Social Policy Commons^™

Informal Rulemaking And Democratic Participation Fda – Food Labeling, Fcc – Net Neutrality, A Text Mining Study, Casey Shannon

Public Administration Master’s Projects

The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) is supposed to make the rulemaking process at the administrative level democratic. This study will look at two examples of federal regulatory agencies – Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The topics are food labeling, and net neutrality respectively. The APA highlights the process of notice and comment rulemaking. The APA is evaluated in the literature review for effectiveness and shortcomings. Interest groups play a key role in the policy making process; interest groups inform and mobilize citizens, and then coordinate commenting on agency rule propositions. This can sometimes lead …

To Walk The Earth In Safety 17th Edition (Cy2017), Us Dos Pm/Wra

Global CWD Repository

This 17th Edition of To Walk the Earth In Safety summarizes the United States’ CWD programs in 2017. CWD assistance provides the United States with a powerful and flexible tool to help partner countries manage their stockpiles of munitions, destroy excess small arms and light weapons (SA/LW) and clear explosive hazards such as landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and UXO. Our assistance also helps countries destroy or enhance security of their man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) and their threat to civilian aviation, in addition to other weapons and munitions.

The United States is committed to reducing these threats worldwide and …

Charter School Funding: (More) Inequity In The City, Corey A. Deangelis, Patrick J. Wolf, Larry D. Maloney, Jay F. May

School Choice Demonstration Project

Public charter schools are a growing part of K-12 education. Charter schools are public schools that are granted operational autonomy by their authorizing agency in return for a commitment to achieve performance levels specified in a contract. Like traditional public schools, charter schools are prohibited from charging tuition, must not discriminate in admissions or be religious in their operation or affiliation, and are overseen by a public entity. Unlike traditional public schools, however, most charters are open to all students who wish to apply, regardless of where they live. If a charter school is over-subscribed, random lotteries usually determine which …

The Intentional City: Shaping London’S Urban Future, Zack Taylor

Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance – Publications

Summary of remarks made at a public roundtable celebrating the launch of the Centre of Urban Policy and Local Governance held at Western University on November 23, 2018. Participants included Pierre Filion, Professor in the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo and an expert in mid-sized cities; Arielle Kayabaga, Councillor-Elect for City of London’s downtown Ward 13; Michelle Baldwin, Executive Director of London’s Pillar Nonprofit Network and Co-Founder of Innovation Works; John Fleming, Managing Director of Planning and City Planner for the City of London; and Neil Bradford, Professor and Chair of the …

Implementation Of The Convention On The Prohibition Of The Use, Stockpiling, Production And Transfer Of Anti-Personnel Mines And On Their Destruction : Revised, Unmas

Global CWD Repository

Seventy-third session
First Committee
Agenda item 101 (m)

General and complete disarmament: implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction

Afghanistan, Austria and Norway: revised draft resolution

Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction

17th Meeting Of The States Parties To The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty (2018), Apmbc

Global CWD Repository

The Seventeenth Meeting of the States Parties (17MSP) was a formal meeting of the 164 States Parties to the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The 17MSP was held in accordance with Article 11 of the Convention and pursuant to decisions of the 2017 Sixteenth Meeting of the States Parties.

A total of 125 delegations participated in the 17MSP, including 93 States parties, 10 States not party and 22 organisations.

The 17MSP was presided over by Afghanistan which has strived to encourage mine-affected and other States as …

Ddas Suggested Training Uses: Management Training, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Increasingly, managers in HD are management specialists with little or no field experience. If so, they usually delegate responsibility for training and operational needs to another person, often an "Ops Manager". The manager or Ops Manager will be in charge of all training and/or refresher training, so they should read the training suggestions for deminers, paramedics and field supervisors as well as those given here.

Because the accident database is a collection of reports covering events when things did not go as planned, the examples drawn from it are usually "negative" - what not to do, rather than what to …

Ddas: Manual Demining Handtool Design Criteria, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The research I have carried out on tool development has been based on accident studies, field trials and my experience in both demining and in manufacturing in small workshops. The research led to the evolution of the following criteria and constraints. I believe that these are essential requirements when designing hand-tools for use when excavating anti-personnel blast mines. Tools used during other demining activities may not have the same requirements.

Ddas: Crunching Data From The Database Of Demining Accidents, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

In the database of demining accidents, injuries are classed as either Severe or Minor. Injuries likely to be life threatening, to require surgery or to result in permanent disability are rated as Severe. All others are rated as Minor. This distinction is for convenience and is not intended to reflect on the discomfort and/or hardship associated with the injury. In some cases, injuries were not recorded in detail but I have resisted the temptation to infer detail. Note that, in very severe injuries, only the most severe injury is generally recorded.

Ddas: Investigating A Metal Detector Reading, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

What follows are basic procedures that you can edit and refine to suit your equipment and working preferences. They presume that deminers operate in a "One-man procedure ", with the same deminer performing all tasks during a working shift. When there is not enough equipment for each deminer to be issued with a detector and tools, two-man teams can be deployed. In a two-man team, a one-man procedure is still used. One person works while the other rests, and each individual performs all the tasks required for clearance during his/her shift.

