Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Look Into Dhs-Sponsored Community Programs, Daniel Cook

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The Center for Prevention Partnership and Programs (CP3) is the arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that works to prevent acts of targeted violence and terrorism (TVT). This is accomplished through partnering with local and state organizations, law enforcement agencies, and universities to construct prevention frameworks, best practice reviews, and innovative solutions to attempt to make the United States safer from individuals who are at risk for radicalizing toward violence. For these organizations, CP3 provides technical, financial, and educational assistance. Beyond that, community partners work to find develop programs and execute solutions that are specific to the needs …

Does Institution Matter? An Analysis Of Two Types Of Public Transit Agencies In Midwest, Minshuai Ding

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This study explores the consequence of using special-purpose and general-purpose forms of governments in public transit services. Since the 1950s, this form of local government has become prevalent yet remains an under-researched topic in the field of public administration. This study compares the performance of special-purpose and general-purpose governments in the field of public transit in the Midwest area of the United States. Performance in this context comprises four groups of variables: efficiency, effectiveness, solvency, and social responsiveness. Pooled cross-sectional data from the National Transit Database (NTD) of the agencies and census data from 2009-2018 are used for multilevel modeling …

The Vocation Of Public Service: A Normative Conceptualization Of Work In Public Service, Morgan Vogel

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This research aims to develop an understandable and useful discourse for advancing work in public administration as a vocation among scholars and practitioners. The overarching research question guiding this study is: How do city managers understand and experience vocation? Adopting a narrative inquiry qualitative approach, this study uses semi-structured interviews to hear stories city managers tell about vocation, how they recognize a sense of vocation in colleagues, and what a discourse of vocation means for the field of public administration more broadly. This research serves as an exploratory study on work in public administration as a vocation and, thus, is …

Racial Equality And Social Equity In International Settings: The Anti-Discriminatory Perspective In Mexico, Felipe Blanco

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Among the many elements that make social equity a pillar of public administration in the US, racial equity and equality have had a prominent role. The literature around the topic recognizes that race and ethnicity are socially constructed categories shaped by specific socio-historical contexts and that race, as a nervous area of government is a global phenomenon. However, understanding of the social construction of race and social equity in other national settings remains fairly limited. This research contributes to closing this gap by studying the case of the National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Discrimination (CONAPRED), a Mexican federal organization …

Trading Camouflage For Kalashnikovs: The Radicalization Of U.S. Military Members Into Salafi-Jihadist Organization And Their Insider Threat, Lauren Zimmerman

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This study examines those identified as homegrown violent extremists within the U.S. who also had experience with the U.S. military and the possible pathways to extremism they took. This research relies on the Salafi Jihadist Inspired Profiles and Radicalization Clusters (SPARC) study. By applying Kruglanski’s 3N theory of radicalization to a sample of 23 subjects who had joined, or attempted to join, the U.S. military, this study finds that most of those with military experience are radicalized by formal, organization-led networks and are motivated by social significance loss, suggesting that they have moved their personal identification from the U.S. military …

Mapping Pressure Points In The U.S. Healthcare System: A Stakeholder Analysis Of Healthcare Industries And Healthcare Cost Inflation, Gabriella Rizzo

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Compared to other high-income countries, U.S. healthcare has similar utilization rates but much higher costs, and with mixed results on quality measures (Papanicolas, Woskie, & Jha, 2018). These patterns have led to ongoing national discussions about how to make healthcare affordable for patients. A better understanding of industry dynamics involved in rising healthcare costs could be instrumental in creating realistic solutions to control them. However, consideration of healthcare spending tends to ignore how complex interrelatedness of healthcare industries contributes to the problem of healthcare cost inflation. The nature of these network connections has vital implications for industry commitment to solving …

Pharmacist-Prescribed Birth Control: A Policy Analysis, Brianna Full

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Although unintended pregnancy in the United States has steadily decreased from 2008, rates are still unacceptably high as almost half (42%) of all pregnancies are not wanted or timed correctly (Finer & Zolna). In 2011, 2.8 million of the 6.1 million pregnancies in the United States each year were unintended. Public health professionals are worried about unintended pregnancy because research shows that unwanted or mistimed pregnancies come with associations to adverse maternal and child health outcomes, such as delayed prenatal care, premature birth, and negative physical and mental health effects for children (Frost, Frohwirth & Zolna, 2016). Also, two-thirds (68%) …

Identifying The Call To Public Service: Exploring The Relationship Between Public Service Motivation And Calling, Morgan Vogel

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This study explores the distinctions between public service motivation and the calling to public service and, specifically, how public servants describe these concepts. Using the calling and public service motivation framework put forth by Thompson and Christensen (2018), 31 semi-structured interviews were conducted with city government employees in the Omaha, Nebraska metro area. Findings indicate that the majority of participants identify with the ideas of both public service motivation and calling. In particular, findings suggest that the intensity, inevitability, and process of discovery dimensions are especially interesting in understanding how public servants describe public service motivation and calling. This research …

Protection Orders And Their Perceived Effectiveness - A Domestic Violence And Sexual Assault Crisis Center Program Evaluation, Shelby Connett

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This presentation showcases the program evaluation of the Spouse Abuse Sexual Assault (SASA) Crisis Center's legal advocacy program in Hastings, NE. The quantitative and qualitative research components assessed the effectiveness of protection orders of individuals receiving services from SASA's legal advocacy program. Results, recommendations, and limitations are discussed.

