Digital Commons Network^™

Component Causes Of Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis—Non-Moraxella Organisms In The Epidemiology Of Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis, John Dustin Loy, Kristin A. Clothier, Gabriele Maier

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

• Non-Moraxella organisms are associated with infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK).

• Mycoplasma bovoculi can cause conjunctivitis and has a potential role in IBK pathogenesis.

• Other Non-Mycoplasma agents can cause disease that resembles IBK but is clinically different.

• Genomics and molecular technology are advancing research in this area.

• Classification and determination of pathogenesis potential of these organisms may be better understood through metagenomics and whole genome sequencing.

Modding Suburbia: Guided Principles To Challenge The Established Social And Political Norms Of The American Midwestern Suburbs, Brenton Rahn

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

Responding to the unchallenged sprawl of suburban cities in the Midwest, the proposed principles seek to densify and further diversify the established social and political norms which currently still stagnate progress toward more autonomous neighborhoods. Through application of a specific set of principles that serve as guidelines, Modding Suburbia seeks to create dense, usable space from previously unused and forgotten interstitial areas hiding in the suburban landscape surrounding the socially and politically protected single-family home.

This project focuses on the transformation of the immediate context surrounding the single family home to promote density and diversification of housing and community. Through …

Complexity Of Malaria Transmission Dynamics In The Brazilian Atlantic Forest, Ana Maria Ribeiro De Castro Duarte, Licia Natal Fernandes, Fabiana Santos Silva, Igor Lucoves Sicchi, Luis Filipe Mucci, Izilda Curado, Aristides Ferrnandes, Antônio Ralph Medeiros-Sousa, Walter Ceretti-Junior, Mauro Toledo Marrelli, Eduardo Evangelista, Renildo Teixeira, Juliana Laurito Summa, Marcello Schiavo Nardi, Margoth Ramos Garnica, Ana Carolina Loss, Julyana Cerqueira Buery, Crispim Cerutti Jr., M. Andreína Pacheco, Ananias A. Escalante, Maria Anice Mureb Sallum, Gabriel Zorello Laporta

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium vivax are protozoan parasites that can cause malaria in humans. They are genetically indistinguishable from, respectively, Plasmodium brasilianum and Plasmodium simium, that is, parasites infecting New World non-human primates in South America. In the tropical rainforests of the Brazilian Atlantic coast, it has long been hypothesized that P. brasilianum and P. simium in platyrrhine primates originated from P. malariae and P. vivax in humans. A recent hypothesis proposed the inclusion of Plasmodium falciparum into the transmission dynamics between humans and non-human primates in the Brazilian Atlantic tropical rainforest. Herein, we assess the occurrence of human …

Successful Atac-Seq From Snap-Frozen Equine Tissues, Sichong Peng, Rebecca Bellone, Jessica Lynn Petersen, Theodore S. Kalbfleisch, Carrie J. Finno

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

An assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) has become an increasingly popular method to assess genome-wide chromatin accessibility in isolated nuclei from fresh tissues. However, many biobanks contain only snap-frozen tissue samples. While ATAC-seq has been applied to frozen brain tissues in human, its applicability in a wide variety of tissues in horse remains unclear. The Functional Annotation of Animal Genome (FAANG) project is an international collaboration aimed to provide high quality functional annotation of animal genomes. The equine FAANG initiative has generated a biobank of over 80 tissues from two reference female animals and experiments to begin …

Detection Of Bovine Inflammatory Cytokines Il-1Β, Il-6, And Tnf-Α With A Multiplex Electrochemiluminescent Assay Platform, Carol G. Chitko-Mckown, Stacy L. Bierman, Larry A. Kuehn, Gary L. Bennett, Keith D. Dedonder, Michael D. Apley, Gregory P. Harhay, Michael L. Clawson, Bradley J. White, Robert L. Larson, Sarah F. Capik, Brian V. Lubbers

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

Commercially available bovine-specific assays are limited in number, and multiplex assays for this species are rare. Our objective was to develop a multiplex assay for the bovine inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα using the Meso Scale Discovery U-PLEX platform. "Do-It-Yourself" ELISA kits that contained polyclonal antibodies, both unlabeled and biotinylated, and the specific recombinant bovine cytokine standard, were purchased for each of these three cytokines. The biotinylated antibodies were coupled to linkers that bind to specific locations within each well of the U-PLEX plate. Unique linkers were used for each of the cytokines. The unlabeled antibodies were conjugated with …

