Fire is a naturally-occurring disruptive ecological force that is an essential part of certain ecosystems, and has historically been a tool used by indigenous fire stewards to maintain the health of the land. In the past century, fire has been severely suppressed throughout many areas of the Western United States as Western colonization and the suppression of native traditional ecological knowledge took place, causing a severe decline in ecosystem health and the accumulation of flammable vegetation, which has more recently contributed towards a frequency of catastrophic, high-intensity wildfires. Current fire management challenges include balancing social and ecological perspectives. In Colorado and other areas of the country, community wildfire protection plans (CWPP) are evolving as a means to involve a variety of community stakeholders in fire management decisions. Using Colorado CWPP boundaries as a social management unit and endangered species ranges as an ecological management unit, I analyzed the spatial overlap of these different factors. Since each CWPP has its own fire management policies, I drew implications from the results for which important factors different CWPPs should consider.

Three main affiliations fall under the umbrella of American Jewry: Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative. Each differs in practice, but remains connected by the basis of their beliefs, ארון הספרים (Ah-rohn ha-sefarim). It is important to note that the term ‘Orthodox’ encompasses a vast and diverse group of Jews that vary in practice. Here, I will discuss two Orthodox subgroups, Hareidi Jews and Modern Orthodox Jews. In this essay, I discuss and explore the topic of Israeli and American conversion to Judaism, the relationship between conversion and Israeli politics, and its effect on Jews around the world. I utilize an array of sources, including political and religious texts, modern interpretation, and my own experience. I begin by briefly describing Jewish roots in the United States and Israel. Next, I rigorously outline American and Israeli Jewish affiliations, followed by a generous explanation of Jewish identity and conversion practices in the United States and in Israel. I end by sharing the effects of conversion practices on the global Jewish community and potential solutions to the problems that arise.

Natural gas development in the Northern Appalachian region has skyrocketed dramatically over the past decade. Correspondingly to the unprecedented growth rate of the natural gas industry, population health risks have shifted dramatically in response to both aerial and water pollution. With energy as a key input in all sectors of Appalachian life, the Pennsylvania region serves as a fascinating case study where clusters of unconventional gas drilling wells intersect varying population densities and governing laws to create different levels of health risks. Studies have found that horizontal hydraulic fracking corresponds to an increased risk of upper respiratory symptoms (URS), low birth weights, premature births, and certain cancers (White et al., 2009). Also, zoning and local planning laws are policy tools local governments can use to directly influence community wellbeing (Diez-Roux, 2011). This study will focus on the spatial relationship between upper respiratory symptoms (URS), a key volatile health benchmark, and the zoning/planning laws that the Oil and Natural Gas Industry must adhere to. Our project seeks to provide a preliminary understanding of the interplay between different natural gas zoning laws and the resulting health implication risks that appear in the Marcellus shale region of Pennsylvania. This is necessary to appropriately regulate and monitor hydraulic fracking. To get a better understanding of this phenomenon, spatial autocorrelation and analysis of variance statistics are integrated to generate a surface-level understanding of areas impacted by natural gas development. To guide the creation of our models, we geographically process the unconventional well locations, upper respiratory symptom health utilization, and zoning law data to develop insights that policymakers can take into consideration. Regionally, natural gas has become an integrated part of the energy sector and a driver of local economic development. The patterns drawn from this assessment provide a novel way of understanding the population health risks posed by different zoning ordinance models.

To understand the role communication and effective management play in the project management field, virtual work was analyzed in two phases. Phase one consisted of gaining familiarity within the field of project management by interviewing three project managers who discussed their field of work, how it has changed due to Covid-19, approaches to communication and virtual team management, and strategies that allow for effective project management. Phase two comprised a simulation in which 8 ASU student volunteers were put into scenarios that required completing and executing a given project. Students gained project experience through the simulation and had an opportunity to reflect on their project experience.

This thesis was written to discuss the implications from the implementation of the Internet, and the long-term impacts that may arise. In this thesis, I go over several benefits and negatives from the internet. I start going over virtual communities in the first section because based on my research, I believe these are the biggest benefits that have arised from the integration of the internet in today's society. I move on to discuss the general benefits, and how the internet satisfies basic human needs, and has influenced our culture to move towards online activities. I move on to talk about the negatives associated with the internet, specifically talking about internet addiction because research surrounding the impacts of the internet is mainly geared towards internet addiction. This is because there is very little research regarding effects of the internet long-term due to how recent the internet is, and because there has not been much incentive to research the long-term impacts. Now because of Covid19, we are going to be seeing more research, and I came to the conclusion that our society is becoming addicted to the internet, and that we do not yet know if this is a bad thing or not. More research needs to be conducted.

