Digital Commons Network^™

Space, Region & Society: Geographical Essays In Honor Of Robert H. Stoddard, Michael R. Hill, Carl Ritter, Nainie Lenora Robertson Stoddard, Thomas Doering, Steve Kale, Carolyn V. Prorok, Surinder M. Bhardwaj, Robert H. Stoddard

Zea E-Books Collection

As an expression of their friendship and esteem, the authors dedicate these essays to Robert H. Stoddard in honor of his many years of exemplary service to the people of Nebraska, the World, and the discipline of Geography. After earning the BA at Nebraska Wesleyan (1950), an MA at the University of Nebraska (1960), and the PhD at the University of Iowa (1966), Dr. Stoddard taught for some forty combined years at Nebraska Wesleyan University (1961-67) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1967 to the present, where he is now Professor Emeritus). He also taught high school in India (1952-57), and …

Echoes Of The Past: Stylistic And Compositional Influences In The Music Of Sergei Bortkiewicz, Jeremiah A. Johnson

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

Despite the wide array of his compositional output in the first half of the twentieth

century, the late Romantic composer, Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952), remains relatively

unknown. Bortkiewicz was born and raised near Kharkov, Ukraine, but considered

himself Russian. Bortkiewicz studied in St. Petersburg and Leipzig, lived in Berlin, and

later returned to Kharkov during World War I. During the Russian Revolution, he fled to

Istanbul as a refugee. Eventually, he returned to Berlin and then to Vienna, where he

would remain during World War II and for the rest of his life. Substantial modern-day

recording efforts have rekindled interest in …

Latino Men In Two-Year Public Colleges: State-Level Enrollment Changes And Equity Trends Over The Last Decade, Deryl K. Hatch, Crystal E. Garcia, Victor B. Sáenz

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Latino males continue to lag behind their peers in college enrollment and attainment, even as evidence suggests the 2-year public college sector in particular is making some strides to address this inequity. Yet there are few published figures of enrollment trends for Latino males in 2-year public colleges on a national or state-by-state basis to provide context that might informs local policy and practice. Using the most recent available data from IPEDS and the U.S. Census Bureau’s Community Population Survey, this study establishes trends over roughly the last decade in enrollment numbers and, through the use of equity indices, gains …

Freshwater Vertebrate And Invertebrate Diversity Patterns In An Andean-Amazon Basin: Implications For Conservation Efforts, Janeth Lessmann, Juan M. Guayasamin, Kayce L. Casner, Alexander S. Flecker, W. Chris Funk, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Brian A. Gill, Iván Jácome- Negrete, Boris C. Kondratieff, Leroy N. Poff, José Schreckinger, Steven A. Thomas, Eduardo Toral-Contreras, Kelly R. Zamudio, Andrea C. Encalada

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The Napo Basin in Ecuador is an important drainage of the Amazon Basin, the most biodiverse ecosystem for freshwater species. At the same time, this basin has conspicuous information gaps on its biodiversity patterns and human threats. Here, we estimated the diversity distribution patterns of freshwater vertebrates and invertebrates in the Napo Basin, as a tool for present and future management and conservation efforts. Also, we assessed the spatial congruence of the diversity patterns observed between aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates. For this, we compiled occurrence records for 481 freshwater vertebrate species (amphibians, birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish), and 54 invertebrate …

Drought In A Human-Modified World: Reframing Drought Definitions, Understanding, And Analysis Approaches, Anne F. Van Loon, Kerstin Stahl, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Julian Clark4, Sally Rangecroft, Niko Wanders, Tom Gleeson, Albert I. J. M. Van Dijk, Lena M. Tallaksen, Jamie Hannaford, Remko Uijlenhoet, Adriaan J. Teuling, David M. Hannah, Justin Sheffield, Mark D. Svoboda, Boud Verbeiren, Thorsten Wagener, Henny A. J. Van Lanen

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

In the current human-modified world, or Anthropocene, the state of water stores and fluxes has become dependent on human as well as natural processes.Water deficits (or droughts) are the result of a complex interaction between meteorological anomalies, land surface processes, and human inflows, outflows, and storage changes. Our current inability to adequately analyse and manage drought in many places points to gaps in our understanding and to inadequate data and tools. The Anthropocene requires a new framework for drought definitions and research. Drought definitions need to be revisited to explicitly include human processes driving and modifying soil moisture drought and …