Ddas Suggested Training Uses: Paramedic Training, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The examples of medical treatment in the database are rarely well detailed. When they are, they provide examples of both "positive" and "negative" responses to accidents. some of the worst negative responses are not the responsibility of the medic - who were simply not provided with the equipment or ambulance that they need. Parts of the reports may be used in lectures or presentations or they can be distributed for critical discussion.

Ddas Or Rapid?, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

In 2015, Tajikistan became the first country to make all of its demining accident data available. Congratulations to the Tajikistan National Mine Action Centre (TNMAC), a government controlled body that has set an international standard for transparency.

Despite its popularity, and the frequent reference made to the database when updating international and national Mine Action standards, the DDAS has no formal support.

The nominal Humanitarian Mine Action industry leader is the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). UNMAS make no effort to collect and study accident records but, in 2011 when I left the IMAS Review Board, they began to …

Ddas: Using The Database Of Demining Accidents, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The author has maintained a database of demining accidents for four years. It contains records of many of the explosive accidents that deminers suffer while going about their work. This article explains the uses and limitations of the database and the software developed to contain it.

Ddas: "Accidents" Or "Incidents", Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

When I started writing about demining accidents I tried to form a sensible distinction between the terms "accident" and "incident". I decided to call an unintended explosive event (or an intended explosive event that resulted in injury) an "incident". This was because an "Incident report" would be generated from which lessons that might prevent repetition of the event might be derived. I noted that the word "accident" was used for all unintended occurrences, from dropping the kettle to a car crash, but did not always apply to an intentional event that resulted in an injury. So, at that time, the …

Ddas: Introduction, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The DDAS software was designed by me in 1998 using the Microsoft Access engine and a Visual Basic front-end. This was revised and became a relational database in 2003. The software can be used to display existing datasets or to record your own. Field names can be edited and replaced with names in another language and the content of dropdown pick-lists is easily customised. Originally distributed on CD, it is not generally given out any more but despite being dated and cludgy, it can still be used many later operating systems.

Ddas Suggested Training Uses: Supervisor/Field Management Training, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

Field supervisors or managers should also read the suggested training needs for deminers because they will often be in charge of the deminers' training and/or refresher training. When they have any training concerns, they must report this in writing to the Senior Management in order to avoid censure if accidents result from inadequate training.

Because the accident database is a collection of reports covering events when things did not go as planned, the examples drawn from it are usually "negative" - what not to do, rather than what to do. They can be useful to explain the need for rules. …

Ddas Suggested Training Uses: Deminer Training, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The database provides real-world examples that can be used as training aids. This will often reinforce what is considered to be common sense. Be aware that the database records prove (beyond reasonable doubt) that some commonsense wisdom is incorrect.

For example, it is a myth that the most dangerous time for deminers is shortly after their initial training. On the contrary, there is some evidence to suggest that deminers actually become more likely to have an accident the longer they work as a deminer.

Ddas: Suggested Training Uses, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The most common use of these records in training is to provide an example of what happens when things are done in the wrong way. This can be a powerful reinforcement of a lesson about doing things the right way. The database can also be a training aid for paramedics and for field and office managers.

Ddas: Metal Detector Search, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

What follows are basic procedures for use with all the current models of metal detector that I know. It is intended to provide a basis that you can edit and refine to suit your equipment and working preferences.

Ddas: Metal Detector Set-Up, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

There must always be absolute confidence in the metal-detector’s ability to locate the target device at the required depth before Metal-detector clearance drills are applied. It is important to set-up the metal-detector appropriately for two main reasons. First it gives the Supervisors confidence that the ground can be cleared to the required depth. Second, it gives the deminers confidence that they can and will find every mine.

What follows is a basic procedure for use with all the current models of metal-detector that I know. It is intended to provide a basis that you can edit and refine to suit …

Ddasaccident813, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The report of this accident is compiled from press reports, edited for anonymity. Text in square brackets [ ] is editorial.

In a land mine clearance operation along the China-Vietnam boarder in Yunnan Province, Southwest China on October 11, [the Victim] chose to handle the complex situation by himself after asking his partner to step back. The explosion took [the Victim]'s both hands and eyes.

