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The Potential Cost Of Methane And Nitrous Oxide Emissions Regulation In U.S. Agriculture, Tshepelayi Kabata, Lilyan E. Fulginiti, Richard Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Most studies on the impacts of agriculture on the environment have devoted efforts to measure the environmental impacts of the sector rather than to assess its ability to reduce or mitigate such impacts. Some have addressed the environmental efficiency of the sector (Reinhard, et al., 1999, Ball et al., 1994 and 2004; Rezek and Perrin, 2004 and Serra et al., 2011) but only few have examined greenhouse gas emissions (Njuki and Bravo-Ureta, 2015; Dakpo, Jeanneaux and Latruffe, 2016) from the sector. This paper analyzes the agricultural performance of states in the U.S. in terms of their ability to reduce emissions …

Blanket Statements, Issue 143, Spring 2020

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 143, Spring 2020

Comparative Physiology Of Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera L.) Exposed To Chlorantraniliprole, Jennifer Williams

Department of Entomology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

One outstanding threat to the honey bee, Apis mellifera L., is the unintended exposure of these pollinators to agricultural pesticides. Anthranilic diamides, such as chlorantraniliprole, work in target pests through activation of the ryanodine receptor causing rapid feeding cessation, lethargy, paralysis, and eventual death. Chlorantraniliprole exhibits low acute toxicity to honey bees but relatively little information exists regarding effects of chlorantraniliprole exposure beyond mortality. The acute toxicity and metabolic detoxification enzyme activities following oral exposure were determined in the honey bee and the model crop pest, the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda, J.E. Smith). Additionally, chlorantraniliprole effects on honey bee …

The Motions Of Burying, Jessica Poli

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

THE MOTIONS OF BURYING is a thesis comprised of 52 pages of poems and a five page introduction that explores personal connections to physical space and landscape. The poems included in this manuscript are representative of the places I’ve called home: the woods of Pennsylvania, where I grew up; barns and pastures in Central New York, where I spent several years working on small family farms; and the wide sky over Holmes Lake in Lincoln, Nebraska, where I now reside.

An Analysis Of Social Dominance In The Feeding Of Ex Situ Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus Humboldti), Robert Gabel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In the field of ecology, complex social structures, including dominance hierarchies, have been demonstrated in a variety of fauna, including bird species. While wild Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) do not exhibit a feeding hierarchy, captive penguins are under very different conditions. Humboldt penguins feed on schooling fish in the wild, but in captivity are hand fed from a zookeeper. I investigated whether there is a nonrandom pattern of dominance in the feeding order of the penguins at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo, in Lincoln, NE, USA. Using a camera and tripod, with assistance from four of the zookeepers, I …

Double-Stranded Rna Technology To Control Insect Pests: Current Status And Challenges, Olivier Christiaens, Steve Whyard, Ana M. Vélez, Guy Smagghe

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Exploiting the RNA interference (RNAi) gene mechanism to silence essential genes in pest insects, leading to toxic effects, has surfaced as a promising new control strategy in the past decade. While the first commercial RNAi-based products are currently coming to market, the application against a wide range of insect species is still hindered by a number of challenges. In this review, we discuss the current status of these RNAi- based products and the different delivery strategies by which insects can be targeted by the RNAi-triggering double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules. Furthermore, this review also addresses a number of physiological and cellular …

Grackles, Michael J. Bodenchuk, David L. Bergman

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

Numbering in the tens of millions of birds, grackle populations in North America can cause a variety of conflicts with people. Grackles eat agricultural crops and livestock feed, damage property, spread pathogens, and collide with aircraft. Their large roosts can be a nuisance in urban and suburban areas. A combination of dispersal techniques, exclusion, and lethal removal may help to reduce grackle damage.

