The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which Arizona public school districts had a designated school-community relations director position with a clearly defined "gatekeeper" role and to determine the effectiveness of this role as perceived by newspaper editors and as evidenced by newspaper coverage of various news topics. Two different questionnaires and a topic analysis of newspaper stories were methods used to collect data. One questionnaire, responded to by 87 superintendents of Arizona school districts having enrollments of more than 800, pertained to the status of the position of school-community relations director and to school-press relationships. Data collected by this instrument was used to categorize districts into 18 different groups on the bases of district size, district type, and the employment of school-community relations personnel. A representative school district was selected from each category and editors of the newspapers serving those particular districts were contacted. Eleven different editors responded to a questionnaire or telephone interview pertaining to school-press relations and news coverage. Specific issues of the designated newspapers were then analyzed to identify the number and direction of different school news topics. In addition, an analysis of job descriptions submitted by school-community relations personnel determined specific functions of the position. The major findings of the study included: (1) Twenty-nine full- or part-time school-community relations directors were identified, who to some extent served as "gatekeeper" between their districts and the newspapers. (2) Although school-community relations directors expressed high priority on press-related activities, the amount of news coverage pertaining to these districts in most instances did not reflect this priority. Districts without school-community relations personnel appeared to receive just as much news coverage as those districts which did employ someone in the position. (3) School-community relations personnel perceived relations with newspapers to be much more positive than did newspaper editors. (4) Virtually no differences existed in the number of different topics nor in the direction of coverage between news about school districts employing school-community relations directors and districts that did not. Additional findings pertained to job roles, news sources, positive press-school relationships, and types of news topics.

<p> Understanding the relationships between human health, water, sanitation, and environmental health is a requirement to understanding the challenges that face researchers when it comes to addressing global health relating to water and sanitation. Access to improved water and sanitation is not only a precondition to health, but to all aspects of daily living. Target 7.C of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) addresses worldwide disparities in access to improved water and sanitation by calling for the reduction in <i> "half of the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015".</i> Over 90% of the population of Costa Rica has access to improved water and sanitation, thus exceeding the water and sanitation targets for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Despite having access to water and sanitation, little is known whether communities are only interested in access or if quality and quantity of water and sanitation systems are as equally as important. Target 7.c of the MDGs does not include water quality in the definition of safe water. Furthermore, the use of the words "safe" and "improved" in the target are often interchanged and can be misleading, especially when considering the impact of water quality on population health. In Costa Rica, households in the Nandamojo watershed have access to improved water and sanitation; it is unclear whether the drinking water is potable with respect to Costa Rican and the World Health Organization (WHO) water quality standards. The impact of leaking septic systems on human and environmental health is also unknown. </p><p> Illnesses associated with recreational water are an increasing public health problem, causing a great burden of disease in bathers every year. The global health impact of infectious diseases associated with recreational water exposure has been estimated at around three million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per year, resulting in an estimated economic loss of around twelve billion dollars per year. Fecal and chemical contamination of recreational water is a concern, especially in areas of non-point source pollution. Health-based water monitoring is often conducted in recreational waters as a tool for assessing risk. In Costa Rica, recreational water sampling is conducted at coastal beach areas only, neglecting other surface waters used by residents and tourists. Community perspectives regarding recreational water use and the associated risks are limited. Understanding these perspectives will enable public health professionals to better target community needs, such as education and to address the concerns of participating communities. </p><p> This dissertation was divided into three chapters. The first chapter explored community perceptions on improved water and sanitation, the second chapter assessed community water systems and the risk of acute diarrheal disease, and the third chapter captured community perceptions on recreational water use and the risk of waterborne illness. Methodologies for water sampling and analyses were used to assess water quality, while household interviews and focus groups were conducted to capture qualitative data. </p><p> Results from the first chapter showed participants had positive perceptions towards their improved water and sanitation systems. Household interviews revealed almost half of the respondents had concerns with water quality, while less than 25% did not think their septic tanks leaked or overflowed during rain events. Focus group discussions revealed common themes. Participants identified water quality, health, pipes, water scarcity, odors, insects, and overflow/infiltration of water and sanitation to be important issues. Participants revealed convenience, improved health and safety and the lack of odors to be themes directly related to customer satisfaction of improved water and sanitation. </p><p> Results from the second study revealed 57% of household samples had total coliform bacteria above the Costa Rican standard for safe drinking water exceeding the single standard limit of zero, while 61% failed the World Health Organization standard for fecal coliforms exceeding the single standard limit of zero. AGII was identified in 41 of the 378 household residents (11%). The odds ratio for AGII among household residents with a water sample positive for total coliforms was 1.88 (0.81-3.17). Fecal coliforms were statistically significant for those with AGII (OR = 3.19, 1.43-7.12). Regression modeling analyses revealed individuals with AGII and household drinking water positive for fecal coliforms to be statistically significant (OR = 3.01, 1.33 - 6.84), while other covariates (total coliforms, gender, treated water, and families) also had odds ratios greater than one, but were not significant. </p><p> Results from the third chapter indicated most respondents felt recreational water sources, such as streams and rivers were contaminated with human, animal, and chemical wastes. Focus group participants also stated they did not use inland waters for recreational purposes for these reasons. However, many did admit using marine water for recreational bathing and felt these areas were not contaminated. These beliefs did coincide with the water quality results from freshwater sources, but not marine sources. Fecal coliform contamination was widespread throughout the watershed in freshwater sources. Marine water samples failed the World Health Organization (WHO) and Costa Rican recreational water standards for fecal coliform and enterococci in 36% and 6% of the samples, respectively. </p><p> The overall results of this dissertation suggest that the definitions of improved water and sanitation have to include, at a minimum, water quality, water quantity, proper construction and containment of storage tanks, and oversight and maintenance of these systems. Given the challenges facing communities in the Nandamojo watershed regarding water and sanitation, it is essential for scientists, researchers, policy makers, water committees, health providers, and community members to design and implement strategies in water resource management and proper waste management. Communities and water committees would also be best served if they worked with government agencies to conduct concurrent testing of both recreational water and drinking water, especially since both them target many of the same parameters.</p>

