Digital Commons Network^™

Blanket Statements, Issue 159, Summer 2023

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 159, Summer 2023

Fish & Wildlife News: Summer 2023

Fish and Wildlife News

No abstract provided.

The Casnr L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter: Learning Innovation Network For K-12 Schools, Volume 2, Edition 6, July 2023, Bailey Feit, Tammy Mittelstet

CASNR L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter

Contents

K-12 Curriculum & Resources & Upcoming Events

Career Exploration pathways for students who like Technology

Teacher & Student Opportunities

Upcoming Events 2023 & 2024

East Campus Discovery Days and Farmers Market

Entrepreneurial Designers Careers Spotlight

PGA Management Program

Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program

UNL-CASNR-BSE Department Ag Systems Technology $2,500 Scholarship Opportunity

Development Of A Scalable Edge-Cloud Computing Based Variable Rate Irrigation Scheduling Framework, Eric J. Wilkening, Derek M. Heeren, Yeyin Shi, Abia Katimbo, Precious N. Amori, Guillermo R. Balboa, Laila A. Puntel, Kuan Zhang, Daran R. Rudnick

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

Currently, variable-rate precision irrigation (VRI) scheduling methods require large amounts of data and processing time to accurately determine crop water demands and spatially process those demands into an irrigation prescription. Unfortunately, irrigated crops continue to develop additional water stress when the previously collected data is being processed. Machine learning is a helpful tool, but handling and transmitting large datasets can be problematic; more rural areas may not have access to necessary wireless data transmission infrastructure to support cloud interaction. The introduction of “edge-cloud” processing to agricultural applications has shown to be effective at increasing data processing speed and reducing the …

Extended Sentinel Monitoring Of Helicoverpa Zea Resistance To Cry And Vip3aa Toxins In Bt Sweet Corn: Assessing Changes In Phenotypic And Allele Frequencies Of Resistance, Galen P. Dively, Tom P. Kuhar, Sally V. Taylor, Helene Doughty, Kristian Holmstrom, Daniel O. Gilrein, Brian A. Nault, Joseph Ingerson-Mahar, Anders Huseth, Dominic Reisig, Shelby Fleischer, David Owens, Kelley Tilmon, Francis Reay-Jones, Pat Porter, Jocelyn Smith, Julien Saguez, Jason Wells, Caitlin Congdon, Holly Byker, Bryan Jensen, Chris Difonzo, William D. Hutchison, Eric Burkness, Robert J. Wright, Michael Crossley, Heather Darby, Tom Bilbo, Nicholas Seiter, Christian Krupke, Craig Abel, Brad S. Coates, Bradley Mcmanus, Billy Fuller, Jeffrey Bradshaw, Julie A. Peterson, David Buntin, Silvana L. Vieira De Paula Moraes, Katelyn Kesheimer, Whitney Crow

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Transgenic corn and cotton that produce Cry and Vip3Aa toxins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are widely planted in the United States to control lepidopteran pests. The sustainability of these Bt crops is threatened because the corn earworm/bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), is evolving a resistance to these toxins. Using Bt sweet corn as a sentinel plant to monitor the evolution of resistance, collaborators established 146 trials in twenty-five states and five Canadian provinces during 2020–2022. The study evaluated overall changes in the phenotypic frequency of resistance (the ratio of larval densities in Bt ears relative to densities in non-Bt ears) …

Water Current, Volume 55, No. 2, Summer 2023

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Droughtscape, Summer 2023, National Drought Mitigation Center

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

DroughtScape, Summer 2023

Norfolk Integrated Waste-Energy Framework, Emma Kurtz, Abigail Schroeder, Jonah Mcdowell

Project Energy Nebraska: Student Projects

Environmental Engagement in the Community projects, spring 2023 A poster titled Norfolk Integrated Waste-Energy Framework for client City of Norfolk, Nebraska and Nebraska Public Power District.

Faculty sponsor: David Gosselin

Development Of Reduced Cementitious Materials Concrete (Rcmc) Mixtures For Bridge Decks And Rails, Soumitra Das

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Right after construction, drying shrinkage of restrained concrete bridge decks and rails causes early-age cracking that eventually leads to delamination and spalling of concrete due to insertion of water and chemicals, and corrosion of reinforcing steel. The main objective of this research is to control early-age shrinkage cracking by reducing cementitious material content in the bridge deck and rail concrete mixtures. Several reduced cementitious materials concrete (RCMC) mixtures were developed by optimizing aggregate particle packing and conducting overall performance evaluation. This evaluation was carried out in three phases: The first phase investigated the feasibility of new RCMC mixtures by testing …

Mentoring Experiences Of Undergraduate Students And Faculty Members In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics, Pamela Martínez Oquendo

