Digital Commons Network^™

Ecological Niche Of The 2003 West Nile Virus Epidemic In The Northern Great Plains Of The United States, Michael Wimberly, Michael B. Hildreth, Stephen P. Boyte, Erik Lindquist, Lon Kightlinger

United States Public Health Resources

Background: The incidence of West Nile virus (WNv) has remained high in the northern Great Plains compared to the rest of the United States. However, the reasons for the sustained high risk of WNv transmission in this region have not been determined. To assess the environmental drivers of WNv in the northern Great Plains, we analyzed the county-level spatial pattern of human cases during the 2003 epidemic across a seven-state region.
Methodology/Principal Findings: County-level data on WNv cases were examined using spatial cluster analysis, and were used to fit statistical models with weather, climate, and land use variables as predictors. …

Characterizing Forest Fragments In Boreal, Temperate, And Tropical Ecosystems, Arjan J. H. Meddens, Andrew T. Hudak, Jeffrey S. Evans, William A. Gould, Grizelle Gonzalez

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

An increased ability to analyze landscapes in a spatial manner through the use of remote sensing leads to improved capabilities for quantifying human-induced forest fragmentation. Developments of spatially explicit methods in landscape analyses are emerging. In this paper, the image delineation software program eCognition and the spatial pattern analysis program FRAGSTATS were used to quantify patterns of forest fragments on six landscapes across three different climatic regions characterized by different moisture regimes and different influences of human pressure. Our results support the idea that landscapes with higher road and population density are more fragmented; however, there are other, equally influential …

What Comes First, Agricultural Growth Or Democracy?, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Today, the international community faces two major development challenges, how to ignite growth and how to establish democracy. Economic research has identified two plausible hypotheses regarding this association. The first hypothesis emphasizes the need to start with democracy and institutions that secure property rights. The second hypothesis emphasizes the need to start with physical and human capital accumulation. In this paper we discuss some of the econometric evidence on the relationship between institutions, human capital, and agricultural productivity growth across developed and developing countries with the objective of finding support for one or the other hypothesis. We use Barro type …

What Comes First, Agricultural Growth Or Democracy?, Lilyan E. Fulginiti

Lilyan E. Fulginiti Publications

Today, the international community faces two major development challenges, how to ignite growth and how to establish democracy. Economic research has identified two plausible hypotheses regarding this association. The first hypothesis emphasizes the need to start with democracy and institutions that secure property rights. The second hypothesis emphasizes the need to start with physical and human capital accumulation. In this paper we discuss some of the econometric evidence on the relationship between institutions, human capital, and agricultural productivity growth across developed and developing countries with the objective of finding support for one or the other hypothesis. We use Barro type …

Comparison Of Three Models For Predicting Gross Primary Production Across And Within Forested Ecoregions In The Contiguous United States, Nicholas C. Coops, Colin J. Ferster, Richard H. Waring, Joanne Nightingale

United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Publications

Gross primary production (GPP), the photosynthetic uptake of carbon, is an important variable in the global carbon cycle. Although continuous measurements of GPP are being collected from a network of micrometeorological towers, each site represents a small area with records available for only a limited period. As a result, GPP is commonly modeled over forested landscapes as a function of climatic and soil variables, often supplemented with satellite-derived estimates of the vegetation's light-absorbing properties. Since the late 1990s, a number of models have been developed to provide seasonal and annual estimates of GPP across much of the Earth. Each model, …

G. William Skinner, Daniel Little

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

G. William Skinner was one of the most innovative social scientists to have turned his attention to China in the past thirty years. Bill passed away on October 25, 2008, but his influence on how we think about China will survive him for a long, long time. (See this list of Skinner’s publications to get an impression of the depth and scope of his contributions.) Bill was a generous and open scholar, and many scholars working in the field today owe him a permanent debt of gratitude for his advice and support in the past several decades. (See this Chinese …

Toward Using National Cancer Surveillance Data For Preventing And Controlling Cervical And Other Human Papillomavirus-Associated Cancers In The Us, Mona Saraiya, Faruque Ahmed, Mary White, Herschel Lawson, Elizabeth R. Unger, Christie Eheman

United States Public Health Resources

This supplement, known as the ABHACUS (Assessing the Burden of HPV-Associated Cancers in the United States) supplement, contains 22 articles. Together, these articles provide a comprehensive snapshot of data related to the occurrence and control of multiple cancers that have been associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV). These analyses highlight the burden of HPV associated cancers in the US population as a whole and among vulnerable population subgroups. We anticipate that these findings will be an important resource for enhancing existing strategies for the prevention and control of HPV associated cancers.

