This thirty minute presentation serves as a preview/orientation to the Northern California Training Academy's in-person training: Advanced Analytics for Child Welfare Administration. To learn more about the Academy and upcoming courses, please visit humanservices.ucdavis.edu/Academy

This course will explore the mutual influences of ideas of nature, theories of city design and planning, and practices of urban design, construction, and management. We will investigate how natural processes shape urban landscapes (from the scale of street corner to region) and how to intervene strategically in those processes in order to achieve certain goals. We will examine cases of cities that adapted successfully to natural processes and those that did not. Students will then have the opportunity to research a case of their choice and to present their findings for discussion. The subject may be historical or an an example of contemporary theory and practice. Additional information is also available at Professor Spirn’s class website.

 American Government is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the single-semester American government course. This title includes innovative features designed to enhance student learning, including Insider Perspective features and a Get Connected Module that shows students how they can get engaged in the political process. The book provides an important opportunity for students to learn the core concepts of American government and understand how those concepts apply to their lives and the world around them. American Government includes updated information on the 2016 presidential election.Senior Contributing AuthorsGlen Krutz (Content Lead), University of OklahomaSylvie Waskiewicz, PhD (Lead Editor)

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A growing number of governments around the world are using behavioral science to inform public policy. So-called behavioral public policy leverages the scientific process to suggest how government decisions may or may not effect social change. Though rapidly growing, the discipline is still in its infancy. But opportunities for breaking through exist. Reporting in Behavioural Public Policy, members of the Behavioural Insights Team based in London and New York review those opportunities and the challenges that persist in this arena. As part of the world’s first government unit dedicated to using behavioral science, the team offers a valuable take on why behavioral science works and how it might be made to work for more governments worldwide. Though adapted to life outside of academia, behavioral public policy still faces many familiar challenges. Among them is the replication crisis that has gripped the field of psychology..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This course explores the physical, ecological, technological, political, economic, and cultural implications of big plans and mega-urban landscapes in a global context. It uses local and international case studies to understand the process of making major changes to urban landscape and city fabric, and to regional landscape systems. It includes lectures by leading practitioners. The assignments consider planning and design strategies across multiple scales and time frames.

This course explores how citizen science can support community actions to combat climate change. Participants will learn about framing problems, design ways to gather data, gather some of their own field data, and consider how the results can enable action. Leaks in the natural gas system—a major source of methane emissions, and a powerful contributor to climate change—will be a particular focus. The course was organized by ClimateX and Fossil Free MIT, with support from the National Science Foundation for the methane monitoring equipment. It was offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week January term at MIT.

This course explores how citizen science can support community actions to combat climate change. Participants will learn about framing problems, design ways to gather data, gather some of their own field data, and consider how the results can enable action. Leaks in the natural gas system—a major source of methane emissions, and a powerful contributor to climate change—will be a particular focus.
The course was organized by ClimateX and Fossil Free MIT, with support from the National Science Foundation for the methane monitoring equipment. It was offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week January term at MIT.

This is an advanced seminar that will analyze the effectiveness of development and planning theories from the perspective of practitioners who implement projects and policies based on such theories. The ultimate goal is to create new planning sensibilities, which theorize from practice, not the other way around.

In recent years, the redistribution of risk has created conditions for natural and technological disasters to become more widespread, more difficult to manage, and more discriminatory in their effects. Policy and planning decision-makers frequently focus on the impact that human settlement patterns, land use decisions, and risky technologies can have on vulnerable populations. However, to ensure safety and promote equity, they also must be familiar with the social and political dynamics that are present at each stage of the disaster management cycle. Therefore, this course will provide students with: An understanding of the breadth of factors that give rise to disaster vulnerability; and A foundation for assessing and managing the social and political processes associated with disaster policy and planning.

This course examines the choices and constraints regarding sources and uses of energy by households, firms, and governments through a number of frameworks to describe and explain behavior at various levels of aggregation. Examples include a wide range of countries, scope, settings, and analytical approaches. This course is one of many OCW Energy Courses, and it is a core subject in MIT’s underGraduate / Professional Energy Studies Minor. This Institute-wide program complements the deep expertise obtained in any major with a broad understanding of the interlinked realms of science, technology, and social sciences as they relate to energy and associated environmental challenges.

The course presents an in-depth interdisciplinary perspective of electric power systems, with regulation providing the link among the engineering, economic, legal and environmental viewpoints. Generation dispatch, demand response, optimal network flows, risk allocation, reliability of service, renewable energy sources, ancillary services, tariff design, distributed generation, rural electrification, environmental impacts and strategic sustainability issues will be among the topics addressed under both traditional and competitive regulatory frameworks.

