<p>The City of Toronto has become synonymous with themes of culture and diversity. With close to one half of the city’s population now comprised of those born outside of Canada, Toronto represents a dynamic and exciting cultural mosaic. Yet, underneath this surface exist real disparities in health and well being for many newcomers and racialized communities. In addition to and because of such disparities, changes in the demographics of Toronto have led to challenges and questions involving the participation of such communities within the formal political realm. Much research to date has focused on issues of representation and the exercise of political franchise within such communities.</p> <p>As opposed to the formal political realm, the aim of this research is to better understand the substantive participation of newcomers and members of racialized communities in processes of government sponsored citizen participation at the municipal level by asking: what is the ability of this approach to policy making to meaningfully include a diverse range of voices? This question is important because it is decisions in this realm that most immediately impact residents of the city. Additionally, if social policy developers are to keep up with shifts in demographics and create inclusive and responsive policy, then consideration must be given to all community members.</p> <p>To understand the ability of government sponsored citizen participation to be inclusive of a diverse range of voices, a literature review was conducted. Also, an analysis of the case of the 2000-2001 Community Consultations on Social Development held in Toronto was undertaken. Finally, five interviews were held with policy practitioners within Toronto to gain insight into the ability of practices of government sponsored citizen participation to be inclusive. The findings of this research study highlight that political will and increased funding must be directed towards the purposeful inclusion of newcomers and racialized communities in processes of government sponsored citizen participation so as to foster increased experiences of inclusion and the creation of responsive and effective policies of social development.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

<p dir="ltr">This thesis details the development of a multidisciplinary design analysis (MDA) framework intended to evaluate a rocket-powered, reusable hypersonic vehicle. In particular, the analysis framework computes the design closure of a coupled system resembling Stratolaunch Systems’ Talon-A reusable hypersonic test vehicle. The resulting analysis framework differs from available literature due to its focus upon payload-related design considerations. The presented framework, too, avoids the use of proprietary technical information and/or export-controlled analysis tools. The framework’s geometric analysis, for example, employs a reverse-engineered geometry resembling Talon-A. An open-source aerothermal package, too, was selected to evaluate the vehicle’s aerothermodynamic characteristics. Quick-to-implement methods were prioritized to expedite the development of the MDA framework. Notably, a regression-based structural analysis model was used, as well as an interpolative thermal protection system (TPS) sizing procedure. A quasi-steady trajectory model, too, was implemented within the MDA framework, to determine the vehicle’s mission performance. The resulting analysis takes the form of a six-discipline MDA framework that can calculate, among other parameters, the vehicle’s cruise duration. Initial design closure results for a vehicle resembling Talon-A, using an assumed TPS size, are currently available. These results report an estimated total vehicle mass within thirty percent of Talon-A’s true gross mass, as well as a cruise duration of approximately 445 seconds. These design closure results were also evaluated under a perturbed specific impulse of ±10%, with a resulting change in cruise duration of ±12.3%. Results for a cruise-condition design exploration procedure were also obtained within a simplified, sequential analysis chain. These design exploration results report a maximum cruise lift-to-drag ratio of approximately four. Future work has been identified, too, including the integration of more rigorous analysis tools for use within future iterations of the MDA framework. Notably, these tools include an open-source optimal control library, as well as a physics-based TPS sizing tool</p>

