Digital Commons Network^™

The Power Grid/Wildfire Nexus: Using Gis And Satellite Remote Sensing To Identify Vulnerabilities, Alyssa Farnes, Keith Weber, Cassie Koerner, Kathy Araújo, Christopher Forsgren

CAES Energy Policy Institute Faculty Publications and Presentations

The effects of wildfire on the power grid are a recurring concern for utility companies who need reliable information about where to prioritize infrastructure hardening. Though there are existing data layers that provide measures of burn probability, these models predominately consider long-term climate variables, which are not helpful when analyzing current season trends. Utility companies need data that are temporally and locally relevant. To determine the primary drivers of burn probability relative to power grid vulnerability, this study assessed potential wildfire drivers that are both readily accessible and regularly updated. Two study areas in Idaho, USA with contrasting burn probabilities …

An Examination Of Legal Responses By United States To Technological Advances In Organized Drug Smuggling, Abdulwahab Aldossary

Symposium Projects

Recent advances in technology have aided terrorists in their ability to smuggle drugs in order to finance their operations. Drug trading routes have changed and so have methods of transportation and financial transaction. This study investigates the improved technology utilized by transnational organized crime groups and how the present laws and policies address the use of the improved technology for drug smuggling. The study will first look into the current models, such as the Counter-Terrorist Funding and Money Laundering model, and understand its weaknesses regarding drug smuggling within the United States. Moreover, the paper will focus on the current laws …

An Analysis Of Trends Of Generic Drugs And Biologic Prices In The U.S., Mohammed Jamjoom

Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Introduction: Drug prices are a significant problem for the US healthcare system. Generic and biosimilar market competition reduces drug and biologic prices, results in substantial savings, and improves patient access and outcomes. As the costs of healthcare and prescription drugs continue to rise, the discussion about drug prices has taken a prominent place at the forefront of national discourse. This study assessed impacting trends in prices of generic, biosimilar, and reference products in the US. We also evaluated the effect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 on biologic prices.

Methods: We extracted a list of the new generic …

Disturbance Regimes And Management Strategies Of Mountain Ash Forest Ecosystems In Victoria, Australia; A Literature Review, Zoe Plumb

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper discusses the ecology of mountain ash forests, the disturbances regimes that currently exist in these ecosystems, and finally addresses the current management practices and future management practices. Mountain ash forests are subjected to a wide range of research in the Central Highlands of Victoria, an area approximately 14,000 hectares in range. These forests are dominated by montane ash trees (Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell), which are critically endangered and at risk of collapse, attributed to the decline in large hollow-bearing trees throughout the region. Management of these forests are controlled by the Department of Environment, Land, Water, and …

An Examination Of The Legal Responses By United States To Technological Advances In Organized Drug Smuggling, Abdulwahab Aldossary

University Honors Program

Recent advances in technology have aided terrorists in their ability to smuggle drugs in order to finance their operations. Drug trading routes have changed and so have methods of transportation and financial transaction. This study investigates the improved technology utilized by transnational organized crime groups and how the present laws and policies address the use of the improved technology for drug smuggling. The study will first look into the current models, such as the Counter-Terrorist Funding and Money Laundering model, and understand its weaknesses regarding drug smuggling within the United States. Moreover, the paper will focus on the current laws …

Was Atwater V. Lago Vista Decided Correctly? The Fourth Amendment's Shadow And Simulacra Of Police Brutality And The American Dream, Charles Lincoln

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Money Laundering In The Global Art Market, Arran Walton

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

It is no secret that money laundering has seeped into the art market for years, but veils of anonymity and lack of regulation have kept many of those who foster the illegal operations immune from justice. As criminal operations permeate the art market on a regular basis, what can be done? This thesis will approach this question through an examination of qualitative data and studies, including investigating applicable recent cases, to understand four unique vulnerabilities of the art market and how these weaknesses are exploited. Additionally, the major groups who use the art market as a means of money laundering …

Tactical Urbanism On A University Campus: A Case Study Of Crossroads On Dickson, Noah Berg

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tactical Urbanism is a method of creating temporary, low-cost interventions in a city’s built environment, aiming to test new ideas, gather community feedback, and create momentum for larger-scale changes. The approach is characterized by its focus on quick, iterative projects that can be easily implemented and adjusted, rather than large, expensive initiatives that take years to complete. Examples of Tactical Urbanism projects include pop-up bike lanes, parklets, and community gardens. The goal is to encourage community participation, foster a sense of ownership, and create a safer, more livable, and inclusive city. In spring 2022, a class called “Walk, Bike, Link” …

Perception Of Physical Safety Among Non-White College Students, Jireh Bagyendera

Master of Arts in Higher Education (MAHE) Theses

Non-White college students in the United States have a lower perception of physical safety than White students. Colleges around the United States have significant indicators of safety and have some attitudes of fairness. They need to grow in creating avenues for communication, fostering non-White sense of belonging, addressing bias, and installing policies that validate perspectives of diverse students.

