Digital Commons Network^™

Phoenix Y6, Sean Backes, Michael Destin, Alastair Hood, Bruce Iverson, Brian Meier, John Strong

Mechanical Engineering Senior Theses

The mission of this project is to design and fabricate a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fixed-wing drone for use by firefighters and other emergency services. This vehicle will be designed for uses that include surveying wildfires, as well as spotting vehicular accidents, urban fires, and floods. Current drones available on the market are expensive or not designed specifically for emergency response. Our goal is to develop a working prototype of a vehicle that will be able to collect and relay important data such as live video and thermal images in addition to other measurements such as air velocity and …

Arcadia Magazine, 2018-04-07

Alumni Magazine

No abstract provided.

Preparedness Of First Responders In Gwinnett County, Georgia: Barriers To Preparedness And The Impact Of Cognitive Biases, Jeffrey Lee Smith

Dissertations

While it is important for the public to be prepared for emergencies and disasters, it is perhaps more important for first responders, as members of the public, to be prepared for emergencies and disasters, so they may do the job the public expects of them. This study explores the preparedness of first responders in a large, diverse, and heavily populated metro-Atlanta county. It also investigates impediments to these first responders being better prepared and the role cognitive biases play in preparedness for this group. The study finds that the study population, as a whole, is underprepared. The research also reveals …

Fourth Amendment Constraints On The Technological Monitoring Of Convicted Sex Offenders, Ben A. Mcjunkin, Jj Prescott

Law & Economics Working Papers

More than forty U.S. states currently track at least some of their convicted sex offenders using GPS devices. Many offenders will be monitored for life. The burdens and expense of living indefinitely under constant technological monitoring have been well documented, but most commentators have assumed that these burdens were of no constitutional moment because states have characterized such surveillance as “civil” in character — and courts have seemed to agree. In 2015, however, the Supreme Court decided in Grady v. North Carolina that attaching a GPS monitoring device to a person was a Fourth Amendment search, notwithstanding the ostensibly civil …

Unforeseen Land Uses: The Effect Of Marijuana Legalization On Land Conservation Programs, Jessica Owley

Journal Articles

This Article explores the tension between land conservation and marijuana cultivation in the context of legalization. The legalization of marijuana has the potential to shift the locations of marijuana cultivation. Where cultivation need no longer be surreptitious and clandestine, growers may begin to explore sanctioned growing sites and methods. Thus, the shift to legalization may be accompanied by environmental and land-use implications. Investigating commercial-scale marijuana cultivation, this Article details how, in some ways, legalization can reduce environmental impacts of marijuana cultivation while also examining tricky issues regarding tensions between protected lands and marijuana cultivation. If we treat cultivation of marijuana …

Path2 Services Court: A Process Evaluation, Octavio Jimenez

Master's Projects

In 2014, the Santa Clara County Superior Court received a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant to improve the efficacy of the Juvenile Treatment Court (JTC) and Court for the Individualized Treatment of Adolescents (CITA) programs by streamlining the referral, screening, and court hearing processes. Receipt of the grant allowed the Superior Court to integrate JTC and CITA to establish the Progress Achieved Through Hope and Holistic Services (PATH2 Services) Court.

This research analyzed whether the Santa Clara County Superior Court successfully integrated the JTC and CITA programs when it established PATH2 Services. In addition it determined …

Pedestrian Safety On San Jose Roads: The Impact Of Traffic Safety Infrastructure, David Lisenbee

Master's Projects

How successful have the City of San Jose’s traffic safety improvement programs been in reducing pedestrian injuries/fatalities on city streets? This research question focuses on the impact of the City of San Jose’s traffic safety programs on pedestrian safety between 2010 and 2014. The research aims to determine the extent to which traffic safety programs and infrastructure reduce rates of pedestrian injuries/fatalities and the severity of pedestrian injuries when incidents occur.