HPV is estimated to be responsible for 5.2% of …

Lifestyle Of Shellmound Builders In Brazil (Galley Proofs), Sabine Eggers, C. C. Petronilho, K. Brandt, J. Filippini, Karl J. Reinhard

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The contact of inland and coastal prehistoric groups in Brazil is believed to have been restricted to regions with no geographical barrier, as is the case in the Ribeira de Iguape valley. The inland osteological collection from the riverine shellmound Moraes (5800–4500 BP) represents a unique opportunity to test this assumption for this region. Despite cultural similarities between riverine and coastal shellmounds, important ecological and site distribution differences are expected to impact on lifestyle. The purpose of this study is thus to document and interpret health and lifestyle indicators in Moraes in comparison to coastal shellmound groups. Specifically we test …

Droughtscape, Fall 2008, Kelly Smith

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

Washington Workshops Scheduled for November

Look for Warm West, Rainy Gulf, Easing Drought

New Drought Monitor Authors Profiled

Drought Impact Awareness Growing: Weather Forecast Offices, Geographers Highlight Issue

NDMC Takes on New Projects

Hundreds+ See NDMC at Ag Trade Show

NDMC Welcomes New Employees

Droughtscape, Fall 2008, Kelly Smith

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

Washington Workshops Scheduled for November

Look for Warm West, Rainy Gulf, Easing Drought

New Drought Monitor Authors Profiled

Drought Impact Awareness Growing: Weather Forecast Offices, Geographers Highlight Issue

NDMC Takes on New Projects

Hundreds+ See NDMC at Ag Trade Show

NDMC Welcomes New Employees

Arctic Report Card 2008: Tracking Recent Environmental Changes, J. Overland, J. Walsh, M. Wang, J. Richter-Menge, J. Comiso, W. Meier, S. Nghiem, D. Perovich, A. Proshutinsky, J. Morison, I. Ashik, E. Carmack, I. Frolov, J. C. Gascard, M. Itoh, R. Krishfield, F. Mclaughlin, I . Polyakov, B. Rudels, U. Schauer, K . Shimada, V. Sokolov, M. Steele, M.-L. Timmermans, J. Toole, V. Romanovsky, R. Armstrong, A. Shiklomanov, D. Walker, G. Jia, J. Box, J. Cappelen, D. Bromwich, L.-S. Bai, T. Mote, B. Veenhuis, N. Mikkelsen, A. Weidick, Michael Svoboda, D. Russell, M.J.J.E. Loonen, C. Zöckler, B. Ebbinge, M. Simpkins, C.D. Sawatzky, J.D. Reist

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

There continues to be widespread and, in some cases, dramatic evidence of an overall warming of the Arctic system.

Atmosphere: 5° C temperature increases were recorded in autumn

Ocean: Observed increase in temperature of surface and deep ocean layers

Sea Ice: Near-record minimum summer sea ice extent

Greenland: Records set in both duration and extent of summer surface melt

Biology: Fisheries and marine mammals impacted by loss of sea ice

Land: Permafrost temperatures tend to increase, while snow extent tends to decrease The Arctic Report Card is introduced as a means of presenting clear, reliable and concise information on recent …

Mcnair News, Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 2008

McNair News: Newsletter of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln McNair Scholars Program

