Digital Commons Network^™

Droughtscape, Fall 2022, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

DroughtScape, Fall 2022

Effect Of Lateral Outflow On Three-Dimensional Flow Structure In A River Delta, M. Kifayath Chowdhury, Kory M. Konsoer, Matthew Hiatt

Faculty Publications

Spatial and temporal patterns in three-dimensional flow structure are linked to channel processes and morphology in many environments. However, there is not yet an understanding of how the flow structure is influenced by channelized and gradually distributed lateral outflows that are often prevalent in river deltas. This study presents an analysis of three-dimensional flow structure data collected from Wax Lake Delta, a naturally developing river-dominated delta in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Three hydrographic surveys were conducted using a boat-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler at two sites: a channelized outflow zone and a distributary channel experiencing unchannelized lateral outflow. The …

Household Salt Production By The Late Classic Maya: Underwater Excavations At Ta'ab Nuk Na, Heather Mckillop, E. Cory Sills

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Salt is an essential commodity; archaeological remains around the world attest to the importance of its production, exchange and consumption. Often located in coastal locations, many production sites were submerged by rising seas, including the Paynes Creek Salt Works on the southern Belize coast. Survey and excavation of these sites has identified ‘kitchens’ for brine boiling, as well as Terminal Classic residential structures at Ek Way Nal. The authors report the discovery of an earlier residential building alongside salt kitchens at the nearby site of Ta'ab Nuk Na. This finding indicates that surplus household production began during the Late Classic, …

Investment Incentives: A Survey Of Policies And Approaches For Sustainable Investment, Lise Johnson, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

In order to effectively harness public funds and leverage them to support sustainable development, governments have to be strategic in their use of capital. This means ensuring that government funds are used to help compensate for market failures that lead to the underproduction of public goods. It also means ensuring that government funds are not used to provide redundant support for private actors and subsidize environmentally or socially harmful activities.

To achieve these policy objectives, governments need to be careful and deliberate in their use of investment incentives. Investment incentives, which may be defined (broadly) as nonmarket advantages used to …

State Capitalism’S Inability To Alter The Global Power Structure, Michael R. Woods

Student Publications

In the modern day, many nations have instituted State Capitalist policies to grow their economies and increase their international influence. To evaluate the efficacy of this strategy, this paper analyzes the historical impacts of State Capitalism, as well as its effects upon economic concepts, including competition and innovation. This work also analyzes the ways in which State Capitalist policies have negatively impacted the international reputations of nations such as Russia and China and explores the specific national characteristics and circumstances that are required to truly alter the global power structure. Ultimately, the work concludes that state capitalism is unlikely to …

Developing A Molecular Diet Analysis, And Characterizing The Intestinal Microbiota Of Wild Juvenile Coastal Rainbow Trout/Steelhead In California, Bryan Van Orman

AES Theses

The collection of feces from awake or anesthetized individuals is often less invasive, less time-consuming for samplers, requires fewer sampling supplies, and is more scalable than many traditional techniques when studying living organisms. To improve best practices, we investigate DNA metabarcoding as a technique for producing diet information from juvenile rainbow trout/steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) feces. DNA metabarcoding may be more sensitive for prey detection and return higher taxonomic resolution for characterizing the diverse diet of this special status species. We tested universal primer pairs targeting short segments of the cytochrome c oxidase I region of the mitochondrial genome. …

Informing Practice Through Professional Development: An Interstate Urban Programming Study Tour, Vernelle Mitchell-Hawkins, Deborah Dietrich

Journal of Youth Development

Southeast Pennsylvania 4-H Extension educators identified a need for professional development in order to further develop current urban 4-H programs. The expectation was that increased awareness and knowledge would lead to increased skills competency in planning, implementing, and evaluating urban 4-H youth development programs. An interstate professional development program was developed to inform practitioners on positive youth development in urban communities. The 2-day program included on-site observations of urban programs and professional development on best practices. The event was scheduled as a study tour that involved intentional focus on practical applications of research theory for informal education. The Penn State …

Using Stem Camps To Improve Female Interest In Technology Careers, April H. Reed, Mark Angolia, Lyubov G. Sluder, Leslie R. Pagliari

Journal of Youth Development

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields have been traditionally entered by men, often establishing women as underrepresented in many of these fields. This research study focuses on participants at a STEM camp for middle- and high-school girls designed to introduce them to technology. The camp was held 4 times over 3 years, with many of the participants from rural areas, underrepresented by race and economic status. Sixty camp attendees completed pre- and post-camp surveys and are referred to as the intervention group. A control group of 200 middle- and high-school girls who did not attend the camp also took …

