Women remain dramatically underrepresented in elective office, including in entry-level political offices. While they enjoy the freedom to stand for office and therefore have an equal legal footing with men, this persistent gender imbalance raises pressing questions about democratic legitimacy, the inclusivity of American politics, and the quality of political representation. The reasons for women's underrepresentation remain the subject of much debate. One explanation-that the United States lacks sufficient openings for political newcomers-has become less compelling in recent years, as states that have adopted term limits have not seen the expected gains in women's office holding. Other accounts about candidate scarcity, gender inequalities in society, and the lingering effects of gendered socialization have some merit; however, these accounts still fail to explain the relatively low numbers. This book argues that a major problem with current accounts exists in their underlying assumption that there is a single model of candidate emergence. The prediction is that women's office holding will rise automatically as women acquire the same backgrounds as men and assimilate to men's pathways to office. In this view, the main reasons for women's political underrepresentation can be found in society rather than in politics. Carroll and Sanbonmatsu argue for a new approach that considers women on their own terms and that focuses on the political origins of women's representation. Drawing upon an original and comparative survey of women state legislators across all fifty states, from 1981 and 2008, and follow-up surveys after the 2008 elections, the authors find that gender differences in pathways to the legislatures, first evident in 1981, have been surprisingly persistent over time. They found that, while the ambition framework better explains men's decisions to run for office, women are much more reliant on the existence of organizational and party support. By rethinking the nature of women's representation, this study calls for a reorientation of academic research on women's election to office and provides insight into new strategies for political practitioners concerned about women's political equality.

This book is about exploring intimate situations through the use of your imagination. The stories contain a brief look into each character's world that lead to a physical encounter of pleasure and mystery. It is a mental escape into entertaining stories of sexual fantasies with unexpected results. Enjoy the journey, let it stimulate your imagination and excite your senses. So make yourself comfortable and get ready to be surprised.

This book provides evaluations of American presidents over the course of 66 years of U.S. economic history, using quantitative data to provide credible, defensible answers to controversial questions like "Whose economic policies were more effective, Ronald Reagan's or Bill Clinton's?" The President as Economist: Scoring Economic Performance from Harry Truman to Barack Obama provides eye-opening insights about matters of critical importance for the future of the United States. Author Richard J. Carroll tackles a topic that he has researched and been focused on for more than 20 years, providing impartial assessments and rankings of each presidential administration according to numerous key performance indicators-quantitative data, not subjective opinions. The final chapter combines all of the data to present a numeric score (Presidential Performance Index-PPI) for each administration that allows an overall ranking of the 11 presidents. The analysis covers 66 years of U.S. economic history, ranging from 1946 through 2011. The earlier administrations of Harry S. Truman through Jimmy Carter set the context against which more recent presidencies are judged. This title will be an invaluable resource for everyone from general readers to students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels, as well as journalists, lobbyists, and anyone directly or indirectly involved in the political process. An appendix provides the official data upon which the rankings are based

Developing Language and Literacy: Effective Intervention in the Early Years describes successful intervention programmes to improve the phonological skills, vocabulary, and grammar of young children at risk of reading difficulties. * Presents two structured intervention programmes to provide support for young children with language and literacy difficulties * Describes clearly how to improve the language and foundation literacy skills of young children in the classroom * Includes information about how to assess research, and how to monitor and design intervention strategies for use with individual children * Helps teachers to develop an understanding of the intervention and research process as a whole * Additional journal content to support this title is available click here

An array of poems that will delight any reader, for in their simplicity lies the foundation of everyday experiences, both real and imagined.

As we age, our expectations of romantic partners are different. We have grown up, gained wisdom from life experiences, and become more comfortable with ourselves. If we are even ready to approach the concept of dating again, it is with a changed attitude. In "Don t Ever Give Up on Love," Timothy Carroll shares a collection of anecdotes, advice, and encouragement for anyone fifty and above who is ready to tackle the dating world again.While exploring a number of issues related to single seniors, Carroll shares real-life stories from those who have been there. He guides mature bachelors and bachelorettes using a detailed road map that will help them re-evaluate their goals; recover their lives after divorce, illness, bereavement and financial challenges; and create new personal objectives. While sharing valuable information on dating services, ways to build self-esteem, and the complexities that accompany new relationships, Carroll offers singles practical insight into a dating world that can often seem intimidating if not even a little scary.Don t Ever Give Up on Love" provides hope, inspiration, and support to single seniors ready to begin the next chapter in their romantic lives.

In Developmental Biology of the Sea Urchin and Other Marine Invertebrates: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the field detail many of the methods which are now used to study sea urchins and other marine invertebrates in the laboratory. These include methods and protocols on imaging, other useful experimental tools for cell, developmental biology research, variety of molecular biological methods, and strategies for utilizing the sea urchin genome. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Developmental Biology of the Sea Urchin and other Marine Invertebrates: Methods and Protocols seeks to aid scientists in the further study into sea urchins and other marine invertebrates.

