Digital Commons Network^™

Eli Lilly: A Managerial Strategic Audit, Colby Marsden, Ethan Domsch, Whitney Schwisow, Ryan Marlatt, Luke Buettner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This strategic audit assesses both internal and external landscapes affecting Eli Lilly; financial, qualitative, and competitive performance; strategy and governance; and recent strategic decisions. All information has been gathered from news reports, industry analyst reports, and Lilly’s investor reports, financial statements, and notes to investors. The purpose of this strategic audit is to showcase Lilly’s success in the brand name pharmaceutical industry based on the strategic decisions made in its 147 year history.

Identity-Driven Targeted Violence: Attending To Identity, Emotion, And Personality-Related Predictors Of Attitudinal And Behavioral Prejudice, Patrick Timothy Mcgonigal

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Identity-driven targeted violence driven by gender identity, sexuality, race, and religion overwhelmingly impacts marginalized groups of individuals. Existing evidence suggests that acts of bias on college campuses are often unreported by students, leaving those who engage in these behaviors to continue without proper redress. A great wealth of data illustrates the deleterious impacts of identity-driven behavior on student victims, including heightened psychological distress, poorer academic performance, and lower retention. In contrast, limited research has examined relevant underpinnings of perpetrating identity-driven harassment. The current dissertation developed and disseminated a large survey to undergraduate students spanning three years of data collection. The …

Second Order Effects In Concrete Insulated Wall Panels, Salam A. Al-Rubaye

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Insulated concrete panels (CIPs) have been used for over 60 years for their both structural and thermal resistance. The flexural behavior of CIPs has been investigated in recent years. The CIPs are rapidly becoming ubiquitous in the precast industry, and the tilt-up industry is initiating a study to determine their effectiveness as a tilt-up product. There are several known challenges associated with a tilt-up version of a partially composite wall and likely other unknown challenges. This study was initiated to investigate the behavior of load-bearing concrete insulated wall panels for use in tilt-up construction. The primary objective was to understand …

Perceptions Of College Campus Climate Among Queer Female Sexual Assault Survivors, Elyxcus J. Anaya

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

One-fifth of women in the United States report at least one lifetime experience of rape (Black et al., 2011; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014; Smith et al., 2018). Sexual assault (SA)is a common experience among cisgender women college students, with 20% reporting experiencing a rape during their time in college (Cullen et al., 2000). Universities generally have resources designed to help survivors of SA, though research suggests many of these resources are underutilized by survivors. The current study was guided by social constructivism and used a transcendental phenomenology approach to explore six queer, female participants’ decision-making processes about …

What's Next: How And Why States Strengthen Treaties Through Deepening Commitments, Joseph Maestas

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

States take many post-ratification actions with most designed to weaken the application of the treaty against the state. However, nearly all treaties offer ways for states to strengthen it: deepening commitments. Deepening commitments are optional post-ratification actions that allow a state to strengthen and shape implementation of the treaty. This dissertation examines deepening commitments through analysis the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute), and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

In Chapter 2, through a typology and process tracing cases, I argue that states influence international law …

How College Graduates Decide To Remain In A Rural Community Post-Graduation, Benjamin J. Lamb

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Rural Brain Drain is a critical issue facing hundreds of non-metropolitan communities across the country. Existing research that addresses the outmigration of college graduates from rural areas primarily focuses on the reasons the graduates leave, and not on what influences the decision making of those who stay. This study adds to existing retention research by; establishing an initial understanding of the influential experiences rural college students have that contribute to their decision to stay in the rural community post-graduation, and providing an emergent theory for practice to help coalitions better assess and strategize efforts to create improved pathways to rural …

Measuring Jury Perception Of Explainable Machine Learning And Demonstrative Evidence, Rachel Edie Sparks Rogers

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Subjective pattern comparison has been subject to increased scrutiny by the courts and by the general public, resulting in an increased interest in pattern comparison algorithms that provide quantitative assessments of similarity for use by forensic scientists. While these algorithms would mark an improvement over current subjective comparison methods, individuals without a statistical background may struggle with the statistical concepts and language necessary for describing algorithmic methods. If algorithms are to be used, examiners must be able to testify about their use in a way that is accessible to the jury. In a series of studies, we conduct an assessment …