Physical activity (PA) (30 minutes of accumulated moderate intensity PA on most days) can protect against and enhance physical and mental ill-health. Despite this, 60% to 75% of the Scottish population do not meet the current PA recommendations. Those living in socially and economically deprived communities are particularly susceptible to chronic diseases related to sedentary lifestyles. Three studies were conducted as part of this research. Study One - Aim: To develop a reliable, valid, self-assessing, British, 7-day recall measure of occupational and leisure PA. Study Two - Aim: To pilot the procedures necessary to conduct the main study. Study Three - Aim: To assess the effects of a fitness assessment compared to a control intervention and an exercise consultation compared to a control intervention on PA, SOC and POC over 1 year in a community population high in social and economic deprivation. Methodology Three thousand residents of 2 socially and economically deprived communities were invited to volunteer for a fitness assessment or exercise consultation. Fitness assessment volunteers were randomly assigned into an experimental or control group (receiving PA information only) as were exercise consultation volunteers. This produced 4 groups; fitness assessment experimental (FAE, N=112) and control (FAC, N=113) and exercise consultation experimental (ECE, N=73) and control (ECC, N=72). Results For those not regularly active (contemplators and preparers), leisure PA initially increased and was maintained to 6 months before falling at 1 year post test. There were few group differences. Only the ECE group reported significantly higher levels of leisure PA at 1 year compared to baseline. SOC mirrored PA, with baseline contemplators and preparers mostly progressing into action, maintaining this to 6 months before regressing back to baseline SOC at 1 year for those not regularly active at baseline. Exercise consultations offered the best chance of study adherence and long-term SOC maintenance.

<p> A number of states have adopted certification programs for community health workers (CHWs) to increase oversight, allow for direct funding, and improve recognition of CHWs as members of the health care team. More states are considering CHW certification programs to increase the use of CHWs by health care organizations with the hopes of improving health outcomes and decreasing health disparities. There has been little research into the impact of state CHW certification on the adoption and dissemination of CHWs into the existing health care system. This study examined the impact of state CHW certification on the perceptions of team climate among registered nurses (RNs) who work with CHWs in states with and without CHW certification programs. Team climate is defined as the perceptions of team members on how they work together, share a single vision, are open to new ideas, and if they feel safe and supported by other team members. This study recruited RNs using an online purposeful sampling method to compare the perceptions of team climate using the Team Climate Inventory (TCI) short-form. The study found no significant differences in the overall mean TCI score or TCI subscale scores between RNs who work in states with CHW certification programs (n = 81) and those who work in states without CHW certification programs (n = 115). There was a significant difference in one survey question on the RNs views of whether state certification of CHW improved the ability of their health care team to deliver quality care. Further analysis of the results using multiple regression found few significant predictors of overall TCI and TCI subscale scores among the independent variables used in the regression models. Registered nurses are the largest part of the professional health care workforce, and their ability to collaborate and work with CHWs is critical to the integration of CHWs into existing health care organizations. More research on the impact of state certification of CHW and the factors that influence the adoption of innovative health care delivery methods is needed to meet the national goal of eliminating health disparities and improving health in minority and underserved populations. </p>

