Exploring Interagency Collaboration in a Secondary Transition Community of Practice

<p>When making decisions about what to do in a disaster, people consider the welfare of their animals. Most people consider their pets to be "part of the family." There are more than 144 million pet dogs and cats in homes around the US, and Colorado is home to a $3 billion livestock industry. In emergency response, supporting the human-animal bond is one important way we can assist people in making good decisions about evacuation, and improve their ability to recover after the emergency period is over. There is an opportunity to leverage social computing tools to support the information needs of people concerned with animals in disasters. This research uses three major studies to examine the information management and cooperative work done around animals in this domain: First, an online study of the response of animal advocates in the 2012 Hurricane Sandy event; second, a study bridging the online and offline response of equine experts following the 2013 Colorado floods; and third, an extended 22-month ethnographic study of the work done at animal evacuation sites, beginning with on-the-ground participant observation at two fairground evacuation sites during the Black Forest Fire in Southern Colorado in 2013, and including the design of two information support tools. The research provides lessons about how information online, information offline, and the bridging of information in those arenas both supports and limits the potential for innovation in addressing the unusual and emergent ill-structured problems that are hallmarks of disaster response. The role of expertise as a vital resource in emergency response, and recommendations for policy improvements that appreciate the conscious inclusion of spontaneous volunteers are two contributions from this work.

This investigation presents a model to explain and test the influence of power and communication in close relationships. Rollins and Bahr's (1976) theory of power in marital relationships, referred to here as dyadic power theory, was expanded to include communication behavior. The theory, which emphasizes the dyadic nature of power, draws upon social exchange theory, the chilling effect, sex roles, and normative resource theory. It is proposed that perceptions of legitimate authority to make decisions and access to a variety of resources should increase individuals' perceptions of their own power compared to their partner. Perceptions of power, in turn, should increase the likelihood of using dominant communication behavior in an attempt to control the interaction. Greater control attempts should lead greater influence over decisions. It is also predicted that perceptions of power and control will increase relational satisfaction for the partner having power. The prepositional framework of dyadic power theory is explicated and several hypotheses based on the theory are given. Ninety-seven couples (58 married, 39 cohabiting) participated in a study of power in relationships. Couples completed surveys on perceptions of their authority, resources and power compared to their partner. The couples then completed a problem-solving task together while being videotaped. The videotapes were coded for a variety of verbal and nonverbal control attempts including dysfluencies, interruptions, frequency of adaptor and illustrator gestures, vocal characteristics, and dominance. The model tested in this investigation was largely supported. Individuals' perceptions of authority and resources were predictors of perceived relative power, and perceptions of power led to more dominant communication behavior during discussions with their partner. This dominant behavior led to control over the outcome of their interaction. Relational satisfaction was not influenced by the amount of power or control enjoyed by the participants. Men reported having more psychological, physical and economic resources while women reported greater authority over the household and children. Masculine individuals reported feeling more powerful and contributed more to the outcome of the discussions with their partners than feminine individuals overall. The influence of personality traits and suggestions for future revisions of dyadic power theory are discussed.

