Digital Commons Network^™

Women And Stability: A Topological View Of The Relationship Between Women And Armed Conflict In West Africa, Michaela A. Pendergrass

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between women and stability, if any, is a topic of much debate and research. Several large and influential organizations have all researched women's effect on stability. Furthermore, several of these world organizations, the United Nations, in particular, have declared gender equality to be a driving force in promoting stability and conflict prevention. Due to the United States active involvement in conflict prevention in such regions as West Africa, research concerning the relationship between women and stability is of particular interest to the United States Africa Command. As such, this research applied Topological Data Analysis, combined with other machine …

The Unfree Space Of Play: Emergence And Control In The Videogame And The Platform, Logan Brown

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This article attempts to understand the economic and informatic ramifications of the convergence between increasingly connective games and massive online platforms by considering recent trends in both that center around designing for emergence. Scholarship on emergence as a property of games overwhelmingly treats emergent design as a liberating force that privileges player agency in a virtual space. Yet, as games fuse with surrounding platform ecosystems like Steam, Facebook, and Google, those emergent behaviors are subject to vast systems of inscription that analyze user behavior in order to reshape the free space of emergence and extract greater social and financial capital. …

The Rattler (Volume 107, Issue 6), St. Mary's University

The Rattler (Previous issues)

Founded in 1919, The Rattler is the student voice of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. The newspaper documents campus life, academic and social issues, student opinion, and local and national events as they relate to the University community. Content typically includes news articles, editorial commentary, arts and culture coverage, sports reporting, and advertisements.

Rome Was A City Built On Common Goods: A Research Memorandum, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This unpublished research note is an expanded draft of comments on associations and patronage in ancient Rome published in Chapter 3 of The Commons: New Perspectives on Nonprofit Organizations, Voluntary Action and Philanthropy (Lohmann, 1992). It is intended to alert social scientists and students interested in the third sector to the importance of membership associations and groups in Rome well before the modern era.

Hurricane Maria's Aftermath: Redefining Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Pedro Caban

Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Faculty Scholarship

The devastation wrought by a historic storm posed the damage already inflicted by decades of economic policies that have treated the island like a second-class territory.

The Profile Of The International Cyber Offender In The U.S., Lora I. Hadzhidimova, Brian K. Payne

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

This study explores the characteristics of international cyber offenders prosecuted in the U.S. Our findings to a large extent correspond with general studies about cyber offenders with a few important exceptions. First, the average age of the offenders in our study is slightly higher than others that do not focus exclusively on international offenders. Second, while this research confirms that China is among the leading country in committing cybercrimes when it comes to committing particular types of cybercrimes, the offenders come from other countries as well such as Romania, Estonia, Ukraine, South Africa, and Nigeria. Third, our results show that …

Safe Streets, Inc. : The 'Hustle' To End Black Gang Violence In Philadelphia, 1969-1976, Menika Dirkson

Arlen Specter Center Research Fellowship

From 1962 to 1968, gang stabbings and murders in Philadelphia drastically increased, inspiring Philadelphia District Attorney Arlen Specter (from 1965-1973) to establish Safe Streets, Inc. in August 1969 as a non-profit, anti-gang program designed to reduce gang violence, end turf wars between rival gangs, and provide social services like job training and academic tutoring to juveniles. Since the program came into existence amidst the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968), numerous cases of police brutality, and over 200 race riots in post-industrial cities, the yearly Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) grant from the federal government offered to cities under the Omnibus Crime …

When To Take Credit For Terrorism? A Cross-National Examination Of Claims And Attributions, Erin M. Kearns

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Rationalist research expects that groups claim credit for terrorism. Yet, the vast majority of attacks are not claimed. Of the unclaimed attacks, about half are attributed to a specific group. What factors impact claiming decisions? While extant literature largely treats claiming as binary—either claimed or not—the present study disaggregates claiming decisions further to also consider attacks with attributions of credit but no claim, using data from 160 countries between 1998 and 2016. Both attack-level and situational factors impact claiming decisions. Disaggregating claiming behavior shows meaningful differences. Specifically, competitive environments and suicide attacks increase claims but not attributions. Higher fatalities in …

