Digital Commons Network^™

Healthcare Communication Networks: The Dissemination Of Employee Information For Hospital Security, Jennifer Sumner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare in the United States is a system that, organizationally speaking, is fragmented. Each hospital facility is independently operated and is responsible for the hiring of its own employees. However, corrupt individuals can take advantage of this fragmentation and move from hospital to hospital, gaining employment while hiding previous employment history. Traditionally, hospitals have been reluctant to share information on their previous employees, even with other hospitals, for fear of issues surrounding defamation, negligent hiring, and violation of the employee's privacy. However, growth in healthcare services is expected to rise exponentially in the near future, increasing the demand for employees. …

Perceptions Of Risk And Need In The Classification And Supervision Of Offenders In The Community Corrections Setting: The Role O, Laurie Gould

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Risk has emerged as a defining feature of punishment in the United States. Feeley and Simon (1992) note that contemporary punishment is increasingly moving away from rehabilitation (the old penology) and moving toward the management and control of offenders (the new penology), often though actuarial techniques. While the profusion of risk assessment instruments, now entering their fourth generation, provides some support for the assertion that risk is indeed an important element in corrections, it was previously unknown if the risk model applied to all offenders, particularly female offenders. This dissertation addressed that gap by examining whether the risk model applied …

Determinants Of The Well-Being Of Police Officers In The Turkish National Police, Serdar Yildiz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research evaluates the relationships of time balance, social relations, role conflict, perception of work environment, and fourteen control variables to police officers' well-being in Turkish National Police. Well-being is identified in the management literature as having a strong relationship with performance. Therefore, by finding the factors affecting well-being, this research seeks to identify intervention strategies, which can promote a healthy workforce and police performance. Such interventions, in addition, may improve police performance through improved well-being. Individual police officers were analyzed to better understand the relationship between work environment on family life, social life, and the well-being of the police …

Lidar In Coastal Storm Surge Modeling: Modeling Linear Raised Features, David Coggin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A method for extracting linear raised features from laser scanned altimetry (LiDAR) datasets is presented. The objective is to automate the method so that elements in a coastal storm surge simulation finite element mesh might have their edges aligned along vertical terrain features. Terrain features of interest are those that are high and long enough to form a hydrodynamic impediment while being narrow enough that the features might be straddled and not modeled if element edges are not purposely aligned. These features are commonly raised roadbeds but may occur due to other manmade alterations to the terrain or natural terrain. …

Taming Crowded Visual Scenes, Saad Ali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computer vision algorithms have played a pivotal role in commercial video surveillance systems for a number of years. However, a common weakness among these systems is their inability to handle crowded scenes. In this thesis, we have developed algorithms that overcome some of the challenges encountered in videos of crowded environments such as sporting events, religious festivals, parades, concerts, train stations, airports, and malls. We adopt a top-down approach by first performing a global-level analysis that locates dynamically distinct crowd regions within the video. This knowledge is then employed in the detection of abnormal behaviors and tracking of individual targets …

A Comparative Analysis Of Differences In Resident Satisfaction, Retention, And Cumulative Grade Point Average Between University, Jeffrey Novak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study compared students' perceptions and satisfaction as they related to their place of residence. In addition, this study sought to determine if a difference existed between student retention rates from their first year in college to their second year and one's grade point average with respect to one's place of residence within the collegiate setting. As such, the problem this study examined was the overall impact of where a first-time-in-college student lived within the University of Central Florida housing system and how that living environment impacted students' levels of satisfaction, overall retention rates, and cumulative grade point averages. The …

Determinants Of Human Resources Management Performance On County Efficiencies: A Study Of Florida Counties, Janet Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Performance measurement has been adopted and implemented in the private sector as a tool to measure and improve performance. Performance measurement is relatively new to the public sector, yet counties could benefit from establishing performance measures. This study uses the 67 Florida counties to compare Human Resource performance measures to county efficiency measures through path analysis to assess the contribution compensation and recruitment practices have on county efficiency measures of fiscal, process and technical efficiencies. It includes county contextual variables in the models. The data was collected via professional publications and organizations, survey and personal contacts and entered into a …

Alternative Methods Of Eliciting Individual Willingness To Pay For Travel Time Savings: A Pilot Study, Ashley Lascelles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

