Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Review Of Hudson, William E. "American Democracy In Peril: Eight Challenges To America’S Future", Richard Holtzman

History and Social Sciences Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Chinese Social Enterprise: A Global Phenomenon With Chinese Characteristics, Amanda Jingtong O'Malley

Honors Theses

Social entrepreneurship, a concept that integrates business strategies with achieving social goals, is gaining traction in China. However, it is a distinctly Chinese variant of an approach exported by Western entrepreneurs. The purpose of this thesis to is analyze the Chinese social enterprise by identifying China’s socioeconomic and political forces that create the unique environment in which this trend is taking root. By examining how these factors are changing in China’s progressively more market economy, I conclude that key characteristics of the Chinese social enterprise are also shifting in response—moving from a civil society- originated model to a market‐based social …

Stories Of Africa: The Politics Of Displaying African Objects In Museum Exhibitions, Kristin Otto 14

Honor Scholar Theses

In this paper, I will analyze how museum exhibitions use material culture to construct and present a narrative about Africa. Exhibiting material culture reflects the power, authority, and ideology of the exhibitor, sometimes at the expense of the displayed culture’s agency in representation. Museums have a particularly infamous history of distorting African cultures in exhibits, often validating racist ideologies. Consequently, zealous museum critics have begun to question the relevance of museums in the future public education. The public, however, continues to visit museums and experience exhibits featuring African objects. Based on the challenges and controversies museums exhibiting African objects face …

Sometimes We Do Reinvent The Wheel: Commentary On Macdonald (1912), Mario Scalora

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

As a researcher of targeted violence, I found Arthur MacDonald’s work “Assassins of Rulers” (MacDonald, 1912) very provocative. Although different norms for behavioral and criminological research early the past century may have limited the current applicability of Mac- Donald’s findings, this work highlighted certain paradigmatic issues that have later emerged within the targeted violence literature. Before addressing commonalities with recent research, discussion of methodological issues is warranted. First, one is impressed with how detailed MacDonald’s presentation is across the range of cases of political assassination and regicide. One wonders how more descriptive MacDonald’s work would have been if he had …

Quality Of Life, Health Status, And Academic Success In Undergraduates, Amanda Kuhlman

Honors Projects

Background: Undergraduates are making their first autonomous health decisions. This is an opportune stage for examining the precursors to the chronic diseases of adulthood. The purpose of this study was to examine correlations between health status, quality of life, and academic success in college students.

Methods: A quality of life survey (Goodman, 1997) was utilized to determine the behavioral difficulties of 86 first and second year college students. Each of these behavioral categories were then examined for possible correlations with blood pressure, weight, body mass index (BMI), alcohol consumption, body fat percentage, and any changes in these categories from the …

Natural Phenomena As Potential Influence On Social And Political Behavior: The Earth’S Magnetic Field, Jackie R. East

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

Researchers use natural phenomena in a number of disciplines to help explain human behavioral outcomes. Research regarding the potential effects of magnetic fields on animal and human behavior indicates that fields could influence outcomes of interest to social scientists. Tests so far have been limited in scope. This work is a preliminary evaluation of whether the earth’s magnetic field influences human behavior it examines the baseline relationship exhibited between geomagnetic readings and a host of social and political outcomes. The emphasis on breadth of topical coverage in these statistical trials, rather than on depth of development for any one model, …

Attitudes Toward Assisted Reproductive Technology: The Effects Of Gender, Relationship Status, Age, And Sexual Orientation, Brigitte A. Dooley

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Reproductive technology has extended procreative options to infertile, subfertile, unpartnered, and same-sex-partnered individuals, but this technology is sometimes used in circumstances that may be deemed unreasonable or inappropriate by some people. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of five contextual variables—gender, relationship status, age, and sexual orientation of the individual or couple seeking reproductive assistance, as well as the source of gametes—on attitudes toward the procurement of reproductive services. A multiple-segment factorial vignette was administered to a sample of 257 reproductive-aged respondents. Results indicate that ART is generally viewed as an acceptable procedure by reproductive aged …

Whites And The Active Representation Of Racial Minority Interests, Maykao Y. Hang

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

This study explored personal and organizational factors that contribute to White public administrators actively representing the interests of racial minority minorities. Data collection comprised of 15 semi-structured interviews. The average age was 54, and the length of service was 3-33 years. Subjects were asked about their personal background, what it means to be White, and work experiences in local county government.

Personal factors found were racial consciousness, major life events, and significant relationships with people of color. Organizational factors included a diverse and inclusive work environment, bureaucracy, legal and compliance issues, and supervisor support. Findings included that Whites did not …

Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, David C. Dollahite

Faculty Publications

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) was formally organized on April 6, 1830, in Palmyra, New York, by founding president Joseph Smith during the era of U.S. history known as the Second Great Awakening. Smith was considered a prophet, through whom God restored the church of that Latter-day Saints (i.e., the Mormons), believed to be lost to apostasy in ancient times.

Diplomacy & Negotiation, Liefke M. Cox

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Over the course of history when women have been involved in the diplomatic, political, social, and economic structure of a country it has been found they are one of the key ingredients to building an effective and stable democracy. Investing in women strengthens the back bone of any society. Top CEO’s, such as Tupperware’s Rick Goings and Warren Buffett, have also publically supported this assumption. I argue that women in different societies have traits that have been instilled in them culturally which in turn translate directly to their ability to handle diplomatic situations and business negotiations. Societies, however intentionally or …

Polysemy In Design Review Conversations, Georgi V. Georgiev, Toshiharu Taura

Design Thinking Research Symposium

This paper examines the role of polysemy, defined as the quality of having multiple meanings, in design review conversations. It examines the polysemy, particularly of nouns, involved in a dataset of design review conversations with reference to design ideas. The purpose is to determine whether polysemy is related to successful development of design ideas and more creative design outcomes. The results show that the polysemy of nouns involved in the conversations of the finally developed, successful, design ideas exceeds in the most cases the average polysemy involved in the conversations pertaining to the unsuccessful design ideas. Furthermore, the polysemy of …

Ben Judah: Fragile Empire Study Guide, 2014, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Theorizing More Inclusive Cities: A Relational Model Of Boundary Transformation And Urban Research Agenda, Leigh Graham

Publications and Research

To generate more inclusive environments for marginalized urban communities of color demands a strategy that privileges symbolic boundary change and uses it as the inroad towards spatial changes. This paper theorizes a three step relational process of a) communicative democratic activism, b) "multicultural" capital brokers providing access to the policy making process, and c) practices of community building that reflect the role of cities as key sites for sociospatial boundary transformation. An emphasis on discursive and ideational change, relying on communicative democratic processes steeped in historical, comparative analysis opens up our minds towards different classification schemes for stigmatized groups. Participating …

Exploring Other Perspectives Of Gender And Ethnicity, Roy A. Bean, Alexander L. Hsieh, Adam M. Clark

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this activity is to have clinicians explore a change in one key element of their identities (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity/race) within the unchanged context of their life circumstances (e.g., family-of-origin characteristics, individual personality). This allows clinicians to focus on and process elements from their own histories within the context of a different perspective through an imagined switch in a salient socio-demographic factor. This activity is designed to help clinicians develop greater perspective-taking abilities and improve their awareness of some of the factors that have heavily influenced, and perhaps even defined, their own life experience.