Public health is an increasingly important issue addressed from both environmental and public health sectors for the future development of urban environments. From a planning perspective, one possible solution is to increase walkability throughout the cities. Many assessment methods are being developed and administered to evaluate the quality of existing urban environments to promote walkable cities/communities. The results from using these methods provide policymakers and stakeholders with valuable information regarding the existing physical conditions of the environment. Although several US cities started to develop and refocus plans toward pedestrian-oriented policies approaches, results from this particular study determined that the quality of pedestrian environments cannot solely be determined by using available assessment tools and recommend additional analytical methods used in conjunction with source data to provide a complete perspective to successfully increase the quality of life. The condition of the physical environment – high, average, and low quality – was important contributing factors to increase walkability, yet, it is equally important to understand and consider the needs, preferences and perceptions of end users when public officials are charged with the task of developing plan proposals for pedestrian neighborhoods. This study addresses these issues through a case study examining the quality of pedestrian environment and how people perceive those surroundings of downtown San Luis Obispo.

Public administration scholars accept that public service values guide administrators’ behavior. This guidance also derives from social and cultural values that motivate administrators’ individual attitudes. A part of the field recognizes that public servants play an active role during the implementation process through their daily use of discretion. Nevertheless, public administrators’ values and attitudes are rarely linked to policy implementation and organizational performance. In consequence, public policy evaluation seldom considers the role of values and attitudes of those implementing policy. This study examines how public administrators’ values and attitudes towards citizens shape policy implementation and influence organizational and program performance. The implementation and results of Section 8 HCV Program serve as case study to address the linkage between public service values and performance. The Section 8 HCV is the federal government's major program that assists low-income families, elderly and disabled people to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. The Program allows participants to choose any housing that meets its requirements. This research hypothesizes that environmental and organizational factors impose a toll on organizational and policy performance and that public administrators’ values and attitudes towards recipients buffer some of these effects. The study employs a quantitative methods approach to examine and combine demographic characteristics of the communities that surround Public Housing Authorities -where the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program is implemented-, statistic indicators of the local housing market, Section 8 HCV structural factors of operation, levels of poverty and race desegregation in vouchers recipient, and the quality of their neighborhoods, to establish a correlation between Public Housing Authorities’ poor performance and less advantageous environmental factors, and vice versa. I conducted semi-structured interviews among Section 8 HCV Program’s case managers, directors and front-line practitioners in Public Housing Authorities in the states of Florida and California to identify the Public Service Values-based strategies that influence program’s implementation, and both, organizational and program’s performance. The quantitative evidence collected and analyzed in this dissertation indicates that environmental and organizational factors impose a toll on Public Housing Authorities and Section 8 HCV program’s performance. Meanwhile, the qualitative portion of the study suggests that public administrators’ values and attitudes towards recipients permeate the implementation process and influence Section 8 HCV program’s results.

As an alternative renewable source for bioenergy, forest biomass has recently drawn more attention from the U.S. government and the general public. Woody biomass policies have been adopted to encourage the new bioenergy industry. A variety of state policy incentives attempt to create a desirable legal climate and lure new firms, imposing two important questions regarding state government policies and the sustainable use of forest resources. This dissertation sheds some light on these questions. The first paper constructs a woody biomass policy index through scoring each statute and weighting different categories of policies from the vantage point of renewable energy investment. It analyzes the disparity in the strength of state government incentives in the woody biomass utilization. The second paper employs a conditional logit model (CLM) to explore the effects of woody biomass policies on the siting decisions of new bioenergy projects. In addition, significant state attributes influencing the births of new bioenergy firms are identified such as resource availability, business tax climate, delivered pulpwood price, and the average wage rate. The third paper uses the Sub-Regional Timber Supply (SRTS) model to examine the regional aggregate forest biomass feedstock potential in Tennessee and to predict the impacts of additional pulpwood demand on the regional roundwood market through 2030. The fourth paper includes the benefits of thinning and logging residues in a dynamic optimization model to analyze how bioenergy policies will impact forest stock, harvest levels, optimal rotation, and silvicultural effort. The results may have substantial implications regarding woody biomass policies, the creation of a new bioenergy industry, and sustainable forest resource management. A lucrative state woody biomass policy support and tax climate can attract new bioenergy businesses. States endowed with abundant forest resources may choose to provide strong tax incentives to spur the birth of new plants. However, overuse of forest biomass can impact roundwood markets and traditional wood processing industries. How government incentives will affect the sustainability of natural resources can be diverse. These findings offer constructive insights in the enactment and implementation of new woody biomass legislation.

