Digital Commons Network^™

From Prairie To Practice: Environmental Controls And A Forensic Taphonomic Framework In Southeastern Nebraska, Jessica F. L. Gammage

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Forensic taphonomy examines the postmortem processes that affect human remains, but much of the existing research has been developed in environments that differ significantly from those encountered in the Central Great Plains. This creates limitations when applying established models to regions like southeastern Nebraska, where decomposition is shaped by tallgrass prairie ecosystems, loess-derived soils, and strong seasonal variability. Addressing this gap is important for improving the accuracy and reliability of medicolegal interpretations.

This study evaluates how environmental conditions influence decomposition in southeastern Nebraska and proposes a regionally grounded framework for forensic taphonomic research. Drawing on existing literature, regional ecological data, …

The Use Of Chitosan-G-Poly (Acrylic Acid-Co-Acrylamide) In The Delivery Of Imatinib In The Small Intestine, Dawson Ohrt, Clint Everard

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

The use of hydrogels as drug delivery systems is the future of biotechnology, hydrogels can offer a new way of controlled delivery to specific areas of the body. Hydrogel also create new possibilities for treatments of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). There are many different types of hydrogels that can be used in drug delivery. Hydrogels offer customizability in regard to the release of drugs in specific environments. The chemical properties of hydrogels allow for them to be manipulated for specific functions such as release at a specific pH . The hydrogel being used in the study is Chitosan-G-Poly (Acrylic Acid …

Addressing Haitian High School Students’ Educational Challenges Through Their Self-Cultural Awareness, Gregory Louis

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The study is grounded in the understanding that culturally responsive education practices can promote academic success and empower students to navigate multiple cultural contexts. A review of literature highlighted the complexities of Haitian students' educational experiences, the impact of cultural identity on academic achievement, and the need for further research on this topic.

The research employed in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Haitian high school students and their parents to gather data on their experiences, perceptions, and attitudes towards education and cultural identity. The study aimed to contribute to a deeper understanding of the educational experiences of Haitian students and inform strategies …

Best-Practice Patient Education On Glp-1, Low-Glycemic Diet, Intermittent Fasting, And Exercise For Weight Loss In Obese Nondiabetics, Clara Green

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Executive Summary: Clinical Practice Guideline Best-Practice Patient Education on GLP-1, Low-Glycemic Diet, Intermittent Fasting, and Exercise for Weight Loss in Obese Nondiabetics by Clara Green MS, Walden University, 2020 BS, University of Texas at El Paso, 2014 Executive Summary Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice Walden University August 2026

Telomere-To-Telomere Genome Assembly And A Pangenome For The Rat, Kai Li, Julia L Ciosek, Sergey Koren, Adam M Phillippy, Yaming Zhu, William A Lauer, Shelise Y Brooks, Gerard G Bouffard, Brandon D Pickett, Beth L Dumont, Melissa L Smith, Theodore S Kalbfleisch, Peter A Doris

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

We report a complete rodent telomere-to-telomere genome assembly from the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus. Annotation was enriched with multi-tissue long-read RNA sequencing and uncovered numerous novel genes. Assembly of both sex chromosomes reveals the absence of gene coding in the presumed pseudo-autosomal regions and the presence of centromeric satellite repeats on distal chromosome Y (chrY). We provide evidence of meiotic conjunction between Xp and Yq. The genome assembly reveals several expanded autosomal regions enriched for testis-expressed genes. Finally, we have generated a pangenome from recent high-quality assemblies of 8 distinct inbred rat strain genomes. This allows the strain-specific distribution of …

Race And Ethnicity And Overall Survival In Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Daniel J. Zheng, Long Khuong, Catherine Aftandilian, Kira Bona, Emi H. Caywood, Caitlin W. Elgarten, Brian T. Fisher, Cody-Aaron L. Gathers, Taumoha Ghosh, M. Monica Gramatges, Gary Hettinger, Meret R. Henry, Yuan-Shung V Huang, Yimei Li, Kelly Maloney, Amir Mian, Tamara P Miller, Arunkumar Modi, Rajen Mody, Regina M. Myers, Haley Newman, Jose Ortiz, Alix E. Seif, Caroline Smith, Jamie Stokke, Naomi Winick, Jennifer J. Wilkes, Victor Wong, Richard Aplenc, Kelly D. Getz

