Digital Commons Network^™

The Spatial Organization Of Pre-Colonial African Kingdoms: The Empires Of Ethiopia & Mali, Victoria O. Alapo

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Pre-Colonial kingdoms in Sub-Saharan Africa were many, and were organized in unique ways. The old Empires of Ethiopia and Mali were selected for this research because of their antiquity and for their contrasts: Ethiopia was an official Christian Empire for about two millennia, while Mali was the quintessential Sub-Saharan Islamic kingdom. Also, both empires possessed documentation written by traditional Africans, in the form of ancient indigenous manuscripts, which predate the colonial period (i.e., the coming of Europeans) by several centuries. In addition, the research analyzes work that has been done by historians and other academics, and incorporates the reports of …

Fungi: Friend Or Foe? A Mycobiome Evaluation In Children With Autism And Gastrointestinal Symptoms, Jane Alookaran, Yuying Liu, Thomas Auchtung, Amirali Tahanan, Manouchehr Hessabi, Parisa Asgarisabet, Mohammad H. Rahbar, Nicole Y. Fatheree, Deborah A. Pearson, Rosleen Mansour, Melissa R. Van Arsdall, Fernando Navarro, J. Marc Rhoads

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms often affect children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and GI symptoms have been associated with an abnormal fecal microbiome. There is limited evidence of Candida species being more prevalent in children with ASD. We enrolled 20 children with ASD and GI symptoms (ASD + GI), 10 children with ASD but no GI symptoms (ASD - GI), and 20 from typically developing (TD) children in this pilot study. Fecal mycobiome taxa were analyzed by Internal Transcribed Spacer sequencing. GI symptoms (GI Severity Index [GSI]), behavioral symptoms (Social Responsiveness Scale -2 [SRS-2]), inflammation and fungal immunity (fecal calprotectin and …

Ambivalence Toward Bureaucracy: Responses From Korean School Principals, Hyun-Jun Joo, Taeyeon Kim

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Purpose – Given the context of accountability-driven policy environments, research has shown that school leaders perceive bureaucratic rules and protocols in negative ways, but they also utilize organizational structures and routines to lead changes. To better understand both enabling and hindering mechanisms of bureaucracy in schools, this study explores how Korean school principals understand and perceive bureaucratic structures using a lens of ambivalence. The authors draw on Weber’s theory of bureaucracy, with a particular focus on the paradoxical aspect of bureaucracy that might be experienced by individuals within the system.

Design/methodology/approach – This study analyzed qualitative data collected from 26 …

Uncovering The Potential Learning In Short-Term Study Abroad, Elizabeth Niehaus, Gudrun Nyunt

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the facets of intercultural learning that might be achievable through faculty-led, short-term study abroad. Exploring changes in various facets of students’ intercultural competence pre- to post-study abroad, we found that the largest gains were in the cultural knowledge domain. Findings also point to vast differences in how individual students do, and do not, show gains across multiple measures of intercultural competence after studying abroad.

In Memoriam: Robert E. Woodruff, July 20, 1933–July 8, 2021, Paul E. Skelley, Oliver Keller

Insecta Mundi

This and the following set of papers published in Insecta Mundi are dedicated to Robert E. Woodruff, as tribute and thanks from those he mentored or assisted throughout his life. Bob’s many contributions to the study of beetles, being a founding member and first president of the Center for Systematic Entomology (CSE), co-creating Insecta Mundi with Ross H. Arnett, Jr., and having served in various capacities for 30 years on the CSE board of directors and the editorial board of Insecta Mundi, were deemed significant enough to allow this paper outside our normal guidelines. The following pages highlight the life …

What Sorority And Fraternity Life (Sfl) Professionals Learn About Navigating Their Positionalities When Advising And Advocating For Culturally Based Sfl Organizations, Hannah L. Reyes, Antonio Duran, Crystal Eufemia Garcia

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Despite the growing literature on culturally based sororities and fraternities, little research has examined how practitioners on college campuses support these organizations. This constructivist narrative study addressed this gap by centering the stories of fifteen sorority and fraternity life professionals who advised culturally based sororities and fraternities. In particular, this research project examined how participants reflected on their social identities and affiliation statuses as they built the multicultural competence needed to advise these organizations. Findings revealed how participants attempted to establish connections with students through shared experiences and marginalization, as well as how they also recognized the limitations of their …

