Digital Commons Network^™

City Of Shamokin Public Steps Study And Analysis, Catherine Apostol, Elijah Farrell, Cleo Greenwood, Wilson Hunt, Andrew Muo, Peter Vogel, Tori Warren, Peter Zuraw, Shaunna Barnhart

Student Project Reports

No abstract provided.

Learning Together: Cohort-Based Capacity Building And The Ripple Effects Of Collaboration, Sonia Taddy-Sandino, Mary Gray, Danielle Scaturro

The Foundation Review

Foundations frequently commission evaluations and are the primary audiences for findings. Grantee organizations, however, often don’t see the results, or they find in them limited value and relevance to their own work. Funders like the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation are quietly disrupting this status quo by exploring ways to fully engage grantees, co-funders, technical consultants, and evaluators in collective learning and reflection.

The foundation’s comprehensive, cohort-based capacity-building program, PropelNext, was designed to enhance the performance of promising nonprofits that serve America’s disadvantaged youth. With a combination of financial support, individualized coaching, and peer-learning sessions, grantees engage in a test-and-learn cycle …

Landscape Grain Effect In Yancheng Coastal Wetland And Its Response To Landscape Changes, Peng Tian, Luodan Cao, Jialin Li, Ruiliang Pu, Xiaoli Shi, Lijia Wang, Ruiqing Liu, Hao Xu, Chen Tong, Zijing Zhou, Shuyao Shao

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The landscape grain effect reflects the spatial heterogeneity of a landscape and it is used as a research core of landscape ecology. The landscape grain effect can be used to not only explore spatiotemporal variation characteristics of a landscape pattern, but also to disclose variation laws of ecological structures and functions of landscapes. In this study, the sensitivity of landscape pattern indexes to grain sizes 50–1000 m was studied based on landscape data in Yancheng Coastal Wetland acquired in 1991, 2000, 2008, and 2017. Response of the grain effect to landscape changes was analyzed and an optimal grain size for …

Australian Higher Education Equity Ranking Project: Final Report, Tim Pitman, Paul Koshy, Daniel Edwards, Liang-Cheng Zhang, Julie Mcmillan

Higher education research

This report details the findings of a feasibility study for the Department of Education and Training (DET) into the development of a higher education student equity ranking index. The purpose of study was to determine whether it was possible to measure higher education equity performance at the institutional level and convey each institution’s relative performance through an ‘equity rank’. The ranking was to be based on institutional performance in regard to equity-group students, including students from low socio-economic backgrounds; students from regional/remote areas of Australia; Indigenous students; students with disability; and students from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Alumni Matter, Summer 2019, Women's, Gender, And Sexuality Studies Program

Alumni Matter (2009-2022)

A bulletin of Illinois State University’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, June 2019.

Commoning Mobility: Towards A New Politics Of Mobility Transitions, Anna Nikolaeva, Peter Adey, Tim Cresswell, Jane Yeonjae Lee, Andre Nóvoa, Cristina Temenos

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Scholars have argued that transitions to more sustainable and just mobilities require moving beyond technocentrism to rethink the very meaning of mobility in cities, communities, and societies. This paper demonstrates that such rethinking is inherently political. In particular, we focus on recent theorisations of commoning practices that have gained traction in geographic literatures. Drawing on our global comparative research of low‐carbon mobility transitions, we argue that critical mobilities scholars can rethink and expand the understanding of mobility through engagement with commons–enclosure thinking. We present a new concept, “commoning mobility,” a theorisation that both envisions and shapes practices that develop fairer …

Assessing Community Based Education In Upper Egypt Failure And Success, Amira Hussein

Theses and Dissertations

Community based education has been used in different developing countries in the context of the Education for All (EFA) commitments as a mechanism to increase access and enrollment for basic education in remote and rural areas. It has been introduced to Egypt in 1992 through a partnership between MOE, INGOs, such as UNICEF, USAID, CARE, and local communities. This study examines the current prevailing perception about the community education model as being a successful alternative for public primary education in Egypt in marginalized areas and for vulnerable and marginalized groups mainly girls. It argues that in spite of achieving satisfactory …

Can We Trust Artificial Intelligence In Criminal Law Enforcement?, Sara M. Smyth

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

With the rapid advances made by AI in the last few years, yet with so much of it happening behind the scenes, it’s no wonder that most people are both baffled and awestruck by the capacity for these systems to render humans obsolete. Until recently, much of what the general public knew about AI, robotics, and their superhuman capabilities came from Hollywood blockbuster films like Minority Report. While it’s true that these films, in fact, provided a surprisingly realistic portrait of the capabilities that AI can now deliver, there is still a real lack of understanding on the part of …

Role Of Recent Climate Change On Carbon Sequestration In Peatland Systems., Paul H. Lunt, Ralph M. Fyfe, Alan D. Tappin