Grackles adapt easily to human-dominated environments, and exploit human food and other features of human landscapes. Thus, an integrated damage management approach to grackle damage focuses on reducing and eliminating the damage, rather than simply controlling grackle …

The Impact Of Nicotine Accumulation Exposure On Lithobates Catebeianus Larvae Mortality, Luke Micek

UCARE: Research Products

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world and contain over 4,000 chemicals, including the organic compound nicotine (Slaughter et al. 2011). Billions of cigarette butts are littered each year which may wash into bodies of water, impacting the local wildlife. To determine how introduced chemicals impact the environment, it is important to study its effects on indicator species. Amphibians, such as Lithobates catebeianus, act as indicator species due to their extreme sensitivity to chemical changes in its environment. The purpose of this research project was to obtain data to help determine the impact nicotine accumulation has …

Transect Survey Biases And Correction Methods In Southern Africa, Erika Swenson, Larkin Powell

UCARE: Research Products

In southern Africa, transect surveys and distance-based analyses are often used to obtain density and population estimates for species in large reserves or management zones. However, these estimates may be biased by unnaturally large concentrations of animals at waterholes that are on or near the path of the transect. We used empirical survey data from the Namibrand Nature Reserve in southwest Namibia to parameterize spatial simulations in which we distributed gemsbok (Oryx gazella) on a grid along a 50-kilometer transect. We created multiple simulations with and without waterholes to determine how the proportion of animals clumped at the …

Holding Up The Sky: Research-Based Fiction Writing, Madelynn Stuart

UCARE: Research Products

Holding Up the Sky is the culmination of dedication and research to create a series of eleven vignettes detailing the narratives of immigrants through a work of fiction. The goal of this project is to bring to light the people who may not always be visible— those who have left their homes to travel somewhere strange, whether in search of better opportunities, lost loved ones, or a renewed hope in humanity. These immigrants, though unknown to many, deserve to be seen and to have their stories told so we can better understand the world around us. Through fictional vignettes strongly …

Nanoparticle Treatment To Counter Reactive Oxygen Species After Traumatic Brain Injury, Brandon Mcdonald, Forrest Kievit

UCARE: Research Products

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as damage to the brain, resulting from an external mechanical force, such as an impact to the head (Kievit et. al, 2016).There are several examples that could result in a potential TBI; such as falling with contact to the head, car accidents and even physical activities including football, wrestling, and boxing. Because of the several different scenarios that an individual could impact their head, TBI’s have become an all too common aspect of everyday life. TBI is currently the leading cause of death and disability in children and adults under the age of 45, …

Talking Trash In The Big Apple: Mitigating Bird Strikes Near The North Shore Marine Transfer Station, Stephan J. Beffre, Brian E. Washburn

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Anthropogenic activities that concentrate wildlife near airports increases the risk of wildlife–aircraft collisions. Placing waste management facilities, natural areas, golf courses, and other landscape features near airports have the potential to attract wildlife hazardous to aviation. We conducted a 3-year study (March 2013–February 2016) to determine if the implementation of a Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Program (WHMP) would influence the bird use of a waste transfer station located near LaGuardia Airport, New York City, New York, USA. We conducted wildlife surveys during 3 phases: (1) no mitigation program and no waste transfer station, (2) active mitigation and no waste transfer station, …

How Does The Social World Shape The Experience Of A Rare Disease? Social Position And The Development, Progression, And Medical Care For People With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Jennifer A. Andersen

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation focuses on the implications of social position and life course on the experience of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Using a sociology in medicine frame, I test three theoretical perspectives (fundamental cause theory, social determinants of health, and life course theory) to determine the influence of social conditions on the development and progression of, and medical care for, people with ALS (pALS). Further, I use ALS as an exemplar of the need for a sociology of disease.

Using the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis National Registry, I first assess the association of social position with the reported onset location at the …

Assessment Of Nanoparticle Accumulation With Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Hunter Miller

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nanoparticle (NP)-based therapeutics promise to improve medicine in multiple areas by increasing target engagement. To date, most research has focused on cancer, aiming to increase uptake using the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. Despite pre-clinical success in proof-of-concept studies, understanding of the fundamental interactions between NP and biological systems that govern outcomes remains incomplete. To realize the potential of NPs for cancer therapeutics, and to expand their application into other diseases, the roles physicochemical properties play in NP uptake must be better understood. Some investigations have been performed into the effects of size and surface charge on uptake into …