Unlocking The Door To Access And Success: The Keys Program, Timothy Paul Barshinger

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The Keystone Education Yields Success (KEYS) program is a welfare-to-work program in Pennsylvania meant to promote financial independence through education. Across the community colleges in the state of Pennsylvania, the KEYS program has often allowed financially disadvantaged students to succeed on par with—and often surpass—their non-KEYS classmates, defying metrics that typically suggest that low-income students will struggle to succeed. The purpose of this study was to understand how and why the KEYS program at a single community college in Pennsylvania was able to foster that level of success. The study was conducted as an instrumental case study of one KEYS …

Do Bisexuals Thrive In The Corridor? Liminal Identity, Communication, And Well-Being, Katie Kassler

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

In this dissertation I aim to test direct and moderating associations between bisexual liminal identity, social identity complexity, micro-aggressions and micro-affirmations, and well-being. In Chapter One, I offer my theoretical definition of and position bisexuality as a liminal identity. Next in this chapter, I (a) hypothesize a direct association between bisexual liminal identity and well-being, (b) posit competing hypotheses related to social identity complexity as a positive cognitive appraisal moderator (i.e., social cure perspective) and negative cognitive appraisal moderator (i.e., uncertainty identity perspective) of the main effect, and finally (c) posit hypotheses related to individual- and group-aimed micro-aggressions and micro-affirmations …

Exploration Of The Mental Health Impacts Of Drought On Rural Nebraskans Via Remembered Perceptions, Grace Schleining

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Drought is a sociological phenomenon. It is a well-known occurrence across the midwestern United States; the drying out of the soil, the failing of crops, and the constant dryness and heat… this is all drought. Inspired by my earliest memory of this climate phenomenon I sought to determine whether we can identify evidence of negative mental health impacts and/or well-being in rural Nebraskans due to drought, thus my research question: Can we identify negative effects of drought on rural Nebraskan mental health and/or wellbeing? In this study, rural Nebraska community members, who are involved with the agricultural sector, were interviewed. …

Amethod To Estimate Climate Drivers Ofmaize Yield Predictability Leveraging Genetic-By-Environment Interactions In The Us And Canada, Parisa Sarzaeim, Francisco Munoz-Arriola

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Throughout history, the pursuit of diagnosing and predicting crop yields has evidenced genetics, environment, and management practices intertwined in achieving food security. However, the sensitivity of crop phenotypes and genetic responses to climate still hampers the identification of the underlying abilities of plants to adapt to climate change. We hypothesize that the PiAnosi and WagNer (PAWN) global sensitivity analysis (GSA) coupled with a genetic by environment (GxE) model built of environmental covariance and genetic markers structures, can evidence the contributions of climate on the predictability of maize yields in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada. The GSA-GxE framework estimates the relative …

Long-Term Soil Change In The Us Great Plains: An Evaluation Of The Haas Soil Archive, Mark A. Liebig, Francisco J. Calderon, Andrea K. Clemensen, Lisa Durso, Jessica L. Duttenhefner, Jed O. Eberly, Jonathan J. Halvorson, Virginia L. Jin, Kyle Mankin, Andrew J. Margenot, Catherine E. Stewart, Scott Van Pelt, Merle F. Vigil

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Diverse patterns of climate and edaphic factors challenge detection of soil property change in the US Great Plains. Because detectable soil change can take decades, insights into the trajectory of soil properties frequently require long-term site monitoring and, where available, associated soil archives to enable comparisons with initial or baseline states. Unfortunately, few multi-decadal soil change investigations have been conducted in this region. Here, we document effects of dryland cropping on a suite of soil properties by comparing matched historic (1947) and contemporary (2018) soil samples from the Haas Soil Archive at three sites in the US Great Plains: Moccasin, …

Undergraduate Biology Lecture Courses Predominantly Test Facts About Science Rather Than Scientific Practices, Crystal Uminski, Sara M. Burbach, Brian A. Couch

