Digital Commons Network^™

Considerations For Solar Development: Comprehensive Assessment Of Solar Production Benefits And Consequences In Portugal, Jonathan Ramos Marcuse

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper, the potential for solar energy development in Portugal is explored, with a focus on the Alentejo region of Portugal. The Fernando Pessoa Photovoltaic plant that is approved for construction in the Santiago do Cacém municipality is analyzed. The size of the plant and the location are considered when studying the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the project. The possibility of a centralized solar array in Sines is also explored as an alternative, taking into account the environmental and social impacts on local communities. Additionally, the feasibility and benefits of implementing a decentralized energy grid, utilizing scattered …

A Multi-Factorial Analysis Of The Sustainability Of Non-Governmental Organizations’ Psychosocial Support Programs In Jordan, Dina Abdalla

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research paper aims to explore the factors that affect the sustainability of psychosocial support (PSS) programs provided by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Jordan. NGOs in Jordan are facing a significant issue when it comes to the sustainability of their programs, and they provide crucial programs for refugees and underserviced populations. So, it is crucial to investigate the factors affecting and solutions to sustainability. It is hypothesized that sustainability is a multi- factorial concept, affected by financial, organizational, and environmental factors. It is predicted that NGO characteristics, program effectiveness, and program type can affect sustainability. To combat sustainability issues, it …

Addressing The Recidivism Challenge In San Diego County: Learning From Lived Experience Approaches, Andrew Blum, Alfredo Malaret Baldo

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

The problem is as old as the justice system itself—how to reduce the chance that an individual reoffends after they commit an offense and become involved with the justice system. This challenge of reducing recidivism remains critical. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, there are over 120,000 individuals in state prisons in California. Another 380,000 cycle through jails in California every year. In 2021, roughly 25,000 individuals were released from prison in California each year. This is the scope of the challenge.

In San Diego County, a wide variety of agencies and organizations are working to address the recidivism challenge. …

Views Of Judaism And Jewish People In Jordan: Political, Social, Historical, And Religious Considerations, Thalia Gustina

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research was to find out what the general view of Judaism and Jewish people is within Jordan and what factors play into these views. There were a few aspects of this topic that were specifically focused on in this study. The impact of Israel on the way that Jewish people are perceived was one of the main topics explored. Part of this was looking at the history of Judaism and Jewish people in the Arab World and how the relationship between them and their non-Jewish neighbors changed after the creation of Israel. As a majority Muslim …

The Quest To End Human Trafficking: An Educational And Practical Guide For Everyone Who Wants To Help Break The Bonds And Assist Survivors, Dennis W. Mccarty

Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity Faculty Scholarship

People often assume that only legislators and law enforcement personnel can take meaningful steps to fight human trafficking, one of the most lucrative transnational crimes in the world. This inquiry sought to assess the validity of that belief. The study was informed by the author’s experience as a college instructor of human trafficking and the inspiration he drew from the range and quality of his students’ projects.

The methodology included examining the strategies that governmental and non-governmental organizations are using to fight trafficking and assist survivors. It also considered the work of individual activists and service providers such as social …

Discovering Dune: Essays On Frank Herbert’S Epic Saga., Edited By Dominic J. Nardi And N. Trevor Brierly, G. Connor Salter

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

G. Connor Salter reviews Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert’s Epic Saga, edited by Dominic J. Nardi and N. Trevor Brierly, considering its new contributions to studies of Frank Herbert's work. Essays included fit into four categories (Politics and Power, History and Religion, Biology and Ecology, and Philosophy, Choice and Ethics) and range from Herbert's use of ecology in Dune to how game theory may help explain certain characters' apparent ability to see the future. Discovering Dune also includes an appendix which contains the only up-to-date bibliography of Herbert's work (primary and secondary sources).

