Digital Commons Network^™

Towards A Human Right To Food: Implications For Urban Growing In Baltimore City, Maryland, Becky L. Witt

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Response To "Urban Policy And Families: How Concerns About Order Contribute To Familial Disorder, Tim Iglesias

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Learning From The Past To Build For The Future: Reflections On Psychosocial Support Programs In War-Torn Countries, Eleanor Roffman

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

This article addresses the healing process and impact on both individuals and communities as they attempt to heal from the traumatic violence of war and occupation. The psycho-social healing models presented integrate a knowledge of systems, political history, and their relationship to culturally appropriate healing strategies that are fueled by commitments to human rights and social justice. The models cited address issues of safety, the use of the arts, the power of narrative, and the importance of reconnecting and forging community bonds. The models in this article reflect a restorative justice perspective, an approach that promotes healing through a cooperative …

Anatomy Of Advocacy: A Case Study Of The White House Petition, Elizabeth Burns, Sue Kimmel, Gail Dickinson

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Little research has been conducted examining advocacy efforts in the school library field despite the fact that program advocate is a prominent role for school librarians. One element of advocacy is the engagement in political initiatives that may affect school library programs. This case study investigates the effectiveness of one advocacy effort in response to a call for support of a national petition in support of school libraries. Data were collected, and factors underlying this advocacy campaign were analyzed. This report is a case study analysis of a time-constrained advocacy initiative, including the number of participants, demographic factors in relationship …

The Role Of Microbial Exopolymers In Determining The Fate Of Oil And Chemical Dispersants In The Ocean, Antonietta Quigg, Uta Passow, Wei-Chun Chin, Chen Xu, Shawn Doyle, Laura Bretherton, Manoj Kamalanathan, Alicia K. Williams, Jason B. Sylvan, Zoe V. Finkel, Anthony H. Knap, Kathleen A. Schwehr, Saijin Zhang, Luni Sun, Terry L. Wade, Wassim Obeid, Patrick G. Hatcher, Peter H. Santschi

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) by planktonic microbes can influence the fate of oil and chemical dispersants in the ocean through emulsification, degradation, dispersion, aggregation, and/or sedimentation. In turn, microbial community structure and function, including the production and character of EPS, is influenced by the concentration and chemical composition of oil and chemical dispersants. For example, the production of marine oil snow and its sedimentation and flocculent accumulation to the seafloor were observed on an expansive scale after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Northern Gulf of Mexico in 2010, but little is known about the underlying …

Mainstreaming Disaster-Relief Service-Learning In Communication Departments: Integrating Communication Pedagogy, Praxis, And Engagement, Vinita Agarwal

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Communication is the primary mode through which students inculcate critical thinking skills for (re)construction of social reality and engagement with communities in need (Craig, 1989). Thus it is well-suited to disaster-relief service-learning approaches that provide a pathway for democratic engagement with the material consequences of inequality evidenced in disaster-struck communities. Communication administrators can advocate for disaster-relief service-learning programs by aligning theoretically-informed student input in faculty–administration partnerships to construct transformative learning experiences sustaining trusting relationships. This study is the first to employ the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1986) to identify themes comprising student composite disaster-relief volunteering belief-structure and disaster-relief volunteering …

The Alleged “Ferguson Effect” And Police Willingness To Engage In Community Partnership, Scott E. Wolfe, Justin Nix

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In response to increasing violent crime rates in several U.S. cities over the past year, some have pointed the finger of blame at de-policing, a result of the so-called “Ferguson Effect.” Although the Ferguson Effect on crime rates remains an open question, there may also be a Ferguson Effect on other aspects of police officers’ jobs, such as willingness to partner with community members. This study used data from a cross-sectional survey of 567 deputies at an agency in the southeastern U.S. to accomplish 2 objectives: (a) to determine whether the Ferguson Effect is associated with de-policing in the form …

Sea-Level Rise And Changing Times For Florida Local Governments, David Markell

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The legal environment for local government in Florida is beginning to change when it comes to sea-level rise (sometimes referred to as SLR). Innovations in institutional structure and governance strategies are underway in the State as well. This paper reviews three recent developments, which relate primarily to comprehensive planning in the State, and explores their implications for Florida’s local governments, among others. It begins with the State’s decision, in 2011 legislation, to give local governments a new, optional tool – referred to as “Adaptation Action Areas” (AAAs) – to address sea-level rise and related issues in local comprehensive plans. The …

