Digital Commons Network^™

Profitability Of Developing Beef Heifers On Stockpiled Winter Forages, Zachary David Mcfarlane, Chris Boyer, J. Travis Mulliniks

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

We estimate the profitability of developing heifers on one stockpiled cool-season grass and two stockpiled warm-season grasses during the winter months by comparing distributions of net present value (NPV) over an 11-year useful life. Furthermore, distributions of payback period and the break-even price for each calf over the heifer’s production life were generated for each forage species. These results are compared across forages as well as to a simulated drylot system for heifer development. Data comes from a grazing experiment in Tennessee, where heifers grazed big bluestem and Indian grass combination (BBIG), switchgrass (SW), or endophyte-infected tall fescue (TF) pastures. …

Seedbank Persistence Of Palmer Amaranth (Amaranthus Palmeri) And Waterhemp (Amaranthus Tuberculatus) Across Diverse Geographical Regions In The United States, Nicholas E. Korres, Jason K. Norsworthy, Bryan G. Young, Daniel B. Reynolds, William G. Johnson, Shawn P. Conley, Reid J. Smeda, Thomas C. Mueller, Douglas J. Spaunhorst, Karla L. Gage, Mark Loux, Greg R. Kruger, Muthukumar V. Bagavathiannan

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Knowledge of the effects of burial depth and burial duration on seed viability and, consequently, seedbank persistence of Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson) and waterhemp [Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) J. D. Sauer] ecotypes can be used for the development of efficient weed management programs. This is of particular interest, given the great fecundity of both species and, consequently, their high seedbank replenishment potential. Seeds of both species collected from five different locations across the United States were investigated in seven states (sites) with different soil and climatic conditions. Seeds were placed at two depths (0 and 15cm) for …

Nebline, January 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Extension 2017 Highlights

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Horticulture

Pests & Wildlife

4-H & Youth

Early Childhood

and other extension news and events

Expression Of The Microrna-143/145 Cluster Is Decreased In Hepatitis B Virus-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma And May Serve As A Biomarker For Tumorigenesis In Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B, Qi Zhao, Xiangfei Sun, Chao Liu, Tao Li, Juan Cui, Chengyong Qin

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

The aims of the present study were to identify the expression profile of microRNA (miR)‑143/145 in hepatitis B virus (HBV)‑associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), explore its association with prognosis and investigate whether the serum miR‑143/145 expression levels may serve as a diagnostic indicator of HBV‑associated HCC. The microRNA (miRNA) chromatin immunoprecipitation dataset was obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus databases, and analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed‑rank test. It was observed that the expression of miR‑143 and miR‑145 was decreased 1.5‑fold in HBV‑associated HCC samples compared with non‑tumor tissue in the TCGA and the GSE22058 datasets …

Astrocyte Ev-Induced Lincrna-Cox2 Regulates Microglial Phagocytosis: Implications For Morphine-Mediated Neurodegeneration, Guoku Hu, Ke Liao, Fang Niu, Lu Yang, Blake W. Dallon, Shannon E. Callen, Changhai Tian, Jiang Shu, Juan Cui, Zhiqiang Sun, Yuri L. Lyubchenko, Minhan Ka, Xian-Ming Chen, Shilpa Buch

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Impairment of microglial functions, such as phagocytosis and/ or dysregulation of immune responses, has been implicated as an underlying factor involved in the pathogenesis of various neurodegenerative disorders. Our previous studies have demonstrated that long intergenic noncoding RNA (lincRNA)-Cox2 expression is influenced by nuclear factor kB (NF-kB) signaling and serves as a coactivator of transcriptional factors to regulate the expression of a vast array of immune- related genes in microglia. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been recognized as primary facilitators of cell-to-cell communication and cellular regulation. Herein, we show that EVs derived from astrocytes exposed to morphine can be taken up …

An Information-Theoretic Framework For Evaluating Edge Bundling Visualization, Jieting Wu, Feiyu Zhu, Xin Liu, Hongfeng Yu

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Edge bundling is a promising graph visualization approach to simplifying the visual result of a graph drawing. Plenty of edge bundling methods have been developed to generate diverse graph layouts. However, it is difficult to defend an edge bundling method with its resulting layout against other edge bundling methods as a clear theoretic evaluation framework is absent in the literature. In this paper, we propose an information-theoretic framework to evaluate the visual results of edge bundling techniques. We first illustrate the advantage of edge bundling visualizations for large graphs, and pinpoint the ambiguity resulting from drawing results. Second, we define …

