Digital Commons Network^™

Improving Measurements Of Similarity Judgments With Machine-Learning Algorithms, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Alexis Polzkill Saltzman, Tanner Rasmussen, Leen-Kiat Soh

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Intertemporal choices involve assessing options with different reward amounts available at different time delays. The similarity approach to intertemporal choice focuses on judging how similar amounts and delays are. Yet we do not fully understand the cognitive process of how these judgments are made. Here, we use machine-learning algorithms to predict similarity judgments to (1) investigate which algorithms best predict these judgments, (2) assess which predictors are most useful in predicting participants’ judgments, and (3) determine the minimum number of judgments required to accurately predict future judgments. We applied eight algorithms to similarity judgments for reward amount and time delay …

Challenges Of Brush Management Treatment Effectiveness In Southern Great Plains, United States, Rheinhardt Scholtz, Samuel D. Fuhlendorf, Daniel R. Uden, Brady W. Allred, Matthew O. Jones, David E. Naugle, Dirac Twidwell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Woodland expansion is a global challenge documented under varying degrees of disturbance, climate, and land ownership patterns. In North American rangelands, mechanical and chemical brush management practices and prescribed fire are frequently promoted by agencies and used by private landowners to reduce woody plant cover. We assess the distribution of agency-supported cost sharing of brush management (2000−2017) in the southern Great Plains, United States, and evaluate the longevity of treatment application. We test the general expectation that the current brush management paradigm in the southern Great Plains reduces woody plants and conserves rangeland resources at broad scales. This study represents …

About The Authors

Honors in Practice Online Archive

No abstract provided.

“To Seek A Newer World”: Honors In Virtual Reality, Betsy Greenleaf Yarrison

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Honors education was never intended to be a virtual offering; it takes intimate, three-dimensional, communal, and intellectual interaction among faculty and students to tackle wicked problems. The COVID-19 crisis forced honors educators into an extreme reboot, extracting courses from comfortable working spaces and relocating them to strange new platforms for remote, computer-mediated instruction. For many faculty, the 2020 pandemic introduced online instruction for the first time. Toward this end, many novices were able to brilliantly reimagine and re-engineer their courses while others struggled. In this essay, the author points out that higher education has always adapted new technologies, asserting that …

Targeted Metabolomics Analysis Of Postoperative Delirium, Bridget A. Tripp, Simon T. Dillon, Min Yuan, John M. Asara, Sarinnapha M. Vasunilashorn, Tamara G. Fong, Eran D. Metzger, Sharon K. Inouye, Zhongcong Xie, Long H. Ngo, Edward R. Marcantonio, Towia A. Libermann, Hasan H. Otu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Postoperative delirium is the most common complication among older adults undergoing major surgery. The pathophysiology of delirium is poorly understood, and no blood-based, predictive markers are available. We characterized the plasma metabolome of 52 delirium cases and 52 matched controls from the Successful Aging after Elective Surgery (SAGES) cohort (N= 560) of patients ≥ 70 years old without dementia undergoing scheduled major non-cardiac surgery. We applied targeted mass spectrometry with internal standards and pooled controls using a nested matched case-control study preoperatively (PREOP) and on postoperative day 2 (POD2) to identify potential delirium risk and disease markers. Univariate analyses identifed …

Recent Advances In Terahertz Photonic Technologies Based On Graphene And Their Applications, Tianjing Guo, Christos Argyropoulos

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Graphene is a unique 2D material that has been extensively investigated due to its extraordinary photonic, electronic, thermal, and mechanical properties. Excited plasmons along its surface and other unique features are expected to play an important role in many emerging photonic technologies with drastically improved and tunable functionalities. This review is focused on presenting several recently introduced photonic phenomena based on graphene, beyond its usual linear response, such as nonlinear, active, topological, and nonreciprocal effects. The physical mechanisms and various envisioned photonic applications corresponding to these novel intriguing functionalities are also reported. The presented graphene-based technologies promise to revolutionize the …

The Anisotropic Quasi-Static Permittivity Of Single-Crystal Β-Ga2O3 Measured By Terahertz Spectroscopy, Prashanth Gopalan, Sean Knight, Ashish Chanana, Megan Stokey, Praneeth Ranga, Michael A. Scarpulia, Sriram Krishnamoorthy, Vanya Darakchieva, Zbigniew Galazka, Klaus Irmscher, Andreas Fiedler, Steve Blair, Mathias Schubert, Berardi Sensale-Rodriguez

