This article serves to provide research and an analysis of the historical and present-day implications of inefficiencies within Albania’s supply chain and economic systems. Several challenges have resulted in a stagnant business environment within the nation despite ample natural resources, an ideal geographic location, and generally acceptable existing infrastructure. There are three major sectors in the Albanian economy that need substantial improvement, including global trade positioning, transport infrastructure, and the tourism sector. Focusing on strategic improvement within these areas will allow the nation to develop value-driving opportunities and should be investigated further to promote industrial growth and improve Albania’s global economic position.

Buildings and monuments serve as a communal declaration of identity and as the physical landscape upon which memories are inscribed. Through its ability to concrete identity and capacity to reconstruct the narratives of the past, public spaces and places have the structure of memory and serve as a fundamental aspect of cultural memory from which groups derive their identities. Beyond the social function of communal spaces, as a spatial claim architecture is a political expression of the territorial imperatives of the state. Consequently, both the political and social significance of physical spaces/places lead to the direct targeting of buildings, landscapes, and recognizable monuments in the processes of war.
As evidenced by the 1991-5 War in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, culturally-relevant and internationally recognizable symbols of culture, like Stari Most in Bosnia and the Old Town of Dubrovnik, were destroyed with the purpose of manipulating the physical memories of the communities, thereby directly affecting the cultural identities of the communities residing there. As it stands, scholarship on the subject of memory in post-war areas has failed to consider the effects of space/place on memory, consequently failing to provide a viable theoretical framework to explain the interplay of space/place, memory, and identity. This paper is an effort to connect the current scholarship on memory, its function and effects on identity, with the realities of the physical environment in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia and their function of imposed confrontation, and thus recollection, of the War. The purpose of my thesis is to put city landscapes (private, uncrated memories) and museum narratives (public, curated memories) in communication to demonstrate how influential a factor space/place is in determining collective memory in a Balkan context. Cultural memory is at once incredibly vulnerable to reconstruction and massively determinate of group identity, thereby necessitating a deeper understanding of its determinant factors and the present uses of such factors.

Thousands of human lives are lost every day due to chronic diseases, some more preventable than others. For years, the gold standard for diagnosing and monitoring these diseases has been through traditional methods such as individualized doctor-patient clinical evaluations, usually involving laboratory tests. These methods, though effective, can be costly, time-consuming, and fail to encompass an overarching perspective of the health profile of the larger population. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has successfully been employed for decades as a population-level data source informing on the consumption of licit and illicit substance use. It also is showing promise for its use as a community-wide diagnostic tool for broader public health measurements. This literature review constitutes a theoretical evaluation of the potential use of WBE for monitoring the top two deadly diseases in the United States; cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. Literature-reported metabolites indicative of these diseases were evaluated to determine if they were capable of being identified and monitored in wastewater. Potential analytes include cardiac-specific troponin, α-fenotroin, and inositol. Results obtained within suggest WBE could be used as a viable and economical tool to track and monitor the top deadly diseases in human populations. This methodology could be implemented in tandem with current practices in order to provide a more holistic understanding of prevalence and risk for CVD and cancer.

The use of nuclear weapons as a tool for international politics has been studied and debated on since their invention. With such a powerful threat of world annihilation at hand, it is possible that states will act in certain ways to avoid this outcome. Contrarily, scholars of international relations have also noted that some states have attempted to manipulate the risk of a nuclear attack in order to win against an adversary in a conflict. The Cold War between the superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union shows clear examples of the intentional use of nuclear bombs to sway an opponent’s decision-making in a crisis. The believability of the threat is often determined by arsenal size, past actions, and the increasing manipulation of risk. This paper is divided into four main sections providing an introduction to deterrence theory and the following case studies of the Berlin Blockade, the Korean War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. These were chosen due to their importance in shaping how relations between the US and USSR carried on for the remainder of the Cold War. Additionally, these crises show the varied responses by different US Presidents along with changing Soviet leaders. The goal of this paper is to explore the impact of nuclear weapons in the successful ending of these crises for the United States when combined with the different political, economic, and social factors at the time. While nuclear weapons do affect the outcome for each of the crises, the other factors cannot be ignored in explaining the actions of each state to achieve their desired conclusion.

This thesis examines the usefulness of cryptocurrency and provides a research-backed conclusion on the future of this digital currency. This starts with a look into the history of fiat moneys: how they were originally created, how they were implemented in past governments, and the resulting interactions between the currency and its users. The countries that were chosen for exploration demonstrate a few common trends throughout their execution of fiat currency. It is through the relationships dating all the way back to the Ancient Romans to the recent problems in Venezuela that provide a well-rounded scope of the issues. However, there have also been a few instances in which fiat currency has been successfully integrated, which furthers the advocacy towards an eventual implementation of government-regulated cryptocurrency.
This leads into an examination on the history of one cryptocurrency in particular, Bitcoin. This analysis includes the effects of the cryptomarket and the impact that it has had on various economies. Additionally, the blockchain is explored by first defining what it is and then its potential and current uses not only in the cryptomarket industry, but others as well. This includes a focus on the real estate market as well as banking. Using knowledge gained about the history of fiat money, cryptocurrencies, and the usefulness of the blockchain, this thesis compares the history of fiat currencies with the current implementation of cryptocurrency. Furthermore, the pros and cons of the possible implementation of cryptocurrency helps to provide an outlook on whether it can eventually be government regulated.

