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Adult Autism Policy: An Analysis Of Current Policy And Legislation In The Us, Maren A Bennett
Adult Autism Policy: An Analysis Of Current Policy And Legislation In The Us, Maren A Bennett
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
The topic of autism has been gradually emerging as a primary focus for research, education, charities, etc. Much of the attention has been centered on children; however, the subject of adults with autism has long been overlooked. Adults with autism need policy improvements to help gain as much independence in their daily lives as possible. It is the purpose of this thesis to identify deficiencies in service delivery and recommend policies to improve the quality of life of adults with autism. I will utilize a cross-sectional multiple case study design. Three private foundations are utilized as the case studies, along …
Evaluating The Effect Of Merit Aid As A Higher Education *Policy Tool Using Time Series Analysis, Michelle Johanna Nilson
Evaluating The Effect Of Merit Aid As A Higher Education *Policy Tool Using Time Series Analysis, Michelle Johanna Nilson
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Since 1991, seventeen states have dramatically altered the criteria they use to distribute student financial aid to include a larger proportion of merit-based awards. Across these states, the amounts and lengths of the awards vary. There are states, such as Georgia and Florida, which provide full tuition and fees for four or five years, depending on the program of study. In sharp contrast, Michigan's Merit Award Scholarship is a one time {dollar}2,500 award. States also differ in terms of the selection criteria used to award merit aid a quasi-experimental interrupted and pooled time series design derived from research on public …
Policy Analysis: Evaluating Theories Of The Hermeneutic Critique, Cecilea Mun
Policy Analysis: Evaluating Theories Of The Hermeneutic Critique, Cecilea Mun
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
This thesis evaluates three theories representing the three perspectives identified by Goktug Morcol as perspectives of the hermeneutic critique in policy analysis, while explicating the revolutionary process that the science is currently undergoing. The evaluation is focused around the question as to whether the three theories are viable alternatives to positivist theories. First, a brief history of policy analysis is presented, highlighting the conditions that contributed to the rise of the general positivist paradigm as the ideal in policy analysis. This is followed by a summary and criticisms of the general positivist paradigm. Next, summaries of Dvora Yanow's interpretive theory, …
The Problem Of Prayer In School: A Discussion Of Legal Interpretation And Policy, Staci Lynn Brick
The Problem Of Prayer In School: A Discussion Of Legal Interpretation And Policy, Staci Lynn Brick
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
The problem of prayer in public schools is a divisive one that has grown out of a changing and confusing interpretation of the Establishment Clause with respect to school activities. Traditionally and historically, the United States has recognized public praise of God in a nonsectarian manner; however, this type of religious activity has been deemed unconstitutional in the school setting. The United States Supreme Court has also allowed public financial support of religion while vehemently disallowing symbolic religious support in public schools. The accomodationists on the Court has prevailed in most venues except school, where the separationists have managed to …
The Punctuated Equilibrium Model Of Policy Evolution: An Explanation For United States Federal Fire Policy Change, Tricia Mynster
The Punctuated Equilibrium Model Of Policy Evolution: An Explanation For United States Federal Fire Policy Change, Tricia Mynster
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
The organizational structure of federal land management agencies is designed to function in a static state for long periods of time. Policies in these bureaucracies tend to follow a punctuated equilibrium pattern of evolution. These policies are accompanied by reinforcing institutional arrangements and networks that resist changes. In order for change to occur, a catalyst is needed to cause a drastic change in policy. Following this change, new institutional arrangements will be created to support the new policy. A catalyst is needed at the lower levels of the bureaucracy to follow a policy through to implementation. Using the National Park …
Self-Stabilizing Inter-Domain Policy Routing, Venkatakrishnan Trichy Ramasubramanian
Self-Stabilizing Inter-Domain Policy Routing, Venkatakrishnan Trichy Ramasubramanian
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
As the complexity of the networked systems increases, the likelihood of experiencing unanticipated faults grows. Self-stabilization is the most general technique to design fault tolerant systems. This paradigm was introduced by Dijkstra in 1974. A self-stabilizing system guarantees that starting from an arbitrary state, the system converges to a legal state in a finite number of steps and remains in a legal state until another fault occurs. Such a system after any unexpected perturbation eventually recovers without any outside intervention; The goal of this thesis research is to design a self-stabilizing Inter Domain Policy Routing Algorithm in order to make …
Revolutionary Idealists To Revolutionary Statesmen: Bolshevik Foreign Policy, 1914 To 1922, Benjamin Carlos Montoya
Revolutionary Idealists To Revolutionary Statesmen: Bolshevik Foreign Policy, 1914 To 1922, Benjamin Carlos Montoya
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
