Recent negatively publicized police-citizen interactions in the media, followed by a subsequent rise in crime rates in the United States, has been named the Ferguson Effect. The Ferguson Effect has been explored by prominent scholars in the criminal justice community; however, little is known about how police officers in small police agencies perceive the Ferguson Effect. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of police officers regarding the Ferguson Effect in small police agencies, as well as police officers' perceptions of their own organizational justice. The theoretical framework for this study was Greenberg's theory of organizational justice. Research questions focused on exploring police officers' perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of the Ferguson Effect phenomenon and willingness to partner with the community. A qualitative phenomenological study design was employed, using purposeful random sampling and semistructured interviews of 9 active sworn law enforcement personnel in southcentral Virginia. Data were analyzed through In Vivo coding, pattern coding, and structural analysis utilizing NVivo 11 Pro. Themes included: (a) racial division, (b) rush to judgment, and (c) steadfast leadership. Findings indicated participants demanded clear and fair policies and procedures from leadership, increased effort of transparency in policing, feelings of racial tension, and the need to regain community trust post-Ferguson. Implications for social change include refinement and development of leadership training for police leadership and refinement in organizational policies that support fairness, community engagement, and community interaction.

Several questionable officer involved shootings and perceived abuses of authority disproportionately involving minority citizens have resulted in public outcry, protests, and nationwide scrutiny of police in recent years. The resulting police legitimacy crisis has prompted agencies to rapidly equip officers with body-worn video cameras (BWCs). BWC advocates lauded the findings of an early study that attributed significant reductions in use of force incidents and citizen complaints to the devices and it is this and a handful of other short-term studies upon which the claims of these benefits are predicated. However, subsequent research has produced mixed findings and the sustainability of any reductions remains questionable. The limited knowledge concerning the impact of BWCs on the aforementioned outcomes is problematic considering the potential negative impact of unrealistic expectations and the expense of BWC program maintenance. The objective of this dissertation is to address gaps in the extant research by exploring the impact of an incremental deployment of the devices on the frequency and severity of use of force incidents and the frequency and outcome of citizen complaints while controlling for staffing, volume of officer-initiated enforcement contacts, and the Ferguson incident. Utilizing 86-months of secondary data collected from the Newport News, Virginia Police Department (NNPD) a vector autoregressive multivariate time series analysis indicates that BWCs were a significant factor in a substantial sustained reduction in use of force and a substantial sustained increase in exonerated complaint dispositions at the NNPD.

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單變量c-特徵函數已被證明可處理一些難以使用傳統特徵函數解決的問題， 在本文中，我們首先提出其反演公式，透過此反演公式，我們獲得（1）Dirichlet隨機向量之線性組合的機率密度函數；（2）以一些有趣測度為參數之Ferguson-Dirichlet過程其隨機動差的機率密度函數；（3）Ferguson-Dirichlet過程之隨機泛函的Lebesgue積分表示式。 本文給予對稱分配之多變量c-特徵函數的新性質，透過這些性質，我們證明在任何$n$維球面上之Ferguson-Dirichlet過程其隨機均值是一對稱分配，並且我們亦獲得其確切的機率密度函數，此外，我們將這些結果推廣至任何n維橢球面上。 我們亦探討條件分配相容性的問題，這個問題在機率理論與貝式計算上有其重要性，我們提出其充要條件。當給定相容的條件分配時，我們不但解決相關聯合分配唯一性的問題，而且也提供方法去獲得所有可能的相關聯合分配，我們亦給予檢驗相容性、唯一性及建構機率密度函數的演算法。 透過相容性的相關理論，我們提出完整且清楚地統合性貝氏反演公式理論，並建構可應用於一般測度空間的廣義貝氏反演公式。此外，我們使用廣義貝氏反演公式提供一個配適機率密度函數的演算法，此演算法沒有疊代演算法（如Gibbs取樣法）的收斂問題。 / The univariate c-characteristic function has been shown to be important in cases that are hard to manage using the traditional characteristic function. In this thesis, we first give its inversion formulas. We then use them to obtain (1) the probability density functions (PDFs) of a linear combination of the components of a Dirichlet random vector; (2) the PDFs of random functionals of a Ferguson-Dirichlet process with some interesting parameter measures; (3) a Lebesgue integral expression of any random functional of the Ferguson-Dirichlet process. New properties of the multivariate c-characteristic function with a spherical distribution are given in this thesis. With them, we show that the random mean of a Ferguson-Dirichlet process over a spherical surface in n dimensions has a spherical distribution on the n-dimensional ball. Moreover, we derive its exact PDF. Furthermore, we generalize this result to any ellipsoidal surface in n-space. We also study the issue of compatibility for specified conditional distributions. This issue is important in probability theory and Bayesian computations. Several necessary and sufficient conditions for the compatibility are provided. We also address the problem of uniqueness of the associated joint distribution when the given conditionals are compatible. In addition, we provide a method to obtain all possible joint distributions that have the given compatible conditionals. Algorithms for checking the compatibility and the uniqueness, and for constructing all associated densities are also given. Through the related compatibility theorems, we provide a fully and cleanly unified theory of inverse Bayes formula (IBF) and construct a generalized IBF (GIBF) that is applicable in the more general measurable space. In addition, using the GIBF, we provide a marginal density fitting algorithm, which avoids the problems of convergence in iterative algorithm such as the Gibbs sampler.

