Digital Commons Network^™

Review Of West And West: Reimagining The Great Plains By Joe Deal, Larry Schwarm

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The geography of the Great Plains defies conventions of what a beautiful landscape is supposed to be. There are no mountains, forests, or pristine streams and lakes. It is mostly a flat horizon line, broken by an occasional tree, and bodies of water are almost always muddy ponds. To the untrained eye, it appears featureless.

It takes a special understanding to appreciate its vastness and subtleties. It requires an especially acute sensitivity to be able to translate these qualities to a photographic image. Most photographers approach this landscape looking for atypical qualities, anomalies rather than the common.

Joe Deal in …

A Model Of Human Scale Tested On Rural Landscape Scenes, Richard K. Sutton

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

Landscapes such as the Great Plains have been described as lacking human scale. This study developed a quantitative model of human scale and compared it with viewers' perceptions of visual structure. Visual structure was selected from the physical features of Otoe County, NE, forming boundaries, found as ground textures, vegetative screens, and topographic breaks and was depicted in photographs of landscape scenes. The model used and tested nine classes of scale based on grain and extent of the photos rated by viewers against those from the model. Viewers identified boundaries representing grain and extent that were synthesized into a viewer-perceived …

Review Of Gentle People: A Case Study Of Rockport Colony Hutterites. By Joanita Kant., Rod Janzen

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

Joanita Kant's Gentle People is an excellent case study of South Dakota's Rockport Hutterite Colony. The book includes in-depth description and analysis of the lifestyle of Rockport Colony residents and covers people of all ages and interests. There are numerous helpful photographs, both contemporary and historical. Members of the Rockport Colony belong to a religious society that has practiced "community of goods" for nearly five centuries. The book not only introduces the reader to the deep-seated beliefs and practices of members, but also provides important sociological analysis supported by helpful figures and maps, including population pyramids, floor plans, and colony …

Persistent Place-Based Income Inequality In Rural Nebraska, 1979-2009, David J. Peters

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

This article addresses a current gap in the inequality literature by identifying demographic and economic factors that best explain persistent income inequality across N = 817 non metropolitan block groups in Nebraska between 1979 and 2009. Over one-half of rural places in Nebraska have average levels of income inequality, one-quarter have persistently low inequality, and one-fifth of places have persistently high levels of income inequality. Results of multinomial logistic regression suggest that persistently high-inequality places in rural Nebraska tend to be smaller, more urbanized, more ethnically diverse, more wealthy, more specialized in high-skill and low-skill industries, and have experienced fast …

Review Of Remaking The Heartland: Middle America Since The 1950s. By Robert Wuthnow, Randolph Cantrell

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

Shrinking farm numbers, population losses, and empty storefronts on Main Street have come to be seen as symptoms of an inevitable slide to oblivion for many Heartland communities. Empirical evidence of such decline is easily found, making the trend a favorite topic for journalists. In Remaking the Heartland, Robert Wuthnow offers a very different interpretation of the same trends. His central argument is that Middle America (defined as eight states including most of the Great Plains) has been characterized by adaptation to changing social and economic realities in a way that has made the region a "more vibrant contributor …

Changing Farm Policies For Changing Times, Bradley D. Lubben, Jim A. Jansen, Matthew C. Stockton

Cornhusker Economics

It has long been said that farm policy and farm bills are much more evolutionary than revolutionary. Policy changes tend to occur rather slowly and gradually, unless some economic or policy shock creates an opportunity or urgent need for a change in policy direction.

The current debate in Washington could provide just that shock to point federal farm policy in a new direction. Farm legislation authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill expires in 2012, and the initial debate over re-authorization was already well underway when the Federal Debt Ceiling/Deficit Reduction Compromise legislation was passed in August. That legislation created a …

Water Current, Volume 43, No. 4, Fall 2011

Water Current Newsletter

2012 Water Tour To Visit Missouri River in July

Spring Water Lecture Series Will Include Water Modeling Subset

Weber Research Earns Impact Award; Fall and Coming Events; Summer Water Tour

Meet the Faculty: Valery E. Forbes, Ph.D., Daniel Miller, Ph.D.

