Digital Commons Network^™

The Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys Volans) In Lincoln, Nebraska, Melissa J. Panella, Shaun M. Dunn, Thomas E. Labedz, Hugh H. Genoways

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

The southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) is considered a species of greatest conservation need in Nebraska and listed as threatened in the state. Historically, the geographic range of the southern flying squirrel in Nebraska has been restricted to five eastern counties from a northern suburb of Omaha, Douglas Co., southward in the four counties of Sarpy, Otoe, Nemaha, and Richardson, all bordering the Missouri River on the east. In late November of 2018, a resident of Lincoln, Lancaster Co., Nebraska, contacted the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission about an animal found dead in his yard. This animal proved …

Disagreements And Proper Respect In Farm/Ranch Succession, Allan Vyhnalek

Cornhusker Economics

Adapted from "Does Disrespect Have a Place in Your Ag Legacy?" Volume 6, Issue 1, February 2021, Ag Legacy, by Caleb Carter, consultant to the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in the University of Wyoming College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Briefly covers disagreements and proper respect in farm/ranch succession.

Co-Transcriptomic Analysis Of The Maize–Western Corn Rootworm Interaction, Lise Pingault, Saumik Basu, Neetha N. Vellichirammal, William Paul Williams, Gautam Sarath, Joe Louis

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The Western corn rootworm (WCR; Diabrotica virgifera virgifera) is an economically important belowground pest of maize. Belowground feeding by WCR is damaging because it weakens the roots system, diminishes nutrient uptake, and creates entry points for fungal and bacterial pathogens and increases lodging, all of which can significantly suppress maize yields. Previously, it was demonstrated that belowground herbivory can trigger plant defense responses in the roots and the shoots, thereby impacting intraplant communication. Although several aspects of maize-WCR interactions have been reported, co-transcriptomic remodeling in the plant and insect are yet to be explored. We used a maize genotype, …

Students’ Self-Efficacy In Self-Regulation Together With Behavioural And Emotional Strengths: Investigating Their Self-Perceptions, Minna Ikävalko, Erkko Sointu, Matthew C. Lambert, Jaana Viljaranta

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Students’ self-perceptions are a foundation for educational and psychosocial development. In order to investigate self-perceptions, we need to recognise the preconceptions (e.g. doubts and confidence) students hold about themselves. In this study, we examined 10–16-year-old students’ (N=599) self–perceptions from the viewpoints of the sources of self-efficacy in self-regulation and behavioural and emotional strengths. Specifically, we used descriptive analyses to examine whether students’ ages or received pedagogical support played a role in how they perceived themselves, and whether these viewpoints are related to each other. Our results indicate that, in general, primary school students perceived their sources of self-efficacy in self-regulation …

Conversations About Food Insecurity: Examining College Campus Climates, Crystal Eufemia Garcia

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This qualitative critical narrative inquiry study explored the experiences of 19 students within four universities in a single Southern state that used campus food aid resources such as a food pantry. Using Hurtado et al.’s Multicontextual Model for Diverse Learning Environments (MMDLE), this paper sheds light on how participants discussed the campus climate for students experiencing food insecurity within their respective campuses. Findings unpack students’ reflections on a lack of awareness and discussion about food insecurity and food aid resources within the campus community, the role that stigmas played in participants’ perceptions and use of campus food aid resources, and …

What Makes The Article “Condition Monitoring And Fault Diagnosis Of Electrical Motors—A Review” So Popular?, Wei Qiao

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Electric motors are widely used in the industrial, commercial, residential, and transportation sectors to power the systems that provide goods and services to end users. The failure of electric motors may cause significant production or service interruption and financial losses. To improve the quality of service of systems driven by electric motors, it is vital to continuously improve the reliability of electric motors. Driven by this demand, various condition monitoring and fault diagnostic techniques for electric motors have been developed by academia and industry over the past decades.

The article “Condition Monitoring and Fault Diagnosis of Electrical Motors—A Review,” written …

The Casnr L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter: Learning Innovation Network For K-12 Schools, Edition 8, September 2022, Bailey Feit, Tammy Mittelstet

CASNR L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter

The purpose of this L.I.N.K.S. newsletter is to provide a monthly update of opportunities and resources for K-12 schools to connect with the University of Nebraska's CASNR Food, Energy, Water, and Societal Systems (FEWS²) programs and partners.

