Digital Commons Network^™

Creating An Automatic Lowering Function For Quarter-Scale Tractor Pulling Sled, Sam Wilkins

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

As the agricultural industry works to continuously integrate innovative technology and improve production efficiency, improved on-board data acquisition and transmission will be necessary for all agricultural machines. To make this a reality, the utilization of controller area network (CAN) technology will be crucial. Therefore, it is important for all agricultural engineers to have foundational knowledge of CAN bus systems and the standards that govern their use in industry. The UNL quarter-scale tractor team regularly utilizes CAN buses on their tractors and testing equipment. One such testing machine is the team’s pulling sled, which uses CAN messages to transport important information …

The Bilingual Literacy Development Model: A Holistic Way To Support Spanish-Speaking Children, Stephanie Wessels

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In the Bilingual Literacy Development Model: A holistic way to support Spanish-speaking children research study, I studied bilingual families over a 5-month period in their home environments through home visits. Drawing from data obtained through home visits, including interviews with mothers and observations of family literacy practices in the home environment, this study examines children’s bilingual literacy development. The findings are presented in an adapted Bilingual Literacy Development Model I created. The model was adapted from the work of researchers Leseman and de Jong (1998) and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological system (1977, 1995), from which four facets were developed: literacy and …

Gender Differences In Graduate Student Views On The Professional Climate In Economics, Ann Mari May, Mary G. Mcgarvey, Muazzam Toshmatova

Department of Economics: Faculty Publications

This research examines graduate student's views on the professional climate in economics using a comprehensive survey of students enrolled in economics Ph.D. programs in the United States. Topics discussed include stress and work/life balance, disciplinary climate in the profession, departmental climate, and the prevalence of sexual harassment. We find significant gender differences in views on all four topics—particularly in views on departmental climate and disciplinary climate in the profession. We analyze the results based on gender, rank of the institution, public versus private institutional status, and representation of women faculty in departments.

Critical Contributions Of Protein Cargos To The Functions Of Macrophage‑Derived Extracellular Vesicles, Baolong Liu, Phuong Linh Nguyen, Han Yu, Xingzhi Li, Huiren Wang, Wang Price, Meng Niu, Chittibabu Guda, Xiao Cheng, Xinghui Sun, Regis Moreau, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait, Michael J. Naldrett, Sophie Alvarez, Jiujiu Yu

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background Macrophages are highly plastic innate immune cells that play key roles in host defense, tissue repair, and homeostasis maintenance. In response to divergent stimuli, macrophages rapidly alter their functions and manifest a wide polarization spectrum with two extremes: M1 or classical activation and M2 or alternative activation. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted from differentially activated macrophages have been shown to have diverse functions, which are primarily attributed to their microRNA cargos. The role of protein cargos in these EVs remains largely unexplored. Therefore, in this study, we focused on the protein cargos in macrophage-derived EVs.

Results Naïve murine bone marrow-derived …

Key Findings From The Qic-Wd At Various Stages Of The Employee Lifecycle, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Other QIC-WD Products

Employee_Lifecycle_Additional_Resources.pdf

The Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development: Bridging The Research–Practice Gap In Child Welfare, Sarah Layman, Jen Harvel, Apryl Brodersen, Michelle Graef, Megan Paul, Robert Blagg

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD used research and best practices from Industrial-Organizational Psychology (I-O) to improve workforce outcomes across our partner child welfare agencies. This article shares our insights on how we were able to bridge the research-practice gap through the team’s work to develop and test workforce interventions, use organizational data to improve workforce outcomes, and share knowledge and resources from I-O to advance practice in child welfare organizations.

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Undernutrition In Older Children And Adolescents In Peri-Urban Zambia, Shela Sridhar, Janella S. Kang, Isabel Madzorera, Ethan Zulu, Joyce Makasa, Sally Bell Cross, Davidson H. Hamer

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Background: Adolescents make up roughly a quarter of the population in Zambia; however, most nutrition-related programming is targeted at the underfive population. Understanding the scale of undernutrition in older children and adolescents is fundamental to alleviating food insecurity and addressing undernutrition across all age groups.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed in four low-income, peri-urban compounds in Chilanga District which included anthropometric measurements of children between ages 6 months-19 years and a household-level diet diversity and food security questionnaire. Wasting was used for children under 5 and thinness for children 5–19 years. Descriptive analysis and multivariate logistic regression …

