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Inquiry into how social movements affect change has historically been grounded in either sociology or communication studies and has focused primarily on collective action in public spheres. However, important movement activity also takes place in the private sphere between individuals. Such interactions fall outside of traditional definitions of collective action and are often absent from contemporary social movement theory.One social movement that cannot be studied adequately using existing theory and methods is the American ethical vegetarian movement. To correct this oversight in social movement theory, this dissertation undertakes a rhetorical study of the ethical vegetarian movement, focusing not only on collective action but also on the role of personal interaction in identity formation, participant recruitment, and participant mobilization. A major finding of this study is that personal interaction is the primary reason why individuals choose to adopt and advocate a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. In order to establish how movement rhetoric works, the dissertation includes rhetorical analyses of cookbooks, organization literature, media representation, interviews with movement advocates, and vegetarian conversion narratives, collected through a national survey. The author explores the use and consequences of unintentional, religious, and embodied rhetoric as means of confrontation and conversion in the ethical vegetarian movement.In this dissertation, Patricia Malesh argues for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of social movements that includes inquiry into personal interaction as movement activity. Such an inquiry clarifies the relationship between personal and collective identities and deconstructs the dichotomy between private and public spheres. She also establishes a rhetorical definition of individual movements, which exposes the interplay between movement goals and methods of persuasion and helps differentiate between similar movements (e.g., vegetarian and animal rights movements) and align those that are seemingly unrelated (e.g., vegetarian and feminist movements). The author concludes by discussing the future of the ethical vegetarian movement in the face of globalization and incorporation. She argues that rhetoricians--those who study the practice and implications of communication--should contribute more consistently to the study of how social identity is negotiated through language and action in social movements.

Until 1980 in Australia, occupational superannuation had played only a peripheral role in securing retirement savings for the workforce at large with less than 40% of all employees at this time receiving superannuation benefits. By the time the twenty-first century began, however, 91% of all Australian employees and 81% of all workers were covered by superannuation, and, by 2007, total superannuation assets had reached $1.2 trillion with superannuation fund balances the largest financial asset held by households. This substantial growth in superannuation coverage did not occur as a result of free market forces operating between producers and consumers in the superannuation industry. Rather, this increase was found to be directly related to the level of intervention in the industry by both the Labor and Coalition Governments throughout the last three decades. / The rationale provided by these Governments highlighted the public interest necessity of ensuring that there was an adequate coverage, level and rate of growth of retirement savings. Criticisms of this rationale have, however, continued to grow unabated. These concerns focus on the failure of the regulatory regime changes introduced to actually achieve their public-interest rationales in terms of improving Australia’s national savings rates or to produce effective governance mechanisms to protect the security of the worker-owned trillion-dollar asset pool now under investment. / The primary objective of this thesis was to investigate these opposing claims (within the framework of the public interest and private interest theories of regulation), via the combination of a detailed literature review and a statistical analysis which utilised factor analysis, and logistic and multiple regression modelling techniques. / This combined analysis suggested three primary conclusions: / (1) the origins of the regulatory regime change process needed to be considered as a political game with the simultaneously experienced detriments of key interest groups resulting in a groundswell of pro-regulatory reform activity which sought to obtain relief from “suffering”. The private interest prediction that governments/politicians in electoral democracies were concerned about finding a support coalition to promote their re-election chances was, therefore, confirmed; / (2) in comparison, there was less than convincing evidence to support the public interest claims of bothgovernments in relation to the origins of the regime change process; and / (3) as opposed to these origins-related findings, the regulatory impact story analysis of the review period confirmed that the primary “winner” of the regulatory regime changes was the fund manager group in general and the large, incumbent, life office entities in particular with statistically significant improvements in fund manager “detriments” (e.g. in terms of the total superannuation assets held within the statutory funds of life offices variable). While the government/politicians group was also a “winner” given the significant increases in the “bureaucratic empire building” variable, it was a significant “loser” in terms of the downturn in the public interest variables of household savings rates, net personal savings rates and voluntary superannuation contributions. The ACTU, the employers and workers in general were also all “losers” in that: union membership rates were characterised by downturns; employers do not appear to have been able to “offset” increased occupational superannuation benefits with reductions in wages and/or employment levels; and there was no significant improvement in either of the fund member indicators (i.e. in terms of the fund member welfare index or their real rate of returns). Thus, the private interest prediction that, in terms of regulatory impacts/outcomes, there would be significant wealth transfers away from fund members primarily to the fund managers was confirmed. / These findings raise implications for the ongoing development of regulation in this area which will need further consideration. For example, is it likely that future, private interest-based regulatory changes will be imposed on the occupational superannuation industry which will lead to further detriments to fund members and increasing wealth transfers to the fund managers? Alternatively, is it likely that, at some point, a regulatory backlash will occur which could lead to more public interest outcomes? Or, is it possible that the interest groups studied might “mutate” or change to adapt to future circumstances which could then, in some future period, change the “winning” and “losing” profiles highlighted in this research? Also of interest is whether these findings, which were performed within a relatively unique set of political circumstances, are robust to alternative settings or time periods? These issues are ideal topics for future research projects.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2008. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education." Under the direction of Marla Morris. ETD. Electronic version approved: May 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-221)

