21334 research outputs found
Sort by
Effects of Bison and Cattle Grazing on Milkweeds and Monarch Butterflies
No full textMonarch butterflies have experienced massive population declines and are being considered for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. This has inspired conservation efforts to mitigate these declines. One of the primary conservation efforts has been to try to increase milkweed (Asclepias spp.) abundance. Milkweeds are the required host plant for monarch caterpillars, and the spread of row-crop agricultural lands has contributed to the deterioration of milkweeds. Previous research by my advisor, Timothy Dickson, indicates that cattle grazing dramatically decreases milkweed abundance, which is important because 34% of the continental USA is grazed by livestock, primarily cattle. However, bison grazing, which occurs on many conservation sites and some beef production sites, may have less adverse effect on milkweed than cattle grazing. My project will compare and quantify grazing impacts on milkweed densities and juvenile monarch abundances among bison-grazed, cattle-grazed, and ungrazed lands. The project will build upon previous research by comparing juvenile monarch abundance between grazed and ungrazed lands and by comparing lands grazed by bison and cattle
Digital Commons and Open Access: Utilizing DigitalCommons@UNO and UNO\u27s Open Access Publishing Agreements to make your work open and accessible
No full textThis presentation covered the University of Nebraska at Omaha\u27s institutional repository, DigitalCommons@UNO, the basics and different types of Open Access and this many open access publishing agreements available for UNO authors
Face of War: A Collective Narrative Podcast -Season 2 Episode 3: Samuel Bak, Holocaust Survivor and Artist, Part 1
Get PDFThis podcast series reflects how war impacts all of us by listening to the different perspectives of those that have lived it, understanding how the media shapes our views of war, understanding our own feelings, and learning life skills for managing stress, fear, and anxiety. Our goal is to educate, remind you that you aren’t alone, and give you tools to navigate living and watching war.
Sam shares a few of his experiences of survival during WWII and what it means to be an artist representing displacement, survival, and hope. Following a 2019 exhibition at UNO, the artist donated more than 500 works for a museum and learning center on UNO’s campus.
The Participants in this episode:
Barbara K Robins, Assistant Professor of English, UNO
Samuel Bak, Holocaust Survivor and Artist
For more information, visit the website for the Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center. https://www.unomaha.edu/samuel-bak-museum-the-learning-center/
Link to Spotify episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/06u62f9ODcpRm7HWFeczd
Face of War: A Collective Narrative Podcast -Season 2 Episode 5: A Personal Story of Loss
Get PDFThis podcast series reflects how war impacts all of us by listening to the different perspectives of those that have lived it, understanding how the media shapes our views of war, understanding our own feelings, and learning life skills for managing stress, fear, and anxiety. Our goal is to educate, remind you that you aren’t alone, and give you tools to navigate living and watching war.
In an interview discussion with Harley, Barbara shares her experiences living with a US Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam and his death by suicide in 2020 after a second cancer diagnosis.
