acase@tulane.edu / The arrival of World War II triggered significant disturbances in global trade, forcing U.S. importers and exporters to find alternative sources of business to make up for lost markets in Europe and Asia. This study traces the efforts of business and civic leaders in Houston, New Orleans, and Miami to increase trade, transportation, and tourism income from Latin America and the Caribbean by adopting Pan Americanism as a business strategy. Businessmen and local civic officials believed they could combine new trade promotion institutions with a carefully cultivated Pan American civic identity to establish their cities as “gateways” to the Americas. This framework became a key component of the regional competition between Houston, New Orleans, and Miami in the late 1940s and 1950s. The implications for these Pan American business strategies stretched far beyond the Gulf South, however. Business and civic leaders often described their activities within the context of U.S.-Latin American diplomacy, connecting trade promotion and international relationship-building with broader national objectives of hemispheric cooperation and anticommunism. This connection attracted the interest of the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, whose officials hoped to leverage the influence of private enterprise to achieve Latin American economic development and discourage anti-foreign investment policies without significant government funding. Both local business communities and federal agencies used this harmony of vision to their advantage. Washington found ways to co-opt the Pan American business strategies of the Gulf South while local civic and business leaders drew legitimacy and sometimes even financial support for their programs from the federal government. Ultimately, for a variety of reasons, Pan Americanism eventually became unprofitable as a business strategy, and most of the institutions Houston, New Orleans, and Miami had established either failed or changed considerably by the 1970s. The lasting legacy of this phenomenon, however, lies in the frameworks these cities helped establish for reimagining the port city as a diplomatic space and business communities as diplomatic agents. / 1 / Joshua Goodman

Australian policy contexts are promoting school transformation through teacher learning and the development of schools as professional learning communities. However, Australian practitioners have very limited contextualised research to guide their efforts in response to these policies. The researcher’s involvement in a school revitalisation process provided the impetus for this research study that investigates the practitioner experience of a developing professional learning community at RI College (pseudonym for a large independent girls’ school in Brisbane). This study endeavours to gain a more informed and sophisticated understanding of developing a professional learning community with the intention of ‘living’ this vision of RI College as a professional learning community. Praxis-oriented research questions focus on the practitioner conceptualisation of their school as a developing professional community and their experience of supporting/hindering strategies and structures. The study gives voice to this practitioner experience through the emerging participatory/co-operative research paradigm, an epistemology of participative inquiry, a research methodology of co-operative inquiry and mixed methods data collection strategies. Incorporating ten practitioner inquiries over two years, recursive cycles of action/reflection engaged practitioners as co-researchers in the collaborative reflective processes of a professional learning community while generating knowledge about the conceptualisation and supporting/hindering influences on its development. The outcomes of these first-person and second-person inquiries, together with a researcher devised online survey of teachers, were both informative and transformative in nature and led to the development of the researcher’s theoretical perspectives in response to the study’s research questions. As outcomes of co-operative inquiry, these theoretical perspectives inform the researcher’s future actions and offer insights into existing propositional knowledge in the field. Engagement in this practitioner inquiry research has had significant transformative outcomes for the co-researchers and has demonstrated the power of collaborative inquiry in promoting collective and individual professional learning and personal growth.

