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Citizens and Sectors: An Examination of Sector Preferences and Blame Attribution During Times of Certainty and Uncertainty
Get PDFThe current era of sector convergence and blurred sector boundaries has important implications for the study of public and private management and how citizens interact, perceive, and experience public service deliveries and hold organizations accountable in multi-sector marketplaces. This dissertation explores the role of sector in citizens’ lives, particularly in their roles as citizen-consumers and citizen-observers, where they experience and evaluate the services provided to them and to others. Central to this over-arching study are individuals’ expanding function in the citizen-bureaucratic accountability chain and when public service deliveries fail to be adequately provided, how do citizens perceive organizations across sectors? Do these overall perceptions and preferences for sector providers vary by sector and to what extent do they change in negative situations such as in a case of an organizational crisis, which initiates a revaluation of an individuals’ expectations and perceptions broadly defined.
While studies have contributed to understanding citizens’ baseline attitudes toward sectors including general and specific ownership types, a comprehensive comparison of sector providers including all three– government (public), private for-profit, and nonprofit organizations has been lacking when compared altogether. Studies have indicated that sector matters to citizens in various contexts and that there may even be biases against or for particular providers, which has deep implications for not only scholars and our understanding of sector theory, but important factors for practitioners in their role to see how citizens view their organization whether favorably or unfavorably across different conditions. This dissertation provides a theoretical framework and a foundation to understanding citizens’ perceptions of sectors and how certain factors can influence individuals’ views and behaviors across various conditions. An experimental survey was employed using Lucid Theorem to investigate citizens’ preferences for public services at a baseline, but further expanding our understanding of how citizens’ preferences change and vary, while additionally examining how citizens blame sector providers when a service delivery failure occurs. This comparative exploration and analysis sector theory interacted with citizens’ experiences makes a prominent contribution to literature on sector theory, democratic and bureaucratic accountability, and blame attribution theory.
Chapter 1 introduces the dissertation through the backdrop of sector blurring and the sector converging that is prevalent today. Chapter 2 provides the theoretical framework of the dissertation. After the theoretical concepts and constructs as well as background information is provided, the following three chapters pivot to empirically examining sectors and citizens’ perceptions. Chapter 3 examines how citizens preferences to sector change when an organizational crisis is introduced and initiates citizens to reevaluate their original preferences. Chapter 4 adds to blame attribution theory studies that have looked at how organizations are blamed differently across sectors. Lastly, in terms of empirical work, Chapter 5 breaks down blame attribution by sector and by role, seeing the effects of citizens’ blame when specific roles are introduced and seeing if blame varies if a particular organizational role increases the distribution of blame as it interacts with sector. The dissertation concludes with a final discussion of the overall findings and provides a foundation for examining sectors and citizens’ experiences moving forward. Ultimately, the dissertation shows that sector does matter to citizens and that individuals to recognize and reevaluate their original preferences and overall perceptions toward sector. Mixed results from previous studies have shown differences in citizens’ understanding of sector, but it should be emphasized that there are reasonable steps ahead to examine these roles across conditions
Decision aids in patient-physician communication for supporting shared decision making and patient satisfaction: an experimental study
No full textThe aim of this study was to explore the effect of the use and style of decision aids on shared decision making and patient satisfaction in patient-physician communication in the context of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). An experimental study design was used. Participants were randomly assigned to three experiment conditions (i.e., no decision aid, narrative decision aid, and factual decision aid) to read conversations between a GAD patient and a psychiatrist. They were then asked to answer a range of questions that assessed their intention of involvement in shared decision making and satisfaction towards the patient-physician conversation. Data was collected using Qualtrics in the summer of 2022. Participants (N= 227) were adult residents of the United States and were predominately female (70.5%), White (51.5%), had a Bachelor’s degree or higher (65.6%), and 69.2% currently lived in Oklahoma. Based on the Independent Sample T-Test, the use of decision aids resulted in significantly higher patient satisfaction compared to not using decision aids (p < 0.05). However, no significant differences were found between the use of decision aids and no decision aids on shared decision making (p = .368), decision aids’ style on shared decision making (p = .823), and decision aids’ style on patient satisfaction (p = .068). Findings from this study not only identify important tools that that may be used in patient-physician communication but also highlight the importance of incorporating decision aids regardless of style to improve patient outcomes, specifically patient satisfaction
