Digital Commons Network^™

Avian Use Of Harvested Crop Fields In North Dakota During Spring Migration, Alegra M. Galle, George M. Linz, H. Jeffrey Homan, William J. Bleier

Western North American Naturalist

Broad-spectrum herbicide applications and improved harvesting efficiency of crops have reduced the availability of weed seeds and waste grains for game and nongame wildlife. Over the last decade, corn and soybean plantings have steadily increased in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North Dakota, while sunflower plantings have declined. The PPR is an important corridor for migratory birds, and changes in food availabilities at stopover habitats may affect how food resources are used. In early spring 2003 and 2004, we compared bird use of harvested fields of sunflower, soybeans, small grains, and corn in the PPR of North Dakota. Across …

Population Ecology And Reproduction Of The Mexican Mud Turtle (Kinosternon Integrum) In Tonatico, Estado De México, Rodrigo Macip-Ríos, Maria De Lourdes Arias Cisneros, Xochitl S. Aguilar-Miguel, Gustavo Casas-Andreu

Western North American Naturalist

Ecological data directly from the field are important in understanding the life history strategies of kinosternid species in the tropics. Herein we summarize the basic population ecology and life history of Kinosternon integrum in the municipality of Tonatico (southeastern Estado de México, México). From October 2003 to November 2004, we marked a total of 204 turtles and recaptured 118 of them. Mean population size using the Jolly-Seber model was 197 (95% CI 128–416) individuals, with a sex ratio of 1:1.7, biased to females. Males were larger than females in carapace length and plastron length. The reproductive season starts in late …

Distribution And Postbreeding Environmental Relationships Of Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana [Lithobates] Pipiens) In Washington, Stephen S. Germaine, Dave W. Hays

Western North American Naturalist

Northern leopard frogs (Rana [Lithobates] pipiens) are considered sensitive, threatened, or endangered in all western states and western Canadian provinces. Historically present in eastern Washington in 6 major river drainages, leopard frogs are now only known to occur at 2 localized areas in the Crab Creek drainage in Grant County. During the summers of 2002–2005, we surveyed both areas to document extent of leopard frog distributions and to describe habitat and vertebrate community characteristics associated with leopard frog site occupancy. At Gloyd Seeps, 2 juvenile leopard frogs were observed in a total of 8.2 person-days of …

Controls On Radial Growth Of Mountain Big Sagebrush And Implications For Climate Change, Rebecca E. Poore, Christine A. Lamanna, James J. Ebersole, Brian J. Enquist

Western North American Naturalist

Mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. vaseyana) covers large areas in arid regions of western North America. Climate-change models predict a decrease in the range of sagebrush, but few studies have examined details of predicted changes on sagebrush growth and the potential impacts of these changes on the community. We analyzed effects of temperature, precipitation, and snow depth on sagebrush annual ring width for 1969 to 2007 in the Gunnison Basin of Colorado. Temperature at all times of year except winter had negative correlations with ring widths; summer temperature had the strongest negative relationship. Ring widths correlated …

Variation In Age And Size At Maturity Of Lake Clark, Alaska Sockeye Salmon, Elizabeth B. Benolkin

Fisheries

Salmon returning to Lake Clark, Alaska are a valuable subsistence, commercial and ecological resource, and are an important component of the larger Kvichak River escapement. Average escapement to the Kvichak River declined sharply during 1996-2005, prompting studies to investigate age and size at maturity, key life history traits of salmon linked to reproductive success and survival. We examined potential factors which may influence sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka age and size at maturity: spawning habitat and ocean environment, and examined variation in both traits over time. Sockeye salmon age and length at maturity differed among spawning locations and between brood years, …

Records Of The Yellow-Nosed Cotton Rat (Sigmodon Ochrognathus) In Southwestern New Mexico, Keith Geluso

Western North American Naturalist

The yellow-nosed cotton rat (Sigmodon ochrognathus) previously was known only from extreme southwestern New Mexico in the Peloncillo and Animas mountains. Here I document S. ochrognathus at 3 localities from the Big Burro and Mogollon mountains in southwestern New Mexico. My northernmost capture represents an extra-limital record of 160 km north of prior records in southern New Mexico and represents the northernmost occurrence in North America. Lack of intensive mammalian surveys in the region render it difficult to interpret my recent captures, but the most parsimonious explanation is that captures likely represent overlooked populations. I captured S. ochrognathus …

Summer Burrows Of Ord's Kangaroo Rats (Dipodomys Ordii) In Western Nebraska: Food Content And Structure, Jeremy A. White

Western North American Naturalist

Extent of larder hoarding differs among species of kangaroo rats, and limited information is available for food stored in burrows by Ord's kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ordii)—the most widespread species of Dipodomys. I excavated 9 burrows recently used by adult D. ordii during summer in the Sandhill Region of Nebraska. I observed only small quantities of food stored in burrows. Eight of 9 burrows contained segments of sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) in limited quantities. These segments consisted of upper leaves with fruits (containing seeds) housed in sheaths. My observations represent the first documentation of D. ordii storing …