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

This paper provides information on the impact of recent climate change on carbon sequestration in peatland systems in South West England. This is important because peatlands have the potential to sequester and hold large quantities of anthropogenically released CO2. This paper investigates whether there has been a reduction in the strength of carbon sinks in a valley mire and blanket bog, which occur on the limits of the biogeographical envelop for peatlands in Britain. Past rates of carbon accumulation were calculated from peat depth and the sequential analysis of peat age, bulk density and carbon content from cores taken from …

Tax Uncertainty And Business Activity, Jungho Lee, Jianhuan Xu

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate the extent to which uncertainties about tax policies affect business activities. We develop a statewide tax-uncertainty measure (TU measure) and show that it captures state corporate tax uncertainty. By comparing adjacent counties across state borders, we show that increasing tax uncertainty by one standard deviation (a 30% increase in the TU measure) leads to a 0.17% point per-year decrease in the growth rate of establishments over two years. The result holds after conducting a variety of robustness checks and is not likely to be driven by general state-policy uncertainties.

Global Value Chains And The Cptpp, Pao-Li Chang, Tran Bao Phuong Nguyen

Research Collection School Of Economics

The CPTPP, or the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, is an example of a “mega-regional” free trade agreement, whose provisions on the rules of origin and trade facilitation can have potentially large impacts on the CPTPP-wide supply chains. In this paper, we investigate whether the CPTPP members are key upstream and downstream trade partners to each other in the global value chains. We develop formulas of bilateral upstreamness and downstreamness, based on the gross-export decomposition framework of Koopman, Wang and Wei (2014) and Borin and Mancini (2017). We demonstrate how the decomposition of gross exports can be used …

What A Business Librarian Learned From The Health Sciences: Adapting The Pico Framework To Inform Library Instruction For Marketing Students, Jim Kelly

Library Faculty/Staff Publications

Problem/Need: How can I make a one-shot library instruction session for an undergraduate marketing research course more relevant and more interesting for the students and the librarian?

Solution: Draw on the techniques used by health sciences librarians (PICO, etc.), but reverse the PICO approach in order to create multidimensional scenarios to use when demonstrating library resources for these marketing research students.

From Best Fit Technologies To Best Fit Scaling: Incorporating And Evaluating Factors Affecting The Adoption Of Grain Legumes In Sub-Saharan Africa, Andrew Farrow, Esther Ronner, Greta J. Van Den Brand, Stephen K. Boahen, Wilson Leonardo, Endalkachew Wolde-Meskel, Samuel Adjei-Nsiah, Regis Chikowo, Fredrick Baijukya, Peter Ebanyat, Emmanuel A. Sangodele, Jean Marie Sanginga, Speciose Kantengwa, Lloyd Phiphira, Paul Woomer, Theresa Ampadu-Boakye, Edward Baars, Fred Kanampiu, Bernard Vanlauwe, Kenneth E. Giller

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The success of scaling out depends on a clear understanding of the factors that affect adoption of grain legumes and account for the dynamism of those factors across heterogeneous contexts of sub-Saharan Africa. We reviewed literature on adoption of grain legumes and other technologies in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries. Our review enabled us to define broad factors affecting different components of the scaling out programme of N2Africa and the scales at which those factors were important. We identified three strategies for managing those factors in the N2Africa scaling out programme: (i) testing different technologies and practices; (ii) evaluating …

Utilization Of Data Analytics In The Buyout Process, Andrew William Dowdle

Construction Management

This is a qualitative research project designed to analyze the feasibility of using data analytics in the buyout process. The research methodology for the paper is presented. A series of interviews with industry professionals were conducted to gather data for this paper. These interviews targeted various fields relating to the topic, including; data analytics, information systems, and construction management. Themes that emerged in these interviews include industry application, data collection, the buyout process, similar applications, and subcontractor evaluation. Insights into how data analytics in the buyout process would affect the industry are also present in this paper. These preliminary results …

The Future Of Open Access Books: Findings From A Global Survey Of Academic Book Authors, Ros Pyne, Christina Emery, Mithu Lucraft, Anna Sophia Pinck

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

This report presents the findings from an online survey conducted in February and March 2019 to gather author feedback on open access (OA) books. Survey questions were designed to build on previous studies of OA for journal authors, as well as previous research on OA books, to assess the current awareness, attitudes and behaviours of authors who have and have not previously published OA. The raw anonymised data has been made freely available under a CC BY licence.2 Of 5,509 responses, 2,542 book authors completed the survey, and only these responses have been analysed here. Of these, 407 authors had …

Influence Of Country And Company Characteristics On International Business Decisions: A Review, Conceptual Model, And Propositions, Kotler Philip, Lalita A. Manrai, Dana-Nicoleta Lascu, Ajay K. Manrai