Cub Plastic Shipping Bag Recycling Program, Samuel M. Arkin, Ethan J. Bruemmer

Student Publications

We implemented a plastic shipping bag recycling program at Gettysburg College. Recycling bags contribute towards contamination within the college's single-stream recycling or end up directly in the landfill via traditional trash collection. The production of plastic bags relies on the continued production of fossil fuel extraction. Plastic bag recycling can decrease fossil fuel extraction and waste entering landfills. To curb Gettysburg College’s generation of waste, we placed four bins in various locations throughout the Center Union Building (CUB) in order to collect plastic shipping bags over a 4.5-week period. We made three hypotheses: that our bins would collect shipping bags …

Using Thermal Remote Sensing To Quantify Impact Of Traffic On Urban Heat Islands During Covid, My-Thu Tran, Bo Yang

Mineta Transportation Institute

A three-month lockdown in the U.S. at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 greatly reduced the traffic volume in many cities, especially large metropolitan areas such as the San Francisco Bay Area. This research explores the impact of transportation on climate change by using remote sensing technology and statistical analysis during the COVID-19 lockdown. Using thermal satellite data, this research measures the intensity of the urban heat island, the main driver for climate change during the urbanization process. The research team acquired morning and afternoon MODIS data in the same periods in 2019 before the pandemic and 2020 …

A Hybrid Active Learning Framework For Personal Thermal Comfort Models, Duygu Zeynep Tekler, Yue Lei, Yuzhen Peng, Clayton Miller, Adrian Chong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Personal thermal comfort models are used to predict individual-level thermal comfort responses to inform design and control decisions of buildings to achieve optimal conditioning for improved comfort and energy efficiency. However, the development of data-driven thermal comfort models requires collecting a large amount of sensor-related measurements and user-labelled data (i.e., user feedback) to achieve accurate predictions, which can be highly intrusive and labour intensive in real-world applications. In this work, we propose a hybrid active learning framework to reduce data collection costs for developing data-efficient and robust personal comfort models that predict users’ thermal comfort and air movement preferences. Through …

A Review And Reflection On Open Datasets Of City-Level Building Energy Use And Their Applications, Xiaoyu Jin, Chong Zhang, Fu Xiao, Ao Li, Clayton Miller

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Data related to building energy use fuels the research and applications on building energy efficiency, which is an essential measure to address global energy and environmental challenges. However, in most cities, there is a lack of comprehensive and publicly accessible building energy use datasets with necessary temporal and spatial granularities to support urban building energy modeling, regional energy planning, city-level building performance benchmarking, and policymaking on building energy efficiency. Data owners and governments are facing challenges in determining which and how building energy use data should be disclosed at the city level and how to protect data privacy. This review …

Key Drivers Of Family-Level Utility Of Pediatric Genomic Sequencing: A Qualitative Analysis To Support Preference Research, Hadley Stevens Smith, Emily S Bonkowski, Raymond Belanger Deloge, Amanda M Gutierrez, Alva M Recinos, Tara A Lavelle, David L Veenstra, Amy L Mcguire, Stacey Pereira

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Given that pediatric genomic sequencing (GS) may have implications for the health and well-being of both the child and family, a clearer understanding of the key drivers of the utility of GS from the family perspective is needed. The purpose of this study is to explore what is important to caregivers of pediatric patients regarding clinical GS, with a focus on family-level considerations. We conducted semi-structured interviews with caregivers (n = 41) of pediatric patients who had been recommended for or completed GS that explored the scope of factors caregivers considered when deciding whether to pursue GS for their child. …

Essay On The Revitalization Of Local Communities, Hiroshi Saito

Japanese Society and Culture

It is difficult to theorize regional revitalization due to the differences in the characteristics of each local government. However, it may be possible to generalize its basic features: “regional management” and “financial surplus.” The problem of regional revitalization is conventionally discussed from a perspective of public administration. However, this paper reexamines the problem from a management theory perspective. Considering the starting point of regional revitalization is the surplus of public finances, attention is focused on the local tax law, especially on the importance of inhabitant tax, fixed property tax, and resident population policy. The paper also shows that the attraction …