A Facile Agrobacterium‑Mediated Transformation Method For The Model Unicellular Green Algae Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, Truyen N. Quach, Shirley J. Sato, Mark R. Behrens, Paul N. Black, Concetta C. Dirusso, Heriberto D. Cerutti, Tom Elmo Clemente

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

A reliable and simple Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system for the unicellular green algae model organism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been developed. The protocol has been successfully employed with both neomycin phosphotransferase II (nptII) and the phleomycin resistance (bleI) genes coupled with the selective agents paromomycin and zeocin, respectively. A set of binary vectors were assembled that carry the selectable marker cassettes under control either of the Rbcs2 alone or fused to the HSP270A leader sequence, PsaD, or ß-tubulin2 promoters. The corresponding T-DNA elements also harbored a cassette with a codon-optimized version of yellow fluorescence protein (YFP) under …

The Localization Of Centromere Protein A Is Conserved Among Tissues, Eleonora Cappelletti, Francesca M. Piras, Lorenzo Sola, Marco Santagostino, Jessica L. Petersen, Rebecca R. Bellone, Carrie J. Finno, Sichong Peng, Ted S. Kalbfleisch, Ernest Bailey, Solomon G. Nergadze, Elena Giulotto

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Centromeres are epigenetically specified by the histone H3 variant CENP-A. Although mammalian centromeres are typically associated with satellite DNA, we previously demonstrated that the centromere of horse chromosome 11 (ECA11) is completely devoid of satellite DNA. We also showed that the localization of its CENP-A binding domain is not fixed but slides within an about 500 kb region in different individuals, giving rise to positional alleles. These epialleles are inherited as Mendelian traits but their position can move in one generation. It is still unknown whether centromere sliding occurs during meiosis or during development. Here, we first improve the sequence …

Social Networks And Violence Victimization And Perpetration Among Youth: A Longitudinal Analysis, Natira Mullet, Emily A. Waterman, Katie M. Edwards, Victoria Banyard, Thomas W. Valente

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Interpersonal violence (IV) is a serious concern for adolescents in the United States that has devastating impacts for individuals and communities. Given the increased importance placed on friendships during adolescence, the purpose of the current study was to examine the extent to which IV experiences cluster within youths' friendship networks. Participants were students (N = 1303) in grades 7th to 10th who completed surveys at the beginning and end of an academic year. Results showed that friends' average perpetration (i.e., the percentage of the friends they nominated who perpetrated IV) was strongly associated with likelihood of individual perpetration at …

Mass-Selected Ion–Molecule Cluster Beam Apparatus For Ultrafast Photofragmentation Studies, Xiaojun Wang, Mahmudul Hasan, Lin Fan, Yibo Wang, Hui Li, Daniel S. Slaughter, Martin Centurion

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We describe an apparatus for investigating the excited-state dissociation dynamics of mass-selected ion–molecule clusters by mass-resolving and detecting photofragment-ions and neutrals, in coincidence, using an ultrafast laser operating at high repetition rates. The apparatus comprises a source that generates ion–molecule clusters, a time-of-flight spectrometer, and a mass filter that selects the desired anions, and a linear-plus-quadratic reflectron mass spectrometer that discriminates the fragment anions after the femtosecond laser excites the clusters. The fragment neutrals and anions are then captured by two channeltron detectors. The apparatus performance is tested by measuring the photofragments: I⁻, CF₃I⁻, …

Animal Board Invited Review: Practical Applications Of Genomic Information In Livestock, D. P. Berry, Matthew L. Spangler

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Access to high-dimensional genomic information in many livestock species is accelerating. This has been greatly aided not only by continual reductions in genotyping costs but also an expansion in the services available that leverage genomic information to create a greater return-on-investment. Genomic information on individual animals has many uses including (1) parentage verification and discovery, (2) traceability, (3) karyotyping, (4) sex determination, (5) reporting and monitoring of mutations conferring major effects or congenital defects, (6) better estimating inbreeding of individuals and coancestry among individuals, (7) mating advice, (8) determining breed composition, (9) enabling precision management, and (10) genomic evaluations; genomic …

A Naturally Derived Watercress Flower-Based Phenethyl Isothiocyanate-Enriched Extract Induces The Activation Of Intrinsic Apoptosis Via Subcellular Ultrastructural And Ca2+ Efflux Alterations In An In Vitro Model Of Human Malignant Melanoma, Sotiris Kyriakou, Louiza Potamiti, Nikoletta Demosthenous, Tom Amery, Kyle Stewart, Paul G. Winyard, Rodrigo Franco, Aglaia Pappa, Mihalis I. Panayiotidis