Modern industrial activities - which MIT engineers and scientists play a major role in - have significant environmental and social impacts. Trends towards further industrialization and globalization portend major challenges for society to manage the adverse impacts of our urban and industrial activities. How serious are current environmental and social problems? Why should we care about them? How are governments, corporations, activists, and ordinary citizens responding to these problems.
This course examines environmental and social impacts of industrial society and policy responses. We will explore current trends in industrialization, urbanization, and globalization, analyze the impacts these trends have on human health, environmental sustainability, and equity, and then examine a range of policy options available for responding to current problems. The course will present key trends in both domestic and international contexts.
We will examine four policy problems in particular during the course: (1) regulating industrial pollution; (2) regulating "sweatshops" and the broader impacts of globalization; (3) protecting ecosystems; and (4) protecting urban environments during development. We delve into specific cases of these challenges, including: chemical safety and toxins; computers, e-commerce, and the environment; biotech and society; sweatshops; and food production and consumption. Through these cases, we will explore underlying processes and drivers of environmental degradation. Finally, we will analyze opportunities and barriers to policy responses taken by governments, international institutions, corporations, non-governmental organizations, consumers, and impacted communities.
Objectives and Aims

An understanding of the complexity of environmental and social impacts of industry;
An ability to critically analyze policy responses;
An understanding of the roles of different actors and institutions in environmental and social controversies;
Means to evaluate institutional barriers to environmental and social policies;
New ideas for better integrating industry, environment, and equity;
New strategies for regulation in the global economy;
An understanding about personal responsibilities and roles in environmental and social problems.

This course introduces the tools of philosophical ethics through application to contemporary issues concerning technology. It takes up current debates on topics such as privacy and surveillance, algorithmic bias, the promise and peril of artificial intelligence, automation and the future of work, and threats to democracy in the digital age from the perspective of users, practitioners, and regulatory/governing bodies.

Student teams formulate and complete space/earth/ocean exploration-based design projects with weekly milestones. This course introduces core engineering themes, principles, and modes of thinking, and includes exercises in written and oral communication and team building. Specialized learning modules enable teams to focus on the knowledge required to complete their projects, such as machine elements, electronics, design process, visualization and communication. Examples of projects include surveying a lake for millfoil from a remote controlled aircraft, then sending out robotic harvesters to clear the invasive growth; and exploration to search for the evidence of life on a moon of Jupiter, with scientists participating through teleoperation and supervisory control of robots.

L'évaluation est aujourd'hui un outil incontournable pour améliorer les programmes et les politiques, stimuler l'innovation et guider la prise de décisions fondées sur des données probantes. En tant que domaine en expansion, elle trouve son application dans divers champs disciplinaires et secteurs d'activité. Cet ouvrage s'adresse à toutes les personnes désireuses de comprendre la démarche évaluative, ses enjeux épistémologiques et éthiques, et d'acquérir des compétences en recherche sociale appliquée. Il met en avant les concepts fondamentaux, appuyés par des écrits scientifiques, et propose des applications pratiques à travers des exemples et des exercices. Des études de cas viennent également illustrer chaque composante de la démarche évaluative.

This class is designed to expose you to the cycles of disasters, the roots of emergency planning in the U.S., how to understand and map vulnerabilities, and expose you to the disaster planning in different contexts, including in developing countries.

This seminar examines efforts in developing and advanced nations and regions to create, finance, and regulate infrastructure and energy technologies from a variety of methodological and disciplinary perspectives. It is conducted with intensive in-class discussions and debates.

Microstudies in Public Administration and Public Affairs

Short Description:
A collection of small-scale research projects in matters of public administration and public affairs, carried out by graduate students in the Programs of Public Affairs, University of Utah.

Long Description:
Unbeknownst to them, graduate students enrolled in Dr. David Carter’s Fall 2020 section of Research Design embarked on an experiment in research instruction. Working in groups of two-to-four, they conceived of, designed, and executed public affairs “microstudies”—small-scale research projects focused on tailored questions of public policy and public administration. This book presents the result of this experiment: seven diverse research projects on topics including public transit ridership, telework, and K-12 education modes during the COVID-19 pandemic; reproductive healthcare policy impacts; municipal climate change plans; environmental (in)justice, and; the workforce experiences of those with invisible disabilities. The studies are diverse in epistemological underpinnings and research methods—ranging from critical and interpretivist qualitative investigations to quantitative analysis of secondary data—but are united in their collective attention to research design fidelity and concern for findings with “public” relevance.

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