Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Raising An Indoor Generation: Outdoor Environmental Education Impact On Adolescent Development, Daisy Elizabeth Bewley

Student Theses 2015-Present

In an increasingly digital world, children are growing up with less involvement and interaction with the environment. Hands-on and experiential learning is less popular in schools and a more test-oriented and numerical evaluation is increasingly popular. This thesis explores the decrease in outdoor environmental education and the impact that has on adolescent development and developmental milestones in children. This impact extends past just mental development and impacts the physical health development of children. Obesity, attention deficit disorders, and other behavioral issues are just a few of the signs of the problems that have arisen due to a decrease in environmental …

Plastic Packaging And The Associated Environmental Challenges. A Case For A California Plastic Packaging Framework, Zahra Ghayour-Kelly

Master's Projects and Capstones

While plastic has become an almost irreplaceable material in modern life, continuous new evidence of its adverse effects on human health and the environment is emerging. Currently there are limited options to address the negative impacts of plastic production and disposal on the environment. Plastic production and distribution creates greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, limited end-of-life waste management options for the growing plastic waste stream place a great burden on local communities and the environment. Among the many products made of plastic, packaging is the largest and fastest-growing sector. Plastic packaging that is multilayered and fused is very commonly used, yet …

Parks, Recreation, And Opportunities: A Case Study Of East Bay Regional Park District's Climate Change Mitigation And Adaptation Strategies, Brett Walsh

Experience Industry Management

In the face of a global climate emergency, community parks & recreation and land management agencies are beginning to adopt a critical role in the fight against climate change. This study gathered information on efforts around the world and created a case study guide to examine the climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies of East Bay Regional Park District in the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. The study was conducted in hopes of shedding light on how small agencies can be proactive and contribute to larger efforts, creating greater regional impacts.

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 …

An Examination Of Municipal Policy-Makers’ Responses Towards The Provincial Implementation Of Retail Cannabis Stores Within Ontario, Mark Dean

MPA Major Research Papers

The rationale for this study is founded on the important role of municipal governments within the domain of cannabis legalization in Canada. In Ontario, a strategy of privatization for physical cannabis stores was implemented by the provincial government. The policy gave municipalities the authority to decide whether they opted in or out of physical cannabis stores within their specific communities. This scenario of allowing local governments to determine the introduction of physical cannabis stores has demonstrated a need for a deeper understanding towards the various factors that influence the decisions of municipal policy makers. This is a unique situation that …

Social Workers' Perceptions Of Resource Family Approval, Hannah Chavez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Resource Family Approval (RFA) is a policy that was recently enacted in California. The process seeks to merge existing policies on the regulations of families who wish to care for children involved in the foster care system. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of resource family approval social workers and the implementation of RFA. Ten participants were chosen from the resource family approval unit from a county child welfare agency. The study was a qualitative design with in person interviews.

Common themes emerged in responses to social worker's thoughts about RFA, social worker's ideas for preparing …

Coastal Fortresses: A Cross-Case Analysis Of Water, Policy, And Tourism Development In Three Gulf Coast Communities, Kimberly A. Krupa

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

As a result of development pressures and water resource struggles, once rural, spatially segregated coastal commercial fishing villages along the U.S. portion of the Gulf of Mexico are increasingly tourist frontiers for elites and the emergent businesses that cater to them. Over the course of the twentieth century, water events, from coastal land loss to hurricane destruction to natural disaster, have fast-tracked development projects that have allowed for the expansion of the tourism sector, and relaxed policies to encourage bold new economic development initiatives that often put poor coastal communities and their environment in jeopardy. This outcome is not universal …

The Effects Of Oklahoma's Universal Preschool Policy On Long-Term Educational Outcomes For Students, Betsy Morgan, Madison Stoecker

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

As states have increased their commitment to early childhood education over the past two decades, a debate on the efficacy of state-sponsored universal preschool has divided policymakers, administrators, and taxpayers. Some critics of these programs argue that universal preschool has a diminishing impact which does not justify the up-front cost, while supporters argue that there are long-term positive effects of high quality, universal early childhood education which outweigh the cost. In this paper, we examine the effect, if any, that the existence of a state-funded universally available preschool program has had on county-level average ACT scores in a before-and-after multivariable …

China's Global Influence In 2025: Projected Foreign Policy Strategies, Melissa Toman

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Many political scientists contend that the rise of China is inevitable. Through expanding political, economic, social, and military channels, it appears clear that China desires to increase its status in the global community. Through this analysis, China’s various policies will be assessed in order to outline their objectives for growth by 2025. In addition, through the use of Counterfactual Reasoning, four scenarios are presented to hypothesize what the future of Chinese foreign policy objectives could mean to regional and global actors.

