Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

An Ambient Nox Reduction Reactor System With And Without Forced Air, Hamid Rahai, Rylan Moffit, Komal Gada, Jeremy Bonifacio

Mineta Transportation Institute

Ambient nitrogen oxide (NOX) is one of the main ingredients involved in the formation of ground-level ozone (smog), which contributes to global warming and the formation of particulates in the atmosphere and causes respiratory illnesses, especially in children, older adults, and people with lung diseases. Investigations on adding titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles to the paint used on concrete surfaces such as buildings and its potential in reducing ambient NOX concentration have provided opportunities for the research and development of methods for passive control and filtration of the ambient NOX. The present research used numerical geometrical optimization to identify an optimized …

Defending The Golden Fleece: A Study Of Disruption And Resilience In The Movement To Defund Public Libraries In Louisiana, Ciel Lane Quebedeaux

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this moment of societal change and institutional capture, public educational institutions have become sites of contention where national ideological and political debates are carried out in local school and library board meetings across the country. In Louisiana, the creation and expansion of a statewide conservative organization has led to the defunding of public libraries sparked by accusations of grooming and inappropriate programming. In response, local library defenders have created another statewide organization to share information and organizing strategies to combat disinformation campaigns propagated by conservative organizers at local and state levels. This qualitative study includes in-depth interviews with library …

Thematic Hotspots And Strategy Analysis Of International Ai Regulatory Texts Based On Lda Models, Taitian Mao, Yihe Peng

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance]This article conducts an in-depth exploration of international artificial intelligence (AI) regulatory policies and gains insights into the regulatory focuses and trends of various countries, with the aim of providing valuable references for global AI governance strategies.

[Method/process] This paper applies the LDA topic clustering analysis method to conduct an in-depth study of twenty-seven international policy documents. The aim is to accurately identify the topics, analyze the key theme words, and further reveal the regulatory hotspots in the field of artificial intelligence.

[Results/conclusion] The study reveals six core regulatory themes: systemic risk assessment, ethical and legal regulation, social impact governance, …

Book Review: How To Fight A War, Chase Metcalf

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Mike Martin

Reviewed by Colonel Chase Metcalf (US Army), assistant professor, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College

Current member of the British Parliament, former British Army officer with Afghanistan experience, and senior visiting research fellow at Kings College London’s War Studies Department Dr. Mike Martin delivers what he terms a “reference guide for the Commander in Chief” in How to Fight a War (3). The result is far more and will serve as an accessible primer for aspiring national security professionals and senior leaders seeking to understand the basic principles of employing violence to …

Book Review: Dr. Seuss And The Art Of War: Secret Military Lessons, John Erickson

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Editor: Montgomery McFate

Reviewed by John Erickson, senior engineer, Axiom Technologies

Dr. Seuss and the Art of War: Secret Military Lessons is broken into five parts. Part one introduces Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss). Part two discusses Geisel’s knowledge of strategy, while part three discusses specialty topics. Parts four and five examine luck in war and post-traumatic stress, respectively. The reviewer notes, “because Dr. Seuss used the genre of story as a pedagogical device, he likely made military strategy digestible to a wider audience.”

©2025 John Erickson

Place-Sustaining Partnerships For Rural Education And Workforce Development, Guan K. Saw, Ryan Culbertson

The Rural Educator

This policy brief draws on the 2024 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report on K–12 STEM Education and Workforce Development in Rural Areas to examine how place-sustaining partnerships—among schools, communities, higher education, and industry—advance rural education and workforce development. Through examples of state-led initiatives and community-driven models, the brief illustrates how cross-sector collaboration rooted in local context can develop college and career pathways that equip rural learners to thrive and sustain the long-term vitality of rural communities.

