Architecture Commons^™

Water Wise Landscape Practices: A Case Study For The City Of Gering, Christina E. Land

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

This professional project is founded on my education, experiences, and networks. I have had the opportunity to use what I have learned thus far and be challenged to look at public planning from a different perspective. In partnership with the City of Gering I was able to get knee deep in the facility planning of the city owned property which is home to the Community Ever Green House. The project reviews how the property is integrated into the community and the impact it has. Then, identifies opportunities to improve overall functionality with a closer look at addressing hazard mitigation using …

Evaluating Biophilic Design Characteristics In Lincoln Public Schools, Sarah Burr

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A mixed qualitative-quantitative study was conducted in Lincoln, Nebraska to observe and evaluate the biophilic design characteristics in Lincoln Public Schools (LPS). There is a significant lack of nature in urban environments, especially in older buildings and schools, therefore incorporating natural elements in school buildings can promote the success of students and contribute to improved well-being. The research question this study aims to address is: How and to what degree are Lincoln Public Schools integrating biophilic design characteristics in their high school buildings? Four high schools were toured utilizing an evaluation form with 10 biophilic design characteristics and a 5-point …

The Design Of An Agricultural Youth-Centered Rural Development Program In Rwanda, Laetitia Igiraneza Sinyigenga

Honors Theses

Rwanda is primarily a rural, young, and agriculture-based country. The referred variables- agriculture, rural population, and youth- can be creatively merged to engage and empower youth for rural development. This paper indicates the utilization of cross-disciplinary knowledge to design an agricultural youth-centered rural development program in Rwanda. The program uses the interdependence of economic sectors (agriculture and education) with resources (environmental & natural resources and human resources) to boost rural community development. The program’s main activities- mentorship, agribusiness training, tutoring, exposure visits, and community work- highly reflect the requirement for advancing the selected main economic sectors and resources. There is …

Regenerating Agroecosystems By Overcoming Human Exceptionalism In Designing For Increased Equity Of Benefits From Ecoservices, Ali Loker, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Our commentary explores three critical issues related to ecosystem services. First is how ecoservices are currently designed and implemented primarily for human benefit without concern for how these impact other species. We conclude that awareness of this imbalance is the first step toward meaningful change. Second we observe that human exceptionalism guides most decisions, and ask whether we can overcome this mind-set to embrace ecoregeneration and design of resilient and mutually beneficial agroecosystems. Our attitude toward the challenge and moving toward greater humility about human roles that guide management decisions in the ecosystem is a requisite for change. Third we …

Modernization Of Scienttific Mathematics Formula In Technology, Iwasan D. Kejawa Ed.D, Prof. Iwasan D. Kejawa Ed.D

Department of Mathematics: Faculty Publications

Abstract
Is it true that we solve problem using techniques in form of formula? Mathematical formulas can be derived through thinking of a problem or situation. Research has shown that we can create formulas by applying theoretical, technical, and applied knowledge. The knowledge derives from brainstorming and actual experience can be represented by formulas. It is intended that this research article is geared by an audience of average knowledge level of solving mathematics and scientific intricacies. This work details an introductory level of simple, at times complex problems in a mathematical epidermis and computability and solvability in a Computer Science. …

Using The Electromagnetic Induction Survey Method To Examine The Depth To Clay Soil Layer (Bt Horizon) In Playa Wetlands, Yuan Xue, Zhenghong Tang, Qiao Hu, Jeff Drahota

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Purpose Sediment accumulation has been and continues to be a significant threat to the integrity of the playa wetland ecosystem. The purpose of this study was to determine the vertical depth to the clay soil layer (Bt horizon) and thus to calculate the thickness of sediments accumulated in playa wetlands.

Materials and methods This study used the electromagnetic induction (EMI) survey method, specifically EM38-MK2 equipment, to measure the vertical depth to the clay soil layer at the publicly managed wetlands in the Rainwater Basin, Nebraska, USA.

Results and discussion The results indicated that the depth to the clay soil layer …

The Impact Of Pev User Charging Behavior In Building Public Charging Infrastructure, Ahmad Almaghrebi

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

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) play a significant role in the development of green cities since they generate less pollution than conventional vehicles. To promote PEV adoption and mitigate range anxiety, charging infrastructure should be deployed at strategic locations that are readily accessible to the public. Nebraska is working on the expansion of charging infrastructure around the state; however, stakeholders face several difficulties in trying to minimize irregular charging behaviors. Most electric vehicle users plug in and leave their vehicles for an extended time at public parking lots designated for PEVs. Some users even leave their vehicles for longer than 24 …

