Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Merging Two Worlds: Agent-Based Simulation Methods For Autonomous Systems, Andreas Tolk

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

This chapter recommends the increased use of agent-based simulation methods to support the design, development, testing, and operational use of autonomous systems. This recommendation is motivated by deriving taxonomies for intelligent software agents and autonomous robotic systems from the public literature, which shows their similarity: intelligent software agents can be interpreted as the virtual counterparts of autonomous robotic systems. This leads to examples of how simulation can be used to significantly improve autonomous system research and development in selected use cases. The chapter closes with observations on the operational effects of possible emergent behaviour and the need to align the …

Navigating A Pathway Toward Colorado's Water Future: A Review And Recommendations On Colorado's Draft Water Plan, Lawrence J. Macdonnell, Colorado Water Working Group

Books, Reports, and Studies

40 pages (includes color illustrations).

A Look At The Interim Guidelines At Their Mid-Point: How Are We Doing?, Colorado River Research Group

Books, Reports, and Studies

4 pages.

Role Of Intelligence Inputs In Defending Against Cyber Warfare And Cyber Terrorism, Aniruddha Bagchi

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Unveiling Perceptions Of Food Safety Scandals In China: An Exploratory Study With Search Engine, Xiang Chen, Bo Zhao, Emily Blackard

Faculty Publications - Emergency Management & Homeland Security

Introduction Food security, known as access to sufficient and nutritious food for all household members at all times (Reutlinger, 1986), has been heavily investigated by entities from across the public and academic spectrums in recent years. In developed nations, food security primarily explores how food can be physically accessed and readily purchased and if levels of food access relate to socioeconomic status, rate of obesity, or the contingent health consequences (Black et al., 2014). In developing countries like China, the topic of food security has been investigated with increasing frequency and depth in the particular arena of food safety (Cheng, …

The Impact Of Mobbing And Job-Related Stress On Burnout And Health-Related Quality Of Life: The Case Of Turkish Territorial State Representatives, Mehmet Yesilbas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Job-related stress occurs as one of the most serious issues in modern era in developed nations. It has direct and negative effects on employees' productivity and it may have negative impacts on employees' health. One of the potential results of prolonged stressors at work place is burnout and this response may lead to physical, emotional, and psychological exhaustion that can occur at both individual and organizational levels. Burnout is a job related threat that provokes social stress and can directly affect an individual's health. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is commonly used to measure an individual's overall/global health and quality …

Then And Now: Tracking A Federal Agency’S Threat Assessment Activity Through Two Decades With An Eye Toward The Future, Mario Scalora, William Zimmerman

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The following is an edited summary of a plenary session provided by the speakers during the 25th Annual Conference of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP) Conference held August 2015.

We are going to talk a little bit about history. We are sorry to bore you with this again but this is going to be about the history of the Capitol Police Threat Assessment Section. In 1987, the command made a decision to develop a threat assessment unit. We were trying to find out who actually made that command decision but nobody claimed it. We credit our Chief of …

Alumni Survey Results, Strategic Planning Development Team

Implementation

This contains the raw results of a survey given to Portland State University alumni in which they offered opinions on the Values portion of the strategic plan.

Excom Aspirational Values, Strategic Planning Development Team

Implementation

A brief list of aspirational values and topic teams compiled by the Portland State University Executive Committee (EXCOM).

Department Chair Feedback, Strategic Planning Development Team

Implementation

One page summary of qualities expected from a chair leader.

Student Survey Results, Strategic Planning Development Team

Implementation

Raw survey results from students at Portland State University regarding the school's values.

Aspsu Feedback On Draft Vision, Strategic Planning Development Team

Implementation

Brief report in which the PSU student senate (ASPSU) weighs the pros and cons of the university's mission, vision, and values statements.

Spdt Draft Vision Statement, Strategic Planning Development Team

Implementation

An early draft of Portland State University's vision statement.

Apopo Annual Report 2015, Apopo

Global CWD Repository

I first met the amazing HeroRATs in 2008 when I was an APOPO deminer detecting landmines in Mozambique. I had been invited to APOPO’s HQ and Training & Research Center in Tanzania and was about to embark on my new career as a Mine Detection Rat Handler. Although I had worked with trained dogs before I was still amazed at the rat’s abilities; their speed and accuracy. The Tanzania team taught me about scent detection theory and technology, as well as animal welfare and veterinary skills. In return I told them about the suffering in my country. At that time, …

