Digital Commons Network^™

Discovering Native Bees, Alison P. Stevens

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

NATURAL SYSTEMS PROVIDE humans with a variety of services essential to our survival. Ecosystem services such as climate regulation, water purification, oxygen production, waste treatment and detoxification, flood prevention, and pollination are provided at no cost, yet their true value is immeasurable. In our economydriven world, these systems are often taken for granted, and as a consequence many are in peril. Understanding their role is a critical first step towards ensuring that they endure. Pollination, the process of moving pollen grains from one flower to another to stimulate fruit and seed production, is among the easiest of these services to …

2011 Interior Least Tern And Piping Plover Monitoring, Research, Management, And Outreach Report For The Lower Platte River, Nebraska, Mary Bomberger Brown, Joel G. Jorgensen, Lauren R. Dinan

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

This document reports on our monitoring, research, management, and outreach activities during the past 12 months (2011). We prepared it to inform our partners, cooperating agencies, funding sources, and other interested parties of our activities and to provide a preliminary summary of our results.

The Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership (TPCP), based at the University of Nebraska School of Natural Resources, and the Nongame Bird Program (NBP), based at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC), work cooperatively on Interior Least Tern and Piping Plover monitoring, research, management, and outreach in Nebraska. While the focus of our work is the …

Caring For Compromised Cattle: Assessing Animals At Risk

Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance Program

Cattlemen have long recognized the need to properly care for their livestock. Sound animal husbandry practices – based on research and decades of practical experience – are known to impact the well-being of cattle, individual animal health and herd productivity. There is no doubt that producers work hard to ensure that their cattle are properly cared for throughout all stages of production. Unfortunately, it’s a fact of raising cattle that some animals will become injured to the extent that they are unable to stand or walk without assistance.

Assessor’S Guide To A Beef Quality Assurance Cow-Calf Assessment

Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance Program

The BQA Cow-Calf Assessment is an on-site educational tool that allows for assessing and benchmarking key indicators of animal care and well-being as well as operational conditions. The Cow-Calf Assessment focuses on three main areas – Animals, Records and Best Management Practices (BMP), and Facilities and Equipment.

Report Of Nine Sorghum Flour Workshops, Report For Intsormil; Subject: “Utilization Of Cti Grinders For Small Scale Sorghum Flour Production In Central America”, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

In Nicaragua, Sorghum grain has been a crops using only for animal feed. Fortunately Scientifics have been researched about its nutritional sorghum grain properties and some of the country that they have been interested to bring the technology about sorghum flour has been Nicaragua because its growths in 3 big areas; in the north, south and west region. Now, that is knew their characteristics and others, so INTA and INTSORMIL are diffusing the technology about sorghum flour to increase the production of sorghum grain, reduce the cost production of bread and some ethnics drinks, to improve the food security and …

It's The Cheese: Collective Memory Of Hard Times During Deindustrialization, Kristen Lucas, Patrice M. Buzzanell

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Unquestionably, food and the way we communicate about it are important markers of identity. Like other chapters in this volume that illuminate connections to cultural, social, and gendered identities, food also is inherently linked to social class. Dougherty, Dixon, and Chou (2009) explain that people from different social classes have distinct relationships with food. From the security and taken-for-grantedness of food in middle and upper classes to the insecurity of food in lower socioeconomic classes, people's relationships to food structure everyday practices and discourses. Particularly for working class people (because "food on the table" is not always a taken-for-granted assumption), …

Resilience And Leadership In Dangerous Contexts, Christopher Peterson, Michael J. Craw, Nansook Park, Michael S. Erwin

United States Army: Publications

Daniel B. Cnossen was born and raised in Topeka, growing up on a small farm. He spent his childhood reading, running, playing sports, and working on the farm. Cnossen enrolled in the United States Naval Academy in 1998. He had never before seen the ocean and did not know how to swim, but he asked his new friends at the academy to teach him; he would often skip lunch to spend time in the pool. Cnossen joined the Navy triathlon team to strengthen his swimming. By his senior year, he had been elected captain of the team, which he helped …