Impact Transaction: Lawyering For The Public Good Through Collective Impact Agreements, Patience A. Crowder

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Walkability In Upper East Texas Cities And Implications For Physical Activity And Health, Wycliffe W. Njororai Simiyu, Fletcher J. Njororai, Billystrom Aronya Jivetti

Health & Kinesiology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: Physical activity is an important intervention strategy against the increasing cases of overweight and obesity in the USA and many other parts of the world. Walking has been identified as a component of physical activity that can easily be incorporated into one’s lifestyle. Recent studies on physical activity have focused on promoting walking as a health enhancing endeavor. Purpose: This study examined the walkability of the environments in 57 cities drawn from 22different counties in upper east Texas within the USA. Methods and materials: The data for all the 57 key cities in upper east Texas were collected from …

Cross-Sector Social Partnerships: A Qualitative Research Study Of Partnership Governance, Lizbeth Landon

Theses and Dissertations

Globalization has had a tremendous impact on society. While creating opportunity for corporations to expand into new markets, globalization has also created significant negative repercussions to the environment, human rights, health, and education (Reece, 2001). In the past twenty-five years Cross-Sector Social Partnerships (CSSPs) have emerged as a possible solution to the negative impacts from globalization with mixed results (Nidumolu, Ellison, Whalen, & Billman, 2014) Although there are inherent challenges, the case for corporations and the public sector to continue to work together is compelling. By contributing their technical expertise and financial resources, companies can leverage the public sector’s experience, …

Communication Patterns And Strategies In Software Development Communities Of Practice, Shreya Kumar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Some of the greatest challenges in the relatively new field of software development lie in the decidedly old technology of communication between humans. Software projects require sophisticated and varied communication skills because software developers work in a world of incomplete, imperfect information where teams evolve rapidly in response to evolving requirements and changing collaborators. While prescriptive models for software process such as Agile suggest ways of doing, in reality these codified practices must adapt to the complexities of a real workplace. Patterns, rather than rules of behavior within software process are more suitable to the varied and mutable nature of …

Creating Sustainable Future Of A Degraded Urban Canal: Mae Kha, In Chiang Mai, Thailand, Sunantana Nuanla-Or

LSU Master's Theses

Chiang Mai is the largest and the most significant city in the Northern region of Thailand. It was established in 1296 as the capital of Lanna Kingdom. Since then, the city is famous for its exquisite authentic Northern culture, essential trading routes, an abundance of natural places, and agriculture derived along the Ping River as well as a functional canal system in the city. In the past few decade, uncontrolled and unplanned urban development, deforestation, and the lack of public awareness have caused landscape degradation in the city. Consequently, Chiang Mai has faced several serious environmental problems such as congestion, …

Community Gardens And Environmental Justice In The La Area: A Comparative Analysis, Ann Eme

Center for Urban Resilience Research Posters

In the realm of environmental studies, researchers in urban ecology have been able to find that urban vegetation and green space produce beneficial outcomes. Community gardens specifically have also been known to promote healthy relationships with local communities, promote mental wellness, and promote youth empowerment through civic action. By engaging members in their environment in both a holistic and remediating way, community gardening can be a form of environmental justice in urban communities, and particularly in communities of color, which have been known to receive unequal environmental benefits and protection.

Santeria And Mental Health : Bridging The Gap Between The Social Work Profession And Orisha, Penelope Williams

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study was conducted with the purpose of exploring how Orisha priest and priestesses dealt with issues of mental health with in their Iles and/or community. This study was made possible by the participation of seven priests and priestess, by conducting semi-open ended narrative interviews. The findings indicated that issues of mental health were present and dealt with in a number of ways by elders in the community. The results show that collaborative measure need to be supported between elders in the Santeria community and the social work profession, in order to establish culturally competent and therapeutic results to …

The International Health Regulations: The Governing Framework For Global Health Security, Lawrence O. Gostin, Rebecca Katz

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

• The International Health Regulations (IHR) are the governing framework for global health security yet require textual and operational reforms to remain effective, particularly as parallel initiatives are developed.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) is the agency charged with oversight of the IHR, and its leadership and efficient functioning are prerequisites for the effective implementation of the IHR.
• We reviewed the historical origins of the IHR and their performance over the past 10 years and analyzed all of the ongoing reform panel efforts to provide a series of politically feasible recommendations for fundamental reform.
• This article offers proposals for fundamental reform—with …

Course Catalogue 2016-2017, Mercer University School Of Law

Office of the Registrar

No abstract provided.