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

The quasi-static anisotropic permittivity parameters of electrically insulating beta gallium oxide (β-Ga₂O₃) were determined by terahertz spectroscopy. Polarization-resolved frequency domain spectroscopy in the spectral range from 200 GHz to 1 THz was carried out on bulk crystals along different orientations. Principal directions for permittivity were determined along crystallographic axes c and b and reciprocal lattice direction a*. No significant frequency dispersion in the real part of dielectric permittivity was observed in the measured spectral range. Our results are in excellent agreement with recent radio frequency capacitance measurements as well as with extrapolations from recent infrared measurements …

A Routine Electroencephalography Monitoring System For Automated Sports-Related Concussion Detection, Amirsalar Mansouri, Patrick Ledwidge, Khalid Sayood, Dennis L. Molfese

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Cases of concussions in the United States keep increasing and are now up to 2 million to 3 million incidents per year. Although concussions are recoverable and usually not life-threatening, the degree and rate of recovery may vary depending on age, severity of the injury, and past concussion history. A subsequent concussion before full recovery may lead to more-severe brain damage and poorer outcomes. Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings can identify brain dysfunctionality and abnormalities, such as after a concussion. Routine EEG monitoring can be a convenient method for reducing unreported injuries and preventing long-term damage, especially among groups with a greater …

An Efficient And Coherent Pipeline For Graduate Student And Postdoctoral Scholar Educational Development, Daniel Mann, Matthew Mahavongtrakul, Ashley Hooper

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As higher education shifts toward a culture of evidence-based teaching practices, future faculty are seeking opportunities to develop their pedagogical knowledge and skills. Many centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) have not proportionally grown in resources to meet the demand for graduate student and postdoctoral scholar programming (e.g., teaching certificates and pedagogy seminars). This article presents a model of a wide-ranging, coherent pipeline of educational development for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars managed by a CTL with modest staffing.

Queer Refugee Experience: An Inquiry Into The Studies Of Transnationalism And Its Relationship To The Livelihood Of Syrian Refugees Who Identify As Lgbtq+ And Have Migrated To Turkey, Anne Frances Bennett

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

Critical research titled Queer Refugee Experience: An Inquiry into the Studies of Transnationalism and its Relationship to the Livelihood of Syrian Refugees who Identify as LGBTQ+ and have Migrated to Turkey by Anne Frances Bennett in UReCA: The NCHC Undergraduate Journal of Research and Creative Activity, 2021, pages 101-122.

First paragraph

This paper will explore the missing elements of the studies of transnationalism by analyzing the vulnerable identities, inclusive exclusions, and states of exception of LGBTQ+, Syrian refugees migrating to Turkey. Since the Syrian Refugee Crisis began, masses of migrants have escaped to Turkey in search of freedom, especially those …

Raw And Pure Education In The Society, Iwasan D. Kejawa

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

What does education mean to individuals in the world today? Education is a way one can attain or improve his or her ability to lead and survive in the society of ours. Without educational training of the mind, it may be impossible to realize the importance of adaptability of living in the environment. Without education, It may also be difficult to embellish the use of both the mental and physical attributes possessed by individual beings.

What really is education? Education is the training of the mind to perform desire functions or to perpetuate the modality of obtaining an end or …

Peroxo Species Formed In The Bulk Of Silicate Cathodes, Zhenlian Chen, Bjoern Schwartz, Xianhui Zhang, Wenqiang Du, Lirong Zheng, Ailing Tian, Ying Zhang, Zhiyong Zhang, Xiao Cheng Zeng, Zhifeng Zhang, Liyuan Huai, Jinlei Wu, Helmut Ehrenberg, Deyu Wang, Jun Li

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

Oxygen redox in Li-rich oxides may boost the energy density of lithium-ion batteries by incorporating oxygen chemistry in solid cathodes. However, oxygen redox in the bulk usually entangles with voltage hysteresis and oxygen release, resulting in a prolonged controversy in literature on oxygen transformation. Here, we report spectroscopic evidence of peroxo species formed and confined in silicate cathodes amid oxygen redox at high voltage, accompanied by Co2+/Co3+ redox dominant at low voltage. First-principles calculations reveal that localized electrons on dangling oxygen drive the OO dimerization. The covalence between the binding cation and the O-O dimer determines the degree of electron …

Dynamic Manipulation Of Droplets Using Mechanically Tunable Microtextured Chemical Gradients, Ali J. Mazaltarim, John J. Bowen, Jay M. Taylor, Stephen Morin

