Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Women Socioeconomic Status: The Repercussion Of Illiteracy, Case Study: Charlotte, Sierra Leone, Anthonette Quayee

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

Illiteracy has affected women in Sierra Leone, by limiting their abilities to participate in governmental, domestic, and economic activities. As a result of the limited opportunities, women are faced with various challenges that impact their social livelihood. For example, women are deprived from making decisions in their homes because of low educational status. Sierra Leone has an adult literacy rate of 43.21%. The male literacy rate is 51.65% and the female literacy rate is 34.85%, creating a huge gap between both sexes (UNESCO, 2018). The impacts of illiteracy also affect youngsters, as early marriage takes the trend, and literacy programs …

Clash Of Interests? Conflicting Perspectives Of The State And Border Communities On Smuggling In Nigeria, Akhigbe Allwell O.

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

Smuggling has been a signature of African borders. The study takes a critical look at the issue of smuggling in the Imeko border community of Nigeria that is situated at the Benin border. It examines the perspectives of the state and the border communities and uses the Onion method of Conflict Analysis to determine the actual needs of both parties and how they could be met. While the government sees it as a crime that robs the state of its much-needed resources, the border communities consider smuggling to be legitimate trade relations with their kinsmen across the border as a …

The Consumption Gaps Between The Poor And The Non-Poor Households In Malawi: A Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition Analysis, Endington Wa Kavuli

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

So far, most of the literature for example, Bokosi (2006), Mukherjee and Benson (2003) etc. has focused on determinants of poverty but they have ignored the fact that consumption differences exist between the poor and the non-poor population in the society. This study therefore, is set out to investigate the poor and the non- poor welfare inequalities in Malawi based on fourth Integrated Household Survey. It has been found that socio-economic and demographic factors do influence household consumption in both the poor and the non- poor. In addition, the B-O decomposition has helped in identifying the differences in the per …

Market Efficiency Theory In African Markets, Boubacar Amadou

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

African financial markets accommodate fewer international investors due to several reasons including its weak status in the market efficiency hypothesis. Studies have confirmed this along the years; however, the slow but steady evolution in these markets can also be noticed. This study covers eight (8) African financial markets and tests them under weak form in the market's efficiency forms. This form has been divided into three (3) categories based on the random walk concept (RW3, RW2 and RW1). Results show that only two (2) markets – Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and Uganda Stock Exchange (USE) – were able to meet …

The Expensive Commodity Of Education In Africa Versus Customer Experience, Mboungou Mouyabi Seke

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

Moving into the time of the customer, the landscape of education has changed globally, including its model of leading business. The observation through the crystal of market-exchange in Africa shows students as customers and universities as service providers. For the reason that a business cannot exist without its customers, and higher education institutions are concentrating on the best way to win new business through multiple channels, customer experience arises to create value. It is within this context that this paper looks at higher education as an expensive commodity in Africa versus Customer eXperience. It also raises issues for talk and …

Modern Black Codes: Presidential Crime Control Rhetoric And Black Criminalization, Earnest Ujaama

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The rate of Black imprisonment in the United States is nearly 6 times that of Whites. Wholesale criminalization of Black Americans denote institutional racism within America’s criminal justice system. Limited research is available examining crime control rhetoric of U.S. presidents to determine if Blacks are constructed as criminals through carefully coded crime control discourse. The purpose of this qualitative, case study was to investigate whether presidents used language that construct Black criminality. A social construction theoretical framework and critical discourse analysis was applied. The data used for this study included scripted speeches. The collection of data began with 54 speeches …

African American Fathers’ Experiences Of Alienation From Their Children Due To Texas Family Code, Fatima Tremale Thomas-Moody

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Throughout the years, Texas Family Code: Title 5. The Parent-Child Relationship and the Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship has the coined termed best interest of the child. In fact, it has created an unintentional indoctrination to parental alienation therefore, leaving little to no access for courts to rectify and resolve the parent-child relationship. Arguably, researchers have suggested that the legal system engages in gender ideologies that contributes to parental alienation. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of African American noncustodial fathers’ interaction and how Texas family code possession order impacts the father-child relationship. Social construction …

Comparison Of Course Grades Among Learning Modalities In Historically Black College And Universities, Murdell Walker Mcfarlin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe growth of online courses in higher education, combined with the distinct situational identity of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and their continued emphasis on face-to-face (F2F) instruction, provided an opportunity to learn more about learning modalities and student grades at HBCUs. The problem was previous research findings are contradictory regarding grades among modalities at HBCUs. The purpose of this study was to compare differences in grades among three learning modalities (F2F, hybrid, and online) for three student groups (African American, non-African American, and all students) at three public, 4-year HBCUs in one U.S. state. This cross-sectional, ex post …

