Architecture Commons^™

Urban Wildlife Management Planning Process And Conflict Mitigation: A Case Study Of Denver’S Canada Goose Management Plan, Brent Johannes

Community and Regional Planning Program: Student Projects and Theses

In 2019 and 2020, the USDA in coordination with Denver Parks and Recreation removed 2,174 geese from 6 different parks within the City of Denver. The removals and use of lethal methods to manage the concerns related to the geese population in Denver’s parks caused a public conflict and resulted in multiple legal challenges with the City of Denver. The opposition group claimed that the city did not sufficiently engage with the public in the formation of the goose management plan, and did not provide any public notification about the plan to remove geese. City officials have claimed that attempts …

Zero Net Energy Test House, Timothy Hemsath, James D. Goedert, Avery Don Schwer, Yong Cho

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

This paper describes the first phase of a residential research program to reduce the impact of new construction on the environment through research and education using a Zero Net Energy Test House as a framework. Containing four bedrooms, three and a half baths, the 1,800 square foot house, 1,000 square foot basement, is located in Omaha, Nebraska. It is being used to validate several research projects and provides a platform for applications research of a number of technological advances. Laminated photovoltaic solar panels, a wind turbine, and an occupant monitoring energy control system are some of the sustainable design innovations …

Study Of Undergraduate Interior Design Student Outcomes Compared To Industry Professional Expectations, Rachel Lantz

Theses from the Architecture Program

Interior design undergraduate programs must continually address current software available as drafting and modeling platforms. In addition to preparing students to successfully use these programs, educators also have to consider the creative design process and accreditation standards set to ensure students complete their undergraduate degree prepared for a career in interior design. A concern many design faculty share is what technology, including hardware, software, and apps to feature and how to properly implement those technologies into the design curriculum.

This research project aims to review and evaluate criteria for interior design student work to determine if the outcomes match expectations …

Reinventing Educational Spaces, Angel Coleman

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

Problems always existed in our educational system, but many issues intensified in the pandemic. One of the biggest is the mental impact on the children, with those in high school tripling in numbers. The spaces these students spend their time has a great impact on their mental well-being. Our schools need to create places for the students to make communities and feel a sense of ownership. Giving students a place to belong and making them proud of their work helps build their self-esteem, relieving some mental health issues.

My thesis is redesigning these environments to create classrooms, schools and a …

Prototyping Attainability: A Guide For Incremental Density In Communities, Quinlan Mcfadden

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

In the absence of direct public investment solutions, Prototyping Attainability, explores how the combination of building typologies and land uses can achieve attainable housing strategies by striking a balance between shared community spaces and optimizing density, without disrupting the existing residential landscape. Through this exploration of research and design, strategic changes in zoning, regulation and typologies will be brought forward to aid the framework process of solutions to the housing crisis not only within Nebraskan communities, but in communities nationwide.

"Folk" Home-Lore: Storytelling And The Architecture Of The Home, Madeleine Pollara

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

I have observed that architecture is not sufficiently understood. This problem is largely due to the fact that the language used to describe architecture is broad and convoluted. This language is also divided into two categories which describe the denotative and connotative nature of architecture. It is easier to understand the denotative nature of architecture than it is to understand the connotative nature. As a response to this issue, my project aims to explore the connotative nature of architecture through telling stories about the home from the architecture’s point of view. The purpose of my thesis is to explore the …

Restoring Lost Heritage, Lewis Culliver

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

One of the best streets to explore in Omaha is N. 24th Street. Many buildings showcase larger than life, vibrant murals that express the creative nature and spirit of this part of historic North Omaha. The murals represent a healing element for the community; many murals cover structures that are in various states of disrepair. Community gardens have risen to fill voids left by traumatic development practices, such as the implementation of the north freeway.

Despite having lost a large part of its heritage, including hundreds of homes and businesses that were destroyed to make way for the north freeway, …

Intelligibility Of Medically Related Sentences In Quiet, Speech-Shaped Noise, And Hospital Noise, Tessa Bent, Melissa Baese-Berk, Erica E. Ryherd, Sidney Perry

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

Noise in healthcare settings, such as hospitals, often exceeds levels recommended by health organizations. Although researchers and medical professionals have raised concerns about the effect of these noise levels on spoken communication, objective measures of behavioral intelligibility in hospital noise are lacking. Further, no studies of intelligibility in hospital noise used medically relevant terminology, which may differentially impact intelligibility compared to standard terminology in speech perception research and is essential for ensuring ecological validity. Here, intelligibility was measured using online testing for 69 young adult listeners in three listening conditions (i.e., quiet, speech-shaped noise, and hospital noise: 23 listeners per …

Educational Design: Does The Design Of A Learning Environment Effect How A Student Learns?, Terrie Larsen

