Digital Commons Network^™

Spacing Of Emergency Service Facilities And Their Effects On Response Time Efficiency, Annora Khaw

City and Regional Planning

Transportation planning is important for the safety and functionality of every growing city. Planners must think analytically about the decisions they make and consider long term costs and benefits. As San Francisco continues to be a major hub for businesses, population is expected to increase significantly. This projected growth, along with the city’s susceptibility to earthquakes and fires, raises a major concern for the safety of the public. That is why in 2010 and then again in 2014, residents in the city approved an earthquake safety bond to improve and replace neighborhood police and fire stations that were evaluated to …

The Impact Of Body-Worn Cameras On Use Of Force And Citizen Complaints: A Quasi-Experimental Study At The Newport News Police Department, Michael Jon Kyle

Dissertations

Several questionable officer involved shootings and perceived abuses of authority disproportionately involving minority citizens have resulted in public outcry, protests, and nationwide scrutiny of police in recent years. The resulting police legitimacy crisis has prompted agencies to rapidly equip officers with body-worn video cameras (BWCs). BWC advocates lauded the findings of an early study that attributed significant reductions in use of force incidents and citizen complaints to the devices and it is this and a handful of other short-term studies upon which the claims of these benefits are predicated. However, subsequent research has produced mixed findings and the sustainability of …

Exploring Lawful Hacking As A Possible Answer To The "Going Dark" Debate, Carlos Liguori

Michigan Technology Law Review

The debate on government access to encrypted data, popularly known as the “going dark” debate, has intensified over the years. On the one hand, law enforcement authorities have been pushing for mandatory exceptional access mechanisms on encryption systems in order to enable criminal investigations of both data in transit and at rest. On the other hand, both technical and industry experts argue that this solution compromises the security of encrypted systems and, thus, the privacy of their users. Some claim that other means of investigation could provide the information authorities seek without weakening encryption, with lawful hacking being one of …

Anomaly Detection And Classification Of Sparse Gamma-Ray Spectra Using Machine Learning Algorithms For Depleted Uranium Remediation, Austin Finney

Theses and Dissertations

The quality of the spectral data collected by radiological survey systems depends on many factors including the survey environment, configuration of the system and its detectors, and the radionuclides in question. Algorithms in the field of machine learning have the potential to classify data that would be difficult and time-intensive for a human to analyze. Depleted and natural uranium spectra are of particular interest due to known contamination at domestic sites and world-wide. Several machine learning classifiers were developed with data collected from laboratory experiments. This thesis demonstrates the potential of machine learning algorithms to discriminate gamma-ray emitting sources using …

Portable Calorimeter For Fire Experiments, Kayla Collins, Kara Hewson, Christopher Chen, Joel Keddie

Mechanical Engineering

Executive Summary

An oxygen consumption calorimeter works by measuring the heat release rate of a burning substance. This value is calculated by measuring the oxygen and byproducts in smoke from afire.In order to get these values two types of sensors were used. A non-dispersive infrared sensor (NDIR) that measured CO and CO2 and a zirconium O2 sensor were used to find their respective gas concentrations.The design to calculate the heat release rate is focused on maximizing sensor accuracy and portability while simplifying the manufacturing by using off-the-shelf components. The goal included making the system simple to recreate and package in …

Perceptions Of Police Self- Legitimacy In The Rocky Mountain Region Of The United States, Nathan Olin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Recently, United States law enforcement officers have faced heavy criticism from both the public and media. Such criticism includes, but is not limited to, questions of police legitimacy, efficacy and law enforcement's overall effectiveness in fighting crime. Public and media criticism stems, in part from stigmatizing incidents occurring in Baltimore, Maryland and Ferguson, Missouri. Unfortunately, this has led to ambushes of police officers and a disregard for the welfare of officers serving their communities. However, until recently research has focused upon citizen perceptions of police legitimacy which has left police perceptions of their own legitimacy unexplored. Therefore, the current study …

Emergency Preparedness And Perceptions Of Resident University Students: Literature Review, Study Proposal & Impact Of Pandemic Crisis On Research, Madelyn Turner