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

I present a comprehensive view of mentoring experiences of undergraduate students and faculty members in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In Chapter 1, I describe a brief outline of this dissertation. In Chapter 2, I present an interpretative phenomenological analysis of the lived experiences of former STEM undergraduate mentors of the Nebraska STEM For You (NE STEM 4U) afterschool mentoring program. In Chapter 3, I describe how the ramifications of faculty mentorship influence the science pipeline using a qualitative synthesis. In Chapter 4, I describe how the STEM faculty-student mentoring engagement involves a strong psychological support component using a …

Transcorporeal Habitus: Adapting Sociological Embodiment To The Self-Conscious Anthropocene, Trevor Bleick

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The knowledge that humans have become a geological force necessitates a reimagining of what it means to be human. This thesis explores the ways in which bodies (both human and nonhuman) are represented within the self-conscious Anthropocene. This tripartite analysis, synthesized in the term ‘transcorporeal habitus,’ presents a framework through which we can better understand the ways bodies are entangled within a greater ecosystem. By drawing on the works of scholars in the fields of sociology, ecocriticism, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) this thesis provides the groundwork for reimaging humanness in a period of immense change. Pierre Bourdieu and Stacy …

A Robotic System For In-Situ Measurement Of Soil Total Carbon And Nitrogen, Husein Harun

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Surges in the cost of fertilizer in recent times coupled with the environmental effects of their over-application have driven the need for farmers to optimize the amount of fertilizer they apply on the farm. One of the key steps in determining the right amount of fertilizer to apply in a given field is measuring the amount of nutrients present in the soil. To ascertain nutrient deficiencies, most farmers perform wet chemistry analysis of soil samples which requires a lot of time and is expensive. In this research project, a robotic system was designed and developed that could autonomously move to …

Federal Agency Perspectives And Funding Opportunities For Weed And Invasive Plant Research, Stephen L. Young, James J. Kells, Vijay K. Nandula

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Weeds and invasive plants know no borders and have collectively impacted many ecosystems worldwide, including croplands, forests, grasslands, rangelands, wetlands, and riparian areas. Losses continue to mount, affecting yield and productivity, species diversity, and ecosystem services, with both short- and long-term repercussions on the sustainability of plant and animal communities and the livelihoods of many. New and emerging invasive plants, along with many of the most intractable weeds, have undermined even the best control efforts, serving as a reminder of the constant need for improvements in science, application, and technology. One of the main reasons for the success of weeds …

Cellulosome-Forming Modules In Gut Microbiome And Virome, Jerry Akresi

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cellulosomes are large multi-enzyme complexes encoded in the genomes of some microorganisms. Cellulosomes can degrade plant cell wall celluloses, commonly found in compost soils, forest floors and dietary fibers of farm animals. The hallmarks of cellulosome complexes are cohesins that form a large scaffoldin protein and dockerins that interact with cohesin to dock enzymes onto the scaffoldin. The dockerin-containing proteins often contain Carbohydrate Active Enzymes (CAZyme) domains, predominantly the cellulases (e.g., GH48 and GH9 enzymes), which enable them to break down celluloses. A fascinating question is, has Nature also evolved other similar protein complexes that target other types of complex …

Uncertainty In Overturning Of Precariously Balanced Rocks Due To Basal Contact, M. Khalid Saifullah, Christine E. Wittich

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Precariously balanced rocks (PBRs) are a type of naturally occurring freestanding structure that provides valuable information to constrain seismic hazard at return periods which are important for critical facilities such as nuclear power plants and nuclear repositories. Exposure ages have been established to be in excess of 10,000–30,000 years, which is why precarious rocks are one of the only available means to validate seismic hazard associated with long return periods. One critical component for constraining seismic hazard in this way is the overturning estimate of a given precarious rock as a function of earthquake intensity. However, current state-of-the-art methods for …

Article Processing Charges For Open Access Journal Publishing: A Review, Ángel Borrego

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Abstract

Some open access (OA) publishers charge authors fees to make their articles freely available online. This paper reviews literature on article processing charges (APCs) that has been published since 2000. Despite praise for diamond OA journals, which charge no fees, most OA articles are published by commercial publishers that charge APCs. Publishers fix APCs depending on the reputation assigned to journals by peers. Evidence shows a relationship between high impact metrics and higher, faster rising APCs. Authors express reluctance about APCs, although this varies by discipline depending on previous experience of paying publication fees and the availability of research …

Asset Cueing Nuclear Radiation Anomaly Detection Using An Embedded Neural Network Resource, April Inamura

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

Nuclear radiation detection is inherently a challenging task, coupled with a high background variation or increase in anomalies, the accuracy for detection can plummet. A key factor in the success of nuclear detection hinges on the sensor’s ability to generalize its model and directly leads to the model’s robustness. The goal of this project is to develop algorithms suitable for use on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Pingora chip, a low-power, system-on-chip device with an active neural processing unit (NPU) made for nuclear radiation detection. The thesis aims to improve Pingora’s overall generalization ability in nuclear radiation source detection. A multiphase …

