Digital Commons Network^™

Transportation Network Analysis For Bicycle Suitability In Lincoln Nebraska Using Geographic Information Systems (Gis), Andrew J. Pedley

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

With increasing fuel costs, concern over global climate change, and increasing obesity levels, cycling is being promoted as a healthy sustainable alternative to automobile transportation. In order to improve a city’s transportation network to accommodate cyclists, an assessment of the current system is needed. This project uses the Bicycle Compatibility Index (BCI) to rate the bikeability of streets in a subarea of Lincoln, Nebraska. In this study I assessed the feasibility of using the BCI rating method on a city-wide level and list suggestions to improve the method. The information created in this project can be used by planning officials …

Looking For A Diverse Teacher Force, Guy Trainin, William England, Britney Tonniges

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

At some point over the next 10 to 12 years, the nation’s public school student body will have no one clear racial or ethnic majority. But the makeup of the nation’s teacher workforce is not keeping up with these changing demographics. At the national level, students of color make up more than 40 percent of the public school population. In contrast, teachers of color—teachers who are not non-Hispanic white—are only 17 percent of the teaching force. (Boser,2011- Teacher Diversity Matters) This infographic presentes a snapshot of the situation in Nebraska 2012.

Alternative Individual Cartridge Case Identification Techniques, Curtis H. Sedlacek

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Individual cartridge case identification is an essential component of historic battlefield archeology. With individual cartridge case identification archeologists are able to track the movement of the combatants as they move across the battlefield, giving a highly detailed view of the past. While useful, current methods of individual cartridge case identification require expensive equipment and extensive training and time to conduct. In this thesis two alternative methods of cartridge case identification are evaluated in order to determine if recent developments in the areas of 3D scanning and statistical analysis can be utilized to develop new methods of individual cartridge case method. …

Assessment Of New Energy Use Policy In Land Use Planning, Xun Liu

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

In modern society, energy has long been a part of human life. However, traditional energy resources will be used up eventually, and they also cause environmental pollution. In contrast with traditional energy resources, new energy has three major advantages: it has high efficiency, renewable and environmentally friendly. Considering new energy’s efficiency, local government should adopt appropriate policies. New energy policies are the most effective and direct method to enable governments to achieve their goals.

This study mainly focuses on how energy policies can improve the efficiency of new energy use. More specifically, this research addresses three major questions: 1) To …

The Sociology Of Harriet Martineau In Eastern Life, Present And Past: The Foundations Of The Islamic Sociology Of Religion, Deborah A. Ruigh

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This paper is a critical analysis of Harriet Martineau’s philosophical stance and epistemological modes, her systematic sociological methodology, her use of this methodology, and her sociology of religion. How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838), Eastern Life, Present and Past (1848), and other relevant works will be used to examine Martineau’s evolving epistemological modes as well as her sociology of religion. How to Observe, Martineau’s treatise on systematic sociological methodology and cultural relativism, will serve as an exemplar for analysis of Martineau’s methodological practice as evidenced in Eastern Life. The research problem herein is three-fold: (1) to examine …

Droughtscape, Spring 2012, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Director’s report.

Climate Masters 1

Ranch plan workshop . 3

Winter climate summary 4

Winter impacts summary . 6

Zhao research.

Getachew research 0

Other international news

Wardlow move 13

IPCC disaster report .

Accounting For Indirect Land-Use Change In The Life Cycle Assessment Of Biofuel Supply Chains, Susan Tarka Sanchez, Jeremy Woods, Mark Akhurst, Matthew Brander, Michael O'Hare, Terence P. Dawson, Robert Edwards, Adam J. Liska, Rick Malpas

Adam Liska Papers

The expansion of land used for crop production causes variable direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions; and other economic, social and environmental effects. We analyze the use of life cycle analysis (LCA) for estimating the carbon intensity of biofuel production from indirect land-use change (ILUC). Two approaches are critiqued; direct, attributional life cycle analysis (ALCA) and consequential life cycle analysis (CLCA). A proposed hybrid “combined model” of the two approaches for ILUC analysis relies on first defining the system boundary of the resulting full LCA. Choices are then made as to the modeling methodology (economic equilibrium or cause-effect), data inputs, …

