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The Influence Of Preventive Dental Care And Its Role On The Patient-Provider Relationship, Maria Figueroa

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Neanderthal Depopulation With Direct Neanderthal And Châtelperronian Radiocarbon Data, Thomas K. Lyman

Honors Thesis

Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (Neanderthals) inhabited Eurasia approximately 350,000 years ago before experiencing population decline and disappearing from the archaeological record around 40,000 years ago (Yaworsky et al. 1). Radiocarbon dating has played a major role in establishing the timing of the last Neanderthals by both dating their skeletal remains and animal bones associated with their material culture. Widely discussed in the context of the last Neanderthals are the Châtelperronian stratigraphic layers as they possibly contain the last of Neanderthal material culture in regions of France and Spain. Whether the Châtelperronian should be attributed to Neanderthals or Anatomically Modern Humans (AMHs) …

Lucy Through The Years -- Temporal Trends In The Australopithecus Dentition, Olivia Ervin

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Australopithecus afarensis, an extinct human ancestor (ca. 3.75 – 2.95 million years ago) first distinguished in 1978, has a dense fossil record. Until recently, A. afarensis fossils were primarily known from two locations, Laetoli, Tanzania, and Hadar, Ethiopia, that are approximately 1750 kilometers apart. Additionally, there is no temporal overlap between the sites; fossils from Laetoli are older than 3.5 Ma and those from Hadar stretch from 3.4 – 3.0 Ma. For some tooth positions, the Laetoli and Hadar fossils subtly differ in size and shape. Previous research indicated that some of these differences could be attributable to evolutionary change, …

Where The Ancestors Sleep: Radiocarbon Dating Of Bioapatite From La Consentida, Oaxaca, Robert Mitchell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study aims to refine the chronology of the burial sequence at the Early Formative Period (2000–1000 BCE) site of La Consentida in Oaxaca, Mexico. Previously, the chronology of mortuary spaces at La Consentida was supported by nine radiocarbon dates (2020–1510 cal BCE) from secure contexts, including charcoal, carbonized material from pottery, and two human bone samples processed together using R_combine to establish a single direct date for human remains at the site. This thesis study dated bioapatite from nine sets of adult human remains found in the two known mortuary contexts at La Consentida and two carbon-rich sediment samples …

Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotope Analysis Of Infant Feeding Practices And Stress In 18th-19th Century Pointe-Aux-Trembles, Québec, Sydney Holland

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis is a bioarchaeological study of infant feeding practices and early life stress in 18th -19th century Pointe-aux-Trembles, a rural community near Montréal, Québec that was known to practice wet nursing. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of 62 incremental dentine samples were used to reconstruct the feeding histories of 10 infants (age) interred between 1709-1843. At least 6 of 10 infants display evidence of breastfeeding, with weaning foods (e.g., porridge, bread) typically introduced between ~1.5-5.5 months of age and weaning completion around 10.5-13.5 months. Isotopic and/or dental evidence of stress (e.g., enamel hypoplasia) was identified in 8 of …

The Effects Of Diet, Size, And Phylogeny On Primate Dental Proportions, Rudolph J. Wilkins

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is generally appreciated that there is a relationship between the relative size of the incisors, mandible length, and diet in primates. More specifically, the differences in relative incisor size among primate species are believed to be evolutionary adaptations to their use during food processing and acquisition. While this satisfactorily explains relatively large incisors, it fails to address the relatively small incisor size seen in many taxa. One hypothesis is that there is a trade-off between molar size and incisor size in species with relatively short mandibles. The following study uses two-way ANOVA to evaluate the possibility that spatial constraint …

Putting It Gently: The Other Side Of A Peace Corps Volunteer Experience, Nicole Jacobson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Peace Corps is a transformative experience for many young Americans. The majority of volunteers have worthwhile services they remember fondly; however, these experiences are not always positive. The Peace Corps is a Cold War initiative that uses soft power techniques to further American exceptionalism, capitalism, and the modernization theory of development. The goal of this project was to understand what factors led to the negative experiences of Peace Corps Volunteers. I conducted an ethnography that focused on online communities, semi-structured interviews, Peace Corps memoirs, and news articles to understand Peace Corps Volunteers’ experiences and the organizational culture where they …

Cheiloscopy Examination And Classification Of Lip Prints With And Without Parafunctional Oral Habits: A Cross-Sectional Observation Study, Emily Smith Regan

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

Problem: Lip prints are unique and have potential for use as a human identifier. The purpose of this study was to observe possible cheiloscopy differences of individuals with and without parafunctional oral habits. Additionally, inter-rater reliability (IRR) of lip print examiners was observed. Methods: This IRB approved blinded cross-sectional observational study collected lip prints from sixty-six individuals using lipstick and adhesive tape to transfer lip prints to white bond paper for viewing purposes. Each set of included lip prints was divided into quadrants and dichotomized as those with or without an oral parafunctional habit. Each quadrant sample was manually analyzed …

