Digital Commons Network^™

Scalability And Connectivity Challenges For The Future Of Digital Radio Communication, Christopher Bayliss

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis explores future challenges in digital radio communication, particularly focusing on scalability and connectivity issues that could impede technological advancements. With the increasing production of digital technology and reliance on radio frequencies, there is a need for innovative solutions to overcome limitations in spectrum availability, interference management, and bandwidth constraints. This work evaluates current modulation techniques, spectrum allocation strategies, and advanced communication technologies such as cognitive radio systems and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces. Through a comprehensive literature review and analysis, this thesis identifies promising developments, including dynamic spectrum sharing and symbiotic radio systems, that could significantly enhance spectrum efficiency and …

Analysis Of Deck-Building Games For The Development In A Digital Medium, Eric Ian Dundas

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis discusses the game design justifications of Rift Colosseum, a deckbuilder card game developed by Eric Dundas. The research conducted intends to reinforce the design decisions for the game. The research includes systems from Trading Card Games Magic: The Gathering, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and Flesh and Blood. Additionally, research is conducted on Slay the Spire, a deckbuilder roguelike. The analysis helped to find unique mechanics that could be utilized further when combined with other systems, especially digital-only mechanics inspired by Slay the Spire.

Several concluding materials were developed, such as the card types, card restrictions and …

Understanding Older People’S Voice Interactions With Smart Voice Assistants: A New Modified Rule-Based Natural Language Processing Model With Human Input, Zhengxu Yan, Victoria Dube, Judith Heselton, Kate Johnson, Changmin Yan, Valerie Jones, Julie Blaskewicz Boron, Marcia Shade

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has expedited the integration of Smart Voice Assistants (SVA) among older people. The qualitative data derived from user commands on SVA is pivotal for elucidating the engagement patterns of older individuals with such systems. However, the sheer volume of user-generated voice interaction data presents a formidable challenge for manual coding. Compounding this issue, age-related cognitive decline and alterations in speech patterns further complicate the interpretation of older users’ SVA voice interactions. Conventional dictionary-based textual analysis tools, which count word frequencies, are inadequate in capturing the evolving and communicative essence of these interactions that unfold over a series …

Impacts Of El Niño On The Florida Reef: A Case Study Of The 2016 El Niño Event, Evvie Yendra

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Coral reefs are vital ecosystems to coastal communities and the world’s oceans. They support other organisms, protect shorelines, and benefit coastal economies through fishing and recreation. Today, coral reefs face many threats, including ocean acidification, bleaching due to increased ocean temperatures, and disease. These threats are typically heightened during El Niño events across the globe. With a focus on the Florida Reef, these data encompass three key regions (Southeastern Florida, The Florida Keys, and Dry Tortugas) over the years 2014, 2016 (an El Niño event), and 2018. As 2024 is interpreted to be an El Niño year, this study predicts …

Strongly Stated And Loosely Held: Examining Stewart Brand's Role In The Ecomodernist Project, Liam J. Baker

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

With the ecomodernist environmental perspective emerging in the wake of the 2015 publication of An Ecomodernist Manifesto, many researchers have sought to critique the ecomodernists and their theories of separating humanity from nature, intensifying agriculture, expanding energy production, and relying on technology to resolve the environmental challenges of the 21st century. In this paper, I add to these critiques by examining the history of Stewart Brand, one of the coauthors of An Ecomodernist Manifesto, to highlight connections between his personal environmental perspective, his material impacts, and the ecomodernist project as a whole. By analyzing the discourse produced by and about …

Unrestricted Versus Regulated Open Data Governance: A Bibliometric Comparison Of Sars-Cov-2 Nucleotide Sequence Databases, Nathanael Sheehan, Federico Botta, Sabina Leonelli

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Two distinct modes of data governance have emerged in accessing and reusing viral data pertaining to COVID-19: an unrestricted model, espoused by data repositories part of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration and a regulated model promoted by the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza data. In this paper, we focus on publications mentioning either infrastructure in the period between January 2020 and January 2023, thus capturing a period of acute response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a variety of bibliometric and network science methods, we compare the extent to which either data infrastructure facilitated collaboration from different countries around …

Building A Data Pipeline And Machine Learning Model For Insurance Data, Connor Weyers

