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Nebraska Farm Finances in 2024: A Year of Modest Recovery and Growing Financial Pressure
No full textNebraska Farm Finances in 2024: A Year of Modest Recovery and Growing Financial Pressure by Tina N. Barrett (Cornhusker Economics, May 21, 2025)
Section headers:
Net Income Recovery Falls Short of Historical Highs
Household Spending Steady Amid Income Fluctuations
Rising Debt and Shifting Balance Sheets
Liquidity Pressures Worsen
Interest Costs Add to Financial Strain
Capital Purchases Shift: Less Equipment, More Land
Crop Enterprise Analysis: Losses Mount Despite Input Savings
Crop Enterprise Analysis: Losses Mount Despite Input Saving
How Human Cytomegalovirus UL3 Can Serve as a Drug Target Based on Its Structure and Function
No full textHCMV is a β-herpesvirus found in humans that can cause systemic infection; both an acute infection and a later latency and periodic reactivation event can cause disease in immunocompromised patients. Therefore, pinpointing genes involved in infection can potentially be used to design inhibitors against the virus. The purpose of this research project is to examine UL3, a viral gene with unknown structure and function. Within this study, I wanted to discover when UL3 was expressed during the viral life cycle and if it is required for viral growth. First, I cloned UL3 into the plasmid vector, pSNAPf, using designed primers and molecular biology techniques. This will allow us to see where in the cell the UL3 protein is localized by detecting the SNAP tag. To study UL3 within the virus, I used a virus (HCMV-UL3-HA) where UL3 is tagged with a different epitope tag, HA. To ensure the HA tag was not inhibiting the natural function and growth of the virus, I performed a virus titer using HCMV UL3-HA virus compared to wild type HCMV in fibroblasts (NHDFs). I also looked at structure predictions of UL3 using Alphafold to compare it to other known proteins, and sequence similarity tools such as BLAST to compare UL3 to known sequences. Future directions for this project include creating a growth curve for a knock-out HCMV UL3 virus against the HCMV UL3-HA virus to see if UL3 is required for viral growth. We can also use the HCMV UL3-HA virus to determine when UL3 is expressed by quantifying the HA protein tag attached to UL3 using a western blot. Once we know this information, we can potentially target the UL3 gene with a drug to take out the virus during acute infection
The Authority of Clothes: Queen Elizabeth I and Her Succession Crisis of 1562/63
No full textThis thesis looks at the silent messaging associated with Queen Elizabeth I\u27s clothing during her early reign. The goal of this thesis is to look at outfits Elizabeth could have worn and see what sort of messages her contemporaries in Parliament might haven taken from them. I specifically looked at Elizabeth\u27s Parliamentary meeting from 1562/63. I did so because this meeting was early in her reign, her legitimacy was being questioned on two fronts, and she had just gotten over smallpox. Elizabeth was not known yet for her extravagant outfits, but she would have needed to have had a powerful outfit in this meeting to assert her authority
Immunosenescence and HCMV: the Interaction Between UL2 and the Human Gene HMGCS1
No full textHuman Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a common (40-90% worldwide infection) ß-herpesvirus. Previous studies have drawn a potential link between HCMV and the phenomenon known as immunosenescence, in which mammalian cells experience a decrease in cellular activity and proliferation. During HCMV infection, cells of the myeloid lineage are a site of viral replication and dissemination, important for both lifelong infection and a biphasic viral lifecycle. During latency (1): the virus is dormant, minimal viral proteins are expressed; and during reactivation (2): the virus begins replicating again and produces new virus particles. Following latency, HCMV reactivates in macrophages by controlling cell cycle regulation leading to widespread viral replication and spread. This balance between viral latency and reactivation is important to disease development. Prior proteomics analysis by others found that UL2, an HCMV RL11 protein with unknown function, directly interacts with human proteins HMGCS1 and CREBBP. We intended to look at how UL2 interacted with HMGCS1 during HCMV latency and reactivation in monocytes. This study aimed to explore whether these interactions contribute to immunosenescence as is seen in patients with HCMV. We hypothesize that UL2 will cause a decrease in abundance of HMGCS1 protein and increase cell cycle arrest and would lead to abnormal cells. After looking at the role UL2 plays in the HCMV lifecycle, we know that it is not involved in lytic replication. We also built a molecular tool to express UL2 for examining these cellular interactions. Moving forward, we will characterize the interactions that UL2 has with HMGCS1 in monocytes and determine whether they contribute to immunosenescence and viral reactivation
A Case for Canonization: The Rhetorical Significance of the Amatory Fiction of Aphra Behn, Delarivier Manley, and Eliza Haywood Between 1660 and 1756
No full textInvolvement of Putative Membrane Raft Proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans Innate Immune Response to Pathogenic Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