The Church’S Call To Minister To Refugees: A Case Study On Liberian Refugees In Minnesota, Rufus Kudee

Master of Theology Theses

The paper is divided into seven chapters. Chapter one explores a brief historical background of the Liberian Refugee Crisis. Chapter two discusses ministering to the refugees: a Biblical foundation. Chapter three quickly reviews different ways of ministering to Liberian refugee families. Chapter four identifies challenges that refugees face. Chapter five explores the potential blessings that refugees bring. Chapter six highlights the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among refugees. Finally, chapter seven addresses the conclusion.

The Venezuelan Crisis Within The Context Of Us Interventions In Latin America, Gloria D. Bravo

2019 Symposium

Venezuela, due to economic and political sabotage, has been experiencing a humanitarian crisis since the late part of 2018. This oil-exporting nation was faced with economic decline after 9/11, the 2008 economic recession and again in 2014; as a result of oil prices tanking. Under Cesar Chavez’s presidency the Venezuelan Bolivar faced destabilizing inflation rates surged in part by the ‘economic war’ against private enterprise and the bourgeoisie class, as well as a lack of diversification of exports and a dependency on imported goods. After Chavez's death in 2013, Nicolás Maduro took office and social unrest intensified.

Since 2014:

• Over …

A Gendered Intersectional Analysis Of The Private Security Industry, Noa Shapira

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis conducts an intersectional gendered analysis of the privatization of wars and armed conflicts through the use of private military and security companies (PMSC's), thus responding to an existing gap in scholarship on this matter. Two methodologies were used for this analysis. The first is a discourse analysis and interviews conducted in the 5th annual assembly of the International Code of Conduct Association, in November 2018. The second is a search in newspapers and secondary sources for specific incidences of gender-related human rights abuses. Based on lessons learned from peacekeeping operations, this thesis aims to answer the question how …

The Us Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Surge And Withdrawal 2007-2011, Joel D. Rayburn Col, Frank K. Sobchak Col

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

The Study Of Discrete Emotions In Politics, Cigdem Sirin, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

Numerous empirical works document that discrete emotions have substantive and differential effects on politically motivated processes and outcomes. Scholars have increasingly adopted a discrete-emotions approach across various political contexts. There are different theoretical paths for studying discrete emotions. Appraisal theories contend that cognition precedes emotion, where distinct cognitive appraisal tendencies elicit discrete emotional reactions associated with specific coping mechanisms. Affective Intelligence Theory, another dominant paradigm in the study of discrete emotions in politics, argues for affective primacy. Others are more concerned with the level of analysis issue than the emotion-cognition sequence. For instance, Intergroup Emotions Theory calls for differentiating between …

Visions Of The Future In Budgetary Discourse, Ewan Macdonald, Brendan O'Rourke, John Hogan

Conference papers

Whilst there is ample precedent to argue against the common-sense notion that the ideological leanings of political parties are congruent with their implementation of fiscal policy (Boix, 2000; Garrett & Lange, 1991; Hibbs, 1977; Liargovas & Manolas, 2007), there is a relative dearth of research on the role of discourse in shaping fiscal policy with one notable exception by Maatsch (2014). With this in mind, we approach the issue of examining fiscal policy through a fixed, contested and subverted within particular texts” (Howarth, 2005, p. 341). This paper examines how the future is constructed in Irish budget speeches delivered between …

Indigenous Masculinities And The Tarascan Borderlands In Sixteenth-Century Michoacán, Daniel Santana

