Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Background And Legal Issues Related To Stem Cell Research, Jon O. Shimabukuro

Congressional Research Service Reports

In August 2001, President Bush announced that federal funds, with certain restrictions, may be used to conduct research on human embryonic stem cells. Federal research is limited to “the more than 60” existing stem cell lines that were derived (1) with the informed consent of the donors; (2) from excess embryos created solely for reproductive purposes; and (3) without any financial inducements to the donors. No federal funds may be used for the derivation or use of stem cell lines derived from newly destroyed embryos; the creation of any human embryos for research purposes; or cloning of human embryos for …

National Science Foundation: Major Research Equipment And Facility Construction, Christine M. Matthews

Congressional Research Service Reports

The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account of the National Science Foundation (NSF) supports the acquisition and construction of major research facilities and equipment that are to extend the boundaries of science, engineering, and technology. The facilities include telescopes, earth simulators, astronomical observatories, and mobile research platforms. Currently, the NSF provides approximately $1.0 billion annually in support of facilities and other infrastructure projects. While the NSF does not directly design or operate research facilities, it does have final responsibility for oversight and management. Questions have been raised by many in the scientific community concerning the adequacy of the …

September 2007 - Staff Meeting Agenda

ALEC Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

January 2007 - Staff Meeting Agenda

ALEC Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

Problematized Providing And Protecting: The Occupational Narrative Of The Working Class, Kristen Lucas

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

The daunting challenges of making ends meet can have serious implications for members of the working class, particularly in terms of dignity. The ability to provide is tied inextricably to personal dignity; threats to the ability to make ends meet are threats to dignity. For example, Riggs explains that, by and large, society imposes a mandate upon men that they fulfill the role of "breadwinner" by providing for their families financially. Due to societal pressures, the inability to fulfill breadwinner duties can have serious impacts on masculine identity for men (Buzzanell and Turner). Ongoing threats can damage self-esteem. In an …

The Impact Of The Atlantic Slave Trade On West Africa: Polygyny And Female Reproductive Success, Katherine Lamie

Nebraska Anthropologist

J.D. Fage (1969) and Patrick Manning (1981; 1990) examine demographic data from historical records, in the West African political and economic context, in order to formulate theories of the impact of the Atlantic slave trade on West African populations and social structure. However, Fage and Manning come to markedly different conclusions. Fage maintains that the intensification of polygyny in West Africa that accompanied the Atlantic slave trade preserved African populations. In contrast, Manning argues that intensified polygynous marriages on the West African coast decreased the fertility of female slaves, thereby depressing population growth and affecting traditional social structures. Manning later …

The Past Is How We Present It: Nationalism And Archaeology In Italy From Unification To Wwii, Andrew P. Mcfeaters

Nebraska Anthropologist

Between the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, Italian archaeology was greatly influenced by nationalism. The political use of archaeology by the Italian government can be seen in the years following unification and even more so when Benito Mussolini came to power, determined to make a new Italy modeled after the Roman Empire. He planned to do this by enforcing the adoption of ancient Roman culture, but also by resurrecting the Roman past through various archaeological projects to remind the Italians of their heritage. This goal guaranteed a nationalistic approach to the …

Cultural Mentoring At Lincoln North Star High School: A Case Study, Stephen Damm

Nebraska Anthropologist

Mentoring relationships are fraught with obstacles for both mentor and mentee. Despite challenges, these relationships provide assistance and guidance in ways not possible through other means. After the establishment of a theoretical framework for mentoring, the principles of community based participatory research(CBPR) are applied to a cross-cultural mentoring program between students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and students at North Star High School in Lincoln, Nebraska in an attempt to qualitatively analyze the program's benefits.

Bioprospecting And Biopiracy In Latin America: The Case Of Maca In Perú, Amanda J. Landon

Nebraska Anthropologist

Bioprospecting is a popular venture in Latin America due to the regions' high concentration of the world's biodiversity. This activity has an impact on the native peoples living in areas with potentially profitable plants. They can lose access to traditional plants and extraction processes when companies patent indigenous cultivars and knowledge. In many cases, they cannot patent their cultivars and knowledge before others due to cultural and monetary restrictions. In this paper, I examine the legal and cultural context surrounding the battle over Lepidium meyenii (maca) in Peru. Pure World, Inc., a United States pharmaceutical company, patented the extracts derived …

Nebraska Judictial Structure & Administration Task Force Final Report

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The Nebraska courts face a challenge shared by many state courts, determining the optimum number of judges needed to successfully do the work of the district, county and juvenile courts. Maintaining an adequate level of judicial resources is essential to effectively manage and resolve court business while providing meaningful access to the courts for the citizens of Nebraska. In order to meet these challenges, an objective assessment of the number and allocation of judges needed to handle caseloads is necessary. To this end, the Administrative Office of the Courts contracted with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) to conduct …

Perceptions Of Procedural And Distributive Justice In The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, Brian H. Bornstein, Susan Poser

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

The September l1th Victim Compensation Fund (the Fund) was created in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Much has been written about the Fund, both pro and con, in both popular media and scholarly literature. Perhaps the most widely used term in referring to the Fund is "unprecedented." The Fund is intriguing for many reasons, particularly for its public policy implications and its impact on the claimants themselves.