No full textStenotrophomonas maltophilia is a gram-negative, multidrug-resistant bacterium and emerging opportunistic pathogen that infects susceptible immunocompromised. Caenorhabditis elegans is an attractive tool for examining host-pathogen interactions and pathogenicity mechanisms of S. maltophilia as members of the Stenotrophomonas genus are natural food sources and gut microbiome components. Genes differentially expressed in C. elegans’ innate immune response to S. maltophilia were previously identified through a transcriptomic analysis, three of which, irg-8, dod-19, and B0024.4, encode membrane raft proteins. These genes were upregulated during the pathogenic response, and loss-of-function mutant strains showed increased susceptibility. All three genes share significant sequence similarity and irg-8 and dod-19 are directly adjacent in the genome. Furthermore, each of these genes is required for proper expression of sysm-1::GFP, an effector of the p38 PMK-1 MAPK stress response pathway, suggesting they play a role in pathway activation. Based on this information, we chose these genes for further characterization. CRISPR-Cas9 was used to generate fluorescent tags as well as double and triple loss-of-function mutants, and characterization has yielded interesting and novel insights into their expression, localization, and functional involvement, including specificity during S. maltophilia infection compared to other bacterial pathogens
Implicit Leadership in the Agricultural Sector Among Latinx Youth Within the Omaha, Nebraska Metro Area
No full textOne of the few universal needs is produced within the field of agriculture and natural resources. These essential needs, such as food, water, and natural resources, are built by strong leaders who understand followership and leadership. In this field, the most common profile is of a white male, which has led to various layers of disadvantage and molded biases that impact the future leaders regarding their diversity. Latinos and Hispanics are one of the greatest contributors to the agricultural field in the United States, setting production practices, methods, and variation of methods that have led to growth and exposure of the field. The profile created and represented by the field has caused implications in forms of unconscious biases, stereotypes, and restrained leadership to be forged, causing long-lasting effects. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore implicit leadership in the agricultural sector among Latinx youth in the Omaha, Nebraska Metro Area. This will help to create an understanding about how identities, personal experiences, and leadership practices create implications for individual leadership among Latinx youth, especially in the agricultural sector. This study will inquire into both implicit leadership and followership theories via a mixed-methods research design. Methods will include pre-post drawing activities and Implicit Leadership Theory assessments throughout three 45-minute leadership development sessions with the Bryan Urban Agriculture Academy Youth participants
Precision Feeding Methods to Increase Nitrogen and Energy Utilization in Lactating Dairy Cows
Get PDFThe environmental and economic costs of overfeeding N to dairy cattle are a challenge in today’s dairy industry. Two studies were conducted to address new opportunities for precision feeding N, which is a strategy where producers strive to feed cows the precise amount of N and amino acids that meet their individual requirements.
The objective of the first study was to evaluate the effects of supplementing a rumen protected methionine (RPM) product via automatic milking system (AMS) concentrate on milk protein yield in lactating dairy cows. Fifty-one cows were randomly assigned to control (no RPM) or treatment groups. Milk yield and milk protein yield were similar between control and treatment groups in multiparous cows, but were reduced in primiparous cows fed the RPM. Milk fat percent wasn’t affected by the RPM. These results suggest that feeding RPM via an AMS is promising, but more research is needed.
The objective of the second study was to 1) chemically characterize two novel, high protein corn milling coproducts resulting from different processes, and 2) determine the impact of adding one of these products, 50Y, to diets formulated to contain low concentrations of either RDP or RUP. In the first experiment, five samples of each feed were analyzed for chemical composition in a completely randomized design. In the second experiment, utilizing a twice replicated 5×5 Latin square design, 10 multiparous Jersey cows were grouped by milk yield and randomly assigned 1 of 5 treatment diets. Results indicated that the inclusion of 50Y in diets did not affect dry matter intake, milk yield, fat percent, milk fat yield, energy-corrected milk, or concentrations of energy. However, when a diet low in RDP to which 50Y was added was fed, cows increased milk protein percent and N excretion in feces compared to cows fed the low RDP diet. Thus, while there may be negative implications for N excretion, 50Y can be substituted for nonenzymatically browned soybean meal as a source of RUP.
Advisor: Paul J. Kononof
Coming Back to Bite: Reflecting on Constructs of Adolescence and Girlhood in Young Adult Vampire Media
Get PDFThe YA vampire genre has experienced a great amount of success throughout the past two decades with titles including Joss Wheadon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy. Within this group, two of the most widely successful examples are Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga and the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, both of which have had a significant impact on Western popular culture. In this thesis, I use these two texts to explore the constructs of adolescence and girlhood that manifest as a result of the literary moves the writers seem to make in an effort to invite who they imagine as their prospective audience. Although the success of these efforts can be argued, their prospective impact on the prejudices society holds against young girls is traceable.
Through an exploration of the concept of “innocence” and the ways in which society associates the term with childhood and adolescence, I establish the avenues through which projection of an adult construct of adolescence is possible before going on to grapple with the historical and literary patterns which are often used to socially define the adult understanding of girlhood. In my analysis of my primary texts, I lay out how these constructs manifest and can reflect back upon their readership, further perpetuating the harmful stereotypes already held in patriarchal Western society.
Advisor: Gabrielle Owe