Energetic And Economic Aspects Of Rebound, Part Ii: Applications Of The Framework, Matthew Kuperus Heun, Gregor Semieniuk, Paul Brockway

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Widespread implementation of energy efficiency is a key greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measure, but rebound can ‘‘take back’’ energy savings. However, the absence of solid analytical foundations hinders empirical determination of rebound magnitudes. In Part I, we developed foundations of a rigorous, analytical, consumer-sided rebound framework that is approachable for both energy analysts and economists. In this paper (Part II), we develop energy, expenditure, and consumption planes, a novel, mutually consistent, and numerically precise way to visualize and illustrate rebound. Further, we operationalize the macro factor (k) for macroeconomic rebound. Using the framework and rebound planes, we calculate and show …

Nh Ece 2025 Data Snapshot Infographic, Harshita Sarup, Jess Carson, Tyrus Parker

New Hampshire Early Care and Education Research Consortium

The NH ECE 2025 Data Snapshot infographic provides easy access to data describing and explaining the early care and education landscape in New Hampshire. Learn about Granite Staters' need for child care, the high prices that families face, the low wages earned by child care workers, and the high operating costs of care. The infographic also offers a policy snapshot featuring the reach of the NH Child Care Scholarship Program.

Three Essays In Development Economics, Vardaan Chawla

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation explores policy-relevant questions through three empirical studies on issues related to education, human capital formation, and consumer protection in developing countries. The first two chapters focus on education policies in India and examine their intended and unintended impacts on children’s schooling and labour-market outcomes. The third chapter evaluates a new approach to tackle consumer protection issues in digital finance in Uganda and Bangladesh. Across all three, this dissertation reflects an interest and understanding in advancing evidence-based policymaking in developing countries, be it in education or consumer protection.

In the first chapter, we evaluate the impact of the midday …

A Phase 2 Trial Of Short-Term Intravenous N-Acetylcysteine In Biliary Atresia After Kasai Portoenterostomy, Sanjiv Harpavat, Kristin A Borovsky, Michael E Scheurer, Laurel Cavallo, Franca E Erhiawarie, Sanjeev Vasudevan, Adam M Vogel, Dana Cerminara, Elizabeth M Tessier, Kalyani R Patel, Sridevi Devaraj, Benjamin L Shneider

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Background: For infants with biliary atresia, the only treatment that can establish bile flow and delay need for liver transplant is the Kasai portoenterostomy (KP). Unfortunately, the KP has variable success. In this study, we hypothesized that intravenous N-acetylcysteine (IV NAC) treatment following KP would improve bile flow.

Methods: This was a phase 2 study following the two-stage "minimax" trial design. Participants received IV NAC (150 mg/kg/day) for 7 days after KP, and the primary endpoint was achieving total serum bile acids (TSBA) ≤10 μmol/L within 24 weeks of KP. Secondary endpoints were clinical markers and the occurrence of sentinel …

Against The Phrase "Aggressive Care", Trevor M Bibler

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Language is the primary technology clinical ethicists use as they offer guidance about norms. Like any other piece of technology, to use the technology well requires attention, intention, skill, and knowledge. Word choice becomes a matter of professional practice. The Brief Report offers clinical ethicists several reasons for rejecting the phrase "aggressive care." Instead, ethicists should consider replacing "aggressive care" with the adjacent concept of a "recovery-focused path." The virtues of this neologism include: the opportunity to set aside the emotion of "aggression," the phrase's accuracy when capturing the intention of the patient or their representative, and an unappreciated rhetorical …

Sequencing-Based Detection Of Measles In Wastewater: Texas, January 2025, Sara Javornik Cregeen, Michael J Tisza, Blake Hanson, Marissa Cook, Anil Surathu, Rebecca Schneider, Jingjing Wu, Kirstin Short, Kaavya Domakonda, Loren Hopkins, Matthew C Ross, Joseph F Petrosino, Jennifer Deegan, Lauren B Stadler, Eric Boerwinkle, Anthony Maresso

