Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Evaluation And Perceived Impacts Of The North-Central Region Sare Grants, 1988-2002, Shirley K. Trout, Charles A. Francis, John E. Barbuto Jr.

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Evaluation of government-funded programs is essential to identify ways in which initial funding makes an impact and programs can improve. The purpose of this study was to understand the value of the North Central Region's Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education (SARE) grants operated through the United States Department of Agriculture, from their inception through 2002. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, impacts were explored from the perspective of former grant recipients. Survey data were collected from 171 former SARE and 33 interviews conducted with grant recipients who represented three different grant "families"--researchers, producers and educators. Descriptive, comparative, and exploratory analyses …

May 2005 - Staff Meeting Minutes

ALEC Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

Adoption Of Riparian Forest Buffers On Private Lands In Nebraska, Usa, Peter Skelton, Scott J. Josiah, James W. King, James R. Brandle, Glenn A. Helmers, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Pesticide and nutrient runoff from agricultural fields is a socio-environmental problem in the Midwestern United States. Riparian forest buffers (RFBs) are a proven conservation practice that effectively manage this problem, though adoption rates are low. A mail survey was conducted to determine differences between adopter and nonadopter characteristics and attitudes with regard to the use of RFBs. Data were collected from 48 RFB adopters and 261 RFB nonadopters in two Nebraska watersheds. Inferential and multivaririate statistics were used to identify differences between adapter status and producer status groups. About half (50.8%) the respondents were nonproducers. Nonproducers are agricultural landowners not …

April 2005 - Staff Meeting Minutes

ALEC Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

A Framework For The “Entrepreneurial” Learner Of The 21st Century, Connie I. Reimers-Hild, James W. King, John E. Foster, Susan Fritz, Steven S. Waller, Daniel W. Wheeler

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Successful distance learners and entrepreneurs may be similar in that they seek out and capitalize on opportunities and marshal resources to achieve their goals. Further, entrepreneurial behavior is a vital asset in the rapidly changing global knowledge economy of the 21 st Century. This paper presents a theoretical framework for examining the characteristics of successful distance learners through the lens of entrepreneurship. The proposed theoretical framework suggests a relationship between the entrepreneurial personality, which is the combined score of locus of control, need for achievement and risk taking propensity, with success and persistence in the academic environment. We believe that …

“As Tough As It Gets”: Women In Boston Politics, 1921-2004, Kristen A. Petersen, Carol Hardy-Fanta Phd, Karla Armenoff

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

This study seeks to answer the question: Given the wealth of talent and resources women possess—and the state offers—why is it so tough for women to gain representation in Boston City Hall? To answer this question, and to document the efforts women have made over almost 100 years, we examine the history of women who have run for and won—or lost—election to the Boston City Council in the 20th century. How does the structure and culture of a given urban political arena (i.e., “Boston politics”) affect women’s opportunities as elected officials? What is women’s political culture and how has it …

March 2005 - Staff Meeting Minutes

ALEC Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

February 2005 - Staff Meeting Minutes

ALEC Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

January 2005 - Staff Meeting Minutes

ALEC Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

Becoming A Professional Engineering Educator: A New Role For A New Era, L. Dee Fink, Susan Ambrose, Daniel W. Wheeler

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Engineering education faces significant challenges as it seeks to meet the demands on the engineering profession in the twenty-first century. Engineering faculty will need to continue to learn new approaches to teaching and learning, which in turn will require effective professional development for both new and experienced instructors alike. This article explores approaches to effective professional development and provides a conceptual framework for responding to the challenge of becoming a professional engineering educator. The "cycle of professional practice" is introduced as a prelude for identifying what individual professors and their institutions can do to generate more powerful forms of engineering …

Institutional Mission Vs. Policy Constraint?: Unlocking Potential, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

The research-intensive and competitive knowledge society is putting HEIs (higher education institutions) under the spotlight. While many HEIs around the world do not proclaim or wish to be research-intensive institutions the majority desire to intensify their research activity because it is seen as a sine qua non of higher education. Accordingly, HEIs are busy making critical strategic choices concerning human resources, the research environment, the teaching-research nexus, organisational and management structure, and funding. Governments are also making choices, using policies and financial instruments to help shape institutional mission, priorities and HE systems. But if governments genuinely desire to widen access …

‘Improving Their Lives.’ State Policies And San Resistance In Botswana, Sidsel Saugestad

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

A court case raised by a group of San (former) hunter-gatherers, protesting against relocation from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, has attracted considerable international attention. The Government of Botswana argues that the relocation was done in order to ‘improve the lives’ of the residents, and that it was in their own best interest. The residents plead their right to stay in their traditional territories, a right increasingly acknowledged in international law, and claim that they did not relocate voluntarily. The case started in 2004 and will, due to long interspersed adjournments, go on into 2006.