New Scholars Retreat: Welcome Junior Scholars
Meet the New McNair Scholars
McNair - Facts & History
McNair Summer Research Experience
UNL McNair Research Colloquium
Senior Scholar Research Projects
California McNair Scholars Symposium
Reflections on the California McNair Symposium by Kyle Jackson
Mentor Spotlight – Miguel Carranza
Working Effectively with Your Research Mentor by Rebecca Beals
Scholar Spotlight – Mo Wax
McNair Graduate Student Mentors
Dr. Terri Norton “Joins” McNair Community of Scholars
Kudos to McNair Scholars
Conference Presentations
2008 Summer Internships
Alumni News: Degree Watch
McNair Scholars: Now Graduate Students at UNL
UNL Scholars: Now Grad Students Across the Country …

Title And Contents

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY

Volume 28 / Number 4 / Fall 2008

CONTENTS

NEBRASKA'S LIVE STOCK SANITARY COMMISSION AND THE RISE OF AMERICAN PROGRESSIVISM

CONTRADICTORY SUBTEXTS IN WILLA CATHER'S 0 PIONEERS! AND THOMAS HARDY'S FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

JEWISH COMMUNITY IN WICHITA, 1920-1970: SAME WAGON, NEW HORSES

REVIEW ESSAY: THE SPINNING OF THE WEST

BOOK REVIEWS

NOTES AND NEWS

Endangered Species Bulletin – Fall 2008, Volume 33, No. 3

Endangered Species Bulletin

Table of Contents:
Family Ties
A Natural Connection: USGS and Endangered Species Research
Recovering Endemic Plants of the Channel Islands
Conserving Bird Communities in the Sagebrush Sea
Ice, Climate Change, and Wildlife Research in Alaska
Bringing Back the Bonytail and the Razorback
The California Clapper Rail and Multispecies Recovery Planning
Tracking Sea Turtles in the Everglades
Hair Samples Shed Light on Grizzly Bears
Understanding Pallid Sturgeon in the Big Muddy
Surveys Reveal Decline of the Palila
How Temperature Affects Juvenile Coho Salmon
Bridging the Information Gap for Mussels
Neosho Madtom: A Small Fish with Complex Problems
Invasive Plants and Pollinator …

North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena Japonica) Seasonal And Diel Calling Patterns From Long-Term Acoustic Recordings In The Southeastern Bering Sea, 2000–2006, Lisa Munger, Sean Wiggins, Sue Moore, John Hildebrand

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

We assessed North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) seasonal and daily calling patterns in the southeastern Bering Sea (SEBS) using long-term hydrophone recordings from October 2000 through January 2006. We detected right whale calls on the SEBS middle shelf (<100 m depth) as early as May, intermittently throughout summer and fall, and as late as December. Calls also were detected on one day in June 2005 on the SEBS slope (>1,000 m), but were not detected near Kodiak Island from April to August 2003. In months with calls, detections occurred on more days in July–October (≥6 d/mo), than from May to June or November to December (≤3 d/mo). Calls were clustered in time and were usually detected on 1–3 consecutive days with a median interval of 6.5 d …

In Case You Missed It: Tibet Special, Part 1

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

It has now been six months since “China Beat” ran a series of reports about and suggested readings relating to the March unrest in Tibet. We thought this a fitting time to try to figure out what some of the best works out there are that deal with Tibet in general, not just a particular crisis involving the region and its people. So, we will be asking some people the following question: “Can you think of any particular article or book relating to Tibet that you wish more people had read?” We’ll run the answers periodically, as they come in. …

A Western Man Of Color: Richard Wright And The World, Guy J. Reynolds

Department of English: Presentations

Richard Wright had become by the mid 50s an analyst of what it means to be ‘of’ the West. He was by now a firmly-established émigré, and had become a French citizen in 1947. His journeys, in a way, had only just become: Europe was a stage or an inauguration into further mappings of the self and society. Those mappings took the extraordinary geo-political shifts of the mid-century as their subject. In the wake of the Second World War, severely damaged economically and in terms of sheer power, European nations were finally forced to give ground to the nationalist movements …

A Crash Course In Infrastructure: Expensive But Essential Components For Rural (And Urban) Nebraska’S Future, Sandra K. Scofield

Rural Initiative Program: Publications and Reports

“Ironically rural America has become viewed by a growing number of Americans as having a higher quality of life not because of wat it has, but rather because of what it does not have.” This quote from an unknown author found by a graduate student in the University of Nebraska Rural Initiative focuses on a poin we often forget.