Defined Benefit (DB) state pension trust funds are an integral component of state finances and play a major role in the country’s labor and capital markets. The last decade though has seen a substantial growth in unfunded pension obligations and a seeming inability by states to make the contributions needed to cover funding shortfalls. When coupled with even larger unfunded retirement health benefits, the looming threat of insolvent state retirement systems pose both current and long-term fiscal challenges to state governments already struggling with the ongoing economic downturn and billions of dollars in budget deficits. The convergence of these factors have led states to undertake various reform strategies in an attempt to move their respective public pension plans towards a more sustainable funding path. Using an asset-liability framework to describe the DB plan funding structure and process, this dissertation advances the discussion over major pension reform efforts currently implemented or considered by states. I show analytically the link between various pension reform categories and specific DB plan funding components, and how this in turn, affects DB plan funding outcomes. From this analytical framework, I derive the study’s hypotheses on the relationship between DB plan reform-linked funding components and outcomes of interest. This study looks at three DB-plan reform-linked funding components: (1) plan member employee contributions, (2) plan employer contributions, and (3) retirement benefit payments. Four major funding outcomes are evaluated: (1) the employer contribution rate, (2) flow funding ratio, and (3) stock funding ratio, and (4) relative size of plan unfunded liability. Utilizing a unique panel dataset of 100 DB state retirement systems from 50 states covering a nine-year period of FY 2002 to 2010, I empirically test the following hypothesized funding relationships: (1) States as DB plan sponsors have underfunded their plans as indicated by their failure to meet annual employer funding requirements; and (2) Increasing the employee and employer contribution rate and reducing the cost of retirement benefits are associated with higher plan stock funding ratios and lower unfunded pension liabilities. Results from my fixed-effects (FE) panel regression analyses provide the clearest empirical evidence to date that state DB pension plan sponsors underfunded their required annual employer contributions. The financial condition of a state’s budget is also shown to have a significant effect on the amount states are able to contribute into their pension funds. I find empirical support for the crucial function of employer contributions in determining the overall funded status of state pension plans. This finding is further reinforced when I estimate plan stock funding ratios using a dynamic system GMM (sGMM) panel regression model. The results from static FE and dynamic sGMM models suggest no significant effect on overall plan funding levels from changes in the employee contribution rate or the average retirement benefit cost. Lastly, the results lend evidence to the significant influence of past funding levels on current funding levels. It is recommended that future empirical research account for the dynamic nature of public pension funding and related endogeneity issues. This dissertation concludes by discussing the implications of the empirical findings for policy makers seeking to improve the funded status of their respective state DB retirement systems.

Although immigration is considered the responsibility and authority of the federal government, there is no clear federal policy regarding undocumented students and higher education. This leaves the power to regulate undocumented students in higher education to state governments. In Virginia, there is no specific, state-wide policy that addresses undocumented students and admission and enrollment in public higher education. Because of this, policies and practices related to the admission and enrollment of undocumented students are created at the university level. There is, however, state policy in Virginia related to legal immigration status and eligibility for in-state tuition. This creates a complex dynamic in which immigration-related practices, which are legally regulated on the federal level, are actually determined on the state and institutional level. Through interviews with admissions professionals at 12 Virginia, public 4-year colleges and universities, this research study uses a descriptive qualitative case study to explore the application of institution level undergraduate policies and practices related to undocumented students. The findings suggest that of the 12 institutions, five knowingly enroll undocumented students; six admit undocumented students but do not knowingly enroll undocumented students; and one institution does not admit or enroll undocumented students. None of the schools offers in-state tuition to undocumented students. Seven themes emerged from the 12 interviews, and these themes are grouped into two categories. The themes in the first category relate to the experiences of undocumented students and include funding challenges, fear, lack of knowledge of higher education processes, and post-graduation challenges. The themes in the second category are related to policy and practice, and the professionals who create and implement those policies and practices. The themes that emerged in this category are changing demographics, ambiguity, and professional and personal values. These themes are interpreted and discussed through the theoretical frameworks of administrative discretion and wicked problems. Recommendations for future research are provided.

Workforce development programs designed to provide individuals with the skills necessary to gain employment have been in existance for over 80 years. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) was a federal workforce development program that ran from 2000 to 2014. The WIA provided three main programs: youth, adult, and dislocated worker. The focus of this research was to evaluate the individual services in the adult and dislocated worker programs in the Western Kentucky Workforce Investment Area and identify the most effective service in each program. The adult and dislocated worker programs each offered three tiered services: core, intensive, and training. Individuals entered the core service and progressed until employment was obtained or they exited the programs. The services were evaluated based on the success and failure rates of the outcomes using the reported data retrieved from the Workforce Investment Act Standardized Record Data (WIASRD) database. The number of participants were counted in each service as well as the number of individuals that were employed and not employed after exiting the programs. Individuals employed after exiting the program, were counted as successful outcomes. Individuals that were not employed after exiting the program were counted as unsuccessful outcomes. The study found evidence that the training service was the most effective service in both the adult and dislocated worker programs.