How does one estimate the value of an individual's time? One possible way is to estimate how much a person is willing to pay for time savings. The majority of transportation studies have used stated preference surveys to estimate an individual's willingness to pay (WTP) for travel time savings. However, stated preferences approaches are subject to hypothetical bias since they elicit WTP for hypothetical outcomes instead of real outcomes. One study used a revealed preference approach in a natural experiment to elicit WTP for travel time savings but the data was for a non-recurring event, which was not replicable. The …

Examining The Effect Of Organizational Policy Changeon Taser Utilizations, Michael Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of organizational policy changes within the Use-of-Force Continuum on taser usage and officer's perceptions of taser effectiveness. Tasers have been used by police since the 1970s and their use is increasing as the technology has improved. Data reveals that tasers are beneficial for controlling non-compliant suspects while preventing serious injuries and rarely has their use resulted in death. Much of the public controversy surrounding tasers centers on when and how often officers deploy them. Use of force data from 890 police citizen encounters during a two-year period was analyzed to …

Juveniles Adjudicated In Adult Court: The Effects Of Age, Gender, Race, Previous Convictions, And Severity Of Crime On Sentencing Decisions., Ashley Michelle Holbrook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze the influences such as age at current offense, gender, race, previous convictions, and the seriousness of crimes that contributed to the decisions received by juveniles in adult court. This study examined a secondary data set from the United States Department of Justice entitled Juvenile Defendants in Criminal Courts (JDCC): Survey of 40 Counties in the United States, 1998. The cases from these 40 jurisdictions represented all filings during one month in 75 of the most populous counties. The current study found significant differences among race, prior criminal history, current offense severity, and …

Racial Profiling And Policing In North Carolina: Reality Or Rhetoric?, Randal J. Sluss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined police practices of the North Carolina Highway Patrol concerning the occurrence of racial profiling. The sample data consisted of motorists stopped in North Carolina by the Highway Patrol between January 1, 2000 and July 31, 2000 (N = 332, 861). The findings suggested that race was a likely factor in pretextual stops. The results also indicate that racial profiling was occurring more in the western region than the eastern region of North Carolina. Theoretical reasons are offered in support of these findings.

An Economic Framework For Resource Management And Pricing In Wireless Networks With Competitive Service Providers, Shamik Sengupta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A paradigm shift from static spectrum allocation to dynamic spectrum access (DSA) is becoming a reality due to the recent advances in cognitive radio, wide band spectrum sensing, and network aware real--time spectrum access. It is believed that DSA will allow wireless service providers (WSPs) the opportunity to dynamically access spectrum bands as and when they need it. Moreover, due to the presence of multiple WSPs in a region, it is anticipated that dynamic service pricing would be offered that will allow the end-users to move from long-term service contracts to more flexible short-term service models. In this research, we …

An Investigation Into The Predictors Of Adoption And Utilization Of Information-Sharing Networks By Local Law Enforcement In Three States, Joe Conrad Saviak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT A major change in longstanding police organizational behavior is increasingly evident in the recent emergence of computerized information-sharing networks in public safety. From both theoretical and empirical perspectives, a better understanding of the determinants that can explain and predict the rise and growth of this new and significant development in American policing is needed. A highly limited body of empirical studies has endeavored to validate effective predictors of adoption and utilization of electronic information-sharing networks by local law enforcement agencies. Utilizing an integrated theoretical framework largely built upon Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory, sixteen hypotheses were tested through logistic …

Open Or Not? : The Public's Right To Gain Access To Police Records, David Thomas Baxley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Ethical Practices On Performance Outcome Measures In A Select Group Of Nonprofit Organizations In Florida, Stephanie Krick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nonprofit programs deliver key social services to millions of people across the country everyday, however, little is known about the ethical practices of these programs. This research examines the relationship between a nonprofit program's ethical practices and the programs' measurable outcomes, such as changes in knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, behavior, condition, or status of the participant as a result of their involvement with nonprofit programs. An assumption of the study is that the achievement of the measurable outcomes found in a nonprofit program is directly related to the extent that ethical practices are utilized within that program. Ethical practices include …

Visioning The Nation: Classical Images As Allegory During The French Revolution, Kristopher Guy Reed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the latter half of the Eighteenth Century, France experienced a seismic shift in the nature of political culture. The king gave way to the nation at the center of political life as the location of sovereignty transferred to the people. While the French Revolution changed the structure of France's government, it also changed the allegorical representations of the nation. At the Revolution's onset, the monarchy embodied both the state and nation as equated ideas. During the Revolutionary Decade and through the reign of Napoleon different governments experienced the need to reorient these symbols away from the person of the …

