abstract: This study develops a Creative MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions/conferences and Exhibitions) Tourism Destination Branding Model (CMDBM), and argues for co-creation and synergies between MICE and heritage resources in a popular business destination. MICE tourism can be enhanced through co-created offerings by adding innovative value to MICE tourism experiences. The proposed CMDBM framework aims to help determine how a destination can develop a co-created MICE brand through collaboration with key stakeholders to better meet potential MICE travelers’ other touristic interests and cultural values. The research project was undertaken in collaboration with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, and several heritage institutions in New Orleans. The study adopts both qualitative and quantitative research designs to explore the destination brand strategy. The qualitative data were acquired through interviews with relevant stakeholders to analyze the use of destination branding strategies and understand existing and potential synergies with heritage institutions. The quantitative portion measures MICE attendees’ perceptions of the co-created value of enhancing MICE destinations with cultural heritage appeal. NRPA Conference attendees’ responses provide a practical understanding for stakeholders. This research provides both practical and theoretical insights for the tourism industry for destination communities, and has salient conceptual and theoretical implications for the academy. The study confirms that MICE tourism, collaborating with cultural heritage assets, can enrich MICE travelers’ travel experiences. The destination brand strategy was identified with supportive cultural heritage resources and an appropriate destination brand framework of MICE tourism was proposed. As confirmed by MICE attendees’ evaluations from the case study, it extends the literature on destination brand, destination brand awareness, destination brand experience, destination brand personality, and destination brand equity. The empirical exploration of MICE destination branding has been handicapped in existing literature by a lack of conceptual marketing perspectives. This work will lend credence to the important aspect of business destination marketing and stresses building synergy and adding value to MICE tourism experiences. As destination marketing programs become competitive, especially in the context of equitable distribution of monetary benefits across different stakeholders, creating synergies become crucial in the destination. A co-created brand strategy can help make destinations more competitive. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Community Resources and Development 2019

Going into retirement, near-retirees are looking at increased debt levels, which can offset any asset accumulations and reduce retirement income. By using data from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study examines the debt and negative net worth of near-retirees. This study further investigates what factors are associated with the likelihood of holding consumer debt, holding mortgage debt, and holding home equity debt over holding no debt, and what factors are associated with the likelihood of holding negative net worth over holding a high level of net worth among near-retirees. The study sample includes 3,745 individuals between the ages of 51 and 64. The results of the multinomial logistic regression analysis indicate that, all else being equal, human capital factors such as education, physical health problems, and depression symptoms play a significant role in predicting the likelihood of holding debt and negative net worth. In particular, education is positively associated with the likelihood of holding consumer, mortgage, and home equity debt over holding no debt, while it is negatively associated with the likelihood of having negative net worth over having a high level of net worth. Among the socioeconomic characteristics that influence the likelihood of near-retirees holding debt and negative net worth are household income, working in the labor force, and race. In particular, household income positively influences the likelihood of holding mortgage debt over holding no mortgage debt as well as the likelihood of holding home equity debt over holding no home equity debt. However, household income negatively influences the likelihood of having negative net worth over having a higher level of net worth. The findings of this study could help financial educators, financial planners, and policymakers understand the differences in human capital and socioeconomic characteristics of near-retirees who hold some levels of debt over no debt and who hold no net worth or a lower level of net worth over a higher level of net worth. This study concludes that it is important for professionals, consumer educators, and financial planners to provide those who hold higher levels of debt and lower levels of net worth with financial literacy education; therefore, these individuals might be able to attain economic well-being in retirement.

<p> Many U.S. adolescents suffer from sleep disorders. Although poor sleep habits may contribute to health issues, less is known about how parental perspectives influence sleep health in adolescents. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to address a knowledge gap in understanding parental views to promote better sleep habits in adolescents. The blended theoretical framework included the theories of caring science, social learning, advocacy paradigm, and repair and restoration of sleep. Twenty parents in the Southeastern United States participated in open-ended interviews. Research questions were designed to elicit parental perspectives about recognizing unhealthy sleep habits, improving daily sleep health routines, and identifying conditions that led to consultation with health professionals. Colaizzi&rsquo;s data analysis strategy demonstrated thematic parental reports of declines in attitudes, behaviors, and performances as factors for recognizing unhealthy sleep habits; consistent and routine schedules as options for promoting improved sleep habits; and irregular sleep or health problems as reasons for consultation with health professionals. Recommendations for future research include exploring other geographical locations and investigating school bus schedules interfering with early morning sleep loss. To affect positive social change, dissemination of this study&rsquo;s findings to health practitioners may influence enhanced provider-patient communications and ultimately contribute to improved sleep habits among adolescents. Additionally, this study&rsquo;s findings may inform health care administrators with strategies to develop effective parent and provider education programs while reducing unnecessary health services&rsquo; utilization and resulting costs for adolescent health.</p>

