Thesis (M.S.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2009. / Directed by Jo Leimenstoll; submitted to the Dept. of Interior Architecture. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jun. 8, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-90).

It behooves any legislator confronted with a society plagued by continuous and increasingly violent crimes, to promulgate legislation which strives to deter potential offenders by inter alia limiting the access they have to potential victims. It is in this vain that the South African legislator promulgated legislation which established a National Register for Sex Offenders whereby convicted (or in certain circumstances alleged) offenders' access to potential victims are limited by restricting the opportunities these offenders might have to commit another sexual offence. The aim of this dissertation is to closely examine this newly established National Register for Sex Offenders. This examination is performed within a constitutional framework from whence a comparative analysis of an analogous register in the United Kingdom is conducted. This dissertation seeks to pre-empt potential shortcomings of the National Register for Sex Offenders by providing recommendations based on findings from the aforementioned comparative study. This dissertation begins by setting out the scope and parameters of the National Register for Sex Offenders wherein it is also discussed whether or not this register acts as an extenuation of an offender's punishment and if so, whether or not it is justifiable. After this investigation, various possible infringements of the offender's constitutional rights are identified, discussed and justified. This dissertation, subsequently, studies an analogous register also recently established in the United Kingdom which helps to identify certain shortcomings in the National Register for Sex Offenders, whereafter certain recommendations are made. Most importantly, it is recommended that an independent authority should be established to regulate and administer the National Register for Sex Offenders. Furthermore, it is recommended that the National Register for Sex Offenders and the National Child Protection Register should be amalgamated into one register which will not only save taxpayers' money, but will also avoid any confusion. Another crucially important recommendation is that the scope of the National Register for Sex Offenders should be widened to include all vulnerable adults and not only those that are mentally disabled. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Public Law / unrestricted

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This three-article dissertation uses a mixed-method research design to examine a contemporary phenomenon related to grassroots resistance to urban gentrification. In New York City, Los Angeles, and other high-growth US cities, community-based organizations are utilizing National Register of Historic Places listing and local designation of historic districts as strategies to resist residential displacement in the context of gentrification and diminishing housing affordability. The central issue with this practice is quantitative research overwhelmingly finds that neighborhood socioeconomic trends follow indicators of gentrification after the implementation of historic districts. Qualitative studies also demonstrate that historic districts are most often associated with the interests of homeowners who seek districts to protect or increase property values. Therefore, the use of historic districts for anti-displacement purposes can appear counter-intuitive. Arguably, the few existing studies of this practice do not thoroughly analyze the value of publicly stating the intention of districts for anti-displacement purposes or how organizational entities hypothesize causal links between historic districts and the reduction of displacement by gentrification. This gap between research and practice presents an opportunity to examine the functions of historic preservation regulations and participatory venues within the uneven distribution of racial, political, and economic resources necessary to affect authoritative land use decisions. The three articles are sequential. The first article uses logistic regression to estimate the organizational, contextual, and neighborhood socioeconomic factors that influenced a sample of community-based organizations in New York City, NY, and the City of Los Angeles, CA, between 2000-2020 to state motivations for anti-displacement purposes at public hearings for new historic districts. The second article further examines organizations’ motivations through archived conference proceedings and focused interviews with the key informants of six (6) New York City community-based organizations on the political, socioeconomic, and racial processes that influenced their use of local and NRHP districts as anti-displacement strategies. The interviewed organizations were identified by the review of public hearing testimony and correspondence for Article 1. Finally, Article 3 uses a difference-in-differences statistical technique to test the neighborhood socioeconomic impacts of contextual rezoning in New York City between 1986-2020 as a type of non-FAR rezoning. Contextual zoning and historic districts are similar in that their implementation depends on the presence and maintenance of neighborhood character. Unlike historic districts, new development in contextual zones functions as an administrative process with the Department of Buildings without reliance upon discretionary review of proposals by a city agency. The articles find that community-based organizations pursue historic districts for a blend of procedural, regulatory, and financial benefits related to anti-displacement activism. Some organizations seek historic districts as substitutes for neighborhood-wide downzoning due to rezoning’s high financial and administrative costs, reflecting power inequalities in urban politics. The articles’ findings also suggest that there are causal links between regulatory restrictions on development and the exclusion of new socioeconomic groups, albeit in the interest of excluding residents of higher-socioeconomic status to resist gentrification. Ostensibly neutral, character-based discourse in urban development is implicated in preserving historical patterns of urban racial and economic isolation. Without state and federal interventions in the provision of urban growth, historic districts and character-based rezonings have limited influence on long-term urban equity.

This thesis investigates the predictive modeling of suicidal behavioramong older adults in Sweden through the application of machine learning and survival analysis to data from Swedish National Registries. Theresearch utilizes longitudinal and static data characteristics, includingprescribed psychopharmaceuticals, medical conditions, and sociodemographic factors. By incorporating various survival analysis models suchas the Cox Proportional Hazards Model (CoxPH), Random SurvivalForest (RSF), and Gradient Boosting Survival Analysis (GBSA) withsequential machine learning techniques such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, the study aims to enhance the predictive accuracy of suicidal tendencies among the elderly. The thesis concludes thatcombining these techniques provides insights into the risk of suicide attempts and completed suicides while also underscoring the challengesassociated with modeling national registry data and demonstrating anovel approach to addressing suicidal behavior.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-121).