This research is a case study evaluation of the use of self-organising map (SOM) techniques for ecosystem modelling to overcome the perceived inadequacies with conventional ecological data analysis methods. SOMs provide an analytical method within the connectionist paradigms of artificial neural networks (ANNs), developed from concepts that evolved from late twentieth century neuro-physiological experiments on the cortex cells of the human brain. The rate and extent at which humans influence environmental deterioration with commensurate biodiversity loss is a cause for major concern and to prevent further degradation by human impact, parsimonious models are urgently needed. Indeed, the need for better modelling techniques has never been so great. Ecologists and many national and international bodies see the situation as 'significantly critical' for the conservation of our global ecosystem to foster the continued wellbeing of humanity on this earth.The thesis investigates and further refines SOM based exploratory data analysis methods for modelling naturally evolving, highly diverse and extremely complex ecosystems. Earlier studies provide evidence on SOM ability to analyse complex forest and freshwater biological community structures at limited scales. On the other hand, growing concerns over conventional methods, their soundness and ability to model large volumes of data are seen as of little use, leading to arguments on the results derived from them. Case study chapters illustrate how SOM methods could be best applied to analyse often 'cryptic' ecosystems in a manner similar to that applied in modelling highly complex and diverse industrial system dynamics. Furthermore, SOM based data clustering methods, used for financial data analysis are investigated for integrated analysis of ecological and economic system data to study the effects of urbanisation on natural habitats.SOM approaches prove to be an excellent tool for analysing the changes within physical system variables and their effects on the biological systems analysed. The Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve case study elaborates on how SOM based approaches could be best applied to model the reserve's intertidal zone with available numeric data. SOM maps depicted the characteristic microclimate within this zone from ecological monitoring data of physical attributes, without any geographical data being added. This kind of feature extraction from raw data is found to be useful and is applied to two more case studies to study the slow variables of ecosystems, such as population dynamics, and to establish their correlation with environmental variations. SOM maps are found to be capable of distinguishing the human induced variations from that of natural/ global variations, at different scales (site, regional and global) and levels using regional and global data. Hence, SOM approaches prove to be capable of modelling complex natural systems incorporating their spatial and temporal variations using the available monitoring data, this is a major advantage observed with SOM analyses.In the third case study, potential use of SOM techniques to analyse global trends on the effects of urbanisation in environmental and biological systems are explored using the World Bank's statistical data for different countries. Many state and international institutions, concerned over global environmental issues, have made attempts to develop indicators to assess the conditions of different ecosystems. The enhancements with SOM approaches against the currently recommended indicator system based on information pyramid and pressure-state-response (PSR) models are elaborated upon.The research results of SOM methods for ecosystem modelling, similar to that applied to industrial process modelling and financial system analysis show potential. SOM approaches (i.e. cluster, dependent component, decision system and trajectories/ time series analyses) provide a means for feature extraction from the available numeric data at different levels and scales, fulfilling the urgent need for modelling tools to conserve our global ecosystem. They can be used to bridge the gap in converting raw data into knowledge to inform sustainable ecosystem management. Increasingly, traditional methods based on Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) designs and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) are seen to be unsuitable for ecological data analysis, as they are unable to detect human induced environmental impacts from that of a natural cause. This thesis proves that SOM techniques could be applied to modelling not only a natural systems complexity but also its functioning and dynamics, incorporating spatial as well as temporal variations, to overcome the constraints with conventional methods as applied in other stated disciplines.

The Neighbourhood Centres (NCs) in Sydney, Australia, were established to encourage forms of local control and resident participation and to provide a range of activities to build, strengthen and support local communities and marginalised groups. This thesis is concerned with exploring the personal conceptions, passions and frameworks, as well as the political and professional identities, of activists and community workers in these NCs. It also explores stories of practice and of how these subjective experiences have been shaped through the discourses around the NCs, some of which include feminism, environmentalism, multiculturalism and social justice. The following key research questions encouraged stories of community practice: What do the terms empowerment, participation, community service and citizenship mean for community organisation? What did community workers and organisers wish for when they became involved in these community organisations? What happened to the oppositional knowledges and dissent that are part of the organisational histories? Foucault’s concept of governmentality is used to explore the possibility that these NCs are also sites of ‘government through community’. This theoretical proposition questions taken-for-granted assumptions about community development and empowerment approaches. It draws on a willingness of the research participants to take up postmodern and poststructuralist theories. ‘Practising place’ emerges in the research as a description of a particular form of activism and community work associated with these inner city Sydney NCs. The central dimensions of ‘practising place’ include: a commitment to identity work; an openness to exploring diverse and fluid citizenship and identity formations; and the use of local knowledges to develop a critique of social processes. Another feature of ‘practising place’ is that it involves an analysis of the operation of power that extends beyond structuralist explanations of how to bring about social change and transform social relations. The research has deconstructed assumptions about empowerment, community participation, community organisations and community development, consequently another way of talking about the work of small locally based community organisations emerges. This new way of talking builds upon research participants’ understandings of power and demonstrates the utility of applying a poststructural analysis to activist and community work practices. Overall the research suggests that if activists and community workers are to work with new understandings of the operation of power, then the languages and social practices associated with activist and community work traditions need to be constantly and reflexively analysed and questioned.

