Life Sciences Commons^™

Autonomic Reactivity In Emerging Adulthood : Relationships Between Cyberbullying , The Autonomic Nervous System, And Clinical Outcomes., Aya Cheaito

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, online environments have become critical ways of connecting among college students. With the increase in online interactions, cybervictimization has been identified as a public health issue. This study aims to examine whether cybervictimization among college students is associated with clinical adjustment outcomes such as depression and alcohol consumption. This study also aims to examine whether reactivity in the two branches of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic) jointly moderate the relationship between cyberbullying and depression/alcohol consumption, indicating sensitivity to the environment. Participants (n =164, 69% female, M age = 19.92, SD = …

Complex Systems Analysis In Selected Domains: Animal Biosecurity & Genetic Expression, Luke Trinity

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

I first broadly define the study of complex systems, identifying language to describe and characterize mechanisms of such systems which is applicable across disciplines. An overview of methods is provided, including the description of a software development methodology which defines how a combination of computer science, statistics, and mathematics are applied to specified domains. This work describes strategies to facilitate timely completion of robust and adaptable projects which vary in complexity and scope. A biosecurity informatics pipeline is outlined, which is an abstraction useful in organizing the analysis of biological data from cells. This is followed by specific applications of …

Biobehavioral Predictors Of Cannabis Use In Adolescence, Philip Aaron Spechler

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Cannabis use initiated during adolescence may precipitate lasting consequences on the brain and behavioral health of the individual. However, research on the risk factors for cannabis use during adolescence has been largely cross-sectional in design. Despite the few prospective studies, even less is known about the neurobiological predictors. This dissertation improves on the extant literature by leveraging a large longitudinal study to uncover the predictors of cannabis use in adolescent samples collected prior to exposure. All data were drawn from the IMAGEN study and contained a large sample of adolescents studied at age 14 (N=2,224), and followed up at age …

The Role Of The Prelimbic, Infralimbic, And Cerebellar Cortices In Operant Behavior, Megan Laura Shipman

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Operant (instrumental) conditioning is a laboratory method for investigating voluntary behavior and involves training a particular response, such as pressing a lever, to earn a reinforcer. Operant behavior is generally divided into two categories: actions and habits. Actions are goal-directed and controlled by response-outcome (R-O) associations. Habits are stimulus-driven and controlled by stimulus-response associations (S-R). Behavior is determined to be goal-directed or habitual by whether or not it is sensitive (action) or insensitive (habit) to reinforcer/outcome devaluation. Many brain regions have been linked to the learning and/or expression of actions and/or habits. This dissertation investigates a few different brain regions …

Risk Profiles For Adolescent Internalizing Problems, Kelsey Elizabeth Hudson

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Objective: Internalizing problems are commonly diagnosed during adolescence, and are associated with distress, impairment, and negative mental health outcomes in adulthood. Thus, there is a critical need to characterize adolescents who are at the highest risk for escalating to clinical levels of internalizing problems while extending current literature and incorporating both biological and environmental predictors. This study aimed to characterized risk profiles for fourteen-year-old adolescents who developed clinical levels of internalizing (High Internalizing [HI]) problems by age nineteen, using brain, genetic, personality, cognitive, life history, psychopathology, and demographic measures. The study also examined whether there were functional and structural brain …

Intra-Cellular Mechanisms By Which Pac1 Receptor Activation Mediates Stress-Induced Reinstatement To Drug-Seeking, Olivia Miles

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The abuse of and addiction to drugs of abuse, such as tobacco, alcohol, opioids, and illicit drugs, are growing global problems that affect the welfare of individuals and societies worldwide. The National Institute of Drug Abuse estimates the annual cost of substance abuse to be over $740 billion in costs related to drug intoxication, withdrawal and relapse. A primary challenge in the treatment of substance abuse is the tendency of users to relapse following acute or extended periods of abstinence; on average over 60% of substance abusers will return to drug use within a year of receiving treatment, many relapsing …

Examining The Roles Of Sex, Methamphetamine, And Degree Of Training In Habit Formation In Rats, Hannah Schoenberg