Job Perspectives Of University Students Aspiring To Become Civil Servants Using Q Sort: Based On The 2020 Toyo University Student Survey, Masatoshi Minowa

Japanese Society and Culture

This study questioned what kind of gap in perceptions of work perspectives exists between current and aspiring civil servants in the first place, and whether there are differences in perceptions of work perspectives between students who aspire to become civil servants and those who aspire to work in the private sector. This was examined in an exploratory approach by using data from Q Sort, a Q methodology study, to capture the value perceptions surrounding work perspectives, particularly among students who aspire to become civil servants. The data compared were students aspiring to become civil servants, students aspiring to work in …

اختبار العلاقة السببية بين الانفاق العام والايرادات العامة لبلدان مختارة للمدة 1990-2021, مصطفى فاضل حمادي

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

تهدف الدراسة الى اختبار العلاقة السببية بين الانفاق العام والايرادات العامة في مجموعتين من البلدان المتقدمة (اسبانيا ، الدنمارك، المملكة المتحدة واليابان) والنامية (الامارات العربية المتحدة، الكويت، بارغواي والهند) للمدة (1990-2021)، باستخدام اختبار (Granger) ونماذج متجه تصحيح الخطأ (VECM) لبيانات السلاسل الزمنية. تم الحصول على البيانات من النشرات الرسمية لصندوق النقد الدولي والبنك الدولي للإنشاء والتعمير. توصلت الدراسة ان هنالك اختلاف في اتجاه العلاقة السببية بين البلدان المتقدمة والنامية سواء مجموعة مع أخرى او بلد مع اخر في نفس المجموعة، وهذا ناتج من اختلاف طبيعة البلدان فيما بينها واوضاعها الاقتصادية، كما ان هنالك اختلاف في اتجاه هذه العلاقات السببية بين …

تقييم كفاءة الأداء الاقتصادي لشركة هيمن لصناعة الاسفنج في دهوك للمدة 2018-2020, تارا هادي حسن مصطفى, علاء وجيه مهدي النعمة

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

تعد عملية تقييم كفاءة الأداء الاقتصادي من الأولويات المهمة التي تجب متابعتها في مدد زمنية متفاوتة من أجل كشف المعوقات التي تواجه المؤسسات الاقتصادية ومحاولة وضع الحلول لها بالوقت المناسب، لغرض تحقيق الأهداف المرسومة بصورة صحيحة. يهدف البحث الى تقييم كفاءة الأداء الاقتصادي لشركة هيمن لصناعة الاسفنج باستخدام عدد من المعايير للوقوف على واقع الإنتاج والإنتاجية والتعرف على الطاقات الإنتاجية ونسبة الانتفاع منها، فضلاً عن التعرف على القيمة المضافة الاجمالية والصافية المتحققة خلال المدة (2018-2020) قيد الدراسة. ومن خلال تطبيق معايير(الطاقة الانتاجية، الانتاجية، القيمة المضافة) توصل البحث الى مجموعة من النتائج أهمها: وجود طاقات معطلة وغير مستغلة بشكل أمثل، وبالنسبة …

دور السياسة المالية في تحقيق التوازن الداخلي في العراق بعد 2003, علي جابر عبد الحسين, حوراء حاكم حسن

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

واجه الاقتصاد العراقي العديد من المشاكل والاختلالات الاقتصادية على المستوى الداخلي ، الأمر الذي أدى إلى تعثر جهود التنمية وتراجع مؤشرات الأداء الاقتصادي,ولذلك سعت الدولة بعد2003 الى تحقيق مستوى من التوازن الاقتصادي وذلك بفضل الصدمات التي تحصل في اسعار النفط الخام. باستعمال آلية محددة وان عدم التوازن داخليا نتيجة تزايد الإنفاق العام غير المبرر اقتصاديا من حيث طبيعة القنوات التي يتوزع فيها الإنفاق العام ونتيجة نهج الذي يعتمد الية السوق بما ينطوي عمى تغيير دور الدولة الاقتصادي من دور انمائي الى دور تصحيحي تكون السياسة المالية والسياسة النقدية جزأ مهما في هذا الدور عبر إلغاء الدعم الحكومي أزله والقيود عن …

