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Droughtscape, Summer 2008, Kelly Smith

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

VegDRI Expands West

Spring Rains Ease Drought But CA Still Dry

Scholar Donates Books

NDMC Welcomes Employees Bathke, Nothwehr

Latest Workshop Info Up

State Lawmakers to Focus on Drought Planning

Decadal Variation -- Clues to Droughts and Floods?

The Polar Coordinate System, Alisa Favinger

Department of Mathematics: Master of Arts in Teaching, Exam Expository Papers

Representing a position in a two-dimensional plane can be done several ways. It is taught early in Algebra how to represent a point in the Cartesian (or rectangular) plane. In this plane a point is represented by the coordinates (x, y), where x tells the horizontal distance from the origin and y the vertical distance. The polar coordinate system is an alternative to this rectangular system. In this system, instead of a point being represented by (x, y) coordinates, a point is represented by (r, θ) where r represents the length of a straight line from the point to the …

Title And Contents- Summer 2008

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY

Volume 28 / Number 3 / Summer 2008

CONTENTS

EDITOR'S NOTE

WHY THE HOMESTEADING DATA ARE SO POOR: (AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT)

SHAPING NEBRASKA: AN ANALYSIS OF RAILROAD AND LAND SALES, 1870-1880

LAND, SPECULATION, AND MANIPULATION ON THE PECOS

LEWIS AND CLARK: GONE; AMERICAN INDIANS: STILL HERE

BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK NOTES

NOTES AND NEWS

Review Of Searching For Sacred Ground: The Journey Of Chief Lawrence Hart, Mennonite By Raylene Hinz-Penner, Clyde Ellis

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In Oklahoma's Cheyenne community, Lawrence Hart has led a life framed by service and self-sacrifice. Widely regarded by his people as the embodiment of what a leader should be, Hart has spent decades tending to their cultural, spiritual, and political health. In Hinz-Penner's hands, Hart's biography is not simply his life story, but also a reflection of the shifting contours of contemporary Native life and a story that tells us much about what it means to be Cheyenne in the modern world. Writing with a keen appreciation for the larger issues at play in Hart's life, Hinz-Penner deftly broadens her …

Review Of The Calgary Project: Urban Form/Urban Life. By Beverly A. Sandalack And Andrei Nicolai., Pierre Gauthier

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The Calgary Project is an ambitious narrative. In eight chapters and two appendixes, the authors set about tracing the historical and spatial evolution of Calgary, aiming at drawing conclusions that could inform its planning in the future. The city's development is portrayed through five periods, unfolding from the establishment of a small North West Mounted Police Fort in 1875 to our times. Each period is featured in a chapter that opens with a discussion of the ideas, plans, and planning practices of the time, followed by a discussion of the "spatial structure" of the urbanized areas, and concludes with an …

Determinants Of Income Growth In Metropolitan And Nonmetropolitan Labor Markets, George W. Hammond, Eric C. Thompson

Department of Economics: Faculty Publications

This article analyzes determinants of growth across labor markets in the United States, using a production function approach based on four inputs: labor, manufacturing investment, human capital investment, and public capital investment. We find little role for public capital investment in growth, but that manufacturing investment spurred growth in nonmetropolitan areas, in contrast to metropolitan areas. We also find that human capital investment mattered more for metropolitan areas than for nonmetropolitan areas. Further, the presence of more colleges and universities, more household amenities, and lower tax rates are all found to have encouraged human capital accumulation in U.S. labor markets.

The Races Of Afghanistan: Being A Brief Account Of The Principal Nations Inhabiting That Country (1880), Henry Walter Bellew

Digitized Afghanistan Materials in English from the Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection

Major races of AFghanistan including the Pashtuns, Tajiks and Hazaras.

A Review Of The Genus Chortophaga (Orthoptera: Acrididae) Among Nebraska Populations: Questioning The Validity Of Chortophaga Australior Rehn And Hebard, Mathew L. Brust, W. Wyatt Hoback, Robert J. Wright

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Chortophaga australior Rehn and Hebard (Orthoptera: Acrididae) is considered a species distinct from Chortophaga viridifasciata (DeGeer). Collections across Nebraska have shown that the characters used to separate these two species are inconsistent and that the average state of these characters appears to be related to the time of the season during which the adults are collected. Until further study clarifies the status of C. australior, we suggest that its specific status be considered questionable.