Characterizing Genetic Regulatory Elements In Ovine Tissues, Kimberly M. Davenport, Alisha T. Massa, Suraj Bhattarai, Stephanie D. Mckay, Michelle R. Mousel, Maria K. Herndon, Stephen N. White, Noelle E. Cockett, Timothy P L Smith, Brenda M. Murdoch

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

The Ovine Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes (FAANG) project, part of the broader livestock species FAANG initiative, aims to identify and characterize gene regulatory elements in domestic sheep. Regulatory element annotation is essential for identifying genetic variants that affect health and production traits in this important agricultural species, as greater than 90% of variants underlying genetic effects are estimated to lie outside of transcribed regions. Histone modifications that distinguish active or repressed chromatin states, CTCF binding, and DNA methylation were used to characterize regulatory elements in liver, spleen, and cerebellum tissues from four yearling sheep. Chromatin immunoprecipitation with sequencing (ChIP-seq) …

Coleoptile Length Comparison Of Three Winter Small Grain Cereals Adapted To The Great Plains, M. Alam, M. Kashif, Amanda Easterly, F. Wang, J. D. Boehm Jr., P. Stephen Baenziger

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Successful crop stand establishment is critical to realize high yield potential, which is dependent on depth of seed placement to access soil moisture. The coleoptile determines sowing depth by its length and ability to emerge from depth. This study was conducted to assess coleoptile length among three sets of three Great Plains winter small grain cereals—wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and triticale (X triticosecale Wittm.)—and to evaluate the effect of the Rht-B1b dwarfing allele on coleoptile length in wheat and triticale. Fifty seeds of each genotype were sown in wet germination paper in two …

Video Feedback, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is video feedback?

Video feedback refers here to a training method that involves giving learners feedback on their skills using a video recording of their behavior in a real or simulated environment. Though video feedback is used in a variety of settings (e.g., athletic, parenting, or surgical training), the focus here is on skill development among professionals that engage in interpersonal interactions (e.g., teachers, social workers, nurses; Fukkink et al., 2011). Targeted skills may be broad (e.g., empathy, nervousness, active listening) or narrow (body posture, eye contact, gestures, use of open questions). The process typically involves recording learners as …

Research And Education For Optimizing The Development And Implementation Of An Unmanned Aircraft Program At The Nebraska Department Of Transportation, Wayne Woldt, Jon Starr, Christopher M. U. Neale

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This report describes the development and implementation of an Unmanned Aircraft System Program at the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT). The project involved the selection and purchase of appropriate UAS and imaging systems for NDOT, education and training for NDOT personnel with classroom and hands-on operation of UAS with the goal of obtaining proficiency and pilot licenses. In addition, the development of policy for the use of UAS within NDOT was accomplished as well as standard operating procedures (SOP) documentation and the development of example case studies of interest to NDOT using the purchased systems and technology.

Research And Education For Optimizing The Development And Implementation Of An Unmanned Aircraft Program At The Nebraska Department Of Transportation, Wayne Woldt, Jon Starr, C.M.U. Neale

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This report describes the development and implementation of an Unmanned Aircraft System Program at the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT). The project involved the selection and purchase of appropriate UAS and imaging systems for NDOT, education and training for NDOT personnel with classroom and hands-on operation of UAS with the goal of obtaining proficiency and pilot licenses. In addition, the development of policy for the use of UAS within NDOT was accomplished as well as standard operating procedures (SOP) documentation and the development of example case studies of interest to NDOT using the purchased systems and technology.

Multi-Strategy Engineering Greatly Enhances Provitamin A Carotenoid Accumulation And Stability In Arabidopsis Seeds, Tianhu Sun, Qinlong Zhu, Ziqing Wei, Lauren A. Owens, Tara Fish, Hyojin Kim, Theodore W. Thannhauser, Edgar B. Cahoon, Li Li

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Staple grains with low levels of provitamin A carotenoids contribute to the global prevalence of vitamin A deficiency and therefore are the main targets for provitamin A biofortification. However, carotenoid stability during both seed maturation and postharvest storage is a serious concern for the full benefits of carotenoid biofortified grains. In this study, we utilized Arabidopsis as a model to establish carotenoid biofortification strategies in seeds. We discovered that manipulation of carotenoid biosynthetic activity by seed-specific expression of Phytoene synthase (PSY) increases both provitamin A and total carotenoid levels but the increased carotenoids are prone to degradation during …

