Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Heroism Research: A Review Of Theories, Methods, Challenges, And Trends, Zeno E. Franco, Scott T. Allison, Elaine L. Kinsella, Ari Kohen, Matt Langdon, Philip G. Zimbardo

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Heroism as an expression of self-actualization and a pinnacle social state is of fundamental interest to humanistic psychology and the field more broadly. This review places the growing discussion on heroic action in a humanistic perspective, as heroism aligns with ethical self-actualization in its highest form, personal meaning making, and social good, and can also involve profound existential costs. This review is organized in four major sections: First, the historical and philosophical underpinnings of heroism are examined, moving from ancient Greco-Roman perspectives, to more modern interpretations of Continental philosophy, and to Freud and Le Bon. Second, the article summarizes in …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: December 16, 2016, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) 1 fell by 0.32% during November of 2016. The decline in the LEI-N, which predicts economic activity six months in the future, suggests that economic growth will be modest in Nebraska during the first half of 2017. Four of six components of the LEI-N were negative during November. Airline passenger counts and manufacturing hours both declined during the month. There also was another increase in the value of the U.S. dollar during November, a negative for export-oriented businesses in Nebraska. Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose during the month. Two components of the indicator …

Changes In Male Hunting Returns, Raymond B. Hames

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Research on changes in male hunting among hunter-gatherers addresses two important issues in early human evolution: the nature of the family and trade-offs in mating and parenting effort as well as the development of embodied capital. In the hunter-gatherer literature, there is a debate about the function of male hunting that has implications for understanding the role males play in the evolution of the pair bond. The traditional model argues that male hunting and other economic activities are forms of male provisioning or parenting effort designed to enhance a man’s fitness through his wife’s reproduction and the survivorship of their …

University Of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries Archives And Special Collections Organizational Analysis, Carol Pitts Diedrichs

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: White Papers

Libraries everywhere are undergoing tremendous transformation in staffing, services, and collections. Archives and special collections are growing in importance and are moving quickly from the perimeter to the center of library activities and services. The University of Nebraska Lincoln Libraries invited me to conduct and facilitate a 1.5 day workshop/retreat on trends and strategic goals/initiatives for archives and special collections including review of the current organizational structure, staffing and services. The workshop/retreat focused on the following goals:

To hone strategic goals for UNL Archives and Special Collections over the next 3-5 years including evaluation of related staffing needs;

To identify …

Defining Dimensions In Schizotypy: Factor Structure Replication And External Validation Of The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, Brief Revised Updated (Spq-Bru)., Elaina Montague

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Background: Schizotypy is a construct that captures quantitative dimensions of the psychosis continuum from clinical to non-clinical expressions. The purpose of this study was to determine the factor structure and criterion validity of a newly revised self-report measure, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire–Brief Revised Updated (SPQ-BRU; Davidson, Hoffman, & Spaulding, 2016) for predicting later cognitive-perceptual experiences in college undergraduates.

Method: The data analytic sample was comprised of 2,474 undergraduate students (female = 71.9%) attending a university in the Midwest. First, we aimed to identify a model of best fit by comparing latent measurement models of schizotypy using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). …

The Nmda Receptor Glun2c Subunit Controls Cortical Excitatoryinhibitory Balance, Neuronal Oscillations And Cognitive Function, Subhash C. Gupta, Aparna Ravikrishnan, Jinxu Liu, Zhihao Mao, Ratnamala Pavuluri, Brandon G. Hillman, Pauravi J. Gandhi, Dustin J. Stairs, Ming Li, Rajesh R. Ugale, Daniel T. Monaghan, Shashank M. Dravid

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Despite strong evidence for NMDA receptor (NMDAR) hypofunction as an underlying factor for cognitive disorders, the precise roles of various NMDAR subtypes remains unknown. The GluN2Ccontaining NMDARs exhibit unique biophysical properties and expression pattern, and lower expression of GluN2C subunit has been reported in postmortem brains from schizophrenia patients. We found that loss of GluN2C subunit leads to a shift in cortical excitatory-inhibitory balance towards greater inhibition. Specifically, pyramidal neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of GluN2C knockout mice have reduced mEPSC frequency and dendritic spine density and a contrasting higher frequency of mIPSCs. In addition a greater number …

Open Access, Academic Libraries And The Future Of Scholarly Publishing, Elena Šimukovič

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

●Background on research project ●Open Access: a long desire for transition ●Open Access targets in Europe ●OA2020 – setting a new horizon? ●Counter-narratives and inner resistances ●What about libraries? ●Discussion & concluding remarks