Head Shapes And Toothaches: A Study Of Cranial Modification And Dental Pathology At Muna, A Late Pre-Hispanic Cemetery From The Archaeological Sanctuary Of Pachacamac (Lima, Perú)., T Naomi Nakahodo Moromizato

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis is a bioarchaeological analysis of cranial modification and dental pathology in a sample of human remains excavated from the pre-Hispanic MUNA cemetery. This cemetery was on the outskirts of the Archaeological Sanctuary of Pachacamac in the Lurín Valley. The cemetery was comprised of disturbed skeletal remains and relatively well preserved fardos funerarios (funerary bundles) from the Late Intermediate Period (1100-1470 CE) and early Late Horizon (1470-1532 CE). The results of this thesis show that the skeletal remains and fardos likely belonged to a single community, and the analyzed sample showed intra-site variation of the fronto-occipital cranial modification. The …

Integrated Healthcare In The U.S. Safety-Net System: Meeting The Needs Of Patients Through Comprehensive Medical And Social Care, Jacqueline Devaney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

This thesis examines how a Patient-Centered Medical Home addresses, implements, and provides medical and social resources and services within the Florida U.S. safety-net system, and how patients and providers perceive health care interactions between each other. The safety-net clinics seek to fill the care gap for millions of uninsured low-income U.S. residents who cannot afford private insurance, are unemployed, self-employed, undocumented, or their low income exceeds the qualification threshold, and they face barriers in accessing expensive medical care in the U.S. I have conducted ethnographic research at Grace Medical Home, a safety-net clinic in Central Florida, which included five months …

A Paleoethnobotanical Comparison Of Mortuary And Village Langford Tradition Sites In Northern Illinois, Tania Lee Milosavljevic

Theses and Dissertations

Archaeologists working in northern Illinois have conducted research on Langford Tradition (ca AD 1100-1450) sites for more than a century. The last 40 years have seen increasing methodological sophistication providing for a relatively nuanced understanding of food technology and resource use. Paleoethnobotany has provided one way to observe the diversity of plant use among Langford site occupants. Using standard paleoethnobotanical practices, plant macroremain from the Robinson Reserve Site (11CK2) are analyzed. The results of the plant macroremain analysis are then compared to existing floral data from the Washington Irving Site (11K52). This research investigates whether site functionality is distinguishable between …

Understanding The Environmental And Genetic Influence On Fluctuating Asymmetry And Developmental Instability In Primates, Ashly N. Romero

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored the impact of environmental factors on the development and perpetuation of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) and sought to understand the role evolution may play in the FA exhibited in two primate populations: the free-ranging Cayo Santiago rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and the Southwest National Primate Research Center olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis). Demographic, ontogenetic, secular, external, and genetic factors were examined. Specifically, this dissertation investigated FA over all ontogenetic stages, across decades, between sexes, in association with ecological catastrophes, and with tooth pathology to try and tease apart factors that may influence FA and developmental instability. This dissertation …

Beyond Burial - Transforming Death: A New Ritual Of Farewell And The Ecological Return Of The Body To Nature, Chang Xie

Masters Theses

Burial and funeral culture have been shaped by human self-awareness and reflect an anthropocentric worldview. The modern funeral industry's multi-billion-dollar enterprise is based on the principle of protecting, sanitizing, and beautifying the corpse to promote the idea of human exceptionalism. However, this practice overlooks the natural process of decay and the potential beauty in returning the body to the earth, with which the body shares the same chemical basis as the earth itself. Modern science has provided Eco-friendly green burial methods, such as soil modification, ice burial, and water burial, making it suitable to contribute to natural ecology using human …

Dental Microwear Of Miocene Primates From The Turkana Basin Of Northern Kenya, Leah K. Myerholtz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Comprehending the dietary patterns of Turkana Basin primates from the late Paleogene and early Neogene can contextualize the role of food choice in the evolution of higher primates in Africa. Dental Microwear Texture Analysis (DMTA) quantifies wear on the enamel of a tooth and can be used as a proxy to infer aspects of a taxon’s diet in the past. DMTA can provide insight into what specific animals in the past ate, rather than what they were capable of eating, and by extension, reflect food availability related to habitat preferences or environmental fluctuation. Here, primates from six Oligocene through Pliocene …

An Exploration Of The Correlation Between Body Mass And Skeletal Measurements Of The Long Bone Joints And Diaphyses, Caroline Genius