The purpose of this research was to develop and empirically test the structural component of the Transtheoretical Integration Model (TIM). TIM contains four stages, environment, sociotechnical system, integration, and goals, and uses a systems perspective to propose constructs and relationships congruent with team-based contexts in acute care environments. The framework extends previous work by reconceptualizing patient care unit structures consistent with current environments. The sample consisted of 16 medical surgical units drawn from four hospitals in the Southwestern United States. Participants included 411 multidisciplinary team members employed on the sampled units. The majority of participants were registered nurses and unlicensed care personnel. Measures used in this research were adapted from instruments previously used in non-acute care settings. Data were collected through self-report and hospital administrative databases. Psychometric properties of all but three scales (Hierarchical Culture, Rational Culture, and Task Type) exhibited evidence of validity as group measures. TIM proposed that Workgroup Design moderated by Group and Developmental Cultures would lead to Positive Intra-Team Process and Negative Intra-Team Process, which in turn would lead to effective patient outcomes (decreased Falls with Injury) and efficient organizational outcomes (lower Costs and shorter Lengths of Stay). TIM further proposed that Work Technology moderated the relationship between the two Intra-Team Process constructs and Outcome variables. Neither moderator entered the model, but Group and Developmental Culture directly predicted a reduction in Falls (Group Culture) and increased Costs (Developmental Culture). Workgroup Design predicted Positive and Negative Intra-Team Process, which predicted increased Length of Stay. Neither mediator variable predicted Patient Falls or Costs. Based on these preliminary findings, multidisciplinary teams did not have any effect on reducing Patient Falls or lowering Costs. Negative Intra-Team Process did predict increased Length of Stay, as did Positive Intra-Team Process. Workgroup Design indirectly predicted increased Length of Stay through its relationship with Positive Intra-Team Process and Negative Intra-Team Process. Further research should evaluate the influence of TIM's environment stage on other model stages and evaluate the stability of these findings in a larger sample.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of economic rationality upon the practice of political theory within the discipline of political science and its relationship with the larger modern political context in which they are embedded. This work addresses an interest in tying together the rise of economic rationality and the rise methodism within political theory with the decline of "epic" political theory and civil society. I argue here that the decline of civil society is tied in part to the commodification of political knowledge within the modern university system, and that the modern university system and its practices are inundated by market rationality and discourse. This is expressed in the practice of political theorists "capturing" the idea of the public and commodifying it through the peer-review journal process; the "public" becomes the medium through which political theory and science identifies itself as a discipline and its practitioners professionally. The public is not privy to understanding itself as a public and is cut off from its own intellectual means of coming to grips with its own identity. Notions and ideas about the public are "methodized" and "disciplined" and are traded among political scientists and theorists more out of private professional concern than concern for serving public interests or democratic ideals and values. The purpose of political science and theory is the analysis of power in all its dimensions. I argue that political theory's position to comment on the nature of power is itself compromised by the dominance of market rationality and methodism. Political theory's critical distance from the methodism of political science has been narrowed by the rise in the importance of the peer-reviewed article for "professional development." In order for political theory to engage the expansive, critical position of epic political theory, and thus public interest, it must address the issue and problems presented by peer-review, the nature of "progress" in the social sciences and come to engage an ethic of responsibility to democracy.

The game of LOTTO is the most common form of lottery participation in the U.S. Participation in LOTTO requires the purchase of a six-number lottery ticket. Individuals are allowed to select their ticket numbers, or they are assigned a randomly selected set of numbers. However, regardless of their historical persistence and geographic availability, lotteries continue to generate significant criticism and concern. Two issues dominate most public policy debate. Who plays the lottery, and why do they play? Traditionally, these questions are addressed using individualist models of social action. Such models assume that psychological internal states, such as attitudes, beliefs and processes of rationality are the primary mechanisms that facilitate participation. In contrast, structural models of social action suggest that networks of social relations, and the information and resources that flow through such relations are the primary mechanisms that facilitate participation. Using self-report survey data obtained from 245 randomly selected adults, as well as ethnographic data, I operationalize individualist and social network models, and examine two central issues: who participates in lotteries, and why do they participate. Three findings are particularly noteworthy. First, the empirically measured psychological internal states that many individual's possess about lottery participation appear inconsistent with several assumptions of the individualist model. Second, lottery participation appears to build solidarity between many participants and the members of their primary network of social relations through discussions about winning. Third, for most people the attraction of participation appears to be affective in nature rather than economic. Thus, lottery participation induces a state of positive anticipation. Further, the socially organized process that individual's initiate in order to induce this affective state is similar to, but quite different than the process of "emotion work." Thus, I label this process "emotion play."

