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

Developing A Hyperspectral Non-Technical Survey For Minefields Via Uav And Helicopter, Milan Bajic, Tamara Ivelja, Anna Brook

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The main topic discussed in this paper is the research, development, and implementation of hyperspectral remote sensing technology in humanitarian mine action (HMA), mainly for non-technical survey (NTS) from aerial platforms. NTS should be conducted to determine whether landmines or unexploded ordnance (UXO) exist in considered areas and whether clearance is needed and if so, in what scope. The availability of the hyperspectral sensors (2011–2012) that are suitable for use with multi-engine unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) enabled the development of systems for HMA. While large and costly airborne hyperspectral systems have been available for over two decades, they had little …

Issue 21.1 Endnotes, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Issue 21.1 Endnotes

Effects Of Weather On Detection Of Landmines By Giant African Pouched Rats, Ian Mclean, Rebecca Sargisson

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Although APOPO has trained mine detection rats for many years, no published data exist on how weather parameters relate to detection accuracy. Using data taken during routine training, we show that there was little relationship between the detection success of rats and rainfall but find that rates decreased, on average, with increasing temperatures and increased with higher humidities. Individual rats vary in terms of sensitivity to temperature in that

A Longitudinal And Experimental Study Of The Impact Of Knowledge On The Bases Of Institutional Trust, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Christopher D. Kimbrough, Ellie Shockley, Tess M. S. Neal, Mitchel Herian, Joseph A. Hamm, Brian H. Bornstein, Alan Tomkins

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

This study examined a knowledge-centered theory of institutional trust development. In the context of trust in water regulatory institutions, the moderating impact of knowledge was tested to determine if there were longitudinal changes in the bases of institutional trust as a function of increases in knowledge about a target institution. We hypothesized that as people learn about an institution with which they were previously unfamiliar, they begin to form more nuanced perceptions, distinguishing the new institution from other institutions and relying less upon their generalized trust to estimate their trust in that institution. Prior to having specific, differential information about …

The New Evangelicals: How Donald Trump Revealed The Changing Christian Conservative Base, Michael J. Herbert

Political Science Theses and Capstones

I analyze how Donald Trump, who many see as an uncertain standard bearer of Christian values, given his colored personal life and various tortured exchanges on the Bible, became the champion of Christian conservatives. Using Pew data from a January 27th, 2016 survey, I analyze how the Republican presidential candidate went from the lowest rankings of religious association just 10 months prior, to winning the highest white evangelical support since George W. Bush in 2004. More research will be conducted on how the specific group known as evangelical voters has changed, as well as what other variables such as economic, …

Juveniles Lead Adults In Declining Rate Of Drug Crime, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics, juvenile drug arrest rates fell more drastically and quickly than drug arrests involving adults. This databit examined the trajectory for drug-related arrests between 1980 to 2015 and compared the peaks and declines in youth versus adults.

Savings Rate: How Wraparound Advocacy May Reduce The Consequences And Costs Of State Commitment For Justice-Involved Youth, Douglas N. Evans, Megan O'Toole, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

John Jay College conducted a quasi-experimental evaluation of Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. by comparing justice system outcomes for a sample of Florida youth served by YAP, Inc. with a matched comparison sample of youth supervised by the public juvenile probation department. This report discusses the outcomes for YAP youth and provides estimations for the savings generated from reducing the need for commitment and out-of-home placement among court-involved youth.

Unsealed Fate: The Unintended Consequences Of Inadequate Safeguarding Of Juvenile Records In Maine, Susan Hawes, Erica King Msw, Mara Sanchez Phd, George Shaler Mph

Justice Policy

The purpose of this report is to provide policy makers, the public and other juvenile justice system practitioners (law enforcement, Maine Department of Corrections, attorneys and judges) with information about the impact of juvenile justice involvement on young people who have come into contact with the justice system. The goal of this report is to provide policy makers, the public and juvenile justice system practitioners with research about what those closest to the system understand about how records are handled and accessed, the impact of juvenile records and what improvements could be made that are consistent with the rehabilitative and …

Transportation Construction Work-Zone Safety Impact On Time-Related Incentive Contracting Projects, Jae-Ho Pyeon, Do Kim

Mineta Transportation Institute

Work-zone safety on highway projects continues to be a national concern, and project safety performance is one of the indicators of project success. Many contractors and State Transportation Agencies believe that expedited construction time under incentive contracting contributes to reducing the safety risk of road users traveling through work zones. However, the truth of this belief has never been measured or supported by any statistical evidence. Therefore, this research investigates the statistical relationship between time-related incentive road construction projects and frequency of vehicle crashes in California to understand the impact of time-related incentive provisions on project safety performance. The research …

