Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Supercritical Water Gasification And Pyrolysis – Cleaning Up The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Kelly L. Emery

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

This research paper is a comparative meta-analysis of gasification of hydrocarbons in supercritical water, specifically concerning the great pacific garbage patch (GPGP). The research explores two ways to clean up the GPGP while also harnessing the waste as biofuel. This research compares the environmental and economic outcomes between supercritical water gasification and pyrolysis. I will be comparing which thermochemical process of converting hydro-pollution into usable, methane-rich gas is most economically beneficial and environmentally sustainable. The relevance of this use of plastic refuse is that it would not just be diverted to a different landfill or back right where it started …

The Accessibility And Sustainability Of Local Foods: A Snapshot From The Food Hubs Of Lincoln, Nebraska, Tess Foxall

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

The current state of agriculture in the United States utilizes industrial practices that pose a myriad of risks to both human and environmental health. By focusing on smaller farms and local food systems that utilize more sustainable agriculture practices, communities can benefit in terms of economic, environmental, and social health. Food hubs can play a key role in local food systems to connect local producers with consumers and increase access to local food. The goal of the research was to analyze the accessibility and sustainability of local food from food hubs in Lincoln, Nebraska to find the key barriers to …

Apparent Temperature & Relative Humidity In Nebraska: A Comparative Analysis On Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (Wbgt) Tools, Rachel T. Hines

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Heat waves can lead to illness and death, particularly among older adults, the very young, and other vulnerable populations. More frequent severe heat waves are expected to impact Nebraska. Looking specifically into Lincoln, NE for future climate trends, over the next 100 years, “the number of hot days would increase by 13-22 days during a given summer (depending upon the scenario), and the number of warm nights would increase by 20-35 nights each summer” Bathke et al. (2014). These higher summer temperatures will “increase electricity use, causing higher summer peak loads” as well as “pose physical and mental health challenges…outdoor …

E-Waste Impact On The Health Of Guiyu, China Citizens: A Comparison Pre And Post China’S Prohibition Of Foreign Garbage Imports, Oliva Hultman

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Electronic Waste (E-waste) is an inevitable product in our society. At the end of a technological products lifespan, this waste is commonly exported from the Western World to places like Guiyu, China. There the waste has been recycled by melting and dissection of devices. However, these devices contain harmful materials like Lead (Pb) and other heavy metals. These components of the technology process, when not properly dealt with, leach into the citizens’ lives. In 2017, China issued a Prohibition on Foreign Garbage Imports where, while focusing on plastics, limited the waste being brought into the country. This study will compare …

A Comprehensive Bison Management And Research Plan For The Crane Trust, Joshua D. Wiese

Other Publications in Wildlife Management

The Great Plains were once a vast grassland ecosystem, but, due to agricultural and human development, are one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. What remains is generally fragmented, threatened by invasive species, and lacks the natural ecosystem processes that shaped these grasslands such as periodic wildfire and bison grazing. Since 1978, the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust, Inc. (dba “Crane Trust”) has worked to maintain the function of grassland and riparian habitats to benefit endangered Whooping Cranes, Sandhill Cranes, and other migratory bird species. They protect ~8,100 acres, including the largest contiguous portion of lowland tallgrass …

Exploring Social Dimensions Of Ecological Restoration In The Removal Of Two Dams On The Elwha River, Joseph Hinnant

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

The United States is approaching a critical juncture regarding aging dam infrastructure. One increasingly common decision has been to remove dams, recreating a free-flowing river. The attention of the literature on ecological restoration is shifting from an ecological focus towards the importance of participation and the social dimensions of restorations. Social situations surrounding a dam removal can lead to expedited success, delays, or abandoned efforts. This study seeks to connect selected social dimensions of dam removals with the broader literature of ecological restoration by exploring social dimensions expressed in public participation in a dam removal process.

