Digital Commons Network^™

Ensemble Forecast Spread Induced By Soil Moisture Changes Over Mid-South And Neighbouring Midwestern Region Of The Usa, Arturo I. Quintanar, Rezaul Mahmood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This study investigated the potential impact of soil moisture perturbations on the statistical spread of an ensemble forecast for three different synoptic events during the summer of 2006. Soil moisture was perturbed from a control simulation to generate a 12 member ensemble with six drier and six moister soils. The impacts on the near-surface atmospheric conditions and on precipitation were analysed. It was found, as previous studies have confirmed, that soil moisture can change the spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation and of the overlying circulation. It was found that regardless of the conditions in synoptic forcing, temperature, relative humidity …

A New Species-Group In Aphthona Chevrolat (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) With A Description Of A New Species From Southern India, Kaniyarikkal Divakaran Prathapan, Alexander S. Konstantinov

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

A new species-group in the flea beetle genus Aphthona Chevrolat is defined and Aphthona yercaudensis Prathapan and Konstantinov, new species, from southern India is described. A key to Aphthona species-groups in the Oriental Region is provided. Herbaceous species of Phyllanthus L. (Euphorbiaceae) are recorded as the host plants of Aphthona bombayensis Scherer.

Rational Design Of Pathogen-Mimicking Amphiphilic Materials As Nanoadjuvants, Bret D. Ulery, Latrisha K. Petersen, Yashdeep Phanse, Chang Sun Kong, Scott R. Broderick, Devender Kumar, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait, Brenda Carrillo-Conde, Krishna Rajan, Michael J. Wannemeuhler, Bryan H. Bellaire, Dennis W. Metzger, Balaji Narasimhan

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

An opportunity exists today for cross-cutting research utilizing advances in materials science, immunology, microbial pathogenesis, and computational analysis to effectively design the next generation of adjuvants and vaccines. This study integrates these advances into a bottom-up approach for the molecular design of nanoadjuvants capable of mimicking the immune response induced by a natural infection but without the toxic side effects. Biodegradable amphiphilic polyanhydrides possess the unique ability to mimic pathogens and pathogen associated molecular patterns with respect to persisting within and activating immune cells, respectively. The molecular properties responsible for the pathogen-mimicking abilities of these materials have been identified. The …

Vespidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) Of Puerto Rico, West Indies, James M. Carpenter, Julio A. Genaro

Insecta Mundi

The vespid fauna of Greater Puerto Rico is reviewed (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Three new species are described, Ancistrocerus isla Carpenter, Euodynerus jeitita Carpenter and Genaro, and Omicron aridum Carpenter and Genaro. Polistes crinitus americanus (Fabricius, 1775) and P. crinitus multicolor (Olivier, 1792) are both reduced to synonyms of nominotypical P. crinitus (Felton, 1765), revised status; Zeta abdominale hispaniolae (Bequaert and Salt, 1931) and Zeta abdominale ornatum (de Saussure, 1855) are both reduced to synonyms of nominotypical Zeta abdominale (Drury, 1770), revised status; and Zethus rufinodus monensis Bohart and Stange, 1965, and Zethus rufinodus virginicus Bohart and Stange, 1965, are both reduced …

Systematic Revision Of The American Taxa Belonging To The Genera Alloblackburneus Bordat, 2009, And Blackburneus Schmidt, 1913, With Description Of Seven New Species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae), Marco Dellacasa, Giovanni Dellacasa, Robert D. Gordon

Insecta Mundi

The American species belonging to the genera Alloblackburneus Bordat and Blackburneus Schmidt (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae) are redescribed and figured. Seven new species are described: Alloblackburneus guadalajarae, A. ibanezbernali; Blackburneus amazonicus, B. sanfilippoi, B. surinamensis, B. teposcolulaensis, B. thomasi. The neotype of Scarabaeus rubeolus Palisot de Beauvois, 1809 is designated. The lectotype of Blackburneus argentinensis (Schmidt, 1909) and of Blackburneus laxepunctatus (Schmidt, 1910) are designated. The following new combinations are proposed: Alloblackburneus aegrotus (Horn, 1870); Alloblackburneus cavidomus (Brown, 1927); Alloblackburneus cynomysi (Brown, 1927); Alloblackburneus fordi (Gordon, 1974); Alloblackburneus geomysi (Cartwright, 1939); Alloblackburneus lentus (Horn, 1870); Alloblackburneus rubeolus (Palisot de Beauvois, …

