This study examines whether Canada’s military’s interoperability with the United States affects Canadian sovereignty. The literature dealing with this subject is highly polarized arguing that such interoperability either significantly reduces our sovereignty or that it is necessary to maintain it. Successive Canadian governments, for example, have traditionally supported the military view that high levels of interoperability with our allies are needed for operations to proceed safely and effectively and that this poses no cost to Canadian sovereignty. The interoperability critics strongly disagree, arguing that increased interoperability, especially if it is with the United States, will diminish our foreign policy independence, our ability to refuse US military adventures, and our domestic sovereignty. In a limited sense this division in the literature allows one to comprehend the broad contours of the issue. Otherwise, recent works are marked by shifting definitions and unclear methodologies. These shortcomings have led to a reliance on conjecture, with the critics predicting damaging “future implications” as a result of Canada’s interoperability policies while governments promise outright gains. As a result, the Canadian public that underwrites the financial costs of such multi-billion dollar investments as the new F-35 fighter have little to guide them in assessing the widely claimed interoperability and sovereignty benefits or costs of the purchase. This thesis set about correcting these shortcomings by examining Canada’s interoperability history, defining the terms, developing clear hypotheses, and then testing them against recent issues and events. These included Canada's response to 9/11 and our decisions to participate, or not, in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. These produced six case studies within which events were assessed against the hypotheses that test for sovereignty gains or losses. The subsequent evaluation concluded that Canadian sovereignty was rarely at risk from Canada's military interoperability policy and Canada was normally able to enjoy an independent foreign policy. The only area where there were successive sovereignty costs was when Canada became overly dependent on US capabilities. This thesis also argued that the methodology would be useful in gauging the sovereignty implications of future cooperative projects.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine dynamics and consequences of geographical return movements in two North-South contexts based on migrants' biographies. The thesis examines the consequences of return migration in terms of social mobility, meanings of return and the shaping of identity-place relationships for the subjects of migration. Categories of return were identified and related to evolving migration processes in the two case studies of long term labour migration and political exile respectively. The concept of 'narrative identity' was used to analyse the shaping of the migration biographies and to examine the ways migrants made sense of their experiences of emigration/exile and return. In a further step the narrative identities were discussed in relation to examples of public narratives in the two contexts. The dissertation's case study of US-Mexican migration showed that geographical return took different shapes at the local level as the migration process evolved between the studied municipality in Mexico and different destinations in the USA. The initial phase of formative return led to the gradual establishment of a migration tradition and development of a remittance economy. Return movements turned in a later phase into an increasingly trapped migratory pattern of differentiated circulation between the municipality in Mexico and different locations in the USA. The 'narrative identities' of returning migrants were related to family situations (family formation, safety of the family, family commitment), perceptions of real life in Mexico and work identities (respected worker, independent businessman), negative experiences of migration (threat, social degradation, trapped migration), and the search and fulfilment of personal experiences. These narrative identities were contrasted with public narratives, showing the partial incorporation of some public narratives and contrasting senses of self of migrants in relation to 'imposed identities' in both the USA and Mexico. The second case study of the dissertation identified categories of return movements in a context of changing conditions in both Chile and Sweden. Examples of categories were 'conditional return' and 'programmed return' and in the phase of desexilio professional circulation, continued exile and everyday life circulation. The narrative identities of retornados were related to family situations (children's future and education, the extended family and the family vote), Sweden as 'parenthesis' (programmed return, duty to return, political return, personal return), work identities (independent businessman, professional circulation) and experiences of exclusion (foreigner, immigrant, prolonged political exile). The narrative identities of migrants were discussed in relation to larger public narratives about retornados in the Chilean media. / digitalisering@umu