A directed content analysis, …

An Investigation Of The Attitudes And Behavioral Outcomes Of Nebraskan Hunters Toward Tick-Borne Disease, Dominic J. Cristiano

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

As changes in climate, land-use, and vegetation alter the landscape of the Great Plains, new threats to public health are emerging. Incidences of tick-borne disease in Nebraska have increased nearly 250% over the past two decades – newly established species like Ixodes scapularis may introduce challenges for health practitioners, including more cases of Lyme disease. Strategies for tick-borne disease prevention must incorporate effective health messaging. Audience segmentation may be a useful technique to provide health communication, as it allows for targeted messaging that speaks to specific attitudes and beliefs of a given population. One tool for usefully segmenting populations is …

Feasibility Assessment On Use Of Proximal Geophysical Sensors To Support Precision Management, Sophia M. Becker

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

Soil property maps provide information for field management activities such as irrigation, fertilization, and seeding. Many on-the-go proximal geophysical sensors have been developed in recent decades that can help map agricultural fields without dense soil sampling. To utilize these technologies most profitably in precision management, scientists and precision agriculture dealers must better understand sensors’ performances in given field conditions and the economic value of different proximal soil sensing methods. Chapter two reports the study that was conducted at three sites in North Dakota, United States to strengthen understanding of the usefulness of different proximal geophysical data types in agricultural contexts …

University Of Nebraska Sustainability Recommendations, Kat Woerner

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In August 2020, the University of Nebraska (NU) system published a 5-year strategic plan with a point to “set and achieve University-wide sustainability goals.” Sustainability efforts at the University of Nebraska are well established as each campus has developed a Sustainability Master Plan (SMP) over the course of the last six years. With limited resources, a system-wide, coordinated effort is critical and requires a hierarchy of actions that are based on: clear goals and metrics that support the university mission, effective tracking systems, policies, strategies, actions, practices that support the goals, and organizational structure to oversee and support implementation.

The …

Inter-Cell Slicing Resource Partitioning Via Coordinated Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning, Tianlun Hu, Qi Liao, Qiang Liu, Dan Wellington, Georg Carle

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Network slicing enables the operator to configure virtual network instances for diverse services with specific requirements. To achieve the slice-aware radio resource scheduling, dynamic slicing resource partitioning is needed to orchestrate multi-cell slice resources and mitigate inter-cell interference. It is, however, challenging to derive the analytical solutions due to the complex inter-cell interdependencies, interslice resource constraints, and service-specific requirements. In this paper, we propose a multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (DRL) approach that improves the max-min slice performance while maintaining the constraints of resource capacity. We design two coordination schemes to allow distributed agents to coordinate and mitigate inter-cell interference. The …

Relative Palatability And Efficacy Of Brodifacoum-25d Conservation Rodenticide Pellets For Mouse Eradication On Midway Atoll, Peter J. Kappes, Shane R. Siers, Israel L. Leinbach, Robert T. Sugihara, Wesley J. Jolley, Jonathan H. Plissner, Elizabeth N. Flint, Kelly L. Goodale, Gregg R. Howald

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive mice (Mus spp.) can negatively impact island species and ecosystems. Because fewer island rodent eradications have been attempted for mice compared to rats (Rattus spp.), less is known about efficacy and palatability of rodenticide baits for mouse eradications. We performed a series of bait acceptance and efficacy cage trials using a standard formulation of brodifacoum-based rodenticide on wild-caught mice from Sand Island, Midway Atoll, to help inform a proposed eradication there. Mice were offered ad libitum brodifacoum pellets along with various alternative food sources, and a “no choice” treatment group received only bait pellets. Mortality in the no choice …

Intercontinental Movement Of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5n1) Clade 2.3.4.4 Virus To The United States, 2021, Sarah N. Bevins, Susan A. Shriner, James C. Cumbee Jr., Krista E. Dilione, Kelly E. Douglass, Jeremy W. Ellis, Mary Lea Killian, Mia K. Torchetti, Julianna B. Lenoch

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We detected Eurasian-origin highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus belonging to the Gs/GD lineage, clade 2.3.4.4b, in wild waterfowl in 2 Atlantic coastal states in the United States. Bird banding data showed widespread movement of waterfowl within the Atlantic Flyway and between neighboring flyways and northern breeding grounds.

