Infrastructure Commons^™

Stormwater Management In Philadelphia: The Importance Of Green Stormwater Infrastructure And Community Involvement In Greater Citywide Sustainability, Julie Groff

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found the City of Philadelphia to be in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 due to insufficient stormwater infrastructure. In 2011, Philadelphia initiated a 25-year, citywide plan called Green City, Clean Waters to reduce stormwater runoff by implementing green stormwater infrastructure (GSI). The plan promised significant community involvement in the process. I conducted semi-structured interviews with City employees and individuals in the community that have partnered with the City to administer GSI and participant observation of community meetings and used them to explore different neighborhoods’ experiences with Green City, Clean …

Developing A Cyberterrorism Policy: Incorporating Individual Values, Osama Bassam J. Rabie

Theses and Dissertations

Preventing cyberterrorism is becoming a necessity for individuals, organizations, and governments. However, current policies focus on technical and managerial aspects without asking for experts and non-experts values and preferences for preventing cyberterrorism. This study employs value focused thinking and public value forum to bare strategic measures and alternatives for complex policy decisions for preventing cyberterrorism. The strategic measures and alternatives are per socio-technical process.

Engineering Standards In Highway Design Litigation, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Highway engineers sometimes believe that if they redesign streets to improve pedestrian safety (for example, by introducing traffic calming techniques) they might be successfully sued for negligent design by motorists. This chapter suggests that in such situations, governments are likely to be protected by discretionary function immunity. In addition, the chapter discusses a variety of technical issues.

On The Outskirts: How French Suburbs Face Disproportionate Inequality, Krysta Suzanne Gingue

Honors Theses and Capstones

Through studying banlieues , their structures and influence on the individual, this paper will prove physical and structural policies perpetuate racial and economic disenfranchisement in France. In the following sections this paper will briefly inform the reader of France’s current racial climate, and how the most negative eruptions of civil unrest grow in the banlieues , while also commenting on literature surrounding France’s societal and political climate and scholarly work focused on relations studies. Later it will address the shortcomings of studies taking place in France and the importance of continued scholarly analysis and explanations of French society’s expectations of …

There’S Nowhere To Hide: Artificial Intelligence And Privacy In The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Sarah Denton, Eleonore Pauwels, Yujia He, Walter G. Johnson

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

At its core, artificial intelligence (AI) optimizes data. Machine-learning algorithms, one component of AI, are trained using massive datasets curated by humans to predict various aspects of our daily lives. Such predictive intelligence could be a positive force amplified by continued decentralization of the technology. Or, ubiquitous cognition and surveillance could be a disruptive force amplified by the unregulated proliferation of AI technologies. Yet, though we will certainly see more and more AI systems being integrated into every facet of our infrastructures, homes, and bodies, the proliferation of AI technology isn’t the problem. A privacy-security quagmire arises from the interconnectivity …

“When One Shingle Sends Up Smoke”: The Summit Beacon Advises Akron About The Epidemic Cholera, 1849, Elizabeth Hall

Nineteenth-Century Ohio Literature

Elizabeth Hall explains the American cholera epidemic of 1849, with special attention to how cholera afflicted Akron, a booming canal town in Northeast Ohio. The article presents the full text of 1849 Akron newspaper articles on cholera and explains how their mix of good and bad information was published right before scientific breakthroughs in cholera research.

Three Essays On Local Public Finance, Thomas Daniel Woodbury

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

This dissertation seeks to develop the subject of local public finance in a manner consistent with the political economy of local governments. For ease of description, each essay will be discussed briefly.

The first essay is titled "The Provision of Generalized Local Public Goods Financed by Distortionary Taxation." This essay models the provision of a local public good that is simultaneously utilized as a public consumption good and a public intermediate good. Since the public good can simultaneously enter both utility and production functions, it is considered a "generalized public good." This is done to model the provision of infrastructure …

Infrastructure Impacts On Commercial Property Values Across El Paso In 2013, Arturo Bujanda, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr.