Program Evaluation: Assessing A Housing First Initiative, Caitlin Pennicooke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Housing First is a nationally recognized approach to solving homelessness, but literature does not account for the unique characteristics of geographic locations that are isolated and have high cost of living. This study examined one such city and benchmarked it against another. To protect the identities of these cities, the alias Island City (IC) for the city under examination and Sun City for the benchmark. This research explored IC’s Housing First program related to mitigating homelessness. The purpose of this study was to benchmark IC’s Housing First program against Sun City’s program using the context, input, process, and product (CIPP) …

Esperanza: A Foundation For Emergency Management, Transformation, And Hope, Siamak Michael Pouraryan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The research problem addressed in this study is the perceived gap that exists in community support in emergency planning and management. The community of Laguna Niguel, the focus of the study, is at the forefront of planning for and dealing with calamities including Earthquakes. There are 66,000 residents of Laguna Niguel and an estimated 15,000 Households served by one Emergency Services Coordinator. The purpose of the study was to create a recommended roadmap for community outreach, preparation and provide a basic set of tools for short-term survival during the critical week after a disaster. The conceptual framework focused on the …

Pandemics And Partisanship: Following Old Paths Into Uncharted Territory, Luke Fowler, Jaclyn J. Kettler, Stephanie L. Witt

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although partisan politics tend be set aside during crisis, the timing of gubernatorial actions in response to COVID-19 is telling about how partisanship is shaping the way elected officials are reacting to this pandemic. Using an event history analysis, the authors find that Democratic governors responded to the White House’s attempts to downplay the severity of the pandemic by declaring emergencies in order to draw citizen attention to and to prepare for a public health crisis. On the other hand, Republican governors resisted doing so until Trump declared a national emergency on March 13; however, Republican reactions were conditional on …

Nonprofits And Government Agencies Addressing The Needs Of Mental Health Community, Wyatt Ulrich

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Nonprofit Studies Capstone Projects

Nonprofit organizations have been utilizing cross-sector collaboration to address problems that are not able to be solved on their own. A partner to make said collaboration can be with any organization, business, or volunteer who has the same goals as the nonprofit organization. Mental health nonprofit organizations specifically need more partners due to how little the world knows about mental health and mental illnesses. The government is one partner many mental health organizations aim to collaborate with. Government contracts have been known to help with the many challenges nonprofit organizations face like funding and services. Previous research has suggested this …

Missouri River Open Lands Preservation: A Great Falls Case Study, Leonard Patrick Ormseth

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

South of Great Falls, Montana, adjacent to the city lies a 72-acre undeveloped parcel of state school trust land. For decades, this land has been used by the community for recreation including mountain biking, dog walking, fishing, and wildlife viewing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these recreational values were especially pertinent as city attractions such as bars, restaurants, and other entertainment were shuttered or suffered from greatly reduced capacity. The community, while aware of this treasure, became especially attached as it served as a refuge from the throes of the modern world. When the Fox Farm neighborhood learned of the State’s …

Women In Combat Boots: U.S. Servicewomen’S Collective Self-Esteem And Adherence To Weight Regulations, Latavia Monét Ford

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Women’s bodies are scrutinized and objectified in western societies broadly. For servicewomen however, the military is a specific site where women’s bodies receive close examination and scrutiny. Military members must adhere to height-based weight standards to remain in compliance. For servicewomen, the military is an important part of their life, and as such, it has a pivotal role in shaping their identity. The purpose of this study is to examine women’s experiences of managing and responding to the weigh-ins, particularly the ways it shapes their collective self-esteem. Data for this study consist of ten qualitative interviews conducted with servicewomen. Findings …

Collaborative Competition In Homeless Services: Three Essays On Federal-Local Partnerships, Andrew Alfred Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

The United States’ federal government funds homeless services provided at the local level through the McKinney-Vento Act, encouraging collaboration among providers. This dissertation studies three aspects of homelessness: merging of local planning bodies, identification of homeless students, and the relationship between experiencing homelessness in high school and long-term educational outcomes.

The first chapter studies the effect of merging Continuums of Care (CoCs), local planning bodies for homeless services. While merging brings organizations into the same network and could make use of economies of scale, it brings service provision to a less-local level, taking away responsiveness to the community and inter-jurisdictional …

Essays On Evasion And Enforcement In Value Added Tax (Vat), Syed Jawad Ali Shah

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Value added tax (VAT) based on credit invoice system is the most common consumption tax in the world. Despite its self-regulating nature, VAT faces challenges in developing countries who have limited state capacity to check evasion and enforce tax on informal sectors of the economy. The tax authorities introduce policy interventions that can target the evasive behavior of firms interacting with informal sectors. My dissertation seeks to provide insight into three such policy reforms in Pakistan’s VAT regime. Therefore, this dissertation is composed of three essays.

