This study is based on a content analysis of two primary sources: 1) literature published on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth in professional journals for school providers (school counselors, nurses, psychologists and social workers) over more than a 30-year period; and 2) materials developed for school providers on LGBT youth by states with laws, regulations and professional policies related to sexual orientation and/or gender identity in schools. Fifteen professional journals were identified that serve as primary and secondary journals for school providers. A total of 41 articles were published in these journals on LGBT youth between 1937 and 2005. Journal articles were coded by the investigator and a second coder, with an inter-rater reliability rate of .97. Most articles focused on identity development, and a majority provided information on developing a supportive school environment for LGB youth. Few focused on issues of salience for contemporary generations of LGBT adolescents, such as resiliency and strength or positive youth development. Only one article focused on youth of color, one on lesbian youth and none on transgender youth. Less than one-third included HIV/AIDS, only 7% mentioned HIV counseling and testing, and 2% mentioned lesbians' risk for STDs. Nearly three-fourths of articles (71%) focused on interventions with LGB youth (few included transgender youth), including the need to promote a safe school environment. Few empirical articles (19.5%), a handful of training articles (7.3%) no theoretical and very few review articles (2.2%) were published during this period. Although nearly one-third of the states had adopted laws, regulations or professional standards to prohibit discrimination of students on the basis of sexual orientation (and 4 included gender identity), no states other than Massachusetts had developed training materials for school providers on LGBT youth. However, Massachusetts' materials were never used since their program was defunded in 2002. Several states made training on LGBT adolescents available to school providers through professional and community organizations. Coupled with limited and outdated content in professional journals, school providers lack access to current multidisciplinary research, theoretical literature and information reviews needed to inform their work with LGBT students and their families.

In spite of the increase in the number of the international academic workforce and their potential benefits, international status has been relatively under-studied in Public Management and Higher Education literature in comparison with studies of age, gender, and race. Given these realities, the present study identifies characteristics of internal and external variables that influence international and U.S. faculty turnover intentions in a large public South Eastern research university. To understand the variations in short-term and long-term turnover levels while controlling for various demographic, structural, and external variables, eight Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression analysis were performed using turnover intentions as the dependent variables. Distributive justice has the strongest negative effect on short-term turnover, and communication openness has the strongest negative effect on long-term turnover. After controlling for job satisfaction and organizational commitment, the effect of communication openness on short-term turnover and the effect of distributive justice on long-term turnover are not statistically significant. This suggests that communication openness and distributive justice might affect turnover through job satisfaction and/or organizational commitment. Job satisfaction has the strongest negative effect on short-term turnover and organizational commitment has the strongest negative effect on long-term turnover after controlling for internal and external variables. In addition, this study aims to analyze the differences in internal and external factors that impact faculty turnover by international status. In achieving this aim, international faculty were compared to the U.S. faculty on the afore-mentioned internal and external factors that were shown in the literature to impact turnover. The result shows that structural variables such as autonomy, communication openness, and procedural justice play a bigger part in how international faculty evaluate their career with the current university than it does for U.S. faculty. On the contrary, kinship ties and job opportunity have stronger effects on U.S. faculty turnover than international faculty turnover. The implications of this study and areas of future opportunities are discussed.

Higher education institutions in the Unites States (U.S.) are under stress. Universities and colleges in the U.S. face competing demands marked by steeply declining state and local appropriations and increased competition for research dollars and prestige. This stress is felt most acutely at high and very high research universities who must face these funding challenges while at the same time must serve a multiplicity of missions and stakeholders. This study examines factors that influence institutional performance at high and very high research universities in the U.S. These high and very high research universities, as classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching under the 2010 Basic Classifications, represent doctorate granting institutions with the highest levels of research activity. Drawing from systems theory and neoliberalism, the study employs a non-experimental quantitative research design using secondary analysis of data collected primarily through the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The data was analyzed for the years 2008 through 2012. Given a competitive environment marked by decreasing resources, the findings suggest that universities, whether public or private, will continue to pursue strategies and policies that will favor entrepreneurial activities with clear revenue implications as well as attracting top students in an effort to increase institutional performance. The need for further research into institutional factors and performance models is identified as well as the need for comprehensive institutional data. The concept of policy alignment is introduced as a way to cope with demands at all levels of policy. To the extent that high and very high research universities continue to face a competitive environment with decreasing state and federal resources, greater understanding of institutional factors that can impact revenues will become important as competition for revenues increase. Performance models such as the one explored in this study can help universities, policy makers, and stakeholders make decisions and set policies that can bolster the institutions’ activities given environmental challenges.

