Digital Commons Network^™

Six Years Of Shiny In Research: Collaborative Development Of Web Tools In R, Peter Kasprzak, Lachlan Mitchell, Olena Kravchuk, Andy Timmins

The R Journal

The use of Shiny in research publications is investigated over the six and a half years since the appearance of this popular web application framework for R, which has been utilised in many varied research areas. While it is demonstrated that the complexity of Shiny applications is limited by the background architecture, and real security concerns exist for novice app developers, the collaborative benefits are worth attention from the wider research community. Shiny simplifies the use of complex methodologies for people of different specialities, at the level of proficiency appropriate for the end user. This enables a diverse community of …

News From The Forwards Taskforce, Heather Turner

The R Journal

Forwards is an R Foundation taskforce working to widen the participation of under represented groups in the R project and in related activities, such as the useR! conference. This report rounds up activities of the taskforce during the second half of 2020.

What Is Environmental Consciousness? A Thematic Cluster, Sophia Perdikaris

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

This essay serves as the introduction to this issue of Ecocene (December 2020, volume 1, issue 2).

First two paragraphs:

For its second issue Ecocene welcomed cross-disciplinary contributions on what it means to be environmentally conscious in the world today, what it might have meant in diverse social-environmental pasts, or indeed what it may mean in our shared futures. The ambition of the cluster has been to engage with some key reassessments of the ways in which ecologies, identities, communities, temporalities, heritage, spatiality, risks, or agencies have been rethought in recent years, or in new waves of research, scholarship, theory, …

Struggling Student Teachers: Interventions For Support And Success, Sheree Moser

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Teacher shortages in K-12 schools have created unique challenges for teacher preparation programs. University instructors face the task requirements of supporting candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds at the undergraduate and graduate level. While some of these candidates enter higher education programs skilled, eager, and committed, others are less prepared, requiring significant attention to make it through the program. Exams required by state departments of education and minimum grade point averages influence each candidate’s ability to move forward within the program, causing some students to experience additional struggles related to mental health and financial burdens.

The problem of practice …

Packet Delivery: An Investigation Of Educational Video Games For Computer Science Education, Robert Lafferty

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The field of educational video games has rapidly grown since the 1970s, mostly producing video games to teach core education concepts such as mathematics, natural science, and English. Recently, various research groups have developed educational games to address elective topics such as finance and health. Educational video games often target grade school audiences and rarely target high school students, college students, or adults. Computer science topics are not a common theme among educational video games; the games that address Computer Science topics teach computer fundamentals, such as typing or basic programming, to young audiences.

Packet Delivery, an educational video …

Preparing For A Driverless Future, Daniel P. Piatkowski, Santosh Pitla, Joe Luck, Josephine K. Hazelton

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are widely considered to be the future of surface transportation in the United States, but little is understood about how people will interact with these vehicles, what they will use them for, and how they will impact our roads. However, farmers have been interacting with some degree of AV technology, primarily auto-guidance, in Nebraska for at least the last 10 years. The research in Section 1 first utilizes in-depth qualitative interviews to understand farmers’ experiences with using highly automated technology in order to inform adoption and diffusion patterns of AVs. The findings in Section 1 lead to …

Evaluating The Impact Of Grafting On Local Tomato Production In Nebraska, Raihanah Hassim

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

Vegetable grafting has been known to improve plant production under both biotic and abiotic stresses. With an increase in interest among local growers towards grafting production, it is important to provide enough vegetable grafting information. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess the impact of grafting, rootstock cultivar, and local conditions and management on the yield and quality of tomato across the diverse growing and environmental conditions, specifically in Nebraska. Three open-field and one limited growing condition study were conducted between 2018 and 2019 across Nebraska. In the open-field trial, two determinant fresh market tomatoes, ‘Nebraska Wedding’ and …

The Influence Of Proximal And Distal Familial Factors On Preschool Children's Inhibitory Control And Social Emotional Skills, Amy Encinger

