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Studies In Public Health Systems And Services Research: Three Papers Examining The Market Environment, Quality Improvement, And Community Partnerships, Valerie A. Yeager

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation, comprised of three publishable manuscripts, addresses various identified gaps in the literature focused on public health systems and services research. Public health systems and services research includes studies that examine the organization, financing and delivery of public health services in communities, and the impact of these services on public health. Specifically, this dissertation focuses on three topics: (1) the measurement of the health care market environment of local public health departments, (2) community characteristics related to quality improvement strategies in local public health environments, and (3) the longitudinal changes in public health partnerships and how these partnerships relate …

Transition To Democracy In Post-Soviet States: Success Or Failure. Case Study Analysis, Ceyhun Valiyev

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The democratization of Post-Soviet states in past two decades is the subject of this academic study. The main question of this research is that why most of the PostSoviet states haven’t gone through successful transition to democracy. Five countries; Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Georgia, Lithuania and Uzbekistan are the cases of this study to analyze and evaluate as empirical part of this work. I haven’t chosen the countries that have standard and equal level of success or failure. For instance, Lithuania is among those countries that have gone through quite successful process of democratization, whereas others have similar or different problems hindering …

Using The Critical Incident Technique To Research Decision Making Regarding Access To Training And Development In Medium-Sized Enterprises, Alan Coetzer, Janice Redmond, Jalleh Sharafizad

Research outputs 2012

Employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form part of a 'disadvantaged' group within the workforce that receives less access to training and development (T & D) than employees in large firms. Prior research into reasons for the relatively low levels of employee participation in training and development has typically involved surveys of owner/manager opinions. A novel and potentially more fruitful line of inquiry is investigating decisions managers have actually made regarding employee access to T & D. Building on this idea, we describe how the critical incident technique (CIT) was applied in our exploratory study of managerial decision making …

Virtue, Friendship, And Polis: A Reading Of Paul's Letter To The Philippians, Le Chih Hsieh

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Addressing The Digital Divide - It Management Practices In Rural Nghsos, Philip Dobson, Zane D'Mello

Research outputs 2012

Non Government Human Service Organisations (NGHSOs) are owned by the community they serve. Staffed by a committee of volunteers representing its membership their primary mission is to serve those experiencing some form of social disadvantage. In the emerging information intensive climate, NGHSOs are increasingly under pressure to use information technology (IT) to underpin and transform traditional methods of service delivery, particularly given the advent of the NBN. There has been little research into the IT management practices of small NGHSOs, and more particularly those that operate in regional, rural and remote communities. This paper describes research that examines the key …

Review Of Labor And Employment Law Decisions From The United States Supreme Court's 2010-11 Term, Eric Schnapper

Articles

In the 2010-11 term, the U.S. Supreme Court decided nine significant labor and employment cases. Although some of these cases affected only the construction of a specific statute or constitutional provision, several of them addressed issues likely to affect the interpretation and implementation of a wide range of federal employment laws. Most of these decisions, rather than definitively resolving a question, raise a range of new issues likely to be litigated for years to come. Thus, for practitioners and academics alike, recognizing the new questions that have now been raised is at least as important as understanding what matters the …

Reflected Appraisal Through A 21st-Century Looking Glass, Harry M. Wallace, Dianne M. Tice

Psychology Faculty Research

The concept of reflected appraisal—also known as reflected self-appraisal or the looking-glass self—refers to the processes by which people's self-views are influenced by their perceptions of how others view them. Reflected appraisal is reflected in the metaphor that people use others as a mirror (i.e., looking glass) for judging themselves, and also in the sense that others' judgments are reflected in self-judgments. The concept refers simultaneously to person A's self-appraisal and person A's appraisal of person B's appraisal of person A. These appraisals exert reciprocal influence: Self-views affect judgments of others' views, and judgments …

Expanded Narrative: An On-Line Resource For Students, Lecturers And Practitioners, Emma Whittaker

School of Art, Design and Architecture

To investigate the ways in which the development of linear and interactive narrative features within undergraduate arts curricula at Plymouth University and partner colleges. To investigate the methods used to create expanded narratives by specialists in the field, within and outside of the arts. To develop an on-line resource that brings together expanded narrative practices from the arts, creative industries and research institutions, that provides relevant content for integration with HE arts curricula, that showcases student work and provides an evolving document of the student experience and offers opportunities for sharing knowledge and skills. The development of a community of …

