<p> Realignment, instituted in October 2011, was California&rsquo;s latest effort at prison reform by realigning responsibility for prisoners labeled nonviolent, non-serious, and non sex-related from the state to counties. Many of these offenders were in state prison upon conviction of property crime offenses. Realignment had a net decarcerative effect on offenders. Simultaneously, California cities&rsquo; officer staffing levels shrunk during the great recession. To determine what impact realignment may have had on property crime in small California cities, and to identify effective response strategies, property crime and officer staffing data was analyzed and a survey administered to the chiefs of those cities.</p><p> Fifty-six California cities with a population of between 25,000 and 50,000 and their own police departments were studied. This study analyzed data for the full year before and after realignment&rsquo;s implementation, 2010 compared to 2012. Analysis of these data indicated an overall trend of increase in property crimes reported to the police, and a significant decrease in officer staffing pre-and post-implementation. Many of the 36 chiefs who responded to the survey identified realignment as the primary factor in the increase of property crime, closely followed by overcrowding in their local or county jail. Of the response strategies offered in the survey, most chiefs said they had made progress on increasing partnerships with allied law enforcement agencies. Finally, a majority of the chiefs identified increasing partnerships with allied agencies the most effective strategy followed by the creation or reorienting specialized units to respond to the issue of realigned offenders.</p>

<p> Public safety organizations in rural communities often face unique challenges during an emergency response that differ from their metropolitan counterparts. Despite implementation of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) in 2004 to better facilitate collaboration among local, state, and federal emergency response partners, many rural communities have had difficulty complying with the policy. Using a case study design, the current study considers the successful collaborative response to the 2012 Chardon, Ohio, high school shooting within the context of three foundational theories: meta-leadership, structural functionalism, and social constructivism. The perspective of the successful response comes from 10 public safety response personnel who worked for organizations in Northeast Ohio and who responded to or were familiar with the collaborative response to the 2012 shooting incident. The findings from the study consider the unique challenges faced by the Chardon emergency response community and identify the benefits of pre-disaster preparedness training as recommended by NIMS, the need to build relationships through informal channels, and, most importantly, that alternative approaches to NIMS may be necessary in small communities that lack resources or have other inherent challenges. </p>

<p> Knowing the perceptions of college students regarding their safety on campus from an active school shooter can be valuable when campus police and security, college safety boards, and other members of the college community are designing policies and emergency plans to protect the college. However, few studies have been conducted to examine perceptions of students regarding fear of a school shooter on a university campus. To address this gap in the literature, this particular study was conducted to specifically inspect the perceptions of students regarding fear of a school shooter on a university campus in Missouri. This study resulted in a record of how the fear of a school shooter is perceived by college students from a variety of viewpoints. A qualitative, grounded theory design was selected for this study and was framed through the perspective of values theory and human and campus ecology theories. Interviews with 25 university students in Missouri were conducted. Data analysis resulted in the emergence of four major themes: (a) contentment, (b) partnership, (c) communication, and (d) maintenance. Overall, students in this study felt a great degree of contentment and desired to reduce their fear of an active shooter by creating a partnership with campus police, communicating better, and rejecting stricter gun laws.</p>

<p> Concepts such as &ldquo;brain drain&rdquo;, although now outdated, capture the essence of the uneven distribution of costs and benefits of the migration of skilled workers from south to north. There is solid evidence of the positive contributions of skilled immigrants to their host economies. Nevertheless, the sending countries, with few exceptions, have not fully capitalized on the skills and networks of their high-skilled diasporas. This research adopts the diaspora option concept, which capitalizes on these skills and networks as a viable strategy for economic development. Using the migration relationship between Lebanon and the United States, this study contributes to a growing area of research that investigates the <i>search</i> role of skilled immigrants and returnees and their impact on knowledge transfer to the countries of origin. The research presented herein attempted to answer the overarching exploratory question: What are the patterns and dynamics of high-skilled diasporas and returnees&rsquo; direct and indirect <i>(search)</i> contributions to the home country and what related policies or facilitative interventions are needed to leverage and enhance these contributions? To address this question, the field research employed interview and survey techniques.</p><p> The findings of this research revealed that Lebanese diaspora high achievers and networks, as well as high-skilled returnees, have engaged in different forms of direct and indirect contributions to the home country, but their impact remains less than transformational on Lebanon&rsquo;s innovation system. There is substantial evidence of the nascent emergence of institutionalized Lebanese transnational search networks attempting to bridge and translate capabilities and opportunities between the home country and the global knowledge markets. These networks hold a growing portfolio of gestating projects and initiatives that have not yet materialized in tangible investments or success stories. Institutional factors at home, such as economic and political instability, weak infrastructure, and outdated regulatory and legal frameworks, in addition to the absence of diaspora engagement public policy, appear to be the main impediments for optimal and transformational engagement. These impeding factors represent areas for possible improvement if diaspora linkages and contributions were to be leveraged. Thus, the case of Lebanon demonstrates a laissez-faire diaspora option that encapsulates the suboptimal incorporation of skilled diasporas into the development process of their home countries without notable diaspora engagement public policy. Consequently, this research advocates for a proactive and fully endorsed diaspora option to better capitalize on countries&rsquo; skilled diasporas and returnees for transformational impact.</p>

