Understanding The Decision-Making Process of Local Level Emergency Managers and Future Impacts of Social Data

During the course of a natural disaster, affected populations turn to different avenues to attempt to communicate their needs and locations while emergency managers are faced with the task of making quick decisions to aid in the response effort. The decisions that emergency managers face are affected by factors such as available resources, responder safety, and source of information. In this research, we interview emergency managers about the 2009 North American Ice Storm and a flooding event in late April of 2017 to understand the decisions made and the factors that affected these decisions. Using these interviews, a list of interview questions using the Critical Decision Method were created that could be used to more deeply understand the decisions and decision-making process of a local-level emergency manager during a disaster response event. Additionally, animations were created to illustrate the comparative effectiveness of disaster response routing plans developed with and without the consideration of social data based on data inspired by a real event

What Countries Currently Offer Government Sponsored Paid Family Leave (PFL) Programs and What Do They Look Like?

[Excerpt] PFL has not been clearly defined and often includes maternity and paternity time off. While Paid Time Off allotments are generally utilized for less severe employee illness and vacation time, and Maternity Leave covers additional time off for women during the last term of pregnancy and early birth, we define PFL as full or partial paid time off covering post-birth bonding time for male and female employees, and time spent caring for severely ill family members. Listed as an upcoming employee benefit trend of 2022, and gradually becoming a part of mandatory state government disability insurance in the US, PFL is a growing business reality global companies need to consider

What Indicators Exist that Lead to Employees Feeling Included?

[Excerpt] The concept of inclusion is something that most people are familiar with. However, the term often lacks the specificity needed to address it analytically. So, before discussing how to build and measure an inclusive workplace, we will lay out a brief foundation around the what and why of inclusion. To define what, we have chosen to base our study around the following dimensions of inclusion: ●Satisfaction of individual needs within a group ●Feelings of belongingness and uniqueness As for why, studies show that inclusion improves creativity and attracts talent. These factors can be tied back to business success through lowered human capital costs and increased competitive advantage due to innovation and workforce excellence

Can You Provide the Current Trends in HR on People Analytics?

[Excerpt] People analytics is an increasingly hot topic and many companies are working to gain insight through this emerging field. Business leaders are asking how analytics can help drive better decision-making in order to improve business results. Among these questions, turnover prediction and succession planning are two key areas that HR professionals identify as high value. Since there isn’t a one-size- fits-all solution to these questions, we compiled our most noteworthy insights and put forward several steps that an organization should follow in order to create its own internal models

VALUING CHARACTERISTICS OF TRANSFERABLE DEER HUNTING PERMITS IN KANSAS

The novel use of transferable deer hunting permits in Kansas has altered property rights to a traditionally government rationed good, providing the institutional framework and incentives for competitive market activity. This paper investigates how attributes of the permit itself, spatial determinants, and the socioeconomic characteristics of the consumer-hunter influence market price. Findings provide valuable insight into factors that are important to Kansas interest groups, its economy, and to structuring transferable permits for wildlife programs.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A Study of Approximated Solutions of Heat Conduction Problems Using Approximated Eigenfunctions

Let L be the length of a rod and u(x,t) be its temperature for [0,L]X[0,infinity) and assume the initial and boundary temperatures of the rod are f(x) and 0 respectively. In this paper we explain and demostrate a method for estimating the eigenfucntions appearing in the solution to the corresponding heat conduction problem

Developing a New Paintball Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana

This research presents the utility of a Site Suitability Analysis to help determine the viability of a business venture in a particular location. Specifically, we present the results of a case study that focuses on the area immediately around New Orleans, Louisiana as providing a sufficient number of customers to warrant a new and sustainable paintball facility. Site Suitability Analysis provides a variety of statistical and analytical methods of analysis, which is commonly used in market research. This research presents the results of some of these methods, as applied to commonly-used datasets, and concludes that Site Suitability Analysis can provide valuable insight to consumer trends and potential spending patterns in a given area

Locating Emergency Shelters While Incorporating Spatial Factors

In the immediate response phase of a natural disaster, local governments and nonprofit agencies often establish shelters for affected populations. Decisions regarding at which locations to open shelters are made ad hoc based on available building inventory, and may result in high travel impedance to reach shelters and congestion. This thesis presents a shelter location optimization model based on the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method. The 2SFCA method creates a shelter accessibility score for each areal unit (e.g., census block group) which represents the ability for persons in the unit to access shelter capacity with low travel impedance, relative to persons in other units competing for the same shelter capacity. A distance decay function within the 2SFCA method models the propensity of a person to visit a shelter based on the distance to the shelter. The optimization model recommends locations at which to open shelters so as to optimize some function of the 2SFCA accessibility scores. Three single-objective models and one bi-objective model are considered. Across all areal units, the alternative models: (i) maximize the sum of accessibility scores; (ii) minimize the disparity in accessibility scores; (iii) maximize the minimum accessibility score; and (iv) maximize the sum of all scores and minimize disparity. These models are demonstrated via a case study based on Hurricane Florence, which struck North Carolina in 2018. The optimization model outputs are compared with actual shelter openings during Hurricane Florence in four North Carolina cities, and also with outputs of classic p-Median and p-Center facility location models. Case study results demonstrate that, across the range of parameter values included in a sensitivity analysis, the bi-objective model achieves the best tradeoff between efficient and equitable shelter locations, while also achieving a higher minimum accessibility score than either of the two single objective models on their own

A Quarter in Lynden’s ESL 40: Process and Product

As is indicated in the title, the hard copy of my Senior Project breaks down into two parts: process and product. The \u27process\u27 is represented by my Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) Practicum Journal. This journal reflects the thoughts and feelings that I experienced during my first longterm exposure to an ESL setting. The Journal is by no means formal; instead of deciding on a particular format for my entries, I let them form themselves. I chose to approach the journal in this way so that my reflections could be seen in the clearest light, without the interference of rigid structures or expectations. I wanted to wait until near the end of the experience to crystallize my experiences into something more formal. The \u27product of my experiences in Lynden this quarter is my Food and Shopping Unit. Whereas the Journal is more passive, the Unit shows how I can specifically implement the things that I have learned about language and language teaching over the course of the quarter. Though I did plan and teach some lessons during the quarter, the Unit plan enabled me to approach teaching a beginning ESL class from a more holistic perspective. I had to plan the lesson according the the overall needs of the class throughout the quarter; the activities build upon each other and attempt to address all aspects of language fluency. Through the Unit I had the chance to impose a more formal notion of ESL teaching upon myself