Digital Commons Network^™

Promoting Safety And Sustainability: A Community-Based Approach To Road Safety, Nicole V. Vargas

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Pedestrian and cyclist injuries remain a public health concern in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, where low safety awareness and infrastructure gaps contribute to preventable collisions. This capstone project, in partnership with Ecology Action’s Safe Routes to School (SRTS) and Modo Active Transportation programs, assessed the impact of community-based education on road safety awareness and behavior. Using convenience sampling, two tailored surveys were distributed at farmers' markets and tabling events in February–March 2025. Over 800 individuals were engaged, and 113 surveys were completed. Results showed that 75% of Bay View Elementary participants increased active transportation and felt more confident in …

Trade Integration, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

Accounts concerning the world trading system usually start the debate from the negotiation of the GATT. Trade integration before the First World War, though, had been quite remarkable, and the study of this era enriches our understanding of modern institutions in at least two ways. First, a number of GATT provisions had already been shaped during discussions following the advent of the League of Nations. Second, trade integration before the First World War did not manage to put a brake on belligerent behaviour, putting to rest the old Montesquieuan idea of doux commerce. Recent developments (like the invasion of …

Community Perceptions Of A Crisis Response Collaboration: A Community Survey Of Attitudes Towards Police And The Crisis Intervention Response Team., Meghan Anspach

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined community perceptions of the Fayetteville Police Department (FPD) and its Crisis Intervention Response Team (CIRT), focusing on how racial minorities and individuals from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds view these professionals and their roles in crisis situations. The research also aimed to determine whether perceptions of the collaborative effort through CIRT influenced views of the FPD. Previous research has explored perceptions of police, social workers, and co-response teams individually, but a gap remains in understanding how community members feel about the collaboration between police and social workers and whether these perceptions influence their views of the police. …

The Sexual Assault Survivor Experience Of Medical Forensic Examinations, Brielle Simonsen

Honors Theses

Following a sexual assault, survivors may seek medical forensic examinations (MFEs) at hospitals. MFEs can be important in identifying and prosecuting the assailant and in receiving necessary physical and psychological care, yet many survivors choose not to undergo the examination. In this qualitative study, I explored survivor experiences of MFEs at United States hospitals to identify possible areas for improvement of the MFE experience. Understanding these experiences is essential to reducing barriers to care, minimizing further harm, and supporting survivor recovery.

Heterotopias Of Confinement: Zoo Architecture And The Loss Of Elephant Agency, Clayton Gill Beasley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Zoos functions as a site where human-animal relationships are structured through built environments that mediate control and representation. This study examines zoos as heterotopias—spaces where power and surveillance are negotiated between human observers and captive nonhuman animals. While zoos are often framed as spaces of conservation and education, their architectural design reinforces hierarchies of observation and confinement, shaping both human perceptions of nature and the lived experiences of nonhuman animals. This research focuses on Asian elephants as a critical species within this framework, exploring how their captivity illuminates tensions between human-imposed structures and nonhuman autonomy. Drawing from theories of heterotopia, …

In Keeping With Heller, Kevin Schascheck

Buffalo Law Review

Evaluating the constitutionality of modern firearm regulations under the Second Amendment requires recourse to historical evidence under Bruen v. New York State Rifle and Pistol Association. Generally, the government bears the burden to demonstrate that modern firearm regulations are consistent with the nation’s historical traditions. But the Supreme Court’s earlier opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller stated that certain categories of firearm restrictions are longstanding and thus presumptively lawful. And yet, litigants are inviting courts to reject this presumption, arguing that presumptively lawful regulations should be subject to the same historical test as presumptively unlawful regulations.

Courts should reject …

Public Health And Crime Rates In Sioux Falls, Sd, Samuel D. Stukel

Honors Thesis

Sioux Falls, South Dakota is a rapidly growing city that has an emerging public health concern. While the city boasts high ranks in quality-of-life metrics, crime remains a significant concern as it does with most growing cities. This thesis aims at exploring the relationship between public health and crime for the city of Sioux Falls. It emphasizes how social determinants such as poverty, housing insecurity, mental illness, and systemic inequality contribute to crime rates. Through a public health framework, the study proposes a three-tiered approach, primary, secondary, and tertiary preventions. Each of these preventions will address both the root causes …

Analyzing The Role Of Donald Trump As A Catalyst For The Surging European Far Right, Michael D. Main

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Only about a quarter of the world population is currently living under a democracy, down from 54 percent in 2006 (Owens, 2023). In the United States, President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive actions and increasingly unchecked power have many worried about a possible deterioration in the sturdiness of American democracy in the coming years (Barrow, 2025). Meanwhile in Europe, far-right movements such as Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France have scored historic wins at the ballot box (Green, 2024).

