Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Using Chronicling America’S Images To Explore Digitized Historic Newspapers & Imagine Alternative Futures, Elizabeth Lorang, Leen-Kiat Soh

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

This presentation situates the work of the Aida team broadly as well as hinges this work on some very specific challenges for digital libraries. In doing so demonstrate the many types of questions and domains to be explored in digitized newspapers.

Farm Location Influence On The Optimal Crop Insurance And Pre-Harvest Hedging Level, Cory Walters

Cornhusker Economics

Improving farm financial health can come from improving the understanding of the market forces influencing the optimal crop insurance contract and preharvest hedging risk management tools. The biggest challenge for farmers is the difficulty of assessing risk since experiencing risk, is by default, rare. Additionally, farmers receive advice about which crop insurance plan they should purchase or how much pre-harvest hedging they should do from sources, such as farm magazines, that likely do not consider the differences in individual risk exposure. Following the advice of such sources could result in producers being inadvertently exposed to more risk. A producer’s location …

Facilitating And Improving Environmental Research Data Repository Interoperability, Corinna Gries, Amber Budden, Christine Laney, Margaret O’Brien, Mark Servilla, Wade Sheldon, Kristin Vanderbilt, Dave Vieglais

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Environmental research data repositories provide much needed services for data preservation and data dissemination to diverse communities with domain specific or programmatic data needs and standards. Due to independent development these repositories serve their communities well, but were developed with different technologies, data models and using different ontologies. Hence, the effectiveness and efficiency of these services can be vastly improved if repositories work together adhering to a shared community platform that focuses on the implementation of agreed upon standards and best practices for curation and dissemination of data. Such a community platform drives forward the convergence of technologies and practices …

The Corn/Soybean Rotation And Profitability, Matthew Stockton, Devin Broadhead

Cornhusker Economics

One of the most basic questions farmers must answer on an annual basis is what to plant. In some cases this is simply a choice among cultivars in others it is a choice among different crop types. In Nebraska the choice may vary considerably since many different crop types are grown. This discussion focuses on the factors that affect profitability, which are created by both biology and economics, and how that might be used to make the best crop rotation selection between corn and soybean cropping systems.

Searching Images And The Meaning Of Alarm Calls, Alan B. Bond

Alan Bond Publications

The snake alarm call of Japanese tits prompts nesting adults to search for and mob the reptile until it is driven away. From playback experiments, Suzuki (2018) has inferred that the call provides an associative cue, evoking a searching image of the salient visual features of the predator—a novel approach to exploring visual attention and vocal communication in the wild.

Digital Commons A National Leader With 50-Million Downloads

Institutional Repository Information

Nebraska's Digital Commons repository features an interactive map that shows paper downloads in real-time. The site recently surpassed the 50 million download mark. The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Digital Commons has grown to rank among the nation’s most accessed online repositories of research materials.

Featuring 100,000 full text items supplied by Nebraska faculty, staff and students, the Digital Commons surpassed the 50-million download mark on Sept. 14. In a survey of other leading online repositories managed by other universities, the total downloads from Digital Commons ranks as the top site in the nation. The milestone was reached through the stewardship of …

Using Implementation Science To Strengthen The Child Welfare Workforce, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD is using implementation science to strengthen the child welfare workforce in eight child welfare agencies across the U.S. According to a synthesis of the literature, implementation can be defined as a specified set of activities designed to put into practice and activity or program of known dimensions. The QIC-WD is using the implementation science framework developed by NIRN and the guide created by the Permanency Innovations Initiative to support our sites through the stages of implementation: Exploration, Installation, Initial Implementation, and Full Implementation as described below. The QIC-WD knows that high quality implementation of a selected intervention is …

Nebraska Business And Consumer Confidence Indexes: September 12, 2018, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Consumer and business confidence diverged in Nebraska during August 2018. The Business Confidence Index – Nebraska (BCI-N) rose from 106.4 in July to 110.4 In August but the Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) fell, dropping from 101.9 in July to 100.2 in August. Business confidence remains well above the neutral level of 100, but consumer confidence is best described as neutral. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, customer demand was mentioned by 26 percent of respondents, while the availability and quality of labor was mentioned by 24 percent, 13 percent mentioned competition from other businesses, …

