Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Communities are currently being shaped and influenced by larger neoliberal social policies, which has resulted in decreased funding from public sources, which therefore creates greater competition among neighborhood organizations for limited resources. In this thesis, I analyze how larger neoliberal currents have created conflict within the local policy subsystem of rezoning in the Crooked Creek neighborhood in Indianapolis. My analysis spotlights the consequences of devolution one of which is the shift from government to neighborhood governance; I examine these issues by mapping out the causes and consequences of three separate rezoning cases. I compare the conflicting perspectives among local influential organizations, including the Community Development Corporation (CDC) and a number of state registered neighborhood groups. I frame this conflict through the Advocacy Coalition Framework (Sabatier 2007) in order to map out the connections between neoliberal social policies and local level conflict.

No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation is a study of territoriality as it may appear in children's experience of the neighborhood. A review of the literature on human territoriality reveals six major dimensions: boundaries and markers, defense and control, resources and activities, social relations, psychological qualities and identity. There is also an important developmental aspect, in which territoriality may be a natural outgrowth of human learning and maturation. An examination of theoretical approaches to child development provides some important insights toward uncovering a common process underlying territoriality and development, including an ecological definition of environment, the developmental theories of Piaget and the organismic-developmentalists, the psychoanalytic views of environmental mastery and transitional phenomena, play research, and the developmental approaches to spatial cognition. In a case study in Tucson, Arizona, the territorial dimensions of boundedness, activities, control, social relations, and identity were used as a framework for study of children's perception of and behavior in their neighborhoods. A sample of 100 children in Grades 4-6 at an elementary school were interviewed using an aerial photograph, as well as asked to provide a written description of their neighborhoods and take a Locus of Control Test. A smaller subsample of 15 was used for a more detailed study involving sketch maps, diaries, neighborhood tours, subject-employed photography, the Who Am I Test, and interviews with parents. The results suggested children's neighborhoods are well-defined spatially, and are seen primarily as an activity space. The neighborhoods were distinct from outside areas in terms of the amount, variety, and type of games and other activities, with a social organization that seemed to built upon play. However, a major portion of children's social relations, as measured by the locations of best friends, was not associated with their neighborhoods. Inside their neighborhoods were found most of the children's forts, playhouses, hideouts, and special play areas, but their favorite places were about evenly divided between locations inside and outside the neighborhoods. Neighborhood place associations were somewhat linked to personal identity, but not to locus of control. Limiting factors on the extent of the children's neighborhoods were parents, streets, and mode of transportation.

O presente trabalho é um estudo sobre a configuração do espaço penhense a partir, sobretudo, da consideração de práticas sociais que marcaram a história dessa porção da cidade de São Paulo. O entendimento desta problemática passa pela análise das continuidades e descontinuidades históricas e das relações de vizinhança, enquanto referência de vida de bairro, que deram à Penha certa originalidade em relação aos demais bairros de São Paulo. O período abrangido no estudo se estende desde a formação do patrimônio religioso e o estabelecimento da freguesia de Nossa Senhora da Penha, até a metropolização, momento de grande ruptura marcada pelo fim da vida de bairro na localidade. O estudo destaca três momentos: a constituição da Penha enquanto bairro rural; a constituição da Penha enquanto subúrbio; e a constituição da Penha enquanto bairro da cidade de São Paulo. A compreensão das transformações espaciais na Penha e de todo o conjunto acima descrito só é possível se realizam se tivermos em mente a cidade e seus processos (industrialização e urbanização) enquanto instauradores do modo de vida urbano. Com isso acreditamos também estar contribuindo para a compreensão do desenvolvimento urbano da cidade de São Paulo. / The present work is a study about the configuration of the penhense space from, over all, the consideration of social practices that marked the history of this portion of the São Paulo city. The agreement of this problematic pass through analysis of the historical continuities and discontinuities and the neighborhood relations, while reference of neighborhood life, that had given to Penha some originality in relation to others neighborhood of São Paulo. The period enclosed on the study extends since the formation of the religious patrimony, establishment of the Nossa Senhora da Penha parish, until the metropolization, moment of large rupture marked for the end of the neighborhood life in the locality. The study point out three moments: the constitution of Penha while rural neighborhood; the constitution of Penha while suburb; and the constitution of Penha while neighborhood of the São Paulo city. The comprehension of the space transformations on the neighborhood of Penha and all set described above have only accomplished if we have in mind the city and its processes (industrialization and urbanization) while founders of the urban way of living. With this we also believe to be contributing for the understanding of the urban development of the city of São Paulo.

acase@tulane.edu / There are an estimated 48 million cases of foodborne illness per annum in the United States, with a majority of the illnesses associated with eating in a restaurant. Previous research into the causes of foodborne illness have primarily focused on factors that are internal to the restaurant. This research examines both internal components as well as external factors from the surrounding community that could influence how a food establishment operates. Inspection data, providing the basis for this analysis, came from routine inspection reports from Maricopa County, Arizona and the State of Florida. Additional evaluations are from randomly sampled restaurants, containing information on the occurrence of specific risk factors for foodborne illness, captured from States A and B. External community demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey was also used. The routine inspection data was analyzed using a general estimating equations approach, and the risk factor study data was analyzed via a tobit regression. This approach allowed for the identification of the specific variables and their relative effect on the food safety performance of the establishment The only external factor to have an influence on restaurant food safety performance was the level of market competition, both near the restaurant and at a further distance from the restaurant. Other socio-demographic variables of the area were not found to have a significant effect. Internal factors, such as the level of food-handling and the food-safety related training held by employees were found to have an effect on the restaurants food safety performance. This study has shown the utility in assessing the compliance status of each risk factor, and the limitations of only using a count of violations. Additionally, concordant with most facilities operating in a sanitary manner, large sample sizes are required to identify an effect from a covariate. / 1 / Adam Kramer

