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A Mixed-Method Assessment of the Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Restraining Order Issuance: Considerations for Policy Development, Intervention Practice, and Violence Prevention
No full textThe period of separation from a violent intimate relationship is associated with an increased risk for lethality. Restraining orders (ROs) exist in every U.S. state as a legally sanctioned mechanism that is used to prohibit perpetrators from contacting victims in the future. However, IPV fatalities continue to occur at alarming rates, and despite decades of IPV research, no studies have examined relationship separation from the perspectives of perpetrators. This is the first study to examine this high-risk period from IPV perpetrators’ points of view.This dissertation examines IPV policies and practices since the inception of the IPV movement, with attention directed to policies and practices that have been developed to address IPV perpetration, specifically. Following a historical review of these policies and practices, IPV relationship separation is described from a theoretical framework that positions this period as one of crisis, emotional instability, behavioral problems, and socioeconomic downfall for perpetrators.The dissertation study used a cross-sectional, mixed-method (QUANT → qual) design to examine psychological, psychosocial, and behavioral correlates of RO issuance sample of abusive intervention program participants across five east-coast states. A survey examined posttraumatic stress, suicide risk, homicide risk, depression, psychosis risk, alcohol and substance use, psychosocial needs, and risk for future harm with 50 participants (22 RO recipients 28 non-RO recipients). Linear regression analysis was used to examine whether RO issuance was associated with the mental health, psychosocial, and behavioral correlates. Semi-structured interviews were informed by survey findings, conducted with 24 participants, and examined using interpretive phenomenological analysis.The survey findings showed that although RO issuance was not associated with any of the predictor variables. The interview findings indicated that RO recipients often have histories of severe trauma in their childhoods, and tend to experience intense and complicated grief following RO issuances, which, in turn, influences violations, mental and physical health problems, socioeconomic challenges, lifestyle changes, and psychosocial needs. For many, the consequences that followed RO issuances also presented opportunities for self-growth and rehabilitation. Implications for future research, practice, and policy are discussed
Stereotypes, Beliefs about Working Mothers, and the Use of Gender System Justification
No full textThis study examines whether working mothers represent a system threat to the general public and beliefs about working mothers. 177 participants were randomly assigned to conditions designed to confirm or contradict stereotypes about mothers and their gender system justifying responses were measured. To evaluate beliefs about working mothers, participants read positive and negative statements about working mothers and rated their agreement with each. Results were compared between working mothers in the sample and others. Results suggested that working mothers were not a stereotype threat as they were presented in our study. In the overall sample, women, parents, and conservatives had higher Gender System Justification scores. Working mothers’ Gender System Justification scores were significantly higher than those of the general population, and working mothers were more likely to blame and support other working mothers than the general population. The overall population was more supportive of working mothers than blaming
Water Scarcity In Lebanon: The Edge Of Collapse
No full textThis paper discusses the history and future of water in the Republic Of Lebanon, giving general attention to the future of water and agriculture in the Middle East. Chapter One will use several sources to examine a broad section of quantitative data covering water scarcity. Additionally, this chapter will use annual United Nations agriculture reports highlighting the growing risk posed by inadequate agricultural development mixed with water scarcity. These sources will be used to examine both the historical issues surrounding agriculture and the current problems faced. Chapter Two focuses on the history of agriculture and water use in the region in addition to the future possibility of food security. Chapter Three explores the need for novel environmental policies on the part of the government and other stakeholders to address the issue of exploitative and damaging politics. Chapter Four concentrates on efficient design concepts around water use and irrigation. This chapter will also focus on the lack of policy targeted at renewable water collection practices. Chapter Five focuses on tying together the relationship between past failures and the possibility of future regenerative water systems
Sick of Zoning in Metropolitan Chicago: Healing Environmental Racism and Investing in a Segregated City
No full textThis paper addresses the issue of the historical and present-day built environment in the Chicago metropolitan area, its roots in environmental racism, and impacts on community health. Chapter 1 utilizes mapping of Chicago to analyze U.S. Census and public health data, drawing conclusions based on community area residential patterns and demographics. Chapter 2 explores the origins of zoning practices in the United States and environmental history of Chicago, tracing the immediate impacts of the built environment and today’s community impacts. Chapter 3 dives into the political background of the built environment and city zoning in Chicago, with particular attention to political corruption and its impacts on residential segregation and environmental racism. Chapter 4 establishes the environmental health penalties resulting from disinvestment in urban settings and historical neglect of low-income communities and communities of color, analyzing the public health inequities resulting from city zoning and what urban design frameworks for reinvestment other metropolitan regions are integrating. Drawing on the discussions and implications from the previous chapters, Chapter 5 lays out the recommendations to increase health equity for at risk urban communities based on municipal policy changes and preventative measures
