Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Integrated Assessment Of Shallow-Aquifer Vulnerability To Multiple Contaminants And Drinking-Water Exposure Pathways In Holliston, Massachusetts, Birgit Claus Henn, Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger, Allegra Denehy, Marcie Randall, Nichole Cordon, Bilin Basu, Brian Caccavale, Stefanie Covino, Ravi Hanumantha, Kevin Longo, Ariel Maiorano, Spring Pillsbury, Gabrielle Rigutto, Kelsey Shields, Marianne Sarkis, Timothy Downs

Sustainability and Social Justice

Half of U.S. drinking water comes from aquifers, and very shallow ones (table) are especially vulnerable to anthropogenic contamination. We present the case of Holliston, a Boston, Massachusetts suburb that draws its drinking water from very shallow aquifers, and where metals and solvents have been reported in groundwater. Community concerns focus on water discolored by naturally occurring manganese (Mn), despite reports stating regulatory aesthetic compliance. Epidemiologic studies suggest Mn is a potentially toxic element (PTE) for children exposed by the drinking-water pathway at levels near the regulatory aesthetic level. We designed an integrated, community-based project: five sites were profiled for …

Spatial Transferability Assessment Of A Composite Walkability Index: The Pedestrian Index Of The Environment (Pie), Gabriel Lefebvre-Ropars, Catherine Morency, Patrick A. Singleton, Kelly J. Clifton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper analyzes the transferability of a composite walkability index, the Pedestrian Index of the Environment (PIE), to the Greater Montréal Area (GMA). The PIE was developed in Portland, Oregon, and is based on proprietary data. It combines six urban form variables into a score ranging from 20 to 100. The measure introduces several methodological refinements which have not been applied concurrently in previous efforts: a wide coverage of the different dimensions of the urban form, together with the use of a distance-based decay function and modelling-based weighing of the variables.

The Vibe, Sarah P. Douglass

Capstones

The Vibe is a long-form narrative about where tech is taking the female orgasm. The piece concludes that physiological research is a required next step when creating the climax of the future.

http://sarahpdouglass.com

Breadcrumbs: Privacy As A Privilege, Prachi Bhardwaj

Capstones

Breadcrumbs: Privacy as a Privilege Abstract

By: Prachi Bhardwaj

In 2017, the world saw more data breaches than in any year prior. The count was more than the all-time high record in 2016, which was 40 percent more than the year before that.

That’s because consumer data is incredibly valuable today. In the last three decades, data storage has gone from being stored physically to being stored almost entirely digitally, which means consumer data is more accessible and applicable to business strategies. As a result, companies are gathering data in ways previously unknown to the average consumer, and hackers are …

The Future Of Nuclear Security: A Medical Physicist’S Perspective, Katharine E. Thomson

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Planning for the future of nuclear security is a vital and complex task, requiring cooperation and contribution from many disciplines and industries. This diversity of expertise should include the medical sector, which faces many of the same challenges as the nuclear industry: controlling access to dangerous material, creating a strong security culture, cooperating with the wider world and engaging the public.

Medical physicists, of which the author is one, oversee all aspects of small-scale radiation use. This paper discusses three key areas increasingly important to both medical and nuclear uses of radioactive materials: public engagement, prevention of nuclear and radiological …

Assessing And Enhancing Nuclear Safety And Security Culture For Small Facilities That Handle Radioactive Material, Solymosi Máté

International Journal of Nuclear Security

The use of radioactive sources is expanding all over the world and abreast the necessity of the enhancement of its safe and secure application is increasing too. In the nuclear industry, the safety and security are top priorities since decades. They share the same goal, to protect humans from the negative affect of the ionizing radiation. The human component of them is a significant factor and technical solutions can protect us so far and thus the culture for safety and security become a major focus. On the other hand, there are still some contradiction between recommendations and international guidance of …

The Future Of Nuclear Security In Moroccan Territory After The Creation Of The New Moroccan Agency Of Nuclear And Radiological Safety And Security: Opportunities And Challenges, Amal Touarsi, Amina Kharchaf

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Nowadays, a security regime for protecting nuclear and radiological material—providing an intelligent national regulatory institution and establishing national security laws—is necessary in order for a state to ensure security of nuclear and radiological materials used within its borders.

This paper focuses on discussing the opportunities and challenges facing the future of nuclear security after the creation of the new Moroccan Agency of Nuclear and Radiological Safety and Security.