In first essay of my dissertation, titled “Using Computerization to enforce VAT: Evidence from …

Two Essays On Governments Devolving Fiscal Authority To Lower-Level Actors, Jinsol Park

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Over the past decades, there have been efforts across the globe to break the grip of the centralized power of government and devolve authority to lower-level actors. The devolution of authority in the governance system can take place in various ways: the central government can devolve authority, responsibility, and functions to local governments; or a local government can delegate its authority to make policy decisions to the citizenry, for example, as a form of public participation. In a broad sense, we can group all these government activities to devolve power to lower-level actors and call it “decentralization.” This dissertation attempts …

Data Files: Bi-Objective Optimization For Battery Electric Bus Deployment Considering Cost And Environmental Equity, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu, Yirong Zhou, Ran Wei, Aaron Golub

TREC Datasets and Databases

This data supports the research project Bi-objective Optimization for Battery Electric Bus Deployment Considering Cost and Environmental Equity and a final report published on NITC’s website.

Dataset collected through multiple sources and organized into different formats including CSV format, JSON format, shapefile and code repository.

Context: The research project develops a bi-objective model that aims to help transit agencies to optimally deploy BEB while considering both capital investment and environmental equity. The unique spatio-temporal characteristic of BEB system, charging limitations (on-route and in-depot charging), and operational constraints are also considered and incorporated into the model.

Remote Math Or Remotely Math? : A Qualitative Study Of The Challenges Of A Covid-19 Induced Transition To Ict-Based Teaching For High School Mathematics Teachers, David Hurst

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In the blink of an eye schools across the country closed their doors in March 2020 and teachers were forced to transition from face-to-face instruction within a brick-and-mortar setting to ICT-based remote teaching. Many high school mathematics teachers were accustomed to their students having devices as their schools had established 1:1 computing programs. Even so, not all teachers had fully embraced ICT enhanced instruction in their classrooms. Research has shown that the degree of ICT utilization in a classroom has a strong positive correlation with the comfort level of the teacher. The COVID-19 closures required teachers to incorporate ICT in …

Can Transparency Transform Governments? : Effects Of Financial Information Disclosure On Management, Citizens, And Elected Officials, Hyewon Kang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Financial information disclosure affects decision makings of important stakeholders of financial management in governments. Financial information disclosure can operate as an accountability tool by reducing? the information asymmetry between governments and citizens. Using data from U.S. state and local governments, this dissertation examines how financial information disclosure affects decisions made by local government managers, citizens, and elected officials. The first essay examines whether setting financial performance targets by state governments improves local governments’ financial performance. Using the framework developed from the performance management literature, the study tests the effectiveness of New York State’s fiscal stress monitoring system. The second essay …

Decentralized Mechanisms For Coordinating Citizen Participation, Cesar Renteria

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Decentralization has been an alternative mechanism of coordination to bureaucratic control. Although decentralization is a very old idea, we do not have enough clarity about how decentralization works and how this alternative can effectively help to overcome some of the problems attributed to traditional bureaucracies. In this dissertation, I bring further insights into the decentralization of decisions through two angles. First, by studying how and for what purposes crowdsourcing, a novel technology-based practice used to decentralize decisions and tasks towards citizens, has been used in government (Chapters 2 and 3). Second, by studying the process of decentralization of decisions within …

"Folks Like Us" : Exploring State Education Policy In New York's Rural School Districts, Nicole Lennon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Diversity has been a major topic in education in recent years. However, often missing from the conversation is consideration of geographic diversity across urban, suburban, and rural school districts. Research shows that geographic place influences educational capacity, opportunities, and trajectories, as well as social life, cultural values, and individual identity. The policy process is influenced by dominant ideologies that tend to problematize rural places and favor the interests of metropolitan places. This metro-centric ideology may continue to influence educational policymaking in the United States today, as scholars have found policymakers often reuse similar urban-favored tools and solutions in the design …

Supporting Highly Mobile Literacy Learners : Examining How An Elementary School Provided Support To Mobile Students In An Urban School District, Rebecca L. Benjamin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation explores the academic and social-emotional supports and constraints that impact the literacy learning of highly mobile students in an urban elementary school, utilizing interview, questionnaire, and achievement data from transient students and educational professionals who work with them. It examines a school year of highly mobile student experiences in literacy-learning across a wide range of factors and environments, considering student and educator observations, reflections, and participation, through different schools and across various settings in their current/newest school (in classrooms, at lunch, recess, rehearsals, and specials, working with social or academic service providers, etc.). This study’s theoretical framework was …

Bio-Spatial Policing In Theory And Practice: Examining Impacts And Resistance Through Mobilities And Children's Everyday Life, Emily Kaufman

