Thesis (Master of Military Art and Science)--U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 2006.

POD (Point of Dispensing)-based emergency response plans involving mass prophylaxis may seem feasible when considering the choice of dispensing points within a region, overall population density, and estimated traffic demands. However, the plan may fail to serve particular vulnerable sub-populations, resulting in access disparities during emergency response. Federal authorities emphasize on the need to identify sub-populations that cannot avail regular services during an emergency due to their special needs to ensure effective response. Vulnerable individuals require the targeted allocation of appropriate resources to serve their special needs. Devising schemes to address the needs of vulnerable sub-populations is essential for the effectiveness of response plans. This research focuses on data-driven computational methods to quantify and address vulnerabilities in response plans that require the allocation of targeted resources. Data-driven methods to identify and quantify vulnerabilities in response plans are developed as part of this research. Addressing vulnerabilities requires the targeted allocation of appropriate resources to PODs. The problem of resource allocation to PODs during public health emergencies is introduced and the variants of the resource allocation problem such as the spatial allocation, spatio-temporal allocation and optimal resource subset variants are formulated. Generating optimal resource allocation and scheduling solutions can be computationally hard problems. The application of metaheuristic techniques to find near-optimal solutions to the resource allocation problem in response plans is investigated. A vulnerability analysis and resource allocation framework that facilitates the demographic analysis of population data in the context of response plans, and the optimal allocation of resources with respect to the analysis are described.

This thesis tests the necessity of terrorism in articulating Homeland Security citizenship. Chapter 1 orients the study, reviewing relevant literature. Chapter 2 examines the USDHS Ready Kids program's Homeland Security Guide, mapping a baseline for how Homeland Security citizenship is articulated with the overt use of terrorism. Chapter 3 investigates the USDHS Ready Kids program, charting the logic of Homeland Security citizenship when the threat of terrorism is removed from sense making about preparedness. Chapter 4 compares the findings of Chapters 2 and 3, evaluating the similarities and differences between these two articulations of Homeland Security citizenship and concluding that the logic that cements Homeland Security into American society does not depend on the threat of terrorism against the United States.

Disasters are unavoidable. The United States separates the phases of addressing a disaster into Response and Recovery. There are systems in place for Response; but Recovery, a fundamental process for countries to rebound from disasters, is a topic that is left aside. Recently the U.S. released a framework regarding this topic and it is the intention of this work to further explore recovery by starting a modeling process for disaster management systems by developing a Disaster Recovery Roles Pattern based on the framework and creating flowcharts using the Business Process Modeling Notation for use in future development of systems for the recovery process. / Carlos A. NietoTibaquirâa. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2012. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The recent emergencies on college campuses including the Virginia Tech massacre of April, 2007, the Northern Illinois University shootings and the Union University tornado highlight the importance of disaster preparedness within the university community. This study is a survey exploring the daily rhythms of student life, the communication channels open to students and students composition and characteristics. This survey finds that students have frequent access to communication technologies which can be utilized as warning channels. The study also concludes that many students do not actively seek out information relative to emergency preparedness and the gaps in the populations knowledge require increased disaster education by the university.

With the increase of severity and scope of disasters, collaborative networks have become the main tool to tackle with complex emergencies. Networks, however, are mostly effective to the extent they are maintained over time. This study analyzes whether organizational goal convergence, information-communication technology utilization, and inter-organizational trust impacts network sustainability. The main research questions of the study are: (1) How are organizational goals, technical/technological capacity of organizations, and trust among organizations of a network are related to the sustainability of collaborative network relationships? (2) Which of the above-mentioned factors plays the most significant role in affecting network sustainability? Covering the context of emergency management system in the United States, this study utilized a self-administered survey that was electronically distributed to county emergency managers across the country. The data consisting of 534 complete responses was analyzed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Inc. software‟s PASW (Predictive Analytics SoftWare) Statistics version 18.0 and transferred to Amos 18.0 software for structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. The findings suggest that organizational goal convergence, information-communication technology utilization, and inter-organizational trust have positive and statistically significant relationships with network sustainability; and, interorganizational trust is the strongest factor followed by information-communication technology utilization and organizational goal convergence. The study contributes to the literature on network sustainability with specific suggestions for emergency management practitioners.