Environmental Justice And Hydraulic Fracturing: The Ascendancy Of Grassroots Populism In Policy Determination, Nancy C. Carre

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Exploration and development of natural gas resources includes the use of hydraulic fracturing, a process that can potentially contaminate domestic water sources. While industry seeks access to BLM leases for new wells, their proximity to communities can have serious negative consequences on their health and life style, raising questions of how sites are selected and concerns about environmental justice. This case scenario explores the manner in which the residents of Delta County, Colorado, organized in response to proposed lease sales, and how grassroots mobilization uses technology and proactive mechanisms to affect public policy.

Community Fact Sheet: Hope 2012: A Health Status Report, Don Edward Willis, Gail O'Connor, Kevin Fitzpatrick

Poverty

HOPE 2012, a service event offering free critical services to those in need in Northwest Arkansas, took place this October 23, 2012 at Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, AR. Health, hygiene, legal, financial and other services, as well as groceries and personal items, were available to attendees. Of these services, by far the most utilized were the health services. In particular, 128 blood pressure and heart rate screenings and 126 Body Mass Index (BMI) screenings were given. In addition, 76 dental exams and 66 vision screenings were administered, along with 71 flu vaccines for adults. Health services were …

Al-Shabaab's American Recruits: A Comparative Analysis Of Two Radicalization Pathways, Matthew Wade Richardson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

From 2005 to 2011, at least 41 Americans joined, or attempted to join, al-Shabaab, Somalia's preeminent terrorist organization. This thesis examines the radicalization process for al-Shabaab's American recruits by dividing the sample into two groups: non-Somali and Somali. The author employs causal flow diagramming as a means of visualizing each group's unique radicalization pathway. While most of the non-Somali recruits were motivated by political grievances and Salafism, most of the Somali recruits were motivated by identity conflict and nationalism. Considering al-Shabaab is both a religious and an ethno-nationalist terrorist organization, these results make sense. Radicalization within diaspora communities is a …

Nostalgic Identities: A Study In The Interactive Process Of Mexican/ Mexican American Users In Facebook, Daniel Dominguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Online social networking is a growing phenomenon. All over the globe people engage in disembodied interactions with one another taking for granted a compression of time and space. Most social analysis of online settings has been studied from a symbolic interactionist perspective in which the concept of multiple/pluralized identity helps explain how users identify themselves in disembodied contexts.

This paper intends to discover how the Mexican / Mexican American identity is presented, managed and produced by users in the Social Networking Site Facebook using the concept of nostalgia in how identity is presented in a disembodied context.

Emotional Portraits Of Teaching: An Examination Of Perceptions Of Emotional Expression, Emotional Labor, And Teacher Identity Using Narrative Inquiry, Roxanne Hackney

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study utilized narrative inquiry to examine aspects of five secondary teachers' emotional lives at school: teachers' perceptions of their ability to express emotion with colleagues and administrators; how this expression is emotional labor; and the influence these have on their identity. Interview and journal entries were used to construct collaborative participant narratives that were a product of their lived experiences. Connective narrative threads were identified and discussed giving the reader a more holistic view, the broader context, of the role emotion plays at school with teachers, their peers, and administration.

"How Do We Not Go Back To The Factory?" Negotiating Neoliberal Conditions In A Latina-Led Transnational Development Organization In El Paso (Texas), Anthony Michael Jimenez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: As the structure of the global economy shifted the United States' manufacturing base South of the U.S-Mexico in the years up to and post-NAFTA, thousands of women of Mexican descent residing in El Paso (Texas) were displaced from their garment factory jobs and left without social, political and economic support. Subsequently, some of these women joined La Mujer Obrera, an organization committed to fostering community development for low-income women from both sides of the U.S-Mexico border. The organization faces difficulties in receiving economic aid from the local government, which is apparently due to their development model being incompatible with …

