Community-Based Research Commons^™

Constraints In Adoption Of Moongbean Production Technology In Sundarban, West Bengal, Ganesh Chandra

Ganesh Chandra

The new agricultural technologies are considered to be the prime mover to the process of agricultural development in India. Understanding farmers’ perceptions of a given technology is crucial in the generation and diffusion of new technologies and farm household information dissemination. Pulses in India have long been considered as the poor man’s only source of protein. Moongbean (green gram) is one of the important pulse crop in India, plays a major role in augmenting the income of small and marginal farmers of Sundarban. Constraints are the circumstances or causes, which prohibit farmer to adopt improved farm technology. This constraint study …

Exercise Determined Promise 2003 Logandale, Nevada Plague Prophylaxis Clinic: Exercising The Strategic National Stockpile, Kay Godby, Mary Ellen Harrell, Bonnie Sorenson, Maureen Fanning, Nancy Gerken, Jane Shunney

Nevada Journal of Public Health

The Department of Defense asked the Clark County Health District (CCHD) to participate in the disaster drill entitled Determined Promise ’03 (DP ‘03) from August 18 -23, 2003. The purpose of this exercise was to test the capacities of the U.S. Northern Command (U.S.Northcom) Homeland defense/homeland security mission and integration of the Joint Task Forces-Civil Support (JTF-CS) with state and local responders. Part of the JTF-CS mission was to coordinate military support to civilian state and local authorities when it was requested.

The Economic Impact Of The Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act In Clark County, Nevada – Preliminary Findings, Robin Mukalian, Fang Lin, Christopher R. Cochran, Jay J. Shen, Nancy L. York

Nevada Journal of Public Health

Objective. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to quantitatively evaluate the economic impact of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act (NCIAA) on businesses in Clark County.

Methods. The goal of this research was to assess economic indicators over a ten year period utilizing measurable data points, including restaurant and drinking establishment employment rates, taxable sales, openings and closings, as well as slot gaming revenues. This ten year time period consisted of a seven year span prior to the enactment of the NCIAA, and three years post enactment. Researchers conceived this study as a means to independently evaluate and …

Effects Of The Master Settlement Agreement On Smoking Among Nevada Teens: A Decade After Implementation And Implications Of Reduced Funding, Christina A. Demopoulos, Christopher R. Cochran

Nevada Journal of Public Health

Background: Tobacco control programs that have adapted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Best Practices for a Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) have been effective in reducing the rates of tobacco use. This paper investigates the effectiveness that Nevada’s tobacco control programs have had on teen tobacco use and rates to date and examines changes to programs given reduced Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) funding.

Methods: Aggregate data from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services/Fund for a Healthy Nevada program was analyzed to determine if the tobacco control programs adapted the CDC’s Best Practices for a CTCP. …

Homelessness: Causes, Culture And Community Development As A Solution, Kaitlin Philipps

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This thesis seeks to explain the reasons that homelessness occurs, and how it is currently being dealt with in public policy. Triggers and predictors of homelessness are explored and it is shown that triggers are almost always compounded, indicating a multitude of factors that lead to homelessness. The culture and community surrounding the homeless lifestyle is seen as playing a significant role in how the individual copes with their homelessness. The norms and values of their culture are investigated and its role in rehabilitation is explored. Current institutions for helping the homeless are analyzed for different success rates. Additionally, initiatives …

Drug Sentencing Policy Discourse Of Fortaleza, Nick Sundback

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Drug sentencing is a pressing issue in Brazil. With the context of high and increasing rates of crime and drug use, overcrowded prisons, and high rates of recidivism both in terms of prison and drug addiction, attitudes of individuals towards drug sentencing policy are worthy of observation and examination.

The objective of this monograph is to examine discourse by informants, five individuals who interact with sections of society most affected by drug sentencing, namely drug users. This monograph will consider pluralistic observations on, and evaluations of, drug sentencing practices, implementation of drug sentencing, an overview of the broader debate over …

Accessing Justice, Evaluating Agency: How 12 Women In Cape Town Perceive Their Local Police Services With Respect To Their Race, Class, Gender, And Geographic Location, Ellen Moore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Policing in South Africa has a long, twisted history that is still evident in some current police practices and especially in the public’s perceptions of the police. In addition to historical factors such as colonial rule and apartheid, people’s perceptions of the police are also affected by their race, class, gender, and geographic location. Although these factors’ can be considered to have an individual effect on perceptions, it is through a complex understanding of how they relate to one another that a true understanding of a person’s perception can be reached. The inspiration for this study stemmed from these concepts …

