Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Outsourcing Open Access: Digital Commons At The University Of Wollongong, Australia, Michael Organ, Helen Mandl

Michael Organ

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to outline the experiences of an Australian university in selecting a proprietary solution for its open access digital repository requirements.

Design/methodology/approach - An overview is presented of the environment leading up to the decision to select Digital Commons over an open source software solution. The paper also outlines subsequent experiences during a one-year period in operating the outsourced solution.

Findings - Outsourcing is an appropriate digital repository option for higher education institutions when costs are considered and compared with open source solutions, and especially when on-site IT support is limited. Outsourcing allows …

Outsourcing Open Access: Digital Commons At The University Of Wollongong, Australia, Michael Organ, Helen Mandl

Michael Organ

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to outline the experiences of an Australian university in selecting a proprietary solution for its open access digital repository requirements.

Design/methodology/approach - An overview is presented of the environment leading up to the decision to select Digital Commons over an open source software solution. The paper also outlines subsequent experiences during a one-year period in operating the outsourced solution.

Findings - Outsourcing is an appropriate digital repository option for higher education institutions when costs are considered and compared with open source solutions, and especially when on-site IT support is limited. Outsourcing allows …

Health Communication, Marilia Antunez

Marilia Y. Antunez, MLS, MA

The interdisciplinary area of health communication has seen dramatic growth since the late 1980s as research continues to validate its important role in addressing complex and challenging public health problems worldwide.

Cold Weather Training Issues, Brian Johnson, Greg Warchol

Greg Warchol

No abstract provided.

Social Class And Belonging: Implications For College Adjustment, Joan Ostrove, Susan Long

Susan O Long

Author's copyrighted version of article published in Review of Higher Education

Drowning In Data: Digital Library Architecture To Support Scientists' Use Of Embedded Sensor Networks., Christine Borgman, Jillian Wallis, Matthew Mayernik, Alberto Pepe

Jillian C Wallis

No abstract provided.

Know Thy Sensor: Cens As A Case Study Of The Relationship Between Data Integrity, Metadata, And Data Interpretation., Jillian Wallis, Christine Borgman, Matthew Mayernik, Alberto Pepe, Nithya Ramanathan, Mark Hansen

Jillian C Wallis

No abstract provided.

Knitting A Fabric Of Sensor Data And Literature. In Information Processing In Sensor Networks, Alberto Pepe, Christine Borgman, Jillian Wallis, Matthew Mayernik

Jillian C Wallis

No abstract provided.

Adding Context To Content: The Cens Deployment Center, Matthew Mayernik, Jillian Wallis, Christine Borgman

Jillian C Wallis

No abstract provided.

Nevada Interagency Volunteer Program: Helping Hands Across Public Lands – Phase Ii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering October 1 – December 31, 2007, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• The number of records in the volunteer database increased 12% over last quarter. The database now contains 4,937 records.
• Website activity decreased, recording an average of 82,859 hits per month, a decrease of 31% from last quarter, with an average of 8,191 pages viewed per month.
• Volunteer fall training has been completed.
• Three National Public Land Day Events have been completed.
• Two hundred and ten people attended the Volunteer Recognition Event.

Re-Evaluation Of The Main Ridge Site And Adjacent Areas: Quarterly Progress Report, October 1 - December 31, 2007, Margaret N. Rees

Archaeology

• Visited the National Administration of Records and Archives in College Park, Maryland to collect additional archival data for the Finder’s Guide.

• Visited the National Museum of the American Indian to collect additional photographs for the Finder’s Guide.

• Submitted Finder’s Guide documenting the results of the archival study.

• Completed an analysis of the variation in Tusayan White Ware ceramics from Main Ridge.

• Attended the Virgin Anasazi Pottery Conference at the Museum of Northern Arizona.

