This study of the literary magazines published in Kentucky between 1800 and 1900 consists of material derived from the following sources: The Louisville Public Library; ti1e State and Kentucky State Historical Society libraries, Frankfort; the Lexington Public Library, Transylvania, and University of Kentucky libraries, Lexington; the public libraries of Paris, Covington, Newport, Cincinnati, and Nashville; the Western Kentucky State Teachers College library, Bowling Green; and also the newspaper files of the Nashville Banner, the Lexington Herald, the Paris Kentuckian-Citizen, and the Courier-Journal. I wish to make it clear that this study is of literary magazines only. Other phases might have entered into the study, such as politics and religion, but this study concerns the magazines for their literary qualities alone.

Two studies were performed to research potential exemplification effects throughout various stages of natural disasters. Exemplification theory (Zillmann, 1999, 2002) promotes the use of exemplars, media examples, because of their potential ability to motivate risk related information seeking and their possible influence in optimizing protective action (Zillmann, 2006). Study one examined potential exemplification effect differences between various stages of natural disasters. Study two was designed to test for differences in trust, perceptions of severity, and intentions to volunteer depending on the organization type supplying related exemplars in social media. Results indicate that exemplification effects do not differ depending on disaster stage. However, exemplification effects do depend on the source of the exemplars. Furthermore, differences in perceptions of trust were detected between the two organizations providing the exemplars. And, intentions to volunteer vary depending on the current disaster stage. Specific findings, related theoretical implications, and practical suggestions are discussed.

This study focuses on the preparedness, and perception of Bachelor and Master of Social Work students in a California State University when encountering with clients in mixed-status families. The students were contacted via school email and provided with a questionnaire that inquired their preparedness when assisting undocumented clients, and their families. The results of the study concluded that majority of the students have encountered working with mixed-status families either in a personal or professional setting. Though, the data collected indicated that there are several factors that have impacted their knowledge of how to assist and provide linkage to other resources to undocumentedindividuals, and their families. The majority of respondents reported having an insufficiency knowledge of resources on the topic. These outcomes suggest that the Schools of Social Work should consider literature on Mixed-status families for Social Work students to provide appropriate services for them. A quantitative method was used to analyze and collect information from the students.

This study addresses a major theoretical issue posed in the literature: can alienation in modern urban society be conceptualized in terms of the communicative competence of speakers taking part in social interaction. Specifically, this study explores the relationship between communicative competence and two observable indications of success in land use hearings: 1) ability to influence the final decision of the Variance Committee and 2) expression of feelings of dissatisfaction with the hearings process, as expressed by the participants. On a broader scale, the study tests Jurgen Habermas's classification of speech acts and the notion that public hearings are a free and open process for integrating public opinion into land use decisions. Twenty-five hearings before the Variance Committee of the City of Portland were observed in order to record the types of speech acts used by four different groups in the hearings - the protestors, the applicants, the planning staff and the committee members. Following the hearings the applicant and a protestor were interviewed to ask information about their perceptions of the hearings process. In addition, all the Variance Committee members (15) and twenty-five professional planning staff were interviewed. Altogether 98 interviews were conducted. Analysis of Variance demonstrates that there is a significant difference in the use of the four types of speech acts by the four groups. Tabular analysis shows that the applicants are more comfortable with the hearings process than the protestors. However, both groups are relatively well satisfied with the hearings process, even after controlling for the final decision. Multiple linear regression demonstrates that the decision of the hearing is strongly associated with the speech acts received by the applicants and protestors. Furthermore, a large portion of those acts and their direction can be attributed to the committee Chairman. Based on these two findings (direction of the committee's attention and the Chairman's influence), a case analysis of 14 (out of twenty-five) crucial cases were examined to determine the interactive process used in reaching the final decision. Crucial case analysis revealed that the committee follows an identical ritual review process, led by the Chairman, in all those cases where the final decision corresponds to the staff recommendation. In those cases where the staff recommendation is reversed, the ritual review process is interrupted by one of three types of unexpected errors, committed by the testifiers, which shift the communicative attention of the committee to the opposing testifiers. These findings suggest the hearing process does not provide free and open access to opportunities to influence the decision in Variance hearings. Although some feelings of placation occur on the part of applicants and protestors, the final decisions are heavily predisposed by the professional staff recommendation. This predisposition is not overcome by compelling rational discourse, but only if a "fatal error" is committee by one group of testifiers.

