Digital Commons Network^™

Do College Students’ Perceptions Of The Police Differ By Education Level And Major?, Lashanti Wilson Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about the impact that higher education has on students’ perceptions of the police, especially with respect to justice education. This study examines perceptions of the police among college students at Illinois State University. It questions how differences in education levels, major, race, age, and gender affect student perceptions about the police. A 55-question online survey was administered to 451 students at Illinois State University.

Results revealed that those with more education did not have significantly different contact with police officers than those with less education, however, they were significantly more likely to report negative attitudes towards the …

Refugees And Media Framing During The Refugee Crisis, Alyssa Carol Davidson

Theses and Dissertations

At the end of 2018, more than 68.5 million people were displaced from their homes. Of these displaced persons, 22.5 million of these people were forced to leave their homes and find safety in another country. These people are known globally as refugees. Many of these refugees in recent years have fled to Western countries in Europe and North America. This immigration and the general subject of refugees and their integration into their host countries have recently been a large subject for media. Many of these refugees came from countries and cultures that may carry stigmatic backgrounds including Middle Eastern …

Access To Mental Health Facilities And Homicidal Circumstances, Shalini Hathurusinghe

Theses and Dissertations

This paper considers the possible links between access to mental health facilities, victim-perpetrator relationships, and crimes that occur in conjunction to homicide.

Drone Base Station Trajectory Management For Optimal Scheduling In Lte-Based Sparse Delay-Sensitive M2m Networks, El Sayed Zeinab

Theses and Dissertations

Providing connectivity in areas out of reach of the cellular infrastructure is a very active area of research. This connectivity is particularly needed in case of the deployment of machine type communication devices (MTCDs) for critical purposes such as homeland security. In such applications, MTCDs are deployed in areas that are hard to reach using regular communications infrastructure while the collected data is timely critical. Drone-supported communications constitute a new trend in complementing the reach of the terrestrial communication infrastructure. In this study, drones are used as base stations to provide real-time communication services to gather critical data out of …

Assessment Of Observed Weather Impacts On Small Unmanned Aircraft (Ua) Operations, Nicole Stevens

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aircraft (UA) are being used more frequently and for an increased variety of purposes, from military use to medical deliveries, disaster and building infrastructure imagery, and agriculture. While the interest in and usage of UA grows, little is known about how often UA flight operations are impacted by different meteorological phenomenon. In this study, a 30-year climatology of surface stations and sounding observations are used to determine the likelihood of UA operations without weather-driven restrictions or grounding at five locations. The locations of Bismarck, ND, Riverton, WY, Oakland, CA, Albuquerque, NM, and Miami, FL are selected to represent different …

Sparc, A Matricellular Protein, In A Cell Culture Model Of Heavy Metal Cadmium Induced Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma, Emily Rae Biggane

Theses and Dissertations

Bladder cancer, the most common urinary tract malignancy, has environmental toxicant exposure as one of its biggest risk factors. This lab examines potential biomarkers employing an in vitro model of urothelial carcinoma using a normal bladder cell line and its malignantly transformed cells transformed counterpart, transformed by exposure to long term, low doses of cadmium (Cd2+). Initial microarray analysis determined that Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine (SPARC) was the most repressed gene across all transformed cell lines compared to its normal counterpart (Garrett et al., 2014, Larson et al., 2010).

SPARC, an extracellular matrix glycoprotein, functions by regulating …

A Multiple Case-Study Approach To Examine Police Officers Perceptions On Narcan® Policies, Casey Gnann

Theses and Dissertations

In October 2017, President Trump officially declared the opioid epidemic to be a public health emergency. Reports from the CDC indicate that over 140 Americans die per day as a result of an opioid overdose (NPR, 2017). This statistic alone highlights the tragic effects of the current opioid climate. To date, an abundance of research has been conducted on opioid addicts, family members, doctors approach to addiction, etc. However, there is a gap in the research regarding law enforcement officers and their ever-changing role in the fight against opioids. As the opioid epidemic has continued to worsen, many law enforcement …

A Review Of Government Financial Reporting Research Post-Gasb 34 And Investigations Of Gasb 54 Fund Balances, Brent L. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation consists of three studies. My first study builds a literature review of state and local general-purpose government financial reporting research (including bond and financial condition research) after Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 34’s issuance in 1999. The research referenced shows that reporting information after GASB 34 has, and will, continue to shape governmental financial reporting studies.