Review Of The Root Of War: Thomas Merton’S Advice To Peacemakers, Jerry Kendall

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Our New Moment: Renewing Catholic Teaching On War And Peace, Robert W. Mcelroy

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Bishops In The Catholic Peace Tradition, Ronald G. Musto

The Journal of Social Encounters

This brief survey takes a historical perspective on the role of Catholic bishops in global peacemaking. Building on my previous work 1 and more recent research, it focuses on the roles of bishop as teacher, ruler, and minister of the sacraments and on the interplay between prophetic protest and institutional authority. It covers the origins of the bishop’s office, the development o f prophetic protest and rule in episcopal peacemaking in the early church and Middle Ages, including the Peace and Truce of God. It then turns to early modern peacemaking and the influence of humanist thinkers on Latin American …

Césaire, Mills, & De Beauvoir In Sociological Theory, Louis Edgar Esparza

The Journal of Social Encounters

The values and priorities of sociology as a discipline have changed dramatically over the past 70 years. Theories of race, class, and gender that had been excluded or marginalized in the positivist twentieth century now make up the classical core of social justice reading lists. Where did these central ideas germinate from? This article identifies and illustrates the influence of three representative theorists: Aime Césaire, C. Wright Mills, and Simone de Beauvoir. These three are commonly read for their incisive critiques of colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy, respectively. Focusing mainly on a critical appraisal of their principal texts in these respective …

Peace Studies And The Limits To Growth, Selina Gallo-Cruz

The Journal of Social Encounters

150 Peace Studies and the Limits to Growth Selina Gallo-Cruz Scientists have issued increasingly dire warnings about the present and future danger posed by ecological overshoot. Peace scholars’ entrée into this discourse is often through a concern over extractive politics, a central locus for how conflicts are bound up in environmental destruction at the hands of the same industries responsible for ecological decline. Policy and practical responses to the urgent need to scale down production lag behind reality, however, and a global growth-based economy continues to prevail. Here, I explore the dilemmas faced by peace studies scholars who may want …

How Have Researchers Defined Institutions, Politics, Organizations And Governance In Research Related To Epidemic And Pandemic Response? A Scoping Review To Map Current Concepts, Austin Wu, Shivangi Khanna, Shelly Keidar, Peter Berman, Laura Jane Brubacher

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In recent years, the literature on public health interventions and health outcomes in the context of epidemic and pandemic response has grown immensely. However, relatively few of these studies have situated their findings within the institutional, political, organizational and governmental (IPOG) context in which interventions and outcomes exist. This conceptual mapping scoping study synthesized the published literature on the impact of IPOG factors on epidemic and pandemic response and critically examined definitions and uses of the terms IPOG in this literature. This research involved a comprehensive search of four databases across the social, health and biomedical sciences as well as …

Connectivity And Racial Equity In Responding To Covid-19 Impacts In The Chicago Regional Food System, Rowan Obach, Tania Schusler, Paulina Vaca, Sydney Durkin, Ma'raj Sheikh

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The COVID-19 outbreak led to major disruptions in food systems across the globe. In the United States’ Chicago region, the outbreak created immediate concerns around increased hunger, food insecurity, supply chain disruptions, and loss of local livelihoods. This was especially evident in communities of color, which faced disproportionate impacts from the pandemic. In March 2020, the Chicago Food Policy Action Council (CFPAC) coordinated a Rapid Response Effort that convened people in working groups related to emergency food assistance, local food producers, small businesses, and food system workers to address urgent needs that arose due to the pandemic. Each working group …

Information About Historical Emissions Drives The Division Of Climate Change Mitigation Costs, Alessandro Del Ponte, Aidas Masiliūnas, Noah Lim