Landscape Genetics Of American Beaver In Coastal Oregon, Clinton W. Epps, Vanessa M. Petro, Tyler G. Creech, Rachel S. Crowhurst, Matthew J. Weldy, Jimmy D. Taylor

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

American beaver (Castor canadensis) have been translocated for population restoration, reduction of human‐wildlife conflict, and enhancement of ecosystem function. Yet few studies have assessed dispersal of beaver, making it difficult to determine at what scale translocations are appropriate. Genetic studies can provide inferences about gene flow, and thus dispersal. We used a landscape genetic approach to evaluate whether landscape features influenced gene flow among beaver in the Coast Range of western Oregon, USA, using samples collected April–September 2014. We collected genetic samples from live‐captured (n=232), road‐killed (n=2) and trapper‐provided (n=58) tissue samples and genotyped them at 10 microsatellite loci. We …

Estimation Of Household Smoke-Exposure Risk Using Demographic And Health Survey (Dhs) Data, Mazbahul G. Ahamad, Fahian Tanin

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

We introduce Stata and R codes to estimate the household smoke-exposure risk (SER) variable using cooking fuel- and cooking place-related information obtained from country-level demographic and health survey (DHS) data. Two categories of cooking fuels (smoke-producing and non-smoke producing fuels) and two categories of cooking places (indoor and outdoor) are used to estimate the household SER. Finally, household SER is classified into four levels of risk: high (cooking indoor using smoke-producing fuels), medium (cooking outdoor using smoke-producing fuels), low (cooking indoor using non-smoke-producing fuels), and very low (cooking outdoor using non-smoke-producing fuels). An example of a household SER calculation using …

Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus) Fried In Recycled Palm Oil: Implications For Nutrition And Health, Aemiro Tadesse Zula, Derese Tamiru Desta, Mary S. Willis

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Fish constitutes a occasional food for the Sidama people of Hawassa, the capital city of Ethiopia’s Sidama Region and the site of a large endorheic lake. Freshly-caught fish, especially Nile tilapia or koroso in Local name, are typically fried prior to consumption. Despite the sensory qualities, fried foods are not always advisable due to the impact of frying on the nutritional quality of food. This study was designed to assess the nutritional quality of Nile tilapia that had been fried in the same palm oil over six consecutive frying cycles. The raw fish were purchased from the Lake Hawassa fish …

Genome Sequence Of A Virulent African Swine Fever Virus Isolated In 2020 From A Domestic Pig In Northern Vietnam, Quang Lam Truong, Thi Lan Nguyen, Thi Hoa Nguyen, Jishu Shi, Hiep Lai Xuan Vu, Thi Lan Huong Lai, Van Giap Nguyen

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

This study reports the genome sequence of an isolated African swine fever (ASF) virus (VNUA-ASFV-05L1/HaNam) obtained at the fourth passage on pulmonary alveolar macrophages. The virus was isolated during a typical acute ASF outbreak in pigs in a northern province of Vietnam in 2020.

North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center, Christine Lockert, Bradley D. Lubben

Cornhusker Economics

Farmers and ranchers face many risks and challenges in production agriculture on a daily basis. Changing market fundamentals, farm policy reforms, and crop insurance program developments defined the risk environment that led to the authorization of agricultural risk management education as part of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000. The education efforts have been designed to help producers manage the full range of production, marketing, financial, legal, and human risks that are all part of agriculture.

Feature-Based Point Cloud-Based Assessment Of Heritage Structures For Nondestructive And Noncontact Surface Damage Detection, Richard L. Wood, Mohammad Ebrahim Mohammadi

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Assessment and evaluation of damage in cultural heritage structures are conducted primarily using nondestructive and noncontact methods. One common deployment is laser scanners or ground-based lidar scanners that produce a point cloud containing information at the centimeter to the millimeter level. This type of data allows for detecting surface damage, defects, cracks, and other anomalies based only on geometric surface descriptors using a single dataset, which does not rely on a change detection approach. Moreover, geometric features are not influenced by color, which is essential for heritage structures because they are nonuniform in color due to anthropologic and environmental effects …

