Digital Commons Network^™

Datashare Monterey County Website, Audra Ketchem

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The DatashareMontereyCounty website was created by combining Conduent technology and knowledgeable staff from the Monterey County Public Health Department. This project attempted to solve the disengagement between many people in Monterey County and health interventions/prevention initiatives set in place by the health department. Two contributing factors related to community disengagement were that residents were not always aware of works the health department was attempting to promote and the complexity of health data (statistics). The main focus of the project demonstrates how understanding health information may or may not impact decision making. When concepts are difficult to understand this can deter …

Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2019/2020, Tennessee. Department Of Safety & Homeland Security.

Annual Report

No abstract provided.

A Collaborative Approach To Reduce The Spread Of Covid-19 In A Large Urban Hospital In South Florida, David Schneider, Roberto L. Roman Laporte

Nursing & Health Sciences Research Journal

The novel Coronavirus has proven challenging for many healthcare organizations. Hospitals are pressed to secure sufficient personal protective equipment to ensure the safety of their healthcare personnel and various strategies have been implemented to stop the spread of the virus. There are still many unknowns about COVID-19 and hospitals are rapidly adapting to new information while trying to maintain the safety and wellbeing of healthcare personnel. Baptist Hospital of Miami developed a collaborative data driven plan to monitor, disseminate vital information, and implement various strategies to protect employees and patients during the pandemic.

Any Is Too Many: Impaired Driving In Santa Cruz County, Karena Brewington

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Too many people operate vehicles under the influence in Santa Cruz County (SCC) because of recidivism. DUIs cost dearly in human and financial terms. Financial difficulties and stigma pose barriers to providing DUI services. Community Prevention Partners (CPP) resides under the Public Health umbrella of SCC’s Health Services Agency. This Capstone Project represents an integrated effort to increase CPP’s DUI secondary prevention efforts through its Alcohol Initiative workgroup. Through the Alcohol Initiative, CPP administers the DUI Resource Center (DUIRC), a community space to support DUI offenders around completion of their sentencing components. This project proposes to decrease the recidivism of …

In-Training Improvement: A Tactical Athletic Approach To Enhance The Performance And Wellness Of Law Enforcement Officers, Shai-Enne Kerry Haynes

Masters Theses

Fitness and musculoskeletal injuries are a major health concern among United States law enforcement personnel. The objectives of this study were twofold: 1) to compare the effects of wearing work gear and not wearing work gear during job related specific activities; and 2) identify the negative effects of the required work equipment on law officials and exploring methods to decrease the negative effects. There is an undeniable prevalence of law officials and back issues and other musculoskeletal complications which presents an interrelated research and field test environment. This study leverages research to help advance the knowledge of law enforcement performance, …

Massachusetts Community Mediation Center Grant Program: Fiscal Year 2020 Report & Evaluation, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

The Community Mediation Center Grant Program embodies the state’s commitment to achieving broad state-wide access to community mediation for the resolution of disputes. The Grant Program received $1,090,000 in state funding for its operation during Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, and a total of $848,000 in grants was awarded to 12 community mediation centers based on a performance-based application process. During the first two-thirds of the 2020 fiscal year, administration of the Grant Program and service delivery from participating centers functioned as expected. The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and attendant restrictions in March 2020 complicated Grant Program administrative responsibilities and …

Attitudes Of Criminal Justice Students' Towards Women: Hegemonic Masculinity In The Workplace, Lauren Escovedo

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the following study is to examine positive, benevolent, and hostile attitudes towards women in the workplace held by criminal justice students enrolled at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. As well, to examine whether or not criminal justice students enrolled at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley believe that criminal justice personnel create a gender-neutral classroom environment. The application Qualtrics XM was used to comprise a 35 question survey that, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, was administered online to students for a two week period during the Fall 2020 semester. Criminal justice students …

A Radar And Model Based Synopsis Of Surface Soil Moisture State As It Relates To Back-Building Thunderstorm Behavior: Northern Great Plains, Skye Leake

Masters Theses

Severe thunderstorm behavior across the Great Plains of North America can result in negative economic impact, put infrastructure at risk, and pose a hazard to the lives of those calling the area home. Substantial research has been conducted throughout the Great Plains on a variety of severe weather conditions such as extreme wind, hail, tornadoes, and flash flooding, however such research is limited in the northern portion of the Great Plains. Some research has been conducted on these severe phenomena produced by thunderstorms in the northern Great Plains; however, little has been done in the realm of training/back-building of storms. …

Diversifying Police Departments Through Community-Oriented Based Policing, Beverly J. Pettrey

Student Scholarship

The racial and ethnic diversity of a police department is a crucial component to improving police relationships with communities. Diversity efforts by American police departments have been complicated by small applicant pools for the last several years, particularly among qualified female and minority applicants. One way for police departments to attract more racial and ethnic minority applicants to improve community relations is to use community-oriented policing.

