A negative relationship exists between unmanaged IT risk and financial performance of institutions of varying sizes. The purpose for this quantitative correlation study was to examine the relationship between IT risk management, institution size, and the financial performance of credit unions in Jamaica. Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) risk IT model provided the theoretical framework for the study. Audited financial statements and a web-based survey provided data for this study. One hundred and thirty employees from 13 credit unions in Jamaica participated in the study. Results of the multiple regression tests confirmed a statistically significant relationship between IT risk management, institution size, and the financial performance of Jamaican credit unions, F (2, 99) = 46.861, p = 0.000, R2 = .486. Institution size was a statistically significant predictor of financial performance (beta = -.637, p = .000). IT risk management initiatives did not provide any significant variation (beta = .139, p = .074) in financial performance. Research findings may lead to more effective and efficient operations of Jamaican credit unions and improvement in their financial performance, which could result in positive social change through the increases in corporate social contributions, the payment of dividends, and the offer of affordable product and services for over 1 million Jamaican credit union members.

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The purpose of this thesis was to explore the development of elite sport through national sport policy within a developing country, Jamaica. Taking a qualitative approach, the thesis drew on the SPLISS framework (De Bosscher et al., 2006, 2015) to understand government influence in the development of elite sport, through policy, and to investigate other contributing factors for elite sporting success. A logic model illustrated the input-throughput-output pillars of the SPLISS framework, and aided in the interpretation of both a theoretical and rival proposition (Yin, 2018). This thesis purpose, accomplished in part by exploring the most successful elite sport in Jamaica, athletics (track and field), incorporated three interconnected studies on that developing country’s national sport system, a sport system that produced its first Olympic success in 1948, forty-six years before the introduction of national sport policy. Three interconnected studies allowed for findings that highlighted the roots of Jamaica’s sport development, beginning with the introduction of a school and community sport system by the former colonial British government, and retained and expanded by the Jamaican government from 1962. The findings also highlighted that the school and community sport systems facilitated a local approach to the development and training for athletics. It included factors outside of the influence of government, such as the impact of coaches and role models that assisted in creating a fraternity in the sport through tradition, culture and passion, and established an environment for elite sport. This environment involved a collaboration between educational institutions and the professional local club system, and represents the critical elements in the success of athletics, indicating that the influence of government policies for sport development was not impacting international sporting success up to 2017. The interconnected studies also provided support for gaps identified in the SPLISS framework and the literature on elite sport policy. For SPLISS, the findings provided evidence in understanding what happens when input factors are processed (the ‘black box’) leading to outputs, and national outcomes. For the literature, the thesis found that an historical context is important in understanding the coalescing of micro-, macro-, and meso-level factors for elite sporting success.

This thesis describes the origins and development of the English mahogany trade from its origins to the beginning of the French Revolutionary War. It is based primarily on statistical and commercial information, most of which is drawn from government and other official sources. The bulk of the text is a chronological account, charting the growth of the trade from its small beginnings in Jamaica after 1700 to its late eighteenth century heyday. It considers the effect of economic conditions, shipping costs, government commercial policy and imperial colonial strategy, and shows how these had a direct bearing on the scale and direction of the trade. The various sources of mahogany are discussed, together with the characteristics and uses of the timber. Popular conceptions about the various types of mahogany used in 18th century furniture making are discussed in the light of statistical and other contemporary evidence. The thesis also considers the effects of the introduction of mahogany on furniture manufacturing in England. It investigates the cost of mahogany relative to other furniture woods, and suggests that its chief appeal in the initial years of importation was its low cost. This suggestion is born out by the early use of mahogany as a joinery rather than a cabinet wood. The thesis goes on to argue that the cost of mahogany was often a primary determinant of stylistic and technical development. As demand for the wood grew, so costs rose and inflation became at times a notable feature of the mahogany market. The effects of this inflation are recorded in the archives of contemporary furniture makers and are apparent in extant 18th century furniture. The most important single finding of the thesis is the paramont role of government in determining the scale and direction of the mahogany trade. In this respect mahogany reflects the historical development of British West Indian commercial policy. Mahogany was not merely an art-historical phenomenon, but a symbol of Britain's rise to commercial dominance in the 18th century.

Empirical evidence from the National Education Inspectorate suggested that teachers at the primary school in this study in an island country in the Caribbean have inadequate science content knowledge. Students' average performance on the science Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) has been below 40% for the last 5 years. The purpose of this bounded case study, guided by Shulman's conceptual framework, was to understand teachers' science subject matter knowledge (SMK). The guiding questions focused on teachers' abilities to demonstrate components of Shulman's SMK during science teaching and lesson planning and to gather their views on their abilities to meet the SMK components in grades 4-6. The 9 participants were primary-trained and each had taught science at grades 4-6 for a minimum of 2 years. Data collection consisted of interviews, lesson observations, and lesson plan reviews. Data were analyzed using open coding, axial coding, and themes from Shulman's SMK domains. The participants believed that they lacked proficiency in teaching science at the assigned grade level. They held misconceptions about the topics taught at the Grade 4-6 level and their lesson plans and observation data demonstrated lack of key components of SMK. Findings from this study were used to develop a science professional development project to empower teachers and, in turn, students in science content and processes. It is expected that implementation of the program could improve the science content knowledge of teachers at the primary school in this study. Positive social change might occur as improvement in teachers' science content knowledge might serve to improve students' learning outcomes in science at this and other settings in the island country.

