As many as 61% of veterans have sought reintegration services after the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) to help them cope with culture shock. TAP is not designed to address cultural transition. However, culture shock has resulted in disassociating behavior, unemployment, and homelessness in the veteran community. The purpose of this study was to identify the unmet reacculturation needs of post-active duty veterans in Chester County, Pennsylvania, who have utilized the United States’ Department of Defense’s TAP. Using an ethnographic approach, this study identified the extent that the TAP helps 13 post-active duty veterans obtain the autonomy stage of culture shock theory to the extent of career transition preparation only. In areas of reacculturation, veterans reported feeling on their own to manage mounds of paperwork during a perceived pointless “check the box” out process course set to calibrate an individual to civilian life through “toxic positivity.” This study found that veterans do not perceive separation from the military as solely a career change but as a cultural and lifestyle change. TAP does not address the needs of cultural and/or lifestyle changes, which impedes veterans' reacculturation through autonomy obtainment. It is recommended that TAP expand the application of 10 U.S.C. §1142(b)(10) to include cultural transition as a part of the transition plan. Addressing veterans' culture shock will help reduce the 20 veteran suicides per day due to readjustment issues leading to positive social change.

A few ruling individuals from party organizations overpowered Indonesia’s post-authoritarian, representative democracy. The legislative process of the 2017 Election Act was the case study employed to examine this assumption. The underlying thinking was that there was a contest between “wealth power” (oligarchy) and “participation power” (democracy). The power of wealth controls the party and government institutions. Notwithstanding the presence of participation power, there was, however, no balance between wealth power and participation power, because the formal control of politics was in the hands of party oligarchs. The study purpose was to bridge the gap in knowledge by exploring how the party oligarchs maintained the policymaking, reputedly using cartelized strategies, to defend the status quo. By employing the oligarchy and cartelization theories, the central research question of this inquiry focused on how the party oligarchs, allegedly using cartel work-patterns, mastered the policy process in post-Suharto Indonesia. A qualitative case-study was used with in-depth interviews with 15 participants for data collection and the N-Vivo program for data analysis. Qualitative findings indicated that the party oligarchs engineered the legal process in parliament applying cartelized strategies to defend privileges they obtained from collusive interpenetration with the state. The implications for social change include informing members of parliament, other policymakers, and civil society groups of the cruciality of comprehending the modus operandi of oligarchic cartels. Understanding the “oligarchic cartelization” theoretical postulate is a fundamental step for party members to improve their performance in public offices. The results of this study can also be a useful reference for pro-democracy activists to defend the ontological essence of public participation in implementing representative democracy at an appropriate level.

This study was designed to examine the unanticipated changes that occur for single organizations that participate in Interorganizational Relationships (IORs). Its purpose was to discover the unanticipated effects that organizations participating on one IOR known as the Neighborhood Center Association (NCA) experienced. It was focused to examine effects at an organizational level and to take into consideration NCA development over time. Through the use of participant observation, in-depth interviewing and document analysis methods it was intended to provide an insider's viewpoint of the case. This combination of purpose and focus was shown to be unique and lacking in the general literature on IORs. The NCA was a partnership of neighborhood centers which delivered human services to their neighborhood residents. All centers were located in the same small city and shared four common funders. The author was involved as a consultant to the partnership for several years. The NCA was seen to proceed through a series of developmental stages over its lifespan from 1980-89. Those stages of increasing then decreasing intensity were named as Networking, Coordination, Collaboration and Decline (Loughran, 1982). The results of the study identified five general areas of unanticipated changes that occurred for neighborhood centers participating in the NCA. (1) The NCA tended to impair the ability of neighborhood centers to adapt to their changing environment and eventually facilitated the forced consolidation of centers by their funders. (2) The existence of the NCA acted to unify neighborhood center funders together which in turn affected both neighborhood centers and the NCA in many ways. (3) The NCA served to intensify relationships between neighborhood centers and their directors which led to unexpected complications in those relationships. (4) The NCA required commitments of its members and thus tended to reduce their autonomy. (5) Consultants (including the author) were involved in nearly all key NCA development issues and thus strongly influenced that development and the subsequent effects on neighborhood centers.

