Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

University Of Rhode Island Rda Implementation Plan 2013‐2015, Michael A. Cerbo Ii

Technical Services Department Faculty Publications

This document gives a general outline of the time frame and methods to be used to implement Resource Description and Access (RDA) cataloging rules for the University of Rhode Island.

Resource Description And Access (Rda) Cataloging Policy For The University Of Rhode Island, Michael A. Cerbo Ii

Technical Services Department Faculty Publications

A general RDA policy for the University of Rhode Island.

Managing Social Security Disability & Other Public Benefits: Development Of A Guide For Consumers And Providers, Stephanie L. Derochers

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

One in five Americans has a disability, making it the largest minority group in the U.S. (Soffer, McDonald, & Blanck, 2010). In 2011, 13.4 million working-aged adults received a disability cash benefit from the Social Security Administration (Kregel, 2012).

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is the federal agency responsible for managing, executing and overseeing retirement, survivor, old-age and disability benefits. There are over 1,500 Social Security offices and over 65,000 employees nationwide (SSA, 2013). SSA manages at least five disability benefit programs: Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Disabled Widow(er) Benefit (DWB), Childhood Disability Benefit (CDB), though …

Incentives For Distributed Generation In California: The Rise Of Third-Party Solar Development, Joshua M. Propp

Pomona Senior Theses

There are a series of state and federal incentives in California to encourage the installation of distributed generation (DG) renewable energy, largely photovoltaic (PV). This thesis explores the policies behind the incentives, namely the Federal Investment Tax Credit, California Solar Initiative, and Net Energy Metering requirements. Discussion is informed by environmental policy tools, as well as business models that have acted to increase accessibility to these investment-intensive projects. Underlying this analysis is the theme of a shifting energy paradigm, with distributed generation spreading political, economic, and electric power.

Political Consequences Of Cross-Border Labor Mobility In Luxembourg, Jessawynne A Parker

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Government Policies On Access To Broadband, James Prieger

School of Public Policy Working Papers

With a new focus for federal universal service programs on broadband and the NTIA BTOP funding for broadband adoption projects, recent years have been “exciting times” for those interested in broadband policy aimed at stimulating adoption. While most of the recent programs are still too new to be evaluated rigorously, lessons from older academic study can inform our expectations and lend guidance toward evaluating program success. In this brief work, I review what we know from the last decade and a half of literature on the impact of regulation on broadband adoption, discuss the (mostly woeful) attempts at evaluating adoption …

Global Budgets, Payment Reform And Single Payer: Understanding Vemont's Health Reform, Trish Riley

Population Health & Health Policy

The Muskie School of Public Service hosted two health policy colloquia this April to promote informed discussion throughout the state regarding MaineCare coverage options under the ACA and the implications of Vermont’s move toward a single-payer system.The series, sponsored by the Muskie School Board of Visitors, offers community conversations in which experts from various disciplines and perspectives inform and engage the broader public to explore and debate critical policy issues. On April 22, community and sector leaders joined for Global Budgets, Payment Reform, and Single Payer: Understanding Vermont's Health Reform. Participants discussed Vermont's recent movie toward single payer health …

Center For Governance And Sustainability: Policy Impact Through Rigorous Analysis, Center For Governance And Sustainability, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Maria Ivanova, Craig Murphy, Michael Denney

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Three main functions define the center:

• Serves as an information hub
• Provides rigorous analysis
• Acts as an honest broker

We collect and manage data on governance and sustainability across scales, apply diverse analytical models grounded in empirics, and create dialogues among scholars, practitioners, and the public.

Opportunities For Munjoy Hill, Anne-Michelle Arless

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

Keeping the elderly in their own homes is challenging. A volunteer lead group of Munjoy Hill residents have united to form "circle of friends" to connect those within the community in need with those in the community who can offer a helping hand.

Information Literacy:, Sharon A. Weiner

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This presentation was given at the University of South Carolina on March 22, 2013. It is a review of the state of research, policy, and practice in information literacy.