Nursing | Senior Theses

Emergency preparedness is an essential step in mitigating negative impacts of disasters, especially in an area affected by wildfires, power shutoffs, earthquakes, and flooding. Dominican University of California resides within Marin County, and has experienced emergencies in the past. Students are expected to prepare themselves to survive independently for 3-5 days. As previous research has shown, college students often do not meet this expectation. This proposed study will assess the current preparedness levels of students living on Dominican’s campus. It will also determine how perceptions of emergency readiness contribute to actual preparedness. Data collection was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, …

Ethnic Conflict's Effect On Internet And Black Male Feminism, Seraphin Tala

Honors Scholar Theses

Within the study of democratic institutions worldwide there exists the need to study factors within states, countries, and or territories that elicit or hinder democracy. Among these are the relationships that exist between ethnic cultures that interact within the same governmental structure and the roles they play within that institution. Throughout the African continent, there are many governmental structures that support hundreds of tribes holding various sociocultural differences. These differences have led to ethnic conflicts throughout African history and even escalated to civil war which pose social, political and economic detriments to the nation involved. In recent years the internet …

Being A Minority At Syracuse University, Pamela Flores

Intertext

No abstract provided.

Young V. Hawaii: A Dangerous Precedent, Michael Jimenez

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sentenced To Surveillance: Fourth Amendment Limits On Electronic Monitoring, Kate Weisburd

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crash Severity Analysis Using Ridit Scoring For Midblock Crashes In South Carolina, Saurabh Bikram Basnet

All Theses

This thesis focused on using a statistical model called the RIDIT analysis to perform a comparative study of severity crashes for different facility types in South Carolina. RIDIT uses the proportion of injury crashes and our analysis used three levels of injury categories, Fatal, Injury, and PDO as an indicator of severity level using three years of crash data from 2016 to 2018. There was two main focus of this study, first to compare the severity of two different network-screening methods (intersection to intersection and short 100’ buffers) used to identify the hotspot location for high crash incidence. We compared …

Expungement Of Criminal Convictions: An Empirical Study, J.J. Prescott, Sonja B. Starr

Articles

Laws permitting the expungement of criminal convictions are a key component of modern criminal justice reform efforts and have been the subject of a recent upsurge in legislative activity. This debate has been almost entirely devoid of evidence about the laws’ effects, in part because the necessary data (such as sealed records themselves) have been unavailable. We were able to obtain access to de-identified data that overcome that problem, and we use it to carry out a comprehensive statewide study of expungement recipients and comparable nonrecipients in Michigan. We offer three key sets of empirical findings. First, among those legally …

The Lotus, The Orchid, And The Dragon: An Examination Of One Country, Two Systems And Its Trajectory In Xi Jinping’S China., Eric M. Bush

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Xi Jinping has prioritized National Rejuvenation, a new pillar in the Chinese social contract based on the view that western powers exploited China during a Century of Humiliation and now, under the Communist Party, China is reclaiming its former glory. As China approaches its centennial in 2049, the CPC has prioritized fully reunifying and integrating Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau with the mainland. Through a comparative analysis of Hong Kong and Macau’s demographics and political and economic institutions, this thesis examines the current status of the One Country, Two Systems policy and anticipates its trajectory under Xi Jinping.

Evolving Crisis Communication In Social Media Era: Analysis Of Tweets And News Stories Of The Manchester Arena Bombing, Allyson R. Staton

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research study was to better understand the evolving crisis communication methods used on traditional media and social media following organizational crises such as the Manchester Arena bombing. The research was primarily conducted by analyzing the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) online article archives and stakeholder Twitter accounts, including @ManchesterArena, @ManCityCouncil, @ArianaGrande and @GMPolice. Tweets under the hashtags #ManchesterBombing, #Manchester, #OneLoveManchester as well as the Manchester Bombing Twitter Moment were also analyzed for crisis communication responses to understand how traditional media and social media were used to communicate with the public following this crisis.

The results of this …

Big M’S Forgotten Legacy Of Freedom, Jamie Cameron

Articles & Book Chapters

Part of a collection of papers on section 2’s “forgotten freedoms” (forthcoming (2020), 100 S.C.L.R.(2d)), “Big M’s Forgotten Legacy of Freedom” returns to the Supreme Court of Canada’s foundational concept of freedom as the absence of coercion or constraint. That early and important legacy of freedom under the Charter failed to inspire and influence the evolution of section 2, especially section 2(b)’s guarantee of expressive freedom and section 2(d)’s guarantee of associational freedom. This paper both claims and demonstrates that section 2’s fundamental freedoms have been less meaningful as a result. In doing so, it places emphasis on …

Dark Clouds: The Ethics Behind A Growing Vape Culture, Matthew Crenshaw

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project addresses the areas of vaping consequences and the overall perception of vaping as a whole from the public. It also successfully answers one primary question: Have vaping companies really done anything “unethical” in terms of marketing and selling their products, or are they just the easiest entity to blame?