The Art Of The Game: Issues In Adapting Video Games, Sydney K. Baty

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

On the face of things, movies and video games are similar mediums. Both engage extensively in visuals and audio, both can indulge in speculative fiction, and there is a healthy amount of sharing of inspiration and content. However, this does not guarantee successful adaptations from one form to another. Movies adapted from video games are notorious for being simply terrible, but little academic attention has been paid as to why these adaptations in particular seem so unsuccessful in every way, from audience reception, critical response, and monetary returns. This issue is based on fundamental differences in the medium. Games are, …

Thresholds Of Curating: Literary Space And Material Culture In The Works Of Harriet Prescott Spofford, Edith Wharton, Isabella Stewart Gardner, And Willa Cather 1870–1920, Lindsay N. Andrews

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation explores the polycentric intersections between material and literary culture in four case studies spanning 1870-1920. Harriet Prescott Spofford, Edith Wharton, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Willa Cather are four women whose work reflects a capacity to defy the genre-specific boundaries for which they are canonically renown. Harriet Prescott Spofford was an important contributor to the interior design movement in the early Gilded Age following challenges to finding publication resources for her fiction within a male-dominated publishing community. Edith Wharton’s ties to material culture are well known, but less attention is granted to the ways in which her own expertise …

Fate And Transport Of Antibiotics And Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Runoff And Soil As Affected By The Timing Of Swine Manure Slurry Application, Renys Enrique Barrios, Himanshu Khuntia, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, John E. Gilley, Amy M. Schmidt Schmidt, Daniel D. Snow, Xu Li

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Land application of swine manure slurry is a common practice to supplement nutrients to soil for crop production. This practice can introduce antibiotic residues and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) into the environment. Field testing is critical in identifying manure management practices effective in minimizing the environmental impacts of manure-borne antibiotic and ARGs. The objective of this study was to determine how the timing of swine manure application relative to rainfall events impacts the fate and transport of antibiotics and ARGs in surface runoff and manure-amended soil. Swine manure slurry was either broadcast or injected on test plots in the field. …

Effect Of Temperature On Plant Resistance To Arthropod Pests, James R. Nechols, Ashley R. Hough, David C. Margolies, John R. Ruberson, Brian P. Mccornack, Brett K. Sandercock, Leigh Murray

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Temperature has a strong influence on the development, survival, and fecundity of herbivorous arthropods, and it plays a key role in regulating the growth and development of their host plants. In addition, temperature affects the production of plant secondary chemicals as well as structural characteristics used for defense against herbivores. Thus, temperature has potentially important implications for host plant resistance. Because temperature directly impacts arthropod pests, both positively and negatively, distinguishing direct effects from indirect effects mediated through host plants poses a challenge for researchers and practitioners. A more comprehensive understanding of how temperature affects plant resistance specifically, and arthropod …

Association Between Sulfur-Metabolizing Bacterial Communities In Stool And Risk Of Distal Colorectal Cancer In Men, Long H. Nguyen, Wenjie Ma, Dong D. Wang, Yin Cao, Himel Mallick, Teklu K. Gerbaba, Jason Lloyd-Price, Galeb Abu-Ali, A. Brantley Hall, Daniel Sikavi, David A. Drew, Raaj S. Mehta, Cesar Arze, Amit D. Joshi, Yan Yan, Tobyn Branck, Casey Dulong, Kerry L. Ivey, Shuji Ogino, Eric B. Rimm, Mingyang Song, Wendy S. Garrett, Jacques Izard, Cutis Huttenhower, Andrew T. Chan

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Background and aims: Sulfur-metabolizing microbes, which convert dietary sources of sulfur into genotoxic hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), have been associated with development of colorectal cancer (CRC). We identified a dietary pattern associated with sulfur-metabolizing bacteria in stool and then investigated its association with risk of incident CRC using data from a large prospective study of men.