Weber's Research Gets Water Center Impact Award

Orton Receives 2011 Kremer Award

Guest Commentary: Nebraska Water Management Ahead of the Curve in Ogallala Region

New Institute Director Praises Strong Foundation

The 2011 Missouri River flood II: The past is prologue

Water Advisory Board Meets in October

WRAP Meeting Brief

UNL Extension Works with Afgan Farmers to Improve Techniques and Efficiencies …

Barriers To Implementation Of Sustainable Construction Practices In The Homebuilding Industry: A Case Study Of Rochester, Ny, Heidi S. Tomkiewicz

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

This study will evaluate the current barriers to standardization and widespread implementation of sustainable practices in the residential homebuilding industry. A literature review evaluates and defines the relevant tenets of sustainability creating a cohesive definition of sustainable building practices for the purposes of this study. These defined features were used to evaluate current practices and certification programs. An analysis of the current scholarship on barriers to sustainable development combined with this information to create a framework for a case study of homebuilders and their practices in the greater Rochester, New York area. This study was conducted in order to ascertain …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between High School Courses Taken And Graduation From Chadron State College Within Six Years, Ann Krejci

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

Chadron State College is one of three institutions in Nebraska’s State College System. Because of its mission as an open-enrollment institution, Chadron State College has no academic course requirements for admission, and any student who has completed high school or its equivalent is eligible for enrollment.

The purpose of the study was to find whether or not there was a relationship between the characteristics of a Nebraska student’s high school education and the probability of that student’s graduation from Chadron State College within six years of matriculation.

A sample of 180 high school records were retrieved from the Chadron State …

Blanket Statements, Issue 105, Fall 2011

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 105, Fall 2011

Model For Predicting The Impact Upon Economic Development Resulting From Highway Improvement Projects, Eric Thompson, Kanou Comlavi, Mallory Dimmit

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) has an interest in integrating state economic development impact as another factor in prioritizing transportation investments. Such efforts require the development of a comprehensive model that can be used to estimate a consistent final measure of economic development impact that can be readily integrated into existing prioritization formulas. This report summarizes the efforts of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bureau of Business Research (UNL-BBR) to develop such a model, by measuring the impact of expressway, viaduct, and other major investments projects around the state. Specifically, UNL-BBR developed an economic model to predict the economic impact …

School Racial Composition And Race/Ethnic Differences In Early Adulthood Health, Bridget J. Goosby, Katrina M. Walsemann

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We investigate whether school racial composition is associated with racial and ethnic differences in early adult health. We then examine whether perceived discrimination, social connectedness, and parent support attenuates this relationship. Using U.S. data from Waves I and IV of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, we found that black adolescents attending predominantly white schools reported poorer adult health while Asians reported better health. Further research is warranted to understand whether there are qualitative differences in the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities within certain school contexts and how that differential treatment is related to adult health outcomes.

Ecoregional Differences In Late-20th-Century Land-Use And Land-Cover Change In The U.S. Northern Great Plains, Roger F. Auch, Kristi Sayler, Darrell E. Napton, Janis L. Taylor, Mark S. Brooks

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

Land-cover and land-use change usually results from a combination of anthropogenic drivers and biophysical conditions found across multiple scales, ranging from parcel to regional levels. A group of four Level III ecoregions located in the u.s. northern Great Plains is used to demonstrate the similarities and differences in land change during nearly a 30-year period (1973-2000) using results from the U.S. Geological Survey's Land Cover Trends project. There were changes to major suites of land-cover; the transitions between agriculture and grassland/shrubland and the transitions among wetland, water, agriculture, and grassland/shrubland were affected by different factors. Anthropogenic drivers affected the land-use …

Review Of Holy Ground, Healing Water: Cultural Landscapes At Waconda Lake, Kansas. By Donald J. Blakeslee., Lauren W. Ritterbush

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

In Holy Ground, Healing Water readers are treated to a historical journey through the changing cultural landscapes of the Waconda Lake area, northcentral Kansas. This region provides the setting for discussion of unique and representative Native American and EuroAmerican cultural developments in the Great Plains. Don Blakeslee, anthropologist with Wichita State University, briefly reviews roughly 13,000 years ofNative traditions, based on archaeological investigations in the region, then discusses the Pawnee Trail, early European and Euro-American expeditions, complex Native-Native and Native-Euro-American interactions during the 19th century, sacred and secular perceptions and uses of Waconda Spring, and Lincoln Park, a local example …

Review Of Hard Grass: Life On The Crazy Woman Bison Ranch. By Mary Zeiss Stange, Linda M. Hasselstrom

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

Twenty years ago, Stange and her husband traded a modest New Jersey house for seven square miles of overgrazed prairie and set out to right the wrongs done to a place that had been mismanaged ecologically as well as environmentally. The restoration begins disastrously with llamas before it proceeds to success with bison. Her narration includes her own experiences, but most of her essays are serious, in-depth studies of the broader topics that constitute life in the great grasslands spreading across the interior of the country. She begins with prehistory, analyzing the evolution of both plants and animals in the …

The Milliped Order Glomeridesmida (Diplopoda: Pentazonia: Limacomorpha) In Oceania, The East Indies, And Southeastern Asia; First Records From Palau, The Philippines, Vanuatu, New Britain, The Island Of New Guinea, Cambodia, Thailand, And Borneo And Sulawesi, Indonesia, Rowland M. Shelley