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation studies the hypermasculine narratives related to the expansion of the Tarascan state and its borderlands in early colonial Michoacán. Colonial texts such as the Relación de Michoacán and the relaciones geográficas depict the ascendance of the powerful Uacúsecha dynasty whose solar deity and male rulers oversaw the conquest of the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin and succeeded in holding back the Mexica (Aztecs) from penetrating their territories. The Dissertation pays particular attention to how contemporary political events, namely the Spanish conquest of Michoacán, endemic warfare in center-west Mexico, and political rivalries amongst Indigenous elites, influenced these accounts. Consequently, these narratives …

Using Google And Twitter To Measure, Validate And Understand Views About Religion Across Africa, Amy Adamczyk, Gary Lafree, Maria Barrera-Vilert

Publications and Research

Researchers typically use social surveys or censuses to examine attitudes and behaviors across nations. While useful for understanding cross-national differences, they are expensive to collect, include only a limited number of issues and countries, and are not very time sensitive. Many countries across the world now have residents who regularly use Twitter and Google, and these internet platforms are increasingly making data on the country-level number of tweets and google searches available for analysis. While there are a lot of challenges with these data, we examine some of the potential benefits. Specifically, our study assesses the extent to which cross-national …

Centuries Of Navigating Resistance And Change: Exploring The Persistence Of Mongolian Women Leaders, Holly D. Diaz

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The country of Mongolia has an ancient culture with a 28-year-old democracy that emerged out of communism. Over the course of several centuries, the Mongolian people have adapted to severe climates and brutal occupations but have managed to preserve cultural practices and the Mongolian way of life. Women leaders have made significant historical and contemporary contributions in Mongolia, from holding important leadership positions as heirs of Chinggis Khan, to ensuring the future of the country by sending their children abroad for graduate education. The impact of their leadership is evident with high percentages of women in leadership positions across several …

Skirting The Law: Women In Vice During U.S. Prohibition In South Texas, 1900-1933, Carolina Monsivais

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation explores both women's participation in the vice industry north of the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas and the ways in which women were policed. The Dissertation analyzes the interactions that occurred between law enforcement agents and the women they arrested, primarily ethnic Mexican women. This analysis illuminates law enforcement tactics that were honed during this era through the interactions that agents had with women who worked in vice industries. I also argue that women in this industry demonstrated knowledge, agency, and resistance. In addition, it created avenues of work for women, particularly in South Texas. However, studies examining …

Using Labeling Theory As A Guide To Examine The Patterns, Characteristics, And Sanctions Given To Cybercrimes, Brian K. Payne, Brittany Hawkins, Chunsheng Xin

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Over the past decade, reports of cybercrime have soared across the globe. Criminologists agree that the increase in cybercrime stems from technological advancements that have changed all facets of societal interactions. While it is agreed that technology has shaped cybercrime, there is less understanding about the dynamics of cybercrime. In particular, some researchers have explored whether these offenses are simply traditional types of crime that are now carried out through different strategies, while others have argued that cybercrimes are, in fact, new types of crime. This ambiguity potentially limits prevention and intervention strategies. In an effort to build our understanding …

The Rise Of American Extremism: An Exploratory Analysis Of American Religious And Political Extremism From Presidents Jimmy Carter To Barack Obama: 1977-2016, Alwyn J. Melton

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative case study was to address the problem of domestic terrorism facing the United States. This concern led to a comprehensive examination of historical documents that focused on the temporal evolution of the problem beginning with the Carter administration and continuing through the Obama administration. The conceptual foundation centered on resolving the research question and validating three hypotheses directed at qualifying the escalation of domestic incidents of terrorism. This led to developing a behavioral model to assist law enforcement agencies in combating the issue of domestic terrorism. Bivariate and clustering statistical analysis validated the data while …

“Square Peg In A Round Hole” An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Workers’ Experiences With Workplace Conflict, Katherine Joanna Sosa

