Digital Commons Network^™

Political Speech On Twitter: A Sentiment Analysis Of Tweets And News Coverage Of Local Gun Policy, Mohamed Lemine M'Bareck

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While the gun debate has been one of America’s most politically contentious issues, Twitter has become, in recent years a popular venue for politicians to carry out the debate. The present thesis is aimed at better understanding of political speech on Twitter, as well as the ways in which political frames and sentiment on Twitter differ from those of news media coverage regarding gun policy in the state of Arkansas.

The study uses framing theory, which assumes that both news media and individuals use frames to construct perceptions and narratives about issues. Adopting an automated content analysis as a method, …

Culture Of Mobile Phone Novels In Japan: A Comparison Of Cultural Particularities Of Mobile Phone Novels And Service Providers, Sarah Trinh

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Honor thesis on the Culture of Mobile Phone Novels in Japan: A Comparison of Cultural Particularities of Mobile Phone Novels and Service Providers.

Using The Forestry Reclamation Approach For Reclaimed Surface Mineland In The Western Gulf: Effects On Pinus Taeda Seedling Growth And Survival, Cassie Phillips, Jeremy Stovall, Hans Williams, Kenneth Farrish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While land reclamation efforts of surface mines have considerably increased soil stability since the implementation of SMCRA (Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act), research suggests that resulting soil compaction hinders the productivity of forests post-mining. The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) was developed to improve forest health in the Appalachian region through a five-step process that minimizes soil compaction and establishes a productive forest. The FRA has not yet been tested in the western Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP). The higher clay content of some GCP soils and the dearth of coarse fragments (e.g. cobbles, stones and boulders) may affect reclamation practices …

Analysis Of Injuries And Costs Of Public Safety Occupations: A Systematic Review, Jade Witmer

Graduate Theses

Public safety occupations, such as firefighters and law enforcement, perform physically demanding tasks in unpredictable environments with additional external loads putting them at risk for sustaining a musculoskeletal injury while on duty. The goal of this systematic review was to address the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries and costs related to those in the public safety occupations of firefighting and law enforcement.

Writing With Incarcerated Students Towards Humanization: A Christian Critical Perspective, Deanna C. Kabler

Masters Theses

This thesis centers on the intersections between critical pedagogy and writing instruction in a prison college program with the aim of humanization. A theoretical framework is constructed that relies on the pillars of tenets from Liberation theology, critical pedagogy, an anti-racist and multicultural praxis, and generative culture-making. Writing as the foundation of education is the medium for supporting a humanizing and liberatory education.

Ticket To Abide: The Role Of Implicit Bias In Chicago Parking Ticket Distribution, Annelise Morgan, Ryan Farhat-Sabet

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

has brought the pervasiveness of biases to the forefront of the public’s attention. In the last decade alone, countless studies have sought to expand our understanding of the presence of discrimination in police behavior through detailed analyses of profiling, traffic stops, jury systems, and other key policies. The continued confirmation of these discrepancies in behavior and their resulting outcomes inspired a further analysis of their effects on the distribution of parking tickets. We sought to examine whether this discrimination is a result of peripheral racial biases in which police officers rely on their heuristics of racial minorities to inform their …

Monterey County District Attorney’S: A Technology-Based Policy & Procedure Manual, Manuel Correa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The primary goal of this project is to provide future volunteers and interns with assistance and resources for assigned cases they may work on. The District Attorney’s office is a fast-paced and very detail-oriented office, this may feel overwhelming to some interns and volunteers, so this project will help ease this. Even though there is an orientation process, a discussion on the policy and procedures that must be followed, and conversations with a supervisor or mentor on responsibilities and duties, this will still be great for an understanding of the office. With this capstone project, the intern should feel more …

Raps Sheet, May 2019, Retirement Association Of Portland State

RAPS Sheet: Monthly Newsletter

No abstract provided.

