Showing papers by "University of Nebraska Omaha published in 2004"
TL;DR: The authors reviewed the major marketization trends occurring within the nonprofit sector, including commercial revenue generation, contract competition, the influence of new and emerging donors, and social entrepreneurship, and surveyed research on their potential impact on nonprofit organizations' contributions to civil society.
Abstract: The public sector has increasingly adopted the methods and values of the market to guide policy creation and management. Several public administration scholars in the United States have pointed out the problems with this, especially in relation to the impact on democracy and citizenship. Similarly, nonprofit organizations are adopting the approaches and values of the private market, which may harm democracy and citizenship because of its impact on nonprofit organizations’ ability to create and maintain a strong civil society. This article reviews the major marketization trends occurring within the nonprofit sector—commercial revenue generation, contract competition, the influence of new and emerging donors, and social entrepreneurship—and surveys research on their potential impact on nonprofit organizations’ contributions to civil society. The article ends with a discussion of the significance of marketization in the nonprofit sector for public administration scholars and public managers.
1,084 citations
467 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an individual-level routine activities perspective was applied to explain rates of delinquency, and the opportunity processes of that perspective were linked to key themes of social disorganization theory.
Abstract: This article applies an individual-level routine activities perspective to explaining rates of delinquency. The theoretical analysis also links the opportunity processes of that perspective to key themes of social disorganization theory. Multilevel analyses of 4, 358 eighth-grade students from thirty-six schools in ten cities support the central hypothesis: Time spent in unstructured socializing with peers has both individual and contextual effects that explain a large share of the variation in rates of delinquency across groups of adolescents who attend different schools. In addition, parental monitoring has a very strong contextual effect on unstructured socializing, which supports the proposed integration of routine activity and social disorganization perspectives.
448 citations
TL;DR: There was considerable support for the hypothesis that high levels of stress negatively impact both types of eyewitness memory.
Abstract: In the past 30 years researchers have examined the impact of heightened stress on the fidelity of eyewitness memory. Meta-analyses were conducted on 27 independent tests of the effects of heightened stress on eyewitness identification of the perpetrator or target person and separately on 36 tests of eyewitness recall of details associated with the crime. There was considerable support for the hypothesis that high levels of stress negatively impact both types of eyewitness memory. Meta-analytic Z-scores, whether unweighted or weighted by sample size, ranged from -5.40 to -6.44 (high stress condition-low stress condition). The overall effect sizes were -.31 for both proportion of correct identifications and accuracy of eyewitness recall. Effect sizes were notably larger for target-present than for target-absent lineups, for eyewitness identification studies than for face recognition studies and for eyewitness studies employing a staged crime than for eyewitness studies employing other means to induce stress.
411 citations
TL;DR: This study could not demonstrate a benefit of L. GG in inducing or maintaining medically induced remission in CD, and the primary end point was sustained remission, defined as freedom from relapse at the 6 months follow-up visit.
Abstract: Experimental studies have shown that luminal antigens are involved in chronic intestinal inflammatory disorders such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Alteration of the intestinal microflora by antibiotic or probiotic therapy may induce and maintain remission. The aim of this randomized, placebo-controlled trial was to determine the effect of oral Lactobacillus GG (L. GG) to induce or maintain medically induced remission. Eleven patients with moderate to active Crohn's disease were enrolled in this trial to receive either L. GG (2 × 109 CFU/day) or placebo for six months. All patients were started on a tapering steroid regime and received antibiotics for the week before the probiotic/placebo medication was initiated. The primary end point was sustained remission, defined as freedom from relapse at the 6 months follow-up visit. Relapse was defined as an increase in CDAI of >100 points. 5/11 patients finished the study, with 2 patients in each group in sustained remission. The median time to relapse was 16 ± 4 weeks in the L. GG group and 12 ± 4.3 weeks in the placebo group (p = 0.5). In this study we could not demonstrate a benefit of L. GG in inducing or maintaining medically induced remission in CD.
325 citations
TL;DR: Interestingly, the t(14;18)-negative subset is dominated by overexpression of cell cycle-associated genes, indicating that these tumors are significantly more proliferative, suggesting distinctive pathogenetic mechanisms.