Scope Of Rural Tourism Inroads Through Nonvegetarian Gastronomic Tradition In Western Himalayas: The Hindu’S Bakrid, Rohit Chauhan

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

This study explores the potential of rural gastronomic capital as tourism product in Shimla district of Western Indian Himalayas keeping in view the sustainable community-based approach. Bottom-up community driven approach is essential for sustainable tourism development and the state under study accounts for 89% of rural population. Gastronomic tradition is one such approach involving a large number of populations bringing them direct benefits. In this study a mixed research design was adopted for first identifying themes and lately looking for scope in a broader area. For getting initial idea 16 interviews were conducted. Upon analyzing the responses from this pilot …

The Importance Of Crisis Management In Tourism, Dora S. Jurdana, Romina Agbaba

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

The tourism industry has been exposed to different crisis situations, which reveal tourism's vulnerability and jeopardise its development through the damage they inflict as well as through their unpredictability. Tourism has proven to be resilient in rebounding in the aftermath of crises. In a globalized world which is constantly changing and in which crises affect people’s lives, managing them is an integral part of effective destination management. The main goal is to research the readiness of the tourism system for crises and to underline the importance of crisis management in order to strengthen the resilience of tourism to the effects …

Marketing For Creative Literary Tourism: Cases And Opportunities, Ana M. Matias, Luis Cardoso, Maria L. Pato

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

In the context of Territorial Marketing, it is intended to present a prospective work on the management of destinations based on cultural heritage. We therefore seek to demonstrate the importance of literary heritage and the effective possibility of its touristic use in Portugal, in the context of cultural and creative tourism, leveraged by Cultural Marketing strategies for low-density regions. In what concerns methodology, the paper is based on an extensive literature analysis and case studies, also taking into account available secondary data concerning relevant policies and suggests new possibilities for diversifying tourism offer at literary sites, leveraging the sociohistorical background, …

Evaluation Of The Relationship Between Local Food Preference And Environmental Awareness Among Potential Domestic Tourists In Turkey, Ulker Colakoglu, Selma Atabey

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

Local cuisine is the gene that distinguishes the society from others. Because this gene is encoded with information about the geography where their ancestors lived, their dietary habits, religious beliefs, migrations, and wars. For this reason, locally produced agricultural productions gain importance as raw materials for local food production. In today's conditions, environmental concerns come to the fore with the increase in population and industrialization. Different agricultural production methods have been used to produce enough food for the population. However, these productions increase environmental pollution. In this study, in which the relationship between the preference of local food, which is …

Unm Medicine, The University Of New Mexico School Of Medicine Alumni Magazine Fall 2022, Michael Haederle, Bridgette Wagner Jones, Ashley Salazar, Elizabeth Gibson, Nikifor Konstantinov, Sageline Lablaze, Makenzie Mcneill, Emily Monteiro Morelli, Ruth Morgan, Paige R. Penland, Maggie Schold, Jett Loe, Andrew Roibal, Raymond Mares, Allan Stone, Patricia W. Finn

School of Medicine Alumni Magazine

No abstract provided.

Intestinal Parasite Prevalence In Fecal Samples In Nebraska Dog Parks, Kristianna Muller

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

From February to April 2022, fecal samples were collected from eight dog parks in the Omaha and Lincoln, NE areas. A total of 160 samples were collected and assessed for the presence of intestinal parasites. The zinc sulfate double centrifugal flotation technique was used to determine infection. Out of the 160 samples, ten were positive for parasite contamination (6.25% prevalence). The most observed parasites were hookworms, found in 3.75% of all samples (6/160). Cystoisospora, Giardia, Toxocara canis, and Toxascaris leonina were all found only once, for a prevalence of 0.625% each. Compared to other studies, our infection …

Secondary Principal Leadership And The Impact On Engaging Hands-On Learning Strategies, Sarah Morrison, Ray Thompson

School Leadership Review

The purpose of this narrative inquiry study was to understand how secondary campus principals build capacity in teachers to actively engage students in the processes of meaningful learning. Secondary campus principals should continuously work with teachers in a team setting in order to implement best practices. In recent years, “researchers in educational leadership have called for a new sustainable model for the future” and one must rethink how engagement aligns for student success. Hands-on learning can be instrumental in increasing student engagement, which, in turn, builds student capacity, students who do not feel challenged often become bored in the educational …

