A Descriptive Study of Wild Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apiformes) and Angiosperms in a Tallgrass Prairie Corridor of Southeastern Nebraska

The presence of diverse bee communities in an ecosystem is vital for maintaining healthy plant communities, promoting habitat resilience, and supporting sustainable agricultural production and urbanization. Approximately 20,000 known species of bees exist worldwide and assist with the successful reproduction of nearly 80% of Earth’s flowering plants by providing pollination services. In the US, wild bee declines have led to increased monitoring efforts for bees but there remain critical data gaps in prairies of the Great Plains ecoregion. Specific to the Tallgrass prairie where only 1-3% remains in native vegetation, the Nebraska Wildlife Action Plan has identified the loss of pollinators as a key stressor as well as a lack of sufficient data from which to monitor this stressor. This thesis seeks to 1) review current literature on the status of prairie ecosystems and the interdependency of wild bees, 2) establish and describe baseline data on wild bees and flowering forb communities, and examine their existing interactions in southeastern Nebraska Tallgrass prairies, 3) assess how the variation in vegetation cover influences the richness and abundance of wild bees, and 4) provide an extension guide highlighting a bee’s role in conserving the biological diversity of prairies. Over a period of 2 years, 85 species of wild bees and 114 species of flowering forbs were identified, and a preference index was calculated (based off of the abundance of bee visits to observed flowering forbs) to improve pollinator seed mixtures and inform future restoration efforts. Additionally, this thesis presents evidence that newly-restored prairies seeded with high diversity mixes support higher richness and abundance of wild bees compared to remnant prairies, however remnant prairies provide consistent support to wild bees on a temporal scale. Collectively, the resulting information of this thesis will aid in the design, management and reconstruction of the Prairie Corridor on Haines Branch (Lincoln, Nebraska) by providing recommendations tailored to enhance and sustain diverse bee communities. Advisor: Judy Y. Wu-Smar

Interprofessional Collaboration Practice Between Nurses and Occupational Therapists

Background: There is limited research on the interprofessional relationship between occupational therapists and nurses in pediatric outpatient settings, as well as the understanding nurses have of occupational therapy. Interprofessional collaboration is a key component in pediatric client care, regardless of the setting. Interprofessional collaboration is imperative to ensure that health care teams are efficient and able to provide clients with the highest quality of care (Loy et al., 2015). Purpose: The purpose of this Capstone is to determine how nursing students perceive occupational therapy in a pediatric setting and to examine their perceptions of the interprofessional relationship. Further, it will determine the effectiveness of a training to educate nursing students about pediatric occupational therapy and interprofessional collaboration and communication. By evaluating pre and post understanding by nursing students about occupational therapy, the importance of interprofessional relationships may be enhanced. Theoretical Framework. The Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Model (ICP) was a guiding framework for this Capstone Project. The competencies of values and ethics, roles, and responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and teams and teamwork are a part of the ICP (IPEC, 2016). Methods. A quantitative survey design yielded a description and understanding of nursing students’ perceptions and attitudes of occupational therapy and interprofessional communication. The Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) was used pre and post training to examine the readiness of nursing students for interprofessional education, along with additional open-ended questions to yield in-depth understanding of content. Surveys were created using Qualtrics online software. Qualtrics was chosen as it is a user-friendly, web-based tool to conduct survey research. Results: This study revealed a lack of in-depth knowledge on the role of occupational therapy by nursing students and the need to educate healthcare professionals on interprofessional collaboration and communication. Quantitative analysis of the data obtained in this Capstone revealed that the objectives of the study were largely met. Mean scores for 78.9% of the Likert scale questions improved from the pre to post-test. Based on these findings, the educational module was found to increase knowledge of therapy services, occupational therapy services in pediatrics, and interprofessional collaboration and communication. Conclusions: Pre-service educational modules are a strategy to impact other profession’s understanding of interpersonal communication and collaboration. Occupational therapy focuses on client-centered care and has a role in being influential in various environments and as a part of team to produce effective patient outcome. Educating other professions on interprofessional collaboration and communication and occupational therapy will improve referrals to occupational therapy, allowing more clients to benefit from skilled intervention and services

Utilization of Nitrogen Fertilizer by Crops as Influenced by Time of Application, Carriers and Crop Residues

The nitrogen status of South Dakota soils was once very high, but due to our intensive type of farming, the supply of this essential element is rapidly being exhausted. It has been estimated that thirty to forty percent of the original nitrogen content has been lost as a result of farming, erosion, and various other factors. This continuous removal of nitrogen, primarily through cropping has caused pronounced and widespread nitrogen deficiency symptoms to show up in many areas of the state. These visual symptoms and the resulting low crop yields have aroused considerable interest in the use of nitrogen fertilizer. As the use of fertilizer increases, more attention should be placed on methods of obtaining maximum benefits from this applied nitrogen. It is the purpose of this study to investigate the effect of various fertilizer practices on corn and small grain production southeastern and east central South Dakota. Some of the practices considered in this study were time of application, carry-over, carriers, and crop residue utilization

