Crime severity has been found to be one of the best predictors of sentencing decisions (Darley, Carlsmith, & Robinson, 2000). There is however a dearth of research examining the effect of offender and victim ethnicity on perceptions of crime seriousness, and the few studies that do exist have produced equivocal findings. Some studies find an effect of victim ethnicity (e.g., Cohen-Raz, Bozna, & Glicksohn, 1997), some studies find no significant effects of offender nor victim ethnicity (e.g., Benjamin, 1989), and some studies only find effects under certain conditions, such as when the crime is of low seriousness (e.g., Herzog, 2003a). The present study was conducted in an attempt to clarify these convoluted findings by using measures of modern and old-fashioned prejudice. Whereas old-fashioned prejudice refers to the belief that an out group is in someway inferior, modern prejudice refers to the view that a minority group no longer faces discrimination or that the minority group is being too pushy when advocating for equal rights (McConahay, 1983). Using a sample of undergraduate psychology students, it was found that when the crime was perceived as being quite severe, harsher punishments were recommended for the offender. Further to this, participants scoring high in modern prejudice perceived crimes to be more severe and recommended longer sentences in certain offender-victim ethnicity conditions than participants scoring low in modern prejudice. However, contrary to the hypotheses, no significant differences were found between high and low old-fashioned prejudice participants. Perceived offender responsibility and stability were also found to affect perceptions of crime severity and recommended punishment. When an offence was described as being stable (i.e., the offender had committed similar crimes in the past), participants rated the crime as being more severe and recommended a harsher punishment than when it was the offenders first offence. Additionally, when participants attributed responsibility for the crime to the offender, crime severity ratings were higher and recommended punishments were longer. The implications of these results are discussed and recommendations for future research are put forward.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 122 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-114).

Genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of Paget’s Disease of Bone (PDB). The most important predisposing gene is SQSTM1 which is mutated in about 10% of patients, additionally common variants at seven other loci have also been shown to predispose to PDB as well as environmental factors which are also important in the pathogenesis of PDB. Little research has been conducted on the relationship between the genetic variants that predispose to PDB and disease severity. Similarly, only limited information exists on the role that gene-environment interactions play in the pathogenesis of PDB or its severity. The aim of the present thesis was to explore these issues in participants of the Paget’s Disease Randomised Trial of Intensive versus Symptomatic Management study (PRISM) and other study cohorts. In chapter 3, I investigate the relationship between SQSTM1 mutation status, disease severity and clinical outcome in 737 patients from the PRISM study. Mutations of SQSTM1 were detected in 80/737 (10.9%) patients. Mutation carriers had an earlier age at diagnosis; a greater number of affected bones and more commonly had required orthopaedic surgery and bisphosphonate therapy than those without mutations. Quality of life was significantly reduced in carriers and during the study; fractures were more common although most of these occurred in unaffected bone. This study demonstrates that SQSTM1 mutations are strongly associated with disease severity and complications of PDB. In chapter 4, I study associations between common genetic variants identified by genome wide association (GWAS), clinical severity and extent of PDB, alone and in combination with SQSTM1 mutations. This showed that these common variants were also associated with severity and extent of PDB in PRISM, but with weaker effects than SQSTM1 mutations. The findings were replicated in a multinational study involving 1940 subjects from centres in Italy, Spain and Australia. In all cohorts the GWAS risk alleles acted in an additive manner with SQSTM1 mutations to regulate disease severity and extent. By combining information from SQSTM1 status and the new risk alleles, however, we are able to develop a genetic risk score which delineated three distinct groups with markedly differing effects on disease extent and severity. In chapter 5, I study associations between PDB, severity and extent in relation to circulating levels of IgG antibodies against various viruses including Rubella, respiratory syncytial virus, distemper, varicella zoster virus, measles and mumps. We found little evidence of an interaction between viral antibody titres and SQSTM1 in predicting disease severity with the notable exception of mumps virus where subjects with the highest levels of antibodies that were SQSTM1 positive had in increased age at diagnosis than the other genotype / viral antibody groups. Overall the studies do provide no support for the notion that patients with PDB have an abnormal antibody response to paramyxovirus or have had previous infections with these viruses more frequently than controls. This of course does not exclude the possibility that PDB patients might have a clinically occult slow virus infection which is not accompanied by an abnormality in the immune response. . This raises the possibility that genetic testing may be of value in identifying individuals at risk of developing severe disease and those at risk of complications. I also demonstrate that PBD patients have abnormalities in circulating antibodies to various viruses suggesting that the disease may be associated with disturbance in the response of the immune system to infectious agents but further investigation is required. This, perhaps, could explain the changes in the severity and prevalence of PDB that have been observed over recent years in several countries.

The autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnostic classifications, according to the DSM-5, include a severity rating. Several screening and/or diagnostic measures, such as the autism diagnostic and observation schedule (ADOS), Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and social responsiveness scale (SRS) (teacher and parent versions), include an assessment of symptom severity. The purpose of this study was to examine whether symptom severity and/or diagnostic status of preschool-aged children with ASD (N = 201) were similarly categorized on these measures. For half of the sample, children were similarly classified across the four measures, and scores on most measures were correlated, with the exception of the ADOS and SRS-P. While the ADOS, CARS, and SRS are reliable and valid measures, there is some disagreement between measures with regard to child classification and the categorization of autism symptom severity.

Regional assessments of droughts are limited and meticulous assessment of droughts over larger spatial scales are often not substantial. Understanding drought variability on a regional scale is crucial for enhancing resiliency and adaptive ability of water supply and distribution systems. Moreover, it can be essential for appraising the dynamics and predictability of droughts based on regional climate across various spatial and temporal scales. The drought analysis of the past was carried out with the development of a high-resolution dataset (1km×1km) for three drought-prone regions of India between 1950 and 2016. In the study the monthly values of self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI), incorporating Penman–Monteith (PM) approximation, which is physically based on potential evapotranspiration. Climate data were statistically downscaled using the delta downscaling method and was formulated to form a timeline for characterizing major drought events that occurred in the past. The downscaled climate data were validated with the station observations. Major severe drought events that occurred between 1950 and 2016 were identified and studied with greater emphasis to the drought situation in smaller spatial extent such as districts, villages or localities. A timeline of drought events within the period of study was also prepared to have an understanding of the severity of drought in all three regions.Likewise, the future drought durations are projected for droughts of different levels of severity and assessed in the same regions of India. Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) simulated precipitation and climate data were used for near‐future (2015–2044) for different shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs). scPDSI, was used again based on its fairness in identifying drought conditions which accounts for the temperature as well. Gridded rainfall and temperature data of spatial resolution of 1km were used to bias correct the multi-model ensemble (MME) mean of 7 Global Climatic Models (GCMs) from CMIP6 project. Equidistant quantile-based mapping was adopted to remove the bias in the rainfall and temperature data and were corrected at the monthly scale. The downscaled climate data exhibited good statistical agreement with station data with correlation coefficient (R) ranging from 0.83 to 0.93 for both precipitation and temperature. Drought analysis indicated several major incidences over the analysis time period considered in this work, which truly adheres to the droughts recorded in qualitative reports of meteorological institutions in those regions. The drought study of the past helped to understand the situation in local levels and understand the necessities that can be opted for the future by proper management of water resources. While the outcome of the future prediction of drought duration suggests multiple severe to extreme drought events in all three study areas of appreciable durations mostly during the mid-2030s under the SSP2-4.5 scenario. The severe drought durations under the SSP2-4.5 scenario were found to be ranging around 25 to 30 months in 30 years period of the near future. The high-resolution drought index proved to be key to assess the drought situation for both the past and the future in three different drought-prone regions of India.

In today's technologically sophisticated world, people have many electronic methods of exchanging information and communicating. Unfortunately, these methods are not always used in positive ways; they can also be used to convey aggression and bullying. Recently, such acts of aggression have been labeled many things from cyberbullying to online social cruelty, and have received much media attention due to their tragic consequences including victim suicide. This study explores the impact of victim and bully gender in relation to perception of bully likability, punishment, impact on victim, and victim responses. Participants reviewed a Cyberbullying scenario in which the gender of the victim and perpetrator were manipulated. All scenarios were identical except for the gender pairs of the victim and perpetrator: Male (bully)-Male (victim), Male (bully)-Female (victim), Female (bully)-Female (victim), and Female (bully)-Male (victim). Participants then completed the Likability of Bully, Punishment for Bully, Impact on Victim, and Victim Response scales. A main effect of gender on the Punishment Scale for the gender of bully indicated that participants desired lighter punishment for females independent of the gender of the victim. The results of this study suggest that increasing awareness of the seriousness of all cyberbullying regardless of gender of bully is important.

No description available.

No description available.