Eating Rate During A Fixed-Portion Meal Does Not Affect Postprandial Appetite And Gut Peptides Or Energy Intake During A Subsequent Meal, J. Phillip Karl, Andrew J. Young, Scott J. Montain

United States Army: Publications

Eating rate has recently been shown to influence energy intake and appetite during an ad libitummeal, and alter postprandial secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and peptide-YY (PYY) following a fixed-portionmeal. Whether these effects influence satiety, as measured by energy intake at the subsequent meal, is unclear. We manipulated eating rate during a fixed-portion meal in order to examine how eating behavior and associated periprandial and postprandial responses of putative endocrine mediators of appetite would affect energy intake at the following meal in fifteen non-obese (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m²) and ten obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²) healthy adult men and …

Major Sponsored Programs And Faculty Awards For Research And Creative Activity: July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011

Office of Research and Economic Development: Publications

This tenth annual “Major Sponsored Programs and Faculty Awards for Research and Creative Activity” booklet highlights the successes of University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty during the fiscal year July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011. It lists the funding sources, projects and investigators on major grants and sponsored program awards received during the year; published books and scholarship; fellowships and other recognitions; startups and intellectual property licenses; and performances and exhibitions in the fine and performing arts. This impressive list grows each year and I am pleased to present evidence of our faculty’s accomplishments. Large grants in a diverse range of fields—from water, …

Infectious Diseases In Yellowstone’S Canid Community, Emily S. Almberg, Paul C. Cross, L. David Mech, Doug W. Smith, Jennifer W. Sheldon, Robert L. Crabtree

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Each summer Yellowstone Wolf Project staff visit den sites to monitor the success of wolf reproduction and pup rearing behavior. For the purposes of wolf monitoring, Yellowstone National Park (YNP) is divided into two study areas, the northern range and the interior, each distinguished by their ecological and physiographical differences. The 1,000 square kilometer northern range, characterized by lower elevations (1,500–2,200 m), serves as prime winter habitat for ungulates and supports a higher density of wolves than the interior (20–99 wolves/1,000 km² versus 2–11 wolves/1,000 km²). The interior of the park encompasses 7,991 square kilometers, is higher …

Development Of An Internet Based System For Modeling Biotin Metabolism Using Bayesian Networks, Jinglei Zhou, Dong Wang, Vicki L. Schlegel, Janos Zempleni

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

Biotin is an essential water-soluble vitamin crucial for maintaining normal body functions. The importance of biotin for human health has been under-appreciated but there is plenty of opportunity for future research with great importance for human health. Currently, carrying out predictions of biotin metabolism involves tedious manual manipulations. In this paper, we report the development of BiotinNet, an internet based program that uses Bayesian networks to integrate published data on various aspects of biotin metabolism. Users can provide a combination of values on the levels of biotin related metabolites to obtain the predictions on other metabolites that are not specified. …

Long-Term Rice-Based Cropping System Effects On Near-Surface Soil Compaction, J. M. Motschenbacher, K. R. Brye, M. M. Anders

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Talking With Faculty About Cognitive Science And Learning, John Girash

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

When it comes to teaching, faculty at a research-intensive institution can be very much like our students in relation to their studies: very smart people whose primary interests lie elsewhere or, at least, whose expertise is not in this area. And we hear over and over again the common wisdom that faculty want research-based ideas on teaching. This implies that we can treat the teaching of teachers about research-supported aspects of learning in ways analogous to teaching students about other academic topics.

