Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Managing Small-Medium Cities In A Time Of Globalization: Experiences And Evidence From Florida’S Public Managers, Nadine V. Wedderburn

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how public management practitioners in small and medium-sized Florida cities perceive globalization and its impact on public management practice. Using qualitative analysis, descriptive statistics and factor analysis methods, data obtained from a survey and semi-structured interviews were studied to comprehend how public managers view the management and control of their municipalities in a time of globalization. The study shows that the public managers’ perceptions of globalization and its impact on public management in Florida’s small-medium cities are nuanced. Whereas some public managers feel that globalization has significant impacts on municipalities’ viability, others opine that globalization has no …

The Relationship Between Classroom Interactions And Exclusionary Discipline As A Social Practice: A Critical Microethnography, Debra M. Pane Phd

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exclusionary school discipline results in students being removed from classrooms as a consequence of their disruptive behavior and may lead to subsequent suspension and/or expulsion. Literature documents that nondominant students, particularly Black males, are disproportionately impacted by exclusionary discipline, to the point that researchers from a variety of critical perspectives consider exclusionary school discipline an oppressive educational practice and condition. Little or no research examines specific teacher-student social interactions within classrooms that influence teachers’ decisions to use or not use exclusionary discipline. Therefore, this study set forth the central research question: In relation to classroom interactions in alternative education settings, …

Relations Between Acculturation And Alcohol Use Among International Students, Ananth Kanaparthi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the current study, 226 international students attending Florida International University responded to an Web-based questionnaire that assessed self-reported scores for: acculturation, acculturative stress, alcohol use patterns, perceived peer alcohol use, and perceived injunctive social norms for alcohol use. The purpose of the study was to evaluate structural relations among this set of variables using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) via AMOS 17.0. The results of SEM analyses documented acceptable fit of a model which hypothesized that relations between acculturation and alcohol use variables are mediated partially by acculturative stress, perceived peer alcohol use, and perceived injunctive social norms. While significant …

Stereotype Threat And The Standardized Testing Experiences Of African American Children At An Urban Elementary School, Martin J. Wasserberg

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) refers to the risk of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s group in a particular performance domain. The theory assumes that performance in the stereotyped domain is most negatively affected when individuals are more highly identified with the domain in question. As federal law has increased the importance of standardized testing at the elementary level, it can be reasonably hypothesized that the standardized test performance of African American children will be depressed when they are aware of negative societal stereotypes about the academic competence of African Americans. This sequential mixed-methods study investigated whether the …

Tocqueville In Miami : Political Culture And Political Organizing In Miami's Cuban Community, Robert Ceresa

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effectiveness of civic organizations focusing on leadership and the role of culture in politics. The study is based on a quasi-experimental research design and relies primarily on qualitative data. The study focuses on Miami's Cuban community in order to examine the role of public initiative in grassroots civic and community organizations.

The Miami Cuban community is a large, institutionally complex and cohesive ethnic community with dense networks of community organizations. The political and economic success of the community makes it an opportune setting for a study of civic organizing. The sheer number of civic organizations to …

The United States Congress And Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, Mariano J. Beillard

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Soviet Union's dissolution in December 1991 marks the end of the Cold War and the elimination of the United States' main rival for global political-economic leadership. For decades U.S. foreign policymakers had formulated policies aimed at containing the spread of Soviet communism and Moscow's interventionist policies in the Americas. They now assumed that Latin American leftist revolutionary upheavals could also be committed to history.

This study explores how Congress takes an active role in U.S. foreign policymaking when dealing with revolutionary changes in Latin America. This study finds that despite Chavez's vitriolic statements and U.S. economic vulnerability due to …

The Discursive Impact Of Transnational Advocacy Networks : How Amnesty International And Human Rights Watch Influenced The Media Coverage Of The Rwanda Genocide, Marilu Del Toro

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Initial representations of the Rwanda genocide in the Western media were at best inaccurate and at worst, stereotypical, citing African "tribal savagery" and "centuries-old tribal hatred" as the reason for the mass killings. Two major human rights organizations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, had the opportunity to correct media portrayals and help shape the agenda for policymakers. The purpose of this study was to take a critical look at media portrayals and discover whether these two nongovernmental organizations played a role in influencing the coverage. An extensive media analysis of three elite Western newspapers found that NGOs were the …

