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Abstract: Countries around the world strive to improve the well-being of their people; one of the means to achieve that is to ensure a safe, resilient, and efficient transportation network. Bhutan, a developing country, in southeast Asia, shares the common goal of poverty reduction and economic growth through the provision of reliable and resilient road infrastructure. Roads are a predominant mode of transport, and given its complex geological settings, road infrastructures are not only costly to build but expensive to maintain. With the limited resources available, the key challenge has been to effectively manage the existing assets. The road network in Bhutan is continuously affected by geohazards and particularly landslides. The Department of Roads (DoR) of Bhutan has recorded over 300 roadblocks caused by landslides alone in 2020; likewise, a portion of the department’s fund is spent on clearing those roadblocks every year. Though the department has a Road Asset Management System in place, a comprehensive Geotechnical Asset Management System, focusing solely on the management of the geotechnical assets can help in balancing hazard and risk when prioritizing slopes for funding. The review of the existing asset management literature emphasizes the importance of geotechnical assets in a transportation network, assists in developing the taxonomy of geotechnical assets, and reinforces the criteria established for the risk assessment of the geotechnical assets. This research takes the state of practice for geotechnical asset management, landslide risk assessment frameworks, and current landslide monitoring practices; to develop a geotechnical asset management framework oriented at optimizing the use of limited available resources for risk mitigation. This framework is developed for Bhutan and includes steps to proactively and strategically prioritize geotechnical assets supported by risk assessment, to identify relevant and cost-effective treatment options to prolong the life of assets and hence eventually shift from reacting to failures to proactively managing them. The framework ensures that it is implementable right away, without having to incur huge initial investments. The applicability of the framework is supported by test implementation to a number of assets in a regional office of Bhutan and three slope assets in Western Canada. Importantly, the framework can be used as a basis for other regions with similar hazard profiles and limited resources for risk mitigation. Geotechnical Asset Management (GAM) is the process of maintaining, inspecting, and planning for the repair or replacement of geotechnical assets such as slopes, embankments, subgrades, and retaining walls. It involves assessing the current condition of the assets, identifying potential risks or hazards, and developing plans to address those risks in order to ensure the continued safety and functionality of the asset over time. A major portion of this research discusses one of the important components of the GAMS, which is to track and monitor the performance of geotechnical assets. Geotechnical asset monitoring using conventional methods as well as remote sensing technology can help identify changes in the condition of the asset, such as surface displacement or settlement or even provide an early warning system for potential problems. The review of the existing literature on the application of remote sensing to geohazards emphasizes the methodology, applicability, and pros and cons of some of the emerging remote sensing technologies used in Canada and around the world. This discussion has been reinforced with case examples of three slope assets in Western Canada.

Diversity is critical for advancing innovation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, a common contributor to the lack of diversity in the United States workforce is the low STEM retention rates in higher education. More specifically, a closer look at the retention rates shows that first-generation college students report higher dropout rates compared to their continuing-generation peers. This should raise concern since this student group is increasing substantially in the population at universities and is primarily composed of students of color who often have multiple intersecting identities that are often minoritized in STEM. Previous research has identified factors that have contributed to the inequities experienced by first-generation students; however, few have focused on identifying and leveraging the strengths and assets of these students to improve their experiences in STEM. To better support students with different intersectional identities in STEM, our project utilized a survey based on an asset-based framework called community cultural wealth to explore the forms of capital utilized by first-generation students. In addition, we examined different sources of capital through interactions with college-graduated siblings and high school best friends who have college-educated parents. The results revealed that first-generation students reported a higher measurement of multi-linguistic, resistance, and social capital than their continuing-generation peers. The findings of our study add to conversations about how institutions can leverage their students’ cultural wealth and identities to support a more inclusive classroom experience, thus cultivating a more equitable pipeline in STEM education and careers.