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Conflict is a predictable aspect of organizational life. Research indicates that workers spend the majority of their lifetime at work and that unresolved conflict is one of the largest reducible costs in organizations. However, the majority of employee conflicts are not accurately addressed by rights-and-power based conflict management systems. This Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study explored the experiences and perceptions of workers who had been involved in an unresolved or escalated workplace conflict that was of consequence in their lives. The study sought to learn how it impacted them and how they made sense of the conflict, their organizations, and …

Leader Readiness In A Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, And Ambiguous (Vuca) Business Environment, Karen Rimita

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational leaders in the 21st century face relentless changes in the business environments in which they operate. The diversity, intensity, and rapidity of these changes create volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), which challenge leaders on ways to lead effectively as existing methods prove inadequate. The problem in this study was that of inadequate leader preparedness to lead and win in VUCA environments. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of 15 Nigerian corporate executives about their VUCA business environment and the strategies they employed for VUCA-readiness and success within the manufacturing sector. The …

การศึกษามาตรการความมั่นคงปลอดภัยทางไซเบอร์ต่อสถาบันการเงิน, ปรมัตถ์ ไวรักษ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์นี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาบทบาทของธนาคารกลางของไทยในการกำกับดูแลสถาบันการเงินต่อการบังคับใช้มาตรการความมั่นคงปลอดภัยไซเบอร์และศึกษาถึงแนวทางการสร้างความร่วมมือระหว่างกลุ่มสถาบันการเงิน โดยใช้รูปแบบการวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพ เก็บข้อมูลด้วยเทคนิคการวิจัยเอกสารร่วมกับการสัมภาษณ์เชิงลึก จากกลุ่มตัวอย่าง 3 กลุ่ม แบ่งเป็น ผู้ปฏิบัติงานในด้านเทคโนโลยีสารสนเทศกลุ่มสถาบันการเงิน ผู้ปฏิบัติงานจากสายงานกระบวนการยุติธรรมหรือสายกฎหมาย และผู้เชี่ยวชาญอิสระด้านการจัดการความมั่นคงปลอดภัยทางไซเบอร์ ผลการศึกษา พบว่า 1) บทบาทที่สำคัญของธนาคารกลางของไทย คือ การวางกรอบแนวทางการรับมือภัยคุกคามไซเบอร์ โดยมีการกำหนดเป็นมาตรการและนโยบายต่าง ๆ ร่วมกับการตรวจสอบกำกับดูแล และการเผยแพร่ความรู้ให้แก่ภาคประชาชน 2) ธนาคารกลางของไทยมีการสร้างความร่วมมือกับกลุ่มสถาบันการเงินและองค์กรอื่น ๆ ทั้งภายในประเทศและต่างประเทศ เพื่อแบ่งปันข้อมูลข่าวสารด้านภัยคุกคามทางไซเบอร์ที่เกิดขึ้น ซึ่งจะก่อให้เกิดทักษะความรู้ใหม่ ๆ ในการร่วมมือกันแก้ปัญหาภัยคุกคามไซเบอร์ ข้อเสนอแนะจากการศึกษานี้สามารถแบ่งได้เป็น 2 ด้าน คือ ด้านการปฏิบัติการ สถาบันการเงินควรมีการฝึกซ้อมรับมือภัยคุกคามทางไซเบอร์ ไปพร้อมกับการสร้างความตระหนักรู้ให้แก่ภาคประชาชนในเชิงรุก รวมทั้งสร้างเครือข่ายด้านเทคโนโลยีสารสนเทศในภาคการเงิน ด้านการออกนโยบาย เสนอให้เพิ่มบทลงโทษสถาบันการเงินจากการไม่ปฏิบัติตามมาตรการที่บังคับใช้ และเสนอให้มีการสร้างความร่วมมือกับภาครัฐปรับหลักสูตรการเรียนการสอนให้มีบทเรียนเกี่ยวกับภัยคุกคามไซเบอร์และมาตรการความมั่นคงปลอดภัยทางไซเบอร์

The Impact Of Gangs On Community Life In Trinidad, Ericka Adams, Patrice Morris, Edward Maguire