The First Vouchered Milliped Records For Prince Edward Island And Additional New Records From The Maritime Provinces Of Canada (Arthropoda: Diplopoda), Rowland M. Shelley, Mary E. Smith

Insecta Mundi

Four milliped species, substantiated by preserved voucher samples, are reported from Prince Edward Island, Canada. All are introduced European species that now occur widely in both Canada and the United States, and the panglobal Asian paradoxosomatid, Oxidus gracilis (C. L. Koch, 1847), is listed as probable. Choneiulus palmatus (Némec, 1895) (Julida: Blaniulidae) is newly recorded from New Brunswick, and four representatives of the Julidae are cited from Nova Scotia. Discovery of Cylindroiulus punctatus (Leach, 1815) (Julidae) in this province constitutes the second record from both Canada and North America, the other being in Newfoundland.

Distinct Peripheral Blood Rna Responses To Salmonella In Pigs Differing In Salmonella Shedding Levels: Intersection Of Ifng, Tlr And Mirna Pathways, Ting-Hua Huang, Jolita J. Uthe, Shawn M. D. Bearson, Cumhur Yusuf Demirkale, Dan Nettleton, Susan Knetter, Curtis Christian, Amanda Ramer-Tait, Michael J. Wannemuehler, Christopher K. Tuggle

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Transcriptomic analysis of the response to bacterial pathogens has been reported for several species, yet few studies have investigated the transcriptional differences in whole blood in subjects that differ in their disease response phenotypes. Salmonella species infect many vertebrate species, and pigs colonized with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (ST) are usually asymptomatic, making detection of these Salmonella-carrier pigs difficult. The variable fecal shedding of Salmonella is an important cause of foodborne illness and zoonotic disease. To investigate gene pathways and biomarkers associated with the variance in Salmonella shedding following experimental inoculation, we initiated the first analysis of the whole …

Detection Of Heterogeneous Drug-Protein Binding By Frontal Analysis And High-Performance Affinity Chromatography, Zenghan Tong, K.S. Joseph, David S. Hage

David Hage Publications

This study examined the use of frontal analysis and high-performance affinity chromatography for detecting heterogeneous binding in biomolecular interactions, using the binding of acetohexamide with human serum albumin (HSA) as a model. It was found through the use of this model system and chromatographic theory that double-reciprocal plots could be used more easily than traditional isotherms for the initial detection of binding site heterogeneity. The deviations from linearity that were seen in double-reciprocal plots as a result of heterogeneity were a function of the analyte concentration, the relative affinities of the binding sites in the system and the amount of …

Agronomy & Horticulture Newsletter, December 9, 2011, Kathy Schindler

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture Department: Monthly Newsletters

Mark the Date!..............1

Schacht Wins Crowe Advising Award............1

Administrative Team Provides Holiday Goodies............1

Staff Appreciation Luncheon is Dec. 19............1

Students Win Business Plan Competition............2

Moser Family Welcomes New Baby............2

Shafer Retirement Reception Being Planned............2

2012 Teaching andLearning Workshop Set............2

Interviews Set for Department Positions............3

Sympathy Extended to Arkebauer Family............3

Funding News............3

Heuermann Series offers Food for Thought............3

A Word fromYour Office Professionals............3

Generic Strategies To Implement Material Grading In Finite Element Methods For Isotropic And Anisotropic Materials, Ke Yu

Department of Engineering Mechanics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

We look at generic strategies to transfer material grading into finite element methods. Three strategies are proposed to transfer material grading into the finite element analysis. These strategies are node-centered, element-centered, and the definition of material grading through external functions. The process to achieve each strategy is stated, and examples are used to illustrate each strategy, and to compare them. The strategies are implemented in finite-deformation nonlinear elastic analysis.

Several examples are used to illustrate the implementation of each strategy for graded isotropic materials. For these examples, the results obtained from finite element models are compared with those obtained from …

Affinity Chromatography In Environmental Analysis And Drug-Protein Interaction Studies, Efthimia Papastavros

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation will examine the use of novel affinity sorbents to extract emerging contaminants from water. These contaminants include carbamazepine, an anti-epileptic drug which is resistant to natural degradation in the environmental and to drinking water treatment procedures. This drug has been found in fish, drinking water, estuarine and coastal waters, and river sediment and has been used as a general marker of contaminants in wastewater. Carbamazepine was one of the most commonly detected compounds in surface-water and groundwater samples in a recent reconnaissance study of untreated drinking water sources in the U.S. Besides using this drug as a representative …

Expertos Analizan Impacto Del Cambio Climático En Granos Básicos Y Sorgos Forrajeros En El Salvador, Kimberly Christiansen

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

En el evento participan profesionales de El Salvador, así como de las universidades de Kansas State y Purdue, de Estados Unidos.

