<p>Rapid global urbanization over the last few decades has intensified the challenge of providing adequate water and sanitation services to urban residents. Meeting this challenge has been the focus of domestic and international development efforts, including Millennium Development Goal 7.C. This research studies three institutional and governance attributes theorized to improve government service outcomes, testing hypotheses that the attributes are associated with greater country progress on providing urban water and sanitation access. The attributes are: a) decentralized services; b) sector-wide strategy and investment coordination; and c) civil society engagement. Country-level experience is analyzed using a series of ordered logistic regression models for a sample of 75 low- and middle-income countries. UN GLAAS survey data is used to derive country-specific variables for the three attributes. These, along with control variables representing country background conditions, are analyzed relative to four country progress outcome variables, two each for water and sanitation. The outcome variables, (covering the 2000 to 2012 time period), are derived from the UN JMP dataset that tracks urban access rates by country. Based on results from these models, four country case studies look in-depth at implementation of the attributes and highlight aspects that can help or impede country progress. Overall, findings show that decentralization is helpful to sanitation progress, but not water progress, likely due limitations of capacity and funding faced by sub-national levels of government. Three explanations are proposed for why decentralization may impact water and sanitation differently. Results for sector planning were mostly inconclusive, except that it was shown helpful to water progress over the 12-year period. Study of this attribute would benefit from additional wide-scale data collection. Civil society engagement was consistently shown to help country progress in both water and sanitation, and several examples of engagement are profiled to demonstrate how it can improve service outcomes. The last chapter relates findings to theories about government provision of public goods. The extent to which the three attributes help achieve efficiency, supply, equity, and social welfare goals is discussed. Finally, practical recommendations for strengthening sector institutions and governance are presented with application to governments and international aid donors.

<p> Prisons in the United States are full to capacity because of the revolving doors created by recidivism. African American women comprise a significant proportion of those who return to prison, yet most studies about women and recidivism focus on the experiences of white women. The communities into which formerly incarcerated African American women are released do not make things easier in terms of the potential for reoffending because of the difficult access to good jobs, safe housing, good health care services, and assistance with child cares services. Using Cullen&rsquo;s social support theory as the foundation, the purpose of this general qualitative study was to explore the perspectives and post-release experiences of participants while living in their community. Fourteen African American ex-convicted women, ages 18 to 55 who reside in a large mid-Atlantic city participated in open-ended interviews to further explore the social factors related to recidivism. These data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Key findings include that success is tied to a sense of self, most participants expressed a sense of gratitude for their success, and that family, friends, government support, and the effects of rehabilitation programs contribute to success in living in communities after release from prison. The positive social change implications of this study include recommendations to correctional officials to focus on strengthening opportunities for pro-social interactions with appropriate support systems including working with other government agencies to reach out to formerly incarcerated African American women for services that are unique to their needs and circumstances. These efforts may improve public safety through reductions in future crimes.</p><p>

<p> The Civil Rights Act was enacted more than 5 decades ago, and its provisions forbade discrimination on the basis of race in hiring, promoting, and firing. Yet some researchers argue that racial discrimination issues are still prevalent in the United States. They contend that modern racial discrimination is more covert and takes the form of racial microaggressions, which are subtle conscious or unconscious insults and derogatory attitudes directed towards minorities. Researchers have not fully addressed the prevalence of racial microaggressions in U.S. workplaces, however. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of naturalized African-Americans regarding racial microaggressions in U.S. federal agencies. The research problem was examined through the lens of critical race theory. Ten participants from the Social Security Administration were selected using snowball sampling. Data were collected through semi structured phone interviews and then examined using thematic content analysis to identity key concepts and develop a coding structure, from which 9 themes emerged. Findings revealed that participants experienced racial microaggressions in the form of bias, prejudice, false assumptions, nepotism, favoritism, and unfair denial of opportunities for promotion and professional development while at work, which affected their morale and productivity. This study may contribute to positive social change by helping leaders of U.S. federal agencies to understand their multicultural and diverse workforce and work environment. U.S. government officials could also use this study as a basis for policy decisions that may improve racial relations in U.S. federal agencies.</p><p>

<p> As recent immigrants seek a productive and dignified life in &ldquo;new immigrant destinations&rdquo; that have little historical experience with immigration, public education systems serve a key function in immigrant integration efforts. In a federal system increasingly focused on accountability, a crucial sub-set of education policy and local responsiveness to immigration is English language instruction and services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) students and parents.</p><p> In such contexts, the role that local bureaucrats play, and whether they actively represent the interests of the newfound diversity of community members, are crucial questions if strongly held American ideals of social equity and equal opportunity are to be upheld. This research asks broad questions at the intersection of bureaucratic power, representative bureaucracy and educational policy toward English language learners at the local level. Variations in how school systems in the political bellwether of Virginia responded to a recent policy shock - federal guidance released in January 2015 that reiterated local school system responsibility for providing equal educational access to LEP students and parents &ndash; form a unique window into local policy-making. Using a concurrent triangulation mixed methodology that consists of a state-wide survey and interviews with a sub-set of the Title III coordinators who supervise programs for English Language Learners, this research shows Title III coordinators to be unrepresentative in passive terms of the foreign born population but nevertheless to have a strong sense of advocating for English Language Learners. Findings suggest that public service motivation is the key explanatory factor in driving a sense of role advocacy and this in turn drives a greater range of action taking by the coordinator to benefit ELLs. Despite this link between role advocacy and coordinator action, role advocacy is not found to be significant in driving the likelihood or range of system level responsiveness to the letter. Instead, political and demographic factors increase the likelihood of system action but, counter to existing literature, more conservative localities are found to be more likely to have responded to the Dear Colleague Letter. This suggests that a previous reluctance to act in these places may have been dislodged by the letter and points to the importance of change over time in conceptualizing local responsiveness to immigrants.</p><p>