Long-Term Changes Of Open-Surface Water Bodies In The Yangtze River Basin Based On The Google Earth Engine Cloud Platform, Yue Deng, Wei-Guo Jiang, Zhenghong Tang, Ziyan Ling, Zhifeng Wu

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

The spatiotemporal changes of open-surface water bodies in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) have profound influences on sustainable economic development, and are also closely relevant to water scarcity in China. However, long-term changes of open-surface water bodies in the YRB have remained poorly characterized. Taking advantage of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform, this study processed 75,593 scenes of Landsat images to investigate the long-term changes of open-surface water bodies in the YRB from 1984 to 2018. In this study, we adopted the percentile-based image composite method to collect training samples and proposed a multiple index water detection rule …

The Future Is Now Science Club, Shane Stan

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

The Future is Now! What will our planet look like in 10, 20, 50, or even 100 years? Where will we live, what will we eat, how will we travel? Believe it or not, in the coming decades, many ideas that were once science fiction will come through to realization. With this, many of the discoveries and technologies making all of this happen are being developed right now as we go about our daily lives.

In this club, appropriately titled, The Future Is Now Science Club, students will be inspired to think larger about the present world they live in. …

Wetland Conservation Effects Result In Enhanced Playa Functionality In The Rainwater Basin, Nebraska, Hong Zhang

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

This study assessed the functionality level of wetland hydrology, hydrophyte and soil conditions, and then identified the restorable potential of conserved playas. The distribution of hydrology and hydrophyte were geospatially examined through annual tracking the quantity and quality of wetlands on historical hydric soil footprints under different conservation programs in the Rainwater Basin (RWB) in Nebraska, USA during 2004-2015. The results show that the historical hydric soil footprints with the conservation programs had significantly higher functionality of ponded water and hydrophyte than non-conserved wetlands. The yearly average of ponded water areas within footprints varies at 12.59% for the Waterfowl Production …

Geological Principles Illustrated In The Art Along The Antelope Valley Hiker/Biker Trail – The Big X (Salt Creek Roadway/Antelope Valley Parkway) South To Q Street, Robert Diffendal, Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

When the weather is good (and even sometimes when it isn’t) I occasionally walk around the periphery of the UNL city campus, often over the lunch hour, now that the trails and the sidewalks allow one to walk a complete circuit. The walk along Antelope Creek from the Big X to Q Street is beautiful. The designers of the project made nice art works on the floor of the creek and on the retaining walls on the valley sides that add to the beauty of nature.

I am a geologist and wondered about some of the art and its meaning …

Funding Strategies For Non-Traditional University Ms4 Stormwater Programs, Elizabeth M. Garrett

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

Stormwater programs have historically been stymied by lack of proper funding resources. Unlike drinking water and sanitary sewer utility services that long ago transitioned to enterprise funds, a stormwater utility continues to evade stable and direct revenue sources throughout much of the United States. Inefficiently funded stormwater programs utilizing general funding practices leaves stormwater management programs unable to properly plan for long-term improvement, management, regulatory compliance, and maintenance. Funding research has established that forms of direct funding sources are crucial for successful stormwater programs, however, focus has been directed to strategies for municipalities. This paper will attempt to analyze, through …

An Extendable Visualization And User Interface Design For Time-Varying Multivariate Geoscience Data, Yanfu Zhou

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

Geoscience data has unique and complex data structures, and its visualization has been challenging due to a lack of effective data models and visual representations to tackle the heterogeneity of geoscience data. In today’s big data era, the needs of visualizing geoscience data become urgent, especially driven by its potential value to human societies, such as environmental disaster prediction, urban growth simulation, and so on. In this thesis, I created a novel geoscience data visualization framework and applied interface automata theory to geoscience data visualization tasks. The framework can support heterogeneous geoscience data and facilitate data operations. The interface automata …

A Multi-Scale Spatiotemporal Modeling Approach To Explore Vegetation Dynamics Patterns Under Global Climate Change, Bingwen Qiu, Zhuangzhuang Wang, Zhenghong Tang, Zhe Liu, Difei Lu, Chongcheng Chen, Nan Chen

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Given the complexity of vegetation dynamic patterns under global climate change, multi-scale spatiotemporal explicit models are necessary in order to account for environmental heterogeneity. However, there is no efficient time-series tool to extract, reconstruct and analyze the multi-scale vegetation dynamic patterns under global climate change. To fill this gap, a Multi-Scale Spatio-Temporal Modeling (MSSTM) framework which can incorporate the pixel, scale, and time-specific heterogeneity was proposed. The MSSTM method was defined on proper time-series models for multitemporal components through wavelet transforms. The proposed MSSTM approach was applied to a subtropical mountainous and hilly agro-forestry ecosystem in southeast China using the …