İbne, Gey, Lubunya: A Queer Critique Of Lgbti+ Discourses In The New Cinema Of Turkey, Azmi Mert Erdem

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In my thesis, I examine the intersections between liberalism, neoliberal globalism, and LGBTI+ visibility and identity politics, through films that present “openly” non-normative sexualities through cis/transgender male, female, or non-binary characters in the new cinema of Turkey. First, I survey existing scholarship on how liberal capitalism impacts the formation of LGBTI+ subjectivities and identity politics. Furthermore, I trace how non-normative sexualities, practices, and discourses evolved along with socioeconomic and political shifts in the Turkish Republic following the Ottoman Empire. Accordingly, I review Turkey’s adoption of neoliberal ideologies in the 1980s and how these ideologies engage with its local, heterogenous gender …

A Queueing Theory-Based Modeling And Performance Analysis Of Push-To- Talk Over Cellular Networks, Hisham Zorghani

Theses and Dissertations

Public Safety organizations play a vital role in emergencies. Their ultimate goal is to protect people and save lives and properties during disasters. Public safety communities have been using narrowband Trunking systems for their communications for decades. These systems were designed with only voice communications in mind. Even though these narrowband systems have gone throughout many enhancement phases, yet their data capabilities are still limited. Long Term Evolution (LTE) has been selected by many countries including the United States to be the platform for next-generation Public Safety Networks(PSN). The 3GPP LTE standard is all-IP architecture mainly developed to boost its …

Planning For Routine Emergencies: Establishing Collaboration To Increase The Iso Rating Of The City Of Niagara Falls, Ny, Gordon G. Stewart Iii

Public Administration Master’s Projects

The City of Niagara Falls, New York has maintained an Insurance Services Office (ISO) PPC grade of 3 out of 10 over the two most recent ISO evaluations, one in 2010 and another in 2016. A significant portion of the ISO rating derives from water supply as it contributes to fire suppression. In Niagara Falls, control of the water infrastructure is controlled by a public benefit corporation, the Niagara Falls Water Board, separate from city government. Through the evaluation of the most current Public Protection Classification (PPC) Reports from the ISO for the City of Niagara Falls, this study aims …

Unmanned Aerial System Integration Into The National Airspace System And Airports: Risk Mitigation Using Content Analysis Methodology, Bhoomin Bhupendrabhai Chauhan

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few years, the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has significantly increased. With an increase in the use of UASs, the number of UAS sightings near manned aircraft and airports have also increased, as shown by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)(FAA, 2019a). Although not every near sighting had a severe consequence associated with it, the risks were still present. As UASs are becoming more readily available to the general public, the risks present due to UASs flying in the National Airspace System (NAS) and near airports is also increasing. For the study, incident and accident reports were …

Developing Age-Friendly Communities: Evidence From Multiple Case Studies, Patricia A. Oh

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Population aging brings opportunities and challenges for local community and economic development. One policy solution that has been adopted by 325+ jurisdictions in the United States is joining the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities or the WHO Global Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. Although the age-friendly movement is gaining momentum in the US, few studies have looked at what influences municipal decision-making about joining a network or making age-friendly changes. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore what influences municipal decision-making about joining a formal age-friendly network and how communities mobilize the resources at …

“How To Lose The Hounds”: Tracing The Relevance Of Marronage For Contemporary Anti-Police Struggles, Celeste Winston

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes the interconnected practices of flight from slavery and flight from policing. Focusing on Black communities within Montgomery County, Maryland, I provide evidence for how local legacies of enslavement and flight from slavery have empowered later generations of residents, including people still living there today, to practice safety and security on their own terms, beyond policing. I draw on archival and ethnographic research in seven Black communities in Montgomery County to document historical and ongoing local Black life practices and organizing against and outside of policing. I center these communities’ past and present placemaking and collective strategies of …

Municipal Police Under Federal Control: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Title 42 U.S.C. Section 14141 Negotiated Settlements, Jason W. Ostrowe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Law Enforcement Misconduct Statute 42 U.S.C. 14141 (§ 14141) authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate, and enter into a court-enforceable structural reform agreement with a law enforcement agency engaged in patterns or practices of systemic misconduct, violations of federal law, and unconstitutional policing.