Vaping has been referred to as an “epidemic” in recent years. It has gained an immense amount of popularity among America’s youth however little is known about its long-term health risks. Vaping, along with its advertising techniques and unique target audience, has been compared to cigarettes and with that …

The Borders Between Us: Analyzing The United States’ Border Policies & Repercussions, Louise De Oliveira

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This poster addresses the United States’ current southern border situation. It begins by analyzing the historical precedent for discrimination against immigrants to provide a background of understanding for the current situation. It then explains how this aided in President Trump’s election and his resolution to curb illegal immigration by reinforcing the southern border. It also analyzes the Trump Administration's zero-tolerance policy that led to family separation and the personal and political effects of the policy. Furthermore, the poster analyzes the executive order that attempted to end family separations. Finally, the poster examines the current state of border conditions and immigration …

Modeling And Assessing The Sustainability Of Dams In The United States, Cuihong Song

Doctoral Dissertations

Dam decision-making is often controversial as a choice has to be made between the benefits provided by dams (e.g., recreation, water supply, hydropower) and their potential negative impacts (e.g., effects on natural flow regime, impediment for fish migration). However, our understandings of such tradeoffs under a full range of dam management alternatives remain limited which hinders our ability to make sound and scientifically defensible dam management decisions. The diverse stakeholders involved in the decision-making process with varying perspectives and preferences could further exacerbate the difficulty of decision-making. To advance our knowledge in sustainable dam decision-making, this dissertation developed modeling tools …

You’Ve Got (Political) Questions? We’Ve Got No Answers, Michael R. Dimino

Mercer Law Review

In Rucho v. Common Cause, the Supreme Court of the United States held that partisan-gerrymandering claims present non-justiciable political questions. The decision seemingly settled a controversy that had existed for decades, during which the Court was simultaneously unwilling to declare partisan-gerrymandering claims non-justiciable and unable to agree on a judicially manageable standard for adjudicating those claims. In Rucho, for the first time, a five-Justice majority definitively concluded that there are no judicially manageable standards to determine the constitutionality of partisan gerrymanders, and therefore held that federal courts lacked jurisdiction to hear cases raising such claims.

Although the Court …

Existing Building Codes And Historic Masonry Towers, John Sheridan Bennett

All Theses

The existing building codes offer exemptions for historic structures that lessen the

prescriptive requirements and offer alternative means to achieve life safety goals. Three

examples selected for this study are unreinforced masonry towers subject to high wind loads

and seismic forces to explore the methods of Prescriptive, Work Area, and Performance

Compliance with an eye to the role of the building code official and where the decisions may

impact life safety in the course of repairing, altering, or changing the occupancy of the

towers. The thesis explores the complexity of the code while forming a roadmap of the

process. As …

Juvenile Diversion Programs: Comparing Minnesota County Characteristics To Determine Their Role In Pre-Trial Diversion Programs, Kaydin Schmitt

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The main goal of the juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate offenders and prevent youth from entering the adult justice system. One approach is through the use of diversion programs. The state of Minnesota requires all counties to offer at least one type of pre-trial diversion program. However, there is no ubiquitous program; the number and types of programs differ between counties, and the reason for these differences between jurisdictions is under-researched. I analyze the number and types of pre-trial diversion programs in Minnesota counties and compare them to various county characteristics to determine which characteristics play a role in …

Establishment Of Chinese Medicine Practice In San Antonio, Texas, Chloe Kristina Sonnier

Sociology and Anthropology Honors Theses

This thesis sets out to interrogate the establishment of traditional Chinese medicine practice in San Antonio, Texas. I have chosen to focus on two practitioners in particular who can be considered founders of Chinese medicine practice in San Antonio and in Texas as a whole. These practitioners, Dr. Chang and Dr. Ho, are the only remaining of an estimated five total practitioners that practiced in San Antonio in the 1970’s and 1980’s before acupuncture became a licensed profession in Texas. This thesis will follow the history of these two practitioners, detailing their separate roles in the establishment of Chinese medicine …

