Digital Commons Network^™

Impacts Of Environmental Conditions On Fleas In Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Burrows, Julia E. Poje, Tonie Rocke, Michael D. Samuel

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Sylvatic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and transmitted by fleas, occurs in prairie dogs of the western United States. Outbreaks can devastate prairie dog communities, often causing nearly 100% mortality. Three competent flea vectors, prairie dog specialists Oropsylla hirsuta and O. tuberculata, and generalist Pulex simulans, are found on prairie dogs and in their burrows. Fleas are affected by climate, which varies across the range of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus), but these effects may be ameliorated somewhat due to the burrowing habits of prairie dogs. Our goal was to assess how temperature and precipitation …

Polerovirus Genomic Variation And Mechanisms Of Silencing Suppression By P0 Protein, Natalie M. Holste

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The family Luteoviridae consists of three genera: Luteovirus, Enamovirus, and Polerovirus. The genus Polerovirus contains 32 virus species. All are transmitted by aphids and can infect a wide variety of crops from cereals and wheat to cucurbits and peppers. However, little is known about how this wide range of hosts and vectors developed. In poleroviruses, aphid transmission and virion formation is mediated by the coat protein read-through domain (CPRT) while silencing suppression and phloem limitation is mediated by Protein 0 (P0)—a protein unique to poleroviruses. P0 gives poleroviruses a great advantage amongst plant viruses and diversifies polerovirus species, but the …

Fungicide Resistance: Surveillance, Risk Assessment And Evolution In Two Soil-Borne Pathogens, Nikita Gambhir

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

Fungicide-resistant pathogens are an increasing threat to fungicide efficacy and plant health. The goal of this dissertation was to advance the foundational knowledge required to prevent and detect fungicide resistance development in the seedling disease pathogen, Rhizoctonia zeae and the white-mold pathogen, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Corn and soybean fields in 12 states (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) were surveyed for R. zeae. In vitro fungicide sensitivity was determined for 91 isolates to fludioxonil, sedaxane, and/or prothioconazole. Rhizoctonia zeae was sensitive to all fungicides (EC₅₀ < 3 µg/ml) except azoxystrobin (EC₅₀ > 100 µg/ml). In …

Improving The Accuracy Of Genomic Predictions: Investigation Of Training Methods And Data Pooling, Johnna Lynn Baller

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

One of the primary factors in the response to selection is the accuracy of selection. This study focused on methodologies to predict breeding values (BV) accurately within multi- and single-step genomic evaluations. Factors including cross-validation methods, dependent variables, and genotyping strategies were assessed on the accuracy of genomic BV while using multi-step prediction in real and simulated data. In both cases, random clustering led to largest estimated accuracies compared to clusters based on k-means, k-medoids, and principle component analysis, but differences in bias were not detected. Using deregressed estimated BV (EBV) to estimate SNP effects led to larger accuracies and …

Analyzing Basket Trials Under Multisource Exchangeability Assumptions, Michael J. Kane, Nan Chen, Alexander M. Kaizer, Xun Jiang, H Amy Xia, Brian P. Hobbs

The R Journal

Basket designs are prospective clinical trials that are devised with the hypothesis that the presence of selected molecular features determine a patient’s subsequent response to a particular “targeted” treatment strategy. Basket trials are designed to enroll multiple clinical subpopulations to which it is assumed that the therapy in question offers beneficial efficacy in the presence of the targeted molecular profile. The treatment, however, may not offer acceptable efficacy to all subpopulations enrolled. Moreover, for rare disease settings, such as oncology wherein these trials have become popular, marginal measures of statistical evidence are difficult to interpret for sparsely enrolled subpopulations. Consequently, …

Kuhn-Tucker And Multiple Discrete-Continuous Extreme Value Model Estimation And Simulation In R: The Rmdcev Package, Patrick Lloyd-Smith

The R Journal

This paper introduces the package rmdcev in R for estimation and simulation of KuhnTucker demand models with individual heterogeneity. The models supported by rmdcev are the multiple-discrete continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model and Kuhn-Tucker specification common in the environmental economics literature on recreation demand. Latent class and random parameters specifications can be implemented and the models are fit using maximum likelihood estimation or Bayesian estimation. The rmdcev package also implements demand forecasting and welfare calculation for policy simulation. The purpose of this paper is to describe the model estimation and simulation framework and to demonstrate the functionalities of rmdcev using …

