Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Most Popular Downloads -- July 2007

Institutional Repository Information

The 100 most-downloaded documents for July from the UNL Digital Commons(downloaded at least 33 times). Total downloads for July 2007 = 35,716

The Nature Of Japan's Official Development Assistance: Japan's Bilateral Oda And Its National Interests, 1981-2001, Seiki Muratani

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The concept of national interests has always been a key for studies of foreign policy. Japan's foreign aid, known as Official Development Assistance (ODA), is the single most significant political and diplomatic tool in the arena of Japanese foreign policy due to Japan's war-renouncing Article 9. However, the argument of the relationship between Japan's ODA policy and national interests is unclear. Although there are various qualitative arguments about the study of Japan's ODA, a systematic quantitative aid allocation study is rarely done. The central question of this thesis is what interests is Japan pursuing when it allocates its bilateral ODA, …

Black And Latino Studies And Social Capital Theory, Pedro Caban

Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Faculty Scholarship

Three and one-half decades have transpired since the establishment of the first Black, Chicano and Puerto Rican studies programs. Since then, a substantial body of scholarship on the African American and Latino experience in the USA has been produced. One area of recent scholarly interest is the origin, goals and trajectory of the Black, Chicano and Puerto Rican studies movements of the 1960s. New scholarship has generated important insights on the relationship between activist scholarship and community empowerment in the context of the 1960s nation-wide political struggle for social and racial justice. The intellectual and political need to further develop …

Relationships Between Landscape Pattern And Land Surface Temperature And Their Applications To The Study Of West Nile Virus: As Case Studies In Cities Of Indianapolis And Chicago, United States, Hua Liu

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A new synthesis of remote sensing and landscape ecology approaches was developed to establish relationships between the landscape patterns and land surface temperatures (LST) in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Land use and land cover (LULC) and LST images were derived from Terra Satellite's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery. An analytical procedure using landscape metrics was developed, applying configuration analysis oflandscape patterns and land surface temperature zones. Detailed landscape pattern analyses at the landscape and class scales were conducted using landscape metrics in the City of Indianapolis. The effects of spatial resolution on the …

The Effectiveness Of Teacher-Child Interaction Training On Behaviorally At-Risk Preschool Children, Margaret T. Floress

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an empirically validated treatment program shown to decrease children's disruptive behavior and increase compliance (Funderburk et al., 1998). Research conducted by Eisenstadt, Eyberg, McNeil, Newcomb, and Funderburk (1993) indicates PCIT is an effective treatment for improving child compliance and conduct problems in a clinical setting. In addition, McNeil, Eyberg, Eisenstadt, Newcomb, and Funderburk (1991) found that behavioral improvements due to PCIT also generalized to school settings. However, little research has examined the effects of implementing Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT) directly in the classroom (McIntosh, Rizza & Bliss, 2000). This single-subject multiple-baseline study examined the effectiveness …

Opportunities For Rural Development Through “Bird Friendly” Farms And Agricultural/Nature Tourism, Marcy Pummill, Ron J. Johnson, Jim Brandle

Rural Initiative Program: Publications and Reports

This project contributes to our understanding of bird habitat management practices in cropland farming systems and to our knowledge of Nebraska farmers’ opinions regarding birds, their habitats, children’s roles on the farm, and a certification process that would tie all of these together. A “bird friendly” farm certification could involve a professional assessment of bird habitat and populations and include various farming practices and non-cropped areas. Certified farms would be publicly recognized by a label, which could help market Nebraska farm products, provide increased opportunities for tourism, and give desirable cropland birds a boost.

Approximately 85 birds are frequently found …

Teaching Children With Autism Imitation Skills As Means To Increase Communication, Chad J. Ryan

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It has been well documented that many children with autism, especially nonverbal children, exhibit imitation deficits that impact their abilily lo develop effective communication skills. Applied Behavior Analysis has been shown to be an effective strategy for teaching many skills to children with autism und other disabilities. However, with regard to imitation training, there is limited research on effeclive strategics to develop these skills. This paper provides an analysis of the apparent imitation deficit for many children with autism. It includes what the specific imitation deficits are for children with autism and how these deficits are different compared to children …

Generation Next Utep Student Body Survey, Daniel J. Quiñones, Dennis L. Soden

IPED Technical Reports

In 2007, the Institute for Policy and Economic Development (IPED) at the University of Texas at El Paso was contracted by the City of El Paso to conduct a survey of UTEP student attitudes and perceptions pertaining to the city’s future and general quality of life issues in El Paso. Specific to the goals of the survey was to determine areas of focus for targeting improvements in the quality of life for the survey population in order to retain more UTEP graduates.