Facial Recognition Technology: A Call For The Creation Of A Framework Combining Government Regulation And A Commitment To Corporate Responsibility, Sarah Chun

North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology

At a fundamental level, the misuse of facial recognition endangers privacy, human rights, and constitutional rights. However, merely banning facial recognition will not address or solve the issues and risks inherent in the use of facial recognition. Rather than an outright ban, developing specific limitations controlling how or when facial recognition can be used in public or private spaces can better serve public interests. This paper suggests creating a framework that combines government regulation and a commitment to social responsibility by developers. Creating this multi-prong framework can help distribute the burden of regulating facial recognition technology amongst parties such as …

Color Inconsistencies Across Hazardous Weather Watches And Warnings: Can Standardized Visual Representation Of Risk Improve Public Safety?, Caroline Nicole Macdonald

Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown the color used to represent threat information can influence perceived risk and how individuals respond to watches and warnings. However, there is no standardized color scheme for hazardous weather products across the weather enterprise. This study’s objective was to determine if color inconsistencies have an effect on a product’s intended risk perception utilizing two public surveys. Results suggest color inconsistencies when representing hazardous weather products have a detrimental effect on that product’s intended message. The first survey found people use color to help determine risk and rely on whether a filled or outlined polygon is displayed. The …

The Intersection Of Free Speech And Abortion: How Federal Courts Are Influencing Doctrine To Further Anti-Abortion Goals, Gina Tan

Political Science

Maintaining the accessibility to abortion has been a longstanding battle. While funding for Crisis Pregnancy Centers is increasing, states are cutting funding for abortion clinics (Ludden, 2015) and they are closing at a rate of 1.5 each week (Redden, 2015). Since Roe v. Wade (1973), hundreds of cases have been brought to challenge its legality and limit it as much as possible. The inability to challenge Roe directly has led many conservative legislators to play abortion politics by proxy, regulating what goes on inside and outside clinics, and the federal courts’ play a pivotal role in reviewing these regulations. During …

Presidential Ideology And Immigrant Detention, Catherine Y. Kim, Amy Semet

Journal Articles

In our nation’s immigration system, a noncitizen charged with deportability may be detained pending the outcome of removal proceedings. These individuals are housed in remote facilities closely resembling prisons, with severe restrictions on access to counsel and contact with family members. Given severe backlogs in the adjudication of removal proceedings, such detention may last months or even years.

Many of the noncitizens initially detained by enforcement officials have the opportunity to request a bond hearing before an administrative adjudicator called an Immigration Judge (IJ). Although these IJs preside over relatively formal on-the-record hearings and are understood to exercise “independent judgement,” …

Ensuring Resilience: Efforts To Retrofit Soft-Story Housing In California, Griffin Weizer

Master's Projects

The intention of this study was to determine what soft story housing retrofit ordinances have been offered by local governments in the State of California since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and to analyze the components and provisions therein to determine possible trends and best practices.

California’S Proposition 47: The Safe Neighborhoods And Schools Act, Edith Garcia Fong

Master's Projects

Proposition 47 made drastic changes to California’s criminal justice system. Critics and proponents of the measure have made sweeping claims about its impact on crime trends and the criminal justice system, in general. However, many of these claims are based on assumptions and are not based on actual data and research. Given the fact that California’s prison population is still subject to court oversight, it is essential that the effectiveness of Proposition 47 as a solution to this issue be evaluated. If the state hopes to maintain compliance with the court-mandated prison population caps, it must ensure to exhaust all …

Global Warmongers: The Threat Posed By Transnational Private Security Firms, Taylor Rivers

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My capstone report revolves around the implementation of private security firms (PSFs) within Sierra Leone and Angola. As the cold war came to an end, a new series of ‘intrastate conflicts’ took its place. Throughout my capstone report, I look at the effects of private security firms and their effects on states struggling with intrastate conflicts. I point to the degrading practices used by PSFs to siphon a state's natural resources and autonomy. By using two cases in my report, I am able to prove that private security firms thrive in a state with an abundance of natural resources and …