Digital Commons Network^™

Modeling And Visualization Of Competing Escalation Dynamics: A Multilayer Multiagent Network Approach, Josh Allen

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recent advances in military technology, such as hypersonic missiles, which can travel at more than five times the speed of sound and descend quickly into the atmosphere, give world nuclear superpowers a new edge. These advances up the game for nuclear superpowers with an extremely rapid, intense burst of military striking capability to secure upfront gains before encountering potentially overwhelming military confrontation. However, this so-called fait accompli has not been systematically studied by the United States in the perspective of the escalation philosophies of nuclear power competitors, or the mathematical modeling and visualization of multi-modal escalation dynamics. This gap may …

Summer Bridge Programs In National And Local Context, Osvaldo Palma Vargas

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Research suggests that summer bridge programs (SBPs) meet their intended goal, which is to improve first-generation students’ academic outcomes as defined by first-year retention and GPA. However, we know little about whether, and if so, how SBPs optimize the implementation of known best practices and how they are perceived by participating students. This thesis compares evidence regarding key practices of SBPs at a selection of Land Grant institutions, to identify commonalities and differences. In addition, this thesis compares the key practices of these peer institutions with a local SBP in place at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, known as the Nebraska …

Creative Play Pedagogy, Leah M. Hedrick

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis serves as a primer text for creative play pedagogy, a new approach to teaching arts subjects. In accordance with the author’s teaching experience, this text is primarily concerned with the application of new pedagogical shifts to center creative play in the community college creative writing classroom.

Part One lays out a definition and rationale for creative play as a concept for teachers. The research outlined in this section illustrates how engagement with the arts benefits students’ mental-emotional and social well-being. Following this research, the author investigates barriers to creative play that exist in traditional pedadogies as well as …

Defining And Transferring Digital Literacies: What Does This Mean For High School And College Educators?, Jocelyn Spoor

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis aims to create a digital literacies transfer framework through a discussion regarding current conversations on transfer and digital literacies in the English field, including synthesizing the two ideas to think about the transfer of digital literacies as a concept. This digital literacies framework is made up of five components: the functional skills, critical skills, and rhetorical skills found in digital literacies scholarship and the genre awareness and meta-cognitive ideas found in transfer literature. This digital literacies transfer framework is then used to analyze information gleaned from four college and five high school English educators. The key findings from …

Unemployment And Opioid-Related Mortality Rates In U.S. Counties: Investigating Social Capital And Social Isolation–Smoking Pathways, Tse-Chuan Yang, Seulki Kim, Stephen A. Matthews

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We examine two mechanisms—social capital and sociobehavior—potentially linking unemployment rates to opioid-related mortality and investigate whether the mechanisms differ geographically by the pace of the opioid crisis. Applying path analysis techniques to 2015–2017 opioid-related mortality in U.S. counties (N = 2,648), we find that (1) high unemployment rates are not directly associated with opioid-related mortality rates; (2) high unemployment rates are negatively associated with social capital, and low social capital contributes to high opioid-related mortality; (3) high unemployment rates increase social isolation and the prevalence of smoking, which is positively related to opioid-related mortality; and (4) the pathways are stronger …

Ethnic Heritage Of The Families From East Friesland (Northwest Germany) Who Migrated To The American Midwest, Derek M. Heeren

Genealogy Resources

America is a melting pot with people from all over the world. Learning the ethnic heritage of a people group helps us to appreciate how that group contributed to the lives we enjoy today. East Friesland (German: Ostfriesland; Low German: Oostfreesland) is a small geographic area, approximately 40 miles in length, in northwest Germany. In the nineteenth century, many families migrated from East Friesland to the Midwest region of the United States. This paper was written primarily for those studying family history who have ancestors from East Friesland. When going through genealogical records, it can be confusing to make sense …

Things To Consider Before Co-Signing A Loan, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

In the context of family farms, includes some general points to consider before you sign a loan guarantee for a family member who is heavily in debt.

Conclusion: Having to consider whether to co-sign a child's loan is a very difficult situation-no one wants to be part of losing part of the family farm or ranch to loan foreclosure. But if the loan guarantee isn't part of a financial turnaround plan that has at least a fighting chance of success, don't sign the guarantee unless you absolutely don't need the money for your own retirement.