Ethnic Violence On Kenya's Periphery: Informal Institutions And Local Resilience In Conflict-Affected Communities, Fletcher D. Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Deadly, inter-ethnic group conflict remains a threat to international security in a world where the majority of armed violence occurs not only within states but in the most ungoverned areas within states. Conflicts that occur between groups living in largely ungoverned areas often become deeply protracted and are difficult to resolve when the state is weak and harsh environmental conditions place human security increasingly under threat. However, even under these conditions, why do some local conflicts between ethnic groups escalate, whereas others do not? To analyze this puzzle, the dissertation employs comparative methods to investigate the conditions under which violence …

Determinants Of Wind Energy Deployment: Infrastructures, Policies, Resources, Or Economics?, Marc Sydnor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the pattern of deployment of wind power across the United States, focusing on the influence of wind resources, incentives/supportive government and governance policies, supportive/confounding infrastructures, and economic factors. The effects of these factors are considered for 35 states from the year 2001 to 2012. Effects are estimated using fixed effects regression models, forward step-wise between modeling, and lead-lag models. The results indicate that demand, electrical transmission availability, and complementary generation assets, as well as the import-export of electricity are important factors in determining where wind energy deployment occurs. In addition, elevated levels of wind energy deployment are …

The Evolution Of The Federal Reserve's Mandate In Response To The Global Financial Crisis: The Case For Financial Stability, Laurel Celastine Mazur

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at the evolution of the Federal Reserve’s mandate and regulatory responsibilities as a result of the Global Financial Crisis. The onset of the crisis exposed the financial system to risks that had yet to be identified by the traditional microprudential regulatory framework, necessitating a rapid and unconventional response in order to prevent widespread financial collapse. Now, in 2015, as most of the scourges of the crisis are in the recent past, practitioners are beginning to not only pick up the pieces but attempting to reform the system to increase resilience in the future. One of the proposals …

Invisible Suffering: Practitioner Reflections On Peacebuilding Programs With Youth Exposed To Traumatic Stressors In Intergroup Conflict, Liza Hester

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For decades, the international community has recognized that youth are some of the most vulnerable to mental and emotional distress within the intractable and cyclical nature of identity-based violent conflict. Exposure to traumatic stressors within these intergroup conflicts poses unique risks not only to the neurological and social development of youth, but also to the capacities of youth to fully participate in peacebuilding interventions. The peacebuilding field has yet to strongly consider how traumatic stress affects dynamics within programs for youth and how these programs may need to modify expectations of youth’s cognitive, social, and emotional functioning to account for …

Optimism In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: Perceptions Of Well-Being, 2015 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy

Nebraska Rural Poll

This year, rural Nebraskans are the most positive about their current situation as they’ve been in all 20 years of this study. Just over one-half (53%) of rural Nebraskans believe they are better off than they were five years ago (the highest proportion in all 20 years of this study, tied in 2008). This is up slightly from 50 percent last year. And, rural Nebraskans’ outlook on their future is the most optimistic in all 20 years of this study. Almost one-half of rural Nebraskans (48%) believe they will be better off ten years from now (the highest of all …

The Effect Of The Induced Compliance Paradigm On Emotions During Inter-Group Conflict, Roi Edelstein, Yigal Rosen

Peace and Conflict Studies

The existence and intensity of a conflict are dependent in part on the attitudes and emotions of an individual. Previous studies demonstrated the effectiveness of creating cognitive dissonance in order to change attitudes towards out-group members. The current study examines the ability to decrease negative emotions and to increase the empathy in a conflict situation through the induced compliance paradigm. An experiment was performed on 60 Jewish students in Israel regarding the context of the conflict between Jewish and Arab-Israeli citizens in Israel. Some of the participants (n=43) performed an induced-compliance task focused on writing an essay as an Arab-Israeli …

Looking For Peace In The Australian National Curricula, Katerina Standish

Peace and Conflict Studies

Education can be a source of cultural attitudes—a transmission belt—a cultural institution that can dispense communal values and cultural ideals in both teaching and curriculum. This empirical mixed-methods study utilizes the methodologies of directive (qualitative) and summative (quantitative) content analysis to analyse the national curricular statements of Australia (Early Learning, Foundation to 10 and, Senior 11-12) to determine if three elements common in peace education programs appear: recognition of violence (direct, structural or cultural); addressing conflict nonviolently; and, creating the conditions of positive peace. It finds that despite a copious amount of violent content, overall, the curricula …

Implications Of A Changing Agro-Ecosystem On The Nascent Wine Grape Production Industry In Idaho, Eric Lindquist

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

Wine-grape growing in the state of Idaho is just now coming into its own. Unlike traditional and established row crops, sustainable wine grape production requires the encouragement and development of new agricultural capacity in the state. Concurrently, creating a sustainable wine grape production culture in the state may be constrained and impacted by a changing climate and related stresses on the ecosystem of the semi-arid inland northwest. An understanding of the effect that a changing ecosystem will have on the viability of growing wine grapes, as well as an examination of the challenges that both farmers and policymakers will face …