The federal government has never before provided compensation to victims of terrorism through a special master who had virtually unlimited discretion in determining awards. Consequently, this formal allocation of …

Toward Common Nomenclature And Definitions For Natural Science Professional Collections-Related Positions, Paisley S. Cato, Hugh H. Genoways

University of Nebraska State Museum: Programs Information

Analysis of recent literature and experience with professional positions in several institutions provided the basis for proposing a basic grouping of titles for positions relating to the natural sciences collections profession. Six groups ore proposed with recommendations for education, experience, knowledge, and skills to support the key responsibilities of the positions. Discussions and critiques of these groupings ore anticipated to refine and ultimately result in a standardized nomenclature for natural science collections-related positions.

Biodosepr-2006 Consensus Committee Report On Biodosimetric Methods To Evaluate Radiation Doses At Long Times After Exposure, Steven L. Simon, Ian Bailiff, André Bouville, Paola Fattibene, Ruth A. Kleinerman, David C. Lloyd, Stephen W.S. Mckeever, Alexander Romanyukha, Alexander V, Sevan’Kaev, James D. Tucker, Albrecht Wieser

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

The requirements for biodosimetric techniques used at long times after exposure, i.e., 6 months to more than 50 years, are unique compared to the requirements for methods used for immediate dose estimation. In addition to the fundamental requirement that the assay measures a physical or biologic change that is proportional to the energy absorbed, the signal must be highly stable over time to enable reasonably precise determinations of the absorbed dose decades later. The primary uses of these biodosimetric methods have been to support long-term health risk (epidemiologic) studies or to support compensation (damage) claims. For these reasons, the methods …

Renovating The Republic: Unified Germany Confronts Its History – Both Deep And Recent – As It Defines Itself For The 21st Century, Katie Backman, Joel Gehringer, Kyle Harpster, Katelyn Kerkhove, Tiffany Lee, Hilary Stohs-Krause, Teresa Prince, Matt Eichinger, Emily Ingram, Tanna Kimmerling, Heather Price, Ewelina Skaza, Brady Jones, Nels Sorensen Jr., Stephanie Sparks, Rachel Anderson, Megan Carrick, Justin Petersen, Chris Welch, Timothy G. Anderson, Charlyne Berens, Nancy Anderson, Frauke Hachtmann, Bernard Mccoy, Michael Farrell, Bruce Thorson, Mr Hahn

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Student Media

Germany and America go way back.

German soldiers fought in the American Revolutionary War, and German settlers already had begun finding their way to America before the colonies became a nation. By the 1850s, many Germans had settled in the Midwest, and they followed the frontier west to the Great Plains. Germans were the largest group of immigrants arriving in Nebraska between 1854 and 1894, and by 1900, almost 20 percent of the state was first- and second-generation Germans.

For the past year, a group of University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism students has closely examined this foreign country that, perhaps more …

Child Sexual Abuse, David J. Hansen, Kathryn R. Wilson

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although definitions can vary across legal, clinical, and research contexts, sexual abuse is commonly defined as sexual acts between a youth and an older person (e.g., by 5 years or more) in which the dominance of the older person is used to exploit or coerce the youth. Behaviors may include noncontact (e.g., exposure) and contact (e.g., intercourse) offenses.

Working Alliance For Clients With Social Anxiety Disorder: Relationship With Session Helpfulness And Within-Session Habituation, Sarah A. Hayes, Debra A. Hope, Melanie M. Vandyke, Richard G. Heimberg

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

It has been suggested that a strong working alliance encourages clients to take risks during therapy (Raue, Castonguay, & Goldfried, 1993). This encouragement may be important for clients who fear negative evaluations as they engage in risk-taking elements of therapy. This study examined the relationship between working alliance, session helpfulness, and measures of emotional processing in 18 clients undergoing cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder. Results indicate a positive correlation between client-rated, but not observer-rated, working alliance and session helpfulness. Moderate levels of working alliance were associated with higher initial anxiety and deeper within-session habituation. Overall, a strong …

