Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Strategic Insights: The Strategic Relevance Of Latin America For The United States, R. Evan Ellis

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

Developing Seamless Connections In The Urban Transit Network: A Look Toward High-Speed Rail Interconnectivity, Tingting Yu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the past, the studies in the U.S. on high speed rail have been on economic impact. Recently, there are a few studies on the multimodal connectivity at high speed rail stations. High speed rail stations are viewed as hubs that are connected by different modes of public transportation by which passengers are transported to their destinations. How and in which way these different modes are connected to high speed rail stations influence the ridership of high speed rail stations. As the development of high speed rail system in the U.S. has come to the stage for actual design and …

Restoration Of Bison (Bison Bison) To Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, A Feasibility Study, Daniel S. Licht

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a 3,057-acre park located in western Nebraska. The unit is comprised of northern mixed-grass prairie vegetation, typical of the Northern Great Plains. Weather, fire, and grazing are generally considered to be the ecological drivers of prairie ecosystems and critical for prairie health. However, grazing has essentially been absent since the 1960s. In 2014, a Department of the Interior report explicitly listed the park as a high priority for bison restoration. This report evaluates the feasibility, management options, benefits, and challenges of restoring bison to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.

A potential bison …

China's Nine-Dashed Map: Maritime Source Of Geopolitical Tension, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The South China Sea (SCS) is becoming an increasingly contentious source of geopolitical tension due to its significance as an international trade route, possessor of potentially significant oil and natural gas resources, China’s increasing diplomatic and military assertiveness, and the U.S.’ recent and ongoing Pacific Pivot strategy. Countries as varied as China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and other adjacent countries have claims on this region’s islands and natural resources. China has been particularly assertive in asserting its SCS claims by creating a nine-dash line map claiming to give it de facto maritime control over this entire region without regard to …

Getches Wilkinson Center Newsletter, Fall 2014, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment Newsletter (2013-)

No abstract provided.

What Can Pisa Tell Us About U.S. Education Policy?, Linda Darling-Hammond

New England Journal of Public Policy

Despite years of attention to “reform” in the United States, overall achievement on international assessments such as PISA has not improved during the period from 2000 to 2012. Reforms focused on high-stakes testing attached to sanctions, expansions of charter schools, and a market-based approach to teaching have been unsuccessful in changing outcomes. Meanwhile, growing childhood poverty, along with increasing segregation, income inequality, and disparities in school spending, have expanded the opportunity gap. Lessons from other nations and successful states indicate that systematic government investments in high-need schools along with capacity-building that improves the knowledge and skills of educators and the …

Men, Women And Children For Sale: The Dichotomy Of Human Trafficking In The United States And Abroad, Elizabeth Kolbe

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Living in Thailand in 2005 opened my eyes to the real plight of exploited peoples around the world. I was able to experience first-hand the economic and social issues facing potential victims of human trafficking. According to Anti-Slavery International, there are an estimated 200 million people being held in slavery worldwide. Approximately 800,000 people per year are being trafficked across international borders and forced into slavery. Like most Americans, I believed this is a horrible problem facing only people of developing countries. Last year I heard Chong Kim describe her traumatizing experience of being trafficked within the United States. Over …

The State Partnership Program: States As Global Actors: The Implications Of Nonaggressive National Forces, Ellen Ahlness

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States sought to increase its influence in Western Europe and Central Asia. The primary military mechanism used to increase presence and ideological influence was the State Partnership Program. This program, modeled heavily after the Norwegian Reciprocal Troop Exchange, used reserve forces instead of active duty forces to lessen the aggression levels perceived by Russian command. This use of reserve forces gave individual American states a greater degree of involvement in international military operations. Since the creation of the State Partnership Program, 65 state/country partnerships have been established. The goals have also …

Explaining Nuclear Energy Pursuance: A Comparison Of The United States, Germany, And Japan, Lauren Emily Mckee

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Energy is critical to the functioning of the global economy and seriously impacts global security as well. What factors influence the extent to which countries will pursue nuclear energy in their overall mix of energy approaches? This dissertation explores this critical question by analyzing the nuclear energy policies of the United States, Germany and Japan. Rather than citizen opposition or proximity to nuclear disasters, it seems that a country's access to other resources through natural endowments or trading relationships offers the best explanation for nuclear energy pursuance.

Aiding And Abetting: The Illegality Of Morocco's Nationalist Expansion Into Western Sahara And Their Support From The United States, Rachid H. Yousfi

Master's Theses

This paper will address the illegality of Morocco’s nationalist annexation of Western Sahara and how the United States plays the accommodating role through the selling of arms, economic aid, and diplomatic support. Considered as Africa’s last colony, the Saharawi people have not experienced the basic human right to self-determination and the right for independence. These rights are continued to be withheld for the sake of Moroccan nationalism and their “rightful and ethnic” claims to the territory, disregarding the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s advisory opinion ruling in favor of Saharawi self-determination. It explores the chronology of the Saharawi population from …

Slides: Best Management Practices For Oil And Gas Development And Comparative Water Quality Database Of Regulations Relating To Shale Oil And Gas, Matt Samelson, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment. Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project

Fracking, Water Quality and Public Health: Examining Current Laws and Regulations (March 20)

Presenter: Matt Samelson, J.D., Attorney, Consultant for Intermountain Oil and Gas Best Management Practices (BMP) Project, Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment, University of Colorado Law School

34 slides

The Effect Of Adopting Right To Work Laws: A Paired State Approach, Johnny Xu

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The issue of unionization is an enduring one both politically and economically. A major subset within union studies deal with so-called “right-to-work laws.” States with right to work laws are concentrated heavily in the South and in the Plains states and have been that way since the 1940s or 1950s. The most recent additions of right-to-work states are Indiana and Michigan both in 2012. This paper will contribute to the debate by creating a new and novel dataset to analyze what the effects of adopting right to work laws are for a state over time as well as between a …