Exponer y analizar los principales efectos derivados del cambio climático en los cultivos de El Salvador, así como el impacto que ha tenido la adopción de variedades forrajeras de sorgo en el país, son los objetivos principales de los foros realizados este miércoles por el Centro Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria y Forestal “Enrique Álvarez Córdova” (CENTA) con apoyo del Instituto Internacional de Sorgo, Mijo y otros granos (INTSORMIL).

Rentabilidad De La Introduccion De Nuevos Cultivares De Sorgo En La Industria Lactea De El Salvador: Estudio De Impacto Economico, Alexis H. Villacís, John H. Sanders

INTSORMIL Presentations

La introducción de nuevas tecnologías:

Propulsor del desarrollo agrícola.

Sorgos sensitivos:

Reserva o póliza de seguro

Introducidos recientemente desde los años 70 para la siembra en los valles en la segunda temporada.

Últimos 30 años introducción acelerada: Alimentación de aves y en el sector del ganado lechero.

Inversiones de CENTA y MAG.

Aumento de ingresos:

Mayor demanda de alimentos de alta calidad (carne, leche, queso, frutas y verduras).

Investigación agrícola dirigida por René Clara del CENTA: Desarrollo de nuevos cultivares.

Investigación agrícola y extensionismo es costoso:

Rentabilidad de las inversiones públicas?

Quiénes fueron los beneficiarios?

Returns To The Introduction Of New Sorghum Cultivars Into The Dairy Industry Of El Salvador, Alexis H. Villacís, John H. Sanders

INTSORMIL Presentations

The driver of agricultural development is the introduction of new technology. Sensitive sorghums have long been a critical component of hillside Central American agriculture providing a reserve or insurance policy when the principal staple of maize falters. The insensitive sorghums have been more recently introduced since the ‘70s for planting in the valleys in the second season. In the last thirty years the introduction of new insensitive cultivars has accelerated initially for poultry and in the previous two decades for dairy production. This growth has been facilitated by strategic investments in research by CENTA and the Ministry of Agriculture.

As …

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer And A Four-Year-Old: Lessons For Leadership & Life, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Faculty and Staff Publications

Last week while I was in the shower, my four-year-old daughter, Raquel, walked into the bathroom and asked me an interesting question. “Mom, why doesn’t anyone like Rudolph’s shiny red nose?” My daughter was supposed to be in bed sleeping. I am 99% sure she was lying in bed reflecting on her day.

Many nights I have quietly checked on her before going to bed myself only to find her talking to herself while she makes vivid hand gestures and motions. On this particular evening, her talk and gestures must have focused on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. After thinking about …

Analyzing Ecohydrology Of Subirrigated Meadow, Dry Valley And Upland Dune Ecosystems Using Remote Sensing And In-Situ Estimations In The Semiarid Sand Hills Region Of Nebraska, Usa, Nathan C. Healey

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

Nebraska’s dependence upon the High Plains (Ogallala) Aquifer for agricultural production is vital to the state’s economy, ecology and hydrology. The Sand Hills region (58,000 km²) of Nebraska is a unique system of lakes, (~5%) wetlands, (~10%) subirrigated meadows, (~20%) dry valleys and (~65%) upland sand dune ecosystems. Understanding how each of these land cover types reacts to climate conditions of different water limitations is vital to regional water resource management. This research explores the ecohydrological behavior of different land cover types at the Gudmundsen Sand Hills Research Laboratory (GSRL) near Whitman, Nebraska in the heart of the …

Development Of Self-Stressing System For Bridge Application With Emphasis On Precast Panel Deck System, Marcelo Ferreira Da Silva

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Steel girder bridges often utilize continuity over the pier to reduce interior forces on the spans. In continuous structures with composite concrete decks, the location of maximum negative bending moment is over the interior supports. This moment produces tensile stresses in the concrete deck and compressive stress in the bottom flanges of the girders. The tensile stress in the deck leads to cracking which allow intrusion of moisture and road salt, causing corrosion of the reinforcement and supporting girders. Continued maintenance is required to forestall the deterioration; however, replacement of the deck is eventually required.