Ideology, Race, And The Death Penalty: "Lies, Damn Lies, And Statistics" In Advocacy Research, Anthony Walsh, Virginia Hatch

Journal of Ideology

We use the literature on race in death penalty to illustrate the hold that ideology has on researchers and journalists alike when a social issue is charged with emotional content. We note particularly how statistical evidence become misinterpreted in ways that support a particular ideology, either because of innumeracy or because—subconsciously or otherwise—one’s ideology precludes a critical analysis. We note that because white defendants are now proportionately more likely to receive the death penalty and to be executed than black defendants that the argument has shifted from a defendant-based to a victim-based one. We examine studies based on identical data …

The Leadership Style Of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This working paper presents a personality-based analysis of newly elected U.S. president Donald J. Trump’s likely leadership style as president, inferred from the results of an indirect personality assessment conducted 2015–2016 from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Trump’s predominant personality patterns were found to be Ambitious/exploitative (a measure of narcissism) and Outgoing/impulsive, infused with secondary features of the Dominant/controlling pattern and supplemented by a Dauntless/adventurous tendency.

Ambitious individuals are bold, competitive, and self-assured; they easily assume leadership roles, expect others to recognize their special qualities, and often act as though entitled. Outgoing individuals are dramatic attention‑getters who thrive …

Local Measures: The Need For Neighborhood-Level Data In Youth Violence Prevention Initiatives, Jeffrey A. Butts, Alana M. Henniger

Publications and Research

In an attempt to assist local jurisdictions with violence prevention, the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies launched the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention in 2010. More than a dozen cities participated in the National Forum, collaborating to increase the effectiveness of their local strategies for reducing youth violence. The Department of Justice asked John Jay College of Criminal Justice to monitor and assess the outcomes of the National Forum beginning in 2011. The study investigated the accomplishments and perceptions of the leadership networks in each city.

Odni Statement On Declassified Intelligence Community Assessment Of Russian Activities And Intentions In Recent U.S. Elections, United States Senate

United States Senate Documents

ODNI Statement on Declassified Intelligence Community Assessment of Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections, January 6, 2017

On December 9, 2016, President Barack Obama directed the Intelligence Community to conduct a full review and produce a comprehensive intelligence report assessing Russian activities and intentions in recent U.S. elections. We have completed this report and briefed President Obama as well as President-elect Trump and Congressional leadership. We declassified a version of this report for the public, consistent with our commitment to transparency while still protecting classified sources and methods. The Intelligence Community did not make an assessment of the …

College Students Reporting Responses To Hypothetical And Actual Safety Concerns, Brandon A. Hollister, Mario Scalora, Sarah M. Hoff, Heath J. Hodges, Alissa Marquez

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Campus violence prevention often includes proactively reducing crime through noticing and resolving concerning situations. Within these efforts, interventions aimed at enhancing reporting have been considered necessary. The current study explored several reporting influences on college students’ responses to hypothetical and actual campus safety concerns. Students were unwilling to report most (i.e., 52%) vignettes of pathway behavior, and most students who witnessed campus safety concerns did not report (i.e., 87%). Students who witnessed several concerning behaviors from a nonfriend perpetrator tended to be more willing to report, especially if personally victimized and understanding the violence risk associated with pathway behavior. Analyses …

Engaging Parents To Promote Children’S Nutrition And Health: Providers’ Barriers And Strategies In Head Start And Child Care Centers, Dipti A. Dev, Courtney Byrd-Williams, Samantha Ramsay, Brent A. Mcbride, Deepa Srivastava, Ashleigh L. Murriel, Chrisa Arcan, Anna M. Adachi-Mejia

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Purpose: Using the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics benchmarks as a framework, this study examined childcare providers’ (Head Start [HS], Child and Adult Care Food Program [CACFP] funded, and non-CACFP) perspectives regarding communicating with parents about nutrition to promote children’s health.

Design: Qualitative.

Setting: State-licensed center-based childcare programs.

Participants: Full-time childcare providers (n ¼ 18) caring for children 2 to 5 years old from varying childcare contexts (HS, CACFP funded, and non-CACFP), race, education, and years of experience.

Methods: In-person interviews using semi-structured interview protocol until saturation were achieved. Thematic analysis was conducted.