In The Spirit Of Liberation: Race, Governmentality, And The De-Colonial Politics Of The Original Rainbow Coalition Of Chicago, Antonio R. Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Original Rainbow Coalition was a revolutionary alliance established in Chicago in early 1969 by the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords Organization, and the Young Patriots. The alliance connected one of the largest Black Panther chapters in the country with its headquarters in the heart of North Lawndale, to militant organizations in other outcast communities of the city. In Uptown, the Young Patriots were rooted in almost a decade of grassroots efforts that aimed to organize poor people in a community that featured a large population of southern whites who migrated to Chicago. And in …

The New Mexican Migration: Remembering Violence, Connecting, And Living In The Third Space, Uriel G. Posada

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The concept of identity has become a topic of discussion in the last few decades, especially with the growing immigration across several countries. Countries such as the United States and Canada are receiving people who arrive from different parts of the world and who are changing the composition of these countries. In this thesis I explore how a group of Mexican journalists are adjusting their identity as they live in countries outside of Mexico. Five of the journalists are now living in the United States, and one of them is in Canada. They were forced to leave Mexico after they …

Sexual Racism In A Gay Community On The U.S.-Mexico Border: Revisiting The Latin Americanization Thesis Online, Jesus Gregorio Smith

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The aim of this investigation is to examine racism in a sexual context or as it shall be defined here, sexual racism, along the border town of El Paso, TX by expanding upon Eduardo Bonilla-Silva's (2002) Latin Americanization Thesis of tri-racial stratification that posits that the U.S. will reflect a three tier racial structure with the White race on top, then an intermediary group of Honorary Whites and a Collective Black category at the bottom. This study will expand upon the Latin Americanization Thesis by examining the intersection of race/ethnicity with sexuality. Specifically, I will add to this thesis by …

Asymmetry And Deception In The Investment Game, Irma Clots-Figueras, Roberto Hérnan-Gonzalez, Praveen Kujal

ESI Working Papers

Several situations in our daily interactions are characterized by uncertainty and asymmetric information regarding the final outcomes. For example, an investor may overstate a project’s value, or a superior may choose to under, or over, state the gains from a project to a subordinate. We modify the standard investment game to study the effect of possible deception, i.e. over-, or under-, statement of the true value, on investee (and investor) behavior. We find that deception is prevalent and around 66% of the investors send false messages. Investors both over-, and under-, state the true value of the multiplier, k. We …

The Ed.D In Educational Leadership And Administration: The Students' And Alumni's Experiences, Edith B. Vera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The doctoral experience unfolds many complexities and challenges for students, faculty, and institutions that contribute toward degree completion. The purpose of this study is to investigate the students' and alumni's experiences afforded by the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Administration at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). The integration of quantitative and qualitative data, through surveys and interviews, contributes to the understanding of student and alumni experiences. A total of 56 Ed.D. students (cohorts 10-16) and 43 alumni (cohorts 1-12) participated in the surveys for this study; of those surveyed, 15 students and 12 alumni were interviewed. This …

Exploring Functional Networks Of The Brain Relating To Upper Extremity Motor Skill Using Graph Theory, Dominic Nathan, Stephen J. Guastello, Robert W. Prost, Dean C. Jeutter

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Perspectives On The Use Of Grounded Theory In Social Development Studies, Ernesto L. Bumatay

Journal of Public Affairs and Development

This methodology paper introduces insights and perspectives on Grounded Theory (GT) as a social science research methodology. While GT emanates from the field of education, this paper shows that it can also be potentially used in development studies. The concept of the GT is first explained including the alternative views on its implementation. It has limited application in the Philippine context, and the current application that is cited is based on an education study called “Becoming Gift: A Classic Grounded Theory of Charism in Sectarian Institutions”. The end goal of the paper is to argue for the application of GT …

Charting The Science Of Public Affairs, Rogelio N. Tagarino

Journal of Public Affairs and Development

The necessary body of knowledge and methodology for the comprehensive appreciation and understanding of public affairs for policy decision-making have remained elusive. This paper clarifies the concept of public affairs as an area for building a body of knowledge into a distinct academic science and a valuable discipline for governance. It includes brief reviews of relevant literature on public affairs; a theoretical model of public affairs as a community system; an analytical framework for the science of public affairs; and some concluding insights for building a body of knowledge of a public affairs system.

