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Situation Analysis Of Somalia’S 2011 Famine, Ahmed Mohamed Askar

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

This CE examined the contributing factors of famine in Somalia and developed a situation analysis of Somalia’s 2011 famine. The situational analysis was developed using health and famine indicators. Data from geographic information system (GIS) was also used to supplement analysis to look for trends and patterns of the famine. I predicted that conflict was the leading factor in Somalia’s 2011 famine. I concluded that conflict exacerbated the famine situation in the south of Somalia but in the north (Somaliland) famine was due to climate and lack of permanent rivers and water sources.

Energy Harvesting Of Human Kinetic Movement, David Marusiak, Julia Carrillo

Electrical Engineering

Development of kinetic energy scavenging applications from the human body necessitates additional research to assist in designating a mounting position for a potential device. A data acquisition system adequately provides a parametric average power comparison among four locations on the body (waist, upper arm, hand, and calf) for both a male and female subject. Experimentally, the hand-held device provided the highest average power. Thus, subsequent investigation at set speeds provides further analysis of the output’s characteristically linear behavior. The physical energy-harvesting device features a plastic tube casing wrapped with the stationary coiled wire through which a neodymium magnet oscillates. While …

A Comparison Of Testosterone With Prostate Specific Antigen And Prostatic Acid Phosphatase For The Serodiagnosis Of Prostate Cancer In Adult Males, Annie Chu

Honors Theses

Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer in men. The American Cancer Society has estimated that there were 240,890 newly diagnosed cases in 2011 and 33,720 deaths from prostate cancer. Diagnosis of this disease has traditionally been done by measuring prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels through sero-chemical testing. The purpose of this study is to compare serum testosterone levels to PSA levels and Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (PAP) levels in the search for new and more accurate technology. This study shows that testosterone was not efficient in correctly diagnosing those with prostate cancer. It had a …

Effects Of Ownership Intuitions On Allocations In The Dictator Game, John Christner

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

People’s implicit assumptions about ownership might influence their decisions in Dictator Games: DG), leading to generosity. Two studies tested subjects’ intuitions concerning ownership in fictional situations structurally analogous to the DG. Subjects read a story about a ritual in which an old man: experimenter in DG) provided an endowment that Person 1: dictator in DG) had to allocate between self and Person 2: receiver in DG). Subjects were told that in some instances the ritual was interrupted before completion. As an assay of their intuitions regarding ownership, subjects were asked who owned the endowment and how it should be allocated …

Fungal Biofilm Colonization And Succession On Artificial Reefs In The North-Central Gulf Of Mexico, Amy Leigh Salamone

Master's Theses

This study represents the first characterization of natural mixed-species fungal biofilm communities on artificial reefs in the marine environment. Previous fungal biofilm studies have failed to observe the naturally-occurring biodiversity in coastal areas, which comprise the most utilized zone of the marine environment. Artificial reefs can increase fishing yields, amplify oyster habitats, contribute to shoreline stabilization, promote good water quality, and deter pollution. Proper management practices of artificial reefs require knowledge of the colonization of these new habitats by marine organisms and their subsequent succession. Fungi, along with bacteria, archaea, protists, algae, and diatoms, quickly form a complex biofilm on …

"We Need The Storm, The Whirlwind, The Earthquake": The Intersection Of Language And Violence In Nat Turner's "Confessions" And Frederick Douglass's My Bondage And My Freedom, Allison L. Tharp

Master's Theses

Resistance literature is an established genre, dating back to the late eighteenth century, but it underwent a rhetorical revision as slavery increased within the United States in the years leading up to the Civil War. As slaves and free blacks began to rebel against their oppressed condition, they "stole" two prominent tools whites used_ to - oppress slaves: language and violence. Frederick Douglass's My Bondage and My Freedom is a self-conscious revision within resistance literature that argues for national change by advocating physical violence with written language. Reading this text as an intertext with Nat Turner's "Confessions" reveals the ways …

