Digital Commons Network^™

Whooping Crane Nest Building In Southwest Indiana, Amy J. Kearns, Hillary L. Thompson, Allisyn-Marie T. Y. Gillet

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

The first documented case of whooping crane (Grus americana) nest building in Indiana is described. During spring 2015, a pair of whooping cranes did not leave their wintering grounds in Gibson County, Indiana, to return to their summering area in Wisconsin. Three nest platforms were discovered after the death of the female crane. To date, this is the only documented example of a whooping crane pair in the reintroduced Eastern Migratory Population (EMP) building nest platforms outside of Wisconsin. Although fidelity to the core nesting areas in Wisconsin is strong, and natal dispersal is usually <30 km, this example from Indiana shows that whooping cranes in the EMP may have the potential to pioneer nesting areas far outside of core reintroduction areas.

Summary Of Mortality Among Captive Cranes At The International Crane Foundation: 2000–2020, Barry K. Hartup, Robert Phillips

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

We reviewed mortalities of captive cranes at the International Crane Foundation (ICF) between 2000 and 2020 to provide broad insights into contemporary factors affecting the collection’s health and survival. Sixty-three deaths were documented in 13 of 15 crane species held in the ICF collection. The mean annual mortality during the study was 2.6% and the mean age (±SD) at death was 28.4 (±12.7) years. The overall total number of deaths of males and females was similar, but there was an association between sex and death of adult versus geriatric (>25 years) cranes (P < 0.01); males were more likely to die at geriatric age than females. Deaths were commonly associated with chronic health and management problems (n = 44, 79%) versus …

How Stressful Is It To Move? Whooping Crane Glucocorticoid Response During Facility Transfer, Megan E. Brown, Christopher Martin, Christopher Crowe, Sprina Lui, Nucharin Songsasen

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

The ability to transfer animals between different facilities for genetic management is a critical component to the success of any cooperatively managed captive animal population despite the high cost and the need for a high level of coordination in logistical planning. Two issues of concern are the magnitude of potential stress responses incurred during shipment of adult cranes to a new facility and the duration of elevated glucocorticoid production during the acclimation periods. The objectives of this project were to assess adrenal responses of whooping cranes (Grus americana) during transfer from the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC) to …

Don’T Forget To Wash! Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene Among Zambian Students, Katie Schmitz

NUTR/GLST 498b: Global Research Experiences in Nutrition and Health

Introduction: Water, sanitation, and hygiene practices in sub-Saharan Africa, including Zambia, have not met the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and remain inadequate to improve the overall health and wellbeing of most populations.

Methods: Survey research, interviews, WASH observations, and anthropometric assessment were conducted between May-June 2022 on 6-7th grade students within 6 Zambian schools.

Results: While hygiene knowledge was prominent, and handwashing stations and pit latrines were available, schools rarely supplied soap or toilet paper. Diarrheal and respiratory diseases were common and water shortages remain problematic with some students traveling long distances to reach a water source.

Discussion: As in …

Dental Decay In Zambian School Children In Eastern And Southern Provinces, Elizabeth Graham

NUTR/GLST 498b: Global Research Experiences in Nutrition and Health

Introduction: Dental caries is the most prevalent and infectious disease worldwide. Zambia has a high rate of vitamin A deficiency, and this deficiency is associated with dental caries.

Methods: Visual dental checks, interviewing, and anthropometric assessments were done on 781 Zambian primary school children.

Results: Caries rates are 20% among sample populations, males have more decay than females, first molars are the most decayed, a majority use toothbrushes to clean their teeth, and children who eat vitamin A rich foods are less likely to have dental caries.

Discussion: Caries’ rates in the Southern and Eastern provinces are higher than in …

How Does The Education System Impact Mental Health Issues Among Teens?, Maecyn Sieborg

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Adolescent students’ (ages 13 to 18) mental health has been affected by the education system. Currently in society, there’s a lack of addressing the problems in school. US School districts compete against each other to get high academic scores. This can lead to an increase of pressure for the students to receive higher scores, rather than focusing on their individual academic potential as the focal point of their own success. This research examines journal articles that identify increased pressure on students through test scores. The expectation to take high achieving classes increases negative stress and rates of mental illnesses. The …

Child Abuse, Emily Whiting

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Child abuse occurs all around the world, to children of all ages. It can be in the form of neglect, or physical, sexual, mental, and/or emotional abuse. It negatively impacts the victim and interrupts the developmental stages of youth. Neglect, physical, mental/emotional, and sexual abuse have many consequences on children, and the signs of the abuse are often present in victims’ lives.

