Dissertations / Theses: 'Methods and techniques of political science'

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Sebell, Dustin. "The Foundations and Methods of Classical Political Science." Thesis, Boston College, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104184.

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Thesis advisor: Robert C. Bartlett
This dissertation is an attempt to understand and assess the presuppositions and methods of classical political science. In the first of its two parts, the dissertation examines the meaning of the traditional view, held by authorities as far removed from one another as Cicero and Hobbes, that Socrates was the founder of political philosophy. It does so by considering the intellectual autobiography that Socrates famously delivers in Plato's Phaedo. Socrates turned to the study of pre-scientific, common-sense moral and political opinions only after he had rejected, as a very young man, both the materialist and the teleological natural science of his philosophic predecessors. It is the task of the dissertation's first part to show how the general revolution in scientific thought presented in the Phaedo, a revolution known as "the Socratic turn," laid the theoretical groundwork for classical political philosophy's characteristic focus on pre-scientific, common-sense moral distinctions. After examining "the Socratic turn," the dissertation then outlines in its second part the approach to the study of politics that Aristotle advanced on the basis of it. In particular, Aristotle's statements on the method of political science in book I of the Ethics are shown to rely on the basic insights obtained through "the turn."
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Political Science

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Swasey, Charlotte (Charlotte A. ). "Finding the swing voter : definitions and survey methods for voter classification." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/107532.

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Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Political Science, 2016.
Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Political Science, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 43-48).
This thesis proposes a theory mapping emotional reactions to political information onto a theory of vote decisionmaking and then further onto measurable survey response. Using on-line processing based in emotion, voters form affective summaries about candidates, which store previous information as an emotional response. The act of voting is treated as a single realization of a probabilistic event, with the relative probabilities of each vote option being an expression of the affective summary. These summaries are expressed as warmness or feeling towards each candidate, which can be captured using the ANES Feeling Thermometer scales. A metric of the difference between the scores given to the Republican and Democratic candidates is used, based in the work of William Mayer. This metric suffers from significant survey error, but is related to party ID and expressed vote choice, as well as demographic factors and perceived efficacy. Feeling thermometer responses are found to carry meaningful information about a respondent's relationship to the election and candidate preference.
by Charlotte Swasey.
S.M.
S.B.

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Swierkowski, Steven M. Burrell Robert M. "Tactics, methods and techniques to improve Special Forces in-service enlisted recruiting." Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 2002. http://library.nps.navy.mil/uhtbin/hyperion-image/02Jun%5FSwierkowski.pdf.

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McGovern, Patrick Joseph. "A three ring circus: The disciplining and commodification of political science." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280726.

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The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of economic rationality upon the practice of political theory within the discipline of political science and its relationship with the larger modern political context in which they are embedded. This work addresses an interest in tying together the rise of economic rationality and the rise methodism within political theory with the decline of "epic" political theory and civil society. I argue here that the decline of civil society is tied in part to the commodification of political knowledge within the modern university system, and that the modern university system and its practices are inundated by market rationality and discourse. This is expressed in the practice of political theorists "capturing" the idea of the public and commodifying it through the peer-review journal process; the "public" becomes the medium through which political theory and science identifies itself as a discipline and its practitioners professionally. The public is not privy to understanding itself as a public and is cut off from its own intellectual means of coming to grips with its own identity. Notions and ideas about the public are "methodized" and "disciplined" and are traded among political scientists and theorists more out of private professional concern than concern for serving public interests or democratic ideals and values. The purpose of political science and theory is the analysis of power in all its dimensions. I argue that political theory's position to comment on the nature of power is itself compromised by the dominance of market rationality and methodism. Political theory's critical distance from the methodism of political science has been narrowed by the rise in the importance of the peer-reviewed article for "professional development." In order for political theory to engage the expansive, critical position of epic political theory, and thus public interest, it must address the issue and problems presented by peer-review, the nature of "progress" in the social sciences and come to engage an ethic of responsibility to democracy.

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Cherenet, Fasil W. "A study of the motivation and methods of involvement of the Ethiopian diaspora in the political process in Ethiopia since 1990." DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 2014. http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/1517.

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This study addresses the transnational political relationship of the Ethiopian Diaspora in the United States with the homeland, Ethiopia, since the 1990s. It does so by investigating what the motivating factors and the methods of political participation are, if any. To this end, a four-part bilingual (Amharic/English) online and hard copy survey with open and close-ended questions was used. Over 300 members of the Ethiopian Diaspora in the United States completed the survey, which is the basis of the observations made in the dissertation. The Ethiopian Diaspora is considered to be a newer Diaspora; however, the number of Ethiopians living abroad has significantly increased since the 1970s. The research confirms these Ethiopians demonstrate their affinity and connection to the homeland through social cultural events such as sporting events, attending religious services, concerts and festivals, and even by traveling frequently to Ethiopia, thus celebrating their connection to the homeland. The research also shows that although Ethiopians have a very strong interest in seeing a better Ethiopia, a majority do not seem to be motivated enough to participate in transnational political activities. This is due to their mistrust of the political leadership and the absence of the lack of a democratic culture within the Ethiopian Diaspora. The few that are motivated to participate are focused more on peripheral activities or methods of political participation. According to the findings of this research, factors such as class, gender, age, immigration generation, and education are not central in determining the individual political participation of the respondents. Most of the respondents are also opposed to an armed struggle and believe in peaceful methods of struggle to bring meaningful change in the Ethiopian political system. Although the legal and political framework in the United States is conducive for political activism, power struggle and internal disunity have contributed to the minimal level of engagement of the Ethiopian Diaspora. The Diaspora has a huge potential and capacity to become an important transnational force and a catalyst for change. Future research may shed light on how to mobilize this untapped force.

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Wong, Wai Yee Peter. "Design and performance evaluation of access methods and heuristic techniques for implementing document ranking strategies /." The Ohio State University, 1991. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu14877581782358.

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Le, Minh-Tam. "Feature Selection for Diffusion Methods Within a Supervised Context." Thesis, Yale University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3582256.

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We apply diffusion geometry to sociopolitical and public health datasets. Our specific goal is to reveal hidden trends and narratives behind UN voting records and alcohol questionnaire response patterns. Importantly, seeking those hidden variables in a supervised context, e.g. alcohol-abuse, can be problematic for diffusion geometry. We suggest two approaches to deal with these shortcomings. First, we develop a correlation-based hierarchical clustering algorithm that exposes sub-patterns in the feature (response) space; this works in the UN voting context. Second, we introduce a feature selection algorithm based on a second-order correlation measure to guide diffusion embeddings; this significantly improves the performance of diffusion methods in the alcohol context. Together they suggest how to structure embeddings when there exist strong correlations among features irrelevant to a given labeling function.

