Digital Commons Network^™

Supervision And Evaluation Of Probationary Teachers: Policies And Practices In Class Ii And Class Iii Nebraska School Districts, Robert W. Michl

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to identify policies and practices used to supervise and evaluate probationary teachers in Class II and Class III Nebraska school districts. A secondary purpose was to identify differences existing between policies and practices applicable to tenured and probationary teachers.

Two samples were studied. The sample of the survey instrument study was 48 randomly selected principals who supervised and evaluated certificated employees of Class II and Class III school districts in Nebraska during the Spring Semester, 2006.

The sample of the policy study was a set of 49 randomly selected Class II and Class III …

A Soft Landing, Steady Growth, And Accelerating Farm Income, John Austin, Chris Decker, Tom Doering, Ernie Goss, Nick Hernandez, Bruce Johnson, Ken Lemke, Franz Schwarz, Scott Strain, Eric Thompson, Keith Turner

Economics Faculty Publications

After years of accelerating growth, the U.S. economy achieved a soft landing in 2006. The rate of economic growth remained positive but slowed sufficiently to reduce inflation pressures and the need for further interest rate increases. At the same time the economy remained strong enough to continue the current expansion which has been in place since late 2001. Such a soft landing is vital because it should allow the economy to continue to expand for years to come, but with moderate inflation.

Pillars Of Growth In Nebraska's Non-Metropolitan Economy, Eric Thompson, Ernie Goss, Chris Decker, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Bruce Johnson, Ben Schmitz, Julian Neira, Pavel Jeutang

Economics Faculty Publications

Agriculture is a critical part of Nebraska’s economy, and changes in the fortunes of agriculture play an important role in the success of the state’s non-metropolitan regions. Trends toward consolidation and rising productivity in agriculture, however, have raised concerns about the future of non-metropolitan Nebraska. Some citizens and policymakers have begun to wonder if the economy can create sufficient job opportunities for non-metropolitan residents. The answer to this question depends not only upon the relative strength of the agricultural sector, but also upon the presence of other industries that can join agriculture as pillars for employment growth in non-metropolitan Nebraska. …

Annual Progress Report: Nebraska Reading First Two Year Implementation, Guy Trainin, Oren Yagil, Malinda M. Murphy

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This report outlines the results of a two year implementation of the Nebraska's Reading First initiative. Over three thousand six hundred students from Kindergarten to Third grade were included in the project. Results indicated significant growth across all demographic groups. Student performance in the earlier grades has shown great promise for later years. Growth in fluency and comprehension in grades 2 and 3 were not as impressive and require additional attention. The assessment results were triangulated by observations in the classrooms, interviews, and teacher responses to professional development- teachers know how to teach Phonemic Awareness and the alphabetic principle but …

Are Anti-Spit Tobacco Campaigns Striking Out? A Survey Of Iowa And Nebraska College Baseball Players, David C. Ogden, Teresa A. Lamsam, Hugh J. Reilly, Michael L. Hilt

Communication Faculty Publications

Anti-spit tobacco information is replete with fear appeals, including firsthand accounts of death and debilitation, to make users aware of the health risks and dangers. Those dangers, however, are well known by baseball players whose association with spit tobacco is historic. A survey of 217 Iowa and Nebraska college players showed that despite their awareness of spit tobacco's dangers, the players use spit tobacco to relax and focus on the field. This study supports other research showing that fear appeals may not be the most appropriate approach for anti-tobacco advertising campaigns. The study suggests that campaigns should promote relaxation and …

Credits To Our Profession - A Frank And Far-Reaching Interview With Judge Lyle E. Strom And Judge William J. Riley (Part Two Of Two), Tory L. Lucas

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Lyle E. Strom and William J. Riley have been mainstays of the Omaha legal community for decades. These legendary Omaha lawyers have enjoyed successful careers as trial lawyers in private practice, educated law students on trial practice, dedicated their time and talent to Nebraska’s legal community, motivated Boy Scouts to lead virtuous lives, mentored countless young attorneys, and served their nation as federal judges. Judge Strom currently serves as a senior judge on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska; Judge Riley currently serves as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the …

Credits To Our Profession - A Frank And Far-Reaching Interview With Judge Lyle E. Strom And Judge William J. Riley (Part One Of Two), Tory L. Lucas