Transcending Boundaries: Moroccan Political Thought As A Transnational Platform, And Communities In The Realm Of Activism, Leah Siegel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My research concerns how individual protestors of the February 20th Movement relate to the rest of the Arab Spring and their own society. I conducted several interviews during November 2012 with participants of the movement currently living in Rabat, each one lasting between 30 minutes to two hours. I initially intended this study to focus on the movement’s relations to the rest of the Arab Spring, but found in my interviews that this question is much more tangential than the question of how participants of the movement relate to their own society. What I discovered was that while the events …

Sensemaking In The Shadow Of A Superfund Site: Defining Atsdr Roles And Goals In An Agency-Saturated Community, Anna G. Hoover, Lindell Ormsbee, Stephanie W. Jenkins, Ashley M. Bush

Anna G. Hoover

By working directly in Superfund communities, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is embedded within a complex tapestry of federal and state agencies, local government entities, and other organizations that community stakeholders encounter regularly. The diversity of statutory obligations and expertise among these organizations, particularly as they relate to stakeholders’ health concerns, presents challenges for creating shared understanding between agencies and the communities they serve. Thus, addressing key elements of individual sensemaking during engagement activities is essential for those who work in communities.

Because sensemaking helps individuals determine the seriousness of a situation, decide how to react to …

Catastrophes And The Role Of Social Networks In Recovery: A Case Study Of St. Bernard Parish, La, Residents After Hurricane Katrina, Carrie E. Lasley

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the experiences of St. Bernard Parish, La., residents as they coped with the impact of the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. An estimated 50,000 St. Bernard Parish residents relocated to a new home one year after Katina in 2006, and many of those residents moved again. This study examines the effects of the decisions of St. Bernard residents to relocate or to return on their social connections. The utility, adaptability and durability of social networks of these residents will be explored to enrich our knowledge about the social effects …

Perform + Function: A Proposal For A Healthy Public Housing Community, Brandon M. Harvey

Masters Theses

PERFORM+FUNCTION: Proposal for A Healthy Public Housing Community

Architecture exists in Place, the integrated context of both the built and natural environments, including socio-economic, cultural, and political climates that influence our growth, development, and survival. As architecture necessitates around human purposes, it is important that architecture is built for and sited in an environment compatible for human well-being. My thesis focuses on human habitation and its immediate relationship with human health, assessing the performance and functionality of Place that have an impact on human health. Using public housing as the vehicle of my investigation, I will seek the appropriate application …

The Leadership Of Sustainable Cities: A Multiple-Case Study Of Two Oregon Cities, Kenneth L. Weaver

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Scholarship

In order for cities to become more sustainable it is necessary for the leaders of the efforts to change the organizations and governments so that they understand and embrace what it means to be more sustainable. This study examined the change processes of two Oregon Cities, Corvallis and Eugene, that had made the choice to become more sustainable as a community. The approaches that the participant leaders used demonstrated the use of different ways of thinking about the leadership of change. The ways of thinking of the community leaders were formed by their unique personal backgrounds, knowledge, skills, and abilities. …

Pioneers Of Youth Justice Reform: Achieving System Change Using Resolution, Reinvestment, And Realignment Strategies, Douglas N. Evans

Publications and Research

In the past three decades, state and local governments implemented various reform strategies to reduce the youth justice system’s reliance on confinement facilities and serve as many youths as possible in their own homes or at least in their own communities when removal from the home is warranted. The various reform strategies may be conceptualized as relying on three distinct but interrelated mechanisms: resolution, reinvestment, and realignment (Butts and Evans 2011). Resolution refers to the use of managerial authority and administrative directives to influence system change; reinvestment entails using financial incentives to encourage system change, and realignment employs organizational and …

Reversing The Brain Drain, Milan Wall

Heartland Center for Leadership Development Materials

Reversing the Brain Drain, presentation slides.

Includes a summary of demographic research conducted by Ben Winchester of the University of Minnesota, including information about the "newcomer trend." Also covers Buffalo Commons research conducted by Randy Cantrell or the University of Nebraska.

