Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Microfinance: A Tool For Financial Access, Poverty Alleviation Or Gender Empowerment ? - Empirical Findings From Pakistan, Ghazal Mir Zulfiqar

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

In just 30 years microfinance has transformed from a credit-based rural development scheme that has claimed to reduce poverty and empower poor women, to a $70 billion financial industry. In the process, the traditional NGO-led model has given way to commercialized institutions, resulting in an increased emphasis on profitmaking. This has also led to confusion in the sector around its mission: is it to alleviate poverty and empower poor women or simply to provide the "unbanked" with access to formal sources of finance? This research considers the main debates in microfinance with regard to its mission and presents empirical evidence …

Desarrollo Y Acceso A Telecomunicaciones, Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu

Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu

No abstract provided.

Benchmarking Structural Transformation Across The World, Era Dabla-Norris, Alun H. Thomas, Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu, Yingyuan Chen

Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu

Presentation given at the IMF's Jobs and Growth Seminar on December 13, 2013, based on the IMF Working Paper No. 13/176 with the same name

Social Withdrawal During Adolescence And Emerging Adulthood, Julie C. Bowker, Larry J. Nelson, Andrea Markovic, Stephanie Luster

Faculty Publications

Peer relationships are of central importance for healthy psychosocial development and functioning during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Peers provide unique opportunities for social-cognitive growth and the development and maintenance of social skills. They also serve as important sources of emotional and social support, can foster positive feelings about the self and others, and function protectively against the effects of interpersonal stressors (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006). Without peer relationships, individuals might miss out on developmentally formative opportunities and experiences, such as acquiring certain socially competent skills and behaviors and forming intimate best friendships (Rubin, Coplan, & Bowker, 2009). It is …

A Brief Exploration Of The Development Of The Japanese Writing System, Brianna Jilson

Anthropology

This paper is an introductory look at the development at of the Japanese writing system. I will explore the development of kanji, katakana and hiragana from their first introduction to Japan until modern times. My primary focus is on the mixed use of katakana, hiragana, and Chinese characters. I will also explore how the specific symbols used in the two kana syllabaries were developed. My goal is to provide a brief, general overview of the writing system’s development as a basis for further study.

La Croissance Élevée Récente De L’Afrique Subsaharienne Est-Elle Soutenable?, Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu

Rodrigo Garcia-Verdu

No abstract provided.

Cultural Industries And Cultural Policy: A Critique Of Recent Discourses In Regional Economic Development, Chris Gibson, Natascha Klocker

Natascha Klocker

The cultural industries (sometimes referred to as 'creative industries') are an increasingly common component of urban and regional economic development discourse, connected to an acknowledgement of the contribution of creativity to economic performance and, more generally, their power to transform images and identities for places. Such discourses have become more pervasive with a set of key books - most notably Charles Landry's The Creative City (2001), and Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class (2002) - that have become popular among both economic development planners and cultural policy makers. This paper seeks to intervene in the discourses established by these …

The 'Cultural Turn' In Australian Regional Economic Development Discourse: Neoliberalising Creativity?, Chris Gibson, Natascha Klocker

Chris Gibson

Regional economic policy-makers are increasingly interested in the contribution of creativity to the economic performance of regions and, more generally, in its power to transform the images and identities of places. This has constituted a 'cultural turn', of sorts, away from an emphasis on macro-scale projects and employment schemes, towards an interest in the creative industries, entrepreneurial culture and innovation. This paper discusses how recent discourses of the role of 'creativity' in regions have drawn upon, and contributed to, particular forms of neoliberalisation. Its focus is the recent application of a statistical measure - Richard Florida's (2002) 'creativity index' - …

The 'Cultural Turn' In Australian Regional Economic Development Discourse: Neoliberalising Creativity?, Chris Gibson, Natascha Klocker

Natascha Klocker

Regional economic policy-makers are increasingly interested in the contribution of creativity to the economic performance of regions and, more generally, in its power to transform the images and identities of places. This has constituted a 'cultural turn', of sorts, away from an emphasis on macro-scale projects and employment schemes, towards an interest in the creative industries, entrepreneurial culture and innovation. This paper discusses how recent discourses of the role of 'creativity' in regions have drawn upon, and contributed to, particular forms of neoliberalisation. Its focus is the recent application of a statistical measure - Richard Florida's (2002) 'creativity index' - …

Escaping The Resource Curse: The Sources Of Institutional Quality In Botswana, Angela Gapa

