Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

Browse

Filters

20092

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.Risk Factors

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Socio-demographic Variables as Risk Factors for Neurologic Disease due to Infection by West Nile Virus
    (2009) Pugh, Lashale D.; Kearney, Michael; Geography; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The primary question asked by this research was "Can socio-demographic characteristics be considered risk factors for neurological disease due to West Nile Virus?" Based on the results of this research, the answer is yes. Socio-demographic characteristics identified as risk factors are related to educational attainment, income, age of housing and poverty. Socio-economic variables were useful in discriminating between high moderate and low infection rates and showed modest capabilities of estimating actual rates. One of the most important findings of the research was the public health officials own ideas about the greatest obstacle to preventing the spread of WNV in their jurisdictions. General consensus is that more resources be made available to properly combat this pathogen. More staff and funds to pay workers and provide support for every aspect of surveillance, prevention and control are deemed necessary. Specifically, there is a great need for personnel with specialized training. The support and encouragement of public health organizations is needed to attract individuals into academic fields that will prepare them for infectious disease epidemiology which is crucial to the field. Local level response may have been dictated by resource availability as opposed to the perceived threat. Surprisingly, length of time in the current position was more closely related to lower infection rates than length of surveillance. This suggests that more experienced public health workers likely have some knowledge or experience which was not made known through the survey. Policy implications suggest increased education for public health officials, especially encouragement of more experienced workers to share their knowledge and experiences with less experienced workers.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Predictors of In-School Weapon-Carrying
    (2009) Stickle, Wendy Povitsky; Gottfredson, Denise; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Delinquent and violent behaviors have become a major concern of parents, teachers, and school administrations across the country as media images of school violence permeate perceptions of school safety. Although national surveys show a slight decline in school delinquency, schools continue to search for ways to improve safety. This investigation seeks to understand the predictors of weapon-use in schools. Literature related to school shootings, disorder, and weapon-carrying as well as various theories, including control, social disorganization, and subculture, guide hypotheses that explore the school characteristics related to in-school weapon-carrying as well as the interaction effects between school and student characteristics. Using a large, national sample, this unprecedented investigation explores whether school characteristics predict weapon-carrying net of individuals' propensity to carry weapons. The study also investigates whether school characteristics condition the relationships between student characteristics and weapon-carrying. Findings indicate that school characteristics, specifically those related to school location and violent environments, are important in explaining recent in-school weapon-carrying even when controlling for past weapon-carrying. Further, results suggest that school-level predictors are more important in explaining student weapon-carrying in urban schools than in non-urban schools. Implications and directions for future research will be discussed.