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The Strange Case Of Colophotia Miranda Olivier, 1886 (Coleoptera: Lampyridae: Luciolinae), Lesley Ballantyne, Wan F.A. Jusoh

Insecta Mundi

A single male specimen identified as Colophotia miranda Olivier (Coleoptera: Lampyridae: Lucio­linae) by Blair and housed in the Natural History Museum, London, is redescribed, and its identification and affinities explored.

Ernest Olivier, who first described Colophotia miranda in 1886, was then curator of insects at the Muséum natio­nale d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (MNHN). Effectively for lampyridologists he was the first in a narrow line of firefly taxonomists. Thanks to Olivier we have our first subfamily classifications, keys, catalogues and species descrip­tions; work that has undergone much revision and expansion in the last 100 years.

One of Olivier’s strengths, for those of …

Association Between Clinical Respiratory Signs, Lung Lesions Detected By Thoracic Ultrasonography And Growth Performance In Pre‐Weaned Dairy Calves, Inmaculada Cuevas-Gomez, Mark Mcgee, Jose Maria Sanchez, Edward O'Riordan, Nicky Byrne, Tara Mcdaneld, Bernadette Earley

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

Background: Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the main cause of mortality among 1-to-5 month old calves in Ireland, accounting for approximately one-third of deaths. Despite widespread use of clinical respiratory signs for diagnosing BRD, lung lesions are detected, using thoracic ultrasonography (TUS) or following post-mortem, in calves showing no clinical signs. This highlights the limitation of clinical respiratory signs as a method of detecting sub-clinical BRD. Using 53 purchased artificially-reared male dairy calves, the objectives of this study were to: (i) characterise the BRD incidence detected by clinical respiratory signs and/or TUS, (ii) investigate the association between clinical respiratory signs …

Molecular Design Of Three-Dimensional Metal-Free A(Nh4)X3 Perovskites For Photovoltaic Applications, Jie Bie, Dai-Bei Yang, Ming-Gang Ju, Qiang Pan, Yu-Meng You, Wei Fa, Xiao Cheng Zeng, Shuang Chen

Xiao Cheng Zeng Publications

The intense research activities on the hybrid organic−inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) have led to the greatly improved light absorbers for solar cells with high power conversion efficiency (PCE). However, it is still challenging to find an alternative lead-free perovskite to replace the organohalide lead perovskites to achieve high PCE. This is because both previous experimental and theoretical investigations have shown that the Pb²⁺ cations play a dominating role in contributing the desirable frontier electronic bands of the HOIPs for light absorbing. Recent advances in the chemical synthesis of three-dimensional (3D) metal-free perovskites, by replacing Pb²⁺ with NH₄^{+ …}

Dataset Search In Biodiversity Research: Do Metadata In Data Repositories Reflect Scholarly Information Needs?, Felicitas Löffler, Valentin Wesp, Brigitta König-Ries, Friederike Klan

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Abstract

The increasing amount of publicly available research data provides the opportunity to link and integrate data in order to create and prove novel hypotheses, to repeat experiments or to compare recent data to data collected at a different time or place. However, recent studies have shown that retrieving relevant data for data reuse is a time-consuming task in daily research practice. In this study, we explore what hampers dataset retrieval in biodiversity research, a field that produces a large amount of heterogeneous data. In particular, we focus on scholarly search interests and metadata, the primary source of data in …

Exploring Viirs Continuity With Modis In An Expedited Capability For Monitoring Drought-Related Vegetation Conditions, Trenton D. Benedict, Jesslyn F. Brown, Stephen P. Boyte, Daniel M. Howard, Brian A. Fuchs, Brian D. Wardlow, Tsegaye Tadesse, Kirk A. Evenson

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Vegetation has been effectively monitored using remote sensing time-series vegetation index (VI) data for several decades. Drought monitoring has been a common application with algorithms tuned to capturing anomalous temporal and spatial vegetation patterns. Drought stress models, such as the Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI), often use VIs like the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The EROS expedited Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrora-diometer (eMODIS)-based, 7-day NDVI composites are integral to the VegDRI. As MODIS satellite platforms (Terra and Aqua) approach mission end, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) presents an alternate NDVI source, with daily collection, similar band passes, and …

Discussion Of “Is Group Testing Ready For Prime-Time In Disease Identification?” By Haber, Malinovsky, And Albert, Statistics In Medicine, 2021, Brad J. Biggerstaff