<p> One of the most overlooked and complex problems that universities and colleges face nation-wide is how to reduce and eliminate research misconduct. Because of the confidential nature of allegations of research misconduct and the high rate of underreporting, administrators at scholarly institutions struggle with understanding the cause of such behavior. Without a clear picture of the prevalence of misconduct or the barriers to reporting, leaders at institutions of higher learning find themselves at a disadvantage when dealing with these problems. This uncertainty coupled with a growing regulatory emphasis from federal funding agencies, results in a reactionary approach while questionable practices go unchecked. </p><p> In the early 2000s, federal funding agencies began requiring colleges and universities to provide training in the responsible conduct of research prior to receiving funding. The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training covers research misconduct (falsification of data, fabricating data, and plagiarism) as well as other topics related to research misbehaviors (mentoring, peer review, data management, authorship, etc). This emphasis on training, while well intended, has not had a significant impact on faculty and student knowledge about misconduct. </p><p> Authentic Leadership Theory is based on Aristotle&rsquo;s concept of authenticity and has gained attention over the last decade. It is comprised of four main components: Balanced processing, internalized moral perspective, relational transparency, and self-awareness. These types of leaders focus on moral standards and values and that is what guides his or her leadership. </p><p> This study evaluates the impact authentic leaders have on shaping the ethical attitudes of faculty when they are placed in direct departmental supervisory positions. A survey of faculty from 15 Mississippi colleges and universities was conducted. Results indicate that the self-awareness and relational transparency constructs of authentic leadership influence faculty attitudes towards objective research integrity issues, but the direction of influence conflicts with each of the constructs. Additional variables failed to reach a level of significance suggesting that other variables, not historically associated with organizational leadership and research integrity, are influencing faculty&rsquo;s ethical perceptions. Additional attention is focused on barriers to effective leadership caused by the compliance focused culture of institutions of higher learning.</p><p>

My research provides an insider’s view of how political consensus is formed within the business community. More specifically, my research sheds light on the sociological processes of political mobilization within the business community against the Clinton Health Security Act of 1994. In this study, I build off Jill Quadagno’s stakeholder thesis which largely attributes the defeat of the healthcare reform effort to the political mobilization of anti-healthcare business forces. I probe Quadagno’s thesis a bit deeper in this study by exploring how conflicting business forces resolved policy disagreements on the merits of healthcare reform in order to arrive at the position of unity necessary for its political mobilization against the effort.

This study seeks to understand the effects of HIV/AIDS on the education sector in Malawi, Africa and to assess its capacity to be an effective safeguard against the spread of HIV/AIDS. The study fills in gaps in the literature by analyzing the perspectives of educators at six levels of the hierarchy—from schools to the Ministry of Education—and assessing their professional, as opposed to personal, HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP). This study benefits international education and health specialists in the preparation and implementation of HIV/AIDS strategies. The study utilizes a sequential, mixed-methods design in which qualitative data were obtained from 31 participants through interviews and focus group discussions and quantitative data were obtained from 207 respondents through a survey. The data were collected from representatives of the six levels of the hierarchy: teachers, head teachers, zonal advisors, district managers, division officers, and Ministry personnel. Teachers and head teachers represented 32 primary and secondary schools divided between one rural and one urban district in the southern region of Malawi. Descriptive statistics and cross tabulations were used to analyze the data. The study shows that Malawi's education system is weak, with HIV/AIDS greatly affecting supply, quality, and psycho-social well being. To a lesser degree, demand and management are affected. The effects are strongly felt at all levels of the hierarchy. It was found that the sector is weakened through sickness and death, difficulty of replacing deceased teachers, the enormous financial burden of paying for educators' funerals and lengthy sick leave, and depression. Education personnel—especially those at the school level—are knowledgeable, have positive attitudes about their capabilities, and demonstrate a strong desire to provide teaching and counseling services to their students. Although HIV/AIDS has severely weakened the education sector, the self-reported high levels of confidence amongst Malawi's educators could enable them to take positive steps to change their own behavior and to influence behavior change in others, thus allowing them to play the role of "doctor" to help cure the rest of society of the ills of HIV/AIDS.

