<p> Among the new technologies heralded as part of the emerging bioeconomy are plastics made from plant material, known as bioplastics. This dissertation examines the political and historical underpinnings of the bioplastics that are now being offered as an alternative to petrochemicals in the United States. As a case study of "green" technological development, bioplastics challenge dominant conceptions of innovation for sustainability. The bioplastics being developed and marketed today are the outcome of interventions in commodity crop prices, incubation of research on biomass during periods of fossil fuel dominance, and the commercialization of publicly funded research. Their origins can be traced at least as far back as the 1920s, when advocates of "chemurgy" encouraged the federal government to create research centers to discover new industrial uses of agricultural crops. </p><p> Research in science and technology studies (STS) indicates that social structures shape perceptions of problems, condition viable solutions, and limit the diversity of stakeholders and ideas present in the social construction of technology. This study examines these processes in the history and current debates about bioplastics. The dissertation asks who has influenced the social construction of bioplastics and why bioplastics have become part of a larger bioeconomic vision now. Theoretical insights are drawn from the sociological theory of the treadmill of production, which argues that environmental problems cannot be solved in a capitalist system in which the federal government, private industries, and organized labor continuously seek the expansion of production and consumption at the expense of environmental sustainability. Major players in the chemical and biotechnology industries have pursued bioplastics as a means of continuing economic growth and consumption of goods, even as petroleum becomes costly and environmentalists voice objections to petrochemicals. There are many critiques of bioplastics and their impacts at every stage of bioplastics, from sourcing feedstocks from food crops to disrupting existing recycling and composting systems. Nevertheless, the bioplastics currently on the market were not designed to resolve these environmental concerns. Increasingly, however, activists are using non-governmental institutions, particularly the development of voluntary standards, to shape the industry and technology. The study examines the extent to which such reforms might lead to the production of more sustainable alternatives to petrochemicals. </p><p> Ultimately, this dissertation presents the history and politics surrounding the field of bioplastics in order to highlight how things "might have been otherwise" and what changes in society could be useful for producing more sustainable technologies.</p>

<p> There is currently widespread debate in the psychological community with regards to research on and provision of evidence-based practices. The American Psychological Association recently developed clinical and research guidelines for the implementation and investigation of culturally appropriate treatment interventions. As of 2000, there were 562 tribal entities recognized and eligible or funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Ogunwole, 2002). This United States Indigenous contingent continues to be marginalized by diagnostic classification and treatment interventions that perpetuate or discount the role of cultural oppression (Gone, 2009). Whereas current literature speaks to a relationship between colonization and intergenerational trauma (Gone &amp; Alc&aacute;ntara, 2007; Duran &amp; Duran, 1995), the reenactment of this relationship in the Evidence-Based paradigm is under-researched (Smith-Morris, 2007). </p><p> This integrative literature review (ILR) ucovers the benefits of Talking Circle for Native and Native-minded persons and communities. Advocates for the implementation of culturally-appropriate diagnostic, treatment, and research methodologies report that inclusion assists in healing socio-historical wounds (Gone &amp; Alc&aacute;ntara, 2007; Sue, Zane, Hall, &amp; Berger, 2009). This is extremely relevant for contemporary Indigenous individuals, families, and communities. </p><p> The current study presents the viability of Talking Circle for slowing the transmission of trauma by offering a compelling argument supporting its evidence-based nature through a comparison of available research on trauma-informed treatment models with published findings on Talking Circle. Assumptions, literature review, critique of the literature review, and commentary on and appraisal of potentially translatable healing rituals supports a postcolonial driven conceptual model for the treatment of the soul wound, the Native equivalent of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Disorder of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified (DESNOS). </p><p> This ILR assists in substantiating the logical inclusion of Talking Circle into the existing set of available evidence-based PTSD treatment interventions (as outlined in Jennings, 2004, 2008). Providing this conceptual model via an ILR allows for adequately assessing the specific aspects of the research on intergenerational trauma, available interventions, and existing needs. This project illuminates, in a multilayered way, the role of Talking Circle in indigenous life and for healing intergenerational trauma, the soul wound, in the Native community.</p>

