Adults with an opiate addiction have a higher rate of noncompliance with treatment, which limits its effectiveness and increases the burden of care for society. Effective treatment decreases emergency room visits, and overdoses. The tristate area of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio has experienced increased opiate-related arrests and deaths. This study sought to measure the extent to which treatment type (medical treatment (MS) or faith-based component of service (FBS)) predicts compliance when measured by number of clean urine drug screens (UDSs) and number of kept pill count, over and above dual diagnosis, college education, and income. The on-site records of voluntary enrollees in an outpatient facility that used either MT alone or MT with FBS were reviewed. Spearman's rho and multiple stepwise regression revealed that, with respect to clean UDSs or kept pill count, the association between dual diagnosis and college education was not found to be statistically significant. Rather, income explained about 5% of the variance in clean UDSs with a significant f change of .019, while type of treatment did not significantly impact clean UDSs. Dual diagnosis, income, and college education were not found to be significantly associated with the number of kept pill count. According to this study, type of treatment did not significantly impact compliance in the tristate area of Appalachia as measured by clean UDSs or kept pill count. Since MT and FBS are so similar in their relationship to compliance, attendance and participation in treatment may be areas for future study.

Overabundance and scarcity of water are global concerns. Across the world’s low-lying coastal plains, flooding brought on by sea level rise acts as an existential threat for a multitude of people and cultures while in desert (and increasingly non-desert) regions intensifying drought cycles do the same. In the decades to come, how people manage these threats will have important implications not only for individual and cultural survival, but also for questions of justice. Recent research on flooding and flood management probes the histories of survival, and adaptation in flood threatened regions for insights into emergent flood-related crises. However, scholars have thus far overemphasized the technical aspects of how engineered flood control systems functioned, overlooking both the specific social, political, and economic contexts within which past practices emerged and the social worlds that they helped create. This dissertation examines the social, economic, and political histories of flood control projects in the South American country of Guyana in order to understand the long lasting social, political, and environmental impacts of colonial-era projects. To do this, I utilized archival data collected from the National Archives in London, UK, historical newspaper articles collected through online newspaper databases, press release statements from Guyana’s major political parties, and unstructured and semi-structured interviews with residents from coastal Guyana. These data were imported and analyzed using qualitative data analysis software in order to make connections across spatial and temporal scales. The key finding of the dissertation is that, in Guyana, flood control engineering has historically played multiple social, political, and economic roles beyond the functional explanations assumed in many present environmental management discourses. Colonial engineering projects served as a way to protect colonizers from economic crises and social upheaval and were not just a means for protecting the coast from flooding. Additionally, the dissertation found that these projects were key to creating the racial geographies that helped to protect colonialism in its final years and which continue to shape coastal life today. Finally, the dissertation found that, after the end of colonialism, flood engineering projects were incorporated into larger projects of racialized regime survival.

To explore the complexities of refugee labor market integration in Sweden, the research performed a multi-level analysis of refugee labor market integration: from the perspective of civil society (meso-level) and from that of the refugee (micro-level). Sweden was ideal for this task because historically, it has been Europe’s most generous welfare state and during the height of the crisis, received the highest number of refugees of any European Member State (163,000 or 1,600 per 100,000 people). The research was guided by two primary research questions: First, how have the roles of the state and civil society adjusted over time in relation to the process of integrating refugees, especially since the founding of the first integration policy in 1975? Second, how are resources actually provided by each element of society, and accessed by the refugees themselves? Analytically, the research first performed a historical institutional breakdown, separating Sweden’s integration policy by sociopolitical and economically significant junctures: 1970-1990, 1990-2010, and 2010-present day. Subsequently, seventy first-person, semi-structured interviews were conducted with political-elites, civil society representatives, and refugees from different sending countries, who arrived no earlier than 2000. The findings suggest that while civil society is becoming more systematic in its operations, its utility remains under-utilized. Next, meeting human capital requirements (e.g., country specific and post-secondary education and training) does not guarantee employment. Instead, given the alteration of its labor market, it seems social capital may play a more significant role in determining employment outcomes for refugees. In other words, it seems difficulties in accessing employment for refugees are more attached to institutional constraints than they are human capital itself. Finally, given the visible segregation and low refugee labor market participation, the research supports the assumption that a highly accessible and comprehensive welfare state may not be the most efficient socioeconomic orientation for integrating refugees.

