Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Trends In Adult Justice 2014, Jared Ellison, Ryan E. Spohn, Nebraska Center For Justice Research, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Reports

The Nebraska Center for Justice Research was established in 2014 with a mission to develop and sustain research capacity internal to the State of Nebraska. Our hope is to assist the Legislature in research, evaluation, and policymaking to reduce recidivism, promote the use of evidence-based practices, and improve public safety. The primary purpose of this report is to provide an overview of recent trends in Nebraska’s adult criminal justice system. Most of the data in this report is presented statewide as well as separated into Nebraska’s twelve judicial districts. Nebraska’s two most metropolitan counties are represented by District 4 (Douglas …

The Transformation Project: 2014 Annual Report, Nebraska Center For Justice Research, University Of Nebraska At Omaha, H. Daniel Butler, Starr Solomon, Ryan E. Spohn, Daniel Patrick O'Dell, Laura Schoenrock

Reports

For years debate has rumbled in this country over prison overcrowding. More recently, there has been an additional spotlight on issues that are exacerbated when prisons are over capacity, such as prison rape and the use of restrictive housing (housing inmates in isolated conditions). In the case of prison rape, federal standards have been placed on institutions through the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). General consensus among corrections professionals is that a lack of internal action diminished their voice during the creation of the PREA standards. There is consequently a large motivation for correctional institutions to work …

Linking Pre-Meeting Communication To Meeting Effectiveness, Joseph A. Allen, Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nicole Landowski

Psychology Faculty Publications

Purpose – This study investigates the importance of communication that occurs just before workplace meetings (i.e., pre-meeting talk). We explore how four specific types of pre-meeting talk (small talk, work talk, meeting preparatory talk, and shop talk) impact participants' experiences of meeting effectiveness. Moreover, we investigate the role of participants’ personality in the link between pre-meeting talk and perceived meeting effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained using an online survey of working adults (N = 252). Because pre-meeting talk has not been studied previously, a new survey measure of meeting talk was developed.

Findings – Pre-meeting small talk was a …

Mobile Apps Catalog, Deedee M. Bennett, Danielle Sharpe, Amelia Williams

Public Administration Faculty Publications

The Mobile Apps Catalog is a collection of emergency management and assistive mobile applications intended to assist first responders, emergency managers, and the public, specifically people with disabilities or others with access and function needs. Highlighted in this catalog are readily available preparedness and response apps that can be accessed by wireless devices, as well as assistive resources to advance the usability of wireless devices for consumers with disabilities. The apps are also helpful for the whole community. “Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s “Whole Community” approach to emergency management recognizes that individuals, families and communities are assets and keys to …

Dissemination Of Wea: Survey Of Alert Authorities, Deedee M. Bennett, Braeden Benson, Danielle Sharpe

Public Administration Faculty Publications

In 2013, researchers from the Center for Advanced Communication Policy (CACP) at Georgia Institute of Technology were tasked by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) program office to research the inclusiveness of people with disabilities and those with language differences with regards to emergency alerts, namely Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs). Several research methods were employed to examine the accessibility of emergency alerts and impacts to all stakeholders.

This brief summarizes the survey results on how FEMA approved alert authorities used IPAWS to send WEAs to the public. The survey was sent to all …

Naturalistic Decision Making In After-Action Review Meetings: The Implementation Of And Learning From Post- Fall Huddles, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Victoria Kennel, Joseph A. Allen, Katherine J. Jones, Anne M. Skinner

Psychology Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to add to our understanding of naturalistic decision making (NDM) in health care and how after-action reviews (AARs) can be utilized as a learning tool to reduce errors. The study focused on the implementation of a specific form of AAR, a post-fall huddle, to learn from errors and reduce patient falls. Utilizing 17 hospitals that participated in this effort, information was collected on 226 falls over a period of 16 months. The findings suggested that the use of self-guided post-fall huddles increased over the time of the project, indicating adoption of the process. Additionally, …

Physical Activity Barriers And Facilitators Among Working Mothers And Fathers, Emily L. Mailey, Jennifer Huberty, Danae M. Dinkel, Edward Mcauley

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Background: The transition to parenthood is consistently associated with declines in physical activity. In particular, working parents are at risk for inactivity, but research exploring physical activity barriers and facilitators in this population has been scarce. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine perceptions of physical activity among working parents.