Included in this edition:

Curriculum and classroom resources for all levels

Eye on curriculum and resources

K-12 Partners website is live

Ineda Nebraska Ag Expo career exploration event

Teacher opportunities

Link to list of new partnerships

Ask an expert

Eye on CASNR research: Eric Knoll

Student experiences

Sens your students to campus: Husker weekday visit

Success stories: University TAPS Program coming soon

A Discourse, Delivered At Plymouth, December 22, 1820. In Commemoration Of The First Settlement Of New-England (1821), Daniel Webster, Paul Royster , Ed.

Zea E-Books in American Studies

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Mayflower Pilgrims’ Landing at Plymouth Rock, Daniel Webster (1782–1852), former congressman and future senator and secretary of state, delivered this long discourse to the assembled members of the Pilgrim Society. Always the consummate New Englander, Webster sketched 200 years of American history, surveyed the present era, and projected grand future prospects for a nation barely 40 years old, but with deep roots in Reformed Protestant values and English constitutionalism. Underlying all was his belief that “The character of their political institutions was determined by the fundamental laws respecting property.” Webster’s stories highlight the …

Pest Population Dynamics Are Related To A Continental Overwintering Gradient, Douglas Lawton, Anders S. Huseth, George G. Kennedy, Amy C. Morey, William D. Hutchison, Dominic D. Reisig, Seth J. Dorman, De Shae Dillard, Robert C. Venette, Russell L. Groves, John J. Adamczyk, Izailda Barbosa Dos Santos, Tracey Baute, Sebe Brown, Eric Burkness, Ashley Dean, Galen P. Dively, Hélène B. Doughty, Shelby J. Fleischer, Jessica Green, Jeremy K. Greene, Krista Hamilton, Erin Hodgson, Thomas E. Hunt, David Kerns, Billy Rogers Leonard, Sean Malone, Fred Musser, David Owens, John C. Palumbo, Silvana L. Vieira De Paula Moraes, Julie A. Peterson, Ricardo Ramirez, Silvia I. Rondon, Tracy L. Schilder, Abby Seaman, Lori Spears, Scott D. Stewart, Sally Taylor, Tyler Towles

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Overwintering success is an important determinant of arthropod populations that must be considered as climate change continues to influence the spatiotemporal population dynamics of agricultural pests. Using a long-term monitoring database and biologically relevant overwintering zones, we modeled the annual and seasonal population dynamics of a common pest, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), based on three overwintering suitability zones throughout North America using four decades of soil temperatures: the southern range (able to persist through winter), transitional zone (uncertain overwintering survivorship), and northern limits (unable to survive winter). Our model indicates H. zea population dynamics are hierarchically structured with continental-level effects …

White Male Privilege In The Perpetration Of Sexual Violence: An Exploratory Study Of Young Adults, Emily Elizabeth Camp

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This exploratory study examined how racism and sexism among privileged White men intersect and vary to influence factors associated with sexual violence (SV) perpetration. Specifically, this study examined the interconnection of racism and sexism via latent profile analysis (LPA), how profile groups differentially predict attitudinal responses to a victim in an acquaintance rape SV vignette regarding victim blame and rape minimization (e.g., rape myth acceptance), rape proclivity, and bystander intentions to help, and whether or not these attitudes change based on the victim’s race (i.e., White or Black). The sample included 628 young adult, White, heterosexual, cis-gender men currently living …

Black Trust In Us Legislatures, Ernest Dupree Iii, John R. Hibbing

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Trust is a key part of any political system. Given the very different experiences of Black people and White people in the United States, it is likely that the nature and contours of political trust varies widely from one racial group to the other. In this article, we take advantage of a specially commissioned 2018 survey to compare Black and White trust in American legislative institutions (Congress and the state legislatures). Thanks to an oversample, we also are able to zero in on variations across Black respondents, making it possible to identify the variables that push legislative trust up or …

Polyploidy Events Shaped The Expansion Of Transcription Factors In Cucurbitaceae And Exploitation Of Genes For Tendril Development, Yu Zhang, Yingchao Zhang, Bing Li, Xiao Tan, Changping Zhu, Tong Wu, Shuyan Feng, Qihang Yang, Shaoqin Shen, Tong Yu, Zhuo Liu, Xiaoming Song

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Cucurbitaceae is one of the most important plant families distributed worldwide. Transcription factors (TFs) regulate plant growth at the transcription level. Here, we performed a systematic analysis of 42 641 TFs from 63 families in 14 Cucurbitaceae and 10 non-cucurbit species. Whole-genome duplication (WGD) was the dominant event type in almost all Cucurbitaceae plants. The TF families were divided into 1 210 orthogroups (OGs), of which, 112 were unique to Cucurbitaceae. Although the loss of several gene families was detected in Cucurbitaceae, the gene families expanded in five species that experienced a WGD event comparing with grape. Our findings revealed …