United States Public Health Resources

I congratulate the authors on an interesting, instructive, and timely paper. Certainly, including the testing for SARS-CoV-2 example in a paper on a topic—group testing—of wide interest during the current COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes the relevance of the topic in public health and diagnostic medicine generally. But the thoughtful inclusion of the remaining examples—HIV, HPV, and cancer biomarker detection—illustrates that the issues considered are important even in less urgent times. In this note of discussion I will comment on two particular aspects in the paper that I found particularly informative, and then I will comment on two other, related areas that …

Exploring Viirs Continuity With Modis In An Expedited Capability For Monitoring Drought-Related Vegetation Conditions, Trenton D. Benedict, Jesslyn F. Brown, Stephen P. Boyte, Daniel M. Howard, Brian A. Fuchs, Brian D. Wardlow, Tsegaye Tadesse, Kirk A. Evenson

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Vegetation has been effectively monitored using remote sensing time-series vegetation index (VI) data for several decades. Drought monitoring has been a common application with algorithms tuned to capturing anomalous temporal and spatial vegetation patterns. Drought stress models, such as the Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI), often use VIs like the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The EROS expedited Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrora-diometer (eMODIS)-based, 7-day NDVI composites are integral to the VegDRI. As MODIS satellite platforms (Terra and Aqua) approach mission end, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) presents an alternate NDVI source, with daily collection, similar band passes, and …

Evaluation Of The Taxonomic Status Of Eurytides Marcellus Form “Floridensis” (W. Holland, 1898) (Papilionoidea, Papilioninae, Leptocircini), Harry Pavulaan

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

The purpose of this paper is to firmly identify subspecific authorship of the name floridensis for the Floridian population of Eurytides marcellus (Cramer, 1779), which I recognize as a distinct, though slightly differentiated, subspecies ranging north and west along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastal regions. Though the name has been in historical use by multiple authors since description by William J. Holland (1898), it has not been readily evident which, if any, published work to date clearly and validly elevated the name to subspecific rank. The name “floridensis” is not preoccupied by any other members of …

Take Your Time, Terry A. Ratzlaff

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

I see the world not as one seamless world but as a world composed of other worlds, built on top and within one another. They exist harmoniously, bound not by space but by time. In an instant I can move from one world into another where I can exist in two worlds simultaneously—in space, I am here. In time, I am there.

Worldmaking is a conceptual process of seeing connections and making distinctions within our lived reality.1 It is a process of dividing and organizing parts into collections that represent different narratives. Only through suitable arrangements can we handle vast …

Information Search And Political Ideology: Examining How An Individual’S Political Ideology Relates To The Category And Depth Of The Political Information They Pursue, Megan Elbel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The expansion of news media in television and online allows the public to tailor their consumption of political news to their specific interests. Understanding how the public engages in political information search with respect to their political identities can provide insight into the type and amount of information an individual pursues before making a political decision. The present study examines how people of various political ideologies gather information related to political issues. Participants completed surveys gauging their attitudes toward a number of political policy issues following a task in which they were allowed to select political issue topics and control …

Evolution Of Genome Structure In The Drosophila Simulans Species Complex, Mahul Chakraborty, Ching-Ho Chang, Danielle E. Khost, Jeffrey Vedanayagam, Jeffrey R. Adrion, Yi Liao, Kristi L. Montooth, Colin D. Meiklejohn, Amanda M. Larracuente, J J. Emerson

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

The rapid evolution of repetitive DNA sequences, including satellite DNA, tandem duplications, and transposable elements, underlies phenotypic evolution and contributes to hybrid incompatibilities between species. However, repetitive genomic regions are fragmented and misassembled in most contemporary genome assemblies. We generated highly contiguous de novo reference genomes for the Drosophila simulans species complex (D. simulans, D. mauritiana, and D. sechellia), which speciated ∼250,000 yr ago. Our assemblies are comparable in contiguity and accuracy to the current D. melanogaster genome, allowing us to directly compare repetitive sequences between these four species. We find that at least 15% of the D. simulans complex …

Illusional Marketing: The Use Of Storytelling, User Experience And Gamification In Business, Adnan Veysel Ertemel

Zea E-Books Collection

“This book is a must-have for marketers who need to use a composite set of tools to break through the attention economy. The book is also for the general public who might be concerned about the growing and numbing screen time that takes people away from doing other things.” — Philip Kotler on Illusional Marketing