Habitat Modeling Of Three Endemic Crayfish Species In The Black River Drainage Of Missouri And Arkansas: Factors Affecting Distribution And Abundance, Matthew Stephen Nolen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Ozark faunal region of Missouri and Arkansas harbors a high level of aquatic biological diversity, especially in regards to endemic crayfish. Orconectes eupunctus, Orconectes marchandi, and Cambarus hubbsi are three such endemics that are threatened by a limited natural distribution and the invasions of Orconectes neglectus. I sought to determine how natural and anthropogenic factors influence these three species across multiple spatial scales. Local and landscape data were used in decision tree analyses (CART) to determine their influence effect on presence/absence and density of the three species. Predictive models were validated using k-fold cross validation. O. eupunctus presence was …

Stress-Adaptation And Stress-Induced Changes In Campylobacter Jejuni, Geetha Sanal Kumar-Phillips

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The foodborne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is one of the leading causes of human gastroenteritis. This bacterium is not a robust organism compared with many other foodborne pathogens and requires special conditions in the laboratory for its growth. In nature, however, this organism is able to survive in very diverse and hostile environments and produce disease in humans. The different mechanisms by which C. jejuni survives stressful conditions in the environment remain unclear. Adhesion and invasion are thought to be important factors for the colonization of C. jejuni in the intestinal tracts of hosts. Previous research in our laboratory showed that …

The Biological Control Of Spotted Knapweed In The Southeastern United States, Carey R. Minteer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Spotted knapweed is an invasive, short-term-perennial plant that is native to Eurasia. It was accidentally introduced into North America in the early 1890's and has since spread across The United States and Canada. Spotted knapweed degrades rangelands and pastures by negatively impacting native plants, increasing soil surface runoff and stream sediment yields, and reducing soil infiltration. A biological control program for spotted knapweed using Larinus minutus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), was initiated in Arkansas in 2008. In this dissertation I described the releases of L. minutus and investigated the adult activity in the southeastern United States (Chapter 1), investigated the effects of …

Life History Variation Of Common Terns In The Gulf Of Maine, Jeffery Bryant Kimmons

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Life history is the inheritable rules that determine energy and time allocation towards different competing functions in the energy budget of an organism. Reproductive effort varies as organisms make reproductive decisions based on available energy. Factors influencing life histories are those that change energy and time budgets such as diet, competition, and environmental conditions.

Common tern (Sterna hirundo) life history phenotypes vary between islands in the Gulf of Maine. Common terns on offshore islands (>10km from mainland) and nearshore islands (5 to 10km from mainland) lay smaller clutches, hatching chicks with slower growth rates than common terns …

Effects Of Associated Subcortical Beetles On Oviposition Behavior And Early-Stage Survival Of Sirex Nigricornis F. (Hymenoptera: Siricidae), Ace J. Lynn-Miller

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sirex (Hymenoptera: Siricidae) woodwasps develop within xylem of host conifers. Sirex females drill through the bark, phloem and into xylem tissues where they deposit eggs along with a symbiotic Amylostereum fungus. The presence of Amylostereum is necessary for successful development of Sirex immatures as the larvae are unable to derive adequate nutrition from xylem in the absence of the fungus. The Eurasian woodwasp, Sirex noctilio F., was discovered in northeastern North America in 2004. Sirex noctilio has caused significant economic damage in Pinus radiata D. Don plantations of the southern hemisphere, but is of little economic significance in its native …

Timing Of Castration, With Or Without Analgesia, On Growth Performance, Hematology, And Behavior Of Beef Calves, April C. Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Angus-sired (n = 30) and Hereford-sired (n = 32) bull calves were assigned randomly to 1 of 4 treatments. Treatments were 1) surgical castration near birth, 2) oral administration of the analgesic meloxicam (1 mg/kg of body weight) followed by surgical castration near birth, 3) surgical castration at weaning, or 4) surgical castration at weaning with oral administration of the analgesic meloxicam (1 mg/kg of body weight). Data was recorded for behavior, hematology, and growth at birth and weaning. Calf standing and lying activity was monitored at both stages by recording x and y axis positions of a data logger …