To overcome this problem, a …

Disparate Degrees Of Hypervariable Loop Flexibility Control T Cell Receptor Cross-Reactivity, Specificity, And Binding Mechanism, Daniel R. Scott, Oleg Y. Borbulevych, Kurt H. Piepenbrink, Steven A. Corcelli, Brian M. Baker

Food for Health: Publications

αβ T cell receptors recognize multiple antigenic peptides bound and presented by major histocompatibility complex molecules. TCR cross-reactivity has been attributed in part to flexibility of the complementarity-determining region loops, yet there have been limited direct studies of loop dynamics to determine the extent of its role. Here we studied the flexibility of the binding loops of the αβ TCR A6 utilizing crystallographic, spectroscopic, and computational methods. A significant role for flexibility in binding and cross-reactivity was indicated only for the CDR3α and CDR3β hypervariable loops. Examination of the energy landscapes of these two loops indicated that CDR3β possesses a …

Determining A Community Retrofit Strategy For The Aging Housing Stock Using Utility And Assessor Data, Nathan A. Barry

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Residential buildings account for about 21.5% of the nation’s primary energy consumption and carbon emissions, and about 38% of electricity use. The housing stock in the United States consists of over 128 million residences with over 60% being constructed prior to 1979 when building codes and regulations began standardizing building practices. Seeking an opportunity to understand and reduce consumption, the scientific community developed a number of model-driven auditing software. While these computer models have been successful in predicting usage patterns in newer residential structures, they have been inaccurate in predicting and analyzing energy use in aging housing stock, predominantly homes …

Management Zone Delineation Techniques On Irrigated Corn In Nebraska, Aaron M. Bereuter

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

Increased interest in site-specific management of irrigated corn in Nebraska has identified the need for a decision-making framework for zone delineation. Zones based on static soil and landscape properties provide a valuable foundation for variable rate management strategies. The purpose of this project was to identify the optimal soil and landscape attributes for generating management zones (MZ) of relative productivity potential. Three producer-managed cornfields across Nebraska with varying soil types, topographic characteristics, and climate regimes were identified as research sites during the 2010 growing season. Nine soil and landscape attributes were identified as potential properties for estimation of productivity potential. …

Water Borne Diseases: A Cry Of A Trapped Community, Passmore Mudundulu

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

The purpose of this study was to understand the problem of attaining safe and clean water that has contributed to high incidence of water borne diseases and to investigate its effects on the residents of Chawama Township, Lusaka, Zambia. A survey was used to collect data from 400 male and female participants to determine their source, treatment and storage of water; sanitary facilities; attitude, experience and knowledge of waterborne diseases. Findings indicated that, the most common source of water was communal city taps and residents did not boil or add chlorine to make it safe for use, making it susceptible …

Ann Based Load Identification And Forecasting System For The Built Environment, Hosen Hasna

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Thesis, and Student Research

"Phantom Loads" cause energy waste in homes and the built environment as a whole. Consumers spend more than $3 billion a year on "Phantom Load" in the United States alone. The goal of this work is to conserve energy by increasing consumer awareness on their energy usage and appropriate tools which in turn will be reducing and /or eliminating phantom loads and mismanagement of the load in the built environment. A further goal is to improve upon existing power distribution systems in the built environment with limited hardware additions to increase energy conservation. This work investigates remote identification of load …

An Rf Cmos Implementation Of An Adaptive Filter For Narrow-Band Interferer Suppression In Uwb Systems, Markus Both

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology is a new type of technology for wireless communication that is based on the transmission of low power sub-nanosecond pulses. UWB communication utilizes a large bandwidth that overlaps and is coexistent with other wireless communication standards that can be also considered as narrow-band interferers. Because UWB systems are highly susceptible to narrow-band interferers, there is a demand for interferer suppression. An adaptive filter consisting of a two-element diversity receiver that performs minimum mean square error combining (MMSE) by the LMS algorithm is proposed. Thereby the elements of the LMS algorithm as well as the receiver LNA were …

A Study Of Correlations Between The Definition And Application Of The Gene Ontology, Yuji Mo

