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Alteration Of Soil Water Content Consequent To Root-Pruning At A Windbreak/Crop Interface In Nebraska, Usa, Qingjiang Hou, James R. Brandle, Kenneth Hubbard, Michele Schoneberger, Carlos Nieto, Charles A. Francis

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Root-pruning is generally recommended as an appropriate treatment to reduce competition for soil water and/or nutrients and suppression of crop yield in areas adjacent to windbreaks. Several recent studies suggest, however, that factors other than soil water might be causing yield reduction at the interface. For two consecutive years, we evaluated root-pruning effects on soil water at the windbreak/crop interface under both cropped (soybean [Glycine max (L) Merr.] variety ‘Iroquois’, 1997) and non-cropped (1998) conditions in Mead, Nebraska, USA. Volumetric soil water content near the windbreaks was systematically measured at various soil depths, distances from the windbreak, …

Duration Of Infection And Proportion Of Pigs Persistently Infected With Porcine Reproductive And Respiratory Syndrome Virus, Robert W. Wills, Alan R. Doster, Judith A. Galeota, Jung-Hyang Sur, Fernando A. Osorio

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Understanding the dynamics of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) persistence in individual pigs is essential to the development of successful control programs. The objectives of this study were to investigate the proportion of inoculated pigs that become persistently infected with PRRSV and the duration of their infection. Additionally, different diagnostic techniques that detect persistent infections were compared. Twenty-eight 35-day-old pigs were inoculated with PRRSV. Serum and tonsil biopsy samples were collected on days 0, 7, 14, and 28 and then approximately monthly thereafter until day 251 post-inoculation (p.i.). Tonsil, lymph node, and lung samples were collected following euthanasia …

Native Weeds And Exotic Plants: Relationships To Disturbance In Mixed-Grass Prairie, Diane L. Larson

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Disturbance frequently is implicated in the spread of invasive exotic plants. Disturbances may be broadly categorized as endogenous (e.g., digging by fossorial animals) or exogenous (e.g., construction and maintenance of roads and trails), just as weedy species may be native or exotic in origin. The objective of this study was to characterize and compare exotic and native weedy plant occurrence in and near three classes of disturbance – digging by prairie dogs (an endogenous disturbance to which native plants have had the opportunity to adapt), paved or gravel roads (an exogenous disturbance without natural precedent), and constructed trails (an exogenous …

Effects Of Ungulates And Prairie Dogs On Seed Banks And Vegetation In A North American Mixed-Grass Prairie, Jace T. Fahnestock, Diane L. Larson, Glenn E. Plumb, James K. Detling

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

The relationship between vegetation cover and soil seed banks was studied in five different ungulate herbivoreprairie dog treatment combinations at three northern mixed-grass prairie sites in Badlands National Park, South Dakota. There were distinct differences in both the seed bank composition and the aboveground vegetation between the off-prairie dog colony treatments and the on-colony treatments. The three on-colony treatments were similar to each other at all three sites with vegetation dominated by the forbs Dyssodia papposa, Hedeoma spp., Sphaeralcea coccinea, Conyza canadensis, and Plantago patagonica and seed banks dominated by the forbs Verbena bracteata and Dyssodia papposa. The …

Socialization Of Boys And Girls In Natural Contexts, Carolyn P. Edwards, Lisa Knoche, Asiye Kumru

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Socialization is the general process by which the members of a cultural community or society pass on their language, rules, roles, and customary ways of thinking and behaving to the next generation. Sex role socialization is one important aspect of this general process. The goals of earlier work were to understand how, why, and at what age girls and boys begin to vary behaviorally along such dimensions as "nurturance," "aggression," and "dependency," including determination of how sex-typical dispositions are influenced by cultural factors. This chapter presents a new approach seeking to answer such questions as the following. How are different …

Administrative Support And Challenges In Nebraska Public School Early Childhood Programs: Preliminary Study, Christine Marvin, Barbara Lacost, Marilyn Grady, Paul Mooney

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

One hundred seventy-six teachers employed in prekindergarten programs in Nebraska’s public schools were surveyed regarding their perceptions of the administrative supports and challenges associated with their programs. Both early childhood and early childhood special education teachers participated. Overall findings suggest that most administrators of early childhood programs advocate for quality programs and support teachers’ unique budgetary requests and work-hour schedules. Consistent with the findings from reports by Brotherson et al. (2001) and Lieber et al. (1997), teachers indicated that their supervisor (principal or other type of administrator) relied on them for knowledge about recommended practices in early childhood programs. Teachers …

A Shape-Based Approach To Change Detection Of Lakes Using Time Series Remote Sensing Images, Jiang Li, Ram M. Narayanan

