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2022 Nebraska Business

College of Business: Trade Publications

2022 Nebraska Business

The Quest To Identify A New Virus Disease Of Sunflower From Nebraska, Robert M. Harveson, Maher Al Rwahnih, California Department Of Food And Agriculture, Alex Karasev, Tom J. Gulya, Jeff Bradshaw

Panhandle Research and Extension Center

Between 2010 and 2018, sunflower plants exhibiting virus-like symptoms, including stunting, mottling, and chlorotic ringspots on leaves, were observed from commercial fields and research plots from four sites within three distinct counties of western Nebraska (Box Butte, Kimball, and Scotts Bluff). Near identical symptoms from field samples were reproduced on seedlings mechanically in the greenhouse on multiple occasions, confirming the presence of a sap-transmissible virus from each site. Symptomatic greenhouse-inoculated plants from the 2010 and 2011 Box Butte samples tested negative for sunflower mosaic virus (SuMV), sunflower chlorotic mottle virus (SuCMoV), and all potyviruses in general by ELISA and RT-PCR. …

Quasi-Spherical Absorbing Receiver Model Of Glioblastoma Cells For Exosome-Based Molecular Communications, Caio Fonseca, Michael Taynan Barros, Andreani Odysseos, Srivatsan Kidambi, Sasitharan Balasubramaniam

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

In this paper, we propose a mathematical and computational model for the GBM initiating of recurring focus as a quasi-spherical absorbing receiver considering the irregular shape as a Bernoulli trial process that accounts for the uncontrollable tumor growth over an initial spherical surface. Our results show that when GBM grow to irregular quasi-sphere shapes, they will increase the channel capacity, which is fully aligned with the evolution and configuration of GSC niches in GBM cultures.

Real-Time Dynamic Map With Crowdsourcing Vehicles In Edge Computing, Qiang Liu, Tao Han, Jiang (Linda) Xie, Baekgyu Kim

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Autonomous driving perceives surroundings with line-of-sight sensors that are compromised under environmental uncertainties. To achieve real time global information in high definition map, we investigate to share perception information among connected and automated vehicles. However, it is challenging to achieve real time perception sharing under varying network dynamics in automotive edge computing. In this paper, we propose a novel real time dynamic map, named LiveMap to detect, match, and track objects on the road. We design the data plane of LiveMap to efficiently process individual vehicle data with multiple sequential computation components, including detection, projection, extraction, matching and combination. We …

Effects Of Release Techniques On Parent-Reared Whooping Cranes In The Eastern Migratory Population, Hillary L. Thompson, M. Susanna Glass, Marianne M. Wellington, Kim H. Boardman, Glenn H. Olsen

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Reintroduction of an Eastern Migratory Population (EMP) of whooping cranes (Grus americana) in the United States by release of captive-reared individuals began in 2001. As of 2020, the EMP has approximately 21 breeding pairs and has had limited recruitment of wild-hatched individuals, thus captive-reared juveniles continue to be released into breeding areas in Wisconsin to maintain the population. We investigated the effects of release techniques on survival, behavior, site fidelity, and conspecific associations of 42 captive-parent-reared whooping cranes released during 2013-2019 into the EMP. Individuals were monitored intensively post-release, then as a part of a long-term monitoring program, …

Whooping Crane Stay Length In Relation To Stopover Site Characteristics, Andrew J. Caven, Aaron T. Pearse, David A. Brandt, Mary J. Harner, Greg D. Wright, David M. Baasch, Emma M. Brinley Buckley, Kristine L. Metzger, Matthew R. Rabbe, Anne E. Lacy

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

Whooping crane (Grus americana) migratory stopovers can vary in length from hours to more than a month. Stopover sites provide food resources and safety essential for the completion of migration. Factors such as weather, climate, demographics of migrating groups, and physiological condition of migrants influence migratory movements of cranes (Gruidae) to varying degrees. However, little research has examined the relationship between habitat characteristics and stopover stay length in cranes. Site quality may relate to stay length with longer stays that allow individuals to improve body condition, or with shorter stays because of increased foraging efficiency. We examined this …

Short-Range Air Defense Operations, United States Army

United States Army: Field Manuals

Short-Range Air Defense Operations, United States Army Field Manual FM 3-01.44

Causes And Consequences Of Fake Transparency/Excess Information In Food Claims, Susweta Ray, Konstantinos Giannakas