Leadership From Within: Founders, Advocates, And Organizational Networks Operating In Maine's Immigrant Community, Samuel Robert Kenney

Honors Projects

Much of the discourse surrounding African immigration to Maine has centered on the provision of public services that facilitate community development and integration. This project investigates different types of leadership strategies employed by African individuals in Maine that advance community objectives. When African immigrant leaders are empowered to affect public policy, they re-frame traditional conceptions of aid-dependency and vulnerability commonly applied to African immigrants in media and popular culture. Through leadership in nonprofit and civic spheres, African immigrant community leaders translate grassroots connectivity with informal networks into meaningful influence in the realm of public policy. This project focuses on the …

Officers’ And Community Members’ Evaluations Of Police–Civilian Interactions, Mawia Khogali

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research suggests that civilian characteristics such as race, gender, and age may influence use of force decisions by police. The purpose of the current research is to determine whether these civilian characteristics influence officers’ and community members’ evaluations of police-civilian encounters along dimensions of resistance, disrespect, and the appropriate use of force. It also examines whether perceptions of resistance and disrespect mediate the relationship between civilian characteristics and police use of force. Four-hundred thirty police officers and 571 community members participated in this study. Overall, this study provides the beginning of a much-needed line of research investigating the role of …

Concealed Campus Carry: Perspectives From Administrators, Faculty And Firearms Instructors On Generating Campus Policy, Diana Villarreal Barfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School shootings have become prominent throughout the Unites States. This is an issue not only in primary schools but also in postsecondary educational institutions. The states of Utah and Colorado passed laws allowing students to carry guns on publicly funded college and university campuses. In 2015, the Texas legislature also proposed a similar campus carry law, which was not passed in 2015. In 2016, when the Texas 84th Legislature made a second attempt, the law was passed. With the passage of this law by the Texas state legislature, a 21-year-old was now allowed to carry a concealed handgun on campus. …

Immigration Policy Reform: International Students And Higher Education, Anna M. Kwiatkowski

Honors College Theses

How has the rise in immigration around the world affected international students in obtaining student visas? Many states in the Global North are implementing restrictive immigration policies to combat the high influx of immigrants. Using the United Kingdom (UK) as a case study, I investigate how these policies have led to a decrease in the number of international students enrolled in higher education institutions (HEIs) throughout the UK. This has led to negative impacts on the higher education sector and economy, forcing politicians to reconsider and backtrack on immigration policies regarding international students in late 2017. Through the lens of …

The Evolution Of State Higher Education Public Funding Policy, Angela Rogers

Senior Theses

In the past several decades, public colleges and universities have increasingly struggled to fund all of the programs demanded of them as states slowly drain funding from their coffers. This discussion will examine different policies and frameworks that have been used by states to determine funding for their public institutions. Different factors that will be considered include political relationships, governance structures, and accountability models. The political trend of “free college” will also be considered. Then, the discussion will narrow to South Carolina funding policy, how it has changed over the years, and what the current challenges are. A policy proposal …

Unheard Warriors: Creating An Effective Child Welfare Workforce, Yina Cordero

Community Engagement Student Work

As child abuse and neglect cases continue to increase in the United States, child welfare workers continue to experience challenges that have made it increasingly difficult to adequately care for the children and families in the child welfare system. Unfortunately, this has led to increased turnover rates among child welfare workers. Policy surrounding the child welfare workforce have pushed for changes that do not appropriately address issues such as the lack of education, training, and unsafe organizational environment that child welfare workers experience daily. An extensive overview of the current state of the child welfare workforce, has demonstrated a need …

Political Culture And Policy: The Impact Of Culture And Values On School Choice Legislation, Heather Leigh Neal

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Policy actors unite political culture, power, and values to make substantial decisions which are often subjective in nature. Politics and policy are about collective decisions, which rely on the arrangement of a group of people. As values can influence policy actors in their attempt to solve problems, it is important for policymakers to establish a balance among the most essential values. A qualitative case study approach was used to investigate how, and what ways, political culture influenced how state stakeholders interpreted or implemented policy. Power and values were explored as both can connect for the implementation of policy. If values, …