A Path to Achieve European Energy Security
No full textThe apparatus of Europe’s energy security has collapsed. The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, hydrocarbon market turmoil, and the ever-growing threat of climate change has thrust the continent into crisis. As the risks of severe recession, acute energy shortages, and climatic disasters have begun to materialize, the member states of the European Union (EU) have been left scrambling to secure novel energy supplies. In the short-term, these developments pose severe risks to the EU and its member states. Yet, opportunity often presents itself in the midst of hardship, and the European Energy Crisis of 2022 is no different. This essay discusses the EU’s path to achieve energy security. Chapter 1 begins with an overview of the EU’s energy market, with regards to its current policy and energy mix. The second features a historical overview of hydrocarbons and renewable energy sources in the EU, commencing with the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952. Chapter 3 details the inherent risks of continued hydrocarbon dependance, and specifically discusses troubling market forces, the war in Ukraine, and climate change. Chapter 4 delves into an economic overview of the EU’s unique ability to unilaterally alter global markets through aggressive regulatory action, with a particular emphasis on energy and environmental policy. The final chapter advocates for the EU to achieve energy security through two policies. Firstly, the EU must rid its dependency on hydrocarbons, and establish a reliance on renewable energy. Secondly, to truly limit the deleterious effects of climate change, the EU must use its power in influencing global markets to spur global action to decarbonize
Identity vs Institution: Political Violence Against Environmental Activists in Colombia
No full textThis paper addresses the political violence against environmental activists in Colombia and analyzes the roles colonization, political history, and identity play in this violence. It discusses the causes environmental activists have put their lives on the line for and the response of the state, which is often to murder, displace, silence, or brutalize these individuals. I argue that from the first instances of European colonization in the Americas to the modern extractive economies of globalization, the hegemony of foreign interests in Colombia has been maintained through the violence against Colombians resisting environmental degradation and the theft of wealth and resources from their country. While political violence continues to this day, the globalization of environmental causes offers some hope for accountability for the murder of activists and the reform of the governments enacting said violence. Chapter One defines the relevant terms necessary for understanding the nature of political violence and environmental activism and provides statistics from Global Witness to present the significance of the violence against environmental activists in Colombia. Chapter Two uses the discipline of environmental history to explore the colonial background of Colombia. It establishes the connection between colonial violence and the development of the extractive economy and explains the ways in which colonization continues to impact socioeconomic stability and environmental health today. Chapter Three lays out the past and present political climate of Colombia and explains the violence of the State through detailing on specific instances of political violence in Colombian history. Chapter Four uses Colombian-American anthropologist Arturo Escobar’s concept of racialized geographies to highlight the violence of displacement that disproportionately impacts the Indigenous communities of Colombia. Lastly, Chapter Five explores potential solutions to this issue, such as the further development of transnational activist networks and mutual aid programs, policy changes such as land reform made in discussion with Indigenous populations, and the addressing of human rights abuses of the past and present
Cultivating Resilience for District Women Administrators of Color as Equity Leaders in Predominantly White Districts
No full textSystemic racism, racial stereotypes, and bias affect how Black and Latinx Women Leaders of Color (WLOC) survive in predominantly White school districts. This dissertation of practice examines the experiences of equity WLOC in New York State, grounded in Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training. Using an Improvement Science approach, three drivers were identified: 1) supporting WLOC in racial identity development, 2) responding to racism, and 3) clarifying the role of equity WLOC. Two change ideas were implemented: 1) leadership development training and 2) an affinity group. The theory of change was: When equity WLOC in PWD have opportunities to share their stories, reflect on their adversity, and listen to others reflect, they will develop critical consciousness about racism which will increase their resilience against the harms caused by racism and microaggression in their work environments. This mixed methods study used surveys and semi-structured interviews; there were four findings. First, there was tremendous value for equity WLOC in being part of a supportive group of peer WLOC. Second, having a network of peers provides safe space to navigate the role of equity WLOC. Third, these groups foster showing up as one’s authentic self. Fourth, there is power in acknowledging the existence of White structures in leadership, systemic and institutional racism, and power held by the dominant culture. When these leaders saw themselves through their own lens, not that of dominant White culture, they could acknowledge their strengths and own their power. These equity WLOC could see, feel, and stand in their own brilliance