Importance Of Being Digital Ready – What Does That Mean?, Charlotte Narjes

Cornhusker Economics

Communities often determine if they are digital ready on whether or not high speed internet is available. The conversation then focuses on who has high speed internet and who does not. Hence, the divide. High speed internet is an important factor on whether or not a community can be competitive in a global market. But, it is not the only digital-ready factor necessary to compete in a global economy. One challenge of focusing on the divide is that assumptions are made that individuals do not have skills in rural areas to use technology and, that these rural residents may not …

Open Access At Mit And Beyond: A White Paper Of The Mit Ad Hoc Task Force On Open Access To Mit’S Research, Katharine Dunn, Hal Abelson, Chris Bourg, Ellen Finnie

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

MIT researchers, students, and staff have long valued and put into action MIT’s mission to generate and disseminate knowledge by openly and freely sharing research and educational materials. Indeed, the Institute has been at the forefront of the sharing culture: MIT launched OpenCourseWare (OCW), a free webbased publication of virtually all MIT course content in 2001; in 2002 released DSpace, an open-source platform for managing research materials and publications co-created by MIT Libraries staff; and adopted the first campus-wide faculty open access (OA) policy in the US in 2009.

Convening an open access task force was one of the 10 …

The Evolution Of Nebraska Corn Basis, Jessica J. Groskopf, Amanda Silva

Cornhusker Economics

In 2018 Nebraska farmers planted 9.7 million acres of corn, the most of any crop in the state. The primary uses for corn in the state are cattle feed and ethanol production. Nebraska currently has 25 ethanol plants producing around 2 billion gallons of ethanol annually. This capacity consumes approximately 40% of Nebraska’s annual corn production.

Individual And Community Quality Of Life In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: Nebraska Rural Poll Research Report 18-3, Rebecca Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph Cantrell, Brad Lubben, Larry J. Mcelravy Jr., Timothy Meyer

Rural Futures Institute: Publications

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Introduction

Trends in Community Ratings (1996–2018)

Community Change, 1996–2018

Expected Community Change Ten Years from Now: 2011–2018

Expected Destination of Those Planning to Move: 1998–2018

Proportions of Respondents Very or Somewhat Satisfied with Each Service, 1997–2018

The Community and Its Attributes in 2018

Perceptions of Community Change by Region

Expected Community Change in Ten Years by Community Size

Feelings of Community Powerlessness by Region

Satisfaction with Retail Shopping by Region

Satisfaction with Cost of Housing by Community Size

Satisfaction with Cellular Phone Service by Community Size

Opinions About Community

Change in Community Political Discussions during …

Qualitative Research On Youths’ Social Media Use: A Review Of The Literature, Mardi Schmeichel, Hilary E. Hughes, Mel Kutner

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In this article we explore how educational researchers report empirical qualitative research about young people’s social media use. We frame the overall study with an understanding that social media sites contribute to the production of neoliberal subjects, and we draw on Foucauldian discourse theories and the understanding that how researchers explain topics and concepts produces particular ways of thinking about the world while excluding others. Findings include that: (1) there is an absence of attention to the structure and function of social media platforms; (2) adolescents are positioned in problematic, developmental ways; and (3) the over-representation of girls and young …

Reformatting Files: Let's Talk About It, Blake Graham

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Any stage of genealogical research involves creating and collecting a large amount of digital files, and to ensure these files remain accessible, it's important to consider reformatting them regularly. Digital archivist Blake Graham will discuss at-risk and open file formats, as well as explain several techniques for reformatting common file types for longer accessibility.

Ageing: A Sin In Nigerian Society?, Raji Abdullateef, Sunkanmi Folorunsho, Adeshina Olawale, Raji Adeyemi

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ageing can be said to be a permanent and irreparable innate process determined by a reduction in mental and equally physical status of people. Due to multiple factors, this essential process and its significance vary significantly among individuals and across cultures. The phenomenon of ageing is not attracting the attention it deserves especially in the developing countries like Nigeria. Importantly, old people in Nigeria are facing many challenges ranging from financial and economic shortcomings, socio-cultural discriminations among others. The study set out to understand the challenges and prospects of ageing in Nigeria. The theory used to explain this is the …

Creating Dialogic Moments In Municipal Deliberation: The Case Of Recycling In Nebraska, Janell C. Walther

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Networked communication has changed the nature of the public sphere by making it more accessible to more people; however, the networked public sphere also creates issues such as echo chambers, information overload, and polarization. Further, use of algorithms that influence media consumption amplifies to role of information on social identity. This “infocentric identity” driven by algorithms may increase polarization among those interacting in the networked public sphere. Previous research indicates that municipalities are often insulated from such national-level polarization. However, given this infocentric identity, many municipalities may experience polarization to some degree. This study examines if , and how, municipal …