Why is there significant variation in rent extraction amongst high-income democracies? A large number of political economy investigations into this research question have found that a long period of democratic rule and high per capita income are associated with less rent extraction amongst public policy-makers. However, attempts to explain the residual, yet significant, variation in rent extraction amongst countries that possess both these characteristics have been significantly more circumspect and disputed. The thesis explores how the distribution of policy-making responsibilities between electorally accountable decision-makers (EDD) and their electorally unaccountable (NEDD) public policy-making counterparts, determines the optimal level of rents extracted in any given high-income democracy context. Specifically, the thesis formally models how: (1) variation in the EDD/NEDD ratio, by altering (2) voters’ evaluation of incumbent competency, changes (3) the incentives that policy-makers, wishing to remain in office, have to minimize their short term level of rent extraction in order to signal their competency and hopefully retain office. Given these ‘career concerns’ the theoretical model predicts that an increase or decrease in the EDD/NEDD ratio will be associated with more or less rent extraction. This hypothesis is then tested empirically, primarily using an augmented version of Persson and Tabellini’s (2003) dataset. Specifically, the thesis tests whether (1) the EDD/NEDD ratio can predict variation in rent extraction only amongst high-income democracies; (2) whether voters, and not just elites, use the EDD/NEDD ratio to update their beliefs regarding the determinants of rent extraction; and (3) whether the EDD/NEDD ratio affects the level of rent extraction, once controlling for other institutional variables (Efficacy of Elections) also associated with variation in voter evaluation of incumbents’ competency. Establishing that the EDD/NEDD ratio does robustly predict variation in rent extraction is a significant finding, as it can enable analysts to predict how changes in policy-making contexts may affect the incentive for good governance in this sub-set of countries. However, the results are (1) exploratory in nature, and also (2) contingent on other factors (regime type and institutional variation), meaning that while significant, they cannot be generalized to non-democratic contexts.

Via six published papers, this thesis assembles a body of work by Simmons on user participation and involvement in the governance and delivery of public services in the UK. Collectively, the papers examine how users are able, and what makes them willing, to interact with public services in order to maintain or improve them. Cumulatively, the published papers contribute to a more detailed and nuanced understanding of user involvement and participation, enabling deeper understanding of users’ motivations and experiences, the choices available to them and how these are constrained. The published papers are contextualised in a linking narrative. This locates the papers within wider debates about the place and role of service user involvement and participation and how this has evolved over the last fifty years (Section 3). It then considers a range of broader literatures, selected to capture key elements of the conceptual and theoretical questions to which the papers are addressed (Section 4). A summary of each publication is provided, detailing its individual contribution to the participation literature (Section 5). The papers’ cumulative contribution is then considered (Section 6). Together, the six publications contribute to deeper understandings of both user involvement (establishing nuances in user attitudes and behaviour), and the possibilities that arise within different spaces for involvement (according to such factors as who the participants are, what they connect with (service, service providers, service context), and how these connections form distinctive ‘fields' of relationships). This thesis suggests these things all matter when it comes to users finding their voice - and user knowledge being incorporated into the governance and delivery of public services. It concludes that users’ ‘projects’ of involvement and participation (and the environments for those projects) are often complex, bringing together a range of different forces that must be balanced within the public service system.

In the best of times, emergency managers of athletic event venues struggle with the responsibilities of venue security. The possibility of terrorist threats exacerbates the situation, especially when security threats can involve a critical mass of spectators at an event. Emergency managers at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletic venues were the focus of this study. The overarching research question examined whether the minimum core competencies and qualifications for NCAA emergency managers were perceived by the same managers as being sufficient and in alignment with the work that is expected of the position. Research questions were designed to study what practices emergency managers in the field deemed as the most important minimum work qualifications necessary to competently perform their duties. A quantitative survey instrument was administered to 120 Division I-A football stadium emergency managers. A 42 percent response rate was obtained. Data were collected and analyzed using a 3-round Delphi technique. Data were solicited by an online survey for the first 2 rounds, and either online or by mail for the final round. A total of 50 core competencies were identified with a high rate of agreement (96 percent) among participants. Findings indicate that command level emergency management related experience is vitally important with developing the most competent stadium emergency manager, while advanced educational training opportunities available through the Department of Homeland Security and National Center for Sports Security ranked low. Positive social change implications stemming from this study include a greater understanding of skills required to secure sporting venues, thereby potentially increasing the level of safety to spectators and reducing the possibility of terroristic threat.