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This study develops novel multi-stage game-theoretic models of heterogeneous firms and consumers in vertically differentiated food product markets with asymmetric information to analyze the economic causes and market and welfare consequences of excess information/ fake transparency in food labeling. Analytical results indicate that the firms’ incentives to adopt the excess information strategy, the Nash equilibrium configuration of firms adopting the strategy, and the market and welfare impacts of excess information are case-specific and dependent on the consumer reaction to excess information, the quality of the firms’ products, the degree of product differentiation between the brand producing firms, and whether the …

Risk And Protective Factors For Sexual Aggression Across The Ecosystem: An Overview, Emily A. Waterman, Katie M. Edwards

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

Prevention of sexual aggression (which ranges from perpetration of unwanted sexual contact to attempted/completed rape) is a complex public health and safety issue that requires attention to multiple levels of social ecology (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004). The social ecological model provides a framework for understanding how risk and protective factors for sexual aggression exist at multiple levels, with some factors being more proximal such as the individual attitudes, and other factors being more distal such as the broader culture (e.g., laws and policies) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Indeed, research indicates a variety of risk …

Availability Heuristic In Construction Workforce Decision-Making Amid Covid-19 Pandemic: Empirical Evidence And Mitigation Strategy, Yunping Liang, Anil Baral, Mohsen Shahandashti, Baabak Ashuri

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The decision-making situations of the construction workforce have been drastically altered since the outbreak of the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The new situation, where decision-makers strive to promptly respond to the unprecedented crisis to sustain essential construction operations without compromising the safety and health of workers, implies the presence of an availability heuristic. An availability heuristic has the potential to bring unconscious, systematic errors to the decision-making process. This study creates a decision-making experiment to empirically examine the presence of an availability heuristic and the effectiveness of a corresponding mitigation strategy in construction workforce decision-making under COVID-19 uncertainties. The experiment …

Addressing Barriers In Comprehensiveness, Accessibility, Reusability, Interoperability And Reproducibility Of Computational Models In Systems Biology, Anna Niarakis, Dagmar Waltemath, James Glazier, Falk Schreiber, Sarah M. Keating, David Nickerson, Claudine Chaouiya, Anne Siegel, Vincent Noël, Henning Hermjakob, Tomáš Helikar, Sylvain Soliman, Laurence Calzone

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Computational models are often employed in systems biology to study the dynamic behaviours of complex systems. With the rise in the number of computational models, finding ways to improve the reusability of these models and their ability to reproduce virtual experiments becomes critical. Correct and effective model annotation in community-supported and standardised formats is necessary for this improvement. Here,we present recent efforts toward a common framework for annotated, accessible, reproducible and interoperable computational models in biology, and discuss key challenges of the field.

Scientists from different systems biology fields have long been developing community-driven guidelines and best practices for annotation, …

Recognition Of Extracellular Dna By Type Iv Pili Promotes Biofilm Formation By Clostridioides Difficile, Leslie A. Ronish, Ben Sidner, Yafan Yu, Kurt H. Piepenbrink

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Clostridioides difficile is a Gram-positive bacillus, which is a frequent cause of gastrointestinal infections triggered by the depletion of the gut microbiome. Because of the frequent recurrence of these infections after antibiotic treatment, mechanisms of C. difficile persistence and recurrence, including biofilm formation, are of increasing interest. Previously, our group and others found that type IV pili, filamentous helical appendages polymerized from protein subunits, promoted microcolony and biofilm formation in C. difficile. In Gram-negative bacteria, the ability of type IV pili to mediate bacterial self-association has been explained through interactions between the pili of adjacent cells, but type …

Fishing Regulations, Sexual Dimorphism, And The Life History Of Harvest, Lyndsie S. Wszola, Zachary S. Feiner, Christopher J. Chizinski, Jamilynn B. Poletto, John P. Delong

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Freshwater recreational fisheries regulations are a vital tool for achieving social and ecological fisheries objectives. However, angler behavior and fish biology may interact to influence regulation efficacy in unexpected ways. We combined models of fish growth and angler behavior to explore how angler behavior interacts with fish life history to shape the probability of fish harvest given capture across ages, life stages, and sexes of walleye (Sander vitreus). Compared to females, males grew more quickly as juveniles, matured earlier, and reached smaller maximum sizes. Male walleye were therefore vulnerable to harvest for more of their reproductive lives than …

