This study explored the personal and situational factors that contribute to a high school principal's willingness to sell the issue of objectionable team nicknames to their school division administration for the purposes of banning them. Based on the literature review, nine hypotheses were developed regarding the factors that influence the issue-selling process in a centralized, hierarchical organization. The issue-selling model utilized in this study suggested that organizational support, top management openness, organizational norms, probability of success, and image risk would be determinants of willingness to sell the issue (Mullen, 2005). This study utilized a mixed-method research design. Personal interviews were conducted with retired and current high school principals that had dealt with the objectionable team nicknames during their careers. In addition, questionnaires were electronically sent to 311 current high school principals. Ordinary least squares regression identified perceived probability of success and image risk to be the factors that have the most statistical impact on a high school principal's willingness to sell the objectionable team nickname to their superior. Logistic regression was used to determine the likelihood that an emotional issue would be brought forth. This study provides recommendations concerning issue selling in a public school system.

A putative father registry represents a legal option for unmarried males who wish to secure legal notice regarding an adoption proceeding for a child they may have fathered. Putative father registries must balance the interests of the putative father against those of the child, the birth mother, and the adoptive parents. This study utilized a framework adapted from the Multiple Constituency Model and used social justice, as indicated by distributive justice and procedural justice, to determine the perceptions among primary constituency groups of the Virginia Putative Father Registry. This research utilized a mixed-methods approach to analyze qualitative data from focus groups in combination with quantitative results from an online survey. The results of the qualitative analysis revealed eight principal findings: First, nearly all putative fathers were unaware of the existence of putative father registry in general, or the Virginia Putative Father Registry in particular. Second, putative fathers were unaware that sex is legal notice in Virginia. Third, once aware of the concept of a putative father registry, the focus group males had positive opinions about putative father registries and the Virginia Putative Father Registry. Fourth, putative fathers preferred to receive notice through the mail regarding an alleged child. Fifth, putative fathers have a negative opinion of providing notice by posting it in newspapers. Sixth, promoting awareness of putative father registries needs to target male audiences and preferably have an interactive component. Seventh, putative fathers expressed strong positive feelings about knowing about a child they may have fathered being placed for adoption. Finally, single male participants in the focus groups were more convinced about the importance of a putative father registry in comparison to married male participants. Quantitative survey data indicated that putative fathers were perceived as the primary constituent group that would benefit the most from a putative father registry. The safeguard variable was significant as it relates to occupation, putative fathers and birth mothers. The study also found that survey respondents indicated that the general public was not aware of putative father registries, and this perception was borne out in focus group results.

Nonprofit housing organizations primarily exist to address the housing needs of low-income residents, whose housing needs are not sufficiently met by the public or private housing market. NHOs are very similar to private corporations in their size, productivity and commitment to the “bottom line.” However, unlike private firms, NHOs are “mission driven” instead profit-driven corporations. The development of affordable housing in the nonprofit housing sector requires a myriad of financial and non-financial resources. As competition for financial resources intensifies many organizations are adopting strategies as a means to not only reduce organizational uncertainty and sustain them, but also increase or maintain organizational capacity. The evolution of the role of nonprofit organizations coupled with market pressures such as attracting investment, competing for clients, and retaining and hiring skilled employees shapes the need for them to adopt market culture strategies (Salamon, 1999). A key strategy of market culture is collaboration (Frost and Sullivan, 2006). This dissertation study was designed to examine interorganizational relationships between nonprofit housing organizations in the Richmond Metropolitan area, and the influence of organizational characteristics, environmental conditions, and resource availability on an organization’s Level of Collaboration. Furthermore, the study examined the attitudes and perceptions of executive directors of collaboration. The primary research question is: Do nonprofit housing organizations display identifiable patterns of relationships with each other? This study contributes several important findings to furthering the understanding of collaboration within the nonprofit sector, and the relationship between organizational characteristics, environmental conditions, and resource availability and an organization’s Level of Collaboration (interorganizational relationships). Study findings convey that the examination of the network itself using social network analysis is a useful tool for examining relationships and identifying opportunities for collaboration. For this network it revealed that the organizations interact on an informal basis as well as identified the prominent actors are in the network. The findings of this study suggests that there are two key factors that influence nonprofit organizations establishing relationships interorganizational learning and personal characteristics.