An Estimate Of Avian Mortality At Communication Towers In The United States And Canada, Travis Longcore, Catherine Rich, Pierre Mineau, Beau Macdonald, Daniel G. Bert, Lauren M. Sullivan, Erin Mutrie, Sidney A. Gauthreaux Jr., Robert L. Crawford, Michael L. Avery, Albert M. Manville Ii, Emilie R. Travis, David Drake

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Avian mortality at communication towers in the continental United States and Canada is an issue of pressing conservation concern. Previous estimates of this mortality have been based on limited data and have not included Canada. We compiled a database of communication towers in the continental United States and Canada and estimated avian mortality by tower with a regression relating avian mortality to tower height. This equation was derived from 38 tower studies for which mortality data were available and corrected for sampling effort, search efficiency, and scavenging where appropriate. Although most studies document mortality at guyed towers with steady-burning lights, …

Identity, Integration, And Assimilation Recorded In Manitoba's Polish And Ukrainian Cemeteries, Lukasz Albanski, John C. Lehr

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

Polish and Ukrainian rural cemeteries in southeastern Manitoba reflect the process of negotiating complex religious, geographic, and ethnic identities within Canadian society. Before 1914 the identities of Slavic immigrants from eastern Europe to western Canada were influenced more by religious affiliation than by geographic origins. This Slavic population, now assimilated into mainstream Anglophone society, retains elements of Polish and Ukrainian on grave markers as expressions of difference and acts of resistance against total homogeneity. In rural Manitoba grave markers record the process of exogamy and cultural blending, while cemetery landscapes replicate the social relationship between cultural groups from the same …

Great Plains Quarterly Volume 32 / Number 2 / Spring 2012

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Contents

Book Reviews

Notes and News

Great Plains Research Volume 22, Number 1 Spring 2012--Editorial Matter

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

Cover

Masthead

Table of contents

News and Notes

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

inside this issue

Mapping Burned Areas In The Flint Hills Of Kansas And Oklahoma, 2000-2010, Rhett L. Mohler, Douglas G. Goodin

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

Prescribed burning is commonly used to prevent succession oftallgrass prairie to woody vegetation, which preserves the prairie's value to ranching and native wildlife. However, burning has negative effects as well, including potentially harming wildlife and releasing pollutants into the atmosphere. Research concerning the effects of fire on vegetation dynamics, wildlife, and air quality would benefit greatly from maps of burned areas in the Flint Hills, as no reliable quantification of burned areas currently exists. We used Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite imagery to map burned areas in the Flint Hills for each year from 2000 to 2010. Our maps …

Review Of A White-Bearded Plainsman: The Memoirs Of Archaeologist W. Raymond Wood. By W. Raymond Wood., Peter Bleed

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

Over a period of more than 50 years, Ray Wood has published a string of major works on Great Plains culture history and other subjects. He has held important professional posts, interacted with a vast cohort, and trained a generation of midcontinent archaeologists. Beyond all that, Ray's memoir, A White-Bearded Plainsman, shows him to be a fine writer and terrific storyteller. Wood presents his story in chronological order, appropriate for a culture historian, but it happens that Ray came up at a time when Plains archaeology was blooming: his story describes the growth of Plains prehistory.