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Despite worsening climate change, the international community still disagrees on how to divide the costs of mitigation between developing countries and developed countries, which emitted the bulk of historical carbon emissions. We study this issue using an economic experiment. Specifically, we test how information about historical emissions influences how much participants pay for climate change mitigation. In a four-player game, participants are assigned to lead two fictional countries as members of either the first or the second generation. The first generation produces wealth at the expense of greater carbon emissions. The second generation inherits their predecessor’s wealth and negotiates how …

Chatgpt As Metamorphosis Designer For The Future Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai): A Conceptual Investigation, Amarjit Kumar Singh (Library Assistant), Dr. Pankaj Mathur (Deputy Librarian)

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to explore ChatGPT’s potential as an innovative designer tool for the future development of artificial intelligence. Specifically, this conceptual investigation aims to analyze ChatGPT’s capabilities as a tool for designing and developing near about human intelligent systems for futuristic used and developed in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Also with the helps of this paper, researchers are analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of ChatGPT as a tool, and identify possible areas for improvement in its development and implementation. This investigation focused on the various features and functions of ChatGPT that …

With Liberty And Justice For The Wealthy: The Criminalization Of The American Poor, Ashlyn Dickmeyer

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The last phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance states “with liberty and justice for all”. However, not everyone has access to this liberty and justice. Liberty and justice can be bought in this country for a price, and those who can’t afford to pay it are often left in the hands of those who can. One of the most prominent ways to see this is by analyzing the criminal justice system. Despite clauses in the Fourteenth Amendment and court cases like Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) establishing and upholding that the poor are entitled to equal treatment within the criminal justice …

Open Science-Related Policies In Europe, Shima Moradi, Sajede Abdi

Other Topics

This study aims to review the open science (OS) policy documents, identify their subject areas, and distinguish the topics of OS support policies in seven European countries, providing a platform for practical cooperation between countries in science popularization. With a qualitative– inductive approach, all pertinent policy documents in OS were collected through documentary study, and thematic analysis was conducted to identify OS policies for each country. Finally, forty-six policy documents extracted up to December 2020 were thematically analyzed through a qualitative–inductive case study. All selected countries had developed OS policies, and these supportive policies were generally related to the three …

Planning, Preserving, And Increasing Accessibility: A Reflection On Going “Car-Free”, Abigail J. Weizer

City and Regional Planning

This paper studies the accessibility of car-free areas to those with mobility impairments by examining three car-free and car-lite experiments in California. Whether slowly converted to car-free with long-term, careful planning, or expeditiously changed to car-free during the COVID-19 pandemic, these three car-free experiments show the shortcomings of planning for accessibility in car-free spaces, and how instead of improving accessibility, current planning practice often hinders it. This paper offers a deep-dive into the drawbacks and benefits of going car-free and the ethical and legal reasons why urban planners, designers, and policymakers must consider the accessibility of a space before planning …

Poverty And Poverty Alleviation Policies In The North Central Zone Of Nigeria, Gloria Ese Olotu Dr

Bullion

The paper examined poverty situation in the north central and the poverty alleviation policies of government as they affect the people of the north central zone in particular and Nigeria generally. This study was carried out in the face of the fact that poverty has characterized the Nigerian society such that over 70% of her citizens live below poverty line predicated by hunger, unemployment, poor housing, poor health care and other deprivations in spite of numerous government policies and programs aimed at alleviating or eradicating poverty in Nigeria since independence. Data for the study were generated through both the primary …

Charter School Funding Disparities: Los Angeles, California, Alison Heape Johnson, Josh B. Mcgee, Patrick J. Wolf, Larry D. Maloney, Jay F. May

School Choice Demonstration Project

In this report, we investigate the status of the TPS-charter school funding gap a year after the full implementation of the LCFF. We use official financial documents from the California Department of Education and LAUSD to account for every dollar TPS and charter schools received in the 2019-20 school year, including in-kind services.