Digital Commons Network^™

The Influence Of Invasive Species On Fishers’ Satisfactions, Caroline M. Laplante

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Invasives species are prevalent and widespread in North America. Outdoor recreational activities, such as fishing, introduce a point in which humans may interact with invasive species and have to adapt their own behaviors. Bigheaded carp in the Missouri River below Gavin’s Point Dam are a group of invasive fish species that were thought to be negatively relating to recreational fishers’ satisfactions. Using a content analysis and an importance-grid, we conclude that invasive species do not strongly relate to recreational paddlefish fishers’ satisfactions. Paddlefish fishers represent a small sub-set of recreational fishers in Nebraska and South Dakota. The content analysis revealed …

Aksakidion Odontokeras (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Eumolpinae: Eumolpini), A New Genus And Species In An Old Collection From Paraguay, Wills Flowers

Insecta Mundi

Aksakidion odontokeras, new genus and new species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Eumolpinae: Eumolpini), is described from four specimens in the Bowditch Collection at Harvard University. It is dis­tinguished from all other genera in the Eumolpinae by an elongate, seta-bearing, tusk-like projection on the dorsal side of each mandible. Although locality data only mention Paraguay as the country of origin, information about the collector indicates it was collected in the late 19th century in the vicinity of Asunción.

During a recent visit to the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University (MCZ) to study type mate­rial of Neotropical Chrysomelidae, a short series …

Reduced Grey Matter Volume In Adolescents With Conduct Disorder: A Region‑Of‑Interest Analysis Using Multivariate Generalized Linear Modeling, Ru Zhang, R. James R. Blair, Karina S. Blair, Matthew Dobbertin, Jordan E. Pierce, Johannah Bashford‑Largo, Ahria J. Dominguez, Melissa Hatch, Sahil Bajaj

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Background Conduct disorder (CD) involves a group of behavioral and emotional problems that usually begins during childhood or adolescence. Structural brain alterations have been observed in CD, including the amygdala, insula, ventrolateral and medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and fusiform gyrus. The current study developed a multivariate generalized linear model (GLM) to differentiate adolescents with CD from typically developing (TD) adolescents in terms of grey matter volume (GMV).

Methods The whole‐brain structural MRI data were collected from 96 adolescents with CD (mean age = 16.188 ± 1.259 years; mean IQ = 104.292 ± 8.107 ; 63 males) and 90 …

Manydogs Project: A Big Team Science Approach To Investigating Canine Behavior And Cognition, Daniela Alberghina, Emily E. Bray, Daphna Buchsbaum, Sarah- Elizabeth Byosiere, Julia Espinosa, Gitanjali E. Gnanadesikan, C.-N. Alexandrina Guran, Elizabeth Hare, Daniel J. Horschler, Ludwig Huber, Valerie A. Kuhlmeier, Evan L. Maclean, Madeline H. Pelgrim, Bryan Perez, Dana Ravid-Schurr, Liza Rothkoff, Courtney L. Sexton, Zachary A. Silver, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Dogs have a special place in human history as the first domesticated species and play important roles in many cultures around the world. However, their role in scientific studies has been relatively recent. With a few notable exceptions (e.g., Darwin, Pavlov, Scott, and Fuller), domestic dogs were not commonly the subject of rigorous scientific investigation of behavior until the late 1990s. Although the number of canine science studies has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, most research groups are limited in the inferences they can draw because of the relatively small sample sizes used, along with the exceptional diversity …

A New Species Of Neostenoptera Meunier (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae: Winnertziinae) From Hawai‘I, John D. Plakidas, Nhu H. Nguyen, Michael L. Ferro