Abstract: Gene expression profiling of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has revealed prognostically important subgroups: germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) DLBCL, activated B cell-like (ABC) DLBCL, and primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. The t(14;18)(q32;q21) has been reported previously to define a unique subset within the GCB-DLBCL. We evaluated for the translocation in 141 cases of DLBCL that were successfully gene expression profiled. Using a dual-probe fluorescence in situ hybridization assay, we detected the t(14;18) in 17% of DLBCLs and in 34% of the GCB subgroup which contained the vast majority of positive cases. In addition, 12 t(14;18)-positive cases detected by polymerase chain reaction assays on additional samples were added to the fluorescence in situ hybridization-positive cases for subsequent analysis. Immunohistochemical data indicated that BCL2, BCL6, and CD10 protein were preferentially expressed in the t(14;18)-positive cases as compared to t(14;18)-negative cases. Within the GCB subgroup, the expression of BCL2 and CD10, but not BCL6, differed significantly between cases with or without the t(14;18): 88% versus 24% for BCL2 and 72% versus 32% for CD10, respectively. In the GCB-DLBCL subgroup, a heterogeneous group of genes is overexpressed in the t(14;18)-positive subset, among which BCL2 is a significant discriminator. Interestingly, the t(14;18)-negative subset is dominated by overexpression of cell cycle-associated genes, indicating that these tumors are significantly more proliferative, suggesting distinctive pathogenetic mechanisms. However, despite this higher proliferative activity, there was no significant difference in overall or failure-free survival between the t(14;18)-positive and -negative subsets within the GCB subgroup.
295 citations
TL;DR: The cognitive network model (CNM) is presented as a causal model of the cognitive mechanisms that give rise to creative solutions in the human mind to explain why creativity prescriptions work as they do and provide a basis for deriving new techniques to further enhance creativity.
Abstract: Organizations must be creative continuously to survive and thrive in today's highly competitive, rapidly changing environment. A century of creativity research has produced several descriptive models creativity, and hundreds of prescriptions for interventions that demonstrably improve creativity. This paper presents the cognitive network model (CNM) as a causal model of the cognitive mechanisms that give rise to creative solutions in the human mind. The model may explain why creativity prescriptions work as they do. The model may also provide a basis for deriving new techniques to further enhance creativity. The paper tests the model in an experiment where 61 four-person groups used either free-brainstorming or one of three variations on directed-brainstorming to generate solutions for one of two unstructured tasks. In both tasks, people using directed-brainstorming produced more solutions with high creativity ratings, produced solutions with higher average creativity ratings, and produced higher concentrations of creative solutions than did people using free-brainstorming. Significant differences in creativity were also found among the three variations on directed-brainstorming. The findings were consistent with the CNM.
236 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the optical and structural properties of carbon nanotubes have been investigated using the projected augmented wave (POW) method, where the optical dielectric function and second-order optical susceptibility were derived.
Abstract: A systematic ab initio study of the optical as well as structural and electronic properties of the carbon nanotubes within density-functional theory in the local-density approximation has been performed. Highly accurate full-potential projected augmented wave method was used. Specifically, the optical dielectric function $\ensuremath{\varepsilon}$ and second-order optical susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(2)}$ as well as the band structure of a number of the armchair [(3,3),(5,5),(10,10),(15,15),(20,20)], zigzag [(5,0),(10,0),(15,0),(20,0)] and chiral [(4,2),(6,2),(6,4),(8,4), (10,5)] carbon nanotubes have been calculated. The underlying atomic structure of the carbon nanotubes was determined theoretically. It is found that for the electric field parallel to the nanotube axis $(E\ensuremath{\Vert}\mathrm{z\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}),$ the absorptive part ${\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}^{\ensuremath{''}}$ of the optical dielectric function for the small nanotubes (the diameter being smaller than, say, 25 \AA{}) in the low-energy range (0--8 eV) consists of a few distinct peaks. Furthermore, the energy position, the shape, and the number of the peaks depend rather strongly on the diameter and chirality. This suggests that one could use these distinct optical features to characterize the chirality and diameter of the grown nanotubes. In contrast, for the electric field perpendicular to the nanotube axis $(E\ensuremath{\perp}\mathrm{z\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}),$ the ${\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}^{\ensuremath{''}}$ spectrum of all the nanotubes studied except the three 4 \AA{} nanotubes in the low-energy region is made up of a broad hump. The bandwidth of the hump increases with the nanotube diameter and the magnitude of the hump is in general about half of that of the ${\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}^{\ensuremath{''}}$ for $E\ensuremath{\Vert}\mathrm{z\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}.