Department of Pediatrics Faculty Papers

IMPORTANCE: Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black (hereafter, Black) children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have historically experienced worse survival outcomes compared with non-Hispanic White (hereafter, White) children. Understanding specific intermediate pathways underlying these outcome disparities is a critical step to directing interventional efforts and resources.

OBJECTIVE: To compare survival outcomes by race and ethnicity in a large contemporary cohort of pediatric patients with AML and to examine presentation acuity, frontline organ toxic effects, and relapse as potential mediators of any observed outcome disparities.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study was analyzed from April 2025 to January 2026 and included …

Parental Thermal Environment Affects Offspring Resilience To Winter And Spring Weather Anomalies, Ruzhuo Chen, Mariel Dunn, Caroline A. Curtis, Mariana Abarca

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Recent increases in the frequency and intensity of thermal anomalies can result in recurrent stressful weather events. Among annual insects, this phenomenon may expose parents and offspring to a succession of different weather anomalies (e.g. summer heatwaves and late spring frosts). Parental stress can alter offspring physiology and performance, potentially affecting their tolerance of environmental variation. We investigated the transgenerational effects of thermal anomalies on a univoltine wetland butterfly. We induced parental thermal stress by exposing pupae to a constant temperature, ranging from stressfully cold to stressfully hot (10 ◦C, 26 ◦C, 28 ◦C, 32 ◦C), for three days. Offspring …

Pre-Implementation Factors For Active Music Engagement (Ame): Barriers And Facilitators To Integrating An Evidence-Based Dyadic Intervention Into Pediatric Oncology Care., Kristin M. Story, Elizabeth Harman, Kristin Stegenga, Jelena Golubovic, Sheri L. Robb

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Pediatric cancer treatment is a difficult and distressing experience that often results in sustained, interrelated distress in young children and parents, and traumatic stress symptoms for some parents. Few evidence-based interventions address this dyadic distress. Active Music Engagement (AME) is a manualized, evidence-based music play intervention that significantly reduces distress in child/parent dyads and mitigates traumatic stress and improves well-being among highly distressed parents and those experiencing sociodemographic risk. Successfully integrating AME into standard care requires a systematic understanding of implementation factors. This study aimed to identify site-specific barriers and facilitators that influenced successful AME delivery during a recently …

Cone Vs. Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (Vmat) Stereotactic Radiosurgery (Srs) Planning For Multiple (7) Brain Targets: Dosimetric Tradeoffs And Clinical Decision Guidance, Juan Garcia

Masters Projects

Purpose: This study compared cone-based stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and single-isocenter volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for multiple (7) intracranial targets to evaluate differences in target coverage, conformality, dose falloff, and normal brain exposure.

Methods: A phantom-based study was performed using progressively increasing configurations of 10-mm spherical targets, from one to seven targets. Cone-based SRS and VMAT plans were evaluated using D99, CI100, CI50, gradient index (GI), maximum dose, V12Gy, and V5Gy.

Results: Both planning techniques achieved similar target coverage. Cone based SRS produced a steeper dose gradient, with a mean GI of 2.99 compared with 4.66 for VMAT ( …

Temperature And Hydrologic Context Influence Methane Variability In A Low-Salinity Marsh, Zoie Brauser

Dissertations and Theses

Coastal wetlands are biogeochemical hotspots that capture and transform carbon and nutrients. Wetland restoration is increasingly used as a climate mitigation strategy because of wetlands' capacity to sequester large amounts of carbon. However, low-salinity tidal marshes exhibit high variability in methane (CH₄) emissions, which could partially offset carbon sequestration under certain conditions. Understanding the drivers of CH₄ variability is crucial for restoration and conservation work. This project uses an observational research approach to assess the relationships between environmental factors and carbon dioxide (CO₂) and CH₄ soil gas fluxes in a restored low-salinity tidal marsh …

