The majority of police departments across the United States are led by part-time police leaders who are expected to provide high quality public safety and policing services. Research results have not been conclusive on best practices for community policing in larger cities, and the community policing model has not been researched for small police organizations staffed by part-time police leaders and police officers. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the community policing experiences of 12 part-time police leaders in a northeastern U.S. state. Ecological theory provided the conceptual framework. The research questions examined the participants' experiences of community policing in rural communities. The data analysis strategies included reading the transcripts from the taped interviews, reading the field notes, and writing preliminary memos to form and understand the data. Open coding was used initially to organize the data, which were assigned labels and grouped into themes or categories. Content analysis resulted in the development of broader themes that were analyzed using a cross-case comparison for each. Results suggested that all of the police leaders believed that they provided services to the community and faced many of the same issues as full-time police leaders, despite having fewer resources. This study may help to address the problems that part-time police leaders experience in balancing the allocation of limited resources and the establishment of public policy regarding policing best practices. The study provides police and community leaders with a better understanding of the resources needed to ensure adequate policing and public safety services for their communities.

<p>In this thesis I examined behavioural, physiological, and molecular aspects of the stress response of the highly social cichlid <em>Neolamprologus pulcher</em>. Through this work, I established that dominant individuals within a group have higher baseline stress levels (as measured by plasma circulating cortisol concentrations) than subordinate group members, and hypothesize that this is due to the high demands placed on dominant individuals in both acquiring and maintaining their dominance status. Additionally, social behaviours, and activity levels were positively correlated with stress levels in subordinate males but these correlations were not observed in any other social class. Life history traits of males may explain this pattern, as subordinate males are arguably the social class with least stability in a group, and may need to appease dominant individuals in order to be allowed to stay; this may in tum cause stress. I was also able to establish that while dominant individuals had higher resting cortisol levels than subordinates, they were in no way maximal, as the application of a 10 minute stressor caused large increases above resting levels (>10 fold in magnitude) in circulating cortisol levels of both social classes and in both sexes. As an extension to the characterization of the stress response in <em>N. pulcher</em>, we examined differences in corticosteroid receptor levels between dominants and subordinates. This will paint a much fuller picture of the stress response in <em>N. pulcher</em> and highlight differences and similarities between stress responses in each social class, both physiologically and at the molecular level.</p> <p>In a second experiment, dominant female breeders were repeatedly stressed to assess possible maternal and offspring fitness costs. Through this manipulation we found that stressing females resulted in a longer interval between spawning events, and decreased maternal growth rates. Additionally there was a significant decrease in the number of eggs laid, as well as egg size in stressed mothers compared to those left unstressed. Helpers within a group seemed to have no effect on the above-mentioned characteristics, however mothers without helpers released highly variable cortisol concentrations during the first and second lay, while those with helpers saw less variability in the concentration of cortisol they released into eggs.</p> <p>The results presented in this thesis shed light on the stress responses of <em>N. pulcher,</em> highlighting the impacts that within-group social dynamics have on stress levels, and their potential impacts on maternal and (possibly) offspring fitness.</p> / Master of Science (MS)

This study explores the attitudes and perceptions among social work students about political participation at three southeastern Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Eighty-four (84) survey participants were selected for the study utilizing random selection sampling. Survey participants were composed of currently enrolled social work students. The questionnaire used in the survey was comprised of two sections with a total of 25 questions (23 quantitative questions and 2 qualitative questions). Department chairs and professors, under the supervision of the researcher, administered the questionnaire to the participants. Findings of the study indicated that self-efficacy affects a student's perception of political participation and the social work school/department education's successful linkage of practice to social action affects student attitudes of political participation. Recommendations for continued research and practice are discussed.

Company Culture can be defined as a set of values and beliefs that an organization imbibes in its practices and habits. Studies show that leaders have a strong influence on the company culture and that a strong company culture has a positive impact on employee satisfaction as well as on the company performance. While the Silicon Valley is known for its vibrant culture The Wall Street is known for its bad practices and toxic environment. This paper evaluates these two sectors on the basis of their company cultures and makes a recommendation on which sector is doing better and why

In this paper, I replicate Erikson and Palfrey (2000) who propose that the simultaneity problem in measuring the effects of candidate spending can be resolved by restricting the sample to close elections. Vote-on-spending effects, which vary with the expected closeness of the election outcome in a systematic way, determine the extent of simultaneity bias. The simultaneity bias becomes progressively more severe as the anticipated vote margin decreases, plaguing the estimates of spending-on-vote effects on the full sample. In the range of a 50-50 expected vote, however, the vote-on-spending effects approach zero. Thus, by restricting the sample to extremely close races, I obtain unbiased estimates of candidate spending effects. I then extend their model using data that includes elections that took place after a pair of major campaign finance reforms: the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 and the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling of 2010. The BCRA heightens the perceived effectiveness of candidate spending by removing the hidden substitute for candidates’ campaign funds, namely, soft money. After the Citizens United ruling, however, as soft money starts to play a crucial role in electoral campaigns, candidates’ own funds matter less. The ruling appears to amplify incumbency advantage, perhaps because incumbents take advantage of their non-monetary incumbency benefits to attract soft money donations. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate in academia over the causal connection between candidate spending and vote share by presenting evidence that campaign spending has significant effects on election outcomes.

