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Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Scotts Bluff National Monument, 2017 Data Report, Ryan Manuel

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2017 at Scotts Bluff National Monument (SCBL) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and Northern Great Plains Fire Ecology Program (NGPFire).

During the seventh full year of field work, crew members from NGPN visited eight long-term monitoring plots on May 22-25, 2017 to collect data on the plant communities at SCBL. This is part of a long-term monitoring effort to better understand the condition of the vegetation at SCBL. NGPN staff captured data relating to species richness, herb-layer height, abundance of individual native and non-native …

An Evaluation Of The 2016 Election Polls In The United States, Courtney Kennedy, Mark Blumenthal, Scott Clement, Joshua D. Clinton, Claire Durand, Charles Franklin, Kyley Mcgeeney, Lee Miringoff, Kristen M. Olson, Douglas Rivers, Lydia Saad, G. Evans Witt, Christopher Wlezien

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The 2016 presidential election was a jarring event for polling in the United States. Preelection polls fueled high-profile predictions that Hillary Clinton’s likelihood of winning the presidency was about 90 percent, with estimates ranging from 71 to over 99 percent. When Donald Trump was declared the winner of the presidency, there was a widespread perception that the polls failed. But did the polls fail? And if so, why? Those are among the central questions addressed by an American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) ad hoc committee. This paper presents the committee’s analysis of the performance of preelection polls in …

Coalition For Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, Vol 43-Zz, No. 2, Coalition For Prisoners' Rights

Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletters

Connect the Numbers

What is Solitary Confinement For?

"Somos Perseguidos por un Sistema Injusto

Where Are the Good Guys?

Stealing IDs

Acoustic Surveys Of Bats At Northern Great Plains Parks And Preliminary Results From 2014-16, Daniel S. Licht

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

From 2014-16, the Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network (Network)—in collaboration with the Midwest Regional Biologist—used acoustic methods to monitor bat populations at 12 Network parks. Six parks were monitored using the nascent North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) framework. Six other parks did not meet a priori criteria for inclusion in NABat so they were monitored using similar methods, but a non-systematic sampling frame.

Fifty-five NABat stations were established along with 62 non-NABat stations. Stations were typically monitored for 4-7 nights each year using equipment that records the echolocation calls of bats. Fourteen mobile survey routes …

Hedonic Modeling Of Commercial Property Values: Distance Decay From The Links And Nodes Of Rail And Highway Infrastructure, Kihwan Seo, Deborah Salon, Michael Kuby, Aaron Golub

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study investigates the impacts of positive and negative externalities of highways and light rail on commercial property values in Phoenix, Arizona. We hypothesize that the positive externality (i.e., accessibility) of highway and light rail accrues at exits and stations, whereas nodes and links of highways and light rail emanate negative effects. Positive and negative effects decay with increasing distance and are captured by multiple distance bands. Hypotheses are tested using a spatial error regression model. Results show that commercial property values are positively and significantly associated with the accessibility benefits of transport nodes. The distance-band coefficients form a typical …

Employee Financial Wellness Programs: Differences In Reach By Financial Circumstances, Sophia R. Fox-Dichter, Yingying Zeng, Mathieu R. Despard, Ellen Frank-Miller, Geraldine Germain

Social Policy Institute Research

Workplace-based Employee Financial Wellness Programs (EFWPs) aim to strengthen employees’ financial well-being through services such as financial coaching, payroll advances and short-term installment loans, credit counseling, debt management, and online financial management tools. Although EFWPs are a fast-growing part of employee benefit packages, offerings vary widely in service type and delivery method across em-ployers, and little research has assessed their efficacy and reach.1 Our prior research2 indicates significant differences among employees, includ-ing by race/ethnicity3, regarding their awareness, utilization, and self-reported benefits from EFWP services. This brief adds to this research by exam-ining these differences in EFWP reach by employ-ees’ financial …

Ciudades Y La Lucha Contra El Cambio Climático: Experiencias De Municipios Estadounidenses [Cities And Climate Change: Experiences From U.S. Municipalities], Luis Inaraja Vera

Law Faculty Scholarship

Spanish Abstract: El ejecutivo estadounidense elegido a finales de 2016 ha dejado claro que la lucha contra el cambio climático no se encuentra entre sus prioridades. En parte como consecuencia de ello, varias ciudades americanas han acelerado sus políticas climáticas, algunas de las cuales vienen implementándose ya desde hace años. La experiencia americana sugie170 QDL46 · Cuadernos de Derecho Local Fundación Democracia y Gobierno Local re que una de las claves para la reducción de gases de efecto invernadero a nivel municipal pasa por abordar el problema de la ineficiencia energética de edificios existentes, especialmente en ciudades con un elevado …