This thesis examines the present-day educational policies enacted by Spain in response to the country’s growing immigrant populations, specifically by comparing the policies implemented in two of Spain’s distinct autonomies. The thesis ultimately argues that the regions’ differing conceptualizations of national identity and their distinct relationships to the central Spanish state play a fundamental role in their motivations to enact comprehensive and effective policies that promote immigrants’ educational and social success.

Relationships or connections with caring pro-social others (e.g., parents, teachers, school, friends, neighborhood, religion) serve as pro-resilience assets that may enhance children's abilities to cope with bullying. The purpose of this research study was to explore the roles of connectedness and religiosity as potential factors that could enhance resiliency against bullying among preadolescents in Puerto Rico (PR). This doctoral dissertation also addressed several gaps in the children's bullying, resilience and religiosity research literature. A sample of 426 community-based afterschool program preadolescents (ages 10-12 years old) participated in this exploratory, cross-sectional study, by completing a quantitative questionnaire in paper and pencil format. Data was analyzed overall, by location (i.e., San Juan Metropolitan Area (SJ Metro), Other Municipalities within PR), gender, age, and church attendance. Twenty percent of all participants were victimized by bullying at least 2-3 times per month. On the other hand, 5% of participants said they had been a bully 2-3 times per month. The most frequent type of bullying perpetration and victimization reported was verbal. Participants reported the highest levels of connectedness to school and the community, followed by connectedness to parents, teachers, mothers, religion, fathers, and friends. Most participants (71%) said they attended church regularly, but only 35% did so every week. Statistically significant differences were found by location, gender, age and church attendance. Connectedness and religiosity were correlated significantly to the participants' involvement in bullying at different roles. Surprisingly, having strong prosocial connections do not appear to have a reduction impact on participants' bullying victimization. Connectedness overall, to mothers, teachers and school was positively and significantly correlated to victimization, whereas connectedness to school was negatively correlated to perpetration. Bully-victimization was negatively correlated to connectedness overall, to parents, mothers, friends, teachers, and school. Multiple linear regression analyses found that higher levels in connectedness to mother and connectedness to the community accounted for a 60% decrease and a 45% increase, respectively, in bullying perpetration among non-church attending participants. In terms of religiosity, analyses distinguished between participants' engagement in private and public religiosity practices. Private religiosity was negatively correlated to being a bullying perpetrator, and positively correlated to being a bystander. Public religiosity was positively correlated to bullying victimization. The self-report of religiosity did not affect the odds of being a perpetrator, victim or bully-victim. Specifically among SJ Metro participants, the self-report of private religiosity or the combination of both private and public religiosity reduced the odds of being a bystander. Multiple linear regression analyses found that among non-church attending participants, a 1-unit change in public religiosity acccounted for a 62% increase in bullying perpetration. While the religiosity-related findings from this study's correlation analyses were consistent with the literature, regression analyses' findings were unexpected and warrant additional research. This study goes beyond solely school-based approaches to bullying research and prevention, by utilizing a non-school sample of low-income preadolescents who attend afterschool programs at local community-based organizations. Furthermore, its focus on a younger age group (i.e., preadolescents) is consistent with the resiliency literature and the need to enhance resilience factors earlier in childhood. Findings also consider the multiplicity of actors involved in bullying (i.e., perpetrators, victims, bully/victims, or bystanders), and distinguishes between direct and indirect types of bullying. Consistent with recommendations from previous research, a socio-ecological approach was followed to explore the role of connectedness to others at the individual, family, school, peer, religious and community levels, as well as the role of religiosity as an external asset to enhance resilience in preadolescents. This exploratory study contributes to our understanding of bullying among PR preadolescents, and serve to inform the development of prevention programs, strategies and policies at the school and community level. Research on bullying in PR is limited, making it increasingly challenging for PR schools, community- and faith-based organizations to collaborate in multilevel interventions that specifically address the needs of PR's children.