Project-Based Learning Promotes Students’Perceived Relevance In An Engineering Statistics Course: A Comparison Of Learning In Synchronous And Online Learning Environments, Wen Huang, Jeremi S. London, Loga A. Perry

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Understanding statistics is essential for engineers. However, statistics courses remain challenging for many students, as they find them rigid, abstract, and demanding. Prior research has indicated that using project based learning (PjBL) to demonstrate the relevance of statistics to students can have a significant effect on learning in these courses. Consequently, this study sought to explore the impact of a PjBL intervention on student perceptions of the relevance of engineering and statistics. The purpose of the intervention was to help students understand the connection between statistics and their academic majors, lives, and future careers. Four mini-projects connecting statistics to students’ …

Characteristics Of Emotional Disturbance Of Female And Male Students In Elementary, Middle, And High School, Douglas Cullinan, Matthew C. Lambert, Michael Epstein

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Provide data on the five characteristics of emotional disturbance (ED). For 503 students with ED and 2016 without disabilities, teachers rated the characteristics (Inability to Learn; Relationship Problems; Inappropriate Behavior; Unhappiness or Depression; Physical Symptoms or Fears), plus Socially Maladjusted. We applied a 2 (ED, without disabilities) × 2 (female, male) × 3 (elementary, middle, high school) covariance analysis, with follow‐up comparisons. Students with ED showed greater problems than students without disabilities on all five characteristics, and Socially Maladjusted. On Inability to Learn, among students with ED genders did not differ at elementary but males …

Ai Protein Structure Prediction-Based Modeling And Mutagenesis Of A Protostome Receptor And Peptide Ligands Reveal Key Residues For Their Interaction, Shi-Qi Guo, Ya-Dong Li, Ping Chen, Guo Zhang, Hui-Ying Wang, Hui-Min Jiang, Wei-Jia Liu, Ju-Ping Xu, Xue-Ying Ding, Ping Fu, Ke Yu, Hai-Bo Zhou, James W. Checco, Jian Jing

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

The protostome leucokinin (LK) signaling system, including LK peptides and their G protein-coupled receptors, has been characterized in several species. Despite the progress, molecular mechanisms governing LK peptide–receptor interactions remain to be elucidated. Previously, we identified a precursor protein for Aplysia leucokinin-like peptides (ALKs) that contains the greatest number of amidated peptides among LK precursors in all species identified so far. Here, we identified the first ALK receptor from Aplysia, ALKR. We used cell-based IP1 activation assays to demonstrate that two ALK peptides with the most copies, ALK1 and ALK2, activated ALKR with high potencies. Other endogenous ALK-derived peptides …

Communicating Across Eternal Divides: Conceptualizing Communicated Acceptance During Parent-Child Religious Difference, Toni Morgan, Jody Koenig Kellas

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Significant religious difference in the family has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. While religious difference may be challenging for families to negotiate, the manner in which family members communicate about it seems to be helpful in promoting positive interactions between parents and children. The purpose of this study was to conceptualize a parental communicated (non) acceptance continuum in the context of significant parent-child religious difference. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 44 adults who identified a significant religious difference with their parent. The results suggested that communicated (non)acceptance occurred along a continuum with four ranges of behaviors: communicated nonacceptance, ambivalence, …

Herbaceous Production Lost To Tree Encroachment In United States Rangelands, Scott L. Morford, Brady W. Allred, Dirac L. Twidwell Jr, Matthew O. Jones, Jeremy D. Maestas, Caleb P. Roberts, David E. Naugle

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

1. Rangelands of the United States provide ecosystem services that benefit society and rural economies. Native tree encroachment is often overlooked as a primary threat to rangelands due to the slow pace of tree cover expansion and the positive public perception of trees. Still, tree encroachment fragments these landscapes and reduces herbaceous production, thereby threatening habitat quality for grassland wildlife and the economic sustainability of animal agriculture.

