Organizational Unit:

School of Public Policy

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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/70716

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Organizational Unit

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

Includes Organization(s)

Organizational Unit

Technology Policy and Assessment Center

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https://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/agents/corporate_entities/1033

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 20

Examining the representativeness of Georgia's state water plan

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-11-18) Marshall, Amanda Christine

This thesis provides an analysis of the Georgia statewide regional water planning process; a system deemed to be operating in the adaptive management framework. The principal focus of this analysis is to detail a novel paradigm capable of dynamic response to changing resource demands which stems from adaptive management principles and ensures representativeness. The paradigm extends directly from application of the theories of bounded rationality and adaptive management. Development of the framework is accomplished through application of theory and correlated empirical analysis. Extreme drought conditions signal a punctuated-equilibrium effecting statewide water resource management which in turn drives the issuance of an executive-level directive to prioritize and effectively manage critical state water resources. This study evolves directly from analysis of the current effort to establish unified regional water plans which address rapid population growth, and escalating water resource conflicts with Alabama and Florida while satisfying priorities established within the executive directive. Fundamental to this analysis is the survey of currently seated regional water planning council members. The essential function of the survey is to provide a qualitative assessment of the perceptions of appointed council members. These perceptions influence water management techniques prescribed by the final policy. While this is a fuzzy correlation, a primary function of this analysis is to quantify the strength of correlation between perceptions and developed policy. This survey details appointed council member attitudes and attributes and affords analysis of future decision making outcomes. The method prescribed herein unifies multi-level decision making processes under a dynamic adaptive management paradigm, and is intended to link the regional water planning processes with continuous annual assessment in order to achieve the pluralistic benefits of adaptive management decision making.
Dynamics of innovation of biofuel ethanol. three decades of experience in the U.S. and in Brazil

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-11-15) Berger, Elena M.

This dissertation draws on the burgeoning field of innovation of low carbon technologies. Using the functions of innovation systems, this study explores the process of innovation of biofuel ethanol in the U.S. and in Brazil. It uses "process theory" to build a narrative of historical events that represent the innovation trajectory of ethanol biofuel in the U.S. and in Brazil over a period of thirty years. The data is drawn from newspaper articles from the New York Times, Washington Post, and O Estado de Sao Paulo published between 1975 and 2008. Results of this research confirm findings published previously that innovation performs better when the main actors in the innovation process act under clear and well defined policy targets, and when the innovation environment contributes to building positive expectations about the technology. The empirical findings build upon the literature and validate early claims that the alignment of goals between technology producers and users is an inducer of innovation. Moreover, the analysis presented shows that by developing new capabilities, technology users in the downstream market broaden the innovation environment and facilitate the adoption of the emerging technology by new users and markets. For example, the automobile sector has been participating actively in the ethanol technological innovation system in Brazil, facilitating the innovation flow between upstream and the downstream market. This has not been the case in the U.S., where the automobile sector has not found incentives to participate in the ethanol technological innovation systems.
Within classroom peer effects and tracking: assessing the impact of classroom peer variation and ability tracking with disaggregated high school data

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-11-15) Fortner, C. Kevin

This dissertation focuses on two distinct relationships: 1) classroom peer ability and student end-of-course test outcomes and 2) school tracking policy and student end-of-course test outcomes. Utilizing the education production function and hierarchical linear models, this dissertation contributes to the literature in the field of public policy by extending the work of previous scholars and focusing attention on these relationships in three high school subjects (English I, Algebra I, and Biology). In addition, I present a novel method for identifying tracking intensity within schools. The primary research questions addressed in the dissertation include: 1) To what extent does the ability level of classroom peers contribute to student test score performance?; 2) Does the variability of prior achievement within classrooms correlate with student test score outcomes?; and 3) Is there a relationship between school tracking policy and student test scores? Collectively these questions directly relate to policy options at the school, district, and state levels.
Evaluation of southeast EECBG financing program and SEEA retrofit

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-10-04) Brown, Marilyn A.
Development of evaluation tools for assessing capabilities in health technology

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-09-29) Rogers, Juan D.
MBE policy as economic development: an examination of public contracting in Georgia

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-07-09) Dickson, Austin Cartwright

Many scholars suggest that Minority Business Enterprises help disadvantaged populations and achieve greater equity in society. Rooted in the affirmative action policies of the 1960s and 1970s, Minority Business Enterprise designations have become a standard way for the federal government to assist minority entrepreneurs as well as protect against discrimination in contracting. Some scholars even suggest that these policies go beyond protection from discrimination and actually foster economic development in minority communities. This thesis examines those claims and utilizes an example from 12 years of the Georgia Department of Transportation's records on contracting with MBEs to answer the question: who is helped by these federal policies? This examination sheds light on the current literature linking MBEs with economic development as well as adds to the sparse literature on outcomes for MBE policy. The results of data analysis show that , over a 12-year period, White female business enterprises receive the twice as many contracting dollars as all other Minority Business Enterprises combined.
Online deliberation among regional civil society groups - the case of the Caribbean