<p> Debates over food security strategies in the Philippines have pitted the neoliberal paradigm of trade liberalization, export cropping, and chemical and biotech agricultural methods against the food sovereignty paradigm of protectionism, staple cropping, and sustainable agriculture methods. </p><p> The Philippine government has long pushed for yield increases of staples. However, there has been dissonance between governmental desires for rice self-sufficiency and pursuit of a more export-oriented agricultural economy. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Trade Organization have pressured the government of the Philippines to adopt various tenets of neoliberalism (trade liberalization, privatization, deregulation, and budgetary austerity), which have hindered the achievement of Philippine goals for self-sufficiency in its staple foods and stunted the potential benefits of land reform. </p><p> Through ethnographic research of the social and ecological conditions in three rural villages in the province of Bukidnon, this examination of agrarian change explores how various actors&mdash;small farmers, collectives, large planters, and agribusiness corporations&mdash;have been scaling their projects in the agricultural economy. </p><p> The use of chemical inputs has damaged soils and saddled farmers with debts. In many cases, control of land has been lost to elites through sales or pawning arrangements. Relatively egalitarian corn- and rice-farming areas have given way to a stratified landscape of sugarcane and banana plantations, as former smallholders have been forced to work as wage laborers. Multinational agribusinesses have steered the area away from staple production and threatened human and environmental health with pesticide exposure and erosion. </p><p> Some farmers though have organized against these prevailing trends. Production and social reproduction have been rescaled through collective marketing, reciprocal labor arrangements, and more equitably gendered divisions of labor. Agroecological methods, such as composting, organic fertilization, seed saving, and indigenous pest control have scaled the reproduction of environmental conditions more locally and increased farmer incomes because their inputs are created on the farm. Protecting local control of the means of production&mdash;seeds, fertilizers, and especially land&mdash;has become an important method for preserving a smallholder class, maintaining more self-determination, and working toward greater food sovereignty.</p>

<p> The following dissertation examines the role of ecological structures in juvenile justice systems, specifically during risk assessment, prosecution, and sanctioning. This analysis of system behavior considers religious establishments, public housing, and liquor stores as the ecological indicators and views them as stigmatizing. Quantitatively, the following examination sought to (a) determine associations between social ecology and risk assessments, prosecutions, and residential sanctioning, and to (b) determine if juvenile probation officers and judges are more stringent and judgmental toward delinquents from neighborhoods that have greater concentrations of religious establishments, public housing, and liquor stores. All adjudicated juvenile delinquents whose cases have been decided by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice in calendar years 2006, 2007 and 2008 were included in the analysis. Secondary data from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Bureau of Licenses, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, American Church List and the United States Census were used to address the research questions. </p><p> The databases were used to support the researcher's overall tenet that certain areas are perceived as disorganized, which leads to stricter expressions of risk assessment, prosecutions, and residential sanctions. It is hypothesized that, (1) risk assessment levels are higher in areas with more religious establishments, public housing, and liquor stores; (2) zip codes with more prosecutions will consequently be those with more of the stigmatized ecological structures; and (3) an increase in religious establishments, public housing, and liquor stores will generate an increase in residential sanctions. </p><p> It was expected that the relationship between the independent and dependent variables would be significant, over and beyond demographic and legal factors. In the analysis, area demographics of population density; and juvenile demographics of age, race, ethnicity, and gender, along with current and prior legal history, were controlled for to determine the predictive value of the independent variables of religious establishments, public housing, and liquor stores on the dependent variables of risk assessment, prosecutions, and residential sanctions. Prior to statistical analysis, the data was merged and aggregated by zip code to reflect area composition, resulting in a dataset of 298 zip codes and 21 variables. To examine these relationships, analyses were done on a bi-variate and multi-variate level. Multi-variate analysis was performed using hierarchical regression. Three models were designed, considering demographics, and then adding legal variables, followed by ecological structures, to make the complete model. </p>

<p>The purpose of this dissertation is to discover the VMT impact of each level of proximity in order to help government identify key locations for housing development, and thereby lower VMT and reduce dependence on foreign oil. By discovering the VMT impact of each level of proximity, this dissertation provides a) the first known means of calculating the proximity-based VMT benefit of subject locations by individual proximity level, and b) the new finding that it is <i>likely</i> that high VMT benefit can be achieved at moderate proximity levels acceptable to many households, enabling representative governments to be politically successful while promoting housing in locations that will lower the average VMT of the population. </p><p> After discussing the impetus for the work, this dissertation presents a theory of the determinants of VMT, searches the literature for appropriate techniques for empirical analysis of the proximity-VMT relationship, and presents results of the empirical research to be expected based on the presented theory and literature. </p><p> Empirical efforts are used to discover VMT impact by proximity level using three differing measures of proximity: density, distance-threshold-based total opportunities, and centrality. In the first effort, national data is used to discover VMT impact by proximity level, for both population and employment density. In order to determine the role played by alternative modes in the VMT-density curves of the first effort, the second effort uses national data to discover the impact of each level of density on usage of alternative modes. In the third and final effort, data from Hampton Roads, Virginia, are used to discover the VMT impact of each level of opportunity and centrality. </p><p> Governments can apply the discovered VMT impact of each level of proximity&mdash;via a described "VMT Benefit Technique"&mdash;to accurately determine the VMT benefit of a given location, and use the VMT benefits of a set of candidate areas to select key locations for development. </p><p> In addition, the discovered VMT impact of each level of proximity informs the key hypothesis of this dissertation that there exists a sweet spot on the VMT-proximity curve that has high VMT benefit and a proximity level acceptable to many households. Although the hypothesis tests indicate that it is <i> not certain</i> that the sweet spot exists, the mean coefficients of the models indicate that it is <i>likely</i> that the sweet spot exists, i.e. that there are high-VMT-benefit proximity levels acceptable to many households. The overall implication of this is that representative governments in the U.S. who promote housing development at these moderate levels of proximity will not only lower average VMT in the short term, but they will not be punished politically for doing so, and therefore may be successful in thereby lowering average VMT in the long term. </p><p> In summary, the dissertation provides encouragement to governments hoping to lower average VMT and an accurate method of calculating VMT for choosing SGAs with which to actually lower average VMT. It is hoped that this combination will help U.S. governments become independent of foreign oil. </p>

