Digital Commons Network^™

Why Does Equality Matter Anyway? How Indifference To Inequality Relates To U.S.-Born White, Latino, And Black Americans' Attitudes Toward Immigration Policy, Trisha A. Dehrone

Masters Theses

Research on attitudes towards immigration policies typically considers the economic and cultural threats that compel many Americans to favor exclusionary policies that curb immigration. Less is understood about how indifference to inequality shapes Americans’ attitudes towards immigration policies—that is, how ‘not caring’ about the unequal conditions faced by immigrants likely has detrimental consequences for their safety and wellbeing. The present research examines indifference to inequality as a predictor for policies that impact opportunities for immigrants to come to the U.S., and who are otherwise undocumented and/or at great risk for exploitation. Using survey data from the American National Election Studies …

Predicting Chinese State-Owned Enterprise Policy Incidence, Sara Hsu

PERI Working Papers

In this exploratory research, we examine the effect of economic and noneconomic indicators on the creation of Chinese state-owned enterprise policies. Using a VAR model, we find indicators that explain state-owned enterprise policy creation variance, which means that we can explain, to some extent, the incidence of state-owned enterprise policies. This reduces economic policy uncertainty, thereby having the potential to increase economic activity and reduce costs.

Plant Regulatory Lists In The U.S. Are Reactive And Inconsistent - Appendix 1, Evelyn M. Beaury, Emily J. Fusco, Jenica M. Allen, Bethany A. Bradley

Data and Datasets

This file includes supplemental information for Beaury, E.M.*, Fusco, E.J., Allen, J.M., Bradley, B.A. Plant regulatory lists in the U.S. are reactive and inconsistent. Journal of Applied Ecology. The file contains the sources for regulated plant lists, the lists themselves, and summarized findings of the study (whether taxa are listed proactively or as climate change proactive). Metadata are included in the file.

*corresponding author: Evelyn M. Beaury (ebeaury@umass.edu), 312B Holdsworth Hall, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01002.

The Incubation Period Of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) From Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases: Estimation And Application, Stephen A. Lauer, Kyra H. Grantz, Qifang Bi, Forest K. Jones, Qulu Zheng, Hannah R. Meredith, Andrew S. Azman, Nicholas G. Reich, Justin Lessler

Biostatistics and Epidemiology Faculty Publications Series

Background:

A novel human coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified in China in December 2019. There is limited support for many of its key epidemiologic features, including the incubation period for clinical disease (coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]), which has important implications for surveillance and control activities.

Objective:

To estimate the length of the incubation period of COVID-19 and describe its public health implications.

Design:

Pooled analysis of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported between 4 January 2020 and 24 February 2020.

Setting:

News reports and press releases from 50 provinces, regions, and countries outside Wuhan, Hubei province, China. …

So You Want To Share Your Data? Collaborative Policy Writing For The Umass Amherst Data Repository, Erin Jerome

University Libraries Presentations Series

Policy plays an important role in articulating scope, content, and expectations. This presentation will describe the launching of UMass Amherst’s Data Repository as well as the collaborative approach that the UMass Amherst Libraries’ Data Working Group took in the development of the repository’s policy. Prior to 2017, datasets were primarily added to our IR, ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst, when publishers required researchers to make their supporting data openly available with a DOI by the time an article was submitted for publication. Concurrent with the hiring of a Data Services Librarian and an increasing demand to house and share open datasets from campus researchers, …

Framing The Crisis In The Merrimack Valley: The Opioid Epidemic, White Despair And Authoritarian Populism On The New England Borderlands, Gyuri Kepes

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how discourses and ideologies about the opioid crisis were framed, produced and constructed in the geographic specificity of the Merrimack Valley in the period leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Applying the theoretical and methodological frameworks offered by the cultural studies tradition, this dissertation project attempts to map out the complex interplay between the news media, law enforcement, policymakers, and citizens in producing, circulating, amplifying, framing and sustaining public anxiety about the opioid crisis in the Merrimack Valley and beyond. Employing a mix of qualitative and quantitative forms of inquiry, including interpretation of data collected through …

Kc 4.1: Rural Heritage And Urban-Rural Linkages In The Icomos Sdgs Policy Guidance, Ege Yildirim, Ilaria Rosetti, Patricia O'Donnell

ISCCL Scientific Symposia and Annual General Meetings // Symposiums scientifiques et assemblées générales annuelles de l'ISCCL // Simposios científicos yy las Asambleas Generales Anuales

This Knowledge Café aims to provide a discussion platform to contribute to the drafting of a new ICOMOS SDGs Policy Guidance, from the perspective of rural heritage, landscapes and rural-urban linkages. While 50%-plus of global populations are urban dwellers, we tend to forget that the other half dwell in rural places.