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Lyle E. Strom and William J. Riley have been mainstays of the Omaha legal community for decades. These legendary Omaha lawyers have enjoyed successful careers as trial lawyers in private practice, educated law students on trial practice, dedicated their time and talent to Nebraska’s legal community, motivated Boy Scouts to lead virtuous lives, mentored countless young attorneys, and served their nation as federal judges. Judge Strom currently serves as a senior judge on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska; Judge Riley currently serves as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the …

Project Title: Sustainable Adaptations To Drought And Climate Variability In Agricultural Production Systems Across Nebraska, Cody L. Knutson, Michael J. Hayes, Robert K. Hitchcock, Jeffrey Peake, Martin Kleinschmit

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

Drought is a normal part of Nebraska’s climate. It is also the leading cause of monetary disaster loss in the United States. FEMA (1995) has estimated that U.S. drought losses average $6-8 billion dollars per year. A majority of these losses are incurred in the agricultural sector. Nebraska’s losses alone topped $1.2 billion in 2002 (AP 2003).

To enhance viable operations in this variable climate, many Nebraska farmers and ranchers have begun making the transition to agricultural practices that fall into the realm of sustainable agriculture. Sustainability has been increasingly stressed as essential for creating more resilient systems and reducing …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Block Scheduling In Nebraska High Schools, Steven P. Shanahan

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of block scheduling in seven key areas: staff development, curriculum, teaching methods, students class work, student achievement school climate, and satisfaction. The demographic factors considered included responsibility, years of teaching at this school, years in education, highest level of educational degree attained, type of student schedule used prior to block scheduling, the time at which block scheduling was implemented at this school, and size of the school.

Bats In A Human-Made Forest Of Central Nebraska, Keith Geluso

The Prairie Naturalist

Increases in wooded habitats have led to expansion in distributions of woodland mammals in the Great Plains. Herein, I report on the occurrence of bats in a human-made forest consisting of over 8,000 hectares in central Nebraska. The forest consisted of monocultures of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), and jack pine (Pinus banksiana). Individuals of the eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) and hoary bat (L. cinereus) were captured in coniferous plantations during summer, and females of both species bore and raised young in the area. …

The Earth All Around Us Selected Building Stone In Lincoln, Nebraska, William J. Wayne

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Avian Response To Meadow Restoration In The Central Great Plains, Rosalind B. Renfrew, Douglas H. Johnson, Gary R. Lingle, W. Douglas Robinson

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Native grassland is one of the most heavily degraded of all North American ecosystems, and restoration of altered grasslands is a tool used to mitigate some of the biological ramifications of past land use practices. Providing habitat for grassland-dependent bird species often is one of the many goals of restoration. We evaluated the efficacy of meadow restoration for breeding birds in the Nebraska Platte River Valley by comparing the bird community and vegetation structure on 25 natural (original sod) and 25 restored meadows. We conducted principal components analyses on the vegetation structure and on the bird community, and modeled the …

Prairie Suite: A Celebration, Twyla Hansen, Paul A. Johnsgard

Paul Johnsgard Collection

25 poems by Twyla Hansen, with illustrations by Paul A. Johnsgard, including:

Walk on the Prairie

There is mystery here, in the shapes of grass,
in the dim movements of an inland sea,
connections to an earlier time. Wander barefoot,
hypothesize the dance of millennia, the unbearable
carvings of the built environment, this ragtag escape.

Let its divine simplicity ooze into your pores.
Comb the steel from your hair, blanket your
tongue with orange. Your breathing will slow.
Breathing slow, unbutton the child within.
Give her permission to go fly a kite.

"A Serious Ethnological Exhibition": The Indian Congress Of The Trans-Mississippi And International Exposition Of 1898, J. Brent Etzel

Faculty Publications - Library

The thesis explores the development and presentation of the Indian Congress exhibit at the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha. Intended to provide fairgoers an opportunity to witness an ethnological representation of the life and customs of Native Americans, the exhibit ultimately took a different shape than its creators intended. Funding delays and mismanagement resulted in the Indian Congress taking on many of the traits of a Wild West show, and sham battle performances became a regular feature at the exhibit. Despite these changes, the Indian Congress continued to be promoted as a “serious ethnological exhibit,” and became the …

