New England problem town: public relations factors in rehabilitating a community which has lost its major industry

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Tax credits for historic rehabilitation

Saving historic buildings preserves New England’s character while providing opportunities for affordable housing and economic development. The authors describe how to use federal historic tax credits as well as New England’s state-level historic tax credits.Tax credits - New England ; Historic preservation - New England ; Housing - New England

With Great Power: Assessing the Social and Environmental Responsibilities of Small and Medium Businesses

The purpose of this study is to assess the potential that small businesses hold to improve the social and environmental conditions of the communities in which they reside. The existing literature focuses on the socially responsible activities of corporations. Large corporations are generally expected to participate in “socially responsible” activities, such as contributing funds, volunteers, and other resources to philanthropic causes. Often, the main motivation behind such activities is to improve the public image of the corporation, which has ultimately been shown to increase sales, thus increasing the economic power of corporations. This study surveyed representatives of smaller businesses in the New England area to determine the extent to which small and medium size businesses are socially responsible, and to compare their motivations and actions to those of larger businesses

TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION OF BONE FORMATION, MECHANOSENSING, AND EVOLUTION

Given that bone remodeling is a dynamic process, the output of which is dependent upon time, levels of mechanical input, and the ability of bones to respond to that mechanical stimulus, I assessed regulation of gene expression in the craniofacial region to determine how a response happens during mechanosensing and bone remodeling. To do this, I used African cichlids as a model, as they known for their rapid speciation rates, high phenotypic variation within and between species, and ability to remodel their bones in response to mechanical loading. In chapter 2, I combined RNA-seq and ATAC-seq datasets to determine with high confidence genes are responsible for plasticity and shape differences in cichlid species with different feeding morphologies. In particular, I found genes that were both differentially expressed and differentially accessible to transcriptional machinery that were implicated in cell cycle progression. In chapter 3, using qPCR, I was able to determine that time is a critical factor in assessing plasticity and the response of certain species to mechanical input. This was paired with 2D morphometrics for shape analysis over time to show that species that do not fall on the extreme end of phenotypic variation are more genetically plastic, and gives insights into the underpinnings of evolution in cichlid jaw morphology. Results from both chapters 2 and 3 suggested that certain environments facilitate larger changes in gene expression than others. In chapter 4, using molecular techniques such as qPCR coupled with enzymatic staining, I found that when mechanosensitive structures in the cell are ablated, gene expression regulation collapses over time, and specific sites of bone remodeling activity are less predictive. Taken together, this body of work supports previous research in the field and gives insight into the regulation of gene expression during bone remodeling, plasticity, and evolution

