Place and Environment Commons^™

Environmental Determinism: Broken Paradigm Or Viable Perspective?., Gerald L. Hardin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research was to examine the issue of environmental determinism. It was an ideology that was prevalent throughout the early decades of the 20^th century that held that the natural environment was responsible for virtually all human development. It helped bring the study of geography into the venue of postsecondary education, where it was viewed as a tool for study of human activities. It was a new science inspired by Darwinism that viewed human adaptation to the natural environment as critical to socialization.

Relying on historical sources, the purpose of the study was to reveal how environmental determinism became ...

Killing For A Living: Psychological And Physiological Effects Of Alienation Of Food Production On Slaughterhouse Workers, Anna Dorovskikh

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis research focuses on the negative effects that Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (later referred to as CAFOs) have on the environment and the psychological and physiological effects of alienation of food production on slaughterhouse workers of industrial slaughterhouses in comparison to niche-market slaughterhouses. Billions of animals in United States are slaughtered each year for food. Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations function as establishments that raise large numbers of animals in small, confined spaces to accommodate the large demand for animal products. This comes at a certain environmental cost concerning water and air pollution. Animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than ...

Organizational Leadership In Times Of Uncertainty: Is Transformational Leadership The Answer?, Sophon Shadraconis

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

In a world that is rapidly changing, organizations are finding that they must adapt quickly to meet the needs of their changing environment. Organizations can only remain relevant and achieve long-term success and sustainability by adopting a model of leadership that addresses the needs of their fluctuating environment. However, many organizations have failed to adapt to their operating environment. Some examples of recent major organizational failures and bankruptcies include: Circuit City, Hollywood Video, and Mervyn's. To remain competitive, leaders must adopt a model that allows for rapid responses to the changing business environment. Transformational leadership can serve as this ...

The Classroom Environment: The Silent Curriculum, Brittany Allen, Katie Hessick

Psychology and Child Development

This senior project focused on the physical environment of elementary school classrooms, with a particular emphasis on how environmental factors influence behavior and academic achievement. Such environmental factors included lighting, color, acoustics, temperature, seating arrangements, space and crowding, and living kinds such as plants and animals. Previous research has demonstrated a connection between student behavior and the classroom environment. Taylor and Vlastos (2009) developed a theory regarding the relationship between environment and design within the classroom. They referred to the physical environment of the classroom as the “silent curriculum” and hold strongly to the belief that understanding the physical environment ...

The Warfare-Welfare Tradeoff: Health, Public Aid And Housing, Peroff

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is a truism that resources devoted to defense are unavailable for nondefense purposes. Investment in defense takes place partly by reducing civilian spending on consumer and capital goods through tax rates that are higher than they would otherwise be and partly by reducing government spending on non-defense programs. The purpose of this paper is to test for the existence and magnitude of the latter tradeoff over the years 1929-1971 in the United States. In particular, the analysis concerns the tradeoff between defense and three social welfare policies: health, public aid and housing. In addition, the analysis examines whether these ...

Participatory Approach In Rural Poverty-Alleviation And Women's Empowerment In Indonesia = 印度尼西亞參與式農村扶貧與婦女賦權計劃, Mayling Oey-Gardiner

South South Forum 南南論壇

Indonesian Society – In spite of the general observation that women in Indonesia remain subordinate to men in the public domain, due to development efforts promoting participatory approaches and women’s empowerment in Indonesia’s democratizing society there have been some notable success stories of women-led economic activities and of women reaching high positions in their communities and the wider society as well. Here, one result of the Asian financial-turned economic crisis which started in Indonesia in mid-1997 was a period of severe socio-economic-political turmoil (a situation known locally as kristal for total crisis) leading to a revitalized democratic movement, giving ...

Akinori Kashiwagi, Athletic Trainer

Environmental Portraits

Archival pigment print of Akinori Kashiwagi, measuring 16x20 inches.

This project was made possible with the support of a Civic Engagement Grant from the Ursinus Center for Advocacy, Responsibility and Engagement (UCARE).

An Examination Of Summer Bridge Programs For First-Generation College Students, Emily Christine Otewalt

Psychology and Child Development

During the last fifty years, nearly half of all students who entered a two- or four-year university withdrew without obtaining a degree. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnic minority students, and students who were the first in their family to attend college were particularly vulnerable to this attrition. The following senior project examines current research on the backgrounds and attrition rates of first-generation college students, how "Summer Bridge Programs" aim to assist these students, and where shortcoming exist in current "Summer Bridge Program" assessments.

The Relationship Between Residential Satisfaction, Sense Of Community, Sense Of Belonging And Sense Of Place In A Western Australian Urban Planned Community, Kylie M. Smith

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Residential satisfaction is important as it contributes to a person‟s psychological wellbeing and quality of life. Residential satisfaction develops due to physical factors such as the provision of parks and amenities within a community, social factors such as a feeling of belongingness to the community and social support within the community and personal factors such as homeownership and length of residence. Sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place also influence residential satisfaction; however, the extent that these contribute is unclear. As a result, this study investigated the contribution of these constructs to the development of residential ...

The Power Of Workplace Wellness: A Theoretical Model For Social Change Agency, Joshua M. Garrin

Journal of Social Change

As millions of individuals face the complex challenge of adopting prohealth behavior as a core lifestyle attribute, there is an ever-increasing need to take an opportunistic approach to practicing and internalizing such behavior. Time constraints, prioritization, and time mismanagement widely contribute to the perceived inability of individuals to adhere to prohealth behavior. Given vocation as a demand that constitutes approximately one third of daily life activity, the organizational setting has emerged as a context that can potentially offer a vast array of viable workplace wellness (WW) opportunities. Such initiatives go beyond framing organizations as vehicles for health behavior promotion—instead ...