Engineering Commons^™

Assessment Of An Automated Calibration Of The Sebal Algorithm To Estimate Dry-Season Surface-Energy Partitioning In A Forest–Savanna Transition In Brazil, Leonardo Laipelt, Anderson Luis Ruhoff, Ayan Santos Fleischmann, Rafael Henrique Bloedow Kayser, Elisa De Mello Kich, Humberto Ribeiro Da Rocha, Christopher Michael Usher Neale

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Evapotranspiration (ET) provides a strong connection between surface energy and hydrological cycles. Advancements in remote sensing techniques have increased our understanding of energy and terrestrial water balances as well as the interaction between surface and atmosphere over large areas. In this study, we computed surface energy fluxes using the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) algorithm and a simplified adaptation of the CIMEC (Calibration using Inverse Modeling at Extreme Conditions) process for automated endmember selection. Our main purpose was to assess and compare the accuracy of the automated calibration of the SEBAL algorithm using two different sources of meteorological …

Treenuts And Groundnuts In The Eat-Lancet Reference Diet: Concerns Regarding Sustainable Water Use, Davy Vanhama, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The EAT-Lancet universal healthy reference diet recommends an increase in the consumption of healthy foods, among which treenuts and groundnuts. Both are, however, water-intensive products, with a large water footprint (WF) per unit of mass and protein and already today contribute to blue water stress in different parts of the world. The envisaged massive required increase in nut production to feed a global population with this reference diet, needs to occur in a water-sustainable way. In this paper, we identify and quantify where current nut production contributes to local blue water stress and discuss options for water-sustainable nut production. We …

Water Productivity Benchmarks: The Case Of Maize And Soybean In Nebraska, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Christopher Michael Usher Neale, Chittaranjan Ray, Haishun Yang

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Water productivity benchmarks for irrigated and rainfed agriculture will provide relevant information to manage scarce water resources and control groundwater level decline. We analyze the temporal and spatial variation of the water productivity (WP) of maize and soybean in Nebraska, with WP defined as harvested crop weight per total evapotranspiration. The results show that WP of both maize and soybean increase from west to east within Nebraska and have increased over the last 25 years, mainly due to the increase in crop yields (land productivity). We derive WP benchmarks for each crop per climate zone. Increasing actual WPs in the …

Potential Of Using Spectral Vegetation Indices For Corn Green Biomass Estimation Based On Their Relationship With The Photosynthetic Vegetation Sub-Pixel Fraction, Luan Peroni Venancio, Everardo Chartuni Mantovani, Cibele Hummel Do Amaral, Christopher M.U. Neale, Ivo Zution Gonçalves, Roberto Filgueiras, Fernando Coelho Eugenio

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Crop biomass (Bio) is one of the most important parameters of a crop, and knowledge of it before harvest is essential to help farmers in their decision making. Both green and dry Bio can be estimated from vegetation spectral indices (VIs) because they have a close relationship with accumulated absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR), which is proportional to total Bio. The aims of this study were to analyze the potential capacity of spectral vegetation indices in estimating corn green biomass based on their relationship with the photosynthetic vegetation sub-pixel fraction derived from spectral mixture analysis and to analyze the best …

Ferrihydrite Reduction Increases Arsenic And Uranium Bioavailability In Unsaturated Soil, Arindam Malakar, Michael Kaiser, Daniel D. Snow, Harkamal Walia, Banajarani Panda, Chittaranjan Ray

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Redox driven mobilization and plant uptake of contaminants under transiently saturated soil conditions need to be clarified to ensure food and water quality across different irrigation systems. We postulate that solid-phase iron reduction in anoxic microsites present in the rhizosphere of unsaturated soil is a key driver for mobilization and bioavailability of contaminants under nonflooded irrigation. To clarify this, two major crops, corn and soybean differing in iron uptake strategies, were grown in irrigated synthetic soil under semiarid conditions with gravimetric moisture content ∼12.5 ± 2.4%. 2-line ferrihydrite, which was coprecipitated with uranium and arsenic, served as the only iron …

Use Of Multiple Environment Variety Trials Data To Simulate Maize Yields In The Ogallala Aquifer Region: A Two Model Approach, Vaishali Sharda, Mesfin Mekonnen, Chittaranjan Ray, Prasanna H. Gowda