This thesis examines debt maturity and trade credit in public and private firms. It consists of three essays that try to answer the following questions: Does the IPO decision affect the debt maturity structure of a firm? Do private firms use more or less trade credit than public firms? Does the supplier's listing status affect its trade credit provision? The first essay investigates the effect of an initial public offering (IPO) on the evolution of debt maturity structure using a sample of U.S. firms that went public during the period 1998-2011. I find that firms decrease their short-term debt by 19% in the first two years after the IPO and decrease it post-IPO, by about 7% relative to the pre-IPO level. These results continue to hold in a sample of new debt issues, in a difference-in-difference regression of IPO and non-IPO firms, in a treatment regression to account for endogeneity of the IPO decision, and in an instrumental variable regression to control for the joint determination of leverage and debt maturity. Further results show that the decline in short-term debt post-IPO is consistent with the asymmetric information and agency costs of equity theories and inconsistent with the agency costs of debt theory. I also find that the IPO effect on debt maturity was magnified during the recent financial crisis. The second essay explores the use of trade credit by public and private firms using a sample of U.S. firms during the period 1995-2012. Evidence shows that private firms use more trade credit by about 40.4% than public firms. This result is robust to models accounting for sample selection and for the endogeneity associated with a firm's decision to go public. In line with the asymmetric information and credit constraints theories, private firms that are young, have more growth opportunities, and fewer tangible assets rely more on trade credit than their public counterparts. Compared to private firms, public firms are faster in adjusting toward their target trade credit due to their lower adjustment costs. I also find that during the recent financial crisis, public firms increased their reliance on trade credit, while, suppliers granted private firms less trade credit. The third essay examines the supply side of trade credit; more specifically, the impact of a supplier's listing status on its trade credit provision using a sample of U.S. firms during the period 1994-2012. The findings show that public firms provide nearly a quarter more trade credit than their private counterparts. I propose that this is because public firms have higher financial capability, better ability in handling the trade credit process, and in enforcing payments and contract terms, than private firms. I rule out that the endogeneity of the listing decision and the observable differences between public and private firms have driven my earlier results. Additional tests show that firm characteristics, industries types, and level of competition, have a significant impact on the level of trade credit provided by public and private firms. The results also indicate that both types of firms provided less trade credit during the recent financial crisis.

This research examines how reading and writing on digital platforms establishes public and private spheres in Tokyo, Japan. Based upon findings from a group of students at an international University, I develop new modes of thinking about people and their use of Internet capable devices by exploring the paradoxes present in contemporary literacies. Contextualizing reading and writing within the speech patterns and exchange rituals (aisatsu) which mark public spheres in Japan, writing practices are found to reflect multiple nuanced identity performances in which the varied use of the cultural principles uchi/soto (inside/outside) and ura/omote (back/front) create parallel publics. Constructed by authors and recognized by readers, these parallel publics are the result of student agency as well as the materiality of platform programing and device capabilities. Contemporary literacies have developed conventions which account for the message recipient carrying an ever-present Internet capable device, leading authors to utilize message practices which align the proximity of a platform to levels of intimacy in a relationship. Authors also compose messages which are less likely to require the receiver to excuse themselves from any given social situation. The ubiquity of human-device pairs has also impacted memory practices, with youths prioritizing recognition skills over memorization.