One of the 7 Priority Actions of the ICOMOS SDGs Working Group in 2018 is the preparation of a consolidated policy statement, as an effective tool for advocacy and communication to wider society and the development world. Based on the need to boost the role of cultural heritage in …

Clean Energy And Climate Policy In Massachusetts, Dwayne Breger

Sustainability Education Resources

Over the past 20 years, Massachusetts has evolved as a leader in clean energy policy, which has led to market development, job and economic growth, and reductions in greenhouse gas and other emissions. This course will provide direct insights into the brief history of these policy developments, including policy objectives, legislative and regulatory roles, tradeoffs of costs and benefits, the use of analytical methods to establish program design, and stakeholder perspectives and engagement. The course will explore the market and economic development and challenges that have resulted from the policy, and explore the economic tradeoffs and distributional impacts that may …

Analytical Methods For Energy And Climate Policy, Dwayne Breger

Sustainability Education Resources

Course Description

The course will introduce students to analytical methods applicable to the evaluation of energy and climate problems and policy solutions. The methods include ethical analysis, spreadsheet analysis, lifecycle analysis, optimization and systems analysis. While applicable across many fields, the methods will be applied through class and assignments to current issues in clean energy and climate policy.

Learning Objectives

The course will provide students with the understanding and skills to analytically address issues of policy pertaining to clean energy and climate policy. Students will understand the theory and practice associated with conducting economic cost benefit analysis, optimization under constraints …

The History Of Massachusetts Transfer And Articulation Policies In Contexts Of Evolving Higher Education System Structure, Coordination, And Policy Actors, Daniel De La Torre, Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Community colleges carry out dual missions providing occupational and collegiate preparation in local communities across the United States. These institutions prepare students for advanced study via transfer policies that lead to enrollment in baccalaureate institutions. State higher education systems use transfer and articulation policies to strengthen academic pathways between two-year and four-year institutions. These policies rely on established governance to facilitate student transfer between sectors. The transfer and articulation literature stresses the importance of statewide policy guidelines, yet little has been written about the process of transfer policy development involving state higher education governance and policy groups and actors. The …

Mass Reach After Mass Media, Joshua A. Braun

Journalism Faculty Publication Series

Writing in 1829 about the newly completed U.S. postal network, William Ellery Channing marveled, “When a few leaders have agreed on an object, an impulse may be given in a month to the whole country. Whole States may be deluged with tracts and other publications, and a voice like that of many waters, be called forth from immense and widely separated multitudes. Here is a great new power brought to bear on society, and it is a great moral question, how it ought to be viewed, and what duties it imposes.” [ ((Quoted in John, 1995, p. 185. ))]

Undp And World Bank Development Phrases, M.J. Peterson

Data and Datasets

Coding of the policy-related words or phrases used in the general policy section of each year's Annual Report of the Administrator for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank.

The Cultural Construction Of Diverse Other(S): A Discourse Analysis Of Institutional Policy, Rachel E. Friedensen

Doctoral Dissertations

Institutions of higher education are tasked with grappling with their long histories of exclusion and inequality. As more members of historically marginalized groups gain access to higher education, colleges and universities strive to create more equitable environments within their walls and to produce equity-minded democratic citizens. These institutions turn to policy to help them achieve these ends. These policies often emphasize diversity—a multivalent concept that often simply means difference, but also serves as a stand-in for the policy performances produced by institutions as they attempt create equitable and just campuses. Diversity’s multivocality inspires the main question that this study answers: …

Modeling The Economic And Environmental Performance Of Offshore Wind Energy, Alexana Cranmer

Doctoral Dissertations

Offshore wind is a growing source of energy globally. Like any energy technology, it has impacts on the environment. In the case of renewable energy, we need a way to consider the environmental benefits as well as the environmental costs. This dissertation develops a set of models to examine the economic and environmental costs and benefits and the trade-offs between them. We ask how much offshore wind energy should be sited, and where should that offshore wind energy be located? The first model estimates the economic impact of wake interactions between wind farms. Wind farm sites are chosen through a …

The South African War: Implications And Convictions Of Postwar Politics And Policy, Jaffar Shiek

University of Massachusetts Undergraduate History Journal

Apartheid in South Africa is a widely known tragedy in the realm of history and political science. In order to understand the racism and prejudice that served as the framework of apartheid, it is important to understand it’s inception and the ripe settings for its implementation. The aim of this paper is to trace and depict the events leading up to apartheid, including the Boer Wars and the consequences of Britain’s Scorched Earth policy. Using works such as Professor Higginson’s “Hell in Small Place: Agrarian Elites and Collective Violence in the Western Transvaal, 1900-1907,” and primary documents from Jan Smuts, …

Managing The Agricultural Biotechnology Revolution: Responses To Transgenic Seeds In Developing Countries, Alper Yagci