Interior Design Program: Theses

New 21^st Century classroom layouts have evolved from the studies of several educational researchers and their findings over the past century. In conjunction with universities across the world, researchers developed progressive outlooks of what the built environment can offer to the newest generation of learners. Their studies have coined several terms such as Active Learning Classrooms (ALC), Student Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) and Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL). These classroom models represent higher learning studies for more effective 21^st century learning environments. Some of the models include a specific style of table and number …

An Educational Framework For Equity And Inclusion In Planning, Jacob Schlange

Community and Regional Planning Program: Student Projects and Theses

As societal discourse about equity has increased, so has the need for planning practitioners to be educated about equity-related issues. This study examines the planning curricula of the 22 land-grant institutions accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) to assess whether these programs align with the new emphasis on equity in the most recent PAB accreditation standards. Finding a notable lack of required courses explicitly addressing the topic among most of the programs surveyed, this thesis goes on to propose a framework for developing a course on equity in planning, using existing literature on planning education and guidance from the …

Reducing Early-Age Shrinkage Cracks Of Bridge Decks And Rails, Soumitra Das, George Morcous, Jiong Hu

UNL Student Research Days Posters, Graduate

Early-age shrinkage cracking of concrete bridge decks and rails accelerates the penetration of water and chemicals which leads to reinforcement corrosion, delamination, and eventually spalling. All this results in shorter service life, road closure, and costly repair. Development of Low-cement concrete(LCC) mix to reduce early age shrinkage crack through aggregate grading optimization was done in this research work. This approach also reduces concrete cost ($15-$20/cyd) (15–25%) and its carbon footprint (≈15%).

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

Honors Theses, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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 …

Ahp Based Multi Criteria Decision Analysis Of Success Factors To Enhance Decision Making In Infrastructure Construction Projects, Solomon Belay, James D. Goedert, Asregedew Woldesenbet, Saeed Rokooei

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

The study presents analytical data-based multi-criteria approach of critical success factors of infrastructure construction projects analyzed in the Ethiopian construction industry. This multi-criteria technique helps to improve the decision capabilities and ultimate performance of construction processes in various low-income countries of the East African region. The aim of this paper is to establish a logical relationship and interdependencies of success-related factors for enhancing decision making for various project teams and identify priorities while taking into account all known construction organizational constraints. A structured hierarchical matrix was developed based on a pre-identified success-related factors, and initially evaluated by experienced professionals as …

Tilt-Up Partially Composite Insulated Wall Panels, Marc Maguire, Salam Al-Rubaye

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

This research project was initiated to investigate the behavior of load-bearing concrete insulated wall panels for use in tilt-up construction. The primary objective was to understand the inelastic behavior of these panels so that engineers could perform a proper second-order analysis for combined axial and out-of-plane loading. Toward this aim, the Tilt-up Concrete Institute (TCA) and wythe connector suppliers Innstruct, Thermomass, HK Composites, Dayton Superior, and IconX, funded this study.

This report contains information related to testing of solid and partially composite insulated wall panels that integrated proprietary wythe connection systems. Using the information from these tests, a method to …

Transportation Barriers To Care Among Frequent Health Care Users During The Covid Pandemic, Abigail L. Cochran, Noreen C. Mcdonald, Lauren Prunkl, Emma Vinella‑Brusher, Jueyu Wang, Lindsay Oluyede, Mary Wolfe

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Background: Transportation problems are known barriers to health care and can result in late arrivals and delayed or missed care. Groups already prone to greater social and economic disadvantage, including low-income individuals and people with chronic conditions, encounter more transportation barriers and experience greater negative health care consequences. Addressing transportation barriers is important not only for mitigating adverse health care outcomes among patients, but also for avoiding additional costs to the health care system. In this study, we investigate transportation barriers to accessing health care services during the COVID-19 pandemic among high-frequency health care users.

Methods: A web-based survey was …

Maps Of Cropping Patterns In China During 2015–2021, Bingwen Qiu, Xiang Hu, Chongcheng Chen, Zhenghong Tang, Peng Yang, Xiaolin Zhu, Chao Yan, Zeyu Jian

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Multiple cropping is a widespread approach for intensifying crop production through rotations of diverse crops. Maps of cropping intensity with crop descriptions are important for supporting sustainable agricultural management. As the most populated country, China ranked first in global cereal production and the percentages of multiple-cropped land are twice of the global average. However, there are no reliable updated national-scale maps of cropping patterns in China. Here we present the first recent annual 500-m MODIS-based national maps of multiple cropping systems in China using phenologybased mapping algorithms with pixel purity-based thresholds, which provide information on cropping intensity with descriptions of …

From Cropland To Cropped Field: A Robust Algorithm For National-Scale Mapping By Fusing Time Series Of Sentinel-1 And Sentinel-2, Bingwen Qiu, Duoduo Lin, Chongcheng Chen, Peng Yang, Zhenghong Tang, Zhenong Jin, Zhiyan Ye, Xiao Zhu, Mingjie Duan, Hangyu Huang, Zhiyuan Zhao, Weiming Xu, Zuoqi Chen