Taiwanese identity and language education

In this thesis I look at the question of Taiwanese identity by focussing on characteristics that have come to be considered natural human identity attributes worldwide. I look at historical discourses that have depicted and constructed these attributes as essential to the nature of human beings. Biological theory, terminology, modes of classification, and conceptions of human being established in the natural sciences, and imported to the social sciences, have created a general international discursive regime that employs notions of blood relations, lineage, family, nation-ness, race, ethnicity an ongoing constructions and contestations of identity. The discourse on identity as a matter of heritage is echoed in the science of linguistics with the classification of languages into natural family groups. Linguistic group as an identity marker complicates and is complicated by the general discourse on identity also employing “family talk. I try to show that the human being conceived principally as a biological being, became the focus of techniques of population control and institutional reproduction of social subjects in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe, especially with mass education, and that this process was replicated in the industrialization and modernization of Taiwan. In Taiwan, as in Europe, techniques of what Michel Foucault calls “biopower” were deployed in the process of strengthening the productive powers of the nation state in the international struggle of the survival of the national fittest. For Foucault the spatial and temporal patterns of interaction these institutional processes employed created the kind of social subject that is a precondition for capitalist expansion. In addition to the implicit training that modern institutions employ, there are also explicit educational programs that are grounded in scientific and social theories that modern societies propagate in the curricula of public systems of education. The Taiwanese learned that their identities, as Chinese citizens, were determined by blood lineage, that is, by racial association. I will explain that in China and Taiwan these positivistic, essentialist and biological ideas of identity, were picked up from the western biological and social sciences by Chinese intellectuals at the turn of the twentieth century. In combination with Confucian ideas on family these ideas were consciously selected by the Nationalist government in Taiwan and employed in the production of a specific form of Chinese citizenry in Taiwan. Reinforcing deeply entrenched discourses on race, long expressed in historical China, these biological and familial conceptions were deployed for political purposes in education programs designed to legitimise the right of the Nationalist government to rule China and then Taiwan. Finally, the metaphor of biological family that was employed in an understanding of nation-ness in Taiwan has also come to determine thinking about the natural association between languages, nations and races. In the science of linguistics, languages are depicted as having evolved in the same way races do. In these classifications, official national languages, which historically are the dialects of dominant social groups, are determinative of socio-economic class reproduction, being considered the summit to which all speakers of all secondary dialects are compelled to aspire. The question of language education for identity in Taiwan will be examined in light of these preconceptions, processes and programs. I show that language, nation and race have tended to be cast in discourse as naturally combined elements that determine identity. As a result of colonial educational processes these identity terms tend to be understood as both natural attributes and, as naturally adhering to each other. Nationalities, national or official languages, constructed races, and constructed ethnicities tend to be combined in a globalized discourse to produce dominant images of certain societie’s identities. The English language in Taiwan will be shown to be understood as “a white” language. In colonial discourse nations, races, ethnicities and language types have each been imbued with specific values and statuses. Therefore, dominant images that combine these attributes serve to create intra-national and international human hierarchies. In Taiwan, American English has the potential of raising the status of its learners in the national and international hierarchy toward the high point represented by America as the imperial centre. In Language and Symbolic Power (1991) Bourdieu describes attributes that distinguish groups as different forms of symbolic capital. I want to hold that the nation/social space of Taiwan represents one node within a global network where capitalist forces continue to entrench privilege and power of national and international elites whose place in this hierarchy, whose opportunities for material and social advantages, are determined by the relative statuses of their nations, races, ethnicities and languages. “Black”, “brown”, “white” and “yellow” people, speakers of specific official languages, or what are considered derivative dialects, are imbued with a matched set of symbolic forms of capital that have come to have specific social values. These help to determine specific life opportunities in different social settings. I focus on two related settings in Taiwan where expressions of different forms of symbolic capital have significance for Taiwanese identity. The first is the struggle between what have come to be understood as two ethnic groups in the latter half of the twentieth century that I will designate as mainlanders and islanders. The second is the context of English language teaching where certain accents and racial distinctions have come to play a part in the promotion of English as an important form of cultural capital. The struggle between the mainlanders and islanders will be shown to have affected relative opportunities for achieving English skills, to continue class stratification in Taiwan, and to further endanger traditional island cultures and languages

Select Counselors’ Perspectives on Alcohol and Substance Abuse Among Hispanic Adolescents.

This qualitative instrumental case study investigated the issue of alcohol and substance abuse among Hispanic adolescents through the perspectives of select counselors. Hispanic-Americans are the largest and fastest growing minority population in the United States. Simultaneously, alcohol and substance abuse among Hispanic adolescents is increasing with the commensurate consequences and need for solutions. Data was collected using semi-structured, recorded, transcribed interviews with middle school and substance abuse counselors—key informants—who practiced in a community located in the Southwestern United States. Participants’ interactions with Hispanic adolescents spanned Hispanic adolescents’ experience with alcohol and substance abuse prior to onset through treatment. The first research question focused on contributing factors for onset and development of alcohol and substance abuse among Hispanic adolescents. Participants identified six contributing factors: (a) presence or absence of alcohol and substance abuse in the family, (b) structure of the family, (c) supervision by the family, (d) stability of the home, (e) academic achievement, and (f) peer relationships. The second research question focused on contributing factors for efficacy of prevention and treatment programs among Hispanic adolescents. Participants identified three contributing factors, characterized as barriers to involvement in these programs: (a) being a monolingual Spanish speaker, (b) being unable to extend trust, and (c) having limited financial resources. The third research question compared and contrasted participants’ perspectives based on their function, context, and ethnicity. The study concluded that all identified contributing factors and barriers were externalized and systemic in nature. Hispanic adolescents’ experience with alcohol and substance abuse was portrayed as being a product of Hispanic adolescents’ environment. Families were portrayed as being willing, yet unable to participate in alcohol and substance abuse programs because of systemic barriers outside of their control. The study also concluded that individual family culture was the most influential systemic factor, having the potential to be a risk or protective factor. Participants portrayed individual family culture as having the power to mitigate risk factors outside of the family. Suggestions for future research directly involving Hispanic adolescents and their families as participants are provided