Kspm: A Package For Kernel Semi-Parametric Models, Catherine Schramm, Sébastien Jacquemont, Karim Oualkacha, Aurélie Labbe, Celia M. T. Greenwood

The R Journal

Kernel semi-parametric models and their equivalence with linear mixed models provide analysts with the flexibility of machine learning methods and a foundation for inference and tests of hypothesis. These models are not impacted by the number of predictor variables, since the kernel trick transforms them to a kernel matrix whose size only depends on the number of subjects. Hence, methods based on this model are appealing and numerous, however only a few R programs are available and none includes a complete set of features. Here, we present the KSPM package to fit the kernel semi-parametric model and its extensions in …

Ordinalclust: An R Package To Analyze Ordinal Data, Margot Selosse, Julien Jacques, Christophe Biernacki

The R Journal

Ordinal data are used in many domains, especially when measurements are collected from people through observations, tests, or questionnaires. ordinalClust is an innovative R package dedicated to ordinal data that provides tools for modeling, clustering, co-clustering and classifying such data. Ordinal data are modeled using the BOS distribution, which is a model with two meaningful parameters referred to as "position" and "precision". The former indicates the mode of the distribution and the latter describes how scattered the data are around the mode: the user is able to easily interpret the distribution of their data when given these two parameters. The …

A Fast And Scalable Implementation Method For Competing Risks Data With The R Package Fastcmprsk, Eric S. Kawaguchi, Jenny I. Shen, Gang Li, Marc A. Suchard

The R Journal

Advancements in medical informatics tools and high-throughput biological experimentation make large-scale biomedical data routinely accessible to researchers. Competing risks data are typical in biomedical studies where individuals are at risk to more than one cause (type of event) which can preclude the others from happening. The Fine and Gray (1999) proportional subdistribution hazards model is a popular and well-appreciated model for competing risks data and is currently implemented in a number of statistical software packages. However, current implementations are not computationally scalable for large-scale competing risks data. We have developed an R package, fastcmprsk, that uses a novel forward-backward scan …

Tulip: A Toolbox For Linear Discriminant Analysis With Penalties, Yuqing Pan, Qing Mai, Xin Zhang

The R Journal

Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is a powerful tool in building classifiers with easy computation and interpretation. Recent advancements in science technology have led to the popularity of datasets with high dimensions, high orders and complicated structure. Such datasetes motivate the generalization of LDA in various research directions. The R package TULIP integrates several popular high-dimensional LDA-based methods and provides a comprehensive and user-friendly toolbox for linear, semi-parametric and tensor-variate classification. Functions are included for model fitting, cross validation and prediction. In addition, motivated by datasets with diverse sources of predictors, we further include functions for covariate adjustment. Our package is …

Reducing Mowing Requirements In Home Lawn And Golf Course Turfgrass, Mark A. Keck

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

Turfgrass systems are routinely managed by frequent mowing to increase aesthetics and function. Mowing is resource intensive with a high labor and energy demand. Reducing the number of mowings events in a growing season will decrease the labor and energy but may reduce quality as well. Previous work has looked at reducing mowing by changing the frequency and by using a plant growth regulator (PGR). Limited information is available about how to reduce mowing while maintaining acceptable quality. We looked at two different management practices to reduce mowing and maintain quality. The first study evaluated seven different mowing frequencies at …

The Sea Will Rise, Barbuda Will Survive: Environment And Time Consciousness, Sophia Perdikaris

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

In this article, we examine the link between environmental consciousnesses and time consciousness. We argue that the way people think about time shapes their experience of climate change threats. We contrast western hegemonic concepts of time—the Gregorian Calendar, the Dooms Day Clock, linear time—with the way Barbudans of Antigua and Barbuda, an island nation in the Caribbean experience time—cyclical, through boom and bust cycles. We found that this boom and bust framework was indeed supported by climate change and weather experiences on the island—hurricanes, droughts, changes in the lagoons—as well as economic experiences—cargo boat delays bringing supplies, paycheck delays. By …

