Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Economic Data From The U.S. Census Bureau, Adam Grundy

CPAR Presents: A Data and Research Series for Community Impact

This session will provide a brief overview of some of the many U.S. Census Bureau resources available to describe the economy and how to access some of these data resources.

Accessing U.S. Census Bureau Data And Insights From The Release Of The American Community Survey, Josie Gatti Schafer

CPAR Presents: A Data and Research Series for Community Impact

In this timely session you will learn how to access the most recent data resources available from the U.S. Census Bureau and learn about the most recent trends in Nebraska.

Local View: Boulder Tells Deeper Story, Susan Reay

Social Work Faculty Publications

When my son, a freshman at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, placed his hand on the glacial boulder outside Morrill Hall, he turned to me and said, “I guess it’s my turn to keep watch over the rock now.”

His words marked a poignant moment that connected our family history to Nebraska’s geological and cultural legacy and our enduring ties to the university.

This boulder, an artifact of Nebraska’s glacial past and human history, is more than a simple chunk of granite. Originally found on my family’s farm near Hartington, Nebraska, in 1869, it carries a story etched on its surface …

Ai, American Politics, And Modern Warfare, Madisen Campbell

Space and Defense

As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms modern warfare, it will pose profound ethical challenges for America’s constitutional democracy.

Technological advancements in the world today, particularly the field of artificial intelligence (AI), impact the current political system in the United States. The importance of understanding and addressing the complex challenges and opportunities of incorporating AI into American politics is key to developing a profound understanding of AI in modern warfare and the implications it has for policy making in America. The need for policy makers and military leaders to receive insight on the development of AI and to develop strategic approaches for …

U.S. 5g Technology Policy: Competition Or Boycott?, Wes Ferguson, Kyle Vargus

Space and Defense

Rather than corral allies and partners across the globe into boycotting Chinese 5G telecommunication systems, U.S. officials should embrace free-and-fair trade competition against China, even in products and services where China may enjoy a technological lead.

The race for technological supremacy has emerged as a defining characteristic of the newest era of great power competition. China and the United States compete to become the dominant world power. Each side is racing to create the latest and most elite technologies to catapult themselves into the lead and give them the edge over their adversary. The fifth generation of wireless technology, called …

Atomic Assurance: Funding A Modern U.S. Test Readiness Program, Mark Tang

Space and Defense

To address intensified strategic competition with Russia and China, the United States should reinstate funding for a modern nuclear Test Readiness Program.

The U.S. has never faced the threat of two adversarial powers with nuclear arsenals that equal our own. With the emphasis on great power competition and mounting aggression by both China and Russia, the risk of conflict with either or both powers is growing. Currently, the U.S. is ill prepared for the possible existential challenge that is deterring conflict with two major nuclear peer adversaries. America’s defense strategy and approach towards the international order must change to protect …

Earth To Orbit: Three Models For Strengthening Space Deterrence, Anton Dahm

Space and Defense

Nuclear, cyber, and integrated deterrence models hold lessons for space deterrence strategy, including declared thresholds, resilient space architecture, and the embrace of international competition in technological innovation.

The United States depends heavily on space capabilities, significantly more than any other country. Not only does space enable navigation, communications, environmental monitoring, and other vital capabilities, but space has also been described as the most essential warfighting domain. However, the U.S. space architecture mirrors its early days: relying on important, expensive payloads on a limited number of satellites. While providing important capabilities to U.S. decision-makers, kinetic and non-kinetic weapons can easily target …

The German Zeitenwende: Turning Point Or Blind Alley?, Savannah Hollen

Space and Defense

The Zeitenwende, or turning point, announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, may end up leaving Germany with few good defense policy options.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany vowed to change course, to expand and modernize its military, which for decades has been weak relative to the size of Europe’s leading economy. As bold as Germany’s declarations have been, German leaders may well have walked into a blind alley, unsure of exactly how Zeitenwende will happen, what the final results will be, or the consequences if they never come close to …

Strategic Space Cooperation: U.S. Space Command And The National Guard’S State Partnership Program, David Moore, Jesse Morehouse, Patrick Mitchell

Space and Defense

In 2022, the U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) and the National Guard's State Partnership Program (SPP) began pursuing security cooperation objectives while integrating the space domain into greater deterrence efforts. As the newest combatant command (CCMD) with space as its Area of Responsibility (AOR), USSPACECOM has global strategic partnership interests and recognizes the value of the enduring relationships inherent in SPP. This cooperation allows the National Guard to offer its strong relationships, space expertise, and industry knowledge to USSPACECOM. This provides a foundation for USSPACECOM's security cooperation efforts. This article discusses the SPP's role in supporting USSPACECOM's engagement strategy and the …