Participants in this episode:
Barbara K Robins – Assistant Professor of English, UNO
Harley Barmore - Director of UNO’s MCRC and US Air Force Veteran
Link to Spotify episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7GfgEKJlMYLWV0BsPKZvL
Examining the Influence of Social Media Influencers on Fast Fashion Consumption and Environmental Impact: A Mixed Methods Analysis
Get PDFAs the production and disposal of cheap, trendy clothing continues to be a growing environmental crisis, fast fashion companies are only increasing profits and strengthening their marketing tactics. A prevailing tactic for these companies is the use of social media influencers promoting fast fashion items online. This explanatory sequential mixed methods research study analyzes the themes within the content promoted by social media influencers and then gives context to those themes through the voices of social media users. This study reveals a presence of personal branding, relatability, and repetition in social media content promoting fast fashion. Additionally, it reveals the intuitive nature of social media users and a feeling of fatigue from seeing repetitive, sponsored, and disingenuous content. The implications and findings from this research will help scholars and sustainability advocates understand the tactics of SMIs promoting fast fashion and how the target consumers use and interact with this content
Cardiovascular and Autonomic Responses to Acute Exposure to Mild Hypercapnic Conditions: A pilot study
Get PDFTitle: Cardiovascular and Autonomic Responses to Acute Exposure to Mild Hypercapnic Conditions: A pilot study
Author Block: Andres Benitez-Albiter1, Michael F. Allen1, Cody P. Anderson1, Matthew J. Jones1, Minhyeok Jang1, Kollyn Weimer1, Muhammed Enes Erol1, Gwenael Layec1, and Song-Young Park1,2
1School of Health and Kinesiology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE, United States of America
2Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States of America
Introduction: Prolonged sitting (PS), defined as sitting for 2+ hours at a time, has been identified as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). We previously reported that an acute bout of PS can attenuate macrovascular function in healthy young adults. Additionally, we reported that PS in mild hypercapnic environments (elevated CO2 concentrations) can further exacerbate these impairments in healthy young adults, and these impairments can be partially prevented by intermittent bouts of passive and active leg movements. However, the effects of prolonged sitting with a mild hypercapnic environment in the elderly population have not been studied. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of prolonged sitting with a mild-hypercapnic condition on macrovascular endothelial function in the popliteal and brachial arteries of healthy elderly adults. Additionally, we have further examined the effects of passive and active movements to negate the negative effects of prolonged sitting in elderly adults.
Hypothesis: We hypothesized that 1) PS will attenuate local and systemic macrovascular endothelial function, 2) passive and active leg movements will preserve macrovascular endothelial function.
Methods: Healthy elderly adults (n=1, 1 male, 71) participated in three experimental visits consisting of 2.5h of prolonged sitting in a mild-hypercapnic condition (CO2 = 1500ppm): control (CON, no movement), passive (PASS, passive leg movement), and active (ACT, active leg movement). Popliteal and brachial artery endothelial function was measured using flow-mediated dilation (FMD). All measurements were taken pre- and post-sitting.
Results: Popliteal FMD was reduced in the CON condition compared to both the PASS and ACT (D -3.54 vs D -2.621 vs D 0.267, respectively). Brachial FMD was attenuated in the CON condition compared to both the PASS and ACT (D -3.197 vs D -1.863 vs D 0.75, respectively).
Conclusion: This preliminary data shows that uninterrupted prolonged sitting induces impairments in both local and systemic macrovascular endothelial function. Additionally, intermittent bouts of passive and active movements can partially preserve macrovascular function during PS
Redlining Impact On Aging Omaha
Get PDFRedlining is the discriminatory practice of denying services or loans to certain neighborhoods based on their racial or ethnic identity. This practice has led to lack of economic growth, social disparities and alienation of investing in predominantly minority communities. Omaha, one of the largest cities in Nebraska has been pronounced as one of the top 50 most segregated cities. This issue has been due to redlining going back to the 1920\u27s and still present in the modern era. In modern day redlining goes across the metroplex from North Omaha down to South Omaha. Both these areas in Omaha are mainly populated by Black and Hispanic individuals. Along these areas you see multiple buy-here-pay-here dealerships and loan companies. Leaving minorities in circles of financial instability leading to long term issues. Redlining is also accountable for spacial profiling, which can contribute to bigger rates of incarceration among minorities. According to statistics from Nebraska\u27s 2020 planning committee, African Americans are significantly overrepresented, comprising 4.77% of the general population but 27.74% of the incarcerated population . Incarceration leads to broken families, financial issues, job instability, and recidivism. Affecting people when it comes to the age of retirement needing more assistance and dependability.