A Conceptual Model To Facilitate Amphibian Conservation In The Northern Great Plains, David M. Mushet, Ned H. Euliss Jr., Craig A. Stockwell

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

As pressures on agricultural landscapes to meet worldwide resource needs increase, amphibian populations face numerous threats including habitat destruction, chemical contaminants, disease outbreaks, wetland sedimentation, and synergistic effects of these perturbations. To facilitate conservation planning, we developed a conceptual model depicting elements critical for amphibian conservation in the northern Great Plains. First, we linked upland, wetland, and landscape features to specific ecological attributes. Ecological attributes included adult survival; reproduction and survival to metamorphosis; and successful dispersal and recolonization. Second, we linked ecosystem drivers, ecosystem stressors, and ecological effects of the region to each ecological attribute. Lastly, we summarized information on …

Parochlus Kiefferi (Garrett, 1925) In Nebraska (Diptera: Chironomidae), Barbara Hayford

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

A rare species of nonbiting aquatic midge, Parochlus kiefferi (Garrett, 1925), was discovered in Squaw Creek in the Pine Ridge of northwest Nebraska. Parochlus is a genus of midge found throughout the Southern Hemisphere and is only represented by this one species in the Northern Hemisphere. The typical North American species distribution of P. kiefferi includes high alpine and northern latitude streams, so the collection of P. kiefferi from a low elevation and low-latitude stream in Nebraska represents a range extension for the species. A survey for P. kiefferi from 83 samples from 53 stream sites in northern Nebraska yielded …

Review Of Oral History On Trial: Recognizing Aboriginal Narratives In The Courts. By Bruce Granville Miller, Drew Mildon

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

Anthropologist Bruce Miller's new treatise will prove an essential resource for historians, ethnographers, and anthropologists both inside and outside the academy and for lawyers working in the areas of Aboriginal law and Indigenous rights. Demonstrating the classic "iceberg" principle, Miller's broad and deep knowledge of the contemporary theoretical underpinnings that inform approaches to Indigenous oral history in academic practice and in the courtroom are immediately apparent. He gives us the tip ofthat iceberg in a readable, comprehensible exegesis backed by solid research and accessible references. Addressing the complex theoretical and teleological divisions among disciplines with remarkable lucidity and plain language, …

Adaptation Of Annual Forage Legumes In The Southern Great Plains, John A. Guretzky, Twain J. Butler, Jim P. Muir

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

Our objective was to evaluate adaptation and compatibility of cool-season annual legumes overseeded into perennial grasses in the southern Great Plains. Freeze damage, vigor, and standing crop of 14 annual legume species were evaluated during spring at three locations in Oklahoma and Texas from 2006 to 2008. Across locations and years, standing crop of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) and Austrian winter pea (Pisum sativum L. ssp. arvense (L.) Poir.] averaged 3,513 and 3,210 kg dry matter (DM) ha^-1, respectively. Standing crop of crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.) and arrowleaf clover (T. vesiculosum Savi) averaged …

Review Of Gathering Places: Aboriginal And Fur Trade Histories. Edited By Carolyn Podruchny And Laura Peers., Frank D. Lewis

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

Gathering Places honors Jennifer S.H. Brown, a leading figure in the Aboriginal history of the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The ten essays and introduction deal with Natives and Native history in the region of Hudson Bay, and there is the influence of Professor Brown; otherwise the topics are diverse. The papers have been grouped into several themes, but broadly speaking there are two types of essays. Some use novel as well as more traditional approaches to shed light on aspects of the Aboriginal experience; the others are methodological, dealing with the writing of First Nations histories.

In an afterword, Jennifer …

Review Of Storied Landscapes: Ethno-Religious Identity And The Canadian Prairies. By Frances Swyripa, Hans Werner

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

Frances Swyripa's study of the ethno-religious landscape of the Canadian prairies is a delightful painting of the visual legacy ofthe settlement landscape and at the same time a careful analysis of the nuances that undergirded the religious sensibilities of the particular groups she examines. Storied Landscapes pays most attention to Mennonites, Ukrainians, Doukhobors, and Icelanders, and less to other Scandinavians, other Europeans, and Mormons. Three single location settlements in Saskatchewan are also represented: the Esterhazy-Kaposvar Hungarian settlement, the English Barr Colony near Lloydminster, and the German St. Peter's Colony at Muenster.

