Digital Commons Network^™

The Formation Of Cross-Sector Development Partnerships: How Bridging Agents Shape Project Agendas And Longer-Term Alliances, Stephan Manning, Daniel Roessler

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

Cross-sector development partnerships (CSDPs) are project-based collaborative arrangements between business, government, and civil society organizations in support of international development goals such as sustainability, health education, and economic development. Focusing on public private partnerships in development cooperation, we examine different constellations of bridging agents and their effects in the formation of single CSDP projects and longer-term alliances. We conceptualize bridging agency as a collective process involving both internal partner representatives and external intermediaries in initiating and/or supporting roles. We find that the involvement of external intermediaries eases the formation of single projects and longer-term alliances. However, when projects are initiated …

Economic Aspects Of Bitcoin And Other Decentralized Public-Ledger Currency Platforms, David S. Evans

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

A number of internet-based digital currency platform based on decentralized public ledgers have started since the introduction of the blockchain concept by the founder of Bitcoin in 2008. An important element of these public ledger platforms is an incentive system that elicits efforts from a distributed global workforce to verify and record transactions on the public ledger and a governance system for the platform. The economic efficiency and possibly viability of a public ledger platform ultimately depend on the design of these incentive and governance systems. Even if a decentralized public ledger were a more efficient technology for conducting financial …

Recommending Investors For Crowdfunding Projects, Jisun An, Daniele Quercia, Jon Crowcroft

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

To bring their innovative ideas to market, those embarking in new ventures have to raise money, and, to do so, they have often resorted to banks and venture capitalists. Nowadays, they have an additional option: that of crowdfunding. The name refers to the idea that funds come from a network of people on the Internet who are passionate about supporting others' projects. One of the most popular crowdfunding sites is Kickstarter. In it, creators post descriptions of their projects and advertise them on social media sites (mainly Twitter), while investors look for projects to support. The most common reason for …

The 6th Mode Of Transportation, Robert O. Walton

Journal of Transportation Management

The five modes of freight transportation are normally characterized as motor carriers, railroads, airlines, water carriers, and pipelines. This paper will attempt to position the Internet as the sixth mode of transportation. This paper compares the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional five modes of transportation against the proposed 6th mode of the Internet. Without including the Internet as a mode of transportation, and tracking the economic value that it adds to the economy, the economic impact of the Internet as a mode is not considered. The recommendation of this study is that the Internet should be added to the …

Community Engagement And Participation In Collective Impact Initiatives, Sarah M. Milnar

Professional Projects

There is no question that large social problems like poverty and educational inequality are difficult to solve. Many groups throughout the nation and world are adopting the framework of collective impact in efforts to solve these problems together, as opposed to working in individual silos yielding only isolated impact. However, the framework that is used to align high-level leaders and resources has been criticized for being too “top down” and perhaps leaving out the actual people who are directly affected by the interventions. This report examines whether and how collective impact initiatives foster the participation and engagement of the very …

Can't Get No (Dis)Satisfaction: The Statecraft Simulation's Effect On Student Decision Making, Chad Raymond

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

Simulations are often employed as content-teaching tools in political science, but their effect on students reasoning skills is rarely assessed. This paper explores what effect the Statecraft simulation might have on undergraduate students perceptions of their decision making. As noted by the psychologist Daniel Kahneman (2012: 203), decisions are often evaluated on the basis of whether their outcomes are good or bad, not whether a sound reasoning process was used to reach them. A survey was administered at multiple points in an international relations course to gauge students satisfaction with the decision-making processes and outcomes in their respective teams during …

Alumni Remember, Jennifer Wilkerson, Kaitlin Heacock, Tina Morgan

Alumni Remember

This publication includes PSU alumni stories and photographs from the Portland State University Archives. This diverse range of alumni memories provides an intimate portrait of the University’s evolution, from its unlikely origins in the doomed city of Vanport to its integration into downtown Portland to its current status as the most populous university in Oregon.

Montgomery County, Md Public Schools: Student Performance And Achievement Of Low-Income And Minority Students, Richard Joseph

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The student demographics of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland have changed dramatically since 1970 resulting in a majority-minority de facto segregated school system. A major concern of MCPS is the student performance and achievement gap between students of different racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds.

Using data available from MCSP the performance and achievement of MCPS high school students will be examined for differences between students attending high, medium or low poverty schools. Six high schools will be selected for examination, two for each of the three poverty categories. Primary focus will be to compare the performance and achievement …

Applying Community-Based Learning In Teaching And Researching Contemporary Slavery, Monti Narayan Datta

Political Science Faculty Publications

Over the past several years, student demand for courses, research opportunities, and internships in the realm of human rights and modern-day slavery has reached a tipping point, for several reasons. First, social media have made contemporary slavery a familiar issue. MTV’s Exit Campaign (http://mtvexit.org), for instance, has informed at least 20 million people about the subject since the campaign’s launch in 2004. Second, Hollywood has taken notice. With films like 2009’s Taken, starring Liam Neeson as a father who single-handedly (even if unrealistically) rescues his daughter from the clutches of sex traffickers in Europe, students know trafficking is a moral …

Piles Of Salt: A Narrative Of Civil War, Refugeeism, And Sociopolitical Transnationalism, Patrice M. Niltasuwan

Masters Theses

Employing oral history methodology, this research project was presented in the form of a biography. The focus was a humanistic approach to understanding the effects of civil war tlirough a first-person account of the lived experience. Through examination of the life history narrative of an immigrant refugee who survived the Laotian Civil War, the war itself is explored from a personal perspective as well as other issues relevant to refugeeism and immigration in America including policy, citizenship, identity, family, acculturation, and transnationalism.