<p> Institutions of higher education, states, and government agencies are seeking avenues for increasing access, improving learning outcomes, and increasing student retention. The majority of chief academic officers polled indicate that online learning is key to the growth of their institutions, while simultaneously indicating concern that online learners are less likely to succeed and persist. A common construct for how institutions can facilitate student success and persistence is the notion of engagement. Since 2000, campuses have relied upon the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to guide institutional policies and practices supporting student success. The research on the applicability of the NSSE to online learning is scarce. This ex post facto quantitative study explored the relationship between scores on the ten NSSE Engagement Indicators and two widely used measures of student success: grade point average (GPA) and persistence. </p><p> The study sample comprised students from five public state institutions that had administered the NSSE during the 2013 and 2014 cycles. Statistical tests were employed to examine potential differences between online and non-online learners. A small significant difference in GPA was discovered, with online learners having a higher average GPA than non-online counterparts. There was no significant difference in rates of persistence between the groups. Regression analyses revealed no statistically significant relationship between Engagement Indicator scores and either GPA or persistence. </p><p> The study findings did not support assertions in the field that online learners are less likely to succeed than non-online learners. The findings were contrary to previous research on the role of engagement in the equation of student success and persistence. Differences in NSSE scores between online learners and non-online learners offered evidence of how those groups may be distinct. The study suggests the need for delineating NSSE results based upon different groups of students, and brings into question the applicability of the engagement construct for online learners. The need to clearly and consistently define &ldquo;online&rdquo; becomes a critical aspect of the discussion. Recommendations for policy and practice are offered, including the importance of addressing attrition bias, and a caution on making inferential interpretations with descriptive statistics from a survey.</p>

Canadian Federalism has grown to incorporate the opposing ideologies of communitarianism and individualism, which compete in both social and political arenas. The cultural industry sector in Canada negotiates this ideological landscape in order to secure favourable public policy in the form of both political support and access to public resources. Within the cultural sector and as a result of the environment, the book publishing industry is active in expressing its value as both community builders and economic worthy enterprises. Drawing upon research in federalism, cultural and policy studies, an analytical framework is developed to assess the underlying intentions of cultural policy and distribution of resources with respect to cultural or economic outcomes. This comparative analysis of federal and provincial policies supporting the book publishing industry in Canada demonstrates divergent policy choices between jurisdictions. These choices gravitate towards either communitarian/collectivist or individualist/economic values, mirroring those values incorporated into the current Canadian federalist structure.

The state of the planet was briefly examined from economic, social, and environmental perspectives. The examination showed that the world has largely come under a single development paradigm and that the situation this paradigm has led us to is unsustainable and inequitable. There have been a number of efforts to set the planet on a different path to sustainability and social justice but so far they have failed to gain sufficient momentum to achieve change on a scale commensurate with the magnitude and urgency of the problem. The author contends that these efforts for change might be more effective if they could be united under a common, global theme or objective sharing common principles. The research suggests that the idea of dedevelopment might arise as a theme around which many of the movements seeking sustainability and social justice could unite. The author further attempts to show the form dedevelopment might take. The deepening of the current economic and climate crises which has occurred since this research was conducted serves to reinforce the author's argument for the necessity and urgency of a change in the current development paradigm.