The Influence Of Urban Form On The Distribution Of Air Pollutants, Takin Khosrownia

Dissertations and Theses

Urban form exerts strong control on how pollution from outside a city is transported through the urban canopy and experienced at street level. This study uses the prognostic microclimate model ENVI-met to simulate an active pollutant released from an upwind rural highway and advected through an urban region represented by ten Local Climate Zone (LCZ) types. The cases share identical inflow and are isothermal, dry, and non-vegetated, so that differences among them are attributable to building morphology alone. PM2.5 is the primary exposure diagnostic. Its transport and ejection are characterized through plan-view contours, vertical plume sections, and spatially averaged streamwise …

Systematic Contextual Biases In Segmentnt Potentially Relevant To Other Nucleotide Transformer Models, Mark T.W. Ebbert, Anna Ho, Madeline L. Page, Bram Dutch, Blake K. Byer, Kristen L. Hankins, Hady Sabra, Bernardo Aguzzoli Heberle, Mark E. Wadsworth, Grant A. Fox, Bikram Karki, Caylin Hickey, David W. Fardo, Cody Bumgardner, Yasminka A. Jakubek, Cody J. Steely, Justin B. Miller

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

Recent advances in large language models have extended to genomic applications, yet model robustness relative to context is unclear. Here, we demonstrate two intrinsic biases (input sequence length and nucleotide position) affecting SegmentNT results, a model included with the Nucleotide Transformer that provides nucleotide-level predictions of biological features. We demonstrate that nucleotide position within the input sequence (beginning, middle, or end) alters the nature of SegmentNT’s raw prediction probabilities, which can be standardized to improve prediction consistency. While longer input sequence length improves model performance, diminishing returns suggest a surprisingly small input length of ∼3072 nucleotides might be sufficient for …

The Gut-Bladder Axis: How Symbiont Microbes Alter Urinary Tract Infections, Benjamin S. Olson

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections worldwide. Consequently, they are one of the leading indications for antibiotic prescription. Despite the typically successful treatment of an acute UTI, recurrent infections are exceedingly common, particularly among women. Nearly a quarter of otherwise healthy women will suffer recurrent UTIs (rUTI) after a primary UTI; why these select individuals are continually afflicted is unkown. There are no successful therapeutics to treat rUTI representing a gap not just in the medical toolkit but in our understanding of why rUTI is so prevalent. There are many hypotheses for the risk factors …

Role Of Central And Peripheral Nlrp3 In Parkinson's Disease Models, Elisa Carloni

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Neuroinflammation, particularly NLRP3 inflammasome activation, has been implicated in Parkinson's disease (PD) neurodegeneration, but the cell-type-specific contributions of NLRP3 activity remain poorly understood. This dissertation tested whether NLRP3 activation in microglia versus peripherally derived myeloid cells differentially drives Parkinsonian pathology. Microglial NLRP3 gain-of-function was achieved using Nlrp3^L351P crossed with Tmem119-CreER, both on an Nlrp3^⁻/⁻background. For peripheral myeloid cells, an analogous Ms4a3-Cre-driven strategy resulted in perinatal lethality of animals with Nlrp3^L351P restricted to granulocyte-monocyte progenitors (GMPs). Instead, we used Ms4a3-Cre tdTomato reporter mice generated on wild-type and Nlrp3^⁻/⁻backgrounds to fate-map GMP-derived …

New Locality Records And Future Habitat Suitability Of Sassanidotus Gracilis (Birula, 1900) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) In The Iran–Afghanistan–Pakistan Arid Belt, Ersen A. Yağmur, Kerim Çiçek, Homa Barati, Mohammad Moradi