$ Surprisingly, given their one-dimensional character, the optical anisotropy of the nanotubes is smaller than that of graphite. For the nanotubes with a moderate diameter (say, 30 \AA{}) such as the (20,20) nanotube, the optical anisotropy is not large and the ${\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}^{\ensuremath{''}}$ spectrum for both electric-field polarizations becomes rather similar to that of graphite with electric-field parallel to the graphene layers $(E\ensuremath{\perp}c).$ The calculated static polarizability $\ensuremath{\alpha}(0)$ for the semiconducting nanotubes is rather anisotropic with $\ensuremath{\alpha}(0)$ for $E\ensuremath{\Vert}\mathrm{z\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}$ being several times larger than that for $E\ensuremath{\perp}\mathrm{z\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}.$ For both electric-field polarizations, $\ensuremath{\alpha}(0)$ is nearly proportional to the square of the tube diameter. The calculated electron energy loss spectra of all the nanotubes studied here for both electric field polarizations are similar to that of $E\ensuremath{\perp}c$ of graphite, being dominated by a broad $(\ensuremath{\pi}+\ensuremath{\sigma})$-electron plasmon peak at near 27 eV and a small $\ensuremath{\pi}$-electron plasmon peak at 5--7 eV. Only the chiral nanotubes would exhibit second-order nonlinear optical behavior. Furthermore, only two tensor elements ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{xyz}}^{(2)}$ and ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{yzx}}^{(2)}$ are possibly nonzero with ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{xyz}}^{(2)}=\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{yzx}}^{(2)}.$ For all the chiral nanotubes studied here, both the real and imaginary parts of ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{xyz}}^{(2)}(\ensuremath{-}2\ensuremath{\omega},\ensuremath{\omega},\ensuremath{\omega})$ show an oscillatory behavior. The absolute value of ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{xyz}}^{(2)}(\ensuremath{-}2\ensuremath{\omega},\ensuremath{\omega},\ensuremath{\omega})$ of all the chiral nanotubes in the photon energy range of 0.1--3.0 eV is huge, being up to ten times larger than that of GaAs, suggesting that chiral nanotubes have potential applications in nonlinear optics, e.g., second-harmonic generation and sum-frequency generation. Nevertheless, the static value of both ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{xyz}}^{(2)}$ and ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{\mathrm{yzx}}^{(2)}$ is zero.
234 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between audit committee and board independence and auditor resignations and found that audit committee independence is positively related to the quality of the firm's successor auditor.
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between audit committee and board independence and auditor resignations. Independent audit committee and board members, who are concerned about incurring legal liability and harming their reputations, support the external auditors in accomplishing their assurance duties. We use a logit model to compare audit committee and board independence between two types of auditor switches: 190 auditor‐initiated switches versus 190 matched client‐initiated switches during the time period 1996 to 2000. Our results show that audit committee and board of director independence are both negatively associated with the likelihood of an auditor resignation. Our results also show that audit committee independence is positively related to the quality of the firm's successor auditor. This suggests that independent audit committees also play a mitigating role in reducing the negative consequences associated with an auditor resignation.
197 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that variable concentrations of maternal testosterone in the eggs of the house sparrow organize the expression of a plumage trait in males and behavior in both sexes.
Abstract: Vertebrate eggs contain maternal steroid hormones in their yolks; and in avian species the concentration of these steroids vary within and among clutches. The organizational actions of these variable doses of maternal steroids in the avian egg, analogous to those regulating the development of sexually dimorphic traits, are little explored. In this study, we examined the organizational effects of yolk testosterone in the house sparrow, Passer domesticus, a sexually dichromatic passerine bird in which males are characterized by the presence of a throat patch or “badge” of black feathers that varies in size among males. We injected a physiological dose of testosterone or vehicle into eggs in the field, removed nestlings, and hand-raised them in the laboratory. At 5 months of age, we investigated treatment effects on plumage and behavior. Males that hatched from testosterone-injected eggs developed a larger badge than males that hatched from vehicle-injected (control) eggs. However, testosterone did not induce the expression of a badge in females. In staged dyadic encounters, both males and females hatched from testosterone-injected eggs were more successful at obtaining and defending a food source than individuals of the same sex hatched from control eggs. The results suggest that variable concentrations of maternal testosterone in the eggs of the house sparrow organize the expression of a plumage trait in males and behavior in both sexes.
175 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the regional effects of FDI in Central Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in the 1990s and present a case-study of the Czech automotive components industry.