The dissertation examines US democracy protection policy carried out in three post-Soviet countries that had been just moved away from autocratic rule: Russia in 1991-1996; Georgia in 2003-2008; and Ukraine in 2004-2009. It aims to answer the question whether US policy increased or decreased the likelihood of democratic consolidation in new democracies. Based on theoretical insights from the disciplines of both comparative politics and international relations, two novel research instruments are developed: the ‘two scales’ model and the concept of pragmatic democracy protection policy. By employing these two research instruments, it is revealed that US national security interests have had a distorting impact on US democracy protection policy towards Russia, Georgia and Ukraine. Due to its interest in the cooperation with leaders in power, the US did not apply the principal of democratic conditionality in bilateral relations with the three post-Soviet countries and did not deter the non-democratic behaviour of their governments. Such US policy decreased the likelihood of democratic consolidation. Furthermore, US security interests corrupted US-funded democracy assistance programmes in two out of three cases (in Russia and Georgia). Instead of enabling the opposition and civil society in new democracies, these programmes increased the asymmetry of political playing field and limited the capability of civil society to control the government. This also decreased the likelihood of... [to full text] / Disertacijoje nagrinėjama JAV demokratijos gynimo politika, vykdyta trijose iš autokratinio režimo ką tik išėjusiose posovietinėse valstybėse: 1991–1996 m. Rusijoje, 2003–2008 m. Gruzijoje ir 2004–2009 m. Ukrainoje. Siekiama atsakyti į klausimą, ar JAV politika didino, ar mažino šių naujųjų demokratijų konsolidavimo tikimybę. Sujungiant dviejų disciplinų – lyginamosios politikos ir tarptautinių santykių – teorines įžvalgas, darbe konstruojami du nauji tyrimo įrankiai: „dvejų svarstyklių“ modelis ir pragmatinės demokratijos gynimo politikos koncepcija. Pasitelkiant šiuos tyrimo įrankius atskleidžiama, kad ir Rusijos, ir Gruzijos, ir Ukrainos atveju JAV nacionalinio saugumo interesai darė iškreipiantį poveikį JAV vykdytai demokratijos gynimo politikai. Būdamos suinteresuotos bendradarbiavimu su valdžioje buvusiais posovietinių valstybių lyderiais, JAV netaikė sąlygiškumo principo dvišaliuose santykiuose ir neatgrasė naujųjų demokratijų valdžios nuo nedemokratiškų veiksmų. Tokia JAV politika mažino demokratijos konsolidavimo tikimybę. Be to, dviem atvejais (Rusijoje ir Gruzijoje) JAV saugumo interesai darė neveiksmingomis ir JAV finansuotas paramos demokratijai programas. Užuot įgalinusios naujųjų demokratijų opoziciją ir pilietinę visuomenę, šios programos didino politinio žaidimo lauko asimetriškumą ir ribojo pilietinės visuomenės galimybes kontroliuoti valdžią. Tai irgi mažino naujųjų demokratijų konsolidavimo tikimybę.

This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between county level economic voting and county level economic voting by demographic group on county level vote shares for U.S. presidential elections. Using an entity and time fixed effects regression model, I study the effects that county level growth in real per capita personal income and unemployment rate change have on county level two-party vote share for the Democratic Party. Additionally, I observe the responsiveness of a county’s voting behavior due to the demographic makeup of that specific county. I then compare my initial results to those of Eisenberg and Ketcham (2004) for the 1992-2000 presidential elections. I utilize the same models for the 2004-2012 elections to compare these results to those from the 1992-2000 elections. Additionally, I rerun my model for the 1992-2000 presidential elections, after restricting my economic data to non-outliers, to study the effects that outliers in economic conditions have on my original results.

Appalshop, a multi-media and arts organization in Whitesburg, Kentucky emerged in 1969 at the crossroads of several different developments. It started as a War on Poverty program and its history exhibits the contradictory ideologies that fueled that effort and the political changes that forestalled it. The production company began in the midst of technological advances in media and is an early example of the democratization of technology and the potential of portable video equipment in affecting social change. Most importantly, its genesis is located within the context of a renewed interest in Appalachian history and culture and the related issues of negotiating regional cultural identity in the American national context. This one small organization in Eastern Kentucky provides a window to a wide slice of American history and culture in the midst of profound changes. Throughout the twentieth century the Appalachian region has been repeatedly characterized in mainstream American culture in an overtly negative light. Appalshop played an integral role in countering these characterizations and the stereotypes they generated and reinforced. Technology became more accessible the second half of the twentieth century. As a result, Appalshop was able to challenge these negative perceptions of the region in the national mind by placing cameras, printing capabilities, drama, and visual art in the hands of Appalachians. This allowed them to speak for themselves—first to each other and eventually to the nation. This dissertation focuses on the founding of the Community Film Workshop of Appalachia, the subsequent abandonment of the project by the federal government, the acquisition of control over its artistic output by artists and staff members, and its expansion between 1969 and 1984. It also addresses the significant role Appalshop played in the burgeoning Appalachian social movement context that emerged concurrently with its founding and its related role as a social change organization.