High performance organizations desire to provide services in an effective and efficient manner with positive outcomes; therefore measures of performance and cost can be utilized to gauge such success. Through comparative research and analysis of local governments that have and do not have collective bargaining for law enforcement, findings and results can determine if there is any correlation between employee workforce classification (in collective or non-collective bargaining workplaces), high performance traits, costs and high performance return on costs (HPRC) for law enforcement. A HPRC composite measure was developed and utilized to compare and contrast all of the local governments to determine relationships between performance and costs. Based upon the research, the following findings were discovered for the null hypothesis which compared two forms of collective bargaining - arbitration and mediation - separately to non-collective bargaining localities: 1) Correlation between workforce classification and high performance attributes – mediation (negative – perform at a lower performance level); 2) Correlation between workforce classification and law enforcement costs - arbitration (negative – costs are at a lower level); and 3) No correlation between workforce classification and HPRC. In the preceding three areas, only the model on high performance attributes had a high r square and low variance with adjusted r square; both indicators of a parsimonious model. While correlations arose, further research in this area is warranted in developing a more enhanced and publicly accepted comparable metric of performance, costs and HPRC for law enforcement. In addition, certain control variables illustrated a correlation with the dependent variables as follows: 1) Performance - High median household incomes, density, age, survey quality of life, and city; 2) Law Enforcement Costs per Capita - Non-right-to-work state and county; and 3) HPRC - Median household income and county. A rational choice theory was utilized as the lens of framework in assessing an employee’s motivational behavior in a collective and non-collective bargaining work environment that could contribute to differentials in performance.

Do we know whether the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in law enforcement agencies increases police performance? This study examines the impact of GIS use to police performance outcomes in cities and counties of the U.S. between 2000 and 2007. Current research uses computerized mapping conceptualization to operationalize its measurement. Second, the police performance methodological context is used to measure the organizational impact of GIS. Finally, a new theoretical framework, information technology capacity that combines organizational, environmental and managerial factors to explain IT applications, is used to encompass most relevant dimensions of the subject matter. Findings indicate that the use of GIS in police agencies increased sharply between 2003 and 2007. Additionally, the contribution of GIS use on police performance was found to be statistically significant, but in the opposite direction. Overall, results of the present study indicate significant links between crime rate (DV) and independent variables (IV) in law enforcement agencies. IVs are having a professional form of government andfull time specialized crime analysis personnel, police strength, the use of GIS, population, being located in the Northeast and West regions, poverty, having encouraged SARA type projects and a community policing unit.

This study represents an attempt to describe the extent and features of safe haven legislation in the United States, discuss implementation issues, and to examine if the legislation is reaching its intended target audience in order to answer the question, "Is safe haven legislation an efficacious response to infant abandonment?" Safe havens are designated locations where infants can be anonymously abandoned without fear of prosecution or incarceration. As of May of 2006, forty-seven states have passed such legislation, citing the need for an alternative to unsafe infant abandonment leading to an infant's death, and an alternative to infanticide (the killing of an infant within one year of its birth). Since the initial passage of this legislation in Texas in 1999, there have been more unsafe infant abandonments than accounts of safe haven abandonments. As this legislation provides for anonymous infant abandonment researchers cannot study the population of women actually utilizing safe havens. Therefore, the study of women seeking connection with safe havens in comparison to the population of women who have engaged in infant abandonment resulting in an infant's death is considered one of the sole viable sources of insight into this problem. The scope of the research is exploratory in nature and analyses are considered preliminary due to the lack of data that exists in this area and the relative newness of the legislation.A quantitative analysis of women likely to utilize safe havens reveals that they have a mean age of 19, are unmarried, have entered into prenatal care late, have disclosed their pregnancy to someone, and are currently dating the birthfather. The findings from this analysis were compared to those from a national linked birth and infant death dataset to ascertain if women seeking safe havens have similar biopsychosocial characteristics as those engaging in unsafe abandonment leading to an infant's death. Similar biopsychosocial characteristics were found including mother's age, marital status, late entry into prenatal care, disclosure of pregnancy, and dating status. A regression analysis was used to construct a biopsychosocial profile of women likely to abandon an infant. Findings suggest that legislators and those involved with safe havens have some knowledge of their target population, but are not effectively reaching this audience, nor promoting the existence of safe havens. They also appear to be utilizing research findings on infanticide inappropriately, in order to profile their target audience. This effectively limits the promulgation of education and early identification services that could prevent both safe haven and unsafe infant abandonments. This study concludes with policy reform recommendations.