Border Region Modeling Project

Real estate property value analysis is used for municipal taxation and budgeting. Commercial properties make up a large percentage of the property tax base in many, if not most, taxing jurisdictions. Data constraints limit the number of analyses conducted on commercial property value patterns. This study employs a fairly extensive data set to address that problem in the context of El Paso in 2013. The sample contains data for 105,611 commercial real estate parcels. Empirical analysis is conducted using geographically weighted regression analysis. Results confirm that parameter estimation for the commercial property data in this sample should be conducted using …

The Infrastructure-Extractives-Resource Governance Complex In The Pan-Amazon: Roll Backs And Contestations, Denise Humphreys Bebbington, Ricardo Verdum, Cesar Gamboa, Anthony Bebbington

Sustainability and Social Justice

Large-scale access and energy infrastructure projects, together with expanding investments in natural resource extraction, pose significant challenges to biodiversity conservation, forest cover, and the defence of forest peoples' rights and livelihoods across the wider Amazon region. Following a period in which safeguards and forest dwellers' territorial rights were strengthened under more permissive political opportunity structures, the current period has been characterized by efforts to weaken these protections and to facilitate large-scale private investment in previously protected lands. We describe these investment-based threats to forests and rights, and the nature of regulatory rollbacks in the region. We then discuss some of …

Of Rats And Men, Thomas S. Walsh

Capstones

This capstone is a data-driven investigation into New York City's rat problem. By using publicly available government data to map rat activity in NYC, I identified several socio-economic variables that correlate with rat populations at the community district, borough, and city-scale. I used these findings (mainly that rat problems are linked to lower incomes) as the basis of an investigation, which includes interviews with residents, experts, and city officials. Prof. Bobby Corrigan, urban rodentologist and formerly with the NYC Department of Health criticizes the city's efforts for the first time on the record.

https://thomasseiyawalsh.wixsite.com/ratstone

Japan's Employment 'Catch-22': The Impact Of Working Conditions For Women In Japan On Japan's Demographic Population Crisis, Mary Perkins

Master's Theses

This thesis examines Japan’s aging population crisis and gender inequalities in the workplace. This topic presents an interesting and challenging phenomenon for Japan, as Japan’s economy and technology have developed more rapidly than almost any other country, establishing Japan as one of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. Yet Japan still significantly lags behind other industrialized nations when it comes to women’s rights and opportunities for advancement in the workplace. This is in turn hampering efforts for Japan to address a population crisis, with an older population growth rate far outpacing the growth of demographic groups that would support the …

Enhancing Ontario’S Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing In A Changing Climate — Interim Report 1: Key Informant Interview Results, Bryce Gunson, Brenda Murphy

Social and Environmental Justice Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to develop a climate change (CC) prepared inter-community service sharing strategy (ICSS) targeted to rural Ontario communities that capitalizes on infrastructure assessments that are undertaken through the asset management process (AMP). AMP is defined by the Ontario government as “…. the process of making the best possible decisions regarding the building, operating, maintaining, renewing, replacing and disposing of infrastructure assets. It helps prioritize infrastructure needs and ensures that investments are made in the right place and at the right time to minimize future repair and rehabilitation costs.” The objective of AMPs are to maximize …

Effect Of A Ubiquitous Moral Cue On Ethical Leadership, Moral Disengagement And Goal Difficulty: Real-World Outcomes Of A Novel Behavioural Intervention By Mobile Application Technology, Boon Heon Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Firms invest significant resources in their ethical infrastructure to influence the ethical decision-making of employees. The advent of mobile technology has extended the frontier of interventions that may discourage unethical behaviour, through the use of ubiquitously-present mobile-based moral cues. I conducted a prospective, randomized field experiment, to study how a ubiquitous moral cue may positively enhance ethical decision-making. Sales professionals working in a pharmaceutical firm in China were assigned randomly by teams to either receive, or not, a mobile application from their firm’s compliance department. Over six months, participants completed three cross-sectional surveys, and were randomly monitored by an independent …

Tls Newsletter October 2017, Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

In the Newsletter: TLS Alumni Networking Night. President's Corner. T & L Student Travels. What Not to Miss this Fall. Get to Know TLS VP Joshua Powell. Industry Insight: JaX LNG. Life after graduation with Gina Akel.

