Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Revisiting The Issue Of Terrorism: An Institutional Analysis Of U.S. Sponsored Terrorism Directed Toward Cuba, Rick A. Matthews

Masters Theses

Consistent with Herman's (1982) call to more critically examine state-sponsored terrorism, this study assesses the sociopolitical and economic context in which the U.S. has terrorized the nation-state of Cuba. While the definitional framework in which the U.S. has traditionally examined acts of terrorism excludes from it the possibility of self incrimination, this research uses a single standard and nondiscriminatory definition which examines the behavior in question and harms done, as opposed to a definition based on power considerations alone. The method in which this research is conducted is qualitative, consistent with the principles of a sociohistorical case study, using an …

Effect Of Leadership Style On Work Climate And Program Completion In Domiciliary Addiction Programs, Patricia L. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Addiction leads to homelessness, AIDS, other health problems, crimes, financial burdens, family conflict and many social and psychological problems. Relapse rates remain very high in addiction programs and employees are frustrated by the poor response of clients to treatment and to the bureaucratic style of management often found in hospitals and clinics. Relapse rates are due to stress factors, respondent conditioning processes, and lack of focus on techniques of relapse prevention. One approach to overcoming the morale problem could be a more participatory style of management to improve the work climate. This study was completed in response to the lack …

The Decision And Rationale Which Led To Construction On High-Risk Land After The 1964 Alaska Earthquake: Analysis Of Risk-Based Cultural Dissociation, Sheila Ann Selkregg

Dissertations and Theses

Many lives and much property are lost in disasters when individuals and communities choose to ignore information which could mitigate the potential disaster. This case study examines community and individual decision processes and rationale which led to construction of a high-occupancy high-rise courthouse on land designated as high risk after the 1964 Alaska earthquake. The study reviews policy and decision making, psychology, and risk management literature to explore the psychological mechanisms and processes of hazard mitigation decisions.

It questions why individuals and communities choose not to mitigate when they have the information which makes risk mitigation possible. The hypothesis theorizes …

Determining Recreational Visitor Carrying Capacity: The Case Of Black Canyon At Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Kenneth C. Forman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, created by Hoover and Davis Dams respectively, were combined, along with much of the surrounding area, into the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in 1964. The enabling legislation is specific about the duty the National Park Service has to the public to create and maintain this, and other, national recreation areas for the benefit of the visitors, the environment, and future generations. By investigating human impacts on the physical environment (water quality, litter, etc.) and by querying park users on their opinions (with respect to crowding, visitor behavior, etc.), insight can be gained about appropriate …

The Economics Of Free Parking: Transportation Policy At The University Of Nevada, Las Vegas, Richard A. Nielsen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper culminates a natural progression of studies done over the past two years examining parking and transportation policy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The purpose of these studies has been to evaluate the adequacy of these policies and to estimate the potential impact a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program could produce on parking and traffic conditions and air quality improvement. Included in the report are results from a commuter survey conducted in April 1993, a simple rollback model developed to produce an estimation of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) at the University and any subsequent reduction of VMT …

An Evaluation Of The Jobsontario Training Program, Michael Schuster

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines the effectiveness of the Ontario government’s jobsOntario Training (JOT) program to determine whether it is successful in helping social assistance welfare recipients obtain jobs. A review of provincial documents as well as surveys and interviews with officials responsible for the development and implementation of the program were conducted. The findings reveal that pre-employment training is effective in helping social assistance welfare recipients become employed and the use of local brokers to deliver JOT contributes to the success of the program.

The Effect Of Same-Sex Grouping Versus Mixed-Sex Grouping On Mathematics Achievement And Attitudes Of Academically Gifted Fourth And Fifth Grade Females In The Urban Classroom, Martha J. Tompkins

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Studies

Reports of the neglect of gifted students in America's schools and the inadequate mathematics involvement of females have made educators aware of a crisis in public education. Attitudes and opportunities are believed to be major influences in helping females become more involved with mathematics courses and careers. The research project examined the effect of same-sex groups versus mixed-sex groups on mathematics attitudes and achievement in fourth and fifth grade females in a mathematically gifted pilot program at a magnet center. The experimental study was analyzed with Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Regression Analysis, Post-Hoc tests, and …

Militarywide Survey Of Whole-Grain Food Products And Total Dietary Fiber Analysis Of The Military Ration, John Paul Warber

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Numerous scientific bodies have made the recommendation to increase consumption of whole-grain breads and cereals. This study used a telephone survey to assess the availability of whole-grain foods in a random selection of 109 military installations and 30 military hospitals. Surveyed installations represent over 70% of the active duty military population assigned in the continental United States.