The audit expectations gap is a prominent issue in the private sector. However, in the public sector, the audit expectations gap is an emerging issue that has received little attention by reseachers. To date, only a limited number of studies on the audit expectations gap in the public sector are available, either in the context of a financial audit or a performance audit. This study focused on the audit expectations gap in the context of the latter. The importance of the performance audit function in the Malaysian public sector, combined with recent developments related to this type of audit in the country (such as increasing expectations among the users and associated problems in practice) were the reasons for conducting the study in this area. Thus, the study aims to identify the existence of the audit expectations gap in the Malaysian public sector. In achieving this objective, it explores the perceptions of auditors and Public Account Committee (PAC) members, auditees and ‘other users’ (consisting of journalists, politicians and academics). The conceptual framework in this study was developed based on Chowdhury’s (1996) and Porter’s (1993) approaches. Utilising the accountability-based framework as suggested by Chowdhury, six audit concepts (auditor independence, auditor competence, audit scope, auditor ethics, audit reporting and auditing standards) were examined. Porter’s model was subsequently utilised to identify the nature and the components of the gap. This study employed two types of research methods: interviews and audit report analysis. Interviews were conducted with 37 participants comprising of auditors, PAC members, auditees and ‘other users’. The second research method involved the examination of four performance audit reports. The findings of this study indicated that the audit expectations gap exists in the Malaysian public sector in the context of performance auditing. The analysis of interviews and audit reports clearly suggest that the audit expectations gap exists over a number of auditing issues. These comprise fraud detection exercises, the influence of management, executive and other parties on auditors, outsourcing the audit to private audit firms, content and format of the audit report and extending the audit mandate to cover the question of merits of policy.

The public service ethos (PSE) has spent thirty years - since the advent of New Public Management - in flux. In the late 1990s, partnership working appeared to offer an alternative to NPM, as part of a perceived shift to network governance. What impact has partnership and network governance had on the PSE? This study looked at two case studies of Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) operating under different local governance conditions. It interviewed public servants within these CSPs on their experiences of partnership working, and perceptions around public service itself. What emerged is a picture of partial network governance, with each case study taking a different approach and yielding different structures and outcomes. While the public servants were professional and committed, they were loyal to their field of work and individual clients. In the recent decades, public interest and consideration of wider societal impact has been removed from everyday working; what remains is a vacuum. The neo-liberal view – that satisfying individual client need creates societal benefit when aggregated – has taken root. PSE is now a partial concept: it remains altruistic but without the core of wider, deeper thinking required. While network governance could ameliorate this trend, the partial and limited implementation of the concept by government means that it hinders PSE as much as it fosters it.

This thesis examines U.S. immigrant and refugee policy and policy discourse to understand the formation of Muslims as particular sites of risk as immigrants in the War on Terror. Theorists of international relations theorize securitization as a process in which state actors begin to use the language of security in considering the regulation and governance of a certain policy issue area. I argue that the securitization of various figures who are Muslim or are linked to Muslim-majority countries in post-9/11 immigrant and refugee policy and political discourse contributes to political conditions under which Islam is understood as the only trusted identifier that marks the potential terrorist.Chapters II and III of this thesis explore two case studies of the securitization of figures who are Muslim or presumed to be Muslim: the conversation in 2002 and 2003 about the risk presented by international studies from Muslim-majority students; and that of Syrian refugees as would-be terrorists in 2015 and 2016. In the final chapter, I turn to that which I suggest is a realization of the logic that treats all Muslims as risk, the Trump executive orders heavily restricting immigration from Muslim-majority countries, and document the judicial contestations that follow.

No description available.

The purpose of this mixed methods qualitative case study is to gain a deeper understanding about the factors that contribute to and/or hinder women’s participation in the construction industry by examining women’s experiences within one very industry-specific, male-dominated nontraditional occupation (NTO)—the concrete industry. In this study I utilized a combination of methods including interviews and survey research, as well as case analysis of an organization specifically involved with this population, the Women In Concrete Alliance (WICA). This investigation identifiesd some of the reasons why women’s participation remains low, discusses some of ways that the private, public, and educational sectors have set out to address those shortages, how women working in the field felt feel about those initiatives based upon their experiences, and what systems of support these women draw upon to remain active in a male-dominated profession. As women’s associations within NTOs are one relatively formal potential means of support for women facing occupational isolation, this study also examines different types of organizations to which women working in NTOs belong (e.g. membership, educational, advocacy, trades). I want to know in what ways the organizations benefit members; how the organizations support themselves or are supported financially.

An historical analysis of the solid waste management collection practices was undertaken. The analysis attempted to examine and evaluate the current private contract collection system which is being used by the City, and to determine whether the City needs to convert to a public collection system. Based on the findings of the study, the writer recommended that the City of Daytona Beach should go into public collection.