Digital Commons Network^™

Fiber-Based Seismic Damage And Collapse Assessment Of Reinforced Concrete Single-Column Pier-Supported Bridges Using Damage Indices, Yu-Fu Ko, Jessica Gonzalez

Mineta Transportation Institute

Near-fault earthquakes can have major effects on transportation systems due to the structural damage they impose on bridges. Therefore, it is imperative to assess the seismic damage of bridges appropriately, and this research focuses on reinforced concrete (RC) bridges. This research advances the seismic performance assessment of RC single-column pier-supported bridges with flexural failure under near-fault ground motion by use of ductility coefficients and damage indices. The methodology included modeling fiber-based nonlinear beam-column elements to simulate the damage development process of RC bridge piers under earthquake loadings, considering the global buckling of longitudinal steel bars, examining the cracking and spalling …

Firefighter Staffing Model Implications On Fire Casualties And Fire Loss: Life Safety And Socio-Economic Impacts Of The Fire Service, Jeffrey Daniel Shoffner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Fire and rescue services are considered a staple among services provided by governments to local communities. Local governments are often charged with providing these services, especially across the United States and Canada. As with any professional service, there are standards set forth in order to ensure services are adequate and provide equity to the citizens that they serve. The purpose of this dissertation will be to delve into the common staffing configurations of career fire departments across the United States and Canada, particularly related to staffing levels on fire engines and ladder trucks. Fire departments utilize various staffing models, but …

Current Vehicle Fleet Inventory And Future Implementation Of A Centralized Electric Fleet At Portland State University, Dane Kovaleski

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

As the effects of climate change continue to impact the world, many institutions have developed climate action goals to reduce their effects on the environment. Portland State University (PSU) has committed to an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2040. A part of this commitment must include looking at the contributions of transportation on campus to reduce carbon emissions. According to a greenhouse gas emissions report done by the Campus Planning and Sustainability Office in 2016, transportation contributed to 12% of total greenhouse gas emissions on campus.

This project aims to evaluate the management …

Understanding Wellness In Law Enforcement: A Crisis, Phil Baebenroth

Doctorate in Education

This study investigates the perceptions of current licensed peace officers in Minnesota regarding reforming their profession. From 2017 to 2020, more police officers in the United States died by suicide than officers killed by gunfire, assaults, crashes, or accidents in the line of duty (Officer Down Memorial Page, 2023 & Blue H.E.L.P, 2023). These statistics present a wellness crisis in the policing profession that deserves immediate attention. There have been worldwide calls for changes in policing from people outside of law enforcement, but few incorporate the practical insights of police officers and even fewer are concerned with officer wellness aspects. …

Inaugural Defense And Security Research Symposium Of The Purdue Military Research Institute, Chad Laux, J. Eric Dietz, John Springer, Randy Rapp, Leon Robert

Purdue Military Research Institute: Inaugural Defense & Security Research Symposium “Academia as a Strategic National Asset”

This document is the full conference proceedings from June 26-27, 2023.

Seeing Race As We Are: Avoiding, Arguing, Aspiring, Michael A. Cowan

New England Journal of Public Policy

Racial conflict in the United States pushes people to positions of argument or avoidance, more or less intensely and for varying lengths of time, depending on external events like the murder of George Floyd. Neither stance produces the conversations required to seek common ground and compromise around racial issues. Argument alone deepens divisions and avoidance leaves them to metastasize in the social body. In an attempt to go beneath these two positions, this article first explains the role and form of interpretation in all conflict and dispute resolution and how it is shaped. Then it examines the concepts and strategies …

Board Of Trustees Minutes, Jun. 15 2023, Indiana State University Board Of Trustees

Board of Trustees

No abstract provided.