Seasonal And Annual Variation In Body Condition Of Western Gray Whales Off Northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia, Amanda L. Bradford, David W. Weller, Yulia V. Ivashchenko, Alexander M. Burdin, Robert L. Brownell Jr.

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The western gray whale population (Eschrichtius robustus) is critically endangered and its potential for recovery is uncertain. Along with other natural and anthropogenic threats, western gray whales are susceptible to nutritional stress, known from regular observations of individual whales in compromised body condition. Thus, the ability to visually quantify the relative body condition of free-ranging western gray whales and evaluate how this condition varies seasonally and annually is needed. A photo-identification study of western gray whales on their feeding ground off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia, produced a large dataset of digital, film, and video images …

The Forbidden City By Barmé—Don’T Leave For The “Great Within” Without It

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“I think there’s a lack of books that serious, educated non-specialists can pick up…I’ve read a lot of great books recently by academics but few that I could recommend, say, to my father.” These lines come from an interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Ian Johnson that “China Beat” ran at the end of January, back when our site was still young (now that we’ve been going for more than a third-of-a-year, we hardly count as youthful anymore, so quickly does the blogosphere change). He was responding to a question Nicole Barnes had put to him about what he’d like …

Further Reading Recommendations On China Earthquake

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. David Bandurski has written an interesting comparison of official and commercial coverage of the earthquake in China at China Media Project.

2. Increasingly, Chinese people are calling for probes into why so many schools collapsed in the earthquake. Recent coverage includes a report by Richard Spencerfor the Telegraph and several from AFP: one here and another here.

3. Meanwhile, domestic Chinese media has begun to report that Western media is praising China’s relief efforts. Indeed, Monroe Price at Huffington Post (we have linked to several of his columns recently) writes about Western media’s “Olympic truce” with China.

4. For …

The 2007 Economic And Fiscal Impact Of Omaha’S Henry Doorly Zoo On Omaha And Nebraska, Eric Thompson

Bureau of Business Research Publications

The City of Omaha, and the State of Nebraska, benefit from the presence of a leading national zoo in the city. The nationally-known Henry Doorly Zoo makes a significant contribution to the Omaha economy. The Zoo attracted over 1.3 million visitors, and their spending, in 2007 including many visitors from outside of Omaha and outside of the State of Nebraska. The Zoo also makes a significant contribution to the quality of life in Omaha and Nebraska, and by many indicators, Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo is among the largest, and most affordable zoos to visit in North America.

This study estimates …

Understanding Nature-Based Tourism: What North Dakota Can Tell Us, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel

Cornhusker Economics

Rural communities, not only in the United States but also in foreign countries, are increasingly looking toward the tourism industry as a source for potential economic growth. One particular aspect of tourism, nature-based tourism, is often a good match for rural areas. Historically, businesses that provided hunting and fishing were some of the first nature-based tourism ventures. But today, nature-based tourism in rural areas encompass everything from guesthouse lodging and catering, to bird watching, canoeing and ranch or farm stays.

A 2008 article in Great Plains Research highlighted research results from a survey of business owners involved in rural tourism …

Methods To Prioritize Placement Of Riparian Buffers For Improved Water Quality, M. D. Tomer, Michael G. Dosskey, Michael R. Burkart, Matthew J. Helmers, Dean E. Eisenhauer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Agroforestry buffers in riparian zones can improve stream water quality, provided they intercept and remove contaminants from surface runoff and/or shallow groundwater. Soils, topography, surficial geology, and hydrology determine the capability of forest buffers to intercept and treat these flows. This paper describes two landscape analysis techniques for identifying and mapping locations where agroforestry buffers can effectively improve water quality. One technique employs soil survey information to rank soil map units for how effectively a buffer, when sited on them, would trap sediment from adjacent cropped fields. Results allow soil map units to be compared for relative effectiveness of buffers …

Significance Of The Influence Of World View And Racial Socialization On Death Anxiety Beliefs Of Blackamerican Men, Larry Cameron Menyweather-Woods

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

Major sociological theories of violent crime have successfully linked criminal activity with socioeconomic status. The linkage of socioeconomic conditions to homicides has led to the theory that the primary determinant of violent crimes lies within a group’s value system and failure to integrate into the dominant culture’s value system crime only increases.

