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Corporations in biomedicine hold significant power and influence, in both political and personal spheres. The decisions these companies make about ethics are critically important, as they help determine what products are developed, how they are developed, how they are promoted, and potentially even how they are regulated. In the last

Corporations in biomedicine hold significant power and influence, in both political and personal spheres. The decisions these companies make about ethics are critically important, as they help determine what products are developed, how they are developed, how they are promoted, and potentially even how they are regulated. In the last fifteen years, for-profit private companies have been assembling bioethics committees to help resolve dilemmas that require informed deliberation about ethical, legal, scientific, and economic considerations. Private sector bioethics committees represent an important innovation in the governance of emerging technologies, with corporations taking a lead role in deciding what is ethically appropriate or problematic. And yet, we know very little about these committees, including their structures, memberships, mandates, authority, and impact. Drawing on an extensive literature review and qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with executives, scientists and board members, this dissertation provides an in-depth analysis of the Ethics and Public Policy Board at SmithKline Beecham, the Ethics Advisory Board at Advanced Cell Technology, and the Bioethics Committee at Eli Lilly and offers insights about how ideas of bioethics and governance are currently imagined and enacted within corporations. The SmithKline Beecham board was the first private sector bioethics committee; its mandate was to explore, in a comprehensive and balanced analysis, the ethics of macro trends in science and technology. The Advanced Cell Technology board was created to be like a watchdog for the company, to prevent them from making major errors. The Eli Lilly board is different than the others in that it is made up mostly of internal employees and does research ethics consultations within the company. These private sector bioethics committees evaluate and construct new boundaries between their private interests and the public values they claim to promote. Findings from this dissertation show that criticisms of private sector bioethics that focus narrowly on financial conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency obscure analysis of the ideas about governance (about expertise, credibility and authority) that emerge from these structures and hamper serious debate about the possible impacts of moving ethical deliberation from the public to the private sector.
ContributorsBrian, Jennifer (Author) / Robert, Jason S (Thesis advisor) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Hurlbut, James B (Committee member) / Sarewitz, Daniel (Committee member) / Brown, Mark B. (Committee member) / Moreno, Jonathan D. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
Nearly seven decades ago, the US government established grants to the states for family planning and acknowledged the importance of enabling all women to plan and space their pregnancies, regardless of personal income. Since then, publicly-funded family planning services have empowered millions of women, men, and adolescents to achieve their

Nearly seven decades ago, the US government established grants to the states for family planning and acknowledged the importance of enabling all women to plan and space their pregnancies, regardless of personal income. Since then, publicly-funded family planning services have empowered millions of women, men, and adolescents to achieve their childbearing goals. Despite the recognized importance of subsidized family planning, services remain funded in a piecemeal fashion. Since the 1940s there have been numerous federal funding sources for family planning, including the Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Program, Office of Economic Opportunity grants, Title XX Social Services Program, Title X Family Planning Program, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, alongside state and local support. Spending guidelines allow states varying degrees of flexibility regarding allocation, to best serve the local population. With nearly two billion dollars spent annually on subsidized family planning, criticism often arises surrounding effective local program spending and state politics influencing grant allocation. Political tension regarding the amount of control states should have in managing federal funding is exacerbated in the context of family planning, which has become increasingly controversial among social conservatives in the twenty-first century. This thesis examines how Arizona’s political, geographic, cultural, and ethnic landscape shaped the state management of federal family planning funding since the early twentieth century. Using an extensive literature review, archival research, and oral history interviews, this thesis demonstrates the unique way Arizona state agencies and nonprofits collaborated to maximize the use of federal family planning grants, effectively reaching the most residents possible. That partnership allowed Arizona providers to reduce geographic barriers to family planning in a rural, frontier state. The social and political history surrounding the use of federal family planning funds in Arizona demonstrates the important role states have in efficient, effective, and equitable state implementation of national resources in successfully reaching local populations. The contextualization of government funding of family planning provides insight into recent attempts to defund abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, cut the Title X Family Planning Program, and restructure Medicaid in the twenty-first century.
ContributorsNunez-Eddy, Claudia (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Hurlbut, James (Committee member) / O'Neil, Erica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Homelessness is one of the most visible and tragic problems facing Phoenix today. As Tucson cut its homelessness count nearly in half over the past six years, Phoenix only saw a reduction of 25%. The question remains: what is the best solution for Phoenix to reduce and eventually eliminate homelessness?