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Botswana has recently garnered analytic attention as an anomaly of the “resource curse” phenomenon. Worldwide, countries whose economies are highly skewed towards a dependence on the export of non-renewable natural resources such as oil, diamonds and uranium, have been among the most troubled, authoritarian, poverty-stricken and conflict-prone; a phenomenon widely regarded as the “resource curse". The resource curse explains the varying fortunes of countries based on their resource wealth, with resource-rich countries faring much worse than their resource-poor counterparts. However, Botswana, with diamond exports accounting for 50percent of government revenues and 80percent of total exports, has achieved one of the …

Development Of A Dc-Lsnd Welding Process For Gmaw On Dh-36 Steel, Raymond Holder, Nathan Larkin, Huijun Li, Lenka Kuzmikova, Zengxi Pan, John Norrish

zengxi pan

Weld induced distortion correction is a major cost within the shipbuilding industry. This paper investigates the use of an active cooling process known as Dynamically Controlled - Low Stress No Distortion (DC-LSND) Welding on DH-36 steel. Thermal profiles are obtained and distortion measurements are also achieved. Results show that the application of a localised cryogenic cooling source trailing the welding arc can significantly reduce weld induced distortion using the GMAW process. The effect of forced cooling on the weld microstructure is also observed.

Development Of Safe Optimized Welding Procedures For High Strength Q&T Steel Welded With Austenitic Consumables, Lenka Kuzmikova, Huijun Li, John Norrish, Zengxi Stephen Pan, Nathan Larkin

zengxi pan

High strength quenched and tempered (Q&T) steels offer obvious economic benefits originating from their advantageous strength to price and weight ratios. These steels are usually welded using ferritic consumables and for this combination the risk of hydrogen assisted cold cracking (HACC) is high. The use of austenitic stainless steel (ASS) consumables has great potential to significantly improve this issue. Yet, there are no guidelines for determination of safe level of preheat for welding ferritic steels with ASS consumables. For this reason manufacturers adopt this parameter from procedures developed for conventional ferritic consumables thus significantly limiting the benefits ASS consumables are …

Becoming Confident In Addressing Client Spiritual Or Religious Orientation In Counseling: A Grounded Theory Understanding, Douglas R. Tillman, Julie A. Dinsmore, David D. Hof, Christine Chasek

Counseling Faculty Publications

The process of how counselors develop confidence in addressing the spiritual or religious orientation of the client during therapy was explored using a qualitative, grounded theory framework. Results suggest that developing this confidence, as well as avoiding pitfalls when incorporating spirituality or religious orientation in the therapeutic process, are shaped by the counselor's personal spiritual journey. Formative factors include having opportunities to socially construct knowledge and skill, the level of reverence and respect for spirituality, and the degree of internal drive on the part of the counselor to become more confident. Implications of these findings for counselor practice are discussed.

Making Room At The Table: Enhancing Public Participation In Economic Development Process, Timothy P. Fitzgerald

MPA Capstone Projects 2006 - 2015

In 2011, Mohawk Valley EDGE became the lead organization for the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council (MVREDC), one of the ten Regional Councils established in New York State. Public participation has been stressed as an essential function of all Regional Council processes. But throughout the 2012 Regional Council process, the MVREDC and EDGE had difficulty in soliciting feedback in implementing the regional strategic plan. This study examines how EDGE can foster more public engagement in local economic development.

A Is For Aphorism: Give Me The Child Until They Are Seven And I Will Show You The Man, Georga Cooke, Rae Thomas

Rae Thomas

This aphorism is true for some, but not most. Child development is about both continuity and change. Experiences in early childhood shape cognitions and new experiences are integrated into familiar models of relationships. For example, children who have experienced rejection from parents will often assume rejection from others, not initiate positive contacts, isolate themselves, and consequently experience rejection from peers. But they may also experience a caring and supportive teacher who assists them in making lifelong friends who change their perceptions and expectations. So, early experience matters and early family life plays an important role in child development outcomes.