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Scientific practices are the skills used to develop scientific knowledge and are essential for careers in science. Despite calls from education and government agencies to cultivate scientific practices, there remains little evidence of how often students are asked to apply them in undergraduate courses. We analyzed exams from biology courses at 100 institutions across the United States and found that only 7% of exam questions addressed a scientific practice and that 32% of biology exams did not test any scientific practices. The low occurrence of scientific practices on exams signals that undergraduate courses may not be integrating foundational scientific skills …

Corn Rootworm: Biology, Ecology, Behavior, And Integrated Management, Lance J. Meinke, Joseph L. Spencer

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Species of the beetle genus Diabrotica (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are native to North and South America, with their greatest diversity occurring in neotropical areas [1]. Little is known about the biology and ecology of many of the 400 described species, with current knowledge primarily limited to the small number of species that are pests in agricultural systems [1,2]. This Special Issue focuses primarily on key economically important pest species, i.e., D. virgifera virgifera LeConte, D. speciosa (Germar), D. balteata (LeConte), and D. viridula (F.).

Phylogenomics Of Tetraopes Longhorn Beetles Unravels Their Evolutionary History And Biogeographic Origins, Nayeli Gutiérrez‑Trejo, Matthew H. Van Dam, Athena W. Lam, Gonzalo Martínez‑Herrera, Felipe A. Noguera, Thomas J. Weissling, Jessica L. Ware, Víctor H. Toledo‑Hernández, Frederick W. Skillman Jr., Brian D. Farrell, Oscar Pérez‑Flores, Lorenzo Prendini, James M. Carpenter

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Tetraopes longhorn beetles are known for their resistance to milkweed plant toxins and their coevolutionary dynamics with milkweed plants (Asclepias). This association is considered a textbook example of coevolution, in which each species of Tetraopes is specialized to feed on one or a few species of Asclepias. A major challenge to investigating coevolutionary hypotheses and conducting molecular ecology studies lies in the limited understanding of the evolutionary history and biogeographical patterns of Tetraopes. By integrating genomic, morphological, paleontological, and geographical data, we present a robust phylogeny of Tetraopes and their relatives, using three inference methods with …

Nebraska Women In Agriculture Conference Marks 39 Years, Ryan Evans, Sarah Treffer, Jessica Groskopf

Cornhusker Economics

The Nebraska Women in Agriculture program marked 39 years of educating and empowering females in farming, ranching, and agribusiness, with nearly 380 people attending its annual conference on February 22 and 23, 2024 in Kearney, Nebraska, with a pre-conference session held on February 21. Including 25 workshops, 5 keynotes, and activities to help learn about risk management, farm and ranch improvement, and successful business practices.

Genetic Impact Of External Targhee Sires At The U.S. Sheep Experiment Station: A Case Study Of Introgression, Carrie S. Wilson, J. Bret Taylor, Ronald M. Lewis, David R. Notter

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Sheep breeders requested that the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station (USSES) to participate in national genetic evaluation through the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP). The reasons included the need for (1) a comparison of the productivity of industry and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) lines, (2) transparency of USDA flocks, (3) genetic ties for NSIP by sampling of industry flocks, and (4) development of premium genetic lines for public release. In response, USSES began to incorporate external sires from NSIP participating flocks into the USSES Targhee flock. Our objective, based on a pedigree analysis, was to test if introgression of …

Implications And Recommendations For U.S. Security Alliances: South Korea's Anticipated Nuclear Proliferation, Ethan Czapla

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In 2023, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol suggested South Korea should consider pursuing a sovereign nuclear weapon arsenal, a striking departure from the history of South Korea’s non-proliferation posture. The pursuit of a nuclear capability or redeployment of nuclear weapons has gained traction among the South Korean public, as over 70% supported acquiring a sovereign nuclear capability in 2021. In this paper, I argue nuclear proliferation in South Korea would (1) destabilize regional security, (2) diminish U.S. security alliances, and (3) undermine the international rules-based order regarding non-proliferation and offer policy recommendations for U.S. defense practitioners in order to boost …