Long-Term Effects Of Rice Rotation, Tillage, And Fertility On Near-Surface Soil Carbon And Nitrogen Cycling, Jill Marie Motschenbacher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice (Oryza sativa L.)-based cropping systems are different from other row crops due to the flood-irrigation scheme used from about one month after planting to a few weeks prior to harvest. The frequent cycling between anaerobic (i.e., flooding during the growing season) and aerobic (i.e., generally, the remainder of the year) conditions can influence the rate of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition, which can greatly influence carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) storage and sequestration in the soil over time. Therefore, a study was conducted on a silt-loam soil (fine, smectitic, thermic, Typic Albaqualf) at the Rice Research and Extension Center …

Laboratory And Field Performance Of The Biosand Point Of Use Water Filtration System In The Artibonite Valley, Haiti, Andrew John Sisson

Masters Theses

The research presented here is summary two years of studying the Biosand filter (BSF) both in Haiti during March 2011 and in the laboratory. In Chapter 2, we examined the long term use and sustainability 55 BSF systems near Deschapelles, Haiti and 47% were found to be no longer in use. Interviews with BSF owners revealed problems related to intermittent filter use. A review of 17 BSF field studies also was included to compare and substantiate observations made in Haiti. Together, previous field studies and our observations point toward the importance of providing culturally appropriate technologies and education materials explaining …

Effects Of Computer Assisted Tier Ii Interventions By Gender On Math And Reading Achievement For Remediated Students, Kathi (Lutz) Sweere

College of Education Dissertations

Response to Intervention (RtI) is a current reform initiative being examined by educators, politicians, and proponents of differentiated education. RtI has tiers of intervention designed to meet the various academic needs of all students. RtI has been developed as an educational methodology to increase student achievement through various problem-solving techniques, through the implementation of specific interventions based on each student’s individual needs, and through data-based decision making regarding the interventions used. The implementation of RtI requires schools to shift current educational paradigms of how services are delivered to students.

This quantitative causal comparative study compared the effectiveness of PLATO alone, …

Models Of Experimental Competitive Intensities Predict Home And Away Differences In Invasive Impact And The Effects Of An Endophytic Mutualist, Sa Xiao, Ragan M. Callaway, George Newcombe, Erik T. Aschehoug

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Understanding the role of competition in the organization of communities is limited in part by the difficulty of extrapolating the outcomes of small-scale experiments to how such outcomes might affect the distribution and abundance of species. We modeled the community-level outcomes of competition, using experimentally derived competitive effects and responses between an exotic invasive plant, Centaurea stoebe, and species from both its native and nonnative ranges and using changes in these effects and responses elicited by experimentally establishing symbioses between C. stoebe and fungal endophytes. Using relative interaction intensities (RIIs) and holding other life-history factors constant, individual-based and spatially explicit …

Positive Relationships Between Association Strength And Phenotypic Similarity Characterize The Assembly Of Mixed-Species Bird Flocks Worldwide, Hari Sridhar, Umesh Srinivasan, Robert A. Askins, Julio Cesar Canales Delgadillo, Chao-Chieh Chen, David N. Ewert, George A. Gale, Eben Goodale, Wendy K. Gram, Patrick J. Hart, Keith A. Hobson, Richard L. Hutto, Sarath W. Kotagama, Jessie Knowlton, Tien Ming Lee, Charles A. Munn, Somchai Nimnuan, B. Z. Nizam, Gillaume Péron, V. V. Robin, Amanda D. Rodewald, Paul G. Rodewald, Robert L. Thomson, Pranav Trivedi, Steven L. Van Wilgenburg, Kartik Shanker

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Competition theory predicts that local communities should consist of species that are more dissimilar than expected by chance. We find a strikingly different pattern in a multicontinent data set (55 presence-absence matrices from 24 locations) on the composition of mixed-species bird flocks, which are important sub-units of local bird communities the world over. By using null models and randomization tests followed by meta-analysis, we find the association strengths of species in flocks to be strongly related to similarity in body size and foraging behavior and higher for congeneric compared with noncongeneric species pairs. Given the local spatial scales of our …

