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Diets Of Lesser Scaup During Spring Migration Throughout The Upper-Midwest Are Consistent With The Spring Condition Hypothesis, Michael J. Anteau, Alan Afton

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

The spring condition hypothesis (SCH) states that the current decline of the North American scaup population (Lesser [Aythya affinis] and Greater Scaup [A. marila] combined) is due to a decline in quality or availability of scaup foods on wintering, spring migration, or breeding areas that has caused a reduction in female body condition and subsequent reproductive success. Our previous research indicated that forage quality in diets of Lesser Scaup (hereafter scaup) at two sites in Northwestern Minnesota was lower in springs 2000-2001 than that reported for springs 1986-1988, consistent with the SCH. Accordingly, we further tested …

A Two-Part Measure Of Degree Of Invasion For Cross-Community Comparisons, Qinfeng Guo, Amy Symstad

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

Invasibility is a critical feature of ecological communities, especially for management decisions. To date, invasibility has been measured in numerous ways. Although most researchers have used the richness (or number) of exotic species as a direct or indirect measure of community invasibility, others have used alternative measures such as the survival, density, or biomass of either a single or all exotic species. These different measures, even when obtained from the same communities, have produced inconsistent results and have made comparisons among communities difficult. Here, we propose a measure of the degree of invasion (DI) of a community as a surrogate …

Comparing Local Vs. Global Visible And Near-Infrared (Visnir) Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Drs) Calibrations For The Prediction Of Soil Clay, Organic C And Inorganic C, Joel B. Sankey, David J. Brown, Melisa L. Bernard, Rick L. Lawrence

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

Local, field-scale, VisNIR-DRS soil calibrations generally yield the most accurate predictions but require a substantial number of local calibration samples at every application site. Global to regional calibrations are more economically efficient, but don't provide sufficient accuracy for many applications. In this study, we quantified the value of augmenting a large global spectral library with relatively few local calibration samples for VisNIR-DRS predictions of soil clay content (clay), organic carbon content (SOC), and inorganic carbon content (IC). VisNIR models were constructed with boosted regression trees employing global, local+global, and local spectral data, using local samples from two low-relief, sedimentary bedrock …

Limited Occurrence Of Denitrification In Four Shallow Aquifers In Agricultural Areas Of The United States, Christopher T. Green, Larry J. Puckett, John Karl Böhlke, Barbara A. Bekins, Steven P. Phillips, Leon J. Kauffman, Judith M. Denver, Henry M. Johnson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The ability of natural attenuation to mitigate agricultural nitrate contamination in recharging aquifers was investigated in four important agricultural settings in the United States. The study used laboratory analyses, field measurements, and flow and transport modeling for monitoring well transects (0.5 to 2.5 km in length) in the San Joaquin watershed, California, the Elkhorn watershed, Nebraska, the Yakima watershed, Washington, and the Chester watershed, Maryland. Ground water analyses included major ion chemistry, dissolved gases, nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopes, and estimates of recharge date. Sediment analyses included potential electron donors and stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes. Within each site and …

Whole-Stream Response To Nitrate Loading In Three Streams Draining Agricultural Landscapes, John H. Duff, Anthony J. Tesoriero, William B. Richardson, Eric A. Strauss, Mark Munn

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Physical, chemical, hydrologic, and biologic factors affecting nitrate (NO₃^-) removal were evaluated in three agricultural streams draining orchard/dairy and row crop settings. Using 3-d “snapshots” during biotically active periods, we estimated reachlevel NO₃^- sources, NO₃^- mass balance, in-stream processing (nitrification, denitrification, and NO₃^- uptake), and NO₃^- retention potential associated with surface water transport and ground water discharge. Ground water contributed 5 to 11% to stream discharge along the study reaches and 8 to 42% of gross NO₃^- input. Streambed processes potentially reduced 45 to 75% of ground …