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Insurance telematics is an emerging and exciting field. It combines the advancements in GPS tracking, computational analytics, data processing, and machine learning into a useful tool to help insurance companies make the best product for their consumers. This is why National Indemnity looked to implement a telematics portion to their business processes of underwriting insurance policies and sponsored a School of Computing Senior Design project. In this report, we will first review existing solutions that been used to solve problems and subproblems similar to that we are given in this project. We then propose designs for the data pipeline and …

America's Next Top Ej Model: Assessing The Role Of Food Access In Environmental Justice Models, Allyson Barry

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Disruptions to weather patterns and ecosystems due to climate change are a global challenge. However, previous research has found that communities of color, traditionally underprivileged communities, and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities are disproportionately burdened with adverse health outcomes, higher propensities of exposure to weather disasters and pollution, and well-being inequalities. The field of environmental justice (EJ) seeks to eliminate such disparities through environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Published in 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) formulated the Environmental Justice Index (EJI) as a data tool to identify communities …

Health Prompts Affect Consideration Of Health But Not Intertemporal Preferences While Promoting Healthier Food Choices, Olivier Tuyizere, Christopher Gustafson, Devin J. Rose

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Diet-related diseases impact populations across the globe. While intertemporal preferences—a fundamental preference for the distribution of benefits across time—have been used to explain low-quality food choices, the recent literature proposes another cause: inattention to the future implications (or opportunity costs) of the options faced. Food choices tend to become habitual to conserve cognitive resources, rather than carefully modeling future health impacts. Both low discount rates for future benefits and attention to future health impacts predict healthier decisions. While intertemporal preferences are stable, attention may provide an opportunity to intervene in the decision process to promote healthier decisions. In this study, …

Screening For Eating Disorders In Adolescents With Chronic Pain: The Eating Attitudes Test– 16–Chronic Pain, Leslie Sim, Amy Fahrenkamp, Jennifer R. Geske, Jocelyn Lebow, Hope Thilges, Carol B. Peterson, Abigail Matthews, Cynthia Harbeck-Weber

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background Few measures have been validated to screen for eating disorders (ED) in youth with chronic pain. We conducted confirmatory (CFA) of two established factor structures of the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) in a sample of youth with chronic pain attending an intensive interdisciplinary pain treatment (IIPT) program and examined the validity of the best-fitting model in predicting ED diagnoses in this sample.

Methods Participants were 880 adolescents (M age = 16.1, SD = 2.1) consecutively admitted into an IIPT program who completed the EAT-26 upon admission. CFA was conducted and in the case of inadequate fit, EFA was …

Natural Variation In Lonely Guy-Like 1 Regulates Rice Grain Weight Under Warmer Night Conditions, Jaspreet Sandhu, Larissa Irvin, Anil Kumar Chandaran, Shohei Oguro, Puneet Paul, Balpreet Dhatt, Waseem Hussain, Shannon S. Cunningham, Cherryl O. Quinones, Argelia Lorence, Maria Arlene Adviento-Borbe, Paul E. Staswick, Gota Morota, Harkamal Walia

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Global nighttime temperatures are rising at twice the rate of daytime temperatures and pose a challenge for rice (Oryza sativa) production. High nighttime temperature (HNT) stress affects rice yield by reducing grain weight, size, and fertility. Although the genes associated with these yield parameters have been identified and characterized under normal temperatures, the genetic basis of grain weight regulation under HNT stress remains less explored. We examined the natural variation for rice single grain weight (SGW) under HNT stress imposed during grain development. A genome-wide association analysis identified several loci associated with grain weight under HNT stress. A …

Chiroptical Second-Harmonic Tyndall Scattering From Silicon Nanohelices, Ben J. Olohan, Emilija Petronijevic, Ufuk Kilic, Shawn Wimer, Matthew Hilfiker, Mathias Schubert, Christos Argyropoulos, Eva Schubert, Samuel R. Clowes, G. Dan Pantoş, David L. Andrews, Ventsislav K. Valev