Proposal For A Treaty To Apply The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Solution To The Corporate Criminal Problem In Private Military And Security Companies, Evyenia Zaferis

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bans, Borders, And Sovereignty: Judicial Review Of Immigration Law In The Trump Administration, Peter Margulies

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

New Mexico Tribal Cannabis: Policy, Politics, & Guidance For Government-To-Government Cooperation In State-Tribal Cannabis Compacting, Matthew Ramírez

Natural Resources Journal

The purpose of this article is three-fold. First, it aims to provide a systematic review of international, United States, state, and federal Indian law and policy surrounding cannabis cultivation, possession, and use in Indian Country. Second, it argues that the 2017 New Mexico tribal medical cannabis bills (SB 345 & HB 348), which were introduced in the first regular session of the New Mexico State Legislature and would have permitted the state to enter into intergovernmental agreements (or compacts) with tribes who choose to implement the state’s medical cannabis program on tribal lands, contained legal vulnerabilities likely to hinder their …

Whose Fault In An Aging World?: Comparing Dementia-Related Tort Liability In Common Law And Civil Law Jurisdictions, Trevor Ryan, Wendy Bonython

Washington International Law Journal

Age-related dementias have been identified as a global health priority, based on their rapidly rising incidence and associated economic burden. Behaviors symptomatic of dementias, such as wandering, potentially expose sufferers to increased likelihood of experiencing harm or causing harms to others. Yet what jurisprudence and case law exists on the issue of tortious liability of people with dementia is largely derived from the broader principles governing tortious liability of those with mental illness or otherwise impaired capacity. Those principles are themselves problematic, reflecting absolutist models of either personal liability (common law jurisdictions) or statutory personal immunity accompanied by imposition of …

Combating Discrimination Against The Formerly Incarcerated In The Labor Market, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Ifeoma Ajunwa

Faculty Scholarship

Both discrimination by private employers and governmental restrictions in the form of statutes that prohibit professional licensing serve to exclude the formerly incarcerated from much of the labor market. This Essay explores and analyzes potential legislative and contractual means for removing these barriers to labor market participation by the formerly incarcerated. First, as a means of addressing discrimination by the state, Part I of this Essay explores the ways in which the adoption of racial impact statements — which mandate that legislators consider statistical analyses of the potential impact their proposed legislation may have on racial and ethnic groups prior …

Quarantine And The Federal Role In Epidemics, Michael R. Ulrich, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

Every recent presidential administration has faced an infectious disease threat, and this trend is certain to continue. The states have primary responsibility for protecting the public’s health under their police powers, but modern travel makes diseases almost impossible to contain intrastate. How should the federal government respond in the future? The Ebola scare in the U.S. repeated a typical response—demands for quarantine. In January 2017, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued final regulations on its authority to issue Federal Quarantine Orders. These regulations rely heavily on confining persons who may …

A Multiple Case Study Of The Interagency Relationship Between School Administrators And Law Enforcement Personnel In The Creation, Implementation, And Sustaining Of School Emergency Management Plans, Robert Lopez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to examine how the interorganizational relationship between school administrators and law enforcement personnel in the Midwest, South, and Southwest regions of the United States with diverse cultures, missions, and objectives to collaborate to create, implement, and sustain emergency management readiness. The theoretical concept that guided this study involved interorganizational theories as they relate to two or more organizations working together toward a common goal. This study used purposeful sampling of 12 participants from three school districts from the states of Alabama, New Mexico, and Illinois. A within-case and cross-case analysis along …

An Unsupervised Cluster: Learning Water Customer Behavior Using Variation Of Information On A Reconstructed Phase Space, Michele Rae Bizub Malinowski

Dissertations (1934 -)

The unsupervised clustering algorithm described in this dissertation addresses the need to divide a population of water utility customers into groups based on their similarities and differences, using only the measured flow data collected by water meters. After clustering, the groups represent customers with similar consumption behavior patterns and provide insight into ‘normal’ and ‘unusual’ customer behavior patterns. This research focuses upon individually metered water utility customers and includes both residential and commercial customer accounts serviced by utilities within North America. The contributions of this dissertation not only represent a novel academic work, but also solve a practical problem for …