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-07-08) Thakur, Dhanaraj

Deliberative democracy has been promoted as a way improving legitimacy and political equality in policy debates. This dissertation seeks to understand how deliberation takes place within the intersection of two unique spaces: dialogue among members of regional civil society groups and communication in online fora. The motivation for this research is based on the notion that existing forms of decision-making have contributed to political inequality, a major issue in areas such as the Caribbean. Accordingly I examine the online discussions of three different civil society groups in the Caribbean. I looked at how certain variables in these fora were related to three of the main dimensions of deliberation, the use of reasoned arguments, reciprocity and reflection. With regard to reasoned arguments I examined how diversity among members, the participation of the moderator and the topic and scope of the conversation were pertinent to a discussion in a regional and multi-national setting. For reciprocity I looked at how variables related to time and the posting structure of a conversation were relevant in an online forum. Finally I looked at the strategies that were employed by participants as part of the communication process in an online forum and how these were related to processes of reflection. To address these questions I used a combination of content analysis and conversation analysis of email conversations and interviews with participants. One set of contributions from this dissertation is methodological through the development of a codebook and the novel application of conversation analysis to online deliberation. Also, the results are significant and can contribute to our understanding of deliberation in a context for which there has been little previous research. For example, I showed that national and occupational diversity can contribute to an increase in the proportion of reasoned arguments used in a conversation as does the presence of the moderator. However, these factors along with the scope and topic of a thread vary in their degree of influence on the use of reasoned arguments by the civil society group in question. I also showed that there are specific communication strategies that participants employ such as preference organization or speaker selection that are related to different forms of reflection evident in a conversation. Finally I observed that the posting structure of a conversation specifically the distribution of emails that participants send becomes less equal as reciprocity increases. This does not augur well for a deliberative ideal that envisions both reciprocity and equal participation. Furthermore, when considering deliberation as a whole, the results indicate that its different parts are not always correlated with each other. None of the lists has more than one significant correlation between the three dimensions of deliberation. In fact, reciprocity and the use of reasoned arguments were never significantly correlated in any of the lists. Together these results point to another main finding of this dissertation which is deliberation as a whole is difficult to observe in practice. Nevertheless I suggest that separately the results for each dimension can be useful from both a design perspective and for policy-makers in general. For example, encouraging the sharing of information and a more active moderator, having the opportunity to discuss regional issues could all help to promote a greater use of reasoned arguments overall. Experimenting with different ways in which group members can get to know each other might help to reduce the disparity between participation and reciprocity. Also encouraging participants to reply inline where possible, creating easier access to the message archives and having a system for collating threads and discussions online could all promote better reflection in the lists. Finally the list might benefit from having members go through an exercise of determining whether or not and in what way decision-making should be part of their discussions. With regard to policy-makers I note that several members reported benefits for policy-makers who themselves were members of the lists. This could stem from listening and learning from the discussions of other members or actually contributing to discussions. The groups also showed the potential to collate many different policy positions around a specific problem, thus assisting policy makers in understanding issues at a regional level.
Campesino community participation in watershed management

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-07-08) Galewski, Nancy

A series of threats face campesino communities' water management practices in the Callejón de Huaylas (upper region of the Santa Watershed). Competition for water resources is escalating due to increasing demand, decreasing supply, and a rise in contamination levels, leaving campesino communities in a precarious state as a result of their marginalized position in Peruvian society. Competition for water resources occurs between upstream and downstream users and amongst sectors including mining, agriculture, hydropower, and domestic water users. The national government recently passed an integrated water resource management system to improve water governance. However, bureaucratic tendencies make it unlikely that campesinos will receive an adequate share of resources. Campesino communities in the Callejón need to adopt new strategies to improve their position vis á-vis other sectors and resist capture of resources. Campesinos are important to the discussion of water resource management because they have long established systems of self-regulated management and need to be included in the new system of watershed governance. This research first examines local water management strategies and integrated water management through four characteristics: 1) how is water framed, 2) is decision-making participatory, 3) is water management appropriate to the local and regional level, and 4) is it possible to monitor activity and impose consequences for unauthorized water usage. Interviews with campesino community members and leaders, local officials, regional representatives, and non-governmental organizations found opportunities to collaborate between groups and transfer some management responsibilities to a more regional watershed scale. Second, this research examines the opportunities and barriers to scaling up traditional management practices to meet regional needs while ensuring local water availability. Scaling decision-making is imperative for successful integrated water management and will allow campesino communities to continue to manage their water to meet local needs. Shifting the decision-making scale may facilitate more effective watershed governance with campesino community participation.
Renewable energy in the South: a policy brief

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-07) Brown, Marilyn A. ; Gumerman, Etan ; Baek, Youngsun ; Morris, Cullen ; Wang, Yu

This working paper assesses the economic potential of renewable electricity generation in the South under alternative policy scenarios. Using a customized version of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS), we examine the impact of 1) expanded and updated estimates of renewable resources, 2) a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), and 3) a Carbon-Constrained Future (CCF). Under the Expanded Renewables Scenario, renewable electricity generation doubles the output of the Reference forecast for the South. If a Federal RPS is imposed or the policies represented by our CCF scenario are implemented, we estimate that 15% to 30% of the South’s electricity could be generated from renewable sources. Among the renewable resources, wind, biomass, and hydro are anticipated to provide the most generation potential. As the integration of renewable sources expands through the modeled time horizon, wind gradually out-competes biomass in the renewable electricity market. Cost-effective customer-owned renewables could also contribute significantly to electricity generation by 2030 in the South, under supportive policies.
Stuck with the dominant urban form? Technology and the limits of ethics in the built environment

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-06-07) Kirkman, Robert ; Noonan, Douglas S. ; Smith, Heather ; Cox, William