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Kim, Soon-Kyeong. "A metamodel-based approach to integrate object-oriented graphical and formal specification techniques /." St. Lucia, Qld, 2001. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe16467.pdf.

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JAIN, RACHANA. "IMPROVED TECHNIQUES IN GRAPH DRAWING USING FORCE DIRECTED METHODS FOR MODERATE SIZE GRAPHS." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1081543392.

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Camiña, Steven L. "A comparison of taxonomy generation techniques using bibliometric methods : applied to research strategy formulation." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62632.

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Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-87).
This paper investigates the modeling of research landscapes through the automatic generation of hierarchical structures (taxonomies) comprised of terms related to a given research field. Several different taxonomy generation algorithms are discussed and analyzed within this paper, each based on the analysis of a data set of bibliometric information obtained from a credible online publication database. Taxonomy generation algorithms considered include the Dijsktra-Jamik-Prim's (DJP) algorithm, Kruskal's algorithm, Edmond's algorithm, Heymann algorithm, and the Genetic algorithm. Evaluative experiments are run that attempt to determine which taxonomy generation algorithm would most likely output a taxonomy that is a valid representation of the underlying research landscape.
by Steven L. Camiña.
M.Eng.

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Hwang, Lihsin. "Investigation of the use of Web-centric collaborative product development techniques and methods: The case of software industry." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/26379.

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This research investigated the use of web-centric collaborative techniques and methods for the software industry new product development (NPD) process. After carefully reviewing previous literature, a questionnaire was designed targeting individuals who currently work on or previously participated in the software new product development (NPD) process for the past six months. The survey was launched through the third-party web researching company, InsightExpress, where 200 completed surveys were collected. As the observation from the results of this research indicates, the web-based level of collaborative tools does increase the level of integration between different departments in the NPD process. However, the impact of web-based collaborative tools on either overall performance or performance elements (technical success, financial success, budgetary, time-to market or schedule) is not evident. Moreover, the level of adapting web-based collaborative tools in the software industry is still not as popular as it was anticipated to be.

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Krämer, Raimund. "Wissenschaftliches Schreiben. - 4., überarb. Aufl." Universität Potsdam, 2011. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/texte_eingeschraenkt_welttrends/2011/5545/.

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Schreiben ist harte Arbeit. Dafür sind sowohl Erfahrung als auch Orientierung nötig. Diese Schrift, die jetzt in einer vierten, erweiterten Auflage erschienen ist, gibt Ihnen Hinweise zum wissenschaftlichen Schreiben in seinen verschiedenen Varianten: vom Exzerpt und der Literaturbesprechung über die Klausur und das Essay bis hin zur Abschlussarbeit. Zudem finden Sie Anregungen zu mündlichen Prüfungen und der Disputation. Der Lehrtext ist eine konzentrierte Hilfe sowohl für Studienanfänger als auch für diejenigen, die vor dem Abschluss ihres Studiums stehen.

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Boudin, Joel, and Jesper Mattsson. "PROPAGANDA I SVENSK POLITIK En deskriptiv studie av svenska partiers retorik." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-67730.

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Freedom of expression can be viewed as the very heart of democracy, without it the democratic system falls apart. Political communication is a form of expression and perhaps the most important form as well. The intentions and methods of political communication are not always honest and nuanced though, which may jeopardize the legitimacy of the democratic system. This is because of the demos, the voters and citizens, who represent the core of democracy as a system. The demos often act as receivers of political messages, and very rarely as senders. Consequently, the demos are vulnerable in this aspect. On the other hand, the politicians do have the possibly to angle and manipulate information in order to favour their own intentions. Political propaganda is one kind of political communication that has been present during a long period of time in basically every corner of the world. According to various scientists, political parties often use propaganda in election campaigns to maximise votes. Further on, propaganda can be described as deceitful and manipulative, which are features that do not correspond well with democracy and its ideals. Does that mean that the voters are completely helpless in relation to the political propaganda? With the focus and aim of this study, which is to illuminate the various features and techniques of propaganda, we hope to give the voters further knowledge and understanding about the rhetoric strategies within political manifestos. Because if the voters are not aware of the issue, and does not have the tools to see past the propaganda, how are they supposed to form a well-founded perception and make a choice that they are fully comfortable with? With a certain analytical instrument that contains four dimensions of propaganda, some of the political manifestos that were presented during the election campaign in Sweden 2014 have been examined closely. Further on, regarding the results and conclusions of the study, it supports the assumption that propaganda exists in different ways within the chosen manifestos. All of the dimensions that exist within the analytical instrument can be perceived as found in the material. These dimensions/techniques are simplification, exaggeration, packaging the message and disguise.

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Wehde, Wesley, Tracey Bark, Hank Jenkins-Smith, Joseph Ripberger, Gary Copeland, Matthew Nowlin, Tyler Hughes, Aaron Fister, and Josie Davis. "Quantitative Research Methods for Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration for Undergraduates: 1st Edition With Applications in Excel." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2020. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-oer/4.

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Quantitative Research Methods for Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration for Undergraduates: 1st Edition With Applications in Excel is an adaption of Quantitative Research Methods for Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration (With Applications in R). The focus of this book is on using quantitative research methods to test hypotheses and build theory in political science, public policy and public administration. This new version is designed specifically for undergraduate courses. It omits large portions of the original text that focused on calculus and linear algebra, expands and reorganizes the content on the software system by shifting to Excel and includes guided study questions at the end of each chapter.
https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-oer/1003/thumbnail.jpg

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Wehde, Wesley, Hank Jenkins-Smith, Joseph Ripberger, Gary Copeland, Matthew Nowlin, Tyler Hughes, Aaron Fister, and Josie Davis. "Quantitative Research Methods for Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration for Undergraduates: 1st Edition With Applications in R." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2020. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-oer/5.

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Quantitative Research Methods for Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration for Undergraduates: 1st Edition With Applications in R is an adaption of Quantitative Research Methods for Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration (With Applications in R). The focus of this book is on using quantitative research methods to test hypotheses and build theory in political science, public policy and public administration. This new version of the text omits large portions of the original text that focused on calculus and linear algebra, expands and reorganizes the content on the software system R and includes guided study questions at the end of each chapter.
https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-oer/1004/thumbnail.jpg

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Edson, Colette. "A Mixed-Methods Investigation on Contributing Factors to the Political Efficacy of Eighth Grade Students in a Suburban School District in Missouri." Thesis, Lindenwood University, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10283550.