A Framework Towards Technology Creation In Africa: Focusing On Ghana, Martin Yao Donani, Hannatu Abue Kugblenu, Azindow Bawa Fuseini

International Journal of African Development

Underdevelopment in Africa has been historical and a global concern coupled with the quest for good governance. Several efforts have been made in academia, national governments, the international community, and other institutional arrangements to reverse the trend. These efforts however are yet to produce a lasting result as Africa is still characterized by low productivity output, poverty and a widening technology gap when compared to other developing regions of the world. Conventional approaches used to address the African problem have consistently been devoid of indigenous technology development. Technology is here seen as paramount to every form of production on which …

Utilizing High-Resolution Archived Transit Data To Study Before-And-After Travel-Speed And Travel-Time Conditions, Travis Bradley Glick

Dissertations and Theses

Travel times, operating speeds, and service reliability influence costs and service attractiveness. This paper outlines an approach to quantify how these metrics change after a modification of roadway design or transit routes using archived transit data. The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), Portland's public transportation provider, archives automatic vehicle location (AVL) data for all buses as part of their bus dispatch system (BDS). This research combines three types of AVL data (stop event, stop disturbance, and high-resolution) to create a detailed account of transit behavior; this probe data gives insights into the behavior of transit as well as …

Note From The Editorial Board

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science

No abstract provided.

Lyme Disease: An Influential Outdoor Hazard, Kevin Kang

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science

Lyme disease is an important, common illness in New England. A relatively new illness, it was discovered about forty years ago in the town of Lyme, Connecticut. Now, it has become the most common vector-transmitted illness in the United States, with over 30,000 cases annually. Lyme disease arises when a bacterium is transmitted to a human via deer tick bite, so those of us involved in outdoor sports are most likely to contract the disease. Inhabitants of New England and the northeastern U.S. are most vulnerable to the disease, as 95% of Lyme Disease cases occur in only 14 out …

Towards Simulating The Human Brain, Logan T. Collins

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science

The human brain has been described as “the most complex object in the universe.” Its meshwork of 86 billion neurons,84 billion glial cells, and over 150 trillion synapses may seem intractable. Nonetheless, efforts to comprehensively map, understand, and even computationally reproduce this structure are underway. Large collectives of researchers have come together, working in concert towards these goals. The Human Brain Project (HBP) and its precursor, the Blue Brain Project, have spearheaded the brain simulation goal.Some other notable organizations include the China Brain Project, the BRAIN Initiative. On a scale which parallels the space program and the Human Genome Project, …

Nawic Focus (December 2017), National Association Of Women In Construction - Maine Chapter Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Minerva 2017, The Honors College

Minerva

This issue of Minerva includes a feature on Honors College research collaboratives; an article on Honors students studying abroad in Singapore and Chile; an article reflecting upon the 15-year anniversary of the Honors College and the importance of mentorship; and articles on Honors students Isaiah Mansour and Aliya Uteova.

A Multiagent-Based Approach For Vehicle Routing By Considering Both Arriving On Time And Total Travel Time, Zhiguang Cao, Hongliang Guo, Jie Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Arriving on time and total travel time are two important properties for vehicle routing. Existing route guidance approaches always consider them independently, because they may conflict with each other. In this article, we develop a semi-decentralized multiagent-based vehicle routing approach where vehicle agents follow the local route guidance by infrastructure agents at each intersection, and infrastructure agents perform the route guidance by solving a route assignment problem. It integrates the two properties by expressing them as two objective terms of the route assignment problem. Regarding arriving on time, it is formulated based on the probability tail model, which aims to …

Efficient Gate System Operations For A Multipurpose Port Using Simulation Optimization, Ketki Kulkarni, Trong Khiem Tran, Hai Wang, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Port capacity is determined by three major infrastructural resources namely, berths, yards and gates. Theadvertised capacity is constrained by the least of the capacities of the three resources. While a lot ofattention has been paid to optimizing berth and yard capacities, not much attention has been given toanalyzing the gate capacity. The gates are a key node between the land-side and sea-side operations in anocean-to-cities value chain. The gate system under consideration, located at an important port in an Asiancity, is a multi-class parallel queuing system with non-homogeneous Poisson arrivals. It is hard to obtaina closed form analytic approach for …

Developing A Digital Contents Valuing Model: How Users Appreciate Their Values, Changsu Kim, Jongheon Kim

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The principal objective of this paper was to propose and verify a digital content valuing model, which is expected to perform a significant role in future research, and provide novel and practical implications. For the efficacy of a model for the evaluation of digital content value, this study reviewed digital content value and categorized it into intrinsic, interaction, and business value. Based on the research model, we attempted to identify and assess the effects of intrinsic digital content value on digital content interaction value, and to characterize the relationship between digital content interaction value and digital content business value. Consequently, …

Data Protection In Nigeria: Addressing The Multifarious Challenges Of A Deficient Legal System, Roland Akindele

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This paper provides an overview of the current state of privacy and data protection policies and regulations in Nigeria. The paper contends that the extant legal regime in Nigeria is patently inadequate to effectively protect individuals against abuse resulting from the processing of their personal data. The view is based on the critical analysis of the current legal regime in Nigeria vis-à-vis the review of some vital data privacy issues. The paper makes some recommendations for the reform of the law.