Nitric Oxide: Physiological Functions, Delivery, And Biomedical Applications, Syed Muntazir Andrabi, Navatha Shree Sharma, Anik Karan, S. M. Shatil Shahriar, Brent Cordon, Bing Ma, Jingwei Xie

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Nitric oxide (NO) is a gaseous molecule that has a central role in signaling pathways involved in numerous physiological processes (e.g., vasodilation, neurotransmission, inflammation, apoptosis, and tumor growth). Due to its gaseous form, NO has a short half-life, and its physiology role is concentration dependent, often restricting its function to a target site. Providing NO from an external source is beneficial in promoting cellular functions and treatment of different pathological conditions. Hence, the multifaceted role of NO in physiology and pathology has garnered massive interest in developing strategies to deliver exogenous NO for the treatment of various regenerative and biomedical …

Description Of The Bioluminescent Emission Spectrum Of Bicellonycha Amoena Gorham, 1880 (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) In Guatemala, Eduardo A. Arrivillaga-Cano, Maria P. Muñoz-Soler, Diegopáblo Pineda, Edgar R. Rosales, Jack C. Schuster

Insecta Mundi

Bicellonycha amoena (Gorham, 1880) (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) usually flies one meter above ground level over grass, water, or open areas, where males produce a simple single flash every 2–4 seconds, having their most active flashing period from mid to late dusk and early night. In addition, nothing else is known about the behavior of this species. We conducted field observations at the “Mayan Golf Club” in Guatemala Department, and Santiago Sacatepéquez, Sacatepéquez Department, Guatemala; and analyzed B. amoena flashes with a spectroscope. Fireflies displayed a lime-green bioluminescence color. The male flash­ing activity began ~30 minutes after sunset and lasted approximately 70 …

Design And Development Of Ultrabroadband, High-Gain, And High-Isolation Thz Mimo Antenna With A Complementary Split-Ring Resonator Metamaterial, Ammar Armghan, Khaled Aliqab, Meshari Alsharari, Osamah Alsalman, Juveriya Parmar, Shobhit K. Patel

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The need for high-speed communication has created a way to design THz antennas that operate at high frequencies, speeds, and data rates. In this manuscript, a THz MIMO antenna is designed using a metamaterial. The two-port antenna design proposed uses a complementary splitring resonator patch. The design results are also compared with a simple patch antenna to show the improvement. The design shows a better isolation of 50 dB. A broadband width of 8.3 THz is achieved using this complementary split-ring resonator design. The percentage bandwidth is 90%, showing an ultrabroadband response. The highest gain of 10.34 dB is achieved …

Economic Value Of User Interface Design, Anna Kruse

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The economic value of well-designed user interfaces (UI) and user experiences (UX) is challenging to quantify, a topic that the current literature does not sufficiently explore. Those responsible for deciding whether to invest resources in UI/UX typically base these decisions on monetary considerations. The link between effective UI/UX design and profit may not be immediately clear to most, yet it is universally acknowledged that satisfied customers lead to successful business. To underscore the importance of investing in UI/UX, it is crucial to define the relationship between effective design and economic success in a way that can be understood by designers, …

Mattel Strategic Audit, Ellie Anderson, Samuel Gertner, Logan Connealy, Julia Michner, Chris Payant

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This case study focuses on Mattel, Inc., a prominent company in the toy industry. To complete the case study, we conducted a strategic audit utilizing different theories and principles used in management. We conducted significant research using publicly available information, including the company’s website, SEC filings, news articles, industry analysis, and more. The goal of the report is to analyze data and use a real-world company to apply management concepts.

We looked at many factors for Mattel, including industry analysis, external analysis, internal analysis, performance analysis, competitive dynamics, business level strategy, and corporate level strategy to complete the case study. …

General Electric Renewable Energy Strategic Audit, Jarod Fox

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

General Electric (GE) is a large multinational conglomerate in various industrial machinery industries. Currently, GE operates through four main sectors - Aviation, Power, Healthcare, and Renewable Energy. This report specifically focuses on the Renewable Energy sector and analyzes General Electric’s ability to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in this complex industry. The paper provides a background on GE, information on the industry and rivals within the industry, and how GE has a competitive advantage. To demonstrate this sustainable competitive advantage, an external and internal analysis has been created through the frameworks of Porter’s Five Forces and PESTEL Analysis. Additionally, strategic …

Exploring The Use Of Virtual Reality In Designing And Prototyping Medical Devices, Evan Marsh

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A degree in engineering is highly sought after in the United States. Despite the grueling coursework and sacrifices involved in earning an engineering degree, the rewards after college are numerous. However, the engineering field is vast, and the degree obtained is not always the profession followed in industry. A lot of what we learn in the college of engineering is very broad and surface-level. It is worth noting that only about 10% of what engineering students learn in school is applicable in the workplace, but they wish they had learned a lot more about that 10%.