Examining Whether And How Instructional Coordination Occurs Within Introductory Undergraduate Stem Courses, Brian A. Couch, Luanna B. Prevost, Marilyne Stains, Blake Whitt, Ariel E. Marcy, Naneh Apkarian, Melissa H. Dancy, Charles Henderson, Estrella Johnson, Jeffrey R. Raker, Brandon J. Yik, Brittnee Earl, Susan E. Shadle, John Skvoretz, John P. Ziker

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Instructors’ interactions can foster knowledge sharing around teaching and the use of research-based instructional strategies (RBIS). Coordinated teaching presents an impetus for instructors’ interactions and creates opportunities for instructional improvement but also potentially limits an instructor’s autonomy. In this study, we sought to characterize the extent of coordination present in introductory undergraduate courses and to understand how departments and instructors implement and experience course coordination. We examined survey data from 3,641 chemistry, mathematics, and physics instructors at three institution types and conducted follow-up interviews with a subset of 24 survey respondents to determine what types of coordination existed, what factors …

Perspectives On Certification Of Community Health Workers: A Statewide Mixed-Methods Assessment In Nebraska, Jessica Ernmph1, Virginia Chaidez, Kate E. Trout, Kathy Karsting, Dejun Su

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Objectives: While the Community Health Worker (CHW) workforce in the United States has been growing, so far only 19 states certify CHWs. This study sought to identify perspectives on CHW certification among stakeholders in Nebraska, a state that has not established official certification for CHWs yet.

Design: A concurrent triangulation mixed methods design.

Sample: Study data came from a survey of 142CHWs in Nebraska and interviews with 8 key informants employing CHWs conducted in 2019.

Methods: Logistic regression was used to identify significant factors associated with favoring CHW certification, supplemented by thematic analysis of qualitative data …

Healthcare Service Use, Help-Seeking Behaviors, And Health And Wellbeing In Attenuated Psychosis, Jasmine Ranjbari-Sisan, William D. Spaulding, Tierney K. Lorenz

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Persons with serious mental illness (SMI) receive poorer-than-standard healthcare, contributing to a 20-year reduction in the average life expectancy of persons with SMI. While extant literature describes the health disparities experienced by persons with SMI, little research examines the relationship between attenuated psychotic symptoms, healthcare service use, and help-seeking behaviors that may contribute to the disparities in this vulnerable population. This study explores the relationships between attenuated psychotic symptoms, physical health symptoms and related distress, healthcare service use, and help-seeking intentions to better understand health disparities in vulnerable and marginalized populations, such as individuals with SMI. Only a portion of …

Solar Feasibility At The Northeast Wastewater Treatment Facility, Kate Allen, Liam Baker, Madilyn Jaskae

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, spring 2023

A poster titled Solar Feasibility at the Northeast Wastewater Treatment Facility for client City of Lincoln, Nebraska, Transportation and Utilities.

The Future Of Recycling Pickup, Ciara Nelson, Olivia Prawoto, Noelle Phillipi, Michelle Zenk

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, fall 2023

A poster titled The Future of Recycling Pickup for client South Sioux City, Nebraska (Oscar Gomez).

Norfolk Solar Installation: Water Processing Facilities, Jackson Ness, Evvie Yendra, Zoe Zingler

Environmental Engagement in the Community (ENVR 319): Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, spring 2023

A poster titled Norfolk Solar Installation: Water Processing Facilities for client City of Norfolk, Nebraska.

Blanket Statements, Issue 158, Spring 2023

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 158, Spring 2023

Infusion Rather Than Isolation: Integrating Principles Of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Decolonization, And Indigenization In Toolkits For Remote Instruction During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Robin Attas, Lauren Anstey, Lindsey Brant, Karalyn Mcrae

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In the spring of 2020, our Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) developed the Transforming Teaching and Teaching Assistant Toolkits, consisting of in-house and curated open-access resources on various aspects of remote teaching, along with accompanying webinars. We deliberately infused principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and decolonization and Indigenization across all aspects of the resources for several reasons: our CTL’s commitment to these principles as institutional priorities that are the responsibility of all staff, numerous theorists’ advocacy to adopt inclusive pedagogies across the curriculum rather than tokenistic “add-and-stir” gestures, and a desire to counter the inequities in education …

Droughtscape, Spring 2023, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Spring 2023

“Evolving Homes, Not Revolving Doors”: Examining Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Foster Parents’ Discursive Construction And Negotiation Of Identity Layers And Identity Gaps, Lucas Hackenburg

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The United States foster care system serves more than half a million children each year (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHH], 2023). The purpose of this study was to examine how LGB foster parents discursively construct and navigate their identities in the fostering context. The researcher undertook in-depth interviews with 18 LGB people who were currently fostering or had previously fostered at least one child from the foster care system. The researcher analyzed the interview data using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis (2019).