In This Issue [Of Tesol Quarterly, On Language Teacher Identity], Monka M. Varghese, Suhanthie Motha, Gloria Park, Jenelle Reeves, John Trent

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

Our decision to propose a special issue of TESOL Quarterly on language teacher identity (LTI) grew out of our growing recognition of the profound embeddedness of LTI within the research, teaching, and policy practices of (multi)lingual professionals and the immense interest generated by LTI work within the disciplines that engage with language education. We use (multi) in (multi)lingual to underscore our desire to move beyond a monolingual lens in TESOL and to highlight potential extensions to the notion of multilingualism, such as (pluri), (trans), (ethno), and (racio). This allows us …

Educator Responses To Migrant Children In Mexican Schools, Juan Sánchez Garcia, Edmund T. Hamann

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

A decade-long, five-state, mixed-method study of students encountered in Mexican schools with previous experience in the United States suggests there may be 400,000 such students in educación básica alone (elementary and middle school). The focus here, however, are data from 68 educators asked how they have responded to such students and their families. We offer an emergent taxonomy of teacher sensemaking about these students and teachers’ responsibilities to respond. We then assert that because they are at the interface between a national institution (school) and transnational phenomena (migration), educators can provide key insight into how migration is shaped and negotiated. …

The Bureau Of Sociological Research At The University Of Nebraska–Lincoln: A Brief History 1964–2014, Michael R. Hill

Zea E-Books Collection

This volume is a provisional account of the origins and subsequent work of the Bureau of Sociological Research (BOSR) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL). This study was prepared at the request of Julia McQuillan, Chair of the UNL Department of Sociology and a past BOSR Director, for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Bureau in April 2014.

This study falls within the field known generally as “the sociology of sociology” and this accounts for the devising of a typology of sociologies that delineates the intellectual field of play historically occupied by the Bureau of Sociological Research at the University …

Perceptions Of Well-Being In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2016 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca Vogt, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph Cantrell, Brad Lubben, Larry J. Mcelravy Jr.

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Certain indicators have pointed to overall economic growth in Nebraska. The state’s unemployment rate has remained among the lowest in the nation and wages have increased. However, net farm income continued to decline last year and employment growth in the state has been largely concentrated in the metropolitan counties. Given the challenges and uncertainties of recent years, how do rural Nebraskans believe they are doing and how do they view their future? How satisfied are they with various items that influence their well-being? Have these views changed over the past 21 years? This paper provides a detailed analysis of these …

Applications Of Time-Lapse Imagery For Monitoring And Illustrating Ecological Dynamics In A Water-Stressed System, Emma Brinley Buckley

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

Understanding and perceiving the natural world is a key part of management, policy, conservation, and inevitably for our future. Increased demand on natural resources has heightened the importance of documenting ecosystem changes, and knowledge-sharing to foster awareness. The advancement of digital technologies has improved the efficiency of passive monitoring, connectivity among systems, and expanded the potential for innovative and communicative approaches. From technological progression, time-lapse imagery has emerged a valuable tool to capture and depict natural systems. I sought to enhance our understanding of a water-stressed system by analyzing imagery, in addition to integrating images with data visualization to illustrate …

Geese, Ducks And Coots, John L. Cummings

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

Canada geese, snow geese, ducks, and American coots all have been implicated in agricultural crop and turf damage. Canada geese and snow geese that graze on winter wheat and rye crops can reduce subsequent grain and vegetative yields. Canada geese also cause serious damage to sprouting soybeans in spring and to standing cornfields in the autumn. The most common damage to agricultural resources associated with geese results from consumption of crops. Other impacts involve unacceptable accumulations of feces in pastures, trampling of emerging crops, and increased erosion and runoff from fields where the cover crop has been grazed. Canada geese …

An Extendable Visualization And User Interface Design For Time-Varying Multivariate Geoscience Data, Yanfu Zhou

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Geoscience data has unique and complex data structures, and its visualization has been challenging due to a lack of effective data models and visual representations to tackle the heterogeneity of geoscience data. In today’s big data era, the needs of visualizing geoscience data become urgent, especially driven by its potential value to human societies, such as environmental disaster prediction, urban growth simulation, and so on. In this thesis, I created a novel geoscience data visualization framework and applied interface automata theory to geoscience data visualization tasks. The framework can support heterogeneous geoscience data and facilitate data operations. The interface automata …

