Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Book Review: The Great Sand Hills: A Prairie Oasis Text By Rebecca L. Grambo, Bram Noble

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The Great Sand Hills region of southwestern Saskatchewan is among the largest and, unfortunately, last intact native prairie ecosystems in the Great Plains. The Great Sand Hills: A Prairie Oasis is thus a fitting title. Filled with spectacular photography alongside narrative text telling the story of the prairie’s past, present, and future, this 124-page book was a finalist for the 2007 Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award as well as in the nonfiction and scholarly writing categories.

Book Review: Rare Plants Of Texas By Jackie M. Poole, William R. Carr, Dana M. Price, And Jason R. Singhurst, Amy K. Buthod

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The botanical diversity of Texas has been well documented, so it is surprising that few books focusing on the state’s endangered and threatened plants have been published. According to the authors of Rare Plants of Texas, this is because “most of these plants are too rare to be mentioned, much less pictured, in standard guidebooks.” Their book, attempting to remedy this situation, succeeds with photos, drawings, and descriptions of 225 taxa considered rare within the state.

Expanding on Poole and Riskand’s Endangered, Threatened or Protected Native Plants of Texas (1987), the majority of Rare Plants of Texas’s 640 …

Archeological Interpretation Of The Frontier Battle At Mud Springs, Nebraska, Peter Bleed, Douglas D. Scott

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Between February 4 and 7, 1865, Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho warriors engaged a force of U.S. Army soldiers at Mud Springs, Nebraska. Historical records from both sides indicate that this fight marked an early phase of the Indian Wars. Based on systematic metal detections, firearms identification, and terrain analysis, this paper adds archeological insights into the arms and tactics used by the opposing sides. Well-armed Native fighters used terrain to approach U.S. troops, who maintained a defensive posture. U.S. soldiers appear to have dug a rifle pit to see approaching attackers.

Book Review: A Grammar Of Crow: Apsáalooke Aliláau By Randolph Graczyk, Rose Chesarek

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

On my desk is an old, unbound manuscript, a hand copy of a Crow grammar written by a Jesuit missionary in the late 1800s. Randolph Graczyk’s A Grammar of Crow: Apsáalooke Aliláau is the first extended grammar of my language since that time. That alone makes it an important contribution to American Indian linguistics and to the study of Crow. It is also a first-class effort. His work is based on a prize-winning dissertation at the University of Chicago, but has been revised and expanded into a general descriptive format to make it accessible to any language scholar interested in …

Book Review: Books On Trial: Red Scare In The Heartland By Shirley A. Weigand And Wayne A. Weigand, Ahmed A. White

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The subject of Shirley and Wayne Weigand’s Books on Trial is the prosecution of several Community Party members and their friends by authorities in Oklahoma City. The prosecutions, which began in 1940, entailed charges of “criminal syndicalism” based largely on the defendants’ connection to a Party-sponsored bookstore. Books on Trial recounts in detail the clumsy raids on the bookstore that set the prosecutions in motion; the rough treatment visited on the defendants by local authorities and citizens; the series of rigged trials resulting in the proprietor, his wife, and several others being convicted and sentenced to ten-year terms in prison …

Theorizing And Generalizing About Risk Assessment And Regulation Through Comparative Nested Analysis Of Representative Cases, Jonathan B. Wiener, Brendon Swedlow, Denise Kall, Zheng Zhou, James K. Hammitt

Faculty Scholarship

This article provides a framework and offers strategies for theorizing and generalizing about risk assessment and regulation developed in the context of an on-going comparative study of regulatory behavior. Construction of a universe of nearly 3,000 risks and study of a random sample of 100 of these risks allowed us to estimate relative U.S. and European regulatory precaution over a thirty-five-year period. Comparative nested analysis of cases selected from this universe of ecological, health, safety, and other risks or its eighteen categories or ninety-two subcategories of risk sources or causes will allow theory-testing and -building and many further descriptive and …

Talkin' 'Bout My Generation: Exploring Age-Related Resources, Susie Skarl, Sidney Lowe

Library Faculty Research

In the past few years, as technology has radically changed how we find and use information resources, library staff have begun to notice significant generational differences in the information-seeking behavior of library patrons. These frequent observations at the reference desk and in library instruction classes planted the first small seeds of our interest in this topic. Internet sites and online articles about generational differences are plentiful and focus on a wide range of subjects, such as learning styles, social behaviors, moral values, technological skills, marketing, communication, and workplace performance.