The parallel rise of authoritarianism in so many different nations suggest a potential connection between these …

Beyond The Flow: A Critical Examination Of Engagement And Learning Outcomes In Game-Based Learning Through Bibliometric And Manual Literature Analysis, Daniel Ray Singletary

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the role of flow in game‐based learning and compares the effects of continuous flow states with those produced by structured cognitive interruptions. The research combines a bibliometric analysis of 2,466 peer‐reviewed articles (2004–2024) with a manual review of 106 studies using a custom Flow‐Impact Analysis Framework (FIAF). This framework was developed specifically for the review and may assist future investigations into flow in game‐based learning. FIAF categorizes studies based on how they define flow, the instruments used for its measurement, and the links between flow and cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning outcomes.

Findings show that most research …

A National Survey And Critical Analysis Of University Police Statutes, Vanessa Miller

Buffalo Law Review

This Paper provides an empirical study and critical analysis of university police statutes in all fifty jurisdictions, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. The primary focus of the survey is to examine the regulatory framework governing campus police officers at public institutions of higher education. The study employs a crossdisciplinary approach, combining critical legal and qualitative analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of the legal landscape surrounding university police across the United States. The findings of the study include several key elements related to university police, such as police powers, jurisdiction, governing bodies, removal procedures, and use of …

Juggling Tires, Teapots, Burning Torches, And Pennies: The Challenge Of Defining The “Communities Of Interest” Criterion In Municipal Redistricting, Steve Burke

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Movement Lawyering For Pretrial Justice In Eastern Tennessee, Kiah Duggins, Allen Shropshire, Avery Fairburn, Tyler Foster

Vanderbilt Social Justice Reporter

Judges in Tennessee regularly jail legally innocent people simply because those people cannot afford to pay money bail. Many of Tennessee’s citizens do not have access to healthcare, transportation, employment, or housing, which increases their chances of being arrested, being unable to afford money bail, and becoming further destabilized by pretrial detention. This socioeconomic context, combined with judges’ violations of federal law, make it difficult for advocates to protect indigent people’s pretrial liberty solely through legal tactics. Community organizers in Tennessee have, therefore, strategically combined grassroots organizing with legal tactics to advocate for automatic pretrial release. These organizers’ work demonstrates …

One Step At A Time: Duquesne University's Twelfth Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, Meghan Phillips, Marie Ferrick

Duquesne University Greenhouse Gas Inventories

The twelfth greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory was conducted for fiscal year 2024 (FY24), which began on July 1, 2023, and ended on June 30, 2024. Assembled by graduate assistants Meghan Phillips and Marie Ferrick at the Department of Environmental and Energy Engineering (EEE), these findings were compared with those derived from the previous inventories to assess trends in Duquesne University’s GHG emissions. Furthermore, this inventory discusses options for reducing Duquesne’s carbon footprint in future years. Duquesne University’s total market-based GHG emissions were 71,701.31 MT eCO2 for FY24. After calculating the full-time student equivalent and the full-time faculty/staff equivalents, SIMAP …

University Campus Members' Perceptions And Willingness To Accept Plea Deals, Magalli Morado Landaverde

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Previous research on plea bargaining has primarily focused on public opinion about this practice and the disparities among individuals who have accepted a plea deal. This body of research usually addressed only legal or extralegal factors associated with the prevalence of plea bargaining. Few studies have explored the impact of both factors on an individual’s attitude toward plea bargaining and willingness to accept a plea deal. The current study sought to address this gap in the literature by exploring situational and dispositional factors and other relevant measures, such as court procedural justice, to examine their influence on a person’s attitude …

Human Trafficking Prevention Methods In Nebraska, Allison E. Munderloh

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Human Trafficking has been a concern in Nebraska for a long period of time, but there is a lack of publicly available information regarding the prevention methods being employed and their effectiveness. This study aimed to identify the human trafficking prevention methods in use in Nebraska and their effectiveness based on the opinions of human trafficking professionals in the state. The human trafficking professionals were interviewed, and the information gathered was organized into seven different themes. The themes that arose from the information gathered included educational efforts, victim intervention and resources, addressing demand, labor trafficking, measuring success, resources and funding, …

A Machine Learning Framework For Packet Anomaly Detection In Smartgrid Substation Networks, Sowmya Bandari