2. Recent innovations in satellite remote sensing permit the tracking of tree encroachment and the corresponding impact on herbaceous production. We analysed tree cover change and herbaceous production across the western United States …

Biofilms: Formation, Research Models, Potential Targets, And Methods For Prevention And Treatment, Yajuan Su, Jaime T. Yrastorza, Mitchell Matis, Jenna Cusick, Siwei Zhao, Guangshun Wang, Jingwei Xie

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Due to the continuous rise in biofilm-related infections, biofilms seriously threaten human health. The formation of biofilms makes conventional antibiotics ineffective and dampens immune clearance. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms of biofilm formation and develop novel strategies to treat biofilms more effectively. This review article begins with an introduction to biofilm formation in various clinical scenarios and their corresponding therapy. Established biofilm models used in research are then summarized. The potential targets which may assist in the development of new strategies for combating biofilms are further discussed. The novel technologies developed recently for the prevention and treatment …

White House Office Of Science And Technology (Ostp) Updated Its U.S. Public Access Policy Guidance (August 25, 2022)

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) updated its U.S. public access policy guidance (August 25, 2022)

Memorandum For The Heads Of Executive Departments And Agencies, August 25, 2022: Ensuring Free, Immediate, And Equitable Access To Federally Funded Research, White House Office Of Science And Technology Policy

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

This memorandum provides policy guidance to federal agencies with research and development expenditures on updating their public access policies. In accordance with this memorandum, OSTP recommends that federal agencies, to the extent consistent with applicable law:

1. Update their public access policies as soon as possible, and no later than December 31, 2025, to make publications and their supporting data resulting from federally funded research publicly accessible without an embargo on their free and public release;

2. Establish transparent procedures that ensure scientific and research integrity is maintained in public access policies; and,

3. Coordinate with OSTP to ensure equitable …

Collateral Damage From Agricultural Netting To Open-Country Bird Populations In Thailand, Rongrong Angkaew, Philip D. Round, Dusit Ngoprasert, Larkin A. Powell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Nets are used across a wide variety of food production landscapes to control avian pests typically resulting in deaths of entangled birds. However, the impact of nets on bird populations is a human–wildlife conflict that remains mostly unquantified. Here, we examined the scale of netting in the central plains of Thailand, a region dominated by ricefields, among which aquaculture ponds are increasingly interspersed. Nets/exclusion types, number of individual birds and species caught were recorded on 1312 road-survey transects (2-km length × 0.4-km width). We also interviewed 104 local farmers. The transect sampling took place in late- September 2020, and from …

Great-Tailed Grackles (Quiscalus Mexicanus) As A Tolerant Host Of Avian Malaria Parasites, M. Andreína Pacheco, Francisco C. Ferreira, Corina J. Logan, Kelsey B. Mccune, Maggie P. Macpherson, Sergio Albino Miranda, Diego Santiago-Alarcon, Ananias A. Escalante

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Great-tailed Grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) are a social, polygamous bird species whose populations have rapidly expanded their geographic range across North America over the past century. Before 1865, Great-tailed Grackles were only documented in Central America, Mexico, and southern Texas in the USA. Given the rapid northern expansion of this species, it is relevant to study its role in the dynamics of avian blood parasites. Here, 87 Great-tailed grackles in Arizona (a population in the new center of the range) were screened for haemosporidian parasites using microscopy and PCR targeting the parasite mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Individuals were caught …

Enabling Intelligent Iots For Histopathology Image Analysis Using Convolutional Neural Networks, Mohammed H. Alali, Arman Roohi, Shaahin Angizi, Jitender S. Deogun

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Medical imaging is an essential data source that has been leveraged worldwide in healthcare systems. In pathology, histopathology images are used for cancer diagnosis, whereas these images are very complex and their analyses by pathologists require large amounts of time and effort. On the other hand, although convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have produced near-human results in image processing tasks, their processing time is becoming longer and they need higher computational power. In this paper, we implement a quantized ResNet model on two histopathology image datasets to optimize the inference power consumption. We analyze classification accuracy, energy estimation, and hardware utilization …

Central Data Storage Newly Located At Innovation Campus, University Communication

Nebraska Innovation Campus Materials

Nebraska Innovation Campus has announced a new partner. Dan Duncan, NIC’s executive director, said Central Data Storage recently moved into its office space on the campus. Central Data Storage is a software and services company that offers business-critical data backup and recovery as well as encrypted messaging for highly regulated businesses. Central Data Storage provides daily account monitoring, in-house support, and military grade file encryption that ensures a company’s digital assets are protected, as well as a 24-hour recovery guarantee.

The Global Spread Of Misinformation On Spiders, Stefano Mammola, Jagoba Malumbres-Olarte, Valeria Arabesky, Diego Alejandro Barrales-Alcalá, Aimee Lynn Barrion-Dupo, Marco Antonio Benamú, Tharina L. Bird, Maria Bogomolova, Pedro Cardoso, Maria Chatzaki, Ren Chung Cheng, Tien Ai Chu, Leticia M. Classen-Rodríguez, Iva Čupić, Naufal Urfi Dhiya'ulhaq, André Philippe Drapeau Picard, Hisham K. El-Hennawy, Mert Elverici, Caroline S. Fukushima, Zeana Ganem, Efrat Gavish-Regev, Naledi T. Gonnye, Axel Hacala, Charles R. Haddad, Thomas Hesselberg, Tammy Ai Tian Ho, Thanakorn Into, Marco Isaia, Dharmaraj Jayaraman, Nanguei Karuaera, Rajashree Khalap, Kiran Khalap, Dongyoung Kim, Tuuli Korhonen, Laura Segura-Hernández, Et Al.

