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An Exploration Of American And Canadian Tourist Destination Images Of Cuba, Culum Richard Canally

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Tourism in Cuba is thriving. Since 1991 the island has quickly become one of the top Caribbean tourist destinations. As a result tourism researchers have recently turned their attention towards investigating many facets of tourism on the island. However one omission in this growing corpus of research is the effect that politics has had on Cuba’s tourist destination image (TDI). In this study I explore how politics influences the evolution of tourist destination image. I also demonstrate that a critical constructivist paradigm can be used as an alternative to traditional positivist/postpositivist ways of researching tourist destination image. Finally I utilize …

Social Disorganization And The Spatial Distribution Of Homicides In El Paso, Nicholas Andrew Emerick

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Recent research on social disorganization theory shows general support for economic and stability measures of disorganization, but spatial dispersions and the disaggregation of homicides of crime have not been fully examined. 1985-1995 homicide data from the El Paso Police Department's detective logs and US Census data are combined to explore social disorganization in El Paso, the impact of ports of entry, and how motive interacts with social disorganization. Findings for total homicides in El Paso support existing social disorganization research. Motive specific homicides displayed distinct relationships to the disorganization measures. The concentrations of homicides near ports of entry can be …

Conceptualizing Hybridity: Deconstructing Boundaries Through The Hybrid, Haj Yazdiha

Publications and Research

History has shown that the notion of hybridity has existed far before it was popularized in postcolonial theory. However, in this time after imperialism, globalization has both expanded the reach of Western culture, and has allowed a process by which the West constantly interacts with the East. This hybridity is evident in every snapshot of society, from trends in "fusion" cuisine to the adoption of Caribbean rhythms in popular music. Ethnic Americans are marked with hyphenated identities: "Indian-American," "Asian-American," illuminating the lived experience of ties to a dominant culture coinciding with the cultural codes of a third world culture. This …

Becoming European? Constructing Identity In Urban Regeneration Discourse In Ireland, Alan Gerard Bourke

Publications and Research

Drawing upon policy documents and interview data, this article critically assesses how the conservation, interpretation and promotion of built heritage is used as a categorical identity referent within urban regeneration discourse in Ireland. The paper is critical of two inter-related dynamics. First, it addresses the relation between "culture-led" urban regeneration and the construction of a "sense of place." Second, it problematizes parallel attempts to constitute a sanitized and marketable urbanism expressed via a rhetorical and contrived veneer of European identity. A fundamental premise of the discussion is that the challenge of articulating a coherent and "distinctive" sense of urban cultural …

Model Learning Outcomes For Introductory Rural Sociology: A Proposal And Rationale, Jennifer Steele

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

While rural sociologists have demonstrated their commitment to sharing ideas about teaching approaches and methods, they have given less systematic attention to the content of introductory rural sociology and its connections to the field’s mission of improving rural well-being. The purpose of this note is to make a case for developing model learning outcomes for introductory rural sociology and to present an organizing framework and sample outcomes for initiating discussion. First, a rationale for using learning outcomes as the means of sharing professional expectations is presented. Next, the methods used to arrive at a proposed organizational framework are described. It …

Using Literary Ethnography As A Form Of Qualitative Document Synthesis To Explore The Maltreatment Of Vulnerable Populations: An Examination Of Verbal Neglect And Abuse In Nursing Homes, Jason S. Ulsperger

The Qualitative Report

Studying vulnerable populations can be highly problematic. This is especially true when they are located in institutional settings. When gatekeepers block access and a researcher wants to examine a delicate topic, one ethical, feasible way to paint an interpretive picture of everyday life involves the use of a literary ethnography. With data on the verbal neglect and abuse of elders in United States nursing homes, this paper details the six-stages of a literary ethnography. It includes a discussion of identifying sources, reading and interpreting the documents, identifying textual themes, classifying themes, developing a set of analytic constructs, and re-reading documents …

The Impact Of Third Places On Community Quality Of Life, Leo Wayne Jeffres, Cheryl Campanella Bracken, Guowei Jian, Mary F. Casey

Communication Faculty Publications

Older cities struggling with issues of survival focus on jobs and the economy, but competition requires all cities to pay attention to the quality of life that attracts residents. Creating such an inviting environment includes “third places” that foster community and communication among people outside of home and work, yet we have little empirical evidence that speaks to the subject, or their importance for a community’s quality of life. Here we report on a national U.S. survey that asked people to identify such places in their community, producing a wide variety of “third places” that ranged from the most popular …

Visualizing Population Dynamics Of Alaska's Arctic Communities, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Angela M. Mitiguy

