Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Population Genetic Structure Of Gray Wolves (Canis Lupus) In A Marine Archipelago Suggests Island-Mainland Differentiation Consistent With Dietary Niche, Astrid V. Stronen, Erin L. Navid, Michael S. Quinn, Paul C. Paquet, Heather M. Bryan, Chris T. Darimont

Population Distribution and Habitat Collection

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that ecological heterogeneity across space can influence the genetic structure of populations, including that of long-distance dispersers such as large carnivores. On the central coast of British Columbia, Canada, wolf (Canis lupus L., 1758) dietary niche and parasite prevalence data indicate strong ecological divergence between marine-oriented wolves inhabiting islands and individuals on the coastal mainland that interact primarily with terrestrial prey. Local holders of traditional ecological knowledge, who distinguish between mainland and island wolf forms, also informed our hypothesis that genetic differentiation might occur between wolves from these adjacent environments.

Results: We used microsatellite genetic markers …

Grizzly Bear Monitoring By The Heiltsuk People As A Crucible For First Nation Conservation Practice, William G. Housty, Anna Noson, Gerald W. Scoville, John Boulanger, Richard M. Jeo, Chris T. Darimont, Christopher E. Filardi

Wildlife Population Management Collection

Guided by deeply held cultural values, First Nations in Canada are rapidly regaining legal authority to manage natural resources. We present a research collaboration among academics, tribal government, provincial and federal government, resource managers, conservation practitioners, and community leaders supporting First Nation resource authority and stewardship. First, we present results from a molecular genetics study of grizzly bears inhabiting an important conservation area within the territory of the Heiltsuk First Nation in coastal British Columbia. Noninvasive hair sampling occurred between 2006 and 2009 in the Koeye watershed, a stronghold for grizzly bears, salmon, and Heiltsuk people. Molecular demographic analyses revealed …

Stress And Reproductive Hormones Reflect Inter-Specific Social And Nutritional Conditions Mediated By Resource Availability In A Bear–Salmon System, Heather M. Bryan, Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, Katherine E. Wynne-Edwards, Judit E. G. Smits

Physiology Collection

Food availability can influence the nutritional and social dynamics within and among species. Our investigation focused on grizzly and black bears in coastal British Columbia, Canada, where recent and dramatic declines in their primary prey (salmon) raise concerns about potentially negative effects on bear physiology. We examined how salmon availability relates to stress and reproductive hormones in coastal grizzly (n = 69) and black bears (n = 68) using cortisol and testosterone. In hair samples from genotyped individuals, we quantified salmon consumption using stable isotope analysis and hormone levels by enzyme immunoassay. To estimate the salmon biomass available to each …

Chart: Us Slaughter Totals, Chickens 1960‐2013

Agribusiness Reports

No abstract provided.

Chart: Us Slaughter Totals, By Species (Excluding Chickens) 1960‐2013

Agribusiness Reports

These data do not include statistics on the slaughter of fish, crustaceans, rabbits, and other farmed animals for whom the USDA does not provide information, or on the slaughter of animals who are not farmed, such as equines. The USDA estimates that up to 2 million rabbits were slaughtered in 2001 in the United States. There is no more recent report than the 2002 Rabbit Industry Profile.

Chart: Us Slaughter Totals, By Species (Excluding Poultry) 1960‐2013

Agribusiness Reports

These data do not include statistics on the slaughter of fish, crustaceans, rabbits, and other farmed animals for whom the USDA does not provide information, or on the slaughter of animals who are not farmed, such as equines. The USDA estimates that up to 2 million rabbits were slaughtered in 2001 in the United States. There is no more recent report than the 2002 Rabbit Industry Profile.

Biosecurity Challenges Of Industrial Farm Animal Production

Agribusiness Reports

No abstract provided.