This paper seeks to determine under what conditions a U.S. president can implement a grand strategy given the nature of domestic and international opportunities and constraints. It will examine three comparative case studies: Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, with the goal of determining what conditions are necessary at the individual, domestic, and systemic levels of analysis for grand strategy implementation. At the individual level, it will apply operational code analysis, as well as an examination of personal characteristics for each case study. At the domestic level, it will apply a five-prong test for examining factors that are key to grand strategy implementation: (1) unity of foreign policy team; (2) strength of presidency; (3) party alignment between Congress and the president; (4) public opinion; and (5) strength of domestic economy. At the systemic level, it will examine significant events faced by each president that tested whether his grand strategy could respond effectively to international imperatives. Ultimately, it will assess the success of each president's attempt at grand strategy implementation based on: (1) how closely U.S. policies aligned with his grand strategy; and (2) whether policies put in place that aligned with his grand strategy improved the global standing of the U.S. Through this analysis, it will assess the larger implications of having a grand strategy on U.S. foreign policy.

Since the start of the 20th century, the Black Middle Class (BMC) has been a creation of both direct and indirect government policy and action. More importantly, had it not been for government action directed towards blacks, the BMC that is visible today would not exist. During the time period of the great migration, blacks prospered from increased economic demand along with policy targeted both directly and indirectly at employing millions of blacks. During the 1960’s and 70’s, the BMC became a viable entity with civil rights laws that forced black men and women into higher education institutions as well as public and private employment. The policy implemented during this time sought to end discrimination by making it illegal and tightly monitoring it. As a result, the BMC saw accelerated growth in both educational attainment and wage. However, this immediate progress was brought to a standstill starting with a wave of conservatism sparked and led by the election of Ronald Reagan. Since that time, the BMC has made gains both educationally and economically, but the growth has been much less apparent. Also, many in the BMC have sought careers in the public sector due to discrimination that may exist because of a lack of governmental regulation and oversight in the private sector. There are many perils that face the BMC today, but most importantly the threat to massive reductions in the public sector federally and locally.

Problem: Engineering design decisions require the integration of information from multiple and disparate sources. However, this information is often independently created, limited to a single perspective, and not formally represented, thus making it difficult to formulate decisions. Hence, the primary challenge is the development of computational representations that facilitate the exchange of information for decision support. Approach: First, the scope of this research is limited to representing design decisions as compromise decision support problems (cDSP). To address this challenge, the primary hypothesis is that a formal language will enable the semantics of cDSP to be captured, thus providing a digital interface through which design information can be exchanged. The primary hypothesis is answered through the development of a description logic (DL) based formal language. The primary research question is addressed in four sub-questions. The first two research questions relate to the development of a vocabulary for representing the semantics of the cDSP. The first hypothesis used to answer this question is that formal information modeling techniques can be used to explicitly capture the semantics and structure of the cDSP. The second research question is focused on the realization of a computer-processible representation. The hypothesis used to answer this question is that DL can be used for developing computational-based representations. The third research question is related to the organization and retrieval of decision information. The hypothesis used to answer this question is DL reasoning algorithms can be used to support organization and retrieval. Validation: The formal language developed in this dissertation is theoretically and empirically validated using the validation square approach. Validation of the hypotheses is achieved by systematically building confidence through example problems. Examples include the cDSP construct, analysis support models, the design of a cantilever beam, and design of a structural fin array heat sink. Contributions: The primary contribution from this dissertation is a formal language for capturing the semantics of cDSPs and analysis support models comprised of: (1) a systematic methodology for decision formulation, (2) a cDSP vocabulary, (3) a graphical information model, and (4) a DL-based representation. The components, collectively, provide a means for exchanging cDSP information.

The ongoing debate over welfare in the United States is rooted in the long-standing tension between the nation’s commitment to providing for its most vulnerable and a deep-seated belief that such support can corrupt its recipients. Social Security has struck this balance and appeals to the masses with its pay-as-you-go system and universally distributed benefits. Yet, the solvency of Social Security is threatening the program that has attempted to guard against old age and disability for the last eighty years. This paper examines how the perception of poverty in the United States is a hindrance when tackling social welfare policies. Further, the failure of the Supreme Court to recognize economic security as a fundamental constitutional right and a lack of public support to contribute funds are added challenges in the implementation of social insurance and public assistance programs. The most promising solution to restore the short and long-term solvency of Social Security ultimately involves relaxing immigration laws to highly skilled workers and raising the retirement age for the rising generation.

In an attempt to achieve energy independence, rural economic development, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction, the United States has turned to fuels derived from agriculture. The U.S. Congress and Environmental Protection Agency mandated the blending of biofuels into conventional gasoline until 2022 under the Renewable Fuel Standard. However, largely missing from the discussion of biofuels is their feasibility regarding environmental protection and end-use marketing to consumers. This thesis investigates the motive for biofuel mandates in the U.S., the irony in the EPA’s decision to back a resource-exhaustive fuel source, and the questionable ability of the U.S. to supply and consume greater volumes of biofuels in the transportation sector. Barriers to consumption are outlined as increased production costs and high market fuel prices, strong political backing of traditional energy sources, and environmental implications of production on ecosystems in certain regions of the United States. By analyzing Iowa and Texas as two biofuel-producing states held in high regards for biofuel production capacity—yet varying degrees of consumption—the feasibility of reaching federal biofuel mandates and promoting this alternative fuel is determined.