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

Children in the United States experience higher rates of poverty than any other age group, including elderly adults and the poverty rate of young children (0-5 years) is considerably higher than that of older children (Proctor et al., 2016). There is an extensive body of research examining familial socioeconomic status (SES) and the influence on the skills and behaviors of young children; however, common key indicators of family SES may not fully depict the ways in which children living in poverty/low-income homes are influenced by economic disadvantage. The focus of the current study is to explore the ways in which …

What Help Do Faculty Perceive Is Needed To Improve Their Community Engagement Through Outreach?, Kiyomi D. Deards, Saundra Wever Frerichs, Patricia Wonch Hill, Julia Mcquillan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

• A survey-based needs assessment at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a research-intensive land grant university, explored ways to meet the goal of increasing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach
• 40% of surveyed faculty reported barriers to doing STEM outreach
• Over 50% of faculty reported an inability to individually resolve barriers to STEM outreach in ways that ensure broader community engagement in their research through outreach
• Using a sociological lens, the current study examined institutional-level barriers and enablers to faculty engaging in outreach
• Results suggest several institutional approaches to STEM outreach, including creating infrastructure with experts in science communication; providing science …

Adventuring In The Winds: An Exploration Of Water Accessibility, Keystone Species, Environmental Justice, And Forest Fires In The Wind River Range, Rhianna Giron

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis is a braided narrative that incorporates personal experience, ecological research, and poetry to explain some of the impacts of human interaction in wild spaces and of climate change. The specific areas of study in this essay are the Wind River Range, Wyoming and Nebraska. The purpose of this paper is to discuss topics related to water availability and quality, forest fires, keystone species, and social injustices related to people and environments in the Wind River Range. It is important to learn about other places than the ones we are already familiar with as it helps to instill a …

A New Species Of Oncotophasma Rehn, 1904 (Phasmida: Diapheromeridae) From Colombia, Andres David Murcia, Oscar J. Cadena-Castañeda, Daniela Santos Martins Silva

Insecta Mundi

Abstract. Oncotophasma aurantiaviridiata Murcia, Cadena-Castañeda, and Silva new species (Phasmida: Diapheromeridae) from the Colombian Andes is described. The new species is distinguished by its peculiar coloration, which highlights greenish and orange tones. It is also the first record of the genus for the eastern slope of the Colombian Andes. The previous distribution recorded for the genus is the Chocó biogeographic region from Costa Rica to Colombia, with species being found in the Colombian areas of influence of this biogeographic region, such as the western and central slopes of the Andes.

Resumen. Se describe a Oncotophasma aurantiaviridiata Murcia, Cadena-Castañeda y …

Engagement Requires The Institution Too: A Case Study Of A California Community College Using Assessment Data To Improve Student Success Practices, Duane Brooks

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While the collection of assessment data by educational institutions is important, these activities are not sufficient to create an institution that is fully “engaged” with not only the data, but also in using data to improve decision making and student success practices within the institution. The institution must be ready to use the data for action and improvement. Understanding the process that transforms data into institutionalized knowledge is an important component of what institutional engagement looks like. This qualitative single case study explored the scope and nature of institutional engagement in the case of one California community college by examining …

The Birds Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Paul A. Johnsgard, Josef Kren

Zea E-Books Collection

This book provides basic information on all the species of birds that have been reliably reported from the Nebraska Sandhills region as of 2020. They include 46 permanent residents, 125 summer breeders, 125 migrants, and 102 rare or accidental species, totaling 398 species. Information on status, migration, and habitats is provided for all but the very rare and accidental species. There are also descriptions of 46 refuges, preserves, and other public-access natural areas in the region and seven suggested birding routes. The text contains more than 90,000 words and over 250 literature references along with more than 20 drawings, 9 …

Leaving The Twilight Zone: A Congressional Check On Treaty Termination, Cormac C. Broeg