The Brazilian Soil Spectral Service (Braspecs): A User-Friendly System For Global Soil Spectra Communication, José A. M. Demattê, Ariane Francine Da Silveira Paiva, Raul Roberto Poppiel, Nícolas Augusto Rosin, Luis Fernando Chimelo Ruiz, Fellipe Alcantara De Oliveira Mello, Budiman Minasny, Sabine Grunwald, Yufeng Ge, Eyal Ben Dor, Asa Gholizadeh, Cecile Gomez, Sabine Chabrillat, Nicolas Francos, Shamsollah Ayoubi, Dian Fiantis, James Kobina Mensah Biney, Changkun Wang, Abdelaziz Belal, Salman Naimi, Najmeh Asgari Hafshejani, Henrique Bellinaso, Jean Michel Moura-Bueno, Nélida E. Q. Silvero

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Although many Soil Spectral Libraries (SSLs) have been created globally, these libraries still have not been operationalized for end-users. To address this limitation, this study created an online Brazilian Soil Spectral Service (BraSpecS). The system was based on the Brazilian Soil Spectral Library (BSSL) with samples collected in the Visible–Near–Short-wave infrared (vis–NIR–SWIR) and Midinfrared (MIR) ranges. The interactive platform allows users to find spectra, act as custodians of the data, and estimate several soil properties and classification. The system was tested by 500 Brazilian and 65 international users. Users accessed the platform (besbbr.com.br), uploaded their spectra, and received soil organic …

Comparison Of Stationary And Mobile Canopy Sensing Systems For Irrigation Management Of Maize And Soybean In Nebraska, Sandeep Bhatti, Derek M. Heeren, Susan A. O’Shaughnessy, Steven R. Evett, Mitchell S Maguire, Suresh Pradhyun Kashyap, Christopher M. U. Neale

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Accurate knowledge of plant and field characteristics is crucial for irrigation management. Irrigation can potentially be better managed by utilizing data collected from various sensors installed on different platforms. The accuracy and repeatability of each data source are important considerations when selecting a sensing system suitable for irrigation management. The objective of this study was to compare data from multispectral (red and near-infrared bands) and thermal (long wave thermal infrared band) sensors mounted on different platforms to investigate their comparative usability and accuracy. The different sensor platforms included stationary posts fixed on the ground, the lateral of a center pivot …

Maize Response To Irrigation And Nitrogen Under Center Pivot, Subsurface Drip And Furrow Irrigation: Water Productivity, Basal Evapotranspiration And Yield Response Factors, Ali T. Mohammed, Suat Irmak

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Information and data about quantification and comparison of crop water productivity indices for various irrigation levels and methods and nitrogen (N) application timings “simultaneously” under the same conditions do not exist. Unprecedented and extensive field experiments were conducted for maize (Zea mays L.) in 2016 and 2017 under center pivot (CP), subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) and furrow irrigation (FI) methods with full irrigation treatment (FIT), 80% FIT, 60% FIT and rainfed treatment (RFT) with three N application timings. N treatments were: (i) traditional (TN), (ii) non-traditional-1 (NT-1) and (iii) non-traditional-2 (NT-2). Irrigation yield production functions (IYPF); evapotranspiration-yield production functions …

Characterizing Isoform Switching Events In Esophageal Adenocarcinoma, Yun Zhang, Katherine M. Weh, Connor L. Howard, Jean-Jack Riethoven, Jennifer L. Clarke, Kiran H. Lagisetty, Jules Lin, Rishindra M. Reddy, Andrew C. Chang, David G. Beer, Laura A. Kresty

Nebraska Center for Biotechnology: Faculty and Staff Publications

Isoform switching events with predicted functional consequences are common in many cancers, but characterization of switching events in esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is lacking. Next-generation sequencing was used to detect levels of RNA transcripts and identify specific isoforms in treatment- naïve esophageal tissues ranging from premalignant Barrett’s esophagus (BE), BE with low- or high-grade dysplasia (BE.LGD, BE.HGD), and EAC. Samples were stratified by histopathology and TP53 mutation status, identifying significant isoform switching events with predicted functional consequences. Comparing BE.LGD with BE.HGD, a histopathology linked to cancer progression, isoform switching events were identified in 75 genes including KRAS, RNF128, and WRAP53. Stratification …