Methods: Working mothers (n = 13) and fathers (n = 12) were recruited to participate in one of four focus group sessions and discuss physical activity barriers and facilitators. Data were analyzed using immersion/crystallization in NVivo 10.

Results: Major themes for barriers included family responsibilities, guilt, lack of …

Spare The Rod, Endanger The Child? Strain, Race/Ethnicity, And Serious Delinquency, Ryan E. Spohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

General strain theory has evolved into a comprehensive theory of delinquency by incorporating factors that condition the relationship between strain and delinquency as well as acknowledging the subjective nature of strain. This study advances general strain theory by examining the conditioning role of race and the manner in which race influences the subjective experience of strain. Examining a nationally representative sample of adolescents, this study finds that ethnic minorities generally experience greater strain. However, the effect of strain is not consistently more criminogenic for ethnic minorities. Our research suggests that the impact of strain on delinquency is conditioned by the …

Enhancing Geographic Learning And Literacy Through Filmmaking, Christina E. Dando, Jacob J. Chadwick

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

In this media-saturated society, students need to think more critically about the media they encounter and that they are producing. Through filmmaking, students can link geographic theory and the real world, bridging the distance from readings/lectures/ discussions to the geography on the ground, making the abstract concrete. But constructing films also enhances students’ understanding of the communications they consume and the communications they construct (films, television, podcasts, YouTube, etc.). In this article, a student and instructor discuss the making of short films or videos in geography classes and how it can enhance both geographic education and media literacy.

On Dittmer's Popular Culture, Geopolitics, And Identity As A Classroom Resource, Reecia Orzeck, James Craine, Christina E. Dando, Katrinka Somdahl-Sands

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

In this intervention, four geographers, all of whom have used Jason Dittmer's book, Popular Culture, Geopolitics, and Identity, in their classes, assess its status as a teaching resource. All have had considerable success using Dittmer's book, alongside other resources, to cultivate critical thinking and critical knowledge production in a wide range of classes.

Applying Well-Being Assessment For Service Design, Margeret A. Hall, Steven O. Kimbrough, Christof Weinhardt

Interdisciplinary Informatics Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Service design is transformative when it has a measurable, even optimizing, positive affect on human well-being. Any prospect for such felicitous outcomes, however, requires accurate assessment or measurement of well-being in and for target populations. Such assessment raises two immediate issues: conceptualization (How should well-being be conceptually operationalized?) and measurement (Given an operationalization of well-being, how can it be measured?). We begin to explore and address both questions in this paper by reviewing existing conceptualizations of well-being and then by describing the relevance of well-being measurement (and it methodologies) which are presently available.

Te Efect Of Experiencing Child Physical Abuse On Violence In Adolescence Is Weakest In The Most Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods, Emily M. Wright

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

It is reasonably well established that those who suffer physical abuse as children are more likely to be violent as adolescents and young adults. It is less well known, however, whether the effects of abuse are amplified or made weaker by the social circumstances in which a child lives.

Numerical Simulation Of Nonoptimal Dynamic Equilibrium Models, Zhigang Feng, Jianjun Miao, Adrian Peralta-Alva, Manuel S. Santos

Economics Faculty Publications

In this paper we propose a recursive equilibrium algorithm for the numerical simulation of nonoptimal dynamic economies. This algorithm builds upon a convergent operator over an expanded set of state variables. The fixed point of this operator defines the set of all Markovian equilibria. We study approximation properties of the operator. We also apply our recursive equilibrium algorithm to various models with heterogeneous agents, incomplete financial markets, endogenous and exogenous borrowing constraints, taxes, and money.

