Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

New Human Rights Safety Bracelet Designed, News Brief

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In 2009 Russian human rights worker Natalia Estemirova was abducted in front of her home in Grozny, Chechnya and murdered in Ingushetia, Russia. In response to her murder the organization Civil Rights Defenders (CRD) created the Natalia Project—a bracelet that sends out a distress signal when the wearer is in danger.

Addressing Underwater Ordnance Stockpiles In Cambodia, Allen D. Tan

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Cambodian rivers and tributaries contain vast amounts of munitions from sunken watercraft, and the task of locating and extracting these munitions is difficult. In response, Golden West Humanitarian Foundation designed a rigorous diver preparation course to train Cambodian nationals in advanced diving skills and basic recovery procedures needed to organize effective explosive ordnance salvage teams.

Weapons And Ammunition Security: The Expanding Role Of Mine Action, Elena Rice

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Significant expertise is necessary to meet the security challenges posed by unsecured and poorly stored weapons and ammunition. To address this threat, many donors and mine action actors, including the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), are including weapons and ammunition security management as a core role.

The Regional Center For Divers Training And Underwater Demining, Veselin Mijajlovic

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Regional Center for Divers Training and Underwater Demining (RCUD) in Bijela, Montenegro, trains divers from around the world to properly handle and dismantle weapons located underwater. Since the organization’s creation in 2002, it has removed more than 120 tons of explosive material.

Going Mobile: Information Sharing And The Changing Face Of Digital Data Collection, Edward Lajoie

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Effective crisis management requires current and credible information archives, but with limited resources and mobility, gathering such information proves difficult for humanitarian aid organizations and policymakers. Accessing real-time information means having the right tools at your disposal, and technology platforms like Frontline SMS and Ushahidi enable organizations to do just that at no cost.

From Church Mission To Invention, Gary Christ

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

After a mission trip to improve the sanitation needs of orphanages in Cambodia, Gary Christ recognized the great need for a better demining machine and developed the “Peacehammer.”

The Role Of Health Care In A Democratic Capitalist Society, Barbi Appelquist

Pepperdine Policy Review

What is the government’s role in health care? On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as “Obamacare.” Did the government’s hand reach too far into the health care economy of our nation? This paper focuses on the Affordable Care Act’s general application to the capitalist tradition as framed by Adam Smith and Milton Friedman, with a limited analysis of the federal mandate to purchase individual health insurance. First, I will provide an overview of our nation’s health care system and the Affordable Care Act. Then, I will analyze …

The Korean Conflict And The United States National Security, Matthew Smith

Pepperdine Policy Review

The United States has a substantial interest in the Korean Conflict concerning its own national security. It is based primarily on the potential outcomes of the policies deriving from North Korea. The United States must maintain its relationship with South Korea in order to address any situation that arises on the Korean peninsula.

Regulation Of Hydraulic Fracturing Of Shale Gas Formations In The United States, Fatemeh Bagheri

Pepperdine Policy Review

The practice of hydraulic fracturing has become increasingly common over the years since it has been looked at to replace energy derived from coal. Though hydraulic fracturing may be one of the better forms of obtaining energy, it comes with its own set of problems ranging from environmental problems to health problems if the appropriate safeguards are not implemented when completing the process. Regulations at the local, state, and federal level are assessed to determine which entity should regulate the practice and many technologies are reviewed in order to offer suggestions which allow the process to be completed without significant …

Preparing For The Inevitable: Us Climate Change Preparation, David Ernenwein

Pepperdine Policy Review

There is growing consensus in the scientific community that the global climate is changing. Increasing average global temperatures are expected to increase both the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which will affect human civilization. However, these events do not need to become disasters. Analysis of past extreme weather disasters in the United States shows that failures in policy, specifically in terms of disaster preparedness, are the real culprit and not the actual weather event. Given the increasing destructiveness of storms and the projected increase in frequency, it makes formulating a coherent and effective national response a priority.