The Tipnis Conflict: Sovereignty, Development, And Indigenous Resistance In Bolivia, Stefanie Wickstrom

Political Science Faculty Scholarship

This paper introduces readers to conflict during the presidency of Juan Evo Morales Ayma over construction of a highway through the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS) in Bolivia. The Morales government is pursuing the highway project that will facilitate local development tied to the capitalist world-system and serve as a segment of a transcontinental system giving Brazil access to ports on the Pacific Ocean, thereby making engagement in the capitalist world-economy by regional South American power blocs more profitable and enhancing Bolivia’s economic and political status internationally. This development is made possible by the exercise of state …

Understanding Less Than Nothing: Children's Neural Response To Negative Numbers Shifts Across Age And Accuracy, Margaret M. Gullick, George Wolford

Dartmouth Scholarship

We examined the brain activity underlying the development of our understanding of negative numbers, which are amounts lacking direct physical counterparts. Children performed a paired comparison task with positive and negative numbers during an fMRI session. As previously shown in adults, both pre-instruction fifth-graders and post-instruction seventh-graders demonstrated typical behavioral and neural distance effects to negative numbers, where response times and parietal and frontal activity increased as comparison distance decreased. We then determined the factors impacting the distance effect in each age group. Behaviorally, the fifth-grader distance effect for negatives was significantly predicted only by positive comparison accuracy, indicating that …

Seeds Of A New Economy? A Qualitative Investigation Of Diverse Economic Practices Within Community Supported Agriculture And Community Supported Enterprise, Ted White

Open Access Dissertations

Amidst widespread feelings that capitalism is a deeply problematic yet necessary approach to economy, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has emerged as both an alternative model for farming and as an increasingly visible and viable model for alternative economy. Using qualitative methods, this doctoral research explores and documents how CSA has become a productive space for economic innovation and practice that emphasizes interdependence, camaraderie and community well-being rather than hierarchical control and private gain. This study also examines how the many participants of CSA have built an identity for CSA--branding it via autonomous and collective efforts. This has resulted in CSA …

New Media And Ict For Social Change And Development In China, Song Shi

Open Access Dissertations

As the country with biggest Internet population, by December 2011, China had at least 513 million Internet users. As the biggest developing country in the world, in the past three decades China experienced rapid social change and enormous economic development. The impacts of new media and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) on social change and development in China have attracted increasing attention among scholar communities. This dissertation aims to study the new media and ICT for social change and development phenomena in China. It draws upon data from my fieldwork and participant observations in the past three years as well …

Issue Brief: Auditing Your Town's Development Code For Barriers To Sustainable Water Management, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

This issue brief is intended for town officials who want to understand how development regulations in their community affect local water resources. Municipal development codes – the set of regulations that control the built environment – can have a great influence on the availability of clean and healthy water for drinking, recreation, and commercial uses. This in turn affects the community’s social, environmental, and economic vitality.

Comprehensive plans, zoning codes, and building standards are just a few examples of regulations that intentionally or unintentionally regulate the way water is transported, collected and absorbed. Regulations that produce dispersed development or large …

The Role Of History And Political Studies In Post-Genocide Reconstruction And Development, Charles Kabwete Mulinda

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

This paper argues for complementarity between social sciences, such as history and political studies on the one hand, and science and technology on the other hand. It insists that Africa and Rwanda in particular need the discipline of history in conjunction with science and technology in order to teach knowledge that is complete and to target African renaissance, that is, sustainable development and sustainable peace.

It also makes an advocacy for History and Political Science disciplines because of particular crises that those programmes are currently facing at the National University of Rwanda (NUR). But it does also put those crises …

Public Holidays In Post-Independence Rwanda: A Historical Reading Of Some Speeches, Charles Kabwete Mulinda

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

Since independence, Rwandan governments have made it a culture to commemorate some events considered as important. These include the dates of 28 January in remembrance of the Gitarama proclamation of the Republic and abolition of Monarchy on 28 January 1961; 25 September to commemorate the victory of Party of Movement of Emancipation of Hutu (PARMEHUTU) victory of legislative elections, and 1 July to celebrate the Rwandan independence that took place on 1 July 1962. Other important dates include the 1^st of January of each year when the Head of State used to address the nation and the 5^{th …}

Beyond Climate-Smart Agriculture: Toward Safe Operating Spaces For Global Food Systems, Henry Neufeldt, Molly Jahn, Bruce M. Campbell, John R. Beddington, Fabrice Declerck, Alessandro De Pinto, Jay Gulledge, Jonathan Hellin, Mario Herrero, Andy Jarvis, David Lezaks, Holger Meinke, Todd Rosenstock, Mary Scholes, Robert Scholes, Sonja Vermeulen, Eva Wollenberg, Robert Zougmoré