Developing Sustainable Student Communities: Informal Learning And Becoming Peer, Rod Parker-Rees, Mel Joyner, Joanna Haynes

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

We aimed to exploit opportunities arising from the merging of the faculties of Health and Education to explore ways of supporting students in the development of a network of sustainable communities.While there is a substantial literature on how students engage and participate in the academic cultures of HEIs and on factors which affect student retention and quality of life, less research has been focused on the relationships between what might be called the formal curriculum and the informal learning opportunities afforded by participation in a student community.In the context of the creation of the Faculty of Health, Education and Society, …

Old Testament Survey, Steelman Library, Gerry White Dr.

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

How Rural Low-Income Mothers Use Resources To Work Non-Standard Schedules, Laura E. Andrew

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study's aim was to determine the resources used by rural low-income mothers' working non-standard schedules to manage stress and keep their families from a chaotic state. The Double ABCX theory of family stress guided this study. Resources identified were strong mental well-being, parental confidence and skills and large social support network. Data were collected from 51 rural low-income mothers who worked non-standard schedules, by surveys and interviews three separate times. It was found that mothers who had the resources of strong mental well-beings, strong parental confidence and skills and large social support networks had lower stress levels when working …

Sovereign Wealth Funds And Global Finance, Katharina Pistor

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter focuses on a number of specific sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) whose portfolios indicate strong interests in finance both in their home countries and abroad. It first reviews empirical evidence that shows SWFs having been major investors in Western financial intermediaries for decades. It then considers the organization and governance of SWFs, with particular emphasis on the three main schools of thought as well as the predictions one can derive from them vis-à-vis the behavior of individual actors in the global financial network: economic theories, economic sociology, and political economy. It also presents case studies that “test” these theories …

The Management Of Feral Pig Socio-Ecological Systems In Far North Queensland, Australia, Gabriela Shuster

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The development of management programs for socio-ecological systems that include multiple stakeholders is a complex process and requires careful evaluation and planning. This is particularly a challenge in the presence of intractable conflict. The feral pig (Sus scrofa) in Australia is part of one such socio-ecological system. There is a large and heterogeneous group of stakeholders interested in pig management. Pigs have diverse effects on wildlife and plant ecology, economic, health, and social sectors. This study used the feral pig management system as a vehicle to examine intractable conflict in socio-ecological systems. The purpose of the study was …

Measuring The Effect Of Supported Employment Treatment On Self-Efficacy In Individuals With Severe Mental Illness, Meghan E. Szczebak

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Competitive employment is a common goal for those with severe mental illness (SMI), and evidence shows that the majority of those with SMI want to work. However, despite the desire to work competitively, those with SMI have the highest unemployment rate of any disability group (Mueser, Salyers, & Muesar, 2001). The Recovery Model is an approach to Supported Employment that has provided hope for those with mental illness, as well as challenged treatment providers to adopt a more collaborative, optimistic approach to helping clients live fulfilling, self-directed lives. To increase employment for those with SMI, effective vocational rehabilitation methods must …

Computer-Based Cognitive Training For Age-Related Cognitive Decline And Mild Cognitive Impairment, James Fortman

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Cognitive Training has been shown to be an effective tool in enhancing cognitive functioning. Research has also shown video game playing can improve certain aspects of visual attention and cognitive processing speed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of both a specific computer-based cognitive training program and non-specific video game playing in improving cognitive functioning for individuals with age-related cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment. Twenty-nine older adults were recruited into the study and randomly assigned to either the cognitive training group or video-game playing group. Nineteen participants completed the study, engaging in either cognitive training …

Exploring The Role Of Identity Development In Social Networking Web Pages, Jacqueline F. Stahl

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study investigates young adults’ social networking web pages for aspects related to identity development. The study is primarily based on the theory of identity development presented by Berzonsky (1997). Raters assessed selected web pages for characteristics associated with different styles of identity development. A principal component analysis was used to determine that there are three components that relate to identity development that are manifested in the web pages. It was established that there were three main components that described aspects of identity within the social networking pages. These components were determined to be a “Self Focused Type,” an “Inconsistent …