State Of Kansas Research Articles

COUNTY HEALTH AGENTS

The Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Service facilitated on a national level by U.S.D.A. provide a dissemination system to translate research-based strategies to practice within communities. Within the State of Kansas, county office employ agents whose mission includes improving community and behavioral health. These agents have the opportunity to model positive health behaviors, such as physical activity, for the county residents that they serve. Purpose: To determine the prevalence of Kansas' county health agents who meet the CDC/ASCM guidelines for physical activity and the relationship between activity level and agent self-efficacy for, and value of, physical activity. Methods: Of the 105 counties in Kansas, 14 did not currently have agents. Hence, 91 county agents (95% female, Mage = 43 ± 11.2 years) complete a telephone interview that included the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey physical activity questions as the behavioral outcome. Based upon these questions agents were categorized as sedentary, active but not meeting CDC/ACSM recommendations, or meeting CDC/ACSM recommendations for regular physical activity. Self-efficacy reflected the agent's confidence in his/her ability to complete varying frequencies of moderate and vigorous intensity physical activity. Seven items that reflected the importance of regular physical activity when compared to other health behaviors were used to assess value. Results: 53% of the agents were currently meeting ACSM/CDC recommendations, 37% were active but not meeting recommendations, and 10% were sedentary. The agents had moderate perceptions of self-efficacy (M = 62.5 ± 23.6) and valued physical activity slightly less than other health behaviors (M = 12.2 ± 2.0; 14 reflects equal value). Finally, a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that self-efficacy (β = .41, p < .05) predicted significant variance in level of physical activity (R2 = .25, F(2,88) = 14.87, p < .01). Conclusion: The prevalence of regular physical activity is higher in county agents than in the population at large. However, a large proportion of county health agents do not meet the current recommendations for physical activity and as such could be targeted for intervention. Further, self-efficacy and value of physical activity provide potential mechanisms to target for behavior change strategies used for this population. Supported by the Kansas Social and Rehabilitative Services: FNP 536878

High Court Tries to Clarify Sex Offender Ruling

High Court Tries to Clarify Sex Offender Ruling

Consumer Protection: Online Sale of Prescription Drugs to Minors Not Unconscionable

In Stovall v. Confimed.com, the Kansas Supreme Court held that an out-of-state medical doctor who sold a prescription drug to a Kansas minor over the Internet did not commit an unconscionable act under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act (KCPA). The Shawnee Country District Court had enjoined the doctor from prescribing or dispensing prescription medicine within the state of Kansas, and the doctor appealed the injunction to the Kansas Supreme Court. The Supreme Court affirmed the district court's decision to grant injunctive relief, but found no unconscionable conduct under the KCPA.The appellee, Washington physician Dr. Howard J. Levine, sold the sexual enhancement drug Viagra over the Internet through his online pharmacy. Neither the physician nor the online pharmacy was licensed to practice in Kansas. The purchasers were two Kansas residents, one of whom was a minor. Both purchased the drugs in a sting operation conducted by the Kansas Attorney General and received the drugs after completing an online application.

The Kansas Digital Library

Abstract The Kansas Digital Library has as its stated mission the creation of a library of visual, textual and auditory resources about the State of Kansas. It is a collaborative effort of the Kansas State Library and several other agencies and uses Blue Skyways, a website that serves as a gateway for libraries to information on the World Wide Web.

Exploring the World Through Geology: Harold E. Jones and 4-H Geology in Kansas, 1968–1977

Harold Jones' 4-H Geology Project was unique in the history of geologic education in Kansas. Not only did this grass-roots program introduce the young participants, their leaders, and their parents to the basic principles and materials of geology, the program also provided an appreciation of the state's natural resources and the fragility of its natural environment.Jones undertook the revitalization of the Geology Project in the 4-H program in Kansas in 1968. In short order, he established a three-tier activity program for participants and prepared materials, both written and display, for instruction both of 4-H members and their adult leaders. Between 1968 and his retirement from Kansas State University in 1977, the 4-H Geology Project in Kansas introduced hundreds of young Kansans, their 4-H sponsors and leaders, and their parents to the basic concepts and materials of geology. Although difficult to measure, the insights provided undoubtedly have had a positive influence as the young people have matured and, as citizens of the State of Kansas, have faced such issues as water quality, waste disposal, pollution and contamination, soil erosion, and other environmental and energy problems of a technologically advanced society.