Insecta Mundi

The taxonomically neglected milliped order Glomeridesmida and family Glomeridesmidae (infraclass Pentazonia, superorder Limacomorpha) inhabit 21, rather than seven, regions of the world, being newly recorded from Thailand; Cambodia; the Republics of Palau, the Philippines, and Vanuatu; New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago; the Island of New Guinea (both West Papua [formerly Irian Jaya], Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea); and Sulawesi and Borneo, Indonesia. Occurrence in Fiji is confirmed with two additional samples, and discovery is predicted in southern China, Myanmar, and perhaps Madagascar. Coupled with published localities, these records suggest subcontinuous (super)ordinal and familial ranges extending some 12,480 km (7,800 mi) southeastward …

Bird Strike Prevention Version 3.X, Arie Dekker, Hans Van Gasteren, Inge Both

Bird Strike Committee-USA/Canada Joint Annual Meeting: 13th (2011)

Bird strike prevention is dictated by 3 main aspects of human behaviour:

•Give the Black Jack (+ the bill) to someone else!
•Do something!
•Genesis 1:28

Genesis 1:28

God said to them: “….Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground…”

In Western society this statement has justified and contributed towards a human centered approach towards nature.

Bird strike prevention Version 1.x and 2.x are based on this assumption. “Birds have to make way for undisturbed aviation operations”

Players in the bird strike prevention

Bird Strike …

Homestead National Monument Of America, Geologic Resources Inventory Report, J. Graham

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

This report accompanies the digital geologic map data for Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska, produced by the Geologic Resources Division in collaboration with its partners. It contains information relevant to resource management and scientific research. This document incorporates preexisting geologic information and does not include new data or additional fieldwork.

Established as a memorial to pioneer life and the Homestead Act of 1862, Homestead National Monument of America preserves approximately 92 ha (228 acres) of terraced grassland and riparian, floodplain environments. Included in the monument are about 40 ha (100 acres) of restored tallgrass prairie and …

Disrupting Cultural Selves: Constructing Gay And Lesbian Identities In Rural Locales, Emily Kazyak

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Research points to the increasing geographical diversity of gays and lesbians, in contrast to cultural narratives that link gay and lesbian sexualities to urban spaces. Examining the sexual identity constructions of rural gays and lesbians thus provides an opportunity to analyze the connection between cultural and personal levels of narrative identity. Drawing on data from thirty interviews with rural gays and lesbians, I address how this group negotiates cultural narratives about queerness and constructs sexual identities in rural locales. I find that their interpretations of geography make clear distinctions between urban/rural and draw on elements in rural culture. These interpretations …

Blood-Speak: Ward Churchill And The Racialization Of American Indian Identity, Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

After publishing a controversial essay on 9/11, Professor Ward Churchill’s scholarship and personal identity were subjected to a hostile public investigation. Evidence that Churchill had invented his American Indian identity created vehemence among many professors and tribal leaders who dismissed Churchill because he was not a “real Indian.” This essay examines the discourses of racial authenticity employed to distance Churchill from tribal communities and American Indian scholarship. Responses to Churchill’s academic and ethnic self-identification have retrenched a racialized definition of tribal identity defined by a narrow concept of blood. Employing what I term blood-speak, Churchill’s opponents harness a biological concept …

Navigating Socio-Spatial Difference, Constructing Counter-Space: Insights From Transnational Feminist Praxis, Sarah E. Dempsey, Patricia S. Parker, Kathleen J. Krone

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

In recent years, feminist activists have increasingly transnationalized their struggle against local forms of oppression. Our study explores the contentious nature of feminist transnationalism, asking how transnational feminist networks (TFNs) navigate socio-spatial inequalities within their own practices and as a wider social movement. We argue that: (1) TFNs make socio-spatial differences meaningful in part through their constructions of regional, international, and trans-local imaginaries; and (2) TFNs construct resistant feminist counter-spaces through dialogue and strategies aimed at destabilizing dominant structures. Our findings highlight the central role of spatial praxis within transnational feminism.

Knowledge Exchange: A Two-Way Street, Elise Lequire

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

The best available science is of little use if it gathers dust on the shelves of library stacks or is deeply embedded on an obscure website. A key part of the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) mission is to ensure research on wildland fire science is readily available to practitioners in a useful format so it can help support sound management decisions. The JFSP has made great inroads in this arena on a national level, but managers short on time often have to sift through an overload of information that may not be specific to their region. In the next …

Effects Of Background Context And Signaling On Comprehension Recall And Cognitive Load: The Perspective Of Cognitive Load Theory, Minjung Song

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

This study was designed to examine the effects of different geographical background contexts for information on comprehension, recall, and cognitive load. Two different contexts, American geographical background and Korean geographical background, were employed to frame explanations of global warming phenomena. Students’ comprehension was calibrated by two different levels of measurement, which were fact-level learning (shallow understanding) and inference-making (deep understanding). Cognitive load was gauged by self-reported levels of motivation, difficulty, and mental effort. It was hypothesized that an American context would be more familiar and Korean context less familiar for American students. It was also hypothesized that unfamiliar contexts would …

Impact Of Alternative Range Management Systems On Grasslands In The Central Platte River Valley, Nebraska, Luis E. Ramirez

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

Land management strategies can directly and indirectly affect plant assemblages and their behavior. Little research has been performed in south central Nebraska to quantify the effect of fire and grazing interactions on species composition, vegetation structure, forage quality, and potential cost associated with land management.

