Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

2017 Nebraska Water Leaders Academy - Final Report, Mark E. Burbach, H. Reiners-Hild

Conservation and Survey Division

Twenty participants completed the 2017 Water Leaders Academy bringing the total number of graduates to 101 since the inception of the program in 2011. Assessment of participants’ transformational leadership skills, champion of innovation skills, water knowledge and engagement, civic capacity, and entrepreneurial leadership behaviors showed a significant increase over the course of the year, from both participants’ and their raters’ perspectives. Feedback from participants was highly positive and constructive. Participant concerns were addressed, and only minor changes are planned for the 2018 Academy curriculum. Results of the program assessment indicate that the curriculum is meeting Academy objectives. Most importantly, Alumni …

Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy Of "-Fe2o3, Imran Ahamed, Rohilt Pathak, Arti Kashyap

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

The epsilon Fe₂O₃ phase of iron oxide has been studied to understand the spin structure and the magnetocrystalline anisotropy in the bulk and in thin films of "-Fe₂O₃ and Co-doped "-Fe₂O₃. The preferential magnetization direction in the nanoparticles of "-Fe₂O₃ is along the a-axis [M. Gich et al., Chem. Mater. 18, 3889 (2006)]. Compared to the bulk band gap of 1.9 eV, the thin-film band gap is reduced to 1.3 eV in the Co-free films and to 0.7 eV in the film with partial …

Texture Development And Coercivity Enhancement In Cast Alnico 9 Magnets, Wenyong Zhang, Shah Valloppilly, Xingzhong Li, Lanping Yue, Ralph Skomski, Iver Anderson, Matthew Kramer, Wei Tang, Jeff Shield, David J. Sellmyer

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

The effect of Y addition and magnetic field on texture and magnetic properties of arc-melted alnico 9 magnets has been investigated. Small additions of Y (1.5 wt.%) develop a (200) texture for the arc-melted alnico 9 magnet. Such a texture is hard to form in cast samples. To achieve this goal, we set up a high-field annealing system with a maximum operation temperature of 1250⁰ C. This system enabled annealing in a field of 45 kOe with subsequent draw annealing for the solutionized buttons; we have been able to substantially increase remanence ratio and coercivity, from 0.70 and 1200 …

Prediction Of A Mobile Two-Dimensional Electron Gas At The Lasco3/Basno3(001) Interface, Tula R. Paudel, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

Evgeny Tsymbal Publications

Two-dimensional electron gases (2DEG) at oxide interfaces, such as LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ (001), have aroused significant interest due to their high carrier density (∼10¹⁴ cm⁻²) and strong lateral confinement (∼1 nm). However, these 2DEGs are normally hosted by the weakly dispersive and degenerate d bands (e.g., Ti-3d bands), which are strongly coupled to the lattice, causing mobility of such 2DEGs to be relatively low at room temperature (∼1 cm²/Vs). Here, we propose using oxide host materials with the conduction bands formed from s electrons to increase carrier mobility and soften its temperature dependence. Using …

Eliminate The Carbon Externality, Connor Mcfayden

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Before we do anything else, let’s establish two things: the global climate is changing at an alarming rate and the primary cause is human CO2 emissions. There is a worldwide scientific consensus on this fact. Even our own government, despite a remarkably vocal minority, has confirmed this. A report released this year by 13 government agencies identifies humans as the primary cause of global climate change and links this phenomenon to rising sea levels, increased incidence of droughts and floods, and the intensification of large storms. These events are the result of the carbon externality, the social costs of emissions …

A Forgotten Resource: Thorium, Daniel Rico

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The year is 1945, the morning of August 6^th, 8:16am to be exact. The United States just dropped the world’s first militarized atomic weapon on Hiroshima, Japan. With this singular act the world virtually witnessed the end of its second world war, the birth of warfare like never before, and the foreseeable death of nuclear power. With this act an aura of negativity and destruction accompanied the word nuclear that it would likely never be rid of despite untapped high grade energy potential that can outweigh its military application. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was composed of 64 …

Lithium-Ion Batteries: It’S Not About The Lithium., Jace Kranau

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Malnourished children and tired men chip away with ancient tools at Cobalt-containing rock for you to have the next best electronic device. The impoverished, artisanal workers of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) supply up to 25 percent of global Cobalt according to The Washington Post. The battery manufacturers don’t care. Their dominant thought is profit.

Artisanal workers are paid between two and three U.S. dollars a day. “We are suffering. And our suffering is for what?”, 29-year-old digger, Nathan Muyamba, told The Post.

