Digital Commons Network^™

Workshop | Body Worn Video Recorders: The Socio-Technical Implications Of Gathering Direct Evidence, Katina Michael, Alexander Hayes

Alexander Hayes Mr.

- From in-car video recording to body-worn video recording

- Exploring available technologies: how do they work, pros and cons

- Storing direct evidence in secure storage: factors to consider

- Citizens “shooting” back with POV tech – what are their rights?

- Crowdsourced sousveillance- harnessing public data for forensic profiling

- Police force policies and practices on the application of new media

Languages Of The Unheard: Why Militant Protest Is Good For Democracy, Stephen D'Arcy

Stephen D'Arcy

A normative democratic theory of sound militancy is proposed, drawing on the ideas of Martin Luther King, but rejecting his non-violence standard in favour of a democratic standard. This normative standard is then applied to civil disobedience, disruptive direct action, sabotage, black blocs, rioting and armed struggle.

How To Prevent Accidental Conflict In The East China Sea, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

Immigration & Our Community, Greg Hill

Gregory C. Hill

In this episode, Dr. Greg Hill, Chair of the Department of Public Policy and Administration, talks about immigration and the effect of immigration on Boise State students and the Boise community. Produced by: Farzan Faramarzi Reporter: Ashley Cox

Brain Drain: Do Economic Conditions “Push” Doctors Out Of Developing Countries?, Edward Okeke

Edward Okeke

Health worker migration is an issue of first order concern in global health policy circles and continues to be the subject of much policy debate. In this paper, we contribute to the discussion by studying the impact of economic conditions on the migration of physicians from developing countries. To our knowledge, this is one of the first papers to do so. A major contribution of this paper is the introduction of a new panel dataset on migration to the US and the UK from 31 sub-Saharan Africa countries. The data spans the period 1975-2004. Using this data, we estimate the …

The Case Of Performance Measurement In Mobility Management Programs, Sarmistha Majumdar, Lalita Sen, Meredith Highsmith, Linda Cherrington

Sarmistha R Majumdar

The concept of mobility management has gained popularity over the last few decades. It refers to the provision of accessible, affordable, and multimodal transportation for all, including those who cannot or do not drive due to age, disability, or lower income. Mobility management programs can be found in large cities, urban areas, and rural areas. Evaluation of these programs is difficult in the absence of national guidelines. Consequently, many programs have developed their own measures, while others lag in performance measurement. This case study investigates the performance measures used to evaluate some established mobility management programs. Based on analysis of …

Wicked Tools: The Value Of Scientific Models For Solving Maine’S Wicked Problems, Tim Waring

Timothy M Waring

“Wicked problems” are urgent, high-stake socioeconomic-environmental challenges that often involve ideological conflict and have no “best solutions.” Using examples from Maine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative projects, Tim Waring describes how scientific models can be used to address these kinds of problems. When well-constructed and tested models are used to address policy-relevant issues, include input from stakeholders, and integrate social, economic and environmental dynamics, they can become “wicked tools” to address some of society’s biggest challenges.

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2002, Ryan Allen, Barry Bluestone, Bonnie Heudorfer, Gretchen Weismann

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2008: From Paradigm To Paradox: Understanding Greater Boston’S New Housing Market, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham, Tim Davis

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.

Campaigning For A Seat On The Un Security Council: A Middle Power Reflection On The Role Of Public Diplomacy, Caitlin Byrne

Caitlin Byrne

For active middle power states like Australia, securing a seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is indeed a ‘prize to be pursued with vigour’.1 In today’s complex and interdependent world, pursuit of this prize requires more than just intense diplomatic lobbying within the corridors of the UN in New York. Successful election to the UNSC turns upon the broad notions of international reputation and image. The campaign itself is a significant exercise in the engagement and persuasion of wider international audiences who have interests in and expectations of the UNSC candidate nations. Drawing in particular upon the past …

Explaining Organizational Responses To Workplace Aggression, Elizabeth Fredericksen, Suzanne Mccorkle

Elizabeth D. Fredericksen

Although scholarship in the area of workplace aggression is beginning to flourish, the varied definitions, assumptions, and methodologies used to describe workplace aggression compound the challenge of formulating practical theory and models to address workplace aggression. While this phenomenon occurs in public, private, and nonprofit organizations, the unique political and legal context of public organizations warrants targeted attention. We propose the organizational Accountability Grid as an umbrella concept to understand how organizations become permissive or disciplined cultures in their responses to workplace aggression. The productive management of workplace aggression is necessary to ensure the accountable pursuit of the public interest.

