School finance in Vermont: balancing equal education and fair tax burdens

An education finance system that is constitutional under the Brigham ruling mandates sacrifices on the part of taxpayers for a public good—educated citizens. It remains to be seen if current proposals can make that sacrifice more palatable or ensure that those bearing the burden have the most stake in the outcomes of the system.Public schools - Vermont ; Local finance - Vermont ; Taxation - Vermont ; Education - Vermont

Hollywood east?: film tax credits in New England

Five of the six New England states now provide tax credits or other financial incentives to attract producers to film on location. This policy brief discusses whether these incentives attract more production, and whether they are cost-effective in creating jobs. It focuses on the use of one major incentive: film tax credits.Tax credits - New England ; Motion picture industry - New England

Ghost hunting: A rhetorical analysis of the American media on the waterboard

This project looks at popular media hands-on investigations of the waterboard (an interrogation method used in the war on terror, viewed historically as torture ) to discover what I argue are the haunting effects of the second Bush administration\u27s rhetorical war

TAKING (birth) CONTROL: Empowerment Through Contraceptive Education

TAKING (birth) CONTROL is a body of work that educates women on their options for contraceptives, and empowers them to claim their right to choose if—and when—to have a child. Utilizing graphic design and letterpress printing processes, I created a visual system consisting of carefully honed typographic, color, and graphic styles. The bulk of the materials make up an educational toolkit for use at Delta Clinic of Baton Rouge, one of only three remaining abortion providers in Louisiana. Delta Clinic was in need of comprehensive and affordable materials for their patients on the subject of contraception. The toolkit consists of printed resources, a large format poster for display in the clinic, info cards and a pocket guide to be taken home with patients, and a set of playing cards to spark interaction between patients as they wait. Supplemental material in this body of work consists of handmade printed materials for use in political advocacy and fundraising efforts for local nonprofits which support reproductive justice in Louisiana. The culmination of the work will be displayed in an exhibition at Louisiana State University’s Glassell Gallery, and the educational toolkit will be used within Delta Clinic, with the possibility of wider distribution

Design Software Methods for Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Beams and Columns

Using fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) to strengthen dilapidated and failing reinforced concrete structures is becoming more frequent and often a cheaper alternative to traditional strengthening methods. Computer Aided Design Environment for Composites (CADEC) assists in the design and analysis of composite materials but lacks a user-friendly environment for the design and verification of strengthened reinforced concrete beams and columns. Therefore, design software methods are needed to develop an add-on application.;The development of the design software methods was done using C# (pronounced C Sharp ), an object-orientated language, because of the object classes. The object classes were used to allow other design philosophies to be implemented when creating usable applications. The object classes are organized into required strengthening (bending, shear, pure axial, and combination of axial and bending) and major design steps (preliminary design, original design, FRP configuration and design, and verification). An application was created to validate the design software methods. The application was created using Windows Forms that were organized into four paths (beams in flexure, beams in shear, columns, and beam-columns). Each path allowed the users to enter required parameters and then used associated object classes to automate the design process with minimal user involvement.;Analysis of the developed application using available strengthening design examples resulted in identical or very minor differences between the object classes used and the examples. Any major differences were anticipated because of the design of the class methods requiring a percent error. Overall, the object classes were effective; though some of the methods were often redundant and inefficient. The application was also over simplified allowing potential user errors to happen if the user is not familiar with the application\u27s operation

Microbial functional capacity among natural and created wetlands in Ohio, USA

Natural depressional wetlands carry out important functions related to C and N cycling, yet the ability of created wetlands to functionally replace natural wetlands in this capacity is not well understood. My objective was to apply the catabolic response profile (CRP) method to evaluate the functional capacity of the soil microbial community in a series of 15 freshwater depressional wetlands: five naturally-occurring wetlands and 10 created wetlands from 1 to 39 years old. I amended sediment samples with 20 labile carbon sources, and samples were analyzed for CO2 and CH4 efflux following a 4-hr incubation under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. The richness and evenness of carbon-source utilization by the soil microbial community were both significantly higher in natural wetlands compared to created wetlands when measuring CO2 efflux under aerobic conditions (11.7 vs. 9.18 for evenness and 18.5 vs. 15.1 for richness). Significant differences in overall microbial functional capacity among wetland age-classes, as determined by principal components analysis, were apparent for each treatment. Under aerobic conditions, old wetlands differed from young and mid-aged created wetlands and natural wetlands. Under anaerobic conditions natural wetlands differed from all created wetlands. Functional differences under certain conditions between the soil microbial communities resident in natural and created wetlands support the conclusion that created wetlands are not serving as functional equivalents to their naturally-existing counterparts

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Compliance of SCBA Training in the Lexington Fire Department

From 2010 through 2013, an average of 90 firefighters died in the line of duty each year (USFA, 2014). Firefighters who are off-duty continue to die as well, however, it is extremely difficult to determine whether their deaths are a result of on-duty-related exposures or not. Medical and field research has consistently found associations between smoke inhalation and acute and chronic illnesses that highlight the dangers of on-duty exposure to smoke. This study investigates the early removal of the SCBA by firefighters in one fire department while operating at fire incidents. The findings indicate that firefighters are mostly aware of the dangers that smoke inhalation and exposure presents; however, they continue to remove their SCBA prematurely, particularly during overhaul operations. This points to a need for written policies and procedures that clearly define when and for how long the SCBA must be worn on fire incidents, more frequent training on the benefits and consequences of wearing or not wearing the SCBA in a contaminated environment, and a change in mentality of current firefighters who still think breathing smoke is acceptable fire ground behavior