Democracy and Value: Towards a Pluralistic Value Epistemology
No full textThere is a need for a pluralistic value epistemology in order to achieve a multicultural democratic understanding that allows us to overcome cultural conflicts. Value epistemology must recognize the way in which values and facts mutually influence each other; and needs to (1) identify the ways in which we constitute our values, (2) locate the kind of meta-philosophical values that will allow us to avoid absolutist thinking and develop tolerance and reciprocity, and (3) point to ways to cultivate them on an individual and a social level. This project will only be possible if we enlarge the scope of value pluralism to encompass different cultures. Multicultural exchange should be guided by polycentric perspectivism, which considers different cultural worldviews equally valid and complementary. Alain Locke adds a critical insight to polycentric perspectivism: values should be tested insofar as they are democratically tolerable, treating everybody as equally valuable while respecting value differences with and between cultures, the need of every person for freedom in living, the importance of everyone\u27s opportunities to contribute to the formation of their society\u27s values, and the responsibility of every person to contribute to the wellbeing of others within and outside their own society. Locke develops this view with his principles for cultural relativism: (1) cultural equivalence, (2) cultural reciprocity, and (3) limited cultural convertibility. Guided by ideal democratic values, these three principles will allow for the emergence of multicultural meta-philosophical values. This multicultural conversation should be encouraged through education, the arts, and policy and public engagement; and it must involve the fight against injustice and intolerance and the building of a common democratic community
Dominance Analysis with Model Uncertainty
No full textDominance analysis (DA), first proposed by Budescu (1993), is a statistical method used to compare the relative importance of predictors in various statistical models. In the dominance analysis of p predictors, a predictor Xi is said to dominate another variable Xj , if the additional contribution of Xi to the prediction of the criterion that is evaluated by semi-partial correlation is higher than that of Xj in (2p-2) possible subset models. Ranking of p predictors is then achieved by p(p-1)/2 pairwise comparisons among p predictors. Azen and Budescu (2003) developed DA inference method based on bootstrapping techniques in which the dominance analysis was applied based on the full regression model for each bootstrap sample, under an implicit assumption that the full model is “the correct” model. This approach, although natural and sensible, especially in a scenario where the verification of a structure of a model is prioritized, may not be appropriate when the model uncertainty is taken into account. In the present study, I developed a new inference method of dominance analysis in which the DA is conducted on the best fitting model (BFM) of each specific bootstrapped resample. A simulation study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of the BFM DA and explore how its effectiveness is influenced by the model uncertainty which was reflected by the diversity of BFMs in the bootstrap samples. Results showed that the BFM approach overall performed as well as the traditional DA inference method, and in simulation conditions of high BFM diversity, it led to more accurate approximation of the population dominance structure. A real data illustration was included for the purpose of providing prototypes of how the traditional and the new bootstrapping inference method of dominance analysis can be applied to a real data set, namely, what types of key results and supplemental results can be presented when one needs to make inference about the dominance analysis results using either one of the inference methods. Recommendations on the choice of appropriate DA inference method and other applications of the methodology developed by the current study were listed
SPOCK: Subjective Projection for Optimizing Deep Neural Classification Models Based on Contextual Representation From Large Knowledgebase
No full textViolence has long been studied in the social sciences, particularly in peace studies. Violence has become more common as a result of the recent advancement of social media, and its form has shifted toward inciting violence and other passive attacks. As the rate of violence related to social media continues to rise, so does the need for understanding and computationally detecting various types of violence. Over the last few years, Natural Language Processing (NLP) models aimed at detecting hate and offensive speech more specifically related to religion, race, gender, or sexual orientation. However, these NLP models are mostly domain specific and tend to underperform when we use violent and peace data sets due to a lack of vocabulary and domain-specific knowledge. In this study, we propose a novel network on top of BERT embedding to understand the domain-specific knowledge context. We have targeted the violent and peace data set and optimized the embedding by implementing custom loss functions for better space projection of violent and peaceful words. We tried understanding how violent and peace words can be projected into a new dimension using BERT base word embedding. For future work, we will train this model with over 10k annotated and fine-tune the pre-existing BERT model. Besides this, improving the model\u27s interpretability and accuracy will be the major focus of any future work