This article traces the events …

Assimilation Of The Sami - Implementation And Consequences, Henry Minde

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

In May 2002 the Norwegian Sami Parliament discussed a motion put forward by the government of establishing a Sami people's fund as an act of reconciliation; to compensate for the state's former policy of norwe- gianisation [assimilation]. In conjunction with this case, the present article was originally written as a background paper to depict the present state of knowledge about the minority policy toward the Sami (1850- 1980). The paper shows that on one hand great efforts have been made to clarify the political aspects of norwegianisation towards the Sami and the Kven. One can conclude that the state's efforts …

Unlv Magazine, Lori Bachand, Regina Barcolas, Barbara Cloud, Holly Ivy De Vore, Gian Galassi, Cayrn Key, Jennifer Robison, Gillian Silver, Jason Vaughan, John F. Gallagher, Cate Weeks, Diane Russell

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

December 2004 - Staff Meeting Minutes

ALEC Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

Judicial Nominees: Defining The Terms Of Senate Debates, Gary L. Mcdowell

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Since roughly the beginning of the Reagan administration the left wing of the Democratic senatorial cohort has enjoyed remarkable success in disparaging Republican nominees to the federal judiciary as mere "conservatives". Its argument has been that those nominees would decide cases on everything from abortion to economic regulation on the basis of their "conservative" policy preferences. Sadly, as a general rule, the conservatives have allowed the Democrats to get away with this distortion.

Community Development Assessment For The State Of Utah: A Guide To Utah's Community Development Environment, Community Development Department, Federal Reserve Bank Of San Francisco

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

The Community Affairs Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has developed a new series of reports for the nine states in the Twelfth District that both detail the demographic, economic, governmental, and institutional underpinnings of each state and provide an analysis of the various community development needs within each state. These reports, which we are calling “Environmental Assessments,” are meant to provide a framework for the array of community development activities that the department undertakes across the District. The hope is that the reports will not only provide a helpful compilation of existing community development needs and …

Hiv/Aids Among Women Of Color In Massachusetts, Erika Kates, Helen Levine, Lakay Cornell

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

According to a recent report on the status of women in Massachusetts, the Commonwealth has an “extraordinarily high” incidence of women of color with HIV/AIDS. Over 4,200 women are infected and women of color account for a disproportionately high number of these cases.

November 2004 - Staff Meeting Minutes

ALEC Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

Missed Opportunities: The Need For Landmine Survivor Rehabilitation In Rural Areas, Stephen Meyers

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Persons with disabilities in developing countries are "regarded by their own communities as the most disadvantaged," yet poverty alleviation and international aid programs have consistently failed to prioritize their rehabilitation and integration into society. Within the scope of mine action (landmine removal, victim assistance and mine risk education), landmine survivor assistance receives only five percent of all humanitarian mine action funding. Persons with disabilities, whether their disabilities were caused by war, agricultural or industrial accidents, diabetes, infection or other causes, are often ignored.

Comprehensive Action Against Landmines In Ecuador, Guillermo Leal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

During the conflict of 1995 between Ecuador and Peru, a number of minefields were sown along the disputed border area. Although statistics concerning the problem have been difficult to obtain, anti-personnel mines represent a serious threat to the local populations. Many inhabitants have been forced to alter their traditional agricultural lifestyles as well as other daily activities such as cattle ranching, hunting and fishing.

Guatemala, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Tucked among Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, Guatemala is a country full of history. Farming and fishing villages date back to as early as 2000 B.C. and represent the beginning of the Mayan culture that dominated the area for centuries. In 1583, Pedro de Alvarado, sent by the king of Spain, conquered the lands of the remaining Mayans and took possession of the land. The year 1821 brought independence from Spanish rule but not an improvement in the lives of the Mayans. Various leaders and governments took power, and in the 1950s, Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán carried on the liberal …

Itep Test Trials For Detection Reliability Assessment Of Metal Detectors, Christina Mueller, Mate Gaal, Martina Scharmach, Sylke Bär, A.M. Lewis, T.J. Bloodworth, Dieter Guelle, Peter-Th Wilrich

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The total detection reliability of a mine-searching system is governed by the following three elements:

• Intrinsic capability, which describes the basic physical-technical capability of the method.
• Application factors, which include those due to environment.
• Human factor, which is the effect of human operators on the detection reliability.