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

In the internet era, the digital architecture that keeps us connected and informed may also amplify the spread of misinformation. This problem is gaining global attention, as evidence accumulates that misinformation may interfere with democratic processes and undermine collective responses to environmental and health crises1,2. In an increasingly polluted information ecosystem, understanding the factors underlying the generation and spread of misinformation is becoming a pressing scientific and societal challenge3. Here, we studied the global spread of (mis-)information on spiders using a high-resolution global database of online newspaper articles on spider–human interactions, covering stories of spider–human encounters and biting events published …

Collateral Damage: Anticoagulant Rodenticides Pose Threats To California Condors, Garth Herring, Collin A. Eagles-Smith, Rachel Wolstenholme, Alacia Welch, Chris West, Barnett A. Rattner

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are widespread environmental contaminants that pose risks to scavenging birds because they routinely occur within their prey and can cause secondary poisoning. However, little is known about AR exposure in one of the rarest avian scavengers in the world, the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus). We assessed AR exposure in California condors and surrogate turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) to gauge potential hazard to a proposed future condor flock by determining how application rate and environmental factors influence exposure. Additionally, we examined whether ARs might be correlated with prolonged blood clotting time and potential mortality …

Snp Discovery In Proso Millet (Panicum Miliaceum L.) Using Lowpass Genome Sequencing, Rituraj Khound, Guangchao Sun, Ravi V. Mural, James C. Schnable, Dipak K. Santra

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Domesticated ~10,000 years ago in northern China, Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is a climate-resilient and human health-promoting cereal crop. The genome size of this self-pollinated allotetraploid is 923 Mb. Proso millet seeds are an important part of the human diet in many countries. In the USA, its use is restricted to the birdseed and pet food market. Proso millet is witnessing gradual demand in the global human health and wellness food market owing to its health-promoting properties such as low glycemic index and gluten-free. The breeding efforts for developing improved proso millet cultivars are hindered by the …

Meta-Analysis Reveals Both The Promises And The Challenges Of Clinical Metabolomics, Heidi E. Roth, Robert Powers

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

Clinical metabolomics is a rapidly expanding field focused on identifying molecular biomarkers to aid in the efficient diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. Variations in study design, metabolomics methodologies, and investigator protocols raise serious concerns about the accuracy and reproducibility of these potential biomarkers. The explosive growth of the field has led to the recent availability of numerous replicate clinical studies, which permits an evaluation of the consistency of biomarkers identified across multiple metabolomics projects. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the third-leading cause of cancer-related death and has the lowest five-year survival rate primarily due to the lack of an …

Dynamic Energy Budget Models: Fertile Ground For Understanding Resource Allocation In Plants In A Changing World, Sabrina E. Russo, Glenn Ledder, Erik B. Muller, Roger M. Nisbet

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Climate change is having dramatic effects on the diversity and distribution of species. Many of these effects are mediated by how an organism’s physiological patterns of resource allocation translate into fitness through effects on growth, survival and reproduction. Empirically, resource allocation is challenging to measure directly and so has often been approached using mathematical models, such as Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) models. The fact that all plants require a very similar set of exogenous resources, namely light, water and nutrients, integrates well with the DEB framework in which a small number of variables and processes linked through pathways represent an …

Evaluating The Sensitivity Of Heatwave Definitions Among North Carolina Physiographic Regions, Jagadeesh Puvvula, Azar M Abadi, Kathryn C. Conlon, Jared J. Rennie, Hunter Jones, Jesse E. Bell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Exposure to extreme heat is a known risk factor that is associated with increased heat-related illness (HRI) outcomes. The relevance of heat wave definitions (HWDs) could change across health conditions and geographies due to the heterogenous climate profile. This study compared the sensitivity of 28 HWDs associated with HRI emergency department visits over five summer seasons (2011–2016), stratified by two physiographic regions (Coastal and Piedmont) in North Carolina. The HRI rate ratios associated with heat waves were estimated using the generalized linear regression framework assuming a negative binomial distribution. We compared the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) values across the HWDs …