No doubt you can name many things we are happy not to have in rural Nebraska: smog, traffic jams, urban canyons, lack of green or open spaces, the list goes on. Many of these “deficiencies” amount to assets that rural areas …

Application Of The Modified Log-Wake Law In Open-Channels, Junke Guo, Pierre Y. Julien

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

The modified log-wake law, which was developed for turbulent boundary layers and pipe flows, is extended to turbulent flows in open-channels. Turbulent velocity profiles in open-channels can be approximated with three components: (1) the law of the wall that results from the constant bed shear stress; (2) the law of the wake that reflects the effects of gravity, secondary currents and bed roughness; and (3) the cubic correction near the maximum velocity. A procedure to determine the four model parameters from velocity measurements while keeping κ = 0.41 is presented. The modified log-wake law compares very well with experimental data …

Librarian Status At Us Research Universities: Extending The Typology, Mary K. Bolin

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

A typology of librarian status developed for land grant universities is extended to US research universities. Land grant librarians are tenure-track faculty in 70% of institutions. Librarians in the expanded population have that status slightly more than half the time. Institution size, geographic region, and public/private governance are discussed.

Faking Heaven: The Utopian Will To Order In China, Timothy S. Oakes

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Now that the 2008 Olympics have come and gone, Beijing can perhaps breathe a sigh of relief that after two weeks of intensive scrutiny, the most embarrassing thing the foreign media could come up with during the Games was that some of the events in the spectacular opening ceremony were faked. First, we learned that 9-year old Lin Miaoke was not in fact singing a revised “Song of the Motherland” at all, but was lip-synching the voice of the less photogenic Yang Peiyi (see Geremie Barmé’s “Painting Over Mao”). Then, we learned that at least some of thefirework footprints leading …

Phylogeographical Structure And Evolutionary History Of Two Buggy Creek Virus Lineages In The Western Great Plains Of North America, Abinash Padhi, Amy T. Moore, Mary Bomberger Brown, Jerome E. Foster, Martin Pfeffer, Kathryn P. Gaines, Valerie A. O'Brien, Stephanie A. Strickler, Allison E. Johnson, Charles R. Brown

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Buggy Creek virus (BCRV) is an unusual arbovirus within the western equine encephalitis complex of alphaviruses. Associated with cimicid swallow bugs (Oeciacus vicarius) as its vector and the cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and house sparrow (Passer domesticus) as its amplifying hosts, this virus is found primarily in the western Great Plains of North America at spatially discrete swallow nesting colonies. For 342 isolates collected in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, and North Dakota, from 1974 to 2007, we sequenced a 2076 bp region of the 26S subgenomic RNA structural glycoprotein coding region, and analyzed phylogenetic relationships, …

Spatial Welfare Impacts Of A Grain Ethanol Plant, Justin Van Wart, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This study inquires into the spatial welfare impacts of a grain ethanol plant established in an area with a beef feeding industry. Corn producers will benefit, but by how much? Why do plants seem to price their animal feed byproduct so low that beef producers may benefit from lower feed costs, despite the higher corn price? Why do ethanol plants in some areas dry all their byproduct feed while in other areas plants sell it all in wet form? How are these outcomes affected by the density of corn production, by the density of feedlots, and by the size of …

Non-Blackbird Avian Occurrence And Abundance In North Dakota Sunflower Fields, Dionn A. Schaaf, George M. Linz, Curt Doetkott, Mark W. Lutman, William J. Bleier

The Prairie Naturalist

Sunflower fields are well-documented as foraging habitat for fallmigrating blackbirds (Family Icteridae). There is, however, a paucity of information on the use of sunflower fields by non-blackbirds. We assessed non-blackbird use of 12 ripening sunflower fields in the Prairie Pothole Region of central North Dakota. From mid-August to mid-October 2000, we counted 4,129 individual birds, consisting of 22 families and 61 species, in the sample fields and within 5 m of the field edges. We saw the largest number of birds from 18 September to 27 September. The Family Emberizidae (sparrows) accounted for 26% of the species and 20% of …