Steam...Now!, John Eger

The STEAM Journal

With America slowly awakening to the need to turn out creative and innovative workers who can join the 21^st century (its already 2012) workplace -- because they have the new thinking skills --we have to change the current emphasis on STEM, for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to STEAM, by insuring that the whole brain is nurtured through the arts: thus STEAM.

Symposium Report: Findings From The Research Roundtable On The Economic And Community Impact Of Broadband, Edward Feser, John Horrigan, William Lehr

Edward J Feser

In December 2012, a group of experts spanning disciplines and practice in the field of broadband policy met to discuss how the research community can better serve state and local policymakers and other stakeholders. This group of subject matter experts was convened to examine how best to measure the economic impact of state and national broadband deployment and capacity/adoption building efforts. The impetus for the symposium stemmed from the widespread view that there is a deficit of research, standards, and measurements to adequately inform the widely acknowledged view that broadband Internet is a driver of sustainable economic and community development. …

Providing Long Term Services & Supports To People With Impaired Decision-Making Capacity: Results Of Data Analysis And Interviews Examining Needs And Characteristics Of Persons With Impaired Decision-Making Capacity In Maine, Eileen Griffin Jd, Louise Olsen, Julie T. Fralich Mba

Disability & Aging

This document:

• Reviews the prevalence of impaired decision-making capacity among adults and older adults receiving publicly funded home care services and supports in Maine, the characteristics of this population group, and the caregivers caring for persons with impaired decision-making capacity.
• Reports on interviews with providers describing their ideas for helping people with impaired decisionmaking capacity live in the community longer.
• Reviews the legal status of persons receiving long term services and supports in Maine, including the presence of a guardian or a Power of Attorney, among those with impaired decision-making capacity across settings.
• Reports on interviews with providers, describing kinds …

Federal Health Care Reform: An Overview, Andrew F. Coburn Phd

Population Health & Health Policy

This policy brief discusses three of the main components of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare". These components are helath insurance coverage, delivery system improvement, and cost containment. The policy brief highlights some of the provision of the law that have already been implemented and those where importnat implementation decisions will have to be made. The brief is authored by Dr. Andrew Coburn, PhD, Professor of Public Health and Director of the Population Health and Health Policy program at the USM Muskie School, and was presented at the Maine Policy Leaders Academy Health Care …

Proxy Citizenship And Transnational Advocacy: Colombian Activists From Putumayo To Washington, Dc, Winifred Tate

Faculty Scholarship

Proxy citizenship is the mechanism through which certain rights of citizenship—the ability to make claims for redress to a state—are conferred on activists through relationships with NGOs. Focusing on advocacy from within the policy process, U.S. and Colombian NGOs channeled political legitimacy and rights of access to Colombians, whose claims emerge from the experience of governance as articulated through testimony. This process, and its roots within the shared history of the Putumayo region of Colombia and Washington, DC, reveals emerging practices of citizenship claims and transnational political participation.

The Evolution Of Revolution: Is Splintering Inevitable?, Atin Basu Choudhary, Laura Razzolini

Atin Basu Choudhary

We use an evolutionary model to study splintering in rebels’ groups. We assume that rebels possess cultural traits that encourage cooperation, defection (splintering) or some sort of trigger behavior like Tit-For-Tat. We characterize the dynamic process through which the rebels’ discount rate determines whether splintering will occur in the population, even when cooperation is efficient. Contrary to the usual Folk Theorem prediction, we show that, even when rebels are extremely patient, cooperation may not evolve if the initial distribution of cultures in the population is not favorable. Thus, political actions by the states or governments that make rebels impatient may …

Policy Alternatives To Increase Access To Early Childhood Education And Care In Massachusetts, Meghan Lemay

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Access to early childhood education not only leads to improved social, academic, and health outcomes for children, but can also carry the same benefits into adulthood. Early education and care programs can work against some of the negative effects of social factors such as socioeconomic status, discrimination, social support, and work demands which have been linked to physical and mental health outcomes. Early education programs could intervene not only in the life of a child, but also impact parents, families, and populations. This thesis will review the research showing early childhood education leads to better social and health outcomes and …

