The Fight or Flight Response: A Look at Stand Your Ground

In addressing the historical importance—or lack thereof—of the Stand Your Ground law, this article discusses the evolution of self-defense laws. Specific landmark cases are discussed as they relate to establishing the foundation of self-defense. The article also examines various issues that have been inherent within the Stand Your Ground debate. Statistical analysis of Stand Your Ground data from the State of Florida is conducted using binary logistic regression model to test the relationship between case outcomes and a number of other variables involving demographics, and the nature of the confrontation that led to the crim

A Snapshot of Organizational Climate: Perceptions of Extension Faculty

This article provides a snapshot of the perceptions of workplace climate of Extension faculty at a land-grant, research-high activity university, compared with the perceptions of non-Extension faculty at the same university. An online survey was conducted with a validated instrument. The response rate for university faculty was 44% (968); the response rate for Extension was 77% (126). Perceptions of the workplace climate were in the high-to-moderate range. Extension faculty appeared to view campus climate more favorably than traditional faculty. This article calls attention to the benefits of assessing an organization\u27s climate

Community Social Capital, Political Values, or Organizational Capacity?: Indicators of Engagement in Sustainable Public Procurement at the Local Level

Local governments are responsible for addressing environmental, social, and economic issues affecting their communities. Sustainable public procurement (SPP) offers a mechanism for local governments to address such issues by strategically utilizing government funds to efficiently and effectively achieve policy outcomes while also promoting the wellbeing of the environment, economy, and society. While sustainability has become an increasingly popular approach among governmental actors and the general public, the factors driving local governments’ sustainability efforts are largely unclear. This study introduces novel measures of SPP (i.e., Green Procurement Index and Social Equity Index) and utilizes Poisson regressions to analyze procurement practices of 264 local governments to determine how community social capital, political values, and organizational capacity affect local government SPP implementation. Findings demonstrate that support from executive leadership and political ideology are significant predictors in two models of SPP. However, there are other factors present in the operating environment that impact green and social equity procurement differently. This research has implications for social capital theory and for local government sustainability efforts demonstrating the importance of organizational commitment and different factors in the community to address green and social equity spheres of sustainability

Racial Disparities In Stroke Awareness: African Americans And Caucasians

Considerable evidence supports the existence of racial disparities in incidence, mortality, and morbidity related to stroke. Awareness of risk factors could substantially lower the probability of stroke incidence. Awareness of stroke warning signs and treatment options could significantly alter the outcome of a stroke if patients immediately seek emergency help. This article examines the disparities in awareness of stroke risk factors, stroke signs, and action to be taken when stroke occurs. Survey results from 422 Caucasian Americans and 368 African Americans in West Virginia were analyzed. Significant disparities in recognition of cholesterol, smoking, prior stroke, and race as stroke risk factors were observed. The study also found a significant and substantial difference in awareness of stroke signs. There was also a significant difference in the way African Americans and Caucasians would respond to a stroke. The study found no evidence of disparities in recognition of stroke risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, alcoholism, and family history

Human Capital Drivers of Employee Intent to Innovate: The Case of Public Procurement Professionals

Innovation is often promoted as the path to overcoming the burdens of bureaucratic organizations and fostering improved service to the public. In a moment where governments face dynamic administrative and policy challenges, there is great need for leveraging innovative ideas from public sector employees. What is less clear are which factors of employee human capital correlate with feeling encouraged to innovate. We test how three types of human capital influence innovation: organization level, industry specific, and individual specific human capital. We also explore whether there are differences in feeling encouraged to innovate linked to education, training, and demographics such as gender, race, and age. Using survey responses from 2,191 public procurement officers from various levels of government in the United States, we find human capital components including experience, and age correlate with feeling encouraged to innovate, though not always in expected ways