A Qualitative Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Unarmed Police Officers, Thomas A. Egan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences of unarmed law enforcement officers managing workplace violence while performing their duties in New York City at various agencies. The three research questions asked, how do unarmed police officers describe their experiences performing their job duties without a lethal weapon? How do unarmed police officers describe their expectations regarding their likelihood of experiencing workplace violence? How do unarmed police officers describe how they navigate workplace violence? The theory guiding this qualitative descriptive study was prospect theory, a concept that was originally used to study how the bias of money …

The Factors Contributing To The Resilience Of Thailand's Social Welfare Nonprofit Organizations Since The Onset Of The Country's Prolonged Political Crisis In 2005, Narttana Sakolvittayanon

Dissertations and Theses

Since 2005, nonprofit organizations in Thailand, a transitive country, have experienced survival challenges due to social, economic, and political changes. This study aims to explore the organizational attributes of nonprofit organizations in Thailand that contribute to resilient capacity, which is an ability to survive and continue providing goods and services to fulfill missions when facing challenges. The research questions of this study are what factors have affected the resilience of social welfare nonprofit organizations in Thailand since the onset of the country’s prolonged political crisis in 2005? And to what extent do theories of nonprofit resilience in advanced liberal democracies …

Making Pla(Y)Ces: Softening The City Through Play, Shivani Pinapotu

Masters Theses

Cities that grow naturally over time integrate spaces of gathering that allow for serendipitous happenstance. However, the cities we design today instruct and codify through intentional planning and design; they assign use, hardening specific function to place. Such strategies lead to spaces devoid of spirit, inculcating in city-dwellers to a sense of disconnect from the city.

In contrast to this, the places we make as children, express our intuitive, direct, and unselfconscious relationships with space and one other. These spaces embody softness through their malleability and adaptability, borrowing from the world around them and imbuing the ordinary with imagination. …

Criminal Justice Update - June 2023, Michael Klatt

Criminal Justice Updates

The Criminal Justice Update is a monthly newsletter created by the Adams County Bar Foundation Fellow providing updates in criminal justice policy coming from Pennsylvania's courts and legislature as well as the US Supreme Court.

Contents:

• Updates from PA Governor's Office (no updates this month)
• Updates from the PA Legislature
• Updates from the Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court
• PA Supreme Court
• PA Superior Court

Pavement Condition Survey Using Drone Technology, Lerose Lane, Dingxin Cheng

Mineta Transportation Institute

Timely repairs of pavement defects are essential in protecting both public road and highway systems. Identification of pavement distresses is necessary for planning pavement repairs. This has previously been performed by engineers surveying the roadways visually in the field. As drone usage has progressed, it has become clear that drones are a valuable tool to enhance visual documentation, improve project communication, and provide various data for processing. The use of drone technology has improved both the speed and accuracy of capturing data. Available software has allowed the data to be processed and analyzed in an office environment. This report summarizes …

Examining The Determinants Of Timeliness In Crises Policy Responses: The Case Of Covid-19 In Egypt, Abdelhalim Abdalla

Theses and Dissertations

Timely responses to crises and pandemics play a significant role in navigating and minimizing the adverse impacts of such critical periods on the public and governments worldwide. COVID-19 could show and prove how a single virus originating in a single country can rapidly spread throughout the world, transforming an epidemic in China into a global pandemic. The virus caused more than 6.5 million deaths and around 660 million confirmed cases worldwide, according to the WHO, and sparked the worst economic catastrophe globally in more than a century, as estimated by the World Bank. Evidence suggests that the extent of the …

The Punitive Laboratory Of Neoliberalism: A Cross-National Examination, Beth A. Fera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A large body of research has been produced to explain global punitive trends in recent decades. Neoliberalism, an economic philosophy expressed by market deregulation, privatization, and the retrenchment of social supports, has been offered as an explanation for increases in cross-national punitiveness. According to neoliberal penality theory, neoliberalism has shifted principles guiding punishment practices and the treatment of offenders, which has resulted in harsher national responses to crime. However, many tenets of this theory have not yet been tested empirically. Drawing heavily on propositions from neoliberal penality, group-threat, and penal populism literature, this dissertation examines the relationship between economic shifts, …

Exploring Flexibility In Philanthropic Funding For Place-Based Efforts To Improve Community Health: Reflections On A New York State Multisite Initiative, Beth C. Weitzman, Courtney Abrams, Bronwyn Starr, Irfan Hasan, Amy Shire, Brian Elbel, Carolyn Berry

