Digital Commons Network^™

Does Public Ownership Of Utilities Matter For Local Government Water Policies?, George C. Homsy, Mildred E. Warner

Public Administration Faculty Scholarship

What differentiates local governments that implement water policies on equity and the environment? Analyzing a 2015 survey of 1,897 U.S. municipalities, we find municipalities that own their water utilities more likely have policies to protect low-income residents from disconnection and to implement water resource management. Respondents from 8% of municipalities report protecting residents from disconnection. State economic regulation of publicly owned utilities and Democrat-majority municipal governments are positively associated with policies protecting low-income households from shutoffs but bear no association with resource management. Public ownership of utilities and state economic regulation may play a role in meeting water policy goals.

Analysis Of Trees Damaged From Flooding And Ice In Columbus, Nebraska, Alaina Kapla

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In the spring of 2019, an intense storm system came through eastern Nebraska resulting in a historic flooding event. This flood caused many trees throughout the state to be uprooted, broken, or scarred. This study looks at trees on the Quail Run golf course in Columbus, Nebraska to determine the extent of damage on trees caused by flooding and recommend tree care solutions to ensure safety. The cottonwood trees endured the most damage compared to other species on the property. All of the trees showed wound wood meaning that the trees were recovering from their injuries. Dead and broken branches …

Buddhist Approaches To Environmentalism And Food Insecurity, Grace N. Stott

Honors Theses and Capstones

Buddhism is a religion deep-rooted in history, most prevalent in Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. ³ These countries are “developing countries” and may not have the necessary infrastructure to succeed economically and have increased health risks, one of which is food insecurity.⁴ With climate change an increased threat, these areas of the world are more susceptible to environmental problems. The Buddhism religion strongly values sustainability, in both the environment and food insecurity. It values helping others, both humans and nature. Despite the adversity they face, Buddhists have dealt better than communities in similar situations of poverty and …

Establishing A Functional Framework For Monitoring Protected Landscapes; With A Case Study Of English Areas Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (Aonb), Emily Horswill, John Martin, J. Adam Guy

Professional Services

Protected landscape status is one of the highest designations afforded by the British legislature. To maintain consistent landscape quality, track environmental interventions, or measure the impacts of planned and unexpected events there is a need for co-ordinated national as well as local environmental monitoring. Conventionally indicators are used as monitoring proxies for tracking complex changes in landscape form and qualities, designation criteria, compliance against protective legislation, and the effectiveness of varying governance programmes. The regulatory agency of UK (English) environmental standards on behalf of the government, Natural England, monitors against a framework of indicators for the designation criteria of ‘natural …

Evaluating Successful Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives Of Multinational Corporations In The Niger Delta Region, Chukwuemeka Theophilus Omeoga

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The communities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and the multinational companies perceive the contribution and success of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities differently, which cause conflicts. There is a lack of consensus with the evaluation of successful CSR initiatives by the multinational corporations in the Niger Delta region. The purpose of this qualitative classical Delphi study was to determine how a panel of 32 global experts of CSR practices in multinational corporations in Africa view the desirability, feasibility, and importance of elements of a framework for evaluating the success of CSR initiatives in the Niger Delta. The …

Do(Nation), Tanvi Rao

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

No abstract provided.

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Revisited: Law, Science, And The Pursuit Of Ecosystem Management In An Iconic Landscape, Robert B. Keiter

University of Colorado Law Review

Thirty years ago, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) concept and ecosystem management surfaced as key to preserving this legally fragmented region's public lands and wildlife in the face of mounting development pressures. Yellowstone's grizzly bears were in sharp decline and wolves were absent from the landscape, while bison and elk management issues festered. The GYE's national forest lands were subject to extensive logging, energy leasing, and other commercial activities that cumulatively threatened the region's ecological integrity. In the face of extreme jurisdictional complexity and a strong commitment to agency discretion, a high-profile federal "Vision" effort to improve and better coordinate …

Environmental Governance For Whom? Examining The Political, Institutional, Fiscal, And Legal Determinants Of State Environmental Agency Budget Policy In The Us, Andrew R. Duggan

Theses and Dissertations

Budgets are a prospective tool of governance, and appropriations are a planning vehicle reflecting: bureaucracies’ values, complex interactions, collective preferences, political influences, and available resources. Research spanning 30 years finds that environmental pollution is a key determinant of environmental budgets in the US, though myriad factors, actors, and subsystems are important to consider. Due to federalism and devolution of responsibilities and authorities, environmental governance falls largely to the states. While the dynamics that shape state environmental budget policy have received scholarly interest, theoretically-driven examinations of environmental appropriations remain limited within the public budgeting and environmental policy literature.