Background Overweight and obesity are considerable public health issues internationally as well as in Sweden. On a global level, the obesity prevalence has nearly doubled over the last 30 years. Currently in Sweden, more than one third of all women, and slightly more than half of all men, are either overweight or obese. The long-term results of obesity treatment programs are modest as reported by other studies. The importance of extending the focus to not only obesity treatment, but also prevention of weight gain, has therefore been emphasized. Aim The overall aim of this thesis is to explore the concept of primary weight maintenance (PWM) and to increase the knowledge of the attitudes, behaviours, strategies and surrounding circumstances that are important for PWM in a Swedish middle-aged population. Material and methods All study participants were recruited based on their previous participation in a health survey in their home setting; The Västerbotten Intervention Programme (VIP) in Västerbotten Sweden (paperI-IV), or the Upstate Health and Wellness Study in Upstate New York (IV), USA. All subjects had participated twice, with a time period of ten years between health surveys. The prevalence of obesity between the years 1990-2004 was calculated for VIP participants (paper I). Ten-year non-gain (lost weight or maintained body weight within 3% of baseline weight) or weightgain (≥3%) was calculated for individuals aged 30, 40, or 50 years at baseline. A multivariate logistic regression model was built to predict weight non-gain. In-depth interviews were conducted with 23 maintainers and four slight gainers in Sweden and analysed using Grounded Theory (paper II). A questionnaire study was conducted including 2138 Swedish and 2134 US participants (paper III and IV). Analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation, and linear regression were performed to identify attitudes, strategies, and behaviours that are predictive of PWM in different age, sex and BMI subgroups in Sweden (paper III). Further, the pattern of ten-year weightchange (% and kg) in 1999-2009 was calculated for Swedish and US women within different subgroups (paper IV). ANOVA, correlation and chi-squaretests were conducted to contrast eating and exercise habits between the two countries that may explain the differences in weight change. Results The prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥30) in Västerbotten increased from 9.4% in 1990 to 17.5% in 2004 (I). Older age, being female, being overweight at baseline, later survey year, baseline diagnosis of diabetes, and lack of snuff use increased the chances of not gaining weight. Based on the in-depth interviews, describing attitudes, behaviours and strategies of importance for PWM, a model was constructed (II). Weight maintenance was characterized as “a tightrope walk” and four strategies of significance for PWM were described as “to rely on heritage”, “to find the joy”, “to find the routine” and “to be in control”. The questionnaire study aimed at identifying predictors of PWM in different age, sex and BMI groups (III). The pattern of significant predictors was widely disparate between different subgroups. Of 166 predictors tested, 152 (91.6%) were predictive of PWM in at least one subgroup. However, only 4.6% of these were significant in half of the subgroups or more. The mean percent weight changes (in all cases weightgain), between 1999-2009 for Swedish and US women, were 4.9% (SD=5.8) and 9.1% (SD=13.7) respectively (p for t-test˂0.001) (IV). For the US women, the largest weight change occurred among the 30 year olds for all three BMI strata. For the Swedish, it was seen among overweight and obese 30 year old women. The largest difference in ten-year weight change between the two countries for any two matched subgroups was seen in normal weight 30 year olds. Significantly more of the women in this Swedish subgroup stated having more of healthy behaviours. However, there was a tendency for unhealthy behaviours to be strongly associated with greater weight gain in the US, but much less so in Sweden. Conclusion: Younger individuals, those of normal body weight, and those without health conditions (e.g. diabetes type 2) and cardiovascular riskfactors – were the least likely to maintain their weight over the 10 year period (I). Educational efforts on the prevention of overweight and obesity should therefore be broadened to include those individuals. The in-depth interview study showed great variety with regard to attitudes, strategies and behaviours important for PWM (II). The results from this study informs health personnel about the need to tailor advice related to body weight, not only to different sub-groups of individuals trying to lose weight but also to subgroups of primary weight maintainers who are trying to maintain weight. This statement was also supported by the questionnaire data, where the large disparity in the pattern of significant variables between subgroups suggests that these interventions should be tailored to the person’s demographic (age,sex and BMI) (III). Paper IV showed that even though the prevalence of obesity among Swedish women has increased substantially during these ten years, it has not kept pace with the increase in the US. One explanation for this may be that normal 30 year old Swedish women have more healthy behaviours than do US women. However, the insensitivity of the Swedish women to weight gain for healthy versus unhealthy alternatives may also be a factor. If the exact reason behind this phenomenon can be identified this may contribute to a deeper understanding of PWM both in Sweden and the US.

