Browsing by Department "Public Affairs"

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The 21st century classroom : integrating educational technology with 21st century competencies in support of workforce development
(2011-05) Bailie, Christine M.; Treisman, Philip Uri; King, Christopher T.
Information and communication technology demands are increasing across a range of occupations, creating intense global competition for highly-skilled workers. In order to meet the economic needs of the next century, education reform must prioritize student-directed learning that fosters innovation and creativity, enabling the United States to compete internationally in attracting and creating high-quality jobs for its citizens. Our system must strive to create lifelong learners and ensure equity in preparing all students for college- and career-readiness, which increasingly, are considered one in the same. Manor New Technology High School, in Central Texas, has successfully used technology immersion and project-based learning to expand the opportunities for its minority-majority population. Emphasis is placed on teaching students how to learn and in making authentic learning connections with the world through applied, and interdisciplinary coursework. An understanding of how educational technology can be used to create better student outcomes, through investment in teacher peer-to-peer supports to effectively integrate technology into instruction, has led to a sustainable and scalable model of technology immersion at Manor Independent School District. Through its partnerships with local businesses and not-for-profit organizations, Manor New Technology High School is graduating highly skilled and college-bound students, while concurrently promoting sector-based economic development within the high-tech industry. State educational agencies are ill-equipped to meet the challenges of workforce development; therefore, new mechanisms and incentives should be created to encourage and enable school districts to pursue 21st Century competencies (analytic skills, interpersonal skills, ability to execute, information processing, and capacity for change), which are enabled through the “invisible tool” of educational technology in the classroom.
A Legal, political, and economic analysis of Ban the Box hiring practices
(2015-12) Lopez, Patrick J; Angel, Jacqueline Lowe; Deitch, Michele
More than 70 million American adults have some sort of criminal record, and more than 600,000 people are released from incarceration each year. Because many employers harbor concerns regarding workplace safety, productivity, and exposure to liability, individuals who were formerly incarcerated experience great difficulty in securing employment after they are released from jail or prison. The accompanying decrease in wages has negative economic consequences for those individuals, their families, and the community at large. The disproportionate representation of men of color in the justice system implicates civil rights and social justice questions. What’s more, because many employers over-estimate the risk of hiring individuals who were formerly incarcerated, businesses nationwide regularly fail to hire the most qualified candidates for job openings. This report examines legal protections afforded to people released from incarceration and the current efforts of public employers, primarily at the city and county levels, to reform their hiring practices with the goal of employing a greater number of qualified people with criminal records. The report also includes a brief discussion of the role that prominent private employers have played in shaping this policy debate. An analysis of the impact of modifying hiring practices would have on individuals formerly incarcerated, private employers, tax collections, government spending, and quality of life indicators suggests positive but modest effects. These findings indicate that enacting Ban the Box and fair chance hiring practices would be beneficial to people formerly incarcerated and their families with no detrimental effect on the vast majority of public and private employers. Moreover, the community would benefit from the positive effects flowing from an expected decrease in recidivism.
A Polish policy paradox : reasons behind a shift in domestic energy policy
(2021-05-05) Muehlberger, Olivia Mae; Redei, Lorinc
Recently, Poland’s governing party, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS), reassessed its approach to domestic energy policy. Countries around the world have noticed a steepening decline of the coal industry, discussed growing commitments to climate policy and have considered avenues toward renewables technology investments. Poland is no exception, but the pace of change is even more rapid. What has influenced Poland’s governing party, PiS, to change the course of energy policy so quickly? This paper argues that PiS made this shift due to increasing, negative economic factors, shift in public opinion regarding environmental awareness, and increased pressure from the EU. There is strong evidence concluding all three factors played a role in PiS' decision to change domestic energy policy to phase out coal and invest in different technologies, primarily nuclear.
