Digital Commons Network^™

Pushing The Limits: International Land Acquisitions In Comparative Perspective, Ariane Goetz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The role of investor countries in large-scale land acquisitions is poorly understood in the contemporary “land grab” literature. Orthodox explanations largely build on deductive analyses that deviate from the emerging empirical evidence, and/or face analytical difficulties when trying to capture why large-scale land acquisitions happen. This thesis investigates the global phenomenon of “land grabbing” from the comparative perspective of two major investor countries: the UK and China. The regional focus is on Sub-Saharan Africa, a major target of land-consuming investments since 2000.

The dissertation advances three arguments: Firstly, the specific details of the home country’s industrial set-up, development challenges, ideological …

Bill 13 (The Accepting Schools Act): Ontario Legislation Mandating Support For Lgbt Students In Publicly-Funded Schools, Renato M. Liboro Jr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Twenty-six key stakeholders from schools in Waterloo Region, Ontario, participated in semi-structured, open-ended interviews for this dissertation. They included students, teachers, school board representatives in administrator and superintendent roles, trustees, and community service providers. This study explored the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth in publicly-funded schools, the effect of those experiences on their mental health and well-being, and the success of strategies, programs, and policies implemented by schools to address LGBT youth issues. It also examined the perspectives of participants on Bill 13, Ontario’s Accepting Schools Act, particularly strengths and weaknesses of the bill in terms …

Dancing With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Mixed Methods Investigation, Nicole Reinders

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the most commonly diagnosed neurological disorder in children today, affecting an estimated 1 in 150 to 1 in 160 children in Canada (Health Canada, 2013). Children with ASD have reduced communication skills as well as restrictive and repetitive behaviours and interests (APA, 2014). Unfortunately there are few recreational activities available for the autistic population. Past research has shown dance/movement therapy to be beneficial for children on the spectrum, but there is a dearth of literature regarding recreational dance. Dance is a form of physical activity that fosters skill development, provides social opportunities, and can be …

Exploring Daily Dietary Behaviour Through Examination Of The Food Choice Process, Ivy Dam

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As obesity rates continue to rise, the negative health impacts associated with unhealthy food choice behaviour remain an issue of concern. Observing the connection between food consumption and weight gain alone is likely not sufficient to understanding people’s construction of food choices. More detailed examination of a novel concept, the overall food choice process (FCP), including food thoughts, plans, purchases, and preparation, leading up to food intake/consumption may contribute to an improved understanding of food choice behaviour.

This thesis explored the wider FCP that gives rise to observed food consumption by testing passive video recording technologies, …

Exploring The Moments And Memory Of Tourist Experiences In Peru, Sarah Quinlan Cutler

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Tourist experiences offer anomalous and complex interactions between tourists and tourism places. The study of these experiences is the focus of this doctoral dissertation, which aims to explore subjective aspects of the tourist experience. This exploration involves the conceptualisation of tourist experiences and the development of a multi-phased research design that captures the perceptions of momentary in situ experiences and examines how these perceptions change over time.

The dissertation addresses under studied areas in tourism and answers calls for research into immediate conscious experiences and tourist centred methodology. This investigation into tourist experiences involves 21 participants who took an educational …

Masjids, Ashrams And Mazars: Transnational Sufism And The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, Merin Shobhana Xavier

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship is a community that formed in relation to the Tamil teacher Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (d. 1986). Bawa’s teachings attracted diverse followers- those with Islamic inclinations, those from Jewish, Hindu and Christian backgrounds, and those seeking to transcend religious creeds. With his passing and no appointed successor, the communities that developed during Bawa Muhaiyaddeen’s lifetime rely now on the institutions and spaces established by him. These include a mosque and burial shrine (mazar) in Pennsylvania and an ashram and shrine in Sri Lanka. This case study of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship and its parallel …

Security Of The Central Asian Energy System Through Regional-Level Energy Governance Innovations, Farkhod Aminjonov

