Digital Commons Network^™

Fields With Dreams: The Distribution Of Farmland With Publicly-Funded Conservation Easements In Pennsylvania, Amy Sue Hill

Masters Theses

Conservation easements have played an increasingly significant role in the American movement to preserve farmland from urban development. Conservation easements are legal instruments that enable a landowner to sell his right to develop his property to an outside party, typically a government entity or a private land conservancy. The distribution of conservation easements used to preserve farmland is highly variable. Conservation easements often are found in regions where productive farmland and intense development pressure collide. Conservation easements are most common in places where both public and private sectors give strong financial and political support for conservation.

This thesis analyzes the …

Caste And The Court: Examining Judicial Selection Bias On Bench Assignments On The Indian Supreme Court, Shyam Krishnan Sriram

Political Science Theses

This paper is a study on the effect of caste on bench assignments on the Indian Supreme Court. The objective was to determine whether the Chief Justices have historically assigned associate justices to benches based on their individual castes – Brahmin or Non-Brahmin – in order to tilt the bias of the Court in either an elitist (Brahmin) direction or a non-elitist (Non-Brahmin) direction. Based on a probability analysis of panel assignments, I created a new model to determine the extant of castebased judicial selection bias on the Indian Supreme Court. Using a random sample of cases from 1950 to …

The Pressure Model Of Terrorism: A Behavioralist Model For Ethnonational Terrorism In Western Europe, 1945-2000, Ole J. Forsberg

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine which factors affect an ethnonational group's decision to utilize terrorism to obtain their desired outcomes. Current theories have reached an answer, but theoretical underpinnings of those answers are disparate and weak. Thus, in answering this question, a new model of terrorism is necessary - one which spans the four primary levels of analysis. I do this using a weak rational choice model as a cross-level link, and using psychological models as a basis for the individual-level actions.

While the model is not unequivocally and universally supported by the tests, it is able …

The Politics Of Problem Gambling: Explaining Differences Between Victoria And Western Australia, Ryan Blake

Theses : Honours

Greater accessibility of electronic gaming machines increases the prevalence of problem gambling. The emergence of gaming machines in the context of Australian gambling is a relatively recent phenomenon. Victoria has had strong growth in electronic gaming machines, whereas in Western Australia growth and accessibility has been very limited. This dissertation examines the importance of gambling revenue to the state economies, what factors explain Western Australia's lower dependence on gambling revenue and the extent to which problem gambling is more prevalent in Victoria.

Ethnic Identity, Perceived Discrimination And The Psychological Adjustment Of Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Children, Erin Louise Pratt

Theses : Honours

Ethnic minorities can suffer detrimental health consequences as a result of their experiences with racial discrimination. A strong ethnic identity may buffer the impact of racial discrimination for the members of ethnic minority groups. The current paper reviews research on the negative health consequences associated with perceived racial discrimination. It presents research to support the notion of a strong ethnic identity providing a protective effect on the health status of ethnic minorities. Inconsistencies and limitations of the various studies are discussed. Abundant throughout the literature on this topic is correlational research design and experimental design is scarce; reasons behind this …

Social Work, Independent Realities & The Circle Of Moral Considerability: Respect For Humans, Animals & The Natural World, Thomas D. Ryan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Social work's conceptualization as to what it is that entitles an individual or entity to moral consideration, or as having moral status, is thoroughly anthropocentric, and is articulated in complete disregard of the context of our fundamental evolutionary continuity and our embeddedness within an evolving natural world, and flies in the face of the reality that we already inhabit mixed communities and a wider household. It is deemed to be obvious that we are islands of moral value in an otherwise valueless natural world.

Exploring Opportunity In America: Immigrant Entrepreneurship And Rags To Riches Success, Anna Erdheim

Honors Theses

The United States is, indeed, a land of vast opportunity. A diverse group of individuals continually benefit from the prospects provided by this inherently free nation. Although some constraints in America have prevented people from realizing their ultimate potentials, this nation offers immense possibilities overall to progress socially, economically, and culturally. America allows for people of all socioeconomic, religious, racial, and ethnic backgrounds to take full advantage of the various opportunities offered by this mainly egalitarian land. I will demonstrate how various people have emerged from disadvantaged circumstances to succeed in the United States. In America, the majority of successful …