Why do different kinds of people like different kinds of culture? I examine two answers to this question: the homophily model and the distinction model. These models are alternative explanations for the finding that different cultural tastes and practices are concentrated within different sociodemographic segments of society. To determine which model is the preferred explanation, I identify conflicting predictions generated by the models. The models imply different ecological processes. The homophily model predicts that cultural forms compete with each other for people: People are a scarce resource on which cultural forms depend; cultural forms are not a scarce resource for people. The distinction model predicts a dual ecology: Cultural forms compete with each other for people, and people compete with each other for cultural forms. Empirical tests with 1993 General Social Survey data support the homophily model and disconfirm the distinction model.

This dissertation is an ethnoarchaeological study of the organization of traditional pottery manufacture the barrio of Paradijon, Gubat, Sorsogon Province, the Philippines. The potters of Paradijon have been drawn into political competition between elite members of the community, which has led to factionalism among the potting community. This research uses a case study approach to identify how traditional, independent potters become involved in elite competition, and the effect such involvement has on traditional pottery manufacture and its material record. The organization of ceramic production has become a mainstay in archaeological investigation. Within the case study context, this research seeks to contribute to the field along several fronts. First, this research re-examines the topic of the organization of production and suggests that the use of Contingency Theory will advance archaeological understanding of organizational behavior. Second, the participation of independent craft specialists in elite competition is described and explained. Third, a detailed analysis of the traditional technology of production in Paradijon is provided and the rejection of modern pottery technology introduced by the Philippine federal government is examined. Fourth, a social network analysis is used to illustrate the effect of factionalism on informal organizational complexity within specialist communities. And fifth, this research tests the ability of Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis for discerning factional competition in the material record, and illustrates the ways in which sociopolitical behavior creates patterning in material culture.

<p> This thesis explores the screening process in drug courts. Drug courts are known to be specialty courts, as much emphasis is put on efforts to rehabilitate drug offenders and not necessarily punish drug offenders by incarcerating them. An important aspect to note is drug courts operate in a non-adversarial model, whereby the philosophies and goals are different from the traditional courts. A drug court workgroup exists in drug courts, which typically include a judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, drug court coordinator, and probation officer. The drug court coordinator has the most discretion in drug courts, and it is due to this nature that the drug court coordinator is regarded as the gatekeeper in drug courts. I examined Yavapai County's Adult Probation to research the impact of gender characteristics and protocol variations within the screening process. Two interviews were conducted on the drug court coordinator, and the observations of ten drug offender's screening were done in between the two interviews. I researched the following question: Do gender characteristics and protocol variations have an impact on the treatment and services given to drug offenders? The data support my hypotheses. The first hypothesis was supported in the sense that the female drug offenders who had more gender characteristics (i.e., health and socioeconomic issues) received more recommendations for treatment and services than the male drug offenders. A separate gender characteristic that I found to have an impact on the recommendation for treatment was the drug offenders' difference in offending. All of the gender characteristics result from gender differences. It is important to note that the concept of gender itself did not have an influence on the recommendations for treatment and services. The second hypothesis was supported with the finding that the drug court coordinator's discretion had an impact on the use of various protocols (DUI/Court Screening Information, ASUS-R, and TCU Drug Screen II) and the recommendations for treatment and services.</p>

<p> This study explored communication and ethical investment in social capital to improve quality of life through the lens of time banking, a model of alternative currency. Previous studies of time banking noted a distinct set of characteristics of time banks that contrast with capitalist-based systems while using similar language; these were compared to research of social capital and social networks. Seven participants were interviewed at-length as representatives of the time bank movement. Stories of money framed theoretical constructs in practice on a daily basis and future visioning of the movement. Further analysis using the dialogic ethic of Martin Buber and the theory of the coordinated management of meaning (CMM) of Pearce and Pearce described transformational patterns of communication in time banks. The analysis shed light on the intentions of time banks and the meaning of the terms reciprocity, community and co-construction of reality. Further explorations of transcendent stories of time banking were recommended.</p>