La conception de systèmes embarqués modernes est de plus en plus complexe, car plus de fonctionnalités sont intégrées dans ces systèmes. En même temps, afin de répondre aux exigences de calcul tout en conservant une consommation d'énergie de faible niveau, MPSoCs sont apparus comme les principales solutions pour tels systèmes embarqués. En outre, les systèmes embarqués sont de plus en plus adaptatifs, comme l'adaptabilité peut apporter un certain nombre d'avantages, tels que la flexibilité du logiciel et l'efficacité énergétique. Cette thèse vise la conception sécuritaire de ces MPSoCs adaptatifs. Tout d'abord, chaque configuration de système doit être analysée en ce qui concerne ses propriétés fonctionnelles et non fonctionnelles. Nous présentons un cadre abstraite de conception et d'analyse qui permet des décisions d'implémentation rapide et rentable. Ce cadre est conçu comme un support de raisonnement intermédiaire pour les environnements de co-conception de logiciel / matériel au niveau de système. Il peut élaguer l'espace de conception à sa plus grande portée, et identifier les candidats de solutions de conception de manière rapide et efficace. Dans ce cadre, nous utilisons un codage basé sur l'horloge abstraite pour modéliser les comportements du système. Différents scénarios d'applications de mapping et de planification sur MPSoCs sont analysés via les traces d'horloge qui représentent les simulations du système. Les propriétés d'intérêt sont l'exactitude du comportement fonctionnel, la performance temporelle et la consommation d'énergie. Deuxièmement, la gestion de la reconfiguration de MPSoCs adaptatifs doit être abordée. Nous sommes particulièrement intéressés par les MPSoCs implémentés sur des architectures reconfigurables (ex. FPGAs) qui offrent une bonne flexibilité et une efficacité de calcul pour les MPSoCs adaptatifs. Nous proposons un cadre général de conception basé sur la technique de la synthèse de contrôleurs discrets (DCS) pour résoudre ce problème. L'avantage principal de cette technique est qu'elle permet une synthèse d'un contrôleur automatique selon une spécification des objectifs de contrôle. Dans ce cadre, le comportement de reconfiguration du système est modélisé en termes d'automates synchrones en parallèle. Le problème de calcul de la gestion reconfiguration selon de multiples objectifs concernant, par exemple, les usages des ressources, la performance et la consommation d'énergie, est codé comme un problème de DCS. Le langage de programmation BZR existant et l'outil Sigali sont employés pour effectuer DCS et générer un contrôleur qui satisfait aux exigences du système. Finalement, nous étudions deux façons différentes de combiner les deux cadres de conception proposées pour MPSoCs adaptatifs. Tout d'abord, ils sont combinés pour construire un flot de conception complet pour MPSoCs adaptatifs. Deuxièmement, ils sont combinés pour présenter la façon dont le manager run-time calculé par le second cadre peut être intégré dans le premier cadre afin de réaliser des simulations et des analyses combinées de MPSoCs adaptatifs.

Transformations to socio-technical systems may be enacted at fairly low levels, i.e., through changes in technology, processes, information and workers, to obtain a change in system level performance. This thesis provides a conceptual framework and a simulation platform to a priori computationally analyze the impact of such transformations. This thesis builds on the principles of cognitive engineering to describe the components of the work environment, i.e., technology, processes and information, in work relevant ways and using a structure-preserving model, i.e., a model form that describes the models using the same attributes and structure as used by system designers. This thesis also builds on the principles of agent-based modeling to model workers and their interactions with the work environment. These models are specified through a conceptual framework that includes declarative models describing which components are included within the system and their interrelations, and object-oriented models of those complex, dynamic behaviors that cannot be adequately described declaratively. Declarative modeling enables easy composition and modification of component models and, by declaring all required components collectively, a system model. This thesis established an XML representation for the declarative models, and developed a mechanism that automatically assembles, from the individual components' specifications and interrelations, a network-level model of the entire system in XML, which can serve to analyze network dependencies between components. The combination of the declarative and object-oriented models also enables computational simulations to predict the system performance that will emerge from a network of components when placed in a given scenario. Thus, this thesis also developed an agent-based simulation platform to support analysis of emergent behavior. The theoretical contributions of this thesis include the conceptual framework as a broadly applicable and structure-preserving representation of the important aspects of socio-technical system behavior, and associated extensions to cognitive engineering descriptions of the work environment. These insights, combined with the simulation platform, also enable computational modeling, analysis and prediction of socio-technical system performance with a comprehensiveness and detail not possible before. The theoretical and practical utility of these developments is demonstrated through a case study in air traffic control.