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

This essay argues that Congress can—by a statute expressing the will of both houses—protect a treaty from presidential termination. Under this framework, when Congress expressly states its opposition to the termination of a particular treaty, it moves the president’s order to terminate the treaty into this third category where the president can rely only upon enumerated powers. In Goldwater v. Carter, the Supreme Court found a challenge to presidential treaty termination non-justiciable without forming a majority opinion, However, a statutory protection of a treaty creates a different dispute which fails to implicate any of the political question factors articulated by …

A Contractor’S Guide: Nebraska’S Anti-Indemnity Statute, Brett M. Bruneteau

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

Contractors must carefully comply with Nebraska’s anti-indemnity statute in order to shift risk and liabilities. In doing so, contractors must have an understanding of general construction industry trends and how they impact and apply to Nebraska’s anti-indemnity statute. First, contractors must have a general understanding of pertinent construction issues including indemnity, anti-indemnity statutes, insurance, and the rising cost of litigation. These issues are paramount to understanding the purpose behind Nebraska’s anti-indemnity statute. These issues are also important when understanding its caselaw and judicial interpretation. Second, contractors can protect themselves from Nebraska’s anti-indemnity statute by drafting indemnity provisions that comply with …

“This Is How We Do It”: A Descriptive Analysis Of The Musical Elements And The Black Church Cultural Influences In Adolphus Hailstork’S I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes: A Cantata For Tenor, Choir, And Chamber Orchestra, Alfonzo Cooper Jr

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

This document analyzes Adolphus Hailstork’s cantata, I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes, featuring text from Psalms 121, 13, and 23. The author contends that Hailstork uses cultural musical elements of the Black Church throughout the entire composition. Beginning with a brief biography of the composer, the author then provides a movement-by-movement examination of salient musical features and Black Church cultural traditions Hailstork employs to highlight the text of his selected psalms.

Advisor: William Shomos

The Granulate Cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): Biological Parameters Under Controlled Conditions, Host Plants, And Distribution In The Americas, Alexandre Specht, Fernando M. S. Dias, Germán San Blas, Vânia F. Roque-Specht, Mirna M. Casagrande, Olaf H. H. Mielke, Débora Goulart Montezano, Izailda Barbosa Santos, Silvana Vieira De Paula Moraes, Thomas E. Hunt, Juaci V. Malaquias, Felipe A. D. Bonfin, Paulo V. M. Vieira

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Feltia subterranea (Fabricius), commonly known as the granulate cutworm, is a common species of owlet moths (Noctuidae) of major agricultural importance, widely distributed in Nearctic and Neotropical regions. This study was conducted to determine the species biological parameters, gather information about its larval host plants, and assess the agricultural significance of this species in the Americas. The viability of the egg, larval, pupal stages, and prepupal period was 98, 98, and 100%, respectively, under laboratory conditions. The average duration of the egg, larval, pupal stages, and prepupal period was 3, 17, 4, and 13 d, respectively. All laboratory-reared larvae developed …

Implementation Of The Mtss Process In Kearney Public Schools, Chelsea Feusner

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

To support multiple needs, districts have worked to enrich or remediate students through differentiated objectives, programs, and initiatives. The goal of a Multi-Tiered System of Supports framework is to create a system that supports all students and provides robust interventions and programs at all levels, in multiple areas of education. This cross-sectional study will investigate MTSS implementation through a self-assessment survey of school principals and teachers in Kearney Public Schools (KPS). The information collected and analyzed to support the administrative team’s planning, implementation, and measurement of effectiveness. The research will also be able to support the continued implementation of MTSS …

Career And Technical Education Teachers’ Beliefs About Developing Students’ Motivation To Write, Katie Graham