Digital platforms know how to “hook” consumers and keep them glued to the screen. These products were developed based on psychologists’ research into the way the human brain works. These are new weapons in the marketing toolkit that will become even more effective when combined …

Exploring Factors In Choosing Stem Majors And Careers: Improving Science Education Through The Lens Of Self-Determination Theory, Lauren Mott

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Several barriers currently exist for students who could be successful in science/STEM careers but have not had the support they needed throughout their science/STEM education. This study of the literature applies Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to existing research to identify steps educators can take to remove these unnecessary barriers for their students. SDT defines competence, relatedness, and autonomy as three innate psychological needs that must be met for well-being. An exploratory review of the literature was conducted, and findings were organized using SDT. The results showed that competence, relatedness, and autonomy were all key factors in students’ self-determination of science/STEM careers. …

Intrauterine Transfer Of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids In Mother–Infant Dyads As Analyzed At Time Of Delivery, Vanessa Woodard, Melissa Thoene, Matthew Van Ormer, Maranda Thompson, Corrine Hanson, Sathish Kumar Natarajan, Maheswari Mukherjee, Ana Yuil-Valdes, Tara M. Nordgren, Arzu Ulu, Kristina Harris Jackson, Ann Anderson-Berry

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential for fetal development, and intrauterine transfer is the only supply of PUFAs to the fetus. The prevailing theory of gestational nutrient transfer is that certain nutrients (including PUFAs) may have prioritized transport across the placenta. Numerous studies have identified correlations between maternal and infant fatty acid concentrations; however, little is known about what role maternal PUFA status may play in differential intrauterine nutrient transfer. Twenty mother–infant dyads were enrolled at delivery for collection of maternal and umbilical cord blood, and placental tissue samples. Plasma concentrations of PUFAs were assessed using gas chromatography (GC‐FID). Intrauterine …

Mental Model-Based Repeated Multifaceted (Mrm) Intervention Design: A Conceptual Framework For Improving Preventive Health Behaviors And Outcomes, Mazbahul G. Ahamad, Fahian Tanin

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Objective: Field interventions employed to improve preventive health behaviors and outcomes generally use well established approaches; however, recent studies have reported that health education and promotional interventions have little to no impact on health behaviors, especially in low- and middle-income countries. We aimed to develop a conceptual framework to improve intervention designs that would internalize these concerns and limitations.

Results: We identified three major experimental design- and implementation-related concerns associated with mental models, including the balance between the treatment and control groups, the treatment group’s willingness to adopt suggested behaviors, and the type, length, frequency, intensity, and sequence of treatments. …

Highlighting Membrane Protein Structure And Function: A Celebration Of The Protein Data Bank, Fei Li, Pascal F. Egea, Alex J. Vecchio, Ignacio Asial, Meghna Gupta, Joana Paulino, Ruchika Bajaj, Miles Sasha Dickinson, Shelagh Fergunson-Miller, Brian C. Monk, Robert M. Stroud

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Biological membranes define the boundaries of cells and compartmentalize the chemical and physical processes required for life. Many biological processes are carried out by proteins embedded in or associated with such membranes. Determination of membrane protein (MP) structures at atomic or near-atomic resolution plays a vital role in elucidating their structural and functional impact in biology. This endeavor has determined 1198 unique MP structures as of early 2021. The value of these structures is expanded greatly by deposition of their three-dimensional (3D) coordinates into the Protein Data Bank (PDB) after the first atomic MP structure was elucidated in 1985. Since …

Utilizing Digital Image Processing And Two‑Source Energy Balance Model For The Estimation Of Evapotranspiration Of Dry Edible Beans In Western Nebraska, Wei‑Zhen Liang, Isabella Possignolo, Xin Qiao, Kendall Dejonge, Suat Irkmak, Derek M. Heeren, Daran Rudnick

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Having an accurate yet simple method to estimate crop evapotranspiration ( ET_C) is a vital component of reliable irrigation scheduling. In this study, two versions of the two-source energy balance (TSEB) model: the TSEB model with the Priestley–Taylor equation (TSEB-PT) and the Penman–Monteith equation (TSEB-PM), were used to estimate ET_C of dry edible beans in western Nebraska. Compared with previous studies, this study is unique in that a Visual Basic software—Crop Canopy Image Analyzer (CCIA) was developed to process digitally captured RGB canopy images to obtain necessary canopy cover (CC) parameters for the TSEB models such as …

The Big Problem With The Small Penis Rule: Why It Does Not Limit Defamation Liability, Michael Conklin