I evaluate the effect of season-long continuous, patch-burning, and rotational grazing approaches on vegetation and ranching costs to determine their value as conservation tools. This study includes data collected between 2007 and 2009 from grasslands in south central Nebraska. I found that land management influence plant assemblages by shifting communities when grazing and/or fire are …

Managing Stormwater Runoff With Green Infrastructure: Exploring Practical Strategies To Overcome Barriers In Citywide Implementation, Shaojing Tian

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Cities in the United States are facing the challenges of protecting water resources, drinking water and public health with a rapid pace of population growth and urban sprawl. Large quantities of stormwater runoff arising from increased imperviousness on urbanizing watershed will cause municipal sewer system overflow and discharge of untreated runoff into waterways, and as a result, pollute local water bodies and affect the quality of drinking water in the long run. It has been increasingly acknowledged that Green Infrastructure (GI) and Low Impact Development (LID) can be used as an effective tool to capture and retain stormwater on site …

Acuta Journal Of Telecommunications In Higher Education

ACUTA Journal

In This Issue

lntegrating Real-World Operations with Research in Emergency Communication

lnstallation of an lP-Based Public Address System at the University of Notre Dame

ADVERTORIAL: Managed Emergency Communications Systems

ADVERTORIAL: lncreased ROI from Emergency Communications Systems

Emergency Notification: How Much ls Too Much?

Maintain Your Cool

Emergency Response Systems lmproving But Still Have to Clear Some Hurdles

lnstitutional Excellence Award

2011 Awards

Bill D. Morris Award

ACUTA Ruth A. Michalecki Leadership Award

President's Message

From the lnterim Executive Director

O&A with the CIO

Review Of Art Of West Texas Women: A Celebration By Kippra D. Hopper And Laurie J. Churchill, Michael R. Grauer

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Texas historians, acknowledging women as art pioneers in Texas, rely on the old saw that while men were settling the state, women led the charge for cultural pursuits. Groups of women-trained artists among them-began organizing art activities in all parts of the state in the early 1880s on the heels of settlement, recognizing the importance of an appreciation of aesthetics and beauty to the development of a significant culture. Since most public school teachers in Texas were female, teaching art and bringing art to students were natural developments; women also founded Texas's first public art museums.

While scholars have acknowledged …

Review Of Dammed Indians Revisited: The Continuing History Of The Pick-Sloan Plan And The Missouri River Sioux By Michael L. Lawson, Roxanne T. Ornelas

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

George Santayana cautioned that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." In Michael L. Lawson's Dammed Indians Revisited: The Continuing History of the Pick-Sloan Plan and the Missouri River Sioux, we are given a telling of one of our nation's greatest engineering blunders. Lawson enlightens us with a historical account of governmental mismanagement of almost unbelievable proportion. This revised volume is based on Lawson's 1982 book Dammed Indians: The Pick-Sloan Plan and the Missouri River Sioux, 1944- 1980; Dammed Indians Revisited picks up where he left off.

Review Of In The Footsteps Of Lewis And Clark: Early Commemorations And The Origins Of The National Historic Trail By Wallace G. Lewis, Jay H. Buckley

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

This informative and thought-provoking work analyzes the early commemorations of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the origins of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. Neither a guidebook nor an administrative or institutional history of the agencies or organizations involved, this work is concerned with the interpretation and historical meanings of the expedition within the national ethos and how these have changed over time.

Wallace Lewis identifies the factors that contributed to the reinterpretation, resurgence of popularity, and amplification of the importance of the expedition. These included the erection of monuments and statues, the publication of various editions of …

Immigration To The Great Plains, 1865-1914 War, Politics, Technology, And Economic Development, Bruce Garver

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The advent and vast extent of immigration to the Great Plains states during the years 1865 to 1914 is perhaps best understood in light of the new international context that emerged during the 1860s in the aftermath of six large wars whose consequences included the enlargement of civil liberties, an acceleration of economic growth and technological innovation, the expansion of world markets, and the advent of mass immigration to the United States from east-central and southern Europe.1 Facilitating all of these changes was the achievement of widespread literacy through universal, free, compulsory, and state-funded elementary education in the United States, …