Mechanism Choice, Jonathan B. Wiener, Barak D. Richman

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter reviews the literature on the selection of regulatory policy instruments, from both normative and positive perspectives. It first reviews the mechanism design literature to identify normative objectives in selecting among the menu or toolbox of policy instruments. The chapter then discusses the public choice and positive political theory literatures and the variety of models developed to attempt to predict the actual selection of alternative policy instruments. It begins with simpler early models focusing on interest group politics and proceeds to more complicated models that incorporate both supply and demand for policy, the role of policy entrepreneurs, behavioral and …

Colorblind, Deaf And Dumb: Examining Race In A Contemporary American High School, Brendan Bedell

Dissertations

Despite rhetoric of a meritocratic education system, there is little doubt that race still plays a significant role in advantaging white students while disadvantaging black students in school. These advantages and disadvantages are subtly carried out. The root causes of racial disparities in schools are not easily identified and often considered taboo outside of the academy. There is little research that assesses the ways in which students understand the relationship between race and schooling when compared to professional educators. Therefore, the research question for this project was: What language and perspectives do school personnel use in discussing race and what …

Global Warming And The Problem Of Policy Innovation: Lessons From The Early Environmental Movement, Christopher H. Schroeder

Faculty Scholarship

When it comes to influencing government decisions, special interests have some built-in advantages over the general public interest. When the individual members of special interest groups have a good deal to gain or lose as a result of government action, special interests can organize more effectively, and generate benefits for elected officials, such as campaign contributions and other forms of political support. They will seek to use those advantages to influence government decisions favorable to them. The public choice theory of government decision making sometimes comes close to elevating this point into a universal law, suggesting that the general public …

Implementing The New Ecosystem Services Mandate Of The Section 404 Compensatory Mitigation Program - A Catalyst For Advancing Science And Policy, James Salzman, J.B. Ruhl, Iris Goodman

Faculty Scholarship

On April 10, 2008, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly published final regulations defining standards and procedures for authorizing compensatory mitigation of impacts to aquatic resources the Corps permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (Section 404). Prior to the rule, the Section 404 compensatory mitigation program had been administered under a mish-mash of guidances, inter-agency memoranda, and other policy documents issued over the span of 17 years. A growing tide of policy and science scholarship criticized the program's administration as not accounting for the potential redistribution of ecosystem services that …

Future Generations: A Prioritarian View, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Law Librarian’S Tool For Fair Compensation In The Best - And Worst - Of Times, Femi Cadmus, Loretta Orndoff

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Happiness And Punishment, John Bronsteen, Christopher Buccafusco, Jonathan Masur

Faculty Scholarship

This Article continues our project of applying new findings in the behavioral psychology of human happiness to some of the most deeply analyzed questions in law. When a state decides how to punish criminal offenders, at least one important consideration is the amount of harm any given punishment is likely to inflict. It would be undesirable, for example, to impose greater harm on those who commit less serious crimes or to impose harm that rises to the level of cruelty. Our penal system fits punishments to crimes primarily by adjusting the size of monetary fines and the length of prison …

Connected Coordination: Network Structure And Group Coordination, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Ramamohan Paturi, Nicholas Weller

Faculty Scholarship

Networks can affect a group’s ability to solve a coordination problem. We utilize laboratory experiments to study the conditions under which groups of subjects can solve coordination games. We investigate a variety of different network structures, and we also investigate coordination games with symmetric and asymmetric payoffs. Our results show that network connections facilitate coordination in both symmetric and asymmetric games. Most significantly, we find that increases in the number of network connections encourage coordination even when payoffs are highly asymmetric. These results shed light on the conditions that may facilitate coordination in real-world networks.

