conclusion: Applying validity and measurement theory to assessed work could elucidate the meaning of assessment scores and ensure that assessments are appropriate to the examinees’ level of ability

The Relational Bases of Lifestyle Similarity and Clustering of Local Populations.

Lifestyle clustering is explored as a form of stratification within local populations. The concept of lifestyle cluster is juxtaposed to concepts of lifestyle segment, class, status group, strata, and other models of social inequality, which are argued to be variants of the lifestyle cluster concept. A relational theory is outlined, explaining lifestyle clustering as a result of basic social and psychological processes operating on the distribution of various forms of capital. Marx’s locus of economic capital in relations of production is expanded to conceive of the locus of all forms of capital in social relations generally. Capital situation is thereby equated to network position, placing the network analytic concept of equivalence at the root of lifestyle clusters and class analysis. The resulting model focuses on lifestyle distinction and habitus, following Bourdieu, but welds this framework to an explicitly social network methodology and perspective of relationality. It is argued that relations with specific others serves as a proxy for relationality generally. A method is developed and undertaken for testing model expectations about the distribution of lifestyle in a local population and how that distribution correlates with positions in the local social network of a rural U.S. community. A Social Network Survey is designed and administered. Relation type equivalence is developed as a alternative to regular equivalence, which is computationally prohibitive for such a large network. Lifestyle data for N=1203 persons in a network that includes partial information for over 13,000 nodes were analyzed. Lifestyle profiles are offered for about 50 clusters. Evidence of lifestyle ‘clumpiness’ is found, but no evidence is found of cluster separation or boundedness. Relation Type Equivalence is found to have moderate predictive power with lifestyle cluster membership and dyadic lifestyle similarity. Occupation, age, and gender are also found to have an impact. Asset ownership variables are found to have very little impact. Methodological limitations of the project are discussed.Ph.D.SociologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58453/1/kaptbly_1.pd