Military food service specialists were asked questions regarding the availability of the following whole-grain products: bread, rolls, buns, flour, pancake mix, brown rice, and ready-to-eat cereals (RTE). They were then asked to read the product ingredient list to validate their perceptions. Perceived availability …

The Role Of Financial Performance Incentives In Motivating Employees For Improved Job Performance, Mahmoud Mohamed Gamal Eldin Zayed

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Consensus Building To Write Environmentally Responsive Rules For Maine's New Transportation Policy, Sondra S. Bogdonoff

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The writing of Maine's transportation policy represents an innovative approach to broad based citizen participation in a policy arena (transportation) where public involvement has traditionally been limited. Through consensus building and shared stakeholder power, environmental concerns were integrated into transportation policy planning at the state level. The process offers a possible alternative to the gridlock and high expense associated with the use of litigation to resolve conflict.

Affirmative Action Policy Today: Its Effectiveness As Examined In The United States Department Of Commerce, Louritha Green

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

But freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: Now you are free to go where you want, do as you desire, choose the leaders you please. you do not take a person who for years has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "You are free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe you have been completely fair. (Graham, 182).

These words of President Lyndon Baines Johnson epitomize the foundation on which affirmative action programs were …

The Application Of Formal Principles Of Public Administration As Perceived By City Managers, Shelton P. Rhodes

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The present study seeks to determine the extent to which formalist ideas in public administration are evident in the practice of managerial performance as perceived by city managers and assistant city managers in the three states of Arizona, Colorado, and Virginia. While numerous studies demonstrate how administrative practices vary in different socio-political environments, the International City Management Association contends that certain basic features of public management nevertheless should be widely applied in different settings.

The questions that are being posed in this study are: What are the perceived norms or standards that structure managerial performance of city managers and do …

The Effects Of Utilitarianism On Performance Appraisal And Selected Output Measures In A Weberian Bureaucracy, Donald Wayne Wright

Dissertations

The research explored whether or not a relationship existed between the performance appraisal criteria used by the Social Security Administration and actual performance between 1984 and 1990. The issue was whether or not either of the diverse sets of performance appraisal criteria was more effective in improving performance than the other and whether or not base pay should be tied to the results of the performance appraisal system.

The methodology for this study was both quantitative and qualitative. The qualitative technique of content analysis was done on the sets of performance appraisal criteria to assess the extent to which each …

Decentralization Of Urban Service Activities: An Empirical Study, Wonseon Kyung

Dissertations and Theses

Post-war metropolitan development in the United States has been mainly due to suburban growth which resulted in dispersal of population, retailing, manufacturing, wholesaling and services. What is known about service suburbanization is primarily derived from survey research on location choices done in localized cases. There has been no comprehensive work done using secondary data on revealed behavior.

This dissertation attempts that comprehensive study. The research analyzes the dynamics of locational structure of services in U.S. metropolitan areas from 1969 to 1989. The descriptive analysis of changes in the location coefficients provides evidence to demonstrate a spatial shifting of consumer oriented …

An Oasis Of Service: A National Service Proposal In The Spirit Of Strong Democracy, Richard Arthur Rose

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Study Of Environmental Policy: The United States And Japan, Shari Ann Mortimer

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Pork, Policy, And Privilege: Presidential Lobbying For Nafta, Alison Felter Salka

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Drug Use And Deterrence: A Test Of Silberman's General Theory, Michael Owen Maume

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Social Control And Morale Within The Virginia Department Of State Police, Andrew Herbert Engemann

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Critical Importance Of Access To The Sea To The Development Of Burundi, Emmanuel Mugumyankiko

General Maritime Administration Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Guidelines For The Training Of Nautical Surveyors In The I.R Of Iran, Vahid Mobasheri

Maritime Safety Administration Dissertations

In the early morning of Wednesday 28th of September 1994, 82 years after the sinking of, ”M/S Titanic", the world witnessed yet another maritime disaster, i.e. "M/S Estonia" with nearly the same number of human casualty. Although it is too soon to determine precisely the main cause or causes of this accident, it is suspected that the bow door might have been breached immediately before the sinkage. In such a case one question should be answered: Had the ship undergone a close and proper survey and inspection prior to her departure^ could this tragedy happen? On the other hand, after …

Adjusting Holt-Winters Exponential Smoothing For External Intervention: A Mathematical Technique For Making Quasi-Judgmental Adjustments For Anticipated Changes, Daniel Wayne Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Public administration data is sometimes extrapolated through exponential smoothing. Sometimes such data may undergo a level shift because of a policy decision. The slope of the curve formed by connecting the periodic observations increases or decreases significantly for a brief period, thereafter returning to a slope similar to the slope preceding the policy change. This discontinuity might be called a ramp or a step. Forecasts made with exponential smoothing immediately before, during, or immediately after the ramp or step may be considerably inaccurate unless adjusted. A technique called adjusted exponential smoothing is proposed to reduce or eliminate the inaccuracy of …