Improving Taxonomic Delimitation Of Fungal Species In The Age Of Genomics And Phenomics, Asjley Stengel, Kimberly M. Stanke, Amanda C. Quattrone, Joshua Herr

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Species concepts have long provided a source of debate among biologists. These lively debates have been important for reaching consensus on how to communicate across scientific disciplines and for advancing innovative strategies to study evolution, population biology, ecology, natural history, and disease epidemiology. Species concepts are also important for evaluating variability and diversity among communities, understanding biogeographical distributions, and identifying causal agents of disease across animal and plant hosts. While there have been many attempts to address the concept of species in the fungi, there are several concepts that have made taxonomic delimitation especially challenging. In this review we discuss …

Chemical Reversible Crosslinking Enables Measurement Of Rna 3d Distances And Alternative Conformations In Cells, Ryan Van Damme, Kongpan Li, Minjie Zhang, Jianhui Bai, Wilson H. Lee, Joseph D. Yesselman, Zhipeng Lu, Willem A. Velema

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

Three-dimensional (3D) structures dictate the functions of RNA molecules in a wide variety of biological processes. However, direct determination of RNA 3D structures in vivo is difficult due to their large sizes, conformational heterogeneity, and dynamics. Here we present a method, Spatial 2′-Hydroxyl Acylation Reversible Crosslinking (SHARC), which uses chemical crosslinkers of defined lengths to measure distances between nucleotides in cellular RNA. Integrating crosslinking, exonuclease (exo) trimming, proximity ligation, and high throughput sequencing, SHARC enables transcriptome-wide tertiary structure contact maps at high accuracy and precision, revealing heterogeneous RNA structures and interactions. SHARC data provide constraints that improves Rosetta-based RNA 3D …

Hearing And Vestibular Loss With Misuse Of Opioids And Illicit Drugs: A Review Of The Literature, Michelle L. Hughes, Amanda Rodriquez, Jonathan Hatch, Kenneth Zoucha

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Background: The purpose of this review was to summarize the literature regarding the effects of opioids and illicit drugs on the auditory and vestibular systems.

Methods: Data were sourced from published papers reporting hearing loss (HL) and/or vestibular loss (VL) following misuse or overdose of opioids or illicit drugs. Most papers consisted of retrospective single-case reports, with few retrospective reviews or prospective cohort studies. Search terms included variations of HL, VL, opioids, and illicit drugs. Search results yielded 51 articles published between 1976 and 2021. A total of 44 articles were reviewed after excluding studies that were not available in …

Rethinking Sampled-Data Control For Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Xinkai Zhang, Justin M. Bradley

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Unmanned aircraft systems are expected to provide both increasingly varied functionalities and outstanding application performances, utilizing the available resources. In this paper, we explore the recent advances and challenges at the intersection of real-time computing and control and show how rethinking sampling strategies can improve performance and resource utilization. We showcase a novel design framework, cyber-physical co-regulation, which can efficiently link together computational and physical characteristics of the system, increasing robust performance and avoiding pitfalls of event-triggered sampling strategies. A comparison experiment of different sampling and control strategies was conducted and analyzed. We demonstrate that co-regulation has resource savings similar …

Troubling Unintended Harm Of Heroic Discourses In Social Justice Leadership, Taeyeon Kim, Courtney Mauldin

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

We aim to problematize the ways in which school leaders who seek social justice conflate heroic leadership discourses in their practices. Using qualitative data collected from an urban school principal, this study examines heroic metaphors utilized by the principal when describing social justice leadership and how heroic-centered approaches contradict with achieving social justice goals in school. The findings suggest that the principal’s idea of social justice leadership relies on discourse around “battles to win”, a savior complex, and seeing herself as the central model for driving change. Such heroic discourses reflect the principal’s sole reliance on herself as a savior …

Biogeosciences Perspectives On Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (Icon) Science, D. Dwivedi, A. L. D. Santos, M. A. Barnard, T. M. Crimmins, A. Malhotra, K. A. Rod, K. S. Aho, S. M. Bell, B. Bomfim, F. Q. Brearley, H. Cadillo-Quiroz, J. Chen, C. M. Gough, E. B. Graham, C. R. Hakkenberg, L. Haygood, G. Koren, E. A. Lilleskov, L. K. Meredith, S. Naeher, Z. L. Nickerson, O. Pourret, H.-S. Song, M. Stahl, N. Taş, R. Vargas, S. Weintraub-Leff