What Affects Does Childhood Trauma Have In Adulthood, Stacy F. Yebe

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

In a national sample of adolescents, those who were physically and sexually abused, or witnessed violence had increased risk for current substance use disorders and PTSD .” (C. Zlotnick te al./ Comprehensive Psychiatry 49, (2008), p.163). Through research it is evident that trauma affects children's cognitive growth into adulthood. It is imperative to break the cycle of childhood trauma that impacts adulthood to refrain the trauma from having ongoing generational affects. Individuals who experience this trauma can get the help and have knowledge to outlets that can decrease the effects of trauma in childhood. It is imperative to educate individuals …

Mental Health In Adolescence, Nyabath Wal

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Mental health includes our emotional psychological, and social wellbeing. Mental health involves how people handle real world situations. Mental health problems are usually noticed in the stage of adolescence which is between the ages of 10 and 19 years old. Mental health illnesses are caused by several different things. There is not just one cause for mental health disorders. Possible ways to treat mental health are therapy, medication, and hospitalization.

Gender And Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Nylah Rosas

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

This research was done to bring forth attention to the under diagnoses of girls with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactive Disorder in comparison to boys. They mistaken the uncommon diagnoses as other disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder which could leave to a long-term effect on those children getting treated for the wrong disorder. Some girls go their entire lives without being diagnosed with ADHD and create unhealthy habits to over come their symptoms. This research looks at articles and presentations explaining the misconceptions of ADHD in girls, the short term and long-term effects of a misdiagnoses, and the ways to notice …

How Does The Foster System Connect To Juvenile Delinquency?, Mairan Rodriguez

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Juvenile maltreatment in homes is a large factor in today’s incarcerated youth. Victims of child abuse and neglect are predominant in the foster care system. This issue has grown to where “1/4 of foster care alumni will become involved with the criminal justice system within two years of leaving care.” (Anspach, 2018). These children who experience certain maltreatment while in foster care are at an increased risk of engaging in delinquent behavior. They often move out of the welfare system into the criminal justice system.

Problems The Lgbtq+ Community Face, Brianna Plascencia-Loza

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

There is a lot of homophobia in the United States and research shows it has become a great problem to the LGBTQ+ community on a daily basis. Some of the problems consist of family being non- accepting, harassment in school, and the use of conversion therapy. These cause negative outcomes to the community such as missing school, high suicide rates, and increase depression.

Why We Should Defund The Police, Shelby A. Sanchez

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Ninety-nine percent of the police departments budget throughout the country increases every year into the billions. More money is spent on keeping the “peace” than investing in young students to assure they have a bright future, avoid violence and in return, bring true peace to all communities. Police departments and even some of the population have been conditioned into believing that minority communities are naturally violent, inherently bad and need to be policed heavily. Instead, minority communities need resources and tools to break the cycle of poverty and crime. Defunding the police is a controversial topic and dangerous to bring …

Sleep Deprivation And Student Academic Success, Ashley Plascencia Orozco

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Sleep deprivation affects students health, education, and wellbeing. Minimal sleep affects students education in various ways and can negatively impact their education, learning environment and capacity to learn. Having a good sleep schedule can positively impact academic performance. Early school start times cause a cycle of afternoon sleepiness, which can influence mood, conduct, and raise the risk of accidents or injury.

The Physical And Mental Effects Of Death, Lizbeth Valente

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Death and grieving is a common occurrence in life. When we lose a loved one, our body naturally processes it in many ways often referred to as the 5 stages of grief. Some people may experience severe depression, anxiety, bursts of anger and other emotional disturbances that can affects one's day to day life. As much as people struggle psychologically, they also experience physical altercations; like not eating and sleeping. People feel emptiness in their life and are left to wonder “why?”.