Deliberate Use Of Creative Problem Solving In Art Making, Rebecca Dame-Seidler

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project explores the productivity of the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) tools in the visual art making process. The project offered the opportunity for high school student volunteer’s to participate in an after school program called Creative Art Group Experience (CAGE). Volunteers learned and made use of CPS tools to guide their art making. The project researched the effectiveness of using CPS tools in art making documenting volunteer progress and feedback. As an art educator, I had the opportunity to evaluate the impact of using CPS tools with the art-making process. The results of CAGE will benefit how CPS tools …

Regulation Of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotype., Joshua Kuimeta Salabei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vascular injury and chronic arterial diseases such as atherosclerosis and restenosis result in exposure of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to increased concentrations of growth factors triggering a change from a contractile to a synthetic phenotype. The mechanisms by which growth factors trigger VSMC phenotype transitions remain unclear. Because phenotype switching involves the removal of contractile proteins, we hypothesized that autophagy is an essential modulator of VSMC phenotype. Also, the conversion to the synthetic phenotype is accompanied by cellular changes that trigger metabolic changes to meet the increasing demands for cellular energy. Little is known however about the contributions of …

Biochemical Characterization Of Binding Partners Of Two Hsp70 Co-Chaperones In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Jacob Verghese

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Cells are exposed to a variety of environmental and physiological changes including temperature, pH and nutrient availability. These changes cause stress to cells, which results in protein misfolding and altered cellular protein homeostasis. How proteins fold into their three-dimensional functional structure is a fundamental biological process with important relevance to human health. Misfolded and aggregated proteins are linked to multiple neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular disease and cystic fibrosis. To combat proteotoxic stress, cells deploy an array of molecular chaperones that assist in the repair or removal of misfolded proteins.

Hsp70, an evolutionarily conserved molecular chaperone, promotes protein folding and helps maintain …

A Study On The Function Of 14-3-3sigma In Regulating Cancer Energy Metabolism, Liem M. Phan, Liem M. Phan

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Metabolic reprogramming has been shown to be a major cancer hallmark providing tumor cells with significant advantages for survival, proliferation, growth, metastasis and resistance against anti-cancer therapies. Glycolysis, glutaminolysis and mitochondrial biogenesis are among the most essential cancer metabolic alterations because these pathways provide cancer cells with not only energy but also crucial metabolites to support large-scale biosynthesis, rapid proliferation and tumorigenesis. In this study, we find that 14-3-3σ suppresses all these three metabolic processes by promoting the degradation of their main driver, c-Myc. In fact, 14-3-3s significantly enhances c-Myc poly-ubiquitination and subsequent degradation, reduces c-Myc transcriptional activity, and down-regulates …

Delayed Matching To Sample: Reinforcement Has Opposite Effects On Resistance To Change In Two Related Procedures, John A. Nevin, Timothy A. Shahan, Amy L. Odum, Ryan D. Ward

Psychology Faculty Publications

The effects of reinforcement on delayed matching to sample (DMTS) have been studied in two within-subjects procedures. In one, reinforcer magnitudes or probabilities vary from trial to trial and are signaled within trials (designated signaled DMTS trials). In the other, reinforcer probabilities are consistent for a series of trials produced by responding on variable-interval (VI) schedules within multiple-schedule components (designated multiple VI DMTS). In both procedures, forgetting functions in rich trials or components are higher than and roughly parallel to those in lean trials or components. However, during disruption, accuracy has been found to decrease more in rich than in …

A Review Of Cover Crops For Eastern Nebraska, Tyler Williams

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The focus of this project is two fold, first to provide a short literature review of cover crops (CC) and then discuss the results from a field experiment that was designed to evaluate the nitrogen contribution from cover crop mixes to the subsequent corn crop. The literature review will focus on the aspects of CC that are related to the field of study. Cover crops, as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are crops that are agronomically sound and grown for the purpose of erosion control or other objectives related to conservation or soil improvement. Cover crops …

A Mechanistic Model Of Early Fcεri Signaling: Lipid Rafts And The Question Of Protection From Dephosphorylation, Dipak Barua, Byron Goldstein