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Measles is a potentially deadly viral infection spread via respiratory droplets from infected individuals. Outbreaks occur when vaccine coverage drops below the threshold of herd, or community, immunity. Using a sequencing-based approach, we report the prospective (January 7, 2025) detection of measles in nucleic acid extracts from 2 wastewater treatment plants in Houston, Texas, with a population of more than 218 000 residents. The sequencing data from 2 samples contained 53 unique reads mapping to 11 different regions of the measles virus genome with a 99.4% match to genotype B3. Importantly, no detections were observed from 821 previous samples from …

Pengaruh Demokrasi Terhadap Pertumbuhan Ekonomi Daerah Di Indonesia, Jayanti Kusumaningrum Utomo, Widyono Soetjipto

Jurnal Ekonomi dan Pembangunan Indonesia

This study observes that previous research on the relationship between democracy and economic growth has produced ambiguous outcomes. The aim of this paper is to estimate the relationship between democracy and regional economic growth in Indonesia. Using a fixed effects model with 374 provincial-level observations, the results indicate a statistically significant and positive relationship between democracy and regional economic growth in Indonesia.

The Housing Choice Voucher Program: An Analysis Of Its Demand And Supply (Challenges And Opportunities) And The Way Forward, Sethina Atsupe Dowuona-Owoo

Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, the Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly known as Section 8, was created in 1974 to provide affordable housing for low-income families. However, recent research suggests that inaccessibility to homes for low-income groups remains high. This research aims to contribute to the existing literature by examining recent trends of the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) in providing housing affordability for low-income families.

The study used a sample of 30 U.S. states covering fifteen years (2009-2023). It relied on data from the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department and other secondary sources. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study …

2025 July, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for July of 2025.

Mutualistas: La Sociedad Auxiliar De Mutua Beneficiaria, Antonito Colorado, 1937-1994, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

Mutual Aid Societies proliferated in the American Southwest during a period of rapid social change, 1880-1930. In Hispanic towns, these societies were referred to as mutualistas, with a large number concentrated in the San Luis Valley of Colorado and rural counties of northcentral New Mexico. One of the men’s organizations, La Sociedad Protección Mutua de Trabajadores Unidos (SPMDTU), started in Antonito, Colorado, and quickly spread to other communities of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico and eventually to a few mining towns in Utah. With a tri-state model in place, women formed their own mutual protection societies: Sociedad Protectora …

Student Imaginaries: The Role Of Universities In Addressing The Polycrisis, Susana Maria Ruiz Sors

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores graduate student perceptions from the Public Affairs and Security Studies (PASS) program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) regarding the role of universities in addressing interconnected environmental, economic, political, and social challenges, described here as a “polycrisis” (Lawrence et al., 2024). Using a mixed-methods approach, the study surveyed 42 students through Likert-scale questions and open-ended prompts. Results show students view economic inequality, political instability, and threats to democracy as the most pressing societal issues. While environmental issues were seen as important, they ranked lower in urgency. Students expect universities to address these challenges through …

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Application For Port Drayage Truck: Integrated Transportation And Energy Modeling, Shams Tanvir, Emu Ghosh

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report investigates the viability of hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) for port drayage applications, focusing on both energy modeling and economic feasibility. Port drayage—trucking operations that move goods a short distance to and from ports—is a key part of freight logistics and the critical movement of goods in American communities. This project developed a microscopic energy consumption model using second-by-second activity data from 38 Class 8 diesel drayage trucks operating in Southern California. The model emulated FCEV operations and determined an average hydrogen fuel consumption of 0.15 kg/mile across 749 trips. This data informed a levelized cost of …

Book Review: Origins Of The Just War: Military Ethics And Culture In The Ancient Near East, Pauline Shanks Kaurin

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Rory Cox

Reviewed by Dr. Pauline Shanks Kaurin, Stockdale Chair in Professional Military Ethics and professor, College of Leadership and Ethics, US Naval War College

