The Effects of Expectancy Disconfirmation on Outcome Satisfaction in Police-Citizen Encounters

This study tests the expectancy disconfirmation model using survey data from citizens who recently had police encounters. We find support for the expectancy disconfirmation model\u27s primary hypothesis that increased disparity between expectations of police performance and actual service inversely affects citizen satisfaction with the way the police handle encounters. This finding persists for both voluntary (e.g. breaking and entering victims) and involuntary (e.g. traffic citations) police encounters. Our results also suggest that the scope of the expectancy disconfirmation model is limited. For example, the disparity between expectations and actual service is not correlated with citizen satisfaction with the police in general. Overall, the results show that the expectancy disconfirmation model is useful in that it provides conceptual guidance in an area of research that has been relatively void of theory, and can also help identify needed changes in police practices

Natural Amenities and Rural Development: A Multilevel Analysis of Regional Trends and Local Patterns

As rural communities began seeing increased rates of growth following the rural rebound of the 1970’s, many studies have examined the causes and consequences of this shift through the lens of regional amenities and migration trends. Additionally, as development patterns have moved outwards from concentrated growth in urban areas to sprawling development at the rural-urban fringe, many studies have examined the locations of rural development in relation to open space and the amenities it provides. However, examinations of the relationship between these two processes have been severely lacking in the field of land use studies, despite widespread acknowledgement that the scale of analysis influences observed patterns and conclusions reached. Therefore, this analysis implements a multilevel random intercept probit model relating fine-scale development patterns to natural amenities and accessibility characteristics measured at that level, as well as community-wide measures of natural amenities, accessibility, and socioeconomic characteristics. In doing so, this analysis finds a number of natural amenities that significantly influence which communities see development, amenities that influence where that development occurs around communities, as well as some amenities that play significant roles in both processes. Furthermore, the findings presented here suggest that natural amenities have a stronger influence on development in New West communities as well as less remote communities. Combined, these results provide important insights for rural communities trying to capitalize on the benefits of economic growth while conserving the ecological integrity of the landscape that is driving that growth

Screaming in Silence

This thesis project examines the fourth writing genre, creative non-fiction; memoir specifically. The introductory chapter considers the structural components, or lack thereof, in this type of creative non-fiction essay. Point of view and its various merits in memoir writing are discussed as well as the clarifying question of “subjective truth” from the writer’s perspective. The remaining chapters are original, creative non-fiction essays; memoir crafted from the author’s life that explore childhood, family dynamics, and coming-of-age

The Expressive Power of Abstract-State Machines

Conventional computation models assume symbolic representations of states and actions. Gurevich's Abstract-State Machine model takes a more liberal position: Any mathematical structure may serve as a state. This results in "a computational model that is more powerful and more universal than standard computation models". We characterize the Abstract-State Machine model as a special class of transition systems that widely extends the class of "computable" transition systems. This characterization is based on a fundamental Theorem of Y. Gurevich

A New Home: An Empirical Analysis of Pull Factor Influences on EU Asylum Applications

As Europe continues to face the largest flood of immigration since World War II, the foundational solidarity of the European Union (EU) is being severely strained under the burden of allocating such a massive population influx and the subsequent issues resulting from complex and divisive notions of national responsibility, cooperation, and integration. In struggling to find a cooperative solution to this refugee crisis, a greater understanding of the destination country characteristics that shape the asylum application preference would be highly beneficial for policy makers and EU citizens. In examining the relative influences of these pull factors I implement a fixed effects regression model in which I analyze the response of monthly asylum applications over the period of 2008-2014 to differences in destination country characteristics such as income opportunities, welfare benefits, the unemployment rate, the strength of various production sectors, and the existing immigrant stock. In line with previous literature examining migration preference, I find that network effects exert a strong upward pressure while the unemployment rate exerts a downward pressure. However, my results show that a country’s welfare benefits exert a statistically significant and stronger upward pressure than previously found. These findings shed light on the lack of convergence in asylum applications as they indicate asylum seekers are influenced by the economic conditions of destination countries, although historical migration networks tend to play a larger role in the destination decision. As the pull factors I found to be significant are difficult for policy makers to influence, my results suggest policy makers should instead focus on EU-wide programs such as Tradable Immigration Quotas (TIQ)’s, rather than decreasing a country’s relative attractiveness

A Model for Understanding the Complexity of Repatriation into Organizations: A Systems Approach

The expatriation/repatriation cycle is a complex system, only parts of which have been studied. Repatriation occurs within a larger system that includes the employee, his or her family, the organization’s business dynamic and Human Resources practices, and its culture. This article examines this system, reviewing key organizational factors affecting repatriation, including organizational design, development, and culture, as well as the neglected role of Human Resources management. Theories around professional employee turnover that link to the repatriate experience are also explored. The author proposes a model for understanding the complexity of repatriation. Gaps in current understanding are discussed as a basis for suggesting several subjects for future studies. These include research on the experience of repatriates who leave their organization after returning; the need for looking at repatriation perspectives of line management and HR; and the development of better understanding that could assist organizations in anticipating and, perhaps, preventing turnover of repatriated personnel

A true concurrent model of smart contracts executions

The development of blockchain technologies has enabled the trustless execution of so-called smart contracts, i.e. programs that regulate the exchange of assets (e.g., cryptocurrency) between users. In a decentralized blockchain, the state of smart contracts is collaboratively maintained by a peer-to-peer network of mutually untrusted nodes, which collect from users a set of transactions (representing the required actions on contracts), and execute them in some order. Once this sequence of transactions is appended to the blockchain, the other nodes validate it, re-executing the transactions in the same order. The serial execution of transactions does not take advantage of the multi-core architecture of modern processors, so contributing to limit the throughput. In this paper we propose a true concurrent model of smart contract execution. Based on this, we show how static analysis of smart contracts can be exploited to parallelize the execution of transactions.Comment: Full version of the paper presented at COORDINATION 202