Comparative Study Of Transport Processes Of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, And Herbicides To Streams In Five Agricultural Basins, Usa, Joseph L. Domagalski, Scott Ator, Richard Coupe, Kathleen Mccarthy, David Lampe, Mark Sandstrom, Nancy Baker

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Agricultural chemical transport to surface water and the linkage to other hydrological compartments, principally ground water, was investigated at five watersheds in semiarid to humid climatic settings. Chemical transport was affected by storm water runoff , soil drainage, irrigation, and how streams were linked to shallow ground water systems. Irrigation practices and timing of chemical use greatly affected nutrient and pesticide transport in the semiarid basins. Irrigation with imported water tended to increase ground water and chemical transport, whereas the use of locally pumped irrigation water may eliminate connections between streams and ground water, resulting in lower annual loads. Drainage …

Recreation Visitor Attitudes Towards Management-Ignited Prescribed Fires In The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, Montana, Katie Knotek, Alan E. Watson, William T. Borrie, Joshua G. Whitmore, David Turner

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

Research at the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Montana explored differences in recreation visitors’ attitudes towards the use of management-ignited prescribed fires in the wilderness. A mail-back survey of visitors (n = 291) during the 2004 season revealed that over half of visitors would accept prescribed fires in wilderness. This support did not vary by ignition purpose: (a) to restore the natural role of fire or (b) to reduce hazardous fuels and potential for fire escaping to non-wilderness lands. Local visitors, however, were significantly more accepting of prescribed fires than non-local visitors across both ignition purposes. A smaller proportion …

Individual Decision Making And The Evolutionary Roots Of Institutions, Richard Mcelreath, Robert Boyd, Gerd Gigerenzer, Andreas Glöckner, Peter Hammerstein, Robert Kurzban, Stefan Magen, Peter J. Richerson, Arthur Robson, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Just as many aspects of individual decisions are sometimes called "unconscious" or "automatic," we know that some institutions have evolved through "unconscious," nondeliberative mechanisms. Their function can also be largely nondeliberative, as in the case of some institutions that may structure behavior without requiring any reflection on the part of the participants. On the other hand, political institutions exist for the purpose of bringing deliberative mechanisms to bear on institutions in the hope of changing them for the better. The immense project of building an integrated explanation of institutions from individual brains to nations-has only barely begun. In this chapter, …

The Roles Of Accumbal Dopamine D1 And D2 Receptors In Maternal Memory In Rats, Mayte Parada, Samantha King, Ming Li, Alison S. Fleming

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Female rats show enhanced maternal responsiveness toward their young if they have had maternal experiences before. This kind of maternal experience-based memory is critically dependent on the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system, especially the nucleus accumbens (NA) shell. However, the relative contributions of the two main DA receptor systems (D₁ and D₂) within the shell have not been delineated. This study investigates the roles of dopamine D₁ and D₂ receptors in maternal memory by infusing a selective D₁ antagonist, SCH-23390; a selective D₂ antagonist, sulpiride; or a combination D1/D2 antagonist, cis-Z-flupenthixol, into the NA …

Babbling, Chewing, And Sucking: Oromandibular Coordination At 9 Months, Roger W. Steeve, Christopher A. Moore, Jordan R. Green, Kevin J. Reilly, Jacki Ruark Mcmurtrey

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The ontogeny of mandibular control is important for understanding the general neurophysiologic development for speech and alimentary behaviors. Prior investigations suggest that mandibular control is organized distinctively across speech and nonspeech tasks in 15-month-olds and adults and that, with development, these extant forms of motor control primarily undergo refinement and rescaling. The present investigation was designed to evaluate whether these coordinative infrastructures for alimentary behaviors and speech are evident during the earliest period of their co-occurrence.
Method: Electromyographic (EMG) signals were obtained from the mandibular muscle groups of 15 typically developing 9-month-old children during sucking, chewing, and speech.
Results: …

Regional Volumetric Change Of The Tongue During Mastication In Pigs, Z. J. Liu, B. Yamamura, V. Shcherbatyy, Jordan R. Green