Origins of the Just War: Military Ethics and Culture in the Ancient Near East, by Rory Cox, explores three ancient cultures —Egyptian, Hittite and Israeli—and how they navigated their relationships between ethics and war. Factors central to these civilizations include political authority, divine leadership, justice, and putting down rebellion. The book offers various disciplinary perspectives including philosophy, religion, art, history, sociology, and international relations. The reviewer notes, “This book will be of interest …

Book Review: Into The Void: Special Operations Forces After The War On Terror, Eric Robinson

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Editors: James D. Kiras and Martijn Kitzen

Reviewed by Eric Robinson, special operations researcher, RAND Corporation

Edited by James D. Kiras and Martijn Kitzen, Into the Void: Special Operations Forces after the War on Terror, looks at what is unique about the special operations forces' enterprise, explores how the organization must evolve, as well as a range of new operational concepts that could benefit SOF. Contributors include academics and practitioners from several backgrounds and countries.

Wild Hogs In The Water: Contested Infrastructural Ecologies Of Reservoir Storage In Texas, Sayd Randle

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Reservoirs are developed to store water in reserve for future use. But once built, reservoir sites inevitably hold more than just water, often serving as a key habitat for a range of species. This paper examines how one such animal has transformed water storage facilities and nearby landscapes into contested ground in urbanising areas of Texas, USA. Living around the reservoirs, feral hogs complicate the process of urbanisation by degrading the stockpiled water and infrastructure at the storage sites themselves and by damaging private property throughout the surrounding landscape. Tracking local efforts to manage the hogs, the case study illustrates …

A New City For A New Era: Xiong'an As Showcase Of China's Evolving Urban Ideology, Andrew Stokols

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Cities have long been expressions of political ideology in China and elsewhere. During China’s rapid urbanization over the past few decades, “new areas” became popular strategies to promote urban growth, following the success of Shenzhen, widely regarded as China’s first special economic zone. Today under Xi, Xiong’an New Area has become the latest “new area of national significance.” But unlike previous new areas in China, Xiong’an has become wedded to a distinct vision of the urban in Xi Jinping’s China, one in which the excesses of reform-era urbanization are controlled through new forms of affordable housing and finance, new ecological …

Book Review: The War For Ukraine: Strategy And Adaptation Under Fire, Jonathan P. Klug

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Mick Ryan

Reviewed by Dr. Jonathan P. Klug (colonel, US Army, retired), course integrator, Theater Army Staff Course, Center for Strategic Leadership, US Army War College

Mick Ryan’s book The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire examines Russia’s and Ukraine’s strategies and, and Ukraine’s NATO supporters, “exploring how the Russians and Ukrainians adapted during the war—on the battlefield and institutionally.” The book has two parts. Part one explores strategy. Part two discusses adaptation in the Russia-Ukraine War and includes points about adaptation for future wars. The reviewer sees it as a must-read saying, “The War for Ukraine …

The Employment Situation Of Veterans: July 2025, Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

In July 2025, veteran unemployment dropped significantly to 3.0 percent, down from 3.7 percent in June, reflecting stronger labor outcomes compared to nonveterans. Post‑9/11 veteran unemployment also declined to 3.1 percent. Younger veterans experienced major improvements, with unemployment among those aged 18–24 falling from 6.2 percent to 1.8 percent. Most veteran age groups saw declines, except ages 35–44 and 55–64, which saw slight increases. Male veteran unemployment decreased to 2.7 percent, while female veteran unemployment held steady at 4.4 percent. Overall, veterans continued to maintain lower unemployment rates than nonveterans.

The Enduring Legacy Of The Habsburg Islam Policy: Muslim Communities In Central And Southeast Europe, Sevgi Adak, Thomas Schmidinger

Exploring Muslim Contexts

Examines contemporary legal and political structures governing Muslim communities in Central and Southeast Europe.