The batteries in phones, laptops and for some, their cars, contain Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel …

Gmo Regulations Are Killing Biofuels, Megan Franklin

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Progress in creating profitable biofuels is being slowed down by strict regulations on genetically engineered (GE) crops (aka GMOs). Setbacks that biofuels face can be addressed with genetic engineering. However, public pushback and regulations make it extremely difficult to implement solutions. We should have more lenient regulations on GE crops so that we can speed up the progress of improving biofuels.

A genetically engineered crop is one that has DNA from a different species inserted into its own DNA. As a result from GE crop benefits, CO2 emissions were reduced by 26.7 billion kg in 2012, and poverty was alleviated …

Palm Oil: The Hidden Costs, Rachel Goehring

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

ENSC 230. Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policy

12/7/2017

Palm Oil: The Hidden Costs

Lurking behind your soaps, cosmetics, pantry groceries, and household cleaning supplies is a product killing endangered species in Southeast Asia. This same product is destroying the survival mechanisms for local communities in Southeast Asia while pumping large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. To keep its identity hidden, it uses over twenty different names on ingredient labels. What is this product? Palm oil. Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil in the world and increased demand for palm oil in our …

Cardboard Ban Is An Investment Opportunity, John Schwaninger

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Lincoln’s cardboard ban was a hot topic in 2016, but 2017 has shifted focus to the city’s recycling education contract. Gone is discussion of Mayor Chris Beutler’s failed, revived and ultimately victorious struggle to reform Lincoln’s recycling program. In its place, an air of financial discomfort stagnates over the city’s already troubled budget.

The cardboard ban will take effect April 2018. The recycling education program was drafted in part to support the ban by educating households about recycling drop-off locations and sorting requirements. However, the recycling education contract’s $850,000 cost raised eyebrows, undermining Beutler’s earlier effort.

The recycling education contract’s …

Crop Productivity In The Ag Belt On Borrowed Time, Logan Winters

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Most people by now have heard the terms “climate change” and global warming. Many acknowledge that it’s a problem, but they may not know how it can impact them directly. This is especially true for those living in the middle of the country, because most of the media attention goes to the coastal impacts of climate change. While putting adequate focus on the coastal impacts is a good start, since the most widespread and severe impacts will be coastal, but there needs to be more talk and discussion about the future impacts over the middle of the country. One big …

How Innovative Companies Gain From A Cap And Trade Agreement, Lucian Montgomery

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The purpose of both a cap and trade agreement and a carbon tax is to reduce emissions by setting a price on carbon. However, that is where the similarities end.

A cap and trade agreement gives a certain amount of allowances to each company that adds up to an emissions cap, allows companies to trade them. Companies only pay for carbon emissions if they produce more than the amount of allowances they are given, either by paying penalties to the government, or by buying more allowances from other companies. This creates a market for allowances, and based on demand, sets …

Building Our Way To A Better Future, Brad Shaner

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The potential demolishing of the Clean Power Plan by the federal government in early October is looking like a losing fight in our war against carbon emissions at one of the biggest sources of these emissions. But we can continue to fight in this war and make an even bigger impact by focusing our efforts on the most ordinary and consistent thing in our modern lives; the buildings we live and work in. Some would say that high efficiency or green buildings are a commodity that only the wealthy individuals or businesses can achieve, but this doesn’t have to be …

The Fossil Fuel Energy Industry Vs. The Endangered Species Act, Cody Willnerd

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

It was several weeks ago that the Congressional Republicans made a push to reform the landmark Endangered Species Act to make it more friendly to landowners and fossil fuel industries. They would do this by releasing species earlier on the ESA list than before and instead focus on species that are in the greatest of need of attention. The reform would also have agencies focus on the economic costs to deny listings of species, require the agency to listen towards states concerns, and limit payouts for attorney fees in ESA litigations. This would be incredibly damaging to many species that …

Energy Star Tax Holiday Simply Advertising Gimmick, Lauren Klaasmeyer

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

In January of this year, Senator Harr introduced Legislative Bill 325. From 12:01 A.M. on the first Friday of October through midnight of the first Sunday, all Energy Star products less than $1500 will be exempt from sales and use taxes. The special interest group, Nebraska Retail Federation, proposed the idea to Senator Harr. There was no move to advance the bill last session, so it could be brought back up this coming session or amended to another bill. When speaking with people at the capitol, it was said that the main reason it was not advanced was because of …

The Tax That Will Actually Do Something Is Not In The Current Bill, Steven Kirchner

