This dissertation examines two major kingship rituals-- the coronation and the autumnal navaratri--as discussed in Hindu religious literature and ritual texts, and as practised in Nepal. These rituals are based on sacred myths and primarily oriented to the production of religious and socio-political dimensions of sovereign power. The Vedic, tantric, and other devotional acts as found in these rituals empower the king and construct his personal and corporate identity. The rituals are consequently strongly political, as various divine, human and other agencies invest the king with multiple powers and authorize him to rule; these agencies also negotiate their own relations, domains of influence, and hierarchies. These rituals produce a sacred and divine king and kingship, as well as sacred space, by establishing the king's connection (bandhu) and identification with many sources of power. As myth and ritual are used in the service of power and authority, they jointly promote each other to create, perpetuate, and strengthen these attributes. Since the uses of myth and ritual are strategic and ideological, they can be used to legitimize the status of the king and enforce the use of power on others. As illustrated in the recent history of Nepal, the myth and ritual can also be sites for dialogue, negotiation, resistance, subversion, and replacement of the same power. Religion and politics are deeply intertwined in these ritual activities; in fact, only in the deeply religious and devotional settings can the rituals exert maximum socio-political powers.

<p> This study is designed to answer one main research question: How could tertiary education quality be redefined and measured through the education production function model in developing countries. The study will use Indonesia as the target country to carry out research activities. Quality of tertiary education has been one of the most frequently discussed topics in relevant fields in academia and human development. As enrollment continuously increases and education systems expand in many developing countries, quality becomes their biggest concern. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide stakeholders a different and more practical approach to reevaluate tertiary education quality through quantifiable variables and to measure quality through educational input, equity and equality, labor market relevance, and system assurance factors. </p><p> Human capital theory serves as the guiding theoretical framework for this dissertation. The education production function model is the foundation for quality redefinition. Within the four quantifiable variables, benefit incidence analysis is used to measure equity and equality, economic rate of return is used to measure labor market relevance of the tertiary education system, and returns to investment is used to evaluate how education outputs yield from inputs. The study is designed to have an umbrella structure, with tertiary education quality being at the top of the skeleton and educational input, equity and equality, labor market relevance, and system assurance being the four supporting pillars.</p><p> With the redefinition of tertiary education quality, four main research questions will be answered respectively. Educational input in Indonesia has been improving in the past decade; however, it is still behind compared to peer ASEAN countries and countries with similar economic profiles. Indonesia's tertiary education access inequality is mainly caused by socioeconomic differences. The labor market absorbs a majority of tertiary graduates and yields much higher returns at the tertiary level, and it has been responding very positively toward the continuously expanding graduating class. The quality assurance system suffers from shortstaffing, low financial support, low capacity, and weak government support. At its current accrediting pace, Indonesia's tertiary education institutions will not be able to improve as fast as they are willing to.</p>

<p> The diagnostic category of PTSD does not capture culture-relevant symptomatology, that is, somatization, for Cambodian refugees in the United States. Somatization may function as a buffer against chronic PTSD symptomatology in Cambodian refugees because somatization represents a culture-specific coping strategy for this population. The purpose of the present study is to assess the correlation between somatization and degree of PTSD symptoms. The study also addresses the mental health disparities in the Cambodian refugee population in order to inform the literature on access to better trauma-informed mental health services. </p><p> Participants were recruited from community mental health agencies in Oakland, CA and Long Beach, CA. Two "data-gathering" groups of Cambodian refugees (<i>N</i> = 26) were administered a demographic questionnaire, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire-Revised (HTQ-R) and the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire-20 (SDQ-20) in Khmer and English. The correlational relationship between demographic variables was also analyzed in order to explore contextual factors behind the findings of the study's main research question. Recommendations for assessment and treatment of PTSD in Cambodian refugees were then discussed based on the study's findings. Health care utilization by Cambodian refugees was examined and recommendations were suggested for improvement in public policy and health care services.</p><p> The hypothesis of this study that the level of somatization was inversely related to degree of PTSD symptomatology in Cambodian refugees was not supported. The Pearson Correlational Coefficient analysis produced a statistically significant positive relationship (<i>r</i> = .34) between somatization and traumatization in Cambodian refugees as measured by scores on the SDQ-20 and the HTQ-R. The role of specific somatoform symptoms in the chronicity of PTSD symptomatology was explored. The positive correlation found between the SDQ-20 and HTQ-R supported previous research, demonstrating the relationship between somatoform dissociation and higher PTSD symptomatology in Cambodian refugees. </p>

<p> CHIK is a viral infection transmitted by the <i>Aedes aegypti</i> mosquito which causes an illness with symptoms of severe joint pain, high fever, and rash. The joint pain can continue for months, causing disability and economic strain on families. This study included implementation of a baseline needs assessment, and development, implementation, and evaluation of an experimental community-based educational intervention in rural Tamil Nadu, India. A total of 184 households, across 12 purposively sampled villages (six intervention and six control), participated in the needs assessment between August and December 2010. The experimental community-based educational intervention was implemented between December 2010 and August 2011, in the six intervention villages. A total of 180 households, from the same 12 villages, participated in the post-intervention evaluation. A randomized block design with repetition was used to test whether there was a change in CHIK knowledge scores from baseline to post-intervention in the treatment group. A model including respondent variables, household larval status, household container larval status, recent experience with CHIK, numbers of livestock, socioeconomic position (SEP) variables, and water variables were used to predict CHIK knowledge scores in rural Tamil Nadu. Respondent age, measures of luxury amenities and water source were statistically significant predictors of knowledge in this model. The CHIK knowledge score increased from 9.0 to 9.4 in the intervention group (p=0.6457) and from 8.5 to 9.2 in the control group (p=0.393), showing that the educational intervention did not increase CHIK knowledge in the intervention group. Although this low-cost intervention, utilized in a resource poor area of Tamil Nadu, India did not result in an increase of CHIK knowledge, the process of developing the educational intervention may provide a template for future interventions. Future studies should investigate methods of sustainability in the use of educational messages. </p>