This study investigated whether world view, racial socialization and religion influence the death anxiety and death attitude of Blackamerican men ages 19-35 and 65 and older. If relationship existed, there would be an implied opportunity for building new strategies to decrease the incidence of homicides in the Blackamerican …

Cardiac Resuscitation: Examining Rural Heartland Development Through An Ecological Lens, Jay D. Anderson

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

Throughout southwest Iowa, prime farm land is being sold and then purchased by local real estate developers. These developers are creating housing clusters throughout the countryside, especially in the rural Loess Hills area. These housing clusters have similar covenant restrictions imposed by the developers, but few if any address larger and more critical architectural, social, environmental and ecological issues. Recently one of these developers purchased some land from my family for this very reason. Knowing what will happen to this land, I chose to devote my efforts in order to provide a better, more eco-friendly solution to the inevitable consequences …

Geographies Of Indigenous-Based Team Name And Mascot Use In American Secondary Schools, Ezra J. Zeitler

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation identifies the geographic locations and characteristics of high schools using Native American nicknames and, through the examination of Indigenous-based iconography, analyzes the portrayal of Indigenous peoples in these learning environments. Primary and secondary data collected from archives, newspapers, yearbooks, directories, school websites, and fieldwork are utilized in various ways, including cartographic and quantitative analyses of 1,368 school locations and their attributes, numerous case studies highlighting concocted histories and stereotypical depictions of Native Americans, and a content analysis of Indigenous-based imagery photographed in 125 schools with predominately white student bodies.

The first chapter defines the dissertation topic and provides …

Evidence For Contrasting Modes Of Selection At Interacting Globin Genes In The European Rabbit (Oryctolagus Cuniculus), R. Campos, Jay F. Storz, N. Ferrand

Jay F. Storz Publications

In hybrid zones between genetically differentiated populations, variation in locus-specific rates of introgression may reflect adaptation to different environments or adaptation to different genetic backgrounds. The European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, is well-suited to studies of such hybrid zone dynamics because it is composed of two genetically divergent subspecies that hybridize in a zone of secondary contact in central Iberia. A species-wide survey of allozyme variation revealed a broad range of locus-specific divergence levels (F_ST ranged from 0 to 0.54, mean F_ST = 0.16). Interestingly, the two loci that fell at opposite ends of the distribution of …

Active Sensor Reflectance Measurements Of Corn Nitrogen Status And Yield Potential, Fernando Solari, John Shanahan, Richard B. Ferguson, James S. Schepers, Anatoly A. Gitelson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Active sensor reflectance assessments of corn (Zea mays L.) canopy N status are advocated to direct variable N applications and improve N use efficiency (NUE). Our goals were to determine: (i) growth stage and (ii) sensor vegetation index with greatest sensitivity in assessing N status and grain yield. Variable crop N was generated by supplying N at different amounts and times in three field studies. Chlorophyll meter (CM) and sensor data were gathered at two vegetative (V11 and V15) and two reproductive (R1 and R3) growth stages, using the Crop Circle sensor that measures reflectance in visible (590 nm) …

Revisiting Elwyn B. Robinson’S History Of North Dakota: How The State’S History Created A Community, Jennifer Heth

James A. Rawley Graduate Conference in the Humanities

In his History of North Dakota, Elwyn B. Robinson described six themes of North Dakota’s history: remoteness, dependence, radicalism, a position of economic disadvantage, the Too-Much Mistake, and adjustment. Robinson also concluded that these six themes of the state’s history influenced the state’s people and produced the North Dakota character, which included such traits as pride, stubbornness, and radicalism. Robinson’s scholarship did much to illuminate the complexities and interconnectedness of the state’s history, geography, and society, and his History of North Dakota is considered to be the cornerstone of North Dakota historical discourse. But given changes in approaches and …

Duncan Hines’ Consumption Community And The Geography Of American Gastronomy, 1936-1956, Damon Talbott

James A. Rawley Graduate Conference in the Humanities

Food historian Harvey Levenstein has argued that in the early 20th century “the sorry state of American gastronomy was best typified by Duncan Hines,” then the first restaurant critic of national stature. While Hines’ bestselling guidebook of the 1930s–1950s, Adventures in Good Eating, was not adventurous by contemporary culinary standards, it nevertheless encouraged a self-identified community to articulate its tastes, as subsequent listings were compiled and revised mostly by Hines’ readers. This “freemasonry of motorists” constructed a gastronomic geography of America in an era when cars, roads, and the spatial reorganization of work and leisure developed roadside dining into a …

Getting Started With Psleuth, Qingfeng (Gene) Guan

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

SLEUTH1 is a Cellular Automata (CA) model of urban growth and land use change simulation and forecasting, developed in the Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara (Clarke, Hoppen, and Gaydos 1997; Clarke and Gaydos 1998; Silva and Clarke 2002).