Automated Cropping Intensity Extraction From Isolines Of Wavelet Spectra, Bingwen Qiu, Zhuangzhuang Wang, Zhenghong Tang, Chongcheng Chen, Zhanling Fan, Weijiao Li

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Timely and accurate monitoring of cropping intensity (CI) is essential to help us understand changes in food production. This paper aims to develop an automatic Cropping Intensity extraction method based on the Isolines of Wavelet Spectra (CIIWS) with consideration of intra- class variability. The CIIWS method involves the following procedures: (1) characterizing vegetation dynamics from time–frequency dimensions through a continuous wavelet transform performed on vegetation index temporal profiles; (2) deriving three main features, the skeleton width, maximum number of strong brightness centers and the intersection of their scale intervals, through computing a series of wavelet isolines from the wavelet spectra; …

Wetland Inundation Mapping And Wetland Restoration Planning: A Case Study Of Playa Wetlands, Nebraska, Yue Gu

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

There has been a variety of wetland monitoring projects implemented in playa wetlands in Nebraska over the last decades. But there is still a lack of continuous wetland monitoring on long-term and large-area dimension. Because inundation condition is one of the critical parameters to describe wetland hydrologic performance, this study aims to assess the inundation alteration in playa wetlands in Nebraska and evaluate the performance of wetland conservation and restoration practices. This study uses the Landsat data to create playa wetland inundation condition maps and analyze the variation trend of inundated playa wetlands over the past 30 years. The results …

Green Roof Energy Balances For Native Grasses And Sedum, Chris Schwarz

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

Green roofs offer a possible solution to reduce urban heat island effects caused by urbanization. Conventional green roofs use sedum for plant cover but growing evidence suggests native species offer better results for harsher environments. However, more information is needed to understand the potential of native species for green roof use in terms of survivability and cooling potential. This study was conducted from July 2013 through October 2013 to quantify the energy balance components for native grasses and sedum on a Midwestern green roof. The semi-intensive green roof located on the Larson Building parking garage in Lincoln, NE was used …

Non-Structural Program To Limit E. Coli Within Antelope Creek Lincoln, Nebraska, Jeffrey Polkowski

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Beginning in 2008, The City of Lincoln, Nebraska set forth efforts to reduce pollutant loads within Antelope Creek below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) criteria with the goal of eventually having segments of the stream removed from the Clean Water Act 303(d) list of impaired waters. Early efforts focus on channel improvements made as part of the Antelope Valley Project to increase the flood carrying capacity of the Creek. However, additional funding is being provided through an intergovernmental agreement between the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and the City of Lincoln (Grant Number: 56-1283) to allow the City of Lincoln’s …

An Interpretive Plan Guide For Wilderness Park In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel J. Ward

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Wilderness Park, located in Lancaster County, Nebraska, is a public park of unique ecological and historical value to the city of Lincoln and to the surrounding region. The natural and historical features of the park present an opportunity to communicate environmental and historical topics that are relevant on local, national, and global levels, as well as inspire a lively sense of pride in the community. The problem is that many topics relevant to Wilderness Park are not currently being interpreted at the park, and that there are relatively few interpretive resources available to park visitors.

The purpose of this project …

Quantifying And Modeling Stream-Aquifer Interactions In The Elkhorn River Basin, Nebraska, Can Liu

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

This study combined statistical analyses, field investigations and numerical groundwater flow modeling to quantify the connectivity between the Elkhorn River and its adjacent aquifers in Nebraska. The Mann-Kendall trend tests were conducted to detect increasing or decreasing tendencies on the time series data of streamflow, which were collected from eighteen gauging stations in the Elkhorn River and its tributaries. Decreasing trends were not found in the annual streamflow data.

Field investigation of streambed hydraulic properties was performed in the Elkhorn River near Winslow and Norfolk. Vertical hydraulic conductivities (K_v) of the shallow streambed sediments were obtained by …

Drought Planning Research In The United States: An Overview And Outlook, Xinyu Fu, Zhenghong Tang, Jianjun Wu, Kevin Mcmillan

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Drought is widely known as an insidious hazard due to its complex and unique characteristics. Drought disasters have brought tremendous economic losses and significant social and environmental impacts to communities across the globe. To further understand the hazard drought poses and provide insights into planning for drought preparedness, this article conducts a thorough literature review of drought hazard and drought planning frameworks within the United States. Two main approaches and three major forms of drought planning are discussed and summarized. Based on this review, a preliminary overview of drought planning status in the United States is presented. This study provides …

A Health Impact Assessment Of Mixed Use Redevelopment Nodes And Corridors In Lincoln, Nebraska, Katie Clear