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

With a long-term goal to optimize use of groundwater in the Ogallala Aquifer Region (OAR) to sustain food production systems, this study was conducted to calibrate Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) and AquaCrop crop modeling platforms to simulate maize production at a regional scale using historic datasets. Calibration of the models with local crop growth data and crop management practices is important, but usually this in-season crop growth information is not available. This study determined the possibility of using maize variety trial data for the evaluation of the CSM-Crop Estimation through Resources and Environmental Synthesis-Maize and AquaCrop models …

Calibrating The Highway Capacity Manual Arterial Travel Time Reliability Model, Ernest Tufuor, Laurence Rilett, Li Zhao

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The latest edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM-6) includes, for the first time, a methodology for estimating and predicting the average travel time distribution (TTD) of urban streets. Travel time reliability (TTR) metrics can then be estimated from the TTD. The HCM-6 explicitly considers five key sources of travel time variability. A literature search showed no evidence that the HCM-6 TTR model has ever been calibrated with empirical travel time data. More importantly, previous research showed that the HCM-6 underestimated the empirical TTD variability by 70% on a testbed in Lincoln, Nebraska. In other words, the HCM-6 TTR metrics …

Analysis Of Component Errors In The Highway Capacity Manual Travel Time Reliability Estimations For Urban Streets, Ernest Tufuor, Laurence Rilett

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The Highway Capacity Manual 6th edition (HCM6) includes a new methodology to estimate and predict the distribution of average travel times (TTD) for urban streets. The TTD can then be used to estimate travel time reliability (TTR) metrics. Previous research on a 0.5-mi testbed showed statistically significant differences between the HCM6 estimated TTD and the corresponding empirical TTD. The difference in average travel time was 4 s that, while statistically significant, is not important from a practical perspective. More importantly, the TTD variance was underestimated by 70%. In other words, the HCM6 results reflected a more reliable testbed than field …

Measuring The Occurrence Of Antibiotics In Surface Water Adjacent To Cattle Grazing Areas Using Passive Samplers, Nasrin Naderi Beni, Daniel D. Snow, Elaine D. Berry, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Tiffany Messer, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

A wide variety of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals are used in livestock production systems and residues passed to the environment, often unmetabolized, after use and excretion. Antibiotic residuesmay be transported frommanure-treated soils via runoff and are also capable of reaching surface and groundwater systems through a variety of pathways. The occurrence and persistence of antibiotics in the environment is a concern due to the potential for ecological effects and proliferation of environmental antibiotic resistance in pathogenic organisms. In the present study, the occurrence and seasonal variation of 24 commonly-used veterinary antibiotics was evaluated in surface water adjacent to several livestock …

Perceived Neighborhood: Preferences Versus Actualities, Saeed Moradi, Ali Nejat, Da Hu, Souparno Ghosh

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

Housing recovery plays a key role in the overall restoration of a community. A multitude of factors affect housing recovery, many of which are associated with interactions of residents with their perceived neighborhoods. Targeting perceived neighborhoods rather than administratively defined measures of land helps with devising recovery plans that could better address social preferences of the residents. However, such measures are commonly subject to collection of information via expensive and time-consuming surveys. The current research aims to contribute to the domain by exploring the relationship between perception of households of their neighborhood anchors (perceived anchors) and the anchors that exist …

Maker Fridays: Engaging Rural And Underrepresented High School Students In Pre-Engineering Design And Creativity, Michelle Howell-Smith, Kirstie Bash

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

The engineering field struggles to develop sufficient interest and sustained participation across underrepresented demographic groups including women and individuals from rural, Hispanic, or Native American origin. It is critical to foster interest in engineering during formative years when students are deciding career paths. Northeast Community College (Northeast) addressed the shortage of diverse students entering into engineering fields by developing a course to engage rural and underrepresented high school students in maker design and creativity and to determine best practices that attract and retain these students. The Maker Fridays pre-engineering course was part of the Fridays@Northeast program that targets high school …

Hierarchical Mechanisms Of Lateral Interactions In High- Performance Fibers, Taylor A, Stockdale, Daniel P. Cole, Jeffrey M. Staniszewski, Michael R. Roenbeck, Dimitry Papkov, Steve R. Lustig, Youris A. Dzenis, Kenneth E. Strawhecker

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The processing conditions used in the production of advanced polymer fibers facilitate the formation of an oriented fibrillar network that consists of structures spanning multiple length scales. The irregular nature of fiber tensile fracture surfaces suggests that their structural integrity is defined by the degree of lateral (interfacial) interactions that exist within the fiber microstructure. To date, experimental studies have quantified interfacial adhesion between nanoscale fibrils measuring 10−50 nm in width, and the global fracture energy through applying peel loads to fiber halves. However, a more in-depth evaluation of tensile fracture indicates that fiber failure typically occurs at an intermediate …

Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Balance And Walking Improvements In An Adolescent With Cerebral Palsy (Gmfcs Ii) And Autism After Motor-Assisted Elliptical Training, Guilherme Manna Cesar, Thad W. Buster, Judith M. Burnfield

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Purpose: To quantify the impact of motor-assisted elliptical (ICARE) training on cardiorespiratory fitness, balance and walking function of an adolescent with walking limitations due to cerebral palsy.

