U.S. Drug Policy and the “Columbianization” of Afghanistan
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Babies Having Babies: An Analysis of Teenage Pregnancy
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Lacking Hostility, but not Racial Inequality: The Experiences of Race within the Private versus the Public Sector Workplace
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The Social Consequences of Inadequate Affordable Decent Housing and the State of Racial and Ethnic Minorities In Urban Metropolitan Areas 
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U.S. Drug Policy Assessment in the Andean Region (Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia)
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The Education Report: The State of the Delaware Latino 
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Human Rights Violations Under the Somoza Dictatorships from 1937-1979 
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The CO-MADRES of El Savador: An Analysis of Its Contributions to the Post Civil War Era 
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The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): Latino Participation & A Cost-Benefit Analysis On EITC Outreach & Education Campaigns
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Challenges To Coalition Building Within The Nonprofit Sector: The Latin American Community Center 
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Brown, Mendez, and Equity Today: A Comparative Analysis of the African American and Latino Desegregation Movements 
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The No Child Left Behind Act & Its Impact On Latinos 
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Income-Relating the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
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Children’s Comprehension of Verb Metaphors
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Origin, History, and Attitudes Toward the Word “Nigger” in the Black Community
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The Absence of Pan-Africanism in Latin America: A Case Study of Brazil and Argentina
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Femicide and the Maquiladora Industry in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
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Real Time Haptic Visualization with MATLAB - Computer Software In The Engineering Arena 
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Mexican migration is the largest movement of people to the U.S. in the last twenty years. Mass movements of people not only affect traditional migrant receiving states, but increasingly impact non-traditional areas. How has New Castle County, Delaware, a non-traditional Mexican immigrant society, reacted to the increase of migrants? Research will be presented on ways in which New Castle County community at large, organizations, and local government have reacted to the presence of Mexican immigrants. A study based on literature and policy review, as well as interviews with migrants and community organizers opposing and accepting immigration, leads to a discussion on how various reactions affect the area and people residing in New Castle County, including Mexicans. A case study on Delaware will uncover ways in which non-traditional migrant receiving areas may learn to understand natural migration phenomenon as a result of global economic restructuring in Mexico and U.S. immigration policy.
 
 

Recently, the war on drugs has met the war on terrorism, and according to the U.S. Department of State, the illicit drug trade is a threat to national security and international stability.  The purpose of this investigation is to analyze U.S. drug policy in Columbia and Afghanistan pre and post 9/11 in order to determine if Afghanistan is “Columbianizing” with respect to U.S. policy initiatives.  I assess this by reviewing and charting International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports from 1993 to 2005.  Other documents analyzed are official United National Coca and Poppy Cultivation Surveys from 2005, the Office of National Drug Control Policy fact sheets on Columbia and Afghanistan, and academic literature on the transnational drug trade.
 
 

In the United States, an estimated 34 percent of teenagers become pregnant before the age of 20.  Although national teen birth rates have been on a decline since the mid 1990s, the United States has a dramatically higher birth rate than any other industrialized nation.  This social issue translates into costs for the teen mother, the child, and society.  Another major concern is that teen birth rates among Blacks and Hispanics are substantially higher than those of Whites – approximately 155% higher.  This study examines the cost of teen pregnancy, differences in teen pregnancy rates across races, efficacy of teen pregnancy prevention programs, and it proposes a potential prevention program focusing on access to contraceptives, coined Project Access.
 
 

Racial discrimination continues to be a significant problem in the modern workplace.  Legal structures do not fully address the issues of racial discrimination, because the quality of workplace inequalities is not fully understood.  The research team has conducted previous research on race, and their findings demonstrate that modern discrimination unfolds through more covert processes.  Yet, the previous research has limitations, because studies have only focused on public sector institutions.

Using the theory of racial hegemony as the fundamental framework for the study, this qualitative study comparatively examines the workplace experiences of African Americans within private and public sector institutions of the mid-Atlantic region.  Their workplaces experiences are documented through focus group sessions.  The findings indicate that the workplaces in both sectors are not necessarily hostile to African Americans, yet many negative experiences arise.  The individuals in the private sector were more prone to report instances of financial mechanisms of discrimination, while public sector participants addressed issues of race-based assumptions.  The study has implications for the development of legal remedies, and further raising consciousness of the dominant racial paradigm.
 
 

Social consequences stemming from inadequate affordable decent housing in inner cities disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities; however, these inadequacies are also placing an increased burden on society as a whole.  Inadequate housing can adversely impact several dimensions of a community, including its safety, educational and employment opportunities, and the economic stability of its residents.   Furthermore, living in the ghetto or barrio has the potential to stigmatize residents, laying fertile grounds for the adoption of “oppositional culture”, which is the antithesis of the desire to achieve upward mobility. 