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

Students in the U.S. write poorly. Although postsecondary and workplace writing expectations continue to rise, writing instruction has largely remained unchanged over time. As a result, student writing outcomes continue to fall below expectations from both an assessment and hirable proficiency standpoint. Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides a unique opportunity to motivate students who are otherwise disengaged in writing (ACTE, 2009). The benefits of helping students develop their writing-self efficacy has well-documented support (Bruning & Horn, 2009; Bandura, 1997; Pajares 2003; Pajares & Valiante, 2006). However, little is known about the writing opportunities provided in CTE classes or CTE …

Towards Consortship: Performing Ritual, Intercession, And Networking In Tudor And Early Stuart England, Courtney Herber

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Historically, the study of consorts has largely focused on how women performed the role – generally analyzing how a particular queen acted as a royal wife, mother, and manager of her household. While this makes sense as most of the consorts in English history were women, this is not the whole picture of the varied political roles of a consort. Looking at all of the foreign-born consorts in the Tudor and early Stuart years, one can clearly see that while the duties of a wife were important for the majority of individuals who took on the mantle of consort, that …

Oddpub – A Text-Mining Algorithm To Detect Data Sharing In Biomedical Publications, Nico Riedel, Miriam Kip, Evgeny Bobrov

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Open research data are increasingly recognized as a quality indicator and an important resource to increase transparency, robustness and collaboration in science. However, no standardized way of reporting Open Data in publications exists, making it difficult to find shared datasets and assess the prevalence of Open Data in an automated fashion.

We developed ODDPub (Open Data Detection in Publications), a text-mining algorithm that screens biomedical publications and detects cases of Open Data. Using English-language original research publications from a single biomedical research institution (n = 8689) and randomly selected from PubMed (n = 1500) we iteratively developed a …

Designing A Week-Long Biomedical Engineering Summer Camp To Increase Young Students’ Interest And Self-Efficacy In Stem, Kayla Ney

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In order to combat the negative feelings many young students have towards STEM, I designed a week-long summer camp that teaches students about biomedical engineering as well as collaboration, communication, and confidence with STEM subjects. This work includes a literature review outlining what STEM is and current issues in STEM education, including disinterest in STEM and attrition in STEM degree programs. The literature review outlines current methods and ideas being utilized to combat these issues, namely, inclusive pedagogical strategies, and how some of these concepts can be applied to the summer camp. The curriculum document included outlines each activity, its …

Satellite-Based Monitoring Of Irrigation Water Use: Assessing Measurement Errors And Their Implications For Agricultural Water Management Policy, T. Foster, Taro Mieno, Nicholas Brozovic

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Reliable accounting of agricultural water use is critical for sustainable water management. However, the majority of agricultural water use is not monitored, with limited metering of irrigation despite increasing pressure on both groundwater and surface water resources in many agricultural regions worldwide. Satellite remote sensing has been proposed as a low-cost and scalable solution to fill widespread gaps in monitoring of irrigation water use in both developed and developing countries, bypassing the technical, socioeconomic, and political challenges that to date have constrained in situ metering. In this paper, we show through a systematic meta-analysis that the relative accuracy of different …

Seeing Formative Assessments From A Broad Perspective, Consuelo Marisol Gallardo

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

October 2020 | 194 Seeing Formative Assessments from a Broad Perspective Consuelo M. Gallardo Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education University of Nebraska-Lincoln Abstract Despite the fact that many experts in the assessment field have advocated for the use of formative assessments, little attention has been paid to their thorough elaboration and application in Ecuadorian English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Some teachers have overlooked the validity of formative assessment as tools to inform instruction and language learning growth, so its application has generated a big debate. Therefore, this paper presents a literature review of perceptions and experiences of …

Investigating Factors Predicting Effective Learning In A Cs Professional Development Program For K–12 Teachers, Patrick Morrow

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The demand for K-12 Computer Science (CS) education is growing and there is not an adequate number of educators to match the demand. Comprehensive research was carried out to investigate and understand the influence of a summer two-week professional development (PD) program on teachers’ CS content and pedagogical knowledge, their confidence in such knowledge, their interest in and perceived value of CS, and the factors influencing such impacts. Two courses designed to train K-12 teachers to teach CS, focusing on both concepts and pedagogy skills were taught over two separate summers to two separate cohorts of teachers. Statistical and SWOT …