Access to water and sanitation in Atlantic Nicaragua
(2011-05) Gordon, Edmund Wyatt; Hooker, Juliet; Dorn, Edwin
Afro-descendant communities in Central America have recently made important legal strides by enshrining their right to equal treatment under the law and in some cases their ability to claim a distinct group status in national constitutions. The United Nations recently issued a draft resolution declaring that access to water and sanitation is a universal right, furthering the tools available to marginalized afro-descendant peoples in their battles against poverty and underdevelopment. Unfortunately, implementation of these measures has been slow in some areas and non-existent in others. Though there have been some advances, the situation for Afro-descendant communities remains largely unchanged and the availability of the basic requirements of life for Afro-descendant populations remains among the lowest in the region. Increased attention to the political, social, and especially the material situation of Afro-descendant communities is needed in political circles, as well as in the academic community. There is a lack of scholarly work on the material well-being of Afro-descendent populations in Central America. An important initial contribution in this area would be the compilation, and accumulation of statistical information as a primary step in developing the literature. The focus of this study then is on the Atlantic Coast Afro-descendant populations in Nicaragua. This document will outline the current material circumstances of Nicaraguan Afro-descendant communities using data gathered from a variety of sources, identify the causes of inadequate access to water and sanitation, and suggest strategies to improve the situation of these communities. It is my sincere hope that, at the very least, increased attention will be brought to the situation.
Adapting U.S. electronic surveillance laws, policies, and practices to reflect impending technological developments
(2018-05) Manpearl, Eric Scott; Inboden, William, 1972-; Chesney, Robert M., 1971-
Intelligence collection must always evolve to meet technological developments. While the collection programs under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 have produced a great deal of valuable intelligence over the last decade, the U.S. must begin to think about foreseeable technological developments and strategically consider how to conduct signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection in the future. This article identifies four technological trends that could significantly impact the way the U.S. conducts SIGINT. Individuals now have access to sophisticated technologies that formerly only governments seemed capable of creating, and this decentralization of capabilities will likely only increase in the future. The increased prevalence of anonymity and location-spoofing technologies offer benefits to individual users, but may create significant difficulties for the Intelligence Community in determining the location of targets, which is a fundamental aspect of the current legal regime governing SIGINT activities. Also, the U.S.’s “home field” advantage is receding. This trend means that the U.S. will have a smaller share of the world’s communications traffic transit its physical infrastructure, which will reduce the Intelligence Community’s ability to acquire precise and intact communications by serving directives on U.S. companies. The push towards data localization laws may further reduce the U.S.’s home field advantage. Finally, technology companies have begun to innovate in a manner that reduces their capability to respond to lawful government orders. Technology companies are increasingly adopting encryption technologies and may shift data overseas to try to avoid complying with lawful surveillance orders. Decisions by major private sector technology companies have the ability to shift how SIGINT is collected. If a person’s true location becomes increasingly more difficult to ascertain, the law should adapt to the uncertainty of location. In addition to legislative reforms, it may be prudent to create more forward leaning procedures to ease some of the difficulties that could be caused by increased uncertainty of the location of targets. Finally, as Section 702 becomes less useful in the future, the Intelligence Community must improve collection under Executive Order 12333 to ensure that the government continues to acquire vital intelligence to protect U.S. national security interests
Agents of Change: A Study of Nonprofit Advocacy Organizations, PRP 149
(LBJ School of Public Affairs, 2005) Schott, Richard L.
Alternate Care for the Elderly: An Annotated Bibliography, Draft of PRP 22
(LBJ School of Public Affairs, 1976) Rhodes, Lodis; Hamilton, John P.
An analysis of renewable tax incentives and electricity pricing in Texas
(2023-04-21) Rudolph, Mary (Mary Allison); Damien, Paul, 1960-; Olmstead, Sheila M.