Abstract: Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been accorded a central role in the post-communist economic transformation of Central and Eastern Europe. This paper examines the regional effects of FDI in Central Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in the 1990s. It challenges uncritical views of FDI and its role in regional economic transformations by considering its potentially adverse effects for regional economic development, such as the intensification of uneven development, the development of a dual economy, failure to develop linkages with local and regional economies, and its contribution to increased regional economic instability. A case-study of the Czech automotive components industry illustrates the regional economic effects of FDI in Central Europe in terms of stability of investment, its links with the regional economy and its effects on domestic research and development.
TL;DR: In this paper, an extensive evaluation of panel tests of the long-run monetary model of exchange rate determination is conducted, showing that the monetary model performs poorly on a country-by-country basis for US dollar exchange rates over the post-Bretton Woods period for a large number of industrialized countries.
TL;DR: In this article, a semi-structured observational study investigated gender differences in delivered and received relational, physical, verbal, and nonverbal aggression in a young preschool sample (N=60).
TL;DR: It is indicated that gender differences in COPD care and outcomes exist and women were more likely to report severe dyspnea than men and get smoking cessation advice.
TL;DR: The scalar equation approach to Boolean network models is further developed and then applied to two interesting biological models and gives immediate information about both cycle and transient structure of the network.
Abstract: One way of coping with the complexity of biological systems is to use the simplest possible models which are able to reproduce at least some nontrivial features of reality. Although two value Boolean models have a long history in technology, it is perhaps a little bit surprising that they can also represent important features of living organizms. In this paper, the scalar equation approach to Boolean network models is further developed and then applied to two interesting biological models. In particular, a linear reduced scalar equation is derived from a more rudimentary nonlinear scalar equation. This simpler, but higher order, two term equation gives immediate information about both cycle and transient structure of the network.
23 Mar 2004
TL;DR: This work describes the development and potential of Critical Fluid Technology in the Neutraceutical Industry and discusses scale-Up issues for Supercritical Fluid Processing in Compliance with GMP.
Abstract: Chemistry and Materials Design for Pharmaceutical Applications. Phase Equilibrium in Solid-Liquid-Supercritical Fluid Systems. Mechanisms of Particle Formation Using Supercritical Fluids. Methods of Particle Production. Colloid and Interface Science for CO2-based Pharmaceutical Processes. Production of Powders for Respiratory Drug Delivery. Control of Physical Form of Drug Substances. Supercritical Fluid Impregnation of Polymers for Drug Delivery. Formulation of Controlled Drug Release Systems. Processing of Biological Materials. Asymmetric Catalysis in Supercritical Fluids. Analytical and Semi-Preparative Supercritical Fluid Chromatography in Drug Discovery. Drug Extraction Development and Potential of Critical Fluid Technology in the Neutraceutical Industry. Scale-Up Issues for Supercritical Fluid Processing in Compliance with GMP
TL;DR: The Global Land-Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project as mentioned in this paper was designed to produce and augment baseline information to facilitate glacier change studies, including the generation of topographic information, anisotropic-reflectance correction of satellite imagery, data fusion and spatial analysis, and GIS-based modeling.
Abstract: Concerns over greenhouse‐gas forcing and global temperatures have initiated research into understanding climate forcing and associated Earth‐system responses. A significant component is the Earth's cryosphere, as glacier‐related, feedback mechanisms govern atmospheric, hydrospheric and lithospheric response. Predicting the human and natural dimensions of climate‐induced environmental change requires global, regional and local information about ice‐mass distribution, volumes, and fluctuations. The Global Land‐Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project is specifically designed to produce and augment baseline information to facilitate glacier‐change studies. This requires addressing numerous issues, including the generation of topographic information, anisotropic‐reflectance correction of satellite imagery, data fusion and spatial analysis, and GIS‐based modeling. Field and satellite investigations indicate that many small glaciers and glaciers in temperate regions are downwasting and retreating, a...
TL;DR: The deficient knee was significantly more locally unstable than the contralateral knee, and the altered local stability may render the deficient knee less adaptable to the ever-changing environmental demands.
TL;DR: The results support the contention that the association between anxiety and right-sided posterior activation is specific to the anxious arousal subtype and underscore the importance of isolating emotional subcomponents in studies of regional brain activation.