Storied Landscapes is a welcome and novel way of …

Review Of Federal Fathers And Mothers: A Social History Ofthe United States Indian Service, 1869-1933. By Cathleen D. Cahill., Stephen J. Rockwell

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

Cathleen Cahill's Federal Fathers and Mothers is an excellent contribution to the literature on social provision, American state development, and Indian affairs. It should be essential reading for scholars using Theda Skocpol's classic Protecting Soldiers and Mothers (1992), and it is a fine addition to the growing number of titles critiquing the traditional view of the 19th-century American state as simple, small, and unobtrusive. Cahill offers a social history of the u.s. Indian Service, especially the School Service, from Reconstruction to the New Deal, focusing on the lives and relationships of Indian and non-Indian men and women in the Service, …

Wetland Hydrodynamics And Long-Term Use Of Spring Migration Areas By Lesser Scaup In Eastern South Dakota, Sharon N. Kahara, Steven R. Chipps

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

Lesser scaup (Aythya affinis [Eyton]) populations remain below their long-term average despite improved habitat conditions along spring migration routes and at breeding grounds. Scaup are typically associated with large, semipermanent wetlands and exhibit regional preferences along migration routes. Identifying consistently used habitats for conservation and restoration is complicated by irregular wetland availability due to the dynamic climate. We modeled long-term wetland use by lesser scaup in eastern South Dakota based on surveys conducted during below-average (1987-1989) and above-average (1993-2002) water condition years. Wetland permanence, longitude, and physiographic region were all significant determinants of use (P < 0.01). Long-term use was best described by a quadratic equation including wetland surface area variability, an index of wetland hydrodynamics that is linked to productivity, biodiversity, and value to waterfowl. Contrary to previous findings, our study shows that over the long term, lesser scaup are more than twice as likely to use permanent wetlands as they are semipermanent wetlands. The northern region of South Dakota's Prairie Coteau, which holds the highest density of hydrologically dynamic permanent wetlands, should be considered an area of conservation concern for lesser scaup. The criteria we identified may be used to identify important lesser scaup habitats in other regions of the Prairie Pothole Region.

Review Of Energy Development And Wildlife Conservation In Western North America. Edited By David E. Naugle., Cameron L. Aldridge

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

Current and pending energy developments are likely to alter nearly 100 million hectares of wildlife habitat. David Naugle has compiled the inaugural synthesis of energy development impacts on wildlife populations across western grassland, shrub land, and forested systems. Part 1 sets the stage, characterizing energy development in the West. In part 2 ("Biological Responses"), Johnson and St-Laurent (chapter 3) propose a unifying experimental framework to monitor and assess consequences of energy development, urging proactive rather than reactionary science, conducted as experiments rather than observations, better informing both science and management. ... [Naugle et al.] eloquently conclude that "this book is …

Census 2010: What We No Longer Know About Small And Rural Places, Randolph L. Cantrell

Cornhusker Economics

The release of data from the Decennial Census always creates a “buzz” for people interested in knowing what is happening in their communities. The 2010 Census was no exception, allowing residents of any state, county, community, zip code or neighborhood to know with confidence how many people reside in their area of interest; along with their age, gender, race, ethnicity, household and family size and composition, group quarters arrangements and home ownership status. These data reflect the characteristics of the population with relatively high reliability for the theoretical reporting date of April 1 of the Census year, and allow an …

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 24:2 — Spring 2012, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

Textiles and Politics: Textile Society of America 13th Biennial Symposium, September 19-22, 2012, Washington, DC
From the President
TSA Member News
Textiles and Cultural Context: Ecuadorian Artesanía Vendors and Transnational Markets
The Mola: Imagery of Culture and Politics
Taiwan Aboriginal Textiles: Translations and Transformations: Background of Yushan Tsai's Exhibition
Book Reviews
Textile Community News
Featured Collection: Denver Art Museum Textile Art Department Expansion
Call for Papers
Calendar: Conferences & Symposia
Exhibitions: United States
Exhibitions: International
Lectures, Workshops, Tours

