This research was intended to investigate the perceptions of firearm policies and the views held by campus security personnel regarding student or teacher carry on campus. The purpose of the interviews was to investigate campus security officer’s perceptions and how they differ based upon individual belief systems. The goal, therefore, was to understand how their perspectives on campus carry could impact interactions with students and faculty. Exploring a representative sample of current firearm policies, both on and off campus, established a framework that exposed the opinions of campus security personnel and gave some insight into the potential impact that might occur from implementing various policies. As a result, the coverage of these materials was pivotal regarding firearm policy and to show how unique perspectives can develop and create a better understanding of campus policing. This was especially true given the dearth of research into violence on campuses and the perspective of individuals that are tasked with the protection of the institutes.

Infertility affects approximately 15% of couples. Testing and interventions are costly, in time, money, and emotional energy. This paper will discuss using Markov decision and multi-armed bandit processes to identify a systematic approach of interventions that will lead to the desired baby while minimizing costs.

Gender inequality persists in the workplace, including in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The CAF is struggling to attain their goal of increasing the representation of women in uniform from 16% to 25%. One factor that may be contributing to their struggle is the cultural response of empowerment messaging to gender inequality. Empowerment messaging coveys that women can succeed in life through personal agency and optimism about the future. However, this seemingly positive messaging has the negative effect of increasing attributions of women’s responsibility for gender inequality while disregarding systemic barriers (i.e., women should overcome sexism because they have personal agency and the individual choice to do so). I contend that the CAF is using empowerment messaging in some of their public messaging, and I propose that the negative effects of empowerment messaging will generalize to the CAF context. In two experiments (total N = 812), exposure to empowerment messaging from a CAF video directly increased the burden placed on women to solve gender inequality in the CAF and indirectly predicted more blame placed on women for causing gender inequality in the CAF. This research suggests that institutional empowerment messaging meant to motivate and inspire women may in fact harm women. The CAF and other institutions struggling with gender inequality should avoid using empowerment messaging in their public communications to prevent harming women, especially with their focus on increasing the number of women in their organizations. / Graduate / 2023-08-10

This study examined the curriculum evolution process of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) and its predecessor, the Army Industrial College (AIC), as it was influenced by a variety of factors between the years 1924 and 1988. Most of the published material used for this study was found in the library of the National Defense University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, DC. Additionally, current and past College faculty and staff members were interviewed. Six main questions served to guide and focus inquiry for this study. These questions concerned how the curriculum evolution process was affected by (1) various influential persons, (2) recommendations of commissions and boards, (3) social, economic, and political phenomena, (4) military and civilian faculty, (5) educational philosophy, and (6) technological advances. Using the historical method, the study identified five distinct periods in ICAF's curriculum history: 1924-1941, during which AIC's original curriculum sought to forestall a recurrence of industrial mobilization problems; 1943-1964, which saw the emergence of economic mobilization as the overarching curriculum theme; 1964-1975, a time when a strong leader completely restructured the curriculum theme to emphasize management and active learning; 1975-1984, a period when NDU was created as the joint college umbrella, applied behavioral science was introduced, and the curriculum theme returned to mobilization; and 1984-1988, during which the conceptual frameworks of joint and combined warfare and the systems approach guided the continuing search for academic excellence and rigor. The study found that each of the potential change agents affected the way the curriculum evolved. However, the most influential factor was the occasional person who interpreted the significance of a multiplicity or phenomena in an innovative fashion, and consciously chose to restructure curriculum. Commandant, Lieutenant General August Schomburg and Dean of Faculty and Academics, Colonel Barry M. Landson, were the two most effective individuals in this regard. Consequently, the study concluded that, for the most part, curriculum planning was not an orderly, systematic, and analytical process. Generally, curriculum change was found to be incremental and often based on which subjects received greatest media attention or the relative argumentative forcefulness of proponents. / Ed. D.