Oil Sands Extraction: Lessons From Alberta Can, And Should, Inform American Policies, Victoria Lopez

Pepperdine Policy Review

Enclosed is a final empirical project on foreign direct investment as impacted by (or impacting) infrastructure development levels in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

No Music In Timbuktu: A Brief Analysis Of The Conflict In Mali And Al Qaeda’S Rebirth, Nicholas Primo

Pepperdine Policy Review

State Department officials stated at the end of 2011 that after a careful review of year's events concerning the terror group Al Qaeda, the threat of terrorism was now greatly diminished with little chance of retunring. Less than four months later, Al Qaeda affiliate group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) staged a coup in the West African country of Mali, effectively splitting the country in half. The article will analyze the conflict in Mali as an example of how Islamic fundamentalism and global terrorism of Al Qaeda has not dissipated, despite the best hopes of American foreign policymakers. …

Mobile Health Technology In Developing Countries: The Case Of Tanzania, Shruti Modi

Pepperdine Policy Review

Mobile technology is one of the fastest growing industries. In rural parts of the world, mobile phones are more accessible than sanitation facilities and electricity. Mobile phones can be used to transmit health information, promote health awareness, track the spread of diseases, and ultimately decrease the prevalence of diseases. In particular, this study focuses on how mobile health technology, m-health, can reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria in Tanzania.

Financial Openness And Growth: 2000-2010, Amy Kennedy

Pepperdine Policy Review

In light of the recent financial crisis and economic downturn, policymakers are looking at other options to raise tax revenue. One such option proposed is a financial transaction tax which would tax various cross-border transactions such as banking or securities transactions. Yet, economic growth is arguably the better option for increasing revenue. One might further argue that a tax will lead to less revenue through reduced growth resulting from investors investing money in other tax free arenas. Therefore, this study looks at the relationship between financial openness and annual real GDP per capita growth to ascertain the effect of financial …

Can Clean Drinking Water And Sanitation Reduce Child Mortality In Senegal?, Catherine Bampoky

Pepperdine Policy Review

The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of clean drinking water, modern sanitation facilities and hygiene on child mortality rates in Senegal. Diarrhea-related morbidity is still fairly common among young children and this disease is mainly due to poor hygiene and environmental factors. Although extensive research has been done on the determinants of child mortality in Senegal, they were mainly descriptive studies that did not focus on a policy-related variable on which public policies could have a direct intervention. Using dummy dependent variable models, I find that drinking water source and sanitation facility are not individually statistically …

A Global Blasphemy Law: Protecting Believers At The Expense Of Free Speech, Kiley Widelitz

Pepperdine Policy Review

Since 1999, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation has annually introduced a resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council to create an international blasphemy law. The United Nations is currently debating whether to accept a resolution that criminalizes blasphemy. In order to assess whether the United Nations should enact such a law, this article examines the laws of the United States in comparison to three countries that enforce their blasphemy laws: Indonesia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. This article concludes that the United Nations should follow the way of the United States and forgo any restriction on blasphemy, as blasphemy laws …

Balancing Inclusion And “Enlightened Understanding” In Designing Online Civic Participation Systems: Experiences From Regulation Room, Cynthia R. Farina, Mary J. Newhart, Josiah Heidt, Jackeline Solivan

Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative Publications

New forms of online citizen participation in government decision making have been fostered in the United States (U.S.) under the Obama Administration. Use of Web information technologies have been encouraged in an effort to create more back-and-forth communication between citizens and their government. These “Civic Participation 2.0” attempts to open the government up to broader public participation are based on three pillars of open government—transparency, participation, and collaboration. Thus far, the Administration has modeled Civic Participation 2.0 almost exclusively on the Web 2.0 ethos, in which users are enabled to shape the discussion and encouraged to assess the value of …

Crime Drop Ii – Young People Are Leading The Newest Violent Crime Decline, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

FBI crime data show that young people contributed a large share to the declining rate of violent crime in the United States. By 2011, the youth violent crime rate had dropped 60 percent since its peak in 1994. The databit shows the rate of violent crime between 1994-2004 and 2006-2011 for youth under age 18, 18-24, and 25 and older.

Downsizing The Army Profession, Leonard Wong

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

An Analysis On The Effects Of Voter Id Laws And Minnesota’S Decision To Vote Against It, Amy Asell

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In recent years, the topic of voter identification has been a hotly contested issue in state legislatures around the country. Since 2003, nearly 1,000 bills concerning voter ID have been introduced in a total of forty-six states. In 2012 alone, voter ID legislation was pending in thirty-three states. On November 6, 2012, the citizens of the state of Minnesota voted on whether they supported an amendment to the state Constitution that would require all voters to present a valid photo ID in order to vote. Despite poll numbers indicating that a majority of Minnesotans supported the amendment the voter ID …

Public Land And Its Management: Why The Research Is Not Enough, Corinne Calhoun

Pomona Senior Theses

Ecological research, both basic and applied, can inform management decisions on public land in a number of ways. Most importantly, it can illuminate any negative effects of a given land use practice as well as the causes behind that effect. This type of information can be important to a management agency, such as the BLM, with a multi-use mission as these studies indicate under what management regimes a land use is in contradiction with other goals, such as conservation or restoration.