Insecta Mundi

A new paedogenetic midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae: Winnertziinae: Heteropezini) from O‘ahu Island, Hawai‘i, Neostenoptera hawaiiensis Plakidas, Nguyen, and Ferro, new species, is described and illus­trated. A key to all species in the genus is provided. Specimens were emergent from deadwood gathered at Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Garden. Neostenoptera appalachiensis Plakidas and Ferro were collected from the same set of samples in Hawai‘i, and additional specimens are reported from Georgia and South Carolina, three new state records. The discovery of two paedogenetic midges in Hawai‘i poses a unique set of questions as to their possible mode of arrival on an …

Identification And Characterization Of Circular Rnas In Brassica Rapa In Response To Plasmodiophora Brassicae, Huishan Liu, Chinedu Charles Nwafor, Yinglan Piao, Xiaonan Li, Zongxiang Zhan, Zhongyun Piao

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty and Staff Publications

Plasmodiophora brassicae is a soil-borne pathogen that attacks the roots of cruciferous plants and causes clubroot disease. CircRNAs are noncoding RNAs, widely existing in plant and animal species. Although knowledge of circRNAs has been updated continuously and rapidly, information about circRNAs in the regulation of clubroot disease resistance is extremely limited in Brassica rapa. Here, Chinese cabbage (BJN 222) containing clubroot resistance genes (CRa) against P. brassicae Pb4 was susceptible to PbE. To investigate the mechanism of cicRNAs responsible for clubroot disease resistance in B. rapa, circRNA-seq was performed with roots of ‘BJN 222’ at 0, 8, and 23 days …

“Many People Have No Idea”: A Qualitative Analysis Of Healthcare Barriers Among Yazidi Refugees In The Midwestern United States, Falah Rashoka, Megan S. Kelley, Jeong‑Kyun Choi, Marc A. Garcia, Weiwen Chai, Hazim N. Rashawka

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has shed new light on inequities in healthcare access faced by immigrant and refugee communities. To address ongoing disparities, there is an urgent need for ecological approaches to better understand the barriers that hinder and resources that facilitate access to healthcare. This study investigates barriers to healthcare system access faced by Yazidi refugees in the Midwestern United States.

Methods: Informed by the Interpretative Phenomenological Approach, three focus group meetings with a community advisory board were conducted between September 2019 and January 2020. The nine-member focus group included social workers, healthcare providers, and members of …

“Many People Have No Idea”: A Qualitative Analysis Of Healthcare Barriers Among Yazidi Refugees In The Midwestern United States, Falah N. Rashoka, Megan S. Kelley, Jeong‑Kyun Choi, Marc A. Garcia, Weiwen Chai, Hazim N. Rashawka

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has shed new light on inequities in healthcare access faced by immigrant and refugee communities. To address ongoing disparities, there is an urgent need for ecological approaches to better understand the barriers that hinder and resources that facilitate access to healthcare. This study investigates barriers to healthcare system access faced by Yazidi refugees in the Midwestern United States.

Methods: Informed by the Interpretative Phenomenological Approach, three focus group meetings with a community advisory board were conducted between September 2019 and January 2020. The nine-member focus group included social workers, healthcare providers, and members of the Yazidi …

Characterization Of Salt And Drought Tolerance In Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus L.), Sevgi Saylak

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Consequent to the increasing world population, food sources are needed to be increased to meet the nutritional needs. However, due to natural processes and agricultural activities, the most destructive environmental factors that limit crop production, soil salinity, and drought-exposed areas are growing. As one of the major oilseed crops, sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), is considered to be moderately tolerant to salt and drought. Although it can grow in arid to semi-arid regions, increasing salinity and drought might adversely affect sunflower production. This study aimed to investigate several sunflower germplasms' morphological responses to salt and drought stresses. For this purpose, …

A Systematic Map Of Human-Carnivore Coexistence, Cassandre C. Venumière-Lefebvre, Stewart W. Breck, Kevin R. Crooks