The thesis analyses the expedition (TAE) led by Dr.Vivian Fuchs and Sir Edmund Hillary from three vantage points: 1)the years from 1948 to 1955 leading up to the expedition 2) the interaction between the IGY and the TAE projects and 3) the role of the US Navy as the expedition unfolded. The thesis also investigates key events including the purchase of the ship Endeavour from Britain, the competition for leadership of the UK and NZ parties, the 'dash to the Pole' by Hillary, and the search for base sites and routes to the Polar Plateau. The thesis contains an overview historical introduction, a comprehensive literature review as well as a broad-based set of conclusions.

INTRODUCTION: Since 2006, the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended routine vaccination of adolescent girls at ages 11 or 12 years with 3 doses of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Cervical cancer disparities exist for several populations in the United States. The topic is scantly documented in scholarly literature with modest knowledge of the uptake of the HPV vaccine in the Delta region. AIM: To examine the HPV vaccination coverage estimates in the counties and parishes that comprise the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) and compare with other non-DRA counties or parishes and the rest of US. This will provide vaccination coverage estimates for adolescent females in the DRA designated Delta region that will provide public health professionals with data for policy and programmatic decision-making. METHODS: We combined data from multiple survey years (2008-2012) from the National Immunization Survey-Teen (NIS-Teen). We conducted bivariate analyses to describe the distribution across selected socio-demographic characteristics and multivariable logistic regression models to produce adjusted prevalence ratios. RESULTS: Teens in the DRA had lower HPV vaccine initiation and completion rates compared to Non- DRA counties or parishes and the Rest of the US. The 3-dose HPV vaccination series completion rate among those who had initiated HPV vaccination and had 24 weeks between their first dose and the NIS interview date was 60.9% (95% CI: 55.8 – 65.8) among adolescent females in the DRA compared to 66.9 (95% CI: 63.7-70.0) of adolescent females in the Non-DRA counties and 67.6% (95% CI: 66.2-69.0) in the rest of the US. CONCLUSION: The low HPV vaccination coverage among adolescents in the DRA showed that it is important to implement additional strategies to increase HPV vaccination coverage that will prevent cancers associated with HPV in the DELTA Region. Stronger provider recommendations and awareness are important for increasing HPV vaccine uptake.

In my critical discourse analysis of The Intown Academy's (TIA) various documents and media—including the school's charter petition, charter, Parent-Student Handbook, and website—I articulate the school's subjectifying narratives and analyze how these narratives function to (re)produce particular subjects according to tropes of threat/crisis, opportunity, corporate/non-profit benevolence, and personal responsibility. Identifying these subjects, I analyze how they are effected/affected by the practice of education at TIA. To this end, I examine the various practices of school discipline codified in the Parent and Student Contracts in TIA's 2012-2013 Parent Student Handbook, including mandates for the wearing of school uniforms, volunteer labor, and reorientations of the family and the private space of the home. I conclude that TIA discursively produces indebted subjects whose educational and economic survival depends on the reorientation of their lives in service to the school.

In the latest time, the US has had an easy Monetary Policy. Because of the increasing link among the countries through interconnections on international trade, financial, and labor markets, such policy has not only had effects in the US economy, but also in the rest of the world. So many countries, especially emerging and developing countries, have suggested that such a policy has been causing an excessive flow of funds out of the US which are disrupting the exchange rate and competitiveness of those countries. An innovation of the analysis is that capital flows are divided in "Firm related" (direct investment and equity flows) and "Debt" (debt instruments and private loans obtained from foreign financial institutions). Another innovation is related to the measure of the external factors considering the US alone and a compound of Advanced Countries (AC) that includes: the US, European Union, United Kingdom, and Japan. The performed analysis indicates that the US Monetary Policy has been having a role on the determination of the capital flows to the Latin America Countries (LAC). However, these external "push factors" have been less important than the "pull factors" from Latin America. In the model, the "push factors" reflected to have had influence on the total capital flows, especially through the global liquidity proxies measured by the growth of the monetary stock in the AC. Holding all other things constant, one percent increase in the monetary stock in the US will generate capital flows to the LAC for an amount between 0.47 to 1.71 percentages of GDP. This effect is bigger when using the proxy constructed with the US alone than when using the compound of AC. The long term interest rate registered significance only on the "Firm related" type of capital flows and only when using the compound of AC. The performed analysis also indicates that there is preeminence of the "pull" (domestic) over the "push" (external) factors. This means that the LAC have been pursuing actions such as political stability, sound and consistent economic policies, and more market oriented policies that are attracting capital flows by themselves.