Computational Linguistics Techniques For The Study Of Ancient Languages, Peter Z. Revesz

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This paper presents a grammatical comparison of the Minoan language with the proto-Ugric and proto- Hungarian languages. Recent research showed that these languages are closely related, but this paper presents a novel grammatical comparison. The grammatical comparison shows the Minoan language to have an agglutinative type of grammar, with a CVCV type root word structure. The Minoan language also features assimilation between the word roots and the suffixes and a possessive phrase structure that is similar to that in Hungarian.

A Comparative Analysis Of Motifs From Minoan And Hungarian Folk Art, Peter Z. Revesz

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This paper presents a similarity measure for motives. The similarity measure is applied to several ceramic and metal artifacts that contain spiral motives. The similarity measure shows a particularly strong similarity between some Minoan and Hungarian ceramics.

Anisotropy And Phonon Modes From Analysis Of The Dielectric Function Tensor And The Inverse Dielectric Function Tensor Of Monoclinic Yttrium Orthosilicate, Alyssa Mock, Rafal Korlacki, Sean Knight, Mathias Schubert

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

We determine the frequency dependence of the four independent Cartesian tensor elements of the dielectric function for monoclinic symmetry Y₂SiO₅ using generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry from 40–1200 cm⁻¹. Three different crystal cuts, each perpendicular to a principle axis, are investigated. We apply our recently described augmentation of lattice anharmonicity onto the eigendielectric displacement vector summation approach [A.Mock et al., Phys. Rev. B 95, 165202 (2017)], and we present and demonstrate the application of an eigendielectric displacement loss vector summation approach with anharmonic broadening. We obtain an excellent match between all measured and model-calculated dielectric …

Efficient One‑Step Fusion Pcr Based On Dual‑Asymmetric Primers And Two‑Step Annealing, Yilan Liu, Jinjin Chen, Anders Thygesen

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Gene splicing by fusion PCR is a versatile and widely used methodology, especially in synthetic biology. We here describe a rapid method for splicing two fragments by one-round fusion PCR with a dual-asymmetric primers and two-step annealing (ODT) method. During the process, the asymmetric intermediate fragments were generated in the early stage. Thereafter, they were hybridized in the subsequent cycles to serve as template for the target full-length product. The process parameters such as primer ratio, elongation temperature and cycle numbers were optimized. In addition, the fusion products produced with this method were successfully applied in seamless genome editing. The …

A Scalable And Efficient Bioprocess For Manufacturing Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Endothelial Cells, Haishuang Lin, Qian Du, Qiang Li, Ou Wang, Zhanqi Wang, Neety Sahu, Christian Elowsky, Kan Liu, Chi Zhang, Soonkyu Chung, Bin Duan, Yuguo Lei

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Endothelial cells (ECs) are of great value for cell therapy, tissue engineering, and drug discovery. Obtaining high-quantity and -quality ECs remains very challenging. Here, we report a method for the scalable manufacturing of ECs from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). hPSCs are expanded and differentiated into ECs in a 3D thermoreversible PNIPAAm-PEG hydrogel. The hydrogel protects cells from hydrodynamic stresses in the culture vessel and prevents cells from excessive agglomeration, leading to high-culture efficiency including high-viability (>90%), high-purity (>80%), and high-volumetric yield (2.0 x 10⁷ cells/mL). These ECs (i.e., 3D-ECs) had similar properties as ECs made using …

A Preliminary Study Of The Influence Of Breeding Area Density On Sandhill Crane Habitat Selection In South-Central Wisconsin, Sara A. Prussing, Hillary L. Thompson

Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop

We hypothesized that territorial sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) in densely populated breeding areas occupy smaller home ranges that are richer in optimal habitat than those in less densely populated breeding areas. We analyzed satellite telemetry data collected from 2012 to 2016 for 3 and 2 sandhill cranes from dense and less dense breeding areas, respectively. Tracked sandhill cranes in a dense breeding area tended to have smaller home ranges (0.37-14.25 km²) with higher concentrations of wetlands (27%) and row crops (40%) than tracked sandhill cranes in the less dense breeding area (8.80-48.81 km², 14% …