Materials and methods: A thirteen-year-old boy with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (Gross Motor Function Classification System II) and autism participated. Peak oxygen consumption (peak VO₂, primary outcome measure), oxygen cost of walking, Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS), modified Timed Up and Go (mTUG), 2-Minute Walk Test (2MWT), and gait characteristics (speed, cadence, step length, single support time) were assessed prior to and after completion of 24 sessions of moderate- to vigorous- intensity ICARE …

An Integrated Computational And Experimental Study To Investigate Staphylococcus Aureus Metabolism, Mohammad Mazharul Islam, Vinai C. Thomas, Matthew Van Beek, Jong-Sam Ahn, Abdulelah A. Alqarzaee, Chunyi Zhou, Paul D. Fey, Kenneth W. Bayles, Rajib Saha

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Staphylococcus aureus is a metabolically versatile pathogen that colonizes nearly all organs of the human body. A detailed and comprehensive knowledge of staphylococcal metabolism is essential to understand its pathogenesis. To this end, we have reconstructed and experimentally validated an updated and enhanced genome-scale metabolic model of S. aureus USA300_FPR3757. The model combined genome annotation data, reaction stoichiometry, and regulation information from biochemical databases and previous strain-specific models. Reactions in the model were checked and fixed to ensure chemical balance and thermodynamic consistency. To further refine the model, growth assessment of 1920 nonessential mutants from the Nebraska Transposon Mutant Library …

Biotech Connector Brochure

Biotech Connector

The Biotech Connector represents an important opportunity to serve the economic needs of the people of Nebraska through further diversification of Nebraska's economy, and by helping forge and illuminate a pathway to jobs in the biotechnology space for Nebraska students.

The Biotech Connector is 7,700 sq. ft. of well-equipped wet-lab space located on Nebraska Innovation Campus. We provide incubation space and services to bioscience startups and high-growth biotech and research-based businesses.

Wet lab space provides aspiring startups and technology businesses with access to very expensive laboratory equipment that would be outside of the budget of most startups. Lack of access …

Three-Dimensional Characterization Of Peripapillary Retinal Pigment Epithelium-Basement Membrane Layer In Patients Following Lumbar Puncture, Junfei Tong, Pengfei Dong, Sachin Kedar, Deepta Ghate, Linxia Gu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Purpose: To develop and test an innovative semi-automatic method for quantifying the three-dimensional morphology of the peripapillary retinal pigment epithelium-basement membrane (ppRPE/BM) layer, with application to lumbar puncture (LP) patients. Methods: Nineteen patients undergoing LP were recruited. The optic nerve head images of both eyes were acquired in 12 radial directions using optical coherence tomography (OCT) before and after LP. For each OCT image, the ppRPE/BM layer was automatically segmented with manual corrections by independent graders when necessary. The linear regression model of the ppRPE/BM layer was fitted using the least squares approach, and the ppRPE/BM layer angle was measured …

Roboticdeviceswithonboard Control And Related Systems And Devices, Shane Michael Farritor, Erik Mumm, Philip Chu, Nishant Kumar, Jason Dumpert, Yutaka Tsutano

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The embodiments disclosed herein relate to various medical device components, including components that can be incorporated into robotic and/or in vivo medical devices. Certain embodiments include various modular medical devices for in vivo medical procedures.

Comparative Analysis Of Single-Cell Transcriptomics In Human And Zebrafish Oocytes, Handan Can, Sree K. Chanumolu, Elena Gonzalez-Muñoz, Sukumal Prukudom, Hasan H. Otu, Jose Cibelli

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Background: Zebrafish is a popular model organism, which is widely used in developmental biology research. Despite its general use, the direct comparison of the zebrafish and human oocyte transcriptomes has not been well studied. It is significant to see if the similarity observed between the two organisms at the gene sequence level is also observed at the expression level in key cell types such as the oocyte.