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

If we are going to be talking about tax reform, we should be talking about solutions that will actually solve a problem. The combustion of fossil fuels has much more than environmental implications. Burning fossil fuels is a blatant catastrophe for our entire economic system. The current American energy market is entirely reliant on fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas). Negative externalities have flooded the American economic system because of the combustion of fossil fuels. A negative externality is a cost that indirectly affects someone outside of the economic transaction. That third party entity must bear the burden of …

Recent Increase In Deadly Storms, Westin Longacre

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

These last few years have hit us with some devastating storms that continue to wreck havoc on our earth. We have been hit with multiple storms that are so strong that they are predicted to happen every 50 years, so is God punishing us? Or do we have something to do with this? This issue should be a huge concern to us because who knows how many more of these devastating storms we can handle. When looking at why these tragic storms are happening more frequently the main factor that is leading to these events is the increase in atmospheric …

Wind Is Nebraska’S Future, With Or Without The Clean Power Plan, Megan Pamperin

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The Clean Power Plan was issued in October 2015. President Trump called for a review of the plan this March and on October 16^th, 2017 the EPA released a proposal to repeal it. The Clean Power Plan would have reduced Nebraska’s state emissions to 22,250,000 tons of carbon dioxide by 2024, down by about 5 million tons compared to 2012 emissions.¹ The new projection for 2020 without the plan is 34 million tons of CO₂ emitted.

Coal and other fossil fuel energy sources are the main culprits of these carbon emissions, and here in Nebraska coal …

Anaerobic Digestion In Nebraska, Anthony Leapley

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Climate change is a global crisis that can be fought by all locally. Nebraska is my home, and it’s one of nine states in the U.S. in which cows outnumber humans. Statistically, there are three cows for every person (1,868,516 humans to 6,150,000 cows). While we have fewer humans than cows, it’s not hard to understand that we rank very low in CO2 emissions when ranking all states in the country. However, our emission of the more potent greenhouse gas CH4, or methane, is significantly higher. Methane is released by cows via gas and manure, and it’s causing serious implications …

Recycling Clean Energy, Amanda Vaughn

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Nuclear energy is one of the cleanest sources of energy available. It does not produce carbon dioxide as the beta decay of Uranium is an exothermic spontaneous process that produces helium. Unfortunately, nuclear waste storage is a large problem in the United States, the cost of maintaining the waste storage facilities alone is 46.7 billion dollars. There is the constant threat of leaks and contaminated water leaking into drinking supplies. Then there is the danger of the current geological storage tanks lasting longer than humanity and spoiling the future environment as current nuclear waste takes millions of years to decompose …

Fossil Fuel Subsidies In America, Jackson Cutsor

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

Two of the most controversial topics in American politics today are climate change and the federal budget. Subsidies for energy generation fit into both categories.

Subsidies given to the energy industry artificially decrease the price of energy and electricity. Low energy prices help stimulate the market, however, the negative externalities like the social cost of carbon and political corruption are not taken into consideration.

Subsidies can come in many forms including: failure to impose external costs, tax breaks, and low interest loans. Even without imposing the social cost of carbon a removal of fossil fuel energy subsidies can have a …

Land Use Land Cover Change Effects On Southern Great Plains Precipitation, Alexandra Caruthers

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Great Plains land use has changed substantially over the last 160 years, altering the properties of the land through increased settlement and advances in irrigation. Changing the interface between the land and atmosphere has implications for the atmospheric boundary layer, the regional circulation, the local surface energy budget and resulting precipitation patterns. Land use land cover (LULC) changes are an important topic for this region due to its heavy dependence on agriculture. This study investigates differences in Southern Great Plains precipitation patterns between four LULC scenarios: the pre-settlement, 1920’s, Dust Bowl and present day eras. Using the Weather Research and …

Translating Statistical Species-Habitat Models To Interactive Decision Support Tools, Lyndsie S. Wszola, Victoria L. Simonsen, Erica F. Stuber, Caitlyn R. Gillespie, Lindsey N. Messinger, Karie L. Decker, Jeffrey J. Lusk, Christopher F. Jorgensen, Andrew A. Bishop, Joseph J. Fontaine

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Understanding species-habitat relationships is vital to successful conservation, but the tools used to communicate species-habitat relationships are often poorly suited to the information needs of conservation practitioners. Here we present a novel method for translating a statistical species-habitat model, a regression analysis relating ring-necked pheasant abundance to landcover, into an interactive online tool. The Pheasant Habitat Simulator combines the analytical power of the R programming environment with the user-friendly Shiny web interface to create an online platform in which wildlife professionals can explore the effects of variation in local landcover on relative pheasant habitat suitability within spatial scales relevant to …