Investigating The Practices And Needs Of Agricultural Researchers At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Leslie M. Delserone, Andrea L. Dinkelman

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Libraries was one of 19 libraries participating in a national study, initiated by Ithaka S+R, of the research practices and needs of agricultural researchers. Two UNL Libraries faculty members participated in this study by interviewing 11 UNL agricultural scholars during the summer of 2016. The ethnographic research approach revealed four core themes explored in this UNL-specific report: interdisciplinarity and collaborations; scientific communication practices; scientific research data; and challenges and opportunities. Illustrated by the sample of faculty comments presented here, the themes have direct implications for the UNL Libraries, while in other cases these point to concerns …

Discovery Investigative Group (Dig) Report, December 2016, Erica Defrain, Rebecca A. Bernthal, Signe Boudreau, Mary K. Bolin, Joan Latta Konecky, Margaret Mering, Jennifer L. Thoegersen, Deeann Allison

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: White Papers

This report is a response to the following charge from project sponsor DeeAnn Allison: Develop a working definition of the purpose and scope for a discovery tool that includes a description of what it should accomplish. How will it help scholars connect with information? The charge included a request to answer seven questions:

1. What content should be included and why?

2. What functions or search capabilities should be included?

3. What social media enhancements should be included?

4. How can it be structured to help both novice and advanced researchers?

5. Can you identify a “perfect” tool? If not, …

Commodity Prices Limit Nebraska Growth, Eric Thompson, Nebraska Business Forecast Council

Business in Nebraska

Over the last few years the service sector has been the primary engine of economic growth in the United States. Supported by growth in employment and real wages, the service sector has grown steadily with increases in retail trade, business services, personal services and construction activity. Growth has been limited, however, in the industrial sector, given weakness in the energy industry, poor demand for business investment and weak overseas economies. The net result has been moderate economic growth.

Several fundamental issues continue to support an outlook for moderate economic growth. First, the pace of job growth will slow given the …

Across The Great Divide: Findings And Possibilities For Action From The 2016 Summit Meeting Of Academic Libraries And University Presses With Administrative Relationships (P2l), Mary Rose Muccie, Joe Lucia, Elliott Shore, Clifford Lynch, Peter Berkery

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

The library-press relationship explored in P2L allows for transformative approaches in support and dissemination of scholarship. Effective exploitation of these partnerships is in the early stages and there is an opportunity to influence the outcomes to ensure they are as broadly applicable and scalable as possible. As Cliff Lynch (CNI) noted in his summary of the day’s conversation, we must do more exploration of both intra-institutional (library and press) and cross-institutional collaborations. He provided several compelling suggestions for partnerships, including new ways to promote and leverage library special collections as well as ideas for increasing discoverability of press content. (See …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Scotts Bluff National Monument, 2016 Data Report, Molly B. Davis, Daniel J. Swanson

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2016 at Scotts Bluff National Monument (SCBL) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and Northern Great Plains Fire Ecology Program (NGPFire).

During the sixth full year of field work, crew members from NGPN visited eight long-term monitoring plots on May 23-25, 2016 to collect data on the plant communities at SCBL. This is part of a long-term monitoring effort to better understand the condition of the vegetation at SCBL. NGPN staff captured data relating to species richness, herb-layer height, abundance of individual native and non-native …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 2016 Data Report, Aaron T. Rasor, Daniel J. Swanson

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2016 at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN).

During the sixth full year of field work, crew members from NGPN visited six long-term plant community monitoring (PCM) plots and the Northern Great Plains Fire Effects Crew (NGPFire) visited nine fire plant community monitoring (FPCM) plots to collect data on the plant communities at AGFO. This effort is part of a long-term monitoring program established to better understand the condition of the mixed-grass prairie, riparian, and upland regions in AGFO. …

Has The Usage Of Precision Agriculture Technologies Actually Led To Increased Profits For Nebraska Producers?, Michael H. Castle

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

An ever-increasing global demand for food, coupled with increasingly volatile commodity prices have charged producers with the task of becoming more efficient. As such, technologies aimed at producing more with less are continually being developed and marketed to producers. However, whether or not these expensive new technologies have resulted in improved profitability is still unknown, as the vast majority of studies showing their impact on profitability have been performed using hypothetical farms and simulations. These studies have shown the potential for increases in profitability from use, but their impact in the real world is still uncertain.