Homelessness is one of the most visible and tragic problems facing Phoenix today. As Tucson cut its homelessness count nearly in half over the past six years, Phoenix only saw a reduction of 25%. The question remains: what is the best solution for Phoenix to reduce and eventually eliminate homelessness? This paper examined costs and benefits as well as examples in other cities and states of Housing First solutions' effectiveness at reducing the number of people suffering from homelessness. It was found that Housing First solutions, namely Permanent Supportive Housing and Rapid Re-Housing, would be highly effective in combating the homelessness experienced by those in the Phoenix area.
ContributorsGhali, Zakary Hawkes (Author) / Lewis, Paul (Thesis director) / Kilman, Margaret (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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This thesis examines Care Not Cash, a welfare reform measure that replaced traditional cash General Assistance program payments for homeless persons in San Francisco with in-kind social services. Unlike most welfare reform measures, proponents framed Care Not Cash as a progressive policy, aimed at expanding social services and government care

This thesis examines Care Not Cash, a welfare reform measure that replaced traditional cash General Assistance program payments for homeless persons in San Francisco with in-kind social services. Unlike most welfare reform measures, proponents framed Care Not Cash as a progressive policy, aimed at expanding social services and government care for this vulnerable population. Drawing on primary and secondary documents, as well as interviews with homelessness policy experts, this thesis examines the historical and political success of Care Not Cash, and explores the potential need for implementation of a similar program in Phoenix, Arizona.
ContributorsMcCutcheon, Zachary Ryan (Author) / Lucio, Joanna (Thesis director) / Williams, David (Committee member) / Bretts-Jamison, Jake (Committee member) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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In the fifteen years between the discovery of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in 1973 and the passage of alcohol beverage warning labels in 1988, FAS transformed from a medical diagnosis between practitioner and pregnant women to a broader societal risk imbued with political and cultural meaning. I examine how scientific,

In the fifteen years between the discovery of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in 1973 and the passage of alcohol beverage warning labels in 1988, FAS transformed from a medical diagnosis between practitioner and pregnant women to a broader societal risk imbued with political and cultural meaning. I examine how scientific, social, moral, and political narratives dynamically interacted to construct the risk of drinking during pregnancy and the public health response of health warning labels on alcohol. To situate such phenomena I first observe the closest regulatory precedents, the public health responses to thalidomide and cigarettes, which established a federal response to fetal risk. I then examine the history of how the US defined and responded to the social problem of alcoholism, paying particular attention to the role of women in that process. Those chapters inform my discussion of how the US reengaged with alcohol control at the federal level in the last quarter of the twentieth century. In the 1970s, FAS allowed federal agencies to carve out disciplinary authority, but robust public health measures were tempered by uncertainty surrounding issues of bureaucratic authority over labeling, and the mechanism and extent of alcohol’s impact on development. A socially conservative presidency, dramatic budgetary cuts, and increased industry funding reshaped the public health approach to alcoholism in the 1980s. The passage of labeling in 1988 required several conditions: a groundswell of other labeling initiatives that normalized the practice; the classification of other high profile, socially unacceptable alcohol-related behaviors such as drunk driving and youth drinking; and the creation of a dual public health population that faced increased medical, social, and political scrutiny, the pregnant woman and her developing fetus.
ContributorsO'Neil, Erica (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Hurlbut, James (Committee member) / Ellison, Karin (Committee member) / Wetmore, Jameson (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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With more than one third of Americans considered to be obese, obesity is a public health issue in the United States. While obesity is linked to and caused by a number of factors, sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is a major contributor to increased obesity rates. For the purposes of