Arms Control Optimism And Great Power Competition, Damon Coletta

Space and Defense

In its unjust war, Russia rakes at Ukrainian civilian targets using dual-capable missiles. China meanwhile tightens the screws on Taiwan as it cements its friendship with Russia and continues its buildup of strategic nuclear warheads.1 Conventional wisdom and U.S. policy under such tense conditions unduly discount expectations for arms control.2 Arms control, in the popular mind, centers on bans in testing or deployment, and is therefore terminally associated with disarmament. Trepidation about disarmament fuels assumptions in polarized democracy, and the United States in particular, about the narrow political conditions under which arms control can succeed during great power competition. Conventional …

Drone-Based, Boost-Phase Intercept Of North Korean Icbms, James D. Wells, William Priedhorsky, Frederick Lamb, Laura Grego

Space and Defense

North Korea currently has an adversarial relationship with the United States and has successfully tested both nuclear weapons and intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of striking the continental United States.1 There are several ways the United States could attempt to address the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear-armed ICBMs. Historically, the United States has relied on a policy of projecting military strength, fostering strong alliances, and maintaining a credible threat of retaliation to deter adversaries, including those with nuclear weapons, from initiating hostilities. Some have argued that this approach has been instrumental in preventing conflict between nuclear-armed nations, including North …

A Premature Obituary For Conventional Deterrence, Jeffery S. Lehmkuhl

Space and Defense

As the United States (US) continues to shift its weight of effort towards great power competition, some scholars and practitioners have questioned the relevance of conventional forces and their ability to deter. Chief among them is Sean McFate, who asserts that “conventional war is unicorn hunting” and that “no one fights that way anymore.”1 Jim Sciutto echoes McFate’s claims in his book The Shadow War and states that the US is losing to Russia and China in a new way of warfare that is conducted below the threshold of conventional warfare.2 Leading Russian General Valery Gerasimov furthered this claim when …

Nuclear Regimes In The 21st Century, Stephen J. Cimbala, Adam Lowther

Space and Defense

The modern nuclear operations practitioner is facing a more complex future than at any point since the height of the Cold War. Understanding the past, present, and possible future of nuclear force structure and doctrine offers the policy maker a useful way to make sense of unfolding events and place them within a broader context. With China, Russia, and North Korea all posing a growing nuclear risk to the United States, a strong grasp on the available options for countering these threats is certainly important.

Editor's Note, Damon Coletta

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents Vol. 15 No. 2

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Space And Defense Vol. 15 No. 2 Fall 2024 (Whole Issue)

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Pickleball And Well-Being, Marina Erickson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This capstone project focused on community members who attended pickleball drop-in times at a neighborhood community center. This case study was done by survey data collection, observation, analysis, and connecting the ways pickleball impacts well-being. Participation in pickleball positively contributes to the physical, mental, emotional, and social aspects of well-being.

Workforce Barriers And Needed Supports To Enhance Behavioral Health Service Provision For Older Adults In Nebraska, Cecilia Y.M. Poon, Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway, Yadi Liu, Charles Yale, Deepanjali Bhale, Erin O. Shcneider, Julia F. Houfek, Christine Chasek, Marley Doyle, Kendra L. Ratnapradipa

Counseling Faculty Publications

Nearly 20% of US older adults have mental health concerns, but few mental health professionals specialize in this population. In Nebraska, where almost 17% of Nebraska’s population is >65 years of age, BHECN conducted a survey to understand provider attitudes about and abilities to serve the state’s older population. Results from this online survey of licensed mental health practitioners in 2022 showed that 61% of responding practitioners were rural, 27% did not provide direct clinical services to older adults, and only 18% of their time was spent working with older adults. Barriers to providing care to older adults included Medicare …

“Being With God”: Prayer Biographies, Mysticism In Old Age, And Compassionate Love Among Older Jesuits, Stephen John Fogle

Gerontology Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

This dissertation explores lived experiences of prayer and aging among older Jesuits from a religion, spirituality, and aging perspective in five chapters. Chapter One opens with a review of prayer in gerontological literature. The chapter recommends attention to prayer in life course perspective, details of prayer in old age as a relationship with divinity, and appreciation of religious and spiritual outcomes of aging. The chapter concludes with an overview of research with older Jesuits of the Upper Midwest. Chapter Two presents prayer biographies of older Jesuits in life course perspective. The chapter discusses how age stages, relationships, historical events, and …

Navigating The Anglo-Irish Landscape: Imaginative Geographies In Bram Stoker And Elizabeth Bowen's Novels, Natalie Pearson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