Health issues can also be governed by the lack of stability. Neighborhoods in South Omaha are typically surrounded by factories that contribute to large amounts of greenhouse emissions. These well-known meat industries not only affect the environment but species and humans surrounding it. Gas emissions take part in causing asthma and aggravating heart disease. Mainly minorities populating in these types of jobs can also be hazardous to physical abilities in the late aging stages. Redlining has been an ongoing issue for a long time in Omaha and it continues to be one as it affects individuals and families up until the late stages of aging. The images I will be presenting in this exhibit highlight the major lasting effects of redlining as well as organizations and community support systems that are present today in changing the narrative
Effect of Turn Angle and Speed on Segmental Coordination During Walking Turns
No full textAlmost half of a human\u27s daily steps comprise turning. Typically, turning follows a cranial to caudal coordination of body segments from the head, trunk, and pelvis to reorient the body in a new direction of travel. Segmental coordination is essential for sensory integration as the anticipation of visual or vestibular information from the environment is required for spontaneous or rapid adjustments during turning. In Parkinson\u27s Disease (PD), delays in the relative timing of head-to-trunk coordination occur with respect to the onset of a turn, termed turning en-bloc. Yet, limited studies have examined the maximum angular separation between body segments during turns, which may provide insights into turning impairments due to aging and disease. We aimed to explore segmental coordination during turns using the maximum angular separation between body segments. We used wearable sensors to obtain movement data from 10 healthy older adults (60.2 ± 10.2 years, 8 females) during normal and fast walking speeds for 60°, 90°, and 120° turns. We observed a higher angular separation between the lumbar and the head as the turn angles and walking speed increased. The same trend was observed for the maximum angular separation between the pelvis and the head. In both cases, the head led the segmental coordination into the turn. However, we did not observe such a trend for the pelvis and the sternum, indicating a minimal angular separation between the pelvis and sternum in all turn angles and walking speeds. Our result highlights the role of craniocaudal coordination in integrating sensory information during turning. Without such segmental coordination, individuals may fail to execute appropriate postural responses, which may affect their stability when turning.
Keywords: Human locomotion, fall
Bridge Between Predictability and Complexity in Human Gait
No full textSeveral different metrics can quantify the rich information of a system reflected in a time series. Entropy (Ent) quantifies how unpredictable a time series is. The Hurst exponent (H) quantifies the temporal correlation between datapoints of a time series. Ent and H have been applied to characterize complex systems, including the human body and its behavior. The Optimal Movement Variability Hypothesis (OMVH) claims an inverted U relationship between predictability and complexity (i.e., Ent and H) of human movement. However, the relationship between Ent and H has not been explained sufficiently. This study aims to investigate the relationship between Ent and H via analysis on simulated and empirical data. We hypothesized that Ent and H will have an inverted U relationship in both simulated stationary time series and empirical data. In addition, we hypothesized that Ent and H will have an inverse relationship in simulated nonstationary time series. For the simulated data, we simulated 2000 time series with different H. Half of the time series were stationary, and the other half were nonstationary. Each time series consisted of a 100,000 datapoints. Ent was computed for each time series. For the empirical data, we used gait kinematics collected from a 1426 walking trials. Each participant completed 18, 4-minute walking trials at a self-selected pace on an indoor track. Based on the gait kinematics, stride length, stride interval, hip, knee, and ankle range of motion, were computed per stride. Ent and the H were estimated for every gait feature computed. Multilevel models were built to examine the linear and potentially quadratic relationship between Ent and H for each gait feature. Simulated data revealed inverted J relationship between Ent and H for stationary time series. H greater than 0.5 showed greater decrease in Ent as H deviated from 0.5. In addition, the simulated data showed inverse relationship between Ent and H for nonstationary time series. Multilevel models for every gait feature revealed a significantly negative quadratic trend, meaning there were inverted U-like relationships between the Ent and H of gait features. Our results provide both mathematical and empirical evidence to support the OMVH. Despite the quadratic relationship observed from our models, our simulated data suggests that there can be a relationship between Ent and H that is more complex than a simple quadratic relationship. Further investigation using numerical methods are required to define the underlying equation between Ent and H