From 1917 to 1922, the Bolsheviks conducted a foreign policy that melded their background in Marxist ideology with the exigencies of state power. The Bolsheviks believed an international revolution would imitate their socialist revolution of October 1917. When it became clear this would not happen, V. I. Lenin and his comrades chose to preserve their revolution in Russia; The Bolsheviks believed peace would induce revolution throughout war-torn Europe. After the October Revolution the Bolsheviks immediately sought an end to the Great War. Only Germany accepted this proposal of peace, however, and the Bolsheviks were forced to accept a harsh peace …
Secondary English Language Arts Teachers' Perceptions And Implementation Of Change Policy, Denise De Vito
Secondary English Language Arts Teachers' Perceptions And Implementation Of Change Policy, Denise De Vito
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Research regarding educational reform in the United States has examined change in public schools, including changes in the role of the teacher. Secondary teachers have been studied regarding school leadership, work atmosphere, and resource availability, but research specific to secondary English Language Arts teachers' perceptions of how policy implementation affects them in their day to day practice is lacKing Factors of change and the effects on teachers' attitudes reflect how teachers as participants of change cope with change reform; This qualitative research study sought a descriptive understanding of practicing secondary English Language Arts teachers and their perceptions regarding the scope …
A Policy Analysis Of Nevada's Middle School Retention Legislation, Julie Ann Abeyta
A Policy Analysis Of Nevada's Middle School Retention Legislation, Julie Ann Abeyta
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
In 1997, the Nevada State Legislature passed Assembly Bill 376 permitting the State Board of Education to adopt credit requirements that students must meet prior to being promoted from eighth grade to high school. A resulting State Board of Education regulation requires that a student earn one-and-one-half credits in language and one-and-one-half credits in mathematics during seventh and eighth grades to merit promotion to high school; While much attention has been given to the issue of retention and social promotion in large urban school districts such as Chicago and New York City, little investigation has been directed to smaller, rural …
Woodrow Wilson's Principled Preaching On United States Foreign Policy, 1913--1917, Roger E Carey
Woodrow Wilson's Principled Preaching On United States Foreign Policy, 1913--1917, Roger E Carey
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Woodrow Wilson based his ideals and actions as president on principles shaped by his religious beliefs. While Wilson scholars have examined his idealism, few have traced the religious roots of the principles that formed his ideology. During the period of American neutrality from 1914 to 1917, he made numerous public speeches that afford insight into his religious beliefs, their relationship to his understanding of presidential leadership, good government, and especially foreign policy. Wilson believed that good leaders used oratory to inform the people of important issues and guide them to support the best policies. His speeches reflect what he thought …
What's Swimming In My Glass? The Debate Over The Southern Nevada Water Authority's Use Of The Return Flow Credit Policy, Patrick L Ferguson
What's Swimming In My Glass? The Debate Over The Southern Nevada Water Authority's Use Of The Return Flow Credit Policy, Patrick L Ferguson
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Currently the Southern Nevada Water Authority uses an existing federal policy of return flow credits to divert water from Lake Mead above the annual allocation authorized by the Colorado River System Water Use Agreement. Credits obtained by the return of treated effluent allow water officials to divert as much Colorado River water as is needed to sustain current growth and development here in southern Nevada. Some in the community believe that this is a prudent use of a valuable resource; others that it is a means to justify the over-consumption of water and is altering the watershed in potentially harmful …
The Creation Of A National Information Policy Combating Cyber Terrorism, Daniel A Nick
The Creation Of A National Information Policy Combating Cyber Terrorism, Daniel A Nick
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
The infrastructures of the United States are dependent upon computers. This creates a new threat to the national security of the United States in the form of cyber terrorism; Cyber terrorism is the new type of warfare. It can take a cyber terrorist seconds to break into a computer network, download information, and leave without a trace. There needs to be a comprehensive policy to combat the cyber terrorism threat; The National Information Policy is a set of ideas brought together to combat the threat of a cyber terrorist attack against the infrastructures of the United States. These ideas include: …
Welfare Reform: Politics, Policy And The Courts, Paul Marion Loomis
Welfare Reform: Politics, Policy And The Courts, Paul Marion Loomis
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Welfare Reform: Politics, Policy and The Courts is a detailed analysis of welfare reform as directed by Congress in the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996. The thesis entails the following: an analysis of the historical factors that have led to legislative reform of the US welfare policy; an examination of the requirements the Act has placed on the states and the states' efforts to meet those requirements; issues of legitimacy that surround welfare reform, as well as US Supreme Court decisions that have helped shape welfare policy. Finally, an assessment of the direction of future welfare reform.