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

The aim of the current study was to (i) extract isolated fractions of watercress flowers enriched in polyphenols, phenethyl isothiocyanate and glucosinolates and (ii) characterize the anticancer mode of action of non-lethal, sub-lethal and lethal concentrations of the most potent extract fraction in primary (A375) and metastatic (COLO-679) melanoma cells as well as non-tumorigenic immortalized keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells. Cytotoxicity was assessed via the Alamar Blue assay, whereas ultrastructural alterations in mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum were determined via transmission electron microscopy. Mitochondrial membrane depolarization was determined using Mito-MP dye, whereas apoptosis was evaluated through the activation of caspases-3, -8 and …

Two New Absolute Gravity Base Stations Established In Lincoln, Ne, Kris Guthrie, Irina Filina

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Two new absolute gravity base stations were established on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus in April 2022. The values were transferred with a relative gravity meter from four existing stations within 238 miles and were later validated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The final values at 22.5 cm above marker height are 980177.781 ± 0.010 mGal at the Lincoln Bell Tower Station and 980178.079 ± 0.010 mGal at the Lincoln Museum station with a gravity gradient of -3.105 µGal/cm. This paper describes the process of transferring gravity values and outlines recommendations for similar projects in the future.

Climate Change Impacts And Adaptation To Permafrost Change In High Mountain Asia: A Comprehensive Review, Prashant Baral, Simon Allen, Jakob F. Steiner, Tika R. Gurung, Graham Mcdowell

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Changing climatic conditions in High Mountain Asia (HMA), especially regional warming and changing precipitation patterns, have led to notable effects on mountain permafrost. Comprehensive knowledge of mountain permafrost in HMA is mostly limited to the mountains of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, with a strong cluster of research activity related to critical infrastructure providing a basis for related climate adaptation measures. Insights related to the extent and changing characteristics of permafrost in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), are much more limited. This study provides the first comprehensive review of peer-reviewed journal articles, focused on hydrological, ecological, and geomorphic impacts associated with thawing …

Findings From Seven Years Of Child Welfare Workforce Interventions, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

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The Quality Improvement Center for WorkforceDevelopment (QIC-WD) operated for seven years and worked with 57 distinct public and tribal child welfare jurisdictions to address workforce issues. We used agency data, an evidence-based management approach, and were supported by site teams that included human resources (HR) and child welfare professionals.

We engaged in in-depth, multi-year projects in eight of the sites, and highlights from those experiences are featured in this short video. A consistent approach to implementation was applied and rigorous evaluation methods were used in those workforce intervention sites, with the goals of improving worker performance, well-being, and retention. Interventions …

Elevated Risk Of Compound Extreme Precipitation Preceded By Extreme Heat Events In The Upper Midwestern United States, Manas Khan, Rabin Bhattarai, Liang Chen

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Compound extreme events can potentially cause deadlier socio-economic consequences. Although several studies focused on individual extreme climate events, the occurrence of compound extreme events is still not well studied in the upper Midwestern United States. In this study, compound extreme precipitation preceded by extreme hot day events was investigated. Results showed a strong linkage between extreme precipitation events and extreme hot days. A significant increasing trend was noticed mainly in Iowa (10.1%), northern parts of Illinois (5.04%), and Michigan (5.04%). Results also showed a higher intensity of extreme precipitation events preceded by an extremely hot day compared to the intensity …

Broken Tails In Holstein Dairy Cattle: A Cross-Sectional Study, Hannah E. Olsen, Karly N. Anderson, Katherine C. Creutzinger, Kurt D. Vogel

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Dairy cows are regularly handled when moved to the milking parlor and during other routine procedures. Low-stress handling methods are important in avoiding negative welfare states for dairy cattle. Tail twisting is used by some handlers to prompt cattle movement. However, when used inappropriately with excessive force, tail twisting can lead to a broken tail. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine cow-level factors that may be associated with the prevalence of broken tails in dairy cattle. A subset of 229 Holstein dairy cows (68 primiparous and 161 multiparous) at a single dairy were assessed for broken tails …

Revealing Gene Regulation-Based Neural Network Computing In Bacteria, Samitha S. Somathilaka, Sasitharan Balasubramaniam, Daniel P. Martins, Xu Li