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The increasing reliance on Smart Grid Substation Networks for efficient electricity distribution has amplified cybersecurity vulnerabilities, particularly within Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. The IEC 60870-5-104 (IEC-104) protocol, widely adopted for communication between Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) and Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs), lacks inherent encryption and authentication mechanisms, rendering it susceptible to sophisticated cyberattacks. Threats such as False Data Injection Attacks (FDIAs), command injection, covert attacks and replay attacks pose significant risks by manipulating grid control signals, potentially leading to undetected operational disruptions, cascading failures, or system-wide instability. Conventional signature-based Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) often fail to identify zero-day …

Ai-Powered Inspection: A Computer Vision System For Efficient Defects Detection In Underground Infrastructures, Rasha Alshawi

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Undetected defects in culverts and sewer pipes pose significant risks to public safety, leading to infrastructure collapses, flooding, and transportation disruptions. Traditional manual inspections are time-consuming, costly, and prone to human error, while existing automated methods struggle with occlusions, irregular defect shapes, class imbalances, and high computational demands. To address these challenges, this dissertation develops advanced semantic segmentation systems that automate defect detection, significantly improving efficiency and accuracy.

This research introduces a series of innovative models designed to overcome these challenges in underground infrastructure inspection. Using dual-attentive mechanisms, sparsely connected blocks, and depth-separable convolutions, these models improve segmentation performance and …

The Need For Standards In Autonomous Driving: Exploring Ethical And Social Implications In The Successful Deployment Of Autonomous Cars, Nandni Patel

Honors Theses

Autonomous driving incorporates applications and algorithms of AI to enable self-driving vehicles as viable transportation options across the country. Self-driving vehicles may provide advantages over human-driven vehicles in several ways, including cost savings, accessibility to transportation, efficiency, convenience, and reduced traffic. However, there are still challenges due to the added lack of cybersecurity issues, laws, and ethical factors to consider in gaining public trust. Ethical issues such as choosing how to respond to accidents and algorithms for safety decisions are factors in the progression of autonomous vehicles for many companies. Since a gap exists in research and development for ethical …

Volume 108, Number 3 (2025)

Judicature

No abstract provided.

The Imposition Of Constitutional Rights, Alvin Padilla-Babilonia

Michigan Law Review

One of the central principles of constitutionalism is that citizenship stands for equal rights under the law. According to this ideal, a U.S. citizen living in Puerto Rico or Guam should have the same constitutional rights as a citizen living on the mainland. However, throughout U.S. history, constitutional rights have been neither uniform nor centralized. While constitutional rights held importance, they coexisted with ideals of democratic self-governance and legal pluralism. Today, Supreme Court justices and legal scholars argue that all constitutional rights should apply in the territories. This view upholds citizenship, equal rights, and the rule of law. But the …

Community Voices, Climate Action Choices: Working Towards A Resilient Monterey County, Lesley A. Solano Alonso

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Vulnerable communities in Monterey County face disproportionate environmental and health impacts due to climate change, yet many residents remain unaware of the tools and resources available to support local action. This capstone project was implemented in partnership with Ecology Action (EA) and the Resilient Central Coast (RCC) campaign to increase awareness and engagement with the RCC platform. Serving diverse communities across Monterey County, the project included bilingual outreach efforts, community tabling, educational presentations, and a climate action survey. Over 650 residents were engaged directly, resulting in 99 new household sign-ups on the RCC website, a major milestone for the agency. …

Addressing Housing Insecurity In Pacific Grove: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Affordable Housing Resources, Melissa Gembe

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The City of Pacific Grove is a beautiful coastal place to live, yet it is difficult to find affordable housing. The housing division works together with other departments in the city and state to carry out its goal of ensuring that residents have access to affordable housing. In previous community housing needs surveys 60% of respondents reported an interest in building an Accessory Dwelling Unit. Similarly, 50% respondents showed an interest in landlord incentive workshops. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of these two key resources. A study was conducted through in-depth interviews with specialists in …

Development And Practice Of Tribal Community Planning: Ensuring Indigeneity In The Planning Process, Jared E. Munster, Ph.D.

