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Utah State Engineer, Fall 2018, College Of Engineering

College of Engineering Magazines

Annual magazine for the College of Engineering at Utah State University.

Officer Use Of Force: A Multicase Study Of Institutional Betrayal, Margarita Mcauliffe

Theses & Dissertations

Law enforcement officers in the United States are authorized to utilize force (Alpert & MacDonald, 2001); however, the use of force can cause physical and emotional trauma to the person against whom it is used, and to the person’s loved ones (WHO, 2002; Bloom, 2012; APA, 2013). The needs and rights of traumatized individuals must be addressed for healing to occur (U.S. DOJ, 2013). It was not known if the needs and rights of the survivors of officer use of force were being met. Filling a gap in the literature, this exploratory multicase study investigated 5 use-of-force incidents with demographically …

Insights Into Rising Pension Costs In Illinois Municipalities, Andy Blanke, Norman Walzer

Reports, Whitepapers, Articles, and Other Publications

This article examines the funding status of downstate (which includes suburban) Illinois police and fire pension funds in relation to professional recommendations, the numbers of participants, benefits, actuarial assets and liabilities. In addition, relationships between municipal characteristics and changes in funding rations are analyzed to provide insight into the factors associated with changes in funding ratios. This article concludes with a discussion of potential approaches for addresses rising pension costs with possible implications for Illinois.

Assessment Of Drinking Water/Aquifer Vulnerability To Contamination By Natural Manganese And Anthropogenic Chemicals In The U.S., Ryan Kelly

Sustainability and Social Justice

Aquifers in the U.S. store groundwater used by many Americans every day for drinking eating, bathing and cleaning. These underground sources of water are vital to life and may be subject to contamination from both natural and anthropogenic pollution, including manganese (Mn) – especially shallow aquifers (<100 feet to bedrock). Natural sources of Mn are found in soils, surficial deposits, and bedrock, while anthropogenic contamination derives from landfills, waste facilities, or industries that use toxic materials. Pollutants like Mn raise concern because there is no policy in place to enforce regulation of Mn levels in water supplies based on limited information about health effects. Yet studies have shown elevated levels of Mn intake can lead to adverse human health effects. This study uses ArcMap to identify potential sources of Mn and/or toxics contamination in shallow U.S. aquifers based on geologic characteristics of a given aquifer source and proximity to waste sites. The results show approximately 2 million Americans may be at risk of consuming water with natural Mn contamination, and of those 2 million, close to 1.7 million are also vulnerable to additional toxics from anthropogenic waste. …

Preparation Matters: A Quantitative Examination Of Faculty Active Shooter Preparedness, Latisha Pitts

Dissertations

In recent years, the occurrence of active shooter incidents has become more prevalent within the United States. Since the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, there has been an increase in active shooter incidents at institutions of higher learning (IHLs). Educational settings have been identified by the FBI as the second most common place for active shooter incidents to occur. As a result, there has become an increased need for administrators at IHLs to create and maintain cultures of preparedness that include effective active shooter training. In this research study, Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory was used as a framework to …

Informal Rulemaking And Democratic Participation Fda – Food Labeling, Fcc – Net Neutrality, A Text Mining Study, Casey Shannon

Public Administration Master’s Projects

The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) is supposed to make the rulemaking process at the administrative level democratic. This study will look at two examples of federal regulatory agencies – Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The topics are food labeling, and net neutrality respectively. The APA highlights the process of notice and comment rulemaking. The APA is evaluated in the literature review for effectiveness and shortcomings. Interest groups play a key role in the policy making process; interest groups inform and mobilize citizens, and then coordinate commenting on agency rule propositions. This can sometimes lead …

Project Renew Worcester, Danni Yue, Amy Zhang, Jing Han, Omid Ashrafi, Yiming Xu

School of Professional Studies

n The client for this capstone project is RENEW Worcester which is a fledgling solar power project whose main goals are to bring renewable energy in the form of solar power into local, primarily low-income communities and are committed to the mission of making the transition off of fossil fuels to clean, renewable power. Based in Worcester, Massachusetts, they are a local chapter of Co-op Power which is a consumer-owned sustainable energy cooperative (co-op) made up of numerous different local chapters all over the New England area as well as the state of New York. The problem that we will …

Magnolia Gates, Aimee Adams, Mark Crowley, Jason Hull

Master of Real Estate Development

No abstract provided.