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Carnivore populations globally have largely declined, and coexistence, where humans and carnivores share landscapes, plays a crucial role in carnivore conservation. However, the term “coexistence” is often used in scientific and popular literature without being clearly defined. Herein, we provide a global perspective on what coexistence is and how it is studied. We conducted a systematic map of 366 articles published between 1987 and 2020 to characterize human-carnivore coexistence literature according to coexistence definitions, temporal trends, geographic and taxonomic focus, and four thematic aspects of coexistence: carnivore ecology, human endeavors, social conflict and human-carnivore conflict. We used chi-squared tests and …

Cultivation Of Industrial Hemp On And Near Airports: Implications For Wildlife Use And Risk To Aviation Safety, Bradley F. Blackwell, Page E. Klug, Lee A. Humberg, Zachary T. Brym, Bryan M. Kluever, Jenna Edwards

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.; hemp) is an emerging crop in the United States with little known about bird use or the potential for birds to become an agricultural pest. We identified birds associated with hemp fields, using repeated visits to oilseed plots in North Dakota, USA (n = 6) and cannabinoid (CBD) plots in Florida, USA (n = 4) from August to November 2020. We did not control for plot area or density; our observations were descriptive only. We observed 10 species in hemp, 12 species flying over hemp, and 11 species both foraging in and …

Serving Refugees In A Pandemic: Insights From Yazidis In The Midwest, Falah N. Rashoka M.S, Megan S. Kelley, Marc A. Garcia

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

There is a critical need for research to examine factors that hinder or facilitate access to healthcare in the context of COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated barriers to healthcare for marginalized communities globally, leaving many without access to needed health services. Resettled refugees, in particular, must grapple with added challenges to locating and obtaining culturally appropriate healthcare services.

Recent focus groups shed light on the experiences of Yazidi refugees in the U.S. Midwest during COVID-19. Yazidis are a historically persecuted religious and ethnic minority group from northern Iraq (Kizilhan, 2017). Many Yazidis migrated to the U.S. on Special Immigrant …

Core Neuropsychological Measures For Obesity And Diabetes Trials: Initial Report, Kimberlee D'Ardenne, Cary R. Savage, Dana Small, Uku Vainik, Luke E. Stoeckel

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Obesity and diabetes are known to be related to cognitive abilities. The Core Neuropsychological Measures for Obesity and Diabetes Trials Project aimed to identify the key cognitive and perceptual domains in which performance can influence treatment outcomes, including predicting, mediating, and moderating treatment outcome and to generate neuropsychological batteries comprised of well-validated, easy-to-administer tests that best measure these key domains. The ultimate goal is to facilitate inclusion of neuropsychological measures in clinical studies and trials so that we can gather more information on potential mediators of obesity and diabetes treatment outcomes. We will present the rationale for the project and …

Insights From The Inclusive Environments And Metrics In Biology Education And Research Network: Our Experience Organizing Inclusive Biology Education Research Events, Rebecca A. Campbell-Montalvo, Natalia Caporale, Gary S. Mcdowell, Candice Idlebird, Katie M. Wiens, Kimberly M. Jackson, Jana D. Marcette, Michael E. Moore

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

In contrast to efforts focusing on improving inclusion in STEM classrooms from kindergarten through un-dergraduate (K–16), efforts to improve inclusion in scientific meetings and conferences, important hubs of STEM culture, are more recent. Markers of inclusion that are sometimes overlooked at these events can include the composition of panels, how workshops are run, the affordability of conferences, and various other mechanisms that maintain pre-existing hierarchies and norms that limit the participation of early-career researchers and individuals of minoritized cultural, linguistic, and economic backgrounds. The Inclusive Environments and Metrics in Biology Education and Research (iEMBER) network coordinates efforts of researchers from …

Neural Bases Of Phonological And Semantic Processing In Early Childhood, Avantika Mathur, Douglas H. Schultz, Yingying Wang Dr.