This thesis provides a framework to understand and apply the philosophical principles of paternalism to determine the most reasonable actions states can take in regard to marijuana legalization. As matters currently stand in U.S. policy, states must decide whether they will prohibit, decriminalize, or legalize marijuana. First, I will give a brief history of marijuana regulations and societal perceptions in the United States. Second, I will define and differentiate concepts of illegalization, decriminalization, and legalization from one another. Third, I will summarize and analyze Joel Feinberg and Sarah Conly's arguments against and for paternalism, respectively. I will conclude by applying the strengths of each philosopher's arguments with respect to the marijuana debate to offer a policy that is both just and effective.

Foster children are already at a disadvantage given that they tend to live in a home without their parents. Social workers have direct interactions working with children with special needs, and through interviews with the workers, we aimed to understand whether or not the services available are able to meet foster children’s special needs. The research on special needs children in foster care is quite limited. The purpose of the study was to identify social workers’ perceptions of the needs of special needs foster children and their access to services. This study used qualitative interviews with open-ended questions to gather qualitative data from ten social worker participants. The researchers employed thematic analysis techniques to analyze the qualitative data. The themes that emerged from analyzing the data were social workers’ challenges in providing services to special needs foster children, social workers’ access to services, and the need for institutional support to effectively manage service delivery for special needs foster children. This study found that social workers face challenges in obtaining training for parents and social workers, navigating complex funding processes, managing inconsistent desires between parents and court officials, and dealing with the limited number of capable foster homes. The social workers interviewed identified different tactics that could be implemented in order to improve services for the special needs foster children through changes and improvements within the department. Understanding large-scale policy and practice issues, such as organizational change or resource management, can lead county agency social workers to advocate for the challenges of special needs children in child welfare.

The need to improve the quality of government decision-making and tailor China's management to its more complex economy after Mao's death forced China's Party authorities to implement a number of administrative reforms, and to select administrative leaders from among professionals and specialists based on their competence, education, and age. The crucial outcome of these post-Mao reforms, 1979 to the present, is the major focus of this research. This study examines the role of China's top administrative elites during and after the post-Mao administrative reforms, and determines to what extent the changes and their impact on the policy-making may have brought about better economic policies and development. China's social and political conditions and leadership changes before, during, and after the reform are provided as background information for the analysis of policy making in China. This is followed by an analysis of various contemporary theories of bureaucracy and technocracy in general, and the Weberian Legal-Rational model of modern bureaucracy in particular. Qualitative and quantitative methods coupled with surveys, interviews, biographical and documentary-historical methods, and other primary and secondary data are combined in this empirical study. The primary data on biographical information of administrative elites were drawn from the collected results of questionnaires and interviews with elite members of State Council ministries and commissions, provincial and municipal governments. The secondary data were used to conduct a biographical study of the Maoist and post-Mao top administrative elites--all premiers, vice-premiers, State Council ministers, and all provincial governors and municipal mayors from the founding of the PRC in 1949 up until 1993. Through these analyses, the study found that post-Mao administrative reform has indeed brought about changes in the composition of administrative elites. These post-Mao administrative elites are more professionally competent, better educated, more efficient, and younger. Their economic policies have stimulated more extensive and sustained economic development.

A vast literature acknowledges the corruptibility of regulators; however, empirical tests on the matter have been limited to two-agent models examining the rulemaking process and price regulation of natural monopolies. It remains an open question whether political contributions, by driving legislative pressure, can entice laxity from regulators in their application of the rules. To remedy this issue, I observe the highly-regulated coal mining industry for which there exists several points for inspector discretion. By comparing the outcomes with Congressional coal mining contribution levels, I am able to ascertain capture across several dimensions. Specifically, I find that contributions are associated with agency inspectors using their discretion to preempt violations requiring follow-up inspection, grant more inspections to waive safety requirements, conduct shorter inspections, and grant lower penalties. It is troubling that these findings occur at relatively low levels of contributions, suggesting a high level of corruptibility on the part of regulators.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 1995.