The report evolves from previous work in the field that questions the efficacy of the 50-year rule, or criterion consideration G, of the National Register of Historic Places program to register and protect modern and recent past resources. Proponents of the recent past argue that by restricting evaluation of historic architecture to only that which is 50-years or older is leading to widespread endangerment and demolition of buildings and sites with periods of significance from the postwar era. This report studies the use of criterion G in-depth since the inception of the National Register program and attempts to identify and quantify the resources lost through continued adherence to the 50-year rule. The analysis is done in two parts. Part one examines the history of the use of criterion G by tracking patterns in the National Register of Historic Places data between 1966 and 2010 to determine how and where the case for exceptional significance has been made. Part two challenges the capacity of the existing framework of the 50-year rule and the NRHP program to protect the recent past by surveying the current status of a 145 AIA award-winning buildings from the 1960s. Most are virtually undiscovered in the canon of American architectural history, and all could likely be found as exceptionally significant. The study finds more than 75% of the AIA award-winners standing and possessing good integrity, but only 6% actually listed on the Register. The report concludes that we are losing less to outright demolition than estimated, but lack of context studies and an inconsistent vocabulary for postwar architecture is preventing the registration of intact resources from the 1960s that could greatly benefit from the awareness and recognition that is the primary purpose of the National Register. / text

The Ackerman Unit of the Tombigbee National Forest has served as the location of numerous archaeological investigations. Despite all of the work done, there is a question of whether a representative sample of the archaeological record has been saved and subsequently whether the reports and findings from the Ackerman Unit of the Tombigbee National Forest are legitimate and can be applied to a larger body or research at the regional, and even national scale. This thesis will evaluate whether a paradigmatic classification of occupations can be used to assess if a representative sample of the archaeological record has been saved, and consequently whether identifiable bias exists among the practitioners who recorded those occupations.

The Cultural Landscape Inventory is a comprehensive inventory of all historically significant landscapes within the National Park Service. This cultural landscape inventory documents the Johnson Settlement Area at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park in Johnson City, Texas. The Johnson Settlement Area served as the headquarters for former president Lyndon B. Johnson’s paternal grandparents, Samuel Ealy Johnson and Eliza Bunton’s, open-range cattle ranch from 1867 through 1872. After the collapse of the cattle ranching enterprise, the land was sold to James Polk Johnson and later converted into a small-scale farm by John Bruckner. From 1970 through 1972, Lyndon B. Johnson was involved with the planning, acquisition, and donation of a portion of the original settlement property to the National Park Service. In 1972, a major restoration and reconstruction project was completed as the property was converted into an historic interpretive landscape administered by the National Park Service. The Johnson Settlement Area is primarily an open pastoral landscape with reconstructed livestock corrals and a cluster of restored and reconstructed building and structures that collectively convey the ranching and frontier heritage of former president Lyndon B. Johnson. The cultural landscape inventory documents the physical development and historical significance of the Johnson Settlement Area. The inventory evaluates the landscape characteristics of the district and considers the integrity and overall condition of this historic vernacular landscape. Further, the inventory assesses eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. The Johnson Settlement Area Cultural Landscape Inventory expands the 1990 National Register of Historic Places nomination in its period of significance, boundaries and acreage, and National Register Criteria. / text

Background: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a relatively common condition. In Sweden, the overall estimated prevalence of POP in the female population is 31% and the prevalence of symptomatic prolapse is 8–15%. The prevalence of POP increases with age. The lifetime risk of undergoing pelvic floor surgery is estimated to 11%. The aim of this thesis was to investigate outcomes of vaginal hysterectomy for treatment of prolapse; to study outcomes of cystocele repair surgery and patient satisfaction related to different anaesthesia methods; to explore women’s experiences of vaginal prolapse; and to investigate what is known regarding POP prior to surgery and healthcare-seeking behaviour. Methods: In the Swedish National Quality Register for Gynaecological Surgery (Gynop-register), 941 women were identified who underwent vaginal hysterectomy for prolapse from 1997 to 2005 and 1,364 women were identified who underwent cystocele repair surgery from 2006 to 2009. In-depth interviews were performed with 14 women with vaginal prolapse. Interview data were analyzed with a qualitative content analysis. To investigate women’s knowledge about POP and healthcare-seeking behaviour, a questionnaire was developed, validated and distributed to women with planned surgery for POP. Women undergoing hysterectomy or incontinence surgery were used as reference groups. Results: Severe complications after vaginal hysterectomy occurred in 3% of cases. Sexual activity was improved after vaginal hysterectomy, the number of women reported to have intercourse increased by 20% (p = 0.006). Subjective symptoms of urinary incontinence and overactive bladder were resolved in 50% of the women. De novo stress incontinence was reported by 11% of the women. Use of local anaesthesia (LA) in reconstruction of cystocele showed advantage over other forms of anaesthesia. Length of hospital stay, duration of use of postoperative pain-killing drugs, and time to return to daily activity were shorter among women who underwent surgery with LA compared to other forms of anaesthesia. Patient satisfaction was not related to methods of anaesthesia. In an interview study, the process from recognition the symptoms to seeking healthcare was highlighted. Two categories, “obstacles” and “facilitators” to seeking health care, were identified. One of the obstacles was lack of information on POP in the public domain. The main facilitators were feeling sexually unattractive and impaired physical ability due to POP. Some findings from the interview study were further explored in the questionnaire study. One out of five women with vaginal prolapse did not know that the symptoms were related to prolapse before consulting their physician. Over 30% of the women in the incontinence group were embarrassed to talk about incontinence, and they were unaware that it could be treated. The most frequent description of vaginal prolapse was vaginal bulging. Women in the prolapse group had significantly less access to information through brochures and public media than women in the incontinence group (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Short-term follow-up after vaginal hysterectomy showed that sexual activity and urinary symptoms had improved. Cystocele surgery using LA showed no disadvantage compared to surgery using other anaesthesia methods. POP surgery can therefore be performed safely with LA. Information on prolapse should be easily accessible to improve the possibility for women of gaining knowledge and thereby overcoming obstacles to seeking medical advice. Healthcare professionals have a significant role to play in informing women about symptoms and available treatment options.