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Addiction is characterized by a progressive loss of executive control over drug-seeking and consumption, and may be associated with a behavioral shift from instrumental goal-directed actions to stimulus-response habits. Sex differences in drug addiction have been linked to changing hormone levels across the estrous cycle, and females exhibit a particular vulnerability to psychostimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines. Psychostimulants and estrogen both influence dopaminergic activity in the dorsal striatum, a region of the brain in which dopamine activity is thought to mediate the shift from action to habit. In the present set of experiments, we examined the roles of sex, …

Protein Kinase Mzeta (Pkm-Ζ) Regulates Kv1.2 Dependent Cerebellar Eyeblink Classical Conditioning, Kutibh Chihabi

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Learning and memory has been a topic that has captured the attention of the scientific and public communities since the dawn of scientific discovery. Without the faculty of memory, mammals cannot experience nor function in the world; among homosapiens specifically, language, relationships, and personal identity cannot be developed (Eysenck, 2012). After all, some philosophers such as John Locke argued we are nothing but a collection of past memories in which we have developed and improved upon (Nimbalkar, 2011).

Understanding the cellular mechanisms behind learning, and the subsequent formation of memory, has been a topic that has garnered scientific interest for …

Predictive Modeling Of Adolescent Cannabis Use From Multimodal Data, Philip Spechler

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Predicting teenage drug use is key to understanding the etiology of substance abuse. However, classic predictive modeling procedures are prone to overfitting and fail to generalize to independent observations. To mitigate these concerns, cross-validated logistic regression with elastic-net regularization was used to predict cannabis use by age 16 from a large sample of fourteen year olds (N=1,319). High-dimensional data (p = 2,413) including parent and child psychometric data, child structural and functional MRI data, and genetic data (candidate single-nucleotide polymorphisms, "SNPs") collected at age 14 were used to predict the initiation of cannabis use (minimum six occasions) by age 16. …

Transdermal Testosterone For Menopause-Related Hyposexual Desire Disorder: Current Guidelines And Provider Perceptions, Knowledge, And Practice, Kelly Christine White

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Hypoactive sexual desire or low libido in women are collectively referred to as hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). HSDD is estimated to occur in 10% to 15% of adult women. HSDD is likely the most common female sexual dysfunction (FSD) in menopausal women. The hallmark of the diagnosis is personal distress and interpersonal difficulties resulting from low sex drive. Most women will not seek help for this problem. Studies have suggested that primary care providers and gynecologic healthcare providers report not feeling qualified to treat patients with sexual dysfunction, especially HSDD. Testosterone, specifically transdermal testosterone, has been suggested to play …

Associations Between Children's Perceptions Of Interparental Conflict And Neuropsychological Correlates Of Interpersonal Emotion Stimuli, Hannah C. Woolfolk

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Exposure to interparental conflict has been implicated in children's development. Research suggests that underlying mechanisms, such as neuropsychological indicators of cognitive processes, may shed light on how exposure to interparental conflict differentially influences children's outcomes over time. Event-related potentials (ERP), extracted from electroencephalogram data, allow for examination of neuropsychological markers of cognition based on precise timing and scalp topography of electrical activity in the brain. For example, the late positive potential (LPP) ERP component has been implicated in the timing and magnitude of sustained attention and emotion regulation processes elicited in response to emotionally salient stimuli. LPP amplitudes and peak …

Learning Related Regulation Of A Voltage-Gated Ion Channel In The Cerebellum, Jason R. Fuchs

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The neural mechanisms that support learning and memory are still poorly understood. Much work has focused on changes in neurotransmitter receptor expression, while changes in voltage-gated ion channel expression have been largely unexplored, despite the fact that voltage-gated ion channels govern neuronal excitability. Here we used eyeblink conditioning (EBC) in rats, a model of learning and memory with a well-understood neural circuit, to examine regulation of voltage-gated ion channels as a consequence of learning. EBC is a form of classical conditioning that involves pairings of a behaviorally neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) and an eyeblink eliciting unconditioned stimulus (US) over many …