Kansas Strategic Technology Cluster Assessment

As part of this special issue of Industry and Higher Education, we include this unique report on clusters and innovation development in the USA with special reference to the state of Kansas. The report highlights exciting new developments in a state that is looking at new ways of promoting innovation and regional growth, involving the private and public sectors, with universities and other research organizations as key players. The evidence contained in the document offers useful pointers for policy development in the area of cluster-based economic regeneration. The report focuses on the need to address imaginatively complex issues that connect with each other. It also provides a factual backdrop to the rest of this issue and the research-based articles that bring together facts, figures and ideas for greater connectivity. The report is reproduced here with the kind permission of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation.

Preliminary Report from the Kansas Hartford Geriatrics Project: A Model of Community University Collaboration in Geriatric Medicine Faculty Development

This paper describes the development, implementation, and participant satisfaction of a faculty development program for community-based clinician educators with competencies in geriatric medicine. One group, ongoing trial. University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, Kansas. Family physicians and general internists from throughout the state of Kansas (n = 30). This is an integrated faculty development curriculum of clinical geriatrics and educational process offered in nine sessions over 3 years. Project retention, session attendance, and participant satisfaction are the measures of program success. Project retention at 18 months, the midpoint of this project, has been 87%, with 91% of the retained participants attending all of the sessions to date. More than 95% of the participants have rated each of the first five sessions as highly satisfactory or excellent in meeting their needs as a clinician educator. Satisfaction for on-site and interactive televideo participation has been equally high. Our preliminary results indicate the Kansas Hartford Geriatrics Project model of community-university collaboration in geriatric faculty development is successful in recruitment and satisfaction of participants. The curriculum is highly attractive and rewarding to faculty. Interactive televideo provides a successful innovation in aging-oriented faculty development.

Digestive Proteinases of Alfalfa Weevil, Hypera postica, (Gyllenhal) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

The alfalfa weevil, Hypera postica (Gyllenhal), is a serious economic pest of alfalfa in the State of Kansas. To identify potential insecticidal proteins that may be incorporated into transgenic alfalfa to enhance resistance to the weevil, the digestive proteinases of larval stages of H. postica were characterized. Seven caseinolytic proteinase activities from both serine and cysteine subclasses were identified. Five of the activities tentatively were stimulated by thiol-reducing reagents and were identified as cysteine proteinases. Substrate and inhibitor analysis identified the other two activities as chymotrypsin-like enzymes. These results suggest that genes encoding inhibitors of cysteine proteinases and serine proteinases, especially those that inhibit chymotrypsin-like enzymes, could be used to transform alfalfa and reduce damage by weevils.

Using GIS in Emergency Management Operations

The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of a geographic information system (GIS) in emergency management efforts for disaster preparedness, mitigation, and response, and summarize an ongoing effort to build a GIS-based decision support system for the Douglas County Emergency Management Agency in the state of Kansas. Emergency management historically has focused on the immediate and urgent aspects of a disaster, response, and post-disaster recovery. However, there is a growing awareness that emergency management is much more complex and comprehensive than traditionally perceived. The primary function of government is to protect life and property. This involves not just crisis-reactive responses to emergencies, but also finding ways to avoid problems in the first place and preparing for those that undoubtedly will occur. The aim of this project is to build a database in a GIS frame that helps emergency management officers in decision making, focusing on Douglas County's preparedness, mitigation, an...

A Climate Version of the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System

The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) has been widely used to simulate relatively short-term atmospheric processes. To perform full-year to multi-year model integrations, a climate version of RAMS (ClimRAMS) has been developed, and is used to simulate diurnal, seasonal, and annual cycles of atmospheric and hydrologic variables and interactions within the central United States during 1989. The model simulation uses a 200-km grid covering the conterminous United States, and a nested, 50-km grid covering the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain states of Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado. The model’s lateral boundary conditions are forced by six-hourly NCEP reanalysis products. ClimRAMS includes simplified precipitation and radiation sub-models, and representations that describe the seasonal evolution of vegetation-related parameters. In addition, ClimRAMS can use all of the general RAMS capabilities, like its more complex radiation sub-models, and explicit cloud and precipitation microphysics schemes. Thus, together with its nonhydrostatic and fully-interactive telescoping-grid capabilities, ClimRAMS can be applied to a wide variety of problems. Because of non-linear interactions between the land surface and atmosphere, simulating the observed climate requires simulating the observed diurnal, synoptic, and seasonal cycles. While previous regional climate modeling studies have demonstrated their ability to simulate the seasonal cycles through comparison with observed monthly-mean temperature and precipitation data sets, this study demonstrates that a regional climate model can also capture observed diurnal and synoptic variability. Observed values of daily precipitation and maximum and minimum screen-height air temperature are used to demonstrate this ability.