How To Change The Narrative Of The Women\u27s Suffrage Movement -- And Why It Matters

Hi, my name is Andrea Kupfer Schneider, Professor of Law and Director of the Institute for Women\u27s Leadership at Marquette University. In honor of the one hundredth anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment and in recognition of how important women are in this current election, we are delighted to bring you our virtual conference on Women\u27s Suffrage and Innovation. Thank you for joining us

Corporate Social Actions and Reputation: From Doing Good to Looking Good

While corporate social responsibility (CSR) has garnered the attention of scholars over the past three decades, most attention has been focused on a link to financial performance. Grounded in stakeholder theory and a resource-based view of the firm considering the cospecialized intangible assets of CSR and reputation, this research explores the evolution of corporate social actions and firm reputation over time. We draw on data from the KLD database on corporate social actions and concerns, and on the Fortune most-admired company database to examine the relationship between corporate social behaviour and reputation over time. In the thesis, we argue that starting with the broad premise that any corporate social action or gesture can initially enhance corporate reputation, the firm is then both encouraged and also expected to go further. Accordingly, we propose subsequent actions are needed to meet stakeholder expectations to be able to improve or at least sustain firm reputation. We find that over the timeframe of our study that corporate social actions do experience the predicted positive linear growth. Drawing on a sample of 285 major US firms and a 2002-2006 time frame to provide a 1425 firm year panel, we find corporate social actions to be strongly related to corporate reputation, while the change in corporate social actions also predicts a change in corporate reputation. We also found support for the hypothesis that corporate social actions directed to technical stakeholders have the most significant impact on firm reputation. We do not however find the expected influence of concerns over corporate social actions directed to institutional stakeholders on firm reputation, leading to the intriguing question: why not? We provide detailed illustrations with five of the sampled firms and interpret their CSR-reputation relationships. These findings expand our understanding of the effect of the change over time in corporate social actions and the ensuing effect on corporate reputation. We extend the applicability of our findings to management, discuss limitations and propose future research directions

The Good, the Bad and the Agent: An Analysis of Player Representation in Professional Football in the UK

The subject of football agents is shrouded in mystery, with public awareness of the industry limited and only controversy reaching the media; empirical research is needed to provide insight, which is otherwise absent. This paper aims to understand the mechanisms that facilitate transactions for football clubs and whether the principal-agent problem reduces the overall value of a contract, in accordance with transaction cost economics. A philosophical position of contextual constructivist was maintained throughout the study. Semi-structured interviews are used with actors from the industry and template analysis was applied to answer the aims of the paper. The paper outlines the mechanisms that are present in the industry that allow players to be placed within football clubs. With a deeper understanding of an agent’s role and duty to their clients, it is shown that the problems associated with the principal-agent theory, such as informational asymmetries and moral hazard are present in the industry. Player agents are shown to both increase and decrease the costs to transact, but are not universally applicable, as not all agents either increase or decrease costs in isolation. This can be simply described as; there are good agents and there are bad agents, that in turn either improve efficiency or not. The findings underline how in contradiction to the controversy surrounding the subject, agents can be vital to the facilitation of players into football clubs and can also decrease the costs to transact