Natural disasters disrupt African American communities in the United States and can exacerbate the degree of poverty for individuals within these communities, necessitating greater aid from local, state, and federal governments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of cultural competence in disaster response serving African American communities. This research study focused on emergency manager's comprehension and education of cultural competence, what they recognized to be vital elements of a culturally competent emergency manager, and what the obstacles and components are to bring about the changes to the profession. This study used a qualitative case study design and a theoretical framework based on the Campinha-Bacote model for care for cultural competence. Study data from interviews with 15 emergency manager practitioners and African American disaster survivors were inductively coded and thematically analyzed. The study produced data regarding cultural competence, values, ethics, beliefs, and thought processes of the participants. The findings showed that the emergency managers and survivors had diverging or contrasting beliefs of the emergency managers' cultural competency levels; this difference in perception was the major theme of the study. The study also concluded that implementing the Campinha-Bacote model for Cultural Competence in the Delivery of Healthcare Services, emergency managers dramatically improve disaster response and recovery efforts not only to the African American community but other diverse minority communities as well. This study contributes to positive social change by helping U.S. emergency managers become more culturally competent and better equipped to serve diverse minority communities during a disaster.

This dissertation consists of three papers in environmental and natural resource economics. The first paper estimates the value of statistical lives (VSL) from hurricane evacuation behavior through an empirical analysis. I present empirical models that predict individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for avoiding hurricane risks revealed through their evacuation behavior. Using survey data from Texas residents (who were affected by Hurricane Ike), I analyze the individuals’ hurricane evacuation decisions and their corresponding WTP for evacuation. I also estimate the individuals' WTP for avoiding hurricane risks under both voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders and calculate the associated VSL. The findings can be useful to emergency management agencies for evacuation planning. In the second paper, I study market responses to multiple hurricanes based on evidence from real estate sales data. Unlike earlier studies that examined the effect of hurricane exposures on property value, the present study considers how multiple hurricane hits affect the home value. I use repeat sales data from three counties in Florida from 2000 to 2010 and develop a hedonic price model. The findings identify the determinants that influence the property value and provide valuable insights for homebuyers and sellers. The study also provides useful insights regarding the benefits of hurricane mitigations to Florida residents and beyond. The third paper investigates the time preference and the dynamics of evacuation behavior based on evidence from Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Sandy. This paper contributes to the literature on households’ evacuation timing decisions by investigating the factors influencing people’s time preference for evacuation behavior. Unlike other studies, I examine the residents’ evacuation behavior across the Gulf coast as well as the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic coasts from a comparative perspective. I use one survey dataset from Texas residents who experienced Hurricane Ike and another survey dataset from the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic US states that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. The results provide insights for future hurricane evacuation planning and emergency management.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2005. / Bibliography: leaves 154-162.

Major disasters are taking an ever-increasing toll on American communities. To cope with this growing problem, Benton County is seeking to adopt an alternative approach known as Community- Based Emergency Preparedness. Its goal is to improve collaboration among governmental agencies and the public to gain greater flexibility in decision-making and implementation. Increased community participation is intended to produce not only improved emergency readiness, but also preparations in the home, school, and workplace to reduce the effects of disaster when it strikes. This case study describes strategies Benton County officials have used to involve citizens in planning and preparing for disasters during a twelve-month period from April, 1994 to April, 1995. A recently formed citizen-initiated community coalition meets regularly to organize public education forums and emergency exercises. This is different from the past, when disaster planning was undertaken only by professionals and specialists who tended to leave the public out of the process. Public, private, and volunteer groups at the community level are now seeking to create a dynamic disaster planning process that reflects community values and accountability. Included in this case study is the development of digital maps of multiple hazards to aid experts in communicating risks to the public. Disaster planning is complicated because the community and the experts perceive risks differently. To facilitate the program in a systematic fashion, six process characteristics have been identified. Because this approach is new, the process of disaster planning is still under development. / Graduation date: 1996

The survivability concerns the service continuity when the components of a system are damaged. This concept is especially useful in the emergency management of the system, as often emergencies involve accidents or incident disasters which more or less damage the system. The overall objective of this thesis study is to develop a quantitative management approach to the emergency management of a wireless cellular telecommunication system in light of its service continuity in emergency situations namely the survivability of the system. A particular wireless cellular telecommunication system, WCDMA, is taken as an example to ground this research.<p>The thesis proposes an ontology-based paradigm for service management such that the management system contains three models: (1) the work domain model, (2) the dynamic model, and (3) the reconfiguration model. A powerful work domain modeling tool called Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) is employed for developing the work domain model of the WCDMA system. Petri-Net theory, as well as its formalization, is applied to develop the dynamic model of the WCDMA system. A concept in engineering design called the general and specific function concept is applied to develop a new approach to system reconfiguration for the high survivability of the system. These models are implemented along with a user-interface which can be used by emergency management personnel. A demonstration of the effectiveness of this study approach is included.<p>There are a couple of contributions with this thesis study. First, the proposed approach can be added to contemporary telecommunication management systems. Second, the Petri Net model of the WCDMA system is more comprehensive than any dynamic model of the telecommunication systems in literature. Furthermore, this model can be extended to any other telecommunication system. Third, the proposed system reconfiguration approach, based on the general and specific function concept, offers a unique way for the survivability of any service provider system.<p>In conclusion, the ontology-based paradigm for a service system management provides a total solution to service continuity as well as its emergency management. This paradigm makes the complex mathematical modeling of the system transparent to the manager or managerial personnel and provides a feasible scenario of the human-in-the-loop management.

The survivability concerns the service continuity when the components of a system are damaged. This concept is especially useful in the emergency management of the system, as often emergencies involve accidents or incident disasters which more or less damage the system. The overall objective of this thesis study is to develop a quantitative management approach to the emergency management of a wireless cellular telecommunication system in light of its service continuity in emergency situations namely the survivability of the system. A particular wireless cellular telecommunication system, WCDMA, is taken as an example to ground this research.<p>The thesis proposes an ontology-based paradigm for service management such that the management system contains three models: (1) the work domain model, (2) the dynamic model, and (3) the reconfiguration model. A powerful work domain modeling tool called Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) is employed for developing the work domain model of the WCDMA system. Petri-Net theory, as well as its formalization, is applied to develop the dynamic model of the WCDMA system. A concept in engineering design called the general and specific function concept is applied to develop a new approach to system reconfiguration for the high survivability of the system. These models are implemented along with a user-interface which can be used by emergency management personnel. A demonstration of the effectiveness of this study approach is included.<p>There are a couple of contributions with this thesis study. First, the proposed approach can be added to contemporary telecommunication management systems. Second, the Petri Net model of the WCDMA system is more comprehensive than any dynamic model of the telecommunication systems in literature. Furthermore, this model can be extended to any other telecommunication system. Third, the proposed system reconfiguration approach, based on the general and specific function concept, offers a unique way for the survivability of any service provider system.<p>In conclusion, the ontology-based paradigm for a service system management provides a total solution to service continuity as well as its emergency management. This paradigm makes the complex mathematical modeling of the system transparent to the manager or managerial personnel and provides a feasible scenario of the human-in-the-loop management.

Historically, the US appears to have responded inconsistently to similar acts of terrorism in two different ways, using either a law enforcement or military response. These legal and military responses can be either unilateral or multilateral. This study attempts to determine when each type of response is preferred by decisionmakers, both political leaders and their citizens. The hypotheses suggesting that a response is preferred depending upon terrorist attack success, location, and the terrorists' sociocultural similarities are tested in three experiments and examined in a case study. These three variables are believed, as suggested by the Cognitive Calculus concept, to cause an emotional reaction amongst the respondents resulting in them having a higher preference for the military and unilateral options. Whether or not the respondents were experiencing an emotional reaction was studied in each experiment as well as being tested in the third experiment by examining the respondents? selection of options based upon their success rates. The case study examined US government responses to the First World Trade Center bombing, the Bojinka Plot, the Khobar Towers bombing, and the September 11, 2001 attacks. The results of the experiments and case study suggest a calm and deliberative response by the respondents to acts of terrorism, with a greater preference for legal and multilateral responses to terrorism.

Emergency response is a time critical work that needs team work from different organizations with various specialties. It also needs to integrate existing information system to collect and assemble necessary knowledge and resources for critical emerging tasks and use it to plan for collaborative problem solving In this study, we propose the methodology to automate the traditional emergency patient transfer process by connecting different organization¡¦s information systems through Web services with BPEL4WS. Via Web services, the medical resources information can be requested according to patient conditions, and resource reservation decision can be made online. Via BPEL4WS, heterogeneous information systems in different organizations can be connected and executed automatically in any predefined process without limit human intervention. The willingness of hospitals to share various levels of resource availability information to Emergency Operation Center (EOC) to coordinate regional medical resource distribution is critical to make Web service platform work. Therefore, this study examines the correlation of individual hospitals¡¦ performance in terms of resource utilization with hospital¡¦s information sharing with EOC. We investigate the effects from sharing information to EOC which adopts three policies of releasing hospital status information through simulation under different conditions in emergency occurrence and occupied hospital resources. Our findings from the simulations imply that the best policy for EOC to adopt in order to make Web services workable in handling medical emergency is to accord different conditions to adopt different suitable policies. For hospitals, if they want to get the maximum resources utilization, it had better to refer to different condition to adopt different information sharing strategies.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense))--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Bergin, Richard ; Josefek, Robert. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 27, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Trust, collaboration, inter-organizational relations, interorganizational trust, cooperation, emergency management, trust building, New York City Fire Department. Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-102). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2003. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the World Wide Web.