Models and Methods Commons^™

Walking On Sunshine: Walkable Cities Affect On The Health And Well-Being Of A Population, Carter J. Barnett

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A simple definition of a city is an organizational unit that consists of a dense population within a specific area. This unit can carry a variety of goods and services, complete with housing, businesses, places of leisure and community. A city provides residents with all three of the aspects to live, work, and play within a set distance. How people get around this area is a vital question considering the large number of people in a relatively small zone. For many metropolitan areas a personal car is how movement between city spaces is carried out, however this can cause air …

Determinants Of Voting Behavior In The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election: Issues, Demographics, And The Pandemic's Influence, Julissa Cavazos

Posters - 2025

• The 2020 election caused many shifts in how certain groups voted based on their views on several issues which is why this research is essential.

• Leading up to the election, the top issues among voters according to news sites were the state of the economy, attitudes on how the government handled the COVID-19 pandemic, and concern over the immigration crisis.

• COVID-19 was a main factor in causing individuals to vote for Joe Biden as president.

Embedding And Enabling Multi-Domain Combat Capabilities With Partners And Allies: A Joint Concept Proposal, Nathan Colvin, Aljoša Kaučevič, Randall Mercer

Graduate Research Conference (GSIS)

Future military operations will rely upon a coalition partnership’s ability to conduct regional and global operations across all domains. Currently the US has the most robust multi-domain skill sets of any existing military force, but the US cannot be solely responsible for operations around the globe. To do so would be geopolitically and economically infeasible. An answer may be to build cohesive coalition force units capable of combining localized capabilities and specialized US global competencies. The ability to respond to any type of threat through the synergy of coalition strengths will act to deter regional threats throughout the cooperation, competition, …

Statutes And Special Interests, Kirsten Matoy Carlson

Northwestern University Law Review

Who really decides what statutes say? Most Americans think that special interests play an outsized role in our lawmaking processes. Yet empirical studies have produced little evidence that special interests get everything, or even most of, what they ask for from Congress. This Article takes an innovative new approach to tackling the difficult question of how advocates influence legislation. It presents the first comprehensive empirical study of how advocates influence the law through amendments in the legislative process. The Article analyzes an original dataset of 2,137 witnesses and their testimony at referral hearings on 108 Indian-related bills in the 97th …

Compromised Communication: The Threat Of Disinformation To Rational Bargaining, Marydalia Jimenez

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

This paper integrates theories of disinformation with the “Bargaining Model,” a theory in political science that explains why actors choose to go to war even though they might achieve their aims more efficiently through bargaining. As a case study, the paper takes a disinformation campaign during the Cold War and Russia’s war in Ukraine (2014-present) to provide evidence for the way that disinformation undermines international dialogue and bases the status quo in unreal conditions, thereby making the bargaining process irrational and diminishing the opportunity for resolution.

Poverty And Voter Turnout: An Elusive Relationship, Mckenna C. Doran

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

As poverty becomes an increasingly pressing issue in America, researchers and scholars alike are left to determine the extent to which poverty has become ingrained in our society. Many different theories exist on how poverty plays (or does not play) a role in politics, particularly voter turnout. Gaps in previous research have left room for my study to connect some dots and draw conclusions based off my own data. After collecting data from 25 Georgia counties and the 2020 presidential election, I had to conclude that in my study, there exists no confirmed relationship between poverty and voter turnout. There …

Drivers And Barriers To Financial Transparency In Georgia’S Local Governments, Min S. Kim

The Guardianship Journal

This study investigates the determinants of financial transparency in local governments, specifically measured by the availability of financial documents on official websites. Hypotheses were developed to examine the relationships between financial transparency and three categories of influencing factors: community environmental characteristics, governance structures, and financial conditions. Using empirical analysis on a sample of 159 counties in Georgia, the findings reveal varying levels of support for the proposed hypotheses. Key determinants of financial transparency include population size, median household income, and the size of the board of commissioners. Conversely, financial condition factors were not found to significantly influence financial transparency. These …

Promoting Diversity Tolerance Among Indonesians Through Smart Mobile Civic Media In Citizenship Education, Anita Trisiana, Triyanto Triyanto, Gamal Abdul Nasir Zakaria, Sakinah Sakinah, N Arvinth