Using panel data …

Known To God Alone: Reflections On The Trappists Of Gethsemani And Father Louis, Emilie Grosvenor

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

No abstract provided.

Federal Detention And “Wild Facts” During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Gabriel A. Fuentes

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Expertise Of Advocates And Academics To Identify Reproductive Justice Learning Outcomes, Charisse M. Loder, Leah Minadeo, Laura Jimenez, Zakiya Luna, Loretta Ross, Nancy Rosenbloom, Caren M. Stalburg, Lisa H. Harris

Study of Women, Gender, & Sexuality: Faculty Publications

Phenomenon: Reproductive justice (RJ) is defined by women of color advocates as the right to have children, not have children and parent children while maintaining reproductive autonomy. In the United States, physicians have been complicit in multiple historical reproductive injustices, involving coercive sterilization of thousands of people of color, low income, and disabilities. Currently, reproductive injustices continue to occur; however, physicians have no formal RJ medical education to address injustices. The objective of this study was to engage leading advocates within the movement using a Delphi method to identify critical components for such a curriculum. Approach: In 2016, we invited …

Thailand: The Evolution Of Law, The Legal Profession And Political Authority, Frank W. Munger

Articles & Chapters

This article describes the origin and development of the modern Thai legal profession. Intimately linked in origin to the development of the modern Thai state, the legal profession increasingly resembles the profession in economically developed democracies. Paralleling other regional developments, Thailand’s rapid economic development, constitutional reforms, and expanding judicialization drives many of the most important changes in the education and function of lawyers. Significant differences continue to exist between the profession in Thailand and legal professions in developed democracies, reflecting the profession’s origins and the continuing influence of consciousness and class structure as well as Thailand’s peculiarly semi-democratic and monarchical …

The Power Of Open: Benefits, Barriers, And Strategies For Integration Of Open Educational Resources, Tian Luo, Kirsten Hostetler, Candice Freeman, Jill Stefaniak

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Open Educational Resources (OER) are becoming a significant, mission-driven trend within educational literature. To help address rising costs, instructors and designers are looking to OER to effectively replace traditional instructional content, which requires more than just identify and replace. Drawing from 51 OER studies conducted in countries across the five continents, this systematic literature review explored the empirical themes evident in the current research on a global scale. This review found (1) discoverability, sustainability, and remixing are significant barriers that stand in the way of OER disrupting traditional textbook models; (2) there is no significant difference in learning outcomes when …

Communication Administration As A Tri-Voiced Sustainable Community, Ronald C. Arnett

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Books and authors have challenged the focus on “me” alone, rejecting “individualism” that seeks to stand above social context and constraints (Tocqueville, 1955; Arnett, 2019; Arnett, 2020), “narcissism” that falls in love with one’s own image (Lasch, 1985), and “emotivism” that limits decision making to personal preferences (MacIntyre, 1984). Contrary to a focus on an individual abstracted from a social context, one finds an emphasis on community (Arnett, 1986). When, however, a conception of community embraces only those empirically present, it becomes an abstraction oblivious of the phenomenological considerations of persons before and after the present moment. This essay textures …

Cultural Institutions' Digital Responses To Covid-19 Temporary Closures, Brittany N. Ryder

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of the study was to explore what types of digital content cultural institutions implemented during COVID-19 temporary closures and their effects on social media engagement. Existing research identified the role of digital content and social media in cultural institutions, but only in times of normal operations. The study adds to the existing literature by exploring types of digital content implemented, impacts on social media engagement, measures of social media engagement, and future implications in regard to COVID-19 temporary closures.

The study recruited 16 cultural institutions from across the United States to take part in in-depth semi-structured phone interviews …

Fmd 4772 : Sustainability And Social Change In Fashion, Art + Design

Approved Course Proposals

No abstract provided.

Greater Omaha Chamber: 2017 Diversity And Talent Inclusion Study Final Report, Craig S. Maher, Keyonna King, Natalie Scarpa, Jeanette Harder

Reports

Description of Respondents: The primary objective of this project was to hear from Black YPs in Greater Omaha. The efforts to achieve an adequately sized sample of Black YPs was generally successful. Of the 675 useable respondents, their racial/ethnic identities were White/Caucasian (n=399, or 59%), Black/African American (n=181 or 27%) and Hispanic/Latino n=32 or 5%).