Mission Accomplished! Or Not A Study about Success in Information Operations

This study has analyzed success in information operations what it is and how it is determined. The research was carried out as a literature study and is limited to encompassing the military part of information operations. The main sources have been U.S., British and Swedish information operations doctrines. Success in information operations is discussed from two perspectives the evaluative and the predictive. According to doctrines, success from an evaluative perspective is determined by measuring post-action effects on the target. It is problematic to determine success from the predictive perspective. This conclusion is based on the lack of analytical tools and/or processes to determine the effort needed, and the current lack of procedures to coherently connect operational objectives with tactical tasks in the information environment. In order to pursue this beyond the initial results of the thesis, success in the maritime domain is briefly analyzed and the outcome of the analysis is adjusted and applied to the information environment. Several areas are presented where the adjusted concept of operations could benefit the information environment; the most significant improvement would be the ability to predict probability of success prior to an operation. Lastly, directions for further studies are presented.http://archive.org/details/missionaccomplis1094517393Outstanding ThesisLieutenant Colonel, Swedish MarinesApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Computational Model of a Left Ventricle: Showing the Effects of Inertia on Cardiac Dyssynchrony

In an effort to research heart failure, a leading cause of death in the industrialized world, this research team has developed a segmented lumped parameter model of the left ventricle. The computations model developed focuses on dyssynchrony, a heart condition where some regions of the heart vary significantly in properties like internal muscle resistance, mass, or elastance. Inertial effects are often assumed as negligible by cardiovascular models. One primary function of this model is to investigate inertial effects as they relate to mechanical cardiac dyssynchrony. An added dimension of this analysis is to observe the thermodynamics of the cardiac cycle as one long term indicator of heart failure. This model was developed using an electrical analog to the hemodynamic system. The parameters of a heart wall segment were represented by resistance, inductance, and capacitance. The calculations were done using state space and programmed into Matlab for simulation. This research shows waveforms of volume outputs as well as pressure volume loops for synchronous waveforms as well as dyssychronous waveforms caused by a time delay, varied resistance, varied elastance, and varied mass. The variation seen in the mass dyssynchrony waveforms suggest that inertial effect may be a significant factor in modeled cardiovascular systems

A Differential Medium for the Isolation and Cultivation of Sphaerophorus Necrophorus from Bovine Liver Abscesses

Sphaerophorus necrophorus is of considerable economic importance since it is the cause of many pathological conditions in a wide variety of animals. One such condition is liver abscess of cattle. This one costs the packing industry several million dollars a year. Grant (15) suggested that a selective medium be devised for the isolation and cultivation of S. necrophorus. Becrens (2) has used a veal infusion medium containing brilliant green for the isolation of the organism. This medium does not inhibit the group D streptococcus and great care has to be used in making the medium. The difficulty of maintaining cell viability has been shared by many investigators. Some investigators have had to transfer their culture once or twice a week to maintain cell viability, and even by doing this, the cultures may be list in a few months. The variety of isolation techniques have brought about the suggestion of many media that can be used to cultivate S. necrophorus. A selective medium utilizing dyes and Difco thioglycollate medium used is not a chemically defined medium but is less complex than most suggested media

Use of Supplemental Iron for the Enhancement of Physical Performance in Competitive Non-Anemic Female Athletes

Background: Iron has been a commonly prescribed supplement for female athletes to take, but there is little evidence to support if iron supplementation can help improve non-anemic female, athlete’s performance. There is still a lack of unity to determine whether iron can be beneficial to a female athlete during their competitive season regardless of their blood iron status. Purpose: The purpose of this literature review is to determine the impact of iron supplementation on physical performance in competitive non-anemic female athletes. Results: Seventeen articles were selected after following evaluation procedures utilizing the PEDro Scale, CASP, and the Critical Appraisal of a Meta-Analysis or Systematic Review; each of the articles were selected for their respective research types. Ten of the seventeen articles were able to report the benefits of iron supplementation on physical performance. The most common performance improvements were VO2max, energy efficiency, and improved blood lactate levels. Five articles reported no evidence of iron improving performance. The most common outcome supported by the utilized review articles suggested that iron supplementation allowed for iron level maintenance throughout the competitive season. Conclusion: Iron supplementation is most beneficial to physical performance in patients who have lower iron status. There is evidence to support that iron supplementation maintains blood iron levels throughout a competition which helps patients maintain their aerobic capacity. Iron supplementation was most beneficial to aerobic performance. Implications for Research and Practice: This research supports using iron supplementation in female athletes regardless of their iron status. The literature encourages athletic trainers and physicians to present athletes with the option for the female athletes to begin supplementation during their competitive season regardless of their iron status. Further research needs to be completed to determine the adverse effects of supplementing iron in patients that currently have normal iron levels as well as research on adequate dosage amounts

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South Korean energy outlook: Coal and electricity focus

An energy profile for South Korea is presented. The emphasis is on coal and electricity

Grey matter alterations in patients with depersonalization disorder: a voxel-based morphometry study

BACKGROUND: To our knowledge, no whole brain investigation of morphological aberrations in dissociative disorder is available to date. Previous region-of-interest studies focused exclusively on amygdalar, hippocampal and parahippocampal grey matter volumes and did not include patients with depersonalization disorder (DPD). We therefore carried out an explorative whole brain study on structural brain aberrations in patients with DPD. METHODS: We acquired whole brain, structural MRI data for patients with DPD and healthy controls. Voxel-based morphometry was carried out to test for group differences, and correlations with symptom severity scores were computed for grey matter volume. RESULTS: Our study included 25 patients with DPD and 23 controls. Patients exhibited volume reductions in the right caudate, right thalamus and right cuneus as well as volume increases in the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and right somatosensory region that are not a direct function of anxiety or depression symptoms. LIMITATIONS: To ensure ecological validity, we included patients with comorbid disorders and patients taking psychotropic medication. CONCLUSION: The results of this first whole brain investigation of grey matter volume in patients with a dissociative disorder indentified structural alterations in regions subserving the emergence of conscious perception. It remains unknown if these alterations are best understood as risk factors for or results of the disorder