The purpose of this study was to expand the extent of available literature in regard to the factors that contribute to students’ academic performance in college. It focused on a neglected segment of the student population, which is Saudi Arabian students studying in the United States. This study utilized a nonexperimental quantitative research design in order to investigate the relationship between the independent variables (the characteristics of the student, the characteristics of the program, and the academic and social integration between the student and the program) and the dependent variables (degree GPA, ability to graduate within academic program time frame, or dropout). The data were collected from Saudi Arabian students who previously enrolled in the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP) and had graduated or dropped out between the period of 2005 to 2016. A Web-based electronic survey was sent and made available for Saudi students who entered KASP via any of the entry methods in the United States. There were 1,020 students who participated in the survey, and only 543 of them fully completed the survey. Only completed surveys were considered for analysis. The results showed that some students’ characteristics, some program characteristics, and some academic and social integration attributes were strongly correlated with students’ academic performance in college. This study presented empirical evidence about which factors can impact students’ performance in college. It provided some answers to why some students succeed, while others fail. It also offered insights and recommendations for higher education policymakers as well as for scholars in the field of higher education policy, especially those concerned with admission policies of academic programs.

The purpose of this study is to identify, analyze, and describe the social outcomes that may be affected by the environmental risks generated by infrastructure projects; to examine the ways in which vulnerability and exposure to hazards may increase risk in neighborhoods over time; and to examine the implications of addressing the exacerbation of exposure to natural hazards within the traditional environmental justice framework. The Industrial Canal and Lower Ninth Ward were selected as the subjects of this case study because the canal has existed on the perimeter of the neighborhood for nearly one century, isolating Lower Ninth Ward residents from the rest of New Orleans and significantly contributing to two catastrophic flood events. The findings of the study are as follows: (1) the environmental risks associated with infrastructure projects can be magnified when imposed on an already vulnerable neighborhood, and may ultimately result in hazard events which cause displacement and disinvestment. Such consequences can have an impact on micro-level (individual and household) and macro-level (neighborhood) social outcomes; (2) vulnerability and exposure to hazards can initiate a pattern of increased risk that intensifies vulnerability to subsequent hazard events; and, finally, (3) the parallels between the causes and consequences of traditional environmental justice issues and the exacerbation of exposure to natural hazards implies that framing issues relative to natural hazards as matters of justice and articulating the social consequences of not mitigating such hazards can be an excellent way of educating stakeholders and lobbying for resources.

. Latin@ immigrants face many obstacles to affordable healthcare that push them to disproportionately rely on the primary safety-net for their healthcare needs. This system is mostly funded with public monies that will be significantly reduced when Affordable Care Act is fully implemented. Since undocumented Latin@ immigrants are prohibited from accessing federally funded healthcare, they will be left out of the health care reform. This thesis examines two community-based clinics in the Greater New Orleans area that serve this population, and have developed linguistically and culturally appropriate programs that address its needs. The New Orleans Faith Health Alliance and Common-Ground Health Clinic are cases used to explore the impact that the Affordable Care Act will have in the already unstable safety-net in New Orleans. Through the analysis of other models around the nation, this thesis presents viable recommendations to both clinics and the City of New Orleans Health Department.

In the beginning of the 2000s, Israeli policies in the West Bank shifted from policies of control to policies of separation, which in turn led to the Transformation of West Bank communities into isolated urban islands. Current plans prepared for Palestinian localities by Palestinian planning institutions most often address these isolated islands without taking into account the Israeli-controlled areas surrounding these localities. Palestinians envision the entire West Bank as a contiguous area that will eventually form part of the Palestinian national state. However, most Palestinian plans take the boundaries imposed by Israel as a given and plan only for areas within the Israeli-controlled areas. This dissertation is about the Palestinian planning processes in the West Bank in an attempt to assess whether these processes are or could counteract Israeli plans of separation. Upon extensive research, it was found that Palestinian planning institutions have a very limited impact in countering Israeli plans. The only counter-planning activity that can be observed is the Palestinian National Authority’s latest orientation to plan in Palestinian areas classified as Area C (found in areas under complete Israeli Control). The aforementioned lack of counter-planning activities can be attributed to the inefficiency of a legal framework, lack of vision, lack of coordination, and deficiencies within Palestinian planning institutions.

