Vocational and Life Skills Evaluation Annual Report: Grant Cycle 3: Year 2 July 1, 2019-June 30, 2020

The report presents data evaluation updates for the Vocational and Life Skills Program (VLS) for the second year of Grant Cycle Three. VLS was created by the Nebraska Legislative Bill 907 in 2014 to improve the transition for individuals returning to the community after incarceration, increase public safety, and reduce recidivism. VLS includes a balance of providers that address different types of participant needs that develop and manifest in different ways. This report contains 1) a VLS logic model, 2) descriptions of the eight funded programs and a matrix of services provided, 3) a snapshot of participation across the programs, 4) participant characteristics and feedback, and 5) overall initiative and individualized evaluation results into the second year of the grant cycle. The Nebraska Center for Justice Research (NCJR-UNO) evaluates the VLS initiative. NCJR reports to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) regarding the implementation process and data updates on a monthly and quarterly basis. NCJR has collaborated with VLS service providers to create individualized evaluation plans with manageable goals contributing to the overall initiative goals. The intermediate goals of VLS have developed over time and are currently focused on providing increased responsivity to individuals facing a variety of barriers and challenges to successful reentry. The evaluation team is also working with NDCS to systematically match needs to intervention across grantees and increase the utilization of quality evidence-based interventions. The diversity of programming available is a challenge to evaluate, but it does make it possible to address whole-person needs. During the second year of Grant Cycle Three, VLS grantees generally met their individualized performance and outcome measures (pgs. 26-33), despite being significantly challenged by COVID-19. NDCS facilities needed to limit provider entry throughout 2020 and 2021 to reduce the spread among staff, visitors, and incarcerated persons. This inhibited the grantees from being able to provide all program offerings within facilities, significantly reducing numbers served. Program leadership also paused in person services throughout the year to keep program staff safe. Even when in person services resumed, quarantines and staff getting ill from the virus were a common occurrence also reducing services offered to the reentry population. Therefore, although small organizations saw a reduction of services, larger organizations saw an increased demand from incarcerated persons finding it even more difficult to find housing, employment, and social interaction in a global pandemic. The evaluation team has noted when COVID-19 may have significantly skewed the results presented in this report and plan to study additional adverse effects in the future

Monolithic solder-on nanoporous Si-Cu contacts for stretchable silicone composite sensors

We report a method of creating solderable, mechanically robust, electrical contacts to interface (soft) silicone-based strain sensors with conventional (hard) solid-state electronics using a nanoporous Si-Cu composite. The Si-based solder-on electrical contact consists of a copper-plated nanoporous Si top surface formed through metal-assisted chemical etching and electroplating, and a smooth Si bottom surface which can be covalently bonded onto silicone-based strain sensors through plasma bonding. We investigated the mechanical and electrical properties of the contacts proposed under relevant ranges of mechanical stress for applications in physiological monitoring and rehabilitation. We also produced a series of proof-of-concept devices, including a wearable respiration monitor, leg band for exercise monitoring and Squeeze-ball for monitoring rehabilitation of patients with hand injuries or neurological disorders, to demonstrate the mechanical robustness and versatility of the technology developed, in real-world applications

A mutant affecting the crystal cells in Drosophila melanogaster

Black cells (Bc, 2-80.6±) mutant larvae of Drosophila melanogaster have pigmented cells in the hemolymph and lymph glands. In this report we present evidence that these melanized cells are a mutant form of the crystal cells, a type of larval hemocyte with characteristic paracrystalline inclusions. Bc larvae lack crystal cells. Furthermore, the distribution pattern of black cells in Bc larvae parallels that of experimentally-blackened crystal cells in normal larvae (phenocopy).In Bc/Bc zygotes black cells appear during mid embryonic development but in Bc + / Bc zygotes pigmented cells are not found until late in the first larval instar.Crystal cells are present in the heterozygous larvae until this time, and paracrystalline inclusions can be seen in some of the cells undergoing melanization in these larvae.The rate of phenol oxidase activity in Bc + / Bc larval cell-free extracts is less than half that of Bc + / Bc + extracts whereas enzyme activity is undetectable in Bc/Bc larvae. We propose that the Bc + gene product is required for maintaining the integrity of the paracrystalline inclusions; in Bc/Bc larvae either the product is absent or nonfunctional so an effective contact between substrate and enzyme results in melanization of the cells.Phenol oxidase itself is either destroyed or consumed in the melanization process accounting for the absence of enzyme activity in Bc/Bc larvae. These studies confirm that the crystal cells store phenolic substrates and are the source of the hemolymph phenol oxidase activity in the larva of D. melanogaster .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47505/1/427_2004_Article_BF00848799.pd