From Affordable To Equitable: An Analysis Of Affordable Housing As A Solution In A National Shortage, Machelle Cooper

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Amid a national shortage of housing, the United States needs housing solutions that both remedy infrastructural concerns imposed by outdated standards of urban development and address a widespread lack of equity across several urban areas. Conventional approaches to public housing have proven ineffective in promoting equitable change within underdeveloped contexts. These areas desire innovative, intentional interventions that adequately address all aspects of their social, economic, and environmental needs that existing patterns of development have neglected for decades. Public and state sentiments regarding areas of concentrated poverty and segregation in urban space must change for a future of equitable housing to …

News Deserts And Voter Turnout: How Local News Shortages Decrease Voter Participation, Lauren Penington

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

How does local news impact a county’s registered voter population, associated voting patterns, and political participation? Electoral turnout is one of the most studied topics in political science, and substantial research exists into demographic factors — including race, age, and socioeconomic status — that influence an individual’s likelihood to vote. Recent studies have begun to examine the impact of societal factors — such as the internet, social media, and news — on an individual’s ability to and likelihood of fulfilling their civic obligation. This paper explores the relationship between expanding news deserts and decreasing voter turnout, proposing that as a …

Adolescent Algorithm Addiction, Canyon Skare

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

There’s no question that online Social Networking Sites have contributed to the sharp decline in mental health among adolescents. This thesis explores a number of Addictive Online Behaviors that have contributed to negative mental health outcomes, namely examining at total screentime, level of engagement, and total number of accounts one has in relation to phone addiction and social media addiction. It was found that total screentime and total number of accounts were more strongly correlated with social media addiction than phone addiction. Additionally, differences in app usage among gender was explored, finding that boys favored YouTube and Discord while Girls …

From Shield To Sword: Straying From The Original Meaning Of The Establishment Clause, Tavia Bruxellas Mcalister

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

Clause jurisprudence has strayed far from its original roots, leaving a string of nonsensical decisions, on every topic, in its wake. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District can serve as the North Star, guiding courts back to a consistent standard of history and tradition, but it alone will not be sufficient. Courts should return to the original force and funds view of the framers by making actual legal coercion the cornerstone of Establishment Clause standards. This clear-cut standard would save the courts from subjectivity and help heal the fractured precedent, leaving room for reasonable and consistent application. If the Court returned …

Juvenile Delinquency As A Contemporary Issue In Nigeria: Understanding The Impacts Of Parenting Styles, Single Parenting, And Marital Discord, Sunkanmi Folorunsho, Oluwakemi Abdulrazaq, Victor Ajayi

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

When addressing juvenile delinquencies in Nigeria, it is important to consider the roles and effects of parenting styles and family structures. Although, there are no universally accepted parenting styles, evidence and studies have pointed to some parenting styles that expose children to delinquent behaviors. We examined different parenting styles comprehensively in this article and how these styles can influence juvenile delinquencies. We also discussed the association between single-parenting and behavioral outcomes; accounting how single-parenting may increase risks of delinquencies. Furthermore, marital discord was discussed and social learning theory by Albert Bandura was adopted to buttress our positions. We concluded that …

Where East Meets West: Phylogeography Of The High Arctic North American Brant Goose, Robert E. Wilson, W. Sean Boyd, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, David H. Ward, Preben Clausen, Kathryn M. Dickson, Barwolt S. Ebbinge, Gudmundur A. Gudmundsson, George K. Sage, Jolene R. Rearick, Dirk V. Derksen, Sandra L. Talbot

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Genetic variation in Arctic species is often influenced by vicariance during the Pleistocene, as ice sheets fragmented the landscape and displaced populations to low-and high-latitude refugia. The formation of secondary contact or suture zones during periods of ice sheet retraction has important consequences on genetic diversity by facilitating genetic connectivity between formerly isolated populations. Brant geese (Branta bernicla) are a maritime migratory waterfowl (Anseriformes) species that almost exclusively uses coastal habitats. Within North America, brant geese are characterized by two phenotypically distinct subspecies that utilize disjunct breeding and wintering areas in the northern Pacific and Atlantic. In the …