By personalizing war through the voice of one who experienced it, a new perspective arises; not only are …

Organizing A Study Abroad Trip—A Faculty Perspective, Jennifer Collins

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Implementing A 3d Printing Service In An Academic Library, Steven W. Pryor

Library and Information Services Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Makerspaces and related concepts and technologies are currently the subject of much discussion in the library community, particularly among public libraries. One prominent technology often featured in makerspaces is three-dimensional (3D) printing. In this article the author describes a 3D printing service launched at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Lovejoy Library; the justification for providing the service in an academic library, equipment selection, procedures and workflow, and evaluation of the success of the service to date.

Anolis Sex Chromosomes Are Derived From A Single Ancestral Pair, Tony Gamble, Anthony J. Geneva, Richard E. Glor, David Zarkower

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

To explain the frequency and distribution of heteromorphic sex chromosomes in the lizard genus Anolis, we compared the relative roles of sex chromosome conservation versus turnover of sex‐determining mechanisms. We used model‐based comparative methods to reconstruct karyotype evolution and the presence of heteromorphic sex chromosomes onto a newly generated Anolis phylogeny. We found that heteromorphic sex chromosomes evolved multiple times in the genus. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) of repetitive DNA showed variable rates of Y chromosome degeneration among Anolis species and identified previously undetected, homomorphic sex chromosomes in two species. We confirmed homology of sex chromosomes in the genus …

Bayesian Multimodel Estimation Of Global Terrestrial Latent Heat Flux From Eddy Covariance, Meteorological, And Satellite Observations, Yunjun Yao, Shunlin Liang, Xianglan Li, Yang Hong, Joshua B. Fisher, Nannan Zhang, Jiquan Chen, Jie Cheng, Shaohua Zhao, Xiaotong Zhang, Bo Jiang, Liang Sun, Kun Jia, Kaicun Wang, Yang Chen, Qiaozhen Mu, Fei Feng

Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group Publications

Accurate estimation of the satellite-based global terrestrial latent heat flux (LE) at high spatial and temporal scales remains a major challenge. In this study, we introduce a Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method to improve satellite-based global terrestrial LE estimation by merging five process-based algorithms. These are the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LE product algorithm, the revised remote-sensing-based Penman-Monteith LE algorithm, the Priestley-Taylor-based LE algorithm, the modified satellite-based Priestley-Taylor LE algorithm, and the semi-empirical Penman LE algorithm. We validated the BMA method using data for 2000–2009 and by comparison with a simple model averaging (SA) method and five process-based algorithms. …

A Satellite Data Driven Biophysical Modeling Approach For Estimating Northern Peatland And Tundra Co2 And Ch4 Fluxes, J. D. Watts, John S. Kimball, F. J. W. Parmentier, T. Sachs, J. Rinne, D. Zona, Walt Oechel, T. Tagesson, M. Jackowicz-Korczynski, M. Aurela

Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group Publications

The northern terrestrial net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) is contingent on inputs from vegetation gross primary productivity (GPP) to offset the ecosystem respiration (R_eco) of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) emissions, but an effective framework to monitor the regional Arctic NECB is lacking. We modified a terrestrial carbon flux (TCF) model developed for satellite remote sensing applications to evaluate wetland CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes over pan-Arctic eddy covariance (EC) flux tower sites. The TCF model estimates GPP, CO₂ and CH₄ emissions using in situ or remote sensing and …

Carbon Offset Solutions For International Travel Emissions, Kristen Bailey, Kelly Kurz, Tanya Sushkova

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

This paper explores possible carbon offset solutions for the University of Richmond’s (UR’s) study-abroad travel emissions in pursuit of the University’s goal to be carbon neutral by the year 2050. First, our group divided the world into five regions to which UR students travel: Oceania, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. For the most popular countries in each region, we suggest several carbon offset programs to address this portion of the University’s carbon emissions. Then, we created a methodology for evaluating and comparing carbon offset programs around the world including six scoring categories: experience, education, incentive, price, impact, and effectiveness. …

Since You're Here, Volume 8, No. 4, April 2014, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. Nelson Poynter Memorial Library

Since You're Here

The April 2014 issue of the newsletter "Since You're Here."