Retention: Omaha has been successful in attracting YP’s – of the survey respondents, 48% moved to Greater Omaha from somewhere else and another 19% came back to Omaha after living elsewhere. Retention is a greater challenge, as 80% of the surveyed YPs would …

Entry Point For Assessing Sustainability In Ecotourism: Insights From Costa Rica (2020), Monica Mckeown

International Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tourism is a rapidly growing industry and the prospect of development in smallcommunities from opening ecotourism enterprises is attractive to many. Increasingly, tourists are interested in visiting places for their natural beauty and adventure opportunities. Frameworks of assessment for the sustainability of ecotourism projects exist, but there is an absence of broader criteria meant to act as an entry point into the on-going process of sustainability assessment. In order for assessments to be more useful and easily conducted,there is a need for a new set of sustainability indicators. Because the ecotourism industry is growing rapidly, assessments are important in order …

Accelerating Deep Decarbonization In The U.S. Transportation Sector, Daniel Sperling, Lewis Fulton, Vicki Arroyo

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The transportation sector includes light-duty vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles (trucks), off-road vehicles, buses, rail, shipping, and aviation. Reducing emissions in this sector is critical in order to achieve the pathways to zero carbon. Transportation emissions accounted for 37 percent of total CO₂ emissions from energy and industry in 2019. The principal strategy for decarbonizing transportation is electrification (including battery, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cells) of all light-duty vehicles, urban-based trucks and buses, rail, much of long-haul trucking, and some short-haul shipping and aviation. For long-haul aviation and long-haul ocean shipping, advanced low-carbon biofuels and synthetic liquids or gases produced with …

Management Of Frequent Ed Users By Community Paramedics Improves Patient Experiences And Reduces Ems Utilization, Oluwakemi Aiyedun Adio, Laura H. Ikuma, Sonja D. Wiley

Faculty Publications

This study examined a suburban emergency medical system (EMS)-led community paramedicine (CP) program in terms of adherence to protocol, patient-paramedic interactions, patient experience, and cost. Participants (n=57) are frequent emergency department (ED) users (≥ 4 ED visits/year), with a mean age of 59.8±17.6 years and have multiple chronic conditions. Of these, 36 completed a modified Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG-CAHPS) survey at 3- and 6-months following program enrollment. The main outcome measures were adherence to intake goals; types, modes, and frequencies of CP interventions; CG-CAHPS patient experience scores; and cost savings. Cost savings compared …

Protect & Disinfect: Covid Upcycling, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Ilvy Cotterell, Collin Cox, Parthenia Dinora, Zachary Hilpert, Veronica King, Carmen Rodriguez, Alexis Shockley

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

Students returning to campus will be responsible for the frequent cleaning and disinfecting of their living spaces to help limit and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Sterile, unused towels are thrown away every day in operating rooms at the VCU Health System. These towels will be collected and distributed to VCU residential halls, providing students with a free and accessible resource for the daily cleaning and disinfecting needed to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

A Review Of The Evidence Supporting Play-Based Learning For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Josh Wilson

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has become more prevalent through more diagnosis, with about 1 in 54 being diagnosed with ASD (Center for Disease Control, 2016). With more children being diagnosed with ASD, more services are needed. Adapted Physical Education (APE) is a direct service provided for children with disabilities, and APE teachers should use proven methods to effectively and efficiently assist these children in their area of need. Play-based learning has proven to help improve many social, communication, social skill engagement and play behaviors in children with ASD so play-based learning should be utilized more within the context of APE …

A Story To Tell… How To Integrate The Three Modes Of Communication Through A Story Time Program In French, Frederique Grim

The Coastal Review

Bilingual story time programs found in local community libraries not only benefit children, they can also serve a need for L2 college students: the development of their communicative skills in an authentic environment. In addition to linguistic benefits, experiential learning has proven to prepare students for real-world skills, such as networking, mock professional experience and a sense of community engagement. This paper recounts how a world language story time program supports L2 learners’ three modes of communication, as articulated by ACTFL, and necessary for language development. Based on students’ perceptions, this study highlights their increase in motivation and confidence in …

Galvanizing Germantown: The Politicization Of Louisville's German Community, 1848-1855, Ann Kathryn Fleming

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This project interprets the Revolutions of 1848 and their ideological legacy through a transnational and transcultural context, highlighting the role of radical forty-eighters who imparted their republican messages to “Little Germanies” within the United States. Karl Heinzen serves as the primary example of the transient group that shared their radical visions with local German communities populated with political and cultural organizations, an active press and a commitment to civic engagement demonstrated through their involvement anti-slavery groups, labor reform, and improved rights for the immigrant population.