Welfare Of Non-Traditional Pets, Catherine A. Schuppli, David Fraser, H. J. Bacon

Wild and Exotic Animals as Pets Collection

The keeping of non-traditional or ‘exotic’ pets has been growing in popularity worldwide. In addition to the typical welfare challenges of keeping more traditional pet species like dogs and cats, ensuring the welfare of non-traditional pets is complicated by factors such as lack of knowledge, difficulties meeting requirements in the home and where and how animals are obtained. This paper uses examples of different species to highlight three major welfare concerns: ensuring that pets under our care i) function well biologically, ii) are free from negative psychological states and able to experience normal pleasures, and iii) lead reasonably natural lives. …

The Suitability Of Web Analytics Key Performance Indicators In The Academic Library Environment, Jody C. Fagan

Libraries

As the demand for library assessment grows, academic libraries are becoming more interested in Web analytics. Data are automatically gathered and provide information about a wide variety of online interactions. Libraries have long used simple counts such as visits and page views, but have more recently begun to choose strategic benchmarks, also known as key performance indicators (KPIs). Many common KPIs were created for commercial websites and are challenging to adapt for libraries. However, the underlying concepts are sufficiently valuable that libraries should explore their use. By evaluating the validity of web metrics, libraries can further the development of standards …

Type A Behavior, Pessimism, And Optimism Among College Undergraduates, Fred B. Bryant, Paul R. Yarnold

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This study used scores on measures of dispositional optimism and pessimism to discriminate 117 extreme Type A versus 131 extreme Type B college undergraduates. Consistent with a priori hypotheses the analysis revealed that Type As were significantly less pessimistic, and significantly more optimistic, than Type Bs.

Finding Joy In The Past, Present, And Future: The Relationship Between Type A Behavior And Savoring Beliefs Among College Undergraduates, Fred B. Bryant, Paul R. Yarnold

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Prior research investigating savoring behaviors and Type A behavior (TAB) found that extreme Type A undergraduates are most likely to score in the highest quintile on self-congratulation, and in the lowest three quintiles on memory-building. This study used scores on past-, present-, and future-focused savoring beliefs to discriminate 117 extreme Type A versus 131 extreme Type B college undergraduates. Univariate statistical analysis conducted via UniODA revealed that compared to extreme Type Bs, extreme Type As had significantly greater reminiscence (past focus) and anticipation (future focus) scores, and also had marginally greater savor the moment (present focus) scores. Multivariate analysis via …

Police Sexual Misconduct: A National Scale Study Of Arrested Officers, Philip M. Stinson, John Liederbach, Steven L. Brewer, Brooke E. Mathna

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Police sexual misconduct is often considered a hidden crime that routinely goes unreported. The current study provides an empirical data on cases of sex-related police crime at law enforcement agencies across the United States. The study identifies and describes incidents where sworn law enforcement officers were arrested for one or more sex-related crimes through a quantitative content analysis of published newspaper articles and court records. The primary news information source was the Google News search engine using 48 automated Google Alerts. Data are analyzed on 548 arrest cases in the years 2005-2007 of 398 officers employed by 328 nonfederal law …

Swiss Neutrality Examined: Model Or Exception Or Both, John Dreyer, Neal G. Jesse

Political Science Faculty Publications

Neutrality is a difficult position to maintain in a hostile international system. Switzerland is often seen as a successful case of neutrality, managing to both remain neutral and avoid conflict for centuries. This paper examines the possible reasons for the success of Swiss neutrality. It also positions the Swiss experience in comparison to other neutral states. Building upon and consolidating previous research and thought, we define three attributes that allow the Swiss to successfully maintain their neutrality. First is the armed deterrent worked into the national culture; armed neutrality is not just a policy position but a way of life …

Service First: Embracing The Scholarship On Teaching And Learning Through Active Engagement In Parks, Recreation, And Tourism Education, Keri Schwab, Brian Greenwood, Daniel Dustin

Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration

In this article, we turn the tripartite responsibility of teaching, scholarship, and service inside out. Rather than considering service to be a poor stepchild to scholarship and teaching, we reason that service as engaged scholarship should be the centerpiece of academic life, especially in an applied discipline like parks, recreation, and tourism. We reason further that improving engaged service should be the driving force behind good teaching, student learning, and scholarship. Finally, we reason that “impact factor,” a term commonly limited to citations in scholarly journals, should be expanded to include positive differences made on the ground in professional practice …

Creating Knowledge, Volume 7, 2014

Creating Knowledge

Dear Students, Faculty Colleagues and Friends, It is my great pleasure to introduce the seventh volume of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences’ Creating Knowledge—our undergraduate student scholarship and research journal. First published in 2008, the journal is the outcome of an initiative to enhance and enrich the academic quality of the student experience within the college. Through this publication, the college seeks to encourage students to become actively engaged in creating scholarship and research and gives them a venue for the publication of their essays.