Impacts: Annual Report Fy2018 (July 1, 2017 To June 30, 2018), Robert B. Daugherty Water For Food Global Institute

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Administrative Materials

One in nine people goes to bed hungry each night, according to the U.N. World Food Program. That’s 795 million people on the planet who do not have access to enough nutritious food. The challenge is growing. Global drivers like climate change, urbanization and increasing demand for water-intensive agricultural products are altering landscapes, increasing soil erosion, and degrading water resources and soils in important food producing regions around the world. We must figure out how to feed a global population projected to reach 10 billion by 2050, with the same amount of water and arable land – and quickly. This …

Visible Light Crosslinkable Human Hair Keratin Hydrogels, Kan Yue, Yanhui Liu, Batzaya Byambaa, Vaishali Singh, Wanjun Liu, Xiuyu Li, Yunxia Sun, Yu Shrike Zhang, Ali Tamayol, Peihua Zhang, Kee Woei Ng, Nasim Annabi, Ali Khademhosseini

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Keratins extracted from human hair have emerged as a promising biomaterial for various biomedical applications, partly due to their wide availability, low cost, minimal immune response, and the potential to engineer autologous tissue constructs. However, the fabrication of keratin-based scaffolds typically relies on limited crosslinking mechanisms, such as via physical interactions or disulfide bond formation, which are time-consuming and result in relatively poor mechanical strength and stability. Here, we report the preparation of photocrosslinkable keratin-polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels via the thiol-norbornene “click” reaction, which can be formed within one minute upon irradiation of visible light. The resulting keratin-PEG hydrogels showed …

The Honor Society Of Agriculture Gamma Sigma Delta, Nebraska Chapter, History, May 25, 1918-2018

Gamma Sigma Delta, Nebraska Chapter: Bylaws and Other Documents

First paragraph:

GAMMA SIGMA DELTA is a faculty governed society that selects its members from junior and senior students, graduate students, faculty, and alumni for the promotion and recognition of high achievement. While Gamma Sigma Delta is an honor society of agriculture, it may elect members from related fields such as biology, botany, chemistry, economics, entomology, family and consumer sciences, forestry, natural resources, plant pathology, sociology, statistics, veterinary medicine, or zoology when the work of the individual is related to agriculture. Officers, committee chairpersons, and others leading the chapter are faculty or alumni.

Mesotocin Influences Pinyon Jay Prosociality, J. F. Duque, W. Leichner, H. Ahmann, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Many species exhibit prosocial behavior , in which one individual’s actions benefit another individual, often without an immediate benefit to itself. The neuropeptide oxytocin is an important hormonal mechanism influencing prosociality in mammals, but it is unclear whether the avian homologue mesotocin plays a similar functional role in birds. Here, we experimentally tested prosociality in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), a highly social corvid species that spontaneously shares food with others. First, we measured prosocial preferences in a prosocial choice task with two different pay-off distributions: Prosocial trials delivered food to both the subject and either an empty cage …

University Of Nebraska- Lincoln: Fact Book 2017-2018

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Administration: Reports, Papers, Publications, and Presentations

Table of Contents

Front Cover.................................................................................................. 1

Introduction ....................................................................................................... 2

Table of Contents ............................................................................................. 3

General Information

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Core Values (LEADERS) ................................ 6

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Mission ......................................................... 7

The Missions of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln .......................................... 7

Teaching.................................................................................................... 8

Research.......................................................................................................... 8

Service ............................................................................................................. 9

Institutional and Professional Accreditations.........................................................10

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Administrative Organization Chart ..................14

Student Credit Hours (SCH)

Total SCH: Fall Semester Since 1979 ............................................................15

Total SCH: Spring Semester Since 1993 ......................................................16

SCH by College and Course Level, Fall and Spring Semester, 5 Year Trend .......17

SCH by College and Course Level, Fall Semester, 5 Year Trend …

The Future Of Textiles: Disruption And Collaboration, Susan Brown, Matilda Mcquaid, David Breslauer, Suzanne Lee, Anais Missakian, Abby-George Erikson, Salem Van Der Swaagh

