Your search found 2717 results.

Descriptors:
Civil Engineering; Transportation; Role; National Security; Economic Progress; United States History; Migration Patterns; Construction (Process); Strategic Planning; Physical Environment; Influence of Technology; Context Effect; Costs; STEM Education; Class Activities

Abstract:
Few people truly recognize the influence of modern transportation on society. In the United States, that includes the influence of highways that allow the citizenry to travel freely, the strength of the economy, and the country's national security. In all cases, the geography of the United States influenced the evolution of transportation and transportation technology. The U.S. is the third largest country in the world and includes a vast area of land (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012a). In 2008, the U.S. had the most kilometers of roads in the world--6,506,204 km--almost twice as many as China with the second most (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012b). The U.S. continues to construct highways because they are vital to the country's national security and economic growth. What are the costs of building, upgrading, and maintaining America's highways? What are the costs of not building and maintaining highways? How does the U.S. highway system compare to the highway systems of other countries? Why has the U.S. highway system evolved the way that it has? These questions are discussed in this article. A classroom activity about highway construction is also offered. (Contains 5 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Living Standards; Development; Human Resources; Natural Resources; Physical Environment; Measurement; Comparative Analysis; Social Indicators

Abstract:
The resource-infrastructure-environment (RIE) index was proposed as an alternative measure of progress which was then employed to: (1) compare the aggregate (single summary) index findings between Australia (mid-industrialised nation), Mexico (emerging economy), and the US (highly industrialised nation); and (2) compare the RIE index against the gross domestic product (GDP), human development index (HDI) and genuine savings (GS) measure. This paper builds on the previous work by assessing the seven themes and 21 dimensions which comprise the RIE index for the three aforementioned nations, as well as the associated policy implications. The results identified Australia's strength in the human resource and infrastructure themes. For Mexico, strong contributions came from the natural and generated resource themes as well as the physical environment theme, while the US performed strongly in the infrastructure themes. The comparative results of the US and Mexico illustrated that it is possible to achieve high levels of progress without an excessive reliance on high levels of production and income. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Visual Impairments; Classroom Environment; Physical Environment; Foreign Countries; Visual Aids; Vision; Parent Participation; Parent School Relationship; Early Childhood Education; Teacher Education; Teacher Student Relationship; Questionnaires; Scores; Visual Acuity

Abstract:
This study describes the classroom environment that students with visual impairment typically experience in regular Australian early education. Adequacy of the classroom environment (teacher training and experience, teacher support, parent involvement, adult involvement, inclusive attitude, individualization of the curriculum, physical environment, and vision aids) for students with visual impairment in early regular education was assessed at the start and the end of one year. A total of 20 students with visual impairment (age M = 5.4 years) attending regular early education participated. In general, teacher-reported curriculum individualization and the physical environment were adequate. However, support provided for staff, teacher training, adult involvement, access to visual aids, and inclusive attitudes were less than adequate. More than 40% of students experienced fewer than four out of nine adequate environmental features. These results indicate that strategies to improve teacher training, support, attitudes, and access to vision aids are needed. (Contains 4 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Well Being; Life Satisfaction; Weather; Environmental Influences; Affective Behavior; Social Indicators; Physical Environment; Sociometric Techniques; Psychometrics; Comparative Analysis; Surveys; Correlation; Predictor Variables; Statistical Analysis; Interviews

Abstract:
This paper seeks to analyze the influence of the weather on a person's self-reported life satisfaction. On a theoretical level, it is claimed that "nice" weather can improve the affective well-being of a person. Given this, it is argued that affects can, in turn, have an impact on that person's general assessment of his or her life. In particular, it is expected that people would report a higher life satisfaction on days with unambiguously "nice" weather. Data from three German large-scale surveys are used to test empirically to what extent self-reported life satisfaction is determined by the weather. All in all, the results are mostly consistent with the initial hypothesis. In all three samples those respondents surveyed on days with exceptionally sunny weather reported a higher life satisfaction compared to respondents interviewed on days with "ordinary" weather. In two out of three samples, this difference was statistically significant. Hence, the supposed sunshine effect on peoples' life satisfaction does indeed exist. Implications of these findings are discussed in a conclusion. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Well Being; Ecology; Environmental Education; Natural Resources; Social Values; Recreational Activities; Social Change; Disproportionate Representation; Use Studies; Trend Analysis; Social Indicators; Physical Environment; Public Policy; Policy Analysis; Measurement; Sociometric Techniques; Comparative Analysis; Conservation (Environment); Wildlife; Forestry