Validation Of A Virginia Work Release Risk Prediction Model: A Methodology For The Improvement Of The Reliability Of Correctional Decision Makers, William Nathan Osborne Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This study identifies and validates variables which are significant predictors of work release success on 439 Virginia work release participants. The variables were selected on the basis of whether they would exert internal or external control over the inmate, with a view toward offering empirical support to control theory. A retrospective longitudinal research design was employed by randomly selecting inmates who had participated in either of three work release centers from 1987 to 1991. Two of the programs housed male inmates while the other housed female inmates. Data were collected from inmate files on thirty-one variables over a six month …

The Impact Of Enterprise Zones On Employment, Terry William Van Allen

Dissertations and Theses

The objectives of this study are to investigate the impact of Enterprise Zones (EZs) on the employment of zone residents in 14 states and 60 communities. The author's investigation constitutes the "first" national study to evaluate the employment impacts on zone residents. (A comparative, supplemental, single case study on new jobs for zone residents in Portland, Oregon has been added in Appendix B.)

The results show that the impact of EZs on decreasing the unemployment rates of zone residents is significant. Also, the interventionist factors of length of time since designation, type of incentives, and number of incentives are all …

Private Profit Versus Public Service: Competing Demands In Urban Transportation History And Policy, Portland, Oregon, 1872-1970, Martha J. Bianco

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation is a case study of the history of urban transportation policy in Portland, Oregon, between 1872 and 1970. The emphasis is on mass transit policy formulated and implemented by the private and public sectors as response to crises within both the local transit industry and the urban political economy. These crises are placed in the context of the continuing conflict between the industry's right to profit and its obligation to meet the competing demands of its constituencies: ridership's demands for low fares and comprehensive service; labor's demands for competitive wages; downtown businesses' demands for peak-hour service; and the …

A Simultaneous Route-Level Transit Patronage Model: Demand, Supply, And Inter-Route Relationship, Zhongren Peng

Dissertations and Theses

It is observed that transit riders are responding to service changes while transit planning is responding to ridership changes, or that transit patronage and service supply are highly interrelated. It is also noticed that transit riders transfer from route to route, the introduction of new service may draw some riders from the existing routes, which implies transit patronage on a route is also affected by other parallel and intersecting routes. An analytic tool is needed to examine these complex relationships in the transit system. This study has developed a quantitative model by incorporating these interactions into a simultaneous system. The …

Portland's Multifamily Recycling Program: A Study Of Coproduction Policy Implementation And Citizen Involvement, William Barry Messer

Dissertations and Theses

This study is on coproduction as a governing policy instrument. Coproduction can be understood as the joint production of services by local officials and individual citizens intended to raise the quality and or amount of service provision. The concept of coproduction as developed in this study suggests that urban services are not simply created by officials and delivered to a passive public. Rather that actions of citizens are an integral part of the service production process. The study purposes are two-fold: (1) to construct a model of coproduction which provides a basis by which citizen involvement in the provision of …

The Impact Of Collective Bargaining On The Civil Service Merit System In Oregon, David K. Blanchard

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the impact of collective bargaining on the civil service merit system in the State of Oregon. Four topics of current interest are explored. The first is a discussion of the status of collective bargaining and the civil service merit system legislation. The second topic is an analysis of the extent to which the day-to-day administration of public sector personnel functions is determined by the relative influence of collective bargaining agreements and civil service rules. The third is the impact of the collective bargaining model on the integrity of the merit principle. The final topic addressed by this …

Oregon Primary Care Physicians' Support For Health Care Reform, Timothy Alan Baker

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation studies Oregon primary care physicians' attitudes toward health care reform. Two models of reform are examined: one, health care rationing such as that proposed by the Oregon Health Plan (OHP); and, two, support for national health insurance (NHI).

This work examines the necessity for changing the present health care system, traced from the early origins of the medical profession to the present day health care "crisis." The high cost of health care is examined and an overview of the OHP is provided, including citations from John Kitzhaber, M.D., author of the plan.

Overall, Oregon primary care physicians overwhelmingly …

Total Quality Management: The Case For The Public Sector: A Comparative Study Of The Implementation Of Total Quality Management In Three Health Care Organizations, Zayed Mohammed Abu

Dissertations and Theses

Total quality management [TQM] is an approach to improving the competitiveness, effectiveness and flexibility of the whole organization through the improvement of the organizational processes and those who perform them. There has been a rising interest among public sector professionals in examining the applicability and usefulness of TQM methods to public organizations. This research provides descriptive information about the experience of three health care organizations that vary in terms of ownership, whether being publicly or privately owned, with implementing TQM. Participants at these organizations were interviewed, and/or surveyed and observed. The study provides a narrative description of each organization's experience …