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Nebraska Legislative Planning Committee 2016 Report: Policy Briefs, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Past Publications

The Nebraska Legislature has held meetings and solicited input from a host of individuals and organizations who are advocating for: 1) property tax relief and; 2) revisions to agriculture assessment practices. This policy brief focuses on agriculture in Nebraska from three perspectives:

1. Why this is an issue;
2. Discussion of agriculture assessment practices;
3. Questions to consider.

Labor Unions And Occupational Safety: Event-Study Analysis Using Union Elections, Ling Li, Shawn Rohlin, Perry Singleton

Center for Policy Research

This study examines the dynamic relationship between union elections and occupational safety among manufacturing establishments. Data on union elections come from the National Labor Relations Board, and data on workplace inspections and accident case rates come from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The results indicate that union elections improved occupational safety. First, workplace inspections trended upwards before the election, then decreased immediately after the election, due almost entirely to employee complaints. Second, accident case rates were relatively stable before the election, then trended downwards after the election, due to accidents involving days away from work, job restrictions, and job …

Knowledge Of Health Insurance Concepts And The Affordable Care Act Among Rural Residents, Erika C. Ziller Phd

Health System Reform

Health insurance literacy is central to identifying eligibility for coverage and subsidies, choosing a plan, and using optimal healthcare services under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or other insurance reform initiatives. To fully benefit from policy efforts to improve health insurance access, rural residents must have the ability to select the plan that best meets their healthcare needs. However, a higher proportion of rural residents possess characteristics that may put them at risk of lower health insurance literacy, including lower incomes and educational attainment, less experience with private insurance, and historically higher uninsured rates. Using Health Reform Monitoring Survey data …

Toward A Theoretical Framework To Studying Climate Change Policies: Insights From Case Study Of Singapore, Ai Sian Ng, May O. Lwin, Augustine Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The world decided in December 2015 to take actions to reduce global warming. To contribute toward this goal, this research examines possible policy levers for inclusion in the climate change ratification plan. A case study of the measures taken by the Republic of Singapore, a low-lying 719.2 km2 island without natural resources in Asia, is conducted. Being vulnerable to climate change impact and yet having to balance her people’s needs and economic progress with limited resources, the measures taken by this small country could offer policy insights for small states and states without access to alternative energy sources. This research …

The First Special Issue Of Dignity, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

A Simulator-Based Analysis Of Engineering Treatments For Right-Hook Bicycle Crashes At Signalized Intersections, Jennifer Warner, David S. Hurwitz, Christopher M. Monsere, Kayla Fleskes

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A right-hook crash is a crash between a right-turning motor vehicle and an adjacent through-moving bicycle. At signalized intersections, these crashes can occur during any portion of the green interval when conflicting bicycles and vehicles are moving concurrently. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of four types of engineering countermeasures – regulatory signage, intersection pavement marking, smaller curb radius, and protected intersection design – at modifying driver behaviors that are known contributing factors in these crashes. This research focused on right-hook crashes that occur during the latter stage of the circular green indication at signalized intersections …

#Nowareyoustartingtogetit?: A Case Study Of 'Stop Charters In Ky' Advocacy Campaign, Rachel Trontz

Capstone Collection

The United States is experiencing a sweeping neoliberal education reform agenda. The marketization of education is the latest trend in this neoliberal education agenda, and it finally took in hold in Kentucky. Charter schools are understood as being part of the marketization of education, which comes with lower accountability standards and a siphoning of public funds away from traditional public schools. Kentucky has a history of education reform policies that have resulted in an improvement in the quality of public education. However, public education has seen a decline in the allocation of state resources over the past decade. This steady …

A Mixed Method Study Of A Former Special Operations Community: Identifying Factors That Effect Cross-Cultural Competency, John Phillip Buffin

All Theses And Dissertations

The September 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks on the United States caused a series of military events, including the planning and deployment of troops to Afghanistan. In less than a month after that infamous September day, military Special Forces (SF) members and officers from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were operating in Afghanistan. The SF and CIA members were faced with not only the difficult geographical terrain but were hampered by inadequate time to prepare for the complicated human terrain of the Afghan culture.

