Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4815. Adviser: Mattias K. Polborn. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-85) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-254).

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1996. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Doctor of Library Science)--Columbia University, 1992. / Cover title. Includes bibliographical references (p. 216-224).

Thesis (Doctor of Library Science)--Columbia University, 1992. / Cover title. Includes bibliographical references (p. 216-224).

<p> Bijan Hamidi explores economic systems in video games and expands on the definition of virtual economics to include economic behavior. Gamers commonly look to gain advantages over their opposition during game play. This thesis performs an analysis of how those decisions are constructed and provides insight on where economic principles are found in game play. </p><p> This body of work is based upon preexisting virtual economic works from Edward Castronova, Zachary Simpson, and Richard Bartle. However, this work does not focus purely on economic markets, but extends to study economic behavior exhibited during play.</p><p>

<p> Leadership transition literature indicated that nonprofit sector current leaders lack understanding of proper ways to make use of relevant management leadership techniques to develop new leaders. New leaders replacing retiring organizational leaders lacked managerial experience and training needed to lead employees and manage organizational resources. The purpose of this study was to explore, understand, and interpret leadership supportive systems techniques that characterize &ldquo;Plan A,&rdquo; vision used for professional development of aspiring nonprofit executives for capacity building of critical leadership skills and management of networking functions toward organizational sustainability. The conceptual framework of this study focused on supportive systems leadership development theory, nontraditional leadership development theory, and &ldquo;Plan A&rdquo; leadership development theory. The study adopted qualitative exploratory-interpretive case study to generate research data through surveys, document analyses, interviews, and focus group discussions for research questions 1 and 2. Data generated were analyzed using embedded thematic data analysis strategy and qualitative NVivo 11 software. The major integrated themes that emerged characterizing the unique features of &ldquo;Plan A&rdquo; vision of nontraditional leadership development techniques were: (a) vision and leadership empowerment, (b) performance and feedback, (c) efficiency and conflict management, and (d) effective communication between leaders and aspiring executives in the workplace. The study contributed to nonprofit leadership transition by interpreting and providing in-depth understanding of leadership development roles that involved leadership development persuasion, collaboration, consultation, and encouragement for aspiring executives to seek leadership roles within the nonprofit management team. </p><p>

<p> This preamble study asks whether amplifying our embodied knowing may heighten our ability to sense the complex adaptive patterns in our daily lives. Embodied cognitivists argue nothing that qualifies as thinking was not itself first borne of our physical engagement with the natural world. In this stance, all knowledge is seen as corporeal in nature and thus generated from our intersubjective relationships with the world about us. As such, embodied perception is believed to be direct, veridical, and unmediated by the brain alone. This study also reinforces a growing consensus that the dominant locus for perceiving complex adaptive patterns is achieved through nonconscious rather than conscious processes. Consequently, this research marries the literatures of embodied cognition, nonconscious perception, and complexity to generate an original investigation into how manipulating these relationships could improve our abilities to access, sift through, and act more wisely in the patterns that matter the most. While attempts to establish a clear empirical connection amongst these phenomena were less than conclusive, this inaugural study also makes useful contributions in (a) reframing the array of literature around embodiment into a single, monist conception called the Mind, Body, Environment (MBE) Continuum; (b) lessons learned designing macro-level empirical research into nonconscious embodied perception; (c) providing an inaugural dataset upon which to build future inquiry into this domain, and finally (d) augmenting and testing a non-traditional research methodology called distributed ethnography commensurate to the unique nature of this inquiry.</p><p>

<p> China's unique system of hiring and promoting talented people within the state, under the supervision of the Communist Party, has been held up as an important institutional factor supporting its remarkably rapid and sustained economic growth. Jointly with Professor Peter L. Lorentzen, we explore this meritocracy argument in the context of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's ongoing anti-corruption campaign. Some question the sincerity of the campaign, arguing that it is nothing but a cover for intra-elite struggle and a purge of Xi's opponents. In the first chapter of my thesis, we use a dataset I have created to identify accused officials and map their connections. Our evidence supports the Party's claim that the crackdown is primarily a sincere effort to cut down on the widespread corruption that was undermining its efforts to develop an effective meritocratic governing system. First, we visualize the "patron-client'' network of all probed officials announced by the central government and identify the core targets of the anti-corruption campaign. Second, we use a recursive selection model to analyze who the campaign has targeted, providing evidence that even personal ties to top leaders have provided little protection. Finally, we show that, in the years leading up to the crackdown, the provinces later targeted had departed from the growth-oriented meritocratic selection procedures evident in other provinces. </p><p> In addition to its motivation, I also discuss the campaign's effects on economic efficiency. The second chapter of my thesis tests the "greasing-the-wheels'' hypothesis in the context of China's residential land market. We show that China's anti-corruption campaign, aimed at removing corruption in China's monopoly land market, caused a decrease in land transaction volumes. Furthermore, not removing any form of corruption would also lead to a similar decrease. It is only necessary to remove corruption that enables real estate developers to circumvent red tape and reduce trading costs. Our findings support the "greasing-the-wheels'' hypothesis hypothesis: when an economy has a low outcome owing to some preexisting distortions, corruption could be a positive factor in that it offers a "second-best world.''</p><p>

The thesis of this dissertation is that the reconstitution of human subjectivity, theoretically and concretely, is necessary to adequately address the global ecological crisis and ongoing social and political domination and exploitation. Initial attempts to constitute this new ecological subject exist in the radical ecology movement (recognized by Rudolf Bahro and Herbert Marcuse in the 1970s), examined here through three primary branches of the radicalized environmental movement: deep ecology, social ecology, and ecofeminism. Aspects of this radical ecological subject are revealed in a critique based on the work of the early Frankfurt School theorists--Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse. Adorno's understanding of negative dialectics, or non-identity thinking, is the primary source of categories for the analysis. Jurgen Habermas's critique of Adorno is rejected, and Habermas's "communicative action" theory is also found to be inadequate for radical ecological needs. Adorno's use of the concept/term "mimesis" provides a lever for prying open radical ecology's treasure of insights as well as its limitations. Each branch of radical ecology is examined with reference to its methodology or epistemology, its understanding of subjectivity, and their respective politics. Deep ecology's deep questioning method, proposed by Arne Naess, is found to differ little from traditional philosophy and inadequately supports its claims about possibilities for identification with nature or the creation of a political identity or agency capable of adequately addressing ecological and social problems, this despite the successes of its political descendants, including Earth First! and Dave Foreman. Social ecology, elaborated by Murray Bookchin, expands the idea of subjectivity beyond its ability to provide the critical conceptual framework necessary to resolve the ecological crisis. Bookchin's critique and interpretation of the early Critical Theorists also fails. Ecofeminism, a diverse set of perspectives, must be approached cautiously while attempting to salvage consistent theoretical categories which, combined with critical theory's insights, illuminate potentials for development of a future radical ecological subject. Useful categories include "feminist standpoint theory," the "ethic of care," psychoanalysis and other insights from the works of Luce Irigaray, Nancy Hartsock, Sara Ruddick and Drucilla Cornell.