Marketing Faculty Publications

This research advances four propositions and a conceptual model of country and company characteristics influencing key International Business Decisions (IBDs). The IBDs in this study are country selection and evaluation, entry mode, segmentation-targeting-positioning, and the marketing mix – the first two in the international business domain, and the latter two in the international marketing field. The conceptual model and related four propositions are advanced, based on an extensive literature review and subsequent in-depth review of 169 published research papers on major IBDs and their determinants, namely, country characteristics, including opportunities, risks, and various distances between the host country and home …

Qualitative Methods Of Road Traffic Crash Research In Low- And Middle-Income Countries: A Review, Benjamin D. Holmes, Kristin Haglund, Kirsten M.M. Beyer, Laura D. Cassidy

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Road traffic crashes are rapidly becoming one of the leading causes of injury and death globally. It is predicted that by 2030 crashes will become the fourth leading cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) (Mathers & Loncar, [11]) and the seventh leading global cause of death (World Health Organization [WHO], [26]). The global death toll due to crashes has already escalated by 46% over the past two decades (The World Bank, [21]).

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are acutely affected by this 'hidden epidemic' (Balch, [ 1]). Ninety per cent of the world's crash-related deaths occur in LMICs where only …

Slaving Vessel Soleil (Tigre): 1825 Voyage From Port Of Mahe, Seychelles Islands To St. Augustin’S Bay, Madagascar, Jill Wilson O'Connor

The Forum: Journal of History

This paper addresses the French slave ship Soleil (also known as Tigre) which was condemned by the British government at the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century as part of the United Kingdom’s enforcement of, and authority under, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, 1807.

A 21st Century Empire: The British Museum And Its Imperial Legacies, Paige Rooney

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

Spatial And Temporal Variability Of Inherent And Apparent Optical Properties In Western Lake Erie: Implications For Water Quality Remote Sensing, Michael Sayers, Karl Bosse, Robert Shuchman, Steven A. Ruberg, Gary L. Fahnenstiel, George Leshkevich, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Lake Erie has experienced dramatic changes in water quality over the past several decades requiring extensive monitoring to assess effectiveness of adaptive management strategies. Remote sensing offers a unique potential to provide synoptic monitoring at daily time scales complementing in-situ sampling activities occurring in Lake Erie. Bio-optical remote sensing algorithms require knowledge about the inherent optical properties (IOPs) of the water for parameterization to produce robust water quality products. This study reports new IOP and apparent optical property (AOP) datasets for western Lake Erie that encapsulate the May–October period for 2015 and 2016 at weekly sampling intervals. Previously reported IOP …

Determining Remote Sensing Spatial Resolution Requirements For The Monitoring Of Harmful Algal Blooms In The Great Lakes, John Lekki, Eric Deutsch, Michael Sayers, Karl Bosse, Robert Anderson, Roger Tokars, Reid W. Sawtell

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have become a major health and environmental concern in the Great Lakes. In 2014, severe HABs prompted the State of Ohio to request NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) to assist with monitoring algal blooms in Lake Erie. The most notable species of HAB is Microcystis aeruginosa, a hepatotoxin producing cyanobacteria that is responsible for liver complications for humans and other fauna that come in contact with these blooms. NASA GRC conducts semiweekly flights in order to gather up-to-date imagery regarding the blooms' spatial extents and concentrations. Airborne hyperspectral imagery is collected using two hyperspectral imagers, HSI-2 …

Evaluating Visible Derivative Spectroscopy By Varimax-Rotated, Principal Component Analysis Of Aerial Hyperspectral Images From The Western Basin Of Lake Erie, Joseph D. Ortiz, Dulci M. Avouris, Stephan J. Schiller, Jeffrey C. Luvall, John D. Lekki, Roger P. Tokars, Robert C. Anderson, Robert Shuchman, Michael Sayers, Richard Becker

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The Kent State University (KSU) spectral decomposition method provides information about the spectral signals present in multispectral and hyperspectral images. Pre-processing steps that enhance signal to noise ratio (SNR) by 7.37–19.04 times, enables extraction of the environmental signals captured by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center's, second generation, Hyperspectral imager (HSI2) into multiple, independent components. We have accomplished this by pre-processing of Level 1 HSI2 data to remove stripes from the scene, followed by a combination of spectral and spatial smoothing to further increase the SNR and remove non-Lambertian features, such as waves. On average, …

Satellite Monitoring Of Harmful Algal Blooms In The Western Basin Of Lake Erie: A 20-Year Time-Series, Michael Sayers, Amanda Grimm, Robert Shuchman, Karl Bosse, Gary L. Fahnenstiel, Steven A. Ruberg, George A. Leshkevich