The Driving Force Behind Gun Crimes: A Time Series Analysis Of The Impact Of Gun Type And Gun Density, Matthew Graham Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Very few studies have explored the relationship between the availability of certain types of firearms and gun density on both gun aggravated assaults and gun homicides. Nonetheless, research by Koper (2001) discovered that the availability of more lethal types of firearms, not gun density, was directly related to an increase in gun homicide rates for Dallas. However, this study did not take into account certain social and economic variables that may strengthen or weaken the determined relationship. The current study uses data previously analyzed by Koper (2001) and includes social and economic variables that have been linked to lethal violence …

Psychopathy Factors And Degree Of Forcefulness In Sex-Offenders : Implications For Current Risk-Assessment Practices., Luciano Tristan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Based primarily on theory, it is suspected that violent and non-violent sex-offenders can be differentiated by their psychopathic profile, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991). There is some concern that current risk-assessment instruments are not designed according to the characterological composition of violent and non-violent sex-offenders, which is believed to be essential to the instruments' predictive ability. Specifically, it is believed that such instruments are not sufficiently sensitive to the psychopathic characteristics associated with non-violent sex-offenders, as well as not sufficiently specific to the psychopathic characteristics associated with violent sex-offenders. A sample of convicted sex-offenders (N = …

Software Based Deployment Of Encryption Keys In Wireless Sensor Networks., Timothy William Hnat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sensor networks are just in their infancy. Their use will continue to grow as the technology becomes cheaper and more efficient. A current shortcoming with sensor networks is the inability to efficiently provide secure communications. As sensor networks are deployed to monitor and control systems, the security of communications will become a more important. This thesis proposes a new approach to key establishment and renewal through the use of point-to-point keys and software verification and validation to ensure the integrity of two nodes. Sensor networks exist on limited resources, so power efficiency is a concern. The proposed protocol allows for …

How Cumulative Stress Affected The Lived Experience Of Emergency Medical Service Workers After A Horrific Natural Disaster: Implications For Professional Counselors, Scott Tracy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On Monday, August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Louisiana and Alabama coastlines. The storm was recorded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the greatest natural disaster to strike the United States. Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers from around the nation were dispatched to the disaster area to aid in the recovery operation. A small squad of volunteers from a regional disaster response team was dispatched on October 2005 by FEMA to Hurricane Katrina disaster areas. The team, composed of 24 members, worked the disaster area six weeks after the initial impact. This delayed response provided …

Interprofessional Collaboration Between Criminal Justice And Mental Health Practitioners Regarding Mentally Ill Offenders: Perception Of Collaboration, Christopher Sharp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The federal program of deinstitutionalizing psychiatric facilities has resulted in a well documented, ever-increasing mentally ill population in the nation's prisons and jails. Historically, the criminal justice system has maintained a laissez-faire attitude toward the mentally ill, and only became involved with the mentally ill when a crime had been committed. As such, the President's Mental Health and Criminal Justice Consensus Project was developed to explore ways that the two systems could work together to address the growing problem of the mentally ill offender. However, challenges arise because the criminal justice system has typically been viewed as a loosely coupled, …

Simplified Low Copy Number Dna Analysis By Post Pcr Purification, Pamela Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Frequently evidentiary items contain an insufficient quantity of DNA to obtain complete or even partial DNA profiles using standard forensic gentotyping techniques. Here, various methods of post PCR purification were evaluated for their effects on the sensitivity of fluophore-based allelic detection. A method of post PCR purification is described which increases the sensitivity of standard 28 cycle PCR such that low copy number DNA templates (<100 pg DNA) can be analyzed. Full profiles were consistently obtained with as little as 20 pg template DNA without increased cycle number. In mock case type samples with dermal ridge fingerprints, genetic profiles were obtained by amplification with 28 cycles followed by post-PCR purification whereas no profiles were obtained without purification of the PCR product. Allele drop-out, increased stutter, and contamination (allele drop-in) typical of LCN analysis were observed. A single incident of contamination was observed in a reagent blank (not duplicated upon re-amplification) however, no contamination was observed in negative amplification controls.