Property Value Impacts Of Foreclosed Housing Acquisitions Under Uncertainty, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Senay Solak, Rachel B. Drew, Jeffrey Keisler

Michael P. Johnson

Community development corporations seek to stabilize neighborhoods affected by the recent foreclosure crisis through acquisition and redevelopment of distressed properties. One rationale for this work is the alleviation or avoidance of negative foreclosure impacts. We estimate the lost value to proximate properties associated with a single foreclosure through a Markov chain representing probabilistic transitions between foreclosure stages. We apply our model to a case study of foreclosure properties in Chelsea, MA. A rank ordering by estimated property value impacts indicates significant potential gains in social value as compared to current community development practice. We extend our basic model to address …

Demand-Side Programs To Stimulate Adoption Of Broadband: What Works?, James Prieger, Janice Hauge

James E. Prieger

We examine the evidence available on the efficacy of demand-side programs intended to stimulate broadband adoption. We review studies that attempt to measure results. Our suggestions for future program evaluations are to include cost-benefit analysis as a standard part of program review and to make clear that the purpose of evaluation is to assess progress made toward the ultimate policy goals rather than the program’s proximate implementation goals. Appropriate data must be collected to draw conclusions, and appropriate statistical methods must be used to determine the causal impacts of a program. This has rarely been done to date.

The Impact Of Government Policies On Access To Broadband, James Prieger

James E. Prieger

With a new focus for federal universal service programs on broadband and the NTIA BTOP funding for broadband adoption projects, recent years have been “exciting times” for those interested in broadband policy aimed at stimulating adoption. While most of the recent programs are still too new to be evaluated rigorously, lessons from older academic study can inform our expectations and lend guidance toward evaluating program success. In this brief work, I review what we know from the last decade and a half of literature on the impact of regulation on broadband adoption, discuss the (mostly woeful) attempts at evaluating adoption …

Economic Growth And The Optimal Level Of Entrepreneurship, Catherine Bampoky, Luisa Blanco, Aolong Liu, James Prieger

James E. Prieger

What is the “growth penalty” when a country’s entrepreneurship deviates from its optimal level? We use data on entrepreneurship for a panel of developed and developing countries over 2003-2011 to estimate growth equations. We treat the impact of entrepreneurship on real GDP growth as heterogeneous across countries. The methodology accounts for unobserved heterogeneity among countries in the optimal entrepreneurship rate and other factors affecting growth. In less developed countries, there is not enough entrepreneurship, and increases in the entrepreneurship rate have a sizeable positive effect on growth. In high income countries, entrepreneurship appears to be close to the optimum. We …

A Basic Analysis Of Entry And Exit In The Us Broadband Market, 2005-2008: More Detail And Additional Results, James Prieger, Michelle Connolly

James E. Prieger

We conduct a basic yet thorough analysis of entry and exit in the US broadband market, using a complete FCC census of providers from 2005 to 2008. There is a tremendous amount of (simultaneous) entry and exit in the US broadband market. Most entry is from existing providers expanding into new geographic areas. Entry and exit vary widely across the various modes of provision, which argues against treating broadband as a homogenous service in theoretical or empirical work. The highest entry rates also generally have the highest entrant shares. Entry rates display positive autocorrelation, and the same is true for …

Maintain, Demolish, Re-Purpose: Policy Design For Vacant Land Management Using Decision Models, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander, Alma Hallulli

Michael P. Johnson

Decline, measured in population growth rates, population levels, housing stock and economic activity, and associated increases in vacant land in urban areas, is a reality for cities and regions within the United States. However, planners increasingly see ‘decline’ as a development state to anticipate and a development strategy to consider. For example, a place may lose population while continuing to provide a high quality of life and social value. Vacant land is central to planning issues related to decline: some currently-occupied housing may likely become abandoned and demolished, yielding vacant lots, while some currently vacant lots may be inputs to …

心态决定国运 (Attitude Determines National Destiny), Shanghai, China: Oriental Morning Post, July 11, 2013., Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

Equally Unprepared: Assessing The Hurricane Vulnerability Of Undergraduate Students, Jason Simms, Margarethe Kusenbach, Graham Tobin

Jason L Simms

Policy Images, Issue Frames, And Technical Realities: Contrasting Views Of Japan’S Energy Policy Development, Paul Scalise

Paul J. Scalise

No abstract provided.

Clash Of National Identities: China, Japan, And The East China Sea Territorial Dispute, Zheng Wang

Zheng Wang

No abstract provided.

