Digital Commons Network^™

Does The Microbiota Play A Role In The Pathogenesis Of Autoimmune Diseases?, Mairi H. Mclean, Dario Dieguez, Lindsey M. Miller, Howard A. Young

United States Public Health Resources

The microbiota of the human metaorganism is not a mere bystander. These microbes have coevolved with us and are pivotal to normal development and homoeostasis. Dysbiosis of the GI microbiota is associated with many disease susceptibilities, including obesity, malignancy, liver disease and GI pathology such as IBD. It is clear that there is direct and indirect crosstalk between this microbial community and host immune response. However, the precise mechanism of this microbial influence in disease pathogenesis remains elusive and is now a major research focus. There is emerging literature on the role of the microbiota in the pathogenesis of autoimmune …

The Promise Of Worker Training: New Insights Into The Effects Of Government Funded Training Programs, M. Jared Mcentaffer

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Using data on worker training programs in South Dakota over the years 2002 – 11, this study estimates the employment and earnings effects of occupational skills training and on-the-job training. Average treatment effects for the first and third calendar quarters after training are reported by: gender, worker type, demographic group, region of residence, and time period of job loss.

Both occupational skills training and on-the-job training effectively increased the employment rates and incomes of participants. The effectiveness of occupational skills training tended to grow as time passed, but the effectiveness of on-the-job training tended to fade over time. Three calendar …

The Impact Of Marital Quality And Parent-Child Relationships On Peer Relationships At School: A Brazilian Study, Brandon P. Eddy

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

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the impact that marital quality and parent-child relationships have on peer relationships at school in a Brazilian population. Despite the fact that Brazil is the fifth most populated country in the world, it is very underrepresented in the literature and little information is known about how marital quality and the parent-child bond impact children socially. Sixty-five mothers and their children participated in this study. Marital quality was assessed using the Portuguese version of the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The parent-child relationship was assessed using the Parental Bonding Instrument and peer relationships at …

Occurrence Of An Herbicide-Resistant Plant Trait In Agricultural Field Margins, Karla L. Gag, David J. Gibson, Bryan G. Young, Julie M. Young, Joseph L. Matthews, Stephen C. Weller, Robert G. Wilson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Agricultural environments allow study of evolutionary change in plants. An example of evolution within agroecological systems is the selection for resistance to the herbicide glyphosate within the weed, Conyza canadensis. Changes in survivorship and reproduction associated with the development of glyphosate resistance (GR) may impact fitness and influence the frequency of occurrence of the GR trait. We hypothesized that site characteristics and history would affect the occurrence of GR C. canadensis in field margins. We surveyed GR occurrence in field margins and asked whether there were correlations between GR occurrence and location, crop rotation, GR crop trait rotation, crop type, …

Acuta Journal Of Telecommunications In Higher Education

ACUTA Journal

In This Issue

President's Message

From the ACUTA CEO

Snapshots: What ls Your Campus Doing in the Cloud?

Security in the Cloud

Why ls My Head in the Clouds?

Unified Communications: Challenge and Opportunity for Education

2015 ResNet lnfographic

How Light Can Change the World

A Case for Hybrid Cloud

Snapshots: What ls Your Campus Doing in the Cloud?

Cloud Hurdles Shift from Security to Contracts

201 5 lnstitutional Excellence Award

Snapshots: What ls Your Campus Doing in the Cloud?

2015 Awards Honor lndividuals

Using Swat To Simulate Crop Yields And Salinity Levels In The North Fork River Basin, Usa, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Daniel E. Storm, Art L. Stoecker

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Crop yields and salinity levels in the North Fork of the Red River (North Fork River) basin, located in southwestern Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, were analyzed based on the diverse climate in the region. Saline irrigation water is a major problem in the basin. The Elm Fork Creek flows through salt deposits, making the creek and its receiving stream, the North Fork River, too saline to use for irrigation. This greatly reduces the number of hectares that can be utilized for agricultural crops within the basin. A baseline SWAT model was setup, calibrated and validated to simulate streamflow and …

Springtime Melt Onset On Arctic Sea Ice From Satellite Observations And Related Atmospheric Conditions, Angela C. Bliss

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The timing of snowmelt onset (MO) on Arctic sea ice derived from passive microwave satellite data is examined by determining the melting area (in km²) on a daily basis for the spring and summer melt season months over the 1979 – 2012 data record. The date of MO on Arctic sea ice has important implications for the amount of total solar energy absorbed by the ice-ocean system in a given year. Increasingly early mean MO dates have been recorded over the 34-year data record as evidenced by statistically significant trends of 6.6 days decade^-1 over the extent …

Architecture Through The Senses, Hannah E. Schurrer

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

Current academic environments do not allow Children with Sensory Processing Disorder(spd) to function at an appropriate degree. They are either isolated in an environment which caters to their needs or are vulnerable in the uncontrollable environment of the “real world”.

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a condition that exists when sensory signals don’t get organized into appropriate responses. It’s a neu­rological “traffic jam” that prevents certain parts of the brain from receiving the information needed to interpret sensory information correctly. A person with SPD finds it difficult to process and act upon information received through the senses, which creates challenges …

Honoring Diversity In An Online Classroom: Approaches Used By Instructors Engaging Through An Lms, Jacob Petersen

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

This is an inquiry into how online instructors embrace the diversity of their student body while facing the inherent differences between a traditional face-to-face class and one that is taught online. Current research suggests that diversity in a traditional classroom is an asset if the instructor is sensitive to students’ backgrounds. This paper examines if such philosophies in traditional classrooms translate well into a distance education environment, where the student body may be even more diverse than a face-to-face class, but possibly unrecognizable because of the lack of physical cues. Research on the topic of multiculturalism in an online classroom …

Exploring The Academic And Social Experiences Of Homeless College Students, Quinton D. Geis

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

This thesis focuses on the experiences of college students who are facing homelessness, specifically from an academic and social lens. A hidden group within institutions of higher education, these students face many challenges that include economic instability, social isolation, or difficulty navigating the collegial environment. These challenges provide the opportunity for resilience but lack of support creates obstacles that may make degree attainment seem impossible.

Using a phenomenological approach, students were asked to participate in two interviews. Data gathered suggests that participants hide their homelessness from others. Lack of social support experiences, diverse living situations, and unique circumstances illuminated the …

Partnerships Through Adult Education: Re-Conceptualizing Family Literacy In The New Latino Diaspora, Jennifer Leigh Stacy

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

Schools are complex social institutions that mediate the experiences of newcomer families in the US. In recent years, a body of scholarship known as New Latino Diaspora has followed the migration of Latino families as they have moved away from traditional gateway communities and settled into territories that have previously been home to few, if any, Latino families. As a result, both institutionalized and grassroots educational initiatives have emerged as vehicles to support newcomer families as they learn English and adapt to living in a new community. This dissertation looks at the cultural space of a family literacy program that …

Examining Cross-Cultural Communication Among First-Year Students At A Large, Four-Year, Research University, Haley French-Sloan

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

This qualitative case study examines and explores cross-cultural communication among first-year international and domestic students at Great Plains University, a large, four-year, research university located in the Midwestern United States. Specifically, this case study examines the ways in which first-year international and domestic students make decisions about whether and how to interact with one another across culture in the classroom. The literature review discusses both international and domestic students’ experiences and perceptions regarding intercultural communication, and also introduces a variety of barriers and facilitators of cross-cultural communication. Through introducing and relating cross-cultural communication to the goals of international education, the …

Seasonal Activity And Sampling Methods For The Dectes Stem Borer, Dectes Texanus Leconte, In Nebraska Soybeans, Zachary D. Rystrom

Department of Entomology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Dectes stem borer, Dectes texanus Leconte, has caused significant economic damage to soybean fields in south central Nebraska during recent years. Most economic injury occurs when soybean plants become susceptible to late season lodging due to larval girdling. Developing a comprehensive management plan for Dectes stem borer in Nebraska is limited by lack of knowledge of seasonal activity and effective sampling plans to monitor adult populations. Field studies were conducted in 2013 and 2014 to describe Dectes stem borer adult emergence patterns, female ovipositional period and adult densities in soybean fields. Calendar date predictions for adult emergence varied, while …

From The Gay Bar To The Search Bar: Promiscuity, Identity, And Queer Mobility On Grindr, Chase Aunspach

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis is a critical exploration into the mobile application Grindr and how it rhetorically constitutes its users and their experience of queer spaces. Recently, researchers from a variety of disciplines have displayed increased scholarly interest in Grindr. Despite this much needed attention, few studies before this thesis have examined Grindr’s material structure—its interface, scripts, and other design features—as rhetorical and worthy of analysis. I document and interrogate my own experiences as a user of the application, adding a humanistic perspective to current conversations about Grindr to demonstrate one potential approach to critiquing mobile media that extends the “field” of …

The Double Bass As A Solo Voice In Flamenco Music, Jeffery M. Utter

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

Flamenco music is an emotional and energetic art form that has developed naturally over centuries by Gypsy people of Spain, primarily in the area known as Andalusia. Historically the music has been solely transmitted aurally and generally not accessible to formally trained musicians. The double bass is a versatile instrument that maintains roles in nearly all genres of music with flamenco being an exception until recently. Even with the contemporary addition of bass to flamenco music, the role of the double bass has been purely accompanimental. This document; through transcription, analysis, and arrangement, presents flamenco music in a way that …

Program And Proceedings: Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2015, 135th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program

Aeronautics and Space Science

Chemistry and Physics

Collegiate Academy: Biology

Collegiate Academy: Chemistry and Physics

Anthropology

Biological and Medical Sciences

Junior Academy, Senior High Competition

Aeronautics and Space Science, Poster Session

Maiben Memorial Lecture: “Nebraska Biocontainment Unit Planning and Response to Ebola,” Ebola team, University of nebraska medical Center

Applied Science and Technology

Earth Science

Teaching of Science and Math

Junior Academy, Junior High Competition

The Gut Microbiota Of Rural Papua New Guineans: Composition, Diversity Patterns, And Ecological Processes, Ines Martinez, James C. Stegen, Maria X. Maldonado-Gomez, A. Murat Eren, Peter M. Siba, Andrew R. Greenhill, Jens Walter

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Although recent research revealed an impact of westernization on diversity and composition of the human gut microbiota, the exact consequences on metacommunity characteristics are insufficiently understood, and the underlying ecological mechanisms have not been elucidated. Here, we have compared the fecal microbiota of adults from two non-industrialized regions in Papua New Guinea (PNG) with that of United States (US) residents. Papua New Guineans harbor communities with greater bacterial diversity, lower inter-individual variation, vastly different abundance profiles, and bacterial lineages undetectable in US residents. A quantification of the ecological processes that govern community assembly identified bacterial dispersal as the dominant process …

Fish & Wildlife News: Spring 2015

Fish and Wildlife News

Fish & Wildlife News looks at monarch butterfly conservation.

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 27:1 — Spring 2015, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

Letter from the Editor
Letter from the President
2016 Symposium: Call for Submissions [Crosscurrents: Land, Labor, and the Port, Savannah, Georgia, October 19–23, 2016]
R. L. Shep Ethnic Textile Book Award: 2014 Nominees
TSA Establishes a New Award: Fellows of the Textile Society of America
In Memoriam: Dika Eckersley
Textiles Close Up in Santa Fe / Last Chance to Register for Santa Fe TCU
Book Reviews: Bauhaus Weaving Theory: From Feminine Craft to Mode of Design and Maya Threads: A Woven History of Chiapas
Exhibitions: Sahib, Bibi, Nawab: Baluchar Silks of Bengal, 1750–1900 and Italian Textile Materials: Past, Present, and …

Temperature Dependency Of Population Dynamics And Trophic Cascades In A Model Aquatic System, Reed Brodersen

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Determining how temperature alters direct predation and indirect trophic cascade effects will be crucial in understanding how global climate change affects community structure and stability. While we are starting to comprehend the effects of warming on individual trophic interactions and underlying mechanisms, effects of warming on multilevel food webs are mostly unknown. This study sought to experimentally observe potential effects of temperature on population and community dynamics, and the magnitude of trophic cascades. To reach these objectives, a three-tiered food web (Scenedesmus, Daphnia and Hydra) was designed, maintained, and observed at two different temperatures (17°C and 21°C) …

Water Current, Volume 47, No. 2, Spring 2015

Water Current Newsletter

All Seats Reserved For June Tour to Republican River Basin

Water for Food, Filmmaker Team On Drought Documentary

On Nine Mile, Allen Morris

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

The photographs of On Nine Mile were made to explore my developing relationship with the place I now inhabit. They compare the reality of a place against preconception and actual experience versus idealized expectations. I made this work to help understand a landscape to which I was transplanted and to which I had no connection. This exhibition is comprised of photographs taken at a section of untilled prairie called Nine Mile that most closely resembled my visual preconception of the Great Plains. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by the mountains, forests, and shoreline that typify the landscape …

“At-Risk” Food Deserts In Lincoln, Nebraska, Samantha Corr

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

This investigational study conducted in Lincoln, Nebraska seeks to explore the link between geographic and economic barriers to food access. Food access is a problem in the United States. 29 percent of U.S. ZIP codes do not contain a grocery store or supermarket. Families also face barriers to food economically, as low income individuals are less able to afford food. Through the use of ArcGIS 10.2.2 for Desktop software this project seeks to visually represent the areas in which access to food is limited both geographically and financially. Creating one mile buffer zones around each grocery store in Lincoln, Nebraska …

Historical Common Names Of Great Plains Plants, With Scientific Names Index. Volume I: Common Names, Elaine Nowick

Zea E-Books Collection

Containing thousands of entries of both vernacular and scientific names of Great Plains plants, the literature that informs this exhaustive listing spans nearly 300 years. Author Elaine Nowick has drawn from sources as diverse as Linnaeus, Lewis and Clark, and local university extension publications to compile the gamut of practical, and often fanciful, common plant names used over the years. Each common name is accompanied by a definitive scientific name with references and authority information. Interspersed with scientifically-correct botanical line drawings, the entries are written in standard ICBN format, making this a useful volume for scholars as well as lay …

Historical Common Names Of Great Plains Plants, With Scientific Names Index. Volume Ii: Scientific Names Index, Elaine Nowick

Zea E-Books Collection

Containing thousands of entries of both vernacular and scientific names of Great Plains plants, the literature that informs this exhaustive listing spans nearly 300 years. Author Elaine Nowick has drawn from sources as diverse as Linnaeus, Lewis and Clark, and local university extension publications to compile the gamut of practical, and often fanciful, common plant names used over the years. Each common name is accompanied by a definitive scientific name with references and authority information. Interspersed with scientifically-correct botanical line drawings, the entries are written in standard ICBN format, making this a useful volume for scholars as well as lay …

Joint Control Of Terrestrial Gross Primary Productivity By Plant Phenology And Physiology, Jianyang Xia, Shuli Niu, Philippe Ciais, Ivan A. Janssens, Jiquan Chen, Christof Ammann, Altaf Arain, Peter D. Blanken, Alessandro Cescatti, Damien Bonal, Nina Buchmann, Peter S. Curtis, Shiping Chen, Jinwei Dong, Lawrence B. Flanagan, Christian Frankenberg, Teodoro Georgiadis, Christopher M. Gough, Dafeng Hui, Gerard Kiely, Jianwei Li, Magnus Lund, Vincenzo Magliulo, Barbara Marcolla, Lutz Merbold, Leonardo Montagnani, Eddy J. Moors, Jorgen E. Olesen, Shilong Piao, Antonio Raschi, Oliver Roupsard, Andrew E. Suyker, Marek Urbaniak, Francesco P. Vaccari, Andrej Varlagin, Timo Vesala, Matthew Wilkinson, Ensheng Weng, Georg Wohlfahrt, Liming Yan, Yiqi Luo

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP) varies greatly over time and space. A better understanding of this variability is necessary for more accurate predictions of the future climate–carbon cycle feedback. Recent studies have suggested that variability in GPP is driven by a broad range of biotic and abiotic factors operating mainly through changes in vegetation phenology and physiological processes. However, it is still unclear how plant phenology and physiology can be integrated to explain the spatiotemporal variability of terrestrial GPP. Based on analyses of eddy–covariance and satellite-derived data, we decomposed annual terrestrial GPP into the length of the CO2 uptake period …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 2014 Annual Report, Michael Prowatzke, Stephen K. Wilson

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2014 at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN).

During the fourth full year of field work, crew members from NGPN visited six plant community monitoring plots to collect data on the vegetation at AGFO. This is part of a long-term monitoring effort that will sample six of 15 randomly located upland plots every year, so that each plot is visited for two consecutive years and then rested for three years, on a five-year rotating basis. NGPN staff captured data …

Hydroclimatic Shifts In Northeast Thailand During The Last Two Millennia — The Record Of Lake Pa Kho, Sakonvan Chawchai, Akkaneewut Chabangborn, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Minna Väliranta, Carl-Magnus Mörth, Maarten Blaauw, Paul J. Reimer, Paul J. Kusic, Ludvig Löwemark, Barbara Wohlfarth

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Southeast Asian mainland is located in the central path of the Asian summer monsoon, a region where paleoclimatic data are still sparse. Here we present a multi-proxy (TOC, C/N, δ13C, biogenic silica, and XRF elemental data) study of a 1.5 m sediment/peat sequence from Lake Pa Kho, northeast Thailand, which is supported by 20 AMS 14C ages. Hydroclimatic reconstructions for Pa Kho suggest a strengthened summer monsoon between BC 170–AD 370, AD 800–960, and after AD 1450; and a weakening of the summer monsoon between AD 370–800, and AD 1300–1450. Increased run-off and a higher nutrient supply after AD …

Mba Academic Teams Training And Measuring Team Skills Development And Team Satisfaction In The First Semester Of A Full-Time Mba Program, Crystal Clayton

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

This study explored the benefits of providing MBA academic teams with formal training. The purpose of this mixed methods, single case study design, was to investigate whether MBA teams training contributes to team skills development and student team satisfaction. Participants in this study were first year, full-time MBA students at a large Midwestern Research I institution. The Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) was utilized to regularly administer peer and self-assessment of teamwork skills and track student team satisfaction. The research was broken into three main components. The first component included a quantitative element utilizing regular assessment readings of …

Nebraska Libraries - Volume 3, Number 1 (February 2015)

Nebraska Libraries

No abstract provided.