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Central Asian energy system (CAES) was built during the Soviet period and designed without concern for what are today national borders. The resource sharing mechanism ensured the security of the CAES—reliable and stable energy supplies to meet the needs of both the people and the economy. However, following the breakup of the Soviet Union this mechanism came under pressure from emergent geopolitical and economic challenges such as the monetization of energy trade (oil products, gas and electricity) and tensions between domestic water and energy needs. Since the Central Asian energy sectors were initially designed to operate within a unified …

Determining Rockfall Volumes In Three Sites Along Habs Mountain Road In Southwestern Saudi Arabia, Using Lidar Technology, Abdullah Ayed Al-Otaibi

Masters Theses

"The rugged elevated topography is a characteristic feature of the western and southwestern regions of Saudi Arabia. Few arterial roads connect the scattered villages of these regions to major cities, such as Habs Road in Jazan region. Rock fall poses a serious hazard to people, property and animals along the rock cuts of this road. Although no traditional Rockfall studies have previously been applied to this road, accessibility and rock formation shape and structure variability influenced the choice of using Terrestrial Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) technology to calculate the volume of rockfall at selected sites along this road.

Software …

A New Technique For Modeling The Geomorphology Of A Slow Moving, Soft-Slope Landslide Using Terrestrial Lidar, Nathan Bradley Rohrbaugh

Masters Theses

"Soft slope movement is a big problem whether it involves an engineered slope, one that is near infrastructure, or both. Active landslides that fail slowly sometimes allow ample time to affect remedial works. In order to plan effective remedial works, there needs to be a model of the entire geometry of the slide. This thesis describes a new approach to evaluate the morphology of slope geometry using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data obtained from simple targets strategically positioned on a slide body. The data was gathered in three-month intervals over a period of one year to allow enough time …

Rote-Lcs Learning Classifier System For Classification And Prediction, Benjamin Daniels

Masters Theses

"Machine Learning (ML) involves the use of computer algorithms to solve for approximate solutions to problems with large, complex search spaces. Such problems have no known solution method, and search spaces too large to allow brute force search to be feasible. Evolutionary algorithms (EA) are a subset of machine learning algorithms which simulate fundamental concepts of evolution. EAs do not guarantee a perfect solution, but rather facilitate convergence to a solution of which the accuracy depends on a given EA's learning architecture and the dynamics of the problem.

Learning classifier systems (LCS) are algorithms comprising a subset of EAs. The …

Optimal Techno-Economic Sizing Of Wind/Solar/Battery Hybrid Microgrid System Using The Forever Power Method, Sami Hamed Alalwani

Masters Theses

"Advancement in power electronics, energy storage, control, and renewable energy sources has led to the use of integrated renewable energy sources in islanded microgrids (MG). Also, the uses of integrated renewable energy sources have become more technically applicable, more economically feasible, and more environmentally friendly than conventional sources. As a result, electrification of rural villages using renewable energy technologies has started to become widely adopted around the world. Since generating power from renewable energy sources is highly intermittent and difficult to predict, the use of proper energy storage technology is important to eliminate mismatches between the load demand and generation. …

Fair Housing In Boom Times And Beyond, Margaret Moore Jackson

North Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Clarion, 2015, University High School

Yearbooks

The Clarion of University High School, Normal, Illinois, vol. 87, 2015.

At The Heart Of The Classroom: Teachers' Experience Of The Suffering And Success Of Students For Whom They Care, Randall Kenyon Bartlett Jr.