With more than one third of Americans considered to be obese, obesity is a public health issue in the United States. While obesity is linked to and caused by a number of factors, sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is a major contributor to increased obesity rates. For the purposes of this paper, SSBs will include any beverage in which sugar is added. This includes juices that are not 100% fruit juice, coffee or tea drinks that are sugar sweetened, energy or sport drinks, and most commonly, soda. Excess sugar in the diet is substantially linked to obesity and negative health effects. SSBs represent the primary source of added sugar in the average American diet. Part I of this paper will discuss obesity as a public health problem and establish the link between consumption of SSBs and poor health effects. Part II will discuss the public policy instrument families and the strengths and weaknesses of each policy approach. Part III will identify current policies specifically focused on curbing SSB consumption. Each policy will be analyzed for efficacy based on available scientific research. Lastly, Part IV will propose new policy alternatives and ways to improve current policies. A final policy recommendation will be presented as an ideal roadmap for policy makers looking to address the link between SSB consumption and obesity.
ContributorsSaria, Matthew Ricardo (Author) / Lucio, Joanna (Thesis director) / Holland, Thomas (Committee member) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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An in depth look at the rhetoric behind the campus carry debate at the University of Texas at Austin. This thesis researched and examined primary sources from The Daily Texan and The Austin-American Statesman attempting to analyze what was at stake for both sides of the argument and what the

An in depth look at the rhetoric behind the campus carry debate at the University of Texas at Austin. This thesis researched and examined primary sources from The Daily Texan and The Austin-American Statesman attempting to analyze what was at stake for both sides of the argument and what the most effective rhetorical tool was.

ContributorsBlumstein, Cory Joshua (Author) / Young, Alexander (Thesis director) / O'Flaherty, Katherine (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description

This report explores the United States’ continued use of the death penalty and the various costs of maintaining such a policy. This paper aims to investigate issues in the continued use of the death penalty and potential policy alternatives to this inhumane practice. To this end, topics such as constitutional

This report explores the United States’ continued use of the death penalty and the various costs of maintaining such a policy. This paper aims to investigate issues in the continued use of the death penalty and potential policy alternatives to this inhumane practice. To this end, topics such as constitutional law, crime control, and economic costs associated with the death penalty will be explored. Ultimately, due to patterns of racial and economic discrimination, a lack of evidence for a deterrent effect, the risk imposed on innocent defendants, and the economic cost of maintaining the status quo, it is suggested that the United States, at the very least places a federal moratorium on executions, while simultaneously encouraging states to do the same through the use of grants or mandates designed to lessen the cost of swapping to a life without parole or LWOP system could create on a state’s budget. Additionally, alternatives such as LWOP are explored as a means to address many of the concerns surrounding the death penalty.

ContributorsDoyle, Alexander (Author) / Scholz, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / Harris, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor)
Created2023-05
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Education is one of the most important factors in a person’s life - it shapes your friends as a child, your future career, and has tangible effects on a person’s earning potential, health, and more. The state government has the responsibility, and privilege, to provide every child with a K-12

Education is one of the most important factors in a person’s life - it shapes your friends as a child, your future career, and has tangible effects on a person’s earning potential, health, and more. The state government has the responsibility, and privilege, to provide every child with a K-12 education through a system of public schools as directed by the Arizona Constitution. The Arizona State Legislature expanded the public school system to include charter schools to facilitate more choices for students and parents in the delivery of education. In the late 1990s and throughout the last two decades, Arizona would form, fund, and begin to prioritize a parallel publicly-funded private education system. Through the creation of the School Tuition Organization income tax credits, vouchers, and the Empowerment Scholarship Account program the Arizona State Legislature has systematically diverted funds from public schools to private education institutions. A report by the Center for the Future of Arizona, The Arizona We Want: The Decade Ahead, identified a range of issues, including education, that a majority of Arizonans find consensus on. Arizonans agree that a quality K-12 public education system is one of the most important issues to improving Arizona’s future and 73% agree that more money should be spent on K-12 education. Arizona leaders have shown a concerning willingness to ignore expressed public values in relation to education - these policy decisions have left our state public schools, which 88% of Arizona children attend, critically underfunded. Now is the time for all Arizonans to support the future we want by pushing for a strong, well-funded K-12 public education system.
ContributorsGerhart, Stephanie (Author) / Anderson, Derrick (Thesis director) / Francis, Sybil (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor)
Created2022-05