Use of 1D Unsteady HEC-RAS in a Coupled System for Compound Flood Modeling: North Carolina Case Study
Get PDFThe research presented herein develops and compares an ADCIRC and ADCIRC/HEC-RAS (1D) paired model for the purpose of compound flood modeling within the Tar River and Pamlico Sound basins of North Carolina. Both the ADCIRC and 1D HEC-RAS models are capable of simulating river systems but differ in their underlying numerical formulations. A case-study comparison of each model’s ability to simulate flooding accurately and quickly in a riverine/estuarine system is investigated herein; results may serve as a valuable reference to forecasters and model developers. Individual models of the Tar River and Pamlico Sound area in North Carolina were used, and pairings of these models were devised to determine the benefits and drawbacks of using ADCIRC alone, or ADCIRC + 1D HEC-RAS, to simulate the response of the Tar River and Pamlico Sound during three test events: Hurricane Irene, Hurricane Floyd, and an unnamed April 2003 event. With increased emphasis on predicting total water levels, the results of this study can provide information for the possible development of similarly paired models for coastal river systems across the US and improve the body of knowledge about each model’s relative performance in riverine and estuarine areas.Ye
We can't eat gender rolls: the pradox of the citoyenne during the French Revolution
Get PDFThe citoyennes of the French Revolution were silenced by the Republic of France through codification of Rousseau's Natural sexes, and their contributions to the French Revolution remain largely unexplored by historians. Examination of arrest and execution records found at the National Archives in Paris revealed that women were arrested in conjunction with their husbands’ crimes and were excused on the basis of the fairness of their sex. Chapter 1 affirms Olwen Hufton’s conclusion that women were motivated to public unrest by men’s failures and adds that women were emboldened to act in a man’s place, becoming active agents of change. Women navigated the political system and used crowds as a vehicle to enter the public, male sphere of influence, and in private, took charge of family planning methods. Chapter 2 identifies the paradox of the citoyenne and its resolution in disproportionate legal protections for women, the femme defense. These protections meant fewer than 400 women were executed during the Revolution, compared to 17,000 men. Additionally, Chapter 2 recognizes the life and works of Madame Roland, whose failed femme defense shows that the limits of the femme defense lie in a woman’s political success. Chapter 3 outlines the contradictions implicit in execution of a citoyenne and discusses the femme des letters, Olympe de Gouges, who argued in 1791 that "women have the right to take their places on the scaffold, they must also have the right to take their seats in government." This chapter concludes that the National Assembly executed women when they posed a threat to the foundations of the Jacobin agenda; becoming a femme-homme was a crime that demanded the peine de mort. This study ultimately argues that there existed, among the revolutionary debates, an assault on what it meant to be male or female
Women in Mexico's illicit economy: expendable as pennies or breaking barriers?
Get PDFThis thesis will examine how women’s roles vary throughout the economic, social, and governmental domination and influence of Mexico at the hands of the narcotrafficking organizations. The chapters of this thesis are organized thematically and will analyze the hyper militarized actions of illicit organizations and government entities while also utilizing previously established female scholars’ interpretations of womanhood, identity, autonomy, and space to pinpoint that women are, in fact, taking on a large, or more prominent role, within narcotrafficking organizations. Although women are stepping into dangerous roles, they are pawns, barriers, or cushions for elite or higher members of the narco-society. This thesis will shed light on how women and children have adapted to life in a narco-driven society but as a result of the continuation of misogyny and the prolonged absence of equity in major areas of Mexican life. My intention with this thesis is to bring Women and Gender Studies to the field of Modern Latin America. Although there are ample scholars who discuss womanhood in Mexico, there remains little historical analysis focusing on women, womanhood, agency, and the possibility of women breaking free from the rapacious illicit and licit spheres of life and living the complicated role of present-day women. I use scholarship from various fields (historical, sociological, anthropological, literature, political, and legal) to showcase how women have and remain susceptible to manipulation and exploitation in Mexican society, especially that of the narcotrafficking-world. In addition to the multitude of secondary literature, this thesis will present primary sources detailing the growing number of young girls and teenagers who entangled in the narco-world, introducing a perspective of allure and opportunity to the complex lives of women. My thesis argues that women are, in fact, breaking economic gendered barriers but are still often falling victim to the toxic masculine tendencies of a patriarchal society, and therefore, creating a new and complex role for women in modern-day Mexico and Latin America