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

Materials and strategies applicable to the dynamic transport of microdroplets are relevant to surface fluidics, self-cleaning materials, thermal management systems, and analytical devices. Techniques based on electrowetting, topographic micropatterns, and thermal/chemical gradients have advanced considerably, but dynamic microdroplet transport remains a challenge. This manuscript reports the fabrication of mechano-tunable, microtextured chemical gradients on elastomer films and their use in controlled microdroplet transport. Specifically, discreet mechanical deformations of these films enabled dynamic tuning of the microtextures and thus transport along surface-chemical gradients. The interplay between the driving force of the chemical gradient and the microtopography was characterized, facilitating accurate prediction of …

Development Of Triangular And Tetrahedral Finite Elements For Solutions To Thermoelastic Instabilities Using Hotspotter, Cortney Samuel Leneave

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of the work presented in this thesis is to develop first-order triangular and tetrahedral elements for solutions to Thermoelastic Instabilities (TEI) regarding sliding friction systems in Hotspotter.

Hotspotter software uses a finite element method and an eigenvalue method and is an important tool because currently no other commercial software exists which solves the TEI problem for critical velocities and wave numbers of a system. Hotspotter currently uses quadrilateral and hexahedral elements for two and three dimensional analysis, respectively. Typically, tri and tet elements are used in industry when doing static and dynamic stress analysis. Therefore, the Hotspotter user …

An Accuracy And Precision Analysis Of The Velys™ Robotic Assisted Solution For Total Knee Arthroplasty, Gary Doan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a procedure where the arthritic surfaces of the knee is removed and replaced with a combination of metal and polymer implants that recreates the joint line to restore function and quality of life. Implant alignment is important in the success of a TKA. Modern day conventional instrumentation can be cumbersome in the operating room and can be inaccurate when resecting bone and aligning implants. Patients with large errors in resections and implant orientation are more prone to experience mechanical failures with their TKA. Mechanical failures in primary TKA require revision surgeries which can lead to …

Broadening The Capability Of Kinetics Analysis In Biomechanics, Nicholas Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two studies are discussed in this manuscript each preceded by a literature review of the topic. The first review and study explore agility movements and the effect that alternative upper designs in shoes might have on ground reaction force measures of performance. The second review and study evaluate methods of predicting ground reaction forces without the use of a force platform. A method of using effective forces and ways of improving its accuracy are evaluated in depth.

Dislocation Mechanics Of Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Combined Experimental And Computational Analysis, Michael Scinto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While total hip arthroplasty is considered a successful procedure, dislocation remains a serious complication as recurrent dislocations may require additional surgeries. Knowledge on dislocation events as they occur in vivo are limited, therefore researchers rely on experimental and computational methods. A custom MATLAB script and an experimental procedure utilizing a six-degree of freedom actuator were developed to further understand how various surgical considerations affect dislocation mechanics in total hip arthroplasty. Computationally, it was determined that impingement free range of motion is limited during internal rotation in flexion and during external rotation in extension. Experimentally, our results suggest that the posterior …

Tibial Strains And Tray-Bone Micromotions After Total Knee Arthroplasty: Computational Studies Evaluating The Tibial Fixation, Huizhou Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cemented and cementless fixation in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) have been successfully used for decades. As the number of younger and more active patients treated with TKA continues to increase, long-term implant survivorship is of increasing importance. One of the most common complications and hence the reason for revision is mechanical loosening (23.1% of all revised TKA). The loosening mechanisms have been proposed for different fixation types. For cemented fixation, bone remodeling after surgery is regulated by the changes in strain energy density (SED). The recruitment of osteoclasts and osteoblasts is controlled by SED-related signals. Insufficient stimuli can promote bone …

Recent Advances In Supramolecular Affinity Separations: Affinity Chromatography And Related Methods, Ashley G. Woolfork, Sazia Iftekhar, Susan Ovbude, Kyungah Suh, Sadia Sharmeen, Isaac Kyei, Jacob Jones, David S. Hage

David Hage Publications

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Supports for Affinity Chromatography