Doctoral Dissertations

There has been heated debate over transgenic or genetically modified (GM) crops in agriculture. Advocates and critics argue over possible economic, environmental, public health implications of this technology. This study examines varying policy approaches to regulating GM crop cultivation in four developing countries where the technology has large potential application. Why have some countries banned GM crop cultivation in their territory while others encouraged it? In countries where GM crops were allowed, why have varying systems of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection been constructed? To investigate these questions I comparatively examine the policy experience (1995-2015) of Argentina, Brazil, Turkey relying …

Transformative Learning Facilitated Dialogue: As A Tool For Social Change An Autoethnography, Leslie A. Saulsberry

Doctoral Dissertations

It is my goal, through this autoethnography, to take you through a reflective journey and present to you my personal theory of how facilitated dialogue in the context of transformative learning, critical reflection, systems thinking, shared vision, and holarchy can create a paradigm shift in our personal consciousness, decisions, behaviors, practice, and social policies—social change. My objective is to show how each theory is like a stepping-stone in the path towards social change. The purpose of this living work is to offer an alternative way of creating a healthy and whole society by exploring how facilitated dialogue can lead to …

Supporting New England Communities To Become River-Smart: Policies And Programs That Can Help New England Towns Thrive Despite River Floods, Eve Vogel, Et. Al.

Water Reports

This report aims to help New England’s communities and their residents, as well as the governments thatserve them, to better deal with and adjust to riverfloods. It points to practical policy solutions at federal, state and regional levels that can support NewEngland communities to become what we call river-smart.

Studying Policy Through Violence: The Social Conditions Of Education Reform In Mexico, Ashley E. Sherry

Landscapes of Violence

This paper explores current Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s 2013 public education reform through ethnographic engagement, archival research, and interviews in Mexico City and Guerrero, Mexico. By May 2013, the National Coordination of Education Workers’ (CNTE)—the primary education reform opposition movement—had gained national traction and more than 40,000 educators from various states indefinitely relocated to Mexico City’s zocalo. In this paper, the author presents an account of the social conditions of policy formation and experiences of violence in the lives of teachers, legislators, political advisors, students, and community members, engaged in shaping education and opposing the reform. An anthropological approach …

A Review Of The Major School Counseling Policy Studies In The United States: 2000-2014, Jay Carey, Ian Martin

Research Reports and Monologues

Jay Carey and Ian Martin conducted a review of the major policy studies concerning school counseling in the United States. The authors located 37 documents disseminated between 2000 and 2014 that were either intentionally written with a focus on policy implications or were frequently used to attempt to influence policy decision-making. Their review is organized by types of policy studies: Literature Reviews, Survey Research, Statewide Evaluations of School Counseling Programs, State Evaluations of School Counseling Practice, Existing Database Investigations of School Counseling, Research Identifying Elements of Exemplary Practice, Studies of Evaluation Capacity and Practices in School Counseling.

Assignment: Climate Action Plan 3.0 (Sustainable Living), Lena Fletcher

Sustainability Education Resources

The UMass Amherst Climate Action Plan 2.0 lays out strategies to meet UMass’s energy goals by 2050, but many projects are still in the planning phase and have not been implemented on campus yet. It’s time for you to design the Climate Action plan 3.0!

As a team, you will create and present one solution from your Climate Action Plan 3.0 to help UMass become carbon neutral ahead of schedule. Your energy solution can be a policy, program, transportation improvement, or energy-saving technology. Research the Climate Action Plan 2.0 thoroughly to make sure your solution has not already been proposed.

A Critical Examination Of Policy And Practice In The Transition Experience For Students With Math Learning Disabilities In Mumbai, India, Melinda S. Eichhorn

Doctoral Dissertations

Although some research has examined the experiences of students with learning disabilities in Indian secondary schools (see Karande, Sholarpurwala, & Kulkarni, 2011; Karande, Mahajan, & Kulkarni, 2009), the role of policy in students’ transition into post-secondary education has been largely unexamined. This study is a preliminary effort at providing an investigation of special education policy in Mumbai and the impact on students’ transition to post-secondary education, especially in regards to mathematics. This study extends the current knowledge of students with learning disabilities in Mumbai by 1) taking an in-depth look at students with math learning disabilities specifically, 2) focusing on …

Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent

Doctoral Dissertations

What do community interpreting for the Deaf in western societies, conference interpreting for the European Parliament, and language brokering in international management have in common? Academic research and professional training have historically emphasized the linguistic and cognitive challenges of interpreting, neglecting or ignoring the social aspects that structure communication. All forms of interpreting are inherently social; they involve relationships among at least three people and two languages. The contexts explored here, American Sign Language/English interpreting and spoken language interpreting within the European Parliament, show that simultaneous interpreting involves attitudes, norms and values about intercultural communication that overemphasize information and discount …

Computer Integration In Palestinian Secondary Schools: Theory And Practice, Kefah A. Barham

