Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Teacher, Medical Advisor, And Comedian Walk Into A Bar: Table For One, Everything Ai Can Do, Lorelai M. Kline

Student Scholar Symposium

As Generative AI continues to rise in popularity, AI chatbots have emerged as a promising solution for addressing students’ real-world needs. This presentation investigates the development process behind a series of specialized, personality-driven AI assistants—created via the Boodlebox platform—and examines how these chatbots enhance educational experiences and practical applications. The research uses progressive design methodologies, including persona development, natural language processing optimization, and user-centric testing protocols. Examples of personal bots include a historical assistant that interprets contemporary social scenarios through an 18th- to 19th-century perspective and a Spanish-speaking chatbot that leverages playful sarcasm to foster deeper engagement. Preliminary findings show …

Face Value: A Computational Approach To Subjective Impressions Of Faces, Kevin Kpankou

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Various computational models of first impressions have been developed to uncover the mechanisms driving these judgments. However, the implicit notion of a singular ``human'' often overlooks meaningful individual differences in beliefs, attitudes, and associations, as well as culturally grounded group-level constructs. In this paper, we extend Cultural Consensus Theory (CCT) to estimate culturally shared beliefs about faces by incorporating latent constructs structured around interpretable facial features extracted via computer vision algorithms. We apply our model to a large-scale dataset of people’s first impressions of faces. Our approach reveals a robust mapping between facial features and culturally constructed impressions, allowing us …

Indigenizing Aquaculture: In Pursuit Of An Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture System For Enhanced Self-Sufficiency In Akaroa Harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand, Cali R. Trainor

Capstone Collection

This study assessed the feasibility of integrating two pre-existing aquaculture activities in Akaroa Harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand into an integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) system. The cultivation of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) presents an opportunity to improve the sustainability of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) farming by introducing alternative food sources for salmon, which can be used to produce fish feed locally, enhancing the self-sufficiency of the community and boosting the holistic efficiency of the system. Macroinvertebrates residing in giant kelp wrack were collected, identified, and quantified to determine if any of the Macrocystis-associated specimens could serve as …

Towards Spatial Inversion Of Aerial Gamma-Ray Survey Data For Measurement Of Naturally Occurring Radioactivity, Daniel A. Haber

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Aerial gamma-ray surveying (AGRS) is used in geologic and environmental contexts to provide data on the surface spatial distribution of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) or other gamma-ray-emitting isotopes. The standard data reduction workflow for AGRS data involves a process whereby pointwise gamma-ray spectral data are denoised, corrected for numerous sources of background radiation and aircraft height, and are finally converted to physical values by empirical conversion factors. The reduced pointwise data are then typically spatially interpolated to form a continuous surface map.

This dissertation introduces and explores a novel spatial inversion method for reduced AGRS data that considers aircraft …

The Chemistry Of Color: A Comparative Analysis Of Natural And Synthetic Dyes In Textile Application, Caitlyn Pinaga Cpht

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

The Chemistry of Color: A Comparative Analysis of Natural and Synthetic Dyes in Textile Application examines how color functions at the intersection of chemistry, culture, and environmental responsibility. This project traces the evolution of dyeing from ancient natural pigment traditions, rooted in ecological knowledge, agricultural practices, and cultural identity, to the industrial rise of synthetic dyes, whose laboratory precision enabled unprecedented consistency, brightness, and global textile expansion. Through experimental swatch analysis, the study compares the behavior of natural dyes derived from plants and food sources with modern fiber-reactive and synthetic dye classes on a range of fibers including cotton, bamboo …

Patent Searching With Uspto, Derwent Innovation And Lens.Org, Ibis Anette Moreno-Lozano

Day Family Research Lab Workshop Series

No abstract provided.

My First Conversation With Chatgpt (February 22, 2023): Origins Of A Generative Dialogue, David Smith

Publications and Research

This working paper presents the first recorded interaction between the author and the generative AI system ChatGPT, written on February 22, 2023 during the initial weeks of a faculty sabbatical in Boston. The document preserves a complete and unedited transcript of an exploratory conversation conducted without predetermined research aims, marking the author’s first encounter with a large-language-model conversational interface. Although the exchange includes creative experimentation—including musical and poetic prompts—the discussion remains informal and wide-ranging, and no theoretical framework is articulated at this stage. Rather, this transcript is published as primary-source material documenting the moment of discovery and experimentation that precedes …

Evaluating How New York City’S Recycling And Organic Waste Systems Reduce Resource Waste And Methane Emissions, Zihan Cao

Publications and Research

This study analyzes New York City’s waste management systems, with a focus on food waste diversion, composting, and renewable energy initiatives, to assess their role in methane emission reduction and resource efficiency. The analysis highlights the relative effectiveness of different waste management pathways and suggests that community-scale composting and decentralized anaerobic digestion are associated with substantial methane reductions relative to cost.

