<p> Ever since an influential study conducted by Pio Franchi de' Cavalieri in the early twentieth century, the Greek <i>Martyrdom</i> of Clement text has been acknowledged as a translation of the original Latin <i> Passio Sancti Clementis</i> text. Yet despite this discovery, very little work has been done to advance the frontier of knowledge on the Latin text itself over the last one hundred years. This work seeks to correct this oversight. </p><p> This work revisits the last Latin critical edition of the <i>Passio </i> text published by F. Diekamp in 1913, two years prior to Cavalieri's study. Given Diekamp's preferential treatment to the Greek <i>Martyrdom </i> as the original, this paper collates additional manuscript witnesses against Diekamp's <i>Passio</i> text, offers some conjectural textual emendations, postulates a stemma diagram of the Latin tradition, and provides an English translation to the improved text.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation comprises three self-contained essays. Each essay uses administrative data collected by state and local governments to evaluate a market-based innovation in the delivery of local public services. Chapters 1 and 2 explore school choice programs that were implemented in the state of Indiana starting around 2008, while Chapter 3 is a national study of homeowners associations. </p><p> In Chapter 1, student-level standardized test scores are studied to characterize the joint effectiveness of three forms of school choice---public charter schools, private school vouchers, and inter-district open enrollment. Average test scores of all students residing in a school district are shown to improve when the share of students enrolled through one of these options increases. </p><p> Chapter 2 narrows the focus to a single school choice policy---inter-district open enrollment. Prior studies show that compelling public schools to enroll non-resident students weakens housing demand in communities with good schools, lowering their home prices. Indiana's policy of allowing public schools the option to enroll non-resident students does not exhibit the same relationship, possibly because schools selectively participate based on the local price elasticity of demand for housing (i.e., the responsiveness of local house prices to changes in demand). </p><p> Chapter 3 demonstrates how to detect homeowners associations across most of the country using mortgage riders documented in public real estate records. These private neighborhood governments are shown to involve a fifth of all single-family houses in the U.S. and 80 percent of houses in recently-built subdivisions. Houses with a homeowners association are estimated to cost 4 percent more than nearby similar homes with no homeowners association. </p><p>

<p> This thesis examines the central role that volunteerism plays in creating a strong sense of sense of place and community within the town of Rockville, Utah, located 4.7 miles from Zion National Park. Rockville has no commercial businesses within its boundaries and relies heavily upon the volunteer efforts of its residents to carry out the majority of civil services within the town. Drawing from interviews of the STP&rsquo;s (a group of Rockville residents who volunteer on a regular basis), this thesis highlights how the act of volunteerism helps residents feel membership within their community. This thesis also looks at how the STPs&rsquo; participation in town socials, clean-ups, and helping neighbors affected by natural disasters, helps them feel a deeper sense of belonging within their community.</p><p>