Fort Hancock, Texas: Compilation Of Iped Technical Reports, John Bretting, Sergio Pena , Philip Boyd, Juan Carlos Gomez, Daniel J. Quiñones, Lisa Tomaka, Christopher Villa

IPED Technical Reports

This is a compilation of IPED Technical Reports: 2005-3, 2005-4, 2005-5, and 2007-7.

Chicago And Hope Vi: Examining The Dislocation Of Urban Poor, Todd W. Sink

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The inception of HOPE VI in 1992 was proposed as a solution to concentrated poverty and disinvestment in inner city neighborhoods. The US General Accounting Office estimates that as of November 2003, approximately 49,000 people have been forced to relocate to permanent or temporary residences since the nationwide implementation of HOPE VI. Today, the effects of HOPE VI on the urban poor of Chicago have received little attention. This research examines the dislocation of urban poor and possible gentrification in Chicago's public housing areas, and the socioeconomic condition of new destinations for voucher movers. 111 Twenty public housing tracts and …

Students' Noticing And Incorporation Of Written Feedback: A Snapshot Of Esol Writing Instructors' Commentary On Adult Esol Students' Essays, Heather Leilani Clark

Linguistics & TESOL Theses - Archive

Combining descriptive text analysis with qualitative interviews, the current study addresses the student-teacher written feedback interaction. Reflecting upon the existing debate within second language acquisition research, which focuses on the interface, or non-interface, of conscious and unconscious learning, the first part of the study investigates the role of noticing. Using teacher written commentary on student essays, learners are asked to identify the existence, boundaries, and nature of errors in their interviews. Student interviews are also used to articulate student perspectives on the purposes of feedback. This data illuminates differing opinions between students and teachers. Student essays are further used to …

The Changing Spatial Concentration Of America's Rural Poor Population, Daniel T. Lichter, Kenneth M. Johnson

Sociology

This paper documents changing patterns of concentrated poverty in nonmetro areas. Data from the Decennial U.S. Census Summary Files show that poverty rates—both overall and for children—declined more rapidly in nonmetro than metro counties in the 1990s. The 1990s also brought large reductions in the number of high-poverty nonmetro counties and declines in the share of rural people, including rural poor people, who were living in them. This suggests that America's rural pockets of poverty may be “drying up” and that spatial inequality in nonmetro America declined over the 1990s, at least at the county level. On a less optimistic …

The Determinants Of Executions Since 1951: How Politics, Protests, Public Opinion, And Social Divisions Shape Capital Punishment, David Jacobs, Stephanie L. Kent

Sociology & Criminology Faculty Publications

This time-series study uses hypotheses derived from a politically refined version of conflict theory to explain both public support for the death penalty and the number of executions. With murders in death penalty states and Supreme Court decisions held constant, tests of hypotheses about lags suggest that public support and Republican strength in the states influence yearly executions by their effects on death sentences rather than the later appeals process. Other dynamic results show that national level Republican strength, presidential elections that emphasize law and order, economic inequality, and higher murder rates increase yearly executions because they affect the extremely …

Who Survives On Death Row? An Individual And Contextual Analysis, David Jacobs, Jason T. Carmichael, Zhenchao Qian, Stephanie L. Kent

Sociology & Criminology Faculty Publications

What are the relationships between death row offender attributes, social arrangements, and executions? Partly because public officials control executions, theorists view this sanction as intrinsically political. Although the literature has focused on offender attributes that lead to death sentences, the post-sentencing stage is at least as important. States differ sharply in their willingness to execute and less than 10 percent of those given a death sentence are executed. To correct the resulting problems with censored data, this study uses a discrete-time event history analysis to detect the individual and state-level contextual factors that shape execution probabilities. The findings show that …