Architecture Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Detailed and updated maps of actively cropped fields on a national scale are vital for global food security. Unfortunately, this information is not provided in existing land cover datasets, especially lacking in smallholder farmer systems. Mapping national-scale cropped fields remains challenging due to the spectral confusion with abandoned vegetated land, and their high heterogeneity over large areas. This study proposed a large-area mapping framework for automatically identifying actively cropped fields by fusing Vegetation-Soil-Pigment indices and Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) time-series images (VSPS). Three temporal indicators were proposed and highlighted cropped fields by consistently higher values due to cropping activities. The proposed …

Moral Distress Among Clinicians Working In Us Safety Net Practices During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Study, Donald E. Pathman, Jeffrey Sonis, Thomas E. Rauner, Kristina Alton, Anna S. Headlee, Jerry N. Harrison

Architecture Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Objective To explore the causes and levels of moral distress experienced by clinicians caring for the low-income patients of safety net practices in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design Cross-sectional survey in late 2020, employing quantitative and qualitative analyses. Setting Safety net practices in 20 US states. Participants 2073 survey respondents (45.8% response rate) in primary care, dental and behavioural health disciplines working in safety net practices and participating in state and national education loan repayment programmes.

Measures Ordinally scaled degree of moral distress experienced during the pandemic, and open-ended response descriptions of issues that caused most moral distress. …

Deep Learning In Urban Analysis For Health, David Newton

Architecture Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

The application of deep learning to urban health analysis is in its early stages, but offers new and promising capabilities in using large image-based datasets to better understand the built environment and its effects on human health. This chapter will introduce and explore some of these capabilities, providing the allied design fields with a roadmap of this emerging area of research, its potentials, and current challenges. The chapter begins with a brief overview of existing research related to urban morphology and health, in which precedent work using traditional methods as well as deep learning are introduced. Next, research is presented …

Exploring 3d Data Reuse And Repurposing Through Procedural Modeling, Rachel Opitz, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Karin Dalziel, Jessica Dussault, Greg Tunink

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Most contemporary 3D data used in archaeological research and heritage management have been created through ‘reality capture,’ the recording of the physical features of extant archaeological objects, structures, and landscapes using technologies such as laser scanning and photogrammetry (Garstki 2020, ch.2; Magnani et al. 2020). A smaller quantity of data are generated by Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) projects, and even fewer data are generated through procedural modeling, the rapid prototyping of multi-component threedimensional (3D) models from a set of rules (Figure 8.1.). It is unsurprising therefore that in archaeology and heritage, efforts around digital 3D …

Accessing 3d Data, Francesca Albrezzi, John Bonnett, Tassie Gniady, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Lisa Snyder

Anthropology Faculty Publications

The issue of access and discoverability is not simply a matter of permissions and availability. To identify, locate, retrieve, and reuse 3D materials requires consideration of a multiplicity of content types, as well as community and financial investment to resolve challenges related to usability, interoperability, sustainability, and equity. This chapter will cover modes, audiences, assets and decision points, technology requirements, and limitations impacting access, as well as providing recommendations for next steps.

Natural Asset-Based Community Development In The Nebraska Community Foundation Network, Kristen Ohnoutka

Community and Regional Planning Program: Student Projects and Theses

As rural communities explore new ways to stimulate growth and development in their place, one of the biggest challenges they face is reinventing what rural community development is and has been. The conventional way of thinking goes communities must attract new businesses to attract new workers to grow a community’s population. However, population growth and industry attraction are not always equivalent to progress, especially not in rural communities. For decades, rural communities have withstood the boom and bust of industry and economy, whether it be agricultural, industrial, manufacturing, etc. These industries and more have demanded the extraction of rural communities’ …

Higher Sound Levels In K-12 Classrooms Correlate To Lower Math Achievement Scores, Laura Caroline Brill, Lily M. Wang

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

Sound levels from occupied classrooms have been gathered from 220 classrooms across four grade levels (3, 5, 8 and 11) over six school days each and processed with k-means clustering into speech and non-speech clusters. Three metrics describing the classroom acoustics, including the average daily A-weighted equivalent level for non-speech, the average daily difference between the A-weighted equivalent levels for speech and nonspeech (a signal to noise ratio), and the mid-frequency averaged reverberation time, were analyzed against classroom-aggregated standardized reading and math achievement test scores, while controlling for classroom demographics including socioeconomic status. Interactions between the metrics and demographics were …

Investigation Of The Prevalence Of Faults In The Heating, Ventilation, And Air-Conditioning Systems Of Commercial Buildings, Amir Ebrahimifakhar