Concentration And Treatment Of Odors Generated By Landfills, Gabriel Cohen

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Landfills produce hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), an odorous compound that can be a nuisance and danger to public. Biological treatment, in particular bio-trickling filters, is a method for controlling H₂S emissions but startup costs can be costly. The goal of this study is to provide a low-cost method for improving environmental air quality in Nebraska through an odor control device. This study determined that the Loup Central Landfill located near Elba, NE would be an adequate site for the testing and implementation of the odor control device. The off-gas of the Loup Central Landfill was tested for …

Who Should Get “Ineffective”? A Principal’S Ethical Dilemmas On Teacher Evaluation, Taeyeon Kim, Charles Lowery

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

School principals play a critical role in evaluating teachers and providing feedback, but high-stakes evaluation policies at the local and state levels can create ethical dilemmas for principals. In this case, an underresourced rural school principal has to report a certain number of “ineffective” teachers to meet a requirement from the district teacher evaluation, even though the principal does not think any teacher in his school deserves to receive an “ineffective” rating. This study can be used to help students unpack issues of dilemmas coming from consequential accountability policies that overlook the relational ethos of educators and leaders in school …

Lessons Learned While Conducting Utilization-Focused Workforce Evaluation, Robert Blagg, Michelle Graef, Cynthia F. Parry, Courtney L. Harrison

Other QIC-WD Products

The QIC-WD learned many lessons while conducting utilization-focused workforce research across eight diverse public child welfare agencies. In this brief we detail how we are chronicling natural variation (e.g., stay at home orders, hiring freezes, political will, and leadership changes), synthesizing existing data, conducting process evaluation (e.g., identifying implementation drivers), visualizing data to meet diverse stakeholder information needs, and building systems that are both flexible and sustainable.

Creating A Web-Based Tool For Determining Drought Acknowledgments In State Plans, Raeanna Hartsgrove

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Drought is a lingering and costly disaster and can cause billions of dollars of damage throughout the United States. Drought produces social, economic, and environmental impacts which makes it become a disaster. Due to the long-lasting and intense effects, drought research is needed to understand weather and climate more efficiently so that preparedness, mitigation, response recovery, and resilience is more effective. Policies that include drought mitigation are shown to reduce the likelihood that drought become disasters. The National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) has been working on a new web-based tool to identify which plans in a state address key aspects …

Validating A Common Tick Survey Method: Cloth‑Dragging And Line Transects, Pia L. Kjellander, Malin Aronsson, Ulrika A. Bergvall, Josep L. Carrasco, Madeleine Christensson, Per-Eric Lindgren, Mikael Åkesson, Petter Kjellander

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Cloth-dragging is the most widely-used method for collecting and counting ticks, but there are few studies of its reliability. By using cloth-dragging, we applied a replicated line transects survey method, in two areas in Sweden with different Ixodes ricinus tick-densities (low at Grimsö and high at Bogesund) to evaluate developmental stage specific repeatability, agreement and precision in estimates of tick abundance. ‘Repeatability’ was expressed as the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), ‘agreement’ with the Total Deviation Index (TDI) and ‘precision’ by the coefficient of variation (CV) for a given dragging distance. Repeatability (ICC) and agreement (TDI) were higher for the most …

Evaluating The Untapped Potential Of U.S. Conservation Investments To Improve Soil And Environmental Health, Andrea Basche, Katherine Tully, Nora L. Alvarez-Berrios, Julian Reyes, Laura Lengnick, Tabitha Brown, Jennifer M. Moore, Rachel E. Schattman, Lana Koepke Johnson, Gabrielle Roesch-Mcnally

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

There is increasing enthusiasm around the concept of soil health, and as a result, new public and private initiatives are being developed to increase soil health-related practices on working lands in the United States. In addition, billions of U.S. public dollars are dedicated annually toward soil conservation programs, and yet, it is not well quantified how investment in conservation programs improve soil health and, more broadly, environmental health. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is one of the major U.S. public conservation programs administered on privately managed lands for which public data are available. In this research, we developed a …

Organizational Justice, Tara Myers, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is organizational justice?