Stem Club, Camden Jones, Erica Gesner, Amber Gadeken

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

The goal of this club is to introduce various topics stemming from different fields in science. We hope to excite the students about science and show them how important it is to their everyday lives. This club also aims to provide free education to underserved communities.

Comparative Analyses Of De Novo Transcriptome Assembly Pipelines For Diploid Wheat, Natasha Pavlovikj

Department of Computer Science and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Gene expression and transcriptome analysis are currently one of the main focuses of research for a great number of scientists. However, the assembly of raw sequence data to obtain a draft transcriptome of an organism is a complex multi-stage process usually composed of pre-processing, assembling, and post-processing. Each of these stages includes multiple steps such as data cleaning, error correction and assembly validation. Different combinations of steps, as well as different computational methods for the same step, generate transcriptome assemblies with different accuracy. Thus, using a combination that generates more accurate assemblies is crucial for any novel biological discoveries. Implementing …

Symbolic Ns-3 For Efficient Exhaustive Testing, Jianfei Shao

Department of Computer Science and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Exhaustive testing is an important type of simulation, where a user exhaustively simulates a protocol for all possible cases with respect to some uncertain factors, such as all possible packet delays or packet headers. It is useful for completely evaluating the protocol performance, finding the worst-case performance, and detecting possible design or implementation bugs of a protocol. It is, however, time consuming to use the brute force method with current NS-3, a widely used network simulator, for exhaustive testing. In this paper, we present our work on Sym-NS-3 for more efficient exhaustive testing, which leverages a powerful program analysis technique …

Balancing Data- Vs. Art-Driven Decisions In Video Game Design, Jaden D. Goter

Honors Theses

Video games, like software, need to be designed. Video game development studios tend to use data-driven or art-driven decision-making to design their games. Data-driven decision-making is where active and passive data is collected in order to make informed decisions about the design of a game. Art-driven decision-making is when designers use their artistic intuition to design games, potentially ignoring player data. This paper elaborates on the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and provides case studies of games designed under both approaches. Based on these studies, for a game to be successful, a combined approach of data- and art-driven decision-making …

Outdoor Play In Preschool Children: Parent Attitudes And Loose Part Play In Urban Settings, Ann Spilker

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

Outdoor play is an important aspect of young children’s health social-cognitive development. However, play in natural environments is declining due to urbanization and various safety concerns. Many urban preschools have outdoor play spaces that lack natural elements that stimulate children’s autonomy, creativity, and imaginative play. Furthermore, parents who find outdoor environments intimidating and fraught with danger limit young children’s outdoor experiences that inhibit their motor fitness, socialization with peers, and ecological awareness. Two qualitative case studies examined preschool children’s outdoor play. Study one focused on preschool children’s loose parts play in urban settings while study two examined parent’s attitudes towards …

Air, Land, And Water Variables Associated With The First Appearance And Current Spatial Distribution Of Toxic Prymnesium Parvum Blooms In Reservoirs Of The Southern Great Plains, Usa, Shisbeth Tábora-Sarmiento, Reynaldo Patiño, Carlos Portillo-Quintero, Cade Coldren

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

This study examined the association of air, land, and water variables with the first historical occurrence and current distribution of toxic Prymnesium parvum blooms in reservoirs of the Brazos River and Colorado River, Texas (USA). One impacted and one reference reservoir were selected per basin. Land cover and use variables were estimated for the whole watershed (WW) and a 0.5-km zone on either side of streams (near field, NF). Variables were expressed in annual values. Principal component and trend analyses were used to determine (1) differences in environmental conditions before and after the 2001 onset of toxic blooms in impacted …

Systems-Based Approach For Optimization Of Assembly-Free Bacterial Mlst Mapping, Natasha Pavlovikj, Joao Carlos Gomes-Neto, Jitender Deogun, Andrew Benson