Methods: We collected data from 51,529 men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study since 1986 to determine the association between sulfur-metabolizing bacteria in stool and risk of CRC over 26 years of follow-up. First, in a subcohort of 307 healthy men, we …

Integrating The Ecosystem Services Framework To Define Dysbiosis Of The Breastfed Infant Gut: The Role Of B. Infantis And Human Milk Oligosaccharides, Rebbeca M. Duar, Bethany M. Henrick, Giorgio Casaburi, Steven A. Frese

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Mounting evidence supports a connection between the composition of the infant gut microbiome and long-term health. In fact, aberrant microbiome compositions during key developmental windows in early life are associated with increased disease risk; therefore, making pertinent modifications to the microbiome during infancy offers significant promise to improve human health. There is growing support for integrating the concept of ecosystem services (the provision of benefits from ecosystems to humans) in linking specific microbiome functions to human well-being. This framework is widely applied in conservation efforts of macro-ecosystems and offers a systematic approach to guide restoration actions aimed to recover critical …

Elucidating The Regulon Of A Fur-Like Protein In Mycobacterium Avium Subsp. Paratuberculosis (Map), Fernanda Miyagaki Shoyama, Taveesak Janetanakit, John P. Bannantine, Raul G. Barletta, Srinand Sreevatsan

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Intracellular iron concentration is tightly regulated to maintain cell viability. Iron plays important roles in electron transport, nucleic acid synthesis, and oxidative stress. A Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP)-specific genomic island carries a putative metal transport operon that includes MAP3773c, which encodes a Fur-like protein. Although well characterized as a global regulator of iron homeostasis in multiple bacteria, the function of Fur (ferric uptake regulator) in MAP is unknown as this organism also carries IdeR (iron dependent regulator), a native iron regulatory protein specific to mycobacteria. Computational analysis using PRODORIC identified 23 different pathways involved in respiration, metabolism, and virulence …

Poetics Of Acculturation: Early Pure Land Buddhism And The Topography Of The Periphery In Orikuchi Shinobu’S The Book Of The Dead, Ikuho Amano

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Faculty Publications

Known as the exponent practitioner of kokubungaku (national literature), modernist ethnologist Orikuchi Shinobu (1887–1953) readily utilized archaic Japanese experiences as viable resources for his literary imagination. As the leading disciple of Yanagita Kunio (1875–1962), who is known as the founding father of modern folkloric ethnology in Japan, Orikuchi is often considered a nativist ethnologist whose works tend to be construed as a probing into the origin of the nation. He considered the essence of national literature as “the origins of art itself,” and such a critical vision arguably linked him to interwar fascism.1 Nevertheless, his nativist effort as a literatus …

Before The Pandemic Ends: Making Sure This Never Happens Again, Daniel R. Brooks, Eric P. Hoberg, Walter A. Boeger, Scott Lyell Gardner, Sabrina B. L. Araujo, Katalin Bajer, Sebastian Botero-Cañola, Brian Byrd, Gábor Földvári, Joseph A. Cook, Jonathan L. Dunnum, Altangerel Tsogtsaikhan Dursahinhan, László Zsolt Garamszegi, Dávid Herczeg, Ferenc Jakab, Alicia Juarrero, Gábor Kemenesi, Kornélia Kurucz, Virginia León-Règagnon, Hugo H. Mejía-Madrid, Orsolya Molnár, Richard A. Nisbett, Wolfgang Preiser, Michael Stuart, Eors Szathmary, Valeria Trivellone

Scott L. Gardner Publications

Introduction

On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Global Health Emergency of international concern attendant to the emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2, nearly two months after the first reported emergence of human cases in Wuhan, China. In the subsequent two months, global, national and local health personnel and infrastructures have been overwhelmed, leading to suffering and death for infected people, and the threat of socio-economic instability and potential collapse for humanity as a whole. This shows that our current and traditional mode of coping, anchored in responses after the fact, is not capable of dealing with …

Distortion Of The Local Magnetic Field Appears To Neither Disrupt Nocturnal Navigation Nor Cue Shelter Recognition In The Amblypygid Paraphrynus Laevifrons, Daniel D. Wiegmann, Patrick Casto, Eileen Hebets, Verner P. Bingman

Eileen Hebets Publications

Many arthropods are known to be sensitive to the geomagnetic field and exploit the field to solve spatial problems. The polarity of the geomagnetic field is used, for instance, as an orientation cue by leafcutter ants as they travel on engineered trails in a rainforest and by Drosophila larvae as they move short distances in search of food. A ubiquitous orientation cue like the geomagnetic field may be especially useful in complex, cluttered environments like rainforests, where the reliability of celestial cues used to navigate in more open environments may be poor. The neotropical amblypygid Paraphrynus laevifrons is a nocturnal …