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The core of teaching is the relationship of care between the student and the teacher. A community can be created in the classroom that honors and respects the inherent worth of each individual and through such mutual respect students and teachers can experience success. The suffering and the successes that teachers experience are central to the way they care for their students. There is currently a great deal of focus on education and schooling in the United States and generally this focus ignores the necessity and vitality of the relationship of care. Teachers must daily support and care for students …

Ramapough/Ford The Impact And Survival Of An Indigenous Community In The Shadow Of Ford Motor Company’S Toxic Legacy, Chuck Stead

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the history of the Ford Motor Company’s impact upon the Ramapo Watershed of New York and New Jersey, as well as upon the Ramapough Munsi Nation, an indigenous population living there. In a 25 year span the automaker produced a record number of vehicles and dumped a massive amount of lead paint, leaving behind a toxic legacy that continues to plaque the area and its residents. The Ramapough people are not unlike many native nations living in the United States who have experienced industrial excess. This study examines the mindset that allows …

My Heart Is In The East: Exploring Theater As A Vehicle For Change, Inspired By The Poetic Performances Of Ancient Andalucía, Jessica Litwak

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study addresses the research question “How Do I Inspire Personal and Social Change Through My Theater Practice?” I implement the theory and practice of H.E.A.T., a fusion theater system, combining use of theater arts as healing practice, educational asset, activist tool, and an art form.I research different ways that theater can affect change, focusing specifically on the use of history in performance.I dramatically interpret a period of history where performance and poetry contributed to change.I utilize qualitative methods including performance ethnography, auto ethnography, arts-based research, and historical research.I describe the fieldwork in conflict zones in the Middle East, which …

Reflections On The Termination Of Two Universities And The Creation Of A New University, Martha May Tevis

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

In 2012 the University of Texas System Regents voted to approve a request to merge two of its campuses, The University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA) in Edinburg, Texas, and The University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) in Brownsville, Texas, 1 campuses located approximately 65 miles apart in South Texas. In September 2015 a new university will be created as an Emerging Research One university featuring a new medical school. In this paper I relate the history leading up to the consolidation of the two universities and explore the impact of the merger process.

A visit to the web foretells both …

Weed And Water Law: Regulating Legal Marijuana, Ryan Stoa

Faculty Publications

Marijuana is nearing the end of its prohibition in the United States. Arguably the country’s largest cash crop, marijuana is already legal for recreational use in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington DC. Between now and election day 2016, an additional 14 states may place marijuana legalization initiatives on their ballots. In addition, 23 states and Washington DC have legalized medical marijuana, with up to seven states pending legislation. The era of marijuana prohibition is rapidly coming to a close.

At the same time, traditional doctrines of water law are struggling to cope with the modern realities of water scarcity. …

Full Issue

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

Too Porous For Protection? Loopholes In Eb-5 Investor Visa Oversight Are Cause For National Security Concern, Christine Ryan

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment examines whether continuation of the EB-5 Visa Program, as it currently stands, must be assessed in light of national security concerns. Part II will discuss the basics of acquiring an EB-5 Visa. Part III will discuss the changes in EB-5 requirements since the program was created, the recent surge in demand for EB-5 visas, and problems of EB-5 fraud. Part IV will examine the shift in perceived national security threats since the creation of the EB-5 Program and recent actions by CFIUS. Part V will address several shortcomings of the EB-5 Program and conclude that the EB-5 Visa, …

"A Great And Terrible Event": Historical Evidence For The 551 Ce Tsunami At Akko, Israel, Emma Heidtman

Open Access Master's Theses

In 2001, the Old City of Akko in northern Israel was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. This designation was based on the Old City's well-preserved Ottoman and Islamic-era town and the partly subterranean ruins of the once-thriving Crusader port. Five years of excavation, from 2009 to 2014, have uncovered more of Akko's history as a strategic naval outpost for several iterations of Mediterranean Sea power, particularly during the Hellenistic Age. However, evidence for Akko's harbor operations during the Byzantine period is still being uncovered. In light of recent discoveries in geoarchaeology, scientists have learned that part of Akko's Byzantine …

Queer Content In Science Fiction Allegory And Analogue: Is It In Disguise?, Anna C. Marburger

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis performs a textual analysis of two for-profit science fiction texts in which the authors implanted queer content: Bryan Singer's X-Men films and James Robert's Transformers comic series, "More Than Meets the Eye". The argument incorporates queer (referring to attraction and gender variance) media representation and western identity politics lenses into its critique.