Emotional Intelligence And Leadership In Organization: A Meta-Analytic Test Of Process Mechanisms, Daniel S. Whitman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study – employing psychometric meta-analysis of 92 independent studies with sample sizes ranging from 26 to 322 leaders – examined the relationship between EI and leadership effectiveness. Overall, the results supported a linkage between leader EI and effectiveness that was moderate in nature (ρ = .25). In addition, the positive manifold of the effect sizes presented in this study, ranging from .10 to .44, indicate that emotional intelligence has meaningful relations with myriad leadership outcomes including effectiveness, transformational leadership, LMX, follower job satisfaction, and others. Furthermore, this paper examined potential process mechanisms that may account for the EI-leadership …

Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Of Florida Bay, South Florida, Using Benthic Foraminifera, Jie Cheng

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Efforts that are underway to rehabilitate the Florida Bay ecosystem to a more natural state are best guided by a comprehensive understanding of the natural versus human-induced variability that has existed within the ecosystem. Benthic foraminifera, which are well-known paleoenvironmental indicators, were identified in 203 sediment samples from six sediment cores taken from Florida Bay, and analyzed to understand the environmental variability through anthropogenically unaltered and altered periods. In this research, taxa serving as indicators of (1) seagrass abundance (which is correlated with water quality), (2) salinity, and (3) general habitat change, were studied in detail over the past 120 …

The Effects Of The Use Of Technology In Mathematics Instruction On Student Achievement, Ron Y. Myers

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the use of technology on students’ mathematics achievement, particularly the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) mathematics results. Eleven schools within the Miami-Dade County Public School System participated in a pilot program on the use of Geometers Sketchpad (GSP). Three of these schools were randomly selected for this study. Each school sent a teacher to a summer in-service training program on how to use GSP to teach geometry. In each school, the GSP class and a traditional geometry class taught by the same teacher were the study participants. Students’ mathematics …

Re-Thinking Place In International Relations : Phenomenology And The Geopolitics Of Knowledge In Latin American-U.S. Relations, Mauro J. Caraccioli

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

What constitutes the meaning of a place? In what ways does place affect our ways of thought? This study seeks to explore the geopolitical relationship between place and the study of International Relations (IR). By re-conceptualizing the category of place as a situated and geo-historical marker of human identity, new spaces of inclusion and collaboration in Latin American-U.S. relations can be uncovered, linking the study of phenomenology to contemporary IR theories. With attention on the lived-experience and existential nature of geopolitics behind Latin American-U.S. Cold War relations, the study of geopolitics can be de-colonized from the monopoly of dominant centers …

Adaptation Behavior In The Face Of Global Climate Change And Accelerating Sea-Level Rise : Survey Responses From Expert Personnel In The Florida Keys, U.S.A., Evan Flugman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Slivers of land amidst the nation’s premier marine ecosystem, the Florida Keys provide unique insights into the challenges of adaptation to climate change and sea-level rise. By learning how Florida Keys experts (federal, state, regional, and local management personnel, environmental specialists, policymakers, and community leaders) are anticipating these challenges, I identify barriers to adaptation; explore information and programmatic approaches to enhance adaptive capacity, maximize resilience, and minimize adverse impacts; investigate willingness to support a Community Adaptation Fund and test potential finance mechanisms.

Analysis of survey responses from 225 Florida Keys experts reveals decision makers are operating with limited resources and …

Base Rates Of Counterproductive Work Behaviors, Candace Atamanik-Dunphy

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study provides a comprehensive assessment of base rates for counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) and examines their relationship with personality and demographic variables. The Randomized-Response Technique (RRT) was employed in order to reduce the effects of social desirability. Base rates were calculated for 66 behaviors for a student and nationwide sample. Results revealed 15 significant behaviors for the student sample and 7 for the nationwide sample. In addition, low neuroticism was found to relate to higher reporting of counterproductive behavior for both groups. Also, low conscientiousness was related to higher reports of CWB in the student sample. Finally, CWB was …