There is a theory in management that was taught to me when I first arrived at Arizona State. In my first TGM 101 class, I was told that the world was becoming smaller, and countries were becoming more and more interconnected. Generally speaking, this is true. We have seen unprecedented economic and technological growth on a scale never before seen in human history. Global supply chains, the internet; these new systems are changing the way the world works. Their greatest ambition was, in a sort-of perfect globalist view, the dissolution of borders (or at least, trade barriers) and increased interconnectivity. There was a classic idea that trade would bring new markets and provide opportunities to grow. There is a fundamental flaw with this theory: it fails to acknowledge our past.
We cannot ignore factors of religion, politics, and culture. There is a rise in political populism: Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign, Brexit, a rise in Russian and Chinese nationalism, just to name a few. New global players want to establish themselves as leaders, through technology and territorial growth. The purpose of my research is to analyze China’s growth in the automotive sector, identify trade issues with respect to this industry between the United States and China, and to encourage others to re-evaluate our position in a global, interconnected economy. A global economy that is too dependent on a single, state-funded production hub is a vulnerable one. The main issues are in China’s unfair trade practices, including currency manipulation, Chinese import dumping, poor working conditions, safety standards violations, and nationalized or government owned businesses.

Given the importance of free speech and free expression for the learning and development of American citizens, it is important to analyze how our universities promote these principles within the classroom. In particular, it is crucial we understand how comfortable students feel sharing their views on the toughest and most controversial issues. The rise in free speech incidents over the past 20 years on college campuses has led us to question the state of free speech and free expression on university campuses and, more importantly, within the classroom. Research on this topic has taken a broad approach in attempting to understand student attitudes towards free speech, but there has been little research done on the state of campus expression within the ASU classroom.

This study utilized a modified survey instrument known as the Campus Expression Survey, a tool created by Heterodox Academy to gauge student perceptions of free speech and free expression within classroom environments. With a sample size of 366 ASU students across all four metropolitan campuses, students were asked a series of questions that included how comfortable they would be sharing their views on a controversial political issue as well as what consequences one might expect from other students and faculty members as a result of sharing one's views. Students were also asked about their ideological perceptions of their peers, faculty, and administrators.

Analysis of the responses found four primary conclusions. First, politically-oriented majors are significantly more comfortable expressing their views on both controversial and non-controversial issues. Furthermore, students are found to be significantly more comfortable when they believe other students and faculty members share their political beliefs. Third, students are more hesitant to speak up because of the perceived repercussions from their classmates rather than their professors. Lastly, students that identify as Republican, Independent, conservative, or moderate are far more likely to feel uncomfortable sharing their views than students that identify as Democrat or liberal.

This research highlights how problems that women face at the structural, social, professional and individual level impact their business success, personal growth, and the business economic environment. The first section of the paper provides a global view about gender gaps and challenges. The second section is narrowed down to the city of Baños de Agua Santa in Ecuador where the findings were sought through a grounded theory research. After the analysis of the findings, a business model has been developed which addresses the major challenges and problems that women and the city are currently encountering. The ultimate purpose is to implement the project in the city; it promotes entrepreneurial education, innovation, association, and personal growth. The overall research is a cutting-edge study as it emphasizes that the business success of women entrepreneurs is not solved by one big fixed but more through a holistic solution.

‘Institutional voids’ is a concept used to describe institutional effectiveness in developing economies. Namely as they relate to business environments and the market gaps the produce. Initially meant to describe how developing countries tend to lack effective institutional mechanisms such as adequate contract-enforcement that are commonplace in the West. However, since their introduction to academic literature in 1997, (Khanna & Palepeu, 1997) the scope of the idea has been expanded to describe problems such as a general absence of law enforcement and limited government support for social programs.
The primary question this thesis seeks to resolve is whether institutional voids have any practical use informing managers about business environments in the Global South. The hypothesis is that the concept is now so diffuse that it has become effectively meaningless and that managers in the real world use more sophisticated methods of assessing potential host countries. The telecommunications industry is particularly vulnerable to the institutional capabilities of host governments is because of its reliance on the host government to provide effective capital markets and appropriate legal mechanisms needed for investment in infrastructure and technology. For this reason, this research will focus on what role, if any, Institutional Voids play in corporate decision making.
After performing a comparative case analysis, the researcher found that after examining the cases the outcomes diverged from what the institutional voids hypothesis would have suggested, suggesting that the hypothesis is insufficient at predicting outcomes. Researcher then suggests using statistically proven models from development research to better analyze government capacity across countries.