Sustainable energy services aim to meet the energy demands and to improve the living standards of rural communities with the utilization of sustainable energy technologies. Such services are becoming increasingly important due to the reduction of traditional energy resources and the ongoing increase in the demands. The demands are mainly due to the growth of population, domestic consumptions and industrial uses. In addition, increasing awareness of issues such as global warming, carbon emission, peak oil and the need for a sustainable environment has kindled keen interests in sustainable energy around the world. Many projects on sustainable energy services have been launched and particularly in developing countries. In most areas, at least one type of sustainable energy resources is available. In the case of Thailand, in additional to resources such as solar and wind, there are other sustainable energy resources in the forms of biomass and waste residue from agricultural products. However, there exist practical problems hindering the success of many sustainable energy projects. Two key reasons are the lack of in depth knowledge regarding the sustainable energy systems among the local users, and the limited budgets for planning, research and development. Therefore, the need to promote better understanding of sustainable energy technologies is necessary in order to gain better utilization of the energy services and acceptance by the community. One possible solution is the use of a Knowledge Management System (KMS). Based on advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the integration of knowledge management and web technologies has enabled KMS to be developed as an effective tool for the sharing, management and dissemination of valuable knowledge on any particular subject. This combination has the potential to promote the knowledge and initiate relevant activities thereby enabling the acquisition and management of diverse types of information and data. Typical functions and services which could be provided are: checking updated information on sustainable energy resources around a particular area; teaching of sustainable energy systems development and maintenance processes; sharing of best practices and lessons learned…etc. With the availability of the internet, a Web-based KMS will be a valuable channel for the gathering, sharing, extracting and dissemination of knowledge about the sustainable energy services for the Thai communities. This thesis presents the research and development of a knowledge management (KM) platform for sustainable energy technologies. The system is implemented with web GIS server-side application and it is installed at the School of Renewable Energy Technology, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand. To assess the effectiveness of the developed system, surveys in the form of pre-questionnaires and post-questionnaires from the users are used. Such information is used to determine the effectiveness of the system and to measure the improvement of the participants’ knowledge on the subject. There are three groups of participants involved in this study: local government administrators, researchers and general users. The overall results of the questionnaires reveal that the participants are satisfied with the performance of the KM platform. The results also indicated that the KM platform provides adequate knowledge on the subject and it has a high level of user friendliness. It was found that the participants’ knowledge is also increased and the increase is in proportion to the time they engaged with the KM platform. A linear regression analysis of the researchers and local government administrators has shown that the increment of the participants’ knowledge has a linear relationship with the learning period on the KM platform with statistical significance. Findings from this study can be used as a guideline and for further development on improving the local Thai communities’ knowledge on sustainable energy technologies.

This is a qualitative study forming half of a coursework/thesis MA in Community Education (HRD). It investigates some of the influences affecting gay men growing up in rural communities. It provides material that may be useful in developing education programs for gay men themselves, for the general community and particularly for health educators. The study illustrates and highlights these issues by presenting extracts and case studies from twenty indepth interviews with rural homosexually active men. It looks at factors affecting homosexual identity formation in rural communities and finds there are common influences of family, religion, school and role models. It also identifies and examines other influences of a rural nature, including concepts of masculinity, heterosexism and homophobia, which may have a very restrictive effect on an emerging homosexual identity. The effects of such influences are explored, revealing common issues of isolation, loneliness and lack of self esteem. The study reveals some of the particular difficulties faced by young men becoming aware of and dealing with their emerging homosexuality particularly in a rural community. Resultant behaviour is investigated and found to include for some a fairly successful integration of homosexuality into their lives, but for others there are common behaviours of denial, moving away from the community, or contemplation of suicide. The study highlights the importance of contacts with gay-identified men for support and the need to be exposed to role models with whom gay men can identify. In this respect, the influence on smaller communities of the mass media is found to be having an increasing significance Unfortunately, the study also postulates that broader and positive changes in the wider community may have served to heighten difficulties faced by rural men if such changes are not mirrored at the local level. An awareness of increasing acceptance and support for gay men in the wider community may be frustrating at least, if local support has not also developed. In fact the study finds support for the assertions by other researchers that there are links between sexuality and recent increases in rural male youth suicide. The findings support the view that sexuality may play a significant part in the contemplation of suicide by young gay men. The particular value of the study is in exploring the issues through the words of the men themselves. The extracts and case studies offer rich and varied illustrations of growing up gay in the country.

The World Health Organisation has developed a concept of ecological health- a notion that health, using a broad definition, is a product of the societies and environments in which we live. It is the aim of the WHO to achieve "Health for All by the Year 2000." This reform agenda incorporates education as a tool for social change. This study investigates the role of education in social change, with local and global health as an objective. The background to the development of this concept is outlined, as are the social issues that make this such an important perspective. Theories of social formation and the role of the school in relation to society are discussed, and the research that confirms that schools do "make a difference" reported. Definitions of change, factors affecting social change and models of change are described. Factors relating specifically to educational change are outlined and related to examples of educational change, designed to promote social change, in Australia. Case studies, composed of descriptions of schools written by staff members to illustrate the process of working towards becoming "Healthy School Communities" and transcripts of interviews, are analysed to determine the extent and type of change that is taking place within each school, and how the changes are happening. Schools reported changes to attitude, understanding, policies and practice. The analysis is then discussed, and the conclusion reached that this construct of education has some useful conceptual frameworks, for the cultural changes that are occurring in Australia and other Western cultures.