Advancing Women & Associated Populations: The Work Of Women's Foundations & Funds, Elizabeth May Gillespie

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This is my dissertation research, which is a landscape scan of all women’s foundations and funds in the U.S. Women’s foundations and funds, which expressly award grants to programs and organizations benefiting/advancing women and associated populations (girls, children and families), have grown in number and funding scope over the past five decades. These organizations award millions in grants each year as well as contribute resources and knowledge about the status of and issues facing women and associated populations. Yet, there is a gap in knowledge about these organizations and their work to advance women and associated populations socially, politically, and …

Today's Students, Tomorrow's Terrorists: An Analysis Of Education And Extremist Participation, Clara Braun

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

A growing number of studies have identified shared characteristics among homegrown violent extremists (HVEs). While these studies have focused on demographic characteristics such as age and marital status, research on the educational attainment of HVEs is underdeveloped. The current study utilizes general strain theory and examines the relationship between educational attainment and type of criminal participation using a sample of 215 HVEs who engaged in or were charged with extremist participation between 2011 and 2017. We utilized educational attainment as a measure of an individual’s strain to identify a relationship with their decision to engage in violent or nonviolent extremist …

The Opioid Crisis: Exploring The Effects On First Responders And Healthcare Professionals, Rachel Lubischer, Dawne Frain

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

In 2017, the National Department of Health and Human Services declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency (The White House, 2018). Although Nebraska ranks among the states with the lowest number of drug overdose deaths, rising opioid use creates safety concerns for first responders and healthcare professionals, and leads to strained resources in many jurisdictions. We hope to increase our audience’s knowledge on the opioid crisis, how it effects first responders and healthcare professionals, and pertinent policies and initiatives in Nebraska. Our audience will leave this presentation better equipped to initiate discussions with friends, family, and community members about …

Food Insecurity : The Student Experience, B.J. Fletcher

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Food insecurity exists on college campuses among college students. Prior studies have considered the prevalence of food insecurity among college students; this study aims to expand on these past studies by considering how college students experience food insecurity. The study takes a phenomenological approach to understand how students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha experience food insecurity, including the experiences and challenges students face when it comes to being food insecure and the barriers students face in addressing food insecurity. In-depth interviews with six students, ranging from undergraduate to doctoral level students, were conducted. Horizontalization, clusters of meanings, textural …

Learning Within The 311 Service Policy Community: Conceptual Framework And Case Study Of Kansas City 311 Program, Xian Gao

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The 311 non-emergency service system differs from traditional public service delivery in the unique emphasis on citizen participation and extensive use of data and technology. It is a policy community involves a diversity of actors, embraces the reactions among them, and cultivates necessary information, knowledge, and interests. Learning within the 311 service policy community is a process that the above resources of actors are devoted to the 311 system, in forms of service and information requests and relevant collaboration toward increased service efficiency and effectiveness. Previous scholarship on policy community and policy learning paid little attention to public service delivery …

Up In Flames: Criminal Expertise And Far-Left Extremism, Michael K. Logan

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This paper examines the decision-making processes of far-left extremists involved in arson and incendiary violence. The paper pays specific attention to the manner in which offenders draw upon prior knowledge and ‘expertise’ in planning and/or execution the attack. Drawing upon a sample of 195 self-reported communiques, the results suggest offenders rely on two types of criminal expertise to inform their decision to become involved in a violent act. First, perceptual expertise describes differential thinking patterns related to the crime setting. Second, procedural expertise involves the knowledge and skills aimed at enacting the offense itself. Overall, findings from this study suggest …

Is Poverty Colorblind? Implications Of Imagery Used By International Nongovernmental Organizations In The United States, Abhishek Bhati

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGOs) use images of the beneficiaries in their fundraising campaigns when soliciting donations. Often these images are negative and stereotype poor as victims and helpless. However, there is little empirical research to understand if such representation leads to stereotyping of the poor and subsequently contributes to racial biases. This paper aims at establishing this empirical link by answering the research question: Does the representation of beneficiaries by INGOs lead to stereotyping and racial biases. The study draws on data analysis of images from the 32 largest INGOs in the United States and experimental survey design to investigate …

Creativity In Two Types Of Violent Groups, Laramie Sproles

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Terrorism can be defined as a type of ideologically motivated violence that arises during asymmetrical conflict and has far-reaching psychological effects beyond the immediate target. This project seeks to isolate and examine one element of terrorism: ideologically-motivated violence. While malevolent innovation has been written about extensively over the past five years, little is known about correlates of creativity in actual violent individuals. At the broadest level, the current project focuses on personality profiles and creative problem solving of two different types of violent individuals. The goal of this study is to examine individual differences that characterize two types of violent …

Transforming Communities Through Policy: Bridging The Gap Between What We Know And What We Do, Danielle Galvin

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Abstract

Research findings are incorporated too slowly and inconsistently into social service practices. This gap between services and the research that informs them results in poorer outcomes for clients, and higher costs to taxpayers in the form of less effective treatments. Even evidence-based programs, if not delivered with fidelity to the research upon which they are based, can result in poor outcomes. The purpose of this study is to investigate solutions that support more rapid and effective implementation of research within agencies’ complex government, community, and organizational environments. The field of implementation science has emerged to study factors that influence …

The Assessment Of The Impacts Of Differently-Designed Tax And Expenditure Limitations (Tels) On Municipal Government Revenues: A Game Theoretic Approach, Sungho Park

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Nearly every state in the US imposes some form of limitation on local fiscal decisions – typically property taxes. The effects of tax and expenditure limitations (TELs) on fiscal outcomes have received significant attention by scholars, particularly since passage of California’s Proposition 13. The impact of TELs, however, remains an open empirical question, particularly at the municipal level. Do municipal governments with varying types of TELs, changing TEL structures, or no TELs experience different fiscal outcomes? Scholars and practitioners have attempted to answer these questions; however, the existing literature has at least two limitations. First, the extant literature fails to …