The trauma and devastation that resulted from Hurricane Katrina's landfall on August 29, 2005, produced a wide spread public perception of government neglect and ineptitude. Subsequently, a period of nationwide shame and concern for those most affected by the disaster elicited a wave of financial generosity from all social sectors. Yet, by late 2005 the media declared that the majority of Americans had become desensitized to the tragedy and its consequences, coining this shift in public perception as "Katrina fatigue." Thousands of volunteers contradicted this phenomenon, however, by performing service in the devastated city of New Orleans. Long-term volunteers defied "Katrina fatigue" by redirecting the trajectory of their lives so they could provide service. Conventionally accepted volunteer theory predicts that volunteers provide service and that their labor operates in conjunction with institutionally supported mechanisms of security and services. / However, for the volunteer subjects in this study, Katrina and its immediate aftermath shattered the trust in such institutions. These volunteers did not assume that their service operated in conjunction with state sponsored agencies or corporations. Rather, they viewed their own acts of service as the means of promoting the recovery. This qualitative case study examines the deliberated choices and actions performed by long-term volunteers between the years 2005 and 2009. The primary subjects in this investigation include 15 volunteers who performed long-term and/or repeat delegations of service within organized networks. Volunteer subjects believed that if they did not perform the services they did, these services might not get done. Volunteers internalized contours of the larger political economy and their own perceived role within them. Performing service functioned partially to counteract this internalization and simultaneously redirect their lives. / Second Line, a New Orleans street tradition of neighborhood processions, reveals more of what drives the long-term volunteer's desire. The root practice of Second Line processions embodies a form of cognitive liberation for the disenfranchised as the processions interrupt normal arrangements of order and power in the city, albeit temporarily. Volunteers desire to connect with poor and working class Black people in this capacity, and their attempts to do so played out in contexts that sometimes disrupted institutional or corporate power, constituting a demand for change on behalf of Katrina victims. / by Susan D'Aloia. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web. FboU

Following the events of September 11th, 2001, national attention has been captivated by terrorism and terrorism prevention. Parallel to this time of increased focus on terrorism prevention, adequate funding to support new departments or increased terrorism prevention efforts in existing departments was unattainable. Consequently, a strong need for prevention strategies that are affordable and highly applicable at the local level has resulted. Thus, it is the purpose of this study to examine methods of risk assessment and test the accuracy of such methodologies in order to assist local organizations in effectively applying limited resources for opportunity reduction at vulnerable locations based on calculated risks. The primary goal of this thesis is to test the validity of the EVIL DONE vulnerability assessment and evaluate its ability to predict the number of fatalities and injured persons resulting from a terrorist attack. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

Catastrophic event emergency planning has emerged as one of the most important operations management areas. Much of the successes of a response plan rely on the ability to maintain an operating transportation infrastructure. In recent years urban areas have become susceptible to biological terrorist attacks due to their size and demographics. To mitigate the devastating effects of an attack, a comprehensive catastrophic event response plan is devised. The characteristics of the disease (dormant periods, signs/symptoms), daily traffic operations and trip distributions, patient-choice hospital modeling and emergency center corridor optimization are all elements of an effective response plan. Simulation and optimization modeling of this plan becomes a faster-than-real-time tool in replicating urban area degradation. Therefore, allowing planners to identify "worst case scenarios" within the network and implement Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA) techniques and a non-linear departure time slot allocation mathematical model ensuring infected populations receive treatment and/or vaccinations efficiently. / by William C. Degnan. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This study employed a qualitative case study method to evaluate the efforts of one university to conduct hazard mitigation and disaster preparedness planning activities and used the Federal Emergency Management Agency framework and selected writings of sociologist and disaster researcher E.L. Quarantelli as models for evaluating the institution's approach. The institution studied was assigned a fictitious name and the identities of the study participants withheld in order to protect the integrity of the institution's planning efforts and its personnel. The study utilized a 92-item questionnaire, field interviews, and review and analysis of documentary materials provided by the institution for data collection purposes. Pattern-matching techniques were applied to identify themes and trends that emerged through the course of data collection. The results indicate the institution has developed an organizational culture that is broadly responsive to and engaged in disaster preparedness planning at multiple levels in a manner generally consistent with principles identified in select writings of Quarantelli. Results further indicate the institution has engaged in identifying hazard mitigation priorities but not in a manner consistent with that advocated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in its publication entitled Building a Disaster-Resistant University.