Orientador: Raul Borges Guimarães / Banca: Arthur Magon Whitacker / Banca: Jayro Gonçalves Melo / Banca: Yoshiya Nakagawara Ferreira / Banca: Wilson Edson Jorge / Resumo: Olhar para a cidade a partir de seus edifícios para compreensão do processo urbano é o percurso proposto pelo encaminhamento desta pesquisa. Nesse sentido, a polêmica inserção da arquitetura moderna paulista no centro histórico de cidades médias é analisada integrando as perspectivas de Vilanova Artigas e Henry Lefèbvre. Assim, o ausente é a cidade que se nega como fenômeno social, a presentificação é o desenho (desígnio) e a superação é o projeto. Então, da percepção para a cognição do espaço urbano, passando pelas relações do lote e a rua, do público e o privado, da centralidade e o lugar, do conservador e o moderno, do clientelismo e as relações de poder, discuto o discurso e a prática dessa arquitetura. Esse desígnio se concretizou? A obra está fora do lugar? Com o apoio da linguagem do desenho e suas representações, no processo da práxis do urbanismo, mediado pela função social do urbanista, faço uma reflexão sobre a cidade concebida, vivida e apropriada, e do arranjo possível, portanto, da cidade da memória, da imaginação e a ser denunciada. A forma da cidade possui um conteúdo não utilizado a ser revelado. Portanto, a cidade é o lugar das possibilidades; sendo assim, a cidade da imaginação possibilita uma perspectiva da realização do desígnio de Artigas. / Abstract: Observing the city with the focus in its buildings in order to understand the urban process is the path that this research proposes. In this sense, the polemic insertion of the São Paulo modern architecture in the historical centers of middle-size cities is analyzed by integrating the perspectives of Vilanova Artigas and Henry Lefèbvre. Thus, the absence is the city as a social phenomenon, the materialization is the design and the overcoming is the project. Therefore, from the perception to the cognition of the urban space, passing by the relations between lot and street, public and private, centrality and the place, conservative and modern, clientelism and relations of power, I discuss the discourse and the practice of such architecture. Has such design been accomplished? Is the building out of place? Supported by the language of design and its representations, in the process of the praxis of urbanism intermediated by the urbanist's social role, I make a reflection about the conceived, the lived and the appropriated city, and the possible arrangement of the city of memory, of imagination and the one to be denounced. The shape of the city has a non-used content to be revealed. Therefore, the city is the place of possibilities. Thus, the city of imagination allows us a perspective of accomplishing Artigas' design. / Doutor

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Health organizations around the world, from international bodies of government to local advocacy groups, are pushing the benefits of breastfeeding. While this is commendable, no study has ever been completed to assess on a regional scale the available policy options and their effectiveness at producing increased breastfeeding rates. It is my contention that five key factors influence the effectiveness of breastfeeding policies in Europe; Acceptance of public breastfeeding, maternity resource commitment, legal protection of breastfeeding in public and business space, a united voice in favor of breastfeeding, and limitations to formula advertisements in hospitals on media outlets. These five factors influence how successfully mothers navigate public and private space as they choose to breastfeed their children. In my effort to assess the contextual factors and policies that create an environment conducive to long term breastfeeding rates I am also interested in discovering a set of factors that do not increase the economic vulnerability of women. The emperical analysis derived from data from the WomanStats Database found that a combination of five conditions; social acceptance of public breastfeeding, maternal resource commitment, legal protection of breastfeeding, united voice in favor of breastfeeding, and laws regulating the sale of formula were all necessary in order to produce higher breastfeeding rates in Europe. The data also shows that when countries pursue these five factors female income disparity is not negatively impacted.