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Scavenging As An Accelerant In The Postmortem Interval Estimate: Refining Quantitative Regressions For Decomposition Analyses In Southeast Nebraska, Jenna L. Alexander

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

In forensic anthropology, the postmortem interval (PMI) is an estimation of the time elapsed from the moment of death to the point of discovery or examination. Contemporary approaches for estimating PMI have sought to refine broad quantitative regressions by addressing variance among intrinsic and extrinsic influences of decomposition at a regional level. Southeast Nebraska and the broader Great Plains region encompass one of the most influential agricultural ecosystems, featuring a unique climate type and a diverse spectrum of vertebrate scavengers. While there has been minimal research addressing how the biogeoclimatic conditions of Nebraska affect predicted estimates for PMI using known …

Leveraging Within-Field Spatial Variability To Optimize Soybean Yield, Seed Quality, And Profitability, Marina Marly Dalla Betta

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Optimizing yield and seed quality in soybean production is critical for both profitability and meeting market demands. However, within-field variability in soil properties poses a challenge in determining optimal management strategies to maximize soybean yield, seed quality, and profitability. This work aimed to evaluate the spatial variability of soybean fields to optimize soybean seeding rates, seed quality, and profitability. Two case studies were used to carry over this research. The first study looked at the optimal economical site-specific soybean seeding rates using 11 on-farm precision experiments across Nebraska. The second study looked at the protein and oil variability within 22 …

Cognitive Interviewing Within A Mixed Methods Practice: Utilization And Methodological Exploration Of Cognitive Interviewing, Jack Riley Hebner

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cognitive interviewing (CI) is a memory-enhancing technique used to extract more valid data from participants by addressing cognitive needs. Present research applied CI to program evaluation, theorizing that more quality data would be retrieved, especially when utilizing a mixed methods approach. The program chosen to further explore this technique and provide potentially invaluable evaluation data was the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (EDPS). The sample consisted of 32 individuals, consisting of graduate students and faculty across all programs.

The overall evaluation focused on inter-program and inner program understanding which is operationalized as the ability to relay how …

Understanding And Intervening In Children's Tick Risk Perceptions And Protective Behaviors: A Grounded Theory, Ariel Dawdy

Department of Entomology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Children, ages 8 years and younger, are at a particularly high risk of contracting a tick-borne disease. This is partially due to the misconceptions spread about tick protective behavior and a poor understanding of how antibiotic treatment can help. Because most communities and families believe that tick control is the individual’s responsibility, looking at the interaction between ticks and human children is essential to understanding the individual’s motivations to protect themselves. To help alleviate the number of individuals contracting tick-borne diseases, misconceptions must be addressed, intervention programs implemented, and a behavioral change must occur. This study used a qualitative research …

Morality, Outgroups, And Politics, John Jostes

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Moral differences between Democrats and Republicans contribute to affective polarization, or how negatively each side feels toward one another. Partisans are also generally aware of and sensitive to which social groups comprise the other political party. The present study examines if changes to the United States population, and thus levels of support for the two parties, will influence affective polarization. To do so, participants were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions in which they read about demographic changes reported in the 2020 U.S. Census, or a control condition. I find that the treatment conditions did not have a …

A Search For Self Through Allyship And Advocacy ‘About, With, And As’ Multilingual Learners: An Autoethnographic Study, Molly Heeren

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

This autoethnographic study uses personal memoirs to explore the author’s allyship and advocacy efforts throughout the past 24 years in the language teaching profession. Through the process of self-reflexivity and introspection, “turning points” are investigated to understand more about what influences the actions and behaviors of allyship or advocacy ‘about, with, and as’ multilingual learners. As a district level instructional coach and teacher of multilingual learners in both elementary and adult settings, the author’s revelations in teaching identity, influences of Empire, misalignment of the ‘sense of language,’ and legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice become salient issues. The dynamics …

The Impact Of Tier 1 Pbis Implementation Fidelity On Education Outcomes For Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Rebecca Anne (Wright) Overfield

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

This dissertation study aimed to examine the relationship between Tier 1 Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) implementation fidelity and the academic (e.g., MAP Growth scores) and behavioral outcomes (e.g., major office discipline referrals, suspensions). High quality PBIS implementation fidelity has been linked with improved standardized test scores and decreased instances of major office discipline referrals, in-school suspensions, and out-of-school suspensions for students with and without behavioral difficulties. However, no research has been done on the impact of PBIS implementation fidelity on students with ADHD. It is estimated that at least 40% of students with ADHD require at least one …

Variable Selection In Distance Metric Learning And Triplet Constraints For Deep Learning Based Ordinal Classification, James D. Clothier