Abstract:
A societal decision to protect over 9 million acres of land and water for its wilderness character in the early 1960s reflected US wealth in natural resources, pride in the nation's cultural history and our commitment to the well-being of future generations to both experience wild nature and enjoy benefits flowing from these natural ecosystems. There is no question that our relationship with wilderness has changed. Individually it is probably quite easy to examine differences in the role wilderness plays in the quality of our lives today compared to some previous time. But how the role of wilderness protection has changed for society is more difficult to describe. In only a few places do we have data across multiple decades that would allow us to even examine how users or their use may have changed over time. At the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota we are fortunate to have multiple studies that can give us some 40 years of insight into how some aspects of use have changed there. For example, an analysis of results of visitor studies at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in 1969, 1991 and 2007 reveal some big differences in who is out there today, most notably the presence of a much older, more experienced and better educated user population, almost exclusively white and predominantly male. It is time to decide whether the best thing for wilderness and or society is to try to restore historic patterns of use (to include younger people, the less wealthy and lower educated) in greater numbers, to try to identify new markets within growing underrepresented populations, or adapt our perception of wilderness stewardship to better include planning for emerging social values of a new generation with other indicators of well-being. A growing population with greater dependence on ecosystem services provided by protected nature could lead to wilderness protection becoming an important quantitative and qualitative element of quality of life indices in the very near future. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Kindergarten; Physical Environment; Foreign Countries; Job Satisfaction; Marital Status; Parent Participation; Preschool Teachers; Teaching Conditions; Work Environment; Demography; Questionnaires; Student Behavior; Age Differences; Educational Attainment

Abstract:
The main objective of this study was to examine the job satisfaction levels of Jordanian kindergarten teachers in relation to work-related dimensions and socio-demographic variables. The sample consisted of 264 randomly selected teachers working in private kindergartens in Amman. To meet the study's objectives, a two part questionnaire was developed soliciting information about (1) teachers' age, marital status, and level of education, and (2) level of satisfaction with the physical environment, school relations, working conditions, children's behavior, and parent participation. The findings of this study revealed that Jordan's kindergarten teachers experience an overall "average" level of job satisfaction. While teachers were highly satisfied with their kindergarten classroom physical environments and their relationships within the school, teachers reported average satisfaction levels with their working conditions, children's social behaviors, and parent participation. Significant relations were found between teachers' personal-related dimensions and job satisfaction. Several recommendations are made including a call for regulating the working conditions in the kindergarten private sector in accordance with existing international policies that promote teachers' job satisfaction. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Industry; Rural Population; Reliability; Pollution; Quality of Life; Environmental Education; Questionnaires; Rural Areas; Social Indicators; Sociometric Techniques; Physical Environment; Surveys; Statistical Analysis; Environmental Influences

Abstract:
To compare QOL among rural people living in three different industrial areas and one non-industrial area in southern Thailand. A questionnaire based on the WHOQOL-BREF with environmental assessment was initially developed. After consultation with experts and pilot study, it was tested to check internal reliability and further modified as necessary. The final version was then used to survey residents of three rural areas close to organic industries, a gas refinery, and an electricity power plant and residents from a non-industrial area. The developed scale has acceptable reliability coefficient (0.76). The overall QOL scores among those living in all study areas were high (mean greater than 3.75 out of 5). Only environmental QOL domain was slightly low (mean = 3.7) among these living close to the gas refinery area where people were distinctively disturbed by various types of pollution. Unpleasant odours were reported by residents living close to the power plant and areas of organic industries. After adjustment for age, education, income level and marital status, the residents of industrial areas were more than two times likely to have an unfavorable QOL. The level of pollution in the study industrial area should be reduced. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Child Behavior; Depression (Psychology); Income; Child Rearing; Family Environment; Young Children; Structural Equation Models; Economically Disadvantaged; Emotional Problems; Behavior Problems; Physical Environment; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Stress Variables; Risk; Intervention; Family Income; Mental Health; Public Policy; Mothers; Health Promotion