Since the Civil Rights era, African Americans have come a long way. In the years since the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, there have been dramatic increases in education, political representation, business ownership, and occupational position. Yet, for all of the economic, social and political advances made in the African American community, many young people are still subjected to inferior schools, housing and depressed communities where crime, drugs, police brutality and HIV/AIDS run rampant. As a result, there is a growing tension among the community over the root causes of their predicament and the most adequate way of dealing with them. Based on the generational political theory, this dissertation examines generational effects within the African American community since 1964. From this period, three distinct cohorts are analyzed: the Civil Rights, Integration, and Hip Hop generations. The objective is to determine if different experiences over this period have modified political values, attitudes, and behaviors from one generation to the next. Using data from the 1996 National Black Elections Study (NBES), I examine public policy preferences and political attitudes of African Americans. I use bivariate and multivariate analysis to show generational gaps in attitudes about issues related to major party performance. I draw three major conclusions from this analysis. First, racial group interests remain powerfully important across all cohorts. Next, the Hip Hop generation tends to hold more conservative attitudes than either the Civil Rights or the Integration generations. Finally, I conclude that at the very core of black politics, political values have not changed. However, there is a tension among the Hip Hop cohort between the impending attitudinal changes and the more traditional values of the Civil Rights cohort. The proposed dissertation contributes to the body of research by analyzing generational politics and behavior to better understand the future of black politics in the 21st century.

The rapid growth of Louisiana's coastal restoration science and technology assets is paralleled by the growth of business resources to fulfill myriad project needs. Many institutions and organizations in Louisiana seek to further develop the state's research, education, engineering and related restoration assets into a globally competitive set of industries with exportable expertise and products that help the state capitalize on its water challenges. Globally, similar efforts are identified (and often branded) as water technology innovation clusters (or more simply water clusters). This paper explores the phenomenon of the development of water clusters by public-private partnerships and initiatives, nationally and internationally, in a comparative analysis with Louisiana.