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Epidemiological surveillance of bacterial pathogens requires real-time data analysis with a fast turnaround, while aiming at generating two main outcomes: (1) species-level identification and (2) variant mapping at different levels of genotypic resolution for population-based tracking and surveillance, in addition to predicting traits such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) aids this process by identifying sequence types (ST) based on seven ubiquitous genome-scattered loci. In this paper, we selected one assembly-dependent and one assembly-free method for ST mapping and applied them with the default settings and ST schemes they are distributed with, and systematically assessed their accuracy and …

Machine Learning-Based Device Type Classification For Iot Device Re- And Continuous Authentication, Kaustubh Gupta

Department of Computer Science and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Today, the use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices is higher than ever and it is growing rapidly. Many IoT devices are usually manufactured by home appliance manufacturers where security and privacy are not the foremost concern. When an IoT device is connected to a network, currently there does not exist a strict authentication method that verifies the identity of the device, allowing any rogue IoT device to authenticate to an access point. This thesis addresses the issue by introducing methods for continuous and re-authentication of static and dynamic IoT devices, respectively. We introduce mechanisms and protocols for authenticating a …

An Investigation Of Water Obstructions And Related Weather Conditions For Nebraska Roadways, Logan Bundy

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

Roadway resilience across the 10,000 miles of road and 3,500 bridges in Nebraska is critical to the economic success of production and logistics. In a state where historical flooding scenarios, such as the one in March 2019 that caused $150 million in damage, could potentially be increasing, it has become essential to understand the spatial and temporal distribution of high-frequency water obstruction areas on roadways. Using Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) historical water obstruction data from June 2016 through August 2021, statistical and spatial analyses were conducted to quantify the relationship between water obstructions and their associated meteorological conditions, and …

New Multimedia Resources For Ecological Resilience Education In Modern University Classrooms, Katharine F. E. Hogan, Julie A. Fowler, Conor D. Barnes, Alison K. Ludwig, Dominic J. Cristiano, Daniel Morales, Rubi Quiñones, Dirac L. Twidwell Jr, Jenny Dauer

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Solutions to global problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss require educational frameworks and accompanying teaching resources that are theory-based, interdisciplinary, and accessible to broad undergraduate and graduate student audiences. Ecological resilience theory (ERT) is a framework with established interdisciplinary application to complex global problems, but despite an emphasis on the utility of resilience in national higher education frameworks, we found that many current ecology textbooks incorporate multiple definitions and highly variable amounts of discussion on core resilience concepts. To facilitate the use of innovative teaching resources in ERT in universities, this paper describes four free multimedia tools and …

Search For Electroweak Production Of Charginos And Neutralinos In Proton-Proton Collisions At √S = 13 Tev, A. Tumasyan

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

A direct search for electroweak production of charginos and neutralinos is presented. Events with three or four leptons, with up to two hadronically decaying τ leptons, or two same-sign light leptons are analyzed. The data sample consists of 137 fb⁻¹ of proton-proton collisions with a center of mass energy of 13TeV, recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC. The results are interpreted in terms of several simplified models. These represent a broad range of production and decay scenarios for charginos and neutralinos. A parametric neural network is used to target several of the models with large backgrounds. In …

Comparing Polarimetric Signatures Of Proximate Tornadic And Non-Tornadic Supercells In Similar Environments, Devon Healey

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

While much research has shown that characteristics of the environment surrounding supercells can potentially indicate their likelihood to become tornadic, it is not uncommon for tornadic and non-tornadic supercells to coexist in seemingly similar environments. In these situations, it is difficult operationally to separate tornadic from non-tornadic supercells using environmental observations alone. Given that tornadic and non-tornadic supercells have been found to coexist in similar environments, something must be occurring beneath the observational and/or model gridscale that is supporting tornadogenesis in some supercells while inhibiting it in others. This study examines dual-polarimetric radar signatures of proximate tornadic and non-tornadic supercells …

