Ports Resilience Index: Participatory Methods to Assess Resilience

Many hazard threats challenge the uninterrupted operation of the maritime transportation system across multiple temporal and spatial scales. Environmental hazard threats include hurricanes, storm surge, and sea-level rise. Resilience begins at the port, which provides the physical, economic, and social connection between sea and land transportation users. Ports function through port authorities, composed of people with decision-making abilities, which causes port resilience to be a complex process to understand. The paucity of metrics to quantify port resilience warrants other methods to study this place-specific topic. The goal of the Ports Resilience Index (PRI) project centered on the development of a qualitative resilience self-assessment tool for port authorities, using input of port practitioners. Using a participatory approach, I facilitated three rounds of expert consultation with forty-nine port practitioners across the Gulf of Mexico coast to develop the PRI. One round included pilot-testing the PRI with three port authorities. This dissertation uses qualitative methods of historical and comparative case study analyses, thematic coding of written hurricane plans, focus group discussion analyses, and participant evaluations to analyze the effectiveness of a participatory approach in engaging port stakeholders. The method to develop and complete the PRI might build capacity for resilience in port communities. Social interactions among port practitioners provided a look at the process of resilience that goes deeper than written hurricane plans but also identified challenges to resilience, including an emphasis on reactive, business-driven planning. Discussion facilitated by the PRI enhances anticipation by revealing collective perceptions of environmental risks and creating a non-competitive space to discuss risks. Completing the tool fosters on-going resilience through identification of opportunities to implement feasible resilient practices, including communication strategies and agency partnerships. The discussion-based assessment method of the PRI provides a connection between what researchers know about resilience and how we know it. A geographer’s perspective provides a solid foundation to study and understand the process of resilience at the human-environment interface. Resilient adaptability of ports to other hazards depends on flexibility in decision-making, which can be strengthened through participatory and place-based methods

Mediating Ethnic Conflict at the Grassroots: the Role of Local Associational Life in Shaping Political Values in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.

This article has been deposited with the full permission of the publisher.This article attempts to understand why ethnic-regional civil war has challenged the national unity of Côte d'Ivoire and not Ghana, two neighbouring countries with nearly identical ethnic, religious, and regional divisions, by examining politics at the grassroots. Based on a carefully controlled comparison of two similar regions of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, the study investigates how participation in local voluntary associations reinforces the local experience of the state to shape the ongoing development of political values and affect the prospects for ethnic peace and democracy. The article finds that participation in ethnically heterogenous voluntary associations does not necessarily promote democratic values and practice. In fact, in Côte d'Ivoire, participation in ethnically heterogeneous cocoa producer and mutual assistance organisations reinforces vertical patronage networks based on narrower ethnic identities. In contrast, in Ghana, participation in more ethnically homogeneous local church groups encourages the development of democratic values and practices at the local level that mediate the potential for ethnic conflict and support the consolidation of a democratic regime

Advanced Math Curriculum - ACT Prep and Pre-College Algebra

The purpose of this thesis was to create a non-traditional Advanced Mathematics course paired with Math XL® for School (MXL) for senior-level students with low ACT Math scores. The Advanced Math course was created with the purpose of helping students increase their ACT Math scores and preparing them for first-year college math, College Algebra. The course was taught at a private high school in Louisiana for the 2014-2015 school year and is attached to this thesis as an appendix. Upon completion of this course, the participating students achieved an average increase of 3.1 points in their ACT Math scores. After a review of the ACT score data for the graduating class of 2014 in Louisiana, it is clear that a course of this design is a necessity for college readiness. This thesis discusses the aforementioned ACT data and the statistics on the number of students who enroll in and complete remedial college courses. Additionally, the thesis discusses the creation of the Advanced Math course and its resources, a description of the course, and a brief description of a few other ACT preparation programs. The appendix of this thesis includes Binder #1, which contains the blank resources for notes, test reviews, and chapter tests that students use throughout the school year. This binder also contains a tentative calendar for the year and a description of each chapter and section. Binder #2 contains the teacher edition of Binder #1 and is not included in the appendix. Binder #3 and Binder #4 contain the MXL assignments for the ACT Prep fall semester and the Pre-College Algebra spring semester. Like Binder #2, these binders are not included in the appendix but are available upon request

GSC Compass, issue 3, Spring 2010

Student newspaper of the Gainesville campus of Gainesville State Collegehttps://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/gccompass/1060/thumbnail.jp

GSC Compass, issue 2, Spring 2010

Student newspaper of the Gainesville campus of Gainesville State Collegehttps://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/gccompass/1059/thumbnail.jp

GSC Compass, issue 4, Fall 2009

Student newspaper of the Gainesville campus of Gainesville State Collegehttps://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/gccompass/1057/thumbnail.jp

GSC Compass, issue 1, Spring 2010

Student newspaper of the Gainesville campus of Gainesville State Collegehttps://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/gccompass/1058/thumbnail.jp