The Victim was defusing a mine when the accident occurred. Although no particular mine is mentioned, a Chinese Type 58 anti-personnel blast mine is inferred because it is shown in photographs and a fragmentation mine …

Changing Donor-Ngo Relations Thorough Viable Alternatives To Conventional Grantmaking, Kio Okawa

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this research is to explore ways in which non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can become more sustainable in light of a crucial challenge facing them today: that of financial instability. In the charitable sector in the U.S, NGOs, especially small-scale NGOs, have struggled with securing daily operating revenue rather than revenue for long-term program operations, in spite of the continuing needs of their beneficiaries (Janus, 2018; Le, 2017; Meehan & Jonker, 2017). Fundraising has come to involve relationships between NGOs and institutional donors such as foundations, government agencies and corporations. Competition among NGOs and rampant power asymmetry between donors …

Small Steps On The Long Journey To Equality: A Timeline Of Post-Legislation Civil Rights Struggles In Portland, Leanne Claire Serbulo

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Leanne Serbulo presented a timeline of civil rights struggles in Portland, Oregon, at a public history roundtable at the Oregon Historical Society commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. In this record of her presentation, Serbulo documents milestones in dismantling racial discrimination between 1949 and 1990. For this timeline, Serbulo researched Metropolitan Human Relations Commission (MHRC) records held at the Portland City Archives and traces how the commission navigated the process of improving race relations in the city and Multnomah County. As Serbulo argues, “civil rights legislation was simply the first step in a long and unfinished …

Ddas: The Database Of Demining Accidents - A Driving Force In Hma, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

I started the Database of Demining Accidents (DDAS) in 1998 using public data gathered for the United States Army Communications-Electronics Command, Night Vision & Electronic Sensors Directorate. When they declined to publish and update the database, I did so with their tacit approval but no funding support. I did this in the hope of improving safety for deminers. The database is an easy-to use system containing the original demining accident reports overlaid with easy-search summaries.

Kinship Diversion In The District Of Columbia: A Review Of Local Practice To Inform National Policy, Marla P. Spindel, Beth A. Stekler, Stephanie Ridgway Mcclellan

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

This article addresses a practice commonly known in the child welfare community as “kinship diversion,” where a child welfare agency informally places children with relatives as an alternative to foster care. While evidence predominantly shows that abused and neglected children have better outcomes when they are placed with relatives when they cannot remain safely at home, serious concerns about these children’s safety and well-being arise when the placement with relatives is informal. Indeed, it is often not understood that these same relatives can be approved as foster parents and can receive essential financial assistance and supportive services to help safely …

The Eighth Meeting Of States Parties To The Convention On Cluster Munitions (2018), Ccm

Global CWD Repository

The Eighth Meeting of States Parties of the Convention on Cluster Munitions will take place from 3 to 5 September 2018 in Geneva, at the Palais des Nations, Conference Room XVIII.

Different Choices: A Public School Community’S Responses To School Choice Reforms, Amanda U. Potterton

The Qualitative Report

In the United States, state and federal reforms increasingly encourage the expansion of school choice policies. Debates about school choice contrast various concepts of freedom and equality with concerns about equity, justice, achievement, democratic accountability, profiting management organizations, and racial and class segregation. Arizona’s “market”-based school choice programs include over 600 charter schools, and the state’s open enrollment practices, public and private school tax credit allowances, and Empowerment Scholarships, (closely related to vouchers), flourish. This qualitative analysis explores one district-run public school and its surrounding community, and I discuss socio-political and cultural tensions related to school choice reforms that exist …

Quasi-Experimental Comparison Design For Evaluating The Mayor’S Action Plan For Neighborhood Safety. Map Evaluation Update Number 1., Sheyla A. Delgado, Wogod Alawlaqi, Richard A. Espinobarros, Laila Alsabahi, Anjelica Camacho, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

This is the first of six updates presenting interim findings from the evaluation of the NYC Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP). As part of an evaluation of the New York City Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP), the John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center created methods to assemble various outcome measures about participating NYCHA MAP developments. The team also utilized statistical procedures to select a matched comparison group of NYCHA housing developments not participating in MAP. Differences in outcomes between the 17 MAP and 17 non-MAP housing developments will serve as the statistical basis for estimating …

The Reduction Of Weapons-Related Violence: A Global Approach To Saving Lives, Hi

Global CWD Repository

HI's history is closely intertwined with the fight against armed violence, including the use of anti-personnel landmines, cluster munitions, and other explosive remnants of war, and the proliferation of light and small caliber weapons. The history of Humanity & Inclusion has been marked by our humanitarian commitment to reducing the impact of conventional weapons on civilian populations. HI was founded in 1982 to help Cambodian victims of landmines, and in 1992, we launched the first of many demining programs. Today, the organization continues to advocate for the landmine and cluster munitions ban treaties and runs victim assistance, demining, and risk …

The Effect Of Proposed Changes In Federal Public Charge Policy On Latino U.S. Citizen Children In Massachusetts, Fabián Torres-Ardila, Phillip Granberry, Iris Gómez, Vicky Pulos

Gastón Institute Publications

We estimate the number of U.S.-born Latino children that could be potentially affected by proposed Trump Administration changes greatly expanding the scope of the “public charge” test as a basis for denying noncitizens admission to the U.S. or adjustment to lawful permanent resident status. In addition to reducing family-based immigration, the proposed rule’s association of public benefits with adverse immigration consequences is widely expected to cause a drop in public benefit participation not just by noncitizens but by their U.S. citizen children as well. If this proposed change is implemented, Latino families – which include both noncitizen families and “mixed …