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Chirality is omnipresent in the living world. As biomimetic nanotechnology and self-assembly advance, they too need chirality. Accordingly, there is a pressing need to develop general methods to characterize chiral building blocks at the nanoscale in liquids such as water-the medium of life. Here, we demonstrate the chiroptical second-harmonic Tyndall scattering effect. The effect was observed in Si nanohelices, an example of a high-refractive-index dielectric nanomaterial. For three wavelengths of illumination, we observe a clear difference in the second-harmonic scattered light that depends on the chirality of the nanohelices and the handedness of circularly polarized light. Importantly, we provide a …

Influence Of Four Veterinary Antibiotics On Constructed Treatment Wetland Nitrogen Transformation, Matthew V. Russell, Tiffany L. Messer, Deborah A. Repert, Richard L. Smith, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, Daniel D. Snow, Ariel P. Reed

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

The use of wetlands as a treatment approach for nitrogen in runoff is a common practice in agroecosystems. However, nitrate is not the sole constituent present in agricultural runoff and other biologically active contaminants have the potential to affect nitrate removal efficiency. In this study, the impacts of the combined effects of four common veterinary antibiotics (chlortetracycline, sulfamethazine, lincomycin, monensin) on nitrate-N treatment efficiency in saturated sediments and wetlands were evaluated in a coupled microcosm/mesocosm scale experiment. Veterinary antibiotics were hypothesized to significantly impact nitrogen speciation (e.g., nitrate and ammonium) and nitrogen uptake and transformation processes (e.g., plant uptake and …

The Ring-Closing Reaction Of Cyclopentadiene Probed With Ultrafast X‑Ray Scattering, Lisa Huang, Lauren Bertram, Lingyu Ma, Nathan Goff, Stuart W. Crane, Asami Odate, Thomas Northey, Andrés Moreno Carrascosa, Mats Simmermacher, Sri Bhavya Muvva, Joseph D. Geiser, Matthew J. Lueckheide, Zane Phelps, Mengning Liang, Xinxin Cheng, Ruaridh Forbes, Joseph S. Robinson, Matthew J. Hayes, Felix Allum, Alice E. Green, Kenneth Lopata, Artem Rudenko, Thomas J. A. Wolf, Martin Centurion, Daniel Rolles, Michael P. Minitti, Adam Kirrander, Peter M. Weber

Martin Centurion Publications

The dynamics of cyclopentadiene (CP) following optical excitation at 243 nm was investigated by time-resolved pump−probe X-ray scattering using 16.2 keV X-rays at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). We present the first ultrafast structural evidence that the reaction leads directly to the formation of bicyclo[2.1.0]pentene (BP), a strained molecule with three- and four-membered rings. The bicyclic compound decays via a thermal backreaction to the vibrationally hot CP with a time constant of 21 ± 3 ps. A minor channel leads to ring-opened structures on a subpicosecond time scale.

Open Resources For Biology Education (Orbe): A Resource Collection, Sanah Ahmed, Tiffany Adjei-Opong, Ashley B. Heim, Keenan Noyes, Kelly Schmid, Brian A. Couch, Mackenzie R. Stetzer, Lillian G. Senn, Erin Vinson, Michelle K. Smith, Kira Treibergs

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

In undergraduate life sciences education, open educational resources (OERs) increase accessibility and retention for students, reduce costs, and save instructors time and effort. Despite increasing awareness and utilization of these resources, OERs are not centrally located, and many undergraduate instructors describe challenges in locating relevant materials for use in their classes. To address this challenge, we have designed a resource collection (referred to as Open Resources for Biology Education, ORBE) with 89 unique resources that are primarily relevant to undergraduate life sciences education. To identify the resources in ORBE, we asked undergraduate life sciences instructors to list what OERs they …

First Record Of The Beekeeping Pest Aethina Tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) For Honduras, Jesus Orozco

Insecta Mundi

Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) (also known as the small hive beetle), an important pest in apiaries, is reported from Honduras for the first time, new country record. The precise distribution in the country is unknown, and no damage related to it has been observed. Photographs are provided to aid in its identification. Differentiation of A. tumida from Aethina villosa Reitter and Aethina quadrata Sharp, which also occur in Honduras, is provided.