Cash Versus In-Kind Transfers: Comparative Differences And Individual Best Practices To Benefit Recipient Communities, Sarah Wicker

Senior Honors Theses

This research paper seeks to compare cash and in-kind transfers in the context of foreign poverty aid to determine which transfer style is most beneficial and to evaluate long-term best practices of each kind to more positively benefit the recipient communities. It does this by comparing arguments for and against each transfer model. The first argument discusses the differences in distribution costs between the two models. The second compares the cash transfer’s strong concept of choice with in-kind transfer’s typical style of controlled consumption of goods. The second argument discusses the timing and impact of targeting communities in connection to …

An Abbreviated Leap: The Geopolitical And Geoeconomic Significance Of The China – Pakistan Economic Corridor To The New Silk Road, Emma Nichols

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The objective of this analysis is to reveal the geopolitical and geoeconomic significance of the China – Pakistan Economic Corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative to its major stakeholders; Pakistan and China. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled one of the most ambitious international infrastructure plans in modern history. The plan, in its earliest stages, is currently underway with its first portion, the China – Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Through careful preliminary analysis of the greater Belt and Road Initiative, the China – Pakistan Economic Corridor, and history of Sino-Pak relations, the motivations of the collaborating nations are …

Tls Newsletter, September 2017, Unf Transportation And Logistics Society

Transportation & Logistics Society Newsletter

Inside the Newsletter: Fall Kick Off! Wednesday, September 13. President's Corner. Upcoming Events. Get to Know TLS Newsletter Editor, Juliana Young. Jax Chamber T & L Council. Life after Graduation with Ryan Moore, CTL

The Feasibility Of Road User Fees And Other Alternative Sources Of Transportation Funding, Joshua R. Amberg

Pepperdine Policy Review

The nation faces an approaching crisis in transportation funding. This is a critical issue that is both relevant and essential to public administration. It affects all levels of government and extends across the nation. Rapidly declining sources of transportation funding pose short-term and long-term challenges for politicians, public administrators, and everyday citizens. In the face of inadequate revenues, new forms of funding are necessary to keep the transportation system solvent. This paper will briefly outline the history of transportation funding that created this problem and examine various proposed solutions. It will focus specifically on the emerging theory of road user …

Brackish Groundwater And Its Potential To Augment Freshwater Supplies, Jennifer S. Stanton, Kevin F. Dennehy, Sharon L. Qi, Alta C. Harris

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

Document abstract

Secure, reliable, and sustainable water resources are fundamental to the Nation’s food production, energy independence, and ecological and human health and well-being. Indications are that at any given time, water resources are under stress in selected parts of the country. The large-scale development of groundwater resources has caused declines in the amount of groundwater in storage and declines in discharges to surface water bodies (Reilly and others, 2008). Water supply in some regions, particularly in arid and semiarid regions, is not adequate to meet demand, and severe drought intensifies the stresses affecting water resources (National Drought Mitigation Center, …

Tallahassee Central City Planning Study, Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department

City and Regional Planning -- Florida

Study on Developing Downtown Tallahassee

The Epa's Air Quality Index, And Public Transportation Usage In The Chicago Metro Region, Nicholas R. Rosenberg

Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby

This paper assesses whether air quality influences public transportation ridership in the city of Chicago. Urban air pollution is a serious health risk, and a priority of urban municipalities. Public transportation is an attractive option for governments attempting to curb urban air emissions. I use data from the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and the EPA’s Air Quality Index (AQI) to explore the relationship between a day’s air quality and CTA ridership. I employ three different model specifications, rail, bus and total ridership, to test whether high AQI values (poor air quality) result in increased public transportation ridership in the city …

Enhancing Ontario’S Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing In A Changing Climate — Assessment Of Ten Rural Municipal Case Studies, Brenda Murphy, Annette Chrétien, Bryce Gunson

Social and Environmental Justice Faculty Publications

This assessment of ten municipal case studies is a sub-project of a larger three-year Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (2016-2019) study. The purpose of the assessment was to i) evaluate the role of inter-community service cooperation (ICSC) in relation to climate change preparedness and asset management planning (AMP) through the presentation of ten case studies, and ii) draw together cross-cutting themes and best practices that have the potential to maximize the climate change (CC) preparedness of rural municipal infrastructure. All project documents are available online from http://www.resilientresearch.ca/research-publications/.

Fertility And Rural Electrification In Bangladesh, Tomoki Fujii, Abu S. Shonchoy

Research Collection School Of Economics

We use a household-level panel dataset from Bangladesh to examine the household-level relationship between fertility and the access to electricity. We find that the household's access to electricity reduces the change in the number of children by about 0.1 to 0.25 children in a period of five years in most estimates. This finding also applies to retrospective panel data and is robust to the choice of covariates and estimation methods. Our finding passes falsification test and corroborates with the predictions of our theoretical model on the households' time use and consumption pattern.