By interrogating reality through the masquerade of an impossible universe, science fiction affects how subversive a text can be. When authors designate the natural and the unnatural in a strange universe, they designate what and who belongs in our society. Whatever they imagine has an effect …

A Direct Demand Model Of Departure Time And Mode For Intercity Passenger Trips, Fatemeh Nazari, Seyedehsan Seyedabrishami, Amir Reza Mamdoohi

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Travel demand is well announced as a crucial component of transportation planning. This paper aims to develop a direct demand model, denoting a more acceptable abstraction of reality, for intercity passengers in daily work and leisure trips in Tehran province. The model utilizes combined estimation across the data source, collected in 2011, of travelers originating from the city of Tehran and heading toward two destination clusters: intra-province and inter-province. The paper sketches a way to predict simultaneous choice of departure time and travel mode under the influence of zonal (origin, destination, and residence), individual and household socio-demographic, and trip-related variables. …

Sustainable Water Management For Urban Agriculture, Gardens And Public Open Space Irrigation: A Case Study In Perth, Raju Sharma Dhakal, Geoff Syme, Edward Andre, Charles Sabato

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Urban agriculture has been increasingly popular as a form of modern agriculture in urban settings. It includes community gardens, fruit orchards, home gardens, veggie patches, public open spaces, reserves, urban forest, and recreational landscaping. However, irrigation using urban water supply has been identified as a major constraints for the development of urban agriculture. This study presents a sustainable water management trial at Butler, a northern sub-urban development in Perth, Western Australia, for urban irrigation. The trial system consists of a number of water saving features including untreated fit-for-purpose groundwater supplied via a third pipe network, drip irrigation, local weather station, …

Interacting Factors Associated With Adult Male Drowning In New Zealand, James L. Croft, Chris Button

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objectives: i) to identify factors that contribute to the global trend of the higher incidence of male drowning relative to females, and; ii) to explore relationships between such factors from mortality data in New Zealand. Methods: Drownings from 1983 to 2012 were examined for: Age, Ethnicity, Site, Activity, Buoyancy and Alcohol. Conditional frequency tables presented as mosaic plots were used to assess the interactions of these factors. Results: Alcohol was involved in a high proportion of Accidental Immersion drownings (61%) and was highest for males aged 20-24 years. When alcohol was involved there were proportionally more incidences where a life …

A Multidimensional Statistical Framework To Explore Seasonal Profile, Severity And Land-Use Preferences Of Wildfires In A Mediterranean Country, L Salvati, A Ferrara, G Mancino, Cl Kelly, F Chianucci, P Corona

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Acute Toxicity Of Thallium To Freshwater Organisms: Implications For Risk Assessment, Kristi Tatsi, Andrew Turner, Richard D. Handy, Benjamin J. Shaw

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Foraminifera Of The Fal Estuary (Cornwall), Including Taxa Associated With Maerl Beds, Mb Hart, K Cartwright, B Fisk, Cw Smart, C Consolaro, Jm Hall-Spencer

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Gap Year Saviours - An Analysis Of The Role Of Race In An Advertisement For Development Volunteering, Jack Hogan

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

The issues of race and ethnicity are taboo in the realm of development. By critically analysing a representation of race and ethnicity in an advertisement for an international development agency, this paper seeks to open new avenues of discussion to break this silence. The paper examines the reduction of the racial identity through the process of stereotyping, the commodification of vulnerable children from the devloping world through the hidden language of race and the construction of the development worker as a ‘white saviour’ through the depiction of volunteers as ‘rescuers’. The aim of this paper is not to simply dismiss …

Technology As Scripting, Constructed And Relational: Three Narratives About Food Waste Recycling In Edinburgh, Judith Lorton

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

No abstract provided.