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

The small penis rule is an informal strategy for limiting defamation liability for authors of fiction. The rule recommends that when an author utilizes a fictional character to defame a real-life person, he should also give the character a small penis—the logic being that in order to sue, a plaintiff would have to admit that he is the fictional character, therefore admitting that he has a small penis, and thus dissuading such litigation. In this first-ever Article to address the issue, evidence is provided for why this is an unwise strategy and how it would likely cause an increase in …

The Sorghum Bicolor Root Exudate Sorgoleone Shapes Bacterial Communities And Delays Network Formation, Peng Wang, Yen Ning Chai, Rebecca Roston, Franck E. Dayan, Daniel P. Schachtman

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Primary and secondary metabolites exuded from roots are key drivers of root-soil microbe interactions that contribute to the structure and function of microbial communities. Studies with model plants have begun to reveal the complex interactions between root exudates and soil microbes, but little is known about the influence of specialized exudates from crop plants. The aims of this work were to understand whether sorgoleone, a unique lipophilic secondary benzoquinone exuded only from the root hairs of sorghum, influences belowground microbial community structure in the field, to assess the effect of purified sorgoleone on the cultured bacteria from field soils, and …

Grass Bud Responses To Fire In A Semiarid Savanna System, Quinn A. Hiers, Morgan L. Treadwell, Matthew B. Dickinson, Kathleen L. Kavanagh, Alexandra G. Lodge, Heath D. Starns, Doug R. Tolleson, Dirac Twidwell, Carissa L. Wonkka, William E. Rogers

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Increasingly, land managers have attempted to use extreme prescribed fire as a method to address woody plant encroachment in savanna ecosystems. The effect that these fires have on herbaceous vegetation is poorly understood. We experimentally examined immediate (<24 hr) bud response of two dominant graminoids, a C₃ caespitose grass, Nassella leucotricha, and a C₄ stoloniferous grass, Hilaria belangeri, following fires of varying energy (J/m² ) in a semiarid savanna in the Edwards Plateau ecoregion of Texas. Treatments included high- and low-energy fires determined by contrasting fuel loading and a no burn (control) treatment. Belowground axillary buds were counted and their activities classified to determine immediate effects …

Maldi-Tof Ms Biomarker Detection Models To Distinguish Rtx Toxin Phenotypes Of Moraxella Bovoculi Strains Are Enhanced Using Calcium Chloride Supplemented Agar, Matthew M. Hille, Michael L. Clawson, Aaron M. Dickey, Justin H. Lowery, John Dustin Loy

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Moraxella bovoculi is the bacterium most often cultured from ocular lesions of cattle with infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis, also known as bovine pinkeye. Some strains of M. bovoculi contain operons encoding for a repeats-in-toxin (RTX) toxin, which is a known virulence factor of multiple veterinary pathogens. We explored the utility of MALDI-TOF MS and biomarker detection models to classify the presence or absence of an RTX phenotype in M. bovoculi. Ninety strains that had undergone whole genome sequencing were classified by the presence or absence of complete RTX operons and confirmed with a visual assessment of hemolysis on blood agar. Strains …

Engineering Src Homology 2 Domains With Improved Specificity For Sulfotyrosine, Anya Morozov

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Protein tyrosine O-sulfation (PTS) is a common post-translational modification that has been implicated in a variety of biological processes and human illnesses. Despite continued progress in the field of sulfoproteomics, the extent and function of sulfated tyrosine (sulfotyrosine) residues is a topic of ongoing research. Previous work in the Guo Lab has identified Src Homology-2 (SH2) mutants that have a high affinity for sulfotyrosine along with retained high affinity for their natural ligand, phosphorylated tyrosine (phosphotyrosine). In this thesis, I attempted to generate SH2 mutants that have high affinity and specificity for sulfotyrosine over phosphotyrosine. While I successfully generated …

Unconventional Agriculture: An Exploration Of Hydroponics And Aquaponics And Their Role As A Solution To Food Scarcity, Kai Meacham

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Unconventional agriculture includes methods of farming that are defined by unique farming practices and a focus on sustainability. Unconventional agriculture can take many forms, including hydroponic systems and aquaponic systems. These two systems are unique in the sense that they are soilless methods of growing plants. Both of these systems require careful monitoring because they do not have soil to act as a buffer and help maintain normal levels. Though these two systems are very similar they have some key differences in how they function, which ultimately leads to differing advantages and disadvantages of both systems. Additionally, these systems have …