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

This article is composed of three independent commentaries about the state of Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) principles in the American Geophysical Union Biogeosciences section, and discussion on the opportunities and challenges of adopting them. Each commentary focuses on a different topic: (a) Global collaboration, technology transfer, and application (Section 2), (b) Community engagement, community science, education, and stakeholder involvement (Section 3), and (c) Field, experimental, remote sensing, and real-time data research and application (Section 4). We discuss needs and strategies for implementing ICON and outline short- and long-term goals. The inclusion of global data and international …

Negotiating Incomplete Autonomy: Portraits From Three School Principals, Taeyeon Kim, Jennie Weiner

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study builds on research scrutinizing school autonomy in policy and school governance by shifting the focus from a formal structural view of autonomy to examining how principals negotiate autonomy in their daily work. Drawing on multiple dimensions of autonomy and street-level bureaucracy, this study examined how principals, as both professionals and bureaucrats, work to expand and strategize their autonomy in practice.

Research Methods/Approach: We used portraiture to document and interpret the experience and perspectives of three principals at urban, suburban, and rural PK-12 traditional public schools in the Midwest of US during the 2018–2019 school year.

Findings: Principals …

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

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

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 …

Developing Metrics For Nasa Earth Science Interdisciplinary Data Products And Services, Zhong Liu, Chung-Lin Shie, Anthony J. Ritrivi, Guang-Dih Lei, Gary T. Alcott, Mary Greene, James Acker, Jennifer C. Wei, David J. Meyer, Angela Li, Atheer F. Al-Jazrawi

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Metrics are measures that are able to produce quantifiable information. There are many applications of metrics in Earth science data and services; for example, metrics are frequently used to track service performance and progress. In short, developing, collecting and analyzing metrics are essential activities to better support Earth science research, applications, and education.

As one of the largest repositories of Earth science data in the world, NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project supports twelve Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs). Standard metrics have been developed by the ESDIS Metrics System (EMS). These metrics are collected and analyzed routinely …

Ten Nights' Dreams And Our Cat's Grave, Natsume Soseki

Zea E-Books Collection

Ten Nights’ Dreams (夢十夜, Yume Jūya) is a classic written work from the Japanese master Natsume Soseki. Originally published in 1908, it announced the emergence in Japanese literature of a modernist and impressionistic mode. Short ­vignettes with fantastic, tragic, or magical events convey an exquisite sensibility compounded with stark realism. Love, honor, duty, artistry, desire, despair, and regret all shape events in the dream-world. The stories themselves suggest echoes of meanings beyond the failures of rational sense-making. Ten dreams—each unique and arresting—form a panorama of life and feeling, at once universal and intensely present.

“Our Cat’s Grave” is a brief …

Trainee Reactions, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are trainee reactions?

Trainee reactions refer to “subjective evaluations learners make about their training experiences” (Sitzmann et al., 2008, p. 280). Commonly referred to as “level 1” evaluations (e.g., Kirkpatrick, 1998), reactions are the most commonly used type of training evaluation and are measured with post-training surveys. Though measures are occasionally included in published research, there are no universal or even widely used measures. Instead, questions are developed by each organization or trainer based on their particular goals and interests. As a result, there is significant variation in what is measured. Originally, reactions referred only to how well a …

Guidelines For Publicly Archiving Terrestrial Model Data To Enhance Usability, Intercomparison, And Synthesis, Maegen B. Simmonds, William J. Riley, Deborah A. Agarwal, Xingyuan Chen, Shreyas Cholia, Robert Crystal-Ornelas, Ethan T. Coon, Dipankar Dwivedi, Valerie C. Hendrix, Maoyi Huang, Ahmad Jan, Zarine Kakalia, Jitendra Kumar, Charles D. Koven, Li Li, Mario Melara, Lavanya Ramakrishnan, Daniel M. Ricciuto, Anthony P. Walker, Wei Zhi, Qing Zhu, Charuleka Varadharajan

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Scientific communities are increasingly publishing data to evaluate, accredit, and build on published research. However, guidelines for curating data for publication are sparse for model-related research, limiting the usability of archived simulation data. In particular, there are no established guidelines for archiving data related to terrestrial models that simulate land processes and their coupled interactions with climate. Terrestrial modelers have a unique set of challenges when publishing data due to the diversity of scientific domains, research questions, and the types and scales of simulations. Researchers in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) projects use a variety of multiscale models to …

Regional Minimums In The U.S. Beef Complex, Elliott James Dennis, Bradley Lubben

Center for Agricultural Profitability

This report shows how the currently proposed policies differ; shows how these policies have aligned with historical market behavior; provides alternative specifications to regional minimums; and suggests policy alternatives to regional minimums.