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Shape analysis has not been considered in remote sensing as extensively as in other pattern recognition applications. However, shapes such as those of geometric patterns in agriculture and irregular boundaries of lakes can be extracted from the remotely sensed imagery even at relatively coarse spatial resolutions. This paper presents a procedure for efficiently retrieving and representing shapes of interesting features in remotely sensed imagery using supervised classification, object recognition, parametric contour tracing, and proposed piecewise linear polygonal approximation techniques. In addition, shape similarity can be measured by means of a computationally efficient metric. The study was conducted on a time …

Proven Faculty Development Tools That Foster The Scholarship Of Teaching In Faculty Learning Communities, Milton D. Cox

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty learning communities have played a key role in the development of the scholarship of teaching and learning at Miami University for over 20 years. This chapter describes a sequence of developmental steps, evidence of success, and supporting documents and artifacts that can guide faculty developers in a community approach to the development of this scholarship.

Assessing And Reinvigorating A Teaching Assistant Support Program: The Intersections Of Institutional, Regional, And National Needs For Preparing Future Faculty, Kathleen S. Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article discusses an assessment of an 11-year old teaching assistant (TA) support program at a Research I institution. The TA support program was developed on the premise that professional preparation of teachers includes fundamental teaching competencies or skills that call be identified, developed, and evaluated (Simpson & Smith, 1993; Smith & Simpson, 1995). The purpose of this longitudinal study was to identify and enhance the institutional enabling factors that help graduate teaching and laboratory assistants in performing their duties and in using their graduate experience to prepare for careers at a variety of academic institutions.

Transforming Instructional Development: Online Workshops For Faculty, Laurie Bellows, Joseph R. Danos

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Two vastly different institutions, the University of Nebraska, Lincoln and Delgado Community College, cooperated in the delivery of online faculty development workshops in syllabus construction. This chapter describes the experiences of a flagship university and an urban community college in employing electronic delivery of the same workshop content to their respective faculty members. It shares successful and unsuccessful strategies, nuts and bolts, and the discovery of an unexpected, pleasant irony: The technology that can separate and isolate us has the potential to bring us together, as though we were on electronic legs in a virtual Athenian agora.

Undergraduate Students As Collaborators In Building Student Learning Communities, Candyce Reynolds

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Colleges and universities have recently used the concept of learning communities as a strategy to improve undergraduate student learning. This chapter describes a learning community approach where upper-division undergraduates serve as mentors for freshman and sophomore students and develop and sustain learning communities with faculty partners. The impact of this program is described and implications are discussed.

Are They Really Teachers? Problem–Based Learning And Information Professionals, Michael Anderson, Virginia Baldwin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Traditionally, working with teaching faculty is the primary consulting role for most faculty development professionals. The boundaries, however, are not always clear regarding instructional assistance that is provided to other personnel. This chapter demonstrates how collaboration among faculty consultants and information specialists can result in enhanced library utilization and better research-related instruction. Our model uses problem-based learning (PBL) as a vehicle for teaching research and retrieval skills in either a single class experience or in multiple classroom visits with an engineering librarian.

Bibliography, Volume 21 (2003)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Bibliography for volume 21 (2003) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

Seasonal Distribution Of Migratory Tree Bats (Lasiurus And Lasionycteris) In North America, Paul M. Cryan

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Despite evidence of migration in North American tree bats (genera Lasiurus and Lasionycteris), details regarding seasonal movements in these widely distributed species are few. This study attempted to clarify patterns of seasonal distribution by mapping museum occurrence records by month. Monthly changes in the distribution of records indicate seasonal movements of tree bats. Northward migration during spring by Lasiurus cinereus appears to stem from wintering grounds in California and Mexico. During summer, male L. cinereus is mainly distributed in western North America, whereas females dominate samples from eastern regions. Lasiurus borealis winters in southeastern areas and expands its range …

Evaluation Of Landscape Models For Wolverines In The Interier Northwest, United States Of America, Mary M. Rowland, Michael J. Wisdom, Douglas H. Johnson, Barbara C. Wales, Jeffrey P. Copeland, Frank B. Edelmann

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is an uncommon, wide-ranging carnivore of conservation con- cern. We evaluated performance of landscape models for wolverines within their historical range at 2 scales in the interior Northwest based on recent observations (n = 421) from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. At the sub-basin scale, simple overlays of habitat and road-density classes were effective in predicting observations of wolverines. At the watershed scale, we used a Bayesian belief network model to provide spatially explicit estimates of relative habitat capability. The model has 3 inputs: amount of habitat, human population density, and road density. …

Integrating Authentic Assessment And Technology In A Standardized Elementary Reading Curriculum, Sara Seberg