Sociology

Abstract

Arctic demography has previously been reviewed on a large scale, across the circumpolar nations. We look instead at some recent population dynamics on sub-regional to community scales, focusing on Arctic Alaska. Detailed graphics depicting yearly population changes from 1990 to 2006 in 43 selected Arctic Alaska towns and villages and all 27 of the state's "county-equivalent entities" (e.g., boroughs) have been published online in connection with two International Polar Year projects. Seemingly comparable places within the same borough have taken widely divergent paths. Birth rates generally exceed death rates, although both are high. Year-to-year and place-to-place variations are dominated …

Torch (December 2009), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Mammoth Cave Pre-Park Communities, Matthew Brunt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Before the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park, this area was home to numerous communities, each with a sense of identity. To prepare for the creation of the National Park, all residents living within these communities were relocated, and many of these communities were lost to the passage of time. Today, public memory of these lost communities is being fostered by the descendents of the pre-park area.

Through the use of a Historical Geographic Information System, 1920 Edmonson County manuscript census data, and statistical analysis, the demographic composition of these lost communities was explored. This project not only brought to …

Regional Variation In Perceptions About Climate Change., Lawrence C. Hamilton, Barry D. Keim

Sociology

A 2007 survey covering rural areas in nine US states provides data on perceived local impacts of climate change. Perceptions vary from region to region, with a pattern suggesting links to real climate specifically to winter warming in snow country. A multivariate analysis using mixed-effects ordered logit regression confirms a significant perception-temperature relationship, net of individual background and ideological characteristics, and of regional variations. These findings invite more detailed research.

Nonknowledge: The Bibliographical Organization Of Ignorance, Stupidity, Error, And Unreason: Part Two, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

Starting with the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom paradigm in information science it is possible to derive a model of the opposite of knowledge having hierarchical qualities. A range of counterpoints to concepts in the knowledge hierarchy can be identified and ascribed the overall term “nonknowledge.” This model creates a conceptual framework for understanding the connections between topics such as error, ignorance, stupidity, folly, popular misconceptions, and unreason by locating them as levels or phases of nonknowledge. The concept of nonknowledge links heretofore disconnected discourses on these individual topics by philosophers, psychologists, historians, sociologists, satirists, and others. Subject headings provide access to the categories …

Mountain Monitor-3rd Quarter 2009, Brookings Mountain West

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Nationwide, the recession is technically over. Or at least that is the view of most economists. They note that real U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) finally expanded in the third quarter of 2009, growing at a 2.8 percent annual rate after four consecutive quarters of contraction. They point to a significant slowing of job losses in November, rising housing prices, and a slight downtick in unemployment as other positive signs. Their conclusion: Economic recovery is at last underway. And yet, the pace of renewal seems tentative and its geography patchy. Most notably, the aggregate national story of recovery and expansion …

The Ethnic Identity Of Returning Immigrants To A Pueblo In Yucatan, David Piacenti

Dissertations

This study seeks to understand: 1) motivations for leaving and, if applicable, racialized, segregated environment, which is represented by the returned cholo, whose "urban gangbanger" mentality confronts the traditional, rural ethnic identity. San Francisco also affects the overall perception of immigration and desire for permanent U.S. residence. Of the San Francisco cohort, 42% say immigration is "positive overall." Conversely, 62% of the Kalamazoo cohort says that immigration is "positive overall." Only 29% of the San Francisco cohort desire permanent residence in the U.S. while 54% of the Kalamazoo cohort desire permanent U.S. residence. Therefore, the suburban context of Kalamazoo may …

A Tri-Disciplinary Analysis Of Religion, Alicia Wallace

Social Sciences

This paper analyzes religion using a multi-disciplinary approach. Studying the Social Sciences exposes one to an opportunity not just to learn a single discipline, but three, and this unique learning experience can teach one to look at the world’s phenomena with a multi-perspective view. Using a tri-disciplinary approach when exploring topics can broaden ones outlook on how there are many ways to explore and investigate a topic in greater detail. By using Anthropological, Sociological and Geographical theoretical perspectives one can understand a topic more fully by using a multi-perspective approach when exploring this diverse world culturally, socially and physically.