Consistent with the Communication Theory of Identity (Hecht, 1993; 2015; Hecht & Phillips, 2022), …

Regenerative Farming Practices: How Much Carbon Do They Sequester?, Andrew M. Havens

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Along with the recent rise of voluntary carbon markets comes potential carbon credit producers seeking reliable information on how much carbon they can expect to sequester. In this thesis a distribution of expected sequestration outcomes is constructed using cost-benefit analysis and data gathered from agronomic experiments and land-grant university crop budgets for cover crops and no-till practices. The inverse cumulative distribution of carbon sequestration outcomes from adopting a regenerative agricultural practice is visualized and the net social benefit of paying farmers to produce carbon credits is estimated. Results show that on average there is between $29.02 and $37.20 of social …

Does Being Known Matter? Analyzing The Effects Of Name Recognition By Instructor And Student, Brandon Bosch

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Trying to learn the names of students is a challenging semester ritual for many professors and graduate students. In support of this endeavor, research suggests that learning students’ names promotes greater student participation and engagement (Auster and MacRone 1994; Pearson and Lucas 2011). However, both research and practical pedagogical advice has typically focused only on the importance of students believing that instructors know their names. Consequently, we know little about students feeling recognized by name by other students. To further explore this issue, this study analyzes both the predictors and outcomes of student name recognition. The results of the study …

Engagement In Water Governance Action Situations In The Lake Champlain Basin, Patrick Bitterman, Christopher Koliba

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Water quality governance encompasses multiple “wicked” interacting problems that manifest within social-ecological systems. Concerned governments, institutions, and actors concerned with addressing these issues must wrestle with complex systems that span time, space, and scale. This complexity of connected systems requires the participation of multiple actors across political boundaries, problem areas, and hydrologic domains. In Lake Champlain (US), frequent cyanobacteria blooms negatively affect property values, recreational activities, and public infrastructure, in addition to their impacts on the aquatic ecosystem. Through a survey of actors working on water quality in the Lake Champlain Basin, we analyze how actor participation in structured issue …

Early Childhood Teachers’ Emergent Literacy Data Practices, Rachel E. Schachter, Gloria Yeomans-Maldonado, Shayne B. Piasta

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

Despite a growing focus on access to and use of emergent literacy assessment in early childhood, little is known about early childhood teachers’ data practices and their associations with children’s emergent literacy skills. A questionnaire was used to confirm and elaborate findings from prior qualitative work (Schachter & Piasta, 2022) investigating U.S. teachers’ emergent literacy data practices. We focused on how teachers gathered data (data gathering), what they learned from those data (data knowledge), and how they used those data in their practice (data use) along with associations between the practices and children’s emergent literacy skills. Overall, teachers reported engaging …

Nebraska Politics And The Environment: Framing Political Communication In The State Of Nebraska In Comparison To National Level Discourse, Samuel Taylor

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Environmental public policy has seen little change on the national level in recent decades due to Congressional gridlock. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have entrenched their opposing viewpoints, and their communication on the topic utilizes issue frames to help sway the public to see their side. On the Republican side, these issue frames take the form of the “scientific uncertainty” and “economic consequences” frames. This study, based on issue framing, surveys the communication of Nebraska’s Republican State Senators to determine if they utilize the same issue frames or if they diverge from their national counterparts. By analyzing recent …

High-Risk Sexual Behavior In Nebraska Adolescents; History, Risk Factors, And Mediation, Kiya Hudson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

High-risk sexual behavior is a public health crisis that impacts adolescents at staggering rates. In Nebraska, rates of sexually transmitted infection (STI) and sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases have been on the rise over the last four years. The problem this paper addresses is the need to fill in the gaps in knowledge surrounding high-risk sexual behavior in Nebraska adolescents. It is important to address these gaps in knowledge because currently, we are failing our adolescents when it comes to providing them with all of the necessary skills, information, and tools to lead a healthy life. When we know how …

The Role Of Religious Contexts On Hate Crimes, 2003–2017, Shawn Ratcliff, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective: Combining insights from socio-criminological theories of (hate) crimes and the moral communities perspective, this article examines how the religious makeup of a county— evangelical Protestant, mainline Protestant, and Catholic adherence rates—affects county-level hate crime patterns.