Mediating Social Anxiety And Disordered Eating: The Role Of Expressive Suppression, Carmen P. Mclean, Nathan A. Miller, Debra A. Hope

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Social anxiety and disordered eating frequently overlap, and evidence suggests that emotional suppression may be an important mediating factor. The present study examines the relationships among social anxiety, emotional suppression, and disordered eating in a nonclinical sample of 160 undergraduate women. Participants completed self-report measures for social anxiety, disordered eating, expressive suppression, depression, and negative affect. Results from mediation analyses indicate that the relationship between social anxiety and disordered eating is fully mediated by expressive suppression. Findings are consistent with a displacement theory in which unexpressed negative affect is shifted toward the body, thereby promoting symptoms of disordered eating.

Multifunctional Rural Landscapes: Economic, Environmental, Policy, And Social Impacts Of Land Use Changes In Nebraska, Twyla M. Hansen, Charles A. Francis, J. Dixon Esseks, J. Allen Williams Jr.

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The conversion of farmland near cities to other human uses is a global trend that challenges our long-term capacity to provide food, fiber, and ecosystem services to a growing world population. If current trends continue in the United States, the population will reach 450 million by the year 2050. At the same time, an accelerating change in land use will reduce today’s two acres per person of farmland to less than one acre per person. This is scarcely enough to produce food for our domestic population, without any food available for export – even assuming advances in technology. We need …

Human Modifications To The Landscape Of Hunt And Sheep Mountains, Wyoming: Exploring Socially Constructed Space, Ralph J. Hartley

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Abstract The cultural topography of two adjacent mountain tops in the northern Bighorn mountain range of the state of Wyoming, USA, is examined through several field and computer aided techniques. Socially constructed space, as reflected in cumulative architectural features through time, was initially revealed by high resolution aerial photography of the mountain tops. Features observed included clusters of stone circles, solitary rock structures commonly known as vision quests, and various sized rock cairns. Field mapping of all features with high resolution GPS allowed exploratory analysis of spatial relationships of stone circles using categorical data and tessellation models in GIS. The …

Houses Great And Small: Reevaluating The 'House' In Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Carrie Heitman

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

In recent years, a growing number of archaeologists have explored the potential of expanding Lévi-Strauss’ concept of house societies to better understand specific archaeological contexts. Looking specifically at the classificatory distinction between “great houses” and “small houses” within Chaco Canyon (A.D. 850–1180), I suggest this theoretical model might yield new insights with regard to four symbolic dimensions of house construction: the use of wood, directional offerings, resurfacing practices, and the bones of ancestors. Using Puebloan ethnographic literature and cross-cultural comparisons, I suggest a house model analysis may serve to integrate anomalous “ceremonial” dimensions of house construction in an effort to …

Howard, George Elliott (1849-1928), Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

George Elliott Howard, a distinguished social scientist trained initially in history, rose to the presidency of the American Sociological Society in 1917. Howard earned the A.B. in 1876 at the University of Nebraska. Following two years of advanced study in Germany, Howard joined the Nebraska faculty in 1879. Howard's most prominent Nebraska student from this period, Amos Griswold Warner, later wrote American Charities (1894) - a standard classic in the field. Howard was named to the prestigious "First Faculty" of Stanford University in 1891.

Victimization And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Runaway And Homeless Adolescents, Les B. Whitbeck, Dan R. Hoyt, Kurt Johnson, Xiaojin Chen

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This article presents lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates and comorbidity for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among a sample of 428 homeless and runaway adolescents. Data are from baseline interviews of a longitudinal diagnostic study of 428 (187 males; 241 females) homeless and runaway adolescents aged 16-19 years (mean age = 17.4 years, SD = 1.05). The data were collected by full-time street interviewers on the streets and in shelters in eight Midwestern cities of various populations. About onethird (35.5%) of the runaways met lifetime criteria for PTSD and 16.1% met 12-month criteria for the disorder. More than 90% of the …

Sexual Health Of Homeless Youth: Prevalence And Correlates Of Sexually Transmissible Infections, Kimberly A. Tyler, Les B. Whitbeck, Xiaojin Chen, Kurt Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background: The study examined risk factors for having ever contracted sexually transmissible infections (STI) among a high-risk sample in midwestern USA.

Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted among 428 homeless youth aged 16–19 years. Assessed correlates included child maltreatment, street exposure, sexual histories, street experiences and substance use.