Some of these can be determined in simple laboratory measurements in which the effect on detection capability of individual parameters is measured. However, the human factor and some aspects of the effects of environmental conditions on the system need to be treated statistically.

The National Demining Office In Lebanon, 1998–2004, George Massaad, Salim Raad, Kassem Jammoul, Chip Bowness

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Mine action in Lebanon only became highlighted internationally since the withdrawal of Israeli forces in May 2000. Wars and occupation during the past 25 years have left hundreds of thousands of mines and UXO scattered throughout Lebanon, including cluster munitions. The draft national Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) indicates that as of September 2003, more than 30 percent of the national population of 3.7 million is affected, and estimates that 1.4 percent of the landmass or about 137 million square metres remains potentially contaminated by mines and/or UXO. This is a significant detriment to socio-economic development.

El Salvador, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Although El Salvador gained its independence from Spain in 1838, oppressive regimes controlled the nation from that time through the 20th century. In the late 1970s, leftist groups, most notably the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), violently lashed against the ruling government. Fraudulent elections dashed the prospects of a full democracy, and by 1980, the country became mired in a full-scale civil war. El Salvador became the focus of special international attention during this period due to the FMLN's surprising success, which the government was able to suppress. In 1992, after 12 years of fighting, the United Nations was …

Nicaragua, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Nicaragua’s landscape is as volatile as its past. Located in Central America south of Honduras and north of Costa Rica, its land is troubled by earthquakes, 40 volcanoes, landslides and tropical hurricanes. Nicaragua received its political independence from Spain in 1821 and became an independent republic in 1838. From 1896, it was ruled under a dynasty/dictatorship established by President Anastasio Somoza García until a bloody revolution occurred in 1979 led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Over a decade of internal conflict caused Nicaragua to be heavily mined before most of the fighting ended in 1990. Since 1990, the …

U.S. Humanitarian Demining Research And Development Program Provides "Reach-In" Technology, Chris Wanner

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

When mine clearance operations closed down on June 12, 2004, for the last time in Honduras, U.S. Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) prototype equipment on trial was there to help complete the work started nearly one decade ago. Progress in reaching this milestone had stalled in 2002. Lack of a solution to a troublesome combination of environmental and threat factors remained beyond the capability of normal clearance procedures at one of the last remaining mine-suspected areas left in Honduras. Conventional clearance methods had revealed evidence of a mixture of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines buried under a meter …

Mine Risk Education In Kawthoolei Liberated Area: An Experiment In Creating A Program Of Mre In A Non-State-Controlled Area Of Burma, Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Engaging a non-state armed group in any aspect of mine action is based on the same concerns of humanitarian action that are the basis of engaging any state authority, but more time may be needed to educate non-state groups in humanitarian norms to which they are unable to accede, and by which they may not feel bound. Most non-state actors (NSAs) will engage in armed conflict. If the conflict is over, they have either dissolved or become a part of the official governing structure. If they are mine users, mine action will be similar to that undertaken in states that …

The Gichd Regional Support Centre: An Approach To Regional Information Management, Simon Berger, Alan Arnold

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Ask most people in mine action what is meant by regional information management and they will talk to you about the consolidation of country-specific mine action information at centralized regional locations. They may talk about the need for data aggregation, the reluctance of programmes to provide data and the generally slow pace of the work. In almost all cases, they will mention data analysis and comparisons between the work completed in different programmes as key elements in regional systems. Most of the examples given will focus on efforts that fell short of expectations and failed to deliver on the promise …

Beyond Mine Removal, Juan Carlos Ruan

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

For over a decade, the Organization of American States (OAS) has been coordinating landmine removal operations throughout the Americas. The program has been the responsibility of the Mine Action Program of the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy of the OAS, which provides overall coordination and management. The OAS has been successful with the technical assistance of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), the hard work of the national armies and the generosity of international donors. While the national armies of mine-affected countries carry out the actual demining in the field, the IADB provides a team of international supervisors and military …