Results: Two overarching themes were barriers and …

E-Government As A Tool For Stability And Socio-Economic Development In Post-Conflict Libya., Abdulmajid H. Mohamed

Faculty Articles

Usually, great challenges lie ahead of any post-conflict government, especially in states that have historically been under dictatorship, like Libya. It has been six years since the violent regime change that took place in Libya in 2011, yet no signs of improvement is foreseen in public service delivery and constructive citizen participation in influencing national policy formation and evaluation. In fact, the situation of public services has been worsened due to the absence of political and executive power from a strong, united government. The resulting widespread of collective frustration and political uncertainty has become a catalyst for a more defective …

Happiness Index Methodology, Laura Musikanski, Scott Cloutier, Erica Bejarano, Davi Briggs, Julia Colbert, Gracie Strasser, Steven Russell

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

The Happiness Index is a comprehensive survey instrument that assesses happiness, well-being, and aspects of sustainability and resilience. The Happiness Alliance developed the Happiness Index to provide a survey instrument to community organizers, researchers, and others seeking to use a subjective well-being index and data. It is the only instrument of its kind freely available worldwide and translated into over ten languages. This instrument can be used to measure satisfaction with life and the conditions of life. It can also be used to define income inequality, trust in government, sense of community and other aspects of well-being within specific demographics …

Engaging Nonprofit Sector To Ensure Social Justice In Local Housing Marketplaces, Joshua Odetunde

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

The essay attempts to fill the gaps found in knowledge and practice for conceptualizing local housing marketplaces in public policy administration. Dichotomous conceptualization in terms of homeownership and rental housing led to inefficient local housing marketplaces and affordability issues. The rationally evolving economic concept of local housing marketplaces is to financially leverage every family and stimulate investing in landed properties for decent homes. Hence, the Housing Act of 1949 reasonably envisaged every American family having access to a decent home as the great equalizer. Social change to rational conceptualization of local housing marketplace would help resolve affordability issues. Then, complementary …

The Potential And Limits Of Extended Producer Responsibility: A Comparative Analysis Study, Jessica Bass

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis draws on the concept of product stewardship and its focus on incorporating all of the actors in a product’s lifecycle into steps to take responsibility for waste management. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) recognizes the producer’s distinct potential to consider and drive change in waste management. Producers often serve like mediators between the design and use phases of a product’s lifecycle. Through EPR policies, the producer takes on the costs of ensuring safe end-of-life waste disposal. In this way, EPR can be expected to help relieve the public of some of the costs of waste disposal, and to support …

Addressing The Retirement Crisis With Shadow 401(K)S, Deepa Das Acevedo

Faculty Articles

The United States has been juggling a handful of socio-economic crises lately. The subprime mortgage crisis, the auto industry crisis, the education crisis, the obesity crisis—the list isn’t short and shows no signs of becoming so. Within this group of economically and socially disruptive developments, the “retirement crisis”—the idea that most Americans will lack the financial resources to be secure and relatively satisfied in their golden years—seems somewhat banal because, for the most part, it has yet to hit. Even though baby boomers first started to age out of the workforce in 2011,the real cost of underfunded retirement is far …

The Making Of A Hero: Cultivating Empathy, Altruism, And Heroic Imagination, Ari Kohen, Matt Langdon, Brian R. Riches

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Heroes are not born; they’re made. This article examines the commonalities in the backgrounds of people who take heroic action on behalf of others to theorize the ways in which our society can encourage citizens to prepare themselves to act heroically. In looking closely at a variety of people who have acted heroically, in a single moment or over time, we argue they have at least four crucial commonalities: They imagined situations where help was needed and considered how they would act; they had an expansive sense of empathy, not simply with those who might be considered “like them” but …

Policy And Institutional Challenges In Climate Information Services Provisioning In Philippine Agriculture, Dulce D. Elazegui, Agnes C. Rola, Roger A. Luyun, Nico Jayson C. Anastacio, Francis John F. Faderogao, Maria Cristina A. Alvarez

Journal of Public Affairs and Development

Current and immediate information about the increasingly unpredictable weather conditions are needed to augment conventional knowledge in local communities. Policy analysis on climate information services (CIS) provisioning in the agriculture sector is vital and warranted. This paper describes the global and national CIS policies as well as the institutions involved in provisioning through the characterization of pathways from data generation to dissemination. Further, it identifies the various intermediary users of the CIS and how CIS are ultimately disseminated to the municipal agricultural offices and the farmers. Secondary data sources were searched. Primary data were gathered through key informant interviews. Qualitative …