Understanding Workplace Meetings: A Qualitative Taxonomy Of Meeting Purposes, Joseph A. Allen, Tammy Beck, Cliff Scott, Steven G. Rogelberg

Psychology Faculty Publications

Purpose - Meetings are a workplace activity that deserves increased attention from researchers and practitioners. Previous researchers attempted to develop typologies of meeting purpose with limited success. Through a comparison of classification methodologies, we consider a taxonomy as the appropriate classification scheme for meeting purpose. The goal of our study is to propose a taxonomy of meeting purpose. We then utilize the developed taxonomy to investigate the frequency with which a representative sample of working adults engaged in meetings of these varying purposes. Our proposed taxonomy provides relevant classifications for future research on meetings and serves as a useful tool …

Extraneous Effects Of Race, Gender, And Race-Gender Homo- And Heterophily Conditions On Data Quality, A. Olu Oyinlade

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

This study comprehensively investigated the differences in response patterns of interview respondents by race, gender, and race-gender of both respondents and interviewers, to assess the impacts of response inconsistencies on data quality during survey interviews. The study focused only on Blacks and Whites in various interview phily matches. Interviewees (N = 491) responded to fully structured, closed-ended questions through direct interviews on support for affirmative action, and support for the 2009 America’s Affordable Health Choices Act as dependent variables. Findings showed various amounts of response differences to both dependent variables by differences in race, gender, and race-gender of respondents, vis-àvis …

Constructing Creativity: Wisdom In Everyday Problem Solving, Audrey Defrank, Nicholas J. Arreola, Roni Reiter-Palmon

Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Creativity is conceptualized as an idea or product that is both original and high in quality (Amabile, 1996). Researchers have sought to better understand the creative process by examining predictors of creative outcomes. Wisdom may play a predictive role in this process. According to Webster (2003), wisdom is the competency in, and application of, critical life experiences to optimize development of the self, as well as others. Research has suggested that wisdom supports creativity at an implicit level (Sternberg, 1985, 1999), and contributes to creative achievements (Helson & Srivastava, 2002).

Process models of creativity have sought to demonstrate cognitive operations …

Tech Speak And Librarian-Ese: Justifiable Jargon, Or Junk?, Tammi M. Owens

Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Many libraries are redesigning their websites for great user experiences through clean design. But what if you’ve redesigned your website, but still have patrons who are frustrated? It’s time to focus on language. Librarian-ese and tech speak are confusing and defeat our patrons before they begin. In this session I’ll show how you can use plain language, one of the main tenets of usability, to boost patron confidence. I’ll share real-life examples of websites and chat transcripts showing how little changes in language can make a big difference.

Building Institutional Repositories: Emerging Challenges, Yumi Ohira

Criss Library Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

This presentation will discuss the benefits and challenges associated with Institutional Repository (IR) initiatives and development, while sharing our experiences from WySR (Wyoming Scholar’s Repository). Our institutional repository, WySR, will be used as a case study to illustrate particular difficulties in obtaining author versions of publications; the quality of open access research; and technical limitations.

Perceptions Of Crime And Personal Safety In Metropolitan Nebraska 2014 Nebraska Metro Poll Results, Abby Heitoff

Past Publications

The 2014 Nebraska Metro Poll represents a critical effort to understand the perceptions and concerns of metropolitan Nebraskans. This survey expanded the work of the Omaha Conditions Survey, conducted by the Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) periodically since 1990. The Metro Poll builds on this foundation by including survey responses from the seven Nebraska counties that comprise the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas. Insights into the concerns faced by local residents are valuable for leaders and decision-makers seeking to understand the priorities and the views of the public.

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).

Perceptions Of Community, Personal Well-Being, And Outlook On The Future 2014 Nebraska Metro Poll Results, David Drozd

Past Publications

The 2014 Nebraska Metro Poll continues an on‐going effort to understand the perceptions and concerns of urban residents. The Metro Poll expands upon the efforts of the Omaha Conditions Survey conducted by the Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) periodically since 1990 to now include survey responses from the seven counties that comprise both the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas. With the knowledge and insights gained from surveying local residents, leaders and decision‐makers can be better informed on the views and priorities that the public shares.