An Empiricist’S Guide To Using Ecological Theory, Tess N. Grainger, Athmanathan Senthilnathan, Po-Ju Ke, Matthew A. Barbour, Natalie T. Jones, John Delong, Sarah P. Otto, Mary I. O'Connor, Kyle E. Coblentz, Nikunj Goel, Jawad Sakarchi, Megan C. Szojka, Jonathan M. Levine, Rachel M. Germain

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

A scientific understanding of the biological world arises when ideas about how nature works are formalized, tested, refined, and then tested again. Although the benefits of feedback between theoretical and empirical research are widely acknowledged by ecologists, this link is still not as strong as it could be in ecological research. This is in part because theory, particularly when expressed mathematically, can feel inaccessible to empiricists who may have little formal training in advanced math. To address this persistent barrier, we provide a general and accessible guide that covers the basic, step-by-step process of how to approach, understand, and use …

Predator Functional Responses And The Biocontrol Of Aphids And Mites, John Delong, Stella Uiterwaal

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Biocontrol with predators is a key tool for controlling agricultural pests and preserving the productive efficiency of crops. Determining which predators to use for biocontrol often involves measuring their functional response—the relationship between foraging rate and prey abundance, yet comparisons of functional responses across predators are complicated by differences in experimental procedures. Here we use a compilation of functional responses standardized for time and space units to illustrate key sources of variation in functional responses for predators being tested for control of aphids and mites. Our results show that arena size (as a proxy for habitat structure) is a crucial …

Dancing Across Difference: Arts And Community-Based Interventions As Intercultural Education, Theresa Catalano, Amanda R. Morales

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

There is an ever-present need to foster and maintain intercultural competence in today’s teaching force. Although much research details how to do this, few studies document how to utilize arts and community-based (ACB) approaches to align with the goals of intercultural education. This qualitative study examines reflections from 61 teacher learners who participated in an ACB intervention with community partners while enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate course focused on serving students with immigrant/refugee backgrounds. The aim of this study was to find out what the characteristics of good intercultural education are, as well as how ACB approaches can provide …

“At School, It’S A Completely Different World”: African Immigrant Youth Agency And Negotiation Of Their Adaptation Processes In Us Urban Schools, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, Hanihani Moundiba Traore, Guy Trainin

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

African immigrant youth adaptation processes in US schools remain underresearched. Using qualitative case study, this article examines West African immigrant middle- and high-school youth adaptation experiences in US urban schools. Findings show that racialized experiences, English proficiency levels, and multilingualism affected social relationships (both supportive and conflicted) with families, communities, peers, and school contexts. These experiences crucially influenced African immigrant youths’ adaptation processes. Participants drew from community resources and developed resilience skills to negotiate acculturative stressors when seeking friendship, belonging, and an integrated sense of identity in their new home. Recommendations for further supporting positive adaptive strategies are discussed.

Developing Intercultural Competence In Multilingual Science Classrooms: A Narrative Study, Uma Ganesan, Amanda Morales

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

Increased globalization of the world economy, growth in human migration, and rapid developments in science and technology have required people to develop intercultural communication skills. Teachers play a crucial role in developing intercultural competence among students in our globalized, multilingual classrooms. The need for fostering discourse and building intercultural competence among students is a common blind spot in teacher praxis. This can inhibit efforts to cultivate safe and supportive learning environments for all students and can ultimately threaten multilingual student success. As part of a larger study, this narrative inquiry explores the phenomenon of intercultural competence development through the lived …

Using Algorithmic Imaginaries And Uncanny Pedagogy To Facilitate Interdisciplinary Research And Digital Scholarship, Philip L. Frana

Honors in Practice Online Archive

An interdisciplinary honors course titled “Minds, Machines, and Meaning” incorporates the notion of the algorithmic imaginary, which explains how people make use of algorithms to create new information infrastructures and communities and how these algorithms shape us in turn. Describing a culminating writing assignment in speculative research, the author explains how this course facilitates interdisciplinary research while fostering student and faculty growth, and he reflects on the possibility of its future variation, the uncanny valley of algorithmic anti-humanism.