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles For High-Throughput Phenotyping And Agronomic Research, Yeyin Shi, J. Alex Thomasson, Seth C. Murray, N. Ace Pugh, William L. Rooney, Sanaz Shafian, Nithya Rajan, Gregory Rouze, Cristine L. S. Morgan, Haly L. Neely, Aman Rana, Muthu V. Bagavathiannan, James Henrickson, Ezekiel Bowden, John Valasek, Jeff Olsenholler, Michael P. Bishop, Ryan Sheridan, Eric B. Putman, Sorin Popescu, Travis Burks, Dale Cope, Amir Ibrahim, Billy F. Mccutchen, David D. Baltensperger, Robert V. Avant, Jr., Misty Vidrine, Chenghai Yang

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Advances in automation and data science have led agriculturists to seek real-time, high quality, high-volume crop data to accelerate crop improvement through breeding and to optimize agronomic practices. Breeders have recently gained massive data-collection capability in genome sequencing of plants. Faster phenotypic trait data collection and analysis relative to genetic data leads to faster and better selections in crop improvement. Furthermore, faster and higher-resolution crop data collection leads to greater capability for scientists and growers to improve precision-agriculture practices on increasingly larger farms; e.g., site-specific application of water and nutrients. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have recently gained traction as agricultural …

Place-Based Learning: Instilling A Sense Of Wonder., Jeanne L. Surface

Rural Futures Institute: Publications

Place-based learning is powerful. It can be implemented in rural, suburban and urban school districts as well as universities. Contextualizing learning with the students lived experiences will increase student achievement and in the words of Rachel Carson, create “a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life (2011).”

Development And Assessment Of A Groundwater Sustainability Index In Climatically Diverse Groundwater Irrigated Regions In Nebraska, Maria A. Mulet Jalil

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The aim of this research was to evaluate the impact of regional change in ET on groundwater level changes and the assessment and development of a groundwater sustainability index for climatically diverse regions across Nebraska during 2000-2014. Irrigation in the selected regions is predominantly supplied by groundwater. The hypothesis is that groundwater use can become sustainable if the regional evapotranspiration (ET) is managed so that it equals the ET of vegetation that is native to the region. Site locations were Box Butte, Chase, Dundy, Holt LNNRD and York Counties and 3 ecosystems were evaluated: native vegetation, dryland and irrigated cropping …

Factor Analysis Of The Preschool Behavioral And Emotional Rating Scale For Children In Head Start Programs, Cynthia J. Cress, Matthew C. Lambert, Michael Epstein

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Strength-based assessment of behaviors in preschool children provides evidence of emotional and behavioral skills in children, rather than focusing primarily on weaknesses identified by deficit-based assessments. The Preschool Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scales (PreBERS) is a normative assessment of emotional and behavioral strengths in preschool children. The PreBERS has well-established reliability and validity for typically developing children as well as children with identified special education needs, but this has not yet been established for children in Head Start programs, who tend to be at high risk for development of emotional and behavioral concerns. This study explores the factorial validity of …

The 2016 Nebraska Manufacturing Report, Mitch Herian, Eric Thomspon

Bureau of Business Research Publications

The purpose of this report is to provide an economic snapshot of the Nebraska manufacturing industry. In particular, the report is designed to present contributions of manufacturing to the state economy, recent trends in Nebraska manufacturing, and considerations for the future of Nebraska manufacturing. The information contained within the report will help policy makers and stakeholders better understand the current state of manufacturing in the state, particularly in relation to recent demographic and economic trends in Nebraska and the United States. The report finds that the manufacturing sector has a significant impact on the Nebraska economy. Approximately 10 percent of …

Modeling Of Soybean Under Present And Future Climates In Mozambique, Manuel António Dina Talacuece, Flávio Barbosa Justino, Rafael De Ávila Rodrigues, Milton Edgar Pereira Flores, Jéssica Garcia Nascimento, Eduardo Eduardo Santos

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This study aims to calibrate and validate the generic crop model (CROPGRO-Soybean) and estimate the soybean yield, considering simulations with different sowing times for the current period (1990–2013) and future climate scenario (2014–2030). The database used came from observed data, nine climate models of CORDEX (Coordinated Regional climate Downscaling Experiment)-Africa framework and MERRA (Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications) reanalysis. The calibration and validation data for the model were acquired in field experiments, carried out in the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 growing seasons in the experimental area of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Angónia, Mozambique. The yield …