With the current business model and increasing complexity of hardware designs, third-party Intellectual Properties (IPs) are prevalently incorporated into first-party designs. However, the use of third-party IPs increases security concerns related to hardware Trojans inserted by attackers. A core threat posed by Hardware Trojans is the difficulty in detecting such malicious insertions/alternations in order to prevent the damage. This thesis work provides major improvements on a soft IP analysis methodology and tool known as the Structural Checking tool, which analyzes Register-Transfer Level (RTL) soft IPs for determining their functionalities and screening for hardware Trojans. This is done by breaking down primary ports and internal signals into assigned assets that are spread out into six characteristics. Using characteristics based on the external primary ports and the internal signals connected to them, reassignment of assets can be used to match against entries using coarse-grained-to-coarse-grained matching against a subset of known-IPs to classify an unknown soft IP. After determining the soft IP’s functionality, asset reassignment occurs within the Golden Reference Library (GRL), a library consisting of known Trojan-free and Trojan-infested entries. A fine-grained-to-fine-grained asset reassignment is used against the GRL to contain the most up-to-date assets based on the unknown soft IP, where the matching process is used to determine if the soft IP is Trojan-free or Trojan-infested. With the increasing size of the GRL, the need to decrease computational resources while also maintaining high accuracy between unknown soft IPs and GRL entries is vital.

The rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of a structure has multiple benefits, includingaesthetics, social attraction, the embodied energy of reuse, and has the potential to catalyzerefreshed community identity, historical memory, and cultural meaning. This thesis, focusing onthe adaptive reuse of the Lincoln Grant School in Covington, Kentucky, and the rehabilitation ofadjacent Randolph Park, will demonstrate all of these potentials. Located in the LickingRiverside historic district, the building stands as a symbol of the segregation period, when it wasthe “black only” high school in the area. This historic significance can be both preserved andamplified through an adaptive use such as the Family Scholar House (affordable housing forsingle parents getting a post-secondary education), a rehabilitated theater providing a place forthe community to gather for arts, meetings and entertainment. It will provide the basis for thebuilding to be rehabilitated for a multi-purpose adaptive reuse incorporating community interestssuch as gathering, meeting, and performance, while preserving its heritage. The rehabilitatedpark’s new amenities will include a phased community and recreation center, improved ballfields, playground, skate park and picnic areas, and a connection to the Licking RiversideGreenway. It will revitalize the park with amenities and memories, telling the story of the schooland park’s rich history and providing gathering, recreational, athletic and educationalopportunities. This thesis research will highlight 5 ways that issues and processes common in restoringand reusing a community asset can be maximized, including economic and social value, strongaesthetics, refreshed meanings, iconic character, and catalytic impact on the surrounding area.This thesis design explores the potential to revive and celebrate historic assets, while reintroducing the arts and community history, meaning, and identity as a viable economic driverfor the area and contribute to a sustainable community

This data-driven journalism project tackles an age-old problem that seems common in virtually every government around the world: governmental officials hiding assets. By applying the theory of social responsibility, this paper uses data-journalism methods to trace the full financial assets of Armenian members of parliament and eventually making those assets and income declarations available via an interactive website to the Armenian public as well as other journalists throughout the country and region.

Due to the increasing complexity of hardware designs, third-party hardware Intellectual Property (IP) blocks are often incorporated in order to alleviate the burden on hardware designers. However, the prevalence use of third-party IPs has raised security concerns such as Trojans inserted by attackers. Hardware Trojans in these soft IPs are extremely difficult to detect through functional testing and no single detection methodology has been able to completely address this issue. Based on a Register-Transfer Level (RTL) and gate-level soft IP analysis method named Structural Checking, this dissertation presents a hardware Trojan detection methodology and tool by detailing the implementation of a Golden Reference Library for matching an unknown IP to a functionally similar Golden Reference. The matching result is quantified in percentages so that two different IPs with similar functions have a high percentage match. A match of the unknown IP to a whitelisted IP advances it to be identified with a known functionality while a match to a blacklisted IP causes it to be detected with Trojan. Examples are given on how this methodology can successfully identify hardware Trojans inserted in unknown third-party IPs. In addition to soft IPs analysis, Structural Checking provides data flow tracking capability to help users discover vulnerable nodes of the soft IPs. Structural Checking is implemented with a graphical user interface, so it does not take users much time to use the tool.