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Structure and movement of the tongue have been studied extensively, but little study has been carried on its 3D deformation and ensuing volumetric changes during various functions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the volumetric changes of a regional section of the tongue during feeding. Four 12-week-old Yucatan miniature pigs were used. During natural mastication and water drinking, the width, length, thickness and volumetric changes were measured using six implanted ultrasonic crystals, which circumscribed a wedge-shaped volume in the region of the tongue body. Jaw movements were videotaped and digitized. Signals from these two sources were synchronized to …

Violence Against Separated, Divorced, And Married Women In Canada, 2004, Douglas A. Brownridge, Diane Hiebert-Murphy, Janice Ristock, Ko Ling Chan, Kimberly A. Tyler, Suzy C. Santos

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine violence against separated, divorced, and married women using Statistics Canada's 2004 General Social Survey. Based on a subsample of 6,716 heterosexual women (429 separated; 614 divorced; 5,673 married), available risk markers were examined in the context of a nested ecological framework. Consistent with past research, the results indicated that there may be differences in the dynamics of violence across the 3 groups. Separated women reported 7 times the prevalence of violence and divorced women reported twice the prevalence of violence than married women in the year prior to the study. Young age …

Respiratory Treatment History Predicts Suck Pattern Stability In Preterm Infants, Meredith Poore, Steven M. Barlow, Jingyan Wang, Mereditch Estep, Jaehoon Lee

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Sensory deprivation and motor restriction associated with extensive oxygen therapy may lead to poor oromotor control in preterm infants. Non-nutritive suck is one of the first complex oromotor behaviors infants perform. This study determined the spatiotemporal variability of non-nutritive suck (NNS) pressure trajectories in three preterm groups with differing oxygen histories—one control group with minimal or no O₂ therapy, and two Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) groups with either a mild/moderate (RDS1) or moderate/severe (RDS2) O₂ history. The Non-nutritive Suck Spatiotemporal Index (NNS STI) quantifies spatial and temporal variability across kinematic trajectories, and was calculated from digital representations of …

Mentoring Honors Thesis Students: A Lawyer’S Perspective, Linda Vila

Honors in Practice Online Archive

As a mentor of thesis students in an honors program, I find that students acquire tremendously helpful substantive knowledge through courses they take during college but rarely develop a honed skill set necessary to succeed in graduate or professional education or employment in the real world. These skills range from problem solving to effective communication to analytical thinking. To address these weaknesses, I constructed an approach, borrowed from my law school days, for engaging students in an active, student-centered learning process during the thesis stage of their honors curriculum. My purpose is to provide them the opportunity to cultivate, if …

Using External Review In The Honors Project Process, Joyce W. Fields

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Understanding the competitive nature of applications to graduate programs, Ferrari and Davis (2000) surveyed psychology faculty to discover their level of awareness of resources for undergraduate research publication. They found that most of the psychology faculty members they surveyed were unaware of such resources. Their finding made me curious about how many honors directors, faculty, and advisors are aware of such resources for their students not only in psychology but in all disciplines across the curriculum. Most of us realize the importance of helping our students become competitive for graduate work, and we know that publication and/or presentation of research …

Editorial, Volume 4 - 2008, Ada Long, Dail Mullins

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Table of Contents:

Editorial Policy

Submission Guidelines

Dedication to Elizabeth C. Beck

Editor’s Introduction by Ada Long

Determining the Significance of Honors by Katherine E. Bruce

Portable Widgets and Techie Tattoos: Honors of the Future by Rosalie C. Otero

Honors in 2025: Becoming What You Emulate by Craig T. Cobane

Honors 2025: The Future of the Honors College by Richard Ira Scott and Philip L. Frana

Majoring in the Minor: A Closer Look at Experiential Learning by Bernice Braid

Cultural Studies as the Foundation for an Honors Program: Documenting Students’ Academic and Personal Growth by Sara E. Quay and Amy …