In a global media environment characterized by change and conflict, narratives are especially useful to understand how the media form and distribute shared understanding of how the world works and who the important actors are. As the borders between local and global politics are blurred in the digital media landscape, protesters are in increased rate turning their placards to global broadcasters’ cameras, especially when political movements such as the U.S.-based Black Lives Matter movement get international counterparts. The scholarship concerned with the framework through which the media report protests argue the protest paradigm offers useful variables for the study of protests, while problematizing the lack of research on global broadcasting media. Global broadcasters, International Relations scholars argue, need to be understood as resources of soft power that distribute strategic narratives, but they have yet to develop a methodology for how broadcasts can be empirically studied. With this research gap as a point of departure, the chosen case study is the unrest in Ferguson in August 2014. A quantitative mapping and a comparative narrative analysis focusing on the narrative structure were conducted on 16 days of news bulletins from Al Jazeera English, BBC World News and RT. The results show several differences in the reports, the first concerns the amount of attention that was given to Ferguson by each broadcaster, where RT gave almost twice the amount of attention as the other two broadcasters. Further differences were found in the sources each broadcaster used and how they used violence as an entry-point to what their narratives where about, which in the case of AJE was the effects violence has on a society; BBCW’s narrative was of a political issue of high importance that concerns people of color; whereas RT’s narrative was about the militarization of the U.S. police force. The results imply the global broadcasters offer distinctive narratives, which through different storytelling techniques convey different attitudes and morals.

In 1994 Congress enacted the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which in part gave the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division (DOJCRD) the power to investigate local law enforcement agencies for Constitutional and civil rights violations. Researchers have found these investigations are expensive, time consuming, and highly intrusive to a law enforcement agency. To understand how these investigations are impacting communities, data were gathered on cities with local law enforcement agencies that have experienced an investigation by the DOJCRD. Using a quasi-experimental, multiple time-series research design with a paired samples t-test, the dependent variables (violent crime and arrest rates) were analyzed for any differences before and after the introduction of the independent variable (the commencement of a DOJCRD investigation). With an established a = .05, adjusting for non-reported crime, and comparing to a non-equivalent control variable (national crime rate), the research findings indicate increased violent crime with the commencement of these investigations. The results also show that arrest rates significantly decreased indicating the possibility of de-policing. The negative impact to communities with increased violent crime rates and decreased arrest rates calls into question the efficacy of DOJCRD investigations. By supporting the recommendation for Congress to repeal this power given to the DOJCRD, this research can lead to positive social change by preventing federal government intrusion into local government that is negatively impacting communities.

The study of flaked mammoth bone tools from the Late Pleistocene is a topic that has inspired great interest in the archaeological community for the last 40 years. The interpretation of evidence of culturally modified mammoth bone tools has varied widely across both time and space. At different times and in different places, flaked bone toolmaking has been interpreted across the geographic expanse of the North American continent, from Beringia to central Mexico, and through a vast timeframe, from 120,000 years ago, until as recently as 10,000 years ago. The study of these purported flaked bone tool assemblages has taken many forms, and has involved efforts to understand broken mammoth bone assemblages by drawing analogies to stone toolmaking strategies, by understanding the multitude of taphonomic processes that affect archaeological bone assemblages, and by attempting to differentiate the effects of natural and cultural processes. This thesis reports on a series of experiments designed to lend new actualistic evidence to the debate surrounding flaked bone toolmaking. These experiments include investigations into the effect of different environmental conditions on the degradation of bones, the flaking characteristics of both fresh and frozen bones, and the effect of rockfall as a taphonomic process on bones exposed to different real-world environments. These experiments, paired with a body of previous research, provide a basis in actualistic and taphonomic research that allows for the reassessment of archaeological and paleontological broken mammoth bone assemblages. This thesis includes the reassessment and detailed taphonomic analysis of four mammoth bone assemblages relevant to understanding cultural bone modification and the effect of non-cultural taphonomic processes. New interpretations of zooarchaeological assemblages from Lange/Ferguson (South Dakota, USA), Owl Cave (Idaho, USA), Inglewood (Maryland, USA), and Kent’s Cavern (Devon, UK) reveal new data that revise the understanding of the nature of these assemblages, and the effect of both natural and cultural bone fracturing agencies.

Nous étudions les propriétés probabilistes, trajectorielles et statistiques des processus stochastiques multistables, qui sont tangents en chaque point à un processus stable. Ils possèdent ainsi une intensité de sauts et une régularité locale qui varient au cours du temps. Nous nous intéressons dans un premier temps aux processus pouvant être définis par une moyenne mobile et possédant la propriété d'être localisables, c'est-à-dire d'être tangents en loi à un processus en chaque point. Des critères assurant la localisabilité, ainsi qu'une méthode de simulation de tels processus sont donnés. Nous proposons ensuite une nouvelle construction et des critères de localisabilité des processus multistables à l'aide d'une représentation de type Ferguson-Klass-LePage. Pour les processus obtenus, nous étudions certaines propriétés probabilistes et trajectorielles. En particulier, nous caractérisons le comportement asymptotique des accroissements des processus multistables, ainsi que leur régularité Höldérienne. Enfin, nous proposons des estimateurs de la fonction de stabilité et de la fonction de localisabilité. La consistance au sens de la convergence Lp est prouvée. Les performances des estimateurs sont illustrées sur des séries simulées suivant deux modèles : le mouvement de Lévy multistable et le mouvement linéaire multifractionnaire multistable.

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