TRANSPARENCY AS A TOOL: SECURING COLLABORATIVE APPROACHES TO FEDERAL HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDING IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA

The Los Angeles Area Urban Area Security Initiative (LAA UASI) is a federal grant program that takes a regional approach to grant projects that improve safety and security in Los Angeles. The research conducted for this thesis aimed to contribute to ongoing efforts to enhance the LAA UASI’s safety, provide a framework for collaborative networks, and create a positive environment with real-time information for managing large-scale incidents, including natural and human-made disasters. The research found that the LAA UASI has significantly enhanced the Los Angeles community’s preparedness and response capabilities and identified some areas for improvement. After analyzing best practices from many sectors, including private industry, public safety, the energy sector, not-for-profit governance, and corporate business, this thesis offers several recommendations for future implementation of the program to enhance overall collaboration and cooperation—the bridge to building strong networks of partners and keeping American cities safe. Overall, this thesis lends valuable insights and recommendations for decision-makers working to improve the safety and security of the Los Angeles community.Civilian, Los Angeles City Fire DepartmentApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Time-dependent adjoint-based optimization of photonic crystals and metamaterials using a stabilized finite element method

In the current research, a time-dependent discrete adjoint algorithm for optimization of electromagnetic problems is developed. The proposed algorithm improves the efficiency for gradient-based optimization. The time-dependent Maxwell equations are discretized using a semi-discrete Petrov-Galerkin method, and time advancement is accomplished with an implicit, second-order backward differentiation formulation (BDF2). Utilizing the developed capability, two gradient-based shape design optimizations are conducted. In the first optimization an optical waveguide is designed with photonic crystals, and in the second an all-dielectric metamaterial is designed. A motivation for optimizing photonic crystals is due to their use as multi-band optical waveguides for telecommunication applications. For this design optimization, to ensure smooth surfaces, Bezier curves are employed to parametrically represent the shape. To reflect the design changes on the mesh, linear elasticity is used to adapt interior mesh points to boundary modifications. The cost function used in this design attempts to shift the band gap of the photonic crystals to desired frequency ranges. Results demonstrate a band gap shift from one single band gap to multiple band gaps is achievable. The motivation for optimizing broadband metamaterials is for their use as dielectric mirrors for applications where high power reflection is required. In this optimization, Hicks-Henne functions are utilized for shape parameterization and linear elasticity used once again for mesh adaptation. The cost function used attempts to widen the bandwidth of the metamaterial over a desired frequency range. Results demonstrate an increase of the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of reflection from 111THz to 303THz

Hooking in, Activating and Extending: An Institutional Ethnography of the Family Violence Project of the Waterloo Region

Domestic violence (DV) is a significant social issue requiring a thoughtful and dedicated response. At present, many social service agencies and governmental bodies have a responsibility to provide a response to DV. Increasingly, innovative service delivery models are being used to construct more coherent responses to the violence. One such model, originates from the United States is entitled the Family Justice Centre model. This model of service delivery consists of the agencies responding to DV residing within the same building. The goal of this model is to improve the access to service for victims and to improve collaborative efforts between organizations in response to DV. In Ontario, Canada, the Family Violence Project of the Waterloo Region (FVP) is the first co-located DV model of service delivery. Comprised of twelve partners from the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and the non-profit sector, the FVP was initially designed to streamline services to victims and provide one-stop service provision. A growing body of research suggests that victims benefit from receiving service from the FVP model of service delivery. However, little is known about how the work is accomplished within these co-located models. Using Institutional Ethnography (IE), as developed by Dorothy Smith (1999), this research explores the textually-mediated landscape of the FVP to understand work processes and social relations. By using IE as a method of inquiry, a model of a community-based response to DV is revealed that establishes the powerful role of the CJS in identifying and assessing risk using risk assessing tools. The sharing of risk documents by the core CJS agencies activates other non-core CJS partners and extends the overall response to non-CJS partners in the community. The overall effect is the creation of a web of surveillance where the CJS is provided with information regarding families by various FVP partner agencies at various stages of intervention. The recommendations arising from this research include expanding the research on the use of multi-agency, co-located service delivery models in Canada in response to DV. Future research should also include an examination into the experiences of DV victims accessing service from these co-located models. Finally, future research is needed to understand the pathways to service of men who use violence in their relationships to improve their visibility within these service response models

Bridging the gap between police and citizens: what we know, what we've done, and what can be done

Master's Project (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017There is a long history of distrust between police and citizens and there have been no meaningful and sustained steps to correct this situation. Death and injuries are sustained by citizens and police, but still there has not been a real attempt to prevent this occurring because there is no trust between police and citizens and this lack of trust has created a rift or gap between police and citizens and this projects aim is to address the gap. Research into what causing damage and finding a way to repair the damaged relationship between police and citizens by way of finding approaches that tend to lead to trust between groups of people. Communication, a better ethics base for police, training and education, restorative justice, media, and the studying of social theories will help find a way to repair the damage. A collaboration of all of the aforementioned categories will tend to help bridge the gap between police and citizens. It is believed that by addressing the issues and the roots of the problems between police and citizens, a new relationship built on trust will emerge. By having a more trusting relationship there will be less harm caused to police and citizens

Strong as the Weakest Link: Medical Response to a Catastrophic Event

Natural disasters and acts of terrorism have placed a spotlight on the ability of health care providers to surge in response to catastrophic conditions. This paper reviews the status of efforts to develop the capacity and capabilities of the health care system to respond to disasters and other mass casualty events. Strategies for adapting routine medical practices and protocols to the demands posed by extraordinary circumstances and scarce resources are summarized. Existing federal roles, responsibilities, and assets relative to the contributions of state and local government and the private sector are described, including specific programmatic activities such as the Strategic National Stockpile, the National Disaster Medical System, and the Hospital Preparedness Program. Opportunities for federal policymakers seeking to strengthen and expedite preparations for medical disaster response are highlighted

Coordinating Expertise Across Knowledge Boundaries in Offshore-Outsourcing Projects: The Role of Codification

The coordination of effort within and among different expert groups is a central feature of contemporary organizations. Within the existing literature, however, a dichotomy has emerged in our understanding of the role played by codification in coordinating expert groups. One strand of literature emphasizes codification as a process that supports coordination by enabling the storage and ready transfer of knowledge. In contrast, another strand highlights the persistent differences between expert groups that create boundaries to the transfer of knowledge, seeing coordination as dependent on the quality of the reciprocal interactions between groups and individuals. Our research helps to resolve such contested understandings of the coordinative role played by codification. By focusing on the offshore-outsourcing of knowledge-intensive services, we examine the role played by codification when expertise was coordinated between client staff and onsite and offshore vendor personnel in a large-scale outsourcing contract between TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) and ABN AMRO bank. A number of theoretical contributions flow from our analysis of the case study, helping to move our understanding beyond the dichotomized views of codification outlined above. First, our study adds to previous work where codification has been seen as a static concept by demonstrating the multiple, coexisting, and complementary roles that codification may play. We examine the dynamic nature of codification and show changes in the relative importance of these different roles in coordinating distributed expertise over time. Second, we reconceptualize the commonly accepted view of codification as focusing on the replication and diffusion of knowledge by developing the notion of the codification of the "knower" as complementary to the codification of knowledge. Unlike previous studies of expertise directories, codification of the knower does not involve representing expertise in terms of occupational skills or competences but enables the reciprocal interrelating of expertise required by more unstructured tasks