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This study investigated the relationship between the political efficacy and expected civic engagement of eighth grade students in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, Missouri and demographic factors, reading ability, and parental attitudes. Data on students’ attitudes on topics such as citizenship, trust in institutions, opportunities, political efficacy, school efficacy, and political engagement were analyzed. The 180 students who completed the questionnaire demonstrated lower trust and assessment of access to opportunities and higher youth political engagement than the participants in the 1999 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IAE) Civic Education (CIVED) study. Tests to determine the impact of student variables on political attitudes revealed differences by gender, race, reading ability, and the proximity of students to two Ferguson protests areas in 2014. The few discrepancies between boys and girls refuted previous research on the gender gap in political efficacy and political engagement. Black participants had lower external political efficacy and trust, but were more likely to engage at the community level through participation in youth groups and volunteering. Lower reading ability negatively impacted internal efficacy and expected adult engagement. Close proximity to protest areas affected students’ political views, and increased some elements of internal efficacy and youth engagement. Questionnaire results revealed a positive relationship between parental and adolescent political attitudes, and qualitative data supported the essential role of parents and other adults in political socialization. Focus group and interview findings suggested that young people were politically engaged in a variety of ways, and students expressed a strong desire to have their voices heard through political discussion and action. It is recommended that educators and community leaders offer opportunities for increased exposure and participation in political activities while students are in middle school, and continue this through high school.

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Roberts, Margaret Earling. "Fear, Friction, and Flooding: Methods of Online Information Control." Thesis, Harvard University, 2014. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:11469.

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Many scholars have speculated that censorship efforts will be ineffective in the information age, where the possibility of accessing incriminating information about almost any political entity will benefit the masses at the expense of the powerful. Others have speculated that while information can now move instantly across borders, autocrats can still use fear and intimidation to encourage citizens to keep quiet. This manuscript demonstrates that the deluge of information in fact still benefits those in power by observing that the degree of accessibility of information is still determined by organized groups and governments. Even though most information is possible to access, as normal citizens get lost in the cacophony of information available to them, their consumption of information is highly influenced by the costs of obtaining it. Much information is either disaggregated online or somewhat inaccessible, and organized groups, with resources and incentives to control this information, use information flooding and information friction as methods of controlling the cost of information for consumers. I demonstrate in China that fear is not the primary deterrent for the spread of information; instead, there are massively different political implications of having certain information completely free and easy to obtain as compared to being available, but slightly more difficult to access.
Government

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Lack, Steven A. "Cell identification, verification, and classification using shape analysis techniques." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/6017.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007.
The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on March 11, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

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Loggins, William Conley 1953. "The development and evaluation of an expert system for identification of variance reduction techniques in simulation." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/277131.

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The subject of this thesis is the development of an expert system to offer advising for variance reduction technique (VRT) selection in simulation. Simulation efficiency is increased by appropriate use of variance reduction techniques. The process of selecting VRTs brings a sharper focus to issues of experimental design and thus to the very purpose and objectives to be attained by the simulation. Students in the University of Arizona Systems and Industrial Engineering Department graduate courses are the intended users of this expert system, with the expectation that their practice of simulation will be facilitated.

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Wolff, Markus. "Geovisual methods and techniques for the development of three-dimensional tactical intelligence assessments." Phd thesis, Universität Potsdam, 2010. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2011/5044/.

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This thesis presents methods, techniques and tools for developing three-dimensional representations of tactical intelligence assessments. Techniques from GIScience are combined with crime mapping methods. The range of methods applied in this study provides spatio-temporal GIS analysis as well as 3D geovisualisation and GIS programming. The work presents methods to enhance digital three-dimensional city models with application specific thematic information. This information facilitates further geovisual analysis, for instance, estimations of urban risks exposure. Specific methods and workflows are developed to facilitate the integration of spatio-temporal crime scene analysis results into 3D tactical intelligence assessments. Analysis comprises hotspot identification with kernel-density-estimation techniques (KDE), LISA-based verification of KDE hotspots as well as geospatial hotspot area characterisation and repeat victimisation analysis. To visualise the findings of such extensive geospatial analysis, three-dimensional geovirtual environments are created. Workflows are developed to integrate analysis results into these environments and to combine them with additional geospatial data. The resulting 3D visualisations allow for an efficient communication of complex findings of geospatial crime scene analysis.
Diese Arbeit präsentiert Methoden, Techniken und Werkzeuge für die Entwicklung dreidi-mensionaler Lagebilder. Zu diesem Zweck werden Verfahren der Geoinformatik mit solchen der raumbezogenen Straftatenanalyse kombiniert. Das Spektrum der angewandten Methoden und Techniken umfasst raumzeitliche GIS-Analysen ebenso wie 3D Geovisualisierungen und GIS-Anwendungsprogrammierung. Um komplexe geovisuelle Analysen auf Basis virtueller 3D-Stadtmodelle zu ermöglichen, werden Datenbanken digitaler Stadtmodelle um anwendungsspezifische Fachinformationen ergänzt. Dies ermöglicht weiterführende Analysen, zum Beispiel zur räumlichen Verteilung urbaner Risiken. Weiterhin präsentiert die Arbeit Methoden und Verfahren zur Integration der Ergebnisse komplexer raumzeitlicher Straftatenanalysen in dreidimensionale Lagebilder. Die durchgeführten Analysen umfassen die Identifikation von Brennpunkten spezifischer Delikte mittels Techniken der Kerndichteschätzung, die Verifikation dieser Hotspots durch LISA-Statistiken, GIS-basierte räumliche Charakterisierungen von Brennpunkten sowie Analysen zur wiederholten Viktimisierung. Zur Visualisierung der Ergebnisse komplexer raumzeitlicher Analysen werden dreidimensionale geovirtuelle Umgebungen erzeugt. Um weitere raumbezogene Daten ergänzt, werden sämtliche Analyseergebnisse in diese Umgebungen integriert. Die resultierenden 3D-Visualisierungen erlauben eine effiziente Kommunikation der Ergebnisse komplexer raumbezogener Straftatenanalysen.

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Cook, James Matthew. "The social structure of political behavior: Action, interaction and congressional cosponsorship." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/290367.

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The twin objectives of this dissertation, understanding political behavior as a social phenomenon and assessing the relative impacts of action and interaction on behavior, are realized through the empirical study of cosponsorship in the United States Congress. Cosponsorship, the formal support of a bill, is commonly said to be a rational action by a member of Congress designed to further electoral goals. However, it is also possible that cosponsorship is the arational result of social interaction. Processes based on the principles of action and interaction may occur within the Congress or with reference to entities outside the Congress. Combinations of principle and environment provide a simple theoretical framework from which a number of hypotheses are generated. To test these hypotheses, a random sample of 100 bills from the House of Representatives during the 105th Congress is generated. Information regarding leadership, reciprocity, congressional districts, campaign contributions, media coverage, election results, organizational memberships, member demography and bill cosponsorship is recorded for each combination of sampled bill, member of the House, and week the Congress was in session. Comparisons and relations between members are represented in matrix form. A combined network effects-discrete time approximation approach converts these matrices into individual-level predictions of a congressperson's likelihood of cosponsorship over time. Alternatively, QAP analysis regresses relations on relations to make cross-sectional predictions about any two members' cosponsorship overlap. Results illuminate the importance of interaction to political behavior.

