Mapping Quality of Life in Nebraska: Migration Rates

KEY POINTS AND IMPLICATIONS Nebraska is a state that is not often viewed as affected significantly by mobility and migration. As a state, the net migration rate of 1.1 from 2015 to 2016 is fairly low compared to others like Florida (16.0) or Nevada (14.4). However, data from this report suggests that there is, in fact, substantial movement of people moving in and moving out; as well as pockets within the state where there is higher than average influx of both domestic and international migrants. In general, migration trends in the state mirror national trends of “rural flight” where people are moving out of the rural counties and moving into suburban or metropolitan areas. In fact, 69 of the 93 counties had a negative net migration. This is most likely due to greater economic opportunities associated with urban areas (Harris & Todaro, 1970). However, the population leaving is being offset by international migrants who do come to suburban and rural counties (e.g., Colfax, Dakota, Dawson). Thus, overall the state net migration rate has been minimal with a slight increase. Below are other key points of this fact sheet. • The foreign-born population is highest in the metropolitan counties, particularly in Douglas (48,909) and in Lancaster (21,888). However, the highest concentration of foreign-born is found in micropolitan areas with lower overall population (i.e., at least 10,000 but less than 50,000), such as Dakota, Dawson, and Hall. Most likely, specific industries (e.g., meatpacking plants, industrial plants) in these areas are attracting migrant workers. This is consistent with recent scholars’ recognition of the importance of micropolitan areas in economic and social revitalization of states (e.g., Cantrell, 2007). • The maps of overall net migration rates and domestic migration rates are almost identical. This suggests that domestic migration accounts for much of the population change compared to international migration. Nonetheless, caution must be used in interpreting this pattern. In fact, it may seem that Nebraska has few international migrants. However, international migrants are counted as domestic migrants when they moved within the state in the last 12 months. Thus, it is important to note that the numbers of international migrants are not similar to the numbers of the foreign-born population. • Counties with high numbers of international migrants, particularly the metropolitan areas in the southeast part of the state, also have high numbers of ethnic minorities (e.g., Douglas, Lancaster, Sarpy). Although there are migrants from all over the world who come to Nebraska, the numbers suggest that most of the migrants identify as ‘ethnic minorities’ or non-White (see Population Distribution by Race, Ethnicity, and Age by Taylor et al., 2017). • International migrants are a diverse group and come to Nebraska for different reasons, such as to work and/or to study. The numbers presented above also include refugees, individuals who have been forced to leave their country to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. Approximately 5,415 refugees from FY 2000 to FY 2010, and 818 refugees in FY 2010 settled in Nebraska. Additionally, as the census does not ask for immigration status, the migration rates and foreign-born population may also include undocumented immigrants, foreign-born individuals who do not have a legal right to live or remain in the country. Overall, this report presents the migration rates and foreign-born population in Nebraska. Data and information in this report intend to inform policymakers and practitioners as they design guidelines and services that are sensitive to current migration trends and responsive to the characteristics of the population

Mapping Quality of Life in Nebraska: Population Distribution by Race, Ethnicity, and Age

KEY POINTS This section details key points from the data on racial, ethnic, and age groups across Nebraska. RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES IN NEBRASKA • The proportions of Nebraska’s racial and ethnic minority populations tend to be smaller by 4% (i.e., Asian) to 8% (i.e., Black or African American, Hispanic/Latino) than those of the US, except for the Hawaiian and Pacific Islander and American Indian and Alaska Native populations (i.e., smaller only by 0.1% to 0.2%). • Nebraska’s urban areas, which comprise 73.1% of the Nebraska population, have higher numbers of racial and ethnic minorities than suburban or rural areas. However, when the relative concentration of racial and ethnic minorities is taken into account, many of the lowest populated counties often have the highest relative concentrations of racial and ethnic minority groups, particularly Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, American Indian and Alaska Natives, and Hispanic/Latinos, compared to the other counties. • Counties across the central part of the state, as well as the northeast corner, tend to have the highest relative concentrations of racial and ethnic minorities. NEBRASKA YOUNG CHILD AND YOUTH POPULATIONS • Counties in northeast Nebraska have the highest relative concentrations of young children and youth compared to the relative number of young children and youth in the entire state. • Other counties with high relative concentrations of young children and youth tend to be the state’s higher populated counties. NEBRASKA ELDERLY POPULATION • Counties with higher relative elderly concentrations tend to be in rural areas, specifically in western Nebraska and along the Nebraska-Kansas border. • Counties with high relative elderly concentrations tend to be counties with lower relative concentrations of young child and youth populations. INTERSECTIONS OF NEBRASKA RACIAL, ETHNIC, AND AGE GROUPS • Counties with high relative concentrations of young children and youth tend to be the ones that also have high relative concentrations of racial and ethnic minority populations, specifically Hispanic/Latinos and American Indian and Alaska Natives (e.g., Thurston, Platte, Colfax, Dakota, and Dawson counties). • Most counties in Nebraska with high racial/ ethnic minority concentrations have lower relative elderly concentrations, suggesting a low relative concentration of minority elders in these counties