Gresham-Barlow School District 10j Enrollment Forecasts, 2007 To 2015: Results And Documentation, Portland State University. Population Research Center, Irina V. Sharkova, Vivian Siu

School District Enrollment Forecast Reports

This report represents results of a demographic study conducted by the Population Research Center (PRC) to address the long-range planning needs of the Gresham-Barlow School District 10J (GBSD). The long term District wide forecast was developed using patterns of migration, fertility and mortality that are most likely to occur between school years 2006 and 2015. In addition to the most likely scenario, or the medium growth forecast, two other scenarios--for higher and lower growth trends--were derived. Forecasts by grade for individual schoolsand school attendance areas were also prepared; these forecasts relied on the District wide medium growth scenario.

Effects Of Experiential Learning On Face To Face And Multimedia Learning Environments In The Acquisition Of Active Listening Skills, Juan Enrique Huerta Wong

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

Comparison studies between Technology or Multimedia Learning Environments and Face-to-Face (F2F) Learning Environments in social work education usually show that technology works as well as F2F environments. However, they also suggest they are not interchangeable, but are dependent upon educational approaches. Otherwise, experiential learning as a main educational approach has been adopted from Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) guidelines without strong evidence of its effectiveness. A 2X2 Nonrandomized Multiple Comparison Groups Design with pretest from each group evaluates the effectiveness of two different Learning Environments (multimedia versus F2F) and two different Teaching Techniques (experiential versus exposure plus discussions) in …

Never Alone: A "Look" At Imaginal Companions, Mary Koegel

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

American culture tends to consider imaginary friends (or imaginal companions, as I refer to them) as a folk belief belonging in the realm of childhood. If an adult believes in imaginal companions, they are potentially subject to the social stigma of psychological labeling. The mass media reflects this perception of reality and influences social interactions regarding experiences and beliefs in imaginal companions. Fear of this social stigma limits folk group size, which potentially creates an issue with informant group size. I gathered my informants from a group of friends, whom I interviewed over a one-year period. Although there is a …

Chronic Widespread Pain In Patients With Occupational Spinal Disorders: Prevalence, Psychiatric Comorbidity, And Association With One-Year Treatment Outcomes, Benjamin Lee Towns

Psychology Theses - Archive

Chronic Widespread Pain (CWP) is estimated to affect 4.1% - 13.5% of the general population. Compared to those who are pain-free or have localized pain, those with widespread body pain have been found to higher rates of psychiatric disorder, greater pain intensity, and greater disability. Treatment programs for CWP patients often have high drop-out rates and have only achieved modest results. The present study sought to compare demographic characteristics, psychiatric comorbidity, and one-year treatment outcomes of patients with chronic disabling occupational spinal disorers (CDOSDs) meeting criteria for CWP to those who fail to meet criteria. Within this CDOSD cohort (n …

Cognitive Independence And Cohesion In Decision-Making Groups, Kelly A. Trindel

Psychology Dissertations - Archive

Cognitive Independence (CI) can be defined as the tendency to form opinions and make decisions based on personal knowledge as well as additional information that appears to be valid and factual. CI implies a tendency away from normative influence and toward informational influence. In this project CI is investigated in multiple forms in terms of its effects on group decision-making. Over the course of four studies the construct is identified and defined, a scale is designed to measure it and its predictive power in state and trait variable forms are investigated on the Hidden Profile group-decision-making task (Stasser & Titus, …

Airport Security: Study Of Students' Perception And Knowledge Of The Selection Of Airline Passengers For Personal Searches, Esthela Cabrera Hernandez

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

The aim of this study was to analyze and identify the perception and kowledge of the criteria used to select airport passengers for personal searches. The study was carried out via self-administered surveys. The collected data derived from the sample of undergraduate students at the University of Texas at Arlington. The study revealed statistically significant diferences in percepcion and knowledge between male and female students. The findings of this study suggest that undergraduate students perceived that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to be searched at airports than Whites. It was also perceived that males are more likely to …

Typed Document: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's notes for classes held 8:00 Tuesday and Thursday, August 30-September 25, 2007.