United States Post Gulf-War Policy Toward Iraq: A Systemic Assessment, Amanda Christine Ringelberg
United States Post Gulf-War Policy Toward Iraq: A Systemic Assessment, Amanda Christine Ringelberg
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
This thesis proposes that US policy is structurally flawed toward Iraq and the Middle East in general. This structural flaw in US policy-making is a result of ignoring the regional considerations of the Middle East as a subsystem. Current US strategy toward Iraq is doomed to fail because of the unique structural considerations in the Middle East and the failure of policy-makers to recognize them; The thesis begins with a theoretical examination of the Middle East subsystem, based on principles from international systems theory. Several patterns of regularity that define the subsystem are then outlined. An assessment of US goals …
Water Policy And Theoretical Models: Political, Bureaucratic And Class Dynamics In A Growth Economy, Kelly Michelle De Vine
Water Policy And Theoretical Models: Political, Bureaucratic And Class Dynamics In A Growth Economy, Kelly Michelle De Vine
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Water Policy and Theoretical Models: Political, Bureaucratic and Class Dynamics in a Growth Economy explores the three major socio-political theories of the state and public policy: pluralism, elite/managerialism and class-dialecticism using a case study of a series of policy decisions and outcomes during the period from 1989 to 1995 related to the Las Vegas Valley Water District which serves Las Vegas, Nevada. This time period is important due to the unprecedented levels of population growth experienced in the Las Vegas Valley and due to the extreme scarcity of water resources. This case study explores the issues of popular politics, bureaucratic …
Terrorism And Political Policy: Crisis And *Policy Making Indicators In The Media During Legislative Action, James David Ballard
Terrorism And Political Policy: Crisis And *Policy Making Indicators In The Media During Legislative Action, James David Ballard
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
This study tested three political sociology policy making theories with relation to the media coverage of an act of political violence and the affiliated policy formation processes related to this event. To test the three theories, a case study was conducted on the bombing of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995 and the subsequent policy enacted under the auspices of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDP). The case analysis focused on several preexisting policy debates, the media coverage immediately following the bombing, and subsequent policy discussions leading to the passage of the …
Independent Counsel: Process And Policy, Sheri Michele Schwartz
Independent Counsel: Process And Policy, Sheri Michele Schwartz
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Independent Counsel: Process and Policy examines the Office of the Independent Counsel, established by the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. It discusses the history of the Act, its implementation, and its application. Although there is a need for independent investigation of high-level government officials, the Act suffers from major defects which damage its credibility in accomplishing the goals Congress set with its passage. Independent Counsel: Process and Policy suggests changes to the Act which will increase the efficiency and fairness of the office, and encourage efforts to eradicate the public's perception of the independent counsel as a renegade.