Isu Special Announcement- December 10, 2018, Indiana State University, Communications And Marketing

University Announcements - ISU Today

No abstract provided.

Habitat Suitability Analysis For Mountain Lions (Puma Concolor) Recolonization/ Reintroduction In Minnesota, Mbongowo J. Mbuh, Neil Vruno

Geography & Geographic Information Science Faculty Publications

The mountain lion range once extended throughout the state of Minnesota. The breeding population has been greatly reduced with time, new roads, and timber harvesting, which have broken large tracts of contiguous forest into isolated patches that are too small and no longer suitable for the breeding mountain lion population. The objective of this study is to use suitability analysis to determine the most suitable habitat to conserve mountain lion populations threatened by habitat fragmentation. To attain our objective, we created three sub models that contribute to the overarching goal of the suitability model. A habitat sub model was developed …

Criminal Justice, Inc., John Rappaport

Articles

No abstract provided.

Social Media Communication By Local Governments And Its Implications For Urban Planning, Leiming Zhao

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Social media has altered traditional communication and enriched traditional social networks. In addition to its use for personal communication and business marketing, social media has also been proved to be a valuable tool for urban planners and managers. However, there are relatively few studies about how social media communication may inform the design of urban master plans. The objectives of the thesis are to understand how the city governments have used social media to engage with the general public on urban planning issues, and assess if social media contents can be used to inform urban planning. The 10 top digital …

Unrealistic Expectations: The Federal Government's Unachievable Mandate For State Cannabis Regulation, Rebecca Sweeney

Washington Law Review

The states that have legalized cannabis maintain a complicated relationship with the federal government. Since the Ogden Memorandum was issued in 2009, the federal government has left regulation of cannabis to the discretion of the states. That policy has recently shifted. In 2018, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a new memorandum that rescinded guidance for states about how to structure the legalization of cannabis. The federal government’s current position is now ideologically aligned with that of states like Nebraska and Oklahoma. These states chose not to legalize cannabis and instead adhere to the Controlled Substances Act’s classification of …

Between The Facts And Norms Of Police Violence: Using Discourse Models To Improve Deliberations Around Law Enforcement, Franciska Coleman

Hofstra Law Review

Police violence and protests of police violence have become a common feature of today's news cycles and have led to widespread critique and distrust of the law enforcement apparatus and police practice. States and municipalities have responded to the delegitimization of police practice with community-police dialogues. This Article argues that such dialogues can only restore the legitimacy of the police practice if they are deliberative in the Habermasian sense and also address the entrenched power asymmetries between communities and the police. This Article uses the community listening sessions of the Minnesota Governor's Council on Law Enforcement and Community Relations to …

Offset Right-Turn Lanes On State Highway Systems, Aemal J. Khattak, Yashu Kang

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This research focused on two aspects related to Offset Right Turn Lanes (ORTLs) on Nebraska state highway two-way stop-controlled intersections. The first was the crash safety and economic benefits of ORTLs compared to intersections with no right turn lanes or traditional right turn lanes. The second was driver stopping behavior at stop signs at two-way stop-controlled intersections equipped with ORTLs. The research team reviewed information from various published studies, analyzed crash data reported at 47 two-way stop-controlled intersections as well as collected and analyzed driver stopping behavior at six ORTLs in Nebraska. Traffic volume and reported crashes during 2012-2015 were …

Tacir Insight, Refining Tennessee's Criminal Statutes Of Limitations, Tennessee. Advisory Commission On Intergovernmental Relations.

TACIR Insight

No abstract provided.