Environmental problems are growing at a pace and scale that traditional research methods alone can no longer tackle. Innovative research models that utilize contributory, participatory and crowdsourcing methods are rapidly emerging to fill this gap. For these participatory efforts to be effective and sustainable, however, closer attention must be paid to key components that can promote coordinated action and sustainability. Through the lens of public participation in plant-pollinator conservation, I have, with rigorous social-ecological inquiry, offered three foundational assessment areas that can provide scientific support to this nascent field: accuracy, ecological significance and scalability. In the first study (Chapter 2), I explored a common concern about citizen science: that a lack of foundational knowledge, or familiarity with following scientific protocols could lead to inaccurate data collection. I evaluated the accuracy of plant phenology observations collected by citizen scientist volunteers following protocols designed by the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN). Phenology observations made by volunteers receiving several hours of formal training were compared to those collected independently by a professional ecologist. Approximately 11,000 observations were recorded by 28 volunteers over the course of one field season. Volunteers consistently identified phenophases correctly (91% overall and 70% during transitions) for the 19 species observed. Accuracy varied significantly by phenophase and species (p<0.0001). Volunteers who submitted fewer observations over the period of study did not exhibit a higher error rate than those who submitted more total observations, suggesting that volunteers with limited training and experience can provide reliable observations when following explicit, standardized protocols. Overall, these findings demonstrate the ii legitimacy of phenology observations collected by volunteers, an important finding for the increasing number of analysts relying on data collected by citizen scientists. In Chapter 3, I explored a common concern that restoration efforts implemented by the public may not have adequate ecological value. I addressed key ecological variables to determine how small-scale patches attracted pollinators and explored which of these variables might be best to prioritize for restoration efforts suited to public initiatives. This study demonstrated that in small-scale plant restoration sites, plant diversity and resource (nectar) availability significantly affects the abundance and diversity of pollinating insects. Specifically, the treatments which contained high-resource (nectar-rich) plant species increased pollinator abundance and diversity the most. Plant diversity increased pollinator diversity and abundance only in the absence of high-resource plants. Pollination facilitation was observed in high resource treatments, but varied among species. Competition for pollinators was observed in high diversity treatments but did not affect seed set for high-resource plants in any of the treatments. Together, these results suggest that managers or landowners who are restoring patches of native plants as habitat for pollinators should prioritize including species with high nectar production, and secondarily, a diverse mix of species if space and resources allow. In Chapter 4, I explored an emergent approach to public participation in regional community science initiatives (and networks) through an exploratory case study of the New York Phenology Project. I demonstrated that local organizations have the opportunity to utilize existing data aggregation platforms to activate regional collaborative alliances to achieve what is often challenging for large-scale contributory projects. I describe our hands-on experience of conceiving and launching a regional network and outline a model that could serve as a guide for catalyzing networks. Drawing on direct experience and interviews with network partners, I developed a description of key categories related to network node success, and a linked assessment tool that could be used to evaluate network node capacity and project outcomes. The assessment tool will be used to test preliminary findings in a more formal quantitative and qualitative exploration in future studies. In Chapter 5, I explored an exceptional long-term, community-level phenology data set that spans New York State, USA (1802-2017), and found interesting and significant patterns of phenological change over time. The data set provides statewide phenology and temperature data that extend further back in time than any previously known data set for the region, extending to years prior to or at the beginning of recent human-caused global warming. I found that most species are flowering and leafing earlier in recent years (2009-2017) than they did in the early 19th century (1802-1861). Plants are flowering 11 days earlier and leafing 18.8 days earlier, with some species flowering up to 27 days earlier and leafing up to 31 days earlier over that time period. Most of this change was driven by warming mean spring temperatures (MST) over that time; mean spring temperatures warmed by 1.0°C statewide (2.5°C in New York City) on average between the historical and contemporary periods. Seasonality, Life Form, and the interaction between Seasonality and Life Form explained variation in phenology among species. The large number of geographically distinct sites in this dataset permitted novel investigation into differential changes in phenology between urban and rural areas (urban areas have more advanced phenology than their rural counterparts) and between insect and wind pollinated trees by seasonal category (insect pollinated trees are showing more advanced phenology than wind pollinated trees in both early and late spring). This analysis has brought the efforts of a historical network into a modern context and has illustrated how organized long-term monitoring efforts can be valuable for ecological discovery. This combined work provides a diverse contribution to the field of public participation in monitoring and conservation efforts. While thorough and disciplined ecological theories drive the design of the research, I simultaneously strove to help meet the ongoing demand for useable, purposeful insights into how to support public efforts to restore plant-pollinator habitats, monitor key ecological dynamics such as phenology, and scale networks capable of collecting data that address issues of global change.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2012