Jurnal Civics: Media Kajian Kewarganegaraan

The formation of student characters is carried out with variations in the form of digital-based "Smart Mobile Civic" learning media innovations that can be applied to learning civic education. It is hoped that this innovation has the potential to improve critical, rational, and creative thinking skills following Pancasila's values in responding to various problems in the field of citizenship. This research aims to (1) analyse the implementation and improvement of tolerance character. (2) analysis of the effectiveness of the tolerant values applied in Smart Mobile Civic. The research results show that: (1) Lecturers act as presenters and models for students …

Maritime Industry Cybersecurity Threats In 2025: Advanced Persistent Threats (Apts), Hacktivism And Vulnerabilities, Minodora Badea, Olga Bucovetchi, Adrian V. Gheorghe, Mihaela Hnatiuc, Gabriel Raicu

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Background: The maritime industry, vital for global trade, faces escalating cyber threats in 2025. Critical port infrastructures are increasingly vulnerable due to rapid digitalization and the integration of IT and operational technology (OT) systems. Methods: Using 112 incidents from the Maritime Cyber Attack Database (MCAD, 2020-2025), we developed a novel quantitative risk assessment model based on a Threat-Vulnerability-Impact (T-V-I) framework, calibrated with MITRE ATT&CK techniques and validated against historical incidents. Results: Our analysis reveals a 150% rise in incidents, with OT compromise identified as the paramount threat (98/100 risk score). Ports in Poland and Taiwan face the …

Methodological And Data-Driven Approaches For Analyzing And Enhancing Campus Camera Coverage At The University Of Akron, Aj Stewart

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This Honors Project presents both a methodological and data-driven approach to analyzing, calculating, and enhancing the camera coverage on The University of Akron's (UA) campus using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The project uses spatial crime mapping with camera coverage analysis to support The University of Akron Police Department (UAPD) in determining surveillance gaps and suggesting strategic improvements. The goal is to develop a replicable framework for evaluating and improving camera coverage in crime hotspots using spatial analysis and viewshed analysis. The findings in this project give a usable guide for using data to improve security camera placement according to maps …

Church Attendance, Gender Roles, And Human Sexuality, Derek D. Goodrich

2025 Fall Honors Capstones Projects - Archive

This research examines how the frequency of religious attendance impacts views on gender roles and sexuality in Christian subgroups in the United States. Prior research on the varying worldviews of American Christians has revealed a diverse group of opinions that cannot be explained solely by denominational affiliation. Based on social identity theory, this study explores whether the frequency of attendance at religious services influences congregants’ beliefs on six issues: legalization of gay marriage, the acceptance of homosexuality in society, the acceptance of transgender people, whether a parent should stay home with the children, which parent should stay home, and women …

Evaluating Methods For Examining The Relative Persuasiveness Of Policy Arguments, Jared Mcdonald, Michael J. Hanmer

Political Science & International Affairs Articles

Survey researchers testing the effectiveness of arguments for or against policies traditionally employ between-subjects designs. In doing so, they lose statistical power and the ability to precisely estimate public attitudes. We explore the efficacy of an approach often used to address these limitations: the repeated measures within-subjects (RMWS) design. This study tests the competing hypotheses that (1) the RMWS will yield smaller effects due to respondents' desire to maintain consistency (the “opinion anchor” hypothesis), and (2) the RMWS will yield larger effects because the researcher provides respondents with the opportunity to update their attitudes (the “opportunity to revise” hypothesis). Using …

Adaptation For Whom? Understanding The Impacts Of Dyke Policies On Small-Scale Farmers In Ca Mau Province Of Vietnam, Nguyen Minh Quang, Nguyen Van Minh, Nguyen Vo Chau Ngan, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Low-lying deltas worldwide are extremely vulnerable to sea-level rise. As the risks of climate-induced flooding become increasingly clear, the thirst for infrastructure-driven adaptation increases. This highlights a patent need to understand the impacts of engineering adaptation solutions, especially those targeting built structures such as dykes and sluices, on farmers from a bottom-up, farmer-centred perspective. The study addresses this call by examining cases where dyke policies, while successful in some dimensions, have undermined small-scale farmer livelihoods in Ca Mau ― Vietnam’s southernmost rural province. It identifies areas in need of attention and adds empirical data related to this group of farmers. …