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

During the early period of reading development, children gain phonological (letter-to-sound mapping) and semantic knowledge (storage and retrieval of word meaning). Their reading ability changes rapidly, accompanied by learning-induced brain plasticity as they learn to read. This study aims at identifying the neural bases of phonological and semantic processing in early childhood by using a combination of univariate and multivariate pattern analysis. Nineteen typically developing children between the age of five and seven performed visual word-level phonological (rhyming) and semantic (related meaning) judgment tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Our multivariate analysis showed that young children with good reading …

An Annotated Checklist Of The Scarabaeoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) Of The Guianas, Auke J. Hielkema, Meindert A. Hielkema

Insecta Mundi

A checklist of the Scarabaeoidea (except Passalidae) of the Guianas (Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana) is presented for the first time. Both recorded and potential species are included, the latter defined as being recorded from Brazil north of the Amazon/Rio Negro main channel or from Venezuela east of the Orinoco main channel. The checklist contains a total of 930 species and subspecies, with 265 validly recorded from Guyana (eight new country records), 388 from Suriname (146 new country records), 531 from French Guiana (four new country records) and 177 additional species recorded from contiguous areas of neighboring Brazil and Venezuela. …

The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status And White Matter Microstructure In Pre-Reading Children: A Longitudinal Investigation, Ola Ozernov-Palchik, Elizabeth S. Norton, Yingying Wang, Sara D. Beach, Jennifer Zuk, Maryanne Wolf, John D.E. Gabrieli, Nadine Gaab

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Reading is a learned skill crucial for educational attainment. Children from families of lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to have poorer reading performance and this gap widens across years of schooling. Reading relies on the orchestration of multiple neural systems integrated via specific white-matter pathways, but there is limited understanding about whether these pathways relate differentially to reading performance depending on SES background. Kindergarten white-matter FA and second-grade reading outcomes were investigated in an SES-diverse sample of 125 children. The three left-hemisphere white-matter tracts most associated with reading, and their right-hemisphere homologs, were examined: arcuate fasciculus (AF), superior longitudinal fasciculus …

A Prairie And Its People: Conflict And Cooperation. E. Frank Schramm, Joseph E.A. Alexis, The Amos Eager Family, The University Of Nebraska And Other Notable Owners Of Nine Mile Prairie And Its Environs, Jon H. Oberg

Publications of UNSM Staff and Affiliates

This study looks at the social history of individuals connected to a particular geographic quadrant -- Section 1 of Middle Creek precinct, Lancaster County, Nebraska. This an area famous for its natural history, as it is the home of Nine Mile Prairie. But the property owners in this section have a colorful history that encompasses the fields of sports, politics, academics, foreign wars, and crime. The study looks primarily at E. Frank Schramm, Joseph E.A. Alexis, and the Amos Eager family, who with other owners contributed importantly to the history and development of the City of Lincoln and the State …

How Do Teachers Use Comics To Promote Engagement, Equity, And Diversity In Science Classrooms?, Camilla Matuk, Talia Hurwich, Amy Spiegel, Judy Diamond

World of Viruses

Equitable learning opportunities are critical to the goals of science education. However, major curriculum standards are vague on how to achieve equity goals, and educators must often develop their own resources and strategies to achieve equity goals. This study examines how educators used a comic book series designed to interest youth in virology as a way to make science more broadly appealing to their diverse students. We begin with the notion of Pedagogical Design Capacity, which describes a dynamic relationship between teachers and their tools and the ability for teachers to perceive and leverage affordances of artifacts as tools in …

No Detection Of Brodifacoum Residues In The Marine And Terrestrial Food Web Three Years After Rat Eradication At Palmyra Atoll, Central Pacific, A. Wegmann, G. Howald, S. Kropidlowski, N. Holmes, A.B. Shiels