My second study examines both the rearrangement of governmental fund balance amounts after GASB Statement No. 54 and the factors associated with updated fund balance categories. My pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions show that pre-standard “unreserved” fund balances had …

Towards Developing A Goal-Driven Data Integration Framework For Counter-Terrorism Analytics, Dapeng Liu

Theses and Dissertations

Terrorist attacks can cause massive casualties and severe property damage, resulting in terrorism crises surging across the world; accordingly, counter-terrorism analytics that take advantage of big data have been attracting increasing attention. The knowledge and clues essential for analyzing terrorist activities are often spread across heterogeneous data sources, which calls for an effective data integration solution. In this study, employing the goal definition template in the Goal-Question-Metric approach, we design and implement an automated goal-driven data integration framework for counter-terrorism analytics. The proposed design elicits and ontologizes an input user goal of counter-terrorism analytics; recognizes goal-relevant datasets; and addresses semantic …

Down By Law: A Demographic And Geographic Analysis Of Those Killed By Police, Scott W. Murrah

Theses and Dissertations

After the rebellion over the killing of Michael Brown, the US Justice Department reported that over-policing for the sake of monetary extraction was taking place in Ferguson, MO, with non-White and people in poverty being disproportionately targeted at the hands of the police. And while it has been shown to be present within the Ferguson community, this extraction and targeting by police is not a geographically isolated occurrence. Based on previous research, a racialized, economic-based system of oppression goes hand-in-hand with policing. But how do the qualities of these geographies affect the prominence and location of police violence on a …

Undergraduate Students' Attitudes About The Collection, Use, And Privacy Of Search Data In Academic Libraries, Laura W. Gariepy

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand undergraduate students’ attitudes about search data privacy in academic libraries and their preferences for how librarians should handle information about what students search for, borrow, and download. This is an important area of study due to the increasingly data-driven nature of evaluation, accountability, and improvement in higher education, along with libraries’ professional commitment to privacy, which has historically limited the amount of data collected about student use. Using a qualitative approach through the lens of interpretive description, I used the constant comparative method of data collection and analysis to conduct semi-structured interviews …

The News Through Facebook: Discovering The Prevalence Of Rape Myths In User Comments, Leigh Anne Clay

Theses and Dissertations

This study attempted to ascertain the prevalence value of rape myths located within social media user comments on the website Facebook. Research using existing Internet-based comments may provide insight into current attitudes and beliefs surrounding sexual violence. Using a quantitative content analysis, this study gauged the prevalence of rape myths in user comments by referencing a preset code list created with rape myths from the Acceptance of Modern Myths About Sexual Aggression scale (AMMSA) and the Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA) and by locating emergent codes in the dataset.

Examining Stigma Associated With Firefighters Seeking Social Support After Experiencing A Traumatic Event, John Richard Tormos

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to examine stigma associated with firefighters seeking social support after experiencing a traumatic event. This quantitative study employed a survey approach with a cross-sectional design. The researcher self-selected 26 active career firefighters from a medium-sized fire department located in the southeastern United States to participate in the study. Firefighters responded to an array of emergency incidents and were repeatedly exposed to traumatic events. The Secondary Trauma Exposure Scale was employed to answer the first research question: What are the most frequent types of traumatic events that firefighters have experienced? The findings revealed that all of …

The Deaf & Law Enforcement Listening Though Deaf Eyes: A Grounded Theory Approach, John L. Garner

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the perceived and practical schism between deaf society and the police when the deaf attempt to obtain police services. The paper challenges current police culture and operating procedures, which tend to marginalize deaf society and largely ignore the mandates contained in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This qualitative research project is focused upon perceived law enforcement practices and culture through a multi-layered study of police customs, law, policy, and standard operating procedures as experienced, perceived, and reported by deaf individuals.

A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to examine the way law enforcement is perceived by …

An Analysis Of Selected Clusters Of Fires In Florida (1996 - 2018), Thomas Riley Hall

Theses and Dissertations

Hidden within the day-to-day routine responses of fire departments are possible multiple fires set by individuals in a small area with an unusual frequency. These fires may be the initial announcement of an emerging serial offender who is declaring a wound, an intolerable life situation, or is triggered by unknown events. This study sought to predict incendiary fires within a known cluster by using observable variables, both prior to and after the cluster event. This was done to further our understanding of the characteristics of clusters of intentionally lit fires. This was accomplished by examining the Florida Fire Information Reports …

The Effect Of Training And Institutional Support On Title Ix Coordinators' Responses To Sexual Violence On College Campuses, Mercedes M. Pino

Theses and Dissertations

One out of five women in college are victims of sexual assault. The uptick in cases being brought before the US Department of Education for the mishandling of sexual assault cases on college campuses raises a question about the adequacy of the training and support being received by Title IX Coordinators. This study was designed to determine whether Title IX Coordinators are receiving adequate support and sufficient training necessary to adhere to the federal mandates regarding sexual assault on campus, as well as how the Title IX Coordinators’ years of experience relate to the challenges they face.