The Impact Of Reduced Arctic Sea Ice Extent On Cryospheric Snowfall, Alexander Carne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Satellite observations show that sea ice extent in the Arctic has been declining from 1979 through present day, reaching record minimum extents in 2007 and 2012. Reduced sea ice extent allows for greater expanses of open water to interact with the Arctic atmosphere, potentially leading to changes in the Arctic climate. The greatest declines in Arctic sea ice extent have occurred in summer and autumn. During these seasons, it is likely that the decrease in Arctic sea ice extent led to an increase in atmospheric sensible and latent heat fluxes, possibly leading to increases in Arctic temperature and moisture. Increases …

Improving The Accuracy Of Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probe Estimate Of Soil Water Content Using Multiple Detectors And Remote Sensing Estimates Of Vegetation, Xiaochen Dong

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

The recently developed Cosmic-ray Neutron Probe (CRNP) for estimating soil water content (SWC) fills a critical measurement gap between point scale methods and large scale measurements collected from remote sensing. CRNP works by measuring the change in low-energy neutron intensity over time. However, the accuracy of CRNP to measure SWC is well known to be affected by other hydrogen sources (e.g. soil organic content, atmospheric water vapor, vegetation and surface water). This study focuses on the influence of rapidly growing vegetation in agricultural fields on the accuracy of the CRNP method. Here we use data from three long-term CRNP study …

Failing Food Supply: Permaculture's Potential, John Faltin

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Conventional agriculture is the currently leading production method to grow crops in the western hemisphere. Long-term sustainability of the system and all the components is secondary to producing high yields each growing season, which leads to issues such as erosion and reduced soil quality. Other agricultural production methods such as permaculture aim to build soil and improve quality every growing season. This experiment intends to look at the potential of permaculture to improve soil quality on small-scales at the end of each growing season. The parameters to gauge success are a larger concentration of macronutrients at the end of the …

An Observational And Modeling Study Of Mesoscale Airmasses With High Theta-E, Lawrence Wolfgang Hanft

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Typically, the cool side of an airmass boundary is stable to vertical motions due to its associated negative buoyancy. However, under certain conditions, the air on the cool side of the boundary can undergo a transition wherein it assumes an equivalent potential temperature and surface-based convective available potential energy that is higher than that of the airmass on the warm side of the boundary. The resultant airmass is herein referred to as a mesoscale airmass with high theta-e (MAHTE).

Results are presented from an observational and mesoscale modeling study designed to examine MAHTE characteristics and the processes responsible for MATHE …

Sulfur Isotope Variations In The Elk Creek Carbonatite Complex, Southeastern Nebraska, Usa, Emily Campbell

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Elk Creek Carbonatite Complex (ECCC) comprises eight different units of carbonatite and silicate rocks, including a magnetite-dolomite carbonatite that hosts the largest niobium deposit in the United States. This study focused on interpreting the first set of sulfur isotopes from this system to decipher between magmatic and secondary processes. Using sulfur isotope variations I was able to discriminate between hypogene and supergene mineralization, and measure (1) formation temperatures (2) possible sulfur source (3) degassing effects on isotopic composition, and (4) post-magmatic alteration. The groundwork for mapping and interpreting iron oxide alteration is also laid out in this thesis.

Hypogene …

Assessing Relationships Between Angling Effort And Larval Trematodes In Small Bluegill, Alexis Park

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

I wanted to determine if catch-and-release angling increased larval trematodes in small (50-160 mm) bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). I used angling effort as a proxy for amount of catch-and-release angling. I assumed bluegill assessed, due to their size and age, experienced catch-and-release events. I assessed larval trematode intensity, black spot (Crassiphiala bulboglossa), and white grub (Posthodiplostomum minimum centrarchi), in 750 bluegill. The first objective was to quantify the association between angling effort and reservoir area. Angling effort and reservoir area were positively correlated. The second objective was to determine if angling effort, reservoir area, bluegill …

Avian Diversity, Abundance, And Nest Success Among Managed Prairies And Agricultural Plots In Oklahoma And Texas, Phillip J. Leonard, Douglas R. Wood, Wayne E. Meyer

The Prairie Naturalist

Over the last 50 years, grassland birds experienced rapid declines due to habitat loss and degradation as a result of agricultural practices. Our objective was to document the diversity, abundance, and nest success of bird communities using managed prairie and agricultural plots at the Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in southern Oklahoma and Hagerman NWR in northern Texas. From April 1 to July 15, 2013–2014, point count surveys, nest searches, nest monitoring, and vegetation sampling were conducted among three habitat treatments: managed prairie, unharvested wheat, and fallow agricultural plots. Species richness values for potential nesting species were higher in managed …