ZooBank registration. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DAF12C6A-0F8C-4151-9C4D-F191CCC4032F

Seeing Is Believing: Religious Views, Perceptions Of Pollution, And Environmental Attitudes, Katelynn (Sage) Shadoan

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study explores the intersection of religious beliefs, perceptions of pollution, and environmental attitudes among Americans. Drawing upon Lynn White's seminal argument regarding Christian theology and its implications for environmental stewardship, this research investigates the role of biblical literalism in shaping environmental attitudes, particularly among conservative Christians. Using nationally representative survey data and logistic regression models, the study examines how the perceptions of pollution moderate the effects of views of the Bible on environmental concern. The findings reveal that while perceived pollution exposure is strongly associated with environmental attitudes, it does not moderate the association between biblical literalism and environmental …

Star-Based Reachability Analysis Of Binary Neural Networks On Continuous Input, Mykhailo Ivashchenko

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have become a popular instrument for solving various real-world problems. DNNs’ sophisticated structure allows them to learn complex representations and features. However, architecture specifics and floating-point number usage result in increased computational operations complexity. For this reason, a more lightweight type of neural networks is widely used when it comes to edge devices, such as microcomputers or microcontrollers – Binary Neural Networks (BNNs). Like other DNNs, BNNs are vulnerable to adversarial attacks; even a small perturbation to the input set may lead to an errant output. Unfortunately, only a few approaches have been proposed for verifying …

Nebline, May 2024

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Weed Control in Pastures and Hayfields by John Nelson

Navigating Nutrition Information: Separating Fact from Fiction by Alyssa Havlovic

Recipe of the Month: Pepper Steak Sandwich by Alyssa Havlovic

Care for New Bedding Plants by Sarah Browning

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

Cash Rent Survey

No Matter Where You Live, Submit a Request Before You Dig! by Becky Schuerman

4-H Achievement Celebration

8 Lancaster County 4-H’ers Modeled Their Sewn Garments at Omaha Fashion Week

4-H Events Open to All Youth

Support 4-H by Eating Out, May 1 & 2

Support 4-H During “Give to Lincoln Day,” May 30 …

Reclaiming Tremé: A Design Research Thesis, Tori Dunston

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

Reclaiming Tremé explores the potential for design to support the well-being of the oldest African American neighborhood divided by urban highway projects in the US. This comprehensive thesis that seeks to improve the well-being the neighborhood using precedents, historical context, and the quantifiable architectural goals of WELL v2, to present a design solution for Tremé. Through understanding the current communities needs and having historical context of the area, the design strategy focuses on creating a vibrant cultural core that enhances the community's well-being. By integrating new structures and amenities, preserving cultural heritage, and enhancing physical and social infrastructure, the project …

Opportunities For Urban Resilience To Climate Change: Understanding Local Climate Perceptions, Motivations, And Barriers To Green Infrastructure Use, Emmilene Berski

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Global climate change poses a substantial threat to cities in the United States, particularly through increases in flooding and extreme heat. Cities must adapt to these threats to preserve their residents’ livelihoods and prevent economic loss. One adaptation strategy is the implementation of green infrastructure (GI). The opportunity for GI to foster urban resilience to climate change necessitates a deeper understanding of the extent to which cities utilize GI as a strategy for local climate change adaptation as well as perceptions and motivations surrounding the use of GI at a local level. I sought to address this need through a …

The Flick: An Exploration Of Scenic Design Processes, Bradlee K. Lamotte

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

The purpose of this thesis is to provide research, supporting documentation, production photographs, and other relevant materials which document the scenic design for the co-production between the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska and the Professionals In-Residence Nebraska Repertory Theatre titled The Flick: An Exploration of Scenic Design Process. This thesis contains the following: research images collected to develop and communicate ideas regarding location, shape, texture, scale, mood, and historical and architectural reference to the production team; preliminary sketches and photographs of the ¼” scale model; a full set of drafting plates and …

Design Of Small-Scale Milk Processing Facility, Luke Bond, Robert Stenzel, Ry Steffen, John Van Nieuwenhuyse, Rossana Villa-Rojas, Terry Howell Jr., Tami M. Brown-Brandl, Forrest Kievit

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Masters Project Reports

This project was intended to investigate the feasibility of a proposed modular dairy processing facility collocated with a small dairy on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Innovation Campus. Priority was placed upon cost savings for equipment to be used in processing. Process flow diagrams, floor plans, production schedules, risk assessments, and plans for wastewater treatment were all developed to address the needs of the plant should it be built. A Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to evaluate the timeline for breaking even financially, resulting in the potential for a payback period of 4.5 years. The 4.5-year payback period was based on …