Now more than ever, educators are being held accountable by taxpayers, students, parents, government officials and the business community for supportable documentation of educational results. Data management has become everyone's job and everyone's concern. But the egression of data has exposed a raw nerve. The lack of comfort that many educators have in working with data poses a great challenge as school districts make the transition from a data rich to an information rich environment. How to Become Data Literate is the solution. It is clear that educators need the ability to formulate and answer questions using data as part of evidence-based thinking, selecting and using appropriate data tools, interpreting information from data, evaluating evidence-based differences, using data to solve real problems and communicating solutions. This book is intended to be a user-friendly, educator's primer. It will leave the reader with the confident attitude that "I can do this." In the long run, it is intended to underscore the magnificence of data. Decisions based on excellent data produce meaningful action strategies that benefit students, parents, staff, and the community at large.

This book helps to bridge the gap between science and literary scholarship. Building on findings in the evolutionary human sciences, the authors construct a model of human nature in order to illuminate the evolved psychology that shapes the organization of characters in nineteenth-century British novels, from Jane Austen to E. M. Forster.

This book is a timely response to the current U.S. crisis in public funding. Offering a new philosophy of public service that defies the old categories of conservative and liberal, this practical book shows how the problem-solving abilities and profit-making discipline of the business community can make it a productive alternative for meeting public needs. Using education as an example of what should be a high domestic priority, the authors argue that business should recognize that it has a major stake in the quality of the product of our schools and should provide support. The book delineates other areas of national concern that merit the attention of American business. It concludes with an insightful discussion of how business involvement might be reinforced by incentive systems.

This monograph provides a careful review of the major statistical techniques used to analyze regression data with nonconstant variability and skewness. The authors have developed statistical techniques--such as formal fitting methods and less formal graphical techniques-- that can be applied to many problems across a range of disciplines, including pharmacokinetics, econometrics, biochemical assays, and fisheries research.

While the main focus of the book in on data transformation and weighting, it also draws upon ideas from diverse fields such as influence diagnostics, robustness, bootstrapping, nonparametric data smoothing, quasi-likelihood methods, errors-in-variables, and random coefficients. The authors discuss the computation of estimates and give numerous examples using real data. The book also includes an extensive treatment of estimating variance functions in regression.

One of the greatest barriers to completing a graduate thesis or a doctoral dissertation is statistics. Oftentimes, the journey through graduate school is gratifying when the content courses in the chosen field of study are undertaken. Conversely, the statistics courses are met with trepidation. Many graduate students feel lost when it comes to dealing with data. Simplifying Statistics for Grad Students:Making the Use of Data Simple and User-Friendly is intended to help graduate students move through the barriers that seem formidable but are not. While this book is not a statistics text and does not purport to be such, it introduces graduate students to basic statistical concepts in an easy-to-comprehend manner. It is also a handbook that they can refer back to time and time again. Expertise with data is expected of graduate students. Simplifying Statistics for Grad Students is an antidote for the research and statistics blues.

The presence of women in Congress is at an all-time high - approximately one of every five members is female - and record numbers of women are running for public office for the 2018 midterms. At the same time, Congress is more polarized than ever, and little research exists on how women in Congress view their experiences and contributions to American politics today. Drawing on personal interviews with over three-quarters of the women serving in the 114th Congress (2015-17), the authors analyze how these women navigate today's stark partisan divisions, and whether they feel effective in their jobs. Through first-person perspectives,A Seat at the Tabl looks at what motivates these women's legislative priorities and behavior, details the ways in which women experience service within a male-dominated institution, and highlights why it matters that women sit in the nation's federal legislative chambers. It describes the strategies women employ to overcome any challenges they confront as well as the opportunit es available to them. The book examines how gender interacts with political party, race and ethnicity, seniority, chamber, and district characteristics to shape women's representational influence and behavior, finding that party and race/ethnicity are the two most complicating factors to a singular narrative of women's congressional representation. While congresswomens perspectives, experiences, and influence are neither uniform nor interchangeable, they strongly believe their presence matters in myriad ways, affecting congressional culture, priorities, processes, debates, and outcomes.

This monograph provides a careful review of the major statistical techniques used to analyze regression data with nonconstant variability and skewness. The authors have developed statistical techniques--such as formal fitting methods and less formal graphical techniques-- that can be applied to many problems across a range of disciplines, including pharmacokinetics, econometrics, biochemical assays, and fisheries research. While the main focus of the book in on data transformation and weighting, it also draws upon ideas from diverse fields such as influence diagnostics, robustness, bootstrapping, nonparametric data smoothing, quasi-likelihood methods, errors-in-variables, and random coefficients. The authors discuss the computation of estimates and give numerous examples using real data. The book also includes an extensive treatment of estimating variance functions in regression.