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Blooms of harmful cyanobacteria (cyanoHABs) have occurred on an annual basis in western Lake Erie for more than a decade. Previously, we developed and validated an algorithm to map the extent of the submerged and surface scum components of cyanoHABs using MODIS ocean-color satellite data. The algorithm maps submerged cyanoHABs by identifying high chlorophyll concentrations (>18 mg/m3) combined with water temperature >20 °C, while cyanoHABs surface scums are mapped using near-infrared reflectance values. Here, we adapted this algorithm for the SeaWiFS sensor to map the annual areal extents of cyanoHABs in the Western Basin of Lake Erie for the …

Confronting Gentrification: Can Creative Interventions Help People Keep More Than Just Their Homes?, Amie Thurber, Janine Christiano

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Gentrification is changing the landscape of many American cities. As land values rise, people may lose their homes, neighbors, and sites of significance, along with their sense of place, community, and history. There is a critical need to build and preserve affordable housing, yet housing alone will not address the more than material losses. What role can the arts play in sustaining place attachments, restoring relationships, and building place knowledge in gentrifying neighborhoods? This paper explores this question through a systematic review of current research. We identify four prominent alternative interventions in gentrifying neighborhoods—creative placemaking, public pedagogy, community organizing, and …

Walled Cities And Urban Density In China, Rui Du, Junfu Zhang

Economics

We analyse a sample of nearly 300 prefectural-level cities in China, among which about half historically had city walls. We document that cities that had walls in late imperial China have higher population and employment density today, despite that their walls have long gone. Using data from various sources, we test whether a historically walled city's higher density can be explained by a historical urban core, a different industry composition, a different local geography, a compact urban shape, or more valuable rural land in surrounding areas. We find that historically walled cities still have higher density after taking into account …

Scholarly Communication Trends In Environmental Sciences Documented In Worldcat, Asifa Ali, Afreen Niyaz

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

WorldCat which is an online library catalog, the collections of libraries in our scholarly community and thousands more around the globe.With the help of WorldCat, one can get access to various research articles as well as digital items that can be directly viewed or even downloaded for later use. The present study explores the accessibility and availability of the collection in the stream of Environmental Science indexed by WorldCat. The data collected from the WorldCat database pertaining to the field of Environmental Science, in the month of May, 2019 and was then analyzed using the quantitative techniques. The results showed …

Indigenous Knowledge: A Route To The Infusion Of Sustainable Development In Education., Ekbal Mohammed Mokhles

Theses and Dissertations

Indigenous knowledge is the unique knowledge confined to a particular community, produced in order to cope with agro-ecological and socio-economic environments. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of some educators around the issue of infusing indigenous knowledge embedded in communities such as Nubia in their school curricula similar to what other models in indigenous communities in countries such as Hawaii, Brazil and Australia did to reform their curricula. The research is based on the assumption that a culture- and place-based learning in Nubia can promote the infusion of indigenous knowledge. Foucault's theory of power and knowledge …

Determinants Of Fdi: Evidence From Developed & Developing Countries, Tarek Ibrahim

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the generic determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) assessed using data for 65 countries over the period between 1991 and 2017 by employing a panel data model. The goal of this study is to provide a more holistic view that highlights the variables that are significant in determining FDI regardless of the widely varying economic and institutional platforms across countries, regions and continents. The countries selected vary widely across trade facilitating infrastructure, technology platform, investor perception/ investment profile and economic environment. This study also applies control variables GDP, GDP per Capita, population, and inflation to avoid omitted …

The Weaponization Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai) And Its Implications On The Security Dilemma Between States: Could It Create A Situation Similar To "Mutually Assured Destruction" (Mad), Gilan Osama Dahab

Theses and Dissertations

There is no a consensus in the IR literature on the possible implications of AI for cyber or nuclear capabilities, and whether AI would exacerbate, or potentially mitigate, the security dilemma between actors with varying capabilities. This capstone project explores these questions, using experts' interviews and secondary data. It has tackled the issue under study by using the most-similar method in which most of the variables are similar. The paper argues the weaponization of AI exacerbates the security dilemma between states since it increases uncertainty. What is actually problematic about the military AI applications, as opposed to other military capabilities, …

A Framework For Sustainable Slum Development Based On Zero Waste Concept: "Learn To Earn Model", Sally Maher Elgizawy

Theses and Dissertations

The rapid urbanization of the last century caused more slum formation resulting in numerous adverse effects and is considered a major problem facing developing countries specially Egypt. This research touches on the complexities of sustainable slum development specially dealing with slum dwellers in a trial to enhance their capacities and potential which would benefit the community and lead to the development of the slum. Teaching them new skills through the "Learn to Earn Model'', will help them generate income which turns the slum into a catalyst for the economy rather than a burden on it. Another major problem in developing …