Under § 14141 authority, 33 investigations of municipal police have been conducted since 1994 where the DOJ determined that a police agency was engaged in, or at unreasonable risk of engaging in, a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. Publicizing …

Trying Times: 21st Century Sexual Revolution, Churches And Ministers At-Risk, Samuel H. Murray

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The 21st Century Sexual Revolution in America is redefining marriage, gender identity, human sexuality and public interaction while simultaneously challenging those who dare disagree. As the pastor of a small church, this writer is concerned about potential litigation as a result of these societal changes. These issues are rapidly emerging and evolving. Governmental bodies, corporations, advocacy groups, and courts at all levels are engaged. Churches and ministers may be at risk of adverse legal actions. A review of legal cases will reveal trends and precedents concerning these issues. Individual interviews will engage ministers and churches as to their preparedness and/or …

Attitudes And Perceptions Of Concealed Carry On Campus: A Case Study Of Students, Staff, And Faculty At Liberty University, Jeremiah Todd Koester

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The number of mass shootings and active shooter situations has significantly increased at higher education institutions (HEIs) over the past several years, and as a result, they have introduced issues of safety that administrators must handle. The purpose of this embedded, single case study was to understand the attitudes concerning concealed carry on campus for students, staff, and faculty at Liberty University. The primary theory guiding this study was vested interest theory (Crano, 1997) as it examines the attitudes of those most closely involved with a situation and how they become vested in a particular situation which results in behavior …

Concealed Campus Carry: Perspectives From Administrators, Faculty And Firearms Instructors On Generating Campus Policy, Diana Villarreal Barfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School shootings have become prominent throughout the Unites States. This is an issue not only in primary schools but also in postsecondary educational institutions. The states of Utah and Colorado passed laws allowing students to carry guns on publicly funded college and university campuses. In 2015, the Texas legislature also proposed a similar campus carry law, which was not passed in 2015. In 2016, when the Texas 84th Legislature made a second attempt, the law was passed. With the passage of this law by the Texas state legislature, a 21-year-old was now allowed to carry a concealed handgun on campus. …

Predicting College Students' Career Interests To Be A Police Investigator Rather Than A Patrol Officer, Alyssa Viator

Master's Theses

In the field of criminal justice, much research has been dedicated to investigating policing in the 21^stcentury. However, there is a lack of research regarding predictions of career preference among college students, more specifically, millennials. This study was designed to fill that gap in the literature by examining interests in police patrol careers. The methodology involved included multiple regression as a way to potentially predict career preference for a police investigator rather than a patrol officer. The results provided promising results for the overall understanding of career preference for millennials. This study also provided crucial discussions for policy …

The Use Of Hybrid Modeling To Examine The Elasticity Of Cargo Movement Following A Natural Disaster, Emily Jannace, Scott Parr

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Resilient infrastructure is imperative especially following natural or manmade disasters. The ability to move food, water, and relief supplies using multiple modes of transportation to areas recently affected by major disasters is oftentimes very difficult. Following Hurricane Maria’s landfall on Puerto Rico in 2018, 10,000 shipping containers were stranded in just one port of Puerto Rico unable to traverse the island to reach those in need. The lack of resilient infrastructure caused a delay in repair to normalcy for the entire island and delayed supplies that were already late to their destination even longer.

The goal of this research is …

Collaborative Demining Training In Cambodia, Jorge Rivero, Tom Gersbeck

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Since 2016, the Center for Fire and Explosives, Forensic Investigations, Training and Research at Oklahoma State University (OSU) has teamed up with Golden West Humanitarian Foundation to offer an extraordinary training opportunity to military and civilian bomb experts, as well as OSU medical personnel and students. During the second half of January 2018, a group of civilian law enforcement bomb technicians, military explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians, medical personnel, a lawyer, and educators visited Cambodia to participate in the OSU Explosives Ordnance seminar conducted by Golden West.