Public policy officials have a moral obligation to thoroughly investigate and dismantle the foundations of adverse social elements stemming from urban housing inequities; however, due to significant political consequences, policymakers have inadequately addressed the issues plaguing inner city communities.  Historical responses to urban housing deficiencies have arguably laid the foundation for contemporary social inequalities, and any recent attempts to remedy the injustices of the past have thus far been inadequate and poorly supported in the political arena. 

Contemporary politicians have a tendency to embrace reactionary policies to the social consequences stemming from decaying neighborhoods, such as the provision of Medicaid and the political and fiscal support of prison construction.  Unfortunately, many of these same public officials also ignore or inadequately support potential social remedies that target the source of the inequities: the lack of urban opportunity.  Reactionary policies such as Medicaid and prison construction are failing to address the roots of the problem, and thus have bankrupted the integrity of fiscal responsibility.  Remedial policies, such as the provision of affordable decent housing for all inner city residents, could quite possibly lay the foundation for positive social change, but have been rendered low priorities on the political agendas on both sides of the isle.

It is important for one to recognize the complexity behind the causation of adverse social conditions in the inner city, especially if one intends to advocate remedial public policies that address the myriad of social issues at hand.  Housing is not a silver bullet which will bring down contemporary social inequities; it is however a significant starting point.  Decent affordable housing, especially minority homeownership, coupled with employment and educational opportunities enhance one’s odds of achieving upward mobility.  Adequate housing also increases the desirability of neighborhoods, inviting both a willingness and opportunity for investment – an essential element in the war on poverty.

Part A of this examination will attempt to uncover the current state of minority urban housing, while identifying contemporary strategies deployed to measure neighborhood quality and decay.  This section will also examine social developments that stem from inadequate housing, highlighting contemporary social injustices that are arguably a direct result of past discrimination, while simultaneously identifying positive developments that are a result of racial and ethnic segregation in the inner city. 

Part B of this report will submit inquiries into why population cores of metropolitan areas are predominately composed of racial and ethnic minorities, while surrounding suburban districts usually consist primarily of the predominant group.  It will highlight how public policy has contributed to this phenomenon, and will place an emphasis on how such policies have reinforced housing inequities.  Part B will also focus on federal, state and local policies that have been developed in the past to address the inadequacies of affordable decent housing in the inner city.  Finally, it will attempt to illustrate how new and existing programs could effectively reduce the social consequences stemming from inadequate housing in the inner city.
 

The primary U.S. policy response to domestic drug abuse is to reduce foreign drug supplies through eradication, interdiction, law enforcement, and alternative development.  The principle theory posits that curtailment of drug supplies drives up informal market prices, thereby reducing the number of users who buy the drugs.  The purpose of this investigation is to assess the success and failure of U.S. drug policies to determine whether they work, whether the policies are flawed from their inception, or whether the policies are poorly implemented.  I examine this with specific emphasis on Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia.  These three countries are the top three producers and suppliers of cocaine to the world.  I assess the success of U.S. drug policy by examining narcotic drug demand in the United States, inflow of drugs from Latin America to the U.S., and the ability of the U.S. government to strengthen the infrastructure of governments in Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia in dealing with the drug trade.  Documents analyzed are official United Nations Coca Cultivation Surveys, the Office of National Drug Control Policy fact sheets on Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia, as well as the academic literature on the transnational drug trade.
 

The State of Delaware’s Department of Education periodically releases statistical reports detailing the academic standing and progress of its public school students.  These reports include information with respect to English language learners programs, dropout rates, and performance on the Delaware State Test.  Evaluating these reports should be a high priority of advocates of quality education, because it allows one to effectively identify and address many deficiencies within our public school system.

The Education Report: The State of the Delaware Latino is an initiative set forth by Governor Minner’s Advisory Council on Hispanic Affairs aiming to compile and evaluate existing data with respect to Latinos in the state’s education system.  This analysis will present a myriad of information, including demographics on the state’s overall population and statistics on its public school enrollment.  It will highlight existing data on Latino performance on the Delaware State Test and provide information on the Latino proportion of Delaware high school dropouts.  This report will also compile existing information on Delaware’s English Language Learner (ELL) programs, and briefly illustrate the state of Latinos in Delaware’s institutions of higher education.  The Education Report: The State of the Delaware Latino is intended to serve the community by acting as a reference tool for advocates, community leaders, and policymakers concerned with the academic and social success of the Latino in the Delaware public education system. 