University Of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Connect, August 2007

Connect (University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension)

Inside this issue:

pg. 3 ATV safety
pg. 5 Water-saving garden
pg. 7 No-till tilth

Perceptions Of Individual And Community Well-Being Among Rural Nebraskans, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Miguel A. Carranza, Bruce B. Johnson, David J. Peters

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Many rural communities have experienced population growth during the past decade and the state has experienced relatively stable economic conditions during the past year. How do rural Nebraskans feel about their community? Are they satisfied with the services provided? Are they planning to move from their community next year? How do rural Nebraskans perceive their quality of life? Do their perceptions differ by community size, the region in which they live, or their occupation?

This report details 2,680 responses to the 2007 Nebraska Rural Poll, the twelfth annual effort to understand rural Nebraskans’ perceptions. Respondents were asked a series of …

Charting A Discursive Field: Environmentalists For U.S. Population Stabilization, Leslie King

Sociology: Faculty Publications

This article seeks to extend our understanding of the forces that shape social movement messages. Using a framework that focuses on a movement’s discursive field, I analyze the U.S. movement for population stabilization, which is made up of groups that call for stricter limits on immigration to the United States as a means to forestall environmental decline. Drawing upon data from a range of sources, including the Web sites of 10 environment-oriented immigration-reduction organizations, I make the case that this movement’s particular field is composed of the discursive repertoires (or messages) of a set of environmental and nonenvironmental social actors …

China's Africa Strategy: The Puzzle Of Trade And Reform, Mahmood Monshipouri

Human Rights & Human Welfare

China’s growing presence is certainly one of the most important developments in Africa since the end of the Cold War. The strategy of “trade and non-interference” is how the Chinese government describes its relations with Africa. Oil and metals, such as cobalt, iron ore, and manganese are what China’s manufacturing industry needs; while foreign direct investment and an increase in oil production are what some African governments—especially those in Angola, Congo, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, and Zimbabwe—seek.

Integrating China Into An International Human Rights Regime: The Case Of Darfur, Harry Kreisler

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Chinese leaders find themselves in unknown territory as they guide the Chinese state. Their unusual experiment combines Communist party rule with unbridled capitalism. Under these unique circumstances, a major challenge they face is to define their country’s global role as an emerging power. From what compass will they navigate their direction? If their guidance system is built for a world of international anarchy, national interest and power politics, then the direction of their course is clear. Because of U.S. neglect and indifference, Africa, rich in natural resources, is up for grabs. Flexing its muscles on the world stage with its …

Elisabeth King On Researching Conflict In Africa : Insights And Experiences. Edited By Elisabeth Porter, Gillian Robinson, Marie Smyth, Albrecht Schnabel, And Eghosa Osaghae. New York : United Nations University Press, 2005. 160pp., Elisabeth King

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Researching Conflict in Africa : Insights and Experiences. Edited by Elisabeth Porter, Gillian Robinson, Marie Smyth, Albrecht Schnabel, and Eghosa Osaghae. New York : United Nations University Press, 2005. 160pp.

Christina M. Cerna On The Un International Criminal Tribunals, The Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda And Sierra Leone By William A. Schabas. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2006. 711 Pp., Christina M. Cerna

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The UN International Criminal Tribunals, The former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone by William A. Schabas. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2006. 711 pp.

Shovel Testing Around The Santa Elena Kiln, Chester B. Depratter

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Towards Resolving The Ethiopia-Somalia Disputes, Daniel Kendie

International Conference on African Development Archives

The 46-year-old dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia has been commonly called a “border dispute.” Contrary to that description, it may be more appropriate to portray it as a dispute that has been driven principally by economic interests and by the effort to control scarce resources. Among these interests and resources are the following: the struggle for water wells and fresh grazing pastures for nomads; the insecurity Somalia feels about the Juba and the Wabi Shibeli rivers, as their sources are in Ethiopia; the discovery of gas and oil in the Ogaden; Somalia’s challenging geographic shape that makes communication between the …