First Year Student Development: Sophomore Students' Perceptions Of Growth And Contributing Factors, Catherine B. Holbrook

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

The first year of college is critically important to student success, often shaping the amount and nature of growth and learning over the entire collegiate career in complex and profound ways. For this reason, higher education experts have called for colleges and universities to establish integrated, intentional programs for new students with identified outcomes which are regularly assessed to evaluate effectiveness. The purpose of this concurrent nested study was to investigate how college sophomores perceived their personal development during the first year of college against 10 specific competencies and to understand what types of first year experiences contributed to any …

Reluctance Or Power Hunger: Whom Do Voters Prefer? A Test Of The Wary Cooperator Theory And Evolutionary Political Behavior, Timothy Collins

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

Do voters prefer political candidates who express reluctance to seek office, or do voters prefer candidates who express great ambition and an implicit hunger for power? This study uses an experimental design to test overall support of reluctant or power-hungry candidates, and discusses which people would select which candidate and why. While limited by the survey design, the evidence suggests that there is no significant overall mean difference for overall support of either candidate. However, personality traits and the degree to which participants perceived certain descriptive attributes of the candidates both play a role in vote likelihood and candidate favorability …

Thirdspace Professional Development As Effective Response To The Contested Spaces Of Computers And Writing, Jason L. Mcintosh

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In the physical spaces of writing classrooms and the conceptual spaces of writing practice and pedagogy, knowledge about computers is constructed by many individuals, groups, and institutions. Each has a stake in defining what computers mean for education and the role computers should play in the everyday life schools. Some of these stakeholders are immediate members of our school communities, such as students, teachers, administrators, and technology support staff. Some are not, such as politicians, researchers, and computer manufacturers. The effect of these often competing stakeholders is one of contested space. Writing teachers encounter contested space when we decide to …

Channel Width And Least Tern And Piping Plover Nesting Incidence On The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Joel G. Jorgensen, Mary Bomberger Brown, Andrew J. Tyre

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

Endangered interior least terns (Sternula antillarum athalassos) and threatened northern Great Plains piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) nest together on midstream sandbars in large rivers in the interior of North America. We investigated the relationship between river channel width and tern and plover nesting incidence on the lower Platte River, Nebraska, using a model-based logistic regression analysis. Multiple channel width measurements and a long-term nesting data set were used in the analysis. Nesting incidence was positively associated with increasing river channel width proximal to the nesting site. At a greater distance, up to 802 m away from …

Reproduction And Population Characteristics Of White-Tailed Jackrabbits In South Dakota, Charles Dieter, Dustin Schaible

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

We evaluated the reproductive biology of314 white-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus townsendii) in 44 counties throughout South Dakota from June 2004 to September 2005. We classified jackrabbits as juveniles or adults based on the closure of the proximal epiphysis of the humerus using X-ray analysis. We determined annual reproductive activity through fluctuations in measured weights of reproductive organs for both sexes. The 2005 breeding season started in late February and proceeded until mid-July, approximately 142 days, allowing for females to potentially produce 3.3 litters. We found four distinct breeding periods by the overlap of estimated conception and parturition dates. Mean …

Great Plains Research, Volume 22, Number 1, Spring 2012 (Complete Issue)

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

Identity, Integration, and Assimilation Recorded in Manitoba's Polish and Ukrainian Cemeteries • Lukasz Albanski and John C. Lehr

Mapping Burned Areas in the Flint Hills of Kansas and Oklahoma, 2000-2010 • Rhett L. Mohler and Douglas G. Goodin

Parochlus kiefferi (Garrett, 1925) in Nebraska (Diptera: Chironomidae) • Barbara Hayford

Adaptation of Annual Forage Legumes in the Southern Great Plains • John A. Guretzky, Twain J. Butler, and Jim P. Muir

A Conceptual Model to Facilitate Amphibian Conservation in the Northern Great Plains • David M. Mushet, Ned H. Euliss, Jr., and Craig A. Stockwell

Channel Width and Least Tern and …