The main purpose of this report is to show how current and potential alternative specifications of regional minimums would have historically aligned with observed market behavior. However, the fundamental question in the debate of the validity and effectiveness of regional minimums first rests on whether robust price discovery has historically occurred over time and within each USDA-AMS region. If there has been a lack of price discovery during …

A Precise Dispenser Design For Canine Cognition Research, Walker Arce, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Some forms of canine cognition research require a dispenser that can accurately dispense precise quantities of treats. When using off-the-shelf or retrofitted dispensers, there is no guarantee that a precise number of treats will be dispensed. Often, they will over-dispense treats, which may not be acceptable for some tasks. Here we describe a 3D-printed precise treat dispenser with a 59-treat capacity driven by a stepper motor drive and controlled by an integrated Raspberry Pi. The dispenser can be built for less than 200 USD and is fully 3D printable. While off-the-shelf dispensers can result in an error rate of 20–30%, …

An Efficient Method Of Evaluating Multiple Concurrent Management Actions On Invasive Populations, Amy J. Davis, Randy Farrar, Brad Jump, Parker Hall, Travis Guerrant, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Evaluating the efficacy of management actions to control invasive species is crucial for maintaining funding and to provide feedback for the continual improvement of management efforts. However, it is often difficult to assess the efficacy of control methods due to limited resources for monitoring. Managers may view effort on monitoring as effort taken away from performing management actions. We developed a method to estimate invasive species abundance, evaluate management effectiveness, and evaluate population growth over time from a combination of removal activities (e.g., trapping, ground shooting) using only data collected during removal efforts (method of removal, date, location, number of …

Organizational Change Process Milwaukee - Intervention Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

This Intervention Overview draws heavily from Building Cultures and Climates for Effective Human Services: Understanding and Improving Organizational Social Contexts with the ARC model, Oxford University Press (2018). This book was written by Drs. Anthony Hemmelgarn and Charles Glisson based on 20+ years of intensive implementation and research experience within child welfare and mental health organizations. Dr. Hemmelgarn consulted with the QIC-WD on this project and served as the ARC specialist in Milwaukee.

ARC is an organizational change process aimed at improving organizational culture and climate and the availability, responsiveness, and continuity of services in human service organizations. It …

The Casnr L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter: Learning Innovation Network For K-12 Schools, Edition 2, February 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:

Classroom resources for all levels

Eye on new curriculum

Teacher opportunities

List of new partnerships

Ask an expert

Eye on CASR research: Travis Mulliniks

Student experiences

Send your students to campus

Success stories

Global And Regional Sea Level Rise Scenarios For The United States: Updated Mean Projections And Extreme Weather Level Probabilities Along U.S. Coastlines, William V. Sweet, Benjamin D. Hamlington, Robert E. Kopp, Christopher P. Weaver, Patrick L. Barnard, David Bekaert, William Brooks, Michael Craghan, Gregory Dusek, Thomas Frederikse, Gregory Garner, Ayesha S. Genz, John P. Krasting, Eric Larour, Doug Marcy, John J. Marra, Jayantha Obeysekera, Mark Osler, Matthew Pendleton, Daniel Roman, Lauren Schmied, Will Veatch, Kathleen D. White, Casey Zuzak

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: Technical Reports and Related Materials

This report and accompanying datasets from the U.S. Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flood Hazard Scenarios and Tools Interagency Task Force provide 1) sea level rise scenarios to 2150 by decade that include estimates of vertical land motion and 2) a set of extreme water level probabilities for various heights along the U.S. coastline. These data are available at 1-degree grids along the U.S. coastline and downscaled specifically at NOAA tide-gauge locations. Estimates of flood exposure are assessed using contemporary U.S. coastal flood-severity thresholds for current conditions (e.g., sea levels and infrastructure footprint) and for the next 30 years (out …