The current body of research, however, is flawed. In order to make fully informed decisions, land managers are in …

Childcare And Youth Training And Technical Assistance Project (Cyttap) May 2013 Evaluation Report, Kit Alviz, Tonia Renee Durden

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

The Childcare and Youth Training and Technical Assistance Project (CYTTAP) works to improve the quality and quantity of child care in 13 states with high densities of off-installation military families. From November 2011 through April 2013, face-to-face trainings, train-the-trainer events, and low- or no-cost online trainings were attended by over 14,000 individuals. Trainings included Better Kid Care (a wide range of topics including partnerships with parents, health and safety, nutrition and physical activity, and curriculum planning); Getting Started in Family Child Care (about starting a family child care business), I Am Moving, I Am Learning (about preventing childhood obesity); and …

Conservatism, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of late 20th and early 21st century conservatism and its impact on western U.S. politics and national politics. Stresses the roles played by individuals such as Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan,and George W. Bush and their influence on western conservatism. Analyzes how conservatism has been influenced by policy research institutions and advocacy groups such as the Claremont Institute and Focus on the Family. Reviews areas of collaboration and contention in western conservatism between economic, national security, and social conservatives and more libertarian elements. Examines the rise of the Tea Party movement in response to Obama Administration policies and …

Catholic Relief Services Develops Mre Materials, Ta Thi Hai Yen

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Since its formation in 1943, Catholic Relief Services has followed their mission to help impoverished and disadvantaged people overseas. This article discusses how CRS successfully implemented a mine risk education project that has decreased the number of incidents involving landmines and explosive remnants of war in heavily contaminated districts of Vietnam. As a direct result of the project, CRS’s MRE curriculum has been accepted by the provincial Department of Education and integrated with primary level public school curricula.

Catholic Relief Services Develops Mre Materials, Ta Thi Hai Yen

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This article presents state-of-the-art unexploded ordnance detection and classification, including examples from recent field-demonstration studies. After reviewing sensor technologies, with a focus on magnetic and electromagnetic systems, the authors discuss advanced processing techniques that allow for reliable discrimination between hazardous ordnance and harmless metallic clutter. Finally, the article shows results from a large-scale field demonstration conducted in 2011. In this case study, electromagnetic data acquired with an advanced sensor is used to identify ordnance at the site, reducing the number of excavations required with conventional metal detectors by 85%.

Influence Of Soil Properties On The Performance Of Metal Detectors And Gpr, Kazunori Takahashi, Holger Preetz, Jan Igel

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This article examines the effects of four soil types on metal detector and GPR performance and proposes the development of a classification system based on soil type to aid in the selection of effective methods for manual demining.

Detecting And Classifying Uxo, Laurens Beran, Barry Zelt, Stephen Billings

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This article presents state-of-the-art unexploded ordnance detection and classification, including examples from recent field-demonstration studies. After reviewing sensor technologies, with a focus on magnetic and electromagnetic systems, the authors discuss advanced processing techniques that allow for reliable discrimination between hazardous ordnance and harmless metallic clutter. Finally, the article shows results from a large-scale field demonstration conducted in 2011. In this case study, electromagnetic data acquired with an advanced sensor is used to identify ordnance at the site, reducing the number of excavations required with conventional metal detectors by 85%.

Pm/Wra Director Jim Lawrence Retires, Leaves A Legacy, Lois Carter Crawford

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

By integrating the public and private sectors, Jim Lawrence of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) has brought energy, innovation and passion to mine action. Through anecdotes, coworkers and friends remember Lawrence and his influence on the field as he retires.

In Remembrance: Lawal Johnson, Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

With great sadness, Novetta Solutions announces the unexpected death of Lawal Johnson, who died 2 January 2013.

Poland Ratifies The Apmbc, News Brief

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

On 4 December 2012 Poland became the 161st state to ratify the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention or APMBC).