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

The purpose of this research is to augment linear and kernelized ordinal distance metric learning (L/KODML) techniques with a proposed variable selection methodology that integrates the Sequential Multi-Response Feature Selection (SMuRFS) algorithm. Additionally, we aim to embed ordinal triplet constraints into a deep learning architecture, and to propose a general framework for deep learning-based ordinal classification. A variety of simulation studies and real data experiments were conducted to evaluate the various methodologies. For the distance metric learning and variable selection, results showed that the integration of SMuRFS performed effective variable selection and improved prediction accuracy. For the triplet constraints, incorporating …

Performance Of Acoustic Telemetry And Space Use Of Pallid Sturgeon In The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Christopher F. Pullano

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Pallid Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) are centenarian, potamodromous, rheophiles that historically occupied the Missouri River and Mississippi River basins. Listed on the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1990, population declines are attributed to habitat fragmentation and degradation, as well as overharvest, and hybridization. A knowledge gap exists regarding the extent to which tributaries facilitate key life stages for Pallid Sturgeon. This study evaluated the capacity of acoustic telemetry to monitor the movements of Pallid Sturgeon in a shallow, braided tributary to the Missouri River. The specific objectives were to (1) evaluate the environmental variables influencing the performance of acoustic …

Spatial Ecology Of American Bison On Vermejo Park Ranch, New Mexico, Kate Ann Asmus

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

American bison (Bison bison) are a keystone species that impact grassland productivity, plant diversity, and landscape heterogeneity. We used GPS telemetry and a replicate herbivore grazing experiment on Vermejo Park Ranch in northeastern New Mexico to advance understanding of bison spatial ecology and grazing dynamics. First, we evaluated the potentially disparate influences of forage productivity and site fidelity on the size and selection of home ranges of bison. Home range size was strongly negatively influenced by forage productivity. However, home range selection was influenced more strongly by site fidelity than spatial variation in forage, as bison selected home …

Using Symbolic Execution To Analyze The Hardware Tcp Protocol, Nianhang Hu

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As the demand for high performance and flexible networking capabilities increases, the shift from software to hardware implementations of stateful networking functions (such as TCP) is becoming increasingly important. This transition not only enhances processing efficiency in modern networking environments where data transmission rates are rising, but it also reduces the inherent CPU overhead found in software implementations, allowing hardware devices to handle network traffic more efficiently. However, validating the correctness of these hardware designs poses significant challenges due to the complex timing requirements and the vast input space associated with packet-level properties.

The verification of packet-level properties requires coverage …

Prevalence Of Autism Spectrum Characteristics In Students Taking Undergraduate Computing Courses, Rachel Michaela Mettenbrink

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The incidence rate of autism spectrum condition (ASC) has increased significantly in recent decades, as awareness of the condition and its impacts increases amongst clinicians, parents, and the general population. Medical literature has proposed that there may be a relationship between ASC and participation in the computing field. This study tests for the prevalence of autism spectrum condition traits measured by delivering the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) to a population of undergraduate computer science students. We examine the relationships between AQ scores and students taking undergraduate computer science classes, sex, socioeconomic status, and parents in the computing industry. Additionally, we …

Assessing Reproducibility Challenges In Clinical Metabolics, Darcy Lin Cochran

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

Current metabolomics research is expanding to be multiplatform and interdisciplinary. Metabolomic analysis has the potential to provide detailed insight into any biological system of interest to analyze the underlying molecular mechanisms of variables like environment, disease, and genetics. Human clinical metabolomics is a major research area that is often focused on finding biomarkers or panels of biomarkers for different diseases. However, results are difficult to compare across different laboratories since the field of metabolomics has yet to widely adopt best practices for sample preparation, data acquisition and data processing, results are difficult to compare across different laboratories.

This thesis focuses …

Controller Software: Evolution, Identification, And Implementation, Balaji Balasubramaniam

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

In the annals of automation history and advancement, one can find control technology is at the core. Modern-day controllers rely heavily on software capability to provide stability and improve the system's performance. In particular, drone flight controllers use autopilot control software to accomplish autonomous navigation from take-off to landing. However, we know very little about how the controller code modifications and its impact, particularly at the software level. No general framework has been developed to identify the control code changes and observe the real values of software control loops at the kernel layer.