Short Term Safety, Immunogenicity, And Reproductive Effects Of Combined Vaccination With Anti-Gnrh (Gonacon) And Rabies Vaccines In Female Feral Cats, Shiri Novak, Boris Yakobson, Shir Sorek, Liat Morgan, Smadar Tal, Ran Nivy, Roni King, Lauren Jaebker, Douglas C. Eckery, Tal Raz

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Overpopulation of free-roaming cats is a major problem leading to negative impacts on animal health and welfare, public nuisance, transmission of zoonotic diseases, and well-documented harm to wildlife. Surgical sterilization had failed to provide a practical solution to free-roaming cats’ overpopulation under field conditions; therefore, efficient and safe non-surgical immunocontraception methods are aspired. Rabies is a deadly virus that may infect people and animals. However, the safety and efficacy of combined vaccination with anti-GnRH and rabies vaccines in feral cats, which often suffer from disrupted health conditions and experienced high stress level, has never been studied. Therefore, our objective was …

The Medial Temporal Memory System In Down Syndrome: Translating Animal Models Of Hippocampal Compromise, Caron A.C. Clark, Fabian Fernandez, Stella Sakhon, Goffredina Spano, Jamie O. Edgin

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Recent studies have highlighted the dentate gyrus as a region of increased vulnerability in mouse models of Down syndrome (DS). It is unclear to what extent these findings are reflected in the memory profile of people with the condition. We developed a series of novel tasks to probe distinct medial temporal functions in children and young adults with DS, including object, spatial, and temporal order memory. Relative to mental age-matched controls (n=45), individuals with DS (n=28) were unimpaired on subtests involving short-term object or configural recall that was divorced from spatial or temporal contexts. By contrast, …

Short Term Safety, Immunogenicity, And Reproductive Effects Of Combined Vaccination With Anti-Gnrh (Gonacon) And Rabies Vaccines In Female Feral Cats, Shiri Novak, Boris Yakobson, Shir Sorek, Liat Morgan, Smadar Tal, Ran Nivy, Roni King, Lauren Jaebker, Douglas C. Eckery, Tal Raz

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Overpopulation of free-roaming cats is a major problem leading to negative impacts on animal health and welfare, public nuisance, transmission of zoonotic diseases, and well-documented harm to wildlife. Surgical sterilization had failed to provide a practical solution to free-roaming cats' overpopulation under field conditions; therefore, efficient and safe non-surgical immunocontraception methods are aspired. Rabies is a deadly virus that may infect people and animals. However, the safety and efficacy of combined vaccination with anti-GnRH and rabies vaccines in feral cats, which often suffer from disrupted health conditions and experienced high stress level, has never been studied. Therefore, our objective was …

Exploration Of The Sludge Biodiesel Pathway, Zachary Christman

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

Wastewater sludge is an overlooked source of fat, oil, and grease (FOG) that could be converted into biodiesel. The United States produces about 8 million tons of sludge per year. The disposal cost for this amount of sludge is about 2 billion US dollars. The widespread availability and low cost of sludge compared to other biodiesel raw materials make it an economical choice for a renewable fuel. Using sludge as a raw material can produce 25 to 30 mg per gram of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME); the main component of biodiesel. Sludge biodiesel has the potential of transforming a …

Techniques To Improve The Volume, Texture And Nutritional Quality Of Gluten-Free Bread, Zachary Christman

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

This article highlights the use of soy flour to improve the protein and fiber of gluten free bread. Also, the use of an extrusion process on soybean and corn flour blends improves the volume and texture of the bread. A full listing of the ingredients and method for production of higher quality gluten free bread is included.

Multi-Dimensional Drought Assessment In Abbay/Upper Blue Nile Basin: The Importance Of Shared Management And Regional Coordination Efforts For Mitigation, Yared Bayissa, Semu Moges, Assefa Melesse, Tsegaye Tadesse, Anteneh Z. Abiy, Abeyou Worqlul

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought is one of the least understood and complex natural hazards often characterized by a significant decrease in water availability for a prolonged period. It can be manifested in one or more forms as meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and/or socio-economic drought. The overarching objective of this study is to demonstrate and characterize the different forms of droughts and to assess the multidimensional nature of drought in the Abbay/ Upper Blue Nile River (UBN) basin and its national and regional scale implications. In this study, multiple drought indices derived from in situ and earth observation-based hydro-climatic variables were used. The meteorological drought …