The Role Of Nestling Acoustic Experience In Song Discrimination In A Sparrow, Emily J. Hudson, Nicole Creanza, Daizaburo Shizuka

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Oscine songbirds are an ideal system for investigating how early experience affects vocal behavior. Young songbirds face a challenging task: how to recognize and selectively learn only their own species’ song, often during a time-limited window. Because birds are capable of hearing birdsong very early in life, early exposure to song could plausibly affect recognition of appropriate models; however, this idea conflicts with the traditional view that song learning occurs only after a bird leaves the nest. Thus, it remains unknown whether natural variation in acoustic exposure prior to song learning affects the template for recognition. In a population where …

Collective Effect Of Landfills And Landscape Composition On Bird–Aircraft Collisions, Morgan Pfeiffer, Bradley F. Blackwell, Travis L. Devault

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Ninety-three percent of all reported bird strikes occur below 1,067 m, which based on the typical approach and departure angles of aircraft is within 8–13 km of an airport. Concomitantly, the Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization recommend that any feature that would attract hazardous wildlife to the approach and departure airspace be restricted. Thus, preventing the establishment of wildlife attractants, such as municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLFs) within 8 km or 13 km extents (U.S. and international recommendations, respectively) of airports, has been recommended to mitigate the risk of bird–aircraft collisions (strikes). However, robust evidence linking …

Prey Selection By Birds Of Prey, Anisha Pokharel

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Prey selection is key to determine predator prey interaction and understanding the complexity of food web structure. In this thesis, we used two different approaches to understanding prey selection by North American birds of prey. Using a conventional method, in Chapter 1 we compared pellet analysis and trapping data to assess patterns of prey selection of barn owls in western Nebraska. Microtus spp. comprised 55.8% of the prey items in the barn owl’s diet. The proportion of several prey types in the diet were significantly different from the expected proportion based on trapping. This pattern may indicate barn owls actively …

Functions Of Vocal Mimicry In The Complex Song Of The European Starling, Sturnus Vulgaris, Maria Goller

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Vocal learning is an ability that has only evolved in a handful of taxa. Songbirds learn their songs, and some species have flexible learning in which they not only incorporate species-specific sounds, but heterospecific and/or environmental sounds as well. The functions of vocal mimicry are still unknown for many species and studying mimicry can teach us about the variation within the song learning process. In this thesis, I focused on five hypotheses on how mimicry could function in sexual selection. The repertoire size hypothesis suggests that selection for larger repertoire sizes allows mimicry to occur because imitation can increase repertoire …

Dgts Production As A Phosphate Starvation Response In The Human Fungal Pathogen Candida Albicans, Caleb J. Wehling

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Betaine lipids are a class of membrane lipids with betaine head groups. Three betaine lipids are known: diacylglyceryltrimethylhomoserine (DGTS), diacylglycerylhydroxymethylalanine (DGTA), and diacylglycerylcarboxymethylcholine (DGCC). Betaine lipids are most common in algae, although DGTS, the most common betaine lipid, is also found in many bacteria and fungi. Organisms which produce betaine lipids (especially DGTS) often don’t produce phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho), and DGTS structure resembles PtdCho structure without any phosphorous, leading to the hypothesis that betaine lipids may substitute for phospholipids in some organisms. This has been confirmed by discoveries that some organisms are capable of switching their membrane composition from PtdCho to …

Investigating Microbiomes And Developing Direct-Fed Microbials To Improve Cattle Health, Alison C. Bartenslager

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Over the last decade, global beef production has increased to meet the protein needs of the growing population. As a result, the intensification of beef cattle production systems has resulted in broad spectrum prophylactic use of antibiotics and growth promoting agents. With increased concern around antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and emergence of novel pathogenic strains of bacteria, it is critical to understand disease progression and associated changes in the microbiome to develop novel therapeutic alternatives to reduce antibiotic use and control disease. One such approach that is currently being investigated is the development of novel direct-fed microbial strains to outcompete pathogens …