Abstract: Researchers have proposed that depression and particular types of anxiety are associated with unique patterns of regional brain activation. The authors examined the relationship among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depressive symptoms and frontal, temporal, and parietal EEG alpha asymmetry in female Vietnam War nurse veterans. The results indicate that PTSD arousal symptoms are associated with increased right-sided parietal activation. However, the combination of arousal, depression, and their interaction explain more than twice the variance in parietal asymmetry compared with arousal alone. The results support the contention that the association between anxiety and right-sided posterior activation is specific to the anxious arousal subtype. These findings underscore the importance of isolating, both theoretically and statistically, emotional subcomponents in studies of regional brain activation.
TL;DR: This article argued that the judge's decision on disposition should take that factor into account and recommended that researchers should therefore reconsider use of the total incarceration variable, which combines prison and jail into a single response category.
Abstract: This study calls into question the use of the total incarceration response variable incorporated into sentencing studies over the past 30 years. Specifically, using data from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing (PCS), it argues–and reveals–that prison and jail represent two distinct institutions, and that the judge's decision on disposition should take that factor into account. It recommends that researchers should therefore reconsider use of the total incarceration variable, which combines prison and jail into a single response category.
TL;DR: The Connected Classroom Climate Inventory (CCCI) as mentioned in this paper was designed to measure connectedness among students in the university classroom, and the original inventory contained 20 items plus four validity items.
Abstract: This article presents the rationale for and development of the Connected Classroom Climate Inventory (CCCI) designed to measure connectedness among students in the university classroom. The original inventory contained 20 items plus four validity items. Based on factor analysis and reliability analysis, two of the original 20 items were dropped from consideration. The resulting 18‐item CCCI scale was found to contain a single factor, to have an overall reliability of alpha = .94, and to show initial evidence of validity. The CCCI showed no scale score differences among class sections or based on teacher/student sex. These findings and implications for future communication research are discussed.
TL;DR: The field experiences show that the CBE approach can be successfully applied for BPR projects in real life, and combines a BPR process with collaboration and simulation modeling support to address the reasons for failure in BPR.
Abstract: Business process reengineering (BPR) projects have been carried out for many years, with varying degrees of success. Two key reasons for failure are distinguished from the literature: insufficient stakeholder involvement and poor analyses of the business processes. The purpose of this paper is to present a decade of field experiences with collaborative BPR. Nine BPR projects were executed and analyzed in detail, leading to the identification of 87 themes regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of the project. These themes were organized into 12 categories of lessons learned that provide insight into the "best practices" and together informed the evolution of the collaborative business engineering (CBE) approach to BPR. The CBE approach combines a BPR process with collaboration and simulation modeling support to address the above-mentioned reasons for failure in BPR. The field experiences show that the CBE approach can be successfully applied for BPR projects in real life.
TL;DR: WIC mothers are at risk for sedentary living and have not been targeted for PA behavior change using a provider-counseled approach, and Moms on the Move appears to be efficacious.
Abstract: Background: Sedentary mothers are important to reach with physical activity promotion.Purpose: This study pilot tested “Moms on the Move” a Transtheoretical Model (TTM)-derived physical activity (PA) intervention for low-income mothers enrolled in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. Method: Sedentary mothers (N = 44) were randomized to (a) Moms on the Move (PA intervention) or (b) counseling on self-breast examination (control). Pre- and posttest measurement (baseline and 2 weeks after the 8-weekinterventions) included (a) stage of PA behavior change, (b) PA behavior, (c) selected TTM constructs, and (d) social support. Pre- and posidifference scores, chi-square, and one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used.Results: The experimental group progressed in stage of change more than control, x2(1, N = 44)=20.50, p < .001. The experimental group had greater PA behavior: weekly minutes of PA, F(l, 42) = 46.85, p< .001; daily energy expenditure (EE), F(1, 42) = 23.01,p < .001; and weekly moderate PA EE, F(1, 42) = 32.63, p < .001. Experimental subgroup (n = 11) step counts increased pre-post, t(l 0)=6.16,p7lt;. 001. AnANOVA showed that the experimental group had greater improvements in all TTM constructs and social support, ps < .001.Conclusions: WIC mothers are at risk for sedentary living and have not been targeted for PA behavior change using a provider-counseled approach. Although further testing is needed, Moms on the Move appears to be efficacious.
TL;DR: In this article, the Assimilationserfahrungen einer indianische Frau with ihrer bikulturellen Herkunft untersucht werden.