Two Heads Are Better Than One: Current Landscape Of Integrating Qsp And Machine Learning, Tongli Zhang, Ioannis P. Androulakis, Peter Bonate, Limei Cheng, Tomáš Helikar, Jaimit Parikh, Christopher Rackauckas, Kalyanasundaram Subramanian, Carolyn R. Cho

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) modeling is applied to address essential questions in drug development, such as the mechanism of action of a therapeutic agent and the progression of disease. Meanwhile, machine learning (ML) approaches also contribute to answering these questions via the analysis of multi-layer ‘omics’ data such as gene expression, proteomics, metabolomics, and high-throughput imaging. Furthermore, ML approaches can also be applied to aspects of QSP modeling. Both approaches are powerful tools and there is considerable interest in integrating QSP modeling and ML. So far, a few successful implementations have been carried out from which we have learned about …

Lifelong Effects Of Poverty, Jill Mccaslin-Timmons, Marilyn Grady

Journal of Women in Educational Leadership

Poverty in the United States impacts children in public schools. In reviewing the literature on poverty, several themes emerged. The themes included: the struggle to define poverty in the United States, characteristics of families in poverty, the impact of poverty on school and lifelong effects of poverty on children.

Additionally, a personal story of a public school administrator who grew up in poverty is shared. This includes how the impact of that experience still impacts the way she thinks about poverty and interacts with families from poverty.

The Life Of Ruth Bader Ginsberg: Biography Of An Educator, Mallory Wallace

Journal of Women in Educational Leadership

Now in her eighties, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has lived a remarkable life. Justice Ginsburg has had an enormous impact on the way United States law respects gender equality, transformed the U.S. Constitution, and lead broad social transformation in America (Dodson, 2015). And while all of this is so, before she completed any of this, Justice Ginsburg was known as Professor Ginsburg, spending seventeen years teaching law at two highly respected institutions of higher education. During this time, she created and taught revolutionary courses on Women and the Law, co-write the first-ever published casebook on sex-based discrimination, …

“Oh, I’M A Damsel In Distress”: Women Higher Education Leaders’ Narratives, Jill Channing

Journal of Women in Educational Leadership

This study focused on women higher education administrators’ experiences related to intersections of gender and work lives, using a narrative analysis research methodology. Women administrators shared stories of the influence of gender on their work lives. Participants “violated” gender norms by pursuing traditionally male-dominated careers, and some shared experiences of sex discrimination and/or witnessed phenomena such as the glass ceiling, sexual harassment, and various double binds related to gender stereotypes. Participants’ stories challenge the literature’s focus on barriers and gender-related challenges for women higher education administrators. Social constructions of gender, contexts, individual personalities, critical life events, among other factors inform …

The False Dichotomy Of Sex And Religion In America, Kelsy Burke

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Religion and sexuality are polysemic categories. While conservative religion often fights against progressive sexual politics in contemporary America, this “usual story” is fractured and destabilized by people navigating the relationship between religion and sexuality as complex social creatures, not pundits or caricatures. Drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship, I examine salient issues of sexual politics—including abortion and reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and pornography—to show how religious actors have been on both sides of these debates. Because of this polysemic complexity, scholars of religion must not only tend to the dynamic interaction between religion and other categories, we must also recognize and study …

Water Insecurity, Water Borrowing, And Psychosocial Stress Among Daasanach Pastoralists In Northern Kenya, Leslie Ford, Hilary J. Bethancourt, Zane Swanson, Rosemary Nzunza, Amber Wutich, Alexandra Brewis, Sera Young, David Almeida, Matthew J. Douglass, Emmanuel K. Ndiema, David R. Braun, Herman Pontzer, Asher Y. Rosinger

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This article quantifies Daasanach water insecurity experiences in Northern Kenya, examines how water insecurity is associated with water borrowing and psychosocial stress, and evaluates if water borrowing mitigates the stress from water insecurity. Of 133 households interviewed in 7 communities, 95% were water insecure and 74.4% borrowed water three or more times in the prior month. Regression analyses demonstrate water borrowing frequency moderates the relationship between water insecurity and psychosocial stress. Only those who rarely or never borrowed water reported greater stress with higher water insecurity. The coping mechanism of water borrowing may help blunt water insecurity-related stress.