Texas has abundant natural resources, making it a good place for renewable energy facilities to build. Unfortunately, property taxes are the highest tax an incoming renewable energy facility have in the state (Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, 2021). To increase renewable energy in the state, Texas tax code Chapter 313 was introduced. Chapter 313 allows school districts the opportunity to offer a 10-year limit, ranging from 10 million dollars to 100 million dollars, on the taxable value of a new, green energy project (Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, 2021). With Chapter 313 ending in 2022, the question is: how tax incentives that increase the number of applications for producing renewable energy in ERCOT relates to wholesale, real-time pricing of electricity in the state? Skew-t regression models were implemented on a large dataset, focusing on the North, Houston, and West regions of the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), since these regions account for 80% of the state's energy consumption. Analysis focused on the hours ending at 3am, 11am, and 4pm, due to ERCOT's time-of-day pricing. Energy demand is generally low at 3am, while it increases during the day, peaking around 4pm to 6pm. The regressions in this analysis are association models, meaning no causality is implied in any of the results. When tax incentives increase the number of active wind and solar facilities there is a reduction in wholesale electricity price ($/MWh), ranging between 2.31% and 6.6% across ERCOT during different hours of the day, this is statistically significant (p<0.0001). And electricity price reductions from solar are much lower than those from wind generation.
An evaluation of lime residuals management alternatives for water utilities
(2018-12-07) Beck, Olivia Roe; Kinney, Kerry A.; Eaton, David J.
In the United States, some utilities provide lime softening to remove hardness from the drinking water. Lime softening generates residuals as part of the water treatment process, which are inert and non-hazardous. This report provides an environmental and economic evaluation of three lime residuals disposal alternatives: a registered disposal site, beneficially reusing the lime residuals in cement manufacturing, and recalcinating the residuals to reduce the utility’s lime dosage. This report also provides an overview of relevant non-economic factors utilities should consider when selecting a residuals management solution. Because the best alternative for any utility will be specific to that utility’s resources, conditions, and values, this report serves as a framework others might use when evaluating their lime residuals management alternatives. This report found the emissions due to recalcination and the emissions reduction from beneficially reusing the lime residuals in cement manufacturing are orders of magnitude larger than the transportation emissions associated with the registered disposal site. Notably, the emissions due to recalcination will likely be offset by a reduction in lime production, but shifting the emissions from the private sector to a utility might be undesirable. Of the three alternatives, recalcination has the highest capital costs due to the need to purchase a rotary kiln. Cement manufacturing has the highest operations and maintenance costs, and recalcination presents a net savings in operations and maintenance costs due to the chemical savings associated with reduced lime usage. Overall, recalcination is the most financially attractive option, but cement manufacturing provides the most value when considering the social cost of carbon dioxide emissions. Utilities should also consider non-economic factors when assessing lime residuals disposal alternatives, including public perception, managerial impacts, regulatory requirements, and the utility’s values and organizational structure, to assess the full impacts of the alternatives and maximize the likelihood of the selected alternative receiving approval by the public and the utility’s governing body
An exploratory analysis of best practices for community resource coordination groups of Texas
(2015-12) Rosales, Lauren Michelle; Springer, David W.; Streeter, Calvin
During the 70th Legislative Session in 1987, the Texas Legislature mandated the establishment of local county-based Community Resource Coordination Groups (CRCGs) to collaborate on the development of individualized service plans and the service provision for children and youth with complex, multi-agency needs. While this was an unfunded mandate for localities, the State’s budget for the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) provided training and technical assistance to local CRCGs from the State CRCG Office. However, the 82nd Texas Legislature reduced HHSC’s budget, which resulted in the defunding of the CRCG program at the state level. During fiscal years 2012 and 2013, county CRCG leaders across Texas were left to sustain local operations, if possible, without state-level support. Although some CRCGs did not remain active, the majority of CRCGs did in the absence of the State Office’s support. Local CRCG leaders across the state of Texas experience difficulty maintaining adequate representation from CRCG partners from the 11 mandated state agencies, as well as limited funding and resources to meet the needs of individuals served by CRCGs. In light of the unfunded mandate and in an effort to identify strategies to enhance the quality of CRCG agency collaboration and service delivery, the purpose of this report is to explore various models for multi-agency collaboration, identify relevant best practices, and discuss potential funding mechanisms for Texas CRCGs. The report presents program and policy recommendations to increase the capacity that the State CRCG Office and local CRCGs have to serve individuals with complex, multi-agency needs.
Analysis of Contemporary Welfare Reform Issues: Sexual Inequities; Regionalism and Fiscal Relief; and the Impact of Undocumented Aliens on the Welfare System, PRP 28, Vol 3
(LBJ School of Public Affairs, 1978) Rhodes, Lodis; Villanueva, Augusta M.
