Digital Commons Network^™

Patterns Of Wildfire Risk In The United States From Systematic Operational Risk Assessments – How Risk Is Characterized By Land Managers, Erin Kathleen Noonan-Wright

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Since the turn of the 21st century, the complexity and costs of wildfires have increased substantially. There is a need to evaluate entrenched fire management practices that encourage status quo decision making to suppress fires. Data stored in mandated reporting systems collected during wildfires may provide a perspective on fire management decision-making needed to change wildfire governance structures. The Relative Risk Assessment (RRA) resides within a federally mandated workflow process necessary for all longer duration federal wildfires since 2010. Land managers rate hazard, probability and values at risk as high, moderate or low throughout the course of an incident to …

The Impact Of Industrial Agriculture On Social-Ecological Resilience: A Case Study Of The Fairfield Bench, Montana, Anne Preston Harney

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Agricultural systems can be understood as social-ecological systems, in which humans and the natural world interact with and influence each other. The concept of resilience within social-ecological systems has gained considerable attention in recent years. Resilience is generally defined as the system’s ability to absorb and adapt to stressors while still maintaining a similar functioning state. With the major challenges created by the overarching system of industrial agriculture, such as weed resistance to herbicides, water pollution, market consolidation, and declining numbers of farmers, resilience in agricultural systems is a critical concept to explore and understand. However, despite the popularity of …

Cultural Property Protection And Preservation During Counterinsurgency Operations: A Handbook For Archaeologists Choosing To Serve With The American Military In The Global War On Terrorism, Thomas Joseph Livoti

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation is dedicated to an applied archaeological approach as stated in the mission declaration of UMDA’s Ph.D. program in Cultural Heritage and Applied Anthropology: “An overlapping concern of the Ph.D. program is applied anthropology, the use of the anthropological perspective to solve real-world problems, including cultural heritage, medical anthropology, and a host of international development issues. At the heart of our program is a strong commitment to employ anthropological theory to engage contemporary relevant issues with focused research for communities. While some that [sic] are awarded a Ph.D. in Anthropology from [sic] University of Montana will look toward teaching …

Economic Perspectives On Free Speech, Daniel Hemel

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

The metaphor of a ‘marketplace of ideas’ has long pervaded discussions of free speech in and beyond the United States.¹ For early scholars of law and economics (L&E), the similarities and differences between the metaphorical marketplace for ideas and literal markets for goods and services were subjects of much attention. Aaron Director—the University of Chicago law professor who helped to found the L&E movement but rarely reduced his own ideas to writing— devoted one of his few published papers to the contrast between the laissez-faire approach to speech and command-and-control regulation of other markets in mid-twentieth century America.^{2 …}

Economies Of Surveillance, Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Aziz Z. Huq

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Changing People's Preferences By The State And The Law, Ariel Porat

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

In standard economic models, two basic assumptions are made: the first, that actors are rational and, the second, that actors' preferences are a given and exogenously determined. Behavioral economics—followed by behavioral law and economics—has questioned the first assumption. This article challenges the second one, arguing that in many instances, social welfare should be enhanced not by maximizing satisfaction of existing preferences but by changing the preferences themselves. The article identifies seven categories of cases where the traditional objections to intentional preferences change by the state and the law lose force and argues that in these cases, such a change warrants …

Slices And Lumps: Division And Aggregation In Law And Life (Intro + Ch 1), Lee Anne Fennell

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

If you were a superhero, what would be your superpower?¹ Flying? Invisibility? Time travel? I would pass up these familiar options in favor of the profoundly important but woefully underrated power of configuration—the ability to divide things up that arrive in lumps and to put things together that arrive in pieces.² These feats might sound simple, but they are extraordinarily valuable and often maddeningly elusive.

To see why, think of all the things that might do you more good if they were sliced up differently. Perhaps you would prefer a job that involves a third less work and …

Property Attachments, Lee Anne Fennell

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

For a property scholar, the most intriguing part of Eric Posner and Glen Weyl’s Radical Markets is its proposal for a self-assessed system of property rights. Their “common ownership self-assessed tax” (COST) would place everyone’s belongings perpetually on the block at prices that the owners themselves choose (and must pay taxes on).¹ The idea of making self-assessed valuation the basis of both taxation and involuntary dispossession is not new; such mechanisms have been discussed by scholars for many decades ² But the Posner and Weyl proposal is unique in its breadth and in the boldness of the challenge it …