Growing Australian Higher Education: Achieving Targets And Rethinking Provision, Daniel Edwards

Dr Daniel Edwards

Higher education in Australia has been following a growth trajectory unmatched for the past 20 years. This paper shows that while the recent growth in university enrolments over the past few years has been facilitated by the federal government’s demand-driven funding policy, private providers have also been expanding and contributing to the overall national aims of increasing attainment. With the 2013 initial university offer figures showing a slowing of growth in universities for the first time since demand driven funding was announced, the role of non-universities in maintaining the growth trajectory for higher education, as well as helping to achieve …

Using Aptitude Testing To Diversify Higher Education Intake – An Australian Case Study, Daniel Edwards, Hamish Coates, Tim Friedman

Dr Tim Friedman

Australian higher education is currently entering a new phase of growth. Within the remit of this expansion is an express commitment to widen participation in higher education among under-represented groups – in particular those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. This paper argues that one key mechanism for achieving this goal should be the re-evaluation of university selection processes. The paper explores outcomes of an aptitude test pilot study, focusing on issues of access and equity in selection to university. The results show that, in general, those who gain access to university on the basis of results in the aptitude test have …

From The Suburbs To The House: The Metropolitan–Rural Population And The Success Of Women Candidates, Elizabeth Stiles, Larry Schwab

Elizabeth A. Stiles

We analyze the voting behavior of metropolitan and rural residents in relation to women’s legislative representation. Examining election data on the U.S. House and all lower state houses, we find that the greater the metropolitan population in a legislative district, the more likely it is to be represented by a woman. We extrapolate from these findings that the modern increase in women’s representation can be attributed in part to the rural-to-suburban shift in population and legislative seats.

Decentralization Is Dead, Long Live Decentralization! Capital City Reform And Political Rights In Kampala, Uganda, Christopher Gore

Christopher D Gore

African cities are currently experiencing some of the highest population growth rates in the world. Accompanying this growth is constant and continuing pressure on national and local governments to develop political and institutional structures that respond to the multiple demands this demographic change provokes in relation to service delivery, economic development and social wellbeing. In response to these challenges, national governments are reviewing the political and administrative structures of their capital cities, sometimes recentralizing authority. This article examines the reforms to Kampala, capital city of Uganda. The article explains how the national government gradually created the legal conditions necessary to …

The Principle And Reality Of Legislative Oversight In Defence Matters In Liberal Democracies: An Empirical Case, Emmanuel Wekem Kotia

Emmanuel Wekem Kotia

Legislatures worldwide are an important arm of government in any political system that has an active oversight over defence. As elected representatives of the people legislators are at the heart of the democratic system. They represent the electorate from whom the armed forces of any state are drawn and whose taxes pay for their upkeep. The functions that legislatures play with regards to defence are many and vary greatly among most democratic states. Legislatures exercise their traditional legislative function by carrying out defence legislations on a number subjects. The legislature is an indispensable organ of state in modern democracies and …

Civil Society Influence On International Organizations: Making Sense Of The State Channel, Christopher Pallas, Anders Uhlin

Christopher L. Pallas

Citizen Responsibility For War In Imperfect Democracies, Lisa Rivera

Lisa Rivera

Are individual citizens of imperfect democracies morally responsible for unjust wars waged by their state? Moral responsibility for unjust wars involves both retrospective and social responsibility. Citizens of imperfect democracies are retrospectively responsible when they choose to vote for a leader they know will wage an unjust war. This situation may occur very rarely. For example, US citizens did not have this political option at the outset of the Vietnam and Iraq Wars. However, even when citizens are not retrospectively responsible they have the social responsibility to engage in collective action to address the harms unjust war causes.

Tight Representation Of Logical Constraints As Cardinality Rules, John Hooker, Hong Yan

John Hooker

We address the problem of finding a "tight" representation of complex logical constraints in a mixed integer programming model by describing a convex hull representation of cardinality rules.

Approximate Compilation Of Constraints Into Multivalued Decision Diagrams, Tarik Hadzic, John Hooker, Barry O'Sullivan, Peter Tiedemann

John Hooker

We present an incremental refinement algorithm for approximate compilation of constraint satisfaction models into multivalued decision diagrams (MDDs). The algorithm uses a vertex splitting operation that relies on detection of equivalent paths in the MDD. Although the algorithm is quite general, it can be adapted to exploit constraint structure by specializing the path equivalence test to particular constraints.We show how to modify the algorithm in a principled way to obtain an approximate MDD when the exact MDD is too large for practical purposes. This is done by replacing the equivalence test with a constraint-specific measure of distance. We demonstrate the …