Educational Inequity, Erica Jade Lyons

Social Sciences

Our society’s public school education system is reproducing, if not enhancing, social stratification and inequality. The United States spends less on the schools that have the largest population of low-income and minority children than on schools with children from the more affluent families, typically White children. We are only further widening the gap between rich and poor when we give the children who come from the bottom end of class structure and give them even less when they leave their homes to come to class. In the United States, we spend approximately $900 less per year on each student from …

Tattoos: A Marked History, Audrey Porcella

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Population, Rural Development, And Land Use Among Settler Households In An Agricultural Frontier In Guatemala’S Maya Biosphere Reserve, David Carr Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Guatemala was among the world’s leaders in deforestation during the 1990s at a rate of 2% per annum. Much of Guatemala’s recent forest loss has occurred in the emerging agricultural frontiers of the Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR), the heart of the largest contiguous tropical forest in Central America—La Selva Maya. This paper presents data from 241 heads of households and 219 partners of household heads from a geographically stratified sample of eight (of 28) communities in the Sierra de Lacandón National Park (SLNP), the most ecologically biodiverse region in La Selva Maya and a core conservation zone of the MBR. …

Nepal’S Civil War And Its Economic Costs, Gyan Pradhan Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

This paper estimates the macroeconomic effects of increased spending on defense and internal security necessitated by the decade-long Maoist insurgency in Nepal. An investment equation is specified to examine the relationship between defense spending and investment. The estimation results indicate that there is a significant negative effect of defense spending on investment. A simple Harrod-Domar growth relationship is used to estimate the effect of the increase in defense spending on economic growth. This analysis suggests that between 1996 and 2006, the opportunity cost of the conflict in terms of lost output has been about 3 percent of Nepal’s current GDP.

Jared Diamond. Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed. New York, Ny: Viking Penguin, 2005., Robert Lawless

Journal of International and Global Studies

No abstract provided.

The History Of The Illinois River And The Decline Of A Native Species, Paige Mettler-Cherry, Marian Smith

The Confluence (2009-2020)

Floodplains as connectors to rivers are essential parts of the ecosystem; endangered plants chart progress or decline on the the Illinois River.

Latino Middle Class Income-Earners In New York City In 2006, Miriam Jiménez

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic factors of racial/ethnic groups in New York City in 2006 – particularly the income rates of the Latino population.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: For this study, the middle class refers to those population sectors that fall between $35,000—$59,999 and $ 60,000—$100,000 in annual personal income. Middle-class income earners account for approximately 25.7% of …

Student Discipline In New Hampshire Schools , Barbara Wauchope

Carsey Publications

A new analysis of student discipline in New Hampshire schools in the 2007–2008 school year shows that out-of-school suspension rates are higher and statewide expulsion rates are lower than the average. Schools reporting the highest rates of suspensions and expulsions are the smallest in the state and have the highest percentage of students in poverty. This brief is the first in a collaborative series between the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire and the Carsey Institute.

Doing Collaborative Community Based Research: On The Ground In Kingston, Audrey Kobayashi

Migration and Ethnic Relations Colloquium Series

No abstract provided.

Brazen (Fall 2009), Hollins University

Brazen - Gender & Women's Studies Department Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Life Domain Research Report Series: School And Employment (2010 Update), Karen Frensch, Lirondel Hazineh, Gary Cameron, Michele Preyde

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

Earlier research by the Partnerships for Children and Families Project on the daily living realities of youth and children involved with mental health services, particularly residential treatment, revealed the ongoing and pervasive nature of difficulties youth and children experienced in their academic functioning (Cameron, de Boer, Frensch, & Adams, 2003). As the education experience is such a large part of youth and children’s lives, we sought to better document how children and youth were performing in school in the current study.

Data were collected about youth who had been involved with children’s mental health residential treatment (RT) or intensive family …

Ua23 The Spirit Of Engagement, Paul Markham, Aurelia Spaulding

ALIVE Center Publications

No abstract provided.

The Socializer - Fall 2009, Department Of Sociology

The Socializer

No abstract provided.

Human Trafficking Legislation Across The States: The Determinants Of Comprehensiveness, Vanessa Bouche, Dana Wittmer

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 1st (2009)

To date, 40 U.S. states have passed human trafficking legislation; however, the comprehensiveness and stringency of the legislation significantly varies from state to state, and there remains significant ambiguity as to why this is the case. This study examines a number of factors that may impact the comprehensiveness of human trafficking legislation at the state level, focusing on the gender makeup of the legislature, the partisan makeup of the legislature, and policy diffusion based on geographic proximity. To test these hypotheses, we develop a comprehensive data set, including a uniquely designed dependent variable measuring legislative comprehensiveness for each state. We …

Violence In The House, Katherine Hite

Human Rights & Human Welfare

There was something particularly haunting in reading this Kristof and WuDunn piece during the week’s major US headlines: a girl in California had been imprisoned for eighteen years in the home of a man who kidnapped and raped her, fathered her children, and employed her in his small enterprise—a business card design and printing agency. Business clients interviewed for the story appeared completely taken aback. Clients had always found the now twenty-nine-year-old Jaycee Dugard “professional, polite, and responsive” as well as “creative and talented in her work.” Others expressed similar shock, recounting that Ms. Dugard “was always smiling.” Ms. Dugard’s …