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Bacteria are known to interpret a range of external molecular signals that are crucial for sensing environmental conditions and adapting their behaviors accordingly. These external signals are processed through a multitude of signaling transduction networks that include the gene regulatory network (GRN). From close observation, the GRN resembles and exhibits structural and functional properties that are similar to artificial neural networks. An in-depth analysis of gene expression dynamics further provides a new viewpoint of characterizing the inherited computing properties underlying the GRN of bacteria despite being non-neuronal organisms. In this study, we introduce a model to quantify the gene-to-gene interaction …

Graduate Student Award Winners In Educational Psychology: What Made Them Successful?, Kenneth A. Kiewra, Saima Hasnin, Jared Soundy, Priya Karimuddanahalli Premkumar, Chris Labenz

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Much is known about the factors that make some educational psychologists highly productive. Beginning nearly 25 years ago, Kiewra and colleagues began a series of six qualitative investigations to uncover the keys to scholarly success in educational psychology. The initial study (Kiewra & Creswell, 2000) investigated Richard Anderson, Richard Mayer, and Michael Pressley, who were ranked as the top scholars in a survey of educational psychologists. The second study (Patterson- Hazley & Kiewra, 2013), more than a decade later, investigated productive scholars Patricia Alexander, Richard Mayer, Dale Schunk, and Barry Zimmerman who were ranked as the top scholars in a …

Stomatal Opening Efficiency Is Controlled By Cell Wall Organization In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Sedighe Keynia, Leila Jaafar, You Zhou, Charles T. Anderson, Joseph A. Turner

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Stomatal function in plants is regulated by the nanoscale architecture of the cell wall and turgor pressure, which together control stomatal pore size to facilitate gas exchange and photosynthesis. The mechanical properties of the cell wall and cell geometry are critical determinants of stomatal dynamics. However, the specific biomechanical functions of wall constituents, for example, cellulose and pectins, and their impact on the work required to open or close the stomatal pore are unclear. Here, we use nanoindentation in normal and lateral directions, computational modeling, and microscopic imaging of cells from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to investigate the precise …

Enhancing The Assessment Of Coercive Control In Spanish Femicide Cases: A Nationally Representative Qualitative Analysis, Rosa Viñas‑Racionero, Chitra Raghavan, Miguel Ángel Soria‑Verde, Mario J. Scalora, Jorge Santos‑Hermoso, José Luís González‑Álvarez, María José Garrido‑Antón

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Purpose Coercive control is a power dynamic central to intimate partner violence (IPV) and consists of tactics to limit one’s partner’s autonomy through constraint, regulation of everyday life, isolation, pursuit, and intimidation and physical force. Such tactics may potentially signal a risk for future lethal or near lethal violence; hence, proper evaluation may enhance the utility of clinical femicide risk assessments. The goal of this study is to explore coercive control behaviors preceding partner femicides in Spain with the intention to provide guidance for its assessment by first responders and law enforcement.

Methods Researchers from the Department of State for …

Energy Dissipation Optimization For Circular Culverts, David M. Admiraal, Chi Zhang

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Two types of energy dissipation devices at circular culvert outlets were investigated: full-length weirs and staggered weirs. Related literature was reviewed; a model broken-back circular culvert and dissipation basin was built; instrumentation was installed to measure discharge, piezometric head, and velocities; and four sizes of full-length and staggered weirs were tested over a range of discharges and tailwaters. Weir heights ranged from D/8 to 4D/8, in which D was the culvert diameter. The two weir types were subjected to two styles of tests: (1) tests unaffected by tailwater and (2) tailwater-influenced tests. For tall full-length weirs (3D/8 and 4D/8), basin …

Ferromagnetic Resonators Synthesized By Metal-Organic Decomposition Epitaxy, Nhat Nguyen, Bryce Herrington, Kayetan Chorazewicz, Szu-Fan (Paul) Wang, Ruthi Zielinski, John Turner, Paul D. Ashby, Ufuk Kilic, Eva Schubert, Mathias Schubert, Ronald A. Parrott, Allen A. Sweet, Robert Streubel

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Metal-organic decomposition epitaxy is an economical wet-chemical approach suitable to synthesize high-quality low-spin-damping films for resonator and oscillator applications. This work reports the temperature dependence of ferromagnetic resonances and associated structural and magnetic quantities of yttrium iron garnet nanofilms that coincide with single-crystal values. Despite imperfections originating from wet-chemical deposition and spin coating, the quality factor for out-of-plane and in-plane resonances approaches 600 and 1000, respectively, at room temperature and 40 GHz. These values increase with temperature and are 100 times larger than those offered by commercial devices based on complementary metal-oxide semiconductor voltage-controlled oscillators at comparable production costs.