The Effects Of Alcohol And Opioid Withdrawal During Pregnancy, Sandy Segura

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Alcohol and opioid withdrawal is very common, especially in the United States. People, including pregnant women go through withdrawal when they lower the number of substance(s) they have daily or just stop suddenly. Since the body is used to having a high dosage, when it’s lowered or stopped, the body reacts in ways that can be very painful commonly known as withdrawal. As for pregnant women, when they allow these substances in their body, it can be extremely harmful to the baby. These babies can develop conditions such as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) or Fetal Alcohol (FAS) syndrome. Statistics show …

Mental Illness: An Open Window To Adolescent Substance Abuse, Danya Torres-Lagunas

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Mental illness during the adolescent years comes with its own struggles and battles. Not only the social and emotional aspects of it, but also neurological and developmental effects. By looking at the early developmental stages of adolescence, preexisting factor, and previous psychiatric disorders, e.g. MDD (Major depressive disorder) we can see that there is a correlation between mental health disorders and their effect on adolescent substance abuse.

Problems In The Healthcare System, Julie Suarez

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

The healthcare system in the United States is the most prevalent and underemphasized issue in the country. It is not a single entity but rather a collection of people, institutions, and resources that provide health care services. As there are health disparities throughout the USA, navigation in the healthcare system becomes increasingly more difficult, and calls into question of the health literacy of the average American. Even as complex as this topic may seem, every citizen and individual should be aware that negotiation is always on the table and is a given right under a democratic republic. As such, a …

¿Aviso O Alerta? Developing Effective, Inclusive, And Consistent Watch And Warning Translations For U.S. Spanish Speakers, Joseph E. Trujillo-Falcón, América R. Gaviria Pabón, Joseph T. Ripberger, Abby Bitterman, Jonathan B. Thornton, Mackenzie J. Krocak, Sean R. Ernst, Estilita Cassiani Obeso, John Lipski

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: Technical Reports and Related Materials

Spanish-speaking populations in the United States are more vulnerable in disaster contexts due to inequities, such as language barriers, that prevent them from receiving life-saving information. For the past couple of decades, governmental organizations have addressed these issues by translating weather watches, warnings, and advisories into Spanish. Previous studies suggest that these Spanish translations do not communicate the same level of urgency as their English counterparts. To identify whether these translated products result in inequities between English and Spanish speaker reception and comprehension of forecast information, we asked a representative sample of U.S. English (n = 1,550) and Spanish (n …

¿Aviso O Alerta? Developing Effective, Inclusive, And Consistent Watch And Warning Translations For U.S. Spanish Speakers, Joseph E. Trujillo-Falcón, América R. Gaviria Pabón, Joseph T. Ripberger, Abby Bitterman, Jonathan B. Thornton, Mackenzie J. Krocak, Sean R. Ernst, Estilita Cassiani Obeso, John Lipski

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: Technical Reports and Related Materials

Spanish-speaking populations in the United States are more vulnerable in disaster contexts due to inequities, such as language barriers, that prevent them from receiving life-saving information. For the past couple of decades, governmental organizations have addressed these issues by translating weather watches, warnings, and advisories into Spanish. Previous studies suggest that these Spanish translations do not communicate the same level of urgency as their English counterparts. To identify whether these translated products result in inequities between English and Spanish speaker reception and comprehension of forecast information, we asked a representative sample of U.S. English (n = 1,550) and Spanish (n …

Expanding Mouse-Adapted Yamagata-Like Influenza B Viruses In Eggs Enhances In Vivo Lethality In Balb/C Mice, Matthew J. Pekarek, Erika M. Petro-Turnquist, Adam Rubrum, Richard J. Webby, Eric A. Weaver

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Despite the yearly global impact of influenza B viruses (IBVs), limited host range has been a hurdle to developing a readily accessible small animal disease model for vaccine studies. Mouseadapting IBV can produce highly pathogenic viruses through serial lung passaging in mice. Previous studies have highlighted amino acid changes throughout the viral genome correlating with increased pathogenicity, but no consensus mutations have been determined. We aimed to show that growth system can play a role in mouse-adapted IBV lethality. Two Yamagata-lineage IBVs were serially passaged 10 times in mouse lungs before expansion in embryonated eggs or Madin–Darby canine kidney cells …

Dissecting The Cellular Landscape And Transcriptome Network In Viral Myocarditis By Single-Cell Rna Sequencing, Ninaad Lasrado, Nicholas Borcherding, Rajkumar Arumugam, Timothy K. Starr, Jay Reddy