Spatial And Temporal Distribution And Habitat Selection Of Native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout And Nonnative Utah Chub, Darcy K. Mccarrick, Jeffrey C. Dillon, Brett High, Michael C. Quist

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Henrys Lake, Idaho, is a renowned trophy trout fishery that faces an uncertain future following the establishment of Utah Chub (UTC) Gila atraria. Utah Chub were first documented in the lake in 1993 and have become abundant over the past two decades. Little is known about the ecology of UTC, but they typically have negative effects on salmonids in systems where they have been introduced. We sought to fill knowledge gaps in UTC ecology and provide insight on potential interactions with Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout (YCT) Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri. Ninety-four YCT and 95 UTC were radio-tagged in spring 2019 …

Individual Trophic Niche Specialization In American Beaver (Castor Canadensis), Jimmy Taylor, Robert Francis, Scott Rush, Bronson Strickland, Guiming Wang

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The American beaver (Castor canadensis) has been described as a choosy generalist at the species/population scale, yet observational studies have shown little variation in diet among individuals. We compared isotopic values of δ¹³C or δ¹⁵N taken from hair of 32 beaver, representing seven colonies in northern Alabama, USA to determine 1) if colonies of beaver show overlap in isotopic niche width as a result of the similar use of food resources and 2) if individual trophic niche specialization occurs within colonies. Total Trophic Niche Width varied across the wetland with the widest being twice …

Characterizing And Predicting Human Visual Perception Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Gestures, Paul Fletcher

Department of Computer Science and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are being used in public domains and hazardous environments where effective communication strategies are critical. UAV gesture techniques have been shown to communicate meaning to human observers and may be ideal in contexts that require lightweight systems such as unmanned aerial flight, however, this work may be limited to an idealized range of viewer perspectives. As gesture is a visual communication technique it is necessary to consider how the perception of a robot gesture may suffer from obfuscation or self-occlusion from some viewpoints. This thesis presents the results of three online user-studies that examine participants’ ability …

Designing Experiments: The Impact Of Peer Review Structure On Organic Chemistry Students' Experimental Designs, Katie Patterson

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

To better understand how peer review can be used to support students when designing experiments, the current thesis examined how the structure of the peer review template affects the kinds of feedback students give and the revisions that they make. I utilized a quasi-experimental design to investigate the effects that the peer review template had on the outcome of an experimental design task. A sample of 195 students enrolled in an Organic Chemistry I course participated in the study. The students were divided into two groups, one of which was given a scaffolded peer review template and the other was …

Retrospective Comparisons Of Competing Demographic Models Give Clarity From “Messy” Management On A Scottish Grouse Moor, Larkin A. Powell, Nicholas J. Aebischer, Sonja C. Ludwig, David Baines

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Retrospective comparison of predictive models that describe competing hypotheses regarding system function can shed light on regulatory mechanisms within the framework of adaptive resource management. We applied this approach to a 28-year study of red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica) in Scotland, with the aims of reducing uncertainty regarding important drivers of grouse population dynamics, and of evaluating the efficacy of using seasonal versus annual model assessments. We developed three sets of models that predicted pre-breeding and post-breeding grouse density, matching the timing of grouse counts on the ground. We updated conditions and management through time in the spirit …

Editorial: Special Issue “Innovative Techniques And Approaches In The Control And Prevention Of Rabies Virus”, Amy T. Gilbert, Ryan M. Wallace, Charles E. Rupprecht

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Rabies is an ancient lethal scourge that has plagued humankind for centuries. Globally, 60,000 human deaths are estimated to occur each year from rabies virus (RABV) transmission in domestic dogs, mostly affecting children. While rabies is recognized as a neglected disease, there is cause for optimism in the context of growing global recognition, collaboration and commitment to advance a tripartite agenda to eliminate human deaths transmitted from rabid dogs by 2030, also known as “Zero By Thirty” (ZBT). Nevertheless, the ZBT goal must also confront competing challenge(s) of tracking and mitigating human morbidity and mortality during a global pandemic caused …