The growth of mobile phone use has paralleled increased reports of identity theft. Identity theft can result in financial loss and threats to a victim's personal safety. Although trends in identity theft are well-known, less is known about individual cell phone users' attitudes toward identity theft and the extent to which they connect it to cell phone use. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how cell phone use is affected by attitudes toward privacy and identity theft. The study was based on social impact theory, according to which people's attitudes and behavior are affected by the strength and immediacy of others' attitudes and behavior. The research questions concerned the extent to which participants connected cell phone use with decreasing privacy and increasing cybercrime, how the use of biometrics affected cell phone users' attitudes and behavior, and what steps can be taken to reduce the misuse of private information associated with cell phone use. Data collection consisted of personal interviews with representatives from 3 groups: a private biometrics company, individual cell phone users who earn more than {dollar}55,000 a year, and individual cell phone users who earn less than {dollar}55,000 a year. Interviews were transcribed and coded for themes and patterns. Findings showed that interviewees were more likely to see identity theft as a problem among the public at large than in the industries in which they worked. Participants recommended a variety of measures to improve cell phone security and to reduce the likelihood of identity theft: passwords, security codes, voice or fingerprint recognition, and encryption. The implications for positive social change include informing government officials and individual users about the use and abuse of cell phones in order to decrease violations of privacy and identity theft while still promoting national security.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Inaccurate forecasts of operating expenditures during the planning phase for new Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects in the United States underestimated future costs by up to 45% (Pickrell, 1989). When operating expenditures exceeded projected levels, local transit agencies often reduced public transit services to operate within their respective annual budgets. Therefore, it is imperative for transit agencies to produce reasonably accurate planning estimates to secure sufficient funding to support future operations, maintenance, and service delivery associated with LRT systems. The research aimed to develop a more accurate LRT operating expenditure predictive model to be used during the planning stage. Traditional statistical analysis and various machine learning-based algorithms were utilized with input from 22 LRT systems in the United States spanning between 2008 to 2018 from various U.S. governmental public databases. This praxis extended the current state of practice that relied primarily on sum of unit-cost estimates (also known as the unit-cost method) which generally failed to produce accurate forecasts due to lack of engineering details at the planning stage. Existing research attempted to develop regression-based methodologies using system-based attributes but did not substantially increase prediction accuracy from using the unit-cost method. The research improved current practices and research by having developed a more accurate and replicable machine learning-based predictive model using available geographic, socio-economic and LRT system-related variables.

This research sought to ascertain the extent to which providing public sponsored health insurance (PSHI) to previously uninsured Mexican-American Hispanics improves health outcomes among those requiring ongoing treatment to control diabetes. Prior research utilizing insurance access theory; access, equity, and health outcome interrelationship theory; health affordability theory; and financial and resource burden theory suggests the uninsured receive less care than the insured, with delayed treatment, leading to chronic conditions. This research tested each of those major theoretical constructs into a blended conceptual framework based on the notion that providing health insurance helps alleviate the disabling effects of diabetes among this population. This study used an unobtrusive, longitudinal, one group pretest-posttest design. Research questions were designed to measure the strength of the relationship between PSHI and patient health outcomes using physical examination data, laboratory results, and diagnosis of 712 diabetic patients with 5,300 medical visits over 3 years before and after enrolling for PSHI. Logistic regression was used to analyze data related to age, gender, time enrolled in PSHI, and service location relative to health outcomes. Findings support the theories that accessibility increases with the provision of health insurance but also show that health outcomes do not improve after enrollment in a PSHI. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in public health policy and administration by quantifying the strength and significance of the relationship between health insurance and health outcomes and effects positive social change by measuring the effectiveness of legislation providing the uninsured with health insurance in order to improve health outcomes.