Putting Impact First: Community-University Partnerships To Advance Authentic Neighborhood Sustainability, Michelle L. Holliday, Tony Defalco, Jacob Sherman

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This article profiles a partnership between the Living Cully ecodistrict and Portland State University’s Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative. The case studies presented in this article explore how Living Cully leveraged PSU assets to advance their goals, highlighting successes and lessons learned. This article also addresses how the partnership was formed, what makes the partnership innovative, the role of interdisciplinary/intercommunity organizational strategies, and how the community partner commits to urban sustainability and social justice.

Gender And Social Capital: Implications For Women's Civic Engagement In Ecuador And Peru, Pamela Medina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Civic engagement is a fundamental component of a healthy democracy, contributing to higher government accountability and overall improvement in "good governance". Civic engagement is particularly critical to subgroups which are under-represented in formal political structures, such as women, as it affords these groups the opportunity to voice their unique concerns. However, women participate less in many important forms of civic engagement. The United Nations and other international organizations have emphasized the importance of increasing women's voice and empowerment in an attempt to improve women's overall well-being, particularly in the developing world. Individual and contextual factors have demonstrated contributions toward influencing …

Challenging The Political Assumption That “Guns Don’T Kill People, Crazy People Kill People!”, Heath J. Hodges, Mario Scalora

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Every time an infamous mass shooting takes place, a storm of rhetoric sweeps across this country with the fury of a wild fire. “Why are we letting these people carry guns?” “Why were they not hospitalized?” “The government needs to crack down on this issue!” What is the government’s response to these cries of concern? Politicians and the media attempt to ease public fears by drawing tenuous connections among a handful of poorly understood tragedies. The salient commonality is that these high-profile shooters had some history of mental illness. A cursory review of the Internet will paint a troubling picture …

Democracy, Human Rights And Governance Empowerment And Inclusion Division: Leahy War Victims Fund, Usaid-Leahy

Global CWD Repository

Historically, the LWVF has devoted the major proportion of its resources to establishing and improving accessible and appropriate prosthetic, orthotic (P&O) and physical rehabilitation services. This is evidenced through its extensive investments in the establishment and maintenance of P&O workshops; promotion of professional training, standards, and accreditation for P&O technicians; and support for increased mobility and physical functioning in general.

An Impact Assessment Of The Armed Violence Reduction Project In North Western Kenya, Michelle Engels

Global CWD Repository

The current report will discuss an impact assessment of the AVR project. The impact assessment was made possible via the administration of the Pre & Post-Impact Assessments (PIA) survey. The PIA survey was designed for two purposes. Firstly, it was designed to establish a baseline on; i) the levels of community knowledge regarding small arms and SGBV, ii) the perceived prevalence of armed violence in the targeted regions, iii) the safety perceptions within the targeted communities, and iv) the knowledge within the targeted communities of appropriate reporting and security structures. The second function of the PIA was to act as …

Landmine Monitor 2015, Icbl-Cmc

Global CWD Repository

Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor provides research and monitoring for the ICBL and the CMC and is formally a program of the ICBL-CMC. It is the de facto monitoring regime for the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It monitors and reports on States Parties’ implementation of, and compliance with, the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and more generally, it assesses the international community’s response to the humanitarian problems caused by landmines, cluster munitions, and other explosive remnants of war (ERW). The Monitor represents the first time that NGOs have come together in …

Unmas 2014 Annual Report, Unmas

Global CWD Repository

For UNMAS, 2014 was the year of transparency, accountability and compliance. UNMAS proved itself to be an efficient, respected and trusted service provider for impacted communities, humanitarian responders, affected states and the United Nations system.

This year, a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Mechanism, established to measure progress of the Strategy of the United Nations on Mine Action 2013-2018 and to reinforce the United Nations impact in mine action, was launched across all UNMAS programmes.

This report details UNMAS achievements in 2014, the result of hard work, commitment and innovation.

Landmines, Explosive Remnants Of War And Ied Safety Handbook, Unmas

Global CWD Repository

This handbook is not an instruction manual for working with landmines and explosive hazards. It is not a guide for working with landmine, ERW and IED affected communities. Rather, its aim is to raise awareness and provide basic safety information concerning the threat of landmines, ERW and IEDs to organizations and individuals working in affected areas, and to help them:

• Establish appropriate safety procedures;

• Avoid contact with mines, ERW and IEDs and

• Take appropriate action in emergency situations.