Essay: Rediscovering The Social Determinants Of Health

Essay: Rediscovering The Social Determinants Of Health

Mesoscale Satellite Bioclimatology

This paper examines the strength of relationships between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and climatic data, when examined at the mesoscale. Mean monthly AVHRR NDVI data for 1988-1996 for the months of April through October for State of Kansas, its nine climatic divisions (CDs), and dominant land cover types within each CD were used. Corresponding climatic and water budget data were obtained or derived from National Climatic Data Center data. Temperature, precipitation, and NDVI deviations from normal were determined. Statistical analysis revealed significant relationships between NDVI and climatic variables, although strengths of the associations were modest. The highest correlation coefficient (r) for the state as a whole was 0.53, between NDVI and estimated actual evapotranspiration. When examined by climatic division or major land cover type, relationships between NDVI and a drought index were statistically significant in most cases and ranged from 0.30 to 0.56.

Animal Waste Containment in Anaerobic Lagoons Lined with Compacted Clays

The practice of animal waste containment has recently drawn much interest from public and regulatory agencies in agriculture-oriented states such as Kansas and North Carolina. In this paper, the debate surrounding the practice is outlined, and results from a research investigation pertinent to the state of Kansas are presented. The research investigation involved two phases. In the first phase, compacted specimens of Kansas soils were tested with animal waste as the influent. The key objective of this phase of research was to assess the range of seepage quantities and the transport characteristics of nitrogen in the ammonium form (NH4-N) through the compacted soils. Results from this phase indicated a steady increase of microbial counts in the liquid effluent. However, biological clogging did not appear to be prominent during the NH4-N breakthrough time period. The results indicate significant differences in microbial uptake of NH4-N among samples of the same soil type. In the second phase, analytical and numerical solutions were used to simulate ammonium transport in the field-scale liners and to estimate upper-bound travel times and final concentrations of NH4-N in the underlying soils. Results from this phase showed drastic differences in travel times and end concentrations of NH4-N among liners prepared from the same soil type. The potential for significant retardation, decay, and saturation levels of NH4-N in clay liners suggests that liner thickness is an important parameter. It is concluded that mass transfer characteristics of liner material, cation exchange capacity and microbial uptake in particular, should be important considerations in the design of animal waste lagoon liners.

General and Special Educators' Perceptions of Teaching Strategies for Multicultural Students

This article focuses on a recent study that investigated perceptions of regular and special educators working with multicultural students with and without disabilities throughout the State of Kansas. The Multicultural Special Education Survey was distributed to 403 general and special educators who represented geographical areas, as well as school districts with an enrollment equal to or greater than 10 percent. This instrument consisted of items related to categories of demographics, professional development, cultural knowledge, linguistics, and teaching strategies. In the area of professional development, the most noteworthy and frequently cited response was "no training" in multicultural education course work. The highest percentage of respondents reported that cultural knowledge would help them understand the influence of their students' verbal and nonverbal learning/behavioral styles. The highest percentage of respondents reported that knowledge about the language of multicultural students and child language development were the most important areas of training. Respondents indicated that teacher-student discussion, cooperative learning, and peer tutoring were useful teaching strategies with multicultural students with and without disabilities. These results are discussed relative to the knowledge base of general and special educators and the future direction of teacher preparation programs.

Contracting and Accountability in State Medicaid Reform: Rhetoric, Theories, and Reality