Impact Of Conditional Job Offer On Applicant Reactions To Social Media In The Selection Process, Ashley Gomez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Social media (SM) permits the sharing of personal information online, which can lead to employers accessing personal, non-job-related information about applicants throughout the selection process. Limited prior research (Jeske & Shultz, in press; Stoughton et al., 2015) has found that, to varying degrees, applicants find this access of their personal information to be an invasion of their personal privacy. The aim of the present study was to replicate prior findings regarding invasion of privacy moderating the relationship between SM screening presence and procedural justice perceptions and to expand on prior research by exploring whether the stage at which this information …

Service Delivery Agents' Perceptions Of The Impact Of Panhandling Policy In Virginia, Nancy Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Panhandling (also called begging and mendicancy) has been a problem for lawmakers. Although current crime control measures (based on the broken windows theory) have identified a perceived link between disorders (i.e., panhandling) and crime, previous attempts to ban panhandling were deemed unconstitutional. The purpose of this work was to investigate the impact of the latest attempt to curb panhandling in Hampton Roads, Virginia, known as the Public Education Campaign. This phenomenological inquiry examined the perceptions and work-related experiences of service delivery agents to explore the impact of the panhandling policy on panhandling and policy enforcement. Purposive sampling was used to …

Law Enforcement Seat Belt Use: Impact Of Policy And Phenomena On Use, Zach Loken

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Studies show that seat belt use by law enforcement officers is estimated to be at 50%, well below the national average. The purpose of this study was to explore what may be leading to reduced seat belt use by law enforcement patrol officers while also determining if different types of policies effect the level of seat belt usage by this population. The theoretical framework used in this study was Shafritz, Ott and Jang's theory of organizational culture and change. This quantitative study was conducted using a casual, quasi-experimental design; the research questions focused on understanding what phenomena may be occurring …

Financing Post-2015 Development Goals: Shaping A New Policy Framework For Aid In Liberia, Apollos Ikechukwu Nwafor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Liberia, Africa's oldest democracy, has made several efforts in becoming a developed economy and ending poverty, but these efforts have been hampered by lack of appropriate financing mechanisms to achieve this goal. The most recent challenge which was the purpose of this study was to understand how Liberia can finance and achieve the sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations in September 2015. Despite substantial external aid, Liberia was only able to meet 3 out of the 8 Millennium Development Goals, and more than 60% of the population remain extremely poor. The main research question was to understand what …

U.S. Policymakers' Perspectives Regarding The Causes Of Terrorism And The Impact On U.S. Counterterrorism Policy, Jeffrey David Mcmanus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

U.S. counterterrorism policy appears to be influenced by different perspectives, as evidenced by conflicting statements by U.S. presidents regarding the causes of terrorism. Academic theories are not always applied by U.S. government employees who develop, influence, and implement counterterrorism policy. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand U.S. government policymakers' perspectives on the causes of terrorism, the influences on these views, and the impact on U.S. counterterrorism policy. Six theories regarding the causes of terrorism provided the theoretical framework. Additional theories related to individual and organizational impact on decision-making provided a broader conceptual framework. Data were collected …

Russian Climate Politics In 2019: Concessions And Trade Offs, Nikita O. Minin

Senior Projects Spring 2019

In the paper of this project the Russia’s political justifications for the signing of the Kyoto Protocol and the refusal to sign the Paris Accord are analyzed. Russia’s current adaptive strategies and trajectory towards creating a potentially devastating future for the planet are assessed in terms of their economic justifications. Overall this paper argues that the Paris Accord needs to be amended to be economically and politically fair for all signing countries. Currently Russia could lose GDP if they signed the accord, and this is presented as the primary reason for Russia’s refusal to sign. The thesis of the paper …

Examining The Role Of Intra-Household Bargaining In The Adoption Of Green Technology, Antara Anand

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper investigates factors that affect gender-based differences in intra-household bargaining power that are reflected in consumption decisions regarding the adoption of green technology. Using data from the Indian Human Development Survey-II and a probit regression analysis, I find that increasing the level of a woman’s education (a proxy for increasing bargaining power) increases the likelihood of her household adopting LPG, the cleanest fuel option available. I also create an experimental design to serve as a next step for future research and target data collection on individual-level factors and environmental outcomes. The setup is for a potential intervention that assesses …