Analysis of Emergency Medical Services in Austin, Texas Volume I: Results, PRP 41
(LBJ School of Public Affairs, 1980) Daskin, Mark S.; Eaton, David J.
Analysis of Emergency Medical Services in Austin, Texas Volume II: Analytical Methods, PRP 41
(LBJ School of Public Affairs, 1980) Daskin, Mark S.; Eaton, David J.
Analysis of the Department of Labor's role in advancing farmworker wages
(2016-05) Anway, Maureen Kathryn; Lentz, Erin; Evans, Angela
This report describes farmworker wages since 1989 and assess what factors affect these wages. Two questions are answered: (1) What factors affect farmworker wage? (2) And what steps can the Department of Labor take to ensure equitable wages? The research found that several factors affect farmworker wages including gender, race, citizenship, legal exemptions, and the historical normalization of low wages paid on farms. The report concludes with recommendations for the Department of Labor on further research and policy solutions.
An analysis of the effectiveness of the foreign corrupt practices act in combating corruption
(2014-05) Margeson, Grant Nicholas; Busby, Joshua W.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) has a dual purpose of protecting United States businesses (and importantly, their investors) and combating corruption abroad. The latter purpose is the focus of this study. Reduced corruption has been linked to improving human rights conditions and supporting development projects; thus, if the FCPA reduces corruption, it can positively impact other United States' concerns. Given this importance, this study seeks to determine whether the FCPA reduces corruption in targeted countries. FCPA enforcement actions brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 1998 to 2012 were compiled and allocated by country where the underlying bribery took place. The top ten countries from which the most FCPA enforcement actions arose were selected for individual case study. The level of corruption in each country was approximated with the World Bank's Control of Corruption Indicator (CCI) for the relevant time period of 1998 to 2012. The number of FCPA enforcement actions are compared to this CCI score to determine if the FCPA reduced corruption in those countries relative to countries without as many FCPA enforcement actions. This comparison, both individually and collectively, is not able to demonstrate that FCPA enforcement reduced levels of corruption in those countries that gave rise to the most enforcement actions. Thus, although the FCPA may be an important tool in the toolbox of international regulations the United States uses in combatting corruption, as well as promoting human rights and international development, it alone does not appear to significantly reduce corruption abroad.
Analyzing the motivations of U.S. development aid to Africa
(2013-05) Akram Malik, Izzah; Weaver, Catherine, 1971-
Research literature on foreign assistance suggests that the U.S. provides aid in order to serve both its own strategic interests as well as the development needs of aid recipient countries. Maintaining a focus on Africa, this report uses newly available data for official development assistance and attempts to verify whether prevailing hypotheses regarding the motivations behind U.S. aid giving still hold true. Specifically, the report analyzes whether aid giving patterns align with 1) the development needs of recipient countries as understood through the lens of internationally established priorities, or 2) with good political and economic policies within recipient countries vis-à-vis democratic institutions and open markets, or 3) with U.S. national strategic interests (be they political, military, or economic interests). A statistical analysis of U.S. Official Development Assistance (ODA) to 53 countries in Africa over the period of 1970 to 2010 was carried out for this purpose. The results suggest that, when it comes to aid that is specifically addressed towards development projects in Africa, the strategic considerations and political priorities of the U.S. are just as important, if not more important, than the development needs or economic performance of recipient countries. Political allies and countries that democratize receive more aid from the U.S., ceteris paribus. In addition, it was found that more aid is given to countries with larger populations - a result that contradicts earlier literature on aid's motivations. The report is organized as follows. I begin in Section 1 by providing a general overview of U.S. foreign aid. In Section 2, I detail why Africa is a significant continent for such an analysis of U.S. aid, and outline some of the trends in aid to Africa. The third section summarizes some of the most important existing hypotheses about why the U.S. gives development aid. Section 4 describes the data and methodology used for this study and provides a discussion of the results obtained from the statistical analysis. Finally, in Section 6, I conclude by offering broader policy implications and sketching out avenues for future research.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Migratory Policy in Mexico, PRP 216
(LBJ School of Public Affairs, 2020) Leutert, Stephanie