Shifted Baselines Reduce Willingness To Pay For Conservation, Loren Mcclenachan, Ryunosuke Matsuura, Payal Shah, Sahan T.M. Dissanayake

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

A loss of memory of past environmental degradation has resulted in shifted baselines, which may result in conservation and restoration goals that are less ambitious than if stakeholders had a full knowledge of ecosystem potential. However, the link between perception of baseline states and support for conservation planning has not been tested empirically. Here, we investigate how perceptions of change in coral reef ecosystems affect stakeholders' willingness to pay (WTP) for the establishment of protected areas. Coral reefs are experiencing rapid, global change that is observable by the public, and therefore provide an ideal ecosystem to test links between beliefs …

Pipeline To Failure: Social Inequality And The False Promises Of American Public Schooling, Adia Wilson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My experience as a New York City public school student was absolutely electrifying, though filled with many trials. While my mother would have preferred to put me in private school, having access to some of the world’s greatest institutions and resources offered unique opportunities and exposures. The performing arts provided me with an outlet to express myself and build skills and confidence. In particular, dance education kept me occupied and disciplined in a large city full of danger. Every so often, I witnessed hostile, or even violent exchanges between students, or students and staff. While some of my schoolmates became …

Military Citizenship In The Post-9/11 Homefront, Estefania Ponti

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In discussion with the literature on the treatment of veterans in the United States and the nature of American citizenship ideology, the following dissertation asks how post-9/11 veterans are defining, (re)creating, and contesting citizenship in the contemporary U.S. By studying a localized community of post-9/11 veterans, my dissertation highlights the dilemmas of U.S. citizenship at a time when the U.S. is engaged in a global War on Terror using less than 1% of the U.S. population as paid volunteers. Soldiers and veterans occupy states and spaces of exception, marking military citizens as distinct from civilians. Military citizenship benefits the nation …

Avoiding The Trap: Us Strategy And Policy For Competing In The Asia-Pacific Beyond The Rebalance

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

The pivot to Asia is over, suggested Susan Thornton, Acting Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, on the eve of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s first visit to Asia on March 14, 2017.1 This statement, though expected, begs many questions: Is this just a repeal of the bumper sticker “Strategic Rebalance,” typical of administration change? If so, what is its replacement? Moreover, if this change is just in name but not in substance, will President Donald Trump stay the course? If not, what will be Trump’s policy toward the Asia-Pacific? What should be the new …

How Fair Is The New York State Education Aid System?, John Yinger, Emily Gutierrez

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

Recent Advances In The Understanding Of Relationship Communication During Military Deployment, Steven L. Sayers, Galena K. Rhoades

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

In recent decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the ability of service members and their intimate partners to communicate while the service member is deployed to a combat zone. Communication among partners is a crucial aspect of intimate relationships that has been demonstrated to be highly associated with couples’ satisfaction. In addition, it is often cited by unhappy partners as a primary relationship problem. This special section of the Journal of Family Psychology presents five articles investigating deployment communication among service members and their intimate partners. The studies address the content and goals of deployment communication, the relations …

Resource-Constrained Scheduling For Maritime Traffic Management, Lucas Agussurja, Akshat Kumar, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We address the problem of mitigating congestion and preventing hotspots in busy water areas such as Singapore Straits and port waters. Increasing maritime traffic coupled with narrow waterways makes vessel schedule coordination for just-in-time arrival critical for navigational safety. Our contributions are: 1) We formulate the maritime traffic management problem based on the real case study of Singapore waters; 2) We model the problem as a variant of the resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP), and formulate mixed-integer and constraint programming (MIP/CP) formulations; 3) To improve the scalability, we develop a combinatorial Benders (CB) approach that is significantly more effective than …

The State Of Hate In America: A Study Of Hate Group Permeation In The United States By State, Michelle Rogers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper will analyze some of the statistics regarding hate groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has studied hate groups in the United States in depth for decades, developing tools and providing some useful statistics. They have developed a hate map that describes the quantity of hate groups in America individually by state and helps specifically identify trends in year over year comparisons. However, the hate map does not offer per capita breakdowns for a state or reasons for hate group permeation unique to the demographics and culture of each state. Factors and elements in conjunction with the hate …