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Milstein, Theresa V. "Community supported agriculture| Cultivating social capital." Thesis, Western Illinois University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1550530.

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U.S. citizens disengaged from politics and from each other in the latter half of the 20th century, which is evidence of decreased social capital and a weakening democracy. At the same time, small farms were lost at an alarming rate resulting in fewer farms and the rise of "Big Ag". Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) reconnects people to the food they eat and cultivates a community among the farmers and member-shareholders. CSA democratizes food for growers who are beholden to their members rather than to agribusiness, and for members who elect to support a CSA rather than purchase supermarket foods of unknown origin. This study used a survey of 132 CSA operators from across the United States to test whether operators who described "community" as a motivating factor to run a CSA and measured their success in terms of community took concrete actions to build social capital within their CSA and community. The findings revealed that "community" as a motivation and as a measure of success was significantly correlated with social capital building activities. More specifically, CSA operators who rated "Generating a sense of community" as an important motivation and "Community development/quality of life" as an important measure of success were more likely to survey their members as to their wants and needs, host open house events at the farm, participate in community events, and report that the CSA improved social capital in their communities. CSA could be one method to improve depleted social capital and cultivate food democracy.

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Belgioioso, Margherita. "The choice of terrorism in conflict and the outcomes of mixed methods of dissent." Thesis, University of Essex, 2018. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/21696/.

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This thesis aims at understanding the choice of terrorism in mass dissident movements and the outcomes of civil resistance campaigns that coexist with the use of terrorist tactics by radicals. Towards this end, it focuses on dissident organizations and conflict dynamics and therefore contributes to the existing literature on terrorism and conflict, both methodologically and theoretically. Study one investigates the conditions under which groups that participate in mass dissent choose to initiate terrorist campaigns. I find that groups involved in either civil war or mass civil resistance might face strategic constraints that encourage them to resort to terrorism, due to perceived lower costs and higher tactical effectiveness. These constraints are higher repression and longer duration of mass dissent. Study two contributes to the literature on ‘radical flanks effect’. I find that terrorism generates incentives for the state to accommodate civil resistance movement, especially if nonviolent movements have a centralized leadership and hierarchical structure and can thereby credibly commit to nonviolent discipline and to avoid the escalation of the conflict to large-scale violence. Study three focuses on international support to rebel groups as determinants of the variation in the portfolio of killings across rebel groups. I find that rebels that receive financial support from external non-state actors are less likely to target civilians than combatants. This is because investing financial support domestically is more economically efficient and increased rebel dependency on the local population generating incentives to restrain the use of terrorism. In turn, rebels that receive military support from external non-state actors are more likely to target civilians than combatants. Military resources are efficiently invested in warfare activities without the need to increase reliance on the population. To test these mechanisms empirically, I model the portfolios of killings of rebel groups as a proportion of terrorist-related deaths and battle-related deaths.

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König, Rikard. "Predictive Techniques and Methods for Decision Support in Situations with Poor Data Quality." Licentiate thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Handels- och IT-högskolan, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-3517.

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Today, decision support systems based on predictive modeling are becoming more common, since organizations often collectmore data than decision makers can handle manually. Predictive models are used to find potentially valuable patterns in the data, or to predict the outcome of some event. There are numerous predictive techniques, ranging from simple techniques such as linear regression,to complex powerful ones like artificial neural networks. Complexmodels usually obtain better predictive performance, but are opaque and thus cannot be used to explain predictions or discovered patterns.The design choice of which predictive technique to use becomes even harder since no technique outperforms all others over a large set of problems. It is even difficult to find the best parameter values for aspecific technique, since these settings also are problem dependent.One way to simplify this vital decision is to combine several models, possibly created with different settings and techniques, into an ensemble. Ensembles are known to be more robust and powerful than individual models, and ensemble diversity can be used to estimate the uncertainty associated with each prediction.In real-world data mining projects, data is often imprecise, contain uncertainties or is missing important values, making it impossible to create models with sufficient performance for fully automated systems.In these cases, predictions need to be manually analyzed and adjusted.Here, opaque models like ensembles have a disadvantage, since theanalysis requires understandable models. To overcome this deficiencyof opaque models, researchers have developed rule extractiontechniques that try to extract comprehensible rules from opaquemodels, while retaining sufficient accuracy.This thesis suggests a straightforward but comprehensive method forpredictive modeling in situations with poor data quality. First,ensembles are used for the actual modeling, since they are powerful,robust and require few design choices. Next, ensemble uncertaintyestimations pinpoint predictions that need special attention from adecision maker. Finally, rule extraction is performed to support theanalysis of uncertain predictions. Using this method, ensembles can beused for predictive modeling, in spite of their opacity and sometimesinsufficient global performance, while the involvement of a decisionmaker is minimized.The main contributions of this thesis are three novel techniques that enhance the performance of the purposed method. The first technique deals with ensemble uncertainty estimation and is based on a successful approach often used in weather forecasting. The other twoare improvements of a rule extraction technique, resulting in increased comprehensibility and more accurate uncertainty estimations.

Sponsorship:

This work was supported by the Information Fusion Research

Program (www.infofusion.se) at the University of Skövde, Sweden, in

partnership with the Swedish Knowledge Foundation under grant

2003/0104.

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Pickup, Mark. "The hard edge of a soft science, the impact of the Newtonian-Quantum paradigm shift in the sciences on political science theories and methods." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/MQ49579.pdf.

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Fletcher, Kimberley Liane. "The Collision of Political and Legal Time| Foreign Affairs and the Court's Transformation of Executive Authority." Thesis, State University of New York at Albany, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3620215.

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A dynamic institutional relationship exists between the United States executive branch and the United States Supreme Court. This dissertation examines how the Court affects constitutional and political development by taking a leading role in interpreting presidential decision-making in the area of foreign affairs since 1936. Examining key cases and controversies in foreign policymaking, primarily in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, this dissertation highlights the patterns of intercurrences and the mutual construction process that takes place at the juncture of legal and political time. In so doing, it is more than evident that the Court not only sanctions the claims made by executives of unilateral decision-making, but also that the Court takes a leading role in (re)defining the very scope and breadth of executive foreign policymaking.

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RADEMACHER, ERIC W. "THE PATH TO ACCURATE PRE-ELECTION FORECASTS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF DATA ADJUSTMENT TECHNIQUES ON PRE-ELECTION PROJECTION ESTIMATES." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2002. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1021921989.