The decentralization of cultural production in China coincided with the introduction of economic and political reforms in 1979. The subsequent shift from a system of state propaganda production towards a market-oriented dealer-critic system of cultural production required a wider range of expertise beyond deep knowledge of the Western modern art canon or domain expertise. This dissertation investigates how the field of contemporary Chinese art (CCA) is constituted and transformed through a division of labor that reflects varieties of expertise using empirical data from 89 in-depth interviews with leading cultural professionals working in the CCA field, historical archival records, and participant observation. The study revises the conventional conception that domain expertise consistently shapes cultural fields. The main finding is that the kinds of expertise used are associated with how the CCA field has developed over the past three decades. Cultural professionals mobilize non-cultural expertise as well as cultural capital to enlist international support for CCA, establish aesthetic value, and extend the boundaries of cultural organizations that filter and deliver CCA to a broad audience. These results reinforce the agency perspective in institutional studies. Individual actors drive change in the CCA field while being embedded within it. Overall, the transformation of the field of contemporary Chinese art encompasses pragmatic adaptations to environmental shifts in resource distribution, the availability of new technologies of cultural production, and wider political and economic transformations. / Sociology

Darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti, kaip Lietuvos studentai vertina smegenų veiklą stimuliuojančių medžiagų vartojimą. Susipažinta su neuroetinėmis smegenų veiklą stimuliuojančių medžiagų/preparatų (SVSP) vartojimo problemomis pasaulyje ir Lietuvoje, palygintos SVSP vartojimo bei vertinimo tendencijos Lietuvoje ir užsienio šalyse. Atlikta sociologinė apklausa, kurioje dalyvavo 531 studentas. Respondentams pateikta 44 klausimų anketa. Apklausti 7 universitetinių ir 3 neuniversitetinių aukštųjų mokyklų studentai. Rezultatai apdoroti SPSS programa. Nustatyta, jog SVSP yra aktuali tema Lietuvos studentams. 40,9 proc. respondentų vartoja arba yra vartoję SVSP. SVSP vartojimo problematika Lietuvoje ir pasaulyje skiriasi. Vakarų šalyse opiausios problemos: piktnaudžiavimas smegenų veiklą stimuliuojančiais vaistais, nekorektiška reklama, socialinė nelygybė tarp vartojančiųjų ir nevartojančiųjų SVSP. Lietuvoje nesilaikoma ženklinimo ir reklamos reikalavimų. Dauguma apklausos respondentų SVSP vartojime neįžvelgia socialinių, teisinių ar etinių problemų, tačiau tai gali sąlygoti išsamios ir teisingos informacijos trūkumas, nes 80,4 proc. respondentų apie juos sužinojo iš reklamos. Tikėtina, kad greitėjant gyvenimo tempui, smegenų veiklą stimuliuojančių preparatų vartojimas Lietuvoje didės, o vartotojams trūkstant išsamios ir korektiškos informacijos apie šiuos preparatus, teisinės, etinės ir socialinės problemos gali paaštrėti. / The aim of this research was to perfom an analysis on Lithuanian students evaluation of brain activity enhancing substances usage. Neuroethical problems araising while using brain activity enhancers were reviewed as well as tendencies of usage and evaluation were compared in Lithuania and other countries. Sociological survey has been performed in 7 universities and 3 non-university higher education institutions. 531 student filled-in a questionaire which contained 44 questions. Data has been analyzed using SPSS program. The usage of brain activity enhancing substances is a relevant topic for Lithuanian students. Brain enhancers are or have been used by 40,9 percent respondents. Although problems regarding brain activity enhancers usage are different in Lithuania and Western countries. Relevant problems in economical developed countries are misuse of brain enhancers, incorrect advertisement, social inequality. In Lithuania labelling and advertising requirement often are not followed. Majority of respondents do not think that using brain activity enhancers can cause any social, ethical or legal problems. Although such oppinion can be influenced by lack of comprehensive information. Information about brain activity enhancers was recieved through commercial means by 80,4 percent respondents. It can be predicted that usage of brain activity enhancers will grow together with rapid life-style. And since there is lack of comprehensive information regarding brain activity enhancers... [to full text]