Most of the data presented in this report is derived from three primary sources: 1) Delaware Department of Education: State Report Card 2002-2003, 2) State of Delaware Department of Education: Delaware Dropouts, and 3) The Annual Report of Delaware’s English Language Learners.  This project contains no primary research.  The report only contains information from sources currently available from the Governor’s Council on Hispanic Affairs, the Delaware Department of Education, information collected from recent studies, government websites, University websites, news articles, and information from various contacts and officials.

Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries located in the western hemisphere, and it history includes forty years (1937-1979) of military rule under the Somoza family.  The Somoza family, a father and two sons, took control of the country in 1936 and uninterruptedly remained in power until the death of the third Somoza dictator in 1979.  Human rights violations were severe under their rule, and included killings, disappearances, and torture.  Their power and influence benefited the elite and the military sector while simultaneously disregarding the needs of the masses.

This study will be a through analysis of the human rights violations associated with the Samoza dictatorships of Nicaragua.

El Salvador experienced a violent 12-year civil war that left 80,000 murdered and 8,000 displaced due to a class division between the land-owning oligarchy and the peasantry.  The land owning elite's affiliation with the military made it possible to deny the poor, the indigenous and especially women from obtaining a decent lifestyle. 

This analysis focuses on the formation of CO-MADRES, a human rights organization founded in 1977 in El Salvador by a group of rural women looking for their missing, assassinated, and murdered relatives.  This study evaluates historical documents and literature with respect to El Salvador's history and its civil war, placing an emphasis on the human rights violations of the era.  It highlights the formation of the CO-MADRES, but more importantly it highlights the entity's contributions to the post civil war era.

The earned income tax credit (EITC) is a federal cash assistance program that targets low-income workers.  Statistics demonstrate there is a need for EITC outreach programs due to a lack of participation and awareness amongst eligible workers.  Specifically, statistics show that Latino parents are less likely than parents of other racial classifications to know about the EITC, which translates into eligible Latino families not receiving the benefits associated with the program. 

This study provides readers with the mechanics and history of the EITC, examines the factors that may influence the lack of knowledge and lack of receipt amongst Latino parents, and reviews techniques that have successfully reached the Latino population.  Finally, using a cost-benefit analysis, the study analyzes whether investment in an EITC outreach campaign by a city or a state would be a worthwhile endeavor. 

Inner city community based nonprofit organizations face a myriad of operational pressures stemming from a variety of sources, including increased demands for accountability and transparency, for-profit competition, fiscal challenges, personnel management, and the inability to keep pace with the ever increasing advances in modern technology.  Operational challenges in the nonprofit sector undermine missions of community-based entities, by forcing organizations to allocate limited resources to combat internal deficiencies as opposed to investing those resources into the community or towards the advancement of the organization’s agenda.  The Latin American Community Center (LACC), like any other community based nonprofit, is no exception. 

The LACC is a pillar of the metropolitan Wilmington Latino community and is an advocate that assists its constituents by offering resources and programs that promote political empowerment and enhance one’s quality of life.  The Center also sponsors and supports a variety of other programs that celebrate domestic achievement as well as the diverse cultures of the Caribbean, Central, and South America.  The LACC provides child day care, housing to the elderly, drug and alcohol outreach and treatment programs, computer literacy, HIV AIDS prevention, mentoring, after school programs, and a myriad of other resources for the benefit of the Latino community in New Castle County. 

Like many 501c(3)s, the Latin American Community Center faces an array of challenges on a daily basis.  Securing the longevity of the organization through the identification and retention of quality personnel, dealing with pressures from community members & grant-makers, addressing issues associated with volunteer recruitment and management, and community outreach are all items of importance to Maria Matos, the Executive Director of the organization. 

This summer, as a Ronald E. McNair, I will have the opportunity to work as the personal assistant to the Executive Director of the LACC, translating theoretical concepts into practical applications, which will benefit not only the organization but also the community of which it serves.  I plan on dedicating approximately 30 hours a week to initiatives associated with the LACC, assisting the Executive Director on a daily basis with her affairs, accompanying her to important meetings, and contributing to the organization in whatever capacity that I can. 

My particular interests and the focus of this summer’s research surrounds coalition building within and between the African American and Latino communities of the Metropolitan Wilmington area.  I plan on conducting a throughout analysis of the Latin American Community Center’s role in social activism and its cooperation and coalition building capabilities with other organizations, especially those across racial and ethnic lines.  I have a particular interest in discovering how often Latino organizations have allied with other community-based entities within the black community, in a cohesive response to societal pressures facing their respective inner-city communities.  My experiences will give me an opportunity to give back to the community, while simultaneously conducting an inside analysis of the pressures associated with the organization, the ways it responds to its challenges, and the extent to which its operational pressures prohibit it from engaging in meaningful coalition building with other entities in the region. 