Abstract:
This study aimed to establish potential mechanisms through which economic disadvantage contributes to the development of young children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Prospective data from fetal life to age 3 years were collected in a total of 2,169 families participating in the Generation R Study. The observed physical home environment, the provision of learning materials in the home, maternal depressive symptoms, parenting stress, and harsh disciplining practices were all analyzed as potential mediators of the association between economic disadvantage and children's internalizing and externalizing problem scores. Findings from structural equation modeling showed that for both internalizing and externalizing problems, the mechanisms underlying the effect of economic disadvantage included maternal depressive symptoms, along with parenting stress and harsh disciplining. For internalizing but not for externalizing problem scores, the lack of provision of learning materials in the home was an additional mechanism explaining the effect of economic disadvantage. The current results suggest that interventions that focus solely on raising income levels may not adequately address problems in the family processes that emerge as a result of economic disadvantage. Policies to improve the mental health of mothers with young children but also their home environments are needed to change the economic gradient in child behavior. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Elementary School Science; Textbooks; Role; Visual Aids; Attitudes; Physical Environment; Ecology; Comparative Analysis; Natural Sciences; Syntax; Rhetoric; Scientific Principles; World Views

Abstract:
This paper explores the function of the visual syntax of images in Greek primary school textbooks. By using a model for the formal analysis of the visual material, which will allow us to disclose the mechanisms through which meanings are manifested, our aim is to investigate the discursive transition relating to the view of nature and the human-nature relationship between two series of natural science textbooks. The model is applied to a total of 635 pictures; 434 coming from the old series of textbooks introduced in the early 1980s and 201 from the new introduced in 2006. The results show that a) no differences in the codes of the visual representation of nature or human-nature relationship were recorded between the two series of textbooks, b) the environmental rhetoric mediated by the pictorial material of the textbooks appears closer to its lay counterpart than to scientific rhetoric, c) both series of textbooks favor a viewer-picture relation which diverges from the epistemological (subject/object) ideas of the romantic worldview and comes closer to the baroque one that depicts the world as non-linear and disconnected, while gives more freedom to the viewer to proceed to subjective interpretations. Thus, we assert that the baroque approach adopted by both series of textbooks does not aim at the initiation of students to the highly conventionalized ways of expression, and ultimately to the formalized and scientific rhetoric. On the contrary, within a constructionist context, the textbooks' visual mode allows students to equally share power with a quite familiar world. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website

Descriptors:
College Students; Computer Assisted Testing; Problem Solving; Physical Environment; Test Anxiety; Cognitive Processes; Personality; Attention; Context Effect; Testing; Educational Environment; Family Environment; Comparative Analysis

Abstract:
Online and on-demand tests are increasingly used in assessment. Although the main focus has been cheating and test security (e.g., Selwyn, 2008) the cross-setting equivalence of scores as a function of contrasting test conditions is also an issue that warrants attention. In this study, the impact of environmental and cognitive distractions, as well as personality, on performance on a computerized mathematical problem-solving test was examined by comparing results in a standardized, proctored (school) setting with a non-standardized, unproctored (home) setting. Science and engineering college students (N = 315) were randomly assigned to one of these two test settings and completed a mathematical reasoning test. As hypothesized, model-based analysis demonstrated that greater environmental and cognitive distractions were reported in the unproctored (home) setting, while performance levels were higher in the proctored (school) setting. Furthermore, the process by which these variables impact performance was found to differ between settings. Namely, a statistical comparison of multiple path models supported the hypothesis that cognitive distractions are primarily responsible for the impact of both test anxiety and self-regulation on test performance, although this effect is stronger in non-standardized setting. Implications of these findings for Web, home-based educational courses, and assessments are discussed. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

Related Items: Show Related Items

Full-Text Availability Options:

More Info:
Help | Tutorial Help Finding Full Text |  More Info:
Help Find in a Library |  Publisher's website