Dans un monde globalisé où compétitivité et concurrence façonnent en partie la scène politique etéconomique internationale, la construction d’une image voire d’une identité via la communication extérieuredevient un outil de puissance. Ces implications se retrouvent de la même manière dans les relations entre unÉtat, la France, et les opinions publiques nationales et étrangères.Cette thèse de doctorat complète le questionnement de la place de la France dans le monde.L’étude de la production de la communication extérieure par l’État, personnifiant la Nation, prend formedans un contexte géopolitique mouvant, caractérisé par une évolution technologique et médiatiquedifficilement prévisible. Elle propose une synthèse de la communication extérieure marquée par les structuresde la Ve République et par la politique étrangère menée par le Ministère des Affaires étrangères et impulséepar le chef de l’État. Les freins psychologiques, le refus de la communication comme outil de visibilité et depouvoir ainsi que les problématiques intérieures pèsent sur l’élaboration de politiques pensées et crédibles.Cette recherche interroge également la légitimité de l’échelle de la communication extérieure de la Francelorsque l’attractivité économique se dispute au niveau régional et que la compétition politique se livre à unniveau supra – national.Ce travail fait état de l’existant afin de proposer la correction de travers nationaux qui compliquent lespolitiques de communication supposées porter la voix de la France dans le monde. / In a globalized world partly shaped by competition between nations, building a strong identity andimage is becoming an increasing tool of power.Producing such a good image and appearance is similarly important when it comes to relationshipsbetween states as to relationships between France and its own public opinion or foreign publicopinion. That’s where foreign communication and public diplomacy counts.This PhD thesis aims at providing another point of view and an answer to the French questioningabout France’s place in the world nowadays.Mainly managed by the French foreign office, foreign communication policies represent the will ofthe government and express its directions more than a French identity.The characteristics of the French tradition of diplomacy and international relations are marked by thespecificity of the Vth Republic. The governments’ foreign policies between 2003 and 2009 follow thenew strategy of France as a member of the international community building and preserving peace.Ambitions for France as an independent and important nation have to find a foundation in its actionsas well as a translation in the medias.The skills and means devoted to the foreign communicationpolicies appear to miss some points.We looked at the current situation to reveal the lacks and strengths of the process. Our work alsointend to suggest ways of imagining, building and managing operational policies and campaignsthroughout the world this next years.Psychological pressures from domestical tradition of rejecting communication refrains the population in itsself-representation and so far the country from entering the cognitive war this new century brought in.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:48:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucas Vasconcelos Pinto.pdf: 1257292 bytes, checksum: 2f6cd0aef546c8363a31effa69ceec9c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work has as its theme the influence of The American Israel Public Affairs Committee AIPAC in the foreign policy of the United States US. Firstly it was systematized a state of the art on the subject based on two main lines of thought: one of John Mearsheimer and Stephen walt and another of Noam Chomsky Gilbert Achcar and Norman Finkelstein. While those ones highlight the power of the so called Pro-Israel lobby - from which AIPAC is the most structured and renowned organization - in US politics those second ones point out that the helm of US foreign policy toward Israel is its own national interest not the Lobby. Secondly it was aimed a historical survey about AIPAC and an analysis of its structure and its procedures. It was founded then that AIPAC - as a lobbying organization an interest group - according to the law cannot make financial contributions directly to politicians. It was founded however that this practice may occur indirectly through at least two ways: through its own members contributing individually and/or by Political Action Committees PACs - institutions created specifically to this end of raising funds to political campaigns in order to elect and defeat candidates or even to influence those who are already in the Government. And thirdly it was sought to synthesize the state of the art to the historical and structural study on AIPAC. Based on the dialogue of the two main theoretical visions worked - under a optic of complementarity rather than of exclusion - alongside with an examination of AIPAC s action in history this study led us to infer that AIPAC which was founded in 1959 in the Cold War context remains being influential in US politics even with the change in the international system at the end of the Cold War. / O presente trabalho tem como tema a influencia do American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) na politica externa dos Estados Unidos da América (EUA). Primeiro, sistematizou- se um estado da arte sobre o tema a partir de duas linhas de pensamento principais: uma de John Mearsheimer e Stephen Walt; e outra, de Noam Chomsky, Gilbert Achcar e Norman Finkelstein. Enquanto aqueles primeiros ressaltam o poder do chamado lobby pró-Israel - do qual o AIPAC e a organização mais estruturada e renomada - na politica dos EUA, estes salientam que o leme da politica externa estadunidense para com Israel e seu próprio interesse nacional, e não o lobby. Segundo, visou-se a um levantamento histórico sobre o AIPAC e a uma analise de sua estrutura e de seu modo de atuação. Constatou-se, então, que o AIPAC - como uma organização de lobby, um grupo de interesse -, de acordo com a lei, não pode enviar contribuições financeiras diretamente aos políticos. Apurou-se, no entanto, que essa prática pode ocorrer de maneira indireta, por meio de, pelo menos, duas maneiras: através de seus próprios membros contribuindo individualmente; e/ou por via dos Political Action Committees (PACs) - instituições criadas especificamente para esse fim de levantar fundos para as campanhas politicas no intuito de eleger e derrotar candidatos, ou ate mesmo influenciar os que já estão no governo. E, terceiro, buscou-se sintetizar o estado da arte ao estudo histórico e estrutural sobre o AIPAC. Com base no diálogo entre as duas principais visões teóricas trabalhadas - sob uma ótica de complementaridade ao invés de exclusão -, ao lado do exame da ação do AIPAC na história, esse estudo nos levou a inferir que o AIPAC, fundado em 1959, no contexto da Guerra Fria, continua influente na politica dos EUA, mesmo com a mudança no sistema internacional ao final da Guerra Fria