The Foundation Review

Place-based efforts represent a key approach for philanthropies committed to addressing social determinants of health. This article shares insights and reflections from an experience funding and evaluating the Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative, a $22 million, six-year, place-based effort by two grantmaking foundations in nine geographically and demographically diverse communities across New York state. The initiative aimed to facilitate healthy living by fostering environmental and policy changes to enhance access to nourishing, affordable food and effective spaces for physical activity. Strategies to attain the goals were identified by actors most familiar with local community conditions. The funders provided substantial technical assistance, opportunities …

Community Building As A Philosophy, Not An Initiative, Anne C. Kubisch, Kasi Allen, Max Gimbel

The Foundation Review

What happens when a foundation invests in community building for the long haul? The Ford Family Foundation, a rural embedded funder in southern Oregon, has made that transition over the past decade. The result is a transformed organization with a 10-year strategic plan focused on helping rural communities build the futures that they want to see — places where children and families can thrive.

The foundation is pursuing community building not as a stand-alone strategy or “initiative,” but as a philosophy that guides local community development efforts based on capacity building and grantmaking based on partnerships. The shift to a …

The Role Of The Armed Forces Of The Philippines (Afp) In Disaster Response And Adaptation Strategies To Climatic Disasters In Manila, Edmundo Nicolas Jr.

Geography Masters Research Papers

This study described the roles of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) in Metro Manila and how climate-induced hazards impact the role of the military. It used a qualitative approach, which involved semi- structured interviews among AFP officers and barangay leaders with expertise and experience in DRRM and an analysis of selected policy documents and military doctrine. These methods revealed that: (1) the military acts as a political first-aid, since they are the first responders – thus, the face of the local government – in climactic disasters during peacetime; (2) the military is …

Developing A Strategic Plan For Municipal Housing Infill, Robert G. Vine

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

In order for some cities to be competitive for growth, there is a need to emphasize efforts on creating infill. Swapping abandoned, run down houses for new ones benefits the immediate neighborhood and ripples outward through the entire community. Municipalities can proactively work with stakeholders to create a strategic plan to rehabilitate these properties and breathe new life into an existing neighborhood. By stepping into the role of promotor, designer, facilitator, and coordinator, a city can create an environment that is attractive to builders and developers, add housing, and add value to the community. Cities that successfully create partnerships with …

Tribal Statecraft And Freedom Of Expression In Jordan, Taylor Northcutt

Honors Theses

In this research paper, I investigate the connection between the policies regarding freedom of speech and expression promulgated by the government of Jordan in the decade following the Arab Spring and Jordan’s tribal Bedouin heritage, with a focus on how traditional Bedouin values and attitudes regarding the nature and purpose of public spaces influence modern state policies regarding freedom of expression. In the investigation of this subject, I surveyed a diverse catalog of research covering politics and issues of freedom of expression in Jordan in the 2010s as well as the political and social values of tribal Arab culture in …

Navigating The Road To Distributional Social Equity Using Smart Cities Technologies, Annus Azhar

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to understand the mechanisms behind the adoption of smart cities technologies (SCT) and how they can promote social equity in local communities in the United States. There is a distinct lack of empirical research addressing the methods designed for the promotion of social equity despite their numerous benefits. The present study will address this omission in the scholarship by providing evidence-based insights on how public administrators can leverage SCT to promote distributional social equity through the Digital Era Governance (DEG) and Adoption Theory frameworks. This study also demonstrates the efficacy of applying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) …

The Power Grid/Wildfire Nexus: Using Gis And Satellite Remote Sensing To Identify Vulnerabilities, Alyssa Farnes, Keith Weber, Cassie Koerner, Kathy Araújo, Christopher Forsgren

CAES Energy Policy Institute Faculty Publications and Presentations

The effects of wildfire on the power grid are a recurring concern for utility companies who need reliable information about where to prioritize infrastructure hardening. Though there are existing data layers that provide measures of burn probability, these models predominately consider long-term climate variables, which are not helpful when analyzing current season trends. Utility companies need data that are temporally and locally relevant. To determine the primary drivers of burn probability relative to power grid vulnerability, this study assessed potential wildfire drivers that are both readily accessible and regularly updated. Two study areas in Idaho, USA with contrasting burn probabilities …

Perceived Safety And Equitable Access: An Investigation Of The Northwest Arkansas Regional Greenway, Jessica Shearman