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Pérez-Mares, Marco Alejandro. "On the Economic Effects of Policy Responsiveness: The Role of Candidate Selection for General Elections." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2012. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/34.

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Policy responsiveness to the demands of the whole is important because it is a determinant of growth and development: Institutions that make governments more inclusive favor economic progress and factors that make governments more exclusive inhibit prosperity. Growth-enhancing policies likely to please the citizenry include policies that ensure the prevalence of the rule of law, policies that protect property and intellectual rights, and policies that foster competition, access and the perfection of markets. In contrast, growth-retarding policies likely to initiate from the representation efforts of politicians advancing narrow concerns include infringement on property rights, diffuse patent legislation, regulation to rise some price or wage, regulation blocking the entry into specific markets, official protection to monopolistic markets and adoption of legal barriers against international competition. If policy responsiveness to the interests of the whole favors economic affluence, what political institutions matter for the advancement of wide-encompassing interests through the policy making process? This dissertation examines the idea that the incentives provided by the intra-party candidate selection methods are crucial in order to understand the politicians' representation efforts. Expressly, increasing participation and democratization of the intra-party nomination process increase the incumbent's propensity to represent wide-encompassing interests and adopt policies that favor economic affluence. In contrast, elite-centered nomination methods decrease the incumbent's incentive to be politically responsive to the interests of the whole in favor of the representation of narrow concerns that often demand policies that benefit the group at the expense of overall economic growth. Empirically, the idea that aspirants to party tickets must first respond to the demands of those with the power to add their names to the electoral ballot finds robust support. In the developed world, candidate nomination appears largely informed by inclusive and democratic practices. Quite the opposite, in the less-developed world events of intraparty participatory politics are for the most part absent, with nomination decisions often monopolized by national party leaders and local party bosses.

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Nandwa, Eugene Daryl. "Lessons in Micropolitical Management: A Case Study of China's Investment and Political Intervention in Zambia." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2016. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1472.

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China continues to invest in natural resources in Africa to fuel its economic growth.China’s expanded presence in Africa has contributed to growing tensions within the Sino-African relationship. This thesis examines a variety of historical factors that have contributed to the increased presence of China in Africa, and how these factors have evolved into the foundations of the tensions observed today. By exploring the historical patterns of the Sino-Zambian relationship, this thesis will shed light on the foundations of the underlying tensions between the two countries. With the Zambian election of 2006 as a focal point, China faced a political crisis that threatened their broader economic future. Using a double-pronged economic and political approach to mitigate the crisis, China avoided losing its economic interests in the 2006 Zambian election. But in the long run, China has continued facing the same anti-Chinese sentiments in Zambia which questions the viability of their political risk management strategy. This thesis argues that for China to mitigate a political crisis in another African country most effectively, they must modify their strategic decision making model for managing political risk. This thesis proposes an alternate framework which would most effectively address underlying tensions between China and Africa.

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Kreuzer, Michael P. "Remotely piloted aircraft| Evolution, diffusion, and the future of air warfare." Thesis, Princeton University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3642106.

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In the realm of air warfare, no topic has generated more controversy or discussion in recent years than the implications of the increased use and proliferation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs). This dissertation seeks to build on existing models of technology, diffusion, and doctrine to examine the present and future role of RPAs in warfare. To do so, I place RPAs in the context of a broader Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), evaluating their effectiveness relative to other capabilities, modeling their likely diffusion and evolution, and examining the legal implications for conflict. I conclude many of the challenges posed by RPAs will be different than the current debate suggests, with issues like automation the laws of targeted killing being secondary to understanding the distinctions between tactical and strategic RPAs and the potential for escalation of conflict based on limited understanding of the true capabilities of the RPA. Strategic RPAs are revolutionary in their impact to small wars, but are unlikely to diffuse widely given the limited strategic requirements for this type of warfare and the high financial and organizational costs of building such systems. Tactical RPAs will spread globally and rapidly, but will be limited in their military application and are more likely to be problematic for their misuse than for the new capabilities they provide. This perspective will provide policymakers a framework for better understanding both the strengths and limitations of RPA warfare, and outline basic planning considerations for future wars based on the spread of this technology as well as institutional obstacles to diffusion posed to states, including the U.S.

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Renshon, Jonathan. "Fighting for Status." Thesis, Harvard University, 2012. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:10237.

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Fighting for Status investigates how status concerns affect states’ decisions in the domain of international security. Ironically, while there is widespread agreement within the political science discipline and the foreign policy community that status matters, there exists relatively little in the way of focused research on how and when it does so. Thus, our understanding of status in international politics has been guided so far by intuition, not by evidence, and this has left us with a significant gap in our understanding of how status affects foreign policy behavior and international outcomes. Relying on the assumption that ‘status matters’ has left us with no extant theory of variation in states’ concern for status and little understanding of its specific implications for foreign policy or international conflict. What is needed –and what my research is designed to provide –is a systematic investigation into the ways in which the desire to increase or prevent the loss of status affects the behavior of states and leaders, especially as these concerns relate to the propensity for violent conflict. Using a diverse array of methods and data, I provide evidence on the relationship between status concerns and conflict. I use a large-n, cross-national analysis to investigate the effects of status dissatisfaction on international conflict at several degrees of intensity. I find that states that are attributed less status than they are due based on material capabilities are overwhelmingly more likely (than satisﬁed states) to initiate militarized disputes at almost every level of intensity. Two case studies –focusing on Germany and Russia in the World War One era –corroborate these patterns in historical cases of great importance and help to form a more complete picture of how status concerns affect political decision-making. Finally, I use a laboratory experiment and a unique sample of real-world political and military leaders to shed light on the causal pathways through which status concerns affect escalation behavior. Here I find that negative emotions are a key pathway through which concerns over relative status impair judgment and decision-making.
Government

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Heidenreich, Nils-Bastian [Verfasser], Stefan Akademischer Betreuer] Sperlich, Fred [Akademischer Betreuer] [Böker, and Maik [Akademischer Betreuer] Hammerschmidt. "Applications of nonparametric methods in economic and political science / Nils-Bastian Heidenreich. Gutachter: Stefan Sperlich ; Fred Böker ; Maik Hammerschmidt. Betreuer: Stefan Sperlich." Göttingen : Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, 2011. http://d-nb.info/1044051469/34.

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Mitakides, Katherine W. "Stayin' Alive: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Inconsistent Effects of Leadership Decapitation on Terrorist Organizations." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1512135357060777.

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Wasserman, Justin. "Democracy and disorder: Electoral violence and political modernisation in England and Wales, 1857-1880." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2002. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1642.