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive alien species represent one of the greatest threats to native plants and animals on islands. Rats (Rattus spp.) have invaded most of the world’s oceanic islands, causing lasting or irreversible damage to ecosystems and biodiversity. To counter this threat, techniques to eradicate invasive rats from islands have been developed and applied across the globe. Eradication of alien rats from large or complex island ecosystems has only been successful with the use of bait containing a rodenticide. While effective at eradicating rats from islands, rodenticide can persist in the ecosystem longer than the time required to eradicate the target rat …

Management And Modeling Of Winter-Time Basil Cultivars Grown With A Cap Mat System, George E. Meyer, M. Elizabeth Conley, Ellen T. Paparozzi

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a high value crop, currently grown in the field and greenhouses in Nebraska. Winter-time, greenhouse studies were conducted during 2015 and 2016, focusing on cultivars of basil grown on a Cap MAT II® system with various levels of fertilizer application. The goal was to select high value cultivars that could be grown in Nebraska greenhouses. The studies used water content, electrical conductivity, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and relative humidity, air and soil media temperature sensors. Greenhouse systems can be very complex, even though controlled by mechanical heating and cooling. Uncertain or ambiguous environmental and …

Diverse Examples From Managing Invasive Vertebrate Species On Inhabited Islands Of The United States, Richard M. Engeman, Michael L. Avery, Aaron B. Shiels, Are R. Berentsen, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Robert T. Sugihara, Anthony G. Duffiney, Craig S. Clark, John D. Eisemann

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

A wide array of sizes, ecosystems, cultures, and invasive wildlife are represented among inhabited islands. Here, six cases from the United States of America (US) are selected to illustrate the high diversity of invasive animal management issues and objectives. We outline the background, define the problems and management objectives. We identify the management approaches and discuss the results and influences as they specifically relate to inhabited islands. The examples are: (1) Gambian giant pouched rats on Grassy Key, Florida; (2) coqui frogs on Kaua’i, Hawai’i; (3) feral swine on Cayo Costa Island, Florida; (4) rodents and monitor lizards on Cocos …

Historical Observations And Identifications Of Plants And Animals In The Vicinity Of Engineer Cantonment In 1819-1820, Hugh H. Genoways, Brett C. Ratcliffe, Carl R. Falk, John R. Bozell

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Historical observations and identifications of plants and animals in the vicinity of Engineer Cantonment in 1819–1820 (James 1822) are shown below in Roman and Roman italic print. Specimens identified through phytoarcheological and zooarcheological analysis of materials and believed to be reasonably associated or contemporaneous with the Long Expedition use of the site (AU4) are shown in boldface. Species present in both the historical and archeological data are marked by an asterisk (*). References used in this compilation include Benedict (1996), Brewer (1970 [1840]), Conant and Collins (1991), Ducey (2000), Evans (1997), Falk et al. (this volume), Genoways et al. (2008), …

Cylindera (Conidera) Mindoroana Sp. N. (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae), A New Tiger Beetle Species From The Philippines, Herbert Zettel, Jürgen Wiesner

Insecta Mundi

Conidera Rivalier, 1961 is a well-defined subgenus of tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) hitherto only known from two species endemic to the island of Luzon. This paper describes the first species from Mindoro, with a doubtful record from Mindanao. Cylindera (Conidera) mindoroana Zettel and Wiesner, new species, differs strongly by an unusual shape of the female’s elytra. A diagnosis for Conidera and a key to the species of this subgenus is presented.

Contribution To The Knowledge Of Chilean Phycitinae (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae): New Species Of Passadena Hulst, 1900, And Ragonotia Grote, 1888, From Northern Chile, Danilo E. Cepeda

Insecta Mundi

Two new species of Phycitinae (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) from Chile are described: Passadena mistralae Cepeda, n. sp., and Ragonotia campodonicoi Cepeda, n. sp. Adult external morphological characters, as well as male and female genitalia, are described and illustrated for both taxa.

Se describen dos nuevas especies de Phycitinae (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) de Chile: Passadena mistralae Cepeda, n. sp., y Ragonotia campodonicoi Cepeda, n. sp. Para ambos taxa, se entregan caracteres morfológicos externos del adulto y se describen e ilustran la genitalia masculina y femenina.