Panic! At The Supreme Court, Nathan J. Arnold

SPARK Symposium Presentations

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) has led to a decrese in public trust for the institution. This piece looks at whether there has been an increase in ideologically conservative decisions on the High Court, as well as whether the role of institutional factors has gone down. The literature has previously held that institutional factors have a consistent hold on the Court and are some of the best predictors on how the Court will vote cases. However in recent years academics have been increasingly arguing that it based on partisanship and that the ideology …

Katz'S Imperfect Circle: An Empirical Study Of Reasonable Expectations Of Privacy, Tonja Jacobi, Christopher Brett Jaeger

Faculty Articles

Under Katz v. United States, the Fourth Amendment restricts government actions that infringe upon expectations of privacy that society recognizes as reasonable. This foundational test has long been criticized as circular, both because courts can shape the very expectations they seek to identify through their decisions and because governments can manipulate those expectations to expand the reach of their own power. But how do members of society decide what expectations are reasonable, and how do judges ascertain those expectations? And are expectations of privacy malleable even without deliberate manipulation?

This Article shows that the circularity critique is both understated …

Healing Communities With Police Divestment: Seeking Abolition Through Transformative Reform And Community-Government Collaboration, Jessica E. Gillson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Concerns about the efficacy and sustainability of the U.S. carceral system have persisted throughout the country’s history, recently fueling renewed activism and bipartisan calls for reform. However, proposed solutions remain divisive. This thesis first defines the current status of our prison systems, then explores collaborative alternatives to incarceration and policing that support communities and break cycles of incarceration.

Focusing on partnerships among local governments, community organizations, justice-involved individuals, and law enforcement, this study examines holistic approaches to crime prevention, reentry, and reintegration. Using an interdisciplinary framework incorporating restorative justice, community resilience, and systems theory, it investigates how community-based strategies can …

Assessing High-Speed Rail (Hsr) Policy And Politics In Washington State: Avoiding The Mistakes Of The Past, Landen K. Hashimura

All Master's Theses

While international standard high-speed rail (HSR) has yet to be successfully completed in the US, there is a national interest in the topic, as evidenced by recent federal initiatives to research HSR across various corridors. The Cascadia Corridor has been identified as a region with high potential for HSR, leading to an ongoing study in the State of Washington. Given the tumultuous history of American HSR development, the Cascadia HSR initiative needs to avoid the mistakes of the past. Two major contributing factors to this failure to build HSR are uneven political support for HSR and poor policy frameworks. Despite …

A Social-Ecological Justice Approach To Ecotourism: Examples From Cockpit Country, Jamaica, Laurel Ann C. Curry

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Ecotourism aims to support local social, ecological, and economic systems sustainably, but its implementation often perpetuates social and environmental injustices. This work applies a new social-ecological justice (SEJ) framework to ecotourism, combining Pope et al.’s holistic approach with principles like ecological stewardship, economic repositioning, and collaboration tailored to specific contexts. Importantly, basic capabilities for full functioning of humans and other species were used in this research to measure areas of justice and injustice. Using a case study approach with the Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency (STEA) in Jamaica's Cockpit Country, co-created interview data were analyzed to evaluate its ecotourism program’s alignment …

Voter Apathy And Divided Government, Ty'hier Simon

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The proposed research project will pertain to the voter attitudes associated with our government. The association with our government is critical to document because it may reflect the outlook of how the seats are distributed between the two major parties in our system. Voter apathy is the lack of interest in elections of representative democracies. In this project, a correlation may be drawn between voter turnout and how the delegation of our representatives looks. For example, if there is a low voter turnout there may be a swift change in power in Congress or there might be total gridlock. Using …

Partisan Divides In Environmental Spending Attitudes: A Two-Level Hierarchical Analysis, 1973-2022, Jordan Lipner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Public attitudes toward environmental spending have become increasingly divided along party lines, with sharp shifts over the past five decades. This thesis updates and expands on Johnson and Schwadel’s 2019 study by applying a two-level hierarchical linear model to General Social Survey data updated to include data from 2015-2022, capturing how political affiliation, education, race, and economic context interact with broader political and economic contexts to shape environmental attitudes over time.
The results show that political affiliation remains the strongest and most reactive predictor of environmental spending attitudes. Republican respondents are significantly more likely to oppose environmental spending, especially under …