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The thesis analyses mid-nineteenth century electoral violence in England and Wales in order to contribute to our understanding of the character of Victorian electoral politics, and to assess the pace of political modernization as it has recently been defined. Historians have long acknowledged the presence of physical violence, rioting and intimidation during British elections from at least the Middle Ages to the turn of the twentieth-century, and yet the precise nature, frequency and scale of this phenomenon has remained somewhat obscured by a lack of statistical data on the subject. Therefore, by compiling a numerical sample of violence, based on strict definitional parameters, this research corrects the quantitative void in which discussions of English and Welsh election violence have largely been conducted.

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Winn, David. "An analysis of neural networks and time series techniques for demand forecasting." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004362.

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This research examines the plausibility of developing demand forecasting techniques which are consistently and accurately able to predict demand. Time Series Techniques and Artificial Neural Networks are both investigated. Deodorant sales in South Africa are specifically studied in this thesis. Marketing techniques which are used to influence consumer buyer behaviour are considered, and these factors are integrated into the forecasting models wherever possible. The results of this research suggest that Artificial Neural Networks can be developed which consistently outperform industry forecasting targets as well as Time Series forecasts, suggesting that producers could reduce costs by adopting this more effective method.

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Williams, Patrick Charles. "Political Leadership and Management of Civic Services in a Downturn Economy." ScholarWorks, 2015. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/1392.

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Municipal leaders in the United States face difficult decisions when prioritizing nonmandated civic projects for funding, especially when operating budgets are restricted. This phenomenological study investigated municipal leaders' decision-making processes in a state in the southern United States, using a conceptual framework based on rational choice theory, bounded rationality, and group decision-making theory. It specifically explored personal and organizational decision-making processes related to the prioritization and funding of nonmandated civic projects via in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of 15 municipal leaders. Thematic analysis identified expert opinions, the time and cost to complete a project, the perceived value relative to expense, and the availability of additional funding sources as themes important to understanding participants' decision-making processes. Organizational factors that were important in these decisions included the need for clearly defined responsibilities and consistency in funding decisions. No clearly defined organizational processes were in place in any of the participants' municipalities, and the participants noted that areas such as infrastructure improvements, traffic congestion, community involvement, and formal processes in their municipalities were in need of improvement. Positive social change can flow from greater governmental transparency through municipal decision makers' adoption of systematic decision-making systems and processes. Positive social change can also result from greater inclusiveness through increased public outreach efforts. Results add to the research base by contributing to a better theoretical understanding of organizational decision-making processes in the municipal context.

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Costello, Andrew J. "Reduction of Observable Robbery and Larceny-Theft in the Twelve Largest Cities in the United States from 1980 to 2009." Thesis, City University of New York, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3589721.

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The reduction in crime rates that occurred in large cities across the United States (US) over the course of the past two decades has been the subject of much speculation and research. However, there have been no definitive empirical studies that conclusively determine the causes for this phenomenon. The goal of this study is to identify the impact of certain factors to the reduction of crime in large US cities that occurred over the past two decades by examining data over a thirty-year period (1980-2009). The identification of contributing factors may allow government officials, both on a local and national level, to focus their efforts on the implementation of policies that, based on empirical study, are likely to reduce crime.

This study focuses on Observable Crime, which is operationalized as robberies and larcenies reported in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Part II Offenses that were likely to be visible to the police. Those crimes likely to be visible police are determined to be all robberies that were not committed in residences and larcenies that were committed in public areas excluding stores. Law enforcement strategies that were examined in this study include Quality of Life (QOL) Enforcement and Police Presence, which is operationalized as arrests for drug offenses as reported in UCR Part II Arrests and Police Officers per 100,000 residents as reported in the UCR, respectively. The findings of this research supports the hypothesis that Quality of Life Enforcement significant in reducing crime in the twelve largest US cities from 1980-2009.

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Thompson, Randal Joy. "Commoning| Creating a new socio-economic order? A grounded theory study." Thesis, Fielding Graduate University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3668756.

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Interest in the commons, a concept that extends back to antiquity, has peaked in recent years as alarming resource depletion and intellectual property restrictions have caused international concern, while the Internet has increasingly linked people globally, creating a robust platform for common action. Generally conceived of as shared resources, communities that create, use, and/or manage them, social protocols that govern their usage, and a sense of mutuality, commons include natural resources and well as created resources such as knowledge and information. This study examined the commons by employing a grounded theory approach that sought to discover a theory regarding the processes underlying this phenomenon. Grounded theory initiates research by asking the question, "What is going on here?" Commoning emerged as the core variable and hence the grounded theory of the commons. Commoning is a complex social and psychological process that commoners engage in when they are establishing and managing commons. Commoning entails supplanting the market paradigm, based upon maximizing self-interest and assigning value based on price, with a paradigm that maximizes communal well-being. Through commoning, commoners gain a sense that they are the protagonists of their own lives. They gain this sense by forming a communal identity, seeing themselves as part of the ecological system, and taking control of resources that they feel the state and market have failed to effectively manage. In commoning, commoners are driven from their inner purpose and authentic self. Living this way resonates to society as a whole, creating a society that reflects more abundance, harmony, peace, social justice, respect for future generations, and sustainability.

Key words: commons, commoners, commoning, grounded theory, post-capitalism

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Ganchoff, Christopher B. "Regenerating movements: Human stem cells and the politics of potentiality." Diss., Search in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. UC Only, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3261272.

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Campie, Patricia E. "Proposing a link between perceived opportunity and levels of self-control." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289998.

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Most crime prevention practices assume offenders will desist from crime if the opportunity to offend is made more difficult. In practice, this means more alarms and guards, and higher awareness about protecting yourself from crime. The legal costs of offending have become greater as punishments have become more punitive. A rational choice theory of crime predicts that individuals weigh costs and benefits of crime to maximize their own self-interest. When the costs outweigh the benefits of crime, the individual will not offend. In spite of this prevention approach, crime continues. Where rational choice explains why offenders desist from crime, self-control explains the individual's ability to engage in that decisionmaking process. Low self-control is characterized by being impulsive, risk-seeking, self-interested, physical, temperamental, and lazy. Singly and combined, these tendencies are more likely to create behavior that neglects future consequences in favor of current satisfaction. Where rational choice and self-control theories are similar is in using opportunity as a gateway for criminal conduct. Both see opportunity as an objective feature of the environment. The current work questions this assumption. Instead, it is hypothesized that perceptions of opportunity are subjective, tending to vary according to a person's level of self-control. An experiment was done with 132 students on computers, where opportunities to earn money in 1.00 increments were encountered over a five-step process. The maximum payoff was 5.00. Tasks became more frustrating at each step, though no task would be considered "difficult". Those with low self-control were expected to lack persistence toward the 5.00 goal, taking the easier, smaller, payoff earlier in the process. At the experimental prompt, subjects were told they could proceed to the 5.00 payoff, but would have to give back 1.00 to classmates unable to attend. Those in the control group were told they could continue for

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Nord, B., E. Buckley-Geer, H. Lin, H. T. Diehl, J. Helsby, N. Kuropatkin, A. Amara, et al. "OBSERVATION AND CONFIRMATION OF SIX STRONG-LENSING SYSTEMS IN THE DARK ENERGY SURVEY SCIENCE VERIFICATION DATA." IOP PUBLISHING LTD, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/621386.