In the initial months of the war, these deficiencies were not evident; however, over the next decade, …

Financing Central Cities: The Economics Underlying Fiscal Strategy Options, Michael Wasylenko

Center for Policy Research

A consortium of Syracuse City and Onondaga County governments along with a number of local area non-profit organizations have recently organized a commission on Local Government Modernization for the Syracuse area. The Report makes three major recommendation to strengthen the local public sector in the Syracuse region: seek opportunities to share public services across local jurisdictions to reduce costs, adopt the Minneapolis region model for sharing revenues from new commercial and industrial development across localities, and work toward merging Syracuse City government with Onondaga County government. At the same time, current non-city residents would not have responsibility for the city …

The Octofoil, July/August/September 2017, Ninth Infantry Division Association

The Octofoil

The Octofoil is the offical publication of the Ninth Infantry Division Association, Inc., an organization formed by the officers and men of the 9th Infantry Division in order to perpetuate the memory of fallen comrades, preserve the esprit de corps of the Division, promote peace and serve as an information bureau about the 9th Infantry Division. The Association is made up of 9th Infantry veterans from WWII and Vietnam, spouses, widows and lineal descendants.

Feasibility Study Of A Campus-Based Bikesharing Program At Unlv, Hualiang Teng, Boniphace Kutela, Eneliko Mulokozi, Bingyi Hu, Yang Jiao, Haiqing Li

Mineta Transportation Institute

Bikesharing systems have been deployed worldwide as a transportation demand management strategy to encourage active modes and reduce single-occupant vehicle travel. These systems have been deployed at universities, both as part of a city program or as a stand-alone system, to serve for trips to work, as well as trips on campus. The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTCSNV) has built a public bikesharing system in downtown Las Vegas, approximately five miles from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). This study analyzes the feasibility of a campus-based bikesharing program at UNLV. Through a review of the literature, survey …

Designing Road Diet Evaluations: Lessons Learned From San Jose’S Lincoln Avenue Road Diet, Hilary Nixon, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Cameron Simons

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report analyzes traffic impacts from the 2015 implementation of a pilot “road diet” on Lincoln Avenue, in the City of San Jose, California, comparing data on traffic volumes and speeds from before and after the road diet was implemented. The analysis looks at impacts on both the road diet location itself and on surrounding streets likely to have been impacted by traffic diverted off the road diet segment. The results within the road diet zone were as expected, with falling volumes and numbers of speeders. The all-day data aggregated by street type (e.g., neighborhood streets, major streets) showed limited …

Fertility And Rural Electrification In Bangladesh, Tomoki Fujii, Abu S. Shonchoy

Research Collection School Of Economics

We use a household-level panel dataset from Bangladesh to examine the household-level relationship between fertility and the access to electricity. We find that the household's access to electricity reduces the change in the number of children by about 0.1 to 0.25 children in a period of five years in most estimates. This finding also applies to retrospective panel data and is robust to the choice of covariates and estimation methods. Our finding passes falsification test and corroborates with the predictions of our theoretical model on the households' time use and consumption pattern.

Urban And Building Multiscale Co-Simulation: Case Study Implementations On Two University Campuses, Clayton Miller, Daren Thomas, Jerome Kampf, Arno Schlueter

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

The co-simulation of both urban and building-level models leverages the advantages of both platforms. It better accounts for the localized effects of surrounding buildings, geography and climate conditions while maintaining high-fidelity building systems representation. This paper describes the co-simulation process of the building and urban-scale models of two university campuses in Switzerland using EnergyPlus and CitySim. In the first case study, on-site measured performance data is compared to the co-simulation results. The second case study examines the results of the two engines. The results show that coupling of EnergyPlus with CitySim resulted in a −15.5\% and −7.5\% impact on cooling …

Incentivizing The Use Of Bike Trailers For Dynamic Repositioning In Bike Sharing Systems, Supriyo Ghosh, Pradeep Varakantham

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Bike Sharing System (BSS) is a green mode of transportation that is employed extensively for short distance travels in major cities of the world. Unfortunately, the users behaviour driven by their personal needs can often result in empty or full base stations, thereby resulting in loss of customer demand. To counter this loss in customer demand, BSS operators typically utilize a fleet of carrier vehicles for repositioning the bikes between stations. However, this fuel burning mode of repositioning incurs a significant amount of routing, labor cost and further increases carbon emissions. Therefore, we propose a potentially self-sustaining and environment friendly …

2017 July, Office Of Communications & Marketing, Morehead State University.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for July of 2017.