Developing A Waste-To-Energy Assessment Framework Integrating Engineering And Policy Dimensions Using A Triple Bottom Line Approach, Izech Brian O. Edwin, King Harold A. Recto

Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering Faculty Publications

The management of municipal solid waste (MSW) in swiftly urbanizing Philippine cities has emerged as a critical concern in both energy and governance. Dependence on landfills is approaching critical thresholds as disposal sites near saturation, transportation costs escalate, and host communities increasingly resist garbage transfers. In response, this study proposes a comprehensive Waste-to-Energy (WtE) assessment framework that integrates engineering evaluation with policy and stakeholder analysis to support sustainable decision- making.

Using Baguio City as a case study, the framework applies a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach to evaluate three waste management scenarios: (1) current landfill-dominated practices, (2) engineered landfill with …

The Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Economy In The Mountain West, 2025, Dre Boyd-Weatherly, Sean Curry, Krish Sharma, Kristian Thymianos, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet reports on the artificial intelligence (AI) readiness of five Mountain West metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ; Salt Lake City-Murray, UT; Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO; Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV; and Albuquerque, NM. Using data from the Brookings Institution's “Mapping the AI Economy” report, the MSAs are benchmarked based on their overall population, employment, talent, adoption, and innovation.

Large Language Models As Machines Of Beauty: Cognitive Averaging, Latent Space Geometry, And The Entropic Foundations Of Aesthetic Preference, Daniel Plate, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

This study advances the position that large language models (LLMs) and human perceptual systems are governed by a shared computational drive toward prototypicality, entropy reduction, and aesthetic coherence. Drawing on developmental evidence that infants exhibit early preferences for facial symmetry and averageness, the analysis situates aesthetic preference within broader research on processing fluency and predictive coding, emphasizing that biological perception rewards stimuli that reduce uncertainty and support efficient information compression. This foundation is used to examine how LLMs, through cross-entropy optimization, perplexity minimization, and latent space clustering, converge on high-density representational regions that operate as statistical prototypes of linguistic and …

The Price Of Priorities: How Human Choices Fuel Climate And Ecological Decline, Keisha Hickman

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the ways in which human priorities and behaviors contribute to the escalating climate crisis and ecological systems. We will first analyze the role of social media in shaping public discourse on climate change and critically evaluate the priorities of institutions that have the means to assist in wildlife conservation. Both speak to the current behaviors of humankind prioritizing their own entertainment over meaningful efforts to mitigate climate change and preserve biodiversity. We will then shift to exploring the profound impact of human population growth and its associated activities on other species and ecosystems. Finally, the thesis will …

Full Issue, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Preparedness Of Local Zoning Regulations For Flood Risk Reduction In The Most Affected Local Jurisdictions In Nebraska, Md Asaduzzaman Noor

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Flooding has profound social, economic, and environmental impacts on local communities, and zoning plays a critical role in mitigating these risks. The 2019 Nebraska floods, among the most severe in the state’s history, highlighted the urgent need to strengthen local preparedness and mitigation strategies. This study assesses the extent to which local zoning regulations in Nebraska’s most affected jurisdiction, including rural areas, address flood risk reduction. A systematic review of 117 zoning ordinances from counties, cities, towns, and villages, we applied a structured analytical framework encompassing regulatory and permitting policies, voluntary and incentive-based measures, and nature-based solutions. The results show …

Bridging Conservation And Disaster Recovery: A Dual Study On Wetland Program Plans Evaluation And Midwest Post Disaster Recovery Assessment, Rao Nargis Jahan

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Wetlands provide essential ecological, social, and economic benefits for our society. In the United States, states and tribes play crucial roles in wetland protection, restoration, and management. However, no research has systematically measured state-level wetland planning efforts towards national conservation goals. This study is the first to comprehensively evaluate how state-level Wetland Program Plans (WPPs) align with national missions, particularly the "no-net-loss" of wetlands goal. Our research assesses the EPA-approved state-level WPPs from 42 out of 50 states in the United States during the period from 2015 to 2024. Using a protocol of 30 indicators across five categories, this study …

Flood Resilience Through Working-Land Conservation: Assessment Of Wetland Inundation Dynamics Across Wrp, Wma, Wpa, Padus And Crp Lands In Nebraska (2018–2024), Pranjay Joshi

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

This study first confirms whether Nebraska’s wetlands are still functioning hydrologically in ways that reduce flood impacts. Wetlands are known to lessen flood damage by storing water, slowing runoff, and moderating peak flows, but these benefits depend on the wetlands’ ability to maintain inundation and saturation through time. Many wetlands across the state have undergone drainage, hydrologic alteration, or isolation from surrounding watersheds, raising uncertainty about their present-day functioning. Using seven years of Sentinel-2 imagery processed in Google Earth Engine, this research establishes a clear, long-term record of inundation patterns across thousands of wetland parcels. This analysis verifies which wetlands …