A classical Cellular Automata model is a set of identical elements, called cells, each one of which is located in a regular, discrete space, called cellspace. Each cell is associated with a state from a finite set. The model evolves in discrete time steps, changing the states of all its cells according to a transition rule, homogeneously and synchronously …

Getting Started With Prpl, Qingfeng Guan

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

pRPL is an open-source1 general-purpose parallel Raster Processing programming Library developed by Qingfeng Guan, in the Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara. pRPL encapsulates complex parallel computing utilities and routines specifically for raster processing (e.g., raster data decomposition, distribution and gathering among multiple processors, inter-processor communication and data exchange), and provides an easy-to-use interface for users to parallelize almost any raster processing algorithm with any arbitrary neighborhood (or moving window) configuration. pRPL enables the implementation of parallel raster-processing algorithms without requiring a deep understanding of parallel computing and programming, thus it greatly reduces the development complexity. Moreover, even …

A Gravity Model Of Immigration, Joshua Lewer, Hendrik Van Den Berg

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

This paper develops a gravity model of immigration. Tests of the model using panel data for 16 OECD countries for 1991–2000 confirm the model’s high explanatory power, and examples illustrate its usefulness for testing other hypothesized determinants of immigration.

Scwds Briefs: Volume 24, Number 1 (April 2008), Gary L. Doster , Editor, Scwds Briefs, Michael J. Yabsley

Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study: Publications

Table of Contents:

National Feral Swine Mapping System

Feral Hog Conference

Wildebeest MCF in U.S. Cattle

The Value of Wildlife Recreation

Unusual Antlered Doe

White Nose Syndrome in Bats

New Myxozoan Parasite in Ducks

Duncan New Director in Virginia

SCWDS Personnel Awards

Notes And News- Spring 2008

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

FREDERICK C. LUEBKE AWARD

2008 NEBRASKA SUMMER WRITERS' CONFERENCE

CALL FOR PAPERS

CALL FOR PAPERS

2008 WILLA CATHER SPRING CONFERENCE & SYMPOSIUM

Title And Contents

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY

Volume 28 / Number 2 / Spring 2008

CONTENTS

EXTENDING THE SECURITY NET: THE IMPACT OF RANGELAND INSURANCE ON RANCHING ECONOMY AND CULTURE

CONTRUCTING A HOME ON THE RANGE: HOMEMAKING IN EARLY-TWENTIETH-CENTURY PLAINS PHOTOGAPH ALBUMS

LIFE AND LANDSCAPES IN THE POST-OFFICE COMMUNITIES OF HOLT COUNTY, NEBRASKA

BOOK REVIEWS

NOTES AND NEWS

Extending The Security Net The Impact Of Rangeland Insurance On Ranching Economy And Culture, Rex J. Rowley

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Humans have a complex relationship with the land. At the base of it lies our need for what the land can give: materials for shelter, food and water for sustenance, and scenic beauty for pleasure. But, similar to our interactions with other humans, our relationship with the land is not always perfect. The land can often be our worst enemy. Storm, drought, famine, and pestilence are common words from the historical record representing times when this connection between humans and nature is challenged.

Crop insurance is a relatively recent invention that attempts to level the playing field in our contest …

Constructing A Home On The Range Homemaking In Early-Twentieth-Century Plains Photograph Albums, Christina E. Dando

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

These lyrics capture a yearning for a place to call home. But what landscape is associated with this longing? For people living near the coasts or mountains of America, it must be hard to imagine longing for a "home on the plains"-but many Americans have had, and still have, a home on the Plains. The stereotypical American image of the Plains is flatness, austerity, emptiness. Not all would consider this an ideal landscape for home. So how did the people who settled on the Plains "view" this landscape? What did they see? How did this land come to be recognized …

Review Of Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood In The Boreal Forest By Rudy Wiebe, Hildi Froese Tiessen

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Rudy Wiebe, author of nine novels and three collections of stories as well as numerous other works, is best known for his historical fiction-particularly for novels featuring Canada's Native peoples. A first-generation Canadian whose German-speaking Mennonite parents fled Stalinist Ukraine in 1929 and then homesteaded in Saskatchewan, Wiebe has tended to set his fiction on the prairies or in the north. Appalled by the prevailing view that the Plains were "empty" before European immigrants arrived, he has consistently worked to document the repressed history of Canada. His writing has focused not only on the First Nations of his native land, …