<p><italic>Composers on the Decks</italic> is comprised of three related chapters: an original composition for amplified chamber ensemble and laptop DJ, <italic>Alleys Of Your Mind</italic>; an extended article entitled "Composers on the Decks: Hybridity of Place and Practice among Composer-DJs Gabriel Prokofiev, Mason Bates, Ari Benjamin Meyers and Brandt Brauer Frick"; and an archive of edited interviews of the four primary research subjects. Chapter 1 is the author's artistic contribution. Chapters 2 and 3 explore the emerging practices of "club classical" and what I am calling "instrumental-electronic dance music" in what may be the first academic study to examine the latter and its connections with the former.</p><p><italic>Alleys of Your Mind</italic> is a work for seven wind instruments, soprano and laptop DJ composed as social dance music, intended to be performed in a nightclub. Its repetitive style, electronic dance beats and long-form instrumental writing create a musical hybrid of classical compositional techniques and electronic dance music (EDM). The work contains three movements: the first and longest movement is paced at a dance tempo of 124 beats-per-minute; the second movement at half of that speed, 62 beats-per-minute; and Movement 3 returns to the original tempo. The movements are performed without pause and leave generous space for the DJ to improvise with audio effects and an extended interlude in Movement 2. In addition, <italic>Alleys Of Your Mind</italic> has a documentary dimension: audio samples of medical machinery and voices, recorded by the composer during his recovery in a neuroscience intensive care unit, feature in the second and third movements. </p><p>Chapter 2 introduces the related practices of "club classical" and "instrumental-EDM," explaining the musical connections between contemporary classical and EDM and interpreting the hybrid social environments where this music lives. The first section deals with the club classical phenomenon in the practices of composer-DJs Gabriel Prokofiev and Mason Bates, and presenters such as Yellow Lounge. Prokofiev leads Nonclassical Records and hosts monthly club nights in London, during which live sets of recent classical works alternate with sets from Nonclassical's resident DJs. The label's releases adapt classical music to an EDM format, featuring new classical compositions and electronic remixes of these works. Bates presents Mercury Soul, a party in nightclubs that links DJ sets of EDM with live classical sets via composed, electro-acoustic interludes; these nights involve a director, conductor, and a chamber ensemble from a major symphony. Yellow Lounge situates older classical music in nightclubs and employs DJs who spin classical works between live sets. Ari Benjamin Meyers composes instrumental-EDM, music that features classically influenced composition with a dance focus, and has performed it with his Redux Orchestra in Berlin's late night dance clubs from 2005-2012. Brandt Brauer Frick, an EDM trio, formed an 11-piece ensemble of mostly classical instruments that plays their orchestrated techno-like tracks in clubs and concert halls. </p><p>Using social and performance analysis, the chapter describes these phenomena as musical and social hybridity. Club classical and instrumental-EDM evince a desire on the part of event planners and classically trained composers to connect on a more physical and social level with their audience. Many of the composers and presenters express a wish that through these practices, classical music can expand beyond the concert hall and potentially see a demographic change in its audience over time. The chapter also delves into the narrow demographics of the classical-EDM scene, the difficulties of instrumental-EDM, and situates the author's dissertation composition, <italic>Alleys Of Your Mind</italic>, and its presentation at the Duke Coffeehouse, within the greater practice of instrumental-EDM. </p><p>Chapter 3 presents edited versions of the author's interviews with the study's four primary research subjects. This documentation, and the dissertation as a whole, is paired with a website, <underline>composersonthedecks.org</underline>, which provides additional information, photographs, links, and audio and video of <italic>Alleys Of Your Mind</italic>.</p> / Dissertation

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1972. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New School for Social Research, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-252). Also available in electronic format on the World Wide Web. Access restricted to users affiliated with the licensed institutions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New School for Social Research, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 252-254). Also available in electronic format on the World Wide Web. Access restricted to users affiliated with the licensed institutions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New School for Social Research, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 281-293). Also available in electronic format on the World Wide Web. Access restricted to users affiliated with the licensed institutions.