University of Nebraska–Lincoln

About: University of Nebraska–Lincoln is a education organization based out in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 28059 authors who have published 61544 publications receiving 2139104 citations. The organization is also known as: Nebraska & UNL.

Bacterial Killing by Dry Metallic Copper Surfaces

Abstract: Metallic copper surfaces rapidly and efficiently kill bacteria. Cells exposed to copper surfaces accumulated large amounts of copper ions, and this copper uptake was faster from dry copper than from moist copper. Cells suffered extensive membrane damage within minutes of exposure to dry copper. Further, cells removed from copper showed loss of cell integrity. Acute contact with metallic copper surfaces did not result in increased mutation rates or DNA lesions. These findings are important first steps for revealing the molecular sensitive targets in cells lethally challenged by exposure to copper surfaces and provide a scientific explanation for the use of copper surfaces as antimicrobial agents for supporting public hygiene.

Herbivore impact on grassland plant diversity depends on habitat productivity and herbivore size.

Abstract: Mammalian herbivores can have pronounced effects on plant diversity but are currently declining in many productive ecosystems through direct extirpation, habitat loss and fragmentation, while being simultaneously introduced as livestock in other, often unproductive, ecosystems that lacked such species during recent evolutionary times. The biodiversity consequences of these changes are still poorly understood. We experimentally separated the effects of primary productivity and herbivores of different body size on plant species richness across a 10-fold productivity gradient using a 7-year field experiment at seven grassland sites in North America and Europe. We show that assemblages including large herbivores increased plant diversity at higher productivity but decreased diversity at low productivity, while small herbivores did not have consistent effects along the productivity gradient. The recognition of these large-scale, cross-site patterns in herbivore effects is important for the development of appropriate biodiversity conservation strategies.

Critical Success Factors for Enterprise Resource Planning Implementation and Upgrade

Abstract: Seven categories of critical success factors were identified from the ERP literature: (1) business plan and vision; (2) change management; (3) communication; (4) ERP team composition, skills and compensation; (5) management support and championship; (6) project management; (7) system analysis, selection and technical implementation. We conducted a case study of two organizations that had implemented and upgraded ERP systems. We adopted Markus and Tanis' four-phase model and compared the importance of these critical success factors across the phases of ERP implementation and upgrade. The importance of these factors across the phases of ERP implementation and upgrade is very similar. ‘Business Plan and Vision’ and ‘Top Management Support and Championship’ are critical during the Chartering phase. ‘ERP Team Composition, Skills and Compensation,’ ‘Project Management’ and ‘System Analysis, Selection and Technical Implementation’ are most important during the Project phase. ‘Change Management’ and ‘Communicatio...

Multiple exposures to drought 'train' transcriptional responses in Arabidopsis.

Abstract: Pre-exposure to stress may alter plants' subsequent responses by producing faster and/or stronger reactions implying that plants exercise a form of 'stress memory'. The mechanisms of plants' stress memory responses are poorly understood leaving this fundamental biological question unanswered. Here we show that during recurring dehydration stresses Arabidopsis plants display transcriptional stress memory demonstrated by an increase in the rate of transcription and elevated transcript levels of a subset of the stress-response genes (trainable genes). During recovery (watered) states, trainable genes produce transcripts at basal (preinduced) levels, but remain associated with atypically high H3K4me3 and Ser5P polymerase II levels, indicating that RNA polymerase II is stalled. This is the first example of a stalled RNA polymerase II and its involvement in transcriptional memory in plants. These newly discovered phenomena might be a general feature of plant stress-response systems and could lead to novel approaches for increasing the flexibility of a plant's ability to respond to the environment.