Results: We performed single-cell RNA-seq of the zebrafish oocyte and compared it with two studies that have performed single-cell RNA-seq of the human oocyte. We carried out a comparative analysis of genes expressed …

Cdc42-Dependent Transfer Of Mir301 From Breast Cancer-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Regulates The Matrix Modulating Ability Of Astrocytes At The Blood–Brain Barrier, Golnaz Morad, Cassandra C. Daisy, Hasan H. Otu, Towia A. Libermann, Simon T. Dillon, Marsha A. Moses

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Breast cancer brain metastasis is a major clinical challenge and is associated with a dismal prognosis. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the early stages of brain metastasis can provide opportunities to develop efficient diagnostics and therapeutics for this significant clinical challenge. We have previously reported that breast cancer-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) breach the blood–brain barrier (BBB) via transcytosis and can promote brain metastasis. Here, we elucidate the functional consequences of EV transport across the BBB. We demonstrate that brain metastasis-promoting EVs can be internalized by astrocytes and modulate the behavior of these cells to promote extracellular matrix remodeling in vivo. We …

Ieee Access Special Section Editorial: Green Signal Processing For Wireless Communicationsand Networking, Wen-Long Chin, David Shiung, Yi Qian, Woongsup Lee, Andres Kwasinki, Yansha Deng

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Role Of Interfacial Transition Zones In The Fracture Of Cu/V Nanolamellar Multilayers, Siyuan Wei, Shijian Zheng, Lifeng Zhang, Yue Liu, Jian Wang, Xianping Wang, Jiangwei Wang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Plastic deformation and fracture behavior of Cu/V nanoscale metallic multilayers (NMMs) were systematically investigated through in situ transmission electron microscopy testing. Two different types of interfaces: sharp interfaces and interfacial transition zones (ITZs), formed in the as-fabricated Cu/V NMMs. Upon deformation, sharp interfaces and ITZs exert distinct influences on the fracture behavior of Cu/V NMMs. Sharp interfaces can impede the crack propagation by deflecting the crack propagation and blunting the crack tip, while the ITZs can induce microcracks and facilitate the fracture process. These findings shed light on the important roles of interface structures in the deformation of a broad …

Exploring The Nebraska Rural Poll, 2020, Rebecca Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Bradley Lubben, L.J. Mcelravy, Timothy Meyer, Steve Schulz, Jason L. Weigle

Rural Futures Institute: Publications

The Nebraska Rural Poll was initiated in 1996. Over the past 24 years, input has been gathered from over 64,000 nonmetropolitan Nebraskans. 102 separate reports have been produced covering 31 unique topics

Trend Analysis

Subgroup Comparisons

Some questions have been repeated at various intervals of time

Low- And High-Drag Intermittencies In Turbulent Channel Flows, Rishav Agrawal, Henry C.-H. Ng, Ethan A. Davis, Jae Sung Park, Michael D. Graham, David J.C. Dennis, Robert J. Poole

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Recent direct numerical simulations (DNS) and experiments in turbulent channel flow have found intermittent low- and high-drag events in Newtonian fluid flows, at Reτ = uτh/ν between 70 and 100, where uτ, h and ν are the friction velocity, channel half-height and kinematic viscosity, respectively. These intervals of low-drag and high-drag have been termed “hibernating” and “hyperactive”, respectively, and in this paper, a further investigation of these intermittent events is conducted using experimental and numerical techniques. For experiments, simultaneous measurements of wall shear stress and velocity are carried out in a channel flow facility using hot-film anemometry (HFA) and laser …

Development Of An Ndt Tool For In-Situ Assessment Of Prestress Loss, Bibo Zhong, Jinying Zhu, George Morcous

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The research objective is to develop a non-destructive testing (NDT) method to evaluate the prestress loss in prestressed concrete bridge girders using ultrasonic waves. The work principle is based on acoustoelastic effect - ultrasonic wave velocity varies with stress level in prestressed concrete. A self-reference test setup was proposed to measure wave velocity in two orthogonal directions (prestress and unstressed directions) in the girder. This setup will be able to reduce effects of material variation and temperature change.

