Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: G. Edward Gibson, Jr. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.) -- Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: VaR; Delta-normal method. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 2004. / Supervisor: Patricia Kelley. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 215-228).

Thesis (M.Sc.)(Computer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes summary. Includes bibliography. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Drexel University, 2007. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-87).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-122).

Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Touro University International, 2007. / Adviser: Marc Strassburg. Includes bibliographical references.

The number of offenders who have been convicted of possession, distribution or production of sexually explicit media involving children (SEMIC) has increased exponentially in the last decade. The majority of these cases have been facilitated by increased availability and affordability of the internet and mobile technology. This has led both practitioners and academics to question whether or not internet sex offenders are a new type of offender or whether they are similar to contact offenders who target children offline. Questions have also been raised as to whether or not such internet sex offenders are a homogenous group or whether they can be distinguished by their potential to recidivate or escalate to contact offences. This thesis contributes to this body of knowledge by assessing the information routinely collected on internet sex offenders by criminal justice social workers and the police in Scotland. The forensic reports produced by the police (N=80) alongside matched social enquiry reports from criminal justice social workers (N=30), on all of the offenders convicted for breach of section 52 of the Civic Government Scotland Act (1982) in a particular region of Scotland from 2002-2009, were assessed. Police reports contained detailed information relating to specific offending behaviours: the number of images/videos found on the offender’s computer; the age and sex of the children depicted; the severity of the SEMIC (based on the modified COPINE scale); where the SEMIC was from and how it was stored; whether the offender attempted to hide any images or videos, and whether or not he shared or produced any SEMIC. These reports also noted whether the offender had any previous convictions, as well as age at the time of the offence. Based on the social enquiry reports, the criminal justice social workers focused on demographic characteristics (age, educational background, employment history, family status) of the offenders as well as the attitudes or beliefs they might have held (expression of remorse or guilt and admission to being sexually attracted to children). The social enquiry reports also provided risk assessments, which assessed this group of internet sex offenders as a normally distributed range from low to very high risk to reoffend utilizing the RM2000 and Stable/Acute 2007. The criminal justice social workers did not differentiate between offenders in their management recommendations, which as reported in social enquiry reports, included: no use of the internet except for education or employment; no ownership of devices capable of taking or receiving images/videos, and no unsupervised access to children. Statistical analysis of this sample showed that distinctions between internet sex offenders could be made based on their offending behaviour, demographic information and attitudes they held about the crime. Correlation analysis suggested that offenders who were in possession of SEMIC depicting very young children were also likely to be in possession of SEMIC depicting boys and Level 4/5 images or videos (based on the modified COPINE scale). In addition, offenders who possessed very large collections of SEMIC were also the most likely to be in possession of the most deviant images and videos. Post-hoc analysis suggested offenders who were producers of SEMIC were more likely to have been in relationships and single offenders were more likely to be in possession of the more deviant collections. Contrary to what was expected, the size of an offender’s collection of SEMIC was negatively correlated with the risk assessment level reported by the criminal justice social workers. These results are discussed in the context of current research on risk assessment and management. Based on that current literature and the results of this research, it is recommended that criminal justice social workers utilize information relating the offender’s behaviour, or more specifically the quantity and deviancy of the SEMIC he possessed, in relation to his social circumstances when making recommendations for management and assessing his risk to reoffend.

Verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) is a major cause of diarrheal infections. It is increasingly associated with the consumption of fresh produce and responsible for several international outbreaks with severe sequelae. Quantitative risk assessment (QRA) aim to evaluate the risk of contamination, quantify uncertainties and identify potential mitigation steps. Current published QRA focus on post-harvest process steps without consideration of pre-harvest factors. This study aimed to identify preharvest knowledge gaps and quantify the potential for growth of VTEC in plant tissue prior to harvest. Risk factors were used to develop a QRA for VTEC O157:H7 in ready-to-eat (RTE) salad from farm-to-fork. Plant host metabolites were analysed by mass spectrometry and chromatography. Further plant and bacteria derived factors involved in pre-harvest colonisation were determined and implemented into a QRA. The burden of disease was estimated as the probability of illness by consuming RTE salad in the United Kingdom (UK). VTEC was shown to frequently internalise into lettuce and spinach to high concentrations. There, it can persist, evade surface decontamination and crosscontaminate equipment and produce during processing. The probability of illness was estimated to be 2.66 * 10-5 for lettuce and 1.51 * 10-5 for spinach. Internalisation was determined as the driving factor for 1820 illnesses per year in the UK associated with the consumption of lettuce and 950 with spinach, respectively. Mitigation steps had limited impact on internalised VTEC O157:H7 and mostly reduced external bacteria. Outputs from the QRA indicate the insufficiency of current mitigation steps to reduce internal VTEC O157:H7 and highlights the need for advanced decontamination procedures. The QRA tool can be used for the development of industrial guidelines in order to improve food safety in the UK and Europe.