Convergence And Transdisciplinary Teaching In Quantitative Biology, Robert Mayes, Joseph Dauer, David Owens

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The United States National Science and Technology Council has made a call for improving STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education at the convergence of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The National Science Foundation (NSF) views convergence as the merging of ideas, approaches, and technologies from widely diverse fields of knowledge to stimulate innovation and discovery. Teaching convergency requires moving to the transdisciplinary level of integration where there is deep integration of skills, disciplines, and knowledge to solve a challenging real-world problem. Here we present a summary on convergence and transdisciplinary teaching. We then provide examples of convergence and transdisciplinary …

Mass Spectrometry Of The White Adipose Metabolome In A Hibernating Mammal Reveals Seasonal Changes In Alternate Fuels And Carnitine Derivatives, Frazer I. Heinis, Sophie Alvarez, Matthew T. Andrews

Nebraska Center for Biotechnology: Faculty and Staff Publications

Mammalian hibernators undergo substantial changes in metabolic function throughout the seasonal hibernation cycle. We report here the polar metabolomic profile of white adipose tissue isolated from active and hibernating thirteen-lined ground squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus). Polar compounds in white adipose tissue were extracted from five groups representing different timepoints throughout the seasonal activity-torpor cycle and analyzed using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in both the positive and negative ion modes. A total of 224 compounds out of 660 features detected after curation were annotated. Unsupervised clustering using principal component analysis revealed discrete clusters representing the different seasonal timepoints throughout hibernation. One-way …

Arthropod Diversity In Phytotelmata Of Calathea Capitata (Zingiberales; Marantaceae) Host Plants From Peru, Divya Dendi, Timo Förster, Caroline S. Chaboo

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Cryptic habitats are often overlooked in biodiversity surveys. Phytotelmata, or plant pools, are one type of cryptic habitat that supports diverse fauna in a miniature ecosystem. This study surveys the arthropod community of two types of phytotelmata, bracts and leaf rolls, on a single species, Calathea capitata (Ruiz and Pav.) Lindl. (Zingiberales: Marantaceae), from one Amazon site in Peru. Specimens were collected from eight bracts and eight leaf rolls. A total of 55 arthropods (36 adults, 19 juveniles) were found in both phytotelmata types. In the bract samples were found: spiders (Araneae: Corinnidae), beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Erotylidae, Staphylindae), flies (Diptera: …

P3 And Nia-Pro Of Turnip Mosaic Virus Are Independent Elicitors Of Superinfection Exclusion, Haritha Nunna, Feng Qu, Satyanarayana Tatineni

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Superinfection exclusion (SIE) is an antagonistic interaction between identical or closely related viruses in host cells. Previous studies by us and others led to the hypothesis that SIE was elicited by one or more proteins encoded in the genomes of primary viruses. Here, we tested this hypothesis using Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV), a member of the genus Potyvirus of the family Potyviridae, with significant economic consequences. To this end, individual TuMV-encoded proteins were transiently expressed in the cells of Nicotiana benthamiana leaves, followed by challenging them with a modified TuMV expressing the green fluorescent protein (TuMV-GFP). Three days after …

P3 And Nia-Pro Of Turnip Mosaic Virus Are Independent Elicitors Of Superinfection Exclusion, Haritha Nunna, Feng Qu, Satyanarayana Tatineni

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Superinfection exclusion (SIE) is an antagonistic interaction between identical or closely related viruses in host cells. Previous studies by us and others led to the hypothesis that SIE was elicited by one or more proteins encoded in the genomes of primary viruses. Here, we tested this hypothesis using Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV), a member of the genus Potyvirus of the family Potyviridae, with significant economic consequences. To this end, individual TuMV-encoded proteins were transiently expressed in the cells of Nicotiana benthamiana leaves, followed by challenging them with a modified TuMV expressing the green fluorescent protein (TuMV-GFP). Three days after …

Putrescine Detected In Strains Of Staphylococcus Aureus, Javier Seravalli, Frank Portugal

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Most forms of life, including the archaea, bacteria, and eukaryotes synthesize the polyamine putrescine. Although putrescine is widely distributed, several Gram-positive bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), appear to be the exceptions. We report here that strains of S. aureus can produce the polyamine putrescine, as well as the derivative N-acetyl-putrescine. Three strains of S. aureus from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), one strain listed in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database, whose genomic sequence is well defined, and well as eight strains from S. aureus-induced brain abscesses of individual patients from multiple …