Despite the reactionary Habsburg regime under Emperor Franz Joseph, forces within the government and leading intelligentsia proposed various reforms to solve the issue of ethnic discrimination across the Austro-Hungarian Empire, attempting to resolve the tensions that the Ausgleich of 1867 had further aggravated by the inclusion of Hungarians as a privileged class to the detriment of the remaining minorities. This paper will look at the Austro-Marxist and Federalist reformers and the ways in which their concepts, if implemented, could have saved the Empire from its downfall in 1918. Ultimately, neither the Austro-Marxist concept of a centralized system of universal rights across the borders of all nations within the existing empire nor the Federalist idea of a national territorial sovereignty allowing for a certain degree of individual autonomy managed to be adopted by the Allied victors of World War I. The myopic focus of the ‘Big Four’ on the German Empire blinded them to the intricate economic and political balance needed for peace in the Balkans. While France, Britain, and Italy exhibited a general lack of concern to the outcome in the Balkans, Wilson’s ‘self-determination’ doctrine is most responsible for creating the unsustainable, irredentist-driven states that the reform-minded intellectuals—Austro-Marxist or Federalist—most had sought to avoid. In addition to a discussion of the reform movements in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this paper will explore the reforms’ strong similarities to the present struggles within the European Union, particularly the divide between Euro-federalists and Euro-sceptics. The crisis situation and reform efforts of the Austrian Empire from 1867 to 1914 reveal significant policy lessons applicable to the European Union as it navigates the current crossroads between further federal integration or a return to medieval disintegration.

Within the hotel industry, customers come first. Their satisfaction drives revenue and drives the industry forward. With the updates in technology, new Consumer Relationship Management (CRM) databases are being implemented to aggregate customer reviews into a single platform that is analyzed and creates policies to help increase overall satisfaction. Hotels are ranked within all customer review sites such as Trip Advisor and Yelp and the higher the scores and the rank, the more these review sites promote these establishments, and the more customers book at this hotel. Therefore, customer reviews directly affect the revenue of a hotel. A hotel with low scores and low customer satisfaction will not entice guests to book. This new era of technology and customer driven revenue is the motivator behind Hilton’s creation of the SALT database. This Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking database helps improve loyalty within the Hilton brands.

This paper examines the overall use of CRM systems and then examines the property level satisfaction metrics that can be found on SALT. The two metrics that the individual property could have the most effect on with the lowest budget were determined to be Digital Key and Digital Check-In, which make up the Digital Platform. This Digital Platform is accessed through the Hilton Honors app, which is a loyalty program created by Hilton. There are four tiers of Honors Members within the loyalty program: Blue, Silver, Gold, and Diamond. Blue members make up most of the membership base in general, however, at the local property examined, 60% of all guests are Gold and Diamond. Therefore, the research done within this paper focuses on improving overall Digital Platform satisfaction of Gold and Diamond members who are key business travelers that bring in revenue to the specific property examine.

The research collected for this project was done through observations of guests from the perspective of a Front Desk Agent, interviews with guests, analysis of SALT scores and guest reviews, and firsthand experiences of using Digital Key at local competitors of the local property. Through these analyses, the main problems that were compiled were internet connectivity, confusing property layout, Digital Key allotment and activation, technological issues with the Digital Key and hardware at the property, Digital Check-In and room selection, and negative reception of Hilton Honors Members. The solutions that were suggested focus on excellent customer service, increased training of Front Desk Agents regarding Digital Platform and Hilton Honors recognition, adding wi-fi routers throughout the hotel, adding Hilton Honors stickers to entrances, adding digital reader maps, and having the Director of Front Office Operations ensure that they are updating the Digital Platform frequently with rooms for members to choose.

Global citizenship is a term that is popularly used in today's society, especially in educational institutions. I believe that many of us are not properly educated about its history and context. As a result, the term is widely misused. My intense interest in people around the world and how we are all connected in some form led me to explore the underlying meaning of the term "Global Citizen". This topic is relevant as it will create a clearer insight for students into the generically used term "Global Citizen" and will help people understand the appropriate use of the term. I incorporated research gathered from Arizona State University partners while I was studying abroad at King's College London, examples of how Arizona State University promotes global citizenship, and my personal experience of evolving into a global citizen. I have researched what the term means to international professionals, organizations, and myself, and the benefits and obstacles of being a "Global Citizen".

Civilian publics at large internalize death and killing in wartime as a given; after all, what is war if not fighting and dying? There exist popularized notions of “rules of war,” as put by a 2014 BBC ethics piece that accepted the notion “that soldiers must be prepared to put their own lives at risk in order to limit civilian casualties.” Here there is no denial that combatants kill and die in war. Yet in another sense, the public sanitizes the permanent reality of death and killing—it constructs careful euphemisms and erects psychological barriers that allow the perpetuation of violence without emotionally confronting the brutal reality of the battlefield. In spite of such concentrated cultural efforts at reconceptualization of death and killing, however, the soldiers and combatants who actually engage in this behavior irrevocably come face-to-face with the reality of death and killing in wartime. It is the “[i]ntimate acts of killing in war,” such as those “committed by historical subjects imbued with language, emotion, and desire” that necessarily challenge and threaten culturally-constructed sterilized preconceptions of deadly violence; still, as Joanna Bourke argues, “[k]illing in wartime is inseparable from wider social and cultural concerns.”

To this end, a war that involves not only the physical intimacy of killing but also mortal struggles between cultures and ideologies arguably complicates the extent to and manner by which individual combatants engage in such behavior. No war fulfills these criteria so cleanly as World War II—it was a conflict that cost more people their lives than any war before, and as a global conflict, it brought vastly differing perspectives of death and killing to the battlefield. World War II represented not simply a struggle for national-ideological survival (though that it clearly was), but more importantly a struggle for the retention of the self through identity.