Interagency Science And Research: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2007, Margaret N. Rees

Interagency Science and Research Strategy

• Meetings were held with the SNAP Recreation Team and the SNAP Cultural Resources Team to request assistance in the development of the science strategy. Draft versions of interagency goals, subgoals, science questions, and associated tasks were given to each team for review and input.
• Plans were prepared for the peer review of science proposals submitted for consideration as Conservations Initiatives in SNPLMA Round 9.
• Proceedings of the natural resources management workshop held on September 13 were completed and sent to the Science & Research Team for review by members.
• An important focus of the Science and Research Team was the …

Southern Nevada Agency Partnership Cultural Site Stewardship Program – Program Expansion And Steward Retention: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2007, Margaret N. Rees

Cultural Site Stewardship Program

• An ATV safety class was conducted to certify Clark County site stewards.

• Stewards reported ten major cultural site impacts and nine lesser impacts.

• Technical design for the new CSSP database is 80% complete.

Archaeological Inventory, Site Assessment, And Data Management, Lake Mead National Recreation Area (Lmnra) And Parashant National Monument (Para): Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2007, Margaret N. Rees

Archaeology

• Completed subsurface test excavations at Site 26Ck4943. Field work included the excavation of 11 test units and 10 shovel probes, and the recovery of 52 artifacts and 6.0 gallons of feature fill.

• Inventoried 435 acres, documented 13 new sites and conducted condition assessments on 12 other sites.

• Completed a review of all 1,932 ASMIS site records, of which 857 are sites located within LMNRA or PARA, while 1,075 are “Local Resource Types.”

• Gave five presentations on Task Agreement projects at the Three Corners Conference at UNLV.

A Study Of The Chinese Toy Market: Does An Oligopsony Structure Force Manufacturers To Cut Costs?, Y. Allen Chen

Economics Theses

The growing incidence of product safety complaints pertaining to imported goods from China has been one of the most widely covered phenomena in 2007. China's reputation as the factory of the world suffered immensely, a result of product recalls ranging from poisoned dog food to children's toys saturated with lead. The Chinese government, as a result, attempted to repair their image as a producer of safe exports. These efforts culminated in the nationwide crackdown on the production on substandard goods and the arrest of 774 people on October 29, 2007. Pressures in the united States did not cease, however, with …

Tim L. Adsit, Small Schools, Education, And The Importance Of Community, Ann E. Theodori

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Review of Small Schools, Education, and the Importance of Community, by Tim L. Adsit

Mississippi Business Environment Before And After Katrina: Challenges And Opportunities, Domenico Parisi, Steven Michael Grice, Jed Pressgrove

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Valid, reliable, and, most importantly, timely information is the most critical aspect for the design and implementation of successful emergency management strategies. This goal, however, is rarely achieved during the aftermath of a disaster. In this paper, we showcase how we used administrative records to assist Mississippi in evaluating the overall impact of Katrina on the state’s economy. Specifically, we assisted the state in developing a methodology to generate valid, reliable, and timely information on (1) the business environment and labor market and (2) rehiring and hiring practices. This information was used by the state to design recovery strategies and …

Campus Cowboys And Cowgirls: A Research Note On College Rodeo Athletes, Gene L. Theodori

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

College rodeo has evolved from small, single-campus fund-raisers, celebrations, and/or competitions into an internationally recognized North American collegiate sport. Throughout its history, though, the sport has received virtually no attention in the sociological literature. In this research note I provide a descriptive summary of member characteristics and selected findings from a 2003-2004 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association membership survey. I also empirically examine the association of size of place of residency during childhood with previous involvement in rodeo (i.e., before participating in college rodeo). Findings reveal that respondents who spent most of their childhood in more rural areas (i.e., in the …

Rural Communities And Disasters: Research From The Southern United States, Courtney G. Flint, M. A. Brennan

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This special issue of Southern Rural Sociology brings together a diverse array of theoretical and empirical explorations on the rural community context of disaster in the Southern United States. As the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 made abundantly clear, natural and other disasters present a host of unique problems for rural areas. In many cases, rural communities are often left on their own to meet the emergency needs of local residents. While both urban and rural communities found themselves grappling with inexplicable turmoil in the midst and wake of recent hurricane disasters, rural communities were often at the …