Methods: Zero-inflated negative binomial regressions were conducted on a unique county-level data set that included reported hate crimes, religious adherence rates, and related correlates of hate crimes for three distinct temporal periods: 2003–2007, 2008–2012, and 2013–2017.

Results: Results demonstrate that a county’s total adherence rate, mainline Protestant rate and, to a lesser degree, Catholic adherence rate are associated with fewer hate …

With Liberty And Justice For The Wealthy: The Criminalization Of The American Poor, Ashlyn Dickmeyer

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The last phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance states “with liberty and justice for all”. However, not everyone has access to this liberty and justice. Liberty and justice can be bought in this country for a price, and those who can’t afford to pay it are often left in the hands of those who can. One of the most prominent ways to see this is by analyzing the criminal justice system. Despite clauses in the Fourteenth Amendment and court cases like Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) establishing and upholding that the poor are entitled to equal treatment within the criminal justice …

Systematic Review Of Reflection Spectroscopy-Based Skin Carotenoid Assessment In Children, Saima Hasnin, Dipti Dev, Taren Swindle, Susan B. Sisson, Stephanie Jilcott Pitts, Tirna Purkait, Shari C. Clifton, Jocelyn Dixon, Virginia C. Stage

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

Assessing children’s skin carotenoid score (SCS) using reflection spectroscopy (RS) is a non-invasive, widely used method to approximate fruit and vegetable consumption (FVC). The aims for the current review were to (1) identify distributions of SCS across demographic groups, (2) identify potential non-dietary correlates for RS-based SCS, (3) summarize the validity and reliability of RSbased SCS assessment, and (4) conduct meta-analyses of studies examining the correlation between RS-based SCS with FVC. A literature search in eight databases in June 2021 resulted in 4880 citations and peer-reviewed publications written in English that investigated children’s (2–10 years old) SCS using RS. We …

Social Science Researchers' Perceptions Of Inclusive Research Practices For Transgender And Gender Diverse Communities, Christen Seyl

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Social sciences research has historically excluded or marginalized of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people. Although TGD affirming research materials can help improve relationships with TGD communities, these sorts of materials are not standard practice. The present study aimed to determine what factors influence social science researchers’ (SSR) willingness to incorporate affirming practices into their research. We hypothesized that more culturally competent SSR will view TGD affirming research materials as more affirming and be more willing to use similar materials in their work. In this study, SSR (n = 32) viewed and rated affirmation and willingness to use five affirming …

Comparing Cover Crop Research In Farmer-Led And Researcher-Led Experiments In The Western Corn Belt, Katja Koehler-Cole, Andrea D. Basche, Laura J. Thompson, Jennifer M. Rees

Nebraska Cooperative Extension: Faculty and Staff Publications

Cover crops can mitigate soil degradation and nutrient loss and can be used to achieve continuous living cover in cropping systems, although their adoption in the Western Corn Belt of the United States remains low. It is increasingly recognized that cover crop integration into corn (Zea mays L.)-based crop rotations is complex, requiring site and operation specific management. In this review, we compared on-farm, farmer-led field scale trials to researcher-led trials carried out in small plots on University of Nebraska-Lincoln experiment stations. Although there is a range of cover crop research conducted in the state, there is no …

Assessing Functional Biodiversity For The Future Of Plants, Planet, And People, Ali Loker

Doctor of Plant Health Program: Dissertations and Student Research

Biodiversity plays a critical role in supporting life in global ecosystems and its links to ecosystem services and sustainability are recognized by scientific and non-scientific communities. Growing awareness of the importance of biodiversity is accelerated by discussions of its loss, and how to design interventions to conserve and mitigate a biodiversity crisis. Stakeholders are funding and implementing assessment strategies at various scales to help direct conservation efforts. There is also growing interest in measuring and communicating biodiversity outcomes.

Functional biodiversity characterizes the multiplicity of life forms into groups based on their diverse contributions to natural and agro-ecosystems. Assessing functional biodiversity …

The Impact Of Sexual Violence On Women's Dating Lives: Understanding Enjoyment Of Sexualization Among Sexual Violence Survivors, Jaela Hardin

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This project seeks to understand the relationship between women’s former experiences of sexual violence and their present relationship with sex. Specifically, this study seeks to identify whether women with a history of sexual violence victimization now experience enjoyment of sexualization by others – most often men - in their daily life, as well as whether these same women also engage in self-objectification. Data from a community sample of single women aged 21-30 was collected online to record women’s responses on a variety of measures related to their sex and dating life. This project also explores whether women’s responses regarding enjoyment …