A Health Risk Evaluation For Pallid Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus Albus) In The Lower Platte River Using Shovelnose Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus Platorynchus) As A Surrogate, Matthew S. Schwarz, Christina D. Lydick, Donald E. Tillit, Diana M. Papoulias, Timothy S. Gross

United States Fish and Wildlife: Staff Publications

Most sturgeon species worldwide have been in steep decline since the 1900s. This research evaluated shovelnose sturgeon health, reproduction, and exposure to environmental contamination in the lower Platte River. Shovelnose sturgeon served as a surrogate species for the endangered pallid sturgeon and their health was assessed by incorporating measurements of general health with hepatic, immune, and reproductive system biomarkers. Environmental contaminants were measured in water, potential pallid sturgeon food items (cyprinid minnows), and shovelnose sturgeon digesta, liver, and blood plasma. Contaminants detected in shovelnose sturgeon at concentrations of concern included PCBs, selenium, and atrazine. Total PCBs in carcasses (n = …

Ec06-150 Range Judging Handbook And Contest Guide For Nebraska, James T. Nichols, Peter N. Jensen

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Extension Circular 07-150: contains the Range judging handbook and contest guide for Nebraska.

Ec06-132 Freeze Injury To Nebraska Wheat, Robert N. Klein, Drew J. Lyon

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Extension Circular 06-132: dicussesFreeze Injury to Nebraska Wheat.

Ec06-826 2006 Nebraska Farm Custom Rates - Part Ii, H. Douglas Jose, Sarah Malchow

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

EC06-826: 2006 Nebraska Farm Custom Rates-Part II

Microsatellite Genotyping To Distinguish Colonies And Intraspecies Genetic Variation In The Eastern Subterranean Termite, Reticulitermes Flavipes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), Timothy J. Husen, Shripat T. Kamble, Julie M. Stone

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Microsatellite markers and fingerprinting techniques have demonstrated great potential for assessing colony affiliation in Reticulitermes species. This study utilized microsatellite allele fingerprints and examined variation at eight micro satellite loci within five different R. flavipes collection sites in each of Lancaster and Madison counties in Nebraska. In the termite populations from Lancaster County, five of the eight microsatellite loci (Rf 1-3, Rf 3-1, Rf 5-1 0, Rf 6-1, and Rf 24-2) provided informative genotypic variability allowing colony distinction. DNA sequence data at locus Rf24-2 also provided conclusive evidence that populations sampled were distinct colonies. Five micro satellite loci (Rf 3-1, …

A Method For Mapping Corn Using The Us Geological Survey 1992 National Land Cover Dataset, S. K. Maxwell, J. R. Nuckols, M. H. Ward

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Long-term exposure to elevated nitrate levels in community drinking water supplies has been associated with an elevated risk of several cancers including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, colon cancer, and bladder cancer. To estimate human exposure to nitrate, specific crop type information is needed as fertilizer application rates vary widely by crop type. Corn requires the highest application of nitrogen fertilizer of crops grown in the Midwest US.We developed a method to refine the US Geological Survey National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) (including map and original Landsat images) to distinguish corn from other crops. Overall average agreement between the resulting corn and other …

Redeeming The Time: Protestant Missionaries And The Social And Cultural Development Of Territorial Nebraska, Robert J. Voss

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in May of 1854 formally opened a new region of the United States to settlers. Hundreds came with news of the creation of Nebraska Territory, but not in comparable numbers to the major western migrations that would follow after the Civil War. Instead, the initial small waves of Nebraska settlers would cling to the Missouri River and its settlements establishing communities on the eastern edges in the newly opened territory. These first settlers set the foundations for culture and society in Nebraska.

From 1854 until 1860, pioneers claimed lands near the Missouri, with few …

The Earth All Around Us: Selected Building Stone In Lincoln, Nebraska. A Walking Tour, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Stone has been a primary building material for millennia. Cities, therefore, are treasure troves of earth materials. A wide variety of stones from many places are used for walls, as foundations to support entire buildings, as trim, and more recently as cladding (facing, an overlay). The Earth science teacher can find, in the limited space of an urban environment, a superb collection of stones with which to introduce students to these materials. The surfaces of stones on the outsides of buildings illustrate the durability and the vulnerability of each kind of stone to the local climate. And the history of …