Carbon And Energy Fluxes In Cropland Ecosystems: A Model-Data Comparison, Erandathie Lokupitiya, A. S. Denning, K. Schaefer, D. Ricciuto, R. Anderson, M. A. Arain, Colorado State University, A. G. Barr, G. Chen, J. M. Chen, P. Ciais, D. R. Cook, M. Dietze, M. El Maayar, M. Fischer, University Of Alberta, D. Hollinger, C. Izaurralde, A. Jain, C. Kucharik, Z. Li, S. Liu, L. Li, R. Matamala, P. Peylin, D. Price, S. W. Running, A. Sahoo, M. Sprintsin, Andrew Suyker, H. Tian, C. Tonitto, M. Torn, Hans Verbeeck, Shashi Verma, Y. Xue

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Croplands are highly productive ecosystems that contribute to land–atmosphere exchange of carbon, energy, and water during their short growing seasons. We evaluated and compared net ecosystem exchange (NEE), latent heat flux (LE), and sensible heat flux (H) simulated by a suite of ecosystem models at five agricultural eddy covariance flux tower sites in the central United States as part of the North American Carbon Program Site Synthesis project. Most of the models overestimated H and underestimated LE during the growing season, leading to overall higher Bowen ratios compared to the observations. Most models systematically under predicted NEE, especially at rain-fed …

A Hedonic Analysis Of Community Supported Agriculture Share Prices In Midwestern United States, Binod Khanal

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As concerns mount over the consequences of conventional food production for health, the environment, and animal welfare, consumers are increasingly demanding what they perceive as more nutritious, safer, and ethically produced food. Local food in general and community supported agriculture in particular have emerged as promising alternatives that could allay those concerns and, judging by recent growth, the share of local food in total food sales will most likely continue to grow. This represents an opportunity and a challenge for both incumbent farms serving the local food market as well entrants who are looking to capitalize on the growth in …

Efficiency Of Chlorophyll In Gross Primary Productivity: A Proof Of Concept And Application In Crops, Anatoly A. Gitelson, Yi Peng, Andrés Viña, Timothy J. Arkebauer, James S. Schepers

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

One of the main factors affecting vegetation productivity is absorbed light, which is largely governed by chlorophyll. In this paper, we introduce the concept of chlorophyll efficiency, representing the amount of gross primary production per unit of canopy chlorophyll content (Chl) and incident PAR. We analyzed chlorophyll efficiency in two contrasting crops (soybean and maize). Given that they have different photosynthetic pathways (C3 vs. C4), leaf structures (dicot vs. monocot) and canopy architectures (a heliotrophic leaf angle distribution vs. a spherical leaf angle distribution), they cover a large spectrum of biophysical conditions. Our results show that chlorophyll efficiency in primary …

Genome-Wide Differentiation In Closely Related Populations: The Roles Of Selection And Geographic Isolation, Rebecca Safran, Elizabeth Scordato, Matt Wilkins, Joanna K. Hubbard, B. R. Jenkins, Tomáš Albrecht, Samuel Flaxman, H. Karaardiç, Yoni Vortman, Arnon Lotem, Patrik Nosil, P. Pap, Sheng-Feng Shen, S.-F. Chan, T. L. Parchman, Nolan C. Kane

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Population divergence in geographic isolation is due to a combination of factors. Natural and sexual selection may be important in shaping patterns of population differentiation, a pattern referred to as “isolation by adaptation” (IBA). IBA can be complementary to the well-known pattern of “isolation by distance” (IBD), in which the divergence of closely related populations (via any evolutionary process) is associated with geographic isolation. The barn swallow Hirundo rustica complex comprises six closely related subspecies, where divergent sexual selection is associated with phenotypic differentiation among allopatric populations. To investigate the relative contributions of selection and geographic distance to genome-wide differentiation, …

Dating Late Quaternary Alluvial Fills In The Platte River Valley Using Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating, Jacob C. Bruihler

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Alluvial fills underlying the Platte River Valley in Nebraska record the geologic history of the Platte River in the late Quaternary. This study investigated the alluvium underlying the valley near the cities of North Platte and Kearney, Nebraska. Data obtained from sediment cores drilled in the alluvial deposits was used to investigate the changes in Platte River dynamics on a glacial – interglacial timescale. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating was used to determine burial ages of recovered sediments and to quantify the thicknesses of the late Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial fills at each study area. Our geochronology depicts considerable differences …