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The textile field, while not “local” in the geographic sense, is a community: a group of people with a shared language, history, and practices that date back thousands of years. As deeply-rooted as those materials and practices are, textiles is also an area that has historically experienced enormous disruptions due to changing technology and globalization. In the 21^st century, we are undergoing something like a second Industrial Revolution. Advances in digital and robotic technologies and shifting labor markets are driving a revolution in where and how things are made. Global climate change, lack of food security for much of …

Methylation-Based Enrichment Facilitates Low-Cost, Noninvasive Genomic Scale Sequencing Of Populations From Feces, Kenneth L. Chiou, Christina M. Bergey

United States Public Health Resources

Obtaining high-quality samples from wild animals is a major obstacle for genomic studies of many taxa, particularly at the population level, as collection methods for such samples are typically invasive. DNA from feces is easy to obtain noninvasively, but is dominated by bacterial and other non-host DNA. The high proportion of non-host DNA drastically reduces the efficiency of high-throughput sequencing for host animal genomics. To address this issue, we developed an inexpensive capture method for enriching host DNA from noninvasive fecal samples. Our method exploits natural differences in CpG-methylation density between vertebrate and bacterial genomes to preferentially bind and isolate …

Therapeutic And Immunological Interventions In Primary Biliary Cholangitis: From Mouse Models To Humans, Atsushi Tanaka, Patrick S.C. Leung, Howard A. Young, M. Eric Gershwin

United States Public Health Resources

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a chronic cholestatic liver disease that predominantly affects women in their fifth and sixth decades. The diagnostic hallmarks of PBC are detection of anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMAs) and chronic non-suppurative destructive cholangitis (CNSDC) of small- and medium-sized intrahepatic bile ducts in liver histological examination [1, 2]. A significant amount of data suggests that immunological activity against small biliary epithelial cells (BECs), found histologically as portal inflammation, leads to clinical disease. In PBC, as with other autoimmune diseases, both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the development of pathology [3–8]. The first-line therapy of PBC is ursodeoxycholic …

Copd National Action Plan

United States Natonal Institutes of Health: Materials

The COPD National Action Plan is the first-ever blueprint for a multi-faceted, unified fight against the disease. Developed at the request of Congress.

Tinctorial Cartographies: Plant, Dye & Place, Anna Heywood-Jones

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

We live in a plant-dominated biosphere, and yet the relevance and meaning of vegetal life, beyond its contribution to human existence, is rarely considered. This way of thinking has led us to see nature as external to ourselves, as “other,” as that mysterious realm beyond the human sphere of being. As in visual culture, plant life possesses signifiers and coded meanings in its contextual configurations. Botanical literacy offers insight into environmental, sociocultural, and historical narratives of place, as the forests and herbaceous margins of our communities speak of complex past, a parallel history of survival and adaptation. Plants and textiles, …

Radical Access: Textiles And Museums, Michele Hardy, Joanne Schmidt

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This presentation discusses recent initiatives at Glenbow and Nickle Galleries that endeavor to provide new, radical levels of access to textile collections as a means to build community and affect creativity. While locking textiles away in environmentally controlled rooms and minimizing handling are useful methods for preservation, they are less effective in building vibrant communities or creating future relevance form museum collections. This paper, building on Hemming’s post-colonial textile theory, as well as Onciul’s theories on decolonizing engagement, challenge the apparent dichotomy between access and preservation. It argues that preservation without radical access, without shared community meaning making, without respecting …

Local Wear: A Chat About Textiles & The Body, Emily J. Pascoe

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In this presentation, I propose that worn-in garments are a shared aspect of the relationship between humans and textiles, while also being unique to the user. The relationship between natural, cultural, and material forms, resulting in wear on textiles, begins with the human body. The human body is the most universal local. It is the essential qualifier to be a part of the human species. Although it is a biological form, how the body behaves, and the shapes it is molded into, are influenced by culture. The textiles that enclose the body accrue signs of the interactions. Even if the …

Getting Located: Queer Semiotics In Dress, C. Zimmerman

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

From the effeminate Macarconis of the 18^th century to the “future is female” shirts of 2017, the fashioned body has conveyed desire, signaled safety, and helped build affinity for queer people. This project will take the shape of a deep excavation and careful consideration of the historical precedence of queers encoding the nuances of dress with a multitude of identity affirming and identity challenging practices. Predominant research on unearthing how queer culture was (and is) expressed through dress had focused on the discernible gestures of normative gay male bodies; from ‘flagging’ (i.e. adorning the body with objects such as …