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Complete Message Is The Best Message: The Case For Standardizing Wireless Emergency Alerts, Jeannette Sutton, Micki Olson, Hugh Walpole, Lauren B. Cain, Nicholas Waugh, Michele M. Wood

Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity Faculty Scholarship

Standardized messaging for alerts and warnings has been made possible through the use of the Warning Lexicon and workflow. The effectiveness of this approach to motivate protective action behaviors, in comparison with the current standard of practice, has not yet been tested. Using an experimental design to test the effectiveness of the Warning Lexicon, we tested three message types for five hazards: blackouts, law enforcement incidents, infectious diseases, heavy snow, and chemical releases, and found that messages created using the Warning Lexicon contents and workflow produced better messaging outcomes than the current standard of practice. Specifically, participants who received the …

A Comprehensive Review Of Carbon Sequestration And Its Assessment Techniques Using Remote Sensing And Geospatial Methods, Imen Ben Salem

All Works

Global warming has elevated carbon sequestration as a critical strategy for mitigating climate change, while enhancing sustainability in productivity. Agricultural land use systems contribute substantially to CO2 emissions due to crop residues, shifting cultivation practices, low-biomass crops, land degradation, and deforestation. The significant rise in CO2 emissions over the past thirty years is associated with burning fossil fuels, leading to substantial environmental changes, including global warming. Remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are advanced geospatial technologies that facilitate the rapid evaluation of terrestrial carbon stock over extensive regions. An integrated RS-GIS approach for carbon stock estimation and precision …

An Exploration Of Substance Abuse By Healthcare Workers During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review, Andrew Hills

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Objective

This scoping review aims to identify available literature and research on substance abuse by healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic to examine whether the stress of their duties during the pandemic exacerbated existing issues of substance abuse.

Methods

A literature search using PubMed and Google Scholar using Harzing Publish or Perish identified 100 relevant professionally-authored, peer-reviewed, English-language academic articles published between 2015 and 2025 on substance abuse by HCWs. Exclusions were done via a review of the abstract and then from the full text, reducing the number of articles to three from those three articles which generated an …

An Unfair Chance For The Formerly Incarcerated: Yim V. City Of Seattle And The Commercial Speech Doctrine, Emilee Kaminski

Cardozo Law Review

Formerly incarcerated persons face disproportionately challenging barriers to housing upon reentry; criminal records are used as a basis to deny otherwise suitable prospective tenants. In 2017, the City of Seattle passed the "Fair Chance Housing Ordinance," prohibiting landlords from relying on criminal history when evaluating prospective tenants. In 2023, the Ninth Circuit struck this provision down on the grounds that this complete ban violated Seattle landlords' constitutionally protected free speech rights. The circuit court held that the ordinance implicated commercial speech and failed to pass intermediate scrutiny review under the four-part test outlined in Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. …

Deadly Choices: Political, Legal, And Moral Understandings Of U.S. Supreme Court Death Penalty Decisions, Anabelle S. Bergstrom

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis explores the political, legal, and moral factors that influence Supreme Court justices when penning capital punishment decisions. It also examines the evolution of thinking toward the death penalty by former justices John Paul Stevens and Harry Blackmun throughout their tenure on the Court. Cases are analyzed through fact-pattern analysis and the jurisprudential regime theory, which quantitatively build upon existing literature detailing the theoretical background of judicial decision-making through the attitudinal model. An analysis of Justices Blackmun and Stevens’ papers at the Library of Congress focuses on rhetoric that reflects utilitarian and retributive theories of punishment. Findings show that …

Advancing Approaches To Multi-Target Multi-Camera Tracking: Graph-Based Features, Language Integration, Privacy Preservation, And Large Language Agent Frameworks, Tuan Thanh Nguyen Mr

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Multi-target multi-camera tracking (MTMCT) is a cornerstone of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), enabling comprehensive monitoring and analysis of vehicle movements across distributed camera networks. Although significant progress has been made, fundamental challenges persist in data association, real-time processing, preservation of privacy, and natural-language user interaction. First, we propose a graph-based model that leverages similarity algorithms to enhance cross-camera object association. Our framework achieves state-of-the-art performance with an IDF1 score of 0.8166 on the CityFlow dataset for offline tracking while maintaining real-time capability at 14 FPS for online scenarios. Next, we present LaMMOn, an end-to-end framework integrating language models with graph …

Assessing A Police Department's Reliance On The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (Nibin) To Solve Shooting Cases: Can Nibin Increase Shooting Clearance Rates?, James Stephen Abbott

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Often, police response to shooting incidents lacks the investigative leads needed for successful follow-up and prosecution. This may result from a lack of surveillance video or witnesses investigators rely on to solve such cases quickly. To overcome these obstacles, law enforcement has turned to forensic science to provide police with the information and clues to be successful. Ballistic evidence is one such tool that can provide police with detailed information regarding linked shooting cases that can help identify possible new witnesses, surveillance videos, potential suspects and criminal groups, motive, and account for the number of firearms used at the scene. …