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is the result of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-5). NIMS requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a national policy template for state, local, regional, and federal agencies to work together during emergencies. One difficulty with NIMS is that state and local agencies interpret and implement NIMS requirements differently. Using Lusier & Achua's theory of integrative leadership and Burns, Bass, Kouzes, and Posner's concept of transformational leadership, this study examined the relationship between the leadership provided by city public safety directors (CPSDs) and effective NIMS implementation at the local level. Two research questions were posed to determine if education, experience, leadership, competency, or knowledge of their position, impacted the required NIMS implementation. The Delphi technique was used to develop 30 survey statements that formed the basis for a survey of 25 CPSDs in a Midwestern state. Data were analyzed using chi-square as a test of association. Results indicated that NIMS knowledge is inconsistent among CPSDs, the cause of which is likely lack of training in NIMS emergency response requirements and not lack of knowledge about leadership styles or techniques. Therefore, the conclusion of this study is that CPSDs have the leadership skills required to lead emergency management organizations, but may lack the specific technical skills related to implementing the NIMS requirements. The results of this study could promote positive social change in NIMS implementation by helping decision-makers to creating training opportunities related to NIMS implementation and to allocate resources more appropriately to protect people from natural and human catastrophic events.

The Massachusetts model illustrates the latest approach to smart growth—the incentive based program. This study examines the reasons for and actual outcomes of local smart growth efforts through one of the Massachusetts' smart growth incentives—the Commonwealth Capital (CC) Program. The main objectives of this research are built on two conceptual models through a mixed approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative method is mainly utilized to evaluate the implementation of the CC program. The results indicate that the program is a good measure of municipal smart growth efforts representative of goals of the state. Communities with diverse land bases have some advantage, as a variety of zoning methods can be employed. It is not obvious that communities have changed their own zoning in response to the stimuli of the CC program. The first model is applied through various statistical tests to investigate the relationships among the towns' characteristics and CC data. Homeownership, education and access to the highway system are significant factors related to municipal smart growth efforts in Massachusetts. Wealth, population and quantity of open spaces are only significant for certain type of communities (e.g. maturing suburbs, developing towns etc). Municipal political preferences (e.g. forms of municipal governance, DEM/GOP preference etc) and municipal planners' efforts have some influence on the adoptions of smart growth policies, though the specific outcomes might vary case by case. The second model tests the statistical relationships between CC data and the Urban Sprawl in Massachusetts. The urban sprawl are defined by Urban Sprawl Indicator (USI) as the amount of residential land consumed per building permit in the five past years per community in Massachusetts. The CC scores and USIs negatively fit the regression line well, indicating that local smart growth efforts have generally controlled land consumption in the past. In particular, the USIs in developing suburbs appear more responsive to the CC data. The spatial lag model shows sprawl is a net-effect phenomena and the cluster of sprawl in a region might weaken the effectiveness of particular municipal smart growth efforts. Lastly, this research suggests that the design of state land use policies ought to follow the nature of geographic segmentation of municipal smart growth preferences.

Consideradas a midiatização da sociedade e da política, investiga-se qual é o lugar/papel da comunicação governamental como instrumento de gestão e de participação cidadã na esfera municipal de governo.Tendo como objetivos contribuir teoricamente com os estudos de Comunicação, além de oferecer referencial à Administração municipal, subsidiando pesquisadores, profissionais e estudantes da área, toma-se como cenário as inovações de gestão pública, identificadas principalmente pela implementação de políticas sociais por Municípios brasileiros a partir da década de 1990. Esta tese se propõe ao desafio crítico de pesquisar, no contexto de administrações inovadoras, a Comunicação como espaço de interlocução entre o Poder público estatal e os cidadãos. Para isso uma matriz de análise é formulada e, nesta, a comunicação é concebida na perspectiva da substituição da gestão tecnoburocrática/monológica pela gestão participativa/dialógica do processo decisório. Utilizando-se o instrumental desenvolvido, a hipótese, orientadora do estudo de caso, é que há possibilidade de formulação de uma política de comunicação entre governo e cidadãos como espaço de interlocução entre o Poder estatal e a sociedade, como resultado da intervenção governamental nos processos de participação. O cenário empírico do Programa de Braços Abertos de Boa Vista (RR) e o enfoque teórico sobre a Comunicação como espaço público constituem os argumentos que sustentam a proposição de modelo de política de comunicação governamental no contexto da Administração Municipal. / Considered the midiatização society and politics, investigates sure what place/Government communication\'s role as an instrument for management and citizen participation in municipal government. Having goals contribute theoretically with communication studies, municipal administration, referential subsidising, researchers, professionals and students, as scenario public management innovations identified primarily by the implementation of social policies by Brazilian municipalities from the 1990s. This thesis proposes that the critical challenge to search, in the context of innovative administrations, the Union or space communication between the public authorities and citizens. To do this an array of analysis is formulated and, in this, the communication is designed from the perspective of replacement technobureaucratic/monologic management by participative/dialogic of management decision-making. Using the instrumental developed guidance of hypothesis, case study, is that there is a possibility of formulating a policy of communication between Government and citizens as Union or space between the State and society, as a result of government intervention in the process of participation. The empirical scenario \"program with open arms Boa Vista\" (RR) and theoretical focus on communication as a public space are the arguments that support the proposition model Government communication policy in the context of Municipal administration.