Landscape Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

In today’s world, designers, planners, and policymakers are grappling with conflicts of climate change, habitat loss, and increasing diversity all during a migratory trend towards urban areas and higher densities of living. Creating public spaces that are both resilient ecologically and environmentally, while also creating a sense of place is essential for providing a higher quality of life equitably for all citizens. Through case studies and literature review, the public’s safety perceptions when accessing public spaces is key to equitable access. Specifically, differing perceptions of safety based on gender, race, and backgrounds. Perceived safety can be defined as an awareness …

Analysis Of Fire Safety Preparedness And Risk In University Housing, Sophia House

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

In the growing field of fire safety and preparedness, university dormitories are a prime location to observe unique residential circumstances that contribute to fire risk. This study will utilize survey responses from student housing residents from four universities to analyze if and how certain factors affect fire safety preparedness. Additionally, the results will be compared to existing literature to examine any gaps in research or contributions to current data. This study seeks to confirm that university housing is a higher risk category of residential fires because of student contributions and a lack of direct intervention to improve fire safety preparedness.

Lapd Suffers Hiring Shortage Following A Shift In How Angelinos View Police, Nicole Norman

Honors Thesis

This is a news article written about how the nationwide police shortage following the murder of George Floyd has affected the City of Los Angeles. According to a poll done by Suffolk University and the LA Times, about one third of Angelinos believe that the police are performing poorly. However, those who are younger than 35 are more than twice likely to believe that police are performing poorly. Through this article, I will explore the changes that the LAPD is making in order to keep up with a changing social climate and an upcoming workforce that is not interested in …

Developing A Risk Assessment Instrument For Immigration Cases Under Federal Supervision, Mayra Eydie Pacheco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Mitigating Peer-To-Peer Housing Impacts: Toward A Rational Nexus P2p Housing Impact Mitigation Strategy, Arthur C. Nelson

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Traveler lodging has been around since humans created tribes and certainly since they invented civilization. The internet and the rise of peer-to-peer, short-term housing has accelerated traveler and lodging opportunities. Today, Airbnb alone has nearly three million hosts offering more than seven million listings. This article explores the rise of “peer-to-peer,” or P2P housing, and offers economic, planning, and public policy perspectives.

Analysis Of Firefighters’ Psychological Trauma And Interrupted Domains, Alyssa Garcia, Pam Kasyan-Howe, Kristin Domville, Kristian Llaca

Student Capstone Papers

Firefighters are at a high risk of experiencing posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression (Teoh et al., 2019), suicidality, substance abuse (Bing-Canar et al., 2019), and burnout (Teoh et al., 2019). Firefighters are regularly exposed to traumatic events on calls which results in their decreased mental health; and associated decreased participation in meaningful occupations, routines, and roles (Edgelow & Cramm, 2020; Edgelow et al., 2021; Wittwer et al., 2021). This project contains both research and a program. The purpose of this research was to understand how firefighter demographics interact with interrupted occupations, routines, and roles and at what frequency when faced with …

Contextualising Tragedy In Places Of Assembly Through Cases Of New York City Social Club Fires, Susan Brandt, Anne Marie Sowder

Publications and Research

Patrons of assembly spaces have a reasonable expectation of safe and healthy indoor environments, the subject of planned efforts to ensure safety from officials ranging from politicians to building inspectors. These efforts include inspecting building fitness, management and safety governance. A key component of guaranteeing safe assembly spaces is policy enforcement, an area overlapping inspections and governance. In New York City impartial inspectors are a necessity, due to the potential for local bribery and extortion. Quid pro quo, or a favour granted in expectation of a favour returned, is a symptom of a corrupt process of governance and can negatively …

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. …

Unleash The Heat: Exploring Geothermal Energy Perspectives And Energy Literacy In São Miguel, Azores, Lena Mcdonough

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The green energy transition is moving ahead in EU countries at very different paces, and there are some key challenges that all regions currently face in trying to phase fossil fuels out of their energy mixes. One of these challenges is that most regions simply cannot harness enough renewable energy sources and simultaneously have the storage technology for creating a baseload power source as reliable as oil, coal and natural gas. That is, unless you sit in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the boundary of three tectonic plates, with a continuous and reliable renewable energy source beneath your …