Some Doubts About “Democratizing” Criminal Justice, John Rappaport

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

The American criminal justice system’s ills are by now so familiar as scarcely to bear repeating: unprecedented levels of incarceration, doled out disproportionately across racial groups, and police that seem to antagonize and hurt the now distrustful communities they are tasked to serve and protect. Systemic social ailments like these seldom permit straightforward diagnoses, let alone simple cures. In this case, however, a large, diverse, and influential group of experts—the legal academy’s “democratizers”—all identify the same disease: the retreat of local democratic control in favor of a bureaucratic “machinery” disconnected from public values and the people themselves. Neighborhood juries, for …

Privacy’S Political Economy And The State Of Machine Learning, Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Aziz Z. Huq

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Our aim in this essay is to consider how policymakers make decisions about government surveillance in what we might call the machine learning state –– a nation-state equipped with sufficient bureaucratic and technological capacity to rely extensively on machine learning techniques for surveillance, law enforcement, and national security. We focus particularly on the question of how the state’s political economy influences its decision to adopt privacy-relevant machine learning technologies. Since machine learning tools can also be deployed in many ways that are not pertinent to privacy, our focus therefore is on a specific subset of state uses of such technology …

Equality’S Understudies, Aziz Z. Huq

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Our Republic these days is riven by divides about what equality demands of us as private and public actors. Consider just a few recent examples:

• Harvard University is challenged in federal court for preferring African-Americans over other racial minorities, especially Asian-Americans, in their admissions pool^.1 Harvard’s flagship law review, meanwhile, faces its own suit over its preferment of minority candidates.²

• Virginia’s Governor Ralph Northam and its Attorney General Mark Herring are swept up into political controversy by news that both dressed in ‘blackface’ during their college or medical school days.³ The historical significance of ‘blackface’ …

Democracy As Failure, Aziz Z. Huq

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

The theory and the practice of democracy alike are entangled with the prospect of failure. This is so in the sense that a failure of one kind or another is almost always to be found at democracy’s inception. Further, different kinds of shortfalls dog its implementation. No escape is found in theory, which precipitates internal contradictions that can only be resolved by compromising important democratic values. Out of localized failure, indeed, comes wholesale breakdown. A stable democratic equilibrium proves elusive because of the tendency of discrete lapses to catalyze wider, systemically disruption. Worse, the very pervasiveness of local failure also …

State Standing’S Uncertain Stakes, Aziz Z. Huq

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Whether states have Article III standing is a question that has in recent years induced a puzzling and nonstandard patterning of votes amongst the Justices of the Supreme Court. It is, of course, not uncommon for that bench to be characterized by sharp ideological divides. What is unusual and symptomatic in the state standing litigation context is rather this: Specific Justices seem to adopt divergent, seemingly inconsistent, positions on the same basic question of constitutional law when it is presented in different litigation matters.¹ When it comes to state standing, the Court’s ideological divide is not merely acute but …

The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On Rules, Standards, And Judicial Discretion, Frank Fagan, Saul Levmore

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning in particular, promises lawmakers greater specificity and fewer errors. Algorithmic lawmaking and judging will leverage models built from large stores of data that permit the creation and application of finely tuned rules. AI is therefore regarded as something that will bring about a movement from standards to rules. Drawing on contemporary data science, this Article shows that machine learning is less impressive when the past is unlike the future, as it is whenever new variables appear over time. In the absence of regularities, machine learning loses its advantage and, as a result, looser standards …

Abortion, The Disabilities Of Pregnancy, And The Dignity Of Risk, Mary Anne Case

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

When abortion is discussed in the context of destigmatizing disability, it is usually in connection with the potential disabilities of the fetus. Disability rights activists increasingly encourage both lawmakers setting abortion policy and women contemplating abortion to think that a life with disabilities is worth living. In particular, they argue that a fetus diagnosed with Down syndrome, let alone one with a cleft palate, should not for that reason be aborted.While taking this line of argument into account, this Chapter will shift the frame of reference to various ways in which the law and bioethics of abortion treat pregnant women …

How Clear Is "Clear" Enough?, Ryan D. Doerfler

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

“How much ambiguity is enough?” was the deceptively simple question repeatedly put forward by Justice Neil Gorsuch in oral argument for American Hospital Association v. Becerra. Silly as the question was meant to seem, much turns on the response. Most obvious are the effects on the practice of administrative agencies and the implications for years of precedent surrounding the Chevron doctrine. But far beyond administrative law, the response also has substantial ramifications for the law of interpretation since it is centered in the complementary notion of clarity. Notwithstanding the stakes, the government’s lawyer struggled to give a concise response. Rather …

Experiences With Personalized Learning In A Blended Teaching Course For Preservice Teachers, Karen T. Arnesen, Charles R. Graham, Cecil R. Short, Douglas Archibald

