Community Responses to Mass Casualty Events: A Mixed Method Approach

This dissertation explores how traits of a mass casualty event and community institutionalization affect how a community demonstrates solidarity after a mass casualty event. A systematic examination of mass casualty events along these lines has not been conducted before. Theoretically, individual helping behaviors like altruism help explain individual involvement in demonstrations of solidarity while solidarity and resilience help in explaining group behaviors. A typology is proposed that breaks up mass casualty events into four different types: terrorism, criminal, weather and accidents. These types of events make up the majority of non-war mass casualty events. Experimentally a sample of students is used to assess how individuals are likely to respond to mass casualty events by gauging how they would respond using five different types of demonstrations of solidarity. Findings suggest that victim type positively influences demonstrations of solidarity while casualty number and event type are only selectively influential. Two cases (Orlando, FL 2016 and San Bernardino, CA 2015) are used to test three hypotheses that are related to how a community demonstrates solidarity after a mass casualty event. Results indicate that victim type positively influences demonstrations of solidarity, particularly through the specific institutions within vulnerable communities that increased access to demonstrations. Additionally, increased institutionalization within the victim community also positively influences demonstrations of solidarity. Furthermore, results suggest that event specific traits do influence demonstrations of solidarity under certain circumstances. However, more empirical research is needed to examine how individuals respond and the exact processes available to communities that would aid in their recovery from such an event

Extending the late holocene tephrochronology of the central Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Tephrochronology, the reconstruction of past volcanic ash deposition, provides a valuable method for dating sediments and determining long-term volcanic history. Tephra layers are highly numerous in Alaska, but knowledge of their occurrence and distribution is incomplete. This study expands the regional tephrochronology for the Kenai Peninsula of southcentral Alaska by investigating the tephrostratigraphy of two peatland sites. We located seven visible tephras and seven microtephras and investigated the particle size and geochemistry of the visible tephras. Radiocarbon dates were used to estimate the timescale of each core. Geochemical comparison showed that the visible tephras originated from late Holocene eruptions of Augustine, Crater Peak-Mt. Spurr, and Hayes volcanoes. Some of the tephras had been documented previously, and these new findings expand their known range. Others represent eruptions not previously reported, including a Crater Peak-Mt. Spurr eruption around 430 cal. BP. The results provide new tephra data for the region, illustrate the spatial heterogeneity of tephra deposition, and show the potential of microtephras for expanding the regional tephra record

The ISCIP Analyst, Volume XII, Issue 1

This repository item contains a single issue of The ISCIP Analyst, an analytical review journal published from 1996 to 2010 by the Boston University Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy

The ISCIP Analyst, Volume XII, Issue 1

This repository item contains a single issue of The ISCIP Analyst, an analytical review journal published from 1996 to 2010 by the Boston University Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy

The ISCIP Analyst, Volume XII, Issue 1

This repository item contains a single issue of The ISCIP Analyst, an analytical review journal published from 1996 to 2010 by the Boston University Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy

The ISCIP Analyst, Volume XI, Issue 4

This repository item contains a single issue of The ISCIP Analyst, an analytical review journal published from 1996 to 2010 by the Boston University Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy

The ISCIP Analyst, Volume XII, Issue 2

This repository item contains a single issue of The ISCIP Analyst, an analytical review journal published from 1996 to 2010 by the Boston University Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy

The ISCIP Analyst, Volume XII, Issue 3

This repository item contains a single issue of The ISCIP Analyst, an analytical review journal published from 1996 to 2010 by the Boston University Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy

The ISCIP Analyst, Volume XII, Issue 2

This repository item contains a single issue of The ISCIP Analyst, an analytical review journal published from 1996 to 2010 by the Boston University Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy