Digital Commons Network^™

A Two-Hundred Year History Of Ornithology, Avian Biology, Bird Watching, And Birding In Kansas (1810–2010), Thomas G. Shane

Zea E-Books Collection

The first two centuries of bird study in Kansas essentially can be split into 50 year intervals since Zebulon Pike’s 1810 publication, an account of his explorations. The first 50 years were records of explorers crossing Kansas collecting bird specimens; many were Army doctors. The second half of the 19th Century was a continuation of explorers and those affiliated with museums obtaining bird specimens and the establishment of colleges and universities with faculty members also collecting birds and making observations. The first half of the 20th Century was a period of college faculties primarily composed of vertebrate zoologists who had …

Managed Relocation: Integrating The Scientific, Regulatory, And Ethical Challenges, Mark W. Schwartz, Jessica J. Hellmann, Jason M. Mclachlan, Dov F. Sax, Justin O. Borevitz, Jean Brennan, Alejandro E. Camacho, Gerardo Ceballos, Jamie R. Clark, Holly Doremus, Regan Early, Julie R. Etterson, Dwight Fielder, Jacquelyn L. Gill, Patrick Gonzalez, Nancy Green, Lee Hannah, Dale W. Jamieson, Debra Javeline, Ben A. Minteer, Jay Odenbaugh, Stephen Polasky, David M. Richardson, Terry L. Root, Hugh D. Safford, Osvaldo Sala, Stephen H. Schneider, Andrew R. Thompson, John W. Williams, Mark Vellend, Pati Vitt, Sandra Zellmer

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

Managed relocation is defined as the movement of species, populations, or genotypes to places outside the areas of their historical distributions to maintain biological diversity or ecosystem functioning with changing climate. It has been claimed that a major extinction event is under way and that climate change is increasing its severity. Projections indicating that climate change may drive substantial losses of biodiversity have compelled some scientists to suggest that traditional management strategies are insufficient. The managed relocation of species is a controversial management response to climate change. The published literature has emphasized biological concerns over difficult ethical, legal, and policy …

Reduction In Carbon Uptake During Turn Of The Century Drought In Western North America, Christopher R. Schwalm, Christopher A. Williams, Kevin Schaefer, Dennis Baldocchi, T. Andrew Black, Allen H. Goldstein, Beverly E. Law, Walter Oechel, Kyaw Tha Paw U, Russel L. Scott

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Fossil fuel emissions aside, temperate North America is a net sink of carbon dioxide at present^1–3. Year-to-year variations in this carbon sink are linked to variations in hydroclimate that affect net ecosystem productivity^3,4. The severity and incidence of climatic extremes, including drought, have increased as a result of climate warming^5–8. Here, we examine the effect of the turn of the century drought in western North America on carbon uptake in the region, using reanalysis data, remote sensing observations and data from global monitoring networks. We show that the area-integrated strength of the western North American …

Variables Associated With Sense Of Community In Online And On-Ground Clinical Doctorate Education, Tracy Chapman

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

This study examined classroom community, as measured by the Classroom Community Scale (Rovai, 2002c), among online and on-ground students (N = 386) enrolled in Doctor of Pharmacy or Doctor of Occupational Therapy courses. Multiple regression analysis identified variables (student and course variables) shown to significantly predict the presence of community among students. Results revealed the set of predictor variables are different for each sub-group of students. Community among on-ground students was predicted by the amount of small group work used in a course, the course’s primary type of learning outcome (affective or cognitive), and the students’ self-reported estimated grade. …

A Model For Optimizing The Allocation Of Ethanol Production In The U.S., Anali Huggins

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In the last five years, fuel prices have fluctuated from 2.86$/gallon to 3.87$/gallon which represents an increase of 35%. This situation has collocated the ethanol manufacturing in an advantageous situation. However, a major problem that is faced by the ethanol producers is the high cost of transportation. The objective of this thesis study is to determine the optimal allocation of ethanol production in the U.S. in 2009 that minimizes the transportation cost. This thesis is based on the application of a linear programing model. The thesis is focused on two questions. The first is the optimal allocation of ethanol between …

Risk Management Strategies For Nebraska Grain And Oilseed Producers: A Stochastic Simulation And Analysis, Jim A. Jansen

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

Uncertainty in revenue for grain and oilseed operations located across Nebraska exists due to commodity price volatility and yield variability. Several risk management tools enable producers to deal with financial losses from revenue declines including crop insurance, marketing strategies, and government farm programs. Producers may need to combine multiple tools for an effective risk management strategy, but research lacks on integrating these tools currently available to producers across the state. Actions amongst individuals actively engaged in the industry show their plans to deal with revenue declines may lead to less than optimal strategies.

Stochastic simulation utilizing eight representative farms across …

The Effectiveness Of Distance Delivery Studios In Interior Design Education, Tracy A. Fichera

Interior Design Program: Student Creative Activity

Technology has affected the way in which we live and work and many Interior Design programs have transitioned at least a portion of their curriculum to an online format; however, for many reasons most have been hesitant to convert the studio. One concern many faculty have is that distance education cannot facilitate the same environment or provide the individualized attention that face-to-face studio offers. In this study, the effectiveness of distance delivery studio courses in interior design education will be explored to find out if they can be as successful as face-to-face studio courses. Standards set forth by the Council …

International Knowledge Flows And Technological Advance: The Role Of International Migration, Kacey N. Douglas

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Immigration is a major aspect of globalization. As the world becomes increasingly integrated, it becomes important to learn more about the effects of immigration on global economic growth. According to Robert Solow’s long run growth model, technological advance is the only form of economic growth sustainable in the long run. Those who contribute to technological advance – highly skilled labor – however, increasingly emigrate from lesser developed to more developed countries in a process known as brain drain. This process has been shown to lead to a permanent increase in income and growth in the host country relative to the …

The Social Bioarchaeology Of Childhood As Applied To The Analysis Of An Excavated Mid- To Late-Nineteenth-Century Mennonite Cemetery, Berne, Indiana, Jennifer L. Hildebrand

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This thesis provides a social-bioarchaeological analysis of the Old Mennonite Cemetery (1852-1896) in Berne, Indiana, with emphasis on treatment of child burials as a reflection of Mennonite identity and beliefs. Social bioarchaeology combines the methods of both social archaeology and bioarchaeology. When applied to the study of children in a mortuary context, social bioarchaeology allows determination of cultural age categories and a fuller understanding of childhood. In this study, various forms of historical documentation were utilized to provide a social context for analysis of the cemetery. These materials revealed a collective religious identity based on practices pertaining to children, most …

"On Our Way For The Sunny South, Land Of Chivalry": Northern Imperial Attitudes In The Civil War South, Kaci Nash

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines the discourse of Northerners who traveled into the South during the Civil War. Northern soldiers, nurses, teachers, relief workers, and officers’ wives adopted an imperial framework in their encounter with the South. By the eve of the war, years of sectional turmoil had resulted in a perceived ontological separation between the North and the nation’s internal Other—the South. To Northerners, the region was comprised of untamed wilderness, an antiquated society, and an inferior culture. When over two million Northerners mobilized and entered the southern states, they broadly adopted imperial viewpoints and awakened to the cultural power they …

Quantity And Capacity Expansion Decisions For Ethanol In Nebraska And A Medium Sized Plant, Mahsa Khoshnoud

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Corn-based ethanol is the leader of sustainable sources of energy in the United States due to the abundance of corn and the popularity of ethanol-gasoline mixes. Over the past decade, ethanol production has risen from 1.5 million gallons in 1999 to 13 million gallons in 2011. This increase in production requires expansion of ethanol plants. Since Nebraska is the second highest producer of ethanol, we focus our research on the expansion of ethanol plants in Nebraska.

The aim of this study is to develop an optimization model for capital investments in ethanol in Nebraska and a medium sized ethanol plant …

Disciplinary Permeations: Complicating The "Public" And The "Private" Dualism In Composition And Rhetoric, Erica E. Rogers

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As Composition and Rhetoric rose in disciplinary status and academic legitimacy the discourse practice of negation, the positioning of texts in oppositional binaries that set the “new” over the “old,” the “novel” over the “familiar,” became embedded in academic tradition, seeming to be an inherited part of scholarship instead of an individual’s rhetorical choice and deliberate ethos strategy. Negation, when one idea or set of ideas constructed by another is critiqued, advocated, and/or redeveloped by another scholar, is a discourse practice firmly established in the Rhetorical Tradition as part of Socratic dialogues, reappears in “modern rhetoric”, and remains today as …

Great Plains Quarterly Volume 32 / Number 3 / Summer 2012

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Contents

Book Reviews

Notes and News

Review Of The Dream Of A Broken Field By Diane Glancy

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In her latest book, Diane Glancy, professor emerita at Macalester College, Minnesota, and author of numerous novels, short story collections, and essay collections, returns to the topics that have always been the focus of her work: the importance of space, of landscape, and of travel; reflections on (nonfiction) writing and what she calls "geographies of language" in The Dream of a Broken Field; the difficulties of bridging Native American and European heritages (Glancy has Cherokee, English, and German ancestry); the uneasy combination of Christianity and Indigeneity; and her personal emotional and family history. Like her previous work, especially Claiming …

Review Of Clovis Lithic Technology: Investigation Of A Stratified Workshop At The Gault Site, Texas. By Michael R. Waters, Charlotte D. Pevny, David L. Carlson, Et Al. Foreword By Michael B. Collins., Heather M. Rockwell

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This volume is a valuable contribution to the growing knowledge of Early Paleoindian behavior in the Southern Plains. It offers a thorough description of excavations and analyses conducted on collections from the Excavation Area 8 ofthe Gault Site in central Texas. The book is organized into ten chapters detailing the site setting, formation processes, Clovis tool manufacture patterns, microwear analyses, faunal analyses, and interpretations of the site's organization and purpose. ... Clovis Lithic Technology is a valuable contribution to researchers interested in the archaeology of the Great Plains, Paleoindian research, lithic analysis, and New World colonization research.

Water Current, Volume 44, No. 3, Summer 2012

Water Current Newsletter

November Law and Science, Practice and Policy Events at Cornhusker Hotel

NU, Food and Agriculture Organization Partner on Water and Food Security

Meet the Faculty: Larkin Powell, Ph.D., Tonya Bernadt

From the Interim Director: Moving into a Busy Fall Schedule

Urrea Breeds Drought-Resistant Edible Beans in Western Nebraska

Advisory Board Meets in June

UNL's National Drought Mitigation Center

UNESCO-IHE Students Make First Visit to University of Nebraska

Schild Puts Priority on Conserving Water In Home Landscapes

Is Your Water Affecting Herbicide Performance?

Water Cap and Trade A Problem Solver for U.S. Rivers?

Operations of the Central Nebraska Public Power and …

Life Cycle Boundaries And Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Beef Cattle, Quentin M. Dudley

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

Beef cattle are estimated to directly contribute 26% of U.S. agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and future climate change policy may target reducing these emissions. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of GHG emissions from U.S. feedlot beef cattle was conducted to compare methods of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with a more complete evaluation of emissions. The inclusion of emissions from crop production for feed, associated land use change, and other minor factors nearly doubled GHG emissions associated with beef feedlots from the EPA Annual Inventory estimate of 1611 kgCO₂e hd^-1 yr^-1 to 3182 ± 167 …

Review Of Turning Points: A Memoir. By George A. "Bud" Sinner And Bob Jansen. Foreword By Clay S. Jenkinson, Stephen W. King

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Turning Points focuses on the political career of George Sinner from the 1960s to his two terms as a Democratic governor of North Dakota from 1984 to 1992. His legacy, however, is felt beyond North Dakota and was influential on the national scene as well. Many of the. governor's reflections on his early life provide insight into the seminal events that influenced him as an adult. Sinner's reflections on his experience after politics focus on his family and on what his life has taught him.