This study assessed the changing mission of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces as it evolved from the institution's founding as the Army Industrial College in 1924 to its 70th anniversary in 1994. The study drew heavily from archival materials in the Special Collections of the National Defense University in Washington, DC. The problem investigated in this research was to analyze how and why the institution's mission changed over time within the context of internal and external forces and events. Based upon the historical method of research, the study identified six periods in the institution's development over seven decades: its origins in the aftermath of World War I from 1918 to 1924; its growth in the interwar years, 1924 to 1940; the institution's temporary closure and subsequent reconstitution as the Industrial College of the Armed Forces during and after World War II, from 1940 to 1947; a formative period during the Cold War from 1947 to 1962; its continuing evolution throughout the Vietnam era from 1962 to 1974; and finally the College's modern development as a joint service educational institution from 1974 to 1994. The study found that the institution has changed dramatically over much of this century, just as the world and the country's national security concerns have changed profoundly in the same period. The mission of the College has evolved from a narrow focus on training military officers in procurement and industrial mobilization to that of a graduate institution dedicated to educating a select group of promising senior military and civilian officials in the political, economic, and resource dimensions of national security. Over time, the focus has shifted from training to education, from military to national issues, from internal and external educational programs to primarily internal ones, and from a predominant interest in domestic issues to an equally strong concern for international matters. The study finds that a variety of internal and external events and forces have impelled these changes. A wide range of influential individuals and stakeholders, bureaucratic power structures, governmental agencies, special review boards, and various political, economic, military, and social considerations have influenced the mission of the College. The study also concludes that several factors have likely contributed to the institution's relatively unusual longevity as a government entity. Its dual identity as an educational institution and a government organization set apart from the mainstream bureaucracy has had a favorable influence. So too has the institution been aided by the unique service it has provided to multiple customer constituencies. In fact, the College's mission has made it unique as an institution of adult education and learning in this country and perhaps the world. / Ph. D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

The difficulty garnering compensation for environmental destruction from climate change and armed conflicts has made states and organizations question whether international legal systems can protect the environment during peace or war. The case study compares how Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and the United Nations Environment Programme frame the environmental implications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Armenia's occupation of Azerbaijan. The aim is to explore how states invoke environmental war crimes or environmental concerns to gain advantages in conflict resolution and whether international organizations change or adapt to help states obtain environmental justice. The results are obtained by combining the theory of environmental conflicts described by Fisher (2022a) and the national/international climate and security discourse described by McDonald (2018). The case study uses framing analysis to identify environmental problems in speeches, statements to the media, letters, reports, and press releases. The main findings indicate that Ukraine has gained more support in its fight for environmental justice than Azerbaijan. Although both states used similar frames and tactics in their environmental drivers, Ukraine's ability to continuously prove its seriousness about environmental destruction sets it apart from Azerbaijan. As terms like ecocide and eco-terror become more internationally recognized, states can use them to push international organizations to make legal changes about environmental justice. However, there is also a risk that states use the need for environmental justice to improve their international reputation in the aftermath of an armed conflict.

Why victimize civilians during civil war? Inspired by my survival of two civil wars in Liberia, I offer a theory of violence against noncombatants during armed conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa. Civil wars in post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa have a typical pattern that can be distinguished with three distinct stages: the "onset" period at the start of conflicts; the "intervention" period, marked by third-party involvement and negotiations; and the "settlement" stage, marked by an interim government with cabinet positions rationed among belligerents. I argue that the causes and motives for violence against civilians vary across these three stages of civil war. In the first "onset" stage, violence against civilians is mainly perpetuated by foreign recruits who lack ties with local populations. Principle-agent and moral hazard problems emerge as foreign recruits, young of age and disconnected from local populations, want to loot and rape civilian populations. In contrast, commanders responsible for these populations have difficulty monitoring and controlling these recruits. The second stage of "intervention" changes the calculus for combating groups, as the bargaining power of each depends on its control of strategic territory, such as ports and airports. Groups with minor territories and weak capacities are incentivized to attack the soft targets of noncombatants, who are sometimes forced to take sides at this stage. At the third "settlement" stage, the distribution of cabinet positions creates rivalries within groups, with disgruntled factions breaking away and resuming conflict. Civilians are caught in the middle, frequently accused of collaborating with the other side, leading to violence against noncombatants, including hostage-taking, as part of the bargaining process. To examine the stage theory of civilian victimization in sub-Saharan Africa's civil wars, I surveyed Liberia's two civil wars that occurred from 1989 to 1996 and 1999 to 2003. I drew on three sources of data to triangulate the causes and motives of violence against civilians: (a) archives, (b) intensive interviews of combatants and civilian victims of these wars, and (c) witnesses' testimonies from the Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings. These data are used to qualitatively study Liberia's two civil wars, which may be generalizable to other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. It is found that foreign recruits, strategic territories, and political positions in a power-sharing government may have contributed to violence against civilians during the onset, intervention, and settlement phases of Liberia's two civil wars. The research contributes to the general literature regarding violence against civilians during armed conflicts. According to popular opinion, violence against noncombatants is a natural outcome, but this research points out that the causes and motives of violence against civilians can vary in identifiable ways. It shows how civil wars in post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa have a unique pattern associated with foreign intervention and settlements, and these phases may account for varying motives for violence against civilians. Knowing the motivating factors for violence against civilians can help protect vulnerable populations during armed conflicts, including refugees, internally displaced persons, migrants, and victims of human trafficking. Intervening governments can make more significant efforts to protect civilian populations during the intervention phases and be more sensitive to the dangers sub-group actors pose in distributing government positions during the settlement phases of these wars.

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