Is Climate Change Causing The Range Contraction Of Cape Rock-Jumpers (Chaetops Frenatus)?, Gregory D. Duckworth, Raquel A. Garcia, Rheinhardt Scholtz, Res Altwegg

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Species distribution models often suggest strong links between climate and species' distribution boundaries and project large distribution shifts in response to climate change. However, attributing distribution shifts to climate change requires more than correlative models. One idea is to examine correlates of the processes that cause distribution shifts, namely colonization and local extinction, by using dynamic occupancy models. The Cape Rock-jumper (Chaetops frenatus) has disappeared over most of its distribution where temperatures are the highest. We used dynamic occupancy models to analyse Cape Rock-jumper distribution with respect to climate (mean temperature and precipitation over the warmest annual quarter), …

Large And Tunable Magnetoresistance In Van Der Waals Ferromagnet/Semiconductor Junctions, Wenkai Zhu, Yingmei Zhu, Tong Zhou, Xianpeng Zhang, Hailong Lin, Qirui Cui, Faguang Yan, Ziao Wang, Yongcheng Deng, Hongxin Yang, Lixia Zhao, Igor Žutić, Kirill D. Belashchenko, Kaiyou Wang

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with conventional bulk ferromagnets separated by a nonmagnetic insulating layer are key building blocks in spintronics for magnetic sensors and memory. A radically different approach of using atomically-thin van der Waals (vdW) materials in MTJs is expected to boost their figure of merit, the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR), while relaxing the lattice-matching requirements from the epitaxial growth and supporting high-quality integration of dissimilar materials with atomically-sharp interfaces. We report TMR up to 192% at 10 K in all-vdW Fe₃GeTe₂/GaSe/Fe₃GeTe₂ MTJs. Remarkably, instead of the usual insulating spacer, this large TMR …

Antibiotic-Induced Gut Dysbiosis And Cognitive, Emotional, And Behavioral Changes In Rodents: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Shivdeep S. Hayer, Soonjo Hwang, Jonathan B. Clayton

Food for Health: Publications

There are previous epidemiological studies reporting associations between antibiotic use and psychiatric symptoms. Antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis and alteration of microbiota-gut-brain axis communication has been proposed to play a role in this association. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we reviewed published articles that have presented results on changes in cognition, emotion, and behavior in rodents (rats and mice) after antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis. We searched three databases—PubMed, Web of Science, and SCOPUS to identify such articles using dedicated search strings and extracted data from 48 articles. Increase in anxiety and depression-like behavior was reported in 32.7 and 40.7 percent of the …

Antibiotic-Induced Gut Dysbiosis And Cognitive, Emotional, And Behavioral Changes In Rodents: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Shivdeep S. Hayer, Soonjo Hwang, Jonathan B. Clayton

Food for Health: Publications

There are previous epidemiological studies reporting associations between antibiotic use and psychiatric symptoms. Antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis and alteration of microbiota-gut-brain axis communication has been proposed to play a role in this association. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we reviewed published articles that have presented results on changes in cognition, emotion, and behavior in rodents (rats and mice) after antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis. We searched three databases—PubMed, Web of Science, and SCOPUS to identify such articles using dedicated search strings and extracted data from 48 articles. Increase in anxiety and depression-like behavior was reported in 32.7 and 40.7 percent of the …

Summer Field Report, June–July 2023, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

There were no new species for Nebraska. This was also a lean season for records of species with few Nebraska records. Probably most significant were continuing Common Ravens in two Sioux Co locations, and possibly the first summer records of Baird’s Sparrow, a recording of the latter currently under NOURC review.

Within-state breeders nesting at new locations. There were several instances of nesting reported away from known breeding areas. These include documented records of first nesting Black-necked Stilts in Cherry Co, Least Terns off river at Offutt Base Lake in Sarpy Co, Mississippi Kite in Adams Co, Yellow-throated Vireo in …

The Nebraska Bird Review (September 2023) 91(3), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Summer Field Report, June–July 2023, by W. Ross Silcock

2023 Limpkin at Crystal Cove Park, Dakota County, NE, by Bill Huser

2022 (34th) Report of the NOU Records Committee, by Mark A. Brogie

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