Are California Venture Capitalists The Best Venture Capitalists?, Tyler Hull, Luna Y. Goldblatt

Management Faculty Publications

We test if California VCs significantly outperform VCs from other US states. We additionally test in which instances California VCs outperform the other VC concentrated states of Massachusetts and New York. We find that VCs from California, Massachusetts, and New York have significantly greater probabilities of successfully exiting their investments than VCs from other states. Additionally, we show that California VCs are even more adept than VCs from Massachusetts and New York at 1. Early-stage investments, 2. Helping their entrepreneurial firms receive future rounds of financing, and 3. Helping their backed entrepreneurial firms receive higher IPO valuations and achieve superior …

The Freedom Collection 2017–2021: Part 1, The Composition Of The Freedom Collection And Uncl’S Downloads By Member And Subject, David C. Tyler

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: White Papers

With data provided by a colleague, the author looked at the University of Nebraska Consortium of Libraries (UNCL) downloading activity of Elsevier's Freedom Collection for the 2017-2021 interval. Members include the University of Nebraska at Kearney, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and University of Nebraska Omaha.

The author looked at activity by member and by subject at the level of journals' Library of Congress Classifications.

This report was submitted in the fall of 2022 to the UNL Libraries Collections Strategies Committee (CSC) and to the members of the Collections Strategies and Open Scholarship (CSOS) department.

A Multi-Centric Evaluation Of Deep Learning Models For Segmentation Of Covid-19 Lung Lesions On Chest Ct Scans, Saman Sotoudeh-Paima, Navid Hasanzadeh, Ali Bashirgonbadi, Amin Aref, Mehran Naghibi, Mostafa Zoorpaikar, Arvin Arian, Masoumeh Gity, Hamid Soltanian-Zadeh

Research Administration Articles

Background: Chest computed tomography (CT) scan is one of the most common tools used for the diagnosis of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). While segmentation of COVID-19 lung lesions by radiologists can be time-consuming, the application of advanced deep learning techniques for automated segmentation can be a promising step toward the management of this infection and similar diseases in the future. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the performance and generalizability of deep learning-based models for the automated segmentation of COVID-19 lung lesions.

Patients and Methods: Four datasets (2 private and 2 public) were used in this study. The …

Frontiers In Regulating Building Emissions: An Agenda For Cities, Danielle Spiegel-Feld

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Recent developments in Congress and the Supreme Court have highlighted the folly of relying solely on the federal government to contain global climate change. If the United States is to help rein in the climate crisis, state and local governments will need to accelerate their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In many urban areas, where most Americans now live, the most important step that local governments can take to curtail these emissions is to reduce energy use in buildings. Recognizing this, a number of American cities have adopted building performance standards (“BPSs”) in recent years, which limit the annual …

Armed Violence In The Llanos Orientales Region Following The Signing Of The Peace Agreement With The Farc-Ep In Colombia, David Gómez Triana, Jerónimo Ríos

Journal of Strategic Security

A fundamental aspect in the study of the Colombian armed conflict is related to the violence produced in the country after the signing of the Peace Agreement with the FARC-EP guerrillas in November 2016. To this end, we attempt to analyze the transformation of the relationship between the perpetrators of violence and their territory, taking as a case study a region particularly affected by the conflict, as is Llanos Orientales (known in English as the Eastern Plains). Starting with a preliminary characterization of the most relevant armed groups – post-paramilitary groups, FARC-EP dissidents and ELN guerrillas – we attempt to …

Academic Department Indicators, 2021-2022, Systems Intelligence And Data Analytics, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Academic Department Indicators

The audience is the Academic Planning Council (APC), college and department heads, and faculty. The purpose is to report instructional productivity measures useful for making comparisons and observing trends. Selected departmental information in this report is submitted annually to the Delaware Study, a National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity.