In introducing research-based ideas into the pedagogical discussion, it can be tough to find a balance between concepts …

Growth Curves Of Crossbred Cows Sired By Hereford, Angus, Belgian Blue, Brahman, Boran, And Tuli Bulls, And The Fraction Of Mature Body Weight And Height At Puberty, Harvey C. Freetly, L. A. Kuehn, L. V. Cundiff

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

The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth curves of females to determine if mature size and relative rates of maturation among breeds differed. Body weight and hip height data were fitted to the nonlinear function BW = f(age) = A − Be^k×age, where A is an estimate of mature BW and k determines the rate that BW or height moves from B to A. Cows represented progeny from 28 Hereford, 38 Angus, 25 Belgian Blue, 34 Brahman, 8 Boran, and 9 Tuli sires. Bulls from these breeds were mated by AI to Angus, Hereford, …

2011 Annual Report

Lancaster County, Nebraska Extension: Reports

Big Connection

Big Outreach

Big Community Value

Big Impact

Partners with Nebraska

http://lancaster.unl.edu is Your 24/7 Local Extension Connection

Lancaster Extension Education Center Conference Facilities

Big Honors, Awards, and Accomplishments

Big Benefit to Youth

Big Volunteerism

Big Community Service

Big Local Programs

Food & Nutrition

Yard & Garden

Urban Agriculture

Home & Families

Pests & Wildlife

Farms & Acreages

Big Diagnostic Services

Bedside Method To Estimate Actual Body Weight In The Emergency Department, Robert G. Buckley, Christine R. Stehman, Frank L. Dos Santos, Robert H. Riggenburgh, Aaron Swenson, Nathan Mjos, Matt Brewer, Sheila Mulligan

United States Navy: Publications

Background:

Actual body weight (ABW) is important for accurate drug dosing in emergency settings. Oftentimes, patients are unable to stand to be weighed accurately or clearly state their most recent weight.

Objective:

Develop a bedside method to estimate ABW using simple anthropometric measurements.

Methods:

Prospective, blinded, cross-sectional convenience sampling of adult Emergency Department (ED) patients. A multiple linear regression equation from Derivation Phase (n = 208: 121 males, 87 females) found abdominal and thigh circumferences (AC and TC) had the best fit and an inter-rater correlation of 0.99 and 0.96, respectively: Male ABW (kg) = -47.8 + 0.78 * (AC) …

Nebraska Green Scene: Annual Publication By Agronomy And Horticulture 2011

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Annual Newsletters

Table of Contents

Letters from the Heads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Alumni news

The Winds Will Carry Us . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

David Hoffman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Staff news

Familiar Faces Around the Dept.. . . . . . 12

Faculty news

Promotions and Tenure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Research …

Assessing The Long-Term Effects Of The Bp Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill On Marine Mammals In The Gulf Of Mexico: A Statement Of Research Needs

United States Marine Mammal Commission

Assessing the Long-term Effects of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Marine Mammals in the Gulf of Mexico: A Statement of Research Needs

Determination Of Threshold Adverse Effect Doses Of Percutaneous Vx Exposure In African Green Monkeys, Raymond F. Genovese, Bernard J. Benton, John L. Oubre, Christopher E. Byers, E. Michael Jakubowski, Robert J. Mioduszewski, Timothy J. Settle, Thomas J. Steinbach

United States Army: Publications

Percutaneous exposure to the chemical warfare nerve agent VX was evaluated in African green monkeys (n = 9). Doses of VX (7.5–100 μg/kg) were applied to the skin for 60 min and residual agent was quantified (before decontamination) to estimate the absorbed dose. Monkeys were evaluated for the presence or absence of clinical signs of toxicity and blood was sampled periodically (30 min–12 weeks) following exposure to measure the degree of circulating acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition. Monkeys were also evaluated for behavioral changes fromVXexposure using a serial probe recognition (SPR) task. The lowest observable adverse effect level (LOAEL) for the production …

Complete Genome Sequence Of Lactobacillus Buchneri Nrrl B-30929, A Novel Strain From A Commercial Ethanol Plant, Siqing Liu, Timothy D. Leathers, Alex Copeland, Olga Chertkov, Lynne Goodwin, David A. Mills

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Lactobacillus buchneri strain NRRL B-30929 was a contaminant obtained from a commercial ethanol fermentation. This facultative anaerobe is unique because of its rapid growth on xylose and simultaneous fermentation of xylose and glucose. The strain utilizes a broad range of carbohydrate substrates and possesses a high tolerance to ethanol and other stresses, making it an attractive candidate for bioconversion of biomass substrates to various bioproducts. The genome sequence of NRRL B-30929 will provide insight into the unique properties of this lactic acid bacterium.