Dissertations and Student Research: Architectural Engineering

This dissertation describes a large-scale investigation of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) fault prevalence in commercial buildings in the United States. A multi-year dataset with 36,556 pieces of HVAC equipment including air handling units (AHUs), air terminal units (ATUs), and packaged rooftop units (RTUs) was analyzed to determine values for several HVAC fault prevalence metrics. The primary source of data for this study comes from three commercial fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) providers. Since each FDD provider uses different terms to refer to the same fault in an HVAC system, a mapping function was created for each FDD provider’s dataset, …

The Effects Of The Visual Environment On K-12 Student Achievement, Michael Kuhlenengel, Iason Konstantzos, Clarence E. Waters

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

The varying indoor environments among educational buildings can have an impact on students’ ability to learn. This study looks at field data from 220 classrooms in the Midwest, United States, over a two-year period, to analyze the effects of the visual environment on student achievement. The visual environmental metrics considered within this scope include the three new view metrics introduced within the EN 17037 “Daylight of Buildings” standard (Horizontal Sight Angle, Outside Distance of View, and Number of View Layers), as well as standard daylight and electric lighting metrics, focusing on light availability and glare. To capture student achievement, math …

Simulation For A Mems-Based Ctrnn Ultra-Low Power Implementation Of Human Activity Recognition, Muhammad Emad-Ud-Din, Mohammad H. Hasan, Roozbeh Jafari, Siavash Pourkamali, Fadi M. Alsaleem

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

This paper presents an energy-efficient classification framework that performs human activity recognition (HAR). Typically, HAR classification tasks require a computational platform that includes a processor and memory along with sensors and their interfaces, all of which consume significant power. The presented framework employs microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based Continuous Time Recurrent Neural Network (CTRNN) to performHAR tasks very efficiently. In a real physical implementation, we show that the MEMS-CTRNN nodes can perform computing while consuming power on a nano-watts scale compared to the micro-watts state-of-the-art hardware. We also confirm that this huge power reduction doesn’t come at the expense of reduced …

Framework To Develop Time- And Voltage-Dependent Building Load Profiles Using Polynomial Load Models, Andrew Parker, Mhd Anas Alkrch, Kevin James, Ahmad Almaghrebi, Mahmoud Alahmad

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

The power consumption of buildings over the course of each minute, hour, day and season plays a major role in how this load influences the Electric Power System voltage and frequency, and vice versa. This consumption is based on the building's load component types, efficiencies, and how they consume power and react to changes in real time. Due to this complexity, standard full-building load models are typically voltage-invariant. This paper proposes a novel framework to transform these voltage-invariant building load models into fully time- and voltage-dependent load profiles using available data on the voltage sensitivity of individual load components. While …

A Case Study To Quantify Variability In Building Load Profiles, Andrew Parker, Sam Moayedi, Kevin James, Dongming Peng, Mahmoud Alahmad

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

Recent technology development and penetration of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), advanced building control systems, and the internet-of-things (IoT) in the built environment are providing detailed information on building operation, performance, and user's comfort and behavior. Building owners can obtain a wide range of energy consumption details at various levels of time granularity to augment their decisions as they manage the building operation and interact with the grid. AMI data are providing a new level of detail and visibility that may enhance building services and assets in the smart grid domain and make buildings inch closer to becoming a grid-interactive energy …

Evaluating Prediction Models Of Creep And Drying Shrinkage Of Self-Consolidating Concrete Containing Supplementary Cementitious Materials/Fillers, Micheal Asaad, George Morcous

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and fillers play an important role in enhancing the mechanical properties and durability of concrete. SCMs and fillers are commonly used in self-consolidating concrete (SCC) mixtures to also enhance their rheological properties. However, these additives could have significant effects on the viscoelastic properties of concrete. Existing models for predicting creep and drying shrinkage of concrete do not consider the effect of SCM/filler on the predicted values. This study evaluates existing creep and drying shrinkage models, including AASHTO LRFD, ACI209, CEB-FIP MC90-99, B3, and GL2000, for SCC mixtures with different SCMs/fillers. Forty SCC mixtures were proportioned for …

Designing Gfrp-Reinforced Tilt-Up Wall Panels, Fray F. Pozo-Lora, Marc Maguire

Faculty Publications in Architectural Engineering

Tilt-up construction was effectively enabled on a wide scale in 1979, when the ACI committee 551 report on Tilt-up construction was published, the Recommended Tilt-Up Wall Design, aka, the Yellow Book and the subsequent ACI-SEASC Task, aka the Green Book, and another Tilt-up design and construction manual developed by the ACI in 1988. The Tilt-up Concrete Association was created in 1986 by a group of industry professionals who had the need of an organization dedicated to the industry. ACI 551 maintains a document outlining the standard practice for contemporary Tilt-up design and construction. The ACI 551 document does not consider …