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Obesity is a growing threat to America’s health. The national rate of obesity is 34% (Health Consequences, 2011), and Lincoln, Nebraska is not far behind that trend at 20.7% (BRFSS, 2011). Increasing physical activity is one way to reduce weight gain, (Edwards, 2008) and further studies show that small changes to the built environment can induce people to use alternative and more active forms of transportation such as biking, walking, and public transportation (Edwards, 2008; Zheng, 2008). The 2040 Comprehensive Plan for Lincoln, NE includes language to create a more walkable community. The proposal is to redevelop existing areas within …

The Urban Fabric Of The Great Plains, Andrew Becker

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

To most Americans the Great Plains region of North America is mysterious place. There are disagreements when defining its limits, and some people just refer to it as the Midwest. The Great Plains has been a place under an ocean, a place under glaciers, and a place on fire. It was once dubbed “the Great American Desert,” but is now known for its agricultural viability. The Great Plains sparks imagination because it is so massive and was one of the final frontiers for Euro-American settlement. The Great Plains is seen as a rural place but the majority of the region’s …

Factors The Cause Growth And Development In The City Of Lincoln, Ne, Kaylene Tegtmeier

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

This qualitative study looks at what factors may contribute to the outward growth and development of the city of Lincoln, Nebraska. The two main factors the study discusses are the Lincoln Public School planners and their placement of schools in the city, and the “American dream” of the people, looking at where the people of Lincoln want to be living throughout the city and what some of their daily habits are. This study also discusses some of the main visions of the city of Lincoln’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan how the plan’s ambitions may affect the two factors looked at in …

A Study On Facility Planning Using Discrete Event Simulation: Case Study Of A Grain Delivery Terminal., Sarah M. Asio

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The application of traditional approaches to the design of efficient facilities can be tedious and time consuming when uncertainty and a number of constraints exist. Queuing models and mathematical programming techniques are not able to capture the complex interaction between resources, the environment and space constraints for dynamic stochastic processes. In the following study discrete event simulation is applied to the facility planning process for a grain delivery terminal. The discrete event simulation approach has been applied to studies such as capacity planning and facility layout for a gasoline station and evaluating the resource requirements for a manufacturing facility. To …

Multifunctional Rural Landscapes: Economic, Environmental, Policy, And Social Impacts Of Land Use Changes In Nebraska, Twyla M. Hansen, Charles A. Francis, J. Dixon Esseks, J. Allen Williams Jr.

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

The conversion of farmland near cities to other human uses is a global trend that challenges our long-term capacity to provide food, fiber, and ecosystem services to a growing world population. If current trends continue in the United States, the population will reach 450 million by the year 2050. At the same time, an accelerating change in land use will reduce today’s two acres per person of farmland to less than one acre per person. This is scarcely enough to produce food for our domestic population, without any food available for export – even assuming advances in technology. We need …

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 …

Identifying Potential Conflict Associated With Oil And Gas Exploration In Texas State Coastal Waters: A Multi-Criteria Spatial Analysis, Samuel Brody, Himanshu Grover, Sarah Bernhardt, Zhenghong Tang, Bianca Whitaker, Colin Spence

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Recent interest in expanding offshore oil production within waters of the United States has been met with opposition by groups concerned with recreational, environmental, and aesthetic values associated with the coastal zone. Although the proposition of new oil platforms off the coast has generated conflict over how coastal resources should be utilized, little research has been conducted on where these user conflicts might be most intense and which sites might be most suitable for locating oil production facilities in light of the multiple, and often times, competing interests. In this article, we develop a multiple-criteria spatial decision support tool that …

Action Education In Land Use Decisions: Student Views On Urbanization And Farmland Loss, Mindi Schneider, Charles A. Francis, Dick Esseks

CARI Extension and Education Materials for Sustainable Agriculture

Loss of prime farmland is a serious concern in the United States and around the globe. With rapid urban population increases, the activities and perceived needs of concentrated groups of people result in the swallowing of some of the most fertile lands in this country. Today we have just under 2 acres of productive farmland per person in the United States. Given the current population growth rate due to births and immigration, plus the present rate of farmland loss, World Watch Institute estimates that we will have about 0.6 acres or one-third as much farmland available per person by 2055--a …

Facing A Watershed: Managing Profitable And Sustainable Landscapes In The 21st Century, Heidi Carter, Richard Olson, Charles A. Francis

CARI Extension and Education Materials for Sustainable Agriculture

Overview of Freshwater Use, Introduction to Watershed Management, and a Watershed Management Plan

Group Dynamics in Designing and Implementing a Watershed Management Plan

Information Sources for Watershed Management

Conservation Buffers and Riparian Management

Farmland Protection, Green Corridors, and Suburban Sprawl

Information Sources for Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Agriculture Education