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We report the observation and confirmation of the first group-and cluster-scale strong gravitational lensing systems found in Dark Energy Survey data. Through visual inspection of data from the Science Verification season, we identified 53 candidate systems. We then obtained spectroscopic follow-up of 21 candidates using the Gemini Multi-object Spectrograph at the Gemini South telescope and the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph at the Magellan/Baade telescope. With this follow-up, we confirmed six candidates as gravitational lenses: three of the systems are newly discovered, and the remaining three were previously known. Of the 21 observed candidates, the remaining 15 either were not detected in spectroscopic observations, were observed and did not exhibit continuum emission (or spectral features), or were ruled out as lensing systems. The confirmed sample consists of one group-scale and five galaxy-cluster-scale lenses. The lensed sources range in redshift z similar to 0.80-3.2 and in i-band surface brightness i(SB) similar to 23-25 mag arcsec(-2) (2 '' aperture). For each of the six systems, we estimate the Einstein radius theta(E) and the enclosed mass M-enc, which have ranges theta(E) similar to 5 ''-9 '' and M-enc similar to 8 x 10(12) to 6 x 10(13)M(circle dot), respectively.

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Karmakar, Gour Chandra 1970. "An integrated fuzzy rule-based image segmentation framework." Monash University, Gippsland School of Computing and Information Technology, 2002. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/8752.

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Green, Robert C. II. "Novel Computational Methods for the Reliability Evaluation of Composite Power Systems using Computational Intelligence and High Performance Computing Techniques." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1338894641.

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44

Velázquez, José Luis. "Nicaragua: Outcomes of revolution, 1979-1990." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/298766.

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In Marxist and Dependence theories, revolution has been prescribed as a panacea for developing countries' social evils. However, there is little work dedicated to evaluation of the results of those events that permit the validation of theory. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation is to assess the outcomes of the Nicaraguan Revolution (1979-1990) and test this assumption. The assessment was made according to Edward Muller's theoretical framework. It is centered in the idea that revolutions destroy social capital. Their successes depend on the skill of revolutionary leadership in distinguishing obsolete from other forms of valuable social capital. The latter has to be fostered as the base of the revolution's future development. The indicators used were: (1) The extent at which the revolutionary leadership keeps its promises and delivers public goods; (2) The evaluation of power, strength, and centralization of the revolutionary state vs. the ancient regime; (3) The performance of the revolutionary economy; (4) The extension of the policies of land distribution, and; (5) The effects of the revolutionary policies in income distribution, inequality, and the creation of new opportunities for the citizenry. The conclusions were: (1) The Sandinista leadership did not deliver the promises of mixed economy, political pluralism and on alignment; (2) The revolutionary state was: strongest, more centralized and powerful than the Somoza regime; (3) The economic performance was poor, and unable to meet the needs of the people; (4) The policies of land reform were effective in distributing land, but failed in the creation of a new social class of farmers. It became a counterinsurgency land reform directed to create an available political clientele for the ruling party; (5) The contradiction between macroeconomics and distributive microeconomics policies, canceled out the effect of the latter, inducing a process of income concentration; (6) The insertion of the Nicaraguan crisis in the East-West confrontation accentuated dependence; (7) The empirical evidence supports Moller and Weede's theoretical assertion (1995) in the sense that the Sandinista leadership was not able to discriminate between obsolete social capital from valuable social capital, that existed embedded in pre-revolutionary institutional structure. Its attempt to subordinate civil society and substitute it with a spurious civil society ended with the destruction of valuable social capital needed for growth and development.

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Cederskär, Paulina. "An environmental Non-Governmental-Organisation in Istanbul : What are their methods and means of work, to affect the environmental policies and public in Turkey?" Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-374237.

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Mahoney, Smith Melissa. "Civic Dignity and Meaningful Political Participation." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2017. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/111.

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This dissertation looks at how enhanced political participation opportunities can increase individual liberty and improve public-sector reform efforts. It blends political theory with contemporary concerns for individual well-being and government accountability. To do this, several research methodologies are used, including normative, qualitative process-tracing, and quantitative analysis. First, the dissertation draws insights from ancient and modern political philosophy and the political thought and example of Jane Addams in 19th Century Chicago. It begins with Josiah Ober’s work on civic dignity, which he defines as “equal high standing” among citizens, marked by “non-infantilization and non-humiliation.” This definition is a useful starting point but somehow seems thin for a concept of such import. In exploring the wisdom of Tocqueville’s “schools” of democracy and Jane Addams’ notion of fellowship, I expand the definition of civic dignity to include “having a sense of ownership.” In other words, being dignified as a citizen in a self-governing political community should include having a seat at the proverbial table where one can speak and be heard. This means that political participation opportunities would ideally carry low transaction costs while maximizing the substance that can be contributed. Through Addams’ experience at Hull House, the settlement house she co-founded, I highlight how these opportunities for meaningful political participation are indispensable to individual civic dignity, and by extension, individual liberty and well-being. Second, civic dignity is viewed through a different lens, namely the role it can play when incorporated successfully into policy design and implementation. Arguably, a self- governing political community’s greatest asset is the collective knowledge and lived experience of its citizens. But current political participation mechanisms and policy designs do not do a good job leveraging that resource, and many individuals may find themselves unofficially shut out. Using process-tracing methodology, a case study explores resettlement projects targeting the urban poor in Mandaue City, the Philippines. The case study results demonstrate that deepening democracy (by incorporating civic dignity into the policy design and implementation) not only benefits individual liberty, but can also produce better outcomes and contribute to anti-corruption efforts. Taking civic dignity into account during policy design and implementation is not merely a “feel good” option; it is a strategic option that allows the political community to leverage local knowledge by enlisting the participation of those individuals or groups closest to the problem or challenge at hand. While this finding is not entirely novel, it is far from standard practice. Domestically and internationally, the coercive force of government and/or the “tyranny of experts” is too often the default approach for policy design and implementation. Third, the theoretical and practical explorations of civic dignity are used to construct a measure for civic dignity. In a data driven world, reliable and valid measurement is key, and if the concept of civic dignity is going to gain currency, then validating a scale to capture it is essential. Through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), survey items are examined to determine which items map onto the latent factors that comprise civic dignity. A 22-item four-factor solution that maps onto the four components of civic dignity is presented. The newly minted Civic Dignity Scale is then compared against measures from political science and psychology literature that are theoretically related but distinct from civic dignity, such as political efficacy and self-determination, to test for construct validity. Spearman correlations yield reassuring results, showing statistically significant strong positive correlations as hypothesized. Finally, the relationship between the Civic Dignity Scale and political participation is analyzed for further construct validity. A Poisson regression model shows that for every one unit increase in an individual’s civic dignity, the likelihood that one would participate in political activities also increases. While a confirmation factor analysis is needed for further scale validation, the EFA and subsequent analyses do codify and deepen our understanding of civic dignity. In the future, a fully validated Civic Dignity Scale would enable reformers like Addams and those in Mandaue City to legitimize and track their efforts empirically.