Reviving The Boeing Project By Using Project Management Methodologies, Aashay Mhatre, Chandrakant Kamble, Anjali Shah, Shehzad Malim

School of Professional Studies

No abstract provided.

The History And Trajectory Of Major Vice Regulations In Massachusetts, Jonathan D. Zlotnik, David K. Muradian

School of Professional Studies

No abstract provided.

Working To Elect Under-Represented Groups In Public Office, Jenny Pacillo

School of Professional Studies

Running for public office is a massive undertaking that is often inaccessible to marginalized groups of people including women, people of color, low income folks and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. These people, especially when they are first time candidates, face barriers that range from lack of finances to gatekeeping. Communities benefit when residents are represented by a diverse range of elected officials, as they bring unique perspectives, lived experiences and opinions to the table. This capstone will provide an overview of strategy, guidelines to follow and basic tools that are needed to run for office to assist first time …

Urban Insecurity And Security Expenditures In Turkiye, Gulay Gunluk-Senesen, Yasin Kutuk

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

The majority of the world's population now lives in urban areas, making cities targets of warfare and areas of insecurity in recent years. This has led to a growing interest in urban security and a shift towards the militarization of traditional police forces. However, the relationship between urban security and securitization is not well understood in the literature, and research on the implications of public resource allocation is limited. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of public security spending in reducing insecurity in urban areas in Turkey, against the backdrop of increased securitization in the 2000s. The study uses …

Enabling Joint Sensing And Communication For Vehicle-To-Everything Networks, Mohammad Alaneed

ETD Archive

This thesis investigates the challenges and opportunities in designing and implementing joint sensing and communication (JSC) systems in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) environments. This emerging concept in vehicular communication connects vehicles to other vehicles, infrastructure, networks, and pedestrians in a smart transportation environment. To address these challenges and seize these opportunities, a new development model is proposed. The primary objective of this work is to enhance the overall performance of the system while leveraging synergies between sensing and communication tasks. To achieve this, advanced methodologies such as the smooth-MUSIC (MUltiple SIgnal Classifcation) algorithm for Angle of Arrival (AoA) estimation, robust beamforming techniques …

2023 Commencement, University Of The Pacific

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Perceived Safety And Equitable Access: An Investigation Of The Northwest Arkansas Regional Greenway, Jessica Shearman

Landscape Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

In today’s world, designers, planners, and policymakers are grappling with conflicts of climate change, habitat loss, and increasing diversity all during a migratory trend towards urban areas and higher densities of living. Creating public spaces that are both resilient ecologically and environmentally, while also creating a sense of place is essential for providing a higher quality of life equitably for all citizens. Through case studies and literature review, the public’s safety perceptions when accessing public spaces is key to equitable access. Specifically, differing perceptions of safety based on gender, race, and backgrounds. Perceived safety can be defined as an awareness …

A Qualitative Case Study On How The Transition To Remote Learning Affected Elementary Language Arts Instruction During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Matthew B. Bergman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emergency remote learning (or remote learning) altered K-12 instruction and occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. Mandatory lockdowns and social distancing efforts transformed face-to-face instruction into a new pedagogical model called emergency remote learning or remote learning. In this qualitative case study, I aimed to understand how third-grade language arts instruction was affected during the transition to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of general education teachers, learning support teachers, school administrators, and residential care providers. Additionally, the researcher used Moore’s (1997) transactional distance theory to investigate which strategies (methods, materials, and technologies) …

The Connecticut Clean Slate Law

Connecticut Law Review

By erasing or sealing criminal records, Clean Slate policies propose a second-chance opportunity of employment, housing, and education to thousands of Americans. In targeting the archaic and inaccessible processes of expunging and sealing records, Clean Slate ambitiously pursues economic and public safety policy goals. In 2021, Connecticut joined the states devoted to ascribing to these goals when it enacted a Clean Slate law that aids thousands of Connecticut residents who face major disadvantages as a result of misdemeanor or low-level felony records stemming from years-old convictions.

Supporters of Connecticut’s Clean Slate law theorize that without the barriers imposed by criminal …

Necessity, Proportionality, And Executive Order 14086, Alex Joel

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

The Increasing Demand For Offering Construction Management Programs., Koosha Jamali

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Those who wish to begin their careers in construction management do so primarily with either construction trade experience or academic backgrounds. There are narrow pathways through educational institutions for those seeking construction management careers. Many universities do not offer construction curriculums. Instead, students often study architecture or civil engineering as a gateway to the industry. Some work as tradesmen and move on to managerial positions. As those options are neither direct nor efficient, the solution would be to offer specific degree plans for construction management practices. Some universities provide construction management. However, there is a demand for much more. This …

Dynamic Scene Understanding: Pedestrian Tracking From Aerial Devices., Abdelhamid Bouzid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) is the problem that involves following the trajectory of multiple objects in a sequence, generally a video. Pedestrians are among the most interesting subjects to track and recognize for many purposes such as surveillance, and safety. In the recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) have been viewed as a viable option for monitoring public areas, as they provide a low-cost method of data collection while covering large and difficult-to-reach areas. In this thesis, we present an online pedestrian tracking and re-identification from aerial devices framework. This framework is based on learning a compact directional statistic distribution …