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<p> More U.S. men and women are returning from military service obligations with physical and mental disabilities which complicate their transition to civilian life. Few researchers, however, have examined the post service experiences of blind veterans and whether they are affected by societal expectations of people living with disabilities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain knowledge about the experiences of U.S. veterans who suffered vision loss, and the influence of societal expectations on their lives. Hermeneutic phenomenological methodology was used to explore the personal meanings 8 veterans, who lost their vision during active service, attached to their experiences as they transition into daily routines. Using a 4 stage hermeneutic analysis and an interpretive lens resulted in the emergence of 6 major themes: (1) Never give up, (2) Mantras and declarations, (3) Previous beliefs and helping, (4) Struggles after vision loss (5) Current thought about disabilities and (6) Independence. Key findings suggested the veterans&rsquo; previous thoughts about disabilities hindered their initial adjustments to losing their vision. All of them experienced a time of distress that aligned with their previous thoughts concerning people living with obvious disabilities requiring help, and independent skills training programs greatly contributed to their increased confidence to live independently. Blind veterans&rsquo; personal descriptions of becoming blind may provide social workers, vocational rehabilitation counselors, and other human service professionals with information they can use to enhance programming and services for these individuals. Other implications for positive social change include the possible development of social change initiatives to change public perceptions of blind veterans.</p>

<p> Non-monogamous partnerships were vulnerable to jealousy and envy, although aspects that contributed had not been described. This qualitative phenomenological study examined jealousy and envy in non-monogamy using equity theory. The purposive sample drawn from Loving More Nonprofit, and 19 participants were interviewed. Transcripts were analyzed using NVivo for Mac using the modified van Kaam method. Study results included four major themes for research question 1: (a) agreements reduced jealousy, (b) boundary violations increased jealous, (c) communication mitigated jealousy, and (d) time allocation fueled jealousy, and three minor themes: (a) willingness to end problem relationships, (b) acceptance and reframing mitigated jealousy, and (c) NRE fueled jealousy; and three minor themes for research question 2: (a) challenges to partner choices fueled by envy, (b) resources allocation influenced by envy, and (c) self-comparison to metamours magnified by envy. Implications of themes were that agreements were used by the non-monogamous to manage jealousy and enhance equity perceptions but when boundary violations related to jealousy occurred and boundary turbulence and distrust often resulted. When jealousy arose the non-monogamous relied on communication strategies, such as acceptance and reframing and willingness to end relationships to preserve existing relationships through reciprocal altruism, and to mitigate jealousy and rebalance equity due to concerns of scarcity. Additionally, self-comparison to metamours&rsquo; attributes stimulated envy and appeared to magnify jealousy. Recommendation for professional practice included the importance of agreements for non-monogamous relationship maintenance, use of equity to manage boundaries, and the role that boundary turbulence plays in perceptions of fairness. Recommendations for further research included (a) a replication of the current qualitative phenomenological study using participants from outside of organizations to include a more diverse a sample to explore consistency of themes across a broader demographic of non-monogamous people (b) a quantitative descriptive study to operationalize jealousy and envy, (c) a quantitative correlational study to assess relationships between agreements, boundary violations and jealousy, and (d) a qualitative multiple case study to explore explicit versus implicit agreements.</p>

Food cooperatives play a central role in the local food movement. In addition to supporting the local economy, the cooperative movement lists "concern for the community" among their seven core principles (Healthy Foods Healthy Communities Report, 2012). Food cooperatives, however, are typically consumer-owned and primarily assert democratic control over buying practices rather than workplace operation (University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, 2009). Therefore, unless allocated a separate means for advocacy, cooperative workers often have less autonomy than they would if they were organized and had the means to collectively negotiate their benefits and work environment. This article argues that the efforts of worker-run governance bodies are integral for securing worker citizenship yet are often excluded from the efforts of consumer cooperatives. Using a mixed methods approach that includes focus groups, individual interviews, and textual and policy analyses, this study looks at the impact of unions on the social, political and civil rights of workers in two unionized food cooperatives in Vermont. Specifically, it examines the relationship between cooperative and union governance structures and the role of each institution in generating citizen engagement both in and outside the workplace. In this study, citizenship is defined as access to social, political, and civil rights. Study findings suggest that workers view management and the union as the prime decision-making bodies and the benefits of consumer membership as mainly consumer-oriented and vaguely community-based. Interview data generated with workers and stakeholders indicates that the union plays a pivotal role in promoting citizen engagement and workplace democracy in food cooperatives.

Professional identity is a complex construct that describes how an individual develops a sense of self-concept within a chosen profession. Professional identity refers to a self definition within a professional role based on attributes, beliefs, values, motives, and experiences (Ibarra, 1999). This study explored the relationships between the professional identity of gerontology graduates and age, career stage, student typology, occupation, and value of experiential learning both quantitatively and qualitatively. Survey results indicate that experiential learning opportunities provide a framework for all gerontology students to gain and apply the skills and knowledge necessary for professional identity development in the field of aging. Findings indicate that experiential learning and mentorship represent important, but different outcomes for students who are new to the field of gerontology vs. students who are already employed in an aging-related profession prior to enrollment in a graduate gerontology program.