Faculty Publications

Trinidad and Tobago has more than 100 criminal gangs, some of which engage in high levels of homicide and violence. Recent research has shown that gang members in Trinidad and Tobago are more likely than nongang members to be arrested for violent, property, and drug crimes. As gangs continue to proliferate throughout the Caribbean, there is a pressing need to understand the nature of these gangs and their impact on the communities in which they are entrenched. Using data from interviews with community members, police officials, and gang members, as well as ethnographic observations from 10 high crime, predominantly Black …

Entwined Threads Of Red And Black: The Hidden History Of Indigenous Enslavement In Louisiana, 1699-1824, Leila K. Blackbird

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Contrary to nationalist teleologies, the enslavement of Native Americans was not a small and isolated practice in the territories that now comprise the United States. This thesis is a case study of its history in Louisiana from European contact through the Early American Period, utilizing French Superior Council and Spanish judicial records, Louisiana Supreme Court case files, statistical analysis of slave records, and the synthesis and reinterpretation of existing scholarship. This paper primarily argues that it was through anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity and with the utilization of socially constructed racial designations that “Indianness” was controlled and exploited, and that Native Americans …

The Colonized Masculinity And Cultural Politics Of Seediq Bale, Chin-Ju Lin

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article, “The Colonized Masculinity and Cultural Politics of Seediq Bale,” Chin-ju Lin discusses a Taiwanese blockbuster movie, a postcolonial historiography and a form of life-writing, which delineates the last Indigenous insurrection against Japanese colonialism. This article explores the cultural representations in Seediq Bale. Fighting back as a colonized man for pride and dignity is portrayed as means to restore their masculine identity. The headhunting tradition is remembered, romanticized, praised highly as heroic and even strengthened in an inaccurate way to promote individualistic masculinity and to forge a new national identity in postcolonial Taiwan. Nevertheless, the stereotypical …

Resistance Beyond The Frontier: Concepts And Policies For The Protection Of Isolated Indigenous Peoples Of The Amazon, Minna Opas, Luis Felipe Torres, Felipe Milanez, Glenn Shepard Jr.

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

No abstract provided.

"Who Are These Wild Indians": On The Foreign Policies Of Some Voluntarily Isolated Peoples In Amazonia, Peter Gow

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This paper is a reflection on the phenomenon of voluntary isolation in Amazonia, about anthropology’s implication in its formation as a concept, and what anthropologists might profitably say about it as a concrete phenomenon in the world. While knowledge based on ethnographic fieldwork might by minimal or even totally absent for people in voluntary isolation, anthropological research has produced a very impressive understanding of indigenous Amazonian social forms in general, knowledge that can be brought to bear on the question.

Good Reasons Or Bad Conscience: A Postscript, Stephen P. Hugh-Jones

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Published in French in 1996, the original article for which this comprises a post-script set indigenous Amazonians’ attitudes to meat alongside those of Euro-Americans. With the accelerating deforestation of Amazonia linked with the cultivation of soya used to feed animals for meat, and with calls to reduce or abandon meat consumption as one way of averting catastrophic climate change, it is topical once again. In this postscript, I reply to two contrasting critiques of the article, the first wary of an excess of ontology, the second distrustful of a deficit of it. Does a focus on ritual and shamanism obscure …

Case Study: Armenian And Cuban Ethnic Interest Groups In American Foreign Policy, Harry H. Terzian

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Current academic research has moved away from comparative models as a mechanism by which to assess and understand socio-political as well as historical phenomena. In addition, comparative analysis when it comes to addressing ethnic lobbies is almost nonexistent within contemporary research. This work implements a comparative framework and as a result has unlocked a new approach when addressing ethnic advocacy organizations. The purpose of this research is to assess and document the history and impact of both Armenian and Cuban ethnic interest groups within the United States. Specifically, focusing upon the Armenian National Committee of America and the Cuban American …