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3)-induced myocarditis is commonly employed to study viral pathogenesis in mice.Chronically affected micemaydevelop dilated cardiomyopathy, which may involve the mediation of immune and nonimmune cells. To dissect this complexity, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing on heart cells from healthy and myocarditic mice, leading us to note significant proportions of myeloid cells, T cells, and fibroblasts. Although the transcriptomes of myeloid cells were mainly of M2 phenotype, the Th17 cells, CTLs, and Treg cells had signatures critical for cytotoxic functions. Fibroblasts were heterogeneous expressing genes important in fibrosis and regulation of inflammation and immune responses. The intercellular communication networks …

Water Current, Volume 54, No. 1, Winter 2022

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Droughtscape, Winter 2022, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Winter 2022

Nonmetropolitan Nebraskans’ Opinions About Water, Climate, And Energy: 2022 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Heather Akin, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy, Timothy Meyer, Steven A. Schulz, Amanda Tupper

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans receive their home tap water from city water or municipal water systems. Just over two-thirds of rural Nebraskans receive their drinking water from a municipal system. One-quarter have private well water and seven percent are on a rural water system.

Many rural Nebraskans have tested their home tap water for nitrates. However, a similar proportion indicated they have not tested their water or are unsure. Persons with higher household incomes are more likely than persons with lower incomes to have tested their home water for each of the items listed. Many persons with the lowest household incomes …

Characterization Of Salt And Drought Tolerance In Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus L.), Sevgi Saylak

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Consequent to the increasing world population, food sources are needed to be increased to meet the nutritional needs. However, due to natural processes and agricultural activities, the most destructive environmental factors that limit crop production, soil salinity, and drought-exposed areas are growing. As one of the major oilseed crops, sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), is considered to be moderately tolerant to salt and drought. Although it can grow in arid to semi-arid regions, increasing salinity and drought might adversely affect sunflower production. This study aimed to investigate several sunflower germplasms' morphological responses to salt and drought stresses. For this purpose, …

The Economics Of A “Portion Size Reduction” Policy, Hanin Hosni, Konstantinos Giannakas

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This study develops novel models of heterogeneous consumer preferences for different dining options and imperfect competition among food suppliers to analyze the market and welfare effects of portion size reduction (PSR) for food away from home. Different scenarios on the nature of differentiation of the dining options, the information available to consumers, and their response to links between portion size and obesity, food waste, and climate change are considered within this framework. The market and welfare effects of the policy are quantified using a simulation analysis. The analysis shows that the market and welfare effects of the policy are case-specific …

(Re)Turning To Freirean Philosophy In Preparing Content Teachers To Work With Multilingual Students, Kara Viesca, Peiwen Wang, Brandon Heinz, Alexa Yunes-Koch

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In 2019, Bettina Love published a call for abolitionist teaching, an effort for educational freedom and racial justice. In her work, she centered the role of theory in teaching calling it a "North Star." She suggested that theory provides teachers a "steadfast tool" that explains the experiences of people minoritized due to racism, sexism, ableism, linguicism, etc., as well as provides language for and knowledge about intersectional issues of injustice. Love literally calls theory a "practical guide" as well as a "location for healing" (Love, 2019, p. 132).

The work of Paulo Freire has long served as the kind of …

“It Was Just My Name!”: A Crt/Crf Analysis Of International Female Graduate Students’ Perception And Experiences Regarding Their Ethnic Name, Peiwen Wang, Xiaoyan Gu, Amanda R. Morales

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Although international female students accounted for 44% of the enrolled international students in the United States (U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, 2020), their experiences regarding their ethnic name are relatively understudied in onomastic literature. This study considers the experiences of eight international female graduate students of Color who are studying at a Midwestern predominantly White university. Utilizing Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Race Feminism (CRF) as the theoretical and analytical lenses, this qualitative phenomenological study collected data through semi-structured, in-depth interviews. We explore the meaning of ethnic names and their connection to participants’ …

2022 Nebraska Water Leaders Academy Final Report, Mark E. Burbach, Robert Matthew Joeckel, Brooke Mott, Gina S. Matkin

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

Fifteen participants completed the 2022 Water Leaders Academy bringing the total number of graduates to 168 since the inception of the program in 2011. Assessments of participants’ transformational leadership skills, champion of innovation skills, water knowledge, engagement with water issues, civic capacity, entrepreneurial leadership behaviors, and boundary spanning skills increased significantly over the course of the year, according to both the participants and their raters. Feedback from the participants was highly positive and constructive. Academy planners are addressing participant concerns. Results of the program assessment indicate that the curriculum is meeting Academy objectives. Therefore, only minor changes are planned for …