Bridging Academic And Practice: Benefits, Challenges And Lessons Learnt From Establishing A University Wide Experiential Learning Initiative, Gary Pan, Poh Sun Seow, Grace Koh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The scale and complexity of challenges facing the world today are unprecedented. It is paramount that universities identify and equip students with relevant skills to meet the needs of the changing economy. Recognizing this need, Singapore Management University launched a new initiative, SMUX. In this paper we will describe SMU-X which is a paradigm shift focusing on experiential learning as opposed to teaching, characterized by 4 principles: (i) inter-disciplinary content and activities, (ii) project-based learning via an actual problem/issue faced by an organization, (iii) active student mentoring by faculty and industry, and (iv) creating a tripartite learning loop between faculty, …

Upping The Game Of Taxi Driving In The Age Of Uber, Shashi Shekhar Jha, Shih-Fen Cheng, Meghna Lowalekar, Wai Hin Wong, Rajendram Rishikeshan Rajendram, Trong Khiem Tran, Pradeep Varakantham, Nghia Truong Trong, Firmansyah Abd Rahman

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In most cities, taxis play an important role in providing point-to-point transportation service. If the taxi service is reliable, responsive, and cost-effective, past studies show that taxi-like services can be a viable choice in replacing a significant amount of private cars. However, making taxi services efficient is extremely challenging, mainly due to the fact that taxi drivers are self-interested and they operate with only local information. Although past research has demonstrated how recommendation systems could potentially help taxi drivers in improving their performance, most of these efforts are not feasible in practice. This is mostly due to the lack of …

Highlights From January 31, 2018 National Center For Health Statistics Report Titled “Births: Final Data For 2016” With Comparison To Prior Data On Births, David J. Drozd

Past Publications

This annual report from the National Center for Health Statistics shows a variety of statistics related to births and the characteristics of mothers. While trends in births by age of mother tend to get more attention, trends in the number and rate of births by race and ethnicity are also important. This summary describes such trends over time. Birth-related data by race and ethnicity using current standard definitions go back to 1989. However, rates influenced by population totals are more consistent from 1990 onward, given the availability of 1990 and subsequent decennial census results. Thus, we can readily compare figures …

Highlights From January 31, 2018 National Center For Health Statistics Report Titled “Births: Final Data For 2016” With Comparison To Prior Data On Births, David Drozd

Past Publications

This annual report from the National Center for Health Statistics shows a variety of statistics related to births and the characteristics of mothers. While trends in births by age of mother tend to get more attention, trends in the number and rate of births by race and ethnicity are also important. This summary describes such trends over time. Birth-related data by race and ethnicity using current standard definitions go back to 1989. However, rates influenced by population totals are more consistent from 1990 onward, given the availability of 1990 and subsequent decennial census results. Thus, we can readily compare figures …

Perceived Locus Of Control In The Children Of Military And Civilian Families Affected By Deployment And Divorce, Rebekah Kanefsky

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

This study was designed to explore the differences between locus of control (LOC) in children from civilian and military families and to investigate whether military deployment is associated with an external locus of control. Existing literature has focused on the negative implications of external LOC for children's mental health and achievement. However, research regarding this construct related to children of military families has not been conducted. In the present study, LOC was measured by the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children, designed for individuals from the 3rd to the 12th grade. The 54 participants in this study ranged in …

Mathematical Modeling In Law And Political Science: Learning From Public Health, William Butler

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper provides an overview of mathematical modeling in public health policy and recommends the teaching of mathematical models in other fields, like law and undergraduate political science studies. First, I describe various facets of public health in terms of their scope and goals. The complex nature of public health lends way to a description of mathematical modeling and the role it can serve. Various mathematical solution concepts are also provided, including the SIR model, reproductive number, and game theory. Finally, I explain why knowledge of simple models is beneficial for students in pre-professional programs in law and political science. …

Parks As Places Of Public Solace: The Perception Of Parks After 9/11, Ryan Hammond

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper investigates the utilization and public perception of parks in New York City following the 9/11 attacks, using a quantitative content analysis of local newspapers published within a year of the attack, specifically looking for themes indicating how parks were perceived and used. My preliminary findings indicate that parks were frequently used for large gatherings and memorials, that people found solace in the parks themselves, and that communities either formed or strengthened through use of parks following the attacks. In conclusion, the creation and promotion of large common green areas in urban spaces may serve as a means of …