Beginning with the sixth volume of the journal, we instituted a major …

State Of Juvenile Justice Report: 2014, Anne M. Hobbs, Sommer Fousek

Reports

The 2014 State of Juvenile Justice Report provides a snapshot of the juvenile justice system in Nebraska, with a specific focus on the current legislative context and an examination of three key points in the system: diversion, probation, and detention.

Trends within the juvenile justice system should be analyzed against the backdrop of statewide shifts that are a result of legislative mandates. In particular, Legislative Bill 561 has altered the juvenile justice landscape. Passed in 2013, LB 561 required communities to use programs aligned with evidence-based practices or best practices, with the goal of diverting youth out of the formal …

Mother-Reported Sleep, Accelerometer-Estimated Sleep, And Weight Status In Mexican American Children: Sleep Duration Is Associated With Increased Adiposity And Risk For Overweight/Obese Status, Suzanna M. Martinez, Louise C. Greenspan, Nancy F. Butte, Steven E. Gregorich, Cynthia L. De Groat, Julianna Deardorff, Carlos Penilla, Lauri A. Pasch, Elena Flores, Jeanne M. Tschann

School of Education Faculty Research

We know of no studies comparing parent-reported sleep with accelerometer-estimated sleep in their relation to pediatric adiposity. We examined: 1) the reliability of mother-reported sleep compared with accelerometer-estimated sleep, and 2) the relationship between both sleep measures and child adiposity. The current cross-sectional study included 304 Mexican American mother-child pairs recruited from Kaiser Permanente Northern California. We measured sleep duration, using maternal report and accelerometry, and child anthropometrics. Concordance between sleep measures was evaluated using the Bland-Altman method. We conducted zero-ordered correlations between mother-reported sleep, accelerometer-estimated sleep and child BMI z-scores (BMIz). Using linear regression, we examined three models to …

Measuring Microfinance: Analyzing The Conflict Between Practitioners And Researchers With Evidence From Nepal, Ram D. Rajbanshi, Meng Huang, Bruce Wydick

Economics Faculty Publications

What accounts for the discrepancy between the microfinance impact claims of development practitioners and the far smaller impacts found in experimental studies? We demonstrate in a simple theoretical framework why "before-and-after" observations of practitioners overstate microfinance impacts and why estimations in some recent randomized trials understate the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT). Our empirical study uses a unique data set from eastern Nepal to study the impact of microfinance in villages where microfinance did not previously exist. We find that approximately three-fourths of the apparent impact of microfinance observed by practitioners is an illusion driven by correlated unobservable …

Does New Information Technology Lower Media Quality? The Paradox Of Commercial Public Goods, Man-Lui Lau, Bruce Wydick

Economics Faculty Publications

We define commercial public goods as goods that are broadcast via television, radio, newsprint, or websites for which consumption is non-rival and non-exclusive, and revenue is generated mainly through advertising alongside a product in a two-sided market. With new information technology the fixed cost of entry in these markets has substantially declined. We demonstrate that as fixed costs of entry decline in a competitive media market, lower industry concentration results in lower resources to each firm for the production of commercial public goods. The counterintuitive result of new information technology is that it may result in lower quality news reporting …

State Of The University Address, Uno Office Of The Chancellor

Chancellor’s Speeches

Good afternoon, and welcome to the 2014 UNO “State of the University.” My sincere thanks to all attending today; and please know it is an absolute privilege to stand before you as Chancellor of this great University, located in the heart of this remarkable community.

There are moments in the history of institutions that are monumental, and this is one of those very special times in the life of UNO.