<p> As nations have become far more interconnected by means of globalization in the 21st century, the issues that affect one nation often have affects upon others. As India is a nation with a population of more than 1.2 billion, the issues that affect the nation also affect others. As an assault in Delhi, India made international news on December 16, 2012, the international community has become more aware of the incidents of gender-based violence that exist within the country. The ramifications of the international community's knowledge of the assault included a drastic decrease in both its international reputation and its tourism industry. As tourism provided 6.6% of its total GDP in 2012, it is an industry that is integral to the development of the nation. In order for India to increase its reputation and its tourism industry, gender-based violence in the form of assault and trafficking must be eradicated. This thesis will discuss the roots of gender-based violence specifically in India, and a case study of India's fight against colonialism will be used as an example of how a sense of nationalism was essential in meeting the goal of the nation at that time. As colonialism and gender-based violence are both 'enemies' to a nation's autonomy and reputation, this thesis will analyze the fact that the nation's ability to form a cohesive national identity, as it did during British rule, is essential for it to achieve its 2013 goals.</p>

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

This thesis examines the interrelation of the government of Afghanistan's quality and communication against a theoretical framework that draws on Bertrand Russell's (1961) Authority and the Individual and Niklas Luhmann's (1990) The Political Theory in the Welfare State. Theories of governance, communication, and participatory democracy are investigated to explore the role of media, people's political participation, citizenry, and civic activism, in good governance. The objective of this thesis is to investigate how communication influences good governance. A qualitative research design is employed, utilizing content analysis of government and non-government documents and in-depth interviews with national and international field experts. The thesis finds that effective communication can enhance the degree of responsiveness, accountability, and transparency in Afghanistan's governance system. It is argued here that effective communication between the government, external players, and the people, can improve governance quality. This thesis provides a formulation of the communication activities of the government of Afghanistan, the Afghani people, and the international community that can playa critical role in changing Afghanistan's current status as a failed state.

<p> In this thesis I argue that Hindu nationalist terminology, particularly the concepts of <i>Hindutva, Samyavada,</i> and national identity, modernized amid currents of globalization and neocolonialism in the early twentieth-century. In the theoretical section, I examine how systems of knowledge and power in India were directly and indirectly affected by the globalization of western modernity. In the primary source analysis section, I discuss three prominent Hindu nationalists and their ideas in support of the argument made in the theoretical section. Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966), the philosopher of Hindutva, represented the ethno-nationalistic component to Hindu nationalism and looked to cultural motifs in order to unify the &ldquo;true&rdquo; people of India. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945), the militant hero who formed the Indian National Army and outright opposed the British, contributed the aggressive discourse of nationalist rhetoric. Sarsanghchalak Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (1906-1973), the supreme leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), utilized Hindu nationalist rhetoric in order to mesmerize post-independence Indians and lay the foundation for the future of the RSS. Although these individuals represented a current within Indian nationalist history, their lives and literature influenced the language of Hindu nationalism.</p>

Since the declaration of Education for All (EFA) in Jomtien in 1990 which was reaffirmed in Dakar 2000, it has become widely accepted that education for girls has a profound effect on sustainable development. More importantly women’s education has been linked to low maternal and infant mortality rates in Third World Countries. Studies carried out by a number of scholars established significant correlation between a woman’s schooling and her children’s learning opportunities (Stromquist, 2005, p. 142). They contend that intergenerational benefits resulting from female schooling are considerably higher than from male schooling hence increasing girls’ education and women’s literacy provides enormous benefits to individuals and families. As a result, literacy for women and girls has become a major focus of attention in many developing countries. Notwithstanding this renewed focus on girls’ education and the role of women in development, country strategies such as Bhutan’s Ninth Five-Year National Development Plan have not made significant attempts to adequately define the role of women, and particularly nuns in the pursuit of Gross National Happiness (GNH). Bhutan’s development philosophy, GNH which focuses on social indicators was proclaimed by the King in juxtaposition to the global economic indicator Gross National Product (GNP) as the road map to its mode of development. Ten years after its introduction, the role of women in Bhutan’s development agenda and the pursuit of gross national happiness remain undefined and marginal. This study therefore seeks to examine the existing gaps in Bhutan’s development philosophy with a focus on the role of nuns in national development. Drawing on feminist and critical theories grounded in discourses on gender equity, this study questions whether countries, and specifically Bhutan, have the political will and commitment to transform the lives of rural women, including nuns, by redefining their role in the 21st century focusing on their educational and literacy needs. The study, utilizing frameworks grounded in Women in Development (WID), Women and Development (WAD), and Gender and Development (GAD) discourse, highlights significant gaps in the education sector in terms of support, management, coordination, supervisions, and oversight of the quality of learning at nunneries with a view to drawing attention to critical gender equity issues in Bhutanese society. It concludes by proposing specific recommendations and programmatic actions to address the situation.