Fifty years following the landmark decision, many argue that “separate and unequal” treatment is still an insidious component of the American public education system, disproportionately effecting African Americans and Latinos, perpetuating cycles of ignorance, crime, and poverty that plague under-represented populations in the United States today.  This study will evaluate such claims by examining the gradual processes of integration associated with the African American and Latino desegregation movements.  It will identify contemporary elements adverse to the pursuit of educational equity, elements contributing to the erosion of the quality of education that is accessible to select US subpopulations.  The final component of this study will introduce its readers to a brief analysis of the challenges and the political economy associated with urban educational reform. 

President Bush signed into law the “No Child Left Behind” Act (NCLB) on January 8, 2002, which serves as the cornerstone of the Bush Administration’s domestic agenda.  In the administration’s view, the law makes education a national priority but a local responsibility by increasing the amount of federal dollars that will be administered to the public school system, and by providing states and local education agencies with unprecedented flexibility associated with their use of these new federal dollars.  In return the federal government is requiring that states establish academic standards for every child to meet, so that no child is left behind. 

The NCLB Act is currently in its implementation stage, and it officially takes effect this fall (2003).  Feedback is an important aspect to any new public policy, and the NCLB is no exception.  The Act has been met with harsh criticism across the country from most organizations representing public educators, but much of the criticism has been sporadic, unorganized, and counterproductive. This study will attempt to identify and compile the legitimate criticisms and other policy conflicts associated with the No Child Left Behind Act, in anticipation of future legislative revisions.  It also will place a heavy emphasis on the potential and projected impact on Latinos.  The results of this study could be used to modify existing provisions of the NCLB Act in order to provide more efficient federal accommodations to the states.  The results could also identify possible areas in which exceptions to the policy could be made, and provide assistance in understanding the Act to those who are unfamiliar with it. 

This project will create an interface between existing haptics systems and computational software, MATLAB.  Haptic environments are computer generated scenes which give force feedback when explored on a monitor with force feedback device.  I will use SensAble Technologies’ Phantom force feedback device which allows users to feel virtual objects rendered in a haptic environment.  The MATLAB and haptics systems function independently but real time communication between the systems has great benefits.  MATLAB data will have enhanced modality so that visually impaired users will be able to explore data, and MATLAB will allow haptic developers to create more realistic and sophisticated environments.  This interface has been created by researchers at the University of Delaware in 1996 but the system broke down with the new version of MATLAB.  This academic endeavor will restore the project. 

MATLAB is a high-level technical computing language and interactive environment for algorithm development, data visualization, data analysis, and numerical computation. MATLAB solves technical computing problems faster than with traditional programming languages, such as C, C++, and Fortran (MATLAB).  The MATLAB language supports the vector and matrix operations that are fundamental to engineering and scientific problems.  The software handles applications in the fields of signal and image processing, communications, control design, test and measurement, financial modeling and analysis, and computational biology (MATLAB).  MATLAB also utilizes a set of toolboxes, or predefined functions which extend MATLAB to handle particular types of problems. 

Sensable Technologies’ Phantom device allows users to explore and feel objects in haptic scenes.  Haptic scenes can range from objects as simple as flat walls to complex objects like 3D triangle meshes of human organs.  The haptic technology is so important because of the range of applications.  Manufacturers implement haptic models of new devices to test certain properties before mass production ( Mahoney, 18).  Salisbury describes the benefits of haptics in surgical simulation and training.  The list goes on to include seismic modeling, molecular simulation, sculpting, and so on (Salisbury, 64).  Haptic technology is improving steadily to more accurately model real world objects. 

This research project has been designed not to study the benefits of haptic technology or MATLAB, but to create an interface between the haptic environment and MATLAB.  There are two benefits of this research. Interfacing the haptic technology with MATLAB will add new modality to data representation.  The visually impaired, for example, would be able to explore a graphical representation of a complex set of data.  MATLAB will also promote haptic technology.  Allowing both tools to communicate in real time would simplify the implementation of complex haptic algorithms because MATLAB is designed to carry out complex algorithms.  The Ghost library, the programming library the Phantom device uses is capable of creating shapes and defining properties but using MATLAB will make implementing more complicated algorithms in the haptic environment faster and easier.  Haptic developers will be able to use the powerful toolboxes MATLAB utilizes to enhance standard Ghost library capabilities.  Thus, the goal of my research is to create a real time communication interface between MATLAB and the SensAble Technologies haptics system.
 