Lead is a global health hazard and reducing environmental exposures to lead is becoming increasingly important as negative health impacts are documented at lower levels of exposure. Soils, an important source of lead exposure in children, represent a largely untested reservoir of accumulated past and present lead contamination retained in the surface. Concentrations of soil lead are very spatially heterogeneous, however, and testing is required to identify whether site-specific soils present a hazard. In this dissertation I outline the several ways to increase testing and awareness about soil-lead contamination to provide individuals with the information needed to prevent exposure to soil lead. Chapter one presents a new field procedure for use by the general public to screen soils for hazardous levels of lead that is based on determining bioaccessible lead. Chapter two describes the delineation of soil-lead hotspots in four mining-impacted towns in Peru and reveals that parents using the field procedure identified a hotspot missed by previous testing. In this study, we find child blood lead information is associated with parent cleanliness, which may represent a pathway for child exposure to dust and soil lead, although no associations are seen directly with soil lead concentrations. In chapter three, Peruvian high school students use the field procedure in their science classes to identify hotspots of soil lead and share this information with their community. Finally, chapter four highlights that extremely elevated concentrations of soil lead are not limited to far-off mining communities but are also present locally in New York City. Soil core data collected does not reveal a single source or blanket atmospheric inputs, but rather highlights the variability of deposition that requires widespread testing.

Quality citizen participation in processes of policy development is crucial to a democracy interested in equity of voice for all its citizens. Citizens with less political power, however, are often absent from policy development for a variety of reasons, despite legislative and advocacy efforts for inclusion. In policy development processes, community representatives are a mechanism for traditionally marginalized or disadvantaged citizens to have a voice; yet the question remains how to effectively utilize that voice. This question stems from research demonstrating an increase in quantity citizen participation but not in quality citizen participation, which is more interested in the process of policy development as opposed to a final product. To understand quality citizen participation, a critical ethnography guided by a socio-ecological perspective allowing for the investigation of contextual as well as individual factors impacting policy development processes was conducted to assist in advancing knowledge about the best practices necessary to facilitate quality citizen participation in policy development. The policy development process explored in this qualitative study was the context provided by three CHCs in a Midwestern state. Information was gathered about these three CHC boards from multiple sources to best represent the context surrounding participation on the boards and that participation experience from the perspective of board members. The data analyzed included: descriptive statistics of seven counties which comprised the patient community of the three CHCs participating in the study, descriptive statistics of the patient communities of those three CHCs, interviews with national and state policy experts, the clinic directors and board chairs of the three CHCs and interviews with 16 board members of the three CHCs. Analysis of these data identified individual, relational, organizational, community and public policy level factors which impacted the participation of board members of three CHCs. For example, the education and background experiences of board members (individual) as well as relationships between board members and the management teams of the clinics (relational) facilitated the quality of their participation on the boards. Contextual knowledge of economic, political, and cultural factors were discovered for each of the three clinics, and proved important to understanding the quality of participation of board members. Social work educators and practitioners will benefit from the advancement of knowledge about what factors facilitate the quality of citizen participation in policy development processes. The results of this study suggest that practitioners interested in empowering consumers to have a role in the provision of services need to understand what facilitates the quality of citizen participation to ensure that consumers have a legitimate voice in policy development and implementation processes. The results of this study also inform our understanding of citizen participation in multiple policy development processes. For example, because legislators will benefit when barriers to the quality of citizen participation are identified, educators teaching social work students about macro practice will have concrete lessons to draw from; practitioners who work with non-elected members of boards will benefit from barrier identification allowing them to assist in the empowerment of future board members engaged in policy development on a wide variety of boards; and finally actual board members, especially those representing traditionally disadvantaged or marginalized communities, will benefit from knowledge gleaned from similar experiences, and educators teaching social work students about the benefits of advocacy and empowerment could assist to make their participation more effective.

No description available.

It is well documented that rural and remote Australian residents have poorer access to medical services than their counterparts in capital cities. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 1998 there were 75.3 vocationally registered general practitioners per 100,000 population in rural and remote areas, compared with 103.0 per 100,000 in metropolitan areas. In 1998 28.7% of the Australian population lived in rural and remote areas, so a substantial proportion of the Australian population is adversely affected by the unequal distribution of general practitioners. Australian country communities highly regard the services of general practitioners and they continue to demand residential medical services. Demand is driven by need for access to health services, but also by the intimate inter-relationships between the general practice and community sustainability. For example, the general practice contributes to the viability of the local hospital which is often a major employer in the district. Consequently, many country communities strive to keep their general practice by contributing to practice infrastructure, providing governance, raising funds for medical equipment, and actively helping recruitment. / thesis (PhDHealthSciences)--University of South Australia, 2004.