Faculty Publications

In this study, we explored the experiences of preservice teachers as they learned about and experienced personalized learning in a one-credit class designed to introduce students to four core competency areas in K–12 blended teaching contexts: online integration, data practices, personalization, and online interactions. The course included online synchronous, online asynchronous, and in-person class meetings. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we examined students’ pre and post readiness surveys, activity data, and reflections on their experiences in the course. We found that through course readings; creation of an online module based on blended learning pedagogies, which included personalized learning experiences; …

Online Teaching Competencies In Observational Rubrics: What Are Institutions Evaluating?, Jonathan E. Thomas, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

Evaluation of online instructors is a developing field of research. Institutions have made great progress in recent years to refine their efforts to evaluate online teaching in order to improve online teaching. Some institutions, however, still struggle to evaluate online instructors who did not design the course they are teaching. The purpose of this study was to identify some of the most important observable teaching behaviors identified in evaluation rubrics and how these compare to established online teaching competencies. Findings indicate that there is a growing consensus of what are the most important, observable teaching behaviors, and that this can …

Interaction, Student Satisfaction, And Teacher Time Investment In Online High School Courses, Chad Turley, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

This case study explores differences between two online course models by investigating the results of a student end-of-course evaluation survey and teacher communication logs in two online high school courses. The two course models were designed with different types and levels of interaction, one with high levels of student-content interaction, the second with high levels of student-content and student-teacher interaction. The majority of research on interaction in online learning has been conducted with adult learners at the university level. There is far less literature focusing on K-12 online learning while investigating interaction, student satisfaction, and teacher time investment. This case …

K–12 Blended Teaching Readiness: Model And Instrument Development, Charles R. Graham, Jered Borup, Emily Pulham, Ross Larsen

Faculty Publications

An increasing number of K–12 schools have adopted blended learning approaches. Current empirical research has been sparse regarding preparing teachers for blended teaching, including the skills they must develop to teach in blended contexts. This research is focused on that weakness, with the purposes of systematically identifying the skills needed for teaching in a blended learning context and of developing and testing an instrument that can be used to determine individual and school-wide readiness for blended teaching. In this study we present a measurement model used to develop items for measuring K–12 blended learning readiness. Specifically the instrument contained the …

Learner Engagement In Blended Learning Environments: A Conceptual Framework, Lisa R. Halverson, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

Learner engagement correlates with important educational outcomes, including academic achievement and satisfaction. Although research is already exploring learner engagement in blended contexts, no theoretical framework guides inquiry or practice, and little consistency or specificity exists in engagement definitions and operationalizations. Developing definitions, models, and measures of the factors that indicate learner engagement is important to establishing whether changes in instructional methods (facilitators) result in improved engagement (measured via indicators). This article reviews the existing literature on learner engagement and identifies constructs most relevant to learning in general and blended learning in particular. The authors present a possible conceptual framework for …

Driving, Sustaining And Scaling Up Blended Learning Practices In Higher Education Institutions: A Proposed Framework, Cher Ping Lim, Tianchong Wang, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have recognised the role of blended learning (BL) in enhancing teaching and learning quality; many of these institutions have implemented BL initiatives as part of their quality enhancement efforts. Despite these efforts, HEIs face sustainability and scalability challenges and issues. There have been pockets of innovative BL practices but these practices are not prevalent across courses and programmes within institutions. In response, this paper proposes a framework to inform institutional strategic planning for driving, sustaining, and scaling up BL practices in HEIs. There are seven strategic dimensions in this framework: (1) curriculum; (2) vision and policy …

Longitudinal Influence Of Shared Marital Power On Marital Quality And Attachment Security, Nathan D. Leonhardt, Brian J. Willoughby, W. Justin Dyer, Jason S. Carroll

Faculty Publications

Spouses perceiving that they have shared power in marriage has been linked to higher marital quality and attachment security. Existing research, however, is limited in assessing how these perceptions influence both spouses and whether these influences endure over time. To address these limitations, we analyzed the longitudinal relationship reports from 319 couples from the Flourishing Families Project (FFP) to estimate biyearly (Waves 1, 3, and 5) and yearly (Waves 3–5) longitudinal actor-partner interdependence models. Reporting shared power in marriage was linked to the actors’ higher marital quality and lower attachment insecurity over time (although less consistently for attachment insecurity). Longitudinal …

“And He Was Anti-Christ”: The Significance Of The Eighteenth Year Of The Reign Of The Judges, Part 2, Daniel Belnap, Daniel L. Belnap, Daniel Belnap, Dan Belnap