Computer and Electronics Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

When using the Gene Ontology (GO), nucleotide and amino acid sequences are annotated by terms in a structured and controlled vocabulary organized into relational graphs. The usage of the vocabulary (GO terms) in the annotation of these sequences may diverge from the relations defined in the ontology. We measure the consistency of the use of GO terms by comparing GO's defined structure to the terms' application. To do this, we first use synthetic data with different characteristics to understand how these characteristics influence the correlation values determined by various similarity measures. Using these results as a baseline, we found that …

Development And Optimization Of Organic Based Monoliths For Use In Affinity Chromatography, Erika L. Pfaunmiller

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Affinity chromatography is an important and useful tool for studying biological interactions, such as the binding of an antibody with an antigen. Monolithic supports offer many advantages over traditional packed bed supports in affinity chromatography, including their ease of preparation, low back pressures and good mass transfer properties. Monoliths can be broken down into two basic categories: organic (polymer) and inorganic (silica) monoliths. There are many varieties of polymer based monoliths; however, a large focus has been on co-polymers of glycidyl methacrylate (a functional monomer) and ethylene dimethacrylate (a cross-linking agent). The solvents of choice for making this type of …

Virtual Microstructure Generation Of Asphaltic Mixtures, Mohammad Haft-Javaherian

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis describes the development and application of a virtual microstructure generator incorporated with post-processing image analysis methods that can be used to fabricate a virtual, two-dimensional microstructure of asphaltic mixtures. In the generator, geometrical characteristics such as aggregate gradation, aggregate area fraction, angularity, orientation, and elongation were used to transform data from a three-dimensional (3D) mixture into its two-dimensional (2D) microstructure. The 2D virtual microstructures were generated from real 3D mixture information of asphaltic composites. Resulting virtual microstructures were then compared to real cross-sectional microstructure images obtained from actual samples for validation. Comparison presented a good agreement between the …

Highly Efficient Maximum Power Point Tracking Using A Quasi-Double-Boost Dc/Dc Converter For Photovoltaic Systems, Christopher J. Lohmeier

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are a great source of renewable energy generation. The biggest problem with solar systems is relatively low efficiency and high cost. This work hopes to alleviate this problem by using novel power electronic converter and control designs. An electronic DC/DC converter, called “Quasi-Double-Boost DC/DC Converter,” is designed for a Solar PV system. A Maximum Power Point Tracking (MTTP) algorithm is implemented through this converter. This algorithm allows the PV system to work at its highest efficiency. Different current sensing and sensorless technologies used with the converter for the MPPT algorithm are offered and tested. Design aspects …

A Matter Of Seconds: An Interpretive Study On Media Reporting Of Life-Threatened Children, James M. Kavanaugh

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Based on the premise that journalists and media systems have an ethical responsibility to report on the issue of child mortality, this interpretive study examines the question of how they can do so effectively, with the possibility of inspiring generous action among their audiences. The study compares results from human science research on charitable giving to distant victims, with a set of interviews involving a diverse group of media specialists. In conclusion, while the media staff of nonprofit organizations, compared to journalists, tend to be more aware of social research related to charitable giving, as well as more comfortable with …

Effect Of Extracellular Matrix (Ecm) Protein Micropatterns On The Behavior Of Human Neuroblastoma Cells, Ishwari Poudel

Department of Engineering Mechanics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recent advances in patterning techniques and emerging surface microtechnologies have allowed cell micropatterning to control spatial location of the cells on a surface as well as cell shape, attachment area, and number of contacting neighbor cells. These parameters play important roles in cell cellular behaviors. Cell micropatterning has thus become one of the most important strategies for biomedical applications, such as, tissue engineering, diagnostic immunoassays, lab-on-chip devices, bio-sensing, etc., and cell biology studies as well. For neuronal cells, there have been attempts to distribute neuronal cells on specific patterns to control cell-to-cell interaction. However, there have been very limited understanding …

The Political Effect Of The Ku Klux Klan In North Dakota, Trevor M. Magel

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The 1920s was a transitional decade in the political history of the United States. Progressivism did not have the influence it had had in the first couple of decades of the 20th Century but its ideas were still part of the debate. But many other elements became more prominent such as: Americanism, Urbanization, and Nativism. North Dakota is a good case study of these trends and how the Klan tried to use these trends to gain power. The Nonpartisan League, Independent Voters' Association, and Ku Klux Klan conflict in North Dakota reflected broader political conflicts happening within the country over …