Indians And Empires: Cultural Change Among The Omaha And Pawnee, From Contact To 1808, Kurt E. Kinbacher

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The Great Plains is in the middle of everywhere. It has been crossed and recrossed for tens of thousands of years. Because of its central location, the region served as a historical laboratory where people were "forever imagining new environments and trying to muscle them into being." In what is now the state of Nebraska-the very center of the middle-divergent groups of Native Americans claimed vast territories and created dynamic cultures. Among these peoples were the Omaha, who settled on the Missouri River, and the Pawnee, who lived in the Platte Valley. Four empires--Spain, France, Great Britain, and the United …

Review Of Women On The North American Plains Edited By Renee M. Laegreid And Sandra K. Mathews, Rebecca A. Buller

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Despite over thirty years having elapsed since Joan Jensen and Darlis Miller, in "The Gentle Tamers Revisited," called for new approaches to western women's history, popular stereotypes of what constitutes a Great Plains woman remain deeply ingrained in the general public's imagination. Although three decades of scholarship have slowly chipped away at the typecast, until recently no one piece has consolidated the diversity of women's experiences within the Canadian and American Great Plains.

We should herald, therefore, the arrival of Women on the North American Plains. This long-needed collection delivers a powerful corrective to scholarship's and popular imagery's shortcomings. …

Conserving The Platte: A Documentary Short, Steven Speicher

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

With a history of litigation, deliberation, and conversation, the Platte River’s waters have been topic of much debate. In recent memory, historical decisions have been made regarding how to successfully manage this crucial water resource that sustains life in the Great Plains. The Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, a federally mandated tri-state conservation organization, began after years of consideration and an adamancy to avoid major litigation battle. Audubon Society has been a major player in conservation of habitats and protecting endangered species; Audubon Society’s Rowe Sanctuary, in specific, has worked in a variety of community- centered ways to conserve the …

Murine Gut Microbiota Is Defined By Host Genetics And Modulates Variation Of Metabolic Traits, Autumn M. Mcknite, Maria Elisa Perez-Munoz, Lu Lu, Evan G. Williams, Simon Brewer, Penelope A. Andreux, John W. M. Bastiaansen, Xusheng Wang, Stephen D. Kachman, Johan Auwerx, Robert W. Williams, Andrew K. Benson, Daniel A. Peterson, Daniel C. Ciobanu

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

The gastrointestinal tract harbors a complex and diverse microbiota that has an important role in host metabolism. Microbial diversity is influenced by a combination of environmental and host genetic factors and is associated with several polygenic diseases. In this study we combined next-generation sequencing, genetic mapping, and a set of physiological traits of the BXD mouse population to explore genetic factors that explain differences in gut microbiota and its impact on metabolic traits. Molecular profiling of the gut microbiota revealed important quantitative differences in microbial composition among BXD strains. These differences in gut microbial composition are influenced by host-genetics, which …

Evidence Of American Martens Populating The Turtle Mountains Of North Dakota, Amber J. Bagherian, Dorothy M. Fecske, Maggie D. Triska, Joseph A. Bishop, Dean J. Berezanski, Sandra K. Johnson, Robert P. Brooks, Thomas L. Serfass

The Prairie Naturalist

American martens (Martes americana) were native to northeastern North Dakota but were considered extirpated by the early 1800s. Although there is no historic evidence of martens occurring beyond the northeast, forested habitat potentially suitable for martens exists in the Turtle Mountains region of northcentral North Dakota and southwestern Manitoba. From 1989– 1991, the Turtle Mountain Trappers Association translocated 59 martens into the Canadian portion of the Turtle Mountains. During summer 2007, we used covered track-plates and/or remotely-triggered cameras placed at 123 survey sites distributed among 41 1-km2 grid cells (a GIS-generated layer imposed on electronic maps of the study region) …

Murine Gut Microbiota Is Defined By Host Genetics And Modulates Variation Of Metabolic Traits, Autumn M. Mcknite, Maria Elisa Pérez-Muñoz, Lu Lu, Evan Graehl Williams, Simon C. Brewer, Pénélope A. Andreux, John W. M. Bastiaansen, Xusheng Wang, Stephen D. Kachman, Johan Auwerx, Robert W. Williams, Andrew K. Benson, Daniel A. Peterson, Daniel C. Ciobanu

Andrew Benson Publications

The gastrointestinal tract harbors a complex and diverse microbiota that has an important role in host metabolism. Microbial diversity is influenced by a combination of environmental and host genetic factors and is associated with several polygenic diseases. In this study we combined next-generation sequencing, genetic mapping, and a set of physiological traits of the BXD mouse population to explore genetic factors that explain differences in gut microbiota and its impact on metabolic traits. Molecular profiling of the gut microbiota revealed important quantitative differences in microbial composition among BXD strains. These differences in gut microbial composition are influenced by host-genetics, which …

Journalism Students As Community News Providers: Three Case Studies And An Analysis Of Intellectual Property Issues Related To Student-Created Content, Mary Kay Quinlan, John R. Bender, Charlie Litton

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

So many news outlets; so little news.