Codon Bias Can Determine Sorting Of A Potassium Channel Protein, Anja J. Engel, Marina Kithil, Markus Langhans, Oliver Rauh, Matea Cartolano, James L. Van Etten, Anna Moroni, Gerhard Thiel

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Due to the redundancy of the genetic code most amino acids are encoded by multiple synonymous codons. It has been proposed that a biased frequency of synonymous codons can affect the function of proteins by modulating distinct steps in transcription, translation and folding. Here, we use two similar prototype K⁺ channels as model systems to examine whether codon choice has an impact on protein sorting. By monitoring transient expression of GFP-tagged channels in mammalian cells, we find that one of the two channels is sorted in a codon and cell cycle-dependent manner either to mitochondria or the secretory pathway. …

After-Action Reviews, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are after-action reviews?

An after-action review (AAR) is “a systematic technique that turns a recent event into a learning opportunity through a combination of task feedback, reflection, and discussion” (Keiser & Arthur, 2020, p. 2). The process has been used in various fields, leading to a variety of labels, including after-event review, debrief, guided team self-correction, and reflexivity (e.g., Chen et al., 2018; Couper et al., 2013; Ellis & Davidi, 2005; Smith-Jentsch et al., 2008). Note that though the term “debrief” is sometimes used, AARs are distinct from debriefing sessions that are intended to help individuals process stressful or …

Nebraska National Agri-Marketing Association And The Continued Covid Effect, Brianna Gable, Rosalee A. Swartz

Cornhusker Economics

The University of Nebraska’s National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) student organization is one of more than thirty student chapters across the U.S. and Canada. The objective of student NAMA on campus is to learn first-hand from professionals in marketing, advertising, communications promotion, sales, and public relations, about the many career opportunities in agri-marketing. As chapter members, students develop valuable personal contacts and working relations with agri-marketing professionals and have meaningful opportunities to develop and practice their managerial skills and leadership abilities.

Exploring Interactions Between Primary Hepatocytes And Non-Parenchymal Cells On Physiological And Pathological Liver Stiffness, Vaishaali Natarajan, Youra Moeum, Srivatsan Kidambi

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Chronic liver disease is characterized by progressive hepatic fibrosis leading to the formation of cirrhosis irrespective of the etiology with no effective treatment currently available. Liver stiffness (LS) is currently the best clinical predictor of this fibrosis progression irrespective of the etiology. LS and hepatocytes-nonparenchymal cells (NPC) interactions are two variables known to be important in regulating hepatic function during liver fibrosis, but little is known about the interplay of these cues. Here, we use polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) based substrates with tunable mechanical properties to study how cell–cell interaction and stiffness regulates hepatocytes function. Specifically, primary rat hepatocytes were cocultured …

Access To Air: Generating Open Space In The Built Environment, Phillip Smith

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

This thesis project explores the balance between capturing the benefits of dense, urban design and the desire for residents to experience open space where healthy, active lifestyles are possible. The condition of humanity today struggles with both ecological degradation and social injustices reinforced by systemic segregation. By exploring density in a way that nurtures human dignity, our development patterns can allow us to grow in a more sustainable and equitable way.

Advisor: Mark Hoistad

Students’ Civic Engagement Self-Efficacy Varies Across Socioscientific Issues Contexts, Jenny Dauer, Amanda E. Sorensen, Jena Wilson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

In STEM learning focused on science literacy, socioscientific issues instruction is often proposed as a way to bolster students’ civic engagement, however few studies in science education have explicitly examined this connection. We define civic engagement as the work of influencing legitimately public matters using means within the existing political structure. In this work we investigate students’ feelings of self-efficacy for this type of civic engagement in the context of four socioscientific issues (prairie dog conservation, food insecurity, biofuels and water conservation). This study was in the context of a large enrollment introductory science college course, where students used a …

White Noise Dark Ecology: Designing For The Soundscape, William Cox

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

This thesis explores the intersection of architecture, sound, and ecology. It works through the methodology on how to modulate and produce soundscapes rich with various sound objects. It addresses questions on how designers can use the act of listening to engage with the soundscape. This exploration hopes to continue to find niches which create opportunities for new interactions between architecture and ecology through sound. This is all in a continued effort to engage in positive feedback loops between architecture and non-humans to actively break down the divide between the artificial and natural through sound and architecture by designing for the …