Arthropod And Plant Communities As Indicators Of Land Rehabilitation Effectiveness In A Semiarid Shrubsteppe, Eric T. Gardner, Val J. Anderson, Robert L. Johnson

Western North American Naturalist

We describe a case study evaluating the ecological impact of Bromus tectorum L. (cheatgrass) invasion following fire disturbance and the effectiveness of revegetation as a means of rehabilitation in a degraded semiarid shrubsteppe system. The effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts was assessed relative to arthropod richness, vegetation and arthropod community composition, and ground-cover characteristics in 3 habitats: undisturbed, burned and weed infested (B. tectorum), and burned then rehabilitated with native and nonnative vegetation. Arthropods were collected in each habitat using pitfall traps. Differences in arthropod richness were compared using rarefaction curves. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling and nonparametric multivariate statistical procedures, …

Reproductive Status And Continuity Of Taxa Of The Simulium Arcticum Complex (Diptera: Simuliidae) At The Clearwater River, Montana (2007, 2008, And 2009), Gerald F. Shields, Brooke A. Christiaens, Michelle L. Van Leuven, Amber L. Hartman

Western North American Naturalist

We made 27 collections over nine years at the Clearwater River and conducted preliminary cytogenetic analysis on 232 individuals of the Simulium arcticum complex there. Based on these preliminary findings, we analyzed an additional 1825 larvae from Clearwater collections in 2007, 2008, and 2009 to investigate the reproductive statuses of the two prevalent taxa of the complex there and to determine whether cytogenetic diversity and frequency of types were similar from year to year. We describe a cytotype new to science and a potentially derivative cytotype of S. arcticum sensu stricto. We also determine that these two taxa are present …

Missing-Sensor-Fault-Tolerant Control For Sssc Facts Device With Real-Time Implementation, Wei Qiao, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Ronald Harley

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Control of power systems relies on the availability and quality of sensor measurements. However, measurements are inevitably subjected to faults caused by sensor failure, broken or bad connections, bad communication, or malfunction of some hardware or software. These faults in turn may cause the failure of power system controllers and consequently severe contingencies in the power system. to avoid such contingencies, this paper presents a sensor evaluation and (missing sensor) restoration scheme (SERS) by using auto-associative neural networks (auto-encoders) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). based on the SERS, a missing-sensor-fault-tolerant control (MSFTC) is developed for controlling a static synchronous series …

Potentials And Promises Of Computational Intelligence For Smart Grids, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The electric power grid is a complex adaptive system under semi-autonomous distributed control. It is spatially and temporally complex, non-convex, nonlinear and non-stationary with a lot of uncertainties. the integration of renewable energy such as wind farms, and plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles further adds complexity and challenges to the various controllers at all levels of the power grid. a lot of efforts have gone into the development of a smart grid to align the interests of the electric utilities, consumers and environmentalists. Advanced computational methods are required for planning and optimization, fast control of power system elements, processing of …

Age, Growth And Productivity Of Juvenile Sockeye Salmon In Two High Latitude Lakes, Alaska, Lorna I. Wilson

Fisheries

"The growth of Seward Peninsula sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) from Salmon and Glacial lakes is related to their physical environment. Dermal scales collected over many years were measured to document the annual age specific growth of smolts and adults. The effect of fertilization on fry growth was examined using the first year of growth. The growth histories of Salmon Lake sockeye salmon were compared to Glacial Lake sockeye salmon through smolting and in the marine environment. Annual age specific fry growth had no direct relationship to fertilization; however, there were interactions between biomass of salmon prey and fertilization, and between …

Civil Rights—Shades Of Race: An Historically Informed Reading Of Title Vii, Michael J. Fellows

Western New England Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law—The "Grape" March On Washington: The Twenty-First Amendment, The Dormant Commerce Clause, And Direct Alcohol Shipments, Pamela R. Cote

Western New England Law Review

No abstract provided.

Business Support Of Affirmative Action And Discriminatory Hiring Practices: Contradictory Or Compatible?, Arthur M. Wolfson

Western New England Law Review

No abstract provided.

White Investment In Black Bondage, Geiza Vargas-Vargas

Western New England Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Discretion, Sentencing Guidelines, And Lessons From Medieval England, 1066-1215, Eric G. Barber

Western New England Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ratifying The Fourteenth Amendment In Ohio, Gabriel J. Chin

Western New England Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Paradigm Recursion: Is It More Accessible When Introduced In Middle School?, Katherine Gunion, Todd Milford, Ulrike Stege

The Journal of Problem Solving

Recursion is a programming paradigm as well as a problem solving strategy thought to be very challenging to grasp for university students. This article outlines a pilot study, which expands the age range of students exposed to the concept of recursion in computer science through instruction in a series of interesting and engaging activities. In this study, a small number of students (n = 9) aged 11 to 13 years, were presented with a new and unique recursion curriculum involving hands-on experiences over a seven-week period at the University of Victoria, Canada. The curriculum was comprised of a series of …