Guns, Government, And The American Way: Balancing Liberty Rights In A Liberal State, Elizabeth Levinson

Spring 2018

From the Washington University Senior Honors Thesis Abstracts (WUSHTA), Spring 2018. Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Joy Zalis Kiefer, Director of Undergraduate Research and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences; Lindsey Paunovich, Editor; Helen Human, Programs Manager and Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Kit Wellman

The Santa Clara County Reentry Resource Center: Reentry Service Linkage And The One-Stop Shop Model, Rose Redlich

Master's Projects

AB 109 has resulted in a significantly greater need for reentry programs and services across California. Many county law enforcement officials now view reentry programs and services as a promising approach for keeping recidivism rates low.

Santa Clara County has recognized the value of well-coordinated, quick, and efficient reentry service delivery. In response to AB 109, the Office of the Sheriff and Department of Correction partnered with the Probation Department, Office of the County Executive, Behavioral Health Services Department, Custody Health Department, Ambulatory Care, and the Social Services Agency to establish the Santa Clara County Reentry Resource Center (SCCRC) in …

Legal Strategies For Economic Empowerment Of Persons In Recovery, Lauren Rogal

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Substance use disorders, which afflict nearly 8% of the U.S. population,' exact a devastating human and economic toll. The opioid epidemic has caused overdose deaths to quadruple since 1999.2 In 2013 alone, the epidemic imposed an economic burden of over $78.5 billion, including $28.9 billion in spending on health care and substance abuse treatment. These burdens increasingly fall on rural and under-resourced areas, particularly in the Appalachian region. The crisis has evoked a range of policy reforms to prevent addiction, investments in treatment for sufferers, and lawsuits against purveyors of addictive substances.

Principles Of Risk Assessment: Sentencing And Policing, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Risk assessment — measuring an individual’s potential for offending — has long been an important aspect of criminal justice, especially in connection with sentencing, pretrial detention and police decision-making. To aid in the risk assessment inquiry, a number of states have recently begun relying on statistically-derived algorithms called “risk assessment instruments” (RAIs). RAIs are generally thought to be more accurate than the type of seat-of-the-pants risk assessment in which judges, parole boards and police officers have traditionally engaged. But RAIs bring with them their own set of controversies. In recognition of these concerns, this brief paper proposes three principles — …

Reassessing Prosecutorial Power Through The Lens Of Mass Incarceration, Jeffrey Bellin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

For decades, legal commentators sounded the alarm about the tremendous power wielded by prosecutors. Scholars went so far as to identify uncurbed prosecutorial discretion as the primary source of the criminal justice system's many flaws. Over the past two years, however, the conversation shifted. With the emergence of a new wave of "progressive prosecutors," scholars increasingly hail broad prosecutorial discretion as a promising mechanism for criminal justice reform. The abrupt shift from decrying to embracing prosecutorial power highlights a curious void at the center of criminal justice thought. There is no widely accepted normative theory of the prosecutorial role. As …

Riparian Rights And Public Trust: Enforcement Authority, Reeana Keenen

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

In Virginia, private landowners own the land to the Mean Low Water mark (“MLW”), whereas in many coastal states private landowners only own to the high water mark. The bottomlands channelward of the MLW mark in Virginia are governed by the Public Trust Doctrine, meaning that the state holds this land in trust for use by the public. However, use conflicts can arise where private landowners own property adjacent to publicly owned property or where public easements run through private property adjacent to public beach access points.