That could be the headline for the Federal Communications Commission’s 2011 report The Information Needs of Communities by Steven Waldman, which describes in detail the landscape of commercial and nonprofit media and the regulatory landscape in which they operate. The digital revolution has spawned a proliferation of online sources of information, but Waldman’s research documents a concomitant decline in news reporting, particularly that pertaining to state and local governments.

Citing numerous previous analyses and case studies, the report summarizes the evidence:

● In just four years, from 2006 to 2010, the workforce in …

Evaluating Vegetation Response To Water Stress Using Close-Range And Satellite Remote Sensing, Sharmistha Swain

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Drought is a weather related natural disaster that occurs in virtually all climatic zones of the world. In the last century, almost all parts of the contiguous United States have experienced several prolonged drought events with considerable impacts on the agricultural economy and environment. With changing climates, the droughts are expected to be more severe, longer, and widespread in many parts of the world including sections of the United States. Understanding the response of vegetation to water stress using remote sensing technologies will enhance our ability to detect and monitor drought. This research evaluates the response of vegetation to drought-related …

Design Capitalism, Emily Van Court

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

Social business examples are few in the architecture profession. In fact, humanitarian architecture as a concept is new to the field. Left to non-profits and academics (Architecture for Humanity and Rural Studio respectively), humanitarian architecture is not traditionally regarded as a profitable business.

However, other fields have found ways to combine a social initiative and a profitable business. Grameen Bank founder Dr. Muhammad Yunus not only defined the term, but created the model for social business. Subsequently, many non-profits have followed suit and applied the successful system, increasing the capacity for social change within their fields.

My thesis will aim …

The Nebraska Sandhills Food Desert: Causes, Identification, And Actions Towards A Resolution, Andrew Thierolf

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Declining populations over the past several decades have created issues for residents in many rural areas. A serious concern is the emergence of “food deserts,” areas where people do not have sufficient access to nutritious foods. The Sandhills region in west-central Nebraska is a prime example of an area that is subject to the food desert phenomenon. It features a low-density rural population that creates a difficult economic environment for grocery retailers.

This paper looks at multiple aspects of the food desert issue in the region. It begins by reviewing literature to determine the definition of the term “food desert” …

Studies On Critical Thinking For Environmental Ethics, Courtney Quinn

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examined the role of critical thinking in regards to environmental ethical issues. First, an instrument was developed and validated to quantitatively measure students’ ability to apply critical thinking skills to various environmental ethical issues. Next, the instrument and a qualitative assessment were used to examine critical thinking capabilities of freshmen upon entry to a large introductory course. Last, the Environmental Ethics Critical Thinking Assessment, in conjunction with the qualitative assessment, were used to examine the change in critical thinking ability of all students in a large introductory course from pre to post-semester. In both studies, numerous antecedents to …

Synchronous Climatic Change Inferred From Diatom Records In Four Western Montana Lakes In The U.S. Rocky Mountains, Brandi Bracht-Flyr, Sherilyn C. Fritz

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Late-Holocene environmental and climatic conditions were reconstructed from diatom assemblages in sediment cores from four western Montana lakes: Crevice Lake, Foy Lake, Morrison Lake, and Reservoir Lake. The lakes show synchroneity in timing of shifts in diatom community structure, but the nature of these changes differs among the lakes. Two of the sites provide highly resolved records of hydrologic balance, while the other two stratigraphic sequences primarily record temperature impact on lake thermal structure. All four lakes show significant change in five discrete intervals: 2200–2100, 1700–1600, 1350–1200, 800–600, and 250 cal yr BP. The similarities in the timing of change …