There has been great work done by scholars of Anglo-Irish Gothic tradition to assess the place of classic fictional characters within that tradition. Could a character’s identity contain an Irish dimension? Could they be, perhaps, an allegorical embodiment of the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy or native Irish peasantry? All excellent questions; however, this present study looks to explore a different perspective by considering “place” itself across four Anglo-Irish Gothic novels: that of Bram Stoker’s The Snake’s Pass (1890) and Dracula (1897) and Elizabeth Bowen’s The Last September (1929) and Bowen’s Court (1942). I seek to highlight the physical landscape in each …

Notes For Contributors To Space & Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Damon Coletta

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

When Is Teasing Abuse? A Grounded Theory Of Teasing Among Mexican American Adolescent Dating Couples, Heidi Adams Rueda, Lela Rankin, Kim Peace-Tuskey

Social Work Faculty Publications

This study examined the use of teasing during observed videotaped interactions of Mexican American adolescent dating couples (N = 34; 15–17 years old) from an urban area of the Southwest United States. During the interaction task, couples discussed two relationship problems for 14 min and nearly all interactions (88.2%) contained teasing. In turn, we developed a grounded theory of teasing that delineated who initiated the teasing (boys/girls), teasing types, levels of severity of teasing incidents, youth’s motivations for teasing, and the resulting consequences of teasing in real time. We found that most teasing incidents were mild to moderately severe …

Banning Protests At Oil And Gas Sites: The Influence Of Policy Entrepreneurs And Political Pressure, Sojin Jang

Public Administration Faculty Publications

Direct action by citizens has played a pivotal role in shaping environmental policies in the United States. However, several states have recently enacted legislation prohibiting protests at oil and gas project sites, thus undermining the historical legacy of free speech, the American environmental movement, and environmental justice. This study aims to elucidate the determinants influencing the adoption of bills that prohibit civic protests at oil and gas project sites. Existing policy adoption studies have paid limited attention to the impact of policy entrepreneurs and corporate lobbying on policy adoption. This study contributes to the public policy literature by examining the …

Aging Well In The Heart Of America: Optimizing Housing Options For Older Adults In Kansas City, Missouri Through Policy Reform, Lana Mckinney

Gerontology Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

This dissertation investigates the growing housing availability and affordability challenges facing older adults in Kansas City, Missouri. Using the capability approach and the rational comprehensive model as theoretical frameworks, the study analyzes the current state of housing and proposes improvements to address availability and affordability concerns for older adults. A qualitative research design was employed, involving semi-structured interviews with 15 participants, including public officials, experts, and community members. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview transcripts, identifying recurring patterns and themes related to the participants' perspectives on housing concepts, policies, and recommendations for improvement. The analysis revealed four key …

Bibliotech, November 2024, Dr. C.C. And Mable L. Criss Library, University Of Nebraska At Omaha Criss Library

BiblioTech

Criss Libraries' Digital Newsletter, BiblioTech, November 2024 Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library, University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Risk-Contamination And Dilution: Advancing The Rnr Model In Prison Settings, Baylee Allen-Flores, Zachary Hamilton, John Ursino, Alex Kigerl

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) model posits separating lower from higher-risk individuals to avoid “risk contamination.” In a prison setting, policies and restrictions lead to mixing different populations within a housing unit. While this may pose a threat, it may allow higher-risk individuals to gradually promote through security levels, reducing risk. We term this “risk dilution.” The current study compares the infraction behavior of individuals that are over-classified (housed higher than their risk) and those under-classified (housed lower than their risk). Using mixed-effect models with a large (N = 52,000) sample of incarcerated men, findings demonstrate support for both contamination and …

Career Motives Of Presidential Appointees And Agency Communication Across American States, Huchen Liu

Political Science Faculty Publications

Do the career motives of presidential appointees affect program administration? To answer this question, I examine the phased development of policy communication of the U.S. Farm Service Agency (FSA) across states from 2002 to 2018 based on an original collection of historical official websites. This is a rare policy context for examining why peer appointees administer the same programs differently. Linking the state-by-state development of FSA newsletters to the career trajectories of state executive directors (SEDs), the presidential appointees who lead state FSAs, I show that SEDs interested in elective office post-appointment are associated with faster institutionalization of newsletters. Examining …

Navigating Entry: The Role Of Exposure And Career Fit Negotiation In Women’S Pathways To Policing In The United States, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard, Rachael Rief, Trisha Rhodes, Lexi Goodijohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Women’s engagement in policing in the United States and other countries has not reached its potential. We interviewed 47 women in law enforcement to learn about their pathways into policing. Two primary themes emerged: career discovery through exposure and negotiating career fit. Exposure through interactions with role models, hands-on experiences, and media portrayals, provided a peek into policing. The assessment and negotiation of career “fit” in our study was an ongoing, dynamic process. As participants faced questions about their own characteristics, values, and belonging, exposure in the form of role models and experiences helped them navigate career fit concerns. Implications …

Notes From The Editor

International Dialogue

No abstract provided.