<p>Cannabis cultivation has emerged as a developed world phenomenon, making cannabis market participants who embrace import substitution via domestic cultivation an extra challenge to drug law enforcement. Given drug law enforcement's reliance on deterrent measures, this study examined the factors associated with the perceived certainty of apprehension for domestic cannabis cultivation. Through secondary data analysis, it tested Stafford and Warr's reconceptualization of deterrence against an online survey data set constructed by the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium. The data set's sample consisted of participants at least 18 years of age, who had grown cannabis at least once and were residents of either Canada or the United States. With multiple linear regression analysis, this study found mixed support for Stafford and Warr's theory and moderate support for social learning, social bonding, and criminal self-efficacy theory. In light of such results, policy implications will be discussed. </p>

By lowering the energy required to provide a service, energy efficiency can help society consume less energy, emit less CO2e and other air pollutants, while maintaining quality of life. In this work, I examine a key benefit of energy efficiency, reducing renewables investment costs, and a side-effect, expanding energy service demand, also known as the rebound effect. First, I assess the economics of an energy efficiency intervention, using dedicated direct current (DC) circuits to operate lighting in commercial buildings. I find that using DC circuits in grid-connected PV-powered LED lighting systems can lower the total unsubsidized capital costs by 4% to 21% and levelized annual costs by 2% to 21% compared to AC grid-connected PV LEDs providing the same level of lighting service. I also explore the barriers and limitations of DC circuits in commercial buildings. Second, I examine the rebound effect from residential energy efficiency investments through a model in which households re-spend energy expenditure savings from an efficiency investment on more of the energy service (direct rebound) or on other goods and services (indirect rebound). Using U.S. household expenditure data and environmentally-extended input-output analysis, I find indirect rebound effects in CO2e emissions of 5-15%, depending on the fuel saved and assuming a 10% direct rebound. Third, I examine the variation in the indirect rebound from electricity efficiency across U.S. states due to differences in electric grid mix, fuel prices, household income, and spending patterns. I find that the CO2e direct and indirect rebound effects vary across states between 6-40%, when including full supply chain emissions, and between 4-30% when including only combustion and electricity emissions. I conclude that energy efficiency can provide significant benefits for reducing energy expenditures, CO2e and other pollutants, and renewables investment costs under policy mandates, even after accounting for the rebound effect. While the CO2e rebound effect is currently modest in the U.S., there are some exceptions that may be relevant for energy efficiency policy assessments. In addition, more data collection and measurements of direct rebound effects are needed, especially in developing countries where the demand for energy services has not fully been met.

The drive to make the aging electric grid more efficient, reliable, and clean has been at the heart of the “smart grid” mission. Additionally, provisions of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) and the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) have led to smart grid investments in the United States. Smart grid upgrades have included the installation of new technologies at all levels of the electric power delivery system. At the distribution system level modernization has included upgrades to communication systems, distribution automation, local control and protection systems, and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). Chapter 2 of this thesis aims to use elements of the emerging smart grid at the distribution system level to alleviate the effects of a widespread and long-duration power blackout. Despite continuing efforts to make the electric grid robust, some risk remains of widespread and extended power outages caused by extreme weather, human error, or premeditated terrorist attack. Chapter 2 applies the concept of survivability to the case of ensuring the continued provision of a subset of socially critical services during such blackouts. A load cycling based methodology is proposed, and an associated economic analysis indicates that the cost of implementing the proposed scheme constitutes less than 1% of median annual household income for a range of assumed outage probabilities, distributed generation resource availabilities, and financing options. While the technical elements of proposed scheme are largely feasible, a few policy changes are identified as necessary for successful implementation of the scheme. The latter half of this thesis focuses on one potential security risk posed by the large-scale deployment of smart meters. Smart meters constitute one component of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), a key element of the smart grid. Chapter 3 describes a few documented smart meter hacking strategies and motivates the following question: What, if any, are the implications of smart meter hacking for the bulk power grid? To help answer this question Chapter 4 focuses on one specific attack type with the potential for causing widespread disruption to electric service – the cycling of a large number of consumer loads using the remote connect/disconnect switch on several smart meters. Results from simulations performed on two IEEE test networks (the 9 and 39-bus dynamic test cases) indicate that it is improbable that the mere toggling of customer loads could destabilize the bulk power grid because the fraction of system load that needs to be cycled to induce instability is likely to be prohibitively large.