Artificial Intelligence For Social Impact: Learning And Planning In The Data-To-Deployment Pipeline, Andrew Perrault, Fei Fang, Arunesh Sinha, Milind Tambe

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the maturing of artificial intelligence (AI) and multiagent systems research, we have a tremendous opportunity to direct these advances toward addressing complex societal problems. In pursuit of this goal of AI for social impact, we as AI researchers must go beyond improvements in computational methodology; it is important to step out in the field to demonstrate social impact. To this end, we focus on the problems of public safety and security, wildlife conservation, and public health in low-resource communities, and present research advances in multiagent systems to address one key cross-cutting challenge: how to effectively deploy our limited intervention …

“A Climate Of Lawlessness”: Upholding A Government’S Affirmative Duty To Protect The Environment Using Deshaney’S Special Relationship Exception, Katherine G. Horner

Journal of Law and Policy

The Industrial Revolution introduced an era of exceptional technological advances. However, it also led to rampant environmental pollution and degradation. The proliferation of toxic pollutants in the air, water and soil has led us to the precipice of an unimaginable future; a future defined by climate change. This Note argues for the use of the special relationship exception, affirmed by the Supreme Court in DeShaney v. Winnebago, in environmental litigation in order to uphold governments’ affirmative duty to protect the environment. As federal and state governments have the sole power to regulate environmental pollution and enforce environmental protections, individuals are …

The Law On Police Use Of Force In The United States, Christopher Slobogin, Brandon Garrett

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Recent events in the United States have highlighted the fact that American police resort to force, including deadly force, much more often than in many other Western countries. This Article describes how the current regulatory regime may ignore or even facilitate these aggressive police actions. The law governing police use of force in the United States derives in large part from the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. As construed by the United States Supreme Court, the Fourth Amendment provides police wide leeway in using deadly force, making custodial arrests, and stopping and …

Assessing Occupational Stress And Preparedness Among Campus Safety Officers And Dental School Employees At An Academic Medical Center During Covid-19, Decature Banker, Lorena Baccaglini, Miriam Mccann, Chandran Achutan

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Job stress can lead to adverse physical and emotional health effects in employees and is worse during an emergency or pandemic. The complexity of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is taking a toll on the healthcare systems and their employees. This cross-sectional study looked at two different groups of academic medical center employees, Campus Safety Officers and Dental School employees, who’s work puts them at risk for COVID-19 exposure. We hypothesized that Campus Safety Officers and Dental School employees who felt adequately trained to conduct COVID-19 related work would not feel more stressed during the COVID-19 pandemic than they …

Developing A Community Innovation Grant In Response To Increasing Rural Critical Incidents In Agricultural Mental Health And Wellbeing, Community Trauma, And Natural Disasters, Chessa S. Quenzer

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Spink Area Support Network (SASN) is a skilled team of community volunteers that facilitate rural critical incident response services in an effort to prevent a critical incident and offer structured support during the aftermath. SASN was developed in response to identified gaps in rural critical incident response and risk reduction through prevention in Spink County, South Dakota. SASN utilizes a collaborative team approach to fill in gaps between first responder silos and establish community interventions by providing support and resources while utilizing critical incident stress management methods. SASN requires funding to maintain response resources, training, prevention education, and follow-up services. …

Front Matter, Nestor K. Delgado

Journal of Drone Law and Policy

Includes table of comments, masthead, and "From the Editor"

A Multi-Industry Examination Of Drone Use: How The Regulatory Environment And Public Perception Issues Shape The Ability Of End Users To Leverage Uncrewed Aircraft Systems, Grant J. Guillot

Journal of Drone Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Aerial Insurgency: Non-State Actor Use Of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles And Public International Air Law Implications, Jeremy Grunert

Journal of Drone Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Drone Utilization In A Pandemic And Beyond: Finding The Balance Between Public Safety And Privacy, Editorial Team

Journal of Drone Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Line-By-Line Review Of Mississippi Senate Bill No. 2282 Introduced By Mississippi State Senator Brice Wiggins, Regular Session 2020, Editorial Team