Nebraska Metro And Rural Residents’ Views Of The Problems That Metro And Rural Areas Should Be Trying To Address, Abby Heitoff

Past Publications

Researchers and policymakers across the state of Nebraska have often discussed the need for a statewide poll to understand residents’ perceptions of their communities, personal well‐being and community issues. Separate initiatives have periodically surveyed metropolitan and rural Nebraskans on these issues. However, to date, no single effort has obtained statewide coverage at the level necessary to report attitudinal differences across metropolitan and rural Nebraska. The Nebraska Metro and Nebraska Rural Polls represent a unique effort in the state of Nebraska to obtain directly comparable data on statewide residents. This report provides a detailed analysis of a subset of responses to …

Perceptions Of Personal And Community Satisfaction, With Views On What Makes Communities Successful 2014 Nebraska Metro Poll Results, David Drozd

Past Publications

The 2014 Nebraska Metro Poll continues an on-going effort to understand the perceptions and concerns of urban residents. The Metro Poll expands upon the efforts of the Omaha Conditions Survey conducted by the Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) periodically since 1990 to now include survey responses from the seven counties that comprise both the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas. With the knowledge and insights gained from surveying local residents, leaders and decision-makers can be better informed on the views and priorities that the public shares.

Table 1, Population Estimates, United States Regions, States, And Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 To July 1, 2014, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Past Publications

No abstract provided.

State Fertility Rates By Race/Ethnicity: 2011‐2013 Averages, United States Census Bureau

Past Publications

Sources: Table 11, Births: Final Data for 2011, CDC (and 2012 and 2013); 2013 Vintage Population Estimates by Age, Gender, and Race (AFF table PEPASR6H)

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.

Nebraska Rural Poll And Metro Poll Research Brief: Attributes Of Successful Communities For Metropolitan And Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans, Rebecca Vogt, David J. Drozd, Randolph Cantrell, Jerry Deichert, Brad Lubben, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Lj Mcelravy

Past Publications

Both the Nebraska Metro and Rural Polls asked residents how essential or necessary various characteristics are in order for them to have a high quality of life.

Nebraska Metro Poll, A Research Report: Perceptions Of Community, Personal Well-Being, And Outlook On The Future, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar), David J. Drozd, Jerry Deichert, Abby Heithoff, Pavlin Netsov

Past Publications

The 2014 Nebraska Metro Poll continues an on‐going effort to understand the perceptions and concerns of urban residents. The Metro Poll expands upon the efforts of the Omaha Conditions Survey conducted by the Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) periodically since 1990 to now include survey responses from the seven counties that comprise both the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas. With the knowledge and insights gained from surveying local residents, leaders and decision‐makers can be better informed on the views and priorities that the public shares.

Nebraska Metro Poll, A Research Report: Perceptions Of Crime And Personal Safety In Metropolitan Nebraska, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar), Abby Heithoff, David J. Drozd, Jerry Deichert, Pavlin Netsov

Past Publications

The 2014 Nebraska Metro Poll represents a critical effort to understand the perceptions and concerns of metropolitan Nebraskans. This survey expanded the work of the Omaha Conditions Survey, conducted by the Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) periodically since 1990. The Metro Poll builds on this foundation by including survey responses from the seven Nebraska counties that comprise the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas. Insights into the concerns faced by local residents are valuable for leaders and decision-makers seeking to understand the priorities and the views of the public.

Nebraska Metro Poll, A Research Report: Perceptions Of Personal And Community Satisfaction, With Views On What Makes Communities Successful, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar), David J. Drozd, Jerry Deichert, Abby Heithoff, Pavlin Netsov

Past Publications

The 2014 Nebraska Metro Poll continues an on-going effort to understand the perceptions and concerns of urban residents. The Metro Poll expands upon the efforts of the Omaha Conditions Survey conducted by the Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR) periodically since 1990 to now include survey responses from the seven counties that comprise both the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas. With the knowledge and insights gained from surveying local residents, leaders and decision-makers can be better informed on the views and priorities that the public shares.