 2.1 Natural Supports and Related Materials

 2.2 Inorganic Supports

 2.3 Synthetic Supports

 2.4 Magnetic Beads and Particles

 2.5 Smart Materials

 2.6 Nanomaterials

 2.7 Support Formats

3 Immobilization Methods

 3.1 Non-Covalent Immobilization

 3.2 Covalent Immobilization

4 Binding Agents Used in Affinity Chromatography

 4.1 Biological Agents as Affinity Ligands

4.1.1 Immunoaffinity Chromatography

4.1.2 Immunoglobulin-Binding Proteins

4.1.3 Lectins

4.1.4 Enzymes

4.1.5 Serum Proteins

4.1.6 Biotin, Avidin, and Streptavidin

4.1.7 Carbohydrates

4.1.8 Lipids

4.1.9 Nucleic Acids

 4.2 Non-Biological Agents as Affinity Ligands

4.2.1 Boronates and Related Mixed Ligands

4.2.2 Dye-Ligands

4.2.3 Immobilized Metal-Ion Chelates

4.2.4 Molecularly …

Historical Antecedents Of The 2020 Presidential Election, Thomas H. Lee

Faculty Scholarship

Antecedenti storici dell’elezione presidenziale del 2020 – Starting from former President Trump’s speech that propelled the storm of Capitol Hill on January 6th, the article provides an historical account of the transition of powers between administrations in the past decades and centuries. The analysis, on the one hand, highlights the traditionally peaceful nature of such transitions, while, on the other, it points to the instances when disputes concerning the electoral outcome occurred.

The Racial Architecture Of Criminal Justice, I. Bennett Capers

Faculty Scholarship

One of the pleasures of contributing to symposia—especially symposia where each contribution is brief—is the ability to engage in new explorations, test new ideas, and offer new provocations. I do that now in this essay about race, architecture, and criminal justice. I begin by discussing how race is imbricated in the architecture of courthouses, the quintessential place of supposed justice. I then take race and architecture a step further. If we think of architecture expansively—Lawrence Lessig’s definition of architecture as “the physical world as we find it” comes to mind—then it becomes clear that race is also imbricated in the …

A Multi-Analysis Approach For Estimating Regional Health Impacts From The 2017 Northern California Wildfires, Susan M. O’Neill, Minghui Diao, Sean Raffuse, Mohammad Al-Hamdan, Muhammad Barik, Yiqin Jia, Steve Reid, Yufei Zou, Daniel Tong, J. Jason West, Joseph Wilkins, Amy Marsha, Frank Freedman, Jason Vargo, Narasimhan K. Larkin, Ernesto Alvarado, Patti Loesche

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Smoke impacts from large wildfires are mounting, and the projection is for more such events in the future as the one experienced October 2017 in Northern California, and subsequently in 2018 and 2020. Further, the evidence is growing about the health impacts from these events which are also difficult to simulate. Therefore, we simulated air quality conditions using a suite of remotely-sensed data, surface observational data, chemical transport modeling with WRF-CMAQ, one data fusion, and three machine learning methods to arrive at datasets useful to air quality and health impact analyses. To demonstrate these analyses, we estimated the health impacts …

Sparking Awareness In Lincoln Electronic Waste Trends And Habits: A Student Behavioral Analysis, Zowie Vincent

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Nebraska is recognized as one of the few states that have not established any laws or practices managing electronic waste. Along with no e-waste management laws, there is also a lack of studies discussing the behavioral trends and habits towards electronic devices and how to dispose of them once they are unable to function. Continuing to ignore the choice of recycling electronics results in further damage towards the environment, human and animal health, as well as an economic opportunity of a growing market. This study focuses on the trends and habits of electronic consumption, usage, and disposal amongst students at …

Using The Theory Of Planned Behavior To Understand The Behavioral Use Of Single-Use Plastic Bags By Students At The University Of Nebraska–Lincoln, Josephine Stoessel

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Reduction in the use of single-use plastic bags is a necessary sustainability step as it will reduce pollution of air, soil, waterways, and ingestion by marine animals. The Theory of Planned Behavior is used in this study to determine which components are the influencing factors for why students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln use single-use plastic bags. An understanding of these factors allows for suggestions and recommendations for actions that can be taken by the university to combat this environmental issue. EcoCoin is an incentive-based program created by Penn State, and is the focus of this study. The literature review …

Inhibition Of Zika Virus Replication By G-Quadruplex-Binding Ligands, Prativa Majee, Aryamav Pattnaik, Bikash R. Sahoo, Uma Shankar, Asit K. Pattnaik, Amit Kumar, Debasis Nayak

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-transmitted Flavivirus, emerged in the last decade causing serious diseases and affecting human health globally. Currently, no licensed vaccines or antivirals are available to combat ZIKV, although several vaccine candidates are in the pipeline. In recent years, the presence of non-canon- ical G-quadruplex (GQ) secondary structures in viral genomes has ignited significant attention as potential targets for anti- viral strategy. In this study, we identified several novel conserved potential GQ structures by analyzing published ZIKV genome sequences using an in-house algorithm. Bio- physical and biochemical analysis of the RNA sequences con- taining these potential GQ sequences …