Sensor-Based Computing Techniques For Real-Time Traffic Evacuation Management, Georgiana Hamza-Lup

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The threat of terrorist incidents is higher than ever before and devastating acts, such as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, have left many concerns about the possibility of future incidents and their potential impact. Unlike some natural disasters that can be anticipated, terrorist attacks are sudden and unexpected. Even if sometimes we do have partial information about a possible attack, it is generally not known exactly where, when, or how an attack will occur. This lack of information posses great challenges on those responsible for security, specifically, on their ability to respond fast, whenever …

While America Slept, Mark Fischer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study briefly examined the terrorist attacks that occurred between the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that occurred on September 11, 2001. Specifically, this study examines the reactions of the public and press to the attacks on the military barracks in Riyadh, the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Zambia and Kenya, and the attack on the U.S.S Cole in Yemen. This study examines the effect public opinion had on the President and Congress and their reactions to the public pressure. The primary purpose of …

Avl And Response Time Reduction: Image And Reality, Charles Russo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Automatic vehicle locator (AVL) systems, utilizing military's global positioning system, may impact response time to law enforcement calls for service. In order to evaluate the impacts of AVL on response time to calls for service at the Altamonte Springs Police Department (ASPD), computer aided dispatch (CAD) data from years 1999 to 2003 were analyzed. The analysis of each of the data sets consisted of an initial sequence chart, an analysis of variance (ANOVA), a means plot and a linear regression. Interviews of ASPD personnel were conducted to understand user perceptions of AVL. Based on the ANOVA results, trends indicate that …

Simulation And Continuance Of Operation For The Use Of Transit (Lynx) To Be Used In Emergency Evacuation Incidents, Noor Elmitiny

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The evacuation planning has become an important issue addressed by many research studies and publications aiming to improve the security of the daily life for our public inside the United States of America. The main objective of this research was to address the growing need for evacuation planning using traffic simulation. With increased interests and awareness in emergency evacuation and first responder access to emergencies in public locations (airports, transit stations, ports or stadiums), the traffic simulation can be helpful in orchestrating the traffic flow during emergencies. Related to this issue, Federal Transit Administration has issued a large number of …

Factors Influencing User-Level Success In Police Informationsharing: An Examination Of Florida's Finder System, Jr Ernest Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An important post-9/11 objective has been to connect law enforcement agencies so they can share information that is routinely collected by police. This low-level information, gathered from sources such as traffic tickets, calls for service, incident reports and field contacts, is not widely shared but might account for as much as 97% of the data held in police records systems. U.S. policy and law assume that access to this information advances crime control and counterterrorism efforts. The scarcity of functioning systems has limited research opportunities to test this assumption or offer guidance to police leaders considering investments in information sharing. …

Police Organizational Performance In The State Of Florida:Confirmatory Analysis Of The Relationship Of The Environment And Design Structure To Performance, Jeffrey Goltz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To date, police organizations have not been rigorously analyzed by organizational scholars and most analysis of these organizations has been captured through a single construct. The purpose of this study is to develop confirmatory police organizational analysis by validating a multi-dimensional conceptual framework that explains the relationships among three constructs: environmental constraints, the design structures of police organizations, and organizational performance indicators. The modeling is deeply rooted in contingency theory, and the influence of isomorphism and institutional theory on the covariance structure model are investigated. One hundred and thirteen local police organizations from the State of Florida are included in …

A Faith-Based Program Evaluation: Moral Development Of Seminary Students At The Louisiana State Penitentiary, Bruce Sabin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct an outcomes-based program evaluation for the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The study included one primary research question, with two subquestions. The primary research question asked to what extent students in the program developed moral judgment consistent with program goals of rehabilitating students and preparing them for effective ministry. The first subquestion asked whether statistically significant differences existed in the moral reasoning of students of different class years. The second subquestion asked whether statistically significant differences existed in the moral reasoning of students of different …

A Study Of The Impact Of The Associate Of Applied Science Degree On The Region Served By Walters State Community College., Michael Stephen Helmick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the impact a community college associate of applied science degree from a rural college in east Tennessee has on the area served by the college. Variables explored in this study included residence location, employment status, employment location, salary range, and advanced degree persistence.

The population for this study included all Summer 1999, Fall 1999, Spring 2000, and Summer 2000 Associate of Applied Science graduates from Walters State Community College. Data for this study were collected via a student survey and information gathered from the student information system database at the college. All hypotheses were analyzed using descriptive …