Parentification In Deployed And Non-Deployed Military Families: A Preliminary Assessment, Taylor Truhan

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in parentification in military families with a deployed parent and without a deployed parent. Parentification has been defined as a parent-child relationship in which the child is given roles and responsibilities that are inappropriate for the child's developmental level. Previous research has highlighted increased rates of parentification in situations involving parental absence or unavailability, such as divorce, parental illness, parental alcoholism, and domestic violence. This construct was assessed using the Parentification Questionnaire – Youth, a 20 item self-report survey for children and adolescents. Participants consisted of 22 children, ages 7-17, …

Latina Immigrant Women & Children’S Well-Being & Access To Services After Detention, Laurie Cook Heffron, Josie V. Serrata, Gabriela Hurtado

Latino Public Policy

Since 2011, the United States has seen a dramatic increase in the arrival of Central American immigrant women and their children. During the last two years, the US government apprehended more than 100,000 immigrant families, primarily Central American women traveling with their children (US Dept. of Homeland Security, 2015). Evidence suggests that Central American women’s motivations to migrate and experiences during migration are often tied to violence (Cook Heffron, 2015; UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 2015), and yet their experiences after arriving in the US do not always support their rights, recovery or healing. In fact, Central American women and …

Strategic Insights: Challenges In Using Scenario Planning For Defense Strategy, Michael Fitzsimmons

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

Modeling The Co-Production Of Public Sector Innovation: Strategic Dimensions Of Organizational Innovation Within The Public Maritime Ports Of The Pacific Northwest, Christopher R. Davis

Dissertations and Theses

Innovation is vital to employing resources in times when the complexity and the demand for public goods and services strain organizational capacities. While innovation in the private sector is the subject of intense academic interest, the study of this phenomenon in the public sector pales in comparison. This is troubling because innovation is an important tool for overcoming resource limitations that plague the public sector. This dissertation's unique contribution to the field is the creation and empirical validation of a model that explains and predicts the co-production of public sector innovation. The model explains the causal mechanism of innovation and …

Cybersecurity In The Classroom: Bridging The Gap Between Computer Access And Online Safety, Andrew Malecki

Cyber Security Capstone Research Project Reports

According to ISACA, there will be a global shortage of 2 million cybersecurity professionals worldwide by 2019. Additionally, according to Experian Data Breach Resolution, as much as 80% of all network breaches can be traced to employee negligence. These problems will not solve themselves, and they likewise won’t improve without drastic action. An effort needs to be made to help direct interested and qualified individuals to the field of cybersecurity to move toward closing this gap. Moreover, steps need to be made to better inform the public of general safety measures while online, including the safeguarding of sensitive information.

A …

Defining Place: A Review Of How Place Type Is Measured And Constructed, Kelly Rodgers

PSU Transportation Seminars

Part of the Student Presentations from TRB

Researchers have been parsing which components of the built environment contribute to outcomes of interest and to what degree, particularly the effects on vehicle use and walking. Increasingly, researchers and practitioners recognize that the type of neighborhood may affect individual travel behaviors. These bundle of various land use and transportation system characteristics can be constructed as different neighborhood or place types. But not all place types are constructed with the same use, purpose, or methods. This presentation will review three classifications of place typologies to better understand their purpose and appropriate application as …

Density Differences: Exploring Built Environment Relationships With Walking Between And Within Metropolitan Areas, Jamie Orrego

PSU Transportation Seminars

Part of the Student Presentations from TRB

To explore the relationships between measures of density and walking within and between urban areas, we present an analysis of the travel survey data from six different cities from the US and Santiago, Chile. The analysis of aggregate and disaggregate pedestrian trips presented here examine the potential consistency of relationships between walking and density within and across different regions, with a specific focus on population density. Our findings illustrate a relationship between population density and walk mode shares that is roughly linear and of nearly equal magnitude across US regions in densities below …

Webinar: An Accessible Approach To Shared Streets, Jim Elliott, Janet Barlow, Dan Goodman

TREC Webinar Series

In October 2017 the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) unveiled a groundbreaking new resource on planning and designing shared streets to accommodate people with vision disabilities. The first report of its kind, Accessible Shared Streets: Notable Practices and Considerations for Accommodating Pedestrians with Vision Disabilities (learn more and download the report) / (access the 508 version here) introduces accessible design principles for shared streets based on detailed research and extensive outreach, equipping communities to pursue new designs that are accessible for people with vision disabilities. Drawing from notable practices, public outreach, and field analysis from multiple US …