This Paper will provide a summary of the law regarding private and public …

International Public Opinion With High-Profile Cases: An Analysis And Solution For The Amanda Knox, Natalee Holloway And Ryan Lochte Cases, Alexa Horner

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Surveillance Gap: The Harms Of Extreme Privacy And Data Marginalization, Michele Gilman, Rebecca Green

Faculty Publications

We live in an age of unprecedented surveillance, enhanced by modern technology, prompting some to suggest that privacy is dead. Previous scholarship suggests that no subset of the population feels this phenomenon more than marginalized communities. Those who rely on public benefits, for example, must turn over personal information and submit to government surveillance far more routinely than wealthier citizens who enjoy greater opportunity to protect their privacy and the ready funds to secure it. This article illuminates the other end of the spectrum, arguing that many individuals who may value government and nonprofit services and legal protections fail to …

Is Citizenship Still Relevant? State Sovereignty, Migration, And Sanctuary Cities In A Globalizing World, Melissa J. Lauro

Student Publications

This paper argues that sanctuary cities and sanctuary policies in the United States are a manifestation of the conflicts resulting from processes of globalization, which have changed traditional notions of citizenship, state sovereignty, and state security, as well as fostered a cultural backlash and identity politics within the U.S.

Building A Better Hal 9000: Algorithms, The Market, And The Need To Prevent The Engraining Of Bias, Anjanette H. Raymond, Emma Arrington Stone Young, Scott J. Shackelford

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

As sci-fi fans will recall, the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey is focused on the interaction between humans and artificial intelligence. In the movie, HAL (Heuristically programmed Algorithmic Computer) 9000 computer is an artificial intelligence and the onboard computer on the spaceship Discovery 1. HAL 9000, more commonly called “Hal,” is capable of many functions, such as speech, facial recognition, lip reading, interpreting emotions, and expressing emotions. HAL is built into the Discovery 1 spacecraft, and is in charge of maintaining all mechanical and life support systems on board. As the movie progresses, the astronauts become concerned about HAL’s behavior …

Perceptions Of Career And Technical Education (Cte) Teachers On Indicators Of Teaching Quality, Jesse Seth Chenven

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of career and technical education (CTE) teachers regarding the importance they assign to indicators of quality teaching practice. The population consisted of CTE teachers who teach or taught in New Mexico. The first research question asked how CTE teachers perceive the importance of quality teaching indicators as they relate to what CTE teachers should know and be able to do. Subsequent research questions examined the degree to which four demographic categories (years of experience, level of education, discipline of instruction, and licensure type) influence CTE teachers’ opinions regarding the importance …

The Strategic Implications Of The Cártel De Jalisco Nueva Generación, Nathan P. Jones

Journal of Strategic Security

Most security analysts now view the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) as the most powerful organized crime group (OCG) in Mexico. This article explores the strategic/security implications of the rise of this new and aggressive group by providing an in-depth historical case study. The case study shows that the CJNG is a highly resilient and geographically dispersed entity that draws upon the experience of its members, which studied under the tutelage of the Milenio and Sinaloa cartels. Since 2015 the CJNG has begun “adopting orphan” criminal cells left in the wake of the US and Mexican kingpin strategy and …

Admissibility Of First Time In-Court Eyewitness Identifications: An Argument For Additional Due Process Protections In New York, Dakota Kann

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Social Banishment And The Us “Criminal Alien”: Norms Of Violence And Repression In The Deportation Regime, David C. Brotherton

Publications and Research

I interpret data from an ongoing participant observation study of deportation hearings in the North-East United States using two analytical themes: (i) the emergence of the deportation regime and its mechanisms of structural violence, and (ii) the norms of violence in the spaces of the deportation regime. By deportation regime I am referring to the institutional systems and practices created under the emergence of an exceptional security state and the discrete and not so discrete apparatuses and rituals employed to discipline the minds and bodies of documented and undocumented immigrant labor and the collateral consequences that result. Whereas structural violence …

A Fixed Rule For A Changing World: The Legacy Of Lucas V. South Carolina Coastal Council, J. Peter Byrne

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In light of the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Lucas decision, this Article reexamines the actual relevance of the opinion by weighing the framing, reach, and aftermath of Justice Scalia’s majority opinion. This Article argues that Justice Scalia’s opinion consciously framed the regulatory takings doctrine in a more favorable way for private property owners, and by doing so, helped pave the way for subsequent denial that environmental and climate concerns are a valid basis for any government action. Justice Scalia attempted to create a regulatory environment that protects private real estate investments instead of protecting the public environment as …