Review Of Texas Women On The Cattle Trails. Edited By Sara R. Massey, Judy Alter

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

It's been almost twenty years since Patricia Limerick debunked myths of the Old West and forced us to look at the role of women, Native Americans, and minorities in the American West. But if the new history brought women to prominence, it was as stoic homemakers in difficult, almost impossible circumstances. We see them walking patiently beside wagon trains, collecting buffalo chips for fuel, hoeing rock-hard ground for a vegetable garden, but never on cattle drives, never on horseback. Men-Anglo men-drove those cattle north. This book demonstrates that many women in the Great Plains, specifically Texas, did indeed work and …

Annual Index

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

ANNUAL INDEX

Literature Review Of Mule Deer And White-Tailed Deer Movements In Western And Midwestern Landscapes, Scott E. Hygnstrom, Scott R. Groepper, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Chuck J. Frost, Justin R. Boner, Travis C. Kinsell, Gregory M. Clements

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The relationships among seasonal change, population dynamics, social pressures, landscape dynamics, anthropologic disturbances, and behavioral ecology are complex. Therefore, migration and seasonal movements are poorly understood and dispersal continues to be one of the least understood aspects of animal ecology in North America. We reviewed scientific literature on movements of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and white-tailed deer (O. virginianus) in western and midwestern landscapes to identify gaps in our knowledge and direct future research. We used electronic databases, library catalogs, Internet search engines, and peer-reviewed journals to conduct key word searches for pertinent articles. We found …

Assessment Of Conservation Reserve Program Fields Within The Current Distribution Of Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Dana Ripper, Megan Mclachlan, Theodore Toombs, Tammy Vercauteren

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Populations of lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) have declined by more than 90%, due primarily to the conversion of sand-sage and mixed-grass prairie to agriculture, overgrazing by domestic livestock, juniper encroachment, and fossil-fuel development. Degradation of native habitats has made restored cropland through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) potentially one ofthe best management options for lesser prairie-chicken. An estimated 1.4 million hectares of CRP exist within the lesser prairie-chicken range. We assessed 1,019 CRP fields representing more than 51,000 hectares within the current distribution of the lesser prairie-chicken. We sampled various grassland plantings including Farm Service Agency conservation practices …

Great Plains Research: A Journal Of Natural And Social Sciences, Volume 18, Number 2 (2008): Table Of Contents

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Social Sciences

Stated Preferences for Ecotourism Alternatives on Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation (Robert R. Hearne and Sheldon Tuscherer) ......... 131

Investigating Psychosocial Well-Being among Ethnically Diverse Rural Women: Expect the Unexpected (Rochelle L. Dalla, Catherine A. Huddleston-Casas, and Maria León) ........ 143

Moving to the Rural Great Plains: Point of Origin Differences in the Decision-Making Process (Randy Cantrell, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, Bruce Johnson, Charlotte Narjes, and Rebecca Vogt) ........ 155

Producer Responses to Carbon Sequestration Incentives in the Northern Great Plains (Dean A. Bangsund and F. Larry Leistritz) ........ 165

Natural Sciences

Six Centuries of Fire History at Devils Tower …

Book Review: America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers By Chuck Hagel With Peter Kaminsk, Charlyne Berens

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In America: Our Next Chapter, Hagel presents his take on where the nation stands and where he thinks it is-and should be-headed. The volume reflects his interest in history, his Nebraska heritage, and the insider knowledge he's gained as a member of the Senate and its Foreign Relations Committee. More than half the book addresses international relations and U.S. foreign policy, one of Hagel's longtime and most intense interests. It criticizes America's invasion of Iraq and the way the Bush administration handled the war. Hagel voted for the resolution authorizing the invasion but writes that the president and his …

Ethical Guidelines For Educational Developers

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Ethical guidelines for educational developers prepared by Mintz, Smith, & Warren, January 1999. Revised March 1999, September 1999, and March 2000.