Graduate Research Papers

As the state of Iowa mandates reporting of the reading progress of elementary students, teachers are forced to examine their choice of assessment. Many schools use standardized tests as their main form of assessment. Assessment should be designed to show educators what students have learned, are learning, and what they are ready to learn. Since standardized testing only focuses on a set number of skills, school districts should be pursuing alternative methods of assessment. One alternative assessment is authentic assessment. Authentic assessment, which is assessments that evaluate students' abilities in 'real-world' contexts, should be considered to assess what a student …

Solving Chemical Problems Of Environmental Importance Using Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy, Dean B. Atkinson

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cavity ring-down (CRD) is a sensitive variant of traditional absorption spectroscopy that has found increasing use in a number of chemical measurement applications. This review focuses on applications of cavity ring-down spectroscopy that will be of interest to environmental chemists and analytical chemists working on environmental problems. The applications are classified into direct monitoring approaches, indirect analysis methods and ancillary studies and a differentiation is made between field-tested instruments and proof of principle studies.

Lessons Learned From South Africa's Constitutional Court: Towards A Third Way Of Judicial Enforcement Of Socio-Economic Rights, Paul Nolette

Political Science Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Low Fluence, Robert Katz, F. A. Cucinotta

Robert Katz Publications

The question of the appropriate extrapolation to low dose has long been a subject of controversy. A linear no-threshold model is favored by regulatory bodies as the basis of RBE assignments and estimates of radiation hazards to the general population. This model is largely supported by extensive application of the linear-quadratic survival formula "fitted" statistically to a wide variety of experimental data obtained at doses typically exceeding 1 Gy, and then extrapolated to mGy for practical applications, and even to the prediction of hazards from single electrons. Such extrapolations are questionable at best, and may even prove hazardous for risk …

Double Dipping: The Cross-Border Taxation Of Stock Options, Jeffrey M. Colon

Faculty Scholarship

Once awarded exclusively to upper management, stock options are now granted increasingly to rank-and-file employees and are becoming a greater component of employee compensation. The expanding use of stock options is undoubtedly due in part to the large increase in equity prices over the last twenty years. Further fueling the demand was the Internet start-up boom of the late 1990s, the spectacular financial success of many technology and computer companies, notably Microsoft and Oracle, and the well- publicized lucre acquired by their employees. The collapse of the initial public offerings market for Internet start-up companies at the dawn of the …

Business Divisions From The Perspective Of The U.S. Banking System , Carl Felsenfeld, Genci Bilali

Faculty Scholarship

The Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 ("Act"),' as amended, most recently in 1999 by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ("GLB") divides all economic activity into five groups. These groups are: 1) banking, 2) activities closely related to and a proper incident to banking; 3) activities of a financial nature; 4) activities complimentary to those of a financial nature; and 5) activities not of a financial nature. This article will explore these five groups of activities separately. The policies behind the divisions will be analyzed and questioned whether they serve the policies behind the Act. This article will also question whether the …

Book Notes- Winter 2003

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Book Notes

Niddrie of the North-West: Memoirs of a Pioneer Canadian Missionary

A Prairie Mosaic: An Atlas of Central Nebraska's Land, Culture and Nature

The Oregon Trail: A Photographic Journey

Canyons of the Texas High Plains

Dictionary of Midwestern Literature. Volume One: The Authors

The University of Manitoba: An Illustrated History

Willa Cather: The Contemporary Reviews

Review Of Riot And Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War And Its Legacy By James S. Hirsch, Hannibal B. Johnson

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In Riot and Remembrance, James S. Hirsch, an ace reporter formerly affiliated with the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, adds his dispassionate voice to the swelling volumes on one of America's most obscure, ignominious racial conflicts: the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. As Hirsch points out, even many native Tulsans knew nothing of the Riot until recent years, the silence surrounding the catastrophe having been deafening. Not only did the Riot escape local civic discourse, it garnered only scant mention-if any mention at all-in state-mandated textbooks.