Intra-Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Peptide Infusion Reinstates Cocaine Seeeking In Rats, Olivia Miles

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The tendency of users to relapse severely hinders adequate treatment of addiction. Physical and psychological stressors often contribute to difficulties in maintaining behavior change, and may play a significant role in relapse. We have previously shown that the activation of pituitary adenylate cyclase activating peptide (PACAP) systems in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) mediates many consequences of chronic stressor exposure. Hence, chronic stress substantially increased BNST PACAP levels, intra-BNST PACAP infusions produced the behavioral and endocrine consequences of stressor exposure, and BNST PACAP antagonism blocked many of the consequences of chronic stress. In the present set of …

The Influence Of Prenatal Stress On Behaviors Associated With Schizophrenia And Autism Spectrum Disorder., Harold Bauerle

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Disorders such as schizophrenia (SCZ) and austism spectrum disorder (ASD) have long been associated with prenatal stress. In these three experiments, we attempted to correlate stress during gestation with behaviors considered to have good facial validity with SCZ and ASD in both juvenile and adult animals. To differentiate the effects of prenatal stress (PS) from the effects of early life stress due to a dam's behavior (MS), half of offspring animals were cross fostered to dams treated in the alternative condition as the offspring during pregnancy in experiments 2 and 3. In experiment 1, but not in 2 or 3, …

The Impact Of Engagement With Community Supported Agriculture On Human Attitude Towards The Sustainable Food Movement, Ariana Margarita Cano

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

With a total of 164 community supported agriculture programs (CSA), Vermont is leading the "locavore" movement in the United States, ranked number one in the country with the most CSAs and Food Hubs per capita. ("Locavore Index," 2013)

CSAs have a large positive impact on reducing carbon emissions, advancing local economic growth, and promoting healthy lifestyles of consumers. The purpose of this study is to explore the overall experience of individuals in comparison to their current social norm, individual attitudes, identity, and intentions of change, and understand any change overtime in their individual attitude and behavior.

Attitude change was measured …

Extension 3.0: Managing Agricultural Knowledge Systems In The Network Age, Mark Lubell, Meredith T. Niles, Matthew Hoffman

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper develops the idea of “Extension 3.0” as an approach to agricultural extension that capitalizes on the network structure of local agricultural knowledge systems. Over the last century, agricultural knowledge systems have evolved into networks of widely distributed actors with a diversity of specializations and expertise. Agricultural extension programs need to manage these networks in ways that maximize the synergy between experiential, technical, and social learning. Using empirical research from California farmers, we highlight the structure of these networks within and across contexts, and the importance of boundary-spanning relationships. We provide some initial recommendations about actions needed to realize …

Perceptions And Responses To Climate Policy Risks Among California Farmers, Meredith T. Niles, Mark Lubell, Van R. Haden

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper considers how farmers perceive and respond to climate change policy risks, and suggests that understanding these risk responses is as important as understanding responses to biophysical climate change impacts. Based on a survey of 162 farmers in California, we test three hypotheses regarding climate policy risk: (1) that perceived climate change risks will have a direct impact on farmer's responses to climate policy risks, (2) that previous climate change experiences will influence farmer's climate change perceptions and climate policy risk responses, and (3) that past experiences with environmental policies will more strongly affect a farmer's climate change beliefs, …

Global And Local Concerns: What Attitudes And Beliefs Motivate Farmers To Mitigate And Adapt To Climate Change?, Van R. Haden, Meredith T. Niles, Mark Lubell, Josh Perlman, Louise Jackson

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

In response to agriculture's vulnerability and contribution to climate change, many governments are developing initiatives that promote the adoption of mitigation and adaptation practices among farmers. Since most climate policies affecting agriculture rely on voluntary efforts by individual farmers, success requires a sound understanding of the factors that motivate farmers to change practices. Recent evidence suggests that past experience with the effects of climate change and the psychological distance associated with people's concern for global and local impacts can influence environmental behavior. Here we surveyed farmers in a representative rural county in California's Central Valley to examine how their intention …