Fear Of Becoming A Victim Of Crime On A College Campus: A Visual And Factorial Experimental Design Survey Analysis Of Location And Demographic Factors., Nancy Steinmetz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vanessa LoBue (2013) states that the emotion of fear, “a signal of impending threat” (p. 38) is common among mammals. For over five decades, there has been substantial research into what in society, or our communities, makes us fearful. It is this author’s intention to examine how college students’ fear of crime or fear of victimization may be heightened or intensified by specific factors that are commonplace on college campuses and areas adjacent to those campuses. Nicole Rader (2004) argues that the fear of crime discourse needs to be expanded to a larger “construct” called “the threat of victimization” (p. …

Automated Agencies, Joshua D. Blank, Leigh Osofsky

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

When individuals have questions about federal benefits, services, and legal rules, they increasingly seek help from government chatbots, virtual assistants, and other automated tools. Most scholars who have studied artificial intelligence and federal government agencies have not focused on the government’s use of technology to offer guidance to the public. The absence of scholarly attention to automation as a means of communicating government guidance is an important gap in the literature. Through the use of automated legal guidance, the federal government is responding to millions of public inquiries each year about the law, a number that may multiply many times …

Freedom To Pray, Not To Protest, Leah Reiss

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

The Supreme Court has never definitively ruled on the constitutionality of curfews that target political activity. Historically, curfews have been very difficult to challenge. They suffer from mootness issues because they tend to be temporary in nature, so associated harms are also temporary. Likely as a result, challenges to curfews more commonly take the form of a complaint regarding misconduct by a law enforcement officer during the curfew, rather than a facial challenge to the curfew itself. Further, courts are typically deferential to state claims of police power, which provides the authority for state and local governments to take action …

Nebraska’S Medico-Legal System: A Death Investigation Analysis, Ashley Novak

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A large part of the founding of the United States of America focused on the idea of state control over their internal affairs. For this reason, the United States is home to a largely decentralized medico-legal system. The State of Nebraska hosts a coroner-based death investigation system as is written into their legislation regarding the establishment of their medico-legal system. By studying legislation, federal and state reports, as well as publications by academics within the field, merits and weaknesses of the Nebraskan coroner system can be uncovered. Additional considerations and understandings that are needed to be understood include: understanding what …

How They See Me: Reentry Experiences Of Women With Mental Illnesses: An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach, Mansi N. Patel

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

The reintegration of justice-involved people into the community has emerged as a key concern of the criminal justice system as prison populations have increased globally. High recidivism rates indicate that prisons have not adequately prepared many prisoners for life after prisons. Over one million women are released from US jails and prisons each year and reintegrate into society (National Institute of Justice, 2022). These women will reintegrate into society with disproportionately high rates of mental health issues and women who leave jails and prisons with mental health issues face increased risks of experiencing substance use, risky behaviors, homelessness, and recidivism …

Nymc Synapse Issue 38, School Of Medicine Student Senate, New York Medical College

The Synapse

No abstract provided.

Medication Errors In Pediatric Care And Preventative Solutions, Tyler Tidwell

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The research presented extensively examines previous reports covering pediatric medication errors (PMEs). Utilizing specific studies into the frequency and types of medication errors along with public surveys and policy discussion, the data and suggestions here provide commentary on the scope of PMEs, suggested institutional reform, and most importantly, legislative recommended action necessary to stymie the tide of PMEs. A significant portion of the research contained fixates on the literature review to provide ample familiarity with the background and scope of PMEs, but the subsequent sections will discuss their implication. After providing details on the magnitude of the issue, regulatory and …

Debt And Dependence: Foreign Interference In Haiti And The Importance Of Non-State Actor Accountability, Sandra Wisner, Brian Concannon

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Colonialist policies and lending practices by foreign states and non-state actors have led to serious and wide-spread violations of Haitian individuals’ fundamental human rights. In particular, a series of loan conditions imposed by international financial institutions and their members states left Haiti vulnerable to increased food insecurity and a severely diminished social sector. This paper proposes that the imposition of such loan conditions constitutes a violation of foreign actors’ obligations under international law respecting economic, social, cultural, and political rights, as well as their extra-territorial obligations (ETOs) to take joint and separate action to promote and respect human rights beyond …

How To Solve The Initial Appearance Crisis, Malia N. Brink, Pamela R. Metzger, Jiacheng Yu

Deason Center Reports

Across the United States, people are arrested and held behind bars for days, weeks, and sometimes even months, without ever seeing a judge or attorney. These delays violate the United States Constitution’s promise that an arrested person—who is innocent unless proven guilty—will have prompt access to the courts, the assistance of counsel, and a fair and speedy trial.

These due process milestones begin at initial appearance: the first time an arrested person sees a judge about their case. At an initial appearance, the judge should inform an arrested person of the charges against them. The judge should also make an …