In many developing countries, a significant proportion of the population relies on work in the informal sector as a source of income. Some scholars have posed the possibility of integrating the informal sector into the formal sector, in an effort to improve the lives and livelihoods of workers and the productivity of a country’s economy. This paper examines potential steps that could allow for such integration by focusing on a sub-sector of the informal sector that has already begun the process of integration: the informal waste management sector. This paper compares the cities of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Pune, India in an attempt to explore their processes of integrating the informal waste sector into the formal waste management process. By examining both scholarly works and primary government documents, this study demonstrates that both Buenos Aires and Pune have implemented a number of initiatives to develop laws and programs in order to integrate their informal waste management systems. Consequently, the municipal governments of these cities have been able to provide a more substantial livelihood for previously informal workers and have improved the sanitation of their cities. These findings imply that the governments of other cities with large informal waste sectors could utilize a similar framework to benefit both vulnerable populations and environmental practices.

Since 2011, Egypt has been in a state of chaos and instability. During this time women have suffered disproportionality in comparison to their male counterparts. However, the poor state of affairs for women did not begin after 2011; while women have slowly gained more rights during the last decade, Egypt’s commitment to gender equality has always fallen short. This paper investigates the current state of affairs for women’s rights in Egypt, especially in wake of the 2011 Revolution, and asserts that the poor quality of women’s rights is a result of a battle for power between the military and Islamic politicians, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood. It then analyzes the possibility of a better future for Egypt through an examination of Turkey because it is a secular Islamic state, which has recently reduced military power and increased democratic inclusion in politics. Ultimately, the potential for dramatic improvement in women’s rights in Egypt would necessitate a significant cultural shift, as well as greater inclusion in government—both of which are unlikely given the current state of Egyptian culture and politics.

The Kurds are the largest stateless ethnic group in the world, numbering around 30 million globally, and after more than a century of fighting for self-determination the tangible success is minimal. Turkey and Iraq both have significant Kurdish populations that are growing in size respective to the Turkish and Arab communities, and yet the only semi-autonomous territory the Kurds have is the Iraqi province of Kurdistan. With continued instability in the Middle East, and an increasingly powerful, numerous, and ideological Kurdish community present, the recipe for conflict is present. This thesis analyzes the Kurdish claim for self-determination, and the different levels of success the groups in Turkey and Iraq have faced, through secondary literature. A multi-level approach reveals how complex the Kurdish Question really is, and what other minority groups and national governments can learn from the Kurds' experience.

This paper evaluates the differences between U.S. multilateralism within ad hoc coalitions and U.S. multilateralism within permanent institutions – specifically NATO, the only standing defense alliance with which the U.S. is involved – within the context of the war in Afghanistan's COIN operations. Specifically, this work contrasts the strategies of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), the portion of the war that was undertaken by U.S. forces and a coalition of allies, and the operations of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which were defined by U.S. cooperation with NATO. Along with contrasting the overarching strategies of OEF and ISAF, this thesis evaluates the tactical differences between the two operations as they presented themselves within two pairs of tactical maneuvers: OEF Operation Red Wings vs. ISAF Operation Siege of Sangin and OEF Operation Eastern Resolve II vs. ISAF Operation Panther’s Claw.

Commercial fisheries in the Florida Keys have experienced a significant decline in participation and harvest over the past two decades, with over half of the fishers exiting the fishery since 1990 and a 50-70% decline in annual landings compared to previous decades. The conventional narrative of fisheries management identifies overfishing and overcapacity as the malaise endemic to open-access fisheries systems, for which the remedy offered is technocratic management. Technocratic management, which seeks to restore ecological integrity and economic efficiency, has been increasingly employed in the Florida Keys, in the form of limited access and property rights measures. I contend that the technocratic management approach is flawed and in a large part responsible for the decline of Florida Keys fisheries because the approach has ignored social sustainability, leading to a significant reduction in fisher participation, the fragmentation of fishing communities, and erosion of social capital. Technocratic management has also underestimated the importance of non-fishery factors, unique to place, and these factors – including population, tourism, and globalization factors – have exacerbated the impacts of management measures. The net result has been the opening up of scarce and valuable coastal space, which was previously occupied by fishers, fish houses and processors, and other fisheries infrastructure, to conversion for non-working waterfront uses. While measures have been undertaken to foster fisher participation and slow down waterfront conversion, these have largely failed due to the measures’ inability to address the core problem, which is the flawed management approach that undermines social sustainability. I provide a revised, comprehensive fisheries management framework that, if implemented, can at least address some of the technocratic management’s shortcomings and prevent further decline in fisher participation and fisheries decline.