Weapons On Campus Policy

Public Safety Policies

At University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis, we are committed to the safety, security, and well-being of our students, faculty and staff. The Universitye continually works to improve security and foster a safe and secure climate for learning and living. The purpose of this policy is to establish restrictions regarding the possession of firearms and weapons on University Property, in vehicles parked on campus, University vehicles, or at University sponsored events and activities.

Public Policy And Strategies To Support Institutional And Technological Innovations In The New Water Economy: The Example Of Innovation Technology Clusters In Developing And Diffusing Water Technologies., Craig Francis Barham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A long list of water technologies has been central to human development throughout history. From the well in ancient times to desalination in the contemporary period, water technologies are needed to produce, distribute and treat water to support human life, industry, agriculture, and environmental health. As human development puts intense pressure on the planet's limited fresh water supplies, society is turning to increasingly innovative water technologies to close the supply-demand gap. The water economy represents a significant share of total economic output it its own right, while at the same time water directly or indirectly underpins all other economic activity. …

Comparative Study Of U.S. And E.U. Experiences With Policies On Immigration Controls, Daniel Brady

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The year 2015 marked a colossal change in how the world views immigration. The migration crisis of Europe and the emergence of President Donald Trump continue to have lasting impacts. Major political, demographic, and social conflicts are playing out in the U.S. and Europe over migration. In the U.S., President Trump has been able to enact anti-immigration sentiment into policy. Contrary to that, in Europe, the 28 member states of the European Union have failed to come up with a clear, unifying plan to deal with the migration crisis. The consequences of migration will be harsher and less manageable in …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of A Quality Improvement Intervention To Decrease Missed Opportunities For Human Papillomavirus Vaccination At A Nurse Managed Health Center, Maria Medina-Calvo

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Purpose: To decrease the number of missed opportunities for human papillomavirus vaccine eligible patients seeking healthcare in a Nurse Managed Health Center. Background & Significance: Human papillomavirus genital infection has inflicted nearly 79 million Americans. Annually, about 14 million newly infected individuals are identified, with noted predominance in teens and young adults, and of this number approximately 19,200 females and 11,600 males receive a cancer diagnosis as a result of the human papillomavirus infection. The incidence of infections can be reduced with a human papillomavirus vaccine, but only about 63% of females and even fewer males initiate the human papillomavirus …

2018-December-01-2018 Recap, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

As we enjoy the excitement of a new year, let’s take a moment to look back at 2018. In case you missed it, or want to remember the milestones and achievements celebrated by the ETSU community this year, take a look at the headlines below.

Be sure to share your favorite stories with friends and family, and on social media.  New audiology clinic opens in Elizabethton 

Seven athletes with ties to ETSU selected to compete in Winter Olympics

Open textbook network established

Dr. Brian Cross named a Fulbright Scholar

Gatton’s GenRx committee named best in nation for the third time …

Career And Technical Education On Mathematics And Reading Achievement For Students In North Central Arkansas, Kimberley Sartain

College of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to determine the effects of gender and Career and Technical Education (CTE) participation level on the mathematics and reading achievement as measured by the ACT Aspire for 10th-grade students and ACT subtest assessments for 11th-grade students in 2 5-A high schools in North Central Arkansas. While researching the effects of gender and CTE participation level, this scholar found no statistically significant difference between gender and CTE participation level on student achievement. This researcher explored the literature relating to the mathematic and reading achievement of males and females as well as whether they …

Providing First Responders With Real-Time Status Of Cellular Networks During A Disaster, Clark Hochgraf, Joseph Nygate, Miguel Bazdresch, Mark Indelicato, William P. Johnson, Romel Espinosa Reyes

Presentations and other scholarship

Existing systems for reporting cellular outages do not provide adequate geographical granularity and do not provide a real-time view of the state of the communication network. This work presents a system for real-time measurement of both coverage and quality of service via crowdsourced measurements from consumer and first responder phones. Baseline coverage and quality of service data is collected prior to a major disaster. During a major disaster, real-time data is compared to baseline to identify areas of congestion or outages. Such information can be used by incident commanders to more effectively deploy resources during major disasters. Furthermore, such system …