Collective Disaster Responses To Katrina And Rita: Exploring Therapeutic Community, Social Capital, And Social Control, Lee M. Miller

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

The goal of this paper is to explore the dynamics of one East Texas community’s responses to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Literature on community response to disaster forms a basis for reflections on observed local response activities, including convergence behavior. In particular, the concept of social capital is compared to, and contrasted with, Barton’s model of therapeutic community. Social control is a relatively unexplored element of social capital, but one that helps us understand the development of normative frameworks, generalized trust, and the perceived legitimacy of institutions–important factors in effective community response to disasters. In conclusion, implications for future preparedness …

Uncovering The Hidden Dimensions Of Rural Disaster Mitigation: Capacity Building Through Community Emergency Response Teams, M. A. Brennan, Courtney G. Flint

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

The increasing magnitude of hurricane damage in the southern United States in recent years, capped off by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, highlights the reality that local people and communities are often the first responders to crisis or disaster. Driven by policy and necessity, rural communities find themselves taking on more responsibility in preparing for and resolving local crises and emergencies. Locally-based Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) are teams of local volunteers, trained to aid in disaster preparation, provide first aid, and contribute other assistance during emergency situations. Focusing on the southern United States, this article explores the rural/urban distribution of …

Exploring Producers', Staff Members', And Board Members' Cognitive Frame On Decision Making In An Appalachian Organic Farming Venture, Curt D. Gervich, Max Stephensen Jr., Marc J. Stern

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Sustainable development assistance organizations (SDAOs) aim to help producers of natural resource products move their goods and services to market. This article explores how the cognitive frames held by producers, staff, and board members in an agricultural SDAO in rural Appalachia influence organizational decision-making. This study explores identity, characterization, value, and membership frames. Data collected through semi-structured interviews with growers, staff, and board members reveal that the frames these stakeholders hold lead to the institutionalization of decision-making processes that allow organizational managers to make quick, consistent, and clear decisions while avoiding conflicts among members who hold competing frames. Simultaneously, these …

Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initiative: A Preliminary Evaluation Of Unmet Health Care Needs, Lori L. Davis, Stefan G. Kertesz, Ann F. Mahaney-Price, Michelle Y. Martin, Kroshona D. Tabb, Kristin M. Pettey, Sandre F. Mcneal, U. Shanette Granstaff, Karl Hamner, M. Paige Powell, Michelle M. Hilgeman, A. Lynn Snow, Marietta Stanton, Patricia Parmelee, Mark S. Litaker, Mary T. Hawn

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

The Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initiative aims to better understand the health care needs, health status, and barriers to care for rural veterans. Following extensive community outreach, Veteran Community Outreach Health Workers assessed 203 veterans residing in rural counties of Alabama who either: 1) had never enrolled in VA health services, or 2) had not used those services in at least two years. While 71.4 percent of participants reported having utilized non-VHA primary care within the past year, 33.5 percent reported an inability or delay in obtaining needed health care for one or more services: primary care, specialty care, mental …

A Mixed-Methods Investigation Of Community Attachment In Rural Romania, Natalia Buta, Mark A. Brennan, Stephen M. Holland

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This article explores the intricacies of community attachment using a multidimensional construct; attachment to the social and natural environment. A central focus is to assess whether attachment to the social and natural environment are distinctively predicted by length of residence, social interaction, and sociodemographic characteristics. Furthermore, this work elaborates on current understandings of community attachment by qualitatively exploring feelings of attachment toward the place of residence. All are explored in the context of rural Romania and communities managing the natural resources available to them. The results show the effect of several independent variables on attachment to social and natural environments. …

Quality Of Life On The Agricultural Treadmill: Individual And Community Determinants Of Farm Family Well-Being, J. Gordon Arbuckle Jr., Chris Kast