Doctoral Dissertations

The overarching exploratory question that guides this study is: “How can Palestinian secondary schools move forward and integrate computer technology effectively into education?” For the purpose of this study, computer technology integration is defined as the use of computing devices such as desktop computers, laptops, software applications and the Internet, and peripheral devices, such as printers, scanners, digital cameras, and overhead projectors for instructional purposes in Palestinian secondary schools in the cities of Ramallah & Al Bireh and Qalqilia & Azoon. The purpose of this study is to identify ways to help teachers working at the Palestinian Ministry of Education …

Policy Alternatives To Increase Access To Early Childhood Education And Care In Massachusetts, Meghan Lemay

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Access to early childhood education not only leads to improved social, academic, and health outcomes for children, but can also carry the same benefits into adulthood. Early education and care programs can work against some of the negative effects of social factors such as socioeconomic status, discrimination, social support, and work demands which have been linked to physical and mental health outcomes. Early education programs could intervene not only in the life of a child, but also impact parents, families, and populations. This thesis will review the research showing early childhood education leads to better social and health outcomes and …

Review Of Chinese Environmental Risk Assessment Regulations And Case Studies, Xiaojie Meng, Yan Zhang, Yuchao Zhao, In Chio Lou, Jixi Gao

Dose-Response: An International Journal

Environmental risk assessment is an essential step in the development of solutions for pollution problems and new environmental regulations. An assessment system for environmental risks has been developed in China in recent decades. However, many of the Chinese technical guidelines, standards, and regulations were directly adapted from those of developed countries, and were not based on the Chinese environmental and socioeconomic context. Although existing environmental regulations for pollutants are usually obtained by extrapolations from high-dose toxicological data to low-dose scenarios using linear-non-threshold (LNT) models, toxicologists have argued that J-shaped or inverse J- shaped curves may dominate the dose–response relationships for …

The Lnt Debate In Radiation Protection: Science Vs. Policy, Kenneth L Mossman

Dose-Response: An International Journal

There is considerable interest in revisiting LNT theory as the basis for the system of radiation protection in the US and worldwide. Arguing the scientific merits of policy options is not likely to be fruitful because the science is not robust enough to support one theory to the exclusion of others. Current science cannot determine the existence of a dose threshold, a key piece to resolving the matter scientifically. The nature of the scientific evidence is such that risk assessment at small effective doses (defined as <100 mSv) is highly uncertain, and several policy alternatives, including threshold and non-linear dose- response functions, are scientifically defensible. This paper argues for an alternative approach by looking at the LNT debate as a policy question and analyzes the problem from a social and economic perspective. In other words, risk assessment and a strictly scientific perspective are insufficiently broad enough to resolve the issue completely. A wider perspective encompassing social and economic impacts in a risk management context is necessary, but moving the debate to the policy and risk management arena necessarily marginalizes the role of scientists.

Strengthening The Education Management Information System (Emis) In Tanzania: Government Actors’ Perceptions About Enhancing Local Capacity For Information-Based Policy Reforms, Assela M. Luena

Master's Capstone Projects

Strengthening the Education Management Information System (EMIS) in Tanzania is an important task, as the government needs quality data and information to support the creation of sound policies, making plans and managing educational resources. Well-functioning EMIS can ensure achievement of national goals to provide quality education, which is the basis for facilitating economic growth and sustainable development. The government also needs quality data and information in order to enhance monitoring and evaluation of the education sectors’ performance and ensure the right direction for achieving the intended goals and objectives.

Creating a sustainable and efficient EMIS is a challenge that requires …

Determinants Of Internet Gambling Policy Adoption, Kahlil S. Philander, Brett Ll Abarbanel

International CHRIE Conference-Refereed Track

Since its inception, online gambling legalization has been a controversial and contentious subject among governments worldwide. Residents in these jurisdictions face an uncertain future regarding the liberty to gamble online. This study seeks to identify which demographic, economic, technological, and sociological determinants contribute a government’s decision to allow their citizens to gamble online. A seemingly unrelated bivariate probit regression analysis revealed that national population, government revenues as a percentage of GDP, the Hofstede Uncertainty Avoidance Index, number of Internet users, and a country’s Christianity proportion contributed significantly to the observed distribution of online gambling legality in 47 countries.

Identifying Online Professional Poker Players: A Revealed And Stated Analysis Approach, Kahlil Philander, Brett Ll Abarbanel

Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism

This two-part paper is intended to explore the task of differentiating a professional gambler from a leisure gambler, specifically, among online poker players. The first part of the study consists of a statistical analysis to identify the requisite number of hands of online poker required to identify winning players, that is, players who should expect to show a profit during a given year. The second part of the study involves administering a survey that assesses players’ perceptions of whether they consider their own play to be that of a winning player.

Once both parts have concluded, we will investigate whether …