The impact of packaging and transportation on the analysis of level two details in latent prints
Get PDFThis study was conducted to determine if packaging and transportation of small items of evidence impacts the ability to preserve and process latent friction ridge impressions deposited on those items. Similar research has been completed with DNA evidence and researchers found that packaging and transportation did impact the quality of the DNA evidence when it was analyzed (Goray et al., 2012). As latent prints are fragile, assessing current practices and determining the best protocols for latent print recovery is essential. This study focused on best methods for preserving and processing latent friction ridge impressions. Aluminum cans and ceramic white tiles were used as items of evidence. Fingerprints were deposited on the items and left for two hours to represent time between the crime being committed and the same crime being investigated. The evidence was then divided into two groups – one group processed without being transported and one group processed after being packaged in paper bags and driven in the car. These two groups represented evidence processed on scene and evidence processed after being packaged and taken to the lab. Time of transport was 30 minutes. Latent impressions were then processed with black powder and the prints were lifted with tape. Latent impressions were analyzed for level 1 detail (cores, deltas, pattern type) and level 2 detail (ending ridges, bifurcations, dots, etc.). The value of the friction ridge detail was then compared between the items processed on scene and those items of evidence that were transported. The goal of this study was to establish best practices and guidelines for preserving and processing latent friction ridge impressions in an effort to maintain the highest possible level of detail and provide more value during the analysis phase. It was determined that the substrate the fingerprints are deposited on heavily influences how the fingerprints will be affected by the packaging. The fingerprints on the ceramic tiles had less frequent contact with the inside of the packaging, but were more affected when contact did occur. The aluminum cans had more frequent contact with the inside of the packaging, but were less affected
Integrated System to Reduce Emissions from a Natural Gas-Fired Reciprocating Engine
Get PDFInternal Combustion (IC) engines are a significant source of environmental pollution; therefore, global efforts are being made for their growth and sustainability. Mainly, the Natural Gas-Fired Reciprocating Engines (NGFRE), which are naturally aspirated, exhibit increased combustion instability and higher emissions, predominantly methane (CH4) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) at lower loads, resulting in restrictions on the operational envelope of such engines. This thesis reviews some of the emission reduction technologies for NGFREs and presents the experimental investigation of an integrated system to reduce emissions and improve the combustion performance of an NGFRE. The integrated system consists of an air management package and integrated sensors including an amperometric NOx/O2 sensor, exhaust temperature thermocouple, pressure transducers and vibration sensors. A comprehensive electrochemical model for the NOx/O2 sensor is developed to quantitatively analyze the degradation of the sensor's electrode material under a harsh two-stroke engine exhaust environment. The NGFRE under study is a naturally aspirated, stationary, lean-burn engine and is used in the oil and gas industry for the production, storage, processing and transmission of natural gas extracted from wells. Experiments were carried out using natural gas and natural gas/propane blends at different load steps, and combustion performance, as well as the emissions, were analyzed. For natural gas fuel, the results show that the standard deviation of peak pressure and indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) improved by 67.4 psi and 4.2% respectively, at 40% load. Similarly, CH4 and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emissions reduced considerably by 84% and 63% respectively, whereas an abrupt behavior in Carbon Monoxide (CO) and NOx emissions was observed. At 60% load, the ITE improved by 3.8% and the CH4 emissions were reduced by 68%. The reduction in VOCs emissions was 63% at 40% load and 69% at 60% load. The findings of this research provide evidence of the effectiveness of the integrated system in improving the sustainability of NGFREs. In general, this technology can be implemented on air-assisted combustion applications to improve combustion performance and, consequently, reduce emissions. The next step in the research is to develop a data analytics model using machine learning techniques to predict the optimum operation of the integrated system at different loads. The test procedure and data analysis techniques described in this thesis will be used in other research tasks, such as obtaining the training data for the machine learning model and investigating natural gas/hydrogen blends as fuel