Not-So-Full-Ride Scholarship: Analysis Of Merit-Based Aid Gpa Renewal Requirements, Samuel Brown

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper examines the potential consequences of the 3.50 GPA renewal requirement for the Regents Scholar Tuition Commitment (RSTC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). To examine these potential outcomes, I’ve synthesized several studies of Georgia’s Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally (HOPE) program. Additionally, I sought to compare the RSTC with other similar programs at UNL’s peer Big Ten institutions. To accomplish this, I compiled and analyzed public information on merit-based programs at the 14 Big Ten schools from their university websites. In doing so, I found that the RSTC is in the lowest quartile in terms of value to the …

Study Of Neon Collisional Negative Ion Compound Resonance Using A Trochoidal Electron Monochromator, Will Brunner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis describes the experimental apparatus and procedure used to measure the excitation function of the 2p⁵3p ³D₃ state of neon. First I describe the effect on this excitation of negative ion resonances and previous experiments to measure the excitation function, as well as suggestions for future applications of such studies. Then the experimental apparatus is described in three parts. The vacuum system uses a turbomolecular pump to decrease the pressure of the chamber to as low as 4*10^-9 Torr. The electron beam system incorporates a trochoidal electron monochromator to send a highly monochromatic beam …

Learn, Try, Repeat: Experiential Learning In Adult Second Language Acquisition Of Spanish In Higher Education, Veronica Miller

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The purpose of this thesis is to synthesize research of experiential learning for adult Spanish learners in higher education to identify important takeaways and propose draft curriculum to improve acquisition for learners through experience-based and hands-on practices. Hopefully, this will aid in understanding, identify gaps in existing research, and better inform lesson-planning for instructors. My research does not include any comparison to other languages or other levels of education. I approach the issue through exploratory and descriptive research through open-source data retrieval by information obtained from governmental and nongovernmental resources.

A Person-Centered Care Model’S Effectiveness For Older Adults With Dementia: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Karen Goeschel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

I evaluated the effectiveness of person-centered care interventions for older adults with dementia. Quality of life and agitation levels were used as primary outcomes for the effectiveness of the intervention. Electronic databases were searched for studies which satisfied the inclusion principles and did not satisfy exclusion principles. Cluster-randomized trials and non-randomized control trials which compared person-centered care approaches to usual care were included. I performed two random-effects meta-analyses. Six studies with 1,384 patients were included. For older adults with dementia, person-centered care had no significant impact on quality-of-life improvement (SMD = -0.116, p = 0.206) or agitation reduction (SMD = …

Using Crispr-Cas9 To Construct Knockout Mutants In Dna-Repair Genes In Arabidopsis Thaliana, David Campbell

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell, and just like a real powerhouse, it can be a dangerous place to store sensitive information. Energy generation and redox reactions in the mitochondria can cause damage to the DNA stored there, resulting in a higher mutation rate. Compared to their animal counterparts, however, plant mitochondria exhibit a lower mutation rate and a higher recombination rate. It is hypothesized that the unique DNA repair methods present in plant mitochondria are responsible for the phenomena observed there. To study the mechanics of DNA-repair in this organelle, however, researchers must be able …

Mass Incarceration In Nebraska: Data And Historical Analysis Of Inmates From 1980-2020, Anna Krause

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This study examines Nebraska Department of Corrections inmate data from 1980-2020, looking specifically at inmate demographics and offense trends. State-of-the-art data analysis is conducted to collect, modify, and visualize the data sources. Inmates are organized by each decade they were incarcerated within. The current active prison population is also examined in their own research group. The demographic and offense trends are compared with previous local and national research. Historical context is given for evolving trends in offenses. Solutions for Nebraska prison overcrowding are presented from various interest groups. This study aims to enlighten all interested Nebraskans on who inhabits their …

The Interplay Of Emotion, Cognition, And Learning In The Language Classroom, Aleidine J. Moeller

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

Challenge Statement Emotions are inextricably linked to our actions, behaviors, and dispositions. To promote deeper learning, emotion and cognition must be in sync to maximize learning. How can we connect our learners’ emotions in ways that fully capitalize on the interplay with cognition and engages them in the language learning process?

Abstract This article seeks to broaden the discourse on world language teaching to take a more holistic view of learning and teaching that supports and promotes the integration of feeling and thinking. A summary of the research on the role of emotions in learning is documented and classroom examples …