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Progress In Chaos: Cash Transfers And Women Economic Empowerment Amidst Climate Change And Violent Conflicts In West Africa, Jennifer Obado Joel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Do cash transfers shift gender norms of economic relations within households and communities during crises? This study explores the effect of social protection programs like cash transfers on women's economic empowerment in contexts where climate change and violent conflicts co-occur. Cash transfers have become a policy of choice for governments and development agencies seeking to alleviate poverty, address economic and political grievances, and build individual and community resilience to climate change. Due to the recent popularity of cash transfers, there needs to be more scholarship on its effect on women's intra-household economic agency and voice in communities. Therefore, this study …

Citizen Trust And Governments' Response To Disasters, Berenice Belizaire

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study is to determine if there is a difference in citizen trust in Orange County government regarding the handling of disaster. Various dimensions like competence, benevolence, and integrity can determine a citizen's trust within its government. Disasters, such as man-made and natural, are described as a disruption to society through widespread damage to people and material. Counties experience man-made and natural disasters. Depending on its response to the incidents, counties can determine if the citizens view the county as a trustworthy and responsible government body. This study explored if there were differences in citizen trust …

How Adolescents In The Child Welfare System Seek Support For Their Sexual Risk Experiences Online, Taylor L. Moraguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Youth in the foster care system experience unique and challenging situations online, such as higher risks of inappropriate messaging (e.g., sexting) and unwanted solicitations from strangers. As a vulnerable group of adolescents, foster youth often use online platforms as a resource to express themselves and seek support over their sexual experiences online. This thesis analyzes how foster youth seek support online for their sexual risk experiences, including sexual abuse, sexting, and sexuality. To understand how adolescents (ages 13-17) in the child welfare system seek support for these experiences, we conducted a thematic analysis of 541 individual posts made by 121 …

Public Transportation In Central Florida: Setting The Tone For Public Rail Use, Zoe Johnson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this research is to analyze the use of the public train usage in Central Florida to determine the feasibility of high-speed rail usage in the future. This study will be split into parts and expanded upon. The first part will observe rider perspective, values, and issues regarding rail transportation as is available in Central Florida. In further installations, which will be conducted separately from this thesis, there will be an analysis of the providers of rail transportation. It is hypothesized that there will be a moderate demand for rail transportation used by the public.

Original: The main …

Using Simulation For Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training, Julie Kent

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Law enforcement needs simulation practice tailored to de-escalation skills. Law enforcement officers spend most of their training time practicing how to use force appropriately and very little time practicing how to avoid using force. There is little research into the best ways for law enforcement to reduce their use of force and the best ways to provide training to individuals to coach them to avoid using force. There are many training programs promoting de-escalation techniques, but there is little research into the effectiveness of these programs beyond the ability of individuals to perform the skills that are trained. There is …

The Direct And Indirect Effects Of Strategic Displacement On Territorial Control In Conventional Civil War, Jennifer Hudson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Which strategies contribute towards a belligerent's ability to shift territorial control in its favor more quickly than others? This dissertation advances a theory of territorial control dynamics in conventional civil war that places the civilian population at the center of the analysis. Existing scholarship explaining territorial control in conventional civil war has emphasized the role of relative military capabilities, direct military confrontations aimed at territorial conquest, and the existence of established zones of control, with civilians generally residing in areas clearly dominated by one party or another, not in contested areas. As such, theory holds that this makes the civilian …

Impacts Of Covid-19 On Health Promotion Within Higher Education: Exploring Organizational Resilience, Maureen Hawkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The close proximity of students learning, living, socializing and working on university and college campuses presents a unique setting to understand organization responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This concurrent, mixed methods qualitative study explored how one institution of higher education demonstrated resilience and how its health promotion activities pivoted and adjusted to reduce virus transmission and maintain safety while continuing to promote learning and education. Based on the organizational resilience conceptualization developed by Duchek (2020), data collection methods combined individual interviews with university leaders, self-interview and reflection, and a review of organization documents a connection between health promotion, organization resilience, …

Defunding Law Enforcement: Fire Departments' Perspective On Implementing The National Fire Protection Association 3000 Standard When Preparing For An Active Shooter Mass Casualty Incident, Anthony Rios

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study applied the policy window theory through punctuated equilibrium and resource dependency theories to analyze the perception of nationwide fire service leaders and the impact that defunding law enforcement can have on the fire service in managing an active shooter mass casualty incident (ASMCI). As police reform remains the center of discussion throughout the nation, many community leaders have explored ways to re-appropriate police funding. This comes at a time when the paradigm of law enforcement and Fire/Emergency Medical Services (EMS) interdependency has become the standard response to ASMCIs as defined by the National Fire Protection Association 3000 Standard …

Exploring The Predictors Of And The Relationship Between Evidence Cultures And Flood Risk Management Performance, Jenna Tyler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Over the past two decades, public organizations have been encouraged and, at times, required to incorporate evidence in their decision-making processes. Evidence broadly refers to data and or knowledge that is gathered, analyzed, and used to generate a conclusion. Despite arguments and the intrinsic assumption that using evidence to inform decisions will improve organizational performance, there is limited empirical research to support this assertion. The proposed study addresses this gap in research and others in the context of local flood risk management. Specifically, using primary data gathered from local floodplain managers and secondary data from the US Census and the …

Decentralization And Violence, Alexander Norat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

How does the political environment that a group operates affect whether they engage in terrorism? My research is concerned with how political opportunities, which I conceptualize in terms of political decentralization, affect how groups engage with the state, and whether they will engage in terrorism. Previous research has indicated that decentralization can reduce violence but can pose stability problems in other countries. I hypothesize that states with higher levels of decentralization will have lower levels of violence. I believe this works by allowing minority groups more access to power. Because they have access to political power, there is less incentive …

Struggling For Security: The Complexity Of Nato Burden-Sharing, Tad Schnaufer Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Since the founding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), US administrations have criticized their European allies for not meeting security burden-sharing goals. This study aims to gain insight into what factors motivate alliance members to contribute to the burden-sharing objectives they have agreed to achieve. From a US perspective, the need for its European allies to reach these goals will allow the United States to shift resources to more pressing strategic challenges like the rise of China. Informed by Mancur Olson's theory of collective action and Glenn Snyder's concept of the security dilemma in alliances, this project tests the …

Financial Sustainability Of Florida Cities: Comparative, Retrospective Modeling For Prospective Municipal Financial Health, Terry Henley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The Great Recession produced rising debt, deficits, and exposed vulnerabilities for municipalities in a globalist economy. The two-month COVID recession in 2020 accelerated these burdens; a lagging downturn recently added pressures of reduced economic activity, record inflation, and rising costs in 2022. This dissertation studies how local financial sustainability (FS) and financial condition (FC) approaches can work in concert towards a set of indicators with internal and external categorization to explain municipal financial health (MFH). Unassigned fund balance plus select formal stabilizations measure MFH, are conceptually supported in having retrospective (FC) and prospective (FS) value as an intergenerational resource and …

The Need To Enact Federal, Environmental-Friendly Incentives To Facilitate Infrastructure Growth Of Electric Automobiles, Vamsikrishna Karanam

Honors Undergraduate Theses

As newer technological advancements are developed and introduced, a question regarding their adoption into society has become known. If such advancements in technology mutually benefit the people using them as well as the environment we live in, should there not be provisions in place to incentivize the creation and purchase of these technological advancements.

Electric vehicles are an advancement of technology that is currently available for widespread adoption in the transportation sector of our country. However, questions as to why EVs should be adopted will be asked by critics. That is the question this thesis attempts to answer. Our global …