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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

An Analysis Of Agricultural Decision-Making For Phosphorus Runoff Reduction In The State Of Vermont, Bethany Brown Jan 2016

An Analysis Of Agricultural Decision-Making For Phosphorus Runoff Reduction In The State Of Vermont, Bethany Brown

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Eutrophication, stimulated by phosphorous (P) runoff from landscapes, compromises water quality and can have long-term impacts on the aesthetics, recreation, property values, and drinkability of bodies of water around the world. In the State of Vermont, efforts are underway to control the amount of P entering Lake Champlain per standards set forth in the Federal Clean Water Act. Agriculture has been identified as a major contributor to excess P in the waterways and will be managed according to Act 64, the Vermont Water Quality Act. The studies presented in this paper will introduce two independent methodologies proposed to aid in …


Diversification Strategies And Contributions Of Coffee Income To Poverty Alleviation Among Smallholders In Northern Huehuetenango And Quiche Departments, Guatemala, Andrew Gerlicz Jan 2016

Diversification Strategies And Contributions Of Coffee Income To Poverty Alleviation Among Smallholders In Northern Huehuetenango And Quiche Departments, Guatemala, Andrew Gerlicz

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In the past two decades, Mesoamerican smallholder coffee farmers have had to confront several stressors and shocks, such as price crises and natural disasters, with debilitating impacts on the viability of their livelihoods. More recently, many farmers have suffered crop losses in the wake of the spread of coffee leaf rust disease, and researchers are predicting that some areas will become less suitable for coffee growing in the near future as a result of climate change. In response to these conditions and in the context of the withdrawal of the state from provision of agricultural services, development practitioners have mainly …


Intra-Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Peptide Infusion Reinstates Cocaine Seeeking In Rats, Olivia Miles Jan 2016

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 …


Learning Related Regulation Of A Voltage-Gated Ion Channel In The Cerebellum, Jason R. Fuchs Jan 2016

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 …


Making The Healthy Choice: Exploring Health Communication In The Food System, Emily Portman Jan 2016

Making The Healthy Choice: Exploring Health Communication In The Food System, Emily Portman

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Cooperative Extension System are organizations that serve the public and agricultural communities, respectively. Within these broad organizations are two groups of food systems professionals, registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) and Extension agents, who are utilizing communication as a critical point of access for health-related issues. Both groups of professionals negotiate organizational structure in order to construct their own health knowledge and, subsequently, communicate accurate information to their constituents. Understanding the ways that these professionals navigate their roles as health communicators are important for contributing to public discourse about how health knowledge is created …


Associations Between Children's Perceptions Of Interparental Conflict And Neuropsychological Correlates Of Interpersonal Emotion Stimuli, Hannah C. Woolfolk Jan 2016

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 …