In 2006, the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) will provide Medicare prescripton drug coverage for the elderly (65 years of age and above).  Except for the poor, no adjustment is made for income: moderate-income participants must pay the same amount as high-income participants. 

The purpose of this study is to analyze and propose a Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit plan that is income related.  To demonstrate the effects of switching to an income-related drug plan, I use a four person model in which the patient cost sharing rates are switched from uniform to income related while maintaining the same total government expenditure.  In particular, this study is concerned with the person who has a low income and a high need for prescription drugs; I hypothesize that under a uniform cost-sharing rate this person would bear a heavy percentage of income burden and that switching to an income-related benefit would reduce that said burden.  In addition, I will examine the practical aspects of income relating to the Drug Benefit Plan.

This project explores when children begin to comprehend metaphorical verb uses such as “My mind is racing.”  There is virtually no research on how children comprehend verb metaphors, although we do know something about how they understand noun metaphors such as “Her hair was spaghetti.” 

To examine verb metaphor comprehension, 6-,8-, and 10-year-old participants were read a series of sentences (metaphors and non-metaphors) embedded in short stories.  Participants were asked to paraphrase each sentence.  Their responses were coded according to a scheme based on adult participants’ responses to the same stories.  The metaphors were divided into categories that used psychological aspects (e.g. “Joey painted the classroom with happiness”) and physical aspects (e.g. “The chalk jumped out of his hand). 

The hypothesis was that psychological metaphors would be harder to comprehend than physical metaphors.  Results demonstrate that some 6-year-olds still have a tendency to interpret metaphors literally (e.g. “I think it has eyes and it jumped out of his hand.”).  Eight- and 10-year-olds knew that metaphors are not to be understood literally, although at varying degrees depending on their age.
 

In recent years, racial epithets like “nigger” have been used more casually amongst Blacks.  The purpose of this study is neither to condone or condemn epithet users, but to examine the etymology and history of the word “nigger” in order to understand why some Blacks may justify the usage of this epithet today.  In order to develop my research, various resources – such as etymology books, encyclopedias, and linguistic texts – were used to determine the theoretical perspectives of the origin of the word “nigger”, why the word is in many cases considered offensive, and standards in Black Vernacular English and African culture which make usage of “nigger” acceptable.

A survey was also conducted; survey questions and analysis gauge the offensiveness taken when racial epithets are used in various settings and by people within or outside of a person’s race.  Results indicate that familiarity and socio-racial identity are significant factors in the acceptability of epithets.  I suggest that there us a cultural linguistic explanation for the occurrence of “nigger” as an accepted epithet used among Blacks.  While I am neither for nor against the usage of “nigger”, I do hope that through my study others will become more open-minded about language usage and the power of words.

Pan Africanism is a socio-cultural, political and economic movement which originated in the late nineteenth century in the African Diaspora, specifically in the United States and the West Indies.  From the inception of the movement, the Afro-Latin American presense has been largely absent from a greater Pan-African movement.  I attempt to discern the reasons for this absence by analyzing the development and major themes of the movement, such as the regeneration of the African continent and the solidarity of African peoples.  Specifically, I examine the historical developments of blacks in Brazil and Argentina: Brazil because it boats the largest black population in the Americans and Argentina because it claims that no Blacks lives within its borders.  I propose that Pan-Africanism in Latin America has lagged because of the development of different patterns of race relations between the British colonies and the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. 

This study explores the historical, economic, and cultural circumstances that surround the kidnappings and murders of several hundred women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a border town near El Paso, Texas.  Many of the victims worked in foreign owned factories known as maquiladoras.  My research focuses on the role of this industry in setting the stage for the kidnappings.  I consider the attitudes people have regarding the women who work in the industry.  In order to do this, I read through articles and books about the industry and the treatment of women.  These sources include interviews with supervisors and factory owners, as well as information regarding the attitudes and opinions expressed by the public in Ciudad Juarez.  My findings indicate that the maquiladora women are considered worthless and disposable, providing a key reason both that the disappearances and murders have not been given proper attention and that, therefore, such atrocities continue.

In general, traditional Mexican cultural perceptions of women explain the basis for the attitudes local people have of the women in the maquiladoras; the traditional ideologies of machismo and marianism, though slowly changing, continue to set the expected norms for men and women – men are the breadwinners and women are the homemakers.  To conclude, I examine how my findings play a role in the activities of the activist groups fighting for the missing and murdered women and their families.  I do this by reviewing the concerns of these groups and the actions that have been taken to fight for justice.