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Illegal dumping in San Juan County, New Mexico has become a substantial environmental issue.In response, county officials have taken serious steps to reduce instances of illegal dumping.These steps include supplying large garbage cans in various locations and creating an app where citizens can report illegal dumping. Despite these measures, San Juan County saw no not a blereductions in illegal dumping. This study hypothesizes that to reduce the instances of illegal dumping, the risk of being caught needs to increase. This risk can be increased using surveillance cameras paired with AI interfaces. When conducting a cost benefit analysis of such a system, the benefits of reduced illegal dumping, far outweigh the costs of utilizing the system. We estimate that San Juan County could retain a cost savings of approximately $90,800-$192,302 over the course of five years with five cameras.
Keywords: Illegal dumping, economics of crime, environmental protection, economics, cost benefit analysis
Terror Management Theory asserts that, when reminded of one’s own death, people are more likely to engage in behaviors that bolster self-esteem or validate cultural worldview. Few studies have been done that expand this research into the realm of entertainment media, especially how death reminders impact peoples’ attitudes toward specific elements of
entertainment media. One-hundred-thirty participants completed a survey assessing their preferences and attitudes toward character demographics in entertainment media, specifically characters with marginalized identities. We hypothesized that people with liberal views would feel more positively toward diverse characters in entertainment media after death reminders, while people with conservative views would feel more negatively, as these beliefs are generally
aligned with each respective political outlook. Additionally, we hypothesized that people who had marginalized identities would feel more positively toward the inclusion of characters with similarly marginalized identities’ after death reminders, supporting people who are similar to themselves.
Keywords: Terror management theory, diversity and inclusion, representation, entertainment media