Results: Multivariate analyses revealed that males were 86% less likely to have had STI compared with females (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.14; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.06–0.31). Blacks were almost four times more likely (AOR = 3.71; 95% CI = 1.80–7.63) and other races were over …

Overcoming The United States' Policy On The Exclusion Of Hivpositive Noncitizens: How Asylum Cases Are Beginning To Open Previously Locked Doors, Amy Vaughn

Nebraska Anthropologist

In 1987, the United States Congress enacted a policy that prohibited HIV-positive noncitizens from entering the United States for both temporary visits and immigration. Nearly two decades later, the policy still stands, making the United States one of only a handful of countries that still enforces such an exclusionary policy. Several international health organizations, including the World Health Organization, have condemned the HIV ban as "irrational and without public health justification" (Goldberg 1998). In 1993, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services attempted to remove HIV from the exclusion list based on the fact that it is not transmitted …

It Takes Time: Impacts Of Early Head Start That Lead To Reductions In Maternal Depression Two Years Later, Rachel Chazan-Cohen, Catherine Ayoub, Barbara Alexander Pan, Lori Roggman, Helen Raikes, Lorraine Mckelvey, Leanne Whiteside-Mansell, Andrea Hart

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, a random-assignment evaluation, found a broad pattern of positive impacts for children and families. However, there were no program impacts on depression or use of mental health services by the time children reached age 3, at the end of the Early Head Start (EHS) program. This paper presents recent findings from the follow-up study in the spring prior to the children entering kindergarten, when a positive program impact emerged for reducing maternal depression. Results show that earlier program impacts on children and parents (when children were 2 and 3 years of age) …

Culture-Related Strengths Among Latin American Families: A Case Study Of Brazil, Gustavo Carlo, Silvia Koller, Marcela Raffaelli, Maria Rosario De Guzman

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

We provide an analysis of culturally-specific strength characteristics associated with families in Brazil. The focus is on familism and familial interdependence, the role of the extended family, cooperative and prosocial tendencies, a collective orientation, and the closing gender gap. The article is divided into four sections. First, we provide some background information on the demographics and history of Brazil. Second, the family strength characteristics are discussed. Third, case studies are briefly presented to illustrate the protective role of the characteristics. And fourth, we discuss the implications of the strengths-based approach to studying families for theories, research, and program development.

Rhetorical Counterinsurgency: The Fbi And The American Indian Movement, Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

In 2007, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Joseph H. and John M. Trimbach published a tell-all book to expose the crimes of American Indian Movement (AIM) and dispel contemporary myths about Bureau conspiracies against Indian activists. The book provides an insiders’ account of the agents’ participation in the investigation of AIM and attempts to correct what they characterize as popular revisionist history accusing the FBI of gross injustices against Indian Country. The agents argue that as far as AIM is concerned, in the halls of academia, “There is a market for blurring the historical lines between fact and fiction” (2007, …

Possible Use Of Foresight, Understanding, And Planning By Wolves Hunting Muskoxen, L. David Mech

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

On Ellesmere Island in 2006, arctic wolves (Canis lupus arctos) were observed making a two-pronged approach to a herd of muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) and, on another occasion, ambushing muskoxen. Both observations seemed to provide evidence that the wolves were using foresight, understanding, and planning. Although the possible use of insight and purposiveness has been documented in captive wolves, the present report is one of the few to document the possibility that freeranging wolves use these other three mental processes.

En 2006, sur l’île Ellesmere, des loups arctiques (Canis lupus arctos) ont été observés en …

Annual Arctic Wolf Pack Size Related To Arctic Hare Numbers, L. David Mech

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

During the summers of 2000 through 2006, I counted arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos) pups and adults in a pack, arctic hares (Lepus arcticus) along a 9 km index route in the area, and muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) in a 250 km² part of the area near Eureka (80° N, 86° W), Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. Adult wolf numbers did not correlate with muskox numbers, but they were positively related (r² = 0.89; p < 0.01) to an arctic hare index. This is the first report relating wolf numbers to non-ungulate prey.

Pendant les étés 2000 à 2006, j’ai compté les jeunes loups arctiques et les adultes (Canis lupus arctos …

Personal, Interpersonal, And Political Temperaments, John Alford, John R. Hibbing

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Are political liberals generous? Are political conservatives conscientious? Are generous people personally agreeable? Research in behavioral genetics and elsewhere increasingly indicates a biological basis for the manner in which people behave in personal, interpersonal, and political situations, but this biological basis does not mean behavior in these three very different contexts is correlated. In this article, using an original data set obtained from nearly three hundred subjects, the authors are able to test for the degree to which personal, interpersonal, and political temperaments are related. As expected, the overall correlations are quite low. Standard personality traits do not predict political …