Organizational justice is the extent to which an organization treats people fairly. Organizational justice includes fairness related to outcomes, procedures, and interpersonal interactions. Fair workplace outcomes and decisions (e.g., equitable/favorable pay, raise, promotion) are called distributive justice (Adams, 1965). Procedural justice means that outcomes are determined through procedures that are based on accurate information and standard ethics, represent everyone affected by the procedure, include opportunity for input and appeal, are free from bias, and are used consistently (Leventhal, 1980; Thibaut & Walker, 1975). Interactional justice refers to people feeling they were treated with dignity and respect …

Engagement Requires The Institution Too: A Case Study Of A California Community College Using Assessment Data To Improve Student Success Practices, Duane Brooks

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

While the collection of assessment data by educational institutions is important, these activities are not sufficient to create an institution that is fully “engaged” with not only the data, but also in using data to improve decision making and student success practices within the institution. The institution must be ready to use the data for action and improvement. Understanding the process that transforms data into institutionalized knowledge is an important component of what institutional engagement looks like. This qualitative single case study explored the scope and nature of institutional engagement in the case of one California community college by examining …

Race And Ethnic Variation In College Students’ Allostatic Regulation Of Racism-Related Stress, Jacob E. Cheadle, Bridget J. Goosby, Joseph C. Jochman, Cara Tomaso, Chelsea B. Kozikowski Yancey, Timothy D. Nelson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Racism-related stress is thought to contribute to widespread race/ ethnic health inequities via negative emotion and allostatic stress process up-regulation. Although prior studies document racerelated stress and health correlations, due to methodological and technical limitations, they have been unable to directly test the stress-reactivity hypothesis in situ. Guided by theories of constructed emotion and allostasis, we developed a protocol using wearable sensors and daily surveys that allowed us to operationalize and time-couple self-reported racism-related experiences, negative emotions, and an independent biosignal of emotional arousal. We used data from 100 diverse young adults at a predominantly White college campus to assess …

Sustainable Drug Release From Polycaprolactone Coated Chitin‑Lignin Gel Fibrous Scaffolds, Turdimuhammad Abdullah, Kalamegam Gauthaman, Azadeh Mostafavi, Ahmed Alshahrie, Numan Salah, Pierfrancesco Morganti, Angelo Chianese, Ali Tamayol, Adnan Memic

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Non-healing wounds have placed an enormous stress on both patients and healthcare systems worldwide. Severe complications induced by these wounds can lead to limb amputation or even death and urgently require more effective treatments. Electrospun scaffolds have great potential for improving wound healing treatments by providing controlled drug delivery. Previously, we developed fibrous scaffolds from complex carbohydrate polymers [i.e. chitin-lignin (CL) gels]. However, their application was limited by solubility and undesirable burst drug release. Here, a coaxial electrospinning is applied to encapsulate the CL gels with polycaprolactone (PCL). Presence of a PCL shell layer thus provides longer shelf-life for the …

Linking Mosquito Surveillance To Dengue Fever Through Bayesian Mechanistic Modeling, Clinton B. Leach, Jennifer A. Hoeting, Kim M. Pepin, Alvaro E. Eiras, Mevin B. Hooten, Colleen T. Webb

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Our ability to effectively prevent the transmission of the dengue virus through targeted control of its vector, Aedes aegypti, depends critically on our understanding of the link between mosquito abundance and human disease risk. Mosquito and clinical surveillance data are widely collected, but linking them requires a modeling framework that accounts for the complex non-linear mechanisms involved in transmission. Most critical are the bottleneck in transmission imposed by mosquito lifespan relative to the virus’ extrinsic incubation period, and the dynamics of human immunity. We developed a differential equation model of dengue transmission and embedded it in a Bayesian hierarchical …

Risk Of Injury Analysis In Depth Jump And Squat Jump, Curtis L. Tomasevicz, Jeffrey C. Woldstad, [email protected]

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Introduction: The depth jump (DJ) and squat jump (SJ) are accepted ways to assess and train power producing ability but are not without risk of injury. Methods: Sixteen male participants (age = 21.7 ± 1.54 yrs., height = 177.7 ± 11.4 cm, mass = 77.7 ± 13.6 kg) were evaluated for power exertion capabilities while being assessed for risk of injury in the knee and low back through a range of resistances based on a percentage of participants’ heights in the DJ (0% through 50%) and bodyweights for the SJ (0% through 100%). Two variables were used to assess the …

Economic Analyses Of Federal Scientific Collections: Methods For Documenting Costs And Benefits, David E. Schindel, Economic Study Group Of The Interagency Working Group On Scientific Collections