Assessing Risk And Cash Bail In Massachusetts, Brittany M. Gammett

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The use of risk assessments to determine the outcome of bail hearings has the potential to eliminate inequality in bail decisions and establish an impartial uniformity for the use of bail in jurisdictions across Massachusetts – but only when the assessments are based on empirical evidence and combined with judicial discretion. In April of 2018, Massachusetts passed a criminal justice reform bill. Under the new reform, a judge must take into account a defendant’s ability to pay bail when a bail amount is set. I measured the success of the bill through an ethnographic study, by sitting in on bail …

Detained By Data: A Critical Analysis Of The Virginia Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument, Stacey Feindt

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This research is a critical analysis of criminal justice policy in Virginia, specifically, the use of the Virginia Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument (VPRAI), a computer application designed to help judges make objective pretrial detention and release decisions. Although the VPRAI was originally intended as a tool to further criminal justice reform in Virginia, there has been very little independent inquiry into its use. My research gathers qualitative data through interviews with professional stakeholders and former defendants to address this gap in knowledge, and identify the benefits, consequences, and challenges associated with the VPRAI. I conclude that, at the present time, …

Privacy, Freedom, And Technology—Or “How Did We Get Into This Mess?”, Alex Alben

Seattle University Law Review

Can we live in a free society without personal privacy? The question is worth pondering, not only in light of the ongoing debate about government surveillance of private communications, but also because new technologies continue to erode the boundaries of our personal space. This Article examines our loss of freedom in a variety of disparate contexts, all connected by the thread of erosion of personal privacy. In the scenarios explored here, privacy reducing activities vary from government surveillance, personal stalking conducted by individuals, and profiling by data-driven corporations, to political actors manipulating social media platforms. In each case, new technologies …

General Data Protection Regulation (Gdpr): Prioritizing Resources, Jennifer Dumas

Seattle University Law Review

This Article will discuss and analyze the years of preparation for the GDPR and provide recommendations for dealing with the GDPR forevermore. It will assess whether the preparation and panic were worth it. In other words, was the time, expense, and distraction my peers and I expended and experienced over the past years proportionate to the requirements and impact of the GDPR? Further, was the high level of preparation and panic many legal departments in countless companies undertook and experienced appropriate now that we have had a chance to see the initial impact of the GDPR?

St. Norbert College Announces Commencement Details, St. Norbert College

Press Releases 2019

No abstract provided.

Architecture In Neoliberalism, Ben J. Kunz

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

Neoliberalism, as a form of capitalism that redistributes wealth to existing accumulations of money, has reorganized our society around market relations resulting in extreme inequality. Architecture has been both captive and complicit in this process because it relies on the largess of its clients who benefit most from the process of neoliberalization. We must dissolve the dogma of architectural practice, and become free entrepreneurial operators in a neoliberal society with architecture as a core skill set, able to operate on risk and its dimensions of time, space, and money without the servitude to our risk ordered professional relationships in order …

The Free Press Vol. 50, Issue No. 20, 04-29-2019, Julie Pike

Free Press, The

Native community seeks increased awareness in USM curriculum -- Insufficient housing leaves students waitlisted -- Impacts at USM during Maine’s shortage of public safety officials -- Ongoing debate over 147-mile CMP line in Maine -- Bee population threatened by land use and climate change -- USM joins national program to Swipe Out Hunger

The Bison, April 26, 2019

The Bison Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Equilibrium-Based Workload Balancing For Robust Emergency Response Operations In Metropolitan Areas, Parya Roustaee

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an equilibrium-based modeling framework for emergency response (ER) workload balancing to achieve robust operation in large-scale metropolitan areas. The problem is formulated as a non-linear mathematical program (NLP), which determines the optimal workload cutoff for each ER station such that the weighted sum of the area-wide expected response time and its variation are minimized. The concept of Marginal Cost of Uncertainty (MCU) is introduced to measure the impact of a station’s workload increase on the area-wide service performance. The solution of the NLP is proved to be equivalent to a state of equilibrium in which all stations …