Moving Beyond Title Ix: An Evaluation Of The Comprehensiveness And Accessibility Of Policies And Procedures For Preventing And Responding To Gender Based Violence, Alyssa Mullins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study examines the gender based violence policies and programs of large, public universities in Florida. Current literature argues that preventing and responding to gender based violence in institutions of higher education requires comprehensive and ecological techniques at the individual, interpersonal, community, and societal level. In recent years, various institutions and agencies have showed increasing administrative commitment to addressing these issues. Futures Without Violence, formerly named Family Violence Prevention Fund, is a private organization that has established a set of guidelines and recommendations to aid IHEs in their response and prevention of gender based violence, intended to exceed federal …

Second-Class Families: The Challenges And Strategies Of Mixed-Status Immigrant Families, Diana Maritza Guelespe

Dissertations

The most recent peak in migration has involved large numbers of undocumented people and much of the sociological scholarship on immigration explores their lives as individuals and how they stay connected to their family across borders, but there is little research about the new phenomenon of mixed-status immigrant families-- families with at least one unauthorized immigrant and one U.S. citizen--or how their families face the looming risk of separation. The purpose of this dissertation is to describe the experiences and challenges these families confront. Why has there been a rise in mixed-status immigrant families? How does the relative permanence of …

Monetary And Fiscal Policies For A Finite Planet, Joshua Farley, Matthew Burke, Gary Flomenhoft, Brian Kelly, D. Forrest Murray, Stephen Posner, Matthew Putnam, Adam Scanlan, Aaron Witham

Peer-Reviewed Studies

Current macroeconomic policy promotes continuous economic growth. Unemployment, poverty and debt are associated with insufficient growth. Economic activity depends upon the transformation of natural materials, ultimately returning to the environment as waste. Current levels of economic throughput exceed the planet's carrying capacity. As a result of poorly constructed economic institutions, society faces the unacceptable choice between ecological catastrophe and human misery. A transition to a steady-state economy is required, characterized by a rate of throughput compatible with planetary boundaries. This paper contributes to the development of a steady-state economy by addressing US monetary and fiscal policies. A steady-state monetary policy …

Login To Learn: A Content Analysis Of Southeast Asian Policies On Technology And Education, Laura D. Pasley

Master's Theses

In the following thesis, using Aucoin's (2011) theoretical framework, I juxtapose the discourses neoliberalism and humanitarian "access" as they relate to describing the potential outcomes of ICT adoption in education. Through a content analysis, I sought to answer the research question: To what extent have the discourses of neoliberalism and "access" used in regional ASEAN policies influenced ICT policymaking at the national level of its member states? The findings demonstrated a slight difference between ICT policies published prior to the 2011 ASEAN policy, but those published "after" were all also published in 2011 which may point to forces outside of …

Creating Policy That Supports Living Cultural Expression In Melanesia, Thomas Dick

Thomas Dick

In Vanuatu, communities have expressed a desire to continue leading lifestyles based on a traditional economic base. In the context of economic globalisation, however, this possibility is being ignored or denied by government policy decisions made on the basis of ‘economic rationalism’. There is growing concern that these government decisions are in fact destructive of ‘popular cultural expressions’, and do not respect the values of the community in relation to its development.

In 2006, an ‘Economic opportunities fact-finding mission’ to the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu was sponsored by NZAID and AusAID. The report that followed recognized that ‘many of …

Zones Of Friction, Zones Of Traction: The Connected Household In Climate Change And Sustainability Policy, L M. Head, C Farbotko, C Gibson, N Gill, Gordon R. Waitt

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Households are increasingly addressed as a focus of environmental policy, with varying degrees of success in achieving more sustainable outcomes at the domestic level. Part of the problem is black boxing, in which the inherent complexity of households tends to be taken for granted. Here we draw on cultural environmental research to put forward a more sophisticated conceptualisation - the connected household approach. The connected household framework uses the themes of governance, materiality and practice to illustrate and explain the ways everyday life, and the internal politics of households, are connected to wider systems of provision and socioeconomic networks. We …