Euscorpius

This study reports new locality records from Iran and a climate-based habitat suitability assessment for Sassanidotus gracilis (Birula, 1900) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in the Iran–Afghanistan–Pakistan arid belt. We document new specimens from Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran, with an updated distribution map and illustrations, and we model the species' potential distribution across south-eastern Iran and adjacent parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Habitat suitability was associated mainly with precipitation seasonality, precipitation of the wettest month, precipitation of the driest month, and slope. In an arid setting these rainfall variables are unlikely to indicate a need for moist habitat; they more plausibly track …

Resistance, Rebuttal And Risk: Exploring Black International Students’ Perceptions Of Racial Justice Organizing In Western Canada., Prof-Collins Ifeonu

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Based on 40 interviews, this study develops a three-fold typology that captures the heterogeneous nature of Black international students’ political engagement. Drawing on diasporic consciousness, I show how students negotiate their relationship to racial justice movements through race, ethnic identity, nationality, and temporary legal status. The findings underscore the need for a more nuanced understanding of Black students’ political subjectivities and brings attention to the incessant striving for personal belonging that these students undergo in their experiences of foreign study.

Not Quite Foreign, Never Fully Belonging: Racialization Of Southbound Policy Students In Taiwan, Garima Jha

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This paper critically examines how race and racialization shape the socio-cultural adjustment experiences of international students from New Southbound policy (NSP) countries in Taiwan. Drawing from a qualitative part conducted for my master’s thesis, which explored the coping strategies and adjustment processes of seven students from Southeast and South Asia through semi-structured interview, I reframe the data to center race as an analytical lens using the conceptual framework proposed by Glasgow (2009) which explains that racialization as the process through which social meanings are attached to perceived cultural or bodily differences, creating and maintaining hierarchies among groups. and Brondolo et …

Race, Racism, And Racialization In International Higher Education: A Transnational And Mobility-Aware Approach, Benjamin Denga, Louise Michelle Vital

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Race, racism, and racialization are increasingly recognized as central to understanding inequality in global higher education. Yet dominant frameworks in comparative and international higher education remain nationally bounded and citizenship-centered, offering limited insight into how race operates under conditions of mobility, legal temporariness, and transnational governance. As internationalization intensifies through student mobility, cross-border partnerships, and global knowledge circulation, racialized experiences are shaped by visa-dependent status, differential protection, global racial imaginaries and discourses, uneven or unequal geopolitical relations and institutional logics of internationalization (including marketization, risk management and revenue extraction). In this conceptual article we argue that race and racialization in …

Tardigrade Bio-Exploration Reproduction Research Payload, Natalie Brattain, Chloe Nissen, Kylie Nager, Peter Ulrich, Enoch Tonkine

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

The Tardigrade Bio-ExplorAtion Reproduction Research Payload (tBEARR) is an external International Space Station (ISS) standardized laboratory payload module mission under development by the Embry-Riddle Orbital Research Association (ERORA), an undergraduate research organization at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach, Florida. As a club-driven mission, tBEARR provides undergraduate students with hands-on experience across all phases of space research, including payload design, biological experimentation, systems integration, and mission operations. The mission is supported by a biology research team focused on stress-response biology, experimental design, and biological validation throughout ground testing, high-altitude balloon flights, and orbital operations.   The primary objective of tBEARR …

Evaluating Engagement-Based Learning Opportunities In Undergraduate Manufacturing Education, Salil Bapat, Ajay P. Malshe

MMRL-XMO Industrial Seminar

This paper presents an engagement-based learning framework implemented in an undergraduate mechanical engineering course on additive manufacturing, with a specific focus on metal additive manufacturing (AM). The course integrated in-class discussion of AM fundamentals, discussing processes, materials, and designs with parallel semester-long team-based activities for encouraging and increasing hands-on student engagement. The paper specifically elaborates on the implementation of the project activity, focused on the design and manufacturing of bio-inspired lightweight lattice structures. The outcomes and reflections demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in enhancing student engagement and complement the in-class lectures while also presenting future opportunities for improvements. This …