The Socio-Political And Economic Causes Of Natural Disasters, Nicole Southard

CMC Senior Theses

To effectively prevent and mitigate the outbreak of natural disasters is a more pressing issue in the twenty-first century than ever before. The frequency and cost of natural disasters is rising globally, most especially in developing countries where the most severe effects of climate change are felt. However, while climate change is indeed a strong force impacting the severity of contemporary catastrophes, it is not directly responsible for the exorbitant cost of the damage and suffering incurred from natural disasters -- both financially and in terms of human life. Rather, the true root causes of natural disasters lie within the …

Differentiating Sexual Offender Type On Measures Of Impulsivity And Compulsivity, Tara J. Ryan, Matthew T. Huss, Mario Scalora

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

It is suspected that rapists, child molesters, and offenders with both child and adult victims (mixed offenders) may have different motivations and offending patterns—that they are heterogeneous. A central difference between these groups of offenders may be their propensity toward sexually impulsive behaviors and compulsive behavior. Analyses were conducted to assess the mean differences between the various offender types across four measures related to sensation seeking and compulsivity as well as several other proxy behavioral measures. Results suggest that there are differences in sexual impulsive and compulsive behavior among the different types of offenders. Treatment implications are discussed.

Reframing Homelessness In Vermont: A Systemic Approach To Homelessness Policy Advocacy In Windham County Vermont, Scott Sharland

Capstone Collection

The Changeworks Committee of the Groundworks Collaborative was created in 2014 to implement advocacy that would build public support for long-term policy changes addressing the root causes of homelessness in Windham County Vermont. This research focused on the work of this committee, and posed the question: How does reframing homelessness as a systemic issue instead of an individual issue impact the public perception of the problem in Windham County, Vermont? I argue that reframing perceptions of homelessness as the result of systemic failure and not as a problem of individual choice is key to building public support for solutions. Additionally, …

Loss Of Identity, Radicalization, And Terrorism, Magdalena Martinez

Master's Theses

France and Belgium are two of the top countries in Europe with an increasing number of root fighters. Over the last two years, both countries have been primary targets of terrorism. This thesis investigates the repeated pattern of events and analyzes from a birds-eye view the cycle leading to the rise of terrorism in France and Belgium. This research disputes that anxiety causes discrimination and lack of integration in France and Belgium, which contributes an identity crisis. In essence, these factors trigger radicalization and lead to terrorism. Analyzing the patterns of terrorist activity and the path of radicalization is essential …

Different Names For Bullying, Marco Poggio

Capstones

“There's all different forms of bullying,” says Steven Gray, a Lakota rancher and former law enforcement officer living in South Dakota. In this look into Gray’s life, we learn about two instances of bullying: the psychological and physical harassment that pushed his son, Tanner Thomas Gray, to commit suicide at age 12; And the controversial construction of an oil pipeline in an ancient tribal land that belongs to the Lakota people by rights of a treaty signed in 1851, which Gray sees as an institutional abuse infringing on the sovereignty of his people. Gray is involved in the movement that …

Us Small Arms To Syrian Rebels, Roberto Capocelli

Capstones

The capstone is an investigation into the procurement of Russian-style weapons by small companies to the US government for shipment to Syrian rebels, Iraqi and Afghani military. Through an analysis of procurement contracts, court records and audits the investigation unveils the checkered past of some of the company procuring weapons for the Special Operation Command.

History In Collaboration: Equalizing The Arts And The Humanities In San Francisco, Nicole C. Meldahl

Master's Projects and Capstones

Historically, there has been a critical imbalance in the way history and preservation organizations are civically supported in comparison with the amount of funding that is available to arts organizations in the United States. To correct this imbalance in San Francisco, I propose the creation of a San Francisco Department of Culture that would place the San Francisco Arts Commission equally alongside a San Francisco History Commission within a department that absorbs responsibilities currently managed by other divisions with in city government, such as the Planning Department and the Office and Economic and Workforce Development. City government necessarily takes time …

Policy Dissemination: Public Administration Theory And International Organizations | A Case Study On The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities In The Kingdom Of Morocco, Rachelle Ann Wilson

Capstone Projects – Politics and Government

With the advent of international organizations comes international law. Unprecedented at such a global and influential level, there is no theoretical framework within public administration explicitly focused on administrative structure and strategies for the implementation of international law. Consequently, the current administrative literature and theoretical framework must be looked to and transposed, as much as possible, to the international stage. This paper explores public administration theory and how it would manifest if applied to international policy implementation. By taking a closer look into the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its implementation strategy within the …