Il-10 As A Th2 Cytokine: Differences Between Mice And Humans, Mahima T. Rasquinha, Meghna Sur, Ninaad Lasrado, Jay Reddy

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

The discovery of interleukin (IL)-10 more than 30 years ago marked the beginning of our understanding of how cytokines regulate immune responses, based on cross-regulation between T helper (Th)1 and Th2 cytokines. Although multiple cell types were shown to produce IL-10, its identity as a Th2 cytokine remained strong since it was rigidly associated with Th2 clones in mice, whereas both Th1 and Th2 clones could secrete IL-10 in humans. However, as new Th1/Th2 cell functionalities emerged, anti-inflammatory action of IL-10 gained more attention than its inhibitory effect on Th1 cells, which may occur as an indirect consequence of suppression …

Quantifying Model Structural Uncertainty Using Airborne Electromagnetic Data, Burke J. Minsley, Nathan Leon Foks, Paul A. Bedrosian

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The ability to quantify structural uncertainty in geological models that incorporate geophysical data is affected by two primary sources of uncertainty: geophysical parameter uncertainty and uncertainty in the relationship between geophysical parameters and geological properties of interest. Here, we introduce an open-source, trans-dimensional Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (McMC) algorithm GeoBIPy—Geophysical Bayesian Inference in Python—for robust uncertainty analysis of time-domain or frequency-domain airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data. The McMC algorithm provides a robust assessment of geophysical parameter uncertainty using a trans-dimensional approach that lets the AEM data inform the level of model complexity necessary by allowing the number of model layers …

The 20th Anniversary Meeting Of The Rocky Mountain Virology Association, Joel Rovnak, Laura A. St Clair, Carley Mcalister, Chinemerem P. Ogbu, Jessica Smolenske, Randall J. Cohrs, Rushika Perera

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple devastating forest fires, the 2020 meeting of the Rocky Mountain Virology Association was held virtually. The three-day gathering featured talks describing recent advances in virology and prion research. The keynote presentation described the measles virus paradox of immune suppression and life-long immunity. Special invited speakers presented information concerning visualizing antiviral effector cell biology in mucosal tissues, uncovering the T-cell tropism of Epstein-Barr virus type 2, a history and current survey of coronavirus spike proteins, a summary of Zika virus vaccination and immunity, the innate immune response to flavivirus infections, a discussion concerning prion …

Chlorovirus Pbcv-1 Multidomain Protein A111/114r Has Three Glycosyltransferase Functions Involved In The Synthesis Of Atypical N-Glycans, Eric Noel, Anna Notaro, Immacolata Speciale, Garry A. Duncan, Cristina De Castro, James L. Van Etten

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

The structures of the four N-linked glycans from the prototype chlorovirus PBCV-1 major capsid protein do not resemble any other glycans in the three domains of life. All known chloroviruses and antigenic variants (or mutants) share a unique conserved central glycan core consisting of five sugars, except for antigenic mutant virus P1L6, which has four of the five sugars. A combination of ge- netic and structural analyses indicates that the protein coded by PBCV-1 gene a111/114r, conserved in all chloroviruses, is a glycosyltransferase with three putative domains of approximately 300 amino acids each. Here, in addition to in silico sequence …

Essential Role Of Systemic Iron Mobilization And Redistribution For Adaptive Thermogenesis Through Hif2-Α/Hepcidin Axis, Jin-Seon Yook, Mikyoung You, Jiyoung Kim, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Rong Fan, Bhanwar Lal Puniya, Tomáš Helikar, Sophie Vaulont, Jean-Christophe Deschemin, Meshail Oklar, Liwei Xie, Manik C. Ghosh, Tracey A. Rouault, Jaekwon Lee, Soonkyu Chung

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Iron is an essential biometal, but is toxic if it exists in excess. Therefore, iron content is tightly regulated at cellular and systemic levels to meet metabolic demands but to avoid toxicity. We have recently reported that adaptive thermogenesis, a critical metabolic pathway to maintain whole-body energy homeostasis, is an irondemanding process for rapid biogenesis of mitochondria. However, little information is available on iron mobilization from storage sites to thermogenic fat. This study aimed to determine the iron-regulatory network that underlies beige adipogenesis. We hypothesized that thermogenic stimulus initiates the signaling interplay between adipocyte iron demands and systemic iron liberation, …