Journal of Drone Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

The State Of Drones: What Room Is Left For States To Establish An Uncrewed Aircraft Regulatory Scheme?, Nestor K. Delgado

Journal of Drone Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Teaching Applications And Implications Of Blockchain Via Project-Based Learning: A Case Study, Kevin Mentzer, Mark Frydenberg, David J. Yates

Information Systems and Analytics Department Faculty Journal Articles

This paper presents student projects analyzing or using blockchain technologies, created by students enrolled in courses dedicated to teaching blockchain, at two different universities during the 2018-2019 academic year. Students explored perceptions related to storing private healthcare information on a blockchain, managing the security of Internet of Things devices, maintaining public governmental records, and creating smart contracts. The course designs, which were centered around project-based learning, include self-regulated learning and peer feedback as ways to improve student learning. Students either wrote a research paper or worked in teams on a programming project to build and deploy a blockchain-based application using …

A Multiple Case Study Investigating Principles Of Design And Implementation Of Operational Safety Plans For Crises At Colleges, Universities, And Affiliated Institutions, Antonio Passaro, Jr.

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

In the wake of the 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy, the Virginia state legislature mandated that all college-affiliated institutions create an operational safety plan for natural and manmade crises. Previous empirical research has mostly focused on documenting faculty and students’ perceptions of campus safety, preparations for manmade crises over natural disasters, and enhancing specific aspects of emergency responses for future incidents. Thus, design and implementation “best practices” for higher education operational safety plan protocols is an understudied, yet burgeoning area of inquiry. To address this literature gap, a comparative case study of five institutions was conducted using a novel document analysis …

Initiating A Geriatric Clinical Practicum In The Midst Of A Pandemic, April Wood

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Labor Redemption In Work Law, Andrew Elmore

Faculty Scholarship

People with criminal records must find and keep work to reintegrate into society. But private employers often categorically exclude candidates with criminal record histories, especially if the candidate is African American or Latinx. The conventional wisdom is that workplace laws offer little to address this problem. People with criminal records are not a protected class under Title VII, and many employers fear that hiring people with criminal records invites negligent hiring liability. Ban the Box privacy laws delay but may not deter overbroad criminal background checks

This Article challenges this standard account by shifting focus to the state in imposing …

Student Success Of Online Vs. In-Person Biology Courses At Virginia Community Colleges, Jennifer Claire Scott

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Community colleges have a significant role in preparing students for STEM-related careers through certificates, degrees, and transfers to four-year institutions. In addition, online education is a growing mode of higher education, particularly for community college students. However, community college and online students are both at a high risk of attrition and show a lower success rate for degree completion. The purpose of this study was to identify differences in attrition and success between students in online and in-person biology courses at Virginia community colleges. Also, this study addressed downstream effects of online education by examining course completion of second-semester biology …

The Super Wicked Problem Of Donald Trump, Richard J. Lazarus

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 2009 I published a law review article that both explained why I believed that climate change was a “super wicked” problem for lawmakers and offered specific recommendations for ways that any laws addressing climate change should be crafted in light of its super wicked nature. The purpose of this subsequent Article is to revisit, modify, and update my earlier analysis based on the actual events of the past decade. Such hindsight analysis necessarily requires acknowledging, a bit embarrassingly, the things that I got wrong. Though, in my partial (not complete!) defense, I am in good company given the wholly …

The Legal Sanctuary For Human Experimentation, Wendy Wagner

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Marshall Shapo's Sociological Torts Jurisprudence, Michael L. Rustad

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Existing Data Sources As Tools For Entry-Stage Extension Professionals, Olivia Caillouet, Matt Benge, Amy Harder

Journal of Extension

Due to the nature of Extension, work across counties differs because efforts are grounded in the needs of a community and intentional programming helps address these needs. A common competency required for entry-stage Extension professionals is program development, which includes planning, design, implementation, and evaluation. Understanding a community's needs is a crucial aspect of the program planning process, yet new Extension professionals may not know where to locate existing information about their communities. Before creating Extension programs, Extension professionals should understand local communities and identify existing data to facilitate the needs assessment phase of program development.

Covid-19 As A Traumatic Event: Mental Health Lessons From Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Briana Tillman, Christopher Rogers

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

As a psychiatry resident working on an internal medicine rotation during the COVID-19 crisis in April, 2020, I witnessed signs of the burgeoning mental health crisis first-hand—among patients, friends, and healthcare workers. It quickly became evident that this experience was akin to a mass trauma, and in this paper we explore this concept and propose using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to address the secondary mental health pandemic of anxiety and stress disorders that is developing in real time.