This project uses various …

Place Matters? Place And Legislative Behavior In Nebraska, Melissa Lee Trueblood

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The dissertation is a three-part analysis of the impact of place and place attachment on legislative behavior in the 2011-2012 session of the Nebraska Unicameral. The first analysis explores whether place or type of legislative district has an effect on roll-call voting. In the second analysis, the dissertation analyzes the relationship between place attachment (defined as the emotional bond between a person and a place) and roll-call voting. Finally, in the third analysis, the dissertation investigates through content analysis how often senators refer to their place attachment, and then, it examines the link between geographic scale of place attachment and …

Can International Criminal Law Deter Rebel Groups? The Case Of Uganda, The Lord's Resistance Army, And The International Criminal Court, Julia Reilly

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

How does a state’s commitment to international criminal accountability mechanisms affect the tactics of rebel groups fighting against it? I examine the conflict between Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army, spanning four phases from 1996 until 2015, and parse out whether Uganda’s stance on the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court affected the LRA’s propensity to target civilians. I use descriptive statistics of civilian and military casualties and qualitative case studies, drawing largely on newspaper and NGO reports of events in the conflict. I find that the affect of Uganda’s signaling on justice on the LRA’s civilian targeting is …

Truth And Justice? Towards Comprehensive Transitional Justice In Uganda And The Democratic Republic Of Congo, Alicia Weaver

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The field of transitional justice currently views retributive and restorative justice as a means of reconciliation dichotomously. With practice becoming increasingly legalistic, the restorative approach is seen as not forcing accountability. This is a mistake. This article will attempt to show that prosecutions and truth and reconciliation commissions can complement one another to attain the most justice for the most people. Using the case studies of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I will examine under what conditions retributive and restorative justice will be used, and how they can be used to promote national reconciliation.

Advisor: Ariel Kohen

Wellbeing And Data Quality In The American Time Use Survey (Atus) From A Total Survey Error Perspective, Ana Lucía Córdova Cazar

Survey Research and Methodology Program: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this dissertation, I seek to develop a tool for the enhancement of time-use and wellbeing measures from a total survey error perspective. In particular, I evaluate the quality of the time use data produced in the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), by exploring its indicators and identifying its main predictors, including interview rapport. Results from these analyses are then used to evaluate the extent to which certain variables correlate, as predicted, with expected levels of wellbeing.

The first specific objective was to investigate the data quality of the 2010 ATUS by constructing a data quality index. In my dissertation, …

Relocation Redux: Labrador Inuit Population Movements And Inequalities In The Land Claims Era, Kirk Dombrowski, Patrick Habecker, G. Robin Gauthier, Bilal Khan, Joshua Moses

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The importance of community relocation experiences for aboriginal land claims movements is well documented; the role played by successful land claims in prompting ongoing out-migration is not. Data collected in 2011 on the lives of migrants are used to test three hypotheses: H1, Inuit leaving the land claims area for a nearby nonaboriginal city show markedly different social outcomes based on the length of time since migration; H2, these social outcomes map onto patterns of intergroup boundaries in their new communities; and H3, both of these outcomes are better explained by migration patterns after the land claims than by the …

United States Department Of Homeland Security Response To The Office Of Science And Technology Policy Memo, 2013: Public Access Plan (December 2016)

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

DHS response to OSTP memo, 2013: Public Access Plan (December 2016)

Metal And Glass: An Investigation Of Possible Historic Period Native American Sites In Wind Cave National Park, Morgan C. Beyer

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

The Black Hills region was one of the last areas of the American West where Native tribes were able to escape the intervention of the federal government. Because of this and the cultural ties that many Plains Indian tribes hold to the area, this region would seem to be one where non-reservation historic period Native American sites are abundant. The goals of this research were to identify markers that could be utilized by archaeologists to differentiate Native American sites and Euro American sites from the same historic time period in the Black Hills Region, positively identify the occupation of certain …

Illuminating Hopewell Legacy Data: A Case Study Of Mound 23 At Hopewell Mound Group, Margaret Robinson

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Digital archives present new opportunities for transparency, context and accessibility by digitizing and publishing limitedly accessible collections of archival documents and artifacts. Due to the destructive nature of archaeological inquiry these datasets are the only remaining materials from which archaeologists can make interpretations about past human behavior. The objective of this thesis was to be a case study for the usability of legacy data from Hopewell Mound Group by examining newly accessible data sources through the Ohio Hopewell digital archive (hopewell.unl.edu). The resulting databases for the burial data and artifacts of Hopewell Mound Group’s Mound 23 are a combination of …

A Fireworks Display Of Library Instruction, Terri M. Rickel

Nebraska Library Association: Conferences

Instructing students on how to use the library and the databases in one setting, especially when there is only 50 minutes, can be extremely overwhelming for the students and instructor. This session covered tips that can be used in the interview process with the professor, creating a flipped classroom or blended instruction opportunities to enhance the learning process ( including pre or post-session), as well as demonstrating guides for assisting students in database searching techniques. Finally, the session ended with ways to get buy-in from professors about tutorials and guides used outside the lessons.