When Otto Habsburg – son of the last emperor of the Austria-Hungarian Empire Karl I – died in 2011, among those who prayed at the funeral was Mustafa Efendi Cerić, the Reis-ul-ulema of Bosnia and Herzegovina – the highest Islamic office in the country. This was to honour the long-lasting relationship between the bygone empire of the Catholic Habsburgs with Bosnian Muslims. The cornerstone of this relationship was the 1912 Islam Act (Islamgesetz) of the Habsburgs, which granted Islam legal recognition and incorporated it into …

Childcare Expense And Demand In The Mountain West, 2023, Lara Karaalp, Yashesvi Sharma, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr., Kristian Thymianos, Olivia K. Cheche

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents 2023 data on childcare expenses in the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The data are sourced from The LendingTree article, “Families Who Pay for Childcare Spend Nearly a Fifth of Their Income on It.” The original report includes data on the states’ percentages of weekly income spent on childcare as well as the percentage of households using paid childcare.

"Holy Cow, Where Do I Sign Up?" Attitudes Of Military Veterans Toward Epigenomic Biomarker Toxic Exposure Testing, Stacey Pereira, Calvin Apodaca, Kyle Slominski, Rachele K Lipsky, Cristian Coarfa, Cheryl L Walker, Amy L Mcguire, Lea Steele, Drew A Helmer

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Introduction: After the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act in 2022, there has been a great interest in studying toxic exposures encountered during military service. Development of epigenomic biomarkers for exposures could facilitate understanding of exposure-related health effects, but such testing could also provide unwanted information.

Materials and methods: We explored attitudes toward epigenomic biomarker research and the potential to test for past exposures using semistructured interviews with Veterans (n = 22) who experienced potentially harmful exposures.

Results: Twenty Veterans said they would hypothetically want to receive …

The Concept Of Moderate Islam: Monarchy Tools For Legitimacy In United Arab Emirates (Uae), Sharifah Umairah Binti Syed Mustaffa

Journal Of Middle East and Islamic Studies

The conceptualisation of religion from the perspective of power entails the state’s effort to utilise religious resources and symbols as proxy tools. In the aftermath of the Arab Spring in 2010, the state realised the threat of opposition from the independent Islamic movement to the survivability of the monarchical and autocratic regime. Hence, this study identifies the act of the UAE government in confronting the Islamic movement and its role in controlling a religious discourse based on the concept of Moderate Islam, employing a top-down approach to form a distinct religious identity that differs from that of rival countries. Qualitative …

Havana To Port-Au-Prince: Cuba’S Medical Internationalism Aid To Haiti, Wilner Saint Cyr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Haiti ranks among the lowest in healthcare quality in the Americas, according to the health indicators used by the World Health Organization. Despite national and international efforts to improve health service delivery, access to primary medical care and preventive services is limited, especially in rural areas. In response to a request from the Haitian government following the devastating Hurricane Georges, the arrival of the first Cuban doctors to support ongoing public health needs commenced in December 1998. Recognizing an opportunity for international cooperation, the Haitian president sought assistance from Cuba by signing a bilateral cooperation agreement for initial and ongoing …

Government Information Clarity And Digital Engagement As Driving Forces Behind Digital Resilience On The Jepin Smart City Platform, Winda Chelsea Meisari, Muliawati -, Siti Fatimah

Jurnal Vokasi Indonesia

This study examines the influence of information clarity and government digital engagement on the digital resilience of urban communities, using the case study of the Jendela Pontianak Integrasi (JEPIN) platform. The research employs a quantitative approach using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with WarpPLS 7.0, involving 100 respondents from the city of Pontianak. The results indicate that information clarity (β = 0.49; p < 0.001) and government digital engagement (β = 0.37; p < 0.001) have a positive and significant effect on digital resilience. The model demonstrates strong reliability (Composite Reliability: 0.847–0.914; Cronbach’s Alpha: 0.772–0.882), good validity (factor loading > 0.5; AVE > 0.5), and a high level of model fit (GoF = 0.569). The R² value of 0.517 shows that the model explains 51.7% of the variance in digital resilience, while the Q² value of …