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Agriculture is considered to be "climate-smart" when it contributes to increasing food security, adaptation and mitigation in a sustainable way. This new concept now dominates current discussions in agricultural development because of its capacity to unite the agendas of the agriculture, development and climate change communities under one brand. In this opinion piece authored by scientists from a variety of international agricultural and climate research communities, we argue that the concept needs to be evaluated critically because the relationship between the three dimensions is poorly understood, such that practically any improved agricultural practice can be considered climate-smart. This lack of …

Turning Water Into Wine: The Political Economy Of The Environment In Southern California's Wine Country, Jason Simms

Jason L Simms

This dissertation examines questions of water sustainability in contexts of wine production and state-led neoliberal development in the Temecula Valley, southern California, where wine tourism is at present being harnessed as an engine of economic growth. Natural and anthropogenic forces, such as global climate change, desertification, urban development, and the marketization and commodification of natural resources, affect the distribution and availability of water throughout the globe. As a result, the use of water, and associated political and environmental processes and consequences, in the production of global commodities, including wheat, citrus, and coffee, recently have come under increased scrutiny. Given wine's …

The Cost Of Conscience: Quantifying Our Charitable Burden In An Era Of Globalization, Frank A. Pasquale

Frank A. Pasquale

Development economists have long debated the proper targets for foreign aid contributions from wealthy countries. Philosophers like Peter Singer and Peter Unger now suggest that these countries' citizens have a parallel moral responsibility to tithe a portion of their income directly for the relief of the suffering of the poorest. These thinkers would prefer a systematic global redistribution of income - some public mechanism for accomplishing worldwide what the tax systems of egalitarian social democratic states accomplish. But they all realize that such global governance is unlikely to come about in any of our lifetimes. So they turn their attention …

An Emergent Approach To Analogical Inference, Paul Thibodeau, Stephen J. Flusberg, Jeremy J. Glick, Daniel A. Sternberg

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

In recent years, a growing number of researchers have proposed that analogy is a core component of human cognition. According to the dominant theoretical viewpoint, analogical reasoning requires a specific suite of cognitive machinery, including explicitly coded symbolic representations and a mapping or binding mechanism that operates over these representations. Here we offer an alternative approach: we find that analogical inference can emerge naturally and spontaneously from a relatively simple, error-driven learning mechanism without the need to posit any additional analogy-specific machinery. The results also parallel findings from the developmental literature on analogy, demonstrating a shift from an initial reliance …

Wage Floors And Economic Development, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] I shall refer to minimum wages and other wage-increasing institutions collectively as "wage floors." Throughout the paper, they are assumed to be set in real terms, therefore not be eroded by inflation or devaluation. These wage floors typically are sector-specific: unions are stronger in some firms and industries than in others, minimum wage laws apply to some establishments and localities but not to others and are enforced with different degrees of diligence, and so on. As a stylized version of the differential applicability of wage floors, economists from such disparate fields as development economics, labor economics, and international trade …

The Tva Coal Ash Disaster And The Coal Calamity Continuum In Southern Appalachia, Erin Rae Eldridge

Doctoral Dissertations

Coal was once hailed as a means through which humans could free themselves from nature and enter a world of unending progress and growth. As a fuel for economic development, it has long been central to projects of capitalist modernity in the Appalachian South. It is also a resource that connects the central mining areas of the region to the development agendas of the Tennessee Valley. The 2008 disaster at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee represents one of numerous calamities along the life cycle of coal in the region. The deluge of coal ash …

Infrastructure Investments And Mega-Sports Events: Comparing The Experience Of Developing And Industrialized Countries, Robert Baumann, Victor Matheson

Economics Department Working Papers

Countries vigorously compete for sports mega-events in hopes of generating an economic impact during the event but also long-term growth induced by the hallmark event. It is well understood that the economic legacy depends on the infrastructure that not only facilitates the games but also has far broader implications for sustainable economic activity in the host city’s economy. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent to which developing and developed countries adopt different strategies as it related to the composition of infrastructure enhancements that have implications for the generation of an economy legacy from the mega-sports event.

To Walk The Earth In Safety 12th Edition (Fy2012), Us Dos Pm/Wra

Global CWD Repository

In 2013, we celebrate 20 years of U.S. Government agencies working together to lead the international donor community in supporting the clearance of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), as well as the destruction of at-risk and unsecured weapons and munitions. The United States first became involved in humanitarian demining in 1988 by sending a team to assess the landmine situation in Afghanistan. In 1993, U.S. assistance took an important step forward when the Department of State (DOS), Department of Defense (DOD), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) formed an interagency partnership to coordinate U.S. humanitarian demining …