The Darkest Nation: American Melancholia In Modernist Narratives Of The First World War, Michael Von Cannon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation, entitled The Darkest Nation: American Melancholia in Modernist Narratives of the First World War, re-conceptualizes U.S. modernism by attending to how the historical event of WWI inaugurated melancholia, or sustained grief, as the cornerstone of a new form of nationalism. Scholars have focused either on how consolatory mourning bolstered patriotism or how melancholia led to the demise of such an imagined community and to the growth of cosmopolitanism. I consider, however, an American modernist commitment to the nation of loss expressed, surprisingly enough, in narratives about noncombatants. For a country that entered the military conflict near its end, …

From Parks To Partnerships: National Heritage Areas And The Path To Collaborative Participation In The National Park Service's First 100 Years, Alan W. Barton

Natural Resources Journal

National parks have been characterized as a democratic institution, a window on natural and cultural history open to all. Over its first century, however, the National Park Service’s (NPS) approach to participatory democracy has evolved. In its early years, NPS professionals applied their expertise to make decisions about park policy, administration and management with little input from the public aside from the interests of businesses that operated within the parks. Public participation in the parks was limited to using the facilities that the NPS provided for public enjoyment. Beginning in the 1930s, the NPS expanded public participation by adding management …

Community Building, Multiculturalism And The Suburban Public Library: Community, Cohesion And Sustainability. Qualitative Data From Interviews On Western Australian Migrants' Information Needs & Quantitative Web Survey Data On Service Provision At Australian Public Libraries, 2011-2012, Rajeswari Chelliah

Research Datasets

This dataset consists of 3 files:

File 1: Qualitative data enclosed in Microsoft Excel file. Data collection includes one to one interviews with Western Australian migrants.

Content analysis: interview utterances were analysed for content, classified into categories, and coded and entered in Microsoft Excel file columns.

File 2: Qualitative data enclosed in Microsoft Word file. Data collection includes one to one interviews with Western Australian migrants.

Content analysis: interview utterances were analysed for content, classified into categories, and coded and entered in Microsoft Word file columns.

File 3: Quantitative data enclosed in Qualtrics software which includes public librarians’ responses to …

Sustainable Safari Practices: Proximity To Wildlife, Educational Intervention And The Quality Of Experience, Ryan Devine Tarver

All Master's Theses

This research examines the perceived quality of experience for safari tourists in relation to wildlife viewing proximities and the potential of educational interventions as a management strategy to mitigate adverse impacts of safari participant crowding. Crowding emanates from the safari tourist preferences to obtain close proximity to animals, particularly large mammals. Recognizing these preferences and associated impacts to animal behavior defined in previous research, we develop and deliver a survey instrument designed to measure the perceived quality of experience of the safari tourist while controlling for the viewing proximity variable. The survey instrument involves responding to stock photos selected to …

Climate Exactions, J. Peter Byrne, Kathryn A. Zyla

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay presents a legal device by which local governments can put a price on climate emissions and loss of resiliency generated by new real estate development. Local governments commonly impose fees, a type of monetary exaction, on new development to offset public costs that such development will impose. This Essay argues that monetary fees offer significant potential as a tool to help local governments manage land development’s contribution to climate change. Such “climate exactions” can put a price on the carbon emissions from new development and also on development that reduces the natural resiliency of the jurisdiction to the …

Hud Culture And How It Affects Employee Job Satisfaction, Nicole Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Many federal agencies contend with systemic employee relation challenges due to an ingrained culture fostered by the absence of trust and job satisfaction. The organizational structure within federal agencies is complex and represents a bureaucratic corporate culture. There is limited research related culture within the federal government and the relationship between trust and employee job satisfaction. The purpose of this research is to conduct a secondary analysis that examines various aspects of organizational culture and the effects on employee job satisfaction. Federal agencies administer annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) in the effort to assess factors to influence change in …

A Floating Community: A ‘Platform’ For Future Sustainable Development, Christopher M. Rossi