ABC International Inc. is a leading contractor along significant mining and offshore operations. It owns a huge count of equipment, which is more than 32,000, and the count is increasing with expanding business. Equipment managers are currently required to find and append all the details of equipment at different locations manually. This takes lot of time and effort. Also the accuracy of the data is also a challenge in some situations. This should be handled through an automated system called Optimization of asset allocation where an equipment inventory report is generated which includes all equipment attributes. This can be achieved through SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services).

Managing large collections of assets created in today's CG productions is no easy task. This thesis examines basic production hierarchies and identifies problems that arise without proper workflow and asset control. The possibility of hundreds of assets being created in several workflows each week creates the potential for extraordinary time waste and user error without a system to track and manage the files being produced. It is becoming increasingly necessary to utilize methods during production that enforce naming and storage standards to prevent catastrophic data loss. This thesis presents an implementation of a customized database used to track all of the assets created and used within a production. This thesis also describes a package of tools and modules developed to handle asset creation during production, communicate with the database about asset information, and streamline the transfer of assets between workflows in a safe and consistent manner. The tools and database are constantly used by students in the Digital Production Arts program and have drastically reduced the amount of time spent on repetitive tasks when moving assets through the production hierarchy.

Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) were instituted to provide low-income workers with similar institutional support for saving funds and acquiring assets as already exists for those with higher earnings (e.g. IRAs, 401(k)s, mortgage tax interest deductions). The federally-funded program was intended to usher in a new approach towards amelioration of poverty: one that transcends subsistence and fosters asset-building. This dissertation contributes to IDA research a comparative examination of immigrant and U.S. born participants in a San Francisco based IDA program. Immigrants have been part of the program from its inception, but this will be the first study that will explicitly consider this program's utility for this group. In doing so, it contributes to studies of immigrant integration programs. In order to better understand the impact of IDAs regardless of nativity, the first article in this dissertation examines perceived changes in intensity of saving by participants who exited the program for whom a pre-IDA saving intensity could be determined (n=23). Unlike IDAs originally theorized, implemented IDAs are a time-limited program. The question of whether mere exposure to an institutional structure that facilitates saving (through matching, training, and rules encouraging deposits and discouraging withdrawals) is sufficient to create ongoing intensification of saving beyond program exit has not yet been studied. I find that exposure does intensify saving for many, but those who reported not saving before the program tended to revert to not saving after the program. This suggests that ongoing institutional structure could better promote saving.The second article explores the question of how participants use the IDA program towards the asset goal of housing, particularly in a context of high housing prices (n=12). This study is the first to explore IDAs as part of a larger context of asset-building programs and personal strategies. I find that an additional benefit of IDAs is in the linking with other agents, e.g. through its mandate that participants finish HUD-certified training meant to diminish risk for those making their first time home purchase. IDA funding is insufficient to fund home purchase in any significant way. Funding from other down-payment assistance programs appears largely missing. Successful home buyers tended to make use of unusual opportunities to intensely save money towards their purchase.The final chapter addresses differences between immigrant and U.S. born IDA participants. The final sample participating in this study (N=54) was evenly divided between the two groups. Immigrants were interviewed in Spanish, Cantonese, or English. Screening procedures and in-depth interviews were used to determine if nativity matters for likelihood of asset acquisition, changes in saving intensity, and perceptions of the program. No differences between the groups were found, with the exception of language barriers mentioned by immigrants.

This paper overviews several foundational concepts and questions regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR). Its primary contribution is a statistical examination into key correlations between CSR and Newsweek’s 2011 Green Rankings using forensic-based financial and accounting measures. It somewhat replicates a previous study and further introduces new variables in looking at CSR from a financial perspective. Interestingly, this paper is interdisciplinary in nature in that it synthesizes previous studies’ conceptions of CSR through finance, consumer behavior, branding, and ethics — a mix which has so far been widely neglected — in an attempt to better define and measure corporate social responsibility.