Fusing Mobile, Wearable And Infrastructure Sensing For Immersive Daily Lifestyle Analytics, Sougata Sen

Dissertations and Theses Collection

With the prevalence of sensors in public infrastructure as well as in personal devices, exploitation of data from these sensors to monitor and profile basic activities (e.g., locomotive states such as walking, and gestural actions such as smoking) has gained popularity. Basic activities identified by these sensors will drive the next generation of lifestyle monitoring applications and services. To provide more advanced and personalized services, these next-generation systems will need to capture and understand increasingly finer-grained details of various common daily life activities. In this dissertation, I demonstrate the possibility of building systems using offthe- shelf devices, that not only …

Examination Of Crowdsourcing As A Tool For Policy Making, Araz Taeihagh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Crowdsourcing is rapidly evolving and applied in situations where ideas, labour, opinion or expertise of large groups of people are used. Crowdsourcing is now used in various policy making initiatives; however, this use has usually been focused on open collaboration platforms and specific stages of the policy process such as agenda- setting and policy evaluations. Moreover, other forms of crowdsourcing have been neglected in policy making with a few exceptions. This article examines crowdsourcing as a tool for policy making and explores the nuances of the technology and its use and implications for different stages of the policy process. The …

How Do You Mobilize Public Support For Infrastructural Investment In California’S Aging Water System?, Christine M. Hackett

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper looks at how the state of California maintains an aging water system – the California State Water Project (SWP) – that will threaten California’s water supply if further maintained, and concludes that the system faces three major problems that are of concern in 2017 – aging pipes, health hazards, and environmental threats. What needs to be done in order to address these issues is to invest in a new and improved SWP that will save water, protect the water supply from contamination of hazardous particles, and replenish the ecosystems within piping range that it has depleted. To do …

Bridging The Gap Between National And Local Safety Through A Comprehensive Review Of Emergency Preparedness Plans In A Large, Urban High School Located In Delray Beach, Florida Within The Palm Beach County School District, Retha Prescod

Theses & Dissertations

Each year almost 60 million elementary, middle and high school children attend school across the United States. Each day on campus holds the possibility that these students may suffer from an encounter that causes them long-term physical, emotional, psychological impact. Unfortunately, hundreds of victims from this vulnerable population have suffered each time a school was unprepared for an emergency event that occurred on campus. Currently, there are no mandatory specifications in place for school preparedness plans. The government has mandated that schools develop a framework to address hazards that affect schools, but have not made any of these requirements mandatory. …

Reconstruction Of The Destroyed Sinjali Secondary School, Isabella Kaganowski

Sustainability and Social Justice

This practitioner paper chronicles my involvement of the grant writing proposal that was designed on behalf of a non-for-profit organization, the Association of Dalit Women’s Advancement of Nepal (ADWAN), in order to secure funding and donations for the reconstruction of the destroyed Sinjali Secondary School in Gorkha district, Taklung village, after a 2015 earthquake struck Nepal. The proposal was guided by and collaborated with Professor Jude Fernando of Clark University, as Professor Fernando was able to visit Taklung village and gather information about the needs in the educational sector damaged by the earthquake. Literature review and research was gathered to …

Ticket To The Past: A Political History Of The Mexico City Metro, 1958-1969, Maxwell E.P. Ulin

Grand Valley Journal of History

This essay outlines the historic political battle between Mexico's longest serving mayor, Ernesto Uruchurtu, and the nation's president, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, over the construction of what would become the second largest subway system in the Western Hemisphere, The Mexico City Metro. The conflict, which eventually resulted in Uruchurtu's resignation, was characterized by latent political tensions between the PRI and Mexican middle class that would erupt in 1968 and lead to the ultimate decline of PRI hegemony. I thus argue that the new Metro project did not reflect Mexico's democratic modernization--as its supporters meant it to do--but rather the vestiges of …

Unconventional Wisdom: Estimating The Economic Impact Of The Democratic And Republican National Political Conventions, Victor Matheson, Lauren R. Heller, E. Frank Stephenson

Economics Department Working Papers

We use daily hotel occupancy, price, and revenue data to analyze the economic impact of the 2008 and 2012 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. We find that political conventions generate approximately 29,000 room nights of lodging, though this figure is offset by lower hotel occupancy during the week before and, to a lesser extent, after conventions. Conventions increase hotel revenue by approximately $20 million on average, a figure which suggests that host cities’ claims of economic impacts of $150 million or more may be implausible.