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<p> Since the 1980's, Europe has experienced a resurgence in the extreme right. In this paper, attention will be directed on the successes and failures of the extreme right in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Additionally, this paper will analyze whether the current Eurozone crisis has benefitted the extreme right in these countries, as it has done in Greece. However, it will be argued that the benefits of the Eurozone crisis for the extreme right have been limited to increased media attention and less on electoral success. This is evidenced by the vast array of news articles contributing to the idea that the extreme right is strengthening in light of the Eurozone crisis; yet the extreme right has experienced limited electoral success in Spain and Portugal due to its inability to shed its fascist links, and the extreme right has had decreased electoral success in Italy's recent elections.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project is to explore whether regionalism &mdash;specifically southern distinctiveness&mdash; persists in the contemporary US. While this was a popular area of study prior to and through the 1980s, the topic of regionalism has largely disappeared from the contemporary sociological landscape with only a handful of exceptions. The present study uses pooled data from the NORC General Social Surveys to explore the persistence and/or change of white southern distinctiveness by examining attitudes toward African American inequality, the role of government in helping the poor, homosexuality and civic tolerance. </p><p> The paper first discusses theoretical causes for declining southern distinctiveness. These potential causes are largely guided by Durkheim's Division of Labor. Briefly, as society advances, increased interdependence on others from different backgrounds along with increased mobility challenges the value of regional culture and attitudes. In this environment, holding onto regional culture may hinder full and effective participation in society therefore leading to a decline in southern distinctiveness. In spite of this, there are a number of tools which may work to maintain regional differences. Namely, the southern culture, with an "insularity of mind", cultural carriers like religion and family, may all work together to maintain that characteristics that make the southern region stand out. The paper also considers how cohort and period effects may vary in influence by region thus working to potentially challenge and maintain regional distinctiveness. </p><p> The study uses the cumulative 1972-2012 GSS dataset in the exploration of how the American south has or has not remained distinct. Estimating appropriate regression models, differences between southerners and nonsoutherners are explored. Also recognizing the potential influence of migration in or out of a South the study also considers how residents new to the South and Nonsouth differ from native nonsoutherners. This permits the opportunity to see whether or not and to what degree early socialization matters. Additionally, the models also consider cohort and year effects in order to better demonstrate the nuance of regional distinctiveness and its change over time. </p><p> The findings indicate a number of valuable outcomes which will be discussed in detail. First, the results of all of the models suggest that region still matters. In short, even when controlling for various effects, southerners continue to indicate more socially conservative attitudes than nonsoutherners. Additionally, contact with the South, be it as a child or as an adult, is also associated with indicating attitudes that are more congruent with native southerners than native nonsoutherners. </p><p> The findings show that the effects of migration on social attitudes are nuanced and may vary depending upon the social attitude being examined. Last, the result from the study show that in spite of continued regional distinctiveness, there is some evidence that southern and nonsouthern attitudes on a number of social issues may be slowly converging. Though far from the rapid convergence some may have proposed two decades ago, this is slow and with its own qualifications. </p>

<p> Military interventions continue to be pervasive in Africa. Thirty out of forty-eight sub-Saharan states have experienced at least one successful coup. Nor have these numbers abated. In the 21st century alone, thirteen coups have been successfully staged in Africa, thus far. At the same time, several African countries &ndash; such as Ghana, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Benin &ndash; have managed to escape from seemingly insurmountable coup-traps. Yet, we understand little about what drives countries into a coup-trap and even less about how countries can extricate themselves from one. What explains this divergence? To address these contradictory trends, I focus initially on Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, neighboring states, with comparable populations, topographies, and economies that have experienced contrasting trajectories. While Ghana suffered five consecutive coups from the 1966 to 1981, Cote d'Ivoire was an oasis of stability and prosperity. However, by the end of the 20th century, Ghana had emerged as one of the few stable two-party democracies on the continent, as Cote d'Ivoire slid into civil war. Why was Cote d'Ivoire so much more stable and prosperous than Ghana in the `60s and `70s? And what explains their dramatic reversal of fortunes? </p><p> I answer these puzzles by examining the <u>political strategies </u> of regimes in both countries, with a particular focus on <u> rural alliances</u>. I find that the leaders who followed a <i> rural political strategy</i> were better able to preserve stability, while those who followed an <i>urban political strategy</i> were more likely to suffer coups. In contrast to the prevalent urban-bias thesis, I contend that traditional elites and producers in rural areas &ndash; not the organized urban sectors &ndash; are most critical to political stability. To show the wider applicability of my thesis, I extend my argument beyond these two countries. In a systematic review of fifty-eight regimes over eighteen sub-Saharan countries, I demonstrate that the rural/urban dichotomy is pervasive and predictive of the success/failure of regimes. Using formal modeling, I show a strong and robust correlation between supporting rural areas and the likelihood of being ousted in a coup as well as longevity in power. </p>

<p>?Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest? (New International Version, Matthew 11:28). In South India, transgenders are treated as untouchables and part of the least in the society. This restriction that the society places on transgenders has built hurt and regret in their lives. The Bible tells us to treat everyone equal and Jesus asks us to love all unconditionally; at times, it is difficult to put that teaching into practice. This topic was originally chosen to investigate this community and find a biblical approach to them, but working with Seesha, a non-profit, the approach took a different direction. The following research and documentary will focus on the acts of Jesus, that is, educating and empowering. This is in hope to bring awareness to the rejection of the transgender community and possible ways to change the perspective of society by choosing to accept them. The aim of this project is to try to lessen the burden of life in transgenders (stigma), by educating the society of their physical anatomy, lifestyle and daily struggle for a better standard of living.