Using SurveyMonkey, a …

Violent Offenders And Assaults On Staff Members, Lisa Gentry Long

Theses and Dissertations

Violent Offenders and Assaults on Staff Members. Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Fischler College of Education, School of Criminal Justice Department. Descriptors: Violence, violent offenders, violent inmates, corrections, prisons, assaults, correction officers, staff members.

Prison facilities are an integral part of the criminal justice system. Prisons are meant to provide punishment, deterrence and rehabilitation for inmates that are serving time. Prisons across the country are understaffed due to many reasons. It is important for staff members to be trained on how to keep themselves and inmates safe when they are behind the walls of these facilities. Staff members are in positions …

Testament To Home: Using The Cultural Landscape Report For Conserving Historic House Grounds, Sylvia Rody Mclaurin

Theses and Dissertations

The cultural landscape report (CLR) is a document commissioned by historic sites for the purpose of confirming an historic landscape’s significance and integrity, assessing its defining characteristics, evaluating the condition of its features, and recommending present and future landscape treatments. In this study of six publicly owned historic home grounds in the Deep South, the contents and format of the respective CLR’s are reviewed and site directors interviewed to determine their use of the CLR for their sites. While CLR’s are valuable especially to support bids for funding and other appropriations, directors indicate needs not readily met by their respective …

Examining The Stigma Of Sex Offending In The Media, The Community, And The Prison, Kristen Lynn Stives

Theses and Dissertations

The overarching goal of the current work was to explore sanctions experienced by sex offenders prior to incarceration, during incarceration, and after their release using three separate but interrelated studies. The first study analyzed how the media framed sex offenders, and how this compared to the media’s portrayal of murderers. The study used a content analysis of newspaper articles published in 2007, the year after the Adam Walsh Safety and Protection Act was passed, and 2017. Open coding (the identification of categories and concepts) and axial coding (the process of relating categories and concepts) strategies were used. Findings showed that …

Sex Offender Perceptions: Investigating Social Supports As Buffers To The Consequences Of Megan's Law, Melissa D. Colson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify supports and whether supports perceived as helpful lessen negative experiences with job difficulty, housing difficulty, vigilantism, and isolation. Additionally, registrants' perceptions of hopelessness and sex offender registration and community notification laws (SORN) as a public safety measure were examined to determine whether more helpful supports positively impacted their attitudes. Another aspect of this study explored differences with males and females since females have rarely been examined. Narratives were compiled to further describe offender experiences and perceptions. This study used a survey to collect data on sex offenders, including offender demographics and victim …

A Case Study Of A Technical College's Faculty Perceptions Regarding The Value Of Professional Development Activities, Kermelle D. Hensley

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to investigate technical college faculty members' perceptions of the professional development. Most of the literature was focused on four-year higher educational institutions. For the purposes of this qualitative case study, the researcher addressed the limited amount in the literature about professional development in two-year technical colleges. The researcher investigated faculty perceptions concerning the usefulness of professional development in a two-year higher education institution through survey research design with 8 participants. The main themes were 1) technical college faculty desired professional development; 2) technical college faculty needed for follow up from the professional …

Exploratory Analysis Of Accuracy Monitoring Techniques In Vehicle Detection Systems For Intelligent Transportation Systems Applications And Maintenance, Manasi Sanjay Palod

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of transportation management is to ensure the mobility of people and goods, in a reliable and efficient manner. Operation and maintenance of transportation infrastructure is key to accomplish their objectives. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications rely on massive detection networks that collectively demand significant maintenance resources. Resource constraints force transportation agencies to look for innovative ways to optimize their operational and maintenance costs while serving their users at intended performance levels. The system inputs come from vehicle detection system (VDS), acting as field data collection devices, enabling traffic monitoring and management through response to specific conditions. This research …

Local Disaster Planning And Preparedness Coordination In The Rio Grande Valley, Cristina L. Madrid

Theses and Dissertations

Hurricanes and flooding events yield complex social and environmental consequences to coastal communities. Disaster preparedness and recovery is a multidisciplinary and multi-jurisdictional effort that requires coordination and planning across many actors.