On December 1, 2018, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assumed office and promised to change Mexico’s migratory policy. Initially, López Obrador championed a humanitarian approach to migration, placing migrant rights defenders in key policy positions and directing INM to issue an unprecedented number of humanitarian visas. However, this approach did not last. By June 2019, amid intense U.S. pressure, the López Obrador administration shifted its migratory strategy to an enforcement-based approach. As a result, Mexico has increased its number of apprehensions, detentions, and deportations. This report will detail López Obrador’s migratory policy and its consequences during his administration’s first year in office. This report’s first chapter focuses on Central Americans’ decisions to migrate to Mexico and the United States. It covers the factors that historically led people to leave their homes, including civil wars and natural disasters, which set in motion today’s migration patterns. It also looks at the current factors driving migration, such as gang and gender-based violence, political instability, and a lack of economic opportunity. The report’s second chapter outlines Mexico’s legal framework for migration, which guides the López Obrador administration’s response to Central American migration. It also provides an overview of each Mexican federal agency involved in migratory policy. This report’s third chapter covers the López Obrador administration’s migratory policies, starting with the initial push toward a more humanitarian focused policy. It also explores the López Obrador administration’s Central American development programs and the mounting challenges for Mexico’s underfunded refugee resettlement agency. Finally, the chapter also outlines the administration’s shift to an enforcement strategy and the National Guard’s deployment to the southern border. The fourth chapter chronicles these migratory policies’ effects. It covers the policies’ effects for Mexico’s foreign relations, state and local level governments, civil society organizations, Mexican citizens, and Central American migrants transiting through the country. In particular it details how these policies have shifted migrants’ transit routes, increased crimes against migrants, and ongoing xenophobic attitudes in Mexico. This report concludes with a series of recommendations for improving Mexico’s migratory policies. These include: 1) putting Mexico’s Ministry of the Interior back in control of the country’s migratory policy; 2) strengthening INM’s commitment to human rights through improved training and better infrastructure; 3); increasing the number of legal channels for Central Americans to work in Mexico; 4) expanding funding for Mexico’s refugee resettlement agency; 5) streamlining Central American development programs; and 6) reducing the National Guard’s role in migration enforcement.
Appendix to “Costs and Projected Effect of a Federally Qualified Health Center-Based Mailed Colorectal Cancer Screening Program in Texas”
(2024-01-23) Olmstead, Todd; Spencer, Jennifer C.; Kluz, Nicole; Zhan, F. Benjamin; Shokar, Navkiran K.; Pignone, Michael
Applications of innovative finance in impact investing for the EdTech incubator ecosystem development in South Africa
(2020-06-24) Li, Lin Rui; Springer, David W.; Sialm, Clemens
Many current challenges exist for the EdTech sector in South Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. These include limited financial support; lacking education policy and the government support to create and enforce good policy; basic water, sanitization, electricity, and connectivity infrastructure; and sufficient data to understand where challenges truly are in the education ecosystem. “Innovative finance” is a way that can be used to tackle the inadequacies of the current system by bringing together impact investors who can fund risky early stage EdTech solutions solving for local problems, and incubators who can develop these EdTech solutions to navigate policy barriers while collecting data on the development process of the ecosystem. Re-designing what investment instruments look like for EdTech incubators can realign incentives for more and better EdTech solutions deployed in South Africa, and across sub-Saharan Africa
Arctic resource development : a public affairs approach
(2014-05) Shalin, Ariel Samantha; Dorn, Edwin; Spence, David B.
The Alaskan Arctic region is estimated to hold the largest undiscovered Arctic oil deposits---about 30 billion barrels. Realizing this immense potential, however, will not be easy, as firms face technical, political and regulatory barriers in their quest to explore and develop this frontier. To overcome these challenges, energy companies should adopt a comprehensive education and engagement strategy. This document formulates key elements of a strategy to help alleviate concerns of the stakeholders who have the power to thwart development. At a time of uncertainty over offshore oil and gas development in the U.S. Arctic, a combined education and engagement campaign promises to help interested parties protect and expand their license to operate in the region.