Development Of A Handy Tool For The Selection Of Urban Stormwater Best Management Practices, Aaron T. Kenny

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The City of Norfolk, Virginia faces substantial stormwater management challenges due to shallow groundwater, tidal influence, dense urban development, and limited right-of-way. These constraints limit the applicability of many Best Management Practices (BMPs) and require the early identification of feasible practices before detailed hydrologic modeling. This thesis introduces a decision-support tool that quickly and systematically identifies and prioritizes BMPs that are both feasible and well-suited to Norfolk’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program, streamlining early-stage selection and saving time and resources.

The tool implements a two-stage methodology. First, feasibility gates are applied using catalog attributes derived from the Virginia …

A Comparative Analysis Of Complete Streets And Multimodal Transport Approaches: Implications For Sustainable Urban Mobility In Lincoln, And Global Contexts, Oliva Richard Kilyenyi

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Movement of people and goods in urban areas through different modes of transportation including walking, cycling, public transit and by autos is termed as urban mobility. Urban mobility presents significant environmental, social, and economic challenges for cities worldwide as they grapple with the impacts of conventional transportation systems, particularly in North America context where car-centric planning approaches has dominated urban developments since 1950s. Car-centric dominance is 80% in North American Metropolitan areas (Manaugh et al., 2015). The impacts of these conventional systems include greenhouse gas emission emissions contributing approximately 24% of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, air pollution …

Synthetic Dataset For Understanding Negation In Text-Guided Image Editing, Nhat-Tan Bui

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Negation is a fundamental linguistic concept used by humans to convey information that they do not desire. Despite this, minimal research has focused on negation within text-guided image editing. This lack of research means that vision-language models (VLMs) for image editing may struggle to understand negation, implying that they struggle to provide accurate results. One barrier to achieving human-level intelligence is the lack of a standard collection by which research into negation can be evaluated. This thesis presents the first large-scale dataset, Negative Instruction (NeIn), for studying negation within instruction-based image editing. Our dataset comprises 366,957 quintuplets, i.e., source image, …

Multiple Aspects Of Environmental Temperature Have Complex Interactions With Avian Parental Behavior To Influence Offspring Outcomes, William H. Kirkpatrick

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic climate change is projected to shift not only average temperatures across the globe, but also the amount of thermal variation experienced in the natural environment. Exposure to shifts in averages and a wider range of thermal experiences will cause shifts in wildlife behavior. In avian species, behaviors exhibited during reproduction have implications for the well-being of their offspring. Here, I explore specific incubation behaviors in four species: Scaled Quail (Callipepla squamata), Northern Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus), Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), and Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis). I examined constancy, or the percentage of time on the nest, and off-bout duration, …

The Moderating Effect Of Income Inequality On The Income–Emissions Relationship In G20 Countries, Zahra Rizky Fadilah, Budiasih Budiasih

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

This study analyzes the moderating effect of income inequality on the income–emissions relationship in the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework. Findings indicate that the relationship is inverted U-shaped in middle-income G20 countries, but monotonically increasing in high-income G20 countries. Interestingly, income inequality moderates this relationship only in the latter group. These findings suggest that middle-income G20 countries should focus on raising income per capita to mitigate environmental degradation, while their high-income counterparts need to prioritize reducing income inequality to effectively decouple income from emissions.

Rainfall-Runoff Modelling In An Indonesian Humid Tropical Area Using Satellite-Based Precipitation Products, Noordiah Helda

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation explores three rainfall-runoff models in the humid tropical regions of Indonesia using satellite-based precipitation products (SBPPs) and develops integrated machine-learning modeling frameworks. Several ground-based observations from BMKG (Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika (also known as the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics)) stations across Indonesia (133−165 stations) are compared and evaluated against satellite products, indicating that GPM performs well, with R-squared values ranging from 0.54 to 0.76 and correlation coefficients ranging from 0.45 to 0.69, respectively.

In the Martapura Watershed, South Kalimantan, due to a lack of observational discharge data, streamflow was generated using the FJ Mock …

Global, Continental, And Local Scale Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Methods For Interpreting The History Of Miocene North America And The Great Plains, Willow Hue Nguy

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The Miocene of North America is characterized by dynamic changes in herbivore communities, habitat composition, and global climate. Long-term cooling and drying trends influenced large changes in floral and faunal communities. The Great Plains, North America shifted from closed-canopy biomes to open-canopy biomes with C3-grasses to biomes with C4-grasses. This shift affected the herbivore communities as browsing-adapted ungulates were replaced by grazing-adapted ungulates. Much focus has centered on the Great Plains, so it is not well understood how the changes in biomes compare to other regions of North America. The models used for vegetation density indicate open-canopy biomes since at …