Voices From D-Day, June 6, 1944, Musselman Library

Other Exhibits & Events

Seventy years on from D-Day, we still marvel at the stoic heroism of the men who contributed to the success of what remains the greatest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. The Normandy campaign would, in one way or another, prove a pivotal moment in the ongoing world war. A disaster in the campaign to liberate France would set back Allied hopes for crushing Nazism in Western Europe. It would also fray the alliance with the Soviet Union that was essential to defeating Hitler’s forces. By contrast, success would mark not just the end of the beginning of the …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 2013 Annual Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Michael Prowatzke

United States National Park Service: Publications

Introduction

During the last century, much of the prairie within the Northern Great Plains has been plowed for cropland, planted with non-natives to maximize livestock production, or otherwise developed, making it one of the most threatened ecosystems in the United States. Within Nebraska, greater than 77% of the area of native mixed-grass prairie has been lost since European settlement (Samson and Knopf 1994). The National Park Service (NPS) plays an important role in preserving and restoring some of the last pieces of intact prairies within its boundaries. The stewardship goal of the NPS is to “preserve ecological integrity and cultural …

Health Professionals’ Attitude Towards Substance Abusers : A Part Of The Health Professionals’ Value And Belief System Which Prevails In Society, Ana Gotay

Master in Public Administration Theses

No abstract provided.

Industrial Hemp: Canada Exports, United States Imports, Courtney N. Moran Ll.M.

Courtney N. Moran LL.M.

Industrial hemp, a non-psychoactive variety of Cannabis sativa L., (C. sativa) is the greatest renewable resource available to mankind. Industrial hemp is an environmentally friendly crop that does not require herbicides or pesticides and can clean up toxins in soil. Manufacturers can produce hemp into over 25,000 products.

More than 30 industrialized nations, including Canada, cultivate industrial hemp for commercial purposes. Despite the fact that industrial hemp is a viable agricultural commodity, in the United States hemp is classified as marihuana, a Schedule I controlled substance, under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Therefore, it is illegal under U.S. federal law …

Considerations For Climate Change And Variability Adaptation On The Navajo Nation, Julie Nania, Karen Cozzetto, Nicole Gillett, Sabre Druen, Anne Mariah Tapp, Michael Eitner, Beth Baldwin, National Integrated Drought Information System (U.S.), Western Water Assessment (Program), University Of Colorado Boulder. Renewable And Sustainable Energy Institute, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Books, Reports, and Studies

[6], 204 p. : color illustrations, color maps

Getches Wilkinson Center Newsletter, Winter/Spring 2014, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment Newsletter (2013-)

No abstract provided.

Responding To Agency Avoidance Of Oira, Nina A. Mendelson, Jonathan B. Wiener

Faculty Scholarship

Concerns have recently been raised that US federal agencies may sometimes avoid regulatory review by the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). In this article, we assess the seriousness of such potential avoidance, and we recommend a framework for evaluating potential responses. After summarizing the system of presidential regulatory oversight through OIRA review, we analyze the incentives for agencies to cooperate with or avoid OIRA. We identify a wider array of agency avoidance tactics than has past scholarship, and a wider array of corresponding response options available to OIRA, the President, Congress, and the courts. We argue …

The Modern Streetcar In The United States: Do Cities Have The Information Needed To Make Informed Choices?, Elle Hull

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Streetcars have made a comeback in cities in North American in the last several decades; there are now over 45 cities operating, building, or planning streetcars. The majority of these streetcars are viewed primarily as catalysts for economic development, rather than as a means of public transportation. However, the streetcar’s claim of promoting development is backed by surprisingly little evidence.

Although carrying out an analysis of the impact of streetcars on economic development is beyond the scope of this paper due to problems with data availability, methods of performing such an analysis are discussed. This includes a list of cities …

Spending For Affordable Housing: How Lexington-Fayette Urban County, Ky Compares To Similar Cities In The U.S., Chenglin Zhao

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Objectives: The shortage of affordable housing in Lexington-Fayette urban county has become an important policy issue. The analysis in this study is designed to find out does Lexington-Fayette Urban County do better or worse in financing affordable housing for low-income residents.

Method: By comparing Lexington-Fayette Urban County with 11 similar cities in U.S., there may reveal options for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County government to improve housing supply financing assistance services, find new funding sources for affordable housing and ensure more low-income residents can find affordable housing.

Key finding: Nonprofit housing operations play meaningful roles in addressing the supply of affordable …

Corporate Governance And Social Welfare In The Common Law World, David A. Skeel Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

The newest addition to the spate of recent theories of comparative corporate governance is Corporate Governance in the Common-Law World: The Political Foundations of Shareholder Power, an important new book by Christopher Bruner. Focusing on the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Australia, Bruner argues that the robustness of the country’s social welfare system is the key determinant of the extent to which its corporate governance is shareholder-centered. This explains why corporate governance is so shareholder-oriented in the United Kingdom, which has universal healthcare and generous unemployment benefits, while shareholders’ powers are more attenuated in the United States, with its …

Evolution Of American Urban Society, 8th Edition, Howard Chudacoff, Judith Smith, Peter Baldwin

Judith E. Smith

The Evolution of American Urban History blends historical perspectives on society, economics, politics, and policy, while focusing on the ways in which diverse peoples have inhabited and interacted in cities. It tackles ethnic and racial minority issues, offers multiple perspectives on women, and highlights urbanization's constantly shifting nature.