The thesis traces the politicization of Karl Heinzen in the German Confederation and his involvement …

Focused Deterrence Violence Prevention At Community And Individual Levels, Edmund F. Mcgarrell

Marquette Law Review

The focused deterrence violence prevention model emerged as part of Boston Ceasefire in the mid-1990s. Since that time, solid research evidence has emerged indicating focused deterrence can influence community levels of violence, particularly gang- and group-related violence. It is considered an evidence-based violence reduction strategy. The evidence of the impact on individuals, however, is much more limited and mixed. This Article presents the focused deterrence model, reviews the research evidence and considers the implications for reducing violent recidivism. Several lingering research questions as well as considerations for leveraging focused deterrence along with other recidivism reduction strategies are discussed.

Strolling The Lingnan Garden = 涓流彩園錄, 2016-2019 : 下冊, Lingnan Gardeners, Kwan Fong Cultural Research And Development Programme, Lingnan University

Lingnan Gardeners Publications 嶺南彩園刊物

This current collection (Part 2) is a documentation of the Lingnan Gardeners project, from January 2018 up till December 2019. The 12 issues of Lingnan Gardeners Newsletter are collected here, which give some sense of what was happening month by month, in words and pictures. Included are also some related articles on the project – academic interviews, reflections on exchange visits, thoughts after gardening, as well as information about our partners and Lingnan garden healthy recipes (part one and two).

本結集 (下冊) 是嶺南彩園項目從2018年1月至2019年12月的活動總結。這裡收集了12期《嶺南彩園通訊》，每月發生的活動和留影記錄在這裡。還收錄了一些與項目相關的文章，有學術訪談、交流回顧、參與者感言、夥伴機構介紹及彩園食譜 (上、下)。

Good Governance Of The Commons Of Rapa Nui: Present And Past, Pamela A. Mischen, Carl P. Lipo, Terry L. Hunt

Anthropology Datasets

Sustainable communities on Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) — whether in the past or present— require good governance of shared and common pool resources. Whether managing communal land needed for cultivation, ground water, stones for tools, fishing grounds, cultural heritage, or tourism, governance structures must balance individual interests with the common needs of the community. Much of the recent history of the island has been dominated by government structures that were imposed by Chilean authorities. Recently, however, much of the island’s cultural heritage has been turned over to local native governance. This shift has challenges due to the complex contemporary …

Book Proposal: Reimagining Higher Education: A Guide To Creating The Competent College Graduate, Molly Kerby

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Given the climate of distrust, colleges and universities are examining strategies to enable them to remain relevant. Efforts to answer the recent outcry for productive, effective, and evidencedbased outcomes include adapting curricula and degree programs to better prepare graduates for employment. Competency-based education (CBE) programs are at the forefront of these approaches. Although not a new concept, CBE has shifted from its vocational training roots to its current attention on student results. The acquisition of competence requires an engaged learner who practices self-reflection (Dreyfus, 2004). Albanese, et al. (2008) suggest competencies should be outcome focused, emphasize applied-learning, and be measurable. …

Internet Of Things For Environmental Sustainability And Climate Change, Abdul Salam

Faculty Publications

Our world is vulnerable to climate change risks such as glacier retreat, rising temperatures, more variable and intense weather events (e.g., floods, droughts, and frosts), deteriorating mountain ecosystems, soil degradation, and increasing water scarcity. However, there are big gaps in our understanding of changes in regional climate and how these changes will impact human and natural systems, making it difficult to anticipate, plan, and adapt to the coming changes. The IoT paradigm in this area can enhance our understanding of regional climate by using technology solutions, while providing the dynamic climate elements based on integrated environmental sensing and communications that …

Design Of Subsurface Phased Array Antennas For Digital Agriculture Application, Abdul Salam

Faculty Publications

With the advancement in subsurface communications technology, an overarching solution to a underground phased array antenna design for digital agriculture requires interdisciplinary research involving topics ranging from insights on the constitutive parameters of the soil medium and impact of soil moisture on the array factor to antenna measurements and subsurface communication system design. In this paper, based on the analysis of underground radio wave propagation in subsurface radio channel, a phased array antenna design is presented that uses water content information and beam steering mechanisms to improve efficiency and communication range of wireless underground communications. It is shown the subsurface …