acase@tulane.edu / Background: Early life and learning experiences have the potential to influence a person’s health throughout the lifespan. These influences, for children of low socioeconomic status in the United States, are compounded by the existence of racial and socioeconomic disparities exist in both child health and development. One of the pathways through which early life and learning experiences affect adult health is through educational attainment, which is initially exhibited through school readiness (i.e. how prepared children are for school). Research in this area traditionally focuses on early learning environments and family level dynamics as predictors of school readiness, although evidence suggests that non-academic factors, like child health, and even more distal factors such as neighborhood structural and social context, contribute to how ready a child is for school. While many have theorized about the relation between both physical health and school readiness and neighborhood social context and school readiness, empirical evidence is limited. Objective: The objective of this research was to investigate non-academic factors related to the behavioral and cognitive domains of school readiness (language and literacy, social-emotional, numeracy/cognitive) including physical health and neighborhood social context. Methods: The research was conducted as a mixed methods design: 1) a longitudinal, retrospective matched cohort study, using data from the Educare Learning Network’s 2007-2015 data set which included data from 26,810 children enrolled in 20 Educare schools across the United States with children propensity matched on exposure, either by health status (see Aim 1 p. 15) or parental perceived neighborhood support (see Aims 2-3 p 16); and 2) a qualitative study conducted with parents of children ages 0-5 in New Orleans, Louisiana and aimed at a deeper understanding of parent perceptions of school readiness, neighborhood, child health and the intersection of these concepts. Results: Results from Paper 1 indicate that there is an association between asthma and school readiness outcomes, however this may be confounded by child and family level factors and may also differ by child race or sex. Paper 2 Quantitative results indicate that there is an association between perceived neighborhood support and child health and school readiness, particularly social emotional development, and that these results may differ by child race and sex and that there are significant interactions between neighborhood and race playing a role. Qualitative analysis in Paper 2 indicated common themes of perception of neighborhood, neighborhood safety, and stress and these discussed in relationship to their impact on their children. Paper 3 Results indicate that parental stress and parent-child relationship, individually and in sequence, are mediators of the relationship between perceived neighborhood support and receptive vocabulary scores, but mediation was not significant for other child cognitive, language, and physical health outcomes. Conclusions: Findings from this study contribute to the current understanding of external factors, outside of the early learning environment, that contribute to disparities in child health and school readiness in a vulnerable population. Not only as they relate to childhood, but also to adult health and well-being across the life course. The data will provide empirical evidence to inform programs and policies related to external factors that may impact school readiness for a high quality early education programs. / 1 / Lauren Futrell Dunaway

We provide two different neighborhood construction techniques for creating exponentially large neighborhoods that are searchable in polynomial time using dynamic programming. We illustrate both of these approaches on very large scale neighborhood search techniques for the traveling salesman problem. Our approaches are intended both to unify previously known results as well as to offer schemas for generating additional exponential neighborhoods that are searchable in polynomial time. The first approach is to define the neighborhood recursively. In this approach, the dynamic programming recursion is a natural consequence of the recursion that defines the neighborhood. In particular, we show how to create the pyramidal tour neighborhood, the twisted sequences neighborhood, and dynasearch neighborhoods using this approach. In the second approach, we consider the standard dynamic program to solve the TSP. We then obtain exponentially large neighborhoods by selecting a polynomially bounded number of states, and restricting the dynamic program to those states only. We show how the Balas and Simonetti neighborhood and the insertion dynasearch neighborhood can be viewed in this manner. We also show that one of the dynasearch neighborhoods can be derived directly from the 2-exchange neighborhood using this approach.

This paper will examine two cases where urban infill and sustainable neighborhood development converge: the Mueller redevelopment in Austin, Texas and the Stapleton redevelopment in Denver, Colorado. These projects represent significant efforts to develop sustainably in their respective cities, as well as provide prominent examples of New Urban development. The theoretical similarities between the neighborhood developments are many. However, which project does the better job of meeting the goals of sustainable urbanism? In order to address this question, the paper will begin by examining the theoretical framework of sustainable urbanism; a critical influence on both projects. The two projects will then be compared in order to assess how well they address critical goals of sustainable urbanism in practice. The comparison will be quantitatively measured using a sustainability indicators analysis in ArcGIS. The literature review will introduce the concept of sustainable urbanism. Neo-traditional development will then be examined in greater detail, with a focus on New Urbanism. From this literature, a common framework for sustainable urbanism is established. This framework will be used to arrive at a set of concrete goals for quantitative analysis. The paper identifies four goals of sustainable urbanism that will be measured: density, diversity, connectivity, and accessibility. The four critical objectives will be used to create a set of 12 spatial indicators for neighborhood sustainability. An analysis of the indicators will be calculated to compare the two sites. The paper looks to identify which of the two projects best meets the goals of sustainable urbanism. Finally, the report will examine the nuances of the projects in order to answer the question: what can the comparison can tell us about the future of the Mueller neighborhood? / text

No description available.