The issue of psychological security within an increasingly unstable, interconnected world has become a defining challenge of modern individual and cultural life. The terror attacks of September 11, 2001 and the global financial crisis that unfolded in 2008 have intensified a sense of global and personal insecurity. This concern with psychological insecurity is reflected in contemporary culture, politics, the business world, consumer behavior, the arts, and other areas. Within this context, the psychological sciences have kept pace, vigorously investigating these issues. This handbook features the latest theory and research examining cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to security threats. It expands the conceptual focus from specific security threats to the broader range of antecedents, processes, and consequences of psychological security/insecurity. The chapters are organized into four content areas: personal security in individual contexts, personal security in interpersonal contexts, personal security with cultural and health contexts, and interdisciplinary analyses of personal security. They represent a new and vibrant area of research unified by the common goal of understanding the factors that shape a sense of personal security. Together, these provocative chapters provide specific starting points that will shape future theory, policy, and practice on this dominant social issue of the 21st Century and, more importantly, offer opportunities to connect social and personality psychology to its scientific kin.

The issue of psychological security within an increasingly unstable, interconnected world has become a defining challenge of modern individual and cultural life. The terror attacks of September 11, 2001 and the global financial crisis that unfolded in 2008 have intensified a sense of global and personal insecurity. This concern with psychological insecurity is reflected in contemporary culture, politics, the business world, consumer behavior, the arts, and other areas. Within this context, the psychological sciences have kept pace, vigorously investigating these issues. This handbook features the latest theory and research examining cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to security threats. It expands the conceptual focus from specific security threats to the broader range of antecedents, processes, and consequences of psychological security/insecurity. The chapters are organized into four content areas: personal security in individual contexts, personal security in interpersonal contexts, personal security with cultural and health contexts, and interdisciplinary analyses of personal security. They represent a new and vibrant area of research unified by the common goal of understanding the factors that shape a sense of personal security. Together, these provocative chapters provide specific starting points that will shape future theory, policy, and practice on this dominant social issue of the 21st Century and, more importantly, offer opportunities to connect social and personality psychology to its scientific kin.

School leaders come in many forms - superintendents, principals and other building leaders, department heads, Board of Education members, heads of the Parent Teacher organization, teachers' union representatives, state and federal agency heads, and others. As leaders they are expected to make wise, expeditious and knowledgeable decisions. It is not acceptable to speculate and base decisions on qualitative input. Hard data is regarded as elementary to a school leader's toolbox , and expertise with data is expected. This expectation will only intensify with the advent of social media, increased data accessibility, sophisticated technology and astute consumers of education. Statistics can make data-based decision-making efficient and ultimately support school leaders with the most critical task - accurately interpreting what is discovered. Why not make statistics your most potent tool? Statistics Made Simple for School Leaders;A New Approach for Using Student, Staff and Community Data can help. This book serves as a handbook for school leaders. With this book, they can confidently and successfully execute data-based decisions to the benefit of their schools, students, staff and community.

Lean thinking is too often narrowly focused on physical processes, causing serious shortcomings, which limit Lean's substantial benefits. Revised to consider the emerging global economy, Lean Performance ERP Project Management, Second Edition integrates strategy, people, process, and information technology into a project management methodology that applies Lean Thinking to all processes. It leverages Lean principles, tools, and practices to improve and then continuously improve management decision processes, information/support processes, and their linkages to Lean physical processes. New in the Second Edition- * Provides project managers an overview of lean benefits and challenges to present to Lean Sponsors and Lean Transformation Steering Committees * Presents a strategy for ERP project managers dealing with Chinese-based manufacturing * Includes a refreshed discussion of current events in the transition to lean in the global economy * Discusses new developments such as e-kanban, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Customer TAKT, and Operational TAKT * Features a case study of the Lean Commerce system implemented by Toyota North America Based on the author's practical management and consulting experience, Lean Performance ERP Project Management: Implementing the Virtual Lean Enterprise clearly demonstrates that a lean tool kit requires the participation from all departments of an organization, from product development to fulfillment.

Apophenion attacks most of the great questions of being, free will, consciousness, meaning, the nature of mind, and humanity's place in the cosmos, from a magical perspective. Some of the conclusions seem to challenge many of the deeply held assumptions that our culture has taught us, so brace yourself for the paradigm crash and look for the jewels revealed in the wreckage. This book contains something to offend everyone; enough science to upset the magicians, enough magic to upset the scientists, and enough blasphemy to upset most trancendentalists.