Triennial Reproduction Symposium: Looking Back And Moving Forward—How Reproductive Physiology Has Evolved, Deb L. Hamernik, Andrea S. Cupp, John S. Davis

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR), a Triennial Reproduction Symposium was cosponsored by SSR and the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS). The Society for the Study of Reproduction was formed in 1967 when a group of reproductive biologists that were members of ASAS met with physician scientists and decided to organize a new scientific society. The goal of SSR was to promote the study of reproduction by fostering interdisciplinary communication among scientists, holding conferences, and publishing meritorious studies. Today after its 50th anniversary, the mission for SSR is to harness …

Fluid Administration Rate For Uncontrolled Intraabdominal Hemorrhage In Swine, Ujwal R. Yanala, Jason M. Johanning, Iraklis I. Pipinos, Robin R. High, Gustavo Larsen, William H. Velander, Mark A. Carlson

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Background We hypothesized that slow crystalloid resuscitation would result in less blood loss and a smaller hemoglobin decrease compared to a rapid resuscitation during uncontrolled hemorrhage.

Methods Anesthetized, splenectomized domestic swine underwent hepatic lobar hemitransection. Lactated Ringers was given at 150 or 20 mL/min IV (rapid vs. slow, respectively, N = 12 per group; limit of 100 mL/kg). Primary endpoints were blood loss and serum hemoglobin; secondary endpoints included survival, vital signs, coagulation parameters, and blood gases.

Results The slow group had a less blood loss (1.6 vs. 2.7 L, respectively) and a higher final hemoglobin concentration (6.0 …

Hidden Hunger: Solutions For America’S Aging Populations, Manfred Eggersdorfer, Ucheoma Akobundu, Regan L. Bailey, Julie Shlisky, Amy R. Beaudreault, Gilles Bergeron, Robert B. Blancato, Jeffrey B. Blumberg, Megan W. Bourassa, Filomena Gomes, Gordon Jensen, Mary Ann Johnson, Douglas Mackay, Keri Marshall, Simin Nikbin Meydani, Katherine L. Tucker

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

The global population, including the United States, is experiencing a demographic shift with the proportion of older adults (aged ≥ 65 years) growing faster than any other age group. This demographic group is at higher risk for developing nutrition-related chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes as well as infections such as influenza and pneumonia. As a result, an emphasis on nutrition is instrumental for disease risk reduction. Unfortunately, inadequate nutrient status or deficiency, often termed hidden hunger, disproportionately affects older adults because of systematic healthcare, environmental, and biological challenges. This report summarizes the unique nutrition challenges facing the …

Nebraska Revised Statutes: Selected Provisions Pertaining To Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, And Vulnerable Adults, 2018 Edition, Kathryn A. Olson

Center on Children, Families, and the Law (and Related Organizations): Publications

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Duty and Power of DHHS Regarding the Protection of Children 1 (Sections 43-707 and 43-708)

II. General Social Services Provisions 2 (Sections 68-1202 through 68-1212 and 85-2501)

III. Family Policy and Family Finding 7 (Sections 43-532 through 43-534; and Sections 43-2201 through 43-2209)

IV. Child Protection and Family Safety Act (includes Alternative Response provisions) 11 (Sections 28-710 through 28-727 and 81-3136)

A. Child Abuse Mandatory Reporting Provisions 11 (Sections 28-710 through 28-717)

B. Central Registry of Child Protection Cases 16 (Sections 28-718 through 28-727, and 81-3136)

V. Child Abuse and Neglect Investigation and Treatment Teams 21 …

Convergent Body Size Evolution Of Crocodyliformes Upon Entering The Aquatic Realm, William Gearty, Jonathan Payne

School of Biological Sciences: Presentations

Twenty-four species of crocodile populate the globe today, but this richness represents a minute fraction of the diversity and disparity of Crocodyliformes since their origin early in the Triassic. Across this clade, three major diversification events into the aquatic realm have occurred. Aquatic and terrestrial habitats impose differing selective pressures on body size. However, previous research on this topic in Crocodyliformes remains qualitative in nature. In this study, our goal was to quantify the influence of habitat (terrestrial versus aquatic) on the evolution of body size in Crocodyliformes. We find a history of repeated body size increase and convergence following …