Sanitation, Ek Prem Katha: The Impact Of Sanitation On Education In Indian Government Schools, Romanshi Gupta

Scripps Senior Theses

The Total Sanitation Campaign is an initiative launched by the Government of India in 1999 to accelerate sanitation coverage throughout the country. This thesis measures the impact of the Total Sanitation Campaign on education in Indian government schools. I assess whether access to toilets, access to water or access to both toilets and water impact the following parameters of education: literacy, current enrollment in school or completed years of education. Data is sourced from the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) 2005, sorted for the nineteen major states in India and aggregated at a district level for each state. The analysis …

Antibullying Definition, Policy, Surveillance, Education, And Training In The Healthcare Field, Adlene Jones Mcelroy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Workplace bullying in the healthcare field has contributed to decreasing productivity, decreasing employee morale, increasing workplace lawsuits, overall dissatisfaction in the workplace, and potentially compromising care to patients. Little, however, is known about how public policies related to workplace bullying impact the experiences of healthcare workers. Using Cornell and Limber's conceptualization of bullying, the purpose of this general qualitative study was to better understand the experiences of healthcare leaders and workers related to workplace bullying of a single health care facility. Data were principally collected from 9 participants representing three organizational leaders, three nurses, and three ancillary members staff. These …

Evaluating Comprehensive School Safety Through A Global Baseline Survey Of Disaster Risk Reduction Policies In The Education Sector, Adriana Varchetta

WWU Graduate School Collection

As disaster risk increases across the globe a growing attention has been placed on how disasters and emergencies impact children and youth’s access to education. International humanitarian agencies, national governments, non-governmental organization, researchers, practitioners, and advocates have coalesced to identify strategies to address school safety in the presence of disaster risk. The Comprehensive School Safety (CSS) framework developed out of this movement. CSS aims to protect students and educators from physical harm, plans for the continuity of education, safe safeguards investments, and incorporates resilience topics into curriculum. This study uses Save the Children’s 2016 CSS Baseline Dataset to identify the …

Washington State’S Centennial Accord And The Role Of Tribal Governments In Regional Comprehensive Planning Under The Growth Management Act And Associated Planning Laws, Elliott Winter

WWU Graduate School Collection

Tribal governments in Washington State are important regional governments that exist in and border many counties. Tribal interests often extend beyond the boundaries of the reservation and into the county space where they may be affected by county and local government planning. Properly integrating tribal interest into regional comprehensive planning is necessary to reduce conflict and provide Indian tribes a seat at the government table.

The purpose of this project is to determine the extent to which planning laws, regulations, and policies within Washington State advance coordination with Indian tribes based on the government-to-government principles of the Centennial Accord, particularly …

How The Mexican Cartels Have Capitalized On U.S. Policies, Ande Troutman

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis investigated how the Mexican cartels have taken advantage of loop holes in U.S. policy to grow their drug market and power. Three policies were examined to demonstrate how the cartels adapted to policy changes and continued to thrive and expand. The first policy analyzed was the North American Free Trade Agreement, which opened up the borders between Mexico and the United States. The next policy investigated was the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which instituted harsher punishments for illegal immigration and caused mass deportation. The final policy examined was the Federal Assault Weapons Ban …

Alleviating Poverty In Sub-Saharan Africa, Owen Dubeck

CMC Senior Theses

While most of the world has been able to dramatically reduce extreme poverty rates, Sub-Saharan Africa has failed to do so and is the only region in the world with more people living in extreme poverty than thirty years ago. This thesis will develop a policy framework for alleviating poverty by drawing from countries that are performing surprisingly well and poorly in the region. The thesis concludes with an analysis of whether education, health, or agricultural sectors should be receiving more or less funding based on expected rates of return and the feasibility of policy successes.

Intelligence-Led Policing: Linking Local And State Policies To Establish A Comdefinition, Chad B. Prosser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project studied agencies within local and state levels through their official policies in order to establish a comdefinition of ILP while establishing themes that link the predominate policing methodologies together. A definition could not be generated based on the data analyzed. Despite this, three themes emerged that link ILP agencies to agencies that implement other policing philosophies: Intelligence, Community, and Analysis. The majority of agencies do not implement ILP; however, almost all of the agencies within the sample frame of this study acknowledge or implement certain portions of the ILP methodology making it a flexible alternative to implement …