<p> What is the most effective problem solving method at the environmental policy table in the context of a radical diversity of worldviews? I answer the question in the dissertation by developing a theory that accommodates diversity in policymaking. My line of reasoning is as follows. </p><p> In Chapter One, I survey the diverse discourse about Global Climate Models in detail. I demonstrate that a radical diversity of worldviews is expressed in the discourse. In Chapter Two, I advance a model of language that is an accurate foundation for discourse in policymaking. In Chapter Three, I consider the best policymaking strategy in view of the language model: idea-based policymaking. I then demonstrate that the policymaking strategy is weakly theorized. I introduce a theory of its operation at the end of Chapter Three, and develop it in detail in Chapters Four and Five. Because there is not currently a model, I consider an analogue model in play and explain the analogy in Chapter Four. I apply the analogue to the policy table in Chapter Five and fully develop an operational theory to explicate the problem solving method in policymaking. </p><p> The force of the dissertation's contribution is made in Chapters Three to Five. Chapters One and Two are a ground of the argument. </p><p> In Chapters Three to Five, I argue that idea-based policymaking is a promising form of policymaking practice because social learning is the operative problem-solving mechanism. In social learning: (1) the worldviews of the actors are leveraged in discourse and (2) power relations are dynamically distributed among actors (Hajer). The result is a fortified problem solving operation. This is because in (1) the heterogeneous problem solving resources of the group members are distributed and in (2) social learning shifts power relations by dislodging, mediating, and subsuming a new power regime. </p><p> In summary, the dissertation is a contribution in applied philosophy. I comprehensively demonstrate that an effective policymaking method will manage the incommensurability of worldview and stipulate a problem solving method that engages the basic condition of policymaking&mdash;radical diversity&mdash;rather than denies it.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to develop a grant to obtain funding to train two San Luis Obispo County Behavioral Health Department staff as certified instructors for the <i>Mental Health First Aid </i> program. These instructors will train staff in the San Luis Obispo County school districts with the goal of increasing the staffs knowledge, thus enabling them to respond better to the mental health needs of their students. This mental health training program covers: risk factors, symptoms, and the role of stigma in mental health issues, as well as resources and action plans. A literature review was completed on the prevalence of youth mental health issues, the effects of mental illness on youth, current youth mental health treatment, a school settings' role in dealing with these issues, early intervention services, and stigma. Actual submission and funding of the grant was not required for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> Renewable portfolio standards have been widely adopted by the many states due in large part to their broad political appeal. Of particular note is the significance that labor market impacts have played in the rhetoric for adopting renewable portfolio standards--they are commonly touted and perceived as net job creating policies. No robust analysis has yet been performed to assess the effectiveness of renewable portfolio standards in achieving this policy goal, however. </p><p> Through regression analysis that directly accounts for previously unconsidered selection biases, this work seeks to approach the question of labor market impacts and determine to what extent renewable portfolio standards have affected employment within the electricity industry as well as the broader economy at both the state and regional levels. </p><p> The presence of selection bias, identified via a Maddala Two-Stage Treatment Effects Model, was found to significantly impact coefficient estimates. Once these biases were econometrically factored out, RPS policies were found to be unambiguously effective at increasing the share of the electricity portfolio provided by renewable energy. The resultant expansion in renewable energy capacity was in turn found to have several statistically significant labor market impacts at both the state and regional levels. </p><p> At the state level, RPS policies are associated with ceteris paribus increases in employment in RE related fields (including installation and production), a decrease in employment in the broader electrical generation sector, and provided no statistically significant impact on overall employment within a state. At the regional level the benefits of RPS policies appear far greater. Under a regional specification an estimated ceteris paribus increase in employment in RE related fields, no statistically significant impact on overall employment in the electrical generation sector, and an increase in total region-wide employment was observed. Estimates of gains of approximately 2% in total regional employment are supported. The discrepancy between state and regional impacts was attributed to both labor and renewable energy capacity leakages across state borders, driven by economies of agglomeration; causing neighboring states to benefit from a local adoption of the RPS policy.</p>