The Effects Of Number And Level Of Restructuring In Insight Problem Solving, James N. Macgregor, John B. Cunningham

The Journal of Problem Solving

Insight problem solving is characterized by restructuring. We hypothesized that the difficulty of rebus puzzles could be manipulated by systematically varying the restructurings required to solve them. An experiment using rebus puzzles varied the number of restructurings (one or two) required to solve a problem and the level at which the restructuring took place (sub-word level, word level, and supra-word level). Solution rates were higher for one restructuring than two, and higher for restructuring at the supra-word level (relation between words) than at lower levels. To explain the findings, we suggest that rebus puzzles initially engage normal reading processes, which …

Examining The Role Of Manipulatives And Metacognition On Engagement, Learning, And Transfer, Daniel M. Belenky, Timothy J. Nokes

The Journal of Problem Solving

How does the type of learning material impact what is learned? The current research investigates the nature of students’ learning of math concepts when using manipulatives (Uttal, Scudder, & DeLoache, 1997). We examined how the type of manipulative (concrete, abstract, none) and problem-solving prompt (metacognitive or problem-focused) affect student learning, engagement, and knowledge transfer. Students who were given concrete manipulatives with metacognitive prompts showed better transfer of a procedural skill than students given abstract manipulatives or those given concrete manipulatives with problem-focused prompts. Overall, students who reported low levels of engagement showed better learning and transfer when getting metacognitive prompts, …

Modeling Human Performance In Restless Bandits With Particle Filters, Michael S.K. Yi, Mark Steyvers, Michael Lee

The Journal of Problem Solving

Bandit problems provide an interesting and widely-used setting for the study of sequential decision-making. In their most basic form, bandit problems require people to choose repeatedly between a small number of alternatives, each of which has an unknown rate of providing reward. We investigate restless bandit problems, where the distributions of reward rates for the alternatives change over time. This dynamic environment encourages the decision-maker to cycle between states of exploration and exploitation. In one environment we consider, the changes occur at discrete, but hidden, time points. In a second environment, changes occur gradually across time. Decision data were collected …

Causal Induction From Continuous Event Streams: Evidence For Delay-Induced Attribution Shifts, Marc J. Buehner, Jon May

The Journal of Problem Solving

Contemporary theories of Human Causal Induction assume that causal knowledge is inferred from observable contingencies. While this assumption is well supported by empirical results, it fails to consider an important problem-solving aspect of causal induction in real time: In the absence of well structured learning trials, it is not clear whether the effect of interest occurred because of the cause under investigation, or on its own accord. Attributing the effect to either the cause of interest or alternative background causes is an important precursor to induction. We present a new paradigm based on the presentation of continuous event streams, and …

Obstacles In Investigating The Role Of Restructuring In Insightful Problem Solving, Ivan K. Ash, Patrick J. Cushen, Jennifer Wiley

The Journal of Problem Solving

In the present article, we articulate three assumptions underlying theories proposing that restructuring processes play a key role in insightful problem solving: representational difficulty, representational change, and discontinuity in solution processes. We argue that these assumptions need empirical validation to justify the proposition of restructuring mechanisms that are unique from those involved in classic information-processing theories of problem solving. To this end, we review some theoretical and methodological obstacles that are inherent in the investigation of the existence and nature of restructuring processes. We then offer some recommendations on how to overcome or avoid these obstacles in future studies. Finally, …

New Perspectives On Human Problem Solving, Robert L. Goldstone, Zygmunt Pizlo

The Journal of Problem Solving

No abstract provided.

Contents

The Journal of Problem Solving

No abstract provided.

Is Tiger Woods's Swing Really A Work Of Art? Defining The Line Between The Right Of Publicity And The First Amendment, Michael Suppappola

Western New England Law Review

No abstract provided.

Zhen Lin V. Atty Gen Usa

2009 Decisions

Agency

Classics And Religious Studies Collection Development Policy, Kathleen Johnson

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Collection Development Policies

The Classics and Religious Studies collections support the teaching, research, and service activities of the entire university community. The primary audience is the faculty and students of the Department of Classics & Religious Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. Its primary focus is support for the undergraduate and graduate curricula for Classics & Religious Studies. Research needs of faculty and students are supplemented through Interlibrary Loan. While the collection also benefits other citizens of the state of Nebraska, materials are not purchased with them in mind. While the collection focuses on works classified in Library of Congress call …

Collection Development For The Department Of Psychology,, Charles D. Bernholz

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Collection Development Policies

The University of Nebraska was founded in Lincoln in 1871, but it took almost two decades until psychology courses were offered. The man who was singularly responsible for bringing psychology to the University was Professor Harry Kirk Wolfe, and thus the history of the Psychology Department begins with him.

Harry K. Wolfe enrolled as an undergraduate in the University in 1876, just five years after the University was chartered. Four years later, he graduated in a class of eight. Three years later, he went to Leipzig Germany to study in the laboratory of the founder of experimental psychology, Professor Wilhelm …