Introduction Privatization and contracting out have enjoyed widespread popularity in the current climate of government reform. Frequently, privatization and contracting initiatives are pursued because they are consistent with popular political positions. Among the political benefits of privatization is credit claimed by elected officials--including governors for--reforming and shrinking government, thereby reducing taxpayer burdens (Wallin, 1997; Chi, 1993). For administrative leaders, benefits include gubernatorial approval and support (Gill and Rainey, 1998). Yet the rhetoric of capturing market efficiencies through privatization and contracting often masks the reality of administrative shedding and the management challenges that accompany the transition. Recent devolutionary actions, such as the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and the enactment of state Medicaid waiver reforms, are likely to expand state contracts with non-government organizations. A significant portion of state services can be categorized as social services, which present unique challenges for privatization and contracting. In the area of social service reform, there is evidence that much of this privatization and contracting activity is plagued by features of the social services market, including an absence of competition among bidders and the subsequent difficulties faced by state contract-management staff. These difficulties include complications in the contracting accountability relationships and changes in organizational cultures that affect the implementation of these reforms (Romzek and Johnston, 1999). While there is a nationwide trend toward privatization, the State of Kansas has taken a national lead in privatizing certain social services, driven primarily by gubernatorial leadership. Early in the current governor's administration, the merits of privatization were regularly featured in media releases and at public political events. Unfortunately, the rhetoric on the benefits of shifting services out of government conflicts with the reality of the contracting environment. Nonetheless, Kansas' privatization/contracting rhetoric has created a trajectory of load shedding. The result has been a continued quest to shift state social services out of government agencies, even as evaluations of such shifts question the cost savings, enhanced quality, and other promised benefits (Fox, et al., 1998). For leaders in the state's social service agency, following this trajectory minimizes political criticism of an organization perceived as large, unwieldy, cumbersome, and ineffective.(1) Political and administrative leaders tend to assume that contract-management and accountability will be relatively straightforward, as will the benefits associated with contracting. We address this assumption by exploring the administrative and accountability dynamics that arise during the implementation of a reform--a reform based on the rhetoric of privatization, but which does not meet the conditions necessary to tap into market relationships. We examine these issues through an in-depth case analysis of a state-level contract for case-management services for elderly Medicaid clients in Kansas.(2) The proliferation of state contracting suggests that there is a legitimate need to study states' capacity to make sound contracting and contract-management decisions. For example, Wallin (1997) indicates the need for more information on state government privatization and contracting activity--especially on the decision processes, which generate such activity. Theories of contracting and accountability provide frameworks within which to examine the market environment and the accountability relationships that characterize this contract. These frameworks provide a basis for considering how rhetoric and theory are manifested in the reality of the contracting experience. Following the lead of Schlesinger et al. …

Estimating Solar Irradiance for Crop Modeling Using Daily Air Temperature Data

Crop growth models require solar irradiance as input data, yet there are few places where such data are routinely measured. For locations where measured values are not available, solar irradiance can be estimated using empirical models such as the Bristow–Campbell (B–C) model. This study was conducted to assess the spatial and seasonal accuracy of the B–C model for midcontinental locations in Kansas. A 30‐year data set from Manhattan, KS, was used to calibrate and evaluate unmodified and modified forms of the B–C model. The effect of seasonality was investigated by subdividing the yearly data into two subsets, a high noontime solar elevation angle period, ranging from DOY 121 to 273, and a low noontime elevation angle period comprising the remainder of the year. The B–C model was also evaluated without seasonal division of the year. The calibrated models were then tested against measured solar irradiance values for 10 sites distributed across the state of Kansas. Results indicate that, for the calibration site at Manhattan, irradiance was more accurately estimated using a modified form of the B–C model. For the yearly data, root mean square error (RMSE) was 3.9 MJ m−2 d−1 (25% error), compared with 5.2 MJ m−2 d−1 (24% error) for the high solar elevation angle period and 3.6 MJ m−2 d−1 (32% error) for the low solar elevation angle period. The RMSE for the 10 test sites ranged from 2.0 to 6.2 MJ m−2 d−1; percentage error ranged from 26 to 47%. Neither latitude nor distance from the calibration site significantly affected the accuracy of irradiance estimates at the evaluation sites. Results suggest that the modified B–C model provides reasonably accurate estimates of irradiance at noninstrumented sites and that the model can successfully be used at sites away from the calibration site. Seasonal subdivision of the data adds little to the accuracy of estimates.