Forum, Volume 38, No. 1, Spring 2014, Florida Humanities Council, Barbara O'Reilley

FORUM: The Magazine of Florida Humanities

Contents: Letter from the Director -- A Florida Icon is under Siege -- Dream Fruit for a Dream State -- The Great Freeze Dashed Dreams -- Working to Ensure Survival of Citrus -- The Citrus Wizard -- Florida Grows -- Humanities Alive! -- Stitching a Legacy -- A Community Brought to Life -- Hard Work and Dreams -- Wewahitchka: A Brutally Beautiful Eden -- A Nicaraguan Heart

Forms Of Corporate Ownership And Radical Boundary Spanning Of Multinational Corporations: A Multilevel Study Of The Petroleum Industry, A. Erin Bass

Management Faculty Publications

This research examines the relationship between corporate ownership and radical boundary spanning of multinational corporations (MNCs). Hypotheses are developed based on a multi-theoretic approach that uses the concepts of boundary spanning exploration, resource dependence theory (RDT), and corporate ownership from the management literature with the resource triangle from the field of geology. It is hypothesized that the form of corporate ownership is associated with radical boundary spanning. Corporate ownership is also proposed to be associated with the firm's commitment to radical boundary spanning. Finally, the location's resource attractiveness is hypothesized to moderate the relationship between the form of corporate ownership …

Spring 2014, Gla Glq

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

College Costs: Students Can't Afford Not To Know, Brad J. Hershbein, Kevin Hollenbeck

External Papers and Reports

No abstract provided.

Sex, Drugs, And Exotic Fantasy: Tangier And Orientalism Through Paul Bowles And Mohamed Choukri, Bailey Booras

All Theses And Dissertations

Situated on the edge of Europe, Africa, and the Mediterranean Sea, Tangier is a transnational city in terms of its culture, history, and influences. Authors Paul Bowles and Mohamed Choukri were inspired to write about life in this complex borderland city. These authors, one, an insider, writing from the experience of living in poverty, the other providing unique insider and outsider perspectives on the city as an American expatriate who lived there for 50 years, illustrate whether or not elements of Edward Said’s Orientalism, a term which he uses to describe the negative assumptions applied to the East by the …

2013 Economic Impact Of Companies Funded And/Or Assisted By The Northeast Ohio Entrepreneurial Signature Program, Candi Clouse, Ziona Austrian

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This report measures the economic impact of early-stage companies that have been supported by JumpStart Inc. and its partners in the Northeast Ohio Entrepreneurial Signature Program (ESP).¹ Companies included in this report have received significant technical assistance and/or direct investment funding from entrepreneurial support organizations in the ESP. It is important to note that North Coast Angel Fund invests in companies throughout Ohio and the economic outcomes generated by these firms are included in the statewide economic impact reported here; while the remainder of the ESP’s entrepreneurial acceleration activities are confined geographically to the 21 counties of Northeast Ohio. …

Barrier(S), Marisa Nemcik

Architecture Senior Theses

Super Storm Sandy brutally exposed the vulnerabilities of the Atlanta coast leading to extensive damage and loss. It left 650,000 homes damaged or destroyed and caused $65.7 billion in damages in the tri-state area, making it the 2nd costliest storm in U.S. history. In the area of NJ alone, damages cost about $36 billion. In what way can architecture influence not only the how to rebuild but the way in which we think of recovery.

Due to its location, New Jersey’s coast was physically the largest impacted region as per Sandy. (Although New York overall saw more damage due to …

Bard Free Press, Vol. 15, No. 7 (April 2014), Bard College

Bard Free Press - All Issues (2000-2018)

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Standards-Based Report Cards On Reading Achievement In The Third Grade, Terri L. Wyrosdick

Theses and Dissertations

School districts across the nation are transitioning away from traditional A-F letter grade report cards in favor of standards-based report cards (SBRC). Previous studies have indicated that many parents were confused by SBRC. The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference exists between the reading achievement of third-grade students using traditional A-F letter grade report cards and those students using SBRC. Pre-existing CRCT data of the pass/fail percentage of third graders from five school districts and 118 schools in 2009 and 2010, the year prior to and the year of implementation of SBRC, were analyzed. A chi …

Constituting The Entrepreneurial Poor: Social Capital, Development, And The Contemporary Microfinance Industry, Luke Allen

Political Science Honors Projects

The contemporary microfinance industry struggles to manage the tensions that arise from its competing roles as a tool in the fight against poverty and as a lucrative financial market. I contend that the microfinance industry manages these tensions through discourses that emphasize the entrepreneurialism of the poor in the Global South. Furthermore, I argue that the industry attempts to constitute the entrepreneurial "microfinance subject" through networks of coalitions, discourses, personnel, and technologies. These networks produce and distribute new forms of risk onto these subjects, necessitating a critical response.

Complex Value Choices At The Environment-Energy Interface, Hari M. Osofsky

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

During the 2001–02 academic year, I lived in China, teaching U.S. civil rights law and helping to start a labor law clinic. My first day of teaching the fall civil rights course was the day of the September 11 attacks, and that event and reactions to it played a dominant role in my experience of that year. However, it was also a particularly interesting year to be in China from an environmental-energy perspective because the Three Gorges Dam was in the process of being built and brought onlie. At that point, the area was partially flooded and it was one …