Variational Methods for Biomolecular Modeling

Structure, function and dynamics of many biomolecular systems can be characterized by the energetic variational principle and the corresponding systems of partial differential equations (PDEs). This principle allows us to focus on the identification of essential energetic components, the optimal parametrization of energies, and the efficient computational implementation of energy variation or minimization. Given the fact that complex biomolecular systems are structurally non-uniform and their interactions occur through contact interfaces, their free energies are associated with various interfaces as well, such as solute-solvent interface, molecular binding interface, lipid domain interface, and membrane surfaces. This fact motivates the inclusion of interface geometry, particular its curvatures, to the parametrization of free energies. Applications of such interface geometry based energetic variational principles are illustrated through three concrete topics: the multiscale modeling of biomolecular electrostatics and solvation that includes the curvature energy of the molecular surface, the formation of microdomains on lipid membrane due to the geometric and molecular mechanics at the lipid interface, and the mean curvature driven protein localization on membrane surfaces. By further implicitly representing the interface using a phase field function over the entire domain, one can simulate the dynamics of the interface and the corresponding energy variation by evolving the phase field function, achieving significant reduction of the number of degrees of freedom and computational complexity. Strategies for improving the efficiency of computational implementations and for extending applications to coarse-graining or multiscale molecular simulations are outlined.Comment: 36 page

A gender perspective on entrepreneurial leadership:female leaders in Kazakhstan

The paper proposes a conceptual model to understand female entrepreneurial leadership through an exploration of the perceptions and experiences of women entrepreneurs within their leadership roles. The paper addresses an existing knowledge gap on entrepreneurial leadership by bringing together three key constructs of gender, leadership and entrepreneurship. We apply Stewart's model of role demands-constraints-choices (DCC) to women entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan in order to understand their perceptions of the demands, constraints and choices they experience within their leadership roles. The results of in-depth interviews with women entrepreneurs present deeper conceptualization of their leadership enactment as a co-developing, co-constructed relational activity between leaders and others in their wider business environments and context

Corporate governance and IPO underpricing in a cross-national sample: A multilevel knowledge-based view

Prior studies of IPO underpricing, mostly using agency theory and single-country samples, have generally fallen short. In this study, we employ the knowledge-based view (KBV) to explore underpricing across 17 countries. We find that agency indicators are insignificant predictors, board of director knowledge limits underpricing, and external knowledge both substitutes for and complements internal board knowledge. This third finding suggests that future KBV studies should consider how internal and external knowledge states interact with each other. Our study offers new insights into the antecedents of underpricing and extends our understanding of comparative governance and the KBV of the firm

Selection of Reserves for Woodland Caribou Using an Optimization Approach

Habitat protection has been identified as an important strategy for the conservation of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus). However, because of the economic opportunity costs associated with protection it is unlikely that all caribou ranges can be protected in their entirety. We used an optimization approach to identify reserve designs for caribou in Alberta, Canada, across a range of potential protection targets. Our designs minimized costs as well as three demographic risk factors: current industrial footprint, presence of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and climate change. We found that, using optimization, 60% of current caribou range can be protected (including 17% in existing parks) while maintaining access to over 98% of the value of resources on public lands. The trade-off between minimizing cost and minimizing demographic risk factors was minimal because the spatial distributions of cost and risk were similar. The prospects for protection are much reduced if protection is directed towards the herds that are most at risk of near-term extirpation

In Silico Elucidation of the Recognition Dynamics of Ubiquitin

Elucidation of the mechanism of biomacromolecular recognition events has been a topic of intense interest over the past century. The inherent dynamic nature of both protein and ligand molecules along with the continuous reshaping of the energy landscape during the binding process renders it difficult to characterize this process at atomic detail. Here, we investigate the recognition dynamics of ubiquitin via microsecond all-atom molecular dynamics simulation providing both thermodynamic and kinetic information. The high-level of consistency found with respect to experimental NMR data lends support to the accuracy of the in silico representation of the conformational substates and their interconversions of free ubiquitin. Using an energy-based reweighting approach, the statistical distribution of conformational states of ubiquitin is monitored as a function of the distance between ubiquitin and its binding partner Hrs-UIM. It is found that extensive and dense sampling of conformational space afforded by the µs MD trajectory is essential for the elucidation of the binding mechanism as is Boltzmann sampling, overcoming inherent limitations of sparsely sampled empirical ensembles. The results reveal a population redistribution mechanism that takes effect when the ligand is at intermediate range of 1–2 nm from ubiquitin. This mechanism, which may be depicted as a superposition of the conformational selection and induced fit mechanisms, also applies to other binding partners of ubiquitin, such as the GGA3 GAT domain

Anthropogenically induced adaptation to invade (AIAI): contemporary adaptation to human-altered habitats within the native range can promote invasions

Adaptive evolution is currently accepted as playing a significant role in biological invasions. Adaptations relevant to invasions are typically thought to occur either recently within the introduced range, as an evolutionary response to novel selection regimes, or within the native range, because of long-term adaptation to the local environment. We propose that recent adaptation within the native range, in particular adaptations to human-altered habitat, could also contribute to the evolution of invasive populations. Populations adapted to human-altered habitats in the native range are likely to increase in abundance within areas frequented by humans and associated with human transport mechanisms, thus enhancing the likelihood of transport to a novel range. Given that habitats are altered by humans in similar ways worldwide, as evidenced by global environmental homogenization, propagules from populations adapted to human-altered habitats in the native range should perform well within similarly human-altered habitats in the novel range. We label this scenario ‘Anthropogenically Induced Adaptation to Invade’. We illustrate how it differs from other evolutionary processes that may occur during invasions, and how it can help explain accelerating rates of invasions