Diet and dietary related health outcomes such as obesity and diabetes are major public health concerns. While personal choice and dietary behaviors are major influences on how an individual eats, the environment influences these choices and behaviors. The nutrition environment is one key influence and its relationship with food choice, behaviors, and socioeconomic influences is complex. Within the structure of the nutrition environment, food access and socioeconomic status compound influencing nutrition behavior and food choice. Food deserts are defined as geographic region of low access to healthy affordable food in low income areas. The USDA developed a system for the analysis of food deserts in the United States. However, the methods the USDA uses do not acknowledge potential geographical barriers present in rural mountainous regions including Appalachia. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the USDA methodology underrepresents food deserts in Appalachia and to develop a modified analysis model for the region. The region was analyzed at the census tract level using methods based on USDA guidelines for low income, rurality, and grocery store identification, then applied in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to roadway data. Network analysis of drive time from grocery stores to 20 minutes away was performed. Low income, rural census tracts with 33% of their area outside of the 20-minute drive time zone were identified as food deserts. Counties containing tracts were then compared to USDA designated counties, using the dependent variables of obesity and diabetes diagnosis rates and controlled for by county level rurality and economic distress. Of the counties designated as rural, 63 contained food deserts by the modified methods and the USDA model identified 20, there was an overlap in identification of 12 counties. There was no significant difference for 2 methods in health outcomes for the counties. In conclusion, the modified methods do identify a larger food desert region. It is crucial to understand the geographic barriers to regions when addressing nutrition environment concerns. The underrepresentation of food desert areas can leave populations and communities underserved and without much needed resources to improve their access to healthy and affordable foods.

Historic preservation has been a successful economic development tool that has led to heritage tourism in some Tennessee towns but not in others. The problem studied was to determine if there was a set of tangible attributes a town must possess to be successful in using historic preservation as an economic development tool. Through an extensive literature review, 59 predictor variables were identified and arranged into 6 research questions looking at the tangible attributes related to town demographics, geography, organizational structure, historic preservation organizations, heritage tourism organizations, and town financial structure. Data were collected from a mailed survey of 32 town managers. The response rate was 68.8% (N = 22). Secondary sources, such as U.S. Census data, were used to collect data when those sources appeared consistent and mandatory. The study used logistic regression analysis to compare successful towns, defined as those towns in the upper third of study towns for tourism expenditures per capita, with less than successful towns. The 32 study towns met the criteria of having a 2003 population of fewer than 10,000 and a nationally-recognized historic district that coincided with the towns' central business districts. The results of the logistic regression analysis on the individual predictor variables indicated that 5 were statistically significant--median age, distance to a major city, restaurant beer sales, Grand Division, and merchants' association. Constraining the final predictive model (Garson, 2006) to no more than 1 variable per 10 cases 3 led to the inclusion of median age and merchants' association as the 2 predictor variables that provided the highest predictive value of correctly classified towns (95.8%). In summary, this study is inconclusive in determining whether historic preservation leads to heritage tourism and can be used as an economic development tool by small Tennessee towns. However, it has been established that 5 attributes or characteristics of small towns does contribute to the probability of success and that median age and the existence of a merchants' association proved to be the best predictive model.

Researchers vary on their definitions of paraphilia. A difference exists between an individual possessing a paraphilia versus an individual possessing a paraphilic disorder. Hanson (2010) proposed a dimensional model of sexual deviance that includes a measure of intensity. However, research on sexual intensity has been lacking. A majority of existing research focuses on the potential risk factors of possessing a paraphilia or paraphilic disorder (e.g., criminality). There is less focus on whom in the population has the potential to develop a paraphilia; or which factors predict paraphilic behavior. The Big Five personality factors (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism), obsessive-compulsive behavior, and sexual fantasy (exploratory, intimacy, impersonal, and sadomasochism) were used to predict paraphilic intensity using the Edwards Paraphilic Inventory (EPI). Surveys were placed on Amazon Mechanical Turk (n = 100), the Celebrity Feet in the Pose website (via https://celebrityfeetinthepose.com), and its social media (n = 163) to reach a total of 263 participants. Results indicated that obsessive-compulsive behavior, sadomasochism, and agreeableness significantly predicted the level of paraphilic intensity. Such findings support that paraphilic disorders are likely obsessive-compulsive in nature. Furthermore, agreeableness and paraphilic intensity were negatively correlated. This suggests that the lower the individual is in agreeableness, the higher the likelihood he or she falls on the paraphilic spectrum. Lastly, those who practice sadomasochistic roleplay in the bedroom are likely to report higher levels of paraphilic intensity. According to the United States sample, 1 out of every 10 participants reported some type of paraphilic activity. Individuals who participated in the survey from the website self-reported higher levels of paraphilic behavior than those who completed the survey from Amazon Mechanical Turk. In addition, these individuals are represented in more than one paraphilic category. It remains unclear how large of a role pleasure plays in an individual seeking therapeutic or pharmacological help with paraphilic disorders. Pedophilic disorder was not examined due to ethical concerns with the United States and other various countries. Future research should examine education level and sexual orientation as predictors of paraphilic intensity.