Wild Horses And The Bureau Of Land Management: A Policy Review And Critique, Julene Haworth
Wild Horses And The Bureau Of Land Management: A Policy Review And Critique, Julene Haworth
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
The 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act (PL 92-195) charged the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with the management and protection of wild horses and burros on public lands. The implementation of the Act was remiss in failing to recognize the limitation of expertise within the Bureau in carrying out its new responsibilities. The lack of specialists in horse and burro management led to an inconclusive protection policy that consequently has generated conflict and controversy. Therefore, policy decisions and actions associated with management and protection programs have been subjected to charges of abuse, neglect, and corruption. This thesis will discuss …
Ethics And The Moral Limits Of Policy, Marlene Beverly Khosropur
Ethics And The Moral Limits Of Policy, Marlene Beverly Khosropur
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Implementation is often the orphan of the policy creation process, causing problems that raise ethical warning flags. When drafting policy, flexibility is often absent from programs. Discretionary powers are denied to implementors, resulting in a condition of abstracted judgment that can cripple or derail the original intent. For example, government policies toward the aging often create and form perceptions that radiate outwardly, becoming assimilated by corporations and institutions, and hardened into programs that are often implemented unsoundly. The moral composition of a community is affected. Society absorbs fragments of thought generated by these policies and forms biases and prejudices that …
Civic Virtue And Public Policy: Discerning The Particulars Of Reforming The General Mining Law Of 1872, Scott Fitzgerald Murray
Civic Virtue And Public Policy: Discerning The Particulars Of Reforming The General Mining Law Of 1872, Scott Fitzgerald Murray
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
How ought we, both as a society and as individuals, to reason about public policy matters? This question is examined for the purposes of analyzing the General Mining Law of 1872 and advocating reforms to this public lands law anachronism. Drawing from Aristotle and David Hume, individuals of good character, acting as citizens in pursuit of the public good through historically informed self-government deliberate best about public policy matters. It is through the exercise of civic virtue, which civic republican government encourages, that incremental and acceptable solutions to public policy problems are most likely to be found. When examined using …
To Defeat A Maverick: Foreign Policy, Barry Goldwater And The 1964 Presidential Election, Jeffreys J Matthews
To Defeat A Maverick: Foreign Policy, Barry Goldwater And The 1964 Presidential Election, Jeffreys J Matthews
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
This paper examines Cold War influences on early post-World War II presidential elections, Barry M. Goldwater's rise to Republican presidential nominee, and the contribution of foreign policy issues to the Arizonan's defeat in the 1964 presidential election. World War II and the Cold War increased the importance of foreign policy considerations in presidential elections, and from 1948 through 1964, every major party nominee advocated the militant containment of communism. Goldwater was an ardent Cold Warrior, who had developed staunch convictions on domestic and foreign matters. As a senator, his unwavering conservatism cast him as a "maverick" among other Republicans; however, …
Risky Business: Moral Arguments Againts The Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments Of 1987 Can Consent Be Engineered?, Mary Manning Whitaker
Risky Business: Moral Arguments Againts The Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments Of 1987 Can Consent Be Engineered?, Mary Manning Whitaker
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Risky Business: Moral Arguments Against the Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments of 1987, Can Consent Be Engineered? asks the moral and ethical questions of assigning risk. In a democracy a fundamental principle for imposing risk is obtaining the consent of the governed. In the case of a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Congress has ignored this basic principle. An unwilling population in a politically weak state has been forced to bear the burden from highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power reactors operating in the majority of states. The State of Nevada does not reap the …
Quality Judgment: Toward The "Essentially Human" In Ethics And Policy, Kenneth Wayne Johnson
Quality Judgment: Toward The "Essentially Human" In Ethics And Policy, Kenneth Wayne Johnson
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
This thesis describes a framework, a component of a larger paradigm, designed to improve the thinking, planning, and acting of individuals within society. It is based upon factors of human existence that most can agree are fundamental to pursuing matters of importance, however disparately we may see them. Assuming that human choice is a function of consciousness and compassion--it argues that insight from ethics and policy studies can be improved if founded upon an understanding of the implications of the full development and use of the essential human capacities that underlie consciousness and compassion: critical and creative thinking; communicating in …
Interest Group Influence On Sex Education Policy In Utah: A Cultural Perspective, Thomas H Terry
Interest Group Influence On Sex Education Policy In Utah: A Cultural Perspective, Thomas H Terry
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
A case study of Utah's sex education debate of the late 1980s and early 1990s is the vehicle used to study the education and social policy process of Utah. Interest group influence is tested, and Utah history and Mormon sexual culture are discussed. The influence of historical and cultural forces on policy, through the medium of interest groups, is explored. Strong indications of group influence are revealed and groups are found to be representative of dissimilar, competing cultures in Utah. Migration is found to play a key role in social conflict in Utah.