Why now? Why Tulsa? The answers to both questions turn …

Why The Model Penal Code's Sexual Offense Provisions Should Be Pulled And Replaced, Deborah W. Denno

Faculty Scholarship

By all accounts, the Model Penal Code is enormously respected and influential. Yet, relatively soon after the Code's 1962 publication, the Code's sexual offense provisions and even its 1980 revised Commentaries were already considered outdated. The rapid onslaught of the sexual and feminist revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s brought an intense momentum to change rape laws that the Code had, in part, either mirrored or inspired. Only because of the passage of time, the Code's sexual offense provisions and Commentaries now misrepresent the progressive thinking of the Code's reporters. For these reasons, I think the Model Penal Code's sexual …

Identification Of Novel Domains Within Sox-2 And Sox-11 Involved In Autoinhibition Of Dna Binding And Partnership Specificity, Matthew S. Wiebe, Tamara K. Nowling, Angie Rizzino

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Sox transcription factors play key regulatory roles throughout development, binding DNA through a consensus (A/T)(A/T)CAA(A/T)G sequence. Although many different Sox proteins bind to this se-quence, it has been observed that gene regulatory elements are commonly responsive to only a small subset of the entire family, implying that regulatory mechanisms exist to permit selective DNA bind-ing and/or transactivation by Sox family members. To identify and explore the mechanisms modu-lating gene activation by Sox proteins further, we compared the function of Sox-2 and Sox-11. This led to the discovery that Sox proteins are regulated differentially at multiple levels, including trans-activation, protein partnerships …

Structural Analyses Of Phycodnaviridae And Iridoviridae, Alan A. Simpson, Narayanasamy Nandhagopal, James L. Van Etten, Michael G. Rossmann

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

The Phycodnaviridae, Iridoviridae and related viruses, with diameters of 1500±2000 A Ê , are formed from large trigonal arrays of hexagonally close-packed capsomers forming the faces of icosahedra [Yan et al. (2000), Nature Struct. Biol. 7, 101-103; Nandhagopal et al. (2002), Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 99, 14758-14763]. Caspar and Klug predicted that such structures could be assembled from hexameric capsomers [Caspar & Klug (1962), Cold Spring Harbor. Symp. Quant. Biol. 27, 1-24], as was subsequently found in numerous icosahedral viruses. During the course of evolution, some viruses, including the virus families …

New Record Of The Rare Emballonurid Bat Centronycteris Centralis Thomas, 1912 In Costa Rica, With Notes On Feeding Habits, Neal Woodman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The shaggy sac-winged bat, Centronycteris centralis (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae), occurs mainly in lowland forests from Veracruz, Mexico, to Peru, although it has been reported from elevations as high at 1450 m in Panama (Simmons and Handley 1998; Hice and Solari 2002). Most captures of the species are of single individuals, and throughout its distribution, this bat is rare and poorly-known (Emmons 1997; Reid 1997; Simmons and Handley 1998). Centronycteris centralis generally has been assumed to be an aerial insectivore, capturing flying insects on the wing (Starrett and Casebeer 1968; Wilson 1973; Timm et al. 1989; LaVal and Rodrı´guez 2002). However, direct …

Method To Detect The Presence Of A Microorganism Or Agent In An Animal, David R. Smith, Laura L. Hungerford, Rodney A. Moxley, Susanne Hinkley, Terry Klopfenstein, Jeff Gray

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

The present invention provides a method to detect the presence of a microorganism or agent in an animal. The method encompasses placement of devices at various locations where the animal resides so as to induce the animal to initiate contact with the device. As a result of this contact, the animal deposits various microorganisms and agents on the device. The device is then tested for the presence of the particular microorganism or agent of interest.

An Approach For Mapping Large-Area Impervious Surfaces: Synergistic Use Of Landsat-7 Etm+ And High Spatial Resolution Imagery, Limin Yang, Chengquan Huang, Bruce K. Wylie, Michael J. Coan

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A wide range of urban ecosystem studies, including urban climate, land use planning, and resource management, require current and accurate geospatial data of urban impervious surfaces. We developed an approach to quantify urban impervious surfaces as a continuous variable by using multisensor datasets. Subpixel percent impervious surfaces at 30-m resolution were mapped using a regression tree model. The utility, practicality, and affordability of the proposed method for large-area imperviousness mapping were tested over three spatial scales (Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Richmond, Virginia, and the Chesapeake Bay areas of the United States). Average error of predicted versus actual percent impervious surface …

Calibration Of Remotely Sensed, Coarse Resolution Ndvi To Co2 Fluxes In A Sagebrush–Steppe Ecosystem, Bruce K. Wylie, Douglas A. Johnson, Emilio Laca, Nicanor Z. Saliendra, Tagir G. Gilmanov, Bradley C. Reed, Larry L. Tieszen, Bruce B. Worstell

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon flux can be partitioned into gross primary productivity (GPP) and respiration (R). The contribution of remote sensing and modeling holds the potential to predict these components and map them spatially and temporally. This has obvious utility to quantify carbon sink and source relationships and to identify improved land management strategies for optimizing carbon sequestration. The objective of our study was to evaluate prediction of 14-day average daytime CO₂ fluxes ( F_day) and nighttime CO₂ fluxes (R_n) using remote sensing and other data. F_{day …}