The concept was first validated on small concrete specimens (cylinders and beams) in laboratory. A signal analysis algorithm was developed to reliably …

High‐ And Low‐Molecular‐Weight Chitosan Act As Adjuvants During Single‐Dose Influenza A Virus Protein Vaccination Through Distinct Mechanisms, Anna T. Lampe, Eric Farris, Deborah M. Brown, Angela K. Pannier

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The investigation of new adjuvants is essential for the development of efficacious vaccines. Chitosan (CS), a derivative of chitin, has been shown to act as an adjuvant, improving vaccine‐induced immune responses. However, the effect of CS molecular weight (MW) on this adjuvanticity has not been investigated, despite MW having been shown to impact CS biological properties. Here, two MW variants of CS were in- vestigated for their ability to enhance vaccine‐elicited immune responses in vitro and in vivo, using a single‐dose influenza A virus (IAV) protein vaccine model. Both low‐ molecular‐weight (LMW) and high‐molecular‐weight (HMW) CS‐induced interferon regulatory factor pathway …

Predicting Escherichia Coli Loads In Cascading Dams With Machine Learning: An Integration Of Hydrometeorology, Animal Density And Grazing Pattern, Olufemi P. Abimbola, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Tiffany Messer, Elaine D. Berry, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, Samuel Hansen

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Accurate prediction of Escherichia coli contamination in surface waters is challenging due to considerable uncertainty in the physical, chemical and biological variables that control E. coli occurrence and sources in surface waters. This study proposes a novel approach by integrating hydro-climatic variables as well as animal density and grazing pattern in the feature selection modeling phase to increase E. coli prediction accuracy for two cascading dams at the US Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC), Nebraska. Predictive models were developed using regression techniques and an artificial neural network (ANN). Two adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) structures including subtractive clustering and fuzzy …

Investigating Multidimensional Characteristics Of Noise Signals With Tones From Building Mechanical Systems And Their Effects On Annoyance, Joonhee Lee, Lily M. Wang

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

This paper investigates multidimensional characteristics of tonal noise from heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems, besides loudness and tonality, to improve prediction of annoyance. Two studies were conducted: multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis to determine what other perceptual signal characteristics are important and perceptual weight analysis (PWA) to understand the impact of multiple tones in a signal. In the MDS study, paired comparison tasks were conducted to gather similarity and annoyance data. Results show that the latent perceptual dimensions are related to the signal’s tonality, loudness, sharpness, and roughness. Including metrics for these perceptions, except roughness, improves the performance of earlier annoyance …

Cdc42-Dependent Transfer Of Mir301 From Breast Cancer-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Regulates The Matrix Modulating Ability Of Astrocytes At The Blood–Brain Barrier, Golnaz Morad, Cassandra C. Daisy, Hasan H. Otu, Towia A. Libermann, Simon T. Dillon, Marsha A. Moses

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Breast cancer brain metastasis is a major clinical challenge and is associated with a dismal prognosis. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the early stages of brain metastasis can provide opportunities to develop efficient diagnostics and therapeutics for this significant clinical challenge. We have previously reported that breast cancer-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) breach the blood–brain barrier (BBB) via transcytosis and can promote brain metastasis. Here, we elucidate the functional consequences of EV transport across the BBB. We demonstrate that brain metastasis-promoting EVs can be internalized by astrocytes and modulate the behavior of these cells to promote extracellular matrix remodeling in vivo. We …

Power-Over-Tether Uas Leveraged For Nearly Indefinite Meteorological Data Acquisition In The Platte River Basin, Daniel Rico, Carrick Detweiler, Francisco Munoz-Arriola

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

The integration of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) has increased in the field of agriculture. These systems can provide data that was previously difficult to obtain to help increase efficiency and production. Typical commercial off the shelf (COTS) UASs have significant limitations in the form of small payloads, and short flight times which inhibit their ability to provide significant quantities of useful data. We present the development of a novel power-over-tether UAS that leverages the physical presence of the tether to integrate sensors at multiple altitudes along the tether. The UAS can acquire data nearly indefinitely to sense atmospheric conditions and …

Irrigation-Yield Production Functions And Irrigation Water Use Effciency Response Of Drought-Tolerant And Non-Drought-Tolerant Maize Hybrids Under Different Irrigation Levels, Population Densities, And Environments, Suat Irmak, Ali T. Mohammed, William Kranz, C. D. Yonts, Simon Van Donk

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Irrigation-yield production functions (IYPFs), irrigation water use effciency (IWUE), and grain production per unit of applied irrigation of non-drought-tolerant (NDT) and drought-tolerant (DT) maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids were quantified in four locations with different climates in Nebraska [Concord (sub-humid), Clay Center (transition zone between sub-humid and semi-arid); North Platte (semi-arid); and, Scottsbluff (semi-arid)] during three growing seasons (2010, 2011, and 2012) at three irrigation levels (fully-irrigated treatment (FIT), early cut-off (ECOT), and rainfed (RFT)) under two plant population densities (PPDs) (low-PPD; 59,300 plants ha^-1; and, high-PPD, 84,000 plants ha^-1). Overall, DT hybrids’ performance was …