Bioinspired Lightweight Lattices For Thermal Management And Structural Stiffness: A Simulation Study, Shivani Pandit, Vinay Kenny, Salil Bapat, Ajay Malshe

MMRL-XMO Industrial Seminar

The evolution of lightweight biological structures for thermal regulation and structural stiffness, driven by multifunctionality requirements and ecological environments, provides a valuable blueprint for the development of lattice structures capable of both heat dissipation and mass reduction. Biological systems such as butterfly wing scales, weevil exoskeleton, toucan beak, pomelo peel, and other hierarchical porous morphologies exhibit highly optimized geometries that balance thermal management, mechanical performance, and lightweighting. Engineering lattice structures, including both strut-based and surface-based lattice topologies, offer analogous design strategies that can replicate these biological functionalities while remaining tailorable to not only the functionality and application-specific requirements but also …

Hybrid Bio-Inspired Design Approach For Lightweighting In Additive Manufacturing: A Feasibility Study, Ryan Capstick, Shivani P. Pandit, Salil Bapat

MMRL-XMO Industrial Seminar

This paper explores the feasibility of extracting biological design information from multiple species for manufacturing functional lightweight architectures. Biology offers a vast range of designs, materials, and organizational strategies to achieve these goals. Over the past few years, additive manufacturing (AM) has been increasingly applied to manufacture various bio-inspired lattice geometries. Commonly, this approach involves taking inspiration from one specific biological example for manufacturing and testing. However, converging multiple biological design ideas into a single engineering structure for manufacturing is rarely reported. In this work, design inspirations from two biological species (cuttlefish and mantis shrimp) are combined to model various …

Applications Of A Swarm-Behavior Model On Existing Satellite Constellations, Naomi Lee

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

The scope of this work explores biological swarm behavior and its application to low- and medium-sized Earth orbit satellite constellation systems. Existing constellation structures have predetermined orbits, meaning there is little adaptivity in the spacing and interactions between satellites. This allows for formation disruption by atmospheric perturbations in lower Earth orbit trajectories but can be countered with interactive controls that help with structure stability. This adaptive spacing and control can also be applied in MEO constellations in coverage and positioning optimization. In ‘mimicking’ this swarm behavior in starling murmurations, the separation, alignment, and cohesion flocking behavior of satellite groupings will …

Apical-Out Lung Organoids: A Platform For Spaceflight And Cf Research, Valeria Jimenez, Ally Schwennesen

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

A genetic condition known as cystic fibrosis (CF) is brought on by mutations in the CFTR gene, which results in chronic lung inflammation and impaired chloride ion transport. CF bronchial epithelial cells enable direct comparison of disease pathology, while normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells offer an essential model for researching airway physiology. Realistic modeling of respiratory tissue and its reaction to environmental stressors like microgravity is made possible by the creation of 3D lung organoids from these cells. In this project, we developed apical-out organoids, which expose the apical surface of epithelial cells to the external environment. These organoids …

Investigation Of Biofilm Formation And Osmotic Stress Tolerance Of Nonmotile Escherichia Coli In Simulated Microgravity, Tyler Jenkins

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Simulated microgravity presents multiple physiological stressors for astronauts, including bone demineralization, muscle loss, and weakening of the immune system. Bacteria serve as viable model organisms to study physiological changes because of their abundance in the human digestive system and skin. Motility in bacteria plays a significant role in cell survival, but few studies have been conducted on microgravity’s effect on motility phenotypes. While motile strains like Escherichia coli K12 have been studied extensively under microgravity conditions, the effects of simulated microgravity on non-motile strains are largely unknown. To better understand this relationship, the nonmotile E. coli MG1655 strain was inoculated …

Chemical Profiling Of Star Anise (Illicium Verum) Via Gc–Ms: Identifying Compounds With Pharmaceutical Potential, Legacy Wilson, Yegor Bushnev