Adult Justice in Nebraska 2018

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, assist the Legislature in research, evaluation, and policymaking to reduce recidivism, promote the use of evidence-based practices in corrections, 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 County) and District 3 (Lancaster County). The classification of the remainder of the state’s 93 counties can be found in the table on page 5. Please contact NCJR for any questions regarding county-level estimates of the data included in this report. The data in this report represent years ranging from 2012 to 2018. The most recent data available to NCJR at the time of report writing is included in each section and trends across years are included when the data is available and informative. The report is organized according to the stages of the process of the criminal justice system: • Environmental context provides an overview of the population and demographic trends in Nebraska • System context provides an overview of law enforcement employment • Arrests provides an overview of violent and property crime arrests by districts and compares arrests in Nebraska to other states and the national average • Offenses provides an overview of crimes reported or known to the police and includes information on the percent of crimes cleared by arrest • County court provides an overview of the distribution of the county court caseload by district • District court provides an overview of the distribution of the district court caseload • Corrections provides data on admissions and correctional populations by factors such as gender, age, race, and correctional institution, as well as population trends and projections provided by NDCS • Adults on Community Supervision includes trends in hearing, admissions, discharges, and revocations for both Parole and Probation • Problem-Solving Courts provides a map of current problem-solving courts, as well as trends describing court participants Our hope is that this report serves as a reference guide for providing a clearer understanding of recent trends in crime and criminal justice activities in the state of Nebraska. This report was made possible by the financial support provided to the Nebraska Center for Justice Research by LB 907. Questions, suggestions, and comments should be directed to Dr. Ryan Spohn, Director, at rspohn@ unomaha.edu. Thank you for your hard work in sustaining and improving criminal justice in Nebraska

Autocatalytic metallization of fabrics using Si ink, for biosensors, batteries and energy harvesting

Commercially available metal inks are mainly designed for planar substrates (for example, polyethylene terephthalate foils or ceramics), and they contain hydrophobic polymer binders that fill the pores in fabrics when printed, thus resulting in hydrophobic electrodes. Here, a low‐cost binder‐free method for the metallization of woven and nonwoven fabrics is presented that preserves the 3D structure and hydrophilicity of the substrate. Metals such as Au, Ag, and Pt are grown autocatalytically, using metal salts, inside the fibrous network of fabrics at room temperature in a two‐step process, with a water‐based silicon particle ink acting as precursor. Using this method, (patterned) metallized fabrics are being enabled to be produced with low electrical resistance (less than 3.5 Ω sq−1). In addition to fabrics, the method is also compatible with other 3D hydrophilic substrates such as nitrocellulose membranes. The versatility of this method is demonstrated by producing coil antennas for wireless energy harvesting, Ag–Zn batteries for energy storage, electrochemical biosensors for the detection of DNA/proteins, and as a substrate for optical sensing by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. In the future, this method of metallization may pave the way for new classes of high‐performance devices using low‐cost fabrics

Angular Misalignment Measurements for an Off-Plane Reflection Grating Module

We present an analysis of an alignment technique used for an off-plane reflection grating system that, if proven to be feasible, would ideally be utilized for future astronomical x-ray spectrometers. The use of reflection gratings allows for the production of both high throughput and spectral resolution. As such, they are a candidate grating technology for future soft X-ray spectroscopy missions. To be viable for these missions, however, a low-cost optical technique for co-aligning multiple gratings into a module for use in a spectrograph must be demonstrated. The off-plane grating module was built to contain fifteen gratings with proper relative alignment to one another for a converging X-ray beam. The module was coupled with a silicon pore optic mirror to produce a spectrum of reflected and diffracted light onto a CCD camera at the focal plane. The alignment performance of the module’s grating system was assessed both before and after a series of vibrational and thermal tests were conducted at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Data reduction was done in order to identify the number and position of photon events from the diffraction spots for each grating, and raytracing analysis was conducted in order to calculate the induced grating-to-grating angular misalignments. Finally, these measurements were compared to theoretical alignment tolerances derived using analytical techniques. The grating system yielded misalignments within a factor of 2-3 of the analytical tolerances, which is very encouraging for a first attempt. Further refinement and troubleshooting is required to see whether or not this alignment technique can be used in the future