The Effect Of A Self-Regulated Vocabulary Intervention On Word Knowledge, Reading Comprehension, And Self-Regulated Learning For Elementary English Language Learners, Qizhen Deng

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

English language learners (ELLs) represent an increasing population in U.S. public schools. Research reports from the past two decades suggest a persistent reading underachievement for ELLs. Academic vocabulary knowledge, due to its frequent use in academic texts, contributes significantly to ELL children’s English language development, reading comprehension, and general academic achievement. However, a gap of vocabulary knowledge exists between ELLs and their mainstream peers. One potential approach to address this issue is to help ELLs become mastery independent and proactive word learners. This study examined the effect of a researcher-led self-regulated vocabulary intervention on word knowledge, reading comprehension, and self-regulated …

Uncanny Conversations: Depictions Of The Supernatural In Dialogue Lieder Of The Nineteenth Century, Delane J. Boyd

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

This thesis seeks to communicate the ways in which supernatural beings were musically depicted in dialogue Lieder of the Romantic era. Through analyses of a selection of nineteenth-century German art songs featuring both human and non-human participants within the textual conversations, this study endeavors to identify musical techniques composers used to distinguish between supernatural and mortal speech in songs presented as dialogues while composed for a solo singer. The document is organized into three sections. The first establishes a historical framework for the supernatural dialogue Lied through discussion of the context of German Romanticism, the roots of the prevalence of …

11th New World Luminescence Dating Workshop Scientific Program And Abstracts And Field Trip Guide Book, P.R. Hanson, James B. Swinehart, Joseph Mason

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Conflict Beyond Borders: The International Dimensions Of Nicaragua's Violent Twentieth-Century, 1909–1990, Andrew William Wilson

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this research is to identify the importance of Nicaraguan political contests in the global twentieth century. The goal is to demonstrate that, despite its relatively small size, Nicaragua significantly influenced the course of modern history. This has been done by examining the international contestations between Nicaragua’s revolutionary and counterrevolutionary currents from Augusto Sandino’s resistance to U.S. imperialism, to the machinations of the Somoza family, and the Contra War of the 1980s. Upon examination of these events, it becomes clear that Nicaraguans on both sides of the conflict proved adept at cultivating and utilizing transnational networks of material …

Machines In The Valley: Community, Urban Change, And Environmental Politics In Silicon Valley, 1945–1990, Jason A. Heppler

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Using Silicon Valley as a case study, this dissertation examines how activists influenced by the environmental movement reconfigured urban culture in the American West. *Machines in the Valley* argues that the spatial influences of the region's urban development gave rise to modern environmentalism that arose to criticize growth, but along the way failed to ultimately shape growth policies. While high technology sought to introduce a new urban form predicated on "clean and green" industries and an environmental urbanism, the premise of "clean" industry proved elusive.

High technology industrialization emerged as a key component of economic and urban development in postwar …

Exploring Elementary Students’ Agricultural And Scientific Knowledge Using Evidence Centered Design, Molly R. Brandt

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

The public is more disconnected from agriculture than ever. Americans are two to four generations removed from the farm, and a majority of Americans, even in rural agricultural states have no direct link to agriculture. As a result, the public lacks the knowledge and appreciation of the food, fuel, and fiber it demands. The National Center for Agricultural Literacy (NCAL) uses National Agricultural Learning Objectives (NALOs) to measure student’s agricultural knowledge. The purpose of this project is to develop assessments aligned with the NALOs and to use results from the assessments to further understand students’ agricultural literacy. This study focuses …

Integrative 3d Recording Methods Of Historic Architecture: Burg Hohenecken From Southwest Germany, Aaron C. Pattee

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This research explores the methodology and application of photogrammetric and laser-scanning recording methods to a castle ruin, with the primary purpose of digitally preserving the castle. Both methods generated interactive 3D models via the combination of still images (photogrammetry) and precise laser measurements (laser-scanning), which were then combined into a single model. The case study is the medieval castle ruin Burg Hohenecken located in the city of Kaiserslautern in southwest Germany. The castle was active from 1212-1689, as one of over fifty castles within the region of the Pfalz. The inhabitants included the noble von Hoheneck family and various …