The Closure Of New Orleans' Charity Hospital After Hurricane Katrina: A Case Of Disaster Capitalism, Kenneth Brad Ott

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Amidst the worst disaster to impact a major U.S. city in one hundred years, New Orleans’ main trauma and safety net medical center, the Reverend Avery C. Alexander Charity Hospital, was permanently closed. Charity’s administrative operator, Louisiana State University (LSU), ordered an end to its attempted reopening by its workers and U.S. military personnel in the weeks following the August 29, 2005 storm. Drawing upon rigorous review of literature and an exhaustive analysis of primary and secondary data, this case study found that Charity Hospital was closed as a result of disaster capitalism. LSU, backed by Louisiana state officials, …

Beyond The It Magic Bullet: Hiv Prevention Education And Public Policy, Fay C. Payton

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Analytic applications are vital in the assessments of public health and surveillance as these applications can drive resource allocation, community assessment and public policy. Using a dataset of nearly 90,000 patient hospital encounters, the number of instances with an ICD code of HIV and co-morbidities was identified. Blacks accounted for 75 percent of HIV hospital encounters in the dataset. While business analytic applications informed this study of cross-tabulations and interaction effects among race, age and gender, there appears to be a significant relationship among HIV diagnoses and substance abuse. Payer data is informed by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project …

Southwest Nebraska Community Builders, Graduate Reunion Meeting, May 1, 2012, Craig Schroeder

Heartland Center for Leadership Development Materials

Introduction:

2012 marks 20 years since Dr. Bob Manley brought Community Builder to Southwest Nebraska, as the region emerged from the devastation of the 1980's Ag Crisis. On May 1st, a group of former participants from communities through out the region came together to reflect on the impact Community Builders had on them personally, and on their communities and the region overall. Based upon this reflection it was unanimously determine that a new generation of emerging leaders would greatly benefit from Community Builders. The group then went through the process of evaluating what had been most valuable in the original …

Improving The Quality Of Life Of A Homeless Person Using Co-Design And Paul Polak's 12 Steps To Practical Problem Solving, Nana Ama Ofei-Tenkorang

Senior Honors Projects

Improving the Quality of Life of Homeless Persons using Co-Design and Paul Polack’s

12 Steps for Practical Problem Solving

Nana Ofei-Tenkorang

Sponsor: Vinka Oyanedel-Craver, Civil and Environmental Engineering

The Stewart B. McKinney Act (1994) defines a homeless person as one who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence; and has a primary night time residency that is (A) either a publicly or privately supervised operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations, (B) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings and, (C) an institution that provides a …

Hispanic Outreach In Bowling Green, Ky: Defining The Needs Of The Hispanic Community, Caitlin Reyes

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

It is certain that Hispanics in Bowling Green confront numerous obstacles, such as a language barrier and a lack of knowledge of available community services that prohibits them from fully integrating into our community. The goal of this research is to gain a better understanding of these obstacles, to determine the perceptions of the city’s Latino population, and to ascertain what businesses, services, and community organizations can do in order to better accommodate Hispanics in Bowling Green. This research analyzes the results of a needs assessment survey administered to 80 self-identified Hispanic members of local churches. The survey responses indicated …

Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors? An Investigation And Analysis Of The Nature Of The Trinity College And Surrounding Neighborhoods Relationship As Seen Through Gates, Ariel Schuster

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Exploring German And American Modes Of Pedagogical And Institutional Sustainability: Forging A Way Into The Future, Lindon N. Pronto

Pitzer Senior Theses

Rooted deep in Germany's past is its modern socio-political grounding for environmental respect and sustainability. This translates into individual and collective action and extends equally to the economic and policy realm as it does to educational institutions. This thesis evaluates research conducted in Germany with a view to what best approaches are transferable to the United States liberal arts setting. Furthermore, exemplary American models of institutional sustainability and environmental education are explored and combined with those from abroad to produce a blueprint and action plan fitting for the American college and university.