<p> </p><p>Many of Europe’s day-living butterflies have shown decreasing populations during the last decades and many species are threatened. Many butterflies are dependent on managed semi-natural grasslands because of their richness in nectar sources and host plants for the butterfly larva. Swedish pastures are mostly managed through grazing. The number of cattle in Sweden have been decreasing while the number of sheep in the country increased by 30%. I examined if there was any differences in the butterfly and herb species diversity between pastures grazed by cattle or sheep. During the fieldwork, ten structurally similar pastures in the vicinity of Linköping, Östergötland were studied. Grazing by cattle was favourable both for butterfly and herb species with respect to species richness. Larger amounts of grass biomass and ground coverage by grass were in this study linked to sheep grazing. There have earlier been proposed that sheep graze more selective on herbs in favour of grass, with decreasing amounts of herbs and increasing amounts of grass in sheep grazed pastures, as a result. This theory is confirmed in this paper. The hypothesis that lower amounts of herbs give lower supply of larval host plants, which result in declining populations of day-living butterflies was strengthened by this study.</p>

<p>This is an essay about gated communities and their impact on society. The key questions of my essay are: why people choose to live in gated communities; how the city is impacted by gated communities and what the difference concerning the reasons and impact of gated communities in Florida and Sweden is, and what this difference might depend on. I am using postmodern urbanism as a starting point, and I look closer on Edward J. Soja’s theories about the postmodern metropolis. The research about gated communities is almost nonexistent in Sweden, so the literature I have read and used in my essay has mostly an American perspective. For a Swedish perspective I have among other things interviewed a professor in urban planning from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.</p><p>My study shows that a search for security and a certain lifestyle are the main reasons for people to live or want to live in gated communities, both in Florida and in Sweden. However, there is a big difference in the subject between Florida and Sweden, mainly because there are only a few living areas in Sweden that can be considered as being gated communities. In Sweden a new lifestyle community called Victoria Park and is considered being a “Swedish gated community” has gotten a lot of critique in the media. This shows that gated communities are not really accepted in Sweden yet. In Florida gated communities are not considered extraordinary and you can see the negative impacts they have had on the city, like empty cities without the service that is now found inside gated communities.</p><p>Gated communities can be seen by some as a dream living situation, and for others a nightmare. Living in a private community with gates are not yet something you can do in Sweden, but the development of living areas like Victoria Park and its popularity show that maybe it won’t take long until it’s not considered as an irregularity.</p>

The relationship between nutrients and community structure is poorly understood in open-coast habitats. I created a system of artificial tidepools, of identical age and physical dimensions, at two sites that differed in wave exposure, and manipulated nutrient levels and the abundance of herbivores. Using these unique field mesocosms, I explored the role of changes in nutrient dynamics and tested two predictive models of community structure in a rocky intertidal community. I modified a simple food-chain model to include the effect of hydrodynamics on nutrient delivery rates and herbivore foraging efficiency. Field experiments demonstrated that nutrients had strong effects on the abundance and productivity of seaweeds. Algal productivity was negatively influenced by herbivory, contrary to model predictions, because species with the potential to increase growth rates when given additional nutrients were virtually eliminated in the presence of herbivores. The effects of both nutrients and herbivory varied in a manner consistent with predicted effects of hydrodynamic forces. Contrary to simple food-chain models, herbivores did not respond to nutrient additions. I assessed nutrient dynamics during low tide, demonstrating that nutrients were rapidly depleted from tidepools. I also examined variation in nutrient uptake rates relative to the experimental treatments described above, for both whole pools and on a biomass-specific basis. Nutrients were almost always removed from pools at the same rate dispensers added them. Uptake rates were significantly correlated with the abundance of fleshy seaweeds. Synthesizing the results of these and other studies, I proposed that the abundance of tidepool seaweeds can be modeled as a function of pool volume, degree of tidal isolation, water flow at high tide, and herbivory. I tested the predictions of a functional group model and evaluated the validity of equating physical and biological disturbances by examining algal diversity and abundance patterns in tidepools along gradients of potential productivity, herbivory, scour and wave exposure. The abundance of functional groups varied along environmental gradients, but not always in a manner consistent with predictions. I suggested that physical and biological processes must be modeled separately, and that better operational definitions of environmental potentials will aid in development of these models. / Graduation date: 1999