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Title: Chemical Profiling of Star Anise (Illicium verum) via GC–MS: Identifying Compounds with Pharmaceutical Potential   Abstract: Star anise (Illicium verum) has been used for both medicinal and culinary applications due to its diverse bioactive compounds. It is a primary natural source of shikimic acid (𝐶7𝐻10𝑂5), a key precursor in the synthesis of the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu), used to treat influenza. Additionally, star anise has been used to treat respiratory and digestive conditions and is widely used for flavoring due to its licorice-like aroma, mainly from trans-anethole (𝐶10𝐻12𝑂) , its major component. Previous studies have also demonstrated mild central nervous …

Metabolic Regulation And Immunity In The Spaceflight Environment, Graeme Grainger, Riley Dienna, Astrid Senko, Angela Cebula, Arden Rodriguez Arden Rodriguez

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Long-duration spaceflight exposes astronauts to chronic ionizing radiation and microgravity that disrupts homeostasis in the immune system and cellular metabolism. While simulated spaceflight models demonstrate altered T-cell polarization and sex-dependent shifts toward regulatory phenotypes, the metabolic mechanisms driving these immune changes remain unclear. Immune cell function is tightly linked to metabolic programming, with effector T cells relying on glycolysis and regulatory T cells favoring oxidative metabolism, making them highly sensitive to shifts in nutrient availability and redox balance. Emerging research further suggests that neutrophils act as metabolic regulators capable of reshaping the immune microenvironment through oxidative stress, cytokine production, and …

Effects Of Human-Animal Interaction On Positive Youth Development: A Replication Study, Allison Pachunka, Jay Jeffries, Lisa Karr, Lena Luck, Bryan A. Reiling, Douglas H. Schultz, Jeffrey R. Stevens

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Interacting with animals can improve health and well-being across the lifespan. Some programs such as 4-H and FFA center around youth interacting with animals, potentially enhancing youth development. Mueller (2014) investigated whether these interactions and attitudes about animals influenced measures of positive youth development. The aim of our studies was to replicate Mueller’s methods and extend her work by evaluating whether membership in animal-focused youth programs moderate associations between interactions, attitudes, and positive youth development. We did not find strong relationships among human–animal inter-action and positive youth development, which failed to replicate Mueller’s findings. However, we did find relationships between …

Future Meteorological Droughts In The Southeastern Us, Kunal Bhardwaj, C. Prakash Khedun, Abdul A. Khan

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

The Southeastern U.S., despite its humid climate, experiences recurrent meteorological droughts which impact agricultural, water resources, ecological systems, and the economy and society. Knowledge of future drought conditions can guide adaptation efforts. Here, we evaluate historical and projected droughts using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) computed from an ensemble of eight bias-corrected Global Climate Models (GCMs) from the Climate Model Intercomparison Phase-6 (CMIP6). The historical performance (1950–2014) of the GCM’s mean was benchmarked against gridded observations from the Climate Research Unit (CRU). Future changes were assessed under 1.5°C, 2.0°C, and 3.0°C global warming levels.We …

Nftdve-1.0 Caldwell Non-Invasive Fluid & Transport Discovery / Validation Engine A Modular, Quantitative, Artifact-Resistant Open-Hardware Research Instrument For Discovering, Comparing, And Reproducing Non-Invasive Transport Mechanisms In Standardized Phantom Systems, Michael Victor Caldwell Mr.

Defensive Publications Series

NFTDVE-1.0 is a modular open-hardware research instrument designed to answer a basic engineering question:

Can a proposed non-invasive physical excitation produce measurable, repeatable, and independently verified transport through a standardized phantom under controlled laboratory conditions?

The system is deliberately designed as an experimental measurement platform rather than a therapeutic device.

NFTDVE-1.0 combines a replaceable phantom cartridge, controlled fluid circuit, independently measured excitation system, optical tracer measurement, pressure and flow instrumentation, temperature monitoring, vibration measurement, synchronized data acquisition, calibration procedures, artifact rejection, automated experimental sequencing, and a standardized data structure.

The central design principle is that NFTDVE must be capable of …