Today, I will share an overview of the state of the campus; highlight the most successful fundraising effort in our 106 year history; and honor Jim and Shirley Young — …

2014 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, Uno Office Of Academic Affairs

Community Engagement Award Applications

Program Purpose: The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities. The Honor Roll is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s strategic commitment to engage millions of college students in service and celebrate the critical role of higher education in strengthening communities. The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge is a parallel national initiative that was launched in 2011, based on recommendations from President Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Administered by The White House …

Crime Top Problem For Metro Areas To Address, Jobs Most Important For Rural Areas, High Taxes A Top Issue Statewide The Nebraska Metro And Rural Polls Find, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Past Publications

OMAHA – While rural and metro Nebraskans have strong enough ties between communities to understand the issues that are important to other areas of the state, there are varying factors that drive the perceptions of outsiders that are important to consider. On many issues, metro and rural Nebraskans have different views of the problems facing other parts of the state, which are shaped by factors other than the day‐to‐day experiences of locals, according to a new report released by the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s (UNO) Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR).

Bankruptcy: The Divergent Cases Of The City And The County Of San Bernardino, Richard Callahan, Mark Pisano

Public and Nonprofit Administration

The cases are the two separate jurisdictions of the City of San Bernardino and the County of San Bernardino, California, U.S.A. The matched pair offers a unique opportunity for a research design that compares a bankrupt city government with a jurisdiction sharing the essential demographic, economic, and geographical features, though as a county a different level of government. The two cases offer insights into bankruptcy as not simply a function of economic forces or recent poor policy choices but as a result of a pattern of decision-making, a structure of government, and the constraints placed on leadership by structure and …

Aligning Fiscal And Environmental Sustainability, Richard Callahan, Mark Pisano

Public and Nonprofit Administration

The future of environmental sustainability will be driven by the capacity of local, state and federal levels of government to develop fiscal sustainability. For example, in the case of the Alameda Corridor in Los Angeles County environmental sustainability advanced only because of the fiscal sustainability of the project. The environmental improvements of reducing particulate car and truck pollutants, as well as remediation of underground water pollution, were financed by the innovative public–private partnership that generated revenues to pay for long-neglected environmental degradations (Callahan 2007). The Alameda Corridor rail construction case illustrates a small but emerging set of cases showing local …

Comparison Of Hispanic Poverty Rates And Rankings For States: 2000 Census Vs. 2009-13 American Community Survey, David J. Drozd

Past Publications

No abstract provided.

Scorser (Review), Mandi Goodsett

Michael Schwartz Library Publications

No abstract provided.

Something Old, Something New: Mba Program Evaluation Using Shift-Share Analysis And Google Trends, Sarah M. Davis, A. E. Rodriguez

Economics & Business Analytics Faculty Publications

Shift-share analysis is a decomposition technique that is commonly used to measure attributes of regional change. In this method, regional change is decomposed into its relevant functional and competitive parts. This paper introduces traditional shift-share method and its extensions with examples of its applicability and usefulness for program evaluation and development, strategic planning, enrollment management and other traditional functions of higher education administration. To illustrate we provide an appraisal of the impact of demographic and employment changes resulting from the great recession on the MBA program of a regional private university in the state of Connecticut. We establish the validity …

Biotechnology: Can The Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership Reconcile Eu And Us Differences On Gmos?, Claude Chereau

Economics & Business Analytics Faculty Publications

The US and EU have announced negotiations for a free trade agreement to be completed by end of 2014. While tariff barriers between the two entities are limited, their trade is encumbered with non-tariff barriers (NTBs), one of them being their diverging approach to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the agriculture and food industries. The US operates from a science-based perspective while the EU relies on the precautionary principle. This paper reviews the developments of GMOs in both the US and EU and draws on measures outlined in international organizations and recent trade agreements to explore options for the US …

Ua41 University College Connection, Dennis K. George, Dean, Wendi Kelley, University College, Western Kentucky University

UC Publications

No abstract provided.

Ua3/9/1 Wku Annual Progress Report, 2013-2014, Wku President's Office

WKU Administration Documents

Progress report regarding Challenging the Spirit (2012-2018) action plan.