A Little Loud And A Little Alone: A Phenomenology Of Leadership Identity Construction Among Women In Higher Education Technology, Amy Barry

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This qualitative study is an exploration of how women in higher education information technology (IT) positions navigate constructing their leadership identities. This includes the messy, personal, internal identity work that occurs prior to claiming their leadership identities on the public stage, followed by an examination of what the experience of attempting to claim and negotiate a leadership identity is like in the social context of their organizations. This educational and sociological study employs an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach with a series of three interviews per participant that allowed the researcher to deeply explore the personal identity experiences of participants. Findings …

Detection Of Deficiencies And Data Analysis Of Bridge Members With Deep Convolutional Neural Networks, Bennett Jackson

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Concrete cracks and structural steel corrosion are two of the most common defects in bridges. Quantifying and classifying these defects provide bridge inspectors and engineers with valuable data for assessing deterioration levels. However, the bridge inspection process is typically a subjective, time intensive, and tedious task, as defects can be overlooked or in locations not easily accessible. Previous studies have investigated deep learning-based inspection methods, implementing popular models such as Mask R-CNN and U-Net. The architectures of these models offer certain advantages depending on the required task. This thesis aims to evaluate and compare Mask R-CNN and U-Net regarding their …

Dynamic Impact Testing And Numerical Analysis Of Non-Proprietary Astm F2656-20 M50 Anti-Ram Barrier Components, Weston Kelley

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In a post-9/11 world, hostile actors are using vehicles as weapons to inflict civilian casualties. Pedestrians, vulnerable road users, military personnel, and police may be targeted using a vehicle as a weapon. The United States Department of Defense (DoD) also utilizes Entry Control Facilities (ECFs) which are carefully designed transportation corridors to manage how threat vehicles are able to access military facilities. In 2004, DoD started to upgrade all ECFs using both passive and active barriers. Many anti-ram vehicle barriers were evaluated according to the criteria established in ASTM F2656, but to date few options are available which are (1) …

Asteroidal Sets And Dominating Targets In Graphs, Oleksiy Al-Saadi

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The focus of this PhD thesis is on various distance and domination properties in graphs. In particular, we prove strong results about the interactions between asteroidal sets and dominating targets. Our results add to or extend a plethora of results on these properties within the literature. We define the class of strict dominating pair graphs and show structural and algorithmic properties of this class. Notably, we prove that such graphs have diameter 3, 4, or contain an asteroidal quadruple. Then, we design an algorithm to to efficiently recognize chordal hereditary dominating pair graphs. We provide new results that describe the …

Eco-Anxiety Effects College Students, Alexa Edmundson

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A survey was conducted on the UNL student population to evaluate whether college students, 18-25 year olds who are currently attending an accredited post-secondary school, are experiencing eco-anxiety and if eco-anxiety affects their pro-environmental behaviors. Climate change is taking a toll not only physically on us but also mentally. The mental health of people, especially college students, is not often studied in relation to climate change, but if we are to understand how to create change in this issue then we need to be looking at the whole picture. The hypothesis is that if college students are experiencing eco-anxiety, then …

Eco-Anxiety Effects College Students, Alexa Edmundson

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A survey was conducted on the UNL student population to evaluate whether college students, 18-25 year olds who are currently attending an accredited post-secondary school, are experiencing eco-anxiety and if eco-anxiety affects their pro-environmental behaviors. Climate change is taking a toll not only physically on us but also mentally. The mental health of people, especially college students, is not often studied in relation to climate change, but if we are to understand how to create change in this issue then we need to be looking at the whole picture. The hypothesis is that if college students are experiencing eco-anxiety, then …

Grading Climate Action Plans In The Midwest, Megan Baker

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

As agreed upon by international climate scientists, decarbonization in the American Midwest is critical to keeping the planet below the 1.5C increase in global temperature from pre-industrial levels. However, most previous research that evaluates climate action plans (CAPs) to find their weaknesses and provide policy recommendations neglects this crucial region of the United States. To fill this gap, this paper replicates Deetjen et al.’s (2018) review of CAPs in 29 US cities by applying their CAP rubric to 11 Midwestern cities. The results of both quantitative analysis were used to analyze the differences in plans in the Midwest versus the …