Honors Theses

Body mass is a characteristic of the human body that can aid in narrowing down potential identifications of unidentified individuals. However, when faced with skeletal remains, body mass is not easily ascertained, especially when the remains are incomplete. This research explores the potential correlation between body mass and long bone dimensions in order to aid in identification efforts. The limited research done prior has been conducted almost exclusively on the lower limbs—therefore, one of the primary foci of this study is to assess the efficacy of using the joint surfaces and shaft measurements of the upper limbs. Five long bones …

Dental Calculus: Future In Forensics, Emily Elgin

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Gendered Bodies, Engendered Lives: Bioarchaeological Exploration Of The Intersectionality Of Gender, Health, And Trauma At Turkey Creek Pueblo, Arizona (Ad 1225-1286), Claira Elizabeth Ralston

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines the relationships between sex, gender, and health at Turkey Creek Pueblo (AD 1225-1286), the earliest aggregated Pueblo community in the Point of Pines region of east central Arizona, to better understand their roles in producing differential health outcomes. To gain a view of these interactions, I use osteological, mortuary, and ethnohistoric data to explore how gender, as a social institution, informed divisions of labor and experiences with traumatic injury at Turkey Creek Pueblo, because this site was occupied during a socially dynamic and important period in the pre-contact American Southwest. Using these data, I explore how sex, …

Comparison Of Male And Female Rib Sternal Ends And The Effects Of Aging Using Elliptical Fourier Analysis, Marta M. Paulson

Masters Theses

Sex and age make up two of the main tenets of the biological profile. Most anthropologists would argue that sex is one of the most important aspects of the profile. When creating a biological profile, the first step is to estimate sex of the individual because this can affect age estimation using the os coxa or estimations of stature. Past studies have noted that even though ribs carry out the same function in males and females there are morphological differences that can affect age estimation using the ribs. This study uses Elliptical Fourier analysis to compare differences in overall shape …

From Micro To Macro: Examining Potential Microbiome Mediated Influences On Human Growth And Health Outcomes Through Breastfeeding And Antibiotic Exposures, Nicole K. Phillips

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Human microbiome research has rapidly developed over the past two decades yet absent from most research is the composition and dynamics of microbiomes within human populations. Given the limitations in longitudinal studies which requires decades of repeated microbe taxonomic testing of a population sample, an alternative option is to examine microbiomes and their influences via proxies using pre-existing health datasets. This research demonstrates preliminary associations between presumed disrupted and supportive microbiomes dynamics proxied by antibiotic and breastmilk exposure respectively. Using health record data across the life span from approximately 500,000 U.K. participants, this research demonstrates variable altered growth and health …

Population Differences In Human Mandibular Growth, Madison Hubbart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Mandibles are one of the most common bones encountered in the human archaeological record. Variation in mandibular morphology is often associated with differences in subsistence strategy as masticatory stresses influence bone growth and development. Bone growth is stimulated by bone modeling, the process by which formation and resorption occur through the uncoupled activities of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, respectively. There is a limited understanding of bone modeling patterns in humans due to a lack of quantitative data and small sample sizes. The aim of this research was to address the question: is there a shared bone modeling pattern in the mandible …

Reconstructing Oral Health In Pre-Hispanic Peru: Antemortem Tooth Loss And Caries As Possible Evidence Of Dental Care In Túcume, Peru, Amy Rodriguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Evidence of dental manipulation dates back several centuries and is identifiable through modification of human skeletal remains and the remnants of ancient tools. The act of caring for dental patients, on the other hand, is much more abstract and not as explicitly documented throughout history. Through the analysis of skeletal dentition of individuals from Pre-Hispanic Peru, this research aims to understand possible early forms of dental care practices. Specifically, by calculating the frequency of common dental pathology, I evaluated the possible presence of dental care in Túcume, Peru, during the Late Intermediate Period (1000 to 1500 AD) and what this …

Ancient Migrations In West Mexico: Mtdna Analyses, Patricio Gutiérrez Ruano

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite the mounting evidence that suggests The Aztatlán tradition in West Mexico was a major cosmopolitan region during the Postclassic period (AD 900-1521) with connections to the rest of what is now Mexico, archaeologists have characterized items in West Mexico as culturally distinct from the rest of Mesoamerica. Recently, endogenous, and exogenous material culture has been interpreted as movement and exchange of goods and ideas between subregions and surrounding areas, all of which mention physical contact and trade were involved between Aztatlán and elsewhere. This has included interacting with areas as far as the U.S. Southwest, as well as in …

Umfc #12: A Comprehensive Forensic Analysis Case Report, Kaylee M. Hinds

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The University of Montana Forensic Case 12 (UMFC) is a human skeleton with an MNI of one that was recovered in August 1983 from an old schoolyard in Helena, Montana, by construction workers who were building a highway. The individual was given to the University of Montana Anthropology Department following the authority’s investigation. At the time, the University of Montana aided in the analysis of the skeletal remains and both departments had deemed the case as forensically insignificant and historic. The initial recoverers believed that the individual was a descendant of the Last Chance Gulch era and reflected Chinese ancestry, …