Shame, Embarrassment, And The Subjectivity Requirement, Erick Ramirez

Philosophy

Reactive theories of responsibility see moral accountability as grounded on the capacity for feeling reactive-attitudes. I respond to a recent argument gaining ground in this tradition that excludes psychopaths from accountability. The argument relies on what Paul Russell has called the 'subjectivity requirement'. On this view, the capacity to feel and direct reactive-attitudes at oneself is a necessary condition for responsibility. I argue that even if moral attitudes like guilt are impossible for psychopaths to deploy, that psychopaths, especially the "successful" and "secondary" subtypes of psychopathy, can satisfy the subjectivity requirement with regard to shame. I appeal to evidence that …

Privacy's Double Standards, Scott Skinner-Thompson

Washington Law Review

Where the right to privacy exists, it should be available to all people. If not universally available, then privacy rights should be particularly accessible to marginalized individuals who are subject to greater surveillance and are less able to absorb the social costs of privacy violations. But in practice, there is evidence that people of privilege tend to fare better when they bring privacy tort claims than do non-privileged individuals. This disparity occurs despite doctrine suggesting that those who occupy prominent and public social positions are entitled to diminished privacy tort protections. This Article unearths disparate outcomes in public disclosure tort …

Investigation Of Kentucky For-Hire Requirements, Andrew Martin, Valerie J. Keathley, Jennifer R. Walton

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This study analyzes the costs and benefits of the Kentucky For-Hire operating authority, which is issued to all carriers who pick up and drop off freight in Kentucky on a for-hire basis. It reviews current statutory and regulatory requirements, calculates the costs and benefits of administering Kentucky For-Hire, reviews the legal history of trucking regulation and deregulation, reports on a survey of other states about their practices with intrastate operating authority, and proposes three alternatives to current policies. The primary benefit of Kentucky For-Hire is that it enables the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to verify carriers have commercial liability insurance. Several …

Investigating Problem Of Distracted Drivers On Louisiana Roadways, Xiaoduan Sun

Publications

Due to the escalating usage of cellphone and social networking, distracted driving is and will remain as one of the most serious problems faced by Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and law enforcement agencies. Under the aim of in-depth investigation of distracted driving crashes in Louisiana, the specific objectives of this study are: (1) reviewing the crash reports for the quality of distracted driving crash reporting, (2) analyzing distracted driving-related crashes through regression model and data mining algorithm to link the severity of distracted driving crashes with the contributing factors collected in crash data, (3) investigating the observable characteristics of distracted …

Root And Branch: The Thirteenth Amendment And Environmental Justice, Mehmet K. Konar-Steenberg

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Pacific Sentinel, December 2018, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

The Pacific Sentinel

Editor: Jake Johnson

Articles in this issue include:

• Signing the Movement;
• Man in CPSO Custody Dies on Thanksgiving;
• Lars Larson and PSU Clash;
• Mt. Hood Faults Add Earthquake Threat to Portland;
• The Kelp Forests and Sea Urchins: It's Complicated;
• Pennsylvania Catholic Church Knew of Over 1,000 Victims;
• Will the City of Portland Increase Houseless Sweeps?;
• The Portland Book Festival Formerly Known as Wordstock;
• Herstory in the Making: Historic Firsts and Other Election Results;
• Oregon Voting Laws; Public Education Victories in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona are a Model for the Country;
• One Nation In/Divisible: Examining the Two-Party System;
• Should We Start …

The Adoption Of Federal Scrutiny By State Supreme Courts In Same-Sex Marriage Jurisprudence, Shane Farrell

Lawrence University Honors Projects

It would be logical to assume state supreme courts, when reviewing state constitutional challenges, interpret their state constitutions in unique and independent ways. This is not true in same-sex marriage cases. Counterintuitively, state supreme courts use a non-independent standard of review created by the federal government. My research shows that state courts are shaped by federal scrutiny standards in same-sex marriage cases. I will show how Washington, Connecticut, and California all adopted federal scrutiny. I will also show how Vermont did not adopt the federal scrutiny, yet was still shaped by the standard.