Faculty Publications

For the Nephites, the sixteenth year of the reign of the judges was tremendously difficult. The arrival of the people of Ammon, in itself an incredible disruption of Nephite society, precipitated a battle, which Mormon describes as a “tremendous battle; yea, even such an one as never had been known among all the people in the land from the time Lehi left Jerusalem” (Alma 28:2). The dead, we are told, were not counted due to their enormous number. These events compounded the pre-existing struggles that resulted from the sociopolitical fallout from the reforms of Mosiah2 . 1 Though Alma 30:5 …

The Law Of Moses: An Overview, Dan Belnap

Faculty Publications

During the last week of his life, Christ was confronted by a group of Jewish authorities who asked him, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36). Christ’s answer, that one should love God with all one’s heart, soul, and might (Deuteronomy 6:5), as well as one’s neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18), was then followed by the assertion “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). Clearly, in Christ’s day the law of Moses was regarded as providing crucial instruction regarding one’s behavior both with one’s fellow man and with God, and …

Reporting Quantitative Methods And Findings: Best Practices Fidelity In The Leisure Science Literature, Mat D. Duerden, Eric Keith Layland, Andrew Lacanienta, Camilla Hodge, Michael Goates, Michael B. Edwards

Faculty Publications

This article identified best practices for quantitative methods and results reporting and then evaluated leisure science articles’ adherence to them. A two-stage stratified sampling method identified 112 articles. A codebook was developed, and 26 universal codes addressing abstract, methods, and results were applied to each article to generate best practices scores (BPS). BPS ranged from 6 to 21 (M¼14.89, SD¼2.95). Articles were more likely to use best practices for abstract, sample selection, recruitment, statistics, and data analysis, and less likely for participant characteristics, instrumentation, and data collection procedures. Comparisons of BPS across journals identified significant differences.

The School-Based Family: Teachers As Parental Figures For Orphans And Vulnerable Children In Ugandan Schools, Stacy Taniguchi, Angela Warren, Steve Hite, Mark Widmer, Ramon B. Zabriskie, Yusef Nsubuga, Christopher Mugimu

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible formation of surrogate families within Ugandan schools, especially among orphans who lack positive development opportunities typically provided by parents. This qualitative study sample of 66 Ugandan secondary school students were selected from eight schools in the Mukono district of Uganda. Findings suggest a potentially widespread family formation pattern between students and their teachers. More than 75% of students interviewed self-identified their teacher as family. Some teachers were able to offer orphans and vulnerable children positive developmental assets and were, therefore, identified as family.

Evaluating Theory Of Structured Experience Propositions: Effects Of Service Quality And Experience Industry Techniques On Quality Of Immediate Leisure Experiences, Gary D. Ellis, Andrew Lacanienta, Patti A. Freeman, Brian J. Hill

Faculty Publications

We tested two propositions of the Theory of Structured Experience: first, strategies used to structure experiences in the leisure industries elevate experience quality only when a threshold of service performance is met or exceeded; and second, positive relations exist among indicators of experience quality. Two teams of higher education tourists visited 23 attractions on three Hawaiian Islands. Immediately after each visit, team one (n = 4) judged the attractions based on service quality and experience structuring performance. Members of team two (n = 14) also reported the quality of their individual experiences after each visit by measuring the prevalence of …

Using Fmri To Measure Stimulus Generalization Of Software Notification To Security Warnings, Brock Kirwan, Bonnie Anderson, David Eargle, Jeffrey Jenkins, Anthony Vance

Faculty Publications

This paper examines how habituation to frequent software notifications may carry over to infrequent security warnings. This general process— known as stimulus generalization or simply generalization—is a well-established phenomenon in neurobiology that has clear implications for information security. Because software user interface guidelines call for visual consistency, software notifications and security warnings have a similar look and feel. Consequently, through frequent exposure to notifications, people may become habituated to security warnings they have never seen before. The objective of this paper to propose an fMRI experimental design to measure the extent to which this occurs. We also propose testing security …

Diversity In Peer-Advice Networks And The Emergence Of Collective Post-Adoptive Attitudes: A Multilevel Perspective, Tanner Skousen, Elena Karahanna

Faculty Publications

Implementing new enterprise information systems (EIS) has been an important, expensive, and constant problem that research has tried to solve for years. Previous implementation research offers conflicting viewpoints on the role that social influence dynamics play in implementation success. We study one social influence mechanism, namely peer-advice networks, and examine how the diversity characteristics (separation, disparity, and variety) of these networks lead to the emergence of a collective post-adoptive attitude (either resistance or support) toward a new information system. We propose a multilevel, longitudinal study using electronic medical record systems as a context to analyze the effect of diversity on …