Evaluating Teaching: A New Approach To An Old Problem, L. Dee Fink

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The approach to evaluating the quality of teaching described in this chapter starts by developing a Model of Good Teaching. This model is then used to create a set of evaluation procedures based on four key dimensions of teaching: design of learning experiences, quality of teacher/student interactions, extent and quality of student learning, and teacher’s effort to improve over time. The challenges and benefits of using these procedures are discussed.

Grounded Theory Research In Faculty Development: The Basics, A Live Example, And Practical Tips For Faculty Developers, Michael Sweet, Rochelle Roberts, Joshua Walker, Stephen Walls, John Kuscera, Shana Shaw, Janet Riekenberg, Marilla Svinicki

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

While autobiographical narratives and case study reflections remain vital to faculty development research, we must also make substantive efforts to build theory in our field. Researchers making claims about collective meanings of observed behaviors and the mechanisms that underlie them (i.e., theoretical claims about social behavior) must be disciplined in how they identify and organize the evidence they use to support those claims. Such systematic, inductive theory-building in the social sciences is called “grounded theory” research. This chapter presents the basics of grounded theory research, describes a grounded theory research program currently being executed by faculty developers, and offers practical …

Supporting The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning At Liberal Arts Colleges, Dolores Peters, David Schodt, Mary Walczak

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Although the liberal arts college, with its traditional focus on teaching, may seem like a natural environment for the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), few such institutions participate in national SoTL initiatives. Our associates’ experience since 2001 suggests a model for supporting SoTL in teaching-intensive contexts based on faculty ownership, a focus on general education, and some emerging rules of engagement. Because faculty reward systems must validate SoTL if it is to become part of the institutional culture, we also describe one department’s efforts to reform its review criteria in order to define scholarly activity broadly.

Marketing Plans For Faculty Development: Student And Faculty Development Center Collaboration For Mutual Benefit, Victoria Mundy Bhavsar, Steven J. Skinner

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Our faculty development center engaged senior-level business students as consultants to help us inform instructors about our resources. The students argued that organizational and marketing tasks are critical to our pedagogical work as they create opportunities for the pedagogical work to occur. This chapter describes the collaboration, the students’ recommendations, and the center’s response. Engaging students, our ultimate clients, in setting priorities for our center was a powerful learning experience for both us and them. Other centers may wish to use our experiences as impetus to collaborate with students on their campuses.

Thawing The Chilly Climate: Inclusive Teaching Resources For Science, Technology, Engineering, And Math, Katherine A. Friederich, Sherill L. Sellers, Judith N. Burstyn

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Although universities are aware of the need to promote diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), this awareness has not translated into significant changes in classroom environments. Many STEM instructors would like to offer equal opportunities for success to all of their students, but they are not sure where to begin. We describe an effective group of teaching tools that can empower STEM faculty and graduate students to modify their courses to address diversity at their own pace. These resources extend from awareness exercises to recommendations for action and have been useful tools for course design, teaching assistant training, …

Co-Teaching As A Faculty Development Model, Andrea L. Beach, Charles Henderson, Michael Famiano

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Co-teaching is a promising and cost-effective approach to promoting fundamental research-based instructional change. In this chapter, we discuss the theoretical underpinnings of co-teaching and describe our initial experience with it. A new instructor (MF) co-taught with an instructor experienced in physics education research-based reforms (CH). An outsider (AB) conducted separate interviews with each instructor and observed several class sessions. Results include immediate use of research-based instructional practices by the new instructor and a significant change in teaching beliefs over time. Recommendations are made for implementing co-teaching as part of a faculty development program.

Promoting Learning–Focused Teaching Through A Project–Based Faculty Development Program, Susanna Calkins, Greg Light

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter describes how we incorporated project-based learning into a yearlong faculty development program at a research-intensive private university located in the Midwest. This inquiry-based approach fosters critical reflection on teaching and promotes learner-focused teaching in a manner that encourages deeper student approaches to learning. We use case studies, drawn from critical accounts of faculty projects, to illustrate a model that depicts how faculty understand improvement in their teaching and to identify key program elements that facilitated the adoption of learning-focused teaching practices by our participants.