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Federal object-based scientific collections have been created to serve agency missions and, in a few cases, to comply with legislative and regulatory mandates. “Project collections” (those managed by the researchers who obtained them for restricted use) and their costs and benefits were considered too varied for standard methodologies that assess costs and benefits. In a few cases, departments and agencies are required by legislation or regulations to retain objects in long-term “institutional collections.” In most cases, decisions to retain objects are based on long-term costs relative to the perceived potential for benefits to taxpayers. Federal collections vary in their philosophies …

Machine Learning Augmentation Micro-Sensors For Smart Device Applications, Mohammad H. Hasan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Novel smart technologies such as wearable devices and unconventional robotics have been enabled by advancements in semiconductor technologies, which have miniaturized the sizes of transistors and sensors. These technologies promise great improvements to public health. However, current computational paradigms are ill-suited for use in novel smart technologies as they fail to meet their strict power and size requirements. In this dissertation, we present two bio-inspired colocalized sensing-and-computing schemes performed at the sensor level: continuous-time recurrent neural networks (CTRNNs) and reservoir computers (RCs). These schemes arise from the nonlinear dynamics of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), which facilitates computing, and the inherent ability …

A Co-Opted Steroid Synthesis Gene, Maintained In Sorghum But Not Maize, Is Associated With A Divergence In Leaf Wax Chemistry, Lucas Busta, Elizabeth Schmitz, Dylan K. Kosma, James C. Schnable, Edgar B. Cahoon

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Virtually all land plants are coated in a cuticle, a waxy polyester that prevents nonstomatal water loss and is important for heat and drought tolerance. Here, we describe a likely genetic basis for a divergence in cuticular wax chemistry between Sorghum bicolor, a drought tolerant crop widely cultivated in hot climates, and its close relative Zea mays (maize). Combining chemical analyses, heterologous expression, and comparative genomics, we reveal that: 1) sorghum and maize leaf waxes are similar at the juvenile stage but, after the juvenile-to-adult transition, sorghum leaf waxes are rich in triterpenoids that are absent from maize; 2) biosynthesis …

The Birds Of The Nebraska Sandhills, Paul A. Johnsgard, Josef Kren

Zea E-Books Collection

This book provides basic information on all the species of birds that have been reliably reported from the Nebraska Sandhills region as of 2020. They include 46 permanent residents, 125 summer breeders, 125 migrants, and 102 rare or accidental species, totaling 398 species. Information on status, migration, and habitats is provided for all but the very rare and accidental species. There are also descriptions of 46 refuges, preserves, and other public-access natural areas in the region and seven suggested birding routes. The text contains more than 90,000 words and over 250 literature references along with more than 20 drawings, 9 …

Promoting Higher Quality Teacher–Child Relationships: The Insights Intervention In Rural Schools, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Ray E. Reichenberg, Jungwon Eum, Jentry Stoneman Barrett, Yuenjung Joo, Emily Wilson, Martinique Sealy

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Children’s relationships with teachers in kindergarten are crucial for academic and social success. Research shows that teacher–child relationships are predicated, in part, on children’s temperament. The “INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament” intervention was intended to improve children’s and teachers’ understanding of their and others’ temperament, and has been shown to improve children’s social skills and self-regulation in urban, under-resourced schools. The current study is part of a replication of the effects of INSIGHTS with a sample in rural schools. The purpose was to test the effectiveness of INSIGHTS for promoting positive relationships between teachers and children in kindergarten. Two cohorts of …

A Contractor’S Guide: Nebraska’S Anti-Indemnity Statute, Brett M. Bruneteau

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

Contractors must carefully comply with Nebraska’s anti-indemnity statute in order to shift risk and liabilities. In doing so, contractors must have an understanding of general construction industry trends and how they impact and apply to Nebraska’s anti-indemnity statute. First, contractors must have a general understanding of pertinent construction issues including indemnity, anti-indemnity statutes, insurance, and the rising cost of litigation. These issues are paramount to understanding the purpose behind Nebraska’s anti-indemnity statute. These issues are also important when understanding its caselaw and judicial interpretation. Second, contractors can protect themselves from Nebraska’s anti-indemnity statute by drafting indemnity provisions that comply with …