Abstract: Indem traditionelle qualitative Daten und Gedichte prasentiert werden, sollen in diesem Beitrag die Assimilationserfahrungen einer indianische Frau mit ihrer bikulturellen Herkunft untersucht werden. Daten werden dabei auf dreifache Weise aufbereitet, jede mit unterschiedlichen Implikationen fur qualitative Forschung und fur an kunstlerischen Ausdrucksformen orientierte Methoden. Zunachst geht es um ein Tiefeninterview und um interpretative Kommentare zu diesem Interview. In einem nachsten Schritt wird ein forschungsnahes Gedicht vorgestellt, das die exakte Sprache der Untersuchungspartnerin in verdichteter Form nutzt. Hiernach folgen zwei interpretative Gedichte, die der Bemuhung der Autorin und des Autors geschuldet sind, die Essenz der subjektiven Erfahrung der Untersuchungspartnerin in literarischer Form auf den Punkt zu bringen. Starken und Schwachen jeder dieser Vorgehensweisen werden skizziert, und Implikationen, die mit dem Einbezug von Gedichten und anderen kunstlerischen Ausdrucksformen in den Forschungsprozess verbunden sind, werden diskutiert.
URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs040254
TL;DR: The authors investigated the trade-related importance of Chinese and other immigrants into the USA and found that a strong immigration-trade link was found, reinforcing conclusions made by previous research using country level data.
Abstract: Much has been written on the connection between migration and international trade. Human history provides important examples of migrations leading to increased trade activity, with perhaps the most well-known example of the ‘Overseas Chinese’. This study investigates the trade-related importance of Chinese and other immigrants into the USA. Previous studies may have underestimated (or overestimated) the relationship between trade and migration with nations treated as featureless plains rather than as varied landscapes. This study contends that an understanding of the immigration–trade relationship can be improved upon by examining the specific pattern and destination of immigration into specific US states. Using state level export data to 28 immigrant source countries in 1993, a strong immigration–trade link is found, reinforcing conclusions made by previous research using country level data. The compelling connection between immigration and trade found in this study and others suggests that future change...
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TL;DR: In this paper, a case study of two Kansas cities that have used a variety of input mechanisms in the budget process analyzes the effectiveness of citizen budget participation and finds that citizen input appears to have little effect on budget decisions, and neither city has institutionalized participation in the process.
Abstract: Citizen participation in the local budget process is not prevalent, despite encouragement from scholars and professional organizations. This case study of two Kansas cities that have used a variety of input mechanisms in the budget process analyzes the effectiveness of citizen budget participation. Limited effectiveness was found, which may largely be due to the timing of the input, unstated or unclear goals, implementation difficulties, and political and environmental constraints. Citizen input appears to have had little effect on budget decisions, and neither city has institutionalized participation in the process. However, the input mechanisms serve other purposes, such as education and support for specific proposals. Describing the benefits as well as the difficulty of involving citizens in a meaningful way is beneficial to other governments as they wrestle with the issue of defining the citizens' role in the budget process.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the effects of offspring demand (by manipulating brood size) and loss of mate (by experimental removal of mate) on allocation of time among parental and non-parental behaviours in the burying beetle Nicrophorus orbicollis.
TL;DR: The results of the current study indicate that the spirorchiid parasites of marine turtles are similarly derived from a freshwater ancestor and the basal position of the marine transmitted Austrobilharzia and Ornithobilharzian clade suggests that schistosomatids arose after a marine turtle blood fluke ancestor successfully colonised birds.
TL;DR: ANN optimized by genetic algorithms accurately discriminated pneumonia within a training cohort, and within a testing cohort consisting of cases on which the networks had not been trained.
TL;DR: In this article, a case study of two Kansas cities that have used a variety of input mechanisms in the budget process analyzes the effectiveness of citizen budget participation and finds that citizen input appears to have little effect on budget decisions, and neither city has institutionalized participation in the process.
Abstract: Citizen participation in the local budget process is not prevalent, despite encouragement from scholars and professional organizations. This case study of two Kansas cities that have used a variety of input mechanisms in the budget process analyzes the effectiveness of citizen budget participation. Limited effectiveness was found, which may largely be due to the timing of the input, unstated or unclear goals, implementation difficulties, and political and environmental constraints. Citizen input appears to have had little effect on budget decisions, and neither city has institutionalized participation in the process. However, the input mechanisms serve other purposes, such as education and support for specific proposals. Describing the benefits as well as the difficulty of involving citizens in a meaningful way is beneficial to other governments as they wrestle with the issue of defining the citizens' role in the budget process.