Modification Of Native Grasses For Biofuel Production May Increase Virus Susceptibility, Abbie C. Schrotenboer, Michael S. Allen, Carolyn M. Malmstrom

United States Department of Energy: Publications

Bioenergy production is driving modifications to native plant species for use as novel biofuel crops. Key aims are to increase crop growth rates and to enhance conversion efficiency by reducing biomass recalcitrance to digestion. However, selection for these biofuel-valuable traits has potential to compromise plant defenses and alter interactions with pests and pathogens. Insect-vectored plant viruses are of particular concern because perennial crops have potential to serve as virus reservoirs that influence regional disease dynamics. In this study, we examined relationships between growth rates and biomass recalcitrance in five switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) populations, ranging from near wild type …

Ecosystem Services Altered By Human Changes In The Nitrogen Cycle: A New Perspective For Us Decision Making, Jana E. Compton, John A. Harrison, Robin L. Dennis, Tara L. Greaver, Brian H. Hill, Stephen J. Jordan, Henry Walker, Holly V. Campbell

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Human alteration of the nitrogen (N) cycle has produced benefits for health and well-being, but excess N has altered many ecosystems and degraded air and water quality. US regulations mandate protection of the environment in terms that directly connect to ecosystem services. Here, we review the science quantifying effects of N on key ecosystem services, and compare the costs of N-related impacts or mitigation using the metric of cost per unit of N. Damage costs to the provision of clean air, reflected by impaired human respiratory health, are well characterized and fairly high (e.g. costs of ozone and particulate damages …

Maternal Influences On Epigenetic Programming Of The Developing Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis, Curtis E. Grace, Sung-Je Kim, John M. Rogers

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Parental and environmental factors during the prenatal and postnatal periods permanently affect the physiology and metabolism of offspring, potentially increasing disease risk later in life. Underlying mechanisms are being elucidated, and effects on a number of organs and metabolic pathways are likely involved. In this review, we consider effects on the developing hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which may represent a common pathway for developmental programming. The focus is on prenatal and early postnatal development, during which the HPA axis may be programmed in a manner that affects health for a lifetime. Programming of the HPA axis involves, at least in part, …

Current And Future Needs For Developmental Toxicity Testing, Susan L. Makris, James H. Kim, Amy Ellis, Willem Faber, Wafa Harrouk, Joseph M. Lewis, Merle G. Paule, Jennifer Seed, Melissa Tassinari, Rochelle Tyl

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

A review is presented of the use of developmental toxicity testing in the United States and international regulatory assessment of human health risks associated with exposures to pharmaceuticals (human and veterinary), chemicals (agricultural, industrial, and environmental), food additives, cosmetics, and consumer products. Developmental toxicology data are used for prioritization and screening of pharmaceuticals and chemicals, for evaluating and labeling of pharmaceuticals, and for characterizing hazards and risk of exposures to industrial and environmental chemicals. The in vivo study designs utilized in hazard characterization and dose-response assessment for developmental outcomes have not changed substantially over the past 30 years and have …

Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Activation During Pregnancy, And In Adult Nulliparous Mice, Delays The Subsequent Development Of Dmba-Induced Mammary Tumors, Tao Wang, Heather M. Gavin, Volker M. Arlt, B. Paige Lawrence, Suzanne E. Fenton, Daniel Medina, Beth A. Vorderstrasse

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), the prototypic ligand for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), promotes tumor formation in some model systems. However, with regard to breast cancer, epidemiological and animal studies are inconclusive as to whether exposure increases tumor incidence or may instead be protective. We have previously reported that mice exposed to TCDD during pregnancy have impaired differentiation of mammary tissue, including decreased branching and poor development of lobuloalveolar structures. Because normal pregnancy-induced mammary differentiation may protect against subsequent neoplastic transformation, we hypothesized that TCDD-treated mice would be more susceptible to chemical carcinogenesis after parturition. To test this, mice were …