Competition In The Courtroom: When Does Expert Testimony Improve Jurors’ Decisions?, Cheryl Boudreau, Mathew D. Mccubbins

Faculty Scholarship

Many scholars lament the increasing complexity of jury trials and question whether the testimony of competing experts helps unsophisticated jurors to make informed decisions. In this article, we analyze experimentally the effects that the testimony of competing experts has on (1) sophisticated versus unsophisticated subjects' decisions and (2) subjects' deci- sions on difficult versus easy problems. Our results demonstrate that competing expert testimony, by itself, does not help unsophisticated subjects to behave as though they are sophisticated, nor does it help subjects make comparable decisions on difficult and easy problems. When we impose additional institutions (such as penalties for lying …

Self-Mutilation : A Growing Concern, Sarah M. Meiners

Graduate Research Papers

According to an article by Nock and Prinstein, "Self-mutilation behavior is a pervasive public health problem occurring at a rate of 40% in the general adult population and 21 % in adult clinical populations. Adolescence is a period of significantly increased risk for self-mutilation behavior, as evidenced by rates of 14%-39% in adolescent community samples" (Nock & Prinstein, 2005, p.140). Raising awareness about the behaviors and emotions involved with individuals who self-mutilate may help counselors and school administrators understand better methods of treatment for adolescents. The following is a review of current research and literature regarding the nature of adolescents …

Defining A Forensic Audit, G. S. Smith, D. L. Crumbley

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Disclosures about new financial frauds and scandals are continually appearing in the press. As a consequence, the accounting profession's traditional methods of monitoring corporate financial activities are under intense scrutiny. At the same time, there is recognition that principles-based GAAP from the International Accounting Standards Board will become the recognized standard in the U.S. The authors argue that these two factors will change the practices used to fight corporate malfeasance as investigators adapt the techniques of accounting into a forensic audit engagement model.

Visualisation Of Honeypot Data Using Graphviz And Afterglow, Craig Valli

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This research in progress paper explores the use of Graphviz and Afterglow for the analysis of data emanating from a honeypot system. Honeypot systems gather a wide range of data that is often difficult to readily search for patterns and trends using conventional log file analysis techniques. The data from the honeypots has been statically extracted and processed through Afterglow scripts to produce inputs suitable for use by the DOT graph based tools contained within Graphviz. This paper explores some of the benefits and drawbacks of currently using this type of approach.

References, Nancy M. Fitzsimons

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of References for the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.

Learning Activity Answers, Nancy M. Fitzsimons

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of Appendix B of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.

My Safety Network Resources Worksheet, Nancy M. Fitzsimons

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of Appendix A of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.

Principles In Practice: The Advocacy And Empowerment Project, Nancy M. Fitzsimons, Willi Horner-Johnson, Charles E. Drum

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of Chapter 8 of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.

Empowering People With Disabilities To Prevent Violence And Abuse, Nancy M. Fitzsimons, Dorothy Bell Wagner

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of Chapter 7 of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.

Understanding The System, Nancy M. Fitzsimons

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of Chapter 6 of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.

Personal Barriers To Preventing Violence And Abuse, Nancy M. Fitzsimons

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of Chapter 5 of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.

Systemic Barriers To Preventing Violence And Abuse, Nancy M. Fitzsimons

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of Chapter 4 of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.

Recognizing And Responding To Violence And Abuse, Nancy M. Fitzsimons

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of Chapter 3 of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.

The Relationship Between Disability And Abuse, Nancy M. Fitzsimons

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of Chapter 2 of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.

Guiding Principles For Combating Violence And Abuse, Nancy M. Fitzsimons

Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action

Complete Digitized Text of Chapter 1 of the book Combating Violence & Abuse of People with Disabilities: A Call to Action by Nancy M. Fitzsimons.