The surface-mining worker fatalities are unacceptably high as compared to other private industries in United States such as construction, manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting. Although many studies about generating a safe work environment and developing safety training through intervention modules have tried to reduce the number of worker fatalities by utilizing an administrative approach to the development of safety controls, a rigorous study about understanding craftworkers' perceptions of a safe work environment is lacking. This study particularly investigated quarry workers' safety behaviors regarding work hazards by adapting findings from construction safety research because construction and mining industries have similarities in work hazards and environment. Despite their similarities, the work fatality rate in the mining industry is greater than in the construction industry (BLS, 2018). To gain a greater understanding of how quarry workers identify and interpret work hazards and employ strategies to prevent accidents, this study explored quarry workers' perceptions of work hazards (i.e., hazard identification, severity interpretation) and their preventive strategies to develop a safer working environment at the workplace. To accomplish this, a single descriptive case study was conducted with multiple sources of data such as interviews with photo elicitation, field notes, site photographs, and precursory meeting with safety managers. These sources of data were used to investigate quarry workers' identification and interpretation skills and utilization of preventive strategies. This study will contribute to improve safety of workers by incorporating workers' perceptions of work hazards and by exploring their experience to the development of safety training. / Master of Science / The surface-mining industry is one of the private industries with a high fatality rate in the United States. To reduce the number of accidents and help workers to perform safely in the workplace, previous studies have investigated different strategies to promote workers’ safety performance. These strategies include safety interventions such as safety training and safety inspections. However, a lack of study exists to understand workers’ behaviors and perceptions regarding safety and work hazards. To better explore workers’ behaviors and perceptions, this study adapted findings from construction safety research. Because the number of surface-mining safety research is relatively small and the work environment and types of work hazards in both the surface-mining and construction industries share similarities, the findings in construction safety research can be used to promote a safer workplace for surface-mine workers. By adapting findings in construction safety research, this study further investigated workers’ perceptions of work hazards, which is operationalized in two approaches: hazard identification and severity interpretation. This study also examines workers’ execution of strategies to prevent accidents. These observations were gathered through the utilization of a case study of quarry, which gave a guideline to the researcher to collect data from multiple sources (e.g., precursory meeting with safety managers, field notes, photographs, interviews) and analyze the findings by primarily using participants’ responses in the interviews with photo elicitation. This study will contribute to improve a safer workplace in the surface mining industry by incorporating workers’ perceptions and experience and by emphasizing workers’ involvement in tandem with company commitment to develop safety training.

Soil liquefaction continues to be one of the leading causes of ground failure during earthquakes, resulting in significant damage to infrastructure around the world. The study presented herein aims to develop improved methodologies for predicting liquefaction triggering and the consequent damage potential such that the impacts of liquefaction on natural and built environment can be minimized. Towards this end, several research tasks are undertaken, with the primary focus being the development of a framework that consistently and sufficiently accounts for the mechanics of liquefaction triggering and surface manifestation. The four main contributions of this study include: (1) development of a framework for selecting an optimal factor of safety (FS) threshold for decision making based on project-specific costs of mispredicting liquefaction triggering, wherein the existing stress-based "simplified" model is used to predict liquefaction triggering; (2) rigorous investigation of manifestation severity index (MSI) thresholds for distinguishing cases with and without manifestation as a function of the average inferred soil-type within a soil profile, which may be employed to more accurately estimate liquefaction damage potential at sites having high fines-content, high plasticity soils; (3) development of a new manifestation model, termed Ishihara-inspired Liquefaction Severity Number (LSNish), that more fully accounts for the effects of non-liquefiable crust thickness and the effects of contractive/dilative tendencies of soil on the occurrence and severity of manifestation; and (4) development of a framework for deriving a "true" liquefaction triggering curve that is consistent with a defined manifestation model such that factors influential to triggering and manifestation are handled more rationally and consistently. While this study represents significant conceptual advance in how risk due to liquefaction is evaluated, additional work will be needed to further improve and validate the methodologies presented herein. / Doctor of Philosophy / Soil liquefaction continues to be one of the leading causes of ground failure during earthquakes, resulting in significant damage to infrastructure around the world (e.g., the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence in New Zealand, 2010 Maule earthquake in Chile, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan). Soil liquefaction refers to a condition wherein saturated sandy soil loses strength as a result of earthquake shaking. Surface manifestations of liquefaction include features that are visible at the ground surface such as sand boils, ejecta, cracks, and settlement. The severity of manifestation is often used as a proxy for damage potential of liquefaction. The overarching objective of this dissertation is to develop improved models for predicting triggering (i.e., occurrence) and surface manifestation of liquefaction such that the impacts of liquefaction on the natural and built environment can be minimized. Towards this end, this dissertation makes the following main contributions: (1) development of an approach for selecting an appropriate factor of safety (FS) against liquefaction for decision making based on project-specific consequences, or costs of mispredicting liquefaction; (2) development of an approach that allows better interpretations of predictions of manifestation severity made by the existing models in profiles having high fines-content, high plasticity soil strata (e.g., clayey and silty soils), given that the models perform poorly in such conditions; (3) development of a new model for predicting the severity of manifestation that more fully accounts for factors controlling manifestation; and (4) development of a framework for predicting liquefaction triggering and surface manifestation such that the distinct factors influential to each phenomenon are handled more rationally and consistently.