<p> From the time of the New Deal legislation in the 1930s, the Federal government has provided some form of housing relief for people with low income. Today, the primary demand side subsidy program is the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP), which subsidizes rents for low-income people and households to live in places where market-rate rents are beyond their economic means. During the last two decades many Americans cities have been transitioning and affordable housing is becoming scarce even in formerly low-income neighborhoods. In these transitioning neighborhoods current rents are prohibitive for low-income residents. However, with a subsidy through HCVP, this population can remain in its original neighborhood. Landlords are assured full market value rents, while renting to low-income tenants. The residents of the Anacostia neighborhood in Washington, D.C. are predominately low-income and African-American. Using Anacostia as a case study, this paper shows how HCVP has increased in volume and, in the face of diminishing affordable housing, recipients of this subsidy are concentrating in this low rent neighborhood rather than dispersing throughout Washington DC. This is a mixed methods study using data gathered from the Washington D.C. Housing Authority, home sales, home rental prices, census, and interviews with participants in HCVP. The findings of this study reveal that HCVP has been successful in improving the lives and residences of low-income people but that vouchers are geographically concentrated to the lowest income neighborhoods of Washington D.C.</p>

<p> Within the past few decades, university-industry research centers have been developed in large numbers and emphasized as a valuable policy tool for innovation. Yet little is known about the heterogeneity of organizational structure within these centers, which has implications regarding policy for and management of these centers. This dissertation focuses on organizational structure heterogeneity and how it varies with characteristics of the research and development (R&amp;D) performed in university-industry research centers using a framework based on prior research in organization theory, economics of innovation studies, and strategic and knowledge management. This is addressed through 10 case studies of National Science Foundation (NSF) university-industry research centers in two research fields which are expected to vary along the examined characteristics of the research &ndash; seven centers in nanotechnology and three centers in information, communications, and computing (ICC).</p><p> Prior research has demonstrated that radical R&amp;D - that is R&amp;D that is divergent from existing practice - requires organizational forms with greater hierarchy and with more codified rules and procedures (e.g., for data use, knowledge dissemination) to ensure coordination and control among diverse actors (e.g., scientists and engineers with different backgrounds and training) when compared to incremental R&amp;D, or R&amp;D that is reliant on existing practice. The predominance of cooperative research centers engage in R&amp;D aimed at radical scientific and technical innovation and bring together diverse actors from industry, academia, and government labs for coordinated problem solving. However, there is still much to learn about organizational heterogeneity in organizations engaged in radical R&amp;D. Therefore the purposive sample of university-industry research centers addressed in this dissertation help to further theoretical understanding of organizational diversity across R&amp;D organizations. For R&amp;D management practice and policy, the dissertation findings support that university-industry research centers can or should use differing organizational structures depending on the characteristics of the R&amp;D conducted by the center. </p><p> Specifically, the findings of this dissertation arrive at four organizational structure approaches for R&amp;D managers working in university-industry cooperative research centers. </p><p> 1. Centers are more likely to be organized with an increased number of hierarchical levels, or increased vertical differentiation, and increased codification of rules and procedures, or increased formalization, when conducting research that cannot be readily replicated without prior hands-on experience, or R&amp;D characterized as having high tacitness, and when conducting research that does not draw on a commonly agreed core of knowledge and prior research, or R&amp;D characterized as having low cumulativeness. </p><p> 2. Centers are more likely to be organized with increased vertical differentiation, increased formalization, and increased concentration of decision-making, i.e., centralization, when engaging in R&amp;D projects that are planned to be dependent on the inputs or outputs of other R&amp;D projects conducted simultaneously, or R&amp;D characterized as having high interdependence. </p><p> 3. Centers are more likely to be organized with increased structural complexity &ndash; i.e., a combination of increased number of hierarchical levels, increased role specialization of center participants, or increased number and/or distance of separate locations - when conducting R&amp;D designed to involve researchers from a number of different research fields, or R&amp;D characterized as having high R&amp;D complexity. </p><p> 4. Centers are more likely to be organized with increased vertical differentiation and increased centralization when conducting research that is intended to be restricted from unauthorized use, or R&amp;D characterized as having high appropriability. With high appropriability, centers are also more likely to experience goal conflicts among the center actors (e.g., industry and faculty researchers). </p><p> Because in management science, practice and theory are closely linked, some of these recommendations also suggest theoretical propositions to address in future research on cooperative research centers and comparable R&amp;D organizations.</p>