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Despite decades of reforms and technological innovations, increasing evidence shows that state securitization disproportionately harms already racially, spatially, and socio-economically marginalized communities. My research investigates uneven impacts of state securitization, from punitive welfare programs to school surveillance to policing. Across sites, I focus on scales, voices and the everyday lived experiences often left out of scholarly discourse and sensational media. In the current climate of growing awareness and scholarship on police violence, my dissertation addresses three less-studied areas: 1) the interplay between racial, gendered, spatial, and technified police practices; 2) how these practices impact the everyday lives of those racially …

Facilitating Veteran And Adult Students' Learning And Retention In Engineering: Faculty-Student Partnership - A Model Of An Evidence-Based Practice, Kim E. Bullington, Anthony Dean, Cynthia Tomovic, Vukica M. Jovanović, Rafael E. Landaeta

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

With the growing number of adult and military veterans entering higher education, it is important to understand and incorporate the basics of andragogy in curriculum, course development, and the learning environment to facilitate learning and degree completion. Researchers in this S-STEM project funded by the NSF share observations of a student-faculty partnership that resulted from the development of a formal learning community. A series of targeted seminars were conducted that appear to have increased adult and military veteran engineering and technology students’ levels of connectedness and self-efficacy. Results of this pilot study are shared as an evidence-based practice to enhance …

Systematizing Confidence In Open Research And Evidence (Score), Nazanin Alipourfard, Beatrix Arendt, Daniel M. Benjamin, Noam Benkler, Michael Bishop, Mark Burstein, Martin Bush, James Caverlee, Yiling Chen, Chae Clark, Anna Dreber Almenberg, Timothy M. Errington, Fiona Fidler, Nicholas Fox, Aaron Frank, Hannah Fraser, Scott Friedman, Ben Gelman, James Gentile, Jian Wu, Et Al., Score Collaboration

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Assessing the credibility of research claims is a central, continuous, and laborious part of the scientific process. Credibility assessment strategies range from expert judgment to aggregating existing evidence to systematic replication efforts. Such assessments can require substantial time and effort. Research progress could be accelerated if there were rapid, scalable, accurate credibility indicators to guide attention and resource allocation for further assessment. The SCORE program is creating and validating algorithms to provide confidence scores for research claims at scale. To investigate the viability of scalable tools, teams are creating: a database of claims from papers in the social and behavioral …

A Survey Of Enabling Technologies For Smart Communities, Amna Iqbal, Stephan Olariu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In 2016, the Japanese Government publicized an initiative and a call to action for the implementation of a "Super Smart Society" announced as Society 5.0. The stated goal of Society 5.0 is to meet the various needs of the members of society through the provisioning of goods and services to those who require them, when they are required and in the amount required, thus enabling the citizens to live an active and comfortable life. In spite of its genuine appeal, details of a feasible path to Society 5.0 are conspicuously missing. The first main goal of this survey is to …

Federal Employee Views Across Administrations: An Examination Of The 2010 Obama And 2018 Trump Leadership Capital And The Perceptions Of The Agency Employees, Dimple Sunayna Johnson

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

One of the many responsibilities of the president is the management of the expansive federal government. From agenda planning to reform implementation, a political leader can impact the federal employees’ job role. The federal government, however, does not administer alone, top-down mandates are managed by tiers of management, with the front-line supervisors acting as the liaison to federal employees. Understanding a president’s leadership capital alongside the federal employee perceptions of job satisfaction and supervisory support can provide opportunities to gain insight into establishing and maintaining a public sector landscape that is effective and efficient.

The study consisted of a quantitative …

Avengers Disassemble! How Varying Views On Public Administration Dismantled The Avengers In The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tynslei Spence-Mitchell

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Since the inception of the discipline, public administration theorists and scholars have disputed how much, or how little, politics should be involved in public administration. Woodrow Wilson believed that politics and administration should be separate, while Dwight Waldo believed that it is government that should dictate administration, as that builds efficacy, efficiency and measurable outcomes.

Like scholars of the discipline, The Avengers (a fictitious group of superheroes) also could not agree on if administration should be governed with or without political guidance and find themselves at the forefront of a governance dispute regarding their management in the film, Captain America: …

Mental Health Effects Of Maternal Substance Abuse Policymaking: Finding A Solution, Sarah Foster

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

While each state has varying substance abuse laws and resources for those seeking treatment, many states have regulations that criminally charge expectant mothers seeking substance abuse treatment. Restrictive policies like these encourage these women to conceal their addiction to avoid criminal retaliation and stigmatization. These effects reverberate through communities plagued with poverty, forcing these women to choose between being clean and sober or protecting their children and freedom. Thus, this dissertation examined the adverse effects that strict substance abuse policies have on expectant mothers and suggest that more people in this position would seek treatment if these policies were less …