Privatization of Foster Care in Kansas: A Cautionary Tale

Privatization, or the contracting of government services to the private sector, has existed in child welfare in limited form for decades. Purchase of services contracting has been used to purchase a wide range of child welfare services from the private nonprofit sector, including parenting classes and group home care (Smith, 1989). But the wholesale statewide privatization of child welfare services, using a managed care approach, is a controversial new development. Managed care is revolutionizing health care and mental health systems (Jackson, 1995), but its application to child welfare has been limited to date. Potential advantages of managed care in child welfare include fiscal incentives that support permanency goals and discourage long-term foster care, while potential disadvantages include the lack of control over access, conditions, and interventions that are characteristic of other managed care systems (Feild, 1996). In November 1997 the state of Kansas sponsored an educational workshop on its first-of-a-kind efforts to privatize family preservation, foster care, and adoptions programs, which was attended by more than 200 people from 30 different states (Kansas Action for Children, Inc., 1998). The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) began the process of privatizing its foster care system in late 1996. Private contracts were awarded to three separate not-for-profit providers to cover five regions of the state. The capitated, or case, rates ranged from $12,860 to $15,504. For this fixed amount the contractor was expected to provide all traditional foster care services, including foster and group home care, reintegration services, and mental health treatment, to all nonjuvenile offenders in state custody. Contractors also were responsible for providing services 12 months after physical reintegration, with no additional state dollars provided if the child re-entered care during that time. The foster care contracts included standards for performance regarding outcomes, including children experiencing a minimum number of placements and children maintaining family, community, and cultural ties (Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, 1996). On March 4, 1997, the contractors assumed responsibility for newly opened cases. The study discussed in this article was undertaken at the request of a local juvenile court judge, in her desire to obtain quantitative, objective data about the well-being of Douglas County foster children during the first few months of the state's initiative. In particular, the judge was concerned that foster children under privatization could be spending less time in their first placement, spending more time outside of Douglas County, and experiencing more moves than children before privatization. The study was an unfunded class project supervised by the first author. The central study questions were, How are Douglas County foster children faring under privatization? and How does their situation compare with foster children before privatization? Study Sample Data were compared for two groups of children: (1) children newly placed in out-of-home placement during the first six months of privatization (between March 4, 1997, and August 31, 1997) and (2) children newly placed in out-of-home placement during the same time period before privatization (between March 4, 1996, and August 31, 1996). Thus, it should be emphasized that this report does not concern all of the children from Douglas County who were in foster care, only those who were newly placed during the first six months of the contract. The samples excluded children who came into state custody but did not experience an out-of-home placement and included children who had previously been in foster care and were re-entering the system. Outcome Indicators Choice of indicators was limited to data about outcomes that were available in court files. …

Effect of Material Properties on Cracking in Bridge Decks

The effect of concrete material properties on cracking in bridge decks is evaluated based on field surveys of 40 continuous steel girder bridges, representative of construction throughout the State of Kansas. Information collected from construction documents and field books is compared with observed levels of cracking to identify correlations between cracking and the variables studied. The results of the evaluation indicate that cracking in monolithic bridge decks increases with increasing values of concrete slump, percent of concrete volume occupied by water and cement, water content, cement content, and compressive strength, and decreasing values of air content (especially below 6.0 %). Bridge deck overlays placed with zero slump concrete exhibit consistently higher levels of cracking than overlays with measurable slumps.

Carbaryl Susceptibility, Diagnostic Concentration Determination, and Synergism for U.S. Populations of Western Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Baseline carbaryl susceptibility and potential resistance mechanisms were identified in U.S. populations of western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, using lethal concentration, diagnostic concentration, and synergism bioassays. Twenty-two adult rootworm populations were examined from the states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia. Lethal concentration bioassays, conducted within carbaryl-coated glass vials on 12 populations, identified resistance in only 2 Nebraska populations. A diagnostic concentration of carbaryl was subsequently identified which caused 100 and 40% mortality in standard susceptible and known resistant populations, respectively. In diagnostic concentration bioassays on all 22 populations, substantial decreases in mortality were observed only in 3 populations from outside of Nebraska. Synergism bioassays on standard susceptible and resistant Nebraska populations indicated significant reductions in resistance levels with inhibitors of both cytochrome P450 monooxygenases and esterases, suggesting an involvement in resistance by both these classes of detoxification enzymes. Results are discussed with respect to the validation of diagnostic concentration bioassays as a resistance monitoring tool for existing corn rootworm areawide management programs, and the potential roles of cytochromes P450 and esterases in carbaryl resistance.

The Pike-Pawnee Flag Incident: Reexamining a Vexillological Legend

Author(s): Platoff, Anne M. | Abstract: Visitors to the Pawnee Indian Village State Historic Site near Republic, Kansas are greeted by a granite monument commemorating one of the great moments in the vexillological history of the state: ERECTED BY THE STATE OF KANSAS, 1901, To mark the site of the Pawnee Republic, where LIEUT. ZEBULON M. PIKEcaused the Spanish flag to be lowered and the flag of the United States to be raised,September 29, 1806. To most who view the monument, it is yet another historical marker noting an event of which they had never heard. To the vexillologist, however, it is a challenge—another legend etched in stone that needs to be investigated and verified. Once widely believed to be the site of the first U.S. flag-raising in Kansas, scholars no longer consider this village the one visited by Pike in 1806. However, the legend persists and the story resurfaces from time to time in popular accounts of Kansas history. This paper will examine the story of the Pike-Pawnee flag incident in four areas: 1) an examination of the primary sources that record the incident; 2) the growth of the story as a Kansas legend; 3) the scholarly debate over where the incident actually occurred, and 4) actions being taken to correct the monument.