Striking A Balance: The Centrality Of The Hamiltonian/Jeffersonian Debate In American Foreign Policy Development, John Anthony Zeuli
Striking A Balance: The Centrality Of The Hamiltonian/Jeffersonian Debate In American Foreign Policy Development, John Anthony Zeuli
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
"Foreign policy is the face a nation wears to the world. The aim is the same for all states--the protection of national integrity and interest. But the manner in which a state conceives and conducts its foreign policy is greatly affected by national peculiarities."{dollar}\sp1{dollar} The focus of this thesis is to illuminate the national peculiarities that have put a unique face on American foreign policy. I will examine the two basic tenets, or impulses, that have characterized U.S. foreign policy development: the Jeffersonian, or idealist, impulse and the Hamiltonian, or realist, impulse. My purpose is to show that each impulse …
The Dilemma Of Development Policy In The Third World And Some Ramifications For Women, Pamela Jones Brown
The Dilemma Of Development Policy In The Third World And Some Ramifications For Women, Pamela Jones Brown
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
The first part of this thesis deals with the theoretical approaches to development and a discussion of the dilemma facing the policy makers in choosing the best approach to the Third World. I then offer examples from South Africa and India which support the premise of economic prosperity versus ethical concerns; Lastly, the ramifications for women affected by Third World Development are presented with an emphasis upon the disruptive influences of advanced capitalist countries in their attempt to modernize technology and promote industrialization. The complexity of societal implications is explored from economic and political to social and cultural concerns.
Environmental Justice And Participatory Democracy: An Emancipatory Policy Proposal, Nancy Christine Gott
Environmental Justice And Participatory Democracy: An Emancipatory Policy Proposal, Nancy Christine Gott
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Environmental Justice and Participatory Democracy: An Emancipatory Policy Proposal analyzes the public participation guidelines for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The author argues that four challenges must be addressed before the goal of environmental justice can be achieved. These challenges include the challenge of citizen participation, the epistemological challenge, the challenge of integrating public values with technical concerns, and the challenge of balancing environmental rights and responsibilities. The author develops a policy proposal for the creation of neighborhood environmental justice community centers in low-income neighborhoods.
Ethics And Foreign Policy Decisions: Iran-Contra United States-Iraq Interaction, 1988-1991, Maureen Stephanie Carroll
Ethics And Foreign Policy Decisions: Iran-Contra United States-Iraq Interaction, 1988-1991, Maureen Stephanie Carroll
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
As industrialized nations, particularly the United States, continue to rely on oil to support their standard of living and production, the Middle East increases as a strategic location. Ethics and Foreign Policy Decisions: Iran-Contra - United States-Iraq Interaction, 1988-91 explores the ethics of policy making which employ the 'many hands' and 'dirty hands' approach. The Iran-Contra affair and United States-Iraq interaction from 1988-91 are used as case studies. Suggestions for counteracting the usage of the 'many hands' and 'dirty hands' practices are discussed. These suggestions include real communication and accountability for the many players involved in decision making and reflection …
Nixon And Carter: A Comparative Analysis Of American Foreign Policy Toward The Middle East, Kristen Josie Dolan
Nixon And Carter: A Comparative Analysis Of American Foreign Policy Toward The Middle East, Kristen Josie Dolan
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
Nixon and Carter: A Comparative Analysis of American Foreign Policy Toward the Middle East examines the Nixon Administration's policies and objectives toward the Middle East, particularly its handling of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and contrasts them with the Carter Administration's policies, which culminated in the peace talks at Camp David. This examination focuses on how these two very different presidents approached a dilemma which has been central to American Middle Eastern policy since the creation of Israel; how can the United States achieve a balance between the competing interests of protecting Israel and maintaining access to Middle East oil?
Policy Making And Civic Involvement: Apathy Or Impotence?, Chris Gregory Kuchuris
Policy Making And Civic Involvement: Apathy Or Impotence?, Chris Gregory Kuchuris
UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations
This thesis discusses the current problems surrounding civic participation. Conventional political wisdom tells us that many people have become apathetic when it comes to getting involved in politics. However, I will argue that policy makers misconstrue their perception of the public because they are operating from paradigms which are not democratic. When policy makers operate from these faulty paradigms, the role of the public becomes subordinated and the public is effectively "locked out" of the political decision-making process. I will offer an alternative to the current paradigms in an attempt to restore the proper role of the citizens to public …