Integrating Mechanistic And Polymorphism Data To Characterize Human Genetic Susceptibility For Environmental Chemical Risk Assessment In The 21st Century, Holly M. Mortensen, Susan Y. Euling

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Response to environmental chemicals can vary widely among individuals and between population groups. In human health risk assessment, data on susceptibility can be utilized by deriving risk levels based on a study of a susceptible population and/or an uncertainty factor may be applied to account for the lack of information about susceptibility. Defining genetic susceptibility in response to environmental chemicals across human populations is an area of interest in the NAS' new paradigm of toxicity pathway-based risk assessment. Data from highthroughput/ high content (HT/HC), including -omics (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) technologies, have been integral to the identification and characterization …

Dramatic Shifts In Hawaiian Monk Seal Distribution Predicted From Divergent Regional Trends, Jason D. Baker, Albert L. Harting, Tracy A. Wurth, Thea C. Johanos

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Total estimated abundance of Hawaiian monk seals was just 1,161 individuals in 2008 and this number is decreasing. Most monk seals reside in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) where the decline is approximately 4%/yr, whereas relatively fewer seals currently occupy the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI). It is widely accepted that the MHI population is increasing, although there are no formal estimates of total abundance, population growth rate or vital rates. This lack of information has hampered efforts to anticipate future scenarios and plan conservation measures. We present the first estimates of MHI monk seal survival and age-specific reproductive rates. …

Comparative Metabolic Rates Of Common Western North Atlantic Ocean Sciaenid Fishes, A. Z. Horodysky, R. W. Brill, P. G. Bushnell, J. A. Musick, R. J. Latour

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The resting metabolic rates (RR) of western North Atlantic Ocean sciaenids, such as Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus, spot Leiostomus xanthurus and kingfishes Menticirrhus spp., as well as the active metabolic rates (R_A) of M. undulatus and L. xanthurus were investigated to facilitate inter and intraspecific comparisons of their energetic ecology. The R_R of M. undulatus and L. xanthurus were typical for fishes with similar lifestyles. The R_R of Menticirrhus spp. were elevated relative to those of M. undulatus and L. xanthurus, but below those of high-energy-demand species such as tunas Thunnus spp. …

Lipid Class Dynamics And Storage Depots In Juvenile Weakfish Cynoscion Regalis And Their Application To Condition Assessment, S. Y. Litvin, V. G. Guida, M. P. Weinstein

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Lipid class dynamics, the pattern of change in the primary form and location of lipid stores and their relationship with standard length (L_S), were investigated in collections of young-of-the-year weakfish Cynoscion regalis for the purpose of determining the utility of this analysis as an indication of condition. The separation of total lipids into individual classes and the analysis of potential storage depots revealed the general patterns of lipid class dynamics and energy storage in C. regalis during their period of juvenile estuarine residency. Phospholipid and cholesterol exhibited moderate but variable (8·1–40·0 and 1·3–21·5 mg g⁻¹, respectively) …

Ontogenetic Dietary Information Of The California Sea Lion (Zalophus Californianus) Assessed Using Stable Isotope Analysis, Anthony J. Orr, Seth D. Newsome, Jeffrey L. Laake, Glenn R. Vanblaricom, Robert L. Delong

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

We used stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotopes to examine ontogenetic dietary changes in 289 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) at San Miguel Island, California during 2004–2007. Tissues analyzed included fur, red blood cells, plasma, and serum. For all tissues, pups had higher δ¹⁵N values and lower δ¹³C values compared to adults, which indicated that pups were feeding higher trophically than older conspecifics and on a lipid-rich milk diet prior to weaning. Yearling δ¹⁵N values were slightly lower than pup or nearly indistinguishable from adult values depending …