In this thesis, we lay the foundation …

Use Of Electrocardiogram To Evaluate Welfare Of Laying Hens And Chicks During Different Life Stages And Events, Ashley Elizabeth Bigge

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

Three separate studies were conducted to evaluate the welfare of laying hens and chicks during different life stages. The stress responses of mature laying hens in two different scenarios were also investigated. All three studies utilized the electrocardiogram (ECG) as the chosen tool for data collection. Study 1 examined the startle response, prompted by an acute stressor that created sudden movement and noise, in White and Brown Leghorn hens housed in either cages or aviaries. The presence of a chronic stressor, a 23-hour feed failure, was also assessed as a factor. These hens had been surgically implanted with wireless ECG …

Examining The Use Of Problem Transformation Methods In Multi-Target Regression, Bradley Ryan Smith

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

Although the impact of machine learning methods in the educational sciences has been limited, recent opportunities have emerged that can benefit from these flexible methods capable of predicting both linear and non-linear relationships. One emerging area of interest, multi-target regression (MTR), is concerned with the simultaneous prediction of multiple, continuous target variables and is an extension of traditional supervised learning. Problem transformation methods are a subset of MTR methods that seek to exploit the dependencies amongst targets using stacking, chaining, ensembles, or combinations of the three by expanding the Single-Target approach. This is accomplished by using one or more base-learners, …

"Maybe Something More Insidious": A Critical Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Authentic Leadership In Student Affairs Leaders With Intersecting Minoritized Identities, Kara Brant

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

This critical interpretative phenomenological analysis explored the experiences of four female-identified mid-level student affairs leaders with intersecting minoritized identities, highlighting the aspirational nature of authentic leadership theory. The study examined their experiences with relational transparency, or attempting to lead while presenting their authentic self without distortion and minimizing the display of inappropriate emotions. The findings indicated participants face complex dynamics when navigating daily interactions in student affairs work, often resulting in the performance of emotional labor. The exploration of their experiences outlines a case for why scholars must look to advancing a new, more inclusive definition of authentic leadership theory. …

Deep Learning Vision-Based Bridge Inspection With Resource-Constrained Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Ji Young Lee

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

Bridge inspection is critical for ensuring structural integrity, extending the service life of infrastructure, and minimizing maintenance costs. As bridges age and endure increasing loads, regular inspections help detect early signs of wear, such as cracks or corrosion, that could impact safety and performance. However, traditional inspection methods are labor-intensive, requiring significant time, specialized equipment, and manual access to challenging areas, which can lead to costly disruptions. Additionally, reliance on human inspectors introduces subjectivity, with assessments varying by individual expertise. These factors highlight the inefficiencies and safety risks in current inspection practices, underscoring the need for more objective, efficient solutions. …

Examining Factors Of Variance In Energy Metabolism Of Dairy Cattle, Addison Lee Carroll

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

Variation is thought to occur in the use of dietary energy for production in dairy cattle. First, variance can be observed when new methane mitigation strategies are fed resulting in increased H₂ output potentially resulting in downstream effects on estimates heat production via the Brouwer (1965) equation. Therefore, in chapter 3 a review was created to systematically describe the mathematics and theory behind the Brouwer equation, and rederive a heat production equation to integrate H₂ production. Results indicate heat production using the classical Brouwer equation (1965) relative to the rederived equation resulted in an overestimation of heat production …

Microbiome Variation In Production Phenotypes And The Role Of Colonization History In Microbiome Establishment, Seidu Adams

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

Ruminant-based agriculture is expected to continue to be a major contributor to food security to feed the growing population. At the heart of nutrient degradation of complex organic matter within the rumen are its microbes. These microbes can convert otherwise unusable organic matter into usable protein and energy and can provide up to 50% of the animal’s protein needs and up to 70% of the energy needs. The microbial functional capacity within the rumen determines the nutrients utilized and the end products of fermentation. However, our understanding of microbial functional capacity within the rumen and factors that influence the rumen …

Mining Work Items To Streamline Software Maintenance Tasks, Salomé Perez-Rosero

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

Software engineering maintenance tasks often require associating code changes into groupings of related units of work to have as much information as possible about the developments toward addressing a specific code task. A comprehensive understanding of how a code task has evolved helps developers make better decisions about changes in the overall codebase, where a commit represents the set of code changes made to the codebase at a specific time. While the concept of work items as logically related code changes has been primarily theoretical, its impact on software maintenance tasks, such as tracing the origins of bugs or fixes …

Gamma Sigma Delta, Nebraska Chapter Newsletter, Issue #66 December 2024

Gamma Sigma Delta, Nebraska Chapter: Newsletters

Nominations Solicitations Issue

President's Message, John R. Ruberson

Members

Grad Student Award

Teaching Award

Research Award

Extension Award

Award of Merit

Annual Membership Info

Student Award Fund

In Memoriam: John L. Lambert (April 25, 1942-July 3, 2024), Larry Elmer Germer (April 24, 1941-October 25, 2024), Leo Lucas (1931-November 13, 2024)

Pledge

Relationship Between Host Genomics And Microbiomics In Beef Cattle, Andrew D. Lakamp

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As sequencing technology becomes more affordable and throughput increases, microbiome information is becoming more readily available. For beef cattle selection, microbial information has a variety of uses including being a target for genetic prediction or used as a means to explicitly describe additional phenotypic variability in other traits.

Infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK), commonly known as pinkeye, is a disease that infects the ocular surface and surrounding tissue which is an animal health and producer economic concern. Vaccinations have shown to have variable effectiveness, while limited genetics studies have suggested that direct genetic selection for resistance would be slow. Therefore, an …

Examining Factors Of Variance In Energy Metabolism Of Dairy Cattle, Addison L. Carroll

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Variation is thought to occur in the use of dietary energy for production in dairy cattle. First, variance can be observed when new methane mitigation strategies are fed resulting in increased H₂ output potentially resulting in downstream effects on estimates of heat production via the Brouwer (1965) equation. Therefore, in chapter 3 a review was created to systematically describe the mathematics and theory behind the Brouwer equation, and rederive a heat production equation to integrate H₂ production. Results indicate heat production using the classical Brouwer equation (1965) relative to the rederived equation resulted in an overestimation of heat …

Impacts Of Annual Forage Management On Grazing Cattle Performance And Carrying Capacity, Shelby Davies Jenkins

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Rapid conversion of historical grasslands to cropland in recent history has led to limited perennial pasture availability and an increase in cost of pasture rent. Annual forages are an alternative grazing source. Many annual forages can grow and accumulate stockpile following summer harvest of wheat. Strip grazing is often suggested to increase grazing efficiency of stockpiled forages. To evaluate this, a stockpiled mixture of annual forages were either strip grazed or grazed continuously in the fall and winter. The mixture contained oats and rapeseed in the first year and a diverse warm season annual mixture in the second. Strip grazing …

Virtual Control: A Comparison Of Methods For Hand-Tracking Implementation, Nathan Roberts

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis examines the design philosophy of modern virtual reality applications that utilize hand-tracking as a primary form of user input. The analysis presented hopes to provide ideas for future implementations of this technology so that more immersive experiences are developed. This analysis starts with the discussion of a modern example of successful hand-tracking implementation, then comparing that implementation to a recent senior design project. This comparison is primarily based on each experience’s ability to create interactivity and immediacy. Interactivity is the degree to which the user can quickly and reliably make changes to their virtual environment, while immediacy is …

Nebraska Department Of Transportation Strategic Audit, Chloe Hoover

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) is a state government agency that is responsible for the planning, development, design, construction, maintenance, and administration of the state highway system. Two strategic analyses are completed about NDOT: a PESTEL analysis and Porter’s Five Forces analysis. Both of these analyses showed that since NDOT is a state agency, it impacts foundational aspects of its strategy. NDOT’s strategy is influenced by its financial strategy, policies or political influence, and public importance. NDOT competes with other companies in its workforce and employees and/or applicants leaving NDOT for other companies. This report details NDOT’s strategy, competitive …

Impacts Of Stream Bed Adjustment On Local Bridge Morphology At Highway 281, Molly G. Likins

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nebraska sand-bed rivers have long been a part of sediment transport studies and have been used in the development of numerous well-known empirical bedload equations. Some of these studies have shown how adjustments in streambed elevation led to changes in local stream morphology. The sand-bed rivers of Nebraska are highly susceptible to such changes due to their wide, shallow cross-sections and erodibility. The objective of our study is to synthesize a hydrodynamic model with high-resolution field data and improved methods of representing sediment transport to better predict both short and long-term channel adjustments for an aggraded sand-bed river.

The field …

Help-Seeking For College Algebra Students' Success: A Phenomenological Mixed Methods Study, Colby Lamb

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

Because the failure rate for college algebra is large and sometimes up to 50%, college algebra serves as a gatekeeper to STEM fields and degree completion. Therefore, it is critical to examine students who are at risk of dropping, withdrawing, and failing college algebra help-seeking behavior. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to focus on students’ perceptions of in-classroom and out-of-classroom activities and systems in a college algebra course designed based on principles of active learning and how those activities and systems are affordances or barriers to help-seeking. The research questions to be addressed were:

Central Research Question: …

Three New Pieces For Double Bass By Colombian Composers Influenced By Colombian Traditions, Javier Alejandro Barreto Olaya

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

This document presents a study on the double bass as a solo instrument within traditional Colombian music, a tradition in which it has generally been relegated to accompaniment functions. I have commissioned three original works by Colombian composers, the integration of traditional genres, including sanjuanero, caña, danza, guabina, and llanero Airs, with modern compositional approaches. The commissioned pieces expand the solo repertoire of the double bass and highlight its potential and ability to adapt to traditional musical contexts. The lack of original repertoire for solo double bass in Colombian music is also addressed, integrating the commissioned pieces. The contribution of …