From Morphology To Machine Learning And Genomics: Understanding Phenotypic Variation In Wild Ducks, Sara Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Understanding the genetic underpinning and distribution of phenotypic variation within and between divergent groups is core towards shedding light into how populations diverge and adapt, as well as how hybridization breaks or builds on these scenarios; and thus, central to evolutionary biology. In wild organisms, however, quantifying and linking phenotypic traits to underlying genetic processes, like mutation, gene expression, epigenetics and allele interactions, remains challenging. This difficulty arises from the complex interplay between morphology, environment, and gene regulation, as well as the logistical barriers of collecting and standardizing large-scale data across individuals and populations. As a result, researchers are increasingly …

The Presentation Of Self In Everyday Digital Life: A Study Of Self- Disclosure And Work Environments, Mackenzie Michelle Skiff

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

The digital age impacts individuals’ lives in many ways. One impact is how and where work is completed across many careers. The work-from-home strategy enables individuals to complete work that is not within a shared space, such as an office. With the absence of this shared space, communication practices within workplaces could be changing. Specifically, self-disclosure while working from home may differ from self-disclosure within the office or hybrid (both in office and remote) work environments. This thesis investigates whether there are differences in self-disclosure practices across three different types of contemporary work environments and offers a digital update to …

Collective Agency And Community Resilience Among Farmworkers In The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Angel Velazquez

Theses and Dissertations

This research assesses how farmworkers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas use everyday practices to build resilience and adapt to changes in their lives. I apply two interconnected theories, White’s (2017, 2019) framework of collective agency and community resilience and Castro and Sen’s (2022) framework of everyday adaptation actions, to study these practices. I conducted 19 semi-structured interviews with Latino farmworkers and professionals who work with local farmworker organizations in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) of Texas. Interview transcripts were analyzed to determine if and how Latino farmworkers in the RGV can work towards community resilience and implement …

Groundwater Arsenic Contamination In The Oro Grande Wash, Dalila Boice

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study investigates the distribution of naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater within the Oro Grande Wash in San Bernardino County, California. Depth-discrete groundwater quality data were collected over multiple years using nested and Westbay monitoring wells. Water quality results showed higher levels of arsenic in the deeper aquifers, ranging between 600 feet and 1,000 feet below ground surface. Arsenic levels in these regions reached as high as 66 µg/L. At roughly 800 feet and below, water quality data from the wells reveal that arsenic concentrations exceeded the 10 µg/L maximum contaminant level (MCL) in 87% of cases. These data provide …

The Future Is Now: Empowering Society Through Ai Literacy, Jason S. Wrench, Sanae Elmoudden

Milne Open Textbooks

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept—it is the reality of the present. From the algorithms shaping our social media feeds to the generative tools transforming our workplaces, AI has permeated every aspect of modern life. The Future is Now moves beyond the hype to provide a comprehensive roadmap for understanding, navigating, and shaping this technological revolution.

Demystifying the Machine

This textbook serves as a user-friendly guide to the “black box” of AI. It breaks down complex technical concepts—from machine learning and neural networks to large language models—making them accessible to students across all disciplines. By establishing a …

Data-Driven Evaluation Of Sustainable Waste-To-Energy Pathways For Intelligent Urban Systems, Izech Brian O. Edwin, King Harold A. Recto

Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering Faculty Publications

The handling of municipal solid waste (MSW) in swiftly urbanizing Philippine cities poses intricate energy and governance challenges. In Baguio City, reliance on landfills has reached critical levels due to diminishing capacity, rising transport costs, and opposition to trash transfers by nearby LGUs. Although shaped by unique topographical and governance constraints, Baguio’s situation reflects issues faced by other rapidly growing Philippine cities; therefore, analyzing it offers insights for national MSW decision-making. This study applies a triple bottom line (TBL) framework to assess three management scenarios: (1) Status Quo, where all MSW is landfilled with no energy recovery; (2) Landfill with …

Engineering Risk And Indigenous Resilience Toward Intelligent Decision Support For Mining In Ancestral Lands, Izech Brian O. Edwin, King Harold A. Recto

Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering Faculty Publications

Mining within ancestral territories reveals an ongoing conflict between technical viability and Indigenous consent. This collaborative study, conducted by an engineering scholar and a policy researcher of Indigenous heritage in Benguet among the Ibaloi and Kankanaey peoples, investigates how risk transparency and policy alignment can bridge existing divides, while formulating principles applicable to other Indigenous mining contexts. The study provides an initial evaluation of the feasibility of a proposed large-scale mining operation within a risk-informed, data-driven governance framework. Three elements of engineering risk were assessed utilizing literature-derived and proxy parameters: (1) Land degradation is indicated by a Soil Productivity Index …