Description Of A New Species Of Chrysina Kirby (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae) From The Sierra Azul, Oaxaca, Mexico, A New Synonymy, And Notes On Chrysina Species Found In The Sierra Azul, José Monzón Sierra, Julian Federico Blackaller-Bages, David C. Hawks

Insecta Mundi

A new species of Chrysina Kirby, C. clavellina Monzón, Blackaller, and Hawks (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Rutelini) is described from Santiago Clavellinas in the Sierra Azul in Oaxaca, Mexico. Chrysina cosijoezai (Ramírez-Ponce and Curoe) is placed as a junior synonym of C. lacordairei (Boucard), and notes on the Chrysina fauna of this mountain range are included.

Se describe una nueva especie de Chrysina Kirby, C. clavellina Monzón, Blackaller, y Hawks (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae) de Santiago Clavellinas en la Sierra Azul en Oaxaca, México. Chrysina cosijoezai (Ramírez-Ponce y Curoe) se sitúa como un sinónimo de C. lacordairei (Boucard) y se incluyen notas …

Culturally Relevant Science Teaching: A Literature Review, Uma Ganesan

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

This educational research literature review paper aims to discuss the rationale, review eight empirical research studies, and identify knowledge gaps in culturally relevant pedagogy in science education. This paper focuses on synthesis, review, and comparison of the findings of the empirical studies, and categorizes them into thematic heads such as similarities and differences between studies under the broad categories of professional development (PD) programs and case studies. Following these reviews, the author summarizes her reflections and thoughts about the literature to understand the big picture of culturally relevant pedagogy in science education. The basis of this literature review are various …

Poverty, Literacy, And Race: A Middle School Teacher's Iterative Investigative Journey, Rebecca Tuttle

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This study describes an iterative design process that helped me gain a better understanding of the problems (how motivation affects learning and gaining the trust of children that I worked with) I was inquiring about. The design process chronicles three iterations before reaching my final research question focused on building relationships with children of minoritized communities within their learning environment and integrating culturally relevant pedagogy into their learning. By combining these two strategies, the children in this study seemed to embrace being part of a culturally relevant experiment. The components of these iterations include pre-reading activities, read alouds, group discussions, …

Effect Of Method Of Drying Piglets At Birth On Rectal Temperature Over The First 24 H After Birth, Katherine D. Vande Pol, Andres F. Tolosa, Caleb M. Shull, Catherine B. Brown, Stephan A.S. Alencar, Michael Ellis

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

Piglets are born wet, and evaporation of that moisture decreases body temperature, increasing the risk of mortality. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of two commercially applicable methods for drying piglets at birth on piglet rectal temperature over 24 h after birth. The study was carried out in standard commercial farrowing facilities with 52 litters, using a completely randomized design with three Drying Treatments: Control (not dried); Desiccant (dried at birth using a cellulose-based desiccant); Paper Towel (dried at birth using paper towels). Litters were randomly allotted to treatments at the birth of the first piglet. …

Effect Of Drying And/Or Warming Piglets At Birth On Rectal Temperature Over The First 24 H After Birth, Katherine D. Vande Pol, Andres F. Tolosa, Caleb M. Shull, Catherine B. Brown, Stephan A. S. Alencar, Michael Ellis

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

Piglets experience a rapid decrease in body temperature immediately after birth, increasing the risk of mortality. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of drying and/or warming piglets at birth on rectal temperature over the first 24 h after birth. The study was carried out at a commercial sow facility using a completely randomized design with four treatments (applied to piglets at birth): Control (no drying or warming), Desiccant (dried using a desiccant), Warming Box (placed in a box under a heat lamp for 30 min), and Desiccant + Warming Box (both dried and warmed as above). …