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Crage, Suzanna M. "Refugee aid policymaking in Berlin and Munich local responses to nation-state challenges /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2009. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3380071.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Sociology, 2009.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 12, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4860. Adviser: Elizabeth A. Armstrong.

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Altuntop, Serkan. "The Determinants of the Recruitment Practices of Police Departments: A Nation Level Analysis of Adopting A Certain Recruitment Model." [Kent, Ohio] : Kent State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=kent1228144350.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Kent State University, 2008.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 5, 2010). Advisor: David Kessler. Keywords: police; police selection; law enforcement recruitment; selection methods. Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-150).

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Debourdeau, Ariane. "PRENDRE EN COMPTE L'ENVIRONNEMENT DANS LA SPHERE DU PRODUIRE. Normalisation par les dispositifs socio-techniques en réseau et formes d'engagement environnemental." Phd thesis, Université de La Rochelle, 2007. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00818915.

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Cette thèse étudie différents dispositifs sociotechniques de normalisation et de régulation des discours et des pratiques de la " Sphère du produire " (Jonas) - et plus spécifiquement des entreprises - en matière d'environnement et de développement durable (systèmes de management, reporting, labellisation, etc.). Elle s'attache à décrire finement la mise en réseau de ces dispositifs, i.e. leur médiation par des textes formulés et véhiculés par des acteurs hétérogènes, tant à l'échelle française qu'au niveau international ou communautaire. Cette architecture textuelle complexe est " traduite " dans les pratiques environnementales des entreprises - qui sont autant de nouvelles extensions du réseau. La méthodologie adoptée est de type ethnographique, notamment sous la forme de trois monographies décrivant des " politiques " environnementales d'entreprises. Il s'agit d'y interroger la problématique environnementale comme instance potentielle de politisation de la " Sphère du produire ", ainsi que les instruments de la preuve d'un " engagement ", au travers duquel les marchés " pensent " l'environnement. Cette recherche porte donc sur des formes hybrides de l'action publique environnementale, prenant appui sur des compromis entre rationalité économique, innovation scientifico-technique et mise en indicateur. À la textualité, se superposent des formes de mise en calcul et en mesure de l'environnement qui supposent d'interroger leurs prémisses, via " l'enquête technique ", à la fois dématérialisée (statistiques et indicateurs environnementaux) et rematérialisée en re-pensant la notion d'essence technique. In fine, la relation de coproduction du marché et de l'environnement se dessine comme pragmatique du " moindre mal ", sorte de compromis minimal quant à la possibilité d'une éthique écologique de la " Sphère du produire ".

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Ramstein, Gérard. "Application de techniques de fouille de données en Bio-informatique." Habilitation à diriger des recherches, Université de Nantes, 2012. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00706566.

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Les travaux de recherche présentés par l'auteur ont pour objet l'application de techniques d'extraction de connaissances à partir de données (ECD) en biologie. Deux thèmes majeurs de recherche en bio-informatique sont abordés : la recherche d'homologues distants dans des familles de protéines et l'analyse du transcriptome. La recherche d'homologues distants à partir de séquences protéiques est une problématique qui consiste à découvrir de nouveaux membres d'une famille de protéines. Celle-ci partageant généralement une fonction biologique, l'identification de la famille permet d'investiguer le rôle d'une séquence protéique. Des classifieurs ont été développés pour discriminer une superfamille de protéines particulière, celle des cytokines. Ces protéines sont impliquées dans le système immunitaire et leur étude est d'une importance cruciale en thérapeutique. La technique des Séparateurs à Vastes Marges (SVM) a été retenue, cette technique ayant donné les résultats les plus prometteurs pour ce type d'application. Une méthode originale de classification a été conçue, basée sur une étape préliminaire de découverte de mots sur-représentés dans la famille d'intérêt. L'apport de cette démarche est d'utiliser un dictionnaire retreint de motifs discriminants, par rapport à des techniques utilisant un espace global de k-mots. Une comparaison avec ces dernières méthodes montre la pertinence de cette approche en termes de performances de classification. La seconde contribution pour cette thématique porte sur l'agrégation des classifieurs basée sur des essaims grammaticaux. Cette méthode vise à optimiser l'association de classifieurs selon des modèles de comportement sociaux, à la manière des algorithmes génétiques d'optimisation. Le deuxième axe de recherche traite de l'analyse des données du transcriptome. L'étude du transcriptome représente un enjeu considérable, tant du point de vue de la compréhension des mécanismes du vivant que des applications cliniques et pharmacologiques. L'analyse implicative sur des règles d'association, développée initialement par Régis Gras, a été appliquée aux données du transcriptome. Une approche originale basée sur des rangs d'observation a été proposée. Deux applications illustrent la pertinence de cette méthode : la sélection de gènes informatifs et la classification de tumeurs. Enfin, une collaboration étroite avec une équipe INSERM dirigée par Rémi Houlgatte a conduit à l'enrichissement d'une suite logicielle dédiée aux données de puces à ADN. Cette collection d'outils dénommée MADTOOLS a pour objectifs l'intégration de données du transcriptome et l'aide à la méta-analyse. Une application majeure de cette suite utilise les données publiques relatives aux pathologies musculaires. La méta-analyse, en se basant sur des jeux de données indépendants, améliore grandement la robustesse des résultats. L'étude systématique de ces données a mis en évidence des groupes de gènes co-exprimés de façon récurrente. Ces groupes conservent leur propriété discriminante au travers de jeux très divers en termes d'espèces, de maladies ou de conditions expérimentales. Cette étude peut évidemment se généraliser à l'ensemble des données publiques concernant le transcriptome. Elle ouvre la voie à une approche à très grande échelle de ce type de données pour l'étude d'autres pathologies humaines.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Methods and techniques of political science'

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