The Interaction Of Temporal And Spectral Acoustic Information With Word Predictability On Speech Intelligibility, Bahar Somayeh Shahsavarani

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

High-level, top-down information such as linguistic knowledge is a salient cortical resource that influences speech perception under most listening conditions. But, are all listeners able to exploit these resources for speech facilitation to the same extent? It was found that children with cochlear implants showed different patterns of benefit from contextual information in speech perception compared with their normal-haring peers. Previous studies have discussed the role of non-acoustic factors such as linguistic and cognitive capabilities to account for this discrepancy. Given the fact that the amount of acoustic information encoded and processed by auditory nerves of listeners with cochlear implants …

Lessons To Be Learned: How A Comprehensive Neurobiological Framework Of Atypical Reading Development Can Inform Educational Practice, Ola Ozernov-Palchik, Xi Yu, Yingying Wang, Nadine Gaab

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Dyslexia is a heritable reading disorder with an estimated prevalence of 5–17%. A multiple deficit model has been proposed that illustrates dyslexia as an outcome of multiple risks and protective factors interacting at the genetic, neural, cognitive, and environmental levels. Here we review the evidence on each of these levels and discuss possible underlying mechanisms and their reciprocal interactions along a developmental timeline. Current and potential implications of neuroscientific findings for contemporary challenges in the field of dyslexia, as well as for reading development and education in general, are then discussed.

Review Of Estimation Of Parameters For Animal Populations: A Primer For The Rest Of Us By Larkin A. Powell And George A. Gale, Max Post Van Der Burg

The Prairie Naturalist

“Me? A modeler? Never!” This is the opening challenge of the book, Estimation of Parameters for Animal Populations: A Primer for the Rest of Us, by Larkin Powell and George Gale. I say “challenge” because I think this book attempts to challenge the misconception that quantitative methods are out of reach for most biologists and wildlife scientists. When many of us attend college or graduate school to study wildlife science there’s a sense that, at some point, there will be math. But it appears that the attitude of many students toward this reality is to simply suffer through the …

Program And Proceedings, The Nebraska Academy Of Sciences (1880-2016) Including The Nebraska Association Of Teachers Of Science (Nats) Division, Nebraska Junior Academy Of Sciences (Njas) Division, And Affiliated Societies: 136th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting., Cecelia Dorn

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

PROGRAM

FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016

7:30 a.m.

REGISTRATION FOR ACADEMY, Lobby of Lecture wing, Olin Hall

8:00

Aeronautics and Space Science, Session A, Olin 249

Aeronautics and Space Science, Session B, Olin 224

Chemistry and Physics, Section A, Chemistry, Olin A

Collegiate Academy, Biology Session A, Olin B

8:10

Earth Science, Olin 325 8:15

Chemistry and Physics, Section B, Physics, Planetarium

8:30

Biological and Medical Sciences, Session A, Olin 112

Biological and Medical Sciences, Session B, Smith Callen Conference Center

9:00

Anthropology, Olin 111

Collegiate Academy, Chemistry and Physics, Session A, Olin 324

Environmental Sciences, Olin 325

9:10

Aeronautics and …

Phytopharmaceuticals In Mongolia: Past, Present, And Future, Disan Gunbilig, Ulziinyam Rentsendorj

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Over the last two decades, the consumption of medicinal plants has increased in Mongolia. Once banned by the post-revolutionary government, it is now valued by the practitioners of orthodox medicine, government as well as by the society. Yet the scientific community has to give this major and crucial component of traditional Mongolian medicine the attention it deserves, scientific knowledge about biologically active principles within medicinal plants remain poorly unknown. At the same time, due to over exploitation of plants many species are becoming extinct together with invaluable traditional knowledge being lost. For these reasons, there is a certain urgency to …