Disrupting The Way We Work: An Honors Summer Vacation, Lexi Rager, Mollie Hartup

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Authors describe how a summer respite introduces alternative ways and spaces in which to work, positing how collaborative discourse and dismantled hierarchies can affect positive change and productive outcomes for honors programs.

While some assume that the summer is our off-season, the team at the Sokolov Honors College at Youngstown State University knows that it is the time we have to be most “on,” tackling all that we don’t get to do in the semester and positioning us for a strong start to the upcoming fall. Summer 2021 seemed particularly daunting with a laundry list of items to catch up …

Mapping The Hero’S Journey Into Thinking: Assigning A Geo-Literacies Multimodal Assignment In A First-Year Honors Seminar, Amy Lee M. Locklear

Honors in Practice Online Archive

By incorporating visual mapping into students’ thinking and writing processes, a narrative assignment in geo-literacy creates a reflective and agency-based learning experience for student writers in a first-year honors seminar.

At Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM), I ask my first-year honors students to reflectively examine and practice habits of thinking and knowledge-building in a series of interrelated writing projects and readings. Each reading and writing task is designed to give students the opportunity to build their synthesis-level critical and creative thinking habits. The course theme of “Hero’s Journey” challenges students to consider the idea of the heroic, especially as it …

Serving Through Transcribing: Preserving History While Building Community, Julie Centofanti, Mollie Hartup

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Community is a foundational element in honors education. During the global pandemic, students reimagined ways to connect in order to build community and serve one another. Authors describe a virtual collaboration in transcription, where honors students gathered to participate in digital transcribe-a-thons. These informal groupings evolved into a transcribing club that met three times a week (collectively logging more than 1,600 hours) and transcribed over 16,000 historical documents. A study of participating transcribers reveals enhanced historical knowledge, skill building, and opportunities for relationships with students of varying interests and backgrounds despite edicts for social distancing. While a common feature of …

Embracing New Opportunities In And Beyond First-Year Honors Composition, Teagan Decker, Scott Hicks

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Authors describe course-embedded research experiences at a diverse, rural, regional university. Emphasizing the capacity for conventional teaching and learning in first-year honors composition, these experiences provide relationshiprich education through faculty and peer mentorships. Positing that first-year honors composition is undervalued as a means for establishing programmatic foundations that resonate with students throughout their honors experience, the authors reinforce its importance as a place for disciplinary research and thus for opportunities in mentoring. By addressing an urgent need for mentoring underrepresented students, the authors consider how a research-based first-year honors composition course might help such students make meaningful disciplinary connections. A …

Disorientations And Disruptions: Innovating First-Year Honors Education Through Collaborative Mapping Projects, Nathan W. Swanson

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A series of courses on the Evolution of Ideas introduces interdisciplinary study, develops collaborative discourse, and promotes a sense of community among first-year honors students. The curriculum encourages faculty to use a range of strategies to help students understand an idea and its history while also fostering awareness as to its social, political, economic, and broader contexts. Using the social history of maps as an example, the author demonstrates how disrupting students’ understanding of the map itself and, through creative group projects, disorienting emergent understanding of campus spaces, fosters a questioning atmosphere and makes room for growth. Through planned disorientation …

Effect Of Health Aid On Life Expectancy In Sub-Saharan Africa, Sakiru Oladele Akinbode Dr., Isiaq O. Oseni

Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies

No abstract provided.

“Best Of Both Worlds”: Alumni Perspectives On Honors And The Liberal Arts, Angela King Taylor, Kelsey Daniels, Molly Knowlton

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This study explores the extent to which skills acquired through liberal arts curricula facilitate immediate post-graduate employment of honors college alumni. Using qualitative methods and semi-structured interviews (n = 16), authors examine the honors college experience and the attainment of skills through the lens of graduates (2017–2020) at a large research institution. Results indicate that while honors alumni identify certain skills that helped them realize initial employment, they were often unable to translate and apply these skills in professional workplaces, particularly nonacademic ones. Data further suggest that liberal arts skills (communication, research competence, critical reasoning, intercultural competence, interdisciplinary inquiry, disciplinary …