This Instructional Productivity information corresponds to the UNO state- and tuition-funded budget. The Supplemental Information at the end of the document provides counts and statistics for campus-wide programs embedded in most colleges. Only Dual Enrollment instruction is excluded from the productivity report since it is a fee-based instructional program for …

Another Look At The Concept Of Nation-State Borders In The Time Of Covid And Ukraine, John J. Chung

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Citizen Science As Experiential Education In The Modern Classroom, Peter Swan

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Secondary education has grown increasingly dependent on delivering instruction and materials via mobile devices and computers in the 21st century. Research has long shown the effectiveness of “student-centered”, experiential and “place based” learning in the classroom. Citizen science initiatives have been demonstrated to be meaningful ways to teach the nature - and practice - of scientific inquiry. This paper explores the current trends in secondary science education in light of recent societal transformations and investigates the body of literature regarding environmental, outdoor and experiential education. The project then proposes a solution to integrate experiential, citizen science into a modern, digital …

The Impact Of Climate Change Education In An Outdoor Classroom On Middle School Students' Attitudes And Understandings Towards Climate Change, Kelly Peterson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone paper and project seek to answer the question: how does learning about climate change in an outdoor classroom impact middle schoolers’ attitudes and understandings toward climate change? The most effective methods to teaching climate change include a place-based, multidisciplinary approach with high levels of inquiry and engagement. When students learn outdoors, they also engage in place-based learning that is highly inquiry based. Combining climate change education with outdoor education is an effective way to approach climate change education. Through use of the Learning Cycle and Understanding by Design, a unit on ecosystem dynamics, biodiversity, and ecosystem services was …

Project Based Learning For Chronically Absent Students, Amy Lynch

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has shown that students who are chronically absent from school in the elementary years are far more likely to underperform academically, struggle socially and drop out of high school. Project based learning (PBL) is a process in which students and teachers engage in creation, discussion, and reflection. Teachers guide while students inquire independently and with peers. Learning is acquired through questioning, choice and action (Helle et al., 2006). Project based learning provides the opportunity for teachers to integrate social studies, science, reading, writing, math, and social and emotional skills over several weeks, ultimately creating a project that represents the …

The Role Of The Native-Speaker Listener In English As A Lingua Franca Interactions, Leah Fruechte

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research agrees that monolingualism, through a lack of linguistic and metalinguistic awareness and general linguistic reflexivity, is the source of a widely observed listening problem where monolingual native-speakers (NSs) of English fail to correctly perceive the meaning of spoken English that diverges from their own in phonological forms or contextual norms. On the other hand, research has also shown multilingual communities, such as those which use English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), to display the intuitive use of collaborative, pragmatic listening strategies that keep them from misunderstanding each other, despite their differences in forms and norms. As a result, this …

The Monacan Indian Nation, Sally Brown, Joe Stahlman, Bonnie M. Brown, Beth Toren, Michael Sherwin, Richard Anderson, Maryam Marne Zafar

Indigenous Appalachia

No abstract provided.

Wetlands In Our Backyard: A Review Of Wetland Types In Virginia State Parks, Kirsten Bauer, Benjamin K. Campbell

Virginia Journal of Science

Wetlands constitute a significant component of Virginia’s natural resources and heritage. Though historically they have been discounted—and often denigrated—the exceptional value of wetlands is currently growing in recognition and appreciation. In addition to the value provided by extracted resources and ecological regulation, wetlands also offer people the opportunity to enrich themselves through cultural, educational, and recreational pursuits. The state parks of Virginia provide access to a variety of ecosystems, including a wide array of wetland types. In this review, we document the diversity of wetlands in Virginia State Parks through a typology that groups wetland systems into the three principal …

“Pigs In The Parlor”: The Legacy Of Racial Zoning And The Challenge Of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing In The South, Jade A. Craig

MC Law Review

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 includes a provision that requires that the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administer the policies within the Act to “affirmatively further” fair housing. Scholars have largely derived their analysis from studying large urban areas and struggles to integrate the suburbs. The literature, however, has not focused on the impact of zoning and discriminatory land use policies within and around low-income rural and small communities or specifically in the southeastern United States. Scholars have also insufficiently considered the implications of these policies on the duty to “affirmatively further” fair housing.

Racial zoning was …

Discrimination And Disparity: Violating Olmstead V. L.C. Discriminates Against The Psychiatrically Vulnerable And Fosters Racial/Ethnic And Socioeconomic Mental Health Disparities, Mckenna S. Cloud

MC Law Review

Mississippi is one of several states still in violation of federal laws by unnecessarily institutionalizing individuals with serious mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities (“psychiatric vulnerabilities”) and by failing to offer sufficient community-based mental health services. This Comment uses Mississippi’s broken mental healthcare system as a case study to reveal how violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Olmstead v. L.C. ex rel Zimring, 527 U.S. 581, 597 (1999), not only discriminates against the psychiatrically vulnerable but also fosters racial/ethnic and socioeconomic mental health disparities. Complying with these federal mandates will provide individuals with psychiatric vulnerabilities with …