Using historic return inputs in a stylized computational financial market, this paper explores how participant outcomes are affected by the degree to which their asset allocation behavior respondsto new market information. Findings support the efficient market hypothesis in that no alternate trading rule shows consistent improved outcomes relative to a full market exposure buy-and-holdstrategy over the given time period. The only exception occurs briefly at the bottom of the 2008 financial crisis. Market participants that drastically alter market exposure in response to volatilereturns, however, do outperform those who alter their exposure less drastically. Furthermore, the trading rules used here appear to offer a tradeoff between risk, return volatility and wealthdevelopment that is in-part at odds with efficient market hypothesis.

In response to the Fiscal Year 2006 National Defense Authorization Act, the US Navy conducted an evaluation of alternative propulsion methods for surface combatants and amphibious warfare ships. The study looked at current and future propulsion technology and propulsion alternatives for these three sizes of warships. In their analysis they developed 23 ship concepts, only 7 of which were variants of medium size surface combatants (MSC,21,000-26,000 MT). The report to Congress was based on a cost analysis and operational effectiveness analysis of these variants. The conclusions drawn were only based on the ship variants they developed and not on a representative sample of the feasible, non-dominated designs in the design space. This thesis revisits the Alternative Propulsion Study results for a MSC, which were constrained by the inability of the Navy's design tools to adequately search the full design space. This thesis will also assess automated methods to improve the APS approach, and examine a range of power generation alternatives using realistic operational profiles and requirements to develop a notional medium surface combatant (CGXBMD). It is essential to base conclusions on the non-dominated design space, and this new approach will use a multi-objective optimization to find non-dominated designs in the specified design space and use new visualization tools to assess the characteristics of these designs. This automated approach and new tools are evaluated in the context of the revisited study.

This thesis describes the design optimization of two different types of vessels. They are LHA(R), a replacement for the US Navy amphibious assault ship and DDG51, a destroyer class vessel. The overall measure of effectiveness (OMOE) and the lead ship acquisition cost (LCA) are considered to be the objective functions. The evaluation of feasibility of the designs and various ship parameter calculations are performed using the US Navy ship design evaluation software ASSET. ASSET is integrated with the design optimization software DARWIN to obtain results representing the best designs over a range of LCA. Model Center software is used to integrate the processes ASSET and Darwin. The results generated will provide the owner with the best designs possible (designs with high OMOE) over a range of LCA. This thesis is mainly of academic interest. The results generated could help the owners to look at various design options available for the amount of money they are willing to spend.

The management of real estate assets in organizations whose primary area of activity is not related to property has only recently become the focus of academic research. This thesis presents the results of a mail survey of 457 property owning organizations in New Zealand in which corporate real estate asset management (CREAM) issues were examined. The results were compared with the only previous study of CREAM in New Zealand, that of Teoh in 1992. In addition, a process was developed whereby multiple factors of CREAM performance identified in previous research by Veale and Pittman and Parker were combined using factor analysis into a single measure of CREAM performance. This performance measure was then used to test for associations between CREAM performance and corporate stage of development as identified by Joroff. M, Louargand, Lambert.S, and Becker.F. Finally, associations between a range of organizational factors and CREAM performance were examined. The findings include details on a wide range of current CREAM practices in a cross section of New Zealand organizations. These generally reflect prior research from the UK and USA. There has been progress since the research of Teoh, particularly in respect of property management information systems and management attitude towards corporate real estate. A relationship between CREAM performance and corporate real estate stage of development was found, as were associations between a number of organizational factors and high levels of CREAM performance. These included; organizational and portfolio size, qualifications of management, strategic planning, organizational structure, communication, advanced management information systems and decision-making techniques and having an outsourcing strategy.

This paper takes a different approach by developing a model based on the boom and bust cycle of Japan during the mid to late 1980's, using currently accepted theory. In section II, I review the general characteristics of asset bubbles to familiarize the reader and offer some historical examples. Section III offers a review of many of the theoretical papers on asset bubbles, as well as empirical papers, which involve similar phenomena in order to gain some insight in building the model. In section IV, I build a theoretical model. Section V begins preliminary testing to examine this theory and reviews the results. Finally, in section VI, I provide concluding remarks and discuss areas that I plan to explore in future research.