Mental Illness Stigma, Socially Acceptable Treatment, And Barriers To Health, Frances Renee Gellert

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper discusses the topic of mental illness stigma and treatment in Uganda as explored through internship in the Social Work Department at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital. The objectives of this project were to complete a meaningful internship while exploring causes of mental illness in Uganda, contradictions between traditional and modern approaches to treatment, and the affect of stigma on mental well-being. The internship included a total of 120 hours at Butabika Hospital. Individual research using documentary and literature review methods accompanied the internship. Butabika Hospital did not consent to the completion of formal research at, so any conclusions …

Algorithms For Constructing Vehicle Trajectories In Urban Networks Using Inertial Sensors Data From Mobile Devices, Umana Ahmed

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Vehicle trajectories are an important source of information for estimating traffic flow characteristics. Lately, several studies have focused on identifying a vehicle’s trajectory in traffic network using data from mobile devices. However, these studies predominantly employed GPS coordinate information for tracking a vehicle’s speed and position in the transportation network. Considering the known limitations of GPS, such as, connectivity issues at urban canyons and underpasses, low precision of localization, high power consumption of device while GPS is in use, this research focuses on developing alternate methods for identifying a vehicle’s trajectory at an intersection and at a urban grid network …

The United States Benefit Deficit For Veterans, Leslie-Dawn Quick

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Over the last few years the Department of Veterans Affairs has faced an increase of public scrutiny for its handling of veteran health care claims. Allegations that mismanagement created extensive waiting times and appointment scheduling manipulations resulted in veterans dying were made against the VA. This research examined data from the VA Monday Morning Workload Reports, the National Survey of Veterans, the VA Office of Inspector General, and media reports of whistleblowers accusing the VA of mismanagement to determine whether the VA was guilty of a state crime of omission and commission resulting in a social harm to its veterans. …

A Nash Equilibrium Formulation Of A Tradable Credits Scheme For Incentivizing Transport Choices: From Next-Generation Public Transport Mode Choice To Hot Lanes, Salem Lahlou, Laura Wynter

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We consider a tradable credits scheme for binary transport games where one option is faster (or more comfortable) than the other, but its quality of service suffers when usage is high. Applications can be found in mode choice (public transit versus road transport), premium (i.e., express bus) versus ordinary public transit, and fast (e.g., high-occupancy toll, or HOT) versus regular lanes on expressways. We are motivated in particular by the choice between public transport and use of the road network as a privilege to be discouraged. In a future where GPS-based time-distance-place road charging exists, such next-generation transport management strategies …

Jointness, Culture, And Inter-Service Prejudice: Assessing The Impact Of Resident, Satellite, And Hybrid Joint Professional Military Education Ii Course Delivery Methods On Military Officer Attitudes, Charles Mark Davis

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The efficacy of United States (U.S.) military forces is predicated on a condition of jointness, which enables members of different military services to overcome their cultural and experiential prejudices and operate interdependently. Joint Professional Military Education Phase (JPME) II, offered through the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC), is the principal mechanism within the Department of Defense to reduce the inter-service prejudices held by military officers and to cultivate the optimal joint perspectives and attitudes associated with jointness. The JFSC employs three different methods for delivering JPME II—Resident, Satellite, and Hybrid—yet it remains unknown whether significant differences exist between them regarding …

Factors Influencing Health Outcomes Across The Least, Average And Healthiest States In America, Somayeh Hooshmand

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Although there is a growing literature that uses national and international data to investigate health outcomes and their link to the determinants of health, empirical studies on whether or not there is a causal relationship between health outcomes and the determinants of health, to our knowledge, has not been generally done previously. To fill this gap, the main focus of this dissertation is to empirically analyze the relationship existing between health determinants and health outcomes among the least healthy state (Mississippi), the middle ranked state (Virginia) and the healthiest state (Hawaii) as measured by American Health Ranking (AHR). This study …

At What Cost? The Ethics Of Student Debt, Kevin D. Gecowets

The Siegel Institute Journal of Applied Ethics

This paper summarizes recent research into the cost of higher education, and specifically the effects of growing student debt loads. It explores the utility of debt related to access to degree programs, entry into the job market, and economic impact in later life. It is not an economic analysis of higher education financing, but a consideration of the costs and benefits of education financing today. The central ethical consideration of “who benefits” applied to the current state of play in higher education financing leads to the questions: With constantly rising debt loads for individual students and the general population, is …