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Individual quality of life (QOL) is a critical foundation of stable and cohesive societies. This research examines QOL among Iowa farmers, who as a group have seen their numbers decline precipitously over the past decades as the farm economy has undergone major restructuring processes. Farm families are nested in rural communities, many of which have also experienced persistent population loss and economic decline over the same period. A multilevel modeling approach is employed to examine determinants of subjective QOL over time, using 29 years of longitudinal data. Results point to positive relationships between household income, community vitality, and farm family …

Accelerating Rural Growth Through Collective Action: Groups' Activities And Determinants Of Participation In Southwestern Nigeria, Mure U. Agbonlahor, Oluwafemi S. Enilolobo, C. I. Sodiaya, Dare Akerele, Joel T. Oke

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This study was conducted to investigate the types of activities promoted by cooperative groups and the determinants of participation intensity of members in cooperative activities in southwestern Nigeria. A multistage sampling approach was used to select 326 cooperators (45 groups). Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, difference of means test, and Tobit regression.Cooperative groups engaged in farm and off-farm activities such as arable crop production, fish farming, agricultural products processing, and produce marketing, among others. Farm input procurements and access to market information (74 percent), cooperative credits and thrift (53 percent), social networking (37 percent), multipurpose commercial activities (21.6 …

The Impact Of Rural-Urban Migration On Plantation Agriculture In The Niger Delta Region, Nigeria, Albert Ukaro Ofuoku, Christopher Okeleke Chukwuji

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This study was carried out to unveil the impact of rural-urban migration on plantation agriculture productivity in the Niger-Delta Region of Nigeria. Data were collected from 660 rural households and managers/supervisors of 15 selected oil palm, rubber, and cocoa plantations in the Niger-Delta Region. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Most migrants were able bodied young adults. Labor shortage was experienced by all the visited plantations. Due to labor shortages, most of the plantations could not harvest completely. This resulted in foregone revenue for the plantations. Rural-urban migration significantly and positively correlated with labor …

Disaster Recovery In Rural Communities: A Case Study Of Southwest Louisiana, Deborah Tootle

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This paper provides a descriptive case study to develop a better understanding of the disaster recovery and rebuilding process in the three parishes (counties) in South Louisiana that were hardest hit by Hurricane Rita in 2005. The data come from a number of sources: official documents, news articles, published data, and personal observations. This case study’s implications raise questions about current approaches to disaster recovery. It also suggests strategies for practice, program development, and policy.

The Texture Of Local Disaster Response: Service Providers' Views Following Hurricane Katrina, John J. Green, Anna M. Kleiner, Jolynn P. Montgomery

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Disasters highlight elements of community vulnerability and resiliency. Effective responses are organized and managed to provide goods and services to survivors while also being supportive of the organizations attempting to meet these needs. Collaboration among local service providers, such as nonprofit, faith-based, and governmental organizations, allows communities to build upon internal and external networks and resources to prepare for and respond to disasters. Using a livelihoods framework, we analyze 139 qualitative field interviews conducted in the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Southeast Louisiana, to learn from the experiences, needs, and recommendations of people working on the front lines of disaster in …

Risk Perceptions After A Coal Waste Impoundment Failure: A Survey Assessment, Stephanie Mcspirit, Shaunna Scott, Duane Gill, Sharon Hardesty, Dewayne Sims

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

In mid October of 2000, a rupture occurred at the bottom of a coal waste reservoir owned by Martin County Coal Corporation (MCCC-Massey). Impounded slurry and sludge materials from the reservoir traveled through underground mine works and burst through two mine portals on opposite sides of the mountain releasing more than 300 million gallons of coal waste into creeks and waterways of Martin County, KY. This paper examines people’s reactions to the Martin County coal waste disaster by examining levels of reported concern and perceptions of risk across the impacted community of Martin County in comparison to similar coal mining …