Privacy Risks And Security Threats In Mhealth Apps, Brinda Hansraj Sampat, Bala Prabhakar

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

mHealth (Mobile Health) applications (apps) have transformed the doctor-patient relationship. They help users with varied functionalities such as monitoring their health, understanding specific health conditions, consulting doctors online and achieving fitness goals. Whilst these apps provide an option of equitable and convenient access to healthcare, a lot of personal and sensitive data about users is collected, stored and shared to achieve these functionalities. Little is known about the privacy and security concerns these apps address. Based on literature review, this paper identifies the privacy risks and security features for evaluating thirty apps in the Medical category across two app distribution …

Table Of Contents Jitim Vol 26 Issue 4, 2017

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Table of Contents

Developing A Platform For Integrating Disability Issues Into City Municipality Decisions; Case Study: City Of Knoxville, Sravanthi Pamu

Masters Theses

The People with Disabilities (PWD) & Senior Citizen (SC) are isolated from the mainstream society, and they face several barriers in everyday life. There is no communication platform for them to express their concerns, in turn, participate in the city municipality policy decisions related to PWD- & SC-friendly city development. The purpose of this research is to integrate disability and senior citizen issues in the city of Knoxville to the city council decisions. The comprehensive literature search is done to identify the frequently mentioned disability and age-friendly city factors. An effective survey was designed to identify the issues in collaboration …

Parents' Perceptions Of Smartphone Use And Parenting Practices, David Jackson Johnson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The present study is a qualitative examination aiming to gain insight into parents’ perceptions of their smartphone use and the effects it may be having on their children as well as parenting practices. Participants (N=12) were smartphone using parents that consisted mostly of young college-educated females. Thematic analysis of individual interviews resulted in five primary themes: (1) Disengagement, (2) Concern for Future, (3) Change in Social Norms, (4) Boundaries, and (5) Cognitive Dissonance. These findings indicate significant effects parental smartphone use is having in the lives of study participants. These thematic findings call for additional research examining the impact parental …

An Investigation Of Employment And Wage Distribution In The Construction Industry By Race/Ethnicity And Gender, Binit Kumar Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

One of the largest job providers in the U.S, is the construction industry, an industry that suffers from critical problems pertaining to a labor shortage. Yet the industry also struggles with insufficient interest and inconsistent participation from underrepresented demographic groups. To address the issue of workforce income inequality and bias, the industry must better understand the current situation regarding inequality; it needs to pinpoint some basic problems. To do so, analysts must scrutinize the following aspects: 1) the current differences within the construction workforce by race/ethnicity and gender with regards to the total employment and 2) the current disparity within …

Community-Engaged Operations Research: Trends, New Frontiers And Current Applications, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

An Unsung Success Story: A Forty-Year Retrospective On U.S. Communications Policy, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

Looking backwards on the occasion of Telecommunications Policy’s fortieth anniversary reveals just how far U.S. communications policy has come. All of the major challenges of 1976, such as promoting competition in customer premises equipment, long distance, and television networking, have largely been overcome. Moreover, new issues that emerged later, such as competition in local telephone service and multichannel video program distribution, have also largely been solved. More often than not, the solution has been the result of structural changes that enhanced facilities-based competition rather than agency-imposed behavioral requirements. Moreover, close inspection reveals that in most cases, prodding by the courts …

Solar System Battery Backups For Reactor Coolant Pumps During Electricity Outages Resulting From Natural Disasters, Md. Shamsul Huda Sohel

International Journal of Nuclear Security

In a nuclear power plant, its coolant system is major safety equipment. Coolant system failure causes several accidents in nuclear history. There are so many causes for coolant system failure. One of them is lack of electric power for coolant pumps. In typically NPP there is backup system for power redundancy. In this article, focus on reactor coolant system and its backup power when main grid lines failure. Here discuss about solar backup power for batteries and increases a safety lines for reactor coolant pumps. So, our main goal is providing a battery backup from reliable natural source and ensuring …

Understanding The Linkages Between Urban Transportation Design And Population Exposure To Traffic-Related Air Pollution: Application Of An Integrated Transportation And Air Pollution Modeling Framework To Tampa, Fl, Sashikanth Gurram

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rapid and unplanned urbanization has ushered in a variety of public health challenges, including exposure to traffic pollution and greater dependence on automobiles. Moreover, vulnerable population groups often bear the brunt of negative outcomes and are subject to disproportionate exposure and health effects. This makes it imperative for urban transportation engineers, land use planners, and public health professionals to work synergistically to understand both the relationship between urban design and population exposure to traffic pollution, and its social distribution. Researchers have started to pay close attention to this connection, mainly by conducting observational studies on the relationship between transportation, urban …

The Santa Clara, 2017-11-16, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Improving Service Level Of Free-Floating Bike Sharing Systems, Aritra Pal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bike Sharing is a sustainable mode of urban mobility, not only for regular commuters but also for casual users and tourists. Free-floating bike sharing (FFBS) is an innovative bike sharing model, which saves on start-up cost, prevents bike theft, and offers significant opportunities for smart management by tracking bikes in real-time with built-in GPS. Efficient management of a FFBS requires: 1) analyzing its mobility patterns and spatio-temporal imbalance of supply and demand of bikes, 2) developing strategies to mitigate such imbalances, and 3) understanding the causes of a bike getting damaged and developing strategies to minimize them. All of these …

The Santa Clara, 2017-11-09, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.