Hampton Roads Residents’ Perceptions Of Sea Level Rise And Flooding Adaptation, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Carol Considine, Burton St. John Iii, Michelle Covi, J. Gail Nicula, Pragati Rawat, Kaitlin Giles

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Adverse Childhood Experiences And Their Role As Mitigators For Youthful And Non-Youthful Offenders In Capital Sentencing Cases, Jessica R. Trapassi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and their role as mitigators in capital sentencing is an important, yet relatively unexplored, topic in criminological literature. Using data from the North Carolina Capital Sentencing Project, this study explores the role of ACEs as mitigating factors for youthful and non-youthful capital offenders: whether youthful offenders are less likely to be sentenced to death, whether or not ACEs are effective as mitigating factors, and whether ACE mitigators are more effective for youthful or non-youthful offenders. Results show that youthful capital offenders are less likely to be sentenced to death than adult capital offenders, and while ACE …

Pejalan Independen: Sebuah Diskursus Tentang Keharamantravel Agent Di Kalangan Backpacker, Diah Puspitarini, Ezra M. Choesin

Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy Studies

This article discusses the discourse of travelling that has developed among backpackers. Backpacker’s travel are always identical with independent travellers. Independent refers to organizing a whole stories of activities in travelling by themselves. They always do it, without requiring help from others, such as travel agents. The presence of travel agents in the world of travel is contrary to the principles upheld by the independent backpacker. The debate begin when other ideologies of travelling are deliver and the separation of activities between them have started blur. This study used qualitative research methods, with indepth interview and participant observation technique.

Wisata Halal Di Antara Keuntungan Ekonomi Dan Politis, Ananda Putri Laras, Jajang Gunawijaya

Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy Studies

The obedience of Moslem in keeping the commandments and away from God’s prohibitions is the cultural value that forms halal tourism market. This thesis aims to find how a conventional hotel interpret and implement halal tourism policy, as well as how the implication is. My position is in the middle of profit and loss debate of halal tourism, but I am trying to find the right strategy of implementation and non-material implication. This research problems are answered through qualitative approach and ethnography method, while the data are reduced through observation, participation of observation, formal interview and literature review. My findings …

Desa Wisata Budaya Wayang Kulit Jawa Sebagai Destinasiwisata Minat Khusus Dan Komoditas Pariwisata Indonesia, Priyanto Priyanto

Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy Studies

The changing trend of tourism from conventional tourism to special interest tourism encourages the growth and development of several cultural tourism villages in Indonesia. Amid various challenges, the existence of Javanese wayang kulit tourism village continues to clean up to be able to exist. This study aims to explore the potential of wayang kulit cultural tourism village as a tourist destination of special interest and tourism commodity of Indonesia case study of Wayang Kulit Pucung Tourism Village, Bantul Regency (DIY), Wayang Kulit Gendeng Tourism Village, Bantul Regency (DIY) and Wayang Tourism Village, Kepuhsari, Wonogiri Regency (Central Java) Through the qualitative …

Optimalisasi Peran Pusat Informasi Dan Pemanduan Dalammeningkatkan Kualitas Pelayanan Kebun Raya Bogor, Budiman Mahmud Musthofa, Priyanto Priyanto, Elissya Nuriva Putri

Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy Studies

Quality of service is one of the key in hospitality industry, one of which is service in a tourism object. This article discusses the optimization role of information center and gudiing in improving service quality at Bogor Botanical Garden (KRB). Through qualitative methods, the results of this study showed that the role of information center and guiding KRB in disseminating information aboutbotanical garden to the visitors plays a very important role that increases the number of tourists who come. Based on the analysis of five dimensions of excellent service, then in general has fulfilled all the dimensions of service in …

Sosialisasi Model Pengembangan Kawasan Wisata Pedesaanmelalui Pendekatan Berkelanjutan, Partisipasi Masyarakatdan Perencanaan Strategis; Studi Kasus Wisata Pedesaankabupaten Bogor, Jajang Gunawijaya, Febrian Febrian, Irfan Nugraha, Annisa Pratiwi

Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy Studies

No abstract provided.