Utilizing Carbon And Nitrogen Stable Isotopes To Examine Elite Juvenile Diet Of Individuals From Meroitic Sai Island, Sudan, Anelis Diaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Limited research has assessed the lived experiences of juveniles during the Nubian Meroitic Period (300 BCE - 350 CE). Therefore, the focus of this research is to examine dietary patterns throughout development of elite juveniles from Sai Island, Sudan to identify if dietary variations exist throughout development that may be a result of social differences within the juvenile population. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of tooth dentin from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd molars of 11 adult individuals interred at cemetery 8-B-52.B on Sai Island are utilized to examine diet through the life course. As each tooth corresponds to …

Opening The Vault: An Osteobiography Of Three Individuals From A New Orleans Cemetery, Jordan Butler

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the lives of three individuals buried in Cypress Grove Cemetery in New Orleans through osteobiographies, which combines knowledge gained from human remains, material culture, and mortuary practices. The opportunity for analysis arose since the vault was being demolished due to its dilapidated condition.

The individuals were White and of middle-class status and date to the later nineteenth century. One burial is a middle-aged man who was of average height and showed no evidence of pathology; his muscle markers do suggest he was relatively Physically active during his life. Another individual is an …

A Study Comparing “Better Body Bags” Versus Standard White Body Bags To Estimate Relative Preservation Of Human Genomic And Morphological Information, Serena A. Thariath

Masters Theses

In disaster scenarios, identification of the dead usually is delayed until after help is given to the living. During delays in recovery and transport of deceased individuals, decomposition of soft tissues will occur at a fast rate if individuals are not refrigerated. The Better Body Bag, or BBB, was designed for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with features such as a vacuum seal, reflective coating, and absorbent pad to help delay the onset of decomposition that could render someone unidentifiable. In this study, the BBB was tested to determine if the individuals placed within a BBB yielded …

Effect Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Volunteerism And Fundraising Management Strategies In Nonprofits And Rebuilding Tactics Of Ronald Mcdonald House Charities Of Chicagoland And Northwest Indiana (Rmhc-Cni), Humza Wolf

Student Capstone Projects

The financial sustainability of nonprofits depends highly on volunteerism and funding strategies which got impacted during Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic. This capstone study explores to what extent nonprofits got affected and evaluates the efforts of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana (RMHC-CNI) to improve the provision of support for underprivileged families of critically ill children. The continual efforts to overcome financial hurdles escalated in pandemic. Mixed method research design was used to collect, analyze, and triangulate both quantitative and qualitative research methods in this single study to understand the research problem. Interpretive approach encompassed the complexities of …

Historical Ecology Of Norse Greenland: Zooarchaeology And Climate Change Responses, Konrad Smiarowski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis invokes Historical Ecology approach to better understand human impacts on marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the creation of cultural landscapes and seascapes in Norse Greenland. It also investigates climate impacts on human economic strategies, as they vary substantially by island and region in the North Atlantic but were especially important in arctic Greenland.

The analysis centers on the animal bone data and uses both existing and newly generated zooarchaeological collections to contribute to the study of Norse Greenland and its place in human ecodynamics research. The newly analyzed archaeofauna shows that the culturally Nordic European settlers used to …

The Intersections Of Sex And Inequality In A Mixed Status Industrial London Sample, Anna Green

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Saint Pancras Burial Ground and its inhumated priests, paupers, aristocrats, and migrants provide a unique perspective into the interactions between sex and inequality in 18th and 19th century industrial London. Frequencies of caries, dental calculus, periodontal disease, linear enamel hypoplasia, periapical lesions, tuberculosis, treponematosis, rickets, and trauma among 224 females from St. Pancras were compared to 27 low-status females from Crossbones Burial Ground and 74 primarily high-status females from Chelsea Old Church Cemetery. Based on the information known about those buried at St. Pancras, it was hypothesized that the frequencies of health indicators in St. Pancras should fall between the …

A Bioarchaeological Investigation Of The Courtney-Anderson Cemetery, Lauren Scott

Master's Theses

Located in Perry County, Mississippi, the Anderson Family Cemetery represents an abandoned turn-of-the-century Piney Woods cemetery. The cemetery is located on land once owned by the Courtney and Anderson families, who farmed the area until it was taken under eminent domain by the United States government in 1942. The purpose of this thesis is to present three osteobiographies created from human remains and material culture recovered from three graves excavated from within the cemetery in 2022 to explore the lifeways of rural Piney Woods families of Mississippi at the turn-of-the-century.

Among the graves explored, one did not contain evidence of …