Exploring The Links Between Early Life And Young Adulthood Social Experiences And Men’S Later Life Psychobiology As Fathers, Mallika S. Sarma, Patty X. Kuo, Sonny Agustin Bechayda, Christopher W. Kuzawa, Lee T. Gettler

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

Early life cues of environmental harshness and unpredictability have been hypothesized to influence within-species variation in the timing of life history transitions and the dynamics of reproductive strategies, such as investments in mating and parenting. It is also believed that adolescence is an influential developmental period for male reproductive strategies, with those who achieve greater social and sexual success during that period maintaining faster life history strategies into adulthood. If correct, such early life and post-pubertal experiences could also help shape the psychobiological pathways that mediate reproductive strategies, including the well-documented physiological shifts that occur when some men become parents. …

Skills-Based Volunteering As Both Work And Not Work: A Tension-Centered Examination Of Constructions Of “Volunteer”, Sarah Steimel

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

The Corporation for National and Community Service defines professional skills-based community service as “the practice of using work-related knowledge and expertise in a volunteer opportunity.” Traditional definitions of volunteer work in organizational communication scholarship, however, are typically based on (1) the bifurcation between work and volunteer activity; (2) low barriers to volunteer entry and exit; (3) the lack of managerial power/control over volunteers; and (4) the altruistic focus of volunteer work. An analysis of interviews with 19 skills-based volunteers highlights the identity and role tensions inherent in professional volunteering and serves as the basis for a proposal for a new …

A Model For Farmer Support In Zimbabwe – Opportunity For Change, Brierly Kuhudzayi, Daniela Mettos

Cornhusker Economics

Community development refers to the collective action of a group of people to improve their quality of life or to fix a problem they face. It involves active participation by the people facing the problem. Input subsidy programs (ISPs) are commonly used in Sub-Saharan Africa as a strategy to achieve several development goals. They generally aim to improve the lives of poor subsistence-level farmers, improve agricultural output, and stimulate the economy. However, ISPs are not technically a community development tool because they are typically centrally planned and top-down in nature.

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: August 22, 2018, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) 1 was flat during July of 2018, rising by just 0.05%. A flat value for the LEI-N, which is designed to predict economic activity six months into the future, suggests that Nebraska economic growth will slow significantly at the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019. Business expectations were a positive component of the leading indicator. Respondents to the July Survey of Nebraska Business reported plans to increase both sales and employment at their businesses over the next six months. However, a rising U.S. dollar and a drop in building permits for …

Rural Sense: Value, Heritage, And Sensory Landscapes: Developing A Design-Oriented Approach To Mapping For Healthier Landscapes, Judith Van Der Elst, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Lily Díaz-Kommonen

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Landscape design needs a novel value system centred on human experience of the landscape rather than simply on economic value. Design-oriented research allows us to shift the focus from mechanistic paradigms towards new sensemaking approaches that value both the sensual and the cognitive in human experience. To move in this direction, we investigate cultural and natural aspects of sensory experience in rural landscapes, arguing that: (1) rural (non-urban) regions offer diverse sensory experiences for optimising human health; and (2) spatial interconnectedness between rural and urban areas means that healthy rural regions are critical for urban development. Our key argument is …

Economics Of Experimental Design: Finding The Optimal Design Of A Whole Field Randomized Experiment, Taro Mieno, David S. Bullock, Aolin Gong

Cornhusker Economics

An April 2017 Cornhusker Economics article Getting to Know Your Yield Response Better through Whole-field Randomized Experiments discussed a case study detailing a whole-field randomized agronomic experiment (nitrogen and seed rate). The study was conducted in Kentucky and funded through the USDA-NIFA Data Intensive Farm Management (DIFM) project. The project has so far resulted in more than 50 experiments across several states, including Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas, and Washington. The overarching goal of the project is to provide agricultural producers with the best input rate, variable or uniform, which maximizes their farm profits. This involves statistically estimating the crop response function …

Pre- And Post-Research Group Selection: Evolving Roles For Chemistry Librarians, Sarah Jeong, Kiyomi D. Deards

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

Librarian consultations with research groups, flipped classroom exercises, active learning, and Just-In-Time instruction sessions are increasing at public and private doctoral granting universities at a time when many library staffs are shrinking. As the needs and points of contact with graduate students evolve it will be critical for the depth of knowledge and resources of chemistry librarians to be understood and shared both in-person and on-demand online. This presentation will outline the strategies used to meet the evolving needs of chemistry graduate students as they move from pre-research group selection into established research groups.