Existing research recognizes the link between social capital and a community’s ability to respond to and ‘bounce back’ to normalcy after such hazardous events. However, few studies have examined the institutional dimension of social capital among communities noted for high levels of poverty situated in disaster-prone areas along the U.S. Mexico border. We aim to fill this gap by using survey data collected from emergency management practitioners in the …

Holistic Approach For Characterizing The Performance Of Wireless Sensor Networks, Amar Yusof Jaffar

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers are actively investigating wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with respect to node design, architecture, networking protocols, and processing algorithms. However, few researchers consider the impact of deployments on the performance of a system. As a result, an appropriate deployment simulator that estimates the performance of WSNs concerning several deployment variables is needed. This research presents a holistic deployment framework that assists decision makers in making optimum WSN deployment choices by considering the terrain of their region of interest and type of deployment. This framework employs empirical propagation models to predict the performance of the deployment in terms of connectivity, coverage, …

Measuring Misconduct: A Theoretically Integrated Examination Of The Correlates Of Inmate Misconduct In A State Prison System, Jacob M. Laan

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the differential influence of imported inmate characteristics, the deprivations of the prison environment, and situational determinants on inmate misconduct. Using a systematic, iterative model-building process, this study also investigates and provides support for alternative measurement and operationalization strategies for several key constructs used throughout misconduct literature. Finally, this study employs both single equation models and hierarchical generalized linear models to demonstrate not only the variable influence of certain predictors, but also the importance of context.

Surviving The Arab Uprisings: Political Regimes And State Responses, Hood Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

The Arab uprisings threatened authoritarian states across the Arab world with unprecedented levels of mobilization. The nature of these challenges, the states’ responses and the outcomes have been, however, markedly uneven. In accounting for this divergence, while some approaches have examined the structural preconditions for transitions, others have emphasized the impact of interactions between different political actors. This thesis draws on both approaches through examining how the state’s institutional structure shapes the opportunities and constraints of states in employing different authoritarian strategies. It examines why and how different regimes have used different authoritarian strategies to survive and stabilize. In responding …

Development And Verification Of A Finite Element Model Of A Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial System For Airborne Collision Severity Evaluation, Kalyan Raj Kota

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) pose a potential threat to general aviation/commercial aircraft as UASs are increasingly incorporated into the National Airspace System. This overarching research is aimed at addressing the severity of a UAS mid-air collision with another aircraft. This study is primarily focused on the development of a finite element (FE) model of a ~4 lb fixed-wing UAS (FW-UAS) which will be used to evaluate the severity of small UAS mid-air collisions to manned aircraft. A series of impact tests were performed at the University of Dayton Research Institute - Impact Physics Lab, to study the impact behavior of …

Environmental Conditions In San Martin Lake: Effects Of Eutrophication In An Estuary Associated With The Laguna Madre, Wendy L. Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

San Martin Lake is a shallow water Estuary in the lower Laguna Madre off the Port of Brownsville Shipping channel. It is influenced both by incoming tides and waste water runoff both from local farms and the Brownsville water treatment plants. The resulting mixture of eutrophic water and incoming sea water creates the perfect mix for a potential algal bloom. This study looks at the nutrient levels and environmental conditions in the main basin of the estuary to establish baseline levels and to observe the rate of nutrient clearing being accomplished in this environment. As sport recreation in the area …

Improving Stb Devices’ Parental Control, Mahmood Fawzi Alfathe

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, an IPTV system was designed with new viewer parental control authentication method. People deal with traditional IPTV systems that use simple authentication numeric passcodes, and this topic did not receive the attention to overcome its security problems. In this dissertation two contributions were introduced, the first one is to design and implement an IPTV system that uses humans’ Biometrics authentication instead of numeric passwords; the second contribution was presented by integrating and testing the efficiency of the suggested solution as an authentication key against traditional numerical passcodes. Also, the characteristics of this new method were tested. In …

The Effects Of Technical Language And Individual Differences On Evaluating Interventions For Autism Spectrum Disorders, Jillian R. Reiher

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has identified many interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Some of these interventions are evidence-based; others are not. However, previous research has also found that people select interventions for their children with ASD based on several factors other than the evidence base. Other research has found that the language used when describing interventions also influences people’s perceptions of them. The current study examined several factors that may influence how people evaluate two widely used ASD interventions: Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Sensory Integration (SI). ABA is an evidence-based intervention, but SI does not have any empirical support. The …