Nebraska Libraries - Volume 4, Number 4 (November 2016)

Nebraska Libraries

Editor's Message — Willa Bitney-Garay

Lincoln Central Library Planning: Needs, Considerations, and Trends — Pat Leach

Mid-Plains Community College Learning Commons: Transforming Libraries and Beyond —Sky Seery

When the Future Is Present: Developing a Virtual Learning Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries — Andrew J. Cano

Treasurer's Annual Report — Christa (Burns) Porter

Technical Services Round Table —The Future of Library Catalogs: What Will Linked Data Look Like? — Emily Dust Nimsakont

Book Review: Man & Wife by Katie Chase — Jennifer Gravley

NLA's Goals for the Future — Angela Kroeger

Build-a-Paper: Old Tools With a new Twist — …

Housing In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: Perceptions Of Supply And Condition: 2016 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy

Rural Futures Institute: Publications

Conclusion

Most rural Nebraskans own their home. And, when asked about housing programs or priorities they would support in their community, most rural Nebraskans support programs that help seniors age in their homes, programs that would help upgrade the condition of existing homes and providing affordable rental housing. They are less likely to support organizing volunteer efforts to maintain existing housing stock, but still one-half support this option as well.

Support for one of the programs differs by community size. Persons living in or near larger communities are more likely than persons living in or near smaller communities to support …

Sandhill Crane Roost Selection, Human Disturbance, And Forage Resources, Aaron T. Pearse, Gary L. Krapu, David A. Brandt

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

Sites used for roosting represent a key habitat requirement for many species of birds because availability and quality of roost sites can influence individual fitness. Birds select roost sites based on numerous factors, requirements, and motivations, and selection of roosts can be dynamic in time and space because of various ecological and environmental influences. For sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) at their main spring staging area along the Platte River in south-central Nebraska, USA, past investigations of roosting cranes focuse donphysical channel characteristics related to perceived security as motivating roost distribution.We used 6,310 roost sites selected by 313 sandhill cranes over …

How Acoustics In California High Performance Schools Relate To Student Achievement, Devin K. Wong

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This research project seeks to determine if students attending K–12 schools meeting a minimum standard of high performance classroom conditions in the state of California do evidence higher scholastic achievement, based on publically available results on state-wide standardized tests. In three phases, a subset of 200+ schools applying for grants dedicated to building high performance schools over the past decade was correlated with an existing database of achievement scores for all public schools in California. The criteria utilized to specify high performance classrooms was provided by the California High Performance Initiative (HPI) Grant program. Academic achievement was evaluated on a …

Enchanting Memes: Memetic Politics In The Face Of Technocratic Control, Jonathan Carter

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

This dissertation examines emerging trends in networked politics through an analysis of the rhetorical forms and functions of internet memes as a unique response to the increasing force of technocratic rhetorics. Frequently dismissed as mere trivialities of networked discourses, memes have increasingly been mobilized to articulate new positions and structures of feeling around the significant issues of the day. As new iterations of memes are rapidly developed and circulated across networked public spheres, these rhetorical technologies provide new opportunities for amateur participation in the development of symbolic content. Such participation is particularly important as the intensification of control society has …

United States Environmental Protection Agency Response To The Office Of Science And Technology Policy Memo, 2013: Public Access Plan (November 2016)

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

EPA response to OSTP memo, 2013: Public Access Plan (November 2016)

The Ethics Of Data Journalism, Rebekah E.D. Mcbride

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

Data journalism is a growing trend that offers journalists new and exciting ways to tell stories. In a general sense it can be defined as “obtaining, cleaning and analyzing data for use in telling journalistic stories” but its application is much more complicated than this simple definition. Data journalism has grown alongside the burgeoning computational technology industry, but these huge gains in technology have not been followed by similar gains in data-journalism scholarship and education. In particular, research and college-level courses related to the ethics of data journalism are lacking. The lack of ethics preparation will provide significant challenges for …