The Rent’S Too High: Self-Archive For Fair Online Publication Costs, Robert Thibault, Amanda Macpherson, Stevan Harnad, Amir Raz

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

The main contributors of scientific knowledge—researchers—generally aim to disseminate their findings far and wide. And yet, publishing companies have largely kept these findings behind a paywall. With digital publication technology markedly reducing cost, this enduring wall seems disproportionate and unjustified; moreover, it has sparked a topical exchange concerning how to modernize academic publishing. This discussion, however, seems to focus on how to compensate major publishers for providing open access through a pay-to-publish model, in turn transferring financial burdens from libraries to authors and their funders. Large publishing companies, including Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, PLoS, and Frontiers, continue to earn exorbitant …

2018 Cash Lease Adjustments On Irrigation Equipment For Cropland Rental Arrangements In Nebraska, Jim Jansen, Jeffrey Stokes

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights Report 2017-2018 provides recent trends on land values and rental rates for landowners, tenants, and stakeholders. Each year the special feature section covers topics on new or emerging issues related to agricultural land in Nebraska. These topics reflect interest expressed by panel members and readership of the Nebraska Farm Real Estate Market Highlights Report. The special feature section in 2018 focuses on cash lease adjustments on irrigation equipment for cropland rental arrangements in Nebraska. Results from this special feature section of the survey are summarized in this article.

Financial Impact Of The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act On Ag Producers, Tina N. Barrett

Cornhusker Economics

The dust still hasn’t completely settled from the changes made in December of 2017 to the tax code by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), but we are starting to dig through the law to make some sense of what this will look like for ag producers. What we know for sure is that the changes are far reaching and complex. We also know that for most producers, the changes will result in a lower tax liability. The largest unknown is exactly how the new 199a deduction (20% passthrough) will need to be implemented. We are currently still waiting …

Variables Associated With Alcohol Consumption And Abstinence Among Young Adults In Central China, Ling Qian, Ian M. Newman, Lok-Wa Yuen, Duane F. Shell, Jingdong Xu

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of data gathered by personal interviews from a multistage random sample of 1640 residents aged 18–34 years in Wuhan, China. First, alcohol drinkers and abstainers were compared based on demographic, attitude, and belief variables. Next, the drinkers from the sample were classified into four groups based on frequency-quantity of alcohol use, and the frequency-quantity groups were compared on the same variables. For Abstainers versus Drinkers, we found no difference by age or gender in this sample. Married people and people with children were more likely to be abstainers. University-educated, currently-employed individuals in mid-level jobs …

Measuring Landscape Performance: Case Study Investigation, Hannah Michelle Lopresto, Brandon Zambrano, Catherine De Almeida

UCARE: Research Products

Participating in the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s 2018 Case Study Investigation has been an incredibly informative experience for our research team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We are eager to shine a spotlight on the landscape performance of two Great Plains projects: P Street Corridor, a revitalized downtown streetscape in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park, a waterfront redevelopment in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Working on the post-occupancy study of both projects has been extremely beneficial in understanding how reclaiming underutilized sites can create high-performing landscapes. Both are public projects in urban settings with primary goals of transforming formerly unpleasant, …

Nebraska Business And Consumer Confidence Indexes: August 3, 2018, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Business confidence fell in Nebraska during July 2018. The Business Confidence Index – Nebraska (BCI-N) fell from 115.4 in June to 106.4 In July. The Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) also fell, dropping from 103.9 in June to 101.9 in July. Both business and consumer confidence are above the neutral level of 100, but confidence in Nebraska is best described as solid rather than strong. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, customer demand was mentioned by 36 percent of respondents, while the availability and quality of labor was mentioned by 24 percent and 9 percent …

Are Biological Science Knowledge, Interests, And Science Identity Framed By Religious And Political Perspectives In The United States?, Joseph C. Jochman, Alexis Swendener, Julia Mcquillan, Luke Novack

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Science trust and views of science differ by political and religious orientations. In this study we examine whether political and religious perspectives are also associated with biological science knowledge, science interest, and general science identity. Results show that conservative Protestants have lower biological science knowledge than other religious groups on several specific topics. Party affiliation is associated with vaccine knowledge but not science interest and identity. Adjusting for demographic characteristics explains some political and religious group differences, but not all. We discuss implications regarding attention to potential political and religious framings of science topics in public education efforts.