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present a model of the early events in mast cell signaling mediated by FcεRI where the plasma membrane is composed of many small ordered lipid domains (rafts), surrounded by a non-order region of lipids consisting of the remaining plasma membrane. The model treats the rafts as transient structures that constantly form and breakup, but that maintain a fixed average number per cell. The rafts have a high propensity for harboring Lyn kinase, aggregated, but not unaggregated receptors, and the linker for the activation of T cells (LAT). Phosphatase activity in the rafts is substantially reduced compared to the nonraft …

Effects Of Website Environmental Cues On Consumers’ Response And Outcome Behaviors, Eunju Yoon

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Mehrabian and Russell (1974) developed the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model in environmental psychology. This model is used to examine the effects of physical stimuli on human emotions and response behaviors. The development of the Internet and electronic commerce has spurred interest in online shopping research. The S-O-R model has been applied widely to examine consumers’ emotions and responses towards online website stimuli (Eroglu, Machleit, & Davis, 2001; Eroglu, Machleit, and Davis, 2003; Menon & Kahn, 2002; Richard, 2005).

The main objective of this study was to examine the effects of website environmental cues on the consumer’s affective (i.e., hedonic attitude) and …

Which Study Method Works Best? A Comparison Of Soar And Sq3r For Text Learning, Sarah C. Kasson

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

One hundred thirty-eight college students participated in a study comparing the SOAR (Select, Organize, Association, Regulate) and SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) study systems to each other and to students’ preferred study methods. Though both systems have been researched independently, just one other study has compared these study systems to each other. College students were assigned randomly to one cell of a 2x2 factorial design (method: SOAR or SQ3R; material: supplement or no supplement) or to a preferred-study-method control group. Groups were trained in their respective system (SOAR, SQ3R, or control) and then given materials about educational measurement to …

Making Room For Formative Assessment Processes: A Multiple Case Study, Rob Mcentarffer

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative instrumental multiple case study (Stake, 2005) explored how teachers made room for formative assessment processes in their classrooms, and how thinking about assessment changed during those formative assessment experiences. Data were gathered from six teachers over three months and included teacher interviews, student interviews, participant-observation notes, videos of classroom experiences, and classroom artifacts. These data were analyzed using a category construction method (Merriam, 2009) that involved open coding, axial coding, and finally a cross-case analysis that grouped axial codes according to themes relating to the two research questions. Four case studies describe the process of co-created work with …

Investigations On Rangeland Grasshoppers: Ecoregion Level Distribution, Identification, Feeding Performance, And Vegetation Clipping, Muhammad Ullah

Department of Entomology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Short-horned grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) were studied in the field as well as in laboratory for their distribution, identification, preferred food plants and feeding damage. These grasshoppers are important potential pests of rangelands where they compete for forage with cattle. Examination of the 20 most common grasshoppers by levels 3 and 4 of Nebraska ecoregions revealed specific habitat use and may be helpful in predicting hotspots. The relative abundance of all species analyzed showed at least some significant differences at ecoregion level 4 and two species showed single ecoregion that differed from all others at level 3.

Grasshoppers belonging to subfamilies …

Interactions Of Zoo Plankton And Phytoplankton With Cyanobacteria, Rebecca J. Alexander

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

Cyanobacteria are a major concern in Nebraska reservoirs and are capable of producing toxins that can cause skin irritations and gastrointestinal problems, as well as affect the nervous system. It is important to determine the mechanisms that can cause cyanobacteria blooms due to the effect they can have on human health. The interaction of zooplankton and other phytoplankton groups with cyanobacteria is important because there is a biological component in surface waters that should be taken into consideration along with the physical and chemical parameters that have been noted to promote cyanobacteria. For example, zooplankton have the ability to alter …

Interactions Of Zooplankton And Phytoplankton With Cyanobacteria, Rebecca Alexander

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

Cyanobacteria are a major concern in Nebraska reservoirs and are capable of producing toxins that can cause skin irritations and gastrointestinal problems, as well as affect the nervous system. It is important to determine the mechanisms that can cause cyanobacteria blooms due to the effect they can have on human health. The interaction of zooplankton and other phytoplankton groups with cyanobacteria is important because there is a biological component in surface waters that should be taken into consideration along with the physical and chemical parameters that have been noted to promote cyanobacteria. For example, zooplankton have the ability to alter …