Loess Record Of The Pleistocene–Holocene Transition On The Northern And Central Great Plains, Usa, Joseph A. Mason, Xiaodong Miao, P.R. Hanson, William C. Johnson, Peter M. Jacobs, Ronald J. Goble

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Various lines of evidence support conflicting interpretations of the timing, abruptness, and nature of climate change in the Great Plains during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Loess deposits and paleosols on both the central and northern Great Plains provide a valuable record that can help address these issues. A synthesis of new and previously reported optical and radiocarbon ages indicates that the Brady Soil, which marks the boundary between late Pleistocene Peoria Loess and Holocene Bignell Loess, began forming after a reduction in the rate of Peoria Loess accumulation that most likely occurred between 13.5 and 15 cal ka. Brady Soil formation …

The Bees Of Greater Puerto Rico (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila), Julio A. Genaro, Nico M. Franz

Insecta Mundi

The bee fauna of the Greater Puerto Rico area was studied. A review of the previous relevant studies is presented. An annotated catalog and information about the origin and distributional patterns are also provided. Thirty-nine species of bees occur in Puerto Rico and adjacent islands. This fauna is composed of four elements: exclusive Puerto Rican endemics (26.5%); Antillean endemics occurring on multiple islands (76.5%); continental species that have also colonized the Antilles (23.5%); and species introduced through human activity (12.8%). The bee fauna was both low in its diversity and showed the highest level of disharmony in relation to other …

From The Us To China, By Way Of Israel, Shakhar Rahav

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

I have recently returned to my native Israel after a long sojourn in the USA. One of the things I have been looking for here is the way in which China is covered and portrayed in the Israeli media, and what images of China arise in local discourse.

As elsewhere, there is much media coverage of China these days–most of it fed by economic and commercial interests on the one hand, and by interest in the Olympics and the Olympic-hype on the other.

Indeed, most interest in China is generated by commercial interests and as such reflects our globalizing world, …

Patterns And Consequences Of Segregation: An Analysis Of Ethnic Residential Patterns At Two Geographic Scales, Kenneth N. N. French

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

American cities are diverse, with people from various ethnic backgrounds calling the city their home. Instead of having numerous culturally mixed neighborhoods, many residential areas are segregated by ethnicity. Also, social opportunities, such as access to jobs and quality education, are not evenly distributed in urban space. In short, separate living spaces may not mean equal living spaces. What are the impacts of living in White or African American or Hispanic or Asian neighborhoods? Thus, it is worthwhile to investigate the patterns and consequences of ethnic residential segregation. This dissertation employs several cartographic, geographic information system (GIS), and statistical techniques …

Smoke And Mirrors: China And India

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

After reading a short excerpt from Pallavi Aiyar‘s new book, Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China, at Danwei.org, we wanted to ask her a few questions about her experience as a journalist and writer working in China (Danwei has also postedan interview with Aiyar, asking for her insights on the relationship of and comparisons between China and India; and additional reviews of the book have been posted at the WSJ China Blog and The International Herald Tribune). Here are her answers to our questions, followed by a short excerpt from the book.Smoke and Mirrors can be purchased at this …

The Relationship Between The Curriculum, Instruction, And Assessment Provided By Wyoming High School Mathematics Teachers And The Performance Of Wyoming 11th Grade Students On The Adequate Yearly Progress Of Wyoming Schools, Mary C. Moler

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

This research study investigated the mathematics teachers’ classroom practices in curriculum, instruction, and assessments by a self-reporting questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to all 295 Wyoming high school mathematics teachers in February of 2007. There were 164 questionnaires completed by 67 out of the 75 schools contacted.

It also investigated how those practices related to the mathematics portion of school’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on state standards with the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The researcher calculated scaled average scores on 13 variables related to a 32-question questionnaire. The groups analyzed were sorted into three levels …