Architecture Theses and Projects

With the environment of our planet changing for the worse, there is a need for an economical and sustainable solution. As we become more aware of the effects our actions have on our ecosystem, we have the opportunity to implement ways to alleviate some of stress we are causing on our planet. The population is growing exponentially and, with climate change being felt around the world, sea levels are rising at a faster rate than ever before. With these two situations alone, we are faced with an extreme complication; where do ‘we’ put all of these people and how do …

Networks And Landscapes: A Framework For Setting Goals And Evaluating Performance At The Large Landscape Scale, R.P. Bixler, S. Johnson, K. Emerson, T. Nabatchi, M. Reuling, C. Curtin, Michele Romolini, J.M. Grove

Center for Urban Resilience Scholarship

The objective of large landscape conservation is to mitigate complex ecological problems through interventions at multiple and overlapping scales. Implementation requires coordination among a diverse network of individuals and organizations to integrate local‐scale conservation activities with broad‐scale goals. This requires an understanding of the governance options and how governance regimes achieve objectives or provide performance evaluation across both space and time. However, empirical assessments measuring network‐governance performance in large landscape conservation are limited. We describe a well‐established large landscape conservation network in North America, the Roundtable on the Crown of the Continent, to explore the application of a social–ecological performance …

Interrupting The Blight Cycle: Managing The Future Of Properties In Tax Foreclosure Sales Through Pre- And Post-Sale Initiatives, Ellen Kirtner

Case Western Reserve Law Review

This Note will examine the Wayne County’s novel use of a reverter plan in its postauction tactics, along with its preauction tactics, to suggest when and how other local governments may successfully apply similar programs to their own problems with blight and delinquency following tax auctions. This Note will also consider from a practical, policy perspective whether reverter programs are actually the best choice for local governments struggling with vacant, blighted, and tax delinquent properties. Because Wayne County took such a drastic measure to combat tax delinquency and blight in such an accelerated process, this Note focuses on the economic …

A Case Study Of An African American Community's Perceptions Of Problems In Mathematics Education, Renee Jenkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American students across income classes have been found to struggle with mathematics, impeding their ability to complete college, pursue lucrative careers, and address socioeconomic problems. Using the tenets of liberation and critical race theory, this qualitative case study explored the perceptions of a small group of 8 African American adults as to what they believe to be the root causes of mathematics achievement disparity for African American K-14 students, and what role the African American community can play in ameliorating these disparities. As most related studies are on low income communities, this study focused on an affluent African American …

The Effect Of Federal Reporting Regulations On Hospital Investment In Community Building, Dorothy Magasis Escobar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The role of hospitals as partners in community health improvement is changing, especially for nonprofit hospitals receiving tax exemptions in exchange for providing benefits to the community. There are examples of reported health improvement activities funded through hospitals' charitable donations, but there's a gap in the literature on the effect of policy and legislation on hospitals' investments in community building activities that address the social determinants of health. Grounded in eco-social theory, this quantitative, correlational study compared secondary data from CA's nonprofit hospitals' annual 2009 and 2012 reports to determine what, if any, changes have occurred in the hospitals' investments …

Community Pressure Ulcer Occurrence: Description On Hospital Admission, Lisa Quay Corbett

Yale School of Nursing Digital Theses

Abstract

Purpose: To describe community-dwelling adults admitted to acute care with a present-on-admission (POA) pressure ulcer (PU). Specific aims: 1) Measure 1-year POA-PU prevalence, 2) Determine pre-hospital location of patients with POA-PU, 3) Describe demographics, PU characteristics, risk factors, and post-hospital outcome of community-dwelling adults admitted to hospital with a PU.

Design: Retrospective descriptive study.

Subjects and Setting: The sample included all adults, over age 18, admitted to an 800-bed urban academic medical center in New England over a 1-year period with a POA-PU.

Methods: Subjects were identified from a clinically validated PU registry. Data were extracted electronically from selected …

Hud Doesn't Need New Legislative Authority To Better Integrate Climate Change Resilience Into Its Disaster Recovery Program, Justin Gundlach, Channing R. Jones

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This article examines the interaction between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s community development block grant disaster recovery program (CDBGDR) and the federal and state governments' resilience and climate adaptation priorities. It identifies and analyzes the statutes that have guided HUD's approach to date, by considering both key statutory language and legislative history. It also examines forms of "soft guidance" issued by HUD for use by various stakeholders, including both HUD CDBG-DR program officers and the state and local officials that interact with them. In reviewing this material, the article identifies a tension between the requirement that all …