The purpose of this study is to describe changes that led to the revision of the Grade Four Literacy Test in Jamaica from a classroom-based assessment to a national high-stakes examination in 2009. Educators and researchers in Jamaica have observed and examined the less-than-desired student performance in English literacy exams over several decades. My research continues the tradition and adds to the investigation of literacy challenges in Jamaica. The overarching research question for this study was to understand how the Grade Four Literacy Test, originally a classroom-based assessment for a decade, became a national high-stakes exam in 2009? I used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as the main theoretical and methodological framework while analyzing key education government documents and newspaper articles related to the Grade Four Literacy Test. Using qualitative case study methods, I conducted classroom observations and interviews at two public elementary schools located in inner-city settings. Using CDA, I traced the changing discourse within four education policy documents and newspaper articles that promoted a test-taking accountability agenda during the revision of the literacy test. School observations and interviews enabled me to observe how faculty and administrators responded to the amended literacy test. Through interviews with key research participants I examined stakeholders' assumptions regarding literacy identity. One of the implications of this study is the importance of enhanced teacher training in comprehension and bilingual strategies, and effective use of classroom-based literacy assessments within the Jamaican language context. Future research might focus on efforts to ensure that students who eventually pass supplementary literacy tests are assisted in moving beyond learning to read to a position where they are reading to learn key content needed to succeed within the academic setting of school.

This thesis focuses on the problem of incivility within the domains of citizen politics and civil society by exploring the proclivity for popular protest in Jamaica and the intersections between popular citizen protest, civil society and governance in this context. It scrutinizes the tenor of contemporary civilian politics and assesses the consequent impact on the quality of civil society more broadly. The thesis challenges the assumption within accepted definitions of civil society that civic participation is always positive. It does so by examining the manner in which citizens engage collectively to defend their interests and make claims upon the state, as well as the extent to which this model of political participation serves the agenda and promise of civil society. Through an in-depth, country-specific, empirical case study, the thesis examines micro social processes of power at community level to raise questions about who should be represented in civil society and how the voices of the marginalized are to be heard. In this regard, it explores the role of social inequality, feelings of social injustice and political exclusion as contributory factors in the existing tenor of citizen politics in Jamaica. It also examines the challenges facing the contemporary state and the impact of violent protests on state engagement, public action and political performance. The study analyses the lived experiences, observations and perspectives of a wide cross section of Jamaican citizens, gleaned from face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions, as well as a range of secondary material, including audio-visual data, to illuminate this process of struggle and underscore the factors which drive violent protests in this political context. The thesis concludes that maximum disruption, including violence, has not only become the basis of civil protest in Jamaica, but that the varied and contradictory responses of the state bureaucracy and political actors (Members of Parliament, activists, other political iii officials), as well as the mass media, have directly contributed to the style and tenor of protest politics in Jamaica. This state of affairs reduces popular citizen participation over genuine concerns to mob-style incivility and undermines civil society as a source of positive and responsible citizenship. The growing political importance of grassroots-based citizen participation and community building within the context of a global imperative to forge 'democracy from below' lends theoretical and normative credence to emerging concerns about the current character of popular citizen mobilizations and protest. This study thus establishes the basis for a presumption in favour of civility, civil discourse and civil action as fundamental to the construction of civil society. In doing so, it extends current scholarly understandings of civil society to Third World contexts, with a specific emphasis on Jamaica.

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2003. / "This thesis is a hermeneutical study of the symbol of Babylon in a Jamaican context." Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-136).

Thesis (M.A.I.S.)--Oregon State University, 2002. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-82). Also available via the World Wide Web.

This essay uses Sara Ahmed's theory of affect to analyze Jamaica Kincaid´s A Small Place. I argue that Jamaica Kincaid uses anger to create a position for Western reader and to evoke emotions such as shame. Theorist Sara Ahmed argues that emotions have political dimension. Thus, I will use Sara Ahmed´s theory to examine what function anger and shame have in A Small Place. In her essay, Kincaid provokes her readers by attacking them for past injustice through anger. Because of this many critics have claimed that A Small Place has an angry tone. However, Kincaid´s aim seems to be to reverse the gaze by exposing the Europeans and Americans of exploitation, slavery, imperialism and colonization and this way reverse the traditional travel gaze, which allows us to see Antigua through the perspective of the third world.