“A Robust And Simple Catheter Connector Assembly For Long-Term Self-Administration Experiments ”, Mauricio Suarez, Sergios Charntikov, Y. Wendy Huynh, Scott T. Barrett, Rick A. Bevins, Ken T. Wakabayashi

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Intravenous self-administration in rats is used widely to study the reinforcing effects of drugs and serves as the gold standard for assessing their use and misuse potential. One challenge that researchers often encounter when scaling up experiments is balancing the cost, time investment to construct, and robustness of each implanted catheter. These catheters include multiple components such as surgical meshing and a variety of entry ports designed to facilitate the connection of the rat to a catheter port tethering system. Other considerations include maintaining the catheters free of blockage during the extent of the drug self-administration experiment. These large-scale studies …

Icolc Statement On Ai In Licensing, International Coalition Of Library Consortia

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) statement on artifical intelligence in licensing.

Aphid-Ant Relationships: The Role Of Cuticular Hydrocarbons And Different Chemical Stimuli In Triggeringmutualistic Behavior, Amged El-Harairy, Ahmed El-Harairy, Alaa Mahfouz

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

In ant-aphid interactions, various aphid species offer honeydew to the ant partner and increase their density by ant attendance, whilst others never attend ant species, in which case ants tend to treat them as prey. In this regard, ants should have the ability to distinguish myrmecophile aphid species from non-mutualistic species, so that mutualistic aphids will be accepted as partners rather than prey. Although ant-aphid interactions are now the focus of chemical ecology studies, the role of the different chemical stimuli in determining mutualistic interactions has not been completely clarified. Therefore, we have investigated the cuticular hydrocarbon profile of four …

Considerations For The Use Of Porcine Organ Donation Models In Preclinical Organ Donor Intervention Research, Frazer I. Heinis, Shaheed Merani, Nicholas W. Markin, Kim F. Duncan, Michael J. Moulton, Lance Fristoe, William E. Thorell, Raechel A. Sherrick, Tami R. Wells, Matthew T. Andrews, Marian Urban

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Use of animal models in preclinical transplant research is essential to the optimization of human allografts for clinical transplantation. Animal models of organ donation and preservation help to advance and improve technical elements of solid organ recovery and facilitate research of ischemia–reperfusion injury, organ preservation strategies, and future donor-based interventions. Important considerations include cost, public opinion regarding the conduct of animal research, translational value, and relevance of the animal model for clinical practice. We present an overview of two porcine models of organ donation: donation following brain death (DBD) and donation following circulatory death (DCD). The cardiovascular anatomy and physiology …

Potential Metabolite Biomarkers Of Multiple Sclerosis From Multiple Biofluids, Fatema Bhinderwala, Heidi E. Roth, Mary Filipi, Samantha Jack, Robert Powers

Robert Powers Publications

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and progressive neurological disorder without a cure, but early intervention can slow disease progression and improve the quality of life for MS patients. Obtaining an accurate diagnosis for MS is an arduous and error-prone task that requires a combination of a detailed medical history, a comprehensive neurological exam, clinical tests such as magnetic resonance imaging, and the exclusion of other possible diseases. A simple and definitive biofluid test for MS does not exist but is highly desirable. To address this need, we have employed NMR-based metabolomics to identify potentially unique metabolite biomarkers of MS …

Distribution Fitting And Anova Test To Analyze Pavement Sensing Patterns For Condition Assessments, Dada Zhang, Chun-Hsing Ho

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the vehicle-based sensor effect and pavement temperature on road condition assessment, as well as to compute a threshold value for the classification of pavement conditions.

Design/methodology/approach – Four sensors were placed on the vehicle’s control arms and one inside the vehicle to collect vibration acceleration data for analysis. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests were performed to diagnose the effect of the vehicle-based sensors’ placement in the field. To classify road conditions and identify pavement distress (point of interest), the probability distribution was applied based on the magnitude values of …