Discourses Around Social Welfare Grants As Antipoverty Policy: Effectiveness And The Potential For Reform, Sarah Maniates

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In a South Africa where many still live in poverty, the government has chosen an extensive system of social grants as one of the primary methods by which it attempts to reduce this poverty. Research has generated substantial quantitative evidence that the system is successful, but there has been little analysis of public opinion around this costly policy, its effectiveness, and the need for its reform. This study explores discourses around the grants, both within government and among everyday people, in order to gain insight into such opinions. This insight is important in a South Africa that is now democratic, …

Determinants Of Depressive Symptoms Among Women On Public Assistance In Louisiana, Theresa C. Davidson, Joachim Singelmann

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Depression can be a significant barrier in the welfare-to-work transition of poor women. Fortunately, support from social networks can lessen symptoms and facilitate entry into the workplace. Inconsistency in the literature concerning the effects of social networks on the poor suggests further research is needed. Thus, we examine the level and determinants of depressive symptoms among participants in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. Having a good job, being in good health, married, and black, and living in rural areas inhibit symptoms of depression. Remaining on TANF and having several children increases symptom levels. Those who report that they …

Visual Interventions And The “Crises In Representation” In Environmental Anthropology: Researching Environmental Justice In A Hungarian Romani Neighborhood, Krista Harper

Anthropology Department Faculty Publication Series

Participatory visual research, or "visual interventions" (Pink 2007) allow environmental anthropologists to respond to three different “crises of representation”: 1) the critique of ethnographic representation presented by postmodern, postcolonial, and feminist anthropologists, 2) the constructivist critique of nature and the environment, and 3) the “environmental justice” critique demanding representation for the environmental concerns of communities of color. Participatory visual research integrates community members in the process of staking out a research agenda, conducting fieldwork and interpreting data, and communicating and applying research findings. Our project used the Photovoice methodology to generate knowledge and documentation related to environment injustices faced by …

20 Clues To Community Survival: An Annotated List, Heartland Center For Leadership Development

Heartland Center for Leadership Development Materials

The Heartland Center for Leadership Development is an independent, non-profit organization developing local leadership that responds to the challenges of the future.

The 20 clues are taken from the Heartland Center’s Clues to Rural Community Survival, a landmark study profiling thriving small towns and reservations. The list of vital characteristics provides an “ideal” benchmark against which people can measure their own community. It moves people naturally from theory, to strategy, to action.

Study Guide For United In Anger: A History Of Act Up, Matt Brim

Open Educational Resources

The United in Anger Study Guide facilitates classroom and activist engagement with Jim Hubbard’s 2012 documentary, United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. The Study Guide contains discussion sections, projects and exercises, and resources for further research about the activism of the New York chapter of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). The Study Guide is a free, interactive, multimedia resource for understanding the legacy of ACT UP, the film’s role in preserving that legacy, and its meaning for viewers' lives.

The Availability Of Organic In Buffalo, Ny, Ariel Peters

Ariel R Peters

No abstract provided.

Mixed Immigration Status Households In The Context Of Arizona’S Anti-Immigrant Policies, Anna O. Oleary, Azucena Sanchez

Anna Ochoa OLeary

Although the seeds of legislated restrictions for immigrants can be traced to 1986 with California’s unsuccessful Prop 187, more recent trends epitomized by Arizona’s proposed Senate Bill 1070, signed by that state’s governor in April, 2010, have renewed concerns about the effects that such measures will have on the life and livelihood of communities that include immigrants present in the country without official authorization (“undocumented immigrants”). In this paper we use some of the results of a binational study of reproductive health care strategies to show how emerging anti-immigrant policies neglect how such policies impact mixed immigration status households, a …

Visual Interventions And The “Crises In Representation” In Environmental Anthropology: Researching Environmental Justice In A Hungarian Romani Neighborhood, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

Participatory visual research, or "visual interventions" (Pink 2007) allow environmental anthropologists to respond to three different “crises of representation”: 1) the critique of ethnographic representation presented by postmodern, postcolonial, and feminist anthropologists, 2) the constructivist critique of nature and the environment, and 3) the “environmental justice” critique demanding representation for the environmental concerns of communities of color. Participatory visual research integrates community members in the process of staking out a research agenda, conducting fieldwork and interpreting data, and communicating and applying research findings. Our project used the Photovoice methodology to generate knowledge and documentation related to environment injustices faced by …

School Program Planning To Increase Active Transport To School, Brenda Aguilar

McNair Poster Presentations

Studies have shown that active transport is known to increase physical activity of children, decrease traffic congestion and the production of greenhouse gasses. This study examines active transport to school (ATS) [walking, biking, or other self-powered wheels to school] among elementary students. Through the Nevada Moves Day program an increase proportion of elementary students who use ATS was expected.

This study was done at two elementary schools, one being the intervention school that participated in the Nevada Moves Day, and a control school, which did not participate. Data was collected over a three week period. Students using active transport and …