Strategies Of Policy Advocacy Organizations, Sheldon Gen, Amy Conley Wright

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Public advocacy in policy making is a hallmark of democracy, and the academic literature is replete with its benefits. Normatively, it is prescribed to legitimize the processes of policy making, and enhance public commitment for policy choices. Descriptively, a growing body of empirical research concludes that it produces better policy outcomes, such as wider distributions of benefits and a more responsive government. While these benefits are impressive, they accrue to society and ignore the fact that advocates often engage policy processes to advance their own preferences. What is missing from the academic literature are the advocates' expected outcomes of their …

Evidence-Free Policy: The Case Of The National Injury Insurance Scheme, Mark Harrison

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The Productivity Commission report 'Disability Care and Support' recommends tort liability be replaced by a compulsory, government-run, no-fault scheme. But theory and evidence indicate moving to a no-fault scheme will increase the accident rate. Even a move from non-risk-rated third-party insurance to non-risk-rated first-party insurance reduces incentives for care. A no-fault scheme is not superior to current policies; genuine reform will need to be informed by law and economics literature.

A Resources Provision Policy For Multi-Unit Maintenance Program, Winda Nur Cahyo, Khaled El-Akruti, Richard Dwight, Tieling Zhang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

A System Dynamics model for resource provision policy in multi-unit maintenance program is developed. First, a scheme is developed to formulate and evaluate policies regarding the provision under uncertain condition or resource requirement in a period of planning to result in minimum maintenance cost. The model emphasizes on resourcing strategy involving human and procurement. It is composed of 3 sub-models presented in a causal loop modelling. The human resource sub-model focuses on policies related to provision and management. The procurement sub-model takes into account the procurement process and inventory system. Due to data availability, the verification has encloses only the …

Go Fish: An Analysis Of Economic Rents In Panamanian Fisheries Against Ecosystem Service Values, David Glassner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Global demand of fish for consumption in developing nations is expected to continue to rise in the near future, putting pressure on stocks that are already overexploited. In the territorial waters of Panama there is a constant struggle between commercial vessels with high yield, subsistence fishermen trying to feed a remote village, and ecosystem services struggling to sustain themselves. These services are the direct and indirect benefits received by the population in the form of food, raw materials, nutrient cycling, and disaster regulation. They are being degraded by illegal and unregulated fishing, bottom trawlers raking the benthos and destroying coral …

On Obama Administration Gun Policy With Continual Reference To The Multiple Streams Model, Michael Hristakopoulos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Multiple Streams model developed by John Kingdon (1995) and Nikolaos Zahariadis (2007) provides a valuable framework for understanding the nature of policy change. This investigation draws extensively upon the Multiple Streams framework in order to understand the development of gun-control policy initiatives under President Barack Obama. The investigation uses a case-study approach with in-depth analysis of four different mass-shooting events that took place in the United States between 2009 and 2012. Reconstruction of the shooting events and detailed parsing of the Obama administration’s official responses to each incident, when viewed through the Multiple Streams lens, clearly explain why Obama’s …

Developing A Cohesive Urban Agriculture Policy For Burlington, Vt, Alison Nihart

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

A growing interest in urban food production has prompted many North American cities to revise their municipal policies regarding agricultural activities. In March 2011, the City Council of Burlington, VT, created the Urban Agriculture Task Force to investigate and recommend policies to provide city officials with tools to effectively govern urban agriculture. In coordination with the Task Force as a community partner, I used a governance framework and participatory action research (PAR) to analyze: (1) the needs of local stakeholders, including urban agriculture practitioners, the general Burlington community, and government officials; (2) the policy tools available to the City of …

Developing 'Policy Stories' For State Health System Benchmarking: A Small-N Quali-Quantitative Study, Erica Bell, Bastian Seidel

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background: The benchmarking literature has made important advances and offers many different population health indicators that can be used to compare state health systems. However, there is still a need for qualitative, complexity-oriented approaches that allow policy-makers to develop explanatory 'policy stories' from combining such indicators that are useful to policy solutions. Methods: A new qualitative method from the social sciences based on Boolean approaches, called Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), was piloted in a 'real world' policy consultancy to combine Australian state-level indicators of community and health system inputs, interventions, and population health outcomes. Analyses were provided for state inputs …